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CLOSE, BUT FAR FROM JESUS

MATTHEW 26:47-56

Shalom! I have already shared with you regarding the topic of the Garden of Gethsemane, and today, let us continue to explore what happened after Jesus finished praying there. Let us open our Bibles to Matthew 26:47–56.

1. A Seemingly Spiritual Betrayal

While Jesus was still speaking, Judas arrived. This detail indicates that Jesus and His disciples were still in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas appeared; this implies that Judas knew the location—he knew that Jesus frequently went there to pray. It signifies that Jesus did not go to the Garden of Gethsemane to hide, nor to evade those who sought to arrest Him.

Judas was one of those called by the Lord Jesus to become a disciple (Matthew 10:1-4). He was a man who followed the Lord Jesus wherever He went; he listened to the Lord Jesus's teachings at all times, witnessed the example of His life, and even participated in the ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet, in the end, he betrayed and sold out the Lord Jesus. Did the Lord Jesus not know that Judas would betray Him? Indeed He did; that is why Jesus warned him. John 6:70-71 “Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”71(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him).” Matthew 26:24-25 “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.” John 13:27 “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

Further in Verse 49, "And immediately he went up to Jesus and said, "Greet Rabbi," and kissed Him." Rabi means teacher. While following Jesus, Judas only considered Him to be a teacher and never acknowledged that He was the Lord and Savior of his life. This means that even though he has followed Jesus, heard His teachings, seen His example, served with Him, he doesn't know who Jesus really is. And indeed Judas' motivation for following Him was not to get to know Him, see Matthew 26:15, "He said (to the high priests): "What will you give me, so that I will hand Him over to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver.” In this verse, we see that his thoughts and motivations revolve solely around money and the benefits he stands to gain from following Jesus.

It is written, “Greetings, Rabbi,” and then he kissed Him. Indeed, a kiss is typically used to express deep affection for someone; yet, in this passage, it serves as an instrument of deeply painful betrayal. What appeared to be an act of praise and reverence from Judas toward the Lord Jesus turned out, in reality, to be a despicable act of treachery. Judas’s actions remind us that, at times, things that appear spiritual and sweet may merely serve to conceal something rotten lurking beneath the surface. However, the Lord Jesus could not be deceived by Judas; “Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, why have you come?” Jesus knew the true state of Judas’s heart and what he had done.

Brother, have we been following Jesus all this time but not really knowing Him personally? So even though we know the truth, we still choose to do the wrong thing like Judas. Judas comes, approaches, greets Jesus respectfully, then kisses Jesus. Everything seems spiritual but turns out to be betrayal. How about us today? maybe we still come to worship, but our hearts are far from God, we still serve but our motivation is not for God, we keep saying we believe in God but we don't really submit to Him. Today we must be honest from our hearts and ask God: "Lord, I don't want to just look spiritual, but I want to know You, change my heart, straighten my motivation, and make me completely Yours. Judas kissed Jesus but his heart was controlled by Satan, he did not surrender his heart, meaning it is better to look simple but come from a heart that belongs to Christ than to look spiritual but be filled with rot.

2. The Way of Man and the Way of God (51-54)

Verse 51: “But one of those who were with Jesus reached out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the High Priest’s servant, cutting off his ear.” Peter hastily drew his sword; he thought that this was the opportune moment to defend Jesus—as if this were the greatest thing he could do for Him. It appeared to be an extraordinary act, for he dared to resist and seemed ready to die to protect Jesus. Yet, as it turned out, he acted without grasping the words of the Lord Jesus—that He was indeed to be handed over and would undergo severe suffering. Moreover, he did this without heeding any command, and it was not the purpose for which the Lord Jesus had called His disciples. Jesus did not come into the world to train officers or soldiers for physical warfare; rather, He was preparing His disciples to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Thus, Peter’s action was purely a product of his own thinking. It demonstrates a human reaction: self-defense and resistance.

In verses 52–53, Jesus says: “Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot call upon My Father, so that He would immediately send more than twelve legions of angels to assist Me?” The Lord Jesus intended to convey to Peter that if He wished to avoid this suffering, He could do so with ease, without the aid of human hands or a sword. God has no need of us, nor of our service, to carry out His purposes. God is capable of accomplishing His work without us; thus, He owes us absolutely nothing.

This verse affirms that Jesus was arrested not because He was weak or unable to resist, but because He chose to obey. Verse 54 asks: "If so, how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen in this way?" Verse 56a states: "But all this has taken place to fulfill what is written in the books of the prophets." The path of the cross was God's plan from the very beginning—one that had been prophesied by the prophets and was destined to come to pass. This is the Lord's way and plan, which is vastly different from human thoughts and ways.

Verse 56b states: "Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled." Indeed, the Lord Jesus had already foretold that their faith would be shaken (Matthew 26:31). The disciples had followed Him, witnessed all His miracles, and had even pledged their loyalty; yet, during the most difficult moment Jesus endured, they abandoned Him—overcome by fear. And the Bible records that only one of Jesus' disciples dared to remain and watch until Jesus was crucified: John.

My brother, Peter was a disciple of Jesus but did not yet understand God's plan for his life. How often are we like Peter? We want to defend God but in our own way, we want to serve, but without truly understanding God's heart. We want to react quickly, but not in obedience. But let's look at the Lord Jesus, He didn't fight, He didn't run, He obeyed until the end. Not because He was unable, but because He chose to obey the will of the Father.

Today let's ask honestly in our hearts:

- Am I following God His way or my own way?

- Do I remain faithful when I don't understand God's ways?

- Do I dare to stay when others choose to run?

My brothers, today God is not looking for perfect people, who are strong with a "sword", great in their own way but God is looking for people who are willing to say "Lord, perhaps all this time I have been like Peter or even like the disciples who ran away, but today I want to learn to obey.

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THE PRICE OF REDEMPTION

EPHESIANS 1:7

My brothers and sisters, let us reflect today: why is the death of Jesus on the cross referred to as an act of redemption? Let us open our Bibles to Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”

Redemption means paying a price to liberate someone from bondage. The concept of slavery in the Old Testament refers to an individual who sells himself to another because he is unable to provide for himself. Once a slave has been purchased by a master, he retains absolutely no claim over his own life; he is bound completely to his master, his life falls entirely under his master's authority, and he forfeits all rights to his own existence. For this reason, being a slave constituted the lowest social status among the Jewish people in the Old Testament era. A slave could obtain freedom if a family member redeemed him from his master (Leviticus 25:47–49).

Brother, why does it say “In him we have redemption? Why do humans need redemption? John 8:34 says, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” It turns out that the fall of humans into sin makes humans bound by sin and become slaves to sin, sin is like a "master" and has power over humans. Humans cannot be free spiritually because that is why all the desires and inclinations of the human heart lead to evil things (Genesis 6:5). Because of the slavery of sin, there is not the slightest good value in humans that can please and glorify God. Humans no longer live in submission to God, but to Satan and sin so that they no longer have a relationship with God. Isaiah 59:2 says: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” That's why, in order to be free from the bondage of Satan and sin, humans need redemption, someone needs to pay or buy it back.

That's why it is said "by His blood we have redemption". It says in 1 Peter 1:18-19, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect”. Christ's redemption frees us from a futile way of life, a way of life filled with sin, seeking a life that is under the bondage of sin. Humans are redeemed not with the world's perishable treasures, but with the precious and holy blood of Christ, the blood that makes us holy before God.

So the value of our life is worth the life and blood of Christ Jesus who died on the cross. We are redeemed from the binding and enslaving power of sin. This is what frees us from the bondage of sin. Even though we may still sin, our heart's inclination is no longer to sin. Our hearts no longer enjoy sin, in our hearts there is regret when we sin. For example, there is a homeless person who is used to smelling rubbish and living around rubbish. For him, garbage does not smell disgusting or sickening. Then when he was appointed by a rich man, he lived cleanly and wore clean clothes. When he passes a rubbish dump, he smells a disgusting smell and stays away from it. Thus, our lives have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, so we will never want or enjoy living in sin again. Because we are free.

Formerly, we were under the power of sin and death. Now, because of Christ, we belong to God. In 1 Corinthians 6:20: “you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” This is just like how a “slave” is purchased and subsequently set free. Thus, Christ has fully paid the price for humanity—those who were once slaves to sin. Having been redeemed, human beings now belong to Christ. In Colossians 1:13–14, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

If we ask, what is Jesus Christ's obligation to redeem us? Is Christ's redemptive work our right? Then why did Christ redeem us with His blood and life? Therefore it is very clearly said in Ephesians 1:7, “according to the riches of His grace.” The redemption that Christ carried out was not His obligation nor our right. Jesus did it because of the riches of His grace. He does not want the humans He created so special to continue to be under the bondage of Satan and sin. Do we want to be more serious about living for God as proof of thanksgiving for the redemption we received?

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The Garden of Surrender

Luke 22:39-46

Beloved, in this life, each of us is often faced with difficult times, when we must choose to follow our own will or to follow God's will. The choice is not easy. Often we must let go of our desires, our plans, even our comfort.

Today we will reflect on the theme: "The Garden of Surrender." The Garden of Gethsemane witnessed Jesus' deepest struggle before His crucifixion. Let's open the Bible to Luke 22:39-46. We will reflect on three points from this passage.

1. Surrender begins with intimacy with God (v.39).

Luke 22:39, “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.”

The Lord Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. Praying was not something new for Jesus, but in this verse it says "as usual," meaning He had done it routinely. Jesus had a habit of relating to His Father, showing how close His relationship with His Father was. From this verse, the Lord Jesus wanted to teach and set an example for His disciples that communication with God is the most important thing, which must be done continuously at all times. An intimate relationship with God does not happen suddenly, but is built through daily spiritual discipline. This discipline is born from a longing for God.

The habit of cultivating a relationship with God through prayer shapes our hearts, strengthens our faith, and prepares us for all that life throws at us. Do we only seek God when trouble strikes? Or have we developed a daily habit of drawing close to Him? Often, spiritual victory in life is determined by our spiritual habits before a crisis strikes.

2. Surrender oneself in honesty to God.

In Matthew 26:38, Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Jesus honestly conveyed His heart to the disciples at that time. In Luke 22:44, it says, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Jesus was bearing the burden of very heavy suffering. These verses show that Jesus is truly God and truly human, and as a human, He was not free from fear, sadness, struggle, and suffering.

Jesus demonstrated honesty before His Father and His disciples. He did not hide His struggles, demonstrating that coming to God with an honest heart is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of a close and real relationship with God. Often we come to God with beautiful words, but hide our wounds, fears, and struggles. However, Jesus taught that God does not reject an open heart. In fact, in honesty, God gives strength. In Luke 22:43, it says, “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” In His very difficult situation, Jesus received a direct visit from heaven to strengthen and comfort Him.

Sometimes we think that having faith means always appearing strong. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus demonstrated that surrender to God begins not with strength, but with honesty of heart.

3. Surrender to the Father’s will is the highest victory.

In Luke 22:42, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Matthew writes that Jesus prayed the same prayer more than once (26:44). "My Father," even under great pressure, Jesus knew that He had a good Father who loved Him, a Father to whom He could confess all His fears, and a Father who would surely listen. Once again, this passage truly highlights Jesus' humanity, as He experienced what humans experience just like us.

Furthermore, "If You are willing, take this cup from Me," Jesus' prayer is not one of despair or loss of hope, not an expression of defiance against His Father, not an attempt to reject and escape from the suffering of the cross, but it is intended to emphasize to humans that to bear sin, Jesus had to undergo very heavy mental and physical suffering. So that it makes humans aware so that they do not waste or take lightly the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. My brother, there is no answer from the Father regarding this request, because there is no other way to resolve human sin except the way to the cross, and that is also what Jesus said in Matthew 20:28, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Furthermore, yet not my will, but yours be done.” This is the point of Christ's victory in the journey of His suffering. Jesus' prayer contains not only desires but surrender to God. Prayer that pleases God is when we turn our hearts to Him when we are in trouble and surrender our way of life and service to Him, Thy will be done. In Matthew 26:42 it says, “He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” This passage shows the Lord Jesus' willingness to undergo severe suffering. Matthew Henry said, "Even though we may pray that God will prevent and erase a problem, what we must really ask is for God to grant us the strength to endure it. We must prefer that our problems be used for His glory and our hearts be satisfied by them, rather than forcing them to be taken away from us." Victory is experienced when with sincerity and complete surrender one imitates what Jesus said "not my will but yours be done". The believer's victory is not when he is free from problems, but when he is in trouble he can say "Thy will be done.”

Beloved, the Garden of Gethsemane teaches us that surrendering ourselves to God is not always easy. Jesus didn't give up something small, He gave up His will. Every time a believer says "Lord, Your will be done", there a person will begin to experience peace, tranquility, miracles, forgiveness and salvation. Sometimes there are tears, fear and sacrifice, but behind every surrender to God's will, there is always a greater plan of salvation. We will see the miraculous, great things God does in and through our lives. God can use our lives, even our wounds, weaknesses, tears for His glory.

Beloved, today we reflect on how the salvation of believers comes about because of Jesus' perfect obedience to the will of the Father. He submitted himself to intense and terrifying suffering. In the Garden of Gethsemane, we saw true love demonstrated. The question now is, are we ready to live in God's will for the salvation of others, even though we must endure intense suffering, perhaps even sacrifice? C.T. Studd said, "If Jesus Christ is God and He died for me, no sacrifice is too great for me to make for Him."

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BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD

JOHN 1:29

My beloved brothers and sisters, I would like to convey that Genesis 22 powerfully depicts the coming of Jesus. Therefore, as we approach Good Friday and Easter, let us reflect on the work of Christ. Today's theme is "The Lamb of God." Let's open the Bible to John 1:29. “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

John's Confession

Many people wondered who John the Baptist really was, so they sent priests and Levites to question him. They wondered if he was the Messiah? Or Elijah? Or a prophet who had come? But John honestly said no!

In chapter 1:23 John answers, “I am The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.” John lived to serve Jesus, the Messiah. He was simply a servant of God, speaking out for truth and repentance. John wanted to be used by God to prepare the hearts of the people so that they would remove all obstacles to welcoming and accepting Christ and His Gospel. That is why John showed humility when he said, "... whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." John was very aware of his identity as a servant of God, so there was nothing in him that could be boasted about, especially before the great Lamb of God.

The Lamb of God

In the Old Testament, whenever a person sinned and realized their sin, they had to go to the priest at the temple to confess their sins by offering a lamb. The lamb was a sacred animal among the Jews. God taught His chosen people to slaughter a lamb and sprinkle its blood as a sacrifice. The lamb was killed as a substitute, and its blood was poured out so that sins could be forgiven. The lamb offered could not be just any lamb; it had to be without blemish, without spot, and without spot (Leviticus 4). In Genesis 3:21, “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” An animal had to be sacrificed, and its skin was used to cover the sins of the people. Likewise, in Exodus 12, God commanded the Israelites to take a year-old male lamb, slaughter it, and take its blood and put it on the doorposts and lintel of their homes to avoid plagues like the Egyptians.

However, the blood of lambs slain in the Old Testament period did not take away sin. In fact, these sheep are only a temporary image used by God to direct that in the future God will provide the Lamb of God, namely Jesus Christ, who can truly take away human sins. Therefore John joyfully exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God, meaning this is He, the Messiah you have been waiting for, set your eyes on Him because only He can take away your sins, only He can save you. It is said "...who takes away the sin of the world" meaning that Christ's death was enough to pay for the sins of the whole world, but only sinners who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have their sins erased and forgiven. In John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

It says in Hebrews 9:24-28, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

Jesus Christ is the perfect, holy, and pure Lamb of God, therefore only He can take away and resolve the sins of the world. John the Baptist was used by God to direct the people's gaze at that time to Jesus. They no longer needed to sacrifice animals, because the true Lamb of God had come into the world. Jesus not only covered sin, but He also took away sin. Jesus came not only to teach, not only to perform miracles, but also to give His life for us. He resolved the sin that most opposed God's holiness.

Today we are reminded that the Lamb of God has come. Therefore, the question is no longer: does God love us? The Cross has answered that! The question now is: how will our hearts respond to the Lamb of God?

- Come to Him with the awareness that we are sinners and are ready to live in repentance and always long to live in holiness like Christ.

- Live in gratitude for His work that has washed away the sins of those who believe in Him.

- Surrender our lives completely to Him.

Finally, Revelation 5:11-12, in John's vision, says: “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

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FAITH AND TESTS

GENESIS 22:1-19

My beloved brothers and sisters, today we want to reflect on the truth of God's Word on the theme of Faith and Tests. Tests often occur in education, work, and even in the products we sell. Likewise, in the life of a believer, there will be times when God tests us, ranging from mild to moderate to severe. Let's open our Bibles to Genesis 22:1-19.

1. Testing from God

Verse 1 says, "Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to Him, 'Abraham!' 'Here I am!'" He replied. While the Indonesian translation says "God tested Abraham...", the correct translation is actually God tested Abraham. Testing and temptation are two very different things. Testing comes from God, while temptation comes from the devil. Tests are given by God to build faith, while temptations come to bring down and destroy. James 1:13 states, "When anyone is tempted, let him not say, 'I am being tempted by God!' For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone."

Verse 2, His words: "Take your only son, whom you love, Isaac, go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." If you think about it humanly, this is an unreasonable command, because Isaac was the son of promise, they waited 25 years before experiencing that promise. It is even said that Isaac was an only child, a child that Abraham and Sarah loved very much. If you only have an only child, how do you feel when that child is sick, or when he or she is in big trouble? We will try our best to help him, whatever we will sacrifice, the important thing is that our child is always in good condition. In this section, God asks Abram to sacrifice, in other words, slaughter Isaac to be sacrificed or given as worship to God. If we were in Abraham's position, maybe we would spontaneously say, what? Seriously, isn't this the child who was promised, didn't God say that his descendants would become a great nation? So why are you asking to be sacrificed now?

What important message did God want to convey to Abraham through this request? God's blessing, namely the offspring given to Abraham and Sarah, should not shift their priority and love for God. This was God's purpose to test Abraham, did Abraham prioritize and love God more than he loved his son who was a gift from God? My brothers, we all need God's blessings, but if we don't keep our hearts pure to truly love God more than anything, then we can make God's blessings an idol that shifts God's priority in our lives.

My brother, God will continue to test those who believe in Him, those he loves, even to the point of taking what they love to see how their hearts respond before God. In the end, God longs for people who believe to realize and admit that God is the most important of all God's blessings. God must be more important than husband or wife, than children, than work, than wealth and whatever we have.

God's tests for His people aim to mature their faith, purify the believer's heart, to prove whether someone truly believes in God or not! God will continue to do this to purify us before Him.

2. Obedience by faith (3-10)

Abraham responded with obedience. Why was Abraham so obedient to God? Hebrews 11:17-19, "By faith Abraham, when he was tempted, offered up Isaac. He, having received the promise, was willing to offer up his only son, 18 even though it had been said to him, "The offspring of Isaac will be called your offspring." 19 Because he thought that God had the power to raise people even from the dead.” And from there it was as if Abraham was willing to offer Isaac back to God because he believed that God was powerful and he would definitely receive back what God had promised. Abraham answered: "God will provide a lamb for a burnt offering for Him, my son." Abraham believed in God that he would not lack anything.

3. God provides (11-14)

“But the Angel of the Lord cried out to him from heaven: “Abraham, Abraham.” He replied: "Yes, God." 12 Then He said: "Do not kill the child and do not do anything to him, for I know now that you fear God, and you did not hesitate to hand over your only son to Me." 13 Then Abraham turned and saw a ram behind him, whose horns were caught in a thicket. Abraham took the lamb and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place: “The Lord provides”; That's why people say to this day: "On the mountain of the Lord, provision will be made." Abraham passed such a tough test and God himself said that Abraham was a man who feared God. This means he loves God more than the blessings God has given him. He didn't even spare God's child when he asked to be sacrificed.

What is the Gospel meaning of Genesis 22? The Old Testament is the New Testament that has not yet been revealed, while the New Testament is the Old Testament that has been revealed. The story of Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac is a reflection of John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God provided the "lamb," His own son, to be sacrificed to save sinful mankind. And the Father also raised His own son, in line with Abraham's belief that God has the power to raise the dead.

The difficult trials God places in our lives often become times when we come to know God more deeply, who knows and provides all things for His people.

4. Blessings in obedience (15-19)

"A second time the angel of the Lord cried out to Abraham from heaven, 16 and said, "I swear by Myself - thus says the Lord -: Because you have done this, and have not hesitated to hand over your only son to Me, 17 I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore, and your descendants will occupy the cities of their enemies. 18 Through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have listened to my word.” 19Then Abraham returned to his two servants, and they went together to Beersheba; and Abraham remained in Beersheba." Abraham's obedience caused God to once again express His guarantee and blessing to him. This means that behind the tough tests that God gives to His people, God also provides guaranteed blessings.

Conclusion

- God gives tests to help His people know Him better, grow in their faith, and be purified to love God more than all of God's blessings.

- A person who believes in God will obey even if it means giving up everything that is precious to them to offer it to God.

- Believe that God always provides the best for His children according to His will.

- Believe that God not only tests, but He also provides blessings after tests.

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FAITH AND STRUGGLES

Genesis 15:1-6

Beloved, today we will reflect on God's Word with the theme "Faith and Challenges." Sometimes we ask ourselves, "I follow God, but why do I experience so many challenges?" "Why haven't God's promises come true in my life?" "In fact, it seems like my life is no different from that of those who don't believe in God!" Let's reflect on whether when someone believes and follows God, they are simultaneously free from all struggles. Let's open the Bible to Genesis 15:1-6. There are three things we want to reflect on today:

1. God is present in the midst of fear

In chapter 14, Abram defeats kings and rescues Lot, but in chapter 15, it is stated that Abram is afraid. Therefore, when God says, "Do not be afraid," God knows the fear in Abram's heart before he expresses it. This means that God knows what is in the heart even when humans don't express it.

The victory Abram experienced through God's help did not immediately free him from his fear. However, in the midst of his fear, God spoke to him, demonstrating that God did not want Abram to remain in fear. God came to comfort him and said, "I am your shield," meaning God is his protector. "Your reward will be very great," meaning that God will take care of him and bless him.

Are we feeling afraid today? The same word of God wants to convey to us: do not be afraid because God is our protector and sustainer.

2. God Desires Honesty

In verse 2, Abram answered, "O Lord God, what will You give me, since I die childless, and Eliezer the Damascus will inherit my house." Abram's answer confirmed that he was truly afraid and anxious. Abram neither pretended nor concealed his fear. This is also what God desired, so that Abram would be open with Him. As humans, we often think that if I'm honest about my fear, will people think I have weak faith?

But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” It was as if Abram wanted to say that all of God’s gifts were meaningless because he had no descendants. This was Abram’s fear. Fear of who would inherit all his possessions and livestock? Moreover, he was too old to have children. Genesis 12:4 states that Abram was 75 years old when God said he would give him descendants. And Genesis 15 had passed several years ago, so he was even older. This was a struggle between God’s promise of descendants and the reality of Abram not having descendants. So if attacked back by the enemy, how would he fight back because he was already old and had no descendants to help? How could Abram have a large army to fight, when he did not have a single descendant? What about God’s promise that “I will make you into a great nation?” There were questions within Abram related to the situation and conditions at that time.

Abram didn't keep it to himself, but revealed it all to God, even though it seemed presumptuous and seemed to demonstrate his weak faith in God and His promises. Yet, this passage demonstrates Abram's honesty and openness to God.

My brothers, those chosen by God are not free from struggles and fears. When we are afraid, that is when we need to ask God, not distance ourselves from Him. Those who try to hide their fears and struggles to appear strong are ashamed if others find out about their struggles and fears. The more a person hides their fears before God, the more they will be overcome by fear. That is also the importance of fellowship, where we can express our struggles and fears for prayer together, but seek out people who are trustworthy, who live by faith and have wisdom.

Verse 4, “But the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This man shall not be your heir, but your son, your flesh, shall be your heir.’” God longed for honesty and openness from Abram, God did not reject or punish when Abram asked God, but God answered by reaffirming the promise He had made, namely that Abram’s flesh would be his heir. Verse 5, “Then the Lord brought Abram outside and said, ‘…” Why go outside? Because in his tent, Abram’s vision was very limited. “Look up at the sky, count the stars, if you can.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.” God can do anything, even make Abram’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. God served Abram by showing His greatness in creating the universe.

My brothers and sisters, if we are afraid to leave our homes, look at all of God's creation and see that God created it all and sustains it all. How much more so, as His chosen people, called to carry out His plan? What God has begun with His grace, He will also complete with His faithful love, so never rely on your own strength.

3. God justifies those who believe

Verse 6, "Then Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Abram had not yet seen a child, had no proof, no sign, but he believed what God had said. Romans 3:28, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law." A person with true faith continues to believe even when afraid, continues to hope even when he does not yet see, and relies on God, not on circumstances.

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MOVING FORWARD BY FAITH INTO THE FUTURE

GENESIS 12:4-9

Shalom! My brothers and sisters, worrying too much about the future can cause people to become depressed, overcome with anxiety, become ill, and even end their lives in futility. Worrying too much about the future will hinder you from moving forward. Last week, I presented the theme "God's Call and the Future" highlighting two key points: why did God call Abram? First, Abram was called out of a life of sin; second, Abram was called to be blessed and to be a blessing.

Why did Abram leave?

1. Because of God's Calling

Abram's calling was purely God's initiative. God Himself chose, determined, and called Abram to leave his family. Joshua 24:2-3, “Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac.” So in the beginning there was no human initiative whatsoever to follow Allah. This is proof that God first looked for humans to become His people and enter into His plan.

In John 15:16 it says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” Abram's calling is related to God's election to restart a life of believers in God and is related to God's eternal plan to save sinful humans. When God called Abram, at the same time God Himself also gave him a new heart, one that had faith in God and His plan. In Ezekiel 36:26 it says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

My brothers and sisters, do we realize that God calls, chooses, and predestines us to be His people? He calls you, loves you, and He is with you because He wants to give you a new future in Christ and His righteousness. He gives us a new day to be sensitive to His call and plan.

2. Because Abram Believed in God

My brother, believing in Allah is not an easy matter for us humans, because basically we humans expect proof first, want to see first, want to experience first before believing. In this verse it says, "Then Abram went as the Lord had told him..." This shows his obedience so that quickly, without delay and without arguing he immediately stepped in to answer God's call. In Hebrews 11:8 it says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Abram stepped forward based on God's word, and this was proof of his faith in God. Faith must be based on God's word, not based on experience, not based on what we see. It is said, "Then he (Abram) went, not knowing where he was going." This was a command that was difficult to believe, let alone carry out. Because he didn't know where he was going? But he trusted in the One who called him, who would guide him. This explanation reveals to us that to reach God's promised land, Abram walked in waiting and relying on God's direction. There was a process of obedience and communication that had to be continuously built.

Because of that, Genesis 12:7, “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” When God declared this was the promised place, this was the answer Abram had been waiting for! At first he didn't know anything but now he saw and stood at the place promised by Allah, therefore he immediately worshiped Allah. This action shows how happy Abram was. He immediately gave thanks to Allah. Because God who calls and promises is a God who is faithful, and gives what he promises. My brother, the "altar to God..." is the place where he worshiped and offered sacrifices to God, this is the image used by God to direct people in the Old Testament to the sacrifice that God would make through Christ Jesus who would die on the cross.

In Hebrews 11:10, “For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Faith transcends human vision, because with faith we can “see” something that is invisible. Abram’s journey to the place God would show us is a picture that God has prepared heaven for those who believe and God himself will guide believers until they arrive there.

My brothers, "Step forward with faith into the future." We don't know the future, but we can trust and hope in God who controls life and the future. Our God is the alpha and omega, meaning He existed before all things and He exists even when everything ends. When fear of the future comes, let's come and tell God openly, asking Him to give us a heart that remains faithful even in difficult times. Because we are indeed vulnerable and easily afraid! Don't be a human being who feels capable of relying on our own strength, because we are indeed weak humans! Therefore, we must have faith and depend on God who knows and controls the future.

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GOD'S CALL AND THE FUTURE

GENESIS 12:1-3

Shalom! Speaking of the future, many people want to know their future, so they resort to various methods, even illogical ones. In Indonesia, some go to fortune tellers, shamans, or even seek answers in sacred places. For us believers, we often wonder, "What is my future in God?" Especially if today we are facing very difficult challenges in our personal and family lives, challenges that show no signs of ending, we begin to ask, "What is the future for me and my family?"

My brothers and sisters, today we continue to reflect on the witnesses of faith, namely Abraham. With the theme: God's call and the future.  

Let's open our Bibles to Genesis 12:1-3.

"The Lord said to Abram",... the basis of Abram's call was God Himself who appeared and spoke to him. In Acts 7:2 “To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran." Abram did not step because of his own desires, but truly it was God's will and plan. Brother, God's word is the basis of life and the basis for us to move to do everything, because it is very important before we step to do anything that we ask God and ask for answers according to His word.

"Go from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.” The word go speaks about leaving his identity. This command was a test for Abram, whether he was willing to leave the people he loved to follow God.

The question is, what was God's purpose in calling Abram out of his country?

1. Called out of sin.

In Joshua 24:2, “Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.” Abram's family was a family of idol worshipers, and Abram undoubtedly participated in that worship. That is why God wanted to bring Abram out of that place of idol worship, from a place where people lived in darkness. God wanted to tell Abram, "Go, separate yourself from your idols." God's call to Abram speaks of how he was to have a new life, a new identity, where he was brought out of darkness and walked in the light and guidance of God.

God called Abram to immediately leave his sinful environment; he had to be willing to separate himself from what he cherished most, because all of it would only distance him from God.  We must be ready to leave behind everything that causes us to live crookedly in God's sight.  Furthermore, it says, "to the land that I will show you." This means that God provided a new future for Abram and his descendants. God provided a new place, a new identity. This is a guarantee for those chosen and called by God, that God Himself will provide everything. This should strengthen our faith, that if we walk in God's calling, we should not be overcome by worry. My brothers and sisters, this is the main message of God's heart: He continuously calls people to come out of darkness and sin into His light and His plan.

2. Called to be a blessing.

Verses 2-3, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Abram's call to leave his country was accompanied by a promise of God's blessing.  In this verse, the phrase "I will" is repeated twice, meaning that all these blessings would be experienced by Abram because God would provide and give them. In following God's call, Abram did not need to focus on the blessings because God had already prepared special blessings for him and his descendants.

My brothers and sisters, coming out of a life of idolatry and receiving God's promise of blessing is not the ultimate goal of God's plan for His chosen people.  Therefore it is said, "you will be a blessing," and in verse 3, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” The promise of God's blessing given to Abram was not only for himself and his family, but he was to extend it to all the peoples on earth. God had an eternal purpose when He called Abram. This means that Abram was blessed to be a blessing. The blessing referred to here primarily concerns not material blessings, but spiritual blessings, namely salvation for the nations. This is where the picture of God's love for redemption begins to be increasingly revealed.

This means that God chose Abram and his descendants to be instruments in manifesting His love and salvation to a world that had fallen into sin. In Matthew 1:1, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.” This verse aims to explain that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, born from the lineage of Abraham, according to God's promise.

My brothers, the blessing and call that God conveyed to Abram still applies to us today. If we believe that God has chosen and called us out of darkness and received the promise of salvation then the command to be a blessing for the salvation of the nations also applies and we must do it! Therefore Jesus said go make disciples of all nations.

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RECEIVING GOD’S GRACE

GENESIS 6:8

Shalom! My brothers and sisters, last week we reflected on Noah's faith and obedience. When we hear about Noah, we might think that he was a very perfect person? Is it possible for me to live like Noah? And we begin to wonder how Noah could be so faithful and obedient to God? Was he a half-god? Was he not a human being with fleshly desires like us? That's what we want to reflect on today! What was the secret or the main foundation of Noah's faith and obedience?

My brothers and sisters, we will study Genesis 6:1-8 together. I will read each verse slowly and provide a brief explanation.

Verses 1-2, “When mankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves from among them, whomever they chose.” My brothers and sisters, the sons of God mentioned in this verse refer to the descendants of Seth, who were the descendants who called upon the name of the Lord, sought God, and lived in righteousness, while the daughters of men were the descendants of Cain who lived far from God, did not know God, and lived in wickedness. It says, “…then they took wives for themselves from among those women, whomever they chose.” This relationship, which was not in accordance with God's will, caused the earth to become increasingly corrupt, evil to spread, and greatly grieved the heart of God. This shows that the descendants of the righteous did not maintain a righteous way of life before God, but instead compromised and followed the way of life of those who did not know God, who lived in wickedness.  The descendants of Seth should have been role models of how to live in righteousness for the descendants of Cain, but instead they intermarried with the descendants of Cain and produced an increasingly corrupt way of life.

My brothers and sisters, when God's children no longer stand on pure truth, it shows that the world is becoming increasingly corrupt and evil. Because only by standing on the truth can one be a light to a world full of darkness. If someone claims to be a child of God but no longer stands on the truth, what more can be expected? How can they have a positive impact on people living in darkness?

God's children should have a different way of life than worldly people. If their way of life is the same, what is the attraction that distinguishes us from them? What instrument do we have left to guide people to God?

Verse 3, Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Spirit of God cannot dwell within people when they live only to satisfy the desires of the flesh.

Verses 5-7, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” This section confirms to us that God is serious about sin! Therefore, in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death;..." God never compromises with sin.

Verse 8, ”But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” My brothers and sisters, we might ask why Noah received God's grace? Many would answer, based on Genesis 6:9, "This is the account of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God." If that is the answer, then it could lead to the conclusion that people can receive grace because of their actions. So, is God's grace determined by human actions?

Especially when we read that Noah was a righteous and blameless man. Does this description mean that he was completely without sin and worthy of receiving God's grace? My brothers and sisters, if God's grace is obtained by living righteously, blamelessly, and without sin, the question is, who among us is confident that they meet God's standards to receive God's grace?

Meanwhile, another Bible passage very clearly says, Psalm 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth,sinful from the time my mother conceived me” Romans 3:10 “as it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.” This means that Noah was the same sinful human as us, he was not a perfect human, but what made him different from his contemporaries was that "Noah found grace in the eyes of God".

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, grace in Hebrew, "khane," means favor, mercy, undeserved kindness.  This means that speaking of grace is about a prerogative or special right that belongs only to God Himself. God has the right to show mercy to whomever He wants, not based on their actions. So why was Noah able to live in faith, obedience, and righteousness? The answer is because Noah received God's grace! It wasn't his actions that moved God's mercy, but God's mercy helped him live righteously and in faith in God. Because if it were based on human actions, Noah would also not meet the standard, why? Look at Genesis 9:20-21 “Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent." After God saved him and his family, after God gave him such a beautiful promise, he sinned and cursed his son.

My brothers and sisters, it is truly difficult to understand, even difficult for our minds to accept, yes, it is difficult! That is God's grace, which surpasses our limited understanding. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be thankful to God that today we have faith in Him; that is grace. Be thankful that until today we can understand the truth and are enabled to do it; that is God's grace. Amen! May the Lord Jesus bless you!

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FAITH EXPRESSED THROUGH OBEDIENCE

HEBREWS 11:7

Shalom! There was a man who was commanded by God to build a large ship, not to sail on the ocean, but as preparation before a great flood. When he began building the ship, many people questioned, mocked, and ridiculed him. The man tried to explain to them that God had commanded him to build the large ship. But they did not believe what he said, because they did not believe in God. Although he was ridiculed and mocked, he persevered in his work because he believed in and was obedient to God. He built the ship for approximately one hundred years, and during that time he was continuously mocked and considered strange.

Let's open the Bible, Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.”

My brothers and sisters, faith in God transcends human sight. Although Noah had not yet seen any signs of what God had told him, he was willing to believe and obediently do his part according to the instructions that God had given him. Genesis 6:22, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” This verse speaks of Noah's obedience in building the ark. Many Bible commentators say that Noah built it for about a hundred years, based on the time frame mentioned in Genesis 5:32, “After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.” and Genesis 7:6, “Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.” This speaks of faith and obedience that were tested over a very long period, yet the Bible records that he built the ark exactly as God wanted, the model, the size, the materials—all precisely as God commanded!

Genesis 7:5, “And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.” This speaks of obedience when God commanded Noah and his family to enter the ark. Noah obeyed and led his family to obey God's command. In Genesis 7:9 it says: “male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.” God brought the animals into the ark exactly as He told Noah.

What happened in the story of the flood, everything happened exactly as God ordered. And this shows that Noah was someone who respected God and His word. So, Noah is said to be a believer, because he has gone through a long life journey in obedience to God. So it's not just suddenly, but there is a process that he has gone through, which really shows that he believes and entrusts his life completely to God, even though what God commands seems impossible and strange for humans.

My brothers and sisters, you might be wondering how you can understand God's commands like Noah did? There is no other way than by living in fellowship with God; the Holy Spirit will give us wisdom, understanding, and sensitivity to understand God's commands and will. Please listen to last Sunday's sermon.

Perhaps today God is commanding us to do something, but we are still hesitant, we are still thinking about what will happen in the future. Especially when there are people who think that what we are about to do is strange, foolish, or detrimental to ourselves, so we begin to waver because we haven't seen the results yet. But my brothers and sisters, just obey, just take the step! Walk by faith with your eyes fixed on God and His commands! Walking according to God's commands indeed involves many challenges that He allows to mature our faith, but walking according to worldly wisdom is foolishness that will lead to destruction.

My brother/sister, in what ways is God asking you to obey His commands? Even if it feels difficult and burdensome. How can we do it?

God will guide you step by step in following His plan for your life. But the question is, are you willing to obey? Amin. God Bless You!

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Walk with God

Genesis 5:21-24

Shalom! My brothers and sisters, we live in a world full of temptations and sin, where the people around us live and enjoy these things, and I pray that we will not participate in these works of darkness. Sometimes we ask ourselves, "Am I strong enough to remain faithful to God? Am I strong enough in my faith in God?" Especially since our flesh is so weak! And if we are not vigilant, we can easily fall. Today we want to learn from Enoch how to persevere in walking with God in the midst of a dark world.

Let's open the Bible to Genesis 5:21-24, When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

There are 3 things we want to learn from Enoch's life:

1. Enoch lived in fellowship/walked with God.

Living and walking with God means having a very close relationship with God. Having a close relationship with God is impossible without continuous communication with Him. Where a person constantly longs for God in their life. Walking with God means constantly thinking about God, God's guidance, and God's will.

It is said that “Enoch walked faithfully with God for another three hundred years.” This sentence indicates that Enoch built a relationship with God consistently, not just occasionally, but with continuous perseverance. Even amidst an evil environment, Enoch remained unaffected and continued to live in faithfulness to God.

My brothers and sisters, Christianity is not merely about routines or religious activities, but more deeply, it speaks of a personal relationship with God.  Religious rituals are not what is most important to God, but rather a heart devoted to Him. So when someone claims to be a Christian, they must examine themselves: how deep is their longing for God, and how sincere is their desire to draw near to Him?

Is our involvement in church fellowship a reflection of our longing to commune and walk with God? Or is it simply about having a community? I pray earnestly in the name of the Lord Jesus that you and I will truly experience the joy of communing with God and the beauty of living a life walking with Him.

2. Enoch lived in faith and pleased God.

In Hebrews 11:5, “By faith Enoch was lifted up”…, in verse 1 it says “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Faith means total belief and surrender to Allah, where a person releases his trust in himself, other people and anything else. And that faith is proven in submission and obedience to Allah. In verse 6, "without faith it is impossible to please God." Faith is the connection between us and God and because we have faith, all our actions are counted as righteousness in Christ.

“By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” In the Bible, only Enoch and Elijah did not experience death and were taken directly to heaven. It is very clear that their stories were intended by God as a reminder to every believer that life in this world is not the end of everything. There is an eternal place prepared by God for all who believe in Him.

“For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.” My brother, when compared with his contemporaries, Enoch's life span on earth was much shorter, only 365 years, but it was clearly witnessed by people at that time that he lived a life that pleased God. This means that during his lifetime Enoch truly satisfied God's heart, so that God used his life as a model for being lifted up to heaven.

My brothers and sisters, there is nothing more joyful for every believer than meeting God and hearing Him say, Your life has truly pleased Me while you were in the world. Is that the longing of all of us? (Lord, I want to please You, Lord, shape this heart, make it a vessel for Your honor. Lord, I surrender my heart, I give everything to You, sanctify it so that it is always sincere, so that I may please You.) "A person who has true faith will surely long to live a life that is pleasing to God."

“because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Enoch believed that God exists, so he continuously sought and built a relationship with Him. Do you believe that God exists? How strong is your and my thirst to seek Him? In Psalms 25:14, “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.” How wonderful it is when we have a close and respectful relationship with Him; His covenant will be revealed or disclosed to us, meaning it's not something everyone experiences, which makes it something special. If we want to experience this, let's respect Him, let's seek Him, let's spend time with Him.

“that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Brothers and sisters, this is a promise from God's word, not a sweet promise from humans. There is a reward, a gift that God has prepared for those who are willing to sacrifice their time, energy, money, and everything else to seek Him. Therefore, I never tire of inviting you to join our Bible study. I believe in the name of the Lord Jesus that it will be a beautiful spiritual journey in your life. Not for my benefit, but for the benefit of your relationship with God! What we learn together in Bible study can become material for your personal reflection during your quiet time with God.

My brothers, believing in God, living pleasing to God, seeking Allah are three things that cannot be separated. Let us cry out to God! Oh Lord, help me truly believe in You, Please so that my life pleases You, please so that my heart always longs to seek You!

3. Enoch lived to speak God's truth.

My brother, when Enoch hung out with God, had faith in God, lived a life pleasing to God, sought God, it meant strong fellowship with God. Next, the Bible records in Jude 1:14-16, “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.” Look, brothers, Enoch warned the sinful people that they would face judgment, they would be punished.

Some interpreters say that before Enoch was taken up by God, many people hated him because he spoke God's truth, which offended them because of their sins. Enoch proclaimed God's truth even though his life was at stake. My brothers and sisters, it is true that when someone speaks God's truth, they are usually hated or opposed, as Paul said in Galatians 4:16, “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Often, people think it's better to just let someone be, even if what they are doing is sinful, rather than causing a conflict.  However, we are called to speak the truth in love, gentleness, and humility, not because we feel holier than others, but because of a longing to learn together how to live in a way that pleases God.

We are called to speak God's truth in Christ Jesus, in 1 Peter 2:5, “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  In this case, silence is not golden, but silence is a sin, because we are not fulfilling our calling as believers and are not speaking out and upholding God's holiness. We are choosing to let darkness and sin prevail and take root in people's lives. Therefore, we must earnestly strive so that God will help us live in His holiness, so that we may be given the power to help and guide others to God's holiness with His love and wisdom. Amin… God bless you…

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MAKE JESUS THE CENTER OF YOUR LIFE

Romans 14:8-9

In the middle of the 2nd century, there was a bishop in the church of Smyrna named Polycarp. Polycarp was a direct disciple of John, meaning that he still met people who were eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus and the apostles. At that time, Christians refused to worship the emperor and Roman gods, but secretly worshipped Christ in their own homes, and were considered pagans. The people of Smyrna hunted down Christians, shouting, "Away with the atheists!" Polycarp left the city at the request of others to hide in a field belonging to a friend. When soldiers came to the field, they tortured a slave to find out about Polycarp. Although he had the opportunity to escape, Polycarp chose to stay, determined, "God's will be done." Unexpectedly, he received them like guests, fed them, and asked for an hour to pray. He prayed for two hours.

On their way back to Smyrna, the chief soldier leading the troops said, "What's wrong with calling the Emperor God and offering incense?" Calmly, Polycarp said that he would not do it. The Roman governor who was trying him sought a way to free the old bishop. "Respect your age, old man," the Roman governor exclaimed. "Swear by the Emperor's good fortune. Change your mind and cry out, 'Away with the atheists!'

Upon arriving at the place of execution, the Roman governor said to Polycarp: "Take an oath and I will release you. Blaspheme Christ!" Polycarp stood firm and replied, "For 86 years I have served Christ, and He has never wronged me. How can I blaspheme the King [Christ] who has saved me?" The Roman governor threatened to throw him to the wild beasts. "Bring on the beasts!" exclaimed Polycarp. "If that will change a bad situation for the better, but not a better situation for the worse." When threatened with being burned at the stake, Polycarp replied, "Your fire will burn for only one hour, then it will be extinguished, but the fire of the coming judgment is eternal."

The Roman governor ordered him to be burned alive. He was tied to a stake and burned. However, according to an eyewitness, his body was not consumed by the fire but there was a sweet aroma, like the fragrance of frankincense or expensive spices." When an executioner stabbed him, his blood flowed to extinguish the fire. Thus Polycarp died in his loyalty to the Lord Jesus.

My brothers and sisters, have we ever asked ourselves, to whom do I belong? To whom do I dedicate myself? Many people believe that their lives belong to themselves, and that's what is often taught in motivational classes. The question is, did we ever plan to live in this world? Or were we ever asked for our opinion on how, where, and when we would live? The answer is no! Because when we become aware, we find that we are already alive! Entering this new year 2026, God brings us to reflect on what is the center of your life? And who do you focus your life on? For whom we do everything?

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 14:8-9 “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.”

Beloved, this verse is in the context when Paul was giving advice to the Roman congregation not to judge each other regarding food and certain days. Paul wants to emphasize that they are not masters of other people's lives, so they do not have any right to control them. In verse 4 it says, "Who are you, that you judge another man's servant? Whether he stands, whether he falls, that is his master's own business. But he will remain standing, because God has the power to keep him standing." Next in verse 7 it says, "For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies to himself." It turns out that no one has the right to themselves. So today we want to think together that the Lord Jesus should have full rights over our lives and be the center of our lives?

Why should we make Jesus the center of our lives?

1. Because we belong to God.

My brothers and sisters, the answer to the question of whose we are and to whom we should dedicate our lives can be found in these verses. It is astonishing when someone does not acknowledge that there is a God who created them. Our lives belong to God, and He should be the center of our lives. How foolish it is when someone refuses to allow God to have complete sovereignty over their life!  Even more foolish is the person who believes that God created their life and is the owner of their life, yet refuses to acknowledge that God has full rights over their life! Therefore, in this first part, we want to reflect on the fact that our lives belong to the Lord, and He has complete sovereignty over our lives.

My brothers and sisters, it is said in verse 8, "for if we live, ... and if we die," this shows that in all circumstances, both in life and in death, a person belongs to God. Living and dying for God means being dedicated to God. This means that a person does not live for their own interests, satisfaction, pleasure, and purposes, but everything is to please and glorify God. Everything done must be in accordance with God's will, must proceed according to His plan, and must be centered on God. Paul wants to emphasize how our lives and deaths are before God to glorify God.

“We live for God…and die for God,” speaking of life and death means not just one aspect, but speaking of the entirety of life, not just about “spiritual” life, worship, service, and other related things, but speaking about the wholeness of life, how we live in our families, work, social life, and so on, and how we die.

Living and dying for God emphasizes that the story of our journey is not about ourselves, but the story of God working in us. We should make Jesus the center of our lives. When we experience anything in life we ​​are reminded that this is not about me, but about God who works so that we will not be controlled by fear. This life belongs to God and to God so it is impossible for Him to remain silent, or it is impossible for Him to plan an accident, it is impossible for Him to plan destruction. But He will shape and educate and guide us to His purposes and according to His ways and will. Even when other people hurt and harm us, we will not hold grudges and be down because it is not us who are hurt but that person who hurts God's heart. We are not controlled by revenge but instead are controlled by God's love, to pray for that person before God.

If we say that our lives belong to God, then we need to ask ourselves: do we include God in every life decision we make every day? How do we live our lives with God at the center of everything we do?

2. Because we are redeemed and saved by Jesus.

Are we, who are spiritually dead, able to center our lives on God?

We are sinful human beings who cannot please God, let alone make God the center of our lives. We need the Lord Jesus to redeem and save us. In verse 9 it says, “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.”

My brothers and sisters, Christ died and rose again so that we might have a life centered on Him. Paul says this in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Now God has enabled us to focus our lives on Him, and He wants to perform miraculous works in our lives. Paul did not want to waste the salvation he had received. He wanted to dedicate his entire life to working for the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

So when living our days, we need to ask ourselves:

Do we put God first in every life decision we make every day? How do we live the days of our lives by making God the center of our lives?

]]> Sun, 11 Jan 2026 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20260111 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000282 imblog

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

The cross is the focal point of the whole of Scripture, and therefore there are a lot of places you can go to choose for that heart preparation. And I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 10. I thank the Lord explains what might be helpful to you as we enter the year 2026. And it is a warning to a blessed people. Like the Corinthians who had the privilege of being founded by Paul, who spent time building that church.

To think about Corinth was to think about the ultimate kind of idolatry, and the very ultimate life of sexual immorality. And right in the midst of that paganism came the apostle Paul, and the Lord planted a church there. It became a remarkable church, and yet in the midst of its privilege, they were living on the edge of danger and had to receive many exhortations lest they’d have to forfeit all of its privileges.

Let me read the first half of this chapter through verse 13, “Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.”

“5 Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did. 7 Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party. 8 Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died.”

“9 Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. 11 These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. 13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity.”

“But God is faithful; He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.” That is a dramatic portion of Scripture, and it refers back to the nation of Israel and us, that fell under divine judgment. It happened to the people of Israel. Paul knew that he lived, in the imminent reality that that could happen to him.

Paul didn’t overestimate his spiritual powers. He knew that he needed to discipline his body, to bring it into subjection so that he didn’t forfeit his ministry by falling into sin. And that is essentially the key to the passage before us, and it is verse 12, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” The danger of being so blessed that you become overconfident. You cannot flaunt privileges without danger.

The apostle Paul has many warnings to the church in his writings. Apparently the Corinthian church ignored self-denial and self-control. They exercised undisciplined liberties. They were living on the edge of disaster and the forfeiture of divine blessing. And so, the apostle Paul draws the illustration from Israel to warn all churches, including ours, of the danger of being greatly blessed and taking that for granted.

Now, I want to break this up, by talking first of all about the blessings in verses 1–5, “I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea.” It is repeated five times in the opening verses, stressing the fact that the whole nation of Israel received the privileges of divine blessing. “All” who belonged to that nation were under the cloud. All of Israel was blessed.

Well, he’s simply talking about the tremendous privileges that came on the people of Israel when they were led out of Egypt and they were led to the land of Canaan. All were under the cloud. What is the cloud? Exodus 13:21 says, “The Lord went before them by day, in a pillar of cloud, to lead them, and by night, it was a pillar of fire.” The whole nation passed through the Red Sea. They all experienced that.

Verse 2 says they were all baptized into Moses. They were immersed into his leadership. They were identified with him. They were one with their leader. They were united, as a community, with one leader. They all had, then, this divinely-appointed and divinely-prepared and divinely-gifted leader, and they were led as a united community. They all enjoyed that union with that great leader Moses.

Now, these are all analogous to the experience of salvation. We have all been delivered from the domain of darkness, which is like Egypt. We have all been led through the waters of escape. We have all been brought to a place where we’re under the direction of God. We have all been baptized into identification with our leader, Jesus Christ. That’s the imagery here. We are all together as one people in Christ.

And the Israelites, verse 3-4, “They all ate the same spiritual food; 4 they all drank the same spiritual drink.” In other words, God provided water and food for them in the wilderness. Look at the manna from heaven and the birds that would hover off the ground and provide nourishment for them for the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness. They were privileged, rescued, guided, fed and nourished.

And that’s analogous to the salvation experience of the Corinthians and us as well. We have all been delivered, under the direction of our Lord, united with Him as one, and our souls are constantly fed. And then a statement in verse 4, “For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them; and that rock was Christ.” We’re going to start a series on finding Christ in the Old Testament; in Exodus 17.

Christ is often appearing as the Angel of the Lord. That is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. He never allowed them to thirst; He never allowed them to hunger. In a way, we could say the manna and the water were evidence of the presence of Christ who followed them. He was the rock that followed them. But the eternal Son, the second member of the Trinity, was the caretaker of the people of Israel.

So, what are we talking about here? I’m just giving you an overview. “Being led through the sea,” that’s emancipation. “Under the cloud,” that’s guidance. “Baptism into Moses,” that’s identification with a new assembly and one leader. “Manna and water,” sustenance. And all of this provided for them and for us by Christ Himself. This is to talk about how blessed they were and how blessed we are.

Then comes in verse 5, “Nevertheless, God was not well-pleased with most of them.” Yes, everybody but two: Joshua and Caleb. And they all died in the wilderness except those two. Numbers 14:16 says, “Since the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.” And verse 5 says they were struck down”, like corpses in the desert.

They were what Paul feared being: disqualified. Paul had a sensible fear that he, too, could lose his approved status for service – not his salvation, but his usefulness – if he didn’t practice self-denial and self-control. And I look at our church, and I say we are profoundly blessed. And yet, I am sure there are many in our church congregation with whom the Lord is not well-pleased. In fact, there are many whose life breaks His heart.

We always stand on the brink of losing that blessing and that divine favor, if the Lord determines that that is so widespread as to remove us from the place of blessing. Let’s look from the assets or the blessings in verses 1 - 5, to the abuses in verses 6 - 10. Verse 6 says, “These things happened as examples for us so that we could not crave evil things as they also craved.” The loss of privilege is related to the craving of evil.

“Craving evil things” that’s worldliness in a very general sense. And those are the things that define the world in which we live. The New Testament says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,” in 1 John 2. They had been blessed and sustained by God, but they became disqualified to go into the Promised Land because they failed to bring their hearts into full devotion to Christ.

You will notice in verse 7, “Do not be idolaters, as some of them were.” That hits the big issue in Corinth. The Christians there were saying, “We can go back to our idolatry festivals; we can go back to the celebrations, the social events.” Paul addresses this in the letter. The Gentiles sacrifice to demons and not to God, and you can’t be a sharer in demons, and you can’t drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.

And we see that with Israel. Barely out of Egypt and already they have defected in their worship of God and created a golden calf and are bowing down to that golden calf – not only bowing down to it, but committing all kinds of horrendous sins in front of that golden calf. And so, that is the warning here – idolatry. They fell into idolatry; the Corinthians lapsed into the kind of activities that belonged to idolatry.

And further, verse 7 says, “The people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play.” That’s taken out of Exodus 32. And what it’s referring to is that they literally engaged themselves in an idol kind of orgy, horrible kinds of behavior. I’m talking about sexual immorality. And that is further explained in verse 8, “Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.”

It was an ugly scene at the golden calf. Exodus tells us that the people were actually naked. God killed 3,000 of them in that one moment, and in all, 23,000 perished. That would have been a good indication that God was removing favor. In fact, you can read about that in Numbers 25. He killed 23,000. The next day, God even did away with a thousand more of them, disqualified from usefulness and blessing.

Verse 9 and Matthew 4:7 says, “Do not test the Lord your God as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes.” Those words come out of the mouth of Jesus at His temptation when Satan came after Him. You don’t test God even by diving off the corner of the temple to fulfill a prediction given in the Old Testament. How much can we get away with? That’s the wrong question. How much can we be like the Savior? That’s the right question.

There’s another sin here in verse 10. Complaining, being dissatisfied and verbalizing it. Exodus 16:2 says, “The whole congregation complained against God, and almost 15,000 people died because they complained. And it says in Numbers 16 they were killed by the destroyer, the judgment angel. The rabbis called him Mashit, he destroyed the Assyrians in 2 Chronicles 32. And here, the death angel executes complainers.

So, there are the abuses of the children of Israel: worldliness, idolatry, immorality, presumption, living on the edge and complaining. And they are results of lack of self-denial, lack of self-control, lack of godly pursuits. They are abuses of freedom and abuses of privilege, flirting with the world and its morals, pushing the patience of God to the limits, complaining when you don’t get what you want.

So, the admonition comes to us in verses 11 -12. The ends of the ages is the messianic period. The last age is before the kingdom. In the book of Revelation there are warnings given to the church. Like to the church at Sardis in Rev. 3:3, “Remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. And if you don’t wake up, I’ll come like a thief, and you’ll not know at what hour I will come.”

You can’t live any way you want to live and continue to enjoy the pleasure of God and the blessing of God. The person who will suffer the consequences in his or her own life, but we are concerned about sin in the church for the sake of the church, for the sake of the testimony of Christ. Like verse 12 says, but we need to take heed that we do not fall. And that means personal vigilance in every life.

We understand the dangers of pushing the liberties in this culture. And expose yourself to things that are evil that do not build you up. We know the danger of that at every level. The Lord has been gracious to protect us as we submit ourselves to the standards of the Word of God, as we do what Paul said, beating our body into submission so that we don’t become disqualified. And I say that to every individual here.

Then verse 13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you’re able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape also so that you will be able to endure it.” That’s a very important, encouraging, final word. How can I deal with the temptations that the devil has placed into the system in which I live?

What does that mean? That is to say it is humanly bearable, it is normal; it is not superhuman, it is not supernatural; you cannot claim to be overpowered by anything. We all face the same things, and we can deal with them. We can’t blame God; we can’t blame the Devil. Further, he says, and this is even more wonderful, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you’re able.”

God is controlling those temptations so that none comes to us for which we will not be able to win or to triumph. Furthermore, we’ll also be provided by God the way of escape so that you may be able to endure. Nothing superhuman, nothing more than you can handle. And God knows what you can handle. And always a way out. That is God’s promise. And He promises us here to do that. There is always a way out.

We can learn from the example of the people of Israel. We can learn from the example of the disobedient Corinthians. We can learn even more from the testimony of Holy Scripture that the Lord is there in the midst of all of our temptations to show us the way out. That puts the responsibility clearly with us to remain in the place of blessing, to learn from the warnings of the past, and the tragedies of the past. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Jan 2026 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20260104 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000281 imblog

The Greatest Joy

Luke 2:10-11

Shalom! Merry Christmas!

My brothers and sisters, living in happiness and joy is the desire of us all. Or is there anyone here who doesn't want to be happy? What makes us joyful/happy? We are happy because of success in our family, work, and studies. Happy because we receive news about something we have been waiting for for a long time. Today we want to reflect on God's word with the theme "The Greatest Joy".

Let's open our Bibles, Luke 2:10-11 “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

“But the angel said to them,” my brothers and sisters, this verse from God's word explains that the news of Jesus' birth and arrival in the world did not come from human invention, but this news is news from heaven, therefore it was delivered by an angel who is a messenger from God to mankind.

Why is the news of Jesus' birth the greatest joyful news, or the news that brings the most joy?

a. The news about Jesus is that He is the Savior.

“Today a Savior has been born for you.”

Why do we need a savior? The fall of mankind into sin caused humanity to lose the glory of God, resulting in a broken relationship between humanity and God, and leaving humanity in darkness and under the penalty of death. So no human being is saved; everyone will surely die. So what is the solution for humanity to be saved? There must be a savior for humanity. Then, does it have to be Jesus who saves sinful humanity? Is there no other way? Perhaps some would say, can't we humans do good deeds, help others, and please others? Can't humans be saved by following the teachings of their religion, even if their religion doesn't believe in Jesus? Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Romans 3:10 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” Romans 3:23 says, 'for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Humans can design and create many things, but what humans cannot do is resolve their own sins.

My brothers and sisters, sin is committed by humans, and it is humans who must resolve the problem of sin. To resolve sin requires perfection according to God's demands, but there is no human being in this world who is perfect, who is without sin. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 it says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin." The Bible clearly states that Jesus is holy and without sin, so only He can pay the debt of human sin to God. In Matthew 1:21 it says, "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." This is what Peter emphasized in his sermon in Acts 4:12, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."

My brothers and sisters, this news is the greatest news of joy and happiness for the world, because it speaks of the birth of the only person who can save humanity from the bondage of sin and darkness.  The one who solves humanity's greatest problem. No religion or amount of good deeds, no matter how many or how good, can save us; therefore, without Jesus we would surely perish, without Jesus we would be controlled by darkness. Celebrating Christmas reminds us that humanity, corrupted by sin, cannot justify or save itself, and all our efforts cannot bring us before God; therefore, God Himself came into the world.

If this were the last day of your life, do you have the assurance of salvation? Do you believe that Jesus is the only Savior? Has this message become the most joyful news for you? Have you shared this message with others? The presence of Jesus as Savior in your heart will be a source of strength in living life in this world, because you know that this world is temporary and in time you will be with God in heaven.

b. The news about Jesus being the Messiah and Lord.

“A Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.”

The word Christ comes from the Greek word Christos or Messiah from the Hebrew word, meaning the anointed one or the chosen one. Jesus was anointed to carry out the mission of redemption; He came to be the mediator between God the Father and sinful humanity. In the Old Testament, those who were anointed were kings, priests, and prophets to carry out God's commands, but in the New Testament, all of these roles are embodied in Jesus. As a prophet, He Himself came to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. As a priest, He came to offer His life. As a king, it means He is the possessor of supreme authority; this relates to the word Lord in this verse, which comes from the Greek word κύριος (kurios), meaning Lord or Master.

The word God shows that Jesus is the Owner, Ruler, who is fully sovereign. The word κύριος (kurios) emphasizes that Jesus is God who must receive the highest honor. In John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God and the Word was God." He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made”. Verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

We see here that he is a King and God who not only lives in the highest place, but he is a God who wants to come down close to his people, he is even a God who wants to live in our hearts. Therefore it is said that He is God Immanuel. In Isaiah 9:5-6 it is said that He is "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Great is his power, and peace will never end on the throne of David and in his kingdom." The presence of Jesus as King and Lord in our hearts is the only key to our peace with God the Father, peace with others, where we become children of God who are peacemakers.

This is the greatest favorite news because it speaks about the Word that God wanted to come into the world for you and me. All happiness outside of Christ is temporary and will only lead humans to eternal destruction. This greatest happiness can only be experienced if we truly accept Jesus as the only Lord and Savior in our hearts.

]]> Sat, 20 Dec 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251220 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000280 imblog

Colossians 1:15-19

We are tonight going to look at Colossians 1, and one that speaks to me of the most important personality in the universe. That is, the God of heaven revealed as the Son. This is the very heartbeat of Christianity. This is the very foundation of our faith. That is, the issue of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is Paul’s theme. Now, this is a vital passage to the argument for the whole of Christianity.

If you understand the Bible, it is the book about Christ, the Lord Jesus. In the Old Testament, there is the preparation for Jesus coming. In the gospels, there is the presentation of Christ. In the Acts, there is the salvation in Christ. In the epistles, we have the personification. That is, “For to me to live is Christ,” or how Christ, who has died and risen from the grave, and returns to live in His people.

In Revelation, there is the predomination of the Christ, the reign of the King. So, in every sense, the Bible is Christ’s story. It is the book that tells us all about Him. You can begin at any point in the Scripture and teach Jesus. In Luke 24:27, Christ said, after His resurrection, to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, He expounded to them all the Scriptures.”

The Hagiographa, the holy writings, “the things concerning Himself.” The Old Testament was to the Jew and still is, divided into three parts: Moses, the Pentateuch; the prophets, all the prophetic books; and the Hagiographa, or the Scriptures or the sacred writings, which make up the books of the poetry and history. In all of those things, Jesus, “Gave them the things concerning Himself.”

So, the Bible is the book about the revelation of God and the coming of Christ into the world. It is about God becoming a man. In every aspect of the Bible, facets of this are made clear. But of all the statements in the Bible, in the Word of God about God becoming man, none is more significant than the one in Colossians 1:15-19, for here we have the identification of Jesus Christ, the Son as God very clearly.

Verse 15-19, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning,

The firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” That is a vital statement to the understanding of the Christian faith and the removal of any confusion over who our Lord Jesus Christ really is. Paul understands that there is a certain false system of doctrine being propagated at Colossae in terms of a heresy in Colossae.

The heretics are saying that Christ is not God; that He is not sufficient for salvation; that in addition to Christ, there must be the worship of other spirits and there must be special visions. The heretics said that Jesus Christ is only one in a long line of emanating spirits descending from God. So, the attack of this heresy, later developed into Gnosticism which attacked the deity of Christ.

Paul says that there does not need to be anything in addition to Christ to bring a man to perfection. He is arguing against the theology of these heretics who are saying, “It is Christ plus knowledge plus special visions.” Colossians 2:2 says, “I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, Christ.”

Colossians 3:1-4 says, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Everything is Christ. Our life is Christ. All perfection is in Christ.

In the first three chapters of Colossians, he is saying to the Colossian people, “Please don’t let anybody make you think that you need Christ plus some other angels plus some other super-knowledge plus some other visions. All you need is Christ. That’s all you need.” Colossians 1:19 says, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him.” So, Paul is counteracting the heresy that arrived at Colossae.

Paul tells the Colossians that Jesus is not an emanation from God. He is God in human flesh. Now he drives right in on the main issue. He thanks God for the salvation that they enjoy in verses 12 to 14; the redemption and the forgiveness of sins. This one, who has redeemed us, who has forgiven us, who has delivered us from the power of darkness; this one who is the dear Son, is the image of the invisible God.

Now, in Colossians 1:15 - 19, we want to see Jesus Christ in relation to five things. We’ll see Him in relation to God, in relation to the universe, in relation to the unseen world, in relation to the church, and in relation to anything else that might be left. First of all, Jesus in His relation to God, verse 15. Here’s a great definition of His relationship with God. “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Paul says, “Christ is God.” In fact, in verse 16, he says, “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him.” So Paul wants to make it clear that Jesus is God, that He is God in flesh, and that He is the Creator of the universe. To begin with, God is invisible.

In 1 Timothy, it tells us that God is invisible. It tells us in the Old Testament that God is invisible, that God cannot be seen. God became a man, and Christ was God made visible. Now, in Genesis 1:27, we have the use of the term “image.” It says, “God made man in His own image and likeness,” but that is not what Paul means here. First Corinthians 11:7 says, “A man is the image and glory of God.”

God created man in His image. But man is not a perfect image of God. In what way is a man the image of God? Well, in terms of the ability to think, to feel and to decide. We are certainly not made in the moral image of God. He’s holy; we’re not. But we are created in God’s image in the sense of personality. You come into the quality of God’s character essentially because God gives you eternal life.

So, it is Christ who is the only really, true, perfect, flawless, absolutely accurate image of the invisible God. Were it not for Him being in the image of God, none of us would ever be able to approximate it. Hebrews 1:2 says in a statement about Christ, “The Son” or His Son, “who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.” The Son, that is Christ, is the brightness of His glory.

Secondly, in Hebrews 1:3 it says, “He is the express image of His person,” the exact image. The substance is the same. The word there, “image” is used in Greek for a stamp or an engraving tool that made an exact stamp, an exact reproduction. Jesus is the exact reproduction of God; nothing missing and altered. John 1:18 says, “No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son has declared Him.”

In Philippians 2:6-7, “Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.” The Hebrews couldn’t see God, but invariably, they could hear God. John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

God is revealed verbally. No wonder it says in Hebrews 1:1-2 that “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.” The revelation of God was always His Word, and the Word is Christ. Christ is the identical thought and expression of God. Jesus said in John 14:9, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Matthew 17:2, “He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light.” Verse 5 says, “A voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!” He revealed himself, He rolled back His flesh, and said, “You see God now in His Shekinah glory.” The Son, then, is the only perfect representation of God.

If God were man, we would expect Him to be sinless. Jesus was. If God were a man, we would expect Him to speak the greatest words ever spoken. He did. If God were a man, we would expect Him to exert a profound influence on human personality. And He did. If God were a man, we would expect that He would do miracles with ease, and He did. If God were a man, we would expect Him to love, and He did.

In Colossians 1:15 it says, “The firstborn of all creation.” That particular phrase has caused people a lot of trouble, because they don’t understand what He’s saying. This is a reference, beloved, to position not time. He is not the first created being in terms of time. Christ was never created. He said in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Revelation calls Him the One who was, and is, and is to come.”

What does “firstborn” mean? Prtotokos the Greek term refers to position. It refers to rank; it refers to right of authority, to primacy; not to chronology. The firstborn is the one who has the rights of inheritance. In the Jewish context, everybody knew that. Even in the Gentile context, everybody understands that. They had no question in Colossae about what he was referring to; that Christ was the honored One, the Father’s heir.

Here is Christ, taking the title deed to the earth as the prtotokos to take over and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. Sadly the one thing Satan wants to do is make sure nobody really believes Jesus is God, make sure nobody really believes that He is not a creature, but that He is the primary one of all personalities. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.”

He claimed in Matthew 28:18.divine authority over the law, over the Sabbath, and over the tradition of the elders. He claimed power to forgive sin, and power to raise Himself from the dead. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him, were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible, and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.”

Who created everything? Christ, not some sub-God, not some evil being. Christ. He is the Creator-God. He created for Himself and He created for His glory, as well as by Himself. Hebrews 1:2 says, “By whom also He made the worlds.” By His dia. In the Greek it means “through.” Through Christ, the worlds were made.” Verse 17 says, He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.

If the earth’s rotation slowed down, we would alternately freeze and burn. So, it has to rotate at the same speed constantly. If the temperature of the sun changed from 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the same thing would happen. Our earth is tilted at, at a 23-degree angle. It enables us to have four seasons. If the moon didn’t remain at the exact distance that it is, the ocean tides would drown us. Christ holds it all together.

1 Peter 3:22 says, “He is Jesus Christ who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels, authorities and powers being made subject to Him.” He is over the angels. We see Jesus then, in relation to God, in relation to the world, in relation to the unseen world. Fourth, we see Jesus in relation to the church. Verse 18, “He is the head of the church body: who is the beginning, that in all things He might have preeminence.”

Four great truths are presented here about Christ. Number one, He is the head of the body, the church. The church is called the, “body of Christ.” It’s an organic thing. Christ is like the head, and we are those parts that function in response to the domination of the brain. Suffice it to say, that the church is an organism. As He lives within all of us the same life, we are joined inseparably to Him and to one another.

Christ causes growth and guidance to occur in the body. He rules the church. We are in response to Him. He’s not just one of many. Then secondly, “He is the beginning of the church.” The sense of source and rank. In the sense of primacy, He is the “pioneer.” The number one, and also it means “source.” He is its originating power, and the chief or primary one in the church.

Then Paul says, “He is the firstborn,” from the dead. Of all the people who’ve ever been raised from the dead, He is the chief. He is the greatest. Fourthly, that in all things He has the preeminence. Because He died on the cross and was raised from the dead, the Father highly exalts Him, In relation to God, the universe, the unseen world and the church, we see Christ. Lastly, Christ in relation to everything else.

Verse 19 says. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Just in case anything got left out, there is nothing in anybody else of God. The powers of deity, the attributes of sovereignty were not distributed among a multitude of beings. They are possessed by one manifest, Christ. That’s what they were teaching. You don’t need other spirits. You don’t need other beings. “In Him all fullness dwells.”

John Owen said, “The revelation made of Christ, and the blessed gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, more filled with rays of divine wisdom and goodness than the whole creation, and the just comprehension of it. Without the knowledge hereof, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion. Just turn to Jesus Christ to be restored.

Our Father, we are grateful for what you’ve taught us again tonight, as we’ve seen Christ. I thank you for these precious people, for their love for you, for their faithfulness to come and to hear and to teach and to go out and to live these truths. Thank you for what they mean to me, for how they encourage me, and how they rub against me as stone upon stone to sharpen me, how they force me to be diligent. Let us pray.

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POOR IN SPIRIT

MATTHEW 5:1-3

Shalom! Let's read the Bible in Matthew 5:1-3. This passage talks about Jesus sermon on the mount. In chapter 4:23-25, it is said that news spread about Jesus teaching, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and performing many miracles, healing many sick people and freeing people from demonic possession, so that people began to follow Him. They were amazed by what Jesus did because it could not be done by religious leaders. Jesus could do all of that because He is indeed the powerful God. Furthermore, it is said, "When Jesus saw the crowds," Jesus paid special attention to them, and Jesus understood very well what they needed, in Matthew 9:36 it says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus knew that without the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, all people would be lost and live without hope.

In verse 2, "Then Jesus began to speak and teach them." Jesus did perform many miracles, and these served as a bridge or entry point for the Lord Jesus to accomplish His main purpose. Jesus' main purpose in coming into the world was to teach and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus preached and which He Himself accomplished in His suffering, is the primary need of all humanity; only the Gospel can heal and renew the hearts of all people.  Furthermore, it says, "He went up on the mountain and sat down," Jesus did not want to waste any opportunity; wherever, whenever, and in whatever circumstance, He wanted to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

The beautiful example and teaching of the Lord Jesus is that He did everything according to His ultimate purpose. My brothers and sisters, we say and believe that we are disciples of Christ, so we need to reflect and evaluate ourselves: are our purposes aligned with the purposes of Jesus? Is our heart moved by compassion when we see people who are lost?

Poor in Spirit

In verse 3 it says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The Lord Jesus began His sermon with the word "blessed," which means fortunate or happy, affirming that Jesus indeed came into the world to declare His blessings to humanity, although the blessings that the Lord Jesus gives are very different from those of the world. Many think that happy people are those who are rich, powerful, or hold high positions, so people compete to pursue all of these things. However, in His initial sermon, the Lord Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." It turns out that true happiness is experienced not because a person possesses all worldly possessions, but when a person is "poor in spirit." What exactly did Jesus mean by being poor in the sight of God?

In Greek, there are two words for poor: the first is Penes (πενης), which describes someone whose income is only enough to survive from day to day. Their hard work is only sufficient to meet basic needs. This means that a person who is poor in the sense of penes still has the strength and ability to earn a living. The second is Ptochos (πτωχός), which describes extreme poverty, where a person is completely unable to meet their basic needs and therefore depends entirely on the mercy of others. This depicts a beggar who only asks for alms from others, perhaps due to physical weakness, or any other reason that prevents them from being able to work.

In this passage, Jesus uses the Greek word “Ptochos (πτωχός)” to explain that if you do not realize that you are truly poor in the sense of having nothing and being unable to do anything except "beg" for God's mercy, then you will not experience true happiness and blessings.

Jesus was not speaking about material poverty, so it doesn't mean that all materially poor people are necessarily happy. Rather, Jesus was speaking about a person's attitude of heart before God. "Poor in spirit" means having humility before God, realizing that one possesses nothing, recognizing one's unworthiness before God as a sinner, and realizing that one has nothing to boast about before God and humanity. "Poor in spirit" indicates that a person is fully aware that God is the only person they need in life.

In the Bible, there is a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector who went to the temple (Luke 18:9-14). The Pharisee proudly boasted about all the righteous deeds he had done, even comparing himself as better than the tax collector. He thought that with all of that, he was righteous and worthy to stand before God. “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Let's look at the comparison between those who consider themselves righteous and those who consider themselves sinful. A person who is poor in the sight of God is someone who realizes that they are sinful, weak, and limited, and therefore in need of God's mercy. The tax collector is an example of someone who is "poor in spirit", and God justified him.

Jesus' teaching about being "poor in spirit" before God should be the foundation of a believer's life because it is the gateway through which one enjoys God's grace, mercy, and justification. Without humility before God, it is impossible for a person to live in complete surrender to Him. Without humility before God, what controls a person is all kinds of pride and arrogance.

Furthermore, it says, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The Lord Jesus connects "poor in spirit" with possessing the Kingdom of Heaven, because the Kingdom of Heaven is indeed prepared by God for everyone who is willing to humble themselves before Him and acknowledge their inability to attain it. With full awareness that they have no ability whatsoever to reach heaven, they therefore depend solely on God's mercy. Heaven will never be possessed by anyone who still feels "rich", which shows their pride, feeling that they can do everything and therefore do not need God in their lives and to obtain the Kingdom of Heaven.

My brothers and sisters, what is it in our lives that still makes us feel "rich", worthy, or capable? We feel we have done so much for God, we feel we don't need His mercy. Ask God to crush all pride and self-centeredness within us, so that God's mercy may truly be experienced by you and me both in this world and in eternity.  May you strive to have a "poor" life, fully dependent on God, and may you enjoy true happiness and blessings from the Lord.

]]> Sun, 07 Dec 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251207 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000027E imblog

1 Corinthians 9:1-14

I praise the Lord for the opportunity to share again out of the Word with you. But I have to admit, that this is one of the most difficult messages I’ve ever had to preach. It’s difficult because the message deals with six reasons why the preacher should be paid. I’ve never preached on this, but it happens to be in 1 Corinthians 9. And we’ll be in chapter 10 in the future, as soon as we finish this subject.

The grace of Jesus Christ has been extended abundantly to me through the gifts of the people at this church. I receive far more than I am worthy of and far more than I deserve. So, this is not in application to me. This is what we are to teach the whole counsel of God. And that the spirit of God has a reason and a purpose for having us talking about certain things at certain times, and I just leave it in His hands.

Paul is answering questions that the Corinthians asked. One of the questions they asked regarded eating meat that had been offered to an idol. In that pagan society, people would sacrifice meats to idols. Now, the meat that wasn’t burnt on the altar would wind up somewhere else. The priests would take it and sell it, or the people would take it back and sell it, or they would take it back and serve it on their table.

So, Christians were in situations where they would be eating meat that had been offered to an idol. And some of the Christians were wondering whether this was right or not. Well, the Corinthian people, the mature ones were saying, “What’s the difference? An idol isn’t anything. And God isn’t really too concerned about food. It isn’t what goes in you that defiles you; it’s what comes out of you, says Christ. So, eat up.”

But some of the new Christians, who had just been saved out of idol worship found it very difficult to do that, because that whole thing represented a way of life that was distasteful to them that they had rejected. And to see some Christians just eating up and having a great time eating this meat became very offensive. They were so against toward their old life from which they had been delivered by Christ.

I mean the Bible didn’t forbid it. They were right; it was all right. But there were Christians who were being injured by it. So, Paul introduces a principle in chapter 8, which we studied last time. And the principle is this: you may have the freedom to do something, but don’t do it if it’s going to hurt somebody else. Don’t do it if it’s going wound somebody else. Don’t do it if it’s going to grief somebody else.

Now, having stated that important principle, Paul wants to illustrate it. And he wants us to understand what this principle is like, and he gives two illustrations. One is from the life of Israel, and one is from his own life. The one from his own life makes up chapter 9. Here is the life of Paul of how he had a liberty that he could have used, but he didn’t use it because somebody would have been offended.

What is that liberty? It is the right to get support from the church. He had the right to expect the Corinthian church to pay him money for his ministry, to support him, to provide his needs. But he chose not to use that right, and he rather made tents all through his ministry and earn his own living because he felt, in the early birth of the church, that to demand that right would have become an offense to many people.

Paul was so conscientious about how he would come across that throughout his entire ministry, he never exercised the right he had to ask for support. He worked with his hands, always earning his own way. Now, he’s going to tell us about that liberty that he set aside. But first, he gives, in verses 1 - 14, five reasons why the minister is worthy of support. And then he shows, in verses 15 - 18, why he didn’t choose to use that liberty.

Let’s look, first at these six reasons why Paul could have asked for support. That’s just what he’s talking about: why is it that a minister of God, a servant of God, in whatever ministry he has is worthy of the support of the people? Reason number one, in Paul’s case, is that he was an apostle. Verse 1, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?”

So Paul says, “All right, I’m agreeing with your opinion. Am I not free? I’m not just a Christian like the rest of you. Am I not an apostle? As especially appointed apostle by Christ, do I not at least have the liberty that you do, and maybe just more? Don’t I have the same freedom you do?” And yet I set my liberty aside because I don’t want to offend anybody.” And then he gives two reasons for his apostleship.

“Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” Now, the qualification for an apostle was that he be appointed by the resurrected Christ. An apostle had to be appointed by Jesus Christ personally, which means he would have had to have seen the resurrected Christ. Had Paul ever seen the resurrected Christ? He says, “Yes, I have seen the Lord.” In Acts 1:22, it says that whoever was to take up the place of Judas, had to have seen Christ.

In Acts 9, Paul was walking along on the Damascus Road, on his way to persecute Christians. The Lord stopped him in his tracks. He fell down; he saw the blazing glory of the Lord and was blinded and he said, “Lord, what will You have me do?” He saw the Lord on the Damascus Road. After that He saw the Lord in Jerusalem. And thirdly he had a vision of the Lord in the city of Corinth in Acts 18:9.

So, he had seen the resurrected Lord three times. And he says, “This is proof that He called me into the apostleship. I have seen Him. I am a witness of the living Christ. I am a witness that He is arisen from the dead.” The second thing that he uses to verify his apostleship is in 1 Corinthians 9:1, “Are you not my work in the Lord?” Where do you think you came from? Aren’t you the verification of my ministry?”

Verse 2, “If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” If you want to say that I’m not really an apostle in other cases – the word “apostle” means a sent one. I certainly was a sent one from God, and I brought the message to you, and you are the seal of my apostleship, you in the Lord. The fact that you’re saved ought to be proof enough that I’m an apostle.

In those days, whenever they wanted to accredit anything, they put a seal on it. So, Paul says, “The mark of the genuineness of my apostleship are you in the Lord. You’re a living seal to prove to everyone that I’m a genuine apostle. Now, “As an apostle” - he’s saying - “do not I have liberty? Do not I have a as much freedom as you and maybe even more?” And, of course, the implication is, “Well, yes.”

Verse 3-4, “My defense to those who examine me is this: ⁴ Don’t we have the right to eat and drink?” The word “examine” is a legal term. It talks about making an investigation before you make a decision. “Now, as an apostle, I have liberty. I have freedom to do whatever I want. And one of the things that I have the freedom to do” – he says – “is ask you for money; is to ask you to support me.”

Verse 5, “Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas?” Are you saying that I only and Barnabas have no right to stop working to make money? Everybody else can receive support, and everybody else can marry a Christian sister and take her on the journey, and the believers will not only support him, but the wife as well, but we can’t?”

No, what he’s saying is, “I have a right to support from you. If I wanted to.” He wasn’t married at this time; his wife had most likely died. If I wanted to, I could take a Christian sister as a wife and expect that you would support her as well. That’s my liberty. That’s my right to ask of you.” He is saying that the church has the responsibility to support its leaders, its pastors, its evangelists and its missionaries.

We don’t want to make the Gospel chargeable to the world, but the church does have this responsibility, and the pastor does have the right to ask the church for support. Don’t give me more money. That is not the point. I praise God and thank him. And I have the responsibility of being a steward for what you generously give. But I’m stating the principle that the pastor has to be supported by the church.

Now, the heartbreaking thing is that so many people abuse this. There are charlatans, and there are religious phonies, and there are people in the ministry for the money only. And there will always be abuse of this thing, and it tends to make us very restrictive in how we really operate, and we have to find a balance. And what you have there is a verse that affirms the right of a minister to have an unemployed wife.

That’s a real truth. So many churches don’t see the vision of that, and instead of paying the man of God so that he may support his whole family, they expect the wife to work, when the Bible says he has a right to ask support even for the Christian sister he’s taken as his wife, not only to support her. And the other apostles, James, Jude and Peter and the half-brothers of Jesus Christ, apparently took their wives too.

Because me and my wife are one flesh. And when she’s with me, I can concentrate better on what I’m doing in ministry, and she can be supportive of me, and we share our life together. And as a church, when we ask someone to come and speak here, it would be the thing to do to say, “Would you like to bring your wife? We’d be more than happy to support the coming of your wife so she can share these days with you.”

Verse 6 says, “Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working?” No. Verse 7 is reason number two. It’s the usual custom. “Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?” Who goes to work at any time at his own expense? It is human custom that a man earns his living by his work.

Verse 8 says, “Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing?” He means the law of God. And the question has implied in it a “yes” answer. Verse 9 says, “For it is written in the Law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain. Is God really concerned about oxen?” This is the third reason, God has something to say in Deuteronomy 25:4.

It was an Old Testament principle from the Egyptians that the Israelites picked up. Whenever they wanted to separate the grain from the husk, they would throw all of the stuff on a great flat area. And they would get oxen, and they would tie to the oxen a great, round, flat stone. And the oxen would just walk all over that grain, dragging that stone, crushing the husks and releasing the grain out of it.

And the law said, “Don’t muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads the grain.” That would be inhumane. If the ox is going to drag that rock around all day, he ought to be able to take a few bites now and then. In other words, the principle of the metaphor is a person ought to earn his living out of his labor. And this is exactly what the Bible says, not just human custom. The Bible says don’t muzzle the ox.

Verse 10 says, “Isn’t he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop.” Men ought to be able to earn their living from their labor. And there’s a built-in incentive too. When a person gains his living out of his or her labor, it may tend to make his or her labor all the more diligent.

Paul makes a point in verse 11, “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you?” He says, “Look, Corinthians, if we sowed unto you the things of the spirit, life transforming things, eternal things, is it any big deal that you would give back to us some material things?” But the mentality of Christians has been, “Don’t give them too much. They’re serving God.”

Verse 12 says, “If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don’t we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right; instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ.” Number four reason is to support the ministry is it was done to others. If other people like Peter receive this, shouldn’t we? And especially since Paul was the founder of the church and their spiritual father.

Verse 13 says, “Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar?” The fifth reason for supporting the ministry is that this is the universal pattern. He’s saying it’s always been God’s way; that God’s priests were supported by their priesthood. There were five different offerings that the Jews would bring.

The only thing left would be, according to Genesis 32, the stomach, the entrails, and the sinew from the thigh. But what was left out of the burnt offering was the hide. And the priests would take the hides to sell to make money to live. So, out of the burnt offering came the hide of the animal. The second offering that the Jews gave was the sin offering. Only the fat was burned, and the priest kept all the rest of the meat.

The third offering was the trespass offering. The fat was burned; the priest kept the rest of the meat. There was the meal offering, where they brought flour and wine and oil. A small token of it was burned; the rest of it went to the priests. The peace offering, which was the fifth one, were the fat and the entrails were burned. The priest received the breast and the right shoulder, and all the rest of it went back to the worshipper.

Verse 14 says, “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.” Paul gives five reasons why he had a right to be supported. But he said, “But I didn’t use any of it. I never took anything from you, even though I had a right to do it. Love is the limited exercise of that liberty. I felt that it would be a hindrance, and so I didn’t take the right that I had.”

As we love each other, and as we serve each other, and as we remember the world around us, one of the things we have to do is this. We have to recognize that there are some things that aren’t wrong to do in themselves, but if they are offensive, they are wrong for us. The joy experienced in loving a believer would be infinitely superior to the joy in exercising my liberty to the harm of a believer. Let’s pray.

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Living Fellowship

Acts 2:42-47

My brothers and sisters, let us continue our reflection on the life of the early church. We have already considered that they persevered together in the apostles' teaching, and now we want to learn from their example how to build a healthy and strong fellowship. Let us read Acts 2:42-47. Through this reflection, there are two important points that I want us to reflect on together today.

1. United and of one mind to live in love and sacrifice.

The unity of believers is the desire and prayer of the Lord Jesus, in John 17:21 “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Because by living in unity believers can become witnesses to proclaim Christ and salvation. In these verses there are several very basic things that were done by the early church which showed their unity and agreement in love and sacrifice so that a strong community was built: Gathering together to pray (v. 42), Everything they owned was shared (v. 44), Selling and dividing (v. 45), Gathering every day in the Temple (v. 46), Breaking bread and eating together with joy and sincerity of heart (v. 46).

The actions of the early church demonstrate how the Holy Spirit transformed their hearts and lives as they persevered in listening to the teachings of God's Word. It is clear that the apostles' teachings speak of Jesus as having given and sacrificed everything for sinful mankind. This is what made them realize that God's grace in Christ is the most precious treasure in life and that having Christ is enough for them. Their actions show that they learned to imitate Christ, so they let go of what they had to be a blessing for the expansion of God's kingdom. In 2 Corinthians 8:9 it says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

My brothers, if someone has experienced God's great grace in their life, they cannot possibly live only for themselves. The early church proved their love for God and that they did not depend on wealth for their livelihood. They did not feel that what they possessed was solely for themselves and their families. Rather, everything was entrusted to them by God, so that they could be a blessing to others. This is closely related to the teachings of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The hearts of the early church were no longer attached to worldly things that were only temporary, but with faith they looked to Christ and the eternity he provided. Willingness to love and sacrifice is proof of maturity in faith before God.

A strong fellowship can be built if each person does not only care about themselves, but is willing to sacrifice everything sincerely for the sake of other members of the body of Christ. In Philippians 2:2-5 it says, “then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus”

In the fellowship of believers, sacrifice seems difficult. Sometimes people come to fellowship or church, thinking about what benefits they can receive from the church or from other members. But perhaps very rarely do people think about what they can do or give to the church and to their fellow believers. If we enter the fellowship of the church with only the benefit in mind, that's a big mistake! Because the church will teach you how to live a life of sacrifice, generosity, and sincerity in giving your best to God and others. God's word in Proverbs 11:24 says,“One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.”

2. Be united and of one heart to be witnesses of Christ.

v.47, “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Why were they loved by everyone?

The lives of the early church members were a wonderful witness, and people noticed and blessed them. They not only had strong fellowship within their community, but they were also well-known even to unbelievers because they demonstrated genuine love for others. They were loved by many because they demonstrated a new life, a radical change that was different from those around them. Their lifestyle changed not to seek human praise, but because the Holy Spirit was working to transform their lives. Previously, they were living in evil and only thinking about themselves, but now they are living in righteousness and ready to sacrifice for the advancement of God's kingdom.

How did those around them see their life witness:

- Brotherly love in fellowship: harmony, sharing, and caring for each other.

- Love for one another: kindness, helping others, and sharing with others.

The phrase "And the Lord added to their number " shows that God works in everyone's hearts so that when they see the testimony of life and the preaching of the early church they believe in the Gospel of Christ. So when someone believes in Christ and repents, it is not the work of humans, not the work of those who preach the Gospel but the work of the Holy Spirit who instills faith and understanding of the Gospel of Christ. It is said "who were being saved" meaning that these people are not just following along but they truly believe, have the same determination to persevere in the teachings of the apostles and are committed to building a healthy fellowship. In Acts 1:8,“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Holy Spirit is given so that every believer can be a witness to Christ, conveying the news about Jesus who is Lord and salvation in Him.

In the end, through the truth of God's word that we reflect on today, we need to ask how our fellowship has been? What can we do to build fellowship in love and sacrifice? And to what extent is our fellowship liked by people and a good witness so that people long to join our fellowship? May the Lord Jesus continue to bless us all. Amen!

]]> Sun, 23 Nov 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251123 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000027C imblog

1 Corinthians 8

We’re studying one of the letters that the Lord himself wrote through the apostle Paul; the letter is 1 Corinthians. And open it up and look at 1 Corinthians 8. This letter written to the church at Corinth to correct many of their problems is really the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ to us, to his church. But you recall that we introduced the thought that it is indeed relevant, if not in specific the general principle is very important.

Not many of us are bothered by whether we eat ham, but that was a big problem in the church at Rome as indicated in Romans 14 and 15. And I doubt whether any of us is too concerned about eating meat that has been offered to an idol. Almost all of the meat that was purchased and provided for people to eat had been offered to a god in one way or another. Some of it had been offered as a sacrifice.

One part would be burned to the god, one given to the priest, the third part taken home and eaten. And if you happened to be at someone’s house, you might be eating meat offered to an idol. The priest would take his third, go out the back of the temple and put it in a butcher shop. And they also believed that demons liked to get in people by getting on their food and going in that way as we said last time.

And so everybody would dedicate the meat that they would butcher to a god so that no demon would get on it. So almost every bit of meat that the Corinthians would buy would be in some way dedicated to an idol, and so this became a problem. Having been saved out of paganism, out of idolatry, the new Christians wanted to avoid any contact with that old kind of life. They felt they wanted to run from it.

It’s like an alcoholic who comes to Christ and the best way for him to deal with drinking is to stay as far away as he can. Or like somebody who is a criminal who becomes a Christian staying as far away from old patterns and old friends. He must withdraw himself and turn away from that and have nothing to do with it. The Christians in Corinth, the tendency was to want to run from everything from his old life.

Now that raises the question the Corinthians posed to Paul in 1 Corinthians 8. And it introduces to us the subject of matters that are in that gray area. The Bible did not forbid them to eat meat offered to an idol. So it was in that middle area where they had to make a decision about whether it was right or wrong. Now we call this the gray area and there are decisions in all of our lives that fall into that category.

The facts are that from state to state, from time to time, culture to culture you have very different standards about what is right and wrong. Now the Bible says nothing about smoking or whether or not boys and girls could dance together. That’s a decision every Christian has to make for himself. And there are factors that contribute to that decision. And we shared some of the guidelines for making those kinds of decisions.

Now these gray-area things can be social issues. They can be amusements. They can be pleasures. They can be habits. So it fits a gray area. How does one decide? Well there are two extremes. The one extreme is to just make a list of rules. And you know there are some people who really love that, they feel much more comfortable with a big list of rules and all they have to do is conform to the rules.

There are churches like that where there aren’t any principles about how to live the Christian life; there are just lists of what you can’t do. Now that’s legalism. Now there are some problems with that. Number one, you could never get the church leaders to agree on what the list should include. And number two, it would set up a horrible standard of spirituality. And legalism would become the spiritual standard.

And when that happens then you stifle liberty. You take over the work of the Holy Spirit. You ignore the conscience of a believer, and you set a false standard for spirituality and produce hypocrisy. And there are Christians who live that way. And I’m not sure if they were on that desert and they were offered an alcoholic drink, that they would refuse it. You can’t judge spirituality by what people don’t do.

Walking in the Spirit is spirituality. That’s the positive. Why should we play the Holy Spirit? Why should we not let you internalize the Christian life and walk with the Spirit as the Spirit of God directs you? Now on the other hand, you have what I call libertianism. Now you can come to the gray area and say, “Well here’s all this stuff that I couldn’t do or do, and since I’m free in Christ, I’ll just do it all.”

Everything’s permitted; there are no other considerations than my liberty.” Is that the only consideration? Well not according to 1 Corinthians 8, Paul says there is one great principle that limits our liberty, and it is the word love. You can’t just say, “Because it isn’t forbidden, I can do it.” There’s a higher consideration than that, and that is love. Love sets limits on liberty. And this is the objective of 1 Corinthians 8.

Now here was the problem. The potential in the city of Corinth to eat things offered to idols. The mature Christians were saying, “What’s the problem? We’re eating.” We have decided that we can just eat up. We’re free in Christ. Live it up, eat whatever you want. That’s our philosophy.” And so Paul responds to that by saying, “There is something more important than your liberty, and that is your love.”

The Corinthians gave Paul three reasons why they felt they could do anything they wanted in the gray area, why they could eat meat offered to idols. Reason number one, we have all knowledge, and the Bible doesn’t forbid it. Two, an idol isn’t anything anyway, verse 4 says. So it isn’t offered to anything anyway. Third, God doesn’t care what we eat, verse 8. So on those three bases, we know it isn’t forbidden.

Now Paul is going to approach all three of those. Look at verse 1, “Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” I agree with you. We study the Scripture and it doesn’t forbid it. But remember this, knowledge alone puffs up, and love builds up.” So he says it isn’t enough to just say you know. There’s got to be more. There’s got to be love.

Verse 2 says, “If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.” And what you ought to know is all about love, which he illustrates in verse 3, “But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” You have to go beyond knowledge to love. It isn’t enough to say, “We’ve studied the problem, and we know what the Scripture says and it doesn’t say anything against it, so let’s eat.”

You’ve got to consider somebody else, how it’s going to affect them. Is this a loving act toward another brother? What if it offends him? What if it hurts his conscience? Then you have to limit your liberty. 1 Corinthians 13 says, “I have all knowledge and know all mysteries and have not love, I am nothing.” Paul says. “If you do that, don’t you realize that’ll hurt your brother, because he’ll be offended?”

Verse 4 gives us their second reason. “About eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” In regard to this eating thing, that an idol is nothing in the world.” There is no such thing in the whole world as an idol.” In other words, nobody’s home. Those gods aren’t gods at all; there’s no God but one. Now this is great theology for all of us.

And that’s precisely the argument of verse 4, “Why not eat? There’s nobody there anyway. The stuff that they bring in and offer to an idol the idol can’t respond because there is no god there. They think there are many gods. Verse 5 says, “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords.” According to them, they’re everywhere. But to us there is but one God.

Psalm 115:3 starts, “Our God is in the heavens.” Now listen, their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. Now listen to this description of an idol. “They have mouths but they do not speak. Eyes they have but they see not. They have ears but they hear not. Noses they have but they smell not. They have hands but they handle nothing. Feet they have but they walk not. Neither do they speak through their throat.

The people who make them are as dumb as the gods are. So is everyone who trusts in them. You know they’re building one of those Buddhist things right down here and they’re all down there running around bowing down to nobody. Nobody is home. The world thinks there are many gods. The Romans had so many gods they said that it was easier to find a god in Athens than it was to find a person.

Now the argument then is what’s the difference if we eat meat offered to idols when there’s nobody there? And that’s a pretty good argument; it is solid theology. Now later we’re going to find out as we get into chapter ten that demons would impersonate the gods that they thought were there and then convince them that there was a supernatural entity there. But the gods they thought were there weren’t there.

The pagan religion is in verse 5, “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords.” The Christian in verse 6, “yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for Him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through Him, and we exist through Him.” He’s stating the foundation of the Christian faith, one God the father.

He’s simply saying God the source coming to us. God came to us in Christ; we go back to God through Christ. God the ultimate and only source and Christ the agent. So this is a great statement. There’s only one God, and that settles it. And if that’s the case, man, we really might as well eat up.” That’s a great argument. Offering something to an idol is absolutely nothing, doesn’t mean anything.

Verse 7 says, “However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.” You can know something in your head that doesn’t really make a difference in your life. Suddenly a person becomes a Christian. And his commitment to Christ is so beautiful that he says, “I hate that evil life with those false gods.”

Somebody says, “But there are no real gods there.” No, too long has he been intimate with them. And that’s precisely what Paul is saying. “Yeah, it’s fine to say an idol is nothing, but not everybody understands that really. Not everybody can feel that. And you can run out and eat up all you want, but that guy is going to go, take one bite. And he’s going to feel guilty and it’s going to destroy his fellowship with God.

Now the weaker brother knows there’s only one true God; he knows it in his head. But he’s not able to let go of a lifetime of belief. It’s just too quick, too sudden. The word conscience means intimacy and it means being accustomed to. His conscience tells him not to do it, but he sees everybody do it so he does it. Immediately his conscience is defiled. His conscience begins to make him feel sinful.

“You’re better off,” says Paul, “to let that guy live by his conscience even if it’s confining.” Better for him to avoid it until his conscience is liberated. Knowledge says, “You can eat.” Love says, “Think about how it affects somebody else, and then decide.” Knowledge says, “An idol is nothing, let’s eat.” Love says, “Wait. I choose not to eat, though I may, because my brother believes it’s wrong until he matures to understand.”

Verse 8 says, “Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.” There are no dietary laws within Christianity. You don’t want to overindulge yourself and you don’t want to live to eat. Jesus said it in Mark 7, “It’s not what goes into a man that defiles him. It’s what comes out of a man.” God does care about his children, and they care what we eat.

Verse 9 says, “But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.” A stumbling block is something that makes somebody fall into sin. And it’ll get him in a situation that he can’t handle. So don’t force on him what God is not forcing on him by his conscience. And believe me, the Holy Spirit’s in control of conscience. Don’t force people to do things they feel are wrong.

Verse 10 says, “For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols?” You’re a Christian but you felt you should be there with your family, and you’re just reclining eating away. And here comes a brand-new Christian. All of a sudden his conscience is going to get real bold. And he goes against his conscience.

Verse 11 says, “So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge.” And through your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died?” The word perish doesn’t mean die and go to hell. It translates ruin. And he doesn’t get that meat in his mouth until he begins to feel guilty. And he can’t resist the full temptation and he falls further away from his liberty.

Now I’m giving you a principle. Don’t ever violate your conscience. Teach people to obey conscience because that’s the voice of the Holy Spirit leading them into areas that he feels he can handle. You follow the conscience and you determine what can be handled and what can’t. And the same thing is true spiritually. How would you treat somebody that Jesus died to save? If Jesus loved him, I want to love him too.

Verse 12 says, “Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.” Because that believer is one with Jesus Christ. And when you do something to ruin him, you have sinned against Christ. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.”

Having all that said, Paul concludes with the principle in verse 13. “Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.” What’s the principle in deciding whether to do something or not do it? The principle is love, how will it affect my weaker brother. Christ died for him. You sin against him, you sin against Christ. Let us pray.

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Love the word of God

2 Timothy 3:14-17

In the previous reflection, we learned from Jesus' example of facing the devil's temptations using God's Word. There is an invisible enemy who has various ways to try to bring us down, with all its delicious temptations. We cannot fight in our own strength but only with God's Word, so we must diligently study and apply His Word. Today, I want to talk again about the benefits of God's Word for us. Let's read 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

1.     Continue to hold fast to God's word

In Verse 14, "continue thou in the things" means to stay, endure. Paul advised Timothy that even though he was facing persecution and false teaching, he must still hold on and stand firm in the truth. It says " thou hast learned and hast been assured of", so it's not just about hearing the teaching of the truth, but truly believing in it so that the truth changes your life. Firmness and belief in the truth overcomes all fears that come from persecution and false teachings.

It is further stated that “knowing of whom thou hast learned them” is an important secret for Timothy to be able to hold fast to the truth, because remembering his teachers will make it easier for him to remember their teachings and even their life examples. Remembering everyone who has struggled and paid a price for the growth of our faith will help us not easily give up in our faith in Christ. It is stated in verse 15, “Remember also that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures.” My brother, this sentence shows that Timothy has been taught God’s truth and taught to live by faith in God since childhood, in 2 Timothy 1:5 Paul says, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” How great a role his grandmother and mother played in enabling Timothy to believe and serve the Lord Jesus even in the midst of persecution. We need to pay the price to teach our children about God and His truth. The question for us is, who has ever read the Bible with their children?

2.     The benefits of God's word

What is the benefit of God's word that Paul emphasized to Timothy to remain steadfast in all conditions?

a.    God's Word leads to true salvation.

My brothers and sisters, the question for all of us is, if we died today, where would we go? Who is sure that they will definitely go to heaven? In verse 15, it says, “The Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” In Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you reject knowledge, I will reject you from being my priest; and because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” The path to salvation and the certainty of salvation is very clearly taught in the Scriptures. But why is it said that my people are destroyed? Because they do not know God and forget the law of God.

Many Christians, in their fear, keep asking, will I go to heaven? This is a question from someone who is filled with doubt, because he does not know God truly and the certainty of salvation in Christ. That's why it says "the Scriptures lead you to salvation through faith in Jesus". It is said to guide, meaning to direct, guide, give us knowledge on how to be saved. Jesus said in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life.” John 10:28, "and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand."

How important it is for a person to struggle to know God and the salvation He has accomplished. Acts 4:12 says, "And in no other is there salvation: for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, through which we may have salvation." My brothers and sisters, the Bible from Genesis to Revelation teaches about God and salvation in Christ. Let us persevere in reading, meditating, believing and doing in our lives because that is the only source so that our hearts can have faith, hope and love.

b.    The Word of God leads to righteousness and godliness in life

In verse 16, it says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching...". Teaching means relating to thought and knowledge. This word comes from the Greek didaskalia, which refers specifically to divine teaching. Through His Word, readers can learn who God is, what is in God's heart, and who humans are and how they should truly live before God. Furthermore, it says, "convict," the teaching of God's Word proves and rebukes the many wrong teachings and practices within humans that can only be corrected by God's truth.

When the word of God reveals our mistakes, it is not an easy thing, because basically we humans want to try to cover up our mistakes so that we appear to be right, even often we harden our hearts, the word of God has been taught to us, we know we are wrong but do not long for change in life. In fact, when a person understands his mistakes, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, it is said in John 16:8 "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." The next part says "for correction, for instruction in righteousness", the word of God not only reveals what is wrong, but also provides answers on how a person actually lives right and is pleasing to God. So the word of God transforms the mind, heart, and actions of humans so that they lead to the godliness that God desires.

Verse 17 says, “So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This passage is closely related to 2 Timothy 2:21, If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.” Through His word we understand how we can live in righteousness, godliness, and live in all the good works that God desires. The Lord Jesus bless us all. Amen.

]]> Sun, 09 Nov 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251109 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000027A imblog

1 Corinthians 8

Look in your Bible with me this morning at 1 Corinthians 8 in our continuing study of the letter to the Corinthians. We know, as Christians, that we have liberty in Christ, but that liberty is conditioned upon certain things that the New Testament reveals to us, and that is just the area we’re going to be discussing not only in chapter 8, but also in chapter 9 and chapter 10, because all three chapters deal with the same theme.

Some of the great debates in the Church in the last 30 years, fall along these lines. Is it right to shop on Sunday? Should Christian women wear makeup? Now, can a Christian play golf on Sunday morning and score well? Is there anything wrong with rock music concerts or rock music? What about movies? What about dancing? Should a Christian have a beer, a bottle of wine, or too much coffee?

Those are questions that the Church has discussed and debated sometime in the last 30 years, and some of them are current today. And the reason the Church spends so much time talking about that is because there is nothing in the Bible that speaks about that. It just says, ‘Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.’ The Sabbath is Saturday, the seventh day of the week. So, the Bible doesn’t say anything about the Lord’s Day.

Psalm 50, “Praise the Lord with a dance,” and, “David danced before the Lord.” There was a great debate, and now the movies that everybody damned 25 years ago are on television, and everybody’s indifferent to them because they’re rather innocuous compared to what we have today. These are things that are not stated in the Bible as exactly as we would like to have them state it. There are things that are in gray areas.

We do know that there are some things that are wrong. We don’t really have any problem with those, do we? The Bible says not to kill, steal, cheat, commit adultery, lie, and on and on. And you know what those things are. The New Testament has long lists of the works of the flesh. In Corinthians and in Galatians we find exactly what we’re not to do. There are also lists in the Old and New Testament of good things to do.

Like loving your neighbor and helping people and giving your money and meeting people’s needs and doing right, and taking care of your children, and loving your wife, and on and on. But there are those things that the Bible never comments about that are in that gray area. Where in every society, and every culture, there has to be a decision made that may be only right for that time and that place.

How do we know what’s right and what’s wrong in that gray area? I think the New Testament is clear on what’s wrong and what’s right. The Old Testament is clear on what’s wrong and what’s right, and where it doesn’t really get specific, your conscience usually helps you. How does a Christian know whether to do them or not? Are there any guidelines we can follow? Well, remember: as Christians we are not under the laws.

Did you know, when the Council of Jerusalem met in Acts 15, they had a great big, long discussion? And they said, “Now, the Gentiles have been admitted into the Church. It’s a new day. The old ceremonies are done away with. Now, you go on out and have a great time with the Gentiles. But they said, “Tell them to refrain from things strangled and from blood and from certain things here.”

2 Corinthians 3:17, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” and  Galatians 5:1, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” And James says that our lives are governed by the perfect law of liberty. But 1 Corinthians 8:9 says, “But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.” 1 Peter 2:16, “Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.”

So, how do we decide? Do you have a process by which you make a decision? Let me offer you a series of terms that can act as a filter through which you can judge any behavior that is in the gray area. Number one, excess. Do I need it, or is it excess baggage. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.”

Second, the principle of expedience. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial.” Not only does it not have a negative effect, but does it have a positive effect? Is this something I need to become a better man of God, or a better woman of God? Is this something very positive that I have to do to increase my effectiveness as a believer? That’s important.

Thirdly, the principle of emulation. 1 John 2:6 says, “The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked. Is this what Christ would do?” All right, excess, expedience, emulation. Fourthly: the principle of evangelism. “If I do this, is it going to enhance my testimony to an unbeliever?” Colossians 4:5 says, “Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.” Will it create a better evangelistic platform?

Fifthly, the principle of edification. “Will it build me up? Having done this, will I be stronger in Christ?” 1 Corinthians 10:23 says, “All things are lawful, but not everything builds up.” I need to think through whether this works to build me up in Christ. Sixthly, the principle of exaltation. If I do it, will it exalt the Lord?” 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”

Now, those are very practical. Lastly there’s another one that ties us into 1 Corinthians 8, and that’s the principle of example. “If I do this, will it set the right pattern of righteousness for my weaker brother? Will it be an act of love toward him? To lead him in the right way?” 1 Corinthians 8:13 says, “If meat causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.”

Now, all of those principals just drive us into 1 Corinthians 8, where Paul deals with just that last one. But let’s look at this concept of love. So, I’m all right to smoke, but all I would have to do would be to do that once, and half of this audience would go out. And some people would be very offended because, in their mind, that represents something other than a Christian life and a Christian commitment.

But the point is, in a society that we’re in, if that’s a problem to some people, then I don’t do that. The point is there are some things that in themselves are not necessarily wrong. Now, that may become wrong if it harms your body in that angle, but the point is, I don’t do some things, because they would be offended. Now the primary issue then is love and Paul shows that love is really the key to everything.

Now, to set the stage a little bit, remember that in chapters 8 - 10, he answers their questions on this subject of meats offered to idols. In chapter 11, he answers their question on the Lord’s Table and worship. In chapter 12 - 14, he answers their questions on spiritual gifts. Outside of this section, he is correcting things that he has seen by his own observation. So, we’re in the section now about things offered to idols.

Verse 1 says, “Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Now, idol sacrifices becomes the theme of chapters 8, 9, 10. In some parts of the world, these offerings to idols, sacrifices to false God’s is very germane. But this will become intensely applicable to you, because we will draw out a general principle for anybody who is a Christian.

Well, recall the situation. Corinth is a part of the Greek culture. It’s a part of the Roman Empire. Now, Romans and Greeks worship many God’s. They were what we call polytheistic. And they also believed in many evil spirits. And they had gods for every conceivable thing. Never any end to them. They worshipped all kinds of gods and had consciousness of all kinds of evil spirits floating around them.

When they had justice, there was a god of justice. Sometimes you see the goddess of justice today with a blindfold and scales in her hand. That comes from that ancient period. There are gods for everything: the goddess of love. Every single thing that they did, whether it was amusement, or entertainment, or government, or feasts, or social events, for everything there was a conglomeration of deities involved.

And take the average Christian. He becomes saved, and out of this paganism that engulfs every facet of his life he comes. He can’t do anything socially that doesn’t relate to a god. So, the Christian is in the danger of being exposed to that from which he has just been saved. Now, for a new Christian, all this is distasteful. But, a more mature Christian says, “Hey, what’s an idol? An idol isn’t anything. So eat it. Who cares?”

So you’ve got a conflict. This is how they would offer a sacrifice. You would go to any particular god, and you would offer an animal and divide it into three parts. Part number one was burned on the altar, and that went up to that god. Part number two the priest took. If he had more than he needed, and they normally did, he would go right out the back of the temple and put it in a butcher shop and sell it.

The guy who offered it took it home with him. So, the third part you could eat if you went over to a friend’s house. So, here’s a Christian. He goes down the street, and he wants to buy some meat and he thinks, “I wonder if the priests have any connection with this little butcher shop. I don’t want to buy meat offered to idols.” Another Christian says, “What’s an idol? It’s the best bargain.” So, he buys it.

So, they were caught between a rock and a hard place. So that the result being almost everything that they bought in the market had been offered to some god somewhere along the line or that they ate in the home of an unbeliever had been offered to some god. Now, add to that the fact that all the social events were tied into the worship of these gods, and that the festivals and social events took place in the temple.

The weddings and the festivals that were connected with family life were always held at the temple and always had meats offered to some idol before they were consumed. What if your sister was getting married? She was a pagan, but you cared about her. Would you go to your sister’s wedding and eat? They were trying to decide whether they could do what the world did that were not stated in the Bible as wrong.

Now, Paul’s going to give them a solution. He says, “How far does your liberty go? It only goes as far love.” The Corinthians, the mature ones, they had decided it was okay. Their feeling was, “We’re just going to go, and have a great time.” We’re going to eat whatever is provided. An idol isn’t anything anyway. ‘It’s not what goes into a man that defiles him,’ Jesus said, “it’s what comes out of him.’”

Paul writes to them and says, “Your liberty is conditioned by your love. Before you exercise liberty in an area, you got to think about how it affects somebody else.” Now, he states this principle in chapter 8, and he explains it. He illustrates it in chapter 9 through 10:13, and he applies it in 10:14 through the first verse of chapter 11. So, he explains it, illustrates it, and applies it to everyone.

Reason number one is in verse 1, “We know that we all have knowledge.” Reason number two is in verse 4, “We know that an idol is nothing.” Reason number three is in verse 8, “But food will not bring us close to God.” Three reasons have led us to do this. Number one, we know enough to know the Bible doesn’t forbid it. Two, an idol isn’t anything anyway. Three, God isn’t concerned about what we eat.

In verse 1 they were claiming to have matured sufficiently as Christians to have proper knowledge. But notice verse 7, “However, not everyone has this knowledge.” But to them, “We know everything, and we know that there’s nothing against this. It is not a sin.” In 2 Corinthians 6:6, Paul describes his own virtues, “By purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit and by sincere love.”

But knowledge is not sufficient. Now, the Corinthians were really proud of their knowledge. Knowledge just makes people proud. Knowledge ends right here with me. “I know.” They began with knowledge of the Scripture. But that isn’t the end of it. 1 Corinthians 13:1 says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am nothing but a banging gong and a tinkling cymbal.”

And verse 2 says, “If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.” Knowledge must issue in love. Knowledge puffs up; love builds up. Love reaches out and cares about you and strengthens you, because love terminates on you. Knowledge terminates on me. Knowledge is essential, but it is insufficient.

Paul ties love and knowledge together. It doesn’t do you a bit of good to know everything if you don’t love anybody. Now, this is a very important truth. Yeah, but if you start talking like that, somebody is really going to be offended. An effective Christian thinks in two ways and acts in two ways: conceptually and relationally. He has the ability to understand concepts, and he has the knowledge plus love.

One theologian said, “Knowledge is the process of passing from the unconscious state of ignorance to the conscious state of ignorance. Being ignorant is not knowing that you don’t know. Being knowledgeable is knowing you don’t know. Look at verse 3, “But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” The only way to have the knowledge of God is to love God. You don’t know Him at all until you love Him.

All he’s saying in verse 3 is that love and knowledge are inextricable. Love and knowledge are cemented together. Love and knowledge have to go together. And that’s what I was saying. A church and a Christian must be conceptual and relational. He must be able to know the truth, and he must hold the truth in love. Knowledge always has to be passed on with love. Without love there is no knowledge; with love there is true knowledge.

Paul pulls together this principle, that knowledge isn’t enough. It’s a start, but it must be coupled with love. Love is the key to behavior. When you are worrying about how you’re going to affect another person, when you’re concerned about how his conscience will make him stumble or make him weak, as Paul says in Romans 14, then you’re really operating on the basis of love. Knowledge without love makes you nothing. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Nov 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251102 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000279 imblog

Characteristics of a true believer (Part 2)

Love the Word of God

Last week, I stated that a characteristic of a true believer is a love for the teaching of God's Word. This is the primary foundation of believers and the church. A healthy church is one that earnestly strives to provide the true teaching of God's Word. Believers with healthy faith are those who diligently study God's Word. Someone who claims to have faith but is not diligent in studying God's Word is actually physically alive but spiritually dead. Spiritual death indicates a lack of relationship with God.

Why is God's word so important in our lives that we should diligently study it? Let's read Matthew 4:1-11.

In verse 1 it says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus could not be controlled by the devil, therefore it says “led by the Spirit” not brought by the devil. Then why did the Spirit lead Jesus to be tempted? In the Old Testament, the first Adam when faced with temptation from the enemy he fell and resulted in the physical and spiritual death of all mankind. The last Adam (Jesus) when faced with Satan with all his temptations, He did not fall but triumphed over temptation. Whereas in verse 2 it says “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry.” When Jesus faced temptation He was in a weak and hungry physical condition. Jesus’ victory over temptation proves that even though Jesus faced great pressure, He remained obedient to God’s word.

In verse 3, it says, "The tempter came." Satan is called the tempter because his main goal was to try to bring down Jesus, to try to divert Jesus from the eternal purpose that had been planned. Jesus faced the ultimate enemy, the one who tempted Adam to fall, and who tempted Israel to forget God. But in this passage, it is clear that Jesus triumphed over Satan and was not tempted in the slightest by any of his offers.

My brothers and sisters, this section is a reminder that Satan is our greatest enemy. As believers, we must be aware that every day we are in a spiritual battle against the invisible yet very real forces of evil. In 1 Peter 5:8 it says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Therefore, we are reminded to always be alert. Ephesians 6:13 says, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” As believers, we cannot relax; we must always remember that we have an enemy who always tempts us and our lives are only one step away from falling.

A conscious person will certainly strive to equip themselves to survive and triumph over the enemy. My brothers, Satan often launches his attacks, not by intimidating or frightening us, but by offering all sorts of tempting things that please our eyes and our flesh.

Today we want to learn together from the example of the Lord Jesus, when He faced temptation, what equipment did He use to win against the Devil?

The first temptation

The devil begins with “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Because in Matthew 3:17 “and a voice came from heaven, said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” The devil tempted Jesus to show off and use His divine power as the Son of God to satisfy His needs. The first temptation to Jesus was related to the desires of the flesh, in this section related to food that the Lord Jesus desperately needed at that time, very similar to what Adam and Eve faced in Genesis 3:1-6 when they were tempted to eat the fruit that had been forbidden to eat.

However, the response of the Lord Jesus was beyond the Devil's expectations, verse 4, "Jesus answered, “It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." In a very hungry stomach condition, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 "He humbled you, causing you hunger and then feeding you with manna, which you nor your ancestors had know, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." Jesus fought the temptation of the Devil with the truth of God's word. He said that bread was not the main and most important need for Him. Jesus wanted to say that bread is not the source of life. This sentence seems to destroy the basic concept and struggle of humans. Because many people struggle to get food for their stomach needs only but they forget about God and His word. They are putting aside their relationship with God.

Jesus taught that the source of life and the most important human need is the word that comes from the mouth of God. Faithfully listening to and living out God's word is paramount. In this passage, Jesus does not mean that humans do not need to eat physical food—no! But Jesus wants to emphasize that humans must know which is most important, which is useful for eternity, and which is only temporary. Physical food is useful for the temporary body, while God's word is spiritual food for the spirit, connecting us with God and leading us to eternity with Him.

The devil knows human needs and weaknesses so well that he will attack or tempt us at those points. The devil constantly tempts humans to prioritize non-essentials, so that humans forget the most important things that must be owned and lived. From childhood, we are constantly instilled in us that you must be successful, highly educated, have a good job, and earn a lot of money. All about the temporary things. But we less instilled that God and His truth that must be paramount. As a modern-day parent, I pray for you to truly recognize our and our children's primary need: the Word of God. So we do not teach our children’s only about temporary needs.

Have we placed God's Word as the most important thing in our lives? Even more important than the things we need most?

The Second Temptation

In the second temptation, Satan appeared to be very spiritual, using God's Word to tempt Jesus. However, it turned out to be a misuse of God's Word. It was not meant to edify Jesus, but to make Jesus doubt God's promise of protection. It says, "Then the devil took him to the Holy City and had him on the highest point of the temple”. 'If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." The second temptation was related to pride or arrogance. Satan tempted Jesus to demonstrate that he was the powerful Son of God and could do spectacular things.

The devil misused God's word in Psalm 91:11-12, that is not the meaning of the verse, but it speaks of God's promise of protection, His promise is not to be tested but to be believed. The Lord Jesus resisted temptation and corrected it by using God's word Deuteronomy 6:16 "Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah." The devil aims to shake our faith in God's word, and make us doubt its truth. That is what he also did when he tempted Adam and Eve, as if using God's word when in fact it was manipulated to deceive. “… He (serpent) said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?’”(Genesis 1:1). The devil tries to plant all evil in our minds, so that we doubt and disbelieve His word, even to think that God is evil and unfaithful.

My brothers, if someone does not truly love and study God's word well, we are easily deceived by Satan. He can plant something that seems like God's word but is actually packaged differently, with the aim of getting us to believe him. I believe that is also why the early church diligently and humbly learned from the apostles so that they would not be easily trapped by Satan's tricks. My brothers, Satan often tempts us humans with arrogance, so that we already think we know everything, feel capable of doing it ourselves, and think we don't need to be taught or guided anymore. God's word in Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall".

The Third Temptation

The most tempting temptation was prepared by Satan in the final scene. Satan tempted Jesus to engage in idolatry, which is evil in the eyes of God. Satan wanted to replace God's position as the center of worship for all creation. The saying that Satan "showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor". refers to the lust of the eyes. Sinful desires often originate in the eyes, where we see vain things. Therefore, we need to pray earnestly that God will keep our eyes pure and prevent us from being tempted to sin when we see vain things.

It goes on to say “all this I will give you,“ he said, “if You will bow down and worship me.” An attractive offer because you will gain wealth, splendor and become a ruler in the blink of an eye. The temptations associated with the splendor of the world so fascinate the heart that if you are not alert and careful then it will be very easy to fall. Matthew Hendry said "The devil deceives humans by showing the world and its splendor, but hides the sin, misery and death that tarnish the beauty of this glory from human eyes." It also hides the troubles and misery that accompany wealth and the thorns in it.

So, basically, Satan's temptations are wrapped in anything attractive, pleasant, or pleasing to the eye, but all of these things result in sin, death, and separation from God. And that is Satan's goal: to get humans to follow his desires and suffer with him in the horrific fires of hell.

Jesus was never in the least tempted by such an attractive offer, so in verse 10 Jesus said to him: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." Jesus again answered with the words of God in Deuteronomy 6:13 "Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in his name." Our worship must only be directed to God, not to other created creatures. Nothing in this world must shift God's position as the center of worship in our hearts and lives.

Ultimately, we need to ask ourselves whether the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pleasures, and enjoyments of this world have displaced God from our hearts. These are all the work of Satan, who has deceived us, so we must fight against him with perseverance and a love for studying God's Word. Amen.

]]> Sun, 26 Oct 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251026 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000278 imblog

1 Corinthians 7:25-40

What does the Bible have to say about being single? And how are we to understand singleness, this unique design by God for some of you? We all are aware of the fact that God has designed the relationship of marriage to be the most common expression of human life in an intimate social way. And marriage is the only relationship in which sexual intimacy can take place at all. It is God's design and God's gift.

God designed that some people be unmarried. And that too fits into God's will and God's purpose. And to see what God says about that, I ask you to turn to 1 Corinthians 7. A noble, excellent godly man was Paul, and a single man as well. For he writes in verse 7, "Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am, however, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.

But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I, but if they do not have self-control, let them marry for it is better to marry than to burn with desire. Here Paul tells us that he is single with great blessings to the degree that he could wish that the unmarried, those who are divorced and those who are widows, it is good for them if they remain as they are to serve God.

Paul is here offering himself as an example of the fulfillment of being single. Since the apostle includes himself in a discussion of the unmarried and the widowed, it is very likely that he has been married but no longer is. Most likely his wife had died. Some have suggested that because he was a member of the Sanhedrin he would have at once had to have been married since that was a requirement.

What Paul is saying here is that singleness is not incompleteness necessarily. In verse 7 he says, "I wish that all men were single as I am single because it has so many pluses." However, he is very understanding, "Each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that." That is it is a gift of God to be able to live singly. I wish that all could enjoy the blessings of singleness but such gift God has not given to all.

Singleness is a very special benediction from the Spirit of God for His glory and the advancement of the Kingdom and the blessing of the church. Listen to verse 25, "Now about virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is faithful.” There is nothing in the gospel record regarding the teaching of Jesus in which He refers to the benefits of singleness.

But I can give you a viewpoint as one who by the mercy of the Lord can be trusted. I am the representative of the Lord. I speak the truth as the Spirit of God reveals it to me. I can be trusted to give you wise counsel. And that wise counsel comes in verse 26, “Because of the present distress, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.” That's what he said in verse 8, “it is good for them, to remain even as I.am.”

Now some of you have the gift of singleness and are most suitable to you. Some of you are in the condition of singleness though you are positive you don't have the gift. Some of you are not married and you don't like it. You are divorced and you don't like it. You are widowed and you don't like it. Nonetheless, in the current state you must understand the benefits that come to you if only for the short term.

There are five reasons why it is good to be single. Number one, the first benefit of being single is the pressure of the system. Now he talks about virgins who would be those who never married. And he says, "It is good because of the present distress. It is good for a man to remain as he is." "Because of the present distress" denotes the tensions that exist between the new creation and the fallen kosmos or the situation on earth.

There is the present distress that comes against God's people. Paul is thinking of painful and violent distress that may come at any time on anyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord. He's really talking about the imminent persecution that is going to fall upon the Corinthians in this case. He says in 2 Corinthians, to wake up every day and have the realization that it could be his last day because he would be executed.

Paul was beaten, he was shipwrecked, he was whipped, he was robbed and stoned and left for dead. Realizing the implications of all of that on a loving wife and loving children, he could see the value of being single. The days of persecution were escalating and he knew it. And a married person with a family would have far more intense suffering, far more intense sorrow, far more intense loss in the circle of that family.

It would be within fifteen years from the writing of this letter that the first general persecution by the Roman Emperor Nero would break out against Christians. Erastus, the chamberlain, that's a city official of Corinth, was among those who perished in this persecution. Now that shows us that the distress did indeed come right into the city of Corinth and take one of the Christians there and perhaps many more.

And when that persecution began, it lasted for over 200 years. Now he doesn't want to be misunderstood so in verse 27 he says, "Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife." Somebody might say, "Well, I want to go the whole route as a believer, I want to be unencumbered fully, so I'll divorce my wife." But Paul says if you are married do not get a divorce.

You don't need to make this point to the widows because they're already without a partner. But you do need to make it to those who are married and those who are divorced. If you're married, stay that way. If you're divorced and now single, stay that way. Now you say, "Well that's fine for the apostle Paul living in a time of impending violence and distress and disaster and persecution, but what about us?"

In parts of the world this is a practical teaching because there are more Christians being executed for the gospel of Christ today than at any time in the church's history. Who knows what hostilities may escalate in parts of the world which now are havens for the church where no physical persecution occurs? The writer of the Revelation, John knows, who tells us that at the end time there will be massive persecution.

When you read the words of our Lord in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 - 25, the end of the age is characterized by wars, famine, disease, earthquakes, persecution and hostility. The worst of it happens, after the church is taken out. We live in a rough world and I think many of us certainly have thoughts even about not only marriage, but about having children when we realize what lies ahead in this society.

We would all agree as Christians that the nearer we come to the end of the age, the higher the price we'll pay for our witness. And if evil men continue to grow worse as 1 Timothy says they will, and if apostasy runs wild and if the heat of Satan's battle begins to increase and persecution rises, it will be least complex for those who are single. So, stay single, appreciate the benefit because of the world system around you.

Second reason that we can look positively at singleness is the problems of the flesh. Verse 28, “However, if you do get married, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.” Paul is saying if you marry, that's not sin. Marriage is still the majority state. It is still an institution of God. But those who marry will have trouble.

What trouble is he talking about? He's talking about trouble that comes when you have to live intimately with a sinner. Marriage is an intensely intimate relationship, as we all understand. It is the most intimate of all human relationships. And while in, it has trouble and it has trouble because you have put two sinful people so close together. And that's trouble that comes from our humanness, it comes from our sinfulness.

And what you've got in a marriage is two sinners pressed together. And in that intimacy where we are less than perfect, there's going to be some trouble. Trouble that wouldn't be there if you weren't married. And when you press two sinners together, there's trouble. Occasionally there's anger, selfishness, childishness, stupidity, forgetfulness, dishonesty, deception, pride, thoughtlessness and self-centeredness.

And I would suggest to you and with no fear of contradiction that the most miserable people in the world are not single. It's true. The most miserable people in the world are married. That does not mean that all married people are miserable. The potential for misery in marriage is greater than the potential for misery being single because when you're single there's only one person who can make you miserable.

When they have children, more little sinners are crushed into the mix. As a father I not only have to deal with sin and temptation in my own life, but I have to shepherd my wife and all my children, and all my little sinning grandchildren. And when they're all together, at one time, it is a ministerial monstrosity. You can just about ask anybody who is married if they've ever had trouble, it is part of any married life.

Do not look at marriage as the solution to your trouble. It probably is the multiplication of it. Sometimes young people say, "You know, I have strong desires sexually and if I can just get married." That is not in itself a sufficient reason to get married. Even after marriage there is no guarantee that your elicit temptation will go away. And the fulfillment you find in your marriage doesn't satisfy unrighteous longings.

Thirdly, Paul says singleness is a benefit because of the passing of the world. Verse 29, 30, 31, “The time is limited, so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none. 30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they didn’t own anything, 31 and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it.

For this world in its current form is passing away.” Marriage has no relationship to eternity. And Paul says the time is short, not the chronology, this season is passing away. What is your life? Just a vapor. And marriage is a part of that very short vapor, it's a part of that very brief time. It suits us wonderfully and richly for this life but has no connection to eternity. It is God's design that we attach lightly to earthly things.

Well, will I not love my partner in heaven? Of course, but you'll have perfect love toward everyone. "Will I not know my partner?" Of course with perfect knowledge. But the relationship you have now for physical fulfillment, for procreation and for joy is part of temporal life. Marriage will give way to heavenly family life with God the Father, Christ the husband and all believers as the wife.

Weeping will cease because God's going to wipe away all tears. Earthly joy will fade into an eternal joy. Buying will cease since we will inherit everything in the entire new heaven and new earth. And worldly pleasure simply means who extract out of it all the fun and all the pleasure and all the fulfillment that it can yield, that will be replaced by the thrills of everlasting life in the presence of God and Jesus Christ.

You don't want materialism to distract you from your spiritual life. You know, Christian people in our contemporary scene today spend an undue amount of time working on their marriage instead of a healthy amount of time working on their spiritual life which takes care of their marriage. The Godlier and the more Christ-like I am, the better it is to live with me and the more fulfilling and the more enjoyable life is.

Marriage is a sacred thing. It is a picture of Christ's relationship to the church, but it becomes what it ought to be when two people are totally devoted to Jesus Christ. When I pursue Christ it takes care of my human emotions. When I pursue Christ it puts material things in the right perspective. When I concentrate on the eternal the passing things on this earth will be as fulfilling as God intended them.

Number four, the preoccupation of the marriage. In verse 32 Paul says, “I want you to be without concerns. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord.” But verse 33 says, “But the married man is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife.” The emphasis shifts from human pressures to the spiritual dimension of Godly pressure.

Paul says in verse 34, “And his interests are divided. The unmarried woman is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” Verse 35, “I am saying this for your own benefit, but to promote what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.”

I don't want people who are single to think they're super spiritual. And it's not automatic. Not all single people have undistracted devotion to the Lord. That is a potential that can be and should be fulfilled. So, Paul says there are reasons to be single. There are benefits to being single if you can handle it. If you have the gift, if you're old enough, if for the time you are single, look at these benefits as blessings from God.

Verses 36-38 say, “If any man thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage, and he feels he should marry—he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married. 37 But he who stands firm in his heart to keep her as his fiancée, will do well. 38 So, then, he who marries his fiancée does well, but he who does not marry will do better.”

Number five, it is good to be single because of the permanence of the union. Verses 39- 40 says, “A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants—only in the Lord. 40 But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” The point is, marriage is permanent. God hates divorce, but divorce does happen.

But marriage can be the most wonderful and the most fulfilling and the richest and most blessed of partnerships, and it is for life. I'm glad I'm married. I thank God for my wife continually because of God's grace through all these years. It is also true that God has allowed us through our marriage and family to demonstrate from time to time what a good marriage and a godly family should look like. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Oct 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251019 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000277 imblog

Acts 2:41-42

Characteristics of a true believer (Part 1)

Love the teaching of God's word

In the previous reflection, I discussed what true faith looks like. In the next few weeks, I will discuss the life of someone with true faith. Through this reflection on God's Word, we can assess ourselves and determine whether we are people of true faith.

Let's read the Bible from Acts 2:41-42, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. It is said that those who accepted his message. Who were they? They were sinners, in fact it is said that they were the ones who crucified and killed Jesus, meaning they were very evil people and completely did not understand the truth of God. But it is said that they received his word, meaning they agreed with their minds and believed in their hearts.

Peter's words all contained the gospel about Jesus, about his suffering and death, about his resurrection, and about Jesus who is Lord. At the end of his sermon, Peter called for repentance, verse 2:38 "Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." We see in this passage when the Gospel was preached there were sinners who believed and repented, this was not the work of humans but entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, it is said that they gave themselves to be baptized, this is a real act of faith, willing to witness that they had believed in Jesus, willing to surrender themselves and ready to follow Him.

My friends, that's the first step that shows someone has faith in Jesus, but it turns out it doesn't stop there. Mass conversion through Peter's preaching alone wasn't enough; therefore, the apostles were led by the Holy Spirit to continue their ministry to those who had just believed in Christ.

In verse 42, we want to see what people do at this time when they have believed in Christ, it says "They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and in the fellowship." The first characteristic of a true believer is persevering in the teaching of the word of God. The word steadfastly in Greek προσκαρτεροῦντες (proskarterountes) (Verb-Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural) means "to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of despite difficulty”. In the NIV it says "They devoted themselves" meaning they truly devoted themselves, showing their faithfulness. Many challenges, struggles, ridicule and even persecution faced by the early believers but they did not give up to continue persevering in studying the word of God.

Why do they persevere?

First, because they want to know more deeply who the Jesus they believe in is. The apostles were people specially chosen by the Lord Jesus to follow and serve with Him, they lived together and every time Jesus taught.  So the apostles were eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus until He ascended to heaven, of course they knew Jesus very well, understood the teachings, way of life and the example He had given them, this is what made the early church persevere in listening to the teachings of the apostles because they were the main source of the news about Christ and everything He had taught.

The apostles did what the Lord Jesus commanded them in Matthew 28:20 "and teach them to do everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always until the end of the age." So the apostles not only preached and left them alone, but they gave themselves to teach in the temple of God even in the homes of believers at that time.

We see in this passage that true faith must produce a longing and thirst to persevere in the teaching of God's word, so that they will know Christ more deeply. In Romans 10:17, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” a person can have faith in Christ by hearing the word of God, and faith can only grow by continuing to persevere in hearing the word of God. Someone who claims to be a Christian but does not persevere in the word of God, then it is necessary to question whether he really has faith? Or is it actually just an identity and his life does not yet have the Spirit of God.

My brothers and sisters, there are Christians today who say there's no need to bother studying the teachings; as long as you believe in Jesus, you'll definitely go to heaven. People like this only like the practical, the easy, the sermons that merely please the ear, and they only enjoy seemingly extraordinary testimonies without a foundation in true teaching. And such people are very easily misled.

Second, they want to fill their minds with the words of Christ. They realize that before they believed in Christ, what entered their minds were all things that came from the power of darkness, all worldly desires that were contrary to God's will, all vain thoughts that made them live corrupt and without true purpose. And when they believed in Christ, they truly turned and filled their minds with God's holy truths, truths that helped them understand God's purpose in life. In Colossians 3:16 it says “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

My brothers, God's primary purpose in giving humans reason is so that they can know Him and understand what He teaches, so that they can live according to His will. Therefore, if humans have not or do not make a sincere effort to know God and all His teachings, then they have not actually used their minds according to the main purpose that God desires. The very sad condition in the world today is that many people use their minds to oppose God, even with all their abilities and theories trying to prove that God does not exist or that God has no power whatsoever over humans.

In verse 46a, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts”. It is said that each day demonstrates a truly deep diligence and thirst to know God. Are they not working? Impossible! Are they not taking care of their families? Impossible! I believe there are people who are also busy, but none of that is an excuse or a barrier for them to persevere in knowing Christ. My brothers, what about us today? Do we claim to be believers? To what extent do we long for His word?

We come once a week to listen to the teaching, sadly it's often late, plus when we listen while we're sleepy, it's complete! Brother, is that how we prepare ourselves to meet God? Is meeting God in worship really a deep desire for us?

In Galatians 1:10, “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Brother, I continue to learn to be a servant of Christ who tries to be obedient to what God says, I know maybe it offends our hearts, but believe me this is the truth that God wants you and I to hear. Believing in the true Gospel produces true faith and true faith inevitably produces a thirst and longing to hear the teaching of God's Word and a desire to study it personally.  May the Holy Spirit work in our hearts so that every day we become more and more dependent on His Word. Lord Jesus bless us all, Amen.

]]> Sun, 12 Oct 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251012 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000276 imblog

1 Corinthians 7:17-24

Now, the Word of God speaks authoritatively on almost every subject that we can imagine. At least if not in particular, in general. And as we have looked at 1 Corinthians, we have been made aware of the fact that already, in just the first seven chapters, many practical areas of living have been touched on. We have noticed that Paul is writing about marriage. The Bible has a lot to say about that particular subject.

It talks about single people and their behavior. It talks about married people and their behavior. It talks about divorced people. It talks about widows. And what is required within a marriage, what God’s standards are for the life of the husband, the wife and the children. The problem arose that when people were becoming Christians, there was pressure put upon them to conform to a certain view of marriage.

If you’re a single person, and you happen to get saved in Corinth, and you attend the Corinthian assembly. There are some Jews who believe, because Orthodox Judaism, that to be single is to defy the law of God. God said to multiply, replenish the earth. And if you do not do that, then you are slaying the posterity of God. So, the Jews would say, “You must get married, especially now that you’re a Christian.

And there was pressure put on single people, some of whom had been given by the Holy Spirit the charisma of celibacy, or the grace gift of singleness. God intended them to be single, but the Jews want them to be married. On the other hand, you had an attitude that some of the Gentiles were saying, “Marriage is not the thing; singleness is the thing because then you can be totally devoted to God.

And now, Paul takes these particular things that he has said and draws from them a general principle. Christians should not be concerned with changing their outward circumstances. The Christian life is not a social revolution, it is spiritual regeneration. People say, “Now as a Christian, you have to stop being single;” “Now as a Christian, you should dissolve your marriage and be celibate;” “Now as a Christian slave, get out of the slavery."

Christianity was never designed to be a disrupter of social relationships. And that is Paul’s message. And what was happening in the Corinthian church was using their Christianity as a justification for all kinds of social change. They were dumping husbands and wives, single people were being forced into getting married when they had the gift of celibacy, which God had granted them for unique purposes of ministry.

Slaves were struggling under the role of slavery and saying, “I demand to be free; after all, we’re equal, one in Christ.” Galatians 3:28, “There is neither male nor female, bond nor free, but all are one in Christ.” And all of this social reactionary attitude could have destroyed the testimony of the Corinthian assembly. They would lose the opportunity to be exposed to the reality of Christianity, a transformed life.

There is no question in my mind, that Christianity must have had a profound effect upon society. The fact of miracles and signs and wonders, the teaching of equality of the sexes and of bond and free, the tremendous preoccupation with the second coming of Jesus Christ, the idea of coming judgment, the idea of eternal bliss in heaven, disdain for any earthly wealth, these things were factors that were hard to understand.

Paul wants to show, that being a Christian is a relationship to Christ that is compatible with any social status. You can be single, married, widowed or divorced. You can be a slave or a free man. You can be a Jew or a Gentile. You can be a man or a woman. You can live in any kind of society. You can be anywhere in the world, and Christianity is compatible in any social status. Why? Because it is internal, not external.

It doesn’t matter what you are; it doesn’t matter what the society is in terms of the basic identity of Christianity. For example, if a wife becomes a Christian, what should she be? A better wife. If a husband becomes a Christian, what should he be? A better husband. 1 Corinthians 7 talks about those two things. If you have a friend who becomes a Christian, what should he immediately be to you? A better friend.

If there is a slave who becomes a Christian, what should he be? A better slave. A master who becomes a Christian? A better master. I am not saying that Christianity has nothing to do with social activism. The Bible is very clear about the fact that we are to meet the needs of people, that we are to bind up the wounded, that we are to feed the hungry, that we are to clothe the naked, that we are to house the outcast.

By spreading the power of Christianity through the transformed lives of the people within that society. Christianity interferes indirectly, not directly with social institutions. Christianity has really been the cause of great social change in history, not by exploding on that society, but by leavening that society. That means penetrating it at its roots. It is always compatible with any earthly circumstance in any society.

Paul wants the Corinthians to know that being a Christian is no reason to start changing every kind of social relationship. The principle he states in verse 17, 20, and in verse 24, he repeats it three times, the same principle. And then in between those three times, he illustrates it. So, point one is the principle. Then the illustration, two. Then the principle again, then the illustration, and then the principle at the end.

Let’s begin with the principle in verse 17, “But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.” Whatever God has allotted to you, just keep in that course. Conversion does not mean that single people who have the gift of celibacy are to get married. It doesn’t mean that married people are to break their marriage. It doesn’t mean that at all.

If you’re a slave, stay a slave. If you’re a Jew, stay a Jew. If you’re a Gentile, stay a Gentile. Stay where you are. This is the general principle. Now, it doesn’t mean that if you got saved when you were 13, and you were single, that you have to stay single the rest of your life. It is a general principle, not an absolute law. I mean that if you’re married, stay married. But if an unbeliever wants to depart, let him depart.

Whatever situation you find yourself, stay there. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” said Jesus. Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” Romans 14:19, says “So then let us pursue the things which make for peace.” 2 Corinthians 13:11 says, “Live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all men.”

If you are exemplifying and communicating divine wisdom, it is pure and peaceable. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. In 2 Timothy 2, Paul says, “Now be a peaceful man. And maintain that peaceful stance.” He says, “In meekness, instructing those that oppose, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.” God will use that to bring people to the truth and free them from Satan.

The way to evangelize the world is not through social revolution, but it is through spiritual regeneration. Now, notice the seventeenth verse says, “Only as God has distributed to every man.” The Greek verb for distribute means to apportion to one his share of something. If you’re a slave, who is it that apportioned to you that position? It’s God. If you’re a wife, who is it that apportioned to you that position? It’s God.

If you’re a slave, did you know that God put you in that position before he saved you, and he saved you in that position to use you in that position? If you’re single, God had you single before he saved you. If you’re married, God allotted to you a married situation and saved you in it to use you in it. God saved you in a certain situation. For the time, stay in that situation: married, unmarried, circumcised, enslaved or free.

The kind of job you have, and the kind of marital status you have is related to the plan of God even before you got saved. And when the Lord redeemed you in that, He redeemed you in that to use you in that. Don’t say, “Oh, now that I’m a Christian, I can’t do this anymore. Now, if you run a brothel, or you pedal whiskey across the state line. That’s something different, because that’s illegal and immoral.

But when we’re talking about things that are just social, relational things that have no moral value, God doesn’t expect you, all of a sudden that you’re a Christian, to bail out of everything. God has you there for a reason. He saved you while you were there. Whatever social situation you’re in, God can work, and Christianity can be compatible with that. Let’s not make Christianity the upheaval of the whole society.

Now, after sustaining the principle, he illustrates it in verses 18 -19, “Was anyone called while circumcised?” The word “called” means saved. Were any of you saved while you were circumcised? Now, that is a Jew. Well, of course, many of them. Then, “Let him not become uncircumcised.” So, if a Jew comes to Christ, and renounces his Judaism, his Jewish friends are going to call him a blasphemer.

So Paul says, “Don’t do that.” Otherwise you’ll not reach these people.” And he says, “Look, stay the way you are, because in your effort to reach those people, you probably won’t succeed anyway, and you’ll alienate the people that God intends you to reach, your own people.” Every one of us has a harvest field. There’s no reason to alienate all the Jews who feel strongly about their Jewishness.

We see people today who are Jews. They get saved, and they don’t reject their Jewishness. They hold onto their Jewishness, and this gives them accessibility back into the Jewish community. They have an open door maybe to friends and family when they maintain something of the belief and the love of the Jewish heritage. To deny it would alienate them from the harvest field that God would give them the most fruit in.

Now, in verse 18 he says, “Is any called in uncircumcision?” Were any of you saved while you were Gentiles? “Let him not be circumcised.” Now, some Gentiles came to Christ. And what would the Jews say? “Oh, it’s so nice that you’ve come to Christ. But if you want to get in the kingdom, you got to have this operation.” Here they’re trying to show them that they had to have this to get the full blessing.

And you know what? The Gentiles looked down on the circumcision and the Jews as a despised people. And, then he would have alienated himself from the harvest field that God had designed him to reach. Do you see the point? God says, “Just stay where you are; that’s where I have your for the reason that I have you there, to reach those people. Don’t worry about your social status. It doesn’t matter.”

Verse 19, “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.” The only issue is a moral issue, a spiritual issue, not an external. It doesn’t matter what operation you had or didn’t have. The thing that matters is keeping the commandments of God. Let’s focus on what is important. Let’s not get bogged down in the externals, the superficials.

Verse 20, “Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.” Let every person stay in the same situation he was in when he was saved. Concentrate on the spiritual. Emphasize the Christianity, not the circumstances socially. Christians need to be preoccupied with spiritual. Because Christianity is compatible with any social situation. What he is saying is don’t disrupt the social balance in the name of Christ.

Verse 21 - 23, and this is illustration number two. “Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it concern you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity. 22 For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of people.” If you were called as a slave, it doesn’t matter.

You can be a Christian as an anything, socially speaking. I’m not talking about moral things, but social. Paul is not approving of slavery; he is merely saying that slavery is not an obstacle to Christian living. He says, “If you’re a slave” Ephesians 6:5 says, “be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart as unto Christ.” Just be a good slave.

Did you know that the concentration of righteousness that was in Christianity really became the catalyst that ultimately abolished slavery in the world? Christianity has done that. The important thing is to serve God. And a slave shouldn’t worry about the fact that he’s a slave; he should just serve God. And as this whole righteous kind of life begins to penetrate and spread, the downfall of an enslaving system will occur.

Paul didn’t want a lot of Christian slaves revolting. They expected Jesus to come as the Messiah and overthrow Rome. Then Christianity would have gone down in all of history as a political movement. Slavery is fine, if God has called you in that status. And built into the Christian righteousness pattern, like leaven, moving through a society, is the dissolution of evil in that society as Christianity penetrates.

Verse 22, “For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who is called as a free person is Christ’s slave.” What does it matter that you have to serve somebody else? I mean you’re really God’s free man. All he’s simply saying is, “You may be a slave physically, but you’re a free man spiritually. And you may be a free man physically, but you’re a slave spiritually.”

In other words, he just kind of shows the fact that nothing really matters on the surface. It doesn’t matter whether you’re physically bound or free, it only matters that you’re both spiritually bound and free in the paradox of Christianity. Christ has totally set you free to be His servant. Don’t worry about the superficial situation you’re in. Verse 23 says, “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”

In verse 24 it is repeated, “Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.” Whatever status in life you’ve been allotted by the divine sovereignty of God, maintain it. All of life is God’s; we are all His servants. Let’s concentrate on spiritual service, and on obedience. Let the social thing take care of itself as the leaven of righteousness will permeate a society to bring about change. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Oct 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20251005 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000275 imblog

Romans 10:9-10

Shalom My brothers and sisters, today I want to start our reflection with a story from the life of Roy, a 15-year-old boy. “At the end of January 1999, children and teenagers from GKPB MDC Ambon held a retreat at the Field Station of the Faculty of Fisheries, Pattimura University in Hila, northern Ambon Island. On the last day of their retreat, riots broke out in Ambon city, the bus that was supposed to pick them up never arrived. Finally, Pastor Melky and three other people went down to the city, and upon their arrival at the military command (Koramil), they were told that it was no longer safe and were advised not to leave the Koramil. However, Pastor Melky could not leave the children in Hila, so they returned there by car to pick up the children. On the way, they met radical Muslims. Pastor Melky and another person were stabbed to death while two people managed to escape. From Pastor Melky's car, the group found a retreat flyer, so they went to Hila and found children and teenagers there, including Roy Pontoh. When Roy Pontoh was asked to deny his faith, he replied, "I am a Christian Warrior" and a machete slashed his arm. Roy was questioned again, but he remained steadfast in his response, "I am a Christian Warrior" and a machete slash wounded his other arm. When asked one last time, Roy still answered, "I am a Christian Warrior" and this time the machete pierced his stomach and killed him. (Sputra blog)

My friends, in this world there are many Christians or people who claim to believe in the Lord Jesus. However, the problem is, many people understand the term "faith" differently. What some call "faith" is not necessarily "faith" according to the Bible. Therefore, today we need to reflect on what true faith is, the faith we should have. And through today's reflection, we must ask ourselves, is my faith correct according to the Bible? Let's read Romans 10:9-10, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

There are two things we will reflect on today: first the characteristics of true faith, second the true content of true faith.

1. Characteristics of true faith

First, it is internal. This verse states, "Believe in your heart". This teaches that true faith begins in the heart. A person can manipulate their words or actions to appear faithful, but God sees the heart, and we can hide nothing from Him.

Faith that doesn't come from the heart is nothing more than hypocrisy that deceives oneself and others. The Pharisees appeared very pious with their rituals and traditions, claiming that what they did was worship to God, but in reality, it was only lip service and not from the heart (Matthew 15:7-10).

Believing in your heart demonstrates that faith is personal; one cannot depend on the faith of others. No matter who they are or how strong their faith, they cannot represent us before God. Some may think you are my husband, your faith is my faith, and mine is yours. Not so, my brother. Faith is personal, and it is a special relationship between one person and God. We can support each other in living our faith, but there is no such thing as "freeloading."

Second, it is external. This verse says, "If you declare with your mouth." True faith cannot be kept hidden in the heart; it must be expressed through confession and testimony to others or within the community. This demonstrates complete confidence in what is believed in the heart. In the context of the lives of believers in the first century, this was not an easy thing to do because when they confessed their faith in Jesus, they would experience persecution from unbelievers. In such a situation, the temptation to deny their faith was great, and they could be overcome by fear and shame. In Mark 8:38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

If we study the background of the book of Romans, we will find that believers in Rome at that time experienced various persecutions, tortures and deaths under Emperor Nero, such as being crucified, thrown to wild animals, or burned alive, and were punished because they claimed to believe in Jesus and refused to worship the gods.

So, my friends, the confession of the mouth that Paul refers to in the context of the Roman church is a readiness to die. Therefore, it is said that confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart is true faith in the context of the Roman church, meaning they could not manipulate what came out of their mouths, because the risk was death. No one aims to deceive others so that they are killed.

A heart that is controlled by fear and shame about confessing or witnessing faith is not a characteristic of true faith. True faith will never be afraid of suffering, persecution, even death.

2. The content of true faith.

This verse states, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord," the word "Lord" in this verse comes from the Greek κύριος (kurios), which means Lord or Master. This word indicates that Jesus is the Owner, the Ruler, and the one with full sovereignty. The word κύριος (kurios) affirms that Jesus is God, indicating His equality with the Father. John MacArthur asserts that in the first-century Jewish context, calling Jesus Lord was a very radical act, because it placed Jesus on an equal footing with Yahweh. MacArthur writes: "When someone confesses Jesus as Lord, they acknowledge His absolute authority and are willing to submit to His sovereignty." My brothers, if our faith only reaches confession without submission and surrender, then we are no different from the devil, as stated in Luke 8:28. “When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!”.

When someone says that he believes in Jesus as Lord, then at the same time he must have full awareness that his life belongs to Jesus, he must entrust and surrender everything to Christ. Many people can easily accept that Jesus is the Savior, Jesus is the provider, Jesus is the source of blessings, but it is not easy to accept and acknowledge Jesus as Lord, because that acknowledgement will automatically negate all rights over himself.

Furthermore, it says “believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead”, the event of the death of the Lord Jesus made many people say that He was not God, but all of that was silenced by His resurrection from the dead, because this shows that He truly is God, He is powerful and only He can defeat the power of sin and death.

The final part of these verses speaks of salvation. It says, "And you will be saved." This sentence speaks of the certainty that those who believe in Jesus as Lord and in His resurrection will be saved. Therefore, Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This means that there is no other way to go and meet the Father in heaven except through the Lord Jesus.

Today, God teaches us all that the fundamental principle of Christian faith, according to the Bible, is that a person submits himself completely to the reign of Christ. When a person believes that Jesus is Lord, his primary daily prayer and desire are no longer focused solely on the temporary things he can receive from Jesus, but rather on surrendering his life completely to the control, leadership, and submission of the Lord Jesus. This means that Jesus is Lord of your heart, your thoughts, your words, your deeds, your possessions, and your family.

My friends, it's truly a shame if we claim to believe in Jesus as Lord, yet we're still consumed by fear, anxiety, and shame. There are also those who profess to believe in Jesus, yet in their daily lives, they become "lords" of their own lives, doing everything according to their own desires without considering God and His will. It's as if the power of the Gospel of Christ has no impact on our lives.

My brothers, today let's be honest with God and with ourselves, what kind of faith do we have right now? If today we realize that it seems like my faith is not the right faith. Come to God asking for His forgiveness and help. O Lord, give me the true faith based on Your word. Faith that changed my heart to truly believe that Jesus is the only God in my life and in this world. Amen!

]]> Sun, 28 Sep 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250928 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000274 imblog

1 Corinthians 7:8-16

We’re discussing divine guidelines for marriage. You know, it’s difficult to maintain a marriage. People find it extremely difficult to build lasting relationships with any kind of meaning at all. There is one divorce for every 2.5 marriages now in America. And if you go to 1 Corinthians 7, you’ll find that there was a terrible problem existing in Corinth among Christians, and it dealt with the whole area of marriage.

And the Corinthians didn’t really know what they should do in terms of marriage, or at least they weren’t willing to admit what they should do, and posed some questions to Paul about it. Like every other area of their lives, the Corinthians had managed to destroy the area of marriage. And so, Paul writes 1 Corinthians 7 to deal with their misconceptions and misbehaviors in terms of a godly marriage for Christians.

They were confused over whether it was right to be single and whether necessary to be single if you’re going to be spiritual, or whether it was right to be married and necessary to be married if you were going to be spiritual. The Jews in the congregation, because it was an Orthodox Jewish belief, would have propagated the fact that you had to be married. And if you weren’t married, you were out of God’s will.

So, all kinds of problems and confusion ruled the marital scene in Corinth. And they wrote Paul, asking for answers. Basically, is marriage a command to please God? And are you a more devoted Christian if you’re not married like the Roman Catholic priests and nuns? Should married people, who become Christians, abstain from all sexual relationships? And should a Christian married to a non-Christian divorce?

Paul said that marriage is normal; marriage is for the majority. God has made us to marry. Marriage is good, but marriage is not an absolute commandment for everybody. Because God has, according verse 7, given some people the gift of being single, the ability by the Holy Spirit to totally control sexual desire. And what God’s gifted you with, then your singleness is a gift of God and should be used for His glory.

Now, he takes that principle and applies it to four groups of believers. The first group are the single people. The second group are the people who are married, and both are Christians. The third group are those married to an unbeliever who wants to stay. The fourth group are those married to an unbeliever who wants out. And every one of you here is in one of those four different groups.

Let’s look at group one and see how he applies the principle. Those who are unmarried and widows. Verse 8, “I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they remain as I am.” It’s good to be single. If you’re a bachelor, that’s good. If you’re a maiden who’s never been married, that’s good. If you’re a widow or a widower, that’s good. There’s nothing wrong with that. And good means beneficial.

Don’t listen to those Orthodox Jews who are saying, “If you’re not married, you’re abnormal.” Do not push these people into getting married. God may have given them the gift of celibacy. Maybe being married is in violation of God’s very best for their life. But if somebody who feels that God has given them the gift of being able to control their sexual desire outside of marriage, then let it be that way.

And at this time Paul was single. He may have been married, since marriage was a necessity for a member of the Sanhedrin, which he once was. It is likely that his wife died before he was converted, and his time of ministry was always as a single individual. And so he maintained that because God gave him that gift, that ability to be single and not to be preoccupied with sex and marriage. So, it’s a good thing.

Jesus had a conversation with His disciples. In Matthew 19, it says that it would probably be better to be single. Jesus is talking about marriage, and He’s giving all the things about marriage and how that you’re not to put your wife away except for fornication. And then the Lord laid down some strong guidelines for marriage. Matthew 19:10 says, “His disciples say, “With all of that, is it better to stay single?”

“‘Yes,’ Jesus said, ‘but all men can’t receive this, except they to whom it is given.’” And here the Lord indicated that it would be fine if everybody stayed single, but everybody can’t handle that. And he gives us the introduction into the concept of the charisma of 1 Corinthians 7:7, that you have to have a special gift to be single and not be preoccupied with sex. Being single opens up potential for you to serve the Lord.

We should never take somebody who is content with being single and force them into a situation where they think they’re not fulfilled, so they have to get married. If you’re unmarried or widowed, it’s a good thing, and you can stay that way. You don’t have to get married. “Verse 9 says “But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, since it is better to marry than to burn with desire.” We’re talking about Christians.

So, instead of looking for the right girl, start being the right man. And, girls, instead of looking for the right man, start being the right woman, and then the right man will recognize the right woman. If you’re burning with sexual desire, then please get married. Marriage will bring about the fulfillment of that physical desire. Once you’ve made that vow, get married. There is no advantage in long engagements.

Listen parents, when your kids come home and say they’re engaged, you tell them to get married. “Well, no, we want to wait and finish our four years of college? You know what you do for the time they’re engaged? You destroy their spiritual life because they can’t control their desire, because the commitment is already there. Paul is saying, “It’s fine to get married, let everybody push you into it.

How do I control my desire in the meantime?” Well, here are some thoughts that you can expand on. Number one would be to channel your energy through physical work and spiritual service. This gives your energy an outlet. Secondly, don’t seek to be married, seek to love and let marriage come as a response. People who are seeking to find the fulfillment of love will marry the person they fall in love with.

Don’t seek to get married. You know, that’s when you go out and you go home, and immediately you take out your note, “Let’s see, he’s A on this one, B on this one, and C on this.” “Well, he’s close enough; I’ll take him if he asks.” Well, what you’re doing, is you’re letting marriage be the issue rather than becoming the right person the issue. Seek to be loved and to love. Don’t worry; marriage will take care of itself.

Thirdly, let go of a sex-mad, adulterous world. Now, what I mean by that is watch what you absorb of the system. Fourthly, program your mind with divine realities. It’s amazing, but your behavior is a direct result of the programming of your mind with divine truth. Recognize that for now God has chosen for you to live without sex. “There is no temptation that has taken you but such that is common to man.

God will not allow you to be tempted above that you’re able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Fifth, avoid potentially dangerous situations. That’s like Joseph. He just ran. Sixth, thank and praise God for the state you’re in and be content. You have to approach it from these standpoints. Here is practical advice to those who are married to a Christian.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 says, “To the married I give this command—not I, but the Lord—a wife is not to leave her husband. 11 But if she does leave, she must remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband—and a husband is not to divorce his wife.” He speaks to the ones that are in a mixed marriage beginning in verse 12. So here he’s speaking to Christians. We said that in Rome there were four different ways to get married.

Slaves living in tent companionship; common law marriage; usus marriage where you buy the wife; and then there was the confarreatio noble type marriage. “Well, now the issue isn’t how you got into it, but the issue is how to stay where you are.” If you’re married, let not the wife depart from her husband and vice versa. Jesus said stay married in Matthew 5:32, Matthew 19:9, and Mark 10:11-12.

God hates divorce. He condemned the Israelites. He says, “You have done treacherously against the wife of your youth. You’re divorcing one another.” Only two choices if Christians divorce: they either stay single all the rest of their life, or they come together again to reconcile. Now, let me add a footnote. Paul here is not dealing with a case of adultery. In cases of adultery divorced was allowed among Christians.

Where one Christian commits an adulterous act, God allows for a breaking of that marriage bond. Matthew 5:32 says, “But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Except for fornication, no divorce. But in the case of fornication, God says there is divorce.

Matthew 19:9 says, “I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery.” The only ground that Jesus ever gave for the dissolution of a marriage was sexual immorality. And when that occurs, there is the right to divorce. You remember that in Matthew 1, Joseph was shocked when he found out that Mary was pregnant. He knew he hadn’t done it.

Joseph had every right to divorce Mary if she had become pregnant by another person. And the Bible says, “Joseph, her husband, being a just man.” Listen, he acted righteously in a desire to divorce a wife who had committed adultery. Now, he found out that she hadn’t. The wonderful story was the Holy Spirit had conceived within her the Christ child. But it is a just thing to put away a wife for adultery.

“Well, if I’m one with the Lord, and I join myself to my pagan husband, am I defiling Christ?” What about a mixed marriage? Number one, mixed marriages are forbidden when they can be prevented. Verse 39, at the end, says, “If you’re going to marry, marry only in the Lord.” So, the idea of a Christian marrying a non-Christian is in disobedience to Scripture. But if you’re already married and one gets saved?

Well, verse 12 says, “But I (not the Lord) say to the rest: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.” If you have an unsaved wife, and she wants to stay, let her stay. Verse 13 says, “Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce her husband.” God doesn’t want a person getting saved and marry a Christian.

In the early years of Christianity, Christians were accused of destroying family relationships. For a woman to change religion without her husband was unthinkable, but it was happening. One of the things that the pagan husbands were concerned about was the holy kiss. One husband said, “I don’t want my wife going out, spending all night at nocturnal convocations and solemnities, creeping into prison to kiss martyrs.”

Verse 14, “For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.” Not only is the believer not contaminated, but what happens? The very opposite. No, he’ll be sanctified by you. Fantastic. Instead of the Christian being defiled, or made unholy, the unbeliever is actually made holy.

Sometimes I ask a person, I say, “Do you come from a Christian home?” “No, I’m the only Christian there.” “Do you know how many Christians it takes to make a Christian home? One Christian.” “Everybody else in the house is sanctified by your presence. Did you know that?” Sanctified means set apart, holy.” It’s not saying if a husband doesn’t believe he’s saved anyway just because he’s married to a Christian. No.

“Well, this is what we call matrimonial sanctification.” That’s just a term to distinguish it from spiritual and personal sanctification. But just living in a home, where somebody is a Christian, has a sanctifying influence.” Everybody in the house reaps the benefit. Hey, if you’re a non-Christian, and you’ve got a Christian mate, you ought to thank God, because your home is the recipient of the blessings of God.

It is far superior to living in a pagan home. Marriage to a Christian creates a relationship to God for the non-Christian, while it is short of salvation, it is far superior to pagan life. A lady said, “We had in our entire home just one Christian: Grandma. Nobody wanted to listen.” In the years that have passed, three out of the four children have come to Jesus Christ, and all of them go back to the influence of Grandma.

Verse 15, “But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you to live in peace.” You are free from bondage. You’re free to remarry. But you couldn’t remarry.” Why? Verse 11, “If she departs out of a Christian marriage, she must remain unmarried.” But if the unbeliever departs, and he gets the divorce, a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases.” The marriage has ended.

Verse 16 says, “Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.” Paul is not saying here keep them so you can save them; he’s saying, “Let them go because you have no guarantee you will. And you will destroy the peace that God intends to give.” Whatever God has given you as your marital state, accept it as your will and maximize it for His glory.

I don’t know what God wants for you, but I know this: that His will is purposeful and will be fruitful as we abide in Him. When we teach the Word of God, that the Spirit of God just sort of picks up the words and carries them to your heart, and that he sort of does a planting work. And I know that He’s done that in your life today, and maybe in response to what He’s doing, you’re feeling some things inside. Let us pray.

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Romans 5:9

Who believes/feels that they are a righteous person?

Having the conviction that we are righteous is not something easy; in fact, we tend to doubt because in our daily lives, we often fall into sin. Essentially, we prefer to satisfy the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes rather than doing the will of God. So the question is, how can we become a righteous person? Because only a righteous (holy) person can see God (Matt 5:8). My prayer is that through today's reflection, the Holy Spirit speaks specifically to each of us, and we return with new understanding and conviction.

Romans 5:9 (NKJV) “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

Let us start with the Much more then, especially if God loves so much when they were still sinners, how much greater is God's love for those who have now become His children. God will certainly perform special actions for His children.

There are people who ask themselves, does God love me? This question is often planted by the devil in the minds of people. The goal is to make humans not believe, to doubt, and therefore we can not experience God's great love in Christ. In fact, God's main character is love. So it is impossible for Him not to show His love to His children.

Having now been justified

Justified in Greek is δικαιωθέντες (dikaiothentes) from the root word δικαιόω (dikaios) which means "justified," made right, declared not guilty. This is a Verb form, Aorist, Passive, Participle emphasizing that justification has been done once and for all and is accomplished thoroughly and perfectly by God. John 19:30 “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Then Hebrews 9:28 says  “so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

The passive form of the word δικαιωθέντες indicates that the individual who is justified does nothing at all. This means that the justification of sinful humans is entirely the work of God, with no involvement or contribution from humans whatsoever. And it has been completed by God without needing any additional actions from humans. Romans 3:23-24 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Now that they have been justified, Paul emphasizes and affirms that their status has changed to that of the righteous. The work of Christ's justification is very important because it changes the way God views humanity. Initially seen as broken, stained, and blemished humans, because of Christ's justification, God now sees the holy blood of Christ covering human sinfulness. Humankind is once again accepted in fellowship with God and experiences the forgiveness of sins.

by His blood ‘oleh darah-Nya’

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel came to the temple every year to offer animals and their blood as a symbol of the forgiveness of sins before God. Hebrews 9:22 “According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” But the sacrifice of animal blood is only temporary and inadequate to redeem sinful humans. It is actually used as a reminder for humans that they are truly sinful before God and in need of forgiveness.

Animal sacriface is used by God as a depiction that in the future there will be Christ, the Lamb of God who will shed His blood for the work of justification for humanity. We see in several Bible verses John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!.” Ephesians 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

When a believer trusts and accepts Christ in their heart, at that moment they have become righteous. Righteous not because of their own deeds but because of God's work in Christ Jesus. This belief should always remain in the hearts and minds of believers, as it will serve as a reminder for them to continue striving to live in God's truth. At all times we will face temptations to do things that are not right, but the Holy Spirit will remind and help us to be aware that our focus in life is on God's truth.

we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

This section talks about God's promise or guarantee to every person who believes in Him, who has been justified by the blood of Christ, and will surely be saved. Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The phrase 'we shall be saved' uses the Future tense of the Verb, meaning that Christ has already accomplished this, and in the future, believers will certainly experience its impact. This speaks of a certainty that everyone who believes in Him will certainly be glorified in the kingdom of heaven.

While "the wrath of God" exists because of sin. Ultimately, the wrath of God is manifested through eternal punishment in hell for everyone who does not believe in His Son. This punishment is so horrifying, because once a person experiences it, they will suffer forever. Therefore, only those who have received and truly believe in the Lord Jesus in their hearts and have made Him Lord in their lives will receive justification, salvation, and freedom from the wrath of God.

What does God want to teach us all today?

1. God loves His children more than they can imagine and think.

No matter how damaged and broken your life is, God loves you, and when life seems heavy, as if there is no way out, remember that God loves you.

2. Only through the blood of Christ do we obtain true justification.

3. The justification of Christ is more valuable than anything, that is what frees believers from the wrath of God. For what is the use of having all the riches of the world but ultimately losing one's soul?

How can we know and assess ourselves that we are justified by the blood of Christ?

1. The awareness that there is no truth at all within us, and no ability whatsoever to justify ourselves. This awareness is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer.

2. Having a faithful heart and sincerely surrendering to the Lord Jesus. In Romans 5:1 we are told “Therefore, we who are justified by faith, the Holy Spirit places faith in our hearts, which is an unmatched gift.” So a person who has been given faith cannot remain silent and idle, but has a burning spirit to continue growing in the knowledge of God.

3. Being thankful by living in the truth that God desires. If we have a great desire to live in the truth, then that is a strong indication that we are justified.

]]> Sun, 14 Sep 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250914 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000272 imblog

1 Corinthians 7:1-7

We are coming to an important and controversial chapter. And we’re going to find some very practical information. The book of 1 Corinthians is intensely practical. It deals basically with the subject of marriage, and marriage is a hot item today. It’s a discussion topic constantly. And the Bible has a lot to say about marriage. Our Lord Jesus taught much about marriage. He referred to marriage many times in the Gospel records.

He stated in Matthew 19 that man and woman were made for each other. God made them for each other. He states that they should join themselves together and become one flesh, and that was actually a joining together by God himself. Jesus also emphasized that marriage was to be monogamous; that it was to be two becoming one flesh, something that was first stated by God in Genesis 2.

Jesus also taught, in Matthew 19, that marriage was to be unbroken. God hadn’t changed his attitude at all about divorce. Jesus also taught that it was only for this life. Matthew 22:30, Mark 12:25, Luke 20:35, all of those indicate that marriage is only for this earth, not for heaven. But all that He said was theology. So we find much more information about marriage from Paul, who has much to say about marriage.

Paul explains the basic truths of marriage in 1 Corinthians 7. Here Paul takes the basic things that the Lord said, and he goes on from there to make application of those statements. The most important thing is not to just learn what it says, but to do what it says and to make application in our lives. But, he wants to make it very clear to begin with that there are some verses that are his opinion from the Holy Spirit, not God’s.”

In 1 Corinthians 7, you have an illustration of that. Paul is saying, “Here is something old, and here is something new. This is what the Lord said; I’m quoting. And this is what I say; this is a new revelation. Now, Paul begins, in chapter 7, to speak of the practical side of marriage. Sometimes quoting the Lord for the basic theological principle, and then going on to speak the new truth of the practical.

And the Corinthians had four major questions they were asking Paul. And from chapter 7 through 11, he deals with the questions they asked in the letter. After that in chapter 12, he says, “Now I’m going back to spiritual things, back to the things that concern me.” But this little block in the middle are the things they were asking him about. They wanted some information about marriage; and chapter 7 deals with that.

Let me tell you a little bit about the Roman marital situation. First, Rome had no uniform set of marital laws. You could get married at least four different ways in some sense. There were hundreds of thousands of slaves, and they weren’t even considered human with rights. When they wanted to get married, or just a living together, the owner would agree to what was called a contubernium which means a tent companionship.

Now, if the owner didn’t particularly care for the situation, the slave owner could go in there and take them apart, he could sell off the husband, or he could sell off the wife. So, you had a lot of problems in the early Church because so many of the early Christians were slaves. Paul did not try to break up everything. He tried to teach them the sanctity of the marriage that they had whatever the legal basis was.

“Stay together. Prove yourselves true to one another. Love one another. Make everything of that marriage that God designed it to be, because that’s really all the choice they had as slaves.” There was another way that you could be married, which was called U-S-U-S. And this custom meant that a woman and a man could live together for one year. At the end, they would become identified as husband and wife.

Today we would call that a common law marriage. So, the church would have had to face people who were common law married, who had no legal papers to identify their marriage. And again, the New Testament doesn’t say anything about what they ought to do other than to maintain the sanctity of the marriage that exists under whatever it exists. There was another way, coemptio en manum, which was marriage by sale.

This happened where the father sold his girl to the husband. If the guy would come across with the right price, he could have the daughter. And depending upon the girl, the price would vary. I suppose it could be anywhere from a couple dozen sheep to a lame chicken. But it would have a lot to do with the particular girl, and maybe sometimes the father would have to make adjustments. So, this was worked out financially.

But the noblest marriage was called confarreatio, a coming together on a high level. This was the classy marriage. And the entire marriage ceremony, as we know it today in the Christian church, comes from this pagan Roman marriage. It does not come from Hebrew custom in the Old Testament. It’s entirely the Roman pagan’s ceremony. The Roman Catholic Church simply picked up the standard Roman ceremony.

And when the Reformation came, nobody changed it. It had become tradition and it is pretty much the same today. In fact, the Hebrew wedding lasted normally seven days. So, we’re way far from the Hebrew customary wedding. But this one was a one-afternoon or a one-evening thing. The two families came together; they picked out a maid of honor, and a best man. The couple joined their right hands and they recited vows.

And after the vows, there were prayers offered. That’s the standard procedure, only they offered the prayers to Jupiter and Juno. Flowers were customary, and a bridal wreath was really the beginning of what we know today as the bridal bouquet. The bride always wore a veil, which was lifted. There was a ring, and that’s where the idea of the wedding ring began, and it was always put on the same ring finger.

People discovered that a nerve ran from the middle of this finger right to the heart. And since that nerve was connected to the heart, that’s the place where the ring ought to go. That whole thing was the Roman system of marriage. When all of that was over, they went to another place, and believe it or not, they had a cake. That’s right. So, now you know where the whole wedding custom came from.

But add to that were the really great problems. The moral character within marriage had been destroyed so that divorce was very rampant. There are records of people who had been married as many as 29 times. They counted their years by their wives. There was immorality; and homosexuality and concubinage. Men used their wives to clean house, cook meals, and then they had other women for their pleasure.

Marriage began to suffer. Vows were violated. Women demanded to live their own lives, and the husbands were happy to let them out. And men began to discard their women as fast as women began to leave. And they would discard their women for speaking to the wrong person in public, for doing something without asking their permission. They would divorce a woman to get a richer one. Cicero did that.

In the midst of all of this, some would suggest that the best way out is never to get married. And they began to elevate that through the idea of celibacy becoming a spiritually elite people. You had denied yourself the flesh. You had laid aside all of those things and totally devoted yourself to Jesus Christ. And there was a prevailing view in the Corinthian church, that celibacy was the highest form of Christian life.

That idea of celibacy being a high-level of spiritual devotion is still with us. It is in the Roman Catholic Church. And priests and nuns don’t marry for that reason. They wear a wedding ring often as a symbol of their marriage to Jesus Christ. That’s a high-level devotion. They say that makes them superior spiritually to the rest of us who are married. 1 Timothy 4 says people are talking about forbidding to marry.

Now, I want you to look at four key ideas that appear in the first seven verses, and they deal with the problem of whether to be celibate or married. You don’t know whether to get married or not to get married. You’re either single and haven’t found anybody interested, or you’re married and you’re stuck. You don’t know whether it’s right to remarry or whatever. So, may the Spirit of God pinpoint some things to you.

Number one, celibacy is good. Verse 1, “Now concerning the things about which you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.” Now, that sounds a little picky. Well, if you take that as a literal statement, Adam and Eve would have been the last people that ever lived on the face of the earth. It’s not talking about that. The concept “touching a woman” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. That’s what it means.

I can show that to you simply from several Old Testament passages. In Ruth 2 about Ruth and Boaz. Boaz had that desire to keep Ruth pure. Ruth 2:9 says, “See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you?” In Proverbs 6:29, “So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.” So touching means sexual intercourse.

Now, the reason it’s so urgent that he say this is because of the Jews in the church. The Jews used to teach that if you didn’t have a wife, you were a sinner. Seven kinds of people couldn’t get to heaven; they had a list. Number one on the list, a Jew who has no wife. Number two, a wife who has no children. The Jews said, “God said be fruitful and multiply, and if you don’t, you’re disobedient to the commands of God.”

Paul is starting out by saying, “It’s good to be single. Nothing wrong with that at all.” Verse 2, “But because sexual immorality is so common, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman should have sexual relations with her own husband.” Those are commands from God. And Paul says, “Everybody should get married. Why? “On account of sexual immorality.”

The Bible says there are six biblical reasons for marriage. Number one, procreation. Genesis 1:28 says to be fruitful and multiply. That’s one reason to get married, to have children. Secondly, pleasure. God designed marriage just to enjoy physical pleasure? Marriage is honorable, marriage is enjoyable. Proverbs 5 talks about the satisfaction that a husband finds in the physical body of his wife and vice versa.

Thirdly, marriage is provision. God wants a man to provide what a woman needs. “The woman is the weaker vessel” it says in 1 Peter 3. And God knows that a man can support the weakness of a woman. God wants the man to provide for the woman, to nourish her, Ephesians 5 says, to cherish her, to strengthen her, to give her something to lean on, to fortify her. It’s also a partnership. Marriage is for partnership.

Fourth, marriage is a picture. Ephesians 5 says it is a symbol to the world of God’s relationship to His Church. And lastly, marriage is for purity, to keep us from committing fornication. Those are the reasons the Bible gives, and Paul isn’t only simplifying everything to this; he’s just dealing with one aspect. So, marriage is the norm. Celibacy is good, but let’s face it, celibacy is also tempting.

Verse 3, “A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.” You are a debtor, men, to your wife. Ladies, you are a debtor to your husband. Even if he’s a non-Christian, you owe him a debt. You are to pay your debts to one another, fulfilling your duty to one another. And what is the debt? I think he’s talking about physical, sexual relationships. Being a Christian doesn’t change that.

In fact, the book of Song of Solomon has a whole book written just on the physical part of marriage. Song of Solomon gives us magnificent lyrics in praise of the physical desire of marriage. I mean she is really excited about this guy, and he about her. But that’s how it ought to be. God designed marriage to be the physical expression of love. Mutual sexual love in marriage is God’s design.

Verse 4, “A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does.” Because you have released the authority over your body to your partner. And it’s a present tense, here – lifelong. And you can quote this verse to each other in its fullness and know that God supports that desire that you have for one another.

Verse 5, “Do not deprive one another—except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” Marriage, then, is a permanent surrender of everything I am to my partner. I am hers in absolutely the fullest and truest sense. And then he makes an application, “Stop depriving each other of the physical relationship.”

Unless there is mutual consent for a set time. You lose the desire and the craving for the physical, and you become lost in the struggling of the spiritual in seeking out the will and the revelation of God’s plan. And that becomes the consuming thing. There may be times in your life when you fall into sin, and you go through a time of purification, and your heart needs to be given over totally to the Lord.

Verse 6, “I say this as a concession, not as a command.” Paul is saying, “I’m simply laying this out as the norm because I’m aware of your human needs.” And the only reason you should not get married and fulfill that is verse 7, “I wish that all people were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one person has this gift, another has that.” While marriage is not a command, it is stressed as the norm because of the problem of staying pure.

You know, to be single means you can do certain things that you otherwise couldn’t do, and God needs single people. Thank God, if you’re single and have no desire for marriage. That’s a gift of God. Use it. If you’re married, you’ve got the gravy n life. Live it up. Enjoy it. One has one, one has another one. So, he lays the principle. Celibacy is good; marriage is good. It just depends on which God designs for you. Let’s pray.

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Romans 5:8

My friends in Christ, what is the biggest problem facing all humans in this world? Some would answer relationship problems, financial problems, or work problems. Today, let's learn that there is a much bigger and more serious problem than all of those above. And only God can solve this problem.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

But God shows His love to us, who are we that God shows His love to us? Are we worthy of love? The Bible explains so clearly about who and what human life really is. God created humans very special, but what happened after Adam and Eve fell into sin. The severance of human connection with God who is their creator, the destruction of life, humans live in all evil, rebelling against God and not thinking about doing the will of God who created them. Genesis 5:6 NIV The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. Psalms 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

The first thing that is very important is the full awareness that we are sinners who actually deserve to be punished, deserve to be destroyed because of sin. There is nothing we can be proud of, we have absolutely no ability to escape from the bondage of sin and the power of darkness. Romans 5:8 'But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'

When God shows His love to us, it is entirely God's own decision and will, with absolutely no human intervention. God does this not because we have done good, not because humans have loved God and followed His will—no! It is said that God did this while humans were still sinful, actively rebelling against God, moving away from God, and ignoring God as the Great Creator.

Are we now aware that we are sinners? When someone realizes they are a sinner, it is a great gift from God. Why? Because it is the first step in realizing they need help to be free from sin. Sin is truly the greatest problem in the world, and only God can solve it.

The second thing we should consider is that God demonstrates His love. This is the foundation of faith and Christian teaching. God first seeks out sinful humans. This is very different from any other religious teaching, which teaches that humans can draw near to God through their good deeds and even be saved through their piety.

It says, “Because Christ died for us, this is a clear proof of God’s love that gave His Son to suffer and die for the sake of humans who oppose Him. This is the greatest love for a broken, destroyed world. John 15:13' Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 1 Peter 3:18 (NIV) 'For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

Only God’s love, which is expressed in Christ, can solve sin! Therefore, no one can be free from sin if they do not have Christ in their life. Even though to this day there are still many people who underestimate, blaspheme, and do not believe in Christ and His work.

It says, "While we were still sinners, it means that there was a time when humans were indeed dominated by sin, but when they experienced God's love in Christ Jesus, they certainly experienced change, restoration, and justification. My friends, we may have been Christians for a long time, even born into Christian families. But what is the basis for our being Christians today? Could it be that we think I have to have a religion like everyone else in general? This means being Christian is merely an identity and worship becomes merely a routine.

Today, God reminds us that we should become Christians by accepting and believing in God's amazing love, which He showed us while we were still sinners. And remember, it is God's love that transforms our lives. It changes everything, transforming our status from sinners to justified and sanctified ones, changing our purpose in life, our motivation in life, and our way of life.

]]> Sun, 31 Aug 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250831 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000270 imblog

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

We’re continuing in our study in 1 Corinthians to see the problems that plagued the Corinthian church. One of them was the problem of sexual immorality, and that is the one dealt with in 1 Corinthians 6:12 - 20. And in this passage, he presents the Christian’s perspective on morality. Unless you really know the Lord Jesus Christ, unless you’re a Christian, this morality is what God and the Bible teaches.

You see, the Corinthians had rationalized their sexual activity just like people today do. There are plenty of other people who say, “What’s the big deal about sex? It’s only biology, right? Well, the Corinthians had done the same thing. And, of course, they had a problem, too, because they lived in the city of Corinth. In fact, the verb “to corinthianize” meant to have sex with a prostitute. That’s how Corinth viewed that kind of life.

In chapter 6, the sin that we saw the last time was the sin of suing one another. And you remember the Corinthian society loved to have lawsuits, and they just carried that over into their Christian life. So, all of the evils there were just dragged in from their former life, and Paul’s going to hit another one of them. Here it is: he’s going to hit the sin of immorality, and he’s going to take apart their rationalization.

I’ll show you the three things that the sin of sex does to the body. Sexual things harms, it controls, and it perverts the body. That’s Paul’s three-fold argument. Point number one, it harms. Verse 12, “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.” All things are allowable, but they’re not all profitable.”

God will forgive, but the price is high. Immorality is one of those things that God forgives. If you have done that, God has forgiven you totally by the blood of Jesus Christ. But there’s a price to pay, because there’s harm built into sin. Proverbs 5:3-4 says, “Though the lips of a strange woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, 4 in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.”

Many a man has destroyed his life over women. Many a man today is saddled with paying so much alimony he can hardly live himself, and all of his money is going out. “Even strangers are filled with your wealth, and your labors be in the hands of an alien, or the house of an alien.” People have lost their life and their livelihood through immorality. Proverbs 5:8 says, “Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.”

Look at Proverbs 5:18. Now, God isn’t against sex. No, He invented it. Verse 18 says, “Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.” That’s God’s design that sex is a beautiful thing. Proverbs 5:20-21 says, “Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman? 21 For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and He considers all his paths.”

God may forgive it, but that doesn’t make it right, and it doesn’t make it smart. Proverbs 7:4-5, “Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call understanding your relative. She will keep you from a wayward woman with her flattering talk.” Now the illustration: Proverb 7:6-10, “At the window of my house I looked through my lattice. 7 I saw among the inexperienced, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking sense.”

8 Crossing the street near her corner, he strolled down the road to her house 9 at twilight, in the evening, in the dark of the night. 10 A woman came to meet him dressed like a prostitute, having a hidden agenda.” You can tell them by the way they dressed in those days, and even today. Verse 13-14, “She grabs him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him, 14 “I’ve made fellowship offerings; today I’ve fulfilled my vows.”

My religion is all taken care of. Got that out of the way. Proverbs 7:15-18, So I came out to meet you, to search for you, and I’ve found you. 16 I’ve spread coverings on my bed— richly colored linen from Egypt. 17 I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning. Let’s feast on each other’s love!” It all sounds great, doesn’t it? Very enticing and alluring.

Now, this is a stupid kid. “With her fair speech, she caused him to yield; with the flattering of her lips, she forced him. He goes after her straightway” – now watch, like a lover to his love? No – “like an ox to the slaughter” – like a wise man to his fulfillment? No – “like a fool to the stocks, till an arrow strike through his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare and doesn’t know that it is for his life.” What a fool.

1 Corinthians 10:8 says that of the Israelites 23,000 dropped dead in one day from committing adultery. Think of David. God forgave David and God loved David. And David’s going to occupy a special place in heaven, because God forgave his sin. But poor David committed adultery. He went up on his roof, looked over, saw Bathsheba on a lower roof taking a sun bath, and he flipped out, and said, “That’s for me.”

And finally he wrote Psalm 51. The man was absolutely devastated to the roots of his being. He paid for that sin every waking day of the rest of his life. He never forgot it; it destroyed him and his family. David was alone; because it immediately isolates you because you’re afraid somebody might find out. David was physically ill. And he was guilty, and he poured out Psalm 51 in agony. God forgave him.

Second thing, the sin of adultery not only harms, it controls. You know, there is in sexual activity a certain progression that enslaves. And remember I wanted to hold her hand. I thought, “It’s time for me to, you know, make some advances.” And so, it took me about an hour to get up enough nerve, and I finally grabbed her hand. And I held her hand for a while, and whoa-oh, little things were going oh-oh.

So, after a while, I had sweaty hands. And then, there was a progression. You desire to touch, and I’ll never forget the first time I kissed a girl. And all of a sudden, you realize you’re in a trap. And where are you going to go? This is how the sexual thing works. It becomes and enslaving thing. And even people who go all the way, are always looking for gratification which they never find. But they become slaves of sex.

So here are the Corinthian Christians, in the name of liberty, they are losing their freedom and becoming slaves. In the name of Christian freedom, they had become slaves to their own desires. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, “For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4 that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor.”

In Romans 8:13, Paul said, “Because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” And, you can get in a situation where you’re not in control at all. You get to the place where you’re victimized by your drive. “Keep it in control,” Paul says, possess your vessel; control your body so you don’t become a slave to sex.

Paul put it very interestingly, something starts tempting your body, you have to fight your body. 1 Corinthians 9:27 says, “I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” You say, “What are you fighting, Paul? “My body. I have to beat my body into subjection.” Why? “Because even as a preacher, I could become a “castaway.”

There are a lot of castaways around. A lot of people who once named the name of Christ, some who even once preached, and because they didn’t give their body a black eye, and their lust ran away with them, and they sinned, they have become castaways, set apart from usefulness to God. Sin is a slaving thing, and particular this sin of lust becomes a driving, compelling, dominating passion, and people are taken captive.

All sin has a progressive element. You read in Psalm 1:1, which says, “How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers!” And you see the progression of sin: first he’s walking, then he’s standing, finally he’s sitting. That’s the progression of sin. You play around the edges, you get involved, and suddenly you’re stuck.

And James 1 talks about lust conceiving and bringing forth sin, and then sin conceives and brings forth death. There’s this continuum. In 2 Timothy 3:13, it talks about evil men growing worse and worse. Paul says, “Yes, all things are lawful, but you do that and they’ll enslave you. You’ll become a slave.” And I have never seen anything so enslaving in the lives of individuals as that particular area of sin.

Verse 13, “Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” A third thing, sex sin not only harms and enslaves but it perverts. Do you know why your body is different? Because there’s coming a time in this world when we’re going to be raised. We’re coming from the grave in the rapture.

The bodies are going to be brought out of the grave. That’s no problem for God. We’re going to be in heaven in bodies. So he’s saying, “Look, food which is a necessity for eating, but that’ll all cease. But the body, the total person incorporated in that flesh is going to be glorified and transformed into heaven.” Don’t think that the biology of eating is equal to what you do with your body in terms of its union.

There’s a big difference. Now he gives three distinct purposes. First he says, “Your body is for the Lord,” verse 13. Eating is a natural function, but sex is far more than a natural function, sex is a spiritual union. It transcends the biological. The Bible never says God’s going to destroy eternally the body. That body is going to be glorified. A Christian is going to spend its eternity with Jesus Christ in a glorified state.

Our bodies have biological aspects and biological functions, but they are far beyond that. Between food and the stomach, there is a horizontal line. Between my body, my person, and the Lord, there is a vertical relationship. And it must not be defiled, because God wants me presented to Jesus Christ a chaste virgin spiritually. For a Christian to commit a sex sin destroys the vertical relationship.

Your body wasn’t made for sex; it was made for God. And within God’s will, sex is included in marriage; outside of that, you violate it. And the proof of it is in verse 14, “God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.” God’s going to raise your body out of the grave. Don’t defile your body which was designed to spend eternity with Him. The body is for the Lord, and it is one with Christ.

Verses 15 – 20 say, “Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, the two will become one flesh. 17 But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.18 Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body.

But the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.” 19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.” You are one with Christ. You are the members of Christ. When you were saved, you were joined to Christ.” Every one of us is a member of his body, right?

Sex is not just biological. No, it is spiritual; it is two becoming one. That’s the way God designed it. It unites two people. That’s why the Old Testament says when there are two single people, if a man lies with a woman, then he marries her. Why? Because they’ve consummated a spiritual union. And that’s why the Bible says that when adultery is committed, that’s grounds for divorce, because they have a union outside the marriage.

The Corinthians or any Christian who commits an act of sexual sin drags Jesus Christ into it. When you unite with a prostitute, you become one flesh with that prostitute in the deepest sense of communion of your beings. The sex act is not just biological; it is the uniting of two persons in the most intimate sense. And when you do that with a prostitute, you’ve drawn a union with that prostitute.

Verse 17, “But anyone joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him.” How could you ever drag Him into that? The result, he says in verse 18, “Flee sexual immorality.” Get out of there. You know the smartest way to handle sexual sin? You know, Joseph was smart. Potiphar’s wife started to seduce him. And Joseph realized, “Only one way out of this,” and he took off. She grabbed his coat, and that’s all she got.

While sexual immorality is not necessarily the worst sin, it is the most unique in its consequences. It has a way of internally destroying a man and a woman that no other sin has. Why? Because it is the one sin that is the spiritual unions of two persons. You can commit other sins, and those other sins may affect you at some level. Therefore, it is the unique kind of sin that destroys a man at the roots of his being.

Third, your body’s the temple of the Holy Spirit. Verse 19, “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.” You didn’t induce the Holy Spirit, you didn’t earn the Holy Spirit, you didn’t seek the Holy Spirit; He was given as a gift. You’re His temple. Verse 20 says, “He bought you at a price.” And what was the price?

1 Peter 1:18 - 19, “For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.” What was the price he paid? His blood. He bought you. 2 Corinthians 6:16 says, “For we are the temple of the living God.” How can you drag the Holy Spirit into this?

This church is not the temple of God; this is nothing. You are the temple of God. The living God dwells in you. You are the sacred shrine. Don’t you know that? How could you desecrate, how could you mutilate, how could you defile the temple of the Spirit of God? That’s who you are. Your body is for the Lord. And what is the result of all of this? Verse 20 says, “Therefore, glorify God in your body. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Aug 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250824 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000026F imblog

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

We’re today going to conclude a study that we began last week on the subject of forbidden lawsuits. The principle of forgiveness. But it does just deal with the last part of the message which we began last time. And as I then looked at verses 9 to 11, I again was struck with the whole idea of the transformation of salvation. So, those things are going to kind of come together in our study this evening.

The primary objective of all pastors must be to bring the congregation to a place of submission to the Word of God. I teach you the Word of God not just to teach it, but so that you’ll respond to it. We talk about the authority of the Word of God in order that you might come under that authority. Then you can solve every problem by introducing a biblical principle that deals with it and people will conform to the principle.

Now, there are many principles in the Scripture that we need to submit to. One of them is this principle of forgiveness that we’re going to look at this evening. Ephesians 4:31-32 says, “Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ Jesus.

And the breadth and the depth and the height of that principle can only be measured by understanding how much God has forgiven us. That, in turn, is to be the standard by which we forgive one another. Now, in Ephesians 4:32, Paul summarizes the law of personal relationships. Well, you’ve heard the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” But the biblical standard is higher than that.

The biblical standard says, “Do to others as Christ has done to you.” You see? You need to forgive others in the same way, with the same magnanimous and total forgiveness that Christ exercised in your behalf, or that God exercised in your behalf. You forgive in the same way that God forgave you. In John 13, the general idea is that we are to be responsive to the pattern and the model of Christ has given.

Now listen; “For I, Jesus have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” Treat each other as Christ treats you. That is the principle of interpersonal relationships among Christians. Colossians 3:12-13 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another.”

People would say, “Well forgive him, but what if he keeps doing it and keeps doing it. Do I keep forgiving?” Yes, even if he does it seven times a day and repents seven times a day, you keep forgiving him seven times a day. The principle is simple. The Christian has toward his brother the obligation of forgiveness. This is important; there is nothing that anybody has ever done to you that is unforgivable.

There is nothing that you have ever done in your life that is outside the forgiveness of God, and that’s the standard. You’re to forgive one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you. When you come to Christ and believe and receive Jesus Christ, is there any sin at that point that is unforgivable? It doesn’t matter what it is, if you come at the cross to receive Christ, there is nothing that is unforgivable.

If you were a soldier who pounded a nail into the hand of Jesus Christ, or you rammed a spear into his side, if you were a mocker who spit in His face. All of it is forgivable. “And as Christ has forgiven you” - 1 John 2:12, “all your trespasses”- that’s the standard by which you forgive one another. There is nothing that is unforgivable. Nothing. Now, sadly, the Corinthians were disobeying this principle.

Look at 1 Corinthians 6. Instead of forgiving each other, every time somebody did something wrong, they’d sue them. They had a gross lack of life, bitterness, vengeance, recompense, self-seeking, unforgiving spirit, robbery; they were extorting and swindling each other. All of this going on within the church, just gouging each other. Instead of forgiving, every little thing became a case for the courts.

And so, Paul writes 1 Corinthians 6, dealing with the sin of suing each other instead of forgiving each other. He tells them that they give evidence of either a misunderstanding or a total disregard of three great truths: the rank of the church, the right attitude of the Christian, and the relation to the world. And what he’s pointing out here is let the church judge. Let the church make the decision if you have a problem.

He says, “Look at the rank of the church. You’re exalted about the world. You’re exalted above angels. You will judge the world. You will judge angels. If you’re going to do that, don’t you think you can handle your petty grievances? Why take them before the pagans? Well, the reason was because they didn’t want justice, they wanted to get into the law courts and extort; they wanted to get more than they deserved.

Now, his second point, which we saw last week, continuing our review, is that you also have misunderstood not only the rank of the church, but the right attitude of the Christian. We’ve just seen that the right attitude of the Christian, it’s to forgive. You lose before you get there. Even if you win the case, you lose spiritually in disobedience to God, and the testimony of Christ is warped and wounded.

The Christian thing to do would be just accept it. And, the implication is forgiveness. In Acts 20:34 - 35, “Our Lord said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.” And that’s the principle. You’ve wronged me; I forgive you as God, for Christ’s sake, forgave me. But let me take it a step further. In Matthew 5:43 our Lord says, “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”

Matthew 5:44 says, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” It was customary among the Jews that the rabbis would teach you love the Jews and hate the Gentiles. “But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies.’” That must have really come as a shock to the Jews, to love a Gentile. Here’s an unbeliever, an enemy. What happens when he does you wrong? You must bless him.

When he hates you, what do you? You love him. When he uses you, extorts from you, what do you do? You pray for him. Yes, if it’s a personal thing, that’s the principle Jesus is giving. Why? Verse 45 says, “So that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” Those kids have all of the characteristics of God.” Often, children demonstrate the characteristic of the parent. We are manifesting the character of God.

That’s the input that Christ wanted to give at this point. He says, “This is what God does. For he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” He does good to both His children and others. If all you do is the right thing towards Christians, big deal; you ought to do it as well toward others. Verse 48 really knocks it out, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Now, the principle is toward the Christian forgiveness. Now I want to give a footnote that will help you, because there may be times when you will go to court. But wherever the Word of God or the work of God is at stake, I have the right to claim my legal privileges. If the government said, “You can’t preach anymore,” then I would say, “You’re getting into what God wants done in the proclamation of His truth.

Our constitution provides for religious freedom and the liberty to express what I believe, and I believe I have the right to that privilege and that freedom.” Now, the reason I say this is true biblically is because this is precisely what the apostle Paul did. He only exercised legal privilege to gain a hearing for the Word of God. In Acts, they beat him; they scourged him. And he says, “You can’t do that because I am a Roman."

The issue was he could not be legally restricted because he had freedom within Roman law, and he was going to take that freedom for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can see this done in Acts 16:35-39, Acts 22:24-26, and Acts 25:10-12. In three of those cases, Paul exercises his right under the government and the law to the privilege of the work of God and the speaking the truth that he had.

It’s a matter of protecting the privileges that God has given us to proclaim His Word. And therein Paul used his right and the law when it came to that. Now, what are we saying then in general? The principle of forgiveness is to operate among Christians, and it is to operate in connection with unbelievers as well. Do I still get my money? Well, who wants money when you can do right and get the blessing of God?

Verse 9-10 says, “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, 10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.” So thirdly, you give evidence that you are indifferent to the relation to the world you live in.

Verse 11 says, “And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” He is saying, “Don’t you know you’re different than the world? What are you doing governing your life by the way they act instead of the Christian attitude of forgiveness and accepting wrong and letting God bring about justice.

Instead of taking things to the church and letting them be settled, you’re acting just like the ungodly. And you used to be that way, but you have been washed, and you have been sanctified, and you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. What are you doing acting like that? Don’t you know you have a new relationship to the world; you’re separated from it?

Your behavior is totally inconsistent with who you are. The kind of activities you’re doing, the way you treat each other is more characteristic of the godless people who don’t even have a part of the kingdom. You’re acting like you haven’t even been changed. Look at verse 9, “Don’t you know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” Don’t you realize that you are on the opposite end of the unregenerate?

And then he gives this catalog that’s just potent. He says, “Do not be deceived,” that is, don’t think your salvation and your lifestyle are two different things. The kind of activities that the world does have no place with you. And then he gives a catalog of human lifestyle. And nothing could be more up to date than this. This sounds like it was written in today’s internet. The Bible is really up to date.

And here it characterizes them. Number one, fornicators, sexually immoral. No one has to make a comment about that today. Immorality is absolutely incredible. In some of the airports you know you can hardly walk in and out of the place without seeing this plethora of sex splattered all over the rack. Fornicators, that’s characteristic of our world. Sexual immorality. And it’s always been that way.

Then idolaters, false religion. All the time that the false systems of religion are growing more rapidly today than they ever have in history. There are statistics to show that the cults are growing at an all-time rate. Worshipping false God’s and false religious systems. Next, adulterers. Unfaithful in marriage. Wife swapping. All of this kind of activity goes on incessantly in our world today.

One of the characteristics of the ungodly is to exchange sexual roles. Now, it seems to be general enough to include almost anything. It could be something perhaps as s a transvestite, somebody who thinks he or she is of the opposite sex, which is very common. But it can go further than that. It can go to the place of sexual changes and all kinds of sexual aberrations. It can include any kind of exchange of the roles of the sexes.

Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “A woman is not to wear male clothing, and a man is not to put on a woman’s garment, for everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord your God.” God does not want anything that even smacks of an exchange of the roles of the sexes. This is forbidden. This is characteristic of unregenerate, unrighteous, ungodly people who are not a part of the kingdom of God.

The word that is used in the Bible is frequently connected with sodomy. By the time of the writing of the Corinthian letter, homosexuality was so widespread that it was unbelievable. Fourteen out of the first 15 Roman emperors were homosexuals. Socrates was a homosexual. Plato was most likely a homosexual. He wrote his dialogue called “The Symposium on Love,” and the basis of it is homosexual love.

Now, verse 10 says they also are characterized as “thieves.” And then it says the characteristic of the worlds is that they’re “greedy” or “covetous,” and I don’t know that any of us are unaware of this. We see it in the internet, people demanding more and more. “Drunkenness.” And through life we just keep producing more and more people. And then he talks about slanderers, people who abuse with the tongue.

Now he says in verse 11, “Such were some of you.” The Corinthian assembly was a whole lot of those people. And, that’s why salvation is a total transformation, because there isn’t any material worth keeping. If any person be in Christ, he or she is a new creation. That’s why Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus.” We have to be a new creation, because our body needs to be changed.

Verse 11, “but you were washed,” and “you are sanctified, you were justified” – three times he talks about this transformation that has taken place, and a new life demands a new lifestyle. The church is full of transformed sinners. This is what Christ offers a person. What Christ is saying, “I don’t care what you are, and in the name of Jesus Christ I’ll recreate you.by the power of the Spirit of our God.

But all of a sudden, God justifies you. That means he declares you righteous. He says, “You are no longer guilty; you are innocent. You are no longer worthy of punishment; you are free. No longer do I condemn you; I release you to liberty and blessing.” A transformed life, a transformed standing before God. At the end of verse 11, “In the name of our Lord Jesus.” It happened because of who Christ is. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Aug 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250817 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000026E imblog

1 Corinthians 6:1-7

The Bible is a practical book, and some of you came this evening, expecting to hear messages about God and Christ and messages in regard to the death of Jesus Christ or who He is, but what we’re doing is just arriving in 1 Corinthians 6 and taking it as the Spirit of God has brought it to us. And the message deals with lawsuits. This is an important statement on litigation and court situations in regard to Christian people.

Now, the problem in the church at Corinth was that Christians were suing each other. This letter was written as kind of a problem solver. He deals with problems in their inability to get along together, to solve problems such as incest, somebody having a sexual relationship with his father’s wife, problems of pagan worship, problems of drunkenness and each chapter deals with a different one of them.

The church never publicizes that it’s perfect, but we certainly do publicize our imperfections and here is one of them that the Corinthians were making a big deal out of in that community. We don’t know much about the jurisprudence process in Corinth, but we do know a lot about it in the city of Athens, which was adjacent to Corinth. And if we get an idea about Athens, we’ll be able to understand the Corinthian situation.

For instance, the Jews did not ordinarily go to law in a public law court. That just wasn’t something they did. And if they ever had a problem there was usually a Jewish synagogue. If you had eleven men, you could have a synagogue, and they would start one, and so the synagogue would become the court, and the deciding process would be carried on right within that little framework of the Jewish family.

They were trying to show the world their unity and their love. They were trying to settle their own problems, and they also felt that God’s Word, the revelation of God, the law of God, the Old Testament, had all the answers to the problems of their life. It had answers to all the family problems, all the problems on a social level, cultural and economic level, and why would they need to go to a pagan court?

And the Roman and the Greek world accommodated this Jewish attitude. They allowed them the right to decide their own cases. Even in the case of Jesus Christ, it was their own decision to do what they wanted. They had that right, short of the right of execution, to decide their own cases, and the Romans and the Greeks were very tolerant in that regard. And they allowed the Jews to make their own decisions.

It was translated into Christianity because the Romans and the Greeks saw Christianity as a form of Judaism. They allowed Christians the same rights they’d allowed Jews; they could decide their own issues. So there was no reason for them to go to a pagan court. Well, they primarily didn’t want to settle it in their own community because they couldn’t get what they wanted and they wanted to rob each other.

In Athens, there were suits and law problems going on continuously. Everybody in the city of Athens was a lawyer, more or less. Let’s say you had a problem with a guy and you wanted to settle it. The first process was known as private arbitration. A private arbitrator was given to you, and a private arbitrator was given to him, and a neutral third party was chosen, and those three people were supposed to resolve the problem.

If those three people couldn’t come to any agreement, then your case was turned over to a court known as the Forty, and they would appoint another arbitrator. There were public arbitrators, not private. Everybody 60 years old, during his 60th year, served the community as a public arbitrator. And so if you couldn’t get your thing settled by private arbitration, then public arbitrators were assigned to your case.

Well, here are these people in the Corinthian system. They are so used to doing this kind of a thing as a process of life, they get saved, they become Christians, they enter the church, and they dragged that whole deal into the church too. They dragged their philosophies and their immoralities and their litigations into the church. The whole style of life that they used to have just kept coming into the church with them.

And Paul tells all of them, “Don’t you know a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” If you keep dragging into the church all these old patterns, you’re just going to corrupt the whole thing. Now, Paul says here’s the principle, “It is a sin for a Christian to sue another Christian.” Now, you can’t get much more practical than that. Do not sue another Christian. I mean that’s the end of his message from God.

Now, there are three misunderstandings that Paul points out that were done by the Corinthians. When they were busy suing each other, Paul says it shows that they misunderstood the rank of the church. And that they misunderstood the right attitude of the Christian, and next week we’ll see that they misunderstood their relationship to the world. All right, number one, they misunderstood the rank of the church.

Verse 1, “If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?” Going to pagan courts was saying that the courts could accomplish something the church couldn’t, and that was a misunderstanding of where God viewed the church. “How dare you have a lawsuit against another and go to law before the unjust and not before the saints?”

“Why would you take these cases before unsaved people and not before the saints, when the saints are the ones who know the Word of God, and know God’s principles? The saints are the ones possessing the Holy Spirit and can allow the Spirit of God to lead in the decision.” He’s not saying he’s an immoral or an unfair judge. He’s just classifying the unjust. There are only two kinds of people, the holy or unholy.

Not always. Jesus couldn’t get it, and there was some political intrigue with the life of Paul, and there may be from time to time times when the courts don’t give justice. But for the most part in Roman law, there is justice and government is established to protect good people and punish evil, and it generally works out that way. He’s talking about their spiritual state before God, not their ability to evaluate a given case.

Verse 2, “Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?” Paul shows it’s ridiculous for you to go before pagan courts. If you are going to sit in the supreme court of all time and judge the world, aren’t you capable of sitting in a local court and handling your problem?” This is really an amazing thing to think about.

We know that someday the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to earth, and set up a Kingdom on the earth, and the Bible promises that Christian people and the children of God are going to be co-regent, as it were. Part of the responsibility as associate kings, is the responsibility of judging or ruling. In Daniel 7:22, when Christ returns, he says, “The Ancient of days came, judgment was given to the saints of the Most High.”

We’re going to rule, as it were, over the nations. We’re going to be co-regents with God. In Matthew 19 and Luke 22, the apostles are going to reign on thrones over the twelve tribes of Israel. In Revelation 2:26 - 27, it says, “And he that overcomes and keeps my words to the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken.”

Verse 3, “Don’t you know that we will judge angels—how much more matters of this life?” Instead of doing that in Corinth, they were taking things to pagan courts and exposing their bitterness, carnality, pride and all of the sins that were characteristic of them. The highest class of beings ever created was angels, and someday we will rule over angels. Don’t you think we could take care of the things in this world?

Now, there are two kinds of angels, good ones and bad ones. Evil angels and holy angels. Does this mean we’re going to judge the evil angels? Well, there is going to be a judgment of evil angels. Second Peter 2:4 says “For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment.” So there’s going to be a judgment of evil angels.

Verse 4, “So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?” It seems better not to make it a question. “You are having law courts of things pertaining to this life set them to judge who are the least esteemed in the church. In other words, you’d be better off if you have to make a decision, to set the least esteemed Christian in charge of it than to go before the world.

Verse 5, “I say this to your shame! Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between fellow believers?” “Don’t you have one person who can make a decision among you? Can nobody there do it?” You who have everything but don’t have anybody smart enough to settle a case between your brothers? What shameful behavior. I speak to your shame. How is it possible?”

Verse 6, “Brother goes to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. How can you do this?” What is to be characteristic of Christian brothers? 1 John says, “We are to love the brothers,” right? The thing that was lacking in Corinth, was love. You know, long ago, even a non-Christian like Plato said this, “The really good man will always choose to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong.”

Even the pagan man knew that. For a Christian with the love of Christ in his heart, he would rather suffer insult, injury, loss, damage, rather than inflict it on somebody else, especially a brother. Vengeance, for a Christian, is absurd. A Christian does not order his acts by a desire for revenge. A Christian orders his acts by love and forgiveness, doesn’t he? And a Christian will seek peace at any cost.

And it simply says this, people. Do it God’s way and He blesses. I’d rather have God’s blessing than money, right? I’d rather not even get to court and have the blessing of God than try to fight for something that would be in violation of His principles. Now it may be under some circumstances necessary for a Christian to go to court. In a divorce situation, you know what the Bible says. God hates divorce.

There may be such a thing in custody situations, where you have children and you have parents that are split, and one parent is really God-honoring, and the other one just claims to be a Christian. The children were being abused by various men. But what the Bible is saying is when your motive is getting what you deserve to get, when it’s involving you alone, then it’s in violation of all these principles.

And let us look at the second point here. First, to sue another Christian and to take him into a pagan court is a lack of understanding of the place of the church. Secondly, it’s a lack of understanding of the right attitude of a Christian. What is to be the attitude of a Christian? It’s to be full of forgiveness. If somebody wants something of mine that bad, I’ll give it to him. I don’t have any problem with that.

We get caught in this world where we’re trying to hold onto all that money we can hold onto. And in the struggle, we crucify our own souls. There’s no need for that. The Lord knows you have need of things. If He takes care of the grass of the field and the flower which today is and tomorrow fades away, and clothes the lilies and make sure the birds have something to eat, don’t you think He’ll take care of you?

Verse 7 says, “As it is, to have legal disputes against one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?” Listen, God is still on His throne. He’s going to take care of you. You know, isn’t it exciting to be a Christian just from this standpoint, to know that God is operating in my behalf? God of the universe is on my team. That is exciting. God is on my team.

You know, I remember when I was a little kid, we used to choose up teams. There was always one kid you wanted to choose first. You know, the really good kid. I mean when you think about it from the Christian standpoint, you know, I’d take God on my team. God invests His power and His wisdom in our behalf, and so what do we worry about? “Rather,” he says, “take the wrong. Allow yourselves to be defrauded.”

Now let me give you some principles that’ll help you to understand this. It’s a parable, and a parable is a story that Jesus made up to illustrate something. Peter said in Matthew 18:21-22, “Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 22 “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.”

Jesus said, “Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Right? Jesus has forgiven us. What should be our attitude? What should be my attitude towards somebody who robs me of a certain amount of money? What should I do? What’s the one thing the Bible calls for me to do? Forgive him or her. What should be my attitude towards somebody who doesn’t pay me what they owe me? Forgive him or her.

What about the guy who steals from you? Matthew 5:38-41 says, “You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and give to the one who wants to borrow from you.”

Hey, the point is simply this: the Christian attitude in a situation like this is, if a guy takes something of mine, hey, take something else. That’s just the magnanimous spirit of forgiveness. Everything I have in this world, people, isn’t mine. It’s all the Lord’s. He’s just given it to me to be a steward of, and if it’s going to get passed around, it’s going to get passed around. It is the attitude of compassion and forgiveness. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Aug 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250810 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000026D imblog

1 Corinthians 5:6-13

Disciplining sin is the subject of the 13 verses in 1 Corinthians 5. Now, the Corinthian letter was written by the Apostle Paul, a Jewish apostle, to a group of Christians in the city of Corinth to straighten out their misbehaviors. They had claimed to be believers in Jesus Christ, they had given their lives to Christ, and yet they had proceeded to live the kind of life that is inconsistent with what they believe.

And the payment of sin on the cross and how Christ had died to deliver us from sin and into a new kind of life. That was his emphasis, and as long as he was there emphasizing that, they didn’t have any problem. But after Paul left the focus apparently changed, and now he has to write back to them regarding the sins of immorality. They had lost the concentration on Christ, and they were glorifying human teachers.

He says in chapter 5:2, “You are arrogant.” So Paul writes this chapter to deal with the consequences of their sin, their immorality. One of the things that I kept very much aware of was how very current it is. This particular immoral context in which the Corinthian church existed in that city, is no different than today. If there was one way to categorize today, we would have to say we live in a sexually mad society.

We’ve gone totally overboard on the subject of sex. We have perverted a very basic thing that God has designed for the happiness, enjoyment and procreation of man. That’s our whole society. The constant exploitation of the body. The constant presentation on the screen and wherever else, the body. The preoccupation with fashion, with figures, physiques, exposure and pornographic material.

The Bible clearly speaks regarding the proper use of the body. In 1 Corinthians 6:13, the Bible says, “The body is not for immorality, it is for the Lord.” The body was designed to be used by God, to be blessed by God, to serve God, and to be honored. And yet what happens now in our society? The body is pushed in total distortion to a place of perversion. But, you know, Satan has always done this.

Satan takes something very normal, very good, the human body, and absolutely perverts the thing. On one end, it’s an extreme kind of a cynicism that emasculates the body. On the other hand, it’s somebody pulling off the cover and everybody screams. It’s twisted and perverted from one end to the other, but in the mainstream of God’s revelation, God has a plan for the body, and it is for the glory of the Lord.

Your body is a good thing; otherwise God wouldn’t want it, but He wants it and created it. It says in Romans 12:1, “To present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” Nothing wrong with your physical body. God wants to use it. In marriage, there is nothing wrong with the physical act of sexual relationships. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is honorable, and the bed is undefiled.”

On the other hand, here you have in the Corinthian church an immoral situation where Satan has been allowed to move in and pervert the church so that there is incest going on in the church and not being dealt with. Paul says, “What are you going to do about this? You have a church representing the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ wants His church without blemish, without spot, pure and blameless.

He wants a holy people. He wants a separated, sanctified people. What are you going to do about the problem in your church?” He gives some guidelines in chapter 5 for dealing with immorality in the church, and there are four of them. We gave you two last time; two more today. Number one, the need. The first thing that has to happen in dealing with immorality in the church is that you got to recognize that it’s there.

If you know of somebody who continues to live a sinful, immoral life in the church, you need to follow the procedure of recognizing that thing, going to that person, according to Matthew 18 - and then go, if they don’t listen to you, take two or three witnesses. If they don’t listen to them, tell it to the leaders of the church, that they might be disciplined. Why? Because God doesn’t want impurity in His church.

Verse 2 says, “In spite of all of that, you’re still arrogant, and you should have been grieving and done something about removing such a thing. Instead of that, you’re proud and arrogant.” When the church tolerates sin, the church is in bad shape. But it does today. Take the liberal church, for example. Reverend Williams went far enough to allow sin to become the common ingredient in the life of the community of believers.

That is a church not only tolerating sin but advocating it. The Corinthians probably wouldn’t have gone as far as Reverend Williams. But there must be a recognition of a problem. Every believer in the church has the responsibility, if he knows of impurity, of dealing with that impurity. It’s all of our responsibility. We cannot just sit and watch it happening, we are the church of Christ.

Secondly, the method. Paul says in verse 4, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, in my spirit, and the power of the Lord Jesus, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. ”If you know about this immorality, and you’ve gone through all the procedures of disciplining him, then you put him out of the church.

Don’t worry about him. Satan will take his flesh, and he may destroy his flesh. In other words, the man may go all the way to sickness and the place of death, but if he’s a Christian believing that Christ came down to pay for his sins, his spirit will be saved. God will take care of him if he’s His child spiritually, but you don’t need that kind of pollution in the church. Deal with it and put him out of the church.

Thirdly, the reason. The reason is preservation. The reason to cut it out is to preserve the rest of the body from being infected with that disease of immorality. Sin is like that. Look at verse 6, “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? You’re boasting about your teachers and your factions and your spiritual gifts and all of this, and here you are tolerating this gross vice.

You better examine your own heart or you’re going to be under the chastisement of God. So he says to the Corinthians, “You don’t have any reason to glorify yourselves. Your arrogance is ridiculous. Look at the sin that’s going on.” Look at all of this program and that program, and if there’s immorality in it, the Spirit would say to us, “What are you boasting about? You’re not dealing with the real issue.”

The principle in verse 6 says, one rotten apple spoils the barrel. It’s talking about influence and permeation. You let one little lump of evil in your church, and it will permeate your whole church. Now, the church here is seen as a lump of dough. In those days, they made dough to make bread, just like today. That sour dough would be used to permeate this new bread to get it started. So leaven has the idea of permeation.

Now he says, “Look, in your old life you did a lot of things, and that’s like the little sour dough that’s left over from the old life. Don’t bring it into your new life.” Leaven means the sins of your former life. Now that you’re a new Christian, you’re supposed to be an unleavened Christian. That is, you don’t have any little left-over from the old life as a starter in your new life. Your new life is unleavened.

Verse 7, “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.” There is no place in the church for any of the old patterns. Immorality, or whatever. Evil in the past held over and integrated into the present. Evil from my former life cannot be put into the church or put into my new life. The church is to break with the old life.

So Paul is saying to the Corinthians, “I know what your life was before. I know how you lived in the pagan immorality. In your new life, there’s no place for dragging over that old life and letting it permeate the church.” Remember in Exodus 12:39, when God told Israel it was time to leave Egypt? He gave them a feast of unleavened bread for seven days. The Israelites were integrated into Egypt, but God said it’s time for separation.

The final act of separation came on the Passover. They put blood on the doorposts and the lintel. The angel of death passed by, and he slaughtered the firstborn throughout Egypt. The sacrifice of the lamb symbolized the separation of Israel from Egypt. The sacrifice of Christ is the separation of the believer from the world. Just as the Passover lamb was the symbol of separation, Israel was leaving the old life.

That Passover night was the night in which Israel’s freedom was secured, and they left. That’s the way Christ, our Passover, died on the cross, severed our connection with the world, and freed us to the Promised Land. When those Israelites were to leave, it says they were to take only unleavened bread. They were to look throughout their entire house, and they were to find every little bit of leaven left and get rid of it.

You kill the lamb, you eat the meat, and if there’s any meat left over, what were they to do with it? Burn it. “Don’t take anything out of this country. Do you see the symbolism of that? The leaven, represents something of the old life taken and put into the new. When you leave Egypt, you leave with no leaven. Jesus, the Passover lamb signaled the separation, and the unleavened bread celebrated the separation.

Verse 8, “Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” The leaven of malice and evil are two synonyms for evil and the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth are two synonyms for goodness. So let’s keep living lives that are good, not evil. Let’s not drag in old leaven. The church is to be unleavened.

Fourthly, the sphere. What is the spirit in which we are to discipline? Verse 9, “I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.” Well, the letter before that isn’t in Scripture. Now, a verb in Greek has a significance all its own. The basic root word here means to have any kind of association with. But whenever the Greeks wanted to intensify something, they started adding prefixes to a word.

“Look, I wrote to you in an earlier epistle. No, do not mix yourselves up with them.” That’s the literal meaning of the verb. Don’t get mixed up with them in any way. No familiar, intimate fellowship. They were to be put out of the church when they continued in immorality. And if they changed and repented, that was great, and restore them in love and all that. But if they continued in immorality, put them out.

Verse 10, “I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world.” He classifies the sinners of the world in three primary categories: fornicators or immoral, covetous and idolaters. If you notice those three sins, you sum up all of human philosophy. Immorality is hedonism, covetousness is materialism, and idolatry is religionism.

Fornication is the sin against the body. Covetousness and extortion is the sin against others where you regard people as objects to be exploited, and the sin of idolatry is a sin against God where you allow something to substitute for God. So all of the sins, against self, against others, and against God whether it is hedonism, the expression of the body, or covetousness, materialism, idolatry and religionism.

Verse 11-13, “But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. 12 For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? 13 God judges outsiders. Remove the evil person from among you.”

Well what is the Christian’s relationship to the world? You know, Jesus spent a lot of time with drunkards and prostitutes and tax collectors and lots of people that were really looked down on in the society and culture. Why? Because they were the people that needed Him. And when they criticized Him and said, “What are you doing with those people?” He said, “They that are sick need a physician, not they that are well.”

We’re to love the world. We’re to take the people who are adulterers and fornicators and covetous and idolaters and we’re to love them, the love that Jesus has. We’re to be with them all that we can in order to win them to Christ. We’re not to do what they do, but we’re to contact them for Christ’s sake. Listen to Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth. If the salt loses its taste, how can it be made salty?”

Does this mean that everybody in the church has to be perfect?” No, because then there wouldn’t be a church. People say, “Well, I don’t go to church. Too many imperfect people there.” The church never claimed to be the society of perfection. The church is a hospital with people who know they’re sick, and they’re there because they seek to be what God wants them to be, and that’s all God’s asking, for the desire for it.

You see, the church must deal with these kinds of things, and it isn’t that you get up there and you do this with venom. It’s a tearful heartrending thing. It’s the hardest thing in the ministry to do. Believe me, it is. It isn’t that we don’t love the people who are greedy, who are slanderous, or who have other things before God, or who are alcoholics or drug addicts, it isn’t that we don’t love those people, it’s that we love the church more.

What’s the relevance of this for today?” As an individual Christian, we have to be sensitive to the purity of our own life, first of all. Secondly, we have to be sensitive to the lives of the people around us, to be sure, for their benefit. You know, if I go to my brother in sin and tell him in love that he’s sinning, I’ve done him a favor? Because if he turns from his sin, I’ve gained a brother back, and not only that, he’s gained the blessing of God.

Dear Christ, you have to help us. You got to guard our own life, pure before the Lord, and then you got to be on guard for those around you, because this is Christ’s church, and He wants a pure church, and it’s our job to do all we can to ensure that. And you know what? When we do that, we’ll see the sinners reformed, the church purified, and we’ll see the name of Christ honored in the world. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Aug 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250803 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000026C imblog

1 Corinthians 5:1-5

This evening we come to a study of the Word of God that is very important. We are studying together and we’ve come to chapter 5. It’s a brief chapter, only 13 verses, and yet it is so loaded with pertinent information and up-to-date theme that we have to deal with it carefully. And we will do so with great benefit to our individual lives and to the church as well. Every product that is sold is sold with some overture to sex.

Movies have gone to where pornography is matter-of-fact everyday routine. We are constantly having propagated to us the fact that sexual activity is just like eating and drinking. We have problems with morality and immorality. Our world has pretty well developed a barnyard morality. We’ve exalted homosexuality, and we’ve gone to the place where all kinds of sexual things have become commonplace.

And this kind of society threatens the purity of the church. It is difficult for God’s people to exist as an island in a sea of paganism and not be affected by it. And that is precisely what occurs here in 1 Corinthians. The Corinthian church was an island in a sea of paganism, and particularly the waves of immorality were washing over this little island, and the Corinthian church had been infested with immorality.

And more than that, it had become tolerant of it. One of the securities we have against sin is our being shocked by sin. But nothing really shocks us anymore. The media has communicated sexual aberrations through its music, radio, television, internet, books, paperbacks, and magazines. And when we get to chapter 5, we find that they were also plagued by the fleshly, physical sins as well.

I don’t think sin exists in isolation. If you’ve got people walking in the flesh, it’s going to manifest itself just about every way you can cut it, and that is true in Corinth. And Paul now deals with immorality in the church. Now, when the sin of the church shocks the world, we got a problem. And that’s precisely what had happened in Corinth. And it wasn’t as if they didn’t know what God’s standards were.

And before they became Christians their life was so saturated with sexual immorality that it became a problem. They couldn’t shed that lifestyle once they became believers. And yet if the church was to be pure, they had to say goodbye to immorality. In 1 Corinthians 6:18 Paul says “Flee fornication.” The word is porneia and it means immorality. We should have nothing to do with any kind of immorality.

Verse 1 says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles—a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.” Any sex outside marriage, and any sex before marriage is offensive to God. Here, it means a case of incest. But the word immorality is a general word meaning any kind of sexual involvement.

The word “adultery” means sex outside of the marriage, a married person having sex outside his marriage. “Fornication” is a general term that would include adultery, incest, lesbianism, homosexuality, any kind of perversion, bestiality, sexual relations with animals, anything would be included in the term porneia. “Pornography” is our word today. The root word, pornē, means a harlot for hire.

In fact, in Corinth and Athens, you have the seat of most of the immorality. They, according to historians, were the two most immoral cities. Even their worship was immoral. They had prostitutes in their temples where the people went to worship. Now, the Greeks’ view of life was this idea that sex was a biological urge, just as much as taking a drink of water or getting some sleep or exercise or eating.

Now, any kind of sex activity between a man and a woman before marriage, is absolutely forbidden by God. Now, in Deuteronomy 22, the Law of Moses, God laid down His basic attitudes. Verse 13 begins, “If any man marries and has sexual relations with her and comes to hate her 14 and accuses her of shameful conduct, and gives her a bad name, saying, ‘I married this woman and was intimate with her, but I didn’t find any evidence of her virginity.”

And he, as a result of that, because of his feelings of the need for purity and his high moral standards, what is he going to do?” Well, verse 15, “the young woman’s father and mother will take the evidence of her virginity and bring it to the city elders at the city gate.” In other words, if there was some physical evidence that she was in fact a virgin, then that should be delivered to the elders of the city.

Verse 16-19, “The young woman’s father will say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her. 17 He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, “I didn’t find any evidence of your daughter’s virginity,” but here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ They will spread out the cloth before the city elders. Then the elders of that city will take the man and punish him. 19 They will also fine him a hundred silver shekels.”

And give them to the young woman’s father, because that man gave an Israelite virgin a bad name. She will remain his wife; he cannot divorce her as long as he lives.” Now, the idea here was to protect the girl from slander by a man. But what if she wasn’t a virgin? Verse 20, “But if this accusation is true and no evidence of the young woman’s virginity is found, 21 they will bring the woman to the door of her father’s house, and will stone her to death.”

Is God stern about premarital sex? Verse 22, “If a man is discovered having sexual relations with another man’s wife, both the man with the woman must die.” Verse 23-24, If there is a woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man sleeps with her, 24 take the two of them out to the gate and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s fiancée.”

Verse 28-29, “If a man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered, 29 the man who raped her is to give the young woman’s father fifty silver shekels, and she will become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.” All of that is just to show you how God feels about immorality. It was the cause of execution in the Old Testament.

And the apostles said the same thing. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, 10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. That kind of living is incompatible with God’s Kingdom.

In 1 Corinthians 10, when Israel was in the wilderness, they had committed all kinds of sexual acts at the foot of Mt. Sinai while Moses was getting the law. They made a golden calf and had a big orgy. Well, how did God respond to their sexual activity? 1 Corinthians 10:8 says, “Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died. And there’s a reason that He did.

Verse 11 says, “These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” They not only were for their benefit, but they are written and recorded for our benefit, that we might know how God feels about that kind of activity. The Bible, then, is clear about what God thinks regarding sexual immorality. And Paul attacks the problem in Corinth with a vengeance.

What is the instruction for disciplining an immoral member of the body of Christ? There are four things we’ll cover: the need, the method, the reason, and the sphere or the limits of that discipline. Let’s look, one, at the need. The first thing you have to do in the church is to see the need. The church can’t do anything about immorality until it recognizes it. Therefore, we must be on the watch for such activity.

Verse 1 says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles—a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.” What is well known about this church is that there were fornicators in it. Do you realize that the church is shocking the world with its sin? “You’re doing something the pagans don’t do,” and we know the law of the Romans.

Incest was forbidden in the Roman Empire. Now, that term, “his father’s wife,” means his stepmother. So he’s stolen his father’s wife. There are three features of the relationship that are evident. It was a permanent relationship. Here was this poor man had lost his wife to his own son. Incest. The second feature is that likely there was a divorce. The third thing is that the woman was not a Christian.

In Deuteronomy 22:30, the same statement is made: You’re not to lie with your father’s wife. So here in the Corinthian assembly was this terrible rejection of a simple command of God. And it wasn’t so much the sin that shocked Paul, as it was the church’s toleration of it. That’s the thing he couldn’t believe. Verse 2, “And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this?”

What are you doing boasting when you’re tolerating incest in your congregation? There’s something wrong.” Instead of standing there being proud about your situation, you ought to be on your face in the ground weeping. They may have even been boasting about their liberty in Christ. Or maybe they weren’t so much boasting about the sin but boasting about their gracious kind and merciful tolerance of it.

The church cannot tolerate sin. We’re here to get involved in your lives, to make sure that the church is what God intended it to be, and that involves purity. And if we find out about sexual immorality, we have in the past done something about it, we are in the present doing some things about some we know of, and we will continue to in the future because that’s what God has called us to do, to keep His church pure.

Wherever there is immorality in the church, there should be discipline. And that’s one good thing to do in the church because it tends to keep the tares out. Unbelievers don’t flock to a church where they discipline people. That’s one way to keep the church pure. In Revelation 2:19 God wrote to the church of Thyatira, and He says, “I know your works, your love, your service, your faith and your patience.

Verse 20-21, “But I have this against you. You tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and she teaches and seduces servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality.” Verse 23, “I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who examines hearts.”

And the responsibility of the church is not just to go and attend and watch what happens but to seek out the purity of the church. In Ephesians 5, it says you are to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” That means correct them, rebuke them, speak against them. You need to get that person out of the church. Discipline is a part of the responsibility of the church.

Secondly, the method. Verse 3 says, “Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing.” Then in verse 4, he gives them the procedure for discipline in the church, “When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus.”

Verse 5 says, “Hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” Let’s look at it in detail. There is to be a meeting of the church. “You are assembled together.” The church has no higher authority than its local leadership. “I’ll come and agree with you in spirit, but you assemble together in His Name and His power and you deliver that one to Satan.”

Now notice in verse 4, “in the Name of our Lord Jesus.” What does that mean? It always means this is what Jesus would want. He’s in a church in the composite of godly men who lead that church. Now here’s in “the power of the Lord Jesus.” You not only have His authority and you not only have His presence, but you have His power to carry it out. Discipline is always hard. We have to be bold and in your power.

Matthew 18:18 says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.” There are the two sides of justice. You’ll bind somebody, they’re guilty. If you’ll loose them, they’re innocent. Whatever your decision of justice is in the church will be agreed upon in heaven. Don’t be afraid to act in discipline.

When the church acts in discipline, heaven acts in support of the church. Verse 19, “Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” What he’s saying is, if two of you agree - that’s the minimum, legal requirement on God’s standard - that this is worthy of discipline, then you proceed to do it and heaven will support you.

In 1 Timothy 1:20, Paul had some other people he did the same thing to. He says, “Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, so that they might learn not to blaspheme.” He did the same thing. That’s the ultimate act of discipline for the purity of the church. Why? For the destruction of the flesh. Now, the term flesh is in contradistinction to the term spirit. Spirit is the internal man; flesh is the external body.

Satan will be given the right under the judicial act of God to afflict a man physically. Now, for the Christian, there is nothing to fear. Satan can’t touch his spirit. Who does his spirit belong to? Christ. That’s why the verse ends by saying this: “The spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Maybe a better way to translate the word “saved,” is his spirit will be delivered in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Physical illness can be God’s rod of chastisement. And in the day of the Lord Jesus, when that day comes, that man will stand there with the redeemed, but he’ll pay a price in this life. And the idea of this discipline is not to just wipe the guy out, but to change him. Did he get destroyed physically? Well, I’m sure he did. But surely he got some physical pain which is the destruction of the flesh. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Jul 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250727 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000026B imblog

1 Corinthians 4:14-21

The Lord has really been teaching us some very basic things. Though, this evening’s message is going to be unusual in that it probably will stand out as an extremely practical message. It deals with the concept of being a spiritual father. The Apostle Paul is struggling against their weaknesses and trying to bring them into conformity to the truth of God. They’re Christian people but behaving as if they weren’t.

And while in the epistle he is dealing with their problems, he is constantly explaining his relationship to them. “I’m saying this because I’m a steward of God’s mysteries and I must tell you the truth.” And he uses many different metaphors in describing his own ministry so that 1 Corinthians not only becomes a letter dealing with problems in the church, but it becomes a letter that maps out the patterns of the ministry.

We’re going to see a lot about the ministry in the church, the pastor, the leader of the church, as well as things applicable to every Christian’s life. Now, we’ve been introduced to different metaphors to speak of the minister or the pastor, the one who leads the church. In chapter 3:5, he is called a servant. In chapter 4:1, he is called a slave of Christ. In chapter 4:1, he is called a steward of the mysteries of God.

In chapter 3:6, the metaphor of a farmer is used. He says, “I have planted and Apollos has watered.” And you have a building metaphor in chapter 3:10, he calls himself a wise master builder. Elsewhere in Scripture in 1 Timothy 2:7, pastors and ministers are called heralds. They had professional heralds, guys who went out, stood on a corner, and hollered out the news. And that’s what Christian preachers are.

In 2 Corinthians 5:20, the preacher is also called an ambassador. We are God’s ambassadors representing Him in this world. There is also a legal metaphor used to describe the preacher. He is called a witness, somebody who gives testimony, somebody who witnesses to the truth. But there is one other metaphor that perhaps sums up the intimacy between the pastor and his people in chapter 4:15.

“Though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” And this is the metaphor of a father. One way that God describes the relationship between a preacher and his converts is the relationship between a father and his child, and therein lies the personal metaphor, the intimate metaphor. And that is the theme of our study for today.

Now remember, Paul has really unloaded on them against their carnality, against their pride, against their love of human wisdom, against their sectarian spirit, their splits and quarrels over whichever preacher they like the best. And even at the end of the last passage we studied, he became very sarcastic. And when you get to the place of sarcasm, you’re really dealing with them in strong language.

And the reason is because he sees himself as their father spiritually. Now, if I deal strongly with their mistakes and if I deal lovingly with their lives and if I struggle diligently to conform them to the things I believe in, it is because I am their father and it is because I do love them. And that’s what Paul is saying here. Verse 14, “I’m not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children.”

Verse 15, “For you may have countless instructors in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Now think about your spiritual father. Who was it that led you to Jesus Christ? That’s what Paul is talking about. You may have 10,000 instructors but only one spiritual father. A paidagōgos was a slave who was responsible of the moral guardianship of a child.

He would try to guide the child in moral matters. He would help the child in decision making. He would try to make him into a solid man. You could have 10,000 people giving you information. You can come to the church here and you can have a whole lot of different people teaching you, but you have only one spiritual father. And Paul says, “It’s me who is your spiritual father and that’s the reason I feel about you.

So this passage, verses 14 - 21, then expands on that concept and develops for us a beautiful picture of the ministry of a spiritual father. What are the characteristics of a spiritual father? Now, Paul doesn’t list them as such, but by what he says we can understand what they are. He’s saying to them, “I am your spiritual father and this is what I do,” and by seeing what he does, we can draw out what marks a spiritual father.

Paul says, “I am your spiritual father first of all because I led you to Christ.” You become a father when you produce an offspring. There are some Christians who are not spiritual fathers. They have never produced a child. They have never led anybody to Jesus Christ. A Christian is a living thing, and they reproduce. Every believer should be a spiritual father in the metaphorical sense, bringing somebody to Christ.

So begetting is the idea of bringing someone to Christ. Paul called Timothy and Titus his children. Now, I want to add what he says here so you’ll get the picture. He says, “In Christ, I have begotten you.” He is saying, “I alone, as opposed to all your other teachers, was the instrument through which you were saved. There is a concern about you that I don’t feel about those that I didn’t lead to Christ.”

And Paul recognizes two things that bring about salvation from a divine standpoint: the power of Christ and the truth of the Word of God. But the third thing that is in there is the human agent. That’s the way God has designed it. Because he is in Christ, he has the power of Christ moving through him. Because he knows the Word of God, he can give out the gospel, and that’s very basic to bringing someone to Christ.

God has chosen not only redeeming men but human agencies. That doesn’t violate the fact that what is born there is the creation of God. Hodge said, “For though multitudes are converted by the Spirit through the Word without any ministerial intervention, just as grain springs up here without a spreader, yet it is the ordinance of God that the harvest of souls should be gathered by workmen appointed for that purpose.”

Secondly, a spiritual father not only begets but he loves. Paul loved these Corinthians. He loved them deeply. The word is agapētos, the strongest kind of love, the deepest kind of love, not just brotherly love, the love that can only be measured by God. “I have that toward you, I love you.” And then that great statement of 2 Corinthians 12:15, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?”

That’s true love, love that is so strong and so deep and so far-reaching that it doesn’t even ask anything in return. He loved those people. It wasn’t just sentimentalism, it was a strong, unselfish love that cared and disciplined. And it was a self-sacrificing love where he would give his life for them. And that is as it ought to be for a loving father. There ought to be that love for all our children.

When you love your children, you have to love them with understanding. A father who loves his children really struggles to understand his children. He wants to meet their needs. He wants to know where they hurt. He wants to fulfill their hopes. He wants to bind up their wounds. He wants to dispel their fears. He wants to strengthen their weaknesses because he loves his children and he has to be understanding.

And it’s also true in raising spiritual children. Paul was so understanding with the Corinthians. Even in his sternness, there was a sense of gentleness. And that leads me to the second thought: In loving your children there is not only that understanding but that gentleness, like Jesus who said, “I am gentle and lowly of heart.” Paul said to the Thessalonians, “We were gentle among you like a nursing mother.”

We have to recognize that spiritual children grow slowly, spiritual children frustrate us, spiritual children foul up, spiritual children have a hard time learning the principles, and so we have to be patient, and so we have to be understanding and gentle with them. But in addition to that, I think our love (like Paul’s) makes us intense. It makes us have tremendous desire to see them follow the patterns we believe in.

Third thing. If we’re going to raise a spiritual child, we not only must beget them and love them but we must admonish them. In other words, he’s saying, “My purpose is not to destroy you, it’s to reclaim you.” You can discipline your child to the place where it ceases to be correction and becomes so wounding that he may never recover from it. Now, Paul says, “So I write not these things to shame you but I admonish you.”

The word means to criticize in love with a view toward a change. The word “admonish” assumes a problem, it assumes a weakness, and it assumes a sin. And it is saying, “I see a sin, I see a weakness, and I correct it in love so that you might be changed.” It is not punishment. It presupposes a problem, the word noutheteō does, and it means a change with a view toward being obedient to God.

Listen, if you have a spiritual child, it’s no different. You better admonish him. If he’s doing something wrong, criticize him in love with a view toward a change in his behavior. Don’t damn him for it. “Boy, are you going to get it.” No, not that. The idea is a loving criticism with a view toward a change. We need to do this: He doesn’t make them a public display but he does do things to see a change in their behavior.

Fourthly: A spiritual father sets the example. Verse 16, “Therefore I urge you to imitate me.” A spiritual father is he who sets the pattern for his children. Whatever you want them to be is what you are. If you’re not that, then they’re not going to be that, either. You better be sure that you are what you want them to be because they’ll never become what you want them to be unless they can see it in you.

The toughest place to disciple is in the home because you’re there, man, in the morning when you’re grubby and at night when you’re tired. It’s all hanging out. And if you can disciple somebody in the home, then there’s a genuineness to your faith. That’s why the Bible says that a leader in the church should have godly children. Why? Because it gives evidence of the truth of his ability to live the life.

We’re saying that you must be able to set the pattern. Philippians 4:9, “Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me.” 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.” He’s saying, “Look, I’m the one to follow. I’m following Christ. You watch my life and make yours like mine.” Discipling isn’t just applying principles. It’s living principles in front of people consistently.

Verse 17, “This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.” Here is the ultimate in spiritual fatherhood. Paul had done such a good job on rearing Timothy that sending Timothy was just like being there. And know that if they follow him, they’ll be following a person who is following Christ.

The best place to minister is to stay in one place, build spiritual children who then can go everywhere with the ministry. And they can, in a sense, be you, be Jesus Christ, because the principles are the same for everybody wherever they go. So the ultimate in raising a spiritual son is to be able to say, “Because I want you to be followers of me, I’m sending somebody else that I have raised to follow Christ.”

Fifthly, he teaches. Now, what he says by that is, “Look, Corinthians, Timothy is going to come and he’s going to show you the principles. Now listen. The principles aren’t any different anywhere else, I’m not asking anything special out of you. This is the same thing that I teach everywhere.” Paul taught the principles and he lived them and he reproduced them in somebody else. That is the Christian life.

When I deal with spiritual children, I should be humbled to the place where I don’t care about the intellectual issues. So that I am willing to forget my education and get down to communicate something that is practical and simple. Our objective should not be to impress them with our learning but to help them with theirs. You think about Jesus and then you read the parables. They’re so simple.

Sixth, we discipline. We have to discipline. When I’ve discipled somebody and I’ve just sat them down and said, “You know, it grieves my heart to tell you this because I love you, but you are out of line and there are going to have to be some changes in your life. Your testimony is not what it ought to be, you’re not living by the principles.” Verse 18, “Now some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.”

The Corinthians had a pride problem. And some of them were really proud, they were saying, “Paul won’t dare come around here. You know why? Man, he’s afraid to show up. Verse 19, “But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk, but the power of those who are arrogant.” You people talk a great game but I’m going to find out who’s real, not who’s just talking.”

Discipline is important. Paul says, “When I come there, I’m going to check some things out.” I’m going to come and find out who is genuine.” Verse 20, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” A man’s true character is determined not by his words but the divine power exhibited in his life. Because if he’s a member of the Kingdom of God, then there’s going to be power in his life, not just verbiage.

Verse 21, “What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?” Did you notice there’s no answer there in verse 21? Who had to make the answer? The Corinthians. This is an illustration of a loving father who is going to use the rod when he needs to, and who’s going to love in gentleness when that’s called for. My prayer for us is that we would all become spiritual fathers. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Jul 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250720 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000026A imblog

1 Corinthians 4:6-13

We believe that the handbook for life, time and eternity is the Word of God. And so we want to look at it and see what it is that God has to say to us. The writers of the Bible were inspired by God the Holy Spirit, and what they wrote is the very Word of God, and so we study it verse by verse. And Paul had been very much a part of, and he wrote back to the Corinthians dealing with the many problems that had developed.

Paul is talking about humility. As a servant of God and as a teacher of the church, he recognized that humility was a necessary and vital part of his own life and a vital part of the life of every Christian. And so humility is really the essence of this text. By way of introduction, just this thought: Throughout God’s redemptive history, God’s choicest leaders have always been humble men. As far back as Abraham.

In Genesis 18:27 Abraham said to God, “Since I have ventured to speak to my Lord, even though I am dust and ashes.” He recognized of his own humility. Jacob in Genesis 32:10 says, “I am unworthy of all the kindness you have shown your servant.” Gideon, in Judges 6:15, said, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”

Paul said to the Ephesian in Acts 20:19, “You know how I was with you, serving the Lord with all humility, with tears and trials.” In 2 Corinthians 3:5, Paul says, “It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” In Ephesians 3:8, Paul said, “This grace was given to me, the least of all the saints, to proclaim to the Gentiles the riches of Christ.”

God’s choicest people have known humility. The supreme example of humility is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 11:29 He said, “For I am meek and lowly in heart.” And the definition of His incarnation given by Paul in Philippians 2:7 when he says, “He humbled himself.” For the God of the universe to come to the level of human life and to be spit upon, mocked, beaten, rejected and crucified is indeed humiliation.

You can see the humility of Jesus Christ in that He took on human nature. That He was born in a stable. That He was homeless, poor, partaking in our weaknesses, submitting to the law, that He became a servant. That He was associated with sinners and despised people. That He wouldn’t be a king when they wanted to make Him one. That He washed feet. That He submitted to suffering reproach, mockery and even death.

God’s choice people have always been humble. Humility is the channel to fruitfulness. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” What he meant was, “When I recognized that in myself I can do nothing, it is just then that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The reason I introduced the subject of pride is because that is precisely the problem the Corinthians had.

They were boasters. Throughout 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, their pride is mentioned again and again. They were puffed up, they were vain. Now, if you know anything about the Bible and you’ve studied it for any time at all, you know that really the basis of all sin is pride, isn’t it? Because all sin is rebellion against God, and rebellion against God amounts to me setting my will against His will, and that’s a proud act.

Their pride had manifested itself in their love of human wisdom. Remember, the first problem they had was the problem of division. And the reason the church was divided and didn’t know unity, the reason was because they were polarized over philosophical issues. And one group would say, “Well, we’re the ones that believe this politically or philosophically,” and the other one, “We’re the ones that believe this.”

Even though they agreed on all the tenets of the Christian faith, they so disagreed philosophically that it became a splitting element. It also became a basis for pride because as soon as they would identify with one little group and they would say, “This is my group and this is what I agree with and we are better than you.” So in addition to exalting human wisdom, they had exalted human teachers and godly men.

They had taken good men, Paul, Apollos and Peter, and they’d said, “We are of Paul,” and another group, “We are of Apollos,” another group, “We’re of Peter.” And they were identifying these men. And of course, the thing that resulted from that was pride. The apostles didn’t feel this way, but the people had come to be proud about the teacher. So pride was shown in these exaltations of human wisdom and human leadership.

And Paul deals with pride in 1 Corinthians 4:6-13. That can happen in the church and it could happen here. And then, you can become boastful and proud about that and then it has ceased to be loyalty and it has started to be sin. That just fractions the body of Christ. We praise God for every other godly man and every other godly ministry in this country and in this world where Jesus Christ is lifted up and exalted.

But you know Satan can take even a good thing and pervert it. In this passage, I’m going to show you two points. Paul contrasts the Corinthians’ conceit with the apostles’ humility. He says, “You Corinthians are proud and that is wrong,” and then he sets up the apostles as examples of humility to show them what really should be their attitude. And he uses some words to help us get through his argument.

Let’s look first of all at the Corinthians’ conceit. And here is the issue of pride. The first word that he speaks of is “arrogant.” Verse 6, “Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another.”

I’ve been giving you principles of behavior in the church. Principles of realizing that your preacher isn’t somebody to be lifted up and exalted and given all kinds of honor to. They’re all just servants of God, and there’s no sense in pitting one against the other. Why not enjoy all of them? You’ll notice that Paul has made those principles very concrete because he has used himself and Apollos as examples.

So Paul says, “We have used ourselves as illustrations of what a servant is, of what a minister is, so you’ll quit exalting ministers. So that you will learn from us not to exceed what is written.” Don’t go further than Scripture allows you to go in esteeming men of God. The Bible says that a faithful elder who labors in the Word and doctrine is to be doubly honored. We know these things but only within the bounds of Scripture.

Look at Romans 12:3, “through the grace given to me, to every man that is among you,” he’s talking to everybody. Not to think more highly than you ought to think. In other words, God has set certain limits on esteem. Just leave it there and here he has reference to ourselves. Because as Paul said, I’m the chief of sinners. Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Remember, we’re all simply sinners.

Israel was being led out of Egypt to the Promised Land, and the great hero of Israel was Moses. Everybody identified with Moses. Moses was the leader and there wasn’t anybody like Moses. Numbers 11:26 talks about a situation that occurred when the children of Israel were in the wilderness. Two of the people in the camp, one was named Eldad and the other, Medad, and the spirit rested on them. And they began to prophesy.

Well, there was a young man and he told Moses. He runs to Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” And Joshua, the son of Nun answered and said, “My Lord Moses, forbid them.” Moses then said to them in verse 29, “Are you jealous on my account? If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place his Spirit on them!” Don’t be jealous for me. I wish everybody was a prophet.

Verse 7 says, “For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?” Who made you better than anybody? The obvious answer is nobody. That whole thing is strictly conceit and it only involves your own imagination. Second question: “And what do you have that you didn’t get from God? Absolutely nothing. You were a gift.

The Bible says every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. Can anybody earn salvation? You’re saved by faith, grace, that not of works. It is not of yourself. It is a gift of God. You are enriched by Him in all things so that you have all knowledge and all honor. Where’d you get that? It’s the Holy Spirit that gives severally to every man as He wills, right? You didn’t earn that.

If you’re not superior and you don’t have anything that you didn’t get, why do you glory as if you didn’t receive it? In other words, why are you boasting as if you earned it? There’s only one reason, pride. You have no ground to think that because of what you can do, you’re superior. No ground to think you earned anything, it’s all a gift of God. Paul strips all the excuses bare and he leaves them facing pride.

Verse 8, “You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us—and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you!” See, that’s sarcasm. You mean the very opposite of what you said. And the first word he uses is “full.” The word is used of food. It is a word that means to be satisfied. “What do you need? You’ve got it all.” You’ve been glorified and you went right on by us.”

That’s like Revelation 3, the message to the church at Laodicea when our Lord said this: “You say I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and know not that you’re wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” There’s nobody as destitute as the man who thinks he has it all, did you know that? You have reigned as kings. You’re on your thrones. How nice. Sarcastic. “And you did it without us.”

Verse 9, “For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.” The apostles’ humility in verses 9 to 13. Notice what he says. There are four terms that he uses to describe it. First of all, the term is “spectacle.” He says, “You people are really something. You’re the heroes, we’re the criminals.”

Paul chose a very vivid picture. When a Roman General won a victory, they had a procession they called a Triumph. And what they did was the Roman general would come into the city and he would parade his victorious army through the streets and in would come the army with all the pomp and circumstances. He would demonstrate his triumph and his achievement by showing off his winning troops.

At the end of the line there would be a little band of captives. They would probably be the best of the captives. They would be all chained together. They were sentenced to death, and they would die in the arena when they would fight the beasts. Following the great Triumph, the people would move to the arena. In would come the little captives. At the end of everything, they would fight and be consumed by the beasts.

God has exhibited the apostles, like the band of captives appointed to death. In Mark 9, the disciples were having an argument about who would be the greatest and the Lord said, “I have a principle I’d like to share with you. Whoever would be first in the Kingdom shall be last and the servant of all.” And He took a little child and says, “When you learn to serve a little child, you’ll know what it is to serve Me and my Father.”

The crown only comes after the cross. In Matthew 19, the Bible says that ultimately the apostles, the twelve, are going to reign in God’s Kingdom on earth, the Millennial Kingdom. They’re going to reign on twelve thrones. They’re the spectacle, they’re the criminals, and they died. They were spit on, they were mocked, they were beaten, and they were shipwrecked. But in the Kingdom they’re going to be on the thrones.

Verse 10, “We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!” Sarcasm again. Paul said in 1 Corinthians that “the preaching of the cross is to the world foolishness.” In Acts 5, Peter and John preached and the Sanhedrin said, “What do these people know? They’re hicks from Galilee.” The apostles were considered weak.

Verse 11, “Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless.” The apostles’ humility is suffering. We’ve been beaten up. We have no home. We labor, working with our own hands.” And to a Greek, working with your hands was dishonorable. Paul says, “We have taken the lowest level of society, adapted it as our way of life. But you’re rich and full.” Sarcasm.

Verse 12, “We labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it.” That is how they responded to that suffering. They met defamation of character with kindness. They met persecution with endurance. They met slander with blessing. Voluntary humility to accept what God had given them. Knowing that though they were last in the world, they would be first in God’s Kingdom.

Verse 13 says, “When we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage.” We take a place in society that is mocked and rejected because we boldly preach Christ. God only uses humble servants. When you’re tempted to covet a reputation, when you’re tempted to be honored by the world, to be elevated by the church, you’ve fallen into pride.

Humility comes with a proper perspective of God in Christ. Peter put it this way, “Be clothed with humility.” And where there will be humility, there will be unity in the church. In submitting to one God, we shall equally submit to one another. Humility is the only thing that brings unity. May God give us a unified testimony in the world because there is humility in every life to His glory. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Jul 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250713 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000269 imblog

1 Corinthians 4:1-5

We’re looking at 1 Corinthians 4:1 - 5 in our continuing study. I confess to you that the passage is written as much to me as it is to you. It is the definition of the true place of the minister, and it is the attitude in which the people are to hold him, and so it’s a very important portion of Scripture. It’s been a time of measuring myself against the Word of God in order that I fulfilled that which God has laid out for His minister.

One of the games that people play in the church is evaluating their pastor. All kinds of criteria have been offered as the standard for who is to be the most honored pastor. And because ministers are in the public eye, it is tempting to rank them. They are generally ranked by the size of their church, the size of their staff, the style of their preaching, the degrees they’ve received academically and their popularity with people.

And that all is offensive to God. Paul discusses the issue of evaluating ministers. So let me remind you of a few general things. The letter of 1 Corinthians was written because there were so many problems in the church. The most severe one is the problem of division. Satan loves to divide the church. Now, in the first four chapters, Paul is writing to counteract the division in the congregation.

He points up that the division was manifest because of two things: the exaltation of human wisdom and the exaltation of human leaders. In chapter 1, they were arguing about philosophies. And secondly, they were divided over men. One would say, “I’m of Paul,” another, “I’m of Apollos,” “I’m of Cephas,” and “I’m of Christ,” and so they were polarized over human leaders and over human opinion (except of Christ).

So Paul attacks that the basic sin is carnality in chapter 3. That’s an unjust evaluation because human beings are not in a position to have the proper criteria to make the judgment. Now let me add this: It is clear in the New Testament that where a man teaches false doctrine, we have the right to make a judgment. It is clear that where a man is living in sin, we have the right and the obligation to discipline that man.

But where all men are equally true in doctrine and equally pure in life in Corinth, there is no basis for ranking them, there is not to be any favoritism. In the case of Corinth there was Peter, Paul, and Apollos, and they were equally true and equally godly. And yet there had been factions that had grown up around each individual on the basis of the style of his ministry and his personality, et cetera.

Now, in chapter 4, he says when you evaluate these men, you also misunderstand the fact that only the Lord can make that judgment. And that’s his point in chapter 4:1 - 5. The evaluation of a minister of God belongs to God. Where there is sound doctrine and personal holiness, there’s no justification for evaluating and ranking men above the others. So to deal with this problem, Paul writes these five verses.

He gives us the identity of the minister, the requirement, the attitude, and the evaluation. Let’s look at the identity of the minister in verse 1, “A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God.” Let us be thought of as ministers of Christ. The word “minister” is simply the word “slave.” We serve the people, but our service is really rendered to God, isn’t it? To Christ.

But when I serve His people, I may not best serve Him. Sometimes when a man gets focused too much on filling the needs of the people, he may violate that which God wants. But if I am always serving Him, then I will best serve people. For in His will I am the most benefit to His people. It’s important to remember that we are first of all ministers of Christ. Paul says, “Serving the Lord with all humility is the priority.”

The word “servant” in English has many Greek words. For example, oiketēs, means a domestic household servant. The word Doulos, which means a bond slave. Diakonos, which means just an employee or a servant. But none of those words is used here. The word that is used here is the lowest level of slavery. It is the word hupēretēs and it literally referred to the person who is on the lowest level of the galley.

The word became synonymous with subordinate, the most menial person doing the simplest manual task, a common slave. So when you think of the pastor, remember that he is considered as a slave in the Scripture here, and Paul is speaking about himself while he is considering himself as the lowest level of slave. The pain and the agony of the strenuous work and then there was cracking a whip against his bare back.

You cannot serve Him without serving His Word for His Word is the revelation of His will. His commands are in the Bible. Our Lord Jesus Christ even saw them that way. In John 18:36, He was having a conversation with Pilate at the time of His trial and He says this: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world then my galley slaves would fight.” And Christ calls His disciples hupēretēs again.

1 Corinthians 9:16 says, “For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach—and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” I’m sure many of you esteem me superior to you because I am here. And because I preach the gospel, there’s something different about me. Well, if I didn’t preach the gospel, but there is something different about me because I do.

Paul says, “I have nothing to glory of. Necessity is laid on me. Woe is to me if I do not preach the gospel.” You know why I preach the gospel? Because if I don’t, I am in a lot of trouble. Woe means judgment. The Lord called me to preach, now if I disobey Him, I put myself in a very precarious place. I’ll tell you folks, I’m just a slave. I didn’t choose to do it, but if I choose not to do it I’m in a lot of trouble.

In 2 Corinthians 6, he gives a little insight into what this slavery is like. I have to be patient. I have afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, and fastings.” That’s a negative life. But on the positive side, “pureness, knowledge, long-suffering, kindness, by the Holy Spirit, love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right and left hand.”

And then he says in verses 8 - 10, “and am I ever an object of confusion.” “Some people honor me, some dishonor me. Some have an evil report of me, some a good report. Some say I’m a deceiver, others say I’m true. Some don’t know me and some know me well. I’m dying and yet living, chastened and not killed, sorrowful yet rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing all things.”

That’s the lot of a servant. At all costs, I endure everything, all criticisms, all misjudgments, all malignity, I endure it all because I am a minister of God. And my priority is toward Him, not toward people. I am not concerned with what they think, I’m only concerned with discharging my obedient duty to Him. If you’re going in to any kind of Christian service, when you get that perspective, you’re really on the right road.

What is the primary task of a servant? My obedience is to the Word of God. In Colossians 1:25 Paul says, “I am made a servant according to the plan of God, the operation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God.” And the idea here is to proclaim it. If I am a servant, then I simply obey the orders. And what are the orders? Take the Word, servant, and give it out and tell people to follow it.

I’m not called to be creative, I’m called to be obedient. Not called to be innovative. Not called to have great ideas, I’m called to be obedient. Simply that, to proclaim the Word, and we serve God best by giving men His Word. Not our opinions, not our great ideas, and not our innovations, but God’s Word. So the minister’s identity is to be servant of Christ. Lowly place, no honor, just the task of giving the Word.

Verse 1, “A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God.” We’re not only servants of Christ, but stewards. If you’ve ever been on an airplane, you know what a stewardess is. She doesn’t own the airplane. The company owns that stuff, she is just a servant. She is given the responsibility of taking the goods that belong to the company and giving them to people.

A steward in the Bible appears many times. In Genesis 43 and 44, Joseph was a steward in Egypt, and he was responsible for taking care of guests, for preparing meals, for settling all of his accounts. In Isaiah 22, King Hezekiah has a steward whose name was, Shebna. Now in Greek the steward is the word oikonomos, oikos which means house, and nomos means to manage. One who manages the household.

All Christians are God’s stewards. God has deposited in us His resources, given us spiritual gifts, given us His information, His truth, and we are to share it. We are to minister it to His house. First Peter 4:10 says all Christians are stewards but particularly is the ministry. In Titus 1:7, it says a bishop is to be blameless as the steward of God. Any pastor or teacher is a steward of God. God has given us His goods to dispense to the house.

What are God’s goods? The mysteries of God. What are the mysteries of God? What was hidden and is now revealed but the New Testament, the Word of God? The gospel of God. We are to take God’s revelation and dispense it to the people. I simply say God has called me to take His Word and pass it out to His people. I’m a waiter. That’s all. He gives me the food, I get it out of His kitchen, and I deliver it to the table.

And I want to make sure I don’t mess it up. Just get it to them the way God intended for it to be heard. In Acts 20:20, Paul says, “I kept back nothing that was profitable to you but have shown you and talked to you publicly from house to house.” Now Paul says, “When I came to you, I taught the mysteries of God.” The Bible says this, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.” All of it.

2 Corinthians 4:2 says, “We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully.” You know, there are people who take the Word of God and twist it around to make it say what meets their own needs and their own desires. The Word of God is to be given out as God intended it, not to be twisted to meet my own whims, opinions and desires.

Our presentation of the Scripture is to be so clear and simple and so straight and direct that it is easily understood and easy to follow. Now, in order to do that, to rightly divide the Word, Paul said to Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved to God. A workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing.” You’ll never rightly divide unless you study. What is the minister to do, then? He is to dispense the mysteries of God.

Secondly, the requirement of the minister. Verse 2 says, “In this regard, it is required that managers be found faithful.” What’s the hardest kind of employee to find? Faithful one, right? One that you can turn your back on, go on vacation for three weeks, come back, and he’ll just work like he did when you were standing over his shoulder. That’s what the word “faithful” means. Trustworthy, you could trust him.

God doesn’t want brilliance, personality, doesn’t want popularity, He just wants faithfulness. You know there are people who are faithful in something, it may not look to you like it’s much, but if they’re faithful before God, that’s the basis on which God honors them. Faithful. Look at 1 Corinthians 4:17, “This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord.”

Third thing, the attitude of a minister. Verse 3 says, “It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself.” I could care less about your evaluation. Now, that is real maturity because all of us are in the business of building up our own egos, right? “No one understands me. I’m too beyond them. They can’t comprehend these deep things that I’m speaking of.”

That’s why the focus of the Christian life isn’t on the Christian life, it’s on God. You just keep plugged into God and let the evaluation take care of itself. When the Bible says, “If you’re going to be a changed person,” 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “don’t gaze at yourself,” it says, “gaze on the glory of the Lord, and you’ll be changed into His image by the Holy Spirit.” Get your focus where it ought to be.

Verse 4, “For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me.” It isn’t human opinion that governs what I do, it isn’t my opinion that governs what I do, the only one who can really determine is God. So who do I serve? Study to show yourself approved to yourself? Unto whom? Unto God. He alone is the One making proper evaluations about me.

The evaluation of the minister. Verse 5, “So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.” When it comes down to the day when we face Jesus Christ, He’s going to evaluate us. Don’t judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, that’s His business.”

God’s going to take care of the hidden things of darkness, and I do not mean evil, but things that we can’t see, things that are dark to us. I don’t think it’s evil is because it says at the end of verse 5 every man will have praise. So the things that we can’t see, are going to be opened up by God who knows them and He will manifest motives. And on that basis, men will be praised because in Christ there’s no condemnation.

But as to who gains the greatest praise and reward, only God can make that judgment because He alone knows the motives. What you need to do in your heart when you serve the Lord is search the reason. That’s a struggle that Satan throws at you all the time. Why am I ministering? Am I ministering so that God is glorified? 1 Corinthians 10, “Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Jul 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250706 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000268 imblog

1 Corinthians 3:18-23

The Corinthians, among other things, had a severe problem in the area of division. This is not an uncommon problem. It’s God’s truth. It’s one that has great doxologies of praise that I find myself ill-equipped to reproduce in your minds what Paul probably was feeling and saying when he said it; and yet I know it will be a blessing to you all to see what God will teach us from this passage in 1 Corinthians 3.

They were divided over two areas. The base root cause of their division is simply defined as carnality and worldliness. Those were the spiritual generators of the problem. But the secondary causes of their problem were that they exalted human wisdom and exalted human leaders. Now Paul deals with human wisdom in chapters 1 and 2. And in chapters 3 and 4, he attacks the issue of exalting human leaders.

The Corinthian people were giving their opinion to these leaders rather than to the Word of God, and this was divisive. And they were attaching themselves to one teacher as we saw in verse 3 and 4, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas,” et cetera. Now we are in the midst of chapters 3 as if we’ve been scaling a mountain. And we descend the other side in chapter 4. This is the great summary of his argument.

God will honor men when He desires to, and it will be at the judgment seat. And God will try their works, and God will find out who has gold, silver and precious stones, and reward them for it. That is not for men to do. Now he summarizes this total argument right here in verses 18 to 23, gathering together the concept of human wisdom and the concept of exalting human leaders. This is the heart of these four chapters.

In this section he divides it into two parts. Verses 18 to 20, he shows that the first problem was exalting human wisdom. He just reviews it. He then summarizes what he’s already said. Verses 21 to 23, he summarizes his thoughts on exalting human leaders, and then he just takes off in a doxology to close it out. Some of you are teachers here at the church, so you know that a summary is very important.

Now I’d like to take four points that Paul deals with in verses 18 to 23. And he sets these forth as the four proper views that are necessary in eliminating division in the church. If we’re going to eliminate division on either hand, whether it’s over human wisdom or human leaders, they’re going to be four views that we have to have: a proper view of ourselves, of others, of our possessions, and of our possessor God.

Let’s begin with number one: the problem of division can be eliminated with a proper view of ourselves. And what this really boils down to people, is a simple truth. A lot of division in the church will be eliminated if we are not impressed with our own wisdom. If we regard human wisdom, even our own wisdom, the same way God does, we’re all right. And God regards human wisdom as foolishness.

Paul says, “Let no man deceive himself.” It’s in the present. It really is saying, “Stop continuing to deceive yourselves. If any man among you thinks to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may really be wise.” In other words, if there’s going to unity in the church, you’re going to have stop deceiving yourself about the area of human wisdom. The church does not need your opinion or your wisdom.

We’re not saying this is in the area of, knowing how to build something properly, or knowing how to take care of the flowers. We’re saying this in relation to principles related to three areas really: salvation, the knowledge of God, and principles of Christian life. Human wisdom has no bearing on the knowledge of God; it has no bearing on the plan of salvation and it has no bearing on the principles of Christian life.

The church must create an atmosphere in which the Word of God is honored, in which the Word of God is submitted to.  Paul is saying: “If in the church everybody submits to the Word of God, there is no basis for disunity because there’s one common controlling authority. It is when human opinion rises to the top then there is much disunity.  This is where the Word of God is not set up as the authority.

No authority can happen in liberal churches where they don’t believe it. Or it can even happen in evangelical, fundamental and orthodox churches where men do not teach the Word of God, so that people don’t know what it is teaching. So they offer their human opinion only because they’re ignorant of the Bible’s truth. Where the Word of God is taught then people know about salvation, and the principles of life.

There’s nothing as devastating as intellectual pride. For some people, the only way they can get ego satisfaction is to have a different view than everybody else. Intellectual pride can’t keep silent and admire; it always has to talk and criticize. It can’t stand to have its opinions contradicted. It can never admit being wrong no matter how ridiculous it is. Intellectual pride looks down at everybody else.

When you realize that you don’t know anything that matters in terms of salvation, the knowledge of God, the principles of spiritual life, and you submit yourself to the Word of God, you are wise. Therein lies wisdom. Now notice what Paul says at the beginning of verse 18, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he can become wise.”

Worldly wisdom is set against Christ and destroys the truth. And I’m not repudiating science, and I’m not saying that what man has done in advancing science and all those things are bad. It is great, and we should be happy that God has allowed man the development that we know today scientifically, that provides for us so many comforts, and provides mass media to reach many people with the gospel.

But I remember in seminary you would always read, the great theologians of Europe and all the brilliant genius-type people that came to the conclusion that the Bible wasn’t the Word of God. They had worked out to disprove Mosaic authorship, to prove that Isaiah didn’t really write the second half of Isaiah, and that Daniel could never have written Daniel, because it was written just a few years before Jesus was born.

What it really was is stupidity. It’s what happens when the human mind applies itself to divine truth. The natural man will never understand the things of God, he’ll always come up with wrong answers. We must be empty in order to be filled. We must renounce our own righteousness in order to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. We must renounce our own wisdom in order to be wise. This is a universal law.

Verse 19 says, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written” and here he quotes Job 5:13, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness.’ then he quotes Psalms 94:11 in verse 20, ‘The Lord knows that the reasoning of the wise are futile.”  He says human philosophy is entirely inadequate to save men, entirely inadequate to know God, entirely inadequate to offer principles of Christian life.

The speculations of men can never ever comprehend the deep things of God. Paul gives it a right application: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” These wise people are trapped in their own wisdom. It’s like the psalmist says when he’s talking about the evil men who are caught in their own nets. The crafty criminal is arrested, exposed and punished in jail and his own wisdom becomes its execution.

Now just to give you another thought: sometimes New Testament writers quoted the Hebrew text verbatim. Sometimes they quoted the Septuagint. You know what the Septuagint is? That’s the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Old Testament, originally written in Hebrew, was translated into Greek just before Christ, and many people were reading it in Greek, because that had become their language.

To begin with, Paul says the proper view of yourself can eliminate the vision if you just realize that apart from the revelation of God you don’t know anything. Principle two: In order for there to be unity and for division to be eliminated, there must be a proper view of others. Verse 21 says, “So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours.” The Corinthian people were attaching themselves to one teacher.

But it’s true that in the church there is division over human teaching. But here they were actually dividing over people who agreed. They had managed to go beyond their doctrine, because they agreed that there’s no difference between Peter, Apollos, and Paul and what they taught doctrinally; they were creating differences and attaching themselves to those men on the basis of those manufactured differences.

There’s also knowledge. If I have a teacher over here who knows the Word of God, and teaches me the Word of God, and somebody over here who doesn’t know the Scripture, who doesn’t study to know the Scripture, then I would submit myself to the one who knew the Word. If you have a guy who’s totally committed to the Word of God and one who’s not, it’s obvious who you’d submit to.

But that was not the problem in Corinth. Paul and Apollos and Peter were all faithful, godly men committed to the truth. That wasn’t the issue. He is saying there shouldn’t be division where there isn’t any division, where it’s only a personality cult. We got into the passage in Hebrews 13 and got into the part about the congregation is to obey those that have the rule over them, those who must give an account to God.

The New Testament says that you are to pattern your life after godly leaders; and if you don’t have any to pattern your life after, then get somewhere where there are some. Paul says, “Be you followers of me as I am of Christ, and therein lies the heart of the ministry.” It’s an example. There’s only one to glorify, he says, that’s God. If you’re not going to glory in men, there’s only one left; and that’s God.

Verse 22 says, “whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—everything is yours.” Why would you pick one teacher when they’re all yours?” He’s not saying be a spiritual grasshopper, landing wherever the bugs are.  There is no such thing as a believer in the early church and follower of the New Testament who didn’t attach himself to a local assembly.

He’s talking about the multiplicity of teachers that were in the one assembly in Corinth. Now it’s fine for you to go from place to place from time to time and hear others; that’s important. You can grow, you can listen to tapes, you can read books, and you can submit yourselves to many Godly teachers.  But he’s talking in the context of a local assembly. “Every one of them is yours.” Just think about it: all godly teachers are ours.

Well, Paul doesn’t really mean everything of everything.  What do you mean by “all things are ours?” Why would they want to isolate to one little teacher when they’re all theirs? Instead of enriching themselves, they were impoverishing themselves by staking their divisive claim to exclusive rights to one teacher. Romans 8:17 says, “We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ? Joint heir is equal.

Jesus prayed in John 17:22, and said “Father, the glory that you have given Me, I have given them”? Whatever God has given Christ, Christ has given us. Do you know that Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.” Revelation 21:7 says, “The one who conquers will inherit all these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.”

Why would I impoverish myself by taking only what Paul says and not what John says; what Peter says, what Luke says, what Matthew says, and what Mark says? They’re all ours. Did you know the world is yours? He means God’s created material universe. Everything in it is for you, everything. This church, you have all the benefit of it. Everything in our world is ours, everything that God has made. Whatever is God’s, is mine.

Some day when Jesus is here again we have a new world. Can you imagine a world where justice prevails, where righteousness and goodness is the rule, where there’s lasting peace, where joy reigns; a world where health is universal, and somebody who dies 100 years old dies like a child; a world where children play in snake pits, where lions and lambs walk together, and they’re all led by a little child.

Now in addition to the world he says, “Life is yours. You have life.” What kind of life is he talking about? Eternal life, spiritual life, the knowledge of God, God’s life in me, Christ in me. This is that eternal life, Jesus Christ. Look at the next one. Death is mine! No, that’s because you look at death as a master rather than a slave. You know what death can do to a Christian? One thing death does, take him to Jesus.

That’s why Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, “O death, where is your sting? Grave, where is thy victory?” Things present are ours. I’m not going to tell you what that is! But it’s all the objects, all the people, all the situations, all the events, and all the experiences of life are for your blessing. “Even the bad ones?” Yes, that’s part of the “all things work together for good.”

There is nothing in the present that can separate you from the love of Christ, right? Not things present, nor things to come.  So if they can’t separate you from Him, if they can’t change that relationship, they can only enhance it. All things are yours. Pain is yours; happiness is yours. Sorrow is yours; gladness is yours. It’s all yours. And God, by it all, is conforming you to Jesus. Things to come refers to the future, heaven.

A proper view of ourselves, of others, of our possessions. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” and Christ belongs to God. The reason we possess everything is because we’re all Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. The greatest blessedness of all blessedness is to know that I belong to Jesus, and He belongs to God. How exciting it is to belong to Him! The Bible says that my life is in Christ in God.  Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Jun 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250622 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000267 imblog

1 Corinthians 3:10-17

We are going to see the fact that believer’s works will be judged before God to see whether they are worthy of reward. Now this is an important theme and subject. Paul says here, there is coming a time when all the believers works, will be judged by fire to determine whether they are worthy of reward. And this becomes important to every believer in order that he may prepare for himself for that coming time.

One of the motivating forces of Paul was that when Jesus is coming back, that it would be a time of reward. Paul prepared himself for that. It wasn’t that he wanted for himself all kinds of glory and honor; it was that if he was going to be involved in anything, he was going to do it to the best of his ability. If he was going to run a race, he was going to run it with one thing in mind, and that was winning it.

If he was going to fight a fight, he fought it to win it. That’s just how it is in the Christian life. If you give anything less than total commitment to it, you have dishonored God. And so reward for the Christian life isn’t so much a matter of me earning a benefit or of me being motivated by my own glory ultimately as it is of the fact that I want to honor the one who placed me here by giving my very best.

In 2 Corinthians 5, he gives the three motives for his ministry. The first one is Christ’s judgment is coming. He says in verses 9 - 10, “We labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him; for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body whether it be good or bad.” He says, “We labor in order to be rewarded. Christ will evaluate our work; and that motivates us.”

Second thing that motivated in 2 Corinthians 5 was Christ’s love was compelling. He said in verse 14, “The love of Christ constrains us.” The third thing that motivated him was Christ’s work was complete. He said, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation.” Three things motivated Paul: Jesus was coming to reward; his love for Christ out of his heart; and when he preached the gospel, and people were transformed.

But first he mentions: Jesus is coming. Paul wanted to be accepted of Christ. He wanted Christ to say, “Well done.” He wanted to maximize his potential, not so much that he might know tribute, but that Christ might know that he loved Him, that he cared about Him, that he was willing to give everything. He reiterated this desire in Romans 14:10: “Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother?”

“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” Verse 12 says, “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” We don’t need to judge other believers. God will take care of that; and every believer will give an account of himself. What he’s really saying to the Christians who were going to read the Roman letter is, “Let God determine who’s doing what. We all fall into the trap of being spiritual judges.

You can’t make that spiritual judgment. That’s not a judgment you have a perspective on. You let God make it. There’s no reason for your divisiveness. Only God can do that and really honor men; and He will. Ultimately there will be a time for reward. That introduces to us this passage. And what this passage is talking about is precisely that time when God will reward His own. Notice verses 1 Corinthians 3:5-8.

Now this is talking about judgment on believer’s works. There are many judgments in the Scripture. It talks about the judgment of sin. When? At the cross. There’s no more judgment, that’s done. Scripture talks about the judgment of self in 1 Corinthians 11:31, “If we would judge ourselves, we wouldn’t wind up being disciplined by God.” If we take care of our own lives, God wouldn’t have to discipline us.

There is the judgment of Israel in Ezekiel 20. It talks about the judgment of the nations in Matthew 25. It talks about the judgment of Satan and demons in Jude 6. It talks about the judgment of the unsaved at the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20. And, seventhly, of all these judgments is the judgment of the believer’s works. There’s coming a day when we will be judged on the basis of what we have done.

Beloved, there isn’t any judgment future to see whether you get into heaven or not, your faith in Jesus Christ already sealed that. According to Philippians 3:20, you’re already a citizen of heaven, right? Now other people say what the believer’s judgment’s going to be is that they’re going to be punished for the sins they committed after they were saved. If that’s true, we’ll spend all eternity doing that.

All of your sins were cared on the cross. Christ took all of them. First John 2:12 and Colossians 2 says it: all of our sin. He just bundled them all up on the cross and bore them all. Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore no judgment to them who are in Christ.” “Who shall lay any charge to God’s elect?” Nobody. God’s already declared us righteous; there aren’t any sins for which we have to pay.

Others have said, ‘You have to be punished for the sins you didn’t confess.” That’s a very popular view. “The ones you forgot to confess or didn’t confess willfully will have to be paid for, and you’ll have to get punished.” The Bible doesn’t say that. That betrays a lack of understanding of confession. Confession has nothing to do with forgiveness. Forgiveness has already taken place on the cross.

Well, you say, “What is it?” It is simply a place of rewards. There will be no condemnation. Turn your Bible to 1 Corinthians 4:5 which says, “So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.” Don’t run ahead of God and try to evaluate everything.

There you can get the idea that maybe God is more concerned with motive than He is with actual deed, right? Now the end of verse 5, “And then praise will come to each one from God.” You see, every believer will have praise. There won’t be anybody condemned. Christ bore all punishment. There will only be praise; but there will be varying degrees of praise, depending upon the work of your life.

When it says in 2 Corinthians 5, “We shall all appear before the judgment seat,” it refers not to a tribunal or a court; it refers to the Olympic stadium which was outside Corinth. And the winners went up and ascended the béma, and there were rewarded for their victory. Every believer will be going to get a reward, a prize. Everybody will have praise; some more than others. Some will be more highly honored than others.

1 Corinthians 3. Let’s look at the judgment as it appears here. When you get to the judgment seat, there are going to be a lot of people surprised at what’s left after the test. Some people are going to think they really made a great contribution and not going to have anything left, and some dear saints out of nowhere that nobody knew are going to have the greatest rewards of all. Only God knows that.

So Paul here shows that all believers are building a building, and there’s coming a fiery test, and the fire will be applied to their building, and only what is left will be rewarded. But every believer is going to have something left. It might just be a little, tiny piece. It’ll be a little bit of praise. But everybody’s going to get some. It doesn’t have anything to do with condemnation. Number one is the master builder.

Verse 10, “According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it.” Here Paul introduces himself as the master builder. Paul was a foundation man. He was the guy who started the churches. He wrote to the Romans, “I didn’t go certain places, because I didn’t want to build over somebody else’s foundation.”

He wanted to go where Christ was not named. In Corinth when he came there, he stayed eighteen months. In Ephesus he stayed three years. In Thessalonica he stayed less than a month, because the Spirit of God did a faster work there. But everywhere he went he laid the foundation of the church. He’s not trying to push the party issue. I did it only because God was gracious enough to commit that ministry to me.”

In Ephesians 3:7-8, he says, “I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. 8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ.” In 1 Timothy 1:13 he says, “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief.”

Now notice the term “wise master builder.” He went into a town, he approached the synagogue, tried to win the Jews to Christ, he got a few Jewish converts. Then he began to move into the Gentile community and win them to Christ. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was a master strategist. When he built a building, his building was solid, his foundation was solid. The footings were deep and abiding.

Paul is a combination architect and general contractor, not just a planner. Nobody is sitting up saying, “Now you guys, go do this.” They were active. There weren’t any architects who weren’t also general contractors. The plans and the building were done by the apostles. They laid out the strategy and they carried it out. Now he says, “I then laid the foundation. I have laid it, and another builds on it.”

In Corinth, the next guy in was Apollos, and Apollos built on what Paul had begun. And Apollos was followed by others; and all the believers really were a part of it, because he says at the end of verse 10, “Let every man take heed how he builds upon it.” Paul says in verse 11, “For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.” Everybody else adds to that.

Now, some people would like to restrict this passage only to pastors, or evangelists, or teachers. Well, I would say that primarily the passage is referring to those people who preach and teach Christ. They are the ones, in the truest sense, building up the structure of doctrine upon the foundation that has been laid. We are the ones who are continuing to teach the word of God upon the foundation that the apostles set down.

Verses 12-13 say, “If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.” But, in verse 13 it says “each one’s work” is tested what sort it is, so you’ve got to broaden it and now it includes every believer who tells others.

Though all of us are not at the same degree building on that apostolic foundation, we are all building on it, because every one of us has a ministry. Every one of us has a ministry based upon the foundation that has been laid, and we are to be careful how we build. Secondly, we come from the master builder to the foundation, in verse 11: “For the foundation is Jesus Christ.” Now here we are introduced to the foundation itself.

Christ is the foundation of Christianity. In a sense, the foundation is the whole of the word of God. The Gospels are written to give us the history of the life of Christ. The Epistles were written to give us commentary on that life, and to draw principles from that life. The book of Revelation is written to tell us that Christ is yet alive and reigning, and will return. Christ is active in the church, the book of Acts.

The Catholics are trying to build a building on tradition. Some people are trying to build on top of a foundation of good works. Others on a foundation of ethical humanism. Some on the foundations of pseudoscience. Some people are trying to build their lives on morality, and ethics, and good deeds. But the only foundation for a life and for corporate life, which is the church, is Jesus Christ.

Matthew 16, “Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Who do men think I am?’ They said, ‘Well, some say you’re Elijah, some say you’re Jeremiah, some say you’re one of the prophets.’ He said, ‘Who do you think I am?’ Peter said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus said, ‘On that confession I’ll build My church.’” That’s the identity of Jesus Christ, the truth of Christ. He is the only foundation.

Paul takes a look at the workmen and how they build and they’re rewarded: Verses 14 to 17. Verse 14-15, “If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.” Whenever in your life you teach sound doctrine, and you obey sound doctrine, or you pass it on to somebody, that’s excellent.

What are the rewards going to be? Crowns. They’re incorruptible crowns, 1 Corinthians 9, for those who are faithful, obedient, and self-sacrificing; the crown of righteousness. 2 Timothy 4:8; the crown of rejoicing, 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, for those who win souls; the crown of glory, 1 Peter 5:4, for those who are faithful pastors; the crown of life, and James 1:12, for all who love Him sacrificially.

The fire will test all your works, and there might be a great conflagration in some people’s case. But he’ll still be saved. Find out your spiritual gift and use it. Verse 16 says, “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” God wants a pure church. God doesn’t look kindly anybody who comes against His church to defile it or destroy it. You’re a holy sanctuary.

Verse 17, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are.” Somebody who comes along and tries to undo what God has done, somebody who comes along and tries to hinder the work of the church, somebody who comes along and tries to remove the foundation of Christ, sets himself in a position to be destroyed by God. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Jun 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250608 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000266 imblog

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

We’re going to look at verses 1 to 9, a portion that has been used as a basis of understanding much of what is taught regarding the Christian’s behavior. In fact, the third chapter really is loaded with some very pertinent things in regard to Christian life. When people accept Christ, they tend to think it is freewheeling from that point on, but then they discover it is only just the beginning of life.”

The Christian life is not easy. It is difficult. In fact, maybe it’s harder to live now then it was before you were saved. Why? It is not easy to live a Christian life, with the power of God within us. Why is it difficult to do the thing we know we want to do, to do the thing that is right to do, that God says to be done? There are two reasons, and really everything can be reduced to these two that make the Christian life difficult.

Number one: You are going against the grain of the world. You are finding yourself like a spiritual salmon. While everything else is floating downstream, you’re fighting the current. You keep slamming against the wall of worldliness trying to break through. You aren’t swimming the way the rest of the fish are swimming. You are going against the current, and it isn’t easy. You are going the opposite way.

Now that’s the external pressure of living the Christian life. Secondly, the internal. You are also going against the grain of the flesh, your own humanness. Paul put it this way in Romans 7: “I love to do God’s will so far as my new self is concerned. But there is something deep within me in my flesh that is at war with my mind, and wins the fight, making me a slave to the sin that still is in me.” That’s the internal.

You see, men are born sinful. That’s because they’re born of sinful parents, and it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. And because we are born with a tendency to sin, this creates a problem. Salvation comes and when we are saved, God breaks the back of evil; neutralizes it, in and gives us the Holy Spirit to subdue sin; but He doesn’t remove the tendency to do evil that is in our humanness.

So, Satan has two things that he works on in the life of a Christian: the world, that’s the external; and the flesh, that’s the internal. And those two things make it very difficult. We are going against the grain. And we have within us a tendency to evil. And though the Spirit of God is there to subdue that, it is still there, and it rears itself; and though we win the battle ultimately, we lose a lot of skirmishes on the way.

That’s why the Christian life isn’t easy. The Christian has to watch for two things: we have to look outside and watch the world, you have to look inside and watch the flesh. And, sometimes they are closely connected, because the world becomes what tempts the flesh. Satan uses that to get to us from the outside and inside. The problem the Corinthians faced was that they were succumbing to the world and to the flesh.

No sin is an isolated sin. Sins are always combinations of other sins. And in Corinth, division was not an isolated sin, it was a product of other sins. Pride, envy, jealousy, et cetera, create division. But division was a very serious thing, and Paul spends a tremendous amount of time on division. He says, “Your division is caused by worldliness and the flesh." Division in the church at Corinth, was caused by worldliness.

Now we think of worldliness usually as things you do, you know: playing cards, getting drunk, you know, whatever you categorize as worldliness in your little category. But that isn’t really what worldliness is. Worldliness is simply buying whatever the world’s philosophies are, whatever their attitudes are. And in the case of the Corinthians, it was that they were following the world’s philosophies.

But there was a second reason. The second reason for their division is in chapter 3, and that is the flesh. And whenever the flesh functions it inevitably is selfish. Division manifests selfishness and that’s what carnality always is. Carnality says, “I will do what I will do; I don’t care what God wants me to do. I will work in the flesh, do what my body says, my nature says, regardless of what God says.”

So carnality and worldliness were creating the division in the church. Perennially, the enemies of the Lord’s work are the world and the flesh, both in the collective and corporate base, and individually. Now Paul is going to tackle the disease of division from the standpoint of carnality, from the internal, from the standpoint of the flesh, because really it’s the key: if you can overrule the flesh, you can also overrule the world.

Some of you are doctors and you use that word diagnosis a lot. Gnōsis the Greek word “to know” and ‘dia’ means “through.” And that’s what diagnosis is: you look at the symptoms, you go behind the symptoms through to the real problem. You have seen through the superficial to the real problem. And this is what Paul did. Here we find Paul diagnosing the Corinthians all the way through the book.

Now he comes to the disease of division, and it’s very contagious. You can have division at the church at a small level and that thing can spread. Not only does it affect the church, but it affects the world, because a divided, wrangling, fighting church loses its ability to testify. Now Paul’s going to give us three things, the cause, the symptoms, and the cure. The cause of division; the symptoms of it, and the cure for it.

Number one: The cause is in verses 1 through 3a: “For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 because you are still worldly.” He speaks to Christians, but he says: “I could not speak to you as spiritual people.”

When we use the term “spiritual,” we use it in many ways. The world talks about the spiritual world. They mean the occult. We talk about someone who is spiritual, and we may mean a guy who is really moving in the spirit, a guy who is spiritual as opposed to carnal. Or when we say a spiritual man, we may just mean a Christian, as opposed to a natural man. And we want to know how Paul uses it here, so watch.

So here is somebody controlled by the Spirit, a spiritual man. All Christians are controlled by the Spirit. Now not all Christians obey the Spirit who is in control, but they are all controlled by Him. He remains in control of your life until the day you die. The only issue is whether or not you’re submitting to His control. A Christian positionally before God is perfect; but in practice we don’t always live up to what we are.

He says to the Corinthians: “You are holy ones,” and then he proceeds to tell them how rotten they are. Well, He’s saying, “Before God, in Christ, positionally, you are holy. Practically, you’re rotten. You’re not living up to what you are.” This is why we believe that you don’t lose your salvation, because your practice never affects your position. You have to make a distinction in Scripture. The practice of an individual.

Now the word “spiritual” here is used of your position. Before God, you are a spiritual person, you are under the control of the Spirit, as opposed to an unsaved person who is not. You can know the word. You can discern the Word. You can read the Word. You can study the Word. You are controlled by the Holy Spirit. The word then “spiritual” is used in the New Testament several times to speak of this positional aspect.

Now when I say to you the word “mature,” what kind of Christian do you think of? Somebody who really knows the Word, really growing. Did you know that every Christian is mature? Positionally you’re all full-grown. Did you know that? When you became a Christian you were a whole thing. There is not any halfway about it. A Christian is somebody who is a Christian; and he’s a total Christian, right?

Now here he’s saying your practice isn’t spiritual, 1 Corinthians 3:1, “For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.” It is used in this reference to refer to the basic nature of man, to refer to that which is subject to sin: his Adamic self, his rebelliousness toward God, his self-centeredness, his proneness to sin.

And when you were saved, that was not eradicated. It doesn’t dominate you anymore, it’s been neutralized, and you can use it or not use it; but it’s still there. And he’s saying, “I have to talk to you like you were carnal.” The unsaved man’s dominated by the flesh. He says, “I’ve got to talk to you like you’re unsaved, like you are sarkinos, made of the flesh, fleshy.” That’s the definition of unbelievers.

And, you know, when a Christian sins, there’s no difference in quality, and there’s no difference in definition between his sin and the sin of an unbeliever. You see, a sin is sin; and the same flesh that functioned before you were saved will produce the same kind of sin. It will be less frequent, but just as bad when it happens. So a Christian who is spiritual could never be natural, but he could behave fleshly.

So he’s saying to the Corinthians, “You know, you’re so messed up I have to treat you like a bunch of unbelievers.” Now who is a babe? Babe implies spiritual stupidity, ignorance. Verse 2 says, “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready.” Verse 3, “because you are still worldly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans?”

You know who the pastor was they followed? Apollos. The Bible says things about Apollos it says about no man. He was so eloquent he was probably above all men in eloquence, and teaching of the Word. Now here Paul is not really rebuking them at the first of the verse, he’s just recalling. I gave you some milk and brought you along. But the thing that shocks me is you still can’t handle the meat.

You say, “How could they be spiritually stupid if they’d been under all that teaching?” If you walk in the flesh long enough, you will shift your spiritual gears into reverse, and you will become what James 1:25 calls a “forgetful hearer,” and you will literally lose the ability to function on the things you once knew. They forgot the things they should have known. Their carnality had stunted their growth.

Well, you know, the Catholics felt that way. They didn’t want to get too deep. They made a distinction in this verse between milk doctrine and meat doctrine, and they said the only thing the people could have was the milk doctrine, and the meat doctrine was for the clergy; and they kept the whole of the Catholic Church in ignorance for centuries. Anything that’s good to know is good to know by anybody who needs to know it.

What is the difference between a milk and a meat doctrine? There’s no difference. No difference in the doctrine, just a difference in the depth of it. The same thing that’s milk to you might be meat to somebody else. To keep spiritual ignorance is a crime against the Holy Spirit. And you are insulting the Spirit of God when a guy gets in a pulpit and gives nothing but milk all the time. He is ignoring the Holy Spirit in divine revelation.

The saddest thing in the church is to see somebody who has grown up physically and grown along in years in Christianity and has the mentality of an infant, and never known the deep things of God. Spiritual ignorance and carnality are tied inseparably together. I believe that the greatest tragedy in the church is manifest immaturity from people who know better, who have been around long enough to be mature.

Now in verse 3 they mention only two of them “envy and strife,” or if you want a different definition “jealousy and wrangling.” Now carnality doesn’t just cause this particular symptom. It will manifest itself in other ways, right? It’s like cancer. Cancer causes many malfunctions in many ways to many different organs. You can have leukemia or basal cell carcinoma, hepatoma, all of that referring to different organs.

Verse 4: “For whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not acting like mere humans?” You’re operating in the flesh.” Division can only happen where there’s carnality. Immature people split over personalities. People will start following other people, it’ll manifest carnality. You don’t want to get your eyes on personalities, you want to get your eyes on God.

And that leads us to the cure, verses 5 - 9. It’s going to be a quick cure. Verse 5 says, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.” And what he was implying was, “What did they ever do for you?” Here he says, “They did nothing.” He says, “They are diakonoi.” You know what we servants are? Spiritual busboys.

Well, don’t exalt ministers. We are tools; we are channels. Don’t honor the man, you honor God. And as long as the church keeps its focus on God, everything is okay. We’re just agents, even as the Lord gave to every man. The only reason I am what I am is Lord gave it to me. The only reason you came to Christ through me is that’s the way the Lord designed it. Don’t honor me; I’m just being used as a tool.”

Verse 6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” Don’t honor me, don’t honor Apollos; honor God.” Verse 7, “So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” And if anything happens in this ministry you focus on God. Verse 8, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

Your rewards aren’t based on your success, they’re based on your labor. Verse 9, “For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” If you really get your attention on Him, not only will it eliminate division, it will eliminate carnality. Please pray and ask God to deliver you from carnality, to transform your life into the walk in the Spirit consistent with your position. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Jun 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250601 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000265 imblog

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Now we have always believed, and the evangelical church and the faithful church, has always believed that the truth is outside of us, that divine revelation is outside of us, that the Word of God is outside of us. And that it is objective and that it is contained in 66 books of the Bible. And there are no guesses necessary as to whether or not we have the Word of God, the message from heaven.

It is the mark of a true Christian to love the Word of God, to love the truth. That’s just what it means to be a believer. Psalm 119 says it’s sweeter than honey in the honeycomb and it’s more precious than gold, yes than much fine gold. In Psalm 119:97 it says, “O how I love Your Law.” The work of God in the life of the believer is to generate a love for Scripture. Salvation requires a love for Christ.

To motivate the believer internally toward the Scripture to understand it, to obey it, and to proclaim it. Where true conversion takes place, there will be a love for the Word of God. There will be a hunger and thirst for the Scripture. Peter says in John 6, when Jesus said, “You won’t also go away, will you?” And Peter says on behalf of the rest, “To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.”

One of the components of salvation is a desire for the Word of God. When you’re human you have a desire for natural food, bread, if you will in the biblical sense, and if you’re spiritually reborn, you have a desire for spiritual food which is contained in Scripture. So it is incidental to the Christian’s life and experience to have a hunger for the Word of God. That’s part and parcel of the new creation. Okay?

When you become a believer the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you and makes the Scripture come alive. He becomes your teacher. The truth isn’t in you, the Spirit is in you, and the truth is outside of you. The Spirit who is in you gives you the ability to understand the truth. 1 John 2:24 says, “What you have heard from the beginning is to remain in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

If you follow your own intuition and your own imaginary experiences and impulses, it will inevitably lead you away from the Word of God. It will lead you away from the Word of God because it seems more dynamic, more relevant, and more personal and it’s always going to be tied to your own desires in some way because it’s being cultivated in your own mind. It is going to lead you away from the truth.

We have to trust the Word of God. We have to trust the fullness, sufficiency and completeness of the Word of God. Now there are Charismatics today, who as scholarly as they get, who are denying the sufficiency of Scripture. But that would not be Scripture’s own testimony. 1 Corinthians 2 is a chapter to understand this. God’s power comes through God’s wisdom and God’s wisdom comes through Scripture.

The Bible is the Holy Spirit speaking. It is through the Bible that He now speaks. That’s really important for you to understand. The Holy Spirit spoke when Scripture was written, but the Holy Spirit speaks when Scripture is read and Scripture is understood. So He continues to speak through His Word. And we know that this is the Word of God, and we know this is the Word of the Holy Spirit. We are hearing the Spirit speak through His Word.

It isn’t about the power of the orator. My preaching was not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith wouldn’t rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God. At the time Paul was writing, of course, the Old Testament had been brought together, those 39 books had been completed, while the books of the New Testament were in process.

So the unbelievers and their top leaders and the elite are not going to ever be a source for spiritual wisdom. We are responsible to know the Bible and believe it. We are responsible to live it, obey it, proclaim it, therefore it must be available and clear to us and it in fact is. Verse 7, “On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.”

Verse 8, “None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Paul says we know people don’t understand it. We know the Jews didn’t understand it or they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. The Gentiles didn’t understand it or they wouldn’t have actually carried out the execution. We’re speaking mystery. What does mystery mean?

God is now showing us the gospel which has been unknown to the world and even unknown to the angels of heaven. The secrets are known only to God and revealed when God chooses to reveal them and to whom He chooses to reveal them. Romans 16:25 says, “Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages.”

We’re talking about truth that cannot be known, is not attainable, is not available, and is not discernable to the natural man. It does not rise from their thinking, it is alien to them, it is the wisdom that is from God, it is the testimony, it is the wisdom that comes down from above. It is the mystery now unfolded. The mystery referring to the New Testament revelation which had been hidden until Christ and until the Apostles.

So let me sum up. From eternity past, God in His sovereign decree and electing grace planned for us who believe in Christ eternal blessing. That eternal blessing would come to us when we believe the truth, the wisdom of God revealed in the New Testament which is the mystery unfolded. This is unavailable to man. Scripture is understandable only to those who have the resident truth teacher, the Holy Spirit.

Verse 9, “But as it is written, “What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love Him.” This is taken from Isaiah. All that God has prepared is unavailable by empirical research, it is unavailable by intuition. You can’t see it and can’t hear it, that’s empirical. You can’t feel it, as if it were in your heart, it’s unavailable for mankind.

For those of us who are believers, however, the truth teacher has been placed inside of us. Now we see three aspects of this divine wisdom being deposited in our lives. Aspect number one, let’s call it revelation. Let me give you now three new terms, revelation, inspiration and illumination. Aspect number one is revelation. And that word is actually used, at least in a verb form there in the next verse.

Verse 10-11, “Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” I mean that which is revealed from God. To us is emphatic, not to the world’s philosophers. It is the work of the Spirit to give us the divine mystery.

And by revelation, I don’t mean the book of revelation. I mean that which is revealed from God. That’s the content, the truth itself. This is emphatic “For to us,” that’s emphatic position, not to the world’s philosophers, not to the elite of the world. God’s revelation is given to us. It is the work of the Spirit to give us the divine mystery. Why? Because He says, “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

Romans 8:26 - 27 talks about the Spirit making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and that God knows the mind of the Spirit because He always prays according to the will of the Father. So the Trinity is perfect in its knowledge, so the Spirit is the agent who makes the truth of God known to us. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. He alone is competent to reveal God to us.

He knows the inmost perfections and purposes fully because He Himself is God. He knows the will of God because He is God and wills what the Father wills and what the Son wills. The Holy Spirit, as true of any member of the Trinity, is omniscient about Himself and also omniscient about God. He compares it in to a person who has self-consciousness, that’s what distinguishes us from vegetables and animals.

The Spirit of God then is the one who knows the deep realities, purposes, plans of God who knows perfectly the wisdom of God. And so He is the one searching all the depth of the true wisdom of God who then reveals them to us. The book of Revelation comes from that. It means to unveil something that has been hidden. Revelation is the act of God by which He makes known to us what was otherwise unknown.

Verses 12-13, “Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.” The second is inspiration. Paul says, “We have received the Holy Spirit so that we may know the things taught by God.”

So what is inspiration? It is the Holy Spirit giving the Apostles. It is taking the revelation and putting it in words. This is the vehicle that conveys the secret things of God, the depths of God known only to the Spirit of God. We have received the influence of the Holy Spirit in the process of inspiration, Jesus says in John 14:26, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send to us in My name.”

The Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, “He will testify about Me and you will testify also because you’ve been with Me from the beginning.” The Holy Spirit is going to come upon you and He is going to reveal to you the truth and you are going to remember it and recall it and you’re going to write it down and give testimony to Me in that way. He will not speak on His own initiative but whatever He hears He will speak.

The Holy Spirit will not only tell you what you will remember in the past, He will reveal to you what is coming in the future. This is the work of inspiration. The Apostles and those associated with them will be the instruments the Holy Spirit will use to write down truth that we have contained in Scripture. Things that apostles not only know, but we communicate. We speak in words taught by the Holy Spirit.

That’s why we say Scripture is God-breathed. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture,” meaning Old and New, “is God-breathed.” This refers to the work of the Holy Spirit in inspiring the writers. Verse 17 provides all that a man of God needs to be equipped for every good work. 2 Peter 1:21 says, “No prophecy of Scripture was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Scripture is authoritative. It is without error and it is comprehensive. It is infallible and sufficient. Spiritual truths set forth in Spirit-given words. Listen, you who are committed to the Scripture are not out of touch with the Holy Spirit, you’re never more in communion with the Holy Spirit than when you’re reading Scripture. That leads to a third and final aspect of the Spirit’s ministry, illumination.

Verses 14-16 says, “But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Illumination is the work of the Holy Spirit to make its meaning known, to make Scripture understandable. Even if we have a Bible, even if we have revelation bought down to us through inspiration, verse 14 reminds us, “A natural man doesn’t accept the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him and he can’t understand them.” But verse 15 says, he who is spiritual evaluate all things.

People who show distain to the Scripture are just acting natural. This is how natural people act. They may have a certain respect for the Bible which they don’t understand, they may even try to live up to some of its sort of normal sort of well-known moral laws or principles of honesty and decency. But they have no respect for it. They don’t comprehend it. Even the best of men can’t make a true judgment of Scripture.

And it becomes even more dramatic how lost they are, the higher up you go. What does that mean? What that simply means is the world, even the elite of the world, are so unable to understand the Word of God that they can’t value us the way we need to be valued. They can’t even assess us. They don’t understand this so they don’t understand us. This is a blow to the wise men of the world.

Verse 16, “For who has known the mind of the Lord that He will instruct Him?” Isaiah 40:13. They don’t’ know God’s mind. Why? Because the only way you can know God’s mind is to know what God has revealed about His mind in Scripture. And if you are a natural person, and do not have life in Christ, and do not possess the Holy Spirit, you can’t understand the Scripture and you can’t understand the Christians.

This is the fulfillment of Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law.” The revelation is the truth that the Spirit of God has determined to reveal, inspiration is the means by which it is transmitted to print. Illumination is the work of the Holy Spirit to make its meaning known. We’re reminded that even though we have the deep things of God, in a natural condition it turns into foolishness.

We have the mind of Christ. It’s all so clear to us, isn’t it? You misjudge us, you’ve misjudged Christ. No one can instruct the Lord, but we have the mind of the Lord, therefore no one in the world can instruct us. You can’t bring an unbeliever before me who can in one small way change how I view the world. He has nothing to offer to me. I have a complete understanding as revealed in Scripture.

The mind of God, its vastness is unfathomable. But there is truth that has been gathered by the Holy Spirit from the depth of the nature of God. It has been revealed and it has been written down through the process of inspiration as the Bible writers wrote the very words the Spirit of God prompted them to write. We have those words in a book and we have the resident truth teacher that teaches us all things. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 May 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250525 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000264 imblog

1 Corinthians 1:29 - 2:5

Look at 1 Corinthians 1 from 1:18 to 2:5 we have said that in this particular unit there is the contrast between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of men. The wisdom of man is really crowding out the gospel of Christ. There is no place within the church of Jesus Christ for the mixture of human philosophy with divine revelation. Human opinion doesn’t do anything but muddle the waters of God’s revelation.

We’ve seen how human opinion regarding evolution has taken a creative account here and turned it into what is called theistic evolution. Christian counseling does not have any positive or redeeming virtue. Now the book of 1 Corinthians deals with problems. They had many problems; the first of which was the problem of division. The congregation was being fractioned into little groups, over personalities.

The second cause of division was according to philosophical viewpoints. As Corinth was so dominated by varying philosophies like Athens. And when they became Christians, they took their opinions about the various things in the world into the church and created little groups on man’s destiny or man’s life. Everybody claiming to be a believer, but everybody adhering to his and her former philosophy.

So Paul writes to try to destroy this and says to them human philosophy is unnecessary. Where human philosophy is right it matches divine revelation. So human philosophy is either superfluous or dangerous. Only when you have the Word of God you have the solution to the problems that God wants you to solve. God didn’t give us an incomplete revelation. God’s Word is what a mankind needs.

There are five ways in which God’s wisdom is superior to man’s wisdom. Number one, God’s wisdom is superior is because of its permanence. The best of philosophers, and the best of writers haven’t been able to solve any of man’s problems. God’s wisdom lasts. God will destroy human wisdom. Secondly, God’s wisdom is superior because of it is power. It can do that which human wisdom couldn’t do: it can save.

The wisdom of God exhibited in the cross, which to the world looks like foolishness, could do what all of the world’s wisdom couldn’t do; that is it could grant to a man the knowledge of God and it could save a man from hell, from sin and from Satan. To the Jews it was a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles the cross was moronic. But the foolishness of God is wiser than men, the weakness of God is stronger than men.

God’s cross did do that, and even though it was rejected by Jews and rejected by Greeks. There were some who believed, and to them it did become power and it did become wisdom. And that just goes to prove that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Human effort at its best can’t come up to the very base level of God’s power and wisdom.

The third thing: God’s wisdom is superior because of its paradox. God states the superiority of His wisdom to man’s wisdom by redeeming simple humble people. Verse 26, “Consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.” The world looks at three things to determine greatness. Wisdom, education, brains. Power and popularity. And high rank.

But God didn’t choose many of these, verse 27, “Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” Verse 28, “God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something,” Here’s the paradox, here is the apparent contradiction.

Most of God’s people are just simple people. James 2:5 says, “Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?” The reason is they stand collectively as a rebuke against the world. As the Gentiles stand to make Israel jealous, so do the foolish stand to make the wise of this world jealous.

As we saw last time, the simplest person without any education who knows God knows more than the greatest philosopher in the world who doesn’t know God. And what a rebuke that is to human wisdom. And of course, Ephesians 3:10 says that God wants to take the church and put it on display before principalities and powers that they may see His wisdom in the church. There’s no place for human wisdom.

Verse 29, “So that no one may boast in his presence.” Nobody can say, “Well, I’m a Christian. I was smart enough to believe that.” God’s part was choosing. Remember, you’re saved not because you’re smart. You were saved because you were chosen of God in His marvelous grace. Ephesians 2:8-9, “By grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves.” It is a gift of God, not of your works.

Verse 30, “It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” What Paul is simply saying to them is, “Look, the purpose in salvation was that God may be glorified. And so in order for God to get the most glory, He made sure that you had the least to do with your salvation.” Yes, I got saved because of God’s wisdom.”

As soon as you became Christian, the first thing you received was wisdom. The truly wise in this world are those who know God. The truly wise are those who know salvation. We stand as a testimony that God took simple, humble people who didn’t know enough, to transform themselves. He made us the wisest in existence; and His is the glory. Verse 31, “In order that, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

The purpose for which God’s wisdom was granted was that He might receive the glory. Salvation is not an issue of intelligence. It’s not an issue of man’s wisdom, but of His. You know, the moment you became a Christian you really learn something. The Bible even says Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” You receive the truth. “You shall know the truth, the truth shall make you free.”

Now when we say “the glory of God,” what do we mean? All that God is, all of His attributes and all of His nature. When you become a Christian is you know God, you know His nature, you know His essence. God the generator of the universe, the source of all light; that’s a handicap not to know Him. When you become a Christian, He shines, he turns the switch on of the knowledge of the glory of God through Christ.

Ephesians 1:9 says something else you should know, “He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ.” God not only reveals Himself to us, but reveals His will to us. Now this isn’t whether you ought to marry so and so, or whether you ought to work at Lockheed. What it’s talking about is the sweep of God’s plan, and that’s indicated in the next verse.

When you became a Christian you began to know God, then also you began the knowledge of His will. Now Ephesians 1:17-18 says, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope of His calling, what is the wealth of His glorious inheritance.”

Now both hope and inheritance have a future aspect, right? We are hoping for the fullness of redemption. We are hoping for the inheritance which is reserved for us. When you were saved, you came to know God, God’s plan, and your destiny. A Christian then knows where he came from, what he’s doing, and where he’s going. Now that is the fullness of knowledge that comes at the moment of salvation.

The great thing about all of it is the glory is God’s, because we didn’t do anything. God gave us this wisdom. It was an act of God. You’re in Christ, and Christ has given you wisdom; and wisdom is the key. But in addition to that, Paul can’t resist throwing in some other things. You received righteousness. What is righteousness?” Righteousness means before God you stand sinless as opposed to sinful.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “That Christ was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” So He took our sin and gave us His righteousness. When God looks down at Christian from heaven, He sees a person with a cloak over him, and it says the righteousness of Christ on it, and it covers the sin; and God declares him righteous. That’s because of Christ.

Philippians 3:9 says, “And be found in Him not having mine own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” It’s wonderful to realize that when you’re saved you not only get wisdom, but you also get absolute and total righteousness before God. Your sin is done away. Because Christ took your sin and bore it on the cross, and paid the penalty.

Another one: sanctification. That means to be set apart or holy. He not only declared you righteous, but He began an inside work of making you holy. You know, the moment you believed in Christ, the principle of the incorruptible seed was planted in you, and as John says, “You cannot continue to commit habitual sin, because God’s holy seed is in you.” When you became a Christian, you began to see holiness.

Then he adds another great word: redemption. To redeem means to purchase. And God by Christ has purchased us from the power of sin. Redeemed. Peter says: “We’re redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Lamb without spot and without blemish.” All that is ours in Christ. Look at it: wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.

Verse 31, “in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” All is due to the wisdom of God; you did nothing. The philosophy of man just divides you. And believe me, there are churches that are split all over this country over political issues. Whenever the church gets involved in politics, economics or anything else, it gets into problems, because then you’re dividing on nonessentials.

Now let us go back to 1 Corinthians. Paul says, “You’re divided over different opinions.” God’s wisdom is superior in number one its permanence; it’s secondly, superior in its power; thirdly, its paradox; fourthly, its purpose. And fifthly it is superior by its presentation. 1 Corinthians 2:1 says, “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.”

God determined to save men by the gospel. So when Paul came to Corinth, he didn’t come as an orator, or as a philosopher, he came as a witness. He came declaring the witness of God. And that’s the word testimony. He says, “I am here to report to you the testimony of God’s objective facts, I’m here to give you God’s revelation.” You know, that’s all we’re to do. There’s no place in the church for philosophy.

What is the testimony of God? The Testimony of God is Jesus Christ. We come together on the Lord’s Day; and whenever we meet together, and we say: “Let’s open our Bibles. Let’s look at what God says.” We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, but by manifestation of the truth. The only task of the ministry is to manifest the truth of God. We have a clear conscience, and we have a simple task. To manifest God’s truth.

Paul said to Timothy what the priorities were. In 1 Timothy 4:13, he said, “Until I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Now that’s pretty simple, read, exhort, and doctrine is a synonym for teaching. So number one, read the Bible; number two, explain it, that’s teaching; number three, apply it to your life. Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word.” Not your own opinion, but the Word.

Verse 3: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” People don’t want a sound doctrine. “But after their own lusts, desires, they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.” Now the itching ears belong to the hearers, not the teachers. They want their ears tickled with beautiful sermons, nice, flowery words “and they’ll turn away their ears from the truth and they’ll be turned unto fables.”

Verse 2, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” My only design was to preach Christ: not as a teacher, not as an example, not as perfect man; but Christ crucified. Now he’s not saying there that he denied the rest of the Scripture. But his emphasis was the cross. In fact, it was so much a dominant message in the early church that people thought that Christians worshiped a dead man.

Verse 3-4, “I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” Here he does not mean physical illness. It’s an anxiety that comes with something that’s very urgent. And he was in this city, after he’d been thrown out of Philippi and Thessalonica. He got to Athens, and he was at the end of his rope.

Verse 5, “so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.” So he says, “I didn’t come to persuade you, to exact the right responses, to draw you over to my opinions. I just came and let the Spirit flow and let His power flow, and He and His power were able to change lives.” And only that can mean there’s a change in a life. Paul was a man with great natural abilities, but he didn’t use them.

Spurgeon said, “The power that is in the gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher, otherwise men would be the converters of souls. Nor does it lie in the preacher’s learning, otherwise it consist in the wisdom of men. We might preach until our tongues rotted, until we would exhaust our lungs and die. But never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit be with the word of God to give it the power to convert the soul.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 18 May 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250518 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000263 imblog

1 Corinthians 1:21-28

The world looks at what God has revealed in the Bible and what He has done in Christ's work on the cross as foolishness. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1, deals with this subject of contrasting the foolishness of God with the so-called wisdom of the world. Now Paul is dealing with problems that range all the way from chapter 1 to chapter 16. The first problem that he deals with is the problem of disunity in the church.

In the church at Corinth there was division. And the reason there was division was twofold. One, they were identifying with human teachers and they were lining up with different men. And so they were creating factions. There's a second cause of division and that was these people had been saved out of a very philosophically oriented society and they had all prior to their conversion been adherence to a philosophy.

And when they became Christians, they maintained this kind of philosophical identity. And so they were all believers, but they couldn't get together in real unity because they were philosophically divided. And so Paul attacks the idea of division over the basis of the world's wisdom from 1:18 on to the end of the chapter. And he is showing them that they should never have division in the church based upon philosophy.

They should never be divided over economics, over social viewpoints, over perspectives that are propounded by men's wisdom, because all of this is null and void anyway. They are united around the wisdom of God and that is common to every believer. And you know, you can have people who have a different philosophy arguing with others who have a different philosophy, but in God's word is the revelation of what is true.

And so he attacks the idea of dragging into the church philosophical viewpoints, perspective based on human wisdom and thus dividing the fellowship into groups around this human view. Now, what it really tells us is the contrast between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of men. And they are opposites. You don't need philosophy because when it's right, that just means it matches the Bible.

You only need the word of God. Just to give you an illustration, there's only two kinds of wisdom in the world. God's wisdom and man's wisdom. In James 3:.17 we find the definition of the wisdom of God, "the wisdom is from above". Now we know right away that this is supernatural wisdom. It's outside of the earth. It's unearthly. It's divine. It's God's wisdom. It's from above. It is pure.

God's wisdom brings about holiness, purity, righteousness and then he says it's peaceable. It makes peace. It's gentle. Means it's sweet and it's reasonable. He says it's easy to be entreated. Which means it's not contentious. It's full of mercy. It forgives. It is kind. It has good fruit. It is without partiality. God's wisdom is unambiguous, not shifty, doesn't play politics and isn't double-tongued.

And it's without hypocrisy. It's honest, frank, straightforward and open. That's God's wisdom. And what James is saying here is you can tell a person who is teaching God's wisdom because he will be pure, peaceable, gentle, free from contention, full of mercy, good fruits, won't play politics and will be straight, frank and honest. That's God's wisdom. Now, in contrast to that, you have man's wisdom in verse 15.

Now this just plain old ungodly wisdom. This is human wisdom and it is defined in three terms. We saw these last time. Earthly, which is it is bound to the earth. It cannot know anything outside of itself, which is really a severe handicap. It's trying to pull itself up by its own bootstraps. Secondly, it is sensual. That is it is predicated on the lusts and desires of men. Thirdly, its source is demonic.

Now, you see here two kinds of wisdom. Worldly wisdom and divine wisdom. You'll notice something. God's wisdom does not need the addition of man's wisdom. Why would you add to supernatural wisdom something is earthly, sensual, and demonic? That would not do anything for God's wisdom, but what? Corrupt it. That's what philosophy does to revelation, through the word of revelation.

Philosophy corrupts. For in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in Him." The addition of human philosophy is unnecessary. What can you add to completion? Nothing. Well, that is the viewpoint then that Paul is presenting to the Corinthian. And incidentally, it also had contributed as we will see to most all of the rest of the problems in the Corinthian assembly.

The Old Testament in Ecclesiastes 1 was written by Solomon and it chronicles human wisdom. It says in effect what human wisdom is all about. And the Lord put it here to show us the frustrations and the inabilities of human wisdom. He says in chapter 1:13, "Oh, I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven." Verse 16, "I have gotten more wisdom than all.

Verse 11-13, “When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. 12 Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the king’s successor be like? He will do what has already been done. The wisest man that ever lived said, "When all came to an end, I was a fool." That's human wisdom.

In 1 Corinthians 1:18 it compares the wisdom of God with the wisdom of men. And it gives us five reasons why God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom. Number one, its permanence. In verses 19-20, Paul says that God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom because God's wisdom is permanent. And he doesn't make that statement. But he shows man's wisdom to be impermanent. And therein is the contrast.

Notice verse 19. "For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." He says, "Where is the wise" - verse 20. "Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" And he talks about the three areas of human understanding. The wise, that's philosophy. The scribe, that's literature. The disputer, that's rhetoric.

Let all of the philosophies of the past have come to nothing. The same problems exist in a manifold sense. Where are all of these answer men? God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. And in the sense that God has frustrated it, that it runs to its limits and still comes up zero, it's foolishness. What do men need? Men need life, eternal. Men need the forgiveness of sin. Men need to know God.

Human wisdom can't forgive sin. It can't give life eternal and it can't bring men to God. When it's all said and done, it can't do anything, except make comfortable people who are sinning. And in all the pursuits of their own wisdom they came up with no answers. And God stepped in and made their wisdom foolish by what He did. He forgave sin. He granted eternal life and He ushered men into the knowledge of Himself.

Second thing, God's wisdom has power. Verse 21 says, “For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. Human wisdom doesn't transform people. It doesn't forgive sin. It doesn't usher people into the presence of God. It gives people an intellectual satisfaction that they can explain a certain thing.

It has no power. And the world looks at the gospel and says how foolish. What the men of the “world couldn't do when all of the composite of their wisdom was put together, God simply did. He saved men. From what? From their sins, their meaninglessness, from Satan. He saved them. Rescued them. Delivered them into His own presence. Forgave their sin. Gave them life eternal. That's what God did.

Now notice at the end of verse 21, we have to note this. "The foolishness of preaching saves them that believe." There is a human response required and that is faith. Paul did not say in Romans 1:16, "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all those who can understand its complexities." No, it's the power of God to all those who believe. A man came to Jesus and said, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."

He says the same in verses 22-25, For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Here we are in the world and we're preaching this simple message of the cross. God in human flesh comes into the world. He lives. Does miracles. Proves Himself to be God. Dies on the cross. Sheds His blood. Bears the punishment for our sin. Rises from the dead." We keep preaching this message. And we keep telling people this is the apex of history. This is the theme of the universe. This is the salvation of men.

He says in verse 22, "The Jews require a sign." They had to have a supernatural proof for everything. What they were really saying was, "Do a trick. Do something really super magic." But He did his miracles really for His disciples, because miracles only solidify the faith of people who already believe. People who don't believe will find a way to explain them away. Think about the blind man in the gospel of John.

And the Pharisees by the time the chapter is done, are still convinced the guy wasn't made to see. And they go to him and say, "Now, are you the guy?" "I'm the guy." "We don't believe you." They find his mom and dad. "Is this your son who was born blind?" "That's the guy." And they say, "Well, Jesus can't be somebody from God." And he says, "You know that He has opened my eyes and you're asking me whether He's from God?"

The end of it was unbelief and hatred toward Christ. The world does not have the mentality to except the supernatural to begin with, because the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. That's why today we don't we need miracles all the time to convince people who don't believe. That's an act of God in their lives. Jesus did miracles in front of the disciples to convince them who already believed of His power.

In Matthew 16, the Pharisees and Sadducees came and they said, "Well, we want a sign." And Jesus said in verse 4, "There shall no sign be given this wicked and adulterous generation, except the sign of Jonah." Jesus would die three days in the grave and arise. And when He rose from the dead, you know what they did? They bribed the soldiers to say that they stole His body and that He didn't really rise.

Do you know the Jews still don't believe that? You know the biggest hang up that the Jews have over the Messiahship of Jesus Christ is His death, because they have their own little deal figured out. He would come and He would set up His kingdom. And He came, but He didn't do that. You say, "What did they do with Isaiah 53?" They don't do much with it. You say, "What do they do with Psalm 22?" Mostly they avoid it.

Verse 24 says "both Jews and Greeks." "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." In spite of the fact that the most rejected it. The call of salvation effectually came to some Jews and some Gentiles. And they believed and immediately Christ became to them the power of God. Colossians 1:29, "I want to tell you that I labor, but it isn't me, it's Christ working in me." And to the Gentiles who believed, it became wisdom.

And so the wisdom of God is so much superior to the wisdom of men, because it has the power to save. The power to regenerate new life and grants divine wisdom. So, to them that are called, those that God has chosen. Jews and Greeks. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. We're able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, aren't we? According to the power that works in us?

There are a lot of things that God knows that we don't know, right? And you begin to see that God is far beyond what you can even imagine. There are complexities of the mind of God that are absolutely beyond humankind to even comprehend. He's saying, "The simplest thing I've ever done is the cross. The weakest exhibition of my power ever is infinitely beyond the greatest of your wisdom and power."

Verse 26, “Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.” Isn't it true the church is composed of simple, humble people? One reason that the Lord chose the church from the humble people was as a living testimony to the world that He doesn't need its wisdom. The church stands as a rebuke against the complexity of the world's wisdom.

The world bases its greatness on knowledge, education, influence, power, money and on rank. Would you like to know the greatest man that ever lived according to God? His name is John the Baptist. He had no education. He wore a kind of a modified suit made out of camel's hair and he ate locust and wild honey. Jesus said in Matthew 11:11, "Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist."

Verse 27-28, “Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something.” Here he contrasts what God has chosen and what He hasn't chosen. "God has not chosen educated, but foolish.

He has not chosen the powerful, but the weak. Not high born, but low-born. The word of God shows. You see, human philosophy doesn't mean anything. Paul says, "People get that stuff out of your ranks, will you? You don't need it." Can't you see that the permanence of God's wisdom, the power of God's wisdom and the paradox of God's wisdom in choosing the church shows that God doesn't need human wisdom? Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 11 May 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250511 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000262 imblog

1 Corinthians 1:18-21

The book of 1 Corinthians is divided basically into Paul's discussion of the various problems that existed in the Corinthian church. Beginning in chapter 1:10 and going into chapter 16 deals with the areas of problems in the assembly. And the first problem was the problem of division. The church was divided into parties. They were fighting against each other. Three chapters are dealing with the problem of division.

In 1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul is continuing to deal with this problem of division in the church. That portion of Scripture from 1:18 to 2:8 covers the subject matter of the foolishness of God. This, is one of the greatest sections in Scripture, because it gives a contrast between the foolishness of men, which they think is wisdom and the wisdom of God which, they think is foolishness. It contrasts human wisdom with divine wisdom.

Now you say, "But how does that relate to the subject of division in the church?" We all know that the Greeks were in love with philosophy. They would tell various philosophies and would attract people to them and so the Greek culture was philosophically divided into little groups. Well, in Greece there may have been 50 dominating philosophies that divided the populous among those 50 different philosophies.

They were all separated into groups that held varying philosophies regarding man's meaning and destiny. There were people who loved human wisdom and they developed systems and people gravitated to those systems so there are factions of philosophy in Corinth. Now, when the church was born and all these people were saved, even though they were united in Christ, they still held on to their original philosophies.

And this was cause for division in the church. Philosophy is unnecessary. Why? Because, you don't need a philosophy. The Bible tells you what's right. If it's wrong you don't want it. So Paul says, "Since you've become Christians and you're united around God's revelation as it climaxed in the cross, forget these philosophies." There are churches today that are split over politics, economics, and education.

Now the gospel is the good news. And what is the good news? The revelation of God that winds up in the redemptive act of Christ on the cross. The gospel. Now, here Paul introduces the basic contrast that's going to dominate his thinking to the end of chapter 3. He sets human wisdom against the cross. "I came to preach the gospel not human wisdom. The doctrines of human wisdom are opposite the truth of God.

Now, philosophy has always been a threat to revelation. You do not need to add human opinion to divine word. Do you understand that? When God has said it, it is done being said. Let me give you a couple of illustrations of how philosophy messes up revelation. The Bible teaches that the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were written by one man. Who was that man? Moses.

They are called by the Jews the Law of Moses, the Pentateuch, which means five. Along came a group of men about a hundred years ago and they said, "We are the rationalists." Our philosophy is that only that which is rational to the human intellect is true. And so they looked at The Old Testament and they said, "Oh, oh. Several things here we just can't understand." We do not agree that Moses wrote these five books.

Moses could not have known that much information that early. The evolution of law came a lot later. But Moses did write those books and those people were wrong not too many years ago when somebody discovered the Code of Hammurabi, which was a sophisticated legal system that predates Moses. The Bible teaches that God created everything. You read Genesis 1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

On the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day, God created. The seventh day God rested. Now, the Bible is very explicit that God created this. Human philosophy says, “No, the only explanation for the existence of things is evolution." It all began from a primeval puddle. And there was a one celled thing who split and became two. And then, everything went wild and here we are.

Now the Bible tells a lot about how to live, doesn't it? The Bible tells an awful lot about how to get rid of guilt, confess your sin. If you know the word of God and you understand the word of God, you know the reason for everything. You understand what you need to know and you have solutions to your problems. Human philosophy changes the truth of God into a lie and worships the creature more than the creator.

Verse 18, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.” Now, notice this, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish. That is to those who are without God, those who are dying in sin, and those who will spend eternity in hell, for whom God's heart is grieved. To them the preaching of the cross is foolishness. But to us it is the power of God.

And the reason it's foolishness to them is because they have elevated their own philosophy. And the cross looks so stupid to them. They have such complex philosophies that to come along and say, "I want to give you a simple message. God in human flesh died on a cross, paid the penalty for your sin, by faith in that act, and His resurrection you can be saved and your eternal destiny is secured in heaven forever."

And they said, "Oh, ridiculous. How stupid did the death of the one man, on one hill, on one piece of wood, that one moment in history is the determining factor of destiny for every man who ever lived." They couldn't buy it. Foolish. The word foolishness, really means moron. From which we get the word moronic, stupid. You'll notice the word preaching in verse 17. It's the word logos for the word of the cross.

And there's the contrast. He contrasts the word of wisdom with the word of the cross. Human wisdom is set against the cross. The word of the cross here means all that is involved in the cross. The logos is the total revelation. Everything before the cross pointed to it and everything after the cross explains the cross. This is the revelation of God which peaks in the cross is set against the wisdom of men.

Paul says, "These two things are opposites." And so the people who hold to worldly wisdom think the cross is moronic, but we who are saved know it to be the power of God. You see men, because of their rationalism, because the elevation of the human ego, because they want their own philosophies can't stoop to something as simple as that. Jesus said, "Unless you become as a little child you can't enter the kingdom."

"When I arrived in Corinth," in verse 1 Paul says, "I didn't come in wisdom of words, but I came to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified." You know why he said that? Because he wasn't about to offer them another philosophy. He wanted to give them something that would be something very opposite to what they believed. Something simple, something very historical and he gave them the cross.

Every religion that man has ever developed is complex. That appeals to his brain, to his ego. Man won't come down to the level of the simplicity of the cross and the fact that he recognizes that it doesn't matter what he thinks, but that you're saved not through your intellect, but through faith alone. People don't like the cross because if you come to the cross you have to admit that you're a sinner and that they hate that.

The cross is still the issue. God's revelation peaks in the cross. But you know human philosophy doesn't understand it. Peter didn't even understand it. Peter had a philosophy or opinion. He thought the Messiah would come and set up his kingdom and everything would be just fine. Jesus said one day in Matthew 16, "I'm going to die." How did Peter react to that? "No, Lord you're not going to die."

One thing revelation doesn't need is Peter's opinion. But you see, Peter's philosophy was at variance with the truth. And so Jesus said to him, "Get thee behind me Satan." Then they got in the garden and the soldiers came to capture Christ in John 18. Peter took his sword out and tried to cut them up. And Jesus said, "Will you put that thing away. Haven't you gotten the message yet?" Finally, after the cross, he understood.

So the contrast is established then in verses 17 - 18. The cross is the power of God to salvation. It does save us. But to the world steeped in human wisdom it is moronic. Now with that as an introduction from verse 19 through chapter 2:8, Paul gives five reasons why he considers God's wisdom superior to man's wisdom. Reason number one, God's wisdom is permanent. It's permanence.

Verses 19–20, “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent. 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?” Paul quotes Isaiah 29:14, "Therefore, I will again confound these people. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the intelligence of their intelligent will be hidden.”

And let me help you to interpret that. That can have an ultimate fulfillment. There is coming a day when all of the philosophies of men will be swept away. Christ will reign as King of Kings. When all of man's wisdom becomes ashes. The tribulation period as we study it in the book of Revelation is the disintegration of all of man's wisdom, but it has more than just a future fulfillment. It also has an immediate fulfillment.

This is what was going on when Isaiah said that. There was a king named Sennacherib. He was king over Assyria. And they wanted to conquer Judah. God through the prophet Isaiah says to Judah, "Don't worry. Deliverance will come. Sennacherib will fail in his conquering." But God said, "It won't be because of your wise men." God says, "I will do it myself. He called over one angel and he killed 185,000 soldiers.

What all of the political advisers of Israel couldn't do, what all of the wisdom and knowledge and acumen of the best of the people couldn't come up with, God did with one angel. And He says, "I'll just wipe your wisdom out." God told Israel, "I'll fight for you." We have the wrong idea when we want to solve everything by our own ingenuity rather than let God do it. So Paul uses that passage and it's a fantastic thing.

Listen, if you reject revelation, what wisdom is left? There isn't any. God is set against worldly wisdom. Man's wisdom is defined in the Bible in James 3:15 when it say, "This wisdom descends not from above." It's just plain man's wisdom. Now, listen. "It is earthly, sensual and demonic." Human wisdom is one, earthly. That is, it never gets beyond the earth. It never really understands supernatural reality.

It is based upon human desire and lust. Three, demonic. Its source is Satan. God's wisdom is permanent." Verse 20, "Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?” Human wisdom never solved anything. We just made our sinning a little more accommodated. It just makes us more comfortable with our problems.

They were left without the one thing they needed most and that was the knowledge of God. They never knew God, because it was only in God that these things could be found. Peace, joy, forgiveness, freedom from guilt, meaning the life, eternal hope and all of human philosophy never met God. That's what Paul says. It all just came out moronic. They thought the cross was stupid. It was their philosophy that was stupid.

Look at verse 21, “For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.” It really means, "For since in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Now notice, "The world with all of its wisdom never knew God."

It never reached the ultimate goal of man to know God. And so since man's wisdom couldn't do it, God did it through the cross. We have had philosophers and sages for ages. And what do they know and what have they offered? Wars increase, crime increases, injustice increases, hate, cruelty, problems, mental breakdowns, drugs, alcohol, problems, problems, problems, problems. Never ever change.

Because men cannot obtain salvation, they cannot have a transformed nature. They cannot know God by their own wisdom. Now notice at the beginning of verse 21, "Since in the wisdom of God, the world-" This is the wise plan of God that He allowed the world to go on in its own wisdom. Here, we are surrounded by God's wisdom and ignorant of it. The invisible things of God can be seen by the creation.

Every time he looks at a mountain, every time he looks at his hand he sees the wisdom of God. At the stars, at the intricacies of nature, he sees God's wisdom. And he applies his own wisdom, rejects God's wisdom and never knows God. The astronomer looks through his telescope and sees stars, but no God. The natural scientist studies his biology and whatever else and he comes up with evolution without a source.

God just did something so simple and by the very simplest thing that God did, He accomplished what all of the philosophers and wise men of the ages never could do. The wisest of the wise men are stupid compared to the simplest of a wise God. The content of the cross to save them that believed. The point here is the foolishness of the gospel itself. Something so silly, something so distasteful. To the Jews a stumbling block.

That simple thing. Jesus dying on a cross. You just have to do what? To save them that believe. God didn't save us because we were so smart. He made it so simple. It doesn't matter how smart we are. We just need to believe. No, faith appropriates what God has done, because it has nothing to do with intellect. Check the people next to you. "How that not many wise men, not many mighty are called, but God has chosen the foolish things."

That's us. There are not many wise. There are not many mighty and there are not many noble. Most of us are just plain old common folk. And you know what? God did that purposely to stand as a rebuke for all time against human wisdom. God never needed it in the past. He doesn't need it now. All He needed is the cross and those that believe in the cross are saved. That's the message of salvation. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 04 May 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250504 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000261 imblog

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Quarrels happen in all churches and this occurred in the beginning of the church. It's really no different today. It's one that need to be dealt with. And the apostle Paul felt that it was the primary problem in Corinth. He identifies the people in that church as saints, those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. And then he begins to urge them to behave in accordance with their position in front of God.

They haven't done anything worthy. It is only something to thank God for and He has done that and now He begins to try to change their behavior. And the first thing that he deals with is this whole idea of unity in the church. People are basically self-centered and that's part of depravity, being selfish, following their own fancies, their own goals, their own ideals. All of us who are sanctified in Christ still have problems with sin.

You have a lot of sinners in the church. They happened to be justified sinners, but they're still sinners and so you have conflict because you have people with desires, goals, and purposes that are generated by their own egos. James 4:1 says, “What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? Because in you are desires that are opposite to the desires of others.

All of us have selfish, independent desires. Quarrels are a part of life. We're competitive. Little children fight from the very beginning of their lives. The kids fight over the toys. They go to high school and they fight over the girls or the boys or the football. They go to college and they fight over campus policies. Then they become politicians and fight over policies. Married people fight over whatever.

Mankind fight because he is depraved, selfish and egoistic. And that problem finds its way into the church. Tragically, though they are forbidden by God, though they are totally out of character for transformed people, still they exist. And Satan eats it up, because it fosters his attempt to break down, destroy and degrade the testimony of the church. Selfishness is a problem in the church, because sin is a problem.

And the fractured kind of fellowship not only wipes out the joy of the believer, but it sucks the foundation out from under the testimony of the church. God is dishonored. Christ is disgraced. Christians are discredited. And it isn't anything new. You're going to go all the way back to the beginning and you're going to find it there, because the church has always been made up sinners and Satan’s always active in it.

And so when we come to 1 Corinthians 1 there is this disharmony and division in the church. There were splits. Verse 10-17 says, “Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. 11 For it has been reported to me about you,

My brothers and sisters, by members of Chloe’s people, that there is division among you. 12 What I am saying is this: One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.

16 I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t recall if I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.’ And you'll notice in verse 11 the word division. That is the word in the Greek that means quarrels. And Paul begins his exhortation by starting with this issue.

Paul begins with this. Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17 that the church would be one. He told the disciples to love one another that the world might know who they were. In fact, it tells us in Acts 2, that when those people had singleness of heart and one mind and met together daily and shared in common love they had favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

So Corinth's first need was harmony, unity in the church, and I see that as our first need in the modern church today. Paul then begins this Epistle, in its exhortation aspect by calling for unity in the church and the end of all splits and all quarrels. You've got the same textbook I have and the same resident truth teacher. So if you really want the answer to the question, pursue it further than I'm able to this evening.

There are four basic emphases in the passage from 10 to 17. The plea, the parties, the principle and the priority. So number one is the plea and Paul begins with a plea to the Corinthians. Verse 10, "Now I urge you," the word now is a transition. It means to come along side and help. And what he's doing here is coming alongside them. He's saying, "Now, I come along side to encourage you brethren along this line."

So he begins with a very coercive, a very comforting, a very exhortative kind of thing. Now there is the plea that he begins in the passage and I want to just pull out one thought. It's amazing, how some people pull a verse out of context and use it almost as a pretext. So to be fair with verse 10, we've got to read verse 9. "God is faithful; you were called by Him into the fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

Whenever you see the term "name" in relation to the Lord or to God, it means all that He is and all that He wills. "This I pray, because this I believe is what Christ would want, because this is consistent with His will." So Paul is saying, "Brethren, I'm asking you this for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of who He is and what He wills." Your behavior as a believer has a direct relationship to Jesus Christ Himself.

And you can go around and complain all you want about the church and it really won't reflect on your church. It'll reflect on Christ. Some of us talk about the church in front of unbelievers and we tell them certain things that we may not like and we think that that has reference to the church, when in fact, in their minds that has reference to the Christ whom we really claim to love and adore. It reflects on Jesus Christ.

Now your Christian life reflects on Jesus Christ. And your church, this local assembly right here reflects on the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul calls for unity because he knows it reflects on Him. Now let me hasten to add this. The emphasis in this passage is on a local assembly. He is not talking about denominational unity. He is saying that within the framework of a local assembly there should be unity.

And the message is directly related to those of us who are a part of this local assembly. Let's look how he begins the plea. We've got to agree on the same things. You say, "Well, what does this agreement involve?" Number one, it involves doctrinal agreement. Philippians 3:16 says, “In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.” Now all of you need to behave yourselves consistently with that truth."

Romans 16:17 says this, "Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them.” They're not really serving the Lord Jesus, they're serving themselves. If you've got a little shade of distinction on a certain verse that could possibly have two interpretations because we don't have enough info that is not the issue.

But there are some basic truths that we must agree on. We are more concerned with the truth than anything else. If you're going to have a Biblical pattern, then you've got to have the Biblical pattern all the way. Christ is the head of the church, He rules through Spirit filled Godly men. And the congregation is called upon to agree with them in what they say. They have the right to make decisions regarding you.

And we're not perfect by any means. We stumble along endeavoring to be obedient to Christ, as we see His Spirit work. But there is a responsibility of the congregation as well as the leaders. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 says, “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you.” There are some people over you in the Lord. You should esteem them highly."

Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.” Scripture simply asks the congregation to obey. To submit there must be unity in the church. God only has only one opinion on a two-sided issue. You have to trust your leaders.

Every single decision that is ever made in regard to the policy of a church in any way shape or form is made with absolute unanimity no matter how long it takes us to agree. Why? Because we know the Spirit has one will and it's up to us to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit until we get in line with His will. Whenever there's discord and disunity in the church, there is carnality. Now he goes further than that even.

1 Corinthians 1:10 says, “Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.” It means get back together. That's the determination that comes from the same mind. So whether it's principle, opinion or action, it is all to be the same.

This is tremendously important. Not for the sake of the ego of the leaders, but for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, because He wants unity in His church. Where he says in Ephesians 4, "Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The unity of the church is already done by the Holy Spirit. He says, “Keep that unity." Why? Because there is only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

That is having a mind like everybody else, having the same love. That means you love everybody else the same. Being of one accord of one mind. You say, "Boy how do you ever get that kind of unity?" "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory." Don't ever quibble. Don't ever quarrel. If you have an issue, take it to somebody who needs to hear it and lovingly present it. No strife and no vain glory.

And what is the plea based on? Verse 11 says, “For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by members of Chloe’s people, that there is division among you.” The plea is based on the factions there. Chloe was apparently some prominent person in the Corinthian church who had come to see Paul in Ephesus. They were split into parties, but not just silent factions. They were fighting each other.

Verse 12 says, “What I am saying is this: One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” They had grouped into identification with various teachers. This is wrong. They were boasting about the excellency, the gifts, the ministries, the attainments of the men whom they identified with. You see, the first pastor of the Corinthian Church was Paul.

But they had split into parties. It isn't necessary, people. You can have a Paul and Apollos and a Peter and Christ and not have to split into groups. The splitting into groups had nothing to do with Paul, Apollos and Peter. 1 Corinthians 3 says, "Are you not yet carnal? Is there not division and strife among you? Are you not saying I am of Paul and I am of Apollos?" The reason they said that those men were carnal.

Carnality is that which produces parties rather than spirituality. It is not Paul's fault. It is not Apollos's fault. It is not Cephas's fault or it's Christ's fault. It's the fault of carnality. Identifying with humans. The Christ party had the right idea. They all belonged to Christ, but they had turned the belonging to Christ into a party. Paul goes from the plea to the parties to the principle in the next verse.

Verse 13 says, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?” Do you see what he's saying? He's saying, "Look, disunity in the church violates a basic principle. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." Ephesians 4:4-6 says, "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Spirit, one body, and one God." Is Christ divided? Absolutely not.

John 17:20 -21, “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. 21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in You. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent Me.” The church is one because Christ is one because God is one. 1 Corinthians 12:25 says, “so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other.”

Fourthly the priority. Verses 14-17, I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16 I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t recall if I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.”

Well, didn't Crispus and Gaus get baptized?" Sure, but they had other people doing it. Very often that was the case. Peter at Cornelius' house didn't do the baptizing actually. He commanded that they be baptized. In the gospel of John it records that the Lord didn't do the baptizing, but He had others do the baptizing. This is an insight into inspiration. Biblical inspiration ensures the infallibility of the author not his omniscience.

That isn't the priority. Verse 17, "For Christ did not sent me to baptize." It was to go and preach the gospel. He says, "Look, He sent me to preach the gospel to make all men one, not to baptize to create a party." His priority was to preach the gospel and this throws him into where he gets into the preaching of the cross. That was his priority. People, we're in the church to work, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His will.

To preach the truth, not to create parties. If all of us have the right priority to honor Him and to preach His truth and we walk in the Spirit and not carnality, we'll see a blessed unity here that'll magnify our Lord and that'll draw to Him those people that are coming to Christ. And this is a priority. And it's our prayer that it may be true of this church that we are one in Him in what we say, that He may be honored. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Apr 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250427 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000260 imblog

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

1 Corinthians 15 is going to take us some time to get through it because of the great depth and significance. A Christian was walking through an art gallery and he came upon a small boy gazing at a painting of the crucifixion. He stood and watched and he said, “Son, what is that a picture of? “Why, sir,” said the lad, “That’s our Lord dying on a cross and bearing our sin.”

The man walked on, and suddenly, he felt a little tug. There was that same boy looked up and said, “Pardon me, sir, I forgot to tell you one thing. He’s not dead anymore; He arose.” And that is the message of the Gospel. He’s not dead anymore; He arose. And just as the heart pumps lifeblood to the body, so the resurrection is the heart of the Gospel, pumping life into every area of truth.

The resurrection is the pivot on which all of Christianity turns. If you take away the resurrection, Christianity comes out as wishful thinking and just another useless human philosophy. Christians know that the shameful death of Jesus Christ was not the last word, but that he arose and triumphed over death, and that He granted to anyone who believes in Him the same resurrection hope.

And it was this belief alone that turned the followers of a crucified rabbi into the courageous martyrs of the early Church. It was the resurrection that gave birth to the fellowship of the saints that became the Church. And they found, that they could imprison them, and they could beat them, and even kill them, but they could never make them deny the reality of the resurrection.

Now, 1 Corinthians 15, is really the chapter that explains a doctrinal issue. All the other ones are really practical issues, although they have doctrinal bases, but this is a purely doctrinal issue that has arisen in the Corinthian church to which Paul must address himself. And thank God he did, because he gave us the greatest statement on the resurrection ever penned.

Not only the resurrection of Christ, but the anticipated resurrection that you and I and every person who’s ever lived in the history of the world, both just and unjust, will experience. And for us it comes down the simple reality that the entire destiny of man hinges on whether Jesus Christ is simply a crucified rabbi, or whether He is God, as proven by His resurrection.

The resurrection is the core of the Christian faith. Paul said in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” In other words, salvation is predicated on the confession of the lordship of a resurrected Christ. And if there is no resurrection of Christ confessed, there can be no salvation.

So, 1 Corinthians 15 is written primarily not to prove the resurrection of Christ to Christians. And it isn’t written to try to convince the unbeliever that Jesus really rose; it is written to try to prove to the Christians that because He literally rose, they too will literally physically rise from the dead. That’s the thrust of the fifteenth chapter. This is all about you coming out of the grave.

Now, the Corinthians were having a problem believing in the resurrection of Christ. They had never understood the ramifications. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, “You already believe in the resurrection. Right? Therefore, realize this: Christ is just the first fruits of all them that slept. So, if you already believe that, physically and literally, why are you hung up on your own resurrection?”

Well, you see, it came from this particular point. Now the Corinthians had allowed themselves to be victimized by the beliefs of their time. They had allowed the sins of their society to enter the church. They were really the world mixed with the church. They believed the Greek philosophy that said that there was no such thing as a bodily resurrection. They denied that.

So, when they died, the body which was evil and done away with; the soul which was good went into immortality. They didn’t have any problem with the immortality of the soul; it was the resurrection of the body they didn’t believe in. There’s no way that a Greek, would have understood a resurrection of the body. To him it was a strange message to be disbelieved.

Now, Paul points this problem up in 1 Corinthians 15:12. He says, “How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Why are you saying this? And then in the first part of verse 12, “If Christ is preached that He rose from the dead.” I mean if you’ve already admitted that Christ rose bodily and physically, why can’t you believe that you will also?

Now, there were a group of Jews existing at that time known as the Sadducees. And they did not believe in bodily resurrection. That’s why they were so sad, you see? Because they had absolutely no hope. They had nothing to anticipate. They had nothing to look forward to. They did not believe in the resurrection. They didn’t believe in angels or the resurrection it says in Acts.

Let us look at two little points, testimonies to the resurrection. We’ll discuss these this time. Verses 1-2, “Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”

Verse 3, “That Christ died for our sins.” Verse 4, “That He was buried, and that He rose again the third day”. “Well, it’s the Gospel of the death - the substitutionary death - the burial, the resurrection of Christ. That Gospel.” “You received it.” John 1:12, “To as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

From God’s standpoint, a true believer is kept, and from our standpoint, a true believer continues in the faith. The one who departs gives evidence of never having really been saved. Hebrews 10:38 says, “Now, the just shall live by faith.” You can tell a just man because he lives by faith. He doesn’t have a moment of faith; he has a life of faith. And he continues in that life.

True Christians are evident by their continued faith. So, if you move away from the hope of the Gospel, you get evidence that you believed in vain. Your faith was empty, useless faith with no commitment to the lordship of Christ. 1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us.”

One proof of the resurrection is the existence of the Church. The fact that the Corinthians had received it and stood in it and continued in it is evidence that Christ is alive. Who else could have changed them but a living Christ? Who else could have taken all these thieves, homosexuals, fornicators, liars, adulterers, and transformed them into a community of the living Christ?

The Church was founded on faith in the Messiahship of Jesus. A crucified messiah was one rejected by Judaism and accursed of God. It was the resurrection of Jesus, as Paul declares in Romans 1:4, which proclaimed Him to be the Son of God with power.” He’s saying if there was no resurrection, the Church would have died there, because the whole thing was predicated on that.

The resurrection faith is unique to Christianity. Buddhists don’t claim it. Muhammad died June 8, 632 A.D. at Medina, and nobody has ever claimed that he came out of the grave. But the Church continues to celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead. And every time the Church baptizes another believer, they portray His resurrection – into the water and back out again. That’s the heart of our faith.

The Gospel of the resurrection was not some late addition. Everything is predicted in the Old Testament. Paul says in verse 3, “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received.” Now, every good apostle, every good pastor is just a delivery boy. All God expects out of us is to get the right message to the people. And by the way, Paul received it firsthand.

So he says, “I received this from the Lord.” Paul fought a battle in his life. He was often accused of being a Johnny-come-lately. Later, in the next section, he calls himself “One born out of due time.” It means an abortion. But apparently, that’s what he was called, He was sort of a spiritual miscarriage. So Paul will say, “I am delivering to you what I received from the Lord.”

Paul says, “This is Old Testament prophesy. Old Testament prophets saw Jesus dying and rising from the dead the third day.” In Luke 24:25, Jesus, after His resurrection, is walking with two of the disciples, saying, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” He says, “You would have known they said He would die; and He would rise to be glorified.”

Our Lord said, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so shall the Son of Man be in the earth.” Jonah was a prophecy of Jesus. In Isaiah 53, you have Christ dying. And at the end of the chapter, you have Him reigning in the earth in the kingdom. Well, you’ve got to have a resurrection. So, even the Old Testament speaks of the resurrection. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Apr 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250420 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000025F imblog

Matthew 21:1-11

Matthew 21:1-11, “When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”4 This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

5 Tell Daughter Zion, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.

9 Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! 10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” With this chapter, we begin the last week of the life of our Lord.

Europe has given us a long history of the pomp and the glory of those events in which a king is inaugurated into his royal status. Sometimes he was raised on a shield or he was made to stand on a sacred stone, or he was presented with a sword or given a crown to mark out the inauguration into that official place of king. It was a grand and glorious occasion, usually followed by a great banquet.

But this is not like those coronations: a donkey’s colt, a bunch of branches, and some old clothes. But then this is no ordinary king, and Jesus Christ has no ordinary kingdom. He said to Pilate, “I am not a king like you think kings are. My kingdom is not of this world.” It is His last public act prior to being crucified. And it has to be treated with a great respect, and it has to be understood for the earthly coronation of Jesus.

Verse 1 tells us, “When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples.” We’ll call point one the end of the pilgrimage. Jerusalem was to be the end. He dies in the city. This is the end of 33 years. Thirty years of living in obscurity, three-plus years of ministry, and it all ends here. The goal of the Lord’s life and ministry is about to be reached.

And He was moving directly toward Jerusalem knowing it was Passover time, knowing it was time to come to the end of His pilgrimage, knowing it was time to get ready to die. And so a crowd collected as He came to the south. And finally He crossed the Jordan, back over to Judea. And together they moved up to Jerusalem to that great event called Passover. Little do they know that He is the Passover Lamb?

At the same time, the city is literally teeming with humanity. There was a census ten years after this particular event when there was a counting of the sacrificial lambs, and the count is somewhere around 260,000 Passover lambs that were slaughtered during that week. And the Jewish law prescribed one lamb for ten people, so there could have been as many as 2.6 million people in the city.

Jesus came to a place called Bethphage. Now we don’t know anything about this place. Verse 2 says He sent two disciples saying, “Go into the village ahead of you.” Bethany is two miles east of Jerusalem, just on the other side of the Mount of Olives. He is on His way to Jerusalem, but before He goes into the city He stops. And He goes to Bethany because that was where His friends lived Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Six days before the Lamb of God, the Passover lamb, the true sacrifice, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world is to be offered; six days from the nails; six days from the thorns, all the spitting, the cursing, the spear, the crown, the hatred, the bitterness, the sin bearing, the loneliness of being God-forsaken. Well the next day, John 12:9-12 tells us that many Jews came to Bethany to see Him.

And there was a great gathering about Him. It looks good. With the exception of Judas. And the coronation is near, and He knows that. Everything is on schedule. He’s being anointed. His friends are caring for Him. Many people are moving out to see Him who have heard of His power in raising Lazarus from the dead, which He had already done. And everyone knew Lazarus. And that’s how it all starts.

Let’s go back to Matthew 21. The first day Jesus arrives there, He has supper. The next day, a multitude gathers to Him. And probably on the next day, Monday, Jesus sent two disciples. He initiates His own coronation. He sets it in motion. He initiated everything. He controlled every element of His own ministry, every turn, every action was sovereignly His to initiate. Maybe He sent out Peter and John.

Jesus wanted to demonstrate to the world that He was no victim that He was not caught up in some euphoric Messianic movement, but that it was all under His total control. And He wanted to create a mass demonstration. He wanted the people to cry “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” He wanted them to cry out that He was the Messiah.

They knew what He had taught and they knew what He had done. And the climax of it all was the resurrection of Lazarus whom they had known to be dead for four days. And out of their own mouths came their own affirmation that became for them, because they knew who He was. And He set the scene to put it in their own mouths, and they said it. The credentials were all true. The proof was unanswerable.

And there is another reason that He created this mass demonstration, because it would lead to the anger of the Pharisees, which ultimately would lead them to desire His life, which would ultimately lead to His crucifixion. And He had to set that in motion, because it was important that He die on the Passover day. On Mondays when He rode in there, was the day traditionally that the Jews selected their lamb for sacrifice.

And He offered Himself on that day as the Lamb for the whole world. And He had set it in motion so that by Friday the Passover day, He would die. And so Jesus took charge of all the events, creating the situation as He wanted to create it. He also send the disciples to get these two animals, in order to fulfill prophecy. Verse 4. “It was all done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.”

Now look at the exactness of prophecy. He is going to be the king the prophets predicted. Turn to Zechariah 9:9. In the first eight verses of Zechariah 9, there’s a prophecy of a great ruler that will come. And there’s going to be a deliverance for Israel under him. It talks about how he’ll deliver them from the Syrians and the Philistia and he’ll save Israel. Basically verses 1 to 8 is a prophecy of Alexander the Great.

But after Alexander the Great, there will come someone greater than he, and verse 9 is a contrast. Alexander is just used for comparison. Verse 9, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Nobody rides a donkey at a coronation. But, says the prophet, your king will ride one.

Now back to Matthew 21:2, “telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me.” Go into Bethphage, close to the Mount of Olives, northeast of Jerusalem. And just as you get into the village, you’re going to find these two animals. Jesus had supernatural knowledge and He knew the folks there and He knew they had these animals.

Verse 3, “If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.” As believers they would not withhold their animals from the Lord. Mark and Luke tell us exactly where the two animals were found. And that neither of them had ever been ridden. Because it was an honor for someone to ride an animal who had never been ridden. And it was difficult to ride an animal like that.

Why do they have to take the mother if He’s going to ride the colt?” To ride a donkey colt would be difficult unless you took the mother. Well why ride the colt? Why not ride the mother?” Because the colt is more lowly than its mother. This isn’t a coronation like any other. He’s not a king like any other human king. He says, the Lord has need of them, sovereign Lordship, and they’ll send them with you.

Verse 4, “This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled.” Zechariah 9:9 says in verse 5, “Tell Daughter of Zion, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Well that means the people of Jerusalem. So amazing that the King of kings, the Messiah of Israel, God’s Son, should come riding in on a donkey’s colt.

The people wanted a military Messiah. They wanted one who would come in and by great power to overthrow Rome. He was coming in a way that would show them that He was not interested in doing that. Riding on a donkey’s colt weaponless, meek and lowly was different. But He arranged it all to fulfill prophecy because prophecy was consistent with who He was. He came to make peace with God for men.

Verse 6 says, “The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them.” You have to take Jesus for who He is, not for who you want Him to be. Verse 7 says, “They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them.” They didn’t know which one He was going to ride, but He choose to ride the lowliest one. Luke 19:35 says, “He took His seat on the colt with the help of the disciples.”

And so Jesus fulfills all prophecy. One of the most amazing passages in the Bible is Daniel 9:24 - 27. And he prophesies there that from the decree of Artaxerxes to rebuild the temple and the coming of Messiah, will be 69 times 7, which is 483 years. Daniel said there will be a period that amounts to 173,880 days from the decree of Artaxerxes to the coming of Jesus. And scholars have affirmed that this exactly happened.

Verses 8 – 9 say, “A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” They threw their clothes down, creating some kind of a carpet for Him.

Notice verse 9, “Then the crowds who went ahead of Him and those who followed shouted” helps us understand the multitude. They’ve been collected as He crossed the Jordan through Jericho, up the hill to Bethany. The crowd has swelled as people have come there to see Him there. And out of the city comes this massive humanity that are already there that have heard of Him raising Lazarus from the dead.

The people have really disregarded their leaders, because in John 11 we are told there that the Pharisees warned the people that if they knew anything about Him they were to report Him so that they could capture Him and take Him prisoner. It was just a total chaotic event. The people were throwing down their clothes. What did that mean? Well, in 2 Kings 9:13, they did that for Jehu when he was made King.

And so they’re celebrating salvation. There’s an excitement, an ecstasy as He comes in. They knew who He was. They knew what He taught. And they knew what He’d done. And they knew He could raise the dead. And so this multitude moves out, throws everything at His feet. And they cry out, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Hosanna means save me now. But it is not soul salvation. It is military deliverance.

It’s Passover. And it celebrates the deliverance from Egypt. How God delivered His people out of bondage of Egypt. A man on a donkey without an army, without a weapon and a mass of hundreds of thousands of people crushing around Him, crying out, “Save me now.” They wanted material kingdom, physical kingdom, and earthly deliverance. And they know who He is. Hosanna to the Son of David.

The credentials had convinced them that He was the Messiah, they just didn’t understand the nature of His Messiahship. They knew He was the King, they just didn’t understand the nature of His kingdom. People in all times want Jesus, but they want the Jesus of their own devising. They want the Jesus who walks in and says, “I’m going to solve all your problems. I’m going to deliver you from all your enemies.”

Jesus was saying to them, you need to solve your problem with God. And that’s why Jesus came. And they wouldn’t accept Him on His own terms, so by the end of the week, they cried for His blood and killed Him. The world is still like that. People are open to the Jesus they want. But as soon as He confronts the sinfulness of sin and seeks to turn the heart toward God in true salvation, they curse Him.

But here is the real heavenly coronation of Revelation 5. The Lamb takes the scroll, verse 8 says, “The four living creatures, the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of saints. Verse 9 says, “And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slaughtered, and you purchased people for God.”

But the world has to understand that the first time He came as a suffering servant to provide men salvation. The second time He comes as a King to grant His sovereignty. Verses 10 – 11, “You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth. 11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Apr 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250413 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000025E imblog

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

In all of Paul’s letters, he uses the word saint to refer to Christians; not dead ones, but living ones; not a few, but all. In fact, it must have been his very favorite word for Christians, because he used it about 60 times. We who know the Lord Jesus Christ are saints. And so, here he says, “You are saints, along with everybody else that calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

So, anyone who is saved, who knows the Lord Jesus Christ, is a saint. And we said last time that he starts out by saying, “You are sanctified” - it’s the same root word as saint. In other words, “You have been made holy, therefore, I am writing you this letter to tell you to act holy.” That’s really the purpose of his first nine verses, where he talks about being a saint, being holy.

All through the New Testament, it tells us that we are holy because of what Christ is; therefore, we ought to act like Him. Our lives ought to conform to Him. Remember in John 8, the woman taken in adultery? And Jesus said to her the words, “Go and sin no more.” He was commanding a woman who was a prostitute, who had been caught in the act of adultery, to stop doing it.

She had been granted a new life. And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” In other words, “From now on, I hold no sin against you. You are holy in My eyes; therefore, act like it.” That’s the same point that is made throughout the New Testament. You are not condemned; you are holy. Your sin is forgiven, now act consistent with your new nature.

And so, Paul begins the 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, by telling them who they are; and he lays down that foundation of “here’s who you are.” Then, from 1:10 clear through the end of chapter 16, he says, “Here’s how to act commensurate with who you are.” Now, Paul, then, in verses 1-3, just calls them saints. Now, from 4 -9, he expands what that means. What is involved in being a saint?

This is a divine presentation of why you should be a Christian, as opposed to not being one. These are reasons to be a saint, and they are the results of being a saint that become the reasons to be one. Now, there are three dimensions in this, past, present and future. In the past, there’s grace; for the present, there are gifts; in the future, there are guarantees. That’s the greatest kind of policy there is.

How do I be a saint? By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. First, let’s look at the grace concept, which deals with the past; verse 4 -6, “I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge. 6 In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you.”

The first benefit of being a saint is grace. It was given you in Christ Jesus. The idea is some time in the past, it happened in a moment of time. So, it was at the moment the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. And he refers to their salvation, the time when they received God’s saving grace. This is the first benefit of being a saint. It’s what happened to you when you became a saint.

And this is unique with Christianity. This isn’t believing the teaching of Christ; many do that. It isn’t believing about Christ. It is being in Christ. And that is an appropriation of committing myself to Him in total unity by faith. And once I am in Christ, then the grace of God is mine. The word grace literally means undeserved, unrecompensed kindness. It means mercy. It is undeserved kindness.

It is undeserved, and it cannot be paid back. Grace always in Scripture has to be a free gift, unearned. Now, in order for us to understand saving grace, we need to understand some things. And the best way to approach this would be to see three things that can’t coexist with grace, and this will help you to define grace. First, any recognition of human guilt cannot coexist with grace.

Grace and guilt cannot go together. Grace must provide for the alleviation of guilt. God cannot say, “I am gracious, and I give you salvation. One false move, and I’ll take it away.” No, that’s not gracious; that’s just laying a law on us. You see, grace must provide for the elimination of guilt. If grace is withheld from the sinner in the least degree because of his sin, then it isn’t grace.

Grace is undeserved, unmerited forgiveness. Grace must allow for sin. Grace can only operate when there’s sin there; if there’s no sin, there’s no grace, right? There’s got to be something to forgive, or grace isn’t grace. God, knowing that the penalty for sin had to be paid, sent Christ to the cross. And Romans 3:25-26 says, “Christ died to take care of sin, so that God might still be gracious.”

Are you thankful for the grace that’s forgiven you all your sin, and holds you absolutely guiltless before God for the rest of your eternity? And I say to you, if you’re not a Christian, isn’t it somewhat inviting for God to say to you, “I will cleanse all your sin. I will forgive all of it. I will set aside all your guilt. I will hold you blameless and holy forever.” Isn’t that a kind of nice offer?

It was a gift. Can you pay a gift back? No. In Romans 4, it says, “Whatever is earned is not grace.” And believe me, it is saving grace, so you can’t earn it. So don’t think that because of what God has done for you, you’ve got to pay Him off. God gave you salvation as grace. In a sense, we owe Him affection just naturally, and I think that comes to the genuine Christian.

Grace cannot coexist with any recognition of human merit. It does not come only to the best people. You’re no better than anybody else. Neither am I. And that’s wonderful consolation. It wasn’t my goodness that got me here. Aren’t you glad of that? Some of you aren’t too sure about that. Grace cannot exist with human merit. In other words, God didn’t save only the good ones.

You know who got that in their heads, and had it there for centuries? Israel. Yeah, they thought that God chose them because they were better than everybody else. And in Romans 3, Paul really explained that. Are we better than they? No. Romans 3 says. No, you’re not better than anybody else. Paul said, “I am the chief of sinners.” You and I do not deserve salvation.

Grace is the free, loving forgiveness of God, independent of your deserving it. All of us are sinners. “There is none righteous” Romans 3:10 says - “no, not one: There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. The poison of asps is under their lips. They are full of bitterness and cursing.” All men are the same: sinners before God. No, grace cannot coexist with human merit.

It was God’s grace. Now, do you see how giving you those three concepts help you to understand what grace is? When you were saved, grace included the fact that no sin or guilt would ever be held against you the rest of your eternity. When you were saved, you were given the freedom to know that you’d never have to pay that back. That’s His gift. There is nothing you have to do.

There are three reasons for which God did this. God saved us by His grace in order to produce good works. Because God knew that good works could touch the lives of the people. Saving grace is to produce good works. Titus 2:14 says, “He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.”

Why? Titus 3:8 says, “This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.” God saved us to do good works, because good works benefit men. It’s good to do good in the world; even from the standpoint of an unbeliever, it’s good to do good.

Secondly, saving grace is to bring blessing to Christians. God saved us, not only to do good works for the world’s sake, but He saved us to pour blessing on us for our sake; to pour out His riches on us forever. And lastly, saving grace is to glorify God. God saved us to be to the praise of His glory. In Ephesians 3, He said, “I saved you that all men might see the mystery that was hidden in the past.”

So, you have in verse 4 the divine side, in verse 6, the human response. You hear about saving grace and all that it is, and you believed it, and it was settled in your heart. And then the benefit became yours. All sin totally forgiven forever; no guilt ever yours again. And that grace includes the pouring out of riches, and more riches on your life through eternity. That’s the blessings of grace.

And the grace equips you to do good deeds to men. That’s the first benefit of being a saint. The first benefit is past tense, you received grace. Present tense, gifts, verses 5 and 7. Saving grace continues in the present, and it manifests blessings through all the believer’s life. Verse 5, “that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.”

Did you know that you are enriched in everything? 1 Corinthians 4:8 says, “You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us—and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you!” And when he says everything, it’s a qualified everything. It means you have everything you need. 2 Peter 1:3 says, you have “all things pertaining to life and godliness.”

Verse 6 says, “In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you.” God has given you the capability and the capacity to speak the truth. The biggest problem that Christians have is the ability to speak. You are a witness. You can speak. Do you have the Holy Spirit as a Christian? Can you respond to the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Spirit as a Christian? Yes.

That means trust the Holy Spirit to give you the things to say. You have a message. And you know, when they’re talking about the miracle, they’re not nearly so shocked at the miracle of the new birth as they are the miracle of their own usefulness. 2 Corinthians 4:6 says that He’s given us “the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” We have truth. We have knowledge.

Verse 7, “So that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul goes from utterance and knowledge, to the specific that he has given you. This is the present tense. Grace in the past; gifts for the present. You know what he said to these Corinthians? “You lack nothing.” And yet they were the most corrupt Christians in the New Testament.

Verse 7 has primary reference of the believers to minister to each other. They were adequate to reach the world, and they were adequate to build the church. They lacked nothing. You’ve got spiritual gifts, every single one of you who are Christians have gifts of the Spirit. It is given to you to minister to the body, and they are adequate to build this church. And that’s why the church is growing.

But you need to know what your spiritual gifts are, whether you have the gift of teaching, or preaching, or exhortation, or administration, or helps, or the gift of giving, or the gift of faith, that ministers to one another. In 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul says, “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning spiritual gifts.” But notice what he said. “It isn’t because you lack spiritual resource.

God not only gave us grace in the past, and gifts for the present, but guarantees for the future. One of the benefits of being a Christian is hope. I don’t care what happens to this world, because I know God’s going to take care of His own. I just trust God totally with it. Now, why do Christians have this hope? Number one: it means the exultation of Christ, and He deserves it.

Secondly, it means the defeat of Satan. He’s going to bind him for a thousand years. At the end of it, He’s going to let him loose for a little while. Then He’s going to chain him, and throw him into the lake of fire. Thirdly, because it means justice for the martyrs. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-6, “I know you’re suffering, seeing it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you.”

Fourth, it means the death of Christ-rejecters. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 says: “and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels.” He’s going to judge those who hate Him. Lastly, because it means heaven for me. It means that I’ll be like Jesus. I don’t deserve that, but oh what grace.

Look at verse 8, “He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” How many sins are going to be held against you when Jesus comes? None. “Are you sure?” Verse 9 says, “God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” If you got in by grace, you’ll be kept by grace. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Apr 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250406 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000025D imblog

1 Corinthians 1:1-3

The term saint in the word of God is simply defined right here in 1 Corinthians 1:2 which says, “To the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—both their Lord and ours.” There ‘saints’ are people sanctified in Christ, who call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul declares that they are saints, and then proceeds immediately to discuss the benefits of sainthood in verses 4 - 9. He starts out by stating their identity as saints. They are made holy. What is so amazing about this is that the fact is that 1 Corinthians, from really the first chapter in verse 10, clear on out till it's finished, deals with the wrong doctrine and the wrong behavior.

The Corinthian people were holy; they just didn't act like it. Before God, they were in righteousness because of Christ. So Paul begins by telling them they're saints, and tell them what that means. Verse 10, “Now I urge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and conviction.”

So Paul begins by saying, "Act like it." "Now I urge you," do you see it there? First four words! And he starts in on all of their sins. And so Paul then, is going to state the identity of these people, and he does so by giving them the benefits of being a saint. But let's look back at verse 1, “Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother.”

So, the usual form of a Greek letter begins with the name of the author. Then the identification of the reader in verse 2, "The church of God at Corinth." Then the greeting in verse 3, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He identifies his calling to be in identification with Christ and by God's expressed will. Now, Paul is not doing this to gain self-glory.

It actually could be establishing authority. What I am about to say to you comes from Jesus Christ at the will of God, for therein lies my calling." In 1 Corinthians, he says, "I am the least of the apostles. I don't deserve any of this. I am what I am by the grace of God." And there are five reasons why he does this. He does this, first of all, because of his relation to the twelve.

The apostles laid the foundation for the church, and the twelve were known by the church as the authoritative voice of Christ. Now, here comes Paul, one who at first introduction to the church was killing Christians, and maiming them, and throwing them in to prison, and doing all kinds of things against the church. He had not seen the resurrected Christ before He ascended into heaven.

And the qualifications for an apostle, according to Acts 1 were that they know Christ in His post-resurrection reality, and that they be specifically chosen by Christ. They had to have seen the resurrected Christ and been called specifically by Him into the apostolate. That's the reason we can't have any apostles today is because no one since has seen the living resurrected Christ.

But here came Paul, and he came along a bit late. You're not one of the twelve. You're not one with authority. And so, he continually establishes that he has authority, and that he was, in fact, one who saw Christ. He says, "Christ, having been raised from the dead, was seen of Peter, then of the twelve, verse 8, "And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."

And when did Paul see Him? On the Damascus Road at his conversion; he saw Him in blazing glory, and was blinded by it. And the Lord appeared to him on other occasions, once in Jerusalem, and then again when he was a prisoner later in Jerusalem, appearing to him to tell him he would go to Rome. He saw the resurrected Christ. He was specially called to be the apostle to the Gentiles.

Paul was continually being harassed by false teachers. They would say to the people whom Paul had just taught, "He has no authority. He is not one of the apostles." And he answers this in 1 Corinthians 4:9 when He says, “For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.”

He says in verse 11-12, “Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; 12 we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it.” False teachers are constantly doing this to Paul, and one of the reasons that he establishes his title as apostle because he defends himself against them.

Paul gives himself this title because of his relation to Christ. This has not to do with the false teachers as much as it has to do with the Christians. The Christians in Jerusalem, at least, were not really sure about Paul; and maybe in many other areas, initially they weren't too sure about him, either. About whether he had credibility; whether he had legitimate apostolate.

False teachers had infected them, and given them false information. When Paul came back to Jerusalem after his third missionary journey, he had to take his life in his hands, because even the Christians were after him. Even the Galatian Christians been told false information about the apostle. And he wants them to know that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, and he is commissioned by Christ.

Paul is saying, "I am not an independent operator. I come as an envoy from the throne of God, and what I give you are God's judgments." So, he is establishing his authority every way possible. From the viewpoint of his relation to the other apostles, the viewpoint of his relation to the readers, his relation to Christ, and his relation to God. In every way, he has authority, and he verifies it.

Verse 1, “Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother.” You say, "What's Sosthenes doing in there? Paul usually used an amanuensis. Amanuensis is a name for a male secretary. Paul would dictate it, and he would write it, and very often Paul, in his letters, would sign with his own signature. So, here is this Sosthenes, unless there's a good reason.

And Sosthenes isn't just writing this, he's agreeing with it. Sosthenes knew the Corinthian situation. Acts 18 records the founding of the church at Corinth by Paul, and we'll meet Sosthenes. As was typical, the Jews threw him out. But after the Jews threw him out, the revival began; and the chief ruler of the synagogue got saved. Well, they had to get a new one. So, the new ruler was Sosthenes.

He was anti-Paul. Well, they decided they were going to attack Paul, so they got him and dragged him to the judgment seat. And they said, "This guy is persuading men to worship God contrary to the law." They were trying to get an indictment against him and get rid of him. Some manuscripts say the Greeks beat him. Who did the beating? "Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue."

By the time Paul writes 1 Corinthians, he says, "brother Sosthenes." What an amazing and marvelous story of conversion, and Sosthenes, having been in on it in Corinth, would have known the situation. So, when he adds Sosthenes' name, all of a sudden, the people in Corinth say, “he knows us. He lived here. This guy's from this place." So, it just added some weight to his introduction.

All right, now let's go to verse 2. The letter is being written to "the church of God which is at Corinth." Keep in mind that the church is not the church of the Corinthians; it's the church of God. This is God's church. And one of the perspectives that a believer always must have is that the church is a body of people, not a building, and that that body of people belongs to God.

And that's the perspective of a steward, and that's the way you have to look at your life. Your responsibility is to minister to the church; just as well, to minister to other believers; and they are God's possession. So, minister knowing that they are God's. In fact, Paul, when he writes to the Ephesian elders says, "Remember, the church of God was purchased with His own blood."

All right, so it's the church of God and it's at Corinth. Now, Corinth is a fascinating place. Any glance at Corinth on the map would give you the idea that it was strategic, and indeed it was. Today, there's nothing there but a little town. But in ancient times, it was a tremendously strategic place, and I want to show you why. Greece is divided into two parts, the north and the south.

Right in the middle was Corinth. And so, Corinth was a very populous trade center. It also became a place of evil. There is a verb in the Greek language, which means to corinthianize. It means drunken debauchery and immorality. The name of that city became synonymous with evil. It was a vile city. Every town, every major city, usually had an acropolis to do debauchery.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul describes Corinth. That church was so messed up by what was going on in that city, the church had actually surpassed the city. They were doing some things that even the people weren't doing. You say, "Well, what about the church at Corinth?" Well, Paul founded it on his second missionary journey - and let's turn to Acts 18, and see how he started it.

So he left and came to Corinth in Acts 18:1. And he went to the synagogue. The Jews usually sat together with people of a like trade. And so he sat down with people who did leather work, who made tents. So, he met a couple of other leatherworkers by the name of Aquila and Priscilla. And he began to preach in verse 4 every Sabbath in the synagogue, persuading Jews and Greeks.

Aquila and Priscilla, those two leatherworkers in verse 26, got a hold of Apollos, a new pastor and told him about Christianity more perfectly. And he wound up in Corinth, verse 1 of 19; it came to pass while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul was coming to Ephesus. In 1 Corinthians 1, that becomes faction in the Corinthian church: "some of you are of Paul, some of you are of Apollos?"

Well, that's the church done by Paul. Apollos was the second pastor. So another brilliant man comes, and God blesses his work. But even with two pastors there were some problems in Corinth, and the major problem was they couldn't detach themselves from the morality of their world. They were into that Corinthian kind of living, and they just couldn't seem to get out of it.

So, Paul, wrote them a letter. We don't know what he said in that letter, because that letter is lost. First Corinthians is the second letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians. The first one, we call the lost letter. You say, "Well, how do you know that there was a first letter, if it was lost?" 1 Corinthians 5:9 is the answer. He says to the Corinthians, "I wrote to you in a letter not to company with fornicators."

He wrote to them, "I told you once before not to company with fornicators." But you know, they misunderstood what he meant. And he says that in verse 10. "Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world." I didn't mean don't ever go near the unsaved." Apparently, what they did was they just stopped talking to the unsaved people. If you do that, you don’t preach the Gospel.

1 Corinthians 5:11, “But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.” He's not talking about unbelievers; he's talking about what? Believers. Paul is talking about sinning brothers and sisters in the church.

Now, after that first lost letter, Paul got some bad reports. 1 Corinthians 1:11, "For it has been reported to me about you, by members of Chloe’s people, that there is rivalry among you.” 1 Corinthians 5:1, “It is reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles, a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.”

And finally, he writes them 1 Corinthians. But not until he's founded the church, written them a first letter, dispatched Timothy to them, and even made a quick visit himself. 1 Corinthians, is setting the church right morally and doctrinally. Look at verse 2. He says: "You are sanctified in Christ Jesus. You are saints, along with everybody else who calls on His name."

How did they ever get holy? Hebrews 2:11 says that Christ, by His sufferings has sanctified all who believe. By Christ's death, He made men holy. Men can be holy, because He paid the price for sin. That's the point. Let me give you another verse: Hebrews 10:14. It says there simply, "By one offering Jesus Christ has perfected forever them that are sanctified."

He sanctifies men. He makes them holy, He sets them apart to Himself, by His offering, by His suffering, by His death. In Acts 26:18 Jesus said, "I've called you, Paul, 'to open their eyes, turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins.'" You can receive forgiveness among all those who are made holy. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Mar 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250330 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000025C imblog

Hebrews 13:17-21

Hebrews 13 is not easy to understand, but it’s been very instructional. We are talking about Christian Ethics, Example, and Energy. We have covered much material in terms of what God expects out of believers in the matter of their behavior, and we’re going to talk about the example and the energy. You cannot eliminate God. You cannot eliminate ethical standards and morality.

But there is a God of morality, there is a God who sets standards. The God of the Old Testament had some very stringent standards for life and conduct. And it is the same God in the New Testament who sets standards of behavior to govern the lives of individuals. And God is a God of order, that God is a God of principle, that God is not a God who says, “Do your own thing.”

We have given you in the past several weeks at least three reasons for God giving the ethics at the end of the book of Hebrews, the standards for the Christian life. He has all the way through been presenting the new covenant and now within the framework of a new covenant, knowing Christ, living in the age of grace, there are some standards. He gives them for three reasons.

Reason one –He wanted the Jews to know that it’s the same God in the New Testament that was the God of the Old Testament. It’s the same God of laws, it’s the same God of rules, the same God of ethical standards of morality that you knew in the Old Testament. This is not new, this grace does not mean you now do what you want. The same God has the same standards morally.

Secondly, He gives these ethics because they bring joy to the Christian. To be obedient is to be joyous. And to be able to do what God wants you to do results in fruit in your life. It results in productivity, and that results in joy. And the third reason that God wanted us to live lives that fit His standards was that we might give a witness to the world. And so Hebrews ends with a list of basic principles.

We began to study the ethics in verses 1 - 19. We said there were three categories of ethics that a Christian needed to follow. First category, in relation to others. That we have a responsibility toward others in two areas, sustained love and sympathy. The second area of responsibility for our ethics is in relation to ourselves in the matter of sexual purity, satisfaction, and steadfastness.

We need to keep ourselves pure sexually, we need to be content with whatever we have, and we need to be steadfast in the faith, not following around false doctrine. The last category of ethics is in relation to God. We saw that God wants from us separation. Let us go outside the camp, for here we have no continuing city but we seek one to come.” God wants us separated to Himself.

The second thing is God wants sacrifice. Verse 15, the sacrifice of praise from our lips, verse 16, the sacrifice of a holy, pure life and sharing with other people. And with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. We see, then, that separation and sacrifice were the two first ethics in relation to God. Now, let’s go to the third one tonight and then the fourth, and then wrap it up.

The third standard toward God is submission. Not only separation to Him, not only sacrifice made to Him, but submission to Him. Verse 17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. ”Now, here is a responsibility toward God.

It sounds like a responsibility towards some rulers. Yes, it is, but God mediates much of His rule in this world through men. Throughout the Old Testament, God mediated His rule through kings, prophets and judges. And in this age, God mediates His rule through Spirit-controlled men. Someday God will mediate His rule in the living Christ who sits and rules in the Kingdom, right?

Now, if we study the New Testament, we find that God has set leadership in the church. And there were in the assembly of the Hebrews here certain men given the rule of that congregation. The Apostle Paul defines these men as elders, bishops, or if you choose the teaching pastors. These men were ordered of the Spirit of God to have the rule of the church. They are called under-shepherds.

There are some church governments today where the congregation rules the leaders. That’s foreign to the New Testament. The rule of the church was always given to the gifted men placed by the Spirit of God. It says, “Obey them that have the rule over you.” There’s no qualification to that. The Spirit of God has placed them there to rule. This is part of God’s command within the church.

It is the right of those men to declare the direction of the church, to preside, to teach the Word, to reprove, to rebuke, and to do it with all long-suffering, and to do it in meekness. “Feed the flock of God,” the word is literally pastor and pastor means to feed them and the food is the Word. That’s the job of the pastor, is to take the oversight to rule the church not by constraint but willingly.

There are many perils to the pastorate. Number one is the peril of covetousness. Some people want to rule because they covet authority, they covet bigger churches, more money, more power, and they wind up being tyrants who dominate over the church. Paul said to Timothy, “You should be an example to the believer in everything,” word and deed. Be a pattern that others can follow.

There is a second peril and that’s conceit. And we have to deal with the problem of pride. And He deals with the peril of conceit in 1 Peter 5:5, “In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” In the pastorate, there is the desire to be exalted.

And thirdly, there is the peril of compromise. Verse 8, “Be sober-minded, and be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.” There’s always the peril of compromise, giving in to Satan, watering down your convictions because it’s expedient. And so it is not easy to rule, but that is the calling of God.

In the framework of the church, there are some given to the church by the Spirit of God to rule in the church. And I always think it’s a tragedy when you have a pastor being led around by the congregation. That’s not the way God intended it to function. You’re responsive and sensitive to the needs of people. But the Bible indicates clearly that we are the under-shepherds of Christ.

It’s a serious responsibility, and we have to give an account to God, for how we rule. Notice one other thing in verse 17, it says obey them and submit yourselves. The term “obey” has definite connection to teaching. The word “submit” has definite connection to authority. And this is not our duty to these men, it’s our duty to God. Because they rule instead of Christ, don’t they?

The qualities that a Pastor must have are four things, narrowed down as our obligations to God. Separation, sacrifice, and the third one is submission to God. In verse 17 it says further, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.” The priority that I have as a minister, is the priority of watching for all your souls.

There’s another reason you ought to be submissive. Not only joy for me, but joy for you. Look at verse 17 again, “Obey and submit that they may do it with joy, not with grief for that is unprofitable for you.” If you don’t obey and you don’t submit, guess who loses? You do. If you don’t have a willing and loving, obedient spirit, then you lose. Because you’re not doing what God is doing.

Verse 18-19 says, “Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything. 19 And I urge you all the more to pray that I may be restored to you very soon.” Instead of rebelling against your leaders, what should pray for them. Instead of criticizing, pray. Believe me, the servant of Christ stands in tremendous need for prayer.

So what is our obligation toward God? Separation, sacrifice, and submission to those that God has set to rule. Fourth, our obligation to God is petition. The first word of verse 18 is what? “Pray.” Prayer makes things possible. Prayer moves the hand of God. Prayer ties into the power source. And it’s connected to the previous point because he says pray for us. He is one of the elders in the church.

We are men, we are weak, we are sinful, we are foolish, we are ignorant, we are erring, and we desperately need the prayers of the saints. We’re often tempted to water down our convictions because we’re afraid to face the issue. Tempted to all kinds of sin, and we need your prayers. Pray for us. And so the writer encourages them to pray. Paul says pray for me. Pray for me that I might be bold.

Look at verse 18, “For we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything.” I believe that I am God’s man, in God’s place, with a pure heart. I deserve your prayers. Now, that’s not arrogant. That’s like saying I deserve it. What do you mean a clear conscience? Well, we could talk a lot about conscience.

Conscience is the faculty of the mind that enables us to perceive right and wrong. It’s a built-in system. It’s the inner principle that decides whether something is right or wrong. And conscience is a court that’s always in session. There is never a recess in the court of conscience. It’s really the nearest thing in this world to standing at the bar of God. To begin with, an unsaved man has a defiled conscience.

Titus 1:15 says, “The unsaved man has a defiled conscience.” But you know what happens when you get saved? When you get saved, you get a new conscience. Hebrews 9:14 says, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?”

Who first taught you the Word of God? Remember them? Follow their faith. Pattern your life after their lives. Look at the results. Consider how their life ended, and you pattern your life the same way. That’s our example. He refers to their leaders, their pastors, their evangelists. Look at those that God has set over you and look how they live and what the results of it are.

Your first group of examples? Men. The supreme example is Jesus Christ, who never varies, who never changes. And you notice it uses His earthly name, Jesus. Uses His earthly title, Messiah, Christ. Because it’s presenting an earthly pattern. He says to them, “Follow the men who were your leaders,” but if you really want to pattern your life, pattern it after the human Jesus.

You want to see sacrifice? Paul says in Ephesians 5:2 , “And walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.” Listen to Jesus in the garden as He prays, “Not my will, but your will be done.” You want to see petition? Watch Him in the garden as He prays for Himself, for His disciples, and for all the Christians who would ever be born.

Verse 20-21, “Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant. 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” You know what you need? You need the energy.

You want to hear something exciting? He gives you the ethics, He gives you the example, and then He gives you the energy. You say, “What’s the energy?” It is the power of God. Your Christian growth has nothing to do with your own power, it is God working in you, right? The power is yours, it isn’t mine, do it in my life.” And notice verse 20 just explodes with the power of God.

That’s the greatest display of divine power in the history of the universe, isn’t it? What God accomplished in the death and resurrection of Christ. He’s the one who can make you perfect. You can’t function on your own energy. 2 Corinthians 3:5 says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” Notice it says He wants to make you perfect.

It says He wants you even to do His will, in everything working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Just let God do it, will you? And then when He does it at the end of verse 21, who gets the glory? Jesus Christ gets the glory.

He deserves it, doesn’t He? “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.” It’s God. There’s your energy, beloved. The new covenant’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? But it’s not just free grace, there’s some ethics. Beyond the ethics, there’s a living, vital example. Beyond the example, there’s energy, and it’s the power of God in your life. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Mar 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250323 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000025B imblog

Hebrews 13:7-14

My view is that it is intrinsic to the entire letter and that it is the climax. The Jews, to whom this was written, lived their lives according to the law. Under the Old Testament, there were many rules. In fact, there were so many rules that it became very difficult not to break some of them. The Old Testament is loaded with ethical patterns, principles of conduct dealing with every kind of situation.

God wanted the Jews to be a very unique people. He wanted them separate. He wanted them different. And so, their uniqueness had to do with the witness. Their reaching the world was dependent upon the fact that the world looked at them and saw something in them that they desired. A life that was different. God wanted a national witness, and Israel was that witness.

In fact, in Exodus 19:6, the Bible calls the Jews a kingdom of priests. Now, a priest’s function was to take men to God and that’s exactly what Israel was to do. Men were to look at Israel, see Israel’s distinctiveness by virtue of the kind of conduct they maintained, and come to them and say, “What is it that causes you to live like this?” And then Israel would usher them to God.

“Wow, those people have some principles that function. That’s a dynamic witness. And then, people who wanted to know God would come to them and be introduced to God. Verse 9 says, “Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.”

They became so absorbed in legalism that they went way further than God ever intended. God gave them enough laws to maintain things and they just got real law-happy and just started inventing laws. And they came up with a whole series of laws that they passed on orally. And this series of oral laws was known as the Mishnah. Finally, they wrote it all down and called it the Talmud.

There are six parts to the Jewish Talmud. There is a section on agriculture. There is a section on feasts. There is a section on women. There’s a section on civil and ceremonial law, legal matters. There’s a section on sacrifices, a section on unclean things and their purification. Now, all of those sections are loaded with law after law for the conduct of all the Jewish people.

During the time of Jesus Christ, you find that the Jews were meticulously concerned with obeying laws. When Jesus did something that was not allowed in their law. Jesus said, your problem is you strain a gnat and swallow a camel. What He meant was you’re all worried about the minutiae of the law and you ignore all of the principles that God really wanted to communicate through the law.

The group of Jews that’s being written to in Hebrews are legalists. They live by the law, they function by the law, and they know nothing about liberty, only about being attached to a particular system. They were not free spirits. They were not libertines. They were staunch, absolute legalists. Now here comes the New Testament. And the first guy that really explained this was Paul.

And Paul said, “I want you to know that the New Testament is not law, it is grace.” And, he blew the minds of the Jews with that. They really should have known it because the Old Testament is full of God’s grace. They thought this was some kind of heresy. And even when Jews became Christians, they found it extremely difficult to let go of all of the rituals they were used to.

And as we study the New Testament, we find that the new covenant releases them from all of the ceremonial features of the law but not the moral issues. There is to be no more feasts, no more sacrifices, no more holy days, no more ritual, no more temple, no more priests, and no more offerings. All those legalistic standards are gone. It’s all grace. On the cross Jesus said, “It is finished.”

The perfect work by the perfect high priest through a perfect covenant who offered a perfect sacrifice brings about perfect promises and perfect salvation, and what do I do? You just believe. And the Jew says, “No, I can’t handle that. Don’t we have to do something? Aren’t there any principles at all? Can I just exercise a free kind of liberty and do whatever I want?” Well no.

They know that God hasn’t changed and God expects certain things out of His children, be they old covenant or new covenant. And so as you come to Hebrews 13, the Holy Spirit says a resounding “Yes” to their questions and says “Yes,” there are standards. God likes you totally. He loves you infinitely. But there are some standards that are very important to keep.

You’re a part of the church. The church is made up of Jews and Gentiles. The standards are there. God expects you to behave in such a fashion that men still see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. That hasn’t changed at all. And so while Israel is no longer a witness nation, the whole body of the church, Jews and Gentiles are God’s witnesses. And so there are principles.

Now, we’ve been talking about the principles, the ethics, and we see that in the first 19 verses, the ethics of the Christian life are given. And what happens here is everything is reduced to general concepts. There are three categories of Christian ethics. Number one, relation to others, sustained love and sympathy. Then, second category, beginning in verse 4, was in relation to ourselves.

Verse 4. “Marriage is honorable in all, let the bed be undefiled. Fornicators, adulterers, God will judge.” The second, in relation to ourselves, is satisfaction. Verses 5 - 6, “Learn to be without covetousness, learn to be content with such things as you have and know that the Lord’s going to help and take care of your needs.” So in relation to ourselves, there is sexual purity and satisfaction.

Verse 7, “Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.” He says, “Look at those who came before you and look how they stayed true.” Verse 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Did He change? No. Did the one who is your spiritual creator change? No.

In relation to ourselves, God desires that we be steadfast. Verse 9 says, “Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by food regulations, since those who observe them have not benefited.” Don’t get hung up on legalism. Yes, there are moral standards, but they are not the external ceremonial deals.

Remember Peter and his vision in Acts 10? He saw all the animals in the sheet and he heard the word, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” Don’t call anything unclean that God has set aside.” In Romans 14, Paul says, “The kingdom of God is not food, meat and drink, but righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit.” So don’t listen to the Judaizers, the Gnostics, the Catholics, or the Seventh-day Adventists.

All right, so we see, then, the believer’s behavior in relation to others, sustained love and sympathy. In relation to himself, sexual purity, satisfaction, and steadfastness. Lastly, the believer’s ethics in relation to God. What does God want? What are the things which I am to do toward God? In relation to Him? One, separation. And that, we see separation in verses 10 to 14.

I’ll give you a couple of sentences and tell you my opinion. Verses 10-11, “We have an altar from which those who worship at the tabernacle do not have a right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp.” Now, we have an altar. What kind of eating is done on an altar?

In verse 11 it talks about the bodies of beasts whose blood is brought there. That doesn’t sound like the church. No, in fact the evidence here is not on eating. Some say it refers to a heavenly altar. Well, that doesn’t make any sense, either. And what is this about the bodies of beasts? What beasts were ever burned on the altar in heaven? I think He’s talking about the idea of separation here.

A Christian’s obligation to God is to be separated from the world unto God, right? We have an altar. He’s talking about Jews. Once you establish that, it flows. Remember that the altar includes the sacrifice and the ritual. Who were the men who served the tabernacle? The priests. Was there a certain sacrifice on a certain altar they couldn’t eat? Yes, it was the sin offering.

On the Day of Atonement, when the sin offering was made, they could not eat it. All the other times, the priests ate what was left. The sin offering, once it was made and the blood was sprinkled in the holy of holies on the mercy seat, the animals were taken outside the camp and burned. That’s verse 11, “For those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary are burned outside the camp.”

It’s an analogy. Here’s the principle. You people need to be separated from the system. Like those sin offerings that nobody could touch but they had to be taken outside the camp? You need to be so separated from the camp of the world. He’s saying like the animals in the sin offering were taken outside, the believer needs to be removed from the system, removed from the world.

Verse 12 says, “Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify the people by His own blood.” Jesus was separate from the system, right? In the Old Testament, the Jews took those bodies of those sin offerings, both the priests’ and the peoples’ offering, and they took them outside the camp. They separated them from themselves. Jesus did the same thing.

The system didn’t want Jesus, either, they threw Him out. He suffered outside the gate. And He sanctified the people with His own blood. So Jesus was killed outside the city of Jerusalem and perfectly fulfilled the picture of the Old Testament. You know those old sin offerings were the pictures of Christ? And so when He came, He suffered outside as the offering had been taken outside.

Verse 13, “Let us then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing His disgrace.” Let’s us separate from the system as well. Jesus, the true sin offering, also was rejected by the system, though for a different reason. He’s simply saying this is like Jesus who was also suffering outside the city. And Jesus was so willing that He might sanctify the people with His own blood.

Christ was despised, He was rejected, He was hated, He was unwanted, betrayed, arrested, mocked, beaten, killed like a common criminal, and He accepted every bit of it to shed His blood on the behalf of men. The Bible says in Hebrews, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Jesus knew that, and He shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins.

Now, what was the system for them? Judaism. What he is saying to the Jewish reader here, separate yourself from Judaism. Come outside the camp to the Christ. Oh, you’ll have to suffer. Jesus said, “In the world you’ll have tribulation, be of good cheer, I’ve overcome the world.” In Hebrews 15, He said, “Don’t be surprised if they kill you, they did it to Me. Are you willing to bear my reproach?”

It’s not just what you do, it’s an attitude. Jesus said, “If any man comes after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” That means go where Jesus is, outside the system. And the only people who really identify with Jesus Christ are the ones who are willing to pay the cost and move out. Paul didn’t have anything to do with it, and yet he kept leading people to Jesus.

Our relation to God is not only this separation but the idea of sacrifice. Verse 15 says, “Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.” There are two sacrifices God wants. The first one is word, the second one is deed. God wants the praise of our lips. There’s only one way to God, through Jesus Christ.

What comes out of your lips toward God? Let us learn what to say to God when you want to praise Him. “I will bless your name forever and ever.” “Great is the Lord and He is greatly to be praised and His greatness is unsearchable.” “One generation shall praise thy works to another and declare thy mighty acts.” “I will speak of the glorious honor of your majesty and your wondrous works.”

Notice the key word to it. “Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.” First Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God.” Verse 16 says, “Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.” God says another sacrifice that I really accept is sharing. The lip begins and added to that is the life.

Do good to one another, share, and minister to the needs of others. This is what God is pleased with. This is your spiritual sacrifice that we talked about offered to God. Everything you do in your Christian life is a sacrifice to God. What are you giving Him? Isaiah 58:2 says, “They seek me day after day and delight to know my ways, they ask me for righteous judgments.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Mar 2025 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250316 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000025A imblog

Hebrews 13:5-6

Hebrews finally resolves in a series of practical exhortations, and we were reminded again of a principle of before there is ever exhortation to duty, there is instruction regarding doctrine. Doctrine is always the foundation upon which duty is built. Your obedience to a standard doesn’t mean anything unless there’s a reason for that standard; and so position always precedes practice.

He has presented Christ, and said, “You can cling to Christ. He is sufficient; He is superior; He’s all you ever need.” And to sum it up, He says, “Now that you have Christ, here is how you ought to live.” But again we see that same principle: The practical life is only possible when we have come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, and have a foundation of sound doctrine.

We not only are instructed to really live the kind of Christian life that the standards of which are set down in Hebrews 13 for the sake of witness, but secondly, for the sake of our own personal joy. You can’t sin and disobey all of God’s standards and be a happy Christian. My greatest joy is when I know I’ve been obedient in responding to the standards of the Lord.

“The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eye.” Obeying God’s standard brings joy, that’s exactly what it says. Psalm 64:10 says: “The righteous shall be glad in the Lord.” In other words, the man who lives a righteous life is a happy man. Psalm 68:3 says: “But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God.”

God’s standards are given then, number one: so that you may live a life that is a clear testimony to the world. Two, so that you might have joy. Happy people are people who obey God, that’s what it is saying. And then, Psalm 119:111 says, “I have your decrees as a heritage forever; indeed, they are the joy of my heart.” The word “decrees” means the commandments, the law of God.

It all boils down to that one word in the whole Christian life: obedience. And let me tell you something: these two are inseparable. When you clearly communicate your faith to somebody else, that becomes joy too. They’re interchangeable. 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, “What is our hope or joy?” Paul says, “When people get saved, that’s what makes me happy. 20 For you are our glory and joy.”

Well, is that the only thing that made him happy? No, suffering made him happy too. Philippians 2:17 says, “But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.” The joy of Paul was the salvation of others. The salvation of others came about because Paul’s life matched his words. Joy and witness are inseparable.

Now in Hebrews 13, He lays down the principles of conduct that can bring about the salvation of others and joy to our own selves. I told you last time that there are three things that we want to look at in this chapter. One is ethics, two is example, and three is energy. If we’re going to live the kind of life we ought to live, we need to know the ethics: “What are the standards?”

Secondly, we need to have an example; we need a pattern to follow. Thirdly, we need to have the energy or the power to do it. First, what were the ethics? Well, last time there are three categories of practical Christian living. One, in relation to others. And that he begins the chapter with verse 3. And He lays down two basic features of Christian conduct toward others.

The first one was sustained love that we saw that in verse 1: “Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.” Now in this particular passage we have something that we might call an overall principle. Love precludes the necessity of all those other rules. Let me remind you that love is not an emotion, it’s a principle.

It’s a principle of self-sacrifice. Love is a basic principle, and it’s the principle of self-sacrifice based on humility. Now love comes immediately when you’re saved. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.” So the love is given, all you’ve got to do is keep it. You don’t need to say, “Oh, God, give me more love.” There’s no more to give, He gave you all He had. And it never changes.

And it’s not just for your benefit either; maybe they have a tremendous need, and a word of love from you can turn a life around. There’s a second ethic that we want to mention by way of review. Not only sustained love, but sympathy. Verse 3, “Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.”

Sympathy is to suffer with, empathy is to feel what somebody feels. You have to be a selfless person to do that. In your own body, do you know what people go through when they go through pain? And sympathy can be shown in three ways. 2 Timothy 1:16 says, “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.”

There’s a third way to show sympathy to somebody and that’s by prayer, praying for them in Colossians 4:18. Paul closes Colossians with these words: “Remember my bonds.” Hey, he says, “Don’t forget I’m in jail; pray for me.” Now this is our basic obligation to other people: to love them with full care and sympathy. That’s the only rule you need in terms of other people.

Look at Romans 13:8, “Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” There’s only one debt we’re to owe people, and that’s the debt to love them; the more you pay, the more you owe. For the law says, ‘Don’t commit adultery, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness, and don’t covet.’ Together, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Hebrews 13 doesn’t need to list a whole lot of things. All it needs to say is just love, and that will take care of the law. If a man loves, he won’t kill; for a lover never seeks to destroy. If a man loves, he’ll never steal; for love doesn’t take, what does it do? It gives. And if a man loves, he will never covet; for covetousness means the uncontrolled, inordinate desire for self-satisfaction.

What about the Christian’s conduct in relation to himself? How do I conduct myself toward myself, to live the kind of life that is witness to the world and joy to me? Number one: Sexual purity. Now the word “sex” has become taboo in the past. And now sex is everywhere. There’s another taboo today. You know what word is taboo today? Death. Death is the thing nobody wants to face.

People have gone crazy in the area of sexual fulfillment. When two people allow their passions to run away with each other, it is not that they love each other too much, it is that they don’t love each other enough. It is that they love each other too little to respect each other’s purity before God. His love hasn’t developed where the most important thing in his life is your beauty, purity and holiness.

Personal purity is always a battle. It’s a battle for everybody. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “I beat my body to bring it into subjection.” And Satan tempts with all the media, you have a hard time getting away from it. But there comes a time when you need to. So many Christians have had their testimony destroyed and their own personal joy sucked out of them because of sin in this area.

Verse 5, “Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.” The second thing of an ethic really involving ourselves is satisfaction. Be content with all things that you have. Just because you’re married doesn’t mean that Satan doesn’t sometimes tempt you to long after the forbidden one.

That’s covetousness and it is a terrible evil. Whether it’s coveting a neighbor’s wife or whether it’s coveting money, or things or possessions, it’s all bad. In 1 Timothy 6:6 it says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” Be happy with what you have. Spurgeon said, “I’ve heard a lot of people share their sin.” But I never had one person confess the sin of covetousness to me.”

But that’s a sin that all of us fights. Be honest: the bigger thing, the better thing, more money, promotion, bigger house, bigger car, nicer clothes, this is a temptation for all of us. God says, “I want you to be satisfied.” Godliness with contentment is really being rich. The rich man is the man who has all that he needs, and the knowledge that God has everything he will ever need.

If a man has everything and has not Christ, he has nothing. If he has nothing and has Christ, he has everything. Now you’re going to lose it anyway, either here now, or in the next few weeks, or in a few months, or when you die, or when Jesus comes. I’ve often wondered to myself how people can amass fortunes in this world and then die, when you could invest it all in God’s work.

Remember what covetousness did to Judas. And look what covetousness did to Ananias and Sapphira, who lied to the Holy Spirit and dropped dead right in the front of the church? Covetousness is a very serious sin, and God deals with it very seriously; believe me. Now the most common form of covetousness is the love of money: lusting after material riches.

If you love money, you are sinning against God. You know what the result will be? Ineffective testimony, and lack of joy in your life. Luke 12:15 says, “Jesus then told them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.” The Bible doesn’t say money is the root of all evil. It’s says, “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “God is the one who gives you power to get wealth.” And some of the wealthiest men in the world were godly men: Job, Abraham; and even today. But here’s the key exhortation: Psalm 62:10 says, “If wealth increases, do not set your heart on it.” That’s the key. You may get it. If you get it, don’t love it. And that’s exactly where this advice needs to be given.

John D. Rockefeller one time was asked how much money he wanted. He said, “A million dollars.” He made a million. The same guy said, how much you want?” He said, “I want another million.” Here you see, the law of decreasing satisfaction. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, “The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income.”

And then He quotes verse 6 from Psalm 118:6: “The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Some people express their love of money in building it up, making more. Some people express their love of money in keeping it, where every dime they give is like blood. Others express their love of money by throwing it around in front of everybody.

How do you get content? First, contentment comes when you realize God is good. Paul said, “All things work together for good to them that love God.” Paul said, “My God shall supply all your needs.” Do you know God’s good? If He’s good, will He take care of you? If you want to be content, realize that God is omniscient. He knows what you need before you ever ask Him.

What do I really deserve? Genesis 32:10 says, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies.” Is that right? Everything I have I don’t deserve. I’m rich. Let me give you something else: Realize God’s supremacy. That is realize God will give you what He thinks you need, and He’ll supply what you need for all the things in your life. And realize that He has a plan.

First Samuel 2:7 says, “The Lord brings poverty and gives wealth; He humbles and He exalts.” Did you know that? The Lord’s in charge of all that. Verse 8, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the trash heap. He seats them with noblemen and gives them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; He has set the world on them.

God brings people up who come from nowhere and earn fortunes. He’s omniscient; He knows who gets what. And He’s also powerful. He gives who gets what. He’s supreme. The fifth thing to realize is what true riches really are. You know who’s really poor? The world. Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Do you really know true riches? You’re rich in Christ.

Contentment then comes from realization of all those things. Then, secondly, it comes from communion. Do you spend time with God? Let me tell you something: the longer you concentrate on His glory, the less you’re going to care about money. When you’re lost in Jesus Christ, you are so overwhelmed with how rich you are, that you could care less about anything else.

Well, the world’s going to pass away and everything in it, right? So you don’t want to lay up treasure on earth; lay it up in heaven. God set some standards for you; we just got through our review. Next time we’re going to take up the next standard for the believer’s life which is steadfastness. We need to continue to stay close to Christ with our lives and our deeds. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Mar 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250903 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000259 imblog

Hebrews 13:1-4

What are the practical guidelines for the life of a Christian? Peter said, “For so is the will of God that with well‑doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” Peter said you need to live so that no one can cast any doubt on Christianity by the kind of life that you’re living. Christians are to so live so that they shut the mouths of all the critics of Christianity.

In Hebrews 13 we find that it is important for us to do good works, not only because some people get saved, but because God gets glorified. So the glory of God is another reason that the believer is to live a pure life, a life that is without rebuke. The only valid slander they can make is when they slander us for doing well. Let us be criticized for our well‑doing, not for our evil.

Jesus said the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” A good son brings honor to his father; that’s true spiritually also. And we should so live, that when men see us they give glory to God. And believe me, I’m not talking about theatrical goodness.

Now as we look at Hebrews 13, there are three things: the ethics, the example, and the energy. What are the ethics? Who is our example, or whom are our examples? And what is the energy to carry out the ethics? All three are very important: the ethics, the example, and the energy. For the first eleven chapters are the warnings to those on the edge of Christianity to come all the way to Christ.

The specifics come in Hebrews 13 which is the climax. There can be no ethics unless there is doctrine. You cannot require something of somebody unless there is an underlying, under-girding, universal moral law that gives the right and the necessity of that ethic to exist. And so you don’t require of a man anything until you have laid a foundation for the requirement.

Now the term “ethic,” means a standard of conduct or moral judgment. And we believe there are absolutes. Now the ethics are divided into three categories. Number one, in relation to others, or how we act toward others. Secondly, how we act toward ourselves. And ethics in relation to God, how we act toward God. Now remember, we are supposing that you already believe in Christ.

Number one, the first ethic is sustained love. Verse 1, “Let brotherly love continue.” It really is a feature that overrides everything else. Now this is sustained love. This is the supreme ethic for the Christian to follow, and that is that he loves his brother. Brotherly love is one word in the Greek, it’s the word Philadelphia. Christians when speaking of other Jews who weren’t saved, considered them as brethren.

We need to love our brothers in Christ. For they are, though not physically from the same womb, spiritually from the same womb, having been born again, having gone through the new birth. We’re all brothers in Christ. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, we’re one. We’re all children; we’re brothers of Christ. He’s not ashamed to call us brethren. We’re heirs and joint heirs with Christ.

1 Peter 1:22 says, “That you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.” One of the by‑products of obeying the truth is unfeigned love of the brethren. Reach out for the unlovable one. What is he saying? “Seeing that you have brotherly love, exercise it.” That’s exactly what the whole New Testament is all about.

1 John 5:1 says, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him.” What does that mean? That means if you love Him, you’re going to love all the others who love Him. That’s just part of being saved. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Don’t find it, and pray for it, you’ve got it, just keep yourself in it.

Why is brotherly love so important?” It’s important, because it reveals who we are to the world, doesn’t it. John 13:34 says, “A new commandment write I unto you, that you love one another. By this shall all men know that you’re My disciples if you have love one for another.” And God gave the world the right to evaluate who we were on the basis of our love for one another.

So it’s important that we have brotherly love, so that we consider others better than ourselves, so that we are meek and humble, that we are giving and granting the needs of others. Whether we sacrifice everything we have to do it or not it is important, because if we don’t, the world’s not going to be too sure who we belong to. And it’s important, because it reveals our identity to us.

It is important in brotherly love is it delights God. Psalm 133:1 says, “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” Did you know that God gets happy about that? If you really want to give glory to God, live in brotherly love. And when I talk about brotherly love, I’m not talking about some sentimentalism, I’m talking about the brotherly love in commitment.

In the church brotherly love isn’t what it ought to be. But Jesus knew that would happen. In Matthew 24:12 He said, “Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.” What kind of lawlessness? Well, the major lawlessness is pride. God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.”

Self‑love perverts everything. Self must die if brotherly love is to continue. Pride holds grudges; pride holds grievances. Jesus said in John 13, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly.” The disciples are arguing about who is the greatest in the kingdom and Jesus got down and washed their feet. Then He said, “You see what I did to you; do it to each other.”

Verse 2 says: “Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.” Now this here could refer to believers and unbelievers. The Bible says that we are to show love to everyone. 1 Thessalonians 5:15, “See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.”

A pastor in a church should have an open home where people can come and take part in his life and have their needs met, if their needs exist that can be supplied by him. That showed a loving heart, and it showed somebody who was willing to get burned just for the joy of expressing love. The idea is, “You don’t know what God might do in someone’s life, just because of your love.”

Jesus even took it a step further, and He said in Matthew 25, “I was a stranger, and you took me in, I was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick and in prison, and you visited me. Then they answered saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick? Verily I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to Me.”

The second statement of ethic: sympathy. Verse 3, “Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.” Those Christians had a lot of trouble staying out of jail, because they were always being thrown in for their faith. And He says, “Remember them that are in bonds, who suffer adversity.”

There are a lot of people with a lot of needs, and the church needs to learn how to share burdens. Paul said in Galatians 6:2, “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.”

Secondly, what is the believers’ responsibility to himself? Verse 4, “Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.” Now sexual impurity is not only a sin against others, but it is a sin against ourselves. God looks at marriage as an honorable thing; He invented it. It’s not honorable in the world today.

And that means that sexually, in your bed between you and your wife, or you and your husband, there is nothing you can do that is wrong. The bed is undefiled. He doesn’t qualify it any further than that. When you were married to the one you love, you became that one’s property. For the expression of that love there is no impurity whatsoever in anything that you would do together.

Now Scripture gives three reasons for marriage. One, propagation of children. Genesis 1:27 says, “Now you get together, you’re one flesh. Propagate, replenish the earth.” Second, Marriage is to prevent immorality. 1 Corinthians 7:2, “Nevertheless to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and every woman her own husband.” Thirdly, it eliminates solitude.

God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Marriage propagates children, prevents immorality, and eliminates solitude. Now those are theological reasons. Add to that the fact that marriage is an enjoyable and fulfilling relationship, and marriage was meant to be the expression of the fullness of love. So God has portrayed marriage in Scripture as a very honorable thing.

2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” Marry somebody who is saved. Make a value judgment on the basis of their reputation. Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” Secondly, appearance. Two things the Bible says: a wanton look. Second thing: a proud look. Isaiah 3:9 says, “The show of their appearance does witness against them.”

Third thing, speech. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” What do they talk about? Fourth, clothes. That’s right, modesty. If clothes are showy, then the heart is vain. First Timothy 2:9 says, women are to be adorned with a quiet spirit in meekness and humility. Lastly, companions. Who does he keep company with? A person is known by his company. Read Psalm 1, it’s all there.

How do you make your marriage honorable? One, God is glorified in a family where the husband is the head in Ephesians 5. First Corinthians 11:3, “The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Secondly, the loving subjection of the wife. Thirdly, marriage that is honorable where it is regulated by love. How can I fulfill the one I love? What can I do to please that one?

Do you know that that’s the only time that a judgment statement goes along with an ethic in 1 Corinthians 13? God’s serious about sexual purity. You may fool around with illicit sex, you may fool around outside your marriage, and you may get away with it from the judgment of man’s standpoint; you’ll never get away with it from the judgment of God. God will judge, and in some way punishment comes.

The results of such a philosophy are pregnancies preceding more than one-fourth of all marriages, forcible rape in the United States every 20 minutes, hundreds of thousands of illegitimate babies, somewhere around 30,000 illegitimate babies born to girls ages 9 to 14. Teenagers account for 40 percent of out-of-wedlock births: Syphilis, gonorrhea is not only epidemic, it is pandemic everywhere.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 is the standard for sexual conduct: “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification: that you should stay away from fornication.” It’s usually referred to before marriage. Adultery means sex activity while you’re have sex with somebody other than your wife or husband. Principle one: Stay away from sex sin. Principle number one: Stay away from sex sin, far enough away to be pure.

Principle two, in verse 4, “Everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel” – and that means body – “in sanctification and honor.” Principle two: know how to handle your body so it honors God. To possess means to control. You go out on a date, and you begin to engage in a little extracurricular activity. Pretty soon you are not able to control your body, your body is controlling you.

How many men do you know in the ministry who didn’t do that, and rendered themselves a castaway in their ministry because they couldn’t control themselves in a sexual fashion? It’s happened many more times than any of us would like to think. And so the principle is there. Control your body so it honors God. Stay away from sexual activity. Principles three: Don’t act like the heathen.

How do they act? They’re guided by their lusts. And you hear it constantly, everywhere; topless and bottomless, and all the other stuff. All of a sudden the flood’s open and everybody’s running in. Why? Because everybody will go just as far as society will let them go without throwing them in jail. That’s depravity. Don’t act like that, not in the lusts of evil desire.

There are some principles. Stay away from sex sin. Control your body so it honors God. Do you honor God with your body: the way you dress, the way you walk, the things you do? Don’t act like the rest of the world acts guided by lust. And, fourth, don’t take advantage of other people. Don’t use other people to fulfill your needs and pleasures. That’s God’s standards. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 02 Mar 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250302 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000258 imblog

Hebrews 12:18-29

Tonight we come to a most informative portion, really the last great contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament. What happens to a man refuses the salvation offered in Christ? So then what happens to the person who never really makes a full heart commitment to Christ? Is his judgment as severe as the one who didn’t know? There are five of these warnings, and this is the last one.

And God says, “And don’t worry about the pressures that come, and the trials that come, that’s part of the loving discipline of God. It’s not to be a thing that you fear.” In fact, He says if you don’t experience the discipline of God, you ought to be afraid, because verse 6 says, “Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and every son he scourges, if you be without chastisement, then you’re bastards and not sons.”

Now, as we approach this text, it’s easily divided for us. Verses 18 to 21 is Mount Sinai. Verses 22 to 24 is Mount Zion. Verse 25 to 29 is what you do about it. Let’s begin by looking at Mount Sinai where we look at the fear of the law. The old covenant, the Mosaic covenant, was associated with Mount Sinai because that’s where God spoke to Moses and it was a covenant of fear.

Hebrews 12:18-29, “For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, 19 to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words. Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them, 20 for they could not bear what was commanded: If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. 21 The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said,

I am trembling with fear. 22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, 23 to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge, who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood,

Which says better things than the blood of Abel. 25 See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven. 26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.

27 This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.” The Earth, while orbiting around the sun is shaking.

The earth has been affected by sin. Everything shakes, everything trembles in the throes of corruption; it is all shaking. And no one can do anything about it. In the future the kingdom of this world will be finally shaken, so as to be shaken out of existence; and nothing will be left, including space. God will Himself shake the earth and the sky. Verses 26 - 27 says, “The removal of created things.”

So we’re talking about the Day of the Lord. This is a period of time called the Great Tribulation, in which all these judgements come in rapid fire. First in Revelation there are the seal judgments, and out of the seventh seal come the seven trumpets, and out of the seven trumpets come the seven bowls; and you can see the destruction of the created universe, that takes place in stages.

Ezekiel 43:5, “And the Spirit lifted me up and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.” In Ezekiel’s vision after this judgment on earth, the millennial kingdom will come. The desirable things will be left, and they will all be in the house of glory, and all glory will go to the Lord. It’s headed toward complete destruction, followed by the kingdom of Christ for a thousand years.

At the end of that thousand years, the entire universe goes out of existence in an atomic un-creation, and the Lord creates the new earth. Mark 13:24 says, “After that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see Christ coming in clouds with power and glory.”

Well there are two possible answers, you have two options, and those options are laid out by the writer of Hebrews in connection with two mountains. Verse 18-19 says, “For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, 19 to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words. Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them.”

What mountain is that? Mount Sinai. Don’t come to God at Sinai. That mountain was a mountain of death. Verse 20-21 says, “for they could not bear what was commanded: If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. 21 The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear.” Let me remind you of the experience of those who did come to that mountain.

Never approach God on the basis of law. Verse 22, “Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering.” And what does it speak of? Grace. And I come boldly to the throne of grace. Mount Zion represents grace, atonement, and forgiveness. “And by coming to Jesus Christ, you’re coming to Zion.”

Verse 23, “to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven.” Who is the church of the firstborn? Well, that’s the body of Christ. Firstborn means those who get the inheritance. Does every believer get the inheritance? Romans 8 says, “You are heirs and joint heirs with Christ.” The firstborn is the right of inheritance. Every member of the body gets the inheritance.

Verse 24, “and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood.” To come to Zion is to come to Jesus, to have a personal relationship with Him. You’re coming to your Savior.” And there’s no other mediator; there’s only one. He’s saying to come to Christianity is to come to grace, to peace and safety, to worship, to fellowship, to come to God, and to come to Jesus.

Verse 25, “See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven. Who spoke in Christ? God did. He says, “This is My beloved Son, hear Him.” You better listen to the God who speaks in His Son. The Israelites in the wilderness didn’t escape.

Verse 26, “His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised. Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” There’s coming a day when God’s going to shake the whole universe. This means the whole universe collapses. All the stars fall out of the heaven. God’s going to close out the universe. But He is not done yet, there is more.

Verse 27, “This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain.” That denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” Everything in the created universe shakes and trembles under the Curse.

Daniel 2:44 says, “In the future, “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.” There is coming an unshakable, eternal kingdom, established by the God of heaven, with the Lord Jesus Christ as the reigning King.

In Daniel 7 he has this vision: “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days,” who is Yahweh, “and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.”

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.” And in Daniel 7:27, “Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey Him.”

That’s where human history’s going. You can’t save the planet, you can’t save the environment, because it’s headed for destruction, because everything that is created has been affected by the Curse; it’ll all be destroyed. The only thing that will remain is that which is righteous and holy, set apart unto God; and that will be the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Verse 28-29, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe. 29 for our God is a consuming fire.” What do we do? We come to God in grateful worship that we don’t belong to the shakable kingdom. We belong to the kingdom which cannot be shaken. Worship that is well pleasing and righteous.

And if you’re only part of the creation and the kingdom that can be shaken, you will be burned up because God is a fire. You need to come in an acceptable way. “Well how do I do that? How do I escape the kingdom that will be shaken? How do I find entrance into the kingdom which will never be shaken, which will ride through all the judgments into the new heaven and the new earth?

The Israelites, came to the wilderness of Sinai, and they camped there at the foot of Sinai. The Lord called to him from the mountain, Exodus 19:4, ‘Thus you must say to the house of Jacob: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.’ Verse 7, Moses came back and summoned the elders and set before them all the words from the Lord.”

All the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do!’ And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.” Verse 10-11, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes 11 and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.”

Go back now to Hebrews. You see those images being repeated by the writer when He says, “Don’t go to that mountain because that’s a mountain that can’t be touched. Even though you could touch it physically, you don’t want to touch a mountain that is blazing fire, darkness, gloom, whirlwind, blast of judgment trumpets, sounds of judgment words, and the promise of death.”

All the law does is expose your sin and the threat of judgment. God gave His law in a desert, a place of utter solitude. The people had no distractions; there was nothing to see. There was only God, and there was only all that but His voice. And there was their own conscience, and no place to hide. They were naked, facing Holy God, facing their inability to go near Him.

Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is everyone who continues not in all the things written in the book of the law to do them” You’re cursed if you don’t do all the law of God perfectly all the time, and that means we’re all cursed. You don’t want to come by your supposed goodness and works. There’s no forgiveness there; you’ll just be everlastingly alive while being incinerated in hell.

What happened at Jerusalem? God set up a sacrificial system at Jerusalem, a provision by which He could grant forgiveness to those who believed in Him, recognized their sin, and knew they needed His forgiveness. You wanted to go to Jerusalem, south of the Old City called Zion, which King David conquered and made his royal residence in the seventh year of his reign.

And he made it the religious center of Israel by putting the Ark of the Covenant there. Zion, the mountain in Jerusalem, became the dwelling place of God. Jerusalem was His city. “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, ‘But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.’”

Zion is the city of God. Zion is the place where God set up the sacrificial system that pointed toward the cross. Listen to Psalm 132, “For Yahweh has chosen Zion; He has claimed it for His habitation. ‘This is My resting place forever; here I will inhabit, for I have claimed it.’” Jerusalem and Zion became one. Psalm 50:2, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth.”

And you come, “to Jesus, the mediator of a New Testament.” You come to Jesus. We’re already in relationship with Him, aren’t we? We’re one with Him, and He with us. Through Him we can come to God. And lastly, so important, you come “to the sprinkled blood.” Jesus’ sacrifice is much greater. Christ shed His blood for all who would ever believe through all of human history. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Feb 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250223 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000257 imblog

Hebrews 12:4-11

Starting in verse 4, Hebrews 12 says, “In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, ⁶ for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives.

⁷ Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline—which all receive^[e]—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?

¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees,

¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead. Remember Matthew 18, where we have our Lord giving us the pattern for church discipline, it is to confront each other in the church, and to confront sin, and sometimes to even to put the person out of the church because of the influence that they’re having for evil.

And so, our Lord says, “Remember that where two or three of you are gathered together, there am I in the midst.” And that refers to the two or three witnesses engaged in a discipline situation. So, when we do discipline, we’re reflecting what our Lord desires for His church. We do on a one-to-one basis in the life of the church, what our Lord is doing in the lives of all who are His children.

When they became believers, or when they associated with the believers, persecution was immediate. Some of them literally lost their property. They were pressured to go back into Judaism. Persecution is difficult for new believers, and it’s very threatening those who are only considering whether or not to identify with Christ. He says, “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence.”

Because at the end of that, there is “a great reward.” So, here you have an illustration of people who have made an external commitment to Christ. They have come together to assemble with a believing group of Christians, some genuine and some only in consideration of Christ. The threat is then to drive some of those who are considering Christ away because the price is too high.

Some even questioning their suffering, asking why it is, now that I’ve come to Christ, that I am so suffering. Well, they need to understand that they have to live by faith. And if you will continue to live by faith, there is a great reward. The words of our Lord are, “In this world you will have tribulation. Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We have to live by faith.

In Hebrews 11 we saw people who did not receive what they hoped for in life. All the promises to the patriarchs were not fulfilled in their life; all the promises to Moses were not fulfilled in his life; all the promises to and through the prophets were not fulfilled in their life. They didn’t even see the great promise of all promises, the coming of the Messiah, the one to provide salvation.

Now, we have the promise fulfilled in Christ, but we too live for a future hope in the glory that is to come. In Hebrews 12, the writer turns to this community of believers and says, “Now I have showed you that salvation has always been by faith. And I call on you to lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Having said all of that about the life of faith, living the life of faith, being courageous in the life of faith, He then comes to the question, “Why is it that if we come into the kingdom by faith, why is it if we have confessed Jesus as our Lord, if we acknowledged Him as the one who died and rose again on our behalf, why is it that life is still for us so hard? Why is it so hard?

And the answer comes in verses 5 - 11: it is the discipline of God. When you have difficulties and challenges in your life, don’t look to Satan. Satan’s not your father. He used to be your father. Jesus said, “You’re of your father the Devil,” to unbelieving Jews. We’re not under his sovereignty. In a very real sense, he’s been placed under our feet. We have been delivered form his power.

The issues that come into our life that challenge us, that call for our courage and our faith to be strong, the struggles, the trials, the suffering, the pain is not the work of Satan in the life of a believer. It’s part of our training; it’s part of our father’s discipline for us. It also is not just protection, but it is instruction with a view to producing virtue, aiming at the increase of our character.

The purpose of discipline is to produce virtue, and discipline is only for a temporal season. In discipline, God is the Father. In discipline, the objects are His children. In punishment, condemnation is the goal; in discipline, righteousness is the goal. There are three reasons for the Lord’s discipline, three reasons that things in our lives come along that cause us to struggle, and to suffer.

Reason number one is correction. Scripture is for correction – 2 Timothy 2. God is in the business of correction. Every branch He prunes. That’s a painful slicing away. We have sins in our lives that need the discipline of correction. For example, in 1 Corinthians 11, correction reached the point where some people were sick because of the way they came to the Lord’s Table.

But when you look at your own life, and you begin to see that God is correcting you. This is not punishment for your sin, having been born by Christ, this is correction you in love. And so, you consider the chastening of the Lord in your life as being related to the sins in your life, having a corrective purpose. First Peter 5:10 says, “After you have suffered a while, the Lord make you perfect.”

There’s a second reason for discipline, and that’s prevention. Sometimes God’s discipline is to prevent sin. The Lord fences you in and tells you to put a guard on your mouth and a guard on your eyes and a guard on your ears, and be careful what you expose yourself to. The Lord demands that you stay away from evil company because evil company corrupts good morals.

Paul has an agonizing experience of false teachers. It is so severe that in 2 Corinthians 12 he says it’s like a sharp stake rammed through my flesh. And so, he goes to the Lord and says, “I prayed three times that the Lord would take away my agony and my pain, and the Lord didn’t do it.” The Lord said this, “I’m allowing this to happen to keep you from pride, to protect you from feeling too confident.

There’s a third reason for God’s discipline; that’s education. It’s designed to teach you the experiences of life that lead to deeper fellowship with God. There are things that come that just educate you toward God. I think of Peter in Luke 22 where Jesus says, “Satan’s desired to have you that he might sift you like wheat but, after you are turned around, you will strengthen the brethren.”

You can’t become an educator to strengthen others unless you’ve been through the trials they’ve been through. Part of the discipline of God is to raise the level of your sympathy and to raise the level of your comfort. What was the purpose in Job’s suffering as far as Job was concerned? It was education. This is what he says, “I had heard of You with my ear; now my eye sees You.”

The end result of what happened to Job was a clear vision of God. And four verses later, he says, “And now I pray for others.” So, Hebrews 12:5 says, “And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him.” Paul says, “Let me prove I’m an apostle,” and he gives testimony to his pain and suffering.

Look at Proverbs 3:11-12! “Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; 12 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.” How important is it to quote to these Jewish people from the Proverbs that say you should expect it. Proverbs 3 will see that this discipline comes from the Lord.

Now, I want to show you two perils in discipline, and two proofs in discipline, and the products in discipline. Two perils in discipline. Don’t misjudge its urgency; it’s important. Do not treat it lightly. Whatever troubles come into your life, whatever trials come into your life, view them as the discipline of God. Like Israel in the wilderness, you can complain all the time.

You can also treat them lightly by simply seeing them as some kind of unjust act. You can treat them lightly by failing to change, being obstinate. You don’t want to take a shallow look at the trials of life. Take a deep spiritual look. Secondly, it says in Proverbs 3:11, “Nor faint when you’re reproved by Him.” This is just as bad. This is to sink down in some level of despondency. This is when you get discouraged.

There are also two proofs in discipline. Look at verses 6–8, “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son whom He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, which all receive, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

There are two things that are proven by discipline. One, God’s love; two, your son ship. Two wonderful realities are proven. First, whom a Lord loves He disciplines. That’s why you don’t ignore or despise the discipline of God. It all proceeds from His love. The pains of life that drive you to Him; that purge your soul; it’s the pains of life that make you a better believer, and a more sympathetic teacher.

Revelation 3:19 says “As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent.” Were we not chosen by sovereign love? Ephesians 1 says, “In love, having predestinated us.” Wasn’t it love that redeemed us? Did not God love us when we were enemies? Is it love that effectually calls us? Jeremiah 31:3 says, “In lovingkindness I have called you.” It’s all motivated by love.

Secondly, it proves you’re His children. Verse 6 says, “He scourges every child whom He receives.” Verse 7, “God deals with you as with children; what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? If you’re without discipline, of which all of you have become partakers, then you’re illegitimate children and not sons.” All of our Father’s children are going to experience discipline.

Proverbs 19:18, “Chasten your son while there’s hope, and let not your soul spare for his crying.” Proverbs 22:15, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him.” Proverbs 29:15, “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame.” Certainly our world is full of testimonies to that, right?

Finally; two things that God produces. Verse 9, “Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?” We give honor to our earthly father for the discipline that he gives to us out of love and because we’re His children. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?

Second thing, verse 10, “For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness.” So, we get a full, rich life and holiness. We’ll have eternal life, and we’ll have eternal holiness, but this is talking about here and now. You receive the promise of eternal holiness when you put your faith in Christ.

Discipline contributes to how much you enjoy this life and all its riches in Christ and how you progress down the path of godliness and holiness. And the two concepts are inseparable. Because really living is connected to living a life of virtue and obedience. And the Lord keeps up the discipline throughout our lives to accomplish these ends. And He acknowledges that.

Verse 11, “No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” When you’re going through the agony and the pain, whether it’s an illness or a job loss or an economic stress, or trouble with your children, or trouble with your spouse, it doesn’t seem joyful at the time.

“Yet to those who have been trained by it” If you’ll see it for what it is - training, correction, protection, education it will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” Your life will be filled with the products that righteousness produces. We go through a terrible time grieving over them. For the moment it’s not joyful, but “afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Feb 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250216 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000256 imblog

Hebrews 12:1-3

Now, we are coming tonight to the twelfth chapter of Hebrews. We have seen this immense attempt to show that salvation comes by faith and faith alone, and that those who are God’s walk by faith as well. It is both the faith of the sinner that initiates salvation, and the faith of the saint that marks his ongoing sanctification. I want you to look at verses Hebrews 12:1-3.

Verse 1-2, “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Verse 3, “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.” Jesus here is the ultimate model of faith. We’ve gone through Hebrews 11, and we have heard about the heroes of faith from the past, from the Old Testament era, both by name and by reference, at the end of the chapter, to what happened to them.

Based on the opening of Hebrews 12, “We are called to run this race that is set before us.” It is the “faith race.” They were blessed in the running; they endured to the end as we have seen. They suffered persecution even death with great courage. And we got to the greatest faith and talked about the courage of faith. Based on these testimonies, we are called to run the faith race.

That gives the impression that somehow the saints who are now in heaven are spectators who are watching us on Earth. That is not taught in Scripture. Nowhere in the Bible does it state that people in heaven are watching what is going on down here on Earth. That actually would defy the essence of heaven which is to be separated from all the sin and strife that goes on here.

Now, notice the word “race” in verse 1. This is a call to run a race. Many figures of speech are used, to describe aspects of the Christian life. We are to put on the armor of God, a metaphor, to fight against the wiles of the devil. The military metaphors are elsewhere in Scripture. Second Timothy 2:3, as good soldiers we go to battle and do what we do to please the Commander.

But then you have this metaphor of a race, and we are runners in that race. We are athletes competing. The picture there is of an athlete engaged in a race, doing all he can to win the race. We all understand the interest that the ancient world, particularly the Greek world, had in athletics and in games. In Galatians 5, Paul says to the Galatians, “You were running well. Who hindered you?”

Paul was highly motivated to run his spiritual race with a goal in mind. And there he tells us what the goal is. It is the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. He says in 2 Timothy 4:7 again, “I have finished the course.” I don’t run aimlessly; I run to win; I run to finish; I run for the prize which is the upward call and Christlikeness. But here, the Holy Spirit encourages all His readers to run this race.

The Christian life is a race. That is to say it demands great effort. It is not a sprint; it is not a middle distance; it is a marathon. The entrance to the race is the new birth: salvation by faith in the perfect and complete work of Christ. The race starts for you when you become a believer. You must be continually urged to run with all your might, not to jog, not to sit down and rest, not to fall back.

Amos 6:1 said, “Woe to them that are at ease.” This is a race; there’s no place for standing still or walking slowly. And it is an agonizing, relentless event. It is lifelong, and it is to be run with endurance. There will be obstacles; there will be problems. We will be weary and tired, distracted, but we remain under this challenge. We take it as God gives it to us and stay in the place where He’s put us.

The key word is the word “endurance.” Paul says to the Ephesians, “Having done all to stand.” There are people who’ve done it all, but at the end of the race, they’re not standing. They’ve crashed and burned somewhere. They didn’t remain faithful to run the race. I want to end my life having endured the race faithfully, never have broken the rules, but running with endurance.

Secondly, the encouragement. Verse 1, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us...” This is the encouragement to run the race, because of this cloud of witnesses. We just met them in Hebrews 11. And to what do they give witness? To the value of faith. To the power of faith, to the wisdom of faith, to the righteousness of faith, and to the blessing of faith.

Whether it is Abel; or Enoch; or Noah; or Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses; or the rest that are referred to without giving their names, with the exception of some - Rahab and those listed in verse 32 – they are those who are this great cloud of witnesses who have given testimony to the great power and blessing of a life of faith. Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, let’s run the race of faith.

And so, all of them experienced the blessing and the hope of promise in the life of faith. They didn’t receive the fulfillment of it, they gained approval through their faith but didn’t receive, verse 39 says, what was promised. But they showed the blessedness of living a life of faith. They are the witnesses to the greatness, the validity and the blessing of a life of faith.

Philippians 2:15 says, “Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the Word of life.” You need to be that kind of person, so that his race was not in vain. Paul isn’t in Hebrews 11, but it’s a paralleled principle. He shows you how to run a faith race.

If the athlete endures what he endures to run to win a corruptible crown, how much more should we discipline ourselves to receive an incorruptible crown? Setting aside the indulgences of the flesh, maintaining the training rules that God has laid down for us, exercising temperance, we run the race and our examples, our models are all who have gone before us and run the race of faith.

We draw encouragement from them. And, even though they didn’t receive the promise in their day, the promise was fulfilled in Christ. In His death and resurrection, all that they had hoped for was to be realized, and they now have entered into the fullness of that realization. And so, the faith that they exercised, though not fulfilled in their life, has been fulfilled through the coming of Christ.

We, in ourselves, are frail. We are weak, and yet we belong to a mighty company of runners in the race of faith. And they all are winners, and so will we be. For the God of yesterday is the God of today. Hebrews 13:8 says, “He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever” In verse 1 again, “Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us.”

Now, in order to run effectively, you’ve got to get rid of useless weight. Do some discarding. It reminds me of 1 Peter 2:1 where he says, “Strip off your soiled, polluted garments.” Get down to the bare basics to run the race. Number one, every encumbrance of every weight. It simply means bulk. It could be superfluous flesh. And that person trains to make sure he/she stays that way.

Now, what is He referring to with this weight, this encumbrance? Well, it’s not sin, because he refers to sin also. “Lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us.” What was it? It was the baggage of their former Judaistic legalism. They were running, like overweight people in bulky sweatshirts. You can’t run the race of life dragging along everything from the past.

The biggest weight encumbering these new believers was Jewish legalism, rabbinic tradition, and dead works. And it wasn’t easy to let it go; it was engrained in them - Sabbath observances. That’s why in Colossians 2, Paul says, “Don’t let anybody hold you to a Sabbath or a new moon or a feast day or a festival.” That’s shadow, and shadow goes away when substance arrives.

They were holding onto the temple. They were holding onto the priests. They were holding onto the rituals; they were holding onto the ceremonies. That’s why all through this letter, the writer says, “There is a better priesthood, a better sacrifice, a better temple and a better covenant.” You can never run by faith if you’re hanging onto works or any of the trappings of a works system.

The race is run by faith plus nothing, and anything you hang onto from past religion that is made up of pointless ceremonies, traditions, rituals, and rules will only slow you down. He’s saying, “Unload your Judaism; unload your legalism; drop all the old weights and the sin which so easily entangles us.” We all know that many people in our church came from Catholicism.

One of the things you had to face when you left Catholicism was the temptation to hang onto attitudes toward Mary, toward the mass, toward works, to hang onto fears that you had that if you violated Catholic law and the Catholic Church, you might commit a mortal sin and end up in hell. Some of you came out of Seventh Day Adventism, and it’s hard to let go of all of the dietary restrictions.

Some of you came out of Mormonism, and there are things that hold onto you and still have a grip on you. And in addition to that, sin, which so easily entangles us. Both of them entangle us. The reference is not to some specific sin, but to face the fact that sin itself surrounds us, closes in on us, and restricts us in our race. Sin is an ever-present threat to hinder our running.

We are still surrounded by the reality of our flesh and our sin nature. So, when we sin, we are saying, “I don’t believe you, God. This is what I want; this is what I will do. All sin then is an act of practical unbelief. Because we want the best for ourselves. It is part of our nature to want to indulge ourselves and want to have joy and peace. So, you believe the lie rather than the Word of God.

There’s another thing: the event, the encouragement, the encumbrances, and then the example. We’ve had a lot of witnesses to the validity of a faith life. But there’s one example that rises above all the rest, verse 2, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God.”

Remember Jesus Christ. Literally the Greek says get your eyes off the immediate surroundings and look to Jesus. And those of you who have run competitively know that you have to keep your eyes ahead of you. And that’s what our writer is telling us. Where do we put our eyes? We put our eyes on Christ. This is back to Philippians 3, “We set our eyes on the goal who is Christ.”

Why? Because He’s the perfect example. He’s the perfect model. You don’t look at the people around you. Because He is the author. He is the reason we have any faith, isn’t it true? He gave us that as a gift. He is the leader. He is the originator. He is the one who granted us faith out of His store. And He, too, has faith, as exhibited in His attitude toward His Father.

He took everything that God His Father ever said and put His complete trust in that. And His faith was so strong that He even sustained joy as He looked at the cross and its shame. He saw through that to the end. What was the end? Being seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He believed God would take Him through that cross, out the other side of the grave, and set Him at His right hand in heaven.

That’s how great His faith was. To become alienated from God, to bear all the sins of all the people throughout human history who would ever believe, and yet to emerge triumphant. But He’s also not only the prototype of faith. He carries faith to its completion. He raised faith to its perfection and established the highest example of faith. He is the source then of faith, and He models it.

Where did He find His joy in running such a difficult faith race? He believed God; He never wavered. He was faithful to God’s Word. He pleased God, and without faith it’s impossible to please Him. He was perfect in His faith. Why would He endure the shame, endure the cross, and have, at the same time, joy? Because He saw past that to the goal of being seated at the right-hand of God.

Do I need to remind you that there’s a seat there for us on His throne with Him as well? He is the model of faith because He sees past the horrendous persecution, the horrendous suffering. And verse 3, He says to them, “Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” And He saw through to the very end.

In John 15:11 Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be made full.” We share in the same joy because one day we will also sit on the right-hand of the Father, enthroned with Jesus as joint heirs with Him. And even in the struggle there is joy because the victory is already guaranteed. Right? We win the race for God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Feb 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250209 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000255 imblog

Hebrews 11:30-40

And in our study of this chapter, the Holy Spirit is making a concentrated effort to tell the virtues of faith. The Spirit of God wants all man to recognize the tremendous importance of a total kind of faith. Faith is really defined as simply trusting completely in what God says with no conditions. It is unconditional trust in what God says strictly on the basis that He said it.

Where you have true trust, you don't need explanations. That which looks for signs and wonders and explanations is not faith; it's doubt looking if it can find some proof. And since God and the worldly system are opposites, faith means breaking with the system. To believe God is often to do that which is unreasonable and illogical. And different from what the world would dictate.

Faith, is simply and only based on a person’s attitude toward God. If you've got a little, tiny god, don't trust him, because he’s not verified in your mind. People who don't trust God have the wrong god. People who really know who God is have no reason to do anything but trust Him totally. And the reason these people trusted Him was because they had the right view of who He was.

Christ has made the way of access. Put your faith in Him. The Old Covenant is over with.” And you have to believe God to do that. You’d have to trust in the New Covenant, to sever every relationship. He’s calling for full faith. In Hebrews 11 He explains us that commodity, because he believes so strongly to cut himself off from everything in his life to obey what that God tells him to do.

God says, “Drop that Old Testament; focus on Christ and come all the way and run the race.” So, on one side He warns the intellectually convinced not to fall back; on the other side of Hebrews 11, He speaks to the saved and says, “Come on, cut the cord and run the race with patience.” And in the middle comes the great chapter on faith. So, it is a chapter presenting to us the virtues of faith.

Now, I want to show you three things in this passage. Now true faith, at its high point, is courageous. Real faith has courage. Now, faith at its highest point has the courage to do three things: to conquer in struggle, to continue in suffering, and to count on salvation. Faith at its high point has the courage to do that. First faith at its apex has the courage to conquer in struggle.

Look at verse 30, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being marched around by the Israelites for seven days.” Now it wasn't the walls that had faith; we know it was the people. Now, the walls there has to do with the massive outer wall, sometimes so wide you could run a couple of chariots side by side down the wall. I'm not talking about a picket fence. Big walls.

Moses, their great leader, was dead. But Joshua, the new leader, took over. And under Joshua, they went across the Jordan River, came face to face with Jericho. And the courage of their faith was immediately tested. God said, “I’ll give you the land.” Here we are, no army, no nothing.” And you know what? It fell. And it didn't fall to battle, it fell to faith of the people.

God says, “Here’s the battle plan.” You all line up, put the priest out in front and the guys with the rams’ horns, and you walk around the city once every day and then go back to wherever you're going to camp. And you do that six days in a row. Then the seventh day you walk around seven times. At the end of the seventh time, blow the horns, everybody yell, and the walls will fall down.”

They had learn to live on faith. But they believed God; they went there; they marched around and around. And finally, the seventh time, on the seventh day, it took great faith to yell. By that time, they yelled at the top of their voice, and all the walls fell over. And that's how faith operates. Faith conquers the obstacles because it believes God. God says, “I’ll do this My way,” faith says, “That's right.”

Verse 31, “By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.” It shows the grace of God how a prostitute found her way into the hall of fame with the heroes of faith. Rahab was out because of her profession. And she was a Gentile. She was a Canaanite. Worse she was an Amorite, a member of a race that God devoted to destruction.

The record is in Joshua 2 and Joshua 6. The spies went in to check out the land, they got into Jericho and they got into trouble, and they had to be hidden. So, they got into Rahab’s house and she welcomed them with hospitality, and she hid them in straw up on the roof. And then she let them out. And she did it because she knew God had given the land to them, and she believed in their God.

And you know something? God honored that prostitute in Jericho, that Amorite. You know how He honored her? First of all He honored her by salvation. But more than that, she became the mother of Boaz. Boaz became the husband of Ruth, the great-great grandmother of David. Rahab the harlot moved right into the Messianic line. That shows God’s undeserved grace.

Verse 32, “And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.” He starts naming great heroes of faith. And they're not in chronological order, but they're all rulers. Four of them are judges, Samuel was both a judge and a prophet, and David was a king. They're all great rulers, and you know these men of faith.

Gideon packed up 32,000 men. He was the judge who ruled in Israel, and God had given him the commission of wiping out the Midianites. And so, God said, “That's too many, cut it down.” When God got through paring it down, there were 300 left. And it wasn't by who was the best at wrestling, or who was the strongest or the most accurate with weapons; it was just a question of how they drank water.

And then the Lord said, “Go and surround the camp of the Midianites. And He said, “I want you to take with you one torch, one pitcher, and a trumpet.” Then God said, “Just stand on the hillside, surrounding the valley where the Midianites are, light your torches, smash your pitchers, blow your horns, and all the Midianites will run around and kill each other.” And that is what happened.

But you see, the greatest faith is that it has the courage to conquer and struggle. In Judges 4, Barak took 10,000 men, to fight fighting against Sisera who was a commander-in-chief of the confederate chariot force of the Canaanites. No way could Barak handle Sisera, but he believed God. And he said, “OK, guys, pack it up; here we go.” Barak entered in, and won the battle.

Then you find Samson. Then read Judges 13 - 16 and see how many things in his life were apparently done on the basis of faith. You know, Samson knew he had power, but he knew who the source of power was. He knew that it was God. And he believed God. Listen, you've got to have a lot of faith to go in there and tackle a lion. Now, he knew God gave him his strength.

In spite of the terrible tragedy of his life with Delilah, his life still stands out as a great life of faith. He had courage to go in there with that lion. And he was an irritating person to the Philistines. And all the time he would get in these terrific battles, and he’d be fighting a whole army all alone, and he never for a minute thought God would pull the plug on his power. He believed God.

And after he had been blinded and was found in the prison house, grinding grain like some animal, finally his hair began to grow, and he got it right in his heart with God again. So, they were having a big feast in the large temple, and he said to somebody, let me lean against the pillars. And so, they took him to the pillars and he just gave the pillars a big shove and killed many Philistines.

Then you come to Jephthah. Judges 11:32-33, another one of Israel’s enemies was the Ammonites. And the courage of Jephthah knocked off the Ammonites. After Jephthah comes David. In 1 Samuel 17:46, “Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God,”

And you come to Samuel. Great man of faith. He never fought in any wars, He fought the battle of idolatry. He fought the battle of immorality. He had to stand up in the midst of a polluted society and speak the truth. When all the people were beginning to move toward idols, he stood up and rang true to the living God, and that's a battle that may be the most difficult any man ever faces:

Verse 33-34 says, “Who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions. 34 quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.” These great men, from those prophets, Samuel to John the Baptist, achieved conquest in struggle because they believed God.

It says in 2 Samuel 8:15, “And David reigned over all Israel and executed justice,” and it has to do with them doing what was right when everybody else was doing what was wrong, and that takes courage. “They stopped the mouths of lions.” Remember Daniel? The king said, “Don't worship anybody but me.” And Daniel didn't go in his closet and worship God, he turned towards his window and worshipped God.

And they said, “You're going to get thrown in the lions’ den.” But as the song says, “All the lions could not eat Daniel.” It says, in verse 34, that some of these men courageously quenched the violence of fire. You remember three of them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They were thrown into a fiery furnace. Because they believed God. And when they got in there, Jesus Christ Himself was there.

Verse 35, “Women received dead raised to life again. Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.” Remember Elijah and the child of the widow of Zarephath? He healed her dead son. Remember Elisha who raised the child of the Shunammite woman? The faith of both of those prophets brought back those children from the dead.

But the courage of faith is not only courage to continue in struggle, or to conquer in struggle, but secondly, to continue in suffering. Sometimes God doesn't design the battle to be victorious. He only designs the battle to go on and on. Well, God’s working through that, even in its elongation. “Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.”

Verse 36, “Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment.” Sometimes the hardest pressure that comes against us is mental pain, the anguish of being criticized. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet who spent his life crying over Israel. Nobody ever listened to him. They mocked him so much. But he took it. “As well as bonds and imprisonments.”

Verse 37, “They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.” Stoning means killing. The first witness would throw a large stone. And if it killed the individual, the stoning was over. If it didn't, then the next witness would join in, and finally all the people would cast stones until he was dead.

They did this to great Old Testament saints who would not recant their faith. “They were sawed in two. Tradition tells us that this happened to Isaiah. “They died by the sword” the literal Greek here means they "died by sword slaughter," which has to do with a mass slaughter. Some Old Testament faithful were just slaughtered together rather than deny God. Oh, they had such courage.

Verse 38, “The world was not worthy of them.” Here’s just a little look at what some of these people went through. What courage. The terrible suffering that came to the people of God was met with faith, and it was met with courage. And God will make up for it in heaven forever. They'll be worthy of everything they receive up there. We may suffer here; but God will reward.

Thirdly, true faith has the courage to count on salvation. You know, they had to live in hope, right? They had to hope. The abiding confidence of all these people, what was it? They believed that God would redeem them and reward them someday when all the suffering was over. Verse 39, “All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised.”

Verse 40, “since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.” The veil was always hanging between them and God. But God provided a better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. In other words, their perfection had to wait for us. The New Covenant gave them what the Old Covenant couldn't give. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Feb 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250202 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000254 imblog

Hebrews 11:23-29

It’s a brief portion of Scripture that gives us the characteristics of faith that are indicated in the life of Moses. Hebrews 11:23-29 says, “By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter

25 and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. 26 For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him who is invisible.

28 By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites. 29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned. Now, there you have a condensed version of the story of Moses. And we have been learning a lot about faith.

This book of Hebrews, was written to a group of Jewish believers. And some Jewish people who were associated with those believers, had heard the gospel, and were interested in the gospel, but who had not yet come to put their faith in Christ. And one of the questions about the gospel of Jesus Christ would be this: since salvation according to the gospel is by faith, is that something new?

Their understanding of Judaism had developed into a system of works. And the essence of it was that if you’re good enough and moral enough, and observe all of the ceremonies and all the rituals, and do your part to keep the Law externally, and do all of the required things that the rabbis have added to Scripture, if you manage to make a good effort at that, you’ll be accepted by God.

But it’s a matter of your own effort and your own works. So, when the gospel comes along and says, “Forget keeping the Law, forget circumcision, forget the rituals – none of those contribute to your salvation; it’s all a matter of grace and faith,” the Jews would wonder if this was not some new message. And so, the writer of Hebrews is pointing out, that salvation has always been by faith.

And we learned about Abel and how he demonstrated faith. And then we learned about Enoch, and then we learned about Noah. Then we learned about Abraham, and then we began to learn about the rest of the patriarchs as well – Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph. And in every case, we have seen that those men all had a right relationship with God through faith. Faith defined their relationship.

And now we come to the book of Exodus, and it tells us the story of Moses. The story of Moses actually goes from the beginning of Exodus all the way to the thirty-fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. The elements of the story of Moses are contained in all of those. The only part of the Pentateuch that isn’t written by Moses, including the book of Genesis, is the account of his death in Deuteronomy.

Now, the assumption of the Jews would be that Moses is the model of the Law. In fact, the Law was even called the Mosaic Law. And so, the Jews would assume that if anybody was a model of legalism, it had to be Moses. Moses was the ultimate archetypal legalist, and so it is a stunning thing to say that Moses operated in the spiritual realm not by law, but by faith.

And so, his life is marked by choices related to his faith. And this extends way beyond Moses because this is a good way to look at the life of faith, because genuine saving faith is selective. If you have a saving faith, and you make choices, there are certain things that you accept, and there are certain things that you reject. And they’re really modeled for us here in the story of Moses.

But Moses is the next example of the truth that salvation comes not by works, not by religiosity, ceremony, or ritual, but by faith. That is personal belief in the Word of God. In studying Abel, we learned how one comes to life by faith through sacrifice. Abel showed us, how to live by faith. Enoch then showed us how to walk by faith. And Noah showed us how to work by faith.

And now we look at Moses, who shows us how faith acts in terms of the decisions that it makes. And that’s a basic way to look at life. Life is a series of choices that we make. You often hear people say, “I made some bad choices.” That is absolutely true. Sin is always a bad choice. We face opportunity every single day, to make the right choice. It is a singular opportunity never to come by again.

Abel chose God’s way, the more excellent way of sacrifice; his brother didn’t. Abel was blessed, and his brother was cursed. Enoch chose God’s way to walk with God. The rest of the world didn’t, and it was destroyed with the exception of eight souls. Noah chose God’s way, and the rest of the human race drowned in his generation. Abraham chose God’s way to live a life of faith.

Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph chose God’s way to believe in God for what they couldn’t see, and they died in hope. And here is the model of Moses who made the right choices. There are many others in the Scripture that you could look at as heroes of faith, but these are the monumental lives that are delineated so carefully in the Old Testament, which would have so much meaning to the Jews.

First Kings 19:18 says, “Yea, I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” There were 7,000 Jews in Israel who made the right choice. And then there was that king, Josiah, 2 Kings 22:2, “He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned not aside either to the right hand or to the left.”

So, now we look at Moses, who made the right choice. He chose to believe God, to believe the Word of God, to live a life of faith. And his faith is demonstrated in his decisions, the decisions that related to things he rejected and things he accepted. What does true faith reject? Verses 24 - 27, the first thing that true faith rejects is the world’s prestige and honor.

Verse 24 says, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” Moses had, by the providence of God, been put in a basket and set in the Nile River to float away. There was a decree to kill all of the Hebrew babies. Just happened that he floated right into where the daughter of Pharaoh was bathing, and he became the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

Miriam, the sister of Moses said, ‘Shall I go and call a nurse for you that she may nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said, ‘Go ahead.’ So, the girl went and called the child’s mother. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said, ‘Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I’ll give you your wages.’ It just so happens that he is now adopted as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and the mother can nurse him.

And so she kept him until 12, he would have learned of the promise to Abraham. He would have learned the reiteration of that promise to Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. He would have learned the history of Joseph who had died in hope of the Promised Land, knowing that there would come a time when God would lead His people out of Egypt that God had send a deliverer for Israel.

He would have learned that the people were hoping for the time of their deliverance and their entrance into the Promised Land. They were hoping for the coming of their Messiah, the One who would bruise the serpent’s head. He would have been trained in everything that God had revealed up to that time. The great covenant promise to Abraham reiterated to the other patriarchs.

And after all of that training in what had been revealed by God up to the time of Moses, she took him back to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He became her son, another indication that he was perhaps 12. She named him Moses, “Because I drew him out of water.” Verse 10 says, “The child grew.” And verse 11 says, “Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up.”

There were 40 years between verses 10 - 11, which according to Acts 7:22 were the years in which he learned all the wisdom of Egypt. So, he started out with a foundation in his life which was the truth God revealed up to that point. And now he’s learning the wisdom of the Egyptians. This was Egyptian idolatry and hieroglyphics. He would have learned the languages of surrounding nations.

When he had grown up, he has to make a choice. What is his choice going to be? The answer to the dilemma comes in Hebrews 11:24, “By faith, when he had grown up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” He rejected the world’s prestige. Pharaoh was the greatest ruler on the planet at that time, had the most sophisticated culture and the most advanced society.

Moses had the privileges of prestige. He understood the honors of being a prince in Egypt. He understood the status. He understood all the royal rigmarole that went with it. He understood the comforts. He understood the servants that he would have, the power and the wealth that he would have. Should he hold onto the world’s prestige or should he forsake it for the call of God?

In Acts 7:22, Stephen says, “Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. He was a man of power in words and deeds. And when he was forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them treated unjustly, he defended him and struck down the Egyptian.”

Moses thought that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. Moses had begun to realize that God was going to use him to be the deliverer. He knew God had called him. And so, he kills an Egyptian to defend his people. He rejected the prestige that Egypt had to offer, because he knew God had a higher calling for him.

This is an act of faith. Because if you operate on sight, you’re going to take what you’ve given: power, prestige, money, fame, all of that that is his as a prince in Egypt. He exchanged what he had for what he didn’t have. He exchanged what he could see for what he couldn’t see. Most people live all their life chasing those things. But Moses went all the way from the palace to becoming a slave.

He identified with the slaves because they were God’s people. And because God had a plan for them. The plan was for a land and for a promise, the kingdom and salvation, everything bound up in the Abrahamic promise. God was going to reward His people with things far greater than what Egypt could offer. So, Moses trusts God to reward and fulfill His purpose in his life.

Faith rejects the world; it rejects all that the world has to offer. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, 1 John 2 describes it. Faith is willing to deny itself. If someone will not let go of the things of the world, they cannot come to God. Remember, the deceitfulness of riches and the preoccupation with this world, and that’s what led to the unfruitfulness.

Secondly, he rejected the world’s pleasure. Verse 25 says, “And chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin.” Sin is pleasurable in that Egyptian culture. No sensory desire would be unfulfilled. No lust would go unmet. Isaiah 21:4 says, “The night of my pleasure has turned into fear,” just reminding us that pleasure is passing really fast.

Moses made the right choice. That’s the choice that faith makes. It puts its trust in God and says, “It puts its trust in God and says, “I’m willing to let go of the pleasures of sin.” So, Moses made a conscience choice to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. That’s consistent with what our Lord said about self-denial, “Take up your cross.”

Thirdly he turned from is the world’s plenty, verse 26, “He considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.” This is not a rash conclusion. The implication there is to the final reward, to the divine reward, to the eternal reward. He is willing to come down, to suffer ill treatment on behalf of the people of God. He is like Christ.

Verse 27, “By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him who is invisible.” They would come after him; he would have to flee for his life, and that’s exactly what he did. And he fled to Midian, where he had to stay for 40 years. It’s the same verb “forsook.” So, it not just simply physically leaving Egypt, but renouncing Egypt.

In Exodus 5 after 40 years in Midian, he comes back. He goes right into Pharaoh’s palace and says, “Pharaoh, let my people go.” Then God’s plaques in Exodus 7-11. First the waters turn to blood, then the frogs, then the gnats, and then the flies, then the death of livestock, then the boils, the hail, the locust, and darkness, and in Exodus 11 the final plaque: the death of the firstborn.

Moses believed God and then made the right decisions. And thus he was accepted by God. Moses was beautiful unto God. Moses’ parents also are models of faith who trusted the plan of God. True faith accepts the Lord’s plan. Verse 29 says, “By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Jan 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250126 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000253 imblog

Hebrews 11:20-22

There are only three verses to look at tonight in Hebrews 11. Essentially, these verses summarize a story from Genesis 12 to Genesis 50. Let’s look at Hebrews 11. And we find ourselves looking at the heroes of faith. We have already considered Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham. And now we come in verse 20 to Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. These are the patriarchs of Genesis 12-50.

Verse 20-22, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21.By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites, and gave instructions concerning his bones.” Very abbreviated and hard to understand.

So from any of these people we could learn lessons about faith in the face of death, coming to the end of your life never having received what God had promised. In the patriarch’s case the promise was of an earthly kingdom and land and blessing and salvation. But they all died in confidence that the promise would be fulfilled even though they had not yet received it.

God’s promise is known as the Abrahamic covenant, it is a promise of a land, a kingdom, blessings, salvation, and the Savior. The writer wants us to understand, that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, whose story fills the rest of Genesis, all died without having realized that promise. Abraham was promised the possession of land. The only land that Abraham owned was a grave.

In Abel we saw the life of faith; in Enoch, the walk of faith; in Noah the work of faith; in Abraham the example of faith, and now we see the enduring triumph of faith as it faces death. Now according to Hebrews 11:6, the only way to please God is to be a person of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. So to please God and therefore receive His salvation, it is a matter of faith.

Verse 20, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.” The main phrase here is “things to come.” Abraham had been promised the land, the nation, and the spiritual blessings to the world. Abraham died in faith, passing on the promise to his son, Isaac. Isaac does the same thing, passes it to Jacob. Jacob does the same thing, passes it to Joseph. They all knew that God was faithful.

But, since you’re not Jewish, we would do well to go back and take another look at the story of Isaac and see how his faith manifested itself. Isaac lived the longest of the four patriarchs. He lived longer than Abraham, longer than Jacob and longer than Joseph. But less is recorded about him than any of the others. Basically, it is squeezed into Genesis 25, 26 and 27.

Isaac was an ordinary son of an extraordinary father who became the ordinary father of an extraordinary son. He lived a relatively quiet life and was probably best known for his spiritual weakness and his passive nature. Let’s go back to Genesis 26. It will be an encouraging story for us because this man with all of his weaknesses is in the list of the heroes of faith. So there’s hope for us.

Genesis 26:1 says, “There was a famine in the land.” That’s in the land of Israel, where the family of Abraham is living and they have to go somewhere else to get some food. “So Isaac went to Gerar, a Philistine city sitting on the border of Egypt. So the Lord said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.’” After that God repeats to Isaac the Abrahamic covenant.

In verse 3,: “I’ll multiply your descendants as stars of heaven, I’ll give your descendants all these lands; to your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me, kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” Isaac never went across the border. However, his weakness showed up immediately. He lies about his wife.

Verse 7, “When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister,’ for he was afraid to say, ‘my wife,’ thinking, ‘the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful.” Where did he learn that? From Abraham who did it twice in Genesis 12 and in Genesis 20. Abraham was afraid that somebody was going to take Sarah away because Sarah was very beautiful.

Abraham told Sarah to say you’re my sister so they would not kill him. When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abraham well for her sake; and gave him sheep, oxen, donkeys, servants and camels.” But the Lord struck Pharaoh with great plagues. Pharaoh called Abram and said, “Why didn’t you tell me she’s your wife? Here’s your wife, please go.”

This happened again in Genesis 20. Abimelech took Sarah. But God came to him in a dream and said, ‘Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken is married.’ So Abimelech called Isaac and asked, is she your wife?’ Why did you say, “She is my sister?” So Abimelech warned the people in verse 11, “Whosoever touches this couple shall be put to death.’”

And then there is the story of the two twins in Rebekah’s womb in Genesis 25:22-23, “The children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘Why is this happening? Verse 23, “The Lord said, ‘Two nations are in your womb; two peoples will come from you and be separated from your body. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

Through Jacob would come the Jewish people; through Esau would come the Edomites, the Arabic peoples. The older was Esau, the younger was Jacob but they were reversed when it came to the birthright. Before they were born, the Lord chose Jacob and said, “Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.” Two nations, one stronger than the other, one serving the other.

Here you have a good indication of divine sovereignty, the purpose of God to give grace to one line, one person and withhold it from another. God has a right to dispense His blessings according to His own sovereign will. God is creator of all things, He has an unlimited right over all His creation. It was at His own good pleasure that He created the world at all.

Look at Genesis 27:1, “When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” Isaac was 137 years old. Verse 3-4, “So now go out in the field to hunt some game for me. 4 Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.” He actually lived 43 more years.

A while back Jacob cooked a stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; so Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me have some of that red stew there, for I am famished.’ “But Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright. Esau said, ‘I’m about to die, so of what use then is the birthright?’ And Jacob said, ‘First swear to me,’ so he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

Isaac ignored God’s Word in the prophecy and his marriages to pagan women. Rebekah says to Jacob, ‘I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, to bring him some game and prepare a savory dish, and bless Esau before his death.’ So Rebekah told Jacob to bring two young goats so that she could prepare a dish that your father loves. Then go to your father so that he may bless you.

Jacob answered, ‘Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.’ His mother said to him, ‘His curse be on me.” So Rebekah took the garments of Esau, and put them on Jacob. She put the skins of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she gave the food and the bread, to her son Jacob. Jacob told his father, ‘I am Esau. I have done as you told me. Please bless me.’”

Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?’ And he said, because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.’” One lie follows another lie. And Isaac said, ‘Please come close, that I may kiss you. When Isaac smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, ‘“The smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.

May God give you of the dew of heaven, the richness of the land, an abundance of grain and new wine. May peoples serve you, nations bow down to you; be master of your relatives. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.” As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from his hunting.

Esau also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. He said, “Let my father eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.” His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am Esau your firstborn son.” Isaac trembled violently. He knew what he had done. When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly bitter cry.

Esau said to his father, ‘Bless me also, O my father!’ And Isaac said, ‘Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.’ Then Esau said, ‘He took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing.’ Isaac says to him, by your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve. You’re going to free yourself up from your brother, you’re going to be a rebel.

And in spite of the horrors of the life that these people seemed to live and the lies and the deception that is going on, it continued. First, Jacob never saw his mother again. He was alienated from his brother and lived in fear that his brother was going to kill him. Later, he met again with his brother and his life was spared. The writer of Hebrews says he demonstrated his faith concerning things to come.

Let’s go back to Hebrews 11:21, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.” Life of faith, for Jacob was like his father Isaac. His life was murky, muddy and dark. But he walked by faith, like Isaac. He encountered many struggles. Victories came very hard for him, but his faith never waned.

Turn to Genesis 28:10, “Jacob departed from Beersheba, went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. 12 He had a dream, and a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Verse 13 says, “The Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.’” Here’s a reiteration of the Abrahamic covenant to the next in the genetic line. Verse 16, “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I didn’t know it.’

Verse 20, “Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘“If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and give me food to eat and garments to wear, I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.” Here is indication of his faith. He wants the Lord to be his God. He is dependent on the Lord, and we see that in Genesis 32. He is terrified of his brother, Esau.

Genesis 48:1, “It came about after these things, Joseph was told, ‘Your father’s sick. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.” When they came into the land, the twelve tribes were allotted land, but there actually were 13 tribes of Israel because one of the tribes was Joseph, but his portion was split in two, Ephraim and Manasseh. And the tribe of Levi had no land because they were priests.

So Joseph appears with his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob has his name changed to Israel – “He collects his strength and sat up on the bed. Jacob said to Joseph, ‘God Almighty appeared to me at Bethel and blessed me. He said, “Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and make you a company of peoples, give you this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.”

Verse 14 sys, but Israel (Jacob) put his right hand on Ephraim, the younger and put his left hand on Manasseh the firstborn. Joseph thought that was a mistake but Israel refused and blessed Ephraim. His younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.’ Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.” So Ephraim becomes another name for Israel.

Look at Genesis 50:22, “Joseph is in Egypt, he and his father’s household. He lived 110 years. Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons. Joseph said to his brothers,” in verse 24, I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land.” He promised you that land, they are still in Egypt, they’ve never been in the land, and they have never had the kingdom.

Now what is the writer of Hebrews telling us? You get it now, don’t you? These are people of faith. I mean, their whole lives were built around this promise that had been given to Abraham and passed on to these three other patriarchs. And everything in their lives focused on the confidence they had that God would do what He said. He would do because God could be trusted. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Jan 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250112 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000252 imblog

Hebrews 11:8-19

The Word of God is timeless. We come to Hebrews 11 and another illustration of faith. Hebrews, was written to some Jews in a Middle Eastern context and in a culture in Israel very different than our own, yet its lessons are boundless. Hebrews proves that salvation by faith is an ancient doctrine. The Old Testament never taught salvation by works; it always taught salvation by faith.

Faith has been the only way to be reconciled to God, to apprehend and embrace the realities of the true and living God. Faith is the only way to enter in to a right relationship with Him. The preaching of the gospel isn’t in competition with the things that the Jewish people had heard. Sadly, they had been given an apostate form of Judaism which had developed into a works system.

Now in order to make his point to these Jewish people, the Holy Spirit goes back and picks up the story of heroes of the faith in the history of Judaism. Abel and the life of faith. Enoch and the walk of faith, Noah and the work of faith. And we have seen in each case that their relationship with God, their salvation was a result not of works but of faith. They believed the Word of God.

Hebrews 11:8 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. And even though he did not know where he was going.” A new era of human history begins. Before this, God maintained a general relationship to the human race after the flood. Until an event occurred in the building of the Tower of Babel.

That was really a manifestation of human pride and idolatry. That general relationship that they had had with God was shattered permanently. God changed mankind so that they scattered all over the face of the planet and their languages were all changed so they couldn’t talk to each other, and they couldn’t communicate with each other. That was the price for revolting against God.

Mercifully, God is going to reveal Himself through one man Abraham. He becomes the father of the people of Israel and Israel becomes the nation that is the repository of divine revelation. God’s plan is to send His Word in a specific way to this people called Israel, the children of Abraham. And they then will possess His Word, and they will proclaim His Word to all the nations.

They’re going to be the people to proclaim that salvation is available, that sinners can be reconciled to God through faith. The fountain of salvation then flows through Abraham. And it has to be modeled in Abraham because Abraham is the central contact point between God and His redemptive plan. His life becomes the pattern for all to follow who come to God by faith.

In Romans 4:1, Paul says, “What shall we then say that Abraham, our father according to the flesh how was he saved?” For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? And then the Holy Spirit quotes Genesis 15:6 which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.”

The promise then of salvation by faith comes to Abraham and all those who come through having faith. Stephen a Jew, Paul a Jew understood the place that Abraham played in the history of salvation by faith. Against this is the thought of Judaism that a man had to earn his way to God. The Jews decided that Abraham was better in everything than everybody else.

That’s not what the Bible teaches. And to destroy this, the Holy Spirit, here and elsewhere, goes back to Abraham to establish the fact that Abraham is a man who came to God and lived with God by faith. The New Testament clearly says this again and again. He was justified by faith and by faith alone. That, of course, if a very dramatic change from what the Jews are used to.

When we come to Abraham, we get the full picture. Let me give you five features of faith that show us the completeness of Abraham’s faith. First. The pilgrimage of faith, verse 8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” His obedience then is immediate.

Now let me tell you about Abraham. He was an unregenerate pagan. He was the product of the scattering of the people who were thrown all over the place from the Tower of Babel. He is not any better than anybody else. Isaiah 51:2 says, “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you; when I called him, he was only one, I blessed him and multiplied him.”

Well Abraham responded with faith. He believed God and a separation took place. He was in the act of obeying when God was still in the act of calling him. And that’s how it starts. He severed all his family ties. He abandoned comfortable things, to embrace uncertainty. But the life of faith is willing to do that because the life of faith is made willing in the day of divine power.

A life of faith demands a break with everything that is familiar, everything that is old. It’s a new world and even though you don’t know what it is because you don’t really inherit it until you leave this one, it starts with a willingness to separate from everything that is familiar and visible. This is where every Christian’s pilgrimage begins, when you separate from the world.

Secondly, the patience of faith, verses 9 -10. “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” And in Acts 7:5, he doesn’t even own any land. It is promised to him but it is never really possessed. Read more in Genesis 23.

So here is Abraham, God’s promise never seen by him in his life, he never owned land, wandered through Israel, Canaan as a tent dweller, but never abandoned his faith in a future promise. He didn’t give up his hope, he continued in hope, he continued in faith, he continued to hold the promise of God high. It motivated him. It pressed him forward. Abraham never grows impatient.

The faith of Abraham didn’t fail. The faith of Isaac didn’t fail. The faith of Jacob didn’t fail. That’s the patience of faith. Enduring faith is the only real saving faith. James 1 says, “Count it all joy when you counter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” This kind of faith is really deaf to fatal doubts, it is blind to impossibilities and it continues to persevere.

Verse 10, “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” When God came to him, He must have told him who He was and what salvation meant. That there was not only a land to which he would go but that there was a city that God Himself would lay the foundations and be the architect and builder and this was the heaven of heavens.”

What a contrast to Lot. Genesis 13:12 says, “Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan,” where God had told him. Lot threw his tent “in Sodom.” Abraham wanted the heavenly. Lot wanted the earthy. If you are looking continually at the things of this world, success, money, fame, pleasure, it’s a damning and destructive absorption. If you focus on heaven, on God’s promises, you will endure.

You endure when your focus is on what is unseen, the one who is unseen and the unseen reality of the glories of heaven promised to us. 1 John 3 says, “He who has this hope purifies himself.” So what do we learn about the life of faith? It begins with a pilgrimage of faith, then it is going to call for the patience of faith as you endure by keeping your eyes on the world to come.

Thirdly, the power of faith. Verse 11, “By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful.” In Genesis 12, there is this promise that there is going to be a people to be born out of his loins. This is the promise of God who is faithful.

Faith sees the invisible, faith sees the impossible, and that’s the power of faith. It trusts in God to do what humanly cannot be done. And when there is that kind of faith present, God acts on behalf of that faith. Sarah is a good wife. But she demonstrates anything but faith. So when you look at verse 11, how can it say “by faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive offspring?”

This is telling us then that she received the deposit of the male seed, even beyond the proper time of life. She is an accompanying reality. You’ve got to have a wife to bear the child. By faith God gave Abraham the power to impregnate Sarah. The faith is not Sarah’s, the faith is Abraham’s because he believed. In Romans 4:17 God says, “I’m going to make you a father of many nations.”

It says in Genesis 15:6, “It was credited to him as righteousness.” Here is Abraham who was justified, who has righteousness imputed to him, this man who has an unwavering faith. So Hebrews 11:12 says, “Therefore from one man, in fact, from one as good as dead, came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.

And that vigor that God gave him to produce that child, produced another child, Ishmael with Hagar. And when Sarah died, according to Genesis 25:2 he took a wife named Keturah and by now he’s over a hundred years ago and this is post-flood and he has six more sons. That it is the power of faith that accomplishes the impossible. God makes promises that fulfills those who believe in Him.

For us it’s the power of God in the miracle of conversion, in the miracle of spiritual ministry, of life-transforming help in the use of the gifts of the Spirit, in the use of the power of the Spirit in the one another of the fellowship of the body. Faith is the ignition switch to spiritual power that makes us useful and allows God through us to do the 30, 60, and a hundred-fold kind of harvest.

Fourthly, the perseverance of faith. Verses 13–16, “These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from,

They would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” The Covenant promise to Abraham was repeated to Isaac in Genesis 26, it was repeated to Jacob in Genesis 28 that they would receive an earthly inheritance and a heavenly one.

And there again we find the perseverance of faith. Faith is patient to endure all of the lack of fulfillment in this life because it has its focus on the promise that lies ahead. That’s the whole story of the chapter because God provided something better for us. The promise was sure because God could be trusted. And they persevered in this faith, looking to that heavenly city in the future.

Fifthly, verse 17, the proof of faith. The real test is not just obedience with sacrifice. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested offered up Isaac.” God comes in Genesis 22, and says to Abraham, “I want you to put your son on the altar. I want you to sacrifice your son on the altar to Me.” How are you going to have descendants if verse 18, “the one to whom it had been said, your offspring will be traced through Isaac.”

Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. The two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father! Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’”

Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together. They came to the place in which God had told them, Abraham built the altar there, arranged the wood, bound his son Isaac, laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.” Why would he do that?

Hebrews 11:19 says, “Abraham considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.” How did he know that? Because he had been as good as dead, and God had given life to him and life through him to this son. He knew that God’s law forbid a man to kill his son. He knew that God hated human sacrifice and always it was an animal.

Abraham considered that God was able to raise people from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. Who was it who put His life on the altar and came back from the dead? A picture of Christ. Only Christ really died. Isaac did not die. That’s faith in all its fullness. That’s faith having passed the final test. That’s the life of faith as modeled by Abraham. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Jan 2025 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20250105 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000251 imblog

Colossians 1:15-19

I want to talk about Immanuel, “God with us” - Who is this child? The announcement to Joseph was that this child would be named Jesus, for He would save His people from their sins; and that His name would be Immanuel, which in Hebrew means “God with us.” God came down to save His people from their sins. I want us to think about the reality of who Christ is today.

Let us to turn to the words of Paul in Colossians 1. Here the Holy Spirit pulls together a portrait of Christ to identify Him. In fact, this passage identifies Him with regard to His relationship to God, to the world, to angels, to the church, and to all people. Verse 15-18 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him,”

In heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.”

This is really a stunning summary of statements that give us an accurate portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s begin with verse 15, “He is the image of the invisible God.” Now we know in Genesis 1:26 -27, the Bible says that God created man, God made man in His own image, according to His own likeness. We were created on the sixth day in the image of God, according to God’s likeness.

No other creature was made in God’s image. Man alone can reason. Man alone can think abstractly. Man alone comprehends morality. Man understands beauty. Man possesses emotion. Man expresses will. Man understands artistry, creativity, craftsmanship. Man has a complex language, a language far beyond any form of communication by any other creatures. Man experiences love.

God is a trinity, three-in-one, is a God of relationship, and God created us to have relationships with one another, and even with Himself. That’s the creation of man. But here it doesn’t say God made Jesus in His image; it says He is the image of the invisible God. Man was created in God’s image. Man is not God. Christ is the image of God, and therefore is God. He was not created by God.

There was no question in the minds of His enemies that He claimed to be God; and He demonstrated the reality by His words and His works. Look at His deeds, His miracles, His attitude toward sin and righteousness, toward people and their struggles and their problems, toward life, toward death, toward children, toward religion and you see God’s attitude toward all of that.

In verse 15 Christ is identified as “the firstborn over all creation.” Now that’s not chronology, because there were many people born before He was born. And it also does not mean that He was created in the sense that He was not existing, and being created came into existence. He always existed. Hebrews 10:5 says, “A body You have prepared for Me.”

He already existed, God just made a body for Him to be placed into, to come into this world to live, die and rise again. But what does it mean He is the firstborn? “Firstborn” is a word in the Greek that means “the primary one.” Of all the people who have ever been created He is the premier one. That’s what “firstborn” means. The firstborn was the Son who had all the rights.

Christ is the heir of everything God possesses. He is the one who in the future will take the title deed to the universe and will take back the universe, establish His kingdom, and then create a new heaven and a new earth. Looking at His life, He displayed power over nature, over disease, and even over death. He says in Matthew 25 one day He will come back and judge every single human being.

In John 5 He says the Father has committed that judgment to Him. He will discriminate and determine the eternal destiny of every human being. He said, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and earth.” He is God and He claimed to have the power that only God has over everything and everyone. And He gladly received the words of Thomas, “My Lord and my God.”

Verses 16-17 explains His relationship to the world, “For by Him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth.” And He created it all in six days. Living in the modern world we understand what the universe is, the vastness of infinite space and everything in it. The heavenly bodies: sun, moon and stars. And the complexity of life on the earth in its infinite glory.

Verse 16 says, He has created everything in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, which would include angels and every other invisible reality like personality, intellect, and every other invisible aspect of reality. Now Paul moves from the physical creation to the angelic creation. This is angelic language: thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities.

Verse 17 says, “He’s before all things.” If you’re the Creator you have to be there before the creation. “He is before all things.” That’s why in Revelation 22:13 He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” That simple statement speaks of Christ as an eternal being. He is the only one who existed before the creation.

The end of verse 17 says, “in Him all things hold together.” This has been the dilemma of scientists for many years. “Everything that exists in material form is made up of atoms.” Physicists know that they should repel each other. “What holds the nucleus together?” They should blow up instantly. What holds them together is the Creator. He holds everything together.

And 2 Peter 3 tells us, that the day is coming when the entire universe will have an atomic implosion. The universal wipeout of the present universe to be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth. Laws of nature are not the laws of nature, they’re the laws of God. There’s only one word to describe the power behind it and that’s God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 18, His relationship to the church. “He is also head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” Christ is the head of the body. The church is simply the organism that responds to His will and His Word. In Him was life, and He is to us life. Christ is the ruling head of His church.

And then it says, “He is the beginning.” It really means “the source” of the church. We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. He gives us life through His Spirit; He regenerates us. There is a church because He gave it life. He continues to give life to everyone in His church. “He is the firstborn from the dead.” Now we know what “firstborn” means.

That looks at His resurrection, because He is of all that have ever risen, the premier one. That gives Him the first place in everything. By His resurrection He showed that He had conquered every enemy: sin and death and hell, all the forces of Satan. There’s nothing in life or death that can hold Him. He is life; He overpowered death. So He is the life-giving source of the church.

Verse 19 says, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.” The Father didn’t make Him God, He was eternally God. This is not talking about His deity. What fullness is He talking about? John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The fullness that is in Christ is the fullness of divine love, all righteousness, all divine forgiveness, adoption, inheritance, sanctification, holiness, wisdom, strength, knowledge, understanding, peace, joy, and comfort, all those spiritual realities are all in Christ. All that any sinner needs is in in Christ. He is all you need. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Dec 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241222 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000024F imblog

Hebrews 11:7

Let’s turn to Hebrews 11 where we’re going to look at Noah and the work of faith. The Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” That condenses this cryptic verse from Genesis 6, 7, 8 and 9.

And Noah’s action of faith is more remarkable than anyone else. The Bible always teaches that men come to God by faith alone and then go on to live in faith. That simply means to take God at His Word and trust in that Word as true. Never by works or self-effort, or ceremony, moral achievement do you reach God. You always come to God by faith. It has never been different.

But when the gospel of grace and the gospel of faith came along, being preached by Christ and the apostles, it seemed to the Jews of that day like a new message. Judaism originally was a message of salvation by grace through faith had been corrupted into a system of works. Judaism taught that you attain salvation by your efforts, your moral efforts and your religious efforts.

The Jews had placed their hopes in nationality, circumcision, possession of the Law, conformity to the Law, observance of ritual, all the externals. And maybe the most well-known model of that would be the apostle Paul. He was circumcised the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a zealous Jew as measured against the Law, openly blameless, a traditionalist, which he thought was gain to him.

The theme of salvation has always been faith. And that’s the point of the chapter, to say to these Jews, “This is not new; this is old.” And the rest of Hebrews 11 makes the message crystal clear by giving us a list of all those who can be classified as men and women of faith. The means of righteousness, both in the New Covenant and the Old Covenant was faith.

And now we come to Noah and the work of faith. Noah’s story is really amazing. And in verse 7, you just get a very brief summary. But the story really needs to be told in its fullness, or you’re not going to know what this verse is talking about because there aren’t any details here. The only detail here is that he prepared an ark. We don’t even know for what. It refers to things not yet seen.

“By faith, Noah was being warned by God.” He had nothing to go on but the Word of God. And God told him something was going to happen that had never happened in the history of the world. Was Noah going to believe this? Let’s go to Genesis 6:13. It is, in some ways, the most remarkable Old Testament illustration of faith and one of the most remarkable in all of history because of what it involved.

Genesis 6:13 says, “Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.” About 1500 or more years have passed since the creation. The story of man on earth had just gotten worse and worse since the Fall. Sin is frankly running rampant.

So God says that He’s going to destroy the whole earth by water. He is sparing only Noah and his family and no one else. And He judges every sinner one at a time. It is appointed to mankind once to die and after this, the judgment. For long periods of time, God leaves sinners to their own devices and their own desires, and then suddenly He intervenes in a cataclysmic fashion.

This, in human history, is the greatest of all cataclysmic judgments. It is the second most astounding event in the Old Testament, the first and most astounding event in the Old Testament is the creation of the entire universe in six days. But for us, for this time, we’re just going to look at what God said He was going to do, what He asked Noah to do and how Noah demonstrated his faith.

God saw that the iniquity, the wickedness of man was great on the earth. It was so sweeping that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Every thought, every idea, every motive, every imagination and therefore, every deed, was an expression of the depravity of man. Verse 11 says, “The earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.”

So here God speaks in verse 13 for the first time personally to Noah. He will speak to him three more times, Genesis 7:1, Genesis 8:15 and Genesis 9:1. And the message that He gives to Noah is this message of massive judgment. There were millions of people in the world by this time. People lived for nine hundred plus years and you can produce a lot of children in that amount of time.

Genesis 6:14 says, “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.” So God gives him a command without an explanation. The explanation doesn’t come until verse 17, “Understand that I am bringing a flood, and floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.”

God says to Noah, “Build a big box, ark in Hebrew. It really means box, or chest. It’s not shaped like a ship. It has no propeller, it has no pilot, it has no sails and it has no rudder. It has no captain. Now Noah was not a ship builder. And even with three sons helping him, he would have to hire multiple carpenters to build this thing and to move around the pieces of this giant box.

And God says, “Make rooms, likely numbering in the thousands and then cover it inside with pitch.” Then verse 15-16 says, “This is how you shall make it, “The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.”

So when you go back thousands of years to the time of Noah, this is far larger than any ship anyone ever would have conceived of. When you come to modern ship building, the ratios are the same as the ratio for the ark. At a ratio of about six to one, length to width. The ark then is way ahead of its time. Nobody would have understood this design, an indication of the divine nature of Scripture.

The gross tonnage was 1415 thousand tons. The internal space, a hundred thousand square feet. The volume was 1.5 million cubic feet. So it could handle as many as 125 thousand animals. The Lord finally tells him it’s going to carry, two of every species of animal in the world. And then enough space for Noah and his family and some additional animals for sacrifice and food.

Now when God gives Noah the command to do this, it is 120 years until the flood. We don’t really know how long it took to build it but the assumption is that he started very early and began to put the design together and then to assemble the components and begin to build. Some people think that the flood story is fictional. No way, because of God’s specific dimensions of this ship.

These windows connect with sources of light and air. Below the overhanging roof there was an opening between the beams that held the roof up. An opening 18 inches between the roof and interrupted only by the posts, would provide ventilation and light. “Set the door in the side of it; you shall make it with lower and second and third decks.” Now in this box, Noah is going to spend a year.

This is a cruise without a porter in the most primitive conditions imaginable. This is a year in a stable. But there’s enough room here with three different floors and thousands of compartments for everything. This is not a local flood. We know that it was a worldwide flood because of the depth. Because it covered Mount Ararat and that is more than 17,000 feet high.

It’s a worldwide flood because its duration is 371 days. What are sea animal artifacts doing all over the Grand Canyon? And why do you find a buried mastodon in the tundra of the northern edge of Russia frozen. And when uncovered, dug up and the content of his stomach examined, his stomach is full of tropical plants? The Bible is clear that this is a universal flood because it compares it to the coming destruction.

In 2 Peter 3 it tells us that in the way that God destroyed the world by water, He will destroy the world by fire. And that is a universal destruction in both cases. So this is a worldwide flood. And that’s exactly what the Bible says, only eight people survived. Genesis 6:18 says, “But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.”

This is a covenant with Noah and his family, to spare them. Verse 19-20, “You are also to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of everything—from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds—will come to you so that you can keep them alive.”

God is going to gather them. This is an astounding responsibility. Up to this point, a mist watered the earth, there was a canopy around the globe. It was one universal tropical climate under a common canopy of mist. And that’s why you find mastodons on the upper edges of the Arctic Circle with tropical vegetation in their stomachs. Noah was living in a desert. There’s no water there.

Verse 22 says, “And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.” Verse 9 says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.” You think living the Christian life is tough when you’re surrounded by unbelievers? Imagine what it was like for Noah and his family to live in a world that was so corrupt that all other humans were drowned?

“By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen.” What are things not yet seen? Cataclysmic world judgment, by means of a flood, as a result of rain. Remember now, we’re 1500 years into human history and God has revealed Himself. And he knows his God and he walks with his God and he trusts his God. So being warned by God about things not yet seen, he acted.

He obeyed God’s Word when it was way beyond anything he could experience or conceive or comprehend. It says, “In reverence he prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, in reverence he prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, for 120 years. Over that period, he built a massive 15,000-ton ship in the middle of the desert because God told him to do it.

This is the essence of faith. Faith doesn’t have to understand, it doesn’t have to comprehend. Faith reaches out for something that is beyond experience, beyond human comprehension. We walk by faith and not by sight, right? We’re living in faith, trusting Christ for a heaven we’ve never seen, to escape a judgment we’ve never seen. The Bible says that all unbelieving sinners will go to hell.

His faith not only showed up in his obedience but it showed up in his preaching. And it says in verse 7 that by his obedience in building this massive box in the middle of the desert because it was going to rain and there was going to be a flood the likes of which no one had ever experienced. That very act of Noah was a constant statement for 120 years that judgment was coming.

In Genesis 5 we saw the patience of God. Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. A divine revelation was fixed in the name Methuselah. When that child was given that name, God was connecting that child with the time when His judgment. The year that Methuselah died is the year the flood came. So we see the grace of God, Methuselah lived longer than any man, 969 years.

Adam lived 930 years and told his tragic story of the fall probably every day of his life. And then there was the preaching of Enoch who was a preacher of righteousness, according to Jude 14 - 15. And then there was the ministry of the Holy Spirit, “My Spirit will not always strive with man,” which means the Spirit was striving with sinners, doing His work of conviction.

So the generation of Noah’s day had to spurn sacrifice and atonement, they had to reject repeated warnings and repeated messages of judgment and righteousness. And yet God waited 969 years in the case of Methuselah and 120 years in the case of Noah. But Noah’s faith is marked by his obedience in doing exactly what God told him to do and his willingness to be a preacher of righteousness.

Genesis 7:1, “Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.” He is an Old Testament illustration of justification by faith. He believed God and God accepted his faith and granted him righteousness. Is he perfect? No. In Genesis 9 you find that he was guilty of a sin. He was caught naked and drunk.

Romans 3 says that by the works of the Law no flesh is justified. In Philippians 3, Paul says, “I went about to establish my own righteousness until I found the righteousness of God granted to me by faith in Jesus Christ.” In Noah’s case, he believed all that God had revealed. In our case, we believe all that God has revealed and that means that we believe totally in His Son Jesus Christ who is God.

And when you believe that message from the heart, God will grant righteousness and cover you with his own righteousness and view you as blameless. And having been captured into the ark of safety who is Christ, be delivered from all future judgment. Peter understands this well. He knows that Christ is the ark of safety. Christ is the one who protects us from judgment. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Dec 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241215 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000024E imblog

Hebrews 11:4-6

Tonight we continue our study of the book of Hebrews 11. Going through this chapter we study the Heroes of the Old Testament, the great examples of people of faith. Verse 4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.”

Abel was conceived and born after the fall of men. Abel is the first on the list of faith examples because he is a model of faith in the sacrifice that he brought. But the first born of Eve was Cain who turned out to be the first criminal. The only offering that could atone for sin was the blood sacrifice. And by faith Abel sacrificed what God required. But Cain did not believe he needed to sacrifice.

Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering.” Now the testimony of Hebrews 11:4 is that Abel is a model of faith. And there is a way to worship. God is to be approached only by sacrifice. So Cain is the father of false religions.

And here you have the first time that we have a record in Scripture of righteousness being credited to the account of an obedient sinner. God gives testimony that Abel, has attained righteousness. His act, an act of faith, was an act which brought the very righteousness of God to cover him. God honored Abel, imputed righteousness to him. Imagine having God give testimony that you are righteous.

We can read about it in Genesis 4. God is offering Cain mercy in verses 6-7. But Cain makes His choice in verse 8, he went to Abel to talk to him in the field and Cain killed Abel. Cain yielded to Satan. And the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? And Cain said I don’t know. Now he’s compounded his murder with a lie. And the voice of the blood of Abel is crying to God.

Cain wants to avoid the consequences. Verse 11, “So now you are cursed, alienated from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed.” Verse 15 says, “Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case, whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Verse 17 says, “Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch.”

Now, the theme of Hebrews is to present Christ, as the mediator of a better covenant, a better Priest with a better priesthood, who’s made a better sacrifice by His blood, having perfected forever those that are sanctified as opposed to the repetition of the Old Testament. Hebrews 10:38 says, “The just shall live by faith.” The Jews believed in works, and so that had to be counteracted.

So the writer of Hebrews 11 spends 40 verses, outlining what faith really is both by definition and illustration. Here’s what faith is, verses 1 - 3. Then He follows it up by in verse 4 with a series of examples of faith. And He wants to show the Jewish reader particularly, and all men in general, that they never had a works system. And so, He does it by giving illustrations of men of faith.

Now, the second example of faith is Enoch. Genesis 5:21 says, “Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah.” Verse 22-24 says, “Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 23 So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.” Now, this is a new concept in the book of Genesis.

Abel didn’t really understand the concept of walking with God. Abel illustrates worship by faith; Enoch illustrates walk by faith. Now, revelation of Scripture is a progressive revelation. And Abel got a little of it, and Enoch got a little more of it. Adam and Eve had walked and talked with God, and after they fell and were thrown out of the garden, they ceased to walk with God.

And the destiny of man is reinstituted in the man Enoch, who stands as an illustration for all men of what it is to walk with God. In Enoch, then, the true destiny of man is again reached as he experiences the fellowship with God that Adam and Eve had forfeited. So, in Hebrews 11 we see a continuity. The only way you’ll ever walk with God is when you come on the basis of a sacrifice.

And the only sacrifice that opens up the way to God is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And so we find a man walking with God, but not until sacrifice is made. So, first there’s a death for sin; then there can be the walk with God. And Enoch illustrates that. Enoch did everything that Abel did, and took it even further. There are five things about Enoch’s life of faith. Notice Hebrews 11:5.

“By faith Enoch was taken away, and sot he did not experience death.” In Genesis 5:24, it says, “He was not there, because God took him.” He was not found, I mean there weren’t any remains. He pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So Enoch lived by faith.

First of all, Enoch believed that God is. Secondly, he was seeking God’s reward. Thirdly, he was walking with God. Fourthly, he surrendered to God. And fifthly, he was entering God’s presence. To begin with, God was pleased with Enoch because he believed in God. Religion doesn’t please God, because all other religions are systems by Satan to counteract the truth.

Nationality doesn’t please God. The Jews thought that because they were the seed of Abraham, circumcised on the eighth day, and had the law, they were therefore pleasing God. Actually they displeased Him greatly. Romans 3 says, “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.” God can’t stand anybody who tries to earn his way into His heaven. That kind of self-righteousness is hated by God.

God’s not happy with somebody’s good deeds. Faith alone pleases God. The only way to God is to believe. And Enoch pleased Him because Enoch lived by faith. In fact, it pleased Him so much that one day he and God took a walk, and they just decided to keep on walking and walked right into heaven together. God gets excited about people who believe Him. Enoch pleased Him.

Now, you can’t prove God scientifically. All scientific evidence is only circumstantial. The reason lies in the nature of history itself and in the limitations of the scientific method. In order for something to be proved by science, it must be repeatable. But history is, by its very nature, unrepeatable. But the fact that these events can’t be proved by repetition does not disprove their reality.”

God’s intelligence is revealed in His power. You look at plants and animals and all the intricacy, so constructed that they can appropriate the necessary food that they can grow, that they reproduce. You look at the planets, the asteroids, the satellites, the comets, the meteors, the constellations, and they’re all kept on their courses by the great centrifugal forces that swing everything through the universe.

Secondly, Enoch pleased God by seeking God’s reward. It is not enough to believe God is; we must also believe that God is moral and God rewards the righteous who come to Him. We must recognize God as a personal, loving, gracious God to those who seek Him. Now, Enoch believed God was a personal, caring, loving, God with whom He fellowshipped for 300 years.

And the only way you can really seek Him is on His own terms. What is the reward for those that seek Him? Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” That means everything God could give is yours. You’re a joint heir with Jesus Christ. And what has God promised Jesus Christ? Everything that there is.

God gives us forgiveness, a new heart, the Holy Spirit, eternal life, blessing, mercy, grace, peace, joy, love, and heaven. Jesus said this, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” It’s the only way to come to God. Enoch pleased God, because he believed that God was, and secondly because he sought God’s reward. God set a standard.

Now, the term “walk” is used so many times in the New Testament, that to try to do a study on the term walk would take a long time. But basically what it means is thirdly, the manner of daily conduct. He just continued in the presence of God. So, two people walking together then presupposes harmony. It presupposes agreement, which in the case of Enoch means he and God agreed together.

There’s a second thing implied in a walk with God, and that is corresponding nature. You having fellowship with God. A man cannot have fellowship with God on the basis of his own nature. And so, to walk with God means that there must be a common life. And when you walk with God, you are in a different sphere. God made me into something like He is. No sinner can walk with God.

He’s saying, “Since you’ve been born again, and you’ve moved into God’s sphere, you no longer are able to walk in the old life. Now that you walk in God’s sphere, what agreement is there between you and the old life? There isn’t any anymore. Now you just can’t seem to fit in the system anymore. And so, walking with God then presupposes a change in nature.

That’s what Paul meant when he said, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.” He had to be. Old things are passed away, and a few things are become new. Right? What? All things. You have to have a new nature to walk with God. And so, there was a sense in which the walk with God means there’s been a change in a common kind of life. So to walk with God implies a moral fitness.

The idea of a corresponding nature has to do with God dealing with sin. Sin is what keeps us apart. God does not walk out of the way of holiness. Before Christ commences His walk in the millennium, all things that offend must be cast out. Listen to what it says in 1 John 1:6, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not say the truth.”

Fourthly, it implies a surrendered will. To walk with God means you do as He designs. The surrender of our will to Him is a surrender of love. To walk with God implies a spiritual fellowship. When it says Enoch walked with God, it means that they just had a steady kind of unbroken communion. The term “walk” means continuous. Three hundred years of steady, sweet communion. No wonder he just took a walk one day and kept right on walking into heaven.

In the New Testament we have the term “walking in the Spirit,” which is the same thing. The Spirit of God is God Himself. Continual fellowship with Him means expression of fellowship in prayer, sensing His presence. Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Because if you walk in the Spirit, you’ll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

And if you walk in the Spirit, you will see in your life: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. So, you need to walk in the Spirit. What does that mean? That means you just commune. Walk in the Spirit is nothing more than just letting the Spirit of God pervade your thoughts. And life is a matter of decisions, just one decision after the next.

Look at Jesus. He walked with God. 1 John 2:6 says, “The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.” Jesus was always in communion with the Father. “Everybody went to his own home,” and it says, “And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” That’s where He went every night, and He just communed all night with the Father. He just lived constantly walking with God.

There’s another thing that Enoch did that pleased God, and it’s not in Genesis and not in Hebrews. It’s in Jude 14. You know what he did? He preached for God. Walking in the Spirit’s also affects the way you affect others. Jude 14 says, “It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of His holy ones.”

Fifthly, by faith he entered into God’s presence. He pleased God so much that God just took him. Genesis 5:24 says this, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” And his body remains were never found. Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away.”

And Enoch didn’t die, but he was precious to God. He is a wonderful picture of the believers who will be alive on the earth when our Lord descends in the air to catch His bride with a shout. Just as Enoch was taken to heaven without seeing death, so also will those of God’s people alive at the rapture, according to 1 Thessalonians 4, be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So, Enoch is an ancient picture of the rapture. Well, Enoch died young, 365 years. Didn’t he really die; he passed from the scene very young. His son Methuselah lived 600 years longer. It’s because he pleased God. Have you committed your life to walk with Him? That pleases Him. Have you opened your mouth to speak for Him? That pleases Him. And some day you’ll enter His presence. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Dec 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241208 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000024D imblog

Hebrews 11:1-3

Please turn to Hebrews 11. We need to understand the foundations of our faith. We understand that we are saved by faith. “The just shall live by faith,” which is essentially foundational teaching in Scripture. It is quoted in Hebrews 10:38. That passage is taken out of Habakkuk 2:4 but is repeated by the New Testament writers in several other places also because it’s so foundational.

“What is faith? What is the essence of faith? How are we to understand faith?” And that’s why we want to look at this chapter. This chapter has been called “Hall of Fame, or The Heroes of the Faith.” It’s been called, “The Faith Chapter,” and it presents to us is the power of faith. And it needs clarification today because there is a false faith movement within evangelical Christianity.

We’re talking about faith, not the false kind of faith that supposedly can create your own future, but the true kind of faith that can produce in you confident trust in the future that God has promised you. All they hear is a faith that is recorded in Hebrews 11. From the human perspective they might have written their story differently, because all their stories are filled with difficulties.

But the kind of faith that we’re talking about, the faith that God gives a believer is the faith to trust the future that God has written. That faith would be placed in the gospel, in the person at the heart of the gospel, namely Jesus Christ. For the first time in their life through the gospel and salvation, they understand that their relationship with God is not dependent on works but on faith.

But it’s more than just a chapter designed to encourage believers to continue to walk by faith. Remember that through the first ten chapters the writer make one major point that the New Covenant is superior to the Old Covenant, and that Christ is superior to everything else. Jesus and His sacrifice is completely superior to the sacrifices of the animals in the old system.

Jesus is a better sacrifice who made a better offering. Jesus is better than angels, the writer tells us in these chapters. He is better than the prophets. He is better than Moses, better than Aaron, better than Joshua. He is a better priest than all other priests. And He is from a better priesthood, the Melchiz1edek priesthood. He is the mediator of a better covenant and He is a better sacrifice.

But at some points in the ten chapters there are warnings. There are at least four of them by the time you get to this chapter and Hebrews 11 constitutes another warning. And these warnings are given to non-Christian Jews who are attending this fellowship and non-Christians. These Jews are apparently intellectually convinced of the gospel, they understand the truth of the gospel in their minds.

And there are these periodic warnings not to fall back, not to go back into Judaism. Don’t go on sinning willfully after you have the knowledge of the truth, says Hebrews 10, or you will bring upon yourself a far more severe eternal judgment. So the warning is, “Come all the way to the New Covenant. Come all the way to Christ. Come all the way to faith.” This is a real big change.

The Jewish system had long forgotten that salvation was by grace, that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, that Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. They had created a religious cult built on ethics, built on morality, built on religious ceremony. Salvation came to those who observed all those ethical standards, all those moral laws and all those ceremonies.

It was necessary then to teach the Jews salvation by faith. Jesus said that salvation was by faith and not by works. Paul said in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are you saved through faith and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift.” Romans 3, 4, indicates that salvation comes by faith alone. But the Jews have a hard time being deprogrammed. So something different has to be shown.

Hebrews 11 is written because it is a necessity to prove to the Jews that salvation is by faith and that people not only after Jesus but even before Jesus were saved by faith. So Hebrews 10:38 states the key, “My righteous ones shall live by faith.” That is a direct quote from Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by faith.” Habakkuk is an Old Testament prophet and you can’t shrink back from that.

If you fall back, God has no pleasure in that and you will fall back into eternal destruction. Now how is He going to get this case across? How is he going to penetrate their sort of Old Testament thinking? Hebrews 11 gives us a list of Old Testament saints whose lives were marked by faith. The people of God through all the ages have become the true people of God by faith.

Chapter 11 says at verse 4, “By faith, Abel.” At verse 5, “By faith, Enoch.” At verse 7, “By faith, Noah.” Verse 8, “By faith Abraham.” And again in verse 17, “By faith Abraham.” And in verse 20, “By faith, Isaac.” In verse 21, “By faith, Jacob.” Verse 22, “By faith, Joseph.” Verse 23, “By faith, Moses,” and again in verse 24. Further in verse 31, “By faith, Rahab.”

And in verse 32, “There’s Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets, who by faith did all these amazing things.” Verse 39 sums it up, “All these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” Faith is confident trust in the future God has promised.

These people hadn’t received the promise but they trusted in the promise and thus they live by faith. Now we’re just going to look at the opening three verses and then we’ll do some character studies over the next Sunday evenings. But let’s just consider a few things. First is the nature of faith. Verse 1, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

We’re talking here not about some act of faith but we’re talking about the reality of a settled faith. It exists as a commodity. It is a gift of God, Ephesians 2:8 says, “not of works.” It comes from God. And when God gives this commodity of faith, it is the assurance of things hoped for. That’s what it means to live by faith. It means that we put our confidence in something not seen.

Some of the translations will say, “Faith is the substance of things not seen.” That’s a great translation. It’s a word that basically can be legitimately translated substance, essence. Faith is substantial confidence in the reality of something not realized. Faith gives present substance to something that is future. All the saints, men and women who had nothing but the promises of God.

No visible evidence that messianic promise would come true, no visible evidence that kingdom promise will come true. Yet the promises were so real and the revelation of those promises in Scripture so reliable that people built their entire hope on them. All the Old Testament promises related to the future. Those people exercised faith in what was promised that they did not receive.

What would that be? Eternal life, heaven, everlasting bliss, reward, joy, reunion which is promised in the Old Testament of the saints in the presence of God? The very presence of God? The glories of eternal bliss. They never even saw the ultimate sacrifice. They never knew who the Messiah was. They were people of faith but their faith was anchored in a reliable revelation from God.

Faith is so strong, it is a gift of God that allows us to trust Scripture. And in trusting the gospel in the Scripture we thus trust Christ as Savior. That’s the whole package. I think we need to understand that. It wouldn’t do any good to trust in Christ as your savior unless you could trust the Scripture for everything that He being your Savior means. Do you really understand that?

Does that mean that Scripture can’t be proven to be true?” No, the Scripture can be proven to be true, which just strengthens our assurance, doesn’t it? Every fact in Scripture is proven archeologically to be true. And we have evidence in past history. All this has already been proven to be trustworthy. But this is against the grain of your own flesh. Is that not true?

You live your life as a Christian battling against the flesh that is your natural expression. It’s the way you used to live, in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. But you don’t live that way now. You restrain the flesh. You limit the pleasures. You resist sin. Because you understand that there is a future reward to come before the Lord and bring honor to His name.

For example, what would make you build a boat in a desert because you were told it was going to rain when it had never rained in the history of the world? Can you imagine building a boat as Noah did for 120 years in the desert and dealing with the mockery of his neighbors? What put his faith into action? He was so confident that it became a conviction that he could literally live his life on.

Verse 2 says, “For by our ancestors were approved.” He’s going to help these Jews who maybe are struggling with this idea of salvation by faith, by pointing to the fact that this is how the saints of old gained approval. Why did the Jews identify them as heroes of the faith? Why did they look at Abel, Enoch and Abraham as noble? Because of their faith and that’s what he’s going to show.

Abel believed God regarding sacrifice. He did what God told him because God told him what to do and I’ll bless you. Enoch believed God so much so that he didn’t die. Noah believed God and because of it God granted to him righteousness and God vindicated him, God spared him and his family. Abraham and Sarah believed God for a child and God fulfilled the promise.

We’ll learn about Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and everybody else, all who believed God and were approved. The record of the Old Testament stands as testimony to their faith. They trusted in what they couldn’t see. They lived their lives based upon promises God made to them, and certainly God approved of that and they were rightfully honored and remained the heroes of the faith.

And then there is, an illustration of faith, the first one that he gives. Verse 3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” Now this is a wonderful illustration. This illustration takes us back and gives us a foundation for faith looking forward. That looks back at creation. Creation made out of things unseen.

Creation is ex nihilo, God made the whole universe out of nothing. What is seen was not made out of anything that was visible. So out of the invisible came the visible, out of nothing came everything. We understand that by faith. Because we weren’t there. Now where do we place our faith? In the revelation of God written in Genesis 1 and 2 which tells us that God created the universe by His Word.

“Let there be light, and there was light.” He spoke everything into existence and the record is in Genesis 1. We can look at the effect which is the universe; we understand that it exists. There had to be a time when there was nothing. That time ended when God created the universe. By faith we understand how that happened. Our faith is in the revelation of Scripture. Somebody did this.

But the person who understands that it happened doesn’t know how. Only the person who puts his faith in the Scripture understands how. By the Word of God. So by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God. Why? Because that’s what the Scripture says and that’s a reality. Scripture says God created it, we live in it and we can see the evidences of His creation.

So the fact that we can look back and see that God described His creation, told us how He made it and has left His imprint on it and we are now living in that creation gives us the opportunity to have a foundation for believing in the future. And we can trust that the same God who spoke this into existence by His Word has said that He has spoken another world into existence which awaits us.

And that we will one day experience that world. We can trust Him for that as He is the source of that in the same way He’s the source of this. There’s really no other way to explain the universe than to say that God created it. And here we live in a world created by the Word of God, described in detail in Genesis 1 and 2. All true science confirms the creative hand of God in the complexity of this universe.

So we live now in a universe created by the Word of God, we see His imprint on it and that is the foundation by which we trust that God will, in the future, have waiting for us another universe in the glory of His presence, also promised by His creative power. We all live by faith. All of us who are believers, we trust God. We trust God as Creator of this world and we trust Him as the Creator of the world to come. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Dec 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241201 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000024C imblog

Hebrews 11

The nature of saving faith is looking at salvation positively. Nothing is more tragic than deception where people think they’re saved but they’re not, because their faith is not a saving faith. To begin let us look at John 2. This is a good to begin a discussion of the nature of saving faith, because Jesus identifies here a non-saving kind of faith. In John 2:23 he reminds us that Jesus had done many miracles.

Verse 24-25 says, “Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all 25 and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.” They believed in Him, but He did not commit Himself to them as their Savior, because He knew what was in them, and what was in them was something less than a saving faith.

What is saving faith? It is believing in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to the degree that you are completely satisfied with Him so as to commit your life to Him in loyalty, faithfulness, allegiance, submission, duty, fidelity, obligation; and it is not only believing intellectually. Faith cannot be placed in opposition to commitment, to surrender, to repentance, to delighting in the Lord.

We’re going to find in Hebrews 11 the nature of the faith that saves. Understand two things: what faith is and what faith does. Verse 1-3 says, “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”

Hebrews was written to Jews. And in their culture and society, the dominating religious thought was that of the Pharisees. Because they subscribed to the highest level of the Mosaic Law. And according to the Pharisees righteousness, forgiveness from sin and salvation could only be achieved through a rigorous system of works. So you saved yourself by your activities and moral duties.

Jewish tradition had twisted God’s law, the law that had been given to show man was a sinner, and turned it into a means of salvation. Now in the New Testament this matter of works-based salvation is directly attacked and shown to be a misrepresentation of what the Scripture teaches. Salvation is not obtained by a system of works, but by believe in what Christ did for all believers.

The problem is that even after they had been shown the basics of Christ, the basics of the gospel, the truths of Christ’s death and resurrection, most of them were unwilling to abandon their religion of works righteousness. And so the writer pens Hebrews 11 to show them that salvation has never been by works. And He goes all the way back to the time of the first Adam.

In verse 4, “By faith Abel.” Verse 5, “By faith Enoch.” Verse 7, “By faith Noah.” Verse 8, “By faith Abraham.” Verse 11, “By faith Sarah,” and so it goes. Verse 20, “By faith Isaac, by faith Jacob, by faith Joseph, by faith Moses.” It was never anything but faith. He is really undercutting this Pharisaic system of meritorious works designed to earn your own salvation.

In Habakkuk 2:4 it says, “The just shall live by faith.” That’s not a truth about the New Testament, that’s a truth about God’s plan of redemption from beginning to end. And as Hebrews 11 points out, from Adam on, the instrument of God’s salvation has been faith not works. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and that is not from yourselves, it is God’s gift.”

Hebrews 10 is about justification by faith, and Hebrews 11 gives us examples of the people who were justified by their faith. They proved that salvation is not by works. But what is the faith that saves?” Number one: This faith can be defined as the assurance of things hoped for. What saving faith does is translate the promises for God for the future into the present tense.

In other words, real saving faith takes God at His word about the future. Faith is a supernatural confidence that God will actually someday take us to heaven, that He will actually someday make us perfect and free from sin, that He will actually someday bring us face to face with Christ and make us like Him, that He will actually someday reward us with an eternal reward.

Faith is believing something that God promises will happen, not because we will it to happen, but because He pledged it will happen. It is absolute certainty with regard to the promises of Scripture. And anybody who has weak view of the Bible is bound to have weak faith. It is the faith that God has the ability and the will to fulfill His promises, that He can be trusted.

This faith is supernatural. This true saving faith is something God gives us. You don’t have the faith that saves, it’s not natural. It’s not natural to believe in something you’ve never seen. It’s not natural to believe in someone you’ve never seen. We believe in a God we’ve never seen, a Christ we’ve never seen, a Spirit we’ve never seen. We believe we’re going to a heaven we’ve never seen.

When a sinner comes to the greatest level of desperation, which he’s had a whole lifetime to accumulate, and embraces Jesus Christ in the desperation of his desire for forgiveness, all of a sudden he’s able to believe without any proof. And then once you believe, you go back to read and study the Word of God and you begin to see the reasonableness of what you have come to believe.

The natural man, according to 1 Corinthians 2:14 does not accept the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness to him. So here you have a man who is spiritually dead, he’s alive physically; so the only faith that operates is the faith that’s connected to his physical experiences. And he comes to faith in Christ only when God intervenes in his life and grants him supernatural faith.

Verse 27 says, “By faith Moses left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for he persevered as one who sees him who is invisible.” He could have been the richest of the rich and the most prominent of the prominent. But he left, walked away, had no fear for the wrath of the king, and he endured through all of it because he could see Him who is unseen that is God.

Faith is the conviction of things not seen. That verse 27 transitions us into this point. This parallel phrase to the first phrase carries the idea a bit further. And the word implies a deeper manifestation of that assurance. We are ready to say, “My life is going to be committed to this, and it’s going to determine what I do, and where I go, and how I think, and how I talk, and how I live.”

We live every moment as though it is reality though, because we have that conviction of what we’ve never seen being true. Peter described it in 1 Peter 1:8-9, “Although we have not yet seen Christ, we love Him.” He goes on, “And though we do not see Him now, we believe in Him. With an expressible and glorious joy we are committed to Him, obtaining faith’s outcome, the salvation of our souls.”

Such faith is unassailable. No matter what tests it, no matter what it costs, it endures. It is a conviction of things not seen. And the point of Hebrews 11 is to show it’s an enduring, persevering faith, because all the examples in Hebrews 11 show people whose faith was severely tested. The nature of saving faith is that it is a confidence, an assurance, a foundation of things hoped for.

This faith is firm. It’s a supernatural conviction that governs the true believer’s behavior. It endures, and it perseveres, and it obeys. All the way through this chapter people are worshipping, obeying, enduring, sacrificing, working, and all by faith. It is a commitment that never changes. God gives divine faith, it is unassailable faith, and Hebrews 11 is the proof of that.

Now, there are three elements to faith, knowledge, assent, and trust. Knowledge is the intellectual element. It is to understand the truth, the gospel. Assent is the emotional element. It is to find your heart drawn to what your head has learned. And trust is the voluntary element, or the volitional element. It’s when you make the commitment. Real faith involves all three.

Saving faith has the mind embracing the knowledge, a recognition and understanding of the truth that Jesus Christ saves. The heart then gives assent. The will responds with a personal commitment to Christ. That final element, trust, the volitional component is the crowning element of believing, and it involves surrender to the object of faith. It is personal choice of Christ as Lord and Savior.

Faith is believing that God is. Verse 6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists.” He is the God of Scripture, who is the God incarnate in Jesus Christ. You have to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ who is a member of the Trinity, who was incarnated through the virgin birth, came into the world, and lived a sinless life.

He died as a substitutionary atonement for sinners, rose from the grave the third day, was taken to the right hand of the Father as affirmation of the success of His sacrifice, and there He intercedes for us until He returns. That’s the Christ of Scripture. And the God of Scripture is the God revealed there who was incarnate in Christ; and if you’re going to come to God you come believing that.

What does Romans 10:9-10 mean when it says, “If you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you’ll be saved”? What Christ can you believe in if you don’t believe in the crucified and risen One? And if you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, then you’re affirming all of His ministry and His death; you’ll be saved.

Faith is seeking God. “It is believing that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. ”It’s not enough to believe that the God of the Bible exists. There’s one other element: you must seek Him, and that’s that third component. You seek Him as Savior; you seek Him as Lord that you obey. It’s not enough to know about God and about Christ. It’s not enough to seek information, you must seek Him.

Isaiah said, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” Jeremiah said, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” Amos said, “Seek Me that you may live.” Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, and everything else will be added to you.” Salvation happens when the penitent sinner seeks with all his heart.

Instead of trying to earn favor with God, faith pursues God Himself. Faith follows after God as the soul’s greatest pleasure. Faith then is seeking and finding God in Christ, desiring Him, being satisfied with Him, and wanting to give your whole life to Him. It’s finding Him, the bread that satisfies, and the water that quenches. Now, in the next five minutes we see what faith does.

To understand faith we’ve got to know what it does. In a sentence: it perseveres in obedience. In verse 4, you find faith worshipping. In verse 5, you find faith walking with God. In verse 7, you find it working for God; in verses 8 to 10, obeying God; in verse 11, Sarah overcome barrenness even though she was old; and in verse 12, having offspring as numerous as the starts in the sky.

Faith enabled people to persevere to death, verses 13 to 16; to trust God with their possessions, verses 17 to 19; to believe God for the future, verses 20 to 23; to turn away from earthly treasure for heavenly reward, verses 24 to 26; to see Him who is invisible, verse 27; to receive miracles from the hand of God, verses 28 to 30; to have courage in the face of great danger, verses 31 to 34.

Verses 33 – 38 say, “Who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead, raised to life again. Other people were tortured, not accepting release.

So that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. 38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.”

Verses 39 – 40, “All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.” They never saw the Messiah come or knew about the cross and the resurrection. What are they witnessing to? The permanence of saving faith. When God grants faith, it’s the faith that endures.

They were looking forward. We can look back and know there really was a Jesus. These are the heroes of the faith. They show us that the faith that God gives endures everything, from being cut in half to being thrown to lions. Everything we know about the God of the Bible, affirms His reality. And everything we know about our personal experience in His salvation affirms its reality. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Nov 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241124 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000024B imblog

Hebrews 10:26-39

We begin to study the negative response to the New Testament. It was presented to this community of Jews in Israel. The Holy Spirit is presenting the fact that Christianity is the answer to everything, that the new covenant far outshines the old, that it’s a better priesthood with a better priest who is a better mediator who made a better sacrifice, which sealed a better covenant.

There are only two choices. The first one He talks about in verse 19 - 25 where he tells them, be positive. Respond to the new covenant by coming to Christ. The second is a negative response, if you don’t, here’s what happens. And we’ve begun to study that negative response to the new covenant. What happens when an individual rejects the gospel of Jesus Christ?

People whose hearts had been warmed toward the gospel of Christ and who had made a superficial, but nevertheless, a manifest commitment of faith in Christ. They had said they believed. They had identified themselves, at least visibly, with the true Church. But the warmth of it all was wearing off and the excitement of it was kind of petering out and they were in danger of going back.

So there are some things that we shouldn’t get over, and very often one of those things is the conviction of the gospel when we hear it initially. Some people have heard it so much that it is water off a duck’s back. And this is even true of many Christians. But in terms of discipleship, you’ve heard it too much to respond to it. You’ve gotten over the penetration of the Word of God.

Now, we understand the unforgivable sin of knowing the truth, having full revelation, professing to believe, then getting over it and walking away. And the Bible calls this person an apostate. To know everything there is to know about the gospel and to identify as a part of it, and then to walk away, never having really been saved. And for the sin of apostasy, there is no forgiveness.

Now, the most known case of apostasy over Jesus is recorded when He was on earth. There’s apostasy in the Old Testament, apostasy in the time of Christ, and apostasy today. The rabbis got over Jesus so much that they decided He was from hell. Matthew 12:26, “Knowing their thoughts, He told them, “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?”

Verse 30-31, “Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.

This is called the unpardonable sin. God forgives sin and He forgives blasphemy. “But the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.” You say, what is the blasphemy against the Spirit? They had just attributed the works of Christ to Satan. It’s one thing to say that about Christ when you don’t know anything, it’s another to conclude that when you have all the evidence.

Why? Because there’s no repentance when you see the truth. This is not just an arbitrary statement, you said a few things against me, that’s it for you, and you’re damned forever. That isn’t the point. The point is when people have all the divine revelation that can come from the Spirit of God, and they conclude that it’s out of hell, there’s no way they know the truth so they can be saved.

Can that sin be committed in this age? Not as such. Why? Because Jesus isn’t here. This very special apostasy belonged in the day in the Jesus was alive. That was to see the works of Christ that manifested His deity and say Satan was doing it. And this idea that people believe today that if you say a word against tongues, you’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit and can never be saved is wrong.

That’s why it says this: “It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, and neither in the age to come.” Now to the Jew, what was the age to come? The kingdom. Then during the kingdom where is Christ? On earth again. That sin will be able to be committed again on earth when Christ is here. It is a sin that cannot be committed in this age in its special character as indicated here.

Apostasy today is not to see the works of Christ living on earth and attribute them to Satan, apostasy today is to hear all the truth of God that is revealed, to know it fully with all of his mind and to make some kind of a mental assent to it, and then turn around and walk away and stay away forever. That’s the apostasy in this age. But it all comes out as a rejection against full light, isn’t it?

Hebrews 10 warns us about apostasy. Ten chapters of Hebrews presented the new covenant with salvation through Christ. There’s only two ways a person can respond, either positively or negatively. Back in Hebrews 2 it says that the Lord first spoke the gospel, but it was spoken to them by those that heard the Lord and confirmed to them by signs, wonders and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

There is worldliness, neglect, hardened unbelief, clinging to the old religion, you know, and they come nearly to Christ and they hang on the balance, and then something happens and they go. And they know what they’re rejecting and they do it willfully and they do it consciously and they decide in their minds, I don’t want this. I know everything there is about it. And they walk away.

Verse 26-27 says, “For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.” This is the nature of apostasy. The word “knowledge” is to have full knowledge - to have it all. This doesn’t mean you’re saved. It’s all in your head.

If a person persists in the deliberate and willful sin of rejection, was he ever really a Christian?” I do not believe he ever was. And I’ve said this many times. True believers always continue. True branches always abide in the vine. And in 1 John 2:19, we have clearly this statement, “They went out from us but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us.”

A few years after Hebrews was written, God proved it when He destroyed the whole sacrificial system in the sack of Jerusalem. Since 70 A.D., no Jews have offered sacrifice. The whole ritual has become symbolic. And God knows why they don’t have sacrifices anymore. Because none of them are effective. If a person turns from the sacrifice of Christ to some other sacrifice, he’s finished.

Verse 28, “Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” In Numbers 15:30 it says, “But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or resident alien, blasphemes the Lord. That person is to be cut off from his people.” I’ve broken laws. Praise God for grace. But if you live outside of grace in Christ, you’re going to live in law and go to hell.

Jesus acknowledges that there are degrees of sin. And there are degrees of punishment to go along with degrees of sin. Luke 12:47-48, “And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. 48 But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required.”

Yes, in the Old Testament God wiped out whole groups of people sometimes in punishment. Maybe on some occasions some of them were believing people and they’re today in heaven and their punishment was chastisement. Maybe some of them were not believing people. But the hell that they experience will not be the same as those who lived in defiance of God and rejection of His Son.

Verse 29 says, “How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” What does it mean to “trample”? It signifies an object as worthless. Now, that is characteristic of some rejecters who would trample over a worthless thing.

Christ was set apart. The word sanctified means set apart. The word holy means set apart. The blood of the covenant was sacred. It was the blood shed on the cross by Jesus Christ. By that shed blood, Christ was set apart to God as the perfect sacrifice. He entered into the Holy of Holies and, there, having borne the perfect sacrifice, He then entered into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat.

Christ bearing His blood, finalized that sacrifice and established the new covenant. So the covenant was sealed in blood. There are apostates who count that blood set apart to seal the covenant as an unholy thing. The statement was a rejection of God who exalted the Son. This is a rejection of Christ who set Himself apart as the perfect sacrifice. So the apostate rejects God and rejects Christ.

Verse 30 says, “For we know the one who has said, Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, and the Lord will judge his people.” Here He quotes from Deuteronomy 32:35-36, two Old Testament passages that talk about the vengeance of God. If God had vengeance on His own in the Old Testament when they broke Moses’ law, what vengeance will He have on those who violate Jesus Christ?

Verse 31 says, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” That’s far different than the apostate falling into the hands of judgment. So we see the nature of apostasy and the results. Let’s look at the deterrent to apostasy. Do two things. Here is the positive encouragement not to go back if you know the truth. Number one, remembrance. The first thing is to remember.

Verse 32, “Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.” Do you remember when you first came to Christ and when you came to the fellowship of believers and you heard about Christ. You could sense it and you showed up and you liked it. But little by little you grew cold and indifferent and you began to fade.

Verse 33, “Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way.” You were a spectacle, just with the rest and you weren’t ashamed. You used to stand with us. The persecutors have gotten to you, but remember what it was when you first began. Don’t fall now. Just hanging around us got you in trouble.

Verse 34, “For you sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the taking of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession.” Apparently, they had communicated somehow to him of some prison situation. I mean you at least knew that there was something better than the worldly goods and you didn’t mind giving them up.

Verse 35, “So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” Remember that if you really come to Christ and you stick in there, God’s got some wonderful things in store for you. The one place He didn’t want them to look was right where they were at because that’s when they got hassled. Quit looking at the persecution. Remember how wonderful it is going to be.

Verse 36, “For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.” You have need of patience. “After you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.” The ‘may’ there doesn’t mean it’s possible, it’s an exacting statement. And it means you will receive it. Don’t can the whole deal now because you got a little trouble.

Verse 37, “For yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come and will not tarry.” Hey, don’t get discouraged. The Lord will be here. Just be patient. You may suffer a little bit. Hold on. Because the Lord will be here. That’s the promise and we believe it. He tells them the nature of it, the results of it, and the deterrent to it. Just don’t get trapped in looking at your problems.

Verse 38, “But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him.” The just shall live by faith. Hey, you’ve come this far. Believe all the way. They hadn’t really gotten the faith yet, but hang onto what you’ve got and believe all the way. How do we live our life? By faith. No man who draws back has saving faith. Saving faith is continuing faith.

We have to trust God. I have never seen God yet. I have never seen Jesus. I have never seen heaven. I have never seen hell. I have never seen anybody who ever wrote any page on this Bible. But you know I believe it as much as I believe I’m standing here. But I believe it not by sight but by faith. My whole existence is by faith. Believe what you’ve seen is from God.

Verse 39, “But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.” We’re not of those that go back; we’re of those that believe to the saving of the soul. Lots of people believe. The Bible says the devils even believe and tremble. He says don’t fall back; go forward. It’s saying Jesus Christ provided salvation. Believe it! Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Nov 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241117 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000024A imblog

Hebrews 10:19-25

When a person hears the gospel, the good news of salvation from sin through Jesus Christ, and when that person understands and believes that the gospel is true, and when that person commits to that understanding, then that person will either go on to be a true believer or fall back to be an apostate. You see, there are only two possible responses to the knowledge of the gospel.

An apostate is one who rejects the truth, having known it. That’s different from someone who maybe rejects only knowing a portion of it. The Bible tells us that the severest kind of punishment is for that apostate. Tonight we’re going to consider the first of those two possibilities, and that is the positive response to the New Testament, or salvation for that particular believer.

Now, in the book of Hebrews, we have been studying the depths of this deep book. It began, as we were introduced to the absolute superiority, sovereignty and supremacy of Jesus Christ. We found Him in the very first verses of Hebrews 1 to be the all-sufficient One. And then the writer of Hebrews begins to compare Jesus Christ with all of the features of the Old Testament.

So He shows how Christ is better than Moses, and Christ is better than angels, and Christ is better than all the prophets, and Christ is better than Joshua, and implies that Christ is better than David, and Christ is better than Aaron, and Christ is better than all the priests. And Christ offered a better sacrifice than the other ones. He is a better priest of a better priesthood than the other one.

And He offers a New Testament that is better than the Old Testament. And so through Hebrews 10:1 - 10:18 we find a presentation of the superiority of Jesus Christ. And as we come to verse 19, He asks for a response. Now periodically, He has been giving us several strict warnings that are interspersed between these presentations of the superiority of Jesus Christ.

Verse 19-20, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus. 20 He has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the veil (that is, through his flesh).” The word “therefore” always point backwards. “On the basis of what I’ve said for 10 chapters in Hebrews and 18 verses, you must respond.”

If you know the gospel of Jesus Christ, you either then take a positive response in verse 19, “enter the sanctuary,” or you take a negative response, verse 26, you sin willfully after you knew the truth, and you fall away, and judgment comes. And that’s what He’s asking for beginning in Hebrews 10:19, in response to all of the presentation of Christ up through verse 18 of Hebrews 10.

And it’s an appeal for men to come to Christ on the basis of doctrine. You see, no biblical appeal is ever really made apart from a doctrine. And so ten chapters of basic doctrine about the identity of Christ and finally He says, “Now here’s the opportunity for you to respond.” And the first is a positive response that you tonight, who doesn’t know Christ, would have even tonight.

The positive response is salvation which is made up of three features: faith, hope, and love. Notice the text, first of all is faith. “Let us draw near,” verse 19. Secondly is hope, verse 23, “Let us hold fast.” And then there’s love in verse 24, “Let us consider one another.” All begin with “Let us,” one having to do with faith, one having to do with hope and one having to do with love.

Now, let’s begin with faith in verse 19 - 22. Verse 21-22 says, “And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.” On what basis can we draw near? Verse 19, “since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus.”

The Holy Spirit begins by saying, “We can enter into God’s presence.” The sanctuary is the Holy of Holies where God dwelt. And no man could enter into that place except the Jewish high priest once a year to offer atonement for the sins of the nation Israel. But now He is saying, “You all can enter into God’s presence. The veil has been torn down, and you can all enter in boldly.”

So we have this new entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. And this is a fantastic statement to a Jew because to a Jew, entering into the holiest is absolutely forbidden. And if a Jew ever tried to do that under the Old Testament, he would have been instantly consumed in the flames of the fire of Almighty wrath. So no Jew would ever conceive of going into the Holy of Holies.

You see, in the Old Testament there was a lot of blood being shed, but none of it ever opened up the veil. It couldn’t open the way. In Hebrews 9:22, it said, “According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” No way to forgive sin apart from bloodshed, but the bloodshed of the animals didn’t do it.

What did He do with His justice? He laid it on Jesus Christ and paid for sin and therefore, he can give us mercy. And so we can go boldly, saying, “I’m coming. Because you’ve already spent your justice on Christ, your mercy remains for me.” And so we enter boldly. In fact, we go into His presence, the Apostle Paul says, crying “Abba, Father,” which means Papa. It’s real intimate.

As faith begins to dawn in the believing heart, faith begins to perceive that we may come to God, that God is a loving God who already spent His wrath on Jesus Christ for those who believe and has nothing left but mercy. As soon as Adam sinned the access to God was shut. But now, the blood of Jesus Christ quenched His judgement. And the believer can enter boldly into His presence.

And the Old Testament could only bring a man partially into the presence of God anyway. It only just barely got him into that relationship. And we know it’s a new way not only because it gets you to God and the old way didn’t, but we know it’s a new way because it’s by the blood of Jesus and not the blood of animals. And so the Spirit calls it a new and living way.

His sacrifice is effectual for all of time and thus it is spoken of as fresh. It’s ever fresh because He’s really the Lamb slain from before the foundations of the world. And for the person who comes to Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is fresh. Because the Apostle Paul says that the moment you’re saved, you die with Christ. “You are crucified with Christ, nevertheless you live.”

And so in a very real sense, Christ’s crucifixion is just as fresh as the moment that you experience Him. It’s a fresh way and, it’s a living way. That talks about resurrection. None of those animals came back alive again. But here, it’s a living way. Jesus isn’t even a dead sacrifice. He’s alive. He’s risen. And he’s seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us.

More than that, it’s a living way because we’re alive. When you came to Jesus Christ, what did He do? Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” People in this world are spiritually dead. It’s an inability to respond to a spiritual stimulus.

And then all of a sudden Jesus Christ reaches down and makes you alive, and you begin to sense God. All of a sudden God is alive, and you’re alive. And things begin to make sense. And you begin to see what God wants and to think with the thoughts of God. And a whole new dimension opens up to you, and it’s life, and you’re alive for the first time, which means you’re sensitive to God.

That’s what Christian liberty is. Christian liberty isn’t doing what you want. Christian liberty is the ability to do right for the first time in your life. Because you’re alive to God, you can sense what He’s saying and be obedient. John 1 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” The body may die, but you are alive to God forever.

Verse 20 says “Christ has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the veil (that is, through his flesh).” How did He dedicate this to us? Through His flesh. And here, His flesh is called a veil. The inner Holy of Holies was separated from the Holy Place by this veil. That was to keep anybody out that wanted to get in. This great veil was there. It barred man’s access to God.

When Christ died, He didn’t brush the veil aside. He split it from top to bottom, and left it wide open. Christ came into the world and if His flesh was never torn on the cross, then the way was never open. Until Christ’s flesh was split, the way to God was barred, even though He was there. But when the flesh of Jesus Christ was ripped asunder at the cross, the way to God was open.

Verse 21-22, “And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.” Jesus Christ not only opened it up, but He became the high priest in the presence of God. He not only showed us the way, He took us in there with Him.

The term “the house of God” has to do with all believers. Peter uses it thusly in 1 Peter 4:17 and Paul in Ephesians 2:21 - 22. And so Jesus Christ opened the way, a new and living way, but He didn’t only open it, He took us in there with Him. Jesus Christ not only pointed out the access to God, but He took me by the arm and ushered me into His presence, and He sits there with me.

I’m anchored there by His presence, because I’m inseparably and eternally connected to Him. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. And the Lord is in there, in the throne of God, seated at the right hand of God, in His presence. And if He’s there, I’m there with Him, because we’re one. It is on the basis that access is provided. Verse 22 says, “Let us draw near with a true heart.”

Only Jesus can really cleanse a person’s heart. His is no external purification, but by His Spirit He cleanses the inmost thoughts and desires of a person. Conscience brings guilt. And the guilt can never be removed until the sin is removed. And when Jesus died, His blood removed our sins, and thus our conscience becomes free from guilt. Now, that has to do with God’s side.

But there is something that has to do with you. Our bodies are washed with pure water. And here we have the idea that there is a cleansing that goes on within us by the Spirit of God. First of all, blood is sprinkled to satisfy God. Then you and I are cleansed on the inside by water. In John 3:5, it talks about being washed by the water and the Spirit, and the water there is the Word that cleanses us.

And, secondly, you’re changed on the inside, as you’re washed by the Word and born again. Now, these are inseparable. When a man comes to Christ, they both take place. The legal act of Christ’s death is applied on His behalf, and God is satisfied. And the cleansing act of the Holy Spirit changes him on the inside, and He is satisfied. And all this comes when a person boldly enters by faith.

How does faith work?” Well, First of all, faith begins with a felt need. Paul, on the road to Damascus, was just shaking in his tracks, stunned, and he said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” That’s a need. He felt a need. Secondly, it continues with collecting evidence. In Romans 10:17, it says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by a message about Jesus.” It climaxes in commitment.

Verse 23, “Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.” The second thing in this passage is hope. Now, what is He saying here? You may come up here and you may believe, but the validity of your faith will be revealed. There are many who go around confessing Christ, and the devil is letting people confess Christianity as long as they don’t practice it.

This is the human side of eternal security. The Bible teaches that if we’re God’s, He holds us, but yet there’s a human side of the paradox. God chooses us to be saved, and yet there’s a sense in which we choose out of our own will. We are secure by the power of God, and yet that doesn’t mean that we can just do anything we want to do. There’s a human responsibility to security, too.

Verse 24, “Let us consider one another to provoke love and good works.” The third thing is simply love. Now, these Jewish readers were having a hard time breaking with the Old Testament. And they were still holding on to legalism and they were still wanting to go back to the temple and go back to the priests and back to the sacrifice. And so He says, “Come on and get in the fellowship.”

Verse 25, “Don’t neglect to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” This is an admonition to Christians as well. They were all in danger of falling back, and He’s saying, “Keep that fellowship going. Don’t go back. You need to love each other. The Christian experience is love and good works.

But if it is, it will, and it’ll also continue to the fellowship of the believers. And so what is the writer of Hebrews saying to us? Very simply, and we can’t overcomplicate his words, He’s simply saying, “Come on. The door is open. Believe God. Enter into His presence. Stay there. And commune as believers.” That’s a positive response to the New Testament. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Nov 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241110 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000249 imblog

Hebrews 10:1-18

The Apostle Paul in cultured Corinth was determined, he said, to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Here, we preach Christ crucified, the only hope of men. And that’s the theme of Hebrews 10:1-18. For this is the record from the theological standpoint, of the death of Christ. This is the depth of what His death meant, in all of its richness.

Now, the theme of Hebrews is the absolute sufficiency and superiority of Christ over all of the features and people connected with the Old Testament, that he is writing to the Hebrews. We assume the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, and so we say that it was written by the Holy Spirit, for it was. He is presenting to Jewish people the fact that they can put all of their trust in Jesus Christ.

They don’t need, even if they’re saved Jews, to hang onto the temple services, to the priesthood, to the rituals, to all of the circumstances of Judaism. And he’s also speaking to the unsaved Jew who is intellectually convinced and stands on the edge of salvation and saying, “Come on, you can put your trust in Christ, you can come from Judaism to Christianity, it will be sufficient.”

Now, as we come to Hebrews 10, He comes to the fact that Jesus’ sacrifice is better. Not only is He a better priest, not only did He secure and become the surety and the mediator of a better covenant, but He made a better sacrifice. The death of Christ became that great and final sacrifice that accomplishes for eternity what an eternity of the other sacrifices couldn’t accomplish for time.

Now, we saw in Hebrews 9 the need for a sacrifice. In Hebrews 10, we find the character of the sacrifice. Where there’s a will, there has to be a death to make the will valid. And forgiveness demanded blood in verse 22, “All things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission.” And verse 28 says, “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many believers.”

In Hebrews 10, we find the characteristics of the death of Christ, which supply all that was lacking in the old sacrifices. Some of the things in Hebrews 10 are repeats of what was in Hebrews 9 and just expanded here. Let’s look in the first six verses at the ineffectiveness of animal sacrifices. All day long the Jewish priests were engaged in bloody sacrifices, thousands upon thousands of them.

It is said at some Passover times there would be as many as 300,000 lambs slain within a week. At this time the Brook Kedron could be running with the blood of all the lambs that were being slain. And so there were sacrifices and more sacrifices. But they were ineffective. All of them had failed because they were unable to satisfy the total of God’s holy demands.

Let me give you the reasons they failed. Number one, they couldn’t bring access to God. Even the priest at his best on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, could not take the people inside the veil. The veil always remained. They couldn’t bring access to God. Verse 1, “Since the law (of the Old Testament) has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things.”

“It can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. “ And the word “perfect” means in the book of Hebrews access to God. Hebrews 7:19 says, “For the law perfected nothing, but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” Notice that in verse 1 it says the law was only a shadow and not the very image.

It was a shadow of good things to come. Now, what are they? Well, that speaks of the privileges and blessings that came through the sacrifice of Christ. And the law pictured those things. For example, when John first saw Jesus in John 1:29, he looked at Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.” Christ was the fulfillment of all the Old Testament pictures.

Colossians 2:17 says, all of the feasts and rituals, “are a shadow of things to come, but the body, or the substance, is Christ.” Access to God, security and power were really not there in the Old Testament, but they were pictured there. Shadow is probably the best translation because shadow is a form without any substance. It portrayed something that was real but itself was not that real thing.

And the Jews have also forsaken the sacrifices. They not only do not accept the final sacrifice of Christ, but they fail to continue the sacrifices of the Old Testament. They are standing in limbo between two systems and going through a ritualistic, symbolic representation of the Old Testament. The end is that mankind might come into a full relationship with God only through Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament did at least show them that their salvation was coming and that there was a form and a reality that they needed to look forward to. And it kept reminding them that God is holy and doesn’t like sin. They were constantly being reminded that the wages of sin is death because death was going on all day long throughout their history as animals were being slaughtered.

And the Old Testament animal sacrifices did not remove sin, but they just covered it. There was a removal of temporal judgment, and there was an external fellowship with God that was maintained. And the Old Testament said that anybody who despised the sacrifices was cut off. When a person reaches total sensitivity to sin is when that person turns his life over to God, if he knows the gospel.

Verse 2, “Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?” He says if it ever did bring perfection, they would’ve stopped doing it because once they arrived at perfection it would’ve been unnecessary. In other words, they wouldn’t have been burdened by the guilt of their sin.

Verse 3, “But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year.” Now, that’s exactly what was going on in Israel. They kept looking at the sacrifice and said, “Oh yeah, I’m just as sick as I’ve always been. And I’ve got to go down there again with another lamb.” All they can do is to remind a person that he’s a sinner and he’s not free to enter into God’s presence because he’s not holy.

Verse 4, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” All that the blood of bulls and goats could do would be an act of obedience that had an external significance. There is no relationship between the death and the physical blood of a dumb animal and the forgiveness of man’s moral offense against God. Only Jesus Christ, the union of humanity and deity, could satisfy God.

Verse 5-6 says, “Therefore, as He was coming into the world, He said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. 6 You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.” The way God invented it was all right. But the way men did it messed it up. They took something that should be real faith and they turned it into a ritual where there was no faith.

Christ’s sacrifice was so effective because, number one it was God’s will all along. God, You didn’t want sacrifices and offerings. All along You were well aware of the insufficiency of that whole system.” “But a body have You prepared for Me.” “Your ultimate plan was for My incarnation.” And the Bible says that He was God’s Lamb slain from the foundations of the world.

Verse 7, “Then I said, “See, it is written about Me in the scroll, I have come to do your will, God.” In Psalm 40:6-8, God said, “I’m sick of burnt offerings, but I’ve got another plan. I prepared a body.” This is a pre-incarnation conversation with God. And He says, “I come to do Your will, oh, God. You made a body for me, and I submit to it.” Christ is prepared to hear the will of God and be obedient.

Verse 8-9, “After He says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law), 9 He then says, See, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first to establish the second.” John 1:17 says, “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” So Christ’s sacrifice was better.

Verse 10, “By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.” It was better because it sanctifies the believer, makes him holy. Could the old system make a man holy? No, it could not. You know that when Jesus died on that cross and you put your faith in Him, you became sanctified. It means you are set apart, not only positionally but practically.

It’s talking about permanence. “By which will we are sanctified.” Simply stated, you can’t lose your salvation. And, dear ones who know Christ, you shall remain positionally holy forever. Now, how are we doing practically? Paul says to the Corinthians, “You’re holy, but cleanse yourselves from all filthiness.” Practically, you’re hurting. And God’s will is that we be practically holy to match the position.

Verse 11-12, “Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. 12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” This is the complete removal of sin. The Jewish priests were always standing up because they never got done. But “Jesus sat down on the right hand of God.”

His was the position of a king. And today He’s seated in heaven for us. The sacrifice of Jesus was made once and it was effective forever. It accomplished everything it was ever intended to accomplish. And nor was there anybody who could reproduce it. It doesn’t need to be reproduced, for it removed sins forever for all who believe. Christ’s sacrifice was effective because it destroyed His enemy.

Verse 13, “He is now waiting until his enemies are made His footstool.” Do you know that all the sacrifices in the Old Testament didn’t do a thing to get rid of Satan? They had absolutely no effect on him at all nor on the godless people. But when Jesus offered Himself on the cross, He dealt a death blow to all of His enemies. Jesus destroyed Satan that had the power of death.

Verse 14, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.” And here is this same security of the believer, eternal forgiveness. He didn’t bring us into access with God until we blew it and deserved to get kicked out. “For by one offering” He brought us into God’s presence “forever.” There is no way that a believer can lose that forever forgiveness.

Shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” “How shall we that are servants of Jesus Christ yield our members as servants of unrighteousness?” What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you know you’re dead to sin? If you’re really a believer, you won’t even have that desire. And so there is a permanent state of completeness in salvation brought about by one act of Jesus.

And the writer in Hebrews 10:15, begins to quote from Jeremiah 31, which is a prophecy of the new covenant. Verse 15-17 says, “The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after he says: 16 This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, the Lord says, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds, 17 and I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts.”

That’s not on tables of stone, but right in their hearts. “And in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” That’s the new covenant promise, that it’s going to be inside, and sin’s going to be forgiven and removed. And Jeremiah was inspired by the Holy Spirit. If they accept what the Holy Spirit said, they’ll have to accept Christ and the new covenant.

If they reject Christ and the new covenant, they also reject Jeremiah and the Holy Spirit. Now, that’s a tough spot to be in because they loved Jeremiah and they believed in the Holy Spirit. And what He’s saying to them is, “You don’t need the Old Testament because the New Testament has come, and God even promised that it would come.” In the next verse, He wraps it up.

Verse 18 says, “Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” It’s forgiven. Don’t go back to the temple and make more sacrifices. It’s complete forgiveness. You just need to lean on the one sacrifice of Jesus. You say, “You mean to tell me that I can be saved tonight, without any works, by just leaning on the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ?” That’s right.

The sacrifice of Christ is effective forever because it fulfills God’s will. It replaces the Old Testament. It sanctifies the believer. It removes sin. It destroys the enemy. It has eternal security built into it. And it fulfills the promise for a new covenant. It’s so perfect, you can’t add anything to it. All you need to do is believe. You say, “Does God want me to do that?” Yes, He does.

In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter said, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God has revealed this glorious revelation in Christ for you, that you might come to Christ and have your sins forgiven. It’s a glorious and a perfect salvation. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Nov 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241103 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000248 imblog

Hebrews 9:15-28

Hebrews does teach us the superiority of Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews is, in writing to this Jewish community, endeavoring to show them that they can leave Judaism, that they can abandon all the sacrifices, the priesthood, and all of those rituals that went along with the covenant and they can come to Christ. And He must prove that Christ’s sacrifice was superior to all the others.

Hebrews presents first the superiority of Christ as a person, then the superiority of Christ as a priest, then the superiority of Christ as the maker of a new covenant, then the superiority of Christ as a sacrifice. The Old Testament was unable to bring access to God. It only provided a limited relation between mankind and God. Everything is designed in the New Testament to bring people to God.

Jesus comes along and brings a better covenant that gives full access to God on an eternal basis. The old sacrifices were not able to wipe away sin, they only for a time covered it up and thus, the sacrifices had to be repeated all the time. Jesus brought a perfect sacrifice that was only done once, and it took care of an eternal redemption, covering and removing, blotting out all sin.

Now, that’s what we’ve been studying. In Hebrews 4, He began to talk about his better priesthood. Then in Hebrews 8, He began to talk about his better covenant. Now as we come to Hebrews 9, He is moving from the covenant to the better priesthood, and it’s all tied together. Now He’s going to talk about a better priesthood and continue where we left off last time as an introduction.

Verse 15, “Therefore, He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” Now, for this cause, because of the sacrificial death of Christ, He has become the mediator of a new covenant. That’s the only way He could provide what He wanted.

The word “mediator” means to be a go-between. Jesus, by the act of death, became the go-between from God to mankind. Now, God made certain standards which said “the soul that sins shall die,” and the only way that somebody could come to God was if they paid for their sin. Jesus’ death was payment for sin, which became a bridge to God. His death was the mediation that opened the way for believers.

Jesus Himself said, “I am the way.” Do you know that when Jesus died, He redeemed those under the Old Testament? How were people in the Old Testament saved? They were saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. By His death, He brought redemption to those under the Old Testament. Christ became the mediator that payed the penalty of sinners who lived long before the cross.

When Jesus died, He gathered up all the sinners from the beginning of time to the end of time in that one sacrifice. He’s preaching to Israel to give them the meaning of the sacrifice of Christ. Romans 3:24-25, “they are justified freely by His grace 25 God presented Him as the mercy seat by His blood, through faith, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.”

When God sent Christ to be the satisfaction, He declared His righteousness in forgiving sins in the past. And it was only God’s patience. Christ’s blood then satisfied forever the just requirements of God’s holy law, which mankind broke. How can a just God let sinners go is answered by the death of Christ. He can’t. He was merely patient and He forgave them until Jesus made the final payment.

God had provided the sacrifice that even reached backed and gathered them up who were believing Jews. This was not true of all of Israel. All of Israel, says Paul, is not Israel in the spiritual sense. Believing Jews had their sins covered by the death of Christ, which from mankind’s viewpoint was yet to come; but from God’s viewpoint was done from before the foundation of the world.

For mercy is available since justice has been satisfied by Christ. So the sacrifice of Christ then, is retroactive, as is the day-of-atonement sacrifice in Jewish history. You know, on Yom Kippur when they went through the ritual of symbolic sacrifice that atoned for sin, that was retroactive for the sins of the past year, and so the death of Christ was retroactive clear back to Adam.

Ephesians 4:8-9 says, “When He ascended on high, He took the captives captive; He gave gifts to people. 9 But what does “He ascended” mean except that He also descended to the lower parts of the earth?” When Jesus died, He went down to Sheol, to gather the Old Testament spirit saints, and ushered them into the presence of God. So they had to wait until the perfect sacrifice was made by Christ.

The death of Christ has always been a stumbling block to Israel. A dead Messiah never fit their theology. And so proceeding from there, in verses 16 - 28, He gives three great reasons why Jesus had to die. One, a testament demands death. Two, forgiveness demands blood. Three, salvation demands a victim. And that can be stated several ways. Judgment demands a substitute.

Verse 16, “Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established.” If there’s going to be a will, the guy who gives the will has got to be dead or the will isn’t any good. Verse 17 says, “For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living.” God made a legacy to all believers, and the legacy was eternal inheritance.

But you cannot receive the legacy of God in inheritance until the one who gave the legacy dies. A will cannot operate until the one who made it dies; therefore, Jesus had to die. The kingdom of heaven is given to all believers. Such is God’s will and testament. And Jesus’ death released it to our possession. Some of it is ours now, and it will be ours in its fullness when we go to be with Him.

The second reason for the death of Christ: forgiveness demands blood. Now, this takes a different shade of meaning, however. Verse 18 says, “That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.” In other words, there’s got to be the death of somebody because it has always been that covenants are ratified by blood. Blood was a part of the ratification of covenants, even the old covenant.

There is still somebody who is a living mediator of a covenant, then you’ve got to have a resurrection. So when you put these things all together, they have to allow for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He had to die to release His will; He had to live to make it operate. He had to die to ratify the covenant; He had to live to keep the terms of it. And so the resurrection is implied in all of it.

Verse 19-20 says, “For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people, 20 saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.” And He gives the Ten Commandments. That’s the beginning of the Mosaic covenant.

Now covenants, historically, have been always ratified by blood. Even the Abrahamic covenant was sealed by blood. So this is what happened in the Mosaic case. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice, and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has said will we do.’” Great intentions, but they did not do it.

Now, it’s interesting that the writer of Hebrews adds for us certain detail that’s not included in Exodus 24. For example, he adds the goats. There aren’t any goats in Exodus 24. Perhaps they were a special sin offering. He adds water there, and water was not in Exodus 24, either, but is used in Leviticus 14:6 and in Numbers 19 to mix with blood in order to prevent it from coagulating.

Then he mentions also scarlet wool and hyssop, and they are also used in Leviticus 14 to sprinkle. They were dipped in, and they were the things that were used to sprinkle. And then he indicates, too, at the end of verse 19, that he sprinkled not only the book but all the people. And in Exodus 24, it says he sprinkled the altar and the people. So he sprinkled the altar, the book and the people.

We cannot say that the physical blood of Jesus atones for sin. It is His death that atones for sin. His bloodshed was an act of death. It is by His death that we are redeemed. So when Jesus died and shed His blood, this is nothing for Israel to get all bent out of shape about. This ought to be proof that God was instituting a new covenant, which had to be ratified by blood.

Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 26:28, when He, at the table with the disciples that last night before His death, picked up the cup and said, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you.” He ratified the new covenant, and it would come through His blood. The shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ, His atoning death, is the confirming sign of the new covenant.

Verse 21 says, “In the same way, he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the articles of worship with blood.” The tabernacle, the vessels of the tabernacle, every bit of divine service was sprinkled with blood. It was all sprinkled with blood because God wanted people to know that every covenant He ever made with them was a covenant that had to bypass sin, and the only sin bypass there is death.

Verse 22, “According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Wherever there is forgiveness, there is bloodshed. That’s God’s way. Now, there were some exceptions. If they were so poor that they couldn’t even afford a couple of turtledoves or pigeons, they could bring one-tenth of an ephod of fine flour.

The only way you’ll ever enter into God’s presence and into participation in the new covenant is by the death of Jesus Christ and your faith and belief in His shed blood on the cross in your behalf. And all over the Old Testament, He splattered blood in order that they might be constantly made aware of the fact that bloodshed was the only expiation for sin. Forgiveness is a costly thing.

The infinite cost that God went to forgive my sins. And I’m so ready to sin, knowing that it’s forgiven. That’s why Paul, in Romans 6, faces the question, “Shall we sin that grace may abound?” And he throws his hands up in the air and says, “God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer in it?” Consider the cost of your forgiveness, God cannot violate the moral laws of His nature.

Verse 23, “Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these.” If your earthly system had to be purified with a sacrifice, then you know that the heavenly one must be purified with a far better sacrifice. Jesus is infinitely superior to any goat, bull, ram or sheep.

Verse 24, “For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that He might now appear in the presence of God for us.” And He did it for us. Because we’re in Christ, we are ushered into the presence of God with Him. Verse 25, “He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the Jewish high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.”

Verse 26, “Otherwise, He would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.” It’s better because Jesus, when He finished it, entered into God’s presence. When Jesus died, it was the end of the age. Did you know that messianically speaking, this is the last time?

1 John 2:18 says, “My little children, it is the last time.” 1 Peter 4 says, “The end of all things is at hand.” There were a lot of ages. There was the age when Satan fell. There was the age when Adam sinned. There was the age when God saw the wickedness of man and destroyed the earth by flood. There was the age of the prophets and the kings. But the consummation of ages was Christ at Calvary.

Verse 27 says, “And just as it is appointed for people to die once, and after this, judgment.” We see the thought in relation not only to Christ in verse 27, which is the primary meaning of the verse, but in relation to everybody else. All men have to die, and our death is appointed. That’s one appointment everybody’ll keep. And immediately after death comes what? Judgment.

Verse 28 says, “So also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” Jesus will return a second time, not to die for sin but with salvation. He became sin for us who knew no sin. He died that one death that judgment demanded. Christ will appear the second time to bring salvation.”

Three crosses were prepared by the Romans for three criminals. On two of the crosses, thieves were to hang. On the third cross, one guilty of treason against the Roman Empire whose name was Barabbas. But Barabbas never made it to the cross. You see, sentence was passed on Barabbas. He was found guilty by the Romans. But Barabbas never got to the cross. Jesus Christ took Barabbas’s place. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Oct 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241027 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000247 imblog

Hebrews 9:1-14

Now to the author of Hebrews, the most important truth is access to God. He uses the terms access to God, salvation to the uttermost and perfection. And those three are really synonymous terms having to do with entering into the presence of God. And He shows that it is impossible except through Jesus Christ. All of the old priesthood, sacrifices and the old covenant could not bring people to God.

Jesus himself said, “No man comes to God but by Me.” So He begins with a presentation of the superiority of Jesus Christ that he is superior to everything and everyone. And then He shows us the things by which Christ had made this access possible. First by his priesthood, and this through divine mediation. Hebrews 7:27 says, “For this He did once when He offered up himself.”

He talks also about a new sacrifice in Hebrews 9:22, “Almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission.” And in Hebrews 10, Jesus says, “I am the final sacrifice.” Then thirdly there is a new covenant, or divine promises. Jesus says, “I bring a better priesthood, a better sacrifice and a better covenant.” There is access through Jesus Christ.

Remember that He quotes Psalm 110:4, “The Lord swore and will not repent. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” If there needs to be a different order that means the Levitical order is not sufficient. We need a new priesthood, which provides divine mediation that is eternal. And He uses the Old Testament prophesy that there would be such a priesthood.

The God of the Old Testament never intended the Old Testament priesthood and sacrifices to be the ones that brought final access to God; there had to be better ones. He wants to prove there needs to be a better covenant by quoting Jeremiah 31:31, “Look, the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.” As soon as the new one comes, the old one vanishes.

That’s the basis of the discussion of Hebrews 9. So was the old covenant of no worth? The answer is no, of course it was good. It has its purpose, and that’s in Hebrews 9:1-14. The Hebrew’s faith is their failure to see that everything in the ceremonial law was only a ritual. It was only a type. It was only temporary and transient, and it needs to be done away when the reality comes.

Now in verses 11-14 He outlines the characteristics of the new covenant. In verses 1-10, he just talks about the old covenant. Verse 1, “Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary.” It also had ordinances of a divine service, even though it was an earthly sanctuary. God instituted the old covenant. But it was temporary because it was earthly.

It is typical of Hebrews to draw comparisons. He compared Israel’s prophets to Christ, angels to Christ, Moses to Christ, Joshua to Christ, and Aaron to Christ. But you have never once heard Him depreciate any of those others by comparison. He exalts the old covenant. The more they are legitimately magnified, the more Jesus is magnified when He is proven to be superior.

Now He proceeds to describe the three earthly patterns: The sanctuary, the services, and their significance. Then when we go to the new covenant we’ll see the same three things: The sanctuary, the service, and its significance. Let’s read verses 2–5, “For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the holy place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves.”

“3 Behind the second curtain was a tent called the most holy place. 4 It had the gold altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 The cherubim of glory were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.”

In verse 2 it says, “For a tabernacle.” Now we’re talking about the ceremonies and rituals of Israel. He’s dealing here with the tabernacle rather than the temple, because he wants to pull out the things that God placed initially in that tabernacle, and it was the earthiest of the two between the tabernacle and the temple. It was the most transitory thing because of its mobility and the substance of which it was made.

The tabernacle is important, because the tabernacle is really a picture of Jesus Christ. It is a portrait of Christ in detail. For example, this was a big tent. It was 150 feet long and it was 75 feet wide. And there was only one gate on the east. Now that is a picture of Jesus Christ who said, “I am the way,” who also said, “I am the door.” To the tabernacle or the place of God there was only one door.

Let’s start at the east and we were going into the 150-by-75-foot tent. We would move into the outer court of the tabernacle. And we would see some furniture there. But as we walk in, we would come to the altar made of acacia wood. It was seven-and-a-half feet square. It stood four-and-a-half feet off the ground. The top was covered by a brass grate, and the coals were underneath.

The sacrifice was placed on the grate. On the four corners of the altar were the horns to which the sacrificial animal was bound. This is a picture of Jesus Christ, who was the sacrifice for our sin. After that, we would come to the wash area. In it the priest washed their hands and their feet as they went about the services of sacrifice. Once we have received forgiveness for sins, we are not through.

We still need to go to the laver for the daily cleansing for restoration and joy. It is a picture of Jesus Christ, the cleanser of his people who provided forgiveness and cleansing in the cross. Then we come to the tabernacle itself which is 45 feet long, 15 feet wide and 15 feet high. The holy of holies was a perfect cube, 15 feet by 15 feet by 15 feet, the other part is 15 by 15 by 30 feet.

We would go into the holy place, and we would find three pieces of furniture, and here the writer only mentions two. First on the left side is the seven-lit golden lampstand with the pure olive oil that was placed there for the fire. To the right is the table of showbread made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. It was three feet long, one-and-a-half feet wide and two-and-a-quarter-feet high.

And on it every Sabbath they laid 12 loaves, one for every tribe in Israel. And at the end of the week only the priests were allowed to eat it. Then at the center is the Altar of Incense which was made of acacia wood and sheathed in gold. It was one-and-a-half feet square and three feet high. On this were placed the burning coals from the altar out in the courtyard where sacrifice was made.

Again, they are pictures of Jesus Christ. In the outer courtyard, all these things are connected with salvation and the cleansing of sin. Where did Jesus accomplish salvation and the cleansing of sin? On the earth. And that’s the courtyard, outside God's presence. It was the outer court, accessible to all the people, pictures Christ in the world openly manifesting himself before men.

But when He goes into the holy place, He is shut off from the men of the world. And so whatever is going on in the holy place has to do with when He gets back to heaven. And what are the three things that Jesus does? Number one, He lights our path. Number two, He feeds us. And number three, he intercedes for us. And so the three pieces of furniture in the holy place are pictures of Jesus Christ.

The golden lampstand is Christ, the light of life, not the light of the world. He’s not the light of the world when he’s in there. He said in the Gospel of John, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” But when he left the world, the world was left in darkness, and He is only for the believer, the light of life. He is the one who through the Spirit illumines our mind, who understands spiritual truth.

And then we see the table of showbread and Jesus is our sustenance. He’s the one who sustains us with the Word. In fact, the Word is not only our food, the Word is our light, and the oil is the Spirit of God who lights the Word for us. And then we come to the altar of incense which pictures the sacrificial coals placed there and the incense smoke rising, and this is Jesus interceding for us.

Verse 3, “We go through a second vail, which is called the holy of holies.” And we get in there and there’s the Ark of the Covenant overlaid with gold (verse 4), and it contained Aaron’s rod that budded, and manna, and the tables of covenant law. Verse 5, “The cherubim of glory were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat.” And over the mercy seat were cherubim, angels whose wings almost touched.

In Exodus 25:22, God said, “I’ll commune with you from above the mercy seat from between the cherubim.” And if God and man were to have a meeting place, they only met there. What did the Ark represent?” It represents Jesus Christ who is the true mercy seat. When you meet Jesus Christ as Savior, you are ushered into the presence of God. God communes with men in the name of Jesus Christ.

Verse 6, “With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry.” The first room was called the Holy Place. They went in there every day to trim the oil on the lampstand and the incense on the altar of incense, and they had to go in every Sabbath day to change the 12 loaves of bread. So they were in and out of there every day.

It’s again a picture of Jesus Christ who does not cease lighting, feeding and interceding on our behalf. Verse 7, “But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.” It refers to the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, which is again a picture of Christ.

Very early the priest arose, and he cleansed himself by washing. Then he put on the robes of glory that were reserved for this day. On the robe of the ephod were two onyx stones, with the six names of the tribes engraved on them. And there he is a picture of Jesus Christ who takes us not only on his heart, but on his shoulders, which means he’s not only willing, He’s able.

And the Priest went all through the sacrifices, and when he was done, he removed his robes. He bathed himself again so that he was completely clean, and then he put on pure white linen with no decoration at all, and it was a symbol of holiness and purity. And it is a symbol of Jesus Christ who in the work of atonement stripped of all of his glory and became the humblest of human flesh.

Jesus after He’d come to the cross and he said in John 17, “Father, I finished the work you gave me to do, now glorify me with the glory that I had before the world began.” Father, give me back my robes. That’s what the priest pictured. And the picture of incense is the picture of prayer and intercession. So He makes sure that the picture of Christ interceding before God opens the way for Him to come in.

Verse 8, “The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.” First, that worship of God was limited in the old covenant. Secondly, the Holy Spirit wanted to teach them imperfect cleansing was connected with the old covenant. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit meant to teach that the old covenant was temporary.

Without a redeemer, without a Messiah, without a Savior there’s no access to God. What is the most holy place? It’s heaven. But the Jews didn’t go to heaven because of Judaism, they went to heaven because Jesus died. When Old Testament saints died, they went to a place called Sheol. And it wasn’t until Jesus died that He went into Sheol and gathered them up and took them to heaven.

Verse 9, “This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.” They couldn’t bring perfect cleansing. It was only an object lesson to explain the reality. So the Spirit meant to teach by that very thing itself that it had limits because it couldn’t bring access and it couldn’t bring perfect cleansing.

Verse 10, “They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.” All these things are just temporary. Foods, that’s temporary. Drinks, temporary. Various washings, temporary. Carnal ordinances, or fleshly ones, temporary. The whole thing was only a temporary thing until the time of the new order.

Then He comes to His comparison. Verse 11-12, “But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), 12 he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

Verse 13-14, “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?” It’s heaven.

Before Christ, men did good works through their limited strength of their human nature. But when you become saved, you do the things that please Christ not through your human nature but through the new nature God gave you. That’s why in Romans 13 Paul says, “But you have a new capacity, and all you got to remember is this, love everybody and you’ll keep all the commandments.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Oct 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241020 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000246 imblog

Hebrews 8

We have looked also at the role that a high priest played under the Old Testament in Israel. Once a year, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies in the temple, which symbolized God’s throne. But he couldn’t go in until he had made a sacrifice, an acceptable offering to God. So on the outside, a sacrifice was made according to the prescription in Scripture.

And then the blood of that sacrifice would be taken by the high priest into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat. He would also have a sensor with incense in his hand which symbolized the prayers of the high priest for his nation. And so it is with our Lord Himself. He now lives, interceding for us, constantly praying for us, because He has also made the appropriate sacrifice.

And unlike any high priest before Him, Christ sacrificed Himself. This is the first time ever a high priest was also the sacrifice. Jesus Christ ever-lives to make intercession for us in the presence of God in the heavenly Holy of Holies, because He has full access, having provided the acceptable sacrifice. The book of Hebrews makes much of the priestly work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is our Great High Priest who has offered the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9:12-15 says, “He entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,

14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?” Hebrews 10:12-13 says, “But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. 13 He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.

Here is the true Great High Priest who not only intercedes for His people, but who made the sacrifice acceptable to God, which was the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 8:1 says, “Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” Hebrews 7:25 says who always lives to make intercession for us.

Notice in verse 1 His seat. There was no seat in the Holy of Holies under the Old Testament. The high priest went in, sprinkled the blood, waved the incense, and left immediately. But Jesus Christ is such a high priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of God in heaven. He sat down permanently next to God, fully acceptable and honored above all other priests.

Why at the right hand of God? The supreme court of Israel, the Sanhedrin, had seventy members, plus the high priest. They were the adjudicating body of Israel. They were the final court of appeal. On the left sat a scribe; and on the right sat another scribe. If the verdict was condemnation, the scribe on the left rendered that. If the verdict was acquittal, the scribe on the right rendered that.

Our Lord is on the right side saying to God the Father, “Acquittal, acquittal, acquittal,” no matter what the crime is, no matter what the offense is, and because He has Himself paid in full the punishment for that crime. Jesus ever-lives to declare that we have been forgiven. He is incomparable because He has a seat in the Holy Place next to God. He is incomparable because of His sacrifice.

All other high priests never offered themselves. Verse 2 says, “He is a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man.” The heavenly sanctuary. There has never been a high priest like this. Verse 3, “For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.”

Verse 4 says, “Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law.” That would mean that the priests on earth had to be descendants of Aaron or descendants of Levi. He was neither. So if He had been an earthly man only, He would not have qualified to be a priest. But the earthy priesthood is just a shadow.

Verse 5 says, “These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.” God gave him plans that were launched out of heaven, the earthly tabernacle being made as a shadow of the heavenly temple.

Christ is a unique priest. In Hebrews 7, it says “He’s a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a man without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, He remains a priest perpetually.” Melchizedek appears on the scene. He was a man with no genealogy, and we don’t know anything about him.

Verse 6 says, “But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree He is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.” The earthly Jewish priests all died. They kept having to offer sacrifice after sacrifice. Jesus has a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises.

Verse 7 says, “For if that Old Testament had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a New Testament.” On that Thursday night when our Lord gathered with His disciples in the upper room, they held the Passover to commemorate God’s deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and the power of God. But on that night, our Lord transformed that Passover into the Communion service.

Luke 22:15-18 says, “Then He said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

The Old Testament prescribed the blood of animals as a symbol; the New Testament requires the blood of the Son of God. When He established that that Thursday night in the upper room, He knew about the death He would die the next day on Friday. He would die to satisfy divine justice, to be a substitute for believers, and to provide forgiveness from judgment and reconciliation with God.

Verse 8-9, “But finding fault with his people, Christ says: See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. I showed no concern for them, says the Lord, because they did not continue in my covenant.”

And how does the New Testament applies to us? We understand the death of Christ and His sacrifice for sin. We understand salvation by grace through faith alone in Him. But just what is a Testament? It is a promise or a collection of promises. The Old Testament and the New Testament are a collection of God’s promises, all the treasures of heaven promised through the work of Jesus Christ.

Let us look why the Old Testament is obsolete and the New Testament has come and is permanent, and you’ll find it in Verse 10, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” The old covenant was a covenant of law only.

Some people say that because we’re in the New Testament we are not under law at all. Yes, the Old Testament passed away. But does that mean that God’s holy righteous law, which is a reflection of His immutable, unchanging holy nature has somehow ceased? No; quite the contrary. Hebrews 8:10 says, “I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts.”

The words in Hebrews 8 have largely come from Jeremiah 31, which are the Old Testament promises of the New Testament. And connected to the new covenant is the law. God’s laws are reflections of His immutable, unchanging nature; but what is obsolete is the stage in which the law is revealed. The holy law of God has been revealed to man since creation in several different ways.

There was the law of God before the fall, there was the law of God given at Sinai, and there is the law of God that comes in the New Testament. Before the fall, the law of God was written in Adam’s heart. Adam was a pure reflection of God as much as a creature can be a reflection of the Creator. God’s holy law dominated his mind, controlled his thinking, and captured his heart totally.

In the history after the fall, God eventually chose another son to replace Adam; that son was a nation, Israel. Israel was like every other nation; it was made up of people who naturally committed sin. Evil was normal, and they could not and did not imitate God. So God wrote His law for them, and passed that law down to them, and for them to pass it down to the whole world.

And the law described how they were to live and how they were to enjoy fellowship with God and blessing from God and escape judgment. Obedience was unnatural and not possible. The Old Testament did nothing for the heart. And by the way, the written law still does that. But that form of the law had no power to help the sinner. It couldn’t change the heart, so it became obsolete.

So what is the purpose? Romans 7:7-10, “I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. 8 And sin produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the law came, sin sprang to life again 10 and I died. The law that was meant for life resulted in death for me.”

So what does God have in mind for the law? Here it is, Galatians 3:19, “It was added because of transgression.” Why? Verse 24: “The law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The crushing weight of the law, the threat of the law is to put us in a situation of desperation where we are looking for a Savior. Then the law came in a human form in Bethlehem.

The Son of God is a far better representation of the law of God, far better than stone, because stone was external. But now the law came and the law was internal, and it was in the Lord Jesus Christ; and He even said, “You have heard it said. But I say unto you,” and then He drove the law into the heart, didn’t He? It’s not just what you do, it’s what you think.

He says in Matthew 5, that He did not come to set aside the law, but to fulfill the law. So in Christ, you have the perfect obedience to the law of God. He kept every divine precept, fulfilled every expression of the will of God. That’s what we read in Hebrews 7, He was separate from sinners. He was holy, innocent, undefiled. He kept the law. So now the law appears in a visible human being.

Moses came down from an earthly mountain, Sinai, to bring the law in stone, which neither he nor anyone else could obey perfectly. Moses had a relationship with God of a fading glory. Jesus came down from a heavenly mountain to bring the law of God in flesh, which He perfectly obeyed. That is why the Father said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased.”

He was a living example of God’s law. It’s better to see it living, because then you’re dealing not only with the external, but you’re dealing with the internal. You’re dealing with not only behavior, but you’re dealing with attitude. His perfection forces on us a higher view of the law than we could ever know just reading it. He defines the true view of obedience, holiness, and righteousness.

Verse 11 says, “And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.” Jesus Christ intimidated the religious people, to the point where they saw His kind of righteousness as a threat, and they killed Him for it. In the New Testament we aren’t given many laws; we need to follow Christ.

So what hope do we have? Verse 12 says, “For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.” The basis is from Jeremiah 31:34. Our society hates God’s law. They resent Christ who lives in perfect adherence to God’s law. You proclaim the true Christ in His perfection, you will become more hated, as our society becomes more ungodly.

The law in the mind, the law written on the heart; that’s what defines those who belong to God. All our failures and violations are forgiven. Our nature is changed so that now there is a sense in which it is our deepest desire to obey the law of God. Paul says, “Your law is holy, just, and good; and I find myself doing things I don’t want to do, because what I want to do is obey Your law.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Oct 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241013 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000245 imblog

Hebrews 7:20-28

We’re going to conclude our study of Jesus and Melchizedek. Now, the Holy Spirit is still giving more proofs that the priesthood of Jesus Christ is superior to that of Aaron. The Jews believed in the priesthood that came through Aaron and the tribe of Levi. And Jesus came as a priest of another order, the priesthood of Melchizedek. He predated Aaron, who was at the time of Abraham.

Jesus, as a priest after the order of Melchizedek, is therefore a superior priest to all the priests of Aaron. Jesus is superior to everything in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit is writing to the Jews saying, “Come to Christ.” He is saying, “Drop all the Jewish trappings. Jesus is sufficient; He is superior.” He has taken Psalm 110:4, and deduced that text for every truth statement.

The text of Psalm 110:4 is a messianic prophecy predicting that when Messiah came, He would be a priest, for mankind needs a priest who bridges the gap between himself and God, but that He would not be a priest after the Aaronic line but after the order of Melchizedek. Four times that statement is repeated. So the Holy Spirit is showing us that Jesus is a priest far superior to Aaron’s.

He is talking there about Christ being the one who brings access to God. Aaron couldn’t do it; Christ could. So, Melchizedek’s priesthood, the order of which Jesus is a priest, is superior because of its character. It’s superior in the fact that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, and all the priesthood of Aaron was in the loins of Abraham. So, Aaron was giving also homage to Melchizedek.

But the Writer is not yet finished. He has yet more to say in verses 20 - 28. And here the Holy Spirit presents Jesus as a superior priest three ways. The three ways are: a better covenant, Savior to the uttermost, and separation from sinners. Those are the three key statements by which He draws to a conclusion the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Now in verse 19, we saw the phrase “draw near to God.”

The goal of our faith is access to God. From His standpoint, He is able to save us to the uttermost. Two sides of the same truth. Now, let’s look at the three superiorities. Let’s look at verse 20, “None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath.” There’s something important about God making an oath, so let us listen to what God says in the next verse.

Verse 21, “But He became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to Him: The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever.” Now, He never said that to Aaron. God never swore an oath to Aaron that his priesthood would be forever. When God established Christ as a priest, He swore with an oath that it would be going on forever.

Verse 22, “Because of this oath, Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.” When the Levitical priests were inducted into office, God took no oath. But when Jesus Christ was presented as Priest, God swore and will not repent. It simply means that wherever God makes an oath, His word has to do with an eternal transaction. Now, that’s important.

The Old Testament priests had a transitory office, and office of imperfection and an office of decay. They ministered in the temple on a temporary basis. Verse 23 says, “Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office.” They all died and were replaced by their sons. They never could bring access to God and perfection.

God wanted everybody in Israel to see that priests of the Levitical order kept dying. So, He made Aaron’s death totally public so nobody would think that Aaron just kind of kept living. God wanted them to know that this was a dying priesthood. Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, put them on Eleazar his son; Aaron died there in the top of the mount, in the view of everybody.

Perfection in Hebrews, has to do with salvation. Jewish priests couldn’t bring it about. They could only cover sins, not do away with them. God never designed them to be an eternal priesthood. And here the writer is saying to the Jews, “Your own Old Testament says God had ordained an eternal priesthood of a different kind.” When God gives His oath that means it is guaranteed.

Hebrews 6:13 is a great illustration of this. “God made a promise to Abraham, and He swore by Himself.” Who’s greater than God? So, He has to swear by Himself. And in verse 14 He said, “I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you.” Now, when God said that to Israel, that was an eternal covenant. God would never go back on that. He guaranteed Himself with an oath.

Now, the very idea that God would take an oath is a startling thing in a sense. The only reason for God to take an oath is because there is a unique and extraordinary importance attached to those places where God does this. And whenever God takes an oath in relation to a promise, it is always connected with Christ who is the eternal fulfillment of all of His promises.

Another illustration would be the promise to David that Christ would sit on the throne and reign as King of Kings. That also was given with an oath because that is an eternal promise: Christ is an eternal king. Therefore, when God gave this indication that there would come a Messiah who would be after the order of Melchizedek, He swore by it because His priesthood was to be forever.

Because of this, verse 22 is true. So, Christ, then, is the guarantee of a better covenant because He’s a better priest. He’s an eternal priest with an eternal covenant. Christ is the guarantee of a better covenant from God with man, one that can do everything the first covenant couldn’t do. Now, He is not saying that the first covenant was bad. The word “better” is a comparative.

In some respects, the Old Testament was indeed good. It was good in itself as the product of God’s wisdom, as the product of God’s righteousness. It served a good purpose, for it restrained sin and it promoted godliness to certain degrees. But it pointed toward Christ, and when He came, there was a better one. There’s a beautiful illustration of how Christ guarantees this in the New Testament.

In Philemon there is a story about a slave, Onesimus, who was really giving problems to his master Philemon. Paul volunteers to be the guarantee for Onesimus in Philemon 1:18-19, “And if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it, not to mention to you that you owe me even your very self.”

So, in like manner, Jesus Christ Himself is the guaranteer in the service of the Father when He says, “Charge to my account whatever my people do, and I will fully pay their debts. Whatever they owe; I’ll pay it.” He’s the guarantee so that our covenant with God can never be violated. Every time we bring a debt to bear, Jesus pays it. And therefore, the covenant is maintained.

Verse 24, “But because He remains forever, He holds his priesthood permanently.” So in Jesus Christ, we have the surety of a better covenant. He is our guarantee; not only is He willing to be, better than that, He’s able. The only question remaining is are you satisfied with Him? He is the surety of a better covenant. If you’re satisfied with Him and what He’s done in your behalf, that’s all you need.

We think of Jesus often as a mediator, and it’s nice to have a mediator, but it’s better to have a guarantee. It’s great to have a mediator who carries on the functions of the covenant; but it’s better to have a surety who guarantees the eternal character of the covenant. So, all of God’s promises in the New Testament then are guaranteed to us by Jesus who pays our debts immediately.

Secondly, Christ is the Savior to the uttermost. Verse 25 says, “Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.” None of the Jewish priests could ever save them to the uttermost. There were 13 prior to Solomon, 18 under the first temple, and the remainder until the destruction in 70 A.D. But at least 83 priests died.

Our High Priest never dies. That’s why He can save us from the beginning to the uttermost, because it’s never broken. There is no stopping His salvation. It goes all the way into access with God, anchors us there, and holds us forever because He’s a forever Priest. He’ll always be the only High Priest. It describes something which belongs to one person and can never be transferred.

Well, what about when Jesus died? When He died, His priesthood never even stopped, never even ceased. The New Testament says when His body was dead on the cross, His Spirit was alive, and He was maintaining His eternal priesthood. He is still my Priest till the day I die. He was the priest of every Christian who’s ever lived, and He’ll be the Priest of every Christian who ever lives.

What does it mean “to save?” Well, the doctrine of salvation is the main theme of Scripture. In order to understand salvation, you must get off of natural revelation and get into special revelation. You cannot understand God apart from special revelation in His salvation revelation. And what we learn in the Bible is the story of salvation. That’s the theme of the Bible.

And the basic meaning of the word “salvation,” is to deliver. The deliverance the Bible presents is not temporal. The kind that Christ gives is spiritual and eternal deliverance from sin. The danger which people face is sin with its terrible consequences of guilt, the curse, and slavery to Satan, death and final hell. This is sin with all of its implications. It is from that which Christ saves.

And that wasn’t easy. It was not easy to subdue Satan, to fulfill the law, to remove the curse, to take away sin, to satisfy God, to procure pardon, to purchase grace and glory, but He did it. And Jesus did it to the uttermost so that He could take us all the way to the fullness of salvation, didn’t have to let us off somewhere to find our way the rest of the path through another source.

What is the nature of uttermost salvation? Now, the word salvation has three parts: past, present, and future. The past tense has to do with deliverance from sin’s guilt; the present tense, deliverance from sin’s power; and the future tense, deliverance from sin’s presence. The first is done at the cross; the second at the throne as He intercedes; and the third at the second coming as He comes.

Then look at the power of uttermost salvation. Verse 25 says, “He is able.” Our Great High Priest is not only willing, but He’s able. The extent of uttermost salvation? To the uttermost. This has a double kind of meaning. It means that He will bring us to full salvation, something the priests couldn’t do, and it means that He will hold us there forever. Salvation is eternal and forever.

Then we have the objects of uttermost salvation. Perfection is open and available to them that come to God by Him. There’s no other way. Jesus said, “No person comes to the Father but by Me.” It doesn’t say that He saves to the uttermost those that are baptized or those that are church members or by any other means. It says, “He saves those that come to God by Jesus Christ.”

“Come” is one of God’s favorite words. He started it in Genesis 7:1 with Noah, and He wraps up the whole Bible in Revelation 22:17 by saying, “Come.” All of Revelation is “Come, come to salvation.” It’s not enough to hear; there must be a response. If the truth does not bring a response, the truth will damn a person. To come is to cast yourself completely by faith in Jesus Christ.

“Can you lose your salvation?” Not as long as Jesus is the guarantee. And how long will He be the surety? Forever. He secures us by His perpetual life. He says, “Because I live, you shall live also.” Romans 5:10 says, “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life.”

Thirdly, separate from sinners. Verse 26, “For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.” Now, that’s not like Aaron, because verse 27 describes Aaron, “He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, for their own sins, then for those of the people. Jesus did this once for all time when He offered himself.”

Aaron wasn’t holy of his own holiness, but Christ was. The word for holy is hagios which means separated to God. But that’s not used here. It is the word hosios. It is holiness of character. Jesus Christ is both hagios and hosios. Some of the priests of the Levite line were terrible men who injured their people spiritually. Jesus Christ, for 33 years, was in the world, yet He never contracted sin.

Verse 28, “For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected forever.” The Jewish priest wore a breastplate representing the 12 tribes. So in the presence of God, he carried the tribes of Israel. Jesus Christ now is at God’s right hand. And on His heart are all the names of believers. That’s love. He’s able. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Oct 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20241006 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000244 imblog

Hebrews 7:11-19

Hebrews was written to a group of Jews outside the area of Jerusalem. Jews who had apparently been evangelized by the apostles and early prophets. There were some of them who were saved, and committed their lives to Jesus Christ, but were still hanging on to some features of Judaism, not really making a clean break. Some of them still worshipped through the priesthood of Israel.

In addition, there were unsaved Jews who had been intellectually convinced that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. They apparently believed all of the data regarding the Gospel, but for fear of being separated from the life of their people, they had never really made a commitment to Jesus Christ. And perhaps, in the Jewish community, there were also some unsaved and unconvinced.

But to this community of Jews, primarily the saved ones still hanging on to the Judaism rituals and the intellectually convinced ones who hadn’t yet committed to Christ, the Holy Spirit writes this letter. And it is designed to present to those Jews the absolute superiority of Jesus Christ. And because He is superior, the New Testament is thus superior to the Old Testament.

And that then, becomes the heartbeat of the book of Hebrews. We read about Christ being a mediator of a better covenant, a better hope with better promises, a better sacrifice with better substance, a better country in heaven, and a better resurrection. It talks about a heavenly Christ, a heavenly calling, a heavenly gift, a heavenly country and a heavenly Jerusalem.

Now, it is on the basis of all of that that the Holy Spirit is saying to the Jews, “Put your total confidence in the New Testament; drop the Old completely.” The converted Jew who has claimed Christ as His Messiah can let go of all of the temple routines, all of the temple rituals; he can drop all of the sacrifices; he can drop all of the priesthood because Christ has supplanted it all.

In Hebrews 4, He introduced Christ as a priest. In Hebrews 5, the Holy Spirit shows how that Christ is a greater priest than Aaron. And it ends in verse 10, “Called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” As He closes Hebrews 6, He says, “Jesus, made a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” After His invitation in Hebrews 7:1, He goes right into Melchizedek.

First, it was a universal priesthood, while Aaron’s was national. Secondly, it was a royal priesthood. He was a priest king; Aaron’s was subject to kings. Thirdly, it was a righteousness and peace priesthood. Fourth, it was a personal priesthood; it was based on Melchizedek’s own character. Aaron’s was based on heredity. Fifth, it was an eternal priesthood; and Aaron’s was limited by time.

In those five ways, we saw that the priesthood of Melchizedek is a superior priesthood to that of Aaron. Now, this is the point. The Jew always felt that there was nothing superior to the Aaronic priesthood, to the Levitical ritual, to the whole ceremonial law as given to Moses. But the fact that their existed another priesthood that had superiority to Aaron’s proves that Aaron’s priesthood was limited.

And the promise that David gave in Psalm 110:4 was that when Messiah came, He would not be a priest like Aaron, he would be a priest like Melchizedek, which means that whatever kind of priest Melchizedek is, it must be better than Aaron. And David said, “When Messiah comes, He will be like Melchizedek,” showing that Aaron’s was inadequate and would be replaced.

Now, the Holy Spirit is not finished proving that Jesus is superior to Aaron. In verses 11 - 19 He continues His proof. He shows that Christ is better because David prophesied that Messiah would be of another order, which meant Aaron’s order couldn’t make it. That’s Psalm 110:4 which shows that Aaron’s would not be sufficient. As we look at it, the key phrase is in verse 19.

Drawing near to God is the goal of Christianity. This is the essence of Christianity. This is the design of God for Christians to have access to His presence. Christians look at their Christian life usually in three ways. Some see Jesus Christ only as a means to salvation and personal happiness. Other people look at their relationship to Jesus Christ, and they seek to know Christ better.

Thirdly, this is what Christianity really is, some Christians understand that Christians draw closer to God. That is the essence of Christianity. The fullest expression of our faith is to enter into the presence of God, into the Holy of Holies, and to sit on the throne with Him. That’s the fullest expression of faith. Jesus is the door to God, but many Christians never get into the Holy of Holies.

Judaism could never do this. In Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul says, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Now, Judaism never really brought a person into the presence of God. Only by His priesthood interceding at the right hand of God and only by His perfect blood sacrifice on Calvary was access to God open. And the great recurring themes in Hebrews are the New Testament, the priesthood and the sacrifice. Aaron’s sacrifices couldn’t do it, what hung between them and God was the veil.

The fact that the Messiah was the Priest after the order of Melchizedek opened up an entirely new thing. The fact that perfection was not brought till Christ offered Himself shows that imperfection was attached to the Aaronic Levitical priesthood. All their lives the Jews had been taught that the Levitical system was perfect, that it was instituted by God, and that it was sufficient and permanent.

Well, the Holy Spirit uses logic here and shows that the Levitical system was imperfect, and because it was imperfect it had to be superseded. And the reason we know it was imperfect was it couldn’t do what all God’s religion is designed to do, bring a person into the presence of God. And when Jesus came, the whole old system had to be destroyed; it had to be dropped and Judaism is defunct.

In verses 11 to 14, we’ll study the imperfection of the inferior Aaronic priesthood. Let us study those verses. Verse 11, “Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron?”

You see, when God set aside Israel that was no accident. God had planned that way back in the Old Testament, even before the world began. God knew the Messiah would be a different priest. The word “perfection,” used by the apostle Paul, has to do with spiritual maturity. In Ephesians 4, he talks about perfecting the saints. In Colossians, he desires to present every person perfect.

But in Hebrews, it is a word used to refer to the goal and the aim of Christianity, access to God. In Hebrews, it does not mean spiritual maturity; it essentially has to do with salvation in Christ. Now, let’s see the goal in verse 19, “(for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” That’s the synonym for perfection, do you see?

In Hebrews, perfection is access to God. It is the full goal of our faith. Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one offering, He has perfected forever those that are sanctified.” In other words, He has given them positionally full access to God. That’s perfection in Hebrews. Access to God. You can’t gain access to God through the repentance from dead works. It’s only through Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “No person comes to the Father but by Me.” There could be a covering of sins which the Old Testament did. But it never got rid of them; it just covered them over. So, now the meaning of verse 11 is clear. If the Levitical priesthood could have brought this perfection, which is access to God in Hebrews, and salvation, why would God have predicted another priesthood?

Verse 12, “For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well.” Now, the idea of change here means to put one thing in the place of another. You don’t add Christianity to Judaism; you take away Judaism and you put in Christianity. The priesthood of Melchizedek was not added to Aaron’s; it replaced it. Some people said, “Does this mean that the law of God is done away?”

No. Whenever you see the word “law” in any kind of a context related to the Old Testament, be sure that you understand that it can mean several things: it can mean the whole Old Testament. The entire thing is referred to as the law. It can also mean the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments of Moses. It can also have to do with the ceremonial rituals of Israel.

He is saying, “If the priesthood is to be defunct and a new one there, then there must be a changing of all of the ceremonial law, the Mosaic system of sacrifices has been set aside. Certainly there’s not a doing away of God’s moral law. He is saying to them, “You don’t need to go to the temple all the time; that’s over. And this setting aside was extremely difficult for the Jews to grasp.

Verses 13 - 14, “For the One these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar. 14 Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah, and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.” For the One refers to the Messiah and our Lord, by being from Judah, fulfills the prophesy of Psalm 110 which says “Messiah shall come after the order of Melchizedek.”

The perfection of the superior priesthood is described in two ways. First a superior priest. Verse 15-16, “And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life.” It’s evident that Jesus came from Judah. Genesis 49:10 tells us Messiah would be from Judah.

Even the genealogy of Jesus says that His parents went to Bethlehem to pay their taxes, which meant they were from the tribe of Judah. Because of that, that the whole Levitical system had been set aside. The priesthood of Christ was no temporary thing; it was sufficient; it was permanent and it was abiding. So, He says, “Don’t cling to Judaism. We have a superior Priest.”

Jesus said, “I just arose a Priest by Myself.” Melchizedek is then a type of Christ, right. Now, the Holy Spirit goes further in verse 16, “Who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life.” The old standard prescribed for high priests had to do only with the physical in Leviticus 21. It didn’t matter what they were spiritually.

“The power of a indestructible life.” That’s a different kind of priest isn’t it? Nothing to do with the physical body, but to do with eternal power. That’s the kind of priest Jesus was. He was a Priest by eternal power. He had an inward priesthood. Not a physical claim, but an eternal claim. And thus, by His eternal power, He can do what no priest could ever do; He can give us access to God.

Verse 17, “For it has been testified: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Melchizedek wasn’t a priest by any physical standard. He was a priest because of his character. And in that sense, he pictures Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ can do what Aaron couldn’t do; he takes us into the presence of God, and He anchors us there eternally. My friends, that’s ultimate power.

Verse 18-19, “So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable 19 (for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” God says, “I am setting aside the old one, and I’m bringing in a new one.” In the New Testament, you have access to God. Now “annulling” means doing away of something that is established.

The whole sacrificial system, the whole ceremonial system is annulled; it is done away with. God wipes it out. And He wiped it out for good in 70 A.D. when He destroyed the temple. The old system could reveal sin and cover sin; it could give relatively draw near to God, but not with full perfection. But the priesthood of Jesus Christ made all that Israel looked forward to a reality: access to God.

In 1 Peter 1:10 he says, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated.” In other words, they only saw it from a distance, but now it is finished, and we can go into God’s presence, and we can sit down, and with Paul, we can say, “Abba Father.” We are also a holy priesthood. We have access to God.

And so, the Word of God gives us the wonderful promise of what Jesus accomplished. It’s much better to be in the New Testament than to be in the Old Testament, where all you ever had was the promise, but you never had the freedom of conscience. And now, when Jesus, hanging on the cross said, “It is finished,” on this side of the cross we dwell in the riches of the one who loves us. All of our debts are paid. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Sep 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240929 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000243 imblog

Hebrews 7:1-10

Melchizedek is a type of Christ. Your heart will be enriched as we continue through Hebrews 7 and deal with the priesthood of Christ. Particularly are these first ten verses that we understand the character of Melchizedek. There’s much in the Scripture that comes under the category of typology. Whenever we talk about a type, we mean an Old Testament picture of Christ.

There are many pictures in the Old Testament of Christ. We call these types, and Christ is the fulfillment of that type. But as we come to Hebrews 7, we meet another Old Testament type. A lamb rates no comparison with the Lamb of God. Nor does a serpent of brass rate a relationship to Jesus Christ realistically. They are merely humble pictures meant to give us an illustration.

And at the same time Melchizedek in no way deserves an equality with Jesus Christ. But he does serve as an interesting picture of Christ, and we’re going to see that tonight. Hebrews 7 is really the main chapter in the book of Hebrews, because it tackles the key question which concerned the Jews, and that was the question of priesthood. Priests have a strange relationship to our society.

To the Jew, the priesthood was intrinsic to Judaism. The priests really were the ones who connected men with God. And the Latin word for priest means bridge builder. The priest was the one who built the bridge from man to God. To them religion was access to God. And since they couldn’t go directly to God, they had to go through a mediator, and the priests were the mediators.

Later on in Hebrews 9, it says, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sins.” Now, the priests couldn’t have direct access to God except through a sacrifice, because God had designed that sin would be paid for by a blood sacrifice. And so, the priest did all of the technicalities of the sacrifice and therefore was the link or the bridge between men and God.

But human priests were frail and sinful, and before they could ever offer sacrifices for anybody else, they had to offer sacrifices for themselves first. So God wants to prove to us that there’s a greater high priest than any Hebrew priest, one who doesn’t need to make atonement for His own sins. We need is a better priesthood and better sacrifice, and both of those are realized in Jesus Christ.

The concept of Melchizedek is an amazing insight into the fact that God wrote the Bible. In Genesis, we have three verses about Melchizedek. A thousand years later, we find Psalm 110:4 with a single verse about him. And God Himself swears to His Son that he will be a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. A thousand years passes by, and this verse explains Melchizedek.

And you can see that the divine mind of God, guides Melchizedek and Abraham through all of these thousands of years to come up with a perfect picture of Jesus Christ. They had no idea what was going to happen 2,000 years after them. The psalmist had no idea, and yet God knew exactly what He was doing with Melchizedek. That tells me the same God that wrote Hebrews also wrote Genesis.

Now, Melchizedek is the king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. Genesis 14:17 says he met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed Abraham. Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. In Genesis 14, we get all the details leading up to this. There was the king of Sodom, and a king of the Elamites. And Abraham defeated those kings after they conquered them.

Now, before Abraham ran into the king of Sodom, he met this Melchizedek, who was the king of another area called Salem. And this person was not only the king, but he was the priest of the Most High God. And when he met Abraham, he blessed him. And then Abraham took of the spoils and paid it to Melchizedek. And then he fades away, and that’s all we ever hear.

Aaron’s priesthood was strictly for Judaism. Secondly, the priests were subject to the kings in some measure. Thirdly, Aaron’s priesthood offered no permanent righteousness and peace, only that continual sacrificing. It never established a permanent righteousness for a person nor permanent peace with God. That peace and that righteous was shattered every time they sinned.

Fourthly, Aaron’s priesthood was hereditary. If you were born in the right family, you were automatically a priest no matter what you were. Fifthly, it was a timed priesthood. They only existed in it from the age of about 25 to 50 years and then it was over. Now, this is important for us to understand because Melchizedek’s priesthood supersedes Aaron’s at every single point.

And we see the comparison with Melchizedek. First: Melchizedek’s priesthood was universal. It was not national. Notice verse 1, “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings.” In relation to Israel, God took on the name of Jehovah. God’s name is I Am, which is YHWH in the Hebrew.

But no Jew would say the name of God. So, Jehovah’s not really the name of God; it’s only that name which Israel came up with in an effort not to say YHWH. Aaron’s priests were priests of Jehovah. That is they were related to God only in connection with Israel. But it does not say that Melchizedek was the priest of Jehovah; it says he was the priest of the Most High God.

Now, that reaches everywhere in heaven and earth. It is the universal name of God that includes Jew and Gentile. Far broader than the Jewish term Jehovah. So, whereas Aaron’s priesthood related just to Israel, Melchizedek’s was related to all people. Now, when the Holy Spirit says Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, this means that Jesus is the Messiah of the world.

Now, in the Jewish mind there had to be a historical reason for everything. And so, God chooses Melchizedek as His perfect foundation to teach this truth. And there is one, Jesus Christ that transcends Israel. Abraham understood this concept, because in Genesis 14:22, he said, “I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, the “God Most High.” So, he understood that Christ was God of everything.

Today there are 15.7 million Jews in the world, and I heard one rabbi say, “We don’t want any more, either. We’re not interested in proselyting anybody.” They’re locked in to their system – not by the design of God, but by their own failure to be the witnesses God intended them to be. And so, their own Messiah is not even their own, but a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Aaron’s priesthood was subject to royalty, and Melchizedek was royalty. This is something totally foreign to the Aaronic priests and Levitical priests in Israel. There was never that combination. Israel’s priests were never king and priest. What a perfect blend that Jesus Christ should be that blend of priest and king so that He not only takes men to God, but He rules men for God.

The Jews always felt that God dwelt with them, and that God was exclusively theirs, and there could never be another priesthood, or another covenant. And so, when Christianity came along and says, “Here’s another covenant; here’s another priesthood,” they said, “No, it can’t be.” But the Holy Spirit says. “There was another priest, and there was another covenant before you existed.”

There was no permanent righteousness, and no permanent peace in Aaron’s priesthood. But Melchizedek’s priesthood was a priesthood of righteousness and peace. Notice verse 2, “First his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace.” Righteousness is holiness. And righteousness is demanded before you can ever be at peace with God.

When the righteousness of Christ is given to you by faith in Him, Christ’s righteousness becomes yours; you’re immediately at peace with God. He sees you covered by the blood of Christ. Every Jewish priest wanted to make a person righteous that he might be at peace with God, but they couldn’t do it. But here He says Melchizedek’s very name was righteousness, and his city was peace.

Now, Aaron’s priesthood was hereditary; Christ’s was personal. It had nothing to do with personal qualification. And did they ever preserve their pedigrees. Ezra 2:61 says, “And of the children of the priests sought their registration among those who were reckoned by genealogy.” In other words, if you couldn’t verify the genealogy of yourself and your wife, you were out of the priesthood.

Jesus Christ, in terms of His priesthood, didn’t even belong to the tribe of Levi. He belongs to Judah. And in terms of the Levitical priesthood, He had no right to be a priest. So He was a priest not after the order of Aaron, but Melchizedek who was chosen because of his quality. He has no recorded beginning nor ending so that he is the perfect illustration of Jesus Christ.

Now, a Jewish priest would begin at the time when he was 25. And for five years, he would serve the other priests. Then, when he hit 30, he could operate on his own. He would minister till he was 50, according to Numbers 8:25, and then it was over. But no such restriction is placed on Melchizedek. There is no record of Melchizedek’s death. He is chosen by God purely on his quality.

Aaron’s priesthood, as mentioned was limited. Melchizedek’s is eternal. I mean to say that there appears in the text no beginning and no end to it. Now, there is no record of the death of Melchizedek, he appears as always alive in the text, and therefore a picture of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 7 tells that Jesus Christ is such a High Priest. He’s the picture. Jesus is a priest like Melchizedek.

It says in verse 3 that Melchizedek resembled the Son of God. Now watch; it does not say that the Son of God was made like Melchizedek. Who came first? The Son of God. Melchizedek was made like the Son of God. Jesus Christ was the original; Melchizedek was only the copy. Secondly, the superiorities are proven. And in this argument, which runs from verses 4 to 10, is basically a simple argument.

Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek. Consider nobody’s better than Abraham. That shows the superiority of Melchizedek. Abraham gave him the top of the spoils. The Greeks had a custom after they won. They’d bring all the spoils and they’d dump them in a big pile, and the best was taken out of it and given to the gods. And that’s exactly what Abraham does to Melchizedek.

Consider how great Melchizedek must have been. Do you understand what it means to give Him the top of the heap? When the month comes, and you start to write your checks, what comes first? If Abraham gave the top of the heap to Melchizedek, what should we give to Jesus Christ? Verse 4, “Now consider how great this man was: even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the plunder to him.”

Verse 5, “The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people, from their brothers and sisters though they have also descended from Abraham. But in the case of Abraham, there wasn’t a commandment. Abraham knew that he was a priest of the Most High God and gave him the respect he deserved as God’s priest.

Verse 6, “But one without this lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.” Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Verse 7, “Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior.” In other words, Melchizedek must have been greater than Abraham, because he blessed Abraham. God operated in Melchizedek’s life on the basis of personal qualification.

And in the church, He sets up in Ephesians 4:11, pastors and ruling elders. Now, in James 3:1, we are warned, “My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” God set certain people in the church to rule. We subject ourselves to those whom God has chosen, who in 1 Timothy 5:16-17, are worthy of double honor if they rule well.

Verse 8, “In the one case, men who will die receive a tenth, but in the other case, Scripture testifies that He lives.” In other words, to be able to exact tithes in a dying kind of priesthood is one thing; how much greater is Melchizedek who had no death. And so, Jesus Christ is a Priest who is alive forever more. He is a greater priest because He’s a living priest; not a dying one.

Verse 9-10, “And in a sense Levi himself, who receives a tenth, has paid a tenth through Abraham. 10 for he was still within his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.” In other words, the Holy Spirit kind of apologizes for the strangeness of the argument. When Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, it was as if the entire Levitical priesthood had acknowledged his superiority.

So, Christ is a priest of a better priesthood, universal, royal, bringing about righteousness and peace, personal and eternal. And because of that, let the Spirit penetrate your heart with them. You’ve heard them before, but “Seeing then that we have a Great High Priest, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Sep 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240922 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000242 imblog

Hebrews 6:13-20

Who do you trust? That’s a very profound question. In our age, we’re well on the way to trusting nobody. And we’ve developed a kind of a psychosis of distrust in our world that is commonly known as the credibility gap. Young people are being taught to trust nobody, as well as learning it by experience. Promises are given, and they mean nothing. The whole world is full of liars.

In fact, the Bible says that the whole world lies in the arms of the Father of Lies, Satan. Some turn to religion. They spend their life in a particular religious system, and they never find peace, and they never find meaning. In another religious system, they spend their life praying to a particular saint only to be told, after years of such prayer, that that saint wasn’t really a saint.

The testimony of the New Testament is given to us in 1 Timothy 4:10. It says this, “For this reason we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” Can you give your life to Jesus Christ? Can you place your hands, your life, in the hands of God and be secure that God will hold on to that?

Now, the writer of Hebrews has been urging the Jews to completely abandon everything from the old covenant. They’re to commit themselves entirely to the new covenant and to Jesus Christ. You can forget the temple; you can forget the priesthood; you can forget the holy days; you can forget all of the feasts; you can forget all of these things in the terms of their meaningfulness.

He says to that Jew who’s not yet saved, but who’s intellectually convinced about the Gospel, “You need to come all the way to Jesus Christ. You need to let go of all that you’re holding onto. You can throw your life on this Messiah, on this new covenant and find out that God is worthy of your trust.” He urges them to come to Christ before they fall away into apostasy and be lost forever.

And then He reaches back into Hebrew history and pulls out Abraham. And He says, “If you want an example, then look back at a man from your own history, Abraham and see how that man trusted God. And Abraham is a perfect illustration of a man of faith, who went all the way with God, who totally trusted God for everything in the midst of unbelievable kind of adversity.

And note that whenever the New Testament writers spoke to Jews, they invariably used Abraham as the basis of faith, because so very often the Jewish mind assumed that salvation was by keeping the law. And so the New Testament message is, “It’s by faith; not by keeping the law.” Paul says in Romans 4:3, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.”

Abraham wasn’t circumcised when he believed God. Abraham began the Jewish race only in the sense that God called him, and he was already a fairly old man when God called him – 75 years old. He hadn’t experienced circumcision. The Jew always put his stock in the fact that he was a Jew and circumcised the eighth day. Abraham was righteous because he believed God.

Verse 11, “This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. 12 And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.” Paul is saying, “Your only way to God and to righteousness is by faith.

And verse 13 sums it up, “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.” Verse 20. God said, “Abraham, you’re going to have a son. Abraham thought, “Do you know how old I am? Do you know that my wife is 90?” And Sarah was in a corner laughing, according to Genesis.

Romans 4:20-22 say, “He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. 21 because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. 22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.” Righteousness comes as Abraham believed God. Salvation in the Old Testament was not by law; it was by faith.

And God suddenly came to him in Genesis 12 and said, “All right, Abraham, pack up; you’re leaving. Get everything you’ve got and get out. I’m going to take you to a place where I want you to go.” Now, that’s a big issue. Packing up his whole tribe, of which he was chieftain, and moving them all out, to a place called Canaan. He finally did, and settled in a place called Haran.

When he got to Haran, he received another promise. God would bless him and multiply his seed and give him a great nation and that through his seed all of the families of the earth would be blessed. This is repeated to him in Genesis 12, Genesis 13, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 18, and Genesis 22. God says to him, “Here’s My promise,” and Abraham believed God.

Hebrews 11:8-9 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise.” That is faith. It’s the evidence of things not seen.

When the Lord promises, He puts His integrity on the line. It’s a matter of His character, and every promise of God is secured by His character. If God says, “You’re safe with me,” then you better be safe with Him, or His word is worth nothing. Can you give your life to God? Can He finish the work He begins in your life? Is there real security with God? The Bible says there is.

Look at verse 13, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by himself.” That verse says there’s nobody greater in the universe than God. Now, that means that whoever He is, He makes the rules. And the reason that God cannot lie is that God invented truth. No person always tells the truth. But whatever He says is always the truth.

Jesus, in the High Priestly Prayer in John 17:17, said, “Sanctify them by Thy truth; Thy word is truth.” Therefore, if God makes a promise, He will keep it. And to those Hebrew readers who were unsaved but who believed it and heard the whole Gospel and seeing some of the miracles, and they were afraid to let go of Judaism. To them the Holy Spirit says, “Come on, you can trust God.”

What was His promise to Abraham in verse 14? He said this, “I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you.” Did He keep it? Do you want to know how many Christians there are right now in this world today? There are now, 2.18 billion of the seed of Abraham still roaming the world. He said, “You’re going to have a great nation, as numbers the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven.”

And Abraham looked at Sarah and said, “Well, you got to start with one, and we don’t even have that.” And it didn’t look real good, but he believed God. He hung in there. And he tried to help God a little bit, and got over there with Hagar and produced Ishmael, but God just used that as a punishment. Ishmael fathered the Arabs, who have been trouble for the Jews ever since.

Verse 15, “And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise.” Abraham said, “God, I’m just going to trust you,” and he sinned, but God caught him. And it looked impossible. He took little Isaac, and he got up on that mountain, and he had that knife lifted in the air, but God stayed his hand. And he went that far because that’s how much he believed God. That’s faith.

The Abrahamic promise was an unconditional covenant. God said, “Get up and go,” because God had a plan. And in the generations after the flood, man continued to depart from the Lord. Even though God tried to reach people, through various institutions and various men, it didn’t really work. And those people were not responding to God’s rule. God had to do something.

Now, God picked out a certain nation or a certain people and using them as His channel around the landslide of sin. Now, from Abraham’s loins were to come the whole nation of Israel. Jesus said in John 4, “Salvation is of the Jews.” And He meant not that the Jews are the only ones that can be saved, but the channel is the Jews. Jesus came through the line of Judah through the Jews.

There was an interesting custom in Abraham’s day. Whenever two people made a covenant, they sealed it with blood. And the way they did it was they took an animal, and they cut the animal in half, laying a piece on each side, and together they walked between the blood pieces. That signified that they had made a covenant in blood to keep their promise. And it would be witnessed.

That means the Abrahamic covenant wasn’t even made with Abraham; it was made between God and Himself. Therefore, it is an unconditional covenant. God is simply saying, “Abraham, go to sleep while I make a covenant with Myself.” God promised Himself, on the basis of His own purpose, that this is what He would do, and Abraham had nothing to do with it.

The whole design of God, in calling Abraham, really had nothing to do with Abraham. When He chose Israel, what were they supposed to do?” God’s flowing blessings were given for seven purposes. Number one, they were to proclaim the true God. Isaiah 43:21 says, “The people I formed for myself will declare my praise.” Secondly, they were to reveal Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Thirdly, they were to be God’s priest nation. In Exodus 19:5 - 6, they’re called a kingdom of priests. They are to represent God to the world. Fourthly, they were to preserve and transmit Scripture. In Deuteronomy 6, it says they were to write it all over the place. Fifthly, they were to show the faithfulness of God. They were to be a living illustration that God was faithful.

Sixth, they were to show the blessedness of serving God. Psalm 144:15 says, “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.” And seventh, they were to show God’s grace in dealing with sin. Their whole sacrificial system was a portrayal of how God graciously dealt with sin. Because God purposed before the world began to conform you to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 9:8, “That is, they who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” In other words, he’s talking about Israel. Not all Israel is Israel. In other words, it’s not just the people who happen to be Jewish that are the chosen of God; it’s the one who are the children of promise. That is to whom God has given a promise.

Verse 16, “For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute.” This explains this idea of an oath. In other words, if you’re going to make an oath, you swear by somebody greater than yourself. When a guy said, “I swear by God,” then that was confirmation. That ended the argument, when a man would swear by somebody higher than himself.

Verse 17, “Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath.” He wasn’t only showing it to Abraham; He was showing it to the heirs of the promise. That means all those of faith through all the ages stands as a testimony of God’s faithfulness. Now, notice, “His unchangeable purpose?” His purpose can never change.

Verse 18 says, “So that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.” There are “two immutable things” His promise and His oath. He stated it, and then He swore by it. He says, “Come on to Christ. There is nothing to fear. I’ll never let go of you.”

Also in verse 18, “It is impossible for God to lie, and so, we might have a strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.” You’ll never know until you flee to Him for refuge. You read it in Numbers 35. 1 Timothy 1:1 says that The Lord Jesus Christ is our hope. Colossians 1 says that that hope is the Gospel and salvation. And you’ll know it if you believe Jesus Christ.

God gave Abraham the security of His person, His purpose and His pledge. God added another pledge and security, Jesus Christ. Verse 19, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.” Your soul, when you come to God, isn’t drifting anymore. It says right there the anchor is sure and steadfast, and it’s inside the veil. What does that mean?”

Our Great High Priest Jesus Christ performed the perfect sacrifice, and He entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies. And when He went in there, He didn’t just stand around and leave, the Bible says He went in and sat down. Jesus finished the job. The veil was ripped open, and He left, as the writer of Hebrews says, “A new and living way into the presence of God.” Wow, fantastic.

Verse 20, “Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” He went in there, and when I put my faith in Him, I threw my anchor; it went in the veil, and He holds it in His hand, and He’ll never let go. How long are you anchored there?” Forever. There never was such a high priest like that. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Sep 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240915 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000241 imblog

Hebrews 6:9-12

Hebrews is an epistle written to a community of Jews, a congregation somewhere outside Jerusalem and the immediate area. So, we know that they were really a second-generation group of believers, having been won to Christ by the apostles who went out to preach. Now, in becoming Christians, they had to make a break with Judaism. Immediately upon receiving Jesus Christ they would be ostracized.

They would lose all the relationships that they knew in a culture and a community in which they existed. The cost was heavy; the pressure was great; the persecution was intense. And because of the desire to hang onto some friends and family and some of the things that had been so much a part of their life, they were in danger of holding to some Old Testament patterns.

And so the writer repeatedly says, “Let it all go. Leave it all. You don’t need any of the Old Testament patterns anymore.” And all through Hebrews, we read about the inability, and the ineffectiveness of the old covenant, the fact that the priests of the old covenant couldn’t match the priesthood of Jesus Christ. The sacrifices of the old covenant couldn’t match the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was the perfect Priest who made the perfect sacrifice. And Paul so aptly said in Colossians 2:10, “You are complete in Him.” The main point of Hebrews then is to encourage Christians to make a complete and total break with the patterns of the old covenant in their acknowledge of Jesus Christ. But periodically there are warnings to unbelievers. The Jews are a special breed of unbelievers.

They’re unbelievers who have been intellectually convinced of the validity of Christianity, so much so that they have turned away from Judaism, and they’ve moved into the Christian community. They perhaps even professed to be true, believing Christians, but the fact is they are not. They are intellectually-convinced of Christ, who’ve never made the real step of faith.

We saw several warnings in Hebrews, and we’ve studied many of them. In Hebrews 5 the Holy Spirit began to talk about the priesthood of Christ. He’s showing them that Christ is a legitimate Priest, they don’t need the Jewish priests anymore. And He says, “I can’t say what I want to say to you until you come all the way to Jesus.” He says, “If with all you know you fall back, you’re an apostate.”

First we saw the problem that He wanted to teach them about Melchizedek. The oracles of God to the Jew was the law and the Old Testament. And He says, “You people don’t understand the pictures, and the types, and the prophecies, and the meaning of your own covenants.” Because it was in their Old Testament that the elements of the Messiah were presented, weren’t they?

The problem is that they’re spiritually stupid, and they can’t choose what’s right. He gives a solution in Hebrews 6:1-2, “Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, 2 teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”

Therefore, leave your Old Testament; that’s baby talk. Come on to maturity and the full revelation. You’ve got to get off the basic elements, which is what the word “principles” means. And you’ve got to come all the way to Jesus Christ. Faith toward God doesn’t mean anything if you don’t come through Jesus Christ, right? Lay hold of the Lamb of God, not by your hands, but by faith.

Here’s the power,” in verse 3, “And we will do this if God permits.” Anything that is to be done is to be done only in the permissive will of God. Divine enablement alone will allow them to go to maturity and allow Him to continue to write the things He desires to write. Then we come to the heart of the issue, verses 4-6, “For it is impossible to renew to repentance.”

“Those who were once enlightened” – not saved, you don’t see salvation here at all – “who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, have tasted God’s good Word, and the powers of the coming age, 6 and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt.” It doesn’t say they were saved, justified and righteous.

It just says they were involved in what the Spirit was doing. They were seeing the signs and wonders and mighty deeds that the apostles did. It doesn’t say they were born of the Spirit, sealed by the Spirit, indwelt by the Spirit, anointed by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, baptized by the Spirit, or filled with the Spirit. So, we don’t believe they’re believers. The point is they had all the revelation, but they fell away.

Jesus said, “You’re either for Me or against Me.” In Matthew 12:31 Jesus said, “Therefore, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Do you know what that means? It’s to see the works of Christ, and attribute it to Satan. And then walking away and saying the very opposite is true.

He illustrated this in verses 7-8, “For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.” Some people hear the Gospel and they believe. Others bring forth only thorns, and they’re burned.

In verse 8, the thorns are not evil deeds, but they are the works of self-righteousness. He is talking about Jews, who worked like mad, to bring fruit to God. But all they ever came up with was thorns. Why? Because God rejects all self-effort. Do you know that? “For by grace are you saved, not of works.” Through faith, not of works. God rejects all works. This indicates God’s rejection of Judaism.

And three years later, after this was written, at 70 A.D., Titus Vespasian invaded Israel and destroyed Jerusalem. One million, one hundred thousand Jews were slaughtered, a hundred thousand bodies were thrown over the wall, and the whole system of Judaism was over. And it wasn’t but three years after that statement that God had rejected this. Judaism was built on self-effort.

Now the Holy Spirit adds another example. Look at the Christians in your midst. Verse 9-12, Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them.

11 Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, 12 so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.” Examine them, see what they are, and be like them. You see, the prior things did not accompany salvation; they accompanied revelation only.

In contrast to the non-Christians who have been the object of His message from Hebrews 5:11, He turns to Christians. And they stand as an example of what the others ought to be. They’ve come out of the same Judaism. They’ve come through to the same point of repentance. They’ve had the very same revelation, only they’ve gone one step further, and that’s faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.

Verse 9 says, “Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation.” Those people who were sluggish and in danger of falling away were not Christians. The bearers of thorns and briars were rejected, but the beloved were not. They are not like those who reject Jesus Christ.

I know these are Christians, because I see three things that they have: faith, hope, and love. They characterize a believer. Look at verse 10. Do you see ‘love’ in the middle? Look at ‘hope’ at the end of verse 11. Look at faith at the end of verse 12. They had them all. They were Christians and were beloved. Now, the term “beloved” agapētoi is the highest kind of love from agape.

It’s a word used 60 times in the New Testament, and never for apostates. The first nine times it’s used by God to Christ, His beloved Son, where God speaks to Christ and calls Him His Beloved. And from then on, throughout all of the New Testament, 60 times it’s used only of saints: sometimes Jews and sometimes Gentiles. Several times it’s translated this way, “Dearly beloved.”

It’s a term of the richest and deepest kind of love. This agapē love is the unique privilege of the fellowship of the believers. Now, in Hebrews, God does call the unbelieving Jews brethren in a racial sense, but never beloved. This term speaks of the sweet bond of loving fellowship that belongs only between believers. Because this is the kind of love is reserved for those in Christ.

So, He says to them, “But, dearly loved friends, we are confident” – that word means that at one time He had some problems with it. And when He examined the case and got all the evidence in, He came across and said, “I’m confident”, by the evidence. It’s a strong word, and it gives the result of actual conviction that’s been brought about by proof. “I’ve looked at your lives; the evidence is in.”

What’s the evidence? Faith, hope and love. He had them all. You guys have the things “that pertain to salvation.” I love that word “salvation.” The great New Testament word used itself, and its derivatives, some 50 times in the New Testament. It speaks of our deliverance from danger, from death, from hell, from Satan and from sin. It’s the word for deliverance, freeing us from sin and Satan.

Now, what are the things that pertain to salvation? And we could preach forever on that. That’s the whole series of epistles in the New Testament. That’s Romans 5, right? “Having been saved, now we stand in this grace,” and away he goes and talks about all the things that are ours because we’re in Christ. But relating it to this text, what are the things that pertain to salvation?

Go back to verse 10 and I’ll show you what He means. They are the things that are in contrast to all the previous characteristics of the unsaved. For example, pertaining to salvation is not infancy, but maturity; not milk, but solid food; and not inexperience in righteousness, but perfectly righteous – that pertains to salvation, the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Accompanying salvation is not repentance from dead works, but repentance toward God unto life; not just faith in God, apart from Christ, but faith in Christ as God. Not external ceremonial religion, but internal regeneration and transformation. Not identification with many sacrifices, but one union with Jesus Christ. Not just being enlightened but being changed, made new creatures.

To the Christians, He says, “Don’t take the words to apostates to refer to you. The warning is for them. But I put it in this letter to you all because I know they’re in your midst. Right? Doesn’t Matthew 13 tell us that the wheat and the tares will grow together, and only Jesus Christ knows how to separate them? I think some people that I know are wheat. But only the Lord knows.

There are a lot of Christians today, who when they hear about God’s message of judgment, they get shaken. But in verse 10, He says, “For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints.” He says, “There is no question in God’s mind about who’s real. He knows you’re real, and He won’t forget you. Your name is in His book.”

The only way to tell the difference is in their works. James said, “Your faith without works is dead.” You show me your faith by your works, and I’ll say your faith is real. “Because,” Paul said, “if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature. And if we examine your life closely, we can tell by your works whether you’re for real.” The fruits of righteousness have been seen.

Do you know how to express your love to God? Serve the saints. What does the name of God mean? To love His name means to have a desire for the glory of all that God is. When Jesus recommissioned Peter in John 21, He didn’t say to him, “Peter, do you love men?” What did He say? “Peter, do you love Me? Feed My sheep.” Your service must be based upon your love for Him.

We’ve talked so much about the body and how we’re to minister to each other. But the ministry that we have to each other as saints is directly related to the love that we have toward our Christ and our God. What do you mean to minister? Well, it’s the word “deacon.” How do we serve? Spiritual gifts, counseling, showing mercy, helping, or teaching, preaching, and praying.

Are we really holy? He is speaking positionally. We are holy. Now He then uses them for an example to the others. Verse 11, “Now we desire each of you” –He’s speaking to the group again – “to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end of verse 12 so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Sep 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240908 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000240 imblog

Hebrews 5:11 - 6:8

The Lord was bringing to mind individuals who are struggling, individuals who are suffering. My life was really swept up with the spiritual needs of people. And it really has to do with people who are in the church but not in the kingdom. We’re Christians but we aren’t what we ought to be, and that is a concern. But someday we’ll be in glory and the Lord will make us perfect.

The church is not a good place to go to hell from, because to whom much is given, much is required. Far worse eternal punishment falls to the one who has heard the truth and rejected it. And if you’ve been in this church for any length of time, you surely have heard it. And the more you have heard it, the more responsible you are. You are better off to have never heard the gospel.

We need to examine ourselves, to see our spiritual condition. Certainly self-examination starts with am I really a Christian? Have I genuinely repented and embraced Jesus Christ as Lord? Open your Bible to Hebrews 5. This passage is a warning to someone who knows the truth, the truth about Jesus Christ death and His resurrection, but still loves his sin and will not come to the Savior.

Hebrews 5:11-14, “We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. 12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. 13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.”

14 But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil. Hebrews 6:1-8, Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, 2 teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

3 And we will do this if God permits.” 4 For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, 6 and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt.”

7 For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.” No passage is more dramatic than this in warning the person who has heard the truth, knows the truth and has rejected the Savior.

This is the severest of all dangers because if you fall away, you cannot be renewed to repentance. Here is the problem in the end of Hebrews 5 in those four verses. The problem is, people have become dull of hearing. They have become like babies. They lack discernment. That’s what is basically stated there. Now let me give you the context. Hebrews is as profound as any book in the Bible.

Hebrews is a book that demands an extensive knowledge of the Old Testament. Nothing is more profound than the relationship of Jesus Christ to everything past, the relationship of Jesus to the Law, the relationship of Jesus to God, the relationship of Jesus to creation, the relationship of Jesus to the sacrificial system, the relationship of Jesus to the priesthood, and the relationship of Jesus to the covenants.

And in Hebrews5, the writer has begun to address some of the most profound elements regarding Jesus. He is identified in Hebrews 4:14 as the great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God. Down in Hebrews 5:5 He refers to Christ again as a High Priest, as the Son of God, in verse 6, as a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus Christ as one who learned obedience from suffering.

Christ suffered in verse 8, and in verse 9 became the source of eternal salvation. And He is far from done. Hebrews 7, 8, 9 and 10 continue this discussion of the profundities of the priesthood of Jesus, greater than the priesthood of Melchizedek, greater than the priesthood of Aaron and all the priests that followed in the Aaronic priesthood. He says in verse 11, “We have a great deal to say.”

I’m about to go into things that are profound and I have to say there are some of you for whom this is not going to be comprehensible. You are so dull of hearing. Which is a gracious way of saying stupid. You understood Jesus, the incarnate God coming into the world, living a perfect life, dying a substitutionary death, rising from the dead, and providing salvation by grace through faith.

But you didn’t respond to it. The letter to the Hebrews was written to a Jewish church. But on the edges of that church were Jews who had acknowledged the truth intellectually but never embraced the Savior. And they were there, maybe for social reasons, maybe for reasons of relationships. Whatever the reasons, there are warnings to these non-believers sitting on the edges mingling with that congregation.

He says in verse 12, “Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.” This isn’t talking about somebody who comes on Easter and Christmas. This is talking about somebody who’s been there a long enough so that they have been exposed to enough truth that they should be teaching it.

Hearing the truth and rejecting the truth, you lose the truth. You’ve had full instruction in the gospel, but by indecision and by hard-heartedness, you have become stupid and dull of hearing, and you require basic teaching all over again. You’re like a baby. You’ve regressed to an infantile position where you have to be taught the way a baby is taught, the simple matters of truth.

Verse 13, “Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.” The word of righteousness is the Word of God. It’s primarily the gospel. It’s the word about the righteousness of God in Christ imputed to the sinner, the great doctrine of justification, of the imputation of righteousness. These are not Christians.

Verse 14 says, “But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.” Solid food is for believers who by the practice of hearing the truth and believing it have had their senses trained to discern good and evil. You see, the characteristic of being an adult is that you have discernment. You don’t know what to choose in life.

And to the discerning you can present the book of Hebrews. To the discerning you can present the deep truths of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. And they love it. They embrace it. They glorify God for it. And they apply it in their lives. People who come to a church where the Word of God is faithfully being taught, are initially interested, but eventually unable to understand the basics of righteousness.

From the problem, there’s a plea that follows. Look at Hebrews 6:1-3, “Therefore let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ, and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, 2 teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And we will do this if God permits.”

This is really a call to salvation. God says to these people, look, you’ve got to get on past this elementary stuff. He carries on the analogy of the baby and the mature. Let us move on to maturity. Let’s become adults. And again I say mature or perfect means saved. Leave the elementary things, separate yourself from the basics, and come all the way to salvation. Come all the way.

You can’t just hold on even to the Word of God in the Old Testament about Christ, about the Messiah. That’s referring to Old Testament teaching, not New Testament teaching about Christ. And he tells us what they are. You cannot rely on dead works. And it’s not enough to just hold on to faith toward God. Jews believed in the true and living God but that wasn’t enough.

Furthermore, you can’t just relay the foundation of ritual washings, certain Old Testament purification rites and ceremonies. It’s not enough to hang on to the laying of hands. In Leviticus 1:4, when they brought a sacrifice to be offered, the person puts his or her hands on the sacrifice as a way of identifying with that substitute that was dying in their place.

It’s not enough to hold to the resurrection of the dead. The Old Testament taught that. Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him because though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” David’s baby son died and he said, “I’ll go to him.” David even said that God would not allow His holy one to see corruption but would show him the path of life.

It’s not even enough to fear eternal judgment. You cannot be holding tightly to your Judaism, that’s the elementary things. That’s not enough. Repentance from dead works must become repentance toward Jesus Christ. Faith toward God must become faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who is God. Ceremonial washings for cleansing on the outside must be replaced by the washing of the soul through faith.

Laying hands on an animal sacrifice must be exchanged for laying hold of the Lamb of God. Believing in the resurrection from the dead becomes full when you believe in the resurrection through faith in Jesus Christ. Eternal judgment is not enough. Jesus Christ has taken the full penalty for your sins, satisfied the judgment of God and will grant salvation and forgiveness to the one who comes to Him in faith.

And here is the warning. Verse 4-5, “For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit. 5 who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, 6 and who have fallen away.” If you fall away, you’re forever damned. It’s better to go to hell from a pagan environment than from a church.

These are privileges that do not accompany salvation. The first one is to be enlightened. It means simply to be taught. That’s all it means. These Hebrews would have been taught. It means to be instructed in the gospel, to have an intellectual knowledge. Secondly, that you have tasted of the heavenly gift. Well that is salvation – Christ. Tasting is not consuming. They experienced the gospel.

They experienced it in the messages that were preached. They experienced it in the worship of the people as they celebrated their love for Christ. They experienced it in the life of other believers. They saw the power of Christ in the salvation of others. They saw their transformed lives. They tasted the heavenly gift of salvation in Christ. It’s that unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ, the Savior.

“You’ve also tasted the powers of the coming age.” What are the powers of the kingdom of Christ? Well this in some ways was unique to them, because the apostles were still alive at this time. They had experienced the powerful ministry of the apostles. Hebrews 2:3, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” These people heard the gospel from somebody who heard Jesus.

Verse 6, “and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt.” Why is it impossible? Because you can’t have any more revelation. If you’ve experienced all of these things and you walk away, you’ll never be saved. That is a definition of apostasy. Why? Because there’s no more opportunity.

You are affirming that Jesus was not the Savior, you are standing with the crucifiers who said, “We will not have this man reign over us.” You are saying, “Go ahead and kill Him. I want nothing to do with Him.” By walking away, you openly declare that Jesus was guilty as charged and deserved to die. This is the verdict of any person who rejects the full revelation of Christ.

This interpretation is secured then by a closing illustration. Verse 7 - 8, “For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.” Simple illustration. The rain falls.

What is the rain? The rain is the gospel. It falls and it lands on ground that brings forth vegetation. And that’s the blessing of God. That’s the gospel falling on people who respond. But the same gospel, verse 8, falls on others and it brings thorns and thistles, worthless, cursed and burned – same gospel. This is the free blessing of gospel truth, a free blessing of spiritual enlightenment.

One piece of ground reacts by producing vegetation that is good. And that’s the blessing of God. That’s the one who receives the gospel by faith in Christ. On the other hand, the ground the receives the same gospel produces thorns and briars, that’s the one who receives the pre-salvation work of the Spirit but rejects Christ and is cursed and burned. What a great tragedy of all tragedies. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Sep 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240901 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000023F imblog

Hebrews 5:1-9

The design of Hebrews is to present the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. Judaism was replaced by Christianity. There are also through the book of Hebrews warnings to unbelieving Jews to know that Jesus Christ is greater than all of the Old Testament figures. The New Testament, the new covenant is much greater than the Old Testament, the old covenant.

For to tell a Jew that the New Testament is greater than the Old Testament, says something about the priesthood of the old covenant. For the Levitical understanding in Judaism, is based on priests taking men's messages to God. And the first question a Jew would ask if this new covenant is better, where is your high priest? Where is the mediator that takes mankind to God?

Christianity, the new covenant, is not without a high priest. We have a great high priest. Now having stated that tremendous fact that there is a mediator between men and God. And that there is not 24 different ranks of them as there was in the Levitical priesthood. There is only one mediator, one great high priest, having stated the proof that Jesus is that great high priest.

And this takes the heart of Hebrews from Hebrews 5:1 to 10:39. The largest portion dedicated to any theme in Hebrews is strategically located in the middle of the book, around which everything else revolves. It is the proclamation that Jesus Christ is the great high priest superior to Aaron or to any other high priest. And that Christianity does have a high priest who takes men to God.

This is the real key to the supremacy of the New Testament to the Old Testament. Jesus sacrificed Himself so that He's the priest and the sacrifice at the same time, providing a way for man to God. And we see in the death of Jesus, the veil of the temple was ripped from the top to the bottom and the holy of holies is exposed to men, because Jesus has opened it by a new and living way.

And so Jesus Christ in one act in history accomplished what millions of sacrifices by multitudes of priests could never accomplish. That is to open the way to God permanently so that any man at any time by faith in Christ might enter into God's presence. And as a result of what Christ did, (Hebrews 4:16), "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.”

And consequently there are no more sacrifices. There are no more priests. Jesus Christ now sits at God's right hand interceding for us. He is our living mediator. He is the only priest needed. The thing that the Jews held high was the Aaronic priesthood. Aaron was God's choice that started the priesthood. And that is what captured the minds of the Jews to the Old Testament.

And now Jesus comes along and says forget it all. It just is not that easy for some of them. Those patterns are hard to break. And so in writing to the Hebrews, God must show them that we have a high priest who once for all offered a sacrifice and obliterated the need for the rest of them. There must be an atoning sacrifice offered by a priest and Jesus has done exactly that.

First look at what God does in the first four verses of Hebrews 5, He gives the qualifications for a priest and these are standard Jewish qualifications. And in verses 5 to 9, He says, now let me show you how Jesus meets every one of them. And this is a very important question for them to have answered because in their mind, Jesus wouldn't fit any qualifications for a priest.

So God must show Jesus Christ fits the qualifications. The first qualification for a high priest was he had to be selected by God from men. Verse 1 says, "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.” Now He's chosen by God in verse 4, “No one takes this honor on himself; instead a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.”

God didn't choose angels to be priests. It had to be a man who was subject to the temptations of men. It had to be a man who had experimental acquaintance with suffering like people have in order that they might minister in a merciful way. And only Jesus could rightly minister for men. But the Jews could not understand the incarnation. They did not understand the cross.

They couldn't understand either why a Messiah would have to die. And here the Holy Spirit simply answers the problem of the incarnation in just one way. God had to become man or He never could have been the great high priest of men. Unless Christ feels what men feel and goes through what men go through, then He has no basis experimentally to operate as a high priest for men.

So Jesus Christ did not keep himself aloof, transcendent, and separate from sinners. He entered into the world of men and felt everything that men will ever feel in order that He might be a sympathetic, merciful and faithful high priest. And so the incarnation wasn't an option. It was an absolute necessity. It was an imperative if salvation of people was to be accomplished.

And only a priest who was one of them could on their behalf minister before God. And so Jesus Christ as we saw in our last study, having accomplished His great sacrifice, passed through the heavens and entered into the holy of holies in heaven and left the way wide open for us. And not only does He enter in for us, but we can enter in on the basis of His merits, and that's a first.

The word appointed means an authoritative appointment to an office. Priests were not arbitrarily selected, nor were they selected on the basis of their own will, but by God. Appointed, and the appointer is God. Now this is the first key characteristic of a true high priest. He had to be appointed by God directly. Nobody elected him, he had to be appointed by God Himself.

So the true high priest must be called from men by God. Secondly, the true high priest must be sympathetic with men. He must be able to get inside and feel with men. Now this takes us a step passed omniscience. Omniscience knows everything, sympathy feels everything. Now Christ needed to learn feelings by His incarnation so that He could be sympathetic beyond being omniscient.

Verse 2, “He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness.” A person who is non-compassionate could care less about anybody else's pain. A priest must feel with them. It just means to bear gently because you feel it like they feel it. Christ had to deal with a weakness of human nature that makes temptation a real issue.

There's a third characteristic that a priest had to have. And that was sacrificing for people. Verse 1, "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." Verse 3 says essentially the same thing, "Because of this, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people.” His work was to offer gifts and sacrifices.

Now what are gifts? Well, this could include all of the money that the people gave and all of the various things that they brought to the priest. But I suspect that the direct reference is to the meal offering. Now remember that in Leviticus there were many offerings, but there were five key ones. Only one of those offerings was a bloodless offering and that was the meal offering.

But He also offers not only gifts, but also sacrifices for sins. Now the priest had to offer for sins himself, because he had the same problem the people had. Hebrews 9:7 says, "But the high priest alone enters the second room, (that is the holy of holies), once a year and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance."

Isn't it wonderful that when Jesus went in, He went in without sin. He never had to offer a sacrifice for Himself. That in itself makes Him a greater high priest than any other priest. Now I want to just discuss the nature of the sacrifices for sin. The sacrifice is meant to restore that relationship between God and mankind, but sacrifices for sins could only atone for the sins of ignorance.

Do you get that? Only for the sins of ignorance. For the sins of presumption there is no sacrifice. This is defiant breaking of God's laws and it's no different than today for a man who rejects God's patterns, for a man who rejects the law in terms of the law as it's revealed in faith in Jesus Christ. If a man rejects God's provision for sin, he openly defies sin, he defies God and there's no sacrifice.

But for those who sinned in ignorance, there were really two sacrifices. For the sins that the person knew he committed, the daily sacrifices. For the ones that he didn't know he committed, the Day of Atonement took care of all of those. And then Numbers 15:30 says, “But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or resident alien, blasphemes the Lord. That person is to be cut off from his people.”

But for any man or woman, whoever they may be, who comes to God and repents of their sin, there is forgiveness. But for that one who defiantly rebels against God, who by his own will disobeys and continues to disobey there is no more sacrifice for sins. So the high priest then is qualified by being selected by God, sympathetic with men, and sacrificing for men.

Let us see how Jesus meets every qualification. Verse 5, “In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him, You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Who chose Jesus to be a high priest? God did. And what's the qualification? Had to be chosen by God. That's a quote from Psalm 2:7, "You are my Son, today I have become your Father."

The Holy Spirit throughout the book of Hebrews continues to repeat quotes from the Old Testament because He's writing to Jews and He wants to put it in context. John 8:54 says, “If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father—about whom you say, ‘He is our God’—He is the one who glorifies Me.” And the Bible says He made Himself of no reputation.

Verse 6, “also says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” The same God that said "You are my Son," is the same God that said "You are a priest." Well who is Melchizedek? Melchizedek is spoken of in Psalm 110 because there the Psalmist is prophesying the coming of Messiah. And He uses Melchizedek as an example of a type of Jesus.

Because Melchizedek was more than the average priest. He had a higher priesthood order than did Aaron. He lived in Genesis 14:18 before Aaron ever got on the scene. His priesthood superseded the priesthood of Aaron. We'll get into Hebrews 7 and find out about it. He's a great type of Jesus Christ in many ways. In Psalm 110, the Messiah is presented as a king priest.

So Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek and the Jews knew that this must be some great individual, because Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. And Abraham was a lot higher up than Aaron. So the Holy Spirit says this priest, Jesus Christ, was typified by Melchizedek, who was a king priest forever. Psalm 110 said that God chose Jesus as a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Verse 7, “During his earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to God who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His status.” Does that remind you of the Garden of Gethsemane? Sure, that was the greatest climax of His suffering for there He began to bear the sins of the world. He went into the Garden to pray and He sweat great drops of blood.

Jesus Christ couldn't have been a fully sympathetic high priest if He did not feel what we feel. He felt the temptation we will never feel. Because we succumb long before we reach the climax of temptation. So He ran temptation to its fullest at every point because He had nothing in His nature that could succumb to sin so He just took ever temptation to its extreme without sin.

He knew it in His omniscience, but He also knows it now in His experience, which fitted Him by all of the earthly qualifications to be our high priest. So the point then that Spirit makes is that Jesus is qualified to be a sympathetic high priest by His agony, by His tears, His prayers, His suffering, and all of that. He went through every bit of it. He knows when it's real and He knows when you're faking.

Verse 8, “Although he was the Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.” In other words, you learn when you suffer. That's the only way you learn experimentally. You can say fire burns but until you've felt it burn, you really can't be sympathetic to someone who's burned. That's the kind of high priest I want. I want a God who feels like I feel and knows what I'm going through.

Verse 9 says, “After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” That word perfect means complete. Jesus went through everything He had to go through so He could be complete. The perfect high priest. Perfected doesn't mean His nature changed. It doesn't mean his person changed, it just means He was perfectly qualified as the High Priest.

There's only one other qualification. Besides being chosen by God and being sympathetic and understanding, the third thing was He had to make sacrifice for sins. Did Jesus do that? Look at the end of verse 9, "He became the source of eternal salvation." And what was it that gave Him the right to be that author? His own death. By His death He opened the way of eternal salvation. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Aug 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240825 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000023E imblog

Hebrews 4:14-16

Here the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 4 is saying to unsatisfied people who are already dissatisfied with everything that's been going on in their lives in the past, and are turning away from those dissatisfactions and God is saying to them, come all the way up to putting your faith in Jesus Christ totally. That's the message of Hebrews 4 to unbelievers all over the world.

And throughout the warning of the Holy Spirit that if they don't come all the way to saving faith they will die spiritually and eternally. And the illustration He uses is the illustration of Israel who left Egypt, they turned from the old life. They were led out of Egypt but they never went into the Promised Land because of unbelief, and therefore their carcasses died in the wilderness.

So that brings us to our text which is just a brief three verses tonight that salvation is also offered on a positive basis. Salvation is not just a prevention policy, it's not just to keep you out of hell. Salvation isn't a matter of saying, well, am I glad I'm out of this hell, life is a real drag but at least I don't have to die and go to hell. Salvation is not just to prevent you from living a good life.

But salvation is also offered to people on a very positive basis, and that positive basis is in verses 14, 15, and 16. And this is really the continuation of the same warning to the same individuals but this time He speaks to them in positives. He says, come all the way to God’s rest, don't just turn away from the Jewish traditions and in your mind assent to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah.

So there's a positive in the Gospel and we're going to talk about that tonight. We're to receive Jesus Christ, we're to enter into God's rest not only because of the fear of Him, because of His beauty as well. Not only because of His wrath but because of His grace. Not only because He's a judge but because He is a merciful and faithful High priest. And both sides are equally important.

The call to enter salvation is twofold here in this particular passage, the first part of the call comes at the end of verse 14, "let us hold fast to our confession." The second part of the call comes in verse 16, the first part, "Let us approach the throne of grace." Now these individuals had professed with their mouths and even in their minds that the Gospel was true, that Jesus Christ was real.

So the first warning is to hold fast to your confession and don't turn around and go back. In other words hold on to that confession. An apostate will fall back, a true believer will never let go of that confession, never. The second warning is to come to the throne of grace. It's a two part call to salvation. True salvation is characterized by those people who remain Christians.

That brings us to Hebrews 4:14, “Therefore, since we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. Because of what Jesus Christ can do in their lives. This is the real point of the whole Epistle of Hebrews, the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Mankind is here locked in sin, God is there locked in holiness, and Christ is in the middle.

And somebody who knows God and somebody who knows mankind and can bring them together, and that's what a priest is. And so what is it that He wants to present to these Jewish people? That Jesus is that High priest who brings God and man together in a loving union. And that's why throughout the whole Book of Hebrews the priesthood of Jesus is exalted.

And here in Hebrews 4:14 it says, “a great high priest”. And we're going to keep on hearing this in great detail. The task of the high priest, is to usher men into the presence of God, and when the high priest would go into the holy of holies once a year on the Day of Atonement and offer the sacrifice, he was in effect bringing the sins of his people to God to be atoned for.

Jesus knew God perfectly for He was God, Jesus knew men perfectly for He was man therefore He becomes the absolute perfect High priest, who brought God and man together in His own form and who continues to bring God and man together by faith. And so the Epistle of the Hebrews rings clear all the way through with the claim that Jesus is God's eternal High priest.

Jesus is superior to the prophets. And He's superior to the angels, that He's superior to Moses, and that He's superior to Joshua. And now He is about to shows that He is superior to every high priest including Aaron himself. He shows the supremacy of Jesus over every other individual connected with the old covenant. And Aaron was the one who mediated between men and God.

Now, I want you to see three features tonight that make Jesus our High priest. Number one, His perfect Priesthood. Number two, His perfect person, and number three, His perfect provision. First His perfect priesthood. Verse 14, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession.”

How can you walk away from a High priest like that? Now what is the importance of the phrase “who has passed through the heavens?” Well that's really the key to everything. Because Jesus had ascended and He passed through the heavens, into the presence of God? Now on the basis that He had perfected His work on earth, correct? He died on the cross for all who believed.

And when He got there God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Why? Because He perfectly accomplished His priesthood work. He performed a redemptive act that brought God and man together in an eternal relationship. Do you know that's something no earthly priest could ever do?

But Jesus Christ operated on a perfected priesthood whereby in one act He sanctified forever them that are His, and He accomplished in a perfect priesthood what every other priest, all in combination, could not accomplish. And when He passed through the heavens and entered into the presence of God He did something that no priest could ever do. Hebrews 1 says, "He sat down."

You don't sit down till it's done, in the holy of holies there were no seats. Only the mercy seat and you didn't sit on that. But when Jesus accomplished His perfect work He sat down. No more sacrifices ever needed to be made. And it was right at the destruction of Jerusalem that the whole nation of Israel ceased their sacrifices, and since 70 A.D. they have not performed sacrifices.

And so Jesus Christ entered a heavenly holy of holies. The Old Testament priest on the Day of Atonement would take the blood and he would go through three areas, through the door into the outer court, through the door into the holy place, and through the veil into the holy of holies. And he only did it once on the Day of Atonement sprinkling this blood on the mercy seat.

If he stayed there past the time of the Day of Atonement he would die, for he was a sinner and he had no right to be in the presence of God, except by the graciousness of God once a year could he enter the holy of holies where the Shekinah glory of God dwelt. But Jesus, our High priest who passed not through the temple but through the heavens also went through three things.

The Bible says that there is a third heaven. The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven. The second heaven is the stellar heaven where the stars are, and the third heaven is the abode of God. This is described in 2 Corinthians 12:2. So Jesus Christ passed through heaven number one, number two and number three. God didn't tell Him, look You've got 24 hours to get this over with and get out.

When He got there He sat down. It was done, it was accomplished, and He made a perfect atonement for all sins for all time. All other sacrifices before that were pictures of that perfect sacrifice. The ascended, resurrected Christ carried Himself past the two outer heavens into the abode of God and when He got there He sprinkled His blood on that divine eternal heavenly mercy seat.

God said, I am satisfied, forever. In Hebrews 12:24 it says, God said to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.” Jesus Christ sprinkled blood in a far better way than any man, even the wonderful sacrifice of Abel which pleased God. How much more was God pleased with what Jesus did? How much more was God satisfied?

The millions of gallons of blood that ran all over the altars of Israel for hundreds and hundreds of years, the sprinkled blood that stained and crusted on the mercy seat year after year couldn't do what the one great High priest did in one act for all time, and then entered into the heavenly holy of holies, showed the sacrifice to the Father and sat down on His right hand forever.

And you know why He's sitting there? Because He's interceding for us, isn't He? That's why there's never the possibility as a Christian that your sins could ever get stacked against you because as fast as you commit them, Jesus Christ intercedes to make sure they're not held against you. The Bible says, "If we are confessing our sins, he's faithful and just to keep on cleansing us."

Now that doesn't mean we don't sin anymore, it just means that we're forgiven, because God is satisfied with Christ having paid the penalty. So because of His perfect priesthood He has then given us the right to enter God's rest. And so the Spirit calls and the Spirit says on the basis of the perfect priesthood of Jesus Christ come to the throne of grace, hold on to the confession that you have made.

The Book of Hebrews is really the end of the Judaism. And Judaism was based on a priesthood that was interceding between men and God. When Jesus came and did the final act as a priest it was over. Judaism collapsed at that point, it became null and void. All worship or pretended connection with God by men calling themselves priests, whether in Judaism, Catholicism or pagan is sinful.

It is an open defiance of the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is a direct affront to the full and final priesthood of Jesus Christ Himself. Any priesthood on earth now implies that the atonement for sin has not yet been made. We only need one great High priest. Every person by faith in Jesus Christ enters directly into God's presence, because Jesus has made a new and living way.

Verse 15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus was the perfect priest because He was God and He was man. Jesus, the Son of God. But the Son of God, the second person of the trinity who manifested Himself in obedience as a Son to a Father, that's His deity.

Now let's look at His humanity and His deity. Jesus Christ is not distant and uninvolved and unsympathetic to the average individual. Jesus does know how we feel, that He is not a stranger to all our emotions. Jesus, in order to be a part of the temptation and the testing and the suffering of men, became like that so that He might be a sympathetic and understanding High priest.

Jesus has an unequaled capacity for sympathizing with us in every danger, in every trial, in every situation that comes our way, because He's been through it all. He endured every form of testing that a man could endure. When He was tempted in the garden He sweat as it were great drops of blood, and standing by the tomb of Lazarus His whole body shook. Jesus was a human being in every sense of the word.

Now this is news to the Jews, because God was holy. In fact the Jews believed that God was incapable of sharing the feelings of men. Into this world come Christians saying, we've got a High priest who feels everything that we feel. That's revolutionary. You mean there's a God who's big enough to create the whole universe and yet He knows where I hurt, little tiny puny me.

Hebrews says He's without sin at the end of verse 15. But Jesus knows the liability of human nature to sin, that's what the struggle was all about. There was that weakness in the human existence that pushes toward sin and it was that against which Jesus fought, and thus in anguish was victorious. He faced them in anguish because He was resisting that part of human nature.

Thirdly verse 16, “Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.” The Holy Spirit exhorts these Hebrews to come all the way to the throne of grace and obtain salvation. It's the throne of God, it used to be a throne of judgment, but when Jesus sprinkled His blood there He turned it into a throne of grace.

It’s not just sympathy, it’s resource we need. Power to overcome our trails and He can provide it. It is a throne of grace, it is a place of mercy. Mercy looks at our misery, grace becomes the supply to overcome that misery. We hurriedly, boldly come to the throne because we know we’ll not be spurned because Christ is interceding on our behalf having made atonement for our sins.

Just as when the high priest went into the holy of holies he sprinkled the blood there, he turned the judgment seat into a mercy seat. So when Jesus entered heaven He turned God's judgment throne into a throne of mercy and a throne of grace. Justice whereby we died is not that what we need. So Jesus turned the throne of God into a throne of grace, and brought us mercy and grace. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Aug 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240818 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000023D imblog

Hebrews 4:1-13

So now we get to the subject of entering God’s rest. Because this is so important to your understanding of the Word of God. Now, as we approach Hebrews 4, we are right in the middle of a warning that began in Hebrews 3:7. They’re in great danger of going back to Judaism. Now, this is important because there are many people who have begun to turn from their former way of life.

And so in Hebrews 3:7, we saw the tragedy of not making that decision for Jesus Christ. Now, this warning runs from 3:7 through 4:13. Hebrews 3:7 says, “Today, do not harden your hearts.” And in Hebrews 4:7 again, “Today, don’t harden your hearts.” And the illustration is ‘don’t harden your hearts like Israel did’. They began to go toward the Promised Land, but they did not believe God.

Therefore, they never did enter in to the full rest of Canaan. Do not be taken away from the old life but never commit yourself to that new relationship with Jesus Christ. And the longer you hang around, the more you hear the Gospel, the easier it is to reject it. And pretty soon you find one day you wake up to realize that your heart is hardened. You have an evil heart of unbelief.

And the word rest used back there in Psalm 95, which is being quoted here, means to enter the land of Canaan. It’s the rest of finally getting into your own land, not being persecuted, not being killed, and not being made slaves. And they never entered into that promised rest because of unbelief. That’s the principle of this passage. Nobody experiences God’s rest apart from faith.

Now, in Numbers 14:22 - 23 God says, “None of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these ten times and did not obey Me, 23 will ever see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have despised Me will see it.” And the Bible says that their carcasses would die in the wilderness.

Even under Joshua when the younger generation went in, they did not enjoy the full rest that God had planned for them. Because when they got into the land, instead of doing what God told them to do and believing God in obedient faith, they rejected God’s orders. So God said, “Because of that, I’m going to drive you back out of the land.” And that’s exactly what He did at a later time.

So, there was no rest in either Moses’ case or Joshua’s case. But there is still a rest available. The rest of Canaan pictures a divine spiritual rest that comes by faith in Jesus Christ. It’s a picture of salvation rest that is still available. God has an eternal rest. And it takes a greater than Moses and a greater than Joshua to make it a reality. And that greater than both is Jesus Himself.

First of all, the dictionary defines rest as “ceasing from action or motion.” You stop doing what you’re doing. It means to stop from labor or exertion. Now, applying that to God’s rest, it means no more self-effort. No more trying to please God by your feeble, fleshly works. And the moment you enter into God’s rest, works cease as a way to please God. It is a rest in free grace.

Secondly, to rest means to be free from whatever hassles you, from whatever disturbs you, from whatever creates worries in your mind. It means, in this sense, to be quiet, to be still, to be peaceful, to be free from guilt and the things which drive us to neurosis or psychosis. And so we would say that to enter God’s rest simply means to be at peace with God. It means to be free from guilt.

It means no need to worry about sin, because sin is forgiven by what Christ did for all that believe and we’re at rest all of a sudden. No more anxiety. No more pressure. No more guilt. Peace. So, God’s rest involves a rest in the total forgiveness of God. Thirdly, the dictionary defined rest as “to lie down, to be settled, or to be fixed.” No more flow. No more shifting around.

God’s rest is the kind of rest where a man is positionally established in Christ. No more being blown about by every wind of doctrine. No more floating over to this and floating over to that. He is established. He is grounded, unmovable. That’s rest. Fourthly, rest in the dictionary is to remain confident, to put your trust in something. In other words, you rest in something, in the sense of confidence.

And to enter God’s rest theologically means to enjoy security. No more fear, you have absolute trust and absolute confidence in God’s care and charge of your life. Fifthly and lastly, the dictionary says that rest means to lean on. And to enter into God’s rest means that for the rest of your life in eternity, you can lean on God. And you can lean on Him and be sure that He’ll never topple over.

So, when it talks about rest in the Bible, it is talking about a new relationship to God that is available to a man whereby that man can lean on God. That means totally depend on God for support, for help, for power, for everything he needs. It is a new relationship in which a man is confidently secure that he’s committed his life to God, and God holds his life in an eternal trust.

And just as Israel never entered Canaan rest because of unbelief, so soul after soul, since the time of Israel and even before, has also missed God’s rest spiritually because of unbelief. Now, there are also two other dimensions that the dictionary doesn’t handle in defining rest. One of them is kingdom rest, which is the millennium, and the other is eternal rest, which is Heaven.

The fullest kind of relationship is with God that takes care of you in this life, in the kingdom and in Heaven forever. That’s what God is promising, and that’s what He calls rest. But some people don’t enter into that rest because of unbelief. It’s unbelievable that when God offers a person all of this, they won’t believe it. And so the warning of the Spirit of God is “Do not harden your hearts.”

Let us look at four things here; the availability of rest, the basis of rest, the nature of rest, and the urgency of rest. Hebrews 4:1 says, “Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware that none of you be found to have fallen short.” Therefore means go back. “Because we saw Israel forfeited rest, because did not believe God. Therefore the availability of rest is still here.

When Israel fell because of unbelief, that didn’t mean the rest was done. Here God says, “Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware that none of you be found to have fallen short.” Peter says in Acts 3:25, “You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, and all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.”

Peter says right there that “Even though you killed the Prince of Life, you’re still the sons of the covenant. Even though you killed the Holy One, even though you desired a murderer to be released to you, you’re still the sons of the convenient which God made with Abraham and that was an unconditional covenant in which God said through you I’ll bless the world, no conditions.”

There remains a rest. It’s still available. Salvation is extended. This is the day of grace, right now, God’s grace is offered to you tonight. He’ll forgive your sin, and you can enter into his rest. You’re never too far gone for God to deal with you. While you can still feel his call, now’s the time to move. God’s rest is available, and don’t you think you’ve come short of it. God still calls.

Secondly, the basis of rest. Verses 2-7. Well, if it’s available, how do I get it?” Three principles are involved: personal faith, sovereign decree, and immediate action. Verse 2, “For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.” It just means they got the good news about rest.

The good news of the rest of God does not mean anything unless it is mixed with faith. Now, this is an important message for the Jew because the Jew prided himself on the fact that he had the information. He figured all I got to do is have the law, and I’m in. Romans 2:25 says, “Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.”

Verse 3 says, “For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with what He has said, So God swore in His anger, “They will not enter my rest,” even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world.” We Christians all live in God’s rest. That’s just another word for total salvation. He quotes Psalm 95 because David was describing Israel in the wilderness.

God had to do one other thing to make rest available to man, and what was that? He had to accomplish the taking care of sin. And so the coming of Jesus Christ took care of the sin issue, and through that death of Christ, men may enter back into God’s rest. And even the people who lived before Jesus were saved on the basis of what God was going to do in Christ, right?

Verse 4, “For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.” And so God finished His perfect work, and man blew it. And man became restless because of unbelief. Verse 5 says, “Again, in that passage He says, they will never enter my rest.” God provided a rest on the seventh day, and the only people who enter into it are those who believe.

The next basis of rest is sovereign decree in verse 6. And this is the balance of salvation. You’re saved because of two things. Your personal faith and because of the total and absolute sovereignty of God who chose you in Him before the foundation of the world. You’re saved because He designed to redeem you before the world was ever created. That’s called predestination election.

Jesus said in John 6:65, “No can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.” Romans 11:5 says, “In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace.” The basis of rest. Verse 7, “he again specifies a certain day—today. He specified this speaking through David after such a long time: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Thirdly, the nature of rest. Now, the rest that the Spirit is speaking of is not the physical rest of Canaan. That’s only a picture. Verse 8, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.” God is talking about a spiritual rest. The true rest comes through Jesus Christ. Verse 9, “Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people.”

There’s one thing that all the cults always promised everybody, and that’s happiness and health and wealth in this life. That’s never the promise of God. God promises that His rest is spiritual, not physical. Oh, there’s a certain sense in which we enjoy it physically as we live in heaven. But God’s rest is future in its fullness, present in its manifestation. And yet it’s spiritual, not physical.

Verse 10 says, “For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his.” Revelation 14:13 says, “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they will rest from their labors, since their works follow them.” This is a reference to that final day when we cease from everything.

Lastly, the urgency of rest. Verse 11, “Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.” It’s not the idea that you work your way to salvation, it’s the idea that you diligently seek to enter God’s rest by faith. This isn’t something you put off. This is something you move into rapidly, urgently, with great diligence.

Verse 12 says, “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” He’s saying be diligent to enter into God’s rest because the Word of God is living and powerful. And it’ll pierce right down to the inner part of your heart.

The Word will diagnose the condition of your heart. It will show you whether your profession is real or a sham. It’ll show it to God, and on that basis God will judge. That is a sharp two-edged sword, and He will fight with it against those who do not obey. And some day in great judgement, the Word of God is going to dive into your heart and lay it bare and the sword will not make a mistake.

Verse 13 says, “No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.” Don’t think that by your religious activity, by your profession of faith in Christ, by having turned from the old life and facing toward Jesus Christ fool God into believing you’re for real if you’re not. God can see you just like you are.

We can’t run from God. And when the Bible says that all things in your life are open to Him, it means the very sword of God will lift your chin to a face to face confrontation with God. You will face a living God whose Word will penetrate and lay bare your life. And therefore we conclude, today while you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Repent and believe Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Aug 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240811 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000023C imblog

Hebrews 3:7-19

The Bible is full of warning signs meant by God to deter men from the inevitable wrath of God if men continue to sin. Because The Old Testament tells us that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The New Testament tells us that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And in Hebrews 3:7-19, we have again God’s warnings to turn to Jesus.

There are many people who intellectually have responded to the gospel. They believe it, but they have never committed themselves to that faith. They’ve never accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, repenting from their sins, and turning fully to Him. And to not accept Him as Savior brings upon a person a worse judgement than to really not know it in full and so not to accept it.

And to whom much is given much is required. And so verses 7 - 19 then are the Holy Spirit’s warning to the one who knows the gospel, who knows the truth, but because of the love of sin and the fear of persecution or whatever it may be, has not committed himself to the truth. God fears for these Jews because they’ve heard the gospel. They’ve heard it right from the apostles and the prophets.

You know what an apostate is? An apostate is an individual who knowing the truth willfully rejects it and falls back. Now to get this warning across, the Holy Spirit uses the Old Testament, because He knows He’s talking to Jews and He wants to talk to them out of their own context. So He just picks up on Moses and uses an illustration from Moses, which fits the thing perfectly.

In Hebrews, the writer is presenting that Jesus is better than everything else, and that Jesus is the mediator of a new and better covenant than the old. And if He is, He must be better than all the people who went with the old covenant. He’s got to be better than the old prophets. He’s even got to be better than the angels who mediated the old covenant. He’s got to be better than Moses.

And so one by one the writer of Hebrew shows Jesus as greater than all of these. And by the time we come to Hebrews 3, Jesus has been proven greater than prophets, greater than angels, and greater than Moses, who was the greatest of all. And so since He’s already talking about Moses, He wants to interject this powerful emphasis to those hanging on the brink of decision, the experience of Moses.

Now this falls into four parts. 1. The illustration is real. 2. The invitation, “Take heed.” 3. The instruction, “Exhort one another daily.” 4. And the issue: unbelief. Notice first the illustration. Sometimes it’s good to begin with an illustration, and then back it up with Scriptures. That’s what God does here. And the Holy Spirit chooses to begin by picking out something during the time of Moses.

But His quote comes from the time of David, because David is quoting about the time of Moses. So He goes back to Moses’ occasion when wandering in the wilderness as quoted by David and requotes it. And David chose this particular statement 1,000 years before, and now this time the Holy Spirit makes the same point. David in Psalm 95:7-11 says the thing that we’re going to read here.

Psalm 95 reflects on Israel’s disobedience and rejection of Moses in the Exodus wanderings. Israel in captivity was oppressed, they were beaten, and so God brought in plagues. And they finally ended with the death of the first born. Then God said, “Moses, gather them together to get out of here!” And Moses marched them out, and Pharaoh said, “I can’t take the plagues any longer.”

And they moved out and God said, “Moses, you’ve got a problem in the Red Sea. And you don’t have a boat.” So God said, “Moses, there’s only one thing you do; just ask the Red Sea to part.” And the Red Sea parted. And the children of Israel walked across on dry land, and Pharaoh thought, “That looks easy,” and marched his whole army in there, and the Red Sea closed on them.

So God was working miracles in Israel. And they got in the wilderness, and they immediately didn’t believe God. And that’s classic illustration of unbelief in the face of overwhelming evidence. God had revealed Himself. They knew the truth of His revelation. They saw the proof of it, and yet they did not believe. And so they as a result had to wander, and they wandered for 38 years.

Verses 7-10, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear His voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested me, and saw my works 10 for forty years. Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.”

Notice what it says in verse 7, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says.” Isn’t that an interesting statement? Because in Psalm 95, guess who’s talking? David. But when this account goes back to Psalm 95, it says, “Therefore” – not as David says, but “as the Holy Spirit says.” That is a classic illustration of what divine inspiration is. Inspiration is the Holy Spirit speaking through the mouth of God.

And what David said was not his own opinion. What David said was not his own choice of words. When David opened his mouth, the Holy Spirit of God spoke. That’s divine inspiration. When the Bible is written and you open its pages and you read a verse, those are not the words of choice of men, those are words of the Spirit of God who is the author of all the Scripture.

2 Peter 1:21 says, “For the prophesy came not at any time by the will of men, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit wrote every word of Scripture. That’s why we believe it is gross injustice, and it opens the flood gates to every kind of heresy possible when you deny the absolute verbal inspiration of all Scripture, both Old and New Testaments.

And notice it says, “If you hear His voice.” Hearing God is a matter of your own will. But there is that possibility of hardening the heart as Israel did. And so verse 8 says, “Do not harden your hearts as they did in the rebellion.” Hardening your heart is also a matter of personal choice. In 1 Timothy 4:2, Paul says that the conscience of a person can become seared as with a hot iron, like scar tissue.

That is what happens to somebody who hears the gospel repeatedly. The ‘today’ only lasts as long as your conscience is sensitive to the Spirit of God. Then today is over, it’s tomorrow and it’s too late. That’s what He’s saying. Today if you’ll enact your will to hear God’s voice, don’t harden your heart. And your heart gets harder every time you say no to Jesus Christ when you know the truth.

God had given them enough evidence to convince anybody. But they loved their sin, their selfishness, their own plans and their own ideas, and they would not commit to God. Verse 9, “Don’t do as your ancestors tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works 10 for forty years. Therefore I was provoked to anger and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.”

The classic illustration is in Numbers 14. When the majority of spies brought back to Kadesh-Barnea, they went in there to spy out the land. And they all come back and said, “Oh, are we in trouble! Those guys are giants, and we are like grasshoppers.” And I call that the grasshopper complex. It is when you walk by sight, you end in defeat. “Oh, they’re too big and too strong!”

Because they brought back an evil report, God said, “Not one single one of you of male age equipped to be in the army of Israel will ever enter the Promised Land because of your unbelief. Only two of the spies brought back a good report: Joshua and Caleb. And out of that whole generation, the only two that entered the Promised Land were those two, because they believed God.

God answered Moses as he pleaded for God not to wipe out the whole nation because of their unbelief. God said, “All those men that have seen My signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness have not listened to my voice. They had enough evidence to believe that I could lead them into that land of milk and honey. But they wouldn’t believe Me, so they’re not going to see that land.”

In Deuteronomy 2:14, it says, they wandered for 38 years until that whole generation died out because of the depth of unbelief. And in Deuteronomy 9:7, the Holy Spirit said, “Remember and forget not how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in this wilderness; from the day you departed Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.”

Verse 10, continuing with Israel in Psalm 95, “Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.” They kept it up. God was disgusted with them. God rejected them. And God repudiated them. Why? “Because they always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.”

Verses 11-12 says, ^“So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest. 12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” God says, “Don’t harden your hearts. Hear today and do today what God wants you to do, and don’t do what Israel did even after they had seen the proof of it for 40 years.”

They just didn’t have faith. These are people who habitually follow evil. Then the closing of the illustration in verse 11, “So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.” Now the word “rest” here refers in the illustration to Canaan, the land of milk and honey, the Promised Land. And the word rest implies resting from wandering. When God makes an oath with Himself, it’s a binding oath.

The Canaanites were so bad that they buried live babies in jars in the walls of every building they built. They were such a gross, immoral, and godless people that God wanted them wiped off the face of the earth in a judicial act whereby He was going to use Israel as His instrument of judgement. But instead of Israel wiping out the Canaanites, they intermarried with them.

And they were governed by many Gentile empires until the Roman era. Then the Jews were scattered over all the earth in 70 A.D. And now in our day God is gathering them again for the kingdom, and Israel’s final rest comes in that kingdom. When Jesus comes the second time, He will set up his kingdom and that will be true rest. Now on the basis of that illustration I want you to see the invitation.

Verse 12 says, “Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” Look at your own heart. Do you know the truth of Jesus Christ? In love I say to you, don’t allow yourself to have an unbelieving heart, and you wind up departing from the living God. This is not a reference to Christians. Holy brethren are Jews.

You know what the greatest evil in the world is? Unbelief. Failure to believe God. Here are these non-Christians on the verge of faith. Maybe some of them professing to be Christians. They’d never admit to being actively aggressively against Christ, but they are. No matter how close you are to Jesus Christ, if you never come to Him, you have an evil heart of unbelief.

Here is the instruction. Verse 13 says, “But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.” The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We plead on Christ’s behalf, “be reconciled to God.” Sin never makes it look like it ought to look. Always masks it, it lies, and mankind get hard on the inside and they don’t even realize it.

Verse 14 says, “For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.” Christ says, “That’s not enough, because if you really believe it and you’ve committed your life to it, the evidence will be the fact that when it’s all over and the day ends you’ll still be there.” Continuance in the gospel. The true ones are staying around.

And thus the invitation is repeated in verse 15, “As it is said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” You think the Holy Spirit wants you to get that message? He repeats it twice. “Don’t harden your heart.” Verse 16, “For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?” The whole group were. Two exceptions: Joshua and Caleb.

Verse 17 says, “With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?” And God called them in Deuteronomy 32:20, “A very perverse children in whom there is no faithfulness.” God was angry with a whole generation of people, and He sentenced that whole generation so that they could not enter into His rest.

Verse 18, “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed?” And that leads us to the issue, which is the fourth point, verse 19, “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” We’re saved by faith. You can put your faith in the God of the universe. He’s worth your faith. To be unbelieving brings upon you the destruction of God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Aug 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240804 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000023B imblog

Hebrews 3:1-6

Let us consider Hebrews 3:1 – 6 where we know that author is the Holy Spirit. Now, Hebrews was written to a community of Jews who had been evangelized by the first apostles and prophets. And, some of them believed, and a congregation of believing Jews had arisen. But there were some Jews who were intellectually convinced but who had never made the step of faith.

In addition to those two groups, there was another group who had not been convinced, who had heard the Gospel but made absolutely no response at all. It is then to these three groups that Hebrews is written. There are certain passages directed to Hebrew believers, true Christians who have received Christ. They have come out of Judaism. And they have been born again.

Then secondly, the group of Hebrew non-Christians who are intellectually convinced. And they are warned that since they know so much, they better act upon it, lest they fall away and never be renewed again to repentance. Those who know the truth and willfully reject the truth are warned. They shall have much more punishment who willfully do not believe the Son of God.

Then thirdly, the group of Hebrew non-Christians. They don’t believe. So then there are three. If He’s talking to believers who are still hanging on to Judaism, He says, “You don’t need it. Christ is sufficient.” If he’s talking to unbelievers who are convinced, He says, “Put your faith in him. Christ is sufficient.” If he’s talking to the unbelieving Jews, He says, “Christ is superior. He is sufficient.”

So the theme in Hebrews is the perfect Christ, superior and sufficient. We need nothing in addition to Jesus Christ. Now, if the Holy Spirit is to show that Christ is better than anybody else, then the Holy Spirit must prove that the character of Jesus Christ, is better than all of those connected with the Old Testament. If this is a better covenant, it must have a better mediator.

The Holy Spirit says in Hebrews 1 that Jesus Christ is better than everybody and everything. In Hebrews 2 He says that Jesus Christ is better than angels. In Hebrews 3, He says Jesus is better than Moses. In Hebrews 4, Jesus is better than Joshua. And then Jesus is better than Aaron. So Jesus is better than the Old Testament people, sacrifices, et cetera. Jesus is superior, supreme and sufficient.

That’s the theme of Hebrews in two words: Consider Jesus. Now He compares Moses, the one who brought the first covenant. And the Jews esteemed Moses very highly. He was the man to whom God spoke mouth to mouth. He was a man who saw the glory of God. He was the man who had the glory of God transferred directly to his face. He was the one who led Israel out of Egypt.

But beyond that, the greatest thing in the mind of a Jew was the law. And Moses was the one who gave the law. And the Old Testament commandments and rituals were the Jews’ priority. And Moses had brought not only the Ten Commandments, but he had penned the entire Pentateuch, which lays out all the laws that governed everything they did. So Moses was the great law-giver.

And as great as Moses was, the Holy Spirit calls on us to gaze on Jesus, who is far greater than Moses. If you think Moses is great, consider Jesus. So in order for the Holy Spirit to present evidence to support the superiority, the supremacy, and the sufficiency of Christ, he selects a three-fold presentation. He says that Jesus is superior in His office, superior in His work, and superior in His person.

Superior in His office, He is the high priest. Superior in His work, He is the builder of the house. Superior in His person, He is the Son. First, the Holy Spirit says Jesus is superior to Moses in His office. Verse 1, “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. Consider Jesus.” That’s what I would like you to do tonight.

The first word, “Therefore.” On the basis of what I have just said, consider Jesus. We see Jesus in Hebrews 2:9, made lower than the angels. You’ve said that He’s the salvation captain, also a sanctifier, also brothers and sisters, He destroyed Satan and death. He is speaking directly to the believing Christian Jews, who were looking at Jesus out of one eye but glancing back all the time.

But most of us can’t relate to coming out of Judaism. And we don’t understand the temptation to hang on to the old things. We do find ourselves believing that our works and our religious trappings are what it’s all about. And while we accept God’s free grace complete in Christ, we kind of hang on to this kind of legalism rather than live the positive Christ-controlled, spirit-energized life.

“Therefore, holy brethren” So here He’s speaking to believers, to Christians, to holy Jews, holy brothers in Christ. Now, they’re not holy because of their practice, but because of their position. He calls them also “partakers of the heavenly calling.” In Hebrews, just about everything is heavenly. He is making a distinction between Christianity to Judaism. Judaism was an earthly calling with an earthly inheritance.

We’re only strangers and pilgrims here. We dangle our feet in the world, but we don’t really belong here. You’re citizens in heaven. Now, let go of the earthly things. That’s why there shouldn’t be any ritual in the church. We don’t need the ritual because the reality is here. Jesus said, “You worship the Father in spirit and in truth, not in ritual.” So believers then share in the righteous nature of Christ.

Consider Jesus. Now, the word “consider” does not mean it’s flighty. The word does not mean take a glance. The word means set yourself to gaze intently on Jesus. “Well, what’s He saying this to Christians for? We already know Christ.” Listen, no one needs that message any more than we do, because we are a long way from really discovering all of His glory, all that He is.

Many Christians don’t enjoy Jesus. They’re miserable and unhappy. They don’t know anything about joy. The only thing the Lord’s good for is to cry on. And the reason is, they don’t know Him experientially, they don’t know Him richly. You need to recognize real virtue. If you don’t enjoy Jesus, then you better stay with Him until your Christian life is one thrill after another.

God gives Jesus two titles. He calls Him the apostle and high priest. This is the first way that Jesus is better than Moses, for Jesus was both apostle and high priest; Moses was not. Moses was an apostle. Who was the high priest? Aaron. So Jesus is superior in his office, for He is both. Apostolos means sent from God. And Jesus is the supreme ambassador of God, sent to earth.

Secondly, an ambassador has to speak with the voice of the one who sent him. And so Jesus came and said, “I speak not that which I decide to speak. I speak only what I hear the Father say.” So Jesus was the perfect sent one from God. He came with all of God’s power, and with God’s voice He spoke. But beyond that, He was always the high priest of our profession.

The word “priest” in the Latin is the word pontifex, which broken into two words, means bridge-builder. And Jesus was the one who built the bridge from God to mankind. And so Jesus is not only the sent one from God, with all God’s power and speaking with God’s voice, but He is the one who takes man and God and brings them together. He’s the bridge-builder. And He’s also the bridge.

Then it says that He is the apostle and high priest. That is, He’s the one we confess. “If you profess Christ, if you confess that He is your Lord, then you certainly ought to gaze on Him, right?” That’s what He’s saying. “You Jews, you have received Christ, you’ve confessed Him as apostle and your new high priest, you’ve received all that He has. Now gaze on Him intently.”

Secondly, He’s superior in His works. Verses 2-4, “He was faithful to the one who appointed Him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. 3 For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. 4 Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.” Before talking about the difference, He talks about the similarities.

In John 6:38, it says, “For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” John 17:4 says, “I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” Jesus always did the father’s will. He was faithful. And then the Holy Spirit says in verse 2, “Just as Moses was faithful in all God’s household.” You see, there’s no distinction.

Now, you’ll notice that it says he was faithful in all God’s household. What is God’s household?” Well, in the Old Testament you read about the house of David and the house of Israel. So who is God’s household? Believers. The Old Testament believers, Israel, and any proselytes who may have been involved. Old Testament believers. Moses was faithful in God’s household.

And it says in verse 2 that Christ also was faithful to His house. It’s in Ephesians 2:19, “So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household.” It is His church. 1 Peter 2:4-5 says, “As you come to Him, a living stone, rejected by people but chosen and honored by God 5 you yourselves, as living stones built a spiritual house.”

But here comes the difference in verse 3, “For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house.” Moses was faithful, but he’s a piece of the house. Jesus made the house. That’s the difference. Jesus created Israel. All things were made by Him, Hebrews 1 or John 1. And without him was not anything made that was made.

So in order to do that, you have to be God.” That’s verse 4, “Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.” And who built all things? Jesus did. He’s God. Every house is built by someone. You’re a part of God’s house. Somebody shared Christ with you, right? And they’re responsible in a human sense for part of the house. But who really created the house? Jesus did.

Thirdly, the superiority of His person. Verses 5–6, “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.” There’s a lot of difference between a servant and a Son.

Servants come and go; but sons are for life. Verse 5 says, “And Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant.” And this is a dignified word. It also is used of angels. It’s used of prophets in the Septuagint. He was a faithful, obedient, ministering, and he was a good steward of God. In Exodus 40, eight times it refers to Moses’ obedience to all that God commanded him.

As exalted as he was, Jesus was more exalted. Notice that the Holy Spirit never compares Jesus with the failures of Moses. He can be compared with anybody’s successes and still come out infinitely greater. Moses wasn’t the end of the line. That’s what Judaism doesn’t understand. Moses was only faithful as a testimony to those things which were yet to be said. Judaism without Christ is not the whole story!

Jesus said, “Moses wrote all about Me.” So you see, to accept Moses and not Jesus isn’t really to accept Moses. Moses was only a servant who pointed to something which would come after that. He was a steward of another’s house. Verse 6, “But Christ is the Son.” Over His own house. We are the Lord’s house. We are built together, Ephesians 2:22, for a house of the Spirit.

1 Timothy 3:15 says, “But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” Verse 6, “But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.”

You can tell who are really in the house of God, because they stay there. The one who falls out, never belonged in the first place. Now, this is repeated in Hebrews. If you really commit yourself to Christ, that’s evident by the way you live your life. But if under the pressure of persecution, you never make that commitment, then it proves you never were His house to begin with.

2 John 9 says, “Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.” 1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.”

What’s He saying to us? He’s saying two things. Number one, be for real. Examine yourselves. Are you really in the faith? How about some of you tonight? Are you for real? And secondly, I say to you who are Christians already, consider Jesus. Christian, learn to live your whole life with your sights on Him. He is all you need. Paul said it well “You are complete in Him.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Jul 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240728 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000023A imblog

Hebrews 2:9-18

The goal for us is to consider the glory of our Savior. Now Hebrews was written to Jews. Some of them had believed in Christ, and they understood the gospel well. Others of them were sort of in the process of considering Christ, and they needed further clarification to understand more. But to all it is written to demonstrate that Jesus is the one true Savior of the world.

A recent newspaper article hailed the arrival of the Son of God in the world. According to the article, the savior of the world is a 13-year-old Indian guru whose name escapes me. He is really nothing new because he merely takes his place in a long line of would-be saviors of the world, of would-be Messiahs. Simon Magus, who tried to prove himself the Son of God by flying from a building.

The flying was okay; the landing was miserable. Right on down to more modern-day men like Hitler, Father Divine, and someday finally an ultimate individual to make that claim, known in the scripture as the Antichrist. But unfortunately for them and fortunately for us, none of them has ever made it. A complete answer tells us why it is that Jesus Christ is the only perfect Savior.

Now, in order for the Holy Spirit to prove to the Jew that Christ is the mediator of a better covenant, He must then prove to the Jew that Christ is better than all of the issues that go along with the old covenant. And we learned already that the Old Testament was mediated today to men by angels. Therefore, the Holy Spirit must prove to the Jewish mind that Christ is superior to angels.

And so in Hebrews 1, God declares that Jesus is superior to angels, from verse 4 all the way down to verse 14. Angels are ministers, verse 7 says, but to the Son, verse 8 says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. You are God has anointed,” verse 9, “with the oil of gladness above Your companions,” meaning above the angels. The only one above the angels was God Himself.

Everything in creation bows to Christ, verse 13 says: “To which of the angels has He ever said, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’?” And the answer is to no angel. And the Jews understood the angels were heavenly beings. They were associated with the work of God. They were associated with the law of God. They worshiped the true God in holiness.

So who is greater than the angels? If this Jesus Christ is our Savior and He is our Redeemer, He’s got to be greater than men, because men can’t redeem themselves, and He’s also greater than angels, so He must be God. But the question among the Jews is, “How could this Jesus, be greater than the angels, when He was a man and died? How could He be the Messiah and be executed?”

In 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul says the death of Christ on the cross was a stumbling block to the Jews. But what we learn is summed up in Hebrews 2:9, “But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death.” He was born to die, born in human flesh for the purpose of dying.

Those baby hands, fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, were made to take two great nails. Those tender feet, were to walk a hill and be executed in front of masses of people. That sacred head, with sparkling eyes, was to wear a crown of thorns. That tender body, wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem, was to be ripped open by a spear to reveal a broken heart.

But that does not disqualify Him; that qualifies Him to be our great Savior. Man, created by God, would dominate the creation. But mankind fell into sin, and lost his crown. Man should be a king, but instead he is a slave, weak and bound to sin and ruled by what he was designed originally to rule over. And into this situation came Jesus, to make men what God intended them to be.

So while the Jews were wondering how He could be the Savior if He’s a man and He died. The New Testament makes this clear, repeatedly, that in order to be the Savior, He had to be a man, and He had to die. The death of Christ was no accident. It was God’s plan. He becomes lower than angels for a definite purpose, which He accomplishes. Dying as a man qualified Him to be our great Savior.

That’s the whole story of the incarnation. It is God becoming what man is, in order to substitute for man’s death, and therefore free man to life with God. That’s true humility. The whole concept though is stunning. To realize that the creator of angels, the lord of hosts, the one worshipped by angels, should for our sakes, for a thirty three years, become lower than angels.

As you look at Hebrews 2:9 – 18, Jesus is presented as our great Savior by five statements. First, He is our substitute; second, He is our Sovereign; third, He is our sanctifier; fourth, He is our Satan-conqueror; and fifth, He is our sympathizer. Now these are familiar to you as a believer, but beautifully and magnificently that all comes together in this particular text.

Verse 9, “But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.” He had to taste death for everyone. In other words, to redeem His people He had to die their death. Christ’s substitutionary death is the heart of the gospel. He was made a short time lower than the angels.

That is a humiliation. Paul talks about it in Philippians 2: Being equal with God, Jesus Christ didn’t hold onto that; He gave it up and came all the way down to humanity, and all the way down to death, and all the way down to death on the cross. Why? To taste death for everyone. He’s the only one who could be the substitute. He was guilty of nothing, and yet He tasted death for sinners.

We also see the motive of His humiliation. Again we see it in verse 9, that He did this by the grace of God. Do you know what moved Jesus Christ to suffer for us? Grace, the greatest word there is. Do you know what grace is? It’s undeserved favor. When we deserved death. When we didn’t deserve what we got but deserved what we didn’t get, we got what we didn’t deserve.

Galatians 4:4 says Jesus came to redeem those ‘under the law.’ Romans 8 says He came ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, “He died for all.” Only by the Son tasting death can any sinner be forgiven. This was an act that was prompted “by the grace of God.” Solely on the basis of God’s good pleasure, He chose to send His Son as a substitute for sinners.

And Jesus was so successful at it that as a result of that substitutionary death, He was subsequently “crowned with glory and honor.” Philippians 2:9 says God gave Him ‘a name above every name’, seated Him at His right hand, validating His work. By His divine nature He is greater than angels. For a little while, thirty-three years, He was lower than the angels, to die as our substitute.

Secondly, the writer presents Him as our sovereign Lord. Verse 10 says, “For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” The word archēgos is, in Acts, actually translated “Prince of life” when referring to Christ.

God knew that if He was going to bring many sons to glory, there had to be someone who was the author of salvation. Later in Hebrews it says Christ perfected our salvation through His death. You could say the cross was the masterpiece of wisdom. It fit His holiness. It demonstrated God’s hatred for sin. It agreed with His grace because it was an act of love to bring forgiveness.

It was the greatest power display ever. Christ endured a few hours of darkness, took the full fury of the wrath of God for all the people who would ever be saved through all of human history. He is our sovereign and our King, and He brought us into His kingdom. His ability to lead, His ability to rule, His ability to lead us to God, to show us the way to God, necessitated His suffering.

Christ is our sanctifier. Verse 11, “For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” He is the one who makes us holy and righteous. Christ is the sanctifier; we are the “sanctified.” The only way we could be made holy was if our sins were paid for and we were made righteous by Christ.

Do we really share in this holiness? Look at verse 11 again, that He’s “not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” If you wonder what the level of your holiness is in the eyes of God, it is equal to that of Christ. Christ would have every reason to be ashamed of you, right? He knows all your sins but He is not ashamed. Hebrews 11 says, “God is not ashamed to be called their God.”

You’re holy in the sense that before God, the righteousness of Christ has been placed in your behalf. There are two truths in the New Testament, practical truths and positional truths, what you are and what you act like. You’re holy positionally, you’re perfect. Colossians 2, “And you are complete in Him.” But practically in daily life, we’re sinners who still got a long way to go.

How is it that Christ has no shame in identifying with us? We know that we don’t even deserve to identify with Him. It is because we have been granted a genuine covering righteousness that is so true and so real. A righteousness that couldn’t be granted apart from sin being paid for. And notice this, this is a brotherhood that is expressed even further in verses 12 and 13.

Verse 12-13 says: I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will sing hymns to you in the congregation. 13 Again, I will trust in Him. And again, here I am with the children God gave Me. Psalm 22:22 says, I will proclaim Your name to my brothers and sisters, I will praise You in the assembly.” Jesus never called His people “brothers and sisters” on the other side of the cross.

Jesus called them disciples, called them friends, called them sheep; but never brothers and sisters. But after He came out of the grave, He said to Mary in John 20:17, “Go to My brothers and sisters and say to them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” The cross and the resurrection state to us that Jesus is the perfect Savior who also sanctifies us.

How challenging it is for us in our fallenness, even as believers, to wonder whether we really belong to the Lord. If you are in Christ, you have been sanctified; and when God looks at you, He sees you covered in the righteousness of Christ. You are a brother or sister of Christ, a joint heir with Christ; and Christ is not ashamed of you, and God is not ashamed to be called your God.

In verses 14 and 15 we find Jesus as our Satan-conqueror. Verse 14-15, “Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death, that is, the devil. 15 and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.” Our substitute, our sanctifier, crushed Satan’s head at the cross.

Through death Jesus Christ slew death. Through death He freed those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. The power of death here is kratos, it means “dominion.” Death is Satan’s domain. That’s why Paul says to Timothy that Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. When He died, He neutralized Satan’s power.

The whole world is terrified of death; but Christ has taken all that fear away. And “to die is gain,” right? It is far better to be with Christ. There’s one more glory that belongs to our great Savior: He is our sympathizer. Verse 16 says, “For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring.” There’s no redemption for angels, no salvation for angels. They never die.

Verse 17, “Therefore, Christ had to be like His brothers and sisters in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.” And then verse 18, “For since He Himself has suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted.” He was made like His brothers and sisters in all things.

Jesus was hungry and thirsty, He was weary, He slept, He was taught, He grew, He loved, He was astonished, He marveled, He was glad, He was sad, He was angry, He was indignant, He was grieved, He was troubled, He was overcome. He exercised faith in His Father. He read the Scriptures. He prayed all night. He was like us. So that He could come to help those who are tempted.

So the Jews may have thought that this Jesus was disqualified from being the great Savior, but the fact of the matter is He is the only one qualified. He is our substitute, our sanctifier, our Satan-conqueror, and our sympathizer. Christ is all. He understands our needs, our joys, our sorrows, our struggles. So think about it in the richness of what we just saw in Hebrews 2. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Jul 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240721 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000239 imblog

Hebrews 2:5-9

The Book of Hebrews is dedicated to the majesty and the superiority of Jesus Christ over anybody and anything else. Hebrews is for the very purpose of exalting Jesus Christ, particularly above everything related to Judaism prior to the coming of Christ, whether it’s the angels or Moses or Aaron or Melchizedek. Jesus Christ is superior to everything connected with the Old Testament.

Hebrews tells us that Jesus will come again and He will one day put all enemies under His feet, and he will reign supreme. Hebrews says that the whole universe exists by and for Jesus Christ. And the entire history of the universe is hastening to the coronation of Jesus Christ. The world for which He shed His blood, for which He paid the purchase price shall belong to Him.

The message from beginning to end of Hebrews is the superiority of Jesus Christ. And this is so important because when Christ came as the Messiah of Israel, the one who fulfilled all the Old Testament promises, the Jews rejected Him. Consequently, they had made the mistake of accepting all of the types, symbols, and rituals of the Old Testament, and then rejected the reality when He came.

They must understand that Jesus Christ was the redeemer that God promised. He was the redeemer that all true saints hoped for. He was the only redeemer that men would ever know. And how were you saved in the Old Testament? You were saved by believing the promise of God that gave. How are you saved in the New Testament? You’re saved by believing the promise of God you received.

And so all through Hebrews you have the word better, better this, and better that, all revolving around Christ. The better things finally have come in Jesus Christ. And so that Christ fulfills all the significance of the Old Testament. Now we could take the prophecy in Isaiah 53 about the death of Jesus Christ, and we could show how Jesus in His death fulfilled it to the absolute letter.

And that’s why Jesus made the statement in Matthew that, “I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law.” But let me just take one little area of the Old Testament that finds itself resolved in Christ, and that’s the area of types. Types are merely Old Testament pictures of Christ. It could be a man, an event, an animal, a situation, whatever it may be, that pictures Christ.

In the Old Testament you have sacrifices. And a sacrifice was taken, and the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the arc of the covenant, which symbolized the presence of God. And by that, men were acknowledging that God would be appeased in His dealing with sin by the sprinkling of blood. They were only picturing a more noble blood, which should be shed only once for all.

And the picture of sacrifice, and the sprinkling of blood was nothing but a type of what Jesus would do, and He was the fulfillment. Another is the dwelling in Tabernacles. And this is prophesied by the appearance of God in human flesh, but just as a temporary humble dwelling below His dignity, and Jesus himself made the statement that He had come to Tabernacle among men.

And this is historically since the time of Christ, the unbelievable dilemma of the Jew who is totally unable to resolve all of the conflicts left by an unfulfilled old covenant. And so you know what you have? You have born out of that problem liberal Judaism and “conservative” Judaism, and a moving away from orthodoxy, because Orthodox Judaism makes no sense. It’s totally unfulfilled.

Now in Hebrews 2:5, where we start tonight, He returns to superiority of Christ over angels. He’s still in this same argument, and here is a tremendous point in verse 5. And “For He has not subjected to angels the world to come that we are talking about.” Now there is a tremendous point there. He is saying, God did not give subjection of the world to come to angels.

Verse 5 says, “For He has not subjected to angels the world to come that we are talking about.” This passage accomplishes three things. Number one, it shows another proof that Jesus is better than angels. Number two, it answers an objection. If He was a man and He died, how could He possibly be superior to angels? Thirdly, these verses reveal the only hope for a man’s recovery of his lost destiny.

Mankind today is lost. Mankind today has lost the meaning of his existence. And this passage is going to teach us how it is that man can recover his destiny and, in fact, what his destiny is. We’ll look at it just in three points. Man’s destiny revealed by God, man’s destiny restricted by sin, and man’s destiny recovered by Christ. Now first of all we see man’s destiny revealed by God.

The world to come is the greatest that’s ever been. The world to come is the great and glorious world. And whoever reigns in that world must be glorious beyond glory, and it isn’t angels. It indicates, first, that angels’ superiority over men is only temporary. Because you’re going to find in the next two verses who is going to rule in the age to come. You know who it is? Mankind.

Now you’ll notice in verse 5 the term world. It is the word oikoumenēn. Oikos means house. It means inhabitance. The word means the inhabited earth. Now that can’t be this earth, because this inhabited earth isn’t to come, it’s to go. There’s got to be another inhabited earth to come. I’ll tell you what it is. It’s the great millennial kingdom. It’s the new inhabited earth for a thousand years.

And all the creatures that go into that new inhabited earth are going to be totally different. The animals will be different, and even the people will all be redeemed people that go in at the beginning of that new inhabited earth. The world to come will not be put in subjection to angels. Now the world to go, which is this world right now, is in subjection to fallen angels.

Who is number one fallen angel? Satan. Who is prince of this world? Satan. Who is the sovereign of this world? Satan. Not only does Satan and his fallen angels rule in a sense in this world. Daniel 10:20 says, “Do you know why I’ve come to you? I must return at once to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I leave, the prince of Greece will come.” The rule of this earth is now by angels.

Now from Ephesians 6, we know that this world is ruled by demons. That they are sovereigns in the world. They’re called principalities powers and rules of the darkness of this world. Spiritual wickedness in high offices. And this the ranks of demons. They are the ones that are ruling the world. So the inhabited earth now is under the sovereignty of angels, holy and unholy, battling it out.

The earth to come will be under the control of mankind. And these verses reveal God’s planned destiny for men. Verse 6 says, “But someone somewhere testified” and He means David in Psalm 8. This is on purpose. All throughout Hebrews the Holy Spirit never names any Old Testament author. He just eliminates the human instrument and makes it all the voice of God.

And so the Holy Spirit says, “What is man, that You remember him?” This is David talking to God, “or the son of man, that You care for him?” I mean the point is simply this, God, what is man that you would give him so much bounty and so much blessing? Then it says in verse 7, “You made him lower than the angels for a short time; you crowned him with glory and honor.”

Verse 8, and subjected everything under his feet. For in subjecting everything to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him.” Did you hear that? Did you know that God’s original design, destiny for man was that man is to be the king of the earth? And that everything in existence was to be in subjection to man?

God made a race of kings. And so is the writer of Hebrews, secondarily, from Genesis 1:26 we read, and God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness: and let them have dominion.” Did you get that? Man was made a king. “Dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock over all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

Notice in verse 6, He also says, “The son of man.” Some have interpreted it to be a reference to Christ. No. Son of man is simply a Hebrew term referring to mankind. Of what importance is frail humanity? Notice in verse 7, “You made him lower than the angels for a short time; You crowned him with glory and honor. When God created man, He made them in a sense lower than angels.

It was not that they were lower than angels spiritually. God loved man with the infinite capacity that He has with which He loves angels and men equally. It was only that man was lower than angels in the sense that he was physical and angels were spiritual. God in the very beginning knew that the ultimate destiny of man would not be something lower than angels. This is a temporary chain of command.

God was looking past into the future that redeemed man would come in Christ and would rise in redemption to God’s presence and be different than angels. Angels were not confined to the supernatural. They could move down to the earth any time God wanted; so they had options that mankind didn’t have. Angels had access to the throne of God whenever they desired.

Angels were, after Satan’s rebellion, secured in holiness forever. Man was not. He was only innocent, but he had the choice to sin. And so angels were perfect and man was only innocent; in that sense, he was lower. Angels have supernatural power and strength even sinless men didn’t have. But the key is this, with angels there was no possibility to die. With men, there was.

Daniel 7:18 says, “But the holy ones of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess it forever, yes, forever and ever.” It’s a forever kingdom. Who will take the kingdom? The holy ones of the most High. Who is going to rule in the kingdom, not angels, but redeemed mankind. And thus, He says in Hebrews that mankind was made for a little time lower than the angels.

In Ephesians 1:20 it says, “Christ will reign in the kingdom,” it says, “He will reign over principalities and powers.” Who are they? Angels. If Christ reigns over angels in the kingdom and we sit on His thrown with Him, who reigns in the kingdom? We do, over angels. And in God’s ultimate design, we man, are lower than angels for a little while, but we are kings over the undefiled new earth.

What happened to Adam immediately after he had sinned? First there was murder among his own family. Then there was polygamy. In the next few chapters, there was death. And by the time you come to Genesis 6, God destroys the whole world because it’s gotten so debouched. Indeed, man lost his crown. And the earth now is ruled in the conflict between the holy and the unholy angels.

The whole earth groans is waiting for the day that we are manifested in God’s glorious kingdom, because once the kingdom starts, the earth gets liberated from the curse. God subjected the earth to this curse in order that man might have trouble all his days and know that he had to pay for his sin by fighting against his own earth, which was designed to be his subject.

Verse 9 says, “But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death.” He became a man. Why? For the suffering of death. And He also is crowned with glory and honor. Jesus, that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.

Now go back to Hebrews 2:9 and you’ll see the meaning here. We see Jesus, He had to be a man to gain man’s dominion, who was also for a little time made lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Why? Because He had to taste death for every man. And so Jesus came and died. And the reason He could die for us is because He could not only die, but He could conquer death. Right?

Revelation 20:4 says, “Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

Mankind will be changed in the kingdom. Not only are men going to be changed, but animals are going to be changed. Isaiah 11:6-7, “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf will be together, and a child will lead them. 7 The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle.”

And not only that, the plants are going to be different. That’s in Isaiah 35:1 which says, “The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a wildflower.” And there’s no reason for you to be a slave, and there’s no reason for you to be a pauper. There’s only reason for you to be a king. God says, “Man is the king of the earth, only for a little time, even made lower than angels.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240714 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000238 imblog

Hebrews 2:1-4

Hell is full of people who are not actively opposed to Jesus Christ, but who simply drifted into damnation by neglecting to respond to the gospel. Such people are really here in view in these four verses. These are people who know the truth, who are well aware of the good news of salvation provided in Jesus Christ, but who never are willing to commit their lives to Jesus Christ.

This epistle is addressed to Jews. First were Jewish non-Christians who didn’t believe the gospel. Secondly some were Jewish Christians who had received Jesus Christ, but were still hanging onto the rituals of Judaism. This was not necessary, because once Jesus came, the rituals were no longer needed. Thirdly were Jewish non-Christians who were convinced intellectually but never committed to Christ.

Many of them were attending the community of believers with some sort of a profession that they were really believers, when, in fact, they were not. And so in this epistle, the writer really wants to show all of them that Jesus Christ has brought a new covenant called the New Testament. He has died on a cross, shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins, and after three days He rose again.

And in this New Testament, mankind can have forgiveness, and the New Testament is better by far than the Old Testament. The new mediator, Jesus Christ, is better than anybody connected with the old covenant. He is attempting to show Jews that the Old Testament was incomplete. Jesus Christ fulfills it all. The Jews needed to accept the New Testament of His final sacrifice for their sins.

So in order to prove this, the writer of Hebrews goes through all of the characters of the Old Testament, Moses, Aaron, the priesthood, angels who were mediators of the old covenant. And in every case, He proves Christ to be better than all of those. We saw in Hebrews 1:1- 3 that Christ is better than everybody. And then in verses 4 to 14, we saw that Christ is superior to angels.

Because in the Jewish mind, angels mediated the old covenant. And so, the Holy Spirit wants to show us that the new covenant is better because Christ is better than angels. A better mediator means a better covenant. But we come to what really amounts to an invitation thrown into the middle of this treatise on angels. The Holy Spirit is applying directly what He has been saying about Christ.

You see, the Word of God always demands a response. That’s the point. The word of God always demands that somebody react to it. And may I add too, that any effective teacher must do a lot more than just dispose of facts dumping them on his hearers. Any really effective teacher knows that he must warn, that he must exhort, and that he must invite all the hearers to believe.

A man may know a lot of truth, and he may know a lot of doctrine, but if he doesn’t have a passionate concern for how people react to it, he’s not worth a nickel as a teacher. There must be a concern for response. The apostle Paul was a great a theologian and he had a masterful a mind, and a grasp of philosophy and logic but he was still a very impassioned individual.

In Romans 9:1-3, Paul all of a sudden bursts into an invitation and he says, “I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.”

In John 5:39-40, Jesus said, “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life.” Jesus had a passionate concern that his hearers respond. Teach always that Jesus true teachings demand a response. In Hebrews 13:22, the whole book of Hebrews is called a message of exhortation.

Now this warning cannot be to Christians, first of all, because Christians could never be in danger of neglecting salvation since they’ve already got it. Secondly, it can’t be directed at people who have never heard the gospel, because they can’t neglect what they don’t know exists. So the only group left is these non-Christians who are intellectually convinced, but not committed.

This is not only a Jewish passage, but it also fits many who are on the edge of decision for Christ. And because of self will, or fear, or sin, because of fear of the persecution of family and your friends, says no to Christ, and just continues to neglect this. And there are some of you like that here tonight. You know the truth. You believe the truth, but you’re not willing to make a commitment.

The Holy Spirit is giving you one more warning. There are three great reasons to receive this salvation namely the character of Christ, the certainty of judgment, and the confirmation of God. First Hebrews 2:1 says, “For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.” One word in there keys the whole thing. It’s the first words, “For this reason”.

Who has been presenting in all the verses of Hebrews 1? Jesus Christ. Because of who Christ is, “For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.” He’s called the Son. He’s called the heir of all things, the one who made the world. The exact image of His person. He’s the one who upholds all things by the Word of his power.

Jesus is the one who purged our sins. He’s the one who’s seated on the right hand of the Majesty. He’s the one better than angels. He’s the one in Hebrews 1:5 who is the Son. He’s the one in verse 6 who is the prōtotokos, the chief of all. He’s the one in verse 6 of whom the angels worship. He’s the one in verse 7 whose angels are his servants. He’s the one in verse 8 called God who is forever and ever.

And you see, that is so graphic, and that is just how it is. It’s not that men go head long diving and plunging into hell, you know. It’s that they drift into it. Most people don’t deliberately do that, and in a moment, turn their backs on God, curse God. Most people slowly, almost imperceptibly slip past the harbor of salvation and are broken on the rocks of destruction.

Back in Proverbs 4:20-22 it says, “My son, pay attention to my words; Listen closely to my sayings. 21 Don’t lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to one’s whole body.” When you hear the Word of God, make it yours. It’s not enough to just let it drift past your ears. That’s the most dangerous thing you can do.

The harbor of salvation is static. It’s in Jesus Christ. It never moves. It never changes. It’s always available until the time that a man slips past the harbor of grace and it’s over. How many millions were close to be safely moored and anchored, only to drift away from their moorings forever through a failure to receive what they heard and, in many cases, what they actually believed.

Secondly, that person is a fool to reject salvation because of the certainty of judgment. Verse 2-3, “For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.”

What was the covenant mediated by angels? The Old Testament. If nobody got away with breaking the covenant brought by angels, you don’t think you’re going to get away with breaking the covenant brought by our Lord himself? Here the Holy Spirit is arguing from the lesser to the greater, and He has in mind two testaments. One was the revelation of the law, and any breach of that law.

Breaking the Law was followed by a severe and just punishment. The other revelation came through Christ, the Son of God. It was a greater Testament, and consequently, it had a greater punishment. Some people think that because God loves them, and He is a God of grace that He’s not a God of justice. If you do not receive Jesus Christ, you are condemned by your own choice.

And verse 2 says, “Every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment.” That means the law punished every sin. There are two kinds of sin. Transgression, parabasis means to step across the line. That’s a sin of commission. Disobedience is a different word. This is the sin of neglect or omission. This is standing there doing nothing when you should do something.

There’s only two kinds of sin, what you do and what you don’t do. And both types and categories of sin were breaches of the Old Testament law, and they received a just and severe punishment. As the principle of the issue, he was defying the law of God and the punishment was inviolable. The ones who were being slain here were those who were not of God, but of Satan.

In verse 2, I must point out the word ‘just’. God is just. God’s never done anything unjust in His existence. In every punishment and everything that He ever did was a deterrent to the sin that He wanted to stop. And He only punished those that were already determined to abide without Him, and to defy Him, and He removed them for the sake of those who were pure and holy and wanted to live for Him.

And a question always comes up about the justice of God. His judgment on Israel was severe, and it was severe because they knew better. Let me give you a principle. Punishment is always related to light. The more light you have, the more severe your punishment. And the more you know, the greater the punishment. And the hottest hell belongs to those who rejected the most light.

Thirdly, it’s foolish because of the confirmation of God in verse 3-4, “This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him. At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.” The Lord was the first preacher of the gospel, right?

In Luke 4:16-21 it says, “Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because God has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

Jesus himself was the first preacher of the gospel. “And it was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.” Now remember, that these Jews who are believing Jews and who have heard the gospel didn’t hear it from Christ himself. They were the second generation. They had heard it from apostolic missionaries. The Lord preached it first, but it was confirmed to us by them that heard Him.

But in verse 4 it says, “At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.” When Jesus preached the gospel, He also did things that made it believable. He said, “If you can’t believe what I say, believe it for the works sake.” Jesus did miracles, and then preached to confirm His word.

Jesus said, “I’m speaking God’s truth,” and then He went over and healed somebody that was blind. Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:22 was, “This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through Him. Do you know that the same things that Peter talks about are the same confirming signs for the second generation preachers?

Now the words, signs, wonders, and miracles are really synonyms. They’re referring to all these marvelous supernatural things that these apostles did. But then one other thing, not only did they confirm the Word with signs, and wonders, and miracles, and we’ll make mention of that again, but also by gifts of the Holy Spirit. Do you see it there in verse 4? Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Now watch this conclusion, “according to His will.” What were the gifts of the Holy Spirit? 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 lists all the gifts. Now 2 Corinthians 12:12 says, “The signs of an apostle were performed with unfailing endurance among you, including signs and wonders and miracles.” These belonged to the apostolic age. They’re not for today. They were for confirming the Word.

And that these gifts all have ceased with the apostolic era. They have no need to exist today, because there is no need to confirm the Word. You don’t need a miracle, you need to match him up with the Word, right? When that which is perfect has come, then that which is partial is passed away. These miraculous gifts were part of the credentials of the apostles. And they necessarily passed away with it. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Jul 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240707 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000237 imblog

Hebrews 1:6-14

In Hebrews 1, we read a great testimony of Jesus Christ. And that means a complete understanding of the very nature of the Child that was born in Bethlehem. We are given information that tells us about the earthly parents of Jesus, Joseph and mother Mary, His actual Father being God the Holy Spirit. And we’re introduced to the forerunner of Jesus, John who will announce His arrival.

And we are introduced to the angel Gabriel, and to a host of angels who celebrate the birth of Christ and announced His birth to shepherds out in the field. We have seen the history of the birth of Christ unfold on earth. And Hebrews 1, is what amounts really to be a heavenly commentary. Look at the birth of Christ more deeply in terms of who Jesus Christ is, the identity of Jesus, the Son of God.

And we’ve gone through the first three verses, in which God’s Son is introduced to us, in verse 2, as the One who has been appointed heir of all things; the One through whom God made the universe; the One who is the brightness of God’s glory, who is the exact reproduction of God’s person; the One who upholds all things by the word of His power as the Sustainer of His creation.

Jesus is the One who by Himself purged our sins, and He did that by dying on the cross and rising again. And He sits now on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Now, all of that defined the nature of Christ as God. But there’s one other element to this definition of Christ. It would be very important for us to understand, and it really is the main theme in this chapter.

As wondrous as it is to identify Jesus Christ, the child born in Bethlehem, as the Heir of all things, as the one who made the world, as the brightness of the glory of God, the exact reproduction of His person, as the Sustainer of the universe, as the One who purged our sins and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, there is one other remaining question which would exist in the mind of a Jew.

And the culmination of that sentence is this, “having become so much better than the angels.” If you go any higher than angels, You are God. There are no other created beings than angels and humans, and they would have seen angels as higher than they, because angels dwelt in the presence of God. And so, the Jews saw angels as the loftiest of all of God’s creation.

In fact, to be above angels would be to be equal with God, and that’s precisely the point the writer of Hebrews wants to make. And so, He wants to place Christ in the right location, as it were, in terms of the thinking of people, namely the Jewish people. And so, he says, “This One, who is the Son of God, is better than the angels.” Not just better, but so much better than angels.

Angels are wonderful beings created by God. They were there before the creation. They might have been created just prior to God actually creating the material universe. They must have been soon before the material universe, because they occupy the heavens which God created in Genesis 1. They, according to Job could be defined as the morning stars who sang together at the creation.

Now, holy angels were used by God in many ways. You find throughout Old Testament history that sometimes the angel of the Lord appears. You remember that there was a wrestling with an angel from the Lord indicated in Genesis. The angels of the Lord served the divine purpose of caring for the nation Israel on some occasions. An angel was sent from God to assist the prophet Daniel.

You remember the angels were seen by Isaiah on the occasion that He was given a vision of the glory of God, and the cherubim came out, the angels who apparently guard the holiness of God and said, “Holy, holy, holy.” It’s very likely that in the vision of Ezekiel he was allowed to see some angelic being described there who are very parallel to angelic beings being described in Revelation.

So, angels were viewed as spirits who were righteous and holy and dwelled in the presence of God to serve God. No more important duty ever given to angels, from a Jewish viewpoint, than the responsibility to aid God in disseminating His holy Law, which they came to know as the Mosaic covenant or the Old Testament. Angels were the agents by which God was assisted in dispensing His Law.

You look at the cross, and you see the humanity. But as we look at Hebrews, we want to balance that out and see who it was that was there. It was One who was much better than the angels, though, as Hebrews 2 says, “for a little while He was made lower than the angels.” But in His nature, in His person, His character, His essence, He was so much better than angels because He was God.

Now, this is a very important point to make with Jewish people who have great reverence and respect for angels. And so, the writer patiently gives us five ways in which He shows the superiority of Jesus over the angels. First of all by virtue of His name. Verse 4 says, “He is so much better than the angels because He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

Verse 5, “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’? And again, ‘I will be to Him a Father and He shall be to Me a Son’?” Answer? None. Because it is a designation of essential nature. To say that Jesus is the Son of God who is the Father is to say that they share the same essence, and they share the same nature, they are identical.

Furthermore, the Jews understood that the son had the right to all that the father possessed. They understood family. Families went back a long way. They could trace their genealogy. You see them unfold in the Bible as the Bible opens immediately into the scriptures in Genesis. Genealogies appear and are passing down inheritances from generation to generation.

Imagine with all the divorce and all the illegitimate children and all the chaos that’s going on trying to pass down anything to a succeeding generation. But in ancient times, that’s how life was lived. People made commitments to marriage within the framework of longstanding families. And generation after generation they shared the same possessions, inheriting what belonged to the fathers.

When Jesus came along and said He was the Son of God, the Jews interpreted that to mean that He shared the same nature with God. They said that Jesus was blaspheming because He was claiming to be God. Therefore they accused Him of the severest kind of blasphemy and a violation of the first commandment which is to have no other God but the true and living God.

But Jesus is the Son of God, and He is thus given the name Son which is a name that expresses His eternal generation from the Father. There never was a time when the Father brought the Son into existence. The Son is as eternal as the Father. There never was a moment in all of eternity when the Son did not exist, but the Father/Son terminology is used to express a shared nature.

They both share the same divine, essential nature, and the right to the same inheritance, that is to possess all that exists in the entire created universe, be it material or immaterial. Secondly, the writer of Hebrews wants it clear that Jesus is superior to angels on the basis of His rank, not just His name. He says that the word “firstborn,” prōtotokos is not a word of chronology; it’s a word of preeminence.

It really could be translated the premier One, the prominent One, the highest-ranking One, the preeminent One. It wouldn’t be necessary to identify the Son of God with a number, because there aren’t any more. The firstborn is not a numeric term; it is not a chronological term that indicates some kind of sequence in birth. It is a term meaning preeminence. And that indicates the rank of Jesus.

In Colossians 1:15, it says this, “He is the image of the invisible God; He is the prōtotokos, the preeminent One over all creation.” So, it’s simply identifying His rank. And to prove that, there are seven quotes from Old Testament passages here. And here it is, verse 6, taken from Psalm 89, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” He is the premier one over all creation.

There is to be no worship offered to any created being. All worship is to be offered only to God. This, therefore, again establishes that He is God. This “Let all the angels” actually comes from Deuteronomy 32, the point here being the angels are commanded to worship God. That’s their primary function, to worship God. And part of that worship, obviously, is to serve God.

Now, there’s a third identity here to show the superiority of Jesus to angels which equates Him with God. First His name, second His rank, and thirdly His nature. Verse 7, “And about the angels he says: He makes His angels winds, and his servants a fiery flame.” This is a quote out of Psalm 104. But here it says that angels are spirits. They are immaterial spirits. They are created.

God created angels as spirits. They are seen sort of metaphorically as a flame of fire. Notice the contrast in verse 8, “But to the Son, ‘Your throne, God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.” That’s the distinction in nature. The Son of God sits on a throne that is eternal forever. That’s the first distinct difference in the nature of angels and Christ.

Verse 9, “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this is why God, your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy beyond your companions.” That’s a statement drawn from Psalm 45 and Isaiah 61. It is characteristic of the Son who is God that He loves righteous and hates lawlessness, which are two sides of the same holiness. We know that that is not the case with created spirits.

Lucifer, Son of the Morning, anointed cherub, one of the originally created angels, chose to hate righteousness and love lawlessness. And he was able to lead a rebellion including one-third of all the angels who joined him in his mutiny against God. Angels initially had the capacity to sin, and some did and were cast out of heaven. They constitute the demons who serve the purposes of Satan today.

But the eternal God forever loves righteousness and hates lawlessness. And because of a difference in nature and a difference in character, angels could make the choice to love lawlessness and hate righteousness, but the Son could not. There is a great difference in essential nature. And verse 9 concludes, “Therefore God anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”

Number four, verse 10 says, “And: In the beginning, Lord, you established the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.” God views the Son as the Creator who was here before there was anything created. John 1:1 says, “Everything that was made was made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” This testimony here comes from Psalm 102.

Verse 11-12 says, “They will perish, but You remain. They will all grow old like clothing: 12 You will roll them up like a cloak, and they will be changed like clothing. But You are the same, and your years will never end.” Angels could change, and some did; He cannot change. The creation will dissolve. The heavens and the earth will be uncreated, but God will never change.

Jesus is God by virtue of His name, by virtue of His rank, by virtue of His nature, by virtue of His eternality, and finally by virtue of His destiny. In verse 13, the writer of Hebrews says, “Now to which of the angels has God ever said, “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” To what angel did God ever grant ultimate eternal sovereignty? Answer? None.

The destiny of Christ is to rule all in heaven. Every knee in heaven and earth and under the earth is going to bow to Him. All His enemies are going to come under Him. You see that unfold in the rest of the New Testament, particularly in Revelation, where He finally subjects all His enemies to Himself. Jesus takes His seat as King of kings and Lord of lords. We now want to talk about how angels minister to us.

According to Matthew 18, Jesus uses His angels to care for His own. We don’t see them, but God dispatches His angels for the protection and the care of His people. It’s talking about these angels being ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit the full future inheritance of our salvation, which indicates the glory of heaven where the Son will reign over us.

Furthermore, the apostle Paul said that when we go to heaven and are made like Jesus Christ, we will become joint heirs with Him. And therefore, we will inherit all that He possesses. Not only that, repeatedly in the New Testament, it tells us that we will reign with Him. We will receive crowns, and we will reign with Him. We will sit with Him on the Father’s throne it says in Revelation.

This is the saga of redemption, as God plans a redeemed humanity to be given as a bride to His Son. That redeemed humanity then reflects His glory, becomes a joint heir of all that He possesses, and forever worships and honors the Son, to be served by the angels in eternity. Their destiny is service. His destiny is sovereignty. So, the angels look prominent, but Jesus is so much better then they. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Jun 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240630 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000236 imblog

Hebrews 1:4-6

Hebrews is written to primarily Jewish believers, but also to Jewish unbelievers to convince them that the New Testament is better than the Old Testament. That Jesus Christ is the better priest, and the better mediator, and that He is the final priest and the final sacrifice at the same time. So all throughout this book, we have a comparison between Jesus Christ and everybody else.

In our first message dealing with the first three verses, we saw that Jesus Christ is superior to everything and everybody. Then, learning to see what is meant with everybody we come to verses 4-14. Here the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus Christ is superior to angels. Now, man is a wonderful and an amazing creation. But above man there is another created group even higher than man.

And that created group are the angels. And Hebrews 2:9, indicates to us that angels are higher than humans, for it says that when Jesus became a man, He was a made a little lower than the angels. And after the fall of a portion of the angels, they were no longer subject to sin. They are holy, they are powerful, and they are wise. They do not suffer the infirmities that men suffer with.

And so, they are specially created spirit beings, made by God before men were ever created. They were in the heavens, watching, when God was doing the creating, when He was making the universe, and they were made higher than fallen men. Now, I want to give you a brief theological look at angels. Now, angels are spirit beings, and Jesus said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones.

But they do have some sort of a body. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 that there are bodies terrestrial, and there are bodies celestial; so there are bodies of the earth, and there are bodies of the heavens. They are even capable of appearing in a human form. Hebrews 13:2 says, “Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.”

They also appear in Matthew 28:3- 4 to have a form. Speaking of an angel, at Christ’s resurrection, the one who was there when the stone was rolled away, it says, “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.” They appeared in a dazzling kind of brilliant, blazing glory.

Now, so when we say that angels are spirits, we do not necessarily mean that they have no form. They have a form that is celestial, and can manifest itself as a human, or in another way. In the Old Testament, we even have the saints wrestling with angels. Now, angels were all created simultaneously. According to Colossians 1:16-17, we believe that angels are unable to procreate.

God made them all uniquely as single identities; they do not cohabitate. Matthew 22:30 indicates that to us. The number of angels has not changed one angel since they were originally created. Though a great number of them have fallen, they still exist as they were created. They are not subject to death. Scripture nowhere indicates that they die. They do not decrease, and they do not increase.

There are 108 references in the Old Testament to angels, and 165 in the New Testament, so angels exist, and that the Old Testament saints were well aware of it. Now, angels render intelligent worship to God and service to God; that’s why they were created. Angels are intelligent. They are also emotional. The Bible talks about angels rejoicing when sinners are saved.

Angels can even speak, according to Galatians 1:8, where the apostle Paul says, “Though we, or an angel of heaven, preach any other gospel unto you.” Angels also, according to Daniel 9:21, have incredible speed. Sometimes they are pictured with as many as six wings. Now, according to Mark 13:32, and to Jude 6, they have a special abode in the heavens. They dwell in all of the heavens.

And we know in the Bible that the heaven where God lives is called the third heaven. The second heaven is the spatial infinite heavens, and the first heaven is that just about the earth. They dwell in all of those heavens. People say, “Are there beings in other parts of the universe?” All over the universe, but not with little things out of their head, flying around in little spaceships.

There are angelic beings inhabiting the universe. There are trillions and trillions of them. And even after numberless hosts of them fell with Satan, there are still numberless holy angels left. In Daniel 7:10 he said, “Thousands upon thousands served Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.” In Revelation 5:11 it says, “The number of them was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands.”

“How many are there?” There are exactly enough to get the work done. There is not one angel not working. They are more powerful than men, and men must call on divine power to deal with them, especially fallen ones. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6 to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against fallen angels.

They are highly organized, and they are divided into ranks. Some of them are thrones, some of them are dominions, some of them principalities, some of them powers, and some of them are called authorities. There are cherubims, seraphims, and living creatures. Some have names: Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel. Michael is the head of the armies of heaven, and Gabriel is called the mighty one.

They ministered to Christ in His humiliation. Remember, at the conclusion of His temptation, the Bible says, “and angels came and ministered unto Him.” They ministered to the saved. How? The Bible says that they watch the church, and they watch the preacher. They also aid the church by answering prayers, delivering from danger, encouraging Christians, and protecting children.

Now, that is a biblical look at angels. The Jewish people at the time that this Epistle was written had a different view. As many of their views had begun to wander from the basic Old Testament context, because of all the Talmudic writings and the rabbinical feelings and ideas. And so when the writer of Hebrews is writing, He is writing against the Jewish common concept of angels.

The Jews did believe that they were important to the Old Testament. And they had always esteemed angels as the highest beings next to God. They believed that angels were the mediators between men and God. They believed that God lived surrounded by angels. They believed that angels were really the instruments in bringing God’s word and the working of God’s will in the universe.

They believed that angels were created. They believed that they did not eat and drink, and they also believed that they did not have little angels. They believed that angels were God’s senate, and that God never did anything without asking the angels. They were His council. And they believed that when Genesis says, “Let us make man,” that the one God was speaking of His angelic senate in the word us.

They believed there were seven angels, who stayed in the presence of God at all times. And they named them Raphael, Uriel, Thanuel, Gabriel, Michael - and the el is a name of God. They believed that there were 200 angels who controlled the movements of the stars and kept things on course. And they believed that there was one super-special angel who controlled the days, months, and years.

They believed that there was a mighty angel who took care of the seas. They believed there were angels of rain, snow, hail, thunder, and lightning. There were also angels who were the wardens of Hell and the torturers of the damned. They believed also that there were recording angels, who wrote down every single word every person spoke. They also believed that there was an angel of death.

They believed that every nation had a guardian angel, as well as every child, and there were so many angels that one rabbi said, and I quote, “Every blade of grass has its angel.” So, they believed in angels. Now, I’ve given you a backdrop, both scripturally and in the mind of the Jewish people, as to their concept and understanding of angels. They believed that they mediated between God and men.

The Jews also knew believed that the Old Testament was brought to them from God by angels. And this, above everything else, exalted the angels in the mind of the Jews, the children of Israel. They believed that the angels were the mediators of their covenant with God; that angels kept the administration running between them and God, all the time, and so they had a lofty view of angels.

Some of them believed in angels such that they actually worshipped angels. This developed into a heresy known as Gnosticism. And Gnosticism reduced Jesus Christ to an angel. In Colossians 2:18, Paul says, “Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind.”

Now, if the writer of Hebrews, is to present to the Jews that Christ is the mediator of a better covenant, then he will have to show that Christ is better than angels. Do you see that? And that becomes his whole purpose from verse 4 to 14. He must show that Christ, is the bearer of the New Testament in His blood, one sacrifice, one priest, believing in Him by faith, receiving Him as your Savior.

From now through verse 14 is the sermon itself. That’s the proposition that he seeks to prove. “So He became superior to the angels.” Who is He? Jesus Christ, who is the subject of verses 1-3. And then he goes on from there, to show all of the proofs, and all of the reasons, all from the Old Testament, that Christ is better than angels. Now, I want to point out one thing that has caused problems.

A lot of cults, and a lot of other religious organizations, at this point deny that deity of Christ, and they very often come to this passage to prove that Christ was not God, but that He was a created being. And they start in verse 4, with the statement, “Being made superior to the angels.” And they say, “See? Christ was made. But the word there is not poieō, to create; it is ginomai, to become.

Jesus Christ became better than the angels in His exaltation - inferring at one time that He had been lower than the angels, and that’s exactly what it says in Hebrews 2:9. It’s talking here about Christ as the Son. He was made lower than angels, but because of His faithfulness, obedience, and the work He accomplished as a Son, He was exalted back up above angels, where He was before.

These are the points of the sermon of the Holy Spirit, of Becoming so much better than the angels. First, His title was better, verse 4, “Becoming is so much better than the angels, just as the name He inherited is more excellent than theirs. Verse 5, “For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my Son; today I have become your Father, or again, I will be his Father, and He will be my Son?”

To no angel did God ever say that. The angels are ministers and messengers, Christ is the Son. The angels are servants, Christ is a Son. Now, in our culture we don’t put a lot of stock in names. But in the word of God, God has chosen specific names that have to do with character, or have to do with some aspect of the individual’s life. And frequently, the outward name spoke of an inward reality.

And so, says the writer of Hebrews to the Jews from their own Old Testament, Jesus Christ is greater than angels, because He has obtained a greater name. God never called any angel Son. Secondly, He is greater because of verse 6, “Again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all God’s angels worship Him.” And if angels are to worship Him, then He must be greater than they.

And because He’s greater than they, His covenant is greater than the one they brought. Christianity is greater than Judaism. Now, that’s also a quote from Psalm 97:7. The Jews should not be surprised at this. It comes right out of their own text. Didn’t angels always worship Him? Yes, they did. They worshipped Him as God. But they are now to worship Him as Son. He’s showing that this Son, is higher than angels.

But it says that Jesus was the firstborn from the dead. You know what it means? He was the chief one of all who had ever been raised. It can’t mean time, or that verse would be a lie. Prōtotokos means He is the main one. He is the most honored one, the most dignified one, the highest one, the most powerful one; that in resurrection, of all those who are resurrected, He is the greatest.

Please notice the word again in verse 6. “And when again He brings His firstborn into the world.” When is the again going to happen? Second coming. Do you know that right now, angels didn’t understand the whole picture well enough to give Him full worship? They were looking to see the things until our time, when Christ had come, the gospel took place, and the Holy Spirit preached.

And so, it is at the second coming that He is revealed in full glory as Son, as prōtotokos. And even angels will see it all then, when they see Him come as King of kings and Lord of lords. So, He is greater than angels, because God commands angels to worship Him. And, if God, in the Old Testament, commanded the angels to worship His Son, then His Son must be God. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Jun 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240623 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000235 imblog

Hebrews 1:1-3

Luke 2:10-11, “But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” And then, the angelic hosts declare glory to God. Angels were the heavenly messengers sent to declare that the Savior had arrived, and that He was Christ.

The Old Testament promised a Savior, a Redeemer, a Deliverer, a Servant of the Lord, Messiah, the Anointed One. When Christ arrives, the Anointed One has arrived. Now in the Old Testament there were three particular people who were anointed for unique service in the kingdom. Oil was poured on their heads as a symbol of they are being set apart to God. First it was the prophets.

We see this in 1 Kings 19:16 where Elijah is told to anoint his successor the prophet Elisha. In 1 Chronicles 16:22 it says, “Do not touch My anointed, and do My prophets no harm.” The second group were priests. In Exodus 29 you have Aaron and those who were in the Aaronic priesthood, instructed to be anointed. In Exodus 40:15 the sons of Aaron were to be anointed again as priests to God.

And the third group was that of the king. First Samuel 10:1 says that Saul, the first king, was anointed. First Samuel 16 says David was anointed. And again, this symbolizes the outpouring of heavenly blessing on one who is called to uniquely heavenly tasks. The promise of God in the Old Testament was that there would come the ultimate Prophet, the ultimate Priest, and the ultimate King.

The Messiah would be all three. According to Deuteronomy 18, He would be a prophet like Moses. According to Psalm 1:10, He would be a unique priest, and that’s repeated again in Zechariah 6. According to Psalm 2, and then again in 2 Samuel 7, He would be King. He would be the King in David’s line. Psalm 2 says He would rule all the nations of the world.

The announcement of the angels that this is Christ, “This is the Promised Anointed One who is the ultimate Prophet, the ultimate Priest, and the ultimate King. And, from Genesis 3 where God pronounces curses on man and woman and the serpent, we are told that there would come one who would crush the serpent’s head as you are waiting for the arrival of this all-powerful Prophet, Priest, and King.

And when the fullness of time came, He was born. This was the most monumental day in Israel’s history since the promises of the Old Testament were finally wrapped up in the last of the 39 books. They had waited even beyond that for hundreds of years; but now in Bethlehem, the Messiah has arrived, the Prophet, Priest, and King above all prophets, all priests and all kings.

The disciples knew He was the Promised Messiah. He declared that Himself. In John 11:25-26 Jesus says to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.’”

The message of the Lord Himself was that He is the Messiah, and He has arrived to fulfill the promises. This is affirmed by the apostles and the disciples. This becomes the subject of their preaching in the book of Acts. Acts 3:18 says, “The things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.”

Hebrews 1:1-3, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, He has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. 3 The Son is the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.”

Now we know that the natural man cannot understand the things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “They are foolishness to him. The god of this world has blinded his mind, lest the light of the gospel would shine unto Him.” We could not know God if He did not speak; and He did. The true God spoke, not an idol, not an impersonal cause, which means He is a person. And that is why the Bible is called the Word of God.

The Old Testament was in a sense, incomplete. The revelations that compose the 39 books of the Old Testament, separate books, are stretched over a millennium, written by many different authors; and it was progressive, it was incomplete. God was increasing our understanding as revelation continued. No prophet got the full revelation of God, not until we see in verse 2 that God spoke unto us in His Son.

No prophet ever grasped the full truth of God, only Jesus was the full truth revealed. In Him, God did not display some facets of Himself or His truth, but fully revealed Himself. No longer in diverse manners and diverse ways, but singularly through Christ. Look at John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” speaking of the Son of God.

John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Verse 18, “No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—Christ has revealed Him.” In Jesus God is fully revealed, and the New Testament is written about this full revelation.

The four Gospels describe the arrival and the ministry of Jesus. The book of Acts describes the apostolic preaching concerning Jesus. The Epistles lay out the significance of His life and death and resurrection and implications in the world. And the New Testament culminates in the book of Revelation with His glorious return. The New Testament’s all about Jesus Christ.

And the people said they’d never heard a man speak like Jesus spoke. It was clear even to Nicodemus, a teacher in Israel, that Jesus was a teacher sent from God. In fact, He says He only spoke what God wanted Him to speak. In John 5:25 He says, “Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

His words are so powerful they not only created the entire universe, they not only sustained that universe, but they’re so powerful that He will raise all the dead in the end. Verse 26-27, “For just as the Father has life in himself, so also He has granted to the Son to have life in himself. 27 And He has granted Him the right to pass judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”

Verse 28-29, “Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.” Christ speaks, and the dead are taken out of their graves, given a body suited for heaven or a body suited for hell.

In Acts 3:17-20, the apostles say, “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did. 18 In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets—that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

You go to the Old Testament and you see bits and pieces unfold. To Abraham, we find the nation of Messiah. In Jacob, we find the tribe of Messiah. In David and Isaiah, we find the family of Messiah. In Micah, we find the town of Messiah. In Daniel, we find the time of Messiah. In Malachi, we find the forerunner of Messiah. Again in Isaiah, we find the death and resurrection of Messiah.

But each writer only knew in part; and Peter says they looked at what they wrote to see who this really would be. But when Christ arrived, the writer of Hebrews tells us, “He speaks for God.” He wants you to understand that even in a deeper way, and so listen to what the writer says. Hebrews 1:2 says, “He is the heir of all things. He is the one who made the world. He is the radiance of God’s glory.

He is the exact representation of His nature, and Christ upholds all things by the word of His power.” Jesus Christ is the ultimate Prophet. No prophet has ever had words that are as powerful as His. He possesses the right to absolutely everything. In Revelation 5, you see this illustrated when the Lamb of God comes out of the throne and picks up the sealed book, which is the title deed to the universe.

Verse 6-7, “Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll out of the right hand of the one seated on the throne.” And all of heaven bows down to worship Him as He unrolls the title deed to the universe.

Christ is the rightful heir to everything that God possesses. Yes, for a while He was lower than the angels. But He is much better than the angels; He is the King of angels. He is the one who will inherit everything because He created it. With the agency of the Son, God the Father created. “Everything was made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made,”

Colossians 1:16 says He created absolutely everything. He created it all by word. He spoke it into existence. He speaks with such power He could create the universe in six days. He’s the author of all that exists in history. He’s the author of the material world and the immaterial world as well and how it all interacts. He is the Creator of the ages and all that they embody.

Verse 3 says, “He’s the radiance of God’s glory.” He’s the heir of all, He’s the creator of all, because He is the Light of all. 2 Corinthians 4 says, “He is the shining forth of God’s glory.” We see the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus. Just as the radiance of the sun reaches the earth and lights and warms, give life and grows, so Christ is the glorious Light of God shining into the hearts of men.

The writer of Hebrews says, “He’s the exact representation of God’s nature.” He is the authorized exact duplication of God in nature, substance and essence. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells.” Not only that, “He upholds all things by the word of His power.” This is speaking about His power to sustain everything that exists. Everything is held together by the word of His power.

If He has this much power to speak the universe into existence, to uphold the universe until time for it to be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth, if He is the heir of all that God possesses, if He is by nature God Himself, then we can say there is no other who could so speak for God as this one. He directs all the people movements of the ages by the power of His word.

Christ is not only the Prophet who reveals God, but He is the Priest who reconciles to God. Verse 3, “When He had made purification of sins.” This introduces us to His priestly work. That what priests did. They went before God in the prescribed way to offer the necessary sacrifice that God required to pay for the sins of the people. Jesus offered the only sacrifice that could take away sin forever.

Every priest would go back every day and do what he did in the morning again at night, and again the next day. There was never any end to it. But Hebrews wants us to understand there’s never been a priest like this one. Hebrews 2:17 says, “He became a merciful and faithful high priest to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” He offered a sacrifice that satisfied God.

Hebrews 4:14 says, “We have a great high priest, Jesus Christ the Son of God. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, but without sin.” Hebrews 5:5, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but God said to Him, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.”

To the Jews the cross was a stumbling block, and that’s why the apostles had to preach that the Christ, the Messiah, must have suffered. But He came to be the Priest, to offer the ultimate sacrifice, and to be that sacrifice. Peter says, “We’re redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot.”

And thirdly, He is the King. Verse 3, “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Priests never stopped offering sacrifices. It was impossible for them to sit down. Sacrifices in the morning, in the afternoon, day after day, year after year, decade after decade, century after century. But Jesus sat down because He was not just a priest, He was a King.

As Revelation says, He became King of kings and Lord of lords. So the writer of Hebrews introduces us again to the Christ: the Prophet who speaks for God, reveals God; the Priest who reconciles us to God; and the King who reigns with God. Verse 4, “Having become much better than the angels. For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You’re My Son, today I have begotten You’? Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Jun 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240616 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000234 imblog

Hebrews 1:1-2

We’re coming tonight to our first in the series of the book of Hebrews. For in Hebrews, the message is the preeminence of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is superior to everything and everybody. Now, tonight we’re listening to an introduction to Hebrews, and it is really the first three verses. But before we look at those verses, I want to make a few remarks as a foundation for what we’re going to study.

Tonight we’re going to come to one of the most unusual adventures that you’ve ever been through, and that’s the book of Hebrews. It is a difficult book. It is a book that has many deep truths that are hard to understand lest we be diligent and faithful. There are things that are beyond understanding apart from a deep knowledge of the Holy Spirit and a commitment to deeply understand the Word of God.

Dr. Feinberg, who also taught the book of Hebrews said that you cannot understand the book of Hebrews unless you understand Leviticus because the book of Hebrews is based upon the principles of the Levitical priesthood. By the time we get through Hebrews you will have a pretty good grasp on Leviticus along with it. But it might be good if you familiarize yourself with Leviticus.

This epistle was written by an unknown author. Some say Paul or Apollos or Peter. I agree with one of the great teachers of the early church named Origin who said nobody knows. And so all the way through, we will say that it was written by the Holy Spirit. I do not believe it was written by Paul. It was written to a suffering, persecuted group of Jews outside of Israel, somewhere in the east.

There are no references to Gentiles in the book. The problem of Gentile and Jew together in the church is not here, indicating that the little congregation to which he’s writing was strictly Jewish for there was no Gentile conflict. And to this persecuted, suffering group of Jewish believers and unbelievers, he writes to reveal the merits of Jesus Christ and the new covenant as opposed to the old covenant.

Now, we do not know the location of these Hebrews, somewhere near Greece perhaps, but we do know that this Jewish community had been evangelized by the apostles and the prophets. And it had been evangelized fairly early after Christ had lived and died and risen again. And by the time the letter to the Hebrews is written, there already existed a little local congregation of believers.

Included in the same letter are unbelievers who, evidently, are also a part of this little Jewish community. Now, unlike Jerusalem Jews or Galilee Jews, they had never met Jesus. Everything they knew about Him, they got secondhand. They really didn’t even have any New Testament writings, for it hadn’t been put together. The book of Hebrews wasn’t even a part of it yet.

And so whatever they knew, they knew directly from the mouths of the apostles and the New Testament prophets. So they were the second generation Christians as a result of apostolic missionaries. It had to be written sometime after Christ’s ascension, which would have been about 30 A.D., and sometime before the destruction of Jerusalem, which would have been 70 A.D.

Because Jerusalem is still standing at this time in the letter. So it’s got to be written between 30 and 70 A.D. It’s probably somewhere likely about 65 A. D. because there had to be time for the apostolic missionaries to go evangelizing, and we know that there weren’t really any apostolic missionaries from Jerusalem until at least seven years after the church had been founded there.

And after they had been reached, they had to have a certain amount of time to grow spiritually because in Hebrews 5:12, the Holy Spirit says to them, “For when for the time as long as it’s been, you ought to be teachers. You have need that One teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God.” In other words, he says, “You’ve had enough time to be mature but instead you’re not.”

Here is the critical basis for understanding Hebrews, especially interpreting Hebrews 6. We must understand that there were three basic types of people throughout this epistle. If you do not understand these three basic types of people, then it becomes very confusing. If, for example, as some have said, it was all written to Christians, because it talks also about unbelievers, so it must be written to a combination.

And indeed there are three basic types in this little Jewish community to which the writer of the epistle writes. Group one, Hebrew Christians, true believers in Jesus Christ. They had come out of Judaism. They were born again. They had received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. And the result of that was a tremendous hostility from their own people. Ostracized from their families, they suffered greatly.

Persecuted not only by their own countrymen, the Jews, but evidently also by Gentiles. They should have been mature, but they weren’t. They were in danger of going back into the patterns of Judaism. Not in danger of losing their salvation but in danger of confusing their salvation with legalism. They couldn’t make a break between the New Testament and all the ceremonies of their Judaism.

And especially when their own countrymen began to persecute them and they felt the pressure of this and to hold to some old Jewish traditions to at least have a foothold on their relationships to their own people. And so with their weak faith and their spiritual ignorance, they were in great danger of mixing the new with the old, creating a ritualistic, ceremonial, legalistic Christianity.

So the Holy Spirit then, directs this letter to them to strengthen their faith in the new covenant to show them that they did not need the old temple, which, in a few years would be wiped out by Titus Vespasian anyway, showing that God brought an end to that whole way of worship. They did not need the day-in-day-out sacrifices. This is all written to give confidence to these floundering believers.

The second group are Hebrew non-Christians who are intellectually convinced. People who know the truth but have never committed themselves to it. Who have heard the truth of Jesus Christ, they’re convinced that Christ is indeed who He claimed to be, but they’re not willing to make a commitment of faith to Him. And so there are some of those Hebrew non-Christians, as there are in every group.

Look at Hebrews 10:26. What is the greatest sin that a man can commit? The sin of rejecting Christ, isn’t it? Look at verse 26. “For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” Verse 27: “but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.” That’s what you can look for.

Verse 29, “How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” Hebrews 12:15 says, “Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.”

The third group is in Hebrews 9:11, “But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands.” Verse 14, “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?”

He is the mediator of the New Testament that by means of death, for the redemption of those that were under the Old Testament. Verse 27-28, “And just as it is appointed for people to die once, and after this, judgment 28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.”

Now, those are messages given to one who is an unbeliever, not to a Christian and not to one who is necessarily convinced intellectually, but to that one who needs to know who Christ really is, and there are many other such illustrations. So the key to interpreting Hebrews, is to understand to which group he is speaking. And if we don’t understand that, then we confuse the issue.

Hebrews is a presentation of Christ, the Messiah, the author of a New Testament, greater than the old one that God had made in the Old Testament. Not that the old one was wrong, it was only incomplete. The theme of this book is the preeminence of Christ. He’s better than the Old Testament persons. He’s better than the Old Testament institutions. He’s better than everything before.

It begins in the first three verses. The superiority of Christ to angels, the superiority of Christ to Moses, the superiority of Christ to Joshua, the superiority of Christ to Aaron, the superiority of Christ to the old covenant, the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice to old sacrifices, the superiority of Christ’s faithful to all faithless, the superiority of Christ’s testimony to the testimony of others.

To the Jew, it had always been a dangerous thing to approach God. And on the great day of atonement, Yom Kippur, which occurred one time a year, at that time alone could the High Priest enter into the holy of holies where God’s presence was. He didn’t stay around a long time. In fact, the Bible says, “He could not linger there lest he put Israel in terror.” So God offered Israel a special relationship with Himself.

He would be their God and they would be his people. They would have a special access to Him if they were obedient to His laws. And to break the law was sin, and sin interrupted access to God, and since there was always sin, this access was always interrupted. So God instituted a system of sacrifices. The whole Levitical priesthood, and all the sacrifices were to atone for sin.

Man sinned which broke the covenant. The sacrifice was made for sin that dropped the barrier so that that relationship could be consummated. They had to sacrifice incessantly, hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year, they never stopped. And the priest were all sinners too, and they had to make sacrifices for their own sins to make sacrifices for the sins of the people.

It was a losing battle to remove the barrier. And what man needed was a perfect priest and a perfect sacrifice who could open the way once and for all. Some kind of a sacrifice that didn’t just deal with one sin, but something that just took it all away at once. They needed a perfect priest to bear that perfect sacrifice. And that, says the writer of Hebrews, is exactly what Jesus was and what He did.

This is the message of the book of Hebrews to the Jewish people. To the believer, He’s saying have confidence in it. To the intellectually convinced, receive it. And to the unbeliever, He says, how much better it is to receive Christ. The writer is saying all your lives, you’ve been looking for the perfect final sacrifice. I present the solution, He is Jesus Christ. This is not easy for Jews to accept.

By clinging to the Messiah, they had been banished from everything they’d ever known. For a Jew is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but one who is one inwardly. So throughout the book of Hebrews, He speaks to these beloved Christians and tells them to put their confidence in the New Testament. Put your confidence in Christ, the mediator of a better covenant, the new great high priest.

And outside of our natural creation is the supernatural, and somewhere down inside of us, we know it’s out there. And whether it’s a cult or whatever, get out of the box, but the problem is you can’t get out. The natural man cannot escape into the supernatural. And every religion is man’s attempt to jump out of the box. There’s only one religion in the world that’s the opposite, and that’s Christianity.

Which says for the Son of man has come to seek and to save. Every religion is man’s attempt to discover God. Christianity is God bursting into man’s world and telling him what He was like. God must invade His world, and so God spoke. And God first spoke through the words of the Old Testament. Now, you know that men didn’t write it. They were used as instruments, but God was the energizing author.

God spoke directly to a man, told him to write, didn’t He? Sometimes in a vision. Sometimes in a parable. Sometimes through a type or a symbol. Now, men were used and their personalities were used and their minds were used, but they were totally controlled by the Spirit of God so that every word they said was the word that God decided that they should say and delighted in them saying.

Some of the Old Testament is history. Some of it is poetry. Some of it is law. Some of it is prophecy. But it is all God speaking. And it was fragmentary in the Old Testament, it was incomplete. It came over 15 hundred years by all those 40-plus writers, all in different bits and pieces, each one with an element of truth and it began to build. And the Old Testament is what we call progressive revelation.

Now, all throughout the New Testament, this is affirmed. 2 Peter 1:21 says, “Because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” And in 2 Timothy 3:16 it says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” So the Old Testament is true and the Old Testament was the progressive preparation for Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Jun 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240609 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000233 imblog

Acts 28:17-31

We’ll be looking at the end of Acts 28:17 - 31. Now, the paragraph that we’re going to look at is the end of Acts in the history of the church. In the beginning the book began when our Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit, and said “You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.” And that was the format for the book of Acts.

The gospel began in Jerusalem, then throughout all Judea, and then to Samaria, and finally to the uttermost part of the earth. Now, at this point, the record ceases, but the story does not end. The story of the church will go on throughout all eternity, for it does not end. In fact, right now in 2024, we are writing the continuation of Acts, as the Spirit of God continues to build the church.

Acts is in a real sense, an unfinished book. It ends without an ending. Verse 30-31 says, “Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house, and he welcomed all who visited him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God, and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, with all boldness, without hindrance.” And there it ends. We don’t know what happened at the end of the two years.

It is the story that has no end. The record just ceases to be written; but the story goes on. Finally, we arrive in the city of Rome. All the way from the three thousand who were saved at Pentecost to those who will believe right here in the last paragraph of Acts 28. We saw the unity of the church as it was born in Acts 2. We saw the fellowship of the church as it was exhibited in the world.

We saw then the reaction of the Jewish leaders and the consequent persecution that broke out, which resulted in the spread of the gospel and the conversion of the apostle Paul. We’ve seen how the church has spread, and finally reached the city of Rome. It is incomplete, in a sense, but enough has been written to reveal the source of power for the church, who is the Holy Spirit.

And now, we come to the last page. The church has spread to Rome, and Paul finally has arrived there, after many years of longing. Now, as we approach verse 17, let’s just give a little bit of a background on what Rome is like when Paul arrives. Verse 16 tells us that he came to Rome. And the saints welcomed him; they met him, and they came out as far as 43 miles from the city to greet him.

Rome was on the way down by this time. The dictators of Rome had usurped the power of the people, and what had begun as a republic was now dead. The emperors had ceased more power, and this emperor Nero was maybe the worst of all. In fact, when Paul arrived, Nero would have probably been 25 years old, but already his hands were bloodied with the murder of his own mother.

Into this melee of depraved and deprived humanity came the apostle Paul, the messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his interest in Rome was not sociological, it was not economic, it was not cultural; it was purely evangelism. He desired to win them to Jesus Christ and to mature the Christians. Now, in the middle of those two million people, this apostle continued to minister in chains.

Verse 17 – 20, “After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18 After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

19 Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; even though I had no charge to bring against my people. 20 For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.” The leaders are not one person; there are many of them. There were anywhere from 7 to 12 synagogues operating in Rome at this time.

Because he was chained he couldn’t go to a synagogue to speak to them, so he had to have them come to him. And it’s interesting that they did come. By now he was a popular person in the Roman world. But he was a very unpopular person in the Jewish world; in about every synagogue he won some people to Jesus Christ, and the word had certainly reached these Jews at Rome.

They were interested in what he had to say about Messiah. He was the one who was going around with all this Messianic information, and certainly the Messianic issue was interesting to them. And so, they were willing to meet with him. Remember in Acts 18, the Jews had been banished from Rome. Apparently under Nero and they were allowed back in, because they’re there.

So, Paul must explain his circumstances as a prisoner. He must show that he is innocent of any charges that have been laid against him by the Jews, and at the same time, he must not alienate his Jewish audience. How? He says: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.”

This is the sixth defense since his arrest in Jerusalem. He had not violated Jewish law, he had not injured the Jewish people. The Jews had accused him of sedition; that he was a reactionary against the Roman government. They accused him of sectarianism by saying that he was a leader of the Nazarenes. They also accused him of sacrilege in that he profaned the temple, therefore blaspheming God.

He was taken before Felix, and found to be innocent. He was then taken before Festus, and found to be innocent. He was then brought before the king, Agrippa, and again found to be innocent. All of the trials that he endured proved his innocence, even the melee in front of the Sanhedrin, which ended up in a fight, because they were split right down the middle. He was innocent.

What he is saying is, “This is a Jewish problem. The Jewish people have sent me here, but in the eyes of the Roman law, as I faced it there, I am innocent.” He says, “Even though I was innocent, the Jews kept the pressure on me. So much so that my only escape was to appeal to Caesar and have this thing transferred to Rome, with the hope that I might get a fair trial.”

Verse 20, “For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.” It was the hope of Israel which got him into all this trouble. The hope of Israel was the Messiah. And with that came the resurrection. And for preaching that Jesus rose from the dead and provided a resurrection that was the real issue that got him into trouble.

The Jews knew that God had promised a Messiah, and that that Messiah would bring the kingdom. In order for the Jews who had already died to share in the kingdom, there would have to be a resurrection. Isaiah 26:19 says, “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.”

So Paul says in Acts 28:20, the reason that I am in chains is because I have been declaring that the Messiah has arrived, He has risen from the dead, and the resurrection has been provided for. Repeatedly Paul refers to the chains that he had, which bound him to a Roman guard for a two-year period. What Paul prayed for was a basic openness, a willing ear from these Jews to begin with - and it came.

Verse 21-22, “Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you. 22 But we want to hear what your views are, since we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.” All we hear are bad things about his Christianity; so please go ahead and defend it.

The Roman government looked very harshly on somebody who prosecuted a case without strong evidence. So it would have been difficult to prosecute Paul, who was a Roman citizen. And then, there was favorable information from Festus and Felix; there was no way the Jews were going to come to Rome. There was no way they were going to make a stand against this man.

They actually knew all about Christianity. The church had already been established in Rome. They were playing a little diplomacy here. Paul then proceeds to give them the gospel and an invitation. All the Jewish leaders gather to hear him speak. This is kind of a fulfillment of Romans 1:14, “I am debtor to the Greeks, and the Barbarians; to the wise, and to the unwise.”

Verse 23, “After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.” Paul wanted to get a hearing with all the leadership that Jesus is the Messiah. And the persuasion he used was Old Testament prophecy, the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus told them the kingdom was theirs, if they would accept the King. And Jesus authenticated the kingdom by signs and wonders. Look at the response in verse 24-25, “Some believed the things he said, but others did not believe. 25 Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah.”

There never was that national acceptance. There was always only the small remnant that believed. This is called inversion which means reversal. The gospel came to the Jew first, but tragically, it is reversed right here. The Spirit of God speaks for the fourth time a prophecy from Isaiah beginning in verse 25 – 29, “Go to these people and say, you will always be listening, but never understanding;

And you will always be looking, but never perceiving. 27 For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. 28 therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

Acts is the story of God’s final striving with the Hebrew people. From the time that God called Abraham and founded the nation, He has been striving with Israel. Throughout all of the Old Testament, Israel failed to live up to the information and the revelation that they had. They grieved the heart of God, they wounded His heart, and judgment after judgment after judgment came.

Then, Christ came first to Israel. Then, at the day of Pentecost, when the church was born, the Spirit of God was sent to the midst of Israel. As the church scattered, the apostle Paul went into town, and he went first to Israel, into the synagogues. And finally, now we come to Rome. It was only 10 years later that the Roman eagles stormed into Jerusalem, and destroyed Judaism for good.

What we have today that is called Judaism is only a faint shadow of what Judaism was. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. This is the last solemn, biblical warning to Israel. This is the last time God ever went to the Jew first. Now, the words that Paul quotes in this passage are taken from Isaiah 6. Our Lord Jesus spoke them in Matthew 13, showing the kingdom would be taken from Israel.

Jesus came into the world, born of a virgin, God incarnate, lived in humility among men at Nazareth. After 30 years, He announced to Israel that He was God, Messiah, the living Christ, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, and all of these titles are given to Him in the gospel of John. He substantiated all those claims by miracles. And what was the response of Israel?

They doubted Him, they denied Him, they rejected Him, and finally, they wanted Him dead, and they executed Him. And here’s the sovereign side: “In order that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, ‘Lord, who has believed our report? To whom the arm of the Lord been bared?’” The Jews didn’t believe. Therefore they could not believe.

In other words, the Gentile is the wild olive tree grafted into the trunk of God’s blessing; the Jews are the ones cut off. But Israel will be re-grafted in if they believe. “For God is able to graft them in again. Blindness in part has happened to Israel, only until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved.” Listen, God will graft in Israel again. He’s not ultimately through with them.

Paul wrote the book of Colossians, he wrote the book of Philemon, he wrote the book of Ephesians, and he wrote the book of Philippians. In Colossians, he tells them that Aristarchus is with him, Luke is with him, Mark is with him, Justus is with him, Epaphras is with him, Demas is with him. He was having a terrific time. In Philippians, he tells about the salvation that’s going on.

In his final imprisonment, he wrote 1-2 Timothy and Titus. Probably about four years later, and on the road to Ostia, he was finally beheaded. For two whole years he preached, verse 30 – 31, Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 May 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240512 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000232 imblog

Acts 28:1-16

This is a climactic passage. For a long time, we’ve seen Paul trying to get to Rome. And, finally, he is going to arrive. It’s hard to imagine the reaction of Paul at this point. God is in the business of fulfilling desires. And the world is really in the business of messing up everybody’s dreams. Solomon had it right in the Ecclesiastes when he said, “Man looks out on everything and all is vanity.”

But God plants desires in the heart of those who fear Him and meets those desires and fulfills them. And we see that in this passage. Now in Acts 27 we saw all the qualities of a faithful leader. Here we’re going to see the blessing of a faithful God on a faithful leader. Here are some of the things that God did in blessing a man who feared Him, and blessing a man who was faithful.

So the trip to Rome is a rich narrative because it gives us principles of leadership but it also gives us the principles upon which God blesses faithful leadership. So we come to what happens from Malta to Rome. The journey has already lasted 2-1/2 months. For 14 days they have fought the wind and the sea against this hurricane. But God has somehow controlled the hurricane.

God allowed it to drive them to Malta. The centurion, Julius, prevented the soldiers from killing all the prisoners on the ship that was breaking up. Some dove into the water, some swam through the surf and others were hanging to boards, but all of them made it to shore. And everything that God said came to pass. So the credibility of Paul and the God he claimed was ruling in the world was high.

Everyone on the island was soaking wet in a torrential rain, just having managed to escape with their lives through the surf. The wind is blowing, in that kind of a situation, there they are, beached on a place that they can’t even identify. The first thing we see is the pagan hospitality. And we’ll go through the narrative and then come back to the points on God’s blessing of a faithful man.

One great virtue of Christianity is hospitality. Hospitality is to be the characteristic of a godly person, according to 1st Timothy and Titus. But beyond that, hospitality is to be characteristic of all Christians, according to 1st Peter 4:9. Christians are to extend themselves in kindness toward strangers. Our homes are to be open. Our lives are to be available to meet the needs of strangers.

Matthew 10:40-42 says, “The one who welcomes you welcomes Me, and the one who welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. 41 And anyone who welcomes a righteous person because he’s righteous will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”

When you go out and preach to reach people, their hospitality toward you is going to result in the blessing of God. God has always put a high price on hospitality; on kindness, on gentleness and goodness toward strangers, and this is to be part of the Christian’s life and testimony. A lack of hospitality results in treating people as if they were Gentiles, which was the worst thing for a Jew.

Well, when you really look at hospitality, we are often out-done by the world. Now in Acts 28 notice that hospitality here is characteristic of these pagans. Verse 1, “Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta.” They didn’t recognize it when they arrived because this was not the normal port called Valletta. Malta is not large, only 17 miles long and 10 miles wide.

Verse 2, “The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.” It’s early November and it’s bitter cold, and to be soaking wet and exposed to the wind. Now when you’re going to make a fire for 276 people to get them warm that’s some kind of fire, so they had a real bonfire. So these Maltese welcomed all these cold, exhausted visitors.

In Genesis 12 you have the first statement where God says Abraham is going to be the father of a great nation and then he says “I will bless them that bless you and I will curse them that curses you.” How the world treats the people of God is a primary concern in God’s mind. God always notes the kindness of the pagan world toward his own and in turn God blesses them too.

And one of the reasons so many wonderful things happened here at Malta was because of those people being so kind to those strangers. It says in verse 2 that they “showed us extraordinary kindness.” What it means is it was beyond normal kindness. We talk a lot about the depravity of man. But even within a pagan culture, there is something in mankind that makes them do kind deeds.

Some of the greatest philanthropists in the world have been non-Christians. Romans 2:14, 15 says, “So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them.”

The activity of the people on Malta is an illustration of the internal revelation of God to the pagan. Even the individual without a knowledge of Jesus Christ, which says to love your neighbor as yourself, even a person without all of that has a sense within them to do what is right in a time of stress. They get it because the Law of God is written in their hearts. Their conscience bears witness.

Now this is one of the great proofs of the inward knowledge of right, meaning that God has revealed himself to men. People always say, what about the heathen? How will they know? How will they tell? Because God has written his law in their hearts. They have a sense of morality. They have a sense of kindness and love that is granted to them by God. They have a sense of right and wrong.

Verse 3, “As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.” And by now his credibility is established. But when it comes time to gather the sticks he doesn’t start giving orders to 275 others, he just goes and gets the sticks himself. True spiritual leadership, does exactly what it expects of other people.

Paul always sacrificed. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” Humility is absolute to true spiritual leadership. In the ultimate fulfillment he says to them, “You do what I have done to you.” In other words, you lead with a servant mentality. You stoop to meet the needs of each other. Unfortunately, one of the sticks was alive.

Verse 4, “When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.” It seems strange that all of a sudden he would die here bitten by a snake when he’s just managed to be protected from 14 days of a hurricane. There’s their theology, he’s a murderer.

Verse 5, “But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.” These pagans have a sense of justice and a sense that sin gets punished. This is a sense of morality. Now this is that which God has planted in a man’s heart. Now notice the contrast. One is a sense of goodness. The other is a sense of evil. Goodness has its consequences, evil also has its consequences.

Well, that kind of calmness is conspicuous. Usually such a snake bite would create panic and a person would be flailing around in horror. It says he felt no harm; flicked the snake off. Did you know this is a fulfillment of prophecy? Luke 10:19 says, “I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing at all will harm you.”

Now remember that this is not for today. You drink a bottle of poison you have no guarantees except that you’ll be dead. And if you play with poisonous snakes you cannot claim Mark 16:18. Remember that the same people who want to claim that the speaking with a new language was just for the apostles aren't anxious to claim the drinking of poison or the playing with poisonous snakes.

This was purely for the apostolic era. God used miracles to confirm his apostles and to confirm their divine source and to confirm their word. Verse 6, “They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.” Paul didn't like to be thought of as God.

Verse 7, “Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.” Here is the person who is in charge of Malta. He lived in that vicinity and had a very large estate. Two hundred and seventy-six people he put up for three days. Now that’s a generous gesture.

Verse 8, “Publius’s father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.” Paul did two things. He prayed and he laid his hands on him. Why did he pray? Because all power is from God. Why did he lay his hands on him? Because he wanted him to see that it was through him that God moved in power.

So if Paul healed, Paul also preached. And tradition tells us that he founded in these days the church at Malta. And tradition also tells us that the first pastor of the Maltese church Christians was Publius. Now these were days, when everything that Paul had been saying about God was coming to pass and he was beginning to preach the gospel and it must have been a time of believing response.

Verse 9-10, “After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. 10 So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed.” Because God was showing his kindness to those who had been kind to his people. God was establishing the credibility of Paul as his minister. Paul had three months to follow up with the gospel.

Verse 11, “After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, with the Twin Gods as its figurehead.” These were the twins called Gemini in the Constellation. They were the patrons of navigation. Verse 12, “Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed three days.” Tradition says that Paul founded a church there too. And Sicily is an island about 90 miles away from Malta.

Verse 13, “From there, after making a circuit along the coast, we reached Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and the second day we came to Puteoli.” Puteoli is the port in the Bay of Naples. Today it’s called Pozzuoli. And it is a chief port in the old days for the grain fleet; 145 miles southwest of Rome, the ships would come in there as well as at Austria and transport across the land.

Verse 14, “There we found brothers and sisters and were invited to stay a week with them. And so we came to Rome.” There was a large Jewish community in Puteoli. It was a trade center like Corinth or Ephesus and it would be occupied by Jews who were there for the trade business. And they found some Christians there and they had a terrific time for 7 days with a Christian.

And Paul was just 145 miles from Rome and here was a group of Christians. Now they would have had to go from Puteoli on the famous Appian Way. Verse 15, “Now the brothers and sisters from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.”

Paul was thrilled at this reception. It had been three years since he wrote the Roman letter. Three years since he said I want to come to you on minister to you and impart a spiritual gift and mutually be comforted by you. Verse 16, “When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him.” He had his own house and his own guard was chained to him.

God says, “I will fulfill the desire of all them that fear Me.” Now look what God does with this man. Just six things. God surrounds him with kindness. In Acts 27:2 - 3 when they left Caesarea he arrives in Sidon and immediately he is refreshed there and ministered to by the Christians. God ministered to his needs. When he was sick in Sidon, he was ministered to medically.

God encouraged him over and over. In Acts 27 when the ship was being torn up in the hurricane God came and sent an angel to him and the angel said don’t worry Paul, you're going to make it to Rome and everybody is going to make it with you. God protects him from harm. God saved him in a hurricane. God saved him in a shipwreck and God saved him from a snake bite.

God blessed his influence. He had such an influence on the ship that some of them came to know Jesus Christ. And a church was begun there. God fulfilled his desire. He wanted to get to Rome, he got to Rome. We see a faithful man exhibiting all the qualities of a faithful leader and in return we see God giving all the blessing. Because God is a faithful God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 May 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240505 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000231 imblog

Acts 27

There are principles that apply to leadership in so many areas of life. All of us, to one degree or another, are engaged in leading in some way. There is a crisis of leadership in the world. We’re crying out for great, noble national leaders. And we need leaders at every level. And it comes all the way down to the church, and all the way down to every social order and right to the family.

There are books that need to be added to the endless list of others on leadership. There is a strong drive to try to develop effective leaders. And in the church we have certainly a better resource in the truth of God’s Word and in the power of the Holy Spirit than anyone else. But in the world you would usually define a leader as being a strong, natural, dominating kind of personality.

The characteristics of the leaders in the secular world would be as follows. Visionary – that is looking to the future and being able to plan ahead for the future. Action oriented –somebody who can make things happen. Courageous – if you don’t take risk, you don’t do anything new. Energetic; the high-energy people, driven kind of people. Objective oriented rather than people oriented.

Paternalistic –they see themselves as being in charge of everybody. Egocentric –to be self-absorbed. They believe in themselves. Intolerant of incompetence in other people. And lastly, Indispensable. They live with the illusion that without them, the whole system will come down. This is, the world’s picture of a leader. It’s very different from what God in Scripture says.

If you were looking into the New Testament, for someone who demonstrated leadership capability, obviously you would look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfect in everything He did and was the perfect leader. But if you want a human model, nobody is better than Paul. He is a true leader of people. And the best place to see his innate, God-given leadership capability is in Acts 27.

What you have here, in Acts 27, is an interesting situation. You have the transportation of Paul from Caesarea, just a little north of the city of Tel Aviv, to Rome. Paul just came back from his third missionary journey. He had collected money from the Gentile churches, to give to the church at Jerusalem because they had so many Christians who were saved and they never went home.

When he came back; the Jews accused him of all kinds of falsehoods. They said, “He’s against the temple, and he’s against the Law of God.” And so, he was arrested. The Romans didn’t know what to do with him. They wanted to pacify the Jewish leaders who were screaming for him to be arrested because he had violated Roman law, or Jewish law, which, he hadn’t done at all.

Now, he wanted a fair and just trial, and he kept asking for it. Well, at the end of Acts 26, he convinced Agrippa that he ought to get a fair trial. He reminded them that he was a Roman citizen, and he was entitled to a fair trial. And so they say, “All right, we’ll deal with him by shipping him to Rome, and he can have his trial before Caesar, which is what he asked for.

As it unfolds, we see Paul’s leadership ability surface. At the beginning, he has no responsibility. He is a prisoner. Verse 1-2, “When it was decided that we were to sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Regiment. 2 When we had boarded a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, intending to sail to ports along the coast of Asia.

Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.” Who does that “us” refer to? Luke is the writer with Paul. Aristarchus had been captured during a riot at Ephesus, and so he’s there too. The idea was that the centurion who was in charge of the prisoners, was going to ride this ship to Adramyttium, and from there he would pick up another ship that would go on to Rome. That was the plan.

Verse 3, “The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care.” Julius is treating Paul in an unusual way after knowing him just one day, because if a Roman soldier lost his prisoner, he would pay with his life. Here’s the first principle of leadership. A leader is trusted. The centurion believed that Paul would keep his word.

A leader is someone who convinces everybody around him that it is their interests that most occupy his heart. A real leader is a person who will work hard to make everybody around him successful, work hard to make them flourish. Leaders are not people who operate for personal fulfillment or personal gain. People who do that wind up leading nobody, because everybody abandons them.

The second characteristic of leadership is taking the initiative. Verse 4, “When we had put out to sea from there, we sailed along the northern coast of Cyprus because the winds were against us.” They were there in Sidon long enough for Paul to be with his friends; when they left there, we sailed under the shelter of the island Cyprus because there was a strong headwind.

Verse 5-7, “After sailing through the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we reached Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.7 Sailing slowly for many days, with difficulty we arrived off Cnidus. Since the wind did not allow us to approach it, we sailed along the south side of Crete off Salmone.” So, they’re going slow against the headwind.

Verse 8-9, “With still more difficulty we sailed along the coast and came to a place called Fair Havens near the city of Lasea. 9 By now much time had passed, and the voyage was already dangerous. Since the Day of Atonement was already over, Paul gave his advice.” We don’t know how long they’d been at this. Sailing in the Mediterranean, from September to November is dangerous.

Nobody speaks, and so Paul just takes over. He just realized there was a problem, and he just took the initiative. Verse 10, “and told them, “Men, I can see that this voyage is headed toward disaster and heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives.” The Romans wanted to get to Rome as fast as they could. And that leads me to the third thing about leadership; it uses good judgment.

Verse 11-12, “But the centurion paid attention to the captain and the owner of the ship rather than to what Paul said. 12 Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to set sail from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor on Crete facing the southwest and northwest, and to winter there.” They took a poll, and the majority advised to set sail from there.

Verse 13-14, “When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought they had achieved their purpose. They weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 But before long, a fierce wind called the “northeaster” rushed down from the island.” This is the feared wind that comes off the mountains above Palestine, and it blows the cold winter wind right down onto that Mediterranean Sea.

Verse 15-16, “Since the ship was caught and unable to head into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 After running under the shelter of a little island called Cauda, we were barely able to get control of the skiff.” All they could do was to let the ship go and let the wind drive it. They’ve been blown away from Crete. They would just anchor the ship, and then go in on a little dinghy.

Verse 17-18, “After hoisting it up, they used ropes and tackle and girded the ship. Fearing they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the drift-anchor, and in this way they were driven along. 18 Because we were being severely battered by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo the next day.” They lightened the ship. That’s what they’re carrying, their cargo.

Verse 19-20, “On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 For many days neither sun nor stars appeared, and the severe storm kept raging. Finally all hope was fading that we would be saved.” In the midst of the panic, these people are just throwing everything overboard. And tackle is the equipment that put the sails up and down the rigs and everything else.

Now, Paul told them exactly this. Verse 21, “Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “You men should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete and sustain this damage and loss.” The fourth characteristic of leadership, he speaks with authority. Verse 22, “Now I urge you to take courage, because there will be no loss of any of your lives, but only of the ship.”

Verse 23-24, “For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me 24 and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. It is necessary for you to appear before Caesar. And indeed, God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.” Paul speaks with confidence, with authority, because he got the word from God. Now, that’s what sets spiritual leadership apart from everything else.

And the fifth characteristic of a leader: he strengthens others. Verse 25-26, “So take courage, men, because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told to me. 26 But we have to run aground on some island.” A leader is optimistic and enthusiastic because of God. Verse 27, “When the fourteenth night came, we were drifting in the Adriatic Sea, and about midnight the sailors thought they were approaching land.”

Verse 28-29, “They took soundings and found it to be a hundred twenty feet deep; when they had sailed a little farther and sounded again, they found it to be ninety feet deep. 29 Then, fearing we might run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.” A leader always trusts God in every circumstance.

Verse 30-32, “Some sailors tried to escape from the ship; they had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the bow. 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the skiff and let it drop away.” They were going to sail away and save their own lives.

Now, Paul is in charge of everything. Unless these men stay in the ship, you can’t be saved.’” So, what did the soldiers do? They cut the ropes off the skiff and let it go.” They let the lifeboat go. They were so confident in what Paul said. But they had to stay to experience God’s deliverance, and he wouldn’t compromise. When God has spoken, Paul did not compromise.

Paul wouldn’t allow human works to change the purposes of God. You have to determine your absolutes. You have to determine your standards, and you never violate them. As soon as you do, you cease to be an effective leader. Paul said, “Cut those ropes, let that boat go, and if those get away, you’re going to lose your life.” God is going to show Himself powerful and mighty.

God is going to get the glory and the credit for this. Whatever those absolutes are, don’t compromise them. And then people get used to your integrity and consistency. An eighth principle of leadership is they focus on objectives. Verse 33, “When it was about daylight, Paul urged them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food.”

Verse 34-35, “So I urge you to take some food. For this is for your survival, since none of you will lose a hair from your head.” 35 After he said these things and had taken some bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all of them, and after he broke it, he began to eat.” Paul looks right past the obstacles to the result. And then a ninth principle of leadership, he leads by example.

Verse 36-39, “They all were encouraged and took food themselves. 37 In all there were 276 of us on the ship. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea. 39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land but sighted a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore if they could.” The wind was pushing them.

Verse 40-41, “After cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach. 41 But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow jammed fast and remained immovable, while the stern began to break up by the pounding of the waves.” Their boat was coming apart.

Verse 42-43, “The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that no one could swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion kept them from carrying out their plan because he wanted to save Paul, and so he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.” Because they were afraid the prisoners would escape and they would lose their lives. But you see God’s providence?

Verse 44, “The rest were to follow, some on planks and some on debris from the ship. In this way, everyone safely reached the shore.” An effective leader succeeds. Paul as a leader was trusted, took the initiative, used good judgment, spoke with authority, strengthening others, was optimistic and never compromised, focusing on objectives and lead by example. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Apr 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240428 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000230 imblog

Acts 26:19-32

This is Paul’s encounter with Agrippa. Let me begin with just an introduction that may set our thoughts. What is our goal this year? We’re responsible to God. We have answers for people and we need to make them available. Any believer who walks in the Spirit is reproductive. If every one of us only won one person to Jesus Christ in 2024, what a fantastic impact we would have.

We’re committed to sharing the gospel boldly. If I’ve learned anything at all in the study of Acts, I’ve learned that you present Christ with boldness and fearlessness. Paul was bold, wasn’t he? And that he saw, as the directive in his life, to win somebody to Christ and mature them in the faith. A Christian who is not doing that is a contradiction. A Christian is a reproducer by definition.

And so as we study this passage, here is Paul, and he’s under all kinds of pressure. He’s a prisoner now. He is having to give his testimony over and over again, but every time he gives his testimony, in which he declares his innocence, and even though he’s innocent they won’t let him go because of Jewish pressure. His testimony is a presentation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Christian is a soldier who has a sword and the sword is for attacking. And the sword is the Word, and the world is the objective, and we go at it. We may have to fight through the demons to get there, but that’s the point. Paul here faces this King Agrippa. And in Acts 26 Paul begins his testimony. Now, Festus had no accusation because Paul hadn’t done anything wrong.

Agrippa came along with Bernice because they wanted to have good relationship. He was a vassal king, a nothing king. He nevertheless did order the temple worship and appoint the priests, so he had some position of leadership. So when Agrippa arrived Festus figured maybe this guy will pick something out of Paul’s testimony that will help me to have something to accuse him.

So Paul is here to defend himself. He is to speak to the issue of his imprisonment and the crimes that he is supposedly to have committed. But instead of it being a defensive, it is an attack and he attacks Agrippa. I mean he zeros in on Agrippa. And when he’s all done and Agrippa says, “Are you trying to convert me?” And he says, “Right, not only you but everybody else in this place.”

So Paul said, “Agrippa and Bernice, I was a zealous Jew and I was a Pharisee. I was catching Christians who believed in Jesus. One day I was walking down the road to Damascus and this happened. A light brighter than the sun hit me and everybody with me and we hit the ground. And I heard a voice, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

And I said, ‘Who are you Lord?’ And He said, ‘Jesus whom you persecute.’ And you know what happened Agrippa? Jesus then said to me, ‘Get up, get on your feet for I have appointed you as a pastor and a witness, and I want you to tell the things that you have seen. I have delivered you from the Jews and from the Gentiles to send you back to them and here’s your message,’”

Verse 18, “To open their eyes, turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith in Me.” I was literally transformed by Jesus. He is alive. And, out of heaven the living Christ spoke to me and blinded me and commissioned me to preach and told me what my message was.

Paul summarizes the transformation. And what he wants Agrippa to know is he is not a traitor, he is not a studied antagonist of Judaism. He has been victimized by almighty God, and a resurrected Messiah has transformed his life in an instant. Now that’s the sovereign act of God in the conversion of the apostle Paul. But I want you to notice something before we go any further.

Notice in verse 18 you have a tremendous pattern for the approach of evangelism. Where did the four spiritual laws come from? Basically, the right method of evangelism in its skeletal form could be taken right out of verse 18. First thing to do is conviction. Show them what they really are. So there must be an opening of their eyes. This is conviction, a recognition of sin and judgment.

The second thing, is illumination and turn them from darkness to light. So you have conviction then illumination. Then you have conversion. When the response comes they are turned from the power of Satan to the power of God. Taken out of the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of darkness and given to God. And with that comes sanctification that they may receive forgiveness of sins.

They are made holy. The penalty is paid, the power of sin is broken, and their life is purified positionally. And so you have sanctification. And then you have promise, the inheritance among them who are sanctified. You tell them what’s in the future for them. So the approach of evangelism is simply conviction, illumination, conversion, sanctification, and then promise for the future.

And so Paul tells Agrippa and everybody else what he was called to do and at the same time gives them the gospel. So we see Paul’s testimony commencing. “Agrippa,” he says, “God did this to me. The living resurrected Christ did it.” Here comes the culmination of Paul’s testimony, notice, in any act of the sovereignty of God there is also the necessity for human will to respond.

We see his commitment to this call of God in verse 19-21, “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 20 Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance. 21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.”

For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple and wanted to kill me. Why did they want him dead? Because he was offering equal salvation to Gentiles. The Jews could not tolerate equality with Gentiles. And so Paul says, “They wanted me dead because I offered an equal salvation to Gentiles.” They wanted to kill me in the temple. That’s how he became a prisoner to begin with.

Obedience is the response that God asks. Now, this is part of the paradox of sovereignty and responsibility. God acts sovereignly to bring about His will, but He demands, within that sovereignty, a human response. When you say, “One day I committed myself to the Lord Jesus Christ.” You did it consciously, as an act of the will. Yet, the Bible said it was a sovereign act of God before the world began.

God sovereignly moves on your will, but your will has to be activated. Think about Moses in Exodus 4. God said, “Moses, I’m telling you to speak for me.” Moses says, “I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” I stutter. And the Lord was very clear with him and He said, “Who made man’s mouth? Who made the deaf and who made the dumb and who made the blind? Have not I the Lord?”

Then there was Ezekiel. God says, “Ezekiel, go do this.” “No.” So God just picked him up and moved him. It says in Ezekiel 3, God just picked him up and he says, “My Spirit was kindled within me.” God just went “Um-hmm,” and put him where He wanted him, but he’s fighting it all the way and it caused him a lot unnecessary grief. Now God may just overrule you and you’ll suffer for it.

The worst thing that can happen though is God will say, “All right,” and abandon it. And then you spend your whole life being what you shouldn’t be, right? I’m not talking about salvation. I’m talking about service. I’m glad God did with me what He did. But I didn’t want to be in the ministry. I wanted to be an architect and I really fought it. And the Lord had to deal with me strongly.

What is obedience? Let me give you some things about obedience, give you some principles. Number one, obedience is a mark of conversion. If you’re saved, obedience should mark you. Secondly, it is a recognition of authority. When you obey you are saying Lord, You're in control and I am in submission. When you do not obey God you are playing God. And that is what goes on most times.

Thirdly, obedience is a characteristic of faith. Hebrews 11:8 says, “And Abraham obeyed God by faith.” When you disobey, you say God. I don’t trust you. Fourth, obedience is proof of love. Don’t tell God you love Him unless you obey. Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep My commandments. Whosoever keeps My commandments he it is that loves Me.”

Verse 22-23, “To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place— 23 that the Messiah would suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.” Paul was converted in Damascus and started preaching in Damascus.

Paul says, “Hey Agrippa, the central hope of the Jew was the resurrection and the resurrected One. There is a living Messiah. There was a resurrection. The resurrection – resurrected one spoke to me. I saw His glory. I heard His voice. I could do nothing but obey. He commissioned me into His ministry. Instantly I obeyed. I began at Damascus and then at Jerusalem.

But following his capture he says, in verse 22, “I have had help from God,” He always was getting that. In Lystra they killed him outside the city. The Lord raised him from the dead. In Philippi they put him in jail, the Lord brought along an earthquake and let him out. And here you have the dichotomy of human effort and divine sovereignty. We work hard and at the same time it’s all His power.

Look at the consequence of Paul’s testimony. Agrippa didn’t say a thing. He just listened. Verse 24, “As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.” Today we think much learning makes people intelligent. But in those days Festus says, “You’re crazy.” Festus couldn’t handle the resurrection.

The human mind gets to the place where it says, “Well if I can’t understand it, it just must be insane.” That’s the most supreme egoism. If you don’t understand it, it isn’t true. Well, so Paul in interrupted. I don’t know what he was going to say after that. But he didn’t say it because Festus stopped him. But Festus’ interruption just sets the stage. So now comes the invitation.

Verse 25-26, “But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment. 26 For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.” What things? The death and resurrection of Christ. That was common knowledge.

Verse 27, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.” Here we are 25 years later and Agrippa is not dumb. He knows what the Christians taught. Agrippa, don’t you? You know there are people who believe there’s evidence for this.” Paul presented to Agrippa the whole gospel and now he just forces him to a conclusion that he probably wouldn’t have made on his own.

By the very fact that Agrippa didn’t say anything he acquiesced. The case is clear. The king knows it. Anybody who believes Moses, and anybody who believes historical fact must conclude that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. I’m not mad, Festus. King Agrippa knows the truth. You see how he makes Agrippa responsible. He wants to do for Agrippa what he wants him to do for himself.

Well Agrippa’s stuck. If Agrippa says, “Yes, I do believe the prophets,” then he has admitted that he believes Jesus is the Messiah and he’s in real trouble with his whole nation. If he says, “No, I don’t believe the prophets,” then he’s still in trouble with his nation. So he can’t say yes or no. Verse 28, “Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

See, he avoids the question. Verse 29, “I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am, except for these chains.” That’s real honest. You know, Paul wasn’t bitter. They had everything in the world but they had nothing, right? “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and loses his own soul?”

That’s sincere evangelism with love. How could you resist that kind of impact message and how could you resist that kind of concerned love? Verse 30-31, “The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up, 31 and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

Verse 32, Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.” Oh you dirty coward. You see what he did? They could have let him go. There wasn’t any reason to appeal to Caesar now. There wasn’t any case. Caesar hadn’t heard a word about it. Christianity is not a heresy. Christianity is a spiritual relationship to the living God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Apr 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240421 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000022F imblog

Acts 25:13-26:18

This is a court because Agrippa and Bernice have arrived with all their entourage. Paul as a prisoner would give six major testimonies. This is the fifth. He was accused of sedition which was stirring up trouble against Rome. He was accused of sectarianism, by being a Jewish religious heretic in believing in Jesus. And he was accused of blaspheming God by desecrating the temple.

He didn’t do any of those things. There were no eyewitnesses, there was nothing that stood up in the court. And yet, he remains in prison. Felix, even though he was innocent, wouldn’t let him go because that would upset the Jews. Festus found himself having Paul in custody. He too, did not want to release him because he didn’t want to upset the Jews for the Jews wanted him dead.

Since he couldn’t get any justice in Caesarea, Paul decided to do what all Roman citizens had the right to do and that was appeal to Caesar. The problem is that Festus has to send him to Rome without any written accusation because he can’t find anything to accuse him of. Well at that particular time, King Agrippa arrives on the scene paying a courtesy call to Festus. So Festus sees a possible way out.

He figures if he can get Agrippa to listen to this man, Agrippa may come up with some viable accusation that Festus can write down and use to accuse Paul, so that the trial in Rome will have some justification and Festus will be able to keep his balance in terms of the Jews and their attitude. The testimony Paul gives to defend himself to Agrippa is trying to convert Agrippa into a Christian.

He even gives an invitation at the end. Paul had come to this hearing because he saw it as an opportunity to preach the gospel. Festus looked at this as an opportunity to get an accusation. Agrippa looked at it as a curiosity. And so it’s the testimony of Paul in Caesarea in the Roman praetorian before Agrippa the king and Bernice and all their entourage and Festus.

We are placed in this world to bring unbelievers into adjustment with God and that involves conversion. When Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you trying to convert me?” he put his finger right on what is the objective of every believer who confronts an unbeliever. We’re in the business of converting people in the power of the Holy Spirit. We forget that people are going to hell constantly.

In Acts 25 - 26, Paul says the Lord told me that I had been given a ministry of turning people from darkness to light, from Satan to God. It was a commitment to convert people. Nobody has the gift of evangelism. You just have the command. The only thing Paul was guilty of was talking about somebody who was dead that he claimed to be alive. And that was somebody named Jesus.

Festus said to Agrippa in verse 20, “Agrippa, I don’t understand all these Jewish questions. I’m perplexed about Jewish theology and I don’t know what to do about it. Would you listen to this guy and make some sense out of it, so I can write an accusation and sent it along to Rome? Agrippa says in verse 22, “I would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow you’ll hear him.”

What were the circumstances in verses 23 – 27? That auditorium, the place of hearings where Festus was, used to be Herod’s palace. And it was loaded with all of the higher up people. And then the king and Bernice came in. And into this environment marched Paul, And at that point Agrippa took charge and began the questioning of Paul, and we come to Paul’s testimony in Acts 26:1-18.

Verse 1-3, “Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. 2 “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.”

Paul felt that Agrippa would be objective. The Jerusalem leaders and the Jerusalem Jews were so biased. But here was Agrippa, though he was a Jew, a man who played politics with Israel but really down in his heart he was a Roman. Paul felt, that this guy being Jewish will understand the character of my argument. And being Roman he’ll be more objective in evaluating it.

Verse 4-6, “All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors.”

And so Paul begins with his conduct in verses 4 - 5. He lived as a Pharisee.” Now, a Pharisee was the strict legalist and he was even a right-wing Pharisee. They know I sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He’s setting them up for the transformation. He’s showing them how zealous he was as a Jew so they might understand the cataclysmic effect of the transformation that occurred at Damascus.

Verse 7-8, the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope. 8 Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?” Now, Agrippa didn’t need to hear the facts of Jesus dying and so forth. He knew all that. He needed to hear what Christ had done in his resurrection power.

Having talked about the conduct of his past life he now goes into his condemnation in verses 6 - 8. What was the Jewish hope? The Jewish hope was the coming of Messiah to deliver Israel. Israel had been struggling against bondage from Egypt right up until this time. They were still under Rome. They had had some years of successes and enlargement under King David.

Paul says, “I’m being condemned for believing what all the Jews believe,” which is true. Then he says, “Look, our twelve tribes agree to this.” Do you want to know something interesting about that statement? Twelve tribes. Paul didn’t believe there were only two tribes and the other ten were lost. So that even though the people of the north left, the twelve tribes are intact in the south.

“I’m being accused for Messianic hope. Why should it be thought an incredible thing that God should raise the dead? The fact that God raised the dead is something we’ve all believed. Why am I suffering this condemnation for this Jewish hope in the resurrection which has always been believed? Can the Pharisees say that I am condemned because I believe in the resurrection?”

Well, Agrippa is probably saying, “Sure Paul, we know that’s it alright to believe in the resurrection. But is that Jesus the resurrected Messiah?” Matthew 28:11 says after the resurrection, “And when they were going some of the Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb, came to the city, showed the chief priests all that was done.” The Romans came and said, “There was a resurrection.”

And the chief priests with the elders gave much money to the soldiers. “Why did they do it?” Bribery! They said, “Say this. ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we slept.’” Now if they were asleep, how could they testify that the disciples came and stole the body? They bought them off. And if you get in trouble with the Roman governor for sleeping, we’ll take care of that.

“So they took the money and did as they were taught and this is the saying commonly reported among the Jews until this day.” They still believe it. So we come to the fourth concept, the confession. Verse 9, “In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” 25 years ago, I was in the same boat you’re in. I understand how you feel.”

Verse 10, “I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.” Paul is referring to the fact that he was a member of the Sanhedrin and he actually voted in the death of Christians. “And so I have my vote against them.”

Verse 11, “In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.” Paul was the chief officer of the Jewish inquisition. He was after Christians. The Bible says he was breathing in threatening and slaughtering. He hated them. “I compelled them all to blaspheme.”

Verse 12-13, “I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests. 13 King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.” And above the midday sun he saw a light. We were drowned in this light brighter than the light of the sun.

Verse 14, “We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” It was like saying, “Saul, you can’t win. Why are you continuing to do this against such odds?” The implication here is that Paul was unsuccessful, that he had a miserable time trying to get Christians to blaspheme.

He was trying to kick against the goads. Goads were little sharp things. When a young ox was first being trained to be tied up to a yoke to pull a single plow, he would naturally kick, trying to throw off the yoke. And so the farmer would have a long stick and the end would be sharpened, like a spear. And as the ox kicked it just rammed its heel right up the goad. And so the ox would stop doing that.

Verse 15, “I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.” Now, this is not in Scripture, but I can imagine that people started talking in that crowd. “Jesus alive? He’s dead. The disciples stole his body.” His testimony was “Jesus talked to him? Paul in verse 15, told everyone the truth. And so Paul shares his conversion.

Verse 16, “Get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.” And by this time, Paul was lying on the ground blinded. The Lord said, “Get up Paul. I just made you a minister. You have been made a witness.” But nobody else heard what Jesus said, this was only for Paul.

Verse 17, “I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them[RP1] .” Get up Paul, I just made you an apostle.” And remember an apostle was someone who had to be appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ personally. Called of God to be an apostle involved a direct choice by our Lord Jesus Christ. And here in the case of Paul, he is made an apostle by the Lord Himself.

When people ask, “Are there apostles today?” the answer is, “No.” Because Christ is not here to appoint them. Now, an apostle also had to be an eyewitness of the resurrection. Acts 1 says, “Wherefore of these men who have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, must be a person ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection.”

A true apostle had to see the resurrected Christ. Paul saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrected Christ appeared to him on the Damascus road and twice after that saying, “And of those things in which I will appear to you.” Christ appeared again to him in the temple in the trance in Jerusalem, and again to him in the jail cell, at Jerusalem and told him he was going to go to Rome.

Verse 18, “To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” The first thing you have to do with unsaved people is open their eyes. Jesus said, “It’s the case of the blind leading the blind. They’re both going to fall into the ditch.”

The key to opening a man’s eyes is to uncover the blindness of sin, to take off the scales so he can see his sin. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. It’s a matter of changing their lives turning them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. You see conversion, don’t you? Transformation, a new creation. You take them out of the power of Satan, placing them in the power of God.

Every man in the world is under the power of Satan or the power of God. And there’s no such thing as a free man. You just choose who your master will be. It’s either Satan or God. And people think, “Well, I’m free to do my own thing, go my own way, do what I want to do.” It isn’t true. Anybody disobedient to the gospel, is guided by the spirit that works in him. That spirit is the power of the air, Satan.

Paul was saying, “Forgiveness is available, Agrippa. Whatever you and Bernice have done, whatever you are, that’s our message.” “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord to whom the Lord charges no sin.” But surely even if you’re a Christian God will lay some sin at your feet. Not at all. “Who shall lay any charge to God’s elect? It is God that justifies. There’s no accusation against you. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Apr 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240414 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000022E imblog

Acts 25:1-12

Verses 1 to 12 record for us Paul’s trial before Festus. This is a historical narrative, where most of the doctrine and the spiritual principles are under the surface. They are implied or illustrated. There are at least ten principles that just come out of this page. We see in this passage the hatred of religious people toward Christ and Christians. Then we also see the sovereign providence of God.

And we find also, the way in which the world persecutes. We see also the blamelessness of the life of Paul, and the effect that such a blameless life had. We see the exoneration of Christianity in terms of being a criminal activity. We see how the Christian is to behave toward his government, and we see also the Christian’s attitude toward persecution. And we see the impact of a dedicated life to God.

I want to divide the 12 verses into 4 parts, and we’ll just see these 8 principles. The first part was the assassination plot in verses 1 to 5. Paul has been accused by the Jews of three things: sedition, which are crimes against Rome; sectarianism - that is, being a heretic; and sacrilege - blaspheming God through the desecration of the temple. All these accusations are false.

They are without evidence. As a result of this, Paul finally found himself before Felix, the governor, to be tried. Felix knew he was innocent, but he didn’t want to upset the Jews, so Felix kept him in prison for two years. At the end of two years, Felix was taken from his assignment in disgrace, and a new man was put in his place by the name of Festus. In Acts 25 Festus arrives in Caesarea.

Verses 1-5, “Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2 The chief priests and the leaders of the Jews presented their case against Paul to him; and they were 3 asking for a favor against Paul, that Festus summon him to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, preparing an ambush along the road to kill him. 4 Festus, answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea.

And that he himself was about to go there shortly. 5 “Therefore,” he said, “let those of you who have authority go down with me and accuse him, if he has done anything wrong.” He knew that it was important for him to establish relationships with the people over whom he would rule. It was important for Festus to bind together some sort of working relationship.

Now there are some spiritual principles that are implied in this particular illustration. The first thing we see here is the hatred of religious people toward Jesus Christ. The Jews who were really antagonistic toward Paul were religious people. The persecution that comes against true religion comes from a false religion. These Jews were the false religious leaders of their land.

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and propagates all false religion. Now, all throughout the book of Acts, it is the Jews, the religious leaders, who persecute Christ and those who teach what He taught and believe in Him as their Messiah. The only times Roman persecution ever broke out was when it was a religious issue. Satan brings all the unbelievers into opposition to the truth.

True Christianity is a rebuke to all other religions in the world. We cannot accommodate them. Jesus said, “He that is not with me is against me.” And anything other than Christianity is in opposition to Christ. And it has been the religionists who have persecuted the truth. 2 Peter 2:1 says, “There are false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you.”

The second principle is the binding power of sin. It’s been two years since they’ve had to deal with Paul; two years, he’s been in jail. But when Festus, the new governor, arrives, the first thing they say in verse 2, “Let’s go to Festus and we’ll ambush him.” Sin really drives itself deep, and it stays there. In John 8:30 Jesus says I’m glad you believe, but the proof of the true faith is if you continue.

And the truth shall make you free. Now, Jesus implied that they weren’t free. They were slaves. Well, they didn’t like that. They said, “We are Abraham’s seed.” And they thought just because they were Jews, that meant they were free. They said, “We have never been in bondage to any man.” Jesus answered them, “Verily, I say to you, whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin.”

If you believe in death and resurrection of Jesus, you are still a bond slave, but you are a bond slave to Jesus Christ. And being a bond slave to Christ is better than being a slave to sin. How sad it is that these Jews would allow two years to go by, and still have this hatred for Paul. And Paul, who loved them, was an innocent man. He loved them so much he was willing to change places.

A third principle that we see there was the providence of God. We saw that in spite of what seemed to be the normal course of events, God was ordering things. When they said to Festus, “Hey Festus, why don’t you take Paul up to Jerusalem? He said, “No.” The normal thing would have been to say yes. He was trying to influence them for his side. Here we see the fact that God is in control.

Lamentations 3:37-38 says, “Who is there who speaks, and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?” Listen to the next verse. “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and evil go forth?” Nothing happens for good or evil unless it is in the framework of God’s allowance. And Festus didn’t know it, but he was just moving along on the divine timetable.

Verse 6-7, “When Festus had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, seated at the tribunal, he commanded Paul to be brought in. 7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they were not able to prove.” This is the fourth principle, the typical pattern of the world’s persecution.

The world persecutes on two premises: they persecute falsely, and for Christ’s sake. Matthew 5 says, “Blessed are you, when men shall persecute you, and revile you, and accuse you falsely, for my sake.” In other words, it isn’t you they hate, it’s Christ. It isn’t you they resent, it’s Christianity. Now, some Christians live such messed-up lives that it may be these Christians they resent.

Principle number five is the blamelessness of Paul. The effect of an innocent, blameless life on the world is powerful. 1 Peter 3:14 says, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated.” If you’re suffering for righteousness’ sake, if you’re living a godly life and, all of a sudden, you’re getting persecution, you are blessed.

By Paul’s innocent life, he made those people face the fact that their hearts were not right. They hated Jesus Christ; they resented God’s Messiah. He forced them to recognize that, because there was nothing for which they could blame Him. And then be bold, and stand up, confronting the world with an innocent life. The power and impact of that kind of life can make the world ashamed.

Here is principle six, the exoneration of Christianity of any crimes. The Jews accused the Christians of being criminals against the Roman government. The Jews tried to make the Romans believe that Christianity was revolutionary and it was insurrection. That if the Romans tolerated the Christians, they would overthrow the government. But the Jews were actually doing that.

They had a group called the Zealots, and they were going around starting riots, starting insurrections, secretly assassinating people that they wanted to get rid of. Any Jew who paid tribute to Rome was killed. And they’re trying to accuse the Christians of doing that, and of course, they never did. Christianity is not a revolution. Christianity is a personal relationship with a living God.

And God established that in the Word of God. And the Romans were scared to death about the possibility of fragmenting that empire. They worked hard to try and come up with a unifying factor that could pull it together. And what they came up with was Caesar worship. And so, they established Caesar as a god, and demanded that everybody should practice emperor worship.

Once a year, every inhabitant of the Roman Empire had to take a pinch of incense, burn it to Caesar, and then publicly declare, “Caesar is lord.” After he did that, he could go out and worship any god he wanted to. Now, no Christian would do that. Salvation is confessing Jesus as Lord. That’s the testimony of a believer. That’s when the religious persecution began everywhere.

It’s always false religions that lead persecution against the truth, and it was then that martyrdom began. The first person that started this was a Caesar named Nero at this very time that Paul was in Caesarea. He began to murder Christians, and the succeeding Caesars after him continued it, and they murdered them because they were supposedly religiously disloyal.

Verse 8 says, “Then Paul made his defense: “Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned in any way.” Well, there is no evidence. That’s no case. What should Festus have done? He should’ve dismissed the thing right on the spot. But you know what? If Felix was the procrastinator, Festus was the guy who did what was expedient.

He knew that if he just freed Paul, he’d be in trouble, because the Jews from the beginning would be against him, because they wanted Paul dead. And he was scared though he knew Paul was innocent. So he comes up with a compromise. Verse 9, “But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried before me there on these charges?”

Verse 10, “Paul replied, “I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you yourself know very well.” Now, Festus did know that Paul had not done anything. Verse 18 says, when Festus later on talked to Agrippa, he said to Agrippa, “The accusers stood up but brought no charge against him of the evils I was expecting.”

Paul stands there, and he’s victimized by these two groups with their little interplay. So, he stands up for his rights as a Roman citizen. Verse 11, “If then I did anything wrong and am deserving of death, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!” Paul didn’t care about dying one bit. For him, to die was gain.

When he said that, that was not just an offhand comment; that was an official appeal. A lower court judgment could be appealed to Caesar. In fact, the appeal could be given before or after the verdict of the lower court. This was one of the rights of a Roman citizen, and that’s what Paul does. Now, he knew he was getting nowhere in Caesarea. He was mired down in this little political battle.

Paul got kind of excited on the inside when he said that, because he knew that in Acts 23:11, when he was sleeping in the cell, the Lord came to him and said, “Hey, don’t be too discouraged. You’ve been faithful preaching the Word here. The next stop is Rome.” But you know, going to be judged by Nero wasn’t exactly the epitome of the anticipation of absolute justice.

Nero was the most immoral man that a man could ever be. He killed Brittanicus, the son and heir of the emperor Claudius, and moved in on his territory. He killed his mother, Agrippina, to please his lover, Poppaea, who was the wife of somebody else. Then he burned Rome, and got mad at Poppaea, and killed her by kicking her in the stomach when she was pregnant.

He wanted to marry his adopted sister, Antonius. She wasn’t real excited about the deal, so he killed her. He married Messalina, after he assassinated her husband, and he spent his career busily assassinating all the best citizens of Rome, because he couldn’t stand good people. Finally, he killed himself, which delivered everybody. Here is principle number seven, the courage of a committed Christian.

The eight principle, also teaches us the believer’s attitude toward martyrdom. The only person who is a martyr is the one who has fought for every possible escape, and found no way out. Paul never used a single resource to avoid death. He never even appealed to Caesar, because he knew what that might involve, until the last possible hope was gone of any other solution.

Courage is not an intangible; courage is born of faith. Courage is an absolute that is born out of confidence in God. There’s something about courage that is just irreplaceable. There’s something about the Christian who is willing to stand up and say what’s true. Verse 12, Then after Festus conferred with his council, he replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.”

Only eternity will be able to measure the impact of Paul. I would pray to God that I would maximize whatever impact I could have on this world. That I would order my priorities that I would maximize my time. But all I know is as Christians, we ought to realize that one man can affect a whole world, if that man is right before God, and that ought to be a challenge to every one of us. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Apr 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240407 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000022D imblog

Hebrews 10:1-18

In Hebrews 10:1-18 we study tonight a most significant Easter passage. Somewhere in England there stood a chapel, and next to it was an arch, and on it was written, “We preach Christ crucified.” For years, godly men preached there, and they presented a crucified Savior as the only means of salvation. But there arose a generation that looked at the cross and found its message too antiquated.

They began to preach salvation by Christ’s example rather than His blood. They didn’t see the necessity of His sacrifice. And ivy crept up the side of the arch, and covered the word, “crucified” and so it said, “We preach Christ.” And the ivy continued to grow until it wiped out the third word. It now read, “We preach.” Paul in Corinth was determined, to know nothing else than Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen.

This is the depth of what His death meant. Now, the theme of Hebrews is the absolute sufficiency and superiority of Christ over all of the features connected with the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit’s inspired the author. He is presenting to Jews that they can put all of their trust in Jesus Christ, and they don’t need to hang onto the temple services, the priesthood and to the rituals of Judaism.

In Hebrews 9, we learned that a testament demands death, forgiveness demands bloodshed, and salvation demands substitution. And the demand then, for a death that would be superior to all the sacrifices of the Old Testament is laid down in chapter 9. Now, as we come to Hebrews 10, we find the characteristics of the death of Christ, which supply all that was lacking in the Old Testament sacrifices.

All of them had failed because they were unable to satisfy God’s holy demands. Here are the reasons they failed. Number one, they couldn’t bring access to God. And the great cry in the heart of a man was to be in the presence of God. Even the priest at his best on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, could not take the people inside the veil. The veil always remained. They couldn’t bring access to God.

Verse 1, “Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.” And what does “perfect” means in Hebrews? It means access to God. Hebrews 7:19 says, “For the law perfected nothing, but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.”

And, the Old Testament couldn’t do that. The veil always remained. There never was access to God. In verse 1 it says the law was only a shadow and not the very image. It says it was a shadow of good things to come. Now, what are the good things to come? Well, that speaks of the privileges and blessings that came through the sacrifice of Christ. And the law pictured those things.

Access to God and security and power and all of those things were really not there in the Old Testament, but they were pictured there. The old covenant could never bring a man into the presence of God. Without Christ, you can’t get past the shadow of God. And the Jews today who live in Judaism and are so dedicated to Judaism are chasing the shadow of God, and there is no substance.

Oh, how important it is that we point this out to our Jewish friends, that there is no perfection in the Old Testament. And they have also forsaken the sacrifices. They not only do not accept the final sacrifice of Christ, but they fail to continue the sacrifices of the Old Testament. They find themselves standing in limbo between two systems and going through a ritualistic representation of the old.

And, it was said in the Old Testament that anybody who despised the sacrifices was cut off. So God felt that they were very important. As a picture of what was to come, as a reminder of sin, and as something that was externally efficacious to cover their sin so that they could at least maintain an external relationship with God, not the fullness of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our heart which we have now.

Verse 2, “Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since purified once and for all, they would no longer have any consciousness of sins?” Because once they arrived at perfection it would’ve been unnecessary. Because once purged, they should have had no more consciousness of sins. If sacrifice of lambs would have removed sin, they wouldn’t have the guilt of their sin.

Verse 3, “But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year.” It was only temporarily covered. Instead of being able to look at the sacrifice and say, “Wow, I’m forgiven,” they kept looking at the sacrifice and said, “Oh, I’m just as sick as I’ve always been. And I’ve got to go down there again with another lamb.” And so the Old Testament just stood as a reminder that sin was not removed.

The conscience of sin has to do with guilt. There’s a certain amount of guilt that comes with sin. It’s just a system built into you, just like pain is built into you. Where pain reacts to bodily injury, guilt reacts to the injury of your soul by disobedience to God, and it’s a warning system. And they never, in the Old Testament, ever were relieved from that tension of guilt of sin.

The Son of God, Jesus Christ paid all our debts in full. He removed sin and He removed all judgment and with it, He removed the fear of judgment. I don’t live in mortal fear of seeing God eventually, I live in great anticipation because all my sins are covered. They were only external. They never got to the heart of the issue either. They always were on the outside looking in.

Verse 4, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and lambs to take away sins.” All that the blood of bulls and lambs could do would was doing an act of obedience that had an external significance. It never got to the heart of the issue at all. It never took away sin. I want to worship You, so I’ll offer a sacrifice.” And God was saying, “On the basis of your works, in response to your faith, I accept that.”

The Levitical sacrifices possessed, by God’s design, an efficacy to remove an outward ceremonial defilement, but they never got inside to change a man’s nature and reverse that moral trend. Ezekiel said there’s coming a day when God is going to change you, when He’s going to take away that stony heart of you and He’s going to give you a heart of flesh, and He’ll pour His Spirit upon you.

Verse 5 - 6 say, “Therefore, as He was coming into the world, He said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but You prepared a body for Me. 6 You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.” This is Christ talking to the Father before He entered the world. God didn’t like it. Because they took something that should’ve been a symbol of faith and they turned it into a ritual where there was no faith.

Animal sacrifices were ineffective for three reasons. They couldn’t bring access to God. They couldn’t remove sin. And they were always external. The ineffectiveness of animal sacrifices is now compared to the effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice, and we’ll see that from verse 5 through verse 18. Here he contrasts the tremendous effectiveness of what Christ did to this old system.

Verse 5 says, “Therefore, as He was coming into the world, He said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but You prepared a body for Me.” Christ’s sacrifice was effective because, it was God’s will all along. In the mind of God, before the world was ever created, God knew that the old system wouldn’t cut it. And in His mind, He had planned that Jesus would have to come and die.

Verse 7, “Then I said, “See it is written about Me in the scroll. I have come to do your will, God.” This is a pre-incarnation conversation with God. And so God had formed a body for the Son. So God willed a holy humanity. This is an indication of the virgin birth that Jesus was not born of an earthly father. God prepared a body in Mary. He didn’t need a father. God can do anything He wants.

Verse 8 - 9, “After He says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law), 9 He then says, See, I have come to do Your will. He takes away the first to establish the second.” It’s trying to tell you the old is done away, the new has come, you see. The old didn’t do it. God planned it all along.

The Jews were always accusing the Christians of bringing in some heresy, and so they always related to Old Testament passages. Remember what John 1:17 says? “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” And so Christ’s sacrifice was better, because it replaced the Old Testament. It was better because it sanctifies the believer, so it makes the believer holy.

Verse 10, “By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.” Whose will? The will of God, that sent Christ. By what Christ did in response to the will of God, “we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” You know that when Jesus died on that cross and you put your faith in Him, you became sanctified.

God’s will is that He wants you to be sanctified, set apart, not only positionally but practically. In the Greek it is a perfect participle with a finite verb. It shows in the strongest way the permanent, continual state of salvation in which the believer exists. It’s talking about permanence. “By which will we are sanctified.” When you have a perfect participle and a finite verb, you can’t lose your salvation.

You shall remain positionally holy forever because as God sees you, He sees not your righteousness but Christ’s righteousness in your behalf, because you believed. But practically, you’re hurting. And God’s will is that we be practically holy to match that position. And you can’t be holy by works. You can work your head off, but you’re not going to get holy, you’ll just get tired.

Verse 11-12, “Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. 12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” Christ’s sacrifice is better because it removes sin. How many sacrifices? One sacrifice for sins forever. He was done, so He sat down.

In verse 10, the priests were always standing up because they never got done. And in verse 12, “Jesus sat down on the right hand of God.” Theirs was the position of a servant. His was the position of a king. “Daily ministering and offering often the same sacrifices.” Verse 12, “He had offered one sacrifice.” Another contrast, verse 11, “it can never take away sins.” The sacrifice of Jesus was effective forever.

Verse 13, “He is now waiting until his enemies are made His footstool.” Christ’s sacrifice was effective because it destroyed His enemy. All the sacrifices in the Old Testament didn’t do a thing to get rid of Satan. When Jesus rose again from the cross, He dealt a death blow to all of His enemies. And when He descended into the prison where the fallen angels were kept, He declared His triumph over them.

Verse 14, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.” And here again is the security of the believer, eternal forgiveness. He didn’t perfect us until we next sin. He didn’t bring us into access with God until we blew it and deserved to get kicked out. “For by one offering” He brought us into God’s presence “forever.” There is no way that a believer can lose that forgiveness.

“Shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” “How shall we that are servants of Jesus Christ yield our members as servants of unrighteousness?” What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you know you should be dead to sin? If you’re really a believer, you will try not to have that desire. And so there is a permanent state of completeness in salvation brought about by one act of Christ.

Verse 15-16, “The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after He says: 16 this is the covenant I will make with them after those days, the Lord says, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds.” The sacrifice of Christ is effective because it fulfills the promised New Testament. God said, “I’m going to bring a new covenant.” And when Jesus died, He sealed the New Testament.

Remember, the covenants in the Old Testament were always sealed in blood, weren’t they? Jesus died and sealed the new covenant. And the writer, in verse 15, begins to quote from Jeremiah 31 again. And Jeremiah said it would happen, but Jeremiah didn’t say it on his own. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Now, do you see what the writer is doing to these Jewish readers?

Verse 17, “And I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts.” He’s placing these readers in a position where they will have to accept their prophet Jeremiah, and they will accept what the Holy Spirit said through him, and if they do that, they’ll have to accept Christ and the New Testament. If they reject Christ and the new covenant, they also have to reject Jeremiah and the Holy Spirit.

Verse 18, “Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” It’s forgiven. Don’t go back to the temple and make more sacrifices. You can be saved tonight, without any works, by just believing the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ?” That’s exactly what I’m trying to say. The sacrifice of Christ is effective, forever because it fulfills God’s will. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 31 Mar 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240331 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000022C imblog

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

This is the great resurrection chapter. Now, this chapter is not particularly about the resurrection of Christ, although that is foundational to the resurrection. It’s about your resurrection and my resurrection. So this is your future we’re talking about here. This will happen to you and me. This is very personal. This looks ahead to what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him.

All of those who love Christ will rise from the dead. Those in the church will rise at the rapture of Christ. Those from the Old Testament and through the tribulation will rise at the resurrection of saints at the end of the tribulation, but we will all rise. We will be given glorified bodies. We will be persons as in the cases of Moses and Elijah. This is the promise of the Word of God.

Christians don’t believe in reincarnation, an endless cycle where you could come back as a human being or a bug. We don’t believe in annihilation that some religions teach. We don’t believe in soul sleep. We believe that after death, we will live. We will live as spirits, but we will be joined to our bodies, and forever we will be like Christ, an eternal spirit, living in a resurrected and eternal body.

This was important to the people living in the ancient world, and that is why Paul addresses the subject because there were many mockers when it came to resurrection. Because the Greek world had become dualistic and believed that spirit was good and matter was bad. The end of all people should be the deliverance from material, and you would be a spirit living in a spirit world.

But Paul wants believers to know that contrary to what popular philosophy taught, there was going to be a resurrection. Christianity teaches something very different than that in the New Testament, and that message needs to be made clear to the Corinthians. You will live forever but you will not live as a disembodied spirit, you will live as a resurrected man or a resurrected woman.

And in 1 Corinthians 15 you have this thorough, detailed presentation of resurrection. It all begins with a look at the gospel because our resurrection is based on Christ’s resurrection. It was Jesus, who said in a verse that is critical, “Because I live, you will live also.” His resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection. He is the first fruits of those people who died.

Philippians tells us we will have a body like His glorious body. And His was a body that could be touched, as we know in the case of Thomas. His was a body that could speak and socialize, as we saw with our Lord post-resurrection appearances to so many people on so many occasions. And so the resurrection of Christ is the foundation of a discussion of resurrection of all people.

For believers this is a glimpse at your glorious future. You ought to care about this because this is what you will receive from God. Let me read beginning at verses 1-11, “Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you.

Unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then He appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive.

But some have fallen asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, He also appeared to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them.

Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.” Here is collected testimony to the resurrection of Christ. This is absolutely critical and it is foundational. Paul begins with an emphatic introduction and emphatic declaration. And what does he want to make clear? The gospel I preached to you, which you received.

You are being saved by your continuing faith in the gospel. That is a present tense. It is the gospel that continues to hold you, to give you salvation, and it is a gospel of resurrection. Now, this is true of you, and he throws this in because there were certainly some people in the Corinthian church who were not genuine believers. They were there, but they weren’t genuine.

He understands that there have come into that church non-believers. They were the ones who probably initially gave a foothold to the false teachers. The gospel, he says, has done all of this. It has saved you. You stand in it, unless you believed for nothing. Unless your faith was vain. And if you had a vain faith, an empty faith, you will not cling to the gospel. Endurance is always a sign.

This is what we call the perseverance of the saints. You believe the gospel. You stand in the gospel. And you hold fast to the Word of the gospel. So if you are among those who hold fast the Word (that being the gospel which I preached to you) and have not believed for nothing, then you already understand that this is the implication and the importance of the resurrection.

And for those who hold fast, it is proof that their salvation is real. They are the doers of the Word and not the hearers. They are the ones who are genuine. And for them, there is a committed faith in the resurrection. You believed, you received, and you hold fast to the gospel as a true Christian. And that gospel, as he then says in verses 3 and 4, is a gospel that includes the resurrection.

Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” The redeemed church is the first witness to bodily resurrection. To say that believers don’t have a bodily resurrection is to defy the very fact that is necessary to be saved and that is to believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ who lives so that we may live.

Resurrection faith is absolutely unique to Christianity. The accounts of Buddha, who identify what Buddhism is, never ascribe to him any such thing as a resurrection. Mohammed died on June 8, 632 A.D., at the age of 61 at Medina, and his tomb is annually visited by thousands of Muslims. There has never been any indication by any of them of a resurrected Mohammed.

What does Baptism symbolize? They were going in the water because Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.” It symbolizes our union with Christ in His death, in which He bore our sin, and His resurrection, in which He raised us to life.

Just as God had reached down and snatched me on the Damascus Road and redeemed me, the Lord Himself taught me. This is what I have received from the Lord directly by revelation from Him. He says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 11:23, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you.” When he was in Nabatean Arabia, he was getting his theology directly from God.

So Paul says, “I delivered to you as of first priority, first of all, the principal things, what I received. Here they were, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.” They are historical facts. The two greatest facts of the gospel are the death of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection of Christ is depicted in the baptism; and the death of Christ is depicted in the communion. According to the scriptures, what do you mean? Twice He refers to the Old Testament. Luke 24:25-27 says, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into His glory?”

27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Psalm 22 describes the details of the crucifixion and the words that Jesus said on the cross. In Isaiah 53 you have the Lamb sacrificed for sinners, wounded for our transgressions, and by His stripes, we are healed. Peter’s first sermon on the Day of Pentecost was on Psalm 16.

Psalm 16:10 tells us, “You will not abandon My soul to Sheol nor will You allow your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to Me the path of life.” So you have the testimony of the church of a bodily resurrection. And you have the testimony of the scriptures to the reality of a bodily resurrection. And Paul is giving the Corinthian believers a foundation for believing in resurrection.

Added to that, thirdly, you have the testimony of eyewitnesses. And 1 Corinthians 15:5 says, “He appeared to Cephas.” This is now the very day of Christ’s resurrection. Paul records in chronological order a number of post-resurrection appearances of the risen Savior. Human courts, have always based their testimony of eyewitnesses, especially those who are trustworthy, and possessing integrity.

Paul gives us reasons why. Verse 5, “And He appeared.” What’s the best evidence that you’ve risen from the dead? He appeared. He was not merely the figment of their desire. It wasn’t a mass hallucination because they wanted it to happen. We already read about His appearance on the road to Emmaus. We know about His appearance to Mary Magdalene and the other women at the tomb.

But Paul goes directly to the apostolic witnesses, the most credible witnesses of all, which is Cephas. In Luke 24:34 Peter says, “He’s alive. How amazing that He first appeared to Peter because it was Peter who denied Him. There is in that appearance all kinds of forgiving love and grace. Jesus needed Peter for a strategic ministry. Peter had wept out his heart for his defection.

He wanted to be restored. He wanted the Lord to know he loved Him. He said, “Read my mind, You know I love you,” John 21. He became an eyewitness of the resurrection. Then He appeared to the twelve, only by now they’re just eleven because Judas is gone by suicide. And the eleven went on to preach the resurrection. Read the book of Acts. They were all preachers of the resurrection.

And verse 6 says He appeared to more than five hundred brethren, most likely in Galilee. Not just the apostles but others and a huge number of others. He appeared to them on one occasion, apparently one time. This is not a mass hallucination. This is a real appearance. And the majority of them are still alive when this was written. And 1 Corinthians was written before any of the four gospels.

Then in verse 7, he adds James, probably not the apostle James. There were two in the apostles: James, the son of Zebedee, the brother of John, and James, the son of Alphaeus. But this is likely James, the brother of our Lord who became the leader of the Jerusalem church and convened the Jerusalem council. We know this is a reality because in John 7, it says, “His brothers didn’t believe in Him.”

Peter and James are unlikely witnesses because they were both deniers of Jesus. So two of His appearances were to men who had wounded Him by their unbelief and had been forgiven. Then He appeared to all the apostles. Probably appearing to the twelve is the immediate appearances after the resurrection. One on that Sunday night and again on the next Sunday night.

This is not a little band of defeated cowards. These are people who literally preached this message until their lives were snuffed out. When the apostles of Jesus, proclaimed the resurrection, they did so as eyewitnesses, and they did so with people who had contact with other eyewitnesses. There were five hundred. Their testimony was corroborated. It passes the limits of credibility.

Number four, the testimony of Paul, verses 8 to 10. “And last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also, for I am the least of the apostles and am not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me didn’t prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”

Here’s the unique testimony of Paul who also saw the resurrected Christ. He’s the writer, so this is firsthand. May I say to you that the last person our Lord ever appeared to was Paul. After His ascension, He appeared only to Paul, and on several occasions. And in vision form in the apocalypse. Acts 23:9 says, “I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.”

And he says in verse 11, “Whether then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.” Whether it was the apostles or the associates of the apostles, whether it was the twelve or Paul, who comes later, whether it was the men and women who made up the five, the message was the same. So we preach and so you believed the cross, the resurrection, they all had the same message. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Mar 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240324 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000022B imblog

Hebrews 2:9-18

The goal for us at this point, as we come to the Word of God, is to consider the glory of our Savior, and so let us turn to Hebrews 2. And while this section of Scripture is worthy of careful, detailed explanation, we’ll try to hit the highlights. Now Hebrews was written to Jews. Some of them believed in Christ. Others were in the process of considering Christ, and they needed further clarification.

And there were other Jews who were just on the outside looking in. But to all of them, this letter is written to demonstrate that Jesus is the one true Savior of the world. So the writer begins in Hebrews 1 by declaring that Jesus is superior to angels. Angels are servants, verse 7 says, but to the Son, verse 8 says, “Your throne God, is forever and the scepter of Your kingdom is the scepter of justice.

God has anointed you” verse 9, “with the oil of joy beyond Your companions.” The only one above the angels was God Himself. This is an amazing declaration. Everything in creation bows to Christ, verse 13 says: “To which of the angels has He ever said, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool?” And the answer is to no angel. So Christ is superior to angels.

The Jews understood that angels were heavenly beings. They were associated with the work of God and the law of God. They worshiped the true God in holiness. So who is greater than the angels? If you’re going to suggest that this Jesus Christ is our Savior and He is our Redeemer, He has to be greater than men, because men cannot redeem themselves; and He is also greater than angels.

But the lingering question among the Jews is, “How could this man, Jesus, be greater than the angels, when He was a man and died? How could be the perfect Savior? How could He be the Messiah and be killed?” In 1 Corinthians 1:23 the apostle Paul says the death of Christ on the cross was a stumbling block to the Jews. How can you have the Messiah be human, and so human as to even die?

The writer has to answer that basic question. And what we learn is summed up in Hebrews 2:9, “We do see Jesus made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone, and crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death.” Jesus Christ was born to die, born in human flesh for the very purpose of dying for believers.

Those soft baby hands, fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, were made to take two great nails. Those tender feet, were to walk a hill and be executed in front of masses of people. That sacred head, was to wear a crown of thorns. Jesus was born for death. That tender body, wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem, was to be ripped open by a spear to reveal a broken heart.

That does not disqualify Him; that qualifies Him to be our great Savior. Man, created by God, would have dominion over the creation, but fell into sin and lost his crown. Man should be a king, but instead he is a slave, bound to sin and ruled by what he was designed originally to rule over. And into this situation came Jesus, to make men what God intended, to restore the crown.

So while the Jews were wondering how He could be the Savior if He’s a man and He died, the New Testament makes it crystal clear, repeatedly, that in order to be the Savior, He had to be a man, and He had to die. Dying as a man qualified Him to be our great Savior. As you look at verses 9 till verse 18, Jesus is presented as our great Savior by five images that are perfect.

First, He is our substitute; second, He is our Creator; third, He is our sanctifier; fourth, He is our Satan-conqueror; and fifth, He is our sympathizer. Now these are familiar to you as a believer, but beautifully and magnificently that all comes together in this particular text. Let’s look at verse 9, where we see Christ as our substitute, “We see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels.”

We learn from Hebrews 1 that Jesus was above the angels. The angels were ministering spirits, and He was the sovereign ruler who sat at the right hand of God. But for a little while He was made lower than the angels, this Jesus, because of the suffering of death. He had to taste death for everyone who believes. In other words, to redeem His people He had to die their death.

So the first reason Jesus came into the world was to taste death for everyone who believes, a substitutionary death. We understand that; that’s the heart of the gospel. It involved a humiliation. He was made a little while lower than the angels. Paul says Philippians 2: Being equal with God, He didn’t hold onto that; He gave it up and came all the way down to humanity, and all the way to death on the cross.

Why? To taste death for everyone who believes. He’s the only one who could be the substitute. He was guilty of nothing, and yet He tasted death for sinners. Galatians 4 says He came to redeem those under the law. Romans 8 says He came in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, “He died for all.” Only by the Son through death can any sinner be forgiven.

This was an act in verse 9 that was prompted “by the grace of God.” That is God’s motivation. Solely on the basis of God’s good pleasure, God’s free lovingkindness, He chose to send His Son as a substitute for sinners. And He was so successful at it that as a result of that substitutionary death, Jesus the Son of God was subsequently “crowned with glory and honor.”

Philippians 2 says God gave Jesus a name above every name, seated Him at His right hand, and validating His work. Rather than the cross needing an apology, the Savior had to be killed, and He had to be killed in the place of sinners. And so was this the plan, that God exalted Him, crowned Him with glory and honor. For thirty-three years, He was lower than the angels, to die as our substitute.

Secondly, the writer presents Jesus as our author. In verse 10, “For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” It was entirely appropriate that God in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

“Author” could be “pioneer.” The word archēgos is, in Acts, actually translated “Prince of life” when referring to Christ. So He, though placed in a lowly position for His time here, was always elevated as the sovereign Lord and Savior. God knew that if Christ was going to bring many sons and daughters to glory, there had to be someone to make perfect the author of salvation.

The cross was the masterpiece of wisdom. It demonstrated God’s hatred for sin. It agreed with His grace because it was an act of love to bring forgiveness of sin. It was fitting with His power. Christ endured a few hours of darkness, took the full fury of the wrath of God for all the people who would ever be saved through all of human history. He is the archēgos, the prince, the author and pioneer.

That word is interesting. It has to do with a person who begins something and takes other people with him. And in that sense, He is our creator and our King, and He brought us into His kingdom. He’s our leader. His ability to lead us to God, to show us the way to God, necessitated His suffering. That’s how the verse ends: “The author of their salvation was perfected through sufferings.”

So rather than death disqualifying Christ, it qualifies Him. Hebrews 5:9 says He is the source of eternal salvation: “He became to all who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” So the writer of Hebrews is saying, as you look at Christ you understand that He is our substitute, and He is our creator. He is the author of our salvation, the pioneer, the one who leads us to God.

Thirdly, the writer wants us to understand that Jesus is our sanctifier. Verse 11 says, “For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” He is the one who makes us holy. He is the one who makes us righteous. Christ is the sanctifier, we are the “sanctified”, we are the ones who are made holy.

Do we really share in this holiness? Verse 11 again, to this degree, that He’s “not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” If you wonder what the level of your holiness is in the eyes of God, it is equal to that of Christ. Christ, you would assume, would have every reason to be ashamed of you, right? But He is not ashamed. Hebrews 11 says, “Jesus is not ashamed to be called their God.”

Christ has no shame in identifying with us, while we know that we don’t even deserve to be identified with Him. It is because we have been granted a covering righteousness that is so true and so real, a genuine righteousness, a righteousness that couldn’t be granted apart from sin being paid for on the cross. This is a childhood that is expressed even further in verses 12 and 13.

Verse 12 says, “I will proclaim your name to My brothers and sisters.” That’s Christ speaking to the Father. Isaiah 8 says: “‘I will proclaim Your name to My brothers and sisters in the midst of the congregation.’ Verse 13, “I will trust in Him. And here I am with the children God gave me.” There’s reference to Psalm 22. This is interesting, because He never called His people “brothers and sisters.”

He called them disciples, called them friends, and called them sheep. But as soon as He came out of the grave, He said to Mary, “Go to My brothers and sisters and say to them, "The cross and the resurrection declares Him to be the perfect Savior, sanctifier as well, who provides eternal sonship and daughtership for all who put their trust in Him; and the people, singing praise has the Messiah in their midst.”

In verses 14 and 15 we find another aspect: He is our Satan-conqueror. Verse 14 says, “Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the devil.” Our substitute, our author, our sanctifier, crushed Satan’s head, and crushed Satan at the cross. He did it through death.

Through death He conquered death. Through death He did in verse 15, “And free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.” Satan holds people in guilt over their sin and produces in people the fear of death. The power of death here means “dominion.” That’s why Paul says to Timothy that Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light.

Matthew 10:28 says, “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Now, if you’re afraid, and you’re not interested in witnessing for Christ, you’re not going to pay the price. No matter what you say, you’re probably not a Christian. Because if you love the world and you’re of the world, then you’re not of God.

So we’re trying to be like Christ. And being like Christ means we’re going to be treated like Christ. And there’s going to be a temptation to be afraid and pull back your testimony and shut your mouth and not be argumentative, and not say what ought to be said. And so, don’t be afraid. Fear has absolutely strangled testimony. People are afraid to say the truth; they’re afraid to be honest.

Lastly, He is our sympathizer. Verse 16, “For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring.” There’s no redemption for angels. They are holy permanently. They never die. Therefore, in verse 17, “He had to be made like His brothers and sisters in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest, to make atonement for the sins of the believers.”

He was made like His brothers and sisters in all things: He was hungry, He was thirsty, He was overcome with weariness, He slept, He was taught, He grew, He loved, He was astonished, He marveled, He was glad, He was sad, He was angry, He was indignant, He was grieved, He was troubled, He was overcome. He exercised faith in His Father. He read the Scriptures. He prayed all night.

And then in verse 18, “For since He himself has suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted.” He sighed when He saw a man in need; and tears fell from His eyes when His heart ached. He was like us. Why? So that He could come to the aid of those who are tempted. And Christ does that today for all believers that put their trust in Him and are tempted.

So the Jews may have thought that this Jesus was disqualified from being the great Savior, but the fact of the matter is He is the only one qualified, our substitute, our author, our sanctifier, our Satan-conqueror, and our sympathizer. Christ is all. He understands our needs, our joys, our sorrow and our struggles. So when you think about offering thanks for Christ tonight, think about Hebrews 2. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Mar 2024 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240317 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000022A imblog

Acts 24:17-27

This evening we complete our look at Felix, the tragedy of a man who had a great opportunity, but postponed it and forfeited it. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable,” and so since all is profitable, we expect the Spirit of God to really teach our hearts. This passage deals with Felix and Paul who was on trial before him.

Paul had been accused of crimes which were all false. They had been given by some antagonistic Jewish leaders who wanted to see Paul dead because he was a threat to their theological security. And we not only see Paul, and the history and the example of his blameless life, we also see God at work. But we see Felix, a tragic man, who had a life-and-death issue, but squandered it.

Felix must judge in the case of Paul. The problem has now been pushed to a higher court, the court of Felix, in Caesarea, the Roman headquarters. And Felix must make a legal decision regarding Paul, but beyond that, he must make a personal decision regarding Jesus Christ. And that really is the ultimate. And the record is of a man who forfeited a tremendous opportunity.

There are three parts to the trial: the prosecution, the defense, and the verdict. And we saw last time the prosecution. In verses 1 to 9, the Jews come to Caesarea, and they accuse Paul of three things: sedition, which means he stirs up Jews against Rome. Sectarianism is that he was a religious heretic against Jews as being a Nazarene, and being sacrilege toward God.

All those charges against Paul are false. He is accused of those things, and guilty of none of them. This is something that Paul anticipated and expected. Christians who live holy lives in Satan’s world will always have to contend with false accusations. Jesus says in Matthew 10:16, “I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.”

Jesus says that there's going to be hostility when you get out there. He says then, “You should be as wise as serpents”, you should be careful and clever. And you should be as innocent or as guiltless “as doves.” Paul has shown us again and again his cleverness, in the way he was able to construct the situation to benefit the Gospel, even in the midst of a very hostile audience.

Matthew 10:17-20, “Beware of them, because they will hand you over to local courts and flog you in their synagogues. 18 You will even be brought before governors and kings because of me, to bear witness to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they hand you over, don’t worry about what you are to speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour, 20 because it is the Holy Spirit speaking through you.”

Paul had already experienced that. “They will flog you in their synagogues.” He was on the verge of being scourged, not in the synagogue, but in Fort Antonia. But the Jews did do the floggings in their local synagogues. “And you will be brought before governors and kings.” Paul has been brought before the governor, Felix, and he’ll be brought before the king, Agrippa in Acts 26.

Jesus says, “But when they hand you over, don’t worry about what you are to speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour, 20 because it is the Holy Spirit speaking through you.” That is a direct promise to the apostles. But in an indirect sense that can be passed down to us in the fact that the Spirit leads us and guides us. And in Paul’s trials, whenever he spoke, he spoke revelation.

God gave him the words, and they’re recorded in Scripture. And He says in Matthew 10:21-22, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Now, the reason for this hostility is because of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 10:26 says, “Therefore, don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered and nothing hidden that won’t be made known.” In other words, don’t be afraid, because there will come a time when judgment will be done, and proper rewards will be given, and we’ll unmask the truth of who was real and who wasn’t and who deserves a reward and who doesn’t.

Verse 28, “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” God has instant information. Anything that exists, He knows. Now, Jesus goes on to talk about the fact that we should expect this, and that God’s going to care for us. You need to step out and pay a price, which is being against the world system.

In Matthew 10:37-39 Jesus says, “The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of Me will find it.” Jesus says expect trouble when you are a Christian.

Let’s look at the defense in Acts 24. Paul, having heard their false charges - sedition, sectarianism, and sacrilege - against him, he decides that he will answer them when he is asked to by Felix in verse 10. First to sedition he replies in verses 11 to 13 which say, “You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.”

12 They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city. 13 Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me.” I have not done any of these things. I haven’t been here long enough to start a revolution. The time that I was here, I was in the temple, and I wasn’t arguing with anybody.

It’s an illustration of the stupidity of the Jewish accusations. You can go back to Malachi. One of the seven deadly sins that destroyed Israel, Malachi said, was they kept lifting up evil men. Verse 14, “But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.”

The Jews are not worshiping the true God; they don’t believe all things in the law and Prophets, and they don’t believe in the resurrection.” And they were Sadducees. Paul says, “I am the true Jew; they’re the heretics.” The third accusation was sacrilege, that he had attempted to profane the sacred temple, and was accused of blaspheming God, and he replies to that in verse 17 and following.

Verse 17-20, “After many years, I came to bring charitable gifts and offerings to my people.” 18 While I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar. 19 It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges. 20 Or let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin.”

Remember, he had collected that money from all the Gentile Christians, and he was bringing it to give to the Jewish Christians as a sign of love. The only true Jew in existence is the Christian Jew, the one who is a Jew not outwardly, but inwardly. These Jews from Asia Minor came and they found me there, and they saw that I was doing nothing there. I had not desecrated the temple.

Where are your witnesses? There weren’t any. You know why? Because he hadn’t done it. Why don’t you let them tell you if they found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council? And the council had met, remember? And they were going to say, “We’re going to find out what this guy did,” and the council ended in a riot, and they never did find out anything.

Verse 21, “Other than this one statement I shouted while standing among them, ‘Today I am on trial before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’” Paul knows that that’s no criminal issue at all. That’s a theological discussion, no issue for a court. And Felix knew this. He knew it even before Paul’s testimony, because he got a letter from the Claudius Lysias, which explained it.

A Roman judge cannot make a determination in a case or regarding Jewish theology. There is no crime, there’s nothing. Felix knew that, he knew the real issue. Paul just gave him the responsibility. He says, “The only thing they’ve got that hassles them is that I made a statement concerning the resurrection of the dead, and that’s the issue, and that’s the only thing that they could bring up.”

So what is the verdict? The only possible verdict that could be rendered was that Paul was innocent. Felix knows that the Jews have perjured themselves from the beginning of the trial to the end. And Felix knew from the letter from Claudius what went on. They lied about the accusations, because they had no witnesses. So Felix has got a problem. He knew the Jews lied, but he was afraid.

He had a lot of Jews on his hands who were very angry, and angry Jews can cause a revolution. Remember Pilate? The ultimate reason that Pilate finally allowed Jesus to be crucified was just because he wanted to pacify the Jews, because he was afraid he’d lose his job if he couldn’t rule well. And Felix is trapped the same way. His relationship to Roman law and to Rome is at stake.

Verse 22, “Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.” Luke is telling us that Felix knew what the right answer was; that Felix, having a more perfect knowledge of the Way, knew what he should have done. But he was a coward. There is no record that Claudius Lysias ever was called and came.

He just permanently postponed the thing. And there were a lot of other Christians, and he was in Judea for nine years. Look what verse 23 says, “He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs.” A centurion is a soldier in charge of 100 other soldiers.

Here is a stupid compromise. Felix is going to give Paul a modified freedom, and pacify his conscience. Paul had liberty, and his friends and acquaintances could come to him at will, but this is really the act of a coward. He postpones everything. It’s the record of a man before a pagan judge, being accused by Jewish accusers, who comes off innocent. It’s just like the case of Christ.

So, as we look at the trial from Paul’s perspective, it gives to us a picture of a man who is a holy man, who can stand before a group of people who are searching every corner they can find to get something against him, and they can’t find anything; so should it be in your life. Now, what about God’s perspective? Is it in the sovereign will of God?” Of course it always is.

The whole two years Paul is there, we don’t know of any sermon that he preached, or of anything that he ever wrote. God just let him rest. Whatever the thing is, God knew that Paul needed two years there. And whatever God accomplished, He accomplished within His purpose. Lastly, we need to look at Felix. His past is bad, his present is compromised, and indecision in his future is tragic.

Verse 24-26, “Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus. 25 Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I’ll call for you.” 26 At the same time he hoped that Paul would offer him money.

What the faith in Christ means is the faith: the totality of Christian content. Paul gave him all the gospel. He told him Jesus was God. He told him Jesus was born of a virgin. He told him Jesus lived a miraculous life. He told him Jesus died on the cross for the deliverance of sin. He told him Jesus rose the third day from the dead. He told him all the facts of the gospel.

So, Paul told Felix, “Here’s God’s standard, and God demands that you conform to it.” And if you don’t, that’s the third word: judgment to come. That’s the gospel. God’s absolute ideal; you must conform to it or be judged. This could get very personal to Felix. After Paul presented the ideal of righteousness, and then Paul started shooting down Felix, because Felix had no self-control at all.

And he started to talk to him about his sin, and the fact that he had not lived up to God’s standard. That God demanded absolute righteousness, and here’s Felix, living way below that level. And then Paul says, “But because you can’t live up to it, Jesus Christ took your penalty, paid your judgment, and offers you His righteousness by faith.” That’s the gospel. But Felix just wanted money.

Verse 27, “After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.” The reason Felix got changed was there was a big riot in Caesarea, and Felix put it down with such violence that the Jews were outraged, and the outraged Jews managed to get his recall from Rome, and so he lost his office. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240310 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000229 imblog

Acts 24:10-16

This is the story of Felix. It starts out as the trial of Paul before Felix, and it ends up as the trial of Felix before Paul. In Acts we have an illustration of the tragedy of postponing a decision about Christ. In Acts 24:24, we read, “Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus.”

Verse 25, “Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I’ll call for you.” A man who postpones isn’t fit, but there are a lot of people who do that. They say, “Someday I’m going to give my life to Christ. Someday I’m going to receive Christ as my Savior.” They’re gambling with their lives.

Careless people postpone for two reasons. One is their constant rejection may harden their hearts. You see, the more you resist Christ the harder you become and the easier it is to resist. God says “don’t be like Israel,” who kept hardening in the wilderness until they finally never were allowed to enter. They all died in the wilderness. Why? Because they forfeited the rest of the Promised Land.

Secondly, God stops calling after a certain point. In the pre-Noah time, God said, “My Spirit will not always strive with man.” Now, we meet such a man in Acts 24, his name is Felix. Felix was a procurator of Judea from AD 52 to 59. It fell his lot to deal with Paul the apostle, even as it had fallen the lot of a previous procurator by the name of Pilate to deal with Jesus Christ.

In this passage we find Paul and Felix confronting each other in a hearing, a form of a trial. The Jewish leaders desired to kill Paul. Paul represented to them a serious threat, the same threat that Jesus represented, he was getting a great following. And, the Jewish leaders feared that they would lose their authority, that they would lose their prestige and position in the eyes of the people.

Three times in Jerusalem they had tried to kill him in a riotous situation. Once they had tried to kill him with a plotted ambush. And after those three attempts, the Romans have finally decided that they’ve got to get Paul out of town to save his life, because Paul was a Roman citizen, and they had to protect him. Secondly, he had committed no crime. So, the Romans hustled him down to Caesarea.

They put him in the praetorium, the palace of the governor; the seat of the Roman government being in Caesarea. The accusers of the Jews are sent to Caesarea to bring the case before Felix in order to get a more fair trial than ever would be possible in the city of Jerusalem. So the plot to kill Paul moves to Caesarea, and these accusers are attempting to get Paul executed for his crimes.

Now in Acts 24, the trial takes place. It’s got three parts: the prosecution, the defense, and the verdict or the judgment. We saw last time the prosecution. Paul has been in Caesarea five days waiting for his accusers to arrive. Verse 1, “Five days later Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor.”

Now he begins his accusation by flattery to Felix, “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight. 3 We acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with utmost gratitude. 4 But, so that I will not burden you any further, I request that you would be kind enough to give us a brief hearing.”

Here are the three accusations. One, sedition, “A terrible threat to the security of Rome because he leads the Jews in insurrection. The second thing; sectarianism, they accuse him of being a heretic. “He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” Now, the Nazarenes really was the name of Christians. It was demeaning. When they said “Jesus of Nazareth” that was a slur.

Many of the Messianic offshoots of Judaism definitely were problems to Rome; they were militant. So they accused him of sectarianism. Thirdly, they accused him of sacrilege, verse 6-8, “He even tried to desecrate the temple, and so we apprehended him. 8 By examining him yourself you will be able to discern the truth about these charges we are bringing against him.”

They accused Paul of bringing a Gentile into the place. He hadn’t done it, it was a lie like the rest of it. Then they said, “Whom we took and would have judged according to our law,” but of course that was a lie; they wanted to kill him in a riot. And, “Then the chief captain, Lysias, came and with great violence, took him away out of our hands.” He took him away because they were trying to kill him.

Then they brought their witnesses in verse 9, put them on the stand, and they all said, “That’s right, he did that.” So they had a prosecution from their lawyer and then witnesses to agree to it. Incidentally, it’s all lies. Paul could stand up there and say, “Friends, I am blameless.” That’s what God wants. He wants Christians to be called before the tribunal of the world and be a witness.

Now let’s look at the defense and watch how Paul defends himself. And he does it calmly, and categorically. Verse 10, “When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.” Paul didn’t have a lawyer or a character who knew his way in and out of Roman law.

When Jesus was leaving the earth and He told His disciples in John, “I’m going to go away, but I will send to you another Comforter.” The word “comforter” is from paraklētos. It means: one called alongside, somebody who is called alongside to assist. It could mean “a lawyer for the defense.” He didn’t have a human lawyer, but he had the divine lawyer for the defense.

Every word that he said to Felix was the word of the Holy Spirit. It’s all inspired right here in the Bible. It was Paul talking, but it was the Holy Spirit moving through him. So the defense for Paul that day was Paul’s and the Spirit as well. So he says, “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.”

There is no flattery there at all. Felix had been governor in that area for five years. Prior to that, he was under Cumanus for four years. So for at least nine years he was acquainted with Jewish affairs. In any judgment in regard to Jewish affairs, you would have to know Jewish custom. Paul is in effect saying, “Felix, I know that you have been around long enough to know this is a theological problem.”

Flattery is absolutely unacceptable to the Christian. Because Proverbs 26:28 says, “A flattering mouth works ruin,” and Psalm 12:3 says, “The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips.” Flattery is a calculated misrepresentation to gain something for yourself; it is mass self-indulgence and selfish. It is sin. People say, “Oh, if you want to get anything in life, you must flatter. No.

So Paul replies, first to the charge of sedition in verses 11-13, “You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. 12 They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city. 13 Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me.”

So Paul spent seven days in there carrying out a vow, and five days in Caesarea; but still they’re accusing him of starting a riot. Verse 11, “You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.” Not to desecrate, not to profane the temple; just to worship.” And he was carrying out the worship act of the Nazarite vow, which signified consecration to the Jew.

Verse 12, “They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.” I haven’t done anything! There is nothing with which they can accuse me.” Now, what is it that he denies? He says, “I have not been in the temple disputing.” This is the word for reasoning or arguing. He did this everywhere except Jerusalem.

Verse 13, “Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me.” If you don’t have any proof, you don’t have any case. So he denies the charges and makes clear the fact that they can’t prove them. That takes care of sedition. He has done nothing treasonous. The second thing they accused him of was sectarianism. He says, “I am not a heretic,” while at the same he says “I am a Christian.”

Verses 14 – 16, “But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets. 15 I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous. 16 I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and men.”

“According to the Way”, is according to Christianity. Unsaved people used to slur the Christians by calling them “Nazarenes” or slur them by calling them “Christians,” but the Christians called themselves “The Way,” members of The Way. We say, “Where did they get that name?” There is no other way. Jesus said, “I am the way.” Peter said, “There is no other name under Heaven whereby we can be saved.”

You can see the High Priest saying, “Here we go again on the resurrection,” because the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection, right? So you know what Paul says? “I would just like to say that it is true that I am a believer in the Way and consequently, I truly worship my God; I believe all of His revelation, including the part about resurrection.” Who are the real heretics?

The high priests who have ceased worshiping God because there is only one way to God; Jesus said, “No man comes to the Father but by Me,” who have ceased believing all the Law and the Prophets because if you believed all the law and the prophets, you are going to have to believe in Christ because all the Law and the prophets talked about was Christ. It’s a pretty strong argument.

They had charged Paul with being a religious heretic; they had charged him with belonging to a subversive, extreme offshoot of Judaism. Paul denies it, while at the same time he affirms that he is a Christian. And he says Christianity is true Judaism; Judaism without Christianity is as pagan as the worship of a totem pole. They’re heretics because you can’t worship God except through His Messiah.

They don’t even believe in the hope of Israel, which is the resurrection. He doesn’t bother to explain it because Felix knows. Felix knows Christianity, and he knows the dialogue between Christians and Jews. Verse 22 says, “Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”

In fact, the city of Caesarea was loaded with Christians, and one of the most vocal of them was Philip the Evangelist who lived there. And so Paul says, “I’m a Christian and I’m the only true worshiper of God standing here. These are the heretics.” He says, “So I worship the God of my ancestors.” That was the historic title for the God of Israel. God is called, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Romans 2:28-29 says, “For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. 29 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.” The only true Jews in the world are the Christian ones. In Romans 9:6 Paul says, “Not all who descended from Israel are Israel.”

Do you want to know what Paul’s view of Old Testament inspiration was? Yes, he believed every bit of it. You know what he’s implying? That they don’t, and he was right. If you believed the Old Testament law and the prophets, you’d have to believe in Christ. You know what has happened today with most Jews? They’ve rejected Christ. They have to also reject the Old Testament.

If you reject Christ as your Messiah, you’ll have to give up the whole idea of a Messiah because there is nothing else that fits it. And there’s a few scattered Orthodox Jews just standing there, bobbing up and down saying their prayers, cranking out the letter of the law, never getting behind it to even worry about what it means. In their blindness, they adhere to the Old Testament, but very few.

Did the Old Testament teach a resurrection?” Of course it did! Isaiah 26:19, Job 19:26, Daniel 12:2, and elsewhere the Old Testament taught a resurrection. But the Jews said, “The only binding truth in the Old Testament is what Moses said out of the first five books.” That’s why, Jesus quoted Exodus 3, because He knew that was the only thing that they would adhere to. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 03 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240303 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000228 imblog

Acts 24:1-9

Turn to Acts 24. Some passages in this scripture are very theological. And other books are very much the opposite, they are mostly a historical narrative, and Acts is one of those. So, at the end of Acts, we’re really seeing is the moving of God in the life of Paul We saw God’s providence work. We said that God works today through providence rather than through miracles.

There are still miracles today, and God performs today primarily are the miracles of the new spiritual birth. This is not a time when people are doing miracles. This is a day when God is ordering His will through providence. A “miracle” is when God violates the natural world to accomplish His purpose. Providence is where God uses all circumstances in the natural world to accomplish His purpose.

As we move through Acts, rather than seeing dramatic miracles, we see God working through providence. And it’s almost as if God is beginning to phase out that apostolic miracle era. In the beginning of Acts, you see miracle after miracle after miracle. And all of a sudden, as you flow toward the end, you begin to see that God starts working more with His providence through circumstances.

Remember, early in Acts where Peter and John were in jail? And God just created a local earthquake and yanked them out. What happens later in the book of Acts? Through a series of circumstances and plays between the Romans and the Jews, Paul gets out. But it isn’t miraculous; it’s providential, and we begin to see this. And so it becomes more and more a historical narrative.

This is really the story of Paul, but it’s also the story of Felix. Felix was a bad man. He was bad in every sense; he was corrupt. He stole his wife. As a 15-year-old girl, she married another man, a king. But he lusted after her, and seduced her, and stole her. Tacitus, the historian, said about Felix, “He had the office of a king and he ruled it with the mind of a slave.”

Felix is kind of a later Judas. Do you realize that Felix had the apostle Paul living in his house for two years? There wasn’t a mind like Paul; there wasn’t a man like him and Felix rejected all that Paul stood for and proclaimed. He was the governor of Judea from AD 52-59, and the reason he ruled is because his brother, Pallas, was close to Claudius, not because he had any qualities.

His term as procurator was marked by trouble; everything went wrong. He did manage to quell some riots, but he did it in such a dramatic way, that he overdid it to the extent that even when he stopped the riot, he killed so many people so that he alienated the Jews he was trying to protect. They hated him. He is a figure of infamy. He comes off in this story just as a coward.

There are three ways to look at it. You can look at what Paul is doing; that’s what we’ll do today. You can look at what God is doing; that’s what we’ll do next week, and, you can look at what Felix is doing; and that we’ll sum up next time. You can use this passage to teach the attitude of Paul in trial. You could use it to teach the tragedy of procrastination.

And you can use it to teach the providence of God. You can use it to teach the hatred of unbelief and the hardness of men’s hearts when they turn against Christ. Acts records the history of the church from the day of Pentecost until the church had finally spread itself to Rome. Two people dominated those years. The first few years are dominated by Peter, and the last are dominated by Paul.

And we’re in the midst of the story of Paul, who is the man who took the Gospel to the Gentiles. He really took three tours to the Gentiles. And as we come to Acts 24, he has just finished his third one. This is the last of his tours as a free man. He is now a prisoner. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he was really trying to pacify some of the Christian Jews by showing them he wasn’t anti-Jewish.

Claudius Lysias rescued Paul and he assumed that he must have done something terrible for people to be so adamant at trying to assassinate him, so he tried to get an accusation, but he couldn’t. So, he decided to torture Paul. He stretched him out on a rack to scourge him, and Paul reminded the soldiers standing by that he was a Roman, and in a panic they cut him loose, and there still was no accusation.

Claudius Lysias then decided to take him before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council. But they started fighting each other, and he still didn’t have an accusation. As a Roman, he has a sense of justice and honor toward Rome and he wants to keep his job, so he can’t execute a Roman citizen who is guilty of nothing. But in Jerusalem, he has to pacify the Jewish people or he’ll have a riot on his hands.

So, when he can’t accuse Paul of anything because he has no accusation, in order to try to get out from under this burden, he shuffles Paul out of town in the middle of the night and he uses 470 Roman soldiers to get him to Caesarea. So they got Paul to Caesarea, and that’s where he’s turned over to Felix now. And now Felix is saying, “What do I do? You pushed the whole thing upstairs.”

Now, the passage divides itself into three parts: the prosecution; the defense; and, the verdict. What are they going to accuse him of? Claudius Lysias sent Paul with a letter where he said, “I’m sending this guy, but as far as I can see, it’s only a matter of Jewish theology and he hasn’t really done anything for which he should be put in jail or for which he should killed.” So, he says he is innocent.

Maybe these Jewish leaders would be content just having Paul gone. But no, they wanted him dead. He was a threat to them. Because, he undermined their security. They loved their spiritual prominence. And Paul came along and just called them hypocrites and preached Jesus Christ as the Messiah. They had deemed Jesus a blasphemer and executed Him through the Romans.

So, they march on down to Caesarea. We see the prosecution. Verse 1, “Five days later Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor.” Now for Ananias, the high priest to get in on an accusation is unusual. This guy was upset. Of course, Ananias was as corrupt as you could be in every way.

Then you’ve got the elders, which were the key leaders of the Sanhedrin. So you have the Supreme Court there too. They didn’t want to do it alone, so they hired a smooth-tongued, slick character by the name of Tertullus, a professional lawyer; a guy who could come in there and figure it all out, and then could go and plead the case. This is a man who was well versed in legal procedure.

It was very common for orators in those days to do what Tertullus did. He praised Felix up with flattery, even though the man is intelligent enough to know that the Jewish people hated him. Verse 2, “When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to praise Felix and said, “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight.”

Felix had made absolutely no contribution to Roman peace whatsoever. In fact, the only time that Felix had brought peace was when he stomped out a riot that shouldn’t have started in the first place if he had known what he was doing. And he did such a lousy job that he alienated everybody else. And so he hadn’t really done anything that really contributed to peace.

Verse 3, “We acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with utmost gratitude.” And Felix didn’t believe it either, and he was there with his tongue in cheek, smiling from ear to ear because those Jewish people had to stand there and endure that. Verse 4, “But, so that I will not burden you any further, I request that you would be kind enough to give us a brief hearing.”

So there they are. All the accusers and their hired lawyer, have come down to bring their case against Paul. Verses 5-9 give us the accusations, which fall into three categories. The accusations are sedition, sectarianism and sacrilege. They accuse him of sedition which is a violation of Roman law, sectarianism is a violation of Jewish law, and sacrilege is a violation of God.

They accuse him on his relationship to Rome, to the Jews and to God. First, the sedition. Sedition means “treason.” And if the Romans think that this man is committing treason, or he is stirring up insurrection, he is in deep trouble. Verse 5, “For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.”

That isn’t an accusation; that’s just a general statement reflecting their attitude. “He causes us trouble.” He creates problems against the government. He is a mover of sedition among all the Jews in the world. The idea is that he is getting Jews to revolt against Rome. This man is gathering Jews and they’re all over the world revolting, treasonous, insurrection. Riots are happening.

Well they could have supported that. Paul didn’t stir up riots, but he sure was in on a lot of them. He would preach, and then some people would get excited and stir up the riot. But we’ll see, that even in the midst of those riots, Paul could never justifiably be accused. The Romans had placed all their rulers and soldiers in these areas to keep the peace; and this is the one thing they feared.

This particular accusation was very common in ancient times. You know, tyrannical emperors used this concept of sedition or treason at will to execute anybody who disagreed with them. It is interesting to me that all through Acts, Christians are on trial for their preaching, and that with great detail the Holy Spirit records all the features of the trial. Why does the Holy Spirit tell us every detail?

The Lord put it here because throughout history, Christianity was always condemned on the basis of the fact that it was a revolutionary movement. And the Holy Spirit is careful to record, in the book of Acts, trial after trial after trial after trial of Christians, where in every single case in the book of Acts, it is abundantly clear that they were innocent of any violation of civil law.

Now they accuse him of this insurrection. Now, I don’t think Felix believed this, because Claudius Lysias had already written in his letter, “I perceive this to be a question about their law, having nothing to do with death or bonds.” In other words, it isn’t a legal matter for us to consider; it’s strictly a theological issue between them. So it starts out, with a vague charge, which is not evidence.

Six times in Acts Jesus was called The Nazarene. It was a term of contempt. Apparently, it was a very popular term, because Tertullus does not bother to explain it to Felix. There were a lot of Messianic groups at that time, and these factions were very troublesome to Rome. And so by calling Paul a ringleader of these Nazarenes, he throws Paul in the bag of Messianic offshoots of Judaism.

The third accusation is in verse 6, “He even tried to desecrate the temple, and so we apprehended him.” There was an outer court, where the Gentiles could come. But Gentiles could not go past the barricade into the inner part of the temple. There were signs posted there disallowing them to go in. The signs said that if a Gentile went into the inner part, he would pay with his life.

Rome gave them the right to take the life of one who violated that. Now, when Paul was in the temple, when these Jews from Asia Minor who saw him there accused him of bringing a Gentile in there. He hadn’t done that; and they were going to kill Paul. Well, that was ridiculous. If the Gentile came in there, the Gentile was the one killed, not Paul. So, they were lying about the whole thing.

Some old manuscripts do not include the end of verse 6, all of verse 7, and the first part of verse 8. And so what Tertullus is saying is, “Look, he’s profaned the temple and if you’ll examine him, you’ll find this out.” If he really examined Paul, he wouldn’t find that out because Paul didn’t do that. “But the chief captain Lysias came on us and with great violence took him out of our hands!”

So Tertullus says, “Look, I’ve given you the accusations. If you want corroboration you can get it from your chief captain. We were trying to carry out justice.” And then he swooped down there and with great violence he hauls Paul away, “commanded us to come to you.” Verse 8, “By examining him yourself you will be able to discern the truth about these charges we are bringing against him.”

Verse 9, “The Jews also joined in the attack, alleging that these things were true.” And here they are, blatantly lying in order to preserve their religion and to execute a man they didn’t want around. This is a clear illustration of what a Christian should expect. If you’re going to live a godly life in the midst of an ungodly society, you’re going to get some flack. Two things. One, have a blameless life.

Two, have a clear testimony and let happen what happens. Jesus says in Matthew 5, “Blessed are you when men shall revile you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely.” The apostle Paul loved those people. You don’t love the Jews as a little glob in the corner as some strange commodity; these are just people that God loves, and yet in God’s wonderful plan they have a unique place. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240225 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000227 imblog

Acts 23:12-35

The apostle Paul as he is now a prisoner. Paul is hunted and plotted against. There are some who desire to take his life. Paul had just been through three riots, all directed at him, and has escaped death three times. And now the Lord Jesus comes to him in person in verse 11, and says, “Have courage. For as you have testified of Me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”

And he sat in the cell, and the plot was going on against his life, but his confidence was in God. Everything he has tried to do since he came to Jerusalem has ended in a riot. He tried to pacify the Jewish Christians, and that ended in a riot. He tried to give his testimony of what God had done in his life to the Jewish crowd in the temple court, and that also ended in a riot.

He tried to give testimony before the Jewish Council, the Sanhedrin, and that ended in a riot. And now he is a prisoner; his life is sought. But, down in his heart, he doesn’t feel his course is done. He doesn’t feel that he’s fought the good fight and it’s over. He still, in his heart, feels that he needs to go to Rome. And the Lord comes to him at night and says, “And so shall it be. You will be in Rome.”

And immediately an incident occurs that seals that confidence. God made a promise; he believed the promise. Nothing about the Lord is mentioned from verse 12 on. Nothing about the Holy Spirit; nothing about salvation; nothing about redemption; nothing about the Messiah; nothing about actual Christian doctrine that is postulated anywhere else in Scripture for the Christian life.

It shows how God cared and brought about what He wanted to bring about through the circumstances. Do you know that God does things in two ways: through miracles and through providence. A miracle is when God breaks the natural process to invade it in a supernatural way. Providence is where God gets His will, done by using the natural circumstances to accomplish what He wants to.

How many times have you read, “God came and did this miracle.” How many other times have you read that “So-and-so did this, and so-and-so did this, and then all of a sudden, it all worked out the way God wanted it.” That’s the difference between a miracle and providence. A miracle is God violating the natural world; providence is God using supernaturally the natural to accomplish His will.

I believe we are living in the day when God is doing things through His providence. And in Acts 23 and you see exactly the same: the providence of God. It is the use of all natural events. It is the difference between the apostle Paul being stoned at Lystra and the Lord raising him from the dead. It is a miracle where Paul goes to jail and the Lord with a localized earthquake knocks the whole jail down.

We don’t need a miracle because God can accomplish whatever He wants to accomplish through providence; through the ordering of things in the way that He desires to gain His ends. God doesn’t need to get publicity to do what He does. And so we see here what is a beautiful illustration of the providence of God. Let’s look at it in four scenes: the plot formulated, found out, foiled, and then the farewell.

First, the plot formulated in verses 12-15, “When it was morning, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty who had formed this plot. 14 These men went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn curse that we won’t eat anything until we have killed Paul.

15 So now you, along with the Sanhedrin, make a request to the commander that he bring him down to you as if you were going to investigate his case more thoroughly. But, before he gets near, we are ready to kill him.” And Paul knew the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus like no man who ever lived. He almost went through the same sequence of events that Jesus did.

Verse 12, “When it was morning,” that’s the morning after the night in which Jesus appeared to Paul and the very day after he had given testimony to the Jewish Council. Now, here’s the plot. Disappointed at having let Paul slip through their fingers, a group of these zealots determined that they were going to engineer a plot to kill him, and he wouldn’t get away this time.

Of course, that’s dumb, because God may or may not be involved in it. That’s why Jesus said, “Swear not at all, don’t do that. Don’t say, ‘God, strike me dead if I don’t do this,’ or, ‘God do this if I don’t do that’.” Let your conversation be “yes and no.” Jesus said, “Swear not at all neither by Heaven or Earth.” But they were doing that, and they wanted to drag God into it and appear very holy.

It is amazing that these people could be so violent against somebody who hadn’t done anything to them. He’s never broken their laws. All he did was preach love. All he did was preach salvation. All he did was announce that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, whom they had rejected, came alive from the dead and through Paul to tell them they could accept Him as their Messiah.

All he did was give them a message of peace and grace. Because they were the dupes of Satan, and that is the simplest way to look at it. They had been so subjected to the power of Satan by this time, existing so long in a false system of religion based on ego and hypocrisy, that they were Satan’s tools. And Satan wanted Jesus and the Gospel done away with forever.

“There were more than 40 who had formed this plot.” Apparently, they felt that the Romans would not bring about Paul’s death. And, they realized that they didn’t want Paul in front of the people making another speech, or he might wind up persuading too many of them. So they bound themselves by a blood oath, swearing to God that they would assassinate Paul.

In verse 14, they wanted more support. They came to the chief priest and elders. Now, the chief priests of the Sanhedrin were the Sadducees. The Sadducees party was the most antagonistic to Paul. Because Paul taught the resurrection and they did not believe that. They said, “Look, we have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will not eat anything until we have killed Paul.”

In verse 15 it became an ambush. According to verse 20, they did agree. So, the Sanhedrin voted to cooperate. But, then we begin to see the wheels of providence move as the plot is secondly found out. Verse 16, “But the son of Paul’s sister, hearing about their ambush, came and entered the barracks and reported it to Paul.” Now isn’t this interesting? Paul’s nephew was in on the plot somehow.

Do you realize that the Bible says nothing about Paul’s family? We know that his father was a Pharisee because he made that statement earlier. We know that he had suffered in Philippians 3:8 because of his faith in Christ, “The loss of all things.” Most Bible teachers assume that this included being disinherited from his Jewish family because from there on there is nothing about his family.

How then, does Paul’s sister’s son come to Paul’s rescue? And is it possible that the boy was present when the plot took place? Imagine how God worked the circumstances to have that little boy hanging around the conspirators and to get the right message, and then to have the presence of mind to go warn his uncle? This is no less supernatural than if God used a big sky-hook and pulled Paul right up.

Suddenly Paul begins to realize that this is step one in the fulfillment of a promise. Verse 17, “Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, because he has something to report to him.” Verse 18, “So he took him, brought him to the commander, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.”

Verse 19, “The commander took him by the hand, led him aside, and inquired privately, “What is it you have to report to me?” Why would a chief captain take a little boy by the hand unless it was to kind of calm him down? Verse 20, “The Jews,” he said, “have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they are going to hold a somewhat more careful inquiry about him.”

God’s timing is perfect. Verse 21, “Don’t let them persuade you, because there are more than forty of them lying in ambush—men who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they have killed him. Now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” God is superintending this thing. “The whole thing depends upon the promise from you to deliver the prisoner.”

So, the whole plot was found out. Verse 22, “So the commander dismissed the young man and instructed him, “Don’t tell anyone that you have informed me about this.” It was only a few years after this that the whole place exploded in a revolution. And, he knew the past history of what other commanders had run into in that place, and he did not want to butt heads with them.

Thirdly, the plot is foiled. Now you can see the providence of God. Determined to outfox the assassins, Claudius Lysias feels the pressure of Roman justice, and he doesn’t want to have on his hands the responsibility for the assassination of a Roman citizen, which could cost him his job and his life. And, he knows that he has an important man on his hands or there wouldn’t be such a hassle.

Verse 23-24, “He summoned two of his centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready with seventy cavalry and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Also provide mounts to ride so that Paul may be brought safely to Felix the governor.” Caesarea was 60 miles away, and it was a Gentile-dominated town. So there was less likelihood of a revolution or an assassination.

The Roman armies moved in three parts. First, the heavy-armed infantry with the swords and the shields who could set up the defense. Then, “In addition to that, 70 horsemen.” This is the cavalry. Then the third thing, 200 spearmen. What it means is “javelin throwers.” This is the light-armed troops. And so here are 470 soldiers armed to the gills to escort one apostle out of town.

Verse 25-28, “He wrote the following letter: 26 Claudius Lysias, “To the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings. 27 When this man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, I arrived with my troops and rescued him because I learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 Wanting to know the charge they were accusing him of, I brought him down before their Sanhedrin.”

What is interesting about that? Luke never read it. Now, this is a good illustration of divine inspiration. The Spirit of God told Luke, by the miracle of revelation, the words of that letter, and he wrote them down with his own hand. That’s how the whole Bible has been written, by the inspiration of God. And the letter was probably written in Latin, so the Spirit of God had to give it to Luke in Greek.

No; Claudius didn’t know Paul was a Roman until he had already rescued him and strapped him on the frame to be scourged. And then he found out he was a Roman and panicked. He was going to torture Paul to get the truth out of him, and it wasn’t until he had already begun the process of torture that he found out he was a Roman and called a quick halt. But, when you write to your superior, you want to come off as great.

Verse 29-30, “I found out that the accusations were concerning questions of their law, and that there was no charge that merited death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed that there was a plot against the man, I sent him to you right away. I also ordered his accusers to state their case against him in your presence.” In the history of Israel you find that the leadership has been corrupted through the centuries.

Verse 31-34, “So the soldiers took Paul during the night and brought him to Antipatris as they were ordered. 32 The next day, they returned to the barracks, allowing the cavalry to go on with him. 33 When these men entered Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. 34 After he read it, he asked what province Paul was from. Then he learned he was from Cilicia.”

Now, Felix had to determine where Paul was from because he had to determine who had jurisdiction. The Romans had divided their conquered world into various provinces over which there were governors. Cilicia and Judea were considered to be in the domain of Felix, and that’s what he wanted to determine so that he would know that he had jurisdiction.

Verse 35, “He said, “I will give you a hearing whenever your accusers also get here.” He ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s palace. Herod had built a magnificent palace there, but Herod wasn’t really able to enjoy it to its fullest since he declared a day in which he was going to honor himself and God struck him and worms ate him because he didn’t give glory to God.

This passage tells me things about God even though God isn’t mentioned. One, it tells me God is faithful. He makes a promise in verse 11, and right in the morning He carries out the fulfillment of it. Second, God is caring. Did you see how He takes care of His servant? He knew how much Paul had endured, and He knew it was time for Paul to go first class, and that’s how he went. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240218 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000226 imblog

Acts 23:1-11

Now in Acts 23, we are aware that Paul is facing the second phase of his trial. He has been captured; he is now a prisoner, and will remain a prisoner until his death. But nevertheless, it doesn’t hinder his ministry; it just gives it a new dimension. The Holy Spirits had told him that “bonds and afflictions awaited him at Jerusalem” and that he would be delivered over to the Gentiles.

That was hard on him because life was exciting. He said, “For to me to live is Christ,” and “to die is gain,” but life was always planning for the future, and he did have some plans to go to Rome. He wanted to confirm the Christians there. He had written them a letter and said “I wanted to be with you and to impart to you some spiritual gift and to be mutually comforted by you.”

He’s just been through a terrible ordeal. Rescued by the Romans he faced being scourged. Rescued from that he now is brought to face the Jewish tribunal: the High Court of Israel; the Sanhedrin. Here is a great illustration of how the Lord ministers to one of His children in need. And in the midst of this we see a God who comforts him, particularly as we will come to verse 11.

I began to think about what kind of God and what kind of Christ we have. And I thought about the pagan systems of religion. We see it all over the world as people live in fear. I suppose in everybody’s life there are times when we wonder where God went. Does He care? But we Christians have a God who is not to be feared of what He will do to us; but we’re comforted in what He will do for us.

Listen to Isaiah 49:14 and following, “the people of Israel said, “The Lord has forsaken us; my Lord has forsaken and forgotten me.” Listen to God’s answer, “Can a woman forget her nursing child? Her child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? He says, “I have engraved you on the palms of My hands. I see you before Me all the time.” God has not forgotten us.

We saw last week, that the apostle Paul is drawn before the Sanhedrin. They have hastily convened in Fort Antonia, called into session by Claudius Lysias who is the commander-in-chief of the Roman forces, and they have been called in order to try to find out what this man has done. They saw the crowd trying to murder Paul; and, they didn’t really know what the accusation was.

So, as we approach verse 30, the session of the Sanhedrin is called together. As we come to verse 1, we see four major points in this flow of text: the confrontation; the conflict; the conquest; and, the consolation. First the confrontation in verse 1, “Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up until this day.”

They couldn’t understand how one could say, “I have a good conscience,” because they never knew freedom from an evil conscience to have a clear conscience. Because there was never an ultimate sacrifice for their sin. Well, the confrontation then led to conflict. Verse 2, “The high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth.”

The word “strike” is not a slap. It either means a blow with a club or with a fist. Verse 3, “Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?” The high priest had violated the law. Jewish law safeguarded the rights of a man on trial.

He was calling on the vengeance of God. “God is going to punish you for sitting at the seat of authority in the law and violating the law. You are a hypocrite. You have brought me to be tried by the law, and you are in violation of it yourself. You whitewashed wall!” Paul was indignant, and that was a mistake that he made. This was a sin. This was a violation because he lost his cool.

Paul didn’t know it was the high priest that said it; and in the second place, it wasn’t convened really as a legal court. And verbal abuse is unnecessary. Paul’s words were the fiery words of a man who reacted to all that he’d endured. Verse 4, “Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare revile God’s high priest?” He was God’s high priest because he sat in the seat that God had ordained.

The word “reviled” means to revile in anger. It is used in 1 Peter 2:23 to refer to the mocking and spitting abuse that was put against Jesus at the crucifixion. It means cursing, mocking, insulting, abusing including spitting. It then has another meaning. One of those in 1 Timothy 5:14 tells us that Satan does it. The crowd said, “Paul, you have really blasphemed the high priest.”

It was a big deal. In Deuteronomy 17 it says, “God ordained authority in Israel.” God has leaders. God still said to Israel, “You submit,” because submission is the principle that keeps the thing together. And that judge, or that priest, or that leader, will pay for his own failure. He is accountable to God. You’re accountable to be submissive to him, unless he makes you do something in violation to God.

Now he had to pay for his own consequence, and Paul was right when he said “God was going to smite you,” because he had violated the whole role of the high priest. But look at verse 5, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul. “For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people. You know what Paul did? He condemned himself in front of that whole court.

Paul admitted he did wrong. That’s a hard thing to do, isn’t it? Here he is in face of all of his enemies, and he confesses to them that he’s in violation of God’s Word. The next best thing to not sinning at all is to confess it immediately when you’ve done it. And that’s what Paul did. You see his spirituality when immediately he publicly confessed his sin, and turned from it. That’s spirituality.

You’re going to sin, and I am going to sin. And we’re going to fail. And we’re going transgress God’s law. But the next best thing to not sinning is to immediately deal with that sin and accept the total responsibility for that sin; repent from that sin, submit to the Word of God, and go from there. Don’t ever think of your sin in relation to how bad other people are, because you can always find worse ones.

My sin is only to be compared with the absolute holiness of God, and my submission to His Word is what He asks. Friends, that’s a great humble man. And since it was an informally-called session, the high priest wouldn’t have his special robes on. So it is likely that he was unrecognizable, and that the voice just came out of the mass of 71 people there. I should’ve found out.”

We come to conquest in Acts 23:6-10. The Spirit of God has given this man wisdom. Verse 6, “When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!” The Sadducees threw out the miracles and resurrection.

The Pharisees were the majority. The Sadducees, the minority; but as the minority they had the control, because they were the priestly family. Now, these people got along only when they met together in the Sanhedrin. The rest of the time, they fought like cats and dogs. The only two things they ever agreed on, in the New Testament, was to get rid of Jesus and to get rid of Paul.

Verse 7, “When he had said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.” The Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit; but the Pharisees confessed both resurrection, angels and spirits.” Paul declared in his testimony that he was going down the Damascus Road and Jesus of Nazareth spoke to him.

Well, that meant Jesus of Nazareth was alive, right? So what was that saying? Resurrection. And, that was the part of his message that infuriated the mob. He said, “Jesus came to me and told me to go to the Gentiles.” And he comes in and he goes right to the issue. He says, “The real issue here is I happen to believe in resurrection.” Now he’s won the Pharisees over by being a Pharisee.

All these 30 years in between, they had denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ; and here was the greatest preacher who ever lived on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and they’re on his team now because he happened to feel the same. The Pharisees were Calvinists. They believe in absolute sovereignty. The Sadducees were Armenians. They believed in free will, and so they argued about predestination.

The issue was that Paul preached the resurrection. That’s what people got upset about. He preached that Jesus was alive, that Jesus had talked with him twice. And this is what infuriated everybody. In Acts 24:21, he’s talking to Felix, and he brings up the same thing. He said, “I am announcing that Christ is alive.” And this infuriated the people, and that’s why they wanted to kill Paul.

Paul doesn’t mention the resurrection of Jesus. That might turn them against him. So he just says, “I believe in the hope and resurrection of the dead, and that’s why I’ve been called in question.” The reaction of a Pharisee would be, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with believing that.” But the Sadducees say there is no spirit in the sense that they denied the spiritual part of mankind that God created.

They denied that the soul lived after the body died. They said, “The body dies. The soul dies. There’s no heaven and there’s no hell.” They reacted to the Pharisees’ concept of rewards for service, and that went all the way to the extreme of denying any kind of rewards, and the next thing they had was no afterlife. And then they denied the miracles; then they denied the supernatural, and the works of God.

Verse 9, “The shouting grew loud, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party got up and argued vehemently, “We find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” They were willing to let Paul off the hook in order to make their theological point against the Sadducees. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” The last phrase doesn’t appear in the manuscripts.

Paul had said that it wasn’t a spirit or an angel that had spoken to him. It was Jesus Christ. You see how they changed the testimony to fit their theology? Verse 10, “When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, take him away from them, and bring him into the barracks.” They were really violent.

The commandant couldn’t get any kind of answer from them. Every time he tried to get an accusation against Paul, he couldn’t get it. They had to rescue Paul again. The Romans to the rescue; the second time in two chapters. Amazing, God has superintended them. The whole of the nation of Israel is thrown into confusion, and He’s got the whole Roman army on the side of Paul.

And here the scribes say, “We find nothing wrong with the man.” An amazing turn of events. So Claudius Lysias brought him into the barracks.” Paul is put in the barracks for the night and we come to the consolation. Verse 11, “The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”

Five times in Paul’s life the Lord Jesus came to him Himself. This is one of those five. Always at times of crisis, the Lord stood by him. Maybe he was saying, “Lord, have You forgotten me?” You know, you can have those kind of moods when you’ve been through something like that easily. Jesus came and stood by him and He gave him three little words: consolation, commendation and, confidence.”

Consolation. “The Lord stood by him and said, ‘Cheer up, Paul.” Do you believe the Lord is that close to us? The Bible says the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Jesus said, “I may be going away from earth, but I’ll never leave you or forsake you. Lo, I’m with you always.” God is a God of comfort. One thing you see in Paul is he knew this. That man went from one trial to the next, but he knew the comfort of God.

He wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” God comforts me so that I can teach you about God’s comfort.

The second thing was a commendation. He said, “Paul, for as you have testified of Me in Jerusalem.” The word “testify” means “given full witness.” He said, “Paul, you did the job. You finished your work here. You did what I wanted.” You gave the complete testimony. “Does that mean it’s over?” Then He gives him confidence. “And so must you also bear witness at Rome.”

Do you think God cares for you? God came to Paul and He gave him thanks for the past; comfort for the present, and assurance for the future. He is the God of all comfort. I have seen Him comfort many people. I have seen Him give comfort in my own life and give consolation. I know you have. In the midst of any trial, God cares for you. Cast all your cares on Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240211 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000225 imblog

Acts 22:15-30

We have been following the ministry of the apostle Paul as a free man. From Acts 21 on, he becomes a prisoner from here on out until his death. His ministry is not diminished in any sense, it’s only different. Now during the time of his being a prisoner, he gives six different defenses of himself, of his actions, of his attitudes. The first such defense is given here in Acts 21:27 – Acts 22:30.

We have also studied a principle behind the narrative, and that is the idea of giving a positive testimony in a negative situation. And, the last of the principles that we’ll be considering has to do with attitude. The attitude toward the unbeliever is going to color the kind of testimony. If I really love the unbeliever as Jesus and Paul did, it’s going to affect my testimony toward that person.

A genuine, caring, honest, deep love for the lost is basic to effective testimony. I believe that you could verify the fact that the people who are the most effective in reaching the lost are the people whose love for them is the most genuine, because we tend to do what our love motivates us to do. So another factor in a positive testimony in a negative situation is to have true concern.

In this passage, Paul displays for us the right attitude toward the unbelievers. Paul shows his love for Israel. He loves Israel so much, he could wish himself accursed, and it’s out of that that he gives them the gospel. When Paul was on these tours, positively, he won a lot of people to Jesus Christ and started a lot of churches; negatively, he alienated other Jewish people everywhere he went.

The first thing Paul would do when he went into a town was go to the synagogue, and he would preach Christ and some of the Jews would believe and the rest of them would begin to hate him. And as he went from town to town, this hatred was built up, and it was mostly the leaders who hated Paul. On this tour to Jerusalem, all the way along he faces the hostility from Jewish leaders.

Now when he arrives in Jerusalem at feast time, and all the Jewish leaders from all over the world are there too. So he arrives in an explosive situation at the same time as his enemies. Some were from Asia Minor. Paul had ministered there effectively for three years and founded no less than seven different churches. So these antagonistic Jews were creating a mob to kill Paul.

They accused Paul of being against the Jews, against the law, and against the temple. They added that Paul had taken a Gentile into the temple, and therefore he should lose his life. Those were all lies. Their purpose was to generate mob violence against him, and it worked. They took Paul, drew him out of the temple, and shut the doors and they were ready to kill him.

Immediately when the Romans saw the riot going on in the temple, their garrison was ready. Down came the centurions and their soldiers to break up the riot. Now the Romans assumed that Paul has done something awful, so they arrest him. In fact, the commander in chief thinks that this is the Egyptian revolutionary that previously had led a riot against Jerusalem. So they grab Paul, and they shackle him.

Paul does not resist. Knowing that God created that situation. God wants to bring you trials and difficult situations, for those are what make you strong. Now after Paul was arrested, he moved into principle two, which is create an opportunity. We find that in principle three, the apology of Paul, beginning in verse 37. And this is a long one; it goes from Acts 21:37 to Acts 22:21.

When he gets to the top of the stairs, he says to the commander, “Could I say a few words?” And the man wonders, because he says, “Can you speak Greek?” And then Paul said, “Yes,” he said, “I can speak Greek. I’m a Jew from Tarsus of Cilicia,” which was a high-class city. And he said, “May I speak?” And the man thought, this’ll be a great opportunity for me to find out what’s going on.

So Paul created his own opportunity. In the midst of a negative situation, he created a positive opportunity. They thought he might have spoken in Greek, but he didn’t. He spoke in Aramaic, the Hebrew language. He says, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated by Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.”

Paul says, “I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail, as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished. So he does everything to win your audience, establish common ground. It can be as simply as talking about what they’re interested in.

The second part is the circumstances at his conversion, verses 6 to 16. “As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’8 “I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’

9 Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.” That was also confirmation of the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. A whole lot of people with me who saw the same light, fell on the same ground. The only difference is they didn’t hear what I heard. That message was a special message from Jesus for me.”

10 “I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’ 11 “Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus. 12 Someone named Ananias, a devout man who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there,

He came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth, 15 since you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard. Verse 16, “And now, why are you delaying?

Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” Now every Jew standing there knew who the God of our fathers was. The fourth principle, to give a positive testimony in a negative situation is to exalt the Lord. If anybody rejects your testimony, they’ve got to reject God. Nobody should walk away rejecting my experience; they should walk away, either accepting or rejecting my God.

Make sure that what you’re giving testimony to is the miracle that God has wrought in your life, not the new you; not just the practical outsides of the new you, but what God has done. The clearest testimony is that testimony which leaves a man only one option: to either accept the truth about God or to reject it; not about me, not about you. And that’s what Paul did in verse 16, he acted.

There are some people who believe everything, but they never make that response. To say that God has brought about all these circumstances of knowledge and information does not preclude the fact that man has to respond to that. “Call on the name of the Lord. The result will be your sins will be washed away and be baptized.” That’s what he’s saying. And so he’s asking for a response.

Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” It’s a matter of believing and stating that belief. Romans 10:13 says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The New Testament teaches that a man is saved by grace through faith, that confessing Jesus Christ is Lord.

Baptizing is the public testimony. “Since your sins have been washed away by calling on the name of the Lord, arise and make it public.” Baptism was the symbol, the outward symbol of an inward reality. Well, what has Paul done? He’s totally exonerated himself. For three years after his conversion, he was in Nabataea and Arabia. That three-year period is discussed in Galatians 1:17 and 18.

Verse 17-18, “After I returned to Jerusalem (from Arabia) and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw Him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.” Three years later after becoming a Christian, Paul still reveres Jewish customs. And since a Christian can pray to God anywhere, he prays to God in the temple.

“Paul fell in a trance.” The Greek word is ekstasei. You are being transported out of your normal senses. So sometimes God takes His choice servants and gave them a consciousness at a level beyond the normal and natural senses of man. Now Paul had many such visions and revelations. Remember the time he was taken to the third heaven and couldn’t speak about the things he saw?

It took a while for Paul to be accepted. He stayed in Jerusalem fifteen days. He didn’t think he should leave. Verse 19-20, “But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten. 20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.”

The Lord says to him, “No, Paul, they will not receive your testimony.” If they wouldn’t listen to Jesus after he performed miracle, after miracle, right in front of their faces, they’re not about to listen to you Paul. Circumstances are not a good way to tell God’s will. What looks to you good on the surface may not be good. And, when Paul arrived in town, everything went wrong.

Verse 21, “He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” They hated Paul for several reasons. One was because he preached to the Gentiles. He said in effect, “You can’t blame me for this. I am what I am by the grace of God. If you don’t like it, ask Him; He did it.” A great defense, which puts all of the pressure on them to decide about the God they claim to love and worship.

They hated the Gentiles; and the thing that griped them most was that he was going around preaching equality: “The Jew and Gentile as one in Christ, and they didn’t have to become Jews, and they didn’t have to get circumcised, they didn’t have to keep the law,” and this infuriated them. So all he had to do was say the word “Gentiles,” and that brings us to point four, the action of the people.

Verse 22, “They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!” They were angry because he offered equality to the Gentiles apart from Judaism. They couldn’t tolerate that. Verse 23, “As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air.”

All he does is mention the word “Gentiles” and they go nuts. That’s religious prejudice. Who did they reject? God. That just confirms the unbelief of Israel at that point. We close with this one: the attitude of Paul. In the midst of all of this, with everybody throwing dirt at him and the Romans chained him up and all this going on, what’s his attitude? You know Paul’s attitude is, love for everybody.

Verse 24, “The commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this.” Verse 25, “As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is not condemned?”

Scourging, if it didn’t kill him would cripple him for life. Paul had never been scourged. Because it was a crime to scourge a Roman. The Portion law and the Valerian law forbid any Roman from ever going through this form of punishment. Suetonius the Roman lawyer said, “Any man who violates the rights of a Roman citizen will be executed at the Esquiline Hill in Rome.”

Verse 26-28, “When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen. The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said. 28 The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.” “But I was born a citizen, Paul said.”

Paul was a first-class citizen. And here was a second-class citizen going to flagellate a first-class citizen. How did Paul’s father become a citizen?” We don’t know, but God made sure it happened. Verse 29, “So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.”

That’s the only attitude that’ll make you effective in a negative situation, when you love the people so much you’re willing to sacrifice everything you have for their sake. Verse 30, “The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene. He brought Paul down and placed him before them.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240204 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000224 imblog

Acts 22:1-15

Throughout the history of God’s people, it has always been true that there are those who have been willing to give a testimony for God or for Christ against all odds. It didn’t really matter what the situation was or how negative it was or how impossible it seemed, there were always those faithful who were willing to go against the situation to give a positive testimony in a negative situation.

Through the history of modern days; there’s also been suffering for Jesus Christ in many places in the world and continues to be so today. Perhaps into the tribulation, which may not be far away, where we find that those who name the name of Jesus Christ and refuse the mark of the beast will pay with their lives; and yet there will be such great evangelism that many will become believers.

The presentation of the gospel has a positive power, but it is a positive power in the midst of a negative situation, because Satan will do everything he can to hold on. If it is actually facing the world and proclaiming the truth of the gospel to somebody who is in Satan’s domain, there’s going to be a negative factor somewhere. So you might as well realize it and get on with it.

For the apostle Paul, it’s just one negative situation after another, it never phased him. Now he comes to Jerusalem in Acts 21. It’s the final step in his third journey, which is the last journey that he ever made as a free man. The next trip that he makes back toward Rome is as a prisoner. It’s still a missionary journey, because whether he was in or out of chains, he never changed what he said.

When he arrives in Jerusalem, he finds out that there are some Jewish Christians that think he’s anti-Jewish, that think he doesn’t believe in the traditions and the ceremonies of Israel. And some of those Judiazers were still used to the customs of Israel, because it was hard to separate religious custom from just the custom of life, from the culture. And so some were still doing Jewish traditions.

So when Paul arrives, the elders of the Jerusalem church are concerned that he’s going to be hated by the Jewish Christians, and so he does something to try to gain their approval. He goes to the temple with some folks taking a Nazarite vow, to separate yourself for God. So he participates in order to show these Jewish Christians that he was not against the ceremonies of cultural Judaism.

But while he was in the temple, he was seen by some people. They were some non-Christian Jews from Asia Minor. When Paul was in Asia Minor, he dramatically affected the entire province. In the three years in Ephesus, he not only established the church at Ephesus, but also six other churches. Jews had been converted from Judaism to Jesus, and the rest of the Jews hated him.

And now here are some of these Jews in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, which is occurring at this time. While they’re there, they spy on Paul in the temple going through this Nazarite purification ceremony. In the riot in Ephesus, Gentile heads prevailed and saved his life. But now this was a mass of Jewish population. So we find that he is attacked and jailed in Acts 21:27.

This is his arrest and first defense. From here on out to the end of the book, Paul is a prisoner, and he also gives six different defenses of himself. First the attack on Paul in verses Acts 21:27 to 30. The Jews from Asia Minor, stirred up all the people, who laid hands on him crying out, ‘Men of Israel, help! This is the man that taught all men against the law and this place.

And further he brought Greeks into the temple, and has polluted this holy place. Of course Paul didn’t do that, they just lied. “And all the city was moved, and the people ran together, and took Paul, and drew him out of the temple; and at once the doors were shut.” So they grabbed him right in the middle of the conclusion of his Nazarite purification vow, and they did it to kill him.

Well, the mob really didn’t know what was going on. But they were all trying to kill Paul. Immediately, the commander took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they ceased beating Paul. Then the chief captain came and took him, and commanded that he be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was and what he had done.

The only problem was Paul hadn’t done anything. But the Romans didn’t know that, he assumed that he had done something. Well, a mob is a body of people with no head. They were just doing what everybody did. So he gets no answers. And he commanded him to be carried into the barracks. They had to lift him over their heads and carry him through the people into the barrack.

As they go up the stairs, the crowd surges up screaming for his death. Do you know why all those people were in the temple ground that day? They were there to worship God. Wasn’t Judaism the right religion? It was all right up until the cross. After the cross, it ceased to be. It became just pagan worship. Christianity qualified absolutely truth, and outside of that, truth is incomplete and is the same as error.

Well, this commander assumed that he was this guy, this assassin. Paul said, ‘I am a man who’s a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia.” Listen, Tarsus ranked with Alexandria and Athens. Tarsus meant education, culture and art. And he says, “I want to speak.” And the man who was the commander wanted to find out what was going on, so he figured this is my chance to hear what’s happening.

Paul didn’t try to run from it, because it was a God-ordained situation. Now, let us study the apology or defense of Paul. The word apology in the Greek, apologia, means a speech in defense of. The extended passage of his defense begins in Acts 21:37 through Acts 22:21. His speech in defense of is basically biographical and experiential. So he spoke to them in their own Hebrew language.

He defends himself on two counts: his motive and his deed. So there he stands at the top of the stairs. And he uses the words of Stephen, when he started his defense. “Brothers and fathers.” When you share Jesus Christ with people, it is more important that you communicate the truth of Christ than your experience, right? You have to explain who Christ is and what He has done.

There is power in personal testimony when the emphasis is God. What God has done in his life. Now his defense has three parts: his conduct before his conversion, verses 3 to 5; the circumstances at his conversion, verses 6 to 16; and his commission after conversion, verses 17 to 21. Conduct before, commission at event, and commission after; and the center point is his conversion.

Acts 22:1-3, “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” 2 When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter. 3 He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.”

He begins by showing them that his motive was never anti-Jewish. I’m a zealous Jew. He’s proud of it, and he should be. It conciliates them immediately. This is no foreigner. And, you know, most of the mob don’t have any idea who he is. There’s just that little group that started the thing that know. Paul was cultured and educated, and they got the message just from the fact that he was from Tarsus.

Yet brought up in this city. Educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. It was significant, because Gamaliel was the greatest teacher of his day. He was a Pharisaic leader of great eminence. He was the greatest disciple of Hillel. There were two Jewish rabbis who became the heads of two strains of Jewish interpretation: Shammai and Hillel.

Shammai was a very conservative, and Hillel was the broad. Then he adds, “And I was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers.” The word “taught” here means carefully trained. Now the law of the fathers is simply the Old Testament tradition: the historic faith of Judaism. That meant the extreme, strict interpretation. He says, “I was trained to the strictest degree in legalism.”

Josephus the historian says, “You could divide the philosophies of Judaism into four parts. Sadducees were the religious liberals, who didn’t believe in resurrection or miracles. The Pharisees were the strict legalists. Essenes were scribes, et cetera. Then you had the Zealots who were super-nationalistic, anti-Roman, super-pro-Jewish and extremely legalistic.

He says, “You are beating me up; because you think this is pleasing to God.” Acts 22:4-5 says, “I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail, 5 as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.”

So what does he do? He calls in the high priest to be his witness. Then he said, “If that isn’t enough, why don’t you check with the Sanhedrin, all the council of the elders.” You say, “Well, how in the world did they know his zeal?” “Because it was from them that I received the letters to the Jewish brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them who were there bound unto Jerusalem to be punished.”

Verse 6-7 says, “As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And in this, he gives all the glory to God. Now get the picture. He is going to Damascus for the purpose of extraditing Christians to be punished.

Verse 8-10 says, I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ 9 Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 10 “I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.”

He says, “Look, if you don’t believe that this happened, you find those guys who went with me to capture those Christians, and they’ll tell you that it happened.” He has put the burden of proof on the people. What are those other guys doing while that was going on?” Well, they all fell down on the ground, The Bible says that they heard the noise, but they couldn’t distinguish the articulation.

When God speaks directly, it isn’t for public consumption. It teaches the sovereignty of God. If you ever have any doubt about who initiates salvation, just remember the conversion of Paul. Salvation is an act of God. God had chosen him. God had appointed his destiny. This is God’s plan. One of the most exciting concepts in the Bible is to realize that I am a part of a Godly plan.

Verses 11-15, “Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus. 12 Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there, 13 came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him.

14 And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth, 15 since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.” Paul hasn’t even inactivated his will, and God already is giving him his whole layout on his destiny before he’s even made a statement of his faith.

Well, he is lead into Damascus. Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there.” Because he wants the people who are hearing him to know that Christianity was not something concocted by a bunch of anti-Jewish people. It was Jesus of Nazareth that spoke to him. It was Ananias who was a devout Jew, who was involved.

Ananias said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’” God gave him the power to announce that miracle. The first person he saw after the blindness was Ananias. And he said, “The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from His mouth. See, this whole transformation is all involving features of Judaism.

The point is this: the God of Israel chose and transformed the life of Saul. God did it. Paul is giving a positive testimony in a negative situation. Number one, accept the situation is from God. Number two create an opportunity. Number three: do everything you can to win the audience, find common ground. One of the most important things in sharing your faith is to be conciliatory.

I was speaking to a Jewish person one day, and I just started by saying, “The dearest friends in all the world to me are Jewish. The people I love more than anybody are all Jewish. I spend more time with Jewish people than any other people. You know who they are? Abraham, David, Jesus, Paul, Peter and every one of them is a Jew. And when you talk about your transformation, talk about it from God’s side. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240128 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000223 imblog

Acts 21:27-40

Even though we are going to talk about a very simple historical narrative, that the Spirit of God will use this to be applied to your heart in a very positive way. Paul has been free since his ministry began in Acts 9. He has wandered under the Spirit's direction without any limits at all. But he was a prisoner for some time in Philippi, but the Lord sent an earthquake so the jail fell apart, and he walked out.

But beginning in Acts 21, he becomes a prisoner. And as a prisoner, we find that he gives six separate defenses of his actions. The first defense begins in Acts 21:18. You'll notice that these six defenses are given before the mob; the first one; before the council the second; the third and fourth before the governors Felix and Festus; the fifth one before the king, and the last before the Jews.

And there are three cities involved, the first two were in Jerusalem, the next in Caesarea and the final in Rome. And the result of the first was that he was accused, the next absolved, and the last awaiting trial. And so in each case, he defends himself, and uses it as an opportunity to present again the truth which he has proclaimed so faithfully through the years of his ministry.

Now, we come to the first of these defenses. So the subtitle for Paul's First Defense is, "How to give a positive testimony in a negative situation." All of us have times where we struggle. Some of us get into situations where great disaster occurs and then the whole world watches to see whether our faith is any good or not. So, a good way to learn how is to watch a man, Paul, who did it.

Here we see Paul, who knew how to take a negative situation and make it into a positive testimony. Now we're going to see his boldness. Paul never viewed his situation as anything other than God authored, okay? He's always a prisoner of Jesus Christ. It was Christ who brought him into such predicaments. So his imprisonment represented nothing but the beginning of a new ministry.

He says, "I may be bound, but the Gospel is not bound." In verse 27 of Acts 21, Paul has tried to conciliate the Jewish Christians. They had heard that he was an arch subversive. That he was anti-Jewish; that he had thrown out all the Jewish customs, and he was against everything that had been the ceremony and tradition of Jewish life, and that wasn't true at all.

Paul was himself still very much Jewish. He was here at the feast of Pentecost. He attended the synagogues on the Sabbath. He had taken a Nazarite vow himself in Acts 19, and shaved his own head. Paul had not thrown out all of Jewish tradition. He was in transition. But yet, the Judaizers that told these Christians he was anti-Judaism, and so they were a little anti-Paul.

And so to change his reputation, they had him go to the temple, fulfill a Nazarite vow with four other guys, pay the bill for the whole thing in hopes that the Jewish Christians would say, "Hey, if he would do that, he's certainly not as anti-Jewish as we've been led to believe." And he did that, and I'm convinced that it must've had a positive effect on these Jewish Christians.

But it didn't have any effect on the Jewish non-Christians. And we're now introduced to the mob. They are a wild group of people, who are in a frenzy try to murder Paul. They have no idea of how they're doing, or why they're doing it. Verse 27 says, “When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia Minor saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him.”

The Greek word ‘stirred up’ used here means ‘confused’. Here is Paul finishing up his Nazarite vows, and these Jews descend on him, grab him, and they stir up confusion of the mob. They shout in verse 28, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, and our law. What’s more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

Paul wanted to get there at Pentecost, and that was a time when people really travelled to Jerusalem. That's why those Asian Jews were there. This is 50 days after Passover. It was the Old Testament feast of harvest sometimes called the Feast of Weeks. But after the exile, it became a different celebration. It was said that the Torah, the Law of Moses, was given 50 days after the Exodus.

That's important, because it helps us to understand the attitude of the people. They were in the midst of a celebration of the Law, celebrating Jewishness. Paul wanted to be there which indicates that he does revere the Law. He wasn't anti-law. In that sense, he delighted in God's Law. But it also means that the crowd was hyper concerned about the Law and the Law's sanctity.

And so that tends to create the kind of antagonism that this group uses to try to kill Paul. This is some slander that has occurred, desecration of the sanctuary, and they cry out, 'Men of Israel, Help." And then they announce the problem. "This is the man," and they've got him by now, "that teaches all men everywhere against the people and the Law and this place."

Jewish people have never accepted the conversion of a Jew to Christ. Because the Jewish person associates his religion with his race, historically. That's why Jewish people that have come to Christ have been ostracized from their families. So in the Jewish mind that is a total rejection of Judaism. But if they knew anything about the Word of God, it just completes Judaism because Jesus is the Messiah.

And the one who rejects the Messiah would be rejecting his own Judaism. The real rebel against Judaism, is the unbelieving Jew who will not accept his Messiah. The Christian Jew is the one who has accomplished that which God has designed to be accomplished through Judaism; that has faith in his Messiah who has come, died and risen, and is interceding for believers today.

So they said, "Paul is against his people, and against the Law." And at that time of the year at that feast, that kind of accusation would really make everybody mad because they were celebrating the Law. And then they said he's against the Law, they meant he's anti-God. He's anti-Moses. He's anti-biblical. And then to sum it up, "And against this place that is the temple."

So they got some men, and they said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and caught him, and dragged him to the council, and they paid off false witnesses." They bribed people to give false testimony. He brought Greeks into the temple and polluted the place.

Verse 29 says, “For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.” They didn't see him in the temple, they just assumed that. That was another lie. Paul didn't take Trophimus into the temple. Gentiles could only go to the outer court. And between that and the inner court, was the Court of the Women.

And between the outer court and the inner court was a barricade. And on the barricade were placed signs written in two languages, Latin and Greek. And there was written, "No man of alien race is to enter within the barricade that goes around the temple. And if anyone is taken in the act, let him know that he has himself to blame for the penalty of death that follows."

And the Romans honored that law. In fact, it was a way of keeping Gentile religion and Gentile gods and idols out of the temple. It was sort of a stopping point for the intrusion of the system of the world. And they didn't let it be violated. Well, when these guys said they took Greeks into the temple that was just enough to stir up everybody, and give a justification for the murder of Paul.

Even if Paul had taken Trophimus in there, it would not have been Paul that died, it would've been Trophimus. This shows that the whole thing was out of place. Paul couldn't be killed for going in there; he was a Jew. If anybody got killed, it would be the Gentile who violated it. So the whole thing was a pretense and in all the confusion, the mob had no idea what they were doing.

Verse 30, “The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.” They wanted to make sure they got him out of there so they could go on worshipping God, while they killed God's anointed. Well, fortunately in the great providence of God, the life of Paul was not yet over.

This is what they did at the trial of Jesus. They wanted to make sure they didn't violate the Sabbath while they executed the Messiah: Made sure they didn't violate any of the things that were going on at that particular time. Didn't want to enter into the house of the Gentiles at all, because they would defile themselves. They stayed outside and screamed for the blood of the Messiah.

And so God activated the Romans, and secondly we have the arrest by the Romans in verses 31 to 36. Outside the temple area, butted right up against it on the north side was Fort Antonia. And Fort Antonia had a great tower, and from that tower there was a clear observation of the temple court. And it was occupied by at least 1, 000 Roman soldiers who were highly trained riot squads.

Verse 31, “As they were trying to kill him, word went up to the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos.” Notice the commander. The Greek word means a commander of a thousand soldiers. His name is given is Acts 23 as Claudius Lysias, and history tells us he was a man of considerable character and ability. And so he acted immediately.

Verse 32, “Taking along soldiers and centurions, he immediately ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.” And when they got there, the commander saw what had happened, and already had a good idea who this guy was. He was actually wrong, but he figured, "I'll make a formal arrest, and then I'll find out what the charges are."

Verse 33, “Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.” He assumed that the crowd wouldn't do this unless he was guilty of some crime. It's interesting that this fulfilled the prophecy of Agabus. The Jews have captured him, and they deliver him to the Gentiles, who chained him.

Verse 34, “Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since he was not able to get reliable information because of the uproar, he ordered him to be taken into the barracks.” He couldn't get any information out of the crowd. Nobody had the faintest idea what was going on. They were just in a mob and they were screaming and yelling, and he couldn't get an answer.

Verse 35, “When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd.” The disappointed crowd had been robbed of its prey, and now it was pushing and shoving, and screaming what it had screamed twenty five years before to the Messiah. Verse 36, “for the mass of people followed, yelling, “Get rid of him!” And that's what they said to Jesus.

Paul gave a speech in defense of himself in the Greek. It's testimony of his experience and what God has done in his life. Let's watch how Paul makes an opportunity out of a negative situation. Verse 37, “As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?” He replied, “You know how to speak Greek?

Verse 38, “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?” Josephus says he was an Egyptian rebel, who with 4,000 assassins were going to create havoc in Jerusalem and the governor killed 400 of them, and routed them all. Although they captured and killed a total of 600, the rest escaped including this leader.

Verse 39, Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.” Tarsus was ranked anciently with Athens and Alexandria as a city of culture, art and education. Paul is a master at holding back. He never lets everything out. Now that took boldness, didn't it? Paul only knew how to deal with a situation one way, confrontation.

Verse 40, “After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic.” And he stood on the stairs, and he beckoned with the hand, a characteristic of Paul on several occasions in Acts, which means silence. So he spoke to them in their own vernacular. Accept the situation as from God and use it as an opportunity.

Every situation in your life is what you make of it. But it is God who decides what He wants you to say. Paul is given to us as an example of how to live. He was never afraid and He boldly tells about his early life. We all can tell about our lives before Christ and after Christ, where we live without the Holy Spirit and how we live now under the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ gives us the power we need. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240121 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000222 imblog

Acts 21:17-26

We continue in this narrative regarding the ministry of Paul as he continues the last leg of his journey toward the city of Jerusalem. This is the conclusion of the third missionary tour. And he collected money from the Gentile congregations to give to the poor saints at Jerusalem as a token of love, and a gesture of unity. So Paul gives a report of what God has done with a group of Gentile converts.

And so with this group of men, and bags of money, he is moving toward Jerusalem. And in our studies of narrative passages, we want to see beyond the historical fact to the principles and the spiritual truths that underlie this narrative. In trying to discover what we could extract from the passage, it is the quality of humility. We’ve talked about Paul’s preaching, his teaching and his persistence.

We’ve talked about his discipline and his courage. We’ve talked about his commitment. But here is the quality of his humility. And that becomes applicable to my life. I need to learn the lessons of humility that he exemplified. Now the goal which consumed his heart was to give this money to the poor saints, and Paul was going to introduce the Jews to the Gentile Christians to unify the church.

Caesarea was that city on the coast. Remember Paul was there for some time living in the house of Philip the evangelist. They packed their bags and went up to Jerusalem for about 64 miles. Notice they went up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem is on a plateau. And they brought them to the home of Mnason which is a common Greek name and he was from Cyprus. So he was a Hellenist Jew.

And it says that this man was an early disciple, which means he was in on the foundations of the church. And he may have been a source for Luke. Now we would assume that Paul arrives at about the Feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover. He wanted to be there at a time when all the folks were congregated together. It was a celebration of Judaism, and he wanted to be a part of it.

You’re going to see the last of the ministry of Paul as a free man. From verse 27 on, Paul becomes, as he called himself in Ephesians 6:20, an ambassador in chains. From here on out, the man is a prisoner, which does not minimize his ministry in any way. They just changed, and he goes on doing what he always did, whether he was free or a prisoner; he just continued to fulfill his ministry.

Now as we look at the passage beginning from verse 17 on, there are four C’s that appear, communion, concern, compromise, and consequence. First we find that communion occurs as he arrives. The word means fellowship or sharing. Paul was a tremendous missionary, he had accomplished tremendous things. And he arrives with this money, and it’s a great time of rejoicing.

Verse 17, “When we reached Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly.” There was great joy in their hearts, because they brought along a whole group of Gentile converts, and they saw the people that had been won to Jesus Christ. And they were glad because the Gentile church was showing this act of love toward them. And there was the apostle Paul, who was a beloved man.

Verse 18, “The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.” The “us” includes Luke and the other Gentiles. This is an interesting thing to note just the development of the church. When the church at Jerusalem first began, it was ruled by the apostles. It wasn’t until Acts 6 that the apostles begin to realize that things were getting out of hand, and invited the elders.

By the time of Acts 15:2, it says that, “Paul, when he went to Jerusalem, and met with the apostles and the elders.” So there is a transition. First the apostles did everything, and eventually God began to raise up elders as spiritual leaders. Now in Acts 21, they go in and there’s only James and the elders. What happened to the apostles? They went out preaching all over the place.

So how did the church evolve? You start with apostles ruling in Jerusalem. Then they begin to raise up elders, and you have a combination of apostles and elders. Soon, the apostles go, and you have the church ruled by elders; and that becomes the pattern of the New Testament. And by the time Paul writes the last of his pastoral epistles, the church is ruled by elders or pastors.

Now how many elders were there? There are estimates that there were at least a hundred. Why do you think there were so many? Because there were so many Christians. How many Christians were there? Well, by Acts 5 there were at least 20,000. In Acts 21:20 it says, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.”

It’s interesting that James was still there. So there they arrive, and it’s Paul’s time to report. They had the fellowship, passed out the money, though it doesn’t say anything about that. I’m sure they did, and I’m sure that’s what contributed to the gladness, and I know that they accepted it, because the Lord doesn’t have those kind of purposes at that kind of expense without good results.

And they were all anxious to find out all the details of what had gone on in his ministry, and so he reports to them all this information. This is the point that made me think about Paul’s humility here. Verse 19, “After greeting them, he reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.” Notice he told them incident after incident of what God had done.

Well, how could you be a Christian and be a zealot of the law as it says in verse 20? Not the law in terms of salvation, but the ceremonies. These were Jewish Christians who hadn’t yet shaken off Jewish ceremony. They were still keeping the Sabbath. They were still watching what they ate. They were still watching what they wore. You know, they were going through their routine.

So the point is that the Jews did believe, and they were saved people. But they had never shaken the frames of Judaism. And living within the shadow of the temple and in all the Jewish system, and being raised on that, and having that engrained in your life would be a difficult transition to make. And now that they’re believers, they still haven’t been able to release themselves from the bondage of ceremony.

God did not worry a lot about whether those people got out of those customs. By 70 A.D. God wiped out the whole system anyway. He just destroyed Jerusalem through Titus. He allowed Titus to come in and wipe the city right off the face of the earth. One hundred thousand Jews were killed. A few years after that, 98 towns in Palestine were destroyed, and everybody there was killed.

The clearest book ever written on the transition from Judaism to Christ is the book of Hebrews and it was written in 68 A.D. God just gave the Jews just two years to get their heads on straight, and then the whole religious system was gone. Some people tried to resurrect them in a sort of a spiritual sense. But there are no more sacrifices, and all those features of the old temple are gone.

Secondly, let’s look at the concern. Even though there was a sweet time of sharing and communion, these elders and James were really uptight, because there was a problem. So the concern in verse 21, “But they have been informed about you, that you are teaching the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs.”

Who do you think would have taught all those Christians, and drilled them on that misinformation? The Judaizers, those were the circumcision people who believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but you couldn’t do that unless you were a Jew. And then once you did, you had to continue to keep all the Mosaic laws. And so consequently, they were not saved, because it was by works.

And so they went around, and said, “You know what Paul does? He’s the guy that tells all the Jews to forsake Moses, and not to circumcise their children, and not to obey the ceremonies.” These things were precious to these Jewish people. It was their life, their culture, their tradition. And these Judaizers were undermining Paul by saying he doesn’t want anything to do with Judaism.

Satan is the father of lies, and he lies about Paul. He never taught Jews to forsake Moses, he taught Gentiles not to think they had to become Jews. Why? Because they didn’t need the ceremonies of the law. He did not teach Jews not to be circumcised, and he did not teach Jews not to follow those traditions. Our society is predicated on lies, because Satan is a liar. So he lies about Paul.

In Galatians 5:11, the Judaizers accused Paul of not teaching circumcision. In Acts 21, they accuse him of not teaching circumcision. Paul had already written Romans, from Corinth before he got to Jerusalem. Paul had already established that we should condescend to the Jew who still wants to follow the customs; be loving, be kind to him, because it’s harmless. Don’t force him to violate his conscience.

Verse 22 says, “So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you’ve come.” They will say, ‘Hey, this is the guy. We’ve heard about him.’” And, a lot of these elders said, “This is a potential disaster. This thing could blow sky high. We’ve got tens of thousands of Christians who have been drilled that you’re an apostate.” So they come up with a third thing, compromise.

Now the word “compromise,” makes you think of something negative where you sacrifice truth for the sake of expediency. Sometimes you can make a compromise that’s a very loving act, like in verses 23 – 25, “Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved.”

“Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law. 25 With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

This is a Nazarite vow; and it has to do with separation. It comes from Numbers 6. God said that when any Jew wants to separate himself totally unto the Lord, he takes a vow. Now as a symbol of the separation, one, he would restrain himself from drinking. That means he would sacrifice the joy of life. He wouldn’t go to parties anymore. He would restrict himself to the serious matters of life.

Secondly, he cut his hair. The Bible teaches in the New Testament that when it is long like a woman’s hair, it is a reproach to God. I will separate myself from all of the world’s acclaim, and all of the world’s fun, and I will give myself to God.” And these two things were symbolic of such a separation. They were just saying, “God, we want to separate ourselves for You.”

So four guys had taken this vow, and they were nearing the end of it. So these fellows were near the end of this purification process. So they say to Paul, “Now (verse 24) take them and purify yourself with them.” In other words, march on down to the temple and go through the whole seven-day routine. If you do that, the people will think that you really are on the side of Jewish custom.

And all that stuff the Judaizers have been teaching us is wrong. Look at him; he’s down at the temple doing that thing. He goes along with Mosaic ceremony. “Secondly, Paul, pay all their expenses.” There were a lot of animals involved. And all the meals and drinks? And so if you did that, they would even be more convinced that he was for real, because he didn’t have a lot of money.

So anyway, he was ready to do it, and so that they may shave their heads and all may know that those things of which they were drilled about you are nothing, but that you do walk orderly and keep the ceremonies. You show those people by that behavior that it wasn’t true what they said about you, but that you are one who is faithful to Mosaic ceremony.

It’s a compromise, because Paul was willing to listen to them. And anything that he could do to win people over, to make unity in the church he did. This is what Jesus prayed for. And so this doesn’t violate any doctrine just going through the ceremony; it’s rather inconsequential. And God looked at their hearts; and if their hearts were really separated and pure, God would be pleased.

Verse 26, “So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them.” There was nothing evil in doing what he did. What he did was a form of tradition. It was a ceremonial thing. His motives were pure. Paul wanted the unity of the fellowship.

We don’t know what the results were, the only thing you see here is the riot that happens from the unbelievers. Paul submitted himself to the elders to set a pattern for all future church activities. When the elders said, “Do this,” he did it. He said, “I became a Jew, so as to win Jews.” Now what were the consequences? Well, we’ll get into these in detail next time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240114 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000221 imblog

Proverbs

There are only two kinds of people on the planet, only two kinds of people in the world, according to Scripture. There are wise and there are foolish. The world is full of fools, and sprinkled among the fools are the wise. The fools are everyone who doesn’t know God. The wise are everyone who does. So we are talking about the most defining reality that can be declared about those who know God.

It is one thing to have intelligence; that’s a definable human characteristic. It was good that God gave them intelligence. Another thing to have knowledge, that’s information; but it’s quite another to take that intelligence, and put it together with the knowledge, and come up with wisdom. This was recognizable. This was not just a declaration of God, this was recognizable by others.

Romans 1 says that, “They are fools, but they don’t know it, so they profess to be wise. They give each other PhDs for their folly. Romans 1 also says, “They become empty in their speculation, and their foolish heart is darkened.” They, having become callous, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

So what you have in a world of fools with exploding knowledge is just an endless new way to express this darkened understanding. Paul says in Ephesians 4, “But you did not learn Christ in that way.” You just came out of folly into wisdom. You lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

In 1 Corinthians 2:14 Paul writes, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness to him.” He think he’s wise and he’s a fool. Spiritual truth is not attained by any kind of human wisdom.” It characterizes all human beings; they are born fools. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.” It is part of being human, to be a fool.

So what are the characteristics of this human folly? Well, they reject God. They do not believe in the true and living God. Romans 1:18-19 says, “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.”

Romans 1:20-21, “For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”

This is a universal pattern in the human race. The wrath of God is revealed against this. There are multiple forms of the wrath of God. There is eternal wrath: that’s hell. There’s eschatological wrath: that’s the wrath of God as it will be unleashed at the return of Jesus Christ with those events that occur in the time of tribulation prior to His arrival, and then the judgment that happens when He arrives.

This is none of those. This wrath of God which is unleashed on people who have the knowledge of God in them, because the law of God is written in their hearts, and around them through the creation; and by virtue of reason they must come to the conclusion that there has to be a cause for this massive effect. They are without excuse. The wrath of God against those who turn on Him in this life.

Romans 1:24 says, “Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.” Verse 26, “For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another.”

If you don’t know whether you’re a man or a woman check yourself. We’re living in this cycle right now in America. We’ve reached the reprobate mind along with the rest of the Western world. Listen to Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. “So who becomes God? You do. The other characteristic of fools is that they worship self. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.”

You see that in our culture today all around us. Everybody is entitled to define truth in any way they want. Proverbs 28:26, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” He becomes the source of truth, he becomes the standard of truth, the standard of what is right, the standard of what is wrong. This is idolatry, self-worship; but it is the most common characteristic of fools.

There’s another characteristic of fools in Proverbs. If you reject the true God, you reject Him because you don’t want Him controlling your life. And so consequently, now that you’ve become your own god, you are bound then to reject everything that the God you reject has declared as true. And the way that the proverbs talk about this is interesting. Proverbs 14:9 says, “Fools mock at sin.”

In other words, they fail to give any weight to the destructive power of sin. And fools corrupt each other. In Proverbs 15:2 it says, “The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly.” They propagate their folly, their ignorance. Now with that in mind, let’s go back to Proverbs 1. The word “fool” appears forty-two times.

But throughout human history there’s a response in verse 24-26, “Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention, 25 since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, 26 I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you.” That doesn’t sound very nice. But that’s what happens to fools who reject the cry of wisdom.

God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. They think they’re wise but they’re fools. They think we’re fools but we’re wise. In 1 Corinthians 3:18 it says, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he’s wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.” We’re not surprised that there is increasing hostility against the Christian gospel.

The first dose of wisdom is spiritual wisdom, the gospel. The Scriptures are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. By faith alone in Christ alone, from Scripture alone. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.”

No religion in the world ever says that. Nobody says they’re in Buddha or in Mohammed. But ninety times in the New Testament it says, “We’re in Christ.” Fifty of those “in Christ,” the other forty, “in the Lord Jesus Christ,” or, “in Christ Jesus.” We are in Christ in such a way that is literally mind-boggling. It starts in election, if you go back in eternity past, before anything was created.

Paul says to the Ephesians, that, “You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.” Those whom the Lord chose have been in Christ, in the mind of God, and in His redemptive purpose before time. God sees His own as in Christ before He’s created anything. He knows who they are, and He has already joined them in the redemptive purpose to His Son.

The work of regeneration, conversion, the new birth, the hearing and believing the gospel, the wisdom of the Scriptures that leads to salvation didn’t end there. He became to us not only wisdom, but righteousness. There you have justification, the imputation of His righteousness. Following justification comes sanctification, and following sanctification comes final redemption.

Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” But that’s almost identical in Proverbs 9:10; it says it in a different way. It says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Those who fear God prolong life, are blessed beyond wealth, are full of joy, receive an abundant life, and stay free from evil.

Second characteristic is that they guard their minds. They understand the premium of wisdom. They don’t sit in the seat of scoffers. Their delight is in the law of the Lord. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Listen to Proverbs 4:20, “My son, give attention to my words; keep them in the midst of your heart.

Thirdly, they submit to authority. They understand what it is to obey their parents. That’s part of this spiritual wisdom, to be obedient to those who are in authority over you. We find it very early in Proverbs 1:8, “Hear, my son, your father’s instructions, do not forsake your mother’s teaching; indeed, they’re a graceful wreath to your head and ornaments around your neck.”

Number four: The wise are characterized because they select their friends. They’re careful, they don’t run with the crowd. Go to Proverbs 1:10, “My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent. This is the gang mentality – ‘throw in your lot with us, we’ll all have one purse.’ Keep your feet from their path; their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed blood.” Discretion will guard you.

Number five: The wise subdue their desires. Proverbs 5:20-23, “Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman? ²¹ For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and He considers all his paths.²² A wicked man’s sins will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin. ²³ He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.”

Number six is, the wise are faithful to their spouse. Proverbs 5:15-18 says, “Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well. 16 Should your springs flow in the streets, streams in the public squares? 17 They should be for you alone ,and not for you to share with strangers. 18 Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.”

Number seven: The wise person watches his words. Proverbs 4:24, “Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you.” Proverbs 5, “My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding; that you may observe discretion and your lips may reserve knowledge.” Proverbs 6:12, “A worthless person is a wicked man, is one who walks with a perverse mouth.”

Number eight: The wise person works hard. Proverbs 6:6, “Look to the ant, O lazy person, observe her ways, be wise, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. When will you arise from your sleep? Your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man.” Lazy people suffer hunger, poverty, failure, and death.

Number nine: A wise person manages money carefully, understanding that it is God who gives you the power the get wealth, and everything you have you receive from the Lord who’s the source of everything that’s good. Proverbs 3:9, “Honor the Lord from your wealth from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

Number ten. A wise person serves others. Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it’s in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I’ll give it,’ when you have it with you. Do not contend with a man without cause, if he’s done you no harm. Do not envy,” and serve others with all your abilities.

Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!” Proverbs says it’s better than jewels, it’s better than silver, it’s better than gold, and it is better than pearls. I have access to wisdom as a believer, right? Wisdom of the gospel, which I fully embraced, in its fullness from hearing and believing gospel all the way to glorification. How much should I pursue it? I’m going to do something that may be a little bit different.

But where can wisdom be found? Here’s the answer; “God understands its way, and He knows its place. He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When He imparted weight to the wind and meted out the waters by measure, when He set a limit for the rain and a course for the thunderbolt, then He saw it and declared it; He established it and searched it out.

And to man God said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.’” Worship God, depart from sin. That’s wisdom. Be careful how you walk.” That’s daily life, right? It’s a picture of daily life: one step at a time, one day at a time. Walk wisely. You have to function in the power of the Holy Spirit, right? You have to be filled with the Spirit.

Make the most of your time, the days are full of evil. There’s evil around you every day; or you live in an evil world. You can take it in its macro or micro sense. This whole effort at wisdom should be going on every day, every hour. Buy up your time so that you can walk in wisdom. Wisdom is found with God and nowhere else. Seek through his life the wisdom that is contained there and redeem time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20240107 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000220 imblog

Colossians 1:15-19

Who is this child Immanuel, “God with us”? The announcement to Joseph was that this child would be named Jesus, for He would save His people from their sins; and that His name would be Immanuel, which in Hebrew means “God with us.” God came down to save His people from their sins. Mary said, “How can this happen? I am a virgin.” And the angel declared that the Holy Spirit would come upon her.

And by His power the Son of God would take up residence in her womb, so that the child would be both God and man, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about the reality of who Christ is today. Thomas got it right when he said, “My Lord and my God.” The Father declared from heaven of Him, “This is My beloved Son.” But let us study the words of Paul in Colossians 1:15-19.

Here the Holy Spirit gives us a portrait of Christ identifying Him. In fact, this passage identifies Him with regard to His relationship to God, to the world, to angels, to the church, and to all others. Let’s start with His relationship to God, verse 15: “He is the image of the invisible God.” In Genesis 1:26 - 27, God created man in His own image. Humanity was created by a divine pattern.

No other creature was made in God’s image. We share physical and biological features with the rest of living creation because we have to share the same environment. But man has completely unique metaphysical and spiritual features that belong to no other creature. Both ontologically as to his being, and ethically as to his understanding, he is like God. Man alone can reason.

Man alone can think abstractly. Man alone comprehends morality. Man understands beauty. Man possesses emotion. Man expresses will. Man understands artistry, creativity, craftsmanship. Man has a complex language far beyond any form of communication by any other creatures. Man experiences love; and man is defined as having, in the basic definition, meaningful relationships.

God, three-in-one, is a God of relationship, and created us to have relationships with one another, and even with Himself. But here it doesn’t say God made Jesus in His image; it says He is the image of the invisible God. Man is not God. Christ is the image of God, and therefore is God. He was not created by God. Colossians 2:9 says, “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ.”

That is the clearest statement in the epistles as to the deity of Christ. All that God is He is in bodily form, who is the image of God. He is the glory of God shining in human form. Hebrews 1 says Christ is “the exact representation” of God’s nature. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

God is invisible; no one has seen God. Paul says Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is God to us in a visible form. In John 10:30, Jesus speaking to the Jews says, “I and the Father are one.” There was no question in the minds of His enemies that He claimed to be God; and He demonstrated the reality of that claim by His words and His works. God Himself said, “No one can see Me and live.”

Jesus puts God on display in a visible way. Look at His life. Look at His deeds, His miracles, His attitude toward sin and righteousness, toward people and their struggles and their problems, toward life, toward death, toward children, toward religion, toward sin and unrighteousness, and you see God’s attitude toward all of that. So in His relationship to God, He is God, God the Son.

Christ is identified as the firstborn of all creation. Now that’s not chronology. And it also does not mean that He was not existing, and being created came into existence. He always existed. Hebrews 10:5 says, “A body You have prepared for Me.” He already existed, God just made a body for Him to be placed into, to come into this world to live and die and rise again.

But in what sense then is He the firstborn? “Firstborn” is a word in the Greek it means “the primary one.” Of all the people who have ever been created, and certainly Christ’s body was created, He is the premier one. That’s what “firstborn” means. The firstborn was the son who had all the rights, who carried on the family authority, the special place of privilege, prestige, and honor. He inherits everything.

Secondly, notice His relationship to the world in verses 16 and 17, “For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” Christ created the whole universe in six days.

Living in the modern world we understand what the universe is, don’t we? I don’t need to go through reminding you of the vastness of infinite space and everything in it. Nor do I need to remind you of the heavenly bodies: sun, moon, stars, and bits and pieces of things flying around. Nor do I need to remind you of the complexity of life on the earth, the microcosm of creation. Christ created all of it.

And everything He created was good. Seven times in Genesis 1 it says, “And God saw it and it was good,” because He is good and He can only produce what is good. In the fall, man stained this universe with his sin. But Christ will remake it to be permanently good. Everything came from Him and ends in being given to Him. He will regather the entire universe in a new creation.

Verse 17 says, “He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” If you’re the Creator you have to be there before the creation. In Revelation 22:13 He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” He is before all things. That simple statement speaks of Christ as an eternal being. He is the only one who existed before the creation.

Micah 5:2 says, “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.” The Messiah is an eternal being who will be born in Bethlehem. That narrows it down to one possibility: an eternal being born in Bethlehem, the Creator of the universe, the one who was before all things.

“By Him all things hold together.” This has been the dilemma of scientists. A nuclear physicist said: “Everything that exists in material form is made up of atoms.” An atom has a nucleus, and in that are positive charged protons. Physicists know that they should repel each other. What holds the nucleus together? This physicist said, “There’s no scientific reason why atoms don’t explode.”

But it is extremely difficult to split an atom. It takes massive amount of scientific effort to even get to the place where we understand atomic structure. And it’s very difficult to split an atom. This scientist said, “All the massive nuclei have no right to exist. They should blow up instantly. There is a power that holds them together. As yet he says, the secret has not been discovered.”

Christ, the Creator holds everything together. It says in 2 Peter 3, that the day is coming when the entire universe will have an atomic implosion, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Was it incredible to create a lot of fish and loaves one day on a hillside in Galilee? No, Christ is the one who holds together every atom in the universe from exploding. He makes the universe as is, instead of chaos.

Thirdly, His relation to angels. Angels do exist, as do demons, who are fallen angels. Christ has created everything in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, which would include angels and every other invisible reality like personality, intellect, and every other invisible aspect of reality. And Paul says, “Let’s include, among the invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities.”

Now he moves from the physical creation to the angelic creation. Ephesians 1:21 says, “Christ has been seated in the heavens, far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion.” Ephesians 6:12 says, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.”

Jesus is not an angel; He is the one who created the angels. He created them all. He created even the ones that fell, and He triumphed over them. In Colossians 2:15 even when He was dead on the cross, His Spirit went to declare His triumph over the angels. “He disarmed the rulers and authorities, made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through His work on the cross.”

Verse 18, He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.” Christ is not just a better teacher than others. He is the head over the church, without which the church is dead. Other religions and false forms of Christianity are headless bodies. He expresses His will through His word, and His power through His Spirit.

“He is the beginning,” means “the source.” We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. He gives us life through His Spirit; He regenerates us. There is a church because He gives life to everyone in His church. The church was brought into existence on the day of Pentecost by the Spirit, whom the Son sent after the Father exalted Him. It is the Spirit who gives us life.

“He is the firstborn from the dead.” He isn’t the first person to rise; He raised people from the dead. There are a few in the Old Testament that were raised from the dead. What it’s saying is, of all the people who will ever be raised from the dead He is first, and by the way, everyone will be eventually. In John 5, Jesus said He will raise the righteous to life and the unrighteous to condemnation.

“So that He might come to have first place in everything.” That looks at His resurrection, because He is of all that have ever risen, the premier one. By His resurrection He showed that He had conquered every enemy: sin and death and hell, all the forces of Satan. He overpowered death. And by virtue of that resurrection He is the victor and the sovereign power over all who live.

Verse 19, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” This is not talking about His deity; this is something the Father was pleased to give Him. The fullness in Christ is the fullness of grace and truth. All divine love, all righteousness, all true pardon, all divine forgiveness, adoption, inheritance, sanctification, holiness, wisdom, strength, knowledge, peace, joy and comfort. Let us pray.

]]> Sat, 23 Dec 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231223 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000021F imblog

Hebrews 1:1-4

Turn to Luke 2:10-11, “But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” And then, the angelic hosts appear to declare glory to God in the highest. When we think about Christmas we always think about angels.

They appear kind of on the fringes of Christmas cards. They’re loveable creatures, but they don’t seem to play a major role, at least not in the sentimental Christmas of most people. But that is not the case in the real story. Angels were the heavenly messengers sent to declare that the Savior and the Lord had arrived, and that He was Christ. Look at that word “Christ” which is not Jesus’ last name.

We see that word so often but miss the significance of it unless we look more closely. Both the Old Testament word “Messiah” and the New Testament word “Christos” mean the Anointed One, and it’s drawn from the Old Testament where God anointed certain persons for special responsibility in His kingdom. The Old Testament promised a Savior, a Redeemer, a Deliverer, Messiah, and the Anointed One.

So His name is Jesus, His nature is Lord, and His title is Christ the Anointed One. In the Old Testament there were three particular people who were anointed for unique elevated service in the kingdom. Oil was poured on their heads as a symbol of they are being set apart to God. First it was the prophets. We see this in 1 Kings 19:16 where Elijah is told to anoint his successor the prophet Elisha.

Secondly were the priests. In Exodus 29 you have Aaron of the Aaronic priesthood, instructed to be anointed. In Exodus 40:15, the sons of Aaron were to be anointed as priests to God. In Leviticus 8 you see the same thing with Aaron being anointed. And thirdly who received anointing was the king. In 1 Samuel 10:1 Saul, the first king, was anointed. 1 Samuel 16, David was anointed.

The Messiah would be all three. According to Deuteronomy 18, He would be a prophet like Moses. According to Psalm 1:10, He would be a priest; and that’s repeated again in Zechariah 6. He would be a unique priest. According to Psalm 2, and then again in 2 Samuel 7, He would be King. He would be the King in David’s line. Psalm 2 says He would rule all the nations of the world.

When you see the announcement of Christ, the angels are saying, “This is the Promised Anointed One who is the Prophet, Priest and King. And from Genesis 3 where God pronounces curses on man and woman and the serpent, we are told that there would come One who would crush the serpent’s head. The anticipation builds as you are waiting for the arrival of the Anointed One.

This is God’s plan and promise. It didn’t happen, centuries went by, until, as Paul says in Galatians 4:4, the fullness of time came. Luke 2:11 says, “Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Messiah, the Anointed One, and the Lord.” This was the most monumental day in Israel’s history. After Jesus was born, eight days passed, and it was time for Him to be circumcised.

Look later what He says about Himself. Luke 4:16-21, “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

The anointed One is here, He is the ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King. Hebrews 1:1-4, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, He has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 So He is superior to the angels, just as the name He inherited is more excellent than theirs. In fact, He is the King of the angels. But Hebrews 2:9 says that, when He came into the world He was for a little while made lower than the angels, in order to suffer death, then be crowned with glory.

So Hebrews 1 is introducing us to the Anointed One. He is the Prophet who reveals God, He is the Priest who reconciles to God, and He is the King who reigns with God. Let’s look first at the Prophet who reveals God. Now we know that the natural man cannot understand the things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:14 says “they’re foolishness to him.” They are unable to discern the truth.

In the Old Testament we’re reminded that He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many ways. Through direct revelation, indirect revelation, inspired writing, visions, dreams, types and symbols. But He always spoke to the people through the prophets. Some of that is history, some poetry, some law, some prophecy, but all of it is God speaking through His Word.

But it was incomplete. The revelations that compose the 39 books of the Old Testament, are stretched over a millennium, written by 40 different authors, but incompleteness marks the Old Testament. No prophet got the full revelation of God, not until we see that God spoke to us in His Son. No one ever grasped the full truth of God, only Jesus was the full truth revealed.

In Him, God fully revealed Himself. No longer in diverse ways, but singularly through Christ. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” speaking of the Son of God. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Full truth is revealed in Him. Verse 18: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” In Jesus God is fully revealed, and the New Testament is written about this full revelation. The four Gospels describe the arrival and the ministry of Jesus. The book of Acts describes the apostolic preaching concerning Jesus.

The Epistles lay out the significance of His life and death and resurrection and implications in the world. And the New Testament culminates in the book of Revelation with His glorious return. The New Testament’s all about Jesus Christ who is the full revelation of God. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” says Paul. In Jesus, they’d never heard a man speak like that.

In the Old Testament you see this unfolding of revelation. To Abraham, we find the nation of Messiah. In Jacob, the tribe of Messiah. In David and Isaiah, the family of Messiah. In Micah, the town of Messiah. In Daniel, the time of Messiah. In Malachi, we find the forerunner of Messiah. And in Isaiah, we find the death and resurrection of Messiah. But each writer only knew in part.

But when Christ arrived, He is the complete, full revelation of God. He’s going to define Christ in some magnificent terms. He is the heir of all things. He is the one who made the universe. He is the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” He is the ultimate Prophet. No prophet has ever had words that are as powerful as His.

John 1:3 says, “Everything was made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made,” He spoke it into existence. He’s the author of all that exists in history. He’s the author not just of the material world, the immaterial world as well and how it all interacts. As such also, verse 3 says, “He’s the radiance of God’s glory.” He’s the creator of all, because He is the Light of all.

Christ is the ruler of all: “He upholds all things by the word of His power.” This is speaking about His power to sustain everything that exists. Everything in the universe has to be held together, and it is held together by the word of His power. Notice that, “the word of His power.” He speaks, and the universe is created. He speaks constantly, continually, and the universe is sustained until the end arrives.

In John 11:25, “Jesus says to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, and He who comes into the world.’” She is declaring that He is that Promised Messiah, the Prophet.

Secondly, He is the Priest who reconciles people to God. Go back to verse 3: “When He had made purification of sins.” This introduces us to His priestly work. That what priests did. They went before God in the prescribed way to offer the necessary sacrifice that God required to pay for the sins of the people. That’s what Jesus did. He offered the only sacrifice that could take away sin.

There was no priest like Him. Every priest would go back every day and do what he did in the morning again at night. There was never any end to it. But the writer of Hebrews wants us to understand there’s never been a priest like this one. Hebrews 2:17 says, “He became a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

The message of the Lord Himself was that He is the Messiah, and He has arrived to fulfill these promises. This becomes the subject of their preaching in Acts. Acts 3:18 says, “The things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that this Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.” So the apostles had to preach that it was promised by God that Messiah would suffer.

He offered a sacrifice that satisfied God. No priest ever did that. Hebrews 4:14 says, “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, but without sin.” Hebrews 5:5 says, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but God said, ‘You are My Son, today I have become your Father.”

Verse 6 says, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ Verse 9, “After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.” Hebrews 9:11-14 says, “But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, 12 He entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves,

But by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify temporarily for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?

He’s not just a priest, but He is the Priest who offered Himself as the sacrifice. Peter says, “We’re redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot.” He was the perfect sympathetic Priest. He was the perfect sacrifice. He was man, and He substituted for man; He was God and had the power to defeat death.

Thirdly, we meet Christ who is the King. The end of Hebrews 1:3 says, “After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Priests never sat down. They never stopped offering sacrifices. But Jesus sat down because He was not just a priest, He was the King. He sat down at the right hand, the power side of the Majesty on high; He took His rightful place.

Revelation says, He became King of kings and Lord of lords. And from the moment He ascended into heaven, He reigns as the eternal King. The evidence of His sovereign royalty is verse 4, “So He became superior to the angels, just as the name He inherited is more excellent than theirs.” Verse 5, “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You’re My Son, today I have become your Father’?

And let all the angels of God worship Him.’” Go back to Luke 2:11-14, the angel of the Lord appears and says, “Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 Glory to God in the highest heaven.” The angels don’t need a prophet. The angels don’t need a priest.

The angels do have a king; He has always been their King: Jesus, King of angels, King od men and heaven’s Light. Charles Wesley understood that when he wrote, “Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’” The holy angels have always worshiped Him, and they worship Him as the ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King: God’s Promised Anointed Redeemer. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Dec 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231217 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000021E imblog

Galatians 4:1-7

As we think about the birth of our Lord, draw your attention to the Galatians 4. There is a key verse there that we should dwell on for our time this evening as we look at the Word of God. Let me read Galatians 4:1-7, “Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 2 Instead, he is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.”

3 We also, when we were children were in slavery under the world. 4 When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and then God has made you an heir.”

Let us focus on verse 4, “When the fullness of time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” That phrase “the fullness of time” marks out the reality that God had established a set time for the sending of His Son. So when we ask the question, “When did Christmas begin?” It did not begin with the virgin conception, it began all the way back in the book of Genesis.

We have to go back to Genesis to see the promise that is fulfilled in the coming of the Son of God. Now we all know that in Genesis 1 we have a record of God’s creation. God the eternal Father, Almighty, the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, creates the universe and everything in it, and He does it in six days. And on the sixth day was the creation of man, made in God’s image.

In Genesis 2, we focus in on the creation of man and the addition of woman. God gives us details of His bringing man into existence and then bringing woman into existence, and then giving them dominion over the entire creation and all the resources found in it. We also see in Genesis 2 that man and woman had a relationship with God. They were really the children of God.

And then you come to Genesis 3. This is the most horrible chapter describing the most horrible thing with the most long-range impact of this event ever happened since the creation, and that is the fall of men. Satan who fell first along with some of the angels came down to the garden, seduced Eve; and Adam and Eve sinned and rebelled. As a result, the entire creation was cursed.

The impact of sin in the world touched every molecule. Everything began to die. They were distrustful of God and trusted the words of Satan. They disobeyed God’s simple command and plunged the entire human race and all creation into a cursed and dying condition. Everything was corrupted, everything was doomed to destruction, and the whole process of human life is defined by death.

And in the future, the entire universe will be destroyed and replaced with a new heaven and a new earth. The fall led to the curse on the woman, a curse on the serpent, a curse on the man. Let us read Genesis 3:14, 15 and 16, “So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly.”

“And eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵ I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. ¹⁶ He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, and yet he will rule over you.”

And then the curse on the man, verse 17: “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’”

In that curse is the promise that is fulfilled at Christmas. In verse 15, God says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.” This is so much the heart of God, with so much love and mercy, that He cannot finish the curse without stating the promise of redemption.

The promise in the midst of the curse of a child who will be that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head. He will be the one to destroy the destroyer, and He will be of the seed of the woman. This speaks of paradise restored and regained. The Lord gives this promise before He even finishes the curse. The Lord gives this promise before He even clothes Adam and Eve.

The Lord gives this promise before He even banishes them from the garden permanently; He sets the cherubim and a flaming sword to make sure they never come back. They have entered into a condition of alienation from God. They were created in the image of God; they were bearers of His image; they communed with God in pure fellowship as a loving Father. That has all ended.

They have gone from being sons of God to being sons of Satan, they have gone from being in paradise to being out of paradise, and the world around them is devastated with sin. Snakes throughout all of human history all over the world, are symbols of and reminders of the curse. Snakes depict the devil. Leviticus 11:42 says, “Anything that crawls on its belly is detestable.”

In a sense, it’s the opposite of a rainbow. Every rainbow is testimony to the fact that God made a promise never to destroy the world again by water. This also defines the life of snakes, is a testimony to God’s promise to destroy Satan. He is destroyed in the plan of God. In fact, the apostle Paul says, “Even now he is under your feet.” Snakes are symbols of the degradation and the defeat of the devil.

Children of the devil or children of God, those are the only two options. Children of the devil are identified here as Satan’s seed, children of God are identified here as the seed of Eve, which also is evidence of Eve’s salvation. She is the mother, symbolically speaking and literally speaking, of all who would ever come into the world, because she’s the only woman; she started the human race with Adam.

And the children of Satan and the children of Eve or salvation will be in conflict. That is what the word “enmity” means. So human history is marked by the righteous in conflict with the unrighteous, the children of the devil with the children of God. But the conflict then focuses on one individual, because it says, “He shall bruise you on the head.” That is the promise of the coming King.

This is an incredible promise. And for many hundreds of years, this was the only gospel there was. The promise that there would come One who would crush Satan, who would end the seducer’s impact, who would bring back paradise and restore people to be sons of God. That was all the gospel there was for centuries, and it would come through the seed of the woman.

Now it would not be without suffering, because Satan, it says, would bruise him on the heel. So the One who crushes Satan would Himself be wounded by Satan. So there in that promise embedded in the curse is the greatest pledge ever given to the human race. Hope, mercy, forgiveness and restoration are all bound up in it. This is where the Christmas story began with a promise embedded in a curse.

We learn later in Genesis 12 and then in Genesis 22:18, as God speaks to Abraham, that the seed who would crush the serpent’s head would come through Abraham, that He would be a member of Abraham’s family, He would be a descendant of Abraham. In Genesis 22:18, God speaks to Abraham, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Then God ratified that in Genesis 15.

Abraham had to cut some animals in half and put them apart so there was a path between them, put a dead bird on each side wide, because that’s symbolically in the ancient world how they cut a covenant. Usually two people would pass through the pieces. But in the case of Genesis 15, God anesthetizes Abraham and he falls asleep, and God goes through alone. He’s making a promise with Himself.

We learn later that the seed will come through the line of King David. Let us read 2 Samuel 7:12, God says, “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish His kingdom.” This is not Solomon, because verse 13 says, “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever.”

God talks about the greater son of David, who would be the Messiah. In Deuteronomy 18 we learn that the seed will be a preacher, a preacher like Moses. Isaiah gives us two prophecies in 2 Samuel 7:14, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel, which means God with us.”

Then in Isaiah 9:6, there is another prophecy about this child, “For a Child will be born for us, a Son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.” The government means the supreme rule of everything. There will be no end to the increase of His government of peace.

Psalm 89:3-4, “The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn an oath to David my servant: ⁴ ‘I will establish your offspring forever.” The son of David who is the true King, the Son of God, is forever established on a throne that has no end. He is called again in verse 27, “I will also make Him my firstborn, the greatest of the kings of the earth.”

So who is this seed? Paul gives us the answer in Galatians 3:16, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Jesus Christ.” The one who fulfilled all of God’s promise. This is the one who will establish an everlasting kingdom of righteousness. It is the Messiah.

Matthew 1:1 says, “An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, and the son of Abraham.” Verse 16: “And Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah.” So Matthew 1:18 says, “The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

19 So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man. And not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. 20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” It is none other than Jesus. This is the one who fulfills all God’s promise of paradise regained, restored, of the crushing of Satan and the rescue of men and women, and restoration to becoming sons of God. And this became the message the apostles preached. Look at Acts 13.

The Law couldn’t free you from sin, from death, and from hell. So the message of the apostles was that the promise that God made to the forefathers way back in the book of Genesis was fulfilled in Jesus. How does His salvation come to me as a sinner? Galatians 3:26, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” not because you are worthy, but by faith in Christ.

God didn’t create His Son, He sent Him; He preexisted eternally: born of a woman, full humanity; sent by God, full deity. And why does He come? To redeem us. How did He redeem us? He died on the cross, took the curse that we deserved, redeemed us from the curse, in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

For us who have put our faith in Christ, paradise has been regained. We are citizens of heaven: our inheritance is there, our Father is there, our family is there. We are, again, bearers of God’s image. We are children of God. We were the children of Satan, under bondage to the Law and to sin, which led to hell. But by putting our trust in Him, we have become children of God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Dec 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231210 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000021D imblog

Acts 21:10-16

In Acts 21:1 - 16, we have been considering this narrative and a historical passage, and there is no particular instruction to the believer. It speaks by way of example to Paul’s conviction. We find in this passage the commitment Paul demonstrated. And as we have learned here by example is maybe even clearer than what we hear by precept. In studying Acts, we’re studying a great example.

So, we’ve benefited by what is historical narrative and extracting from it principles that can be applied to our own lives. Paul concludes his third missionary journey and goes to Jerusalem, as we see from his life a great illustration of his commitment that God had given him. The real test of every man and every woman is how much they give of themselves. All of us can relate to that.

In Hebrews 11, you have the heroes of faith, and these were really committed people. And verse 24 says, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” And in that time, Moses had risen to the place of a prince. Verse 25 says, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”

And so, he made his choice, verse 26 says, “esteeming the reproach of the Anointed.” Moses was thinking that the reproach of being God’s anointed was better riches than the treasures of Egypt. In other words, he’d rather be hated and be God’s anointed, than be loved and be belonging to Egypt. He was willing to sacrifice temporary riches for eternal reward. God’s rewards are eternal.

There was another person in verse 31, “By faith the prostitute Rahab perished not with them that were unbelievers, when she had received the spies with peace.” Here was a lady who went against her whole society. She was secure in her city, but she believed God, and against all of the politics of Jericho, she chose her faith in God and believe God and make a sacrifice.

And God honored her. That woman was a prostitute. And she was also a Canaanite. That’s bad. And she was an Amorite. That’s worse. But God’s grace has always been greater than Israel, and that that prostitute Amorite Canaanite Gentile was induced right into the line of the Messiah. She was the mother of Boaz, the great great grandfather of David. So here are Gentile women in Jesus’ line.

In Romans 8:18 Paul said, “The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be ours hereafter.” That’s the ultimate choice. You obey God, and there’s an eternal dividend. When Christ came, the fulfillment of all their dreams came in the New Covenant, things that they only saw in the future and never received. They gave their lives for a hope they never saw.

And God is asking of us that same level of commitment for a hope that is already a fact in history. Christ did live; He did die; He did rise again. And He’s alive at the right hand of the Father, and He will work His will and power through us. Do you believe that? So the level of our commitment ought to exceed the level of the commitment of all those people listed in Hebrews 11, right?

So, we’re talking about commitment. And as we saw last time, there are different kinds of commitment levels. Now in Acts 21 there are three different kinds of commitment. There is an incomplete commitment; you never give it all to the Lord. There is an insincere commitment; you’re a phony. And there’s intermittent commitment; you’re committed today, but who knows about tomorrow.

Now, as we come to Acts 21, we see this example of commitment in the apostle Paul. And we’ve seen four little points that help us to see the totality of this conviction. The commitment knows its purpose, can’t be diverted, pays any price, and affects others. Now, point one, the conviction knows its purpose. You can’t be courageous unless you’ve got a conviction you’re fighting for.

Paul was on his way to Jerusalem. His purpose was, “God wants me to get this money to the saints in Jerusalem.” That was his conviction; that was his objective; that was his goal. Secondly, this conviction can’t be diverted. Paul arrives in Tyre on his journey, and they all said, “Oh, don’t go to Jerusalem.” And after they all got done, he said goodbye and left for Jerusalem.

Thirdly, and this conviction pays any price. For Daniel this rule came down, “You are not allowed to pray to anybody but the king.” So, what did Daniel do? He did what he always did. “So you’re going to be in the lion’s den.” What did Daniel do? He did what he always did: he prayed to God. He did pay any price. He wound up in a lion’s den and God saved him.

God honors those who are willing to do what God wants them to do. Verse 8-9, “The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him. 9 This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.” Philip was one of the seven full of the Holy Spirit who were the first deacons of the church.

So, first a deacon, then an evangelists in Caesarea. And it’s a beautiful Roman city. He had four virgin daughters. And it says they did prophesy. God used them to speak words of practical instruction to the church. Paul is going to be in Jerusalem by Pentecost. So, he’s ahead of schedule. Verse 10 says, “After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.”

He is a prophet not in the Old Testament sense but in the New Testament sense. In the early years of the church, there were two key men. Ephesians 2:20 says, “The apostles and prophets were the foundation of the Church.” Paul, when he writes for the instruction of the church, turns the leadership of the church over to pastors and elders. And the term “evangelists” all of sudden comes into use.

So, we believe that the apostles and prophets were replaced chronologically by teaching pastors and evangelists. Now the prophets had a practical revelation. Paul was an apostle. He’s also called a prophet in the sense that he was a preacher. Paul gave revelation concerning doctrine. When Agabus gave revelation it was concerning the practical life of the Church.

In Acts 11:28, Agabus gave a revelation about a coming famine. Well, here Agabus shows up again, and he gives another prophecy that has no doctrine in it. Verse 11, “He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’”

He says, “You’re going to get it Paul, when you get to Jerusalem. You’re going to get bound and delivered to the Gentiles.” And that is precisely what happened. Well, God used this to vividly illustrate prophesy. God has done this many times. Look at Jeremiah 13. The Lord says to Jeremiah, “Go and buy a linen apron and put it on your loins, and don’t put it in water.”

They were dirty and coarse. And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, said, ‘Take the apron that you have bought, arise and go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.’” He did so. Then the Lord said, “Now, go get it after a period of time passed.” Verse 7, “Then I went to the Euphrates, and took the apron and behold, the apron was marred, it was profitable for nothing.”

“The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, after this manner will I rot the pride of Judah, and the pride of Jerusalem.’” There is another one in Ezekiel 4:1-7, “Now you, son of man, take a brick, set it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp, pitch military camps, and place battering rams against it on all sides.”

3 Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Face it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.” That is what’s going to happen, Nebuchadnezzar is going to come and lay siege to Jerusalem. Verse 4, “Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. You will bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.”

5 For I have assigned you the years of their iniquity according to the number of days you lie down, 390 days; so you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned you forty days, a day for each year. 7 Face the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.”

This prophet tied himself up and laid there for all those days. And everybody would say, “What’s going on,” and then it would begin to wear on them when they began to see day after day this prophesy right before their eyes. Ezekiel 5:1-4 is an interesting one. The sword here is the symbol of the king of Babylon. And he says, “Son of man, take a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard.”

Then take a set of scales and divide the hair. 2 You are to burn a third of it in the city when the days of the siege have ended; you are to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind, for I will draw a sword to chase after them. 3 But you are to take a few strands from the hair and secure them in the folds of your robe.

4 Take some more of them, throw them into the fire, and burn them in it. A fire will spread from it to the whole house of Israel.” Some will die by fire, some will die by sword, and some will be scattered to the wind. Take a few hairs and stick them in your robe. You know who that is? That’s the remnant of Israel. So, here again is a very vivid illustration of what is going to happen.

Now let us go back to Acts 21. God used His prophets to communicate strategic messages, and frequently they were messages of impending suffering. Agabus arrives, and in a very vivid way, in verse 11, tells Paul that he’s going to be bound and delivered to the Gentiles. Verse 12, “When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.”

Verse 13, “Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” How many lives are wiped out this way without ever accomplishing the will of God? Jesus said, “If you’re not willing to leave father and mother and everybody else that you love and follow Me, you’re not worthy to be My disciple.”

And let me say something, moms and dads. Someday you may have to give a kid up to the mission field. Be objective enough to let your own mind settle on the fact that if he’s in the will of God, he’s as safe as the sovereignty of God is strong. And don’t ever be hesitant when you know that somebody feels that this is God’s direction, and that they’ve set their mind to do this.

God likes a Christian who doesn’t have to have a running start to get involved in anything. For if you have an adequate doctrine of God, then whatever happens is acceptable. First, you have to understand the fatherhood of God. Hebrews 12:7 says, “Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?”

Parents discipline for three reasons: retribution, which is direct chastisement for sin. And they also disciplines for prevention. And the last reason is for education. Sometimes discipline educates us. Discipline educates you to lean on God all the more as your only resource. Remember Job, the whole summary is in Job 42:1-10, where he says, “Now I understand God. Now I know God.”

God wants us to grow up into the image of Christ. I can always tell a child that is not loved. Why? He’s not disciplined. When parents love children, they take the time to discipline them. You can respond to this kind of discipline two ways. You can learn from it, or you can worry about it. And for those of you who learn from it, there’s Christian service, with great fruitfulness.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-27, “Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?

Verse 14, “Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.” They gave it to God. They acknowledged His sovereignty. Lastly, conviction affects others. Verse 15-16, “After this we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Cyprus, to an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.”

Courage is contagious. His conviction had an effect on others. That’s leadership by example. People, if you have the courage of conviction, God will use you to affect the lives of others. It all boils down to commitment. If one man could make that commitment to another man, certainly we should make it to our Lord. People, God is asking you to make a commitment to Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Dec 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231203 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000021C imblog

Acts 21:7-9

As we come to Acts 21, Paul is concluding his third missionary tour. He is on his way back to Jerusalem. And as we studied the book of Acts that the history and the narrative that we have been studying are principles that apply to life. So the book of Acts has become a precious and practical instruction manual on the life of the Church and the life of the believer in the Church.

And as we look at Acts 21:1-15, we have chosen Paul’s conviction for a focal point. And he is a man of conviction, and that conviction needs to be translated to us. And we’ve heard about being dedicated and committed. But in Acts 21, we’re not exposed to a sermon on commitment as we are to a life that is committed. And what makes it so powerful is that Paul does what he says.

Paul says, “The Lord gave me that ministry. I’m going to fulfill that ministry; I don’t care what the price is.” Now, that’s commitment. The basic definition is the issue of the supreme and undivided lordship of Jesus Christ in the life of a believer. It is not a question of whether he is Lord. It is a question of my submission to His supremacy and my undivided obedience to that lordship.

We know the Lord Jesus Christ has a plan for my life. A plan to unfold for my ministry and for yours as well, because you’re a minister of Christ equally as I am. And that unfolding plan is done in terms of the mind of God. God knows what it is He wants us to do. And we have been given the opportunity to do that ministry. The question of commitment is whether we submit ourselves totally.

First of all, this whole idea of dedication begins with a conviction. And then secondly, with the courage to see it through. Most Christians fall into these three categories. First, there’s incomplete commitment. In other words, you’re committed up to a point. If it doesn’t fit my schedule, or if it doesn’t hassle me at the point of my own self-desires, or if it doesn’t get too dangerous.

Secondly there is insincere commitment. This is the verbal commitment that doesn’t have a base for it. This is Peter when he says, “Lord, whatever happens, I’ll die for you.” And when given the opportunity, he denies Christ on three occasions. That’s a lot of hypocrisy. This is all talk and no action. This is the person who is pious on the outside. But it’s all pretense; it’s all superficial.

Thirdly, there is an intermittent commitment. It all depends on which day you talk to them whether they’re committed or not. And the extreme form of it is in the church of Ephesus, as our Lord wrote and said, “I have this against you; you have left your first love.” These are the bouncing balls of Christianity, and very often the bounce goes out, and they just roll along at the low level.

Now, God’s choice for His people is total, constant, with full commitment. That kind of dedication that goes along and whatever happens, happens. But that doesn’t change the commitment. Now, Paul had convictions, and he was committed to them, and it didn’t matter what the consequences were. And he did not have a different Holy Spirit; he had the same resources you have.

In our passage, we’re looking at Paul the example, and we see in him the conviction that has four features. Last time, we considered the first two: it’s purpose and secondly it cannot be diverted. This time we’ll consider part of the third, it pays any price, and fourthly, it affects others. Now by way of review, first, a Christian knows his purpose. Paul put it this way, “That I may know Him.”

Paul’s goal was Jerusalem. He was going to get there, and he was going to get there with that offering. But he traversed the Mediterranean Sea, stopping in all those little spots like Coos, Rhodes, Patara, Phoenicia, past Cyprus, Syria and Tyre, coming to the land of Israel in order that he might deliver the money. Paul felt it was important to unify the church and to help the saints in Jerusalem.

Secondly, that conviction can’t be diverted. You need courage to see it through. That’s illustrated in verses 4 to 6. And these disciples, using the gifts of the Spirit to communicate, warned Paul about the suffering that was going to happen in Jerusalem. And their natural response was, “Paul, don’t go to Jerusalem.” But he was expecting it. He received persecution everywhere else.

And the fact that they told him does not mean that God was trying to prevent him from going to Jerusalem. He went to fulfill prophecy. Well in Acts 9:15 Ananias came after God told him to go, and said to Paul, “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.’” So God promised there to reveal to Paul all his sufferings before they came.

They were not to prevent Paul from going to Jerusalem; they were to prepare him. God was confirming to Paul that God was still running his life and preparing him for all his suffering. Verse 5, “When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray.”

Paul had never been to that church before, and after seven days there, they all loved him, and the whole group went out. “We knelt down on the shore, had a little prayer meeting. So, the apostle Paul was not out of God’s will. He was following the leading of the Spirit of God. God had told him exactly what was going to happen. He was ready for it; he anticipated it. He was a man of conviction.

Now, in the Bible there are a lot of people who illustrate to us a lack of this kind of courage. Acts 13:5 says, “They preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also John Mark as their helper.” But in verse 13 it says, “And John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.” He looked at Taurus Mountains with all those robbers and decided it was too dangerous.

Then Paul said to Barnabas in Acts 15:36, “Let’s go and visit our brothers again in every city where we have preached the Word of the Lord, and see how they’re doing.” And Barnabas thought that was a good idea. “Barnabas determined to take with them John Mark, “But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed with them from Pamphylia, and then decided to leave them.”

Now, Paul had a difficult time tolerating weakness in anybody else. And so he said, “There’s no way that I’m taking that guy with us. Last time he showed that he didn’t have the courage to go through with it.” And the contention was so sharp, that they departed from one another.” Paul and Barnabas split up. God used that for His glory. Paul took Silas, and Barnabas took John Mark.

Thirdly, conviction pays any price. And this is just where John Mark blew it. He’d pay some price, but not any price. It can become as simple as this: you know you should share Jesus Christ with somebody, but for the sake of your own ego, you don’t want to be rejected, so you don’t do it. That’s selling out for your own self for your own prestige or self-image or reputation.

Now, back to Acts 21:7, “When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.” So, apparently the ship had docked at Tyre, and that was it. But anyway, they came to Ptolemais which was a very old city. Before that it was called Accho, and it’s mentioned in Judges 1. Today it’s called Akka.

“They greeted the brothers and sisters, and stayed with them for a day.” They’ve only got one day there, but they take that one day and maximize it, and they fellowship with the Christians. Paul absolutely staggers you with his commitment to the priorities. The guy had no concept of wasted time. He met the brethren, and he taught them, he listened to their problems and he worked with them.

Paul was totally committed. There was no point at which he stopped. Not for rest, not for money, not for saving his life, not for the failure to be punished or to have wounds. He couldn’t be bought off. Now, he didn’t found that church, so he didn’t have any particular obligation. It was probably founded in the overflow of the persecution that occurred in Jerusalem.

Verse 8, “The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.” Caesarea was the port of Jerusalem in Biblical times, not now. Now it is the port of Tel Aviv which was ancient Joppa. But Caesarea was the headquarters of Pilate. And the Jews considered it, though it was in Israel, to be a foreign city.

Verse 8, “We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven” What seven? The seven in Acts 6:5, “and stayed with him.” They were the seven deacons chosen to feed the widows. And those seven men were the first deacons of the Church. It is the same Philip mentioned in Acts 8:5, “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.”

And in Acts 8:40 it says, “He was found at Azotus, and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.” Philip preached as an evangelist. He started out as a deacon; but he became an evangelist. Here’s an important principle, God gives His top confidential ministries to those who have been faithful in little things. And because of that, God made him one of the leading evangelists.

Be faithful in what it is He’s given you for now. Now, Paul arrives in Philip’s house and lives with him. And he stayed there awhile, too, because he had a fast trip across the Mediterranean, and he had a few extra days till Pentecost, when he was supposed to arrive in Jerusalem. So, he spent it with Philip. What’s interesting about that is that Philip had met Paul indirectly 20 years before.

Paul was threatening slaughter against the Church. And Philip was one of the ones who ran into Samaria. So, it was Saul who had persecuted Philip, and now Philip hosts Saul in his own home as a brother in Christ. That’s transformation. Twenty years before this, Philip was driven out of Jerusalem by Saul. The Gospel preachers were scattered everywhere, and they started preaching.

Philip preached all those years, and then it says in Acts 8:40, he made his home in Caesarea. Can you imagine what a joy it was to meet his original persecutor and know that he had been a preacher of Christ all through the years? It’s like Galatians 1:23, where Paul says, “You know when I went through that territory there, those people got so excited they said, ‘The one who used to persecute is now preaching.’”

But there was something else where Paul could honor Philip, and it was about evangelism to the Gentile world, we think of two people. We think of Peter, who first delivered the Gospel to Cornelius. And we think of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, who preached the Gospel everywhere from Jerusalem to Rome. But when we think of Gentile evangelism, the first person actually was Philip.

When the persecution came, he was the guy that was preaching in Samaria to the half-breed Samaritans. And while preaching in Samaria, the Holy Spirit said, “Get out of here. I want you to go to Gaza,” which is desert. And he went to Gaza, and met the Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah. And what did he do? He led him to Jesus Christ and baptized him, and that was the first Gentile convert.

Philip is the guy who really was the predecessor to Paul. And so God used Philip to begin what Paul really expanded. There are apostles and prophets in the early Church, and there evangelists and teaching pastors today. Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:5, “Watch in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist.” And Philip was one of those preaching Christ, where he found churches.

Verse 9, “This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.” They had the gift of prophesy. Now, it’s important that the Holy Spirit puts this in here. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit. Prophesy functioned in two ways. One, it functioned in terms of revelation; Two, in terms of just proclaiming the truth.

In the Old Testament it wasn’t always revelation. The prophets preached to the people; they warned the people; they spoke God’s message to the people repeatedly. But, here Paul makes a very clear statement. These four daughters of Philip could not be women preachers, they had a gift of God to receive revelation from the Holy Spirit that was strategic to the life of the church.

There was an early Church father by the name of Papias who said that Philip’s daughters were known as the informants on the early history of the Church. The historian Eusebius quotes Papias, and gives some credence to the fact that these four daughters were used to transmit revelations of the Holy Spirit; and they even got the Gospel’s information, as well as information on Acts.

These four virgins who did prophesy, didn’t prophesy on this occasion. Do you know what the real issue in courage is? It is one word: trust. Because if you believe God has called you to do something, and that’s your goal, then God who called you is able to perform what he called you to do? And if you do not do your commitment, you have dishonored God. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231126 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000021B imblog

Acts 21:1-6

This evening in Acts 21, we continue in the journey of Paul as he concludes his third missionary journey and goes to Jerusalem. Let us look at verses 1 - 6. Paul is a man with tremendous courage. It’s the commitment of Paul who believed in Christ enough to abandon his own self-pleasure. That’s characteristic of all of God’s greatest people throughout biblical revelation.

In Numbers 13 and 14, spies were sent into the land. God said, “That land is for you. Now spy it out.” And they went in, and ten came back and said, “We can’t go into that land; they’re giants over there, and we’re like grasshoppers.” But Joshua and Caleb said, “No problem; let’s go get it.” Formidable cities, massive armies, yet they believed God. They were willing to risk their lives for that.

There was a lady named Deborah in Judges 4. And Deborah believed that God had given the children of Israel a victory. And so, she encouraged the army, said, “Look, the victory’s ours; let’s just go take it.” And they did. And in 1 Samuel 17 that story of a young boy David who had some stones and a slingshot. He said, “It’s only a giant. But God will give the Philistines into our hands.”

David twirled that slingshot around and won a war. And he was willing to stake his life on it. There were three young men in Daniel 3 by the name of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were willing to stake their life on a spiritual principle that it was proper to worship God and not idols. And they went into a fiery furnace. They were willing to die for what they believed.

And as we’ve studied through Acts, we have been finding out repeatedly that these people had convictions that they were willing to die for. And Paul was one of those people. He was well aware that all the way along, the Holy Spirit kept testifying to him that bonds and afflictions awaited him. But did that stop him? No, because he had conviction and courage to see it through.

Paul had been collecting money to give to the poor believers in Jerusalem. He had collected it from all the Gentile churches. It was one, to show the Gentile churches loved the Jewish church, and to unite the church into one; and two, to meet the practical money needs of the poor saints. He believed God had given him this goal, and this cause, and this objective, and he pursued it.

The Jerusalem church was like a besieged garrison. It was cut off from supplies. It was weary. It had been through famine and persecution, and the power spiritually was being blunted. And he saw the possibility of going and giving them the money, not only to relieve the physical need, but injecting spiritual blood and spiritual energy into this church that was suffering from persecution.

It wasn’t a safe thing to do, because all over the world, the hierarchy of Jerusalem had hated Paul. From place to place they chased and chased him, and tried to kill him. And now he’s going to walk right into the main headquarters of Jerusalem itself. The Holy Spirit kept telling him, in every single city, that bonds and afflictions awaited him. He knew that. But, he was courageous.

He did not worry about the consequences. Now, as we look at Acts 21, we see Paul’s courage where he marched toward those objectives with no thought for anything but meeting them. There are four aspects of his courage. One, know its purpose. Two, can’t be diverted. Three, he’ll pay any price. Four, it affects others. First, let us look at knowing its purpose.

The first factor in expressing courage is you’ve got to believe in an objective or goal. Now, for Joshua and Caleb, they believed that, “God has given us this land.” Right? For Deborah, the purpose was, “God promises victory.” For David, the purpose was, “God wants Israel preserved from the Philistines.” For the three Hebrews, “God does not allow us to worship any other God.

Now Paul was a man who had courage. And before he ever got to Jerusalem, he sat down in Corinth and wrote the book of Romans. He has the money, and with him are the men from each area of the Gentile churches, as well as Luke, who is writing as he goes. Verse 1, “After we tore ourselves away from them, we set sail straight for Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

Verse 2-3, “Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail. 3 After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there.” In these three verses, we have a little narrative of the journey they take from Miletus to the coastline of Palestine. But it says that Paul was on a journey toward an objective.

“After we tore ourselves away from them.” These Ephesian elders didn’t want to let him go, and they cried and kissed him. That phrase also is used in Luke 22:41, of our Lord tearing himself away from his disciples in Gethsemane. It speaks of a love bond. Well, they got on the ship. It says, “We set sail.” In nautical terms, they just left in their boat straight for Cos, and from there to Patara.”

Also they sailed along the coast. Patara is not an island but a city on the coast next to the Xanthos river in Asia Minor. It was a place where they would have gotten on to a larger boat in verse 2. And Phoenicia is on the coastline of Palestine. It was large ship because it says at the end of verse 3, that it unloaded its cargo in Tyre. Verse 4 says, “We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days.”

Now, all we can really get for our spiritual application is again to see that Paul is a man on a mission. He is directly going toward Jerusalem. This meant that he had a little more time that he could spend before the time of Pentecost, and that perhaps is worldly he was tarrying seven days in Tyre and waited till the ship again left Tyre and would sail down the coastline to the port nearer Jerusalem.

Paul accepted the tremendous challenge of giving this gift to the Jerusalem church. What is your objective? The apostle Paul never lived a day of his life that I can find in Scripture when he wasn’t going somewhere to do something. You only get courageous when you get in the game. You don’t have any reason to be courageous; if you’re not doing anything spiritually for Christ.

Philippians 3:10 might serve as a good illustration. “My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” My objective is to know through the Bible to know Him. The Bible is the means to the accomplishing my objective. But in order to know Him, I got to know His Word. So that I can illustrate that in my personal life.

You can have a spiritual goal that can become very practical. But what about specifics? Are you willing to pay any price to do that? Sacrifice your own self-will and your own pleasure? Or are you just saying, “Well, I’m just going along, and someday Jesus will come, and I’ll get raptured.” That is not what Paul in the Bible teaches. So first of all, courage knows its purpose.

Secondly, this courage can’t be diverted. There’s an old story, about an old monk who was always saying to the head of the monastery, “I want to be a martyr.” So, finally, the head of the monastery decided, “I’ll just let him get a try at being a martyr.” And they sent him out and put him in a very precarious situation where he was forced to be burned at the stake by some people or recant his faith.

And he recanted his faith. And so, they let him crawl back to the monastery a broken man. You see, your courage has to do with what it takes to divert you. Well, what does it take to divert you? Now, look at Paul. And go back to Acts 21:4, “We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. And through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.”

Now, this isn’t anything new. But they knew there was a church in Tyre. How did that church get started?” Paul didn’t start it himself, but he indirectly did, because it was started out after the persecution of Stephen. Acts 11:19 says that as a result of the persecution and execution of Stephen, the saints were scattered. They scattered into Phoenicia, Cyprus and into Antioch.”

The greatest thing that happened to the Jerusalem church was persecution. It just scattered the preachers all over the place. And the church at Tyre was founded in the overflow of the persecution of Stephen. So, the guy who was the catalyst behind the persecution of Stephen was Saul. So, Paul was good for the growth of the church even before he was saved.

Now, in the early Church, there were many who had the gift of prophesy which was manifested in two ways: One through preaching. In 1 Corinthians 14:3, it’s defined as edification, consolation, and exhortation. Two, the gift of prophesy was also predicting the future. God would speak practical things regarding the life of the Church in a prediction form often through people.

That’s what the phrase “through the Spirit” means. The phrase “through the Spirit” means the exercise of a spiritual gift. Absolute, overpowering love for the Jewish church caused Paul to do what he did. Maybe Paul made a mistake. That makes him human. In the Bible, you’ll find that everybody that God ever used, fouled up. Noah failed after the flood and got drunk.

Abraham denied his wife. Isaac failed due to fleshly lusts. Jacob failed daily. Moses failed and was left out of the Promised Land. David had a terrible blot on his life. And that’s the best that God had. John, the apostle did one of the most materialistic, selfish things in the world when he got his mother to try to get Jesus to give him the chief seat in the heavenly kingdom.

God is in the business of picking up failures. But, I don’t believe that’s true. I don’t believe Paul made a mistake. No, I don’t think he was disobeying the Spirit at all. First of all, his life was lived in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Illustration, Acts 16:6, “when they had gone through Phrygia, and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia.”

Verse 7, “When they were come to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit allowed them not.” They didn’t go there either. “In a vision appeared to Paul at night a man of Macedonia, beseeching him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After he had seen the vision, immediately he endeavored to go to Macedonia. This man lived his life in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Notice Acts 20:23, “Except the Holy Spirit witnesses in every city, saying bonds and afflictions await me.” The Holy Spirit says, “When you get there, this is what’s going to happen.” The Holy Spirit knew he was going. It’s the Holy Spirit that sent him there, and it was a case not of prohibition, but of preparation. This wasn’t his own plan. He says, “I don’t care what’s going to happen in Jerusalem.”

I’m going to finish this thing that Jesus has given me to do.” His motives were right all the way. It was his human spirit under the control of the Holy Spirit. I think they’re both there. But suffering was to be expected. Why? Because in Acts 9:16, Ananias came to him and said, “The Lord has instructed me to show you and tell you about the things which you are going to have to suffer.”

And Paul gives no indication that he thought he had sinned, that is good evidence. After he finally arrives in Jerusalem, and he’s got to give testimony to the Jerusalem hierarchy, and in Acts 23:1 he says, “Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day.” You can’t be disobedient and not feel it.

The message the Holy Spirit was giving him was this. Paul, don’t go unless you’re willing to suffer what’s going to happen. And he was. And it was natural that his friends, who by prophetic spirit could foretell his pain, would try to talk him out of going. But Paul had no concern for safety, only for service. And he’s like Jesus, who set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. It can’t be diverted.

The disciples at Tyre were not old friends of Paul. But look what happened. Verse 5-6, “When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray, 6 we said farewell to one another and boarded the ship, and they returned home.” That custom of accompanying someone going on a trip.

“After kneeling down on the beach to pray.” Can’t you see the beauty of that prayer meeting? And this is with new friends. There is one thing about Christianity, it doesn’t take long, to make a sweet fellowship. And so, in the city of Tyre, we see the fact that Paul could not be diverted. Even these dear, beloved Christian brothers and sisters, could never divert him from his objective.

We thank you for the testimony of this dear Paul, who was willing to pay the supreme price of his life for what he believed in. God, give us Christians like that. Help us each to be like that. Help me to be like that. Help us to be willing to go wherever You send us, to do whatever You lay upon our heart, whatever the cost, whatever the price, and never be diverted. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231119 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000021A imblog

Acts 20:29-38

Throughout the years of God’s kingdom on earth, He has always mediated His rule through specially chosen and qualified leaders. In the New Testament time, God mediates His rule in the church through evangelists and teaching pastors, as well as through the indwelling Holy Spirit who guides the individual believer. And so, there is authority and submission as a two-fold operation of God in the world.

Chaos of life begins in Genesis, and so God instituted another kind of order in the world. God now rules over people through three categories: the family, the Church, and the state. And in all these areas were leaders and followers; authority and submission. In the family, the parents are the leaders. In the church, the pastors are the leaders. In the state, the government officials are the leaders.

For our study, we draw our attention to the Church. God directs His rule in the church through pastors and elders. And that takes us directly into Acts 20. Now, from verse 17 through 38, the apostle Paul is giving information to church leaders. He is to the church what the priest, the prophet, the patriarch, and the king was to the Old Testament to God’s people then.

What makes an effective leader, particularly in the church? The world’s evaluation of leadership, it isn’t necessarily the way God evaluates it. Example, Israel decided they wanted a king. And they found the perfect one. Because there was nobody handsomer in the whole land. And not only that, he was taller than everybody else. Saul was anointed king. And what a disaster it was.

So the world’s qualifications are not always internal things. They are mostly external things. But there’s no such category of leaders in the Bible. All of the biblical qualifications circumvent anything like that. And all of the biblical qualifications for leaders in the church are spiritual and internal rather than external and physical. But in Scripture, biblical leaders lead by example.

1 Peter 5:3 says that a pastor has to be an example to the flock. And in Philippians 4:9, he says, “Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me.” And in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, Paul reflects on the ministry he had in Thessalonica. He says, “Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance.”

Christian leadership is leading people into Christ like behavior by example. A true godly leader is only one when somebody is following the pattern of his godliness. Hebrews 13:17 says we have to give an account to God for what we do. And James 3:1 says that we have a greater condemnation if we fail. But it can be so blessedly rewarding that it compensates for the possibility of failure.

So Paul is talking to the leaders of the church at Ephesus in Acts 20, and it’s so important that they follow the pattern of biblical leadership. So he gives them all of the precepts of leadership from verse 17 to 38. And over and over and over sets himself as the example. And we find there are five priorities to leadership. Principle number one, make sure you’re right with God.

Personal holiness is foundational. My most important task is to prepare myself, not my sermon. It’s to prepare yourself to be a channel through which God can effectively work. Verse 28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.” This is where it starts.

To illustrate this look at David. 2 Samuel 11:1 says, “In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.” Verse 2, “One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.”

Verse 4-5, “David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to inform David, “I am pregnant.” And in verse 15, he wrote a letter to the soldiers, and he said, “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies.”

And he was killed. So, David committed adultery and murder. And you know what happened when he did that? He rendered himself in terms of any usefulness to God zero. But, God spoke to his heart, and he broke under the weight of his sin, and when he broke, he wrote down his feelings in Psalm 51. It was the broken heart of David over the sin of Bathsheba and Uriah.

¹ Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. ² Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. ⁴ Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge.”

¹⁰ God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach the rebellious your ways, and sinners will return to You.” David was not worth anything in converting anybody until he was cleaned.

Principle number two is also in verse 28, “Feed and lead the flock.” The second priority is to lead and feed. Some are familiar with what is known as congregational rule, where the congregation rules. That’s foreign to Scripture. In Scripture, the congregation is subject to the authority of the elders. Because when you put people over the leaders, you have violated God’s pattern for authority.

So, there is in the church the prerogative of the congregation to choose from among them men full of the Holy Spirit, wisdom and faith. But once those men are chosen of God, and ordained of God, they are to rule in God’s place as they stand as under-shepherds for Christ. And so, leadership is important, making wise decisions, leading them into the places and the things that are going to be beneficial.

Number three, is to watch and warn the flock. The faithful pastor, the faithful elder –who labor in the Word and doctrine; are in the area of ruling to watch and warn the flock. Verse 29, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” Because I know how Satan works. Paul says, “I know one thing, false teachers are going to arrive as soon as I’m gone.”

Matthew 7:15 says, “Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.” 1 Timothy 4:1 says, “Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.” Verse 6, “If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.”

A good minister of Jesus Christ reminds people to watch out for false prophets. He reminds people to watch out for doctrines of demons, and he reminds people to watch out for seducing spirits. In 2 Peter 2 God calls them false teachers, spots and blemishes, and springs without water. He says, they are “Mists driven by storm.” And they attack the people searching for God, looking for religious answers.

Verse 30, “Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.” False prophets not only from the outside, but from the inside. Ever notice how false teachers always publish their followings? “Sun Myung Moon with so many followers,” dragging away people. And it happened at Ephesus. And the leading elder in that church was Timothy, and still it happened.

Because Paul even names them. 1 Timothy 1:3 says, “As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine.” People who had risen right out of the congregation. He says to Timothy in verse 4, “Don’t you listen to their myths and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edification.”

In 1 Timothy 1:19-20 Paul says, “Having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and have shipwrecked the faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.” In 2 Timothy 1:15 Paul says, “You know that all those in Asia have deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.”

Do you know we have to fight to hold onto the faith? Verse 31, “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.” As a pastor, because you care for the flock, you got to watch out for false teachers, and you’ve got to watch for the tares being sown among the wheat. In Matthew 13, Jesus said that the tares would be sown.

Jesus said, “Don’t try to pull out all the tares, because you might also tear up the wheat. They’ll grow together until the harvest.” That’s a scary thing, because that means if the tares get in, you can’t get rid of them. And there’s only one way to keep the tares from getting in, and that’s to watch spiritually. And it’s up to us to make sure we know who’s teaching, and who sits in a place of leadership.

The next thing is to warn. It means to admonish. Admonishing is giving counsel with a warning involved. And I do that to you this evening; I warn you, be aware and be alert, and expect that false teachers will arise, and infiltrate. Paul said, “I did not stop warning everyone.” He wept, because he knew the terrible consequences of false teachers that infiltrated the church.

Then a fourth priority is to study and pray. What do I spend my time doing? Praying and studying. Verse 32, “And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.” I’ve done everything I could do for you. You know what I have left to do? Commit you to God.

That’s really a part of the ministry. This is His flock. This is His church. And I commit it to Him. Because it’s His, to safeguard and care for. You can take the book of Acts and find that when they met together to choose somebody to take Judas’ place, they were praying. In Acts 2, they’re praying again. In chapter 2:42, it says, “They came for the apostles’ doctrine, communion and prayer.”

When the Gospel begins to expand, they are praying. They anoint deacons in Acts 6, and they pray and anoint them. Later on they pray when they send out Paul and Barnabas. When they get to a new area, they pray and commit it to God, and they go in and minister. Prayer always bathed everything they ever did. Why is that? Because they always gave everything to God.

There’s no substitute for prayer. Everything the church ever does, everything you ever do in our ministry should be committed to God. Not as an afterthought. But before it’s ever brought to fruition, it should be committed to Him. If you think you have an idea that might work, just start praying about it and see if God makes it happen. Let the Holy Spirit take me along when He’s moving.

And study the Word. Our whole commitment is to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. And the Word is able to build us up. When people say to me, “I have so many doubts,” I say, “Do you study the Bible? Because if you study the Bible, faithfully, the Bible continues to guarantee your inheritance among all those that are sanctified.” That means holy unto God, there is an inheritance.

The fifth, freedom from self-interest. Verse 33-35, “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me. 35 In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Paul said, “You’re going to have to look at it as a giving, not a receiving.” God does not bless the ministry of a man who is concerned about money. You can’t serve God and mammon, money. This was Paul’s heart. He says, “I have the right to ask of you, but I don’t. I’ll work to earn my own keep just to show you the pattern of example, that that’s how it’s to be, not asking for anything.”

Verse 36-38, “After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them. 37 There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.” If I can minister the way the Spirit wants me to, God will reward me with the love of the saints. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231112 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000219 imblog

Acts 20:25-28

Let’s look at the Holy Spirit as he speaks to us in verses 25 through 38 particular this evening. Here we have the basics or the priorities of leadership in the Church. In all of God’s kingdom, leadership is important. God knows that there must be authority and submission in everything. In the Old Testament, you find that there are many things that indicate to us the importance of leadership.

God has always ministered his kingdom through key leaders. God takes a strong view of inadequate or ineffective leadership. In Hosea 4:9, God is not only commenting on the sins of Israel, but on the sins of Israel’s leaders. God says, “I can’t expect anything out of the people that I’m not getting out of the leaders. Whatever the leaders are, the people will be. Like people, like priest.”

In Isaiah 9:14-16, we find more of God’s attitude toward leadership. It says, “Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.” In other words, God’s going to replace all the leaders. God says He’s going to punish the leaders because they have made the people sinful by their failure to lead them into holy godly life patterns.

In Jeremiah 5:31 you hear the same, “The prophets prophesy falsely; the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love it so.” In other words, the people are loving the inadequate leadership they’re getting. Ezekiel 22:26 says, “Her priests have violated My law, have profaned My holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane. So the people committed many sins.

In Matthew 15:14, Jesus looked at the leaders of Israel, and said, “They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Paul is closing out his missionary journey, the third of his tours, in Acts 20. He has stopped because his ship has stopped at Miletus on its way to Jerusalem. And he is hurrying to Jerusalem to get there for Pentecost.

Paul also takes an offering which he has collected for the poor saints in Jerusalem. And he has stopped at Miletus for a couple of days, because the ship stopped there. And he sends for the elders of the Ephesian congregation to come to Miletus, so that he may spend a little time with some final words. Because Paul is so burdened by the absolute necessity of adequate leadership.

And so, from Acts 20:17 - 38, Paul gives information regarding leadership in the ministry, in the pastorate, in the work of Christ. And leadership in Scripture is a two-sided issue. It is an issue of great responsibility with great potential for judgment. Good leaders are doubly blessed; bad leaders are doubly chastised. Because to whom much is given, much shall be required.

In James 3:1 it says, “Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” But on the other hand, in 1 Timothy 5:17, it says, “The elders (pastors) that rule well are worthy of double honor.” So, you have the double honor for the good leader, and the double judgment for the poor leader. Leadership is a tremendous responsibility.

Now, the task of the early apostles was to appoint such leaders in each church. The apostles would go around and raise them up. The elders of the church at Ephesus – and when I say elders, I’m saying the same as pastors. But the elders there, the pastors there had been trained, and matured by Paul. Raised up by the Holy Spirit, Paul became aware of who they were.

The apostle said in Titus 1:5, “Now, you set the things in order in Crete, and you ordain elders in every city.” Pastors in each city were to be ordained by the evangelists or the apostles. Paul gives them a charge that really is much bigger than just what you see in Acts 20. The church of Jesus Christ ought to follow the biblical patterns. Real New Testament revival must come at the level of leadership.

The life of the Church, in its productivity and its fruitfulness, is directly depended upon its leadership. In 2 Timothy 2:2, we found that God’s design for the Church is to teach faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Therefore, leadership is the priority in the Church, and it’s a tremendous responsibility. New Testament biblical leadership is not political power play.

You are a leader in the Church when God has appointed you as such. That’s the Father’s to give. Secondly, biblical leadership is not dominant dictatorship. Jesus said in Matthew 20:26, “whosever will be great among you, let him be your servant.” And biblical leadership is not charismatic control either. Verse 27, “Whosever will be chief among you let him be a slave.”

Verse 28, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The greatest leader that ever lived was a servant, wasn’t He? And He taught us the greatest principle of leadership by example. What He was is what we are to be. Real leadership is the exemplary life. You are a true pastor only as long as you follow what you say and what Jesus did.

Now, in Acts 20, Paul closes out his instruction to the Ephesian elders. And he charges them to order their ministry after the priorities that God has set down. And they were priorities that he didn’t talk about only, but that he lived in his own life. First he said the ministry toward God is service to the Lord. To the Church it’s teaching, toward the lost it is evangelism, and toward myself, its sacrifice.

Now, having finished that, he wants to concentrate on the Church aspect. Now, I’m going to give you the priorities for teaching the Church, for being effective in the Church.” You’re always to remember you’re in service to Christ. Not to men, to Him. Paul said, “I have discharged my responsibility to all: to the Church, to the saved, to the unsaved, Jew and Gentile. I’ve done the job.”

God has committed to him a ministry, and if he doesn’t fulfill it, he’s going to be chastised for the failure to fulfill it. What Paul is saying is this, “From now on, men, the responsibility is yours. Make sure that you discharge your ministry in a way faithful, equal to the way I gave you by example. That doesn’t mean you lose your salvation; that just means that you’ll know punishment.

Now, Paul gives them five keys to leadership. Principle one, make sure you’re right with God. Acts 20:28 says, “Therefor take heed to yourselves and all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” The priority begins with you. You’re not ready to face the responsibility of ministering unless you’re right with God.

In Mark 13:9 it says, “But you, be on your guard! They will hand you over to local courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a witness to them.” If you’re not spiritually strong, you will fail. Jesus in Luke 21:34 says, “The day of the Lord is coming, and you better examine yourself so that you’re ready when it happens.”

Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:20, “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but wood and earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor.” In other words, if you have a big house, you’ve got two sets of china: the fancy stuff for the friends and the outsiders that come in that you really want to have a nice thing for, and the rest of the china is what we use every day.

Now, the implication here is that in God’s house there are going to be some vessels that God will honor, and they will be used for the greatest tasks. 2 Timothy 2:21, “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” There are some vessels God can use, and there are some that He can’t use.

The one thing Paul knew was that the day that holiness ceased to be a part of his life, effectiveness also ceased. 1 Corinthians 9:27 says, “I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” You see a guy in the ministry involved in so many things in the church. And suddenly, a terrible moral thing comes into his life. And he is disqualified.

And even though he maintained his redemption, because justification is a forever thing, he lost his meaning to the body, to the service of Christ, and became a worthless vessel. It isn’t your tremendous charisma. It isn’t your powerful, forceful, dynamic leadership. That doesn’t qualify you to be a leader. What does qualify you is your own holiness in your life and the call of God.

The New Testament never suggests the hint of any kind of qualification that has anything to do with worldly position, or money, or personality, or anything. The only qualification is a spiritual one, because this is a spiritual work. And sometimes what would be the smartest thing to do in a business sense is the absolute opposite of what God wants, and we must step out in faith.

I’m not saying God doesn’t forgive, and I’m not saying God can’t put such a person who has been restored, and who has recovered from such a thing, in a position of leadership. Paul summed it up in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Timothy, be an example of the believers. You show the world what a holy man is in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, and purity.” All those areas are spiritual where you’re to be an example.

But secondly, Acts 20:28 says, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock.” The priority of anybody in leadership, whether you’re teaching a Sunday school class, or whether you’re working in a Bible study in a home, your second obligation is that ministry. He says, “Be on guard for all the flock.” No favoritism. We are just a little group of helpless, ignorant followers.

Flock has been a historic term that God has used for his people in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 13:17 and in Zechariah 10:3, God calls Israel the Lord’s flock. But also in Luke 12:32 Jesus looked at the group of disciples, and He called them His “little flock.” And then in John 10, he repeated called all the children of God as His sheep, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

In Acts 20:28 it’s apportioned to us by the Holy Spirit. It’s amazing to realize that before the world began, we were planned into this. All that’s described as shepherding is more than just the act of feeding. To a pastor would be to care for, to discipline, to exercise authority over them, and to guide them in the right path. But the heart of shepherding is to feed. And so, the essence of this is feeding.

Leading is important too, we mean ruling. The elders that rule well are worthy of double honor. This means selecting the direction of the church. The sheep didn’t decide which field they had to go to next. The sheep just followed the shepherd. God has committed the leadership of the church into the hands of the pastors. And it says there we are overseers by living as an example.

Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account.” Do you know that I have to give an account to God Himself for how I care for the flock? That may change the way I care for the flock. The one who leads is the one responsible to God, and if faithful, he’ll receive the crown of glory.

Whatever we do is in public. If we live a holy life, that’s public. If we sin, that’s to be made public, too. Why? That others may learn that we deal with sin. What really motivates you is that this isn’t my church. It’s God’s Church. Jesus said to Peter three times, “Feed My sheep.” “Feed My sheep.” “Feed My lambs.” They’re not Peter’s. They’re not mine. They’re Christ’s.

The Holy Spirit knew I needed more, and added this at the end of verse 28, “Which He purchased with His own blood.” That’s saying that that flock of God is so precious, that He paid the supreme price. And if it’s that precious to Him, it ought to be that precious to me. If God would go to that extent, I want to make sure I take care of it. God Himself, in the form of the Son, shed His blood for the Church.

Paul did this and he is our example. In Ephesians 5 it says, “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

Paul says, “I know one thing. I know that God redeemed you to be a holy church, and that God gave you into my care, and I’m your pastor. And I’m your under shepherd. And I got to take care of you. And if God’s will is that you be a holy church, that’s what I want, too.” The under shepherd must have the same attitude that the Great Shepherd has: about the purity and the holiness of the Church. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Nov 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231105 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000218 imblog

Acts 20:21-24

Acts 20 is expressive of the great love of Paul for the Church. While 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter in doctrine, Acts 20 is Paul’s love in action. Here he expresses his love for the Lord and his love for the Church by the sacrifice of himself and his dedication to his ministry. This is a time when methodology is a marketable commodity. And we look so often at success in terms of method.

But the success of Paul had nothing to do with his methods directly. Indirectly, the methods grew out of what he was. The one word that spells leadership and the one word that spells success is the word “example.” It’s expressed throughout the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ taught repeatedly by example. Again and again Jesus Christ manifested what they were to do by doing it Himself.

And the reason Paul was so successful was, he was an example. There was no credibility gap between what he said and what he did. And people patterned their lives after him. He said, “Be you followers of me as I am of Christ.” The Christian life boils down to example, and biblical leadership is living by example. This is true even in this secular world, but monumentally true in the spiritual.

But there’s one little dimension that just gives us an insight into Paul’s mind. In verses 17 to 27 we have Paul’s view of the ministry. He saw it in four different dimensions. He saw his ministry as it related to God, to the saved, to the lost, and to himself. And they were all spiritual perspectives. And that’s true of your life as well. Because these four things, are the heart of the success of a person.

Now, the setting is Miletus, verse 17. Paul is completing his third missionary tour. The Church is being planted around the world. By this time, it has reached the Gentile world. Paul established churches all over the Mediterranean area. Now, under great persecution, he lands at Miletus, heading for Jerusalem. He’s got a lot of money to give to the saints in Jerusalem from the Gentile churches.

He wants to tie the two together and show their love. And he also has some other men with him who represent the Gentile churches, and they’re trying to make it in time for the feast of Pentecost. But he has a couple of days layover in Miletus, right near Ephesus. And so, he calls for the elders of the Ephesus church about 50 km away, because he has a few more things to say before he leaves.

Then in verse 18, he announces to them the subject. “When they came to him, he said to them, “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time.” In other words, “You know my lifestyle. You know the patterns of my living and ministry.” And then he says, “I will remind you of those patterns, for they must become the patterns of your life and ministry.”

Real leadership is a question of setting an example. We saw the last time, Paul saw his ministry as service to the Lord. “I’m not serving the whims of people; I’m serving the Lord. Whatever the Lord tells me to do; I do. He didn’t just serve God externally but also internally. He saw himself as a slave. And he uses the word doulos over and over again, and that word means a slave in bondage.

So, the mentality of Christian ministry has to be obedience. God gives the orders, and I carry them out. I don’t worry about what the reaction’s going to be; I don’t worry about what people are going to say; I don’t try to please men. In Galatians 1:10, Paul said, “If I try to please men, I am not the servant of Jesus Christ.” But Paul didn’t just do it on the outside; he loved it on the inside.

He had the spirit of obedience, as well as the actual obedience. He never changed his message; and he never altered his plans because of what men did. However throughout the history of the Church, the Gospel often has taken a backseat because of the whims of men. They watered it down so that they don’t offend people. Sometimes we alter the gospel so much that it loses its meaning.

Now, he said that in verse 19 there are two ingredients in this. Toward God he says, “Serving the Lord.” But here are two ingredients: with all humility of mind and many tears and trials from the plotting of the Jews. He said there are two things that go with service: humility and suffering. And the suffering comes from two things: inside and outside. Inside tears, outside persecution.

Secondly, he saw his ministry toward the Church, too. His ministry was seen as teaching. Toward God it was service, toward the Church it was teaching. Verse 20, “You know that I did not hesitate to proclaim anything to you that was profitable and to teach you publicly and from house to house. It isn’t just saying it, it’s being it. So, every Christian is not what he says, it is what he is.

He says, “I kept back nothing that was profitable.” Well, what’s profitable? 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.” So, Paul taught publicly, and from house to house. And the Word was profitable. Paul wrote later on to Timothy and said, “Preach the word in season and out of season.” Preach it when you’re supposed to and when you’re not.

The ministry is communicating divine truth. Paul expressed this in another verse, in 1 Corinthians 4:1 he says, “A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” A mystery is something that was hidden and is now revealed. What’s the Bible? It’s a whole lot of mysteries revealed. We’re stewards of the Bible. What’s a steward?

The person that did your business when you were out of town. He managed the whole thing. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:2, “In this regard, it is required that managers be found faithful.” And that’s why the Lord dealt so seriously with the servant who was given the stewardship of one talent, and he buried it. He didn’t multiply that which he was given. He was unfaithful in his stewardship.

I’m a steward of the mysteries of God in the Bible. With this book, feed those people in the church. That’s your stewardship. Jesus says, I’m going to be in heaven. I’m going to put My Spirit within you, because you need the Spirit to do it, but it’s your stewardship, and you’re going to be responsible for the carrying out of it. And I want you more than anything else to be faithful.”

Every Christian is a steward. And you’re in the ministry. You may not be a pastor, but you’re a servant of the Lord, aren’t you? Don’t you have spiritual gifts? And the dispensing of those spiritual gifts is your stewardship. If you don’t do it faithfully, you’re an unfaithful steward. We have been entrusted with goods that don’t belong to us; they belong to the Lord to dispense to other people.

Maybe you’re a Christian father. You’re a steward of the mysteries of God for your family. This is the Bible that you’re to teach your family. If you don’t, you’re an unfaithful steward. The only way to approach a ministry is to preach expositionally, because you’re going to study all that God gives you. Paul said in verse 27, “I haven’t failed to declare to you the whole plan of God.”

I want to create followers of Jesus Christ. And if you can’t see through me to Him, then I haven’t done my job. The Christian preacher is best satisfied when his person is eclipsed by the light which shines from the Scripture, and when his voice is drowned out by the voice of God.” So, the skilled steward, dispenses a balanced diet. I taught it and I lived it.” That’s the key example.

Thirdly, toward the lost it is evangelism. Verse 21 says, “I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.” There you have the Gospel: repent from sin and put your faith in Christ. 1 Corinthians 9:16 says, “For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach, and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

Paul really had a burden for the lost people. In Romans 1:14-16 he said, “I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”

The Gospel is the story of the cross, the resurrection, and the message of salvation. But not everything is the Gospel. But that’s what Paul told the unbelievers, “Repentance from sin and faith exercised toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, the word “testifying” there is a compound verb, and it means thorough, complete testimony. Paul’s presentation of the Gospel was always thorough and complete.

Now, there’s two sides to the Gospel message. The positive side is believing and the negative side is repentance. Well, it means to change your mind totally. It means to be thinking one thing and to go and think the opposite. It doesn’t mean, “Well, he repented; he went ten degrees.” No, it means 180 degrees. To change your mind; to make an evaluation about Christ and reverse it.

And this is the first aspect in man’s experience of salvation. It is not the first aspect in salvation. The first aspect in salvation was the call of God. But the first aspect in man’s experience is when he actually turns away from sin toward God. Jesus says, “You preach repentance and forgiveness to all nations.” And if repentance wasn’t a part of salvation as forgiveness, He wouldn’t have said it.

Jesus in Luke 13:3 said, “I tell you, unless you repent, you shall all perish.” Now, that shows that repentance has to be there. Now, repentance then, is the conscious act of the sinner whereby he turns from his sin toward God. He realizes it. And I think it involves three things: intellect, emotion, and will. First, repentance starts with the intellect. You got to change your mind.

You said He was not the Messiah; the evidence says he is. And that’s where it all begins. Repentance starts when you say, “I think that Christ is who He claimed to be.” Then there’s the emotional part. Acts 2:37 says, “When they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts. And they said, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” They were torn up because they had executed their Messiah.

It is the awareness emotionally that you have been living in rebellion against God. And then the third is the will. You have to activate your will. So, repentance involves the intellect, where you know you’re in the wrong position; it involves the emotions, where you’re hurting because of that; and it involves the will, where you turn and go the other way. Do not confuse repentance with remorse.

Remorse is sorrow for the consequences of sin. Remorse is, “I’m sorry I got caught.” Repentance is, “I’m sorry I did it.” True repentance is what Paul preached, that man in order to be saved, must show intellectually that he is living in rebellion against God. That’s why we must preach the Gospel. John 16 says, the Spirit of God moves in and convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment.

Paul’s view, then, of the ministry toward God, service; toward the Church, teaching; toward the lost, evangelism. Lastly, toward himself, sacrifice. He saw his ministry in terms of a sacrifice of self and self-will. Verse 22, “And now, I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there.” And the term “compelled by the Spirit” is interesting.

He was under strong pressure. Paul was compelled to go to Jerusalem, “not knowing what I will encounter there,” verse 22 says. He had this money that he had to give it to the saints there. He knew that it would help to tie the Church together. And he knew that things were going to be rough. Verse 23, “except in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.”

I know that I’m about to get persecuted again.” In Romans 15:31, Paul said, “Pray for me. I’m heading for Jerusalem, and I know what’s going to happen when I get there.” And he says, “I go bound, and the only thing I know is that everywhere I go, the Spirit keeps telling me I’m going to get persecuted.” In Acts 21:10, he meets a prophet Agabus, who gives him an object lesson.

Agabus takes his belt and ties him up and says, “That’s what’s going to happen when you get to Jerusalem. The last thing on Paul’s list of priorities was self-preservation. That’s a combination of faith and confidence. Verse 24, “But I consider my life of no value to myself, my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.”

The whole view toward self and the ministry for Paul was sacrifice. When’s the last time you made a sacrifice? If you really believe that God has given you the ministry, and that he’s in control of your life, you’re not going to worry about dying; you’re not going to worry about anything. I never knew anybody who died from overwork in the service of Christ who didn’t die right on schedule. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Oct 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231029 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000217 imblog

Acts 20:17-20

For the Christian, there is the promise that when God calls you, He will not only give you the spiritual gifts, He will not only open the doors, He will not only make the ministry a possibility, but He will give you the time to finish it. And that’s borne out here in the testimony of the apostle Paul. He knew that he had a certain amount of time, and that in that time he would finish his ministry.

God may just take Christians home before they even get going, some who continued to express that carnality at the Lord’s Table were killed by the Lord. Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead on the spot. It may be that if a Christian fails in it continuously, the Lord just removes him because he’s more trouble than he’s worth. At least in terms of a testimony to the world.

Sometimes it’s not a question of a shortage of time; it’s a question of failure on the person’s part to make the use of time. Paul says twice, “Redeeming the time.” A definite prescribed time. Redeem means buy up time. Paul maximized every moment. In 1 Corinthians 12, God has gifted us all diversities of gifts, operations and ministries, right? And He granted us the Holy Spirit.

He has also given us the faith to operate those gifts. So, there’s an equal measure of faith for the type of gift that you have. In Ecclesiastes, we are taught the wisdom of man. But the wisdom of man intersects with the wisdom of God periodically in Ecclesiastes. Look to Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purposes under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die.”

All the bounds of a man’s life are sovereignly designed by God. Ecclesiastes 3:17, says, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work.” 1 Peter 4:2 says, “in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.” The idea here is that God has prescribed time to be maximized for His will.

In Acts 17:26, Paul was preaching on Mars Hill in Athens. He said, “From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.” Yes, God has bounded the life of a man sovereignly in terms of time. And there is enough time for you to finish the work that God gives you.

The apostle Paul was a man who believed in making use of time. And he didn’t believe it only for himself, but he propagated it to others. He wrote in 2 Timothy 4:5, “Fulfill your ministry.” He said to Archippus in Colossians 4:17, “Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it.” So you need to maximize your ministry, to make the most of time.

Now, this brings us then to Acts 20, where we see the apostle Paul as a man who is running against time to finish his ministry. Remember he said to the Philippians, “I’d like to spend time with you. But it is far better to be with Jesus.” All he lived for was to finish. I’m going to finish the ministry, and all it’s going to do is release me out of this world to be with Jesus anyway.”

I hope you live to finish the work God gave you to do. The apostle Paul came to the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4:6 where he said, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close.” How did he know that he was going to die? Verse 7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He finished the course.

God help us to see our life in terms of the bounds of time which God has prescribed to us. Some say, I’m not in the ministry. Oh yes you are if you’re a Christian. And whatever spiritual gifts and whatever ministry God has called you to has to be maximized within the time God has given you. And when you’ve accomplished that, the joy and glory of going to be with Him is the reward.

Verse 17, “Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.” Paul, on his third missionary journey, is saying farewell to his beloved in the eastern Mediterranean area. He has a sense in his heart that he’ll never be back, because he knows the persecution of the Jews. He feels this is the last time. Plus, he’s on his way to Jerusalem and then to Rome.

He wants to get there by the feast of Pentecost. And he has a chance to ask for the elders of the church over in Ephesus, which is about 50 km away. Because he just wants one more chance to share with these men that he loves. He won people to Christ, and he founded that church. And he got involved in all of the churches in Asia Minor, the ones mentioned in Revelation.

And for three years, he nurtured them and taught them, and they grew until he had a whole group of mature Christians. And out of that group rose those elders or pastors who were called by God to lead. And these men were his own disciples, so he calls to them to meet with him. The word “elders” comes from presbuteroi, from which we get presbyter, from which you get Presbyterian.

It simply refers to a mature spiritually person. Old age doesn’t necessarily mean you are spiritually mature. Sometimes it is a younger men who has spiritual maturity, like Timothy. Notice verse 28, “The Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers. That’s the word epískopos, from which you get Episcopal. An elder is a mature man, and he rules the congregation, according to Peter, by example.

Verse 18, “When they came to him, he said to them, “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, you know how my ministry operated.” This is the only speech, in all of Acts, which Paul made to Christians. All the rest of his messages are to unbelievers. This is made to Christians. So, it’s important to study the apostle Paul in terms of his communication to believers.

Paul may be defending himself against some people who tried to undermine him. Or what he’s saying is here’s how I want you to do ministry. So, it may be apologetic; or it may be just instructional. Beginning at verse 19, we see Paul’s view of his ministry. Verse 19, “Serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.”

Listen carefully, because it can really be formative in your own ministry. Paul gives us four views. Our ministry has to relate to God. Our ministry has a perspective toward the Church, to save people. Toward the lost, and toward ourselves. Those are the four dimensions of the ministry. My ministry will be effective in terms of how I relate to God, to the Church, to the lost, and to myself.

Paul says then, in effect, “These are the four ways I view my ministry. Toward God I see it as a service to Christ. Toward the Church I see it as teaching. Toward the lost I see it as evangelism. And toward myself I see it as being sacrificial. Now, let’s look at the first one. Toward God, Paul saw his ministry as a service to Christ. And I think we have to see ours as the same.

In Galatians 1:10 Paul explains that to us with a definitive comparison. He says, “Am I striving to please people or to please God? The Judaizers had come in, and they had just told the Christians in Galatia, “Look, the only reason Paul didn’t impose circumcision on you all was that he wanted to be popular. But if your ministry is to be popular with people, you are on the wrong path.

And Paul answers that criticism in Galatia 1:8, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be cursed!” Paul is no men pleaser. It does mean that you do not necessarily consider the reaction of people if the demand of God is clear. You do what’s right and let God take care of the consequences.

You serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You respond to His leadership to the church as they serve Christ and give you direction from Him. Ephesians 6:5 says, “Slaves (Employees), obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ.” You should work at your job as if you were working for Jesus Christ Himself, even if you are an atheist.

That’s your obligation as a Christian. Everything you do, from the moment you open your eyes in the morning till you close them at night is service to Jesus Christ. There is no secular and sacred division. All the things that you do in this life are rendered to Christ. In Matthew 25:34 - 40, Jesus is talking about the judgment of all people that’s happening at the second coming.

And He says to the sheep on His right hand, “Enter into the kingdom. When I was thirsty, you gave Me a drink. When I was hungry, you fed Me. When I was naked, you clothed Me,” etcetera. They said, “When did we do this?” And Jesus said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.” Whatever you’re doing, is a service toward Christ.

What kind of service are you rendering Him? Our service is no less personal than if Jesus Himself were our employer. I serve Him; I do not serve men. And, you have so much of this. Many things are avoided because people don’t want to offend the guy who gives them the most money. Notice the word slavery, literally in the Greek it is bond service. Paul uses it 17 times in this epistle.

It is a high calling to be a slave of Jesus Christ, to be a servant of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When I prepare a sermon, my thought isn’t, “Will these people like this sermon?” My thought is, “Will God be pleased?” I want to do this so you’re taught, you’re instructed, and God is served. And I don’t want to do anything that would detract from Him, no matter how it affected you.

Verse 19, “Serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.” It’s one thing to be a servant; it’s something else to have the spirit of a servant. Serving the Lord has to be done with all lowliness, with a total sense that you’re a servant. Humility. As capable as he was, as much of a man of knowledge, he was humble.

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 expresses it, “For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” He says, “I don’t deserve anything, but I am what I am by the grace of God.”

Serving the Lord involves humility and suffering. That’s the lot of the servant, you know. Jesus became a servant and suffered. The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is the perfect example. And Peter says, “As He was a suffering servant, so we also are to follow in His footsteps.” All that will live godly in this present age are going to suffer persecution. It’s surely going to come.

There are two areas that the suffering comes from. Notice verse 19, “with many tears” – that’s inside suffering – “and trials” – that’s outside suffering. The servant of God, who serves with a full heart in all humility, is going to experience suffering. And first of all, it’s going to be inside suffering tears. Paul’s service to the Lord involved tears because he grieved when he saw how sinful the world is.

Three things grieved him. One, people who were lost. Romans 9:2-3 says, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.” Secondly, carnal Christians. 2 Corinthians 2:4 says, “For I wrote to you with many tears so that you should know the abundant love I have for you.”

Secondly, there is suffering from the outside in Acts 20. The Jews continually plotted against him. Suffering is a part of living a holy life in an unholy world. His obligation to the Church was to teach, verse 20, “You know that I did not hesitate to proclaim anything to you that was profitable and to teach you publicly and from house to house.” Paul didn’t hold back a thing.

He withheld no doctrine, no exhortation, no admonition that was needful. If he knew it was God’s truth, and he knew it was needed to be applied. The question of applying right principles, whatever the consequences, is a question answered by Scripture. You just do it. Paul says, “I held back nothing profitable.” All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.”

You must teach expositionally through the Bible; because then you’re going to hit the counsel of God solidly. Notice two ways Paul taught: publically and from house to house. The idea of teaching publically is simple. They had public meetings, and people came and learned. But he also did it from house to house. Because there you can reinforce and apply the truth which you teach here. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Oct 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231022 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000216 imblog

Acts 20:7-17

The love of the Christian for the lost is one of the areas of responsibility for the Church. The other one is the Christian’s love for the Church. And in Acts 20:1 - 17, we have been learning about this from the character of the life of the apostle Paul. What really makes an effective minister of Jesus Christ? The one undergirding fact that makes men great is their love for the Church.

And that’s based on their love for the Lord Jesus Christ. It consumed him. It was his life; it was everything. Paul wrote some beautiful words that expressed the love that he had for the Church. In Philippians 1, Paul talks like that to some saints. “I pray for you with joy because of our fellowship. Verse 6, “He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Verse 7, “Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart.” That means they dominated his emotions. Listen to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:2, “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.” In 2 Corinthians 7:3 he says, “I have already said that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.”

In other words, living for him was loving the saints. Jesus says in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” Paul gave his life for the love of the Church. As we’ve looked at our passage, we have been studying just a narrative. But here we see the actions of Paul that show his attitude. Love isn’t something that’s just spoken; it’s demonstrated.

In the first half of Acts 20, Paul loves the Church. In the second half, the Church loves him back. Now, Paul is on his third missionary journey. He stopped at every spot where he’s had an effective ministry, and he’s met with the saints there and said his farewells. And now he’s back to Jerusalem. It’s the end of this third journey. In Ephesus they had a big riot over the reduction of the sale of idols.

And after the riot was over, Paul called to him the disciples and embraced them and departed to go to Macedonia.” We saw how affectionate Paul was; how that he was just one of the people. He was available. And in Acts 20:37, we see how the people fell all over him and kissed him on the neck. They felt at ease in doing that. He was somebody that they could touch and love.

Then we saw, secondly, that his love was visible by his giving. Verse 1, says he went to Macedonia; and went all through it. Verse 2 says he was gathering a collection of money for the poor saints in Jerusalem. His total preoccupation was to minister to the needs of others. Here was a man who came to town, who worked and earned his own pay, and collected money for other people.

God demonstrated His love to us when He gave His Son to die on the cross. And we ought to be willing to lay down our lives for the brothers. The third thing that demonstrates his love is his teaching. Verse 2, “He had given them much exhortation.” He traveled all over Macedonia teaching and encouraging them. And when he got to Greece, he wrote the book of Romans, with more teaching.

The way to lead is by example not threat. And the key to ministry is to feed and protect these people. Because the consuming desire in Paul’s heart was to bring the saints to maturity. We saw his love also in his persistence. Verse 3, “He stayed three months in Greece.” And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail to Syria, he proceeded to return through Macedonia.

And verse 4 tells us some fellows accompanied him along, and they met him there in Troas, verse 5 says. And these were representatives of the churches that had taken the offerings, so that it would actually be presented by representatives of all the Gentile churches. What a beautiful picture of unity for the Jewish Christians, to see Gentiles in person, coming to give them the money.

Now this is where we spend our time this evening, where Paul’s love is visible in his availability. That’s easy for you to illustrate. If three people demand your time, you’ll usually give the time to the one you love. Verse 6 says they sailed after the Unleavened Bread feast and came to Troas and stayed there seven days. And the reason was to await the ship that would take them to Jerusalem.

Verse 7, “On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.” There were Bible studies in homes; they shared the Lord’s Table. And Christians were together usually during the week. So, it was common for the Church to meet on a daily basis in its early years. But Sunday became the meeting time for the Church.

They met immediately after the resurrection, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week. You can call it Sunday, but I prefer to call it the Lord’s day. In Revelation 1:10 John says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” They met in John 20:19 on the first day of the week, and Jesus appeared. Verse 26 says, the next time the first day of the week, they were meeting and the Lord again appeared.

So they were together on the first day; which was Resurrection Day. The Lord appeared both times. So, He had risen on the first day, appeared on the first day, appeared again on the first day, and they just took the first day and ran with it. That became Resurrection Day, the Lord’s Day. And so, the early Church celebrated its fellowship and its worship and its teaching together on Sunday.

Hebrews 10:25 says, “Do not neglect to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” You ought to come together with other believers and not forsake that. Colossians 2:16 says, “Don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, which are a shadow of things to come.”

Once the real thing comes, you don’t need the shadow anymore. In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul just assumes it. He says, “When you come together on the first day of the week, that’s the time to bring your offerings.” Churches meet on the first day. If you want to meet on the Sabbath, then you’re going to have to buy the whole old covenant, and you’re going to be saved by works.

Romans 14:5-6 says, “One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God.”

So, there was the sense in which God was very tolerant of when they worshipped. But they did worship on the Lord’s Day, and that became the norm. And there is no instruction, in the New Testament as to any regulations for it. Some Christians put all of the conglomeration of the Sabbath and imposed it on the Lord’s Day. But you can’t find it in the New Testament.

It’s a great day for spiritual restoration, although there is nothing against you taking a bike ride or doing something like that, as people in the past have always said was so evil on the Sabbath. It is not the Sabbath; it’s the Lord’s Day, and every day is His day. Now, where did the early church meet? They met everywhere. First they met in the temple, didn’t they? After that, they met in synagogues.

But eventually, they began to establish their own Christian assemblies. And the natural place to go first was to homes. By the end of the second century, they began to build their own buildings. When Paul wrote Colossians 4:15, he referred to the church in the home. When he wrote Romans 16:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:19, he referred to the church in the home of Aquila and Priscilla.

But here in this passage they met in an upper chamber. But communion also got hit in history. When the Catholic Church dominated the world, before the Reformation, communion stopped being a natural, informal, sharing together in the memory of Christ, and it became a mystical, priestly ceremony that’s now continuing to be known as the mass. But you can have communion any time you want.

The best place is to teach your children communion is in your home. You can share the Lord’s Table any time you want, and you should. Jesus said, “Do this until I come and do it with you in the kingdom.” It’s your responsibility. Remember that this is part of the early Church that was common and natural and flowing thing out of the life that they had and their love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 8 says, “There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled.” Christians in Troas lit the place up so nobody could say they met in the dark to do evil. Verse 9, “And a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.”

That’s the quote of Luke, who wrote the passage here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Verse 10, “But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.” What happened was a resurrection miracle. All of the broken bones and all of the injuries of his body that had caused the death reversed themselves, and he was alive.

That really had an effect on the people in that little church. God always does miracles to increase faith and to confirm His teachers in the New Testament era. He raised that young man from the dead. Verse 11, “After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.” Verse 12 says, “They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.”

That was a long sermon. He started till midnight. The guy fell out of the window. Raised him from the dead at 12:15. And they picked it up and went till dawn. Paul was available at all times. How available are you? Verse 13, “We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.”

Now, that is staggering. Everybody gets on the boat at Troas, and they go 30 miles to Assos, except Paul. You know what he does? He walks. What was customary when a beloved friend left a certain people? It was customary for those people whom he was leaving to accompany him on his journey. Paul walked so he could have more time with them. Selfless man. He was available.

Paul’s love for the Church is visible in his concern. Verse 14, “When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene.” And then it says in verse 15, “Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and the day after, we came to Miletus.” Each one of those cities is about 30 miles past the next one, all down the coast of Asia Minor.

And Miletus was the ancient capital of Ionia. It was not too far from Ephesus. It was originally composed of a colony of Cretans; and built one of the world’s magnificent temples dedicated to the god Apollo. Verse 16 tells us, “For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, for the day of Pentecost.”

The Miletus ship was going to get there sooner than the one that stopped at Ephesus. But notice verse 17, “Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.” He’s got a few days before the boat takes off. And what does he do? He calls for the elders of Ephesus to come over that he might teach them some more, instruct them some more, exhort them some more.

And do you know what happened? One of the most beautiful scenes ever in the life of Paul happened. Because when those elders got there, they gave him back all the love he’d given them. They just poured it all over him. What’s it saying to you? Paul said in Philippians 3:17, “Brethren, be followers together of me.” To the Corinthians he said, “Be followers of me, as I am of Christ.”

All of the features of Paul’s love should be features of my life. In Romans 12, Paul gives the basic principles of the Christian life. And every one of the features of Paul’s love are included in this section. You’re to love the Church. Look at verse 9, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” That means you’re to love the Church with all your heart. How are we to demonstrate it? Number one, by affection.

Romans 12:10 says, “Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.” Paul loved the Church as illustrated in his giving. Verse 13, “Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.” And Paul loved the Church in terms of his teaching, in verses 6 through 8. If you have the gift of prophesy, do it. If you have the gift of exhortation, exhort.

If you have the gift of ruling, do it with diligence. If you have the gift of showing mercy, do it with cheerfulness. He’s saying, “Do it, whatever your gift is.” And Paul showed his love by persistence. Romans 12:11, “Be fervent in the Spirit, serving the Lord.” Verse 14, “Bless those who persecute you: bless and do not curse.” In other words, against all things pursue the love of the saints. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Oct 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231015 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000215 imblog

Acts 20:1-7

We are studying in Acts 20 the ministry of the apostle Paul. In Acts 20:1-17, we have seen Paul’s love for the church. And we’ve seen this not directly but implied, the love that Paul had for the church people, the saints. Paul said in Ephesians 5, “Jesus loved the church and gave himself for it.” And that was also Paul’s testimony, for he loved the church and gave himself for it as well.

Jesus gave Himself to redeem the church. Paul gave himself to serve the church. In redeeming the church, Jesus died. In serving the church, Paul died. So there was a parallel there. Paul’s commitment was at the level of total self-sacrifice. And whatever the will of the Lord was became the will of Paul. In other words, it’s not hard to love Christians if you love the Lord.

It is spiritual maturity to will with Christ that which He wills. And most of us are still learning how to submit our wills. We haven’t grown to the level of maturity where we will what He wills. Paul loved the church and gave himself for the church because he so loved Jesus Christ that there was no other reason for living than to fulfill the will of Jesus Christ in behalf of His church.

In Ephesians 3:20, he said, “Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think according to the power that works in us.” In other words, he says to the Ephesians and all Christians, “You ought to be fulfilling your potential. Paul saw God glorified when the church was maximized in terms of its potential. And this was his passion; for this he suffered and died.

In Colossians 1:24, he said, “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you.” He was willing to pay the price of the maturity of the saints and the price of the unity of the church. In other words, I suffer in the place of Christ. Even in jail he wrote to the Philippians and he said, “My being in prison is to the advance of the Gospel, and some people are becoming bolder because of my imprisonment.”

If the goal of the ministry is not for the love of the church to see the saints brought to the place where God is glorified in their lives, then you’ve got a perverted goal. The only way to be in the ministry is for the love of the church. Only reason Jesus came into the world was for the love of the church, to die to redeem us, to redeem mankind. And again, this is basic to the ministry.

Well does that include me? Sure, all Christians have a ministry. But I wasn’t called to preach. But you were given spiritual gifts, weren’t you? And the effectiveness of your ministry of spiritual gifts will be determined by whether or not you love other believers. If you really love them, you’ll minister to them because you want them to be grown up in full stature. The ministry of gifts is for others.

You say, “Well my gift is the gift of helps.” Fine, then you ought to know that for the love of the church you ought to spend yourself to help others. Now in this passage verses 1-17, we see Paul’s love for the church implied, and it isn’t here directly; it’s here indirectly. Now Paul is on his third missionary tour, and this time he is in the same area generally that he’d been previously.

He went to Syria, Celestia, moving west to Galatia and then the area of Phrygia and Pamphylia and all of that and coming further west to Asia Minor and then to Macedonia, then to Achaea, which is where Corinth was. And planted churches all over the place, and the Gospel was growing up. Well, this time he has companions with him. And he stayed in Ephesus for nearly three years.

Paul is leaving Ephesus. In fact, a riot just broke out. He’s going back to Jerusalem. Then from Jerusalem he wants to go to Rome, and from Rome to Spain. So this is the last time he’ll ever be in eastern Mediterranean. And so there’s that feeling through this passage of finality. Perhaps his roman imprisonment was separated into two sections, and in the middle he made another little trip near Asia Minor.

And so we see a series of goodbyes and a series of farewells all through chapter 20 as Paul goes back toward Jerusalem. And there are six different things here that express Paul’s love: His affection, his giving, his teaching, his persistence, his availability and his concern. But Paul’s love is revealed in just little ways implied in the text. First, Paul’s love is revealed in his affection.

Verse 1, “After the uproar was over,” the riot of Ephesus “Paul send for the disciples, encouraged them.” The usual customary thing was a hug and a kiss on the cheek. There must have been something warm about Paul that they felt comfortable in loving him in this manner. But Romans 16:16 says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” 1 Corinthians 16:20: “Greet one another with a holy kiss.”

Five times in the New Testament the church is commanded to demonstrate its affection physically. Now that breaks down a lot of barriers. Verse 1 continues, “And after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.” He says, “I’m going to take a collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem.” Now, it took him almost one year to get all that done. Paul collected money for somebody else’s needs.

He was a selfless person; he was a giving person. 1 John 3:16 illustrates the biblical principle of giving in terms of its relationship to love. It says: “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us.” Now some Christians aren’t even willing to give their time, let alone their life. Many people are very concerned about humanity; they just don’t like people as individuals.

Don’t say you love the brethren unless you meet the need of the one guy that crosses your path. God doesn’t want sentiment; He wants sacrifice. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be rich.” How are you going to prove your love is sincere? Do like Christ did.

We see Paul’s love in Acts 20 in his teaching. It says in verse 2, “And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece.” It was wonderful that Paul gave them spiritual truth, right? Because that’s the core. That’s what makes them grow up to be all that Jesus wants them to be. If you really love the church, you’ll teach the church.

To feed the flock is the ministry. I see so many seminaries and so many people in denominations where preaching is just minimized. In the early church, preaching was central. Preaching was the key to everything. The center of it all was the proclamation of God's truth. In 1 Timothy 4:13 it says, “Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.”

That’s expository preaching. In 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul said, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.” The church now has gotten so far away from the apostolic preaching of the cross that the church has turned into all kinds of things other than to be the center for teaching, to feed the saints so that they may win others.

There is a loss of belief in the authority of the Scripture. If you do not believe that the Word of God is inherently God's truth, then you can’t preach because you haven’t got any conviction. The second thing is that people have become liberal. Thirdly, the church has been invaded by media and music. And some of it is excellent. But it cannot take over the place of teaching the Word of God.

The real problem in the church is spiritual malnutrition. And if God's principles aren’t the key to your own spiritual health and your own mental health, I don't know what are. And you can learn the principles that come out of the Word of God in any context. God wants the church to be a place where you can minister. And all you need to minister to is the people nearest to you, not everybody.

We also see Paul’s affection then in his relentless teaching, but also in his persistence. Love is persistent. Verse 3, “And stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia.” He stayed in Corinth three months, and he wrote the Book of Romans. He was busy and he was teaching.

And when the Jews laid wait for him, he found out about the plot. The man was absolutely persistent; it didn’t matter to him. And so when he heard about this, all he did was change his route. So he went to Macedonia, to go all the way back through the cities that had chased him out. He was going to get that money to the Jerusalem saints even if it would cost him his life.

Paul even said in Romans 15:30, “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God on my behalf. 31 Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea.” He said, “I know it’s going to be a problem and I’m going to get it all the way. Especially in Judaea there’s going to be antagonism.”

Well, he didn’t go alone. Verse 4-5, “He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas.” Notice the word us, Luke the author is back. Paul had left Luke at Philippi. Now Paul comes back and picks him up.

The items covered from verses 1-5 are general, but from verse 6 on every little detail is covered as we have an eyewitness in Luke. Paul takes these guys because they represent all the churches of the gentiles. And he’s going to take this offering to the Jews and say, “You need to see the unity of the church. So all these gentiles with all this money shows that the church is one, Jew and Gentile.”

Verse 6, “But we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.” He originally wanted to be in Jerusalem for Passover, but when the riot plot came up he couldn’t make it. So now he hoped to get there by Pentecost, which was 50 days after Passover. The feast of unleavened bread lasted seven days immediately after Passover.

It took them five days to come across to Troas. It only took them two days the first time they came the other way, so it must’ve been a difficult trip. And they stayed seven days. Now this is his persistence. And they’ve got to hang around Troas for seven more days to catch the right ship. And it tells us again that Paul was still very Jewish in his heart and his attitude. Well he was persistent.

He was a tired man, and he arrives in Troas and look what happens. Verse 7, “On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.” Do you know he had to leave the next day on a tedious journey of six or seven weeks? But he stopped long enough, to preach to them, and continued his speech ‘til midnight.

Actually he preached all night long. And it wasn’t just a sermon. He answered all their questions, met all their needs in terms of information from God. Availability. Now that’s just a beginning hint at his availability. Look at verse 7, “On the first day of the week.” Now this is the first direct statement of the time when the church met. What is the first day of the week? Sunday.

Now the Sunday ought to be called what it’s called in Scripture, the Lord’s Day. In Revelation 1:10, John said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.” So by that time, all Christians knew Sunday as the Lord’s Day. In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul said, “On the first day of the week, each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he is prospering, so that no collections will need to be made when I come.”

Did you know the first meeting the church ever had after the resurrection was on the first day? Remember they were together in the room and Jesus came through the wall? And so the first day of the week became the commemorative day. Ellen G. White who started the Seventh Day Adventism wrote, quoting: “To us, as to Israel, the Sabbath is given for a perpetual covenant. This is a sign that God recognizes them as His chosen people.”

What she’s saying there is that the people who meet on the Sabbath are the chosen people; the others are not. But do you know something? That is not Scriptural. In Galatians they met on the Lord's Day. In Galatians 4:10, Paul says to those Christians in Galatia, “You observe days and months and times and years.” You’re still hung up on the Jewish Sabbaths. If you really were saved, you ought to be over that.

That’s part of the old covenant. It’s gone. Colossians 2:16 says, “Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of what was to come.” When the reality came, the shadow is gone. There is no justification for the Sabbath. The early church met on the Lord's Day, and that’s why we do as well.

Well Paul loved the church. It’s seen in his affection, seen in his giving, seen in his teaching, seen in his persistence, seen in his availability to teach when he was totally at the end of his rope. Still available all night to give of himself. May it be true of us that whatever our gifts are, we so love the saints that we measure that love by sacrificially giving of ourselves. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Oct 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231008 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000214 imblog

Acts 19:21-41

This section is just a historical narrative dealing with an incident that occurred in the city of Ephesus. There’s not a lot of doctrine here. Let the Holy Spirit teach us spiritual truth through this historical event. One thing the history of Christianity has taught us is that the church thrives best when it is persecuted. The persecuted church confronts the world, and grows and has effect.

The church is the conscience of the community, not the comforter of the community. And in the book of Acts, the church grew when it was persecuted. When the church begins to play sociological or political games, then it gets into trouble. Now, we find ourselves in the city of Ephesus with the apostle Paul. He has been there for nearly three years. This is his third missionary journey.

As he arrives at Ephesus, God has already done a marvelous work. We find that the groundwork had been laid by some friends, namely Aquila and Priscilla. That Apollos, that great orator, also laid some groundwork. And now, Paul arrives and great things happen. In Acts 19:1-7, the church was founded. It was established as twelve disciples of John the Baptist were brought to Jesus Christ.

Because Satan cannot tolerate the presentation of the pure Word, so that the prevailing of the Word has two results. Progress for the gospel and persecution from Satan. Now in Acts 19, we find that this pattern had happened in Ephesus. Satan started out by verse 9 just having people speak evil about Christianity. Then, all of a sudden, he brought along these people who were exorcists.

And they tried to mimic what Paul was doing and did not succeed. And now from verse 21 on, Satan really used all of his powers to create a riot through the entire city of Ephesus in an effort to counteract the work of Paul. And so we see persecution. Satan always opposes the progress of the Gospel. In Jerusalem, Satan sent the opposition of organized religion, Judaism.

But first, it was the opposition here in Ephesus of verbal slander in verse 9, and then of Satanic infiltration in verse 13, where Satan tried to slide into the Christian community and just become one of them. But thirdly, it’s a riot comes when sort of a pseudo religious materialism comes to the forefront. In Ephesus there were three approaches of Satan. Hardness, hypocrisy and hatred.

Before we get into the riot, look at verse 21, “After these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “It is necessary for me to see Rome as well.” After he sees the church at Ephesus is established, and after he sees that these people bring all their magical books and burn them, the Christians are mature.

Why does he want to go to Macedonia and Achaia?” He’s just been there. He established all those churches there, like Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. He wanted to go there and then to Jerusalem. And Paul wanted to take a love offering from his churches as a gift to the church at Jerusalem. The reason he wanted to go to Macedonia and Achaia was to collect this offering.

Here he makes reference to Macedonia and Achaia. He goes on to talk about their giving all the way down in this. He makes a note of this particular thing of their gift elsewhere in Corinthians. And Romans 15:25 -26 says, “Right now I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints, 26 because Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor saints in Jerusalem.”

Why did he want to do that?” Well, because they had a need. Paul was teaching the lesson of the unity of the body, that a church in one place is greatly responsible for a body of believers in another place. And secondly, Paul wanted to teach the practical lessons of love. Love gets right down to the simplicity of giving your money for the sake of somebody else, self-sacrifice.

Now, in verse 21 he says, “After that, I must also see Rome.” Paul’s plan was to plant the gospel in key cities on a line from Antioch to Rome. And, that wasn’t the end of it either. There was already a church in Rome, but perhaps he could enhance the witness and then it would spread. He believed in the process of evangelism by reproduction, where you would establish a church that would send out others.

In Romans 15:24, he says, “Whenever I travel to Spain. For I hope to see you when I pass through and to be assisted by you for my journey there, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while.” People need to hear about the Lord. And Spain was a great place. And Paul could see that conquering Spain would be fantastic. This was in his mind to do. He was a strategist planning his conquests.

There’s a break right here in the book of Acts. Because from here on, the whole goal in the mind of Paul is Rome. And, finally, at the end of Acts, he gets there. But he doesn’t get there in the way that he thought he would get there. Verse 22, “After sending to Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.”

We all know who Timothy is. He had been at Corinth and Ephesus and now Paul sends him to Macedonia together with Erastus to let them know he’s coming, but we don’t know who Erastus is. But Paul himself stayed in Asia for a season. He sent these two advance guys out to get things ready for his coming to Macedonia to make the collection and do some preaching.

Why did he stay? Well, Paul was writing Corinthians. And he said in 1 Corinthians 16:8-9, “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me, yet many oppose me.” He realized God had some more work for him to do. Well, the adversary comes to the forefront, beginning then in verse 23 as we see the riot comes about.

Now, there are three thoughts: the causes of the riot, the characteristics of the riot and the calming of the riot. Now, the real cause of the riot was Satan’s antagonism to the prevailing of the Word. But as we look at these verses, there were some superficial reasons that actually brought this riot to pass. Look at verse 23, “About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way.”

“The Way” was a reference to Christianity. Jesus had said, “I am the Way.” And so here, they were really uptight about the Christian message and started to persecute Paul. Now this riot, will provide for you some great insights into the typical approach of mob psychology, as well as an insight into how Satan operates. But there were some specific causes and meet a man called Demetrius.

Verse 24, “For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen.” Demetrius was an important person in the guild of silversmiths. What he did was contract out to the rest of these silversmiths to make these shrines. In many archaeological discoveries around Ephesus, there is evidence of a trade as silversmith.

Now, he was a wealthy and an influential man. The temple of Diana was a big place, 420 by 250 feet. And people preached to eunuchs, priestesses, prostitutes, all worshipping up there. And this temple also was a treasure house for gold and silver. So tourist traffic in the worship of Artemis was really big business. And the silversmiths made their living by selling these little shrines.

Verse 25, “When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business.” The gospel was fouling up their business because people were accepting the truth of Christ and turning from idols. It was becoming an economic problem because Christianity was having such a tremendous spread of power.

Verse 26, “You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.” He says, “Do you realize that all over Asia Minor, Paul has made people believe that these gods we’re making are not gods? So Demetrius confessed that the apostolic preaching was successful.

Why does God take 20 verses to tell us about a riot? To see the successes of Christianity put in the mouths of the pagans. The pagans are admitting it. So God is turning people from idols, and secondly, there’s nothing you can criticize Paul for. Paul committed to Jesus Christ came into this city and turned the province for Christ. Night and day, praying and teaching with tears the Word of God.

The success of the gospel was dependent upon one dedicated man and a purified church. People who become temples of the Holy Spirit don’t need temples of Artemis. There was no demonstration against idolatry, there was just salvation and the new forced out the old. It was the growth of new life in the church that just pushed out the old. And what the outside could never accomplish, the inside life did.

If you want to change the people for Jesus Christ, don’t protest against the community. Just live a holy life and start leading people to Jesus Christ. And the end result is the community won’t be able to handle you. And one by one you begin to affect your community. So we’re just interested in winning people to Jesus Christ and pushing off the old by the new life that comes.

Verse 27, “Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world worship.” Listen to Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” In Luke 16:13, the Bible says, “you can’t serve God and money.”

And many people are in hell because they loved money more than God. Secondly, Demetrius appeals to their piety. Here comes the pseudo religious thing. Our god is being defamed. Two hundred and twenty years in building. And thirdly, he appeals to their patriotism. In verse 27, he says this. “And her magnificence should be destroyed whom all Asia and the world worship.”

Christianity hit them economically, religiously, politically and socially. Well, the speech caused a riot. Let’s look at the characteristics of the riot. Verse 28, “When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” They just started yelling. “Fired on by the incendiary speech, they ran into the open street and started invoking their goddess.”

It’s just anger run wild against Christianity. People don’t like to be confronted with the sinfulness of their sin and their entire way of life and their system is wrong. Then there is confusion. Verse 29, “So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions.

Verse 30, “Although Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him.” Why? Sometimes reason is better than foolish faith. It is presumptuous to put yourself in danger and then expect God to deliver you. Verse 31, “Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to venture into the amphitheater.”

Verse 32, “Some were shouting one thing and some another, because the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.” It indicates a continuous confusion. Verse 33, “Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander after they pushed him to the front. Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people.”

Verse 34, “But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” We don’t know who Alexander was. Verse 35, “When the city clerk calmed the crowd down, he said, “What person is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven?”

The city clerk was the chairman of the town council. See this black image of Diana they assumed had fallen from Jupiter. Don’t you all know that this city is the temple warden of the goddess Artemis? Verse 36 - 37, “Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess.”

Verse 38, “So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, there are courts in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.” Verse 39-40, “But if you seek anything further, it must be decided in a legal assembly.” 40 In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification for this disturbance.”

Verse 41, “After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.” The town clerk did no favor for the church. He agreed and confirmed the superstition of the people. The last we know of the Ephesian church are in Revelation 2:4, “I have this against you. You have abandoned the love you had at first.” If you go to Ephesus today, what is there? A Muslim village that doesn’t have one single Christian. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Oct 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20231001 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000213 imblog

Acts 19:8-20

As we come to Acts 19, the reason we’re studying exorcism is because in the middle of this passage we find the word “exorcist” in verse 13, where it appears for the only time in the New Testament. Now, it’s also important for us to make some statements about it because today, in Christian circles, there is a lasting preoccupation with demons and “Christian exorcism.”

In Ephesians 2:2 Paul says, “You walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.” The prince of the power of the air is Satan. He is called the spirit that works in the disobedient. From the time of the fall, all men have become Satan’s tools. They’re born into the world functioning in response to satanic impulse.

Now, Satan rules men usually in two general ways. First, he rules men by virtue of their understanding. So the man without Christ, without God, is left with only the information which is available apart from God. In fact, it says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of them that do not believe.” Satan blinds the mind. That is, he rules the understanding.

Secondly, Satan dominates in the will. Although he cannot make you do something, he can certainly draw you into that by temptation. John 8:44 says, “Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The lusts of your father, you will do.” And their father, of course, was the devil. Satan then dominates men by controlling the information that they have and by controlling the will that they exercise.

Jesus from the very beginning is set against Satan; and we can know victory over Satan only insofar as we yield to the strength that is His strength. In Ephesians 6:10, Paul says, “Be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.” Our only strength is in Christ, and Christ came to give us victory over the enemy. Jesus began by showing His power over Satan from the very start.

Satan tried to do everything to eliminate Him at His birth and couldn’t do it. The first thing that happened to Jesus after His baptism, He was led into the wilderness. Not by Satan but by the Holy Spirit. Because at the beginning of His ministry, it was made known that He had victory over Satan. Satan tempted Him three times and lost out every time. And Jesus went through His life the same way.

When He came to the cross, it looked like Satan was the winner, but he wasn’t. He took the blow to his head at the cross. And the cross, according to Colossians 2, was that great victory whereby principalities and powers were made subject to Christ. And 1 Peter 3:18 - 22 says the same thing. He brought all fallen angels and authorities into subjection to Him at the cross.

And all through His ministry, Christ dealt with Satan in terms of authority. He cast out demons all the way along. And He even gave that power to His disciples. On occasion, they also, in His name and by His power, cast out demons. In Acts, as the early church began, we see it as we’ve studied through that, the apostles again had the power to cast out demons. They had victory over Satan.

Now, the purpose of this in the apostolic era is to confirm the Word of God. That people might know the Word of God was authentic, God attended it with the miracles such as casting out demons. Now, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing that can overrule Satan. Satan is the prince of this world. He dominates it because he dominates men’s understanding and men’s will.

There’s no power, there’s no exorcism, there’s no ritual, and there is no formula that can overrule Satan’s power. Not even the name of Jesus used as a gimmick will work, and we’ll see that in this passage. It was simply the statement of Christ, “Out!” And the demons were gone. Now, that was authority, not ritual. Matthew 8:16, “Of Christ it was said, ‘He cast out spirits with a word.’”

The Old Testament pattern, the pattern up to the time of Christ, was that demons could be cast out by God answering the prayers of faithful saints. Well, what about other non-Christians? If they had demons, how could they get rid of demons? They could get rid of demons by believing, by coming to Jesus Christ. All unsaved people in the world are under the control of Satan.

The question of demon possession is just a technicality. Hell is going to be the same for the unregenerate person no matter what kind of relationship that person had with demons. What does the Bible say about getting rid of his demons? Nothing. But if that person comes to Jesus Christ, repents of his sin, confesses Christ as savior, Christ will clean his life out. Do you believe that?

Beloved, take care of your own life before God in the area of holiness, and demons have no way they can bother you. We don’t need to be preoccupied with all kinds of drawn-out sessions of exorcism using the name of Jesus like a formula. In 1 Corinthians 10 it says, “Examine yourself, and enact judgment in your own heart. Bring about confession and repentance, and you’re acceptable.”

John says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” And Jesus said in Matthew 12 that He casts out demons by the Holy Spirit, and He lives in you. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.”

Now, where are you going to get the victory? Verse 13, “For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, 15 and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace.”

Here’s a case of Christians struggling with demons. What’s the solution? The solution isn’t your friends coming to help you. The solution is you putting on the righteousness, right? Of all of the responsibilities that we have toward one another, there is no command to go cast demons out of each other. It says love one another, teach one another, edify one another, and comfort one another.

In Acts 19, Paul is on his third missionary journey. He comes to Ephesus which is the heart of the Roman province of Asia Minor. There was the temple of Diana, where there was sorcery, exorcism, magicians and orgies. Paul comes with the greatest tool which was the Word of God. It wasn’t written down then; but God poured it through him. We discussed the Word of God and its influence on Ephesus.

Its proclamation, its confirmation, its competition, its conviction, and its domination. So Paul proclaimed God’s rule and God’s Kingdom and especially as it related to Jesus Christ. So after three months, they started blasting Christianity in front of the whole town, speaking evil of the Way, those who had been hardened. Instead of believing, the longer Paul preached, the harder they got.

And so finally, Paul departed from them and separated the disciples’ disputing daily in the school of Tyrannus.” And the result of evangelism: “All they who dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” Along with its proclamation was its confirmation, and this is where I would begin today. Verse 11, “God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands.”

Whenever the message was delivered, it was accredited by miracles. Now, this occurred in Hebrews 2, 3 and 4, and also in 2 Corinthians 12:12. First was the proclamation, then the confirmation. And “God brought special miracles.” Who did the miracles? God did. Now, the people would see just Paul and not really see God doing the work, especially those miracles on the surface.

And so they thought that this Paul was some kind of super character. Verse 12, “so that even facecloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.” The people in Ephesus were very superstitious. Well, they got Paul’s sweat cloths and they figured that could work the same thing for them.

And in spite of their superstition, God did His miracles. Remember the woman in Mark 5 who said, “If I can just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, I’ll be healed.” And she did, and she was. Why? God was going to do what He was going to do. And the same thing happened in Acts 5, where the people in Jerusalem said, “If we can just get the sick under the shadow of Peter, they’ll be well.”

And Luke makes a distinction between a disease and an evil spirit. Let’s look thirdly at the competition. Well suddenly, some local exorcists think they’ve got a new gimmick. Verse 13, “Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!”

Now they thought that the ‘Name of Jesus’ was a new formula. This magician Paul has done some stuff that they have never seen. Back in Acts 8, Simon saw the miracles that the apostles did and he wanted to buy it with money, right? Peter says, “Your money perish with you.” So here you have these guys, and they think, “Well, this is great. We’ll do it in the Name of Jehovah God.”

They weren’t really casting out demons. But Satan may have given them the idea that they were so they’d keep perpetuating this stupidity. And we know this is what’s going on today in the name of the Roman Catholic Church. Jesus said in Matthew 12:27, “And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.”

No apostle after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ ever was hassled in having to exorcise demons. It was always a matter of authority. If an unbeliever comes to Jesus Christ, He alone can cleanse by faith. Verse 14-15, “Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. 15 The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?”

Their magical effort blew up. Interesting note here, “the evil spirit answered them.” Evil spirits can speak with a human voice. In Isaiah 8:19, it says that there are mediums and demons that chirp and mutter. They actually can speak through the human voice, and that’s common. Did demons know Jesus? Yes. Demons were all created at one time, and they were created originally as angels.

This demon felt no compulsion of power to obey. They may have used Jesus’ name, but there wasn’t any power in it. Verse 16, “Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.” And the old manuscript also includes the word “both” here, which indicates there were probably only two of the seven there.

Jesus said this in Matthew 7:22-23, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!” Satan brought the competition. Christ overruled him. So we see the proclamation, confirmation and competition.

Let us look at the conviction. Verse 17, “When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem.” They said, “Don’t mess with the Name of the Lord Jesus. Don’t use that name in vain!” Even the unsaved people began to recognize something stupendous about the Name of Jesus.

That’s exactly what God wanted. Beloved, that is true. Every time I hear somebody take the name of Jesus in vain, I kind of cringe. Verse 18 says, “And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices.” They were giving up all their magic. The whole satanic game was over. They saw the truth of the power of Jesus; and they saw that magic didn’t work.

People believed and confessed, and their lives were transformed. And to show you the character of their transformation, it got to practical things. Verse 19, “while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.” They had a public burning.

And the interesting thing, the word “burned” is imperfect. They kept on burning. I don’t know how long the bonfire lasted. But they kept burning. You say, “How much is 50,000 pieces of silver?” With inflation and all of that, maybe now somewhere around $50,000.00. Well, the Word was proclaimed, confirmed, competed with. It was victorious and Satan lost out. Lastly, the words “domination.”

Verse 20, “In this way the word of the Lord spread and prevailed.” Do you know that in the church, as long as the Word of God dominates, there’ll be victory? That’s the pattern. Well, I am thrilled when I see the Word of God prevail. Satan in all of his power, cannot prevail. I hope and pray that when you’re saturated by the Word, that you may know victory, the victory from God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Sep 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230924 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000212 imblog

Acts 19:8-20

There’s only one use of the word exorcist in the New Testament and that’s in this passage. Jesus came into the world the Bible says “to destroy the works of the devil.” Now, we see His power over Satan at the cross where he bruises the serpent’s head. We see it also in Revelation where Satan is bound for a thousand years, then released, then thrown forever into hell.

We see the power of Jesus Christ over Satan displayed in His temptation. Satan tried to tempt Him and was unsuccessful on three occasions. In Matthew 17:14 it says, ‘When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before him. 15 “Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water.

16 I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.” 17 Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.” The disciples asked Jesus privately why they could not do that.

Because only Jesus had absolute authority over demons. So He just spoke and the demon left. Mark 1:32 says, “When evening came, after the sun had set, they brought to him all those who were sick and demon-possessed.” Verse 34, “and He healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. And He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew Him.”

And later in Mark 5, Jesus met a man who was living in the tombs and who possessed an unclean spirit. Now when it says unclean spirit, it means that the manifestation of that demon is in the vilest areas. Verse 3-4, “No man was able to restrain him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had torn the chains apart and smashed the shackles.”

Verse 6-7, “When he saw Jesus from a distance, he cried out, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Don’t torment me!” Verse 10-12, “And they begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the region. 11 A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. 12 The demons begged Him, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.”

And Jesus gave them permission. It wasn’t just a case of Him casting them out. As soon as He appeared, they wanted out. What power to exercise over the Spirit world. “13 So He gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there.” And here again, you see the power of Jesus.

One other passage shows Jesus has power over demons. Luke 4:33 says, “In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Leave us alone! What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God!” 35 But Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be silent and come out of him!”

And throwing him down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all.” Luke 4:41 says, “Also, demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.” Notice whenever Jesus dealt with demons, it was always a case of authority. Okay?

Now, Jesus gave this same power over demons to some of His followers. And when it says in My name, it doesn’t mean using the name of Jesus like a magical formula. It means on the basis of His power demons can be cast out. Luke 10:17 says, “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” So Christ granted to them the power specifically for those times.

They would go up to unbelievers and just cast out demons. Acts 5:16 says, “A multitude came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.” And this was by the apostles in verse 12, “by the hands of the apostles, signs and wonders were done.” So Jesus gave to His apostles power over demons.

Acts 8:7 says, “For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.” And this was Philip who was not an apostle but an Evangelist. Acts 16:18 says, “Paul turns around and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her,’ and the demon came out the same moment.”

Now notice this. Jesus cast out demons by authority. Jesus passed that same authority on to His apostles. The apostles could cast out demons with a word and they were gone. Now this is an apostolic gift. Such a gift does not exists today. They had this gift for the purpose of confirming the Word. That’s shown in Hebrews 2:3- 4, where signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit were given to the apostles.

Now, all during the Bible demons existed. And demons still indwell people. Well, how did they get rid of them then? The answer that Jesus gave in Matthew 17 says, “These come out only by prayer and fasting.” And that was the same thing with demons. They could pray and fast, and God would hear and answer their prayer. But when Jesus came He had absolute authority over demons.

Today we don’t need any miracles to confirm the Word. God still does miracles, but not confirming miracles because the Word is already put here in our hands. You can judge any man’s message, whether it is confirmed by the Bible. In those days, you could only judge a man’s message on the basis of the supernatural works of God that accompanied him. So this is very important.

There’s a preoccupation today with getting rid of demons. The power of Jesus Christ alone, can overrule Satan. There is no other way. There’s no human power, there is no religious rite or ceremony, there is no formula and there is no exorcism that works. But what about all of these so-called exorcisms that are going on, being done by mediums and clairvoyants and such?” They don’t work.

But there’s no magical power in the name of Jesus. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the blood of Jesus Christ. But don’t reduce it to a formula that’s supposed to work some magic hocus pocus on demons. Well in the first place, when you’re dealing with an unbeliever, there’s only one way an unbeliever is ever going to get rid of demons. And that’s by receiving Jesus Christ.

It is the power of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit that cast out demons. Now where does the Spirit of Christ live? In me, right? Then whom do I need to cast out demons. For a Christian to get rid of the problem of demons is as simple as the area of confession and holiness. And Satan has convinced a lot of Christians into thinking that the Christian life is reduced down to a demon hunt.

You know who your biggest problem is? You. If I have Jesus Christ in me, do I have all of His power? Do I have all things that pertain to life and godliness? If Jesus Christ dwells within me, if the Holy Spirit dwells within me, I can deal with Satan in the power of Christ that is mine alone. Now, I may need some believers to point out sin to me, and to pray along with me.

Now the Holy Spirit can do that in my life. Well, what about all these exorcists? It seems to work.” Well, of course it seems to work because Satan wants people to believe that things are happening. Now, the word exorcism then doesn’t belong in the Christian’s vocabulary. Because that’s a problem of a person’s willingness to confess sin, not a problem of getting rid of the demon.

If you’re filled with Christ, you can’t be filled with Christ and something else. If you’re filled with the Spirit of God, controlled and yielded to Him, there’s no place for a demon. In fact it only appears once in the New Testament in verse 13. These are vagabond Jewish exorcists who try to use the name of Jesus to pull off an exorcism and it didn’t work. And before it was over they were sorry they tried.

True believers have nothing to fear. Now, if there’s a willful, protracted, unconfessed sin, you have given place to Satan. For instance, Ananias and Sapphira. But to reduce the authoritative truth of the power of Christ in my life, as it is like white Magic, it just gives Satan another tool to deceive me. The Roman Catholic Church has rites of exorcism and they’ve got all the secret formulas for it.

But that is not biblical. It is paganism tied into Christianity again, which sucks the blood out of Christianity. Christianity mixed with anything else is not Christianity. Monsignor Luigi Novarese, according to Newsweek magazine, “The official exorcist for the Pope and for the Pope’s diocese of Rome, estimates that he has performed the ancient rite, rituale romanum, sixty times.”

Paul in his third missionary journey started out in Antioch where he was the co-pastor with Barnabas and three others. And he started on his third journey in Acts 18:23. He spent some time in Antioch, and he departed, went over to Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening the disciples. Finally he comes to the town of Ephesus. Now he had been to Ephesus once before, at the end of his second journey.

Now, Ephesus was a really interesting place. It was the real heart of the Roman providence of Asia Minor. Ephesus ranked with Corinth as the two most important cities on the road east from Rome. It was a commercial center and it was a port city. And so it was a place where ships traded and where caravans traded. It was a rich place and it was an immensely populous place.

John was exiled there, off the coast a little ways, to the island of Patmos. The main feature of Ephesus was the temple of Diana. It was a prostitute kind of worship with orgies. It also was a sanctuary for criminals. And it was a place where sorcery and witchcraft existed and all kinds of perversions. In Ephesus Paul was really confronted with this power of the evil against the Gospel.

Paul still supported himself by making tents. But that wasn’t his passion. The reason the ministry in Ephesus was so dramatic and so dynamic was because of the Word. Where the Word dominates, Satan is defeated. The power of the Word in Ephesus, is in proclamation, it’s in confirmation, it’s in competition, it’s in conviction, and it’s in domination. Let us start with point one, proclamation.

The Word can’t do anything unless somebody proclaims it. Paul does that. Verse 8, “Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God.” Paul had already established good relationships with the Jews. They must have been controlled by God, because every other synagogue he went to, they hated him.

Here they say, “Hey, we’d like you to stay.” Well he came back and stayed three months which is long for Paul. There is a tense in the Greek known as the imperfect tense. This would be a tense of incomplete action or something that is still going on. So when we say, “He spoke boldly,” that should really be “he was continuing to speak boldly.” This is a characteristic of apostolic preaching.

And in the book of Acts, everybody is bold and bolder. Paul always asks for prayer requests for himself. He says in Ephesians 6:19, “Pray for me that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel.” It means that when you have a right to speak truth, you speak it with boldness, without fear. Confidence is the idea.

And what was he doing? Well disputing and persuading. The first one means reasoning, question-and-answer-type thing. And persuading means to convince by argument. In Acts 28:30 it says, “Paul stayed two whole years in his own house in Rome. And he welcomed all who visited him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness.”

It simply means he’s teaching all the features of Christ and who He is and what He does. So Paul starts out by teaching the Word about Christ. Verse 9, “But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples, and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” The word hardened is in the imperfect tense.

Any kind of hardening is a process. A gradual rejection of Jesus Christ results in hardening. And so they gradually became more resistant, and finally their hearts were like rocks. They spoke evil. They cursed that Way before the multitude. But there’s the only way to God.” Well Paul said, “We better get out of the synagogue.” So he departed and disputed daily with them.

There’s an ancient Greek manuscript that says that Paul taught in this hall of Tyrannus from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. And it says he did it every day. In Ephesus, everybody worked until 11 and stopped to sleep, and start again at four because of the heat. Verse 10, “This went on for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Sep 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230917 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000211 imblog

Acts 19:1-7

The book of Acts is the historical record of the early church from the day of Pentecost through those early years. And we have studied Acts 18 and really begun what is one message in three parts. We’re studying how Judaism changed to Jesus. And beginning in Acts 18:18 the Holy Spirit gives us three incidents that illustrate to us the transition that was taking place from Judaism to Jesus.

When Christianity was established and the New Covenant was introduced, there were many Jews who found it very difficult to make all of the transition rapidly. Now, in our study here, we found the apostle Paul, though fully understanding Christ, and a believer in every sense, the apostle of the gospel of grace and the gospel of God, still taking a Nazarite vow which was part of Judaism.

So we see even Paul in transition. And then we saw Apollos in Acts 18:24 – 28 in transition. And here, we see the disciples of John the Baptist, an Old Testament saint. Jews ready for Messiah who believed that Jesus was that Messiah but didn’t understand the cross, didn’t understand the Resurrection. So they didn’t know all that Jesus had done. And so we meet these disciples.

These are twelve men who also are in transition. Remember that the whole of Judaism pervaded all of these people’s lives. Christianity came in and it took a while for all of the adjustments to take place. In some cases like Paul, he couldn’t let go of some old patterns. And Apollos just didn’t know the whole Gospel. And these twelve, they too were short of full knowledge.

And so the Holy Spirit had to bring them along to a full understanding of Christ and Christianity. Now the question that’s key to our discussion is in Acts 19:2, where Paul says, “Did you received the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Now, that question has become the favorite question of some movements in Christianity. The point of view that I take here is simply the exposition of this text.

But I want to approach it in the light of a current movement called Pentecostalism or also called the charismatic movement. The view that they take is that you can be a Christian and not possess the Holy Spirit. And at some moment, after your salvation, you then by a certain activity are allowed to know that the Spirit is available and that you can receive the Holy Spirit in certain ways.

Now this view is held by many Pentecostals. And some would say that the Christian has the Holy Spirit, but in a limited sense. Not in the sense of a permanent personal full and indwelling Holy Spirit. And so they would make a distinction between possessing the Holy Spirit and possessing the fullness of the Spirit or the Baptism of the Spirit. But really it means the same thing.

If a person receives only a part of the Spirit or have a limited sense of the Spirit, then you’re saying that the person hasn’t received the Spirit at all. For the Spirit is who He is and He must come in the fullness of who He is. Jesus promised that we would receive the Holy Spirit at salvation; then He meant the Spirit as the Holy Spirit is. And to believe that the Spirit comes in part is not biblical.

1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.” Some charismatic people say that “well we receive Jesus as Savior but not as Lord.” Then later on made Him Lord of their life. That is wrong. Jesus is Lord. And you receive Him for who He is. And the same is true of the Holy Spirit.

There are no degrees in receiving the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given in the fullness of who He is. It began in 1900 in Pentecostalism which resulted in Assemblies of God and Foursquare Churches. David du Plessis, a spokesman for this movement said this, “What happened during the years from Acts to 1900 was that the church lost its faith, lost the miracle gifts and lost the Holy Spirit.”

It is a wrong theology to assume that the Holy Spirit can only control the church until the end of the first century, then He lost control and man took it over for 1800 years. And finally, after 1800 years of struggle, the Holy Spirit got control again. God is not a God who can be victimized by men. Christ said, “I will build My church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.”

The primary thing that a believer has to do is to exalt God. And it does not exalt God when you hold a wrong view of God, of His Son or of the Holy Spirit. That grieves the Holy Spirit. And so we’re not just talking about little things. We’re talking about the proper exaltation of God Himself in His Spirit. And these charismatics tell us that their movement is patterned after the book of Acts.

They say that the book of Acts becomes the norm for the behavior of the Christian. If you start basing everything on the book of Acts, you're going to find yourself in a lot of trouble. Because then there’s justification to do what Paul did. Take Nazarite vows, cut our hair and then have to go to Jerusalem and burn them in the Temple. It’s going to be a little tough since there’s no temple.

You’re going to have to allow for current revelation today. You’re going to have to allow for apostles today. You’re going to have to allow for all the signs and wonders and miracles that accompanied the early church and the various manifestations. Not just in some segments of Christianity, but throughout, unqualified. Now, I hope you know this is wrong. The book of Acts is a transitional book.

And as the new covenant arrives, the people come to Christ which is an instant miracle. They still find it difficult to make the full transition. And so in Acts, there are various transitional things occurring. There are some old things that just kind of die slowly. For example, the early church met in the synagogue. And there are some things in Acts that are new but not permanent.

They are just especially for the transitional period. And unless you understand that, you become confused. We saw three parts to transition. First, Paul was in transition. In Acts 18:18 Paul cut his hair in Cenchrea for he had a Nazarite vow on an Old Testament basis. And he did it to thank God for delivering him from Gallio and from those Jews in Corinth who wanted to take his life.

Paul also wanted to be in Jerusalem for this Judaistic feast. So Paul was still in transition. He had not yet been able to set aside all of these old features. Secondly, we saw Apollos who was a Jew from Alexandria. He was speaking and teaching Jesus. But he knew only the baptism of John, which means that he knew Jesus was the Messiah, but did not know of the cross and the Resurrection.

Acts 18:26 says, “Afterwards Aquila and Priscilla took him aside.” And it says, “They explained to him the way of God more perfectly.” They gave him full knowledge of the work of Christ and of course he believed and became a New Testament saint. And then he went, in verse 28, “He helped much them who believed through grace and he publicly convinced the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.”

Now there were 12 Old Testament Saints who were followers of John the Baptist, who had not yet even heard about all the features of Jesus Christ. They needed to be given the full knowledge that they might become a part of the church. Acts 19:1, “While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus.” And God wanted him to come back.

Paul started his third missionary journey, he went through south Galatia and confirmed the churches and strengthened them. And he keeps going till he comes to Ephesus. And he comes from the top road, down into Ephesus. Now verse 2, “And finding certain disciples.” Now, he meets twelve people who are introduced to him as disciples. The assumption is that they were New Testament believers.

Verse 2 continues, “Did you received the Holy Spirit when you believed?” The word disciple means learner, and there’s really no implication of Christianity. Verse 2 continues, “No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So there you have Christians who have not received the Holy Spirit. And, the Pentecostals use Acts 19 as a defense of their doctrine.

The issue about whether they were Christians is very debatable. “Why?” Well, they didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit in terms of His being granted. A Christian is somebody who believes in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If they had known about the cross, they would have known the Holy Spirit. For Christ had promised to give the Holy Spirit after His ascension.

Verse 3 says, “Into what then were you baptized?” he asked them. “Into John’s baptism,” they replied. They didn’t even understand the baptism of Christ. Verse 4, Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.” In the early church, when were people baptized? Immediately upon believing.

If these people were Christians who believed in the finished work of Christ, they would have known the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not know that the Holy Spirit was given. That implies they didn’t even know about Messiah Jesus. So Paul says to them, John was getting you all ready for Jesus. Verse 5, “When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Now, this is a major passage for those who would defend a gap between salvation and the Holy Spirit, that you get the Holy Spirit later. This is what used to be called the second blessing. That salvation is the first blessing and then you surrender or you yield later on and you get the Holy Spirit as a second blessing. The problem here is the failure to recognize the transitional nature of Acts.

Not all of the disciples of John the Baptist had all of the information about Jesus. And even after they had announced that Jesus was the Messiah, they had many questions. And John saw that Jesus was not setting up the physical kingdom they expected. And so he sends two disciples in Matthew 11:3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

If John in his own mind had some question about the fact that Jesus was that Messiah, it’s easy to understand that some of his disciples might not have understood all there was to understand about Jesus, right? And there’s another reason that they’re not the norm and that is because they’re a transitional group. And what happens in transition does not necessarily set the pattern.

If a Christian has to do something to get the Holy Spirit, then there are some Christians who never do that something so they never get the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the promise of God is invalidated in their behalf. No, the credibility of God is at stake. And, secondly, the credibility of Jesus is at stake in John 14:16. Jesus said, “I’ll pray to the Father, He shall give you another Comforter.”

Jesus said, “If you believe, out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.” He spoke of the Spirit. Who receives the Holy Spirit? All those who believe. And the only reason the Spirit was not given yet was because Jesus was not yet glorified. Once Jesus was glorified, the Spirit was immediately given. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “By one Spirit were we are all baptized into one body.”

Now, the Jews had received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Gospel had been preached in Samaria. And they had for 500 years separate temples at Mt. Gerizim. And so what happened in the founding of the church in Samaria was as those Samaritan believers came to Christ, if they had received the Holy Spirit right then on the spot and no Jews had seen it, there would have existed the same dichotomy.

So God, in His wisdom, withheld the Holy Spirit from them until Jewish apostles arrived. And the Jewish apostles saw them receive the Holy Spirit with the same manifestation that they had received on Pentecost. Now they could go back and say to the Jews in Jerusalem, “God has made the Samaritans one with us.” And so God withheld the giving of the Spirit for the Samaritans until the apostles came.

Remember what happened in the case of Cornelius in Acts 10? He also received the Holy Spirit, had the same manifestation of tongues as they had on the day of the Pentecost. And all the Jews that were standing there were shocked. Peter went back to Jerusalem and said, “Those Gentiles got the same thing we got.” You know why? That’s exactly what God wanted them to see.

Verse 6, “And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.” If you know God through Christ, the Spirit comes as a gift. When the Holy Spirit came, they spoke with languages and prophesied. God knew that they needed a strong convincing that the Spirit had come. Verse 7 simply says, “Now there were about twelve men in all.”

You know that in the church we’ve got people like Paul who are saved, and have come all the way to Jesus Christ, but they’re hanging on to legalism. They’re hanging on to old patterns, traditions. Even some Jewish people who find it very difficult to fully absorb themselves in the church. And I praise God for those Jewish Christians who function well in the ministry of the body of Christ. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Sep 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230903 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000210 imblog

Acts 18:24-28

We have mentioned that the Book of Acts records for us transitions and we see the fading out of Judaism and the coming in of Christianity. We have to understand that it at times was a slow transition. Salvation is not a transition. It’s a momentary miracle. But losing all of the trappings of Judaism came a little slower. People would get saved and then find it hard to let go of everything.

Even today, with Jews who come to Jesus Christ, it is difficult to break with patterns that were so much a part of Judaism. Judaism in itself is such a distinct kind of life. A Jewish town while it was centered right in the midst of a pagan country still maintained an amazing uniqueness. And no matter how much interrelation it was, economically and culturally, it seemed never to be tainted by it.

And particularly around the time of Christ and the time of the New Testament. You couldn’t even enter a Jewish village without feeling like you had almost stepped into another world. You get that feeling today when you go to Jerusalem. When you happen to be isolated with a group of Orthodox Jews who are doing what only they do, you feel that somehow something’s wrong.

You would find the arrangements unique. You would find the clothing unique. So Judaism was not just a religion. It was a whole way of life. It pervaded every single human relationship. It pervaded every single attitude toward eating and drinking and clothing and all kinds of things in terms of economy. It was a way of life and you could never just eliminate Judaism.

But added to that, God wanted them to be a singular witness in the world so He gave them some other prescribed things that were not ethical. Some were just plain visual or external so that the world might see them as a unique people. You can find these in the Pentateuch. There were many prescribed rules that touched all phases of life. There have always been rabbis, which means teachers.

All these rabbis were teaching and adding to Scripture. And the esteem of a rabbi was so great that what the rabbi said was often written down. And all of these things were accumulated until today you have this large set of volumes known as the Talmud which are all of these rabbinical statements. But most of the interpretations and suggestions of all the rabbis are unnecessary and unbiblical.

All of this stuff was just laid on generation after generation. And in addition to that, God had set down a standard in the very beginning, in the Book of Deuteronomy 6, called the Shema, which says, the Lord our God is one Lord. And then these truths are to be taught to your children and their children. And they were to teach when they were sitting down, standing up, walking, all the time.

And at the core was the law, the ceremonies and the rituals that they had to keep. And they believed that if they kept all those laws, they’d get into heaven. Now, God in the Old Testament was a gracious God. Who is a pardoning God like thee and who gives grace? And it talks about that in the Old Testament. God says in Malachi that He remembers the names of those who are righteous.

And Abraham believed God. It was counted to him for righteousness. Faith is still the way of salvation in the Old Testament as today. And what happened was the Jews supplanted faith with law. And by the time of Christ, they believed that the only way you’d get into heaven was by keeping the law. And the guys out in front leading the whole mob were the Pharisees.

There was a rabbi named Yahudah. He was about to die. And at his death, he lifted up his hands to heaven and told God that none of those ten fingers had ever broken a single law. That is the sickest kind of self-righteousness. But both of those things tie those people down to the system. Well, here comes Paul and he’s telling others saying, “Grace. Grace. Forget all those laws.”

That’s why when Paul went into the synagogue the reaction was so violent. Because in their own frame of reference, they just couldn’t handle it. And that’s why that you have in Acts, when Jews get saved, there’s a time lapse before they’re physical trappings catch up with their soul that’s been recreated. That’s why there is a time gap between salvation and the release of obligations in Judaism.

Well, there’s a classic example in Peter. Peter knew the New Covenant. He was preaching on Pentecost, Acts 2:22 says, “Fellow Israelites, listen to these words,” and off he goes and preaches Jesus. He talks about the fact of what they had done to Christ, and later on he says, “You desire to murder, but you killed the Prince of Life and the Holy One,” but God resurrected Him.

Peter was really a Spirit-filled man. He had all the New Covenant features. He was in Christ. The law was a dead issue in terms of ceremony, but the moral laws are still good and the law of God in terms of ethics is still valid. But all of the ceremonies, rituals, codes and all that stuff added by all the rabbis was gone. And Peter was new in Christ and he was in a grace kind of operation.

And what happens? Acts 10:9-16 says, “The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the roof about noon. 10 He became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth.”

12 In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. 13 A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 “No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything impure and ritually unclean.” 15 Again, a second time, the voice said to him, “What God has made clean, do not call impure.” 16 This happened three times, and suddenly the object was taken up into heaven.”

What does that mean? Now, in the New Testament, Jews and Gentiles were going to be one in the church, and God didn’t want any difference anymore. And so God is saying to Peter, “Peter, all of the old distinctions are wiped out. My new body, the church, that’s the thing. One in Christ.” Peter actually said, “No, Lord.” Now, that’s flagrant disobedience. Transition hadn’t caught up with him.

Now, we want to live by biblical doctrine, but we should not be interested in going back. I’m not interested in all the trappings of Judaism. These people who are always in the framework of this Charismatic Movement, always want to adapt to the Book of Acts. Now, Acts just gives us the history of the early years as this decaying Judaism faded away and the New Testament came into fullness.

Salvation is not a process, but the transition is. Just because you are saved doesn’t change all your habits. Now the Holy Spirit knows how important it is for us to understand this phase of transition. And it’s important historically for us to get a good view of Acts, and a healthy view of what God is doing. And so, beginning at verse 18, the Holy Spirit just stops and shows us some people in transition.

Listen, it is not just sovereignty in the area of salvation where God is active. It is also in the area of service. God rules your life in terms of placing you in that place that He wants you to be, if you yield it to Him. Well, back to Acts 18:23, “After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.”

And that’s the beginning of the third missionary journey as he takes off again, going to the very same places to teach those people that they might multiply. Verse 24, “Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.” Meanwhile, Paul dropped Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus to strengthen believers.

Here we meet an extraordinary man, “a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria,” which is in Egypt, “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.” Alexandria had a great Jewish population probably numbering one million. Apollos was raised on the principals of Judaism. He not only was a most eloquent orator but his content was real accurate.

He was without peer in the New Testament, as a preacher and as a speaker. He was an Old Testament scholar who could present it with power. Paul writes in I Corinthians and says, “You're carnal, there are divisions among you. Some say I’m of Paul, some say I’m of Cephas, some say I’m of Christ and some say I’m of Apollos.” So in the esteem of people he was ranked up there with Paul and Peter.

Now, in I Corinthians, there are some other interesting notes. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the increase.” So, he was really building on the foundation that Paul had laid. In I Corinthians 4:6 it says, “These things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sake.” So, Paul actually worked through and in Apollos.

Now, Apollos was a mighty man in the Scriptures. This indicates that he had taken his natural ability and refined it and honed it by study and diligence. And such a holy man he was that later on when he saw the factions in Corinth, it so grieved his heart that in I Corinthians 16:12, when Paul had asked him to go back, he wouldn’t go back to Corinth. The factions in Corinth weren’t their faults.

Verse 25, “He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.” Apollos was taught by human oral repetition. Paul said in Galatians 1:11-12, “For I want you to know, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Now, the information Paul had, was directly from Jesus Christ. The information Apollos had, was from oral repetition. Only the apostles in the New Testament era claimed to have inspiration. Not Apollos. He learned at the foot of somebody who undoubtedly was taught by the Spirit of God. But it was different for Paul, to be isolated out in Arabia and getting all of this information directly from God.

When it says, “Apollos was instructed in the way of the Lord,” it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a Christian. Genesis 18:19 says, “For I know him.” the Lord says, “He will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.” The way of the Lord is not a New Testament term. It is a broad and general term for Old Testament instruction in the things of God.

There was a path that God had laid out with ethics, codes, morality and standards, and that was the way of the Lord. You can read Psalm 25:8-9 and you’ll find the same idea and it’s in various places. What it’s saying there is he was instructed in Old Testament truth. In Isaiah 40:3 it started to focus on, “Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.”

All of a sudden, the way of the Lord starts narrowing down to Messiah. Toward an individual who is going to announce the Messiah’s coming. And if Apollos was instructed fully in the way of the Lord, the way of the Lord focused in then on the ministry of John the Baptist. Apollos was not a Christian yet but that he was a student of John the Baptist.

So look at Act 18:25. It says that Apollos “only knew the baptism of John.” Now, Apollos accepted the whole Old Testament all the way down to the fulfillment of it in John the Baptist. He accepted the message of John the Baptist that the Messiah was Jesus. But he wasn’t a Christian yet. Because he didn’t know what happened in the death, resurrection and Pentecost that followed the life of Jesus.

Verse 26, “He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.” That is the greatest investment you’ll ever make because exactness in the Word bears fruit. And Apollos was an exacting teacher. Luke says, “I can tell you exactly, with perfect understanding, what God wants me to say.”

Priscilla and Aquila explained the way to him more perfectly. They didn’t write him off as a heretic. They gave him the truth of Jesus Christ. They explained what happened more perfectly. And Jesus came along and said in John 14:6, “I am the way.” And Christianity is called in Acts 9:2, “The way.” They told him the fullness of all the facts regarding Christ’s resurrection and His ascension.

Verse 27, “When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.” Achaia was where Corinth was. When he got there, he helped them much. He got saved. He helped the church much. Verse 28, “For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.”

He took the Old Testament and just proved that Jesus was Messiah. Well, here you meet two teachers in transition, Paul and Apollos. And how exciting it is to see what God is doing in their lives, and how grateful we are that the Spirit of God brought about the transition that they might have influence on us. And that using those two as an example for us all to follow in our life. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Aug 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230827 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000020F imblog

Acts 18:18-23

The story of Acts has proven to us to be a study in transitions, from Judaism to Jesus. Acts, written by Luke, describes the early years of transitions in the church after its beginning, as the church begins to form itself and sever itself from Judaism. The old things of Judaism faded out slowly, and the new gradually phased in. Now, Hebrews gives us the theology of this transition.

All those characters of Judaism have been replaced by Jesus. All the laws, ceremonies and the rituals of the Old Testament have given way to a whole grace kind of life. And no longer are you ruled by externals but you’re ruled by the Spirit within. And God’s people, Israel, have given way to God’s people, the church. And multiple sacrifices has given way to the one final sacrifice.

And we saw the viewpoint of the New Covenant as it means the old is set aside. And even Hebrews says, “The old decays and fades away.” And Acts gives us the history of Judaism to Jesus. It shows us the flow and the transition of the period of years as the church emerges as an identity all its own. Acts gives us many insights into the depth of Judaism, as we see people receiving Jesus as Savior.

Many Jews are introduced to the church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation, identifying with the church in every way but still hanging on to features of Judaism. We see Jews who see Christ, who in their minds believe it but aren’t willing to leave Judaism and come all the way to Christ. So Acts is not a base for systematic theology because the church is in a state of flux.

When you study Acts, you’re studying history. Now, the transition isn’t easy for a Jew, because Judaism is not just a religion. It is as much a nationalism; it is as much a culture and a race. It’s a way of life. It’s a heritage. The Jewish people are in love with Judaism, and rightly so. It was ordained by God. It’s a point of pride, a divine institution, and it doesn’t go away easily.

Now the church is a separate identity from Israel. And “The Lord added to the church.” But look in Acts 3:1, “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.” The church had already been established. And yet they were still going to the temple at the prescribed Jewish prayer hours, where the veil had already been torn in two to show access to God.

This indicates the difficulty in a Jew’s mind of seeing Christianity as a unit all its own composed of Jews and Gentiles. Many Jews saw it as an extension of Judaism, because Jesus was their Messiah. He was the fulfillment of Judaism. In Acts 15, the Judaizers wanted everybody to be a Jew first and then believe in Jesus. They said, “Except you be circumcised, you can’t be saved.”

That problem was solved in Acts 15, as the Jerusalem counsel came on with a strong statement that Gentiles were saved by faith. Many of these Jewish people who are coming to Christ are finding it hard to get all the way over to the features of Christianity. Not only because of Judaism, but secondly, because all of the features of Christianity hadn’t been revealed yet.

Another thing is the fact that when the church was born, the church was born in the synagogue. Whenever Paul went to a town, the first place he went was the synagogue. Now, once there was a group of people saved, they didn’t move out of the synagogue. Paul in Acts 19:8, when he comes to Ephesus, he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months.

It’s interesting that Aquila and Priscilla were Christians when Paul came to Corinth. Likely, they met him at the synagogue, so there were Christians still attending the synagogue. It’s even more interesting that later on we find in Acts 18:24 that Apollos came to Ephesus. And he began to speak at the synagogue and Aquila and Priscilla heard him. So in Ephesus, Christians went to the synagogue.

Now, there were times when the transition happened quicker. When the Jews really got angry, sometimes the church got thrown out of a synagogue. In Corinth in Acts 18:6, the people opposed them. Paul shook out his coat and said, “Your blood be on your heads. From now on, I’m going to the Gentiles.” And he went out and started his church in a Gentile house next door.

The Holy Spirit was doing unique things, initiating things that are not to be the norm for the Christian’s life. So we should accept Romans as the doctrine and Acts as the special work of God for the history of a changing church. Now, let’s look at three persons and groups in transition. It’s almost as if the Holy Spirit stops here in Acts 18 and says, “Now there’s something you ought to know.”

One, Paul; two, Apollos, and three, the twelve disciples of John the Baptist. And all three of them are pictured in transition from Judaism to Jesus. Each of these three, Paul, Apollos, the twelve disciples of John the Baptist, all had some connection with John the Baptist. And John the Baptist represented the last stand of the Old Covenant. He was the last Old Testament prophet.

John said, “I must decrease, and Christ must increase.” What he was saying was, “You must let go of the Old Testament, and you must cling to Jesus Christ.” That doesn’t mean we minimize the Old Testament. That means we adopt Christianity fully. And the principles, morals, standards and truths of the Old Testament are timeless, but the ceremonies and rituals went away in Hebrews.

Let’s look first at the first person in transition, Paul. It just comes out of nowhere in verses 18 to 23. Verse 18, “After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.” What kind of vow was it?” We’re going to see Paul in transition.

Paul was a Jew at the limit of Judaism’s capacities. And yet, he became a Christian. Well, when he became a Christian, even though the man’s heart was changed, he was a new creation, the transformation of his person took time. All that has happened is God has redeemed his soul. Now, the work of the Spirit begins to make the transformation obvious on the outside.

But the transition takes time and old features of Judaism died slowly even in Paul’s life. He says in Philippians 3:7, “But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.” And from now on, I’m not interested in ceremonies and rituals. I only know one thing. I want to know Him. He said to the Colossians, “I want the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.”

Paul had stayed in Corinth awhile. You remember how difficult it was when he got there? He was sick. He was in fear. He was weak. He’d been hassled all over the place from Philippi through Thessalonica, down to Berea, and to Athens and finally to Corinth. And he looks at the city, and that even just makes it worse. They’re so bad that he doesn’t know whether God can do anything.

But God overrules it all, and a fantastic thing happens in Corinth. A church gets started. Not only that, Paul, who’s been chased all over everywhere finally gets to stay somewhere, and God works it out so he can stay a year and a half. At the end of that, the Jews are so furious that they get Gallio, the governor on his throne and say, “Look, we have to get rid of this guy.”

But Gallio says, “Get out of here. I will not judge him either. That’s your own problem.” And Paul in verse 18, “Got to stay a good while longer.” God absolutely just put His arms around Paul and said, “I want you here for a while, so stay here. I will take care of all circumstances.” But after this, it says he took his leave of the brethren and sailed from there toward Syria.

And then this little note, “He took with him Priscilla and Aquila.” Now, there’s only one way that Paul is going to take those two people. They take the responsibility of pastoring that people too, right? For that year and a half Paul raised up spiritual leaders for the city of Corinth. And when it was time to leave, they didn’t need him anymore. And they didn’t even need Aquila and Priscilla anymore.

Now it says that when he got to Cenchrea, he shaves his head. It was something that had some significance, for it says, “He made a vow.” Now, what is going on? So let me tell you what a vow was. In the Old Testament, there was a certain kind of vow that had to do with your hair. It was called a Nazirite vow. Nazirite come from a Hebrew root nazir, which means literally, a consecrated one.

Paul would let his hair grow. You can study it in Numbers 6. Verse 3, “he is to abstain from wine and beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.” Why? Because wine always symbolized festivity. Verse 5, “You must not cut his hair throughout the time of his vow of consecration.” So Paul had to let his hair grow all this time as a reminder, as an outward sign.

We don’t need to take a Nazirite vow today, because we’re to be separated from the moment we’re saved till the moment we meet Jesus, right? Well, how long did those vows last?” Well, the Bible doesn’t say. But I’ll give you an idea. The Talmud, the Jewish rules and regulations, prescribed that a Nazirite vow could be 30 days, 60 days or 100 days. It’s likely that Paul’s took a 30-day vow.

Why did he make this vow?” Usually it was made in gratitude to God for a special blessing, okay? Now, did Paul have special deliverance in Corinth? Yes. Did he have a special blessing? Absolutely. God worked, and he could disciple people and raise up some saints and see them and the church growing up in sin city. Paul wanted to thank God in the most extreme way a Jew could.

You’re looking at Paul in transition. He still thinks in Jewish patterns. By the time he got to Cenchrea, the 30 days were up. He followed the Jewish pattern, and cut that hair. Now he’s got a handful of hair and he’s got to take his hair on a 1,500-mile trip. And we see that he does it. In addition to a 30, 60, 100-day Nazirite vow, there was such a thing as being a Nazirite for life, Samson, see Judges 13:5 - 7.

There were only three people in the Bible, who were Nazirites from birth. One was Samson. Two was Samuel. Three was John the Baptist. All three of those lifetime vows were made between God and the parents before the child was ever born. In the New Testament, the principle is where Paul says, “All things are lawful, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

Verse 19, “When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews.” He dropped off Priscilla and Aquila. Working for him was quite an experience. Here they were placed really in the service of Christ. They stayed there apparently for 5 years. Paul writes back to the Corinthians, and says, “The church has been established in their house.”

Paul himself entered the synagogue to reason with the Jews. Verse 20-21, “When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined, 21 but he said farewell and added, I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. This time, they want him to stay, and he left. Where is he going? Well, he’s got that hair in his hand for one thing. And secondly he’s got to get to the feast.

Now, there’s a debate about whether it was the feast of Pentecost or the feast of Passover. Who cares? But, anyway, he’s landing in Ephesus and he leaves them. And the work begins in Ephesus and we can praise God for what happened there, can’t we? It becomes just a great location of God’s work in years to come. What a city it was, it was called the Treasury of Asia, the marketplace of Asia Minor.

Ephesus was a commercial center and a center of Roman pageantry. It was the seat of the Panionian Games, like the Olympics. There was a huge temple, the Temple of Diana, which was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide, 60 feet high, and had 127 pillars, each pillar given by a king, and 36 of them were inlaid with gold. The Temple of Diana was also an asylum for criminals, all were given sanctuary.

Well, Paul left. Verse 22, “On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.” Caesarea is the seaport right opposite Jerusalem. It says he went up and greeted the church and went down to Antioch. What else did he do? Paul burned his hair and took care of that final part of his vow, though it’s not stated here. It says in verse 23, “And spending some time there.”

That is in Antioch. He just got home from one missionary tour. And remember, he was the pastor of Antioch’s church, and co-pastor with Barnabas. He stays there a little while, and then he departs. He was a traveling pastor. He went over all the country of Galatia in order to strengthen all the disciples. He went off on his third journey. You know where he went on the third journey?

The same place he went on the second missionary journey. You know where he went on the second journey? The same places he went on the first journey. You get an idea of his pattern of evangelism. You strengthen the converts and let them do the work, right? Paul went back to the same group three times. So we see Paul in transition. Well next time, we’ll see Apollos in transition and then some others. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Aug 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230820 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000020E imblog

Acts 18:9-18

This is the story of the arrival of the Apostle Paul, and with him the Gospel, in the city of Corinth. At this point he is discouraged. So through the circumstances at Corinth, God sets about to encourage His discouraged apostle. Our Psalms indicate that a Christian is going to have trouble, where the child of God is going through trials, but God is with him and will see him through it.

Paul wrote back to the Corinthians and said, “God is the God of all comforts.” Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait on the Lord,” and that’s good advice. We often want what we want now and sometimes cannot wait for God. Isaiah 40:31 says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.”

Well, as Paul arrived in Corinth on his second missionary journey he was discouraged. In 1 Corinthians 2:3, he wrote, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.” And so he arrived with some real problems in his own heart and mind; then when he faced the city of Corinth, that only increased his problem. And the city itself, with its sinfulness, must have caused his trembling.

God moves to comfort him and to encourage him. And we showed you that there are four ways that God encourages him. We’ve been through the first two to remind you that, first, God encouraged him with companionship. God encouraged him with some very dear friends. Verse 2, “He found a certain Jew named Aquila born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla.

So the apostle is introduced to two people who become lifelong friends and co-laborers in the Gospel. God allowed him the ministry on the Sabbath, working the rest of the week. God encouraged him further with two old friends. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia bearing good news and giving money so that he didn’t have to make tents anymore, but he could fulfill his apostleship.

Secondly, we found in verses 5 - 8 that when he was freed up by the offering of the Macedonian Christians brought to him by Silas that he then began to preach. And as he began to really give himself to preaching, things really began to happen. If he was encouraged by friends, he was doubly encouraged by converts. People started to get saved, and Paul’s heart became full of joy.

Verse 5 says, “Paul devoted himself to preaching the Word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.” But the Jews organized opposition. Verse 6, “When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” “I’ve delivered the Gospel. Now I will preach to the Gentiles.”

So he began his ministry among the Gentiles. He entered a certain man’s house named Gaius Titus Justus. This man worshipped God. He is a Gentile who goes to the synagogue. His house was next door to the synagogue. So his first convert is this Gaius. The second in verse 8, “And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord and all his house.”

It must’ve been bad enough for the Jews to have to endure the salvation of the man who lived next door, and on top of that see their own leader and his whole house saved. Verse 8 continues, “Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.” All imperfect tense Greek verbs, which means there was continuously occurring action. Day by day people believed, and were baptized.

So, after some Gentiles started to get saved, the Jews got uptight, and persecution started. They tried to stop Paul from preaching. Now, the Gospel was about to come to a halt. Unreasonable and wicked men were threatening and persecuting, so it was a tough go. So God Himself comes. Verse 9, “The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.”

God is personally involved with His servants. When we serve Jesus Christ, we get the idea that we’re just a drop in the bucket. Well, that is not the case. God is personally, actively involved in the life of every servant. Verse 10-11, “For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God.”

He was at the point of quitting right here. “How do you know that?” Because the Lord came to him and said, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent,” which implies that Paul was really thinking about stopping his preaching. And the Lord gives him three reasons in verse 10. They’re three promises that a Christian can apply in his own life. Number 1, “Keep preaching, Paul, for I am with you.”

The emphasis is on God’s very presence. Now, that’s the promise of power. None of us can fathom the power of God. If you can understand the fact that once there was nothing and in the next instant there was everything, you’ll understand something of His power. That a God who could speak everything into existence must have some kind of power. God has unbelievable power.

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us.” Because we are filled with all the fullness of God, we can do what we can’t even dream. I’m not even sure myself that I understand that. I haven’t even begun to see what God can do.” But that’s essentially what God is saying to Paul. “Paul, I, Myself, am with you.”

Now the Lord comes to Paul in Corinth and says, “I will protect you. No one will hurt you.” At the end of his life, he says, “No one has hurt me. God keeps His promises.” When you understand the power of the God and the preservation of God amassed in your behalf, you have nothing to fear. Paul says, “Nothing is going to happen to me. He will preserve me to His heavenly kingdom.”

Now, you can’t always take that literally. Some of the hairs of all of our heads may be perishing in the process of life. But what He is essentially saying is that in terms of enemies and attacks against you, not the smallest infringement on your life can take place outside the plan of God. What a promise. “Don’t stop preaching. My power is there. My preservation is there.”

Verse 10 also says, “I have many people in this city.” Do you believe that God absolutely is producing fruit in your life? Often times we don’t think that God is really producing fruit. But God promises to every Christian to have fruit in their life. In other words, there are some elect here chosen before the foundation of the world, who are waiting to hear the Gospel so they can believe.

Salvation comes about in eternity past by election, in time by the response of faith. But God says, “I have chosen them. Their names are in the Book of Life. They need to hear the Gospel, so they can respond to it now.” Paul just preached the Gospel to everybody and let God worry who was elect. His responsibility wasn’t to pick and choose. His responsibility was to deliver the Gospel.

Now, that’s the divine side of salvation. The Bible teaches that God chooses people to salvation. You know, some people get uptight about the doctrine of election and they panic, because they think that makes everything unfair. You should stop your panic and find out how you can deal with it, scripturally, because it’s in the Bible. And, that’s the most peaceful thing in the world.

Just believe it. Just to give you an illustration, in 2 Timothy 1:9 it says, “He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” You didn’t have anything to do with it. You know when salvation was given to you? “Before time began.” It’s there in the Bible.

You say “God’s unfair. No, you can’t say that, because then you’re judging God, right? In Romans 9:20-21 Paul says, “On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?”

You cannot avoid scripturally, the doctrine of sovereign election. It’s all over the Bible. The Bible also teaches human responsibility, right? Look at verse 6, “Your blood is on your own heads.” The Bible teaches both of those things. Let them exist in a paradox. You don’t understand it, just believe it. Election is not just to Christ’s likeness. It’s not just to maturity. It’s to salvation.

So then you can live any way you want. No. Colossians 3:12-14 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

And then fruit are other converts. There may be times when you appear to have no fruit in your life. But fruit will come. So many times in the Christian’s life, we go through the winter as we gain the strength and the direction for the purposeful times of fruit bearing. Don’t underestimate God. Let God do it in His own time. You have the promise of power, preservation, and the promise of fruit.

Verse 11, “He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.” And people continued to be saved and built in the faith. And you notice what he did in his time there? Teaching the Word of God. That’s his calling. So he was encouraged by his fellowship with God. God strengthened him. Lastly, hardship. You say, “How you can be encouraged by hardship?”

Let me give you three reasons. It will tell a lot about a man who his enemies are. If you’ve got bad, sinful enemies, that’s good. You’re doing something right. Secondly, you can be encouraged by how ineffective they are. Have you ever noticed how your enemies work so hard and don’t seem to get anywhere? And thirdly, you can be encouraged by seeing what God does to them.

Verse 12-13, “While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal. 13 “This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” Gallio was an important person, he was the deputy or the proconsul of Achaia. He was like a governor under the Roman emperor. Gallio was a very kind man by reputation.

The Jews attacked Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. This proconsul was in Corinth, and he set up his movable judgment seat in the agora, the marketplace. And he had his policemen around to bring about the execution of the penalties. So the Jews said, “Let’s take Paul’s case to the Roman proconsul.” And what was determined in one case could then become precedent for other cases.

Gallio could see that Paul’s brand of Christianity was just a form of Judaism in his own mind. Maybe they had a different view on just who this Messiah was. It certainly was no crime, and that’s exactly how he responds. And it’s exciting to see how God uses Gallio to accomplish His purpose. God either uses you willingly or unwillingly, wittingly or unwittingly, but He uses you.

Verse 14-15, “As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews. 15 But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.” He says, “If this was a case of crime against the law, I would act in this case.”

But if it’s a question of semantics, decide yourself. You all talk about your same religion. You all talk about the Messiah. And now you’ve got one guy that thinks this is the Messiah, and you don’t? That’s a theological problem. You deal with that one. No sense of me getting involved.” If he had judged against Paul, Christianity’s history would’ve been changed for 10 - 12 years.

Verse 16, “He drove them from the tribunal.” Well, the Jews stayed around for a while, but the police chased them out. Can you imagine that, the Apostle Paul hadn’t even opened his mouth? He was encouraged by how ineffective they were, right? They couldn’t stop him. But there’s a third way to get encouraged, and that’s by what God does with your enemies.

Verse 17, “Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.” In the original manuscript it says, “Then they all.” It leaves out the Greeks. Now, who beat them up? Because of the chasing of the Jews, the Greeks who were anti-Semitic took the opportunity, and the Greeks beat up Sosthenes.”

Later Paul wrote a letter back in 1 Corinthians 1:1 that says, “Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through God’s will, and Sosthenes, our brother unto the church.” You see, God not only encourages His saints by who your enemies are, but by what He does to them when He transforms them. Verse 18, “After staying for some time.” He was able to continue his ministry. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Aug 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230813 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000020D imblog

Acts 18:1-8

Paul gave some great advice to the Thessalonians when he wrote from the city of Corinth. He wrote this advice while he was experiencing what we’re going to study this evening. And he was really writing out of his own experience. Because as he arrived in the city of Corinth, he was weary. His message was ‘do not be weary’. And maybe we have all been weary in well doing.

But God is in the business of encouragement. And we’re going to see how God encourages a weary servant, and at the same time preaches the Gospel in the city of Corinth. Now, Paul, had been chased halfway around the world. He started out in Antioch of Syria with Silas, confirmed some churches in the area near Syria, and went through Galatia and continued west.

He was driven by the Holy Spirit. He finally crossed over from Troas and entered into Philippi, and there he preached, and again was hassled, and chased out of town. Then he arrived in Thessalonica, and there he was persecuted terribly, had to run for his life, and he got to Berea. And he finally found himself all alone in the city of Athens. And he preached there and was weary.

And the Gospel presented at Athens was clear, but there was no persecution, however there wasn’t any reception to speak of. It was minimal. And so he packed up and he left Athens. Then he arrives in the city of Corinth, and he’s discouraged. And he’s weak, and he may have been even physically ill. And it’s at that point that God moves in to give encouragement to him.

And it is from Corinth that he writes to the Thessalonians and says, “Brethren, be not weary in well doing.” Now, when we saw him in Athens, we saw him in the intellectual city. We saw him in a city of culture; of information, of learning. And he’s gone from Athens to Corinth. And Corinth is sin city. It was the most debauched and debased city in the world of that day.

In fact, the word Corinthian means immoral. If you said, “Joe is a Corinthian kind of guy,” you meant he was immoral. To say that that woman is a Corinthian woman meant she was a prostitute. Corinth was vile to the core. It wasn’t just the slaves or the middle class, it was the upper crust. It was a center of trade and travel, and sailors and caravans were going through it all the time.

The city of Corinth existed 50 miles from Athens. Anybody who went from northern Greece to southern Greece or vice versa, had to go through Corinth. That city was called the bridge of Greece; because of its north-south traffic and also its east-west traffic. Ships wanting to go from the western shore of Greece to the eastern shore would not sail around; they would shortcut it through here.

It was also a 200-mile shortcut to go this way. So, Corinth was in a strategic location. In the city of Corinth, there was a giant fortress called the Acropolis. But the Acropolis was more than just a fortress on a hill; it was a temple. And it was built for the goddess Aphrodite, who was the goddess of sexual activity. There were a thousand priestesses, who were in the ministry of prostitution.

If Athens glorified the mind, Corinth glorified the body. Now, Corinth was also important politically as the county seat, or the provincial capital. This meant that the proconsul of Rome stayed there. You can read 1 and 2 Corinthians, and you can find how the vileness of Corinth seeped into the church. There were certain church members who were proud that they were having sexual relations with their parents.

So the Corinthian church had a tough time keeping the garbage of the city from leaking in. And Paul had to write two letters to straighten them out. God can always do a lot with rotten sinners. Paul stayed long in Corinth, and it became a base of operation for the Gospel. It was from Corinth that he wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians and Romans. And it was back to Corinth that he wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians.

God encourages Paul in four ways. One, companionship, God brings some friends into his life. Two, apostleship, God brings some converts into his life, and that’s encouraging. Three, fellowship, God Himself comes and fellowships with him and encourages him. And fourth, hardship, his enemies. Did you know you can be encouraged by your enemies? Well, we’ll see that next week.

Companionship in verses 1 – 5, “After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth, 2 where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, 3 and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.” Then God said, “You need some friends, I’m going to comfort you with some companionship.” So God brought two people into his life.

Look at verse 2, “a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus.” Pontus was a province just on the southern edge of the Black Sea, north of modern Turkey. He lately had come from Italy with his wife Priscilla.” We don’t know whether she was a Jew or a Gentile and had come to Corinth.” They became two of the most beloved friends of Paul. They were there because they had been kicked out of Rome by Claudius.

Aquila and Priscilla were Christians already by the time they met Paul. There was a Christian church in Rome long before Paul got there. Paul wrote Romans from Corinth. And when he wrote Romans 1:7, he said, “To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” So, there’s already a church there that had grown where the faith of those Christians had spread all over the world.

Claudius, in 49 A.D., banished all Jews from Rome altogether because they were involved in constant riots. But the Gentile Christians remained, and the church had remained with the Gentiles. Verse 3, “And since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.” Paul apparently was also a leather worker because tents came from goats’ hide.

Some historians tell us that in synagogues it was common to divide people in sections according to their trade. Maybe that is where Aquila and Priscilla met Paul. He just moved right in with their business. And he lived there. They had hospitality. That’s a great Christian virtue. And so, he moved right in, and he became a part of their lives. And, you know, he worked hard.

God wants people to work. In 2 Thessalonians 3:8 Paul says, “We did not eat anyone’s food free of charge; instead, we labored and toiled, working night and day, so that we would not be a burden to any of you.” The apostle Paul didn’t want anything from anybody. God will take care of the man of God. And God expects the church to support ministries that are effective.

But many times the church doesn’t wait to see what’s effective. If you and your life have accredited your ministry before God, God will bring you to the place where you have full support, if that’s what He desires. Look at verse 4, “He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.” He reasoned with people only on every Sabbath. And he worked the rest of the time.

Paul was proving some things. He didn’t come to intrude on them and demand from them; he came to give himself to them. And secondly, he was allowing the time for the accrediting of his ministry so that God could free him up to do it full time when the time was ready. That’s how God works. And, it’s so exciting to see somebody with a fruitful ministry and to see that ministry developing.

Every Sabbath Paul was reasoning in the synagogue. And the verb to reason means to discuss by question and answer; it means to convince, to dialogue. It’s an imperfect tense, which means he continually did it over and over again. And you notice he was persuading them. Paul was trying to persuade those Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. That was always what he was doing for the Jews and also the Greeks.

And God said, “Well, I want to give you two new ones; and I want to give you two old ones.” So in verse 5, “When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.” When Timothy came with joy, and Silas came with a love offering, Paul quit making tents and devoted himself to the Word.

Paul worked when he had to work. But, that doesn’t mean that every preacher is supposed to work manually. And it is also the same with Paul, who says in 1 Corinthians 9:7, “Who goes to war at his own expense? Or who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or feeds a flock and doesn’t drink the milk?” In other words, the support comes from within, from what you’re doing.

Verse 11, “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you?” Verse 12, “If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don’t we even more?” Verse 13, “Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar?”

Verse 14, “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.” That means if you’re going to preach the Gospel, you should live from your preaching. In other words, the church should support the one who preaches and teaches. And that’s indicated in 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor.”

The word “double honor” has a monetary connotation, giving him additional support for his faithfulness, especially those who labor in the Word and doctrine. God says the church has to carry his support. If his friends were a comfort, so were his converts. You finally get there, and you go and speak, and you just can’t get generated, and when it’s all over, 15 people get saved.

Often God uses, in the lives of his servants, the companionship of beloved friends from the past. He gives you fruit just when you need it the most. That’s what happens to Paul. Just when he really needed it, these companions from before came with much joy and money; they freed him up totally to preach the Word. And isn’t that what the apostles are supposed to do?

Apostleship, Paul was free to be an apostle. He didn’t only preach on the Sabbath, he took off doing it every day. And what did he say? Verse 5, “He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.” Verse 6, “When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

The Jews came to an ultimate final decision that Jesus was not the Messiah. And they blasphemed Christ. That is one of the most dramatic scenes in his life. When Jews shook of the dust off their feet, it was used in bad reference to Gentile countries. Well, Paul turns it around. And he takes his cloak off, and he just starts shaking the dust out of it, and saying in effect, “I don’t want Jewish dust on my cloak.”

And then Paul made a statement, “Your blood be upon your own heads.” That’s again a statement that the Jews made. Remember in Matthew 27:25 that the Jews cried out, “His blood be upon us and our children.” They wanted to accept the responsibility for Christ’s death. And Paul says here, “I fulfilled my responsibility; I delivered the Gospel; I did my job. You are responsible for what you do.”

Verse 7, “So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.” He lived in Titus Justus’s house. He was a Gentile, a God-fearer who attended the synagogue. And, he’s the same apparently, as the man called Gaius in Romans 16:23. And in 1 Corinthians 1:14, Paul says, “I baptized only two, Gaius and Crispus.”

And his Roman name would be Gaius Titus Justus. So, this man became a Christian. They had a church in his house next door to the synagogue. And he began to bear fruit. Now, look at verse 8, “Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. And many of the Corinthians, when they heard that, believed and were baptized.”

Can you imagine the fury that’s going on now among the Jews? And Gaius whole house believed. It says, “Many of the Corinthians hearing that believed and were baptized.” And the Bible even names them: Stephanas and his whole house; Erastus, who was the city treasurer; there was Quartus, Fortunatus, Chloe, Tertius, Achaicus, and a whole lot of names. And the church was established.

At the end of verse 8, “Hearing that they believed, and were baptized. Notice the sequence. That’s the order of salvation. You hear the Gospel; you believe it. Then you publicly proclaim it in baptism. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing a speech about Jesus Christ.” Beloved, that’s salvation. And next time we’ll see how God encourages Paul with fellowship and hardship. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Aug 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230806 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000020C imblog

Acts 17:30-34

The meaning of a man’s existence is that he knows God. That is what existence is all about: knowing God. And that is Paul’s message to the Areopagus court in Athens. And Athens was the cultural and learning center of the ages. It was loaded with idolatry and devil worship. So it was a super religious place. But at the same time, with all that religion, they didn’t know God.

And so, Paul presents to them the true God and how they can know that God. Now, the Holy Spirit had brought Paul to Athens for just that purpose, that they might know God. Paul’s spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with devout persons.” And verse 18 indicates he met with certain philosophers.

Now, of the people who don’t know God, there are two kinds. There are those who know they don’t know God, and there are those who don’t know they don’t know God. Those are the religious people who think they know God, but they don’t know that they don’t know God. In John 8:54, Jesus talked with the Pharisees, and told them that they didn’t know truth, and that their father was the devil.

Paul says, “The evidence is in that you do not know God. But that’s the way it is with many people. In 2 Timothy 3:5, it says, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it,” they have the trappings of religion, but they don’t know God. And this is the dominant pattern today in Christianity, where you have all these people who claim to know God, but they do not.

There is another reason that people think they know God, they have religious feelings. Have you ever heard anybody say, “Well, I’m very religious.” People have certain religious feelings, and they assume that’s the knowledge of God. Some people who go to church think that going to church automatically is knowing God. Some people think they know God because they do good.

They help people; they give to charity; they love their kids, etc. And they read the Bible a little bit, that’s equal to knowing God. Whenever Satan could use it for His advantage, he quoted Scripture. And you know, this is true today of Israel. It’s true of all kinds of modernistic and liberal factions within Christianity. But more than anything, I see it in Israel watching the Orthodox Jews.

They stand at the Wailing Wall, and they bob back and forth in their prayers, and they put their prayers on paper, and stick it in the cracks. And they really think they know God. That was the position of the Pharisees, who thought they knew God and didn’t. And this is the ultimate deception of Satan. And there is another group of people who know that they don’t know God at all.

The group at Athens fit into both of those. Some of them didn’t care and some of them did. Verse 23, “For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.” Here were these pagans who still had this emptiness that they didn’t know the true God.

Knowing God involves three things. One, recognizing that God exist. Two, recognizing who God is. Three, recognizing what God is saying. They recognize that there is a God. Paul convinced them that God exists. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”

Step two was not only recognizing that God exists, but understanding who God is. Verse 24, “The God who made the world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands.” He is the God who creates. Isaiah 45:12 says, “I made the earth, and created humans on it. It was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded everything in them.”

Isaiah 45:18, “For this is what the Lord says, the Creator of the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, the one who established it. He says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” Now, here God makes claim to being Creator God. God is the Ruler. Verse 24, “Seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth.” God not only made the universe, He continues to uphold it and to rule it.

Thirdly, Paul says about this God, not only Creator and Ruler, but He is the Giver, Verse 25 says, “As though He needed anything, since He himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.” Job 12:10 says, “In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Job 33:4 says, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

God doesn’t live in a building. God isn’t even here except in the fullness of His presence in the universe. He dwells in us. Nor is God served by us in the sense that He’s enhanced in any way by what we do. We saw how every good and perfect thing comes down from God. That God makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. That God dominates and controls the world.

Fourthly, He is the Controller. Verse 26, “From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.” In other words, in seasonal times as well as in historical times. “And the boundaries of where they live.” Even geographical locations are determined by God as to what area nations will occupy.

Here it tells us that God controls destiny and history. He keeps is all working together; He gives everything that is a part of His creation its life, its breath, and everything it has, all of its properties, and as well He controls it. The psalmist said in Psalm 31:15, “The course of my life is in your power.” Psalm 139:16 says, “All my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.”

Fifthly, He is the Revealer. Verse 27, “He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” Why does God create, upholds; why He gives life, breath, and everything? Why does He control history and destiny through what we call providence? In order that He might reveal Himself, “That they should seek the Lord.”

God’s objective in creation, God’s objective in providence, God’s objective in history is to reveal Himself, that men might see that revelation and follow after to know Him fully. And God has disclosed Himself in all these ways and in the Bible in order that men might see that He exists, and that they might see who He is, that they might follow on to find out what He is saying.

And there’s no excuse for those who don’t. Because revelation is so absolutely dominant. It’s beyond my imagination how an individual can see a world like our world, and not conclude there is a God. And if men will only see who He is in terms of His creative power, sustaining power, in terms of His providence, in terms of His control of history, they can then follow on.

What about the people in the darkest part of Africa? What about the people over here that never have a Bible? They have the same revelation you and I have. Every person has enough of the revelation of God to be responsible. If you were to go to an art exhibit, and all of this guy’s works are all in this fantastic art museum everywhere. And you say, “Oh, I wonder if there was ever an artist who did these.”

You see, the earth is God’s exhibit. And it is just as idiotic to wander through the world and say, “I wonder if anybody did this.” But instead, man sees the light, and he takes a look at his own sin. And he loves his sin more than he loves righteous; he loves darkness more than he loves light. The Bible says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. He doesn’t want his sin exposed.

In Jeremiah 29:13, He says, “You shall seek Me and find when you shall search for Me with all your heart.” Psalm 145:18-19 says, “The Lord is near to all those who call upon Him. 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry for help and saves them.” And Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Now to illustrate this, Paul says in verse 28, “For in Him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’” He is quoting two Greek poets. Epimenides, who said, “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being;” he was thinking about Zeus. And Aratus, who said, “For we are his offspring.”

Paul says, “Your own poets, have afforded us living proof that God is knowable as the Creator, the Sustainer, and the God of providence. Your own poets illustrate that God has revealed Himself so much so that even though they attach it to the wrong God, it is obvious to them that there is a God who made us, who holds us together, and who takes care of us here.

“God is revealed in nature.” God’s universal revelation that He is Creator, Sustainer, and the God of providence, and even their poets can see it. Paul says, “You’ve got to go further than that. You’ve got to come up with what God is saying.” Verse 29, “Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.”

If we are God’s created beings, then God must be more than something we made. He can’t be stone, or silver, or gold, or some kind of artistic representation. If God made us, then we can’t make God. So, Paul just demolishes their whole idolatrous system. If you really want to know God, don’t go to some temple. If you want to know God, look in your heart, look out, and feel after God.

Verse 30, “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent.” The word “overlook” is interesting. It means that God does not actively interfere. The times of this not knowing God, the past history of the pagans, God did not actively interfere with special punishments. Does that mean there were never any consequences? No.

Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The person who sins is the one who will die.” The principle is here: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows that shall he also reap.” In Romans 1, the unrighteousness of man has been the key to the unveiling of the wrath of God. Of course wrath operates. Of course sin has consequences. It always has. And they’re without excuse.

Verse 31, “Because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.” Who is that man? Jesus Christ. We know it because it says, God raised Him from the dead. Nobody can ever be saved except by believing in Jesus Christ. There is no other way to know God.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 says, “This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His powerful angels, 8 when He takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” There is only one way to be saved. We need to be busy telling the world about Christ. God will judge the world by Jesus Christ.

John 5:22-27 says, “The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.”

25 “Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself. 27 And He has granted Him the right to pass judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 29 those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done bad, to the resurrection of hell.”

Verse 32-34, “When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.” 33 So Paul left their presence. 34 However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” Paul just said, “If you believe who God is, God will reveal Himself.”

In verse 34, “Some people joined him.” They were going to find out more. 1 John 5:20 says, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one. We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” John 17:3 says, “This is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Jul 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230730 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000020B imblog

Acts 17:16-34

Paul’s message to Athens two thousand years ago is relevant today and is the most needful message for our cities. What a prolific man. First of all, he was a Jew. He was expert in the law, and an expert in tradition. He knew very well the rituals of Judaism. He was a Pharisee, which meant that he took the matters of his religion as seriously as they could be taken. He was a teacher.

Athens was the religious and political center of the world. It was the city of ideas. And although Athens was under Roman rule, it hadn’t yielded up its intellectual independence. Athens offered a home to almost every god that had been invented by the pagans. And nearly every public building was also a shrine or a temple to a god. The Council House, was a temple to Apollo and Jupiter.

And to that great city came Paul. But the city had an immediate impact on him, which led to his impact on the city. Turn to Acts 17. Peter and Paul, both apostles and eyewitnesses of the risen Christ who were given the responsibility to preach the resurrection. Verse 16, “Now, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.”

Paul, a man of the gospel visits the city, he sees the souls of the people. It says he was provoked by the idols. And the widespread religion of that city moved his emotions in a very negative way. He was stirred up emotionally. Any man of God who looks at a city and sees the soul of that city given over to idols, sees how lost the people of that city are, the false religions, and is grieved.

Verse 17, “Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.” He began to communicate with them. And he always presented Christ. He said, in 1 Corinthians, he was “determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified,” and so he preached the gospel of the cross and the resurrection.

The reaction would come quickly because Paul’s ministry was very public. Verse 18, “Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” The Lord determined that Luke should tell us about the Epicureans and the Stoics, because they make us understand this event.

Epicurus, a philosopher, was born in 342 B.C. But his philosophy was accepted, and here we are, 400 years later, and there are Epicureans. He believed that everything happened by chance. He believed there might be deities, but those deities were indifferent and apathetic. Epicurus also taught that death was the end of life. There was no afterlife. There was no resurrection.

So, for the Epicureans there was no consequence, so they lived as immorally as they wanted to live. The other group were the Stoics. They followed the teachings of a man named Zeno who was born about the same time as Epicurus, and so his philosophy had been around long as well. The people who stood on the porch to hear him became known as the porch people, that’s Stoics.

He believed that everything was God. He was God, and you were God, and they were God, and that’s Pantheism. And everything is determined by fate. Everything is just sort of luck. And you somehow got a grip on your life, you’re the only person who can take control of your life. There isn’t anybody out there to help you. And again, there isn’t any resurrection or future life.

And they used this word “idle babbler.” Idle means insignificant and pointless. It came to refer metaphorically to poor people. They’re at the lowest level of the social ladder. It was a term of disdain and derision. This is the typical reaction to preachers of the gospel today by philosophers and university professors. “Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.’”

The Epicureans and the Stoics hated him, because he said, in proclaiming his message that God was who He was and that God was incarnate in only one man. And he also at the end of verse 18, preached Jesus as God in human flesh and the resurrection. They didn’t believe in that, and so Paul was going against the grain of their philosophy. That’s why they treated him with such disdain.

Others at least conceded that he was a proclaimer of new deities. They had never heard about this man who was God incarnate, who died on a cross and rose again from the grave and paid the penalty for sin in order that His resurrection might provide for us eternal life. What was the nature of this strange God? End of verse 18, “this is Jesus and the resurrection.” That’s what they needed.

They needed the eternal life that comes only through Christ. They needed to understand that God became a man. The man is Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death, and paid the penalty for your sins and mine. He rose from the dead that He might provide for us eternal life, having conquered sin and death, Satan and hell. That’s what Paul brought them.

Verse 19, “And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?” The Areopagus is on this hill in the middle of Athens. In that place convened the supreme court of Athens. This high court took care of civil and criminal issues. It also took care of civil issues having to do with philosophy and religion.

And so when a new religion came that might pose the threat of blaspheming an already-approved religion, they demanded a hearing. And so this is not an unofficial visit on Paul’s part. He is a new teacher in town. Verse 20, “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” The Epicureans and the Stoics hated everything he says.

They don’t believe God is who He says He is. They don’t believe Jesus is God. And they don’t believe in resurrection. But there are others who are curious about what he is saying. Verse 21. “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” The reason they wanted something new is they were not satisfied.

A Christian who has received the gospel, doesn’t need anything new. This is the end of the search. I’m not interested in a new religion. But that’s because the gospel is the truth that satisfies the soul forever. They had not experienced that. What they had experienced brought no fulfillment, no satisfaction, and no ultimate answers. They had all these gods and all these religions and still had empty hearts.

So this group took the apostle Paul to the court. The court wants to know, what you are talking about. You’re in the synagogues. You’re every day in the marketplace. What are you talking about? Now, Paul has a great opportunity. He is there with the elite of the city, the philosophers, the leaders, the judges, the authorities, and they are asking him to tell them what he believes.

He just walked into the city all by himself, took every single opportunity to converse about the gospel, and eventually ended up in the highest place, speaking to the most powerful people in the city. It’s a three-point sermon. I am here to introduce you to the one, true living God. That in effect, would cancel out or blaspheme all other gods. Point one: This God is knowable.

Verse 22-23, “Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ‘People of Athens, I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, “To an Unknown God.” Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.” And this God you can know.

600 years before Paul, there was a terrible pestilence in Athens that just destroyed the population. Nothing could stop it. And so obviously, they were trying to figure out how they could stop the pestilence, and they believed that it had come upon them because some god had been offended, but they didn’t know what god. And since they didn’t know God, they build an altar to the unknown God.

Paul says, “I’m here to tell you about this God. What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.” Even Einstein is quoted to have said, “Of course there is a cosmic power. Not to believe that is foolish, but we can never know Him.” That’s sad. Einstein is wrong. God doesn’t need to be the unknown god. God is knowable, and I am going to introduce Him to you.

He defines the character of God in verses 24 – 29. Verse 24, “God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.” Epicureans denied creation. They believed matter was eternal, and Stoics were pantheists. Paul denies all that and says, “Matter is not eternal, God made everything, including you.”

God is the God of creation. God is the God of time and matter.” God is not, as the Mormons say, a perfected man who was once a creature just like us until He finally became God. Secondly, “God is the owner of everything He created. Thirdly, he says, “God does not dwell in temples made with hands.” That is, He is transcendent beyond the physical. He is that eternal Spirit.

Verse 25, “Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” Paul says “He is the giver of life and the sustainer of life. Paul says in verse 26, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.”

He made from Adam every nation. And it was God who determined their appointed times and God who determined the boundaries of their habitation. It was God who decided their place in history and their place on the map. And this is striking at the Athenians’ pride because they viewed themselves as a self-made people. And they despised the uncultured barbarians. But they were made by God.

Verses 27 - 28, “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ That’s the doctrine of immanence. That is, He is near. He is not far from each one of us. You can know Him.

Verse 28 says, “In Him we live and move and exist.” He holds us together. The universe doesn’t operate on fixed laws just at random; it operates on fixed laws because God is the operator. Let me introduce you to the only true, living God there is. Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth, to all who honestly call upon Him. He’s near.”

Paul adds in verse 28, “As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’” He’s referring to Epimenides and Aratus, who had both written that there is a God who had created man, and that God would have to be personal, and He’d have to be rational, because that’s what man is. And, thus, with one sentence Paul destroys all the idols. God is right here, to be known.

Verse 29-30, “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” Natural revelation, is enough to damn you. You need special, specific, verbal revelation to save you.

God has been very patient, and He hasn’t destroyed humanity. Sixteen hundred and fifty years after the creation, He drowned the whole world except Noah and his family. But it’s been twenty-five hundred years until this event in Athens. And here we are, two thousand years later, forty-five hundred years, and He still hasn’t destroyed the world since the flood. It’s time to repent from your sin.

Verse 31, “Because God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man Jesus whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” The day is fixed and the judge is appointed. Do you understand that God raised Jesus on the one hand to be our Savior; He raised Him on the other hand to be our judge.

Verse 32, “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” Paul must have gone on to describe the resurrection of the dead that will occur at the judgment, when all the dead of all the ages will be brought before God, and Christ will judge them according to their deeds, and they’ll descend into the lake of fire.

Verses 33-34, “So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” So what’s your response? We can only hope and pray that your reaction is to believe, to repent, to embrace Christ the Savior, so He will not be your judge. Let’s pray together.

]]> Sun, 23 Jul 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230723 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000020A imblog

Acts 17:4-9, 12-15

Now, the world fell when Adam sinned. And it was a two-fold problem, Adam not only became cursed, but the earth itself became cursed. And mankind became comfortable in sinning, right? And the reason for that is this: you put a cursed man in a cursed system, and he’s going to get along pretty well. It’s when you apply righteousness to that cursed system then you make things difficult.

And that’s why the truth of God, throughout all history has tended to flip man’s world upside down. The duality of this problem is indicated in John 3, where it says that men love darkness. In other words, they love their system because their deeds are evil. The thing which really upsets his world system is the application of righteousness, or is the introduction of truth in a system of error.

At the end of Acts 17:6, the people in Thessalonica characterized Paul, Silas and Timothy with these words, “These that have turned the world upside down.” Now, the statement they make is these people are flipping our worldly system. Now, wouldn’t you like to be known as the person who turned the world upside right? And so, they really commend them in saying that.

These people turned the world upside down because of five things illustrated in the text. One is courage. You’re never going to affect the world unless there’s courage. Second is content. Third is converts. When you start changing people’s lives, you really create chaos. Fourth is conflict, which will happen when the first three happen. And fifth is concern, that’s the motive that makes it happen.

Courage equals confidence in God. That’s simply the definition of courage biblically. And in the Christian’s life, God has given us a guaranteed victory, and a guarantee of fruit. And we can enter into anything that God designs for us to do, and the Spirit moves us to do that, knowing that it always turn out for our good. And if you’re hesitant because there’s fear, that translates into a poor theology.

Now, Paul is going against the worldly system too, knowing that if God wants to put him in jail, that’s fine. The last time he was in jail, the whole jailer’s family got saved. Now, he did the same thing in verse 10. We’re going to jump back and forth between Thessalonica and Berea, because there are parallels. He goes to the Berea from Philippi, and he goes into the synagogue again.

Yes, because he just got out of a riot in Thessalonica. He went to the Jewish synagogue in Thessalonica in verse 1 and 2, and by the time you get to verse 5, there’s a riot going on. And they beat – they chase him out of town, and he bails out in verse 10, and goes right back into the next Jewish synagogue. That’s real courage, which translates into confidence in God.

Now, the second thing is content. He took Old Testament texts, and he opened and reasoned from those Old Testament texts that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. Isaiah covers that in 53, and so does Psalm 22. Then he proved that, as David, the psalmist says, that the Messiah had to rise again. Then at the end of Acts 17:3, he offers that Jesus, whom I preach, is that Messiah.”

Now, he did the same thing there, in verse 11, when he got to Berea. So, the brethren at Berea were pretty sharp and noble. More noble than those in Thessalonica. Why? Because they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so. They were more spiritual Jews than the ones in Thessalonica and Gentile proselytes.

You better study for the crisis when the life comes across your life that needs answers and you’re the only resource. Secondly, study the Word. There’s no shortcut. Third, personalize the Word. Make it living in your own life. And fourth, share it. The best way to learn something is to tell somebody else. What you give away is what you really keep, especially when you do it many times.

Thirdly making converts. Every Christian should see some converts. Well, it may be that you plant; it may be that you water; it will be that God gives the increase. You may not see it now, but it’s going to happen if you’re faithful. Listen to John 15:16, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”

Paul presented such a tremendous argument, that they were persuaded, as it were, against their will to believe. And of all the churches that are written to in the New Testament, they seemed to be the most like Christ wanted the Church to be. The Thessalonica Church had to be persuaded. But when they got saved, they went wild; they became what God wanted the Church to be.

It doesn’t matter what you were before you were saved, at the moment of salvation it becomes an issue of what you do with the resources. You can expect just as much as you can expect out the finest guy that ever was when he gets saved. Because the resources are the same. Thessalonica may not have been as noble as Berea, but once salvation happened, they grew much in Thessalonica.

Now, I don’t know that Berea didn’t. Salvation isn’t gradual, it’s instantaneous. And that’s something that we have to remember, because sometimes we don’t expect enough out of certain people. Salvation is the equalizer, beloved. The most common reason that people will not believe is that they do not investigate the Scripture. They are quick to say, “Well, I don’t believe the Bible.”

Do you know that the Bible covers all of the revelation of God who made about the universe? It covers spiritual reality. Do you realize that such a statement encompasses a tremendous amount of information? You must have studied it for years, because I know men who have studied the Bible year after year, and they totally believe it. People don’t really search the Scripture.

Tom Paine who wrote ‘The Age of Reason’, which was the classic book against God and against Christ. He criticized the Bible. He died without God, and he knew it. But here’s an interesting quote on page 65. He said, “I had neither the Bible nor the New Testament to refer to, though I was writing against both.” If you’re going to write a book against the Bible, you ought to know what the Bible is about.

First, recognize your obligation. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you and be my witnesses.”

Secondly, recognize the results are not always positive. You go out and say, “I witnessed, but nothing happened. I’m not doing that anymore.” The more you do it, the harder Satan’s going to resist it. Thirdly, recognize your power. And whatever the negative reactions are, your power will supersede them. The Holy Spirit will do the convicting; the Holy Spirit will do the empowering.

And remember His promise. John 15:16 says, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit.” That’s His promise. That’s a guarantee. Fifth, there will be conflict. Why? Because you’re creating holiness in an unholy environment. That’s what God wants you to do, which happened in Thessalonica.”

Verse 5, “But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.” The thing that they envied was that Gentiles had been offered the Messiah on an equal basis. They believed in the singular quality of the Jews.

Well, they knew they were staying with Jason, who must have been a new Christian there, and so it says they all assaulted the house of Jason. But you know? Paul, Silas and Timothy were gone. Verse 6, “But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

So they took Jason and the other Christians instead. They ransacked Jason’s house, and they drag him out of there. They pressed two charges. The first charge is a general revolution. The second thing they charge them with is a specific treason against Rome. Verse 7, “Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus.”

That’s the same thing they crucified Jesus for, right? They crucified Him for claiming to be a king. Remember, Pilate questioned Him, “Are you a king?” And here Paul had been preaching the kingship of Jesus Christ. The same thing that the crowd used to execute Jesus they were going to use again to execute Paul. Verse 8, “And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.”

But, these rulers were pretty cool. And they really acted wisely. I’m sure God had something to do with this. So, they were between a rock and a hard place. And in verse 9, “So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.” They made Jason come across with a bond to guarantee that Paul, Silas and Timothy wouldn’t trouble them anymore.

Well Paul, Silas and Timothy had to go. And they went to Berea in verse 10. What happened there? Now, in Berea, they were waiting to believe. You go to verse 11, and they searched the Scriptures and so forth. Verse 12, “Therefore, many of them believed.” They believed; while the others had to be persuaded. “Some believed” in verse 4, and one of them was Jason and some people in his house.

Verse 12 continued, “And also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.” They were more noble, more open, and honorable women who were Greeks, and Greek men. So, they had another harvest down there. And so, the church in Berea was born. You never hear another word about Berea, and Thessalonica became the most beloved church that Paul ever wrote to.

Verse 13, “But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds.” So, here come all these people, 60 miles from Thessalonica, and they stirred up trouble. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16, talks about how the Jews have followed him all his life. Well, Paul had to leave again.

Verse 14, “Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there.” They faked it like they were going to the sea, and then they cut another direction. Paul, the ringleader left, but he left Silas and Timothy. Why? What was Paul’s great concern for new believers? Discipleship. He left them there. So, he left Luke, he left Silas and he left Timothy.

Verse 15, “So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.” Verse 16 says something you never read about Paul. “Now, Paul waited.” You don’t see him doing that much, do you? Some commentators think that he was just going to wait there till they got there; he was hurting.

Well, that’s conflict. But out of conflict came joy. And out of conflict came the productivity of those churches. Well, out of conflict in Athens came fantastic results. And we’re going to see that in the weeks to come. But let me close with this. The last thing; if you miss this, you miss everything. The last thing that made these people men that changed the world was concern.

You say, “Yeah, concern for the lost.” No. That is not the issue. Concern for the lost is great; that’s not what concerned Paul. Verse 16, “While Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him.” Why? “He saw the city given to idolatry.” It means that he saw that God was not being glorified, and the greatest motive that any Christian could ever have is for the glory of God.

Paul says in Romans 1:5, “I preach obedience unto the Gentiles for the sake of His name.” It pervades the entire Bible. Paul saw God not being glorified, and it tore him up. Now, he could have looked at all the beauties of Athens. Man, that place was something else: it had architecture; art and science. It was easier to find a god in Athens than it was a man,” it was so given to idolatry.

But Paul didn’t see the glory of Athens; he saw only the glory of God, and he saw God not being honored, and it concerned him. I’ll tell you something; this is what made him a man that changed the world. He was preoccupied with the glory of God. He saw every man as one who gave glory to God or one who didn’t, and he knew God deserved it. There’s the ingredients.

When he saw a city given to idolatry, he disputed that in the synagogue, and with devout persons, and in the marketplace daily. He never stopped when he saw that God wasn’t being glorified. You can see that throughout what he wrote. You too can be someone who affects the world. The pattern that Paul gave to us is clear; now it’s up to you. Father, make us people who count, make us people who affect the world. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Jul 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230716 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000209 imblog

Acts 17:1-3, 10-11

In Acts 17, the apostle Paul, along with Silas, have just been released from jail in Philippi. God really did the releasing. He shattered the jail by an earthquake. The church in Philippi has been established in the name of Lydia and her household and the jailer and his house. So there’s a little congregation of believers there. The rulers of Philippi didn’t want Paul and Silas around.

So Paul, Silas and Timothy left Philippi after a terrible jail experience. They had gone through all kinds of pain in a dark dungeon. Through it all, Jesus Christ had been glorified, and, consequently, they had rejoiced. And now they have left Philippi. As they left Philippi, they went immediately in verse 1 - 17 to Thessalonica. And here we see, again, this undaunted spirit of Paul.

Now, Paul and Silas were characterized by the people at Thessalonica with some interesting words. They said, “These two have turned the world upside down are here also.” But if you think that’s amazing, they’ve only been to one town: Philippi in Europe. And already, through the events of one few days in one town, the world is convinced these men are turning it upside down.

God has always had people that made waves when they confronted the system and the sinners that make up the system. When you come to Acts, you got Paul. Every time he put his foot down, something rattled. In Acts, he didn’t go into a town and just leave an impression; he turned towns into chaos whenever he ministered there. It wasn’t Paul that offended; it was what he said that offended.

And there are four things here of men who turned the world upside down. We’re going to define them: courage, content, converts and conflict. We’ll compare the verses. And we’re going to see spiritual principles that made these men do God’s work. In these two towns, Thessalonica was talked about in the first 9 verses; and Berea was discussed in verses 10 to 15.

Thessalonica was a famous port city of at least 200,000 people. It was the capital of Macedonia. Also, the Egnatia Highway went right through it, which made it a great place where armies marched through, and all travelers came that way. On the other hand, Berea was about 60 miles south west of Thessalonica and was out-of-the-way. We would have not known it had not the apostle Paul gone there.

We have two different cities, but you have the same thing going on in both places that illustrate to us the principles that makes a man turn the world upside down. Principle number one is courage. We’ll see it in Thessalonica and in Berea. Courage and boldness was a part of the early Church. And the more pressure, the more courage, and the more dynamic the message became.

No one ever really affects the world for Christ who doesn’t have the courage of his conviction and his calling. Verse 1, “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.” Amphipolis was 33 miles from Philippi. And Paul told Philippi that he was a Roman citizen, so they were scared of him.

Every time Paul went into a town, he went first to the synagogue. And what happened every time? Persecution. Now, there was a synagogue in Thessalonica. Verse 2, “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” Now, that is courage. He had just gotten over excruciating agony in jail in Philippi. Why? Because that was God’s calling to him.

He said in Romans 1:16, “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s the power of God to them that believe; to the Jew first, also to the Greek.” Romans 10:1 says, “My heart’s desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved.” He had such a heart for Israel he could almost wish himself to be accursed for their sake. He went there, knowing exactly what he was to expect.

Remember back in Lystra, in Acts 14 they stoned him? It was so bad they thought he was dead. They threw him on the city dump heap. And the Bible says when the Christians came out to look at him, all of a sudden he rose up, and dusted himself off and went back into town. Was that a miracle? I think so. He believed what he believed, and wasn’t afraid to say it to whom he needed to say it.

What’s that kind of courage based on? There are three steps. Step one: trust God. In Psalm 27 David says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” The thing to do is when you have problems going on and persecution, just focus on the Lord. As long as the believer really puts his trust in God, he has absolutely nothing to fear. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage.

Secondly, confess your sin. If you go into battle with a known sin in your life, there’re not going to be much victory. If you go out to witness to the world, and you’re living a sinful life, and you wonder why you get shot down, that’s why. David’s saying, “God, if there’s sin in my life, I deserve everything that comes. But, God, if I’ve lived a pure life, deliver me and show your glory.”

Third thing, thank Him in advance. Your attitude will change when you say, “God, I’m going out there and be bold, and I’m going to put it on the line; I’m going to say what I need to say; I’m going to thank you for the victory that hasn’t been won yet. Paul said that in Acts 28:15, “Thank you, God, for victories. We’re going to have a great time here,” and he just moved in.

Read the Bible. Dig into the text. You’ll get to know Him. The better you know Him, the better you trust Him. The better you trust Him, the better you’re going to be able to enter with confidence with no fear. God will deliver you. He always supports his followers. Second thing, content. You need to speak the truth. When right content is declared, you’re going to have effects.

Paul was never offensive personally; he was offensive because of what he said. We’re in the business of exploding feelings of security and offending sin. It’s time we offended some sinners. The Gospel has to offend. Romans 9:33 says, “I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense.” 1 Peter 2:6-8 says, “The stone which the builders rejected, has become the head cornerstone.”

And the rock of offense is Jesus Christ. And people have been stumbling over Him and been offended by Him ever since the truth in the Old Testament that He was coming. I just mean that you have to hit the issue head on. You haven’t done anybody any good unless you’ve confronted them with the honest issues. And that’s exactly what Paul did. The issue is who is the Messiah, right?

What was the biggest hang-up the Jews had about Jesus being the Messiah? The fact that He died; they couldn’t see a dead Messiah. Paul says in Romans 1:18 that the cross to the Jews is a stumbling block. The issue is Jesus is the Messiah and He had to die. That’s the issue. Verse 2, “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures.”

Alleging that Christ must suffer and rise again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is the Messiah.” Paul didn’t just get up there and preach; he allowed for questions and dialogue. And the imperfect tense indicates a renewed kind of repeated questioning. So, there was an interchange there. Shouldn’t every question be able to give to every person a reason for the hope that is in Him?

Christianity is very defensible. It worked so well, God just kept using it. Acts 18:4, “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” See, he used the mental approach of dialogue. Now, keep this in mind, nobody ever got saved by emotionalism. The only people who ever get saved are people who believe in their minds the true facts of the Gospel.

So salvation is then, first of all, a mental thing. You must perceive the truth. Now, it becomes an emotional response, doesn’t it? But salvation is a mental thing. You want their mind to be clear so they can truthfully apprehend the facts. So, Paul used reason, and he persuaded them, in their own minds, that these things were true; then the Spirit had the truth to use to open their hearts.

So, it was dialoguing and discussing. Now where did he start from? Verse 2 says that it was Scripture. Paul took the Old Testament and showed that the Messiah had to suffer, die and rise from the dead. Isaiah 53:7-8 says, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from judgment, and for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”

That’s the whole picture of the cross in detail. And after that, go to Psalm 22, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ They cast lots for His garment. They looked upon Him, and all His bones were visible, they pierced his hands and feet.” All of that’s in the Old Testament. “Now, see He must die.” Then show them He will rise.” In Psalms 16:8-16, “Thou will not leave His soul in sheol.”

The best argument for who Jesus Christ is, is the total fulfillment of prophecy. Verse 3, “Explaining that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus is the Christ.” Matthew 16:21 says, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”

Even the disciples didn’t understand the Scripture. They didn’t know the Messiah had to suffer and die. They only saw the kingdom; they didn’t see the suffering, death and the resurrection. Paul matched the life of Christ with Scripture. He was a student of Scripture. If you’re going to turn the world upside down, you have got to know the Word. The Word is the truth.

Verse 10, “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.” Paul gave the same message. Verse 11, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”

Thirdly, converts. They were open-minded to the truth. In verse 4 it says, “And some of them believed.” Some of those people in Thessalonica were actually persuaded. The idea is against their own preconceptions. But look here, in verse 12 it says, “Therefore, many of them believed” in Berea, and it’s not passive; it is active. They weren’t persuaded; they believed on their own.

What was the difference in the two groups? One of them Paul had to persuade into the truth; the other one was so ready and so open they searched it out all by themselves. That’s the difference in these Bereans; they didn’t have any of those prejudices. They weren’t hung up by Gentiles getting saved. And so, they were open to Scripture and they were honestly desiring the truth.

Notice it says that the Bereans searched the Scriptures every day. The word for “search” is to examine. It was a word to speak of judicial investigation. A man who honestly sifts the evidence of Scripture is going to come to the right conclusion. Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures, for in them you will have eternal life.” and He says, “You know what you’re going to find? Me.”

In Luke 16 the rich man died and went to Hades, and Lazarus died and went to Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man pleaded, “Abraham, dip your finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” Then he says, “Send Lazarus back from the dead to warn my brothers.” Abraham says, “If they don’t believe Moses and the prophets, they won’t believe the one raised from the dead.”

Fourthly, conflict. They searched the Scriptures and God reveals Himself in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Study the Old Testament and you’ll find the truth of righteousness there.

Now, notice the Gospel we preach must have two things. It must have qualities that can be open to public questioning, that’s Thessalonica; and it must have quality that can be open to private research, that’s Berea. Can you present a message and stand on your feet if it needs to be defended biblically? Secondly, can you present such a message that sends them to the Scripture and finds its defense there?

And there are people who can stand on their feet, to defend what they believe, and there are people who can take people where they’re at and say, “Here’s what I believe. You take it to the Scripture, and you’ll find it confirmed. If you’re going to preach the Gospel, one, confess and repent of all sin. Two, know the Bible. Paul said to Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved unto God.”

Three, personalize the Word. Translate what is academic into your own life. The things that you’re going to be effectively teaching other people are the things that you have learned by your own living, right? And then lastly, share the Word. For me to teach you what God has been doing in my life is something completely different. Tell them how God transformed my life. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Jul 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230709 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000208 imblog

Acts 16:19-40

Acts 16 is one of those chapters that you always remember. Now we come to a third incident that is going to impress our minds, about a Philippian jailer and how God reached out to him through an earthquake. Verse 30 stands out, “What must I do to be saved?” And the answer is given in verse 31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.”

This then is the story of salvation. We think that when we go up to some people to present Christ, that we are really intruding on their lives. When in fact we may just be giving them that which they are desperately searching for and maybe don’t know where to look or aren't willing to admit they're looking. What is life about and where am I going and what am I doing here?

In the midst of this little story, do you know what happened to his jail? It fell apart. All the doors flew open. The chains fell off. The stocks were separated and every prisoner was free. And you know what the man decided to do? Kill himself. Why? The only thing he had to live for was his prestige as a jailer. And if all of his prisoners got away, he himself would be killed.

Well, this man had no escape. But instead of killing himself, God had something else in mind for him, and you know what he did? He just fell down at the feet of Paul and Silas, and he asked the right question. He said, “What must I do to be saved?” Where do I turn to get rid of my fears and anxiety and loneliness and the meaningless of life and the fear of death and all this?

And the answer was clear, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” and you will be saved. And anybody else in your house who believes will be saved. Now that’s the main message of this passage and the main message of Christianity. Let’s set the scene a little bit. We're traveling with a missionary team made up of four men. Without question, this is the best missionary group that ever went out.

Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy. Now these four men have arrived at Philippi, which was the main church in Europe. And God directed them down by the riverside to meet some women who were worshiping the true God. Not enough men to set up a synagogue, so the women had to meet at a little place of prayer by the river. And there God directed them to a woman named Lydia.

And God opened Lydia’s heart and she was saved, and her whole household was saved, and just like that the church was founded in Europe. But immediately when God begins to work Satan begins a counterwork. So they ran into another woman, who was a demon possessed. And she followed Paul around, and she tried to infiltrate. She said, “Oh, they're telling you the truth. You ought to believe them.”

Satan will agree long enough to get into the organization and to be accepted as part of the same system, but then he’ll begin to declare what falsehood he wants to tell. And so Paul didn't like this and in verse 18 he just turned and he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her” and the spirit came out right away. Well, the reaction was typical for these kinds of people.

Verse 19, “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.” Satan’s plan failed because Paul just cast out the demon. Satan has another alternative called persecution. What happens when the church gets persecuted? It grows. The blood of the martyrs has always been what grows the church.

Persecution brings blessing. Infiltration is what destroys. How do you take a persecuted church and make them productive? What are the steps to bring about a positive result from a negative situation? Well, there are five steps. Suffering persecution, leads to singing praises, which leads to preaching salvation, which leads to seeing production, which leads to protection.

The first thing we see is suffering persecution. Paul cast the demon out of the girl, and her master saw the hope of their gain was gone. This girl was essentially doing what soothsayers, fortune tellers and palm readers all do. She was making a fortune, only she had her owner who was taking most of the profit. They didn't care about the girl at all. They said, “Oh, no, we lost our income.”

The Bible says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” Jesus said, “They that the rich would fall into temptation, a snare, and into many foolish, hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and loss.” People get messed up because of money. Remember the rich young ruler? Jesus knew that money was his god. And Jesus said, “It is so difficult for rich people to get saved.”

Verse 20-21, “And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; 21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to observe.” And you can just see the anti- Semitism toward Paul and Silas who were Jews, which added to the beating and to the jailing, which resulted in a man’s conversion planned by God.

Now in a technical sense they were right. Verse 21 says, “They teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.” According to Cicero and Tertullian, the Romans had a law that no Roman could believe in or follow the teachings of any religion that had not been approved by the senate. Apart from that, they allowed certain worship in order to keep peace in some of the lands.

So point one, suffering persecution. Don’t ever restrict your boldness for fear of persecution. Persecution only translates your boldness into new opportunity. In Acts 4 they preached, so they threw them in prison. What did they do when they got in prison? They preached to the Sanhedrin. They sent them out and told them not to preach again, and he preached again. People got saved.

Verse 22, “Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.” Now the magistrates had a group that were the local police. They carried around a pile of birch rods. And they would wrap them all together and just flail people with them. Incidentally, Paul got it three times in 2 Corinthians 11:25.

There were so many wounds inflicted by this mass of sticks flailing away that you couldn't count them. No trial, no nothing. Verse 23-24, “And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

Now the jailor was just doing his job. There was no sympathy in him. He’d seen prisoners come and go. He just put them into the inner dungeon, and to make it worse he put them in stocks. According to archeology, the stocks that they used had a series of holes that got wider and wider, and the idea was to spread the legs of the individual as far as they could go to induce cramping.

Well, they did what they knew was right to do and they suffered. And later on in his life Paul was in another prison and he wrote a letter back to the Philippians. In Philippians 1:12 he said, “I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.” What was he was doing in prison? Winning all the soldiers to Christ.

The second thing, suffering persecution led to singing praises. The way to handle persecution is to have the right attitude. Look at verse 25, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” They wanted the prisoners to hear them. I mean they were giving a witness. What are they going to praise Him for? God is worth praising any moment.

A Christian is defeated, when he begins to focus on his problems. And gets his eyes off his God. What was Habakkuk’s problem? He couldn't understand his problem. He said, God if the whole world goes crazy, I’m still going to keep praising You. I can’t figure out the answer, but I know you're here; I know who you are, and I know what you are, and I know you're consistent.

And so, they're there singing away in pain that’s unbearable and singing praise. Listen, the Christian life, depends upon your knowledge of God. When you understand who God is, then you got everything else in perspective. In 2 Corinthians 4:8 Paul says, “We’re troubled on every side but not distressed.” Well, God didn't let them wait too long. Things began to happen real fast.

Verse 26, “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.” Now that earthquake was localized right at the jail. And the effect of it was that it opened all the doors and opened all the chains. Do you realize that when you go share Christ with people that God is able to move the earth?

Don’t ever think that when you go out in evangelism to share Jesus Christ that you're going alone. And when the time comes when God is going to reach the prepared heart through you, whatever it takes, God’s going to do it. Nobody ever got saved by accident yet. Just a perfect miracle. God is active in doing what needs to be done so that His saints and ministry are effective.

Verse 27, “And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.” He figured, “They're all gone. I’ve lost the only reason to live. I’ll lose my job, my prestige and they'll kill me.” There’s no indication that the people in town even felt the thing. And so he takes out his little sword.

Verse 28, “But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” I don’t know the reaction of the jailor, but you can imagine. Well, why didn't the prisoners leave? I don’t know, except that God kept them there. Verse 29-30, “Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Only God can reverse the situation that fast. Here’s a guy on his knees, and Paul and Silas are standing there. And God did what He had to do. You see, salvation is a sovereign work. It’s the work of God. The man had conviction of sin in his heart. God had done all the preparation. All he needed was to open his consciousness, and the earthquake supplied that.

And here God had taken two guys that had been beaten up, and in that jail were singing praises, and God now gives them an opportunity for point number three: salvation preaching. He knew God was working in his heart. All he could think about is, “I am in rebellion against God.” Verse 31, “So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Salvation is simply believing. In John 1:12, John said, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name.” Verse 32, “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.” That’s the only way of salvation. In Ephesians it says, “By grace you are saved through faith.” There are no works involved.

Verse 33, “And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.” Suddenly he’s washing their wounds. He was transformed. Verse 34, “Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.” God alone can transform a man that fast.

The last point was securing protection. Verse 35-37, “And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go. 36 “So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace. 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, we are Romans not condemned, and have thrown us into prison.”

And now do they put us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and get us out.” It was forbidden under Roman law to ever corporeally inflict a wound on a Roman citizen. By saying, “I am a Roman citizen,” they couldn't put one wound on his body. Verse 38, “And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.”

They had violated Roman law. You know what that meant? They could lose their position, and that scared them to death. Paul is establishing the fact that he knows they have violated Roman law, and they are now really afraid of Paul. He came back to Philippi later on, and they didn't lift a finger. And so here he secures that little group of believers. Paul takes care for his flock.

And he left Luke there to care for them. Isn’t it important that they didn't take Timothy and Luke into prison? Verse 39-40, “Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.”

]]> Sun, 02 Jul 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230702 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000207 imblog

Acts 16:16-18

We are in Acts 16 and the gospel has just reached Europe. It started in Jerusalem, then to Judea, Samaria, and now it is penetrating the uttermost parts of the earth. It moved into Asia when it was founded in Antioch and spread to Galatia. It is now moving to Europe, where Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke, set sail from Troas on to Neapolis, which was the port of Philippi, and thus they are in Europe.

Now, the Holy Spirit focuses on this dichotomy that always occurs when the gospel is presented, some people believe and Satan tries to disrupt others. And this is done in presenting to us two women, one named Lydia, and the other a woman (with no name) who had a spirit of divination. These two women really reflect back to us the portrait of every woman or every man.

For everybody is in the category of Lydia or the category of the enslaved woman by Satan. Macedonia is now a Roman province and Philippi was a Roman colony in Macedonia. They were waiting until the Sabbath because their approach would be first to the Jewish population there. There was no synagogue, but there was a group of women who met on the Sabbath.

Verse 13: “On the Sabbath, we went out of the city by the riverside where prayer was accustomed to be made.” They had a place of prayer where they gathered to pray. They were Jewish and Jewish proselytes. And they went and “sat down and spoke unto the women who resorted there.” The gospel is presented in Europe, and immediately the attention focuses on these two women.

Women have always played a very important part in God’s work and in Satan’s work. God is no respecter of persons. Satan is not either, in terms of who he uses. God has used women mightily. Satan has also used them effectively. Let’s look first of all, just by way of a reminder, at the transfigured woman, Lydia. Then secondly, we’ll look at the woman that Satan used in verses 16 - 18.

Only one thing that actually really liberates. Jesus said in John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” This assumes that there are going to be some people who think they have freedom but don’t. Right? Only Christ can make you truly liberated. Women’s Lib even likes to get rid of God. Now, if you’re going to tamper with God, you’re going to have problems.

Lydia was a gentile who became a proselyte to Judaism, seeking God. She had a prepared heart. All God really needs is proper content. He brings along Paul and Silas, and they pour in the proper information, and God has what He needs to open her heart, and that’s exactly what happened. That’s salvation. She was saved. She was born again. She was justified. She was made righteous.

And the results? Verse 15: “she was baptized.” She publicly declared her faith. Her whole household was baptized. She was also a strong influence. She had a tremendous personal testimony. Another characteristic of her salvation was “she besought us saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, then “come into my house and stay. And she constrained us.”

God knows that that’s where you can really have the most effective ministry, with your children and with those who come to your home. We don’t say enough about hospitality. Ladies, what you do in your home could never even be measured, only by eternity, were your home is a place where Jesus Christ was exalted and glorified. Hospitality literally means the love of strangers.

In Leviticus 19:33-34, God gave this instruction to Israel. He says, “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. 34 Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” You’re supposed to love that stranger as you love yourself.

Love is a principle. It’s a principle of self-sacrifice. We are to love strangers. The Jews had a saying, “There are six things, the fruit of which a man eats in this world, and by which his horn is raised in the world to come,” in other words, six things that bring reward. You know what number one on the list was? Hospitality to the stranger. They knew that God honored that particular grace.

People were traveling, particularly those who knew Christ, ministering here and there, even to strangers. And so Christians had an opportunity to make their homes available, not only for the comfort of the saints, but for the evangelization of the unsaved. And so women had this opportunity of making a home where strangers would be welcome and be exposed to Christian love and to the gospel.

Now, let’s look at Genesis 18. This is about Abraham who had some visitors. God came to visit Abraham. Watch what happened. “And the Lord appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.” Now, this is a pre-incarnate appearance of God. And Abraham “lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men were standing nearby.” The other two were angels.

“When Abraham saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground. 3 “My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while. 4 Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet. 5 And since you’ve honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey. All right, they said. “Do as you have said.”

Abraham about breaks his neck to get out there and show hospitality. Get under the tree. I’ll get you some water. Have some bread. Now this is the right spirit, see? So many times we sit in the house and we hear a doorbell and say “Who is that?” We open that little peephole and we are afraid of something. The home of a believer ought to be wide open for people at any time.

In Matthew 25 when Jesus comes in His glory, then He shall separate his sheep from the goats. On what basis are these people accepted? In verse 35 Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in your home, naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

Do you know who could come to your house more important than angels? A Christian. Are Christians higher than angels?” First Corinthians 6:17, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” And just as those nations have treated Christ in treating Israel, so do you in treating any other believer. Angels coming to your house, that’s nice; a Christian coming to your house, that’s Christ Himself.

This is not just some whimsical thought through the gospels. In Romans 12:13, it says you’re to show hospitality. In 1 Peter 4:9, Peter said you are to be given to hospitality without grudging. That means you don’t say, “Oh, Stan gave that message. We better have them over.” No, no, you’ve destroyed the reward that you would gain from your hospitality because of your attitude.

Lydia was a lady who showed hospitality, and here was the evidence of the genuineness of her salvation. Watch. She was instantly liberated to be exactly what God wanted a woman to be, to make a home where she could lodge strangers and meet their spiritual needs and their physical comforts. And, the man who said the hand that rocks the cradle moves the world is right.

People always say, “Christianity tends to minimize women.” That is not so. It is Jesus Christ alone who frees women to be content to be what God designed and to be so God’s patterns can work. Paul, in Romans names 26 different people who worked with him and eight of them are women who labored with him in the gospel. There should be a group of women who we call these deaconesses.

Phoebe was such a one, called diakonia in Romans 16. But in the area of the public worship, we do not believe in women preachers. That is simply because of the Scripture. It’s just the fact that God has set a certain pattern of authority within the church. And it says, that the elders of the church must be one-woman men. They must be the husband of one wife. Now, that eliminates women preachers.

Now, what should a woman do in the church? First of all, take some younger women and teach them. In Titus 2, it says the older mature women should teach the young women to be sober-minded. To love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, pure, kind, obedient to their husbands, that the Word of God not be blasphemed.” And women have the biggest evangelism commission.

Look at the woman possessed by Satan. Verse 16, “One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes.” Now, she seemed like a liberated woman. Because she wasn’t hung up on religion. And she wasn’t tied to some man. She was a professional woman making money.

The only problem was she was under the control of Satan. Now, Satan is fast. As they went to the same place of prayer, this woman has a “spirit of divination.” The literal Greek says, “She had a spirit, a python.” What is a python spirit?” In Greek mythology, there’s a place called Pytho, which was at the foot of Mount Parnassus where there was a dragon who guarded the oracles of Delphi.

Delphi was a place where oracles were given. The term “oracle,” which is an occult term, means either a place where mediums consult demons or it means the revelation that the demons give themselves. In Delphi there was an enormous temple, where all these medium/priestesses were conjuring up demons and giving out information. Now, supposedly this dragon guarded these oracles.

And people would consult this girl. And they would then think that Apollo, the god, was giving them the information. Now, we know that it came from Satan and his demons. She was the mouth through which a demon spoke. Now, here was this girl and Satan had his instrument. They would go into like a terrible frenzy, they would become totally distorted. And this is exactly what is common today.

Well, everybody wants to know the future. So it says at the end of verse 16, “She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes.” Anybody without Jesus Christ is in exactly the same position she was in. According to the words of Jesus, you are of your father, the devil. This girl was a slave, and so is every woman and every man who does not know Jesus Christ.

Verse 17, “She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” This is this girl and this demon’s speaking through her, and “the same followed Paul and us” - well, followed Paul, Timothy, Silas, and Luke and she’s crying, yelling at the top of her voice. Is that a true statement? Absolutely. That is the truth.

Why is Satan doing speaking the truth? 2 Corinthians 11 says he and his ministers appears as an angel of light. Satan’s been doing things in the name of Jesus Christ for centuries. There are all kinds of demonic things going on in the name of Jesus Christ. You can’t say, “Well, we did it in Jesus’ name; therefore, it was of God.” That doesn’t mean anything. That’s what’s diabolical about the cults.

They’ll speak the truth just long enough to hook you, and then you’re damned in the error of the system. The people are going to think, “Hey, these guys are in the same thing they’re in. This girl must be part of this group.” This little church starts out, and when Paul, Silas, Luke and Timothy leave, and who’s going to take over? Some of Satan’s most active work is done in the name of Jesus Christ.

How does he gets tares in among the wheat? He gets people to say they’re Christians when they’re not. “Oh, we believe in Christ.” You know how he gets false teachers in? By having them state that they’re really legitimate and they get in, then they begin to propagate a false doctrine. Infiltration is his first plan. If that doesn’t work, then he gets outside persecution.

Christ never wants publicity from Satan. This woman kept it up for many days and Paul was grieved. Paul was grieved for two reasons. He didn’t like what she was doing, and he felt sorry for her. Verse 18, “This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.”

In those days, they had an apostolic gift. And it was given to them for a very special confirming of the Word. Paul simply spoke, and that demon was gone. What happened to the girl?” I don’t know, if she’d have become a true believer, it would have told us that. These two women really mirror all of us. We belong either to Jesus Christ and are liberated or we belong to Satan and we’re slaves. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Jun 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230625 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000206 imblog

Acts 16:11-15

A liberated woman and an enslaved one. And today particularly we’re going to talk about Lydia, the liberated lady. And next Sunday we’ll get to the second one. Now, these two women that we’re going to meet today are opposites. One of them is godly; one of them is satanic. One of them is liberated; one of them is enslaved. One of them belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ; the other one does not.

Every woman fits into the Lydia category or the category of the maid who had a spirit of divination. There are only two kinds of women in the world. Liberated ones and enslaved ones. And similarly there are only two kinds of men. Paul and Silas must have had the feeling that the Holy Spirit was constantly saying “no” because whichever direction they wanted to go, they were stopped.

Now, it seemed natural to progress west into Asia Minor. And so Paul’s concern was, “Let’s go to Asia,” there are great cities there. Philadelphia, Sardis, Thyatira, Pergamum, Smyrna and Ephesus, these great cities became strongholds for the gospel and later on became known in Revelation as the churches of the Revelation. But the Holy Spirit forbid them to preach the Word in Asia.

The Holy Spirit shut the door. Now, we don’t have any specifics as to how He did that, but it was done. Well, you can’t go south, you can’t go east, you can’t go west, so you go north. The Holy Spirit had something to say about that in verse 7, “The Holy Spirit allowed them not.” But if you know something of the persistence of Paul, you will know that he managed to find a way.

And we believe that God actually closed all the visible doors in order to prove the faithfulness and the determination of Paul, which would make him the kind of man that God was going to use. And if you’re persistent as they were, God will open some marvelous things. In verse 8, they came through Mysia to a place called Troas, which was named by Alexandria Troas after Alexander the Great.

Now, this place had been a free Greek city, until Caesar Augustus made it a Roman colony, and so Troas became a Roman colony. Well, next there was the sea. God immediately gave them direction in verse 9, “A vision appeared to Paul. He saw a Macedonian man.” He said, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” And there was the call of God in a dream, in a vision, at night.

And here at Troas, was Paul, Silas, Timothy and one other fellow named Luke. Where does it say that? His name isn’t there, but listen in verse 10, “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we…” Who wrote the book of Acts? Luke. Here, somehow Luke joins up. Luke was a doctor, and it may have been that Paul had a chronic ailment in Troas and they managed to find a doctor.

Luke joins up and it becomes “we,” so that the author is indicating himself in the situation. So from Troas, the call of God: “Go to Macedonia.” Now, that’s fantastic because, that’s the first step into Europe. Now, it may have been that a trickling of the gospel had gotten to Rome before but here’s the first great movement generated by the Apostle Paul, the apostle to the gentiles.

Now, Macedonia is today called Greece. It came under the power of Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. And there were great cities, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Athens and Corinth. Now immediately at Troas, God gave them the vision, then it says in verse 11, “We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis.”

God never gave the call without providing a boat. God never asks somebody to do something without a vehicle to do it. They sailed on a straight course and they had a middle stop there to Samothrace. So they stopped there for the night. “The next day they proceeded to Neapolis,” and were taken off the boat and then they walked to Philippi. That took two days. The return trip took five days.

Verse 12, “From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.” There they met two women. Verse 13, “On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.”

We’re going to meet a liberated lady named Lydia. Verse 14, “One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.” When she got liberated, her liberation was contentment to be what God designed her to be, and that’s being truly liberated.

You are liberated when you are free to accept yourself with full acceptance as God designed you to be. That’s being free. And Lydia, the liberated lady, was free. There’s only one kind of liberation and Jesus put it this way, He said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” There’s no other liberation. Paul said, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free.”

There’s only one kind of liberation. And if a person really wants to be liberated, then he comes to Jesus Christ, he is liberated from sin and death and Satan and hell, and he is free to accept all the eternal blessings of God and to accept himself as God made him and be content to be what God designed him to be. That’s liberation. Now I want us to look at these two ladies. First, the transfigured woman.

Next week, the disfigured woman. One of the reasons that it’s important is it was located on the Egnatian Highway, which was one of those massive Roman accomplishments, because it was a road 490 miles long. And it went right through Philippi, so Philippi was a very important area. It was an area where there was much traffic and trade and Roman military movement.

Well, here was the gospel landing in a little part of Rome. Verse 12 says they just hung around for a few days. My personal belief is they’re waiting for Saturday, the Sabbath. When Paul went into a town, he first went to the synagogue for several reasons. He went to the Jews first because if he went to the gentiles first, the Jews would never receive him, so he went to the Jews first.

Two, he went to the Jews because they would have a hearing for him there and a place to speak because he was Jewish and a Pharisee. Thirdly, he went to the Jews because if he could win some of them to Christ, they could help him evangelize the gentiles. However, in Philippi, there was no synagogue. In fact, there weren’t any men. You mean that the gospel spread in Europe beginning with some women?”

The gospel spread has been beginning with women for years. In Christ, there is neither male nor female. No Christian needs to get involved in Women’s Lib. There’s equality in the sight of God. Verse 13 begins with, “On the Sabbath we went out of the city to a riverbank where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.”

This is one of the most beautiful stories of the liberation of women that has been brought about by Jesus Christ. Women in the world were looked upon as slaves. If a man didn’t like his breakfast, he had the right to kill his wife without recourse. No woman had the right to exchange her religion for another one apart from her husband. That was absolutely unheard of.

Men so dominated women that any kind of unruly behavior would cast terrible defamation on her husband. One of the biggest problems of Christianity was that in Christ there was no male nor female, and a woman could come to Jesus Christ and be totally liberated, independent of her husband’s desires. And a lot of women were getting saved and these husbands were getting uptight.

And even among some of the Jews, women were seen as slaves. Paul was raised as a Pharisee. He had to recite for a great part of his life this prayer: Oh, God, I thank thee that I am neither a gentile, a slave nor a woman. But Paul simply said, “The way that I move around, it’s better not to be married.” But Christ liberates women. For the first time, here was a religion where a woman could choose.

Let’s look again at verse 14, “One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.” Now, her name is Lydia. Lydia is also the name of the area she came from in Asia Minor. Lydia of Lydia. And in that little area was the city of Thyatira.

Thyatira was also famous for purple dye. Homer, in the Iliad, says the art of the women in Thyatira is the art of dyeing with purple. Now, they had an interesting trade. There were two kinds of dyes they used. The first kind was for the rich people. Most of the purple stuff was for royalty. And they extracted this purple dye drop by drop from a little shellfish called a murex.

And once the elite get it, all of us poor people want to get in on that, and so they had to come up with a second-class dye, and they got it from an extraction from a madder root. So she was in this business. And she was the one that the Lord had in mind as Paul’s first convert in Europe. God was going to begin the work with a woman. Now look at several things that happened in the liberation of Lydia.

Ladies, read Proverbs 31 that tells you what God thinks about an enterprising woman. God wants a woman to be as creative and as enterprising as she can possibly be as long as it never affects the responsibility that she has to her husband and family. Verse 14 says that this lady worshiped God. Now, this was the beginning of her liberation. She was a slave to sin, and then she turned to the true God.

And that was step one in her liberation. She didn’t do this independent of God. Romans 3:11 says, “No man seeks after God.” God had drawn her to Him. Jesus had lived, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, the gospel was signed, sealed, and delivered. She didn’t know the gospel, but she was seeking to know God. If there is a pagan who in his heart seeks to know God, God will reveal Himself.

And He knows exactly where the seeking hearts are. John 7:17 says: “If any person wills to do God’s will, he shall know of the doctrine whether I speak concerning myself or whether I really be of God.” It’s saying if there’s a willing, seeking heart, God will never shut Himself off from that heart. God closed out the whole area of Asia. Paul just kept pushing and they got there, “Here’s a seeking lady.”

Here are four important people, Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy, and they’re on a thin line, wandering between all these countries just to get to one lady. Well, that’s how much God will do to reach a seeking heart. Don’t worry about that guy over in Africa who hasn’t got a missionary there, if he’s a seeker, God will get him one or God will reveal it to him somehow. That’s true in your Christian life too.

God told Israel through Moses, “If you seek the Lord your God, you shall find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul.” Listen to Psalm 119:2 says this: “Blessed are they that seek Him with their whole heart.” Hosea 6:3 says this: “You shall know the Lord, if you press on to know Him.” Isn’t that a beautiful thought? You’ll know Him if you pursue the knowledge of the Lord.

Secondly, Lydia not only sought she listened. The Pharisees didn’t see the truth when He stood in their presence. In Matthew 13:12 Jesus said, “To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”

Paul preaches, and she heard it. And the implication is that she heard it with faith. Faith comes by hearing. And the actual Greek of that verse in Romans 10 is faith comes by hearing the speech about Jesus. We translate it faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. That is not the correct translation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the speech about Jesus.

Thirdly, she not only sought and heard but then God opened her heart. Look at verse 14, “the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.” She put her faith in Christ. People say to me, “Stan, don’t you get discouraged if people don’t respond and they don’t open their hearts to the gospel?” I say, “No, that’s not my job.” Salvation isn’t dependent on a person, it’s dependent on God.

The important thing in the presentation of the gospel is clarity of content. Because it is God who opens the heart. We always talk about evangelism like it’s an emotional decision; it is not. Verse 15, “She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.”

Just that little household and that lady was the beginning of the church in Philippi?” Yes, it was, a local church. Lydia’s house became the place where the church meets. Verse 40. “When Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to the home of Lydia. There they met with the believers and encouraged them once more. Then they left town.” So Lydia became a leader in the church.

God will use men and women to start a church. We are all equal in His sight. Do we read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit for insight as to what God wants us to do? That is what we all need to do. And God will use us when we are willing to tell others about what Jesus did in your life. Simple witnessing can often be just as effective as a presentation that is complicated. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Jun 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230611 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000205 imblog

Acts 15:36-16:10

Ever since the Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, we have been busy pursuing the ministry of evangelism. There are all kinds of approaches. There are multitudes of different efforts that have gone on throughout the history of the church in different climates, in different cultures, in different periods of history, all under the area of evangelism.

There are multiplied thousands of different tracts that can be used today in evangelism. There is a very simplistic presentation of basic verses to a very sophisticated media presentations of Christ. We have seminaries that have evangelism departments, and there are some professors of evangelism. But underneath all of this methodology, there are some foundation features of evangelism.

What God wants to say not only comes directly but very often it comes indirectly. So you have here in an indirect implication the foundations of effective evangelism. We’ve seen this in the book of Acts many times. They key to Bible study, is to be able to take the Scripture and extract the principles that are there either by direct statement or by an implication. That is what it is to study Scripture.

I’m not interested in just copying what it says. That gives us historical background, but underneath all of this, what is the purpose of the Holy Spirit? What principles are implied in what is going on here? Now, that’s really the difference between real Bible study and real Bible teaching, and that which is superficial. So we want to study some foundational features of evangelism.

Now, keep in mind that the Holy Spirit has been writing the book of Acts, using the apostles. As we approach Acts 15:36, the church has been growing. And the church has just gone through a crisis. Satan tried to split the Jews and the Gentiles over the issue of a false doctrine of salvation, you’re saved by faith plus works. Satan tried to make gentiles become Jews first.

God reversed everything and instead the church established its doctrine, which came out of the Jerusalem Council in great unity. So what Satan tried to stop, he only succeeded in speeding up. Verse 36, “After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.”

That’s a very significant statement. We think of an evangelist as a guy who gets people saved and then leaves them around for other Christians to follow up. But Paul was a biblical evangelist who saw his responsibility not only as winning people but as maturing them. He was planning with Barnabas to go right back to the same place they just finished evangelizing, which was Galatia.

Do you know what the priority is in evangelism? Discipleship. “Visit our brethren in every city.” You say, “Well, why does he want to go back there?” Let me give you a simple reason. His love for his own spiritual children. Paul wanted to go back just because he loved them and he wanted to see if they were growing. Remember, the Great Commission says “to teach them all that I have taught you.”

The results have been announced to the people in Antioch. There’s great joy because their salvation is valid by grace alone, and that is how you’re saved. Paul had a passion for the gentile world that is lying to the west of where he was located in Antioch. So Paul saw himself as a loving father responsible for the spiritual care of his children. The best way to evangelize is to produce reproducing disciples.

Paul knew that this evangelism, created spiritual infancy all over, and leaving a lot of spiritual babies screaming. That was not the way to go at it because they weren’t mature enough to reproduce. It is better to spend yourselves on some individuals that they might become mature and that they might carry the gospel to others. Jesus spent most of his time with twelve individuals. That’s really the heart of evangelism.

Paul was committed to the priority of maturing believers. You know where he went on his first missionary journey? Galatia, right? Where did he go on his second missionary journey? Galatia. You know where he went on the third missionary journey? Acts 18:23, “And after he had spent some time there in Antioch, he departed and went over all the country of Galatia.”

He knew that the effective way to evangelize is to produce reproducing Christians, and to produce a reproducing Christian, you must spend yourself on that individual. Now, it is the reproduction of reproducing believers that is really what multiplies the effectiveness of the gospel. In Colossians 1:28 he says, “Teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, he worked hard to bring people to maturity. And Evangelism calls for the right priority and the right personnel. God has special people for special tasks. Verse 37-38, “Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. 38 But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work.”

What did John Mark do? He quit. He got up there to Perga in Pamphylia and took one look at the Taurus Mountains and all the stories he’d heard and he also looked at the situation with Paul and Barnabas, where Barnabas was secondary while Paul was the leader. Maybe he was a little jealous for his cousin, Barnabas, and he just quit and took off and went home in Acts 13:13.

Well, Barnabas was a loving, restoring character and John Mark was actually a wonderful guy. He was the son of the lady in whose house the prayer meeting was being held the night Peter got out of jail. He’s also the author of the Gospel of Mark so he is no slouch, God really used him, but Paul didn’t want to be dragging him around and he didn’t have any confidence in John Mark.

Verse 39, “Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus.” So when they departed, they departed. They were somewhat bitter, and they blasted off in two directions, and Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. That’s where he came from. Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus to continue the ministry there.

The Lord in the end did not have Mark go with Paul. So it seems to me that it was the plan of God that Mark not go originally. Verse 40, “Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care.” The church definitely recognized the duo of Paul and Silas, and perhaps they had the mind of the Spirit on that and so they commended them.

So the Spirit worked it out beautifully. But remember: Barnabas later was commended by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:6. And when Paul was in Rome in jail writing to Timothy, he says, “Timothy, come and be with me. Demas has forsaken me. Luke alone is with me. And by the way, when you come bring Mark, for he is profitable to me.” Now, that’s restoration from Paul.

Now, Silas was a prophet says Acts 15:32. Silas, in verse 22 and verse 27, is mentioned because he was sent to Antioch from Jerusalem. Remember when they wrote the letter about the fact that salvation was by grace and they wanted the gentiles to know that. So they sent Silas and Judas along, two leaders of the Jerusalem church. So Silas was a prophet and God chose him for Paul.

God chooses the right people for the right job. If you’re travelling in the Roman Empire, it helps to be a Roman citizen. Silas was. And if you’re going to enter synagogues, it’s helpful to be a Jew. Silas was a Jew. And if you’re announcing the message of salvation by grace, it’s nice if you are from the Jerusalem church. Silas was. And if you are preaching, it’s nice to be a prophet. Silas was.

Now here, the fact that they were Romans was important. Verse 41, “Then he traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches there.” The gospel that started in Jerusalem spread north until it hit this area of Cilicia and Syria. Now they were doing what? They were strengthening the churches, building up the saints. Again they knew that strong saints will reproduce.

Then they continued their journey. Where to? To Galatia. The Holy Spirit had their journey all laid out. They wouldn’t have reached those towns until the end of their journey. Instead, they reached them at the very beginning. Acts 16:1, “Paul went first to Derbe and then to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek.”

God wanted to add another member to the team. Verse 2, “Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium,” Now, this woman’s name is given to us by the Apostle Paul. Timothy’s mother’s name was Eunice, and his grandmother’s name was Lois, and she was a believer, but his father was a Greek, so here was a half-Jew and a half-gentile. What a perfect choice because he was a Roman.

And they had a meeting. In 1 Timothy 4:14 Paul says, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you.” So they had a commissioning service ordaining him, laying hands on him, praying for him, and they sent him out as a representative of the church right there in Lystra and Derbe.

Paul calls him his spiritual son.” But who led Timothy to Christ? Lois and Eunice. So Timothy was a second-generation child in the faith. Evangelism also involves the right precautions. Verse 3, “So Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek.”

That isn’t necessary for salvation. Timothy was half Jew and half gentile. So Paul recognizing that the key to reaching the Jewish people, and that was the first place he went in every new town, was the Synagogue. The key was that Timothy had been brought up in a synagogue situation. All he needed to do was just get circumcised and he would have full entrance and full acceptance among the Jews.

So it wouldn’t hinder his work among the gentiles. It was only for expediency’s sake. It was just to allow the ministry to function more smoothly. Titus came along and Paul forbid Titus to be circumcised. Because Titus was a gentile. To circumcise a gentile would be to impose legalism, but to circumcise a Jew already a Jew was simply to allow him to be more effective.

If you’re going to witness to Jews, you need to know a little Judaism. If you’re going to witness to somebody in the Roman Catholic Church, you ought to know a little bit about them so your approach is more tactful, and the same is true with other religions and other systems of religion. If you’re going to talk to a fanatic, maybe knowing what he knows, can gain an entrance into his heart.

Evangelism is also founded on the right presentation. Verse 4. “Then they went from town to town, instructing the believers to follow the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.” What did they decide? Salvation by grace through faith. And add this: that you abstain from blood and things strangled and fornication and things offered to idols. Why? So you don’t offend.

The message of Christianity is twofold. One: Salvation by grace. Two: Living by love. The result? Verse 5, “So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day.” Evangelism needs to be done in the right place. Verse 6, “Next Paul and Silas traveled through Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.”

They never stopped. Just because this was closed, they thought, “Well, we’ll go north,” Verse 7, “Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there.” Well, all the doors are closed. South is water, east we’ve been, north we can’t go, and west we can’t go. But Paul still had a corridor and he kept going between Bithynia and Asia.

Verse 8, “So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.” Verse 9, “That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” Macedonia was across the Aegean Sea. What great cities were there? Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth and Athens. The gospel was going to reach Europe.

Verse 10, “So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.” God uses those who have the right passion for the right priority with the right personnel taking the right precaution to make the right presentation, and they submissively keep following until they get to the right place. Evangelism starts with those basics.

We all as Christians, have to do what they did and listen to the Holy Spirit. We all need to spread the gospel to others wherever we are. Even when it looks like the doors are closed, we need to find that one opening that God has provided for us. Don’t just sit around and think that others can lead and proceed. We are all saved to do works for God so we can store up treasures in heaven. Let us pray.

]]> Mon, 05 Jun 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230604 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000204 imblog

Acts 15:19-35

Now, the salvation question, law or grace, is the crucial issue in Acts 15. If you were to understand everything about Christianity, and not understand the doctrine of salvation, everything else wouldn’t do you any good. You’d spend all your eternity in hell going over what you knew. Salvation is the issue. How a person comes into the relationship to God is the essence of everything.

And it’s not a dead issue even today. The greatest heresy in the world today is the heresy of false systems of salvation. They are the things that damn people. And in the early church, Satan threatened to split and fracture the church, and to destroy the whole doctrine of salvation, and that is the issue dealt with in Acts 15. Now, let’s back up just a minute, so we get kind of a running start.

As we have been studying the book of Acts, we are aware that it is history. And we have found that it is unlike some history courses; anything but dead. It is alive, it is vibrant, it is now, and it is practical. Because, the book of Acts projects principles that are timeless. So, what we have here is really applicable to every church in every age. Of what pleases God and what displeases God.

And the dominating factor is the power of the Holy Spirit, isn’t it? Everything was caused by God using the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1, Jesus gives all of the important equipment to finish the work which He began. And then in Acts 2, the Spirit comes to empower them to do the job. The church is born and the Spirit descends. They’re baptized into the body, and they’re filled with the Spirit.

And the church grows tremendously. And in Acts 3 and 4, we saw the ministry of Peter and John as they preached, and the power of the Holy Spirit began to spread. The Jewish leaders reacted negatively, and they hauled them into jail, and they told them to stop preaching, and that only gave them greater impetus. And then in Acts 5, we saw that Satan infiltrated the church with sin.

And he picked out Ananias and Sapphira, who were susceptible to temptation and who fell, and he got them to lie to the Holy Spirit. And the church was threatened, and God dealt sternly. The Holy Spirit singled them out of the congregation, and God struck them dead right there in front of everybody, and the church was purified instantly and learned a great lesson, that God hates sin.

And then in Acts 6, they had to get organized, because the Spirit was doing things. And so they chose men full of the Spirit, and put them in charge of caring for the needy. And immediately after that, we look at individuals. And we see a man named Stephen who was fearless. And Stephen preached Christ, and he didn’t just preach to Jerusalem Jews but to Hellenistic Jews.

Stephen was so fiery that they killed him; they stoned him to death. And standing there at Stephen’s stoning was a man by the name of Saul. And Saul picked up the persecution of the church, and he began to slaughter Christians. That scattered Christians. And when Christians got scattered, the gospel got scattered with them. And they evangelized in Judaea; and Samaria.

In Acts 9, Jesus stopped Paul on the Damascus Road, blinded him, and turned him into the Apostle Paul. He was selected to evangelize the last dimension of this four-fold scope, Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. And then in Acts 10, God used Peter to open the door, and Peter opened the door for Cornelius and company, they were Gentiles who got saved.

And we see the preparation of Paul, the preparation of the church at Antioch, which was the church that Paul pastored. And then from there, he and Barnabas went out with the gospel to the Gentiles, in Acts 13 and 14. They went to Cyprus and Galatia. They not only preached, but many people were saved. They went back and strengthened the believers, confirmed them, and organized them.

And Acts 15 deals with the issue that Satan brought up to try to fracture the church. The issue of how do you get saved came up, and instead of splitting the church, the church set down for all time the doctrine of salvation. We know that a man is saved by grace through faith plus nothing. But there were some Jews in Jerusalem who believed that the Gentile first had to become a Jew.

This group was called the circumcision party, also known as Judiazers were imposing Judaism into Christianity. Salvation by works and legalism. Well, this had to be dealt with. Notice the dissension, in Acts 15:1 - 5. Paul and Barnabas decided that they ought to all go to Jerusalem and let the Apostles and elders deal with the question. They came to Jerusalem and were officially received.

And then “they declared all things that God had done with them.” Certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed that it was needed to circumcise them then commanded them to keep the Law of Moses.” While, they had been willing to let a few half-breed Samaritans in, and they had been willing to let in Cornelius and company, and the Ethiopian eunuch, both of whom were Gentiles.

Well, the dissension led to the discussion, verse 6. We know the Apostles had already made up their minds; verse 11, “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, the same way as they.” And there are three speeches to support it: Peter’s, and that of Paul and Barnabas, and that of James. And Peter gives us six solid reasons why salvation by grace is to be accepted.

Reason one, verse 7, ”Peter rose up, and said, ‘Men and brethren, you know how a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the Word of the gospel.” Before when Cornelius was saved, all he had to do was believe. Second reason: the gift of the Holy Spirit. Do you think God gives His Holy Spirit to somebody who’s not truly saved? Of course not.

Thirdly, cleansing from sin; look at verse 9, it says, “Purifying their hearts by faith.” That was all God required then. And then fourthly, Peter says why put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” And their fifth proof that salvation is by grace, and that was the miracles. “They declared what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.”

James was last, and he showed that prophetic promise indicated Gentiles would be saved by grace. These are Old Testament prophecies from Amos 9. James says in verse 17, “That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the nations.” You don’t have to become a Jew. And that led to the decision, verse 19 to 29, and it was stated in the letter that was taken to the Gentiles.

Verse 19, James says, “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” Verse 20, “Instead, we should tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood.” Those were offensive to Jews. So these are for the sake of reaching unsaved Jews.”

Verse 21, “For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.” And so, remember how we talked about the law of love in Christianity, which says, “I don’t do certain things, because they make my brother stumble?” We will be careful in fellowship, so not to offend unreached Jews, but to show them love.

Verse 22, “Then the apostles and elders together with the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates, and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders, Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas.” They were not only pleased with the decision, they were pleased to send along two of their leaders.

James was one of the chief men. He was the one who wrote the letter, so he was maybe the one who could articulate better than others. No, there should be a plurality of chief men, raised up by God. Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember them who have the rule over you.” It is the same word that is used in Acts 15. It means the command, the authority that is mentioned on the body.

Verse 23, “This is the letter they took with them: “This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings!” The Jewish brethren to the Gentile brethren. It is hard to imagine the tremendous impact of just that greeting. It doesn’t talk about Cyprus and Galatia, where they founded the churches.

Because they were extensions of Antioch. They are included in the Antioch Church. So, they’re writing all of the Gentile churches, all of them were getting in on the information. Verse 24, “We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their false teaching, but we did not send them!” You do not have to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses.

False doctrine is real trouble. Legalism is deep trouble. Because when you start tampering with the doctrine of salvation, you destroy grace, and you have destroyed salvation, and you damned people. Obedience is doing something for the glory of God. Legalism is doing something for the glory of self. God has always had laws. The perfect royal law is the law of love.

Verse 25, “So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul.” They came to complete agreement, because the Holy Spirit superintended each individual, they collectively had the mind of the Spirit. Notice the one word, “beloved,” it gives an indication of how they felt about Barnabas and Paul.

Verse 26, “Men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Remember that Paul was stoned in Acts 14:19 and left for dead. Paul knew that God is in charge of our lives and so when you are not afraid to die, you become real courageous all the time. Let us look at the character traits of Paul and Barnabas, so that becomes a motivation for all believers.

First of all, the motive for being fearless that we see in the New Testament is the benefit of others. Paul says, “If I be offered on the sacrifice of your joy, I rejoice.” Secondly, they were fearless because they wanted the knowledge of Christ. I just want to bear in my body the marks of Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:24 says, “That I may experience all that there is of what He took.”

Thirdly, I think they suffered because of the continuity of life. Romans 14:7-9, “None of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself, for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.” Whether we live, therefore or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, rose, and revived, that He might be the Lord of the dead and the living.

Then fourth, they suffered a lot because of a desire for heaven. They just figured it would be better to do that anyway. Fifthly, because of obedience. They obeyed the principles that Christ had left them. You know what Peter said? “Hereunto were you called to suffer for Him. After you have suffered a while, God will establish you and settle you.” And lastly, “For the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Verse 27, “We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided concerning your question.” These were the two Jewish fellows from the Jerusalem church, to confirm the testimony. “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us.” There’s a meeting that comes together and we and the Holy Spirit agree. And that was the beauty of this unity because they were all in the Holy Spirit.

Verse 28-29, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: 29 You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.” In other words, if you don’t do these things, it’ll be to your benefit.

So let’s close with the development. What happened when they delivered the letter? Verse 30-31, “The messengers went at once to Antioch, where they called a general meeting of the believers and delivered the letter. 31 And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message.” So there was consolation and celebration, they had some kind of party.

Verse 32, “Then Judas and Silas, both being prophets, spoke at length to the believers, encouraging and strengthening their faith.” Only grace builds you up. Verses 33-35, “They stayed for a while, and then the believers sent them back to the church in Jerusalem with a blessing of peace. 35 Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch. They and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord there.”

Verse 34 isn’t in the manuscripts. Apparently, a scribe put it there, it says “it pleased Silas to abide there.” Well, and they went about doing two things, evangelism and edification. The message came back and the church established the doctrine of salvation, picked up where it left off, and took off. There’s no other salvation, except having faith in the name of Jesus Christ, and that alone. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 28 May 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230528 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000203 imblog

Acts 15:13-18

We’re continuing our study of Acts 15, where the council of Jerusalem faced its first crisis, and it was the crisis of the doctrine of salvation. Some were trying to teach that a person was saved by grace plus works. Others were believing that a person is saved by grace alone. And so, the conflict ensued and was resolved in the council of Jerusalem. The record of that resolution is in the first 35 verses.

Now, as we approach this, we come to the concept of grace. Grace is a word that is essential in Christianity. In fact the term grace belongs to Christianity. All other religious systems in the world are based upon works of men. There are certain things that a man must do, and because he does those things God approves of him. And if those approving deeds outweigh those disapproved, you’re in.

Christianity exists offering a salvation which absolutely has nothing to do with what you do, what you have done, or what you will do. The salvation offered in Christianity stands apart from every other system as a pure grace salvation. And grace might be defined as this: it is God’s free salvation, offered to men on the basis of what Christ did, and apart from what they might do.

I am saved not because of anything I deserved, not because of anything that I did, not because of anything that I am, but because of all that Christ is, and all that He did, which I only believed, and God accounted to me as salvation. Now, grace then, is the free effort on God’s part to save men. God did not just offer grace to save you, but grace goes so far that God wants to make you like His Son.

He wanted to conform you to Jesus Christ. You see, that’s the character of grace that knows no limits. His grace is unlimited, so that to tap His grace initially is to tap His grace eternally. It comes all together, or not at all. In fact, in Hebrews 10:14, it says, “By one offering Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified.” The grace of God offered in salvation makes you perfect.

For somebody to say, “Yes, grace does make you perfect, but you need to add such and such,” is ridiculous. What could you add to perfection? If grace makes you perfect, that settles it. You can’t add anything to perfection; all you would do would be mess it up, and wind up with imperfection. And grace perfects forever the one who comes to Christ, and so we add nothing to grace.

Then, you move, secondly, to what Paul describes in Romans 5 as “the grace in which we stand.” Having been saved by grace, I live in grace, and then that grace is expanded to conform me to Christ. God can’t limit His grace. The ultimate end of my salvation is I’ll be like Jesus Christ. And I haven’t done one thing to deserve it; not before, not during, and not after. It is pure grace.

Christianity says, “Simply believe what He has done, and I’ll conform you,” says God, “to the very image of Jesus Christ, forever.” But you know, it’s amazing that even within the confines of Christianity, people misunderstand grace. They misrepresent grace, and even fight grace. God does not want you to say, “Well, God, I’m going to do all my little things now, you know like You did for me.”

People trying to pay God back for a love gift, by giving Him labor. Which does nothing but restrict the flow of love, and eliminate the freedom of His gift of grace. Well, that’s what happened in the early church. Here God was offering free salvation to Gentiles, and the Jews were running around saying, “Oh, you must be circumcised, and you must obey the law and the ceremony.

Now, remember that the Lord said in, Matthew 16, “I will build My church.” When Jesus sets His mind to do something, He does it. And He went on to say, “And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” He started in Jerusalem, which was fine. And then He moved to Samaria, and some of the Samaritans were getting saved, and that was rough to handle because Samaritans were despised by the Jews.

The Jews believed in keeping the Hebrews pure, and these Samaritans had intermarried with pagans. But they did worship the God of Israel, and they were sort of part of Judaism, and so it was tolerable. But then a couple of radicals came along, named Paul and Barnabas. And they were going all over the Gentile world, just offering salvation to every Gentile who wanted it.

And the result was a lot of Gentile congregations were started all over the place. They didn’t think it was fair that a Gentile could live the way he wanted to live, and just come and believe in the Messiah, and suddenly he was an equal They wanted to make sure those Gentiles became Jews first. They thought they were the only ones who could get to God, they did it because it was an ego problem.

These Jerusalem Jews, who were known as the circumcision party, or also known as the Judaizers, trying to impose Judaism on others, started traveling around, messing up the minds of the Gentiles. So, the heresy that they were teaching even hit the areas where Paul had established churches in Galatia. So they had messed up the whole Gentile Christian community with this false doctrine.

If you know everything else and you don’t know how to get saved, you’ve missed it all. This section is divided into four parts. The first part was the dissension. This is what goes on in religion today. Well, secondly is the discussion. Peter, Paul (also Barnabas) and James. Verse 11, “We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

They simply stated their faith, that it is grace plus nothing. And the first guy to support this is Peter. He said salvation by grace is evidence by past revelation. Secondly, it is the gift of the Spirit. Only saved people get the Spirit. Third thing: God forgave and purified them by faith. He says, “Why put legalism on them? It didn’t even work for us.” Peter’s argument was potent. “Then all the multitude kept silence.”

Paul and Barnabas declared what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them in verse 12. Paul preached a grace message, and God supported his message with miracles. That means God approved of his message, right? Paul said, “Look, people, God has already attested to the validity of the grace salvation by the miracles that have attended our preaching.”

The Judaizers had no miracles accompanying their information. Then James speaks. Verse 13, “When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me.” James adds the sixth proof of salvation by grace, prophetic promises, and it goes from verse 14 - 18, “Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself.”

“15 And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written: 16 ‘Afterward I will return and restore the fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, 17 so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord, including the Gentiles, all those I have called to be mine. The Lord has spoken. 18 He who made these things known so long ago.”

Now, what James says here is simple; it’s the interpretation of it, and how it fits the scene that becomes difficult. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And that is exactly what the prophets predicted. Now he says, “If you’re all uptight about Gentiles getting saved, have you forgotten that, this is also what the prophets predicted?”

Verse 16-17, “After this I’ll return, build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I’ll build again its ruins, and I’ll restore it: So that the Gentiles might seek the Lord, and all the people whom I have called to be mine,’ says the Lord, who made these things known so long ago.” This prophecy basically says that Gentiles are going to get saved as Gentiles.

God says, “I call them directly to myself.” This is a millennial prophecy. And he’s saying this: there are two parts to the kingdom, Israel’s restoration. Israel’s going to reign in the kingdom, right? And that’s verse 16. “I’ll return, build the tabernacle of David,” which means the nation of Israel. But also in the kingdom of the Gentiles are going get saved as Gentiles in verse 17.

Christ is going return and set up His kingdom. Remember the judgment of the sheep and goats, in Matthew 24 and 25? The Gentiles who have mistreated Israel, those are the goats that are going be cast into fire. But the sheep Gentiles, are going to inherit the kingdom. So, you have living Gentiles going into the millennial kingdom. Those Gentiles are going have many children in the kingdom.

Now, they’re going have to get saved just like everybody else, by believing in Jesus Christ. But not all of them will be saved. There’s enough of them to have a worldwide rebellion at the end of the thousand years, remember when Satan is loosed, and leads them in a worldwide rebellion? And watch, the point is this is: they will be saved as Gentiles in the kingdom.

That’s the only way the Amos prophecy makes sense. Isaiah 11:10 says, “In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations (the Gentiles) will rally to Him and the land where He lives will be a glorious place.” Isaiah 66:23 says, “All humanity will come to worship Me from week to week and from month to month.” And he’s talking about Zion, where Christ will reign.

All the nations whom the Lord calls are going come to Him as they are. That’s the only requirement. We’ve told you that everything that’s going happen in the future kingdom has a limited fulfillment in this age of the church. For example, in the kingdom, Christ is going to reign, right? But now He reigns in our hearts. In the kingdom, there’s going be peace, but now there’s peace in our hearts.

In the kingdom, He will pour out His Spirit on all flesh; in the church age, the Spirit indwells the believer. Everything in the full character of the kingdom is, in a limited sense seen in the church. Now, can’t we see the allowance of Gentile salvation now, during the church age, without Judaism? So, it fits beautifully in the character of the thousand year kingdom.

And as I studied this, I thought, “Well, why does He put verse 16 in there?” This verse is to show all people that God has not set Israel aside in the Gentile salvation. Dispensational theology says that God still has a plan for Israel. On the other hand you have Covenant theology, which says God has forfeited all of His plans for Israel, and resolves everything in the church.

If God’s promises to Israel aren’t good, and if God didn’t keep His word to Israel, I’m not too secure in what He’s promised me. God said to Israel, “You’ll have a kingdom and you’ll reign with Me, and you’ll be restored, and you’ll be rebuilt, and you’ll be in your land, and you’ll have a kingdom.” So, verse 16 is in there because Jews needed to know that God has not forgotten Israel.

And we believe that God is going set up a kingdom for Israel in the future. Peter said in his sermon, “You killed the Prince of life.” But he turned right around and said, “And you’re still the sons of the covenant” same chapter. All we have to do is announce to the Jews that unbelievers get the curses and believers get the blessings. So he wants to confirm that God hasn’t set them aside.

God is not finished with Israel. Study the Old Testament and the New Testament, and you’ll find that the promises of Gentile salvation are all the while connected to the restoration of Israel. In the Old Testament prophecies, the promise of Israel’s restoration and the promise of Gentile salvation are in the same verse. Just because the restoration of Israel is true, the church existence is also true.

In the tribulation, God seals a hundred and forty four thousand out of Israel, to be His witnesses. In the kingdom, whose sleeves are people hanging on to when they’re coming to Messiah? The Jews. In the early church, who was it that carried the gospel to Israel? The Jews. Who was it that carried the gospel to Samaritans? The Jews. To the Gentiles? The Jews Paul and Barnabas.

God has always chosen Jewish servants, and God still in the future is going to use Jews. They didn’t have to become Jews; they were just going be led in by Jews. And in the Kingdom, God is going to use Israel as His messengers to bring people to Messiah. God has to rebuild Israel. Why? Because it is they who are going to be His witnesses, in order that they might bring the nations to the Lord.

And the key to the interpretation is verse 18, “He who made these things known so long ago.’ God hasn’t changed His plans. He’s still going restore Israel, you’re still going to clutch their sleeves there and carry ten Gentiles on in to the King. God just has an initial plan Peter told you about first, to gather out a people to begin with. But let’s face it, it’s no big deal that they’re getting saved as Gentiles now. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 May 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230507 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000202 imblog

Acts 15:1-12

As we begin Acts 15, we see the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the expansion of the church. The gospel has spread in the beginning to the Gentile world. Paul and Barnabas have accomplished the first missionary journey. God had established a beachhead in the Gentile world in the church in Antioch of Syria; and Paul and Barnabas evangelized Cyprus, and Galatia in Asia Minor.

Now this has been a difficult journey, in the sense that it established a new avenue for the church. This is a new ministry which is the invitation to Gentiles, to non-Jews, to enter into the fullness of the church of Jesus Christ. And in all of the attendant blessings promised to Israel are theirs equally. Paul and Barnabas, not only evangelized, but they also followed up and organized the church with the appointing of elders.

Then they returned to Antioch to carry on their ministry as they had begun it there. Since Gentiles had been included in the church, that becomes the fuel for the fire in Acts 15. It was always a difficult thing for Jews to allow the inclusion of Gentiles into the church. For the most part, Jews in the early years of the church, saw Christianity only as a sect of Judaism. Christianity was not distinct from Judaism.

And it’s easy to see how they felt like that, because all of the promises to Israel are fulfilled in the coming of Messiah. And so they just believed that Judaism simply resolved itself in Christianity; and that you could not honestly have Christianity in its purity, unless you were plugged into Judaism. And so the Jews saw Christianity only as the logical end to Judaism.

And so the very concept that a pagan could simply jump right into the church, and be equal to a Jew was foreign for most of them, and they could not handle it. As a result of the inability to see Christianity independent of Judaism, a conflict ensued. The conflict then is the theme of Acts 15. It’s inevitable that there will be conflict because of this attitude that Christianity was the last step in Judaism.

And that the presence of Gentiles in the church was going to start a fire. However the Jews had been tolerant in the fact that they had allowed the Samaritans to enter the church. And the Samaritans were half Jewish and half Gentile. In addition to that, they had allowed the Ethiopian eunuch, and Cornelius and his entourage, his household to become Christians.

Paul and Barnabas then were designated as radicals, they were activists, and they were undermining the traditions of the fathers. They were really destroying the sacred separateness of Judaism, And so these conservatives decided to take things into their own hands, and because they decided to do that, they precipitated the first great council of the early church to decide that.

That’s the issue of the Jerusalem conference, how do you get saved? Is it by grace alone, or is it by grace and law? And with all of the sects that we have within the framework of Christianity, the deviated ones are the ones who are adding something to the method of salvation. It seems difficult for people to understand that they are saved by faith plus nothing based on Christ’s perfect work.

But the Bible is so explicit in teaching that you’re saved by God’s grace, through faith, plus nothing. We have a whole world full of legalistic heads, who always want to add on something to the perfect work of Christ done on the cross. It would be like me taking my pencil and touching up the Mona Lisa. I’m not even an artist, and it doesn’t need touching up. It’s already a masterpiece.

The Roman Catholic Church says, “Yes, you are saved by faith, and grace saves you, grace and faith, but grace is mediated through the sacraments, so you must take the sacraments, and you must partake of the Lord’s Supper, for it mediates divine life. And “Yes, you are saved by faith, but the ark of salvation is the church. You must join the church.” And people were adding on to grace.

Now there are four features. First, there was the dissension, then there was the discussion, then there was the decision, and then there was the development. So first dissension. Verse l, “While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers, “Unless you are circumcised as required by the Law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Now the brethren, in verse 1, are the believers at Antioch. They have no commission from the Jerusalem church officially. They’re self-appointed guardians of legalism. And they’ve come to Antioch to straighten out all the Gentiles. Some commentators feel that they followed the path of Paul and Barnabas, and visited every one of the cities they had just come from on their missionary tour.

Now this issue of imposing law, being circumcised, is the position that is known as Judaizing. That means to impose upon Gentiles’ ritual, or legalism. Now the apostle Paul, has got this clear in his head. He’s not confused, even though he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. In Galatians 5:1 he said, “Don’t be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. We’ve been set free, remain free.”

Verse 2, “Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question.” Well, they really had a fight. First they won’t do eat with a Gentile. Because no Jew would eat with a Gentile who is uncircumcised.

They wouldn’t go into their homes. To go into a Gentile home was to defile yourself. They wouldn’t even eat Gentile food, they didn’t believe in the way they cooked it, et cetera. So here they were at a stone wall when they arrived. And they wouldn’t get at the Lord’s Table together. Paul saw the wedge that was driven between Jew and Gentile, and he really was mad.

Verse 3, “The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them, much to everyone’s joy, that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.” They came along through this territory that was populated by Hellenistic Jews and Samaritans, who weren’t so hung up on being so legalistic. And so they were building support as they went.

Verse 4, “When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them.” They always gave the glory to God. In their testimony there was sufficient evidence to verify salvation by grace through faith plus nothing. Well the circumcision party got real upset.

Verse 5, “But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the Law of Moses.” In other words, they couldn’t just be saved by faith, they had to be circumcised, and go through an actual physical medical operation, and then keep the Law of Moses before they could be saved.

Now the church had a problem: great dissension, just building and mounting. And really, friends, it’s the same today. Fundamentally evangelical Christianity knows what it believes. But we still consistently fight the cults and all of the sects that float around on the basis of the fact that you must add to grace works. Verse 6, “So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue.”

Verse 7, “At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe.” Now here you have three speeches given at the Council. And all three speeches are in support of grace plus nothing.

Verse 8-11 gives us Peter’s view, God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?

11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” He’s not speaking for himself only. The elders and the apostles have had a private conference, and out of that conference here is their statement. God saves apart from anything you ever did. It is purely by grace. They cannot keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved.

Peter says, “Look backwards. This issue was settled at least ten years ago. You know that God by choice chose me to go to the Gentiles to preach the gospel, and they believed, and that’s all God asked. God did not impose circumcision then.” So Peter says verifying salvation by grace is past information. The point is, “Have you come up with something new that God doesn’t even require?”

The second proof is the gift of the Holy Spirit in verse 8. God give His Holy Spirit only to believers because He knows their hearts. The minute they put their faith in the Messiah, the Christ, they received the Holy Spirit. That’s God’s way of validating salvation. That’s why the Bible can say if you’re a true Christian, you’ll be led by the Spirit. Even as He did to us; and put no difference between us and them.”

Remember in Acts 19, Paul ran into some guys who didn’t know what was going on. Paul was checking on everybody, because he was around when the Spirit was sent to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles on some occasions. “And so he says to this group, ‘Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said, ‘We haven’t even heard of the Holy Spirit.’

They say, ‘Oh, we’re converts to John the Baptist.’ Then he introduces them to Christ, and immediately they were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body. The Spirit came immediately when they believed on Jesus Christ. There was no imposition of legalism on them at all. The minute they put their faith in the Messiah, they received the Holy Spirit. That’s God’s way of validating salvation.

Cleansing from sin in verse 9, “purifying their hearts by faith.” Here again Peter says, “Look, if it’s not enough that you’ve seen past revelation, God didn’t require legalism or circumcision, if it’s not enough that they got the gift of the Holy Spirit, how about this for truth: they were cleansed from sin.” And God does not cleanse people who are not truly converted, right?

The fact that they were purified in their hearts by faith means faith is enough. What else could there be done except purification? When God takes away sin, that’s it. In Ephesians 1:7 he says, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” See you can’t earn forgiveness. God does not cleanse people from sin whose salvation is not legitimate.

Then Peter points out that salvation is by free grace alone. He says in verse 10, this is the fourth evidence: the law can’t save. He says, “So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me.

For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Verse 11, “We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” The great evidence for salvation by grace is the fact of miracles by God. “Don’t challenge God, and don’t question God. His decision in salvation is final. “Don’t test God.”

Verse 12, “Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.” God does not get involved in confirming false doctrine by miracles. Everywhere Paul and Barnabas went they preached grace through faith. And you know God was attesting to their message by miracle after miracle.

God was confirming what they were saying. Listen to Mark l6:19, “So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received into heaven, sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, and the Lord working with them, confirming the word with signs following.” These Judaizers did not have any confirming miracles to their witness.

Hebrews 2:3 - 4 says exactly the same thing: God confirmed the message with signs, wonders, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. God does not support false teachers. And if God was supporting the doctrine of grace, then the doctrine of grace was correct, right? Here’s Paul: “For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourself. Even faith is a gift of God, lest any man should boast.

You say, “Oh man, that’s terrific. I love the doctrine of grace. Wow, I’m going to go out and really live it up: grace, grace,” But watch now the next verse, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” You say, “Oh, you mean works are a part of it? Yeah, works don’t save you, but works are the result of your salvation, a gift of God to bless others. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Apr 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230430 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000201 imblog

Acts 14:1-28

Acts 14 gives us as clear a picture of the responsibility of the believer to the world. Do you know that the term missionary never appears in the Bible? The concept has grown up to be defined as missions. And we can get very detached from reality when we deal with missions in the church. And there is absolutely no difference between a “missionary” and any other Christian. There’s none.

Let’s use what the Bible uses; the term that Jesus used to describe our responsibility to a lost world. Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

If you are a Christian, you are a discipler. The only question is whether you're any good at it. And Jesus was one and Paul was one and that’s it. Our Lord says, “Make disciples.” There is no difference between whether you do that here and the disciple is your 8-year-old son or daughter, or your wife. Or your disciple is the guy you have a prayer meeting with or a Bible study.

Jesus made disciples. Remember when He went along the Sea of Galilee and gathered them. He made disciples. Joseph of Arimathea was a man who also himself had been discipled by Jesus. So you have the Old Testament pattern. The scribes were discipled. Jesus sets the example. Jesus discipled. Jesus gave the command “go into all the world and you disciple people.”

Jesus who is Lord and He said, “Go make disciples.” But I don’t know whether I’m a good one. Well, that’s to be dealt with in Acts 14 this evening. How can you be a good one? There are seven things that are characteristics of somebody who really fulfills the commission Christ has given. And seeing how Paul and Barnabas did this gives us a good example of how to follow their example.

Number one. Effective disciplers are administering their spiritual gifts. Verse 3, “But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders.” In that verse alone you can see that they were preaching, they were teaching, and they were doing miracles.

We can see here that Paul and Barnabas manifest the gifts of preaching, teaching, exhortation, administration, miracles and healing. It is vital in any effective discipling ministry that the individual doing it understand and recognize and be using the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given him. You will never really be effective in discipling unless you are gifted for ministry and use it.

These men had been doing this before they were ever commissioned to go on this missionary journey. In Acts 13 it tells us both of them were pastors of the church in Antioch. And as pastors of the church in Antioch they were preaching and teaching. And verse 2 says “they were ministering to the Lord and they were fasting.” They were in the flow of doing what God had gifted them to do.

Effective disciplers are not sitting around waiting for a call. They are in vital involvement with their gifts, learning what they are, walking in the Spirit, seeing God manifest himself through their abilities and manifestations of the Spirit. They are ministering already and it is in the flow of that kind of living that God will place them in some area of a special assignment to unbelievers.

In Acts 9 it says, “As Peter was going everywhere, God brought him to Lyda.” And when he got to Lyda a revival happened and it wasn’t long after that till he met with the people in Joppa and raised Dorcas from the dead and another revival happened. He was in two revivals. And it was God who brought him there as he was busy somewhere else. God uses the people that are already working.

And so these people are ministering the gifts God has given them and it’s in the flow of that that God is able to direct them to the area where He wants their discipling to be done. Know your gifts, beloved. Know what God has given you in terms of ministry. Know where your responsibilities lie because that’s where God has gifted you, and be ministering in that area.

The second characteristic of a discipler is that you see in the passage here is courage. In Acts 14:1, “The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.” Of course, you know the reactions. Some people listen, some people get saved, and some people get mad.

Verse 2, “Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas.” They decided to do some persecution. But in spite of that, God restrained the persecution. Verse 3, “But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders.”

No, it isn’t in spite of persecution they spoke boldly, it was because of it. So the more the persecution began to grow, the more there was to talk about. We don’t know how long. And God granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” And, of course, you know that the signs and wonders were in order that God might confirm that their word was true, their word was divine.

Verse 4, “But the people of the town were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.” This is the kind of a person who isn’t daunted by adversity; and say, “The field is closed.” No, this is the kind of thing where you boldly go out and you do what God has called you to do and you're willing to accept whatever happens.

Verse 5, “Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them.” And there was going to be a lynching there only they were going to use stones. The Jews apparently had convinced the Gentiles that these people had blasphemed and so the Jewish execution for blasphemy was going to be carried out, so it was time to stone them.

Verse 6, “When the apostles learned of it, they fled to the region of Lycaonia, to the towns of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area.” They went because there was time for ministry. But here is what the Iconium people said about Paul, “He was a man small in size, with a large nose, bald-headed, bull legs, strongly built, full of grace. At times he looked like a man and at times he looked like an angel.”

Verse 7, “And there they preached the Good News.” They had a tremendous persecution that threatened to take their life and yet they had the courage of what they believed God had called them to do. And some Christians never experience God’s providential courage because they never allow themselves to get in a place where they'll have to experience it. God doesn’t give you what you need until you need it.

The third thing is power. Verse 8-9, “While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting 9 and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed.” Here’s a man who’s ready to believe this gospel if only he could be cured was divine and if I did a miracle it would convince him.

Verse 10, “So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.” That took a lot of faith on Paul’s part. There are Christians who don’t have the confidence in the power of God. If you don’t believe that you have the power to win somebody to Christ and disciple that somebody, you question God’s promise because God said, “You shall receive power.”

No, Paul didn't fight that battle because Paul had absolute belief in God’s power, didn't he? It could have destroyed his entire credibility in that town. “Rise up” – he said – “and walk.” And what happened? And he leaped and walked. And I’m sure Paul didn't go, “Oh, my heart. Thank you God. Oh. Boy, the anxiety on that one.” No. He just went right on about his business.

Here was a man who knew God had promised him power. He just claimed it and used it. You know, Christian, you've got the same thing, right? Not necessarily the apostolic gift of miracles and healing but you've got the power of God by the indwelling Holy Spirit to share Christ in His power, right? An effective discipler is somebody who believes that the power of God is his, claims it and steps out on faith.

Fourthly, humility. Verse 11, “When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!” They lifted up their voice and they said that in Lycaonian, which Paul didn't understand. They believed that the two gods, Zeus and Hermes, had visited them. And they used the Roman names for Zeus and Hermes which were Jupiter and Mercury.

Verse 12-13, “They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the chief speaker. 13 Now the temple of Zeus was located just outside the town. So the priest of the temple and the crowd brought bulls and wreaths of flowers to the town gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to the apostles.” And the apostles are still standing there trying to figure it out.

Verse 14-15, “But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, 15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings, just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.”

You always do God’s work from the vantage point of humility, never from the vantage point of human exaltation. Always. God wants humble people. They didn't want any exaltation. They wanted to do God’s work, God’s way. And when Jesus came into the world He also humbled himself. And when He sends us into the world He humbles us. If we exalt ourselves we violate that.

Verses 16-18, “In the past He permitted all the nations to go their own ways, 17 but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, He sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” 18 But even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.” The apostles tried but they had a hard time cooling them off.

A fifth is persistence. Verse 19, “Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead.” Here come the Jews from the other town down to Lystra. Some of them had come as far as 118 miles. That’ll give you some idea of the fever of the persecution, and they walked the whole way.

And they stoned him thinking that he was dead. Now whether he was dead or not is hard to know, but they thought he was dead. They had broken his body to pieces. Threw him on the dump assuming him dead. Verse 20, “But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.” He just got up. It’s such a big miracle for such a small statement.

He rose up and went back into the city. He wasn’t finished yet. Verse 21-22, “After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, 22 where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

He drags his beaten, bleeding body off a dump and walks back in the city, finishes his message, goes 30 miles, preaches some more and walks back to the whole 150-mile trek the other way going back to where he had just been so he could confirm the saints that had come to Christ when he was there the first time. You can be an effective one by ministering your gifts – courage, power, humility, persistence.

And you have to lead them. Verse 23, “Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.” He helped them get organized. Help them get involved into a body of believers and that’s what Paul did. They don’t quit after they've led somebody to Christ. They go back and teach them.

Verse 24-28, “Then they traveled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia. 25 They preached the word in Perga, then went down to Attalia. 26 Finally, they returned by ship to Antioch of Syria, where their journey had begun. The believers there had entrusted them to the grace of God to do the work they had now completed. 27 Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported everything God had done.”

Through them He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there with the believers for a long time.” You want to be a discipler the way God wants it, right? Know your gifts and use them. Be courageous. Rest in His power. Humble yourself. Be persistent. Follow up and share with others what He’s doing. Let us pray that you become a discipler too.

]]> Sun, 23 Apr 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230423 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000200 imblog

Acts 13:38-52

Every Jew down deep in his heart longed for freedom for guilt. He longed to experience forgiveness. And life was a cycle of sinning and getting forgiven and sinning and getting forgiven and sacrificing. And Paul has got the best news the Jews ever heard. Verse 38 says, “Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins.”

Verse 39 says, “Everyone who believes in Him is made right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do.” All the Law of Moses did was just cover you up a little bit. That’s good news to everyone. Moses couldn’t forgive you. “But by Him”, referring to Jesus, “all that believe are justified.” The word justified means declared righteous before God by Him.

Now one thing a Jew never got was freedom in his conscience. As a Christian you have a conscience free from guilt. My sin has been dealt with by God's Son Jesus Christ and that God sees me as pure as fresh snow. And I have no condemnation because I’m in Christ. Christ is the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and believers.

Do you know that the statement “all that believe” includes Jew and Gentile, and that’s what made everyone so mad. “By Christ all that believe are justified from all things.” What a fabulous thought. Colossians 2:13 says, “He has forgiven you all your trespasses.” And in verse 14 it says that the debt of sin was nailed to the cross. Now how many of my sins were future when Christ died? Every one of them.

Verse 40-41, “Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said, 41 ‘Look, you mockers, be amazed and die! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.” Habakkuk 1:5 says, “Look around at the nations; and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day that you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.”

The passage warns against the unbelief of Israel. If Israel rejects as continually they have done with the message of God, they’re going to be doomed. Remember what God did to them in Habakkuk? He sent the Chaldeans, sacked Jerusalem, and hauled them off to Babylon, wiped out the whole country. And Paul says to that congregation in Antioch. “You better beware lest what God did then happens to you.”

It is the hardest thing for people to believe is that God is a God of judgment. There is a hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, where there’s weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And there’s going to be a day of judgment and it’s going to come and men don’t believe it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen. God knew many people wouldn’t believe it.

He said, “You won’t believe it even though somebody tells you.” And so the warning closes out Paul’s sermon. He says, “I’m giving you an invitation. For all who believe, all things are forgiven and you’re justified. But beware, if you don’t believe it, God’s going to work a work of judgment which you won’t believe.” So you either believe in Jesus Christ or you don’t believe what’s going to happen.

Verse 42 - 43, “As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next week. 43 Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.” There were four things that were positive. One, they were pleased. The Jews said, “Would you come back next week?”

The only issue was that all of it resolved in Jesus; and whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. The greatest compliment to a teacher is to go home and pursue what he told you on your own. But, it’s not always right to wait. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “Now is the day of salvation.” Hebrews 3:7 - 8 says, “The Spirit says this: ‘Today while you’re still hearing, do not harden your heart.’”

Second point, they were persistent. Again, this is a compliment to Paul. What a teacher he was, because it says in verse 43, “many of the Jews and devout converts followed Paul and Barnabas.” They said, “Come back next week.” The term “devout converts” means both the full proselyte who had been circumcised, and the one who was just a God-fearer. So there were Jews and Gentiles.

But there’s something even better. They were even professing. Apparently they had even professed to believe the message they had heard, that Jesus was the Messiah. Verse 43 at the end says, “Paul and Barnabas, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” In some way they had professed to believe this, and so Paul and Barnabas were saying, “Now continue in the grace of God.”

What Paul and Barnabas were saying is live by grace. Now for a Jew, that was a special problem. The Jew was used to living not in the grace of God but under the law. What were Paul and Barnabas saying? They were saying this: “Hey, I’m offering you a new way. It’s grace not law. Now if you believe that, remain in the grace that you have heard about and don’t go back to the law.”

So Paul and Barnabas are simply saying, “You’ve accepted this concept of grace that you can be saved by Jesus Christ by only believing in Him. Stay with it; don’t go back.” That wouldn’t be easy, because pressure would come. Salvation is free, but if you add anything to Christ, you’ll lose Christ; and if you add anything to grace, it isn’t grace; and if you haven’t got grace, you are not saved.

Thirdly, they were present. Verse 44, “The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord.” Everything looked good at the beginning. But Paul wasn’t holding his breath for that, because the subsequent response begins in verse 45 says, “But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.”

They went opposite ways: the Jew, negative; the Gentile, positive. There also were Gentiles who were there that day who invited all their Gentile friends. So in verse 44, the whole city is there. And the split came just that fast. The Jews were filled with jealousy, envy. A Jew couldn’t tolerate, when a Gentiles is saved. They couldn’t take it in the Old Testament, and they couldn’t take it here.

They were prejudiced. They did not like Gentiles belonging and receiving the same salvation and blessing of God and Messiah that they had. They couldn’t handle that. It was selfishness. It was personal privilege, Jewish superiority. That was the issue. And so they got furious. The self-centeredness, and nationalism of their religion that they could not stand anybody else getting blessed.

Verse 45, “But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they blasphemed Paul and argued against whatever he said.” They were contradicting. It’s in the imperfect tense and in the Greek, the use of the imperfect is a continuous action and past-time. They were continually loud and long, opposing Paul. It was a riotous opposition. At the end of verse 45, it says they were blaspheming.

Blasphemy is the worst sin, it’s the sin of speaking evil of God and of Christ; and they did it. Do you realize they rejected their Messiah, forfeited everything for now and eternity, purely based on prejudice? People reject the gospel for many reasons, but they always love their sin. Now that sin may be different. But they’re not willing to sacrifice their ego that satisfies self.

Verse 46, “Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles.” Paul said in Romans 1:16, “I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it’s the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believes, to the Jew first.”

They were God’s people, and God wanted them to be His witness nation, and so God said, “I’ll send the gospel to you first; and then if you’ll believe it, spread it.” Paul says, “It was necessary to go to you first.” In Jerusalem, he went to the Jew first, didn’t he? But he says this: “Seeing you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, so we now turn to the Gentiles.

God is going to reach the world, and if you aren’t the vehicle, then the Gentiles will reach the Gentiles.” It is so sad where the Messiah’s people pushed the Messiah away after hundreds of years of waiting for Him. Do you know that a man who rejects Jesus Christ judges himself? God is not willing that any should perish. If a man dies without Christ, that’s because he wanted to do that.

Jesus isn’t on trial either. We know who He is. But you are on trial; and by what you do with Jesus Christ, you declare judgment on yourself. There is no place in the Bible where God sends people to hell. In the Bible God prepared hell for the devil and his angels. And if men choose to go there, they go there because they pronounced their own sentence in rejecting Jesus Christ.

And then to justify what he said, he quoted their own prophet in verse 47. He quoted Isaiah 49:6, as an Old Testament prophesy, For the Lord gave us this command when He said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.” Jesus was the light of the nations, wasn’t He? The Messiah wasn’t sent just to Israel. He was sent to the nations.

Your own prophet said that. What are you uptight about?” So Paul just taught them truth, “You have no business being prejudiced and being so negative in responding to this because you see Gentiles coming to Messiah.” Messiah was sent to be a light to the nations, for salvation to the ends of the earth. You don’t even know your own prophets. What a sad negative attitude.

Let me show you the positive response. Go the other way on the side of the Gentiles. While the Jews were negative, the Gentiles were positive. Verse 48, “And when the Gentiles heard this” – that salvation was for them, and Messiah was for them – “they were glad, and they glorified the Word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained by God to eternal life believed.”

That says that God chose them. Right, exactly. You say, “You mean they were ordained to be saved?” That’s right. You say, “Do you believe that God chose those that would be saved?” Absolutely. The word “ordained,” means to inscribe or enroll, and that it is used to make out a list. And what it is saying is that as many as were put on the list by God for eternal life, believed.

So, “When did God write the list?” The answer is in 13:8 and 17:8 of Revelation, and it says, “Your names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from before the foundation of the world.” That’s election. “You mean that everybody who’s saved is saved because God ordained them and wrote their name?” Yes. You say, “But you just said in verse 46 that if a man goes to hell, it’s his own fault.” Right.

You say, “Those two don’t go together.” Exactly. The Bible teaches both; I believe both. It’s God’s problem, not mine. When you are saved, God gets all the credit. When you are lost, you get all the blame. I don’t understand that, I just believe it, both of them are in the same passage. As many as were written in the book of life believed. But everybody who disbelieved was pronouncing a sentence on himself.

You have two doctrines in the Bible, human responsibility, when a man dies without Christ, it’s his own fault; and divine sovereignty, when a man comes to Christ, it’s only because God the Father drew him. And so there was salvation in Antioch. Verse 49, “And the Word of the Lord was spread throughout all the region.” Evangelism. When people get saved, they share.

Well, lastly, the results. What were the results of a negative response on the Jews’ part? Verse 50, “Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.” They were so mad when the Gentiles got saved, this infuriated them more. So the Jews persuaded the women to incite their husbands against them; expelled them out.

But the sad result to the Jews is verse 51, “So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium.” When they shook off the dust of their feet that was an important symbolic statement. Jesus said in Luke 10, “When you go to evangelize, when they don’t hear your message, and they don’t believe the Messiah, you shake the dust off your feet and leave that town.”

Jesus meant, “Treat those Jews like they were Gentiles. You don’t want a thing to do with them; they’re just like pagans.” That in itself was the most volatile rebuke that anyone could ever give to a Jew was to assign him a place with pagans; and they did it to them: “From now on, God looks at you like heathen.” They were doomed, because they rejected their Messiah, Jesus Christ.

The positive result we see in verse 52, “And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” See the contrast? Paul and Barnabas left town, took off for Iconium. They left two different groups. God saw one group as pagans; and God filled the other group with His Holy Spirit. The same is still happening here all over the world, some will believe and most will not. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Apr 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230416 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001FF imblog

Let’s discuss the importance of the resurrection. In an article this month there was a man who offered some reasons why he rejected the resurrection of Christ. That’s nothing new; soldiers were bribed at that time to lie about the resurrection, and there have been many people trying to discredit the resurrection ever since. Some just don’t understand how critical the resurrection is to our Christian faith.

All of Christianity is built on the resurrection. If there is no resurrection, there is no Christianity. If there is no resurrection, the Bible is full of lies. If there is no resurrection, there is no salvation, no forgiveness, no hope, and no heaven. And I want to see if I can show you at least in some small measure how broad, how wide, how high, and how deep the impact of the resurrection extends.

Let me start by talking about God the Father. The Bible tells us about God, about His nature, about His character; and one of the things that the Bible reiterates about God is that He is the truth, speaks the truth and nothing but the truth. In Psalm 119:89 it says, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” Psalm 33:11 says, “The counsel of the Lord stands sure forever.”

Psalm 86:15 says, “God is full of truth.” And 1 Kings 8:56 says that, “There has not failed one word of all His good promises.” Deuteronomy 32:4 sums it up by saying, “He is a God of truth, without iniquity.” Titus 1:2 says, “God cannot lie.” He is absolutely holy. The devil is the father of lies. And the truthfulness of God, and the character of God is at stake in the resurrection.

In Acts 2 the apostle Peter stands up to preach in the city of Jerusalem to a huge crowd of Jews that are gathered there on the day of Pentecost. And Peter preaches concerning Jesus. Listen to his words starting in Acts 2:22, “Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.”

“This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” Scripture says God raised Jesus up from the dead. It repeats it over in verse 32: “This Jesus God raised up again.”

The conclusion of that is in verse 36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” Three times it says in this section that God raised Jesus up, that God loosed Him from the grip of death, that it was impossible for death to hold Him. Since God is the author of Scripture, He knew beforehand exactly what would happen.

Well, the Scripture used here by Peter does not speak of the power of God. It does not say God raised Him because He was wise enough. It doesn’t say that He raised Him up because He was full of compassion and mercy and wanted to extend grace to us. It says that God raised Him up because He said He would. And we see that immediately in verse 25 in a quote from the Old Testament.

In Psalm 16:8-11 David says, “‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will live in hope; because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’”

This clearly is a promise of resurrection, that the Messiah, the Holy One, will not have his soul abandoned in the grave, nor will he be allowed to undergo decay. Peter says Christ was raised by God because God said He would do it; and He did it. God’s Word is at stake in the resurrection. “And let every man be a liar,” says Scripture. The resurrection then impacts the very confidence we have in God.

The resurrection also has implications toward God the Son. There was only one fast commanded in Jewish history: that’s on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). But the Pharisees developed a pattern of fasting twice every week. They fasted every Monday and Thursday, to demonstrate their devotion to God. They made sure that everybody saw them fasting so as to think of them as truly devout.

Some disciples of John the Baptist, along with some Pharisees, were fasting in Mark 2. The disciples of Jesus did not. So they questioned Jesus in verse 18, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not?” Jesus, in verse 19, replies to them with a parable, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them.

20 But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Jesus describes a wedding. Nobody fasts at a wedding; you feast at a wedding. For Christ and the disciples the wedding represented the day of salvation. Christ is the bridegroom; believers are the bride; the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven as a bridal city.

If Christ does not rise, not only is God a liar, but Jesus Christ is a liar; God cannot be believed, and neither can Christ. And He is not the way, the truth, or the life. But He did rise from the dead, as the gospel record indicates. His prophecy was true, validating His deity. Colossians 1:15 says, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,”

He is God, the image of the invisible God, but He also was born as a man; and is a man, But He is more than just human, verse 16 says, “By Him all things were created.” He is the Creator, therefore He was before everything that was created. “He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.

Verse 18, “He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead.” The place of Christ as the God-man, the primacy of Christ, the preeminence of Christ is connected to His resurrection. He is the firstborn from the dead of all that have ever been raised or will be raised. He has first place in everything. It was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.

Resurrection affects the gospel. In Romans 1:2, Paul sets apart the features of the gospel. He says, “The gospel was promised beforehand, in the Old Testament, “through God’s prophets in the holy Scriptures.” What was promised was concerning His Son, who humanly was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, and declared also to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection from the dead.”

Everything concerning the Father, everything concerning the Son is connected to the resurrection. He is the image of the invisible God, the “precise copy,” the “exact replica” of God, the “perfect revelation” of God. Of all who have ever been created He ranks first, not in time, but in position: Creator, preexisting Creator, source of life. He upholds the creation, He dominates the spiritual world of angelic beings.

He’s the head of the church; all of this validated by His resurrection from the dead. He becomes, by the resurrection, the preeminent One. And Revelation 1:18 says through His resurrection He holds the keys to death and hell. In John 2, Jesus said to the Jewish people, “Destroy this body, and in three days I’ll raise it up.” He was not speaking of the temple, He was speaking of the temple of His own body.

In John 10:17-18, He said this, “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.” He had the power over His own body. He yielded up His life; and He took it back.

This has critical implications to 1 Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” If Christ is not raised, then God did not accept His sacrifice for sin, and if there is no sacrifice for sin, and you are still in your sins, headed for hell and punishment. If Christ has not been raised, verse 18, “Then those also who have died in Christ have perished.”

The character of the Father, the character of the Son, is at stake in the resurrection; also, the Holy Spirit. Romans 1:4 says, “The Son of God was declared to be so with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Holy Spirit.” It was the Holy Spirit, who had promised that Christ would rise in the scriptures of the Old Testament; and promised it in the scriptures of the New Testament.

In John 16:7, Jesus says to the disciples in the upper room at the last Passover, “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send Him to you.” Verse 13, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future.”

But it is also the Holy Spirit who not only reveals Christ in Scripture, but reveals Christ to the mind and the heart in the ministry and the miracle of regeneration. If you have no resurrection, then Christ doesn’t go back to heaven. If He doesn’t go back to heaven, He doesn’t send the Holy Spirit. If there’s no Holy Spirit, there’s no conviction of sin, there’s no regeneration of the spiritually dead, there’s no Christianity.

You have no church without the Holy Spirit; you have no Holy Spirit without the resurrection. So you see that to pull the resurrection out of Christianity, all of it collapses. If God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit lied to us, and there is no resurrection, and there is no salvation, and there is no hope, we’re a pitiful bunch of deluded religionists. But, Christ is risen from the dead.

The resurrection also had an impact on angels. Hebrews is designed to show the preeminence of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in every sense, in every way. But notice that, in the first chapter, He has the angels in view. He introduces the Son of God as the heir of all things, as well as the Creator of all things. And then He says about the Son of God, that, “He is the radiance of God’s glory.”

He provided the sacrifice for sin that God accepted. God raised Him from the dead, and He ascended to glory and took His place at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And at that point, “having become much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.” To which of the angels did God ever say, “You’re My Son; today I’ve begotten You”? None.

To which of the angels did God say, “I will be a father, and you shall be a son to Me”? None. And when He brings the firstborn into the world at the resurrection, He says, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” But to the Son, He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore Your God, has anointed You above Your companions.” (Angels).

He also has a relationship to fallen angels. The demons who chased Jesus around and tried to discredit Him were subject to Him. The Jewish leaders said, He has control of the world of demons. Colossians 2:15 says, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public display of them, triumphing over them.” 1 Peter 3:18 says, “When He died on the cross, He was dead in the flesh, but alive in the Spirit.”

And where was He when His Spirit was alive? He went to the demons. He went, it says, and made proclamation to the demon spirits, held in the prison of hell, and He declared to them His authority and His sovereignty over them. It says in verse 22, “Angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” The demons are subjected to Him and bow to the fierce force of His eternal punishment.

And lastly the impact of the resurrection on people. John 5:21 says, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” Verse 24 says, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

This is demonstrated immediately in verse 25, “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.” He has the power to raise all the dead. All people who have ever lived since Adam to the end of human history will be raised from the dead: all believers, all unbelievers. All will be raised.

All will receive a body suited for their eternal dwelling. Most will receive a body fit to receive everlasting punishment. Believers will receive a body like Christ’s glorified body, Philippians 3:20, suited to the joys of heaven. But everyone will be raised. Revelation 21, says all the dead from all over the planet throughout all of human history will come out of the ground, out of the sea, wherever they are.

Therein lies the good message of the gospel. Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Saved from hell. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, deny yourself, believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, the gospel is true. Christ did die for us as the perfect sacrifice; and He did rise.

]]> Sun, 09 Apr 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230409 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001FE imblog

Acts 13:14-37

We're going to study Jesus, the culmination of history. The Bible is the record of Jesus Christ. It is God presenting Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, the Savior of the world. In the Old Testament, God keeps promising a Deliverer, a Savior, a King, and a Messiah. And in the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth fulfills every single prophesy that God has ever made of a Messiah.

And the ones that are yet to be fulfilled by Him will be fulfilled in His second coming. Jesus Christ fulfilled prophesy after prophesy. There’s no way it can be manufactured; it’s a mathematical impossibility. Powerful arguments of prophesy sweep away all doubt that Jesus of Nazareth is not the Messiah. And as Paul is preaching here in the Acts 13, he focuses on Jesus as the fulfillment of prophesy.

The church has exploded in Jerusalem. When it was finished there, the Lord had designed that it would go to Judea and Samaria, which were the neighboring territories. Then a beachhead was established in the pagan world, and it was the church of Antioch in Syria. God designed that from that little congregation missionaries would be sent to reach the uttermost part of the earth.

In Acts 13 the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work unto which I have called them.” As we look at this passage, we will see how Jesus Christ is presented by Paul as the culmination, the goal, the climax of history. Our text for today is verse 14 through 37. Verse 14, “But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services.”

Now, that's not Antioch of Syria. Antioch of Pisidia was 3600 feet high on a plateau up on the Taurus Mountains. It was a hundred miles from Perga and it was a hundred miles up. Verse 15 says, “After the usual readings from the books of Moses and the prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message: “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, come and give it.”

Paul just stood up to preach. He begins this sermon in verse 16 with the words, “Men of Israel,” he said, “and you God-fearing Gentiles, listen to me.” There are two kinds of people in the synagogue: Israelites and those that fear God. God fearers is really the proper term referring to converted gentiles. And in the sermon, he presents the fact that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth.

Now the sermon falls into three parts. Jesus Christ is presented first as the culmination of history. Secondly as the fulfillment of prophesy. Thirdly as the justifier of sinners. He is the only one that can remove the curse that separates men from God. He is the only one who can give meaning to life individually and life collectively. So in those verses, 17-22, Paul declares that history comes down to Jesus Christ.

Verses 17 -22, “The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them multiply and grow strong during their stay in Egypt. Then with a powerful arm He led them out of their slavery. 18 He put up with them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness. 19 Then He destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years.”

“After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22 But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.”

So God responded to their desires. Notice that the desires of people don't alter the plan of God's history. God plans that into His history and they wanted a king and they had a great way to choose one. Whoever’s tallest and most handsome, that's our king. So, they got a king, but he was not the kind of a king that God wanted. God wanted a king that would obey His will. Saul wouldn't.

Even before Saul was dead, David was anointed. "The Lord has sought Him a man after His own heart." A man who obeys. God either goes through you or around you, but He gets where He's going. He's running history and He chose this man David. What is a man after God's own heart? He's not a perfect man. A man after God's own heart is a man who fulfills God’s will."

Verse 23, “And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel!” Jesus uses His human name. He is the seed of David. They did not expect to hear that. They live for the fact that they are in the plan of God. They have based their eternal salvation for centuries on the fact that God is their God. Yes, Jesus is a Jew, but not all Jews are saved.

God designed men to exist for fellowship with God and to give Him glory. Mankind sinned and fell. God said, “I want to recover them.” There is only one way He can recover them, and that’s through Christ. And so Christ is necessary as the apex of history. Only those who come to Jesus Christ fulfill the whole meaning of the world. Without Him, man can never be reconciled to God.

Jesus in verse 23, is the bridge to his second point. Through the line of Mary He had the blood of David. Through the line of Joseph, He had the right to the throne from David. So through both ways He was David’s seed. And now Paul moves into a sweeping statement secondarily. Why should I believe Jesus is the one?” So he says, “Because of the fulfillment of prophesy.”

The reason Jesus is the Messiah is because He fulfilled all the Messianic prophecies. That’s exactly what you have. God's saying all these prophesies about Messiah, every Jew knew that. Now Paul doesn’t expect those Jews to just believe that because he tells them, so he begins to mention all these prophesies. And from verse 23 through 37 Paul outlines the fulfillments of prophecies in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

God said in 2 Samuel 7, “I will raise up a Savior according to the seed of David.” Jeremiah 33:17 says, “For this is what the Lord says: David will have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel forever.” When the Messiah comes, it’ll be through David. Verse 24, “Before He came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized.”

This is the prophecies that there would be a forerunner to Messiah. Incidentally he is not called John the Baptist because he was a Baptist. He’s called John the Baptist because he was a baptizer. Verse 25, “As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But He is coming soon, and I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the sandals on his feet.”

That indicates there were prophecies being fulfilled. John then was preaching repentance, “Get ready, Messiah is coming.” John’s baptism was not Christian baptism, it was a baptism of repentance. Christian baptism didn’t come in ‘til after the death and resurrection of Christ. Romans 6 tells us that when we are saved we are buried with him by baptism into His death and resurrection.

So John was getting a whole lot of people ready so that when Messiah came their hearts would be ready to receive Messiah. Before anybody really comes to know Messiah, there must be repentance. There must be the turning from sin in the heart and then the turning to Christ. Repentance is necessary to be preached, and that’s why God had John do it. So John was preparing for Messiah.

If the messenger came, the Messiah must be right afterwards. Verse 26, “Brothers, you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles, this message of salvation has been sent to us!” Isn’t that great? “Don’t miss Him,” he says. “If Jesus is as you say the Messiah, why didn’t our leaders recognize Him?” If he is the Messiah and they did kill him, does that wipe out God's plan?

Verse 27, “The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned Him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath.” They killed him because they didn’t want to know who He was. You know what they did every Sabbath day? They read the Shema and then the law and the prophets.

But they were ignorant, and the reason they were ignorant was because they didn’t even understand the Scriptures they professed to read. You know that’s true in the name of Christianity where many people are reading Bibles and carrying Bibles who don’t know much about the meaning of the Bible? There are many people that instead take the Bible and pervert them and twist them.

They missed Christ because they didn’t even understand what they were reading. Too much sin, too much hypocrisy. The second question was this: If they killed him, did that wipe out God's plan? Look at the answer to that at the end of verse 27, “They have fulfilled them in condemning Christ.” God knew what they would do. All of the rejection of Christ was in the plan from the beginning.

In Isaiah 53:3, He was despised and rejected. Every detail was prescribed. God knew from the very beginning that He would be fully rejected, that He would be executed. In John 7:5, it says this: “For neither did his brothers believe in him.” Verse 48, when they were arguing about whether Jesus was Messiah, it says this: “Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed on him?”

Verse 28, “They found no legal reason to execute Him, but they asked Pilate to have Him killed anyway.” There wasn’t any legitimate accusation that could hold up, and Pilate repeatedly said, “There’s nothing wrong. I find no fault,” etcetera. Listen to Psalm 69:4, prophesy: “Those who hate Me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.” That fulfilled God’s plan; He knew they would do that.

Verse 29, “When they had done all that the prophecies said about Him, they took Him down from the cross and placed Him in a tomb.” They thought they were so wise, they were getting rid of this imposter insurrectionist, but they were fulfilling prophesy right on schedule. And Paul says, “And when they had fulfilled all the prophecies, they took Him down.” Jesus is no victim.

Look at what He fulfilled on the cross. Psalm 109:25 says, “I also have become a reproach to them that when they see Me they wag their head.” Matthew 27:39, “And those who were passing by were hurling abuse at Jesus, wagging their heads.” Psalm 22:18: “They divided My garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.” In John 19:23-24 the soldiers said, “Let’s not part his garment. Let’s cast lots.”

Psalm 69:21: “And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink and gall.” In Matthew 27:34, they gave him wine to drink mingled with gall. Psalm 22:1 says, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me,” In Matthew 27:46, Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Psalm 31:5 says, “Into your hands I commit my Spirit,” Luke 23:46, “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit,”

In Psalm 34:20, it says He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. John 19:33 says, “But coming to Jesus when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.” In Psalm 22:14, the Messiah says, “My heart is like wax, it melts within me.” John 19:34, his side was pierced and there flowed blood and water, indicating the breaking of his heart melting within him.

Zechariah 12:10 said, “They will look on Me whom they have pierced.” In John 19:34, a soldier took a spear and pierced His side. The Romans were in on the fulfillment. The Jews were in the fulfillment. Jesus was in on the fulfillment. The crowd was in on the fulfillment. Everybody was in on the fulfillment because God ordered it all. Jesus is the Messiah every way you see it.

Verse 30-31, “God raised Him from the dead! 31 And over a period of many days He appeared to those who had gone with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to the people of Israel.” “You killed him, God raised him,” said Peter. Here Paul says the same thing. The greatest proof that Jesus is Messiah is His resurrection. Why? Because all of the promises of God were fulfilled.

Verse 32-33, “And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors, 33 and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. God prophesied through David, “I’m going to have a living Messiah, a begotten in incarnation and in resurrection.”

Verse 34-36, “For God had promised to raise Him from the dead, not leaving him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.’ 35 Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ 36 This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed.

Verse 37, “No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.” Psalm 16:8-10 says, “You shall not allow your holy one to see corruption.” God promised that Jesus would rise from the dead. Some Jews said, “That’s referring to David.” But no Jew ever believed in the resurrection of David. Jesus is the Messiah because God raised Him again to life. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Mar 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230326 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001FD imblog

Acts 13:1-13

The book of Acts is a missionary book about the spreading of the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. But in Acts 13, we reach a milestone in the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Satan is working today, as he did then. We see it not only in our culture, but in other cultures around the globe. Satan is always antagonizing the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Satan is at work in the world in many ways. And when anyone sets out to accomplish the work of God, he can be expected to face the opposition of the enemy. Now, with that in mind, let’s look at the satanic resistance to a Spirit-filled mission in Acts 13. Acts 13 is a critical chapter in the flow of God’s expanding of His Kingdom. It has been about 25 years since Pentecost.

The church has grown and developed. It has reached Judea and Samaria, and there has been a concentrated effort in those early years. But now it is time to move into the Gentile world, to begin to establish that final element of our Lord’s commission, and that is to preach the gospel to all the world. And by this time, an effective base of operations has been planted by the church at Antioch.

This key church is in Antioch, the first real beachhead in a pagan world. A church involved in worshiping God and glorifying His name, learning His Word, and walking in the power and energy of the Spirit of God. This church had a very strong doctrinal basis; strong foundation in the truth of God. It had many gifted men and women who were highly trained and capable.

And now it is ready to send them out. And so Antioch becomes for us, a blueprint, a model, a pattern, and an example. Now, let me give you the basic key, the Holy Spirit. This was a Spirit-filled church, a Spirit-empowered church, a church that knew the meaning of Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me.”

A Spirit-filled church is defined as a church in which the people walk in obedience to the will of God as expressed in the Word of God. Colossians 3 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Now, there are several things you should note as we look at a Spirit-filled church moving out into the world. Number one: it is characterized by spiritual men and spiritual women.

Verse 1, “Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” Any church that’s effective has to have leadership. People do not rise above their leaders. God builds strong spiritual men, because that makes everything happen.

And the church has always been after men who were full of faith, full of wisdom, full of the Word of God, and full of the Holy Spirit. In Titus 1, and 1 Timothy 3, the Apostle Paul says, “Here are the kind of men that I demand to be leaders in my church,” and he gives us very high standards. He is to be blameless, a one-woman man. And it isn’t just that he’s only to have had one wife, not someone divorced.

The idea is that he is to be a man totally committed to and in love with his wife. That’s a present intense spiritual qualification. It is important what you think of her. You must be temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, given to hospitality, skilled in teaching. Not given to wine, not violent, not greedy of possessions or money. Patient, not a fighter, and not covetous of someone else.

A person who rules well over his own house, has his children in subjection with all seriousness. He is not to be a recent convert. He must have a good report of the people on the outside, and it goes on, and Titus 1 repeats many of the same things. And so there is a premium put on spiritual men; if a church is to be a church that’s going to affect the world, it has to be led by spiritual men.

But there are many churches, across this nation and around the world that do not have spiritual men in leadership. They do not have men who teach the Word of God, who live according to the Word of God, and who are filled with the Holy Spirit. And that is a tragic thing. And there’s a good insight into the distinction between the gift of preaching, and the gift of teaching.

Paul names them for us: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul. Now, we know about Barnabas. He was a Levite from Cyprus, tremendous Old Testament knowledge. Acts 11 tells us he was full of the Holy Spirit. A Spirit-filled Jew, with a pure Christian character. He was highly respected, and highly loved, a warm-hearted man, a capable teacher, and a comforter; that’s what his name means.

And then we meet Simeon, called Niger which means black. There was certainly no race distinction there. This man was a Gentile. And then there was Lucius, who was a Gentile also from Africa. And then Manaen who was brought up with Herod, in the family of Agrippa. And then it says Saul, destined to be the key to pagan world evangelization. Five spiritual men, five godly preachers and teachers.

Verse 2, “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” The duty of a leader in a church is to minister to the Lord. That means to serve the Lord, and to fast and pray. The Lord is served by the teaching of His Word, and spending their time in prayer. This church was set apart to be used by God.

The word “minister” basically means to serve in a priestly manner. It is used in 1 Peter 2:5, with the idea of offering priestly service to God. What do you give God? I don’t sacrifice a lamb or a turtledove or a goat, or a ram, or anything else. My sacrifice to God is my service rendered, and every sermon I preach is as if I were bringing an offering into the very sanctuary of God.

Every sermon I preach, every hour I study, every moment I spend in prayer, is what I offer God, is an act of loving service and worship for Him. Now, that’s the heart and soul of what ministry is about. Oh, sure there are other things you have to do, like write letters, and work on projects. But I never lose sight of the priority. In verse 2, everything they did was a spiritual sacrifice offered to Christ.

These men ministered to the Lord, rather than just to the people. When all you’re concerned about is ministering to the people, you tend to compromise. But as long as you’re offering everything to God, there’s no place for compromise. And so, like the Macedonians, they first gave themselves to the Lord, and everything flowed out of that. They fasted, as a way to express intensity.

Fasting is a way to express devotion, vigilance, and passion. It’s not that you’re going to become spiritual because you don’t eat. It is when you are so passionately consumed in the cause in your heart that you have no desire for food. Fasting can be, partial or total, as the Lord directs. Then comes a third element in this wonderful section, and that is a spiritual mission.

Spiritual men with a spiritual ministry are called on a spiritual mission. The Spirit moves in and speaks. The prophets’ ministry before the completion of the New Testament was to speak a direct word from the Holy Spirit to the life of the church. The apostles gave the doctrine; the prophets spoke the practical aspects and the application. So one of these five, was a prophet who spoke for God.

Saul and Barnabas were send to the mission field by the Holy Spirit. Verse 3, “Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.” That is a sign of affirmation, confirmation and identification. It’s like saying, “We stand with you. We’re in solidarity with you and your cause. We stand behind you with prayer and support, and we sent you out.”

Verse 4-5, “So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John Mark as their helper.” Salamis was the principle trade city, a large city with a great population of Jews. There were several synagogues in that city.

Now, we come to the crisis, they run into spiritual militants. Verse 6, “Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus.” That name means “son of salvation.” Now Paphos was the seat of Roman government. It was also the center for the worship of Venus, the goddess of love and sex.

The city was a sin pit where people wallowed in moral filth. Verse 7, “who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.” Somehow, when Barnabas and Saul went to Paphos, they got an interview with the governor, the Roman proconsul, that’s what it means, “the deputy of the country.”

He was the governor; he was what Pilate would’ve been over in Palestine. And they wanted to meet this guy just for whatever intentions they had in presenting the gospel. They received an audience with him, and they found alongside of him this sorcerer, who was basically one who contacted demons. In its positive connotation, it has to do with someone who consulted the stars.

In its negative sense, it was someone who was superstitious, who consulted the stars as an astrologer, and there’s a big difference. One is a science, and one is a false religion. And so here was a satanic man, who was a false prophet. Verse 8, “But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. He immediately begins to oppose them.

Whenever you set out to reach a soul for Jesus Christ, you’re “wrestling not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers.” Here is Satan’s emissary, a self-styled false prophet who had attached himself to the leader of the country, and now was trying to prevent him from coming to know the truth of Christ. It’s indicative also that Sergius Paulus dabbled in the occult.

And at the great moment when the gospel is to be presented to this needy man, Sergius Paulus, the demon activates this Elymas, and he does everything he can to stop the process. 1 Timothy 4:1 says, “That in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” Why someone seems to be interested in the faith, and suddenly falls away?

It may have been this invasion by “seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.” Look, at 2 Timothy 3:8, when Moses came to speak the truth, “Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses.” And so there are others, he says, “so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.” And verse 13 says, “Evil men and seducers shall become worse and worse.”

We’re in a battle with the demons, the imposters, the magicians, the sorcerers, the occultists; demonic opposition to the gospel. You have the outside attack from Elymas, and you have the inside attack from John Mark. The church in its mission is very often devastated internally as much as it’s devastated externally. Dissension, division, an unwillingness to go. Here John Mark just bails out.

What made him leave Paul and Barnabas? Well, fear of the danger. They were going to have to cross the Taurus Mountains. The caves in those mountains were occupied by robbers, and no doubt Paul referred to them when he talked about “the perils of robbers,” in his letter to the Corinthians. When he thought about the drudgery of the journey, the tremendous price he had to pay, and he just quit.

Verse 9-10, “Then Saul (also called Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?” How do you deal with the devil? Head on, people. What is an occultist? He is full of deceit and wickedness and you’re son of Satan.

Verse 11, “And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.” God struck him blind on the spot. That’s spiritual mastery, and you know when you get into the spiritual battle, you know you’re on the winning side.

But the battle wasn’t really with Elymas, the battle was for the soul of Sergius Paulus. Verse 12, “Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.” There are souls all over this world that God would reach. There are 35 tribes in Papua that have never heard the message of Jesus Christ. I think about Europe. And, yes, there are wars out there.

And they must face the fact that, immediately upon the call to a spiritual mission, they’re going to run into the militants of Satan to thwart that effort. But if they are faithful, and if they call on the resource and the power of God, they will know the spiritual mastery that God gave to these men that day. For our God has not changed. The key behind everything is that we should be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Mar 2023 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230319 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001FC imblog

Acts 12

There is a long war against God. It’s been going on ever since Satan decided to be like the Most High and was dispossessed of his holiness and thrown out of heaven. His name became Satan. He took with him a third of the angels; they become the demons, and they have orchestrated this war against God. They use human beings to try to destroy God and his purposes and his kingdom.

And here I want to inform your thinking tonight on the theme of the stupidity of fighting God. In Proverbs 21:30, Solomon said, “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor council against the LORD.” There’s no way to fight Him and win. Many have tried through the centuries and are still fighting God. There may be triumph in an earthly way, but ultimately it is eternal disaster.

Look at the Old Testament. God had a standard for sacrifice. Abel obeyed it; Cain fought it and wound up cursed. God made a standard for morality. Noah kept it and the rest of the world fought it and were drowned and damned. God had a standard for separation from the world, a standard for sexual purity. Abraham kept it and Lot fought it, and his wife died and his seed was cursed.

God had a standard for spiritual priorities, not earthly ones. Jacob kept that standard; Esau fought it and lost the blessing. And there in Genesis alone, you see the hopeless stupidity of fighting God. Frankly, history and the world is strewn with the shattered remains of men and women who threw themselves against God. They were like eggs thrown against a granite cliff.

In Exodus, you continually meet rulers who fight against God. The first such ruler to fight God is Pharaoh. It cost him his throne, his people, and his life. There were many kings of Northern Palestine who fought against God. Joshua, burned their chariots with fire, and killed them all with the sword. There were 31 rulers who fought God and were slain by Moses and Joshua.

There was another king who was wicked, in 2 Kings 19:35 we read about king Ahab, who fought God. “Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, he lived at Nineveh.”

Let’s look now at Acts 12 where we start to touch the family of Herod. The first Herod was known as Herod the Great. And he appears in 41 BC, before the time of Christ. He was a wicked man and married ten times. So he had a lot of children that are mentioned in the New Testament. One of his children was Herod Agrippa I who was in power at that time. He is the example of the folly of fighting against God.

Acts 12:1, “Now about that time Herod the king harassed some from the church.” When? The time of great famine during the reign of Claudius. It was around 44 years after the birth of Christ. James and Peter became the main target of this persecution. Early on only the leaders of the Jews told them not to preach. And they were imprisoned and Stephen was stoned to death.

But here persecution comes again, and it is led by Herod. The Jerusalem congregation by now has grown to be many thousands of people. Herod did not care about Christianity. He only cared for his own power. And maintaining his own power, meant having good relationships with the Jews. So he persecuted Christians because he knew the Jews hated them, and this was how he could get their support.

Verse 2, “He had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.” James the brother of John, is the first martyr among the apostles. He was executed by a sword. And the Jewish Talmud tells us that this execution was used when someone lead the people to worship other gods. So Herod is doing it according to Talmudic law. Herod is at war against God for his own selfish purposes.

Verse 3, “And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter.” He had no concern for justice or law. And Peter was the most powerful preacher, the dominant force. “Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread.” That’s the Passover. That’s important. Jerusalem was full of crowds, just packed with pilgrims. Herod wanted to wait because it was the Passover time.

Verse 4 says, “When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivered him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.” Verse 5, “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” In Acts 12 you can conclude that there are three reasons why it is foolish to fight God.

Number one, God’s power is overwhelming. This is proven by the account of Peter’s imprisonment. Herod put him in jail; God let him out. God wasn’t through with Peter. He had more work here on earth to do, and Herod’s efforts to destroy Peter was like trying to catch a ray of light in a fishing net. And James 5:16 says, “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Prayer becomes the key to opening the storehouse of God’s power in this situation. And while they were praying, God in his marvelous power was affecting his purpose. Verse 6, “And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and guards before the door were keeping the prison.” And it says that Peter was sleeping.

That’s how confident he was. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your care on Him for He cares for you.” This wasn’t something he hadn’t practiced. He knew the Passover was over. It never disturbed his rest. And knows that the Lord never sleeps and never slumbers and if that’s true of the Lord, there’s no sense in both of us staying awake. So he did not worry at all and he slept soundly.

Verse 7, “Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands.” Now, he is in such a sound sleep, that an angel had to strike him. Verse 8, “Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”

Verse 9-10, “So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron-gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.”

The outside main gate was massive but it just opened by itself. All of Herod’s power was no contest for God. He burst that gate open with a breath of his mouth; He shattered those shackles. And then the angel, who had done his task, ministering to the saints as Hebrews 1:14 says angels do, just disappeared. We need to be reminded that no prison can hold the servant of God whom God wants free.

Verse 11, “And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.” The Jewish people along with Herod wanted Peter in prison and executed after the Passover, they wanted him dead. But in either case, they were thwarted.

Verse 12, “So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.” He makes his way through the narrow streets to one of the chief meeting places for the Christians in Jerusalem, namely the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark. And Peter goes there because he knows the believers will be there.

Verse 13-14, “And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.” They were praying passionate prayers for Peter to be delivered. This kind of committed prayer was going on all night. It must have been late into the night.

Verse 15, “But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.” They invent a theology here to accommodate their unbelief. That’s a Jewish belief that everybody had his own angel and that’s not even taught in the New Testament. So Peter is out there, and he is still banging, because he does not want to be found.

Verse 16 - 17, “Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.” James was the head of the church in Jerusalem.

We don’t know where he went. He faded out. And it’s interesting, that when you come to Acts 13, we are introduced to Paul. Peter is the main player in God’s enterprise in Acts 1 to 12, but from Acts 13 on, it’s Paul. Peter reappears in Acts 15, but really his ministry in Jerusalem was nearly finished. His time is up in the book of Acts, and a new and significant figure comes into play.

Verse 18 - 19, “Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. 19 But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.” He conducted a speedy court martial for these soldiers and they were executed.

Verse 20, “Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus, the king’s personal aide, their friend. They asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country.” Tyre and Sidon are two Phoenician seaboard cities. They were very much dependent on Herod for their food during this time of famine.

Herod was intensely displeased with them. So he had cut them off, and they were hurting. Now, in order to get into Herod’s good graces again, they made friends with Blastus, the guard of Herod’s private treasure. They wanted to find the best way to present themselves to the king in person and make peace in public so they could have a good relationship and get some food to eat.

Verse 21-22, “So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. 22 And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” All the people from Tyre and Sidon tell him that he is a God. And instead of refusing such worship for he is just a man, he readily accepts it. He is trying to rob God of what God alone is due.

Verse 23, “Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.” And because God’s purposes cannot be frustrated. Verse 24-25, “But the word of God grew and multiplied. 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.”

The work of God continued. Persecution didn’t stop it. Remember the words of Jesus, “I’ll build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” That is the promise. Doesn’t matter whether it’s Genesis or Revelation. Any attempt to fight God is absolutely, totally futile. We cannot avoid His punishment. You cannot frustrate His plan. Isaiah says, “Woe unto him that fights with his maker.”

Don’t fight His Son. You can’t win. Herod, anti-Christ, other rulers, or any other human being will be devastated by the judgment of God. Earnest Hemmingway wrote on one occasion that Biblical morality was not going to impose itself on his life. He said, “I am living proof that one can live any way he chooses and succeed.” Ten years after that day, he put a shotgun in his mouth and blew his brain out.

Then there was Sinclair Lewis, who was at one time, the toast of the literary world. He hated God, Christ and hated Christianity, and spewed out the venom of his hatred in a book entitled Elmer Gantry. That book later became a film, where he depicted the preacher as a drunken, fornicating man who spent his time with booze and prostitutes and getting rich at the expense of people.

That was his slam at the face of God; that was his mockery of Christianity. And he was hailed as the toast of the literary world and won many prizes for his genius as a writer. Few people know that Sinclair Lewis died a slobbering drunk in a third-rate alcoholic clinic somewhere outside Rome in utter obscurity. Nobody wins who fights against God, be he king or pauper.

Here we are given two real instances where we see the power of God in freeing Peter from the best jail where he was held captive by four squads of soldiers who chained Peter to two soldiers on either side. Yet and angel of God freed him with no trouble. And then we see what happened to Herod Agrippa I where God punished him for accepting praise that only God can accept. Nothing is impossible for God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230312 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001FB imblog

Acts 11:1-30

The plan of the evangelization of mankind began at Jerusalem and then it just spread. As we come to Acts 11, the gospel has already been taken to Jews in Jerusalem and outside Jerusalem. It has been taken to Samaritans, and in Acts 10 it was taken to the first group of Gentiles in the house of Cornelius and Peter was the messenger. Cornelius was saved and as was his household.

Now Peter has to go back to Jerusalem, in Acts 11, and he must report to the Jews in Jerusalem, what has happened. And he realizes that it is not going to be easy for them to accept this. God had to give him a special vision to prepare his heart. The Jews are still locked into the typical prejudice to the nationalistic spirit. He returns beginning in Acts 11:1, and this is the record of what occurs.

Acts 11:1-3, “Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, 3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!” Word came to Jerusalem of what had happened, and before Peter could defend himself, they had already formed their ideas.

“They that were of the circumcision” and that’s the name of a party. That was a group of Jews who believed the only way to become a Christian was to become a Jew first. The physical act of circumcision was a prelude to salvation. So, “The party of circumcision contended with him.” They didn’t believe this. Contended in the imperfect tense means it was a prolonged thing.

Verse 4-6, “But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. 6 When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.”

The sheet represents the church. In Israel certain animals were clean, and others were unclean. Unclean animals were not eaten and they also picture the Gentiles. Verse 7-9, “And I heard a voice, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered me again, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.”

God said, “Don’t argue with Me Peter. I say they’re clean.” Verse 10, “Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven.” God gave him this vision, so Jews and Gentiles are included in the church. Something new. All the ceremonial laws also were wiped out, and Jews no longer had to restrict their diet. And immediately God gave them a chance to react.

Verse 11-12, “At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. 12 Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.” Here Peter goes with them and six Jewish friends all go along and they go into a Gentile’s house.”

Verse 13-14, “And Cornelius told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, 14 who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.” So the Spirit says, Peter, you go to Cornelius and the Spirit says, Cornelius, you go get Peter, and the Spirit’s pulling the thing together.

Cornelius was a prepared man, so was his household, and Peter was the instrument to bring the message. Verse 15, Peter says, “And I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell on them as upon us at the beginning.” In effect he’s saying, I just was talking folks and it happened. Verse 16, “Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Peter said, “Sure, it happened. Seven of us were there. More than that I remembered that Jesus said this is how it is.” And it was. They couldn’t argue with the testimony of seven reputable witnesses. Verse 17, Peter says, “For as much then as God gave them the same gift as He did unto us.” The Holy Spirit is a gift. Everybody who believes Christ gets the same Holy Spirit in the same way.

Verse 17, “If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” It was scriptural. God promised and God did it. What can I say? Verse 18, “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

That ended the argument. It’s just a repetition of Acts 10. In my study of scripture, I can’t think of one other place in scripture where you have the same thing repeated twice in a row, one immediately after the other. That means that it’s very important. When God repeats it, it is very important. And all of the other thousands that were being saved, they could have been included.

Yet he spends all this space saying the same thing three times just filling a whole lot of scroll with this Cornelius account. And this whole concept of getting it out to the Gentiles was a monumental crisis in the life of the church and in the plan of God. So Luke just repeats this whole thing so that you might understand what a milestone this is for the church to evangelize the world.

Usually our life patterns are determined a great deal by our prejudice. Prejudice controls and dominates the lives of most people. But all that had gone on in the house of Cornelius was designed to shatter prejudice. It was designed to crush the belief of the Hebrews that the Gentiles were a second-class people. The battle for Gentile acceptance had to be fought strenuously one step at a time.

Peter goes just like a tape recorder right down the whole deal. Because the issue explained itself. If the facts are on your side you don’t have to pull rank, just recite the facts. Peter knew it was the Spirit’s leading but he tested it two ways. Number one, he didn’t act alone. He took six people with him. Because he wanted the testimony of six others to confirm his own.

Verse 18 is a catalyst verse in the history of the church. They finally admitted that Gentiles could be saved. It took seven years from Pentecost to the founding of the church at Antioch. And then from here the groundwork is done and they move out. They begin the work of evangelizing Gentiles. Now when God spoke to the early church He spoke through the apostles.

And they laid out the doctrine. They had no New Testament. So when the early church came together what were God’s standards? So there needed to be time for the apostles to lay down a solid doctrinal base. What happened was, for seven years, the apostles laid that doctrinal foundation. And once that foundation was firm then somebody could start the building of the Gentile church.

The second reason there was a delay of many years, because the right instruments had to be prepared. When the church was formed everybody was a baby. Here they had to have time to mature, to grow, so that they would know who could do what. It’s important to have a good foundation. So they needed time for preparation. And they needed time for prejudice to come down.

Verse 19, “Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.” There is still prejudice. Antioch became the capital of Syria, and it was a strategic place. But the Cornelius incident happened while they were scattered, which means they hadn’t heard of it.

Verse 20-21, “But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” They actually preached to uncircumcised pagans. They obviously have the gifts of preaching and they preached and people got saved.

Antioch was the third largest city in the world. It had 600,000 people at least. It was famous for culture and business. All the caravans of the East unloaded their wares in all the warehouses of Antioch. Cicero said it was a land of most learned men and liberal studies. But it was basically known as an evil city. The people lived for their pleasures. Life was a perpetual festival of vice.

Nobody knows who planted the church. Why? They were more preoccupied with finding out more about the name of Jesus Christ than they were their names. The hand of the Lord means power with blessing. And, “A great number believed and turned to the Lord.” Verse 22, “Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.”

Well they had a good response. They sent Barnabas. He was a beloved character in the early church. When Saul came to Jerusalem and said, “Hey, I’m your friend now. I’m converted.” And they did not believe him. Barnabas put his arm around Paul and says, “Come on I’ll take you.” He leads him in and says, “I want you to meet him. He’s for real.” Barnabas was that kind of a loving person.

Verse 23, “When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.” What qualified Barnabas? Number one, he had the spiritual qualifications. Somebody who could open up to a Gentile, somebody who wasn’t structured in with the walls of Judaism but who was loving. He had the right spiritual attitudes, love.

Verse 24, “For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.” He was righteous, full of faith, and full of the Holy Spirit. Those three things describe the three necessary attributes of a really committed Christian. Right toward men, toward himself, and toward God. And new Christians need exhortation. He had the gift of exhortation.

What else do they need? Teaching. Barnabas had the gift of teaching. What else do they need? They need to be led in evangelism. He had the gift of preaching. He had all the right attitudes, the right qualities, and the right gifts, spiritually. He was from Cyprus. And the guys who founded the church in Antioch were also from Cyprus. He’s one of them. That means that they know his gifts.

Number two, practice His presence. “Hold on to the Lord with all your strength.” So, how do you hold on? Well, he persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” Paul and Barnabas made this a part of their ministry. Every time they got a new group of believers they exhorted them to hang on, continue to cling to Christ. To take the Word and to hold on to the Word. That’s the key.

Well the work got too much. He said, I’ve got to have another man, can’t handle this. Every minister realizes sooner or later, when things get going, that’s what you have to do. You’ve got to find the right man, and so Barnabas had the same dilemma that every guy in Christian service has, that I have continuously, to find the right guy for the right task. He knew the man he wanted.

Verse 25-26, “Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. 26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Those Christians were productive and Barnabas was productive. People were being saved.

Now in the meantime years had passed. They kicked Saul out of Jerusalem quite a while ago. They sent him back to Tarsus in Cilicia. He went all over Cilicia starting churches. Well in the meantime according to 2 Corinthians 11, he was being attacked mercilessly. Barnabas finally caught up with him. They worked together with the church and for one year together they taught.

They taught men who became teachers of other men. The calling of every Christian is to teach and make disciples, not to entertain the saints, but to teach the saints. Teaching is the goal and the design of the church. “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” They had never been called Christians before. 1 Peter 4 says, “If any of you suffer for being a Christian don’t be ashamed.”

The Spirit of God explains in verses 27 to 30 that in Antioch it wasn’t just doctrinal, they were also very loving. Verse 27-28, “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.”

Verses 29-30, “Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. 30 This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.” Here are Gentiles showing their love to the Jews who have so long hated them. What a beautiful picture of love. It says they sent according to his ability. Every person maximized their gift.

These people showed real love because they gave according to their ability to give. If they had a lot, they gave a lot. If they had a very little they gave a little. But they gave in proportion to what they had and they supplied the need of those Jews in Jerusalem who had a hard time loving them. They not only sent money, they sent men. And which men did they send? Their best, Barnabas and Paul. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230305 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001FA imblog

Acts 10:44-48

We all want the fellowship of the pure who think like we do. And we want the fellowship of the deserving, those who would be so gratified to have you around. And we usually manage somehow to screen out anybody who doesn’t enhance our image, boost our pride, reinforce our prejudice, or feed our ego. And it’s amazing how difficult it is for us to break into another circle.

We recognize this within our society. And if you go back to the early church, you find the same thing was happening there. The church was born in Jerusalem, and it was comprised mostly of Jews at the beginning. Only some half-breed Samaritans were incorporated with Jerusalem Jews, Hellenistic Jews. And the church had grown up within a faction of people called the Circumcision Party.

And they had come to the conclusion that the only way into Christianity was through Judaism. And in order to keep out undesirables, they made circumcision the standard. And they made Judaism the room before Christianity. But Jesus was in the business of smashing fences, and so as you come to Acts 10, the Lord adds to the church Gentiles. He includes them into the church, into one body.

As Ephesians 3 said, “The mystery of the church was Jew and Gentile one in Christ.” This was God’s design. And so the Gentiles had to be reached, but the Jews were against that. There was no basis for it, because in the Old Testament, it clearly outlined the fact that God didn’t play favorites. Peter says in verse 34, “I am learning that God is no respecter of persons.”

Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person.” And He said, “Make disciples and baptize them in the name of Christ.” So Jesus clearly indicated that the fellowship in Christ was available to all. Galatians 3:26 says, “You are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. As many as you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. So there is neither Jew nor Greek.”

When Christ came, God’s promise was fulfilled, and God’s promise was this: That in Abraham’s seed, all the families of the earth should be blessed, and it was not that salvation was of the Jews inclusively, but that it was of the Jews in order that they might preach its complete freedom to the rest of the world. And so they weren’t given the gospel as an end but as a means.

All people equally need salvation. So God provides it equally for all men, and there can be no prejudice. Christ came to be the Savior of the world. Peter had to learn that through a series of things. First God had given him a vision. And little by little, Peter’s attitudes were beginning to break down, and he admits, “I see God is no respecter of persons,” and so he’s ready to preach to Cornelius.

Now Cornelius is a Gentile, and a ruler because he ruled over a hundred men in the army of Rome. And Cornelius is a man who believes that the true God, is represented by the God of Israel. So God brings Peter to preach to him beginning in verse 34. Cornelius is not alone. He has gathered together a whole household of people, and they are all eagerly waiting to hear what Peter has to say.

Now this chapter presents for us the presentation that explodes the gospel to include the world. In this chapter, we see the salvation of individual Gentiles. In order for salvation of the Gentiles to happen, there had to be a sovereign call from God, so He moved in and prepared Cornelius. Then there had to be submissive will. Cornelius needed to respond with a desire to come to know the gospel.

And then once that had been done, you needed a simple proclamation. The heart of Cornelius was ready and so Peter appears with the presentation. In verses 34 - 35 his introduction was, “I’m happy to announce to you and all Gentiles, that salvation is available.” God doesn’t have any favorites. Any man in any nation who fears God, and does righteously, God will accept him.

Then secondly, salvation is in Christ. He says, “You see, Christ is your Savior,” or verse 42, “He is your Judge.” John 5 presents the fact that Jesus Christ was given to be the judge by the Father. So it says Christ is the only way of salvation. Then he concludes in verse 43, “To Him give all the prophets witness.” In other words, “whosoever believes in Him shall receive forgiveness of sins.”

And it doesn’t tell us what happened. It just says the Holy Spirit interrupted Peter in verse 44, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” Peter never preached without results. Two things make the difference. Sovereign call and submissive will. Where they are present, salvation occurs. Where they are not present, salvation does not occur.

On the spot, the whole bunch believed. God doesn’t give His Holy Spirit to unbelievers. And friends, from a human standpoint, that’s the only way we can verify anybody’s salvation. By their fruits you shall know them. Three things led to their salvation: sovereign call, submissive will and proclamation. And three things follow: spiritual power, confession and fellowship.

Let’s start with spiritual power. Peter’s message was suddenly interrupted while he was speaking. Look at Acts 11:15, he goes back to report to the folks in Jerusalem, and he says, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us at the beginning.” The moment that Peter said, “Salvation is available. It is in Christ,” and the minute he said, “It is by faith,” they believed.

It doesn’t say, “And then they went out, and Peter told them how to get the Holy Spirit.” There are some Pentecostal friends who teach that you get the Holy Spirit later on. They says that Cornelius was already saved, and this is only the time that he got the Holy Spirit. But in Acts 11:14, Peter said, “who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.”

If this was the occasion of Cornelius getting the Holy Spirit, why did Peter preach him the gospel? This is his and the others salvation. And the moment they believed, God interrupted Peter, and in effect said, “All right, Peter, that’s sufficient. They’ve got the message. I got to give them the Spirit, because they believe.” God saves people from their believing heart which God knows.

It is wrong to say that somebody can be saved and not have the Holy Spirit. God gave them the Holy Spirit when they believed. Now that becomes the norm for every believer from then on. When a person believes, God gives him the Holy Spirit. The first thing that happens when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, is God gives you the Spirit of God who dwells within you from then on.

That is absolutely clear in Scripture. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “A new heart also will I give you.” That’s salvation. The person needs a new heart, because the old one is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Notice salvation and the Spirit are connected at the same moment. “I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and give you a new living heart of flesh.”

If you didn’t have the Holy Spirit, you couldn’t obey God. You would not have the capacity to obey God. You wouldn’t have the power to do what you needed to do to get the Holy Spirit. Only through the Spirit do you have the power to do anything. In the Old Testament it says, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.” Only then can you do what pleases God.

In John 7:37, feast of tabernacles is going on. The pouring of the water, symbolizing God’s sustenance of Israel in the wilderness. At that moment, Jesus stands says, “If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.” Remember the water that He gave the woman at the well in John 4? Jesus said, “If you believe in Me, I’ll give you water, and you’ll never thirst again.”

And so there was the promise of spiritual water, a spring of cleansing water of life inside of them. Verse 38 says, “He that believes in Me.” So what is the qualification? He that believes in Me. As the Scripture said, “out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” Here is a twofold promise, one, you’re going to receive the water; two, it’s going to gush out of you. Not a trickle, but rivers of water.

The gospel record shows us that before the cross of Christ, before His resurrection and before His ascension and before He sent the Spirit, the disciples couldn’t do anything. Mostly, they sat around trying to figure out what they were all about. The power behind the rushing of living water is the power of the Spirit of God. In John 16:7, He says, “If I go away, I’ll send the Holy Spirit to you.”

If you don’t have the Spirit, you’re not saved. You wouldn’t even know who your Savior was if it weren’t for the Spirit of God within you. In 2 Corinthians 6:16, the apostle Paul says, “For you are the temple of the living God.” In Acts 11:17, Peter said, “The Gentiles received the same gift.” Can you earn a gift? If you earned it, it’s a wage. If you earned the Holy Spirit, it is not the gift of Christ.

First, the Spirit is for power to witness. Secondly, you need the Spirit for prayer. Romans 8:26-27 says, “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

The third reason you need the Holy Spirit is for security. At the moment of faith, you believed, immediately you were sealed by the Holy Spirit. He is the seal. The seal means security. This is secure. The only thing that could break that seal was a higher authority, and there is no higher authority than God. The Spirit is the seal that guarantees that I belong to God and I’m secure.

The Spirit has been given to me as a seal for authenticity. You know how you can tell an authentic Christian? That person has God’s seal which is the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14 says, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” There’s another reason that you have the Spirit of God. In Ephesians 1:14 it says, the Holy Spirit is the earnest of your inheritance.

The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee of the full inheritance. And if you didn’t have the Holy Spirit, you couldn’t learn anything. Who’s going to guide you into all truth? The Holy Spirit. 1 John 2:27 says, “We don’t need to be taught by men. We have anointing from God that teaches us.” It’s the Holy Spirit. In Acts 10:44 it says, “While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them who heard the Word.”

“Because they believed and were saved.” But in Acts 8:15 - 17 the Samaritans hadn’t received the Holy Spirit when they were saved. You’re right. Why? God wanted the Jews to know that Samaritans were equal in Christ. He withheld the Spirit’s coming to the Samaritans until Peter and John arrived, so they could report back that the Samaritans got the same thing we got.

Now the only hint about their salvation is indicated at the end of verse 44. “The Spirit fell on all them who heard the Word.” Now there’s hearing and then there’s hearing. Right? Many people who come to church. You can hear without faith; and you can hear with faith. And when they heard it with faith they believed, and the Spirit lives within you when you hear by faith.

Verse 45, And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.” How did they know it? Because it says in verse 46, “When they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.” They heard them speak in other languages. Why? How else would they have known a miracle happened?

Nowhere in the New Testament is tongues-speaking ever recorded as occurring in a single seeking individual, as in most modern Pentecostal experiences. In Acts, on the three occasions where tongues are mentioned, they come to an entire group at once. Verse 47, “Then answered Peter, can anybody forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?”

We got to baptize them. In the early church, there never was a separation. That’s your public confession. It symbolizes the death and burial and resurrection of Christ as you’re identified with Him. Verse 48, “He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Lord Jesus.” He didn’t do it. He let them do it. Can you imagine those six Jews baptizing all the Gentiles?

When people get involved in something, they usually will defend it. Peter goes back, and says, “Our group baptized them.” He wanted some corroboration to the testimony, so he has them do the baptizing. At the end of verse 48, “Then they asked him to tarry certain days.” The third sign of true salvation is sweet fellowship. They desire to know the Word of God, to be fed. Minister to us.”

God is no respecter of persons. I hope you’re free to share the gospel with anybody and everybody. Jesus always said, He is not the Jews’ friend, nor the Gentiles’ friend, nor the friend of the rich, nor the friend of the poor, nor the friend of the higher up, nor the friend of the prostitute. He is the friend of sinners, and that includes all of us. So share the Gospel to your neighbors and your friends. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230226 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F9 imblog

Acts 10:34-43

There are some people who say that the resurrection was not real. But the people wanted Jesus to be alive and so in a series of psychic experiences they induced some kind of fantasy in their minds that resulted in a renewed sense of missionary zeal and spiritual self-confidence. They say that it is the Christian establishment that has transformed the human Jesus into a divine Son of God.

Where do they get these conclusions? “Newsweek” acknowledges, quote, “that there have been no new data on Jesus since the gospels were written.” end quote. Where are they getting these ideas? The answer, it’s the same liberal damning lies that come from those who deal with Jesus not on an intellectual basis, or on a historical basis, or on a scholarly basis, but purely on a moral basis.

They do not like the Jesus of the New Testament because He confronts their sin and He threatens judgment. And consequently, they, wanting to hold to their sin, invent a Jesus more to their liking. I’m going to take you to what the Bible teaches. Turn to Acts 10 and we’re going to look at those verses together. Peter is preaching to a group of Gentiles who really have no connection with Israel.

Acts is the chronicle of the church after the resurrection of Christ. It tells the story of the preaching of the gospel and the building of the church in those early years. After His suffering on the cross, after His death, He was placed in the grave, He arose from the grave. He presented Himself alive over a period of forty days to His disciples, demonstrating that He was risen by many convincing proofs.

In Acts 10, Peter this time is preaching to a Gentile and his household about the resurrection. Now let us look at this simple message. I want to make sure that you understand what the gospel of the resurrection is. And I want to simply ask you three questions: Why this good news is good news? Who makes it possible? And how can I participate in it?

Three reasons why this is good news. One, God is partial to no one. Two, God welcomes sinners. Three, God makes peace with them. God is an impartial judge who receives sinners and makes peace with them. You can have a relationship with God in which He ceases to be your judge and becomes your friend and your Savior. You need that because you are under judgment and so was I.

Verse 34, “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.” Now that is a statement about the essence of God’s nature. God is impartial. God has no favorites. Now, what does that mean? That means that God judges everyone the same without respect for who they are or what they have accomplished or what their social or economic status might be.

That is why the Bible is clear that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No one does right. And so God as an impartial judge holds everybody to the same standard, and is forced to damn everybody, culminating in eternal punishment. It doesn’t matter how successful you’ve been at being nice or kind to others. If you are short of the standard of God, you’re doomed.

When Peter says that God is not one to show partiality, he is not simply talking about judgment, but he is talking also about salvation. God is also impartial in that regard. And that is the primary emphasis here. Peter is beginning to understand that God’s grace can be extended to all men without regard for their circumstances, or their morality or immorality, or their nationality.

Romans 10:12 says, “There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him.” In Deuteronomy 10:17 it says, “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality.” According to Romans 3:19, “the whole world is accountable to God.”

But then it says there is “righteousness for all from God, through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe; for there is no distinction.” All have sinned and come short. And all can be redeemed who come, there is no distinction. There is the good news that man in the condition of sin under the judgment of God, can come to a God who will not refuse him on the basis of any distinction.

Verse 35, “But in every nation whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” This is a very important verse. Now he’s preaching this to Cornelius and his family. He’s preaching the gospel to an unsaved Gentile. Over in Acts 11:12 it says, “The Spirit told me to go without misgivings. And these six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s house.”

He’s reporting the whole account of what happened with Cornelius. And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and have Simon who is also called Peter brought here and he shall speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.” Please notice that fearing God and doing what is right is not necessarily equal to salvation.

It does put a person in a position to be welcomed by God. It is a pre-salvation condition, effected by the power of God and the work of the Spirit. Paul in Romans 1 says, “Because that which is known about God is evident within them. Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, so that they are without excuse.”

The next verse says they had better “honor God and give Him thanks.” This is describing what theologians call general revelation. That means that every one of us has a mind and with human reason we can ascertain that God exists. You look at the created world and it tells you there is a mind. You look at the character of this world. It’s full of beauty, full of intelligence, full of love and full of power.

Here was a man who had reverence for the Creator, not only the beauty of the created order but the tenderness and the kindness that comes through and the compassion made visible in this world through human life and family. In fact, if he didn’t acknowledge God he would be inexcusably blind and under the wrath of God. So an unregenerate person not only can but must fear God.

Secondly, not only did Cornelius fear God but he did what was right. As much was possible in him, he followed the second revelation that God has built into every person, not only reason, but God has written His law in every heart which is activated by their conscience. Cornelius was a pagan without the Scriptures, but he understood God from the creation and from the law in his heart.

And so he feared the God who created this universe. And he acknowledged what was right and wrong according to the law written in his heart and attempted to live by it. He is the kind of man described in Romans 2 as a man who though not having the law does instinctively the things of the law. Here is a man who is a pagan living up to the light he has received from God.

What about the people who never hear the gospel? How are they ever going to be saved? Like Cornelius, if they live up to the light that they have and reverence the God of creation and try to live according to the law written in their hearts, then God will respond to that as He responded to Cornelius. In every nation there are people who fear God and try to do what is right and they are welcomed by God.

The third component is God seeks to make peace with them. Verse 36, “The Word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ.” General revelation is not enough. So, God sent the Word, first to the sons of Israel. And the message is there can be peace through Jesus Christ. Scripture says that God is the enemy of unforgiven sinners, and vice versa.

If once you ever sin, you are disqualified. God is your judge. But He welcomes those who fear Him, who seek to do what is right and He makes peace with them so that the hostility is over; enemies become sons and daughters, family. That’s what we were learning in 2 Corinthians 5 where it says God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. God is the only one who can initiate such a reconciliation.

God seeks to be reconciled to sinners. He doesn’t want to be your enemy, He wants to be your friend. He doesn’t want to be your judge, He wants to be your master. He doesn’t want to curse you, He wants to bless you. He doesn’t want to give you hell, He wants to give you heaven. Peace with God, that’s the message. Who makes this possible? It says it in verse 36, “Through Jesus Christ.”

He is Lord of all. And to call Him anything less than that is blasphemous. He is Lord of all, He is God. There’s no way that we can be reconciled to God on our own and yet God wants it to happen. Who is going to make the reconciliation possible? And the answer is Jesus Christ. Verse 37, “that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached.”

Verses 38, “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” You know how it all started in Galilee and how there was the baptism which John proclaimed. His baptism was a sign of an inward repentance of people turning from sin to be ready for the Messiah.

And that symbolically took place at His baptism. And the Father said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him.” And the Spirit descended like a dove and He was anointed for ministry. John 3:30 says, “He must increase while I must decrease.” And the spotlight went from John to Jesus and God anointed Him with power with the Holy Spirit.

He is God who came into human form, was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, and anointed with power. Jesus went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed by the devil. It shows us there not only the goodness of God but the power of God over the kingdom of darkness. He came into this world to show us what God was like. He destroyed the kingdom of darkness.

Verse 39, “And we are witnesses of all the things He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem.” We have seen it all the way along. Then the climax, “And they also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.” Cornelius knew that. He would have been aware of that since he was a centurion. He would have been ranking enough to have heard, if not directly, indirectly, what was going on.

But Peter here lays the blame on the Jews. The Romans actually did it but it was the will of the Jews. And history is absolutely clear. And then verse 40, “But God raised Him up on the third day and showed Him openly.” Here is the common denominator in all apostolic preaching, the physical resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:17 says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.”

If Christ stayed dead, He did not make a satisfactory atonement for our sin. So we are still in our sin. If there is no Savior, why be religious, why study theology, why have any Jesus at all? Christianity is meaningless if we’re all still in our sin. And all those who have fallen asleep in Christ in the past are in hell because if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are, of all men, most to be pitied.

Verse 41, “not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.” After the resurrection Jesus was seen by over five hundred believers over a period of 40 days, so they can preach the resurrection. Why? Jesus said it in Luke 16:31, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, they will not believe though one be raised from the dead.”

Verse 42, “And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.” Why? Because faith comes by hearing the Word. If they won’t believe the Word, they wouldn’t believe it, although Christ was raised. They don’t believe today. Jesus said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

So you tell those sinners that the One who was crucified and the One who rose again is their judge. They don’t render a verdict on Him, He renders one on them. You tell them that. That’s a warning part of the gospel. That’s the fear part of the gospel that this Jesus whom you killed is now alive. He’s ascended to the Father. He is now your judge and the judge of everyone living and dead.

Verse 43, “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” There’s only one escape from the judge and that is if the judge will forgive us. We are all guilty because we all come short of God’s standard. Isaiah said He shall bear their iniquities. Jeremiah said, “I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sin no more.”

Micah said, “Who is a pardoning God like You who gives grace?” The prophets predicted that One would come who would forgive sin. And Christ came and died, paid the penalty for your sin and, consequently, your sins having been paid for, God can forgive. Somebody else took your place. What does it take? It says simply in verse 43, “Everyone who believes in Him.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230219 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F8 imblog

Acts 10:21-33

This is a very important juncture in the history of God’s redemptive unfolding. Peter unlocks the door to the Gentiles. And we will begin our study in verse 20. Carnal pride in the early church had warped the outreach of the Jew toward the Gentile. And prior to that, the Jewish standards of interaction for the Gentile was zero. You should never have anything to do with Gentiles.

So not only in the early church was there a problem in reaching out to the Gentile, but in Judaism itself there was an isolation from Gentiles. The Jews were proud of their law-keeping. In Romans Paul says that they think they’re saved because they possess the law. They considered Gentiles to be pagans. They had nothing but contempt for them, and the years had only widened the gulf.

Even in the birth of the church it was very difficult for the early Christians to reach out to the Gentiles. It demanded special preparation from God. The exclusiveness which had been designed by God for Israel for the purpose of holiness and witness had become a point of pride. Not only did the Jews hate the Gentiles, but it came back the other way. The Gentiles equally hated the Jews.

The Spirit of God had to move in and eliminate that kind of attitude. In Ephesians 2:13-14, “But now in Christ, you who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.”

The temple was composed of a series of courts, and by definition only certain people could go into certain courts, the closer you were to God. And if you are a priest, the further in you could get. Gentiles could only come in the outer court. Women could only come into the next court. Then the court of the men. Then the court of the priests. Then the holy place, then the Holy of Holies.

Paul is saying, the wall that always separated in the temple the Gentile from the Jew, Jesus Christ has smashed. When Jesus Christ died, He just eliminated the whole temple and left the Holy of Holies standing free and clear. And every man can enter directly in the Holy of Holies where God is. That’s what Hebrews says. “Let us come boldly into God’s presence.” The veil is ripped.

Now Paul knew about that wall. Remember when Paul was arrested in Acts 21? The arrest that led to Paul’s final imprisonment was based on the accusation that he brought Trophimus, who was an Ephesian Gentile, beyond the wall of the court of the Gentiles. That’s why they captured Paul, because he brought a Gentile further than a Gentile was allowed to go in the temple.

Here in Acts 10, we find the first Gentile who is called by God to enter into the fullness of all the promises of God. God directs this historical event when the church extends itself from the Jews and the half-breed Samaritans to encompass Gentiles. This is the final phase in the expansion of the church. But you know what else it is? This is also the day Cornelius got saved.

Cornelius is important because Christ chose him before the foundation of the world. So as we look at the history, we’re also going to see the sequence of salvation as illustrated in the life of Cornelius. And this chapter has not only history for us which has passed, it has timeless principles which are active today. Now the first point in the sequence of salvation is the sovereign call.

The first twenty verses illustrate to us the sovereign call. It all is initiated by God. God just picked him out of all the available Gentiles. God not only chose Cornelius, the receiver, God chose Peter, the messenger; and we learned something else about sovereignty and salvation. And God chooses how it is done. Now this is not apart from man’s will, but it is in conjunction with man’s will.

Then God began the preparation of Peter. Now how you going to get a traditionalistic, nationalistic Jew to open up his heart and his arms to a Gentile? Well God had to do a lot of work on Peter to get him to the place where he was available. But God had to prepare him; so He gave him a vision. The vision broke down all of his prejudice and prepared the way for the meeting with the Gentile.

Isaiah 65:24 says, "And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer.” Before Cornelius knew what he was looking for, God was giving it to him. Isaiah says, “While they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Luke 24:45 says, “Then God opened their minds so that they might understand.” You see, salvation is sovereign, and understanding of any spiritual truth, as well, is sovereign.

Second point of salvation is submissive will. Now sovereign call is not opposite to submissive will. They fit together. Both Peter and particularly Cornelius, he responded by his will actively. We must respond. God requires obedience. This is true at salvation; it’s true the rest of your life as a Christian. We are saved by faith; we walk by faith. God expects a faith kind of obedience continuously.

Believing is only valid faith if it follows in obedience. The devils believe and tremble. So there must be an active faith in response. Now in John, this is repeated over and over again. John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Verse 21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.” Verse 23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.”

The Pharisees were saying, “Yes, God,” but never doing it. The harlots might say, “No,” but God was changing their life, and they wound up doing His will. It’s not the talkers, it’s the doers. There’s an active part where willing obedience is involved. In fact Paul used to talk about himself as a bond slave. What is the one word that would characterize the life of a slave? Obedience.

Verse 21, “Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, “Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?” Remember one soldier and a couple servants. He’s got this whole vision about clean and unclean being no longer a problem. Jew and Gentile are one in the mind of God and so forth. And here he faces three Gentiles.

Verse 22, “And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.” Well, Cornelius is one of these who, in his heart, saw the God of Israel as the true God and had lived up to as much information as he had.

And so Cornelius wanted more, and God gave him more. Verse 23, “Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him.” This just shows that the barrier was coming down. No self-respecting Jew would have done this with Gentiles, but least of all was it done with despised occupying Roman soldiers.

Peter treated them like they were guests. This must have been something else for them to experience, and God hadn’t even told him to do that. It was too late to travel back to Caesarea at that hour, so they decided to just stay, and Peter just showed the walls had come down. Well after all, he was living in the house of Simon the tanner, one of the most despised trades imaginable.

Verse 23 says, “Certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.” It’s amazing, because they went with those Gentiles. It’s amazing because that became the very key point to what was going to happen was the accompanying with these guys. Peter took them without a direct command from God, yet their presence in the house of Cornelius was a tremendous key to everything that happened.

There were six orthodox Jewish Christians that he took according to Acts 11:12. We know they were orthodox Jews, because verse 45 says they were of the circumcision. This became very important. God not only led Peter through the direct voice of the vision, but God led Peter through Peter’s own desires and Peter’s own ideas. God knew it was crucial to have them there.

This is a great introduction as to how God works in the life of a believer. How does God lead now? He leads through our desires. It was just as important to have those guys there as it was for Peter to see that vision. But one of those came by God’s direct media, the other came by His indirect media, which is as He works in our hearts by His Holy Spirit to bring what He wants to do.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight in the Lord, and He’ll give you the desire of your heart.” That doesn’t mean He’ll only fulfill it. That means He’ll put it there to start with. If you’re the right person, God will give you the right desires, and then He’ll fulfill the desires. So Peter had the desire to take along these guys. All the time, just working out the will of God though his desires.

So here come seven Jews to meet a whole house full of Gentiles. Verse 24, “And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends.” Verse 25-26, As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I myself am also a man.”

Imagine a Gentile Roman centurion worshipping a fisherman, a Jew no less. Peter grabbed him, “Cornelius, don’t worship me.” Here, we must know the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, from Ludwig Ott’s Catholic Theology, which says. “Christ appointed the Apostle Peter to be the first of all the apostles, and to be the visible head of the whole church.” However Paul says Christ is the head of the church.

Peter was the first pope. It says this in the same theology, “According to Christ ordinance, Peter is to have successors in his primacy over the whole church for all time. If anyone denies that, in virtue of the decree of our Lord Christ Himself, blessed Peter has perpetual successors, let him be anathema,” which means accursed. If you don’t believe in the successive popery, you are accursed.

Then it went on to say this, “The pope is infallible when he speaks ex cathedra.” That is on the subject of faith and morals. The last quote, “The source of his infallibility is the supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit who protects the supreme teacher and church from error.” Now, if the Holy Spirit is protecting the church from error, how did they ever come up with that doctrine?

It is wrong to worship Peter. He is no pope. He is nothing to be worshiped. He is a man. Isaiah 42:8, says this, “I am the Lord. That is My name, and My glory will I not give to another.” There’s only one in the Bible who ever accepted worship, God. There’s only one in the New Testament who ever accepted worship. Jesus Christ. Then who is He? God. Peter didn’t want the worship of anybody.

Verse 27, “And as Peter talked with him, he went in and found many that were come together.” Here Cornelius had brought a group together too, and again, you have the same principle. Nobody told Cornelius to do this. God had worked through the desires of Cornelius, and he had brought other Gentiles in, because it was important that not just one Gentile got saved.

Verse 28, “Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” The Old Testament ceremonial law, of course, didn’t say that, but the rabbis added that. The rabbis said that defilement by going into a Gentile home was a seven-day defilement.

That’s why the people gathered at the crucifixion of Christ wouldn’t go inside to Pilate’s house. They stayed outside lest they be defiled. Can you imagine killing the Messiah and worried about getting defiled? But here is Peter, who goes into Cornelius’ house with no problem at all. Verse 29, “Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me?”

Psalm 119:60 says, “I made haste and did not delay to obey Your commandments.” Are you a hurry to obey God? That’s what’s known as the spirit of obedience. Spiritual maturity is eagerness to do what God wants. Verse 30, “So Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,”

Verse 31-33, and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.’ 33, So I sent to you immediately, and you did well to come. Now we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.”

A man’s salvation is no accident. God orders the whole sequence, but men’s submissive will must move in. Where do you see the submission of Cornelius? In the word immediately. There are the first two things in salvation: Sovereign call and submissive will. You know what I love about that verse 33? Cornelius says, “Peter, give us the whole story. We want it all.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Feb 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230212 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F7 imblog

Acts 10:1-20

Acts 10 would certainly be a primary consideration in a mission emphasis because it described Gentiles who are saved. The Gospel was committed first to the Jews in Jerusalem, and then the Gospel was taken to Judea and Samaria, and finally the design of God is to take the Gospel to the uttermost part of the earth. And our Lord Christ had laid out this master plan of evangelism in Acts 1:8.

Initially the church was Jewish, and it was God who stretched them to be able to reach the Samaritans, whom they despised. It would even be a greater step to reach Gentiles whom they doubly despised. And so as we come to Acts 10, we find that monumental account which tells us how God began to open the church to the Gentiles, and He did it through Jewish men, which is a great truth.

Now the key to these days in the early church is Peter. The church had been founded on the day of Pentecost. It had exploded in Jerusalem, and then it exploded all throughout Judea and Samaria, and people were being saved everywhere along the way. Great revivals were breaking out in Samaria under the ministry of Philip and as well Peter and John and the other apostles.

Peter was moving around. He is God’s catalyst in the explosion of the church. But more than that, Peter had a very special commission. In Matthew 16:19, our Lord Christ had said to him, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” What He meant by that is that, Peter, you will be the guy who will unlock the next door. He was the one that opened the church to the Gentiles.

We can see, that the Spirit of God already has begun to do the preparation. Peter has accepted the Samaritans, and that’s monumental. The Samaritans were from the time of the separation of the kingdom, disliked by the southern kingdom. And then when they were taken into captivity and intermarried, they became despised to Jews who thought that their national existence should never be polluted.

Another tradition was broken down because he stayed, in Acts 9:43, in the house of Simon, the tanner. And a tanner was a despised trade to a Jew, because he dealt with the skin of dead animals, and no self-respecting Jew would have anything to do with such a man. But Peter stayed in his house maybe as a long as a couple of years, and he shows that his prejudice was gone by our Lord.

In Ephesians 3, Paul says this is the mystery, that the Jews and the Gentiles would be one body. Well, this was extremely hard to understand, after centuries of exclusiveness. Paul says in Galatians 3:28, from now on there is neither bond nor free, male nor female, Jew or Gentile. You’re all one in Christ. That’s a new concept for the Jew. A Jew wouldn’t have anything to do with a Gentile.

And all of a sudden Christ came along and said, “Now, I’m going to take Jews and Gentile and I’m going to make one new man.” And in theory it was great, and in theology it was great, and by His power He could do it, but it was a tough thing for the Jew to swallow and to practically really make it happen. And Peter, even though he got going here in Acts 10, had a few relapses in his life.

Well in order for God to get this unity, He’s going to have to do some preparation. So in Acts 10:1-20, that introduce to us this confrontation that finally results in the Gentiles being brought into the church. We find that God prepares two people. First He prepares the Gentile, and then He prepares the Jew. The Gentile is Cornelius, and the Jew is Peter. It’s got to be more than theory; it’s got to happen.

So God gives each one a special vision, which is like sort of training in preparation. Before they’ll ever come together, there’s going to have to be a lot of character change, and so He begins with a vision here in the first eight verses to Cornelius, and then from verse 9 on, He gives a vision to Peter. And this then is the beginning of the Gentile inclusion in the church.

Because here is a receiver, Cornelius, and there is a messenger, Peter, and you’re going to see how God prepares the receiver who is going to get the Gospel and how God prepares the messenger who’s going to give it. Please catch these principles, because they’re important to understand how God’s going to use us to be prepared messengers, to hit the prepared receiver at the divine moment.

Now it says in verse 1, “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius.” The first thing we learn is God chooses the receiver. There were a lot of Gentiles, a lot of possible guys that could have been saved, but God chose Cornelius. God is involved in choosing the one who receives the gospel as well as the one who brings it. In John 6:37 Jesus said, “No man comes to Me except the Father draws him.”

Ephesians says we were elect, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. God had Cornelius all singled out. In Acts 13:48 it says, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord.” Here are some Gentiles, and watch this, “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” God had already selected who would be redeemed.

In John 10:16, Jesus said, “I have some sheep of another fold,” and soon I am going to call them. In Romans 10:20 it says, “But Isaiah is very bold and says, ‘I was found by those who did not seek me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.’” And there He’s speaking specifically about Gentiles. God does the choosing of the receiver. That’s His plan, and He always chooses.

Here you have the sovereignty of God and the predestination of an election, the choice of man. And these two go together in Scripture. So notice verse 1 about Cornelius. He lived in Caesarea, which is a beautiful place. It was a military garrison, and it was the home of Pilate, because the Roman government had their headquarters there. The place was populated predominantly by Gentiles.

Now Cornelius had a seeking heart, and so God moved in to give him more light, and here you have volition brought into sovereignty. Verse 2, “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” God reached down and gave him, really, the disposition to turn and seek God, even when he was dead in trespasses and sins.

Now the term feared God became a technical term for Gentiles. There were three kinds of Gentiles in the mind of a Jew. One kind was just the plain Gentile. The other kind was a “God-fearer.” This was a Gentile who had come to the conclusion in his mind that the God of Israel was the true God. Much like the eunuch in Acts 8 whom Philip met. He believed in the ethics of the Old Testament.

The third level of Gentile would be the proselyte who had come all the way to Judaism, actually gone through the act of circumcision, and fully identified himself with Israel and was considered to be a Jew in a spiritual sense. Well, Cornelius is the God-fearer. He didn’t accept the ceremonial laws, and the circumcision, but he often attended worship. He believed in one God.

So here’s a man who is a very religious but not saved. He did not know Jesus Christ. Now, in order for God to deal with this guy, he must choose God, and respond to his searching heart. God also had to prepare him, and so He comes to him in a vision. Verse 3, “About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”

This was 3:00 pm, and here appears clearly an angel who says, “Cornelius.” Verse 4, “And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.” Do you know that anywhere in the world, God sees and reads the heart of every single individual? And then the angel gives him specific instructions.

Verse 5, “Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter.” Now here God gives the receiver the opportunity to respond actively. Paul said in Romans 1 that we are sent to the world for the obedience of faith, because that’s what the Christian life is all about. Praise the Lord, he was obedient. And the Lord wanted Peter to lead Cornelius to Christ in Cornelius’ own house.

Verse 6, “He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” God makes a distinction, so he could find the house. Verse 7- 8, “And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. 8 So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.”

Verse 9, “The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour.” That’s noon. Now God had to sort of tear Peter down. But he needed one other super kind of vision to try to get him to deal with Gentiles. Now we’re going to see that work of the Holy Spirit on the messenger is identical to that on the receiver.

Now God is in the business of choosing His messengers, right? If you feel God calling you strongly, be obedient. God has placed His hand upon you as a messenger for a specific mission. In John 15:16 Jesus says to His disciples, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go forth and bring forth fruit.” Well, Peter is His chosen messenger.

Verse 10-13 says, “Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

Peter looks up and there’s heaven open. Here comes a big sheet. Now it’s full of all kinds of animals. Now the animals in this were clean and unclean. In Leviticus 11:2-4 it says, “These are the animals which you may eat, 3 whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud. 4 Nevertheless you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves.”

All these dietary laws were given to Israel. And so in the mind of a Jew, there was a division between clean animals and unclean animals. Peter never touched anything but the clean. God did that to separate them from other Gentile peoples. Now in those days, social meetings occurred at banquets. So God just gave the Jews such distinct dietary laws that they couldn’t get together in banquets.

Verse 14-16, “But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.” The word common means defiled. The voice spoke unto him a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, you must not call defiled.’”

And his mind was like, “Did God cleaned all those animals?” Well, that’s a hard message to get, so verse 16 says that God told him three times. And then “the vessel was received up into heaven.” There is a specific meaning and also a general meaning. Specifically, God is abolishing the Old Testament Jewish dietary laws. They were designed to separate the Jew from the Gentile.

The body of Christ is designed to unite them. They had to learn to socialize together, because they were now one. This problem kept appearing. Paul dealt with this in Romans 14 where he says, “Don’t serve foods like from pigs. That’s purposely offending Jews who don’t yet understand their liberties.” And he says to the Jews, “Don’t make Gentiles conform to your dietary laws.”

Mark 7:14 records the words of Jesus. “There is nothing from outside of a person that entering into him can defile him. The things which come out of you, they are the ones that defile you.” He’s saying, “Ceremonial things are not important now. I’m talking about spiritual things.” This is a new age. What you eat doesn’t go into your heart. I’m concerned about is what’s on the inside spiritually.

Here’s the general meaning of the vision: The sheet is the church born in heaven. It includes Jews and Gentiles, and the significant part of the vision is that the sheet, when it was finished, was received up into heaven. How is the church going to be leaving this world? By the Rapture. And if the church consist of Jews and Gentiles, then it ought to be acceptable to us to allow Gentiles to come in.

Verse 17-18, “Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. 18 And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there.” Before he has a chance to act, someone knocked on the door and said, “Is Simon Peter there?”

God prepares the receiver and prepares the messenger, but He ordains the divine timing. You’re moving along a planned path that God has that intersects with prepared receivers all through your life. Verse 19-20, “While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you. 20 Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230205 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F6 imblog

Acts 9:32-43

We've come to Acts 9:32, and we have seen here a narrative of two miracles that Peter does in the power of Christ. One is the restoration of a man eight years sick with paralysis. The other is the raising of Dorcas from the dead. Both of these are accomplished by Peter in the power of Christ. These two miracles from the life of Peter introduce us to his personal ministry.

We hear Peter preaching to great crowds and proclaiming the Gospel to the Sanhedrin, and we see him moving about in Samaria with John preaching in various cities. This is really a public ministry. And here, for the first time, apart from dealing with sin, we see him in a very personal ministry. He had the energy of the Spirit once he was really committed on the Day of Pentecost.

He became the leader of the Twelve. He became the fearless apostle to the Sanhedrin. He was the teacher of the early church. He went everywhere preaching, teaching, working miracles. He was really the opener of the Gospel, both to the Samaritans and to the Gentiles. Whenever the Spirit of God came on the next dimension of the church, Peter was always there as the point of contact.

In Acts 1 till Acts 12, Peter dominates the action. And so as we look at his ministry post-Pentecost, we learn a lot of really positive things about our own ministries and how to make them effective. And in terms of learning principles, we not only need theory, we need action. When somebody says, "This is a principle. I tried it, and it works," then I pursue that. And Peter shows us those principles.

Many of us want to know how to preach. Listen to preaching in Acts 2 and 3 because, as you listen to Peter you find the characteristics of effective preaching. He begins with a dynamic gripping, attention-getting introduction. Then he moves fast into a theme, which is always Christ, and it's supported by Scripture. Then he comes to a response. It's always direct and always very positive.

And when you go to Acts 4, you learn how to handle persecution. Peter shows us that when you get persecuted, you should be submissive to it. You should boldly use it as an opportunity to preach Christ. You should be obedient to God at all costs. You should be close to other believers for strength. And lastly, you should pray that God would give you even greater boldness.

Then in Acts 5, Peter teaches us how to handle sinning Christians, because he runs into Ananias and Sapphira. He boldly confronting them in their sin and saying what it is in face of the whole church community. And so we see Peter in many ways in an example fashion teaching us spiritual principles. It's not enough to just tell you what it says. It has to be acted out so you can live it.

Now, in Acts 9, Peter's got some more principles to teach us. They just are apparent in what he does. Now, he wasn't always preaching to crowds. He got involved with people. It's not enough to be involved only with crowds. There must be personal involvement, and Peter had that; and here we see two just examples that indicate what made him effective in personal ministry.

Number 1, he was involved. Number 2, he was Christ-exalting. Number 3, he was available. Number 4, he was prayerful. No. 5, he was fruitful. No. 6, he was free from prejudice. Now, these are the things that made Peter's ministry effective. These are things that we need to learn how to do. These are things which can be translated into our lives that we too might be effective.

No. 1, he was involved, and Peter was always going. So verse 32 says, "Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda.” God always chooses those who are already active in the ministries for His choicest tasks. Isn't it amazing how some Christians never seem to get in on anything, and others are doing everything?

He goes down from Jerusalem, to a little town called Lydda. Verse 33, “There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed.” Because he was involved, God led him to this place; and God used him to raise this man. Verse 34, “And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.” Then he arose immediately.”

As a result, verse 35 says, “So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.” Here is a tremendous ministry just waiting in Lydda, but it needed a man who was on the move for God to accomplish what God wanted. So involvement was first. The second thing about Peter was he was Christ-exalting. He had no desire for his own exaltation. Peter would've hated above everything for the Catholic religion to teach people to worship him.

You know what happens if you lift up the Lord? People turn to the Lord. Don't ever credit yourself with the victories, always exalt Christ. The third thing is he was always available. So many Christians say, "Well, I'd sure like to be able to do that, but I my schedule doesn't permit it." My friend, God wants you to be availability so that He can work through your talents and gifts.

Verse 36, “At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.” Now Lydda is about ten miles southeast, and in Joppa there's this lady named Dorcas. Now this miracle hinges on the power of God, and on the availability of Peter. Peter was close to Joppa, and so God worked through him.

This seaport city of Joppa is today called Jaffa. It's really a coastal suburb of Tel Aviv. Now, this woman was a wonderful, it says she was full of good works. We are to be full of all the fullness of God, which she was. So fullness means totally devoted to, totally controlled by. She lived to give to others, she gave alms, which were gifts of charity. Specifically, she made clothes for them.

She was the one who did things for the poor and the needy. She was a woman who was the personification of what a Christian should be. The word disciple is given to her. It's the only feminine form of disciple in the New Testament, and she really deserves that honor. She is everything a disciple should be, because she was fulfilling God’s calling to be a virtuous woman.

Verse 37, “But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.” Now, the custom of the Jews at death was immediately to bury the body, since they did not do any embalming. But in this case, they didn't bury her, which was very unusual, because dead bodies were a very unsacred thing in Israel to a Jew.

Verse 38, “And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.” They know that Peter has the power to raise the dead if that is the design of God; and so they take her body to the upper chamber. "They told him, "Do not delay to come to us, Peter, please come."

Verse 39, “Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.” Peter was really busy but he listened to them and the Holy Spirit. Peter doesn't say, "Well, praise the Lord. She's with the Lord.” Because it wasn't for her benefit.

"When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber; and all the widows stood by weeping.” God has given us in the church, many marvelous women who have been used of God in mighty ways and are being used of God right now. There are deaconesses who go out and minister, visit shut-ins and sick people and work with women who have needs and spiritual problems.

In 1 Timothy 5, you read about the wonderful potential of ministry for widows. Paul say, "They ought to be the kind of widows who have entertained strangers. They've got open homes. They're humble. Paul talks about Lois and Eunice, and then to the Philippians, he talks about Euodia and Syntyche. You know, he had a high regard for women. He said, "They labored with me in the Gospel."

Women can have the marvelous responsibility of raising their children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. You can make the effect that you want on the world by raising your children. All these women that are running around screaming bloody murder about women's lib are neglecting the one thing that they could do to change the world, and that's go home and take care of their children.

Now, as we see in Acts, a ministry going on to women and with women. These widows, they were being ministered to by a woman. You know, the church has the responsibility, according to 1 Timothy 5, to care for the widows. If you're a Christian, and you have a widowed mother in your family, you're to care for her. If she has no family to care for her, the church should care for her.

Verse 40, “But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.” This again is a miracle from God through Peter. And, it's amazing to realize that when Peter got there he stayed a couple years, and it never bothered him. That's how he was to move in the mind of the Spirit.

Now, the fourth one, he was prayerful. She's been dead for a minimum of 36 to 48 hours. When Peter said, "Arise," everything in her body was reversed like running the film backwards. All the rot and decay that had begun to set in was reversed, and she came out of there as fresh, clean, and whole as new. God performed a miracle, which came about because Peter was prayerful.

Peter acknowledged where the source of power was. Look at it in verse 40. He kneeled down and did pray. Aren't you glad it doesn't say he kneeled down and said, "Tabitha, arise"? Because it reminds us that we need to focus on God’s power, not ourselves. It would've been easy for Peter to think he really had power. He'd been healing people to where it was getting to be a commonplace activity.

In Acts 5:16, "There came a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem bringing sick folks and them who were filled with unclean spirits; and they were healed, every one." People even tried to drag their people out into the shadow of Peter because they thought they would be healed. It would've been easy for Peter to just go in and say, "Tabitha, arise," and nothing would happen.

It's a temptation, Christians have a little success and then think they did it. If you ever led somebody to Jesus Christ and found yourself saying, "I led somebody to Jesus Christ." I preach a sermon, and somebody says, "That was a good sermon." And you begin to think, "I did it." Paul says, "I will not speak of those things which the Lord Jesus Christ caused, because anything good in me He did.”

Verse 41, “Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive.” Can you imagine the joy? Dorcas must have considered it a joy to see the joy of her friends, and they considered it a joy because their loved one was in their presence. But God had a whole different thing in mind. He didn't do it for Dorcas' benefit.

Verse 42, "And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.” Just the same reason that all of the miracles had been done, as confirming signs to prove to the world that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was true. God had evangelism in mind. This is God's process of multiplication. The power in the Gospel doesn't lie in the eloquence of the preacher. It doesn't lie in the wisdom of men.

The fifth point is that He was fruitful. He did the miracle through the power of God. The fruit came as an indirect result, but fruit comes. We mean Christ-likeness. Praise is fruit. Giving to the needy is fruit. Blessing other people is fruit. Holy living is fruit. But most significantly, converts are fruit, people that come to Christ. So the effective servant of Jesus Christ will bear fruit. People will get saved from your ministry.

If we love Jesus, everything we touch in our ministry can result in fruit. Sometimes just working with one individual may bear far more fruit than speaking to a mass of people about Christ. Verse 43, “So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner.” A tanner, is one who works with the skin of dead animals, making leather. No Jew would have anything to do with a tanner.

He was despised; and not respected. Not only that, it was ceremonially unclean. In Acts 10 Peter has a vision, where he sees all these animals, and the Lord says to him, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat." And Peter goes, "I can't do that. I have never eaten anything that is unclean." God says, dietary prohibitions are gone. Even non-Jews are now to be embraced. Christianity around the world are just prejudiced.

It says, "It came to pass he stayed many days." The same phrase used earlier in the chapter to speak of Paul's three years in Arabia. He stuck around for a couple years, and the whole time he lived in Simon's house, and he never turned him into a carpenter. He let him be what he was. He didn't make him change. God changed Peter to not be prejudiced by even a tanner. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Jan 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230129 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F5 imblog

Acts 9:18-31

We have no other conversion in Scripture that has such detail and length. This is a powerful story of a man who dominates the historical record of the gospel into the world in the book of Acts. Paul including himself and all of us, said that, “In Romans 8:37, “we are not just conquerors, but we are more than conquerors.” That is the only phrase which does justice to this conversion.

Before the scene on the Damascus Road, this man named Saul from the city of Tarsus – was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was a pupil of Gamaliel, a student of Jewish traditions, a man who saw Christianity and the gospel as a threat to the pure religion of Judaism. He was horrified at the thought that Jesus would claim to be the Messiah and he wanted to do everything he could to stamp out the Way.

All his life was a battle. Before he encountered Christ on the Damascus Road, he was warring against Christ, against the gospel, against the church. And if need be, to execute all the people who were associated with it. And after that, he was warring against Satan, and against lies and deception and false religion, and fighting the battle to recover sinners from the power of darkness.

When he gave his testimony to the Roman leaders in Acts 26:9, he said, “I thought I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus,” and that is what he was doing. He fought to conquer Christianity, but Christ conquered him. One day that history changed because one man was transformed. The blasphemer Saul became the preacher Paul. The purveyor of hate became the prophet of love.

The hand that wrote in anger the execution papers for the disciples of Christ now wrote love letters with tears to the followers of Christ. That heart that beat in the passion of anger for the blood of those he opposed now desired that the blood of Christ be applied to every heart. He was totally transformed from a volatile enemy of the gospel, to the most saintly and heroic person who has followed Jesus Christ.

He became the greatest example of the power of the resurrection, the greatest example of gospel transformation, to be the very pattern of transformed life. We’ve looked at the elements of this transformation process for anyone who is encountering Christ and is brought to salvation. In the opening nine verses, that he had a new master. He was ruled before that by Satan and the kingdom of darkness.

This changed his soul. This changed his life. This changed his eternal destiny. He is talking to his Lord, his new master. The mark of true conversion is communion with God. We saw that he not only had a new master and a new life, but he had a new mission. And we learned that he met Ananias who came to him to tell him what the Lord had told him.

Verse 15, “This man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the nations and kings and the sons of Israel. He is going to be called into a new mission.” For his new mission to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles and to kings and to Israel, he must have a new power which is the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you.”

And what did the Holy Spirit do with this man? Well, first, God refined his usable characteristics. God takes what’s already there, and God develops that into something that can be used for the kingdom: things like leadership ability, strong willpower, self-discipline, high motivation, persistence, inflexible convictions, sufficient independence, boldness, practicality and strength.

And then, secondly, God has to replace the unusable characteristics like hatred, animosity, bitterness, anger and he replaced them in Paul’s life with love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. He was a model of humility. And that’s what the Lord does in every life. When you have a new master, you live in a new sphere with a new life.

You have a new mission to serve Him; that’s the rest of your life. And you have a new power for that service, a power that refines what is usable in you, and a power that replaces what is not usable in you. And we are to be filled with the Spirit. That’s how we are to live our lives, and it produces a submission to one another. It produces love in a marriage. It produces right relationships with God.

On the Damascus Road, Saul saw Christ and he was blinded by Christ. And Ananias declares that he saw the Lord. That is Ananias’ testimony. And later on, Barnabas shows up and Barnabas declares that Paul saw the Lord. So the fact that Paul saw the Lord is confirmed in the mouth of three witnesses. He saw the Lord. And he began to live his life in the control of the Holy Spirit.

And he received a new family, fellowship with the saints. All the people Saul hated became the people he loved. And all the people he formally associated with became his enemies. So everything changed. In Acts 14:19, “The Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.”

We find it again in Acts 21:27, “Seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing Paul, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, ‘Men of Israel, this is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the law and this place, the temple; and besides he has even brought Gentiles into the temple and defiled the holy place.”

The change in this man was so dramatic, he was their hero once, but now he became their archenemy. Let us look what happened. Verse 18-19, “Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.”

Verse 20-22, “And immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ 21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.”

Notice, it didn’t take any time. It is an immediate transformation. This is a highly educated man. This is somebody who sat at the feet of Gamaliel who was the most outstanding Jewish teacher in the world at that time. He understands Christianity because he has argued against it and fought against it; and now that has totally reversed. He knows what he has said against it, and he now knows it’s true.

So in Damascus, he went “to the synagogues.” And it was those very synagogues that had sent word to Jerusalem to have the Jerusalem authorities send their arch-conqueror of Christianity, Paul: “Send him up here because the gospel is reached here. We need Paul to put a stop to it.” And he went right back there and lifted up his voice. This man’s courage is really incredible.

He’s not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, as it says in Romans 1. What did he say when he arrived? He proclaimed Jesus, saying He is the Son of God. That is the Christian truth; that is the Christian gospel. He is the Son of God. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is deity. The Jews condemned Jesus because he made himself equal with God by saying God was His Father.

Saul is preaching Jesus as God incarnate. The Holy Spirit is filling him. He’s proclaiming Jesus, and he’s backing it up. How do you prove that? You use the Old Testament to prove it. He was an Old Testament scholar because he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. And suddenly the Holy Spirit illuminated all that he knew about the Old Testament, and it all pointed to Christ.

He had his own Isaiah 53 experience. He looked back on Christ and it hit him: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.” He is the Anointed One of God. He perhaps declared that Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah 53, that Jesus was the fulfillment of Psalm 22, that Jesus was the fulfillment of Psalm 16, that Jesus was the final Lamb depicted in the other animal sacrifices.

You evangelize by proving that Jesus is the Son of God. It’s fine to talk about what the Lord has done in your life. But you’ve got to get to the facts of the gospel.as laid out in 1 Corinthians 15, “How will anybody believe unless they hear? And what do they have to hear? They have to hear about Jesus. How will they hear without a preacher?” Faith comes by hearing the truth concerning Christ.

So they’re trying to figure out what has happened to this man in the transformation that shocks everyone. Verse 23-25, “Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. 24 But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. 25 Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.”

In Galatians 1:15, Paul writes, “When God, who set me apart, called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles. When I was converted, I didn’t consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Nabatean Arabia and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem.”

What was he doing in Nabatean Arabia? He was receiving revelation from the Lord. That’s what he says in Galatians 1, God was downloading everything into the mind of the apostle Paul. After returning from Arabia to Damascus, the Jews plotted together to do away with him. But their plot became known to Saul. They didn’t want him to get out of the city, they wanted to kill him.

All that to say he had new enemies. But his disciples took him by night, let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. Ancient cities are all surrounded by high walls, and in those walls were houses, and their windows were on the outside of the wall, projecting through the wall. In the dead of night, Saul was taken into one house and lowered to smuggle himself out.

Verse 26, “And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.” Verse 27, “Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.”

Barnabas is highly respected among the apostles and believers, and he becomes Paul’s companion. Barnabas explains Saul’s conversion. Saul wants to do something to make reparations, to make it right. So what can he do to sort of validate his desire? Verse 28, “And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.” He did that for two weeks.

Because Galatians 1:18 says, “I came to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Peter and stayed with him 15 days. And I didn’t see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.” Verse 29, “And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.” He was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews.”

After his conversion he left Jerusalem for three years. He comes back, and the people who sent him originally now want to kill him. Verse 30, “When the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea on the coast and sent him away to Tarsus. “Paul, you’ve got to get out of here.” In Galatians 1:21, he says, “At that moment, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia where Tarsus was.”

They’re thoughtful and careful. They know the power that this man possesses. They know how useful he is, they know that, so they send him home. Acts 15:22, “It seemed good to the apostles and the elders and the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul, Barnabas and Silas, leading men of the brethren, and they sent this letter by them.”

This is a letter from Paul, “The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.” How did you get brethren in Syria and Cilicia? They sent Paul out of Jerusalem to his own city, and he not only proclaimed the gospel to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. Acts 15:40, “Paul chose Silas and they travelled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”

This man is a force. Talk about church planter. They sent him away for a rest and he plants churches. The church multiplied; it grew. Incredible moment in the history of God’s redemptive plan. This transformed man, Saul: The world that he touched felt the power of this man and it was the power of God. Paul put on display that power by being an obedient, trusting and faithful sacrificial servant.

Verse 31, “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” Why did they enjoy peace? Because the arch persecutor, Paul, was transformed. Peter takes over the story in the book of Acts now and Paul comes back in later. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Jan 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230122 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F4 imblog

Acts 9:10-17

John Newton went to sea and like most sailors of his day, he lived a debauched and rebellious life. For several years, he worked on slave ships, capturing slaves for sale to the plantations in the New World. Eventually, he became the captain of his own slave ship. A combination of a storm at sea one night coupled with his reading of a testimony of Christianity eventually led to his conversion.

He became a leader in the evangelical movement in the 18th century. And along with men like John Wesley, George Whitefield, and William Wilberforce, he was a force for the Christian faith. On his tombstone is written, “John Newton, once an infidel, was by the mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ restored and pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.”

He wrote the hymn we all love, Amazing Grace, a grace that he had experienced. There is a lot of talk about transformation. There’s a lot of talk about becoming better than you are, a lot of superficial options: a new wardrobe, or surgeries, or diets, or relocation, or new friends, or cultivating a better self-image. But none of that is capable of creating a transformation. But Christianity is all about complete transformation.

People can’t change themselves. Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good who habitually do evil.” Jeremiah 2:22 says, “For though they wash you with lye and take you much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me.” Jeremiah 9:4-5 says, “Everyone has taught their tongue to speak lies.”

Jeremiah also said, “The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Isaiah 1 says, “Man is sick from the top of his head to the sole of his feet, and everywhere in-between.” And yet, people long for transformation. They long to be different, to be rescued from their own wretchedness as well as their external circumstances.

There is only one who can totally transform a person on the inside and then on the outside and that is God through the gospel. Let us look at one such remarkable transformation. Open your Bible to Acts 9. If you ever question the sovereignty of God in salvation, the question should disappear in the story of Saul. Here is an illustration that God is the only initiator of salvation.

His name is Saul of Tarsus. Let me read you the story in Acts 9:10 -17, “Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.

12 And in a vision Saul has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” 13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”15 But the Lord said to him,

“Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened.” Not only a miracle appearance of Jesus on the Road to Damascus in a blinding, heavenly light, but a miraculous word from the Lord to a man named Ananias in a vision; and another vision given to blind Saul introducing him to Ananias.

This is a supernatural event. This is a conversion like no other conversion. But then, we don’t have another apostle after the original 12. So something dramatic and heavenly and miraculous and first person from the Lord Jesus had to happen if an apostle was going to be added to the original ranks. Saul from that day forward, is completely transformed. Acts 9 gives us an initial picture of that transformation.

And we see parallels here to our own experience of conversion. And while we don’t have a miraculous conversion, it is still initiated by God. Your conversion and your salvation was initiated by God from heaven. Remember Nicodemus asking Jesus, “How is it that a man can be born from above?” and Jesus says, “Well, it’s a Spirit birth. And the Spirt blows where He will, when He will, on whom He will.”

What happened to Paul after that work began also is an illustration of what happens in the life of every believer, minus the conversation with the Lord, minus the visions, minus the light from heaven, minus the actual presence of Christ. There are still parallels in what happened to Paul that are our own experience as well. That makes this a really wonderful passage to look at.

The first thing in a transformed life is a clear introduction to Christ. Paul knew the gospel because no one can be saved without the gospel. In Romans 10 Paul said, “How will they hear without a preacher? They can’t call upon the Lord if they don’t know Him. How will they call on one whom they have not heard? How will they hear unless there’s a preacher? Blessed are the feet of those who are sent.”

Faith comes by hearing the truth about Christ. In those days, the very movement of Christianity was called the Way, because of its exclusivity. Jesus said, “I am the Way.” Christianity is the only way. There is no salvation in any other, the only way, the truth, and the life. It was the narrowness and the exclusivity of Christianity that Paul was well aware of, and there was no other way, including Judaism.

This is where the transformation begins with an understanding of the gospel and a confession of Jesus as Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If any man is in Christ he’s a new creation.” So if you’re looking for a changed life from the inside out, you can look only to Christ where there is transformation. The New Testament says, the one who is dead in sins becomes alive to righteousness.

Follow Paul’s response in verse 10, “There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias and the Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’” The Lord said, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision Ananias come in and lay hands on him, so that he regains his sight.’”

This is absolutely amazing. The Lord gives to Ananias a vision of Paul, and gives to Paul a vision of Ananias. This is God miraculously creating a basis in which these two men can meet. Now Saul is blind. He’d been blinded by the blazing light of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he in that blindness is brought into Damascus and left there in the house of someone named Judas.

Three days of what? You might say three days of fasting and praying because notice at the end of verse 11, “The Lord says to Ananias, ‘Go to the house. You’ll find a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.’” Here is the second thing that happens to someone who is transformed, they immediately enter into dependence and communion with God. Really an amazing thing.

Over in Acts 22 where Paul gives his testimony, listen to what he says about Ananias. “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the law, and well-spoken of by all the Jews who lived there.” Ananias, after this scene, disappears completely from the holy Bible and is gone as suddenly as he appeared, and we don’t know anything more about him.

But God plucked him up to use him providentially as His tool in the initial days of the life of Paul. So for Saul there is a cry out for communion with God. He used to pray the prayers of a Pharisee. Now he prays in blind, helpless dependency. He’s trying to sort out what just happened to him. Prayer is simply the soul of a Christian moving under the pressure of the presence of God.

Everything he once hoped in, everything he put his trust in, everything he worked for, all religious attainments, all spiritual accolades were manure. He’s crying out for everything he needs because everything he had is gone. “I counted them all as lost,” he says in Philippians 3:7. And prayer is not a one-sided conversation, and Paul learns it very fast, because Ananias is given a corresponding vision.

Paul has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. So Ananias knows to go see Paul. Paul knows Ananias is coming, even though Paul is blind. This is an indication that God is in absolute and total control of the thoughts and minds of men. He is directing each of these men. He is bringing them together. This is the work of God.

Salvation is the work of God: miraculously in the case of Paul, providentially in the case of all of us. So God has ordered the event, and we see, first of all, the transformation begins with a knowledge of Christ, and then it continues with fervency in prayer. A new communion, a new air to be breathed, the very presence of God. We cry out to Him for all that we need, and He hears and answers.

And there is a third reality in salvation that has to do with the action that we’re called to perform. Verse 13, “Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem.’ He’s saying, “Lord, should I really go and find this guy? Verse 14, “He has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”

The idea of going to find Saul seems like madness because Ananias has no idea about the Damascus Road encounter. Jewish refugees had been scattered out of Jerusalem and Judea. And no doubt, there had been information sent by these persecuted believers. So the evil reputation of Saul has proceeded him, and Ananias isn’t sure that he really wants to do what God is telling him to do in this vision.

The Lord takes a little of the fear out of this by saying, “He’s praying.” So he doesn’t rebuke Ananias. He encourages him with the fact that he’s praying. Verse 15-16, “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

You have nothing to fear because I’m commanding you to go. You have nothing to fear because he’s a chosen vessel of Mine to become a preacher of the very gospel he had persecuted. He’s an instrument of election.” The call to ministry is a call from God, just as the call to salvation was a call from God. He is, in a unique way, miraculously called personally by the Savior, to be an apostle.

In Galatians 1:1, Paul says that he is an apostle, not sent from men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.” Paul, an apostle, is a chosen vessel by God to bear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to preach the gospel before the Gentiles, and also kings as we see at the end of Acts; and also the sons of Israel. And he ended up as a missionary and apostle to the nations.

He’s chosen, and he’s going to suffer. “And I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” He’s not going to be the one persecuting others, he’s going to be the one suffering. His whole life is turned completely upside-down. He is now a believer in the One he persecuted. He is now confessed Him as Lord. He is now acting in obedience to Him.

In Acts 22, Paul gives his testimony, Ananias says, “The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One (that’s the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ) and to hear an utterance from His mouth, for you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now get up and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name.”

Verse 17-18, “So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized.”

What does baptism symbolize? Our burial, and the death of Christ, and our resurrection to newness of life in Christ. But also, it symbolizes our union with all other believers, right? We’re all one body,” Ephesians 4. So baptism not only symbolized his personal burial with Christ and resurrection in Christ, but it symbolized his union with the fellowship. Apparently, Ananias baptized him. He has a new family.

Ephesians 2:19, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s family. You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom the whole building fitted together is growing into a holy temple to the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Jan 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230115 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F3 imblog

Acts 9:1-9

Paul is the author of 13 of the New Testament books. Paul is the figure in the book of Acts, he is the main player after our Lord ascends back into heaven. He has been a model of ministry, a pattern to follow in every way. He is the inspired author of the bible books that shape our theology and our understanding of the gospel. He is the one I follow as he follows Christ.

His conversion is one of the great stories of human history. Acts 9 tells us the conversion of Saul, whose name was eventually changed to Paul. So great was the transformation that it needed to be reflected in his name. The importance of his conversion is indicated by the fact that it occupies much of the book of Acts. His conversion again, is repeated in Acts 22 and Acts 26.

The conversion of this man was the pivot on which the future of the church turned, and it was fitting that because of the importance of his conversion that it be a unique conversion because he was such a unique individual. By birth, a Jew; by conviction, a Pharisee; by citizenship, a Roman; by education, a Greek; and then by grace, a Christian. He became a missionary, a theologian, a preacher all at the same time.

We met him back in Acts 7:58, when the faithful evangelist Stephen had preached his great sermon, going through the history of the Old Testament and culminating in the arrival of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Jews had betrayed and killed. They attacked him to stone him to death; and before that they laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And Acts 8:1 begins, “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.” And on that day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Saul was the great persecutor of the early church that caused the church to be scattered. After looking at the ministry of Philip, we now come to Saul.

Stephen’s words and demeanor eventually played a role in the end of a promising career for a young Pharisee named Saul, and was a critical point in him becoming history’s most effective evangelist. Let me tell you a little about Saul. His home was in Tarsus. It was a city in Asia Minor. Today, it would be on the border of Syria and Turkey. In those days, Tarsus was a distinguished city.

Saul’s father was a Roman citizen, but a Jew. He passed on the assets of Judaism and Roman citizenship to his son. His father was also a Pharisee and Saul inherited his Pharisaic tradition. His testimony in Philippians 3 says, “I was circumcised the eighth day, was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews - which means completely devoted to the law.”

At about 13, it is likely that Saul was send to Jerusalem. Why? Because his family wanted him to study Judaism at the highest level under a teacher named Gamaliel. The law was never more beautiful than when it was articulated by Gamaliel. Saul was rigid, zealous, and legalistic, a traditional Pharisee. This young Saul would have been a member of the Pharisees in the city of Tarsus.

However, by the time of Stephen, he’s back in Jerusalem. We know he is highly agitated because he is a Hellenistic Jew. And Stephen has been circulating in the Hellenistic synagogues in Jerusalem and preaching Jesus Christ. And there are converts, and these new believers in Jesus are saying that He died to pay the penalty of sin, and He rose from the dead to provide salvation.

They’re preaching a risen Christ. The church is expanding and exploding by the thousands, and he is furious. He may have tried to argue with them in synagogues. He certainly silenced Stephen, not with an argument, but with an execution. He then rose up by his sheer force of leadership and passion to become the leader of the movement to stamp out Christianity.

After clearing Jerusalem of those he believed to be heretics that were threatening the religion of Judaism, he decided that he would go after them. It wasn’t enough that they left Jerusalem; he wanted to hunt them down wherever they were. He heard that a group of them had gone to Damascus and he secured permission to go to Damascus, and that’s where we begin in Acts 9.

Acts 9:1-2, “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” He launches a fierce campaign, and he’s going to begin with a raid on Damascus.

With that authority, Saul takes off for Damascus. It was a white city in a green forested area of trees. Damascus was called, “the paradise on earth.” There was a large Jewish community there. It was, in ancient times, the capital of Syria. There was a Christian who was leading these newly converted Jews, and his name was Ananias. We’ll meet him in Acts 9:10. He was significant leader in the city.

“Belonging to the Way” was an early term to describe Christianity. Because Christians believed that through Jesus Christ was the only way to God. They referred back to our Lord’s words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” Anybody who was associated with the exclusiveness of this Christian gospel was called “the Way.”

Saul didn’t go alone. He went with the temple police. Historians tell us that caravans usually took about six days. And then verses 3-7 said, “As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.”

Verse 8-9, “Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” What happened? The Lord Jesus Christ came from heaven and stopped him. And then spoke to him and told him that he was wrong and made him blind for three days.

Consider four features. First, a divine contact, then second a divine conviction, thirdly a divine conversion, and lastly a divine communion. The divine contact comes in verse 3: “As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.” Another illustration of how the Holy Spirit makes everything happen according to the will of God.

This is how salvation happens. It is always the sovereign will of God. It is always His purpose. It comes about by His power and His determination. This is a divine contact of God on Saul. Now not all people who are saved have this kind of experience. I certainly didn’t and neither did you. But in the case of Saul, Jesus called with a blazing, crushing and devastating appearance.

In Acts 22 and Acts 26 Paul gives his testimony when he’s called into court. Those chapters tell us it was about midday, where the sun is highest. But there was something far brighter than the sun because we read in Acts that a light brighter than the sun shown above the sun, shining around Paul and all those who journeyed with him. And the whole group then collapses to the ground in sheer terror.

Acts 26 says, “The men got up, but Saul remained flat on the ground.” Acts 22:9 says, “They heard the sound, they heard noise, but they couldn’t understand.” John 12:29 says, “So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered, others were saying an angel had spoken to him.” Christ had spoken there to Saul, and the people heard the sound, but couldn’t distinguish it.

But Saul sees Jesus. Go to verse 17, “Ananias later departs and enters the house, and after laying his hands on Saul says, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road,” that’s proof enough. Down in verse 27, Barnabas took hold of him, brought him to the apostles, and described to them how Paul had seen the Lord on the road. Paul saw the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then we see in verse 4 the divine conviction. In bringing a person to salvation, there is an initial contact initiated by God, and then there is the conviction of sin. And where there is genuine salvation, there is a potency to that conviction. And verse 4 says, “He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’” He doesn’t know who says that.

Our Lord identifies for us this reality that to persecute any of His people is to persecute Him. He is inseparable from His people so that every stroke which is directed against us is a blow that falls on Him. Persecuting us is persecuting Him. The sin that is most important is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ. The issue for conviction is not that a men is a liar, or immoral; the crime is rejection of Christ.

The work of the Holy Spirit, our Lord said in John 16, “Is to convict the world of sin because they believe not on Me.” That is the unpardonable sin. And Saul is literally smashed with that indictment: “You are persecuting the Son of God.” That’s the conviction that has to reside in the heart. And that leads to divine conversion in verse 5, “And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

He has never seen Jesus before. This was Jesus in His glorified form. But he soon finds out that he has been indicted for persecuting Jesus who is Lord. And Jesus said in Acts 22:8, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.” Jesus has captured Paul’s attention, and filled him with the fear of conviction, and presented the truth concerning Himself: “I am Jesus of Nazareth.”

Paul (Saul) knew the Christian gospel well. He was a highly educated theologian. It was because of the heresy that he was killing these people. He knew what they were saying. He knew they were proclaiming this man as the Messiah, this man as the Son of God. This man is God’s chosen sacrifice for sin. This man rose from the dead. This man has been anointed by God as the Righteous One.

His heart is broken in repentance and sorrow, and at the same time, healed in faith. His conversion was shocking, and sudden. All his doubts were erased and he knew the truth immediately. Paul’s conversion has baffled people. Renan, the French atheist, said it was an uneasy conscience, fatigue from the journey, and a sudden fever that produced Paul’s hallucinations. Ridiculous.

Saul cried out, “Who are You, Lord?” The answer came back, “I am Jesus.” He used His personal name, because Jesus means “Jehovah saves.” It had been a very difficult battle for Saul. He had been kicking against the goads. What does that mean? A goad was any sharp, pointed instrument which was used to pierce, so it was painful and you would use them to stab an ox leg to keep him moving.

What does it mean to kick against the goads? It means to just inflict pain on yourself by continuing to do what you do. He was literally bashing his own conscience by resisting God. You can’t fight God, rebel against God and not feel the pain. So all of this is just to tell us of this amazing encounter. Paul responds in humble penitence, and divine conversion takes place.

1 Timothy 1:12-13 is Paul’s testimony to Timothy, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:7-9 tells us what was going on in his heart, “Whatever things were gain to me, those things I counted loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

And there’s one final component: the divine communion. Verse 9: “He was three days without sight, neither ate nor drank.” What did he do? The last thing he had seen before he went blind was the blazing presence of the glory of Jesus. That sight dominated his now sightless eyes. Great guilt weighed him down. He had a lot to think about for three days, didn’t he? All that he had considered precious became rubbish.

Salvation was sudden, but its depth are often plumbed slowly. He has friends who are now enemies, and enemies who don’t know they’re to be friends. For three days, he communed with his Lord. And then that contemplation and communion that thinks deeply about this miracle. Well, that’s the beginning. Much more to come about even this encounter as we look at it next Sunday. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Jan 2023 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20230108 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F2 imblog

Luke 2:33 says, “And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.” What was so amazing to start with was that so much was being said about Him before He was even born. Mary, a teenager and Joseph, also a young teenager were not extraordinary. We know names because their genealogies are given, and they had to come from the line of David.

Joseph’s genealogy’s is in Matthew and Mary’s is in Luke. But it doesn’t tell us anything about their education. They were too young to have achieved anything significant, as teenagers. And out of heaven come angelic visitors, and God speaks for the first time in four centuries. And it’s to a young boy and a young girl in an obscure place; but heavenly angels show up.

And the message is thorough and so complete that they are all shocked because it’s clear there has never been a child like this. They aren’t yet married; they’re only betrothed. They haven’t come together; this is a virgin girl and her husband-to-be, a pure young man. They’re going to have a child whose entire life course and destiny is given to them before the child arrives.

Six months before, an angel told Zacharias and Elizabeth, who were past childbearing age, that they would conceive a child who would be the forerunner of the Messiah, John the Baptist. And that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, and that he also would have a great ministry and he would proclaim righteousness, and announce the coming of the Messiah.

It wasn’t like the miracle that happened in the womb of Mary, without a human father. The Son that was coming. What a child’s life, what child’s destiny, what a child’s impact, what a child’s influence, and all the details of his life and character and accomplishments and effect, are ever laid out from before His birth. Mary doesn’t ask questions because so much revelation is given.

The question Mary asked is, “How can this happen?” Luke 1 says that Gabriel shows up in Nazareth to a virgin who is betrothed to a man called Joseph, of the descendants of David. Mary needed to come from the line of David because the child would bear the royal blood. But it was through the father’s line that the right to rule came, and so He had to be a descendant of Joseph in some sense.

“The virgin’s name was Mary.” No last names, no history. The angel comes to her, in verse 28, and says, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Verse 29 says, “She was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.” Verse 30 indicates that she was afraid: “Stop being afraid.” It would be sensible to assume that she was terrified.

An angelic visitor had showed up and given her an incredible message: that she would conceive in her womb and bear a son, and that son would be the Son of the Most High and, down in verse 35, “The Son of God.” The most astonishing, astounding words ever said about any child were said about the Lord Jesus Christ to His startled and shocked young parents.

Summing it up, the angel says in verse 32, “He will be great.” And that seems like an understatement, right? It became apparent that He was great. As you follow the story of Jesus through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it is obvious that He had powers that no other person had ever displayed on earth. And repeatedly it says people were amazed at His teaching, His words and His wisdom.

They were amazed at His miracles. They were amazed at His healing. They were amazed at His control over the forces of hell, the demons. They were amazed at His control over the wind and the water and control over nature. It turned out that He was an amazing man. But at the beginning, all that Mary could say was, “How can this be?” and be amazed at the things that were being said about Him.

Even after He was born, there were amazing things being said about Him at the Temple when He was taken there for dedication and circumcision: amazing things by Simeon, an old saint waiting for the redemption of Israel; amazing things by Anna, another old saint waiting for the Messiah’s arrival; all these amazing things being said about this child. He’s the greatest child ever born.

There is no person close to receiving all the tributes that Christ has received. You can take all the human beings who have ever lived and been noted as significant people, put them all together with all that has ever been said about all of them combined, and it doesn’t even approach close to what has been said about this child. When you think of it from Joseph and Mary, it’s breathtaking.

What do we learn about this child? What was told to them? First of all, this child is God. Look at Luke 1:32, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Most High is a title for God. That is El Elyon in Hebrew. The Old Testament refers to God as the Most High 28 times, 19 of them in the book of Psalms. This title first occurs in Genesis 14:18.

He is in control of all of mankind. In Daniel 5:18, “O king, the Most High God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father.” Verse 21, “The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and . . . He sets over it whomever He wishes.” He has no equal. He is the Most High God. That title then, clearly refers to the One who rules over nations.

This title, the Most High, is one of majestic sovereignty. No title more exalts God’s nature than that title. There is no equal, there is none higher. And this little baby, according to the Scripture, “will be called the Son of the Most High.” Down in verse 35, the “Child will be called the Son of God.” It is saying that He possesses the same nature as God. Though a child of Mary, He was God’s Son.

He is the eternal Son, planted in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit without a human father. You might say that Mary was, in a sense, a surrogate mother. He was God’s own life, God’s essence. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And to prove that, “Nothing was made that wasn’t made by Him.” He’s the Creator God, the sovereign God.

No writer in the New Testament more clearly shows the meaning of being a Son than John does. Go to John 5, one of the definitive places where our Lord declares His nature as God. As usual, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because He was healing people on the Sabbath day, in verse 17, “But He answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’”

This is a stunning statement. What He is saying is God continues to work on the Sabbath, even after creating for six days. And we read, “God rested”; He didn’t rest from being God. He didn’t rest from holding the universe together. He doesn’t sleep, He doesn’t slumber, He doesn’t grow weary, He doesn’t faint. He simply rested from creation, but He did not go to sleep or disconnect.

He sustains the entire universe by His presence and power. So Jesus says, “The Sabbath doesn’t apply to God, and it doesn’t apply to Me either.” Mark 2:27 says, “The Sabbath was made for man.” Jesus is making an astonishing claim: “There are at least two for whom the Sabbath has no significance: God and Me. He works, and I work.” They knew exactly what He was saying.

Look at John 5:18, “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” That’s exactly what He was doing. He’s saying to them, “The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth faints not, neither is weary.”

And they saw He was claiming equality with God. Look at John 5:19, “Therefore Jesus answered to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son of Man can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing.”

Jesus said, “I am equal to God in works. Whatever God does, I do,” which is to say, Whatever God is capable of doing, I’m capable of doing. To accuse Christ is to accuse God. And you haven’t seen anything to what’s going to come in the resurrection and even in His glorious return, the greater works, and even in final judgment, the millennial kingdom, and the new heaven and the new earth.

In verse 21 Jesus goes even further. Not only equal in works, but equal in power, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life.” “Nothing was made without Him.” He is equal in power. He has physical and spiritual power to raise the dead and give life. And then He says in the same verse, “To whom He wishes.” So He is equal in authority to God.

Verse 22, He’s equal in judgment: “Not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.” “I have the right to judge, the authority to judge, the will to judge, the knowledge to judge, and I judge exactly as God judges.” Consequently, verse 23, equal in honor, “So that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father.”

This is an indictment of the religion of Judaism. What do we have, then, in this child? Luke 1, “The Son of the Most High,” the one who’s equal to God in works, power, and authority. He has everything that God has because He is God. That’s why Matthew 1 says He is “Immanuel, God with us.” In Him the fullness of God dwells bodily. Hebrews 1, He’s “the exact representation” of God.

Secondly, He was also a man. Look at Luke 1:31, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son.” In other words, this will be a human being. Physical conception without a man? “How can this be,” verse 34, “since I’m a virgin?” Answer from the angel, verse 37, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” Verse 35, “The Holy Spirit is going to plant the Son of God in human form in your womb.”

The birth indicate this is a real child. Mary was pregnant. Mary actually gave birth. The child was laid in a manger. The shepherds came and saw Him. Later, the wise men came and saw Him. He was taken to be circumcised at the Temple in the appropriate time. This is God in human flesh. The time was right, in “the fullness of time.” Hebrews 2 says, “He had to be made like His brethren in all things.”

Why? So that He could be a merciful and faithful high priest,” so that He could comfort us in our trials. He had to be a man to substitute for man and die in our place. He had to be a man to sympathize with men, having been “tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” He became our merciful and faithful High Priest. He was hungry. He slept. He learned. He grew. He loved.

He felt everything that we feel and more, because He never succumbed to temptation so that it became sin. Thirdly, He is sinless. He is identified as “the holy Child.” Never has a mother held a holy child in her arms. Think about it by contrast with the ones you got. Never a wrong attitude. Never an unkind thought. Never an inappropriate word. Never a disobedient act. Never selfish.

No child was ever born without the need for discipline. No child was ever born without the need for correction, forgiveness and salvation, except this child. That’s why He’s called the one who knew no sin. In the matter of holiness, in the matter of Jesus, you have just one person. He was in the fullness of holiness from His conception on. There’d never been a holy child who was fully man and fully God.

And He is the king, Luke 1:32, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.” In verse 33 it says, “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Christ means “the Anointed One,” which speaks of His royalty. He has the right to rule from Joseph; He has the royal blood from Mary.

And finally, He is the Savior, verse 31, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” Matthew 1:21, “You shall name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” The word Jesus means “Jehovah saves.” He comes to save His people. Luke 2:11 says, “Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord in the city of David.”

This is all so astonishing, amazing to Joseph and Mary, but not to us. The church of Jesus Christ has been singing these truths ever since. So what should be our response? Our response should be to worship Jesus, our Lord right? The most astonishing child ever, still amazes us. And He still talks to us through the Bible. And He still does miracles through providence. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Dec 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221225 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F1 imblog

When we think about Christmas we always wind up thinking about angels. In the real story angels were the heavenly messengers sent to declare that the Savior and the Lord had arrived, and that He was Christ. In the Old Testament there were three positions for unique service in the kingdom. First it was the prophets. We see this in 1 Kings 19:16 where Elijah is told to anoint his successor the prophet Elisha.

They were anointed and set apart to speak for God. The second group were the priests. In Exodus 29 you have Aaron and those who were in the Aaronic priesthood, instructed to be anointed. And the third position that received anointing was that of the king. 1 Samuel 16, David was anointed. 1 Kings 1, Solomon was anointed. This symbolizes heavenly blessing on one who is called to a unique heavenly tasks.

So the promise of God in the Old Testament was that there would come the ultimate Prophet, the ultimate Priest, and the ultimate King. In Isaiah 61 we read: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.”

The Messiah would be all three. According to Deuteronomy 18, He would be a prophet like Moses. According to Psalm 1:10, He would be a priest; and that’s repeated again in Zechariah 6. He would be a unique priest according to Psalm 2, and in 2 Samuel 7, He would be King. He would be the King in David’s line. Psalm 2 says He would rule all the nations of the world.

Centuries went by, until, as Paul says in Galatians 4:4, the fullness of time came. And when the fullness of time came, He was born; and that’s what brings you right in Luke 2:11, “Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Messiah, the Anointed One, the Lord.” Simeon, this old man, was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Anointed One.

This was the most monumental day in Israel’s history since the promises of the Old Testament were finally wrapped up in the last of the 39 books. Jesus declared that Himself starting in Luke 4:16, “He came to Nazareth and entered the synagogue, stood up to read. Took the book of Isaiah which was handed to Him. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.’ He closed the book, and said to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The Anointed One has arrived.

The message of the Lord Himself was that He is the Messiah, and He has arrived to fulfill the promises. This is affirmed by the apostles and the disciples. This becomes the subject of their preaching in the book of Acts. If you go Acts 3:18, “The things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.”

From the announcement of the angels that the Christ has arrived, to the testimony of Simeon, to the testimony of Jesus, to the testimony of the apostles, to the testimony of Paul, it was always that Jesus was the Christ. He was the ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King. All three of those come together in the Hebrews 1. It begins by describing the Lord Jesus Christ in these three anointed ways,

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the express image of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.”

Notice in verse 4, “He was much better than the angels.” Superior to the angels who announce His arrival. He is the King of the angels. But Hebrews 2:9 says, “When He came into the world He was for a little while made lower than the angels, in order to suffer death, then be crowned with glory.” So Hebrews 1 is introducing us to Jesus, and He is introduced to us as a prophet; a priest; and a king.

He is the Prophet who reveals God, He is the Priest who reconciles men to God, and He is the King who reigns with God. Let’s look, first at the Prophet who reveals God. Verse 1, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many way, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.” We know that the natural man cannot understand the things of God.

The true God is a person, and He has spoken. And that is why the Bible is called the Word of God. In the Old Testament He spoke to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. Many portions: different books. Many ways: direct revelation, indirect revelation, inspired writing, visions, dreams, types, symbols. But He spoke always to the people through the prophets.

The Old Testament was God speaking and men writing down what God said. Some of the Old Testament is history, some of it is poetry, some of it is law, some of it is prophecy, but all of it is God speaking. However it was, in a sense, incomplete. The revelations that compose the 39 separate books of the Old Testament, are stretched over a millennium, written by many different authors.

But it was incomplete. God was increasing our understanding as revelation continued. No prophet got the full revelation of God, not until God spoke to us in His Son. No prophet ever grasped the full truth of God, only Jesus was the full truth revealed. He was not an incomplete revelation. In Him, God fully revealed Himself. No longer in diverse manners and diverse ways, but singularly through Christ.

Look at John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God,” speaking of the Son of God. So we know the Word was God. Go down to verse 14, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Verse 18, “No one has seen God at any time; Jesus has explained Him.”

And the New Testament is written about this full revelation. The four Gospels describe the arrival and the ministry of Jesus. The book of Acts describes the apostolic preaching concerning Jesus. The Epistles lay out the significance of His life and death and the resurrection and implications in the world. And the New Testament culminates in the book of Revelation with His glorious return.

In John 5, you see the most powerful expression of His words since the creation. John 5:25, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” His words are so powerful they not only created the entire universe, and sustains that universe, but they’re so powerful that He will raise all the dead in the end.

The Old Testament reveals the Messiah by bits and pieces. In Abraham, we find the nation of Messiah. In Jacob, we find the tribe of Messiah. In David and Isaiah, we find the family of Messiah. In Micah, we find the town of Messiah. In Daniel, we find the time of Messiah. In Malachi, we find the forerunner of Messiah. And in Isaiah, we find the death and resurrection of Messiah.

But each writer only knew in part; and Peter says they looked at what they wrote to see who this really would be. But when Christ arrived, He is the complete, full revelation of God. So when the angels said, “Christ has been born,” this is exactly what they were referring to. Hebrews tells us, “He speaks for God.” He’s going to define Christ in some magnificent terms.

Verse 2, “He is the Son of God. He is the heir of all things. He is the one who made the world. He is the radiance of God’s glory. He is the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” What he’s trying to show us is that He is the ultimate Prophet. No prophet has ever had words that are as powerful as His. He possesses the right to absolutely everything.

In Revelation 5, you see this illustrated when the Lamb of God comes out of the throne and picks up the title deed to the universe. Verse 6, “I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” And all of heaven bows down to worship Him.

He’s the rightful heir to everything that God possesses. Yes, for a while He was lower than the angels. But He is the King of angels. He is the one who will inherit everything. He inherits it because He created it. Verse 2 says, “Through whom also He made the world.” With the Son, God created. “Everything was made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made,”

Verse 3 says, “He’s the radiance of God’s glory.” When it says, “He is the radiance,” it’s actually the word “brightness”. “He shins forth God’s glory,” 2 Corinthians 4 says that. We see the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus. Just as the radiance of the sun reaches the earth and lights and warms, give life and grows, so Christ is the glorious Light of God shining into the hearts of men.

Jesus says in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world; whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness.” John goes further and says, “He’s the exact representation of God’s nature.” It’s a classical word that means just essentially what it’s means. He is the authorized exact duplication of God in nature, substance, and essence. Colossians 2:9, “In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells.”

Secondly, He is not only the Prophet who reveals God, but He is the Priest who reconciles people to God. Verse 3: “When He had made purification of sins.” This introduces us to His priestly work. That what priests did. They went before God in the prescribed way to offer the necessary sacrifice that God required to pay for the sins of the people. Jesus offered the only sacrifice that could take away sin, namely Himself.

There was no priest like Him. Every priest would go back every day and do what he did in the morning again at night, and again the next day. There was never an end to it. But Hebrews wants us to understand there’s never been a priest like this one. Hebrews 2:17, “He became a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of His people.”

Propitiation is satisfaction. He offered a sacrifice that satisfied God. No priest ever did that. Hebrews 4:14, “We have a great high priest, Jesus Christ the Son of God. We do not have a great high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, but without sin. So let us draw near to Him.” He is a priest like no other priest.

Hebrews 5:5, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but God who said to Him, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You, just as He also in another passage says, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ Verse 9 says, “Having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.”

Hebrews 9 says, “When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, and not through the blood of lambs, but through His own blood, He entered the Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” How much more will the blood of Christ, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

To the Jews the cross was a stumbling block, and that’s why they had to preach, the apostles did, that the Christ, the Messiah, must needs have suffered. But He came to be the Priest, to offer the ultimate sacrifice, and to be that sacrifice. Peter says, “We’re redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot.”

And, thirdly, in these opening few verses, we meet Him as the King. The end of verse 3, “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” A priest never sat down because his work was never finished. But Jesus sat down because He was not just a priest, He was a king. He sat down at the right hand, the power side of the Majesty on high.

As Revelation says, He became King of kings and Lord of lords. And when He ascended into heaven after He had accomplished His priestly work, He reigns as the eternal King. The evidence of His sovereign royalty is verse 4: “Having become much better than the angels, He inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You’re My Son, today I have begotten You’?

Now go back to Luke 2. He arrives as the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. The writer of Hebrews says He’s much better than the angels, and the angels acknowledge Him as their King. “Today in the city of David there’s been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest.’” Let’s pray together.

]]> Sun, 18 Dec 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221218 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001F0 imblog

Acts 8:25-40

In Acts 8 we have discussed faith that does not save and the faith that does save. We looked at Simon the magician whose faith did not save him. This week, we look at the faith that does save, as illustrated by the Ethiopian eunuch. In both cases, Philip is the key instrument of God. He was chosen in Acts 6, a Jew who was a non-Palestinian Jew from the Hellenistic world.

Significant, if not massive, barriers are being knocked down as the church grew. One of which was Samaria. That barrier meant nothing as Philip and the Christians who scattered out of Jerusalem by the persecution of Paul. They began to spill over into Judea, and even across the border to the north into Samaria. And everywhere they went, they were doing essentially one thing, preaching.

So the barrier is down in Samaria. Not because the gospel was so popular. They went there under terrible persecution. That was really the second major step in the promised development of the church under the power of the Holy Spirit. We’ve got to get beyond the Jews in Jerusalem to get into the rest of the world. So starting in verse 25, we have the first Gentile conversion.

This Ethiopian represents the Gentiles. Verse 25, “So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord (to Simon), they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.” The Holy Spirit didn’t come until Peter and John arrived so the Jews would know that the same Holy Spirit fell upon the Samaritans that had fallen upon them.

And there was the same phenomena of foreign languages that was there at Pentecost to make sure everybody knew the Jews and Samaritans were in one church. Peter and John have come having heard about this amazing response by the Samaritans to the gospel. They come up to authenticate it, to lay hands on it and validate it, and then go back and say it’s really happened as it has been told.

Now the Holy Spirit comes at the moment you believe. And Philip is about to meet an Ethiopian eunuch. This is the first time the church expands into the uttermost parts of the earth. Israel had always been ordained to tell the world about the true and living God. But they sort of vacillated between attitudes of isolation and animosity toward the nations around them which were full of idolatry.

And the one thing they wouldn’t do was evangelize the nations, which was what they had been called to do. So the goal of God to reach the world through Israel hit a stalemate. And God, in the church, starts a fresh channel, a new people, and sets Israel aside; and they’re still set aside. And they’re not going to take the gospel to the world until you get to the time of tribulation.

God saves 12,000 people out of all the 12 tribes of Israel. You have 144,000 Jewish missionaries pouring out the gospel to the world, finally fulfilling what they were originally called to do. But it now begins to unfold on a desert road initially with just one person. The kingdom of God advances one soul at a time. Now as we look at this, we could just read the story.

This story in and of itself presents to us a picture of the elements and the components in a saving faith. Everything you need to know is here by illustration. There are three categories that help us. There’s the preparation which is already in place, and then there is the presentation, and then there is the personal response as we look at those three components of a faith that saves.

First, look at the preparation, verses 26 – 29, “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, had come to Jerusalem to worship.”

28 He was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” Now that’s enough to let us know that this is a very well-designed and prepared encounter, and the one who is preparing this than none other than the Holy Spirit. The proper preparation for true salvation, begins with the sovereign work of the Spirit.

It starts with God’s Spirit preparing the heart of a person, God’s providential working. Salvation is God’s work, not man’s work. It is initiated by God. It is a reflection of His will; no man seeks after God. The natural man is dead in trespasses and sin, ignorant, hopeless, helpless, and not interested. But what happens is by the purpose of God and it shatters the natural and satanic blindness.

This is the blindness that the god of this world imposes on sinners. This is the most important fact regarding salvation, it has to be initiated by God. We saw that demonstrated in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. You must be born of the Spirit. You must be born from above.” How? Jesus answers, “The Spirit does what He wants, when He wants and to whom He wants.”

Salvation is a sovereign work of God. God is the one who chooses, God is the one who calls, God is the one who activates the human heart. We can’t aid the Holy Spirit in this. People who are blind in the darkness of sin and Satan can’t see the truth, that’s why in John 6:44, Jesus said, “No man comes unto Me unless the Father draws him.” The sinner cannot believe by himself.

And we know this is happening here because an angel of the Lord speaks to Philip and tells him to go to this individual who’s a court official of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, for the sake of the gospel. Here we have an illustration. But in this case, it is recorded for us that this was all the preparation of the Holy Spirit. Now on this occasion, the Holy Spirit used an angelic messenger to order Philip.

Go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. Gaza is a city of the Philistines that was given by Joshua to Judah. In 96 BC it was totally destroyed; and the road to Egypt ran through an old fortress in ruins. It was much traveled, because there was a constant flow of people going from Jerusalem to Egypt and the other way around. So Philip is instructed and as he goes, he is obedient.

Verse 27, “He got up and went.” And there was, providentially, an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure, and he had come to Jerusalem to worship. This is the divine encounter that is prepared by the Holy Spirit. He only knew to be obedient, he only knew that God would determine His purpose, as is true of everyone who is saved.

The salvation of this single sinner was the very clear purpose of God for Philip’s trip reminding us that the salvation of a single sinner is worthy of the attention of God, and the dispatching of angels, and the action of the Holy Spirit. And salvation doesn’t happen to anyone unless they hear the truth about Christ, right? Somebody has to go and faith comes by hearing the Word concerning Christ.

Secondly, the submissive will of a servant. The Lord has chosen to do His work through human instruments. It was Peter on the Day of Pentecost, in Acts 2, who preached the gospel and 3,000 people were saved. Again, the gospel is preached in Acts 4 and 5, 000 are saved. And then the gospel continues to be preached by Stephen. And the persecuted are scattered everywhere preaching the gospel.

But all God had to say was, “Go.” And verse 27 says, “Philip got up and went.” Even though it didn’t appear logical, he could have made an argument there were more important things to do where he was, he obeyed. And, he ran into an Ethiopian eunuch who was a court official of Candace, Queen to the Ethiopians, in charge of her treasure, coming to Jerusalem to worship.

Verse 30, “So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And then there’s a third element. There’s the searching of the sinner. Notice in verse 28 this Ethiopian eunuch is reading the prophet Isaiah. According to history, the name Candace is not a proper name, it’s like Pharaoh. It’s a feminine name for a queen mother.

This man worked for her as she was doing the work of the king. He is a eunuch. He had been castrated to serve served the king in the harem. Now this man is the official treasury keeper. He is the Chief Financial Officer of Ethiopia, trusted, respected and honored. God has a dim view of castration in Deuteronomy 23:1, because it is abusing the image of God and it was associated with paganism.

Something’s going on in this man because he’s coming to Jerusalem to worship. He has heard about the God of Israel. Some Jews must have migrated into Egypt. The answers to his heart questions weren’t being answered in paganism. So he’s going to make a twelve-hundred-mile trip. He had come all the way to Jerusalem to worship the true God. But he was unfulfilled in his search.

Thirdly, another reason for true salvation: a genuine hunger for the truth. That’s the beatitude, isn’t it? “Blessed is the man who hungers after righteousness, who thirsts after righteousness, for he will be filled.” Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are they that seek Him with the whole heart.” Jeremiah 29:13, “And you shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with all your heart.”

So what is the preparation for a true salvation? The sovereign work of the Spirit, the submissive will of the servant, and the searching of the sinner; and then it all culminates in a fourth, the scriptural Word of God. It all comes down to the truth; and he is reading the prophet Isaiah. And he’s not just reading somewhere in the 66 chapters. Verse 32 says, he happens to be reading Isaiah 53.

That is the most important chapter in the book of Isaiah, and it is the presentation of the gospel. Isaiah 53 is called the first gospel; and Matthew is the second. Maybe he picked up the scroll somewhere, and you only had a scroll if you were very wealthy. And this is a very wealthy individual and he’s reading the traditional way, out loud, and he’s reading Isaiah 53. Now the presentation.

Verse 31-33, “And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.”

The passage he was reading, verses 32 - 33 is that great passage out of Isaiah 53, which describes the substitutionary atonement of Christ as He was led as the sacrificial Lamb of God to slaughter. It’s a prophecy of the death of the Messiah. If someone is in the process of being brought to the knowledge of the gospel, they will want to know about Jesus, the Scripture, and the atonement.

Verse 34-35, “So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.” This man wanted the truth. We need to point people at Scripture. Because John 16:13 says, “The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.”

Philip sat under the apostles who had also taught him about Jesus from the law, the prophets, and the Holy Writings. A clear presentation of Christ is absolutely everything in a gospel presentation. So point at the Scripture, point at the Savior, point at salvation. Explain why He was a sheep led to slaughter, why He was the Lamb of God. It’s got to be the main purpose that is in the heart of the sinner.

Verse 36, “As they went along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” There had to be a pool of water. Why is that significant? Because baptism signifies union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. God allowed for this providential encounter in a place where there’s no water except there.

Go to verse 38 first, “So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.” First official baptism of somebody from the uttermost part of the earth. Now let us look at verse 37, “Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” He answered, “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

That verse does not appear in any of the ancient manuscripts, so it was added later. Verse 39, “Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.” What is that? That’s a miracle. Phillip disappeared. What does it say? “But he went on his way rejoicing.” So this is time-travel.

Verse 40, “But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.” Certainly the eunuch is scratching his head and saying, “This is a validation that I have just had an encounter with God.” The Lord relocated him in a miraculous way. A miracle is a confirming sign, certainly to the eunuch, that God put him exactly where He wanted him to be.

Azotus was a title for the town of Ashdod, which was a Philistine city where they took the ark. Suddenly, he arrived there, and he preached in all the cities. Apparently, this was Philip’s new headquarters. Irenaeus, the early Church Father says that the eunuch became a missionary. And there are parts of Africa in which historically Christians have claimed him as their founder. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Dec 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221211 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001EF imblog

Acts 8:9-24

Please open your Bible to Acts 8, because we’re going to look at the history of a man called Simon, not Simon Peter. We’re going to see in him an illustration of a person that has faith that does not save. Now once we’ve looked at Simon, we are then immediately compare him to a man from Ethiopia. And we are also going to see in him the faith that does save.

So we’re going to see the contrast between the nature and character of saving faith and that of a false faith. Let me read Acts 8:9-24, “But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”

11 And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs.

14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that these gifts of God could be purchased with money!

21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” 24 Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”

Acts 8 begins with the great general persecution of the early church led by a man named Saul who was in agreement with the murder of Stephen. And on that very day that Stephen was murdered, Saul led a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. It caused believers to scatter throughout Judea and Samaria; the apostles remaining in the city. Saul ravaged the church.

The church was growing fast. They turned Jerusalem upside-down with the gospel. And, the declaration that Jesus had risen from the dead, the same Jesus that the elite of Jerusalem had murdered, caused persecution to break out against this exploding church. That persecution began by jailing the apostles and threatening them against preaching, otherwise they would be beaten.

And we see Stephen in Acts 7: Stephen, the first Christian preacher to die as a martyr, stoned to death, led by a man named Saul who started the persecution and who later became the apostle Paul. However, neither the persecution of the apostles, threats against the apostles, or even the murder of Stephen could stop the church growth. This was the Holy Spirit using persecution to fulfill the promise of Acts 1:8.

The gospel was not popular, it only expanded through persecution. Samaria becomes a bridge to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles will actually be reached in Acts 10. Preaching led to productivity, fruitful ministry in Jerusalem, in Judea and beyond. Philip now becomes the key character. It is Philip who encounters Simon the magician. It is Philip who then meets the Ethiopian.

It is Philip who confronts the reality of false faith as well as true faith. Philip confronts Simon and the Ethiopian eunuch. These two stories are vital for us, in particular to show the difference between a non-saving faith and a saving faith. And, Simon looked like a true believer. In verse 13, he believed. He was baptized and that he continued. It looked good on the surface.

We see four characteristics of false faith in this man, Simon. He had a wrong view of self, he had a wrong view of salvation, he had a wrong view of the Spirit, and he had a wrong view of sin. His view of self was egotistical, his view of salvation was external, his view of the Spirit was economic, and his view of sin was evasive; all wrong views. He is an illustration of a tragedy that goes on all the time.

First let’s start out with the wrong view of self, egotistical. This is a common reality that keeps men from faith that saves. Pride, they think they’re good, that was Simon. Verse 9, “But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great,” He was practicing magic, meaning to be skilled in the art of deception.

So here we meet really the first false teacher who infiltrated the church with his heresy. He is the first false teacher to propagate what later became known as gnostic ideas. Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis which means people who have secret knowledge. People who feel that they have ascended beyond the masses, and they somehow can commune with gods.

This indicates his wrong view of himself; he thought he was someone great. But you’re far from the necessary humility that is required to come to true salvation. Verse 10, “to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” The Samaritans were convinced by Simon himself that he was the chief of one of these powers.

This is precisely how the Mormons see Jesus. Jesus is not God; He is an emanation from God. He is a great power of God, elevated above man, but below God. The Mormons also believe that Satan is the same. He is the spirit brother of Jesus, who is also a created being. So we see here that elevated pride is an immediate barrier between Simon and true salvation in Christ.

Psalm 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God.” Psalm 101:5, “A proud heart will I not tolerate.” Proverbs 8:13, “Pride, arrogance and the evil ways do I hate.” Proverbs 16:5, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.” Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction.” James 4:6, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.”

Justin Martyr, one of the early church fathers says, “Simon was so famous that he was honored with a statue in Rome, and the statue said, ‘Semoni Sanco deo’ which means, ‘To Simon, Holy God.’ Verse 11, “And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.” Justin Martyr then says, “Simon’s birthplace was in Samaria, and he kept the people under satanic bondage.”

Secondly, the wrong view of salvation. His view of salvation was external. Verse 12, “But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.” Verse 13, “Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs.”

But we know there’s a fatal flaw that keeps him from true salvation, and that is his pride. Simon was exposed to the good news about the kingdom of God. The gospel of entering the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Philip is telling people how to enter the kingdom of God by faith in the name of Jesus Christ. People were believing. They were being baptized, men and women alike.

As this happens, Simon’s hold on people begins to dwindle. Simon continues on with Philip. Why? Because he’s watching the signs and miracles taking place and he is absolutely amazed. He is attracted to the miracle power. Instead of being humble, his pride causes him to follow because he wants in on that power. He knows the difference between what he does and what is real.

He was impressed with the power of Philip. He saw this miracle power as a commodity to be added to his arsenal, so he decided to join the movement. This is a satanic approach. Satan always wants to talk like, act like a believer. So in Simon, we see the first example of one who, having been baptized in the name of Christ, with the sole purpose of corrupting the faith he professed.

In Roman Catholic theology, we read this: “Baptism confers the grace of salvation.” Really? Simon was baptized, but that didn’t confer the grace of salvation on him. He was never saved; he received no grace. It was an external thing to him. He had a wrong view of self and a wrong view of salvation. He thought that by being baptized, he’d be in; and now he could tap into the power.

Thirdly, that he had a wrong view of the Holy Spirit. Verse 14, “Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

These two leading apostles, were sent to inspect the work. They were going to go see if this was genuine. Verse 15 says, “They came and prayed for the people who had believed and been baptized,” the genuine believers, “that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for He had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

When you believe the Lord Jesus Christ, would not the Holy Spirit come immediately?” That’s true now. But Acts is a historically a critical time for transition. Why didn’t the Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit at the very instant they believed as believers do now? Because the Jews needed apostolic testimony and apostolic evidence that they were to be included in one church.

Strife between the Jews and the Samaritans, would have been perpetuated, unless the apostles came, identified the fact that they were true believers, and that they were there when the Holy Spirit came upon them, that they were thus placed by the Holy Spirit into the same body as the Jews. There was always the danger of two churches, separation. There had to be Jews present.

And that’s exactly what happened because verse 17 – 18 says, “Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money.” How did he see that? The Holy Spirit is invisible. It’s my conviction that the same manifestation that occurred at the Day of Pentecost occurred here again.

The manifestation was speaking in multiple languages. Acts 10:44 – 46 says, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.”

The Jews were amazed. Because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. The Jews were very narrow minded. They didn’t like the idea of non-Jewish people coming into their covenant. So God had to repeat the phenomena of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the apostles, not only to the Samaritans, but when it happened at first to the Gentiles.

In Acts 19 Paul says to the Jews, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” and they said, “We haven’t heard of the Holy Spirit.” So Paul says, “You need to believe in Jesus,” and so when they heard the gospel, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and Paul laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with other languages and proclaiming God’s works.”

Lastly, his view of sin was wrong. Isaiah 55 says, the invitation comes without cost, and without money. Simon wanted to buy the true Holy Spirit. Verse 19, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” He didn’t know that nothing that God has is for sale. All that He offers is free, but it’s to the broken, contrite and repentant heart, truly believing in Christ.

Verse 20-23, “But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

Lay down your sin; lay hold of Christ. You are a slave to your sin. You must repent. This bold evangelism is what the early church did. What did Simon do? Verse 24, “Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.” Was he sorry? I don’t know. But there was no confession, and no acknowledgement of sin. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Dec 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221204 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001EE imblog

Acts 8:1-8

In January 8th in 1956, five missionaries were massacred in Ecuador by a tribe of people known as Auca Indians. It appeared at the time to be maybe the greatest tragedy in missionary history in the Modern Era. But it didn’t seem that anything was a tragic as these martyrs because they were all so highly trained, so profoundly dedicated to the Lord, and with great potential.

The truth was that it was anything but a tragedy. For them, it was immediate entrance into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And through their death, a missionary movement exploded, starting really with their wives, and then their friends. Eventually that entire tribe of Auca Indians was evangelized with the gospel and a church was planted there that grew and influenced other tribes.

A book, Through Gates of Splendor, illustrates an important point, that what you might think is the darkest moment in missionary history, may really be an explosion of church growth and development. What happened to those Auca Indians in the establishment of a church and several generations of believers is one of the great stories of God starting a church in what looks like a backdoor way.

Well, that is precisely how the original church spread. Open your Bible to Acts 8. The early church started in Jerusalem, but the purpose of God was that the church would be planted in Jerusalem, then it would go to Judea-Samaria and the uttermost part of the world. That was the Great Commission of Acts 1:8. But the gospel did not just explode to the surrounding areas. The gospel was not popular.

There was a man, named Saul, who agreed with the killing of Stephen. Why did this mob of people do that? They heard a full explanation of the Old Testament to which they were ostensibly devoted, and they heard about the coming of the Righteous One, Jesus, that everybody in the Old Testament was waiting for. But then they were indicted because they killed the Righteous One.

They were cut to their hearts and began gnashing their teeth at him. They rejected Jesus, the Righteous One Himself. They rejected Him as their Redeemer, their Savior. They rejected the gospel preached by the apostles. Stephen preached one sermon and he became an instant martyr. The death of Stephen is the trigger that launched the slaughter of those new Christians.

A great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women. He would put them in prison. Then verse 4, “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the Word.”

Philip went to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. The crowds, with one accord, were giving attention to what was said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing; for many who had unclean spirits were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. So there was much rejoicing.

Persecution of Christians is global. In the Western world, immorality persecutes the church. Devotees of homosexuality persecute the church. Those who are advocates of godless freedom to sin hate biblical Christianity. Even our own government has persecuted Christians who do not acknowledge certain immoral behaviors. And that persecution will continue.

Now Acts 8:1 says, “A great persecution began.” But this isn’t the first persecution in the book of Acts. Prior to this, there was persecution from Jewish leaders against the apostles. Acts 4:1, “As they were speaking, the priests, the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them being greatly disturbed because they were stating that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

They hauled them before the Sanhedrin. They told them not to preach, and they answered, ‘We must preach there’s no salvation in any other.’ They commanded them not to speak at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge, for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Stephen preaches the gospel to them. This infuriates the leaders and eventually leads to a mob slaughter of this preacher. Is this a crushing blow to the early church? It didn’t seem to stop it. But now it’s reached the level where they are killing the preachers. It’s like trying to stamp out fiery embers, and the stamping just sends them into the air and they start a fire wherever they land.

The persecution of the Christians led by Saul only causes the gospel to fulfill its intended purpose: “You will be witness in Jerusalem, and then Judea, then Samaria, then the world.” And that’s exactly what happens. Persecution began the missionary effort to the world. And here we have the first foreign mission effort about to begin to get out of Jerusalem, go to Judea, and then to Samaria.

Acts 8 is a critical turning point in the early history of the church. The gospel is now going to go to Judea, to Samaria; and before this 8th chapter is over, it’s going to touch a man from beyond this world, from Ethiopia. In this chapter, Acts 1:8 begins to be fulfilled, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the earth. Now let’s look at three points, persecution, preaching, and productivity.

Ferocious persecution begins in verse 1. It starts with murder, martyrdom, and it goes from there. The leader of this is Saul. Why does it say they laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul? Because Saul was the instigator. He gives testimony to that in Acts 22:20 when he says, “And when the blood of your witness was being shed, I also was standing by approving.”

When they laid their coats at his feet, it’s a symbol of authority. What is interesting about that is that Saul himself, after his conversion, suffers a whole lifetime of treatment very much like Stephen. At the point of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9, the Lord says to Ananias about him, “I will show him what great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” What was done to Stephen really will be done to Saul.

The Jews disputed and resisted Stephen in the synagogue, and so they did with Paul. The Jews rejected Stephen’s preaching and teaching; so they did with Paul. Stephen was accused of blasphemy; so was Paul. Stephen was accused of speaking against Moses, speaking against the Holy Place, speaking against the law; so was Paul. They seized Stephen; they did the same to Paul.

Only God’s grace could transform the blood-thirsty Saul into a blood-washed Paul. And when Paul identifies himself as a murderer, as he does in his epistle, that all started with Stephen. There’s a note at the end of verse 1, “Except the apostles.” They’re like watchmen who remain at their post to confirm the souls of those disciples who were unable to flee and stay in the city.

Eventually, the apostles go, but not in the early days of the church when they need to care for these believers. And verse 2 ads, “Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.” That’s an important statement, devout men, pious Jews. Not necessarily Christians because if you look at Acts 2:5, we have that same phrase which just describes the population of Jerusalem.

They were men who feared God. They were men who felt that it was wrong to kill Stephen for preaching. They were a nobler kind than Saul, who led the mob to do what they did. These men are saddened by this behavior. Perhaps, they are men who later come to faith in Christ. This is to remind us that though the Christ-hating leaders of Israel were in charge, there were other kinds of people too.

The Jewish law commands that the body of an executed person must be buried, so they buried Stephen. But the law also said when an executed person is buried, no public weeping is allowed. These men defied that tradition and they made loud lamentation over him. They were not going to join this action even though they were not yet believers, and maybe they’re open to the gospel.

So Saul comes and becomes the prime mover in the persecution. Verse 3, “He began ravaging the church.” Some translations would say ravaging is a brutal, sadistic kind of cruelty. His testimony in Acts 22 said, “I am a Jew educated under Gamaliel, according to the law of our God. I persecuted this way (Christianity) to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons.”

This persecution led to the second word “preaching.” Ferocious persecution leads to preaching. Verse 4, “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the Word.” They literally went through Judea and through Samaria. The verb used, “went about,” is talking about a missionary effort. What a sight this was, a stream of people in pain with nothing but their clothes on their backs.

They escaped with only what they could carry in their hands, pouring out of the city gates of Jerusalem, scattering everywhere, cast completely on the Lord without their livelihood, without their possession. And what did they do? They went everywhere preaching the Word. Persecution is good for the church. It disconnects the church from its comfort and sends it out in dependency.

Luke illustrates with just the story of one of them, Philip. Philip was chosen to be a deacon. This isn’t Philip the apostle, this is Philip the deacon. He’s one of the seven original deacons. But in Acts 21:8 he is called, “Philip the evangelist.” Because he went everywhere preaching the Word. He went 40 miles north of Jerusalem, straight north to Samaria.

The Samaritan people were viewed with hatred, as we know from John 4. They were viewed as heretics and their religion was heretical. It was a hybrid of Paganism and Judaism. Samaria was actually the ancient capital of the northern kingdom, established by a king named Omri in 1 Kings 16 when the kingdom split after Solomon. The Jews hated them because of 2 Kings 17:18.

The year 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom and the capital Samaria. They transported the Jews back to Assyria, and then they brought in pagan invaders, and the Jews that were left intermarried with them and produced this hybrid group of heretics. This was an unforgivable crime. The southern kingdom was taken to Babylon. But they refused to intermarry.

The southern kingdom came back from 70 years of exile, to rebuild the wall under Ezra and Nehemiah. The Samaritans wanted to help them. But there was a tremendous conflict; and that just escalated to hatred between the two. But Philip, as a Jew, has none of that. He knows the gospel is to go to the ends of the earth, and so he preached. And he preached Christ to them.

In John 4:28 the Samaritan woman said to Him, “Are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah?” This gives the good news that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ has come. And that’s what the people did, they went everywhere proclaiming Christ. Verse 6, “The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.”

The powers to do miracles extended from the apostles to those associated with the apostles, this first generation of deacon evangelists. Philip does things that the apostles did, verse 7, “Delivering people from unclean spirits.” These devils were coming out of them screaming with a loud voice. That’s what demons do when they’re confronted by the power of Christ.

Why does Philip have the power to do this? To authenticate the message. There’s no New Testament. How do you sort a true teacher from a false one? False teachers were everywhere. By power over demons, power over disease, power over deformity. This is powerful, and they are fascinated. There’s a third word in verse 8, “There was great joy in that city.” We started with persecution, then preaching; and now productivity.

When it says, “There was much rejoicing in that city,” what does that tell us? The first fruit of salvation is joy. Isaiah 61:10 says, “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will exalt in my God, for He has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. I will rejoice greatly.”

In 1 Thessalonians 1:6, Paul is giving thanks to God for what the Lord has done with the Thessalonians, and he says this: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much tribulation, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Paul tells us in Romans 14:17, “The kingdom of God is joy in believing.” So we have preaching as the result of persecution, and that leads to salvation.

The gospel goes to the world because believers are persecuted. We don’t need to strive for persecution but on the other hand, we don’t have to fear persecution because persecution historically has accomplished the purposes of God. We need to expect it. We need to be courageous and bold. Do not ever underestimate the power of persecution to accomplish God’s purpose. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Nov 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221127 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001ED imblog

Acts 7:54-60

At the end of Acts 7, we see the first Christian that was killed for his testimony concerning Christ. His name is Stephen. He was a man of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom. And he was full of faith. He, along with six other men, were chosen out of the thousands members in the early church for spiritual responsibility to fulfill ministry.

He was also a courageous preacher. He is brought before the Jewish Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin. He has been traveling around in Hellenistic synagogues that were basically occupied by Jews who had come from the Greek world. Particularly the synagogue of the freed men, which included Cyrenians, Alexandrians, some from Cilicia in Asia, and he proclaimed the gospel.

But men stood up and argued with him and they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. So they attacked the man. They accused him of blasphemy against Moses, and against God. They also accused him of blasphemy against the temple and against the law. They said, “We have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this temple.”

And, “the customs which Moses handed down and alter the customs of Moses.” The Sanhedrin, along with all of the people of the synagogues who were offended dragged him there, saw his face like the face of an angel. This becomes a tribunal for him. And the high priest asks him in verse 1, “Are these things so?” These accusations, these indictments.

The answer comes in Acts 7:2 - 53. He shows that he is not a blasphemer of God but a true believer in God. He is also not a blasphemer of Moses, but accepts that what God gave Moses was divine revelation. He is not a blasphemer of the law of God; he regards the law for what it really is. Nor is he a blasphemer of the temple. And so, he defends himself against each of the four accusations.

At the same time, he turns the tables on the Jewish Sanhedrin, and all the other Jewish people who were gathered there. And he says, in reality, along with your forefathers, you all have blasphemed God and have blasphemed Moses. You, with your forefathers, have blasphemed the law of God with constant disobedience. You are blasphemers of this temple because you all have turned it into a den of thieves.

And he wraps up his sermon, in verse 51, with a summary indictment. “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed all those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One,” the Messiah.

And it has all come down to you betraying and murdering the Son of God, the Righteous One. Verse 54 - 60, “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵ But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened,

and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Saul was in agreement with putting him to death. And on that day, great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation.

In the martyrdom of Stephen, we see the contrast between the hostile, Christ-hating world of the Jews, and the gentle, loving soul of Stephen. The world is in fury, doing its worst. Stephen confronted them boldly, using the sword of the Spirit, and he took that sword and did a masterful job of stabbing it deep into their souls. And they killed him for it. But God honored him for it.

First of all, they were full of anger, and he was full of the Spirit. That becomes obvious in verse 54 into the first part of verse 55. “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven.” When he began his sermon, there was no question but that they were listening.

He met them where they were, and they were committed to the Old Testament. But as the emphasis of his argument became clearer, their interest turned to fury and horror. It reached a fever pitched level in the life of the church in Acts. They accused him of blasphemy. He turned it around and accused them of blasphemy. Verse 54, “When they heard this, they were cut to the quick.”

What does that mean? Anger and rage. Hell doesn’t produce remorse; it produces anger. That is why it’s forever, because they just keep on sinning. Their fury against God never ever abates. Hell is full of people in a furious rage, furious because of the influences that they followed, furious because of the decisions they made, and furious at God that put them there.

Let us look into the future in Revelation. We look into the time of the great tribulation when the judgments of God come to earth, judgments under the seals, judgments under the trumpets and the bowls. Let us see Revelation 9:20, “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by those plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons.

And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.” That is the seventh and final trumpet of final judgment, out of which come the seven bowls, and the nations are enraged. They are enraged. When God’s grace does not move them, when the glory of the gospel does not change them, judgment infuriates them.

Stephen had indicted them as blasphemers and that activated their fury. They are past feelings. They are damned by their continuous willful rejection. They have hardened their hearts against the truth. They have rejected the miracles and the words of Jesus. Not long before this, they rejected the testimony and gospel preaching of the apostles. They rejected the witness of the early church.

They rejected the ministry and the miracles of Peter. They rejected the miracles and the message of this man, Stephen, and their rejection is so fixed and so deep and so profound and so unalterable that the only response they can possibly have to another message of the gospel that indicts them for their iniquity is outright fury. They couldn’t find words to vent their hatred. Satan possessed them.

This was not a sudden outburst but a growing tension that gradually rose higher and higher as Stephen spoke, and never died until Stephen lie before them dead. These dignitaries had never faced such a prisoner. He seemed more like an accuser than the accused. His message drew blood, but his conscience led him where he regarded no price too great to pay for his convictions.

Stephen no longer faced an orderly council, but a mob whose minds were irrational with hate, and whose emotions were bent on murder. They were not willing, for any man, to expose and reveal the depth of their sin. Herod killed John the Baptist because John pointed to his sin and rebuked him for it. The Pharisees nailed Jesus Christ to the cross because He denounced and exposed their hypocrisy.

The Jews reacted in the same manner toward the apostles, and Stephen is the first of a multitude who, in their exposure of men’s sins, died an awful death at the hands of the sinners they exposed. As Hebrews 3 says, do not harden your hearts through the deceitfulness of sin. This crowd was full of anger, but Stephen was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to be full of the Holy Spirit? It means to be under the control of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes as a comforter. He comes as a teacher. He comes as a source of power. He comes as a source of wisdom. Notice, it’s a present tense. This was not a momentary experience for Stephen. This is the fullness of the Spirit that literally is characteristic of him all the time.

He was a man in a state of permanently being yielded to the Holy Spirit’s power. So, while his audience has gone completely mad with anger, he remains calm, fully under control of the Holy Spirit. I have never read of the martyrdom of any Christian, who died with rage and anger. Every martyrdom always depicts a kind of rare transcendent, supernatural peace and divine strength.

1 Peter 4:14 says, “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” Something happens in that hour of martyrdom that is a double portion of the Holy Spirit. Not only is the Holy Spirit living in every believer all the time, but there is a special dispensation of grace that comes on the believer who is under threat of life.

In Luke 12:11 Jesus said, “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how, or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” There is a triple portion of the Holy Spirit. One, to have the Holy Spirit; two, to have a blessing from Him and three, to be given what you are to say.

But there’s more here. Stephen gazes intently into heaven. He saw the glory of God. He saw what the apostle Paul saw when he was caught up to the third heaven. He saw what Moses saw when he was taken up to the Mount and the glory of God was revealed to him. He saw what Peter, James, and John saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. He saw Jesus standing there at the right hand of God.

The invisible God who manifested Himself in light. Stephen saw the light, and standing at the right hand of that light, he saw Jesus. But, there’s something unusual. The references to the Lord being at the right hand of God in the gospels, have Him sitting. The ascended Christ is now seen standing. Why? Because He gets up to welcome one of His own into heaven.

He couldn’t hold the wonder in, and he said in verse 56, “Behold, I see the heavens open up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” That statement unleashed the final explosion of fury. And those very words were familiar to the Sanhedrin because Jesus Christ had said the same thing in Mark 14:62. Stephen is making the same claim that Jesus made.

Verse 57, “they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him.” They didn’t want to know the truth. They were blind willfully, and now they were blind judicially. That’s why in Romans 11, it says of them what it says in Isaiah 6, that seeing they couldn’t see, hearing they couldn’t hear, and they couldn’t understand. They couldn’t repent. They couldn’t be saved.

There’s a third set of contrasts: the contrasts between death and life. They were killing. But for Stephen it was only the entrance into glorious life. Verse 58. “When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’”

The law required in Leviticus 24 that anyone who was stoned be stoned outside the city. The law also provided that stoning was the appropriate sentence for blasphemy. Because the truth is: they had no right to kill anybody. They say around the trial of Jesus, in John 18:31, we can’t kill anybody. They admitted they had no authority to execute. But they set that aside.

Deuteronomy 17:7 says the hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death. And afterward, the hand of the people. So, if they’re going to stone someone for blasphemy, the first stones are going to be thrown by the witnesses who give first-hand testimony to the blasphemy. The witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Verse 59 says, “They went on stoning Stephen.”

There’s one final contrast between hate and love. The hate, obviously, we see it all the way through in the fury of their stoning him. This humblest of men, sent by God to preach salvation to Israel. All they wanted to do was kill him. But in the middle of this blast of hate, we see the beauty of love. Verse 60, “Then falling on his knees, he cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

He prays for forgiveness for them. This too, like his Lord. Christ said on the cross. Don’t hold this sin against them. His death launched a persecution, but more than that, it affected Saul, who never forgot that day. When he gave his testimony to Timothy, Paul said, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who considered me faithful, putting me into ministry, even though I was formerly a persecutor.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Nov 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221113 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001EC imblog

Acts 7:18-53

The church in Acts 7, had a significant impact on the city of Jerusalem. In Acts 5:28, the Sanhedrin meets, and these are the words of the high priest to the apostles: “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name.” The name of Jesus. “And yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” That’s exactly what the church intended.

Acts 7 tells us all you need to know about Stephen. And Philip we’ll meet in Acts 8. These men were not just servants who cared for widows. They were great, powerful, effective preachers. They, from the time that our Lord had taught His apostles on the road to Emmaus, all the things concerning Himself and the law of the prophets, they learned the Old Testament meaning unfolded in Christ.

The church has been proclaiming that Christ is alive, Christ is Messiah, and Christ is our Savior. He has provided redemption. And now, they have the same problem, only the problem has spread throughout the city. And they have commandeered the temple as their meeting place. They cannot shut them down. They have done everything short of killing them, and they will finally do that.

Stephen sees this trial as an opportunity to stand before the supreme court of Israel, and speak the truth to them, and then turn the tables and indict them as the real blasphemers. There are four things that he has in mind. One is to get their interest about the Old Testament. Then, the second goal is to answer the charges that he is a blasphemer of God, Moses, the law, and the temple.

Thirdly, he indicts them as being blasphemers by tracing them right back through their ancestors who were also blasphemers. And then fourthly, he accuses them of the blood of the Messiah, murdering the Righteous One. That triggers their hatred. They drag him by arms and legs, throw him off a cliff, and crush him under bloody rocks. All throughout this defense, Stephen quotes the Old Testament.

So, in the opening part of Acts 7, we saw that he answers that. He says, “Hear me, brethren and fathers!” And he calls God, “the God of glory.” He describes Him having appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, and he goes through God promising Abraham land and a people through the Abrahamic Covenant. He became the father of Isaac, Jacob and the twelve patriarchs.

He follows with the story of Joseph and how God rescued Joseph from his afflictions, showed him favor, and used Joseph to save Israel. Eventually, we have at the end of this first portion, all of the Jews, all of the children of the patriarchs living in Egypt. Verse 15, “Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died.” And then there’s a word about their burial.

And now we see the second accusation and the answer of Stephen regarding Moses. Verse 17, “But as the time of the promises was approaching.” Now the promise was that God would give a land, and descendants. They never saw the promise. All the patriarchs died in Egypt. But that was predicted too in verse 6. And God said that His descendants would be aliens in a foreign land, mistreated for 400 years.

Verse 18 says, “There arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.” He didn’t know how great Joseph was. And so, he decided to turn them into slaves because he was afraid they would be a threat. Verse 19, “This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them throw their babies in the river, so that they might not live.”

Exodus 1:22 says, “Every son that is born you shall cast into the river.” But God had another plan. Verse 20, “At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months.” Yes, he was thrown into the river, but in a basket. Verse 21, “But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.”

Amazing providence, because Moses was then raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and was well educated. Verse 22, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.” I’m no Moses blasphemer, but you have accused me of blaspheming Moses? I give Moses honor. Moses had knowledge of astronomy, geometry and medicine.

Stephen is saying everything positive he can say about Moses. And he leaves out anything negative about Moses. Verse 23, “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.” God moved in his heart. Verse 24, “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.”

And so, Moses defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. And Moses thought that his people would respond, and that he would become some kind of hero to them. But that’s not their reaction. Verse 25, “For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.”

The people didn’t understand. Verse 26, “And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?” Verse 27-28, “But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?”

Moses had no choice. So in verse 29, “Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.” His people didn’t want him as a deliverer and peacemaker. Stephen’s point is that Israel is the rejecter. Israel is the blasphemer. And this point will build and build to reach the fact that they also rejected Jesus Christ in verse 51.

Verse 30, “After forty years had passed.” Israel blasphemed Moses, and so blasphemed God because Moses was God’s chosen deliverer. What had Moses been doing for 40 years? Well, he married a daughter of Jethro, named Zipporah. He had a family there. Verse 30 continues, “An Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.”

Verse 31-33, “When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. 33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”

Verse 34, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” God is faithful. He will fulfill His promise. He will rescue His people. That was holy because God was there. God had not forgotten His covenant. He was ready to bring back the deliverer.

Verse 35, “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.” Moses came a second time and was the deliverer. Do you see in that the foreshadowing of Christ? Rejected the first time; He will return again with full deliverance.

Verse 36, “He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.” The Jews were always priding themselves on their love of their historic leaders, but their fathers had rejected both Joseph and Moses outright. They were blasphemers of God because they blasphemed God’s purposes in rejecting His chosen leaders.

Verse 37, “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ And at this point, he directly speaks of Messiah. This Moses that you rejected was the very one who prophesied the coming of a prophet like himself, a prophet chosen by God, set apart by God. This is pointing to Christ.

The history of Moses is like the foreshadowing of the history of Jesus. It was Stephen who believed with all his heart in the very Messiah of whom Moses wrote. Stephen, as a believer in Jesus Christ, gave more honor to Moses than anybody did. You couldn’t honor Moses without honoring Christ. Stephen gives accolades to Moses. He is neither a blasphemer of God or Moses.

The third charge was that he was a blasphemer of the law. Verses 38, “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us.” Moses on Mount Sinai, received the Law, the living oracles, to pass on to you in Exodus 19. An oracle is a command from God.

The law of God is alive. The Word of God lives and abides forever. Our Lord Jesus said not one small speck of that law will ever pass away until it’s all fulfilled. He saw the law that came to Moses on Sinai as divine. It was vital, spiritual revelation from heaven. Stephen is no blasphemer of the law. He understood that God is the author, angels are the mediators, and Moses was the recipient.

He is saying, that the Pentateuch is written by Moses, the inspired writer, but the truth is all from God. And here comes the indictment again. Verses 39 - 40, “Our fathers would not obey, but rejected it. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Moses is up in the mountain, and they’ve already forgotten him. It’s the history of this nation. The Sanhedrin were going to have a hard time with Stephen boasting about great, historic integrity for their fathers and leaders, while Moses was up in the mountain. Verse 41, “And they made a golden calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.”

Verse 42-43, “Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, images which you made to worship; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.”

Stephen condenses all of that in the words of Amos. You shall have no other gods before Me, no carved images, no likeness of anything. Amos actually says beyond Damascus. And here in the New Testament, it enriches that by saying all the way to Babylon. God says, “It was not to Me that you offered sacrifices forth years in the wilderness, was it?” So who are the blasphemers?

So Stephen is reciting these huge parts of history, and he doesn’t editorialize. It’s just hard facts from Scripture. And finally, he answers the indictment that he was guilty of blaspheming against the temple. Verse 44, “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen.”

And he continues in verse 45, “which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David.” All of the elements of that tent were earthly symbols of God’s glory, God’s majesty, God’s character, God’s nature, God’s covenants, and God’s redemption.

Exodus was God’s testimony. I’m not against the temple. They brought the tabernacle in a tent, whom God had commanded them and given them the formula to build. They drove the nations out before our fathers, and the tent was there all the way until the time of David. Verse 46-47, “who found favor before God and asked to build a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.”

Verse 48, “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands,” as the prophet says, and Stephen quotes Isaiah 66:1-2 in verses 49-50, “‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest? 50 Has My hand not made all these things?” Stephen says, don’t overdo the significance of the temple.

Temples are temporary. First it was a tent, then there was Solomon’s temple, and then there was Zerubbabel’s temple and finally Herod’s temple was built. And in Herod’s temple the veil had been split from top to bottom, and the Holy of Holies exposed. Stephen is saying: you are blaspheming God as if the temple itself is holy, and you have turned the temple into a den of thieves.

Verse 51-53, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

From there, they drove Stephen out of the city, began stoning him. If a first generation preacher like Stephen, who’s been a believer in Jesus Christ for maybe a few months, can preach with that kind of facility handling the Word of God and that kind of boldness and courage, may the Lord release on this generation a myriad of Stephens especially in Denver and the west, Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Oct 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221030 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001EB imblog

Acts 7:1-16

It’s the big picture that we’re after here. To begin with, one of the things that Christians are responsible to do is what is in 1 Peter 3:15, “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” We need to be able to defend the faith. The effective Christian is one who can articulate the truth and defend what he believes biblically.

We call this apologetics. Why? It comes from the Greek apologia. It means to speak in defense of. Apologetics is a speech in defense of what we believe, this is why we have to give a reasonable, biblical defense for our faith. In Acts 7, Stephen gives a defense of the faith from his Bible, which was the Old Testament. Like other disciples, he had come to understand how the Old Testament led to Jesus Christ.

The disciples didn’t understand the Old Testament. In the four gospels, they don’t refer to the Old Testament. But in Acts, after Christ has taught them the Old Testament, they just explode with quotes from the Old Testament. And here is Stephen; everything he says is taken from the Old Testament. He is defending himself to Jews, and he starts with the Old Testament.

Paul is the great defender of the faith in the New Testament, but there was a defender of the faith before Paul. Stephen gave a speech in defense and also a confirmation of the gospel. Now, what launched this? Stephen was a foreign Jew, selected along with six other men by the congregation. They decided that food and money should be equally distributed and seven Hellenistic Jews were chosen.

Acts 6:3, “They need to be of good reputation, full of the Spirit and full of wisdom.” Verse 5 gives their names, the two that we know immediately are Stephen and Phillip. The rest of the names never appear again. But Stephen, in verse 5, is a man full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit. In verse 8 it says, “Stephen was full of grace and power.” What an amazing guy!

Verse 9, “Some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.” Verse 10 says, “They were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. So they secretly induced men to say, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.’

But he didn’t speak blasphemous words against Moses or against God. These are lies, false accusation. They then, “Stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away, and brought him before the Sanhedrin.” Then, “They put forward false witnesses who said, ‘This man incessantly speaks against the temple, and the Law.’”

“For we have heard him,” because he says, “this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” And, of course, they came from God. “And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin saw his face like the face of an angel.” But what he says here is a stunning understanding of the Old Testament. He is defending himself.

Verse 1, “The high priest Caiaphas says to him, “Are these things true?” Have you blasphemed God, Moses, the law, and the temple? They couldn’t cope with his wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking, but they think they’re going to put him on trial before the most elite biblically acute people in the land. They are so angry, they call him a blasphemer and blasphemers are to be executed.

So Acts 7 is more than a defense. It becomes a powerful offensive sermon leading to Christ. It is a masterpiece. And again, it validates the Old Testament. He doesn’t use philosophical or rational arguments. He just marches through the text of Scripture. And everything Stephen says is a New Testament validation of the Old Testament. Objective number one is to get them to listen to him.

He does that by going immediately into their history. He finds points of agreement with them. And he makes clear that the things that are precious in Scripture to them are precious in Scripture to him. He is not a blasphemer because he believes Scripture. So he gains the interest of his hearers by talking about what’s important to them and agreeing with them.

The second thing he does is answer the charge of blasphemy. He makes direct positive reference to every particular accusation from them. The first part is the defense against the blasphemy of God. The second part is a defense against the blasphemy of Moses. The third part is the defense against the blasphemy of the law. Finally, a defense against the blasphemy of the temple.

Now that he has gotten their attention by talking about what’s interesting to them, now that he has answered the charges against him of blasphemy by showing he is not a blasphemer; the next thing he does is turn the table on them and indict them for blasphemy. By declaring to them that they have committed the ultimate blasphemy of rejecting God and God’s Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

It’s powerful, and he says in verse 51, “You men are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fore fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.”

He indicts the Sanhedrin for murdering the Messiah. “You, who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.” You blaspheme God and God’s Son. You blaspheme Moses, the law-giver. You blaspheme the law by rejecting it. You are guilty of bringing your blasphemy into this temple. These things are specifically the themes that go through this sermon.

They accused him in Acts 6:11, of blaspheming God. He takes the severest accusation first. To begin with, Stephen must establish in their minds that he and all Christians are speaking on behalf of God. The New Testament is not anti-God. The gospel that they had been literally filling Jerusalem with and turning it on its head is not anti-God. So then he must be pro-Israel.

Stephen states his belief in God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of Israel. He has to establish that God is who He is revealed in Scripture as the Jews believe, that Jesus is the God who called Israel into existence. This is capturing their attention at the point of what interests them and what is sacred to them. So in verse 1, “Are these things so?”

Verse 2, “And Stephen said, ‘Hear me, brethren and fathers!’” Brethren, the majority of the audience would be Jews who had followed this. Then ‘fathers’ refers to the officials of the Sanhedrin. He talks about God and mentions God in the opening 19 times, so we know what the subject is. He gives God His most exalted title, “The God of glory.” That title appears in the Old Testament only once.

But they all knew where it was. Psalm 29 says, “Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in holy array. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic.”

God is known by many names. He is Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord who heals. He is Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides. He is Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals. He is Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord our peace. Jehovah-Raah, the Lord who shepherds. Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Righteous One. Jehovah-Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord omnipresent. Jehovah-Elyon, the Lord most high.

He’s all those names. But all of those make up the God of all glory. The God who is El Hakkavod, the God of glory. Stephen says, “Look, I believe in the God of glory, the God whose attributes are expounded in Psalm 29. That’s the God I believe in. That’s my God.” He ascribes full supremacy, full sovereignty, full glory to the God of the psalmist, King David.

He actually died seeing something of that glory in verse 55. Before they stoned him to death it says, “Being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God.” “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.” Notice the personal pronoun, our father. I’m one of you.

Mesopotamia is the Greek term for Chaldea. The city that Abraham came from is the city of Ur, between the Tigris and Euphrates River. Joshua 24 tells us Abraham actually came out of a family of idol-worshipers. He was then a convert to the worship of the true and living God. So God manifested Himself to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran.

In verse 3 the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

In verse 5 when Abraham arrived in the Promised Land, he did not receive any permanent possession, but wandered in the land that was never really his. The land was a promise to Abraham. So he is there living, not on a possession, but living on a promise. Because God said, “I’ll give you an extensive land.” He shows him it’ll be massive land, far beyond what Israel occupies today.

That’s why Paul in Romans says Abraham was justified by faith. Abraham believed God. “But,” verse 6, “God spoke to this effect,” before that promise comes true, “that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land. They would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years. It was in Egypt. He promised through the Abrahamic Covenant, but then He said, nothing is going to belong to you.

Then in verse 7, Stephen quotes God, “And the nation to which they will be in bondage I Myself will judge.’ The nation that has held them in bondage, will be judged by God. How were they judged? In the ten plagues. The final of the plagues was the death of all the firstborn in Egypt. Then they were judged by the collapse of the waters of the Red Sea drowning all of his army.

So Stephen is saying, “Look, I’m a full believer in the history of God’s dealings with this people. I believe in the God of glory. I believe in your God and Abraham’s God.” So by this opening, he has captured their interest because he’s talking about their history. He has, secondly, defended himself. Now he needs to turn the tables on them by indicting Israel for their sin.

That’s what he begins in verse 8, “God gave Abraham “the covenant of circumcision.” He said the sign of the promise will be circumcision of the male child on the eighth day. “And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob is the father of the twelve patriarchs.” All Jews are sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Verse 9, “The patriarchs became jealous and sold Joseph into Egypt.” Joseph had a special place in God’s plan. Reuben was the oldest of the twelve, but Reuben forfeited his birthright by a crime. The inheritance was then passed to Joseph. First Chronicles 5 says, “The birthright belonged to Joseph,” It is in Genesis 37. They blasphemed God by selling the chosen one into slavery.

Stephen wants them to see in the story of Joseph an illustration of that nation’s reaction to God’s plans. It culminates in Acts 7:52, he asks, “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?” The truth is, Israel as a people, have been set against the plan of God from the start. God rescued Joseph from all his afflictions, and made him governor over Egypt and all his household.”

This is all the working of God. “And when a famine came,” in verse 11, “over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it,” the rest of the family couldn’t find any food. Verse 12, “But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. Verse 13, “On the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh.”

Verse 16 says, “From there they were moved to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor. Abraham purchased it. God never gave him anything, but he did buy a burial plot. In Joshua 24:32, it says, “Jacob purchased it.” Abraham purchased it originally, but they were down in Egypt for a long time. So Jacob had to buy it again.

So what is Stephen saying, “I don’t blaspheme God.” He answered their charges that he was not a blasphemer of the true and living God. He indicts them by a historic look at the blasphemy of their forefathers in rejecting God’s chosen one Joseph. That sets them up for an indictment of what they’ve done to Christ for they’ve done it again. They’ve rejected God’s chosen One again.

What are the lessons we can learn from Stephen? Be biblical in your evangelism. Declare God’s sovereignty in framing history, declare God’s faithfulness in His promises to fulfill them. Show that the Scriptures move toward Christ, and demonstrate the blind unbelief and hostility toward the truth. We’ll look at how Stephen defended himself against the blasphemy of Moses next. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Oct 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221023 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001EA imblog

Acts 6:8-15

A few weeks ago we looked at Acts 6 down through verse 7 and examined the original organization of the early church. That chapter opened with a problem because some of the Hellenistic widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food and money. To make sure their needs were met, somebody had to oversee the distribution of food and money and serve tables.

So they decided to select seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom to put in charge of this task. The only one about whom it says anything is a man named Stephen. He becomes the main character in the narrative through the rest of this chapter and Acts 7. Stephen was a Greek-speaking believer in Jesus Christ who had belonged to a Jewish synagogue in a foreign land.

So let’s read from Acts 6:8-15, “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), who disputed with Stephen. 10 But they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Stephen spoke.”

11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came and seized him, and brought him to the council. 13 They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.”

14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” 15 And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.” The high priest said, ‘Are these things so?’” And Stephen gave a very long answer all the way through Acts 7. Let me continue so you know the whole story.

In response to this, verse 54 says, “When they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’

But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’ Then falling on his knees, he cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them!’

Having said this, he died. Saul was in agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women, then he would put them in prison.”

What an amazing man, this Stephen. He was not a deacon, but he was put in charge of serving tables. He was not an apostle, but he did signs and wonders. The miraculous power granted to the apostles was extended to him and also to another leader named Philip. He was not a prophet, but he was a great preacher. He was a unique man. He stands between the apostles and the early church.

He had a very short career. The church is new and very young, and that means he is a new believer, but the vast grasp that he had of the Old Testament is enough to be laid out in an entire chapter because of its accuracy and its richness. He was the first Christian martyr. This is a man who is great by every divine measure. He’s full of everything that every believer should be full of.

Because of his martyrdom and the persecution that was launched when he was martyred that the believers scattered. And that was the purpose of God in his martyrdom because Jesus said, “When the Holy Spirit comes, you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world.” What was going to send them into the world? Persecution, martyrdom and the threat of death.

The mantle of Stephen falls strangely on Saul, one of Stephen’s most bitter enemies. The length of a man’s life has often times little to do with its impact. This is the only sermon that he ever preached, and there were no positive results. Yet it was the catalyst that caused the church to move in the next step of the Great Commission. It may have been his death that began the career of Saul who became Paul.

The church boldly proclaimed the gospel, boldly confronted the Jews, accepting persecution and using it as an opportunity to further proclaim the gospel. All who believed were baptized, and they were all engaged in the apostle’s doctrine, prayer and the breaking of bread and fellowship. They knew the message was Christ and Him crucified, risen, reigning and returning.

Then there were the apostles who were doing all the teaching early on, but you can see the responsibility to teach begins to transition to those men who were chosen there in Acts 6. Stephen becomes a preacher and Philip becomes a preacher. So there was a spiritual organization. That leads us up to our text in Acts 6:8 where we see the short career of this man named Stephen.

As we look at Stephen, let me just look at four thoughts, his choosing, his character, his courage, and his countenance. Look at Acts 6:3. They’re looking for, “men of good reputation who are full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” Stephen was one of those men. They want seven of them out of the thousands of Christians now. Stephen was one of the seven. He was a Jew from outside Israel.

Stephen establishes his unique spiritual greatness by the fact that the Church chose him. He was approved by the body for the highest office the body could appoint. The choice was validated by the second point, his character. Everything about him indicates that they chose well. Now, he was full of two things: faith and the Holy Spirit. Full of faith means to be filled up.

What do we know about his faith? Look at Acts 7:2, “Hear me, brethren and fathers. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ He is quoting Genesis 12. “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran.”

From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him.” He’s quoting Genesis 13. He believed in the authenticity and validity of the Old Testament.

He believed that God ruled history. The common idea in the world is that kings, governors and politicians make history. Stephen believed that God wrote history. It was all a revelation of God’s character, God’s purpose and God’s plan. In verse 52, “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One.”

He believed Jesus was the Messiah. He believed in Jesus as the righteous one of God, and he believed that His death was the pivotal point in which history turned. He also believed that Jesus was risen. How do we know that? Because in verse 55, “Being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

Verse 59, “And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” He believed the Messiah cared for him. He believed that the Lord Jesus, was waiting to receive him. He believed in the Holy Spirit, in verse 51 he says, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did.”

In verse 3, he is also full of wisdom. His wisdom is so beyond argument that when he speaks, his enemies cannot withstand what he says. And in fury and anger they kill him because they can’t answer his arguments. And in verse 8, he is full of grace. It’s the grace that he gave, full of “lovingkindness.” While they’re stoning him, he cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

Acts 7:59 says, “Receive my spirit and please forgive them.” Then it tells us in verse 8 that he was full of power. He is full of Holy Spirit power to an apostolic degree. He is performing great wonders and signs among the people. He is doing miracles to validate him as one who speaks for God. This is before there was a New Testament. You would know that he was a speaker for God because of this power.

The apostles are going to the Jerusalem Jews. Paul later will go to the Gentiles. Stephen will go to the Jews in gentile lands. He starts in Jerusalem where synagogues for these pilgrims existed. There were communities of Grecian Jews who had resettled in the land of Israel. When there were feasts, when people came on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, they would go to these synagogues.

Historians tell us that there were nearly 500 synagogues in Jerusalem. Now, this group is identified for us. The synagogue of the Freedman. Pompeii, the Roman general, had carried off large numbers of Jews as prisoners to Rome and sold them as slaves. Likely, this synagogue was developed by freed Roman slaves who had returned to their city to worship. It takes only ten men do open a synagogue.

There also is mentioned Cyrenians, a city in Libyan. Then Alexandrians, the capital of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great. Cilicia is mentioned, a settlement known as Asia Minor near Syria, and the principal city of Cilicia was Tarsus. Saul was from Tarsus Here is where Saul probably functioned in the synagogue of the people from Cilicia. But to them, Stephen went.

And what did he do? In verse 9 He rose up and argued with them and they argued back with him. But in verse 10 they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. When it says argued or disputing, it doesn’t necessarily indicate anger. But a kind of fair debate in which there was actual arguments are presented. The exact subject of the debate we don’t know.

Verse 11, “Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” They said he was arguing against the Old Testament. He was also arguing for the deity of Christ. By dismissing the saving power of the Law of Moses, he was seen as blaspheming Moses. And by identifying Jesus as God, he was blaspheming God in their minds.

He declared to them that the Law of Moses cannot save. It can only condemn. Maybe this is where Paul for the first time heard that, “By the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified.” Maybe Paul heard for the first time that all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Jesus Christ. To these Jews, these were blasphemous words, blasphemy against God by saying Jesus is equal to God.

So these agitated Hellenistic Jews left their synagogues and started saying that Stephen was a blasphemer. That is exactly what happened to our Lord Jesus. Verse 12, “And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.” This is the Sanhedrin. This is where the false witnesses show up.

Verse 13, “They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.” Certainly, he was telling them the true purpose of the law, to define sin, not provide salvation. Verse 14, “for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”

He’s preaching on the New Testament with Jesus as Lord and Messiah. Stephen knows what they’ve done to the Lord. He knows that they have already imprisoned and beaten the apostles. He knows what’s at stake, but his courage is undiminished. Stephen says in Acts 7:51, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are doing just what your fathers did.”

Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.” Wow, this man is heroic. We see it in his character. We see it in his courage. Verse 15, “And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.”

He stands, as Moses did before his people in shining purity with the mark of divine favor on his face. And at the end of his life, he saw the glory of God, in Acts 7:55. He saw the heavens open. He saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. He called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” God is still looking for people who have courage and boldness that has no limit.

God will demonstrate His glory on the face of those people in the calm, peaceful, almost transcendent trust that comes through in the most hateful circumstances. I imagine that Saul, never forgot the face of Stephen. Maybe when he was on the Damascus Road and the Lord blinded him and said, “It’s hard for you to kick against the goads.” He may have thought of the face of Stephen. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Oct 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221016 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E9 imblog

Acts 6:1-7

The early church grew rapidly. And because with that growth, there needed to be an effective and efficient way to minister to the people and to establish an effective witness It is the only spiritual organism in the world. Every false religion is an organization orchestrated by men and demons. And every human institution that is non-religious, is a structure made by men.

The only organism that God has established is the church. It is the living organism of people connected to the life of God through union with Jesus Christ. We share common eternal life. Christ lives in us. And there are people who think that because of that reality, we need to run from being organized. We need to run from structure and everything needs to be free-flowing.

An example of a lack of structure in a church, are in the letters of Paul. Clearly, the Corinthian church was in a state of chaos. What was absent was a cohesive structure and leadership, and different people were claiming to be their leader. 1 Corinthians 14:26 says, “Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, and has an interpretation.”

God doesn’t do things like that because you must be like God and do things decently and in order. So there is a model for chaos in the Corinthian church, chaos that had to be corrected, chaos that was confusing. Yes, the church is an organism, but it is an organism that requires organization. It requires structure. Let me just kind of lay out what’s going on in the book of Acts.

By Acts 6, the church is significantly large, numbering in the tens of thousands. From the Day of Pentecost on, they’ve been baptized. The Lord adds to the church, and they keep record of that. They met officially at certain places on the first day of the week for public worship, public prayer, and the preaching of the gospel. They were also breaking bread and somebody had to plan the event.

We know that years later Paul is still raising money to care for the poor saints who are still in Jerusalem and never went back home. So there’s the need to collect money. We’ve seen that some people were actually selling their property and taking the proceeds to distribute it to the apostles. And the apostles were using that money to meet the needs of all the people in the church.

So after the birth of the church they had a complex set of conditions that had to be met. A large number of people were added to the church every day. People were being baptized, people gathering for the Lord’s Supper and in homes for meals. People gathering on the first day of the week, to open the truth of God to them, to explain to them the meaning of the Old Testament as fulfilled in Christ.

This demands structure. God gave gifts to people as the church began to grow, the Spirit of God would prompt the hearts of people. And they would begin to do ministry along the lines of their gifts. Then when we see that ministry unfolding we need to give it whatever necessary support and structure it needs. The apostles were the key to the church, and they had the revelation from God.

They were the resource for all the questions that new converts asked. Now, the first time this becomes apparent is in Acts 6:1-7, “Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. 2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples.”

And said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude.

And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. 7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.”

The disciples are increasing. A disciple is a Christian, who looks at Christianity from the standpoint of a student. Paul even uses that phrase when he reminds us that we shouldn’t sin because we have not learned that from Christ. Acts 6:1, “Now a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.”

Dissention in the body of Christ is nothing new. Pride, insignificant issues, bickering, discontent, jealousy, personal preference and power struggles. In this new Church you’ve got two groups of people. The native Jews who live in Jerusalem and Israel, and then you have the Jews who came for the Passover, and were converted to Christ and are still there because there is no other church.

They’re Jews from the Greek world. There are synagogues scattered around the Greek world. Now, there’s no nation with more sense of responsibility for the less fortunate historically than Jews. There were collectors, who went around the market and around the houses every Friday morning and made a collection of money and goods to redistribute to the poor when the synagogue met.

Later in that day on Friday when the people gathered, what had been collected was distributed to them. Those temporarily in need received enough to carry them through, and those permanently in need received enough for 14 meals. That would be two meals a day for a week. This was traditional among the Jewish people. They cared for their own poor and that is what God wants.

These people who are there define what poverty is because they’re away from home. So, immediately they do what they’d always done traditionally. They start collecting money to be distributed to those who are in need. Now, caring for widows was part of being Jewish, and it is repeated in the New Testament. James 1 says, “Pure religion is to care for the widows and orphans.”

This became part of church life. The feeling was that this wasn’t equal. Verse 2, “So the twelve apostles summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, ‘It is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables.” Whether it’s giving food and meals or distributing money, the apostles can’t do it.” We need to be studying the Word, and preparing to preach the Word of God.

That’s exactly what they say in verse 4, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.” So they were like anybody else who ministers the Word of God. They had to study the Word of God, and what was their Bible? It was the Old Testament. Jesus had gone to the Old Testament and taught them starting on the day of His resurrection.

What the apostles did was their priority. This is still the dominant priority in the church. Paul calls Timothy and says, “Take heed to the doctrine.” Read the Word, explain the Word and apply the Word.” This is the dominant reality in the life of the church. 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all patience and longsuffering.”

1 Corinthians 9:7, “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat the fruit of it? For it is written, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. It was written for our sake, because the ploughman ought to plough in hope of sharing the crops. If we have sowed spiritual things, should not we reap material things from you?”

1 Corinthians 9:14, “The Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.” 1 Timothy 5:17 says, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” It is clear that the main responsibility is to have a core of leaders whose goal and life commitment is to pray and preach the Word of God.

Verse 3, “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.” Notice that the people in the congregation played a role. If you desire to be a deacon or a deaconess, you have to pass the scrutiny of the church that looks at your life and determines whether you’re above reproach.

To begin with, they chose seven men. God has always used men to lead the church. That doesn’t mean women aren’t important. There were women in the Old Testament who had significant roles. There were even women in the New Testament who spoke for God, the daughters of Philip. There was Aquila and Priscilla, and they informed Apollos more perfectly in his theology.

“Of good reputation.” Character first, conduct above reproach. They have to have integrity. They have to be blameless, well-attested, good report. They need to be full of the Spirit. They need to be men who are wise. They are marked by spiritual insight, practical wisdom, and good righteous judgment. The task is getting food and money to the right people on an equal basis.

Why do you have to have such high spiritual qualifications?” Because this is a spiritual ministry on behalf of Christ for His church body. Distributing food has to be done with spiritual integrity, and caring for money has to be done with spiritual integrity. They had to be men who were impeccable because if you’re handling money and resources, you’re susceptible to serious temptation.

The Talmud of Jewish law says seven was the number of persons appointed to transact business in Jewish towns. This is a temporary setup replaced later by deacons. Verse 5, “And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch,

Verse 6, “whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.” They thought it was a great idea. They didn’t want the apostles to leave prayer and the Word. All seven that were chosen are Grecian Jews. They put the whole responsibility in the hands of Hellenistic Jews. The people who have the most at stake in a ministry are the people who should lead the ministry.

The people who do the ministry should lead the ministry. It’s the people who are pouring their life into it that have all the authority and the empowerment to do that ministry the way they think it should be done. This demonstrates trust and love. So they said, “You care the most. These are your people. So please, you take care of the whole thing.” That kind of trust is necessary.

Then we see the results in verse 7, “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Now, they’re on the brink of global ministry, and it’s going to come quick. You meet the apostle Paul, who comes into the picture when he’s holding the garments of the people stoning Stephen to death in Acts 7.

In Acts 8, the church is scattered, and it begins its global evangelization, and it’s not too long until you come to Acts 9. Paul, who is threatening and slaughtering the church and taking Christians prisoner, has his Damascus Road experience, and all of the sudden the gospel leaps from Judea, Samaria to the world. Another church is planted in Antioch, and from Antioch Paul is send to the world.

The Lord was structuring us and organizing us around the priorities of prayer and the Word and faithful people were doing ministry that was in their heart to do. Because it was in their heart to do ministry they were gifted to do the ministry, they had full charge of the ministry. The people who cared the most, invested the most in that ministry, and that made those ministries flourish and succeed.

Notice they laid their hands on them. That is a traditional way to affirm unity and solidarity. We stand with them. Why do we stand around them here and have all the people come and lay hands on them? Because that’s what they did, and what does that say? That says we’re with you in solidarity. We empower you with our prayers and our trust and our support.

Then verse 7, the real results. “The Word of God kept on spreading.” Why did the Word of God keep on spreading? Because the apostles didn’t do anything else other than preaching the Word of God. It’s easy for pastors to get distracted. It’s tough work, and it’s relentless. My life never changes. It is a series of endless Sunday sermons. The preparation never changes.

The number of disciples in the first church continued to increase greatly, and the impact was so great that, “a great many priests were becoming obedient to the faith.” Now, that doesn’t mean Sanhedrin members, but because there were 24 groups of priests, there were thousands of priests in every town and village. And many of the ordinary priests were obedient to the faith.”

You have godly, gifted teachers and preachers who sustain the life of the church and the impact of the church by being the source of the spreading of the Word by which people are saved. Then following that, you have faithful gifted people, who have passionate concerns for various kinds of ministries. When you support those people for those ministries, the church will grow. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Oct 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20221002 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E8 imblog

Acts 5:17-42

Let’s open the Word of God to Acts 5. It gives us the history of the early church, but also a pattern for understanding evangelism. The Lord uses the saints to draw the elect. Acts 1:1 began with a reference to all of that Jesus began. The finished work of Christ was His work on the cross, making atonement, providing propitiation to God by being a sacrifice that satisfied divine justice.

But there is work that Jesus only began, which was calling His people together. Jesus extended that work through the apostles. The first generation church then picked up the work, and it goes on to our time. Remember Acts 1:8, “You will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.”

There are five features of evangelism, and we have discussed two so far. The first thing of effective evangelism was purity. We cannot lie to the Holy Spirit. This couple decided that they wanted to get in on the admiration that people were getting because they were selling what they had to provide money to meet the needs of people. It was based on great love, generosity and unity.

However, they kept back some of it and lied to the Holy Spirit. The Lord was saying, “I want a pure church.” Holiness validates the message. If we are not a people with transformed lives, then proclaiming the gospel of transformation is hypocrisy. That is why Peter says later, “Judgment must begin at the house of God.” It did begin in that first church, and God did it.

We also understand that this had an immense effect on the church. Verse 11, “Great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things.” They knew that God was serious about sin and righteousness. What a detriment is it to the testimony of the church and the effectiveness of the gospel when you have sinful people claiming to be transformed by Christ and are not.

The second thing that marked the church is power. Verse 12, “At the hands of the apostles, many miracles were taking place among the people.” Verses 15 and 16 displayed the apostolic power to such an extent that they even carried the sick people out into the streets and laid them on cots so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.

Also, the people from the cities around Jerusalem were coming to bring people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, demons, and they were all being healed. There is no parallel to the history of the Christian church. This massive array of miracles: casting out demons, healing diseases, raising dead people, controlling nature, was done by our Lord Jesus Himself. And the apostles did the same.

They understand that the power is in the apostles, because the apostles needed to be seen as the spokesmen for God. With all the teachers available in ancient times, as in all times, why would you believe the apostles? The New Testament hadn’t been written, so why do we believe them? We believe them because they have supernatural power, and that’s how God validates them.

The third mark for effective evangelism is persecution. It begins in Acts 5:17-18, “Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, 18 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.” Persecution is inevitable. “All that will live godly will suffer persecution.”

If you’re going to preach sin to self-righteous proud people, they’re going to resist and resent that. But even that couldn’t stop the effect of the gospel. So another wave of persecution comes. This time it comes from the high priest, who is either Annas or Caiaphas and their associates, the Sadducees. They are the leaders of the temple operation who only accept the Pentateuch.

The high priest along with his associates are filled with jealousy. They can’t stand the explosive popularity of Christianity. They see it as defiant toward their authority. They see it as defiant toward their theology and authority. But verses 19-20 say, “But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”

Verse 21, “And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught.” Part of the Sadducees theology is they did not believe in angels. So God sends one of the very beings they deny, to take His apostles out of prison. And the angel said, “Go and speak to the people in the temple,” the domain of the Sadducees. “Go proclaim to the people the whole message of this Life.”

God wants obedience at any cost and preach the gospel at any cost. They didn’t ask, “Is it safe?” Only, “Is it what you want us to do?” And they are told, “Go speak the whole message of this Life.” Verse 21 continues, “But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.”

Their obedience put them in the temple. They arrive in the morning, and they begin preaching the gospel again. God doesn’t release them from a very difficult situation so they can have an easy time. He has a lot bigger plans than that. He puts them right back in the very place that is going to be their greatest threat from the people who put them in prison to start with.

Verse 22-23, “But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, 23 saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” How did that happen? It was a supernatural work of God. A locked jail and all of the sudden, they’re on the outside.

No one has unlocked it, and the guard has been there all the time. Just another indication of the supernatural realities that are going on in the early church to demonstrate its divine character because only God can do these things. Verse 24, “Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be.”

They go into a panic. Verse 25, “But someone came and reported to them, ‘The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!’” They would have thought that they’re out somehow hiding. No. They’re out, but they’re not hiding. Satan imprisoned them, which allowed God to do a miracle, confirming the legitimacy of the apostles and the Christians.

There they were back preaching with more confirmation than ever because now they were there by a miracle that no one could deny. Verse 26, “So the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned.” Why? They’re filling the city with sick and demon-possessed people, and they know that all these people can be healed.

The people knew the Jews were corrupt. They showed that corruption in the operations of the temple day after day after day. That’s why Jesus went there and cleaned up the place at the beginning and end of His ministry, calling it a “Den of thieves.” They knew they were being stolen from. Something could have triggered a mob violence action, and they might all have lost their lives.

Verse 27, “And when they had brought them, they set them before the council.” This is the supreme court of Israel. “And the high priest asked them in verse 28 saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” You are making us responsible for the death of this man.

What disdain is in their unwillingness to say the word “Jesus.” Remember what they said in Matthew 27:25 when they were calling for the death of Jesus? They said, “His blood be on us and our children!” That’s why Paul says, “I bear in my body, the marks of Jesus Christ.” It was Christ they hated, but he took the blows. Peter wrote, they trusted a faithful creator and counted it a privilege to suffer.

The fourth characteristic is persistence. Did all this arrest, harassment and threats scare them? No. Proverbs 28:1 says, “The righteous are as bold as a lion.” Pressure only brings out the best in the righteous. Verse 29, “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” What about submitting to those who are in authority over us?

Verse 30 says, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.” They reiterate the indictment that offends these men. Remember what God said about Jesus Christ? “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to Him.” Obey God’s command from His Son. The Great Commission says, “Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”

Verse 31, “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Peter is persistently preaching the gospel to the people who commanded him to stop. Peter says, “We didn’t invent this.” Verse 32, “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

The fifth point in evangelism is providence. What we mean by providence is God’s control of circumstances. Ultimately, the impact of our evangelism is in the hands of God. Verse 33, “When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them.” They are violently agitated to the very core of their being. Their hearts are torn asunder because of the preaching of these Christians.

They had indicted these believers for heresy about the resurrection. Yet they kept on preaching the resurrection. They had been jailed for doing it. But God took them right out of jail, went back to the temple and kept on preaching. They had been winning converts by the thousands. We would expect that Jews with that power and being that furious would have executed all of them on the spot.

Why didn’t they kill them? Verse 34, “Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while.” The Sadducees dominated the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees were the teachers of the people. They were poles apart religiously and politically.

Here a Pharisee stood up, and the Sadducees know that this is a master-teacher who represents the population. So he says to them in verse 35 -36, “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing.”

Use your head, not your emotions. You don’t want to start something you can’t control. You execute these men, and you may have a full blown revolution. A lot of disorders were going on led by would-be Messiahs. Verse 37, “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.”

These things have a way of kind of resolving. This has been tried before, and it came to nothing. So verse 38-39, “And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing, 39 but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.” The first half is true. So slow down, let things kind of take care of themselves.

The second half is not necessarily true, not everything that succeeds is from God. Is the Roman Catholic Church a true representation of God? Even the wisest men in Israel couldn’t get this right. What he should have said is, let’s open the Old Testament and see if this man Jesus and His message is true to the Scripture. That would have been really true wisdom.

They would have known that beginning at Moses and the prophets and in all the holy writings, the writers all spoke of Jesus. They could have started in Isaiah 53. You can’t judge anything by success. So verse 40, “And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.”

Do you see providence at work here? Gamaliel makes a simplistic statement that is not totally true; and yet God uses this man acting to keep the opportunity to preach the gospel alive. So they flogged them, ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, released them. Verse 41, “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

Verse 42, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” This is providence. Providence allowed them to continue to do this. We have the truth written down that they had verbally. Acts 6:7, “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Sep 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220918 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E7 imblog

Acts 5:11-16

The church exists on earth for the purpose of its own development. Jesus uses believers to bring about the salvation of other believers. This is what the apostle Paul reminds us of when he says, “How will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they’re sent?” It is the church’s responsibility then to send out its people to proclaim the gospel to gather the rest of God’s people.

The declaration is made by our Lord that when He comes, “You will be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.” We’ve gone through the Day of Pentecost. We’ve seen the coming of the Spirit. The birth of the church has taken place. The church has begun to grow through the means of the proclamation of the gospel.

This church is exploding. Acts 6:7, “The Word of God kept on spreading. The number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem. There’s no diminishing and now it has swept through a great many of the priests who are becoming obedient to the faith.” In Acts 8:6, “Here the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip as they heard and saw the miracles which he was performing.”

A church is a gathering of believers in a local place. They come under the leadership defined in Ephesians 4:11, “When the Lord ascended, He gave some gifts to His church. First, apostles and prophets, followed by evangelists and teaching pastors. They are for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ. The church is the body of Christ.

It is a church that matures. It grows up in grace and in the knowledge of Christ through the proclamation of divine revelation, so that they are no longer tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. People in church should become frustrated if no one is providing food for their spiritual development. Many churches just want to entertain unbelievers.

The church should be Christ-like. The commitment of Christ was to seek and save the lost. So Christ-likeness is not only spiritual maturity and holiness, but it is as Christ did, have the passion to seek and save the lost. That is the fulfillment of our commission. But you cannot be fully Christ-like in the church until it is part and parcel of your life to speak the truth in love.

Evangelism is at the heart of what we do. It is the objective and the goal. It is why the Lord left us here, but it also is the byproduct of our spiritual development. Evangelism is our mission, but it doesn’t occur effectively. It doesn’t occur spiritually by the working of the Holy Spirit unless you have Spirit-filled, maturing, Christ-like believers. They are the ones that reproduce.

In Acts 5:12, we see five elements for the early church’s evangelistic impact. They were growing and were going everywhere, proclaiming the truth. They’ve been threatened by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. They understood that’s why they were in the world, that they existed to speak the Word with confidence. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness.

This is the purpose of every church in every age: to gather for fellowship, the apostles’ doctrine, prayer, the breaking of bread, mutual ministry, service, love, being fed the Word of God. Then in Acts 5, we see the horrible sin of a couple who professed to be believers but lied to the Holy Spirit. So it was immediately judged by God such that both of them were killed right on the Lord’s Day.

God Himself did the disciplining. So the church was purified that the church began again its ministry of evangelism. The first element is purity. The church that will have an impact must be pure. If that is our gospel, then it better be visible. That is why a corrupt pastor, corrupt leadership and corrupt people who identify themselves as a church is such a devastating thing on evangelism.

God no longer disciplines regularly in the church, although 1 John says, “There is a sin unto death.” There is a time when God may take a life. He did it in Corinth, “Some of you are weak and sick and some of you are dead, you sleep because of desecrating the Lord’s Table.” So there are times when the Lord Himself disciplines in a church by taking a life. We can assume that still goes on.

God has turned the discipline over to the church. It is our responsibility to follow the patterns of the New Testament commands to holiness. Matthew 18, “If your brother sins, go to him, confront his sin.” If he repents, you’ve gained your brother. If he doesn’t, take two or three witnesses. If he still doesn’t repent, tell the church. If he still doesn’t repent, put him out of the church.

God showed us the severity of sin and showed us the severity of His reaction to sin in the opening of Acts 5. 1 Peter 4:17 says, “Judgment must begin at the house of God.” And we have the responsibility to do everything possible to sustain purity in the church. The world rejects the gospel anyway until a divine miracle takes place in the heart. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit.

Look at verse 12, “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.” It was an elevated porch beside the great temple court. People would gather in the temple for morning sacrifice, evening sacrifice and all day long for prayers. There was no church building, so the believers met there.

Verse 13, “Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.” To be held in high esteem for your virtue, for your passion, for your confidence, for your boldness is necessary. The church has to be both a testimony to virtue and a testimony to judgment. The mass saw the church as a group of people who had been transformed. They held believers in high esteem.

Their lives had been transformed, but there was no movement on the part of the people to rush in and become a part of this. Why? Because the word spread rapidly of what had just happened with two people in the church. They knew that the church is a place of transformation, but also a place of judgment. We do know God has turned over to us the responsibility of discipline.

You cannot accomplish the purposes of God in evangelism by downplaying sin and the purity of the church. Churches that are full of sinning people, believers and unbelievers, and never dealing with sin will cause it to be flooded with hypocrites, with people who want to make social contact or be a part of activities. When the church becomes that, it cannot be the platform for effective evangelism.

Verse 14 says, “And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” People were not joining the church on their own, they were believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number.” It grows when true believers in the Lord are added. That’s the work of the Lord Himself. He is building His church.

Jesus said in Luke 9, “If any man will come after me let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow Me.” That’s what it means to be a Christian: self-denial, cross-bearing, and a life of obedience. You heard the testimonies of the young people who wanted Christ more than their sin, who wanted Christ to deliver them not only from the guilt, but from the power and presence of their sin.

They wanted to be transformed. That’s why you join a church, because you’ve come to Christ and want to be delivered from sin. I’m not talking about legalism. “We’re not going to grow if we tighten everything down and become obsessed with sin.” Yes we grow because the Lord will grow His church. It’s hard for people as true believers to give a convincing testimony about the work of Christ.

Number two is power, unique to the apostolic era. Verse 15, “so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.” Verse 16, “Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”

There is no parallel to the history of the Christian church. This massive array of miracles: casting out demons, healing diseases, raising dead people, controlling nature, done by our Lord Jesus Himself. And also by the apostles after the Lord has ascended back into heaven. The apostles are still doing miracles to such a degree that everyone is being healed and being delivered from Satan.

Now all of this is happening after the apostles had been forbidden to do anything. They had been confronted by the authorities who were so disturbed. It was demanded of them that they stop all preaching and all of this that was essentially turning the world upside down in their words. But they didn’t. It just inspired them to be bolder and the power was really astonishing.

Listen, this is not a miracle-working church. This is a church with miracle-working apostles. There’s a big difference. Scripture makes that distinction. Our Lord Himself, early in His ministry when He called together His apostles, gave them authority over disease and authority over demons. He gave them the power to do miracles. That is why the apostle Paul speaks of the signs of an apostle.

There were specific signs that identified an apostle, and not just anybody could manifest those kinds of signs. Paul told the Corinthians that signs, wonders and mighty deeds were the signs of an apostle. There were only 12 apostles. Judas was eliminated. Matthias takes his place. Paul is later on added as an apostle out of season. The ministry of signs and wonders was apostolic, and it was miraculous.

The sick were being healed. People were coming from absolutely everywhere. The streets must have presented a strange picture in those days. Now remember, the church has exploded. There are thousands of believers, and they don’t have anywhere to go. So when they want to have an assembly, they came together on the Lord’s Day likely in the temple courtyard and took over the temple.

But the streets are alive with these believers, and the apostles are moving among them. Their power is so visible that they believe that even the shadow of the apostles would heal them. Now, the Word doesn’t say that his shadow healed anybody. It says the people believed his shadow could heal. In ancient documents there is this belief that the shadow of a person is powerful.

Parents, for example, would run to draw their children away from the shadow of someone they feared, away from the shadow of someone they disliked. Children would be pushed into the shadow of an influential, noble person. So maybe this is just part of those kinds of superstitions, but it does let us know that the people knew the immense power of Peter and the other apostles.

This is only for the beginning of the church age. Miracles were only a part of the beginning. Why? To validate them as the preachers of the truth since they were speaking the Word of God. How do you know they are? There’s no New Testament, so how do we know they’re speaking the Word of God? We know because they have divine power. Those are the badges of truth.

The apostles don’t last, and they fade in Acts. And the miracles disappeared as well. At the end of Acts, there are no more miracles. The miracles are fading even with the apostle Paul still around. He’s leaving people sick here and there. As the Holy Spirit began to reveal truth, and it began to be written down and circulated, they were validated by the Scriptures, not by miracles.

How does that apply to us? It applies to us, because we have the record of all that power in Scripture. We don’t have apostles doing miracles. We have a lot of false apostles running around doing false miracles, but we have the complete divinely-inspired record of all the apostolic miracles in the New Testament. So we own the record of the power of God displayed in the church.

We also possess the power of the Holy Spirit who is doing the marvelous work of conversion. But does it mean that we can draw from these miracles? What if people don’t believe the Scripture?” I don’t expect them to believe the Scripture, but they can’t be saved unless they do. But they won’t unless God does a divine miracle and opens their eyes so the Scripture comes alive.

All the power displayed in the early church becomes as alive today to that person who sees the truth in that city. There were a lot of people who saw the miracles and never really believed. I’ve read all about them. I’ve studied them. They’re part of the fabric of my faith as much as if I was there. To make evangelism effective, a pure church has this powerful record.

If you want a comparison, go back and look at the history of Islam and compare the record of Muhammad, who used human standards with the record of the New Testament, with Christ and the apostles. So, power belongs to the church and the record is established in Holy Scripture, and Scripture will defend itself. The more it becomes clear to you, the more it rings true and consistent.

The world cannot stand a powerful church drawing its power out of biblical authority. So persecution is maybe more predicable right now in our lifetime than ever before. This doesn’t threaten our evangelism. We would have more of it if Christians were bolder. But we’ll have to save that discussion of persecution for next time. I have a lot more to say. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Sep 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220911 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E6 imblog

Acts 4:32-5:11

This section actually records the loving, caring sacrificial unity of the church. That’s in the first part. And then when we come to Acts 5, it introduces to us the first recorded sin in the church. We know that the early day of the church’s history were bright days. They were days of teaching sound doctrine, prayer and fellowship. The testimony of converted souls was loud and clear.

The result in the early weeks of the church had been explosive. As many as 20,000 people have now come to faith in Christ, and were baptized. Virtually every pool in the city of Jerusalem must’ve been being used for baptisms, starting on the Day of Pentecost when 3,000 people were baptized, all across the city of Jerusalem. When persecution broke out, the church met it head on.

And the church was triumphant, even in the face of that persecution. In Acts 4 the preaching of the gospel brought about persecution, but also brought about 5,000 more conversions among men, plus among the women. So, the church prayed harder, preached harder, was granted more boldness by the Holy Spirit, and more and more people came to believe and were baptized.

Never before had the provision for the forgiveness of sins been offered. Never before had God been fully satisfied. Never before had the Holy Spirit taken up full residence in people. Never before had there been new natures implanted in redeemed souls. This was all new in redemptive history. And the people were on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit, and the truth of the gospel.

But Satan was active. He persecuted the church, but persecution failed to put out the fire. Eternal purposes were being unfolded. Eternal power was being unleashed. External pressure was like pouring gas on that fire. Satan then knew that if he was going to do damage to the church, it wasn’t going to happen from the outside. He was having to go inside the church itself.

And as we come to Acts 5, we see Satan’s assault on the inside of the church. We come face to face here with the first open incident of sin in the church. This is the beginning. And sin has had a foothold in the church ever since. This is the beginning of what all generations of believers throughout all history in all places in all churches have had to face: that Satan goes into the church.

Sin has plagued the church. Moral sin and doctrinal sin. It plagues the church now. This is where Satan does his greatest damage. History would tell us that to persecute the church externally only causes the church congregation to become purer, more powerful and more effective. So we’re going to look at the beginning of the sins of the saints in the history of the church.

The church is imperfect because people are imperfect. There’s sin in the church because there are sinners in the church. There is a truthfulness in this, and there’s also an encouragement. God took that early church with its sin and sinners, and transformed the entire world. The fact that the Lord, from the very beginning, had to work with sinful people, gives us hope.

When the apostle Paul talked about his ministry and the struggles of ministry in 2 Corinthians 11:24 - 28, he talked about all the beatings, whippings, shipwrecks, and all of that. But the hardest part of ministry Paul says, was the care of all the churches. Apart from external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. This is the burden of every pastor.

People often say, “I don’t want to go to church because there are a bunch of hypocrites there.” My answer is, “That’s right, and there’s plenty of room for another one.” In fact, Paul is so concerned about sin in the church that he has identified the sinners by name. He speaks of sinners in the Corinthian church. He speaks specifically about those sinners that bothered him in the Philippian church.

1 Thessalonians 5:12, “Brethren, we request of you that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.”

That’s true of Israel, and the church, even true believers are characterized legitimately as an assembly of redeemed sinners. Here in Acts 5, that becomes very public. Peter has to deal with this. Peter got the first assignment to deal with sinners in the church because Peter wouldn’t have any problem accepting the fact that that was a reality since he was a well-known sinning apostle.

But there’s an interesting preliminary section that sets that sin into perspective starting in Acts 4:32 - 37, “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”

34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. 36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which means Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus,”

37 having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” We were saying it was all joyful, sacrificial, loving and unified. Here is a great example of that. How far would you go to meet somebody’s need? Are you prepared, if you own a piece of land, to sell your land, and take the money, and say, “Do whatever you want with this money to meet the needs of people?”

These are believers for just weeks, yet they are so unified. Verse 32 says, that “the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul.” Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

This is not communism; this is saying no one held onto anything. They all understood that it all belonged to the Lord, and it all was to be used for His honor, His glory and His people. That is a perspective that should be true of every believer and how you view whatever it is that you possess. They hold it lightly in their hands, as a stewardship from the Lord Himself to be used for whoever has a need.

And there’s strong preaching. Verse 33, “And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” They’re preaching the glory of His resurrection. They’re too busy caring for each other and too busy preaching the gospel to the world to waste time over selfish bickering, personal pursuits, gossip, criticism, self-will and self-gratification.

We talked about how to face persecution, that when persecution comes, you don’t suppress the message. Of course it offends people. They need to be offended. But they couldn’t stop them from speaking. The problem in the church today is we can’t get people to start speaking. They also experienced in verse 33, “abundant grace was upon them all.” Believe me, grace will come from heaven.

Verse 34, “For there was not a needy person among them.” How could that be? “For all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales.” Can you imagine that? This is the spiritual grace that has engulfed these people. Because they trusted the apostles to distribute them. Some people say this is communism. It all went into a pot, and they doled it out equally.

No. Look at Acts 5:4. Peter confronts Ananias about a piece of land. “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? Even after it was sold, was it not under your control?” They did not immediately, all of them sell everything and then dole it out in equal portions. People continued to own things. But whenever they recognized the need, their sacrifice was great.

Remember, there are thousands of people who came for Pentecost, and that’s when the church was born. They don’t want to leave. Why? Because there’s no church in their town. There’s only one church in the world that time. What are they going to go back to? Paganism? Judaism? So thousands of people are there with no homes and no jobs. They have abandoned Judaism.

They’re viewed as apostates and are kicked out of the synagogue. They’re basically outcasts. They have to be cared for, even the apostle Paul later, after this, travels throughout Asia Minor raising money to take back to give to the poor Jerusalem saints, many of whom never left. Some of whom gave everything they had away, and therefore had needs that had to be met.

The apostles then, according to verse 35, have the responsibility to do the distribution as, in Acts 6, they chose deacons to do the distribution of the food to the widows who weren’t getting a fair share of food. This should be the Christian view of money. None of it really is yours. It is God who gives you the power to get wealth. All of it is a stewardship, and belongs to God.

You belong to God. Your children belong to God. Your money belongs to God. Your house belongs to God. Your abilities, your talents, your resources, they all belong to God, and they are all there to be used for His honor and for His glory. John writes in Acts 3:17, “Little children, let us not love only with word or with tongue but in what we do and in truth.”

James 2:14 - 17, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Paul is saying to the Corinthians, “Why can’t you be like the Macedonians who gave out of poverty?” So, while this existed in the beginning in the church, it didn’t take long for believers to settle into their natural inclinations of living in the world, holding onto everything you have. There are many warnings in Scripture about loving money. The love of money is the root of all evil.

So the church didn’t maintain this, but this was the pure church in its early life, in the euphoria of this incredible transformation. Scripture instruct those who are rich not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to store up for themselves treasure in heaven, which is the only good foundation for the future.

Now back to Acts 5:1-5, “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?”

4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard this.” And the same thing happened to his wife Sapphira in verses 7-11.

7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. 11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.” The sin is not that they didn’t give enough. In the New Testament, there’s no amount prescribed. The sin is in lying. God hates lying.

They lied to the Holy Spirit and to Peter and to John. And secret sin on earth, is an open scandal in heaven. It is a lie that is intended to make them look spiritual. They sought to gain prestige and high praise. Hypocrisy is not just a lie; it is a lying life. They lied to create a false perception of their spiritual condition. God hates those who paint spiritual beauty on themselves where there is none.

Is the church full of hypocrites? Absolutely. None of us lives as we ought to live. None of us lives the Christ-like life. And neither should we pretend that we do. What sin would be the first sin that the Lord disciplined in the church? Maybe you picked immorality or stealing or blasphemy. But the sin that the Holy Spirit convicts here is the sin of hypocrisy, pretending to be something you’re not.

You can’t deceive God. He knows your heart, your mind and your thoughts. And that judgment begins with the spiritual integrity of the church. Well, we’ll say more about that next time when we’ll see the consequences of all this. When we go through things like this, we come face to face with the fact that even the best of churches, there’s the reality of sin. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Sep 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220904 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E5 imblog

Acts 4:13-31

Let’s open Acts 4, where the predominant part looks at the persecution against the early church. Acts is the history of the first church. It tells us about its birth on the Day of Pentecost, in a miraculous display of Holy Spirit power. We looked at the early weeks of the church when thousands of people were being converted. In Acts 4 the number may well have exceeded 20,000 people.

But soon we also find the first persecution into Acts 4:1-3, “As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2 being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they caught them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.”

They had been preaching that Jesus is alive from the dead, and it is by His power that the church has come to life and continue to grow. And it is by His power and in His name that they healed the man at the beginning of Acts 3. This was a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb. The miracle proved that Jesus was alive, because when Jesus was alive, He was a healer.

So in Acts 4, we have the beginning of the persecution of the church, which is still going on today. There are about 100 million Christians in the world right now that are under persecution. And I’m not talking about those that are socially abused or alienated. I’m talking about people that are actually under the threat of bodily harm and death. Well, persecution will continue until our Lord comes back.

This persecution is launched initially because it is a threat. The growth of the church is a threat to apostate Judaism. We know what it is to have to forfeit friends, family. We know what it is to be under pressure not to speak for Christ, be it on a job, or a school, or whatever. We all understand that. That’s part of the persecution. But the kind of persecution we’re going to see here threatened life.

There’s nothing more precious in this life than a tested faith. Stop worrying if you might not be a true believer. How can you be sure? You can be sure if you’ve gone through a fiery ordeal of persecution and your faith is rock solid, and it survives, and it endures, and it grows, and it is perfected. Trials produce that, as well as we will see in all of those circumstances, an eternal reward.

Paul talks about a trial he was experiencing in 2 Corinthians 12, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. He said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’” Paul’s response, “If faith is perfected in trials, then I will boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

Persecution is designed by God to produce a perfected faith, to produce maturity, joy, assurance, and eternal reward. Paul says to the Galatians, “I bear in my body the marks of Christ.” Philippians 3:10. For the Christian then, persecution is a noble expectation. It produces growth, glory, maturity, assurance, blessing, encouragement and reward. It is part of who we are in Christ.

Now, as we come to Acts 4, the church is going to learn the blessing and benefit of persecution. Those who were persecuted in the past have all entered into the eternal reward, and if they were here, they could give testimony of the glory of that reward. The sufferings of this world, are not worthy to be compared with the joy that will be ours in the presence of the Lord.

And as Acts 4 unfolds, there are some principles that we need to learn as we watch how they handle persecution. First, in verse 5, we have to be submissive to it. When everybody gathered together against them, they saw it as an opportunity to preach the gospel to the Sanhedrin. They took Peter and John, placed them in the middle, and began to ask them questions.

They knew that even as new believers, that God had allowed this. They waited for God’s purpose to be unfolded. Everything they’ve seen has been God’s plan. From the death of Christ to the resurrection of Christ, it was all explained in the Old Testament prophecies, and they understood that for the first time. The apostles do that in the Book of Acts because they understand it.

The second principle is they were filled with the Spirit. Verse 8, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them. They were in the midst of weakness. They didn’t know what to say, but they remembered the words of Jesus who said, “Take no thought in what you’ll say. I’ll put the words in your mouth by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So Peter yields up full control to the Holy Spirit.

James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

In other words, throw yourself completely, trustingly on the power of God, which means: yield to the Holy Spirit, in the midst of the trial, in the midst of the struggle. So, we saw that last time, the necessity of calling on God, and crying out to the Holy Spirit to take over and fill your life, and give you the words and the understanding and the wisdom to deal with it. This is triumphant.

The third thing is to use it as an opportunity to present the gospel. Peter said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man is has been made well, let it be known to all of you that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands here before you in good health.

Jesus Christ, is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” They just received the indwelling Spirit. But when Christ rose from the dead, and for 40 days explained the meaning of everything, all of it was understood.

They understood the plan, the purpose. There is Peter there in verse 11, rattling off Psalm 118:22 to show again this experience of now for the first time understanding even isolated portions of the Old Testament. Verse 13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”

And this shocks the Sanhedrin who are supposed to be the only ones who can speak with certainty. They’re astounded that these uneducated Galilean fishermen say what they say with such boldness, such confidence, and who talk like they knew what they were talking about. They obviously know that this is beyond what they should expect, the Sanhedrin began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

They taught as if they had authority. Certainly, none of them, not Peter or John, or any other apostles, could handle the Old Testament the way Jesus did, but this is what they were used to from Jesus. None of them could be as assured and as bold and confident as the omniscient Son of God, but it was very much the same. Fourthly, be obedient to God no matter the cost.

The leaders are looking at the man who had been healed standing with Peter and John. He’s still there. Well, when Peter and John came to the Sanhedrin, they brought the man, as a living illustration. Verse 14, “And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” They’re not in any position to question the disciples’ understanding of the Old Testament.

They have to figure out a way to deal with this. So verse 15-16, “But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” Does that tell you about unbelief? How stubborn is unbelief?

A notable miracle happened and the whole city knows. This is a tough problem and there’s no law against healing people. There’s no rule against a good deed. And furthermore, Peter and John were popular with the people. 20,000 people by now make up the church which is a mass movement against them by the populous. They can’t kill these men or they’re going to have a revolution.

They can’t free them, and they can’t let them go on teaching and healing. They’ve got to come up with something, and this is the brain trust of Judaism. So verse 17-18, “But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name. 18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.”

That is the moment in persecution. Every martyr comes to that moment in the past and in the present. We read it in the papers all the time. ISIS finds Christians, they bring them in, they say “denounce Christianity, embrace Islam or we’ll chop your head off.” Will you deny Christ? Read the history of the persecution of the church, and that moment comes back again and again.

What they mean there of course is public speaking. The verb is used to refer to actual public speech. So they put a ban on preaching. There are bans on preaching all over the world today. There always have been in the life of the church. So they threatened them with some unnamed retribution if they don’t stop preaching. I wonder how far away that is, even in our own country.

So how do they respond? Verse 19-20, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” When what men tell you to do is contrary to what God tells you to do, then, who do you obey? Daniel answered with, “I have a higher authority.”

Verse 21-22, “So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. 22 For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.” For decades, they had seen this beggar in his lame condition. So, they just released them.

Verse 23, “And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.” They had stood their ground. They had been bold. No threats could’ve deterred them. This is an appropriate response to being brought to the brink in persecution when your life is threatened. There’s a fifth principle, be closer to other believers.

Persecution produces unity. As persecution accelerates, the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. All things were common property to them. They clung tightly to one another. The persecuted church is the united church because it draws its strengths in that corporate fellowship. It forces believers to circle the wagons, to cling to each other, and to hold on tightly.

Number six, thank the Lord. Verse 24-28, “So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them. 25 who by Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together.

Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ 27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your purpose determined before to be done.” They praise their God with one accord, who is the creator of the entire universe, the God who has all of the rulers of the world in the palm of His hand.

They recognize the guilt of Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Romans, and the people of Israel. The world gathered against Him, prophesied in Psalm 2, and the Gentiles and the Jews raged. But all they did was what God had predestined to occur. And number seven, pray for greater boldness. Verse 29, “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word.”

And Lord, supports that speaking. Verse 30, “by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” He supports our preaching with more miracles and more wonders. Scripture wasn’t written yet. They were validated by the miracles, and so they cry out to God to do more miracles so to support our preaching.

Their prayer was answered. Verse 31, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” We rejoice in the faithfulness of the saints because we’re here today because of that faithfulness. And we need to continue what they did for God, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Aug 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220828 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E4 imblog

Acts 4:1-12

Early on in the life of the church in the first decade, there are at least five outbreaks of persecution. It all starts in the Jerusalem church, and you can open your Bible to Acts 4 because that’s where it begins. Here in Acts 4 is the first persecution of the church. The church is just weeks old, full of new believers. We know what happened in those early years in Acts, and we’re going to live it together.

We know what begins in Acts 4 and escalates in Acts 8, through the death of James and Stephen. It’s Jewish persecution in the first part of Acts, but in the latter part, it’s Roman persecution. The first great persecutor was Nero, and that starts in A.D. 67. Christians were sewn in the skins of animals, and then fed to hungry dogs. They were covered in wax and then lit as torches for parties.

Persecution went on after that, and it’s always around because Satan, who is the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the spiritual powers that reign in the darkness of this fallen culture. He is always after those who confess Christ. But in Acts 4, we come to the first persecution which started the long pattern of satanically-inspired hatred of Christ, and hatred of the church.

There are seasons when it is less and seasons when it is more; seasons when it is deadly and other seasons when it is only social. There are times when persecution is just psychological and times when it’s absolutely lethal. But whatever form it takes, there is always going to be persecution because Satan hates Christ and hates Christians. The kingdom of darkness hates the kingdom of light.

Our Lord said, “The time will come when they imprison you and kill you.” Don’t worry about it. When that time comes, you’ll know how to react and exactly what to say because the Holy Spirit will show you what to say. Not only that, the Holy Spirit will strengthen you in that hour because you have a faith that cannot fail. True believers will survive the physical persecution.

But Christians can crumble under social alienation, which very often produces a compromise that steals their testimony and weakens the church as it tries to accommodate the hostility of the world. This is everywhere going on in our culture. It just makes us compromise. We fail to preach the truth because we don’t want to be rejected. We don’t want the rebellion and the resistance.

But in the early church, it was real physical persecution on top of alienation. There never was a church before the Day of Pentecost. It was born when 3,000 people heard the gospel preached by Peter and believed and continued in the apostle’s doctrine of prayer, the breaking of bread, and fellowship. And then daily more and more believers were being added to the church by Christ.

They were all real believers, and where did they meet? They didn’t have a building. They met in the temple. Peter and John just went to the temple, the massive courtyard in the temple, and we find them there, as we come into Acts 3, with Peter and John and the ex-beggar in the porch of Solomon, which was one of the great colonnades that had a covering over it in the temple area.

They all knew the lame beggar, who all of the sudden leaps up in verse 8, stands upright, begins to walk, and enters the temple, walking, leaping, praising God. They were filled with wonder and amazement. And while he was still clinging to Peter and John, as a living illustration of the power of the living Christ, all the people gathered to them at the porch of Solomon. And Peter preached the second sermon.

He preaches on Jesus Christ, who He is, what He did, that He died, and that He rose again, and Peter indicts the Jews for killing the Messiah. Peter did it on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. He does it again in Acts 3, and he says, “Repent, and believe.” Then he explains what will happen if they do. Their sins will be forgiven. The kingdom will come and the Messiah one day will return in glory.

Judgment will be avoided, and all covenant blessings will be realized. So Peter preaches an evangelistic sermon in Acts 3, and the results are remarkable. Acts 4:4, “Many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000.” And this is just counting men. That is distinct from females. We don’t know how many other women believed. This is explosive.

Now the church is a massive threat to the Jewish system. You can’t have 15,000 people congregating inside the temple courtyard in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they had just crucified. This is worse than when Jesus came into the temple and threw everybody out. Acts 4:1, “Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them.”

They are condemning the Jewish leaders who executed Jesus; and they’re condemning them in their own temple. This is what launches 2,000 years of hatred, hostility, and persecution. They’re talking about Christ and His death and that He was the Messiah who fulfilled the Old Testament, and about His resurrection. So the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees put them in jail.

There were 24 groups of priests. They were priests from all over Israel, and each priest would serve 2 weeks a year in the temple offering sacrifices in the morning and the evening. And so these were the priests who were officiating at the time. They were the first core of opponents to this gathering in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And then you have the captain of the temple guard.

If there’s one thing Rome demanded as the occupying power, it was order. And so there were temple police, and the Sadducees. They were the minority religious party, who ran the entire temple operation. The priests worked under their leadership. Now, they were a religious sect who believed that only the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses was inspired by God, and the rest was just commentary.

Since there was nothing in the Pentateuch about resurrection, they didn’t believe in resurrection. The Sadducees desperately wanted to keep control of everything because it was to their benefit. Verse 2, “being greatly disturbed that Peter taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” It’s the kind of mental anguish that comes from being agitated by what’s going on.

Because they were teaching the people, they were usurping the authority of those who were teachers. You’re not invited. This isn’t your place. Especially because in verse 13, “They observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained.” They weren’t versed in Jewish theology and they did not know the theology of the Sadducees.

They were just ignorant Galileans, who have stepped into the world of the educated, the wise and usurped the role of teacher right in the temple and teaching doctrine that they had condemned about a man they had killed. They were proclaiming Jesus. This is an open public repudiation of the authority of the Sanhedrin because they had condemned Jesus to death as an imposter.

So what they taught was more disturbing. And they were not only proclaiming Jesus, but that He had risen from the dead. Peter said, “You put to death the Prince of Life. God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses.” And thousands of people are congregating to listen to this. Thousands are believing, and the leaders are terrified that they’re about to lose their power.

Verse 3, “And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.” That means they arrested them and put Peter and John in jail until the next day. For three hours, Peter and John had been in the temple. Verse 4, “However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” If you count the women, maybe 10,000 or more.

Thousands of people were genuinely converted. This is more than a false religion can tolerate, and so the persecution begins. This is good because it purifies. The threat of death, the cross and martyrdom keeps false believers away. Now, the rest of the chapter we see how they handled that persecution in a practical way. If we live godly in this world, we will suffer persecution.

Verse 5-7, “And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, 6 as well as Annas the high priest Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 7 And when these Jews had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?” No fighting back. They don’t call for arms.

How would two Galilean guys, Peter and John, ever hope to be speaking to the most important body in Israel? And they were given an opportunity. They asked, “By what power or in what name have you done this?” “By what power? By whose authority?” All authority rested in them in their minds. And by what authority have you usurped this temple, this sacred place with your heresies?

We see God opening up a door. God is going to glorify Himself in this situation. There’s a second response to persecution, your strength is in the Holy Spirit. Verse 8, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel.” How did Peter become filled with the Holy Spirit? It’s yielding up to the control of the Holy Spirit. “Empower me. Give me words to say.”

Verse 9-11, “If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.”

Verse 12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Peter boldly preached the gospel in the face of persecution. The indictment comes. “If we are on trial today for a good deed, done to a sick man,” this is an unjust court, right? If that’s the reason we’re here, this is an unjust arrest. This is boldness.

Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you all crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name, this man stands here before you in good health.” We did it by the name, the authority and the power of Jesus Christ. What does Christ mean? Jesus the Nazarene is your own Messiah.

It is by His power, which they know very well. Why? Because He spent His whole life doing miracles. And He raised Lazarus from the dead, and they all knew about that because it was that resurrection of Lazarus after he had been dead four days that precipitated their executing Him. So Peter accuses the Sanhedrin of the killing of their own Messiah, and indicts them for being far from God.

That is a constant message. We heard it in Acts 2, in Acts 3, and again in Acts 4. And we’re going to hear it again in Acts 5:30, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.” In the face of persecution, there’s no reduction of the message. Why? Because sinners have to be indicted for their crimes. They must repent if they are to be saved.

Peter quotes Psalm 118:22, “You have rejected the stone, which has become the chief cornerstone of the kingdom.” It is always hard to say that in a religious environment. Could you walk into a house of false religion and say, “You, have rejected the only Savior. There is salvation only in Jesus Christ?” Could you announce that to a synagogue congregation or in a mosque?

You asked us by what authority and in what name we did this? It is in the name of the one you killed, but God raised, who is now alive, and it is by Him and His power that this man was healed. There is salvation in no one else. That’s the exclusivity of the gospel. It’s so disturbing to hear professing Christian people who want to somehow soften that exclusivity and not even tell people of their sin.

Peter knew his life was on the line. So did John, but they said, “There is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” We can be saved, but in only one name. Apart from Christ and the gospel, no salvation. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” He said. “No man comes to the Father but by Me.”

So how do we respond in persecution? First, with submission knowing that God has a plan and that God is going to open a door which maybe take me to a tribunal that I would otherwise have no access to. Secondly, depend with all your strength and all your weakness on the power of the Holy Spirit and the promise of the Holy Spirit to fill you, and give you the things to say.

Peter said more in 1 Peter 2:21, that we should expect it. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” If you live the kind of life that God intends you to live in Christ, you will be persecuted by the world system. If you are not suffering, they just haven’t discovered who you really are.

Acts 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” The worst that can happen to us is that they kill us, and that would be our ultimate triumph, right? If you live a godly life in the world, you will be persecuted. Submit to the Spirit and boldly preach the gospel and leave the results up to God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Aug 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220821 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E3 imblog

Acts 3:18-26

All books of the Bible are divinely inspired. This is information we desperately need to know about our origin as part of the church of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus has come into the world, born of a virgin, lived His life in sinless perfection, claimed to be the Son of God, proved it by His words and works. He was rejected by the nation of Israel, who then pressed the Romans to crucify Him.

Until Jesus comes back to establish His kingdom. So we are 2,000 years into that history that began here in the book of Acts. Now in Acts 3, the Lord has ascended back to heaven, and He sent the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin and judgment, and to regenerate His elect. As well as to empower the church for the preaching of the gospel by which means He does His regenerating work.

Now in Acts 3, again Peter is the preacher. And again, the Lord collects the crowd. This time it’s a different miracle. The opening 11 verses describe that miracle as the healing of a lame beggar who sat daily in the temple gate. Everyone knew his condition. In verse 8, he stands upright, begins to walk and leap, and enters the temple with the apostles and all the people saw him praising God.

And while he was there with them, “all the people rushed together to them at the so-called porch of Solomon, full of amazement.” God collects a crowd through a miracle, and He adds to His church an even greater number of believers. Again, Peter is the preacher, and again the sermon is about Jesus Christ. And the sermon will have two parts: part one, guilt; part two, grace.

He starts out heaping guilt on them for the execution of the Son of God, the Savior, the Holy One, the Righteous One, the Prince of life. He declares that the people of Israel had denied Him, delivered Him, and executed Him. The very One whom the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had glorified. But after they had killed Jesus, God raised Him from the dead.

Jesus is alive and it is His power on display in the healing of this lame man. Well, the first time Peter preached he preached guilt, but then he also preached grace. They felt so guilty in Acts 2:37, they said, “Brethren, what shall we do?” We don’t hear them say that in Acts 3:17 where Peter says “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.”

This is classic gospel preaching. A heavy burden of guilt, a clear indictment, and fear that grips the heart. And then we go from guilt to grace. Grace that is just beyond comprehension. Verse 17, “I know that you acted in ignorance.” What did Jesus say on the cross? Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” In Acts, we see more ignorance, which God graciously considers.

There’s an Old Testament precedent for this. Numbers 15:22, “But when you unwittingly fail and do not observe all these commandments, from the day when the Lord gave commandment and onward through your generations, then it shall be, if it is done unintentionally, that all the congregation shall offer one bull for a burnt offering, and one male goat for a sin offering.”

A special sacrifice for unwitting iniquity and disobedience. “Then the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation, and they will be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord. So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, for it happened to all the people through error.

But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, his guilt will be on him.” Hebrews 10 says that if you sin willfully after the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice.

In Acts 17, Paul says on Mars Hill to a Gentile audience, “The time of iniquity in the past God overlooked, but now commands all men to repent because He has unveiled His Son.” Grace is available to the guilty who is ignorant. And in verse 18, “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.”

It was within the plans of God. It was sinful and heinous, but it was ignorant. In spite of what they did, God’s plan was perfectly fulfilled. And when he says, which God announced beforehand to all the Old Testament prophets concerning the suffering of Christ, it refers to Psalm 22, Zechariah and Isaiah 53. It was a prophecy of the One who was the final acceptable sacrifice.

Rather than the death of Messiah disqualifying the Messiah, His suffering and death validates Him as the Messiah because that’s what the prophets said would happen. And then comes verse 19, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Here we move from guilt to grace. “Therefore repent and be converted.”

Listen to Matthew 11:21, “Woe to Chorazin! Woe to Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” If Tyre and Sidon had seen what Chorazin and Bethsaida saw that, they would have repented. Repentance can come purely on the basis of the divine revelation of a miracle of Scripture.

Sometimes, repentance is the product of sorrow. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

A lot of people in the world are sorry for the consequences of their behavior, sorry for the consequences of their sin, but with no intention of repentance. In Romans 2:4, Paul says, “Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” Some people repent because they’re overwhelmed by the goodness of God.

Sometimes, repentance is the result of the threat of final judgment. In Acts 17:30 on Mars Hill Paul says, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Paul in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says, “And to give you, who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

Starting in verse 19, Peter is going to give five motivations to repent and come to Christ. The first one, sin will be forgiven. The second one, the kingdom will come. Thirdly, the Messiah will return. Fourthly, judgment will be avoided. And fifth, promises will be realized. So here are the promises to the people of Israel if they will turn around with regard to Christ and truly repent.

Number one, sins will be forgiven. Verse 19, “so that your sins may be blotted out.” Change your conclusion about Christ. And then come all the way back to Him. And the terrible iniquities in your blasphemy against the Son of God will be forgiven you. But this is not a final blasphemy for all of them. There will be some who turn. What is the language here saying? So your sins may be blotted out.”

The Levitical system covered sins up, but didn’t remove them. David cried out in Psalm 51, “Blot out my iniquity,” feeling the guilt. But no priest could do that and no sacrifice could do that. In Isaiah 43:25 God says, “I am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 44:21, “I have wiped out your transgressions. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

Second, the kingdom will come. Revelation 20 says it will last a 1,000 years. And all of the prophetic statements made about the kingdom, would say: peace, no war, fullness of joy; holiness everywhere; glory fully revealed and comfort. King Jesus himself will personally minister to every need; perfect justice to everyone all the time; and full knowledge and complete instruction.

King Jesus will teach everyone; and knowledge and wisdom will fill the earth; no curse, the curse will be mitigated in the animal kingdom and in the natural realm; no sickness, the king is a healer; no deformity, preservation of life by supernatural means, if someone dies at 100 years, they die as an infant; freedom from oppression; prosperity, greater productivity of everything on the planet.

So Peter says to those Jews, “If you repent and follow Christ, all your sins will be forgiven and the kingdom will come.” Yes, the kingdom arriving is conditioned on Israel’s repentance. Still, the millennial kingdom won’t come until that period prior to the kingdom when all believing Israel is saved. God knew what they would do, and yet they are responsible for the doing of it.

And thirdly, the Messiah will return. “When “the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord and that He may send Jesus, the Messiah appointed to you before.” It was established in the Old Testament that there wouldn’t be a kingdom without a king, that there wouldn’t be a messianic rule without a Messiah. It’s true that millennial blessings cannot come apart from the return of Christ.

So in the future Israel will finally believe. They’ll look on the one they’ve pierced, they mourn for Him as an only son, be cleansed, and the Messiah will come and establish His kingdom. Verse 20, “And that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before.” Literally, “who was appointed Messiah to you,” declared so by the prophets, and by John the Baptist, and by the apostles.

God has not canceled His promises to Israel. He was reiterating them right here through the apostles. Verse 21 says, “Whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Jesus has to remain in heaven until the kingdom. He cannot start the time of refreshing until Israel acknowledge Him as their Messiah.

Read Zechariah 12, 13, and 14. They exercise faith in chapter 12 and 13. They go through tribulation in the 13th chapter, and then the kingdom comes in chapter 14. As Paul says in Romans 11, “All Israel will be saved.” And when they are saved, they mourn for the One they pierced and a fountain of cleansing is opened to them, they will then be purged of all rebels and the kingdom comes.

Zechariah 14 lays that out. And this is what “God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.” So repent, and follow Christ. Fourthly, judgment will be avoided. Verse 22, “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.”

Verse 23-24, “And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.” All prophets announced the coming of the Messiah. Moses is quoted in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. Moses said, “Messiah is coming and will be a prophet like me.”

Peter here is really remarkable. Your sins will be forgiven. Your long-awaited kingdom will come. The Messiah will return. You will escape judgment, if you repent and return, all the promised blessings will be realized. Verse 25, “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

And when you look to Genesis and you see it was a unilateral covenant made by God on behalf of Israel, you understand why Peter said that. He doesn’t say “you used to be the sons of the prophets. And all the promises are now shifted to the church.” No. “You are the sons of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

All prophesies are still related to you. Verse 26, “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” Just really a clear indication of the future. Repent, oh believers in Israel. Change your mind and receive forgiveness, and the kingdom and the king Jesus, and all God’s blessings. Change your mind.

Guilt yes, but also grace. That’s always the gospel message. Israel as a nation has not believed. They will in the future, but every Jew or every Gentile who turns toward Christ and goes after Christ to follow Him receives all these things. We have forgiveness of sin. We are members of the kingdom. We are delivered from destruction and we have inherited all God’s promised blessings, Amen? Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Aug 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220814 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E2 imblog

Acts 3:12-18

There is no justification for anti-Semitism, for hatred of Jewish people. Unfortunately, throughout history replacement theology, that have the church replacing Israel, really were born in an anti-Semitic attitude long ago. In Christ, there’s neither Jew nor Gentile. And even outside of Christ, we love unconverted Jews just as we would anyone else. We long for them to acknowledge their Messiah.

And we have immense respect for Jewish leadership. We know that study Bibles are being distributed throughout Israel to Jews. We desire to have an impact on that nation. We long for the salvation of Israel. My heart toward Israel would be the same as Jesus when He wept over their unbelief. But having said all of that, we still know what Israel did to their Messiah is history.

It is reality. It doesn’t do any good to try to cover it up or eliminate it. They rejected their Messiah. They put Him in the hands of the Romans to execute Him. That’s an enormous crime. Any rejection of Jesus Christ brings about the severest eternal judgment. So we don’t want to bring unique judgment on Israel. It’s the same judgment for anybody, Jew or Gentile, who rejects Christ.

But neither do we want to deny what Scripture says. When Scripture tells us that it was the people of Israel who rejected their Messiah. That is in no way the projection of some anti-Jewish attitude. So let’s look at Acts 3. In the opening ten verses, it describes a miracle around 3:00 in the afternoon. Peter and John went there, and they came across a lame beggar, handicapped from birth.

And they healed him, raised him up, verse 7, “Immediately his feet and ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.” And all the people saw him walking and praising God. They were all taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the beautiful gate of the temple to beg alms.

They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. The last scene was in verse 11. Peter and John are standing there, and the man is clinging to them, and all the people ran together to the so-called porch colonnade of Solomon, full of amazement. This miracle gathers a crowd. And Peter begins to preach to these people in verses 12 – 16.

So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.”

14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

All the early apostolic preaching centered on Jesus Christ. Peter is also preaching Christ Jesus. At the very time of the miracle in Acts 3:6, Peter says, “I don’t possess silver or gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene – walk!” They vary the glories of Christ. They vary the themes concerning Christ, but it is Christ Himself of whom they speak.

In the New Testament, He is called Jesus 800 times. But, there are in Scripture nearly 200 different names or titles for the Lord Jesus. Why? Because that allows us to explore all the facets of His majestic glory. Every one of those names is like an edge of a cut diamond. He is the subject of all faithful apostolic preaching and continues to be the subject for all faithful preachers.

Now, the first person to ever preach in the name of Jesus Christ was Peter. And since that first sermon, all who faithfully and accurately preach the gospel stand in the tradition of Peter. The Catholic Church talks about the succession of Peter. But the succession of Peter is not the papacy, not that corrupt assembly of heretics who speak in their own name and who usurp His authority in the church.

The succession of Peter is the long line of godly faithful preachers of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anybody who doesn’t preach Christ is an antichrist, is an unfaithful preacher. On the very day the church was born, the theme was the Lord, Jesus Christ. For that first sermon, God provided a stunning introduction. Fire, wind, and different languages gathered the people.

Peter preached the gospel and 3,000 people were divinely enabled to believe, were baptized and constituted the church its first day of birth. This is the second sermon here in Acts 3. And God again provides His introduction to draw the crowd. God healed that lame man. The healed man was a living testimony to divine power in the name of Jesus. The crowd has come together.

All the people came together by the wall that was once a part of Solomon’s temple, full of amazement. All good preaching not only focuses on Christ, but all good preaching is a careful argument that leads to an inescapable conclusion. Preaching is not lining up all kinds of interesting illustrations. Preaching is a captivating argument so that the hearer has no way out except to accept or reject.

It’s not about making people feel good. Not about creating some kind of religious feeling experience. All good preaching is like a courtroom. It’s always a systematic argument that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior. And they were always proving that. The Jews couldn’t understand why if He was Messiah, He died. So they had to show from the Old Testament that Messiah had to suffer, die and rise again.

Verse 12, “So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” Men of Israel, that’s courteous. Why are you amazed at this? You know God’s power from the Old Testament. You know God’s power exhibited through the person of Jesus.

Furthermore, you know that only God can do this. As Nicodemus said on behalf of all of them, “Nobody can do what You do unless God is with Him.” Miracles aren’t done by people. Second question, why do you gaze at us as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? We’re a couple of Galilean fishermen. You know that people don’t have the power to create what you’ve just seen.

This is God operating through the power of Christ, which proved His resurrection that He’s still alive, who has done this. Peter draws them immediately to Christ, verse 13, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.”

Jesus is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Matthew 24. Stephen refers to Jesus as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Acts 7 when he gave that great sermon and recited the history of Israel. Glory only belongs to God. God in the Old Testament says, “My glory will I not share with another, will I not give to another.” But God the Father gives it to Christ.

Jesus, prayed in John 17, “Restore to me the glory I had with You in eternity past.” So, the miracle draws the crowd. Where did this power come from? It comes from God through the name of Jesus in order to glorify Jesus. For all His ministry, God glorified His Son by miracles, a display of creative power, power of demons, power over nature, power over disease and power over sin.

Now, this sermon has two parts. First is guilt, and then is grace. And Peter is like a prosecuting attorney. And his indictment is this: Israel murdered the Messiah. You have slain the Son of God. The word “delivered” is a technical term for being arrested. And then in verse 14, “But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.”

You denied Him as your Messiah. So, you turn Him over because you had denied Him, and then in verse 15, “and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” The Romans are not indicted here. The men of Israel are. You put to death the Prince of life. The culpability of the Jews, is not an anti-Semitic invention. It is exactly what Scripture says.

Yes, Herod was involved. Pilate was involved. The Gentile Romans were involved. They all played a role. But the indictment in Acts 3 is clearly Israel. The Jews forced the issue with Pilate when Pilate wanted to release Him. The Jews chose Barabbas over Jesus when they had an opportunity. The Jews forced Pilate against his will to crucify Jesus. That was a blatant miscarriage of justice.

Pilate actually declared Jesus innocent six times. The Romans had a very strict code of justice. In Acts 22:25, when Paul was stretched, he said to the centurion, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman?” The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And Paul said, “I was actually born a citizen.” Therefore, those immediately let go of him.

No, it was the Jewish people who pressed the issue, who pushed Pilate all the way to the death of Christ, their own Messiah. In Matthew 27:24, Pilate took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd saying, “I’m innocent of this man’s blood.” See to it yourselves, and all of the people said, “His blood be on us, and on our children.” Then he released Barabbas for them.

The indictment is absolutely true and devastating. And to strengthen the indictment, Peter refers to the Lord, by glorious names. You see in verse 13, that He’s called “His servant Jesus,” the servant of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers. In verse 14, He is called the Holy One and the Righteous One. Verse 15 says, The Prince of life. These designations raised the crime.

Let’s look at these terms. The first one you see in verse 13 is servant. Actually, that’s the Greek word P-A-I-S. It could mean servant. But it’s the Greek word for son. You delivered and denied the Son of the God. You killed God’s Son. Not only the Son, but you killed the Savior, Jesus. What does Jesus mean? Jesus is a word that means “Jehovah saves” or “the Lord is salvation.”

Thirdly, you delivered and denied the Holy One. Psalm 16 calls Messiah the Holy One. You will not allow your Holy One to see corruption. Luke 1 describes the baby born in Bethlehem as the Holy Child. He is the Holy One, the one who is without sin. Psalm 16:10 is quoted by Peter in the first sermon, Acts 2:27, “You will not abandon My soul to hades, nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”

Fourthly, the Righteous One. You denied the Just One, and you wanted an unjust murderer to be released instead. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners by nature. And He was without sin in behavior. The only Holy One, the only Righteous One. You did it against the cries of justice, and you did it in exchange for a thief and a murderer named Barabbas.

Fifthly, in verse 15, “You put to death the Prince of life.” You destroyed the one who is life itself. You took one who took life in exchange for One who gives life. Prince of life, used in Hebrews 12, the author, the initiator and the source of life. Jesus is the author of life. Nothing was made without Him. By Him was everything made that was made in Him, the only one who can provide life.”

You killed Him, and God raised Him, and we have seen Him. Why does God bring in the resurrection? Because Jesus has to be alive to be the power that healed the lame man. Verse 16, “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Jesus has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

Jesus is alive and He is powerful, so powerful that He gave back to this man a body that he had never known in his entire life. Salvation comes to those who recognize the reality of their wretched sinfulness. When people cling to their sinfulness, there’s no hope. But I want to close with verse 17, “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.”

Here’s the first glimmer of grace. Please notice that it wasn’t only the rulers, the Jewish religious leaders, who rejected Christ. They did this, but this also clearly indicts the whole country. You acted in ignorance just as your rulers did also. Good preaching is a systematic, reasoned argument leading to an undeniable conclusion. Peter started out like a prosecuting attorney with his forceful, powerful indictment.

And when they are literally pinned to the wall with no escape, in the darkness of their own deed, he opens a window in verse 17, “You acted in ignorance. So did your rulers.” He follows that up in verses 18, “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.” God is sovereign but all people are still responsible for their sins, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Aug 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220807 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E1 imblog

Acts 3:1-11

The Book of Acts is the history of the early church. These are the acts of Christ through the Holy Spirit as He finishes His work through the apostles, proclaiming the gospel and establishing His church. We have, in Acts 3:1 - 11, one of many miracles that were going on at this time in the early church. Acts 2:43 says, “And many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.”

Our Lord delegated power to do miracles to His apostles. He had ascended by this time into heaven; the apostles were doing miracles to validate themselves as the messengers of God. Let me read it to you, “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, to the gate of the temple,

Which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you:

“In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he,

Who sat begging alms, at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.” A wonderful miracle. But you need to know what supernatural events have taken place beforehand.

Our Lord taught his disciples the fulfilment of prophecies for 40 days after His resurrection. He then ascended back to heaven from the Mount of Olives. And then, on the Day of Pentecost, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell His people, to empower His people, and to place His people together in the body of Christ. So, by the coming of the Holy Spirit, the church was born.

And the purpose of the body of Christ is to finish the work that Christ began. Jesus started it Himself, with help from the Holy Spirit and He delegated this through His apostles when He was on earth, and now He does it by the power of the Holy Spirit through His church, finishing the work of evangelism, finishing the proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

And the first-fruits of believers were 3,000 new believers to add to the 120 existing believers who had already gathered. They were baptized and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer. They were feeling a sense of awe, wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. They held all things in common.

And if necessary they were selling what they possessed to give to those who might have need, day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, sharing meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, finding favor with all the people. And the Lord continued to add to their number daily those that were being saved.”

These miracles were very important because they validated the apostles as the true teachers. Look, the ancient world and the world of Judaism was packed with teachers. They were all over the place. Rabbis, scribes, Pharisees, many others who were teachers. How do you know the true teacher? How do you know who speaks for God? Well, a true teacher is manifested by miracle power.

So, the apostles were granted this ability in order to validate their message. There are only two names of people in the Book of Acts who did miracles other than the apostles, and they were both tightly associated with the apostles. There was Stephen, who was there in Acts 6 with the apostles. And Barnabas is mentioned. We don’t know exactly what miracles Barnabas may have done.

When the apostles were not present, no miracles occurred. That is important, because there are so many people running around today claiming miracles, but there are no apostles present. These apostles were the foundation of the church, and there were only 12 plus Paul. Medical miracles are rare in redemptive history. There are no healings mentioned in any New Testament church.

And as you go through the Book of Acts, you start seeing believers being sick. And as you read the letters of the apostles, they talk about people being sick, even sick unto death. Healing was not a gift to believers to make them better. It was a sign to nonbelievers to convince them to believe the message of the gospel. After the Book of Acts, there are no physical healings.

We know about the millennial kingdom from the prophets. And in the kingdom, if somebody dies at the age of 100, they die like an infant. People will live longer. Life will be different. A lion will lie down with a lamb. Children can play in a snake pit. And one of the characteristics of the kingdom is physical health and wellbeing. The curse of disease and death will be mitigated.

So not only is the healing ministry of Jesus and the healing ministry of the apostles an evidence of divine compassion, but it is also an indication of divine faithfulness to a long-ago promise. God will be the healer of Israel when they do believe His laws and they do acknowledge their Messiah, His Son. In Acts 3:13, Peter says, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has glorified His servant Jesus.”

God is saying to the Jews: though you killed the Prince of life, even though you disowned the Holy and the Righteous One, God’s promise is still valid, and here are previews of what God will do for you if you turn to Him. But it has an obedience component that activates fulfillment. So when they see someone healed, it is also an evidence that God is still keeping that promise.

Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour. The ninth hour is 3:00 in the afternoon. Where did they meet? There are 3,000 believers the first day. And when Peter preaches in Acts 3 and additional 5,000 more people become believers. Well, there’s only one place, and that was in the temple. And as they come in through the Beautiful gate, they encounter a beggar.

So there he is in verse 2. He had been lame from his mother’s womb. He was being carried along in the procession by friends. “They used to set him down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.” There were many beggars in the land because there was no medical care at that time that was effective.

So there the man sits, and he’s asking for cash. When he saw Peter and John, he began asking for alms. Verse 4-6, “Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

There are four elements to this miracle. First, it was unexpected. God sovereignly selects him. And Peter did have a delegated power to heal and cast out demons. This miracle is not in response to the man’s faith. Secondly, the miracle is in the name of Jesus Christ to connect this man to Jesus. In verse 12, Peter explains this to the people, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has glorified His servant Jesus.”

“The same Jesus whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer,” and put to death the Prince of life. It is a miracle done in the name of Jesus Christ. That is to say, by His power and by His will. Peter and John are saying, if Jesus were here, this is what He would do.

Miracles were done to point people to Jesus Christ, whom they preached, and whom they represented. Peter took the man, and he lifted him up. Verse 7, “And he took him by the right hand, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.” This man had never walked, and he was 40 years old, and in an instant, his feet and ankles received muscles, nerves and strength.

This is a creative miracle. All Jesus’ miracles are this way. There are instant acts of creation, new tissue, new fiber, new cartilage, new bone, new muscle, and new data for the brain so that you know how to walk. Thirdly, it is instantaneous. Adam was created in a split second and walked. This man was created new in a split second, fully functioning. How do we know it was complete?

Verse 8, “So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. He entered the temple with them, walking and leaping. He was athletic in a split second. That power came from God, and it was supernatural, it was sudden, it was sufficient, and it had one purpose: it was staging to draw a crowd to believe a message.

Verse 9 - 11, “And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.”

So what is the sequel to the miracle, first of all? The man was filled with joy. He followed them into the temple, and they must’ve just been walking in their normal fashion while he is bouncing up and down praising God. They all know who he is. He’s the man who sat there for decades at the beautiful gate of the temple begging alms, and they’re dumbfounded at this miracle.

This should’ve been some kind of an indicator to the Jews, because this had been promised to them that God would one day be their healer. Listen to Isaiah 35:4-6, “He will save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. And the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. And water will break forth in the wilderness.”

This is a preview of the millennial kingdom. God is not finished with Israel yet. You get to the end of Acts 3; and they’re still the people of the promise. Here is a man who’s healed, and leaping and praising God is a direct illustration of the promise of Isaiah 35:2. God deals in joy. God wants you to have joy. First John says, “These things are written unto you, that your joy may be full.”

Secondly, God is praised. The end of verse 8, He is praising God. Verse 9, “All the people saw him walking and praising God.” He knows where His healing is coming from. He knew the source of the power. He knew that this was a creative miracle, and nobody else could argue with it. This is true worship going on in the middle of a temple full of fake worship and false worship.

You remember Jesus, during Passion Week, pronounced doom on that temple because of its corruption and said it’ll all going to be smashed to the ground, not one stone left on another. Even the presence of believers meeting there every day couldn’t sanctify that system. He knows the true God has touched him. Worship is not following rituals. Real worship is praise, joy and gratitude.

Thirdly, the people are amazed. They know he’s the one who used to sit at the Beautiful gate of the temple to beg alms. They’re filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him. Acts 4:16, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place near them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.”

What were miracles for, then? They were to demonstrate that God was at work through the apostles. It was incontrovertible, undeniable. Even the leaders who would have wanted to deny it couldn’t deny it any more than they could deny any of the miracles Jesus did. And if the power of God was coming through them, then the Word of God was coming through them.

Second Corinthians 12:12, “The signs of an apostle are signs, wonders, and mighty deeds.” Hebrews 2 says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation after it was at the first spoken through our Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard the Lord?” God testifying for the apostles, by signs, and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will.”

In the charismatic movement, so many teachers claim direct revelation, because they don’t want to be compared to the Scripture. It’s just critical that God validate the true teachers, to establish the gospel. The crowd comes together, verse 11, and there are Peter and John. And, there’s this standing, leaping guy, hanging onto both of them as a visual validation that God works through us.

Does God heal today? Yes, He can if He wants. He answers prayer when He chooses to. But is there a gift of healing? No. That was apostolic. What is important is the message. And the truthfulness of the message can be validated by comparing it to the Scripture. A miracle confirms the Word, and now Scripture confirms the word of any messenger or any preacher.

]]> Sun, 31 Jul 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220731 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001E0 imblog

Acts 2:42-47

We are studying Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, and in verse 38 Peter said, “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Then in verse 40, “With many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation!’

So then, those who had received His word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” Let us now look tonight at verses 42 to 47, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

A week or so ago, I looked at a copy of Table Talk, a devotional magazine that’s produced by Ligonier Ministry, and the theme was ‘ordinary’. There was an article by Michael Horton called “The Ordinary Christian Life.” Michael says this, “Whatever happened to ordinary?” He says, “There is this constant call for more experiences that are highly emotional, radical, edgy, relevant and trendy.”

I also read an article written by an evangelical Christian who said, “There is beginning to emerge a longing in the lives of 20 and 30-year-olds for ‘real’ church. This is a culture of extremes, but that’s not the original fountain for this, and in an effort to be extreme and impactful and relevant, et cetera, the most bizarre elements of the culture are imported into the church.

It was Charles Finney, 1792-1875, who decided that religion, to be valid, had to have some kind of high impact, high energy emotional element. It was about methods, feelings and experiences, and it all trumped sound doctrine and theology. Gradual growth, by the normal means of grace, prayer, the study of the Word and fellowship was exchanged for a radical experience.

The Church is simply living out a form of that today, the church has become mired in restlessness impatience and selfishness. And that is characteristic of being childish. The church is an adolescent wanting to be indulged and entertained, the church has become largely superficial and immature and experiences are designed for impatient, selfish, shallow adolescents.

The God-ordained ordinary patterns of slow, faithful, thoughtful study and absorption of the Word of God and slow, steady growth in grace and the knowledge of Christ in the midst of a faithful congregation is far too ordinary for the salesmen of adolescent extreme radical experience. There seems to be an endless supply of adolescents to entertain, and ready to be fooled.

God is not ordinary. But God works through ordinary means, regular people in normal churches, doing regular things. God uses real language and simple people as his instruments to move his church to impact the world. Simply stated, Jesus, God incarnate, stayed nine months in His mother’s womb and was born in a normal way and “grew in wisdom and stature, in favor with God and man.”

People today are like adolescents chasing a wild experiences. And, there are lots of places willing to offer it. As we come to this section, we’re introduced in a fresh way to an ordinary church, a church. This is the church that was born at Pentecost. And because the apostles were there, in verse 43, there were “many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.”

We don’t expect that now because that was associated with the apostles, and there are no more apostles. That first church was an ordinary church. Jesus had ascended, sent the Holy Spirit, and placed all believers into the body of the church. They were filled with Spirit power, the gospel was preached by Peter, Jesus declared as Lord and Messiah and 3,000 people believed, were baptized, and the church was born.

What was that first church like? Verse 42, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Dear friends, those are the means of grace. Those are the ordinary things that every church should be engaged in. This is the life of the church. There’s nothing in there about entertainment. Nothing in there is spectacular.

So the first thing to say about this church is that the people were saved. The ordinary church is made up of true believers. Those of you who may be non-believers who are here, we are so grateful that you are here, but you’re not a part of the church yet. We invite you to become a part of the church. But the initial action in the church is that God takes is to give spiritual life to that individual through faith.

There are many churches today who would like to make unbelievers feel like they’re a part of the church. But an ordinary church is a church like in 1 Thessalonian 1:2-6, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.

4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. 5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. 6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.” That’s who we must be to be the true church.

Revelation 2 church at Pergamum says in verse 14, “I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.”

That’s a compromising church. This church had blurred the lines between the saved and the lost, the regenerate and the unregenerate. The second thing we say about a church is that it is a church committed to the Word of God. Verse 42 says, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” The apostles spoke divine revelation which was authenticated by the miracles they did.

And it was their teaching that was the substance of the study of the early church. An ordinary church is a church that is completely involved in the study of biblical truth. It was the apostles and their associates who eventually wrote down their doctrine and it composed the New Testament. Some people are skeptical about the word “doctrine.” It’s just the word “teaching.”

Teaching dominates a church where people are redeemed. An ordinary church is a church that is completely committed to the renewing of their minds through the Word of God. The Great Commission came to the apostles, what did the Lord tell them? To “go and make disciples of all nations, and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” The Bible is the source of that truth.

Verse 42 says further, they not only were “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching but also to fellowship.” We have talked a lot about spiritual togetherness. The church is a partnership. The word ‘koinnia’ means “partner or teammate.” They were together. They were not spectators. They were not part time attenders. They lived out their life in a wonderful kind of fellowship.

A church is not an event for people to come and watch, it is a fellowship. It’s a shared life. It’s a practical, practicing fellowship. Hebrews 10 tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together because we stimulate one another to love and good works. It’s where we use our spiritual gifts to build each other up. It’s where we love one another, pray for one another.

A church is marked by sound doctrine and vital life. Occasionally there are churches where the Word of God is upheld, and that’s always a joy. But so many times the Bible is misrepresented. So many times it’s an event and you feel lonely and isolated. And then, the breaking of bread. That certainly encompasses the Lord’s Supper and the memory of the sacrifice on the cross.

But before that was taken, there was generally in the early church a meal, a supper that culminated in a remembrance of the cross. Certainly, the Lord’s Table is critical to the life of the church. We know that only baptism and the Lord’s Table are ordinances left to the church. The early church gathered around to take the bread and the cup and remember His death. It’s a cross-centered church.

And there’s prayer in verse 42. The apostles had promises from their Lord way back in the upper room that whatever they asked in His name, the Lord would do. No matter how much you pray, you feel guilty most of your life for how little you pray. When they met, they all prayed. A church was not an event. A church was not a place where there was a platform for some striking figure.

It was just a place where the people of God who were genuinely converted, devoted themselves continually to the Word of God, and to fellowship, to the Lord’s Table, and to prayer. Verse 43, “Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” There was a sense that something supernatural was present. Many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

Even though the apostles have gone, in a church where the activities are the Word of God, fellowship, focus on the cross at the Lord’s Table and where we deal with the sin in our lives, and prayer, there is a sense of the divine presence. Not terror, but reverence. The awe comes from the work of God through the means of grace. People try to create that with lights and music, but that’s not awe.

The word “fear” or “awe” is reserved for times when people’s minds are stunned because of powerful divine reality. It’s not mystical. It’s the evidence of the working of God. In the way in which God saves, sanctifies and works his providence to bring Himself glory. It’s the real fear of the Lord. It’s an awesome thing to be in a place where the Spirit of God is moving in power.

Another attitude shows up in verse 44 – 45, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” It was as if no one felt he had a right to anything of his own. It means that they held whatever it was they possessed lightly in their hands and if anybody else needed it, they released it.

They began, if necessary, “selling their property and possessions and sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” This did not happens again in the New Testament in any other church, which speaks against the idea that the church is supposed to be the fountainhead of social justice. Understand that there are thousands of believers in Jerusalem who can’t go home because they have only one church.

They were so all together in the unity and love of the Holy Spirit that they were willing to part with anything that they possessed to meet someone else’s need. And when you give like that and love like that, there is a joy in fellowship. Verse 46, “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.”

The first attitude is the attitude of awe and wonder over what God is doing. The second is the attitude of love. The third is the attitude of unity. And the next is the attitude of joy at the end of verse 46 and simplicity of heart. This again, simplicity kind of is a word like ordinary. Your lives are knit together in one mind and you eat together from one house to another house.

There were still people who owned their own house. This is not communism. But they were “taking their meals together with gladness.” So another attitude in the church is joy, gladness, joyous unity, singleness of heart and caring for each other. And then in verse 47, “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

We are a church that worships. We have an undivided purpose, the glory of God is the supreme reason for everything. We recite the wonderful works of God, which is worship. We recite the glorious attributes of God which is worship. And we praise and thank Him for both, which is worship. We saw the effect, “favor with all the people.” Let our light shine so that men would glorify God.”

But in the end, this church experienced extraordinary blessing. Verse 47 ends with this. “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” I don't know how to get this message across. The Lord builds the church, doesn’t He? He adds. He asks us to follow the ordinary means of grace and faithfulness to the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

And Jesus will take care of the extraordinary part. I want you to be an ordinary Christian. Don’t be chasing wild things. It is the slow, steady, consistent, faithful loyalty to Christ and obedience to His Word that honors God. And if spiritual growth is slow and steady, so is real church growth. The church can by the power of God have an extraordinary impact. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Jul 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220724 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001DF imblog

Acts 2:37-42

Related to Acts 2:37 – 42, the questions this evening is how is a person saved? By what act? Through what person? What is the channel of salvation? There have always been those people who were going to save the world and redeem man from all of his trials and problems, but they have all failed. So how is a person to come into a knowledge that he is saved both for this time and eternity?

What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” The legalist says, “Keep the law. That’s how to be saved.” The moralist says, “Have your good deeds out way your bad deeds.” The racist says, “Be one of God’s chosen Jews.” The universalist says, “Don’t worry. We’ll all get in in the end.” The ritualist says, “You’ve got to do the right ritual.” And they all isolate scripture verses to prove their point.

The racist quotes Romans 11:26, “So all Israel will be saved,” and avoids Romans 9:6, “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.” The Universalist uses Romans 5:18, “so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men,” avoiding Matthew 7:13, there is a broad road that leads to destruction and many go there.” They avoid Ephesians 2:8 - 9, “For by grace are you saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

They will carefully avoid Romans 10:9 -10, which says that you’re saved with you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart.” You can prove anything by the Bible if you take it out of context. And it’s being done constantly. All of the people who espouse false doctrine from scripture do that. That’s why you have to compare scripture with scripture.

Now we’re studying Peter’s sermon. And it’s very important to look at what happens in response to Peter’s preaching, because we’re gaining real principles here for our own witness, for our own evangelism, for our own preaching. Let us briefly understand what happened. In Jerusalem, these masses of people begin to gather at the sound of a hurricane because there wasn’t any wind.

And as they came together to the location, here were all of these disciples speaking the wonderful works of God in the native languages of all these people who went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. And they were astounded. The Spirit of God had opened their minds by the sign that these believers were reciting the historic deeds of God that every Jew knew.

Immediately at that point Peter stands up and explains to them what’s going on. And you can see how in such a fantastic way the Spirit of God has prepared their ears to hear the message. And by the time Peter opens his mouth, they’re hanging on every word, “What is this that we’re seeing?” They cannot deny the phenomenon and now they’re about to get the explanation.

Peter begins his sermon begins by explaining Pentecost. Joel said that in the last days, He would pour out the Spirit. Messiah came once and everything in between till His second coming still embodies Messianic times. Verse 22 introduces the Messiah as Jesus of Nazareth. They had actually killed the one they had been waiting for. And this is what Peter convicts them of.

In verse 23 he says the death of Christ was no accident. Jesus was no victim, but rather this was ordained by God, fulfilling prophecy explicitly. Then in verses 24 to 32, he says Jesus Christ is the Messiah because of His resurrection, and he shows how the Old Testament prophet David predicted Messiah would be a resurrected individual and Jesus had done that, fulfilling David’s prophecy.

Then he goes on to show that He is Messiah by virtue of ascension in verses 33 to 35. The conclusion then of his theme is in verse 36. Listen to it, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ” In other words, he has proven Christ to be Messiah. So the introduction explains the theme exalting Jesus.

Now he goes right to the core of the problem. You see, the most blatant sin that a man commits is not lying or cheating or committing adultery. The blatant sin in which every sinner lives is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ, and that’s the cardinal sin of which the Spirit convicts. And so Peter shows them that they have executed their own Messiah and their own Savior.

Verse 37, “Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men, brethren, what shall we do?’” They’re desperate. That’s where the Spirit of God wants to take every man in terms of conviction. Pricked in their heart means to penetrate with a needle. When the Messiah gets there, they put Him to death by the hands of the Romans.

They were cut to the heart because they had a deep sense of guilt that they themselves had done it. It would have been terrible to have lost the Messiah had somebody else done it, but they had done it. And then this, Peter had announced to them in no uncertain terms and there were multiplied witnesses to prove it, that this same Jesus who had been crucified was now alive.

And so they were afraid of His wrath. What could be a worse sin in all the universe than that? Nothing, in their minds. Those Jews were convicted that they had done the worst thing imaginable. They were right of course. And the fear of His wrath, they were scared of His vengeance. He was alive again and He was going to make His enemies His footstool. They were scared.

Oh, that’s a beautiful thing, because it’s just that kind of hopelessness that Jesus Christ can meet. And as long as a man thinks he can do it on his own, he can never know the experience of real salvation. As long as a man brings any of his own works or his own thoughts or his own ideas to add to what he thinks is salvation, there’s no way. It’s all by grace, Paul said.

And it is just that state in which the soul is prepared to receive the Savior. It is just that state that is ready to yield to Jesus Christ. Their guilt is fully exposed. They’re feeling the pain of the apostles’ words. Their consciences are stung by the sense of sinfulness in crucifying Jesus. They are convicted. If conversion is to be genuine, it is the offspring of conviction.

In the restoration of Israel, there’s going to be a conviction and a guilt over the execution of Messiah. And the pain and anguish will be like having murdered your own child. That’s how sacred Messiah is. And that’s exactly the same pain and anguish those people must have felt on the day of Pentecost. Just as bad as if they had taken executed their own firstborn son.

In Zechariah 13:1 it says, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David.” In other words, once conviction comes, it’s followed by cleansing. Conviction is the key in the hand of the Spirit that opens the heart to salvation and to everyone that you preach to. You need to realize you’re a sinner not only because you do sin, but you’re a sinner because you live in rebellion against God.

You rebel against God by the fact that you haven’t committed your life to Jesus Christ. That’s God’s command that you do that, and you’ve not done it. You live in rebellion against God. For that you are the worst kind of sinner, and so was I before I came to Jesus Christ. People do not realize that. And I showed them from scripture that he that is not with Christ is against Christ.

You can’t assume, “Well, I’ve preached with great power and I’ve exalted the message of repentance, therefore, everybody’s going to believe.” You’ll get the reaction all right. Some will come to Jesus Christ, some will grit their teeth and gnash on you, and others may desire to kill you. But does that mean you don’t preach it that way? Does that mean you water it down and don’t tell it like it is? Of course not.

The tool of conviction is not telling stories. The tool of conviction is the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It is the Word of God that is the convicting agency in the hand of the Spirit of God.

And so when you witness, you witness with great conviction of sin. And Peter is in a good position. What do we do? And he replies in verse 38, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” But his message is based on the fact that they have no right to exist as a rebel against God.

Now what does repent mean? It means to turn around and go the other direction. Now 2 Corinthians 7:10 says that the world has a kind of sorrow that is not godly sorrow. It’s the sorrow because you got caught. That’s not the kind of sorrow he’s talking about here. Peter says, I don’t want you to just be sorry that you did this to Jesus. I want you to be so sorry you turn from your old self and you turn to Jesus.

Repentance is more than fear of the consequences. True repentance dreads sin itself. It’s an affront to God. And the fact that sin is evil and that God hates it is sufficient reason why the truly repentance heart hates sin and forsakes it. Now these Jews were afraid of punishment, but they had to be willing to turn from sin and come to Christ. And there’s an urgency in what Peter says here.

Peter says repent. Salvation is not a question of education, it is not a process. Oh, there’s so much more to salvation than that. It’s an act that happens in a moment. That’s why we get so many tares among the wheat. In Acts 17:30 God commands all men everywhere to repent. There is no salvation apart from repentance. Cut the cord of your past life and embrace Jesus as your Messiah.

So Peter calls on them to make a change and be baptized. And many of them in their hearts had believed the Messiah and they had accepted the fact that Jesus is the Messiah. And the temptation would have been to say, “I believe this, but I’m not sure I’m opening my mouth about it. But you cannot be a secret disciple. Peter wants something that is graphic as a renouncement of Judaism.

Notice in verse 38, “Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.” And it meant that their families and all the rest of their world would count them as dead. The most despicable thing that a Jew could do would be to come to Jesus Christ, who was a blasphemer, they had decided, and worthy only of execution. But Peter says, I want you to show publicly that you believe Christ.

The Word of God does not teach that you are to be baptized to be saved. Water doesn’t save anybody. But now watch this key point. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” It means, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of sins.” It is a public sign of what had happened on the inside.

Notice at the end of verse 38 he says, “And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This is what Joel said, that God would pour out His Spirit in you. What is the condition to receiving the Holy Spirit? Repentance. Some people have been Christians for a long time and never followed baptism and thus not publicly declared their union with Jesus Christ. This is wrong.

Verse 39, “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Now that is the sovereign side of salvation. But if you go back to verse 21 and it says, “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” That is the human side. So you have both sides of the divine paradox right there.

Verse 40, “And with many other words Peter testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Jesus called that generation faithless, perverse and evil. And in 70 A.D. God swept down on that generation and wiped it out. Let a person know exactly what he’s doing when he comes to Jesus Christ from beginning to end. So we see the introduction, the theme, and the appeal of Peter.

Well, how many believed? Verse 41, “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” Here you have three thousand that were baptized. That means those three thousand people were for real. Verse 42, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

So the church is born. It was visible and at the same it was invisible. If your evangelism is right, you’ll be able to see how Christians are changed in the church. Make sure your evangelism is clear. Peter preached as the Spirit gave him inspiration. And the first day that little church had well over 3,000 people in it. And they were together and they were for real and they were about to change the world. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Jul 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220717 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001DE imblog

Acts 2:22-36

We’re continuing our study of Peter’s sermon, preached on the day of Pentecost, the day the church was born. It’s very basic because you have to understand that Peter is preaching to a group of people who don’t know much, about theology they do not understand because they have no precedent. We’re going to hear the eternal story of Christ and the provision of His salvation for us.

But all of us certainly need to know how better to communicate Jesus Christ. So as we come this evening to that part of the sermon which is the main theme stretching from verses 22 to 36, and within the context of that, we deal with the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of Christianity and is the most profound point in all redemptive history.

The resurrection becomes the crowning proof not only of Jesus’ deity but the guarantee of our own resurrection. And so it’s not primarily His teaching, His miracles, it’s not primarily His dying that is the key, it is primarily His rising again. When He arose from the grave and the church was born, this became the cornerstone of all preaching, and it’s still the life blood of Christianity.

The resurrection was the key to Peter’s sermon. He spends verse 22 on the life of Christ, verse 23 on the death of Christ, and then he spends from verses 24 to 32 on the resurrection. The Spirit of God set the stage for this sermon. All the events of the day of Pentecost were living illustrations to grab everybody’s attention. It was 50 days after the resurrection and hundreds thousands Jews were there.

Both Jews who lived there and those who were pilgrims from other lands were there to celebrate the feast. The Spirit of God came with a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and that sound gathered all of these people together. The Spirit of God baptized the believers into the body of Christ, and then filled them with power. They spoke the great works of God in languages they did not know.

So Peter stands up in verse 14 and begins to preach. In his introduction, he explains Pentecost. He shows them what’s been going on and in effect he says, “What you have seen is the sign that the age of Messiah has begun.” And in verse 17, “It shall come to pass in the last days,” quoting out of Joel, “says God, I will pour out of my Spirit.” And God announced the birth of the Messianic Age.

These ‘last days’ have now been going on for over 2,000 years. And so Peter says it’s the beginning of the last days. This will be fulfilled in the tribulation when all of the prophecy described through verse 20 will be fulfilled. All those signs that we saw in the earth and in the heavens indicated in verses 17 - 18. He says, “In view of that fact,” verse 21, “it’s time to call upon Him and get saved.”

So what he’s saying is it’s Messiah’s time, it’s the last days, and you know the last days are always connected with judgment, so you better get it right with God so you’ll be delivered from judgment. The Messiah for which the Jews had prayed and longed for for years and for centuries has arrived. Now, let me tell you who the Messiah is.” And Peter moves to the main body of his sermon.

And Peter spends his time exalting Jesus. He announces to them the overwhelming fact that the Jesus of Nazareth whom they had despised and mocked is none other than God’s chosen and approved Messiah. And this stands not only as a point of information, but as a great indictment, because they had crucified their own Messiah, together with the hands of the Romans.

First, he begins with Jesus’ life in verse 22, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know.” A miracle is a mighty deed, the wonder has to do with the effect that it had, and the sign has to do with its intention. Jesus did mighty deeds which produced wondrous effects.

And the purpose of acting as a sign pointed to a spiritual truth. Jesus’ miracles were never ends in themselves, they were to create wonderment that men might turn to look at spiritual truth. “And so God, through Jesus, approved His Messianic character, accredited Christ as the Messiah by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did by Him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know.”

They had seen Him heal time and time again. And so God had accredited Jesus Christ in the view of the whole world and established the fact by the very miracles that He did that He was the Messiah. The life of Jesus was living proof and living proclamation by God Himself that Jesus was Messiah, the Lord. Then verse 23, “Him, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death.”

In other words, here you have the two sides to the divine paradox, God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. They had by their own act of will, their own evil natures, crucified Jesus Christ using the Roman hands to do it. But this was no shock to Jesus. He was no victim. It had all been planned by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge, which means foreordination of God.

We studied in John 19 the crucifixion. Do you remember that every single thing that occurred on the cross was a fulfillment of the Old Testament? When Jesus died, He was fulfilling every single detail of Old Testament prophecy. God had in His own counsel preplanned this totally. And so Peter says not only does the life of Jesus Christ accredit Him as Messiah, but so does His death.

Verse 24, “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.” It’s God who did the miracles. It’s God who raises Him up in verse 24, and this gets repeated several times down here. It’s God in verse 33 who exalts Him. It’s God in verse 36 who declares that that He’s Lord and Christ. It’s God doing the whole thing.

Jesus was on a divine schedule preplanned by the God of the universe and God Himself was activating the plan through Jesus Christ. And so we see that it begins “whom God raised up.” Now, this introduces the resurrection. Jesus was dead, but God raised Him up. The greatest accreditation of Jesus as Lord and Messiah is His resurrection. And this became the major theme of apostolic preaching.

Now, all through this sermon, there is a dichotomy implied between Jews as they thought they were and the Jews as they really were because they constantly felt that they were connected to God and Peter shows them they were not. Do you see the contrast? “You killed Him, God raised Him.” Now, this is a recurrent theme throughout all the apostolic preaching in the book of Acts.

He sets the Jews at opposite ends of the world from God. In any kind of evangelism, we must begin by setting men at the other end of the world from God. They must know they are rebels against God. Nicodemus came to Jesus and he was a pretty good guy. He made it all the way to the place of prominence in the Sanhedrin. But Jesus says, “Nicodemus, just go back and be born spiritually all over again.”

And so what Peter does here, is separate totally these Jews from God. “You killed Him, God raised Him.” The Jew always prided himself on his proximity to God. And they always rested in the knowledge of the will of God. The Jew kept saying, “Well, I’m okay, I have the law. Never kept it, but I have it.” The Jew made his boast in possession, not in obedience, and it was empty.

Peter starts out by separating the Jew and God and saying, “You don’t know God’s will at all.” “Whom you killed God raised.” You don’t even know where you are. And don’t you see this is where every man must begin? He must begin by realizing he is absolutely separated from the mind and the will of God. Only in Jesus Christ can a person be reconciled to God.

In John 8, Jesus was in a dialogue with the Pharisees, the religious leaders, commonly termed “Jews.” He’s having a debate about the fact that they really don’t know the truth and they aren’t free while they’re saying they are free. Verse 37, “I know that you’re Abraham’s seed physically, but you seek to kill Me because my word has no place in you. But I speak that which I’ve seen with my Father.”

“You say you’re Abraham’s seed,” and they not only meant it physically but spiritually, And He said, “What’s strange is you claim to be Abraham’s seed, but you want to kill me.” He says, “I speak that which I have seen with my Father and you do that which you have seen with your father.” He’s saying, “We have different fathers.” They answered in verse 39, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.” “But now you seek to kill me, this is not what Abraham would do.” Then He says in verse 41, “You do the deeds of your father.” And then they replied, “We are not born of fornication. We have one Father, God.” Jesus said, “If God were your Father, you would love Me.”

They said to Jesus, “We are not born of fornication.” The early disciples of Jesus proclaimed that He was born of a virgin, but the Jews said that Jesus had been conceived by a Roman soldier named Panthera who got Mary pregnant when she was unfaithful to Joseph. The Jews here said, “We are not the children of any adulterous union,” they mean we have never been idolatrous.”

Jesus said in verse 44, “You are of your father, the devil.” Verse 47, “He that is of God hears God’s words. You therefore hear them not because you are not of God.” They started calling Him names. Peter separated God and these people because they had to know that they were at the other end from the will of God. They were religious, but they were very far from God.

Verse 25-28, “For David says concerning Jesus, ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad, moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. 27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 28 You told me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.”

Did David speak about Jesus of Nazareth? The Jews believed Jesus of Nazareth to be a blasphemer. But Psalm 16 says differently and Peter begins to quote it. Frequently, the prophet speaking in the first person is really the voice of Messiah. For example, in Psalm 22, David says, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me.” They were the words of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Verse 25 says “I was continually seeing the Lord before my face.” Jesus never had any problem with anything He did because His focus was on God. Then he says at the end of verse 25, “For He is on my right hand that I should not be moved.” Verse 26, “Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad.” Hebrews 12:2 says, He went to the cross for the joy that was set before Him.

Then comes the indication of resurrection. Verse 26, “Moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope.” In other words, “I trust God. I don’t have anything to fear. I can go right into death and I can just believe God to come right out the other side.” That’s what He means in verse 27 when He says, “You will not leave my soul in Hades. Neither will You allow your Holy One to see corruption.”

Verse 27, “You will not leave,” and the word “leave” is “abandon.” “You will not abandon my soul in Hades.” Verse 28, “You have made known to me the ways of life.” “I’m going to rise.” And when I’m done rising, You shall make me full of joy with Your presence. I’m going right to that grave, out the other side and right into your presence and I’m going to look you face to face, God.

Verse 29, “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.” David did not fulfill that prophecy. David was speaking prophetically. Verse 30, “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne.”

Verse 31, “He, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.” Peter applies it perfectly to Messiah. Verse 32-33, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.”

Then Peter quotes another Davidic Psalm to prove Jesus is Messiah by His ascension in verses 34 - 35, “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” Now, when David said that, he wasn’t talking about himself. Well, it is this Jesus in Psalm 110:1 where He said that.

Someday all of His enemies will be made subject. And at that time, every knee shall bow before Him. And Peter comes to an overwhelming climax in verse 36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Do you see how far off they were from God? Whom they killed, God declared to be Messiah. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Jul 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220710 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001DD imblog

Acts 2:5-21

So we’re in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and the church was born. Remember Jesus promised, “I will build my church,” in Matthew 16. He also promised repeatedly that He would send His Holy Spirit, and He did both on the same day, the day of Pentecost. And the Holy Spirit inside the believer united his redeemed people into one body which essentially formed the church.

The Holy Spirit Jesus says has been with you but now shall be in you. The church is new. It is identified in the New Testament as a mystery, which means it was hidden in past ages. It is the new people of God who will become his witness in the world. No longer an ethnic group as in the Old Testament, the Jews, but a body. The body of Christ made up of Jews and Gentiles.

We learned that this is a one-time event. Subsequent to this, every believer at the point of salvation is baptized with the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and given the Holy Spirit to take up a place in that believer’s life. Romans 8:9 says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit, he’s none of His.” 1 Corinthians 12 is explicit about every believer being baptized with the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” It is clear to the Jews that the Samaritans are in the same body with them. In Christ, it’s neither Jew nor Gentile or Samaritan. In Acts 10:44, the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on Gentiles. For they heard them speak with languages and exalting God, exactly what happened at the day of Pentecost.

So let us go back to Acts 2 with that explanation in mind. The Jews needed proof of everybody’s inclusion, and there it was. So that was point one in looking at the birth of the church. So point one was the evidence of the coming of the Spirit. Now let’s come to point two, the effect of the Spirit’s coming. The effect of this event is the birth of the church, and that’s starting in verse 5.

Verse 5 - 6, “And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.” Here in Jerusalem are these pilgrims who have been part of the Diaspora, the dispersion of the Jews in previous centuries, and they come back for this event.

And when this sound occurred, remember back in verse 2, there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind. And it filled the whole house where the 120 believers were sitting. But it went beyond the house. They were attracted by this massive sound. And verse 6 says, “When the sound occurred, the crowd came together. And they were bewildered and confused.

Because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own native language. Now that’s the first thing you need to understand about whatever this phenomena called tongues is. It is actual languages. And in verse 7, they were amazed and astonished. And they say, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?” They were the folks who were out of the mainstream, the uneducated.

Everybody knows that Galileans are inferior. And the inner circle of Christ’s disciples had been known as Galileans. They had been referred to as Galileans in Matthew 26 and in Mark 14. The people therefore are astonished that they are speaking in all these languages. Now this is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah which said, I will speak a language you can’t understand as a sign of judgment.

This sign of judgment on Israel is essentially the establishment of the church because the church now takes the place of Israel, the unfaithful nation. The judgment comes in 70 AD when the Romans destroy and slaughter them. All these were Jewish people or Proselytes to Judaism. And they had never heard God being praised in any Gentile language but Hebrew, or its derivative, Aramaic.

But now they’re hearing God being praised in the language to which they were born, it says in verse 8 -9. There were Parthians there which would be Iran. There were the Meads, a part of the great Persian Empire. Then there were the Elamites, which would be the area of Babylon. Then, in Mesopotamia which is between the Tigress and the Euphrates where the Garden of Eden once was.

Then there’s Cappadocia, which is in Asia Minor, directly north of Israel. And Pontus, north of Cappadocia. Then there’s modern Turkey. Verse 10, then there’s Phrygia west of Galatia. Then there’s Pamphylia, a small little strip of the coast of Asia Minor. Then we cross the Mediterranean in Egypt and also Libya and Cyrene, and now we’re in Africa. Then there were visitors from Rome, both Jews and Proselytes.

And then there were Cretins from Greece. And then there were Arabs near Damascus. All these people heard the truth of the wonderful works of God in their own languages, verse 11 says. The word ‘tongues’ tends to confuse people. It shouldn’t, but because of the misuse of that word to misrepresent the work of God. Verse 12, they were all amazed and perplexed, saying what could this mean?

So that’s five different times a word was used to describe their confusion. The miracle of Pentecost was that the apostles and disciples of Jesus, the 120 believers in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came, were enabled to speak foreign languages they did not know. And with those foreign languages declare the mighty deeds of God. What did they declare? God’s attributes and His mighty works.

All these languages appear because of God’s judgment. The content of their speech is the mighty deeds of God in Gentile languages. And the Jews should have known that this was a judgment. What are you going to do when the population of people from all these places that spoke all these languages, would be represented not just by one person, but by many people from Galilea.

What does this mean? Verse 13, “Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” This shows that they had no answer. How does being full of wine enable you to do that? It might cause you to slur your words, but it doesn’t help even your own language that you speak, let alone give you another one. But then the whole thing doesn’t make sense to all of them. So Peter starts talking.

Something happened to the people who made up that little group of 120. They were, up to this point, hesitant, and powerless, full of fears and doubts. And then, all of a sudden on the day of Pentecost, there’s this explosion of the new age. They’re out in the street, and they’re out in the daylight, and they’re all over the temple, and they’re declaring Christ everywhere they go.

Their transformation proved that the Holy Spirit of God had come, and the new age had been born. And the first thing the church does at the launching of the Messianic age is to preach. And Peter tells them, “It is none other than Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had just crucified.” The Lord has given him an incredible introduction, with all the phenomena that has happened. So, Peter connects to that.

It is the first Christian sermon ever preached, and it sets for us a pattern of preaching, apostolic preaching, and a pattern that carries down even for our own preaching today. But in many churches, the pattern of the Holy Spirit’s moving in the church is bogged down because men are lost in all kinds of foolishness that is secondary to the power of preaching the Word of God.

The priority of Jesus Christ and the prophecy of Isaiah was that He came to preach. John, writing many years after that, looked back and said, “Jesus cried in the temple teaching and saying.” Jesus boldly preached. His preaching was powerful. His preaching was urgent, but His preaching was at the same time compassionate. Preaching involves the gospel proclamation and theological instruction.

The dynamic of the Spirit of God issued itself in the birth of the church in the preaching of the Word. When the Holy Spirit had come, we saw how the Spirit of God set the scene for the sermon. By the sound that they all heard of the wind, the crowd gathered. And then when the disciples began to speak in all of these languages, they were amazed and shocked, they were astonished.

Acts 2:41 says, “At least 3,000 Jews were saved.” Peter preaches to them. So there were some open minds. And under the great preaching of Peter, they repented and were saved. And not many days later, there were thousands more. Their amazement and their honest questioning was answered in the sermon, and they believed. But then there were also those Jews who only wanted to mock and scorn.

Do we know where they come from? They’re the products of the Pharisees and scribes and rabbis who were the avowed and vicious enemies of Jesus. Peter wants to offer a true explanation, and so starting in verse 14, we meet the new Peter, the post-Holy Spirit Peter, and he’s amazing. So Peter, taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice and started to preach to them.

Verses 14-17, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.” How did they understand the Old Testament in Acts 1, even before the Holy Spirit comes? Luke 24 tells us that because Jesus met two of them on the road to Emmaus, and then in the upper room, Jesus opened up the Old Testament, the law, the prophets and the holy writings.

Jesus gave them a course on Old Testament interpretation that took place over a period of 40 days. From the day of His resurrection to the day of His ascension, He taught them the fulfillment of the Old Testament in Him. So Peter stands up and launches into an explanation right out of Joel 2:28-32 with boldness. He’s now God’s man, empowered by God’s Spirit with God’s message.

Most likely speaking in Aramaic, he explains Pentecost, and it’s a masterful explanation. Everybody who is a preacher would like a dramatic introduction. His introduction was staged by God with astonishing, audible sound, visual effects and miraculous languages. Peter steps in after God has given him the perfect introduction and says, “This is what it means. First of all, he says, “They’re not drunk.”

Verse 18, “And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.” Joel was talking about the arrival of Messiah. When Messiah comes, there will be evidence of His arrival, miraculous things. There will be visions, prophecies, and revelatory dreams. Verse 19, “I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood, fire and vapor of smoke.”

Verse 20-21, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Wow, that’s a big prophecy. How are we supposed to understand that Joel connects the coming of the Holy Spirit with the second coming of Jesus?

Because in the Old Testament, the church age is a mystery. They saw the coming of Messiah, and with Him the Spirit, and a flourishing of divine revelation, and then the final judgment. What they didn’t see was the interval of the church because that’s hidden. And notice Peter just says, “This is what Joel said.” And it starts with the last days, verse 17 when the Messiah comes again.

That’s why the Scripture says Christ appeared once in the end of the age. Common Old Testament expression for Messianic times was used in Isaiah 2, Jeremiah 23, and Ezekiel 38, used by Josiah, used by Micah, and used by Joel. What the Jews didn’t know is that Jesus would come, be rejected, purchase our redemption, and launch the church to take the gospel to the whole world.

Israel failed to do that, and when it was complete, then He would establish His kingdom. But that is the mystery age hidden in the past. So far, we’ve been waiting 2,000 years for the parenthesis to close and the kingdom to come. But the last days of Israel, and the last days for the world, really began when Christ arrived. And you are seeing the evidence that we have entered the last days.

The last days in verse 21 are characterized by gospel proclamation, by calling sinners to repentance, and that’s the ministry and mission of the church. It’s why we do what we do. What about prophecy, visions, dreams, wonders in the sky, signs on the earth below, blood, fire, vapor and smoke? Sun turned to darkness, moon to blood. Well that all is within this great era when Jesus judges and establishes His kingdom.

We are still in the last days. The beginning was at Pentecost; the end is in the final divine judgment. In this time, in this Messianic era, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is the age of salvation. So, Peter, guided in every single word by the Holy Spirit, begins by explaining to the people that what they saw and heard was the Holy Spirit inaugurating the Messianic age of salvation. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Jul 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220703 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001DC imblog

Acts 2:4-5

There are two monumental promises that Jesus made, to build His church and to send His Holy Spirit. Both of those promises came true at the same moment. The church was born, and the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. The baptism of the Spirit is defined in Scripture as the spiritual event that places believers into the church, into the body of Christ. So on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit comes.

The Holy Spirit is placed inside the believers, which then becomes the norm throughout the rest of church history. And the Spirit who is inside the believers also unites the believer into the church, which is in union with Christ so the church becomes the very body of Christ. The record of this great event is here in Acts 2. And it’s straightforward as to what is happening.

Here is the birth of the church by means of the Lord, Himself. I want to break this event into three sections: the evidence of the Spirit’s coming, the effect of the Spirit’s coming, and the explanation of the Spirit’s coming. We discussed the evidence of the Spirit’s coming last Sunday. There are 120 believers gathered in one place. They had been told to wait in Jerusalem until the Spirit came.

At the day of Pentecost the Spirit came. Fifty days after Passover was the Feast of Harvest. It was the feast of first fruits because the full harvest hadn’t been brought in yet. So this was a foretaste of the full harvest. This is just a foretaste of all that the Spirit will do through the rest of the history. And it is a foretaste for believers what the Spirit will do when He brings His own into eternal glory.

So there they were on the day of Pentecost, all together in one place. And suddenly there came from Heaven a sovereign work of God on God’s schedule on the day of Pentecost. There came from Heaven a noise, a blast of God’s breath, a noise that was like a violent rushing wind. And that is the Holy Spirit Himself. That sound filled the whole house and most likely was heard beyond that.

And then there appeared to them tongues as of fire. That is also a visible phenomenon. And those little tongues are distributed among all 120, and one of them rests on each. This is an indication by this manifestation that the rushing wind of the Holy Spirit has not come in some generic way, but has come personally, and rests on every believer the same way the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove on Christ.

So this immense event launches the church. When the Holy Spirit who has been with them takes up residence in them, immerses them in the unity with Christ, gives them the common, eternal life, which all believers possess, and therefore, makes them one with each other. Each believer is joined to the Lord in one spirit. And the body of Christ is constituted at that point.

This was the first time. Every time a believer is saved subsequent to that, that same non-experiential reality takes place, where the Holy Spirit takes up residence, saturating the life of that believer, granting the same eternal life that all other believers have, and therefore, making that believer one with all other believers in the body of Christ. Additionally, they were filled with the Spirit.

The filling is when the Spirit is moving through us to produce the right attitudes and the right actions. But Paul in Ephesians 5 says, “Be being kept filled with the Spirit.” It’s a filling that’s in motion, like the filling of wind in sails. The idea is total control, yielding to the Holy Spirit. It’s further defined in Colossians 3:16 as letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly, walking in obedience.

As we see in the book of Acts repeatedly, “They were filled with the Spirit.” That’s a daily reality. There was a very interesting result immediately. Verse 4, “They began to speak with other languages as the Spirit was giving them utterances.” You probably see the word ‘tongues’ occurs in your Bible, and that really is an unfortunate translation and it just keeps surviving.

It wouldn’t be unfortunate, because it’s a synonym for languages, except that has been culturally loaded with some confusing preconceptions. The Charismatic Movement and the Pentecostal Movement has been primarily defined by quote/unquote “speaking in tongues.” By their own admission, it’s not a language. It’s gibberish. And this goes back to the earliest history of the movement.

In the 1890s, there was a group of people in Topeka, Kansas, led by Parham, who decides that the baptism of the Holy Spirit for every believer if you seek the baptism, should be accompanied with speaking in some kind of foreign language. Eventually, when it became clear that nobody could speak a foreign language, there was a retreat to redefine what this language was.

They came up with the idea that it is some kind of strange speech. This had never been a part of orthodox Christianity. It had never been a part of the true church. It had never been a part of sound doctrine. It had never been connected to the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the history of the church, going all the way back to the apostles. Ecstatic speech through the ages is connected to cults and false religions.

There has been strange speech associated with demonic behavior, some forms of paganism, but never in Christianity. But starting in the 1900s, there was the booming Pentecostal church, which eventually became the Charismatic church. And they were advocates of the fact that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a repeatable event, and if it really happens, you’ll speak in this non-language.

They began to speak other languages. Were they real languages? Yes. Verse 7-11, Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” And they all continue with amazement. Now, these people are all Jews. These are Jews that have come to Jerusalem from the Diaspora, having been scattered all over the Mediterranean.

These Jews have learned to speak those languages because they live in those places, but this is what’s so shocking about it. Never have they heard praises to God in a Gentile language, because when they went to the synagogue, all their services were conducted in Hebrew or Aramaic. This would be a bizarre experience because they believed that Hebrew was God’s language.

But now for the first time, they are hearing the wonderful works of God in their own Gentile language. What does that mean? They’re hearing God’s attributes and God’s works rehearsed to them by these Jewish believers in Gentile languages. Never have they recited the Old Testament in any other language than their own language. This is absolutely shocking.

This is a very important sign. This is a phenomenon that went on for a little while. In 55 Ad, 25 years later, it’s still around. This gift was still being exercised by some believers, because it’s mentioned in 1 Corinthians, which was written about 55 AD. But after that, you never hear about it in any other book, all the way into the ‘90s when John writes the final New Testament books.

We could say it had a life of about 25 years. It was corrupted by the Corinthians, and in 1 Corinthians 12:13-14, you see Paul trying to regulate this thing. There were other people in Corinth counterfeiting it and standing up and purporting to speak in another language and cursing Jesus Christ, perhaps under a demonic influence. So Paul has to write to the Corinthians to regulate this.

But 1 Corinthians 13:8 says, “Whether there be languages or the gift of languages, they will cease.” So if you look at the history of the New Testament, they ceased. They’re not a part of the Pastoral Epistles. Prophecy too, will cease at a different time, because in the future, there will be prophecy in the Millennial Kingdom. But he’s comparing things that cease with things that are forever.

Like love and hope; and the greatest of these is love. Those virtues never cease. He just says there are things that cease, and things that don’t cease. Prophecy goes on, but it’ll cease, because when you get to Heaven, you’ll know as you’re known. All we have to do is look and see. Did they? The answer is yes. What were they for? “Well, it says, ‘They spoke of the wonderful works of God.’”

Because the wonderful works of God are all written in the Old Testament in Hebrew, and all Jews would have understood them. When you come to 1 Corinthians 14:20, Paul says, “You need to grow up in thinking.” Verse 21, “In the law, it is written, “By men of strange languages, and by the lips of strangers, I will speak to this people, and even so, they will not listen to me,” says the Lord.”

So different languages are for a sign to unbelievers. In the Old Testament, a sign is a divine purpose to say something to unbelievers. In verse 21, there’s a quote from Isaiah 28 which has a prophecy of judgment. The leaders of Israel are rebuked for the wretchedness of their lives. God, who spoke to them through faithful prophets, warned them in the language they understood.

But God when His mercy and His patience is exhausted, will then begin speaking to them in a language they cannot understand. And that signaled the arrival of the Babylonians. In Deuteronomy 28, Moses predicted the coming invasion of Israel if they were not faithful to God. And Moses in Deuteronomy 28:49 said that when that invasion comes, they will come upon you speaking a foreign language.

Moses warned of this. Isaiah said it would come. Jeremiah says it would come. And it came in the form of the Babylonian hoards who came in and massacred the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, destroyed the temple, destroyed Jerusalem and hauled people off captive. They were being hauled off by people whose language they couldn’t speak to a country whose language they didn’t understand.

What did Israel learn about a language they don’t understand? That this is a sign of judgment from God that judgment is coming because of unrighteousness, because of sin, because of unbelief and because of apostasy. What did it mean on the day of Pentecost when all of a sudden all these believers were taking the place of a prophet and starting to speak in Gentile languages?

What is the judgment on Israel? Israel is at this point set aside, and the church is born to take her place. In the day of the birth of the church, Pentecost, and when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, and the 25 years in between, God continued the use of this sign to declare to the Jews that they were going to be set aside as a people for their unbelief and apostasy. This is a sign of judgment on Israel.

The apostles warned, and the Holy Spirit gave some the gift that would continue to be a warning, and in 70 AD, the judgment came. Jesus predicted it. Luke 13:35, “Your house will be desolate” in the Olivet discourse, this nation will be destroyed. The principle is clear. Languages were used in the Old Testament for a sign of judgment. And they are also used in the New Testament as a sign of judgment.

That city was full of Jews, who were hearing a pronouncement of judgment, as God was setting aside Israel and carving out a new people. And in Christ, there’s neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male or female. No more a nation but a people from every nation, that’s the church. Has God forever set aside Israel? No. Romans 11:5, “God will one day save a remnant of the nation Israel.”

And even now, Jews are being saved daily along with Gentiles, but the middle wall is down. It’s no longer an ethnic people. It’s no longer a single nation. This is a profound day when the church is born. Speaking in these foreign languages while to Israel was a sign of judgment, to the rest of the world, it was a sign of blessing. What it was saying is, “God is going to make his people from every tongue, tribe and nation.”

That’s why Paul, in Romans 11:12 says, “The fall of Israel is riches for the world.” Let’s go back to Acts 2:5, “And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.” It was a sign to this people of judgment, but it was also a sign to the Jews that the wonderful works of God were now going to go to the Gentiles, and that’s the church.

Acts 8:14-17 says, “Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”

All the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed. Why? Because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on Gentiles. How did they know that? For they were hearing them speaking with languages and exalting God, which is exactly what the Jews did at the day of Pentecost. So you have a repeat of Pentecost, at the home of Cornelius with the apostles and Jewish believers.

The Jews needed proof of everybody’s inclusion, and there it was. From then on, we all receive the Holy Spirit and all are baptized with the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ at the time of our salvation. The Holy Spirit comes and deposits within us eternal life, and that’s the shared life that flows through all believers and makes us one with each other. So that was the birth of the church. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Jun 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220626 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001DB imblog

Acts 2:1-4

How wonderful if everyone understood how important this portion of Scripture is. It is important on God’s side for what He does as described here. It is important on our side for us to understand that we are a part of being the church of Jesus Christ. Acts 2:1-4, When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,

as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” On Pentecost, there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire resting on each of them.

That is the phenomena that God designed to inaugurate the birth of the church. We are the church. This is our history. Remember, in Acts 1, we saw the preparation for the birth of the church. Now in Acts 2, we will experience the actual beginning of the church. In Acts 1, the disciples were waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, He arrives with power.

In Acts 1, the disciples were equipped. In Acts 2, they are empowered for their ministry. In Acts 1, the believers are held back. In Acts 2, they are sent out full of resources to declare the gospel message to the ends of the earth. This is Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

First, came the Old Testament revelation. God speaking in many ways to the fathers by the prophets, establishing truth, understanding of Him and his redemptive purpose. Then after the Old Testament was the arrival of God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came and became flesh and dwelled among us. And 30 years later, His death ratified the new Covenant by the sacrifice of Himself.

Next was His resurrection from the dead by which God affirmed that He was satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. Forty days after that, was the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ as He went back into heaven to be seated at the Father’s right hand. The next great event is in Acts 2, the sending of the Holy Spirit to bring the believers together and establish the church.

In Acts 2, Jesus has ascended. Now He sends the Holy Spirit which is the beginning of a new age. Something new has come that has never been known before. Something never seen in the Old Testament. Something promised in the New Testament, and even described by the Lord Himself who spoke of the church in Matthew 16. But up to this point it was something hidden.

This is the inauguration of the church, and what the church is and how the church lives then grows through the rest of the writings of the New Testament, even to the consummation of redemption and the place the church will play in final redemption and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ in the Book of Revelation. So here, we meet the bride of Christ, the church.

Here we meet the branches connected to Christ who is divine. Here we meet those who are part of the kingdom of salvation, ruled by the Son of God. The church is called a household, a family of children by adoption. It is called a spiritual temple with Jesus and the apostles as the foundation. It is also called the body of Christ. This is the unique identification of the church in the New Testament.

Not one nation ethnically, but Jews and gentiles all one in Christ. The wall has come down. Everyone is placed into the body of Christ by Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what our Lord promised in Acts 1:5, “For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Jesus says, “This is the baptism with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus ascended 40 days after His resurrection. We’re now ten days later when we read in Acts 2:1, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” That was the pattern from the time of our Lord’s resurrection when He appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus and again appeared the same night to them from the period of that first appearance all the way to His ascension.

We see in Acts 1:13, that when they went back to Jerusalem, they went up to the upper room where they were staying, so they just sort of rented the upper room. It was the same upper room where they had the Passover meal the night Jesus was betrayed. There were 120 of them, so it must have been a roomy place. Wherever it was, Luke describes history at the discretion of God.

Verse 2, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.” The baptism with the Holy Spirit is a sovereign act of God based on God’s timing, not based on anything they did. It was on the day of Pentecost, meaning the 50th day after the resurrection. To the Jews, it was just the name of a feast 50 days after Passover.

Which commemorates the first fruits of the wheat harvest. But it also took on some other characteristics. After the exile, it became the traditional celebration to remember the giving of the Mosaic Law, the birth day of the Torah. Because it was about 50 days after the Exodus from Egypt that God gave Moses the law, and so the Jews just added another 50th kind of celebration.

So here on this day, where they celebrate the first fruits of the harvest to come, they also celebrated and remembered the giving of the Mosaic law. The Spirit’s timing then on Pentecost is very important. The Spirit comes because God deems that this is the very day the Spirit is to come to fulfill prophecies from the Old Testament that are very important. It is God’s sovereign timetable.

In Leviticus 23, we learn of the feasts of the Lord given to Israel to celebrate. These key feasts really are pictures of the work of Christ. The first was Passover in the spring on the 14th of Nisan, and was a picture of the death of Christ. Jesus was the ultimate Passover lamb, the one true sacrifice for sin. And God bringing the fulfillment of the Passover had His son die on the Passover.

That is why 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “Christ, our Passover.” The second feast in Leviticus 23 was the next day after Passover. And it was first fruits. This was the celebration symbolizing the full harvest to come. This is a picture of Christ’s resurrection, which came immediately after his death, and 1 Corinthians 15:20 says, “Christ is the first fruits of those who sleep.”

Because He lives, we shall live also. Fifty days later came the third feast discussed in Leviticus 23:15-16. It’s the Feast of Harvest, which is Pentecost. The crop is not yet fully in, but this anticipates a full harvest. What does that have to do with Christ? It is on the day of Pentecost that the Lord sends the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our future complete inheritance.

The Holy Spirit comes as the first fruits. He comes as the down payment of the final complete inheritance. The earnest of the full harvest that is typified in another feast, the Feast of Trumpets. Now the Feast of Pentecost is tied to the birth of the church as well. In the first fruits festival the day after Passover, which pictured the resurrection, they brought bread with no leaven.

What did leaven represent? Sin. That celebrated the resurrection of Christ, and so there was no leaven because in Christ, there’s no sin. However, when they brought their loaf at Pentecost, it had leaven. Why? Because while there’s no sin in Christ, there is sin in the church. That’s the specific message of these images in Scripture. All of Leviticus 23 looks at this significant event.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, the church is born. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit arrives as an instantaneous, unexpected, miraculous, divine gift, from heaven.” Let’s look at the phenomena. There came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind. This is not wind but a metaphor to describe the kind of sound they heard. There’s only a sound like a hurricane. The word here is ‘pneuma’, which means a blast.

So the church is born. This is a non-experiential reality, like salvation. You don’t feel salvation. Some people talk about feeling the presence of God. They don’t know what they’re talking about. You can’t feel the presence of God. You can’t feel with your physical being something which is a spiritual reality. There was also visual phenomena in the fire or the tongues that were like fire.

First Corinthians 12:13, gives us an important explanation, “For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we’re all made to drink of one Spirit.” Literally we’re saturated with the Spirit, immersed with the Spirit, and we as believers all take in the Holy Spirit. This is a transformation from heaven. This is a divine miracle.

This is true for every believer. So He takes up residence at the point of salvation in every believer from here on, and we are all baptized into the body of Christ by the same Holy Spirit. So this is not an experience you seek. There is regeneration giving you a new life, and then there is this uniting of every believer with all other believers in the body of Christ by sharing the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The Spirit comes from God as a gift from God. You’re not your own. You’re bought with a price. He paid the price. You belong to Him. He placed His Spirit in you. Now in John 17 when Jesus was praying for all believers, it was very important to Him to pray for the unity of his own. So in verse 11, He’s praying, “Keep them in your name that they may be one, even as we are.”

Four times in one prayer Jesus says, “I want them to be one.” The unity that Christ prayed for was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. The prayer is answered. We are one. We might not all act like it, but we are one. We are one because we have all been immersed in the Holy Spirit and are completely indwelled in the Holy Spirit so we share a common life as one body.

Verse 3, “Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.” It wasn’t real wind, and it wasn’t real fire. It was the appearance of fire. This is supernatural occurrence. These little tongues appeared over each one of them to make it clear that with no exception, that each person had received the Holy Spirit. Their spiritual baptism had occurred.

This is not the baptism of fire of Matthew 3:11, which is judgment. This is the visible manifestation of the descent of the Holy Spirit. Because it is impossible then for them to know what has happened if there isn’t some means by which they can know that God has come down and done this, the individual tongue over everyone would show that it happened to all of them.”

Remember when the Holy Spirit came at the baptism of Jesus to empower Jesus for His ministry that the Holy Spirit came down on Him in some form of a dove? Here, the Holy Spirit comes down, and it looks like small tongues, and something like flames resting on the head of the disciples, symbolizing the descent of the Holy Spirit and the baptism that Jesus had promised.

Because there’s a power in you controlling you from heaven. It’s why you love other believers. It’s why you want to serve them. It’s why you want to care for them. You’ve been bought with a price. You belong to the Lord. This is what He has given you. Verse 4 says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” They were all placed in union with the Holy Spirit.

You’ll never lose the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit himself is the down payment on the future inheritance. So He’s God’s guarantee, God’s down payment, God’s first installment, God’s first fruits. You cannot lose the Holy Spirit. That’s permanent. But the Bible says in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit of God.” It means let the presence of the Holy Spirit dominate you.

They were totally controlled by the Holy Spirit, filled not in the sense that you would fill a glass with water, static, but filled in the sense that wind would fill sails and move it along like, in the words of Peter, holy men of God were moved along. At the point of salvation, every believer is both baptized and filled. But the challenge for us as believers is to maintain that filling of the Holy Spirit.

This means to continually yield to the Spirit’s power and control so that He moves us. You don’t experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But the filling of the spirit you do. Because if you’re filled, you possess the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. When all of those are your attitudes, you’re being filled with the Holy Spirit.

In other words, you don’t move in your own energy, you don’t move in your own flesh, you don’t move with your own ideas, you don’t generate your own will, you are blown along under the wind of the Spirit of God. You are carried along the path that He wants you to go. It’s in a very real sense almost like those who wrote the Scripture who were moved along by the Spirit of God.

The filling of the Holy Spirit is the ongoing experience that we want to sustain. Baptism is positional. Filling is practical. Baptism grants the Holy Spirit. Filling yields to Him. If you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, all those relationships fall in line to the honor of God.” To be filled with the Spirit is to be under His total control, and that means to be obedient to his will as revealed in his Word. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Jun 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220619 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001DA imblog

Acts 1:12-26

Let us study Acts 1:12 all the way down to the end. The goal of God and the history of redemption is right on schedule. Redemption has so far had three great elements. Jesus has fulfilled all the promises of the Old Testament. Next is the four gospels which tell of Jesus arrival and His accomplishments, His death and resurrection and then His departure to go back to heaven.

Acts is the history of redemption, God’s continuing work as the apostles preach the gospel and established churches to gather the believers and equip them to continue to fulfill the Great Commission. And this section goes on being written through all of human history until the return of Christ. So Luke is showing us that God’s plan always continues, as promised in the Old Testament.

When we come to verses 12 to 26 we come to the situation regarding Judas. Not even the most horrendous apostasy by one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ can delay or thwart the continuing progress of God’s plan. It was predicted in the Old Testament, predicted by Jesus, and it came to pass. And it does not damage God’s purpose. God’s purpose unfolds exactly as God designed it.

It was Judas originally who delivered Christ into the hands of His Jewish enemies. But then subsequently Jesus was delivered by the Jews to the Romans and to death as a part of God’s plan. Everybody who had a role in arresting Jesus, trying Jesus, and executing Jesus was fulfilling God’s predetermined plan. All the people who condemned Jesus were fulfilling prophecy.

But that in no way lessens the guilt of Judas any more than it lessens the guilt of the Jews, than it lessens the guilt of the Gentiles who were all complicit in His death. Now in preparing the apostles for their role in redemptive history; God gave us Ephesians 2:20, where the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church. Jesus spent time during the 40 days in verses 9 - 11 preparing them.

And He defined the mission to be witnesses. We’re living in a time that is more like the experience of the early church. The world in which the first Christian lived was brutal, totally pagan and openly anti-Christian. There was no morality of cultural Christianity. So persecution was happening to them everywhere. To embrace Christ often meant signing one’s own death warrant.

What was the church doing that caused such hostile treatment and persecution? They preached the words of Jesus about God becoming incarnate. The message was simple and clear: if you don’t repent and believe in Him you’re going to hell forever. They were confronting sin and calling people to deny themselves. They were preaching a gospel that was offensive both to Jews and Gentiles.

Where are we today? There is no more cultural Christianity. There is no collective Christian consensus wielding any significant power in this country. The more biblically true Christians are and the more they speak and live that way, the more they are going to be labeled as extremists, homophobic, intolerant and guilty of hate crimes. We’re now aliens in every country.

As the façade of cultural Christianity is crumbling, true Christianity is starting to stand out in a way it hasn’t in our lifetime. Scripture teaches and church history confirms that the body of Christ is most potent and most effective when it simply speaks and lives the gospel without apology. With the mask of a superficial Christianity gone, the gospel advances by personal witness one soul at a time.”

So the apostles and the prophets are the first generation of preachers. They are the foundation of the church. Subsequently, evangelists and teaching pastors took their place. This is a unique calling from God. There are only 12 apostles with the addition of the apostle Paul at a later time. God gifts them with miraculous gifts, signs, wonders and gifts of an apostle.

2 Corinthians 12:12 says, “Why do they have the ability to do signs and wonders?” So that they can validate that they are the true representatives of God by the signs that they do. Judas, you noticed, was not listed there in the names that are given in verse 13. He’s already unmasked. He’s already out of the picture. But God had designed 12, and the ranks need to be filled in.

Luke ends it this way, “After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God.” So they’re waiting in Jerusalem. Acts 1:12 picks the story up right there. “They returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet,” where Jesus ascended into heaven. And that’s how Acts begins, “which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.”

A Sabbath day’s journey is an actual measurement. It started out as the distance a Jew was permitted to travel on the Sabbath. You weren’t supposed to do anything that was like work. So they put restrictions how far you could walk. It’s about 2, 000 cubits, which would be 3,000 feet, which is a little bit over half a mile. That is as far as you could walk according to the rabbis.

This is not in the Mosaic Law. But the rabbis made this up. The tabernacle was always placed at the center of the camp. And on the Sabbath they had to walk to worship. Since the furthest of them had to get to the tabernacle on the Sabbath it became acceptable to walk about a half a mile. So the Mount of Olives is about half a mile from the city gate of the city of Jerusalem.

Verse 13, “And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. This was the same upper chamber where they met for the Passover. And also the same room where they were all in fear, when Jesus appeared.

And the same place where eight days later Jesus showed up again. Some exciting things happened in that upper room. Judas, who was mentioned the son of James, is a different Judas. What were they doing there? Well, they were waiting because they were told to wait. So “they were devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”

And what do we know about His brothers? In John 7:5, they didn’t believe, right? His brothers are James, Joseph, Simeon and Jude. He's not an apostle; this is James, the brother of our Lord. 1 Corinthian 15:7 says, “He appeared to more than 500 brethren at the one time, and He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” James had a personal appearance of Jesus, which was rare.

Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to James was what brought James to faith in his half-brother Jesus. And the conversion of James led to the conversion of the rest of the brothers. James becomes the head of the Jerusalem church, and he writes James, a wonderful epistle. And another of His half-brothers, Jude, writes the epistle of Jude. This is the initial beginning of the salvation of his brothers.

Verse 14, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” Now Jesus’ brothers who previously didn’t believe and all the women were waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. Nobody was worshiping Mary, the mother of Jesus. She’s not identified as having a place of superiority. They are all kneeling, because verse 15 says that Peter stood up.

Mary was kneeling like all the rest, expressing as great a need as theirs. Back in her Magnificat in Luke 1:47, she praised God, as my Savior. She needs a savior. And this is the last mention of Mary in Scripture. When the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, she too was placed into the body of Christ as a redeemed Christian, like any other believer. Mary had no part in redemption.

What were they praying for? They’re together in persistent, single-hearted prayer. Jesus said, “Wait until I send the Holy Spirit.” That was a fact. But Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement is based on the notion that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is given to believers who ask for it. That is wrong. The coming of the Holy Spirit on any believer is based on God’s sovereign will.

Verse 15 - 17, “And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16 “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; 17 for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”

Here we learned there were 120 of them. That’s a small start to reach the world, isn’t it? So this little group of disciples submitted to the Lord. They did exactly what He told them to do. The second thing we see here is the suicide of a disciple, Judas. Peter says, “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled.” This is the first time the disciples are seeing things from an Old Testament perspective.

But once they got through those 40 days of instruction that really began the day He rose and went on Emmaus road and opened the Old Testament, the Moses, and the Law and the prophets and the holy writings and explained all the things concerning Himself to those on the road to Emmaus, in Luke 24. Then, later that same night, He went to the upper room and did it all over again. They get it.

Peter is showing us that they now are making all the connections. “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled what the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas.” Wow, there are even prophecies by David, the psalmist, about Judas. Psalm 41:9, “Even my close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against Me.”

David is speaking about the betrayal. Jesus knew Judas was that familiar friend. Judas made Judas what he was. But God planned Judas into the redemptive scheme. He was allowed to be an apostle to play a role. Everybody in that situation was a God-ordained player, whether it was Annas or Caiaphas or Pilate or Herod, they all had a part. They all fit in as part of the scheme.

Judas did exactly what the Old Testament said he would do. He did exactly what his evil heart wanted to do. It’s amazing how sinners think that by not coming to God they somehow operate in freedom. Everybody’s freedoms are within the sovereign power, purpose and providence of God. So when Judas did what he did, the Old Testament was validated, the Holy Spirit being its author.

What happened to Judas? Verse 18 - 19, “(Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. 19 And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.) He got his 30 pieces of silver, but Matthew 27 says, he went back and threw it on the ground.

Blood money burned in his hands like hot coals. The leaders took the money and bought a field with it. And apparently he went to that place, and tried to hang himself. The rope broke and he fell and all his intestines came out. There Judas went to die. Verse 20, “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it and let another take his office.”

Verse 21 - 22, “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” There has to be an eyewitness, who accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us.

Which tells us that Jesus traveled not only with the 12 but with others who believed in Him. Somebody who was there at the beginning when John the Baptist baptized Jesus down at the Jordan until the day of His ascension, one who was a witness of all of it including His resurrection. He had to be an eyewitness of the life and ministry of Jesus. But he also had to be chosen by God.

Verse 23 - 25, “And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen 25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” How’s God going to do that?

Verse 26, “And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” The other guy accepted the divine choice. This is one of the ways that God revealed His will. The last of the Old Testament ways of doing things because there are no more lots past the day of Pentecost in the Bible. Matthias means “gift of the Lord.” Now it’s complete.

What about Matthias? Well, the historical record is that he preached in Judea and he preached in Colchis, which is the Republic of Georgia on the Black Sea that was once a part of the Soviet Union. And he preached so powerfully and so effectively that he was stoned to death. So his ending was like almost all the other apostles. And if you go to that area you can find his grave site.

Whatever God decides will come to pass not only in Scripture but also in our lives. Because God is all knowing He knows what will happen years from now. Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” Don’t be afraid and don’t worry, God is in charge. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Jun 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220612 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D9 imblog

Acts 1:4-11

Let us go to Acts 1, and read verses 4-11, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together,

They asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 9 Now when He had spoken these things,

While they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Acts shows us that the Lord’s work of redemption, His cross work is completed. He has given the offering that sanctifies forever those who believe. He has provided the atonement to satisfy the wrath of God. He has born in His body our sins in His death, and we have died and risen in Him. So the work of redemption has been completed on the cross as far as the sacrifice of Christ is concerned.

However, the work of gathering the redeemed goes on, and it goes on in that first generation through the apostles, and then through the church as the apostles establish the church. So the responsibility for the proclamation of the gospel and the establishment of churches passes first to these 12. They’re actually 11 until a little later in the chapter when a 12th is chosen, a man named Matthias.

So this history goes on until the last person in the plan of God is redeemed, and then the church is raptured out of the world, and that glorious era comes to its fulfillment. So we’re seeing the Lord then pass the baton in those verses that I read to His disciples. You can see there that He is speaking about the kingdom, according to verse 2, to the apostles whom He had chosen.

So somehow, these men are going to change the course of human history. So the apostles become the focus of our Lord in this section before He leaves. These opening verses tell us how He has tried to get them ready. Our Lord has to provide the essential tools for them to preach the gospel and plant churches. These provisions are laid out in these first eight verses and with the addition of verses 9 to 11.

So first, you the need for the proper message. We talked about the fact that Jesus began, and He will continue this work through His apostles and through His church and through His people until He comes again. So in verse 3, Jesus spends 40 days speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Whenever God reveals Himself, He discloses Himself in words of divine revelation.

The Bible claims for itself that every word of God is pure, like silver refined seven times in a furnace. There’s a massive attack on the doctrine of inerrancy, but that’s not surprising because Satan wants always to attack the word of God going back to Genesis. When God reveals Himself, He doesn’t reveal Himself in impressions. He reveals Himself in words that are written down accurately.

It was never a question of the words. It was a question of the interpretation. Jesus taught so they understood the nature of the kingdom, and how to come into the kingdom, which is the gospel way and what the gospel was. And they were not only teach it, but to do the gospel ministry. Part of that was living exemplary lives to support what they preached, that is the claims of the gospel.

Secondly, we looked at the proper confidence. Verse 3, “He presented himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over those 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” They needed to know it was really Him, and He proved it by many infallible proofs. And He was speaking about the kingdom of God as He was before.

And they also needed the right power. Verse 4, “Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem.” Why? Wait for what the Father had promised, which He said, “You heard of from me.” Look at Ezekiel 36:25, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.”

Verse 26-27, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit who will come and dwell in them. That is the promise of the Father.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry at His baptism, the Holy Spirit comes on Him. When Jesus begins His ministry in the city of Nazareth, He says, “I am here to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies about Messiah. The spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel.” So in a real sense, Jesus is the prototype of the filling of the Holy Spirit, the empowering of the Holy Spirit for ministry.

So what was promised in Joel and Ezekiel, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon God’s people took place first of all in Jesus Christ who is the prototype. We know that His whole ministry was basically operating in the power of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus began to promise to his disciples that they would have the very same thing, that the Holy Spirit would come upon them as well.

Then He says in verse 5, “John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” That’s a statement of fact for every believer. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” We’re literally engulfed in the Holy Spirit.

Verse 8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” The job is too great, too demanding to be done in human strength. Paul says in the letter to the Corinthians, “Weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty unto God.” Every believer following Pentecost receives the Holy Spirit, which takes up residence. Literally the dominating power of our lives.

Ephesians 3:16-19 says, “God would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.”

And when that happens, He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we can ask or think according to the power that works within us.” Paul is praying is that you would take advantage of the power, the Holy Spirit that is in you. How do you do that? Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Be dominated by the word of God because that’s where the Holy Spirit’s power is released.

Fourthly, the proper mystery. Verse 6 -7, “When they had come together, they were asking Him saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? 7 He said to them, ‘It’s not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has fixed by his own authority.’” The prophets who wrote the Old Testament didn’t know what season or what time. There’s a necessary mystery.

The Old Testament age is over. Messiah is here. He did the work of atonement. He’s alive. Now He’s saying the Holy Spirit is going to come, and Joel and Ezekiel 36 connect the coming of the Holy Spirit with the last days. And Peter, James, and John had seen Christ transfigured on the mountain and seen already a glimpse of His kingdom glory. So it’s a natural question: When is the kingdom going to come?

They were expecting the kingdom promised to Abraham, to David, with all the promises that were reiterated through the prophets. They were expecting that Israel would be saved and restored. They would be the dominant nation in the world. And that would include having the Holy Spirit. In other words, they believed in an actual kingdom for all of Israel with Jesus as the king.

So if you want to cancel the kingdom, you’re going to have to explain why Jesus didn’t do that. He says, “You can’t know the time. It’s going to come at an hour when you least expect it.” Here we are a couple of thousand years later, and we don’t have any more information on it than they did. It’s a good thing not to know that so that every generation lives as if He might come at any moment.

We work as if every day is our last, and we plan as if his coming was far off, and we leave the date up to Him, and that infuses us at every waking hour with tremendous responsibility. I don’t know when I die, and how I’m going to die and I don’t need to know that. Now all that leads us to a simple conclusion tonight. We need the proper mission. And what is this mission?

Verse 8 continues, “You shall by My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The word witness came to be the word martyr because so many witnesses to the gospel died. Remember when Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Take up your cross.” You have to be willing to lay down your own life.

Most of you older people grew up in a time period in America when there was cultural Christianity. They understood that morality came out of the Bible. So there was a kind of cultural morality that survived a long time in America. We remember the moral majority, the religious right. Well it’s all gone. In fact, the more distinctly Christian we are, the more we will be labeled as extremists.

The people who now vote in America couldn’t care less. They want to escape the extremism of cultural Christianity as they see it. But Christians should see the people who oppose them politically, morally, and socially as the mission field rather than the enemy. They had turned their mission field into political enemies. The gospel advances by personal testimony to Christ one soul at a time.

We’re closer to living in conditions like these people did in the Book of Acts. We’re like aliens in an increasingly anti-Christian culture. Our witness is to give testimony to Christ, to speak of Christ, to speak the gospel. If you are a Christian, you have received the Holy Spirit, and you are a witness. The only question is if you’re a faithful one or an unfaithful one. Don’t get mad at non-Christians.

Not only are we not willing to die for Jesus, most of us aren’t even willing to live for Him. We haven’t learned what it is to be a living sacrifice. God wants you to live for Him as if you couldn’t care less about anything, sacrificing everything you have for His glory: to be a living witness, a living sacrifice. You don’t choose whether you’ll be a witness or not, you are one. But are you any good?

Verse 9 -11, “Now when Jesus had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked as He went up, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

That should be the great motive. Jesus is coming back. Listen to what John writes at the end of the Book of Revelation. “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’” John says, “Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” My reward is with Me to give to every man. He’s coming suddenly, unexpectedly, and that kind of splits into two realities, a personal meeting and an eternal reward.

What’s the eternal reward? You’ll be rewarded for what is on earth gold silver and precious stones. The personal meeting says, well done, good and faithful servant, the eternal reward crown that He gives to faithful servants. So it’s a two-fold motivation that when I see Him face-to-face, I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and I want to receive my eternal reward.

That’s the message. To that first generation of 12 apostles, and here we are 2,000 years later, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, they were able to get it started right. And now Christianity in your generation is circling the globe in a way that they would never have ever imagined the day in which you’re living. Just imagine, there are people in Asia hearing this same sermon in their own language.

The gospel is circling the globe. We’re living in the greatest revival of Biblical truth in the history of the world simply because of its electronic capabilities circle the globe. We’re also nearer the second coming than we’ve ever been as the gospel is extending to the ends of the earth. Many verses in a New Testament encourage us to be faithful until He comes for the second time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Jun 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220605 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D8 imblog

Acts 1:1-3

Verse 1, “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.” Luke is the writer, the historian. He is referring to his gospel, the Gospel of Luke. The first volume of history was about all that Jesus began to do and teach. The Book of Acts is Volume 2 about the continued doing and teaching of Jesus. All the other gospel writers tell us of the finished work of Christ.

He offered the long awaited sacrifice for sin that satisfied God fully. He saved forever those who believed, and He secured their redemption by his resurrection from the dead. It was satisfactory to God, and so God raised Him from the dead to validate his satisfaction, and then God gave Him a name above every name, exalted Him to his right hand, and restored Him to heavenly glory.

And added a new dimension now as the Savior because He had offered personally the sacrifice. And so He then purchase with that work all the redeemed people throughout human history who would forever praise, honor and glorify Him. This is the work that Jesus finished, but there also was the work that Jesus began. The work of doing and teaching the gospel He just began.

So Acts, as Luke continues to write, is the story of what Jesus continues to do and teach. Acts continues the story of completing God’s redemptive work through Christ. The Old Testament gives the prophecies of the coming of Messiah, and the Gospels give the record of the realization of those prophecies. Let’s go back to Luke 1 for a moment, and let me read the first four verses.

Verse 1-4, “Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us. 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus.

“4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.” Luke is a meticulous historian. And he’s inspired by the Holy Spirit, and he sets off to write, and he doesn’t know this will be called Luke. As Luke signs off, Jesus said, “Thus it is written that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.”

As in the Old Testament, all that is going on in Luke and Acts is being done by God. God is the sovereign power behind all of redemptive history, and the Holy Spirit works the will of the father, and the Son does the will of the Father. God is at work redeeming his people in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Luke records this in his Gospel because the Old Testament prophet said it.

So what is this book? Some have said it should be called The Acts of the Father because if anybody is at work unfolding His redemptive plan it is God, the Father. Some call it The Acts of the Holy Spirit because He is working to separate these men to send them on the missionary trip out of Antioch. But the best is the Acts of the Risen Lord because the theme of the preaching is the resurrection.

You begin to see that in Acts 2:47, “And the Lord was adding to their number, day by day, those who were being saved.” The one who is the Lord of the church, He is still at work. He is adding people to the church. In Acts 11, there were some men of Cypress and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began preaching the Lord Jesus, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

If you go to Acts 8, you find Paul persecuting the church. Who stopped Paul? Jesus did on the Damascus Road in Acts 9. Jesus is engaged both in the growth of his church and in stopping the destruction of his church. Jesus appears in Acts 18 in a vision to Paul and says, “Don’t be afraid any longer. Go on speaking, and don’t be silent, for I am with you, no man will attack you, for I have many people in the city.”

Jesus, the head of the church, says, “I’m going to reach people in this city who belong to me, and I will protect you. Go on preaching.” In Acts 23 things are getting very difficult for Paul. Persecution increased with a conspiracy to kill him. Verse 11, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage, for as you have witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”

So the Lord Jesus reigns over His kingdom from heaven. The Lord Jesus is engaged in building his church by adding people to the list of redeemed, saved souls. He is fulfilling the Father’s plan, and He’s doing it by the preaching of the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit working through the preaching. But make no mistake, it is the Lord continuing the work He began on earth.

Now Luke is not an apostle, but he is a close associate of the apostles for 30 years from 30 to 60 AD. And he knows the history, from the death of Christ on. He was part of it. So he knows what happened in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and beyond because he was there. The Book of Acts is descriptive history for the sake of information, and it is theology for the sake of edification.

The Jews were convinced that the promises of God belonging to them, but the Book of Acts just blows that to pieces. In the Old Testament there were passages where the messianic promises related to the world and all the nations. Somehow the Jews missed that. In the Book of Acts you realize that Philip is preaching to the gentiles, and a gentile eunuch is converted.

So there was an important message to proclaim to the Jews through the Book of Acts, and it starts in Acts 1:8, “Go preach in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world, that Christianity is global.” You could divide the Book of Acts into six sections. Section 1 ends at Acts 6:7 which tells the story of the church in Jerusalem and the preaching of Peter which increased greatly the number of disciples.

From Acts 6:8 through Acts 9:31, the gospel spreads throughout Israel, Judea, all the way to the martyrdom of Stephen, and all the way to the preaching in Samaria by Philip. So the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up, and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. It continued to increase the church greatly.

That would be from Acts 9:32 till Acts 12:24. That section includes the extension of the church to the gentiles, Antioch, and that ends with these words. “Let the word of the Lord continue to grow and be multiplied.” This is the story of the development of the church, the addition of the church from the beginnings of Jerusalem then to Judea and Samaria, and then into the gentile world as far as Antioch.

The next section is Acts 12:25 till Acts 16:5, and this tells the story of the church going way beyond Antioch, jumping into Asia Minor, and the preaching tour through Galatia by the Apostle Paul. And that section ends where the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily. These sections all end with the same summary of the development of the growing church.

Acts 16:6 begins to tell the story of Paul reaching the great gentile cities, like Ephesus and beyond Asia Minor even into Corinth, and this ministry goes on all the way into Acts 19:20. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. The final section is Acts 10:21, it goes to the end. It tells the story of the final years of Paul’s ministry before his imprisonment in Rome.

Jesus continued his work ordained by the Father, energized by the Holy Spirit, and brought it to fruition through the means of apostolic preaching of the gospel. Let’s go back to Acts 1 where we have some essential foundational elements given here because the father’s plan has requirements. Let us read verses 1-11, “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 4 And being assembled together with them,

He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

10 And while they looked toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Six things appear in those 11 verses that I read to you. He reminds them of all that is essential.

Verse 1 says you have to have the proper message. Secondly, you have to have also the right confidence. Thirdly, you have to have the right power. And then, interestingly enough, you have to have the right mission, and you have to have the right motive. The message has to be right. It all starts with the words of Jesus. Plenty of people are preaching the wrong message.

When you hear powerful preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know one thing for sure: here is a preacher who believes in scripture because he boldly proclaims it. That’s where the ministry has to start. Faith comes by hearing the truth concerning Christ, the words of Christ, Romans 10. But the preacher has to preach the message concerning Christ. If anybody preaches another gospel, let them be cursed.

Pretty hard to make the gospel believable unless it’s believable when somebody looks at you. Not that you have to be perfect, but you have to demonstrably be committed to the truth you teach. Verse 2, Jesus continued to live the message and teach the message until the ascension. He was the personification, the incarnation of everything He preached and taught. This was His priority.

Verse 3 says that for 40 days, Jesus was speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. And this is where all of our work should begin with the right message. We need to understand the truth of the gospel, and live it as we proclaim it. So that from the time that Jesus arose for the next 40 days, He had those chosen apostles with Him, instructing them in the things concerning the kingdom of God.

They’re going to be instructing others. When the 40 days were over, it was over. Even with the right message, they weren’t ready to go yet. That’s why He had previously said, “Stay in Jerusalem until you’re empowered from on high.” Spurgeon said, “We might preach until we exhaust our lungs, but not a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit converts that soul.”

A second point, you have to have the proper confidence. They knew now because they had the gospels that the prophecies of the Old Testament had been fulfilled. And the early apostolic preaching in Acts was the Old Testament. They didn’t know that the Old Testament was being fulfilled until now. So they did have confidence now for the first time that scripture was fulfilled in Christ.

Where did their confidence come from? The resurrection. Over a period of 40 days Jesus appeared to them. He appeared to them alive after his suffering with the wounds by many convincing proofs. That’s a critical reality. What it does for you is it gives you the same confidence because the record of those proofs and appearances are given in holy infallible Scripture. So you have the same experience.

The only difference is that you have not seen Jesus. Is there ample proof in the New Testament for the resurrection? Yes. The proofs of the resurrection are all recorded in the gospels, written down for us. That’s what separated them from the despondency and the fears and the doubts and the questions and all the wondering about whether Jesus was the Messiah that they have been waiting for.

So if you’re going to be effective in carrying on the work that Jesus began on his own and then passed onto the first generation and every other generation until we got to the 21 century, you start with knowing the right message, which is the word of God and the gospel, and having the right confidence that Christ is alive. And He is building his church, and he wants to use you to do that.

That’s how the history goes. Well, that leads us to the next and really the most compelling point. You have to have the right power. We’ll keep that discussion for next Sunday. We’re so blessed to be a part of what You’re continuing to do of Your unfinished work. We thank You that you finished the redemptive work, but You’re not finished with the redeeming work. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 May 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220529 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D7 imblog

John 21:15-25

This evening we’re going to finish our study of this incredibly gospel. So it’s with some sadness that we come to the end of the gospel of John, but it’s going to be a helpful consummation as we look at the final section. That final section of John 21 is focused right at Peter. He had acted disobediently; and because he was a leader, he led the other apostles into disobedience.

They were supposed to be in a mountain waiting for the Lord, but Peter decided that he was going to go back to fishing. He had denied the Lord on three separate occasions. He felt inadequate and guilty. He also was a man who didn’t have a lot of patience. He had not yet, along with the apostles, received the Holy Spirit. They were doubtful of their own power, to sustain a ministry.

The Lord had rebuked him so many times; the others were unsure about the future even though they had seen the risen Christ for the third time in John 21. So we are grateful for verses 15 and following, because this is the restoration, the recalling of Peter, and the reassignment of the ministry that God had given him through Christ at the very beginning of the ministry of our Lord.

In Matthew 4:19 Jesus met these fishermen, including Peter; and told them to drop their nets, leave it all behind and He would make them fishers of men. They all dropped everything, and followed Him. This is three years later, and Peter has led his friends back to fishing. That’s not the Lord’s plan for them. Peter is the leader; he needs to be restored, and behind him will come the others.

By the time we get here, even though Peter has seen the risen Christ, he is really a broken man. The disciples have not yet received the Holy Spirit, so they don’t have the power, and they know their own impotence. It’s easy to go back to fishing, which this group had been engaged in, with the exception of Thomas. But the Lord is going to call them back into significant ministry.

For every believer, there is the necessity of a call to love, a call to sacrifice, and a call to obey. That is the meaning of discipleship. What comes out of those three things are easily articulated, love, sacrifice, and obedience. But following Christ is not easy. To love that way is not easy, to sacrifice that way is not easy, and to obey that way is also not easy. Salvation is not cheap, it costs everything.

Jesus said, “If you want to follow Me, you must deny yourself, and take up your cross.” The cost will be your life, and maybe your death. What is the compelling desire that is going to cause me or you or anybody else to sacrifice my life for Christ, to spend my life obeying Him? Well, that’s where we begin. The motive is love. That is the only power that can motivate this kind of devotion.

People who love greatly give up things. Love is a powerful motivation. It is love that makes people sacrifice everything to live with one person the rest of their life. It is love that is so powerful it can destroy a family. It can destroy a marriage. It can destroy a life. It can lead to alcoholism, drugs, suicide and murder. Some have such great love that they will give their lives for their nation.

And as far as Christians are concerned, according to 2 Corinthians 5:14, it is the love that we have for the Lord that controls us. It is that love that controls us. Some translations of 2 Corinthians 5:14 say: constrains us, motivates us. Really you follow the things you love; whatever they are, even objects that you love, experiences that you love, as well as people that you love.

What do we hear in the Old Testament is our responsibility. It is reiterated in Matthew 22:37 by our Lord, “You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” That in itself sums up the law of God. You can condense them into the first half of the Decalogue, which relates to how we treat God. That is how you are to live a life of love for God.

The second part of that great command is, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” That fulfills the second half of the Decalogue and all the other laws that God gave that deal with human relationships. Love is the driving power in life and in the kingdom as well. Deuteronomy 6:6 says, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.’ That’s what you teach your children.

Our Lord makes it clear in John 14:15. He says to the disciples and to all of us, “If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments.” Verse 21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and disclose Myself to him.” Verse 28, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoice because I go to the Father.”

John makes a major point of this when he writes his epistles. His epistles are about loving God and loving brothers. Love is the power of obedience. Love is the power of duty. Love is the power of service. Love is the power of sacrifice. Love is the power of worship. Love is the power of fellowship. So you see that in verses 15 to 17, and our Lord’s dialogue with the apostle Peter.

He’s going to have to have weeks of therapy to get him where he needs to be.” No. The Lord asks him one question three times: “Do you love Me?” You will follow what you love. You will serve what you love. You will sacrifice for what you love, who you love. So to understand the commitment our Lord explains it here with Peter, is that a Christian lives a life compelled by love for Christ.

We have come down off this incredible high of these post resurrection appearances, and now we’re down with the stumbling and bumbling people. But you have to understand that the glory of Christ is going to be placed in the hands of these stumbling people; that this treasure is in earthen vessels. And so we need to learn that God is depending on us to proclaim His glory to everyone.

In John 13:33 Jesus was talking about the fact that He was going to be leaving, “Little children, I’m with you a little while longer. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. By this all men will know that you’re My disciples.” That is not only the essence of our relationship with God, it’s the essence of our relationship with each other.

So Peter needed to be restored. This is a public restoration, because he’s not alone here. In verse 2 you have a list of the other disciples who were with him: Thomas, Nathanael, James and John, Philip and Andrew most likely. And our Lord has prepared breakfast for them after a miraculous catch of fish, and it’s now time to set the standard for discipleship and He’s going to start with Peter.

Verse 15, “So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ And He said to him, ‘Feed My lambs.’ Peter is loved because he is like us. He has all the failures that we are so familiar with in our own lives. He overestimates himself and underestimates temptation.

John always refers to him as Simon Peter, which kind of gives us the whole picture before and after. “But Jesus says to him, ‘Simon, son of John.’” That was his name before he met the Lord, and the Lord had given him another name. “You used to be Simon, now you’re Peter.” But Peter had fallen so far that the Lord is using his old name, because he is acting like his old self.

Verse 16, “He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? Petrus said, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said, “Tend My sheep.” Verse 17, “He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was hurt because He said for the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said, “Feed My sheep.”

Peter didn’t want to be pointed out, he would like to have blended into the group. But the Lord calls him out, and three times asked him if he loves Him, one for each occasion of denial. For each time that he denied Him, he gets an opportunity to be restored. And here is the restoration, it’s simply, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?” That’s always the question for a disobedient believer.

When you act disobediently, you’re declaring love for something other than Christ. So He says, “Do you love Me more than these?” These what, these men? No, He means the nets, boats and fish. “Do you love Me more than these things that go with your former life? Are you prepared to abandon your chosen career? Are you willing to give it all up? Do you love Me enough to do that?”

And the word Jesus uses is agape. That’s that high love which is the noblest, purest love of the will. It is love in its fullest sense, love in its deepest sense, love in its greatest sense, love in its purest form – divine love. “Do you really love Me, Peter, at the highest level?” And that is the key to commitment. John Calvin said, “No man will persevere in the ministry unless the love of Christ reigns in his heart.”

Peter replies, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” But he changed the word. Jesus used the word agape, Peter used the word phileó, he dropped down a notch. Phileó is a kind of brotherly love. Peter couldn’t say, “You know that I love You at the highest level of love.” He dared not claim agape, but he did claim phileó. But even with that, he has to lean on Christ’ omniscience.

In a broken and a contrite spirit he refuses to acknowledge the love at the level our Lord put it. But he says, “I have a great affection for You. It’s not what it should be, but it’s real.” Jesus said to him, “feed My lambs.” Amazing. With a less than perfect love, with a less than ideal love, with a less than noble love, with a less than elevated love, the Lord accepts him and says, “Feed My lambs.”

And that personal pronoun is very important, because whoever we shepherd doesn’t belong to us. This is a calling that Peter reminds all of us about in 1 Peter 5 when he writes and he says, “We are all under-shepherds and Christ is the Chief Shepherd.” No congregation belongs to a pastor. No Sunday school class belongs to a teacher. No believers in a family belong to the parents.

That’s what pastoral ministry is. It’s not about how you handle a culture, it’s how you handle His sheep. “If you love Me, then give your life to shepherding My lambs, the most vulnerable, and the weakest.” The Lord has to use those of us who have an inferior love. First Thessalonians 4:10 says, “But you need to excel even more.” We’re told that our love should abound.

Secondly, a committed life is characterized by sacrifice for Christ. And that’s what Peter hears in verse 18, “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” Christ says, “In the future, you’re going to be taken prisoner.

When He says, “you’re going to stretch out your hands,” that is a euphemism for crucifixion. Verse 19 says it: “Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.” And tradition gives us, that when it came time for him to be crucified, he didn’t feel he was worthy to be crucified as the Lord was, so he asked to be crucified upside-down.

He lived the rest of his life with a newfound confidence that overcame his self-doubt, because he had been such a failure at the trial of Christ. This put power into his life and hope into his heart. This really added confidence to him and boldness. This is a great gift to this man: “You’re going to be arrested, crucified. You’re going to die, but in it, you’re going to glorify God.”

The end of verse 19, “When Jesus had spoken the words about Peter’s death, He said this to him, ‘Follow Me!!’” In a wonderful gesture, the Lord turned and started walking away, and Peter’s following Him, at least for two steps, because in verse 20 says, “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”

He sees John, who asked the question, “Lord, who’s the one at the table who’s going to betray You?” Verse 21, “Peter seeing John said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about him?” Verse 22, it’s sarcasm, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” Our Lord wants our focus, “Follow Me! Don’t compare yourself with somebody else. You just follow Me wherever that leads.”

Verse 23, “Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?” That’s gossip for you; they never get it right. And, John didn’t live till the second coming, he died on the Isle of Patmos at the end of the first century in exile.

Verse 24, “This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.” John says, “I’m the one who wrote all of this and it’s the truth.” Verse 25, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 May 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220522 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D6 imblog

John 21:1-14

The conclusion in John 21 shows who Christ is after His redemptive work is done and as He prepares to return to the Father. There is here clear testimony that Jesus is alive. At the end of the first section, verse 14, it says this is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. The focus of this chapter make it crystal clear that it is Jesus.

This is the final proof that John gives that Jesus came back to life after His death. If John’s gospel ended in chapter 20 we would have some important unanswered questions. The first question would be what the relationship of the Lord Jesus to the disciples was after His resurrection? And what did they learn about it? That’s answered in the opening 14 verses this evening.

There’s a second question that is importantly: What happens to Peter who denied and fled and then wondered about the resurrection? And then there is the question: What should the disciples expect in the future? What should they be anticipating? And then there was a question that John would never die, but he would live until Jesus returned. That question is answered in verses 20 to 23.

So John is answering some questions to complete the story and explaining a few things, and at the same time, he is showing us the risen Christ in some wonderful positions and relations to His disciples. Now we’re going to look just at verses 1 to 14. Prior to the resurrection, He provided all that they needed on every level. In the upper room He had promised that He would continue to do that.

He had promised them that whatever they asked He would provide, that all of heaven’s resources would be made available to them. They were insecure about the relationship they would have with Him in the future. Well the answer to that question comes in these 14 verses. Even after His resurrection, even after He is glorified, He still takes a very personal practical interest in meeting their needs.

This gives us the illustration post-resurrection that we need for the promises that also extend through them to us. But behind the scenes, there’s an inescapable spiritual lesson going on. You don’t have to dig deeply to see the difference between what happens when you disobey the Lord and what happens when you obey Him. We have in the opening five verses of disobedience.

We have from verses 6 to 14, obedience. Disobedience results in failure. And that results in loss of fellowship. And then in the closing verses we have obedience, which results in success, which results in intimate fellowship with the Lord. These are inescapable realities that are right there for us to see in this wonderful account. So let’s be looking at that as we listen to the story itself.

Verse 1, “After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He manifested Himself.” “After these things” indicates that this is in fact the epilogue. But exactly when, we don’t know. Sometime between the eighth day when Jesus appeared to the apostles, and the fortieth day when He ascended into heaven, this third appearance occurred.

Acts 1:3 says that He was with them for forty days. It doesn’t mean that He was with them all forty of those days, because there are only three times that He appeared to them in Galilee. They had to go from Judea to Galilee, which takes some time. They’ve been waiting awhile for Him; finally He makes an appearance. Now understand that this is a supernatural, sudden, appearance of Christ.

In the same way, He appeared to those on the road to Emmaus, in the same way He appeared to Mary Magdalene and the others, in the same way He appeared to the apostles in the upper room, coming into the room and appearing instantaneously with the door locked. He is now in His glorified resurrection form. Even though He could be seen alive physically, He was not known, because His body was different.

Mary Magdalene thought He was the gardener. The disciples on the road to Emmaus had no idea who He was, and not a glimpse, but rather a long drawn out conversation with Him in the daylight, and then in the house and around the table, and they still didn’t know who He was. And again, He appears, and they don’t know who He is, because He was in the glorified form, which is different.

He has to therefore to identify Himself, and He does that on this occasion. His body is a body for heaven, not a body for earth. So this time He manifests Himself in Galilee by the Sea of Tiberias, which is also called the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had told the disciples to go to Galilee in Matthew 28:10 after He had appeared to them from His resurrection. He said, “Go to Galilee and there you will see Me.”

So they were told to go to Galilee to a mountain which Jesus designated. But the problem is they aren’t at the mountain, they’re at the lake. Verse 2 introduces us to the disciples who are there: Simon Peter; Thomas called the Twin; Nathanael; the sons of Zebedee, James and John; and then the two others, most likely Philip and Andrew. So seven of them were there without the other four.

This is the group that Jesus first called as His disciples in John 1. They’re mentioned as an illustration of grace: Simon Peter the denier and Thomas the doubter. They were up in the mountain for a while, when in verse 3, “Simon Peter said to them, ‘I’m going fishing.’ They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.”

Peter is a man of action, but he was full of self-doubt because of his failures. It was to him that Jesus said, “Get behind Me, Satan.” He was the apostle who was quick to say something from his heart that was wrong. In John 20:21, “The Lord said to the disciples, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Sending you to be preachers, to be fishers of men.’”

But Peter has self-doubt. He doesn’t know what the future will bring. None of them have received the Holy Spirit to give them power. They’re not sure what’s going to happen. Peter proposes to go back to his career when he says, “I’m going fishing,” he means, “I’m going back to what I used to do.” So he disobeys, and he is the leader; so they all follow him, “We will also come with you.”

They were to stop fishing for fish and start fishing for men. Luke 5 says, “Crowds were pressing Jesus, He’s on the edge of the lake. He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake. So He got into one of the boats which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land.” So when he had finished speaking He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’

Luke 5:5-8, “But Simon answered Him and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” He knew he was dealing with God.

Verse 10, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching men.” If you step away from the calling that was placed on your life and go in the opposite direction, if you go the path of self-will and self-effort, you may think you can accomplish a lot, but you will end up a failure. When God gifts you and prepares you and places you into ministry in His kingdom, and you walk away, you will fail.

So verse 4 - 5, “But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” They have been trying to prove that they could catch fish all night; until Jesus stood on the shore,” appearing out of nowhere “yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.”

So what has happened here is their disobedience has led to failure, and it has affected the relationship. Our Lord said twice in John 14:21, 23, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Verse 23: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.”

So when Jesus says to them, ‘Guys, do you have any fish?’” This is an irritating comment after they have tried all night. It’s good that the Lord provides graciously, that we are made conscious of our failure and articulate it and confess it. Jesus wants to hear them say, “No, we have failed. This is where our impatience, our self-doubt, and our disobedience has led us.”

They don’t know who He is, and He talks to them as if they were just another group of guys fishing. So the disciples of Jesus even today, even in this congregation, you have been gifted, you have been called, you’ve been given spiritual opportunity; but instead of doing it, instead of following obediently what the Lord has laid before you to do, you turn away from it, you go back to other things.

As you step into the work of the kingdom and the things that He puts before you to do, whatever service that might be, as you do that, you find that He empowers and provides for your success, and you enjoy the sweet intimacy of fellowship. You might be wasting all of your energies on things that are earthly, that have no eternal use at all. It’s time for you to get involved in fishing for men.

Maybe you found yourself too busy to teach a Sunday school class, too busy to be a part of Sunday nights at the church, too busy to pray, too busy to share in other people’s lives, too busy to use your spiritual gifts. You’re going to find yourself going down a path of failure and losing the joy of your intimacy with the Lord. So let us turn to the second part of this story then to learn more.

We go from self-effort to divine provision. Verse 6, “And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” Now their first reaction could be, “That is a ridiculous command. Does he think the fish know the difference?” But the command was as compelling to them as it was to the fish. “So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.”

So here, against what seemed rational to them, they are compelled to obey the Lord and there’s immediate success. This is just a simple illustration of the fact that when you obey the Lord, the Lord empowers the success. The Lord blesses, supplies and enriches. God does His work by His power but through His people. God always chooses the means, but He does it through our faithful work.

There were so many fish that they knew who He was immediately. This is the same Christ, risen from the dead, performing a miracle much like at the beginning of His relationship with them. Verse 7, “Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved” – which is John– “said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.” Jesus is the one who commands the fish, and through the supernatural body of Christ, He can do anything.

Verse 7 continued, “Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.” Peter is just such an interesting personality. He just says whatever comes to his mind, and he just does whatever impulse drives him to do. He leaves the other guys there with all this fish to figure out what to do.

Verse 8, “But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish.” Peter couldn’t care less about anything but being with the Lord and being restored, and convincing the Lord that he loved Him. Verse 9, “Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.”

Jesus had made breakfast. He’s going to be there to provide. He’s going to be there to meet their needs. Even the simplest needs of their hunger, He’s going to care for them; that’s not going to change. Even though it’s after the resurrection, even though He’s in a glorified form, He will have the same compassion and care, and make the same provisions for them that they’re used to.

He’s made an incredibly breakfast for them, creating it out of nothing, as He appeared out of nowhere. Verse 10, “Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” There are things that He does, and there are things that we have to do. Philippians 2:12-13 says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is the Lord who works within you to will and to do of His own good pleasure.”

Verse 11, “Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.” This is something Scripture does very frequently to let you know the reality of it. This is actually 153 fish, in wet nets. Peter gets here the name “big fisherman,” because he pulls it ashore by himself.

And the net was not torn, which is another miracle. Verse 12, “Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” He’s going to be there to meet our needs. “Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord.” Verse 13, “Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.” They’re sitting down eating and Jesus is waiting on them.

Verse 14 wraps it up by saying, “This is the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.” And what did they learn this time? Obey, God provides, and you have intimate fellowship with Him. That’s the model here. Our Lord will meet all your needs if you’re faithful to obey His Word, and you’ll enjoy the fellowship with Him, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 May 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220515 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D5 imblog

John 20:30-31

We come to the end of John 20. So with that in mind, I’m going to direct our attention to a theme that arises in the closing verses. John 20:30 – 31 says, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

John has two stated purposes for this gospel. One is based on evidence and the other is evangelistic. The first appeals to reason, the second appeals to faith. The first is that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, based on the evidence. The second is that you, in believing, may have life in His name; that’s evangelistic. John lays out for us the evidence that Jesus is God’s anointed Messiah.

In John 8:24, our Lord essentially declared the exclusivity of His identify by saying this: “You will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.” If you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will die in your sins. The positive one is in John 14:6, “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” John identifies this foundational truth.

John introduces the exclusivity of Christ by saying in verse 30, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.” If you take all the miracles that John records and add all the ones that Matthew, Mark, and Luke record, you have a list of about forty separate miracles that Jesus did. In particular, seven special miracles are in John’s gospel.

But that is not the sum of all that Jesus did. There were many days when He did forty or more miracles in a day. For three years His life was marked by miracle after miracle of divine power that banished disease from Israel during His ministry. The gospel writers record just some of them as evidence for who He is. It’s important that you believe, so you escape the consequence of your sins.

John 21:25 says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” Now when we talk about signs we’re simply defining the purpose of a miracle. What’s the purpose of a sign? When you’re at the sign, you’re simply realizing that you’re going in the right direction.

When you’re at the sign/miracle, you’re at the point where Jesus is directing you to look at Him and see that this points to who He is. Verse 31 says, “These signs which have been written by John in this gospel have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” Eternal life only available to those who believe in Christ.

Now what signs is he talking about? Some have suggested that there are many signs that point to Him as Messiah in a general sense. One would be His action of clearing the temple back in the beginning of His ministry, as recorded in John 2. He single-handedly threw thousands of people out of the temple. A declaration that He takes up God’s cause, such as Messiah would surely do.

Others think that when He said, “As the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so the Son of Man will be lifted up,” in John 3 that He was pointing to Himself as the one who fulfills the Old Testament picture demonstrating the power of God to heal and restore those who have been smitten. Others say that even His anointing at Bethany is a kind of sign that He is the Anointed One, the Messiah.

Some would say that the crucifixion record in John’s gospel is a series of signs pointing to Him because of the fulfillment of prophecy recorded at the time of His death. All of these things do point to Him as the Messiah. So do the times that He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, I am the living water, I am the bread, I am the Good Shepherd.” All those “I am” statements declare Him to be God.

But if we ask, “What exactly is John saying about these signs?” This narrows it down to seven miracles that occur in the gospel of John including the resurrection. In John 21 the Lord demonstrates His control over fish, which demonstrates His sovereignty and power over the animal kingdom and make animals do anything He wants them to do. But now in verses 30 - 31, these seem to be the signs.

Why these signs? Remember Jesus saying, “If they don’t believe the Scriptures, they won’t believe though someone was raised from the dead,” There are three people that Jesus raised from the dead, the third one being Lazarus. And then He Himself was raised from the dead and they did not believe, so it was true. But nonetheless they wanted signs. They wanted supernatural miracles.

But John had in mind seven great miracles. The first sign came in John 2 where Jesus did His first miracle in His public ministry at Cana. Up until this point in His life, at least 30 years of life He had never done a miracle. Here is the first miracles, and He turns water into wine. It is a massively creative miracle. It was a public sign which manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

In John 4, you see the second miracle. Verse 47 shows the healing of a nobleman’s son., who was ill to the point of death, and this is where Jesus said, “You people see signs and still you will not believe.” He healed that son, and in verse 54 we read, “This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.” So now we know the signs are specific detailed miracles.

The third one occurs in John 5, which is the healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. He was paralyzed for 38 years, and there was a superstition that the first one in the water when the angel stirred the water would be healed. Jesus came along, healed him instantaneously and told him to stand up, pick up his pallet and walk. This is a miracle of complete restoration and rehabilitation.

In John 6, we come to the fourth sign, and here we see Jesus’ power over nature. He creates food to feed up to 5,000 men. All He has to start with is two fishes and five biscuits, but He feeds 20,000 people, gives them all they can possibly eat, and has twelve baskets left over for the twelve apostles. Then subsequent to that, He walks on water and stills a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Then in John 9 we see the next sign, He heals a man who was born blind. And then the next sign is in John 11, which is raising Lazarus from the dead, and he has been dead for days, his body is in a state of decay, and yet Jesus raises him from the dead. Power over death, power over blindness, power over nature, power over deformity, power over illness, power to create. This is proof that He is God.

The final sign comes in John 20 and it’s the resurrection. But to see that as a sign you have to go back to John 2:18, “The Jews were saying to Him, ‘What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?’ Verse 19, “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that; and they believed.’”

Jesus has the power Himself to rise from the dead to conquer death. Those are the signs that John details as evidences that this is the Messiah, the Son of God. The purpose is to demonstrate the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 says, “The Word (Christ) became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. It was glory of the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth.”

In John 9, there was this man blind from birth, “And the disciples said, ‘Rabbi,’ to the Lord, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” This man is healed, to put God on display, to manifest the glory of God.

The same was the story with Lazarus in John 11:4, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” All these signs are to display the glory of God manifested in the Son of God who is God. They are public displays of divine power that have no human explanation to demonstrate that Jesus is God, Jesus is the Messiah.

Now what was the response? Did the people who saw them believe? There were some. In the very beginning there were people who believed, John 1:41, the early disciples who became His apostles. Andrew says, “We have found the Messiah.” And in John 1:49 Nathanael says, “You are the Son of God.” You are the King of Israel. You are the Anointed One, the Messiah.”

And then in John 4 our Lord discloses who He is to the Samaritan woman, verse 25, “The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’ She left her water pot, went to the city and said to the men, ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ?’

Verse 39-42, “And many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word. 42 Then they said, “Now we believe, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ.”

The early followers of Jesus in Judea believed. The Samaritans believed. That nobleman whose son Jesus healed believed. At the end of John 4, “The father knew that it was the hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives’; and he knew He had healed him at the very hour that the servant told him he got well. And he, the nobleman, believed and his whole household.”

In John 7:40 some people believed. “Some were saying this is the Prophet.” Others were saying, ‘Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Isn’t He supposed to come from Bethlehem?’ So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. Some were believing; some wanted to seize Him again. There were some people in the crowd who apparently truly believed.

What was the response of the blind man after he was healed in John 9:35, “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” 36 He answered, “Who is He, Lord that I may believe in Him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” 38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Jesus.

Martha, the sister of Lazarus truly believed. John 11:25 - 27 says, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 Marta said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

There were even some rulers who believed. John 12:42, “Many of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear they’d be put out of the synagogue.” At least two of these sort of silent believers show up to bury the Lord and declare themselves as His true followers: Joseph of Arimathea, whose tomb He was buried in; and Nicodemus.

The Passover crowds did not really believe. John 2:23 25, “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” Jesus knew their faith was a superficial faith.

So some had superficial faith, about such ones our Lord spoke. And John recorded His words in John 8:31, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” James said, “You believe to some degree, but your faith will only manifest its validity if you continue in My word.”

As Isaiah 6 it says, “God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them.” It’s still that way. Johns says, “I’ve written this gospel; here are the signs that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.” For us, we stand with Andrew: “We have found the Messiah.” We stand with Nathanael: “We have found the Son of God.”

1 John 4:1, “Don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they’re from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist.”

The sum of it is simply expressed in John 12:37, “Though Jesus had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.” He gave them what they demanded, yet they were not believing. This fulfilled the word of the prophet in Isaiah 53:1, “Lord, who has believed our report?” They would not believe and for this reason they could not believe. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 May 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220508 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D4 imblog

John 20:19-29

The physical bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is so critical to the Christian gospel that all four gospel writers give us an account of the resurrection and provide for us multiple evidences of its reality. The resurrection is a historical fact, the Lord Jesus was a historical person, who died physically and rose from the dead in a glorified physical heavenly body.

In Acts which describes the apostles proclaiming the gospel, you find that they preached the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection means that God was satisfied with the sacrifice for sin that Christ offered. It means that He conquered death, not only for Himself, but for all of us who put our faith in Him. So in His resurrection is our resurrection, as in His cross is our forgiveness.

The resurrection was presented by the writers of the Old Testament in a number of ways. Our Lord Jesus Himself spoke of His resurrection to His apostles. But in spite of what the Scripture said, in spite of what our Lord said to them on many occasions, and specifically that He would die and He would rise again on the third day, in spite of that His followers did not believe He would rise.

Only when He appeared to them, all doubt was dispelled, and they went forth confident that Christ was alive from the dead, preaching a risen Christ and preaching resurrection. Before they saw Him, the disciples were fearful and terrified of the consequences that could fall on them. They don’t believe in a resurrection. They don’t even believe the testimony of the women eyewitnesses.

This is the appearance of the Lord to the disciples. Judas is gone, eleven remain. The first appearance was only to ten, because Thomas was not there. What had happened on the day of resurrection? Look at Luke 24. Our Lord comes out of the grave early in the morning at dawn, and the women arrive at the tomb. They find the tomb is empty, the stone is rolled away, and the grave clothes are lying there.

Luke 24:4 – 11, “And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered.

Into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8 And they remembered His words. 9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.”

These credible witnesses, followers of Jesus, were these women. But the apostles would not believe them. So averse were they to the idea of a resurrection that they wouldn’t believe the most credible people in their circle of human relationships. Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, saw the linen wrappings only, went away to his home wondering what had happened.

We know, however, from later in this chapter, and we know also from 1 Corinthians 15 that the Lord made a personal appearance to Peter, to convince him as the leader. So the women have gone to the grave, the tomb is empty, the grave clothes are lying there. The women are told by two angels that He has risen. These angels who give the testimony are messengers from heaven.

The women believe, they rush to the eleven apostles, and they are met with the idea that they are speaking nonsense. In the meantime, we know the Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene. A little later that day we read the story in Luke 24:13. Two disciples, not apostles, followers of Jesus were on their way to Emmaus. They were talking to each other, when Jesus Himself approached.

This is the risen Christ who traveled with them. Their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. That’s always the case after the resurrection until He identifies Himself. He is in a physical form, but it is a transcendent form capable of dwelling forever in heaven. Eventually, they say how sad they are, because the one they had hoped would be the Messiah is dead.

But our Lord explains to them that this is what the Old Testament promised. “O foolish men” – verse 25 – “slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things to be the sin-bearer, and then rise and enter into His glory?” Beginning at Moses with all the prophets, Jesus explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

He approached the village with them. They urged Him” – in verse 29 – ‘Stay with us, it’s getting toward evening; the day is now nearly over.’ So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.”

So now Mary Magdalene has seen Him, and the women have heard from the angels. Perhaps Peter has seen Him. Two on the road to Emmaus have seen Him. These two have burning hearts, verse 32: “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, and while He was explaining the Scriptures to us.” They were burning because now the Old Testament made sense.

Verse 33, “They got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, ‘The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon. And they began to relate their experiences on the road and how Jesus was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.” This validated the testimony of the women and the eyewitness account of Mary Magdalene.

And now these two have rushed there in the evening of the resurrection day itself to declare that they have spent time with the Lord. And they are met with the same kind of unbelief. But Luke 24:36 says, “While they were telling these things, Jesus Himself stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’ But they were frightened and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

And Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. He said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave Him a piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it before them.”

Now let’s see John 20 again. Jesus has appeared to Mary, the angels have declared His resurrection to the other women, He has appeared to Simon, He has appeared to the disciples on the road; now it is time to appear to the eleven, verse John 20:19, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews.”

In that situation the text simply says, “Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” How did that happen? Well, He rearranged His resurrected body to go right through the wall the same way He had rearranged His resurrected body in the grave to go right through the linen clothing and the linen wrapping around His head and out of the grave.

Now I know that the skeptics do not believe that. He is not a spirit. But to make sure you don’t think that verse 20 says, “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” This is no hallucination. This is a physical bodily resurrection. And to demonstrate that He shows them His scars, as in Luke 24:42 - 43, and He ate broiled fish.

In heaven in Revelation 5, where you see the throne of God and the cry is, “Who is going to take back the earth from the usurper Satan? Who is worthy to come and destroy Satan and all the demons and all the ungodly, and take back the world? Who has the title deed and the power?” And no one comes. And John starts to weep because there’s no one to do that. Finally, Jesus appears as a Lamb, as a scarred sacrifice.

Even in heaven He will bear those scars. And at the end of verse 20: “The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” I can’t even begin to describe what that may have been like. Verse 21-22, “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.’ He calms them down again. It is a shalom, but it’s more than that. Even eight days later they’re still shaken by these circumstances, and they still don’t know where this is all going. But our Lord has something to say to them, and what He says is profound and simple. Here is the first declaration of the Great Commission. We are all in the flow of fulfilling that commission.

It has three parts. Number One, verse 21, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” This is the first phase of the Lord’s commission. Why did the Father send Jesus into the world? The Son of Man is coming to seek and to save the lost. His purpose was to bring salvation to all God’s chosen people through all of redemptive history. You’re here to fulfill the task that was originally given to Christ.

Everything we do in our lives, is to let our light shine so that men can see the good works, and glorify God who is in heaven who transformed us to such good works, and then take that as an opportunity, shining His lights in the world to preach the gospel of light. The second aspect is, verse 22, “When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

In Acts 1:8 He says, “When the Spirit comes on you, you’ll received power, and you’ll be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” You can’t do this without the Holy Spirit. He breathed on them. Back in Genesis 2, when God had created Adam it says, “He breathed into him the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul.” That’s an expression of God’s creative power.

In that valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37, which is a picture of the corpse of Israel lying like dry bones in the desert, God shows up and says to the prophet, “Breathe on them.” And the breath of God comes and all the dry bones come alive, and that is the future salvation and resurrection of the believers in Israel. Romans 8:9 says, “No believer is left without the Holy Spirit.

Then the third element is really critical. Verse 23, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” That verse has been misinterpreted and cast in stone in the Roman Catholic system. They have made it apply to the Pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. But that is not an accurate interpretation.

How can that be possible? Mark 2:7, “Who can forgive sins but God?” Or Daniel 9:9, “To the Lord God belong compassion and forgiveness.” We can’t go around forgiving people’s sins, that’s what the priests think they can do, and they can’t do that. You say, “Well then how does it work?” All you have to do is follow the ministry of the apostles and you’ll see it.

In Acts 10:42, we have the testimony of Peter, “God ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.” He’s talking about Christ. “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” So if you believe in Christ, I can say, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’

If you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, I can say to you, ‘You’re still in your sins, your sins are retained.’” Same thing Paul says in Acts 13:38, “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses.”

Verse 24 – 25, “Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” This says that the disciples would never have made up a resurrection.

Thomas says, “I’m not going to believe unless Christ is really alive.” Verse 26 -27, “And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

Verse 28 -29, “And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And that, dear friends, encompasses all of us. We haven’t seen the risen Christ, but we have experienced the risen Christ in His power and His presence. We love Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 May 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220501 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D3 imblog

John 20:11-18

Now we begin to look at the appearances of our Lord after His resurrection. We’ve looked at the empty tomb that is the first evidence of our Lord’s resurrection. We also noted the appearance of the angels, which is the second evidence of our Lord’s resurrection. And the third are the eyewitnesses, and we’ll begin to look at them today, and particularly Mary Magdalene.

The women, Peter, John, and Mary Magdalene have seen the empty tomb. It is remarkably that Jesus appears first to this lady named Mary Magdalene. We know she was a long-time follower of our Lord. We also know that her life was as severely demonic as a life could be before she met the Savior, and obviously her sins were many. There is nothing that says she was a prostitute.

But it is remarkable that this woman with no role in religion would be the first person to see the risen Christ, not the apostles. But in John 4, there was also a woman of Samaria; who had been married many times and was, at the time she met Jesus, living with a man who was not her husband. But it was to that woman who was an outcast from her society that Jesus first declared that He was the Messiah.

The false religions of the world throughout their history generally mistreated women. Christianity is utterly different. We know from Galatians 3:28 that in Christ there’s neither male nor female. We know that God is no respecter of persons. God has exalted women in the truest and purest way by giving them significant places, even in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 1, the New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus. We know He comes through the line of Abraham and David. He is a Jew and He has royal blood. Genealogies like this are lists of men and their sons, but this one interestingly enough has four women. Tamar prostituted herself to seduce Judah in an ugly immoral act. And there is Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute living in Jericho.

And then there is Ruth who was an idol-worshipping Moabite, and the Moabites were cursed by God. And then there is in verse 6 that famous woman Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah, who committed adultery with David, and by them was born Solomon who is in the Messiah’s line. It’s one thing to put four women in a genealogy, it’s another thing to put those four in.

What is God saying to us? He’s giving us, from the very opening of the New Testament, a message of grace extended to men and women, and particularly elevating women, because in the world they are so suppressed. Christianity is the only legitimate woman’s liberation movement, and here we find the first eyewitness of the resurrection is a woman with a horrendous past.

Now it’s not as if the resurrection was a marginal event, so you could let a woman be the eyewitness. The resurrection is the event without which there is no Christianity, without which there is not salvation, without which there is no forgiveness, without which there is no heaven. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was the divine affirmation of His work of atonement on the cross.

When God raised Jesus from the dead He was declaring that He was satisfied by Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, had accepted it as full payment for the sins of His people. Resurrection then demonstrates that sin was atoned for, death was conquered, and eternal life is available to those who believe. And it’s impossible to be a Christian and not believe in the resurrection of Christ.

The resurrection is the event by which God validates the sacrifice of Christ. All those animal sacrifices for all those centuries could never take away sin; but the one sacrifice of Christ removes sin on the part of the people of God who believe forever. And God indicated that by the resurrection, by ripping the veil in the temple, ending the ceremonial system and the sacrificial system at that point.

Paul writes, “If there’s no resurrection of the dead, if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain; your faith also is vain. We are false witnesses of God, because we testified on behalf of God that He raised Christ whom He didn’t raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. If the dead are not raised, not even Christ is raised. If Christ is not raised your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

But the most enduring theory of the resurrection, apart from the truth of it, is that the disciples stole the body; and that basically was initiated by the Jewish leaders. When the Roman soldiers came back and they told their story, you remember there was an earthquake, an angel rolled the stone away, an angel even sat on the stone. The soldiers had been literally put to sleep by some divine anesthesia.

The next thing you know there’s an earthquake, the stone’s rolled away, and the body is gone, and the soldiers come to the Jewish leaders in Matthew, and they give this report in Matthew 28, “The earthquake came. We were all asleep, and we don’t know how to explain it.” And so the leaders of Israel say, “Say this, ‘While we were asleep they stole the body,’” If you were asleep, how do you know they stole the body?

Jesus made ten appearances after His resurrection. He appeared to Mary Magdalene. He appeared to the other women. He appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He appeared to Peter, appeared to John, appeared to the ten without Thomas, then the ten with Thomas. He appeared to seven of the apostles on the shore of Galilee, then to 500 brethren on a mountain in Galilee.

He had appearances with them over a month. Acts 1 says He was with them for 40 days teaching things concerning the kingdom, and a final appearance in Acts 1 before He ascended into heaven. So there is massive eyewitness testimony. And all His appearances were to believers. There was one unbeliever to whom He appeared after His resurrection, and that was the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus.

His method of reaching the lost and convincing them of His resurrection is not to make appearances. The way to proclaim the saving gospel is through the preaching of that gospel by the apostles and the preachers throughout redemptive history. In John 12:37 John says this of Jesus, “Though He had performed so many signs, so many miracles before them, they were not believing in Him.”

And Jesus Himself said in Luke 16:31, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” Not too long before His own death He had raised Lazarus from the dead, and everybody knew about it. And He had raised a couple of other people that are recorded in the gospels, and maybe more that aren’t recorded. But that didn’t convince anybody.

Peter, John and the women have seen the empty tomb, and they still don’t believe in a resurrection. Our Lord determined that He would make some appearances for a 40-day period, and the eyewitnesses would give a record, and they would preach the resurrection from the eyewitness accounts, and every generation subsequently would preach the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And by the preaching of that gospel and faith in that gospel, the Holy Spirit would bring people into His kingdom, which are only believers. No sense in appearing to Israel, He had already pronounced judgment on them. Just eyewitness accounts in the hands of preachers was His method. So here we meet the first eyewitness. Now let’s look at the text, it is a simple narrative.

Verse 11, “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.” She goes there to make sure everything’s okay, and maybe some people would be able to roll the stone away. She talked with the women who were with her, but she arrived there first. Maybe the disciples could roll the stone so they could put more spices on the body of Jesus.

Mary arrives there, and she finds the tomb empty. She is weeping because Jesus is not there. Her tears are needless. Her love is manifested. Her tears are because of a broken heart, frustrated, lonely, not understanding what had happened, and having lost the object of her love. Verse 12, “And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.”

Matthew 28 says that one angel was a young man. And Luke 24:4 says there were two young men. So these are angels who are spirits who have taken on, as angels do, some kind of male form. She didn’t know they were angels. Furthermore, she’s sobbing. Her eyes are blurred with tears. So she sees these two men, and she doesn’t really know who they are and what they are doing.

You know that the presence of angels is another proof positive that the tomb was not changed by human hands, that the body was not stolen, but rather that heaven has a vital interest in the resurrection of Christ. She looks in and there is the place where the body was to lie and an angel on each end. God is saying, “I will meet you in the empty tomb. Here I will speak with you.”

Verse 13, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they’ve taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Again, no thought of a resurrection. Even though our Lord had said He would rise, they just didn’t believe it. This woman rescued from seven demons had been in the sweet fellowship of the Son of God, the Son of love.

Verse 14, “Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but did not know that it was Jesus.” She stayed around out of love for Him; Jesus lingered out of love for Her, this first eyewitness. Her tears are blinding her. She has no reason to believe in a resurrection. And every time Jesus appeared after His resurrection He had to identify Himself, because He was in a different form.

Jesus had a glorious resurrection body. And while there would have been familiar elements to that body, this was not the body that went to the cross, this was an eternal body. That is why on the road to Emmaus, in Luke 24, when Jesus joined those disciples on that resurrection day and walked along, it says in Luke 24:16, “Their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.”

He was not the way they knew Him. And later on in Luke 24:30-31 it says, “Now it came to pass, as Jesus sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.” Even when Jesus appeared to the disciples they did not recognize Him because of His resurrection glory.

Nobody did unless He disclosed Himself to them. Verse 15, “Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” She is sure He is dead, and somebody has taken the body. She thinks Jesus is the gardener.

Verse 16, Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). This is an emphatic way of saying rabbi, or teacher. All He said was, “Mary!” Do you remember what our Lord said in John 10:3, “His sheep hear his voice, he calls his own sheep by name. Because they know his voice, they follow him.” She knew the way He said that name.

And we know she falls at His feet, because that’s what all the women did. Matthew 28 says that when the women met Jesus they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. And that’s what Mary does. The shock of the most exhilarating joy ever comprehended, and the one thought she has in her mind is, “I don’t want to lose Him again.” So she hold on, this is pure love.

Verse 17, “Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” Before He got to the cross, He was looking past the cross to going to the Father. That was the joy that was set before Him that allowed Him to endure the cross.

Jesus is saying, “Mary, I can’t stay, you’re not going to be able to keep Me here, because the plan is for Me to ascend to heaven. And when I get there I’m going to send the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Christ who will be in you. And you will have all that I am in you: all the peace, all the joy and all the power. But for now go to My brothers.” That’s the first time believers have been called brothers.

How did we become brothers who were once friends and once slaves? The cross made it possible for us to become the children of God, brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:9 says that, “Jesus suffered death, so that He could bring His own to glory because He’s not ashamed to call them brothers.” To say you are the brother or sister of deity would be blasphemous, but it’s the truth.

Verse 18, “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.” But the sad reality is they didn’t believe her. Eventually the other women showed up. “They’re talking to the apostles,” Luke 24:10, “but these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.” They did not believe in a resurrection. But their turn’s coming. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Apr 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220424 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D2 imblog

John 20:1-10

We come in John 20 to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. So everything from here to the end is about the risen Christ. You need to understand that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is not just a feature of Christianity, it is the main event. The whole purpose of God in creating and redeeming His people is to raise them to eternal glory so that they can worship Him forever.

God raised Him from the dead, validating His work on the cross. He said, “It is finished!” God said, “I am satisfied,” raised Him, and He ascended to eternal glory, sat down at the right hand of God to intercede for His people and bring them all into eternal glory spiritually and in resurrected form. The resurrection then is the greatest event in history. It is the cornerstone of gospel promise.

That is necessary for salvation. That’s why the apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15 says, “It is this truth of the resurrection which you heard, and which you received, and which you believed, and in which you stand.” And to signify that on an ongoing basis, Sunday, the first day of the week, became the day that the church meets to worship. We meet on Sunday, the day of resurrection.

The church has been doing that since it began. Since the apostles on resurrection day, the first day of the week, met with Jesus that evening, the church has always met on the first day of the week to celebrate the resurrection. All four gospel writers, by the way, record the actual history of the resurrection. The composite of all four is the total story of the revealed, inspired resurrection.

Now we talk about the resurrection, we sing about it and we celebrate it. There are several interesting things to note about it. No one saw it happen. No one saw the resurrection. But it’s not an event you need to see. All you need to see is the Person who was dead, and now is alive, and there were many witnesses. And we are also witnesses, because Christ lives in us.

It’s not really a problem that the Bible doesn’t explain the resurrection, because it is a creative event. It is a supernatural miracle like all the other miracles that our Lord did. We see the entire creation account of the universe in Genesis 1, where you go from nothing to the entire universe coming into existence and then humanity came about in six days, but there is no explanation as to how it happened.

It is a creative miracle. That is why it is folly for scientists to study creation. You can only accept the miraculous declaration that the Creator gave us in Genesis 1. We don’t know how any miracle happened as far as the technical aspects of it. We don’t know anything about how God did creation; but we know it’s here, and He told us He did it. And He is God; we don’t question that.

You could know that it happened without knowing how it happened. There are several lines of evidence given in Scripture. There is the empty tomb which is a pretty good indication. There is angelic testimony, directly from heaven; and there were eye witnesses. All of that is laid out in John 20. And we’ll blend in a little from Matthew, Mark and Luke to help you understand it.

John wants us to see the glory of Christ in His death, because He showed us that Jesus literally was in charge of His own dying. And then He was in charge of His own burial. And now He is in charge of His own resurrection. This is to demonstrate to us “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” so that we might believe that, and by believing “have eternal life in His name.”

The Old Testament promised the Messiah would rise in Psalm 16: “He will not allow His Holy One to see corruption, but show Him the path of life. He will not corrupt in the grave, yet will through the grave into life.” Isaiah 53: “He will be cut off,” but “He will see His offspring,” and He will be eternally glorified and exalted. Jesus said He would rise: “Destroy this body, in three days I’ll raise it again.”

Let’s look at John 20:1 – 10, “Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

“3 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. 4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. 5 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there.”

“7 and the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.”

John wants us to understand that Jesus rose from the dead, and the proof of it, first is the empty tomb. It’s the first day of the week, Sunday. It is so early it is still dark. The Jews numbered their days. Sabbath was the seventh day, because it commemorated the seventh day when God rested from creation, and they always worshiped on the Sabbath day. So Sunday is the first day after Sabbath.

Jesus said He would rise on the third day. He had been buried on Friday. He was in the grave a few hours on Friday before sundown. He was there all 24 hours of Saturday. And He would have been there about 12 hours of Sunday, because the Jewish days went from sunset to sunset rather than sunrise to sunrise. Saturday ended at sunset. Jesus had already been in the grave about 12 hours on Sunday.

John said “it was still dark” when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. She was the first one there. She didn’t start out alone. According to Matthew 27, Mary the mother of James and Joses, was with her. She’s in a hurry to get there, and she gets there before the other Mary. Matthew 28:1 both Mary’s headed for the tomb. But now we know Mary Magdalene got there first.

Now there were other women coming along as well. There were three women at the foot of the cross. The same women were there on Friday when Joseph and Nicodemus were burying the body of Jesus. It says in Luke 23:55, “The women who had come with the Lord out of Galilee saw the tomb and where the body was laid.” And they don’t go anywhere or on the Sabbath.

They actually have in mind to go back and pour some more anointing on the body of Jesus. Now the first line of evidence of the resurrection is the empty tomb. The stone wasn’t rolled away to let Jesus out. It was rolled away to let the witnesses in. Jesus doesn’t need the stone to be removed. That night when He showed Himself to the apostles He came right through the door.

Mary Magdalene sees the stone taken away from the tomb. She fears the worst. Verse 2, so “she ran.” She assumes that Jesus is still dead, but taken. And that’s exactly what she says. She runs “to Simon Peter and the other disciple,” who is John, the one “whom Jesus loved,” and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.’”

Here is clear evidence that they had not planned to steal the body of Jesus. She doesn’t expect a resurrection. She is not part of a plot to fake a resurrection. Verse 3, “Peter and the other disciple were going to the tomb. Verse 4, “The two were running together.” Mary Magdalene is running to Peter and John. In the meantime, the other women arrive and the angels appear to them.

She missed the angel. She has that wonderful experience later. Now none of these people know what’s happened on Saturday. They don’t know that the Sanhedrin got Roman guards to guard the tomb, and then put a Roman seal on the stone so that no one would come to fake a resurrection. If you broke the Roman seal you would be punished. And they put many Roman soldiers there.

They don’t know that. They also don’t know that in the dark of Sunday night, God sent a localized earthquake. But before He sent the earthquake, He put all those soldiers under a divine anesthesia, so they all went to sleep. And with the earthquake the stone was rolled away. Matthew 28:1-4 describes it. The soldiers didn’t know what happened. The soldiers fled the tomb.

They checked it and Jesus was gone. They can’t figure out why they went to sleep, because they were professional soldiers, and that was a violation of duty that had severe repercussions. They don’t know where the earthquake came from. They don’t know how the stone was rolled away. They don’t know why the body isn’t there, but it’s not. So there is no reason to stay, so they leave.

We know they’re gone, because Mary Magdalene never refers to them when she gets there. The other women never refer to the soldiers when they get there. Peter and John never refer to them when they get there. They’re gone, they know they have failed in their duty, and so they go right back to the Sanhedrin. And they are collective testimony that the body of Jesus is not there.

Meanwhile Mary Magdalene assumed in verse 2, “that they have stolen the body of Jesus.” She runs to Peter and John; they don’t have any thought of resurrection either. The two are in verse 4 “running together.” John was faster than Peter, he came to the tomb first. He in verse 5, “looked in, saw the linen wrappings lying there, yet didn’t go in.” Verse 6, “Simon Peter also came and went into the tomb.”

Both saw in verse 7, “the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.” Verse 8, “Then the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.” I don’t know what he believed. Verse 9 says, “As yet they didn’t understand the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead.”

So he’s maybe like the man who said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” Notice that they had no expectation that Jesus would rise: the women didn’t, and the leaders of the apostles didn’t. Here’s the evidence of an empty tomb: the absent guards, the stone removed; the body gone; and then the grave clothes neatly lying in place. Even though the body was wrapped, and the head was wrapped separately.

Now if somebody stole the body, it would be a whole lot easier to carry a body all wrapped up and at least smelling reasonable than it would be to unwrap a corpse and touch the flesh itself? Nobody would do that. But the linen wrappings were lying there where the body had been, and the face wrappings where the head had been, because Jesus had just come out through them.

This is no grave robbery. The disciples wouldn’t do it, because they didn’t even expect a resurrection. Everybody knew He was in the grave. The tomb was covered in by the rolling of a large stone over the entrance, sealed with a Roman seal, and guarded by Roman soldiers. All the apostles, except John, died as martyrs. And they died because they preached Jesus crucified and risen.

The Jewish leaders were more afraid Jesus would rise than the disciples believed He would. They knew He raised Lazarus from the dead, and they weren’t dealing with the Messianic disaster that the Jewish believers were dealing with. They saw Him as a blasphemer. But they were frightened of His power, and they actually admitted He had power, but they said His power is from hell.

In Matthew 28:11 - 15 the soldiers are back at the Jewish Supreme Court trying to explain what happened. In the meantime the Lord’s talking to His followers, telling them to go to Galilee, and He’s going to meet them there. But what do you think these soldiers said? “We don’t know what happened. We were all asleep. There was an earthquake, stone rolled away, the body’s gone. That’s all we know.”

“So they assembled,” in verse 12, “with the elders and consulted together.” And the Sanhedrin, “gave a large sum of money to the soldiers.” This is bribery. Whatever the soldiers said wasn’t acceptable. So tell people in verse 13, “His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we were asleep.” But how do you know that if you were asleep? What a stupid plot.

“So they took the money,” verse 15, “and did as they had been instructed.” They went everywhere and said, “The disciples came and stole His body while we were asleep.” “And this story was widely spread among the Jews until this day.” John is writing this sixty years later, and that’s still the story among the Jews. So the Sanhedrin also testifies to an empty tomb. No one ever denied the empty tomb.

Now look at John 20:9. When the women finally began to understand, and Peter and John began to realize it too, it says in verse 8 that John “believed.” The ridiculous notion of critics through history that the disciples were so committed to the resurrection of Jesus that they fabricated is completely contrary to the testimony of Scripture. They don’t fully believe it until they see Him and touch Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Apr 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220417 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D1 imblog

John 19:31- 42

Death, of course, is the most certain fact about life. And death terrifies people more than anything else. That is why, in Hebrews, the writer tells us that it is the fear of death that has held men in bondage all their life long. Scripture tells us that death produces fear in every heart, a fear that is enslaving, a fear from which there seems no escape apart from, except the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are Christian people who say, “To die is gain”; who say, “O death where is your sting?” And some might ask if that’s a realistic perspective, if that’s some kind of mind game to get around this anxiety when we think about death, but it isn’t. It is rational, reasonable and right to look forward to death with anticipation. Death should have no fear for us because there is the death conqueror.

In John 14:19 Jesus said, “Because I live, you too shall live also,” is what takes the sting out of death. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who rescues us from the fear of the grave. He is the one who in dying destroyed death. He has removed death’s sting, conquered its terror, and caused us to look at death not as a disaster but as a friend who ushers us into the presence of God and into eternal glory.

The proof of His power over death is given in the Bible. There are prophesies of His death in the Old Testament. The four gospels all deal with His death. The writers of the epistles and Revelation refers to His death. But there are also prophecies of His resurrection in the Old Testament. The gospels focus on the resurrection. The epistles celebrate the meaning of that resurrection.

The passage tonight is a lengthy passage, and let us look at two features in this text. His death and His burial. And I want you to see how each of these, demonstrate His power over life and death, and they demonstrate that He was indeed the promised Messiah because they fulfill all specific prophesy. And at His resurrection next week we see the clearest testimony that He is God in human flesh.

Jesus is the Messiah; He is majesty. It also proves to us that He has the power of life in Himself, which power He has promised to us. In the sufferings of Christ during the Passion Week and His death, at least 28 specific Old Testament prophesies were fulfilled. They were written anywhere from a thousand to five hundred years before Christ came, and He fulfills them perfectly.

Almost all of them are fulfilled within a 24-hour period leading up to His crucifixion, again reminding us that He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, the one prepared by God, sent by God, who specifically fulfilled the prophecies that God had ordained in the Old Testament. We’re only going to see a few of those, enough to convince us who this Jesus really is.

Let’s look first at His dying starting in verse 30 through verse 37. The reason we fear death is because the surprise in terms of when it will come, and it is a surprise in terms of what it will happen. Since people don’t die and come back, we don’t know what to expect apart from the divine revelation of Scripture. Mankind cannot see beyond this life and knows what is in the future. But that is not how death came to Jesus.

In John 10:17 Jesus said, “For this reason the Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” No one took His life from Him, not even God. God asked Him to give His life, and He agreed.

And certainly not Satan who is the one who holds the power of death and consequently the fear over men. Look at verse 30, “When Jesus, therefore, had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” He shouted those words, “It is finished.” for all people to hear that the work of redemption was done, sin’s wages were paid, and the justice of God was satisfied.

Salvation won, Satan is defeated, and sin destroyed. Jesus has full knowledge of all of that. He knew that every specific detail of the plan of God had been fulfilled. Each prophecy had been completed. He had said what needed to be said; He had done what needed to be done and then willfully He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. It is not the death of a victim; it is the death of victor.

The fact that He died when He did was strategic to many prophecies, and it was strategic to identifying Him as the King of life who had power over death. Jesus died about 3:00 PM, really very soon for someone who had been crucified. Do you know that many people who were crucified lingered as long as three days on the cross? And Jesus was only there for a few hours.

The thieves, less strong than Jesus and scourged less severely, lived longer than He. They suffered more physical pain. But it seems there was a particularly animosity toward Jesus that made the lashes more severe. But the explanation is that Jesus decided to give up His life. He commanded death to take Him because He was on a divine schedule, and He had to fulfill some prophecy.

Verse 31, “The Jews, therefore, because it was the day of preparation, decided that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), So they asked Pilate that their legs be broken, and that they should be taken away.” That is the day before Passover, before the Sabbath. It was a high day, it was Passover Sabbath, which is more holy than all other Sabbaths.

And the Jews wanted those bodies removed before the Sabbath began. This priority reeks with hypocrisy. Obviously its stench is nauseous. Here are these fools who have killed the Son of the living God. They have rejected the reality of their own Messiah. They have denied God. They are the worst blasphemers, but they are scrupulously sure to maintain the form of their religion.

They had in mind a passage in Deuteronomy 21:22 - 23, “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day so that you do not defile your land.” And perhaps they applied it to this moment in time, and they didn’t want the land defiled on the Sabbath.

It was getting late in the afternoon. And the Sabbath begins at sundown. So, they went to Pilate, and asked Roman permission to speed up the death of those men on the crosses by smashing their legs. Verse 32 says, “The solders therefore came and broke the legs of the first criminal and of the other one who was crucified with Him.” The reason is because you die in crucifixion through asphyxiation.

The person hanging on the cross would push himself up by means of his legs, pushing himself up in order to be able to breathe. So, the body, would slide up and down the cross just to be able to breathe. In order to prevent the victim from staying alive, the soldiers would come and break the legs. And unable to push up, the body would slump, and asphyxiation occurs and death would come.

But when they came to Jesus, amazingly, He had already died. It says in verse 33, “But coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.” Jesus yielded up His own spirit because that was the plan of God: to fulfill prophesy and to prove that He was God. In Numbers 9:12, it says that not a bone of the Passover lamb should be broken. And Jesus was the Passover Lamb.

But there was an explicit prophecy in Psalm 34:20, “He keeps all His bones, and not one of them is broken.” So, Jesus used death to fulfill prophecy. Verse 36, “For these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” The Roman soldiers who came by to smash the legs of the victims were experts at determining death. They had nothing to gain by fabricating the fact that Jesus was dead.

That is the main proof that Jesus actually died and puts to rest theories that say Jesus never really died; He just went into a semi-coma and was revived by the spices and the coolness of the tomb. And if there was no death, then there was no resurrection. These soldiers knew a dead man when they saw one, and they testified that He was dead. So that no doubt would remain, read the next verse.

Verse 34, “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.” This too, fulfills prophecy. Look at verse 37, “And again another scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced.’” That is Zechariah 12:10, which said that the Messiah would be pierced, that someday the Jews would look to the One who was pierced and believe.

John says, that he saw blood and water come forth immediately. Here is another proof that He was really dead. The physiological explanation is that Jesus died from a rupture of the heart as a consequence of great mental agony. Such a death would be instant, and the blood flowing into the pericardium would coagulate into the red clot blood and the limpid serum water called water here.

Verse 35, “And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe.” John says, “I’m writing what is true. I’m witnessing to what is true. I am telling you the truth so that you may believe.” John 20:31, “That these are written so you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life in His name.”

Verse 36, “For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And Jesus was not killed by that spear; it only revealed that He was already dead, because He gave His life right on God’s divine schedule. So, you see the deity of Christ. You see His power expressed even in His dying. And John says that everything happened as was told.

Here Jesus exhibits power over death even when dead. In Isaiah 53:9, the prophet said of the Messiah, “His grave was assigned to be with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death.” The Messiah was supposed to be buried in a place prepared for common criminals. In fact, the Romans didn’t even bury them; they simply threw them out for vultures and scavenger dogs to devour.

But it turned out He would be with a rich man in His death. But how? Verse 38, “And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. He came, therefore, and took away the body of Jesus.” Jesus was moving in the heart of a rich man to fulfill the scripture.

Actually, he was a coward. Why all of a sudden, at the most explosive, potentially deadly period of time in the history of the life of Jesus would he expose himself? And not only expose himself as a disciple of Jesus to the people around him, but to Pilate who, of all people, could hold the power of life and death. But he did it because, of course, Christ moved upon His heart.

The four gospels tell us about Joseph of Arimathea. He was rich, devout and righteous. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was at the trial of Jesus, but because of fear of the Jewish leaders, he did not declare his faith. But as Jesus moves on him to fulfill prophecy he goes to Pilate and requests the body of Jesus. And he has to act fast, because this body has to be in the grave before sundown.

Why? Because in Matthew 12:40, it said that Jesus had to be in the grave three days and three nights. That doesn’t mean three 24-hour periods. To the Jews, a day and a night was a term that designated any part of a 24-hour day in terms of dark and light. And the Jews spoke of a day as a day and a night. He has to be in that grave before sundown so that Friday will count as one of the three days.

Verse 39, “And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.” In John 3, Nicodemus also, in addition to Joseph of Arimathea, had become a follower of Jesus Christ. That is a lot of spices. And that would be what amount would be used to anoint the body of a king or some great, wealthy individual.

Verse 40, “They took the body of Jesus, bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.” And we also know, that some women assisted them in wrapping His body. And they just sprinkled in this mixture of myrrh and aloes. It was a fragrance. It minimized the stench of a decaying body. They did not embalm. They did not drain the blood; they simply used this mixture.

Verse 41, “Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet used.” Verse 42, “Therefore, on account of the Jewish day of preparation, because the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” Every detail is orchestrated to accomplish God’s purpose. Everything is done speedily so Jesus was buried before sunset.

So, they were considering Friday, even though He was in the grave a few hours before sunset, as the first day; Sabbath would be the second day; and even though He rose early on Sunday morning, He was in the ground part of the third day. It was critical that Jesus be in the grave on Friday because the prophecy, out of His own lips, needed to be fulfilled fully that He would be three days and three nights in the grave. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Apr 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220410 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001D0 imblog

John 19:16-30

The account of the cross is here given by John and all four gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give an account of the cross. We need to study all accounts to get the full picture. But John’s purpose is stated in John 20:31, “These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.” John writes so that by believing we might have eternal life.

Let us read John 19:16 – 30, “Then Pilate delivered Jesus to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away. 17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. 19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross.

And the writing was: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.’ 20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. 21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments, and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them.

And for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.” 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!”

And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ was the most blessed act of divine love and justice ever. And while the Jews were complicit in rejecting Christ and desiring Him to be killed, and the Romans actually did the killing, but it was God who was fulfilling His plan. God secures the eternal salvation of millions of souls and opens heaven for them, while not compromising His justice.

God has to punish sin and so He punishes it in Christ; this protects His holiness. But He also wants to forgive sinners, because that’s His love. Love and holiness then meet at the cross. Our Lord Jesus is not a mere victim of unjust and wicked men. He died willingly in submission to the will of the Father who had sent Him to be the sacrifice to atone for the sins of all His people.

On the surface you might think that there’s no glory in the death of Christ, where the Son of God is nailed to a cross, hanging naked, since His clothing were gambled for at the foot of the cross. But John wants us to see the glory of Christ, in four ways: with reference to Scripture, with reference to the sign, with reference to the sympathy of our Lord and with reference to His supremacy over dying.

The first thing that we see in the crucifixion of Christ in John’s account is that everything that is happening fulfills Scripture. This is massive evidence, because the ones who are doing all of this to Jesus are pagans with no connection to Scripture. There’s no effort on their part to fulfill anything. They’re just doing what they normally do. They’re doing what they always do at a crucifixion.

Verse 17, “And Jesus, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.” Typical crucifixion victims were terrified, but Jesus went willingly. “Went out” indicates out of the city which is required in Leviticus 16 as well as in Hebrews 13:11. Golgotha is a hill shaped like a skull. Verse 18, “where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side.”

We can find this picture of Christ in Numbers 21, where the Israelites were saved as they looked up to the serpent as explained in John 3:14. Jesus himself said this in John 8:28 and again in John 12:32. Crucifixion itself is described in Psalm 22. Psalm 22:18 is quoted directly in verse 24. “They crucified Him between two other men,” is described in Isaiah 53:9, “He was numbered with the transgressors.”

Look at verse 23 - 24, the soldiers divided the outer garments into four, but there was the ‘tunic’ that was seamless. Only the high priest had a seamless garment. They decided not to tear it but to cast lots. That fulfilled Psalm 22:18 exactly. Everything the soldiers did was fulfilling prophecy, fulfilling Scripture down to the smallest detail. And herein lies the glory of Christ.

Verse 19, “Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.’ Verse 20 says the title was written in three languages, Hebrew, Latin and Greek. Those were the languages that Pilate chose so that everybody could read it. But in his sarcasm, he declares the absolute truth, because this is Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.” He is the Messiah; the Anointed One.

Verses 21 - 22, “Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” He had been blackmailed by the Jews to execute Jesus, and this was his way of showing vengeance. But here is the irony that first appears in this amazing section.

It is an irony that wicked, godless and ignorant men doing the worst they can do, are fulfilling Scripture. It is an irony that the Roman governor Pilate, wanting to heap vengeance and scorn on the Jews, ends up putting a statement above the head of Jesus that is absolutely true. The Jewish people, the chief priests, the Sanhedrin, Pilate and the Roman soldiers were all ignorant.

He is the King not only of Israel, but He will be the King of the entire world, and Philippians 2:10 says, “Every knee will bow, every knee.” And God used the sign to save a thief dying beside Jesus. Let us continue the story at verse 25, “But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Verse 26 - 27, When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ 27 Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.” Here is an act of sympathy toward Mary, His mother. There are at the foot of the cross only four followers of Jesus.

The apostles had fled, with the exception of one man, and that is John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and three women. It was a courageous thing to do, because they were identifying with a criminal who was being executed. It took courage to show up, it took overwhelming love. The mother of Jesus is simply identified by John as His mother without mentioning her name.

This is consistent of the low profile that Mary has in the New Testament. Obviously, she was chosen by God to be the earthly mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, but she finds no special place in redemption beyond that. She was loved by Him with a love that was not like any other love any other human being has ever known, and consequently Mary loved Him in a way she couldn’t love anybody else.

And here it ends at the cross, like a sword that goes through her soul. Joseph has disappeared long before this; no doubt he is dead. Mary has been cared for by Jesus, and brothers and sisters; but at this point, none of them believe in Him. So now His mother needs someone to care for her, someone who believes in Him strongly, and that someone happens to be the disciple whom Jesus loved; that’s John.

John had experienced the love of Christ and it had transformed him, he became known as the apostle of love, and if there’s anything that identifies his gospel is that he understands the love of God, and the love of Christ. It is because he has been loved by the Lord that he loves in return. So Jesus looks down and sees His mother’s sister, Salome, the wife of Zebedee, who is the father of James and John.

And then there’s Mary, the wife of Clopas. She is the mother of an apostle James the son of Alphaeus, and Mary Magdalen, the woman Luke 8 says who was delivered from eight demons by the Lord. Three of these women are named Mary, which means bitterness. This was a popular name, because it was the name of Miriam, the sister of Moses. Many Jewish mothers chose that.

Mary is not a supernatural being; she is a widow who has lost her greatest love, her firstborn Son; and the rest of her children don’t believe in Him. And so Jesus looks down at her and says, “Woman, behold, your son!” and He’s directing her to the apostle John, because He looks to John in verse 27, and says, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

Jesus says, “Woman.” And you might think that’s a little cold. Why doesn’t He call her mother? Well, that went away three years before this when He began His ministry. The first miracle He did was in John 2 at the wedding at Cana. They ran out of wine, and Mary comes to Jesus and says, “They’re out of wine,” and Jesus says, “Woman.” ‘Woman’ is a term of dignity and respect.

That brings us to the supremacy of Christ in verse 28 - 30, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

Here He controls His dying. First you see His omniscience. It says, “Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished.” Back in the prayer of John 17:4, He said, “I have accomplished the work you gave Me to do.” That was anticipating this moment some hours later the next day. But there was one prophecy yet to be fulfilled, and so He says, “I am thirsty.” He had in mind Psalm 69:21.

Psalm 69:21 says, “They gave me gall, but for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” That prophecy had to be fulfilled, so verse 29 says, “A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.” They had tried to give Him gall, but He didn’t take it, because gall was a sedative to try to diminish the pain.

You need to know He died way ahead of schedule for crucified people. If ever there was a man who was all that manhood could be, He was that man. No sin, no corruption, and it’s important for you to know that when He died, He died because He willed Himself to die, and He gave up His spirit. It says in Matthew 27:50 and Mark 15:37 that when He said, “It is finished,” He was shouting.

In John 10:17-18 Jesus said, “No man takes My life from Me; I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down; I have power to take it up again.” And He’ll do that Sunday morning: “It is finished!” What did He finish? He finished redemption by substitution. He finished bearing the wrath of God for the sins of His people. All this is powerful testimony to the deity of Christ.

Again, another amazing irony at Calvary, Matthew and Mark tell us that this thief, like the other, started out “hurling abuse at Jesus.” This is the transformation of a man by what he sees in the dying of Jesus; he is transformed at the cross. He came to fear God. “Do you not even fear God?” he says to his fellow criminal. This sinner went from blaspheming Jesus to rebuking the other thief.

He not only fears God, but he understands his own sinfulness. He says to the other thief, “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds.” He knows he needs mercy, grace, and forgiveness to escape judgment, and he heard what Jesus said in verse 34, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” so he knew there was forgiveness, even for the worst criminal.

And then he knew that Jesus was sinless. He said, “This man has done nothing.” And he says, “Remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” He knew no one survives crucifixion. So he knew that not only would Jesus rise, but Jesus could raise him also. His theology was formed while he was watching Jesus in His death. When Jesus comes back to life, he wants to come to life as well.

Jesus said, “Truly today you’ll be with Me in paradise.” He saw the power of the cross, and he wasn’t alone. In Luke 23:47, “Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God.” So these Romans decided by looking at Jesus dying that He was God. They saw pitch blackness at noon, a massive earthquake, dying the way He died, they were convinced of His glory. Are you convinced too? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Apr 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220403 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001CF imblog

John 19:1-15

In John 19 we look again at the trial of our Lord Jesus Christ before Pilate the Roman governor. The Lord Jesus was humbled in every aspect of His life. The one who is the infinite, eternal God made Himself the suffering, lowly slave of God in taking on full humanity. Let us look at His life and some of the features of His life that demonstrate this kind of lifelong cross.

In His life He bore a kind of cross over three decades of His life in His humiliation and obscurity. But especially in the three years of public ministry He lived without reputation, without honor, without admiration. This is the one who was adored by the Father with perfect adoration and love, and the one whom all holy angels worshiped, and all demons feared.

In His arrest He was captured and He was bound. The the limitless one was tied up by evil men. The very one who could have overpowered them and killed them in a split second rather allowed Himself to be their captive so they could lead Him to death. He was bound by the agents of Satan, and one day angels will bind Satan and cast him forever into the lake of fire.

His betrayal was a kind of crucifixion. After three years of merciful privilege granted to Judas, that traitor chose Satan over the Son of God. In His trials before corrupt earthly judges who falsely condemned Him, the one true Judge to whom all final judgment is assigned was found guilty of things He did not do. He is the Judge before whom all people will one day stand.

In His scourging He suffered obvious pain, ripping and shredding of His flesh: shame, humiliation, pain, nakedness, and mockery. This is the one who never had a body up until then, and when He did have a body that body is scarred for all eternity, scarred for the transgressions of sinners. And even in His sentencing, there was a kind of cross, because He was condemned.

The one who is King of Kings, the one who lifts up and puts down all rulers, who will vanquish all kings when He establishes His earthly kingdom and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords, suffered rejection by rulers and people alike, humiliation, and even death. And then the first time He came it was for a cross, for a crucifixion. His whole life was like a cross.

Now in John 19 we are at the very point of His actual crucifixion. In fact, in John 19:16 you will notice that this portion ends with the words, speaking of Pilate, “So then he handed Him over to the Roman executioners to be crucified.” This leads us to His actual crucifixion. Let us read verse 1- 15, “So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head.”

And they put on Him a purple robe. 3 Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands. 4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.” 5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”

6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” 8 Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid,

9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.” 13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover.

And about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.” This is actual history, with real people in real events.

The Bible is not a mystical book, it’s a historical book. This is the final phase of the trial of Jesus. The Jews didn’t want to kill Him because they were afraid of the crowds. So they determined that it was going to be the Romans that are going to execute Him. This fit into God’s plan because in the Old Testament the picture of the serpent lifted up in the wilderness was a picture of Christ being lifted up.

So according to John 18:32, they insisted on a Roman execution to fulfill the words of Jesus. God was directing even their criminal hearts. They handed Him off to Pilate and said, “Kill Him. Don’t question us, just execute Him.” But Pilate needed a crime, an indictment. He needed evidence and some witnesses. He was a governor and a judge. He needed a reason to kill this man.

Six times it is recorded in the gospels that Pilate said, “Not guilty.” He knew there was no legitimate accusation. He knew Jesus was not leading a revolt. He knew Jesus was no threat to Caesar. “He also knew,” says Matthew 27:18, “that because of envy they had arrested Him.” So Pilate asks Jesus, ‘Are You a king?’ Jesus answered, “I am a king of truth. This is not an earthly kingdom, it’s a transcendent kingdom.”

Now Pilate had presided over hundreds of trials. All of the criminals, innocent and guilty alike, vigorously protest their arrest, argue for their innocence. But here is a man, who knows He is innocent, who makes no case. In his mind he is wondering, “Why doesn’t Jesus answer back? Why doesn’t he defend Himself? But as Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was led as a sheep to slaughter and He was silent.”

Pilate is now trapped by the previous blunders that led to Jewish rioting for which he was reported to Caesar a couple of times and had to be rebuked. He doesn’t know what to do with Jesus. His conscience is bothering him. His wife tells him don’t have anything to do with this man; she had some kind of a dream. Pilate doesn’t want to give in to the people that made his life so miserable, so he passes Jesus off to Herod.

Herod is a king who has some petty authority granted him by Rome in that area. Luke 23 tells us a little bit. Jesus is sent to Herod who is nearby, obviously there for the Passover as well. And it’s a joke to Herod. This is a king. It’s a mockery. Herod never met Jesus throughout His whole ministry. He sees Jesus and he thinks it’s a laughing stock to think of Jesus as a threat.

So after mocking Jesus, heaping scorn on Him, making the ridicule of the people around Herod, he sends Him back to Pilate. So when we come to John 18:39 Pilate’s got Him back, and this is the last of the phases of the trial. Pilate had established a good will gesture. Every Passover he would release a criminal. But, they did not want Jesus released, they wanted Barabbas.

Barabbas was an insurrectionist, a murderer and a robber. You don’t want that kind of person running around as opposed to a healer, a miracle worker, and a teacher of truth. But they chose Barabbas. Barabbas means “Bar Abba, son of the father.” So they chose that son of the father over the true Son of the Father. They chose Barabbas. So Pilate’s first proposal failed.

The second proposal is in John 19. Verse 1, “He took Jesus and scourged Him.” Pilate thought if He beat Him enough, in that bloody and battered condition they would pity Him. There were no limits put to Roman scourging. Thirty-nine lashes was all the Jews could do, because they wanted to stop short of forty, which was the Old Testament requirement as a maximum. The Romans had no such maximum.

So Pilate drags Him out to the crowd on the outside wearing the crown of thorns, verse 5, and says, “Behold, the Man!” “Is this enough? Take a look.” Verse 6, “When the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” This is the second time he said, “I give you permission to kill Him yourselves.”

Pilate is already in some kind of trauma. His wife has warned him. He knows that he’s on the brink of a riot. His conscience is berating him. He’s worried about his future career. But that’s not the worst of it; it really gets serious here. Verse 7, “The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”

They finally arrive on that accusation: “Kill Him for blasphemy.” That is the final full rejection of Israel’s leadership of the Messiah, and there is no excuse. They really were ignorant. But they killed Jesus for saying who He really was. There was no mystery in what His claim was. They knew He claimed to be God’s Son, which is to bear the same nature as God; He claimed deity.

Verse 8 - 9, “When Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, 9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.” More afraid than of his guilty conscience? What else was there to be afraid of? Now why does he panic over this statement about Jesus, claiming to be the Son of God? Because every Roman believed in many gods.

So in the pagan perspective, Pilate is thinking, “This could be worse than just the Jews, worse than just Caesar. The gods may have come down and come after me.” He is frenzied. And to add to that, the warning from his wife came because his wife had some kind of a weird dream mentioned in Matthew 27. Pilate’s real questions was, “Did You come down from the gods?”

Pilate hardened his heart to a point that God hardened His heart, Jesus gave him no answer. In that moment Pilate passed into eternal night in his soul. Verse 10, “Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” The truth of the matter is he didn’t have that authority and he knew it.

Well, technically he did, but that had all been forfeited. He was being blackmailed by the Jews and terrified by this Jesus that might be a god in his presence. Verse 11, “Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” In Roman belief, there are no gods of grace, they’re all vengeful.

Jesus says, “He who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” Caiaphas the high priest and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court had the greater guilt. Eternally there is punishment, and greater punishment. Verse 12, “From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”

So the Jews had to shift back to, “This is a man who claims to be a king. He’s a rival to Caesar. If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar.” You know what Pilate heard at that time? “If I let this Man go, there’s going to be a riot. They’re going to send word back to Caesar; I’m finished.” And in an act of self-protection, he’s going to have to give in. That was the last straw.

Verse 13, “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.” He sets up court, takes his place as the judge. It’s still early morning. Verse 14, “Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

Pilate renders no verdict, the people do that; they’re in charge. Verse 15, “But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” When Jesus said He was the Son of God that was true. When they said, “We have no king but Caesar,” that was a lie. They will blaspheme God to kill Christ.

They said, “Let His blood be on us and on our children. We’ll take full responsibility.” Verse 16, “Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.” Pilate came on the scene in a dramatic fashion; he goes off the scene, as next to Judas, the greatest tragedy in the New Testament. Pilate asked the question, “What do I do then with Jesus who’s called the Christ?”

That’s the question every person must answer, and the answer will determine your eternal destiny. If you do not confess Jesus as Lord, you may be like the indifferent people, or you may be the screaming people who shouted, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” or anything in-between. Confess Him as Lord. Choose life; choose forgiveness; choose heaven; choose joy; choose blessings forever. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Mar 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220327 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001CE imblog

John 18:28-38

In John 18 we are in the middle of a series of trials that our Lord was put through: three of them with the Jewish leaders and three of them with the Gentile leaders. In all, there were six parts to this miscarriage of justice, and we were in Phase One now of the Gentile trial in John 18:28. Let me read today’s text to you till verse 38. Verse 28, “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning.”

“But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” 30 They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.” 31 Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”

“Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. 33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”

35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.” This is the first phase of His Gentile trial before Pontius Pilate.

There will be three phases of that trial: the first before Pilate, the second before Herod, and then back to Pilate finally. When we come to verse 28 we read that they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, which is the Roman judgment hall. Now this is a clash of personalities, all of whom are sinful, all of whom are in some way or another culpable for this miscarriage of justice.

The only person who shines out as righteous, holy and pure is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one being accused of the crime. The ones who are the purveyors of justice are all evil. Jesus is the victim. He is mocked; He is despised; He is ridiculed. He is sentenced to death, and yet it is His purity and majesty that dominates the scene against the backdrop of all their sin.

Who are they? There’s Annas, the patriarchal high priest. There is Caiaphas, the reigning high priest. There is the Sanhedrin, who must upheld the law of the rabbis and of Moses. There is Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. There is Herod Antipas, a king who ruled in the area. There are false witnesses. And there are screaming crowds crying for the blood of Jesus.

There are also Roman soldiers and Roman executioners. All of those evil people are against Jesus to do deadly harm to the Son of God. In the midst of it all, He is the innocent Son of God. He is called the holy Child in the New Testament. The New Testament says in Luke 23, “He has done nothing wrong.” Paul says, “He knew no sin.” Peter says in 1 Peter, “He committed no sin.”

That is testimony to His holy perfection from the beginning of His incarnate life unto the end of it. And the harder they work to accuse Him of being a blasphemer and a rebel and an insurrectionist, a threat both to Jews and Gentiles, to the Roman power, and to God Himself, the more majestic He appears. The glory of Christ is seen in contrast to all the other characters.

The Romans did allow their nations that had been conquered a certain amount of self-government, and they had allowed that in Israel. But they did not allow the Jews to exercise the death penalty. The Old Testament law had established the death penalty. Genesis 9, establishes the death penalty; and the mosaic writings begins to expand the death penalty for crimes beyond murder.

The death penalty was designed by God to be a deterrent, and when it was used with swiftness it was a deterrent. But under Roman rule, that right to the death penalty had been rescinded from the Jews. Though that is true, it didn’t seem to bother the Jews when they stoned Stephen. In Acts 7, they crushed out his life by stoning him. There was no discussion about, “We can’t do this.”

So why suddenly are they so concerned to get the Romans to execute Jesus? Well, it was Passover and there were thousands of Jewish people there, many of whom knew about the miracles and teaching of Jesus. This might cause some kind of revolt.” But that’s not the real reason. The Jewish Talmud says, “Judgment in matters of life and death was taken away from Israel in 30 A.D.”

Do you know that the Romans made this law at this very time of the death of Christ? Here we see God in charge again. If Jesus is to die, it has to be carried out according to the new Roman law, so the Romans had to be the executioners. By the time they get through these three phases of civil trials, the crowd has become blood-thirsty, and screaming at the top of their voices, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.”

Hatred can do that. So the Jews play a prominent role in this drama. They drive this entire episode. They drive Jesus to the cross. They cannot be taken off the hook for the death of their Messiah; they drove the entire execution, through the Jewish trial, and through the Gentile trial. In their stupid blindness, they were convinced that they were honoring God by killing His Son.

The Lord of glory was treated like a vile criminal. The holy One was condemned as a blasphemer. Liars gave false witness against the living truth, and Jesus who is the resurrection and the life was to die. John takes us into the judgment hall, the Praetorium. John starts in verse 28, “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning.”

“But they themselves did not enter the Praetorium lest they would be defiled, but they might eat the Passover.” Early Roman courts began at daybreak and ended at sundown, just like Jewish courts. So the Jews made their sentence viable at the break of dawn by passing the final sentence, and then rushed their prisoner to be the first ones at the Roman court at the break of dawn.

But there is no such Old Testament ceremonial law regulation. The rabbis had invented these things as they pushed the Gentiles further away. According to the Mishnah, the codification of Jewish law, it says, “The dwelling place of Gentiles are unclean.” This misinterpretation isolated the Jews. What is in the law of God is that if you touch a dead body there is a ceremonial uncleanness.

This is an amazing level of hypocrisy; they don’t want to be defiled, but they’re about to kill the Son of God. They were happy to keep the letter of their own invented worldly law while killing the One who came to fulfill it and the One who wrote it in the first place. So it is that this intolerable disdain and revulsion for God and the Son of God makes them act hypocritically as it always has.

Now the trial begins formally in verse 29, “Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” Here we have the first phase of the trial, the accusation, or the indictment. Can’t have a trial until you have an accusation. Pilate went out, he wanted an accusation. He’s the judge. “Who is He? What has He done?” And Pilate finds out that Jesus has done nothing wrong.

Pilate is a judge, and he has the responsibility to uphold the Roman law, and he did not want to condemn Jesus to death. But he did. He knew Jesus was innocent, he repeatedly says He is innocent, and he has Him executed anyway. He tried several times to get out of it, his wife tried to get him out of it; but he never could. Why did Pilate cave into these Jews and execute a man that he knew committed no crime?

Israel would often have governors who were in charge of the Roman military power that was there, and also had judicial responsibility in the area and these governors were not to accept bribes nor to raise taxes. And they could be removed if the people reported them to the emperor and they were determined to be unfit. So Pilate was under constant threat of the Jews reporting him to Caesar.

In John 19:12, the Jews said to Pilate, “If you release this man you’re no friend of Caesar. We’re going to tell him again.” Why does Pilate even release Jesus when he knows He’s innocent? Blackmail! He had no courage because he killed Jesus to keep his job. So verse 30, “They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”

Pilate asked for an accusation, but they accused him of questioning their integrity. There was no accusation. They couldn’t find one single crime, and they had tried. Here we see again His innocence. If they don’t want a trial, why did they come? Verse 31, Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.” Do you understand what he just said to them? “Kill Him yourself.”

Well their law was the Law of Moses, which gave them the right of capital punishment, particularly with a blasphemer. Leviticus 24:16 says that a blasphemer should be stoned. But the Jews said to him, verse 31, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” So now they’re quoting Roman law. Why are they going to force this issue through Pilate, through Herod, and back to Pilate?

Verse 32 gives us the answer: “To fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.” Why all of this? Because Jesus said this in John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” He was going to die by being lifted up. That’s how the Romans executed criminals, they lifted them up on a cross.

Jesus prophesied His own crucifixion. This frenzied madness is all under the control of a sovereign God to fulfill specific words that Jesus said. You say, “It seems like a very small detail.” It’s not. If ever He spoke a lie, He is not who He claimed to be. So there is no accusation. Verse 33, “Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

Verse 34, “Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” Now the Jews had said He forbids tribute to Caesar. Jesus says He’s a king, but there’s nothing that rose to the level of any kind of problem for Rome. This is not some man who’s starting a revolution. Jesus paid His taxes; and He had the disciples pay their taxes.

Verse 35, “Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” This is some kind of Jewish issue that has nothing to do with the military. Verse 36, Jesus answers, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but My kingdom is not from here.”

Jesus is a king by nature, and He is a king over a spiritual dominion. He rules a kingdom where He creates and then regenerates His own subjects. The kingship of Jesus is in a realm all by itself. Man’s world produces many kings, many rulers. King Jesus is heavenly, eternal, and supernatural. There was nothing about Jesus that resembled an earthly king. He is the King of Kings.

Revelation 11 points to a day when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord. Verse 37, Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

There are two things there: “For this I have been born,” that’s His humanity. “For this I come into the world,” that’s His deity. He existed before He was born. He existed in heaven before He came into the world. And why? “To testify to the truth.” He’s the king of truth; His kingdom is truth; He is the truth. Jesus says, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

If you reject Christ you do not know the truth. He is the eternal truth and the salvation truth. Verse 38, Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.” That is post-modernism. “There’s no absolute truth.” Jesus said this, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Christ is flawless; He is faultless; He is righteous. He’s a lamb without blemish. He’s the king of truth, maligned, accused, hated, mistreated, executed; and what you see in the whole thing is His glorious perfection. This is a glimpse of Christ that should elicit that love in your heart. In the New Testament, God has spoken to us by His Son. What will you do with the truth? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Mar 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220320 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001CD imblog

John 18:12-27

Open your Bible now to John 18 to study the drama of our Lord on the day of His execution. We can cover that amount of text because it is a straightforward narrative. I don’t want to expand this text. I want to give it to you the way the Lord has designed it, because it is an unusual format. Here we have Jesus’ trial and Peter’s denial juxtaposed against each other.

They are two significant events, happening at exactly the same time. And so we see Jesus in His glory and Peter in His iniquity. It is a text, showing the glory of Christ as always, and that’s John’s intention. But it shines against the backdrop of the utter failure of his most noble and self-confident follower Peter. In fact, it shows us the kind of sin for which our Lord is headed to the cross.

In John 18 He is moving directly to His arrest. John 18:4 says, “Knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, Jesus went forth.” He went right to the garden of Gethsemane where He would go very often. Judas knew He would be there, and Jesus knew Judas knew He would be there, and so Jesus knew that Judas would lead the force that would come to arrest Him; that was the place.

There are Roman soldiers, there are temple police and there are scribes and chief priests and dignitaries. Even some of the servants were there, such as one named Malchus, whose ear Peter chopped off in an attempt to defend his Lord. Our Lord does His last miracle there, creating a new ear for that man. But in spite of the divine power in the collapse of all of them, they arrest Him.

He was going to die on that Passover as God’s true Passover Lamb. It is a small army that confronts Jesus, and He takes the occasion to display His glory to them, to the eleven, and to all who will ever read the account of His arrival in the garden and His arrest. He turns their well-planned maneuvers into a display of His own glory. He caused them to fall to the ground by the word of His mouth.

Jesus demonstrates that He is securing the disciples by having them say that they only have a right to take Him; so they cannot arrest the disciples. That would be more than their faith could bear. He creates an ear, and then He rescues Peter from a stupid act that could have cost Peter his life. And Jesus upheld capital punishment which is ordained by God back in Genesis 9:6.

Jesus said, “Put away your sword, Peter. If you live by the sword you will die by the sword.” If you take a life, they have a right to take your life. He is now in the garden confronted by this crowd that is going to arrest Him. Matthew adds that Jesus said, “Do you not think that I cannot ask My Father and He will even now send Me more than twelve legions of angels?”

Verse 12 tells us, “Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him.” John Calvin said, “The body of the Son of God was bound so that our souls might be loosed from the cords of sin and Satan.” And then as the passage unfolds, we see four scenes pulling together these two different dramas – the drama of the trial and the drama of the denial.

Why? This is how it happened. They were going on simultaneously. John is showing us, at the point our Lord is going to die, He is paying for the sins that are being committed by the one who would be considered to be the best follower He had. It paints a dark picture to display the light and glory of God’s grace. Jesus on the way to the cross is going to die for the sins of Peter and all of us.

And this is why it must be His time, and why He must die to pay for these sins and all sins like them. Verse 13, “After He was bound, they led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Verse 14, Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.”

They’re glad that it’s night and out of the city. They’re on the Mount of Olives in an obscure, isolated garden. So here they are, blinded by Satan to the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. So the commander and those who are with him, arrest Jesus. At this point, Matthew tells us, the disciples flee. They are fulfilling the prophecy of the Old Testament that the sheep will scatter.

So here is Christ, God’s Lamb, being bound and prepared for that final offering of Himself. So they led Him to Annas first. And this is important because you need to know that there were six aspects of His trials. There were three religious trials and three civil trials. The three religious trials went first to Annas, and that was a preliminary. That didn’t work, so Annas sends Him to Caiaphas.

And then to the Sanhedrin, which is the Jewish Supreme Court. They have a mock trial in the darkness of night, which is illegal, and they’ve already made up their mind. In order to give it the appearance of legality, they meet with Caiaphas after daybreak, and that final third stage is the public stage in front of the Sanhedrin. So from Annas to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, the three parts of the religious trial.

After that, there were three parts of the civil trial. They sent Him to Pilate, Pilate sent Him to Herod, Herod sent Him back to Pilate, so six different trials. Now, this is the first trial in front of Annas who is, in verse 19, the high priest. But in verse 13, it says Caiaphas was high priest that year. This was no problem in the Jewish world, because according to Numbers 35, a high priest was a high priest for life.

So they would always think of Annas as the high priest. However, the Romans didn’t like that, because that gave one man too much power. And so they always wanted to remove the high priest and replace him. However, the subsequent high priests to Annas were five of his sons and one of his grandsons, which meant that he, as the father and grandfather, was always the high priest behind the scenes.

Now the Romans appointed Caiaphas who is Annas’ son-in-law. The Jews feared that the Romans would become their enemies; so to appease the Romans, the priestly family basically did what they wanted. They allowed the establishment of a Roman taxation system. They corrupted worship. So that our Lord, at the beginning and the end of His ministry, cleaned it out and called it a den of thieves.

Caiaphas, who was high priest that year said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that this is a simple problem. It is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish. All we have to do is kill one man. He did not believe in the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. He did not believe in the doctrine of imputation of righteousness.

Caiaphas had no idea what he was saying. John 11:51 says: “Now he didn’t say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation.” God prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and verse 52, “and not for the nation only, but in order that He might gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad in the world.”

The statement is made by an ignorant high priest, but he prophesies the truth. But from his vantage point was verse 53, “From that day on they planned to kill Him.” They were immensely rich, ruthless, and greedy and they were afraid to lose their power. Annas was furious with Jesus when He went in and threw everybody out of the temple again; and Caiaphas was also furious with Jesus.

Now we go from the trial to Peter’s denial. Matthew 26:56 says, “All the disciples fled.” Verse 15 says, And Simon Peter and another disciple found their way back. They couldn’t take the separation and we see Peter following Jesus. Mark 14:54 says, “He followed from far off.” He’s following Jesus, but he doesn’t want anybody to know it. He is following in a cowardly way, so he hides to watch.

Remember when Jesus talked about His death Peter said, “I’ll die for you in John 13:37. All that self-confidence is now called into question as he sneaks around in the darkness. He’s not alone. Verse 15 says there was another disciple. Who’s that? It’s John, although he appears all throughout his gospel, he never mentions his own name. He calls himself ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’.

John is known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest. He goes right in with Jesus, because the high priest knows John. Peter is outside, so he went out, spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in. Then the slave girl who kept the door, she is not someone to fear, right? She says, “You’re not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” and he said, “I am not.”

Now that was the first lie to a slave girl. The shock of the question launched that answer that was about self-preservation. It was casual and insignificant, but he was already prepared to lie to save his himself. And that’s how temptation comes, doesn’t it? When we’re not expecting it, it catches us off guard. It’s those sudden blows that hit us blindside, that extract our weaknesses.

Verse 18, “Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.” This indicates that it’s deep into the night, because Jewish trials were not allowed to be held at night. Verse 19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples and about His doctrine.

This is to be a legal arraignment. But there is nothing legal about it. They had already decided they wanted Him dead. It was Jewish law that a prisoner must be asked no question which by answering would be an admission of guilt. If you’re going to find someone guilty, there has to be evidence. Our Fifth Amendment law is drawn from Jewish justice patterns.

So the high priest, who is the judge, says to Jesus, “Tell me about Your disciples and Your teaching.” He has no right to ask Him any question at all. So he asked Jesus, “Where are Your disciples?” He’s trying to put together just how widespread this insurrection may be. “And what about Your teaching? What are you teaching? What are your heresies?”

Verse 20, And Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together, and I spoke nothing in secret. 21 Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.” Bring the witnesses. Do this legally. You can determine who is a disciple of Mine.”

He says in John 15:25, “They hate Me without a cause.” Verse 22, “And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus on the face, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?” This is the first blow inflicted against His body, received from a Jew. That fulfills Micah 5:1, “They shall strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.”

Even in this, Christ is proving to be the judge of Israel. Here He is in a court and there is a judge, but He is the true judge of Israel who is hit in the face with a rod. He is fulfilling prophecy. Calmly Jesus responds in verse 23, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?” You’re asking Me about My disciples and My teaching. Where is the testimony here?

True justice has to release Him, because there are no witnesses, there is no indictment. But instead, verse 24, “Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.” Now, the Sanhedrin is assembled with Caiaphas in the dead of night. This is illegal. They bring in false witnesses. They accuse Him of blasphemy, and then they say He’s trying to overthrow Caesar because He claimed to be a king.

But as the scene closes with Him being delivered to Caiaphas, switching back to Peter’s denial. Verse 25, “Simon Peter is still standing and warming himself. Therefore they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not!” Verse 26, “One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?”

27 “Peter then denied again; and immediately a rooster crowed.” The other writers tell us “and he swore, cursed, and immediately a rooster crowed.” Rooster crows at 3:00 AM. In the black darkness, he just keeps denying, even if no one is threatening his life. Turn to Luke 22:60, “Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about.’” Then this, powerful moment, “The Lord turned and looked at Peter.”

That was the second phase of His religious trial. The next was to come after dawn. The difference between Peter and Judas, Judas went out and hanged himself. No remorse that turned to repentance, just remorse that turned to suicide. With Peter it as remorse that turned to repentance. He wept bitterly. Judas hated Jesus Christ, Peter loved Him. And on that basis, the Lord restored Peter.

The reality of this passage is, here is a disciple sinning greatly. And this sin, on all accounts, would be enough to say Peter is nothing more than another Judas. Instead, he becomes the great gospel preacher on the Day of Pentecost and through the first half of the book of Acts. This is the people for whom Christ died. And while He’s actually going to the cross, they’re sinning against Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Mar 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220313 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001CC imblog

John 18:1-11

We have finished the prayer of our Lord, the example of His constant intercession for His own. It is by His ministry of mediation and intercession that He brings all His children to glory; and in His interceding for us at the Father’s throne, that we are secure. In John 18 is an illustration of the protection of believers, because of His personal love for them. John 18 gives the action He takes to protect us.

He is securing His own at a time that could have devastated them, while He Himself is in the midst of being betrayed and being arrested. John 18:1 – 11, “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. 2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples.”

3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” 5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them.”

6 Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Then He asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,” 9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.”

10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” John says Christ knew His hour had come. What hour is this? This is the hour when He completes His work.

This is the time that begins with the cross, and then the resurrection, and then forty days of instruction, and then the ascension, and then the exaltation, and then the launching of His ministry of intercession; and all of that is going to happen in the next six weeks. We now come to the dark tragic part of His life. He has been verbally criticized, but He has never been touched physically.

Christ will die at this Passover as God’s true Passover Lamb. So we see the horror of, agony, sweating blood, anguish, loneliness, betrayal, arrest, injustice, torture, execution by being nailed to a cross. But Jesus is no victim. John 20:31 says, “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

What on the surface may have looked as if it were the darkest of all times, in actuality puts the glory of Christ on majestic display. He always exhibited total control over all people and all circumstances. And that continues in His arrest, in His mistreatment, in His unjust trial, in His execution, in His burial, in His resurrection, and to His exaltation. It is Satan’s hour. But in reality, it is God’s hour.

Now, in these eleven verses, John wants us to see the glory of Christ in His betrayal and arrest. Judas, the traitor of all traitors is on display. It is in the middle of the night, everything is dark, and the darkest of it all are the hearts of the people surrounding Jesus and the disciples. But in the midst of this John shows us our Lord’s glory. We see His divine resolve and His divine power.

But it isn’t just Satan’s plot to kill Jesus, as we heard Peter say in Acts 2:23, it is God’s predetermined plan. So here, God and Satan come together on the same person for two different reasons, and God triumphs. Instead of debasing Christ, as the devil intended, He is exalted in these scenes to the highest heaven. His unbounded magnificence is shown to us in all these settings.

Verses 1 - 5, “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. 2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. 3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.”

“4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking? 5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” This is His divine resolve. He moves to His own death in which He will absorb all the wrath of God for all the people who have ever believed in Him through all of human history.

And God will unleash that massive wrath in a period of three hours in which Christ will be forsaken by God. To undergo that event, Him being the eternally sinless Son of God, and to do it with resolve shows a divine level of courage. He knew exactly what was awaiting Him. He knew precisely what was going to happen, verse 4 says, “Jesus, knowing all things that would come upon Him.”

A symbolic reality must have faced our Lord because up in the temple ground, through that day and the next day, there was a massacre of lambs. All the Passover lambs were being slaughtered, and their blood was running down the altar like a river, and it would run into channels that would take that blood out the back side of the temple, down the temple slope, into the same Kidron brook.

Jesus would ascend up the slope of the Mount of Olives to that “garden of Gethsemane.” And “Gethsemane” means “oil press.” It is, after all, the Mount of Olives, and olives are pressed to make olive oil. Jesus and His disciples had been there many times. Jesus knew it well, and Judas knew it well. Jesus then enters the garden. It says, “He entered it,” the end of verse 1, “with His disciples.”

Why did He go to the Garden of Gethsemane? Well, it was a kind of home to Him. There’s an interesting comment made in John 7. It says at the end of our Lord’s conversation with the crowd, “Everyone went to his home.” And then John 8:1 says, “Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray.” He had already prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before and sweat drops of blood.

Verse 2, And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples.” The reason Christ went there is because He knew that place was where Judas was coming, Luke 21:37 says, “During the day, He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet.” Jesus knew Judas would know where He would be.

Jesus is no victim. He moved to His betrayal resolutely. He moved to His arrest. He moved to His own execution. He is not deceived and He’s not surprised. The leaders of Israel wanted to get Him sooner, but they feared the people. Matthew 26:4-5 says: “They wanted to arrest Him, but they feared that if they did it, it would start a riot, because Jesus Christ was so popular.”

So Jesus made it easy for them. Judas informed the authorities that He would be there, and that’s why Jesus went there. He took the eleven with Him, so that they might know that He was not seized as a helpless victim. But that they could see that He voluntarily gave up His life. Jesus says in John 10:17-18, “No one takes My life from Me; I lay it down of Myself.”

Verse 3, “Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.” But, as He said in Luke 22:53, to the chief priests and the officers and the elders, the ones who came after Him when they finally arrived in the garden. He said, “I was with you daily in the temple; you did not lay hands on Me.”

The Romans and the Jewish temple police have been gathered together with the elders and the chief priests, led by Judas. Matthew 26:47 says, “A great multitude with swords and spears and clubs.” Usually the Romans were stationed at Fort Antonia during feasts. Here they are in the middle of the night, all converging on Jesus. They had their full force under full command.

This is a recognition on their part of the power of Jesus. They’d seen it on display in the temple. They knew that He had raised Lazarus from the dead. They knew He was a miracle worker. They were very aware of His power. Such is the idiocy of unbelief. They send an army to take an unarmed Galilean carpenter and teacher. They were all also aware of His popularity.

Why did they bring “torches”? They made an assumption that He was going to run and they would have to catch Him. Only “Judas” is mentioned, with the exception of “Malchus.” He was there so Jesus could do one more miracle, just to make their crime worse, creating a new ear for him. Why didn’t Judas just come and say, ‘It’s Jesus, over there’?” He wanted to tell Jesus that he was back.

The sign that this is Jesus is a kiss; as Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us. He goes up and kisses Jesus which is the traditional kiss of affection. His cunning turns into hypocrisy. Inferiors kiss the hand, slaves kiss the foot, but kissing the face is a sign of love, intimacy and affection between equals. He just wanted to make Jesus think He has nothing to fear so they can grab Him.

It is an unforgettable kiss. Jesus unmasks him immediately. Jesus says to him in Luke 22:48, “Are you betraying the Son of God with a kiss?” Verse 4, “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” He had known it since He told them that in Genesis 3, Genesis 22, Isaiah 53, and Zechariah 10-12.

He had known it as the Son of God from all eternity. He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. He knew exactly every single detail that was going to happen because of His omniscience. He knew He was walking toward physical pain, and into the furnace of the wrath of God, His Father. This is the divine resolve. And all the glory is given to Christ.

Verses 5, “They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them.” Judas is under the full control of Satan. Jesus doesn’t wait for anybody to say anything. And then He faces them and says, “Whom do you seek?” verse 6, “Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.”

All the many men collapsed in a heap on the ground, these strong soldiers; these angry, hostile temple police, the religious leaders and chief priests, they all went down like dominos. This is divine power. All authorities and powers are literally falling backwards at the power of His name, one single, unarmed figure. And they were armed to the teeth and ready for war.

There is power in His words. He created by words; and He can destroy by a word. He is no victim. He has complete control over them; one word is enough. He is the one of whom Isaiah says that “He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth” (Isaiah 11:4). He is the One of whom Paul says, “He will slay the lawless with the breath of His mouth.” He spoke and everything came into existence.

Divine resolve and divine power. Thirdly, divine love. And here’s where we see the illustration of His prayer in John 17. Verse 7, “Therefore He again says to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ and they said, ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’” As they’re picking themselves up off the ground, He asks them the same question twice so they confirmed their order. You all have no official warrant to arrest My disciples.

Verse 8 – 9, Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,” 9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.” He does not allow the disciples to be arrested, so that He will fulfill Scripture that they will not be lost. They scattered. Faith can fail, unless the Lord doesn’t let it fail.

What this does teach us is no matter how weak, how vacillating, how fast we run and scatter, we’ll never be put through something that would be destructive to our faith. Because Jesus will pray you into heaven, and He’ll protect you. “Simon Peter then,” verse 10, “has a sword.” So he takes a whack at the head of Malchus, who’s just a slave for the high priest. He ducks and only loses an ear.

We’ve seen His divine resolve and His divine power and His divine love. His divine righteousness comes through in verse 11. Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath.” He said in Matthew 26:52, “All who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Our Lord upheld capital punishment, “Peter, you take a man’s life, and they’ll take your life, rightly so.”

So Jesus says at the end of verse 11, “The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” This is no victim. This is the all-glorious Son of God, willingly, voluntarily - in an act of supreme obedience to which He agrees joyfully to give Himself up in our place. “The Father has given Me the cup to drink for the sake of all the people He has given Me to love everlastingly.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220306 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001CB imblog

John 17:24-26

This is our final look at John 17. Let us look at the final three verses, 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.”

26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” The last portion of this prayer, is given in verse 24: “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me.” That is the promise to everyone who is redeemed, everyone who is justified, and everyone who is a Christ follower.

We will one day be in heaven with Him. That is the glorious end, the indescribable end to which all of us look for and long for. But in reality we live our lives earthbound, so it’s difficult for us to experience real anticipation for heaven. How often do you think about heaven? How often do you think about being free from sin? How often do you think about being holy?

Do you think about being in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? David in Psalm 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Do you understand what Paul meant when he wrote, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is much better”? Do you understand the longing of his heart to be absent from the body and to be with the Lord?

As believers in Colossians 3:1 we have been told to, “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” But I fear that we really don’t grasp the reality of what heaven is. Yes, it is a real place, but it is not so much defined as a place as it is as a person. David said, “In Your presence, in Your right hand, that’s where joy lies, that’s where pleasures are kept.”

We know something about heaven. But it’s easy to get caught up in descriptions of a place and not understand that the heart of heaven is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will never see God because God is invisible. We will never see the Holy Spirit because He is invisible. But we will see Christ. We will enter into love, joy, satisfaction and fulfillment that is beyond comprehension.

We actually should be living all the time in a full anticipation of heaven. Our Father is there, that’s how we pray: “Our Father who art in heaven.” Our fellow believers who have died are there, the generation of those who are enrolled in heaven, “the spirits of just men made perfect.” Our names are there, which means there’s a place that belongs to us; we have an entitlement.

In Luke 10:20 Jesus said, “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Our citizenship is there. Our inheritance is there - an inheritance which is “imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for us.” Our holiness is there. Our perfection is there. We are sinless there. And our eternal reward is there.

Our Lord said in Matthew 5:12, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.” But most important, our Savior is there, standing at the right hand of God. According to Acts 7:56, when Stephen looked up, he saw the Savior standing at the right hand of God. He has gone there to prepare a place for us in the Father’s house. Heaven is all about being with Him; our Savior is there.

God’s purpose in salvation was to bring us to heaven. From eternity past, when He chose who would be in heaven, to eternity future, when all whom He chose will be in heaven, God is fulfilling His plan. Hebrews 2:10 says, “For it was fitting for God for whom are all things, and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering.”

God is satisfied, fulfilled and glorified in loving. God wanted many more sons to love. So the Father decided to create a universe. He allowed for sin and the Fall to put His mercy, grace, and salvation on display. He sent His own Son to die in the place of the sons, to redeem them from judgment, in order that He might have His justice satisfied and forgive their sin and bring them to glory.

The Lord Jesus also is the Great High Priest who prays us into glory, and that’s what’s going on in John 17. He not only lived for us a perfect life that could be imputed to our account; He not only died for us to provide the sacrifice for our sin; He not only rose for us to grant us life; but He ever-lives, making intercession for us, praying us into glory against all attacks, and all sin.

Jesus Christ stands at the right hand of God the Father on our behalf, as the attorney for our defense, praying us into glory. That is what Paul calls in Romans 5 his “much more” work. His death is a matter of hours on the cross, His resurrection after a matter of days. But His intercession goes on as long as time goes on. In John 17, we have the only example of His intercessory prayer to bring sons to glory.

Our Lord has two final requests of the Father. The first is a prayer for the regeneration of believers, that we would be one in the world, and that’s verses 21-23. Which means that they are one in the sense that they possess eternal life, that they may be one in the sense of regeneration in life shared by the Father and the Son. This is a prayer for internal life, the very life of God to all who believe.

Jesus is talking about making them one, in the sense that We are one: “I in them, You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity.” The original text here is what we call a perfect passive participle – “having been perfected,” an already accomplished act. “I am praying that they will already have been perfected while they are in the world.” He’s talking about us being redeemed; conversion, the unity of eternal life.

So the world can see what transformation takes place by the power of God through the gospel. We then are sent into the world to put that on display while we proclaim the gospel. He is praying for the salvation of those who believe, and that they would be granted the full eternal life that belongs to the triune God. Like 1 Corinthians 6:17, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”

It’ll show up in good works to which we have been foreordained (Ephesians 2:10). It’ll show up in the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control.” Now there’s one final request. The second is, a prayer for glorification and that we might be one in heaven. Here is the ultimate: the Son prays for the Father to bring all His chosen sons to glory.

Listen to Paul in Colossians 1:3-5, “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Jesus Christ and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” Paul says, I’m like Christ; I have heard about your faith. And now I’m praying based on your hope for you to get to heaven.

Verse 24 says, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me.” He desires to be with us. He doesn’t want everybody; He just wants “those whom You have given Me.” What gives us value is not intrinsic to us. It is because we are the Father’s chosen love gifts to the Son, which is all that is bound up in that love.

It is because of the Father choosing us as a gift of the Father’s love. It is the Father loving the Son and the Son loving the Father, and I get caught in the middle. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.”

He’s certainly not talking about Jerusalem where He was when He prayed that. He’s not talking about Gethsemane where He is about to be in a few moments after the prayer. He is talking about heaven. It’s on His mind, back in verse 11: “I am no longer in the world; yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You.” Verse 13: “Now I come to You.” His desire is for eternal fellowship with us.

God has more love to give than what He gave His Son. He wants many sons. That’s why Ephesians 1:5 says, “God chose us to adopt us as sons.” We are sons of God, given as a collective bride to Christ. We are headed for heaven to be with Him.” Psalm 23, “We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” He desires to be with us, because we are the Father’s love gifts to Him.

In 1 John 3:1 we read, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.” We have been so loved by the Father. We don’t deserved it. Purely on the basis of God’s choice and sovereignty, we have been given to Christ, we have become children of God. The world doesn’t know this. Why? John says, “Because it doesn’t appear what we will be.”

But we know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is.” Heaven is seeing Christ, being with Him. Now, if you’re a believer, you don’t totally love the world. “If you love the world,” 1 John 2 says, “the love of the Father is not in you.” One of my desires has been to fill your life with the realities of Christ, so that He draws out all your affections.

And if you love Christ most, then heaven will be fulfillment. Why does He want us to be with Him? Two reasons. Reason one, verse 24: “So that they may see My glory which You have given Me.” When He came down to earth, His glory was veiled. John 1:14 says, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” We saw His glory revealed in grace and truth.

His true glory was veiled, but His attributes shone through. There was only a moment when they glimpsed His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, in Matthew 17, and they all literally fell over in just a glimpse of His unveiled glory. But now we only know that by faith. Paul had some visions, but they were blinding on the Damascus Road. But when we get to heaven, we will see Him as He is.

What do you think you’re going to see? Forget the nonsense in all the books written by people who didn’t go to heaven but said they did. When you see Him as He is, you will see Him the way He is described in Revelation 21. Now we can see just a part of heaven. The material is jasper. The city is pure gold like clear glass. There are precious stones adorning the foundation in verses 19-20.

And then there are brilliant pearls that reflect the colors of the rainbow. And the streets are transparent glass. You’re looking at the New Jerusalem, the capital city of the infinite heaven. It has no boundary, it has no end. “And there’s no temple,” verse 22, “for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it.”

You don’t need any light, “for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” There’s one light in infinite heaven and it’s Christ. All the peoples will walk by its light. And there will be no night.” In Revelation 22:3, “There’ll no longer be any curse; the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it...His bond-servants will serve Him; and they will see His face.”

Why does He want us to see this glory? Because I want them to see that You loved Me before the foundation of the world. How does that connect? All that glory given to Me to become the Lamp of an infinite heaven is an expression of the Father’s love to Me.” When you enter heaven and you see the glory of Christ, you will know how much the Father loved the Son.

We are going to see such glory radiating from Christ that He’s the only lamp in the infinite, eternal heaven forever. We are loved into heaven, so that we can see how much the Father loves the Son. We will spend forever praising and honoring our Savior and redeemer as we behold His glory. And, secondly, to know His love, not just to see that He is love, but to experience it.

Look at verses 25 and 26, “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Christ says, “I’m going to continue to make Your name known, and I’m going to gather in all your beloved sons.”

Why? Here’s the second purpose clause, “so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” I want them with Me to know My love, the love with which You love Me.” I want them here to experience My love. And, that incorporates that we would love Him back. His mediatorial work, to bring us to glory, is to bring us into that incomprehensible love; and He will get us there.

God in His immense essence is invisible to our eyes, and it will be so for eternity; we will never see Him. Also He is incomprehensible to our minds, for nothing can perfectly comprehend that which is infinite. The blessed and blessing sight which we shall see of God will always be the face of Christ. We will reflect that glory through all of heaven. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Feb 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220227 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001CA imblog

John 17:20-23

This is the only place where we have the intercessory work of our Lord Jesus Christ before the Father laid out for us verbatim. We know our Lord ever-lives to make intercession for us, and this is the intercession that He makes. This goes on all the time since His ascension until the end of the age. And this is then the Lord Jesus Himself praying for us, before His loving Father.

It all begins on Thursday night, during Passion Week, when there is the celebration of the Passover. The Passover was a feast that God instituted back in Exodus 13 and 14 to commemorate His miraculous deliverance of Israel. After 400 years of slavery in Egypt He delivered them, and that was 1,500 years ago. That event was the most monumental deliverance that God had ever done for His people.

But there was an even more monumental deliverance, the deliverance from God to His people through the death of His Son, a deliverance that was not physical, but spiritual. So that resulted in the last official Passover to be held. The Lord transformed that feast into the Lord’s Table, the Communion, which goes back to the cross, which is God’s greatest act of deliverance for sinners.

Our Lord gathered that evening with His twelve disciples. Satan entered Judas, who was the son of perdition and never a son of God; and he left to go carry out the betrayal which is about to happen. In John 12, our Lord Jesus’ soul was deeply troubled. He was fully aware that this Friday was coming, where He would die as God’s chosen sacrifice for the sins of all His people.

And the horror for Him is not what men will do to Him, but what God will do to Him, to lay on Him the iniquity of us all, and then punish Him for all the sins of all the people who will ever believe through human history. In John 13 He is still caught up in how much He loves His own. The boundless love of those unworthy eleven is expressed throughout that evening and on Friday morning.

Jesus gives them promises of divine love: a promise of heaven that He’s going to prepare a place for them in the Father’s house; the promise of power to do greater works than He did, not greater in kind, but greater in extent; they will cover the globe eventually. The promise that anything they need He will supply from heaven and the promise that the Holy Spirit is going to come and be in them.

He also granted them peace, His peace. He promised them forgiveness of sin, but He also promised them fruitfulness, that they would bear much fruit. He also warned them about persecution, hatred, and even death. But in the end, He promised them that He would overcome the hostile world, and He promised them a joy that no one could ever take away to a group of men who were weak and struggling.

They were promises of love, but they were promises of grace as well. In John 15, our Lord said, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also.” You are the first generations of gospel preachers. You will testify. The Spirit of God will inspire you, along with your associates, to write the New Testament.

That very night that Jesus was arrested, they would be seen as weak. In fact, before the arrest of Jesus in the garden, our Lord took them in for a time of prayer to pray with Him, and their weakness was on full display because they fell asleep in the sleep of fear; and then when the arrest came, they scattered. Something dramatic has to happen. Well, the difference comes in two things.

One, the Holy Spirit will come upon them, Acts 1:8, “And when the Spirit comes upon you, you shall be witnesses.” The Spirit will empower them for witness. Not only will the Holy Spirit come to empower them for witness, but Christ Himself will pray for them. Yes, the coming of the Holy Spirit plays a role, but two, so does the intercessory ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now in John 17 we’ve seen in the opening five verses that Jesus prays that He would be glorified. And when He is glorified, He will pray continually to make intercession to bring all His children to glory. And we’ve learned that He prays for not only for those disciples, but verse 20 says, “for all who will believe in the future.” So He’s praying for all believers through all of human history.

Now all of this is His praying for us while we’re in the world. So as a result of His prayers and the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples will be transformed. They will overcome their weaknesses in a divinely granted usefulness that has no parallel. They will be eleven men who turned the world upside-down, and they will be the foundation for the spiritual temple of believers.

Now let’s look at verse 20, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” So Jesus is praying to the Father not only for the eleven, but for all people who will believe through their word. He says that “those who believe in the future in Me will believe through their word,” the word of the apostles. The New Testament, in a real sense, is their word.

Many believed through their word, even when their word was not written down, it was only preached. That’s what the book of Acts gives to us. While they were preaching through the book of Acts, the apostle Paul and the other apostles are writing the epistles. So people believed, in that first generation, through their preaching; and in all subsequent generations, through their writing.

Jude 17 says, “You, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If you want to set a right course for truth against false doctrine, which is Jude’s subject, you better remember the words spoken by the apostles. Not only spoken, but inscribed in the New Testament. So the prayers of Christ, gave them a clear understanding of the gospel.

And while they preached, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the books of the New Testament so that when they disappeared from the earth and the age of the apostles was over, the theology that God had given to them would be in Scripture for every generation in every country and every language through human history. People need to understand what’s in the New Testament.

So the preached word is based upon divine revelation, and the written word is the means of salvation. People are not saved apart from the message. “Anyone can call on the Lord,” Romans 10 says “but how are they going to call on one they don’t know?” How are they going to know if they don’t have a teacher? How are they going to have a teacher unless somebody is sent?

And what does Jesus pray for? Two things: because we are those who believe in Him through the apostles’ word. First, verse 21: “That they would be one in this world.” Second: “That they would be one in the next world.” He’s praying for their unity, unity in this world and unity in heaven. The first one, “unity in this world” is in verses 21 - 23. The second one, “unity in heaven” is in verses 24 - 26.

It is something internal, not external. He can’t be praying about the unity of everyone who will ever believe, because everyone who ever believes doesn’t live at the same time. The kind of unity He’s praying for in verse 21 is “even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” It is an internal unity. What He is praying for is the future salvation of the elect not yet born.

He is praying that we would possess eternal life, the life of God. This life of God means they have one will, one motive, one mission, one truth, one holiness, one purpose, because they possess one life. Everything between the Father and the Son is a perfect unity of life. The true God has to be a trinity. If God is not a trinity, then you have an eternal being absent the attribute of love.

Christianity is about a God who is three-in-one, who is marked by relationships of love. And a shared life between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit expresses itself in that relationship. God is defined in relationship, and we are made in His image for relationships with others and with Him. It is that when you come to Christ, you are forgiven. But you have been transformed; you are not who you were.

John understood this. 1 John 1:3 says, “What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and, indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” To be saved is to come into a union of life with the Trinity. You are drawn up into the Trinity, pulled up out of Satan’s kingdom, out of death, out of darkness into the Trinity.

We don’t become God, but we share His life. We aren’t eternally the possessors of that life, but He creates that life in us, and that’s why Bible says we are new creations and old things pass away. God became joined to man in the person of Jesus Christ so that men could be joined to God in the person of Jesus Christ. He became one of us that we might become one with Him.

So as believers, we know God, not at a distance, but near. We know God, not vaguely, but distinctly without confusion. We know God, not doubtfully but confidently. And how do we know God so well? Because He lives in us and we live in Him. He has given us understanding of the revelation of Himself in Holy Scripture being in the Father and in the Son and they being in us.

The people that we are, the glory that we have, the life that we possess is not yet manifested. But being one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is infinitely more joyous and blessed than all the comforts and riches of the world. Why? Because in heaven there will be no sun, no moon; no creatures to entertain us; no sunrise, no sunset, no starry nights, and no earthly pleasures.

Another practical thing by this reality of being one with God in God and God in us, sin must be uglier. Sin can’t be committed by God, but it is committed all the time by people who are in God. The apostle Paul says, “Do you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.

Now, our Lord has a reason for our unity in this life. He says it in verse 21 at the end, “so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” If we live the kind of lives that we ought to live consistent with what God has done for us and in us, the world is going to see a massive transformation. If the world is going to see this internal unity, there’s going to be an attraction to the gospel.

Jesus prays further in verse 22, “that they may be one, just as WE are one.” Again, it’s unity that’s on His mind: spiritual unity, the unity that comes from possessing the life of God given to us to make us one. But He even enriches it, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them.” Now, what glory is this? When He became a man, He was given glory by the Father.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “It was the glory of God shining in Jesus Christ. And the Son turned right around and gave the glory to us so that we, according to 2 Corinthians 3:18, as we gaze at His glory begin to reflect it, and the Spirit moves us from one level of glory to the next. The glory was veiled and only seen for a glimpse at the transfiguration during His earthly life.

It is veiled in us, but it is there. We are new creations; we possess the characteristics of God in some measure and some degree. This is remarkable because Scripture says twice in Isaiah 42 and 48, quoting God, “My glory will I not give to another. My glory will I not give to another.” But He gave it to His Son who deserved it, and His Son gave it to us who didn’t deserve it, because we are in Him.

And even when we are in heaven and are radiating His glory and are as all glorious as we can possibly be, we will not receive that glory, but we’ll turn and give it all to Him who deserves all the glory. He is the glory, we’re only reflectors. But our Lord is praying a prayer that expands our understanding of salvation. We have the glory of God that are communicable to us in us; and we will reflect that glory.

And then in verse 23, He repeats the request for unity again: “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me.” Our unity is to be manifest unity, the life of God revealed on earth through believers so that the world will know that Jesus came from heaven. Verse 23, “Father, I want the world to know that You love them, even as You have loved Me.”

Salvation is all about divine love. Behind all this work of salvation, behind this prayer for unity, behind the prayer for glory is love. All these promises from John 13 to 16 are because of love. So how does the Father love the Son? He loves the Son infinitely and eternally. He says, “He’s My beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased.” But He loves us the same because we are in His Son.

Well, isn’t the Father offended by our sins? He is. But here’s the good news; His anger is over. Love has replaced His anger. His anger was brief; His love is forever. Hebrews 12:6, “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines and scourges.” It’s not out of anger anymore, it’s out of love. We can never be out of His love. He loves us in such a way that He couldn’t love us more. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Feb 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220220 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C9 imblog

John 17:11-19

This is early on Friday morning of Passion Week. Our Lord has around Him the eleven disciples. Judas has already left. Our Lord has spent the whole evening giving promises that are recorded in John 13, 14, 15, and 16. But the greatest promise of all is that He will send the Holy Spirit to provide the fulfillment of all His promises, and to be the power they need to serve Him and witness for Him.

This is actually the Lord’s Prayer. He stops on the way toward the garden of Gethsemane, still surrounded by the eleven disciples, and He prays this prayer in which He asks the Father on behalf of the disciples and all who will ever believe, to bring them to the fullness of the promised salvation. It is the only glimpse of the intercessory work of Christ, where He mediates for His own.

It is an example of what our Lord is doing now. Paul says in Romans 8:27 and 34, “Christ died for us, providing the sacrifice for sin in which He paid the penalty for our sins. But much more, He lives for us. He lives before the Father, ever-living to make intercession for us, so that nothing overpowers us, overcomes us, and we all are brought to eternal glory according to the will of God.”

You have a glimpse of the work of Christ here. We are brought into the heavenly Holy of Holies where the Son comes before His Father on behalf of His own. Let me explain. Remember the exodus from Egypt in the history of Israel, where they came out and lived in the wilderness for forty years? They would be arranged around a large tent that was God’s tent. It represented the presence of God.

In the middle of that tent, called also the tabernacle, there was a small tent which was the Holy of Holies. And in there was the ark of the covenant; and on top of it, the mercy seat. That was not accessible, except for once a year, on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur; where the high priest could enter. He would take the blood of the animal sacrifice to be poured out on the altar, and incense symbolizing prayer.

His responsibility was to provide the sacrifice of atonement, and to offer incense as prayer of forgiveness for the twelve tribes of Israel. This is a picture of what we find in John 17. Here we have the great High Priest entering into the Holy of Holies of the presence of God, and He has on His shoulders all His people. He has offered His own blood on the mercy seat as the true atonement for sin.

Atonement has been made, and prayer is now offered. The high priest went in, did this, turned around and came out. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He went into the Holy of Holies and He is still there. He will be there until all believers are finally gathered into eternal glory. Hebrews says, “He is ever-living to make intercession for us.” As our great High Priest, He carries us into the presence of God.

What is on His heart? His love. John 13:1 says, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the max.” Why does He offer His atoning blood for us? Why does He live to make intercession for us in the presence of God? Because He loves us infinitely. He loves us to the same degree that God can love anyone. When He is there in the presence of the Father, we are there in Him.

We are loved by the Father the same way the Father loves the Son. Look at verse 23 of this prayer, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. ” And in verse 26, “so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them.” We are loved as the Son because we are in the Son.

“We are in Christ.” What that means is exactly what it says. We are in Him loved as He is loved. We are in Him righteous as He is righteous. We are in Him blessed as He is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heaven in Christ. The Father loves the Son infinitely and eternally; and because we are in the Son, He loves us infinitely and eternally. We are as accepted as the Son is accepted.

That is our justification, that is our sanctification, and that is our glorification. How amazing is it to be loved by God as He loves His own Holy Son. And let me say something about Christianity. The Trinity is absolutely foundational to everything that is true about God. 1 John says, “God is love.” If God was only a solitary person, that could not be true, because there would be no one to love.

There is a big difference between God and the Moslem Allah. Their Allah is a solitary deity, invented by men and demons, who is all judgment, fear, and terror. And so would any singular god be, and people would only exist to do what he wanted them to do. But the triune God is eternal love, and has loved eternally within the Trinity. Jesus is the eternal Son, and God loves us like He loves His Son.

This is a love beyond anything that any creature will ever experience. This is blessing and this is glory. So when Christ goes into the heavenly Holy of Holies and comes before the Father, as He does continually, we are there in the throne room with Him. Hebrews 4:14 -16 says, “We have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”

15 We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We have a great high priest, who not only loves us as only God can love, but having been man, understands us.

God loves His Son. God loves because it’s His nature to love. And God’s love is so infinite that God determined He wanted many more sons to love. So He set in motion creation, and filled that creation with a wondrous universe, that those on earth could see and read His love by what He has provided, even in a temporal way. Because of this love, He chose many children and places them in His Son.

This is what the intercessory work of our Lord is. It is bringing many children to glory to satisfy the loving heart of God. He is interceding for the disciples. But not just for them, because in verse 20 He says, “I do not ask on behalf of these eleven alone, but for those who also believe in Me through their word.” And He prays for us out of an incomprehensible infinite love.

Verses 11-12, “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Jesus is anticipating His exodus. He would ascend into heaven in just a few hours, He would be under the wrath of God. “I’m out of the world; they’re in it.” The world is the system of sin that dominates this realm. It’s the corruption, the demonic power, the human power of sin that literally controls the world, under the leadership of Satan and his demons. That’s the world.

Jesus already told them in John 15:18, that the world would hate them because it hated Him. He told them in verse 20, that the world would persecute them. He told them in verse 23 that they would be hated because the world hates Him and hates the Father. In John 16:2 they would become outcasts and they would become martyrs; they would lose their lives. They can’t survive without divine support.

So our Lord then, beginning in verse 11, starts to ask for some specific things for our protection. One, Spiritual security. “They’re in the world and I come to You.” And He’s talking about His ascension. This is the Holy Son, praying to the Holy Father. It is the desire of the Holy Son and the desire of the Holy Father to protect the unholy sinners. That’s what’s happening here.

Why would the Holy Father care about unholy sinners? Answer: Because they are in His Son. When Christ comes into His presence, we come in Him. He says, “Father, Holy Father, keep them in Your name, consistent with who You are, and even beyond that, not because they deserve it, but because they belong to You. They are Yours. They are Your sons and daughters.

Back in John 10:27, there’s a reminder of this in some of the most familiar words of our Lord: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

We’re going to see an illustration of that in John 18 that may be the most remarkable illustration of that promise or that purpose of Christ in the whole gospel. When they come to arrest Jesus, they want also to arrest the disciples. The Lord never lets that happen; He protects them from that, because it could have destroyed their faith. He will never let anything that could do that happen.

He is about to suffer. He is about to come under the weight and burden of sin, and take His hands away from His disciples; and the Father needs to guard them for those hours. And then when He comes back to heaven, the Father needs to continue to guard them, which He promises to do through the Holy Spirit, whom He gives to every believer. “I guarded them,” He says in verse 12.

Now, if the sentence ended there, we’d have a problem: “None of them perished.” We’d all be saying, “Wait, there’s only eleven here. What about Judas? Isn’t Judas proof that a disciple, a visible associate of Jesus, a preacher for God, can be lost? Isn’t Judas the prototype of a believer who is saved and then loses salvation because he turns and rejects the Lord he once confessed?”

If our Lord didn’t say anything here about Judas, we would have a serious dilemma. So to make sure that never happens, He injects into this magnificent prayer, this one dark note, “I guarded them, and not one of them is lost, except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Judas was never a son of God, he was always a son of perdition. Perdition is the word for “destruction, ruin.”

Back in John 6, Jesus was with the disciples, and Peter says, “‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?’ He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he was one of the twelve that was going to betray Him.”

That same night in the upper room, Satan entered into Judas. Judas was nonetheless treated with love by the Lord that same night. In John 13 Judas was treated as the honored guest, given the first piece of bread to dip in the sop, as they called it, the meal. The fact that Scripture prophesied he would do this is not a determinism, he did what he chose to do. Judas is guilty on his own.

Matthew 26:24 says, “The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if had not been born.’ And Judas, who betrayed Him said, ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said it yourself.’” So Jesus says, “None of them has been lost, but the son of perdition, so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

Does the Father hear that prayer to keep and guard His own? He does, and we have testimony to that. In Romans 8:38 it says, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God will get us to heaven, because we are in His Son, and He loves His Son perfectly. 1 Peter 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 4 to obtain an inheritance imperishable and undefiled that will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”

Our Lord prays for our spiritual security. It’s a stunning thing to realize that what secures our salvation is eternal love, which is behind eternal election, which is behind eternal justification and eternal glorification. He secondly prays for our spiritual unity. This is stated in verse 11, “Keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.”

It is that we may be one even as the Trinity is one. Salvation is not just forgiveness of sins. It is not just escape from punishment. It is God, pulling us into the eternal life of the Trinity. All of us who are justified literally are pulled into the life of the Trinity. We are in the Father; we are in the Son and we are in the Spirit. The Father is in us; the Son is in us and the Spirit is in us.

What does it mean to be a believer? It means that God loves us with such an infinite love, that He loves us the same as He loves His own Son, and with that love pulls us into the very Trinity. Paul writes in Philippians and Ephesians about a practical unity. This is a prayer from Christ for invisible unity, for the reality of the life of God to be sustained in our souls forever. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Feb 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220213 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C8 imblog

John 17:6-10

What we call the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 is a prayer that Jesus could never pray, because it’s a prayer that asks for forgiveness of transgressions and debts. That does not apply to Him. But John 17 is the true Lord’s Prayer, because He prayed it; and this is a prayer that no human could ever pray. That is reinforced to us as we study each of these verses of His prayer to the Father.

These are the last hours before the cross. He has said most of what He wanted to say to the disciples in the upper room on Thursday night when they celebrated Passover and when He was instituting the Lord’s Table. And He said more things as they left the upper room and walked through Jerusalem, headed toward the garden of Gethsemane. And He is now done with what He’s been saying.

The legacy of Jesus is given to His disciples and to us in John 13 through 16. And now in John 17, He prays that God the Father will fulfill all these promises, and fulfill them in an ultimate way by bringing His own to heaven. These are the Lord’s words to the eleven before His death, and what we have here is a preview of His new heavenly ministry which is about to begin.

But it won’t begin until Jesus ascends into heaven, 40 days after the resurrection. And then He will begin His new ministry, and it is a ministry of intercession. He will not be the sacrificial Lamb, He will be the great High Priest. He will be the advocate between His people and God, He will intercede for them. The moment is a critical moment in redemptive history and in the life of Christ.

His work of intercession gets overlooked a lot. He prays, in the opening five verses, that He would be glorified; and then in verses 6 to 19, that the disciples would be glorified; and then in verses 20 to 26, that all believers through all time would be glorified. In other words, He’s praying that He be glorified; and through His glory, we all be gloried; and through that, God be glorified.

Hebrews 7:25, “He ever lives to make intercession for His people.” Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” What is much more than His death? His life. He ever lives to make intercession for us to bring us to glory.

So when the Lord said on the cross, “It is finished,” the work of sacrifice was finished, the work of atonement was finished, the penalty for sin was paid in full. But His work on behalf of elect sinners wasn’t finished. It’s going on even now. It began when He went back to heaven and took His place at the right hand of God to intercede for us. Romans 5 says He became our advocate. He became our intercessor.

He became our great High Priest at the Father’s right hand in the heavenly Holy of Holies. He is always doing the supernatural work of intercession for His redeemed people still struggling on earth. And because He was in all points tempted like as we are, fully man, at the same time fully God, He knows our weaknesses, He knows our temptations and He knows the enemy’s strategies.

His intercession is to assure that we come to glory in the end. I believe if you’re saved you’re going to go to heaven.” But the reason you’re going to go to heaven, is because Christ intercedes for you. There is a means by which God brings us to glory. Jesus is different than any other priest, because they die. But He is a great High Priest who lives forever to make intercession.

He keeps cleansing us from all sin in 1 John 1. He keeps on advocating our place before the throne of God. 1 John 2:1 says, “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.” It is accompanied by the present ministry of the Holy Spirit in us, because Romans 8:26 says “the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.”

So we have an advocate in heaven at the right hand of the Father. And we have an advocate living in us, the Holy Spirit. Both the Holy Spirit and the Son are interceding on our behalf to bring us to glory. Jesus is doing His mediatorial ministry for us. This is pure prayer for His glory, the disciples’ glory, our glory, and the Father’s glory. And this is a preview of that intercessory ministry.

So let us look only at verses 6-10, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them.”

“And have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. 9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.” The saving purposes of God have always been Jesus’ primary concern, when He was on earth, as well as now in heaven.

We all know what’s going to happen with the eleven disciples. When Jesus is arrested, they’re going to scatter in fear. Their faith is going to be shaken. Their hearts are going to be even more grieved than they have been. But though His suffering is infinitely greater than theirs, though His suffering infinitely outweighs theirs, His love for them causes Him to pray this prayer.

Even though they are weak, even though they stumble, even though their faith is shaken, even though they abandoned Him, He prays for their eternal glory. Why? Because it says in John 13:1, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the limits of divine love.” In other words, He loved them as much as God can love, and it is that love that brings them to glory.

In verses 6-10, He identifies them from the divine side and from the human side. Here we face that great mystery of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Verse 6 says, “I’m praying for this group of eleven men. These are the men I have manifested Your name to, whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”

He’s praying for those who are marked on the human side by believing and obedient faith. Those two always go together. So let’s look at verse 6, “I have manifested Your name.” He said essentially the same thing in verse 4, “I have glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You’ve given Me to do.” “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father. I and the Father are one.”

The truth about God through Christ was hidden from the wise and the religious, from the elite, the leaders of Israel; but it was revealed to babes, to these humble men. As many as seven of them might have been fishermen. None of them were a part of the religious establishment. “So, Father, the hour has come. I have manifested Your name to them, all the men You gave Me.”

The term ‘You gave Me’ appears for example again further down in John 17:24, “I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am,” and He says it again in the same verse. Go back to verse 6 and look at this phrase, “They were Yours.” Before they were converted, before they were called, before they knew anything, before they believed, they were Yours.

Past tense, they were Yours. They were in the world, and You gave them to Me out of the world, but they were Yours even when they were in the world. The world is the evil anti-God, anti-Christ, satanically ruled system of evil and sin, composed of demons and all the unredeemed human beings who oppose God, who belong to Satan, and who live in the kingdom of darkness.

But within this realm of darkness, there are some sinners who belong to God. Back in John 15:18-19, our Lord Jesus Christ said earlier that night, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; yet because you’re not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

There’s an illustration of this in Acts 13:48, “When the Gentiles heard from Isaiah that the Messiah was a light to the nations, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” The Lord spoke to Paul in Acts 18:10, by a vision, “for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”

There were people in the city of Corinth who belonged to Christ, who belonged to God. They were still in the world, in the darkness, in the ignorance of sin, but they belonged to God. How? Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” Colossians 3:12 says, “We are those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved.”

Ephesians 1:5-6 explained this, “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the One He loves.” Verse 11, “Predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His own will, to the praise of His own glory.”

Those who believe in the Son of God, those who accepted the ministry of Jesus and believe in Him, did so because they are God’s. They’ve always been God’s. They were God’s before there was a creation. Revelation 13:8, Revelation 17:8, “Their names were written in the Book of Life before the foundation of the world.” God chose them before He ever created them.

And Revelation 20:15 says, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he’s thrown in the lake of fire.” Much earlier in our Lord’s ministry, He made it clear to the disciples that anyone who came to salvation was a gift from the Father. Listen to John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out, or reject.”

There are people throughout all of human history who are born sinners in the world, engulfed in sin, spiritually dead and blind and ignorant, but they belong to God and in God’s time, He plucks them out of the world, then they become love gifts to His Son. The Father chooses, the Father gives; the Son receives, the Son keeps, and the Son raises them on the last day, and no one is lost.

In John 17, the Father gives us to the Son as His bride, purchased at the infinite price of His own life. That’s why the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, is a bridal city; that’s why Revelation talks about the marriage supper. All the redeemed of all the ages become the bride of Christ so that they can honor Him, love Him, serve Him, worship Him, adore Him, and reflect His glory forever.

The Father’s gift of redeemed souls is so precious, He is willing to die under divine judgment for all the sins of all the elect. Jesus said, “I’m praying for those who are Mine because You gave them to Me.” This is the divine reality in salvation. But there’s a human aspect too. Verse 6 says “They have kept Your word.” That’s the side that shows the believer’s obedience to the gospel.

The gospel is a command. We talk about it being a gift in the sense that you don’t have to pay for it. Obedience to the command of the gospel is essential, and our Lord is saying they obeyed. That’s essentially the same as faith. Obedience and faith are one in the same John 3:36. Jesus says, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son will not see life.”

Obedient faith is love in John 14 and 15, “If you love Me, you do obey Me. Whoever obeys Me, loves Me.” This is the human side. Verses 7 - 8, “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.”

That essentially is what ministry is about. That is our Lord giving us a model of ministry. He came so that they would know the truth, so that they would receive the truth, so that they would understand the truth and believe the truth. They believed that Jesus worked by the power of God. They believed that Jesus had come from God. They said, “We know You are the Holy One of God.”

Now to the divine side in verses 9 – 10, “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.” That is a very significant statement. Martin Luther wrote this: “Everyone may say this: ‘All I have is God’s.’ That is much different than saying, ‘All that’s God’s is mine.’”

1 Peter 4:11 says, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever, Amen.” You have had a glimpse of how He prayed for His disciples. That prayer is extended from them to all who believe in Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Feb 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220206 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C7 imblog

John 17:1-5

This is unique among all the portions of Scripture because it is the prayer of our Lord, to the Father. Its truths are so far-reaching, so elevated, that it’s almost impossible to extract yourself from this chapter. The words are simple enough and direct enough, but the truths are really beyond comprehension. The best we can do is touch the edges of these great realities that are in this chapter.

This is the capstone of four other chapters: John 13, 14, 15, and 16. Those chapters record the words of our Lord to His disciples the night of the Passover on Thursday night of Passion Week, the night before His crucifixion. He spent hours with His disciples. First the Passover meal, then Judas was dismissed. He instituted the Lord’s Supper at that point. And He continued to teach them.

They left the upper room. They walked through the city of Jerusalem. And as they’re walking, Jesus continues His instruction to them, full of promises, and full of warnings. He tells them that He is leaving, He will die, He will rise, and He will go back to the Father. He is promising them everything they will ever need. They will know the truth because He will send the Holy Spirit.

But all that instruction, all those promises, all that warning is now past, and John 17 is a prayer that He prays to the Father. What He prays to the Father is that the Father would bring to fulfillment all the work that He has done. This is a prayer that demonstrates the humiliation of Christ in a unique way. According to Hebrews 1, He is God who upholds the entire universe by the power of His word.

He is God who will come to reign and establish His rule in the earth, and then in the new heaven and the new earth forever. But in His incarnation sets aside His prerogatives, and submitted Himself to the Father. And so in an act of that submission, He prays that the Father will fulfill everything He has promised. As such, He gives us the most magnificent example of the need for prayer.

The Bible talks about the apostles in Acts 6:4, were given to prayer and the ministry of the Word, because we can minister the Word, and we can be faithful to the proclamation of the Word. But unless the Father activates the Word in the lives of the people who hear it, it accomplishes nothing. So we are called then to a lifetime of teaching and preaching, supported by a lifetime of prayer.

If Jesus, in His perfection, in His absolute righteousness, but in His humiliation was dependent upon the Father to fulfill His Word, we who are frail and weak and sinful, are far more dependent on the Father. So here we have a model of prayer from one who seem to us not even need to pray; but He did pray. In fact, He prayed throughout His entire life on earth. He prayed daily moment by moment.

Jesus is God always in full communion with God. At the grave of Lazarus, He prayed to the Father, and then He said, “Lazarus, come out.” At Gethsemane, He prayed to the Father and said, “If it be Your will, let this cup pass from Me.” At the cross He said, “Into Your hands I commit My spirit.” That’s about as extensive a prayer as we have, just a couple of brief verses, until we get to John 17.

And now we have this lengthy prayer in all 26 verses. Every single word comes from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ and is part of a prayer to the Father. This chapter has been called the Holy of Holies of Scripture. It is, of course, the prayer above all prayers. But it is also the chapter above all chapters, because it alone is where we see the communion between the Son of God and the Father.

We approach the inner communion of the Trinity. The secret place of the Most High God is opened for us. Here, we need to remove our shoes and listen, and humble ourselves with reverent hearts because we are on holy ground. There is no voice which has ever been heard, more holy, more fruitful, and more sublime, than the prayer offered up by the Son of God Himself. Simple yet profound.

This prayer really marks the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, but it also looks forward to what followed His earthly ministry, and that was His heavenly ministry which was among others the ministry of interceding for His people at the throne of God. Jesus prayed openly, and we believe that the disciples heard this prayer, and it’s recorded by the Spirit of God through the apostle John.

We have four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to tell us what He did during those 33 years. But we have only one chapter to tell us what He’s doing now, and has been doing over the last 2,000 years, and will do until redemption is complete. Here is the one glimpse into the Christ who has been exalted and ever lives to make intercession for us. This is what Jesus is doing now.

There were also special times of prayer. At His baptism, He prayed. When He began His public ministry in Mark 1, He rose before dawn and prayed. When He was selected the twelve apostles, Luke says He went out to pray. And in prayer, He was transfigured, in Luke 9. And He died with a prayer on His lips. But again, in most cases, we have no idea what He said, until we get to John 17.

This is how He now prays in heaven. This is His mediatorial work, as the mediator between God and man. Now, His prayer is divided into three parts. The first five verses, Jesus prays for Himself. And then starting in verse 6, He prays for the apostles that are with Him on that very night. And then He closes the chapter by praying for all believers through all times.

So let us look at verse 1, “After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so He can give glory back to You.” ‘After saying all these things.’ simply refers back to John 13, 14, 15, and 16. Then it says, “Jesus looks up to heaven.” It’s a magnificent gesture looking toward the God to whom He prays, His own God and Father.

Jesus said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 For you have given Him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given Him. 3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.” It is a prayer, first of all, for His own glory. So that, having been glorified, He can then bring many sons to glory. Somebody might say that Jesus praying for Himself seems self-seeking. That’s because we are fallen creatures who have no right to ask for glory on our own merit. But Christ was asking for something He deserved.

Jesus says, “Father, glorify You Son.” Verse 5 says, “Just glorify Me with the glory I had with You before the world began. Just take me back to the eternal glory, which is always mine by right. It is a prayer for the glory that belongs to Him. God could have used any kind of human analogy to describe the relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. But God chose Father and Son.

Why? Certainly because it is a way to emphasize their shared nature. But it’s more than that. It is intimate familiarity. It speaks not only that He was one in nature with God, but that He had a relationship with God that is described as loving care. When Jesus says Father and the Christian stands by His side and listens, he knows that the eternal and ultimate God is personal.

The sinful men, finds with real faith, no nature personified and deified by wish; but one who knows, wills, and loves unspeakably, with a fatherly tenderness. As a Father, He is the personally holy, personally faithful, personally gracious caretaker. He is the Father, for He is the Living Author of our personal life. He is the Father, and we are to Him more than the work of His hands.

We are His dear and precious possession. His delights are with the sons of men. As a Father, He pities the child of this mortal family with the pity which only a divine heart could know. Our Lord says, “Father, Holy Father, righteous Father, loving Father.” And we embrace that fatherhood as well. We have become children of God, and He is our Father also, with all that that means.

So with that introduction of Father, Jesus then says: “The hour has come.” In John 12, which was at the beginning of this Passion Week, He started to say, “The hour has come.” It’s an amazing statement. Every event, every day, every hour in the history of the unfolding drama of divine redemption is planned by God. Everything is under a divine timetable and by divine appointment.

There is a sovereign precision with which God operates His redemptive drama. And His work in the Son’s life, and His work in your life and my life, all operates on a divine schedule. Nothing is loosely ordained. History and redemptive accomplishment are a matter of divine moment by moment, materializing of God’s sovereign, divine plan. If you are His, you are on a precise divine timetable.

What time was it on the redemptive clock? The hour was the crux of history; the crux of eternity. It was the event of the ages. Two eternities were about to meet: eternity past and eternity future, and they would meet at the cross. The hour had come in which the Son of Man, the Son of God, would end His humiliation, would terminate His labors; and He would do that by becoming the sacrifice for sin.

And that sacrifice would extend back through all of human history to every person who had ever believed, and forward through history to every person who would ever believe. He would, in that moment, become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. It was that fulfilled divine design, when God ordained that Christ be crucified before the foundation of the world.

God determined the names of those for whom His crucifixion would be, an effective sacrifice for their salvation. It was the moment when all the pre-creation, divine purposes of God reached an apex. It was the hour when all prophecies of salvation were fulfilled, when all the specific prophecies of Messiah were fulfilled, when all the types and all the symbols were fulfilled.

It was the hour of triumph over the prince of the power of the air. It was the hour of dismissing the old and ushering in the new. It was the hour of salvation, when all that God had promised in salvation was then made possible, and made actual. Christ actually died for all who believed throughout all of human history going back and going forward. It was the hour of the cross where this was accomplished.

In John 12:23 Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” In verses 27 - 28 He says, “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! 28 Father, bring glory to your name.” Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to My name, and I will do so again.”

This is that hour of the cross. He was revolted by the prospect of experiencing the wrath of God: sin-bearing, being punished for all the sins of all the people through human history who would ever be redeemed. It troubled Him profoundly beyond anything we can imagine. But what was He going to say: “Save Me from this hour”? Of course not. “For this hour I came into the world.”

Here is it, the climax, the glory hour; to blot out the power of the curse, to reconcile sinners to God, to illuminate the obscured spiritual kingdom. This is the hour God planned from eternity past. Peter said that on the Day of Pentecost: “This has all happened by the pre-determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” This was God’s plan from the very beginning.

Look at Isaiah 53, he means the cross; the resurrection; the ascension and the coronation. As Jesus was nailed to a cross, He became sin for His people, to bear the wrath of God. In that moment the sun refused to shine and darkness prevailed. In that moment the earth rocked and graves opened and dead people came out. There had never been a moment like it, and never would be again.

To the disciples, the death of the Lord seemed like a nightmare. But to Christ, it meant full glory. The hour has come to glorify Your Son as the One fulfilling all the prophecies. As the Mediator, the Substitute, the Anointed One as the Lamb of God. Jesus saw glory in the cross and so do we. He is praying, “Father, grant that by means of this event on the cross, I may be glorified.”

It was glory that belonged to Him, as verse 5 says. It was the glory that He had before creation. He desires full glory, the glory that comes to one who has been perfectly obedient to the Father throughout His life, the glory of being the perfect Lamb of God and doing the will of God. He prays for the Father now to take Him through the cross, out of the grave; take Him to heaven.

Nothing can ever separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. The atoning work of Jesus Christ finished your salvation forever. He has granted you already eternal life which cannot perish. The Holy Spirit is in you, as the seal of God’s final security. The great High Priest is ever-living to make intercession for us, to bring us to glory. That’s how the prayer begins. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Jan 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220130 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C6 imblog

John 17

John 17 has no parallel, our Lord Jesus is interceding for His own before the Father. This happened on the day that our Lord was crucified when He prayed this prayer, of His ongoing ministry of intercession for all who belonged to Him throughout all of history. What is the most encouraging doctrine for Christians? That those who believe in Jesus Christ will be taken to heaven, and that the Lord will lose none.

There are people that teach that salvation can be lost, it can be forfeited. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Such is the testimony of Scripture. We find it even back in the Old Testament as God defines His salvation as something that is everlasting. Psalm 37:28 says, “For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones; they are preserved forever.”

The prophet Isaiah said much about the nature, and the extent of salvation. In Isaiah 43:1-7, “But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by My name; you are Mine! 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.”

When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. 4 Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west.

6 And I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” That is the promise of God to gather all of His own beloved into the final glories of heaven. My salvation will be forever.”

John 5:24, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Verse 39, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose none, but raise them up on the last day.”

And we have Romans 8 in which the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, “Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ.” He begins by saying, “There will never be any condemnation to those who belong to Christ.” Philippians 1:6, “The one who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ,” when we see Christ face-to-face.

Hebrews 7:25, “The Lord Jesus ever-lives to make intercession for us.” He is praying for us for the purpose of bringing many people to glory. And that is exactly what we are hearing in John 17. This is the biblical illustration of the Lord Jesus and His intercessory ministry as our Great High Priest, praying for us in heaven. Intercession goes on all the time until all the sons of God are brought to glory.

Paul in Romans 5 says there is a much more work than the cross and the resurrection. Christ paid the penalty for our sins in a moment on the cross. For a few hours, He suffered the wrath of God. Christ came out of the grave in a moment and He was alive from being dead. But now much more work goes on continually is this work of securing us for eternal glory, to bring us home to God.

John 17 is a pre-exaltation example of our Lord’s intercessory ministry as the High Priest. Our Great High Priest has gone into the heavenly Holy of Holies, sprinkled His own blood as an atonement for our sins, and sat down in the Father’s presence to constantly plead for His people to bring them to eternal glory against all of our failures, our iniquities, our transgressions, and all of our sins.

Against all the accusations brought by men, demons and Satan himself, the Lord prays us into heaven. No one is lost. This is His prayer. So in verses 1 to 5, He prays to the Father to glorify Him now that His work is done. This is in the darkness of Friday morning. He is headed toward the cross. And, by Sunday, He’ll be out of the grave. Forty days after that, He will ascend into heaven.

When He says, “The hour has come,” He means the hour of His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His exaltation, and the beginning of His intercession; and here is an example of that intercession. He starts out, in verses 6 and following, praying for the disciples that the Lord, God the Father, has given Him. “He’s praying for the men whom You gave Me out of the world.”

But what He prays is not limited just to them. Verse 20 says, “I do not ask on behalf on these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.” And that stretches forward and backward. He is praying for all people who are God’s children, all who will be given to Him throughout all of redemptive history. He is praying them all, as it were, into heaven.

The specific requests in His prayer are given in verses 11 - 19. He makes the statement that He is leaving in verse 11, “He is no longer in the world; yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to you.” It is that setting that establishes the character of His prayer. We have to be here in this hostile, deadly, dangerous world; this world filled with sin while He is in us as the Holy Spirit.

John 16 ended by Him saying, “In the world, you have tribulation.” We are left here; He is gone. In view of that, He is praying for us in His absence. He has already promised us that He would send the Holy Spirit. And that the Spirit would come and take His place, and even be better for them because He had been with them in Christ; now He would be dwelling in them personally.

He has filled the previous chapters on that Thursday night and Friday morning with all kinds of promises. But now comes the prayer that pulls it all together: “Father, fulfill all these promises. Send Your Holy Spirit and, Father, these are the specific requests that I ask of You regarding My people.” Starting in verses 11 till 19 is the first element of that. “He prayed for our spiritual security.”

“Keep them in Your name.” Verse 12 says, “I guarded them; not one of them perished but the son of perdition.” He says, “Father, I pray for their spiritual security, that they’ll be secure all the way to glory.” “He prayed for our spiritual unity,” at the end of verse 11, “That they may be one even as we are.” In verse 13, He prayed for our spiritual joy. “These things I speak so that they may have My joy.”

The Lord is praying for our unity; not a unity that is simply trying to get us all to like each other, but an internal unity of eternal life that we possess. This is the true unity of being one with Christ, and therefore, one with each other. He’s praying for the reality of the body of Christ to possess divine life. Earlier, He said that He would give us His peace. Now He prays that we would have His spirit.

“Jesus prayed for our spiritual immunity, that we would be protected,” verse 15 says “from the evil one.” Verses 14, 15, and 16 speak to the fact that we are in the world that hates us. We are not of the world, even as our Lord was not of the world. We are in a dangerous place, and He prays for our protection, our immunity from the devastating power of the evil one.

Now, all of these prayers for spiritual stability, spiritual unity, spiritual joy, spiritual security, all the way to spiritual immunity, all of these are motivated by love. “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the max.” We have been loved by God from the beginning of the world. It’s not because we’re deserving of that love, it is a gift of God’s grace.

Then there’s one final prayer that our Lord has. He prays for our spiritual purity. He prays for our sanctification. Verse 17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” Very direct focused and profound point is being made here.

Sanctify is mentioned in verse 17 and twice in verse 19. Three times we see that verb. He prays for our holiness. Now, sanctification essentially means “separation,” set apart from sin. He’s praying for our purity and increasing godliness. We will become increasingly more holy in practice as we are in position. He prays according to the Father’s will and according to the Spirit’s work.

This prayer deals with our human flesh. We have three enemies: the world, the devil, and the flesh. Jesus prayed that we’d be protected from the world. We’ve heard about the devil, the evil one; and Jesus prayed that we would be protected from the evil one. Here He prays that we will be victorious over our flesh. That humanness in which we are still incarcerated even though we’re a believer.

The apostles and all believers have been separated from the penalty of sin. Jesus paid the penalty; we’re never going to see that penalty. His resurrection separated us from the presence of sin in heaven; and in the middle, we are now in need of being separated from the power of sin. Here the work of separation from the power of sin is a lifelong progressive work of God.

He is speaking of already regenerated, already justified, already converted followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, being continually made more holy. He accepts us in our imperfections and prays for us to become more holy. Where is the truth found? It’s the revelation of God; it’s the Scripture. If we immerse ourselves in the Word of God, we are in the place where sanctification operates.

This is progressive sanctification, separation from sin, as we look at the Word of God; and as we read it, understand it, embrace it, and love it. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” That Spirit of God conforms us to the image of Christ.

Psalm 119:11, “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin.” Peter said, “As babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.” The Word of God works against the sin that remains in us. The Word of God reveals the glory of Christ in all His beauty; and as we are caught up in that glory, and believe it and love it, the Spirit uses that to make us more and more like Christ.

This is the goal, to be like Christ. And now before we get to that reality, we pursue that, even in this life. Why is this important? Verse 18, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” It’s important because we have a mission to accomplish, and holiness is critical to that mission: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your works, and glorify your Father.”

You have to put the gospel and the power of God on display. If we say, “The Lord changes lives; the Lord transforms sinners; the Lord takes evil people and makes them good,” you’re going to have to be an illustration of that. The Great Commission says, “We’re sent into all the world to preach the gospel to everyone, to make disciples, to baptize, to teach them all things whatsoever I have commanded.”

Our Lord says, “The Father sent Me into the world in the power of the Spirit. I’m sending you into the world in the power of the Spirit. The Father sent Me to manifest a holy life to put His glory on display that His message might be believed. I send you in the power of the Holy Spirit to live a holy life, also to put His glory through the gospel on display.” So the objective in sanctification is to be as much like Christ.

Now, in verse 19 our Lord says, “For their sakes, I sanctify Myself.” Why would He sanctify Himself? Two reasons, theologically speaking. He needed to live a perfect holy life. Because there had to be at least one perfect holy life lived by someone in the history of the world, and He’s the only one. Because when you put your trust in Jesus Christ, that perfect life is credited to your account; it’s as if you lived His life.

That’s the doctrine of imputation in 2 Corinthians 5:21. That’s how we become the righteousness of God in Christ, literally. But, He also had to live a perfectly holy life, not only so that it could be imputed to us, but as an example to us. His life is also an example to me of sanctification. In justification, my position is taken care of. In sanctification, my practice is dealt with.

Sanctification is perfect obedience, motivated by perfect love. The Lord Jesus was perfectly obedient to the Father out of perfect love. Christ doesn’t do anything independent of God, He can’t. So what about us? The New Testament is loaded with the word “walk” describing the Christian life. John says, “Walk like Jesus. If you say you are in Him, and it’s true, then walk like Jesus walked.”

Colossians 2:6, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” Follow His pattern; follow His life. Obey the Lord in everything: everything you do, everything you say, everything you think. Be pleasing to Him. He is your example of righteousness, a pattern to be followed in your practice and in your sanctification. Walk in the Spirit, and you will be walking the way Christ walked. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Jan 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220123 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C5 imblog

John 16:23-33

Before we look at the text itself, let us look briefly at the world in which we live. It is bleak and filled with fearful people who are struggling to make some sense out of life. Their fears are personal and private, but thanks to the media, we have everybody else’s troubles also to carry. At the same time, we find ourselves struggling to face them because we’re bad at relationships.

The more materialistic the culture is, the more this becomes a reality. The more things we possess, the more things occupy us, the less significant our relationships become. Even in the midst of all this material prosperity, in all of this supposed freedom, we are engulfed in fears, and anxieties and questions. People are searching for things that give them meaning, while consumed with selfishness.

They find themselves unable to be satisfied, to be at peace, and to have any lasting joy. There are three things people need. First, they need to give love and they need to be loved. They need to be loved unconditionally. They need to be loved lavishly. They need to be loved generously, and they need to be loved by someone who knows all their faults and still loves them anyway.

Secondly, they need someone to trust. Someone to believe in. Someone who’s consumed with their well-being. Someone into whose hands they can place their lives who is powerful enough, and generous enough, and has the resources to secure them in the midst of an insecure world. They need someone to love and to care for them, who has the power to rescue them from all their troubles.

Thirdly, people need hope. They need to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to know that someone has a plan, and someone has a purpose. And somewhere in the future, something good is going to happen, and it’s going to be far greater than any of the bad experiences that occupy our lives. Love, faith, and hope, that’s what is offered to every person in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:13 says there are these three: “Faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” Often, the apostle Paul refers to that triad. A couple of times in 1 Thessalonians; again in Colossians and elsewhere. Those three divine provisions that come to us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are essentially what we need to live life with peace and joy.

Now, in this text, our Lord is going to say the last few words to His eleven disciples on that Thursday night of Passion Week, the night before His crucifixion and death. While He has been with them, they have had someone to love them, they had someone to believe in, and who has delivered them from every issue and provided everything they need. But now, He’s leaving and He’s dying.

In addition He has told them, “You’re going to be persecuted the same way I’m being persecuted.” So, by now, it’s in the early hours of Friday morning, the day of His crucifixion. They’re headed for the Garden of Gethsemane. A final prayer of Jesus in chapter 17. Then comes the arrest, the trial in the darkness of night, and then His execution in the morning on the cross.

Verses 25 to 33, “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.”

28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” 29 His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! 30 Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?”

“32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” How do you have peace in the face of Jesus dying, leaving, persecution and execution?

Let’s start at verse 33, “In the world, you have tribulation, but be of good cheer.” What does “world” mean? “World” doesn’t mean the physical planet; it means the system of evil that dominates the creation. It is satanically operated, demonically infested. It is the complex of evil that dominates human life. And has not only dominated human life, but cursed the entire universe.

So in the face of this world of tribulation, how do they survive? Well, our Lord says in verse 33, “Be of good cheer.” But a human has no power over the circumstances. But when Jesus says, “Be of good cheer,” that’s far different. It is a command. Cheer up. Take courage. If the Lord Jesus, who is in control of absolutely everything, says, “Cheer up,” that’s different, this is a divine promise.

This is what every human on the planet needs. Why don’t people run to Him right away? The simple answer: they love their sin. But for those who come to Him, He provides all that we need. And to know He has a hope for you, and He’s in control of all things in the universe – that takes all the anxiety out of life. Peace of your soul comes only from love, faith, and hope in God.

Jesus has been revealing God. But all of it was in figurative language. Jesus spoke about being the light, about being water, about being bread. He spoke about the temple and His body. He spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. And even though there was truth in all of this, it was veiled. But now, there was enough truth to remove any excuse for not believing in Him.

He taught that He was God, He was the Savior, He was the Messiah, and why He had come. But, there were things that hadn’t happened that He couldn’t fully explain. The cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. He had said a lot of things about the Father, but there was still a veil. It wasn’t a full explanation. They had a hard time getting it, even what He did say.

If you were in their situation, with no New Testament, and the cross hasn’t happened, and the resurrection hasn’t happened, and the Holy Spirit hasn’t come, and you’re trying to interpret all the things Jesus is saying. But, now He says in verse 25, “An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly about the Father.”

When is that? When the Holy Spirit comes and lives in the life of the believer all the veils are removed. We have the book of Acts, through the book of Revelation to explain everything that Jesus introduced in the gospels. Christ comes back in the Holy Spirit. This is the mystery of the Trinity. Now these 27 books in the New Testament take out all the mystery and make everything clear.

“In that day,” verse 26, “you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray to the Father for you.” In that day you will be able to talk to the Father personally. Well, that’s how their relationship worked up to now. Whatever they needed, they went to Jesus. But when the Holy Spirit comes, and takes up residence in your life, you’re going to be able to directly pray to the Father.

He already said this in verses 23-24, “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” When the Spirit comes, you will have direct access to the Father. This is really a stunning thing to the Jewish people.

Because their God was distant and veiled. God was symbolically in the Holy of Holies where only a high priest could go in there once a year, and he had to get in and out fast, or judgment might fall on him. He didn’t have access to God. But at the cross the veil was ripped from the top to the bottom so the Holy of Holies was opened, and God said, “Everybody has now free access to Me.”

In Judaism God was distant. You didn’t talk about God as your Father. You didn’t have an intimate relationship with God. And you certainly didn’t go to God and say, “Abba, Father.” But now, Paul in Romans and Galatians says, “When you go to God, say ‘Papa.’” You’re going to have direct access to God. Now, that doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t intercede for us.

But Jesus intercedes for us on the matters over which we have no insight, knowledge nor wisdom. But what we desire from God, we have direct access to ask for. And if it’s consistent with the will of Jesus and the purpose of Jesus, the Father will respond. That sets Christianity apart from Judaism in a significant way. It also sets Christianity apart from Catholicism in a significant way.

Catholicism is a kind of New Testament form of Judaism that says you don’t have access to God. You need somebody else to give you that access, like a priest. That would be an Old Testament perspective. But in Roman Catholicism, this is what the Catholic Church teaches. They teach and have taught for centuries that access to the Father comes only through the intercession of mother Mary.

How can that access ever be granted us?” Listen to verse 27, “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” Why does all of this come to us? Because God loves us so that we can go to Him and ask for anything consistent with the purpose of Jesus, and know we will receive it. What an astonishing truth.

This is family love. This speaks about a personal affection. It’s nice to know God loves you, but how much more wonderful is it to know that He actually likes you? He likes you, He’s drawn to you. His affections go toward you. He wants to lavish you with all the benefits and blessings that His affection for you can draw. And it’s present-tense. He continually loves you with a deep affection.

He loves us like that even though He knows everything about us. All your unfaithfulness, all your critical spirit, all your bitterness, all your sin. In John 14:21 Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.” How do you know if you love Christ? ‘Because you obey Him. “And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father.” So love His Son.

The Jews didn’t believe that. The Jews said Jesus is from Satan. Verse 28 says, “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” It is the basis of what we believe. Listen to the response in verse 29, “His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!” They say. “Now we get it.”

They didn’t yet want to acknowledge that that ministry here included His death and resurrection. But they believed that He was God in human flesh. And they make the confession in verse 30, “Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.” Who alone knows all things? God.

In verse 31, “Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? He affirms their faith. You are believing now. Then in verse 32, “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his [e]own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” There’s another hour coming when they run. They go into the garden, Jesus is arrested, and they flee.

Zechariah 13:7 says, “Smite the shepherd, and the sheep are scattered.” Matthew 26:56 pictures them running. Was their faith a sham? No. It was weak faith. It was very important for Jesus to say that, so that when they did that, they would say, “Oh, that’s exactly what He said we’d do.” Which again affirms His omniscience, and it also affirms that He knew they were true believers.

Their faith was real, and it was tested. And when it was tested, they fled. But by Sunday night, they were all back together, and their faith, was inflamed. And when the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, they then turned the world upside-down. There’s a maturing process. And because they believed, God kept them, and God used them mightily when their faith was strengthened.

Verse 33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” What brings you peace? 1, to know that God loves you with a sovereign and divine love. 2, To know that your faith is real and God is your redeemer and Savior. 3, from this statement, “In the world you have tribulation, take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Jesus overcame the world. Past-tense. It hasn’t yet worked out in time, but it’s all planned in eternity. This is the ultimate victory. The world will persecute you. The world may kill you, turn against you, “but I have overcome the system. I have overcome sin. I have overcome Satan. I have overcome demons. I have overcome the complex of sinners. I’ve overcome it all.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Jan 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220116 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C4 imblog

John 16:16-22

Jesus desire, His purpose and His ministry is to comfort us. And when He sent the Holy Spirit, He sent the Comforter. God is the God of all comfort; the Holy Spirit is the Comforter; and Christ is our sympathetic, compassionate High Priest. We understand that theologically and doctrinally. And when we follow the life of Christ, we see one of His characteristics in a dramatic way.

We all live with challenges that are seemingly insurmountable. We’re always looking for some light at the end of the tunnel. People can actually endure almost any trial if they could see an end that is good. Proverbs puts it this way, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Lack of hope is the ultimate agony in suffering. Our Lord however, seeks our joy, and so always gives us hope.

This section of Scripture this evening should be a source of hope because here we find the Lord Jesus Christ desiring with all His heart to give to His disciples a hope, and even joy, in the midst of a horrific trial. And what is so amazing about our Lord’s concern here, is that He knows the eleven disciples are distraught. They cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.

He has been talking now for a long time about dying. It goes all the way back over a year in His ministry to when they were in Galilee in Mark 9, when Jesus said He was going to die, and He was going to rise. And even then, they did not understand,” Mark 9 says, “and they did not want to ask about it.” They did not want any more information because it was against their expectations.

The closer they got to the cross, the deeper their sorrow grew. This is Thursday night of our Lord’s final week in Jerusalem, because on Friday He will be crucified. Several times in that upper room, in John 13-16, He says to them, “Stop being troubled.” Another time He says, “I want you to be at peace.” Not only has He said He’s going to die, but He has said He’s going to rise from the dead.

Jesus wants to give joy to these men in the midst of their sorrow. By Sunday night, their joy will return. By Sunday night, He will show up in the upper room, and He will come through the door, and they will explode in joy. But the sympathy of Christ for His own children is so great that even a few hours of sorrow He desires to eliminate. And so the text is intended to give them hope and joy.

John 16:16-22, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” 17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’?”

“We do not know what He is saying. 19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.”

“21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a baby has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.” The point of these words is to turn their sorrow into joy.

And He’s concerned about that just in the immediate hours, because all of that sorrow will be dispelled by Sunday night. He makes a prediction in verse 16, “‘A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.’” Here is our sympathetic Lord introducing the opportunity to give a hope and joy to these sorrowful disciples.

Now what does Jesus mean, “A little while and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while and you will see Me’”? Some people say He’s talking about the resurrection. That is incorrect. He’s talking about the fact that, in a few hours from then, He’ll be taken to trial, He’ll go out of their presence. They actually flee. Only Peter hangs around to see things, and John is at the cross.

But what is He talking about that “‘you will then see Me’”? Look at verse 17, “Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” But when You go to the Father, You’re going to be invisible, that’s Your ascension.

Look again to John 16:5, “But now I’m going to Him who sent Me. I’m going to the Father.’” And then in verse 7, “‘But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper – the Holy Spirit, the Comforter – will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.’” Are you following that? “If I go, I will send the Holy Spirit to you.”

So what He means here is, “In a little while and you will no longer see Me, because I will ascend to My Father. And a little while after that you will see Me again, because I will come in the form of the Holy Spirit that is going to live in you, as a believer, forever.” That is the only possible interpretation, because of His words at the end of verse 17, “because I go to the Father.”

John 14:17 clarifies it, “The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it doesn’t see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.’” Then in verses 18-19, “‘I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; and because I live in you, you will live also.’”

Jesus means, I will come to you in the form of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. I will not leave you as orphans. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to make Christ present and resident in the life of every believer. This is a great Trinitarian statement: the Son, the Father, and the Spirit - three in one. So He is talking about the dispensation of the Holy Spirit which displays the promises and glories of Christ.

So the Holy Spirit shows us Christ, not only spiritually and internally, but He also shows us Christ externally through the written Word. The Holy Spirit says, “I come to reveal Christ.” So our Lord is saying in verse 16, “In a little while, and you will not see Me.” But a little while after that, on the Day of Pentecost - I’m coming back in the form of the Holy Spirit.” So that is the pledge.

We understand that now, but they didn’t understand it then. Jesus is saying, Crucifixion, yes; resurrection, yes. But, I’m telling you about the coming of the Holy Spirit, which happens when I go back to the Father. If I don’t go to the Father, the Spirit can’t come. If I do, He will. I will be taken from you. You will not see Me, but I will return in the form of the Holy Spirit, who will live in you.

This incredible prophecy was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2. Now, they’re left confused. Let’s look at it in verse 17. They can’t put it all together. So they were saying, not only thinking and mumbling to each other, but having a conversation about what this all meant. Verse 18, “What is this little while? We don’t know what He is talking about.”

Verse 19 says, “Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?” He knew what they wished. He knew their minds. For the first time since John 14:22, the silence of the sorrowing disciples is broken, and they begin to talk.

And, by Sunday night they’re going to be full of joy when they meet the risen Christ, and then they’re going to have forty days of instruction about the kingdom with Him before He ascends into heaven and the Spirit comes. But even this brief time of sadness and sorrow our Lord sees as a burden, and so He wants to give them reason for hope, and that hope produces joy.

He is omniscient - He knows their mind; He knows their pain. And even though their joy will come on Sunday night, their sadness in that moment is a burden in His heart. That is divine compassion. You will not find that kind of divine compassion associated with any other deity in all the religions. They were saying, “How can you go away and come back? How can you die and rise?

Well, Lazarus died and was raised. And there were other people that Jesus raised who died for a little while. What is Christ talking about?” So He moves to comfort them. So you go from a prediction of His leaving, and yet they’ll see Him, referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit. These men are perplexed trying to sort this out against the grain of their own expectations.

Then our Lord offers an illustration to help them, in verse 20, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.’” This is very important that He say this, because it’s true. That is exactly what will take place in a matter of a few hours. When He is arrested, they flee at the highest level of their fears.

They do weep; they do lament. Even Mary, in John 20:11, at the tomb is weeping the same tears that the disciples of our Lord had been shedding. The sadness is palpable in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus, when our Lord runs into a couple of disciples who are just literally shattered in sorrow and grief because they thought Jesus was the Messiah before He was crucified.

They’re going to be in sorrow. The body of Jesus will be a bloody corpse. The world has done its murderous will on Him and rejoices in unholy glee. And the disciples are weeping, devastated and heartbroken, and our Lord knows that is going to happen. “But,” He says, at end of verse 20, “your grief will be turned into joy.” Joy is the goal for them, and joy is the objective of our life.

That is how every Christian should live every day of their life. Joy should mark our lives. The very thing that plunged them into grief will cause them to rejoice. It is that the very event that brought the grief will be the very event that brings the joy; and that will be true, going forward, in all of redemptive history. After the resurrection, when they look back, it will be the source of joy.

We have no hymns of hopeless, dead-end grief; but we have endless hymns of joy that go back to the cross. The cause of the greatest grief to the disciples became the source of highest joy. The resurrection of Christ, the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of the Father in the ascension, the sending of the Holy Spirit, all of that is because of the cross which is the focal point of Christian joy.

Joy that began at the resurrection. First Thessalonians 1:6 says, “You received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit comes to bring us joy. The fruit of the Spirit again is joy. So our Lord is saying, “Look, you’re going to go through a brief time of sorrow, but you’re going to come out the other side, and your grief will be turned into joy.” That’s His promise.

To clarify it, He tells them an illustration in verse 21, “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come.” And that was part of the curse. “But when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.” The result of that suffering is the greatest human joy possible. Our Lord always uses the best illustration.

The very event that will cause you the deepest grief will become the event that brings you the greatest joy; for out of that will come your salvation.” Verse 22, “Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.” ‘I will see you again’, which means that the Spirit of Christ who comes in us has communion with us.

Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” You’ll see Me in the Spirit, in the work of the Spirit in your life subjectively. And the Spirit will reveal Me internally. The Spirit in us becomes the teacher and interpreter of Scripture, who teaches us what the Scripture means. And that is the subjective ministry of the Spirit, and that is Christ in us.

I will be in charge of your life, watching you, as it were, from the inside. That is the key characteristic of Christian salvation, joy. “Your heart will rejoice with a joy that no one will take from you.” You’re secure in Christ and the Father, Listen: “Therefore, no one can take your joy, because your permanent joy is connected to the hope that you have in that final promise of eternal life.”

And the Lord says, “I want your joy to be as full as your sorrow has been, as dominating as your sorrow has been. A joy related to the fact that I’m there; I’m with you; I’m living in you; I’m revealed on the pages of Scripture externally; and I dwell in you internally; and I have a place for you in heaven; and you will be there; and nothing can ever change that. And what is heaven? It is eternal joy.”

Well, I cannot rejoice in everything that goes on around me in my life. But I can rejoice in my eternal salvation that will never be taken away. I can rejoice in the presence of Christ who will never leave me. Joy has nothing to do with my physical circumstances, and everything to do with my spiritual circumstances, which are unchanging and everlasting. Our Lord is concerned with their joy and our joy forever. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Jan 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220109 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C3 imblog

John 16:12-15

From John 13 through John 16, essentially, there is everything that relates to Christian life. It is a great resource and treasure. So we have finally reached John 16:12 – 15, “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what He has heard.”

“He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever He receives from Me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’” We study the Bible in every book, every chapter, every paragraph, every sentence, and every word, because every word is from God. This is the revelation from God.

And that is precisely what our text that I just read to you is talking about. It is our Lord Jesus speaking concerning the Holy Spirit’s work in giving us, in particular, the New Testament. Our Lord quoted the Old Testament often, and He explained it, and He interpreted it, and He called on people to study it because it was the Word of God and revealed the truth of God.

Our Lord actually said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:18, “that not one letter or one stroke (in a Hebrew letter) would ever be removed from the Word of God until it was all fulfilled.” And then in John 10 Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken.” It is one continuous revelation from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation that cannot be broken. It is a chain that cannot be broken.

And as a child, He grew in wisdom and knowledge with His perfect mind, He came to a perfect understanding of the Old Testament. And because He perfectly understood the Old Testament, from the very revelation of God in the Old Testament, He knew what was ahead of Him, because the Old Testament detailed His career, detailed His life, detailed His death, and detailed His resurrection.

The writers of the New Testament say about the Old Testament, “Every word is God-breathed. Every word comes from the Holy Spirit.” And here the Lord Jesus who affirmed the Old Testament now declares His affirmation of the coming New Testament, which will also be authored by the Holy Spirit. This is where our Lord on Thursday night, Passion Week, gives them His final promises, and His final warnings.

At first, it’s all about love and all the gifts that heaven is going to pour because of God’s love. And then in John 15:18, it turns from an evening of love to an evening where the world is going to pour out hate. And Jesus explained to them why they hate the disciples and all believers, and why they will continue and do continue to hate true Christians even up to now, and will until Jesus comes back.

It is because we are not of the world, we’re not part of that system, and that system is Satan’s system, while we are aliens. It is because they hated Jesus Christ; and we bear His name, so they hate us. And it is, finally, because they don’t know God. They are cut off from the life of God; therefore, cut off from spiritual reality. Then Jesus said, “I’m leaving. I’m going to die.”

So they’re in the midst of this fearful confusion. “You say You are going to prepare a place for us. You say You’re going to give us peace, joy, love; we don’t feel any of it. We have no peace, we feel no joy. You expect us to represent You and to proclaim Your gospel to the world, and then You tell us the world will hate us, they will throw us out of the synagogue, and they will kill us.”

Essentially, all the apostles were murdered except John who was exiled to Patmos. How is that possible if You’re not here?” because He was the source of everything. So Jesus answers, “I’m going to go, but I’m going to send somebody else.” John 14:16, “I’ll ask the Father. He’ll give you another Helper to come alongside and help you, who will be with you forever.” It’s the Holy Spirit.

This is the promise that was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came. And since then, every Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is the mystery of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “I’m going, but the Spirit is coming, and He is the same as I am. The Spirit will provide you all the truth you need so that you can prosecute the world.

You indict the world by measuring people against the revelation of God. And the New Testament condemns the world for failure to believe in Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 16 says, “If you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re damned,” The New Testament says that Jesus is the only one who by His own holiness could enter into the presence of God, the only one. Nobody else can.

So we condemn the world as being unholy and unacceptable to God. And if you think you’re going to be escaping judgment you are wrong, because the New Testament shows us that the ruler of this world, Satan, has already been judged and sentenced. And if the most powerful force for evil in the universe has been judged, you as a person that are lesser are not about to escape.

Here we find out what Jesus Christ thinks about the New Testament, that it is all the product of the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, God-breathed.” Peter says, “Men moved by the Holy Spirit wrote.” That is our Lord’s view laid out in verses 12 to 15. Did you notice that it refers to the Father in verse 15, it refers to the Spirit in verse 13, and Jesus speaking refers to Me and Mine.

So you have in these few verses the entire Trinity involved in the revelation of the New Testament. Here is our Lord Jesus providing pre-authentication of the, as yet, unwritten New Testament. Jesus Christ even speaks of it at the end of verse 13, “The Holy Spirit will disclose to you what is to come.” Not all the revelation was done in the Old Testament, there is more to come.

There are things to think about. First, the need for Holy Spirit revelation. Without the New Testament we would be in a dire situation. We would be lost if we didn’t know the truth as revealed in Scripture. There are all kinds of lies and false representations, and we measure all of that against the Bible. Verse 12, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

Well, what more things? Everything contained in the New Testament which is so much more. But Jesus says, “You can’t bear it now.” There are a couple of reasons why they couldn’t handle it. In verse 6, their judgment is completely clouded by sorrow. They thought He would come, conquer the Romans, throw them out, and establish the world supremacy of Israel. But none of it happened.

Jesus will die. In John 2:19, “He says, ‘Destroy this temple; in three days I’ll raise it up.’ And the Jews said, ‘It took 46 years to build this temple and You will raise it in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body.” So He was talking about dying and rising from the dead. In the next verse it says, “So when He was raised from the dead His disciples remembered that He said this.”

John 12:16, “These things His disciples did not understand at the first. But when Jesus was glorified after the resurrection, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.” The point is, up until the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, they didn’t get it. There was a lot more Jesus wanted to say to them, but they were not in any position to receive it.

We see this even after Christ dies. In John 20:6, Simon Peter comes to the tomb, goes in, he sees that the Lord is not there. Verse 8, “The other disciple, John, who had first come to the tomb also entered. For as yet, up to that point when John saw that the body was not there, they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” That just wasn’t in their thinking.

Another significant event was the transfiguration of the Lord. After the transfiguration, they were coming down off the mountain in Mark 9:9 and “Christ gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man rose from the dead. They discussed what rising from the dead meant.” They just didn’t want to believe that Jesus was going to die.

The point is in John 16 that Jesus couldn’t say any more about what was coming because they didn’t understand what He had said up to that point. It wasn’t until after the resurrection it began to dawn on them. It became clear on John when he showed up at the tomb and the Lord wasn’t there. And it took a long while for the rest of them. There were a few on the road to Emmaus who also did not understand.

Remember what Jesus did? He explained the sections of the Old Testament, and spoke of all the things related to Messiah’s suffering and glory, and it dawned on them. And then that night of the resurrection, Sunday night, He went to the room where all the disciples were, and in Luke 24, explained that this was all in the Old Testament, and that He had fulfilled the Scripture.

And then Acts 1 says, “He spent 40 days speaking to them of things concerning the kingdom.” And after Jesus rose then the Holy Spirit came and really illuminated their minds. So He says, “Look, I have so much more to say, a whole New Testament worth. But you can’t handle it. I can’t even get you to understand where you should be, let alone the things that are beyond that.”

Verse 13, “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” Deuteronomy 12:32 says, “Don’t add anything to this and don’t take anything away.” Revelation 22:18-19 says, “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life.”

The Spirit of truth will allow you supernaturally to remember everything Jesus did and everything Jesus said to write it down in the four gospels.” And then He will inspire the story of the church in the book of Acts, and then He will inspire the theology of the gospel in the Epistles, and then He will inspire the great book of Revelation. All the truth, from the virgin birth to the eternal state.

The Bible is the testimony of God. 1 Corinthians 2:4 says, “So my preaching, are not persuasive words of wisdom, but it is the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so your faith doesn’t rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” Verse 7, “the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age understood.”

Verse 10-12, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

What is the Bible? Spiritual thoughts in spiritual words. The Holy Spirit is going to give you words. So verse 16 says, “You have the mind of Christ.” You know how Christ thinks, and that’s how God thinks, because that’s what the Holy Spirit has revealed. So your Bible basically reveals the mind of Christ, the mind of God. This is the Word of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t speak on His own initiative. Now, they would understand that because that’s exactly what Jesus said to them constantly. In John 5:30, “I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.”

The purpose of the revelation in verse 14, “He will glory Me.” It’s fair to say there’s much in the Old Testament about Christ because that’s what Jesus said: “Search the Scripture, for they speak of Me.” And on the Road to Emmaus He went to the Old Testament to all the Scriptures that spoke about Him and explained the prophecies of His suffering and His glory to them.

Who’s the main person in the four gospels? Jesus Christ. Who’s the main person in the book of Acts preaching the gospel by the apostles to establish the church and becomes the head of the church? Christ. Who’s the main person in all the Epistles that explain the meaning of the gospel? Christ. Who’s the main person in Revelation? Christ. “These are written about Christ that you might believe and have life in His name.”

Now, if you’re going to demonstrate by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, you have to have the record of Jesus and compare it with the Old Testament, right? We compare the Old Testament prophecies of Christ with the New Testament revelation of Christ to demonstrate that He is the promised Messiah. So this is what the Holy Spirit is going to do in verse 15, “He is going to testify about Me and declare it to you.”

So we have all we need, because all the promises of Christ are here, and the Holy Spirit deposits them in our lives. All the theology of Christ is here and the Spirit instructs us as to its reality. All the necessary truth to prosecute the world and then preach the gospel that saves is here. So our Lord makes a promise to the disciples that is so essential: we need the Holy Spirit to write the New Testament. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Jan 2022 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20220102 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C2 imblog

Luke 2:1-16

Two thousand years ago the Creator of the universe, the eternal God, entered human society as a baby. On a night like every other night in Israel, a child was born. This child was the Lord Jesus Christ, God and man fused together in indivisible oneness. This birth became the high point of history. All history before this birth is B.C., Before Christ. All history since is A.D, Latin for "the year of our Lord."

Luke 2:1-16, “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home.”

“He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. 8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby,”

“guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid, I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” 15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other,

“Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.” This is written by Luke under the inspiration of God where the birth of Jesus Christ was announced to these shepherds in those days but also to us here this evening. Receive it as good news of the gospel. Let us pray.

The first thing we learn is found in the opening words. Those were real people in real places in real history announcing the entrance of our Savior. This account is about two kings, one of them sits on the throne of the Roman Empire, the greatest worldly power. The second king is wrapped in swaddling cloth and lies in a manger. This little king is the King of Kings. He rules over the king in Rome.

He is the eternal King, the Lord omnipotent, who reigns from the moment of His work of creation to the moment of His work of redemption. The earthly king orders a decree so that everyone is to be registered to pay taxes but this decree happened in obedience to a decree that God ordered in eternity, that His Son would be born at a specific time and place in the village of Bethlehem for a specific mission.

God was at work. Just like He had been work in the decree of Cyrus that liberated Israel, to send them back to reestablish their nation after the captivity, just as He was at work in the case of Nebuchadnezzar who ended up doing exactly what God wanted him to do for His own purposes. God takes pagan kings, pagan rulers and uses them as His own servants for His own purposes. God is sovereign.

Jesus mission is to save His people from their sins. In obedience Joseph together with Mary went to the City of David, Bethlehem. He did this because he was a descendant of David. Roman law did not require him to bring his wife but he knew that it was time for her to deliver her baby. But the ultimate reason was that this also was prophesied from eternity that the baby be born in Bethlehem.

Mary delivered her first born son and laid Him in a manger because there was no room in the inn. The birth of Jesus was in humiliation. However at that very moment God determined that His birth should also include exaltation. That shame must be balanced with glory on the outskirts of the village. The lowest people of the land, the shepherds, were experiencing a silent night.

Suddenly out of nowhere an angel appeared accompanied with the glory of God. This Shekinah blinding glory overwhelmed people because there was nothing in nature that compared to that. All shepherds immediately woke up and were very afraid. And the angel said, “Do not be afraid,” the most frequent saying in the New Testament. Fallen creatures are terrified in the presence of God.

The angel said, “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” Don’t be afraid because there is born to you, in the city of David, a savior. This is the birthday of the One who will save you. He is Christ, the Lord. Christ is the New Testament translation for the Messiah. And this will be the sign, you will find a baby wrapped in sheep cloth in a manger.

Instantly, beside this single angel, there were the entire heavenly hosts, an army of angels who bring a choir from heaven, saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” And when the angels finished, the shepherds talked to each other. “Did you see that?” Let us go right now to Bethlehem. Let us see the sign that was just announced.

So they hurried and they found Mary and Joseph and they came to see the baby. They told everyone what they heard and saw. And they marveled. How long did that excitement last? Maybe they felt that way every year. But not Mary, she kept everything to herself and pondered it in her heart. Eight days later when she took the child for circumcision, she pondered that.

Twelve years later she pondered that when her boy confounded the people in the temple, every time she tucked her son into bed, she pondered these things. And at the day she stood at the foot of the cross, and watched Him die, she pondered that. Until Sunday morning came, and He rose, not in humility, not in shame, not in disgrace, but in glory, in triumph, in exultation.

The shepherds left praising God and glorifying Him for everything they heard and everything they had seen. That is what we Christians need to do, to give glory, and dominion, and power, and praise, and joining the angels saying, worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive the fullness of the glory of God. That is the real meaning of Christmas! Sadly the world and Israel have largely rejected Him. Let us pray…

]]> Sun, 26 Dec 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211226 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C1 imblog

Hebrews 1:1-3

The promise of God in the Old Testament was that there would come an Anointed One, the Savior, the Redeemer and Deliverer. But He would also be the ultimate Prophet, the ultimate Priest, and the ultimate King. Isaiah 42:1 says, “Behold, My Servant,” God means “Messiah “whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him.”

The Messiah would be all three. According to Deuteronomy 18, He would be a prophet like Moses. According to Psalm 1:10, He would be a priest; and that’s repeated again in Zechariah 6. According to Psalm 2, He would be a unique priest, and then again in 2 Samuel 7, He would be King. He would be the King in David’s line. Psalm 2 says He would rule the nations of the world.

This is God’s plan and promise. It didn’t happen; centuries went by, until as Paul says in Galatians 4:4, the fullness of time came. And then He was born; and that’s what lands you right in Luke 2:11, “Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Messiah, the Anointed One, and the Lord.” Now in Bethlehem, the Messiah has arrived, the Prophet, Priest, and King above all.

The disciples knew He was the promised Messiah. He declared that Himself; look at Luke 4:16, “He came to Nazareth and entered the synagogue, stood up to read. He took the book of the prophet Isaiah which was handed to Him. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,’ and that is what we just read in Isaiah 61.

‘Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.’ He closed the book, gave it back and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

In John 11:25, “Jesus says to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.’ Do you believe this?’ She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God.’” She declared that He is that promised Redeemer, Savior, Deliverer, Messiah, Prophet, Priest, and King.

All three of those come together in Hebrews 1:1-3, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”

Now we know that the natural man cannot understand the things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:14 – “they’re foolishness to him.” The unbeliever is dead and blind; he is unable to discern. “The god of this world has blinded his mind, lest the light of the gospel would shine unto him,” Paul says to the Corinthians. We do not expect man to understand God or the gospel in a natural sense.

In the Old Testament we’re reminded here that God spoke long ago, to the fathers in the prophets in many ways. Many ways like direct revelation, indirect revelation, inspired writing, visions, dreams, types, symbols. Some of the Old Testament is history, some of it is poetry, some of it is law, some of it is prophecy, but all of it is God speaking. That is why it is called the Word of God.

God had to speak. We could not know Him if He did not speak; and He did. This simply says, “God has spoken,” the true God, not an idol, not a dumb piece of wood or rock, not an impersonal cause, not an indifferent power; but God has spoken, which means He is a person, and He has spoken. And that is why the Bible is called the Word of God. But the 39 books of the Old Testament are in a sense, incomplete.

The Old Testament are separate books, stretched over a millennium, written by many different authors; and it was progressive, but incomplete. God was increasing our understanding as revelation continued. No prophet got the full revelation of God, not until we see in verse 2 that God spoke unto us through His Son. No prophet ever grasped the full truth of God, until Jesus revealed the full truth.

Jesus was not an incomplete revelation. In Him, God did not display only some facets of Himself or some facets of His truth, but God fully revealed Himself. No longer in diverse manners and diverse ways, but singularly through Christ. John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God,” speaking of the Son of God. So we know the Word, Jesus is God.

John 1:14, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Full truth is revealed in Him. Verse 18: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” In Jesus God is fully revealed, and the New Testament is written about this full revelation.

The four Gospels describe the arrival and the ministry of Jesus. The book of Acts describes the apostolic preaching concerning Jesus. The Epistles lay out the significance of His life and death and resurrection and implications in the world. And the New Testament culminates in the book of Revelation with His glorious return. The New Testament is all about Jesus Christ.

God spoke in His Son. And by the way, the words of Jesus, they said they’d never heard a man speak like that man spoke. It was clear even to Nicodemus, the teacher in Israel, that Jesus was a teacher sent from God. He spoke for God. In fact, He says He only spoke what God wanted Him to speak. In John 5, you see how powerful His words are, the most powerful expression of His words since creation.

John 5:25, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” His words are so powerful they not only created the entire universe, they not only sustained that universe, but they’re so powerful that He will raise all the dead in the end. “Just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son to also have life in Himself.

“27 And God gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did good deeds to the resurrection of life, those who committed the evil to a resurrection of judgment.” He speaks, and the universe comes into existence.

Christ speaks, and the dead are taken out of their graves, given a body suited for heaven or a body suited for hell. That’s how powerful His words are. He is the revelation of God in full. Verse 2 begins by saying, “In these last days.” That’s a familiar phrase to the Jews. It meant the messianic age. He had arrived in God’s time to be the Messiah, and He is the voice of God.

John 14:24, “And the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” He’s the perfect Prophet; He speaks only the words that God ordained for Him to speak. In Luke 13:33 He says, “Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.” So He recognizes Himself as a prophet.

In Luke 24:19, “They said to Him, ‘The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people.” He stated Himself to be a prophet, and those who followed Him declared that He was in fact a prophet. There had never been a prophet like Him. His words were full of grace and truth, and powerful enough to raise the dead.

Acts 3:17-21 says, “I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and be converted…, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before…21…which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Jesus is God’s voice.

The Old Testament shows this revelation. In Abraham, we find the nation of Messiah. In Jacob, we find the tribe of Messiah. In David and Isaiah, we find the family of Messiah. In Micah, we find the town of Messiah. In Daniel, we find the time of Messiah. In Malachi, we find the forerunner of Messiah. In Isaiah, we find the death and resurrection of Messiah. But each writer only knew in part.

But when Christ arrived, He is the full revelation of God. And Hebrews tells us, “This one speaks for God.” The writer is defining Christ. Verse 2, “He is the Son of God. He is the heir of all things. He is the one who made the world. He is the radiance of God’s glory. He is the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” No prophet ever had such powerful words.

.Jesus Christ is also the heir of all things. He possesses the right to absolutely everything. In Revelation 5, this is illustrated when the Lamb of God comes out of the throne and picks up the sealed book, which is the title deed to the universe. And then all of heaven bows down to worship Him as He unrolls the title deed to the universe and begins to take it back from the usurper.

John 1:3 says, “Everything was made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Colossians 1:16 says He created absolutely everything by His word. He spoke it into existence. He speaks with such power He could create the universe. John 5 says, He can raise the dead and bring them to a final form suited for heaven and suited for hell by the word of His mouth.

Verse 3 says, “He’s the radiance of God’s glory.” He’s the Light of all. When it says, “He is the radiance,” it’s the word “brightness” actually. “He is the shining forth of God’s glory,” We see the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus. Just as the radiance of the sun reaches the earth and lights and warms, give life and grows, so Christ is the glorious Light of God shining into the hearts of men.

Not only that, He is the ruler of all: “He upholds all things by the word of His power.” This is speaking about His power to sustain everything that exists. Everything in the universe has to be held together, and it is held together by the word of His power. Notice, “the word of His power.” He speaks, and the universe is created. He speak constantly, continually, and the universe is sustained.

And, secondly, He is not only the Prophet who reveals God, but He is the Priest who reconciles to God. Verse 3, “When He had made purification of sins.” This introduces us to His priestly work. That what priests did. That’s what Jesus did. He offered the only sacrifice that could take away sin. And the writer of Hebrews wants us to understand there’s never been a priest like this one.

Hebrews 2:17, “He became a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” He offered a sacrifice that satisfied God. No priest ever did that. Hebrews 4:14, “We have a great high priest, Jesus Christ the Son of God who can sympathize with our weakness, He is One who has been tempted in all things as we are, but without sin.

Hebrews 5:5, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but God said to Him, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You,’ just as He also in another passage says, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Verse 9 says, “Having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.”

Hebrews 9, “When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. And thus He is the mediator of a better covenant, in which redemption is accomplished.”

Thirdly, we meet Him as the King. Verse 3, “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” The priest never sat down because his work was never finished. But Jesus sat down because He was a king. He sat down at the power side of the Majesty on high; He took His rightful place. As the book of Revelation says, He became King of kings and Lord of lords.

2 Samuel 7:12 says, “I God, will set up your seed after you, David, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”

So the writer of Hebrews introduces us to the Christ: the Prophet who reveals God; the Priest who reconciles us to God; and the King who reigns with God. The evidence of His sovereign royalty is verse 4, “Having inherited a more excellent name than the angels. God said, ‘I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me.” And He says, ‘let all the angels of God worship Him.’” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Dec 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211219 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001C0 imblog

John 16:8-11

This is a portion of Scripture that every preacher must understand, every elder and every Christian must understand too. This text is foundational to our mission and to our cause in the world. It is the foundation of all gospel preaching and witness. And since the church and you personally are in the world to proclaim the gospel, we need to know what this Bible passage teaches.

Jesus has done nothing to overpower the Jews, and also nothing to overpower the Romans who occupy Israel, and now He is saying they’re going to kill Him. But that is God’s plan for Him so that He can be the only acceptable sacrifice for sin: to die for sinners, rise from the dead, as God validates the sufficiency of His death, and provide eternal life to all who will repent and believe in Him.

Not only is Jesus leaving them, but He tells them in John 15, that the world that hated Him will hate them, that the world that persecuted Him will persecute them, and that the world that kills Him will kill them. How are we going to remain faithful in this world full of temptation, hatred and animosity? Where’s the power going to come from? Where are the resources we need to survive?”

John 14:16 says, “I’m going to give you another of the same kind, exactly like Myself, who will be with you forever,” and He identifies Him in verse 17 as the Spirit of truth. It is very important that they understand that the role and ministry of the Holy Spirit primarily is to give you the truth. Verse 26, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

The ministry of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, is to give them all heavenly blessings, all that they need to write the New Testament. And He is going to teach you about Me. That really sums up what the Holy Spirit does in revealing Scripture, divine teaching. It is the record of all that Jesus did and said, and it is all the epistles and letters that tell us what His life and ministry meant.

This is the internal ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer to grant every promise that Christ ever gave, to bring the treasures of heaven down and deposit them in our lives. But there is going to be an external provision by the Holy Spirit, and He’s going to bring that through the apostles and all of us. All Scripture is God-breathed, and the Holy Spirit is the breath of God.

So let us look at John 16:8-11, “And when He comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me. 10 of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no more. 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world has already been judged.”

2 Timothy 2:25 says, “It is God, through the Holy Spirit, who grants repentance.” The Holy Spirit gives life and light. He grants repentance. He grants faith to believe the gospel: it’s a work of God, through the Holy Spirit in the sinner. They are awakened to their guilt, they are awakened to the terror of judgment, they are awakened to the truth of the gospel and they are granted faith to believe.

But that is not what Jesus is talking about. Let’s start with the word “convict” in verse 8. It’s a legal word, and it takes us into court essentially. It means “to indict by evidence.” It’s a word that could be translated “to prosecute.” And it can even be translated “to prove guilty.” In a non-legal sense, you might say, “Oh, I feel convicted.” And by that, you mean, “I feel guilty.”

But the word “convict” in a courtroom takes on a completely different meaning. If you say, “A person was convicted,” you mean the trial is over. You’re not talking about some emotional feeling inside. You’re saying, “He was measured against the law and found guilty. The proof is in; the verdict is guilty.” That’s a conviction. The Holy Spirit is here saying, “I’m going to render a final verdict.”

Those of us who preach the Word of God are the world’s prosecutors. We are God’s select prosecutors. We do it by preaching; we do it in testimony. And by means of the revelation of the Holy Spirit, you are going to be able to indict and prosecute and convict the world before God. The good news makes no sense if it’s not a deliverance from a severe punishment for a severe violation of the law.

In the Old Testament in every generation of history, God had His prosecutors. You would expect that, right? God is absolutely holy and man is fallen and sinful. So the Bible is just full of prosecutions, full of indictments, full of evidences, and full of convictions, full of guilt verdicts and full of judgments. For example, go back to Enoch in Genesis. How do you know what he said?

It’s in Jude 1:14-15, “In the seventh generation from Adam, Enoch preached.” And what was Enoch’s message? He said, “Behold, the Lord comes with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

He is the first person identified as a preacher. Enoch was a preacher and he was a prosecutor. So were all the other prophets. Moses was a prosecutor. All the prophets that you read in the prophetic books were prosecutors. Elijah was a prosecutor. They were prophets of Israel. They indicted Israel; they indicted Judah; they indicted the nations. They indicted them for violations of the law of God.

The prophets indicted them for their immoralities and their idolatries that rendered them guilty before God so that we could honestly say that all the prophets were God’s prosecutors through the whole Old Testament period. Their role was primarily to bring in accusation, and to bring evidence, and to render a guilt verdict on those who violated God’s law. This led to a conviction of guilt and punishment.

The Holy Spirit in them is why they did it. Ezekiel is taken into the Lord’s house. Ezekiel 11:5-10, “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and he told me to say, “This is what the Lord says to the people of Israel: I know what you are saying, for I know every thought that comes into your minds. 6 You have murdered many in this city and filled its streets with the dead.”

“7 Therefore, the Lord says: This city is an iron pot all right, but the pieces of meat are the victims of your injustice. As for you, I will soon drag you from this pot. 8 I will bring on you the sword of war you so greatly fear. 9 I will drive you out of Jerusalem and hand you over to foreigners, who will carry out my judgments against you. 10 You will be slaughtered all the way to the borders of Israel. You will know that I am the Lord.”

That’s a prosecution. That’s an indictment, accusations, evidence, a verdict, and judgment. For 400 years there was no prophet in Israel. There were no prosecutors. And then there appeared one by the name of John the Baptist. He was filled with the Spirit because the Holy Spirit was going to empower him as a prosecutor. And John said, “You snakes. You vipers. Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?”

You would hear John saying those kinds of things that were intended to terrify sinners and to indict them. You would hear him say, “When the one who is coming arrives, He’s going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And the next verse says, “And he convicted Herod of his immorality.” John with the Holy Spirit prosecuted people because they violated the Word of God.

Then came another prosecutor, the perfect prosecutor: the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember at His baptism? The Spirit of the Lord empowered Him for ministry. He went back to His synagogue in Nazareth, in Luke 4, and He prosecuted them for their hypocrisy and false religion and said, “You’re just like your fathers before you.” and they tried to throw Him off a cliff and stone Him to death.

He was everything an Old Testament prophet was and more. He was God’s prosecutor. Jesus says in John 3:19, “This is judgment; Light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, doesn’t come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” He prosecutes and indicts.

Look what our Lord is saying to the disciples, “From here on, the Holy Spirit is going to put the truth in your hands by which you will measure every man, and you will become God’s prosecutors.” Remember in John 16, Jesus went over to the Mount of Olives, looked at the temple and said, “Not one stone will be left on top of another.” Because our Lord is the prosecutor of Israel.

Then came John the Baptist, God’s prosecutor, and they killed him. After that came the Son of God, the ultimate Prosecutor who prosecuted the world of sin and judgment, and they also killed Him. In each case, the prosecuted became the prosecutors of the world. And our Lord is saying to the disciples and to us that the world’s going to prosecute us in every generation.

We are prosecuted in the world’s courts. Ten out of the eleven disciples, with the exception of John were killed. So the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts. But this is not talking about the work that He does in the heart, this is talking about the work that we do, empowered by Him with the Scripture. The Holy Spirit gives us an offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God to prosecute.

All gospel ministry starts here. You can’t get to the good news until you’ve preached the bad news. This is a time when the church is trying to make the world feel good about itself, trying to make everybody feel a little better. If you ever hear a preacher who is not a prosecutor, you’re listening to someone who’s shirked his duty. What is the point of the gospel if there’s no sin and judgment?

So here’s how we have to give the gospel. First, we find in the Scripture everything we need to know concerning sin. But it’s one particular sin that we have to proclaim. The sin of not believing in Jesus. Everyone has a general sense of morality, a general sense of sinfulness and breaking the rules, but everybody tends to think that even in spite of breaking the rules, they’re good enough.

People will inevitably think that they’re good deeds outweighs the sin. So you have to say, “Do you acknowledge Jesus Christ as God and Lord and Savior?” All other religions that are outside of Christ mean zero if you reject Christ. John 3:18 says, “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s Son.”

There’s only one person who ever walked on this earth who had a right at the end of His live to go directly on His own merit into the presence of God, only one. So unless you possess the righteousness of Jesus Christ, you will never see God. God highly exalted that demonstrated righteousness, God sat Him at His right hand, and gave Him the name Lord, the name that’s above every name.

If you’re going to be with God, you have to possess the righteousness that Jesus Christ possessed. When you believe in Christ, He gives you His righteousness. You become the righteousness of God in Him. Our righteousness is filthy rags. But Christ’s righteousness allowed Him to go into the presence of God. The only way you’ll ever get to God, is to be granted His righteousness.

Because on the cross, Christ took your sinfulness. The only way you’ll ever get to heaven is to be perfectly holy. Your righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees; you have to be holy like your Father in heaven is holy. You can’t be that on your own, and so it has to be something granted to you, a righteousness that is alien to you. The only righteousness acceptable to God is the righteousness of Christ.

How do we prove judgment? Because the ruler of this world has been judged. Genesis 3:15, “His head is crushed.” Colossians 2, “The powers of Satan and hell are all defeated at the cross.” Hebrews 2, “The one who had the power of death is destroyed by Christ.” You can go to Revelation 20 where Satan is bound, and cast into the lake of fire with all the demons forever and ever.

Acts 2:22-24, “God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through Him. 23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed Him to a cross and killed Him. 24 But God released Him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life.”

Peter is a prosecutor on the Day of Pentecost. Acts 2:33, “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” Peter preached judgment, verse 34-35, “For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand,”

35, until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet. 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent,

And let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. And that was because they were accused. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211212 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001BF imblog

John 16:1-7

The gospel of John is the history of our Lord’s life and a presentation of His deity as God in human flesh. This is Thursday night before His crucifixion on Friday. Judas was dismissed to do his betrayal, and the eleven disciples remained with Jesus and He spoke to them, and what He said to them is contained in John 13, 14, 15, and 16. It is the legacy of Christ, not only to His eleven disciples, but to all believers.

Everything that Jesus said has been about the love that the Lord has for His own. And then all of the promises, blessings and gifts of His love are described and promised one after another. But suddenly, our Lord moves from talking about the blessings of heavenly love to the realities of earthly hatred. John 16:1-7, “I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.”

“2 For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a service for God. 3 This is because they have never known the Father or Me. 4 Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.”

“5 But now I am going away to the one who sent Me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. 6 Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Helper won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send Him to you.” So this is the world for believers loved and blessed by God and hated by the world.

The word martyr is a Greek word for “witness.” It has become the word for a person who dies under persecution. When you say someone is “a martyr,” you’re saying they died. Peter, James, and Andrew were crucified. Bartholomew was whipped and then crucified. James, son of Zebedee, was beheaded. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria until he was dead.

James, the half-brother of our Lord, was stoned by order of the Sanhedrin. Philip was stoned to death. Stephen was stoned to death. Matthew, Simon the Zealot, Thaddeus, and Timothy were martyred; and Paul had his head chopped off. Those apostles in the New Testament times suffered exactly what was prophesied. Through jealousy, the most righteous pillars have been persecuted to death.

The leaders of the Roman Empire persecuted and killed Christians during the first three centuries. It reached a high point during the Protestant Reformation. The Reformers were appalled by the moral, ethical, and doctrinal corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, and they spoke out against them. And the response from the Roman Catholic Church was violent with massive persecution.

A 1997 article in the New York Times reported that more Christians have died under persecution in the twentieth century than the first nineteen after the birth of Christ. And now in the twenty-first century a 100 million Christians are under persecution. This is exactly what our Lord said was going to happen. We’re more shocked that people in America have been able to escape persecution.

They now have both sides with promised blessings and persecution. And the truth about these two and the reason Jesus talked about the persecutions after the promises is that they blend into one. They blend into one because the promises are our hope in the midst of our persecution. With the promises that we have received and the power of the Holy Spirit, we have everything we need in the midst of our persecution.

The world will hate you, Jesus said, but I will love you. The world will be your enemy, but I will be your friend, our Lord said. The world will persecute you and kill you; but I will supply all your needs, answer all your prayers, and give you everlasting life. The world will give you trouble, but I will give you peace. The world will bring you sadness, but I will give you joy.

Let us look at John 16:1-3, “I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. 2 For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a service for God. 3 This is because they have never known the Father or me.” I’ve told you this so you’re not shocked. This is what it means to be a disciple.

What if they hadn’t known this? They joined Jesus with grandiose expectations. They knew that the Old Testament promised a Messiah, a kingdom, that He would establish His throne in the world in Jerusalem. They thought they were the inner circle for the establishment of this worldly kingdom. They even argued about which of them would sit on the right and left hand of Jesus.

Never did Jesus use His power to change the Jewish establishment or to free them from Roman occupation. And then He started talking about His death, and that He would be betrayed, and that He would be arrested, and that He would be beaten and spit on and crucified, and this began to frighten them. And Judas was so frightened, he got out and got the money he could get betraying Jesus.

If Jesus had never said anything about persecution, if He had never warned them about it with specifics, and when He went back to heaven and the Holy Spirit came, all of a sudden the apostles started being executed, and the writers of Scripture starting to be murdered, and persecution broke out everywhere, they might begin to wonder whether Jesus was the Messiah after all.

So to make sure that they knew it was to be expected, our Lord tells them all these things. In spite of that, later on past midnight in the garden, Matthew 26 says, “After they sung a hymn in the upper room, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus said, ‘You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written in Zachariah, “I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.”

In Matthew 26:55, Jesus says to the crowd that comes to arrest Him, “Have you come with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you didn’t seize Me. But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.” Though they were forewarned, they were caught in a trap. “Then all the disciples left Him and fled.”

That’s how we sometimes are too. The Lord gives us all the promises and the warnings, and yet we get trapped and offended, fall into fear and doubt, and sin and stumble, and become confused. We have all the promises, and we have the Holy Spirit whose purpose it is to fulfill all those promises. That’s John 16:14, “He will take of Mine and will deposit all those promises with you.”

And the hatred which the Jewish leaders focused on Christ will pass to the followers of Christ. Remember the blind man in John 9? Our Lord healed him. “His parents,” verse 22, “were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Jesus Christ to be Messiah Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.” That was to separate a person from his community.

In first-century Judaism if you were thrown out of the synagogue, you were thrown out of the nation. There was no separation between the secular and the sacred. You were thrown out of your family; you lost your job; you lost your friends. You became a spiritual leper. To be thrown out of the synagogue, would be literally to be eliminated from the hopes and the prerogatives of being Jewish.

In modern times, the persecutor of Christianity across the world is Islam, and they think they’re doing service to their god. Religion always is the ultimate persecutor of the truth because Satan is religious. He disguises himself as an angel of light; he works in all false religions. In John 10, when the Jewish leaders heard Jesus say that He and God were equals, they were ready to stone Him as a blasphemer.

And the reason they finally put Him on a cross was because they saw Him as a blasphemer who, by saying He was God, shattered the reality of one God. They had no concept of God as a Trinity, three persons in one. And if Jesus says He is equal to God, then He has created a false God, and they had to protect the ‘true God’. Saul said, “The more Christians I killed, the more I advanced in my religion.”

Oprah has a new program called “Belief,” and there is every possible, imaginable and unimaginable belief, all put at an equal level. But the only people who know God are the people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who know the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is one with Christ. No man comes unto Christ except by the Father, and the only way to the Father is through the Son.

How can we have any effective witness? In John 15:26-27, Jesus says, “It’s the Holy Spirit who’s going to empower you to give that witness.” He says something similar in John 16:12-15. So this is a shock to these disciples. Verse 3, “These things they have done because they have never known the Father or Me.” Persecution of Christianity comes always from other false religions.

All other religions of the world are satanic, and they all hate God. They don’t know God. That is Satan’s great deception. The Jews and the Romans have created their own god, a fictitious deity that doesn’t exist, who is Satan masquerading as deity, and they persecute Christians. So our Lord calls for those who are willing to see it for what it is with denying self, taking up a cross and following Him.

In John 14:29, Jesus says, “I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.” We believe in Christ is because He knows the future, and that is divine. Eventually Peter says in 1 Peter 4:12 - 13, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.”

And then Jesus says in verse 4, “I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.” What does that mean? Well, He certainly made some general references in Matthew 5, 10 and Luke 9, “Blessed are you when you’re persecuted. And if they persecute the Master, they’ll persecute the servant.” But never with this kind of specificity. Why? “Because I was with you.”

But now He’s not going to be there, and all of that hostility is going to come to those who have His name. That’s why Paul said, “I bear in my body the marks of Christ: all the whippings, all the thrashing with rods, all the beatings with whips, all the scarring from the stones.” All the rest of the things that he suffered, in 2 Corinthians, were the marks of Christ. They hit the one who bore His name.

Go to Revelation 12, and look ahead to the time of great tribulation in the future before the Lord sets up His kingdom. The dragon who is Satan is going to be in a rage. And is going “to make war with the rest of the children” of the woman (this is the offspring of Israel) who are believers in their Messiah, “who keeps the commandments of God and holds to the testimony of Jesus.”

So this persecution will escalate all through human history into the time of tribulation. It’ll be that way until Jesus comes to judge the ungodly and establish His kingdom. And it will always be His people who are the target. Let us look at the provision for the disciples by the Lord in verse 5, “But now I am going away to the one who sent Me, and not one of you is asking where I am going.”

Verse 6, “Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you.” You can’t get your eyes off yourself to get them on Me. They didn’t ask Him about death, burial and resurrection. Then He reiterates the greatest of all promises in verse 7, “But truthfully, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Helper won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send Him to you.”

That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is a gift that heaven sends as a reward for Christ’s completed work. The Spirit can’t come until My work is done. Peter said that on Pentecost in Acts 2:33, “Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of the God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.”

The gift of the Spirit then is the pledged and promised reward for Christ’s completed work. The Holy Spirit comes in response to the finished work of Christ. How could a group of persecuted, sorrowing disciples confront a hating and persecuting world? No way, except in the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember John 15:26, “the Spirit of truth...He will testify about Me, and you will testify also.”

The Holy Spirit is going to empower you to make an effective testimony against the enemies of God. So what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer? He comes to make all the promises of Christ real. This is elevated, majestic, divine, exalted truth concerning the Holy Spirit, and to think any less of the Holy Spirit than this is to violate the commandment, “Do not take the Lord’s name in vain.”

It is the Holy Spirit who inspired the people who wrote Scriptures. It is the Holy Spirit who makes us alive so that we can believe. It is the Holy Spirit who grants us faith, who makes the gospel clear. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us spiritual life. It is the Holy Spirit who is now sanctifying us. How? By illuminating the Word of God and depositing in us all the promises of heaven. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Dec 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211205 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001BE imblog

John 15:26-27

I am convinced that the most ignored, the most misrepresented, the most dishonored person in the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. That is a form of taking the Lord’s name in vain, which is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. The Holy Spirit is regularly spoken of with irreverence and foolishness. All of that shows us a lack of worship, and a lack of worship is sin.

It’s severe to violate the law of God, as God warned His people in Deuteronomy 28, what would happen to them if they didn’t worship according to truth. The modern evangelical church shows little interest in the glory of the Holy Spirit, third member of the Trinity. The true glory of the Holy Spirit is very often unknown. The text before us opens up our understanding to the true ministry of the Holy Spirit.

John 13 through John 16, provides for us a revelation from the Holy Spirit of what Jesus said to His disciples on the last night before His arrest and crucifixion. This was Passover on that final week of our Lord’s life and ministry. Our Lord spends hours with the eleven remaining disciples. What we have in John 15 and 16 is the teaching that He gave them while they were walking through Jerusalem.

All of this is profound truth. It is the legacy of Jesus to His disciples, and beyond them to all of us. We know that because all these promises extend past those eleven men to all believers. In John 17, we have the prayer from our Lord to the Father and in that prayer, He declares that He wants the Father to fulfill all that He has promised, not only for the eleven, but for all who will believe in the future.

So these are the promises that the Lord has given to all believers through all time. Now it started out as a night of love. He loved them infinitely as only God can love. And in the opening the emphasis is on the gifts and the promises that that love generates. Those amazing promises to us all through life and into heaven where He has prepared a place for us. It was then a night of love.

However, we saw in John 15:18 the word “hate,” that is used many times till verse 25. Love is the expression of God toward His own. Hate is the expression of the world toward those who belong to God. At the same time that we are loved by God, we are hated by the world because we’re not of the world. The world belongs to Satan. We’re hated because they don’t know God.

God pours out all blessing on us; while the world pours out all its anger and persecution on us, even to the degree where believers through history are killed. There are about 100 million professing Christians in the world today under some form of persecution; most of it from 41 Muslim nations. This is not surprising; this is not new. We’re not surprised when persecution begins to develop here.

The evil one hates God, Christ, hates the Bible, hates the gospel and hates believers. Now our Lord is saying to the apostles and us, “I’m warning you about hostility and persecution.” How will those promises be fulfilled? And how will we be able to reach this hostile, hating, persecuting world with the gospel, which is our mission? The answer to that our Lord has given, it is the Holy Spirit.

John 14:16, “I will ask the Father, He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever. That is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” The Holy Spirit will be the one who will fulfill all the promises. The Spirit of God, will be with you and in you forever.

And in John 16:7, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” What Jesus is saying is, it is better to have the Holy Spirit in you than to have Me with you. And what will be the ministry of the Holy Spirit? John 16:13 says, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to bring back again to you everything that heaven has promised. For example, in John 14, the Lord said he was going to heaven to prepare a place for us. How will we be sure that we will get to heaven? And the apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:5, “Because He has given to us the Spirit as a guarantee, the Spirit as a pledge.” The Holy Spirit will reiterate this.

In John 14:12, our Lord promised greater works, not greater in kind, but greater in extent, that His people would do than He did in three short years in the land of Israel. “But who will empower us to do those greater works since the Lord is leaving?” In Ephesians 3:16, Jesus says that He will fill us with His Spirit, and in verse 20, so that we’ll do abundantly above all we can ask or think.

In John 14:13 -14, our Lord promised that as we pray in the will of God, all our needs will be met. How is all that going to happen? Romans 8:26-28 says, “The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, for the saints according to the will of God. So that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”

In John 14 the Lord promised divine presence. Jesus said, “I will be with you.” “The Father will be with you.” How is that going to happen? It is becoming a reality because the Holy Spirit is coming to dwell in us: the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God. He brings the Trinity to us. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “You are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God.”

The Holy Spirit will take all the promises of the Lord and make them real possessions that operate in the life of the believer. Galatians 5:16 says to walk in the Spirit. Live our daily lives in the sensitivity to the Spirit of God. Galatians 5:22, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control.” The Holy Spirit is the one who delivers all the promises of God and Christ.

Where is the power going to come from so that we can be obedient? 1 John 3:23-24, “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He commanded us. 24 By this we know by that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” We are believers because we keep His commands, because the Holy Spirit is in us, empowering us.”

And our witnessing part: what about that? Acts 1:8, “But after that, the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the whole world.” It’s the Holy Spirit doing the convicting in the heart of the sinner, and it’s the Holy Spirit doing the empowering of the message in us. The Holy Spirit comes down and operates on behalf of believers and unbelievers.

And the Holy Spirit is bringing the promises to us, and the Holy Spirit is empowering our witness, and the Holy Spirit is doing all those things that fulfill the promises of God. But He is, at the same time, making us more like Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all are being transformed into the glory of the Lord, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.” This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Now with that as a background, let’s look at our text. John 15:26 – 27, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me. 27 And you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” This is about testimony. So the question is in verse 26: “How do we hope to have any success?”

And the answer is, “Because the Helper comes, and you will testify, empowered by the Holy Spirit.” This powerful promise is that all that heaven sends down to us is dispersed to us, revealed to us, empowered in us by the Holy Spirit. All Christian witness and testimony is to the world. The hostile, godless, Christ-rejecting, Christian-hating world. That is the subject here.

The world essentially is the kingdom of darkness. They’re under the power of the prince of the air. They are the children of Satan. But our responsibility is to “go into all the world and preach the gospel.” If anybody loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. James said, “Friendship with the world is hostility toward God.” So we are aliens in this world. We don’t love the world.

We are the conscience of the world. We are alien to the world. We indict the world. We speak of sin to the world, and we speak righteousness to the world, and we speak of judgment to the world. And it would be hopeless for us to do that were it not empowered by the Spirit affirming that in the heart of the sinner. The world is our mission field, and the world is passing away.

Will we be penalized for our testimony in the world? Lots of people have been through all of history. We could be penalized relationally, we could be penalized economically, we could even be penalized in terms of our very existence. Will the world retaliate in anger? Yes. But we can’t lick our wounds in self-pity and withdraw into the safety of just the community of believers.

Romans 10 says, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how will they call on one of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear unless somebody tells them?” God saves through the power of the Holy Spirit, but the message has to be preached. Acts 1:8, “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world.”

That’s what the church does corporately. But even as an individual, the reason you’re not in heaven now is so that you can be a witness here. The Lord puts your perfection on hold and tolerates you and me, just so we can do what we need to do here, which can’t be done in heaven: tell the world the gospel. So our testimony is to the world. We know that they can’t be saved without the truth.

Christian witness and Christian testimony is of the Son. Jesus says, “I will send the Helper to you, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father. He will testify about Me, and you will testify also because you have been with Me from the beginning.” Starting with the apostles and going beyond the apostles to today, the message from Jesus Christ is, “You will testify about Me.”

So Christian witness of the Son is to the world. The world’s hatred is focused on Christ, and yet He is our message. “They hate Him without a cause,” it says back in verse 25. The world on its own has no interest in Christ. “They love darkness rather than light, that’s why they don’t believe,” back in John 3. They don’t believe the gospel because they love their sin, they love the darkness.

But we don’t change anything. We can’t shift it off of Christ. It’s not a social message about living a better life, or helping poor people, or feeding hungry people, or stopping sex trafficking, or whatever other things are thrown around by all kinds of folks, who think they’re fulfilling the Great Commission, but are not. All of those things are not our calling. Our message is Jesus Christ.

So, you must know about His eternal deity. You must know about His humanity. You must know about His virgin birth, His sinless life, His substitutionary death on the cross, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His exaltation, His coronation, and His triumphant return. We give testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and the only hope there is for heaven.

At the end of Scripture, at the book of Revelation, you are reminded as Revelation starts, of the subject of our testimony. Listen to how John begins, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His slaves, the things which must soon take place,” and He sent and communicated it by His angel to John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.

John ends up as an exile on the Isle of Patmos. In Revelation 1:9 it says, “Because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” It was his testimony of Jesus that got him exiled. It was the testimony of the other apostles concerning Jesus that caused them to be martyred. Revelation 12:17 says, “Satan will make war with those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

Revelation 19:10 concludes with this: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” In other words, “The testimony of Jesus is the content of preaching.” Our message is not political, it is not social, it is not relational, it is not moral: it is Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen again. And in Acts 1:8, “You shall be witnesses to Me.” Christian testimony of the Son is to the world.

The Father gave verbal testimony: “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him. This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” at His baptism and at the transfiguration. So when you give testimony to the Son, you are repeating the testimony of the Father. You are honoring God. Nothing is more honoring to God than for you to proclaim Jesus Christ as His Son, The Father says, “This is My Son.”

Verse 27, “And you will testify also.” Those who had been with Him from the beginning, the eleven, were actually the ones the Holy Spirit used to write. Along with their associates, they wrote the New Testament. But all of us beyond them are called to be those who testify concerning Christ. Listen to 1 John 4:14, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Nov 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211128 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001BD imblog

John 15:18-25

John 15:18-25, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

“21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.”

“25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.” This was Thursday evening, where our Lord is teaching His disciples all about love. John said, “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to perfection.” But now suddenly it turns from love to hate. And the word “hate” is used repeatedly in this passage.

Our Lord promises them persecution as a result of hatred. He tells them, and all who will follow the name of Christ, that they will be hated by the world. Obviously, this began with the hatred of Christ Himself. They hated Him so much they killed Him. And it didn’t take long for that hate to transfer to His followers. So let us see what happened. The church is born in the Acts 2.

In Acts 3, Peter preaches a sermon; and by Acts 4, the apostles are arrested and put in jail by the Jewish authority. In Acts 5, they’re put in jail again. In Acts 6, we meet some of the believers in the early church, and one of them is Stephen; and in Acts 7, he is stoned to death by a mob after a false trial before the Sanhedrin. By Acts 8, persecution breaks out against all believers headed by Saul.

By Acts 12, the first apostle is murdered. It is James, the brother of John, and he’s killed by Herod. In the same chapter, Herod imprisons Peter, holding him until he would find the appropriate time to execute Peter; but Peter was set free by an angel. Persecution continued so that we know from history that all the apostles were martyred, with the exception of John who was exiled to Patmos.

In Acts 9 we have the conversion of Saul into Paul, and immediately he faces threats and persecution from the Jews in Damascus where he was converted. So he faces persecution, and that continues all the way to the end of Acts 28. It’s about Paul preaching the gospel, planting churches, establishing leaders, and being persecuted. His life was threatened every day, from the Jews and the Gentiles.

The first persecutors of Christians were the Jews who saw the Christians as heretics; and in John 16:2, Jesus told His disciples to expect this. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue. An hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think he’s offering service to God.” The Jews were the ones who killed Christ and they were following up with the persecution of His followers.

In Acts, the gospel began to spread to the Mediterranean world; and there the Gentiles were in control. It isn’t long before the Gentiles pick up the persecution against these Christians. The Romans carried on that persecution for almost 300 years. They thought they had political reason to get rid of these Christians. Christians said Jesus is Lord and would not say Caesar is Lord.

Christians were seen at traitors. They were also seen as revolutionaries because they kept talking about another king and another kingdom. Their king was Jesus and His kingdom was the kingdom of God. And then Christians preached one God, while the Romans believed in many; and so the Romans thought the Christians to be an atheist group who denied gods. There was no separation between church and state.

Perhaps the most violent of all persecutions came under Diocletian starting in 303. Churches were destroyed, scrolls of Scripture were burned, and Christians were massacred. This went on until 324 when Constantine took power and established Christianity as a state religion; and that was the forerunner to the Roman Catholic system, which continued to be a persecutor of the true church.

For a thousand years after that, the Roman Catholic Church persecuted true Christians everywhere. Roman Catholicism flourished and grew up until the middle Ages and was the primary persecutor of true believers. The reformation came, and we all know that reformers were persecuted. There’s a Roman Catholic source that says, “In all of church history, about 70 million Christians have been killed.

All of that history is exactly what Jesus said in the passage we are studying. “They hate us. And because they hate us, they will persecute us.” It’s a prophecy that is absolutely accurate. Jesus said that and that is exactly what has happened. It tells us what was to come, and that is what history recorded. And the Lord said all this on the night before His death as He walked to the garden of Gethsemane.

And that hostility is still going on, even today. The mass murderers of Christians today are Muslims, and it doesn’t seem to be any letup against true Christians. Now the words of Jesus up to this point have been words of promise, comfort, encouragement and hope. They have been words of love. But now there are words not of heavenly blessings, but of sustained earthly persecution.

Being persecuted is the cost of discipleship. “Take up your cross and follow Me.” for some, there’s death in this. For all, there’s a measure of persecution. That measure of persecution is related to your faithfulness. When somebody says, “What do you think we should do about the persecution of Christians around the world? I say, “Accept it.” If we were more faithful, there would be more of it, not less.

Jesus says, “I command you to love one another.” Keep on loving one another. You’ll need it. It’s as if He says, Love each other deeply, love each other humbly, love each other loyally, love each other fervently, love each other devotedly, love each other sacrificially the way I’ve loved you, because all you have is each other. You’re not going to get that love from the world.

Why does the world hate us so much? Well, in this passage, our Lord gives three reasons at least. Verse 18-19, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” So we’re not part of the system. We are a problem.

When you became a Christian, you were chosen by God to come out of the world. “You are not of the world,” verse 19. Why? Because I chose you out of the world. You are now a living rebuke to the world.” We become the conscience of the world; they hate us for that. And, they love to see a so-called Christian crash and burn in a moral disaster. They love to see that. They feed on that.

In 2 Corinthians 4:2 Paul says that “by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience.” There’s a law of God written in the heart of every person, the unregenerate as well as us. The law of God is in the heart; and when we preach the truth, it lights their conscience, and either accuses or excuses them. We are the conscience of the world and they hate us for it.

Let me tell you how you can elevate the hostility: start identifying evil as evil. Anyone who says that atheists are going to heaven is an antichrist. Homosexuality is evil. Gender identity tampering is evil. Adultery is evil. Fornication is evil. Lying is evil. Pride is evil. Self-centeredness is evil. Self-righteousness is evil. That’s why they killed Jesus because He said their religion was evil.

Then verse 20, “Remember Matthew 10:24, ‘a slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” They’re going to treat us like they treated Christ. Same Satan, same demons, same kingdom of darkness, same hatred of God. Righteousness, goodness and truth exists. They hated Him; and they will hate us.

In Matthew 5, Jesus said, “You’re going to be persecuted; but blessed are you when you’re persecuted for My sake.” If He, the perfect one, was treated that way, how do we, the imperfect ones, expect to be treated any different? And if we are Christians identified with Christ, we would expect the world run by Satan to have exactly the same attitude toward us that they have toward Him.

And if you haven’t experienced any of that, maybe you need to be more bold about what you say; the reality of death, and judgment, and hell, eternal punishment and sin. Those things need to be proclaimed. And we need to say, “Your deeds are evil, and evil has consequences, and it’s divine, and it’s eternal, unless you’re forgiven through the gospel of Jesus Christ.” You’re not greater than your Master.”

Another reason for the hatred of the world is that they do not know God. Verse 23, “He who hates Me, hates My Father also.” Verse 24, “They have both hated Me and My Father as well.” That’s an indictment of the entire religious system of Israel. In John 8:41 they say, “We have one Father: God is our Father.” Jesus said, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God.”

“Why do you not believe Me?” Verse 47: “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason, you do not hear them because you’re not of God. You don’t know God. Not only do you not know God, you hate God.” Verse 55, Jesus says, “You’ve not come to know Him, but I know Him. And if I say I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you.” If you don’t come to Christ for salvation, you don’t know God.

Romans 1:21-23 says, “Men became futile in their thoughts, professing themselves to be wise they became fools. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” Romans 1:28 says, “They didn’t see fit to acknowledge God any longer.” And verse 30, “They became haters of God,” Why do they hate Him? They hate the true God, because they love their sin, and He sits in judgment on it.

Most people don’t understand man’s sinful nature. If man is blind and spiritually dead and double-blinded by Satan, and cut off from God, and in the deeds of his flesh he can do no good thing, and all his righteousness is filthy rags, and no one seeks after God, and they’re all poisoned and corrupted, if man can do nothing, then you have to be a Calvinist, because God has to invade.

You can only know God by knowing Christ. He is the only way to God: “No man comes unto the Father but by Me,” He said. You can’t know God unless you come to Christ, and you can’t come to Christ and confess Him as Lord unless the Holy Spirit enables you to do it. 1 Corinthians 12:3, “Nobody confesses Jesus as Lord but by the Holy Spirit.” It’s a divine miracle.

“Well, what can I do about it?” Cry out to God to be gracious and give you spiritual life. You might love a god of your own creation who tolerates you the way you are, but that is not the true God. Verse 22-23 says, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.” 23 He who hates Me, hates My Father also.”

Verse 24, “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.” Jesus is saying, “If I had not come and spoken to them, if I had not done the works among them which no one else did, they would not have sin.” They would not have sin in a specific area. It doesn’t mean general sin.

The greatest sin is the rejection of the greatest revelation which is Christ. That’s why Acts 17 says it was a time in the past before Christ came where God overlooked sin. It meant that there was some tolerance of God because Christ hadn’t come. “But now” says Paul on Mars Hill in Acts 17, “God commands all men to repent because He has revealed Christ.” To hate God is to be doomed to hell.

We have a nation here of people who have been exposed to the story of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is massive rejection of Jesus Christ, and that is the most serious sin any human being will ever commit. So there is the prophecy of our Savior, that as the world hates God, it hates Him and it hates us because we belong to Him. All that hatred is in excusable. But they did, and they do.

But more important, they hate us to fulfill scripture. Look at verse 25, “They have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law.” Psalm 69:4, “They hated me without a cause.” Jesus is saying to the apostles, “This is the plan, that they would hate Me without a cause.” How will they overcome the persecution and the hatred? By the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Nov 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211121 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001BC imblog

John 15:12-17

John 15 is full of significant instruction for us. When we think of friendship, we think of equality. We don’t think of hierarchy. We don’t think of demands and commands, and submission and authority. But that strange reality of “you can be my friend if you do everything I say to you” is exactly what Jesus says in this passage. Let’s look at the text beginning in verse 12.

John 15:12-17, “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.”

“16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, in my name. 17 This is my command: love each other.” It seems strange in calling people friends to keep repeating to them commands, but that’s exactly what our Lord does. Now they have left the upper room and are now walking through the darkness headed for the garden.

As they walk, the Lord gives them another amazing promise, “If you do what I say, you can be My friends.” What really dominates this night is love. It’s really a night of unparalleled love that culminates the next day in the greatest act of love, the Lord giving up His life for His own. And He said it in verse 13, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

This is where the love of God is promised through Christ to all who belong to Him. Love is behind all the promises. In this paragraph, the Lord expresses His love and commands His disciples to love Him and to love others, to live in love. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father. The Father and the Son love us. We are to love them and love each other. Love defines all these relationships.

But it is a very unique kind of love. In verse 15, it says, “No longer do I only call you slaves, for the slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I am calling you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” He identifies the disciples as slaves who are also friends. Now we don’t have slaves in America. But this is a new reality: slaves who are also friends.

The Bible does not condemn slavery as a social structure. But slavery in itself, not only is it not condemned, it is elevated as a spiritual structure in which to understand our relationship to the Lord. The word “friend” in the Greek is philos which means “to love, to have affection for.” Jesus says, “You are My friends, slaves who are loved. You are slaves who know Me most intimately.”

Go back to verse 15, “I call you friends because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” There are no secrets. I’ll tell you everything the Father has revealed to Me. You know Me better than anyone knows Me. It is a picture of the believer who is a slave, but is elevated to an intimate level of being that is uniquely loved and trusted.

Are there no secrets? No. You have the mind of Christ; He has revealed it all here. How blessed am I to be able to say, “I’m a friend of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and He has no secrets that He has kept from me.” How privileged am I: this is real friendship. Now, when we talk about slaves who are friends, we’re entering into a concept that is alien to the evangelical world.

Now, let me explain this. If Jesus is Lord, then you are His slave. We all say that Jesus is Lord. That is the substantial foundational confession of Christianity. That’s what sets a Christian apart. And in the ancient world, everybody was confessing “Caesar is Lord.” Along came these believers saying, “No, Caesar is not Lord. Jesus is Lord, and we are slaves of Jesus and intimate friends.”

Romans 10:9 -10 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you’ll be saved.” And you can’t do that on your own. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “Nobody can confess ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by power of the Holy Spirit.” That is an absolute reality. It is a required confession and belief, and it demands submission of your heart.

The true reality of Christ’s lordship has been obscured and eclipsed through the centuries by the translators of the Old and New Testament, who have tampered with the word “slave.” The word “lord” means “one who has power, ownership, and absolute authority.” It’s used 750 times in the New Testament. The New Testament refers to Jesus primarily as Kurios, Lord.

He is kurios, sovereign ruler. He is despotés, absolute ruler. So when you say, “Jesus is Lord,” you’re not identifying Him merely as deity, identifying Him in some sort of abstract way as the most important religious figure. When you say “Lord,” that’s slave talk. You are saying, “He is the Master with absolute power and absolute dominion.” That word describes a slave owner: “He is Lord.”

Now the church is less interested in theology; and practically speaking evangelicalism. It’s really all about me. They’re really influenced by the culture. The church is often an assembly of people who think they’re there to tell God what He needs to do for them. It’s a practical disowning of Christ as absolute sovereign Lord. Jesus said it this way: “Why do you call Me Lord and do not do the things I say?”

Luke 9:23 says, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself.” You’re not in charge anymore. Your ambitions, your schemes, your desires, your goals, your objectives, your possessions, all your relationships should be set aside. You deny yourself. It may mean forsaking everything. If you are saying, “You are Lord. That means You are the absolute ruler of my life.”

Christians are slaves. We are in the best of all possible relationships because you are bought and owned, and cared for, and protected, and provided for, and rewarded, and loved. There’s a security in that that doesn’t exist outside of that. But in the case of the spiritual reality, Jesus is Lord Kurios. As Christians we are slaves, doulos. It appears 130 times in the New Testament.

But I want to warn you, you won’t find them. Why? Because almost all of those are translated by a different word. They are translated “servant” or “bondservant.” A slave is someone who is bought and owned, who had no personal rights, no legal standing, couldn’t own property with no freedom. That’s very different than being a servant. A servant is someone who serves.

I’m not free under Christ. My freedoms are defined by Him. My duties are defined by Him. My convictions are defined by Him. My words are defined by Him. My actions are defined by Him. My relationships are defined by Him. Everything in my life is defined by Him. When I said, “Jesus is Lord,” I have yielded up unqualified submission to the control and commands of the Lord.

A servant works for someone, a slave is owned; and I’m owned, and so are you if you’re a Christian. You’re owned because you were chosen off the slave market of sin, and then you were bought with the price of His precious blood. It’s what it means to follow Christ. And you have to see it that way. Anything less than that gives you way too much latitude for controlling your own life.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul says, “You’re not your own, you’re bought with a high price.” In Acts 20:28, he says again, “the church of God which He has purchased with His own blood.” It’s all through Scripture. 2 Peter 2 refers to “the Master who bought them.” Revelation 5:9 says, “You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.”

What does it mean to be a Christian? Oh, Jesus wants to come into your life, fix everything, make you happy, and give you what you want? That is an absolute lie. That’s what the devil promises to people. The message of the cross is, “Jesus is Lord and King; and if you want to receive forgiveness of sin and salvation, you confess Him as Lord, and you become His slave.”

You are a slave who became a son; He is a son who became a slave. He was a slave of God in His incarnation. He shows us what that slavery is: “Not My will, but Thine be done, all the way to the cross; if it means death.” Christ showed us what that slavery looks like, and as a result Philippians 2:9 says: “God highly exalted Him, bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.”

Verse 16, “You did not choose Me,” that’s the negative with no ambiguity. If you are a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ who has been elevated to an intimate friend, it’s not because you chose it, it’s because He chose it. He’s talking to His disciples, His apostles. Some of them were following the ministry of John the Baptist. But Jesus chose them. And you can follow the history of how He chose them.

And this extends to all who are Christ’s slaves who become friends. Every promise, every identification here is extended to every believer throughout human history. Specifically, in John 17:1-2. Now the prayer essentially is, “I’m praying this, Father, for all who will be given to Me to receive eternal life.” We’re going through all of redemptive history, “To all who will be given by the Father.”

In John 6:37, we read these powerful words. Our Lord says, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” Then John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” The Father is drawing. They are coming, they are coming through all of redemptive history. “All that the Father gives Me.” That is a designation of every true believer in the past, now and in the future.

We are all love gifts from the Father to the Son, as the Father gathers a bride for His Son for a great wedding in heaven, a bride that will honor, glorify, serve Him and manifest His praise forever and ever. So our Lord is praying in John 17:21, for all who will believe through their testimony in the New Testament. “I’m asking for all who will believe in Me through their word that they all may be one.”

He sees collectively all the redeemed of all the ages as one. He’s praying a prayer that sweeps forward and embraces all that the Father that will give to Him for salvation as the Father gathers a bride for His Son. You were chosen to be a slave and the price was paid. You have become not just slaves; however, you have been elevated to friends, and you characteristically love one another.

We are slaves who obey our King joyfully and gratefully. We are friends who love our King; and also characteristically in obeying our King, we love one another. That’s verse 17. We’re known by our love. We obey and we love; that really is it. That’s how you define who we are. We obey our God whom we love, and we love others who are our slave friends.

This is an extreme friendship. Look at verse 13, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” You say, “I’m your friend? Really? Are you going to die for me? This here is an extreme slavery where we do everything that our commander tells us to do; and we do it joyfully. This is an extreme kind of friendship where we literally are willing to give our lives.

That is why in verse 16 you read, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” It’s the doctrine of election. But it doesn’t end there. Then He says, “I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.” This is a commission. In other words, you were chosen to fulfill a commission; and it is a commission to go.

Your life matters more than any nonbeliever in the world, I don’t care what his position or achievements are; because no matter what anybody else does, it’s temporal, right? Your life matters forever. You bear fruit that remains. Unworthy sinners that we are, we have been chosen for such eternal influence. You were willing because He made you willing. You were made alive spiritually because He gave you life.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29, “God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.”

Why does God do the choosing? Well, because no man on his own seeks after God. We couldn’t do that. And more importantly, He does it because He is God, and it is for His glory. When you want somebody to be saved, you go to God and you pray and pray, “Lord, grant life, grant faith, grant repentance; save this person. Lord, please be gracious; save this person.”

But where do accusations ‘that is not fair’ come from? If God chooses, then those accusations will arise. Salvation is His choice in all its fullness. And it’s not apart from our faith. It’s not apart from our response. But He chooses to make us willing, and then makes us His own. This is the most pride-crushing, God-exalting, joy-producing, hope-giving doctrine in the Bible. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Nov 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211114 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001BB imblog

John 15:7-11

It is pretty popular to refer to one’s relationship to Jesus as a personal relationship. In fact, it may be how you view the distinction between a nominal Christian and a genuine Christian. But every human who has ever lived has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and for most of them it’s not a good one. It’s a relationship between one who is judged and the Judge.

Jesus knows every human being personally and intimately, every thought they’ve ever had, every word they’ve ever spoken, every deed they’ve ever done, and every relationship they were ever engaged in. All of that is on record in heaven, and on the basis of that will come eternal judgement. Every person will be judged on an individual basis by the Judge, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible helps us by giving us a series of analogies. Now, today in John 15 is another of those very instructive metaphors so that we can define our relationship to Jesus Christ in biblical terminology; and it is the relationship between branches and a vine. In John 15:7-11 Jesus says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

“8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Ten times in those verses, really starting in verse 4, you see the word “abide.” So we’re talking about what it is to abide in Christ. There are branches that abide and produce fruit, and there are branches that do not abide, do not produce fruit, are cut off, dried up, and burned. Judas is the branch that doesn’t abide. Judas was attached visibly to Jesus, but it was a superficial attachment.

Christianity is this reality in the world that is filled with all kinds of people, many of whom have no fruit-bearing power. There were lots of superficial followers of Jesus, who were attached outwardly. In John 8:30, As He spoke, many came to believe in Him. 31 Jesus said, if you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

They hadn’t yet come to know the truth. They hadn’t been set free from the search for the truth and from the bondage of sin. In John 12, an interesting group is mentioned in verse 42, “Many of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us.” John knows this now from what he learned about our Lord’s words in John 15 and the experience of Judas and others. This is the promise which Jesus Himself made to us: eternal life. “You abide in Me, and I’ll abide in you.” John is reiterating what he heard on that Thursday night and is recorded for us in John 15.

Remain, abide. Why? Starting in verse 4, there’s an unfolding of the blessings of abiding. Profound blessings come to those who stay. Blessing number one: eternal salvation. The infinitely holy triune God lives in you. That is the essence of what it means to have a relationship with God in salvation. And that may be the best way that we can explain our own lives and our own identities.

It’s a Trinitarian presence. But the world doesn’t see us. It is important to know who we are, so I am literally a body in which God lives. In John 14:23, He says, “If anyone loves Me, if your love is real, you will obey.” Love and obedience go together. And how much will He love him? So that, “We will come to him and make Our home with him.” “This is absolutely who We are.”

It is really stunning and our Lord affirms this in His High Priestly Prayer in John 17:23, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” What manifests our transformation to the world is the presence of God in us. If you stay, it’s evidence that your faith is real, God is living in you.

Romans 6:19-20, “Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price.” 2 Corinthians 6:16, “We are the temple of the living God.” Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

1 John 4:4, “and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” Don’t worry about Satan in the world. Verse 13, “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us.” Verse 16, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

If you remain, if you abide, He abides in you. This is an incredibly reality. Think about the condescension of our Lord to take on a human body, but He took on a sinless human body. What kind of condescension is it for the triune God to take on a sinful body, take up residence in us? 1 Peter 1:4, “We have obtained an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”

On one hand, we persevere and remain. On the other hand, God keeps us. The best thing that could happen in your life as a believer is to have your faith tested, because when it’s tested and it holds, this proves its reality. False faith cannot survive; it collapses. But when you are distressed, who have a true faith, your faith is proven to be, “More precious than gold which is perishable.”

The second benefit is fruitfulness. Verse 4, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Verse 8, “The Father is glorified when you bear much fruit.”

So, what’s the proof that you’re a true branch? Fruit is the fruit of endurance, patience through trials. “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” Because you can’t accomplish the work of God in human strength. The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly. Philippians 1:11 says, “Having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ.” So the fruit is righteousness.

Righteousness will manifest itself because righteousness has taken over inside. Hosea 14:8 says, God says, “From Me is your fruit found.” Luke 6:43-44, our Lord said a good tree doesn’t bring bad fruit. “By their fruit, you know them.” And the more you abide in the presence of and the knowledge of and the love of and the obedience to Christ, the more fruitful you become.

How? By abiding in Christ. The more you focus on Christ, the more fruitful you become. There is a progression in our lives related to abiding and remaining. In Colossians 1:9 Paul says, “We have not ceased to pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, so that you will please Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

It’s really important that there be an increase. Go back to Colossians 1:5, “The hope that is laid for you in heaven, that has to do with the truth, the gospel has come to you – ” verse 6, “just as in all the world also, it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you since the day you heard of it.” That just connects with the idea that there’s increasingly more fruit.

And that comes with effort. Paul says in Colossians 1:28 - 29, “So we tell others about Christ, warning and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s power that works within me.” It was the power of God, but Paul was working as hard as possible.

First, applied to repentance, it means that our repentance comes as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. It’s a mark of spiritual maturity to be a person who readily repents. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we give evidence that we repent by confessing our sins, we demonstrate that He is faithful and just to be forgiving our sins.” So the fruit is an attitude of resentment of the sin that is in us.

Secondly spiritual attitudes. Galatians 5:22, “The fruit of the Spirit who dwells in us is the manifestation of the life of the Trinity in us, which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” And, all of them were perfectly manifest in Jesus Christ. So it is fruit in us to manifest the characteristics of Christ, not in perfection, but in pursuit.

Thirdly, another fruit continually offers up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” That’s worship. Hosea 14 says, “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the Lord.” And in doing so, you “present the fruit of our lips.” Receive us graciously, that a sacrifice of praise.

You can’t worship until you’ve been redeemed. You can’t worship until you’ve repented and been saved. That’s what Hosea is saying. A time in the future is going to come. Israel’s going to repent. They’re going to take words back to God. God doesn’t want to hear those words of praise and worship and adoration unless there has been true repentance and true salvation.

In worship we give back to God the very same things that He has reveals to us about Himself. You go through the Scripture and the attributes of God are scattered all across the pages. So you can say what His attributes are, “God, you are the Creator, the Sustainer and the Redeemer. You are all-wise, all-knowing, all-sufficient, all-powerful and unchanging. You are just, holy and pure.”

And fourthly, Philippians 4:17 says, “Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.” That word “profit” is just the Greek word for “fruit.” “Thanks for the gift, but I want the fruit that increases to your account.” He saw that gift, that expression of love, as spiritual fruit produced through them by the indwelling God. So spiritual fruit is contributions to those in need.

Then fifthly, in 1 Corinthians 14, say things that edify. That’s communication that blesses, and communication that instructs. It may be in a prayer, it may be in teaching, it may be in a conversation, it may be in a counseling or in disciple making. When you communicate truth to someone, that’s fruit. When I preach to you, teach you, that’s the fruit of the life in me.

And sixthly, righteous behavior. Colossians 1:9-10, “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respect, bearing fruit in every good work.” So now we’ve talked about repentance, we’ve talked about manifesting Christ-like virtues on the inside, worship, contributions of love to the people in need, communication that blesses others, and a life of righteous behavior.

This is your everyday life that you live among people that do not know God or care to find out whether there is a God. People who are more interested in making money and watching football games or enjoying themselves in the mountains. And people who hate Christians and their standards. Only God can change their hearts and sometimes He gives you an opening to pray for them.

Seventhly, bringing people to Christ – that’s fruit. John 4, when Jesus was talking to the woman at the well in Samaria, He was speaking to the disciples as the Samaritans were coming out of the village toward Him. In verse 34, He said, “My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me and accomplish His work. 1 Corinthians: “One sows, one waters and God gives the increase.” This is fruit.

The more you obey, the more you are lavished with divine love. And who is the example of obedience? Verse 10, “Just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father, and the Father poured out perfect divine love on Him. The more like Christ we are, the more of God’s love we experience. The more we obey Christ, the more love of God comes to us.

That’s an amazing thing to understand that I am a true branch abiding in the true vine, that the Trinity lives in me because of the fruitfulness; and then to know that I’ve lived so many years in the love of God just lavished on me. So this is what a true branch is. This is a true believer, saved, sanctified, direct connection to God for what’s on His heart, assurance, and lavished with love.

The final benefit blessing is joy. Verse 11, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be made full.” If there’s any joy in me, it’s His joy. The Christian life is not a life of restriction and deprivation. This is living, “with joy unspeakable,” He says in John 16:22, “You have grief now but I’ll see you again and no one will take your joy away.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Nov 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211107 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001BA imblog

John 15:1-6

So as we come to John 15, we are listening to God. The writer is the apostle John, but in reality the writer is also God. Because the Holy Spirit inspired every word that John wrote. Because of this, the Bible is without error, it is accurate, and it is authoritative. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. And when God speaks, we listen, because God says to us what we must know.

The Bible should dominate every life and all of human society, for in it is contained all necessary truth for life. And when a person rejects the Bible, they have rejected God, and the consequences are dire. Those who listen to God through His Word are given life and blessing, now and forever. And we find ourselves on Thursday night of Passion Week, the last week of our Lord’s ministry.

They met together in the upper room, and our Lord spent that night giving them many promises. As that night moved on, our Lord exposed Judas as the traitor, and dismissed him. And Judas left to go meet the leaders of Israel to arrange for the arrest and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. By the time we come to John 15, Judas is gone, and only the 11 true disciples are left.

But in John 15, they’re no longer in the upper room. Jesus and the 11, began their walk through Jerusalem, headed out the east side of the city to a garden where our Lord would pray so agonizing that He sweat as it were drops of blood. And while He was praying, they would fall asleep. And into that garden later would come Judas and the Roman soldiers, and the Jewish leaders to arrest Him.

As they walk through Jerusalem, our Lord continues to speak to them, and what He says to them is recorded in John 15 and 16. John 15:1-6, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

“4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Before we look at the nature of salvation, let us look at the nature of Christ. The divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ is declared in verse 1, “I am the true vine,” He says. How is this a claim to deity? Because of the verb “I am.” Back in Exodus 3, when Moses came before God in the wilderness and asked His name, God said, “My name is I Am That I Am.”

The eternally existent one; the one that always is, and always was, and always will be. Theologians call it the eternal being of God. He is the I Am. Throughout His preaching, teaching, healing and ministry, Jesus continually declared that He is God. He said things like, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” In John 10, He said it concisely: “I and the Father are one, one in nature and essence.”

And His Jewish audience did not miss the claim. In fact, in John 5:18, it says, “For this cause, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but was also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” And one of the ways that He did that was by taking to Himself the name of God “I Am” and applying it to Himself.

There’s a series of those claims throughout the gospel of John. Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life. I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. I am the Light of the World. I am the Door, I am the Good Shepherd. I am the Resurrection and the Life. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” And then He makes this claim in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was born, I am eternally existing.”

The Jews understood what He was saying. Their theology had deviated from Scripture, the Old Testament. And Jesus attacked that theology. He attacked their understanding of God, He attacked their understanding of the law. He attacked their understanding of righteousness. He attacked their perspective on works and faith and grace. He attacked all elements of their theology.

Then He claims to be God, which they see is the ultimate blasphemy, and that becomes the reason they want Him dead. So here He is on the final night with His disciples, and He reveals another powerful declaration of His divine nature and says, “I am the true vine.” Having looked at that, I want to take you to the most important part of the passage, and that is the nature of salvation.

The drama that unfolds in this analogy is simple: there is a vine, there is a vinedresser, and there are two kinds of branches. Branches that bear fruit and are pruned to bear more fruit; and branches that don’t bear fruit, which are cut off, dried and burned. As you well know, our Lord could say profound things in the simplest of ways; and that is exactly what you have here.

We know the first two characters, Jesus said, “I am the vine,” in verse 1, and He said “My Father is the farmer, the vinedresser.” But the question here is, who are the branches? All the branches are attached. But the ones that don’t bear fruit are cut off, dried, and burned. So who are they? I don’t really think there’s a lot of mystery about these two branches.

There was nothing obvious in behavior of Judas that would have distinguished him as a false disciple. He was visibly attached, and looked like everybody else, and did what everybody else did. But, there were two kinds of people in that room that night. There were those who bore fruit and there was that one who did not. There were those who were attached to the vine; and there was one cut off.

In John 6, Jesus said, “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me and I’ll lose none of them.” This is not talking about believers, fruit-bearing branches that all of a sudden are cut off and thrown into hell. Judas had that very night just a few hours before walked away from Jesus terminally, finally. He is what the Bible would call an apostate, an ultimate defector.

But Jesus needs to explain Judas to these men. He says, “There are branches that have an outward appearance of attachment, but bear no fruit. They’re taken away and they’re burned.” And He was thinking of Judas. Judas has left, and is on his way to eternal hell. And the Bible says he went to his own place. Mark 14 says it would have been better for him if he’d never been born.

So our Lord helps us to understand the elements of the parable. He is the vine, the Father is the vinedresser; the branches that bear fruit are the true disciples; the branch that bears no fruit, cut off and burned, is a false disciple. That’s the way we understand His words. There are, in the kingdom of God, people that possess eternal life and people who only profess they have eternal life.

As we look at this metaphor, there are many truths for us to consider. Let’s start with the vine, Christ Himself: “I am the true vine.” He chose to present himself as a vine. He had earlier, in John 10, presented Himself as a shepherd with a flock. And before that He presented Himself as light. And before that He presented Himself as water. So He drew from familiar analogies.

It’s a good metaphor to speak of His lowliness. It’s also a good metaphor of union, it speaks of the closeness and communion of those who are Christ’s with Him, the very same life flowing through the vine, flowing through the branches. Others might say it’s a good word picture because it talks about fruit-bearing, fruitfulness, the result of being in Christ is manifest. It also illustrates dependence.

It also emphasizes belonging. But there’s a more important reason why He says, “I am the true vine,” and that is because there was a defective, fruitless vine. Who? Israel. The covenant people of God, the Jewish people. In Isaiah 5:1-7, Israel is presented as a vine. God says, “I planted My vine, My vineyard in a very fertile hill,” It talks about all the things God did for them to bring forth grapes.

Israel had been planted by God. But Israel was unfaithful, idolatrous, immoral, and God brought judgment. That’s what the Old Testament lays out for us. The disciples thought, “I’m Jewish connected to God.” Israel is the source of divine blessing. Not so. Our Lord comes along and says, “If you want to be connected to God, you have to be connected, not to Israel, but to Me. I am the true vine.

It’s important that we understand that the source of blessing is not Israel. “Not all Israel is Israel,” said Paul. Christ is the true vine just as He said in John 1, He is the true light. And in John 6, the true bread. Anybody who’s going to know the life of God has to connect to Christ, and has to connect to Him genuinely as God, as the ‘I Am’. All other vines are false vines.

Now the second character in this picture is the vinedresser, verse 1: “My Father is the vinedresser.” Christ pictures Himself as having been planted by God, and that’s true. The Father was behind everything that Jesus did. Jesus said, “I only do the will of My Father. I only do what the Father tells me to do, shows me to do, commands me to do. I only do what pleases the Father.”

Now verse 2 then introduces the branches. And there are two kinds of branches. “They all appear in Me.” They all are attached, just like there were lots of people attached to Israel in the past. But not all Israel is Israel, and not everyone who is a Jew is really connected to blessing. There were branches that do not bear fruit. And He takes those away, the Father is the judge.

The Father is doing two divine works. He is judging false branches, cutting them off, and sending them to hell. That is drastic judgment by God on false believers who bear no fruit. And there were branches that bear fruit, and He prunes those so that they would bear more fruit. Yes, every Christian has fruit. What is fruit? Righteous attitudes, righteous desires, righteous virtues and righteous behaviors.

That is the manifestation of life, where the life of God exists the fruit must be there. That’s why Ephesians 2:10 says that we have been saved by grace through faith, unto good works, which God has before ordained that you should walk in them. James says, “Faith without works is dead,” it’s a useless claim. The only way you know faith is real, salvation is real, is by the evidence.

The way you know someone has been transformed and born again is because the fruit of righteousness is manifest in that life. It’s not perfection, but it’s a dominating direction. Look, the nation of Israel is seen in Romans 11 as a branch attached to God. But they were cut off because of unbelief and sin, and a new branch, the church, was grafted in. Given enough time, the truth will come out.

The Father comes along in our lives with a knife and He cuts sin. The best pruning is trouble. 2 Corinthians 12 says, “When I am weak then I am strong.” I would rather be content with afflictions, weakness, trials, because in my weakness God’s strength is perfected. James 1, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, because the testing of your faith produces patience which has a perfecting work.”

Another way to look at that is in Hebrews 12:6-11, “My son, do despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him, for those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He received. 7 It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?”

“8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.”

“11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” More fruit, more righteousness is the product of divine discipline – trials, tribulation and trouble. The believer is to expect this to be fruitful. It is not the affliction itself that is the knife, it is the Word of God that is the knife.

Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It’s a two-edged knife and it cuts every direction, the Word does, the truth of God. The Word convicts us. The Word cuts into our disrespect for God’s purposes. The Word cuts into our hostility. But later on we become more holy, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 31 Oct 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211031 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B9 imblog

John 14:28-31

Let’s open the Word of God at John 14:28-31; and it’s the last little paragraph. But chapter numbers are irrelevant, because this is one evening, one monologue by Jesus with His disciples on Thursday night of Passion Week, the night before His crucifixion. He’s in the upper room and then He’s still with them as they head toward the garden. So we come to a geographical transition.

Verse 28-30, “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. 30 I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, but he has nothing on Me.”

Verse 31, But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commands Me. Get up, let us go from here.” On our side of the cross, we all know what Jesus’ death meant to Him. We know the fullness of salvation truth related to the cross and the resurrection. We have the four gospels to give us the narrative about the cross and all our Lord’s words.

Then we have the book of Acts which chronicles the preaching of the apostles and their associates in the early church; as they were preaching the cross, and the resurrection, and the theology of the resurrection. Then we have all the epistles of the New Testament. From the writings of Paul, Peter, John and Jude, we get more theology of the cross and the resurrection.

And in Revelation, the apocalyptic vision of John on the Isle of Patmos, we have even more of the theology of the cross. We understand what it meant to Christ, and what it meant to God, and what it meant to the Holy Spirit, and what it meant to the purpose of redemption, and what it means to us. We’re full of praise all the time for the work of the Lord through His death and resurrection.

We understand that Christ was crucified for us in our place. We understand redemption. We understand reconciliation. We understand justification and the imputation of sin to Him and righteousness to us by His death and resurrection. He liberated us from bondage to sin. He liberated us from the fear of death. He liberated us from eternal hell. He set us on a course to heaven.

Now that’s our view on this side of the cross, and this is what fuels our worship, our service, and our gratitude. But put yourself in the place of the 11 disciples, on the other side of the cross with no New Testament, no theology, and no preaching by the apostles. They’re on the other side of the cross. Theirs was a prophetic faith. They had to understand something that had not yet happened.

And the idea that Jesus was going to die was just crazy to them. “How could the victor, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord who would come, as we read in Isaiah 42, and bring justice to the world and establish His kingdom of righteousness, how could He be a victim of a sinful, wretched world? So we want to give them credit for they were looking only on the prophetic side.

And in John 12:33 He told them how He was going to die by being lifted up. Well when the Jews executed somebody, they stoned them to death. This was a Roman form of crucifixion. He told them that He would be arrested, He would be scourged, He would be spit on, He would be abused, and He would be killed. This scared them because it was just outside their understanding.

It’s time to stop being scared and to rejoice. That’s the key in verse 28, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced.” At this point, all they can see is that, “This thing is about to be over and we’ve put everything in it – our lives, our hopes, our ambitions, our dreams, our love, our resources, everything. And now He’s leaving, He’s going to the Father and He’s going to die.”

But Jesus has made amazing promises to them. He promised them heaven. He promised them that He would come and take them there. He promised them that they would have all the resources of heaven at their disposal. He promised them that He would send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth who would lead them into all truth. He promised that He would come to them, that the Father would dwell in them.

This is our Savior’s legacy to His beloved as He leaves, but they’re having a very difficult time with this. It is for one simple reason, they are selfish. All they can think about is what Jesus leaving means to them, how it’s going to affect them. They want Jesus to stay and keep doing exactly what He had been doing in their lives. For the disciples it’s a selfish sorrow.

And that is why Jesus says this to them: “If you loved Me.” Well, didn’t they love Him? Yes, to a degree. But let’s just take it to the fullest definition, “If you loved Me in the way that Christ understands love, if you really loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, if you really loved Me.” Did they love Him? Sure, but not fully, not rightly and not completely.

The purest and truest love is completely selfless. That’s how Jesus loved. He loved His own who were in the world in a completely selfless way so that He was willing to give up His life for them. True love always seeks the joy of the one it loves. “If you loved Me unselfishly, you would be rejoicing because you would see what My going means to Me. I go to the Father.”

Let’s go back then to verse 28, for further introduction: “You heard that I said to you, yes, I go away and I will come.” And He said, “You’ve also heard that I will come again. John 14:3 says, “I will come again after I prepare a place for you and receive you to Myself.” Verse 23: “We will come to the believer and make Our abode with the believer.” That is the Trinity.

‘I will come to you.’ What does He mean?” First, “I will come to you in three days because there will be a resurrection, and I’ll come out of the grave and I’ll meet you, some of you on the Road to Emmaus, and all of you in the upper room with the exception of Thomas. And He came back the third day, rose from the dead, and He was with them for 40 days. So He had His resurrection in view.

And secondly in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you,” Number two, He is talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit, “So that I will come to you in the form of the Holy Spirit,” and that happened on the Day of Pentecost. He came back after three days; and then after 40 days, He ascended into heaven; and soon after that, the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost.

And then thirdly, John 14:3, “I will come again and receive you to Myself.” There, He’s talking about the ultimate glorification of the believer at His second coming: “I will meet you in glory and take you to glory.” That happens when an individual believer dies, and that will happen one day at the rapture of the church. So when He says, “I go away and will come to you,” it has three meanings.

In this simple passage, there are four great realities that tell us what Jesus’ death meant to Him. The Son of God had come down to earth, been born in manger to Mary. He had suffered for 33 years, and not from sin. He is holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He had suffered from sinners. He came from the holy presence of heaven down to suffer from sinners in this world His whole life.

So let me give you the four things He said. Number one: it meant that His person would be exalted. Verse 28, “I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” This is a reference to His exaltation, “I go to the Father.” And we know that happened in Acts 1:8 when He ascended into heaven. He was leaving the world. He had finished the work the Father had given Him to do.

Then in John 17:4-5, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” His humiliation had been hard, it had been bitter. He suffered the hatred of people whom He loved. But He endured till the end of God’s wrath and now He is going back.

He’s going back to the Father. And He makes this statement, “For the Father is greater than I.” What is that? Well, we know it’s not in essence. We know it’s not in nature, because in His being, He is the same as the Father. He is equal to the Father; He is one with the Father in nature. Christ is equal to God as to His Godhead, but inferior to God as to His manhood.

Philippians 2 is the explanation of this. It says He existed as God, but He didn’t regard equality with God, something to be held onto. He was willing to give up that face-to-face, full, glorious equality with God, and He emptied Himself, He divested Himself of that and took the form of a slave and was made in the likeness of men. Therefor as to His manhood, He’s inferior, He submits.

They should have rejoiced that He was going to the Father from whom He had come. The garb of lowliness is about to fall from His shoulders, and to love Him would be to rejoice for Him. So first of all, they should rejoice because His person will be exalted. Secondly, His truth will be validated. What’s going to happen is going to validate what He has been saying.

When He told them He was going to die and rise, his disciples did not believe it. But when it happened, they did believe it. That validated Him as the One who had told them the truth before it ever happened; and only God can do that. And then in John 16:4, “These things I have spoken to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them,” and He’s talking about persecution.

Look, if He had never told them He was going to die, never told them all the details, and it came to pass; they would have been scattered, never to be recovered. But all of a sudden, as these things began to unfold, the death, the resurrection, they began to remember that He had said these things specifically, and they were regathered and reconstituted, even before the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2.

And that’s what empowered them to give their lives to preach the gospel. That’s why they turned the world upside-down because they knew who He was. He said He would die; He did. He said He would be lifted up in death; he was. He said He would rise; He did. He said He would ascend to the Father; He did. He said He would send the Holy Spirit; He did.

He said He would give supernatural life; He did. Everything He said He would do He did. He said they would be persecuted; they were. Every prophecy, every promise, every pledge, fulfilled in exact precision, documenting His word. Christ knows that the message of the gospel has to be preached. There has to be a book of Acts to record and chronicle what happened.

There’s a third reality: His enemy will be defeated. Verse 30, “For the ruler of this world is coming and the power of the air.” Satan was coming at Him with everything. Satan had tried to kill Him when He was a baby through Herod’s decree that all two-year-old male children would be executed. He had continuously confronted Jesus. He was confronted with demons everywhere He went.

Now Satan was going to reach the apex of his assault. This was the hour of the power of darkness. This is when Satan would bruise His heel, Genesis 3:15. Jesus had been fighting Satan all His life. Now He was about to put an end to that. While Satan was bruising His heel at the cross, He would crush Satan’s head. Why does it say, “He has nothing on Me”? Because there is no weak point; no vulnerability with Jesus.

First John 3:8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” So Satan, at the cross, is crushed and defeated, and is a defeated enemy already, only waiting for his sentence. Everything He had said would be documented, and He would be viewed as the Son of God who knows the future in detail, and that would empower them for ministry.

Then the fourth feature of what the cross meant to Christ: His love will be demonstrated. And He says this in verse 31, “But so that the world may know that I love the Father.” This is the only place in the New Testament where the Lord explicitly says, “I love the Father.” The Father commanded the Son to come into the world and be the sacrifice for sin. He is obedient, and that demonstrates love.

So here’s the model. “I am demonstrating to the entire world that I love the Father by doing exactly as the Father has commanded Me.” If you really love Me – ” He said “ – you would be overwhelmed with joy because I’m going to be glorified, My truth is going to be validated, Satan is going to be defeated, and I’m going to put My love for the Father on display for the entire world.”

Well, I’ll close with Jesus’ words: “Get up; let’s go from here.” And, apparently, they got up from the table where they had been eating the Passover meal and they began to move through Jerusalem, our Lord and the 11 disciples, on the way to the garden of Gethsemane, and He was still teaching the truths in John 15 and 16, which we’ll see later. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 24 Oct 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211024 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B8 imblog

John 14:25-27

Look at John 14:25-27, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

So He promises to His disciples and all who will come after them: that He will come and take them to heaven. But in the meantime, all of heaven’s resources are available through prayer. Then our Lord promises that throughout our lives, and on into eternity, we will enjoy the presence of the Trinity. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit all together will live in us.

There is another promise. Verse 26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” The greatest gift that God has ever given the world is the truth. The truth about Himself, about us, about time and eternity, about life and death, about origins, about judgment, about salvation, about heaven, and about hell.

In a world of liars, and of lies, in a world where deception abounds because the whole world is controlled by the evil one who is the arch deceiver, and who applies his deception through a mass of fallen angels identified as demons, and has held captive the entire human race. In the midst of all of the deception of Satan and duped human beings; God deposits the truth.

It says in Exodus 34:6, “It is the Lord God, who abounds in truth.” And it tells us in Psalm 119:142 and 151 that His Word is truth. The prophet Zechariah wrote that one day, the Messiah will come to set up His kingdom in the world. And Jerusalem will be given a new name. In Zechariah 8:3 the new name of Jerusalem will be Truth City. In the meantime, the church is the pillar of truth.

Zechariah also tells us that His people will love truth. Because God is true, Christ is true and the Holy Spirit is true. Jesus always tells the truth. And here, He promises the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth who will inspire the biblical writers to write the truth, which will be contained in the Word of God and handed to the church, which becomes the pillar and ground of the truth.

Now, all disciples know that Jesus is leaving to go to the Father. This is Thursday night of Passion Week. This creates horror in the disciple’s minds. He has been their heaven on earth. He has been their hope, their resources to sustain them for these three years. He has been the truth in so much that He has made the Old Testament come alive. On the road to Emmaus, He taught their meaning to them.

Judaism is full of lies. The leaders of Judaism, the Pharisees and Sadducees were liars. They were part of the kingdom of darkness. In John 8:41, Jesus says to the leaders of Israel, “You are doing the deeds of your father.” And then at the end, they say, “We have one Father, God.” And Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I come from God, He sent Me.

Verse 44, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Verse 47, “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

Can people find the truth on their own? No, the Bible says “the world by wisdom knew not God” in 1 Corinthians 1:21. Take the wisest, the most elite, the finest minds, and the most brilliant people. And individually, or collectively, or even in continuity through history, they cannot find the truth. Why? They’re dead in trespasses and sins, their souls are black with the darkness of Satan.

There were things that Jesus said that the disciples didn’t understand. In John 2:22, when “He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.” They did not understand Him until after the resurrection, until after the road to Emmaus. And then, when the Holy Spirit came, there was an explosion of understanding.

What jogged their memories? What gave them understanding? It was the Spirit’s coming that enlightened them. That’s why our Lord said in John 16:7, it is better that I go and the Helper comes, because He will teach you all things. There are things I’ve taught you, that you don’t understand. Some you’ll only understand after the resurrection. Some you’ll understand after I rise.

Knowing all things that I have desired to reveal to you, necessitates the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is primarily a promise that the Holy Spirit will enable the apostles and their associates to write the New Testament. And the Lord will give us all the things that He couldn’t say, because the disciples weren’t able to handle it. That’s what this promise is primarily all about.

Now, there is an illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit for which I am profoundly grateful, and you are too. First John 2:19, “They’re not really of us, because “they went out from us, but you,” meaning you true believers, “you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.” His presence then results in the fact that we don’t need human teachers. That’s what he means by that.

But we have an anointing that “teaches you about all things.” That’s almost a direct quote from John 14. “He will come and teach you all things.” And then in 1 John, he says, and He has come and He will “teach you all things,” and is true, and not a lie, and just as that anointing taught you, you abide in Him. So, it’s a Him. It’s a person. It’s none other than the Holy Spirit.

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in you. Your body, in reality, contains the Trinity in a spiritual presence. And you have a resident truth teacher. What is the Holy Spirit teaching me? He does exactly what Jesus did. He’s another helper of the same kind. He is the interpreter of Scripture to the faithful student. That is His ministry.

The Holy Spirit points to Christ. Christ is the object of the Spirit’s ministry because Christ is the theme of Scripture. When we preach Christ through the Old Testament; and as the apostles preached Christ through the New Testament, we are following the leading of the Holy Spirit to learn all things that God wanted to reveal in the Old Testament. Hebrews 1:1, “God spoke through the prophets.”

In 2 Peter 1:21, holy men were “moved by the Spirit of God,” and they wrote. In the same way that God spoke to the prophets who wrote the Old Testament, He promises that He will send the Holy Spirit to do the same thing with these apostles who wrote the New Testament. But, before He can illuminate the truth for us, He has to inspire the truth in the apostles and the other Bible writers, right?

Now, do you mean every word in Scripture is inspired? That’s what it claims for itself. This is the promise of divine inspiration. Verse 26, “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” How can these apostles and those associated with them write the four gospels so correctly that you can take the four gospels and blend them together?

How could they ever recall all of that? There’s an interesting incident that happens in Acts 11:15. Peter began to speak, “and the Holy Spirit fell on them.” The next verse 16 says, “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” All of a sudden, Peter remembers a statement that our Lord made when “the Holy Spirit fell on them.”

This is like a little microcosm of how the Holy Spirit works. It is humanly impossible to reproduce Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; to even record the book of Acts, to pull quotes from Jesus out of the air, even the one that’s in the Acts 20, “It is more blessed to give than receive,” which isn’t in the gospels. They can’t make up the theology of the epistles nor the visions of the book of Revelation.

It’s humanly impossible to reproduce correctly all the human words, all the divine words, all the incidents, all the conversations, all the encounters, all the accurate sequences. It’s even more impossible because they didn’t understand it all. They would never be able to write the New Testament if they were left to their memories. They were led along by the Holy Spirit. Every word was God-breathed.

Can God also use a man to do anything else He wants? Of course He can. He can make a donkey speak, and rebuke a prophet. If He can put words in the mouth of a donkey, can He put words in the mouth of an apostle? He used a hand without a body and mind to write: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN in Daniel 5:25. Could He not guide a mind of an apostle to write His words?

And what about Caiaphas? Wicked, full of bitterness and hate, who abandoned himself to the cruelty of his own heart, and never dreaming that he was speaking precise words from God, cried out to the Jewish council in John 11:49-50, quote, “You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people.” End quote. That was Caiaphas. He said venomous words directed at Christ.

So, God chose every word. Because in John 11:51 it says, “He spoke this not of himself.” He prophesied that Jesus should die “in order that He might gather into one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” Wicked Caiaphas spoke words from God. If God can choose the exact words of a wicked enemy and make them speak for Him, can’t He choose the words by His Holy Spirit for a saint?

God does this all the time. Think of the complexity of creation. Just incomprehensible complexity in which He employs everything together to accomplish His creative ends. And then go further into complexity with providence, how God accomplishes the development of all of His plans and purposes by means of the unexpected concurrences of a thousand-million acts of human will.

Why can’t God send forth His Holy Spirit into one of His saints, cause him to write His very words? Of course He can. Everywhere you go in the Bible, there’s this uniformity. Whoever holds the pen. It might be a shepherd. It might be a king. It might be a farmer. It might be a prophet. It might be a scribe. It might be a fisherman. It might be a priest. Or it might be a tax collector.

You keep getting the same message. Hundreds of years go by. These writers are isolated from each other. But the same God is behind it all because men are described the same, nations are described the same, history is described the same. It’s the same angels, the same past, the same present, the same future, the same heaven, the same hell, the same judgment. The same God speaks about the same sin.

The abundance of humanity found in Scripture does not speak against inspiration; it speaks for it. Moses was daunted by what he had been called to do, so he said to the Lord in Exodus 4:10, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The Lord said, “Who made man’s mouth? Now you go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say.”

Verse 27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Peace appears twice in that brief verse. It’s an almost impossible reality. Turmoil is in us, near us, around us, and beyond us, dominating the fallen world. There is an absence of personal peace, family peace, local peace and international peace.

We’re now facing street riots, execution-type killings, and the threat of terrorism in our neighborhoods. Family disintegration is prevalent. Children are born without a married mother and father, divorce is everywhere. People pursue their peace by diversion, by drugs, by recreation, by entertainment, by shopping. People say that peace will come when there is social change or economic change.

Shalom is a word that is an all-encompassing word, and in essence means: a wish for completeness; or a wish for contentment; or a wish for fulfillment, or satisfaction, or blessing; or maybe well-being works; a wish for prosperity on all levels. And that’s what people still mean. The New Testament counterpart to that word is eirn that describes a satisfied soul, which is peace and prosperity.

But that is not how the Bible views peace. The most definitive statement on peace is John 14:27. It is talking about something completely different; Jesus says, “I’m giving you My peace.” He also knows that His disciples are profoundly distressed. But this is a supernatural peace. It belongs only to those who are Christ’s. It’s an objective peace which is outside of you. This is a gift.

It is about peace with God because the gospel brings peace between the sinner and God. You are justified by faith in Christ and by the work that He did on the cross. We are welcomed into God’s family and God’s presence forever. But that objective peace also provides for us a subjective peace, an internal peace, a sense of goodness, trust, contentment, tranquility, confidence, and well-being. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Oct 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211017 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B7 imblog

John 14:19-24

In John 14 is the long description of the promises that our Lord gives His children that is every believer. There is no other passage like this in the Bible. It is the richest section of Scripture summarizing what the Lord promises to those who belong to Him. But before we kind of look into that passage, just a few comments. I do know this: God is joined to His people in union all the time.

Every believer is in constant, eternal communion with the Trinity. And I’m not talking about when you come to church, I’m talking about when you leave here. I’m talking about when you’re all by yourself and you’re driving along in your car alone, you are still in the presence of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – in full and complete union. This is somehow lost on many evangelicals.

There are many foolish ideas in the church that somehow this notion of communing with God has to be induced by some mechanical means. Now why am I saying that? Because that’s really what John 14:19-24 is talking about. Our Lord prays and asks the Father to do what He has prayed and here in these verses is the heart of it all, “When I go away, you’re going to receive the Trinity.”

Every Christian at all times, forever, is in a life union with the Trinity. Let me say it another way: Your spiritual life is the life of God. The fact that you are alive spiritually, that you have died with Christ – as you read in Colossians – and you are now alive is because the life of God is in your soul. You cannot have eternal life as something God gives without having God, because it is His life.

Just know that it’s very difficult to understand the Trinity. Infinity is totally beyond us, and divine nature is also beyond us. But we can understand what John is saying enough to be responsible for it and see the implications of it. The profound truth of the Trinity goes beyond our ability to grasp, and that is why Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord.”

There are some things that only God understands. “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, these things are unsearchable.” And, yet, we have this revelation on the Trinity because it has such vital impact to us. Initially, it is for the sake of comfort to know that you are in constant union with the triune God, the God of the universe, in all three persons.

It’s a sin and blasphemy to deny the Trinity because you’re denying the nature of God. It is not enough to say, “I believe God is triune. I believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit; I believe in a Trinitarian deity; and I believe that He exists in heaven.” You need to understand that He exists in you if you are a believer. And that’s what our Lord is presenting to us in this incredible passage.

John 14:19-24, “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

“22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

There is no passage that more clearly presents the Trinity than this. You have our Lord speaking about Himself, about His Father, and about the Holy Spirit. He speaks of the unity of the Trinity, and He speaks of the diversity of the Trinity, one in essence, one in nature, yet three in person. Yes, I understand that these are profound realities, but they have so great importance to our lives.

Let me remind you why. First of all, the occasion is Thursday night when this teaching is given by our Lord, this revelation that John recorded. Thursday night of Passion Week and Friday, He will die. He has been telling them over and over again, “I’m going to be arrested; I’m going to be killed; I’m going to rise from the dead.” But they have a hard time handling it. They didn’t like the notion of it.

This creates panic in their hearts. Remember, they have forsaken all to follow Him. They’ve dropped their nets, if you will. They’ve left their enterprises. They’ve followed Jesus for a three-year period, from town-to-town and village-to-village. He has been the source of everything for them, and now He is leaving. Where are the fulfillments of all the promises given to the prophets?

This is so overwhelming that they are distraught. John 14:1, says, “Stop letting your heart be troubled.” There are only 11 disciples left in the upper room now on that Thursday night Passover meal. Judas had gone to work out the arrest of Jesus in the middle of the night in the garden. And then by morning, there’s a false trial. And then by Friday, He is put on the cross.

And so our Lord comforts them with the promises that are in this whole section. But the main promise is, “I am guaranteeing you that you will have the full presence of the triune God, every moment of every day, forever and ever. That’s the guarantee.” Everything else comes out of that promise. It is a promise for the 11, but it is also for everybody else who will ever believe in Christ.

This is a promise that extends to us. You don’t have to do anything. If you possess eternal life, that eternal life is fully God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You are never separated from God – the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. The world doesn’t really see us for who we actually are. They think we’re just people like everybody else. We’re not. We are alien beings in a real sense.

But because that nature is spiritual and not physical, it is invisible to non-believers. Do you remember what the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, “We know no man after the flesh.” What does that mean? It means that we don’t evaluate people based on their physical appearance. What concerns me about a non-believer is nothing physical, but that spiritually that person is a child of Satan.

We don’t see people just at the human level. We don’t see people based upon their social status or their education or their wardrobe or their sense of fashion. We don’t see people based upon their family connections, or based upon their history. We see with spiritual eyes, because we understand the true condition of those who belong to Christ and those who belong to Satan.

So we’re veiled in a way like Christ was veiled. In His incarnation, His glory was veiled. There was a glimpse given at the transfiguration. So here we live in this world, and we are literally the very temple of the Trinity, but it is veiled in our human flesh. But we need to understand the reality of that presence, and that’s what John has recorded for us from the lips of our precious Lord.

To whom are these promises given? Well, they’re given only to believers. They’re given to the disciples and all who will come after them who believe in Jesus. But that has to be defined further because there are a lot of people who believe in Jesus. So how do we know who the true recipients of these promises are? Well, it’s in verse 15, “If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments.”

Who is a true believer?” Not someone who believes the facts about the gospel, not someone who believes the facts about Jesus, but someone who loves the Lord and whose love is manifest in a life of obedience. Verse 21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Now let us look at this from another angle. When we go to heaven, what is it that we receive? It’s about meeting God, fellowshipping with God, knowing God, loving God perfectly, and obeying God. No sin will interrupt that obedience. No sin will interrupt that love or diminish it. But heaven is the triune God. In Revelation 2:7, heaven is called the paradise of God.

Now as believers, we’re headed for the paradise of God. We’re headed for heaven. All through these letters, believers are identified by a phrase: “He that overcomes.” And John in his epistles, talks about the overcoming reality of faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we overcome. The overcomer is the one who has put his trust in Christ. So we are the overcomers.

What do we receive when we get to heaven? Look at Revelation 2:17, “To him who overcomes, that is, to a believer, I will give the hidden manna.” What is the hidden manna? That is Christ Himself. God gave them manna and all the people of Israel were fed in the wilderness. But in John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of Life. Whoever eats of this bread will never hunger.”

We are not all going to heaven and being in a massive choir of unidentifiable people. No. We’re going to have individual communion with the Trinity, as much as the promises of Revelation 2:17 say, it continues, “And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” This is to identify you personally in a relationship with God.

Heaven is not a group experience, it is a personal communion with Christ. At the end of Revelation 2, He talks about what’s going to happen to the overcomer. Just look at verse 28, “To the one who overcomes, I will give him the morning star.” What is that? In Revelation 22:16 it says, “I, Jesus, am the bright morning star.” What happens to the believer in heaven? He receives Jesus, personally.

Revelation 3:12, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.” So we’re going to have a name that Christ gives us, and then we’re identified with our city.

What are you going to get in heaven? You’re going to get God. Verse 21, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” It means that where God is, where Christ is, that is where you will be, in constant, intimate, personalized fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Spirit as well. That is heaven.

Last week, we looked at the presence of the Holy Spirit in verses 16 and 17, I won’t go over that. And the important part at the end of verse 17, Jesus says, “He abides with you and will be in you.” He just said He would send the Holy Spirit. Now He says in verse 18, “I will come.” That’s the Son of God talking. He’s simply saying, “I’m coming back. I’m sending the Spirit, but I’m also coming back to you.

In fact, what did He say in Matthew 28:20 at the Great Commission? “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” I will not leave you as orphans. I will come back. Yes, after three days from the resurrection. What He’s talking about is, “I’ll be back to live in you forever. And in that day when the Holy Spirit comes and I come, you will understand the Trinity a little bit more.

You will understand verse 20, “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” And reminding them again in verse 21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Becoming a Christian is being in living union with the triune God at its core.

You need to acknowledge each person of the Trinity. You can communicate with each member of the Trinity. Communicate with the triune God. Verse 22, Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Why does he ask that question? Because they were still holding on the idea that He would bring about the kingdom now.

What does it mean to have eternal life? It means to have God Himself in you, which then leads us to the third member of the Trinity, and we will drop down to verse 23, “Jesus said, ‘If anyone loves Me, He will keep My word and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” Now this is the third member of the Trinity, God the Father.

On the other hand, verse 24, “He who does not love Me, does not keep My words.” In other words, if you don’t obey the Word of God, you don’t love God no matter what you say. “And the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” Again, the qualification for being a true believer that Jesus lays out here, He received from the Father. They’re all in agreement.

You don’t have to go someplace to worship God, you are the temple. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, “He that is joined to the Lord is as one spirit.” 10 “You want to live as one who is in the image of the One who created him.” 12, “you should be characterized by compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance forgiveness, and of course, love, the perfect bond of unity.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Oct 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211010 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B6 imblog

John 14:15-19

It is a challenge because it presents to us the most difficult of all divine mysteries, the nature of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three-in-one. Through the centuries, efforts made by preachers to try to explain the Trinity with illustrations. But they are all useless because the Trinity cannot be illustrated in anything that is within our created world.

It transcends human understanding. There are divine mysteries that we can never comprehend that all have do with essentially the nature of God. This one is the most challenging of all, that God is one, and yet consists of three distinct persons at the same time. First of all, realize that you’ll never fully understand it. Even in heaven, there may be elements of God’s Trinitarian nature that will escape our comprehension.

Because we will never be God. If you start by understanding that you will not ultimately, grasp the fullness of the Trinity, and then move to understand what the Bible says about the Trinity, you will find exactly what God wants you to know. We can understand the Trinity to the degree that the Scripture has declared it to us; and that is the opportunity we have before us today.

As believers, we have a heavenly inheritance promised to us. We’re not Christians just for this life only, but we’re Christians because we anticipate the promises that God has given to those who believe in His Son and come to Him for salvation, the promises that basically are laid up in heaven for us. That’s our desire, and that’s the promise of God to us, to spend forever in a place of peace and joy.

But as believers, we hold tightly, not just to the general idea of heaven, but to the specific reality of what heaven is. It is a promise that is an inheritance to us. We are joint heirs with Christ. And Peter says it is a definite promise that cannot be canceled or altered. It is an inheritance beyond comprehension. Paul prayed that our understanding would be enlightened so we could grasp its glory.

So we approach with Ephesians 1:18 in mind saying, “Lord, at least give us some grasp of this inheritance that You have for us.” When most people think about heaven, even Christian people, they think about a place; and it is a place. It is a place defined and described as to its character, its nature, its components, and even its dimensions in the book of Revelation. It is a place.

Most people, when they think about heaven, they think about it as a place where certain activities take place; and that is true. There will be activities around the throne of God in heaven. One of them will be praise, worship and adoration. That will be going on all the time. But there will be other activities as well. We will serve throughout eternity in ways that are unimaginable to us.

But if that’s all you think about heaven, then you miss the main point. Heaven is primarily a fulfilled relationship. When you think about heaven, think about it that way. It is the full presence of the triune God; the full, glorious presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will be in the full, complete, transcendent relationship with the Trinity. That will define our existence.

Why am I discussing this? Because in John 14, our Lord promises to grant to us a preview of this full presence. We now, as believers, possess a down payment on the full presence of the Trinity that we will experience in heaven. But we in our current bodily form are not fitted for that kind of full relationship. We need a different body because this current one is not for eternity.

Life is really just a constant, inexorable movement toward leaving this world. These are bodies that die; and along the way, they are troubled, and sick, and injured, and wounded, and inept, and inadequate, and disabled, et cetera. We struggle not only with the physical part of our bodies, but the mental part as well. We have limits to our capacity to understand heavenly things.

We struggle emotionally and we struggle with sin and temptation. So we not only need a different outside, we need a different inside. If we’re going to be in the full Trinitarian presence of God forever, in perfect righteousness, joy, and peace, we’ve got to swap this for another one. The promise of Scripture is that when a believer dies, that believer’s spirit enters heaven transformed and sinless.

And one day, there will be a resurrection of a new glorified body like the resurrection body of Christ, to join that spirit and to become that eternal being to enjoy the full presence of the triune God. So when you think about heaven, think about a perfect, fulfilling relationship with the Father and with the Son and a perfect, fulfilling relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Now all of that is in the text in front of you, our Lord promises to give His disciples, including us, a preview of this full presence on the eternal heavenly celestial communion with God, and give it to us here and now, so that as a believer right now, you are in communion, to the degree that it’s possible in the form we’re in, you’re in personal communion with the Trinity.

One way to define a Christian is as somebody who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul talks about being in Christ and Christ being in us. And, of course, you recognize that the Holy Spirit lives in you, right? You are the temple of the Spirit of God. And you are led by the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit, and enabled by the Spirit and gifted by the Spirit.

Let me start at John 14:15 - 18, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

That is about as profound a portion of Scripture as you have ever read because it takes you into the impossibly comprehensive and complex elements of Trinitarian life. “I am in the Father, the Father is in Me. I will send the Holy Spirit. Summed up in verse 23, “We will come.” You are the temple of God; the abiding place of the Son, and the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit.

Now know that our Lord is addressing His disciples on Thursday night of Passion Week, and they know He’s going to die. He has told them He would be arrested; He would be beaten, mistreated; He’ll go through a trial; He’ll be crucified; He’ll rise again; and then He’s going to heaven, to the Father. They’re having lots of trouble with that. In fact, John 14 begins with, “Stop letting your hearts be troubled.”

Now in John 14 begins the first promise in verse 15. He has already promised them that they would do greater works than He did, greater in extent, not greater in kind. He already promised them that He would answer their prayers and provide everything that they needed if it was in His name to His glory and to His purpose. He has also made promises that they’re going to continue to work.

And they’re going to continue to be able to have access to the supply that He has in heaven to provide for that ministry. Verse 15, “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.” All the promises of greater works, of whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, of the Trinity coming in you, to whom does He make such promises? Answer, “Those who love Me and keep my commandments.”

A true Christian loves and obeys. It’s not about saying you are a Christian. “Many will say unto Me, ‘Lord, Lord, I did this; I did that; I did the other thing.’ I will say to them, ‘Depart from Me, I never knew you.’” Love is the motive and obedience is the action. John 15:10, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

We look at people’s action and try to understand their heart because that’s all we can do. But that’s deceptive because people can do the action without the heart. God doesn’t view people that way. He looks at the heart and interprets the action. We look at the action and interpret the heart. And what is God looking for? Not just obedience, but obedience motivated by love for Him.

So look at verse 16, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” That is the Holy Spirit. You have the Trinity in that verse: “I,” the Son; “the Father,” God the Father and “the Helper,” the Spirit. Now the Christian life is also primarily a loving relationship that results in obedient behavior; but it is at the core a relationship.

Our Lord says, I’m going to ask the Father and He’s going to give you the Helper.” It’s the word Paraclete, which means ‘to call somebody alongside’. Called for what? For everything that you would need. Could be an intercessor, an advocate, could be a comforter, an encourager and could be a teacher. Somebody with more wisdom, truth, power and more knowledge than you have.

In many Bibles it says the Comforter, but that’s such a narrow understanding of what the role of the Holy Spirit is. Certainly He’s there to comfort. But far beyond that, to help at every level where we need help. Notice this, “I will ask the Father and He’ll give you another.” In the Greek, there are two words for ‘another’. There is another of a different kind, and another of the same kind.

Jesus used ‘another’ of the exact same kind; and that defines for you the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What did Jesus do for them? He did everything for them. He answered every question they ever had. He provided everything they needed. He supplied all their protection, all their provision, all their instruction, all their wisdom, all their knowledge. He interpreted all their experiences.

Jesus not only told them the meaning of what had happened and was happening. He told them what was coming and what was going to happen. He explained to them the significance of divine revelation. He was absolutely everything to them, and He says, “I’m going away, but I’m going to give you a Helper, a Paraclete, exactly like Me. And He is coming that He may be with you forever.

He will be with you through your entire life here and through your entire life in heaven. That’s why in John 16:7 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, it’s to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I’ll send Him.” And, when you go into heaven, your relationship to Him will become everything that it could be and should be in its perfection, forever.

Verse 17, “He is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” Of course He is, because God is truth. And Jesus said earlier in verse 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He will be what I was to you; and I am the truth, and He is the truth; and everything He tells you will be the truth.

The world doesn’t know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you.” How did the Holy Spirit abide with them? Listen, in the person of Christ. That is the primary point of that statement. Who was it that gave life in the womb of Mary? It was the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who was at the baptism of Jesus, and descended from heaven, and rested upon Him.

And the Holy Spirit led Him into ministry, and the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted, and the Holy Spirit empowered Him and enabled Him; and Jesus committed all the credit for His ministry to the Holy Spirit. Remember in Matthew 12, the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders said He does what He does by the power of the devil. That’s proof that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit.

That’s how blind the world is. The Holy Spirit has been here, doing His work in Me. That’s why Jesus said to those who said He did what He did by the power of Satan, “You have blasphemed the Holy Spirit.” Why is He called the Spirit of truth? Because, “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” He is called the Spirit of truth because He will bring the truth to them.

Let me just put this all together. The revelation originates with God. God discloses that revelation in Christ. Christ lives and teaches and ministers, and then the Holy Spirit comes, takes all of that and reveals it to the apostles, who then write it down. In fact, that’s exactly what Peter said, “Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will.

So if you attack the inerrancy of Scripture, you have made an assault on the Trinity. So as believers, you say, “How does this apply to us?” What this guarantees is that this book is true. I don’t need anything else. I know this book to be absolutely accurate. First Corinthians 2:16, “We have here the mind of Christ.” And here you have the Trinity engaged in the writing of Scripture.

Now the world doesn’t understand this. So the first of these amazing promises of divine presence is that, “The Spirit has been with you in Me, and He will now be in you forever.” And the first task will be to bring to your remembrance the full revelation of the Father, to the Son, through the Spirit, that you can write down. Holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of God, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Oct 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20211003 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B5 imblog

John 14:7-14

John 13 through 16 are called the Upper Room Discourse. It’s unique in the gospels. No one else records this. But John does and he does in detail. This is Thursday night. This is the night that Judas left, where Jesus gathers with the disciples; and after they gather and sing a hymn, they go to the Mount of Olives, and He goes to pray. And then He is arrested; and then on Friday, He is crucified.

So this is His last night with His disciples, and He provides for them the most marvelous, commands, warnings, promises, commitments that have ever been given. This is His final will and testament to His apostles. They have an immediate application to these 11 men and they have an extended application to all of His disciples through all of history. He seals all these promises in 13 to 16 with a prayer in John 17.

That same night, when He offers that great prayer He says, “I pray not only for these, but for all who will believe in Me,” which means He’s extending these promises to all of us. It is an unparalleled portion of Scripture. We want to listen to the last words of people just before they die. Those are important things that are on their mind at the end. Well, this is our Lord’s final earthly talk with those He loves.

We looked at John 13, and it’s about love, how much Jesus loved them, and how much He wanted them to love each other. In the middle of that chapter, there are two dark moments. First, He exposes and confronts Judas who is about to betray Him. The second comes when Peter is told that he will deny Christ three times. Judas hanged himself and Peter was restored and he started the church on the Day of Pentecost.

But as we come to John 14, it’s time to comfort these disciples. They now know He is leaving. He is going to die. He has told them that repeatedly, although they had a hard time processing it. He described to them details: “I will be arrested by the chief priests and those who are in charge in Israel. I will be beaten; I will be spit on; I will be abused. I will even be lifted up. I will be crucified.”

And then He went on to tell them that in three days He would rise from the dead. And just hours before this, He had told them that the temple system would be completely destroyed; not one stone would be left on another. Divine judgment would come on Israel on Judaism. They thought the Messiah would bring divine judgment on the rest of the world. But Jesus says it’s coming on the Jews.

Jesus is saying there is a transition about to take place. “I’m handing you off to God. I am leaving.” “I go to My Father.” They understood God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They knew He was the Son of God, and now He’s saying, “I’m going to the Father,” and they are deeply troubled by this. And so He is saying, “You’ve got to trust Me and the Father.”

Nobody in the Old Testament could say, “We lived in the presence of God physically.” There were people in the Old Testament who had visions of God. There was Jacob who, in Genesis 32, wrestles with an angel. Moses in Exodus 33 and 34 has a glimpse of the glory of God. Manoah, father of Samson sees God. There’s Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu who see God’s glory.

But apart from those rare and unique and muted visions of God, there’s no actual physical presence of God. Yes, there’s a cloud while they’re wandering in the wilderness, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, but nothing like God in human flesh. So this is an incredibly experience for 12 people and the women who were surrounding them and often traveled with Jesus.

That sets up the reason for verses 7 to 14, because here, our Lord wants to assure them that being handed over to God is better. Look at John 16:7, same Upper Room, same evening, a little later, “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.” He wants them to understand that being handed over to the Father is better for them because Christ in His incarnation had physical limits.

So to comfort them, our Lord reveals three things. He reveals His person, His power, and His provision. And it’s all about this whole idea of getting them to be able to deal with the transition to the care of the Father. Let’s look first at the revelation of His person beginning in verses 7, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

So what they didn’t really understand was that He is God incarnate. Is He God as well? Yes. But what did that mean? What they didn’t understand is what I read to you in Colossians 1:15, that He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that He is, “The exact representation of God.” In Hebrews 1:3 it says, that Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God, the Father.

In other words, their Christology was accurate, but not complete. And, furthermore, they didn’t understand the relationship between Him and the Holy Spirit. He had told them that He did everything by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to blaspheme Him was to blaspheme the Spirit who is doing the work through Him. But they didn’t understand that. Their Trinitarian theology was not complete.

Jesus said to them, “I’m going to My Father and I’m going to My Father’s house, and in My Father’s house there are many rooms. So I’m going to start making rooms ready for you, and I’m going to come back and get you and take you there. And I am the way there; you don’t have to worry about that. I am the way; there’s no other way. Only through Me, you will get there.

“From now on, you know Him and have seen Him,” present tense. What does He mean? From this moment forward, your knowledge of the Father and My relationship to the Father is going to grow through My death and My resurrection particularly. Do you remember what happened when Thomas walked in the room and saw Jesus? John 20:28. “Thomas answered, ‘My Lord and my God.”

The resurrection was what validated His claim to be one with the Father. Then when they understood that He and God were one, they could then trust that the same care He gave them would be what God would provide for them because they were one. But there’s so much more than that. John 14:16, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.”

Who is the other helper? Verse 17, “The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” He’s going to give you the Holy Spirit. The Father is going to give you someone to take My place, and that someone is going to be the Holy Spirit. You’re going to have the Spirit of truth as your instructor.”

Here is our Lord instructing them on the essence of the Trinity, on the nature of the Trinity. There’s no loss with Jesus leaving. “It’s the same God who is in Christ meeting your needs, who will be back meeting your needs through the sending of the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father just as I proceeded from the Father, who is one with the Father just as I am one with the Father.”

Then in John 16:13, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.” Again, the emphasis here is on instruction of truth. “He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears He will speak.” He speaks for the Trinity. He speaks for the Father, He speaks for the Son, and He will disclose to you what is to come. And He will glorify Me and the Father.

He’s making this promise. And they hadn’t heard all that I just read to you because it’s coming a little bit later. But He says, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on you know Him and have seen Him. You’re going to begin now to know Him,” although that knowledge didn’t come until after the resurrection when Thomas says for everybody, “My Lord and my God.”

And then the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost and all that is the Father’s and all that came through the Son comes now through the Holy Spirit, and they have the fullness of everything. And then it’s really clear to them, and they launch on the Day of Pentecost; they launch with a full Trinitarian theology. And now, Jesus says, “From now on, this will become knowledge to you.”

Philip shows at that moment they’re still ignorant. Verse 8, “Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and it’s sufficient for us.” This is disappointing. He’s talking for the rest of these guys who are having the same problem. Maybe he’s thinking of God visiting Abraham earlier in Genesis. Maybe he’s thinking of the Mosaic vision of God, or Ezekiel, or Isaiah.

Verse 9, “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Verse 10, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”

Verse 11, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” No man has seen God at any time in His fullness. God is an invisible God. Sometimes He manifests Himself in a cloud, or a pillar of fire, or some vision; but has never manifested Himself with such clarity as He did in the person of Jesus Christ.

If you came here to see God in some vision or some form; it won’t happen. If you came to experience some supernatural revelation or some phenomena; sorry, it’s not available. If you came here to be surrounded by angels or to talk with your dead uncle; not going to happen. You’d be better to go to a séance because Satan can falsify all of that. Here, we live in faith. I have never seen Jesus.

But I believe with all my heart that God is, Christ is, and the Holy Spirit is. Why do I believe? I have this bible and it is all the evidence I need. It is obviously the revelation of God and the only one I need. I do see God revealed throughout the pages of this book. And this book has stood the scrutiny and the tests of all the true believers and all the haters and skeptics throughout history.

But we don’t live by sight, we live by faith. We are the blessed who having not seen, yet believe. So my prayer is not, “Show me God; show me Jesus; show me the angels; do a miracle; give me a mystical experience.” My prayer is the prayer of the apostles in Luke 17:5, “Lord, increase my faith.” And your faith will increase proportionately to your understanding of Scripture.

So this is the revelation of His person meant to comfort them to know that He is one with the Father, and it will have a reality that will eventually grip their hearts and anchor them down. There’s a second revelation of His power. Verse 12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”

What does that mean? “You’re going to do miracles.” Read the opening of Acts. The apostles and the associates of the apostles had that miraculous power. They used their miracle power to do the very same miracles that Jesus did – miracles over disease, miracles over demons, miracles over death. That power was extended beyond Jesus, so in a sense, it’s greater in extent.

And this miracle power is multiplied through all of you starting on the Day of Pentecost.” In Acts 2, this is the power given to the apostles. It’s defined for us in 2 Corinthians 12:12, the signs and wonders, and miracles of an apostle. And it’s in Hebrews 2:4 where it says that the message the apostles preached was confirmed by signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

But when that Apostolic Era ended, there’s still a sense in which greater works are being done. Compare that Jesus’ entire ministry was in a little country about 60-plus miles long and a few miles wide. And now look what’s happened. Through the disciples of Jesus, the gospel has encircled the entire globe. It’s alive right now in the air, on the internet, through radio, media and print.

“One of the reasons that it’s better that I go away is that when I go away, you’re going to have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is going to come and fill up your Trinitarian understanding of Me. And you’re going to do greater works, and the works are going to get out of this little country and cover the globe. And you’re going to do even more miracles than I did because of the Holy Spirit.

And our Lord reveals to them His provision. Verses 13 – 14, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” You’ll have a clearer revelation of My person, a greater expression of My power, and you will have an unparalleled opportunity at my provision, whatever you ask in My name.”

So, what does that mean? Does that mean if you ask anything and say, “In Jesus’ name,” that will happen? No. So, ‘If you ask anything in My name,’ means that it has to be consistent with My will.” 1 John 5:14, we have this confidence that we ask anything according to His will, we know that He hears it, and if it is consistent with His person, His purposes, His perfections and His glory it will happen, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Sep 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210926 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B4 imblog

John 14:1-6

Our Lord had lived His life fully, three years of ministry, and now He is in the final week of His life. He will be the Sacrificial Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, killed at the very time the Jews were killing sacrificial lambs on the Passover that Friday. This is His last night with His disciples in the upper room on Thursday night. This is where He gives His final words to His own men, the apostles.

They have been with Him every day for the full three years. They love Him, they believe in Him, but they are profoundly confused. Their entire sense of what was supposed to happen has disappeared, vanished and faded. Their hopes and ambitions are collapsing, disintegrating around them. Why? Because the Lord continues to tell them He is going to leave them, He is leaving.

In fact, what happened on this last night fills up John 13, 14, 15, and 16, and also encompasses the prayer in John 17. That’s actually how the evening started, John 13:1, before the Feast of Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come, that He would depart out of this world to the Father having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

According to the disciple’s theology, when the Lord had set up His kingdom, they would be in the primary places. Hopefully, several of them would be able to sit on His right and His left hand; and they were still arguing about that on this very occasion. And now Jesus was talking about, “I’m leaving; and you’re not going. I go to the Father and you don’t. And one of you is a betrayer.”

He said, “And you’re all going to scatter.” They are shocked and their disappointment is compounded by the ugliness of their own attitudes. They have been fighting about prominence. None of them was willing to wash the feet of the others, so the Lord had to do that. They had been followers for three years, and they expected that it would end in glory for the Lord and for them.

They show no interest in His suffering. No one offers a word of comfort to Him. No one presses close to Him to express faithful love. They seem to be indifferent to what He says is going to happen in His own suffering. They’re self-absorbed, they’re confused, they are frightened, and their messianic expectations are crumbling. They show no real love to Him, but Jesus loves them infinitely.

So He has to comfort them because they’re not comforting Him. John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Verse 4-6, “And where I go you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Completely aware of all that He would suffer in a few hours, He is still absorbed in the fears and sorrows of His apostles as if He was not the sufferer at all.

It is the sorrow of their hearts that prompts Jesus to say everything He says in these chapters to them and to us. And the opening six verses are really just the foundation of comfort. Later He will give them the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who will dwell in them. So we are comforted by His promises, and those comforts are increased in power by the indwelling presence of the Comforter.

Now first “the plea,” in verse 1, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” Jesus knows everything that’s in a heart of a man. And their hearts are filled with a different emotions as they watch their hopes coming to an end. Their desires are vanishing by His death and His departure, and they can’t go. They are bewildered, gloomy and depressed.

The attitude of the Jews who are going to kill Jesus was going to be the same toward them. And we know the history of the apostles because almost all of them died as martyrs. And they had left everything to follow Him, and now He seems to be leaving them behind in the middle of enemies who after they’ve murdered Him are going to want to do the same to them. It was all very frightening.

On top of that, they had to deal with their pride and selfishness, and the confusion about a betrayer, and then their leader being a denier. The truth of the matter is His suffering couldn’t be alleviated anyway. He had to suffer what He suffered alone, did He not? He had to drink the bitter cup of divine wrath to the bottom by Himself. He had to tread the road to Calvary by Himself.

They had no ability to feel what He felt; since they were men, and He’s God. But the reverse is not true because He was in all points tempted like we are yet without sin, so He became a merciful and faithful High Priest. He felt their pain, He felt the agony of their losing Him for a while. Clearly, there was room in His heart for their sorrows, even when His own sorrows were infinite.

Isaiah said, “In all their affliction, He was afflicted.” Isaiah 50:6 says, “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard.” And in Isaiah 50:4 it says, “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.” Jesus knew their weariness, He knew their sorrow, and He says, “Stop being troubled.”

“You believe in God, so believe in Me.” Again, this is a claim to deity. John all the way through his gospel makes the case that Jesus is God, they are one in nature. John 20:31 says, “The point of this entire gospel is that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” John begins by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

None of them had ever seen God, but they believed in God. In a sense, Jesus is stating that they are true believers. They believe in God and they believe in the revelation of God in the Son of God, and that’s why they said, “You’re the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And that’s why they said, “We know that You are the Holy One and You have the words of life.”

They had been regenerated by God and become believers in the true God. Probably long before that, they were believers in the God revealed in the Old Testament whom they’d never seen. Remember Psalm 27 where the psalmist said about David, “I had fainted under duress to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” And then he follows it up in the next verse and says, “Wait for the Lord.”

The apostles had already by divine regeneration and illumination recognized that Jesus is the one who has come from God. They have seen and heard Him, and watched Him do His miracles. They did believe in the invisible God, and now they believe also in the visible Christ. But they need to believe in Him when He’s gone the same way they believe in the invisible God.

Jesus was about to be removed from them. So He said, “You must believe in Me when I’m invisible the way you believe in God who is invisible.” Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Jesus says later, “I will come to you and never leave you nor forsake you.”

Jesus says, “The Father and I will take up residence with you before you take up residence with Us. I will put my Holy Spirit in you.” We all live and move in the worship of One we’ve never seen. Peter understood it. 1 Peter 1:8-9 says, “Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Eternal salvation, comes to those who believe in the Christ they’ve never seen. And in John 16:7, He says, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” That’s the Holy Spirit. Do you know what is better than having Jesus Christ with you? Having the Holy Spirit in you all the time.

So the plea then is to trust Him, and that’s followed by a promise, since there are many promises. Here is the first one in verse 2 - 3, “In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

Well, what is “My Father’s house”? Hebrews 9:23-24 says, “Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”

The temple was the Father’s house in the sense that it was a copy of the Father’s house which is heaven. Christ came and cleansed the Father’s house that had been turned, as Luke says, into a den of robbers. He cleansed the Father’s house on earth and then He destroyed the copy so that He might gather His people and take them into a place prepared for them that was reality in heaven.

You don’t need a map of heaven, there’s just one house. The word mansion really confused a lot of people. This is the word for “rooms.” Well, people in heaven will be those who God gathered into heaven from nations all across the earth. Revelation 21:16 says that the capital city of heaven, not heaven, heaven is infinite, but the capital city alone is 1,500 miles cubed.

In summary, it is a golden diamond city. In the center of this massive, cubed, glorious, transparent, golden diamond is God’s glory and the glory of the Lamb blazing through. And around the city are jewels, massive jewels that spin out the colors of the rainbow. The city has twelve gates and each one is a single large pearl from which the light bounces and adds to the transcendence. It’s heaven.

Then in verse 3, “I’m going to go and prepare a place for you. I’ll come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also.” Why does He put that second statement in verse 2? “If it were not so, do you think I would have told you, ‘I go to prepare a place for you’?” It is because they’re having a hard time believing that Jesus is going to leave them.

Now when He says in verse 3, “I’m coming back. I’m going to prepare a place for you, I will come again,” that’s eschatological. He’s talking about His second coming. Acts 1:10 says, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” In the meantime, when any believer dies, “absent from the body is present with the Lord.”

When a believer dies, immediately they enter into the presence of the Lord. Stephen is about to be stoned to death. And in Acts 7:55, “he gazed into heaven; he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Why is He standing? Verse 59, they went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Jesus was standing to welcome Stephen.

Yes, He will come again and rapture the church, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15. Yes, the rapture of the church is the next eschatological prophetic event. We don’t know when it’s going to happen. But whenever a believer dies, the Lord is standing to receive that believer. And He says: “I will come again and receive you to Myself so that where I am, there you may be also.”

Jesus says to them then in verse 4-5, “You know the way where I’m going.” 5 And Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know where You’re going. How do we know the way?” This takes us to the third point. First, there was the plea, then there was the promise, now there’s the provision. Verse 6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

This is the sixth “I am” in John’s gospel. He is saying, “I am the only way to God.” In John 10:9 Jesus said, “I am the door to that eternal pasture. There is no other door.” Everyone else is a thief and a robber. “I am the truth about God.” John says in John 1:14, He was full of grace and truth. “I am the life of God. In Him was life,” John writes in John 1:4.

The modern church has created a new wave of idolatry related to this foundational truth that people somehow can be saved even if they never had a Bible, never heard about the true God, never heard about Jesus Christ. They call it “later light” or “natural theology.” That’s Roman Catholic theology, Vatican One. And then there’s one called “wider mercy.” Men can be saved in other religions.

Man’s reason is so depraved he suppresses the truth in righteousness. Man’s religion is so depraved that he worships demons that are named gods. Man is so depraved in his reason that by wisdom he cannot know God. The natural man can’t even understand the things of God. He is so depraved that there’s only salvation through Christ and Christ alone, and that by a divine miracle. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210919 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B3 imblog

John 13:34-38

As we come to John 13, we are in the Passion Week, the week our Lord died and rose again. And all the way through John 16, we hear the promises of the Savior given to His disciples and all who would believe after them, including us, the legacy of Christ to His own. These are the glorious promises of all spiritual blessings. And later He confirmed this in a prayer for all believers in John 17.

All of these promises came on Thursday night as He gathered in the Upper Room for the Passover, which He transformed into the Lord’s Supper, and then the next day He was crucified as the Lamb of God. So this is the last time with His own as He pours out His love to them. As we come to verse 31, Judas is gone. Our Lord knew that Satan had entered into him to do the betraying of Jesus.

Verse 30 says, “Judas then went out immediately and it was night.” It was night in the spiritual sense, and it would be night in eternal sense because he would hang himself and be dashed on the rocks in just a few hours. Judas is gone now. So Jesus starting in verse 31, turns to the true disciples and embraces all who would follow right down to this age until He comes and makes these incredible promises.

Verse 32, “And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. 33 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”

35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” 36 Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.” 37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

Scripture is clear that the world is full of false Christians. We know that Satan is going to sow tares among the wheat. The kingdom of God is going to be full of it as the parables of Matthew 13 tell us, “Many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and I will say to them, ‘Depart from Me, I never knew you.’” There are people who profess openly Jesus as their Lord, but have no relationship with Him.

Satan’s strategy is to be an angel of light. His devils also are disguised as angels of light. Counterfeiting Christianity is a very important enterprise. False religions don’t need to falsify themselves. You don’t have heretical Muslims or heretical Buddhists or heretical Hindus. They are already false to start with. It’s already a deception, so it doesn’t need to be formed into something that will not save you.

But Christianity has many false forms of Christianity. We can barely recognize all of them, because Satan is spending all of his time falsifying Christianity. You hear this kinds of discussion all the time. Well, there were Christians a thousand years ago who slaughtered Muslims. But those were not Christians, those were false Christians who belonged to a false Christian system.

Christianity seems to be the most counterfeited of all. So how do we know who the true Christians are? Who are the true followers of Christ? Well, it isn’t by what they say. It isn’t by belonging to some religious organization that calls itself Christian. It isn’t because we live a certain Christian ethic or morality. It’s not about outward symbols or outward behavior or outward professions of faith.

You know someone is a Christian by their heart. Ezekiel 36:25-27 says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and obey my regulations.”

That is the definition of regeneration, of a new birth, of being born again, of conversion. It is to be given a new heart, a new spirit; and that is the home of the Holy Spirit who causes us to walk according to the statues of God and to obey His ordinances. In John 3, Jesus talked to Nicodemus and He said eternal life and entrance into the kingdom comes to those who are, “Born from above.”

It is a spiritual birth that is internal. It is a work of God. The Holy Spirit moves and does this to whom He will when He will. Paul said it this way, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. New things have come.” Paul in Titus 3 calls it, “The washing of regeneration.” And that’s Ezekiel 36. It is a washing from sin. It is a cleansing from filthiness and idols.

What is the heart? The heart is the inner person. Out of this new life come all the spiritual graces: love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. Out of this new life come all of the spiritual glories that are deposited in us, but the evidence of this transformation can be summed up in one word, love. It is love that demonstrates a new heart. Love can do what the law could not do.

Now, that love in our text goes in three directions. It goes toward our Lord. It goes toward others, and it has a personal component. All the promises of John 13 to John 16 and the prayer of John 17 are just loaded with love. All of the promises of the Lord flow from His love to us and produce in us love in return. He sheds His love abroad in our hearts, Romans 5:5, and we are known by our love.

Now, let’s study these three aspects of love. Number one, a true believer is identified by love for his Lord’s glory. We saw that in verses 31-32. We looked at that in detail. The Lord looks at these arguing disciples. Who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom? They’re just full of selfish pride and personal promotional ambition, and it’s been going on for a long time.

Our Lord wants to give them a statement in verse 31, “Now, is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.” Change your focus away from your positions in this kingdom to My glory. “Now is the Son of Man glorified,” looks at the cross. He is glorified on the cross.

God is glorified in the cross because God puts all of His attributes on display. Everything from God’s love to God’s justice; everything from God’s mercy and grace to God’s righteousness; everything from His forgiveness to His wrath, it’s all there. Further, another thing, God will glorify Jesus immediately by His resurrection, ascension, exaltation, glorification and coronation.

Verses 34 – 35, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Wasn’t there a commandment to love back in the Pentateuch? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

Why is it a new command? First, the Jews didn’t do it. They were full of animosity, bitterness, jealousy and rivalry. Secondly, the disciples didn’t exhibit it. They were arguing about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom. Thirdly, the Lord had just set a new example that demonstrated a kind of love that had never been demonstrated before and “No man has greater love than that.”

They would have a new capacity to love because the Holy Spirit would come and shed that love abroad in their hearts. For all those reasons, this is new. So He says, “I’m giving you what is essentially a new commandment that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

You want to demonstrate that you are a truly a born-again, redeemed soul, and your love will make that testimony clear. That’s how the world will know. We talk about a Savior. We talk about transformation. We talk about a new birth. We talk about being literally given new life. We talk about how the Lord totally transforms us. How do we show that? We demonstrate it in our love to one another.

Yes we love our enemies, Matthew 5. Only humble people love. Only broken people love. The world is full of hate. Unregenerate people are full of selfishness, self-centeredness, and that leads to hate, animosity, anger, vengeance and violence. The humble are the meek, they are the spiritually bankrupt, who cry out to God for merciful salvation they don’t deserve.

One, we have to love to serve. But secondly, we also love enough to sanctify. What does that mean? We all have to be sanctifying influences, not sources of temptation. How would I cause another Christian to stumble? If you lead them into sin or tolerate their gossip, or tempt them to do something that isn’t right. You could also do it by setting a pattern that if followed, they’ll fall into sin.

You could do it by failing to instruct them on the righteous path. You could do it by failing to warn them and admonish them. Our world is full of people who temp people to sin, creating lies, deception, corruption, immorality at every possible level. We don’t expect that in the church. We are to have a sanctifying influence. We have to counter the culture. You better take drastic action against sin.

And we must love enough to suffer. By suffering, I don’t mean whips on your back or chains necessarily in our world, but there are some pretty dire prices to pay for being a faithful lover of the people of God. In 2 Corinthians 12: 15 Paul says, “I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. I will give up my life for your souls.” He’s talking about how the weakness of the church tore at his heart.

His love cost him massive suffering: physical, emotional, and even spiritual suffering. There was a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, in verse 7, to humble him, keep him from exalting himself because he had so many revelations. He asked the Lord three times to take it away. And the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

There’s a third point with this kind of love, and it’s personal. It’s love as defined by my own loyalty. Go back to John 13:36-37, “Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.” 37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.” Discipleship is more than promised loyalty. It is permanently practiced loyalty.

Peter made this promise repeatedly. In fact, he made the same promise several more times this evening as recorded by Luke and Matthew. He was convinced of his unflinching loyalty. “I am ready to die for you now.” Verse 38, “Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

What does the rooster crow mean? They didn’t have clocks so they segmented the night. Sundown to three hours or so later, maybe 9:00 PM was called evening. Then from then to, say midnight was called midnight. Then from midnight to 3:00 AM was called the rooster crow because about 3 o’clock, the roosters began to crow. Then morning followed from 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM.

Before 3 o’clock tomorrow morning, you’re going to deny Me three times, and he did, didn’t he? In three separate locations, multiple times. Luke points out that Peter boasted too much, prayed too little, acted too fast, followed too far, and ended up denying his Lord. When he realized what had happened, Luke 22:62 says, “And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.”

The Lord finds him in Galilee in John 21:15, and what did the Lord say to him? “Peter do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord I love You.” “Peter, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord, I love You.” “Peter, do you love Me?” “Lord, you know I love You.” “Then feed My sheep.” Peter never flinched after that. He preached that great Pentecost sermon. And he finally went to a cross where he was crucified upside down.

What was the difference? The Holy Spirit came, and shed that love abroad in his heart, to give him the power to love and it never waned. A loyal love. How do you know when someone is a true Christian? Their love focus is on the glory of their Lord, on the well-being of their brothers and sisters in Christ, and it evidences itself in an undying, enduring, and loving loyalty to Christ.

In other words, our heart may condemn us. Doubt and insecurity may come at us as temptations and our own failures may cause doubts to rise, but manifest love in all these directions removes that condemnation and gives us, “confidence before God.” It’s the simple, lovely grace of love. Grace from a humble heart, looking toward heaven, and reaching toward each other, and stabilizing our loyalty to Christ, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Sep 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210912 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B2 imblog

John 13:31-33

We have come to a unique section in the New Testament. In John 13 through John 17, we come to a text that is unique because that entire section all takes place in one night. It is Thursday night of Passion Week. It is the night in which our Lord celebrated the Passover, which then was transformed into the Lord’s Supper. It is the night in which He went to the garden and Judas betrayed Him.

The uniqueness is that He gives His legacy to His own. Not only to His true disciples, the true believers who surrounded Him that evening in the upper room, but to all believers who would come after them. That is all believers of all time. We know that because everything He promised to them in John 13 through 16, He then prays for in John 17, and extends it to all who will ever believe.

So, whatever Christ gave to them that evening, He gave to us, and to all believers before us and after us. It is His final will and testament to His own. And it’s all activated by the exodus of Judas. After the Lord had identified Judas as the betrayer, Satan entered into him. It was now time to activate the betrayal which would bring about the crucifixion at exactly the moment when the Passover lambs were being slaughtered.

All Judas was looking for was a time and a place away from the crowds to pick Jesus out so that the authorities could arrest Him. He had to do the final act of the betrayal, and bring the forces that wanted Jesus arrested to the place where He was. Once Judas was gone, only the true disciples were left. And it is then in verse 31 that our Lord begins His words exclusively to His own.

Verses 31 - 33, “As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into His glory, and God will be glorified because of Him. 32 And since God receives glory because of the Son, He will give his own glory to the Son, and He will do so at once. 33 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going.”

What marks a true believer is something that happens in the heart, because a true believer has been born again, regenerated, gone through a complete metamorphosis. We are known by our character, by our affection, by the things that are important to us, precious to us. In a word, we are known by what we love. It is the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, the evidence of the Spirit’s presence.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, long suffering, patience and self-control. Those are all dominating attitudes that flow out of love. After Judas left, Jesus is there to address the true disciples. And the first thing He does is have a conversation with them that hits at the reality of their salvation. And to those who are genuinely His, He makes personal promises to all of them.

John 13:1 says at the end of verse 1 that He loved His own who were in the world, and He loved them to the fullness of His divine capacity. So it is a love that knows no qualitative limit and it knows no quantitative limit. And to the degree that He is eternal, and we are eternal, His love is eternal. It is the most magnanimous, limitless statement about His love in Scripture.

There are no words that can come close to the promises that our Lord gives. The purest mind, the purest heart, the grandest capacity to love, divine love pours out its affections in a series of promises to every believer. They are at once sweet and powerful. They are supercharged with divine passion and yet tender with concern, and everything is bathed in this expression of divine love.

We can be known for our doctrine. We can be known for our theology. But what we believe is supposed to transform our lives so that the final test is who we are, how we live. Non-believing people have certain levels of affection in marriage and in families, and certain levels of romantic love. But there is a kind of love that belongs only to those people with transformed lives.

Let us look at the directions this love takes. There are three directions that are laid out here explicitly or implicitly. First of all, we are marked by love that seeks His glory. Secondly, we are marked by love for one another. And thirdly, we are marked by loving loyalty, to prove His love personally by being loyal and faithful. This is developed in these few verses.

Our Lord says that a true disciple has love for his Lord’s glory. In other words, he loves the Lord. That’s what love pursues. That’s what love desires. Our Lord is even called the Lord of Glory because glory is so consistent with who He is. The doxologies in Ephesians 3 and in end of Jude, are demonstrating what is in their heart. It is all about the glory of the Lord.

Well, this is new to the disciples. Yes, they had all affirmed: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. But their lives were not directed to the glory of their Lord. Three of them had been to the Mount of Transfiguration and seen His glory, but still, they were preoccupied with themselves. And that argument had gone on for months, and it was still going on at this very time during Passion Week.

So verse 31, “As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of Him.” Since God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself immediately.’” Now that Judas is gone, everything is in motion, the betrayal will be consummated, the arrest will occur, and the execution the next day.

And the first thing Jesus wants them to know is that this is all about His glory. Why is that so important? Because they are consumed with their own glory and they were having a hard time dealing with this. Every time our Lord said, “I’m going to die,” they would say, “No Lord. It can’t be.” Once Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan.” And here Peter says, “Lord, why can’t I come with You now?”

For 33 years, Jesus condescended to become incarnate in human flesh, lived as a child, as a young boy and as a man. He had humbled Himself, restricted the full manifestation of His glory, and He had taken a terrible amount of abuse. That brief time in the midst of eternity is now over and He knows it. And so, He says now finally, I’m here. He is on the brink of being glorified.

There are three distinct statements pertaining to His glory. Number one: “Now the Son of Man will enter His glory.” Why does He say now? This statement has to do with the cross and His death and all those subsequent events, like His resurrection, ascension, exaltation and coronation. But it’s all triggered by His death, and the action of Judas, the traitor, being sent out to do his betrayal.

Jesus did not say that when He was baptized by John the Baptist, and the Holy Spirit came down like a dove, and there were words of the Father coming out of heaven. He didn’t say that when He was on the Mount of Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah showed up and the Lord was transfigured before them. Our Lord is referring to His death by which He would be glorified.

But here before the pit of His humiliation, as He stands on the brink of false accusations, lying witnesses, relentless insults, infamy, mockery, shame and nakedness, surrounded by wretched evil men, in the midst of an agonizing death, now is the Son of Man glorified. And He is saying to the disciples: this is for My glory. How can the death of Christ on the cross glorify Christ?

Christ is glorified because God has chosen Him to be the sacrificial lamb who takes away the sins of the world. He is God’s chosen one. He is the only one God could ever ask to do that work. He is most righteous, most holy, most blameless, most spotless, most pure, and that shows His glory. He will provide on the cross salvation for all who have ever believed through all of human history.

He will validate the covenant of God, and He will provide salvation for damned sinners. That deserves glory. He will destroy the power of sin and the power of death, and that deserves glory. He will destroy the devil who had the power of death and He will punish him to hell forever, and that deserves glory. He will satisfy God, propitiating God by paying the price that God has deemed necessary.

He will bear in His body all the sins of all the elect of God through all of human history, and He will offer Himself as a sweet smelling aroma to God, better than any sacrifice ever offered. He will fully satisfy divine justice and the broken law of God. He says, “It is finished,” and that deserves glory. So there is no act so worthy of full glory as this act of Jesus Christ on the cross.

At the same time the cross glorifies Christ, it also glorifies the Father. God is glorified when His attributes are on display. Look at Exodus 33 and 34. Moses says, “Show me Your glory.” God says, “I will let My mercy, My compassion, My loving-kindness, My truth and righteousness pass before you.” God’s glory is the realities of His nature. God has intrinsic glory. His attributes are His glory.

But nowhere in all of history do the attributes of God come together in a clearer, bolder and grander way than at the cross. At the cross, you see the power of God displayed. It was there at the cross, Isaiah 53 says that the kings of the earth and the rulers took council together against God and against His anointed. And it was there that God shattered them and defeated them.

It was there that all of the terrible hatred, enmity, depravity of wretched human hearts did the worst that the human heart is capable of, and God overruled the worst that they could do and accomplish the best that could ever be done out of it. It was there that Satan and the forces of hell came and unleashed the darkness against Him in a hatred outburst, and Jesus handled it all.

He overpowered the evil of men’s hearts. He overpowered Satan. He overpowered demons. He overpowered the strength of sin. Jesus was able to survive it all, and come out the other side triumphant. Mankind loses, nations lose, demons lose, Satan loses and Christ wins. He is triumphant, and that gives God glory. God triumphs at the cross in unleashing His power.

And His justice is demonstrated at the cross. It is God who said the soul that sins must die. It is God who says the wages of sin is death. And justice prevails at the cross. God is so just that He will even take the life of His own beloved Son. If the sins of the world are to be laid on His Son, then His Son must take the death that they deserve. There is no greater illustration of the justice of God.

God looked in Genesis and saw that there was only evil continually in the world. And as a just God, He determined to drown the entire human race with the exception of eight people who had been established as true believers in Him, and to whom He imputed righteousness. But God’s justice takes on another dimension at the cross because God will crush the life out of a sinless one to do justice.

Justice was satisfied in the sacrifice of Christ. That kind of justice gives God glory. At the cross, God can’t look on iniquity, says Habakkuk, the prophet. And when Christ was made a curse, God turned His back. We hear Jesus say, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Never did God so manifest His hatred for sin as when He caused His only begotten Son to suffer.

Nothing can be compared with the offering of Christ Himself as a necessary requirement of God’s holiness. At the cross, we see God’s faithfulness. He promised a Savior. He promised in Genesis 3 a seed to the woman where He shall bruise the serpent’s head, while the serpent will bruise His heel. He promised a substitute who would take the place of a sacrifice, a ram was provided in Genesis 22.

He promised in Isaiah 53, a sacrifice. Every animal sacrifice in the Old Testament pointed toward the one final lamb who would take away sin. And when Christ came, He offered His life as the full final sacrifice for sin. God showed to all beings that He would rather spill the blood of His Son than not fulfill His promises. He is a faithful God. And seeing His faithfulness is seeing His glory.

But really, His love is seen at the cross because God did it all for us. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. This is love. Not that we loved God, says John, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the satisfaction for our sins. When we were enemies, He loved us. We could say His grace and mercy is displayed there. And His wisdom is displayed there.

Then another statement in verse 32, “and He will do so at once.” God will glorify Him immediately. What does that mean? He is going to be glorified at the cross. So what’s coming after the cross? Resurrection, ascension, exaltation and coronation. Philippians 2:10 says, “God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.”

A true believer is completely consumed with the Lord’s glory. Whatever happens to me, whether I live or whether I die, may Christ be glorified. The passionate, consuming love for His glory just wasn’t in their thinking. Do they love Him? Sure. Did they believe in Him? Of course. But they were not consumed with His glory. Let Him be glorified. And when He comes back, He will come back in full glory, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Sep 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210905 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B1 imblog

John 13:18-30

John 13:18-30 is about Judas Iscariot. There is literature from liberal theologians saying Judas was a good guy and he was doing what he was doing to try to push Jesus into setting up His kingdom and he had noble motives. There are also gnostic teachings about Judas being a noble person. But it is hard to understand how this man could be around Jesus for 3 years and do what he did.

Judas Iscariot betrayed the Son of God with a kiss. The name Judas was a familiar name in Judah. Iscariot means he was from the town of Kerioth. He is the only one of the twelve who was not a Galilean. He is known for betraying the Son of God, and doing it in the most despicable form, with a kiss. He is the most despised traitor in human history. His personality has to be as dark as any human.

The name Judas bears a stigma to the degree that no one would use it. Even in the New Testament lists of apostles, he’s always mentioned last and always with a qualifying statement: the betrayer. Judas is regarded as the most thoroughly despicable and contemptible of persons who ever lived. Judas emerges from the background of the gospel story to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

And before the crucifixion starts, before even Jesus’ trial before Pilate, Judas is already dead driven to suicide by guilt. He has been a hypocrite, but he’s not very good at handling his own suicide. He can’t even hang himself effectively. Either the rope broke or the branch broke, and Acts 1:18 says he fell on the rocks below the outcropping from which he hanged himself.

We are hours before that horrendous suicide. That will happen before another day dawns. We are still Thursday night at the Passover. And in John 13:18 - 30, Judas and Jesus come face to face and Jesus unmasks the betrayer. Up to this point, Jesus has referred to Judas, but not directly. He has said things like, in John 6, “One of you is a devil,” without identifying who he is.

As they have gathered on Thursday night of Passion Week, the disciples and Jesus in the upper room, Jesus knows in John 13:1, “that His hour had come that He would depart out of the world.” He knows that the next day He’s going to be slain as the true Passover lamb. His death will take place the day that the Passover is celebrated and the animals are slaughtered, and He will die as the true Lamb of God.

Jesus knows what is going on. In verse 2, the devil has already put it “into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him.” Judas protested earlier in the week because expensive perfume was wasted on Jesus. He said that it could’ve been sold, and the money given to the poor. He was the treasurer and held the money box, but he was always stealing from it.

But Judas wanted more than what he could steal from the money box, and so he concocted a plan to sell Jesus out, to betray His presence, to the Pharisees who wanted Him dead. And he would sell Him for the price of a slave, 30 pieces of silver. Our Lord is aware of all of this. He knows that the devil is planning all that through Judas. John 13:11 says, “He knew the one who was betraying Him.”

Judas did not live for another day. Jesus and Judas were the extreme opposites. The perfectly holy one and the utterly wretched one. The sinless Son of God, and the sinning son of Simon. The great lover of sinners, and the sinner who hated the Lord. Judas is the greatest example of a lost opportunity. He was motivated by greed, ambition, material wealth and money.

The purity of Jesus must have been unbearable for his wretched soul. And surely, Judas must’ve known for certain that Jesus knew everything he was. After all, in three years, he had seen Jesus read the hearts and minds of men. He knew that Jesus said at the beginning of the ministry in John 2, that He knew what was in the heart of men, and nobody needed to tell Him anything about that.

So now we are in the upper room, at the last Passover with the disciples. Judas has already made the commitment to betray Him for 30 pieces of silver. He might have done it on Thursday night, but he didn’t know where the Passover would be held. Jesus hid it from him and all the rest. He only sent two disciples to find the room. They didn’t know where it was until they arrived there that night.

And so Judas couldn’t pre-arrange it because he didn’t know where it would be. Jesus set it up so that this night would be just for His disciples and Him. Judas needed to look for another place. And well, he eventually found the place in the Garden of Gethsemane. But on this Thursday night, Jesus unmasks Judas the betrayer and begins really the first step in activating His own death.

But as we look at the scene in our text, Judas still sits among the twelve, without even a hint. But he will be dead before another day dawns. He will commit suicide in the night, even before Jesus gets to trial with Pilate. Jesus has been giving an example to His disciples about humility and telling them that they need to humble themselves and offer selfless service to each other and others.

Then Jesus said in verse 18, “I am not saying these things to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But this fulfills the Scripture that says, ‘The one who eats my food has turned against me.” So this treason is anticipated. Jesus is telling them that there is a traitor amongst them who is going to betray Him to the enemy. So, it is important that what is about to happen not be a surprise to them.

Our Lord is in control of everything and that that plan is working out well. Jesus says, “I know the ones I have chosen.” I didn’t make a mistake. I know every one of you, and I have chosen every one of you. He is talking about them being chosen as apostles. And that is validated by John 6:70 where Jesus says, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”

And He meant Judas. I am not a victim of any of you. No one is outside the purposes that God has ordained. Even in this betrayal, I know the man. I know the purpose. I know the reason. I know the timing. And furthermore, “it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled.” When Judas does what he does, this will not somehow provide some detour in the plan. This will not be a barrier in the purposes of God.

Jesus quotes Psalm 41:9, “He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.” He knows Judas is a traitor. He has always known that. He chose him so that when he did what he chose to do, it would fulfill Scripture. John 17:12, “During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, Judas.”

And he also is clearly depicted in Zechariah 11:12-13, “Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.”

That’s exactly what Judas did. He betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Under guilt, took the 30 pieces of silver back, threw them down on the temple floor, and then went out and he hanged himself. The Jews took the money, and purchased a potter’s field, fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy in detail. Judas is not a surprise to Jesus. This does not undermine His authority. It validates Scripture.

This is so important that the disciples know this, because Jesus said to them in verse 19, “I tell you this beforehand, so that when it happens you will believe that I am the Messiah.” I don’t want you having any doubts that when you see this unfold, all of a sudden you question whether I am actually God. The opposite should be true, since I told you every detail. It is all in God’s plan.

Jesus is announcing it in verse 20, “I tell you the truth, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me.” There is the announcement. So Jesus says, remember whoever receives them receives Christ and the Father. He says this because He wants the disciples to know that even with this defection, the integrity of their commission is not compromised.

Look, whenever the world can find phony Christians, they will parade that far and wide. Whenever ministers who profess Christ bring reproach on the name of Christ and scandalize the church – when missionaries do that, Christian leaders do that – the world loves that because they love any justification for their unbelief. But that doesn’t change the commission of the faithful and true.

Verse 21, “Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and He exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!” Troubled in His own soul about the eternal damnation of Judas. Troubled because He knew He was heading to the cross to engage the heinousness of sin on a personal level and feel the fury of God and isolation from His Father. These were some of the reasons of the Lord’s troubled spirit.

Well, the disciples are stunned. Verse 22, “The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom He could mean.” Silence. I don’t know how long that silence last, but were just complete shocked. Matthew says that they all began to say, “Is it I? Is it I?” Judas was the artful hypocrite, aided by the master of all deception, the one who disguises himself as an angel of light, Satan himself.

There are always hypocrites in the church. There are hypocrites in the ministry. There are hypocrites on the mission field. Satan makes certain of that. But Christ knows, and it’s all in the plan, and God will judge. So they were leaning toward one another and Jesus, as you reconstruct the scene, is in one place. Verse 23, “The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table.”

John is on the right close to Jesus, and Judas is on the left. Verse 24, “Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, “Who’s He talking about?” And there is conversation, there is food, and all of this is going on. So they don’t all hear this. So verse 25, “So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?” They have no clue. And again, this is the amazing hypocrisy of Judas.

Now the traitor is addressed. Verse 26, “Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when He had dipped it, He gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.” This is the unmasking of the betrayer. But only Peter and John may have known. The rest don’t seem to know what’s going on. They had unleavened bread which they would dip and give to the person on the left.

Judas had been allowed by our Lord to be on His left side where the honored guest would sit, and so our Lord, in a gesture of honor to Judas, gives him the morsel, as if he were a honored guest. Verse 27-28, “When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do. 28 None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant.”

Only Jesus would know that. “What you do, do quickly.” Now you go do what you must do, because time is short. Judas would never see another day. And by the dawning of the next day, Jesus’ trial would be essentially over, and He would be on His way to the cross. Jesus would come out the other side of the grave to eternal glory. Judas would be in hell being damned forever.

Verse 29-30, “Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. 30 So Judas left at once, going out into the night.” Jesus wanted him gone. He needed these hours to make promises that will begin to unfold immediately in verse 31, and all the way through the rest of the time together, and will be offered as prayer in John 17.

Satan had entered Judas to carry out the greatest efforts of hell. But he was actually going to carry out the greatest effort heaven ever made to rescue sinners. Judas acted in verse 30. He was glad to get out, now that he was exposed. So after receiving the morsel, he went out immediately, and it was night. Judas would never see another daylight, and has never seen light since.

His life in this world was over. But it will never be over in the world that he went to. Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth forever. If there’s anybody in hell who has extreme remorse, it has to be him. Hell is a place of regret, and the more you have to regret, the more torturous it would be. What are the lessons of this story? Well, we could say the tragedy of lost opportunity.

This is the danger of loving money, power, ambition and all temporal things. The vileness of betrayal, seeing the loving patience and mercy of Christ. When the mob came to arrest Jesus, and Judas came up to kiss Him, do you remember how Jesus addressed Judas? He said to him, “Friend.” That’s the last time Judas ever saw the face of the Son of God. Yudas will be separated from Him forever.

This shows how engaged the devil can be in spiritual hypocrisy, how people can literally descend into the control of Satan. But I want you to learn the overarching lesson that our Lord wanted the disciples and us to learn, which is, nothing that sinful men will ever do can thwart the purposes of God. Absolutely nothing. The seeming tragedy of the cross was actually the triumph of redemption. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Aug 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210829 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001B0 imblog

John 13:1-17

We are on Thursday night of His final week before His death and resurrection. Jesus will be arrested early in the morning. He will undergo a false trial in the early hours of Friday. And He will be executed on Friday. He will die as the true Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb. This is Thursday night, when the northern Jews in the north part of Israel celebrated their Passover.

The southern Jews celebrated it on Friday. It is that Thursday night He is meeting for the Passover, which is a memorial dinner that commemorates God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt when the angel of death passed by the homes that had the blood of the lamb on the door. God wants to be remembered in this feast as the Savior and Deliverer of His people.

That Thursday night is when Jesus is with the twelve disciples alone. The Jews were after Him, and He had to hold this feast with them in secret before He was arrested later in the garden that same night. Verse 1, “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now He loved them to the very end.”

This is a night when the Savior out of love deposits to the apostles and all who would ever believe, all the riches of heaven. Five whole chapters are dedicated to the Son of God expressing His love for His own when it says He loves us to the end, to the max, eternally and infinitely. As much as an infinite, eternal God can love, that’s how much He loves us. This is all about love.

Selfless humility is the soul of love. Your capacity to love is directly related to your capacity to humble yourself. That is a simple biblical truth and principle. The humbler you are, the less interested you are in yourself, the greater your capacity to invest yourself in somebody else. They are related to one another proportionately. The more you sacrifice yourself, the greater you will sacrifice for others.

Human love is not like that. There’s a reciprocating reality there that gratifies the person who loves. Biblical love is indifferent to personal gain. It has no concern about personal satisfaction or fulfillment. That’s the kind of love that we are called to demonstrate. Now, Paul summed all that up by one statement, “Love seeks not its own.” It’s not looking for what gratifies the person who loves.

Now, we need an example of that, and that is the Lord Himself. Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

Now, think about this. Jesus made the greatest sacrifice, and He loves the greatest. He has most humbled Himself and since love is in direct relation to humility, He who humbled Himself most has demonstrated the most love for others. His love is beyond compare, beyond understanding. Its height, depth, length and breadth are outside our capacity to conceive.

In Matthew 11:29 Jesus said of Himself, “I am meek and lowly.” He came all the way down to a criminal’s death that He didn’t deserve. He came all the way down to take our death so that He might go all the way up and express His eternal love to us. In John 15:13 Jesus described it this way, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

So if you give your life like the apostle Paul did trying to reach people with the gospel, and you end up in jail, and you die being decapitated, you say this is a great kind of human love. But you can only do that once, but then you can’t do it anymore because you’re in heaven. Blowing yourself up with bombs strapped to your body sends you directly to hell if that’s what you believe.

You will not enter heaven by any kind of self-sacrifice. That’s not what we’re talking about. What we’re saying is that if you are a believer, you have been transformed, and now you have a capacity to love everybody in a way that the world doesn’t understand. It’s a love that separates us from the rest of society. It is a love that should be willing to take up the cross, right? To die if need be.

So what does that example look like? Well, it is Jesus here in this passage. When you love, it removes fear in the face of judgment. Perfect love casts out fear. You know that because you have a love that is a deposit by God, which means you belong to Him. God is love and those who love belong to God. So if you say you’re a believer and you love your brother, then you know the truth is in you.

So this is very personal. We love one another and it becomes a testimony to the world. As it says in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give you that you love one another even as I have loved you that you also love another. 35 By this, all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is how we put Christianity on display. We love the world the way God does.

Now in Israel, foot washing was a necessity. There are certain benefits to keeping your feet clean for you and all the people you connect to. Well, in ancient times, sandals didn’t keep you clean, so feet were dirty and dusty. Before every house, there was a water pot outside to wash your feet. Usually the lowliest servant did the foot washing because it was the lowliest task.

In biblical times, a meal like the Passover lasted for hours. They wouldn’t sit in a chair, they would recline. So your head was here and somebody’s feet were close by. Jesus is going to go back to the glory He had with the Father before the world began. Maybe after these 33 years of humiliation, somebody might recognize His majesty, His glory, and somebody would step up and wash His feet. But nobody does.

Remember, they were having an argument according to Luke 22 about which of them was the greatest in the kingdom. So they were all about their own dignity and their own honor. So nobody wanted to take on the role of slave. Just another indication of their spiritual weakness, but Jesus loved them anyway. This makes His love so incredible because they were so ugly at that point.

Then there was Judas. How ugly was he? But that’s how we come to understand what it means that He loved them to the max, in spite of it. So He puts His love on display to undeserving, weak and selfish disciples. This would have been a time when He might have rebuked them like He did the Pharisees that week, but He doesn’t. He just loves them, and He gives them a example of how they are to love.

Love spurned is in verse 2, “And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him.” What is this about? This is disastrous for Judas. How can he be with Christ for three years, see everything, hear everything, watch every act that Jesus did, know the absolute perfection of His life, and still give himself to Satan?

Jesus knew when Satan showed up. He knows what’s in the heart of a man. He can read thoughts. Satan showed up right on time, right on schedule, and Jesus said to Judas, “What you do, do quickly.” Go orchestrate the betrayal because we’ve got a time clock going now. The clock is ticking to make sure that I am executed when the Passover lambs are being killed tomorrow.

Why mention this here? Because the contrast is instructive. The contrast makes everything in the expression of love stand out in bold relief. The blackest hatred contrasted with the purest love. All he was interested in was what position he would get. Judas is a hater, and the more Jesus has failed to fulfill Judas’s ambitions and greed, the more he hated Jesus.

The words of love which Jesus gives these verses capture our hearts, draw us to love Him more while they cause Judas to hate Him more. One writer said, “I wish that the traitor’s kiss that Judas gave was the only one, but in the spiritual sense, Jesus still has to endure it a million times to this hour. For hypocritically to confess Him with the mouth while the conduct betrays Him.

Finally, love is shown. How did He love, and how is that love manifest? The nature of this love is completely consumed with the object of love, and it will humble itself, and that’s exactly what Jesus does. Verse 3, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God.” This is a statement of His absolute, eternal being and deity.

That is the whole point of His humiliation. Verse 4-5, “He rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” Remember, verse 2 says, “During supper.” They’re already eating. And they’re into the Passover meal.

For a fisherman to wash another man’s feet is a small act of humility, but for the Creator of the Universe to wash the feet of proud men is indeed amazing. You might think that He maybe would wash the feet of those who were somehow sacred or those who were somehow holy. No, He washes the feet of those people who are proud and self-interested and ambitious. It’s just what He does.

They have such short memories. It had been that week that Jesus said to them, “Whoever would be greatest among you, let him be your servant.” They completely forgot that. So with calmness, Jesus rises up, takes off His outer robe, puts on this towel and begins to wash their feet. We see that this devastated those men. That’s the information that is articulated by Peter, “This isn’t right.”

Verse 6-9, “Then He came to Simon Peter. Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

“What I do, you do not understand now, but you will understand after this.” He’s not talking about foot washing. He says, “Peter, you still don’t understand My humiliation.” Their view of the Messiah was that He comes triumphantly to establish the kingdom. He throws out the enemies. He reigns over Jerusalem and over the world, everything that is promised to Abraham and David, reiterated in the prophets.

They couldn’t handle the suffering of Jesus. So our Lord says to him, “Peter, you don’t see all that, but you will hereafter.” And he did. In 1 Peter, he fully understood the humility of Christ. “You are redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but the previous blood of Jesus Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.” He understood the execution of Jesus.

Jesus said to him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.” To which Peter says in verse 9, “Then Lord, wash not only my feet, but my hands and my head.” He goes from one extreme to another. He wanted more than anything else a relationship with Jesus Christ. Lord, if this is how I sustain a relationship with you, give me a bath! Wash my whole body, all of me.

What did Jesus mean when He said, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” He was talking about the need that Peter had to be spiritually cleansed. He needed what Ezekiel promised in the New Covenant: the washing. He needed what Paul wrote to Titus about; the washing of regeneration. He needed spiritual cleansing, and Christ was going to the cross to provide that spiritual cleansing.

Jesus follows up on this spiritual truth in verse 10, “Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.” He’s saying, “Peter, you don’t need salvation. You just need some clean-up. You are clean.” Jesus just told him, “You’re saved.” “But not all of you,” verse 11, “for He knew who would betray Him. For this reason He said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’”

Verse 12, “So when Jesus had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?” And He goes back to the practical application of love. Of course they did. Verse 13-14, “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

Love like this. Love selflessly, humbly, in the most menial, simple necessity of life. Start there, and all the more elevated things will come. Verse 15, “For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” That’s a summons from the Lord to His followers. Verse 16, “Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.”

If I, the most exalted, elevated person in the universe can stoop, can’t you, who are infinitely less than me, humble yourselves?” Verse 17, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” How do you release heaven’s blessing? By loving sacrificially, unselfishly, humbly, without any thought of personal gain, but completely committed to the well-being, fulfillment, and necessity of somebody else. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Aug 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210822 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001AF imblog

John 12:42-50

It is the day the Light went out because our Lord begins in verse 35 by saying, “For a little while longer, the Light is among you,” referring to Himself. He says, “Walk while you have the Light so that darkness will not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 36 While you have the Light, believe in the Light so that you may become sons of Light.”

We saw last time the final invitation that our Lord gave to Israel. It is midweek of the Passion Week. Jesus arrived on Monday, and was hailed as the Messiah. On Tuesday, He attacked the temple. Wednesday and Thursday, He does some teaching and instructing. Before Friday He goes through a mock trial and He was crucified, and in that week, our Lord offers this final invitation.

When Jesus says ‘in a little while’, He means it because verse 36 continues, “These things Jesus spoke and He went away and hid Himself from them.” This is really the last invitation and the Light was about to go out. The next time He showed up in public was, when He was brought before Pilate, when He was brought before Herod, and before the Sanhedrin and when He was crucified.

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared only to believers. This, as we saw last time, is a judgment of God. Now, it needs to be said that throughout Scripture God proves Himself to be compassionate, to be gracious, merciful, longsuffering, slow to anger, and extremely patient with sinners. “He is patient, not willing that any should perish,” Scripture says, “His patience is salvation.”

But inevitably judgment comes. It’ll come on every nation. It always comes, but it doesn’t come without a warning, and without a witness. In Acts 14, the initial witness is the fact that God dispenses to every nation common grace, through the provision of rain, sun and food, as He puts His creative power for the good of man on display. But God has an end to His patience.

God has demonstrated patience with Israel. Because all other nations have gone out of existence. But Israel never disappears. We have never met an Amorite, Hittite or Jebusite, because all those other nations have become extinct. But there are Israelites everywhere here, they’re all around us. God is still being patient with Israel because in the future Israel will be saved.

Romans 11:26 says, “All Israel will be saved.” There’s coming salvation to the Jewish people, but throughout their history, God has run out of patience on certain generations and brought judgment. We know the terrible judgments that came upon Israel, in the time of the judges. We know the terrible judgment of God when God turned them over to the corruptness of their hearts and their apostasy.

But even that did not exhaust God’s patience because the Roman judgment didn’t come for 40 more years. What happened during that time? On the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 Jews were converted. A few days later, 5,000 were converted and the church exploded in the months after the ascension of our Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Tens of thousands of Jewish people came to Christ.

In the period between when judgment was passed and sentence was executed, that 40 year period, the church flourished and grew and sent out apostles to establish the gentile church. The Jews began the call of Acts 1:8 to go into the world and be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all parts of the earth. God was patient with Paul, an apostate Jew and changed him into the great apostle.

So when Jesus came into town this week on Monday, they hailed Him as the Son of David, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Here is our Messiah,” threw palm branches down and hundreds of thousands of people saying His praises, “This is the Messiah.” On Tuesday, He attacks their temple. Wednesday, He teaches the truth in their temple. Then He announces He’s going to die.

Jesus says, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it stays alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.” Then He says, “The Son of Man must be lifted up,” a euphemism for crucifixion. When the people hear that, they change their mind. So the crowd said, ‘Who is this Son of Man?’” That’s scorn and mockery. We reject you. Now we know you’re not because you’re talking about death.

“We believe the law of God says the Messiah will live forever.” Well, that’s true. The law did say Messiah would have an everlasting kingdom, but the Old Testament also said He would die, He would be cut off, and He would be wounded for our transgression. But they couldn’t accept that, so they turn on Him mid-week, and by Friday, they are all screaming, “Crucify Him!”

Jesus gives the final call to those who still do not believe in verse 36, “Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.” After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them. Israel went dark when Jesus disappeared. The arrival for the day of the Son of God has still not appeared in the world and will not until He comes again.

Verses 35 and 36, were the final call to unbelievers. There are two components that are deadly to unbelief, that lock a sinner into judgment. Number one, verse 37, “But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in Him.” That is the first component of unbelief. The stubborn will of man, that stubborn ongoing rejection despite witnessing miracles.

The second aspect we looked at last time is the sovereign will of God. We saw from verse 38 down to 41 that they would not believe, and therefore they could not believe. God’s plan is not thwarted. We saw in verse 38 that Isaiah said this would happen when he said, “Lord, who has believed the report given to us?” speaking for that generation of Jews living at the time of Christ.

“And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” We didn’t believe the report that He brought. We rejected what the Messiah said. They would not believe. Verse 39, “For this reason they could not believe.” Isaiah 6 says in verse 40, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart.”

In other words, they would not believe so they could not believe. Verse 41 says when Isaiah saw that vision in chapter 6, it was Christ that he was seeing there on the throne. So here the apostle John relates that whole vision to the way that the Jews had treated Christ. One, stubborn unbelief on the part of the will of man. Two, sovereign judgment on the part of the will of God.

There’s an illustration of this unbelief in verses 42 and 43, “Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the recognition of God.” That sounds like there is hope there, because many rulers were chief priests, Pharisees, scribes and Sanhedrin members.

They believed that Jesus was who He claimed to be. They believed that He was a teacher sent from God. One of them was Nicodemus who says, “We know you are a teacher sent from God because nobody could do what you do unless God had sent Him.” But whatever this faith was, it wasn’t sufficient because Jesus on His part said that He, “Was not entrusting Himself to them for He knew all men.”

What Jesus knew was, it was an insufficient faith. They believed that He was who He claimed to be insofar as they understood that, but that is not enough to save, and Jesus knew their hearts. There will always be and have always been people with a belief in some of the facts concerning Christ. The example of unbelief here are the rulers of Israel, the members of the Sanhedrin.

James 2:19 says, “The demons believe.” Did you know that the demons have a better theology than we do because they have been created originally as holy angels? They know the truth concerning the trinity and the truth concerning God and His revelation. But they’re on their way to hell. Why? Because they hate righteousness, love sin, and will not acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

The Jews were not confessing Him for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. They didn’t want to be put out of the religious establishment. How many people have you known who maybe Roman Catholics who believe the facts about Jesus, but will not acknowledge their sin and the uselessness of their works and cry out for salvation?

Because they can’t let go of the system because it gives them the affirmation? What is the nature of genuine faith? First, it has an objective component, then it has a subjective one. So what is the objective component of saving faith? You must confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, Romans 10:9-10. You believe in the true and living God, the Trinitarian God.

But saving faith has a subjective side as well. It’s a question of how do you view you? These Jewish rulers wanted to hold on to everything they had achieved, everything they had trusted in. They had a wrong view of themselves. In James 4:6, James says God gives a greater grace. All of God’s gifts come to us by grace. God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

So you need to be humble, which means you have no confidence and trust in yourself, and that is clearly defined in a series of commands: “Submit therefore to God.” That’s like confessing Jesus as Lord. “Resist the devil, turn away from him and he will flee from you. Draw near to God with holy aspirations, holy affections. And He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners.”

A call for change in your conduct. “Purify your hearts.” A call for a change in your thought life and motives, and have a proper attitude towards self. What should be your attitude? James 4:9-10, “Mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” Which means He will give you grace.

Well, you don’t see that with these rulers in verses 42 and 43. So those are the fatal components of unbelief. First, the stubborn will of man. Secondly, the sovereign will of God. Keep on in unbelief and God will judge you with further unbelief. Harden your heart and God will harden your heart. The judgment will be, you will not be able to repent. You would not, so you could not.

John gives us some of the sayings of Jesus before He went into hiding. Verses 44-46, “Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. 45 For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.”

Here’s the first consequence of unbelief: you don’t know God. A lot of people think they know God. “Well, I’m a very spiritual person. I believe in the God of the Bible.” If you do not believe in Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord and acknowledge His resurrection and give Him your whole heart, you do not believe in Him, then you also do not believe in God the Father, the one who sent Him.

That message needs to be given to Jewish people constantly, even in this generation. Knowing Christ means knowing the Father. Loving Christ means loving the Father. Receiving Christ means receiving the Father, and the opposite is also true. Rejecting Christ is rejecting the Father. This is constantly articulated throughout John’s gospel, and we have seen it numerous times.

Verse 47- 48, adds another consequence, “I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. 48 But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the Day of Judgment by the truth I have spoken.” So you are now under a death sentence. That’s going to be literally executed at the final judgment in Revelation 20:11, the great white throne.

The law testifies against you. This is how you behaved. You are guilty. That will happen at the great white throne. The books will be opened, and the record of the law that will stand as a witness against your behavior will bring about your sentence, but there’s much more. The gospel will be a witness against you because you not only violated God’s law, you violated the gospel.

People are condemned on the last day for violating the law of God and rejecting the only remedy, the gospel. So the gospel also gives testimony against you in the judgment. The more you hear the gospel, the greater your violation against it will be. Jesus can’t be separated from His message, from the gospel. That’s true of Israel, but it’s also true of all of us. And it’s true of every generation.

Verses 49 - 50, “I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” The gospel of God, comes from God through Christ to us by the Holy Spirit, through preachers, through the Scriptures, and brings eternal life. I hope you believe that. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Aug 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210815 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001AE imblog

John 12:35-41

We are in the week our Lord is crucified. Let’s read verse 35 till verse 43, “Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. 36 Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”

“After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them. 37 But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. 38 This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted: “Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?” 39 But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said,”

40 “The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.” 41 Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory. 42 Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders.”

“But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.” We live in a twisted world where everything is reversed. It’s a twisted world where sins have become rights, iniquities have become virtues. Evil is considered personal freedom. There is, however, one perversion that we should consider in this passage.

In our culture and in our time, there is an exaltation of anger. Anger has somehow become a virtue. Anger has become justified, anger that leads to vengeance and violence. Hatred, a vicious kind of hostility and retaliation are being expressed all the time. And they are expressions of the condition of the human heart. But the truth is that anger is a reaction of the pride of our sinful natures.

People in our culture lack compassion on those who have offended them. Forgiveness comes hard if it ever comes at all. When people have been offended, they demonstrate little grace and mercy. They’re anything but slow to anger, and they are not patient. That is exactly the opposite of God. God is compassionate, forgiving, gracious, merciful, longsuffering, slow to anger, and astonishingly patient.

God is the one who is offended by every sin. God, who is absolutely holy, is offended by every violation of His Word, law, nature, name. That’s what makes His patience so amazing. God said, “I’m going to destroy the world in a flood.” But before the destruction came, God established Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness, and he preached judgment and called for repentance for 120 years.

In Revelation in a future time called the Great Tribulation when judgment begins to be wrought by God in the world, and you have some martyrs who are crying out to God saying, “How long? How long?” It always seems that judgment is delayed with God. Of course, Paul says in Romans 2 that the forbearance and patience of God is meant to lead you to repentance.

Eventually God runs out of patience, and that is where we are in John 12. Apostasy, disobedience, idolatry, dishonoring His name, blaspheming Him was a way of life, and it finally came to an end. 2 Chronicles 36:16 says, “They continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people until there was no remedy.”

The end came in the Babylonian people that came and massacred tens of thousands of Jews. The text in John 12 is like that in Chronicles. God has run out of patience. It’s Passion Week. Verse 35, “Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going.”

Verse 36, “Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.” After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.” That is the final call to unbelievers. They’ve had hundreds of years since they were recovered from their captivity and brought back to their land to rebuild it, to demonstrate their love and obedience to God.

But they have not been obedient. They have continued to kill the prophets. The people have given their verdict. So, on Monday they were saying He was the Son of David, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” They all knew about the miracles He had done and capped it off with the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. As Jesus came into the city, thousands of people acclaimed Him “Messiah.”

But on Tuesday, Jesus attacks the temple. He attacks their religious system, not the Romans, and creates doubt in their mind. Then He says He’s going to die, and that’s the final straw for them. They shift from seeing Him as the Messiah to seeing Him as an imposter. “Who is this Son of Man who is going to be crucified?” And within hours, they scream, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

“My light will shine for you just a little longer.” The prophet Isaiah called for repentance. The prophet Jeremiah called for repentance and faith on the brink of judgment before the darkness fell. That’s the same picture here. For a little while longer, the light is among you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where to go. It pictures the coming judgment when the Son of righteousness is killed.

Walk equals believe. Make the journey of faith, believe, and once the light of the world is no longer present, the unbelieving world will be dark. In John 8:21 Jesus said, “I go away and you will seek Me and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” Verse 24, “That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”

How does that translate to us? I don’t know when the darkness falls for you as an individual. I don’t know when the darkness falls for us as a culture, as a nation. I don’t know when the final darkness falls in judgment, divine judgment on the world, but I know that God’s mercy doesn’t last forever. That’s a dire warning. Receive Him while you are alive and able.

He is a gracious and compassionate God, but He has limits. Genesis 6 just before the flood, God said this, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh.” And then He drowned the entire world except eight people. Jesus was warning Israel, and through this God is still warning us, warning anyone who hears not to go beyond the limits of God’s patience.

If your heart is still at all sensitive to the gospel, if you are feeling the pull of God to believe in Jesus Christ, confess Him as Lord, turn from your sin, repent of your sin, and follow Him. If you are feeling that, then now is your day of salvation, 2 Corinthians 6:2. Now is the time to believe. Don’t postpone your decision, postponement is the same as rejection, you don’t know what happens tomorrow.

While the gospel is still attractive to you, while you can still hear, believe and become, “Sons of Light,” little lights. God revealed Himself in the Old Testament as Light, Shekinah Glory. God is shining His light in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4. Jesus Christ is God incarnate. Anyone who comes to Christ then has the very light of God through Christ shining in them.

How short was the time? Go back to verse 36, “After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.” Luke 21:38 tells us that in the morning the people gathered to the temple expecting Him, but He wasn’t there. He had come unto His own, but His own received Him not. His words were fulfilled. “You will seek Me and will not find Me, and where I go, you can never come.”

His physical hiding was acting out the judgment. Israel saw all the evidence, they heard all the teaching and saw the miracles. In John 15:24, our Lord said this Thursday night with His disciples in the Upper Room, “If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father.”

The rest of John summarizes his insights inspired by the Holy Spirit, and he helps us to make some sense out of this dark day. We saw the final call to unbelief, and here are the fatal components. This is very important to understand. There are some Jewish commentators, who feel that the rejection of Jesus Christ by the Jews, by the nation Israel throws suspicion on His life.

The idea is this; they knew the Word of God. They were the people of God. They had the Scriptures in their hands. If Jesus had been the Messiah, they would have recognized Him. So, perhaps, the evidence wasn’t really as great as Christianity claims it was. If the proofs of His divine origin and mission were so obvious, then Israel would have believed. Israel would not have been so angry if He really had laid out the evidence.

So John wants to make sure that that argument is false. Verse 37, “But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.” You say, well, that’s just John’s word. No, it’s not. John 11:47, “Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other, “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.”

No one ever denied the miracles of Jesus. His enemies never denied His miracles. There is massive evidence, massive testimony confessed to not only by John, but by the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Israel. They were public miracles for everybody to see. Many of them done in the most public place of all, in and around the temple, and still they refused to believe.

Verse 38-40, “This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted: “Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?” 39 But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said, 40 “The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.”

Verse 37 and 38 says they would not believe. Verse 39 says they, therefore, could not believe. Now, there are two fatal components to unbelief. Number one, the sovereignty of God. This is where John starts, with the sovereignty of God. That is exactly what Isaiah 53:1 said would happen, “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

Isaiah 53:1, is written in the past tense. This is strange for a prophesy because it’s looking forward to Christ in the future. It describes Him bearing our griefs, carrying our sorrows in verse 4. Stricken by God, afflicted, pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, chastened for our well-being, scourged for our healing. Verse 7, being oppressed, He didn’t open His mouth.

It talks about His resurrection. It talks about His exaltation, but the interesting thing is it’s all past tense verbs. “They will not believe our message. We will not see the arm of the Lord revealed.” Why is it in the past? It’s in the past because this is the confession of Israel when in the future they believe. At some time in the future, Israel will believe and all Israel will be saved.

The first thing they will say is in verse 1, “Who has believed the message given to us? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” What does that mean? Now go back to John 12. Well, what they’re saying is we didn’t believe when Jesus came and gave us the gospel message. What is the arm of the Lord? Divine power. He came with divine miracle power in all His miracles.

We didn’t see the revelation. This is their heartfelt, wrenching confession sometime in the future when Israel looks back and they see that Jesus was their Messiah, He was bruised for their iniquities. He was crushed for their transgressions. They will see that, but the first thing they’ll acknowledge is we didn’t believe. We didn’t see it as the arm of the Lord, the power of God.

No, this doesn’t catch God by surprise. Isaiah said this would be the reason, they could not believe.” And this also parallels Isaiah 6, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that they wouldn’t see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.” Then God says, “Whom shall I send?” Who is going to go to this nation Israel and preach judgment?”

Isaiah says, “Here am I. Send me.” Because they would not believe for so long, for centuries and the time came when they could not believe. In Isaiah 6:13 God says, “There’s a remnant.” That would have been true at the time of John 12, right? There were 500 believers in Galilee, 120 in Jerusalem. They were the disciples. God always has a remnant. But for the nation Israel, it was too late.

Verse 41, “Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory.” We learn here that the vision of God in Isaiah 6 was none other than Christ Himself. So in Isaiah 6, it was Christ saying, “They would not, and now they cannot.” It was Jesus pronouncing judgment then. And it was Jesus giving a final invitation to a few who would believe then. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Aug 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210808 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001AD imblog

John 12:27-34

John 12:27–34, “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! 28 Father, bring glory to your name. Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.” 29 When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to Him. 30 Then Jesus told them, “The voice was for your benefit, not mine.”

“31 The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate how he was going to die. 34 The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?”

Jesus is speaking of His crucifixion. They understood that because in verse 34 they say, “What kind of Son of Man must be lifted up,” to die? Isn’t the Messiah to live forever? Being lifted up had become synonymous with crucifixion because the Romans had done this to tens of thousands of people. This passage looks at the cross and its impact, its effect and its power.

The cross hasn’t happened, but this is the theology of the cross from the lips of Jesus before He’s crucified. He was going to be glorified through dying. He said that through an analogy, an illustration in a more obscure way, but now He describes it without an analogy in words that everybody understood. He will literally be lifted up, which is a euphemism for being crucified.

The death of the Lord Jesus Christ reigns over all other issues in Scripture. When you go to the Old Testament, you see the reality of sacrifice. It happens early in Genesis 3. Sacrifices go on through the whole Old Testament. And it goes on into the New Testament until 70 A.D. None of those millions of animals could ever take away sin, but they all pictured one who would: the Lamb of God.

Old Testament prophecies specifically speak about His death. Daniel 9 says, “He will be cut off,” a term to describe death. Zechariah 12:10 says, “He will die being pierced.” Isaiah 53 describes in detail His substitutionary death. Psalm 22 describes His experience on the cross. So, His death is the theme of the Old Testament and the fulfillment of ancient Old Testament predictions.

When you come into the New Testament, His death is the dominant theme of the gospels. As Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record our Lord’s life from His birth on, He talks about His death from time to time, but the volume of their work that focuses on His death is greater than any other category of interest. One-fifth of all four gospels is directed at His crucifixion, His death and resurrection.

Everything in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John moves toward the greatest of all events, which occupies them most and that is His death. His death then fulfills ancient Old Testament predictions and patterns. His death is the theme of the New Testament gospels. And we could say that His death is the reason for the incarnation. Jesus came to save His followers, His people.

When you finish the four gospels, and you come into the book of Acts, the apostles begin immediately to preach that the Messiah had to suffer and die, that Jesus was crucified, died and rose again. That is apostolic preaching. Paul said on behalf of all of them, “I’m determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We preach Christ crucified.”

That was the apostles calling. As you come to the epistles of the New Testament, starting after the book of Acts, the New Testament is filled with epistles all the way to the book of Revelation. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ and His subsequent resurrection is the theme of those epistles. Sometimes it is explicit. Sometimes the epistles talk particularly about His death and about His cross.

So the writers of the epistles look at the cross explicitly and describe its meaning and its significance. In fact, all the implications of obedience, behavior, life in the church, godliness, virtue, spiritual living are all implications of the cross. If He died for us, how can we not live for Him? So you will find yourself confronted with the cross and the implications of the death of Christ.

His death is also the theme of worship in the church. Two ordinances the Lord gave to the church. One is baptism. The other is Communion. In Baptism, we identify with the death of Christ and His resurrection in a symbolic way. In the Lord’s Table, we gather to eat the bread and the cup, which are representative of His body and blood given for us. These two ordinances both point at His death and His resurrection.

That’s why in churches there are crosses because from that cross radiates the essence of all biblical emphasis. If you go to heaven, you would find that the death of Jesus Christ is also the theme of heaven. We see a glimpse of that in Revelation 5:6 which takes us to heaven, “The Lamb of God, Christ, comes out of the throne and He is a Lamb standing who had been slain.”

Verse 8-9, “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation.”

The cross is the theme of redemptive history. It is the theme in heavenly worship. Now, all of that leads us to our text starting in verse 27 - 34. The year is 30 A.D. The Lord has entered the city of Jerusalem. The people have heard about His raising Lazarus, a man who had been dead for four days. They knew what He had done, healings all over the land, casting out demons and incredible miracles.

They give Him all the Messianic attribution, and they expected that He would assault the occupying Romans who dishonored God with their idolatry. But He came back in on Tuesday and instead of attacking the Romans, Jesus attacked the Jewish temple, the pinnacle of their religion. His attack was so fierce and so forceful that the people fled out of the entire temple.

Here is Jesus’ theology of His own death before it happened. He opens up mystery to us. Number one, as our Lord looks at the cross, there is the enigma of the Son’s anguish. Verse 27-28, “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! 28 Father, bring glory to your name.” How can His soul be troubled? He is God.

What does the word “troubled” mean? It’s a Greek word tarassō, which means “to shake or to stir up.” In a figurative sense, it could be translated as anguish. He was anguished. This is not the anguish of anticipated physical suffering, but anticipating divine wrath, spiritual suffering. That He would be condemned for sins He did not commit, the sins of all who would ever believe.

The Son of God should be troubled by the prospect of divine wrath and alienation from His eternal Father. Yes, He’s troubled, but it’s not the physical part that troubles Him. Listen to Him in Luke 22, He says in verse 42, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me.” And later on Thursday night, “If You are willing, remove this cup from Me.” What’s this cup?

That’s a concept that comes from the Old Testament. The cup of God’s wrath. He is saying, “Father, what terrifies Me is the cup of wrath. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Listen to how fierce the battle is. “An angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.” Luke 22:44 says, “And His sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground.”

Verse 28 continued, “Father, glorify Your name.” Jesus said He came to glorify the Father. How? First, the cross puts on display all God’s attributes. You see God’s love in action, His grace in action, His mercy in action, His justice, His wrath and His judgment. You see His wisdom. You see prophecy being fulfilled. His Word is affirmed. You see righteousness declared. You see power declared.

God is glorified in the event of making Christ the substitute for sinners who bears our justice, our wrath, God’s vengeance on us in our place. But the glory of God is further displayed at Calvary by the death of Christ, that God is able to redeem humans from all human history, bring them to heaven to forever glorify Him. It was the death of Jesus Christ that formed the hallelujah choir in heaven.

Then we see the enigma of the Father’s answer. Verse 28 -30, “Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.” 29 When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him. 30 Then Jesus told them, “The voice was for your benefit, not mine.” Jesus explains the mystery of the Father’s answer.

So when the Father says in verse 28, “I have both glorified it,” He means throughout your whole ministry I have put My power and glory on display through You. “And will glorify it again,” meaning I will glorify My name through your death. Now, verse 30 says, “Jesus said, ‘This voice has come for your sakes.’” He is talking to the disciples. This is divine heavenly affirmation of the death of Christ.

This voice was for the sake of those who had ‘ears to hear’. On the other hand, there was the crowd, verse 29. “The crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered.” Some others thought it was a supernatural event, and they were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Maybe they were Jewish leaders, but they weren’t about to acknowledge the voice of God.

So we see the Son’s anguish, the Father’s answer, and then the enigma of the cross as accomplishment. His Father’s voice has reminded Him that glory is coming to the Father and to Him because they share glory equally. He focuses on the salvation through that suffering. He turns to words that are triumphant in verse 31, “The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out.”

Verse 32-33, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself. 33 He said this to indicate how he was going to die.” Three anticipated accomplishments in the cross. Number one, the world was judged. Sin’s empire was judged. Sin’s system was judged. The doom was sealed by the rejection and murder of the Son of God. This reverses the whole event of the cross.

The Jewish people thought they had judged Him. In reality, He had not only judged them, but He had judged the entire world. They thought that they had brought Him into their court and rendered their verdict on Him. In reality, He had brought them into His court and rendered His verdict on them. The cross would condemn and judge the world, mainly the Jewish people who rejected Him.

This also includes their leaders who condemned Him, Judas who betrayed Him, the Roman soldiers who mocked and executed Him, Pilate who sentenced Him and the whole society of evil men alienated from God who crucified Him. And extending beyond that, all the unbelieving people in the whole world who are caught up as children of Satan in an anti-God and anti-Christ attitude.

What looked like the judgment of Christ was, in fact, the judgment of the world because at the cross, He won the victory and ascended to the right hand of the Father, and He became the Lord and Judge of all. Every time a person dies, that sentence is executed, but for the whole world, that sentence will be fully executed on the day that Jesus appears a second time to judge all people.

Second thing, the ruler of this world will be cast out. Who’s that? Satan, the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of this world. Satan was dethroned at Calvary. Again, this is a reversal of what you might think. It looked like Satan triumphed. Satan had conquered Christ at Calvary, but in reality, Christ had crushed his head, dealt him the deathblow. Now, Satan is a conquered, defeated foe.

Jesus destroyed the one who had the power of death. Death, for us, has no fear because in Christ we go right through death into everlasting life. This doesn’t mean Satan is not around gasping like an animal with its head cut off. He is a defeated enemy, who was defeated at the point at which it looked like he had won. The world thought they won over Christ. They lost. Satan thought he won. He lost.

“And when I am lifted up from the earth,” when I am crucified. He is saying, “When I am crucified, I will draw all men to myself.” All men, meaning all Jews, Gentiles, people from every tongue, tribe, and nation of the planet. Jesus, at the cross, provides the work by which all can be saved. Children of God from all over the world. It is in death that He gives life. The truth is He is triumphant at the cross.

So what was the reaction of the people? Verse 34, “We understood from Scripture that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?” Because they don’t understand Isaiah 53, they don’t believe Isaiah 52. They don’t understand Daniel 9 that He would be cut off, Zechariah 12:10, that He would be pierced. So the cross is to the Jews a stumbling block. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Aug 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210801 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001AC imblog

John 12:17-26

We’re studying John’s biography of Jesus. We have come to the last week of His life in Jerusalem, in the temple surroundings headed for the cross on Friday. We have looked at the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We saw how Jesus came in actually on Monday. Before He had supper with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, at the home of a leper He had cleansed by the name of Simon.

Then on Monday He left Bethany, and He headed toward the city of Jerusalem riding on the foal of a donkey. There was a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Jerusalem ready for the week events leading up to Passover. The year is A.D. 30. It is His final Passover. It is the time that God has designed for Jesus to die. He will be killed as the true Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

On Friday, He will be crucified and die when all the other Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the temple. But He alone is the Passover Lamb that God has chosen. All of the lambs that had died since sacrificial institution way back in the days of Moses; all those sacrifices that have ever died through those years could not take away sin. They were only looking forward to the one true sacrifice.

Now, the Jews had been waiting for their Messiah for centuries. Their Messiah and hope grew in some ways every year. But they also grew more desperate every year. They had had a succession of conquerors. And they had been mistreated throughout their history because they were continually under the judgment of God for their unbelief and apostasy, which had gone on for generations.

They had grown to hate the people around them. They were prejudiced and they were racist. They disdained the nations around them. If they traveled out of Israel and came back, they shook the Gentile dust off their shoes so they wouldn’t bring Gentile dust into their country. They wouldn’t enter a Gentile home. You might think this preserved them, but actually it developed a wrong theology.

When God originally called Israel, He didn’t call Israel to be the end and the goal of His purposes of salvation, but to be the means. God had always determined that He would save people from every tongue, tribe and nation in the world. In fact, in Genesis 12, God established Abraham as the father of that nation; He said to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “In you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

Instead of doing that, they became more isolated, more prejudiced and narrower. And they turned to hate the very people they were to reach. You see this, for example, in the case of Jonah, the reluctant missionary, who when told to go to Nineveh and preach, ran the other way. This is a sort of symbolic reflection of how the nation Israel felt about Gentiles coming to know their God.

This narrow prejudice has become the national mindset. They had no interest in thinking about anyone else. They were God’s people, and the blessings stopped with them. So, when they were thinking about the arrival of their Messiah, He was distinctly their Messiah. They viewed Him as their king, their leader, their redeemer and their conqueror. And the other nations who had rejected God would be judged.

But Jesus has put the exclamation point on His three years of miracle power by raising Lazarus from the dead in a village two miles away from the temple in Jerusalem. Everybody knows about it. It is in a very public place. It’s His last great public miracle. Again, this is just the capstone on conversations that have been going on for three years about the amazing power of Jesus.

He has power over demons, power over death, power over disease, power over nature. So when He comes into the city of Jerusalem on this occasion with an unmistakable power display of giving life to a dead man. So He arrives to their, “Hosannas, hail the Son of David,” Messianic title. They are thrilled. But they missed the reason for their existence. God never chose them to be the end, only the means to the end.

Paul in Romans says they were given the promises. They were given the prophets. They were given the law, the Scripture. They were even given the Messiah, but all of that was not the end. There must be a repentance of the leaders of Israel if they are truly to receive the Messiah and the kingdom. Well, they would not give up their works righteousness religion. They would not turn from their apostasy.

By the time Jesus comes to the end of His ministry of three years to hundreds of thousands of people all over Galilee, there are 120 believers in Jerusalem and 500 in Galilee. Jesus had come to offer Himself. Yes, He did come to call the people who had been chosen to true obedience and to become that witness nation. But as we come to John 12, we see one final offer, and it’s a call for embracing Him as God’s Savior.

We all know how they responded to it. They rejected it. It looked like they wanted to accept Him in John 12 with all the, “Hosannas.” That’s recorded in the other three gospels as well. But the truth of the matter is seen by Friday, in John 19:14–15 they’re screaming, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” “We have no king but Caesar.” The fickle crowd turns to call for His death. This is God’s final offer to Israel.

The question now is who will be God’s new people and witness nation? Who will take the truth about God and now about Christ and the gospel to the world? Look at Paul in Acts 13:44-48, “The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45 But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.”

“46 Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. 47 For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.”

“48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers.” The Jews wouldn’t believe. The Gentiles did. God’s witness people shifts from the nation Israel to non-Jews. This is a stark transformation. There still were Jewish believers in Christ. There were 3,000 on the Day of Pentecost, thousands more in Acts.

But God is identifying a new people that are non-Jewish. Jews are included in the church because, “In Christ,” Galatians 3:28, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile.” But it’s no longer one nation but all nations. Romans 15:8-9, “Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises He made to their ancestors. 9 He also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them.”

Then Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32, which is the law, Isaiah 11, the prophets, and Psalm 18 and 117, which are the other writings, all the three sections of the Old Testament. He quotes all about saving Gentiles. “I will praise you among the Gentiles. Rejoice with His people, you Gentiles. Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. They will place their hope on Him.” That’s in the law, the prophets and the writings.

John 12:17-26, “Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it. 18 That was the reason so many went out to meet Him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign. 19 Then the Pharisees said to each other, “There’s nothing we can do. Look, everyone has gone after him! 20 Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.”

“21 paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” 22 Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels, a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

“25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.” It’s a transition. It’s a preview of the shift from Israel to the world, from Israel to the Gentiles, the witnessing people of God in the world.

So the big transition is the transition from Israel to the Gentiles. We are part of that. We are the people of God who are the witness people in the world and we are made up of all nations, Jew and Gentile, without partiality. Verse 17 tells us the people were talking about the resurrection of Lazarus. The people who had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb, spread the word.

This had a tremendous effect, verse 18, “That was the reason so many went out to meet him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign.” There are hundreds of thousands of people in the city who have heard the word about this. The two crowds come together, and that’s the triumphal entry event. But these are all shallow actions, superficial, transitory and going absolutely nowhere.

Verse 19, “Then the Pharisees said to each other, “There’s nothing we can do. Look, everyone has gone after Him!” The process of them coming at Him during that week, asking question after question trying to trap Him, trying to catch Him, trying to embarrass Him and trying to indict Him. All week long, whatever they tried to do failed. These are the Pharisees who have just given the official national rejection.

But they couldn’t stop the plan of God. No matter what strategy, no matter what questions, no matter what confrontations, no matter what they did. Now it is His time, and now God will move through their rejection to take the gospel to the world and to bring the world to Christ. God didn’t reach the world through the Jews obedience. God reached the world through the Jews disobedience, and He is in charge.

To seal that transition, notice what happens immediately in verse 20-22, “Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration 21 paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” 22 Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.” There were some non-Jews among those who were going up to worship at the feast, proselytes.

What we want to see here is the universal provision. These Gentiles become a kind of first fruits of the global harvest to come. They are the world going after Him, but I want you to see what our Lord says in verse 23, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.” Stop there. That should have ignited a firestorm, because “Son of Man” is a Messianic term found in Daniel 7.

But Jesus then gives them an analogy in verse 24, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.” There can’t be any conquering kingdom unless I die. The divine timetable has come, but He will be glorified not in a worldly triumphant conquering, but in substitutionary death.

Jesus explains it such a graphic way. As long as a seed remains in the granary, it is preserved by its outside shell. Only when the seed is put in the soil does it begin to decompose and rot away, and when the shell decomposes and rots away, the life inside begins to flourish. It gives life to a huge plant, which produces more seeds and more seeds and on and on it goes.

If Jesus didn’t die, heaven would be empty of human beings. There would be none there. Apart from His death, there is no spiritual harvest. That’s why in Luke 24:25-27, He told those disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Messiah must suffer and die. His life-giving power is made possible only through His death. He can only put sin away by the sacrifice of Himself.

The history of Christianity is the history of one long, miraculous harvest that has all been produced out of one seed dying at Calvary’s cross. Verse 25-26, “Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.”

We’re no longer talking to Israel. This is a general invitation. If you hate the life in this world, full of its sin and godlessness and you want to abandon that, you will receive eternal life. It is how you look at yourself that makes the difference, and this is why there were so many false converts. This particular principle is all through the gospels. If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.

Salvation comes not only to people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but people who turn from their sin, repent of all that they have done. What is the benefit of this? End of verse 25, life in all its fullness eternally forever. Where? Verse 26, “Where I am, there My servant will be.” Where is He? He ascended into heaven at the right hand of the Father in the eternal glories that God has prepared. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Jul 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210725 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001AB imblog

John 12:12-17

This is an important moment in the history of our Lord. Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12 all record this event. We call it the triumphal entry or Palm Sunday. This is traditionally well-known of our Lord when He enters Jerusalem to all of the praise and hosannas of the people who are acclaiming Him as the King and the Messiah. It’s part of Christian tradition and Scripture revelation.

And by Friday, these people were shouting for Barabbas to be released and the one they had claimed as King to be crucified, just a few days later. Let us read the story from John 12:12 - 17, “The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors 13 took palm branches and went down the road to meet Him.”

“They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!” 14 Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: 15 “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.” 16 His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy.”

“But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him. 17 Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it. 18 That was the reason so many went out to meet him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign.”

So with that we begin the Passion Week of our Lord. They hailed Him as King. He comes into the city to the hosannas and the hallelujahs and the praise of the people of Israel. “King Jesus,” they say, “has arrived to take His throne.” Their hearts are bright with hope, anticipation that the long-awaited Messiah is indeed this one named Jesus of Nazareth, this Galilean.

He has accumulated a profound reputation by doing miracles for three years during His ministry; which have been talked about across the land and essentially done in every village throughout Israel. It all culminated in this amazing raising of Lazarus from the dead. Our Lord chose to do this in Bethany, two miles east of the wall of the temple in Jerusalem where this resurrection could be verified.

That puts Jesus in Bethany, and then He spent that Sunday with his friends: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. There was a great supper made for Him there in the home of a leper that He had healed by the name of Simon. Simon must have had a large home to accommodate our Lord, Simon’s family, Mary, Martha, Lazarus and all the disciples who were traveling with Him.

At that supper there was much love for Jesus from the two sisters of Lazarus. There was Martha, who was serving lovingly. And then there was Mary who took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard. Nard was an herb that produced an amazing fragrance that came from the Himalayas. It had to come by camel, so it was rare and costly. Judas points out that it was worth a year’s income.

In a lavish expression of love, she broke the alabaster jar of nard and poured it all over Jesus, from head to foot. Then she loosened her hair and wiped His feet with her hair. As soon as the fragrance dominates the room, we see the hate in Judas who says, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and given to poor?’ He was not concerned about the poor, because he was a thief and stole from the money box.”

So a large crowd of Jews learned that He was there, “And they came not only for Jesus, but they came also to see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead.” Now, there had been 2 other resurrections, but no resurrection in which a four day period had passed from the death to the resurrection. All the people who were pilgrims from all around the world would find out about it.

But the Jewish leaders planned to put Lazarus to death also. They wanted to execute Lazarus because his testimony was so effective that the Jews were abandoning the temple religion and heading toward believing in Jesus. This miracle had a massive impact at the final moment of our Lord’s public ministry. Later in the week, He will restore an ear, but that was a private miracle in the garden.

That was Sunday. Now we come to Monday, verse 12 on the next day, “The large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.” Now, there is a dramatic change. There were times when the Jews wanted to crown Jesus as king, but He didn’t allow it. Look now at John 12:23, Jesus answered them saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

Now it is His hour because it is God’s hour. Jesus sets it up by healing Lazarus, raising him from the dead. He remains there to draw the crowd to see Him, to see Lazarus, to strengthen the testimony of that miracle power. He deliberately places Himself in a situation to draw the largest possible crowd of people, and a crowd comes on Sunday to Bethany. Then another crowd packs the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus wants to generate the enthusiasm of the masses. But He also wants to increase the fury of the leaders of Israel so that they will against their own plan wind up crucifying Him on the very day that God has ordained at the Passover. He forces the Sanhedrin to change their plans to harmonize it with the purpose of God. The Sanhedrin did not want to kill Him at a time when the city was full of pilgrims.

But that’s exactly when they would crucify Him because that’s when God had planned His crucifixion. Now, let’s look more at the story. First, we could say there is the presentation the Lord makes of Himself. He comes to Jerusalem and as He comes, the large crowd took branches of the palm trees and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.”

As Jesus begins His journey, He asks two of His disciples to a nearby hamlet, and He says, “Go to this place, and you will find a post, and you will find a donkey and a donkey’s colt tied to the post. I want you to bring those animals to Me. Bring the donkey and bring the donkey’s colt.” And when the disciples reached the village, they found the right home and these two animals tied to a post.

They start to untie the animals to take the animals with them, and the owner comes out and says, “What are you doing? Why are you taking these animals?” Remember their brief answer, “The Lord needs them.” This may well have been a follower of Jesus who was eager to provide for Him whatever He asked for. The disciples threw the outer garments over the colt and its mother and brought them to Jesus.

Jesus chose the colt to ride and not the mother. Why the two? Jesus wanted to come into the city in humility. He rode the weaker, younger animal. The mature animal was brought along to lead the young colt because a colt will always follow his mother. This is the way Jesus could demonstrate the humility that His was going to portray during that Passion Week where He did what the Father wanted.

Verse 12 - 13, “The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors 13, took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!” They associated palm branches with celebrations in the Old Testament.

They are symbols of strength and beauty, strength because they flourish in a desert; and beauty because they are evergreen. No one had ever raised the dead. Jesus comes to Jerusalem and the enthusiasm of the crowd mounts. Jesus is the Messiah and the King. He will not deny their hosannas. In Luke 19:40 He actually says, “If these people don’t cry out hosanna, the rocks will cry out.”

They are calling Jesus their Savior. Matthew adds that they also called Him “Son of David.” The Messiah, according to 2 Samuel 7 would be David’s son, who would have an everlasting kingdom. Then they say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” again from Psalm 118. Their hope and expectation is that at any moment, this power over death that He exhibited, will be used against Rome.

Verse 14-15, “Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: 15 “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.” It was to fulfill a prophecy of Zachariah 9:9, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming seated on a donkey’s colt.” You not only have a fateful presentation. You have a fulfilled prophecy.

Because Jesus comes exactly the way the prophets said He would come. There’s another prophecy that is being fulfilled in Daniel 9:24. Daniel is praying to God, and He answers his prayer. He’s praying for the deliverance of Israel from Babylon. He knows that God promised 70 years of captivity. He is praying for God to fulfill His promise and to deliver Israel out of Babylon.

In response to that prayer, God gives him a far greater promise, not just a promise of deliverance from Babylon. God fulfilled that. Cyrus wrote a decree that sent the Jews back. They went back under Nehemiah and rebuilt the city. Now look at Daniel 9:24, “Seventy sets of seven have been decreed for your people and your holy city.” That is seventy times seven, 490 years.

This is God’s plan for Israel and the bringing in of the kingdom. Now, there are six elements. The first three are fulfilled at Christ first coming: to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin and to make atonement for all iniquity. The second time He comes: to bring in everlasting righteousness, to fulfill all vision and prophecy, and to anoint the holy place, to set Himself on the throne.

Verse 25 says, “There will be a period of seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks,” which is 69. The decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah arrives is 69 weeks. That’s 483 years. That decree was given by Artaxerxes in the year 445 B. C. If you add 483 years, that’s the 69 weeks that are mentioned there, and you end up in the year 30 in the month Nisan. That is the exact time when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem.

And verse 26 says, “And after the sixty-two when the Messiah comes, He will be cut off and have nothing.” That’s also what happened. “And the people of the prince who is to come.” Who is the prince who is to come? That is the anti-Christ. Daniel says “The people of the antichrist who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” This is done by the Romans in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

We still have one week. So what happened to that seventieth week? That’s in the future when the antichrist will make a covenant with many in Israel for one week (Verse 27). In the middle of the week, he will violate the covenant. This is the ‘abomination of desolation’ that Jesus comments on in the middle of the tribulation. This brings destruction at the end of which our Lord establishes His kingdom.

The important point is they pointed to the year A.D. 30, the Friday, the ninth of the Jewish month of Nisan, as the time when Jesus came into the city. But the Jews didn’t understand that prophecy in the narrative of the Passion Week, but it is there and it was fulfilled. Go to Luke 19, the account of the triumphal entry. Verse 37, “The whole crowd praised God joyfully for all the miracles they had seen.”

Verses 39-45, “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!’ When Jesus saw the city He wept over it saying, ‘For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground.”

And they dismantled the temple down to the foundation, “Because you didn’t recognize the time of your visitation.” 45 Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling.” He attacked the Jewish people at the heart of their worship, their religion. He is worthy of all of this praise, but it’s so short-lived and He knew that. So we see this fulfilled prophesy from Jesus as to what was going to happen.

We see the perplexity of the disciples. Verse 16, “His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written in the Bible about Him.” John is looking back and he’s saying of himself and the rest, we didn’t understand what was going on.

Verse 17, “Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it.” They’re attracted by the miracle, they are false followers, who by Friday choose Barabbas, a well-known criminal to be released; and Jesus to be held prisoner, and then screamed for Him to be crucified. The rejection of Israel caused God to turn from the Jews to the gentiles.

It’s really a preview of the church. Jesus says in John 6:37, “Whoever comes to me, I will not turn away.” So what we have here is the beginning of what believers are all a part of, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, people who truly want to see Jesus and believe Him. May we all follow Him daily, and learn to love others and to tell people who Jesus is. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Jul 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210718 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001AA imblog

John 12:1-11

We come to John 12 and we look again at the history of Jesus at just the point that the Passion Week begins. The first eleven chapters describe the whole ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ from John’s perspective, covering a period of three years. But the second half of the book from John 12 to the end covers one week, so everything that happens gets very intense from here on.

Jesus came not to bring peace, but a sword. There’s no one else like Him who evokes the extremes of love and hate, devotion and rejection, worship and blasphemy, faith and unbelief. He divides believers from unbelievers, sheep from goats, and children of God from children of the devil. You are either for Him or against Him, and the people for Him are extreme and those against Him are also extreme.

These extremes become clear through two characters. One is Mary and the other is Judas. They are symbolic of those two opposites. John 12:1-11, “Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with Him.”

“3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. 4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray Him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”

“6 Not that he cared for the poor, he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself. 7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. 9 When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus,”

“The man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.” This is a stunning narrative setting the stage for the events of the final week of our Lord’s life. Lazarus has become the most well-known resident of the small village of Bethany, east of Jerusalem.

This was highly disturbing to the religious leaders of Israel. They never denied it. It was a fact. But they want to do all the damage control they can possibly do, so they plan in the conversations that Jesus knew, in John 11:53, to kill Him. Now, this has been coming for a long time. Jesus was very aware of it, and the plan has been escalated by the impact of the resurrection of Lazarus.

So Jesus can no longer continue to walk publicly among the Jews. So He went away from there, verse 54 says, to a little place called Ephraim and stayed with His disciples. There are some who think that He actually went into Samaria and Galilee. That is recorded in Luke 17, 18, and 19. So it looks like He had a few weeks between the raising of Lazarus and His arrival for Passover.

So in spite of the intention to execute Him, He comes back. Up to now, when the Jews wanted to kill Him, they could not, it was not God’s time. It was not His hour, but now it is, and He will die at this Passover on Friday at the exact time that the Jews are slaughtering the Passover lambs. He will die as God’s chosen Passover lamb to provide the sacrifice for the sins of His chosen people.

So John 12 happens 6 days before the Passover. This would be Saturday and this is the last legitimate Sabbath in the Old Covenant because on Friday, Jesus will die and ratify the New Covenant. When the New Covenant is in place, there are no more Sabbaths. So the church meets on Sunday when Jesus was raised from the dead, and continued to do that every Sunday up until today.

The symbol of the New Testament is not the Passover in Egypt. The symbol of the New Testament is the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first day of the week. What we see in verses 1 to 11 is the obvious division that was occurring by the presence and ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ causes faith in Martha, Mary, Lazarus. And Jesus Christ causes unbelief of the severest kind in Judas.

So let’s study these verses. We’ll look at their attitudes, but let’s start with the setting. Verse 1, “Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus, the man He had raised from the dead.” The crowds were curious to see what else He would be doing. The leaders were looking for Him to kill Him. Therefore, God’s timing was right, He came six days before the Passover.

It’s time for Jesus to come to the Passover to be the Passover lamb, be the sacrifice whose blood was sprinkled on the doorposts and the lintel back in Egypt to signify that a sacrifice had been made and the death angel would pass by. That family then would be spared. Well, Christ is the true Passover lamb that satisfies God once and forever for the sins of His people through all human history.

On that last Sabbath, the last legitimate Sabbath before He is crucified and bears the sins of the world, He chooses to share His hours with His beloved friends in Bethany. Jesus knew and loved these people. He had spent time with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. We know that from earlier gospel accounts. Six days away from the hatred, the sin-bearing, the loneliness of being God-forsaken.

Six days ahead, but vivid in His mind, Jesus seeks the warmth and the love and the affection of dear friends. But sadly, in the midst of those few hours that He had to be with those who loved Him, the apostate Judas rises to commandeer the event, to scar the occasion. Now, as we look at the story, let’s look at the characters. Let us start with the heartfelt service of Martha.

Martha served well and service is regarded nobly in scripture. In fact, the word “serving” is the word ‘diakone’, from which we get the word “deacon” and servers in the church. There are references in Acts to people who served. So we don’t want to belittle this service that Martha rendered. But let us look at the event itself. When Jesus comes to Bethany, they made Him a supper.

Verse 2, “A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with Him.” Now this event takes place not at the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, but at the house of Simon the ex-leper. So how do you become an ex-leper? There’s no way unless you are healed by Jesus, the Creator Himself, which then gives us the reason why Simon would host this event.

So there are two special people reclining at the table. One is an ex-leper and another is an ex-dead man. Then you can add the Lord Jesus to the middle of it. Can you imagine them talking about what happened to them when they received His power that gave them back health and life? This was an incredible meal, but it wasn’t in honor of Lazarus or Simon. It was in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, Martha is serving. It is God-honoring service. Matthew 20:26, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” Our Lord says in Luke 12:37, “Blessed are those slaves whom the Master will find on the alert when He comes. Truly I say to you that when He comes, He will put on a slave’s apron, and serve them as they sit and eat.” That’s how exalted service is.

What is the spirit of service? Acts 20:19, “Serving the Lord with all humility of mind.” What is the extent of service? Galatians 5:13, “By love, serve one another.” We’re all called to be servants of the Lord and servants of each other. Martha does it because she loves her Lord and she loves the people she serves. The Lord rebuked her because she needs to recognize that listening to the Lord is a higher calling.

Then we see the humble sacrifice of Mary in verse 3, “Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.” It doesn’t give us any insight into doctrine and yet these details are laid out here to describe the lavish nature of her affection for Christ.

A great illustration to remind us of total unrestrained sacrificial love. Nard was a rare herb grown in the high pasture lands of China, Tibet and India. It had been carried there by camels from India or China. Verse 4-5, “But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”

In Matthew 26:7 we read that that nard was in an alabaster jar. Alabaster is a white translucent stone that would be carved out to contain this nard. This kind of fragrant oil was used at a funeral. It could also be used just for the ladies to enjoy the fragrance. Mary’s heart is overflowing with love and gratitude. According to Mark 14:3, she smashes the alabaster jar and opens it.

Matthew and Mark tell us it went on His head and here we find in John that it went all the way down to His feet. Then she loosened her hair, which was a radical thing for a woman to do in the presence of men, and used her hair to wipe His feet. Dirty feet didn’t suit people sitting down for a prolonged dinner in a reclining position. This is an amazing and lavish expression of love.

The scene is interrupted by a man identified by Jesus in John 6:70 as, “One of you is a devil,” and He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, “For he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.” Judas thought that he would be wealthy, elevated to some position of power and authority. While everyone else was growing to love Christ more, he was growing to hate Him more.

The idea of a kingdom was becoming ridiculous to him. When things began to go against his wishes, he began embezzling the money. Verse 6, “Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.” Jesus said He was going to die. They were going to take His life. He can see the hostility and the animosity.

Matthew 26:8 says the other disciples agreed with this. It actually says the disciples protested. A place where true honor is offered to Jesus Christ will always bring out the hostility of those who belong to Satan. It actually says that Thursday night of this week coming, the devil himself entered into Judas. The perfume that Mary used was worth 3 times to him what he sold Jesus for.

The closer you are to the truth and reject it, the more severe your eternal punishment. The safest place to be is in the church if you believe. The most dangerous place to be is in the church if you don’t because if you ultimately reject Christ, you will be held accountable for the knowledge that you had that produced nothing but rejection. How much greater the punishment.

“To whom much is given, much is required.” Judas is not a solitary figure. We live in a world full of apostates. What is an apostate? Somebody who defects from truth with the knowledge of the truth. You would be amazed how many philosophers turned the world atheistic and evolutionary, who came out of Christian backgrounds, raised in churches, had Christian parents and still defected.

The Lord responds in verse 7- 8, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for My burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.” Our Lord here connects what she did out of an expression of love to His burial. Did she know that? Jesus said He was going to die. Was she prepared that when He did die, did she believe that He could resurrect Himself?

Matthew 26:12, “When she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.” Mark 14:8, “Jesus says, ‘She has done what she could. She has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.’” In Mark 14:9 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world going forward, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

At that very moment when Jesus had said that, Mark says, “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve went off to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them.” Judas knew it was over. He figured he could make some cash on the way out. So he left and runs to meet the leaders, says, “I want to make a deal. I’ll tell you when and where you can get Him.” He negotiated it to 30 pieces of silver.

Verse 9, “When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see Him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead.” Then this portion closes in verses 10 – 11, “Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.” You get an idea of the extreme hatred they had for Jesus.

It never was about evidence. They never denied His miracles. They didn’t deny the resurrection of Lazarus. They wanted to kill Him because many of the Jews were going away from the temple, going away from Judaism, going away from them and believing in Jesus. Against all that, you have people believing in Him. There is always a remnant who believe. That’s why we preach the Gospel. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Jul 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210711 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001A9 imblog

John 11:45-57

John 11 is about one event, and that is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. We only know three members of the family; Lazarus and his two sisters. We don’t know a lot about them except that they were a host family to Jesus and that He had come to know them very well to the degree that He not only loved them with a spiritual and divine love, but He loved them personally.

They were a group of believers who believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Mary and Martha were sorrowful over the loss of their dear brother. Jesus came to a huge crowd of mourners there. There would always be professional wailers, but there also would be the legitimate mourners who were friends and acquaintances. And they came from all the surrounding places.

This particular sadness lasted seven days in the Jewish tradition, and then they would go back to their own homes, and commit themselves to comfort and console them for a period of 30 days. So this is a community event that is going on. Lazarus has been in the ground four days, and by 72 hours complete decomposition has set in, as I described for you in our last discussion.

Jesus comes to the tomb. He is sorrowful and sad. It isn’t just that He’s weeping because He lost a friend. It isn’t just that He’s weeping because He sees the pain of these two ladies over the loss of their brother. He is able to process immediately the sorrow of every death in every human relationship in every human family. Not only that, He’s surrounded by a whole nation of unbelievers.

He also grasps the reality of death and eternal punishment and eternal judgment. So this is an agonizing moment for Jesus, matched only by His agony in the garden where He comes into a face to face confrontation with sin, which He Himself will bear. Here is the greatest agony in the life of Jesus up to this point as He faces the eternal consequence of death and how far-reaching it is.

In this agony, Jesus comes to the tomb and in verse 43-44 He shouts, “‘Lazarus, come out.’ 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” And the miracle is finished. We don’t know anything more about that what was told. Tradition says Lazarus lived another 30 years.

We don’t know anything about the shock and awe that must have really affected the mourners. We don’t know anything about the conversations that Lazarus had after this. You can imagine the questions. “Lazarus, what did you feel? Can you tell us where you were and what was it like?” Maybe he had the same experience as Paul had when he went to heaven in 2 Corinthians 12.

Paul was caught up into the third heaven, but he said, “I heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.” Why not? Because this isn’t about the rest of Lazarus’s life. This isn’t about our curiosity of heaven. Verse 4 says, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”

So when the miracle happened last Sunday for us at the end of verse 44, the scene ends. Here are the two results. Verse 45, “Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.” It had been the desire of the religious leaders and all who followed their lead to kill Jesus for a long time. Verse 46, “But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.”

It now reaches a point where they cannot let Him live much longer. This miracle is the final breaking point. And so this raising of Lazarus, the week before the Passover, that triggers their desire to kill Him now and not wait. This is in perfect accord with God’s plan of salvation; because God wants Jesus to be the sacrificial Lamb of God the next week on Friday at the Passover.

They are not operating on their schedule. They are operating on God’s schedule. They had tried to kill Him many times before, but they were unsuccessfully, but now after this miracle, they can’t wait any longer. Verse 47, “Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.”

Verse 48, “If we allow Him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in Him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.” They are oblivious to the fact that Jesus raised a dead man on top of everything else. Jesus said He was God, and then He demonstrated the truth of that claim. Now, you have two choices. You can believe or not believe.

When Jesus said He was God, He was telling the truth. There’s plenty of evidence that what He claimed is true, and there is no indication that what He said is false. You can look at the evidence, but you only have two options. You believe or you don’t believe. There’s no third possibility. In Luke 11:23 Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me.” And the evidence demands belief.

They accused Jesus of being under the power of Satan. They said He was a violator of the Law of God and a violator of their religious tradition. They said He was a blasphemer. They said He was a friend of sinners, the low-life crowd who were outcasts. They said His teaching was unacceptable. Everything that they thought He was, led them to kill Him. That’s hostile unbelief.

There’s another kind of unbelief. There were a lot of people who followed Him because of His miracles and they were curious and they were fascinated, and they were interested, and they even were healed and fed, but it was superficial. There is another kind of unbelief that is just indifferent. You have seen enough to have a high level of accountability to God. You are in serious trouble.

Then there were those who believed. They were the ones Jesus called, “the little flock.” They were the 12 disciples minus Judas. They were those like Martha, Mary and Lazarus who confessed that He was the Son of God, the Messiah. There were those who repented like the Samaritans in the village of Sychar, like the royal official and his household in John 4. Like the blind man in John 9 who believed and others.

Now the resurrection has happened, and the mourners are still there. They have known the family and Lazarus. They know he has been in the grave four days. Suddenly he comes out of the grave and the miracle is so unmistakable and undeniable. Their hearts open to the reality that this is truly who Martha said it is. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who came down from heaven, God incarnate.

They had seen the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. They believed and they were given the right to become children of God. Their sins were forgiven. They were redeemed. They ceased being the children of the devil. They are the believing many. Many of the number that were there; not many of the nation. Many of the number that were there. They believed.

We are maybe a week before the death of Christ, and there’s a flurry of things happening to the souls of people. So in the last weeks of His life, as He preaches the gospel and puts on display His sovereign power, many are believing. And there’s actually a great conversion and regeneration at the funeral of Lazarus. The Lord will draw them out of every tongue, tribe, people and nation.

The unbelievers, the Pharisees were basically the architects of Judaism, the synagogue religion. They had the control over the people. They dominated the people with their laws and rules and Sabbath restrictions. If you didn’t do that, you got thrown out of the synagogue, and if you got thrown out of the synagogue you were a pariah. You were cut off from all social contact. You were treated as a leper.

Some of those Pharisaical supporters are mourning at this event. When they see what’s going on, they decide to report to the Pharisees in verse 46. What did they tell them? He raised the dead. It’s what He did. Jesus went to the tomb. They gave them the story, He called Lazarus who had been dead for four days. And Jesus raised him from the dead. They gave the whole report.

They are concerned more about the Pharisees than they are about their own souls. This is what false religion does. False religion allows you to give up your own soul to please somebody who is the destroyer of your soul. They described the miracle. Knowing how much the Pharisees hate Jesus already, and knowing this will enrage them even further, but they’ve sold their souls to the devil.

Why are there liberals living now who deny these miracles while the enemies of Jesus who were there don’t even deny them? He is performing many miraculous feats. “If we allow Him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in Him.” We will lose our position, we will lose our power and we will lose our nation. This will be the end of everything. We have to stop Him right now.

So, Caiaphas spoke up. He was the son-in-law of Annas, who had previously been the high priest. In the Old Testament Mosaic Law about the high priest it states that it was an office for life essentially. It didn’t always work out that way, but that was the ideal. Contrast that with what Josephus tell us. Between Herod the Great and 70 A.D. when Jerusalem is destroyed, there were 28 high priests.

Verse 49-50, “Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! 50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” Under the guise of being a noble politician, this man is trying to get rid of the biggest obstacle to his own power, popularity, and theology. And that is this Jesus Christ.

How strangely true is that statement? The words of Caiaphas have a deep resonating reality of truth that he never even understood. Verse 51-52, “He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation. 52 And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.”

Do you know what this self-exalting, corrupt man did? He gave a clear statement on the substitutionary atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He has no idea what he was saying. God used the mouth of Cyrus to give a prophecy. God used the mouth of a false prophet Balaam. There are no limits to what God can do. He meant one thing, but God meant something totally different.

“There are many plans,” says Proverbs 19:21, “in a man’s heart, nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord will stand.” This is a divine irony. Nothing in Scripture says that the high priest had any prophetic gift. This isn’t an actual prophecy that he gave. It just so happened that God ordered every word Caiaphas said and gave it a completely different meaning, but every word was correct.

So through Caiaphas’s ignorant words, God declares the true impact of the death of Christ. He will die to save the nation, but not physically. In 70 A.D., they’re all going to perish in the Roman holocaust. But spiritually, He will die for the salvation of that nation, and not that nation only, “But that He might bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.”

Caiaphas’s ignorant, hateful words are absolutely true. This gives us a foretaste of what it’s going to be like when we go through the rest of the Passion Week, how every single detail no matter who is doing what for what reason, fits into God’s purpose. He’s just a link in the chain begun by divine decrees until God fulfills His purpose. Verse 53, “From that day forward, they planned to kill Him.”

Verse 54, “As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with His disciples.” Verse 55, “It was now almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration, and many people from all over the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they could go through the purification ceremony before Passover began.”

The Levitical law laid out in 2 Chronicles 30 requires all kinds of ceremonial cleanings before you can do Passover. Verse 56, “They kept looking for Jesus, but as they stood around in the Temple, they said to each other, “What do you think? He won’t come for Passover, will he?” Why did they say that? Because He was the focal point of the previous two Passovers.

Verse 57, “Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest Him.” But what happened when He came? In John 12:13 they shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Fear not, behold your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

By Friday, what were they crying? “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Those praises and rejections are the only options really when it comes to Christ. You believe and all the evidence supports that you believe or you reject. Whether you reject Jesus with hatred or reject Him with sentimental feelings, you end up in the same hell. The question is the same question that Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe?” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Jul 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210704 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001A7 imblog

John 11:17-36

Let us continue the story of Lazarus in John 11. This is the final public miracle that Jesus did, and it is the capstone of all His miracles because of the nature of the situation. This remarkable miracle is done at a strategic time just prior to the Passover in a place called Bethany, which is two miles east of Jerusalem on the road from Jericho that was literally filled with pilgrims heading to the Passover.

So everybody coming that way would have heard the story about Lazarus. It circulated through the whole city. The raising of Lazarus strengthened the faith of the disciples. But it was not enough to cause them to believe in our Lord's resurrection. The resurrection of Lazarus gave a preview of the resurrection of Christ, which helped them to believe that it could happen because they had seen His power in Lazarus.

The resurrection of Lazarus also was a monumental evidence of His deity. And the resurrection of Lazarus was so well-known that it forced the leaders of Judaism to press the issue of the execution of Jesus because He was just having too much influence. So the whole chapter is about this miracle and its results. So we will be looking at that for another couple of weeks.

Let us focus in the beginning of our message on these two verses in John 11. This is really the high point. This is the essence of what is being conveyed in this miracle. It says in John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Believing that Jesus is the resurrection and the life is supported by this incredible miracle, and that's why there's so much detail here and all of the detail is important. There are a lot of other elements to it as we have been learning and will continue to learn. But the main focus is to demonstrate that Christ is the resurrection and the life. He is the Son of God, and that believing in His name brings everlasting life in heaven.

That's the message of John. "It is written that you might believe and that you might receive eternal life." The message that you need to get is that you are going to die and you are not in charge of when. You're not in charge of where, and you're not in charge of how. Even if you decide to kill yourself, you're not in charge of the circumstances. You are not in charge of your death, but you better be ready for it.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 puts it this way, "No man has authority to restrain the wind, so also no man has authority over the day of death." Job 18:14 says, "When that day comes, man is torn from the security of his tent, and they march him off before the king of terrors.” King of terrors is death. 1 Timothy 6, "We brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either."

Job 14:1-2 says, “How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! 2 We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.” And Moses says in Psalm 90:10, “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and then we fly away.”

Is that where evolution has brought us after billions of years, to this kind of non-existence called death. The problem is that is a lie. You are more than mere protoplasm waiting to become manure. Every human being will live forever. That is the word from God, the Creator. And not only will you live forever in spirit, but you will live forever in a resurrected body, both in heaven and in hell.

In hell, a body to absorb eternal punishment. In heaven, a body to enjoy eternal bliss. You will live forever. Remember John 5:28-29, our Lord said this, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming, in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and will come forth; those who have done good to a resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Here our Lord not only says He will be the judge and the one who raises the dead, but He is, in fact, the resurrection and the life. It's not just something He does to give life. It is who He is. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Our Lord was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being.”

He is the source of everything that lives. He is the resurrection and the life because He is life. He has the power to create out of nothing, and He has the power to raise the dead because He is life. Everything that exists, everything that exists in the spiritual and physical world, He made. From the smallest cell to the most complex human being, He gave life to everything that lives.

Here in the resurrection of Lazarus, our Lord Jesus puts on a display of the power of life that He possesses. Now, He raised two people, one was the daughter of Jairus, a young girl who was dying at home. By the time Jesus got there, she was dead. Some people might say, "Well, maybe she only passed out, because the miracle happened only a few moments after she died.”

And then there the case of the widow who was taking her son to be buried with the procession of people who were mourning. Jesus stopped the procession and raised the dead young man. Some might argue that this was just a resuscitation of someone who was thought to be dead. But in the case of Lazarus, that was not possible because this was someone who had been dead four days.

The Jews did not embalm to stop the decay. They wrapped the body and sprinkled spices on it to mitigate the smell. Here's what happens in four days, when the heart stops beating, the body cells are deprived of oxygen and they begin to die. Blood drains from throughout the circulatory system and pools in the low places. Muscles begin to stiffen in rigor mortis. That sets in after three hours.

By 24 hours, the body has lost all its heat. The muscles then lose their rigor mortis in 36 hours, and by 72 hours rigor mortis has vanished. All stiffness is gone and the body is soft. As cells begin to die, bacteria go to work. The bacteria in the body of a dead person begin to break the cells down. The decomposing tissue takes on a horrific look and smell and emits green liquids by the 72nd hour.

The flesh releases hydrogen sulfide and methane as well as other gases. Insects and animals will consume parts of the body if they can get at it. That's the condition Lazarus is in when Jesus arrives. Everyone knows he is dead. As Martha says in verse 39, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench." Because he has been dead four days. The people lived with the horrors of death.

It's also very important to understand what a funeral was like then. When someone died, family, friends, neighbors and even connected strangers poured into their life. In the case of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, they must have been a very prominent family. Let's read verse 17, “When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days.”

Verses 18-19, “Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss.” Jesus comes because He is sympathetic. But it's not just this compassion for them. It is the purpose of God that He would raise this man from the dead in a public place on the very road from Jericho because the funeral has attracted this huge crowd.

Everybody there is becoming an eye witness to a resurrection, and they're going to tell their story far and wide. There are literally going to be hundreds of eye witnesses to this miracle. This is important to strengthen the faith of the disciples, and to put the capstone on miracles that demonstrated His deity. And to force the Jews to kill Him because He is having way too much impact.

So Jesus was coming to a very crowded scene and there were all these people there, hundreds who are all being set up. They are to be eye witnesses of a resurrection. Jesus comes back to a scene of death, announces that He is the life, and gives life. So Jesus makes His great claim beginning in verse 20, “When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.”

Mary is the pensive, thoughtful, inward kind of personality and Martha is the busy one, the active one, the aggressive one. She gets the word that the Savior is on the way, and as soon as she gets the word that He's on the way, she charges in that direction. Mary stays back. She's broken hearted. She's sad. She doesn't even know Jesus is coming. She is just agonizing over the loss of her brother.

But as Martha reached Jesus, the thought was that Jesus should have been there; and if Jesus hadn't left, this wouldn't have happened. Verse 21, “Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Did she know He had healing power? Sure. She has no question about His ability to heal the sick because He did that virtually His entire ministry.

She knew Jesus was capable of healing Lazarus’ illness, but her faith comes short of believing that He could raise him from the dead. There's doubt, but then there's also hope in verse 22, “But even now I know that God will give You whatever you ask.” She also understands by her testimony that Jesus in His incarnation has submitted Himself to the will of the Father.

This lady got a solid Christology. She got it. And Jesus no doubt stayed at their home many times, but somehow with all that she knew, there was this pain that testifies to a faith that comes short of believing His power to raise the dead. Verse 23-24, Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”

Martha knows there is a future resurrection. How does she know that? She knows the book of Job. What did it say in Job 19:25-27, “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! 27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.” Job was confident of a resurrection.

She knew Daniel 12:2, “Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.” She heard the Lord in John 5:28-29, “For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear My voice 29 and come forth. Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Verse 25, “Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” This is the fifth of seven ‘I Ams’ in the gospel of John. That's the Tetragrammaton, the name of God. Verse 26, “Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” So here is this great claim to be the ‘I Am’, the one who is the source of life.

Verse 27, “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” That's the salvation path. She didn't even know about the cross yet because He hadn't died. She didn't know about His resurrection yet because it hadn't happened, but she believed everything that had been revealed up to that point. She is an Old Testament believer.

The evidence is massive. After His resurrection, He appeared to the apostles. He appeared to 500 brethren at once in one place. There's so much evidence. Do you believe? If you do not believe, it is not because there is not enough evidence. This entire gospel is written, "That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing you might have eternal life in His name."

Verse 28-31, “Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” 29 So Mary immediately went to Him. 30 Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met Him.” 31, When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there.”

Verse 32-35, When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a He groaned in the Spirit, and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” He asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept.”

This is a word that shows everything. There is sorrow, indigence and suffering. Every emotion grips Him in His spirit, in His inner person, and He was troubled. He let Himself feel everything. This is like what Hebrews says, "He is in all points tempted like as we are." He has been touched with the feelings of our infirmities as our High Priest.

He understands the pain and suffering of all humanity that faces the same inevitable hour of human loss. He understands what sin has done to the world and what unbelief has done to these people who are gathered around Him. He felt the pain that will literally be imposed on every human family yet to live on this planet that faces the same reality. And worse, the pain of unbelief and its horrendous result.

Verse 36, “Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” That was true. But they didn't see the whole picture. They didn't know that what led to that outburst was far more than His affection for Lazarus. It was all the reality of sin and death and unbelief and judgment in hell that was behind that scene, and there He stands at the edge of the tomb, sobbing. What happens next you will hear next week. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Jun 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210620 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001A5 imblog

John 11:1-16

We have looked at profound truth that is disclosed through John’s history of our Lord Jesus Christ, but as we come to John 11, we come to a narrative. It is really an account of a miracle, and it takes up the whole chapter. I can’t tell the whole story in one sermon. I need to break it up in parts. We need to take this slowly so that we can absorb all of its incredible truth.

It is the account of the miracle of our Lord raising Lazarus from the dead. And while the story is very familiar to us, in its detail it is much richer. So we want to make sure that we cover the details. This is the climactic, culminating sign to end John’s list of signs in this gospel that point to the deity of Christ. John has an apologetic purpose that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Nowhere in other accounts of His miracles do we see more magnificently the coming together of His humanity and His deity. We see His humanity and His sympathy and His relationships to an earthly family. We see His sovereignty in His power and His display of glory in overwhelming death. This miracle was the culminating miracle in His public ministry and this miracle occurs only in John.

But John writes that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with very careful detail. First of all, to declare one more incomparable, undeniable proof of the claims of Jesus, affirmed by many eye witnesses that He is God. This is the resurrection of a man who had been dead for four days. Decay would have set in because Jews do not embalm. When someone died, they were buried as fast as possible.

The purpose of this miracle is to display the power and sovereign, divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, but not just that. It’s also for the sake of increasing the faith of those who were eager to believe. In verse 15 Jesus says about not being there when he died, “I’m glad for your sakes, I was not there so that you may believe.” This miracle was to produce greater faith in the disciples.

But there’s also a third purpose of this miracle and that is to hasten the issue of Jesus’s murder because God’s timing is near. This happens just before His final Passover. He is to die by God’s plan on the Passover as the true Passover Lamb. And while the Jews had tried on a number of occasions to kill Him, they were never able to succeed at that because it was not yet His hour.

But now with this undeniable miracle, witnessed by many eye witnesses in the thousands who knew of this miracle, the rigid, permanent, irreconcilable unbelief of the Jews reaches a hostile level that leads to His execution. And that is precisely God’s plan. So this great miracle precipitates His death and provides proof for His deity. It is a monumental thing that happened.

We live in a culture that is relentless barraged with entertainment that is elevated and saturated with fantasy and unreal things. Movies and television are just jam packed with the unreal offered as if it’s reality, the fantasy world. And it’s hard for people to see the resurrection of a man 4 days dead who walks out of his grave in a small village in Judea 2,000 years ago as something that really matters.

How do you compare that with Harry Potter, flying witches, angels, vampires, aliens who constantly defy natural law? So what’s the big deal about a resurrection in a village in Israel 2,000 years ago? This is Satan’s successful effort at confusing people about the miraculous and confusing them about reality. Jesus made up stories, and they’re called parables. But not one parable Jesus ever created is a fantasy.

All His stories are in the real world, real people, real issues and real relationships. He never used fantasy to articulate a spiritual truth. Jesus never moved into the world of fantasy, but the closest He came as His depiction of the real world when He talked about the rich man in torment and Lazarus in the presence of God. But Jesus didn’t use fantasy. He used reality to communicate reality.

Still, this miracle does expose skepticism. Remember in the Luke 16, the story of the rich man who went to hell and Lazarus who was in Abraham’s bosom? And the rich man said to Abraham, “Send Lazarus back from the dead to warn my brothers,” and Jesus said in the story, “If they don’t believe Moses and the prophets, they won’t believe though one rose from the dead.”

The purpose of this miracle is to put His glory on display so that people believe, and those who already believed had their faith strengthened. This is the seventh miracle in John’s gospel. The other six: turning water to wine, healing the nobleman’s son, restoring the lame man, multiplying loaves and fish, walking on water and giving sight to the blind man, and now number seven is giving life to a dead man.

Has Jesus raised others from the dead? Yes, He has. We have two others that are indicated in the New Testament gospels. In Mark, Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter, who when He started to talk with Jairus was only sick, but she did die, and He raised her immediately. And then in Luke is the funeral procession of the son of the widow of Nain. Jesus stops the procession and raises that dead son.

But in both cases, they are recent deaths. There had been very little time for decay, but in the case of Lazarus, by the time Jesus comes to the grave to find Lazarus there, verse 17 says he has already been dead for four days. This sets the miracle of of Lazarus apart from all the other resurrections. And the Jews believed that the spirit of a person hovered over the body for a first couple of days, and then leaves.

So even in their tradition, there would have been the sense that this is a real death, and that whatever spirit may have hovered was long gone. Now, let us read John 11:1-16, “A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was very sick.”

“3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” 4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days.”

“7 Finally, he said to His disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” 8 But His disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?” 9 Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.”

“11 Then He said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” 12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. 14 So He told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”

“16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.” Now, as you look at this initial section, we’re just looking at the characters of Lazarus, the sisters and the disciples. Verse 1, “A certain man.” We know he was a believer in Jesus Christ because his sisters confirmed that in verse 27. “Lord,” says Martha, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

Here comes a messenger to Jesus with word about this man, Lazarus. It also tells us that Bethany was the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary is a common name because it was a variation on the name Miriam, the sister of Moses. Miriam was the one who saved the life of Israel’s greatest hero, Moses. So many parents chose to name their daughters Mary.

Verse 2, “This is the Mary, who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick.” But that story doesn’t come until John 12. But that’s okay because that story had already been told in detail in Matthew and Mark and it had been circulating for a very long time by the year 90 in the first century when John writes this gospel.

All we know about Lazarus is that he was sick. Verse 3, “So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling Him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” We don’t know what he was sick with, but we know why he was sick. Verse 4, “But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.”

“Who sinned? This man or his parents?” Jesus said, “Nobody sinned, but this is for the glory of God.” I’m going to put my divine glory on display. It just comes because we live in a fallen world. There is sickness that is a discipline from God on His own people. “Some of you,” Paul says, “are weak and sick, and some of you sleep because of tampering with the sanctity of the Lord’s Table.”

So there is sickness that is a divine judgment. And there is sickness that is for the glory of God. The sisters don’t give Jesus any instructions. They talk only of Jesus’s love for Lazarus. Jesus had personal affection for him. It’s obvious that as God, He loves the world, that as God He loves His own who are in the world, and He loves them to perfection. But that’s not the thought here.

This is an insight into the full humanity of Jesus. He is a man and like every person. A perfect man with all the needs of a man. This is part of what makes Him such a merciful, faithful High Priest able to be touched with all the feelings of our infirmities. Because some of our infirmities have nothing to do with physical well-being. They have to do with intimate relationships.

So the sisters send that message, and they know that’s all that has to be said. The messenger arrives after a day’s journey. And Jesus says in verse 4, “This sickness will not end in death.” But there already is death because by the time the messenger gets there, Lazarus is dead. They realized the critical condition of Lazarus and dispatched the messenger, and he died right after that.

But that’s not the end of the story. “No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” Verse 5-6, “So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days.” Lazarus has been dead for a day while the messenger has gotten there. He waits two more days, and then after two days, verse 7, “Finally, He said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

So for two days they keep preaching and ministering, and people are believing and they’re having a great time. But now their worst fears are realized. Verse 8, “But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?” The sisters on the other hand really wanted Jesus to come sooner.

Jesus answers with an interesting proverb. Verses 9 -10, “Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.” What is the meaning of this? We are now moving from the critical man and the concerned sisters to the disciples.

His answer is a simple proverb. Nothing any friend can do can lengthen the daylight. Nothing any enemy can do can shorten the daylight. It is all fixed by God, and so is my life. And in that light of life which God has ordained for me, I will not stumble. That is to say, nothing will happen to me that is outside the plan. I’m going in the light of God’s divine day. A day can’t finish before its ordained end.

The time allotted to me to accomplish my earthly ministry is fixed by God. It can’t be lengthened by any precautionary measures. You don’t have to run from your enemies, and you can be bold and you can step right into the face of your enemies because they can’t shorten it. My day is what God has ordained it will be, and in that I go forward with confidence and boldness.

Verse 11, “Then He said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” Verse 12-14, “The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. 14 So He told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” They need to understand that what He means is I’m going to raise him from the dead.

So in verse 15 He says, “And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.” Yes, they believed in Him. Yes, they had affirmed that He was the Christ, the Son of God, but they needed faith to be strengthened. It wasn’t just that they would believe, but that Mary and Martha would have their faith strengthened as well. This is a glory display that will produce faith.

Verse 16, “Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.” He gets a lot of negativity for that, but just think about this. This is a courageous pessimist. He said, “Let’s go and die with Him.” This man knows what Luke 9:23 means, “If you want to come after Me, deny yourself and take up your cross.” And that means that it might cost us our lives. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Jun 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210613 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001A3 imblog

John 10:31-42

The Jews didn’t mistake His claims. They knew Jesus was claiming deity. They knew He was claiming to be equal with God. And so immediately, we go from His claim at the end of verse 31, “They pick up stones.” Then verse 32, “Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?” Jesus stops them with the stones in their hands.

 

The majestic calm of Jesus here is really amazing. He stops them dead in their violent tracks. Not surprising because He evacuated the temple at the beginning of His ministry; He’ll do it again at the end, and it was full of tens of thousands of people who fled as fast as they could, simply because of the power He had. When they came to arrest Him, the temple police came back without Him.

 

They said, “Well, why don’t you bring Him?” And they said, “No man ever spoke like this man.” Just His words stopped their action. And as violent as these Jews were, as out of control as their anger was, He stopped them with His words. Their arms are lowered, apparently in verse 33, “They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.”

 

This complete calm of Jesus subdued the violence. His statement is sensible, reasonable and rational. “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?” “At my Father’s direction” is the key phrase. Nicodemus had said in John 3, “No one can do the things You do unless God is with Him.” Nicodemus knew this couldn’t be satanic. It had to be divine.

 

He knew it was supernatural. It had to come from God. That was the obvious conclusion because of the moral perfection of Christ, the magnificence and beauty of the works that He did. Jesus didn’t do evil works, the kinds of things that come from hell. He said, “I showed you many good works.” Kalos. Excellent and noble. Not just morally good, but expansively and beautiful works.

 

His miracles were wonders of joy, giving sight to blind people, and hearing to deaf people, and a voice to those who were mute. Jesus gave new limbs to the paralyzed, and new organs to the diseased, and new life to the dead. They were just unparalleled miracles of wonder and beauty. So for which of the good work from the Father do you stone Me? This just stops them.

 

They said, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.” We’re stoning You for blasphemy. And based on the Mosaic Law, a blasphemer had to be stoned. They thought they were carrying out their righteous duty. There are people now who have denied the humanity of Christ, who have said that He was some kind of a phantom.

 

But in the Jewish leader’s minds, clearly He was a man. This was not debatable. This was not open to question. Everyone knew He was a man. First John says if you deny that the Son of God, the Messiah, has come in the flesh, you’re judged by God. He is a man. He was born the way men are born. He lived as a child and as a young man, and was fully human in every sense.

 

So, you are a blasphemer because You being a man, make Yourself out to be God, which in their minds is the ultimate and extreme blasphemy. So, they feel it is their religious duty to kill Him at that very moment. The stones may be still in their hands. But, for whatever reason, no stone is thrown. And it has to be the very divine restraint imposed on them by the Son of God Himself.

 

And He causes them to have to think. Look at verse 34-36, “Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’ 35 And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ 36 why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.”

 

Jesus says, “Could you just be objective for a minute? Can you just think with me for a moment? Can you set aside your fury, emotion and hate? Stop and consider the Old Testament. Why are you so angry that I am calling Myself God? When in your own Scripture, men are called gods. This shows the mental ability of Jesus, who is able to find in an instant the Old Testament and pluck out a psalm.

 

Look at Psalm 82, because that’s what He quoted. Psalm 82 is a judgment by God on the rulers of Israel. Verse 1, “God presides over heaven’s court; He pronounces judgment on the rulers.” And these rulers were judges, who adjudicated issues and solved problems. Verse 2 says, “How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked? You are the ones that are corrupt.”

 

You’re supposed to be their protectors. Verse 3, “Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.” Verse 4, “Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.” Verse 5, But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core.”

 

Everything that holds together society is loose because there’s no justice. Verse 6, “I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High.” What does He mean? You are the representatives of the one true God. You are God’s agents in the world. You are the sons of the Most High. He is delegated authority to you, and you receive His Word. That’s also what it says in John 10.

 

If God called them gods to whom the Word of God came, they were the ones who were to teach, and apply and uphold the Word of God. Verse 7-8, “But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’ And you think you are more than you really are. “But you will die like men, and fall like every other ruler. 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses the nations.”

 

Jesus says, “In the Old Testament, corrupt judges were called gods.” But the word was used for them because they received the Word of God, and they were the agents of God. Well, if God Himself in Scripture called them gods, to whom the Word of God came. Do you say of Him, whom the Father sent into the world, “You are blaspheming because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’”

 

In this encounter, Jesus makes an amazing statement in verse 35. He says, “To whom the Word of God came,” and, “the Scripture cannot be broken.” The Word of God and the Scripture are synonyms. The Holy Spirit here, inspires John to write the words of our Lord Jesus accurate, and the Lord Jesus equates the Word of God with the Scripture, and the Scripture with the Word of God.

 

That one phrase is real important. What does He mean? Scripture cannot be broken? The word broken, it’s not a word like broken in English. The word is luō in the Greek, which means dismissed, eliminated. So what is our Lord saying? Scripture cannot be changed. This passage is Christ’s view of Scripture, that it is a seamless chain, and not one link can be pulled out. Not one.

 

The passage itself in Psalm 82 has no connection to His deity, but He uses that word, “gods,” there to make a point from the lesser to the greater. But He stops in the middle of that and makes this powerful, overarching statement that Scripture cannot be broken. And while He’s very busy proving that His claim to deity is valid by His works, He doesn’t try to prove this statement. Scripture cannot be broken.

 

Why doesn’t Jesus prove it? Because they don’t question that. They understand that. It’s a chain. All the links have to be in place. Scripture is the final word. You can’t tamper with Scripture. In fact, He makes His whole argument on one word in one obscure verse in a Psalm. You can’t loosen a word and pull it out. That’s because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

 

So, whenever we get into discussions about the authority, the inerrancy, the accuracy, the inspiration of Scripture, we need to start with: what did Jesus think of Scripture? Because His view is God’s view. You can’t pull a word out. And our Lord, in a discussion about the most serious claim He could ever make, turns His argument on one word. On just one word. This was His view of Scripture.

 

Let us look at another illustration. Matthew 22:23-33, “That same day Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead.” Why did they say that? Because they believed that the first five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, were authored by God, and all the rest of the Old Testament was human commentary on the first five books.

 

And Moses didn’t write about resurrection. They saw themselves as the preservers of the true religion, by rejecting all oral tradition, all written tradition and all rabbinical tradition. So they want to confound Jesus about the resurrection. So they tell them this story about seven brothers. There was a law in the Old Testament that if a man died, his brother, if he was unmarried, would marry his wife and care for her.

 

So in this situation of seven brothers, the first marries and dies, no children. The second marries and dies. All the way down to the seventh. And so they ask, whose wife will she be in heaven? Verse 29, “Jesus replied, “You don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. 30 For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.”

 

Let’s get back to the resurrection. Verse 31-32, “But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, and He quotes Exodus 3:6 where God says: 32 “‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

 

If there’s no resurrection, God should have said, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” But when He says, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” it is to say that they are now alive, and the whole argument turns not only on a word, but on a tense, which is the present tense. What was Jesus’ view of Scripture? You can’t take out a word. And you cannot touch a tense or change anything.

 

Let us go back to John 10:36-38, “Why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.” 37, “Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work.” 38, “But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”

 

How does Jesus prove that He is God? Believe the works, so you may know and understand. The only way to eternal life is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe He is God in human flesh. You can’t possibly call me a blasphemer if you look at My works. And the notion that I do what I do by the power of hell is merely a revelation of the corruption of your own heart.

 

Verse 39, “Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them.” It didn’t matter what He said. They were fixed in their unbelief. And they would scream for His blood all the way till they saw the Romans nail Him to a cross. He disappeared. They could not kill Him, because His hour had not come. They weren’t able for three months, until God’s timing was perfect in the final Passover.

 

But there’s a delightful ending. There are not only rejecters; there are also receivers of the truth. Verse 40, “He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile.” He went away for three months to a place called Bethany. This is different than the Bethany which was adjacent to Jerusalem where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived.

 

This was where John began his ministry. So, where John began his ministry is where Jesus ended His. So He was staying there until John 11 when He comes back during the Passover time, to enter Jerusalem to die. Verse 41, “And many followed Him. “John didn’t perform miraculous signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about this man has come true.”

 

Now there’s a mandate for a preacher. We don’t do miracles. John the Baptist performed no signs. But everything John said about Jesus Christ is true. That’s what ministry is. John was beheaded. But they remembered what he said. It might’ve been that there was a community of people there. And John showed from the Old Testament how Jesus was the Messiah.

 

These are the people who saw the miracles and believed they were from God, and John’s ministry comes to fruition long after he was dead. There was the echo of what he said about Jesus that was proven true through the works of Christ. And as a result, verse 42, “And many who were there believed in Jesus.” Do you believe the works of Jesus as supernatural?

 

And if He is God, then you must believe that He is who He claimed to be. If you believe, you receive salvation, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, a place in God’s family, the gift of the Holy Spirit, promise of heavenly glory, everlasting bliss and joy. That’s the gospel. That’s the Christian message, and it comes from Scripture, and Scripture always tells the truth. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Jun 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210606 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001A2 imblog

John 10:22-42

John 10 ends with Jesus leaving Jerusalem for three months. In John 11, He comes back and raises Lazarus from the dead, and in John 12 He enters into Jerusalem, the beginning of Passion Week. Then John 13, 14, 15, and 16 all take up one night in the upper room. John 17 is His prayer to the Father. In John 18, He is arrested. In John 19 - 20, He dies and rises again. John 21 is sending the disciples and recovering Peter.

So as John lays out the reality of the life of Christ, we’re just a few months from the very end. In John 11, we begin to see the drama at its highest peak as we move toward the cross and the resurrection. John 10 is John’s final picture of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus began His public ministry by calling His disciples. We saw miracles where He showed His deity, with words in which He claimed to be God, the ‘I Am.’

John closes his gospel by saying: “If he wrote down everything that Jesus did, the books of the world couldn’t contain it.” So this is a short look at the life of Christ with a specific purpose. And the purpose is given in John 20:31, “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.”

There’s enough here to know that He is God in human flesh. There’s enough here to believe that, and have eternal life. So, the first 10 chapters of John lay out primarily the claims of Jesus. John 1 starts with, “The Word was with God. The Word was God. The Word became flesh.” And we have the testimony of John the Baptist concerning the Messiah, the redeemer, the Lamb of God.

This then in John 10, is the clearest, most explicit statement of the deity of Christ. John 10:30 says, “I and my Father are one.” The one-ness that Jesus is claiming is not one-ness in purpose or mission or theology. The one-ness that He is talking about is one-ness in nature, one-ness in essence, one-ness in being. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh, dwelled among us. We saw His glory.”

The glory of the premier one, from the Father, full of grace and truth. In John 5:17 He said, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” They understood what He was saying. Verse 18 says, “Therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”

So the Jews tell us what He meant when He called Himself the Son of God. He was claiming to have the same essence as God as a son has the same essence as his father. Verse 23, “So that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent Him.” Verse 26, “As the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.”

He has equal life, does equal work, has equal authority, and has equal power, because He is equal. Now, this claim to deity infuriated the Jews. And by the time we get to the end of John 10, for the fourth time, they will have tried to kill Him, and He will have to escape. This is a steady desire on their part to reach some moment when, in the eyes of the crowds, they will be justified in executing Him.

When Jesus said He was the Son of God, they knew He was claiming the same essence as God. That’s how they used the expression, “son of.” If someone was called a son of Belial, he would be manifesting the same wicked nature as Satan. If people were called, sons of thunder, it meant that they had a volatility. To say you’re the Son of God is to claim to have the same essence as God Himself.

In verse 30, Jesus makes the clearest declaration, “I and My Father are one.” Verse 31, “The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.” Jesus stops them. 32 He answered and said, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” 33 The Jews answered, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a Man, make Yourself out to be God.”

Any identification of Jesus by anyone, at any time, that makes Him less than God is blasphemy. The leaders of Israel had turned blasphemy upside down. They had turned Jesus into a blasphemer when they were the blasphemers for denying His deity. They accused Him of blasphemy, and they knew from Leviticus 24:16, that genuine blasphemy had a death penalty placed upon it.

Now, in John 10, Jesus is not the blasphemer; but they are. Here is John’s final scene in our Lord’s public ministry. Jesus has displayed His deity through His words and works. Nicodemus summed it up when he said, “No one can do the things You do unless God is with Him.” But the nation of Israel led by the apostate sons of Satan who had devised a damning form of Judaism were producing sons of hell.

The constant rejection of the leaders and the people has been chronicled in every chapter of John. You see that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke as well. They like to confront Him with a question. Except for the fact that they had such corrupt motives. They only wanted to put Him in a public situation where He would say something that was so blasphemous, they would be justified in taking His life.

So let’s look at the setting. Verse 22, “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” It’s not an Old Testament feast. It’s now two months after the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, which celebrated the wilderness wandering. And this is the Feast of Dedication. It is also called Feast of Lights, and the contemporary Jewish word for that is Hanukkah.

Why did they call it the Feast of Lights? Because the way they celebrated it was to light candles and lamps in all their houses as a symbol of their celebration. While it’s not an Old Testament feast, it has a very interesting tradition that predates the New Testament. Between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there’s a 400 year period called the intertestamental period.

That was 400 very difficult years for the Jews. They rejected God, went through lots of judgment, lots of suffering. But it reached a climax around 170 years before Christ. A powerful Syrian monarch came along whose name was Antiochus. He was a narcissistic, self-promoting madman, and he wants power over Israel. So he is the first pagan king who persecuted Jews for their religion.

In 167 B C he made a law, where he wanted to Hellenize everybody. So he entered Jerusalem with a mighty force in 170 BC, and he immediately went inside the temple and slaughtered a pig in the holy of holies. Then, he erected a statue of Zeus there. That was the start of a systematic effort to erase Judaism. He was brutal in his oppression of the Jews where many were slaughtered.

They were forbidden to honor the Sabbath day. They were forbidden to circumcise their children. Savage persecution called the Jews to revolt led by a priest named Mattathias. And one of his sons named Judas Maccabeus led the Jews to retake Jerusalem. And it was on the 25th of Kislev that they established the Feast of Dedication to commemorate the liberation of the temple.

So, the Feast of Dedication is being celebrated at Jerusalem, commemorating this great deliverance with the Feast of Lights, Hanukkah. Then verse 22 says, “It was winter.” It was winter not only on the calendar, November, December, but it was winter spiritually. The Son of righteousness who had arisen with healing in His Lights had run His orbit and is fading back to blackness.

Verse 23, “And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.” When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586, they destroyed the temple. But they didn’t destroy that back wall on the eastern side that 600 feet of retaining wall. That was called the porch of Solomon. They built a great patio porch and a roof, and that’s where people would need to go when they came to the temple if it was winter.

Verse 24, “Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” That is so hypocritical. They’d already tried to kill Him three times. When He said before, Abraham was, I Am, they picked up stones to attack Him. They knew exactly who He claimed to be. But this is all a pretense to extract a blasphemy so they can kill Him.

Verse 25, “Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.” Why don’t people believe? Because the light exposes their sin. Why do people persecute Christians? For the very same reason that they persecuted Jesus. Jesus says this in John 7:7, “The world hates Me because I testify of it that its deeds are evil.”

Adulterers don’t want to hear that. Homosexuals don’t want to hear that. Liars, thieves don’t want to hear that. Corrupt people don’t want to hear that. Why? Because they love the darkness. Their deeds are evil. They love their sin. It is the love of sin that produces unbelief. And you can unload evidence, but unless the heart is turned to hate sin, there’s not going to be any faith.

These Jewish people, like all people, love sin. But Jesus said this in John 7:17, “If anyone is willing to do God’s will, he will know of the teaching, whether it’s of God, or whether I speak from Myself.” If you love your sin, you will hate the gospel. If you desire to do the will of God, which means you hunger for righteousness, you will know the truth and you will believe it.

Christianity can’t change its message and stop being offensive. We have the most offensive message that’s ever been given by anyone. We testify to people that their deeds are evil, that they love their sin, and their darkness, and that judgment will take them to hell. It is the love of sin, and the hatred of righteousness that produces unbelief, even when all the evidence is there.

Verse 26, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.” That’s the divine side. You will receive a just punishment for that unbelief. You don’t belong to me. It refers to verse 14, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me.” We have seen this sovereign purpose of God in salvation early in the gospel of John.

In John 3, when Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and Nicodemus has this question about eternal life and how that’s going to happen. Jesus explains to him that it’s a supernatural, a heavenly miracle. It’s a creation, and nobody can create himself. So, the question arises: well, how does that happen? And Jesus says this: the Holy Spirit comes and goes as He wills. It’s not at your discretion, it’s at His discretion.

John 6:37 says, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” The Father has chosen the sheep, and written their names down. The Father will give the sheep to Me in His own time and they will come to Me. And I will certainly not reject them because I’ve come to do the will of Him who sent me. And verse 44 says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”

But I believe fully in the sinner’s responsibility to repent and believe. I confess that I have never been able to comfortably harmonize those two realities. But I will not destroy either by coming up with some humanly-devised middle-ground. The people who crucified Jesus were fully responsible for doing that. They were judged for doing that, and condemned for doing that. And so are all unbelievers.

Verse 27-29, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” That is so absolute that it shows the reality of that chain of sovereign purpose and divine intention.

This is essentially the grand overview of divine sovereign salvation. God chooses, draws, holds, raises, and nobody’s lost in the process. My sheep hear My voice. True sheep are eager to hear the master’s voice. If one is chosen to be a sheep, he is secure in that choice, which is then worked out in redemptive history. Eternal life is eternal. Jesus says, “And they will never perish.”

Do you understand that every saved person is a love gift from the Father to the Son? And that is the reason you’re a believer is because God chose you before the foundation of the world, wrote your name down in the book of life to be a love gift to His Son. The Father wants to bring Jesus glory for a wedding feast, and a bridal city, to live forever, to honor and glorify the bridegroom.

And in verse 30, the claim comes with strength, “I and the Father are one.” It says that the unity that Christ has with the Father is a unity of essence that is divine, supernatural, eternal, and holy. Don’t let any professor or any writer or any philosopher confuse you. People in our world don’t want to hear anybody speak with authority, especially the Lord Jesus Christ with the standards that He has.

Verse 31, “Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.” There they are at that lowest level of conflict. Verse 32-33, “Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

Why such hostility? Jesus says in john 7 that no one believed in Him. So Jesus said, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always available. The world cannot hate you.” Why? They are not believers. “Because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.” Any sentimental approach to preaching Jesus will avoid persecution. But when you tell sinners that their deeds are evil, you will be persecuted. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 May 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210530 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001A1 imblog

John 10:11-21

Our Lord had been in a confrontation with the leaders of Israel. And they had rejected Him, and they had declared their hatred of Him, and they were on a course to kill Him. In fact, by the time you get to John 10, they have tried at least three times to kill Him. In John 8, He escalated this by saying to them, “You’re of your father, the devil. He is a liar and a murderer, and so you are liars and murders as well.”

John 8 ends with this: “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him. Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.” So He escapes a vigilante mob execution. On His way out of the temple, He sees a blind man begging. The man had been blind from birth and Jesus stops and heals him. By then, the Pharisees, had caught up with Him. They felt threatened by the fact that Jesus is so popular.

The Jews had made a law that if anyone confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Well, Jesus healed the blind man, and then the blind man came to faith in Christ. So, the man was healed physically and spiritually. As a result he violated their law. He confessed Jesus as Messiah, Lord and Savior. They throw him out of the synagogue and they still want to kill Jesus.

The context here is that Jesus does a great miracle that has no other explanation. This is a man congenitally blind, who was totally instantly healed. But it has no effect on how they feel about Jesus. Their hostility has in fact, demonstrated that they are false leaders who, instead of acknowledging their Messiah, reject Jesus, and want to execute their Messiah. They are the false shepherds of Israel.

Shepherding was a metaphor in the ancient world that people understood in an agrarian society. It was very common in the Old Testament. They all understood that because the land of Israel was full of sheep and shepherds. Shepherds spoke of care and feeding and protection. These Jews were men who appointed themselves shepherds of Israel, but they were false shepherds. They were wolves in sheep’s clothing.

As we come to John 10, Jesus explains how a good shepherd conducts his life. We looked at last week, verses 1 to 10. A shepherd knows his own sheep. He has the responsibility to lead and feed his own sheep. The sheep know their master’s voice, and they follow him. At night, thieves and robbers may try to climb over the wall and fleece or slaughter the sheep.

The shepherd is committed to protecting them at night, and then in the morning coming and leading them out and, by name, one by one, to green pastures and still waters. The shepherd is even the door, because they have to pass by him to be identified as his own. The reality becomes clear in the language in verse 9, “I am the door; if anyone comes through Me, he will be saved.”

This is a picture of the salvation provided by the true shepherd. The divine Shepherd has His own sheep. They have been given to Him by the Father. They have been chosen before the foundation of the world. He knows them all by name. The elect are in the fold of the world. But the voice of the Shepherd calls, and they hear and they follow that voice. This is irresistible grace; this is the effectual call to salvation.

The shepherd is the door. He’s speaking metaphorically because in the same verse, He is talking about salvation. But in verse 11-12, He says specifically, “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”

Verse 13-16, “The hireling flees because he works for money and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”

Verse 17-20, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” 19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. 20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”

Verse 21, “Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” So here, in verses 11 to 21, our Lord explains how He fulfills the identity of the Good Shepherd. He is the One prophesied in Ezekiel 34. Jesus tells them this because the religious leaders of Israel were known as the shepherds of Israel, but they were false shepherds.

This is the fourth “I am” in the gospel of John. “I am” is a Tetragrammaton in Hebrew, which is the name of God. So they all are claims to deity as well in the context of each one. For example: I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the door. I am the Good Shepherd. All are affirmations of His deity that are found in the “I am” statement of it.

Verse 11, “I am the Good Shepherd.” Then He repeats it immediately, “the good shepherd,” again. The emphasis here is this: “I am the shepherd, the good one.” As if to say, “in contrast to all the bad ones.” There are two words in Greek for “good.” One is agathos, from which you get the name “Agatha.” Agathos means morally good. It’s a familiar word in the New Testament.

The other word is kalos, the opposite of kakos, which is “to be bad.” Kalos is to be good not only in the sense of moral quality, but it means to be beautiful, to be magnificent, to be attractive, to be lovely, to be excellent on all levels, not just in that which is unseen in terms of character, but in all aspects. I am the shepherd, the excellent one, as contrasted to the ugly dangerous ones.

Now, the Jews had an idea about who was the best shepherd. For them, historically, it was David. David the shepherd boy who cared for his father’s flocks and defeated Goliath, and became the king of Israel. But in John 5, Jesus claims to be greater than Moses, and in John 8, He claims to be greater than Abraham, “before Abraham was I am.” Here He is the shepherd greater than David.

Jesus is the shepherd who is the premier one. He was telling those Jews that He was God, because they knew Psalm 23, “the Lord is my shepherd.” They knew Psalm 80, the “Shepherd of Israel.” They knew what Isaiah the prophet said about God shepherding His people. He is saying: “I am the shepherd, the premier one.” Again, this was another claim to being God.

His goodness as a shepherd is seen here in three ways. One, He dies for them; two, He loves them; three, He unites them. In verse 11, the shepherd, the good one, first “lays down His life for the sheep.” Shepherds were totally responsible for their sheep. It was a man’s job, and it was high risk, and it was dirty. Amos 3:12 describes a shepherd who took two legs and an ear out of the lion’s mouth.

Jesus is God in a body, and He gave up His body. But it’s more than that, and it’s bound up in the word “life.” He lays down His life. It’s not the word bios or zoe. Those are the two words for “life” in Greek. Bios is biological life; and Zoe, meaning the study of life. But it was neither of those scientific words. It’s the word psuche, which is the word for “soul,” which speaks of the whole person.

The psuche is the inside. He gave up His soul, His whole person. He didn’t just feel the pain of the nails in His body, and the pain of the thorns in His body, and the pain of the scourging in His body. His whole soul was tortured with sin-bearing suffering. In Matthew 20:28, Jesus said, “The Son of man gives His soul a ransom for many.” He gives His soul, His whole person.

Why did He voluntarily lay down His soul? He does it for the sheep. That’s exactly what it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where Paul explains: “He who knew no sin became sin for us.” This speaks about the substitutionary atonement of Christ, that He took our place, and that He died for us. It was a complete atonement for the sheep whom He knew, and who, when called, would know Him.

But did this shepherd die? No. Because verse 18 says He had the power to “take it up again.” And on the third day, He came out of the grave and re-gathered His scattered sheep. Were they scattered? Yes. Kill the shepherd and the sheep are scattered. But He came back from the grave and re-gathered them, and said, “All that the Father gives to me will come to Me, and I have lost none of them.”

He actually paid in full the penalty for His sheep, whom He knew, and throughout human history is calling to Himself. Very unlike a hired hand. Verse 12, “He who is a hired hand, and not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.” He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

And who is the wolf? Anybody that attacks the sheep. There are many false pastors, false teachers, as there have been throughout history. They say in Matthew 7:22-23, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

There are also wolves dressed like sheep. Jesus said in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” There are false teachers, who instead of protecting the flock, use the flock for their own profit and flee when the danger comes.” But the True Shepherd, He gives His life for the sheep, and is raised up again.

Secondly, He loves his sheep. Verse 14-15, “I am the shepherd, the good one, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” The word “know” here has the idea of a loving relationship. That’s a euphemism for loving intimacy. This implies an intimate loving relationship, a sort of consummated relationship.

Thirdly, Jesus unites the sheep. First with Himself, and then with each other. Verse 16, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” Who are they? The Gentiles, the nations. This is unacceptable to the Jews because they believe Gentiles are outside salvation and the promises of God.

And yet, in Isaiah 42:6-7 we read, “I am God. I have called You in righteousness. I will appoint You as a covenant to the people. 7 As a light to the nations to open blind eyes and bring prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.” That is a messianic promise from God that the Messiah would bring salvation to all the nations for those who believe in Him.

That is why there’s a Great Commission, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person.” Go make disciples of all nations. That’s why Paul in Galatians 3 says, “In Christ, there’s neither Jew nor Greek,” Jew or Gentile. In Ephesians 2, Paul says, “The middle wall of partition is torn down, and we’re all one in Christ.” He brings all of them into intimate unity with Himself.

Verses 17 – 18, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” That’s why the Father loves Me, because of My obedience. Yes, the Father chose Jesus to be the Lamb, the acceptable sacrifice.

Yes, the Father is the One who killed the Son by the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God. He was the sacrifice. But Jesus is telling us this was a perfect act of willing obedience. These are mysteries. Jesus had no capacity to sin. And yet, there’s a real struggle. But that’s what the Father wanted Him to do; that was critical to the plan of salvation, to gather the redeemed into eternal glory.

There’s a final relationship of the Good Shepherd to the world. Verses 19–21 says, “Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. 20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Jesus divided the crowd.

There are divisions among non-believers and that’s what you have here. So, one part in the division were the people who said Jesus is a demon-possessed lunatic. But then there were others in verse 21 who said, “These are not the sayings of a person having a demon.” Demon-possessed people don’t do miracles. So whatever counterfeit things demons do, they cannot do miracles.

Let us close by remembering Hebrews 13:20-21, “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 May 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210523 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000001A0 imblog

John 10:1-10

Now let us study John 10. It’s one of the most beautiful word pictures in all of the New Testament. John 10 really draws on the shepherd imagery which covers Scripture from beginning to end. John 9 was about a man born blind who had become a beggar, and Jesus gave him his sight. The beggar and Jesus were confronted by the leaders of Israel, who disdained the beggar and hated Jesus.

The main characters in John 9 are the leaders of Israel. They are false shepherds, who steal from their own people. In contrast to that, in John 10, to the same disciples and the same Pharisees with the blind beggar and the rest of the Jews, Jesus contrasts Himself with them and He actually says in verse 11, “I am the good Shepherd who lays His life down for His sheep.”

Let us study John 10:1-10, “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!” With that verse, Jesus describes the Pharisees as the false shepherds. They are thieves and robbers who have no authority and no right and no ownership of the sheep that they seek to fleece and destroy.

“2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

“6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the door for the sheep.” 8 All who came before Me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the door. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”

“10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” The picture of the shepherd here is simply a word picture. Jesus doesn’t even identify Himself as the Shepherd until verse 11. The story stands on its own because it’s so familiar to the population of Jerusalem and Judea. They knew enough to know that God Himself was the Shepherd.

So they understood that the earthly aspect of shepherding, but they also understood that that was an illustration of God’s care for His own people. The life of a shepherd was hard. It was outside against all the elements, the heat and the cold. And sheep tend to wander. And it’s easy for sheep to get lost and easy for predators to kill them. So the shepherd’s task was relentless vigilance, danger was all around.

There were shepherds in the Old Testament that were well known to the Jewish people. Abraham was a shepherd. Isaac was a shepherd. Jacob was a shepherd. Moses was a shepherd. He tended the flocks in Midian of his father-in-law. David was a shepherd boy. Fearless courage and patient love for his flock were the necessary characteristics of a good shepherd.

But the most well-known Shepherd in the Old Testament was God. Psalm 23:1 says, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Psalm 77:20 says, “You lead your people like a flock of sheep.” Psalm 79:13 says, “We your people and the sheep of your pastures will give thanks to You.” Psalm 95:7 says, “He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” Shepherding is very intimate.

But notice the prophet Ezekiel 34:2-15, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.”

“4 The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.”

“6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.” 7 ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd.”

Nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock. 9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! 10 Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths.”

“11 ‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land.”

“I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God.”

This is talking about the millennial kingdom yet to come. How is the Lord going to do this? Who is going to take this responsibility? Go to verse 23-24, “I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.”

God is talking about the Son of David, the Messiah Himself when the Lord through the one Shepherd, Jesus Christ, gathers all His people. This prophecy in Ezekiel 34 is fulfilled by Jesus. In the New Testament, there are a number of places where Jesus is referred to as that one Shepherd. In Matthew 18, Jesus is the Shepherd who will give up His life to seek and save the straying sheep.

In Matthew 9:36, Jesus is the Shepherd who has pity on the people because they are “like sheep without a shepherd.” In Luke 12:32, He calls His true disciples His own “little flock.” Look what Peter calls Him. In 1 Peter 2:25, he calls the Lord Jesus the Shepherd of our souls. And the writer of Hebrews 13:20 in that great closing benediction says He is the great Shepherd of the sheep.

Jesus Christ is totally unlike the false shepherds, those Pharisees. They are the ones denounced in Ezekiel 34. The Pharisees, the Jewish leaders had seated themselves in Moses’ seat, Jesus said in Matthew 23. They were false shepherds. They were deadly shepherds. They fleeced the sheep. They took what the people possessed and they caused them not to believe, thus destroying them.

Now let’s look at the story and watch it unfold. It starts with familiar words that are repeated often in John 10:1, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” Each village would have a sheepfold, simply a pen. That pen would be a place where the sheep were brought at night to be safe.

So there were sheep in the fold that belonged to different shepherds. He would check them over from front to back. And he would let them through one by one. He would drop his rod over the next one, and then when he had examined, let him in. That’s why Ezekiel 20:37-38 tells us someday God will cause His people to pass under His rod. In the morning, the shepherds would reappear and call their sheep.

“What is the sheepfold?” In this case, it is Israel. It is Judaism. The sheep are the Jewish people. The good Shepherd comes to the fold of Israel as the true Messiah and calls his own sheep out of Judaism. John 10:16 is also consistent with Ezekiel 34, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.”

What’s the other fold? Gentiles, nations of the world, Jew and Gentile, just as Ezekiel promised that God would gather his flock from all of the nations and all the countries. Who is the door? Verse 2, “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” The guard is not going to let anybody but the shepherd in. And this is to indicate to us that Christ is the rightful Shepherd of His sheep.

Jesus is the rightful Shepherd. He is the one sent from the Father to be the one Shepherd, to lead the elect of Israel out of the fold of Judaism. Who are the thieves and robbers who climb up another way? In this case, the Pharisees, the scribes, the self-appointed false shepherds who make two-fold sons of hell out of their converts, their victims with their false doctrine.

False shepherds are everywhere. They’re everywhere all the time, not just then and not just in Ezekiel’s time, but all through human history. So Jesus, in contrast to the false shepherds of the past and the future, is the true and good Shepherd who doesn’t take life, but gives it. He has come to lead His own whom He knows by name out of Judaism into the green pastures of the new covenant.

Verse 3, “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Sheep knew their master’s voice like a pet does. And they named their sheep. The shepherd always knew his own sheep because he examined them every day and he spent the whole waking day with them. He knew every mark on every one of them.

Jesus, the great shepherd knows His sheep, too. Verse 4, “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” He knows their names because their names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. Jesus has come to call Jewish people out of Judaism, to call Gentile people out of their false religions.

Verse 5, “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” What is our Lord saying here? He is giving us the theology of salvation. The good Shepherd has already chosen His sheep. He possesses sole authority to come into Judaism and into the nations of the world to find His sheep. They recognize His voice and they will follow Him.

Notice that the shepherd leads. He goes ahead of them to make the pathway, to clear the danger, to find the water and the pasture. This is real security, protection and provision. Verse 6, “Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things He spoke to them.” But these are truths that all of us must know. Those who belong to God will hear His voice. And no one comes to Me unless the Father draws that person.

Jesus then adds another word picture. This is one of the “I Am’s” of the gospel of John. Verse 7- 9, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” He’s not only the Shepherd that comes in to take His sheep. He is the door.

He is the only way out. He alone is the door. He repeated again down in verse 9. He leads you out and there is a freedom from bondage. That’s the first time you move from the metaphor to reality, to the theological statement of fact. This is about being saved. This is the saving shepherd. We have nothing to fear, do we? What can separate us from the love of God in Christ?

Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have a bond with our Shepherd that will go right on into the kingdom and then right on into eternity.

God feeds us and sustains us with green pastures through our whole spiritual life. What is that pasture? Well, it’s the Word. Jeremiah 1:9 says, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.” The contrast ends in verse 10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

So be encouraged, faithful missionary. The Lord has chosen them and named them. The Lord Jesus Christ calls them out of this world. They all follow. He leads them from the fold of the world into the salvation in this age and the eternal kingdom. He goes before them to provide them complete protection. And He has called you to be His under-shepherd in this wonderful ministry. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 May 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210516 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000019E imblog

John 9:35-41

Jesus is in Jerusalem. He’s going through one of the temple gates and He comes across a blind man who has been born blind. He is reduced to being a beggar at those entrances. Jesus walks up to him and creates new eyes for him. Because as John tells us, nothing was made except what He made. Everything that was made, He created, and He is still the creator and He creates new eyes for this blind man.

He is immediately able to see. First of all, his neighbors are trying to figure out how this man they know who is blind can now see. So, he goes through an interrogation with his neighbors, but he is convinced that whoever did this is from God. He then is brought to the Pharisees, who are supposed to render some kind of spiritual explanation as to how this could happen. And so, the Pharisees interrogate him.

But they already have their verdict before they start the questioning. They believe that Jesus is an insane, demon-possessed, satanic imposter. So, they reject the testimony of this man, they reject the testimony of the neighbors, and they eventually end up throwing the man who can now see out of the building, and really, out of the life of the nation, and out of the life of Israel.

He’s already an outcast, because anybody who was born blind was believed to have been cursed by God for sin. He has been a pariah and an alien, and consequently a beggar. We know he has a mother and a father. They show up in this story but they are not willing to protect him, just themselves. And if they truly loved their blind son, they would’ve cared for him, as any normal parent would do.

Now when he can see, he’s struggling to get people to accept what has happened. Those who are his neighbors see it, but can’t explain it. The Pharisees see it but refuse to see it. His own parents treat him with disdain. And when the interrogation is over, the last words of the Pharisees in verse 34 were, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” They reject Jesus and they reject the miracle.

Jesus is not there at this point. Jesus enters the scene, in verses 35-41, “When Jesus heard what had happened, He found the man and asked, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 The man answered, “Who is He, sir? I want to believe in Him.” 37 “You have seen Him,” Jesus said, “and He is speaking to you!” 38 “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.”

39 Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?” 41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.”

Now we’re moving from physical blindness to spiritual blindness. The healing is physical. Throughout the Bible, blindness is used metaphorically to represent the human corruption and fallen-ness, and the inability to comprehend God and divine truth. In Isaiah 43:8 we read of people who are blind even though they have eyes. In Jeremiah 5:21, the people who are foolish, who have eyes but do not see.

In Isaiah 56:10, the corrupt leaders of Israel are described as watchmen who are blind, all of who see nothing. Jesus called the Pharisees blind men, and then He called them blind guides. The Apostle Paul, according to Acts 26, was sent with the gospel to the nations “to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light.” That had happened to him on the Damascus road, where he was spiritually blind.

Then he was blinded, physically. And then, he was given sight both physically and spiritually in that Damascus road experience. All sinners, says the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4, are darkened in their understanding. In John 3, our Lord said that sinners love the darkness rather than the light because they cherish their evil deeds. Revelation 3:17 says that sinners are naked, poor and blind.

So the Bible speaks of blindness as a metaphor for spiritual darkness, spiritual corruption, the inability to know God or to know the truth. That natural blindness, because of sin, is compounded by Satan’s power and deception, which makes a kind of double-blindness, spoken of in 2 Corinthians 4: the god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they cannot see the glory of Christ.

When this blindness continues relentlessly, there is a third kind of blindness, a divine judgment blindness that brings about a terminal blindness. Isaiah 44:18 says, “They do not know, nor do they understand.” Why? Because God “has smeared their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so they cannot comprehend.” They will not believe, because they have been hardened as a judgment of God.

Paul wrote of such a judgment in Romans 11:8, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.” Terminal blindness is a judgment of God and the removal of all hope. According to Ephesians 5:11, the whole world is full of people who participate in the works of darkness, because as Colossians 1:13 says, they are part of the domain of darkness.

And in the Old Testament, God talks about the Messiah coming to bring light in Isaiah 9, Isaiah 29, Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 60. The Messiah is seen as the one who brings spiritual light to the world in the midst of darkness. And as the New Testament opens up, in John 1:3–4, we hear that “everything that was made was made by Him. 4 And in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

So God, in His divine purposes, has designed to use blindness and darkness as a metaphor for the spiritual condition. In John 9:1-34 the verses are about physical light, and physical sight. But also of spiritual blindness and spiritual darkness manifested by the Pharisees. In verses 35 to 41, the subject changes from physical sight and light, to spiritual sight and light and spiritual blindness and darkness.

Let us break them into two sections: spiritual sight in verses 35 to 38, that’s the beggar. And spiritual blindness in verses 39 to 41, that’s the Pharisees. The comparison is built on this miracle between spiritual sight, which the beggar receives, and spiritual darkness, in which the Pharisees remain. The beggar is an illustration of one who not only sees physically for the first time, but who will see spiritually for the first time.

There are four elements. The first element is: spiritual sight requires divine initiative. He can’t do anything to help himself. Humanly speaking, it can’t happen on a temporal, physical and natural level. Verse 35, “When Jesus heard what had happened, He found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Jesus found him. This is how you receive spiritual sight.

It all starts by a sovereign purpose in the mind of God. Luke 19:10, “Jesus says the Son of Man is come to seek and save that which was lost.” Romans 3 says no man seeks after God. We wouldn’t know where to go or who to look for. Jesus says to His apostles in John 15:16, “You have not chosen Me. I have chosen you.” That’s why He came. He is the one who is seeking us. He is the finder.

The Lord sought this man for His own purposes, His own sovereign kingdom intentions. He sought him out while this man could’ve never found Him. Christ is always the initiator of salvation, always the seeking Savior. Again, the blind man has no power to give himself physical sight; neither does the sinner have any power to give himself spiritual sight. It has to be initiated in heaven.

These accounts in the New Testament are condensed. We don’t think the conversation was limited to this, but this is the essence that God has revealed to us. Jesus says, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” That’s really important. This man is knows the Old Testament, even though he has never been in a synagogue. We don’t know how, but he knows that no one has ever been healed of blindness.

He knows what characterizes a prophet. He has said of Jesus, “He is of God.” He said, “He’s one who does the will of God. He is one who God hears. He is a prophet.” He also knows the title, Son of Man. He is familiar with Daniel 7:13 which says, “Behold with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming.” This introduces the coming of Messiah to establish His kingdom.

These Jews understood the Messianic title, the Son of Man. And it appears 13 times in the gospel of John because they know Daniel 7 is referring to the Messiah. So, our Lord says to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Do you believe in the Messiah? Do you believe in Messianic theology? Do you believe the Messiah is coming to establish His kingdom? Do you believe that?

The second thing is that spiritual sight requires faith. Verse 36, “The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in Him.” What you’re seeing here is the essence of the doctrine of regeneration at work. It is because of what God has done to open them to believing that they respond to what we say. Here is a man who is saying, “I’m ready to believe. Show me who to believe in.” That is a prepared heart.

Something has been happening in his heart. This divine initiative is not only Jesus finding him, but God, by the power of the Holy Spirit is opening his heart to believe, and that is all he needs. This is not a rational act where you have convinced this person he needs to believe based on facts. The Holy Spirit has enabled him to believe, even before the facts become clear.

Thirdly, spiritual sight confesses Jesus as Lord. Notice verse 37, “You have seen Him,” Jesus said, “and He is speaking to you!” I don’t know how much this man had heard Jesus teach. Certainly, he hadn’t seen any miracles. But God is overcoming his spiritual darkness by giving him faith. And all he wants to know is who he’s supposed to put that faith in. Jesus says, “It is I.”

Verse 38, “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.” He didn’t say, “Could you give me some evidence why I would believe that?” It was sufficient for him that Jesus made him able to see, that he had already declared about Jesus all those things. He’s from God. And if a prophet says, “I am the Son of Man. I am the long-awaited Messiah,” that’s enough for this man.

The Father seeks true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth. How do you know when someone’s a believer? Because he becomes a worshiper. How do you know you are Christian? Not because you got emotionally moved in a meeting and felt sentimental about Jesus. Ask yourself if you love God, if you love the Holy Spirit, if you desire to be obedient, if you desire to please the Lord and if you are a worshiper.

This man falls on his knees in adoration. He is blind physically and spiritually. He is sought by the Lord, physically and spiritually. And he has been given physical sight and spiritual sight. He’s given an opportunity to testify about the Lord. He is forsaken by his family. He is thrown out of the system of his day because of his association with Christ. But he becomes a worshiper as all believers do.

In contrast to that, the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. Verse 39, “Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” To give sight to sinners who repent and believe and “to show those who think they see” like the Pharisees, who think that they can see but in reality are spiritually blind.

There is an immediate judgment that happens at the point at which Christ is introduced. There is a division that takes place between the believer and the unbeliever. In John 3, He says, “If you reject Him, you judge yourself.” You are already judged. If a person sees in Jesus nothing desirable, nothing that that person wants, that is a judgment on that person. That’s a self-condemnation.

That’s the Pharisees. They didn’t need anything. They thought they knew God. They thought they knew the truth. They thought that Jesus was a sinner, a satanic, demonic, insane man. Because they thought they could see, they are totally blind. Spiritual blindness is stubborn, verse 40, “Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”

Spiritually blind people reject sight when it’s offered. Verse 41, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.” You are blind, in the sense that you don’t see your sin. “If you were blind, you would have no sin.” If you have no knowledge of the Scripture, didn’t have Me, didn’t have all the demonstration of who I am, your sin would not be so severe.

You are not blind in the sense that you have been exposed to the truth. You have the law, the prophets, the covenants, the promises and the Old Testament. You have had Me, you’ve heard My words, you’ve seen the miracles. Yes, you are blind to your own sin. Verse 41, “But since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” The religious elite are in darkness. And a blind beggar, sees physically and sees spiritually. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 May 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210509 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000019D imblog

John 9:13-34

From John 1 on, to the very end, it talks about believing. But we’ve also noted, all the way along, that there is also much unbelief. And it also chronicles the rejection of Jesus Christ. We learn that at the beginning in John 1:11, “He came into His own, and His own received Him not.” So John writes that Christ is confronted by constant unbelief, and that is still true today.

God Himself calls all men to believe in His Son. But, the vast majority do not, and the vast majority did not when His Son was walking in their midst. We’ve seen unbelief in a number of forms. We saw the confused unbelief of Nicodemus, to whom Jesus said, “If I have told you earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

There is even the mysterious unbelief of the brothers of Jesus, of whom it is said, “Neither did His brothers believe in Him.” But what stands out is the truth-rejecting, hard-hearted unbelief of the Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests and the rulers of religious Israel. And in John 9 in particular, you get an insight into the character of willful, obstinate, stubborn unbelief.

And starting in verse 13 we see the religious leaders, and the Pharisees in particular investigating a miracle. But as we go through the story, we see the character of unbelief. Now, unbelief comes in many forms. But it demonstrates these kinds of components. And that’s important, because our responsibility is to carry on the gospel ministry, to preach Jesus Christ.

You’re going to confront unbelief. Most all of the people to whom you give the Gospel will reject it. And you need to know how unbelief operates. And in this event, we see in graphic demonstration, the schism between Christianity and Judaism. Between the church with the believers and the synagogue. On the one hand, the Jews affirmed Moses. On the other hand, the believers affirm Christ.

And it is that division that has existed ever since, even to this very hour. So, we will see that schism, which has perpetuated itself through history and will until Israel turns to see the Christ they rejected, and embrace Him for who He is, God. And that will happen someday in the future. We’re going to see how unbelief makes conclusions before it examines the situation. Unbelief establishes false standards.

Unbelief demands more and more evidence, but when it receives that evidence, it doesn’t respond as any thinking person would. So, there’s an irrationality in unbelief. Unbelief does biased research. It can look at facts and come to the wrong conclusion. Unbelief is self-centered and ego-centric. All these things are part of unbelief, but we’ll try to break it down into meaningful words.

First of all, unbelief is hostile. It could even be dangerous. That is why it is unbelievers who ultimately persecute Christians. It were unbelievers who persecuted the apostles and martyred almost all of them. Now the Pharisees have decided that Jesus is demon-possessed and insane. And while not all unbelievers are equally hostile, unbelief is hostile to the truth, and it may take many forms.

Verse 13, “They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind.” Who are they? Go to verse 8. The neighbors and those who previously saw him as a beggar, these people bring this man to the Pharisees. Now, the Sanhedrin had passed a law that if anyone confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, they would be thrown out of the synagogue. So, they wanted to find out how Jesus could heal this blind man.

Verse 14, “Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.” They knew that healing was not allowed on the Sabbath. They didn’t mean miracle healing, but medicinal healing. According to rabbinic law, if someone was sick, you couldn’t do anything to make him better on the Sabbath. But if someone was dying, you could sort of prevent him from dying, but not make him well.

So here, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. Furthermore, He had taken clay, spit in the clay, put it on the eyes of the man, and you weren’t allowed to do that because that was work on the Sabbath. So, Jesus had violated the Sabbath. And they went back and told the Pharisees it happened on the Sabbath. They had these ridiculous laws. You couldn’t fill a lamp with oil on the Sabbath.

You couldn’t light a wick on the Sabbath. If a man extinguished a lamp on the Sabbath to spare the lamp to save the oil and conserve the wick, he was guilty of violating the Sabbath. So you couldn’t light one, and you couldn’t blow one out. They had laws that said a man may not go out on the Sabbath with sandals with nails because nails constitute a burden, and he’s carrying a weight on the Sabbath, which was a violation.

A man was not allowed to cut his fingernails or pull a hair out of his head or beard. It just was absolutely ridiculous, adding burden after burden after burden on the Sabbath. And part of it, not only the forbidding to heal; in fact, if you had a toothache, you couldn’t pull your tooth on the Sabbath, but you could suck vinegar to mitigate the pain. I don’t know if that works; so don’t try it.

But the most dominating reality was the question: what do we do about the violation of the Sabbath? By the way, the Lord did whatever He wanted on the Sabbath, because He says in Mark 2:28, “I’m the Lord of the Sabbath.” In John 5:16 -18 when He had healed the man at the pool on the Sabbath, He said, “My Father works on the Sabbath, and I work on the Sabbath.”

So, He purposefully violated their Sabbath, the human laws that these Pharisees had invented, that were not God’s laws. Matthew 15:9 says, “You have substituted the traditions of men for the commandments of God.” Verse 15, “Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see.”

A straightforward and simple answer. The Pharisees don’t want to take the word of the neighbors, they want a first-person testimony, so they ask the man. Verse 16, “Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Now, this is supposed to be an investigation, meaning the conclusion is supposed to come at the end.

This Man, meaning Jesus. They won’t call Him “Jesus.” They don’t want to mention His name, but they’ve already made a conclusion. The conclusion is: this man is not from God, because He doesn’t keep the Sabbath. Their major premise is: all people who are from God keep the Sabbath. That’s because He doesn’t keep their trifling, ridiculous little rules on the Sabbath.

So this is backwards, as unbelief would always reveal itself. Let us start with the conclusion, and then reason backwards. However, there is a group within the Pharisees that can’t be so easily persuaded. Verse 16 continues, “Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.” Their correct reasoning is only God can open blind eyes.

Secondly, in verses 17 to 24, unbelief will not bend and cannot be convinced. The blind man gives this testimony. And there are all kinds of people around affirming the reality of this. But it is the nature of unbelief that it wants more evidence. It’s really on a search to discredit. They keep probing, not because they seek the truth, but because they seek justification for their conclusion.

Verse 17, “They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.” This man has no authority, but typically he would never be allowed in a synagogue because he was blind. Because his blindness was related to his sinfulness. And yet, he has enough sense to know that this Jesus, in fact is a prophet.

So he gives them a straightforward, sensible answer, which should’ve been the end of the investigation. Verse 18, “But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.” Similarly most of the people are going to reject what you tell them about the Gospel, throughout your whole life of ministry and evangelism.

They say, we’re going to dig deeper into this, because they will not give up the notion that this Man is a sinner and He is not from God. So, there must be some kind of cover-up here. So, they call the parents. Verse 19, “They asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?” Verse 20, “His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind.”

The case is over. The Man is from God. Verse 21, “But we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” They’re lying to cover themselves. Verse 22, “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.”

That was that law that fixed the antagonism permanently between the church and the synagogue, between the Jew and the Christian. So, his parents are afraid of the Jews. They can’t throw him out of the synagogue because he’s not in the synagogue. Now, if you were in Jewish society and you weren’t in the synagogue, you were like a leper. There were three kinds of excommunications.

According to the Talmud, the first was Shamatha, which means destruction, cut off from God. Then there is Nezifah, you were out of the synagogue 7 days to 30 days, depending on the crime. If you died under that ban, you had no funeral. The worst was Herem, which was an indefinite, permanent ban. Being banned was far worse because of its implication socially, economically and religiously.

They didn’t want to get that experience. Verse 23-25, “Therefor his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him. 24 So they again called the man who was blind and said to him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner. 25 “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”

Why did they keep insisting on that? Talking about Jesus. What do they mean, give glory to God? That’s a direct quote from Joshua 7:19. When the children of Israel came into the land, they were told to take nothing. Joshua finds out that Achan and his whole family have conspired together to take this stuff as booty and buried it in the tent. Joshua confronts this crime which costs Achan and his family their lives.

God is glorified when you tell the truth. The Jews did not believe his testimony nor the testimony of the parents and neighbors. That is how immovable their unbelief is. We know that this man is a sinner based upon his violation of the Sabbath. We know. So, he also uses of the word “know.” I do not know whether He is a sinner; but I know this, that I was blind, and now I can see.”

But they’re not interested in anything related to the truth. Verse 26, “But what did He do?” they asked, “How did He open your eyes?” This is significant, because now they just admitted that he was healed. With true facts, if you come to a wrong conclusion, you’re irrational. Unbelief is irrational. Verse 27, “Look!” the man said, “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples?”

He just reciprocate their sarcasm, their hypocrisy. And as the story goes, he comes to fully believe in Jesus for salvation, which we’ll see next week. So they descend to that third level of conflict, to revile him. Verse 28-29, “Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”

Verse 30-33, “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where He comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship Him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, He couldn’t have done it.”

So the healed blind man has become the preacher. First, he is sarcastic, and now he is specific and clear-minded, and faithful to the Old Testament. He is giving them an explanation of reality, a sensible logical explanation. To which they responded in verse 34, “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.”

So, it gets physical. Be prepared to face this when unbelief investigates a miracle. This will be a major disappointment through the years to any of us who walked with Christ for a long time. How can it change? The only answer comes from God, when Jesus said three times in John 6, “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me. No man comes to Me unless the Father draws him.”

So, what do we do? We plead with the sinner to believe, and we plead with God to be gracious. Because the natural man does not understands the things of God. To him, they’re foolishness, because they’re spiritually dead. So, don’t evangelize with hope that we have the power in our reason or in our truth to shatter the blindness of unbelief. We just cry out to God to draw the sinner out of this unbelief. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 02 May 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210502 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000019A imblog

John 9:1-12

As Jesus lives His life, He continues to demonstrate His deity. At the same time, the people of His nation, Israel, continue to escalate their rejection of Him. When we come to John 9, there’s something added. And that is, in verse 2, you’ll see the mention of His disciples. This is the first time that His disciples have been mentioned in this particular setting of His ministry in Jerusalem.

Jesus has been working, with the people and with the leaders. And now we see Him begin to shift as we see also in the other gospels, toward His disciples in the last months, to make sure that He answers their questions and equips them for what is waiting them. That does not mean that this particular portion of Scripture doesn’t have impact on the people and the leaders, because in fact, it did.

Disease, deformity and death, have dominated life in the world since the fall of Adam, which means essentially all of human history. It touches us all; we’re all in the process of dying. We all are infected by the corruption that came by way of sin. Familiar with sickness and familiar with deformity. All of that is part of life. And it has dominated life since the Fall in Genesis 3.

And in the Old Testament, miraculous healing is rare. There was the healing of Naaman, the leper, who was a terrorist attacking the Jews in 1 Kings. And then, there was King Hezekiah who had a terminal illness, and God spared him and cured him of that terminal illness in 2 Kings. And in Numbers 21, God sent snakes that bit the children of Israel with a deadly poison. Here the Lord provided supernatural healing.

And in the Old Testament, there are three resurrections in 1 Kings 17, 2 Kings 4 and 2 Kings 13. In the New Testament, there are a couple of other physical miracles. One happens to Elizabeth so that she who has been barren all her life is enabled to have a baby, John the Baptist. And then Mary, where she is given the right, and the power to bear a child without a human father, the virgin birth.

Until Jesus shows up. And when Jesus showed up, miracles explode in every direction throughout His three-year ministry. Jesus did no miracles for the first 30 years of His life. None. Because when He reached the age of 30 and went to a wedding in Cana, He turned water into wine, and the Bible says this is the first miracle Jesus did. These false gospels are just wrong when they said He did miracles as a child.

But during the life and ministry of Christ, healings are happening on a daily basis. This is an explosion of miracles intended to demonstrate that the Messiah, the Son of God, God in human flesh, has arrived in the world. Matthew 12:15 says He was healing all the people in all the places. That’s why He banished all illnesses during His three year ministry from the people in the land of Israel.

And according to Acts 2:22 in the words of Peter: God is attesting to Jesus as the Messiah by these miracles. These are supernatural healings. These are creative miracles. People with deformed limbs who were given new limbs. People with deformed and diseased organs given new organs. People with blind eyes were given new eyes. People who couldn’t hear were given new ears.

There’s no natural explanation or medical or psychological explanation for them. These are not psychosomatic diseases that people imagine they have, and then overruled by Jesus’ power as a psychologist. There is no medicine that He uses. There is no formula applied to any of these illnesses. These are divine, supernatural, instantaneous miracles done by a word, or a touch, instantly and completely.

We have the privilege, here in John 9, of looking at one of these tens of thousands of creative miracles that Jesus did. This miracle alone should have substantially changed their view of Jesus. But instead of coming to faith, instead of acknowledging that there was no human explanation for what they had experienced, all it does is elevate their animosity and anger. Their hatred escalates.

Now, John 9 is devoted to this miracle and the investigation. So, we’ll have to break it up over the next weeks. It is a miracle followed by a discussion and dialog. We saw that in John 5 and in John 6. Now, let us break the passage up into some sections, so let’s just take for this evening, verses 1 to 12. We can see these simple points: darkness, light, sight, and back to darkness.

So, let’s start with the darkness, verse 1, “As Jesus was walking along, He saw a man who had been blind from birth.” We see blindness all over the New Testament. If you go back into the Old Testament, you will find blindness mentioned many times. Blindness was a reality in the ancient world, and that’s why Isaiah 42:7 said that when the Messiah comes, He will open blind eyes.

Here is an illustration of this kind of blindness. Jesus sees a man who has been blind his whole life. Now, let me give you the setting. Jesus has just declared, in John 8:58 that He is the ‘I AM’, that He is God Himself. They were so infuriated at what they saw as blasphemy that they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself from them and went out of the temple.

Now, as Jesus goes out of the temple, He sees a man, blind from birth. This man is sitting at one of the temple gates, begging as He passed by. Jesus is never concerned with His own life. He stops, even though He’s in danger because He’s escaping from being stoned. He stops to demonstrate grace, power, mercy, compassion and even salvation on a blind beggar. This is what Jesus was like all the time.

In fact, in Matthew 21:14, it says, “The blind came to Him in the temple. The lame came to Him in the temple. And He healed them.” Beggars always go where crowds are, even today. Why would they go to the temple? Because, the most devout people went to the temple. People with compassion, people who are kind, caring. And people feeling guilty about sin are more likely to be generous.

The beggar can’t see Christ. But it says, He saw the beggar, “as He passed by.” Sovereign grace dominates this miracle. The blind man is a picture of the sin-blinded man who has no capacity to see Jesus, who is profoundly, deeply, engulfed in his desperate blindness, and has no capability to see the Savior. The analogy is irresistible. In fact, the gospels use this analogy.

Blindness also illustrates man’s spiritual darkness and lost-ness. Helpless from the start, He’s like the sinner. God has to take the initiative with the blind man through Christ. God has to take the initiative through Christ for the sinner. That’s how grace operates. We’re lost, we’re dead in sin, we’re blind, we know no truth, and God sees us. He comes in compassion, grace, and gives us spiritual sight.

We see light in verse 2, “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” Their theology was that if something’s wrong with you, it’s a sin issue. Not an indirect one, but a direct one. Now, we would all agree that everybody’s illness is related to the fall of Adam. But you can’t make a direct link between sin and sickness.

The rabbis were convinced that the sins of the parents were visited upon the children. Where did they get that? They misinterpreted Exodus 20. Remember the classic illustration of this is Job’s friends. Job hasn’t done anything. He’s suffering greatly. His friends come up chapter, after chapter, to try to make him guilty, so they can find sin and direct cause for his suffering.

And there are some really bizarre discussions between rabbis on this subject. One rabbi eventually responds with Genesis 4:47, “Sin lies at the door,” and he makes the door refer to the door of the womb. So, he interprets that as some kind of insight into prenatal iniquity. And another rabbi argues that if the baby was actually sinning in the womb, he would be kicking harder.

Now Exodus 20:5 says, “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations.” This notion that you’re paying for the sins of your parents somehow has managed to survive to our time even today. And among the Jews, people could be punished for several generations for sins committed by their parents.

What is the right interpretation? First, it’s a collective statement: the sins of the fathers, the leaders, that they commit that define that generation area so influential that they can’t be reversed and rooted out for three to four generations. That’s the principle. It’s not talking about individual sins for three or four generations. That is completely alien to what Scripture says, and here is the proof.

Look at Ezekiel 18:1-2, “Then another message came to me from the Lord: 2“Why do you quote this proverb concerning the land of Israel?” The proverb is that the children suffer the consequence of the behavior of their parents. Verse 20 says, “The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded, and wicked people will be punished.”

The answer Jesus gives is verse 3, “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” With one statement, He completely obliterates that whole theological system. He is blind for the glory of God, so that we could see this healing, and the power of God, and the works of God be manifest, and God be glorified.

No, this isn’t about this man’s parents. There are healthy sinners in the world, and there are sick believers who are faithful to the Lord. Jesus is going to do a creative miracle so that it becomes clear to everybody that He is the One who created everything. Verse 4, “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by Him who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.”

Jesus is not talking about a physical night. Here He pulls the disciples in with the “we.” We are all together called together to “work the works of Him who sent us as long as it is day.” Death is looming on the horizon. He has only months. The disciples, some of them don’t have very long. They are martyred. There’s only one thing to live for, and that’s to work with the Savior and the Father.

In Ephesians 5:16, Paul says, “making the most of your time.” Jesus uses the word “we” here. Stop doing those things that have no value at all in the future, and get at it, hand-in-hand with the Lord, hand-in-hand with the Father. It is incredible to work with “Him who is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think.” (Eph. 3:20) Jesus knew His death was coming in just months.

He says in verse 5, “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” He will always be the Light, in one sense, but it’ll never shine in the world as brightly as it did for those three years. He’s going to give this man spiritual light. In verse 38, the man himself said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. So Jesus not only heals the blind man; He saves him spiritually.

Verse 6-7, “Then He spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam. So the man went and washed and came back seeing!” Why did Jesus use this method? Well, He did it in Mark 7 using saliva mixed with mud to put on somebody’s ears. In Mark 8, He did the same thing with another blind person. Why?

I don’t know and it does not matter. But there’s something I do understand. Could Jesus have just touched his eyes and would he be healed instantaneously? Yes, He could. Why does He send him somewhere? Because He’s calling for obedience here. He has never seen anybody, but he obeys. Why does he do this? Because the divine compulsion of an irresistible power is beginning to work on his will.

He’s being transformed. We are seeing here an illustration of regeneration. New life is bursting on his soul. A spark of faith ignited in his heart as the Holy Spirit began to change him on the inside. These are the first workings of the power of the Holy Spirit to draw this man to submit to Christ. Why use the pool of Siloam? This shows God’s provision, God’s cleansing, giving him the water of life.

Verses 8-11, “His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!” But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!” 10 They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?” 11 He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”

That does not explain how it happened. That just explains what he did. There is no explanation for how it happened. That’s a creative miracle. Verse 12, ““Where is he now?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he replied.” The account of Jesus healing a blind man beautifully illustrates really the salvation process. We sit blinded by sin, begging. And then, God, in His mercy; Christ, in His grace, finds us.

That’s salvation. And Jesus reaches out to us in our blindness, and He gives us sight. And all He asks is a simple act of faith, which He empowers. And then He washes us. And we forever can see. And that’s what happened to this man. First, the physical healing came, and then the soul blindness was removed. This can happen to us as well. But we’ll see what happens next Sunday. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Apr 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210425 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000197 imblog

John 8:48-59

Turn to John 8, it has been a chapter of assaults on Jesus. Ten times in this chapter, Jesus has been attacked and assaulted by the leaders of Judaism. And the same thing was going on in the previous chapter. They were making the same blasphemous accusations and the same threats to kill him. There has been nothing but conflict for the two and a half years with the religious leaders of Judaism.

This, however, is one of the most antagonistic events in that conflict. Jesus purposely antagonizes his enemies because it’s necessary. Have you noticed that it is only biblical Christianity that is persecuted in the world and in our society? People aren’t persecuting Hindus, or Buddhists or Muslims. They don’t persecute them because all false religions are a part of the same kingdom of darkness.

Satan does not persecute Satan, since he owns all false religions and he tends to contribute to their survival and their elevation. The attacks always come from the kingdom of darkness on the one category of truth, and that’s the Bible and those who represent biblical Christianity. So we aren’t surprised that Christianity is being marginalized, and that Christians are being persecuted.

And it is also true to say that the greatest enemies of the truth have always been religious because man is invariably religious, always has been religious, is still religious, and consequently his false religion assaults the truth constantly. So it doesn’t surprise me. It is a sign that we are doing something right to have the kingdom of darkness coming after us. That is the situation all over the world.

The harshest human attacks on Jesus didn’t come from the people. He got indifference from the people, but the really harsh, aggressive assaults on him came from the religious establishment and the people who were most devoted to that establishment. These self-righteous Jewish leaders who were part of an apostate form of Judaism that basically belonged to Satan like all other false religions.

All other religions are enemies of the truth, and therefore they are enemies of Christ, who is the truth. All religions claims to represent God, but they represent the devil. Verse 44 is the escalation of the conflict to its highest level. He says to these religious leaders who continually said they represented God, “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does.”

“He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” You lie and you desire to kill me because I speak the truth and you are a part of the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of lies who want to stamp out the truth. That is Judaism in its most devout form, and it is Satanic.

Over these two and a half years of his ministry, this conflict has been escalating by necessity because He continues to confront their damning destructive error with the truth. It sends people to hell forever. Error must be confronted with the truth. These children of Satan see Jesus, then, as an enemy. They see Him as a blasphemer and a law breaker. They are full of fury.

Why does He exacerbate this conflict? Why does He raise it to this level? Well, because He loves them, because this is merciful. It is merciful to shatter false securities. It is merciful to strip people locked in some form of religious deception. They need to be exposed for what they are. Their false religion needs to be dealt with in a very strong confrontation that deals with the truth.

Now debates, when people are lost, deteriorate. And there is a four-level way in which this works, and maybe you’ve experienced this. Debates start on an intellectual level. Somebody says, “This is true.” And you answer, “Well, this is true.” So you have a disagreement intellectually. You say, “Well, here’s the evidence. This is why I believe it.” That’s the first conflict level.

The progression then, goes to a second level where it ceases to be intellectual and becomes emotional. This is where you start getting angry. You can’t get your point across. The other person doesn’t like what you said because they don’t like the implications of what you said. They don’t buy into what you said. And this can happen in just about any kind of conflict.

And that then drops to the third level, which is verbal abuse. When you can’t make your argument anymore, you just start calling people names. And that’s exactly what you see here. And then the final step, of course, is you start fighting. That’s the end of your discussion. You beat up the person you’re trying to convince. You wrestle them to the ground and hope you can win.

This is how most conflicts go. In John 10:19, they call Jesus insane. And then here at the end of this chapter, it descends to physical abuse and they pick up stones to try to stone Him to death. And eventually that’s why they killed Him because they couldn’t win the argument and they ran that argument all the way down the scale to the lowest possible level and nailed Him to a cross.

In the face of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Eternal One, they are really incompetent. They are exposed and condemned, and their depravity is demonstrated. They start descending to lower and lower levels until finally they pick up rocks to kill Him. They are under judgment and condemnation. They have suffered an intellectual loss and they have resorted to physical violence.

Real love destroys false securities. Love doesn’t leave people alone in their false religion. That’s why we can never see these people as the enemy. They are the mission field. People in false religions are the mission field. They may be persecuting you at work or at school. They may be messing with what’s going on in our country. They may be changing our culture. But they are our mission field.

So let’s look at these three phases in this dialog that wraps up John 8. Phase number one is in verses 48-51, blasphemy, truth, grace and an invitation. The blasphemy comes in verse 48, “The Jews answered, “You Samaritan devil! Didn’t we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?” Their reaction, rather than taking the exposure and saying, “What are we missing? Lead us to the truth,” they harden their hearts.

Why did they throw “Samaritan” in there? Well, Samaritans were people that the Jews hated because of what they had done back in 2 Kings 17, when the northern kingdom was taken captive in 722, and all the northern kingdom Jews were basically taken out of the land. The Jewish stragglers that remained there intermarried with the pagan nations that came to occupy the northern kingdom of Israel.

There may be also a rumor that the Jews had concocted that Mary, because she was not impregnated by Joseph, had an affair with a Roman soldier and Jesus was an illegitimate child born to a Jew and a Gentile pagan. So there are those kind of falsehoods in the Jewish Talmud tradition as an explanation. But whatever it is that they mean by this, this is outright blasphemy.

Notice His response in verse 49-50, “No,” Jesus said, “I have no demon in me. For I honor my Father—and you dishonor me. 50 And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge.” He didn’t respond with the same dishonor they gave Him. In John 5:23, He said, “He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent Him.” By dishonoring Me, you dishonor God.”

In verse 50, He takes it a step further. “I’m here in humiliation.” I gave up my glory in Philippians 2:6-8, “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

That’s the essence of His incarnation. Jesus came to give God glory. If He wanted his own glory, He would have stayed where He was. That’s why in John 17, He prays, “Father, I have finished the work You gave Me. Now restore to me the glory I had with You before the world began.” He came to receive humiliation. He came to love sinners, expose their evil, bear their sin, feel their shame, and die their death.

Read in Isaiah 52:13-15, how God has designed to exalt Jesus and to elevate Him. This is all over Scripture that the Messiah will be exalted, elevated and honored. And in Philippians 2:9-10, given “a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” everywhere in the universe. So here God the Father has declared the glory and supremacy of Christ.

But there’s more in that. There is One who seeks and judges and will give the final verdict on you. I’m not here to seek honor from men. God will give me glory in time. But God will also judge you. And Christ will also judge you. You need to honor Him now or you will face Him in judgment. That’s the truth. Jesus responds to their outrage, and verbal abuse with the absolute truth.

And then comes the third phase, an invitation. Verse 51, “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” That’s a gracious invitation to some blaspheming, angry, abusive and hypocritical leaders. This is a model, of how we should live. Blasphemy will surely come. So how should we respond? With the truth and with a gracious invitation. Notice the word “anyone.”

What death is Jesus talking about? He’s not talking about a physical death, because even He would die. He’s talking about the second death, what Revelation 20 and 21 calls “the second death,” that is eternal death. What are you going to say to people when they attack the gospel? You’re going to give them the truth and then you’re going to say, “You’re going to be judged for this attitude.”

Verse 52 - 53, “Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’ 53 Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?” That’s what false religion will do to you, it reverses everything.

Jesus is talking about spiritual truth and they’re talking only on a superficial physical level. He responds with the truth. Verse 54, “Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.” You keep claiming God is your God and you dishonor Him by dishonoring Me. There was ample evidence that God had affirmed Christ.

The Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled through John the Baptist in His words and in His miracles. You do not represent God if you reject Jesus Christ. Because God is affirming Christ as His Son and the only Savior. Verse 55, “Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.”

And then a gracious invitation, verse 56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and He saw it and was glad.” Well, what does it mean? Abraham was given a Messianic promise. In Genesis 12, he was told that through his family, God would bless the world, bring salvation and blessing to the world. This was the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham believed that through him would come the redeemer, the savior.

Now we come to phase three. Verse 57, “Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Full of sarcasm. Jesus responds with the most shocking truth. Verse 58, “Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Because He’s an eternal being, there’s no “was.” He always is. “I AM” is the name of God, Yahweh.

This is more than they can handle. One thing is to call them children of Satan, but to say He is ‘I AM’? They are incredibly angry. They have just been told the truth. They could have said, “How so? Sir, how are we to understand that?” Instead, thinking they were activating Leviticus 24:16, which called for the stoning of a blasphemer, they pick up stones to throw at Him.

Verse 59, “Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” There comes a time when even the best have to walk away. Jesus doesn’t advocate standing there and letting people kill you. You can reach other people on another day. God is still in charge and His plan of reaching people cannot be stopped.

But when Stephen was preaching, remember in Acts 7:54, the people, “were cut to the quick and began gnashing their teeth at him. 57 So they scream with a loud voice, covered their ears, rushed at him with one impulse. 58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him. And one of them was “a young man named Saul.” This unbelief reaches that point where you either get stoned or you escape.

If you will obey His message, the gospel of salvation, repentance, and trust in the One who died and rose again to provide salvation, you will never see the second death. You will go through physical death with no understanding of that reality itself and wake up in the glories of heaven. That’s still the promise of the gospel. While that promise is given, you need to respond now. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Apr 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210418 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000171 imblog

John 8:37- 47

Everybody’s got a family. That’s how the world is divided up. We all also like a little bit of history about our people. And people can learn a lot from your ancestors. But you can reduce the whole discussion down to really two families. Everybody’s in one of two families. You are either in God’s family or in the devil’s family. And that’s exactly what Jesus says in this text.

John 8:37-47, Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.” 39 “Our father is Abraham!” they declared. “No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.”

“40 Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. 41 No, you are imitating your real father.” They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.” 42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but He sent Me.”

“43 Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

“45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! 46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.” Almost everybody in the world, if they believe in God, would see themselves as children of God.

The Jews saw themselves as the examples of religious virtue, and the gatekeepers for God’s kingdom. To be told that they are children of the devil would be something they had never ever heard. In fact, were I to say all of this in some public venue where it could be broadcast, we could expect an uproar that would develop as a result of me saying that people are children of the devil.

But that’s exactly what Jesus says. Why is He so blunt? Well, the answer is that Jesus is now six months from the end of his life. He’s been preaching for two and a half years. And He has been in direct confrontation with the Jewish leaders for the whole time of His ministry, starting when He attacked the temple to launch His ministry at the beginning. He has seen the hate of the Jewish leaders.

As the antagonism of these leaders grew, so the directness and severity of Jesus’ statements have increased. The more they show Him hatred, the more He strikes back at their hypocrisy. In John 8:20 - 24, Jesus said, “You will die in your sins, and where I go, you can never come.” Which means, I’m going to heaven; you’re not. He also said that He came from heaven, and would return to heaven.

Now, it’s critical that sin be confronted. And depending on the resistance of the sinner, the confrontation has to be escalated as you would do with anybody on the brink of severe danger. And if they don’t listen to the first call and the second call, you start elevating the extremity of the call, and the severity of the call, because of the imminent reality of the danger of hell.

And that’s exactly what our Lord does, and it’s a good model for us. It’s hard to do that, but this is what the Bible does as well. The apostle Paul in Romans 1, 2, and 3 is talking about how sinful man is. And in Romans 1, it’s the Gentiles, though they knew God, they glorify Him not as God, but make idols, and follow a path that leads to fornication, homosexuality, a reprobate mind, and all kind of wretchedness.

Even though Paul says in Romans 2:15, the law of God is written in their hearts. But they don’t follow that law. Then he also talks about the Jews in Romans, and he says, “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly.” Then he says, “You say we have the law. We are the keepers of the law. We are the guardians of the law.” Then Paul says, “Because of you, the name of God is blasphemed among the nations.”

So it does little good for you to have the law. It doesn’t mean anything. You are not true Jews. A true Jew is one who’s one inwardly. And in Romans 3:23, He just tells us about everybody condition, “There’s none righteous. No, not one.” And He says in Romans 3:19, that “the whole world is guilty.” And Christ proved it with such conviction and power that the sinner couldn’t avoid it.

Paul says that by the deeds of the law, no one will be justified. So, you can’t fix it on your own. There’s no security in religion. There’s no security in good works. There’s no security in your heritage like the Jews believed. Only in Christ can sin be forgiven and escape hell. Only by believing in Christ. And that’s what Jesus had been saying all along: believe, believe.

Jesus said it was necessary to believe in Him. They didn’t want to hear that. He told them they needed to be forgiven. They denied that. He told them they need to repent. They refused that. He told them they didn’t know God. They didn’t buy that. He told them they would die in their sins, and they mocked Him. Religious people in false religions never see themselves the way they really are.

One rabbi put it this way in Jewish literature, “Abraham himself sits beside the gates of hell and does not permit any wicked Israelite to enter.” Really? Is it Abraham’s job to keeps you out of hell? Another Jewish rabbi says, “They who are the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, even if they are sinners and unbelieving and disobedient toward God, will share in the eternal kingdom.”

So, being Jewish was for them a free pass to do anything. When Jesus said ‘you will die in your sins, and where I go, you can’t come’, He was saying in spite of what you believe and have been taught, you aren’t going to heaven where I’m going; you’re going to hell. Jesus dealt a deathblow to these false assurances. Part of being honest with the gospel is shattering false securities.

So, now we come to today’s verses. The Jews have three claims and they are progressive. First, they claim to be the physical seed of Abraham, which is true. Secondly, they claim to be the spiritual seed of Abraham, which is not true. And thirdly, they claim to be the children of God, which is not true. Jesus agrees with the first, and then just devastates the last two false claims.

So, that’s exactly what our Lord does. Number one, they claim to be Abraham’s physical children. In the prior conversation with the same people, our Lord was talking to them about truth and freedom, remember? “The truth shall make you free. If you continue in My word, you’re My true disciples.” So, they say in verse 33, “We are Abraham’s descendants.” That ends the discussion.

They say, we don’t need You and Your message. We are Abraham’s descendants. So, Jesus responds to that claim that they made in verse 33 over in verse 37, “Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham.” And amazingly, even today most of their racial lines are wonderfully pure. As the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12:2 promised, He would have a great nation.

But Jesus says something is wrong here. Verse 37-39 continues, “And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.” 39, “Our father is Abraham!” they declared. “No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.”

Jesus is now going to shift them away from thinking Abraham is their father, to thinking somebody else is their father. It’s true, and Paul says in Romans 9, you have the law, the prophets and the covenants. You have all the privileges of being Jewish people who are descendants of Abraham. But it doesn’t do any good because no man can be justified by the deeds of the law.

Do you remember in Genesis 18 when Abraham and Sarah were at home one evening, and some angels showed up? And one of those angels turned out to be God. It’s a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And what did Abraham do when Christ appeared? He received Him and embraced Him. They made a dinner and had fellowship together.

But you have rejected Me, God who came down to earth. You’re not Abraham’s spiritual children. Abraham only saw a limited shadow of it, a preview. You’ve had the full story for three years, by the time you crucify Him. Furthermore in Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God and was counted unto him for righteousness.” So who are the spiritual sons of Abraham? People who believed God.

And here is where they make the final claim: “We have one true Father: God.” Not only are we the physical children of Abraham, the spiritual children of Abraham, but we are the spiritual children of God. Why? Because we’re not born of fornication which is paganism. And connected with paganism was immorality. We are not involved in the immorality of paganism. We worship God.

Jesus is saying, “I speak the words of God. But you don’t believe. You are not Abraham’s spiritual children.” Verse 40, “Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing.” Verse 41, No, you are imitating your real father.” They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.”

We are spiritual children of Abraham because we believe what Abraham believed. And then Jesus says, “No you are not spiritual children of Abraham. You don’t believe when God speaks because I’ve been speaking the Word of God to you. In verse 42 Jesus says, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but He sent Me.”

God is not your Father, because unlike Abraham, you want to kill the messenger from heaven. This is a complete shattering of all their confidence in their religion. Because as long as they trust in their false hopes, they are lost and damned. You don’t receive the word of God, and you hate the Son of God. You do not belong to God. It has to do with loving the truth and loving Jesus.

Verse 43, Jesus asked, “Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me!” The natural man does not understand not the things of God because to him they are foolishness. You don’t understand because you won’t believe. Once you believe, then everything becomes clear, right? So, you don’t understand what I’m saying because you can’t hear My words.

Then Jesus drops the bomb. Verse 44, “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” First John 3:1-10, contrasts the children of God and the children of the devil, by the things they do.

How extensive is the power of Satan? Hebrews says he has the power of death, and he exercised it in one act that literally killed the human race in the garden. There’s something in us that’s corrupting us, and we can’t sustain the perfection of that original body. And the devil is a liar, and his lies still go on today. And one of his big lies is that everybody is a child of God.

Verse 45, Jesus said, “So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!” You don’t believe the truth. You are children of the devil. Here’s the way to diagnose a child of the devil: that person doesn’t believe the truth and doesn’t love Christ. Here’s the way to diagnose a child of God, that person loves the truth and believes everything that Christ tells us in the Bible and loves Him.

Verse 46, “Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me?” Well, nobody did, or they would’ve thrown it at Him. And when it came down to trying to get a reason to execute Him in the end, they had all those mock trials and nobody could come up with anything. Finally, they had to bribe some false witnesses to make up things.

Verse 47, He says, “Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.” Everybody you meet is either of God or of the devil. And the world of Satan, the kingdom of darkness, as Paul calls it, is caught up in hatred, which is simply a manifestation of selfishness, deception, lies, and untruth. This is universal. This isn’t just Jewish people.

The children of the devil have an unbroken pattern of sin, and it shows itself in pride, which manifests itself in hatred and murder. Children of God practice righteousness. It shows itself in the love of the truth, in the love of the Savior, in the love of one another. So, when you think about checking into your ancestry, what matters is not the family in the past, but the family in the present, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Apr 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210411 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000016F imblog

John 20:1-10

We come in John 20 to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. You need to understand that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is not just a feature of Christianity, it is the main event and purpose. Resurrection is the purpose of redemption. The whole purpose of God in creating and redeeming His people is to raise them to eternal glory in heaven so that they can worship Him forever.

The purpose of resurrection to eternal glory in not only to have glorified spirits, but to have glorified bodies. Our resurrection is secured by the power of God, and the power of Christ demonstrated in His resurrection. Because He lives, we will live. The resurrection is also a validation of His offering, because God was satisfied with the sacrifice Christ offered for the sins of His people.

Christ said, “It is finished!” And God said, “I am satisfied.” God raised Him, and He ascended to eternal glory, sat down at the right hand of God to intercede for His people and bring them all into eternal glory spiritually in resurrected form. The resurrection then is the greatest event in history. It is the most significant expression of the power of God on behalf of believers.

It is the cornerstone of gospel promise. We are saved to be raised from the dead, and into heaven we go forever in that resurrected form. The purpose of salvation is a resurrected people. Because Christ conquered sin, we will be raised to dwell with Him forever. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

That’s why the apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15 says, “I declare to you this truth of the resurrection which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand.” It is the very essence of the gospel. And to signify that on an ongoing basis, Sunday, the first day of the week, became the day that the church meets to worship. Because Sunday is the day of resurrection.

The church has been doing that since it began. Since the apostles on resurrection day, the first day of the week, met with Jesus that evening, the church has always met on the first day of the week to celebrate the resurrection. All four gospel writers record the actual history of the resurrection. The composite testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is the full, inspired picture of the resurrection.

Now we celebrate the resurrection. We talk about it; we sing about it and we remember it. There are several interesting things to note about it. No one saw the actual resurrection. But it’s not an event you need to see. All you need to see is Jesus who was dead and is now alive. There were many witnesses. And we also are witnesses, because Christ lives in us. But no one saw the resurrection.

No Bible writer tries to explain the resurrection, because there is no rational explanation. But it’s not a problem that the Bible doesn’t explain the resurrection, because it is a creative event. It is a supernatural miracle like all the other miracles that our Lord did. You had the entire creation account of the universe in Genesis 1, where you go from absolutely nothing to the entire universe existing.

The results are obvious, but Scripture does not tell us how it happened. It is a creative miracle. That is why it is impossible for scientists to study creation. You can’t study creation from a rational, observable, pragmatic, scientific perspective; you can only accept the miraculous declaration that the Creator gave us in Genesis 1. We don’t know how any miracle happened technically.

It doesn’t matter how it happened. It happened because God willed it to happen, and by His supernatural power it happened. And we really don’t need to know how a miracle happened, but there were eyewitnesses. You could know that it happened without knowing how it happened. How do we know that it happened? Oh, there are several lines of evidence given in Scripture.

There is the empty tomb, that’s a pretty good indication. There is angelic testimony, directly from heaven; and there were eye witnesses. All of that is going to be laid out in John 20 for us. As we come to his account and as we go through this, we will blend in a little from Matthew, Mark and Luke at strategic points to help you get a better understanding of it.

John wants us to see the glory of Christ, even in His death. And he showed us the glory of Christ, because He showed us that Jesus was in charge of His own dying. And He also was in charge of His own burial. Now He is in charge of His own resurrection. This is to show us “that Jesus is the Christ,” so that we might believe that, and by believing “have eternal life in His name.”

The Old Testament promised the Messiah would rise. It’s promised in Psalm 16:10, “Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption, but show Him the path of life.” Jesus prophesized He would rise in Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

The apostles also preached the resurrection in Acts with the first sermon by Peter. They preached the resurrection all through Acts. The subject was the death and resurrection of Christ to show the Messiah had to suffer and then rise to establish His kingdom. And the church began at the very beginning to meet on Sunday, the first day, to commemorate the resurrection. That’s why we have church on Sunday.

John 20:1, “Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away.” Jesus said He would rise on the third day. He was in the grave a few hours on Friday before sundown. He was there all 24 hours of Saturday. And He was there about 12 hours of Sunday, because a Jewish day went from sunset to sunset. So this was three days, because any part of a day was a day.

John said “it was still dark” when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. She was the first one there. But she didn’t start out alone. According to Matthew 27, Mary the mother of James and Joseph was with her. Matthew 28:1 tells us both Mary’s headed for the tomb. The same women at the foot of the cross were there on Friday when Joseph and Nicodemus were burying the body of Jesus.

It says in Luke 23:55, “The women who had come with the Lord out of Galilee saw the tomb and where the body was laid.” And they don’t travel anywhere on the Sabbath. After the Sabbath is over the first thing they think about is getting back to the tomb. They want to do more anointing on the body of Jesus. Mary Magdalene noticed that the stone had been “taken away from the tomb.”

Now we have a first evidence of the resurrection, the empty tomb. The stone wasn’t rolled away to let Jesus out. It was rolled away to let the witnesses in. A resurrected Jesus doesn’t need the stone to be removed. Mary fears the worst. Verse 2, “She ran and found Simon Peter and the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and I don’t know where they have put Him!”

This is evidence that they hadn’t planned to steal the body of Jesus. She doesn’t expect a resurrection. She is not part of a plot to fake a resurrection. They would never do that and then go out and preach and die as martyrs for something that they faked. Verse 3-4, “Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.”

In the meantime, when the other women arrive, the angels appear to them. Mary missed the angel. She has a wonderful experience later. But she’s on her way to Peter and John. Now none of these people know what has happened that Saturday. They don’t know that the Sanhedrin got Roman guards to guard the tomb, and then put a Roman seal on the stone so that no one would come to fake a resurrection.

A Roman seal meant that it would become a violent crime, if you broke the Roman seal; and they also put a significant amount of Roman soldiers there. They don’t know that. They also don’t know that in the dark night of Sunday, God sent a localized earthquake. But before He sent the earthquake, He put all those soldiers to sleep. And then with the earthquake the stone was rolled away.

Matthew 28:1-4 describes it. The soldiers didn’t know what happened and fled the tomb. They checked it and Jesus is gone. They can’t figure out why they went to sleep, because they were professional soldiers, and that was a violation that had severe repercussions. They don’t know where the earthquake came from. They don’t know how the stone was rolled away. So there’s no reason to stay, so they leave.

We know they’re gone, because Mary Magdalene never refers to them when she gets back there. The other women never refer to them when they get there. Peter and John never refer to them when they get there. The soldiers are gone, shaken by the earthquake out of their divinely-induced comas. They know they have failed in their duty, and so they go right back to the Sanhedrin.

And they are collective testimony that the body is not there. Meanwhile back at the tomb, Mary Magdalene assumed that somebody has stolen the body of Jesus. She has no thought of resurrection. Verses 5-6, “John stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there.”

Verses 7-8, “While the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed.” I don’t know what he believed, because verse 9 says, “For until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.” Notice that they all had no expectation that Jesus would rise.

Here’s the evidence of an empty tomb: the absent guards, the stone removed, the body gone; and then the grave clothes neatly lying in place. Now you have to go back to the burial and remember that they did not embalm His body. They had about a hundred pound of spices. So they would wrap a little and then put in spices, and do that again and again. The spices were designed to overpower the stench.

Now if somebody stole the body, they wouldn’t unwrap it. But if by chance, they might do that, you wouldn’t see the linen wrappings lying neatly in one place and the wrapping around the head lying in another place. But the linen wrappings were lying there where the body had been, and the face wrappings were where the head had been, because He had just gone out through them.

This is no grave robbery. If the disciples did this, they wouldn’t unwrap the body. But the disciples wouldn’t do it, because they didn’t even expect a resurrection. Look, the body was there on Friday, everybody knew that. Everyone witnessed His crucifixion and knew that He was dead. Even the Roman executioners knew He was dead; that’s why they didn’t break His legs.

Then the Romans pierced His side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out, an indication that He was dead. Several hours went by as they were wrapping Him and putting Him in the tomb. Everybody knew He was in the grave. The tomb opening was covered by the rolling of a large stone over the entrance, sealed with a Roman seal, and guarded by Roman soldiers. No human could come and steal the body.

The guards are at the Jewish Sanhedrin trying to explain what happened. In the meantime the Lord’s telling His followers to go to Galilee. Matthew 28:11, “Some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened.” What could they say? “We don’t know what happened. We were all asleep. There was an earthquake, the stone was rolled away and the body is gone.”

Verse 12-13, “A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. 13 They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.” Verse 15, “So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.”

John wrote his epistle sixty years later, and that was and still is the story among the Jews: the disciples stole His body. So the tomb is empty. The women testify to an empty tomb. The soldiers testify to an empty tomb. Peter and John testify to an empty tomb. The grave clothes testify to an empty tomb. The Sanhedrin testifies to an empty tomb, and comes up with a ridiculous reason to explain it away.

Mark 16:5-6, “When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, 6 but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.” Luke says there were two angels, there were two.

Luke 24:46- 48, “And Jesus said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things.” Well, Jesus is alive! Praise the Lord! Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Apr 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210404 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000016E imblog

John 19:16-30

We have been saying all along in the gospel of John that John’s purpose in every paragraph is to declare the glory of Christ. And you might assume that it would be difficult to find any glory in the execution of Jesus, in the crucifixion of the Son of God; but not for John. For John, there is manifest glory. It is demonstrated in the verses that we will discuss with you in four ways.

Four features of the death of Christ exalt Christ as being divine. The first has to do with Scripture being fulfilled, and we looked at that last time; the second has to do with the sign that was placed over His head; the third has to do with the sympathy which He demonstrated while hanging on the cross; and the fourth has to do with the supremacy which He revealed as He took charge of His own death.

Clearly at the cross scripture was being fulfilled. In Mark 15:20 and in Luke 23:26 it says, “Jesus followed them.” This is remarkable. He didn’t have to be pushed, He went willingly. He said in John 10, “No man takes My life from Me, I lay it down of Myself.” He went out of Jerusalem. He followed. This is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:7 which says, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.”

That’s not how the Jews kill people. The Jews stoned people. But Jesus was lifted up. Jesus even said in John 3, “The Son of Man will be lifted up. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so will the Son of Man be lifted up.” Later He said, “If I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men unto Me,” signifying the kind of death He would die. The fact that He was not stoned by the Jews was a fulfillment of prophecy.

Now when someone was to be crucified, they were paraded through town dragging their own cross in front of the person with a sign that would identify the crime. This was to put fear in the hearts of all the people about violating any Roman law. So Jesus went from judgment to execution. That too fulfills the Old Testament. Isaiah 53:8 says, “He was taken from judgment and cut off from the land of the living.”

That violated Jewish law. There was supposed to be days in-between for new evidence to be heard. That also violated Roman law. There were at least two days required between a judgment and an execution. Isaiah 53 said He will go from judgment to execution, and that’s exactly what they did fulfilling prophecy. And in taking Him out to the place of the Skull, Golgotha, a sign was placed.

Verse 19, “Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Pilate six times said, “I find no fault in this man.” Why is he proceeding with this execution? Because he has been blackmailed by the Jews. He did some foolish things in the beginning which created riots. And reports went back to Rome that he was bad as a leader representing Rome.

They threatened Him with that in John 19:12, “Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, ‘If you release this Man, we’re going to report you to Caesar again.’” So he’s blackmailed to do what he knew was wrong. Couldn’t put a crime on the sign, so instead he put on the sign, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews,” and nailed it over His head on the cross.

Now Pilate knows that the Jews hate Jesus. This was perfect for Pilate to exact some sarcastic irony and vengeance on them. Verse 20, “The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.” So he took the language of religion, the language of culture and the language of power to say, “This is the King of the Jews.”

But in his folly he declares the absolute truth. He is the Messiah and the Anointed One. When He was born, an angel came and declared to His mother Mary that she would have a child who would be a king, who would reign on a throne over an eternal kingdom; and in His infancy wise men came from the east searching for Him as God’s King. John 12:13 says, “All the people were shouting, ‘Blessed is the King of Israel.’”

Verse 21, “Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate would have nothing to do with it. Verse 22, “Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’” He was happy to turn it for his own vengeance. He said the truth for the whole world to know for all of human history.

What the Jews did in ignorance, what the Romans did in ignorance, what the chief priests did, what Pilate did: all ignorant, all rejecting Christ, and yet the sign proclaimed the truth. God was controlling the events to fulfill prophecy. God even controlled making the sign so that it ended up speaking the truth. History does record a crucified Savior with the truth over His head: King of kings.

Verse 25, “Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene.” Verse 26-27, “When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.”

So in the scene you have the crowd; you have the chief priests, the rulers, the Sanhedrin; and you have the Roman authorities, you had the executioners, you have the Roman soldiers exercising crowd control, led by a centurion. But over against all of those ignorant people in sharp contrast to them, there’s a group of five, standing very near the cross. Not everybody has forsaken Him.

There are four women and one man. Why weren’t there more? You don’t want to be identified with a man who’s being executed by the Romans for being a threat to Caesar. If, in fact, He is some kind of an insurrectionist, you don’t anybody to think you’re part of the rebellion. But there were four courageous women and one courageous man. Where were all the other disciples?

If you think it’s strange that John doesn’t use Mary’s name, think how strange this is. Matthew and Mark do not even mention that she was there. How in the world did this unnamed woman become the queen of the universe? And she is never mentioned in any of the epistles of the entire New Testament. And in Revelation where we have all kinds of glimpses of heaven, she is never mentioned.

Mary was a woman of spiritual virtue or she never would have been chosen to be the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And for that role she deserves honor and respect, and she was given that even by her cousin Elizabeth. But Mary was a sinner and she says that when she praises the Lord in Luke 1 and she identifies God as, “God my Savior.” She humbles herself and calls herself a slave of God who needs mercy.

But to offer prayer to her or to consider her as some kind of co-redemptrix with Christ is to go way beyond anything Scripture says. The silence of the epistles which form the doctrinal core of the New Testament, should indicate to you that Mary plays no role in anybody’s redemption. If she were to receive prayers as an intercessor between us and Christ, the New Testament would have spelled that out.

Nor is the Roman Catholic teachings about her virgin birth in the Bible. This is not about her giving virgin birth to Christ, but her being also born of a virgin. And her bodily assumption, which means she didn’t die. Catholic theology says she was born without a human father, and she didn’t die, she just went into heaven. That is all human fabrication; none of it is in Scripture.

In verse 26, Jesus says, “Dear woman, here is your son.” What happened to mother? If I walked up to my mother when she was here and said, “Woman,” it would not go well. But there’s no disrespect here, there’s just a profound recognition of a different relationship. And there was her sister who most Bible scholars think is the woman called Salome, the wife of Zebedee, the mother of John and James.

But Mary needs to be cared for. She is not a supernatural being; she is a widow who has lost her greatest love, her firstborn Son. And so Jesus looks down at her and says, “Woman, behold, your son!” and He’s directing her to the apostle John, because He looks to the apostle John, verse 27, and says, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

This is the heart of God, even in the midst of the most horrible suffering He is showing sympathy. But really since the beginning of Thursday night, and now we’re into Friday when He’s being crucified, it just seems like He has been pouring out love. It started in John 13 when they got to the upper room, and John writes, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the max.”

“Don’t be sad; I love you to the limits of infinity. I love you enough to humble Myself and wash your feet.” That’s lowly service. “I love you enough to prepare a room for you in heaven.” That’s the elevated service. In John 14:16, same evening, Thursday night in the upper room, He says, “I’ll ask the Father, He’ll give you another Helper, and He will be with you forever, the Spirit of truth.”

In John 14:26 He says, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He’ll teach you all things, and will remind you all that I’ve told you.” I don’t want you to forget anything, I want you to know all the truth, so I’m sending the Holy Spirit. Verse 27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.”

That brings us to the final section in verse 28 -30, the sovereignty of Christ, or the supremacy of Christ is seen here: “Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture He said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to His lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, He said, “It is finished!” Then He bowed his head and gave up His spirit.”

Here you see divine sovereignty, divine supremacy. He controls His dying. First of all, you see omniscience. Omniscience is to know everything; omnipotence is to have all power. It says in verse 28, “Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished.” He knows everything, because as God He is omniscient. He knows when every single detail has been accomplished.

Back in the prayer of John 17:4, He said, “I have accomplished the work you gave Me to do.” That was anticipating this moment some hours later the next day. But there was one prophecy yet to be fulfilled, and He knew it, and so He says, “I am thirsty.” What did He have in mind? He had in mind Psalm 69:21, “They gave me gall, but for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

What was that sour wine compared to gall? Jesus refused the gall, but He took the sour wine, and His thirst was quenched. It never was intended to prolong His life, it was only intended to fulfill the Scripture. That psalm 69 says, “But instead, they give me poison (gall) for food; they offer me sour wine for my thirst.” They put a sponge on the end of a hyssop reed to put it up to His mouth.

Here is the true Passover Lamb, and hyssop again plays a part. Verse 30, “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished.” He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” He died way ahead of schedule for crucified people. He died because He willed Himself to die. It says in Matthew 27:50 and Mark 15:37, “Then Jesus shouted out, ‘It is finished’ and He released his spirit.”

What did Jesus finish? He finished redemption by substitution. He finished bearing the wrath of God for the sins of His people. All of this, again, powerful; and the irony here is a dying man who controls His death and life. All this powerful testimony to the deity of Christ had an immediate impact. I want you to see what actually happened with those watching Him die.

Look at Luke 23:47, “Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God.” This is a Gentile Roman. “He began praising God, saying, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’” That’s John’s term. Matthew 27:54 says. “The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

So they, these Roman soldiers, came to the conclusion by looking at Jesus dying that He was deity. They knew Him to be God. Seeing blackness, pitch blackness in the middle of the day, and experiencing a massive earthquake, seeing dead people come to life, dying the way Jesus died, saying the things He said, caused them to change hearts. They were convinced of His glory by looking at the cross.

And then in Luke 23:48, “All the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts.” This is a Jewish sign of guilt and grief. They were terrified of the earthquake which split the veil in the temple top to bottom and opened the Holy of Holies for all to see. They were terrified by that earthquake which opened up the Holy of Holies forever.

The proof is conclusive, Jesus is the Christ. The thief saw it, the soldiers saw it, the crowd saw it, and grace was offered to all of them. Peter also preached, “There’s no salvation in any other name, only the name of Jesus, only salvation from judgment and hell, the only way to heaven; not by works, but by faith in Him. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” This invitation is still offered to anyone right now. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Mar 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210328 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000016C imblog

John 19:16-30

We come now to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. For those of us who are believers, those of us who know and love the Lord, the crucifixion is everything. It is the heart of our gospel message, that’s why we focus on the sermons we preach. All of those things ultimately have to focus on the cross and the subsequent resurrection of Christ. So let us sum up the significance of the crucifixion.

All the writers of the gospels focus on the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. Because, these are the culmination of redemptive purpose. The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus is the climax of redemptive history. It is the focal point of the plan of salvation. It is because God loved us that He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Jesus Christ went to the cross, because God chose Him to be the Lamb.

Jesus would be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all His people throughout all of history. “Jesus came,” he tells us, “to pour out His life as an offering to God, a sacrifice for sin.” We understand the divine purpose in the death of Christ. He died as a substitute for those who believe in Him. He took our punishment, our judgment, the full penalty for our sins so that now we can be forgiven.

Jesus “endured such hostility by sinners against Himself,” Hebrews 12 says. And why? Well, first of all, He was God incarnate; and just being God created hostility, because as the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8, “The mind of the flesh is hostile toward God.” The fact that He was God literally launched the hostility, because that is a universal reality: all sinners are hostile toward God.

You not only have the hostility of fallen man. This was the serpent bruising the heel of the Son of God, as Genesis 3:15 said He would do. But it wasn’t just Satan’s hour; it was God’s hour. In Isaiah 53:10, it says that “it pleased God to crush [the Lord Jesus Christ], to put Him to grief.” So it’s primarily the love of God who overrules human hate and demonic hate to accomplish His purpose.

God uses the evil schemes of men throughout redemptive history to accomplish His own purposes. And He used the worst thing that men ever did to accomplish the greatest thing He ever did, namely the salvation of His own people. God did this because He’s rich in mercy, and He loved us with an everlasting love. So while the cross is evidence of human hate and demonic hate, it is mainly proof of divine love.

The cross is the heart of Christianity. The theme of the cross then runs through all four gospels. They’re all moving toward their conclusion, which is at the cross, and followed by the resurrection. The rest of the epistles of the New Testament describe the theology of the cross. The book of Acts shows the preaching of the cross. And the book of Revelation tells us about His second coming.

Jesus comes to establish His kingdom on earth, and then everlastingly in the new heaven and the new earth. John’s gospel is concerned with sin and death - not just physical death, but spiritual death and eternal death. John’s gospel is concerned with judgment, eternal judgment, and eternal resurrection unto judgment in a body not like this body, but a body fitted for everlasting punishment in hell.

John makes sure we know that Jesus said this: “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins, and where I go you’ll never come.” Jesus is the only atoning sacrifice, and without the shedding of His blood there is no forgiveness and no salvation. Our Lord wants us to know that He had to be “lifted up in order to draw all men to Himself,” a reference to His being lifted up on a cross.

John does not describe any of the physical suffering. The other gospel writers give us a little more of that, but none of the gospel writers really major on the details of the suffering of Christ, the physical suffering of Christ, because that’s really not the primary issue. Tens of thousands of people were crucified, and they were crucified beginning back during the Persian era.

But what the New Testament wants us to understand is not the physical suffering of Christ, but the spiritual suffering of Christ, that He was suffering for sin in our place under the wrath of God. And so when we come to the New Testament we are always going to be led with a glimpse at the physical suffering directly to the spiritual suffering of Christ so we understand the theology of the cross.

Cicero, the Roman writer, declared it was the cruelest and horrifying death possible. Tacitus called it despicable. It was certainly the most shameful way to die, because you were basically stripped naked and suspended by nails along a road to be gawked at and picked at by birds and animals. It was a death reserved for slaves and bandits and prisoners of war and rebels.

What John wants us to understand is not the physical part of this, but the spiritual part. The first thing that we see in the crucifixion of Christ in John’s account is that everything that is happening fulfills Scripture. This is massive evidence, because the ones who are doing all of this to Jesus are pagans with no connection to Scripture. These Roman soldiers are doing what they normally do.

Apparently four Roman soldiers had the job of actually crucifying Jesus. This is routine stuff for them, they already have made a mockery of Jesus in treating Him the way they treated Him with the flogging, spitting on Him, punching Him in the face, hitting Him with a stick. They have no knowledge of anything in the Old Testament or any purposes of God whatsoever.

But nonetheless, they godlessly, stupidly fulfill Scripture, because it’s all under the control of the sovereign God, who controls every single detail. Now there are four separate features that show the glory of Christ, even in this horrible scene of His crucifixion. Let us begin with the first one, which is Scripture fulfillment. Go back into the Old Testament and you have statements made.

There are details predicted, prophesied, and pictured that are fulfilled explicitly at the minutest level. Canon Liddon years ago said that there are about 330 specific prophesies regarding Christ in His first coming. Somebody did some mathematical calculation and said, “For all 330 prophecies to happen by chance would be 1 in 84, with a hundred zeros, chance.” It’s not humanly possible.

Here John is just giving us a handful of these details. In John 19:16 it says, “Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away. There is panic in this scene in Pilate. Pilate has been essentially blackmailed, as we saw back in verse 12. If he was going to survive in his job he couldn’t anger the Jews again. He’s the one who’s frightened; and so he delivers Jesus over to be crucified.

That statement in verse 16, means “to be delivered to punishment.” But that’s essentially what God did, according to Romans 8:32, “He spared not His own Son, but handed Him over for us all.” Pilate was the human instrument, but God was the divine cause. Man has his sinful purposes, and God has His holy ones and they intersect on this occasion. Sinful men never can restrict God’s program.

Just look a little closer at details. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say “He was led away.” Typical crucifixion victims were terrified. Historians tell us that they had to be driven like wild animals. But what we read about Jesus was “they led Him away,” which is to say “He followed them.” They led Him to His own execution. No panic, no struggle, no dragging, “they led Him.”

Isaiah 53:7 said, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.” Only about two-and-a-half hours had passed since Jesus first stood before Pilate, and now He’s on His way to Golgotha. The Jews were supposed to wait days before the execution of one they found guilty by their own law; and the Romans, they had a law that required two days between a sentence and an execution.

But in the case of the Lord Jesus, He went right from judgment to execution, straight to Golgotha, the place of execution. Isaiah 53:8 says this: “He was taken from prison and from judgment,” speaking of His death. That’s exactly what happened. Even by Jewish law there should have been days. The very specific words: “He was taken from prison and from judgment to death.”

That’s exactly what happened. Every step, every move, every act accurately predicted in the Old Testament. This is not a victim. This is a planned, designed death set in motion by God. And then, in verse 17, it says He was “bearing His own cross.” I don’t know how much it weighed. Some estimate 200 to 300 pounds, dragging that in the condition that He was in all the way up the hill to Golgotha.

Verse 17 says, “Jesus went out,” indicating out of Jerusalem. In Exodus 29 there is a command by God with regard to an offering, “the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering. Burn it outside the camp.” And here God makes sure that the ultimate and only true offering for sin is outside the camp, outside the city.

It says in verse 17 “to the place called the ‘Place of a Skull’, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.” The Latin word is calvarias. That’s where we get “Calvary.” Why is this called “the Place of a Skull”? This is a hill shaped like a skull. Verse 18, “Where they crucified Him.” Now this is not how the Jews executed people. But the Old Testament said this would happen.

Remember in Numbers 21, snakes were biting the children of Israel? And they came to Moses and they said, “Look, we’re all going to die. You’ve got to do something.” And so Moses put up a pole, and he put a bronze serpent on it, and he said, “For anybody who looks at that serpent as a symbol really of repentance and calling out to God, you will not die, but you will live.”

That is a picture of Christ. Well listen to John 3:14, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” The Jews didn’t lift somebody up when they executed them they stoned them. In fact, in the Old Testament it said, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” But here Jesus is lifted up.

That is not a Jewish form of execution, but that’s what happened to Him. Jesus predicted that in John 8:28, “So Jesus said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of Myself.” And again in John 12:32-33, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”

Crucifixion itself is described in Psalm 22. This is a messianic psalm, of Christ on the cross. How do you know this is the cross? Verse 1: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” It’s what He said on the cross. Verse 14 says: “I’m poured out like water; all my bones are out of joint. 16 A band of evildoers have encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 They look, they stare at me.”

Psalm 22:18 is quoted directly down in verse 24, “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.’” That shows you that Psalm 22 is a picture of crucifixion, not just verse 18, but the rest also in every detail. Go back to verse 18: “They crucified Him with two other men.” The other gospel writers describe them as rebels, insurrectionists. That too is a fulfillment of prophecy.

In Isaiah 53:12 it says, “He was numbered with the transgressors.” There was Christ, and then there was two other thieves, crucified with others who were common criminals. And that’s exactly what the Romans did. And it needed to be the way God said it would be. And one of those thieves was the first man saved of His grace, and that was the one with Him in paradise.

John 19:23-24, “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them. And for My clothing they cast lots.”

They had no idea what they were doing, but they were fulfilling Psalm 22:18, “They divide my outer garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. [For my inner garment they cast lots].” It’s exactly what they did. There is someone in the Old Testament who also had a garment without seam, it was the high priest; and he had a seamless garment.

Just a note by the Holy Spirit to remind us that Jesus is the only true High Priest. The Latin for “priest” is pontifex. Pontifex is “bridge builder.” The function of a priest was to build a bridge between God and man. Jesus here wears the seamless garment as did the high priest, because He is the true bridge builder. He is God’s perfect High Priest. Every way you look at this, you see the fulfillment of these prophecies.

Verse 24 says, “Therefore the soldiers did these things.” Everything the soldiers did was fulfilling prophecy. Herein lies the glory of Christ in this scene of horror. It’s one fulfillment after another, down to the smallest detail. God is unfolding His purpose in Christ with magnificence. Much more to come as the deity of our Lord is demonstrated in other ways. And we’ll look at those next Sunday. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 21 Mar 2021 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210321 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000016B imblog

John 8:31-36

Every verse in the Gospel of John is loaded with divine truth. All passages in John seem to be highlights, but this one is above even the other peaks in its importance. So let me read John 8:31-36, “31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

“33 But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” Look at verse 31, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.”

This is about being a true disciple. Many people profess Christ. Many people declare themselves to be believers in Christ. Many people give witness to the fact that they are Christians. That’s fairly common in our culture, but who is a true Christian? Who is a real disciple? You have to be able to answer it for yourself, and you have to be able to answer it for those around you.

Listen to 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.” Paul is saying, “Test yourselves to see whether you’re really in Christ.” Now, this is a very important question for us at this juncture because we have seen indications of faith and belief.

There were people in John 6 who called themselves disciples, but turned their back and walked away from Christ. The prototype is Judas Iscariot. Jesus says in John 6:70-71, “Judas is a devil and a betrayer.” And the disciples said, “Is it I? Is it I?” Were they so insecure about the genuineness of their own salvation? How hard is it to tell? There were ‘believers’ who walked away from Christ.

Now, we meet believers here in verse 30 who believed in Jesus. He refers to them as, “Those who had believed,” in verse 31. And yet these are the same people referred to in verse 44, “You are of your father, the devil.” How can people who believe in Him, be at the same time children of the devil? Well, we already know there is such a thing as false discipleship, false faith and defection.

So how do we tell? We know Jesus in Matthew 13 also told the parable about the wheat and tares growing together, and that we would be unable to tell them apart in every case. And by their fruits we can know them, but sometimes the only distinguishing work will come at the end of the judgment when the angels do the work of God and separate the wheat (believers) from the tares (unbelievers).

There are many who believe, but may not be real. Judgment begins at the house of God. So here we meet some Jews who, according to verse 30 and 31, had believed in Jesus. They are drawn by the crowd fascinated by the supernatural. Jesus is healing people. He’s casting out demons. He’s giving free food, wonderful meals. He’s promising forgiveness of sin. He is promising heaven.

People still seek Jesus on the basis of that. They are people who are seeking personal fulfillment, people who want a better life, people who want answers, people who are tired of their weakness, tired of falling to temptation, people who are weary of bad habits, who want more out of life, people who want to escape fear, want to feel secure, people who want some hope in the life to come.

But when they start in that direction and the world, the flesh, and the devil fully empowered by their own fallen nature starts to pull hard against Christ; the half believer, loving sin because half believers still love their sin, and unwilling to yield to the hard demands of true repentance and humble submission to Christ falls back. It may take a little while and it may take a long time.

Now, back into the setting, our Lord is in the city of Jerusalem. They have just been celebrating the Feast of Booths. We know all about that where He declared Himself to be the Living Water and the Light of the World. He has been rejected by the leaders. They want him dead. In the last verse of John 8 they picked up stones to try to kill Him not only in Jerusalem, but also in His hometown Nazareth.

So He exposed their hypocrisy. He confronted their false and deceptive religion. They wanted Him dead, but while their hostility was escalating and would escalate all the way to the cross, there were people who were attracted to Him and they were believers. They were believing in Him. And our Lord directly confronts that beginning belief, and He speaks directly to them.

This is the most dangerous place to be. It is better to be a pagan in some foreign land who never heard about Jesus than to be halfway to Christ, exposed to the truth, but unwilling to let go of the world. Reaching out toward Jesus but not letting your grip go on the pleasures and the comforts of the world; these are believers who turn out to be nothing more than the children of the devil.

So, as we come to this text, I want you to see two clear realities. One, what is true discipleship. Two, the benefit of true discipleship. Mental assent to Jesus is not enough. James 2:19 says, “Even the demons believe and tremble.” What is the benchmark? Verse 31, “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.”

When you were saved, you confessed Jesus as Lord. He is my Master, my Lord, and that defines what it means to be obedient. He is the Ruler, who gives the commands. I, as the slave respond in loving obedience. Remember how He ended that sermon in Matthew 7:24, He said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them, does them, may be compared to a wise man.”

A wise man builds his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and slammed against that house, and it didn’t fall for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew, slammed against that house, and great was its fall.

Enduring not only the good times, but persecution, hatred and martyrdom. Matthew 24:13, “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” John 14:15, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” John 14:21 says, “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

John 14:24 says, “Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.” When you obey the Word of God, you are giving evidence of love that is the product of true regeneration. Romans 5:5 says, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts.” Those that are genuine believers are filled with love.

The fruit of the Spirit is love in all its manifestations. And love shows itself in eager, willing, joyful obedience, even under duress, persecution, suffering, and death. John 15:10 says, “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in His love.” This is how we know that there is mutual love between the Son and the Father.

So what is the mark then of true discipleship? It is perseverance and endurance in loving obedience to the Word of God. Now, secondly, let us talk about the benefit of true discipleship. The benefit is stated in verse 32, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The heart is driven in that direction. The unfortunate reality is that people are looking in all the wrong places.

2 Timothy 3:7 says, “Such people are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.” That’s humanity’s futile effort, and eventually they want to include religion, and, that’s where the Jews were. They thought they had come to the truth and knew the truth. The problem is that for unbelieving people, even when the truth shows up, they still reject it.

Romans 1:18 says, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Pick any university. Go and mingle among the tens of thousands of students who are searching for the truth and offer them the truth, and see how well you are received. Go to the philosophy department. Tell them you want to lecture on the truth, that you know the truth.

You know the truth from top to bottom, side to side; you’re here to reveal completely the truth. See how welcome you are. Talk about Jesus Christ and the truth. Talk about the Gospel and the truth. Talk about sin and judgment. Talk about righteousness and heaven. You will not be welcome because it is the nature of fallen man to suppress the truth even when it shows up.

But verse 32 says that the benefit of knowing the truth will set you free. Jesus is talking about spiritual truth, eternal truth, and salvation truth. Jesus is the truth in John 14:6, “He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” John 16:13, “The Holy Spirit is the source of truth.” John 17:17, “Thy Word is truth.” So Jesus, the Holy Spirit and The Word all represent the God of truth.

Only believers can believe the truth. Everybody else suppresses it. And Jesus says, “This is the truth that will set you free.” Free from what? In Matthew 11:28 Jesus characterized their religious system by saying, “Come to Me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” What was their burden? Religious legalism. In Matthew 23 the leaders were putting a heavy burden on people.

In Matthew 23:15, Jesus says, “You produce sons of hell,” with your legal system. The Jews weren’t free. They were in horrendous bondage to sin, false religion, but they don’t see that. So in John 8:33, they answered, “But we are descendants of Abraham, we have never been slaves to anyone.” What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’? Don’t they remember the bondage in Egypt?

But they’re not talking about a political situation. They’re saying, “We are spiritually free because we are Abraham’s children.” They see themselves as free. They are not. So what kind of freedom is Jesus offering them? Go to verse 34, “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” Their sin was a religious sin with a corrupt religion of man-made traditions.

The Gospel truth will give you spiritual freedom, which is freedom from sin’s total power, total control, freedom from spiritual blindness, spiritual oppression, Satanic dominion, freedom from the fear of death, the fear of judgment, and the prospect of eternal hell, freedom in the truest sense. But that infuriated them. They did the same thing in Nazareth, tried to throw Him off a cliff.

This is about true salvation. The true disciple comes to the Word of God, penitently, submissively embraces the Word of God, and lovingly obeys the Word of God. It’s theological truth, it’s an assessment of your own condition. The false disciple wants what Jesus offers without giving up his own carnal sins. Verse 35 says, “A slave is not a permanent member, but a son is part of the family forever.”

They were thinking, “We are sons of Abraham. We’re the elect covenant people. We have the law, the prophets and the covenants. It’s all ours. We belong to God because we belong to Abraham. This is blind pride. Jesus is indicting them as being sinners and not only that, but slaves of sin. Then Jesus takes it a step further and says this shocking thing, “You are slaves, not sons.”

Jesus may have been talking the same way that Paul talks in Galatians 3 and 4. Paul says there are two possibilities here related to Hagar and Ishmael. Remember the metaphor there? Ishmael was a slave with no inheritance from Abraham. While Isaac receives the inheritance. Jesus says, “You think you are Abraham’s son, but if you are, you are in reality like Ishmael.”

You’re a slave, and you’re not an heir. Listen to Matthew 8:11-12, “And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world, from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. 12 But many Israelites, those for whom the Kingdom was prepared, will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

There are prophetic implications here as Israel is being set aside as a nation of slaves, Hagar and Ishmael-like. And Abraham’s true children, his children by faith made up of Jews and Gentiles are the heirs to God’s possession. They are those who come to Christ that we learned in John 1:12, “But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.”

You become a child of God with true saving faith. So what is the benefit? Freedom from the bondage of sin, freedom from slavery, freedom to become a son and an heir. Romans 8:1-2 says, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin." Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Mar 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210314 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000016A imblog

John 8:21-30

The purpose of the Gospel of John is, so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you might life in His name. That’s John 20:31. So everything in John focuses on believing who He is. Let us read John 8:21-25, “Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.”

“22 The people asked, “Is He planning to commit suicide? What does He mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?” 23 Jesus continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. 24 That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.” 25 “Who are you?” they demanded. Jesus replied, “The one I have always claimed to be.”

“You will die in your sins.” That’s what Jesus said three times to people who believed they were the representatives of God, that they were privileged with the hope of heaven. Now what led up this? Well, by the time this dialogue occurred, everybody in Israel was aware of Jesus. It’s about three years of ministry. We’re only six months from the cross at this time. The miracles of Jesus are known to everyone.

They’ve been talking about Jesus since the ministry of John the Baptist because John was talking about Jesus and all Jerusalem and Judea was coming out to John. Obviously no one ever did what He did. Now John is giving us evidence, but only samples of the ministry of Jesus. In John 20:30 we read “Therefore many other miracles Jesus also performed which are not written in this book.”

The miracles that John uses are just illustrations. John 21:25 says, “There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” So in light of the overwhelming evidence, unbelief in Jesus is inexcusable. And that’s why He says, “You will die in your sins because you do not believe Me.”

Perhaps John 5:40 gives us the explanation, “And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life.” Human will is required to be activated toward Christ for salvation. And that was controlled by the rabbis who even now are very much against Jesus. Now they believe more in their Talmud, which is their Jewish traditions than their Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible.

And the Talmud is full of lies about Jesus. And that has been taught to all the Jews for 2000 years. The traditions are contrary to the teachings of the New Testament but no Jew would read the New Testament because of what the rabbis taught. The attitude towards women is very much the worldly attitude of the time it was written of being far less worthy than a man, unlike what Jesus taught where there was equality.

But even those people who have never heard the gospel are without excuse. Romans 1:20 says that the creation itself so clearly reveals God that men who do not acknowledge God and pursue God are without excuse. Hebrews 10:26 says, “If we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.”

The reality of God is also delivered to us through conscience, the law of God written in the heart. A person is even further inexcusable in his unbelief if he or she has heard the gospel. In John 3:16, we read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God send the Son into the world so believers might be saved through Him.

The person who believes in Him is not judged. The person who does not believe has been judged already. People think, well, I’m going to live my life and God’s going to combine all the good things I did and the bad things and the good will outweigh the bad and I’ll be fine in the end. No, the judgment has been made on you already. You are under that judgment now because you do not believe.

Did the light shine brightly in Israel for three years? Of course. Was the light manifest? Of course. And His teachings and His miracles are more than sufficient to produce the necessary evidence of His claims being true. John 7:17 says, “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God of whether I speak from myself.” If you are willing, you will know the truth.

This comes back to the human will. We love the doctrine of the sovereignty of God and salvation and it is clearly taught in Scripture. And parallel to that is the reality that the sinner is responsible for his own will. Anyone seeing, hearing, and experiencing the reality of Christ the way they had and not believing, bears alone the guilt of that unbelief. Sufficient evidence makes unbelief inexcusable.

Their messianic expectation was not satisfied in Him. They wanted an earthly leader, an earthly king, a defender of Israel and an executioner of their enemies. They would accept Him when He healed the sick, cast out demons and created food for the masses. But when He demanded spiritual cleansing, confronted their sin and spoke of spiritual blessings and heavenly things, they left Him.

And when Jesus talked about His own death, and them having to believe that, in the sense you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood, even some of His disciples in John 6:66, left Him permanently. In Jerusalem demonstrating His power He drew crowds wherever He went. But when He presented spiritual truth, demanded recognition of sin and condemned their false religion, the crowds began to go away.

This fulfills the statement of John 1:11, “Jesus came into His own and His own people received Him not.” The offer of salvation was clear, the evidence was compelling and they made their choice. Most people rejected Him. Some believed. Back in John 6:14, “When the people saw the feeding of probably 25,000 people, they said, “This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.”

In other words, this is the Messiah. And they took that from Deuteronomy 18 which was the prophecy of Messiah in which He would be identified as a prophet. Some believed and others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ ‘So along the way there were people who were believing, not many because on the day of Pentecost how many were gathered in the upper room? A hundred and twenty.

John 8:21, “Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.” But notice He said it again. Could it be that this was a routine thing for Him to say? John 7:34 says, “You will search for me but not find me. And you cannot go where I am going.” His ministry was to talk about salvation, but He warned unbelievers as well.

This is about as direct as a warning gets. “You will die in your sins,” that is you will die unforgiven. “And where I am going you cannot come.” He said, “I came down from heaven.” “I came from the Father.” He even said, “I go back to the Father.” He would die, but heaven would be a place they would never see. Suffering in hell is where sin is unabated and therefore always painful.

Verse 22, “The people asked, “Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?” That statement shows the self-righteousness of the Jews. Primarily it’s referring to the leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, but it embraces all the people who followed in their religious system. Their mockery is obvious here. They didn’t need a redeemer.

Why would they say that? Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that among the Jews the worst sin was suicide. According to him a person who committed suicide didn’t just go to Hades, but went to the lowest, darkest point of Hades most remote place forever removed from what they called Abraham’s bosom, or heaven, where the people who were accepted by God went.

So Jesus warns them, “You’re going to die in your sins.” They are offended because they don’t see themselves as sinners. Jesus said, “I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” That is always the issue with these religious leaders. They refused to recognize their sinful condition so they mock Jesus and say, “Oh, He’s going to kill Himself and He’s going to go to Hades forever.”

Amazing how deaf self-righteous people are to this warning, that they mock the Son of God. It is just really frightening. They laughed when they should have cried. And they laughed until they died and then they cried. And they’re still crying. Die in our sins? This self-righteousness attitude is deadly. It is a guarantee that you will die in your sins and go to hell forever.

What do I mean by self-righteous? That is the idea that you’re good enough for heaven. That you’re trusting in your own religion, your rituals, ceremonies, morality and goodness. The apostles understood this. Listen to the sermons in the Book of Acts and you begin to read and see that they understood that nobody would be saved by works. That salvation was a matter of faith alone.

In fact, Paul says to the Galatians, “If you break one law one time, you’ve destroyed the whole law and you’re cursed. And your only hope is Jesus Christ who became a curse for us.” In Romans 10 Paul says, “The Jews have established their own righteousness.” All religions are the same, they are the religion of human achievement where your works contribute to your salvation. And that is the devil’s lie.

Verse 23, Jesus continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not.” He says, “That’s where you’re from. Your unbelief, your hypocrisy, your religion are right from hell.” You’re from below. You’re under the power of Satan. Ephesians 2:2, “You’re under the power of the prince of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”

On the other hand, Jesus says, “I am from above.” That is the distinguishing mark between Christians and nonbelievers. Our home is heaven, right? We’re citizens of heaven, aliens in this world. We’re blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in Christ, Jesus. Apart from Christ, you’re from below. That’s the origin of your worldview and religion. And at the end of the verse, “You are of this world.”

If you are consumed by the world, living in the world, loving the world, embracing the world, drawing satisfaction out of the world, you will die in your sin. What do you mean by the world? It’s not talking about the planet physically, geographically or geologically. I’m talking about the system, the ideologies, the world system, the thought patterns and attitudes. It is the invisible spiritual system of evil.

Romans 1:18, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” This is what it does. This spiritual system of evil. We use the term ‘world’ that way. We talk about the world of sports and the world of politics and the world of education and we mean the complex of it, the ideologies of it, the structure of it, the system itself.

There’s a third reality that guarantees you will die in your sin. Verse 24, “That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.” There’s only one thing that prevents you from going to hell forever and that is faith in Jesus Christ. Why do we preach Christ? Because only He is that one person. No one comes to the Father but by Me.

Verse 25, “Who are you?” they demanded. Jesus replied, “The one I have always claimed to be.” They were the most proud religious people on the planet. What a ridiculous thing to say, with all the evidence that was in. Do you think they know their own hearts? They know that they’re white washed on the outside and full of dead man’s bones on the inside. But they wouldn’t admit it.

Verse 26, “I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won’t. For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and He is completely truthful.” And to show you how blind they were, verse 27, “But they still didn’t understand that He was talking about his Father.” Even though He said that over and over again. “I and the Father are one, I don’t speak of My own self, what the Father shows Me I speak.”

Theirs was a self-content, mocking ignorance born out of a love for their own pride. They heard who He was many, many times. They saw ample evidence of it, but sin produces unbelief, and unbelief produces obstinate ignorance. Verse 28, “So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I am He. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me.”

But they refused to know because they loved their sin. They should have known. Verse 29 says, “And the one who sent me is with me—He has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases Him.” You should have seen God in me. You should have known by all the proofs you have seen, you should have heard by all the things I have proclaimed, but you still don’t understand.

Verse 30, “Then many who heard Him say these things believed in Him.” To them He says, ‘If you continue in my word, you’re truly disciples of mine.’” That would be my prayer today, that as I have spoken these things to you, as I have reiterated these words of Jesus that many would come to believe in Him. Well, there were 120 that were faithful. It’s a warning message and it’s as serious as serious gets. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Mar 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210307 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000169 imblog

John 8:12-21

Verse 12-21, “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”13 The Pharisees replied, “You bear witness of Yourself! Your witness is not true. 14 Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going,

“But you don’t know this about me. 15 You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone. 16 And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me.” 17 Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. 18 I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”

“19 Where is your father?” they asked. Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” 20 Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come. 21 Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away.”

“You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.” We have already seen this conflict escalating, and it will escalate further through the final six months of Jesus’ life until it reaches the climax of hate in the Passion Week which takes Him to the cross in God’s perfect time. But the things that Jesus said were escalating this animosity.

When Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” they knew exactly what He claimed. This is one of the ‘I am’ statements in the Gospel of John, of which there are seven. This is a memorable one and one with which we’re all familiar. But we may not fully understand the essence of this and the way those Jewish leaders received it. Let us break this little narrative down so we can understand it.

Let’s start with the exact location where these words were uttered. He spoke these words as He taught in the temple. The first court was be the Court of the Gentiles where anybody could come. The second court was a large courtyard there that had 13 receptacles, which was called The Court of the Women. But once you left the Court of the Gentiles and came in, it was only for Jews, men and women.

And all the offering places were placed where both men and women could come. The next would be the Court of the Priests, and that was restricted. And there were 13 allocated places to give money, which were trumpet shaped. They were very specific as to their use based on their number. Number one and number two trumpet receptacle was for the half shekel temple tax.

Number three and number four were where women had to purchase the two pigeons to purify themselves from childbearing. Number five and six were for things related to the sacrifices. Number seven was to keep up the golden vessels of the temple. Then you have number eight through 13 that were for the general fund. And that is where Jesus is. He’s in this Court of the Women that is the most packed.

At the opportune moment, in verse 12, “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world.’ If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” He didn’t say, “I am a light in the world,” which some rabbi or teacher might say. Jesus said, “I am the light.” He didn’t say, “I am a light in Jerusalem.” He said, “I am the light of the world.”

This is exclusive. More importantly, this is a direct claim to be the Messiah, and they knew it. They were very familiar with the Messianic promises in Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and 53. There you have the Messianic chapters of Isaiah in which the Messiah is called the slave of Yahweh or the servant of Jehovah. And in Isaiah 42:1, you have this prophecy about the Messiah.

“Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me. I have put my Spirit upon Him.” This is a prophecy of the Messiah’s coming and His power is through the Holy Spirit. Verse 5, “God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth.”

God is speaking now to His Messiah in verse 6-7, “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations. 7 You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.”

Again, in Isaiah 49:6, “He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” This is from God. The Messiah will be the light of the world. When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” He is making the claim to be the prophesied Messiah, to be the Son of righteousness.

John begins his Gospel this way, “In the beginning was the Word, The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

When He says, “I am the light of the world,” He uses the tetragram YHWH, the ’I am.’ The claim to be God and the Messiah. To say, “I am the light of the world,” is to identify yourself as God. Psalm 27:1 has said, “The Lord is might light and my salvation.” First John 1:5 says, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” They understood that He was claiming to be God.

It’s important to understand another ritual at the feast of tabernacles. When the feast of tabernacles began, candelabras were set up all through the Court of the Women. As far as historians say, they literally filled the Court of the Women with a lot of light. Every night, they would light these large candles, which would burn all night. This was actually called by the Jews the illumination of the temple.

During those 40 years, they wandered in the wilderness. How did they know where to go in the wilderness? They were led by light. They were led by a pillar of fire at night and a lighted cloud during the daytime. This was the light that led them in the wilderness. To commemorate that, they had this illumination of the temple, where they lit all these candles and let them burn all night.

It’s a profound moment. Jesus says, “I’m the light that never is extinguished. And as the pillar of light in the day and the night led Israel to the Promised Land, I am the light that will lead you to the kingdom. I will lead you to God, to heaven, to everlasting life. It’s not a light to be looked at. Not a light to be admired. It’s a light to be followed. It moves and you have to follow it.

So rather dramatically, powerfully and effectively does Jesus capture the crowd and the temple ritual turns to Him. He says. “I know the way out of the darkness of ignorance. I know the way out of the darkness of sin. I know the way out of the darkness of sadness and sorrow. I know the way out of the darkness of death. Follow me, and I will lead you to life, that is eternal life.”

What does it mean to follow? The way it’s used in those days, it’s used of a soldier following his commander, as the believer follows Christ as his sole commander. It’s used of a slave following his master as the believer is to do the same. It’s used of someone following the law obediently. It’s used of a student following the teacher’s line of argument. To be a follower is to give yourself totally to Christ.

“Follow me,” Jesus said, “and I’ll lead you to the heavenly Promised Land. I’ll be the true light.” The rabbis themselves declared that Messiah’s name is light. They knew what Isaiah was saying. So Jesus is claiming not only to be the ‘I am’, not only to be God, but to be the Messiah that was prophesied. That’s what He asserts. This is captivating the people, and they understand.

Certainly the leaders understood because you see the antagonism that rises immediately. The antagonism appears in verse 13, “The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.” There are no witnesses to confirm this. His works of healing, power over disease, demons, death, and nature are His proof. But unbelief never has enough proof.

The worst possible scenario is to be ignorant because you’re an unbeliever so that when you’re given the proof, your unbelief locks you into your ignorance. They didn’t process anything He said. They just wanted Him trapped and dead. Be very careful if you’re rejecting Jesus Christ. It is better if your unbelief is because you’re ignorant than if your ignorance is because of your unbelief.

John 7:17, “If you’re willing, the truth is there.” When somebody says, “I don’t believe the gospel. I don’t believe Jesus is the son of God. I don’t believe in Him as the Savior,” there are usually two things to say. Number one, “That’s such an amazing and such an astute conclusion. You must have studied the Bible intensely for years and years to come to that conclusion.”

Because the world is full of people who have studied it deeply their whole lives and are convinced Jesus is who He said He was. So for you to overturn that, you must have made some kind of an extensive effort to understand everything in Scripture. That’s a thing to say to someone who probably hasn’t even read the New Testament. The second thing you would want to say is, “Are you willing?”

Verse 14, “Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me.” Deuteronomy 19:15 talk about two or three witnesses. That’s for people who are liars. We all live in a world of lies and deception. We have to confirm things with several people hoping to get the truth.

But that doesn’t apply to God. Jesus is saying, “I’m eternal. I’m transcendent.” The law was made for man, not for God. The Sabbath was made for man, not for God. I speak the truth because of who I am.” So His answer is, “First of all, my claim is valid because of who I am and where I’m from and where I am going.” Jesus says, “You don’t know anything about me, you don’t even know what town I’m from.”

Verse 15, “You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone.” Your judgment is superficial. By the way, they judged everyone. That’s what Jesus referred to in Matthew 7:1, the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.” The final judgment is based on how you judge others. That’s what the leaders were doing on everybody, judging according to the flesh.

Jesus then says, “I’m not judging anyone,” meaning “I don’t judge in the flesh.” He meant I don’t judge people superficially. Verse 16, “And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me.” Look at John 5:22, “the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge.”

Then He goes to the second point. Verse 17, “Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact.” I am He who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me. You want two? You have two, Myself and the Father. Verse 18, “I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.” And their response is predictable.

Verse 19, “Where is your father?’ they asked. Jesus answered, ‘Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” In John 5:23 He said, “If you don’t honor me, you don’t honor the Father.” Later He said to the disciples, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” But this is the conclusion when He says, “you don’t know Him at all.”

This is a devastating statement. This is a characterization of the leadership of Judaism at the time of Christ. And this is still true of those who reject the Savior. Verse 20, Jesus made these statements while He was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But He was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.” They are so angry that they want to seize Him to kill Him, but they can’t.

The final statement is the judgement in verse 21, “Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.” Your ignorance is confirmed. It’s willful, and it’s the product of your unbelief in the face of the revelation. We know how extreme their rejection was because they attributed what He did to Satan.

That’s why in hell there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. Where I go, you cannot come. You will die in your sin. John 12:35, “Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going.” The prophecy in Isaiah 6 is about Jesus being rejected, and then God rejecting the rejecters. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Feb 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210228 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000168 imblog

John 8:1-11

God said, after creating man, "It is not good for man to be alone." And that's still true. Man needs companionship. Man needs a friend. For the world hails the value and the virtue of friendship. In fact, the philosophizing about friendship goes on and on and on. Someone said, "If you really want to know who your real friends are, make a big mistake and see who is still your friend, right?”

An English publication offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. They received these statements. "A friend is one who multiplies joy and divides grief." "A friend is one who understands my silence." I love you not by closing your ears to the discords in me, but for adding to the music in me by your listening. But here's the best one, "A friend is one who comes in when everybody else has gone out."

In the Old Testament, you find three words for friend; and, although they have almost similar meanings, there's seems to be some distinction. The first Hebrew word for friend is the word "rayah." It means an acquaintance. Proverbs 18:24, "A man who has acquaintances must himself be friendly." If you're open to people, you're going to make friends on a superficial level.

Now, sociologists and psychologists tell us that you can probably have about 200 of these acquaintances in your life. People you know fairly well. You feel comfortable with. You keep company with. Maybe you work alongside them, or you might want to go on a vacation with him or her, or some particular neighbor on the block that you just feel a kind of a friendship toward.

Then there's another Hebrew word, "alooth," and this means to be familiar with; and this takes friendship a step further. This we would call close friends, people you talk with about significant issues, or study of the Scripture. And you might have about 25 of those kind of close friends in your life. You can miss them for some years, and you see them again, and you pick up the conversation right where it left off.

Then there's the word "ahave." It means intimate, close companion; and in Proverbs 18:24 says, "There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother." Maybe you'd have two or three of those really intimate friends at any given point in your life. That kind of intimacy is expressed in 1 Samuel 18:3, “Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.”

They had a deep, profound love. In Proverbs 27:6, it says, "Faithful are the wounds of an ahave." An intimate friend not only loves you with intimacy, but an intimate friend would tell you the truth, even if it hurts. There's another element in this intimate friendship. In John 15:13 the Lord said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Do you have love that you are willing to die for?

By that definition, the greatest friend that ever lived is Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ is more intimate with us than any relationship, closer than a brother, and never does He leave. Jesus will speak to us the truth, though it cut us to the core, for He knows that when the surgery is done we'll be better for it; and Jesus gave His life for us. That's the truest friend there could be.

Look at Luke 4:16-18, “When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.”

“God has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free.” Did you notice that all those are the down and out, the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, and the bruised? Matthew 9:10, “Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other sinners.”

Tax collectors in those days were extortionists and criminals. Verse 11, “But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” And when Jesus heard that, He said to them in verse 12 -13, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. 13 Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture, “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.”

“For I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.'" Jesus said, "I can't help people who don't know they're sinners.” Matthew 11:28-29 says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” And what is the biggest burden that any man carries? Sin. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Look at Luke 15:1-2, “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people, even eating with them!” But that's the best compliment they ever paid Him. That's exactly why He came; and He explained it in verse 3, “So Jesus told them this parable:”

“4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

“7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” Actually those ninety-nine aren't true followers. The parable is this: I'm looking for the people who know they're lost. I'm looking for the people who want to repent, not for those who think they don't need Me.

Then Jesus goes on to tell the story about a prodigal son who came back and the joy and the celebration. That's what Paul said, but the religious establishment wouldn't admit they were sinful. This is all drawn into perfect contrast in John 8:3, “As He was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.”

The Scribes and the Pharisees always wanted to find fault with Jesus with a theological question that He couldn't extricate Himself from; and, therefore, discredit Himself in front of the people. And they had really developed the ultimate trap this time. They caught a woman in an act of adultery. Maybe they actually got a man to do it to her just to create the trap, because the man isn't taken.

They caught this woman in an adulterous relationship, and they shove her in front of Jesus right in the middle of the temple with all the people around Him. And what did they say? Verse 4-5, “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The Law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They are acting in a self-righteous manner. They are acting furious.

What does the law say about punishment?. Leviticus 20:10 says, "The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, even who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and adulteress shall be put to death." They didn't keep the whole law, because the man wasn't there. They just kept the part they wanted. They had a double standard, they didn't mind abusing a woman.

They weren't really self-righteous. Verse 6, “They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.” What was the reality? They were adulterers themselves. In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said to them, "You are adulterers, because whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

And He went on in Matthew 5:31-32 to say, “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.” If they really believed Moses, they would have executed each other.

Now, what is the dilemma? The people held up Moses and the law of God, and so had Jesus. Jesus said, "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law." The people had lined up behind Moses and the law of God, and so had Jesus. If Jesus says, "Don't stone her," they would've said, "He is not of God, for He defies Moses' law, and we all know that God gave Moses the law."

So if Jesus says, "Don't stone her," then He violates the law of God. Now if He says, "Stone her," then He will also lose His reputation as a friend of sinners. How come You didn't stone all those sinners that You were eating with? How come You pass Yourself off as some great humanitarian with compassion on the diseased and disabled, but You stone that woman? What kind of love is that?"

Do you see the dilemma? Actually this is the most profound moral issue in the whole universe. They had Jesus in a dilemma that is the ultimate of all theological thought. How does God harmonize His justice with His mercy? If God is a God of righteousness and a God of justice by His holy nature, she must die. If God is a God of love and of grace, kindness, mercy and forgiveness, she must live.

That's a paradox. How can God be a God of justice and forgive sin? How can He be a God of love and punish sin? There's no answer in human wisdom. Watch how Jesus responds. Verse 6, "But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground." You know what He wrote? No, nobody knows what He wrote. I've heard all kinds of things that people think He wrote.

But Jesus just moved His hand through the sand. He moves the moment to Himself. He allows all their fury to be vented. He's totally unruffled. Just moves His finger through the sand. Verse 7, “So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” Now, that isn't even the question, but that's the right answer.

Verse 8, “And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.” They knew each other, and they knew what each of them was like. And you know what they did? Verse 9, “Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”

If you were convicted of sin by your conscience in the presence of Jesus Christ, what would you do? Would you run to Christ for forgiveness? I would. What did they do? They ran away, the very opposite thing. That was the problem with the Pharisees. They never wanted to face the reality of their sin. As soon as they were convicted, they went out one by one, and it says it began with the oldest.

The oldest left first, because he had a lot more sin. And Jesus was left alone, and guess who stayed, the woman. Wouldn't you think that she would have left with everybody else? No, she stayed, she was convicted of sin. Verse 10, “When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

The term 'Woman’, is not a term of derision but a term of respect. Jesus respected her more than all those religious leaders. We are all sinners. You don't get His respect by thinking you are righteous. You get His respect by admitting you are a sinner. Jesus really respected her. “Woman, hey, where are your accusers? There is no one here to condemn you.”

Verse 11, “She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Do you know what Jesus said to them? He said, "The question is not how do you harmonize the judgment of God with the grace of God. The question is, what right do you have to be this woman's judge, you sinners?" In other words, this is God's business, not yours.

But how could Jesus do that?" How can a holy God just say, "Go on, okay, don't sin again." How can God let her off the hook? Somebody has to die. That's just it. Do you know what Jesus knew as He stood there? When He said to that woman, "I don't condemn you; go, and sin no more." Do you know what He knew in His divine heart? He knew full well that He would die on the cross for her adultery.

The only reason He could give her forgiveness was because He would bear in His own body her sin. That's why every time Jesus healed somebody, every time Jesus forgave somebody, He experienced the bitterness of the anticipation of the cross. That woman's sin would not go unpunished. It would be placed on Christ, and He would die for her adultery and our adultery.

I believe that this woman was redeemed that day. She stayed to seek the forgiveness of sin. They left, and Jesus gave her what the law could never give her. Jesus said, "I don't condemn you anymore." "Why?" "Your sin is covered. Go, and don't sin again." That's just what He says to us, isn't it? In Christ, your sin is covered. I don't condemn you anymore, but go and don't sin anymore. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Feb 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210221 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000166 imblog

John 7:37-52

Here is an invitation in the passage before us. There will be another one in John 8. There will be a number of invitations right on down to the very end of his ministry where Jesus invited people to salvation, to the Kingdom, to the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. But this one is the most dramatic of illustrations. So let me read you John 7:37-39, “On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds,

“Anyone who is thirsty may come to Me! 38 Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”39 When He said “living water,” He was speaking of the Holy Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.”

Jesus is still making invitations through those final six months. Let’s look first at the invitation itself. Verse 37, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast.” That is an important time indicator. The Feast of Booths was one of the three main feasts of Judaism, together with Pentecost and Passover. They celebrated the wilderness wanderings for 40 years when they lived in tents.

During that period, God protected them, preserved them, and gave them food and drink. It’s a week-long feast and now it is the last day. Every day of the feast, there was a ritual that was repeated. Based on Leviticus 23:40, the people are to take the fruit of good trees and the branches of palm trees, and willows of the brook to build booths to commemorate the wilderness wandering and the goodness of God.

The Pharisees instructed the people to bring their branches to the main altar and to create a covering over the altar. This was in the temple area. Every day of the festival, tens of thousands of people would do this. The high priest would then go to the pool of Siloam with a golden pitcher in his hand, and he would dip it in the water. And he would come back and pour the water out on the altar.

This was to remember that God provided water for the people of Israel out of a rock. And historians tell us the people would recite Isaiah 12:3 saying, “With joy, shall we draw water out of the wells of salvation.” So the whole ceremony is symbolic of God’s salvation. And then they were required then to sing the Hallel, Psalms 113-118. It was the most celebratory of all Jewish feasts.

They also added a prayer for more water, so that God would send rain. Now on the last day, before pouring out the water, the people marched around the altar seven times. To commemorate the march around the city of Jericho because that was the end of their wilderness wandering. And it is at that moment that Jesus says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink. Let him come to me.”

Jesus dramatically captures the moment and turns it to himself. Jesus says, “You are thankful to God for water in the wilderness, water that satisfied the thirst of your forefathers. Come to me for water that quenches your soul.” In a land where there’s so little water, water symbolizes satisfaction. So Jesus uses that analogy now for the third time in the Gospel of John.

In these words there are three actions: “thirst,” “come,” and “drink.” Notice the general open invitation “If anyone is thirsty.” The invitations of Jesus were always unlimited. Thirst is a conscious craving. A longing for deliverance, longing for hope, longing for peace, longing for forgiveness, for salvation, for liberation from the power of sin. People come to Christ because they’re thirsty, because their souls are empty.

The second action is “come.” It signifies the approach to Him. Luke 9:23 says, “If any of you will come after Me.” Seeing Him as the only source of soul satisfying, nourishing, living water. If He were here, you would do it with your feet, but He’s not here; so you do it with your heart and your mind. Turn your back on the world. Abandon your sin. Cast yourself at the grace and truth in Christ.

The only qualification is that you are thirsty. And very often, benevolent, basically good people, religious people, moral people don’t feel this thirst. That’s why when Jesus came, all the moral, religious people hated Him. And it was the sinners and tax collectors and outcasts that came. It’s the thirsty ones that come. There is nowhere else to go but Him. Jesus is the only one who can satisfy your soul.

Thirdly, “drink.” Drink means to appropriate. A river flowing through the parched valley doesn’t do any good unless you drink from it. Drinking means to take Jesus, receive Him, make Him your own and embrace Him. As He said to the woman at the well in John 4:14, “‘Drink it and you’ll never thirst again.’” As He said in John 6:56, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

Verse 38 continues, “For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.” This is collected from several verses in Isaiah and some reference to Ezekiel 37. This water that flows to you when you come to Christ comes into your life doesn’t stay in you. You’re not a bucket. It goes through you. You become a fountain that becomes a river of living water to others as it flows from us.

This talks about the impact of a believer on the world. We receive spiritual water, which is really an analogy for spiritual life, eternal life, with all of its elements and components meaning conversion, redemption, justification, sanctification and adoption, everything. We receive cleansing water of life in us, sanctifying us, making us more like Christ. But at the same time, we also become a river for the world.

The recipient of sovereign grace becomes a channel of sovereign grace. And in not a trickle, but a gushing river. Oh, I understand that some of you have become stagnant ponds. You might need a dose of spiritual Drano to get the flow going. But this is how we are defined here. The water is ours. It is in us. It is springing up in us and gushing out of us for thirsty souls all over the world.

This is just an amazing statement about how much your life matters. You want your life to matter, right? So when you think about who matters in society, it’s not the politicians, it’s not the wealthy owners of companies. In reality only Christians matter because they are a saver of life unto life. They’re the fountain and river of living water that flows to the world and results in people being redeemed.

Paul asks the Corinthians, “Who is adequate for such things?” This is by grace and grace alone that we should be so useful. How can that be? Verse 39 explains, “Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him.” This happens because of the Holy Spirit power. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer, right? Every true believer possesses the Holy Spirit.

Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. He lives in you. God, the Spirit, takes up residence in you. He is the river of life that flows through you. Verse 39 continues, “But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.” So this in verse 39 is a prophecy. The Holy Spirit couldn’t come until Jesus was glorified, meaning ascended into Heaven.

Then Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and launched the church. And then the river on the inside began to flow to the world. And it happened instantaneously because immediately on the day of Pentecost, all those Galileans who didn’t know those multiple languages began to speak the works of God in all kinds of gentile languages as the river began to flow.

For forty days Jesus taught them theology, and in Acts 1:8, He says, “‘When the Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the outermost part of the earth.” The Holy Spirit will open the gates, and the river will flow. John 16:7, “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you.”

He ascends in the next chapter after which He sends the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. Rivers of blessing begin to pour out of those believers early in Pentecost. Peter preaches, the river starts, and 3000 people are saved. They preach again; another 4000 are saved. Tens of thousands are being saved. In Jerusalem and to Samaria, and we are still living the history today. Only the Holy Spirit can make the river flow.

So starting in verse 40, there are four responses. They are typical of responses today. The first group are the convinced, they receive the truth. Verse 40, “When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the prophet we’ve been expecting.” Verse 41, “Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee?”

The prophet is promised in Deuteronomy 18:15, “Moses continued, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to Him.” In Acts 3:23 Peter quotes Deuteronomy 18:15 and says the following, “Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.”

So there were disciples who believed Jesus was the Prophet Moses spoke of. He was the Messiah. They would be collected with the apostles and disciples of Jesus. They are the believing remnant in Romans 9 and Romans 11. They are those who came through the narrow gate, as Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount. These would be some who would be part of the 120 believers in the upper room.

The second group are the “contrary,” they reject the truth in verse 41. And it’s just mockery, sarcasm and scorn. Well, they are the skeptics. These are the ones who mocked Jesus: Pharisees, scribes, rabbis, religious leaders, and those who followed them. Verse 42, “For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.”

Jesus didn’t come from Nazareth; He came from Bethlehem where he was born. That’s why the New Testament makes such a historical record about his birth in Bethlehem. And both his father and his mother was in David’s line. His father’s genealogy starts the New Testament in Matthew. His mother’s genealogy in Luke. They could have checked the temple records.

Verse 43, “So the crowd was divided about Him.” There was plenty of evidence that He was who He claimed to be. And also God was at work in their heart. The Father was drawing them. For some it was a real faith. They were like Peter, “To whom shall we go? You, and you alone, have the words of eternal life.” That’s still true today. Some believe, but most people reject Jesus.

There’s a third group that we’ll call the “confused.” Verse 44, “Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.” This is the third time in this chapter they wanted to seize him, but they can’t. And they wrestle with the truth. Verse 45, “When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

Verse 46, “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.” They’re used to people with authority, but they were not used to hearing anybody like Jesus. This is a level of authority that was far beyond their ability to respond. Jesus says in John 10:18, “Nobody can take my life from Me. I sacrifice it voluntarily.” They couldn’t touch him unless God allowed it.

Jesus says, “Take Me. Receive Me. Believe in Me. And drink of this living water.” Their leaders say, “Arrest Him so we can kill Him.” Jesus says, “Receive Me, and I will give you life.” Their leaders say, “Arrest Him so we can give Him death.” The people have pressure coming from both sides, and so they do nothing. They’re just bewildered, and in their confusion, the Pharisees move.

Verse 47, ““Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked.” Another question that expects a negative answer. So they play on their pride. Verse 48 - 49, “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him?” 49 This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!” Not one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him. So now it’s about their pride and loyalty.

The fourth group are the “compliant.” Compliant is a synonym for yielding. They are the people who are in process. They research the truth. Verse 50 -51, “Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. 51 “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked.” There’s a genuine search for the truth. And so he speaks up. He wants to defend Jesus.

He’s not going to declare himself a believer in Jesus. But for now, he’s going to hold them to the integrity of their own laws. You cannot arrest and execute a man until he’s had a trial. Verse 52, “They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself, no prophet ever comes from Galilee!” Did they forget Jonah, Nahem, and Josea? All of whom came from Galilee.

Some people believe. Some people reject. Some people remain in limbo. But some people are in a process, right? And that was Nicodemus, honestly seeking. And God says, “If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me.” What will you do with Jesus? What will you do with this great invitation? Don’t be contrary, confused or compliant. Just accept Jesus and believe. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Feb 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210214 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000165 imblog

John 7:25-36

We come here to a day in the life of our Lord. There are large parts of the Gospel of John that focus on one day or one week. This is one, it is mid-week. It is now six months until the spring Passover when Jesus will be crucified. So we are coming into the last leg of his ministry leading up to the cross. And here were these three feasts that were celebrated by every Jewish person.

This one is called the feast of tabernacles in which they remembered their wilderness wandering and staying in tents for 40 years before they entered the Promised Land, having been delivered from Egypt. Like all the other major feasts, the city of Jerusalem was teaming with hundreds of thousands of people. There was the population of Jerusalem, and all the others from all around Israel.

In the middle of that week, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, because He wanted to delay His coming to avoid the hatred of the leaders who sought to kill Him. And upon arrival there, He went immediately to the temple and began teaching. That’s where we find Him when we come to John 7:25 - 36. What we’re going to see in this passage is a trend of unbelief that continues to escalate.

Progressive rejection marks the whole ministry of Jesus. Remember John 1:10-11, “He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. 11 He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him.” Many of His disciples rejected Him. They had decided that as He talked about His life and His death to come, to walk away. And in John 7:5 He was rejected by His brothers.

In John 7:1 and 19, Jesus was rejected by the leaders of Israel, and in John 7:7 and 20, He was rejected by the people. So everyone rejected Him. He had only a small number of followers. In fact, there were only 120 in the room on the day of Pentecost, so it’s a story of progressive rejection of the greatest person ever, which speaks of the power of sin and the wretchedness of the human heart.

Hell is itself truth discovered too late. Jesus makes a penetrating and powerful statement in verse 34, “You will seek me and not find me”, which says that sinners will seek Him and not be able to find Him. Part of what hell is, is suffering for sin. Hell is also resentment. Hell is also unrelieved bitterness under the destructive hand of God. But hell is also eternal regret without remedy.

Hell is not where Christ is forgotten. It is where He is unavailable. Shut out of heaven forever. The common conception is that God is basically good, and everybody who is good is going to go to heaven. I’m one of the good people, so I’m going to go to heaven. That’s how people think. But here Jesus says, you will seek Me and you will not find Me, and where I am, you cannot come.

Heaven is clearly not for everyone. So this is a warning passage, and just understand that this statement is made to two groups. It’s made to the people, and it’s made to the leaders. They’re different characteristically. The people face Jesus with one perspective. The leaders are faced with a different perspective, but both are given the same sentence. There’s no hierarchy of condemned people.

Judgment will fall on the people, who are just confused about Jesus. And the same hell will be the eternal place of the people who hate Jesus, whether you’re a rejecter or whether you’re a person who is undecided. So let’s break this passage into those component parts and look first of all at the peoples’ confusion, and then at the ruler’s rejection, and then at the Savior’s exclusion.

Now there’s no mistaking the attitude of the people here. They’re confused. Verse 25 says, “Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem started to ask each other, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?” How can they say, “Who seeks to kill you,” in verse 19, and in verse 25 say, “Is this not the man whom they’re trying to kill?” This last statement is from the people who know their leaders.

It was well known to them, but the crowd of people from Galilee and all the gentile areas, didn’t have that knowledge. They were seeking to kill Him. And yet they’re letting Him teach, and nobody is stopping Him. It’s their temple. It’s their territory. They’re in charge. Verse 26, “But here He is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to Him. Could our leaders possibly believe that he is the Messiah?”

This is a thought that comes into their mind. Verse 27, “But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from.” We know this can’t be the Messiah. We know His history. We know where He’s from. Yeah, this is the son of a carpenter, a man named Joseph and a woman named Mary.

They didn’t want to accept Jesus. Even the people didn’t because no matter what He offered, in order to receive the offer, you had to accept His indictment, and they hated the indictment. In fact, in His own town, when He told them they were essentially poor prisoners who are blind and oppressed and headed for judgment, they tried to kill Him. These are the people of Nazareth.

Look at John 7:41, “Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee?” Then there were some who recognized that the Scripture said the Messiah would come as a descendent from David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was. Verse 43-44, “So the crowd was divided about him. 44 Some even wanted Him arrested, but no one laid a hand on Him.”

Micah 5:2 said that He would come from Bethlehem, but not Nazareth. They could have checked the records at the temple that He had actually been born in Bethlehem. And He would have been according His father, a child of the Davidic line and they could have checked His genealogy that his mother’s line was also Davidic. He was the son of David based on His genealogy.

They could have checked that, but they didn’t check that. All they were looking for was justification for their rejection because Jesus didn’t fit the pattern that the rabbis taught. A popular notion had developed that the Messiah would have made a grand entrance. They used some passages. One was Malachi 3:1, “Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple.”

They misinterpreted those passages, and came up with this notion that the Messiah would have some kind of supernatural arrival at the temple, and not in the normal way. That’s what they decided. This can’t be the Messiah. We know about His family, and we know He came from Nazareth. He didn’t come suddenly from heaven to the temple. This can’t be the anointed one. This can’t be the Messiah.

All the leaders knew the Messiah comes from Bethlehem. The records show Jesus had come from Bethlehem. All the leaders knew He would come in the Davidic line. The record of the temple showed that Jesus was born to two Davidic families. People never seem to lack support for their desired beliefs. They can always justify their rejections. So there they are in this confusion.

Verse 28, “While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know Him.” Jesus is really saying, “The idea that in your unbelief and confusion, you know me is ridiculous. You don’t know me. You don’t know where I came from, and you don’t know who sent me.”

In John 8:19, He says to them, “You neither know me nor my Father. You don’t know anything about me. Oh, yes, you know the family in the town of Nazareth, but you don’t know me. I have not come of myself. I’m not the product of the family or the town of Nazareth. You may know my public deeds. You may have heard my words, but you have no idea who I am.

The problem is delineated in John 8:43-44, “Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Knowing a few external details about Jesus is to know nothing about Him. To know a little bit about His history, to know a little bit about the Christian stories that you may have heard is to know nothing about Him. What an indictment of Israel. We see it today in our culture where Jesus is a household word. People use His name in vain all the time. Most people use His name as a swear word.

People could tell you stories about Jesus. They would even talk about Jesus in some understanding of biblical history. Bibles all over the land, churches everywhere. But people don’t know Jesus. Verse 29, “But I know Him because I come from Him, and He sent me to you.” The Jews prided themselves on being the people of God who knew God, but Jesus says, “You don’t know God.”

In our country, maybe in the whole western world, this is the dominating reality. People say they know Jesus. They know the name Jesus. They know some things about Jesus. But they don’t know Him, and they don’t know God who sent Him. And that’s a horrible position to be in because there will come a time when you will seek to know Him, and He will not be available.

The people were confused and the rulers rejected Him. Verse 30, “Then the leaders tried to arrest Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because his time had not yet come.” They want the rulers to do something. They needed somebody to lead them. So the rulers finally step in, and they want to seize Him. But no man lays hands on Him. From a human viewpoint, they may have said, “He’s too powerful.”

And they were right because He vacated the temple at the beginning of His ministry. He had supernatural power over demons. And He had supernatural power over disease. There was also a measure of fear and a measure of respect. He commanded and demanded respect. So from a human viewpoint, they’re paralyzed, and they don’t want to start a riot in the middle of the feast.

But the divine explanation is the only one the Bible gives us. The reason no man laid hands on Him to arrest Him was because His hour hadn’t come. They were restrained by the invisible hand of God. They couldn’t act because they were under divine control. The truth is that there is that overwhelming reality of the invisible hand of God which controls everything that happens in the universe.

Redemptive history is planned by God sovereignly, and everything happens according to His purpose, plan and timing. Nothing could be done without divine permission because God is in control of absolutely everything. Verse 31, “Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. “After all,” they said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”

Nothing here to indicate that this faith was a permanent, genuine, saving faith, although in some cases, that’s possible. But the leaders see this, and they are really concerned now. Verse 32, “When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus.” The temple police are dispatched to go and arrest Him.

So they go. In verse 45, those temple police came back to the chief priests and Pharisees without Him, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him? We sent you to arrest Him. The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The Pharisees then answered him, “Have you been led astray too?” Verse 48, “No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him.”

And in verse 33, “But Jesus told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me.” Jesus is saying, “It’s not going to be long. It’s going to be over. I’m going to be out of your life. You’re not going to have to deal with me anymore.” This takes us to the final point going from the peoples’ confusion to the leader’s rejection to the Savior’s exclusion.

Verse 34, “You will search for Me but not find Me. And you cannot go where I am going.” Forty years later, Romans came and sacked the city. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were massacred. Did they remember that He said that there would come a day, where they would search for Him and couldn’t find Him? Certainly that would be true for people facing death.

Verse 35, “The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. “Where is he planning to go?” they asked. “Is he thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands? Maybe He will even teach the Greeks!” The Jews are sinful and faithless fools who mock the Son of God with blasphemous words. It is all sarcasm based on ignorance and willful rejection.

Verse 36, “What does Jesus mean when He says, ‘You will search for me but not find me,’ and ‘You cannot go where I am going’?” That’s part of hell, seeking what you will never find forever. Heaven is not for everybody. Heaven is for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ only, who believe in the true Christ and the true gospel and no one else.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Feb 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210207 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000164 imblog

John 7:14-24

The claims of Jesus were astonishing. They were shocking. They were really outrageous claims. Jesus looked no different from any other Galilean man. He most likely had a Galilean accent and His deity was completely invisible. What was visible was His humanity. There was no way to see Him any different than you would see any other man. But no one made the claims He made.

Jesus said that He had come down from heaven, and that He eternally existed, and that He was sent into the world by the Father. He claimed to be the Savior of the world and the only Savior of the world. He claimed to be the judge of everyone's eternal destiny. He claimed to be the source of everlasting life, and the only source. And He claimed to be the only way to the Kingdom.

But Jesus was largely rejected. Only 120 people showed up in the upper room on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came. When Jesus was called before the Sanhedrin at his trial, they said to Him, "If you are the Messiah, tell us." He had told them again and again but they still didn't believe. In John 8:48, the Jews said, “Didn’t we say all along that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon?”

Now, as we approach John 7:14, Jesus leaves Galilee after seven quiet months of training the Twelve. Yes, there were some public ministries, miracles and teaching, but primarily his emphasis was with the Twelve and He stayed in the areas far north, to give time to prepare them. But now in the midst of the feast He goes to Jerusalem and He began to teach. Then He reenters Jerusalem.

Remember He didn’t go when everybody went to the Feast of Tabernacles. He waited until the middle of the week because He knew the rulers wanted to kill him. John 7:1, they were seeking to kill Him. And when the feast was just beginning, they were looking for Him. But He didn’t go. Well, He waits till midweek and then He goes. When the people are all there, He shows up.

Jesus took a secret journey through Samaria recorded in Luke. He reenters secretly. At the right moment, He walks into the Temple. The time was 29 A.D. if you want to be precise, this would be around October 15th, the time of the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths, which commemorates their wilderness wandering when they dwelled in booths for those 40 years.

Jesus faced the world that hated Him. He faces Jerusalem, where the leaders are already determined to execute him. Jerusalem is now filled with masses of people, pilgrims who have come from everywhere. Those Jews from other countries have all come back for one of the three feasts a year. They had to be in Jerusalem. Well, in the middle of the week Jesus shows up unexpectedly.

So the Jews are neutralized by the crowd and the public exposure that Jesus already has. This is His time. His time is so precise that back in verse 6, he wouldn’t go a few days earlier, because he said, "My time is not yet here." In verse 8, "My time has not yet fully come." When we're talking about time, we're talking about hours and days. He was on that kind of heavenly schedule.

Verse 14, “Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach.” Back in verse 12, there was grumbling among the crowd, they were murmuring, saying where is He and what is He and who is He? He's a good man. Others say, no, on the contrary He leads people astray. He was the topic of conversation even though He wasn’t there. And now He came.

The leaders would have wanted to arrest him, and they made an attempt at it, over in verse 32. But they did not succeed. Verse 44-46, “Some of them wanted to seize Him; no one laid hands on Him. 45 When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring Him in?” 46 “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.

And in this passage, Jesus provides five reasons to believe His claims. So here is another opportunity in which He will teach them the truth and call them to put their trust in Him. Reason number one, the divine source of His teaching. Every day there were rabbis all over that place teaching on a daily basis. And at the Feast there was a great many classes going on in that open-air courtyard.

And in order to give authority to what they said, they quoted other rabbis. This validated what they said, so that people wouldn’t think they invented it. And secondly, it kept them in the tradition. But that is not what Jesus did. Matthew 7:28 - 29, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, 29 for He taught with real authority, unlike their teachers of religious law.”

So verse 15, “The people were surprised when they heard Him. “How does he know so much when He hasn’t been trained?” they asked. So they acknowledged His knowledge. It was beyond anybody else. Even the temple police, who regularly would have heard the teaching of rabbis, they never heard anybody like this. No one spoke like Jesus. It was a level of wisdom, a level of understanding without equal.

The people are shocked by this flawless, in-depth instruction, the likes of which they have never heard. Jesus doesn’t quote rabbis. He doesn’t validate his teaching by any human source. He doesn’t connect with their tradition. They're overwhelmed by the lucidity of it, the clarity of it, the truthfulness of it, and the reality of it. So how are they going to discredit Him?

So they attack Him, not his teaching. They question where He learned this. They didn’t want to argue or to debate Him. So they tried to discredit Him by calling into question His lack of training. At another time, they said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" So they attacked His hometown. But they knew every time they did enter into a confrontation with Him, they were humiliated.

Verse 16, “So Jesus told them, “My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me.” I'm not quoting rabbis, I'm quoting God. This is an indictment of the Jewish leaders and their endless circular quotations of rabbis who quoted rabbis. He says, "You're right. This is divine knowledge. This is truth. It comes from God." And that implies that the rabbis' teaching came from men, not God.

Listen to John 17:8 where Jesus speaking to the Father, “for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.” The divine source of his teaching is the first reason to believe the claims of Jesus. And at the same time, an indictment of those who do not speak for God. How vast is his knowledge? He knows the mind of God!

Secondly, a desire to do God's will. This is critical to the sinner. This is the test. Say it another way, his promise is that if a person desires to do the will of God, he would know the truth. Look at verse 17, “Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.” Coming to Christ is motivated by your desire to do for God what He commands.

This is where salvation begins. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and righteousness is shown in judgment. The sinner is weary of his sin and wretchedness, of the nature of it and the consequence of it; so becomes a seeker. What he wants is to do the will of God. This is about confessing Jesus as Lord and coming out from under the dominance of sin, to the mastery of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So gospel truth is not obtained by debate. You don’t even win by rational defense, even though you can rationally defend the Bible. What draws people to the gospel and to Christ is a desire to do the will of God. God exists. He is sovereign. He is the judge and the executioner. If I'm alienated from God, than I'm an enemy of God. I need to submit to God. I want freedom. I want a new master.

This is how faith acts. What is saving faith? It is the desire to put your trust in Jesus Christ as to do the will of God. It requires believing. God told Israel through Moses these words, “If you seek the Lord your God, you shall find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul." Psalm 119:2, "Blessed are they that seek Him with their whole heart."

In Luke 9:23 Jesus says, "If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way. Take up your cross daily and follow Me.” That's seems the opposite of seeking with your whole heart, but it is not. Hate your sinful life. Be willing to give up all what you possess. Sell all to buy the pearl and that great treasure. God does not grant an understanding of truth until a person is willing to obey that truth.

The third reason to believe His claims is His respect for the Father's glory. False teachers are all in it for personal gain. They do it for money. They do it for power. They do it for prominence. False teachers steal of the sheep. Jesus makes it clear, when He talks about it in John 10. What was the problem with these Pharisees, these Jewish leaders? They didn’t seek the glory of God.

Verse 18, “Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.” Jesus only sought the glory of God. He's the one who humbles himself in love. He is the one who bears others people’s burdens. He is the one who seeks no money, has no home, takes nothing, and gives everything, even Himself.

The fourth reason is His declaration of man's sinfulness. In verses 19 - 20, he goes right to the heart of the matter. He says, “Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys it! In fact, you are trying to kill me.” 20 The crowd replied, “You’re demon possessed! Who’s trying to kill you?” Yes, of course Moses gave us the Law. Matthew 23:2 says. “They loved Moses.” But none of you carries out the Law.

That is the most comprehensive, accurate statement regarding human sinfulness. None of you people obey the Law. Romans 3:10 says, “There's none righteous. No, not one.” Galatians 3:10, if you break one law, you have broken the whole Law and you are cursed. The legalists were all lawbreakers. The Law of Moses was never intended to save. It was intended to condemn.

It was intended to drive sinners to an overwhelming fear of divine judgment that would cause them to repent, cry out for mercy and grace from God. And then to put their trust in the only savior, Jesus Christ. Romans 10:4 says, "Jesus Christ is the end of the law for salvation." And there at the end of the law, when the law has given its verdict, stands Christ to give the salvation not available in the Law.

They would say, "What do you mean none of us carries out the Law?" So Jesus gets specific. “Why do you seek to kill me?” Their outrageous treatment of Jesus, seeking to murder Him, was a clear violation of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:13, you shall not murder. According to John 8:44 they were blasphemous, murderous unworthy disciples of Moses, whose father was the devil.

So Jesus indicts them. The crowd aren't all aware of this murderous intent. So they say, "You have a demon who seeks to kill you." But Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Six months later when they all show up again for the next feast, which is Passover, according to Mark 15:11-15, they are all screaming for His blood.

Number five, His deeds of righteousness. Verse 21, “Jesus replied, “I did one miracle on the Sabbath, and you were amazed.” In John 5, He went to the pool of Bethesda to heal the man that was there for many years. And the Jews went crazy because He did it on the Sabbath and they condemned it. And it says they sought to kill Him because He violated the Sabbath and said that God was his father.

Nobody denied any of His miracles. Everybody saw it. The leaders never denied it. To show how wrong they were, how can you reject a miracle, and the display of the goodness of God on the Sabbath? Then Jesus takes it a little further in verse 22, “But you work on the Sabbath, when you obey Moses’ law of circumcision. This tradition of circumcision actually began long before the law of Moses.”

It goes back to Genesis 17, back to Abraham. On the Sabbath, you still circumcise a man. Why do they do it on the Sabbath? Because it had to be done on the eighth day. So they violated their own tradition about work on the Sabbath, because they had a law that they needed to follow. So if necessary, the Sabbath could be set aside for something more important, another level of obedience.

Then Jesus says in verse 23, “For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it so as not to break the Law of Moses. So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the Sabbath?” How wrong are you! And you want to kill me for that when you yourselves violate your own ordinance because you think circumcision is more important.

Doing good, showing mercy and kindness takes precedence over the restriction of Sabbath rest. Do not look at the hypocrisy of these leaders. Look at the power that I have displayed. Verse 24, "Stop judging according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” They had spent their whole life judging on appearance. That's what hypocrites do. Stop that and judge righteously. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 31 Jan 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210131 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000163 imblog

John 7:1-13

We now really step into a new section of John’s Gospel. We move from Galilee where our Lord has been ministering for over a year into Judea, where he started his ministry originally. What we’re going to see in John 7 and in John 8 is escalating hatred. In fact, you could almost call these two chapters an intense hatred of the Lord Jesus. Now Jesus has been away from Judea and from Jerusalem.

It was perhaps worse because reports have been coming back from spies in Galilee to the leaders of Judea about the impact of His ministry there. So their desire to have him murdered is stronger than ever. And while He’s been in Galilee, the fury has continued. But Jesus comes back secretly, and He stays out of Jerusalem for a number of months until He makes a grand entrance into Jerusalem.

Jesus with the crowd praising Him, declared to the masses that He is the Messiah. And by the end of the week, He is crucified and He has risen. So now you know where we are as we begin John 7. Let us read John 7:1- 13, “After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Booths.”

“3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! Show yourself to the world!” 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him. 6 Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil.”

“8 You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee. 10 But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11 The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. 12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds.”

Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.” 13 But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.” So what was the popular opinion? What was the discussion? Some said He’s a good man. Some said He’s leading people stray, He’s a deceiver.

To say, “He’s a good man,” is not enough. That’s infinitely below the truth. To say He’s a deceiver is not true. Neither of these is a right assessment of Jesus, and every soul is required to make that assessment. You have to decide who Jesus is. Both of these statements are wrong. Deceivers don’t demonstrate the power of God, don’t raise people from the dead, and don’t speak the way Jesus spoke.

The right assessment of Jesus is the most important assessment any human being will ever make. Now we start to see the final decisions being made by the people under the influence of the leaders. These Jews have already made their decision. He’s a deceiver. And the people will eventually buy into that and cry for His death. So we start on that road now in John 7:1, high intensity hatred in Judea.

Those who left didn’t like the words of Jesus. Those who stayed embraced the words of Jesus. The distinguishing identification of Jesus is not His works. The false disciples embraced his works, they followed the crowd, they loved the supernatural, and they wanted to cash in on it. They were attracted to the miraculous. They even made many demands on Jesus’ miracle power.

But when Jesus began to speak, He immediately offended them, and they were alienated. So it’s always going to be the words of Jesus. There’s a lot of patronizing of Jesus as if he were a good man, better than other men, a noble, religious leader, a heroic, righteous moralist, and some kind of merciful, compassionate person. None of that matters. All of that falls way short of what He really is, He is God.

It’s always about the words. It’ll continue to be about the words, and that’s how it is in your life and mine. It isn’t enough to admire the human side of Jesus. By saying He is the flower of humanity. The greatest man that ever lived. The youth with God in His heart. And I’m talking about classic philosophical atheists. These are people who completely reject the Bible and reject God.

They will accept the Jesus of their own imagination, the sort of tolerable Jesus. What they will not accept is what the Bible records that He said, but that’s what has to be accepted because that’s dividing point. If you’re going to go into the kingdom of God, you have to believe what Jesus said. Now in John 7:1 - 13, we will go through a simple narrative text.

What I want you to see is how Jesus was operating on a divine timetable. Because you have to understand that Jesus is the Son of God. He is God incarnate. He is the bread who came down from heaven. This is the Son of God on a divine mission, and it plays out in a really wonderful way because you see the sovereignty of God operating in every aspect of His life from a time standpoint.

Everything in His life was on schedule. In Galatians 4:4, it says, “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His son made of a woman.” Perfect timing. First Timothy 6:15 says, “At just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.” And while Jesus is living His life, everything is on schedule.

Often Jesus says, “My time has not come.” He operated on this sovereign schedule. That comes out so powerfully here. Paul in Romans 5:6 says, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” 1 Timothy 2:6, says, “He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.”

Now in John 7, Jesus is walking in Galilee about seven months later. Because in John 6:4, there was a Passover. In John 7:2, you have another feast, which is the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths, and that’s about seven months later. Passover is a spring event, and Feast of Tabernacles is an October event. So for seven months then, Jesus has been walking in Galilee.

John doesn’t tell us about those seven months, but the other writers do. The other gospel writers tell us that He has been in Galilee, not in Judea. But the attitude of the people in Judea that wanted to kill Him has continued to escalate. His Galilean ministry extended beyond a year. Jesus wouldn’t go back because He wanted to wait until it was the right time in God’s perfect plan.

During those seven months, we learn that Jesus for the most part disappeared from the public areas. Instead of remaining in Capernaum, He goes off to Tyre and Sidon, which is north and west over the Phoenician area towards the Mediterranean. Then He goes to the east side of the Sea of Galilee, south down into the area of Decapolis, which were these ten gentile cities. Mark 7 tells us about that.

Matthew 15 tells us about Jesus going into the area on the Phoenician border. He also went into the extreme north, so He is on the perimeter now. Many things happened during that time. Yes, He did do miracles in those places. But primarily He is teaching. Another great event occurred during those seven months, and that’s the transfiguration where Jesus revealed His glory.

And during those same months, Jesus told His disciples for the first time that He was going to be rejected and die, and then rise from the dead in Matthew 16. While the public ministry diminished during those seven months, His focus primarily was on the twelve. So this was the most intense period of training the disciples. The false disciples are gone. The true disciples except one stayed.

And Jesus now for seven months teaches them the truths concerning the kingdom of God, preparing them for what is to come and for even what is coming after that, which is the fulfillment of the Great Commission. He begins to talk now about His death and about His resurrection. He says He’ll be arrested, He’ll be beaten, and He will be spit on. He is telling them all the things that are to come.

And then Jesus gives them a necessary glimpse of His glory. Peter, James, and John then report all that. So they were told about His death. This is hard for them to understand and might create some doubt, so to balance all that, He shows them His glory. Now it’s time to go to the next feast. Now there were three main feasts among the Jews that all men had to attend, and He had done that all his life.

So in John 6, Jesus gave a couple of days to the crowd. And in between John 6 and 7, He gave seven months to the disciples. It is obvious that the priority for Jesus was discipleship. This is what God does. God gathers a crowd for the proclamation of the truth to declare who He is and why He has come. Jesus sorts out the true disciples and the false disciples, and then begins training of the true disciples.

That’s why the Great Commission says, “Go unto all the world and make all people My disciples.” That means teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. This is a extensive call. Easy to get a crowd. Very difficult to make a disciple. Jesus made it clear by His words what they needed to believe, so that He drove unbelievers away. Then He poured Himself into those who believed.

Discipleship is like 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 where Paul says to the church, “So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. 7 As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece.” Be followers of me as I am of Christ. We need depth, it is a heart issue.

Verse 3, “and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles!” These are His actual brothers who are named in Scripture. Verse 4- 5, “You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.” What was the Feast of Tabernacles?

In Leviticus 23, God instituted a feast in which annually they would remember their time in the wilderness, when they lived in tents, booths, shelters for a period of time. They had a weeklong celebration in October. Josephus says it was the most celebratory of all Jewish feasts and festivals. It was the happiest occasion. It was a week after the Day of Atonement.

His brothers are named in Matthew 13:55, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. Well why did they want Him to go?” Jesus maybe irritated them. How would you feel if you grew up with a person who was perfect, who gave every right answer to every question with the right attitude on every occasion? Jesus said in John 6, “You can’t believe unless the Father draws you.” The Father had not drawn them.

Verse 8-9, “You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come. 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.” If Jesus had gone with them, He would have been a part of a huge caravan with His relatives and extended family. Because in Luke 2:44, when He was 12 years old, the whole caravan was one day’s journey before they realized He wasn’t there.

Then He explains in verse 6, “Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime.” When was His time? Six months later at the next Passover. That would be His time to become the Passover lamb. Every hour is determined by God. For you, it doesn’t matter. If you are an unbelievers, you have one appointment with God. At your death. The rest, you’re on your own.

It isn’t that God doesn’t order your behavior and your life. It’s just that it’s irrelevant. It’s purposeless. You go, you stay. As an unbeliever, you’re not operating on kingdom time. What a statement. You just have one appointment to keep with God at your death. That’s not the case with Me. Verse 7, “The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil.”

Not publicly, but somewhat in secret. Jesus did what they didn’t do. He went through Samaria according to Luke 9. When they would go, they would go around Samaria because they were hostile towards Samaritans. So they would do their little pilgrimage around Samaria. Jesus went right through it, Luke 9:51 to 57. He wouldn’t be going in the crowds that were flowing to Jerusalem.

The Jews were seeking Him at the feast. But they couldn’t find Him. Verse 13, no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews. People were afraid to give an opinion. But they all knew that the Jews wanted Jesus dead. In those intervening months He ministers in Judea, and it’s all recorded in Luke 9 to 19. He refused to go to Jerusalem and declare Himself Messiah until the next Passover.

And that would be His last Passover leading to His murder. Nothing in His life is random. Nothing goes wrong. Everything is exactly according to God’s eternal purpose. This is one of the great evidences of His deity. And He confronted the Jews and told them their deeds are evil. We tend to shy away from the boldness that Christ had. But you will be held accountable for whatever you do with Christ. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Jan 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210124 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000162 imblog

John 6:32-59

I want to draw your attention to John 6, and particularly verses 32 to 59 where our Lord gives this great sermon on, I Am the Bread of Life. Let us read this great sermon starting in John 6:32, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“34 Sir, give us that bread every day.” 35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. 37 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. 38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.”

“39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. 40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day. 41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

“42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’? 43 But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. 45 As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father comes to me.”

“46 Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him. 47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.”

“Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.” 52 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked. 53 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.”

“54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me.”

58 I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. The most compelling statement around which all of this is built is the repeated statement, “I am the Bread of life.”

This is the first of seven “I AMs” in John, in which our Lord takes the Tetragrammaton YHWH, the verb “to be” in Hebrew, the name of God who is the ‘I AM that I AM’, and applies it to Himself and adds a metaphor, “I am the Bread of life. I am the Good Shepherd. I am the Vine. I am the Way. I am the Truth. I am the Life. I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

Jesus gives us a metaphor to explain something about His nature and His work. Now, understand how monumental this sermon was in the Capernaum synagogue. He’s talking to Jewish people, and He presents this powerful claim that He has come down from heaven. And that they have to “eat His flesh and drink His blood” if they want to come into the Kingdom and have eternal life.

Jesus is saying, “I alone am the means by which that eternal life can become yours.” This is a long passage, but it can be easily divided into two very familiar components. It’s full of repetition because they were listening. And repetition is even more important to an audience that is listening. So John records the full sermon that is rare in the Gospel record because this is such a stunning claim.

The two parts that we need to look at, are the divine provision of the bread, and the human appropriation of the bread. This is going to be more like a Bible study than a sermon. To say that Jesus is bread is to use a figure of speech for nourishing food that gives life and sustenance. Jesus used the word “bread” to refer to that when He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone.”

Bread, then, is a word that encompassed all nutritious food. Jesus is saying that, “I am your food.” First of all, let’s look at the divine provision of the bread. Several features are indicated here about God’s provision of this bread. First of all, this bread is divinely preexistent. Verse 32 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the true bread out of heaven, but it is my Father.”

Verse 33, “The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Verse 38, “I have come down from heaven.” Now, He switches from the metaphor, the bread has come down, and applies it to Himself and says, “I have come down.” Verse 41, He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” In verse 42, they said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? How can He say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

Every time you see the phrase “came down from heaven”, and it’s repeated again and again, you are hearing a statement affirming the incarnation of a preexistent person. Jesus didn’t come into existence. He came down out of heaven. Anyone who claims that falsely is a lunatic or a deceiver, who would have a hard time convincing people. But over and over Jesus speaks of His preexistence.

John began his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God,” the Word meaning Christ. Therefore, Christ was there preexistent with God, coexistent with God, self-existent with God eternally. He always existed in the presence of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. John 1:14 says, “We beheld His glory and it was the same glory as the Father.”

Back to verse 46, “Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God. He has seen the Father.” I tell those people that claim they came back again. You did not go to heaven and you did not see God, and you do not have a message for us. That is exclusively the right of the Son of God, the preexistent one. Don’t believe lies about people going and coming from heaven.

The only One who has brought us heavenly things is the One who descended from heaven, namely the Son of Man. In John 13:3, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God.” That’s the night of the upper room discourse with his disciples, it begins with the declaration that Jesus has come from heaven and is going to return there.

Verse 32-33, “It is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven.” It is God who sends the bread. Verse 38-40, “I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me. 40 “This is the will of My Father.” The Father is sending the Son.

God not only purposed to send His Son, He decided what His Son would accomplish. Verse 37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and those who come to Me, I will certainly not cast out.” Verse 39, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given me, I lose none, but raise them up on the last day.” Verse 44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them.”

It is the plan for the complete glorification of those the Father draws. Jesus affirms this in His ministry, such as in John 10:29, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” The Father draws, the Father gives, the Son receives, the Son keeps, the Son raises, and no one can snatch them out of the Son’s hands.

How did they become God’s children? By divine election. God chose them before the foundation of the world, wrote their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life. In time, He draws those who belong to Him to Christ. Christ receives them, keeps them, and Christ raises them. This is not just a spiritual resurrection but also a physical resurrection. The divine purpose goes from election to resurrection.

Verse 45 is an important verse. It’s a quote from Isaiah 54:13, “It is written in the prophets and they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” The only way anybody can come to the truth is if God is his teacher. That drawing is divine. The Father is the true teacher. The Father is the instructor of the heart and the mind.

And God’s provision consist of a divine promise. Well, what does Christ do for us? Go back to verse 33, “The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.” Zoe, spiritual life, not bios, biological life. The promise connected to the bread is spiritual life. And He is the only bread of God, the only bread of life, the only source of life for the whole world.

Verse 40 says, “This the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.” Verse 47 says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life.” Verse 51 says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”

Verse 53-54, “Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day.” Verse 58 at the end, “He who eats this bread will live forever.” How? Because of verse 56, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him.”

How do we get eternal life into these mortal bodies? Because we come into a real union with Christ. Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” And so His eternal life is in us, granting us eternal life. Jesus repeated a number of times about His union with His people. John 14:20, “When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

We don’t follow the teaching of a religious leader. We’re on our way to death unless His eternal life takes over. So the bread of life is heavenly bread. The Lord Jesus Christ comes from divine eternal preexistence into time and space to fulfill the divine purpose of the Father, which is to provide salvation. That is dependent on a union with Christ which is a true spiritual reality and is why we live forever.

And it culminates in a resurrection. Several times Jesus says, “I’ll raise him at the last day.” It is a union that will not only be a union in spirit, but it will be a union in a body. Philippians 3:21, “He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own.” This is what it means to be a Christian. It’s having His life in us. This is the work of God.

What’s our responsibility? We are commanded to appropriate this bread. In verse 34, the Jewish people wanted the bread that would satisfy their constant hunger physically, but Jesus isn’t talking about that. He’s talking about Himself as the bread they really need. Verse 35, He says, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me.” We just read, “Nobody can come unless the Father draws him.”

And yet here it says, “He who comes to Me.” So the first requirement is to come. Verse 37 clarifies, “All that the Father gives Me will come, and the one who comes to me, I will not reject.” Not because the person is of value, but because the gift of the Father is of value. It’s not enough to come and listen. You have to believe Me. But believing in the person of Jesus Christ as the living bread is not enough.

You must also accept the person that I am and the death that I died. Verse 55-56, “For My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me in and I in him.” Now Leviticus 17, Deuteronomy 12 and Deuteronomy 15 forbids Jews from drinking blood. But what Jesus says is that without believing in His sacrificial death, you cannot be saved.

The Old Testament states that the Messiah must suffer and die. We also worship Him as the sacrifice for our sins who died in our place. You have to be able to eat His flesh in the sense that you take Him as the one who nourishes your soul. And you have to be willing to drink His blood in the sense that you accept his sacrificial death. This was too much for the Jewish people to accept.

If you want eternal life, eating is necessary. You can’t just come and admire. You have to eat, which is to believe fully. But eating is in response to hunger. So, the people who eat are the people who are hungry! It’s the aching of the heart of one who knows he’s empty. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit to make the heart hungry. That’s where the Father starts to draw. The hungry heart needs this bread, Amen? Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Jan 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210117 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000160 imblog

John 6:22-27

There are a number of different conversations that go on in John 6. But it strikes me that this chapter really focuses on one very important issue and that is the difference between a true disciple and a false disciple, a true follower of Christ and a false follower of Christ, one who endures faithfully, and one who abandons, one who believes and in the end, one who does not believe.

And it’s critical for us to understand this reality. There are people who profess to be followers of Jesus who profess to be believers, but based upon what we learn from Scripture and what we eventually see in their lives, they turn out to be false disciples. People need to be warned about that because that’s such a dire condition to be in, to be a false follower of Christ.

Let us start in verse 60 just to get an idea of how it ends so we know where we’re going. Verse 60-62, “Many of His disciples when they heard this said, ‘This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?’ 61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again?”

Verses 63-65, “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him. 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”

Verses 66-69, “At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” 68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” You see the distinction between the disciples who did not believe and the disciples who did believe?

The false disciples, according to verse 65, as a result of His words, according to verse 66, withdrew. Both groups are called disciples. Both were followers of Jesus. Both were students listening to Him. Some were true, a small minority and most were false. Go back to verse 64, “There are some of you who do not believe”, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe.

The prototype of a false disciple is Judas. In verse 70, Jesus closes this chapter by saying, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.” The story of Judas is shocking, tragic, maybe the ultimate of all human tragedies because of his proximity to Jesus for three years.

But having said that, you will notice in verse 64 that he is just linked with non-believers. He is linked with those who reject Christ. In some ways Judas is absolutely unique. In other ways, he is simply a prototype of a defecting follower of Jesus. He’s one among many who follow Christ for a while and then abandon Jesus Christ, having had a full revelation of His person and His teaching.

So we must remind ourselves that anyone having heard the truth, having known the truth, and walking away from the truth is in the category of Judas. Our Lord Himself said that people would forsake Him because they feared persecution. Our Lord said that there were people who would hear and be attracted and follow for a little while but the love of money would pull them away.

Jesus said there are others who would be lured by the love of the world system and it would cause them to defect. He said that there were people who would follow for a little while or start to follow, and they would abandon Him because they wanted comfort and ease. There were other who defected from Jesus because they were unwilling to sever relationships with people close to them.

There are complex reasons why people walk away from Christ. But they’re not discussed here in this chapter. John 6 is more direct. The defectors in this case defected because of what Jesus said. On this occasion it was His words that drove them out. And the words He is referring to are the words on the ‘bread of life’ that starts in verse 32 and runs all the way down to verse 60.

And in that great sermon, Jesus talked about His death and His resurrection. He told them, “You have to believe in My death.” He also condemned their false religion and their works/righteousness. It was the condemnation of their religion and the declaration of His own death that they resented. He proclaimed that He would die and they would have to believe in that if they were to be saved.

The powerful declaration that Jesus makes about the necessity of believing in Him as the Holy One of God, included believing in His death and resurrection. And the absolute necessity to abandon their religious system of Judaism, which is salvation by works. That triggered their defection on that day in the synagogue of Capernaum where Jesus had given that message.

These Jews were warned. Believe and you’ll have life. Reject and you’ll be condemned. And the vast majority apparently rejected. They were retreating from the gospel back into the satisfaction they found in the externalism of their Judaist religion. They weren’t becoming agnostics, not believing in God, they just did not believe in a Trinitarian God, and they were going back to their religion of comfort.

This is typical behavior for Jewish people in the New Testament times. To illustrate that, turn to Hebrews 3. Hebrews is written to Jewish believers who were looking at the gospel, looking at Christianity. They had been exposed to it. They had first-hand eyewitness testimony to the signs and wonders and miracles, the affirmation of the truth concerning Christ and the gospel.

These Jews are there but they’re not committed. And so throughout the book of Hebrews, there are severe warnings to them. Like in Hebrews 2:3, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” Look at Hebrews 3:6, “But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.” Some of you are not.

Verse 7-11, “That is why the Holy Spirit says, ““Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

That takes us back to Exodus to the failure of the children of Israel to come to true faith in God and therefore a whole generation died in the wilderness. Do not be like that generation that perished in the wilderness, who never entered Canaan, the Promised Land. That’s an illustration of what’s going to happen to you in regard to entering heaven and the Kingdom of God.

So verse 12 says, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” This is to the Jews who are reading this letter and all who will ever read this letter who are sitting on the fence, don’t let an unbelieving heart cause you to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 6:4-6 says, “If with full revelation you fall away, it’s impossible to be renewed again to repentance.”

This is so serious, verse 13 adds, “Encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” He says to this believing congregation, “Not only do you as individuals want to be warned, but you as a church, you collectively need to encourage these people to come to faith and not harden their hearts.”

And verse 14, back to the principle, “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance, firm until the end.” It’s the people who stay faithful to the end, if you continue in My word, John 8, you’re My real disciple. Again the warning from Psalm 95 in verse 15, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart as in the rebellion.” So you were not able to enter because of unbelief.

Now this principle existed in the early church in this Jewish congregation, of people sitting on the edge and not being true followers of Jesus Christ. It still exists today and it will exist all the way to the final judgment because in that day, referring to that final judgment, many will say as in Matthew 7:22-23, “Lord, Lord,” and I will say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

False discipleship was a problem in the time of Jesus, it was a problem in the time of the Apostles writing the epistles. It’s been a problem through all of church history. It will show up at the judgment as a very serious problem in that day. All that to take us back to John 6, because you need that context to really see the depths of this. Their spiritual defection is a pattern throughout the history of the church.

It’s easy to condemn someone, questioning the legitimacy of people’s salvation. But the Bible warns over and over of the importance of not being deceived about your spiritual condition. It’s all around us in the name of Christianity, false believers. And it’s fair to say they are driven away by the truth. The message, like in Capernaum, the gospel is an offense to them, it is a stumbling block.

In John 6, false disciples surround Jesus and what has attracted them? False disciples are attracted by crowds. Secondly, false disciples are attracted to the supernatural. People said He could heal and cast out demons, and He did. Thirdly, false disciples think only of earthly benefits. The shallow follower has no interest in matters of sin, righteousness, repentance, holiness and true love of God.

Fourthly, false disciples have no interest in worship. You remember when we went through Matthew 14:33, Jesus walked on water? Remember the statements the disciples made? “Truly this is the Son of God, and they worshiped Him.” But false disciples come for the external, the show. There’s no longing for the glory and honor of God and the exaltation of Christ.

That brings us to where we are. False disciples also seek personal prosperity. And people do it all the time today. Let’s read verse 22, “The next day the crowd that had stayed on the far shore saw that the disciples had taken the only boat, and they realized Jesus had not gone with them.” As good as the meal was, they’re going to need breakfast. But when the morning came, He was not there.

Verse 23 says, “Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten.” You don’t know what it is to struggle to get your next meal. And this is the ultimate hope for people, not having to worry about the next meal. Verse 24, “So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for Him.”

Now this is a huge crowd. The twenty five thousand people that were there last night, they’ve slept well because their stomachs were full, hoping the same thing for breakfast. And they get there in verse 25, “They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus does not tell them anything about the miracle of walking on water.

Verse 26, “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.” John emphasizes the statements that our Lord makes. The miraculous feeding and healing that went on and that you’ve seen day after day has not driven you to acknowledge who I am. You’re not here because you believed the signs that pointed to Me as the Savior, Messiah and Lord.

These are the candidates for the prosperity gospel. Jesus wants to feed you. Jesus wants to fulfill your desires. They’re seekers of personal fulfillment. They wanted their desires met on the spot by Jesus. They wanted Jesus to give them whatever they wanted. That’s still going on today and Jesus is still being offered by false teachers as the genie who gives you whatever you want.

But that’s a misrepresentation as He makes clear in verse 27, “But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given Me the seal of his approval.” Do not spend your energy and your effort, money and your time for what perishes. But believe the food that endures to eternal life.

Who is the food that endures to eternal life? It’s Jesus. “I am the bread of life,” He says in verse 35, “The person who comes to Me will not hunger and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” Verse 41, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” He is the one whom the Father has sealed, what does that mean? God authenticated Jesus. And that was Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost.

So Jesus says, “You ignore the signs and what they demonstrate and you come for food. And what is it that He will give? He says in verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.” Believe in Me, in who I am and why I came and that I came to die. Believe the gospel which endures to eternal life. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Jan 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210110 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000015F imblog

John 6:16-21

So, from the beginning of ministry anywhere, it’s critical for people to do a heart examination. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, examine yourself to see if you’re in the faith, because clearly our Lord made an issue out of this. There are people who attach themselves to Jesus and to Christianity, to the church and then defect and desert. They do not last, and they do not persevere.

It was Jesus Himself who said that whoever perseveres to the end, Mark 13:13, shall be saved. There are plenty of defectors and we’ve all know people who have had that experience. The Apostle Paul, so faithful and so beloved, looked back over his life in 2 Timothy and said, “All who are in Asia have forsaken me,” and then in 2 Timothy 4:10 says, “Demas has forsaken me.”

Jesus recognized that there would be traitors in the church. It gets painful when it happens in our circle of friends, when we know people who once professed an interest in Christ and no longer do that. Is equally painful when it’s a spouse who once was involved in the church and professed an interest in Christ and no longer does. We can imagine the pain of that.

But it’s a reality and that’s why 1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us because they were not of us,” it says. “If they had been of us, they would have continued with us but they went out from us that I might be made manifest they never were of us.” There will be defectors. We don’t want to make it easy for false followers of Jesus Christ. We want to make sure we’re a true disciple.

The Bible makes a huge issue out of spiritual defection. That was painfully the agony of the prophets who were crying out to unfaithful Israel and unfaithful Judah repeatedly. As Isaiah 65:11 puts it, “You have forsaken the Lord and have forgotten his Temple.” That is a repeated issue in the Old Testament to which the prophets spoke. In Isaiah 16:9, God says to Moab, “I will water you with My tears.”

In Isaiah 59:13, the people are indicted by the prophet because they have departed from our God. That is the God who has revealed Himself to us, the God we know about. And this is God speaking through Jeremiah 2:13, “For My people have committed two evils, they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hue for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Again you see the tears of God in Jeremiah 14, and in Jeremiah 31, and even in Lamentations, that wonderful book by Jeremiah. Lamentations 2:11 says, “I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken. My spirit is poured out in agony as I see the desperate plight of my people. Little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets of the city.”

When you come into the New Testament, perhaps one of the most familiar is in Luke 19:41-42 where it says, “But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.” Spiritual apostasy or false discipleship breaks the heart of God and Christ.

Now we can study John 6. Hopefully you can grasp this in some way, not only intellectually, but also emotionally. The sorrow is great because you don’t know why things have gone the way they have gone, when our children deeply disappoint you, or your grandchildren disappoint you, or troubles come your way, or disease or the threat of death. That is when you learn to lean on the sovereignty of God.

Here in John 6 Jesus Himself leans on the sovereignty of God the Father. Jesus while fully God is also fully man. And He is tempted at all points like as we are, and if God weeps over spiritual defection, Jesus does as well. The issue here is spiritual defection, spiritual apostasy. John 6:66, “As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”

And then verse 67, “Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’” It’s a painful experience for our Lord. He is so perfect, so compassionate, so powerful, fully God, gracious, merciful, kind, and He is spending the day healing like every other day. And then this massive feeding of twenty-five thousand people, which demonstrates compassion and His power.

And it ends in John 7:1 with the Jews seeking to kill Him, and the defection of many of His followers. This leads us to understand that there are many false followers of Jesus. I’m only an insignificant representative of Jesus and can’t come close to Him in any sense. You would expect false followers of me or any other pastor. But Jesus? Hard to imagine, after having been exposed to His person and His power.

Now John 6 has 71 verses, and the theme is the characteristics of False Discipleship. This chapter is here to show us the difference between a true and false follower of Jesus. I fear that many people who profess Christ don’t know Him. Matthew 7:13-14 says. “The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

Verse 66 says that it is possible to be a disciple who walks away from Jesus. Many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. Finality, they left. That’s an indication that disciple is a generic word. In Greek it means a student, a learner. But nobody ever had the massive crowds that Jesus had. And some were disciples that really believed in Christ.

But it also could mean that you were just interested superficially. A disciple could also be an unsaved person, a false follower of Jesus. John 6 is about disciples, the real and the false. So we’re going to learn this overarching reality of what characterizes false disciples. As we work through John 6, we’re going to see one principle after another unfold. And that’s going to connect it all together.

First, false disciples are attracted by the crowd. So Jesus, after these things in John 5, went away, this is the end of His Galilean ministry. “A large crowd followed Him.” Jesus is the most popular person in Israel. Nobody in their family ever knew a miracle worker, nobody ever saw a miracle. And now this Jesus is doing them on a daily basis. His popularity draws massive crowds of people.

And crowds attract crowds. The widespread healings, the demonic deliverances of Christ have led to massive popularity. We even read in some accounts that they were stepping on each other, being crushed together. Well it’s a pretty powerful thing, a mob kind of mentality and when something dramatic is going on, when demons are being chased out and people are being healed, the crowd swells.

Secondly, false followers are fascinated by the supernatural. Jesus creates food out of His hands. How much power would it take to create that kind of food? Assume a half a pound of food for every person. So they did a scientific study. All the electrical power on earth running at a hundred percent capacity for four years. That’s how much energy it would take to create that meal for 25 thousand people.

Listen, this is nothing for Jesus. He created the sun, “God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him,” from John 1:3. The sun consumes approximately six hundred million tons of matter per second, generating enough energy in one second to supply all the U.S. current energy needs for thirteen billion years. Jesus has the power to do that in just one star, and there are billions of them.

Life is mundane, for many going nowhere, relationships are tough, families are a mess, disappointments abound. Now somebody comes along with the name of Jesus, offering health, wealth, happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment. They don’t have to have a healing miracle, just thinking that it would be possible is going to attract a crowd, even though what Jesus is offering is not worldly, but heavenly.

Thirdly, false disciples think only of earthly benefits. In John 6:14 the people said, “This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world,” that’s from Deuteronomy 18. So they now are beginning to connect Jesus with Old Testament messianic prophecy. But what’s He been talking to them about all day? According to John 18:36 Jesus says, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”

Jesus is talking about the eternal Kingdom of God over which God rules in the lives of those who are redeemed, those who repent and believe and are saved. But the people wanted to kidnap Jesus to make Him a King. He can create the perfect living conditions on earth. He feeds us all the time, vanquishes all our enemies, heals all our diseases, and chases the demons away. They think only of earthly benefits.

But no one can use God for his own ends. But that is what’s so much offered to people today. God is your genie, He’ll show up and fix everything. That’s a formula for attracting false disciples. So now we get to John 6:16 - 21 and there’s a fourth characteristic, false disciples have no desire for worship. And to get the whole story, you need to read also Mark 6, and Matthew 14.

Here’s what John 6:16-17 says, “That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. 17 But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum.” Actually the other writers tell us they were going a little ways to Bethsaida, which was just on the north shore. They stayed there for a while, thinking Jesus is going to come.

But Jesus doesn’t come. So according to Mark 6 they leave. They start to cross the sea to Capernaum. Verse 18, “Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough.” That lake is about 700 feet below sea level and it’s ringed on three sides by mountains that rise several thousand feet. The collision of winds in the valleys between those hills turned that area into a raging storm.

Now, many of these disciples fished that lake as a daily routine. But they are afraid. This isn’t the first time this has happened. They had already had this experience once before in Galilee and the waves were so bad they were crashing over the boat and Jesus was sleeping, remember that? And then He got up and stilled the storm, stilled the wind and stilled the water.

So here they come again and the familiar storm starts. Verse 19, “They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified.” They’ve only gone three or four miles in the fourth watch of the night. You can read more about it in Mark’s gospel as well. Matthew 14:24 says, “But the boat was already a long distance from the land.”

The fourth watch of the night, that’s 3 to 6 A. M., Jesus came to them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost.” Verse 20, “But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, “Do not be afraid, I am here.” Matthew 14:28 says, “Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”

Verse 29-32, “Yes, come.” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. 31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” 32 When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.”

Notice the difference. Last time this happened they said, “Who is this man?” This time in verse 33, “Then the disciples worshiped Him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.” Now that’s true discipleship, worship. Go back to John 6:21, “Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!”

Now they’ve just seen a series of miracles. Miracle number one, they’re still alive. Miracle number two, Jesus walking on water. Miracle number three, Peter walking on water. Miracle number four, Peter sinks and he’s pulled back up to walk on water. Miracle number five is Jesus stops the wind. Miracle number six is Jesus stills the water. And miracle number seven, the boat is at the place to which they were going.

The boat went from wherever it was, straight to the dock at Capernaum. Now they know who they’re dealing with, this is the Son of God. He is in control of nature. He is in control of His creation. This is what sets the true disciples apart from the false. It was all about worship. It was all about declaring Him to be the Son of God and then bowing down in worship to Him.

What is it about false followers? Judas was part of what these disciples had seen and experienced, how is it possible that despite all that he had witnessed and felt, he still could betray Jesus? Are not these miracles proof that Jesus is God? Yes, but Satan has blinded his eyes and God has allowed that. Spiritual battles continue to rage where we cannot see that, but we have read the ending of it all.

Oh, these false disciples are drawn by the crowd, fascinated by the supernatural, interested only in earthly benefits and really have no desire for worship. Real worship is bowing down and proclaiming Jesus is Lord and God. True worshipers bow down, they prostrate themselves, in worship, in submission, in sacrifice and obedience to the Lord and God. That’s a true disciple. Are you one? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Jan 2021 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20210103 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000015E imblog

Luke 2:1-7

This is the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, and Christmas focuses on the birth of Christ. So many people know something about the birth of Christ. But most people don't know all of the rich details that Luke provides. Luke is a remarkable historian. His selectivity under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is rich and profound and we are all being enriched as we study this.

Luke 2:1-7, “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home.”

“He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room available for them at the inn.”

Well as far as Joseph and Mary were concerned, their circumstances made the "no vacancy" sign in Bethlehem all the more severe since Mary was about to deliver a baby. This young couple, Joseph probably being sixteen and Mary fourteen years of age; the two of them had journeyed about one hundred and forty kilometers from their home in Nazareth.

And when they came to Bethlehem, it says in verse 7, there was no room for them. Nine months pregnant, in a matter of a few days to deliver a baby, and no place to stay. No relatives awaiting with a warm home. It was late fall or early winter. And that note is symbolic of the future for Jesus. As far as Jesus is concerned there's still a "no vacancy" sign hanging on this world.

Reviewing briefly, a startling event happened in Luke 1:26. In the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, the angel Gabriel came to a city in Galilee. It was the town of Nazareth. The angel came directly to a virgin, a fourteen-year-old girl named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph who was a descendant of King David.

And Gabriel said, "Hail favored one, the Lord is with you.” Of course, she was greatly troubled and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. She is afraid. The angel says don't be afraid, you will conceive in your womb, you will bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus." Jesus means savior and He will save His people from their sins, as Matthew records it.

Luke 1:32-35, "He will be great, He will be called the Son of the Most High." The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will have no end." Of course, this young girl Mary, said to the angel, "How can this be since I'm a virgin?" The angel said, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and He shall be called the Son of God."

The baby would be miraculously conceived by God. The baby would be the Son of God in human flesh. When Mary became pregnant and Joseph found out about it, he was shocked because there was no explanation for her pregnancy. But an angel appeared to him, in Matthew 1:20, and said, "Don't be afraid to take her as your wife because that which is conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit.”

And she's going to bring forth a child named Jesus and this child will save His people from their sins. And further, His name will be Immanuel which means God with us." Now in Luke 2, this prophecy has come to pass. Mary is full term and she in this passage gives birth to the baby Jesus. Luke 1:7, "She gave birth to a son." That's it, it was like any other birth. But the child was not like any other child.

First, the world setting, Luke 2:1-3, “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census.” God brought together all the components of the birth of Messiah, at the right time, at the right place.

God moved this godless Caesar who knew nothing about the Old Testament, nothing about the coming of Messiah, to play a critical role in the fulfillment of prophecy at the birth of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. And it was because Caesar Augustus made a decree to have a census. His actual name, Gaius Octavius, was changed to Caesar Augustus, an honorary title given to him in 27 B.C. by the Roman Senate.

This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria in 8 B.C. The Jews did not like to pay taxes to Rome and apparently Herod was able to stall it off as long as possible. Finally they were forced to comply. And that's why Joseph and the very pregnant Mary had to make a ninety-mile journey to register in this census and they couldn't have put it off any longer.

And all of that fit into the purposes of God that they were there in Bethlehem when that child was born, because that was God's plan. So Jesus was not actually born in zero A.D., but rather somewhere between 6 - 4 B.C. The Jews decided that everybody should go back to the place where the records were kept. When Israel came to Canaan, the land was divided and tribes were given sections.

That was all critical to the purposes of God so that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Had Caesar Augustus made his decree earlier, had Herod resisted shorter or longer, the child would have been born in Nazareth and not have fulfilled prophecy and that showed that God couldn't control circumstances. But that didn't happen because God controls everything. God literally writes history as His story.

Now look to the national setting. Luke 2:4-5 says, “And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.” God gave the Jews the Scripture, which was specific about where the Messiah was to be born.

In Micah 5:2 we read, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me, the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” It can't be David because he was born 300 years before. How do we know it's the Messiah? Because it says, "whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."

It becomes important because when Caesar Augustus put the census in motion, the end result of that was this young couple were going to be in Bethlehem, and because of the date established, they were going to be there in the ninth month of her pregnancy. The city of David where he was born is called Bethlehem. As we learned earlier both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David.

Through Mary, Jesus got royal blood; and through his earthly father, Joseph, He received the right to be the ruler. Luke 2:4, “Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.” And God, providentially, arranged them exactly where they need to be to fulfill prophecy.

Verse 5 says, “He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.” Really a fearful thing for a sixteen-year-old and a fourteen-year-old or so to take such a trip under such circumstances. Remember, Mary went to visit Elizabeth to connect with somebody who would understand a conception miracle because she conceived John through the Holy Spirit also in her old age.

Joseph knew she was pregnant with the Son of God. He knew this was Jesus to save His people from their sins because the angel told him that. He knew what Gabriel had told Mary. It says Mary was engaged to him. But in Matthew 1:24 it says they had married. Joseph arose from his sleep after the angel came and told him that she was a virgin, and that she had been given a child by God.

When he arose from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took her as his wife and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son. He took her as a wife. What that indicates is that he actually married her at that point. That would have been the right thing to do. He covered her in kindness by going ahead with the ceremony. So they were actually married.

Now we come to the personal setting. Verse 6, “And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.” It doesn't tell us where they were. Verse 7, “She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.” Wherever they were when the baby was born was is where they had been the whole time.

They were homeless. Absolutely nothing is said about the details. No family, just a fourteen-year old and a sixteen-year old. Hours of labor, just a teen-aged husband to help. And finally she at the culmination of the labor, at the glorious moment pushes one more time and pushes out the Son of God. God sent forth His Son, born of a virgin, Immanuel, the God of eternity stepped into time and space.

The Lord of omnipresence was confined to a body about eight pounds in weight and under two feet in length. That little life came out into the arms of that young father. And neither of them could fathom what was going on. And they had been told by an angel. Luke tells us that she gave birth to her firstborn son. The Roman Catholic Church says she had only one child and she was a perpetual virgin till her death.

That is not true. She had many sons and daughters. Matthew 1:24 - 25 says that he kept her a virgin until Jesus was born. After that Joseph and Mary had normal relationships as any other husband and wife would and they had boys and they had girls. In Matthew 12 and 13 we are introduced to Jesus' half-brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. In verse 56, His sisters are mentioned as well.

The crowd was saying, you know, Jesus is nobody special. This is just a carpenter's son. His mother is Mary, His brothers are James, Joseph, Simon and Judas, and His sisters are all with us. They just an ordinary family full of kids. Jesus was the firstborn from God which means that she was a virgin but Jesus is the firstborn which means that He has the primary right to the family inheritance.

Joseph and Mary didn't have an estate to leave Him. But what they did have was the right to the throne of Israel. There hadn't been a king in a long time in Israel. And somebody was always ruling in Israel but it wasn't in the royal line of David. But the royal line was in the life of Joseph and Mary. And what they passed on to Jesus was the right to rule on the throne of David.

"She wrapped Him in cloths." Why is that there? Because that was a birth like every other birth. And a Jewish mother did this typically. The custom was to take long strips of cloth and wrap the arms and legs and then wrap the little body tightly. This was for warmth and security. They also believed that it helped to keep their bones straight when they grew in early life.

And then it says, "And laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn." Manger is a feeding trough. It never says that Jesus was born in a stable. Well the means of transportation in ancient times were donkeys and so they carried goods on their animals. And so there would be adjacent to every place to stay, a place for the animals and a feed trough as well.

For days Joseph and Mary were huddled in kind of a shelter. So there probably wasn't an inn keeper who shut them out. It was just the nature of the situation. When Jesus came into the world, He came in the worst conditions, smelly and filthy. He humbled Himself all the way down, to become a substitute for sinners and bear our guilt in His own body.

Jesus came down to the poor, lowly and the wicked. He came down to the common people to bring His glorious salvation. It was fitting, in a sense then, that He was born in a smelly stable. God the Father sent the Savior all the way down into the lives of the lowly and the whole picture of that scene is a metaphor for the stench of sin which Jesus bore in His own sinless body.

God controls everything. And He fulfills the prophecies of Scripture and He comes all the way to the lowly sinner. Well, the birth of Jesus was in some ways a sad moment because of the obscurity of it all. But that didn't last. At that same time some angels began to tell what was going on to some shepherds, praising God saying: ‘Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’

God does not do things the way the world does. The creator of the world is not born in a palace for the world to see. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. But God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. Only Christ makes us right with God; He made us pure, holy and free from sin. So that is reason to celebrate, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Dec 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201227 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000015D imblog

Matthew 2

By the time we get to Matthew 2 the birth of Christ is over. But the heart and soul of Matthew 2 is to tell us that Jesus in the events around His birth fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Isaiah said that Jesus would be born of a virgin, and He was. And the prophet said it seven hundred years before Jesus was born. Micah said Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, and He was.

Hosea said that Jesus would be called out of Egypt, and He was. And many prophets said He would be from Nazareth, and He was. And Matthew assembles those specific prophesies, in order to prove that this child is indeed the promised King. Matthew 1 describes that the Child had the credentials of the King: born of the seed of Abraham and of the line of David, the royal line.

Then having established that this one is the promised King by virtue of His lineage, Matthew then establishes that this child is indeed the promised King by virtue of His virgin birth. That means that He had no earthly father. It was the Holy Spirit who placed the seed in the egg of Mary that became the child that grew in her womb, and was born Jesus, the Son of God.

And then Matthew further establishes the credentials of Jesus Christ as the promised King and Messiah by seeing the fulfillment of prophecy. One clear and precise prophecy appears at the end of Matthew 1. Matthew quotes from Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,” which translated means ‘God with us’.

So the first prophecy is Isaiah 7:14, that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. No human being has ever been or will ever be born without a human source for the sperm that impregnates the egg. Only Jesus Christ is virgin-born. He is man because He comes through Mary’s womb; and He is God because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And that prophecy was fulfilled seven hundred years after Isaiah prophesied it.

Matthew 2 gives us more prophecies. They have to do with locations. The first prophecy has to do with Bethlehem. The second prophecy has to do with Egypt. The third prophecy has to do with Ramah, and the fourth prophecy has to do with a town called Nazareth. Jesus fulfilled them all. This is a complex of prophesies that proves that the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was not coincidental.

There are just too many prophetic components. It would have to be orchestrated by God, and the fact that the birth of Christ was associated with Bethlehem, as Micah said it would be; with Egypt, as Hosea said it would be; with Ramah, as Jeremiah said it would be; and with Nazareth, as many prophets said it would be, is proof enough that this, in fact, is the prophesied predicted Messiah.

Let’s begin with the first prophecy: the birth at Bethlehem. Matthew 2:1-2; 5-6, “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote.”

“6 And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.” Now here is the first of these location elements in the birth of Christ. It comes from the prophet Micah, and it says that He was to be born in Bethlehem. Now remember that the magi were the elite cultured king makers.

They had been influenced by the Old Testament, because the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive into Babylon. And with that came the Old Testament and the prophet Daniel, and the prophet Ezekiel who spent time in captivity as well. And that grew into an expectation that there would come this great King the Old Testament promised; and these wise men were waiting for that.

And then they were given a sign, a star in the heavens. They followed that and came to Jerusalem seeking this King. Well, that possibility was an immense threat to King Herod. Herod, was a small-minded, insecure and evil man, who upon hearing that a king of the Jews had been born would do everything possible to make sure that this king was executed in his infancy.

And so these wise men ask him, “Where is this King to be born? We have seen His star. We want to find Him.” Verse 7-8, “Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child.” And that leads to the fulfillment of that prophesy, as recorded in Micah 5:2.

Micah’s message to the Jews gives them the knowledge of how wretched their leadership is. That is the context in Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past will come from you on my behalf.” In the midst of this corruption Micah says, “There will come a leader who is from eternity.”

And Micah is speaking of the Messiah, the true Ruler, and the King of kings. Now you can go back to Matthew 2 and find that that is precisely what happened. And Matthew adds in verse 6, “who will shepherd My people Israel.” Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and thus you have an explicit Old Testament prophesy that says Jesus will be born in Bethlehem; and He was.

The second prophecy in Matthew 2 regards the exodus to Egypt. First, the birth at Bethlehem; secondly, the exodus to Egypt. Go to verse 13, “After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

Verse 14, “That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother.” Now why does He have to go to Egypt? It is a seventy-five mile walk to get to the border, and another hundred miles to get to the heart of the land of Egypt where some people reside. That is a journey of many days. And Mary and Joseph have a very young child between one and two years of age.

That’s why Herod slaughtered all the babies two and under. And why is it necessary? Verse 15, “and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: ‘I called my Son out of Egypt.’” Now here is one prophesy that has a limited significance. In other words, there was nothing particularly important about going to Egypt in itself.

But Egypt had become a Jewish colony, filled with Jewish refugees where they could find people that would care and support them. During those four hundred years of biblical silence there were some serious things happening in Israel, not the least of which was the Maccabean Revolt. And because of those terrorist activities, some of the Jews had taken refuge in Egypt and migrated there.

Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” God had selected Israel to be His child while they were in Egypt, and made them a nation, and led them into the Promised Land. That is the significance of Hosea 11:1. And what is behind that is the great love of God. It says in Deuteronomy 32 that God has chosen Israel because of His great love. Now that’s the significance of Hosea 11:1.

Hosea preaches judgement. He deals with Israel’s wickedness, namely involvement in idolatry with all of its sins. So the message of Hosea is the failure and the decadence of Israel, and he preaches it but he does more than preach it; he illustrates it with his own life in a most graphic illustration. Hosea married a woman named Gomer. She turned out to be a prostitute.

She went after other lovers; and in her prostitution conceived illegitimate children. And Hosea named one of them “Not My Child.” But in spite of what she did, he deeply loved her; and instead of rejecting her, he followed her around and made sure that all her needs were met. And finally Hosea bought her back off the market. She was literally on a block naked, being sold, and he took her back as his wife.

Now that is a graphic illustration of God’s relationship to Israel. And the message of Hosea is this: just as Hosea had married Gomer, God had taken Israel as his wife. Just as Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea, so is Israel was unfaithful to God. Just as Gomer was enslaved by her lovers, so Israel was enslaved by idolatrous nations in whom she had placed her love. And Jehovah would restore Israel.

So the message of Hosea is a message of heartbreak. And it is at that point that God says, “Do you understand that it was out of Egypt I called My Son?” And God goes back to that initiating love. Reading through Hosea you would understand that, but you wouldn’t understand that it had anything to do with Jesus. But in reality, it is a type prophesy that Jesus would be called out of Egypt.

Nothing in the Old Testament is a type of Christ until the New Testament says it is. If the New Testament says it does, it does. This was a type prophesy fulfilled in Jesus Christ as noted in the New Testament. Now it makes perfect sense, because Israel is, at that point, a type of Christ. Christ is called in Isaiah the servant of the Lord, and so is Israel. Israel is God’s child; so is Christ.

Let’s go to the third prophecy, the mourning at Ramah, now we come to another location. Verse 16, “Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance.” He slaughters every child to prevent one from growing up and being a threat to his throne.

Verse 17-18, “Herod’s action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A cry was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.” Imagine the horror of Bethlehem, as Herod sent his soldiers to stab those little ones, or cut their heads off. But this fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 31:15, “Thus says the Lord, ‘A cry is heard in Ramah, deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children are gone.” Jeremiah was prophesying before the people of Israel were carried away into captivity. And there would be tremendous weeping in Ramah, a village on the border of the north and south kingdom, where people were transported into captivity.

But how is Rachel involved? Because, it says here, “Rachel weeping for her children.” Well, Rachel was the mother of both kingdoms. Joseph, brought forth two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh; and Ephraim was always identified with the northern kingdom. But Rachel also was the mother of Benjamin who was part of the southern kingdom. So Rachel weeps for both, because she was the mother of both.

Jeremiah sees this in his prophecy, but he sees also another kind of prophecy. If you’re studying Scripture and if you’re going through it, we call it a near-far fulfillment. The far intent takes us to the birth of Christ. “A voice was heard in Ramah weeping in great mourning.” One mile north of Bethlehem there was an area that had come be known as Ramah. And people will always say, “That is Rachel’s tomb.”

And in the time of Christ, Rachel’s tomb was also there. And so there is a different Ramah, not the high place north of Jerusalem, but a new Ramah south, and where there is Rachel’s tomb. How appropriate that God orchestrates all of that to bring together the near and far fulfillment. So in another Ramah, in the area of Rachel’s tomb, mothers weep again because their children are slaughtered.

Then the fourth prophesy about Nazareth. Verse 19-20, “When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20 “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” This is the third time that God spoke in a dream. Verse 21, “So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother.”

Verse 22-23, “But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. 23 So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.” This was Joseph’s original home; and he was to go back there.

“Where in the Old Testament did they say this?” Answer: nowhere. It says the prophets said it. They did, but it just wasn’t recorded in the Old Testament. It was one among perhaps many prophesies that were not recorded in the Old Testament. There is a reference in Jude to the prophecy of Enoch, which isn’t recorded in the Old Testament either. But here the Holy Spirit refers to it.

There is written prophecy; typological prophecy; double fulfillment, far and near prophecy; and there is prophecy that is not recorded in the Old Testament. From any one of this prophetic material, it all focuses on Christ: born in Bethlehem, out of Egypt, in Ramah there was weeping, and He went to Nazareth and became a Nazarene. All brought to pass in Jesus Christ by God’s power. Amazing truth to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Dec 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201220 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000015C imblog

John 6:1-15

We’re going to study one of the most familiar stories in the Bible. It is called the feeding of the five thousand. Of all the miracles that Jesus ever did, this is the most massive miracle in sheer number. When you add up five thousand men, plus women and children, you’ve got twenty-five thousand people and He creates a meal for them. And they’re participants in the miracle because they eat the meal.

It is unique because it is a created miracle. There are restorative miracles where He gives back sight to blind people, and hearing to deaf people, and restores paraplegics and heals diseases. We could call those restorative because they obviously have a creative element to them because you get new organs and new limbs and all of that. And there are some transformative miracles.

That’s what happened when He changed water into wine. But this is creating food out of nothing to feed twenty-five thousand people. It is a staggering testimony to the identity of Jesus Christ as God in human flesh, and that’s why it’s in all four gospels. And it can’t be debated because of the sheer mass of eyewitness participants who participated in this great miracle.

It never has been denied until more modern times when critics decided that it really wasn’t a miracle at all. What really happened was a little boy gave up his lunch and so everybody reached into their knapsack and pulled out whatever they had. We’re going to see that that’s an absolute impossibility that would only come up in the minds of skeptics who deny the deity of Jesus Christ.

This is a monumental miracle and this is the fourth miracle that John has recorded in his gospel. Now John begins this by establishing the identity of Jesus at the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.” So John begins by telling us Jesus is God. That is evident because everything that was created was created by Him in John 1:3.

That is evident because Jesus is not the recipient of life as verse 4 says, but He is the source of life. Verse 14, “The Word,” that is the eternal Son of God, “became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw His glory and we recognized that it was the glory as of the only begotten, the premier one from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Verse 18 adds, “No one has seen God at any time.”

Everything in the Gospel of John is designed to fit that theme to demonstrate that Jesus is the eternal God in human form. And then you have the evidence of the miracles and this miracle in John 6 is very unique. The evidences of His deity are bound up in the miracles that He did. Never is there any testimony that rejected the miracles as real. There were just too many of them that demonstrated His divinity.

Even Nicodemus said, “Nobody can do what You do unless God is with You.” They don’t know how to process this. Remember, they’re monotheists, they believe in one God. They’re not yet fully able to grasp the Trinity that God is one and yet three persons. They can’t grasp that in their monotheism. They are not able to process how Jesus can be God and be together with God. And so they reject that.

Remember now, generational apostasy was deeply imbedded in their minds. And when somebody comes along and says, “I’m God,” that sounds to them like somebody is competing with God. So while the signs all prove that Jesus is God, they had a hard time with that. In fact, they rejected it on religious grounds. They rejected Him because they didn’t like His message.

So, in spite of the evidence, they rejected Jesus. In fact, they determined that He was the most extreme blasphemer because He claimed to be God and He did not follow their Sabbath laws, which essentially was to attack their system. So they tried to kill Him. Never denying the miracles, they denied the miracle worker. Never rejecting what He did, they rejected Him. This is the deceptiveness of false religion.

It’s been a long period of time, and Jesus is no longer in Judea in the south, He is now in Galilee on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He has gone there for the Galilean ministry, but He has also gone there because He is very much aware that the leaders of Israel desire to execute Him. And in order to avoid an untimely death, He leaves to find the isolation of Galilee.

Jesus is aware that John the Baptist has been executed. So they know the threat and He’s up there in that rural area away from what is happening in Judea. And what’s He doing? Capernaum is His headquarters and He’s going around the villages of Galilee which He does for over a year, and He is healing and teaching the Kingdom of God. In the process of this He is drawing huge crowds.

Now east of the Sea of Galilee was pretty much a route that people would take to go to Jerusalem, and the Passover is near, so pilgrims would be coming that way as well to go down to Jerusalem. So now you have a large flow of humanity coming down the trails on the eastside of the Sea of Galilee, added to the large crowd already there. And that’s the scene as we come to the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus goes to the other side. We know that because we have accounts of this in Matthew, Mark and Luke. And His disciples and Jesus go on a boat. Why the other side? The Twelve had just returned from a preaching and teaching mission recorded in Mark 6, so they’ve been out working hard, and Jesus wants to pull them back and regroup and teach them more about what happened.

So that’s where they went for a little retreat. And as was Jesus’ custom, He wanted to go up into the mountain to sit with His disciples. However, verse 2 says, “A large crowd followed Him.” They walked along the shore, Matthew 14 says, from all towns and villages everywhere following Him. And Mark 6:33 says they’re coming along the north shore. So a large crowd is gathering.

What drew them? Verse 2, “Because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick.” It was the healing. It is always done in the name of Jesus because Satan always wants to discredit Him. They didn’t know what sickness thay had. There were no true diagnoses of health issues other than those things which are clear, like a broken bone. So they just had no hope.

If somebody came along who could heal all their diseases and give them free food, this is nirvana for them. So this crowd is following Jesus, because they’re attracted by the healing because all of them had something wrong. They came for temporal miracles, not the eternal words that could result in eternal life. When Jesus started to speak eternal words by the end of John 6, they run away. Many of His disciples just left.

Jesus wanted the people to listen to His words. But they never got pass their fleshly desires. Verse 3, “Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him.” Verse 4, “It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.” This just added to the crowd. People with earthly interest, personal well-being and national well-being. They want what unregenerate people all want.

Then we meet these faithless disciples, starting in verse 5, “Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him.” Jesus was there probably a long time because Matthew 14:14 says He spent the day healing the sick. Luke 9:11 says He spent the day speaking about the Kingdom of God, salvation. And Mark 6:34 said He was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

As the day begins to draw to an end, the disciples, according to Matthew 14:15, come to Him and say, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Verse 5 continues, “Turning to Philip, Jesus asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” Why would Jesus ask Philip this question?

This is the introduction of Jesus articulating an impossible situation. There were no resources there. This is a desolate place and there’s nowhere to go to buy bread for this many people. And Jesus is really not looking for help form Philip. He is not looking for some suggestion. Verse 6 says, “This He was saying to test him, for He already knew what He was going to do.”

What was the test? The test was to find out how much faith Philip had. It would have been a different story if Philip had said, “Lord, why are You asking me? You made everything. You are the Creator. We’ve seen You create.” The weakness of the disciples shows up again. They see miracles all the time, but they can’t believe a miracle will happen in this situation.

So this is all about testing disciples and building their faith. Jesus knew exactly what He was going to do. Verse 7, “Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” So now we know this is an impossible situation. They’re in a deserted place. They don’t have the money. They don’t have the available bread for so many people.

Verse 8-9, “Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” Now why does he suddenly appear out of nowhere? Well, according to Mark 6:38, Jesus told the disciples to go into the crowd and find out what they could take. Go search the crowd, see what might be available.

It’s not a lesson in sharing because they couldn’t find anything. Five loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many people? This is sarcastic. Are you kidding? This is way beyond reality, or any reasonable solution. And that was a pretty typical lunch. They grew grain and they had fish in the sea and that would be a typical meal, some barley loaves and some fish.

Jesus says in verse 10, “Tell everyone to sit down. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.)” Mark 6:40 says, “Jesus said, ‘Sit them in groups of 50 and a hundred.” Sit them in blocks, fifty here, fifty here, a hundred here, a hundred here, with aisles in between. That’s what you do if you segment them out, you’ve got space in between.

Matthew 14:21 adds, “Not including women and children.” Do we need to say it? Where there are men, there are women, there are children. All over the grassy hillside, these people are sitting down. How you could have such control over such a mass of people, is explained by the fact that Jesus had so much authority through the miracles that He had done, that they did whatever He told them to do.

Verse 11, “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people.” With no fanfare, no voice from heaven, no lightning, no thunder, He distributed to those who were seated. “Afterward He did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.” Jesus was creating it. These were loaves that never came from grain, those were fish that never swam.

Those are the best loaves anybody ever ate, those were uncursed loaves. I don’t know what uncursed loaves would be like. Maybe it’s like manna that came from heaven. Consequently, Jesus distributed to all that were seated and they were able to take as much as they wanted. That is not a lesson in sharing. If some people have some and some people don’t, and you share, everybody gets less than what they want.

Verse 12, “After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” How many of them told the story to their children about the greatest meal they ever ate? And then there was more. Verse 13, “So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.”

That would be enough for the disciples, for the twelve. This is a powerful creative miracle, but it’s also a precise creative miracle. That’s exactly what everybody wanted and exactly what the Apostles required as well. The precision of this miracle is as stunning as the power of this miracle. Jesus could do this any time He wanted. And He does it a little later for four thousand men.

How could they possibly not understand who He was? While the disciples were trying to get their faith together in the face of all of this, we come to a final point here. The false coronation in verse 14, “When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” This is the prophet promised in Deuteronomy 18:15 - 19 that is greater than Moses.

So what do they do? Do they say, “Let’s listen to what He has to say?” No. They try to make Him King because He can do all the miracles, heal everybody and feed everybody. Verse 15, “When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.” The other writers say He sent His disciples to go across the other side of the lake on the boat.

Jesus isn’t willing to be a temporal provider. And that’s the way it is today. The Jesus of the prosperity preachers is the false Jesus because the true Jesus isn’t there. They should have said, “Teach us the truth from God.” He calls on sinners to mourn for their sin, to be broken, penitent, acknowledge Him as sovereign Lord, be obedient to Him, live for Him, serve Him as His slave and suffer for Him. Are you willing? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Dec 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201213 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000015B imblog

John 5:41-47

You have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that’s the thesis of this gospel. So you have to know who the Jesus Christ is. Therefore this is a selective biography of Jesus. It’s not about health and wealth in this life. It’s not about morality. It’s not about changing social structures. The message is about the life to come, everlasting life through believing in Jesus Christ.

So the Son of God comes to the nation Israel, the people of God who are to be God’s missionary nation. They’re not the end, they’re the means to the end. However, John also tells us Jesus came to His own and His own received Him not. Now, when we come to John 5, we begin to see this clearly because in verse 16 the Jews are persecuting Jesus. And in verse 18 they’re seeking to kill Him.

So Jesus begins then to go for those who will believe, it’s a small group. There are a few by the time we get into John 6. He has some followers but you’ll see when we get into that chapter they start to disappear. Then the Kingdom is opened up beyond the Jews to the Gentiles and the church is established and the church then becomes the mission agency to the world to replace a failing Israel.

So John 5 gives us the declaration of the deity of Christ. In verses 17 to 24, Jesus declares Himself God by saying He is the same as God in every area. And in verse 23 He says He’s to be worshiped as God is worshiped, honored as God is honored. So Jesus gives His own personal declaration of His deity and starting in verse 30 He calls on other witnesses to proof this to the Jews.

So He turns to the witness that God the Father has given through John the Baptist, through the miracles and through the Old Testament. And we looked at all of that. So it is a declaration by the Son of God Himself as to who He is, attested to by the Father through John the Baptist, through the miracles that Jesus did which the Father enabled Him to do and through the Old Testament.

Verse 40, “And you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” How sad is that Jesus is not accepted with all that supporting evidence that He is who He claims to be. And they all said John the Baptist is a prophet from God. We know that that son was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. He was preaching repentance in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah.

Sinners are going to be held responsible before God for their unwillingness, for their unbelief. In John 3:19, this is the judgment that the light, meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, has come into the world but men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. The judgment will fall because unbelievers were unwilling to leave their sins and their darkness.

If you’re saved, it is because of the will of God. We saw that in John 3, you must be born from above. Something has to happen to you that you don’t contribute to. So we have to give God all the credit for our salvation. But sinners takes all the responsibility for their unwillingness and unbelief. Those two truths are taught in Scripture. If you have trouble harmonizing them, join the human race.

The sinner’s condemnation is never because there is some limit in the atoning work of Christ. It’s never attributed to a limited atonement so that there’s no way to include these people because there’s no provision for them. Judgment is never attributed to a lack of invitation, because we’re to take the gospel invitation to the ends of the world to every creature. It’s never attributed to a lack of information.

So our Lord concludes John 5 then with some words about the unwillingness of the sinner that are very instructive. And He’s here talking to the Jewish leaders and He’s diagnosing their unwillingness to believe. But that’s not the limit of this because the whole nation fell into the same category of unwillingness and you’re living in the twenty-first century of a world that has continued to be unwilling.

So the principles of unwillingness and the character of unwillingness are still today exactly what they used to be. This then speaks to us. The Lord assesses three elements to their unwillingness: an unwillingness to glorify Christ, and unwillingness to love God, and an unwillingness to believe Scripture. And those are the very things the Jews would have prided themselves on.

So Jesus condemns them for their spiritual pride. They were messianic and yet they don’t glorify the Messiah. They were supposedly lovers of God, but that was a deception. They gave superficial homage to the Scripture but didn’t believe what it said. So He literally cuts deeply into the body of their hypocritical false religion. Now Jesus knew what to say because He knew what they think.

Number one then, they were unwilling to glorify Him. Verse 41, “I do not receive glory from men.” Notice verse 42, “But I know you.” We only know the person from what they said and our experience with them. Jesus knew them because He knew what they thought. He knows the components of this unwillingness. You are unwilling to believe because you will not give Me glory.

It’s all about Christ. Will you honor Christ? Will you deny yourself? Take up your cross and follow Christ. And that is the issue He is making here. You don’t give Me glory. In fact, back in verse 23, remember, He said, “You cannot honor the Father unless you honor the Son.” Jesus says, you don’t give Me glory, you call Me a blasphemer, you persecute Me and you seek to kill Me.”

Look what it said in Isaiah 53:2-3, “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.” That’s how they viewed Him. “There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” The leaders didn’t think anything of Him. “He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Now that’s exactly what the Jews did to Him and they will one day confess that. Look at verse 44, “How can you believe?” And John circles back to this same point from verse 41. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another but you do not seek the glory that is from the only God? You can’t believe when you’re so busy receiving glory from people that you can’t give honor to the One from God.

Number two, you’re too busy seeking glory from others for yourself. And they were wrapped in the pursuit of self-exaltation, self-promotion, and self-glory. It was the mutual admiration society among those leaders. In Matthew 23:4, at the end of His ministry, Jesus addresses these leaders of Israel and He says, “They do all their deeds to be noticed by men.”

John 12:43 says they desire the approval of men more than the approval of God. They broadened their phylacteries, a tiny case that they carried around with the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength.” But instead of just a little case, they make it a huge box to portray themselves as noble, righteous and holy.

In Matthew 23:6, they love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues. Verse 7 says, they wanted to be called rabbi. Verse 10 says, they wanted to be called leader. But they were anything but servants. Jesus in verse 11 says, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled.” That is an illustration of their approach.

So you don’t really have an interest in the Messiah, you have only interest in yourself. And they were unwilling to love God. Verse 42, “But I know you, you do not have the love of God in yourselves.” You don’t love God. That’s just shocking because they had a little box with their life verse, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.”

That box meant: apply that when you work and apply it when you think. But because it wasn’t in their heart, they put it in a box and strapped it on their wrist and on their head. That’s not the point. Think this way. Strap this on your arm to act this way. They prided themselves on being the lovers of God. But Jesus says I know you, and you don’t love God at all, just yourselves.

Verse 43, “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” If a son came in the father’s name, you were receiving the father. If you loved the Father, you would receive the Son. But I’ve come in My Father’s name, you don’t receive Me.” You will not honor Me, nor do you love the one who sent Me.

All false religion is dishonest, it’s all attached on the outside. It doesn’t live in the heart because people in false religions just love themselves and glorify themselves, not God and not Christ. “But if another comes in his own name, you receive him.” Well, the history of Israel is a history of false Messiahs and historians have counted as many as 70 different people who claimed to be the Messiah.

And when the judgment comes, our Lord promises that there are going to be false Christs. Matthew 24:24, “false prophets arise, showing great signs and wonders so as to mislead, even the elect.” There’s going to be competition for Messiah in the time of the Tribulation. The Antichrist, the ultimate false Messiah, as described in Daniel 9 is the one with whom Israel makes a pact for seven years.

Israel has always been willing to follow a liar and a deceiver and a false Messiah, that’s been their history in the past and it will happen again in the future. And they’ll be pretty convincing because they’ll do satanic wonders. They have not, however, been willing to follow the true Messiah whom they had despised and rejected. And they were unwilling to believe Scripture.

And then number three in verse 44, “You do not seek the Glory which is from the one and only God.” Capitalize the Glory because it’s referring to Christ. Who is the Glory that came from God? John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw His Glory as of the only begotten from the Father.” There is the only begotten, the Glory of the Father manifest.

Verse 45-47, “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses is Moses in whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me for he wrote about Me. 47 but if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” Matthew 23:1-2, “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.”

In other words, they rule from Old Testament Law. And Moses refers not only to the writings of Moses, but it’s a cryptic term for the whole of the Old Testament Scripture. If we want to be formal, there are three sections in the Jewish Old Testament: Moses, which is the first five books, the prophets, the major and minor prophets, and then the rest which are called the holy writings.

The Old Testament is about Jesus. Jesus Himself refers to twenty Old Testament persons and quotes from nineteen Old Testament books. That was the Apostles’ Bible. That was the early gospel preachers’ Bible. And they found Christ in that. When the Apostles preach, they preach the Old Testament in the book of Acts. They’re preaching the gospel from the Old Testament.

And when they wrote the New Testament, there are 312 Old Testament passages quoted specifically in the New Testament. There are about five hundred and thirty references to the Old Testament. Fifty references in Romans alone. Verse 46, “if you believed Moses, you would believe Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Even the Jews today are in that same dilemma. If they will not accept what Moses said about the Messiah, then why would they believe in Jesus? So, the deeper look at the issue here, unwillingness basically is a mix of these three things, an unwillingness to give honor to Christ an unwillingness to love God, and an unwillingness to believe Scripture. And that is still true today.

In pastoral ministry, we deal with a lot of issues in people’s lives as we kind of try to help people enjoy their Christian experience. But the most difficult thing to deal with is a lack of assurance of salvation, fearing you’re not saved, worrying about sin. Thinking, I sin continuously in the same way. I’m constantly disappointed in myself. How do I know that I’m really saved?

Those are the wrong questions. Let me tell you how you can know if you’re a Christian and I’m just going to turn it into a positive question. Do you desire to honor Christ? Do you seek to glorify Christ? Do you love God? Do you believe Scripture? If you do, then the Lord has made your unwilling heart willing and that’s the miracle of conversion. So it’s not about your lack of perfection.

It’s about asking things that relate to direction. Which manifests itself in a desire to worship Him, obey Him, rejoice in Him, and praise Him. Do you believe Scripture? Those believes are unnatural. So when contemplating your spiritual condition, those are the questions you should ask. And if you answer “I do,” even if you sometimes fall short, then you have been saved by God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Dec 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201206 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000015A imblog

John 5:37-40

Here in this chapter is revealed the most important and foundational truth that any human being will ever come to understand. And that is the truth that Jesus is God. If you don’t believe that, you’re going to hell forever. But you must believe not only in who He is but what He did and what He proclaimed in the gospel in its fullness. Whoever believes will not perish but have everlasting life.

So this passage is important because starting in verse 17 and going all the way to the end of the chapter, the theme is the deity of Jesus Christ, claims that He is making to be God which are necessary to be believed. Up to this point, that has been the emphasis of the writer John. It was necessary for the disciples and all other believers who first followed Him to believe that Jesus is God.

From verse 17 to verse 30 is Jesus own personal testimony to His deity. Remember, He says He is equal with God in nature, equal to God in work, equal to God in power, equal with God in truth and consequently He is equal with God in honor and worship. This is a massive claim on the part of Jesus who is talking to Jews who want Him dead because He is assaulting their false religious system.

As we come to verse 31, there’s a shift. Jesus now moves from His own testimony to the testimony of others. Look at verse 31, “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid.” Jesus means that in their eyes, in their mind, that’s not enough to establish the truth. It has to be corroborated. Deuteronomy 17, 19 says, it has to be corroborated by two or three witnesses.

Verse 32, “But someone else is also testifying about Me, and I assure you that everything He says about me is true.” Who is it? Answer: it is God the Father, the one that they would acknowledge as true. And the Father gives testimony three ways, through John the Baptist, through the miracles of Jesus, and through the Old Testament. This is a vital portion of Scripture.

The Father worked in all three of these forms of testimony. In the first one, it is John the Baptist and verse 34 says, his testimony is not from man. Which means it’s from the Father. And in verse 36, it’s the miracles of Jesus, where He did the works which the Father had given Him to do. And in verse 37 - 39 it says, “But the Scriptures which you search all point to Me.”

However in spite of what they affirmed as the divine source of these ministries and these evidences, verse 16 says they were persecuting Jesus. Verse 18 says they were wanting to kill Jesus. And verse 40 says they were unwilling to come to Jesus to have eternal life. What we have is the rejection that is declared in John 1:11, “He came to His own and His own received Him not.” So let’s look at the three testimonies.

When John began his ministry, what did they say? The popular word was that Isaiah 40 had been fulfilled. That’s even quoted in Luke 3:4, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!” So everybody knew John was a prophet. The leaders even affirmed that. But it put them in a terrible dilemma because they should have believed what he said.

Secondly, it was the Father speaking in the miracles, verse 36, “But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that He sent me.” The second way which is greater than the first way, is through the miracles. John 12:37, “But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in Him.”

We are sympathetic with the nation Israel, we ought to be compassionate and we ought to love them with gospel honesty. But part of the message you have to give to the Jews is you are not in a favored position. If you reject Jesus Christ whom you know about and reject, hell is reserved for you. If you hate Him, you have no relationship to God the Father whatsoever, and those are the words of Jesus.

The third one then takes us to John 5:37 - 39 it is one unit. It’s a flow of reasoning or logic. Verse 37, “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have never heard His voice or seen Him face to face.” This is God the Father’s testimony because, verse 38, “But you do not have His Word in your hearts.” So the Father’s testimony is through the Word.

Starting in verse 37, take the sentence, “He has testified of Me,” then go to verse 39, referring to Scripture, “and these are they which testify about Me.” So the means the Father is using here is the Old Testament, the only Bible the disciples ever had, the only Bible anybody in the New Testament ever had was an Old Testament. And the Father in the Old Testament gives testimony about Jesus Christ.

Verse 37 is also written in a perfect tense which means it’s ongoing, it’s sustained. The testimony of John the Baptist was for a season and the miracles of Jesus also came to an end. But the Word of God is forever. The Scripture is for all seasons in perfect tense. This time the Father who sent Me, that one has testified, in perfect tense, in the past with sustained reality. The greatest witness then is Scripture.

Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Hebrews 1:1 says, “God who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past by the prophets.” So God spoke in the Old Testament. The Jews all believed it. They believed Jesus’ miracles had to be by the power of God until they attributed them to Satan. That would be a house divided against itself, why would Satan cast out Satan?

Jesus says in verse 37, “You have never heard His voice or seen Him face to face.” Those are the two senses by which we learn. Jesus is simply saying, you don’t have any knowledge of God at all. This was a devastating condemnation to say to these Jewish leaders. But, verse 38, Jesus gives them the reason, “You do not have His Word in your hearts.” You do not understand the Bible.

You have it in your hand, you have it in a scroll, but you don’t have it in you. You don’t understand it. The world is full of Bibles. It’s about having the Word in the Scriptures in your heart. John 8:31-32, “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

As far as God is concerned, they’re deaf and blind. People who have Bibles and don’t know the truth, don’t have the truth. They are cults, false religions, all the false prophets, all the corrupt forms of Christianity. How do you know? Verse 39, “For you don’t believe Him whom He sent. You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to Me.”

So these are statements literally indicting them on their behaviors. They were relentless, fastidious in the handling of the Old Testament scrolls. They gave it great honor. They labored over the Scripture in their own characteristic, rabbinical way. But they had a problem, they did not have the Holy Spirit. They were natural sinful men who did not understand the things of God.

The Jews had defective principles of interpretation. They came up with unbelievable and unacceptable interpretations because they were into deduction rather than induction. Rather than let the text speak, they imposed on the text their own ideas. They were full of allegory and mystical things and hidden meanings. They could obscure anything in the Bible. They were good at doing that.

Occasionally ancient rabbinical interpretation does provide some true interpretation, but much of it is bizarre and that would be the same with modern rabbis today’s handling of the Old Testament. All that wasn’t necessary, they could have understood it because Jesus says many times in the New Testament, “Have you not read?” If you had read it, it’s clear enough you would have understood it.

Simeon and Anna understood it. Who were they? Just a couple of saints at the Temple when Jesus came to be circumcised. Some fishermen in Galilee understood it. Samaritan outcasts understood it. The Jews affirmed that the Old Testament was the Word of God, but then they obscured its meaning by their manipulations because they were unwilling to believe the truth.

In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells this story about a rich man who dies and a beggar who dies and in the story. He has Abraham say because the rich man is in hell, he’s in torment, and he says to Abraham in the story, “Send somebody to warn my brothers so they don’t come here.” And our Lord has Abraham say in Luke 16:29, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.”

If they listened to Moses and the prophets, they would all come to Christ. Verse 30, “He said, “No, no, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, then they’ll repent. 31 But He said, if they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rose from the dead.” Well Jesus did rise from the dead, but they lied about it and created a false explanation.

In Luke 24:25, Jesus meets some of His disciples on the road to Emmaus, and they’re moaning about the fact that they thought Jesus was the Messiah, and now He’s dead, and they don’t understand. So Jesus says, “O foolish men, you find it so hard to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.” You don’t believe your Bible. 26, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things to enter His glory?

Verses 27, “Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” And then in verse 44, “He said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

Verse 46 - 48, “And He said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things.”

There are also details about His birth, ‘the virgin will conceive and bear a child’ in Isaiah. There are details about the place of His birth in Micah, He’ll be born in Bethlehem. There are details about His crucifixion as described in Psalm 22, described in further detail in Isaiah 53. Psalm 16 points to His resurrection. It’s all there. You could go on and on with all of that, as you well know.

The Old Testament is full of passages about His reigning, about His throne, He is a King, He’s the anointed one, He’s going to rule and reign and bring about the fulfillment of all the promises to David in the Davidic Covenant, and all the promises to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant. The glorious Kingdom is coming and that Kingdom is described in detail by the prophets.

But He’s not just going to set up His Kingdom. Something else has to come first. Look at Genesis, God creates, everything’s good in Genesis 1 and 2. In Genesis 3 man sins and in that day he begins to die. The death principle takes over the human race. And since then everybody is going to die. That’s clear because in Genesis 5 you have a genealogy of everybody who lived and died.

In Genesis 6 Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, that’s why he survived. God is a God of grace, Exodus 22:27, Moses writes the words of God, “I will hear him for I am gracious.” And in Exodus 33:19, “I’m compassionate, I’m merciful and I’m gracious.” Not only that, Exodus 34, “I offer forgiveness for sins and forgiveness for iniquities.” But what about the Law? The Law crushes me and kills me.

“My heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” How can I be righteous before God? How do they get this forgiveness? We find that in Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness.” That’s justification, that’s imputation. But how can God do that? Because if God gives a man who doesn’t deserve it righteousness, that’s grace. But what about the man’s sin?

Genesis 3, Adam and Eve are aware of their sin, what does God do? He kills an innocent animal, takes the skin and covers them. We have an illustration that a substitute is going to bear the judgment in order to provide covering. In Exodus 12 there is a Passover lamb that pictures the innocent dying in the place of the guilty. In Leviticus you have all these sacrifices for sin that are substitutionary.

But they have to be repeated and repeated because none of them is ever enough. But they are all pointing to one who will be. And you finally meet that one when you get to Isaiah 53 and guess what? He is the servant of Jehovah, a Messianic title, and He will be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And after He has been crushed and killed in our place, He rises from the dead.

That’s why in Galatians 3:24, Paul says, “The Old Testament was intended to lead us to Christ to be our teacher.” So if the Jews believed in the Father, they would have accepted Christ, on the basis of the testimony of John the Baptist a prophet. They would have accepted Christ on the basis of the miracles that He did, and they would have accepted Jesus because He is the subject of the Old Testament.

1 John 5:9-10 says, “Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. 10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.” Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Nov 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201129 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000159 imblog

John 5:30-37

Starting in verse 17 till verse 47, is a long discourse in which Jesus declares His deity. This is frankly the whole point of the gospel of John. These are written, John says, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you might have life in His name. That’s John’s own statement of why he wrote the gospel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

We also know that while our Lord is declaring His deity and proving His deity, and demonstrating His deity, making the I AM claims, the response is unbelief all the way through. Until the final end when this unbelief reaches its climactic point and they execute Him as a deceiver and an agent of Satan. So parallel to this demonstration of the deity of Jesus Christ is the increasing hostility of the people.

There are continual references to their unbelief, and the reasons for their unbelief. And frankly unbelief is not isolated to the Jewish people, but they are a general diagnosis of the human race and the human condition. We learn that Jesus is the Son of God, and He is the only hope of salvation. We also learn how sinners respond to that truth even when it’s demonstrated beyond doubt.

The reason is, because they are unwilling to accept the truth. That comes out in the section we’re going to look at this evening. So let us start with John 5:30-37, “I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will. 31 “If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid.”

“32 But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true. 33 In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true. 34 Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved. 35 John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message.”

“36 But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face. 38 and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you.”

This is the biblical doctrine when it comes to humanity. The unwillingness of the sinner to believe the truth even when faced with it. We know the Bible says that the unregenerate man is unable, that he is dead, that he is blind by the Fall, that he is blinded by his sin, that he is blinded by Satan and that he may even be judicially blinded by God who does not allow him to see.

In John 8:43-44, Jesus says, “Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

They would not believe, Isaiah 53, so they could not believe, Isaiah 6. This is the issue with all fallen human beings. They are so profoundly under the power of the prince of the air, so much do they belong to the kingdom of darkness, and so captive are they to their father, the devil, that they don’t believe because they will not believe. That is the first principle of gospel theology.

So how does God change that unwillingness? Because the Old Testament says that the sinner can be made willing in the day of His power. They’re not just unwilling, they are also hostile. So this is not a kind of an indifferent unwillingness, this is an aggressively hostile unwillingness. Unbelief is never due to a lack of evidence. Nothing in the Bible holds God responsible for people’s unbelief.

So what does the sinner do? When the sinner is convicted of sin and exposed to the truth, the sinner has one option and that is to cry out to God to plead for faith to believe which is a gift from God, not of works. The sinner’s only hope is to cry out to God in penitence and fear and desire for holiness in heaven and ask God to grant a willingness to an otherwise unwilling heart.

There’s no middle ground with Jesus, you either accept Him as the Son of God, the Savior, the Lord, or you reject Him. There’s no middle ground. Jesus said, “He that is not with Me is against Me.” You can’t take a neutral position toward Jesus. You can’t take an indifferent posture toward Jesus. You confess Him as Lord and God, or you’re against Him and He is against you.

Now in John 5 Jesus went to the pool of Bethsaida, where there were a lot of people who were sick who were hoping to be healed. This lame man had been there 38 years, so Jesus heals the man, tells him to roll up his mat and go home. The Jews are very angry because Jesus had violated their Sabbath rules. You cannot carry your bed on the Sabbath. Maybe you cannot be healed on the Sabbath.

Instead of backing off and trying to mitigate their hostility on that issue, Jesus elevates it by saying, “I’ll do anything I want on the Sabbath because I’m God.” That starts in verse 17 and goes till verse 29. All of that is an amazing statement by Jesus that He is equal to God and therefore is God and they understood it because in verse 18 they confessed that. That’s the ultimate blasphemy.

Jesus raises the confrontation over the Sabbath to a Christological issue, to a discussion about His identity. And what He says in verse 17 to verse 29, is that He is equal to God in essence or nature, He is equal to God in works, He does the same things that God does, the same way that God does them. Jesus says, I am equal to God in power, I have the power to give life.

I’m equal to God in authority. I rendered final judgment on everyone. I’m equal to God in truth. I am equal to God because everything I say and everything God says are equally true. In every sense Jesus claims to be equal to God. And then that amazing statement in verse 23, “Since all of that is true, I deserve equal worship. And if you don’t honor Me, you don’t honor God.”

Now if somebody said that to you, some would say, “We need testimony from other sources.” And that’s what comes in verses 30 and following. Here Jesus calls another witness to give testimony about Jesus, namely God the Father. He is the one they will say they worship. He is the one they will say they know, even though they don’t. He is the one they declare to be their God.

So let’s go to the highest possible standard of testimony, the one and only true God. And that’s exactly what Jesus does. So from verse 30 to verse 40, Jesus calls on God the Father to back up His testimony. Jesus starts out by introducing His relationship to the Father in verse 30, which is a summary of everything He said from 17 to 29, “I can do nothing on My own, I judge as God tells Me.”

Again Jesus reiterates the claim that infuriated them and caused them to accuse Him of blasphemy. He says, “I’m equal to God. I do not do anything on My own initiative. I don’t act independently of God. I only do what God does the way God does.” And again He starts out by saying, “I am one with the one who sent Me, God.” He always glorified God by acting in perfect unity with God.

So, He will now call on God to be His testimony. Let’s hear from God, and we’re going to do that. But before we do that, notice that Jesus shifts into the first person, John 5:31-37, “If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid. 32 But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true.”

“33 In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true. 34 But, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved. 35 John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message.” Starting in verse 17 Jesus talked in the third person, talked about the Son of Man, the Son of God.

He kept a kind of distance by using the third person. Now Jesus has elevated this proclamation to a level where He speaks in the first person, not distancing Himself at all. Another point to make, “As I hear, I judge,” doesn’t mean that He has real ears. That’s anthropomorphic. We understand that you absorb things when you hear and see things. But God is a Spirit eternally before the incarnation.

All this means is whatever is the Father’s will that I perceive in My divine mind is what I do. Each member has full knowledge of all the knowledge that is contained within the Trinity. Now verse 31 says, “If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid.” Because Deuteronomy 19:15 says, “That everything has to be confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses.”

However in John 8:12, “Jesus again said, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.’ 13 So the Pharisees said to Him, ’You are testifying about Yourself, Such testimony is not valid.’ Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony IS true for I know where I came from and where I’m going, but you don’t know this about me.”

So Jesus calls on the Father who would be the purest, truest of all and let Him give a three-fold testimony just to fulfill the requirement of the Old Testament. Jesus introduces Him in verse 32, “But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything He says about me is true.” What is the Father’s testimony? All in verses 33 to 39 is all the Father’s testimony.

But it comes in three forms. First it comes through John the Baptist, then it comes through the miracles of Jesus, then it comes through the Scripture. But it’s all the Father’s testimony. This is different from the baptism of Jesus by John and the Transfiguration where only a few people witnessed it. So Jesus is not appealing to something that was audibly said by God the Father.

The testimony of the Father comes through John the Baptist, through the miracles of Jesus, and through the Scripture. And think of these as having an increasingly bigger impact. The testimony of John is great. The testimony of the miracles is greater, and that’s what Jesus calls it in verse 36. But the testimony of Scripture is the greatest. So Jesus moves through these dimensions of the Father’s testimony.

Verse 33, “In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true.” John was the first prophet in 400 years. John was preaching and baptizing and preparing people for the arrival of Messiah. He did no miracles but he was clearly a fulfillment of the Old Testament, a voice crying out in the wilderness, make straight the path for the Lord.

Verses 34-35, “Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved. 35 John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message.” He’s not the light, Christ is the light, but John is the lamp. But he is a burning and shining lamp. So this is our Lord’s way of the fact that they saw John as unique, a remarkable tribute.

Jesus says that the testimony received from John the Baptist doesn’t have a human source. John the Baptist is the first one to give testimony about Me and he is a prophet of God. It was God the Father who sends the angel Gabriel to a barren couple in their eighties, Zacharias and Elizabeth. So he’s a miracle child. The Father plants the Holy Spirit in the child in the womb of Elizabeth.

And his testimony was regarding salvation. What did John say? “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Salvation was his message. In fact, Zacharias understood that. Luke 1:76-77, “You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. You will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.”

So this is the first of the Father’s three testimonies. The second line of the Father’s testimony is all contained in verse 36, “But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me.” Isn’t it obvious the Father sent Me? Didn’t Nicodemus say nobody can do what You do unless God is with him?

They saw His signs, talking about miracles. In John 10:25 Jesus says, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name.” Why? Because He only did what the Father willed Him to do. John 14:11, “Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe Me because of the work you have seen Me do.”

And now the greatest of all evidences, the testimony of Scripture. And that’s the theme starting at verse 37 and following. So severe is their rejection of Scripture, look at verse 45, “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes. 46 If you really believed Moses, you would believe Me; for He wrote about Me.” Let us study the proof of Scripture next time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Nov 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201122 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000158 imblog

John 5:25-29

We have been looking at one of the great discourses that our Lord ever gave, this lengthy presentation of the fact that He is God that began in John 5:17 and runs all the way to verse 47. And let us read John 5:25 – 29 which is our lesson tonight, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”

“26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”

Every person who has or will live on this earth will experience resurrection. I know that we as believers understand the Christian resurrection that God has planned for His people, but you need to understand also that every human being who has ever lived will be raised from the dead and there will be a literal, physical resurrection of the ungodly just as there will be of the godly.

There will be a physical resurrection unto judgment just as there will be a physical resurrection unto life. All men who ever live on this earth will be raised from the dead. When the body goes into the ground that is not the last appearance of that person in visible form. Eternity is not just a place for spirits, it is a place for resurrected bodies containing spirits.

The resurrection is the subject of this passage. And it is in this passage that our Lord makes the claim that He is the one who raises the dead and then judges all of them. Here Jesus is talking to Jewish leaders in Israel. As far as they are concerned, He is a false teacher, even though they know He does miracles, they have explained them as power coming from Satan.

But how does resurrection relate to His claim of deity? Well, because our Lord says that He raises the dead and He judges as God raises the dead and gives life and judges. So Jesus is the one who introduced the subject of resurrection and judgment. So this is all a part of this long explanatory message that Jesus is giving about His identity to these Jewish leaders.

Jesus responds to these condemnations from the Jews by elevating His claims. We saw in verses 17 - 24, that He claims to be equal with God in person, equal to God in works, equal to God in power, equal to God in judgment or authority, equal to God in honor, and equal to God in truth. What He says is as true as what God says and as God is to be heard and believed, so Jesus is to be heard and believed also.

And in verses 21 and 22, are these two claims that essentially are the highest of all claims, Jesus has the power to give life and the power to judge. That is to say, He brings people into existence and then determines the nature of their eternal existence. He is unmistakable God. And now Jesus tells them that He has the power to give life and the power and authority to judge.

So He discusses in verses 25 to 29 two types of resurrection that are eternal. There is a resurrection to eternal life, and there is a resurrection to eternal damnation. But first, let’s look in verses 25 and 26 at the spiritual resurrection. Verse 25, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”

That is not talking about the future physical resurrection. The resurrection that was already happening is a spiritual resurrection. So Jesus says in verses 25-26, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.”

“The hour is coming and now is.” Something has arrived already and yet has a future aspect. What could that be? Well it is the spiritual resurrection. The New Testament era began when our Lord began His ministry. The ministry of the Lord begun when He arrived, the ministry of redemption, salvation and of sanctification, and it will not end until the work of redemption is complete.

This is just our Lord’s way of saying regeneration has begun. When Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” that is both happening now and to come. This is an ongoing ministry, the saving work of the Lord Jesus is already beginning to make people alive spiritually. As Jesus spoke to the Jews that day, He had the power in that very hour to give people spiritual life.

Look at verse 24 again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.” That’s all in present tense. And so that is the “now is” of verse 25, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the (spiritually) dead, will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” Jesus is simply saying that regeneration has begun.

Even before the cross, Jesus gave life. Even before His own resurrection, He was giving life to people. At the end of John 3 Jesus says this, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life.” Remember in John 4:42, they said to the Samaritan woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world.”

So they believed and they were being given eternal life. There can be some confusion between this spiritual resurrection by Jesus Christ and when the fullness of the cross and His own resurrection are accomplished. In the period between the arrival of Christ and His own death, He was still giving spiritual life to those who believe. They believed in the true and living God.

The Holy Spirit hadn’t come yet in the full sense of convicting the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Pentecost hadn’t happened yet and therefore the Holy Spirit hadn’t come and filled the church and taken up residence in the believers to cause them to have the power to give the witness to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world, that was their promise in Acts 1:8. So those things hadn’t happened.

That’s the hour that is coming. So when we look at that little phrase, “The hour is coming,” we could say about that hour that’s the fullness of the revelation of the cross and the tomb and the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Spirit through the church in taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. That hour is coming in its fullness, but there’s a sense in which it now is.

Similarly salvation would also be given to the Old Testament saints, who were looking forward to the savior who would come and those early believers in the New Testament. This was before the cross, before the resurrection, before the arrival of the Holy Spirit, which were all affirming who Jesus Christ, who had come, actually was. So Jesus is referring to a spiritual resurrection.

Nothing is more characteristic, nothing is more essential in the ministry of Jesus than giving spiritual life to those who are spiritually dead. This is not about a man teaching ethics, or morality, or virtue, or religious ideologies. This is one who gives life to spiritually dead people. They receive that life because they hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

He is the only voice with the only message that gives life in a world of spiritual death. Only those who hear His voice come alive spiritually. Now this is not just a general hearing, but this is effectual hearing from the heart. This is not just information, this is transformation. This is God reaching down and giving life and then speaking with a voice that the heart and soul hears.

In Matthew 7:22, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” This is not a physical hearing. This is an effectual hearing in the believing heart and soul.

Spiritually dead men don’t come alive by some religious motion, or ceremony. They don’t come alive by some ritual. They don’t come alive through the cleverness of a teacher. They don’t come alive by self-improvement. They come alive when the voice of Christ calls out. Ephesians 5:14 says, “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light.”

Ephesians 2:1-6 says, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” That describes the condition of all human beings. Verse 3, “You were living in the lust of your flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh, the mind.”

Verse 3 continues, “We’re by nature children of wrath even as others, 4 but God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved 6 and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus is then saying to these Jewish leaders, “I am the very one who gives spiritual life to those who are spiritually dead.” Christ says to these Jewish leaders in John 5:39-40, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. But it is these that testify about Me, that I’m the only source of eternal life, 40 but you’re not willing to come to Me so that you may have life.”

Verse 26, “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” As God is the fountain of life, so Christ is the fountain of life and so the Spirit is the fountain of life. Each member of the Trinity has equal power and they share the same attributes. But there was a restriction during Christ’s humiliation of His divine attributes, He chose to limit Himself to that which the Father wills.

Life is the sole possession of the Trinity. Life is the sole possession of God who is the life-giver and of Christ who is also the life giver. That life comes only to those who hear His voice, and by that voice have their heart awakened. And that is a divine work, not apart from our faith in Christ. For us, it’s the truth that He is the Son of God who died and rose again and sent the Holy Spirit.

Verse 27-29, “And has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” Now we’re talking about something that will happen in the future.

Why is He called Son of Man in judgment? Because as Son of Man, He is the Messiah. But as Son of Man He understands perfectly because He lived as a man and being tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, He has perfect knowledge of all human experience and therefore His justice is secured by His experience as well as divine knowledge as just and accurate and perfect.

So God gives Jesus authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. Don’t be shocked by what I’m going to tell you, but the hour is coming when His voice will be heard again and it will empty all the graves of this planet. What He means is that the dead will take on a physical form. And this will bring bodies to join their spirits already out of the presence of God or in the presence of God.

This is astonishing power. How does God literally in a moment recreate every human being who has ever lived and join that recreated form suitable for heaven or hell with the spirit of the person already in the presence of God or out of His presence? It will begin with the Rapture of the church when believing Christians who are alive will be caught up in the air and they’ll be changed on the way up.

There will be a resurrection at the end of the Tribulation. Daniel talks about that, the resurrection of Tribulation believers and Jews. There will then be a millennial kingdom of a thousand years and at the end of that, the dead from all human history who are unregenerate and ungodly will be raised and brought before the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20 to be judged.

It does not happen in one moment. There will be in the future the resurrection of the just, the righteous and that will include the Rapture of the church, and the resurrection of believers at the end of the time of Tribulation. And there will be resurrections during the millennial kingdom. And then there will be the resurrection of the unjust people at the end of the thousand years.

“What will that body be like?” Well for us as believers, Philippians 3 says it will be like the Lord Jesus’ glorious body. That is Jesus’ resurrection body. It was visible, He walked, He talked, He ate, but at the same time He walked through a wall. That is all we are told. Just remember John 3:15, “Whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” Cry out to God to grant you faith to believe, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Nov 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201115 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000157 imblog

John 5:21-24

Jesus claims that He is equal to God and that leaves us with three options. Option one, that is a true claim and He is equal to God. Option two: that claim is false and He knows it. That means He is an intentional blasphemer because He knows it’s a lie. The third option is that the claim is false, and He doesn’t know it, in which case He is deranged. He is a madman.

Those are the only options. Now, up to this point He has proven that the latter two options are ridiculous because deceivers and crazy people don’t raise the dead. And they don’t control the demonic world, and they don’t conquer disease, and they don’t take power over nature. All of which He did. And they don’t speak with divine wisdom with omniscient insight.

We’re left with only one possibility. Jesus is who He claimed to be. His miracles were never denied. Read through all four gospels, there’s never one verse, or one line indicating that His miracles were denied. They were all supernatural, they were everywhere and they were like that all the time. He demonstrated supernatural knowledge, wisdom and insight. And the miracle worker is not a deceiver.

He did His miracles before masses of people day after day, literally adding up to hundreds of thousands of eyewitnesses. The crowds followed Him everywhere He went. Albeit with superficial curiosity and we find that as soon as John 6, they started to leave Him. And this demonstrated the power of the false religion to which they were bound. False religion holds people captive.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this world has blinded their minds.” What He means is that Satan disguised as an angel of light concocts false religious systems that hold people in bondage and blindness. And the system of apostate satanically controlled, Judaism was so powerful that in the face of all that Jesus did, the people still ran back to their false leaders.

That’s illustrated in John 5. Jesus goes to the pool of Bethsaida on a Sabbath, He finds a lame man there who has been there for 38 years. Jesus comes along, and the lame man doesn’t know who He is, and He says, “Pick up your bed and walk.” He picks up his bed and walks, instantaneously, completely and fully healed. The man walks away. And it happened on a Sabbath day.

The Jewish leaders castigate Jesus for doing work on a Sabbath. Jesus goes to the Temple to find the man after the man leaves. Jesus finds him in the Temple, and at that point reveals Himself to him, and closes the conversation by saying to the man, “Go and sin no more, you’ve got to repent.” But the man didn’t follow Jesus, he went back to the Jewish leaders and turned Jesus in.

That’s a miniature for the whole nation. Jesus was healing people everywhere all the time through the three years of His ministry, but they were just going back into their religious system. Satan invented that form of Judaism to hold people in bondage. The reality is that Jesus comes to bring salvation, first to Israel, but it is rejected by the false religious system of the Pharisees and the scribes.

Now His speech to these Jewish leaders is in John 5:17-47. But in just these verses, our Lord declares His equality with God in six ways. Last Sunday we looked at just the first few. The answer in summation is really this: I do whatever I choose to do, whenever I choose to do it because I’m God. I’m not subject to your laws. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

First, Jesus is equal to God in nature. Verse 17, “He answered them, ‘My Father is working until now and I Myself am working.’” Jesus is saying, “I am of the same nature as God.” And then to add to that, He says, “The Father is working until now,” in other words, the Father doesn’t pay any attention to the Sabbath, the Father doesn’t rest, and I don’t either. He’s working and I’m working.

Secondly, in verses 19 and 20 Jesus declared Himself to be equal with God in works. Jesus and His Father are one in nature, and they are therefore one in function, one in duty and one in work. The Son doesn’t operate independently from God. He is telling the Jewish leaders that He only does what the Father does. In other words, the love of the Father is so perfect that the Father has no secrets from the Son.

Jesus has always known everything, He has known everything eternally, the Father wills, that He always knows everything there is to know, there are no secrets in the Trinity. The Father doesn’t know something the Son doesn’t know, the Father doesn’t do something the Son doesn’t do. The Father doesn’t will something the Son doesn’t will because of the perfect love in the Trinity.

So in verse 20, Jesus says, “The Father will show greater works than these so that you will marvel.” And what are the greater works? Verses 21 and 22, the final resurrection and the final judgment. Whatever it is that those people think about Jesus will be resolved in the end when those people who reject Christ are raised from the dead by the power of Christ and face Him as the eternal judge.

Thirdly, this is where we were last Sunday, Jesus claims to be equal to God in power. We use the word “power” for all kinds of things. But this is the ultimate power. Verse 21, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” The ultimate power in the universe is the ability to give life. In Acts 17, Paul talks about God who gives life and breath to all.

Remember concerning the Word who is Christ, John 1:3-4 says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life.” The eternal God has life as an uncaused attribute. You were given life by your parents and it all goes back to a point in time when there was no life, except the triune God who is the eternal life and He gave life to everything.

And it came in many forms. We talk about biological life. We understand that it would include humans and all of the animate living creation. There is even inanimate life. You might consider that that thing doesn’t have life, but it is in motion at an incalculable speed and complexity as the atoms are moving endlessly, driven by an internal energy which is invisible and incalculable.

There is also that other invisible life which is spiritual life which we can’t see in each other but which is evident. All of the whole of the universe, whether it is inanimate, or animate, visible or invisible is all from God who made everything, or from Christ without whom nothing was made that was made. Nothing exists that He didn’t wish to exist. Nothing came into existence by any evolutionary process.

Number four, Jesus is equal to God in authority. Genesis 18:25 says, “God the Father is the judge of all the earth.” The Jews certainly believe that. Listen to what Jesus said in verse 22, “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.” These internal realities in the Trinity are really hard for us to grasp because it’s hard to understand that He is God and yet with God.

It’s hard to understand that God is the judge and yet Christ does the judging because we can’t understand the internal workings of the Trinity. And that profound mystery alone should prove to you that the Bible was written by God, because men would resolve those kinds of apparent paradoxes. In Genesis 1, God creates; in John 1, the Son creates. In the Old Testament God is the judge; in the New Testament the Son is the judge.

How can that be? Because the Son does everything the Father does in the same way the Father does it. Jesus is claiming to be the supreme judge of all beings. Back in John 3:18, He said, “He who believes in Him, that is in the Son, is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

And the phrase in that verse ‘has been judged already’ means that people aren’t waiting for judgment in the future. This is the illusion of religion, that you live your life and if the good outweighs the bad, God knows, and at the end He’ll make a judgment. No. All that goodness doesn’t mean a thing in terms of your eternity. You have been judged already because you do not believe in the Son.

Well what about the future judgment? That’s only the execution. The verdict was made when you arrived in this world rejecting the Son and it continues to be the same verdict until you believe. And if you never believe, that verdict is set. The final judgment is just the execution. What you do along the way of good works is meaningless. So the Son is equal to the Father in judgment.

Verse 23, “That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” Since the Son is the reason you exist and the Son is the one who determines your eternal destiny, since the Son is the beginning and the end, since the Son is the alpha and the omega, the Son is to be honored even as the Father is honored.

That is a devastating claim coming from a man standing there talking to them. This is the consequence of all the previous claims, so that the only possible right response to the one who created everything and who will bring everything to its consummation, and who upholds everything by the word of His power, the only possible response is that He is to be honored in the same way that God is to be honored.

In John 6:28, the people say, “What shall we do so that we may work the works of God?” What does God want out of us? “29 And Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Remember at the baptism, God says out of heaven, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” Listen to John 15:23, “He who hates Me, hates My Father also.”

It’s popular today, to imagine that Jews in particular don’t have to believe in Christ, that somehow if they’re just good Jews and they believe the Old Testament and believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Creator God of the Old Testament, that God doesn’t require them to believe in Jesus. That’s a popular thought offered by some evangelical preachers that is totally wrong.

Verse 24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” What it says here is to have eternal life, you have to hear and believe My Word and you have to hear and believe the Word of Him who sent Me. You escape judgment, only when you believe what the Father and the Son says.

All the teaching, all the claims, all the commands that come from Christ and from the Father point to Christ and to the need of man, all must be believed because they’re equal in truth. To say, as the Mormons do, that Jesus is a created spirit brother of Lucifer who was created by a god is a damning heresy. My fear is that just like the Jews, you will hear everything and still go back to your corrupt religious system.

Hebrews 1:1-3, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.”

Jesus is also the radiance of the glory of God. He puts God on display. So in Christ, the glorious light of God shines into the hearts of men, producing light and life. Further describing who He is, Christ is the exact representation of God’s nature, the exact substance of God’s nature. He is the essence of God. He is the one, according to verse 3, who upholds all things by the Word of His power.

It is stressing the fact that Jesus didn’t just make the world, that is to say the earth and the complex systems of life that are here. This is not strictly the physical earth, but is a reference to the fact that He has created ages. That is to say He has created time and space and force and energy and matter and everything. He is the Creator of absolutely everything.

If the globe which is tilted on its axis in an angle of 23 degrees, where altered, we would lose our seasons. If the moon didn’t remain at an exact distance from the earth, the ocean tide would inundate the land completely twice a day. If the ocean slipped to a few feet deeper than it is carbon dioxide and the oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere would be completely absorbed and no vegetable life could exist.

If the atmosphere didn’t remain constant, but thinned out, meteors would hit the earth and we would be constantly bombarded to death. Who holds all this in a delicate balance? That Galilean carpenter Jesus standing there looking at those Jews. This is who He is. Hebrews 1:3 continues, “When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Now what is the response of these Jews to what Jesus says? Look at verse 37, “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me.” How? At His baptism, “This is My beloved Son in whom I’m well-pleased,” through His miracles, through His words, through John the Baptist. Jesus says to them, “If you don’t embrace the Son, you don’t know God at all.” Let us embrace Jesus, let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Nov 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201108 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000156 imblog

John 5:17-20

This entire section mentioned above is one discourse. All of this comes from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is speaking to the Jewish leaders of Israel who are called by John as the Jews. They want Him dead. They consider Him a blasphemer of the worst kind. They are convinced that He is a threat to their religion, their self-styled secure religious position and power.

They see Him as disregarding the conventional wisdom as dishonoring God, as threatening their religious system. They have heard Him repeatedly attack the hypocrisy of their false religion. They have watched Him show nothing but disdain for their non-biblical traditions by which they have attempted to embellish Scripture. He is their main enemy by their own choice.

And the purpose of this section is to declare to them that He is the Messiah and more, He is God. He gives that testimony of His equality with God to begin this long section and then He calls on witnesses to the truth from John the Baptist, witness from His miracles, witness from God the Father and witness from the Scripture. And so here begins His own testimony to His identity.

The heart and soul of the Christian faith, the heart and soul of the gospel is a right view of Jesus Christ. There are some who see Jesus as a good man, a noble man and maybe as a highly spiritual sensitive man. That’s not correct. The attack on His deity, the fact that He is God, started with the Jewish leaders here in His own country during His ministry. They attacked Him for His claim to be God.

They saw it as outright blasphemy. The next generation picked up the assaults, though Jesus was now gone, the gospel was being proclaimed in Israel and around the world and they continued to attack Jesus as a transgressor, a blasphemer, a man who was a powerful deceiver, who led people astray when He was alive, and now His disciples are leading people astray continually.

Throughout all of human history, the pseudo-scholars and the skeptics of Israel have kept up this attack and it goes on even today. And even within Christianity, some see Jesus as human and not as God. The testimony of John 20:31 is that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, because when you believe that, you can have life in His name. If you do not believe that, you will perish in hell in your sins.

So the question of who is Jesus Christ is the most important question. The Holy Spirit has declared that He is God in John 1. The early disciples declared that He is God in John 1. John the Baptist declared that He is the Lamb of God, the Savior early in the gospel of John. His miracles are proof that He is divine. His omniscience shows that He is God. And John has covered all that.

Then John 5 recorded one of the most important miracles that Jesus ever did. But it didn’t lead to the salvation of the man He healed, even though the man was healed on the spot, instantaneously and completely. He told the man to pick up his bed and go, which he did. That miracle Jesus purposely did on the Sabbath. And now He declares that He is Lord of the Sabbath.

Jesus has no interest in the Jewish traditions that have encumbered the Sabbath with many man-made laws. And then when they come at Him, look at verse 16, they begin persecuting Him because He was doing good things on the Sabbath. We see that He had a pattern of healing on the Sabbath, what they by their tradition had decided was not legal because it was a form of work.

So Jesus was doing work and causing someone else to do work on the Sabbath. At this point He could have had a discussion with them about the true use of the Sabbath. He could have had a discussion about the man carrying the bed and He could have had a discussion about what ought to be done on the Sabbath. But on this occasion, it becomes a discussion about who He is.

Jesus gives the greatest, most extensive declaration of His deity that He gives anywhere. It answers the question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Remember, the Jewish leaders had made their decision. In John 8 they call Him a Samaritan which was a label that belonged to apostate outcasts. In John 7 and John 8 they say He’s possessed by demons. In John 8:41 they say He is a bastard child.

Matthew 12:24 tells us that they finally declared that what He did was by the powers of Satan. And that view has been perpetuated down through the history of the Jewish religion through the centuries. And so they come after Jesus with those conclusions to persecute Him as a blasphemer. And that’s precisely what they say He was, by declaring Himself to be God.

Now if it’s true that He is God, it is not blasphemy. So if you’re going to reject Christ, you reject the Bible. If you reject the deity of Jesus Christ, you have just thrown away your Bible. There is no such thing as a well-intentioned scholar that denies the deity of Jesus Christ. That is devilish and it disintegrates the Scripture. If Jesus is not God, there is no Christianity, the Bible is all a fabrication from hell.

However, any faithful study of the account of His life and words leave no doubt that His claims were absolutely true. He did it frequently. He did it to the hostile Jews here in John 5, in John 6, again in John 8 and on many other occasions. He did it with His disciples again, most notably in John 16:28, “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

Jesus said that He had absolute authority over the divine Law of God. He said that He had power supernaturally to answer prayer, that He had authority to forgive sin, that He had control over angels, holy and fallen, and that He had power over the Kingdom of God. And He declared that He had the right to be honored, glorified, praised, worshiped and obeyed. Those are prerogatives that belong only to God.

All these lines of testimony come together and converge in one inescapable truth, Jesus claimed to be God, not to be another God equal to God, but to be God. The Jews probably thought that He was claiming to be another God which would have been preposterous because there was only one true God and the Ten Commandments pronounced judgment on anybody who has another God.

Jesus said in John 17:21, “As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us.” He said in John 14:9, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” This is Trinitarian. To say anything other than that about Jesus is to obliterate the teaching of Scripture. Devout Jewish followers of Jesus, His apostles, those who believed in Him had no problem acknowledging that His claim was true.

They affirmed that He is God, not another God, but the One true God and it is that conviction in the hearts of His original followers that is still the conviction in the hearts of His true followers today. And those of you who are Christians, those of you who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, you believe that Jesus is God, Amen? Not to affirm that is to dismiss the Jesus of Scripture.

And in John 5:17 - 24, our Lord claims to be God in five ways. He is equal to God in nature, essence, the substance of who He is. He’s equal to God in works. He is equal to God in power. He is equal to God in authority. And then most shockingly, He is equal to God in honor or worship. This is by the estimation of the people to whom He is speaking beyond blasphemous.

First, Jesus claims to be equal with God in nature or essence. Verse 17, “But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Let me tell you what the Jews thought. Does God keep the Law? Of course He keeps the Law. Well if you say that, you have a problem. Does God rest on the Sabbath? Of course because in Genesis 2:2 it says that on the seventh day, God rested.

But if that is taken too far, it creates a serious problem because if God isn’t doing work, every time Saturday comes around, the whole universe collapses. Now the Jews had developed 39 categories to kind of restrict behavior on the Sabbath. They knew that God continued to do His work of judgment and His work of redemption. So they said, God still works on the Sabbath but He does light work.

Jesus criticizes that entire ridiculous discourse when He says, “My Father is working until now.” It blew their minds that He said, “My Father,” no Jew would ever say that. No Jew personally would call God his personal Father because that would be way too familiar and that would be blasphemy. Jesus was saying to them the work of God goes on, it goes on all the time.

Einstein knew there was a power component somewhere in the midst of the atom that kept the entire universe moving but he never could identify what it was. It is God. He never rests from sustaining the physical world, He never rests from keeping everything in orbit, everything in rotation. He never rests from His justice judgment. He never rests from His blessing, mercy, grace and love.

In John 1:1 it says Jesus created the universe. In Hebrews 1 it says that He sustains the universe. So there is Jesus standing there, looking at those men, talking to them. And He at the same time is holding together the entire universe. God is never restrained. His work is never diminished because it is a Sabbath, and neither is My work. He is the Lord of the Sabbath and He made the Sabbath for man.

Verse 18, “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” And so it wasn’t only that He had broken their Sabbath, but that He called God His own Father and even made Himself equal with God by saying that God and He function in the same way. And they were seeking all the more to kill Him.

Verse 19, “Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” So Jesus even raises their fury in verses 19 because He claims to be equal with God in works. What does that say? Well it says that He does not act independently. He can do nothing of Himself. That’s the negative.

What is the positive? Whatever the Father does, Jesus also does. An amazing statement. Theologians through the years have discussed whether or not Jesus could have sinned. The answer comes in a number of passages, but here’s one of them. The Son can do nothing but what He sees the Father doing. That’s all He can do. He can only do what the Father does. And the Father cannot sin.

The one who always does and only does what God the Father does is equal to God. John 8:29, “He who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” John 14:31, “So that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.” He can only do and only does what the Father does.

To see Jesus in action is to see God in action. To accuse Jesus of sin is to accuse God of sin. To accuse Jesus of violating the Sabbath is to accuse God of violating the Sabbath. To accuse Jesus of blasphemy is to call God a blasphemer. Jesus is not another God. He is one with His Father and He gives us four reasons, and all four of them are introduced by a Greek preposition.

Verse 20, “For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel.” He loves the way the Father loves. He has the power of life the same way the Father does. And He judges the same way the Father judges. He does the works of the Father, the work of judgment, the work of resurrection, all based on infinite, eternal love.

He is one in every sense with the Father. So in verse 19 He stuns them again by saying, Not only am I one with the Father in essence and nature, but I do exactly what the Father does, I do what the Father shows Me, I do what the Father wills for Me to do and I cannot do anything other than that. You are indicting Me for what God desires and what God is doing. How far from God you are.

The Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing. God has not kept any secrets from the son. There’s nothing that the Father knows the Son doesn’t know. In His incarnation for a time on earth, He restricted the use of His divine attributes. But He didn’t abandon His divine attributes or He would cease to be God. The Father gives Him all the treasures of divine truth because of love.

Paul says in Colossians 2:3, “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” The Father has all wisdom, all knowledge. The Son has all wisdom, all knowledge. The Father loves the Son so much that eternally He is granted the fullness of everything that He is to the Son. And it’s all based on love. Perfect union of the two guaranteed by mutual love.

The heart of God’s redeeming work is not God’s love for you, not God’s love for the world. Not God’s love for sinners. At the heart of redemption is the Father’s love for the Son and the Son’s love for the Father. The whole purpose of redemption, the whole purpose of human history is so that God can collect a bride to give to His Son, a bride that’s an expression of His love consisting of all believers. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201101 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000155 imblog

John 5:1-16

Please open your Bible now to John 5. This is a very important story about a man whom Jesus healed. That in itself is a rather common occurrence, but for the man, of course, a remarkable experience. There are a couple of reasons why this story is memorable. One is because of the name, the Pool of Bethesda. The other is the fact that for 38 years this man had been paralyzed.

But there’s much more to the story. This is not just a story about a healing, this is a story about the power of false religion, the damning force that false religion exerts on people’s minds and souls, even in the face of the truth. The emphasis of this story is found in its conclusion. Look to John 5:16, “The Jews were persecuting Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.”

So His signs were His miracle works, and His Words were the true message of salvation. It is the works of Jesus and the words of Jesus that authenticate His Messiahship and His deity. Matthew 7:29, “the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Matthew 4:25, “Large crowds followed Him from Jerusalem, Judea and beyond the Jordan.”

However, it is motivated by curiosity. It is superficial. Why? Because these people are captive to a false religious system. And it has a stranglehold on people. It is important to understand the power of false religion. We’ve all come across it in our endeavor to communicate the gospel to people who are Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or other religions.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” False religions imprison people in ideological fortresses which are hard to defeat.

They were faced with a choice, either follow Jesus or follow the system of Judaism. Behind this system were primarily the scribes and the Pharisees. Engulfed in it were the rabbis and accommodating it were the Sadducees and even the Herodians. That system was damning and deadly. What did the leaders say about Jesus? According to John 8:48 they said He is a Samaritan and He has a demon.

In Matthew 12:24 they said Jesus does what He does by the power of Beelzebub, does what He does by the power of Satan. They spent their time working on the people in their system to keep them loyal to the system, to not allow them to defect to Jesus so that by the end of His ministry, in Judea they gather in the Upper Room, there are only 120 believers after three years of this miracle ministry.

And in 1 Corinthians 15, there was a gathering of five hundred believers in Galilee. Six hundred people committed to Christ, gathered in His name after a miracle ministry of three years. There was a rising tide through the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but it was of opposition that was based on the influence of the religious leaders who kept saying that Jesus was demon possessed.

They wanted to see His miracles. They were in awe of what He said. But there was a general indifference to Him as the Messiah and the Son of God. John 7:25 says, “Some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?’” So here we are relatively early in the gospel of John, and the people already know that their leaders wanted Him dead.

In John 8:52, “The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets also and you say if anyone keeps My Word, he will never taste of death.” You must be demon possessed. This was their constant comment about Jesus. John 8:59, “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but He hid Himself and went out of the temple.”

The tide is a wave of hatred. And it is continued by the leaders of Israel who are the gatekeepers of an apostate, damning religious system. They’re producing, Jesus said in His own words, sons of hell just like themselves. They were so effective that when you come to Matthew 27:23 - 25, the people all scream, “Crucify Him, may His blood be on us and on our children.”

And so, in John 5, 6 and 7, opposition to Jesus now becomes the theme. From John 1 till John 4, it was the deity of Christ on display by His omniscience, by His miracle power, by His authority exercised in the Temple and even by the declarations of John 1 of His deity as the Creator. All of the first four chapters focus on the person of Christ and His deity and focus on His words.

There are three elements to this story and they’re around the personalities of Jesus, the Jews, and this man, and three amazing realities. The amazing compassion of Jesus, the amazing contempt of the Jews, and the complacency of the man. All of this comes together to ignite the persecution. Now let’s start with the amazing compassion of Jesus, that’s how the story begins.

Psalm 86:15 describes God as full of compassion. We read in Matthew and Mark, that Jesus was moved with compassion many times. All His works and all His words are compassionate. God is by nature compassionate and so is Jesus. Here is an illustration then of the compassion of Jesus to a man who had received no mercy. Jesus shows him real mercy. So let us read the story.

John 5:1, “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” It is an unidentified time and it is an indefinite feast. But we do know in Deuteronomy 16:16 that there were three feasts every year that all men had to attend. Even though the system was apostate, it was still a command to celebrate those feasts that came from the Word of God and so Jesus was faithful to do what God had commanded.

Verse 2-4, “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.”

Bethesda means house of mercy. That may go along with the idea that there was a superstition about an angel coming to stir the waters and that it had healing properties. Verse 5-6, “Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

Jesus again shows His omniscience which is the declaration of His deity. Now, people have mocked that question. Of course he wants to get well. But, it is the right question to get the man’s attention, He directed His conversation at his need. So Jesus speaks directly to the issue as He did with the woman at the well when He talked about thirst and moved right into her spiritual thirst.

Is there anything left of hope within you? And that shows that Jesus cares. A stranger extends kind conversation to him. Remember that this man because of his illness over such a long time is considered an outcast by the Jewish leaders because they believed that this is punishment from God because of his sins. Nobody of any importance would have spoken to this man.

Verse 7, “The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” He had bought in to the superstition. He doesn’t make any mention about angels stirring the water. Whatever the superstition was, he believed it but it did not make a difference in his life. This man has no idea who Jesus is.

Verse 8-9, “Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.” It’s just really a stunning moment which means he was lying flat because of this illness. And he began to feel strength come into his useless legs and arms. And as he began to stand up, he had the power and the strength to stand up.

You have to understand that the healings of Jesus were complete and instantaneous. They needed no rehabilitation, there was no progression. He was like a young man with full strength. He stood up. Nothing about faith. He didn’t have to believe for this to happen. He didn’t even know who Jesus was. Verse 9 continues, “And that day was the Sabbath.” That’s the point of this whole miracle.

Jesus could have done this thing on the next day. This man did not have a terminal illness. This man had a chronic problem. This man could have been healed three days later or two days earlier. Jesus picked the Sabbath because that’s the whole point of what’s happening here. He picked the Sabbath for the express purpose of beginning a confrontation with the leaders of Israel.

Verse 10, “The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” Of course Jesus knew that. The Jews had perverted the law. God had given the Sabbath Law all the way back in Exodus 20 and repeated it in Exodus and Deuteronomy. God had given the Sabbath as a time of rest, relaxation, enjoyment and doing good.

The thing you were not to do was the normal work and business. In Jeremiah 17:21, “Take heed for yourselves and do not carry any load on the Sabbath or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.” But they had added hundreds of binding commands to the Sabbath Day. In Matthew 23, the burden was so oppressive because they had perverted the Sabbath into the worst day of the week.

The Jews wanted Him dead because of what He was doing on their Sabbath. The Sabbath was the focal point of their apostate, self-righteous, legalistic, religious system. Jesus even declared that He could do whatever He wanted on the Sabbath. Listen to Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man,” Jesus said, “and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

So Jesus purposely brought about a Sabbath confrontation with the leaders. And that leads us to consider how serious they saw this breech and how Jesus paid no attention to their traditions. He refused to observe the legalistic man-made Sabbath regulations of rabbinic tradition, only the law of God is important. Matthew writes about it and Mark, Luke and John, as we’re seeing here.

Jesus knows that they have substituted the traditions of men for the Law of God. He knows the Sabbath is a means to glorify God and honor God. It is a gift to mankind. The Jews have turned it into a burden and a way in which they can demonstrate their false righteousness. So He attacks them at the heart of their system and He does it by showing compassion to a lame man on the Sabbath day.

Verse 11-12, “He answered them, ‘He who made me well said to me, Take up your bed and walk.’ 12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” They couldn’t care less whether that man was healed and could walk. They were ugly, indifferent. They had nothing but contempt for that man, believing that he was in that condition because God had punished him.

Verse 13-14, “But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.” This man is intimidated. And that’s what leads to the third and most compelling part of the story, the complacency of the man. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Jesus found the man in the massive crowd in the Temple. He finds that man who is now walking and no doubt talking to everybody he can find about what has happened to him. That man has no idea who did this, where the power came from. What’s the implication of that? That his 38 year illness was connected to sin? No, in John 9 Jesus said, at times you’re sick but it’s not a direct punishment for sin.

But in the case of this man, his sickness was related to his sin. And Jesus’ sobering warning to the man is, “You’ve been made well, now you need to go a different direction, away from the sin that has marked your life.” And Jesus is saying, “Thirty-eight years of illness as a result of sin, but that is nothing compared to the wrath of God. You have been made well. Go and sin no more.”

Verse 15-16, “The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.” Yes it is a tragically sad miracle story. Not a story about a man who was healed and then became a believer. But a man who was healed and still became a rejecter.

Almost all the people Jesus healed rejected Him because He healed massive numbers of people and there were only a few believers at the end. That is the power of false religion. Our Lord here is confronting Jewish legalism at its very heart, the Sabbath. He challenges the traditions with His authority as Lord of the Sabbath, as God. He heals a man. And He warns him about living in sin.

What about you? Do you love Christ? Do you embrace Him as your Lord and Savior? Or are you captivated by a religion where your loyalty is led by false teachers who are telling you lies and making you a prisoner of their deception? There’s only one hope of salvation and that’s in Jesus Christ. Beware of any false religion because of its power and its deception. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Oct 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201025 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000154 imblog

John 4:46-54

We are privileged to hear the voice of God through His Word. We are wrapping up John 4:46 - 54. It is a story about a miracle healing. It is designed to be consistent with John’s purpose, to demonstrate the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ through His supernatural power. But it is also a story about believing. It is a story particularly about what it means to really believe.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are full of miracle stories. Jesus’ ministry began in the south, where He did many miracles in Judea. So around the Passover, in the area surrounding Jerusalem, Jesus also did many miracles. And the Galileans were there as they always were at this great event in the calendar year of Israel, and so they saw the many miracles of Jesus.

Jesus is in Galilee, verse 45 says, where they received Him in the same way that the people of Jerusalem received Him. It says in John 2:23, they believed in Him as a miracle worker. But remember in John 2:24 to 25 it said, “Jesus didn’t commit Himself to them because He knew their hearts and He knew that that kind of faith was a superficial faith.” They all believed that He was just a miracle worker.

It was impossible to deny that. The miracles were too complete, and too unmistakably divine and there were far too many of them to question that. Jesus came and essentially banished disease from Palestine for the duration of His ministry. The record is contained in the four gospels, for anyone to read. There were too many eyewitnesses, too many places, too many unique and differing events.

So you have an extensive record of the miracles of Jesus in the gospels, but that’s nothing compared to with what could have been written and the details of which would have filled the world with books. Here is one of those many miracles that Jesus did. This one suits John’s purpose because it’s a miracle about believing. In verse 48 Jesus says, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”

John’s message is against the background of Judaism which is a religion like every other religion in the world that believes you gain heaven by something you do. Oh faith is a part of it, but not all of it. This had to do with ceremonies, rituals and routines and forms of morality, obedience, kindness and good deeds. And the accumulated effect of this goodness is what gains heaven according to them.

The truth is contrary to all of that. There are only two kinds of religion that exist. One is the religion of human achievement, and the other is the religion of faith, and that’s the true gospel. Everything else is some mixture of believing and doing and that kind of religion fills hell. The only true religion is connected to faith and faith alone, for by grace are you saved through faith in Christ.

How do you become a child of God? By receiving Christ. What does that mean? “To those who believe in His name.” What do you mean His name? All that He is, everything that is true about Him. God says, “My name is I AM who I AM,” And when you believe in the name of Jesus Christ, that means that you believe in everything that He is and does. You believe fully in all the gospel.

In John 8:24, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 10:24-25, “Then the Jews said to Him, how long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly. 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.”

Just look for a moment at Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. It’s popular to say today I’m a believer, I’m a person of faith. Sometimes people say, “I’m very spiritual,” meaning they believe in certain things. And when we talk about believing in something, we can be talking in very nebulous sort of intuitive self-designed and devised kind of notions. But that is not how the Bible describes saving faith.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” So we know right away that faith involves something we don’t have and faith involves something we can’t see. If you just took that, you could be misled because there are lots of things in life for which we exercise faith, things that we can’t see, things that we hope for, things that we aren’t sure about.

We’re not talking about that kind of faith. We’re not kind of talking about a human kind of faith based upon a repeated experience. We’re talking about something for which you have had no experience. You are putting your eternal destiny in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ and you have never done that before. Why? Well, because that’s the only way to get to heaven.

You don’t know anything about heaven other than what’s revealed in the Scripture. People don’t go to heaven and come back. You’re taking a step that is the most serious step you’ve ever taken in your life and it literally is your life now and forever and you have no experience. You need to know that it’s not going to go wrong. And that’s what verse 1 is saying, faith is the assurance, faith is that conviction.

What do you mean with assurance? It speaks of a foundation. It’s not subject to whim. It’s objective. So we believe in something that is absolutely firmly established and that is the Word of God. We believe in the promises of God. We believe in the commands of God. We believe in the truth of God as revealed in Holy Scripture. So it’s not assurance in a subjective sense. It’s the truth of the Word of God.

Everything we need to know is revealed on the pages of the Word of God that is alive. And so it is a firm assurance in which we believe, and that then leads us to the second word, conviction. Conviction goes right alongside assurance. That means something that we hold on to with absolute commitment. That is the dominating conviction that drives our living and informs our hope.

So the gospel came, Jesus spoke it, the Apostles spoke it, and it was attested and confirmed by miracles. Jesus wasn’t the only one who did the miracles. He delegated the power to the Apostles who healed the sick and raised the dead as well. How will you escape the judgment of God if you neglect such a salvation which was confirmed through signs and miracles?

Now let’s go back to John 4 and think about this unbelief in connection to the nation Israel: Judah, Judea and Galilee. They had the Old Testament, so they had the revelation of God speaking of the coming Messiah. They also had the fulfillment of that revelation. John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” All the Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled in Christ.

So they have the Old Testament and they saw the completion in the New Testament concerning Christ. In addition, they have all the miracles attesting to His deity. That is the complete revelation. Jesus met some of the disciples of John the Baptist after he said, “There’s the Lamb of God, go follow Him,” so they did. Jesus never did a miracle for them, and yet they believed in Him as their Messiah.

Why? They had the Old Testament knowledge. All they were waiting for was the fulfillment. And when the Messiah came, they believed in Him. Then we meet the woman at the well from the village of Sychar, and all of those Samaritans. No miracles, they had some idea of Messiah. But Jesus gave them more. He spent two days with them explaining more about the Old Testament, and they believed.

Yes, He demonstrated divine knowledge, but there were no miracles. It was enough for the first disciples to see that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament. It was enough for the Samaritans to have the full understanding of the Old Testament filled out and then see that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament and they were redeemed, because they were believers.

But when it came to the rest of Israel, they fit in to verse 48, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” Even though it is clear that Jesus is the only one who could fulfill the Old Testament detail by detail, you demand more and more signs and wonders. That is the deepest kind of unbelief. And when unbelief rejects the light, the darkness deepens. That’s where Israel was.

So in John 4:46-54, we have an unusual illustration. Someone is actually being saved. At the end of the ministry of Jesus in Judea, there were 120 gathered in the Upper Room. At the end of the ministry of Jesus in Galilee, according to 1 Corinthians 15:6, there were five hundred. That’s all out of the hundreds of thousands that lived in the land of Israel and Jesus crisscrossed every aspect of that land.

Let’s look at verse 46, “So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.” This was somebody who was an official of king Herod of Galilee and Perea. He was a vassal king that killed John the Baptist after he denounced him for marrying his brother’s wife and getting involved in incest.

This nobleman believes Jesus is a miracle worker. Capernaum was the headquarters of Jesus’ miracle ministry in Galilee such that in Matthew 11:24, Jesus said about that city that if Sodom had seen what Capernaum saw, it would still be around. Verse 47, “When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.”

But what moves a man from having a sort of detached view of Jesus as a miracle worker, to moving a much more closely to the reality of who He is in desperation. And that’s still true today. Jesus says in Matthew 9, “The people who aren’t sick aren’t looking for a doctor. It’s desperation that drives people.” The royal official said to Him in verse 49, ’Sir, come down before my child dies.’”

We could call it a sort of fearing faith. He’s like the man who said in Mark 9:24, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” It’s a partial faith. He believes that Jesus is a miracle worker because there’s plenty of evidence of that. And it was Jesus in verse 48, who said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” You believe I’m a miracle worker. But that’s not enough.

But Jesus accepted that weak faith because He did miracles to bring people to that initial step. Somebody might suggest, “Well why would Jesus accommodate that kind of superficial faith?” Because all faith has to start somewhere, right? Why do you think He did the miracles? So the people would accept that He was a miracle worker and then go from there to the next steps.

Jesus then responded to the man’s plea. Verse 50, “Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.” Now he believes in His words. Many times in the gospel of John you’re going to hear, “Believe Me for My works, believe Me for My words.” Jesus was the truth teller. Everything He said pointed to His deity.

“Never a man spoke like this man,” they said about Jesus. So this nobleman is moved from believing in the power of Jesus to believing in the truth of Jesus, in the words of Jesus, the trustworthiness of what He said. This is essential, you’ve got to get beyond the works to the words, right? Because the words have the saving power and the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him.

Verse 51-53, “And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” 52, “Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53, “So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.”

So his faith has gone up to another level. And not only that, he himself believed and his whole household. Well you’ve heard that biblical language before, right? Remember the Philippian jailor, he believed and his whole household. So you had a village saved in the beginning of John 4. Now you have a household saved. That means kids, wife, in-laws and even servants.

And this is to remind us of verse 42 that He is the Savior of the world. Not just different nations, like Jews and Samaritans illustrating the Gentiles but different ranks. He saved some fishermen in John 1. He saved an immoral woman who was a half-breed in John 4. Eventually he saved a high level Jewish Pharisee named Nicodemus, and here He saves the household of some Greek Herodians.

What are we talking about when we say, “Put your faith in Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you’ll be saved.” Believe His works to be the very works of God. Believe His words to be the very words of God. When He spoke, God spoke. And that’s the purpose of John, “These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing you might have life in His name.”

Where are you regarding all this? It’s pretty hard to deny that Jesus was a miracle worker because that is contrary to history. You cannot deny that His words were divine and supernaturally. No one ever heard anyone speak like He spoke. That’s one of the things you find when you study the gospels and you study the words of Jesus. They’re just transcendent and divine. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Oct 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201018 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000153 imblog

John 4:43-45

Turn to John 4 where we’re going to talk about unbelief and faith. This is a vital subject in the gospel of John. We learned in John 3 that salvation is a work of God. You are born from above. Our Lord said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” You made no contribution to your human birth and you can make no contribution to your spiritual birth, it is a divine work of God.

But there is also a human side of salvation. That work of God is through the sinner’s faith. And so while the gospel of John emphasizes the divine sovereign work of God in salvation, it also rightly emphasizes the necessity of the sinner’s faith and believing. One could say that John is primarily about believing. So the idea of faith and believing is spread throughout this entire gospel.

We are now familiar with the purpose of the gospel in John 20:31, “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in His name.” So the gospel of John is the gospel of believing. There is ample evidence to believe in Christ, by His works, by His words, His signs and by His wonders.

This is not only about the theme of the gospel of John, but this is the heart of the Christian faith. All false religions whether they are non-Christian or quasi-Christian, offer salvation through some work, some human behavior, some religious ceremony, and some moral accomplishments. It is Satan’s plan is to convince people that they can escape judgment, and live forever in heaven by something they do.

“Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.” And then since Christ has come, it is by faith in God revealed in Christ. This is the Christian message. And the message is reiterated throughout the New Testament. “There is no salvation in any other name.” “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” Jesus said in John 14:6, “no man comes to the Father but by Me.”

In John 12:44, Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me does not only believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me.” John 14:1 says, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” And in John 14:12, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also and greater works than these he will do.” That means we will be empowered for service.

The gospel of John reveals that all aspects of salvation are connected to believing. For example, John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him,” meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, “to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” And that is reiterated in John 12:36, “Believe in the light, meaning Christ, so that you may become children of light.”

By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, sinners obtain eternal life. That message is familiar to all of us in John 3:16. Down in verse 36 it is reiterated again, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him.” Jesus said in John 6:40, “This is the will of My Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.”

By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, sinners escape divine judgment. Romans 2:3, “And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?” John 5:24, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and doesn’t come into judgment but has passed out of death into life.”

And by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, sinners partake in the resurrection. John 5:28-29 says, “the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life.” When Jesus came to the grave of Lazarus, He said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”

By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ we also possess the Holy Spirit. In John 7:38-39, our Lord says, “He who believes in Me as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. This He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him who were to receive.” The Holy Spirit lives in your heart to begin the regeneration of sanctification and glorification in the one who believes.

John 3:19 says, “The light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” But in John 8:12 Jesus says, “He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” And John 12:46 says, “Everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” So sinners who believe are delivered from spiritual darkness.

Now what is the evidence that causes us to believe in Him? Well the four gospels were written to gather up the evidence and demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God so that you might believe and have life in His name. The gospel accounts of His words and His works demonstrate that Jesus Christ is God. His signs and miracles are ample proof.

Listen to John 5:37-40, “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

The universal problem is unbelief. The whole point of evangelism is not to do some kind of study on the desires of the sinner, but to reveal the reality of who Christ is. The question is not would you like somebody, whoever he is, to fix you? But that’s the way so much contemporary evangelism goes. It’s so much about what you want and what you feel and what you don’t feel and what you don’t have.

There is no such illustration of evangelism anywhere in Scripture. That is so far from what the gospel is all about and that’s so far from what evangelism is. The approach in evangelism is this. You’re headed to eternal hell. Why? Because you’re a sinner. Do all sinners go to eternal hell? No, only the ones that aren’t forgiven. How do I become forgiven? By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You need to confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart the full story of Christ which is ultimately validated by the resurrection. And if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved forever, from your sin and all its consequences. It’s not about, “Well wouldn’t you like purpose and happiness? Wouldn’t you like peace?” That’s not going to help if they don’t believe in Christ.

So the goal of evangelism is to present Christ. That’s why there are four gospels and not four books on psychology. Now there are levels of unbelief. There is that unbelief that only needs fulfillment. There is the first kind of unbelief that is anticipatory, that is expectant and is right on the edge. That would be the kind of faith that Zacharias and Elizabeth had, waiting for the Messiah.

That also would be Anna and Simeon in the Temple. They’re waiting for the Messiah and one day Joseph and Mary show up and the Messiah is there and all they need is to see who He is. That would be the early disciples like Peter and Andrew in John 1, right? They meet Jesus and they say, “We found the Messiah.” And John the Baptist said to those two disciples of his, “Behold the Lamb of God, follow Him.” And they did.

Then in John 4 we meet a second kind of unbelief. It’s the unbelief that needs more information and that would be illustrated by the Samaritan woman and the people in the village of Sychar. They accepted the Pentateuch and they had some Messianic theology passed down from generation. And the woman at the well says, “We know that when Messiah comes, He will teach us everything.”

So they connected Messiah with knowledge, that the Messiah will come and He’ll have full knowledge of everything. Jesus talks to the woman. How does He demonstrate to her that He’s the Messiah? Because of His knowledge about her. So she goes to the village and she says, “Look, I just met a man who told me everything, everything He could never have known. Is this the Messiah?”

And the whole village comes and are converted. That is the harvest that Jesus talks about. And this is His delight. He says, “I just want to do the will of the Father and finish the work He gave Me to do, the work of salvation.” It’s the only time in all four gospels when a whole village repents and comes to faith in Christ and they aren’t even Jews. All they needed was more truth.

But there’s a third kind of unbelief and it’s the deepest kind of unbelief. It’s such a deep kind of unbelief that it has no real confidence at all in the Messiah, or even the idea of Messiah. This is what our Lord faces in the text of John 4:48, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” These are the people for whom Scripture is not enough. They need proof.

Jesus graciously met those people where they were. John 10:37-38, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and [f]believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” Why did Jesus heal and cast out demons and raise dead people? He was reaching out to that lowest level of obstinate unbelief.

They believed He was a teacher from God. Not more, not less. But their unbelief is so profound in Galilee and in Judea that it demands signs and wonders. And Jesus gave them those. Did they have any affect? There were some who came to faith in Christ. Did they convince the entire nation? No, they attributed His miracles to Satan. They wanted to execute Him and they succeeded.

When Jesus comes to Galilee, we now have to contemplate this matter of unbelief. John 4:43 -45, “Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.”

Look at John’s comment in verse 44, “For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.” Why does John put that there? But even more specifically, see the phrase, “His own country?” Now it doesn’t mean that no one was converted in Galilea because there were some converted. In 1 Corinthians 15:6 after His resurrection, when He went to Galilee there were five hundred brethren gathered there.

But Jesus was prophetic. He was not welcomed into His own town and while there were some who believed, the vast majority rejected Him. And this was in the face of many miracles that Jesus did daily. Now John only gives us two miracles in sixteen months in Galilee. John gives us this one about the nobleman’s son and the feeding of the five thousand men plus wives and children in John 6.

John is very selective. But there were many other miracles that we read in Matthew, Mark and Luke which also record His Galilean ministry. There were miracles day after day and they basically were met with unbelief. That is why we read in Matthew 11:20-21, “He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done because they didn’t repent. 21 Woe to you Chorazin, woe to you Bethsaida.”

So Jesus goes into Galilee and He received no honor, respect or faith. But the initial reception was welcoming, verse 45, “So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.” Everybody went to Jerusalem and that’s where they saw these miracles. It turns out to be superficial faith.

But occasionally there is a story like the healing of the nobleman’s son. That story’s in verses 46 - 54. And what marks that story is verse 50,” the man believed the Word that Jesus spoke.” Verse 53, “He himself believed and his whole household.” In the middle of the unbelief there is the story of a man and his family and household who believed. The only way that they will ever be forgiven is by believing in Him.

In Acts 16, the jailor in Philippi is about to kill himself because he’s lost his prisoners because of an earthquake comes and he hears from Paul and Silas, “Don’t harm yourself, we’re all here.” He calls for lights, rushes in, falls down before Paul and Silas and he asked the right question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.”

How is one saved? By believing in the Lord Jesus, in His person, in His work, His death, His resurrection, all that the gospel record affirms to be true about Him. And they spoke the word concerning the Lord to the jailor together with all those who were in his house. They took them that very hour of the night, washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Oct 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201011 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000152 imblog

John 4:27-42

And now we read about a declaration made by a most surprising group of people from a village in Samaria called Sychar. They make this most monumental of all declarations that the Savior of the world has come and He is Jesus Christ. This is a great moment in redemptive history, and they are the most unlikely collection of sinners. They are alienated from Israel.

They are detached from divine revelation and the work of God through His people Israel. So why are these group of Samaritan villagers, God’s chosen instrument to declare that this Jesus is the Savior of the world? Not the high priest of Judaism, not the chief priests, not the priests, not the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the scribes, the rabbis, not the Jewish Sanhedrin. This is called providence.

And so John’s story is to get us to the end part where an entire village proclaims Jesus to be the Savior of the world. Salvation came through the Jews. Jesus said that back in verse 22 to the woman at the well. This meant that the truth about salvation came through Holy Scripture and the entire Old Testament. The Jews were the caretakers of divine revelation in the Old Testament.

However, they were never meant to be the end; they were meant to be the means to the end. They were supposed to be a missionary nation. They were to take the truth of God and they were to proclaim Him to the ends of the earth. And when the Messiah came, He would be the Savior of the world. They should have embraced that because that’s what the Old Testament says.

Isaiah 49:5-6 says, “And now says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him so that Israel might be gathered to Him, 6 Indeed He says it is too small a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light of the Gentiles so that My salvation may reach the ends of the earth.”

Let us look at that statement that the Savior will save people from throughout the world. You can put the emphasis on this: salvation for every tongue, tribe, nation and people. He will redeem people from every part of the world. He’s the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. So here’s the emphasis on the fact that Jesus will save people from the whole world.

Secondly, only the gospel of Jesus Christ saves. In our political correct environment we have to give equal respect to every religion. We need to respect every person. We need to give love to every person caught up in every religion, but all other religions are satanic religions. There is only one way of salvation, and that is by grace through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from works.

Now back to the end of this story. Jesus had left Bethany, and walked twenty miles to Jacob’s well in the area of Samaria near the village of Sychar. He sat down near the well, while His disciples went into the village to get some food, which indicates that they were glad to go into the village, interact with the people, buy and eat their food. Jesus’ did not follow these artificial Jewish rules.

Jesus arrives at the well and He’s sitting there alone. This woman comes at noon. Other women don’t go to the well at noon; it’s too hot. Maybe because she wanted to avoid exposure since she was considered a wicked woman. She has had five husbands. And now she was living with a man who wasn’t her husband. She would be virtually deemed a prostitute in that society.

And in her isolation, she encounters Jesus and they’re alone. And what does Jesus begin with? He begins by telling her the gift of God, the water of life, the eternal life that God has for her if she only asks. You don’t earn it; you only ask for it. And if you only knew who you were talking to, and you only understood that I could give you this living water, this gift of God, this eternal life if you only ask.

That’s how Jesus launched the gospel. And she said, “I want that.” And then He said, “Wait, let us talk about an issue.” And He exposed her sin, and she was shocked because He knew her whole history. He is the omniscient God. And she knew then that He was at least a prophet from God and that He was speaking the truth. She was exposed; she felt the weight of that conviction.

She wanted to make it right. She wanted to repent. She wanted to connect with God so she said, “Where do I worship?” And Jesus at that point told her, “You’ve got to deal with your sin.” And you bring them to the point of conviction. If the person says, “I want to deal with that sin, what do I do? You say, “The first thing you have to do is turn from your idols and repent.

And then in the moment that she agreed she said, “Well, when Messiah comes, He will show us everything we need to know.” Jesus said, “I who speak to you am He.” And the revelation was complete. She went from being ignorant to having a revelation of Christ. The last words that Jesus says to her, “I who speak to you am He,” and at this point the disciples came.

How do we know that He’s the Son of God? The first evidence comes from providence. The disciples didn’t come until He had said that final revelation. There are no miracles in this account, only His omniscience. Providence is that theological word that means God controls all contingencies, all circumstances, all choices, all events, and all people all the time to converge to precisely fulfill His will.

Jesus goes through the whole process of bringing her to understand who He is and desiring a relationship with God and true worship, and at the moment that Jesus has brought that revelation to its culmination, notice verse 27, “At this point,” and in the Greek that is very specific. This is a critical juncture. The disciples had finished their business in Sychar to get the food and walk back.

The very moment Jesus had declared who He was, and the woman turned with that in her and couldn’t get to her village fast enough to tell everyone, at that moment, as that conversation comes to an end, the disciples arrive. The timing is perfect. They’re not too early and they’re not too late. They arrive exactly on time to see Jesus eliminating barriers of tradition and prejudice.

Remember what Jesus told them before His ascension in Acts 1:8, “You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” He’s showing them what He wants them to do in Samaria. Yes, the gospel was for Israel, and it was for the whole world. But God created a new channel, His church, made up of Jews and Gentiles. God foreordains everything.

Jesus went through Samaria, it was a divine necessity to be at a certain point at a certain time. Every moment, every detail, caused everything to converge exactly the way it did, and yet Christ moves effortlessly through the conversation. It’s not forced. It comes to its climactic end with the claim that He is the Messiah and she affirms that. Jesus operated on a divine time schedule.

Verse 27, “And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” A Jew talking with a Samaritan? A rabbi talking with an outcast? They kept silent. Why? Well, though they are new disciples, they’re beginning to learn what all disciples need to learn and that is trust.

What is the mark of a really mature believer? Complete trust. What is the mark of an immature believer? Endless questions. Why this? Why does it have to be this way? They have taken some giant steps in mature discipleship, because what they’re essentially admitting is it’s not for us to question. Jesus controls everything. Things don’t just happen. He’s in charge. My prejudices are not important.

Verse 28-29, “The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Why does it say she went to the men? Because typically at the gate of every village the men sat and adjudicated the issues of the town. She ran into the men and she says, “Come see.”

The woman says, “I defer to your judgment, I’m just telling you, come and see.” That’s a very wise response. And she poses the question with a negative answer. “Come see a man who told me all the things that I have done.” They knew all the things she had done. This is a small village; married five times, living in adultery. I met a man who told me my whole background, my whole ugly history.

Hey lady, what happened to your shame? Hebrews calls it “a cleansed conscience.” That’s what happens when you’re regenerated; the conscience was cleansed; she had been purged. Her sin, which was once her shame, was now part of her testimony. This man told me everything I’d done. She was compelled to face herself. She lost her shame. She wanted to share her discovery.

That’s a mark of true salvation. If you think you lead someone to Christ, ask yourself the question, “Is that person eager to get to the people that that person loves and cares about as fast as possible to share the joy?” Somebody who comes to Christ and is totally transformed and forgiven and converted from hell to heaven; she can’t get there fast enough to tell her friends.

And more importantly, what happens in heaven when a sinner repents? Heaven has a celebration. The angels of God rejoice. The angels around the throne rejoice because God rejoices, because this is the great work that gives God joy. God is a God of joy and His joy is bound up in the salvation of sinners. “Come see this. Is this the Messiah?” She doesn’t want to force that on them. And so they responded.

Verse 30, “They went out of the city and were coming to Him.” See how God orchestrates all the details of everything, even the way the woman asks the question. If she had said to them, “I’ve got to tell you, I just met the Messiah.” They would have mocked her. Every detail shows that God is in charge in this whole situation, working through providence with Jesus.

Secondly, He the Savior because of His priority. Verse 31, “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” This again shows the humanity of Jesus. They had been with Him for months and months and He ate like they did. Verse 32-33, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about. 33 Therefor the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

Verse 34, “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and accomplish His work.’” What is God’s work in human history? Redemption and salvation. That’s why Christ came. Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” In Isaiah 54:5 God called Himself the Redeemer of Israel and of the whole earth.

You know, hunger disappears in times of intense prayer. That’s called fasting. You have no appetite. But appetite also goes away in times of unbounded, exhilarating joy. Jesus lets His disciples know that He’s been laboring in the Father’s work, and the joy of the labor has revived Him. They need to know that because they’re going to get the Great Commission.

Thirdly, there’s evidence from prophecy, He knows the future. Verse 35, “Do you not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, they are white for harvest.” What’s that referring to? Here come the Samaritans and they’re like grain ready to be harvested. Jesus prophesies that those people are going to be saved that day.

He knows the future of the village. Verse 36-37, “Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal.” Right now, you’re here and right now you are going to have the joy of reaping and receiving the benefit. You’re going to be part of a revival right here. “And he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together, 37 for in this case the saying is true. One sows and another reaps.”

Some sow, some reap, and God gives the increase. Who sowed to these Samaritans? Jesus is teaching His disciples a lesson. Verse 38, “I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored, others have labored and you’ve entered into their labor.” You’ve come at the end of the labor to reap the harvest, and you’re going to reap it today. Verse 39, “That from that city, many of the Samaritans believed.”

Verse 41, “More believed.” The prophecy became true. Do you know that never happened in a village in Israel? They need to know that when they go there will be fruit there. They’ll go, they’ll plant, they’ll water, they’ll labor, and God will give the increase. So this is a preview of things to come, after His ascension when the Holy Spirit came upon them and they were sent to the world.

So He stayed there two days. It’s the only time in His earthly ministry that ever happened where He actually spent two days with a whole town, revealing Himself who He was. Verse 42, “Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”‘ Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Oct 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20201004 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000145 imblog

John 4:20-24

Let us talk about acceptable worship based on verse 24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” This is a clear word that God seeks true worshipers. So what is acceptable worship based on the Ten Commandments? Exodus 20:7 says: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

Anyone who violates that command will be punished. That’s the negative side. But later in Deuteronomy 6:4-6 it says, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” 6 These words I am commanding you today, they shall be on your heart.” Now there’s the positive side.

To love the Lord that way would preclude you taking His name in vain. This is basic in our relationship to God. We are to have no other god but the true God. That’s the part of the Ten Commandments in which we are first introduced to God’s law. We are not to make any graven image or any representation of Him. And we are not to take His name in vain. But just exactly what does that mean?

Because to be honest, we’ve all done it. What does it say when God promises to bring punishment for those who take His name in vain? Pretty serious, so we need to look at it. His name Yahweh appears seven thousand times in the Old Testament. We have it on our lips a lot; we use the name of God frequently. But are we in danger of taking that name in vain? Here are some ways we have done that.

First, anyone who curses God or blasphemes His name has obviously violated that command. Listen to Leviticus 24:15-16. “If anyone curses his God, then he shall bear his sin. 16 And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death by stoning him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.”

Now what does that mean? Since God is holy, anything that assaults the holiness of God, anything spoken about God that in any sense assumes that He is evil is to curse God or to blaspheme God. To think of God as unfaithful, unloving, unwise, lacking compassion, lacking mercy, lacking power; anything said against the glory of God, any accusation that God is in some ways flawed is blasphemous.

Secondly, we take the name of the Lord in vain when we falsely swear by His name. And that is to say when you are telling a lie but you want people to think you’re telling the truth, so you say, “I swear to God.” That’s using the holy name of God for evil purposes. Leviticus 19:12 says, “You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of the Lord; I am the Lord.”

There’s a third way that God’s name is taken in vain – and I’m just giving you some samples; there are many more. You take the Lord’s name in vain when you say you speak for Him and you do not; when you say you have heard from the Lord and you speak for the Lord and that is not true. You literally are using the holy name of God to validate your deception.

In Jeremiah 23 there were prophets in Israel who were constantly claiming to speak for God, and they lied. They, in verse 14, are identified as “prophets of Jerusalem who have done a horrible thing: committing of adultery, walking in falsehood, strengthening the hands of evildoers.” Verse 15, “Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood and make them drink poisonous water.”

Verse 16, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.” Verse 18-19, “Who has given heed to His word and listened? 19 Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone forth in wrath, even a whirling tempest; it will swirl down on the head of the wicked.”

Verse 20-22, “The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; in the last days you will clearly understand it. 21 I did not send these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. 22 If they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way.”

But there’s another way in which the Lord’s name is taken in vain, and that is through worship that diminishes His glory. In the Old Testament, particularly the book of Leviticus, the Lord gave instruction for how worship was to be carried on in the tabernacle with the people of God. And He ordained priests, the sons of Aaron, to lead worship. And He gave rules as to what was to be a part of that worship.

You might think it was great to be a priest, but it was deadly serious. Priests were literally executed by God on the spot for offering strange fire, some profane deviation from the prescribed forms of worship. “Warn Aaron and his sons who will lead the worship to follow the prescriptions laid out in Scripture to be careful with the holy things, so as not to profane My holy name.”

In Isaiah 1, this is also the issue. Isaiah is writing the revelation of God to, as he says in verse 4, “A sinful nation, a people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly, who have abandoned the Lord, despised the Holy One of Israel and turned away from Him.” Verse 11, “‘What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?’ says the Lord, “I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.”

Now the Lord says, “I hate all these things that you’re doing,” which He Himself prescribed. These are things God ordered for the people of Israel to do: offerings, and sacrifices, and festivals, and new moons, and Sabbath. But God says, “I hate it all.” Verse 16, He says, “‘Cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.’”

Verse 18, “Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. 19 If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’ Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” This is a terrifying judgment on false-hearted worship.

You could worship the Lord in vain by deviating from His prescribed forms of worship. You can worship the Lord in vain by having an unclean heart, a sinful heart. Matthew 15:8 says of Israel, “With their lips they honor Me, but their heart is far from Me.” Any form of worship that comes from an impure heart, any form of worship that is self-centered, shallow, hypocritical is taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Don’t think of Him or speak of Him or sing of Him in any way that reduces the glory that belongs to His name. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” If you’re going to fear the Lord you have to know the Lord. And you want to worship Him in a way that does not empty that name of any glory that He is due.

Worship can be a dangerous thing if you don’t come with clean hands and a pure heart. We’re all aware in the contemporary church there’s a frivolity and a superficiality in worship. You don’t want to be rushing into the presence of the Lord unless you know whose presence you’re in. When Isaiah found himself in the presence of the Lord, he said in Isaiah 6:5, “I’m a man of unclean lips. Woe is me.”

What is missing in contemporary worship is a vision of God. Scripture says clearly that we are all to bow to the Lord. We are under His sovereignty. Philippians 2:10-11, “One day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” We’re called to have a clean, pure heart and clean hands, which means both on the inward and the outward behavior.

We are walking in obedience to the Lord. We come to give honor and glory to Him. And in the process of that, let us not think of Him as less than who He really is. People aren’t serious enough about the glory of God. Anyone who diminishes His name by shallow, loveless, self-centered expressions takes His name in vain. We don’t live in a reverent culture. We treat God in far too casual a manner as well.

In Matthew 15, our Lord is talking with Pharisees and scribes. And in verse 7 He says to them, “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you” – and then He quotes from Isaiah 29:13, ‘This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.” It’s empty worship when your heart is far from where your lips are. So if your heart isn’t right you are taking the name of the Lord in vain.

Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” So worship is presenting myself as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God. Verse 2: “Do not be conformed to this world.” There are many people who want to design worship it so it’s conformed to the world.

What does God want in worship? We’re told when we gather together in fellowship we are to hear the Word read. Paul says to Timothy, “Read the Scripture, and then explain the Scripture.” “Speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Offering prayer, that’s another part. Our Lord said have Communion. Those are all expressions of worship.

The Reformers were so convinced of what God had laid down that they developed the regulative principle. This simply meant that we are to worship in a way regulated by divine revelation. John Calvin said, “God disapproves of all modes of worship not explicitly sanctioned in Scripture.” That wasn’t his opinion; that was the result of his understanding of God.

We can’t offer spiritual sacrifices of worship according to the will of God unless our bodies are offered as a living sacrifice and our minds have been renewed by the Word of God. Which then leads me to say expository preaching is the key to effective worship, to God being honored, and to God’s will being done. Acceptable worship is a product of understanding the Word of God.

In our contemporary time it’s more likely that churches are infatuated not with formal religion, but with informal religion, which can be nothing more than external, emotional, superficial kinds of psychological experiences that also empty God of His glory and are not marked by knowledge of Him or love for Him. There’s a huge emphasis on worship, but I fear a lot of it is fake worship.

What is worship? True worship is any and every expression of obedience, praise, honor, adoration, and gratitude offered to the true God by a regenerate soul who knows the truth about God and loves Him. And this is a way of life. This is not something we do only on Sunday. It’s that we do it collectively on Sunday, but individually this is how we live our lives, worshiping the Lord.

We are those, Paul says to the Philippians, who worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the flesh. If you’re a Christian, you’ve been literally saved to worship. Go to the book of Revelation, look at chapters 4, 5, 11, 14, 15, 19, 22, and you’re going to have a glimpse of heaven. And everybody’s doing worship. Psalm 45: “My heart is overflowing.” My heart is bubbling over.

Look at Romans 11:33-36, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

We need to remind the church that music is not worship. Music is just poetry with a tune, a melody. Worship is what the heart does, music is just one vehicle. Everything you do in your life should be an act of worship to the Lord. When we come together, all of us as individual worshipers are riding the wave of our corporate gratitude and love to God in the glorious expression of collective praise.

People who do the music aren’t the worship leaders. The worship leader is the person who teaches the Scripture, because that’s where worship is born. Worship is stimulated not by music, but by understanding, by the reading of the Scripture, the preaching of the Scripture. But we are blessed to have music, to let our hearts overflow with words that we couldn’t come up with on our own.

Your praise can only go as high as your understanding goes deep. People who have a superficial knowledge of God have only a superficial capacity to praise Him. The height of your praise is directly proportionate to the depth of your understanding. When you understand the deep things of God, when you understand the truths of His glorious nature and work, your praise is directly proportionate.

So if you want to worship the Lord in a greater way, it doesn’t mean turn up the music. If you want to worship the Lord in a greater way, enrich your understanding of Him from the glorious Word of God. We thank You for the privilege that we have had to gather and sit at Your feet to hear the truth of Your Scripture. Give us a new understanding of the seriousness of worship. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Sep 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200927 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000141 imblog

John 4:16-26

John is a book that presents evidences that Jesus is the Son of God. It is an evangelistic book in that it calls for you to believe that and by believing that have eternal life in His name. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in the story of the woman at the well when He tells her entire immoral history. This is a woman He has never met and yet He knows her whole history.

Jesus is the eternal Word made flesh, so you see here also a revelation of His humanity, as He sits down by the well because He’s tired. As man, He was exhausted. As God, He was omniscient and that majesty of the combination of deity and humanity in Christ is the theme that we’re going to see. Now at the heart of this discussion in verses 21 - 24, is about worship.

There are only two kinds of people in the world. Those who worship God acceptably and people who don’t. Worship is the essence of what it means to be saved, to confess Jesus as Lord, to submit to God and His revelation of Christ, to obey God who said, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him.” One cannot worship unless one is truly saved, because you cannot worship until you obey the gospel of His Son.

What are the components and what is the sequence as Jesus evangelizes this indifferent, immoral woman who doesn’t know anything about Him, has never heard Him teach, and has never heard about a miracle? She is completely indifferent. This woman has no spiritual interest at the beginning. Most of the time you have to take the initiative. And that’s exactly what Jesus does here.

Jesus is leaving Judea. The leaders of Israel are planning already to kill Him. He knows when His hour is supposed to come. So He goes to Samaria. Jews wouldn’t go that way because they viewed the Samaritans as being cursed. Samaritans were considered half breeds who abandoned their Judaism and intermarried with idolaters. But those kinds of things didn’t bother Jesus.

Jesus had an appointment with a woman by a well at noon. God had her right where she was supposed to be to meet with Jesus. And he says to her, “Give Me a drink.” And He explains in verse 8, “His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.” It didn’t bother them to eat Samaritan food. This is not a something that God had ordained. In fact, this was the mission field, not the enemy.

And while they were gone, with just the two of them together, Jesus is making a connection. He puts Himself in a position to have her do something for Him. And she responds to it by acknowledging that. Verse 9, “How is it that You being a Jew asks me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” Our Lord saw this as a mission opportunity, regardless of who she was.

And then it moves to unsolicited mercy. She’s not asking for anything. “Jesus answered and said to her,” in verse 10, “‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you give me a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.’” And then He takes her to this offer from God. “If you knew the gift of God,” and He acknowledges that she can’t know.

I want to remind you of the word “asked.” Connect that with the word “gift.” This is what sets the gospel of Christianity apart from every other religion in the world. Every other religion in the world says do this and God will accept you. Christianity says just ask. That’s all the sinner can do, like in Luke 18:13, the publican who says, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” All he can do is ask.

So Jesus says to her, you have no idea of what I’m offering you, but it is a gift from God that constitutes living water. That means water that gives life. In that part of the world in ancient days, the need for water was profound and constant. And He’s saying, “I’m able to give it to you, all you have to do is ask.” That woman still has no idea that Jesus is talking about salvation.

And so she reacts with sarcasm in verses 11 and 12. “She said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.’” And in verse 12 she says, “Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself as well as his sons and his livestock?” And Jesus responds to her scorn with mercy and patience while offering unparalleled blessing.

Verse 13. “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.’” Water that gives eternal life? He moves from the point of contact to the gift of God which is eternal life.

The whole thing doesn’t make sense. But she goes along with it in verse 15, “The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.’” She is playing the game with Him. And then we come to the next element in this encounter. Verse 16, “Jesus said to her, ‘Go call your husband and come here.’” That is a strong command.

Verse 17, “The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’” That brings us to the fourth component in His personal evangelism, a conviction. This will change her entire perception of Jesus and confront her sin in a direct way. It is essential to bring the sinner to face the guilt of sin and feel the weight of divine judgment because faith must be accompanied repentance.

Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch. And the penalty for adultery was death. It’s wonderful to present to the sinner all the blessings, the gift of God, the living water, the eternal life. But it’s not enough to present just the positive truth of soul-satisfying blessing from God. If that is all you do, you’re going to get somebody who is deceived about their true condition.

Verse 18, “For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” No more talk of blessing, no more talk of mercies, no more talk of satisfaction, everything changes now. This initially ignorant sinner must be brought to conviction and repentance. Since she’s unwilling to tell the whole truth, so Jesus tells it for her.

We know divorce was common among the Jews in Israel. It was also common among the Samaritans. And this woman lived this kind of life where she was an adulteress on repeated occasions and consequently led to repeated divorces and now she’s following the same pattern, living with a man who is not her husband. She’s an adulteress living in an immoral relationship.

And Jesus says, “The one whom you now have is not your husband.” She had a man in her life living with her but he was not her husband. Living together doesn’t make a marriage, which is common today. Living together is idolatry and adultery without marriage. Marriage is always restricted to a covenant, a binding, formal, social, official and public covenant.

Well, this changes everything because Jesus just told her her history and they’ve never met. Verse 19, “The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.’” Now she feels the conviction. But she wants to know more. “You speak for God.” So she poses a question. Verse 20, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

“Where do I go to worship?” She knows that being right with God is a matter of worship. But she doesn’t know where to worship. Verse 21-23, “Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.” 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.”

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” Verse 24, “God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” This is the most definitive text in the gospels on the matter of worship and it starts with a denunciation of the external forms of worship.

Not long after this, in 70 A.D. the Romans come at the end of the Jewish rebellion that started in 66 A.D. and destroy Jerusalem and the temple and don’t leave one stone upon another. And there’s no more temple worship. Then the Romans go into Samaria. They slaughtered thousands of Samaritans on Mount Gerizim and brought an end to that worship as well.

Jesus is giving the prophecy of what’s coming fast, and it already now is in the sense that the New Covenant is almost in place. It’s not long until it is ratified in His death on the cross. Listen carefully to what He says, true worship doesn’t demand a place. It’s not about a ritual of any kind. True worship is always about loving God, honoring God, obeying God, serving God from the heart.

So He says, “You worship what you do not know; we Jews worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” That is, the Scripture was given to the Jews, the Messiah comes through Israel, and it’s from the Jews. But that’s not a commendation of Jewish religion, because it was apostate and Jesus denounced it repeatedly. But despite that God ordained that through them would come Messiah.

Do you understand what happened at the death of Jesus Christ when the veil, separating the holy place from the Holy of Holies, was torn from top to bottom by God? Do you know that that was the symbol of the end of the entire Old Testament system of external, ceremonial, symbolic worship? Do you understand at that moment all of it was over, there are no more temples?

There’s no more priesthood. There’s no more sacrifices, no more feasts, no more Sabbaths, all that has disappeared. God always wanted heart worship. Now every place is a sanctuary and every believer is a priest, right? Christ ushered in a new era of worship, that doesn’t focus on externals or on symbols, but on what is internal and what is real, genuine and true.

God is a spirit, verse 24, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. They worship Him according to who He really is as revealed in Scripture. All you need to worship is the truth in the Scripture and a heart that loves God anywhere and everywhere. The truth about Him is everything. All of Scripture is God’s self-disclosure. Such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

Our worship is informed by your understanding of the revelation. Superficial knowledge of God leads to superficial worship. And then people are manipulated. Worship is not music. Worship is loving God. Worship is honoring God. Worship is knowing God for who He is, adoring Him, obeying Him, proclaiming Him as a way of life. Music is one way we express that adoration.

The woman in verse 25 says, “I know that Messiah is coming” who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things.” She wants the full truth. And she says, “I’m not going to have the full truth until He arrives,” And then in verse 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” There’s no “He” in the original; it’s an I AM statement, the name of God. “I who speak to you AM.”

Seven times Jesus says “I AM” something: the Bread of Life, the Door, the Way, the Truth, the Life, etc. all references to Him being God. Now she wants the truth about the life of God that is eternal, that her heart craves so desperately. She wants forgiveness for her wretched life. And in that moment when she believes and when she repents, the Messiah reveals Himself to her.

This is a divine work, isn’t it? She knew nothing about Jesus at all when it started. Now she wants to know everything about Him that’s available so she can be a true worshiper. But how do I know she was converted? Verse 39, “From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified.” He has to be from God. And as she believed, they believed.

Verse 40-42, “When the Samaritans came to Jesus they asked Him to stay with them and He stayed there two days.” Two days of theology, two days of unveiling divine revelation so they could fully understand the gospel. 41, “And many more believed because of His word. 41 Then they said, it’s no longer because of you that we believe, but we have heard for ourselves and know that this is the Savior of the world.”

When you meet an unbeliever and have taken the initiative to make the conversation begin, and when you’ve unfolded, and unpacked the beauties of the promise of the gifts that God gives to those who come to Him, and when you have confronted his sin and he repents, when you have done all of that, then you can leave it to God to unveil the truth concerning Himself. That’s what heaven has to do.

Remember Acts 16:14, “Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” You may walk away with no knowledge of the result. But it’s our job to take them to that point so that the Lord can do that revelation in His sovereign purpose. Do you have the courage to tell others about Jesus? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Sep 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200920 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000126 imblog

John 4:1-15

Much of the story of the woman at the well is familiar to you. It is a simple straight-forward story of Jesus evangelizing an outcast woman, of her coming to salvation and then being used by God to bring many in her village to salvation. The culminating story comes in verse 39, “From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman.”

Here is a model of our Lord evangelizing a sinner. This makes it a very instructive portion of Scripture, one that we should be very familiar with for the lessons that it teaches us. We’re going to go over those lessons about how we approach the unbelieving world around us and how we bring them to hear the gospel and understand what it offers and what it demands.

His deity is also on display because He meets a woman whom He has never met and He knows her entire history. So we see His humanity and His weariness. And we see His deity and His omniscience. And what makes it unique is that up to now in the gospel of John the Baptist has presented Christ as the Messiah. Now John the apostle is presenting to us Christ as the Son of God.

This is the first time that the proclamation of the messiahship of Jesus comes from His own lips and that we find in verses 25 and 26 where the woman speaks of the Christ, the Messiah who will come, and Jesus said to her in verse 26, “I who speak to you am He.” Up to now it’s the testimony of John the Baptist and the followers of Jesus. But here is the identity of the Messiah from His own lips.

Now this declaration from the lips of Jesus as to His identity is not given to significant religious leaders in Israel. It is given to a woman who is an outcast and a Samaritan. Samaritans were essentially a corrupted form of the Jewish race. When the Assyrians came and took the ten northern tribes of the Jews captive in 722, they remained. Those Jews intermarried with idolatrous nations.

So they had forsaken their Judaism and committed the worst crime, and that was to mingle with idolatrous Gentiles. They were outcasts. So no Jew would mingle with the Samaritans and no one would go into Samaria except Jesus. So this is an outcast woman and also an immoral woman. She is also an indifferent woman. She has no idea of who this Jewish stranger sitting on the well is.

This woman is the opposite of Nicodemus and yet it is to this woman that Jesus first in the gospel of John declares His own identity. And it is a testimony to the apostasy of Israel. But it is more than just a stinging rebuke of Israel, it is a declaration of Jesus that He has come to save people from every tongue and tribe and nation. It is a testimony that salvation is for all who believe.

Now, this isn’t about bringing the story into modern times, it’s about taking all of you back into this event itself, and letting you live the event. And we’re going to learn from Him how to approach people in the world who are indifferent to the gospel. And for the most part of your life, you’re going to be in a conversation with an indifferent person about the gospel they need to hear.

Here is a woman who wasn’t looking for Jesus, didn’t know He existed, had no idea who He was. He is an unknown stranger that she meets sitting on a well who is as far as she is concerned really strange. He is saying strange things, things she can’t understand. But Jesus dismisses her indifference and her ignorance. It’s not a barrier. And He dismisses, this is important, her immorality.

We tend to get very self-righteous when we look at our immoral world. And it’s easy for us to have resentment toward people, to resent homosexuals who are advocating for gay marriage which corrupts our young people. It is very easy for us to resent liberal young people who think America is bad and Islamic terrorists because of the damage they do. But that is our mission field.

That’s not our enemy, all sinners are in the same situation headed for the same hell because of their sin nature, even if they’re not homosexuals or they are not liberal and they’re not Islamic terrorists. They’re alienated from God and it’s our responsibility in this world to go to them. They are the sick who need a physician. They are the unrighteous ones, just like we were before we were born again.

So let’s begin with the setting in John 4:1-3, “Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2 although Jesus Himself was not baptizing but His disciples were, 3 He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.” What’s He been doing in Judea? Jesus has been preaching repentance, preaching the kingdom.

“Jesus Himself was not actually baptizing, but His disciples were.” This is to remind you that baptism does not depend on the baptizer. The baptizer adds nothing to the baptism. It is the baptism itself that God instituted to signify that a spiritual change had taken place in that new believer. It is the heart of the one being baptized that is the important part, not the baptizer. God looks at your heart.

Jesus wanted to go to Samaria because there was a sovereign appointment, a spiritual necessity foreordained, that was established for Him with a woman by a well and that had been ordained before the foundation of the world. And it was going to lead to her salvation and the salvation of an entire group of people from a local Samaritan village. Verse 4, “But He needed to go through Samaria.”

Now Samaria originally was the name of the capital city of the northern kingdom. When the kingdoms split after the reign of Solomon, the last king of the unified kingdom (Saul, David, Solomon, and from Solomon’s sons), the kingdom split, ten tribes went north, two stayed south. The south tribes became known as Judah. The north tribes became known as Israel. That’s the history.

Verse 5, “So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.” And Joseph was later buried there after the land was conquered by Joshua. So this is a historical location, which is in the Bible to prove that it is about real people in real places. Verse 6, “Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.”

Jesus was tired and sat by the well. It was about the sixth hour which is high noon; it is the middle of the day. The sun is at its peak and He has walked 20 miles, which is a rigorous walk. The stage is set for this amazing encounter that is about to happen. And there you see the humanity of Jesus. He understands all that we suffer as men and women because He was one of us.

Now we come to the encounter and we look for a model for personal evangelism. Look Jesus takes the initiative and comes into her world. Verse 7, “A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” Now, drawing water was women’s work. That’s supported by all historical data. They did it every day because they needed water every day. Usually they came at dusk when it was cooler.

So how does Jesus begin? He takes the initiative, “Give Me a drink.” In that culture it’s a shocking thing for Him to say because men don’t speak with women in public. Jewish men didn’t talk to women. Do you know that Jewish rabbis were not supposed to talk even to the women of their own family in public? So here Jesus, a rabbi, talks to a woman who is an outcast, a despised woman.

Why doesn’t Jesus have the disciples get Him a drink?” Well, can’t because verse 8 says they had gone away into the city to buy food; so He’s there alone. Why is He there alone? Well, because they needed food. How many disciples does it take to get food? All of them? No, but dismissing them was beneficial to the conversation. He wanted to be alone with the woman.

And Jesus never did a miracle to quench His own thirst, satisfy His own hunger, or provide anything for Himself. He honored work and effort, and He honored care, and He honored sacrifice, and He honored giving and all the things that we do in life to sustain ourselves. This was also part of His commitment to humanity. We get what we need through our own work.

Verse 9, “Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” She’s saying, “I know Your culture, I know what You think about us.” And Jesus has shattered that because that was non-biblical tradition. That kind of hatred toward the Samaritans was wrong, and was illegitimate.

There are these Samaritans and instead of telling them the truth, instead of trying to draw them to the knowledge of the true God through the Scriptures, they treat them with scorn and disdain. How did she know Jesus was a Jew? Probably from His clothing. Jews had tassels on the edges of their garments, according to Numbers 15. And a rabbi most likely would have those.

Jesus sent the disciples into a Samaritan town to buy food out of the hands of Samaritans. He didn’t care at all for tradition, only revealed truth. The Jews were in violation of God’s will and God’s heart. God had to send His Messiah to do what the people and the religious leaders would never do. They weren’t even interested in converting their own people, let alone Samaritans.

Secondly, Jesus offered unsolicited mercy. Verse 10, “Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” This is using physical thirst and water as the contact point, but He reverses the situation. He treats her as the thirsty one and He as the source of water.

But here is pure mercy because He says, “If you knew the gift of God,” the free gift of God. This is where evangelism starts. You find your way in at a common point of interest, and then comes the reality that you are offering the sinner without regard to morality. It is mercy with no regard for religion. It is just grace. This is the unique glory of the gospel in opposition to all other religions.

All other religions say, “Do this, do this, and God will give you this.” The gospel says, “In whatever state you’re in religiously, and whatever state you’re in morally, here’s a gift.” It is the grace of God. ‘Dorean’, the word here, is “free gift.” Paul loves that word. Paul uses that word in Romans 5, the free gift. And that’s where our Lord starts where He offers unsolicited mercy.

Regeneration is a work of God. You can’t participate in your own birth. All you can do is ask. That’s a gift from God. I’m here to give it if you only ask, and if you would ask Him, speaking in the third person concerning Himself, He would have given you living water. And with that statement about living water, Jesus takes the conversation in a strongly spiritual direction.

What is the living water? Well, it’s clearly salvation. And everything that’s in salvation, mercy, grace, forgiveness, justification, flowing and flowing. When sinners come before the judgment of God, the Great White Throne, based on what our Lord says here, they will be sent to hell not because of all the lists of sins. But they will be sent to hell because they failed to ask for the gift.

Why is it described as living water? Jeremiah 2:13 says, “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 17:13 says, “All who forsake the Lord will have forsaken the fountain of living waters.” Psalm 36:9 says, “God is the fountain of life.”

God wants to give you the gift of life. This is running water that keeps flowing. In John 7:37-38, “On the last day, the day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” And that’s what Jesus says here. If you would have asked and He would have given you living water.

Once you receive this water, once this water is placed in you, it flows forever and ever. It is a fountain of water, springing up eternally. This is the gospel. Verse 11, “She said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?’” Verse 12, “Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself?”

This is skepticism, mockery. Again, Jesus responds kindly and patiently. Verse 13-14, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. 14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” There’s the eternality of salvation.

This is the fountain of youth and eternal life. Now His point is unmistakable. This is permanent, consistent, full, satisfying, everlasting mercy and blessing from God to the sinner who asks. Jesus is offering her eternal life which is a spiritual reality—the gift of mercy, the gift of grace for all who ask. What is it? It’s living water. It’s soul satisfaction forever.

Verse 15, “Sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come here to draw.” And all I can see in her is incredulity, who is this man and what is He talking about? Is she starting to think in terms of spiritual things and eternal things? Maybe. I don’t know at what point she is, as the Spirit of God works on her heart through the words of the Savior. But it all comes clear next week. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Sep 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200913 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E7 imblog

John 3:31-36

This is about fading recognition of the preacher and the increasing glory of Jesus Christ. And that is exactly what John the Baptist is saying and that is the first law for all who serve in ministry. And the greatest model of this is the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians 2 who though eternally equal with God, thought it not something to hold on to but humbled Himself, took on the form of a slave and became obedient.

People who elevate themselves in ministry are without grace. Why do I say that? Because James 4:6 records that God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud. The path of humility, the path of exalting Christ is the only path that any faithful minister would desire to pursue. Now all of this becomes clear in this passage of Scripture that focuses on John the Baptist life.

John the Baptist was the forerunner to Jesus Christ, the last Old Testament prophet. There hadn’t been one in 400 years before Him. In Matthew 11:11 Jesus said he was the greatest man who ever lived. He had the greatest calling to not prophesy about a future Messiah, but to point to the Messiah who had arrived, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.

He was the most privileged man with the greatest ministry of anyone who had ever lived in human history. He was empowered, he was popular, he was influential, and yet it is from this man that we learn this great lesson of humility. “He must increase and I must decrease,” which that phrase, that axiom coming out of the mouth of John the Baptist speaks of his true spiritual humility.

Now let us read John 3:31-36, “He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33 He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.” 34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God.”

For God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Now this is a very important set of verses because of its focus on the preeminence of Christ. Inside verses 31 to 36 is a full, rich Christology.

The power to convince people concerning the identity of Christ comes from Scripture. The gospel of John is written that you might know and believe that Jesus is the Christ, and by believing have life in His name. Here the testimony is not from John the apostle, but it’s from John the Baptist. It’s amazing that John the Baptist had such a full understanding of who Jesus Christ is.

First, the reason for exalting Christ is that He has a heavenly origin. The New Testament establishes this at the very beginning. You start in Matthew 1:20 and you have a dream and an angel telling this, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you will call His name Jesus.”

“He will save His people from their sins. 22 Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, they shall call His name Immanuel which translated means God with us.” In Luke 1:31 the same thing takes place, an angel appears and identifies the child. “You will conceive, Mary, in your womb, bear a son, and call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, will be called the Son of the Most High.”

“35 The angel says to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you, for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God.” Now look at verse 31, “He who comes from above is above all.” It doesn’t have any moral connotation. He’s saying simply, any earthly human being is of the earth, speaks of the earth, but He who comes from heaven is above all.

There’s only one person, Christ, who is from heaven. This is John the Baptist, the greatest human being who ever lived saying, we humans are all of the earth, and all of us fall into this category, speaking from a human viewpoint. And therein lies our limitation. Therein lies the purpose and reason for our need for humility.” On the other hand, he says, “Christ who comes from above is above all.”

John understands the divine origin of Jesus Christ. He is the uncreated Son of God who entered into human form in a human body in His incarnation. In John 17 Christ prays and says, “Restore to Me the glory I had with You before the world began.” In John 17:8 it says, “The words You gave Me I have given to them and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You.”

Secondly, reasons for exalting Christ, is that Christ knows everything from first-hand divine experience. And that is found in verse 32, “And what Jesus has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.” And we know He knows everything because in John 2:23-25, God said Jesus knows everything. He even knows the thoughts of every human being.

This is omniscience. Jesus is the only man who never needed to take any information from anyone else. Yes, He grew in wisdom, stature, favor with God, favor with man and there was an awakening to His divine knowledge as He grew legitimately from being a baby. He was conformed to the development of a human being. By the time He was twelve, He already had a sense of His mission.

Did He choose to use all that knowledge? No, He restricted the independent use of His own omniscience in His humiliation. That’s why He could say things like “I don’t know the day or the hour when I return to establish the Kingdom.” But even though He could limit His omniscience, no one could add to His knowledge. He limits His development and that was in the plan of God.

Everything that we know, somebody has to teach us. We need information from heaven given to us from someone from heaven. So Jesus comes. God spoke in time past by the Holy Spirit through the prophets and then He spoke, according to Hebrews 1, by His Son. Either God speaks to us through Scripture or He speaks to us through His Son, because we have no knowledge of heavenly things.

John 3:11 says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.” ‘We’ here refers to the Trinity. This is firsthand knowledge. And He calls these things in verse 12 heavenly things. So in referring to Jesus Christ, everything begins with an understanding of His heavenly origin and then moves to His omniscience.

When Jesus is speaking of what He has seen and heard, that means that He was with God in eternity past, as the Trinity, where they shared a common understanding of truth. John 5:30-35, “I can do nothing on my own initiative, as I hear I judge, My judgment is just. I don’t seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. 31 If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid.”

Verses 32-35, “But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true. 33 In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true. 34 Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved. 35 John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message.”

Jesus says John gave you a testimony that he had received from God. I give you a testimony that comes from heaven itself. The difference is John had to be taught this, Jesus knew it eternally. He is the omniscient one. In John 8:26, “I have many things to speak and judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.”

Jesus says My knowledge is the knowledge that belongs to God, it is knowledge which we share. Verse 38, “I speak the things which I’ve seen with My Father.” Because He is of heavenly origin then, He has all heavenly knowledge. We struggle at best to grasp the heavenly things, to understand the heavenly things, to articulate the heavenly things, and we’re only scratching the surface.

Thirdly, anyone who affirms Christ, affirms that God is true. Look at verse 33, “He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.” That is such a short statement to say something so profound. Does God speak truth? He is truth personified. So, then you must believe in Christ. Why? Because God sent an angel and said this child is Immanuel, meaning ‘God with us’.

This is Jesus who will save His people from their sins. Because God sent an angel, this is the Son of God, because God spoke at His baptism, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Because God spoke at the Transfiguration, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him.” If you don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then God must have lied. You cannot say, “I believe in God, but I reject Christ.”

You can’t say God is true and reject Christ. The Jewish people think they affirm the God of the Old Testament. They talk about the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Old Testament Scripture, they affirm that that’s their true God. But their God is a liar because it is the God of the Old Testament who revealed every prophecy directed and fulfilled in Jesus Christ’s first coming.

It is God who prophesied about the seed of a woman in Genesis 3, it’s the God of Isaiah 53 who talked about one who would be crucified, pierced, wounded for the transgressions of His people. Every prophecy in the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus Christ is a point at which you either validate God as speaking the truth, or lying. You cannot reject Christ and say God speaks the truth.

In 1 John 5:10, “The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in Himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar.” You don’t have the right to say I believe in God and that I believe God is true, and then reject Christ. John 7:16, “So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” If you reject Me, you’re rejecting God.

Fourthly, the Christology of John the Baptist speaks to His Trinitarian relationships. Verse 34, “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” Jesus possessed the full Holy Spirit presence. One of the ministries of the Spirit, of course, was to bring the words of the Father through His Son. Everything Jesus did was the work of the Holy Spirit.

Why? Because part of His incarnation was to become human, part of His incarnation was to restrict the independent use of His attributes. Part of His incarnation was to yield over His will to the operation of the Holy Spirit in His humiliation. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from the very time that He was conceived, so the Holy Spirit took special care in the life of John.

But not to this degree that Christ had, because Christ was given the Spirit without measure. What does that mean? Infinitely to the level of His infinite deity. So what you have in Jesus Christ is God the Son who is equal to God the Father in His fullness and equal to God the Holy Spirit in His fullness. That is what the term ‘without measure’ means. Without limit and without boundary.

Finally John the Baptist shows the superiority of Christ in that He has received all authority from the Father. Verse 35, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.” The whole of redemption and the whole of creation, all of it is about the Father loving the Son and creating a universe in which He can redeem humanity and give a bride to His Son, a love gift to His Son.

Ephesians 1:21-23 says, “Christ is far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” God’s love relationship with His Son results in God giving His Son all of His creation.

John the Baptist closes with an invitation in verse 36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who doesn’t obey the Son will not see life.” Why does it go from believing to obeying? Because to believe the Son is a command. He who believes in the Son has obeyed the command. He who does not believe in the Son has disobeyed the command and shall experience the wrath of God.

Those are the last words from the lips of John the Baptist recorded in Scripture and he’s a gospel preacher. Not long after this John’s ending came in Matthew 14. Herod arrested him because John publicly preached against Herod’s immorality and illicit marriage to Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. He had seduced his brother’s wife and married her. Only John dared to speak up.

On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod so much so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist.” So Herod had John beheaded in prison. His disciples came and buried him. He lived a short life on earth, but this humble servant will live forever in heaven. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Sep 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200906 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C4 imblog

John 3:22-30

Now turn in your Bible to John 3:30. Here are the words uttered by John the Baptist: “He” (meaning Christ) “must increase, but I must decrease.” That’s an aphorism, an axiom, a truism. That is the first law of ministry: He must increase; I must decrease. Humility is the first law of any ministry related to God and your fellow man. Let us look at other examples.

First Peter 5:5-6 says, “Be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” Again, humility is the first law of ministry. All faithful, all honorable ministers make much of Christ and nothing of themselves. This is what we see in this passage.

Now let’s look at John 3:22-30, “After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. 24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison. 25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.”

“26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” 27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.”

“29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” Any minister who exalts his own position is perverted in his claims. There is only one High Priest and one Mediator between man and God, which is Christ Jesus.

Any minister who views himself as anything more than a Christian equal to every other Christian has corrupted himself. Any so-called minister who claims to be the head of the church, dishonors the Son of God to whom that title belongs exclusively. Any priest who claims the name Father dishonors the true Father/God to whom that title belongs exclusively. Jesus says, “Call no man Father.”

All ministers are like stars who only appear in the darkness, their flickering light is not enough to light the world. They fade out as the sun rises. As churches fall into apostasy, they think less of Christ and they make more of their ministers. To the corrupt church the sun has gone out and the stars have descended into blackness. In a truly holy church, little is made of the ministers and much of Christ.

John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived. Therefore, he was the greatest servant of God, the greatest prophet who ever lived. What was his clothing like? Camel’s hair and a leather belt. What was his diet like? Locusts and wild honey, and anything he could find. Israel was in darkness. One star left and he faded out as the Son of righteousness arose. His joy was in being hidden.

And the lesson he teaches us is how important it is that he fade away and Christ become everything. He had national popularity. All Jerusalem and Judea went out to see him. The Son of God was living in obscurity up in Nazareth for 30 years. He finally appeared; He was baptized by John. Then John sent a few of his followers to follow Jesus, but Jesus still remained in obscurity.

And then in John 2, Jesus came to Jerusalem on that Passover and He went into the Temple, still in obscurity. And then He ended that anonymity when He took a whip in the Temple and threw everybody out, creating a massive, unparalleled scene. But He still had only a few disciples. And then He began to do miracles. Then He began to cast demons out and He began to heal people of all their sicknesses.

And the crowds began to come to Jesus because John didn’t do any miracles. There were people who were demon-possessed, and many people were very ill. And they knew that Jesus could heal them because of His miracle power. He began to draw people and no one had ever taught like He had. His teaching attracted many people. And then John told the people, “Behold the Lamb of God.”

And He pointed to Christ and He is saying, “Go follow Him.” Who are you, John? “I’m just a voice crying in the wilderness. I’m just getting the road ready for the Messiah.” The Messiah attracted them with His teaching and His miracles. And John is beginning to fade away. But their ministries overlap. And it’s in this time of transition, that what John the apostle records here takes place.

This is a lesson of humility for all of us. So John’s ministry overlaps with Jesus, probably by as much as six months or so, because he was the one introducing Jesus. So he was still ministering and preaching repentance, and preaching that the Messiah had come and telling them who He was and baptizing those who repented. And Jesus began to preach repentance, preach the kingdom and declare Himself the Messiah.

Let’s look at the context, verse 22, “After these things,” meaning after He came to Jerusalem, went to the Temple, and cleaned out the Temple. And after that the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Him, we went through the whole discourse with Nicodemus from John 3:1 -21. So after that, Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea. And they went into the countryside, leaving Jerusalem.

There Jesus was spending time with them. Based upon what it says in John 4:35, we think this is up to six months. At the same time Jesus was baptizing, the same kind of baptism that John was doing, which was the symbolic washing of the outside to demonstrate a desire to be washed on the inside to get ready for Messiah’s arrival and kingdom. This is the early training of His followers.

We see that in verse 23 with one important note. John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. That was an accommodating place for John, which means there were still a lot of people coming to John. We don’t exactly know where that is. There are two possibilities. But both of them are in Samaria. As soon as Jesus went into Jerusalem and Judea, John went somewhere else.

He left Judea for Jesus. This is the first act of a humble man who leaves the location of his success for someone else. So he’s doing his ministry of preaching, repentance, baptizing the same as Jesus. Neither of them is doing Christian baptism, until Acts 2:41, after the death and resurrection of Christ, which Christian baptism depicts, “buried with Him in baptism and raised in new life.”

Verse 22 says, “He was spending time with them and baptizing.” John 4:1 says, “Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John.” So now more people are going to Jesus, than have been going to John. Verse 2, “Although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were.”

See in verse 1, that Jesus’ popularity was increasing and John was fading. And apparently John’s disciples began to worry about the implications of this on the one they loved. Verse 24 says, “For John had not yet been thrown into prison.” Because in Matthew and Mark, John’s imprisonment is recorded right after Jesus’ baptism by John. So John wants to correct the record of history.

It is in those months between the baptism of Jesus and the imprisonment of John that the overlap of their ministry goes on. People are coming to Jesus because John is sending them and because Jesus does miracles. Verse 25, “Then there arose a dispute on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification.” Purification relates to baptism which was symbolic of repentance and purification.

So they started having a discussion about who is preeminent, whose baptism is most important, who is greater. Did John the Baptist’s disciples not get the message? He pointed to Christ in John 1, saying over and over, “I am not the Christ.” John the apostle says he’s not the Light; he came to give testimony to the Light. John is happy to say, “I’m not the Christ” to the Jewish leaders.

But they said to him in verse 26, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” And that is what’s called a jealous exaggeration. They don’t even want to say His name, Jesus. They are zealous and jealous for John the Baptist, and filled with dissatisfaction. So they come complaining to John about this.

They should have known, but they had a hard time with this. When John is finally imprisoned in Matthew 11, his disciples still are having a hard time shifting to Christ. So John sends them to go to Christ and ask Him if He is not the Messiah. And they do. And in John 11, they see sick people are healed, the blind see, the deaf hear and the gospel is preached to the poor. What other proof do you need?

Verse 27, “John answered and said, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.’” Wow, that sort of explains it with regard to ministry. It’s like John 15:5, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” Gifts, positions, ministries in God’s kingdom rest completely on God’s free grace and God’s sovereign call. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:1, “Since we have this ministry as we received mercy.”

Ministry is a mercy. What is a mercy? Something you don’t earn, something you don’t deserve, something you are given even though you’re unworthy. Paul says to Timothy, “I was a blasphemer, and I was a murderer, but the Lord counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry and He showed me mercy.” You don’t rise to the top because you’re holier than everybody else. It’s all mercy.

Paul talks a lot about ministry, Colossians 1:25, “I was made a minister according to the stewardship of God.” Stewardship means a responsibility and accountability. The principle is very clear. A man receives nothing when it comes to the privilege of ministry, when it comes to the fruit of ministry, except it’s given to him from heaven. Even what Christ had was given to Him by the Father.

Ministry is a mercy that flows to an unworthy Christian based upon God’s sovereign grace. You can’t earn it. You can’t gain it. You can’t achieve it. But you can forfeit it. You can be disqualified. This is about heaven and what heaven has deposited in my hands as a mercy. And then he illustrates it in verse 28, “You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.”

You know, every minister needs to say that over and over, it’s not about me; it’s about Him. The faster I’m lost in the glory of Christ, the better. Then a beautiful illustration in verse 29, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears Him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice, so this joy of mine has been made full.”

In Philippians 1, Paul is in prison when he writes that and there are other preachers who are saying, “Ah, this is our chance to shine. And so they start throwing arrows at him. They’re wounding him. It’s not enough that I’m in chains. They’re adding pain on top of my chains by saying I’m in prison because of sin and because the Lord has punished me and they’re preaching Christ from envy.

What’s your attitude, Paul? Philippians 1:18, “So what, Christ is proclaimed and in this I rejoice.” That’s the humility of the minister; Christ is exalted. Some preach out of good will toward me. Some preach out of envy toward me. In any case, “Christ is preached, in that I rejoice.” John is like a best man at a wedding, and that’s the illustration of verse 29. What is the best man’s job?

Well, in old times, the best man had an important role. Weddings were big deals. They were planned months in advance, and the bridegroom was getting his house ready and everything was prepared. And so he had a best man, who would do a lot of the communication with the bride. He would let the bride know when, where and how to meet. And finally he would take the bride to the bridegroom.

John says, “That’s my job. I’m not the bridegroom. I just want to connect the bride to the bridegroom. I just want to take sinners to Jesus. And when I’ve done that, I rejoice. This joy of mine has been made full. You guys are jealous. You’re upset because Jesus has more people than I do. I’m telling you, this is why I live. This is what I’m called to. This is my joy. My task is done.”

And when the bridegroom takes his bride, the best man disappears. And thus in verse 30 he says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” A great ministry never produces disciples of the ministry; it always produces disciples of the Savior. And at the end of this overlap John is arrested. And then one day they call for him. They cut off his head on earth but he is praised in heaven forever. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Aug 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200830 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000AE imblog

John 3:11-21

This evening we’re continuing with John 3. Jesus talks to Nicodemus about being born again, born from above. And we talked about the new birth. It’s solely the work of God by which He comes down from heaven, irresistibly brings an effectual call on the heart of a sinner, draws that sinner to himself. He regenerates that sinner, and then justifies, sanctifies and glorifies that person.

You didn’t participate in your physical birth, and you didn’t participate in your spiritual birth. It is a divine miracle of God. Our Lord continues to speak to Nicodemus but He broadens it to anyone else who happened to be there listening and who will ever read this. John 3:11-21, “Most assuredly, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness.”

“12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

“16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the Son of God.”

“19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Now the word “believe” appears seven times. The theme here is faith, believing. And so we can call this message “Sola Fide,” the aspect of salvation that declares that one is saved by ‘faith alone’, not by faith and works, for by grace are you saved through faith, it is not of works. That’s Ephesians 2:8 - 9. Romans 3:20, “No one is justified by behavior, by the deeds of the Law.”

That is what Jesus is saying in verses 11 to 21. “I say to all of you,” that is to anybody else who was standing with Nicodemus, including His own disciples. Verse 15, “Whoever believes will have eternal life.” Verse 16, “Whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life.” Verse 18, “He who believes is not judged.” It is about believing. It is about faith alone.

Jesus says, “And the first truth I want you to understand is that salvation is a divine work that God does from heaven down, that doesn’t depend on you.” And then without any explanation, our Lord takes the next part and says, “Anyone can be saved who believes.” So on one hand you have the doctrine of divine sovereignty. On the other hand you have the doctrine of human responsibility.

There are warnings. If you don’t believe, you’ll be condemned. If you don’t believe, you’ll be judged, and you will be punished. This is human responsibility. You need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, so you will not perish; you will have eternal life. So here is human responsibility, both negatively and positively. You will bear the full weight of judgment if you refuse to believe.

On the other hand, if you will believe, eternal life waits for you no matter who you are. So how do those two things fit together? Most people in evangelism would avoid that question all together. They would be doing exactly the opposite of what Jesus did. Jesus presents the twin truths of divine sovereignty in salvation and human responsibility, and He does it at the very beginning of the conversation.

These twin truths always run parallel. They will never come together. Our inability to harmonize those things is a reflection of our sinfulness. And my answer is, “They can’t be harmonized in the human mind.” All I can tell you is that in the Word of God, these truths run parallel. And divine sovereignty will cause you to worship and human responsibility will motivate your evangelism.

You should be comfortable with the fact that you just might not understand something. When the Bible deals with these things, it doesn’t explain itself. These things are stated in Scripture as parallel realities and are never really explained or harmonized because they both exist. And the fact that we can’t understand them leaves us with one option, and that is to believe them both and be content with that.

God will do His will, He does whatever He purposes. He does what He wills among men and in the world. But there are illustrations of how that relates to responsibility. In Isaiah 10, God introduces the people of Assyria. Isaiah 10:5, “Woe to Assyria,” judgment is coming on Assyria from God. Woe is a word of terrible distress that signifies destruction and judgment. God is going to destroy Assyria.

Verse 5 continues, “The rod of My anger and the staff in whose hands is My indignation.” God identifies Assyria as the rod of His anger and the staff of His indignation. On whom? Verse 6, “I send it against a godless nation and commission it against the people of My fury.” He’s talking about Israel. The northern kingdom of ten tribes in 722 was taken captive and massacred.

Verse 7, “Yet, it does not so intend, nor does it plan so in its heart.” God says, I’m going to use Assyria to do this but this is not part of Assyria’s plan. This is not what Assyria is choosing, this is what I am choosing for Assyria to do. Assyria has its plan, but I have My plan, and I without their planning it, or intending to do it, I’m going to pick them up and use them as My weapon.

Well, this is amazing. Assyria has no intention of doing this. God literally, sovereignly picks them up, drives them at Israel to accomplish His will, and then He says in verse 5, “Woe to Assyria.” Woe to Assyria, a nation to be destroyed for doing something they didn’t choose to do, doing something they didn’t plan to do, doing something that was not their intention to do.

Assyria will be destroyed. Verse 12, “It will be when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion, representing Israel and Jerusalem, He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.’” And then He goes on to quote what the king of Assyria said when he became proud and launched against Israel.

Verse 16, “I’m going to send wasting disease. Under His glory a fire of kindle like a burning flame. 17 The light of Israel will become a fire, his Holy One a flame and burn and devour his thorns and briars in a single day.” This is an amazing juxtaposing. God punishes a nation for doing what God picked them up and made them do. But full responsibility for pride fell on the king of Assyria.

This again is an illustration of those parallel realities: human responsibility and divine sovereignty. And they will always run parallel, and they will always have to be understood that way. Sinners bear the full weight of responsibility for their acts of defiance against God, even when God is using them to accomplish His purposes. And yet all things are decreed and determined by God.

Turn to John 6, Jesus fed the multitude; then He’s taught about Himself being the bread of life. In verse 35 He said, “I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me will not hunger. He who believes in Me will never thirst.” What does that mean? It means believing. Then Jesus says in verse 37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” And Jesus goes from the failure to believe to divine sovereignty.

And, in verse 40 Jesus says, “This is the will of God, My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.” It goes back and forth from divine sovereignty to human responsibility. It goes from new birth, regeneration as a work of God, the Father chooses, the Father draws, the Father gives to the Son, the Son receives, the Son keeps and loses none.

Look at verse 44, “No man can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him.” Yet verse 45, “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” That says that this is a divine work of God. In fact, verse 46, “Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from the Father, He has seen the Father.” And yet, verse 47, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”

In Acts 2, there is another illustration where Peter is preaching on the Day of Pentecost, and he says, “Men of Israel, listen,” Acts 2:22-23, “Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you know, 23 Him, being delivered by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God, you have crucified and put Him to death.”

And we know from the teaching of our Lord that they are held accountable for that, that their house was left to them desolate. They were guilty of not only stoning the prophets, but also killing the Son of God Himself and they would bear full weight for the responsibility of their actions. Yes, by the plan and foreknowledge of God, and yet full responsibility on the part of those who took His life.

So there, the Jews, the Romans, Pilate, Herod, everybody involved in the execution of Jesus, they were doing what they wanted to do in unbelief and yet they were executing the purpose predestined by the hand of God. Those parallel truths. The Old Testament prophesied the betrayal of Jesus. It prophesied Judas. The New Testament records that Judas was the one who would lift up his hand against Jesus.

It was ordained by God that Judas would be a betrayer in John 17:12, where Jesus says, “I have lost none of them except the son of perdition that Scripture may be fulfilled.” And yet in Acts 1:25 it says, “When Judas hanged himself, and fell and burst his bowels open, he turned and went to his own place.” See how consistently Scripture puts these things parallel without diminishing one or the other.

Now look at Romans 9 to 11, Paul there opens up his heart over the application of that gospel truth to sinners. And he chooses one group of sinners, the one that is the most familiar to him, and those about whom he cares the most, his fellow Jews. So let’s take the gospel truth and let’s apply it to the Jews that do not believe. How does Paul feel about his nation?

In Romans 9:1, Paul understands the gospel. He’s unfolded the glories of the gospel and he’s looking at his own people, the nation Israel. His heart is broken to the degree he would almost give up his own salvation if Israel could be saved. The same thing is in Romans 10:1 and in Romans 11:1, “Has God rejected His people? No He has not. May it never be.” What happened? Romans 9:6, “Not all Israel is Israel.”

God makes choices. In verse 15 is God’s answer from Exodus 33, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” I decide to whom I will give mercy and compassion. It doesn’t depend on the man who wills. It depends on God who has mercy. Verse 18, “He has mercy on whom He desires. He hardens whom He desires.”

The question is in verse 19, “How can God then find fault with me?” I’m not even a factor. If God is making all the choices, how can He hold me responsible for rejecting? That’s your complaint. That’s not fair. God’s answer is simply, “Shut up, you have no right to ask that.” That’s what he says in verse 20, “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?”

Now we come to Romans 10, the other side, human responsibility. What’s the problem? Verse 1, “My prayer to God is that they may be saved.” Why are they not saved? “They have a zeal for God,” verse 2, “but not in accordance with knowledge.” It does not say, “Well I guess God didn’t choose them.” Paul says, “The problem is they don’t have knowledge.” They don’t understand God’s righteousness.

They don’t realize they can never attain to the righteousness of God, and therefore should cry out to Christ to end the reign of the Law and bring them righteousness and how would that happen? It would come to everyone who believes. Verse 4, they don’t understand that righteousness which brings an end to the tyranny of the Law is available to everyone who believes.

We preach the Word about faith. We preach that if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you’ll be saved, for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness.” And then He says in verse 11, “Whoever believes in Him will not be ashamed.” Whoever believes, it doesn’t matter. Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

You see faith, verse 17, comes from hearing the Word concerning Christ. So what’s our responsibility? Our responsibility is to recognize this. We have been given a command and a commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature because anyone who believes can be saved. “Anyone who comes to Me,” Jesus said in John 6:37, “I will by no means cast out.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Aug 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200823 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000AD imblog

John 3:1-10

John 3 is a critical chapter in the New Testament. It helps our understanding of salvation, and the truth is built upon that throughout the rest of Scripture. Tonight will be kind of an addendum to what we’ve already covered in these verses. John 3:3-10, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

“4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

“8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” We need to be born again. That is, having been born physically, we need now to be born spiritually. Our first birth was a direct creation of God. And so it is with our second birth that comes down from above. It is a divine work of God.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to give us spiritual life. That’s what “born again” means. And the reason the Lord uses this analogy is because we have no participation in this birth. You had nothing to do with your physical birth. And you will have nothing to do with your spiritual birth. No person who is born again makes a contribution to that. There isn’t a way to make that happen.

Remember what happened to Lazarus? Lazarus was dead. He’s in the grave. He’s been dead four days. His body is in a state of decay. The Lord comes to his tomb and raises him from the dead. He does it by a call. He says, “Lazarus, come out!” And Lazarus comes to life, comes out of the grave a new creation. The grave clothes are taken off of him, and he is alive.

We all are also spiritually dead. God gives us life and He does it through a call. Jesus declared that life through calling him out of the grave. And so it is with those who are given life by the Holy Spirit. It is by a divine call. God speaks and life comes to us. When we talk about being called of God, we are talking about the call to come to spiritual life, to come out of the grave. It is a call to redemption.

It is a call to enter into the eternal kingdom of God. It is a call to being God’s child with all its rights and privileges. It is a call to love, to serve and to be obedient to the Lord. It is a call from bondage into freedom. It is a call to joy and peace. It is a call to holiness. The gospel call is referred to as a heavenly call. It is clearly a rare call. It is an undeniable call. And it is an irreversible call.

Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Whoever He justified, He will glorify. It all began with predestination, and it ends with being conformed to the image of His Son. This is the divine purpose. God causes everything to work together for good, to bring about the end result from His original predestination. All who have been chosen will be called; all who are called will be justified; and all who are justified will be glorified.

And Romans 11:29 says, “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Now let’s talk about the word “call.” The word is so descriptive that believers are identified as the called. In fact, that’s what a true church is, the gathering together of the called. The word for “church” is a translation of the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ which means “the called.” We have been called out of the grave.

Romans 1:5 -7 says, “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are ‘the called’ of Jesus Christ; 7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul says, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.”

How did it happen? 1 Corinthians 1:27, “God has chosen.” Verse 28, “God has chosen.” Called by the sovereign choice of God. In Galatians 1, Paul again introducing himself at the beginning of his epistle. He is concerned because there is serious compromise going on in their lives. So in verse 6 he says, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ.”

Again, “Him who called you by the grace of Christ.” In Ephesians 4:1, Paul says, “I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” Verse 4, he identifies it again, “There’s one body, one Spirit, and you were called in one hope of your calling.” In Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.”

1 Thessalonians 2:12, “Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” It is language to produce obedience and worship. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 -14, “We should always give thanks to God for you, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel.”

Hebrews 3:1 says, “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” How did we get to be holy? How did we get rid of our corruption, our wretchedness, our depravity? How did we become holy brethren? We received a heavenly calling from God. The Trinity called us out of death, out of darkness, out of ignorance, out of blindness into life and light and truth.

1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” How did we get to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people? Because God called us “out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you were once not a people.”

Now you are the people of God. You once had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” This is the call of God. In 1 Peter 3, Peter encourages us to give blessing to people, not returning evil for evil, insult for insult, but to give a blessing. Why? “For you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.” God called you to give you eternal blessing, eternal glory.

And then in 1 Peter 5:10, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” Because you have just read that your calling from God is forever secure. He chose you because He set His love on you. He called you, justified you, and promises to glorify you. This is all about grace from the One who called you.

2 Peter 1:1, “To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Where did you get your faith? It was in the package when He called you forth. You received faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 2, “Grace and peace then be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

Then look at verse 3, “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.” What does that mean? Election, calling, regeneration, justification, sanctification and glorification, it includes everything. He granted us everything, verse 3 continues, “Through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and virtue.”

Again there’s that unilateral work of God by which He calls us and gives us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Now this is how the writers of the New Testament epistles refer to us. Now this is not a general call. This is not an external call. This is not a call that a preacher or an evangelist makes. This is an internal, inward call of God for you that cannot be resisted.

There is an external call. When I preach the gospel, when an evangelist preaches the gospel, when you give the gospel to a friend, when you witness to somebody and call them to come to Christ and to respond to Him and embrace Him and His gospel, that’s an external call that humans make. In Matthew 22:14 and the parable that Jesus gave where He said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

The external call of the gospel goes out and many people reject that call. But in the New Testament starting with Romans, every time the word “call” appears, it’s related to the gospel, it is an internal call from God that brings the dead sinner to life. It is a subpoena from God to come into His court, not to be judged, but to be made alive spiritually, to be declared forgiven, righteous and set free.

And to be then adopted as His child and to be reconciled fully. It is God’s sovereign, saving call as He exercises His own will and through His own magnificent grace takes the elect sinner into His presence to declare His forgiveness and grant that sinner the very righteousness of Christ. And then to make that person His Child and then promise him/her eternal riches in glory.

There’s a popular book written recently by a theologian called ‘Chosen but Free’. And it presents the calling of God as an unacceptable doctrine. It makes God a dictator with power that crushes our freedom and drags us into His kingdom. Is that how you felt when you were saved? I don’t think so. That’s an alien idea. We’re so grateful every day for the salvation that God gave us.

That kind of thinking is not biblical, not true, and not a fair representation of what the Bible teaches. No one is ever saved against their will. Anyone who has repented and believed the gospel has willed to repent, Jesus said. They’re compelled to this. They come with tears. They come pounding on the chest, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” They’re desperate and willing.

Why? Because God makes them willing. Psalm 110:3, “Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power.” When the Lord lets out the call, “Come forth,” life surges into your dead soul, and that life activates your will. That life produces repentance. That life produces faith. And you come not kicking and screaming, but you come desperately, you come weeping with joy.

How does the sinner become willing? No sinner has what it takes to be willing. Human depravity makes him unable to be saved on his own and unwilling to be saved. Unable and unwilling is the essence of depravity. Romans 3:10-11, “There’s none righteous, no, not one. None seeks after God.” Ephesians 2:1, “Dead in trespasses and sins.” 2 Corinthians 4:4, “Satan, the god of this age has blinded their minds.”

God must come then in His sovereign power and summon us to believe. He must on the day of His power make us willing. It’s a gracious, powerful, supernatural, heavenly regeneration of our whole inner being that makes us willing in the day of that power. What about the freedom of our will? Yes, but if you’re not born again, you are choosing everything according to your sin nature.

You can pick whatever behavior, attitude you want that dishonors God. But you can’t please Him. You can pick your sin, you’re free. You might be restrained because you don’t want to go to prison. Or you might be restrained because you don’t want to crash your car, so you limit how much you drink. You might be restrained because you don’t want to lose your family, so you hide your immorality.

Jonathan Edwards wrote, “What we choose is not really determined by the will, it is determined by the mind. What the mind thinks is what makes the choice and our mind is not neutral. The mind is corrupt. Jeremiah says, “The mind of man is deceitful above all things and exceedingly wicked.” The mind of the sinner never thinks that following or obeying God is a good choice.

“Therefore,” says Edwards, “unless God changes the way we think, our minds will always tell us to turn from God, which is precisely what we do.” God has to change our mind. Change what He desires, what He loves, what He hates, and what He longs for. This is often called ‘irresistible grace’. Grace is more than something to resist. And it is by nature a gift from God that is irresistible.

We call it saving grace, life-giving grace; because a sinner can’t change his will because his mind is corrupt. He can’t move his will toward God, not by logic, not by a persuasion, not by clever preaching, and not by emotional music. God has to go to the grave and say, “Come out,” and give him a sovereign, supernatural call that summons the sinner up from the dead, at which point all his faculties are given new life. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Aug 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200816 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000AC imblog

John 3:1-10

John writes, “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

“4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spiritual life.”

“7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it

goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?

Five times in this passage we have a reference to being born again, or born from above. The whole point is that something must happen to you that you don’t participate in. Jesus is saying that for anyone to enter the kingdom of God, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, that person must be born from above, born again. This is the doctrine of regeneration, central to understanding salvation.

Nowhere does Jesus tell him how to be born from above, how to be born again. And in verse 7 Jesus says to Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” but that is not a command, that is a statement of fact. God’s kingdom is only for people who have been given God’s life. You can’t live in His kingdom unless you are a partaker of the divine nature, unless you are a new creation.

And the analogy is birth. You did not participate in your own birth. You don’t have anything to do with that and that’s the reason our Lord used this analogy. As you play no role in your physical birth, you also play no role in your spiritual birth. That’s the point of the analogy. Jesus is saying the kingdom only opens to people who know it’s totally a divine miracle from God.

Now, this regeneration, the new birth, flows through three features. There is the sinner’s worry, we see that in Nicodemus. There is the Savior’s Word. And then finally, the Spirit’s work, and we’re going to look at all those features. So the kingdom of salvation, forgiveness of sin, eternal life, heaven, is open only for those who abandon all self-effort to attain it. It is all a work of God.

First, the sinner’s worry. “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know You have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these things that You do unless God is with him.’” Nicodemus is a Pharisee who tried to obey the Old Testament Law as well as all the rabbinic traditions.

They were the most devoted of all Jews. They wanted nothing to do with the common people. In fact, in the gospel of John we are told that they deemed the entire population apart from themselves to be cursed. They were whitewashed on the outside but full of dead men’s bones on the inside. They pretended to lead people to heaven but actually they multiplied sons of hell everywhere.

Nicodemus is described in Matthew 23 as one of those whom Jesus pronounced a series of damnations upon. Nicodemus says that he was zealous for the Law, that he was blameless before the Law, and that he kept every tradition and he followed the steps that the Pharisees required in every tiny detail. They were fastidious about their religion, but they were hypocrites.

That is Nicodemus. He is one of the top Pharisees. Verse 10 says he’s the teacher in Israel. He’s a master teacher. He’s a member of the Sanhedrin, according to John 7:50. He is a part of the Jewish council of seventy. That was the Supreme Court of Israel. He’s intelligent and successful. Traditions tell us that he was one of the three richest people in the city of Jerusalem.

His wisdom, his ability to do his business had made him successful and wealthy. He had it all. And, of course, from the Pharisees viewpoint, they loved money. In his heart he knew he was a hypocrite. Empty in his fear, doubt; anxiety tearing up his soul. Who does he go to? He’s the teacher. Then he comes across Jesus who is a teacher at a higher level than he is because Jesus did these miracles.

So he comes to Jesus and he says, “Look, we know You have come from God.” Finally here was a teacher above himself. And his heart cries out for reality. That was the statement on his lips. But Jesus knew what was in his heart. Jesus ignored what he said, Verse 3, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Why does Jesus say that? That answer has nothing to do with what Nicodemus said in his introduction. The reason Jesus said that was because He knew what was worrying Nicodemus. How did He know that? Because He is omniscient. He knew what men thought. This is a Pharisee. He’s reached the apex of Judaism but he’s not in the kingdom and his heart is full of fear. All he knows is a works system.

And our Lord says to him, “Nobody enters the kingdom who’s not born again,” which is to say you’ve got to go all the way back and start all over. All accumulated religion, all accumulated morality, all accumulated human goodness adds up to absolutely zero with God. You need to be born again. You have to have a new nature, new life, new creation, not by the will of man, but by God.

We can see it in James 1, Ephesians 2, Titus 3, 1 Peter 1 and many more verses that point to the fact that salvation is a work of God. It is a divine miracle that comes down from heaven in which we do not participate. We did not participate in our election before the foundation of the world and we do not participate in our regeneration in time. That’s all a miracle of God.

Well, Nicodemus doesn’t have any idea what Jesus is talking about. He’s very confused. So in verse 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he’s old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” He knows Jesus just read his mind. This man lives in a world of analogies. He’s spent his entire life in theological discussion and dialogue.

He does understand what Jesus said. And he jumps right into the third person discussion and he says, “How can a man be born when he is old?” That proves that he totally understood what Jesus was saying. He understands the figurative language. The rabbis and teachers used it all the time. You’re speaking of something that’s impossible to me. No, Nicodemus doesn’t miss this.

Jesus doesn’t tell him how to be born again. Jesus is telling something that there are no how-to’s for. He understood it better than most evangelicals. Why do so many preachers tell people the steps they can take to be born again? He said, “I’ve spent my entire life trying to get into the kingdom, now the only way into the kingdom is by means of something that is out of my control.”

Here’s the heart of the gospel of grace. All he was ever taught was, you must earn it, you achieve it by effort doing ceremony, rituals, morality and human goodness. That’s why Jesus says, you’ve been caught up in the damning lie of Satan that you can earn your salvation. He is hearing for the first time that God has to do something in his soul that is a work of creation that comes down from above.

Down in verse 10 Jesus says to him, “Are you the teacher in Israel and do not understand these things?” It is inexcusable that Nicodemus doesn’t understand the new birth. But Jesus is going to help him, so He’s going to give him two hints. Hint number one comes in verse 5; hint number two comes in verse 6. This is how effective teachers work. They lead the student.

The Savior’s Word. Verse 5, “Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus just heard something he’s never heard in his life. Can You give me a clue to this? Jesus said, “I’ll give you a clue. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Does that give you a clue, Nicodemus?

Nicodemus knew the Old Testament. Go to Ezekiel 36, which describes God’s saving work. Notice the “I wills.” Ezekiel 36:25-26, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” The water and the Spirit is a reference to the creation, the regenerating work of God.

God is promising one day to do it not only in individual Jews and Gentiles, but for the whole nation of Israel. I will put a new heart in you, a new Spirit in you, remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will cause you to walk in My statutes. And then “you will be careful to observe My ordinances and you will,” verse 28, “be My people and I will be your God.”

Nicodemus would have known it well. As well as Ezekiel 37 where God looks at the future salvation of Israel and in verse 3 He says to Ezekiel, calling him ‘Son of Man’, “Can these bones live?” There’s a valley of dry bones illustrating Israel’s spiritual deadness. And He said, ‘Prophesy over the bones and say to them, “O dry bones, I will cause the Spirit, breath to enter you that you may live.”

Ayat 6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” You can’t get from flesh to Spirit. Jesus is basically indicting Nicodemus for is a failure to understand the Old Testament doctrine of sin. Nicodemus, how can you be the teacher of Israel and not know about New Covenant salvation by the washing of the Word and the giving of a new heart and a new spirit. That’s all a work of God.

Nicodemus would have been very familiar with Genesis 6, when God gives His reasons that He’s going to drown the entire world. Verse 3, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever because he also is flesh.” Verse 5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Flesh produces that because that’s all it can produce.

In Romans 3 Paul is indicting the entire human race, Jew and Gentile, for their sin. And to prove his point, starting in Romans 3:10, Paul quotes a whole series of verses from the Old Testament going all the way to 18. Paul says, “Let me define sin. There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.” Every one of those is an Old Testament statement on sin.

So the Old Testament teaches that salvation is a sovereign act of God by grace that He does independent of any action on the part of man. This is the denunciation of all religion apart from the sovereign grace of God. This leads to the final point, the sinner’s worry and the Spirit’s work. End of verse 6, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This is a work that only the Holy Spirit can do.

How does that work? Verse 8, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it comes from and where it’s going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” This is another analogy that takes spiritual birth completely out of the hands of the sinner. What controls the wind? Nothing. It comes from above. This is the Holy Spirit’s work of irresistible grace.

Verse 9, “How can these things be?” Nicodemus can’t do anything. So what happened to Nicodemus? In John 19:38 Jesus is dead, “Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. Pilate granted permission. 39 Nicodemus who had first come to Him by night also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes.”

Now Nicodemus is bold and he comes and he took the body of Jesus. Nicodemus handling that same body that he had spent that night talking to in his own arms, binding the body of Jesus with linen wrappings and putting in the spices in between all the wrappings as the burial custom was, and along with his friend, Joseph, they laid Jesus in the garden in a new tomb which no one had ever been laid in.

What happened to Nicodemus? Well God gave Him spiritual life, gave him a new heart, a new soul, washed him and regenerated him. Tradition says that he was the only person who stood up at Jesus’ trial and defended Jesus. Tradition says he was baptized by Peter and John. Tradition says that his confession of the Lord Jesus was so bold that he was kicked out of the Sanhedrin and died in poverty.

He lost everything in this world, but gained everything in the world to come. What can you do? John 6:37, “Him that comes to Me I will not cast away.” You can plead with God to give you spiritual life; it’s His prerogative. And you can pray and He doesn’t reject an honest prayer. You can say with the publican in Luke 18, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Aug 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200809 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000AB imblog

John 2:18-22

John’s gospel is a record of the life and ministry of Christ that focuses on one aspect, and that He is fully God. And John gives his purpose in John 20:31, “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in His name.” John has an apologetic purpose, and an evangelistic purpose.

Now Jesus’ deity is declared throughout the entire New Testament. John begins His gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He is both God and with God, and there you have a statement regarding the Trinity. The three members of the Trinity are God and yet they are separate. He is with God, as distinct from God, and yet He is God.

And the New Testament affirms the deity of Christ repeatedly. In Matthew 16 He is called the Son of the living God. In John 1, John 20, Hebrews 1, He is called God Himself. In Titus and Peter He is called “Our God and Savior.” He is revealed in Revelation 22:13 as, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

In Colossians 2:9, Paul says. “In Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.” He is God and man. He is the Word, the eternal God made flesh. He is 100 % God and 100 % man. John wants to demonstrate that, and he does it paragraph after paragraph, incident after incident, claim after claim, word after word, work after work, all the way to the reality of His resurrection, which proves He is God.

Now in John 2:18-22, there are three incidents that happen. They’re not unplanned; they’re divinely orchestrated incidents. The first one is with the Temple forces, the masses gathered in the Temple at the Passover time. Jesus made a whip and threw everyone, including all the animals, out of the Temple. This is a powerful expression of the super human powers of Jesus Christ.

There would have been resistance from the large unruly crowd. There would have been resistance from the Temple police of at least three hundred men. There would have been immediate invasion by the forces of the Romans who were sitting next door watching all of this and ready to quell any disturbance. And yet, with all those forces set against one man, there was no resistance.

This demonstrates His divine power. No man could have pulled that off. The second incident happens when Jesus is confronted by the Jewish leaders and their queries about why He had the right, or thought He had the right to do that. And finally a third confrontation with those who believed in Him. And in each confrontation there are elements of His deity on display that we should see.

We see the divine knowledge of Jesus. He knows the future of His own life. He knows the future actions and behaviors of people, He knows the mind of men. He knows every thought in every person’s mind. He knows the thoughts that those who think don’t even understand. His divine knowledge then is on display. His divine holiness is on display. He is angry over religious corruption of the Jews.

He is zealous for the appropriate worship of God. He is passionate for reverence. He rejects superficial faith. His divine sovereignty is on display. He is Lord over the Temple. He has authority over the Temple, authority over religion, authority over worship. He has authority over death. He has authority over human lives and destiny. All of that is here in this brief section.

Now we already looked at the first confrontation, but as we come to the second two, it’s not so much His power that’s on display, as His omniscience. He has this all-inclusive knowledge. He knew what people can know and He knew what they can’t know. He knew what people discover, and He knew it without discovering it. He knows the future, and He knows the present.

And God knows the past. This we see on display in Jesus here. This is testimony to His deity. God alone knows the past, the present and the future. God alone knows every thought, every word, every action, and the collective effect of all those thoughts, words and actions from everyone that has ever lived. And only God knows, according to 1 Corinthians 4:5, the intent of your heart.

That’s His sovereignty. Nobody teaches God anything. He knows everything that can be known. He knows all the incalculable motives, all the effects. He knows them forever. He knows them perfectly. He has to gain no knowledge and He loses no knowledge. His presence and power control absolutely everything exactly the way they need to be controlled to bring about His purpose and His glory.

Psalm 139 is an insight into the omniscience of God. Psalm 139:1-4, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways, 4 even before there is a word on my tongue. Behold, O Lord, You know it all.”

So God can tell the future. And anyone who claims to be God then has to be able to tell the future. Let’s look at John 2:18 - 22, that’s exactly what Jesus does. Verse 18, “The Jews then said to Him,” after He had done what He had done to the Temple; they were infuriated. “What sign do you show us as Your authority for doing these things.” Who do you think you are?

This is their response to the assault of Jesus on the corruption of the Temple. This is a preview of an even greater assault from God that’s going to come at His crucifixion when the veil of the Temple is ripped from top to bottom and the Holy of Holies is exposed. That signifies that the whole sacrificial system has come to an end. And 40 years later the Romans come and dismantle the Temple and destroy Jerusalem.

Now they know Jesus is claiming to be from God because He says, “You’ve turned My Father’s house into a business.” Or as He said in the latter time that He did this at the end of His ministry in Luke 19:46, “into a den of thieves.” John the Baptist said already to the populace of Judea that He was the Lamb of God. If God is Your Father and You are the Son of God, give us a sign.

The Jews, those who hated Jesus, believed that He was a man with no authority, and that He had desecrated their Temple. No one admitted that He was right, they desecrated the place, and they needed to repent. In fact, they hated the true God and the true way of salvation by faith and grace alone which had already been ordained throughout all of Old Testament history. They only loved themselves and money.

“Hadn’t He done a lot of miracles already?” During the time of the Passover and the subsequent feast, for two weeks and on that day, Jesus had done many miracles. What do they mean ‘Show us a sign? They were never convinced by the miracles that Jesus did that didn’t fit into their category. When He healed people, when He cast out demons of people, when He did “earthly” miracles, which were insufficient for them.

What were they looking for? Well, they wanted a sign not on earth but a sign from heaven. They wanted an astronomical sign. They were looking at Jesus; He looked like a man in every sense. And the miracles that He was doing were earthly things like dealing with people’s illnesses and possessions, and they were even provided with food, and so the miracles He did were unconvincing.

In Matthew 12:8 Jesus made another claim that also outraged them. Jesus said that He was Lord of the Sabbath. He had been healing on the Sabbath and they said that’s illegal. So this is the same thing, “I’m Lord over the Temple, I’ll do what I want with it; I’m Lord over the Sabbath.” And He went right on healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath day.

Unbelief rejects signs that it chooses to reject, as the crucifixion proves after Jesus had done many miracles for three years; they still put Him on the cross and rejected Him. And they sort of held out their reason, “Well, He didn’t do anything heavenly. It was all sort of earthly.” Jesus says, “Okay, I’ll give you a sign.” Verse 19, “He answered and said, ‘Destroy this Temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.’”

This is best understood as a statement of future fact. It’s not a command. If you destroy this, I will raise it up. He’s not commanding them to destroy Him; He’s simply making a statement of future fact. This is the first indication from John in the record that Jesus knows the future. They don’t even know they’re going to kill Him, this is at the beginning of His ministry.

His resurrection then will be the sign from heaven that ultimately validates His claim to be the Son of God. And why would you consider it a sign from heaven? Because He will die and He will be dead, as verified by the Romans withholding the breaking of His legs because He was already dead, jamming a spear into His side, all of which the leaders of Israel knew. Blood and water came out, proving He is dead.

He is buried in the grave. The sign from heaven is that He is resurrected. And the sign from heaven further is that at His resurrection there are angels sitting in the tomb who had been sent from heaven by God. There’s ample testimony to that angelic presence. You want a sign? I’ll give you a deferred sign. “I will raise it up.” Jesus is saying, I will raise Myself from the dead.

What Jesus said literally went across Jerusalem. If it were today it would have gone viral because it did go viral. How do you know that? Because three years later when Jesus goes to His trial, in Mark 14:58, false witnesses come and they said, “We heard Him say, I will destroy this Temple made with hands and in three days, I’ll build another made without hands.” That is a misrepresentation of what Jesus said.

Well, they didn’t understand what He meant, and they misrepresented what He said. He never said “I will destroy it.” What He said was, “You will.” Verse 20, “Then the Jews said, ‘It took 46 years to build this Temple and will You raise it up in three days?’” This also is a demonstration of their spiritual blindness. This is typical of them, and you will see that as we go through John.

So they’re looking at Jesus in disbelieve. This temple took 46 years to build and you’re going to destroy it and put it back up in three days? Verse 21, “But He was speaking of the Temple of His body.” Isn’t it interesting that He didn’t explain that to them? Why? Because of Matthew 13:11, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that; He wanted you and I to understand that, because this is evidence of His deity as He predicts the details of the future. But He never said anything to them about it. Verse 22, “When He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

So our Lord’s divine nature is revealed here in this passage in marvelous ways. He knows the future. In fact, the details of His death He lays out. Read Matthew 16, 17, and 19, and He gives us details: “I will be arrested by the chief priests and the leaders of Israel. I will be scourged, I will be spit on. I will be beaten. I will be crucified. I will be buried. I will rise again.” That’s omniscience.

Because God knows the future, Isaiah could say that He would be born of a virgin. Prophecy is non-existent if God doesn’t know the future. But He does know the future and that’s why we believe that when we hear in the Bible that there is coming a rapture of the church, and a time of tribulation, and a millennial kingdom, and a new heaven and a new earth. Omniscience has perfect knowledge of the future.

Omniscience also knows the secrets of men’s hearts. He knows the big events that will happen visibly. Verse 23, “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs, the miracles which He was doing.” Jesus stays on, the Feast of Unleavened Bread follows the Passover, and He’s performing miracles.

Verse 24, “But Jesus on His part was not entrusting Himself to them.” They were believing in Jesus but Jesus was not believing in them. We are now introduced to the presence of false, superficial faith that doesn’t save. It’s a reality. The demons believe, the devils believe and tremble. Many people who claim to believe in Jesus but their heart does not have faith. That’s a frightening reality.

True salvation shows up in a transformed life pursuing righteousness. As I know people over time I might be able to look at that life and say that I don’t see that passion for righteousness. But Jesus knows that instantaneously. Verse 25 says, “He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” Jesus knows the hearts of all men. Nobody needed to tell Him anything.

1 John 3:20 says, “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” He reads your heart and my heart like a billboard. Lord, we ask that Your Holy Spirit will tie this all together, and press it deep into all our hearts. Fill us with joy in thankful hearts for all that has been done for us in Christ. May we boldly proclaim His glorious truth until that day when we see Him in heaven. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Aug 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200802 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000AA imblog

John 2:12-17

John 2:12 – 17, “After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother, His brothers and His disciples, and they did not stay there many days. 13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords.”

“He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”

All the way through, by the miracles of Jesus, by the works of Jesus and by the words of Jesus there is evidence that Jesus is God. Now when we come to the miracle that we just read, which on the surface may not appear as a miracle because nothing really supernatural takes place, as it does in a healing, or the casting out of demons, or the creation of wine as we saw in the first miracle, this is still a miracle.

It is a miracle driven not by compassion, but driven by holy anger. The first miracle that John records at the beginning of miracles that Jesus did was a private miracle. It just happened among family and friends in the little town of Cana, nine miles out of Nazareth with people they knew and grew up with. Mary was there and the family of Jesus and this was His first miracle.

The second miracle is not a private miracle; this is a miracle in which tens of thousands of people participate, and they’re not just innocent bystanders. They’re in the middle of the drama, the power and the divine energy of this miracle. It is not a miracle of kindness and compassion. But at the beginning of His ministry and the end of His ministry, Jesus threw the entire mass of humanity out of the temple at Passover.

Those two were not miracles of compassion, those were miracles of holy anger and they were previews of future judgment, a judgment that would come in the destruction of Jerusalem not long afterwards and a final judgment before the throne of God at the Great White Throne. And what causes Jesus to do what He does here is a religious problem and one that we will address as well.

Go back to Isaiah 1:11, “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” says the Lord.” Josephus says there would have been a quarter of a million animal sacrifices offered at Passover. “I’ve had enough of burnt offering of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts?”

“13 Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. 14 I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me. I’m weary of bearing them. 15 So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you.”

“Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. 18 Come now and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are as scarlet they will be as white as snow.”

“Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. 19 If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the lamb. 20 But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’” That message could have been given by Jesus on the day He cleaned out the temple. It’s the problem of hypocrisy in Israel, false religion and superficial worship.

And it infuriates Jesus because it is irreverent and it is blasphemous. In Amos the Lord says, “Stop your songs; I don’t want to hear your songs.” The Lord feels today and here and now exactly the way He did in Isaiah’s day and in our Lord Jesus’ day about false worship, superficial worship and about hypocrisy. So let’s look at this story and how it applies to us right now.

Verse 12 says, “After this Jesus went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers and His disciples.” John tells us later in John 7:5 that even his brothers did not believe in Him yet. Jesus did so many miracles in Capernaum that their unbelief was worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus said in Matthew 11:23 that if it had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah they would have repented.

On this occasion they stay only a few days because they’re headed to Jerusalem for the Passover. Verse 13, “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” The Passover is an annual feast followed by another feast of seven days of unleavened bread that God mandated. Remember when Israel was delivered from Egypt in Exodus 12, the last plague is going to be the death of the firstborn.

The angel of death is going to come and kill all the firstborn. And if you want the angel to pass over your house, you need to sprinkle its blood on the doorposts and the crosspiece, eat a meal together and have unleavened bread, and be ready to go. That was a symbol of the work that Messiah would do when He put His blood on the cross and provided for deliverance from divine judgment.

So the Passover is instituted in Exodus 12. In Exodus 23:14 God mandates that they keep that Passover every year along with a couple of other feasts as well. Jesus, being always obedient to the Word of God to do everything in the Old Testament, fulfilled all righteousness, Scripture says. And so, as He always did, He comes to the Passover. In fact, His ministry begins at Passover and ends at Passover.

And at both Passovers, the first and the last, He does the same action against the Temple. At the first Passover, He cleanses the Temple to publicly begin His ministry. At the last, He cleanses the Temple to publicly end His ministry; then Jesus becomes the Passover Lamb. This time as He enters into the Temple to begin His ministry He comes with a different mindset.

We had a glimpse of Jesus coming there, when He was twelve. And at that point He’s only asking questions, trying to get answers out of the leaders in the Temple. But this time He has entered in His messianic ministry and He is going to do His Father’s business. And they have turned His Father’s house into a place of worldly business, but He is going to do His Father’s heavenly business.

Verse 14, “And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.” The city of Jerusalem normally would have several hundred thousand inhabitants. That means that every room in every inn was turned into a room for occupancy. People were packed into rooms in multiples to get this mass of people in. The population was fourfold what it normally would be.

And the focal point is the Temple, the Temple courtyard and the outside Court of the Gentiles. Josephus mentioned 250 thousand people. The slaughter of the animals took place between three and six o’clock in the afternoon of the Passover. But apparently the people now who used to buy and sell outside the Temple have now moved inside the Courtyard because the High Priest has now taken over this business.

So when you get inside, you not only have this crush of humanity of people coming and going and many people coming to talk to God, to praise God, to worship God, to see the Temple as pilgrims do from other places. In the middle of this there are people selling oxen, sheep and doves. The reason is that people from far away would have to purchase an animal. And there are moneychangers seated at their tables.

If they brought an animal, it would be rejected by the people that checked out the animal and if the animal was refused, they would have to buy one of the temple animals anyway. They rejected the ones that were brought so they could make money on exorbitant prices of the ones they sold. So, everybody had to pay for the animal and the temple tax in the currency that was accepted in Israel.

Jesus sees all of this, selling sacrificial animals, money changing, and He sees that they have totally polluted His Father’s house. They are irreverent. This should have been a place of repentance, a place of reverence, a place of worship, a place of praise; instead it’s a chaotic marketplace where corruption takes place. Nothing enraged Jesus more with holy anger like irreverence.

And Jesus did His most severe action in these two incidents. The rest of the time it was compassion and mercy. And they were done against hypocritical worship. The Jews expected the Messiah to come and attack the Gentiles. Instead, the Messiah came and attacked them. And He attacked them in the middle of their hypocritical worship, at the Passover in the Temple.

They expected a warrior for sure, who would conquer the nations that had abused them, and were currently occupying them. But instead He sends a message that judgment is coming on them, not their enemies. At the end of His ministry Jesus looked at the Temple and told His disciples that disaster is coming where not one stone will be left on another. And that happened on 70 A. D.

Verse 15, “He made a scourge of cords.” It doesn’t seem much of a weapon against tens of thousands of people who were all going to have plenty of reason to resist what He is doing. Now remember, this is an unknown man, this is the beginning of His ministry. They don’t know who He is. He’s just a man at the Passover, perhaps recognizable as a Galilean by the way He dressed.

Verse 16, “And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then Jesus unleashes His miracle power. Again we see how understated the miracles of Scripture are. He just drove them all out. How did He do that? Well, the reverse happened in Galilee when the people tried to kill Him and He just disappeared.

Jesus was in the middle of a crowd and they wanted to stone Him and He just left. This time all the animals leave, and all the people with the doves grab their crates and leave. He flips over all the tables of the moneychangers. They scramble to get whatever they can and they evacuate the place in such an orderly fashion that we don’t even have any word that the Romans came down to pacify the crowd.

Jesus did no harm to people, He attacked their religious system. The merchants would want to stop Him. The Temple police would feel responsible to stop Him. The crowd would want to stop Him. But this is miraculous power. He goes from this private family miracle to this massive public miracle in which tens of thousands of people participate and no one can do anything. Everybody is completely obedient.

This is a preview of the power that Jesus has to judge. He says, “You have polluted My Father’s house.” This is the loyal Son of God who is loyal to His Father. Jesus will do this on a massive scale at His Second Coming. Revelation says a sword will come out of His mouth and there will be a slaughter, the likes of which the world has never seen. Now this has happened before.

In a book called “The Jews at the Time of Jesus” there was a high priest in the Temple at one of these events and the Jews were unhappy with the high priest. So they started throwing lemons at Him. He unleashed His mercenary army, and according to the record, slaughtered many thousands of people in the courtyard. Jesus doesn’t kill anybody, but He judges their entire religious system.

Verse 17 then says, “His disciples remembered that it was written.” Now remember, these six men were true Old Testament believers. They have been with Him now for a week at least. And when they see Jesus do this, they remember Psalm 69:9, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” David was calling the people to true worship, but the people resisted with hatred and hostility.

The people in Jesus’ time were in the same condition. You know that you are spiritually mature; when God is dishonored and you feel the pain. And they see Jesus doing the same thing. That psalm is messianic in that sense. And Jesus felt the pain far more than David. God is to be glorified. And He was not being glorified there and Jesus declares their whole religious system blasphemous.

So what does that have to do with us? There’s no Temple anymore. Now we as believers are the Temple. Turn to 1 Peter 4:17, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God and it begins with us first.” Ephesians 2:19, “You are fellow citizens with the saints and you are God’s household.” The judgment begins with the house of God. We are the Temple of the living God.

If we judge ourselves, we won’t be judged. If we don’t judge ourselves rightly and discern our condition and come in a pure way, then we are exposed to the judgment of God in forms of discipline. What would happen if the Lord showed up here? Would He do something like He did then? Jesus is here and He will judge those who will not examine themselves and repent. So let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Jul 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200726 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A9 imblog

John 2:1-11

John 1:14-18 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”

“17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” John opens his gospel in 18 verses with a prologue, and the statement is that Jesus is God in human flesh, that He is the Creator of the universe who has become a part of His creation.

Jesus is not a created man, He is God in human flesh. And that is why there have been and continue to be so many heresies concerning Jesus Christ, concerning the essence or the nature or the person of Jesus Christ. And this is the essential doctrine in the Christian faith. It must be known, it must be believed, for someone to escape hell and enter heaven, that Jesus is God.

The true church of Jesus Christ has always believed that. It has always proclaimed that. It has always demanded that. Any other view of Christ is unacceptable and a damning heresy. This is the reason John makes such a case out of the deity of Jesus Christ. John 20:31 says, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

So in His opening John talks about the nature of Jesus Christ. He introduces Him as “In the beginning was the Word.” In other words, He already existed when everything that began, began. He was with God, which means though He was God, He was at the same time distinct from God. That is Trinitarian. There is one God and yet three persons. Jesus is God and yet He is with God.

The theology here is profound. Jesus is a pure being that eternally existed. To prove that, everything that came into being came into being through Him, and without Him did not anything come into being, because He is the source of life. He has life in Himself. And the Creator whose eternal being, verse 5 says, came into the darkness of this world like a light. That Light came into the world.

In the first century, John wrote his gospel, three epistles and Revelation. John wrote 1 John to believers to identify for them the marks of true salvation. 1 John 1:1 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life. 2 that life was manifested.”

John said, we proclaim to you the Eternal Life, meaning the Son of God, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. John has touched the Creator of the universe in human form. You know, John never got over it. John refers to himself in his gospel as, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” because he understood the reality that this is the eternal Creator God in human form.

In 1 John 2:22 he says, “Who is the liar? Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? 23 Whoever denies the Son doesn’t have the Father. But the one who confesses the Son, has the Father also.” Again if you tamper with who Christ is, you will alienate yourself from God. 1 John 4:1 says, “Do not believe every claim, every teacher, every spirit behind every teacher.”

Because there are so many false prophets in the world. How do you know when someone is a false prophet? 1 John 4:2 says, “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Those who affirm the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, they’re from God. “3 Every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist, who is coming and now already is in the world.”

1 John 5:1 says, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Verse 4 says, “Whoever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” And finally verse 20 says, “We know that the Son of God has come.”

Verse 20 says, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” 2 John 1:7 says, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”

Verse 9-11, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” With John it’s all about Christ and who Christ is.

It is, therefore, not surprising that of all of the Christian doctrines, no single doctrine has been more assaulted and attacked than the incarnation of Jesus Christ. There have been all kinds of Christs offered to the world. And in the future, as we get closer to the coming of Christ, false Christs will multiply, and we have to be discerning about whether people are speaking of the true Christ.

To believe in the wrong Jesus is as damning as to believe you’re saved by a rock, or some animistic religion. You can’t be saved by believing the wrong thing about Christ. You must believe in His deity and humanity. Now, in verses 14 to 18, we come to the peak, “And the Word became flesh.” The Word, meaning the pre-incarnate Son of God whose eternal being became flesh.

The eternal Word became human, that’s what it means. So you have the God-man. The eternal God who is pure eternal being becomes a part of His creation. God and man are joined in one person, never again to be separated. Listen to that. Yet never confounded and never mixed. They are both perfect and distinct and indivisible and yet unmingled and unmixed forever.

When you see Christ in heaven, He will be exactly the same God-man that He was when He walked on earth in the post-resurrection form of the body that the disciples witnessed for forty days. He is the same Christ exactly. He will be who He was on earth, fully man and fully God in the same way He walked on earth. His humanity is not the humanity of Adam before his fall.

Jesus is fully man in the sense that Adam was after the fall. Because He lived and grew and died, and that is a factor of fallen condition. Furthermore, if He was not in the form of man after the fall, He would have no ability to understand our weaknesses and our infirmities and be tempted in all points as we are tempted and come out as a merciful, sympathetic high priest.

So He is truly human with one exception: no sin. He is without sin, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, without sin forever. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He knew no sin.” Then he says, “and dwelt among us.” For thirty-three years, He lived in our world, took on the form of a man, and became one of us. Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and men.”

How did we know He was God? John says in verse 14, “And we beheld His glory.” We saw His glory. “The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” What is glory? God’s glory is intrinsic to His nature, it is who He is. It is the sum of His attributes. The glory of God is the complex of all of His attributes, and sometimes it is manifested in blazing light.

But there is also His manifest glory, symbolically and in reality. Moses in Exodus 33:18 says, “Please, show me Your glory.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.”

That’s the powerful majesty and glory of God that would destroy us because we’re sinners. God led the Israelites by a pillar of fire at night, and when the tabernacle was built in Exodus 40, the glory of God came down to the tabernacle. So God’s glory is seen frequently in the Old Testament as light (2 Chronicles 7:1). In the future, Matthew 25:31, when Jesus comes in His glory, the Shekinah light will be back.

Revelation 6:16 says people will call on the rocks and the mountains to hide them from the face of Jesus’ glory. The sky will go dark, the moon and sun will not give its light, and into the blackness will come this blazing Shekinah presence of Jesus Christ. Again, the manifestation of the attributes of God in light. That happened in the past and in the future it will happen again.

In the meantime, the glory comes to earth in the form of Jesus. And on one occasion in Matthew 17 they went up to the mount, Peter, James, and John, and the Lord exposed His flesh and what did they see? They saw His glory, and it was so blinding, they fell like dead men under the force of this blazing light, even though it was veiled to some degree so they didn’t burn up.

When John says, “We beheld His glory” he can mean that they saw the light, the Shekinah light, because John was up there on that mount. But it’s more than that. When John says, “We beheld His glory,” he’s not only talking about the representation of that glory in light, he’s talking about the reality of those attributes which were manifest throughout the ministry in the life of Christ.

John could say: We saw His love, we saw His mercy, we saw His wisdom, we saw His knowledge, we saw His power, we saw His justice, we saw His holiness, we saw His compassion, we saw His omnipotence, we saw His omniscience, we saw His anger, we saw His wrath, we saw His kindness, we saw His patience, we saw it all. We saw a visible representation of His glory, and we saw the invisible representation in His life.

In John 2 when we go to a wedding, Jesus did a miracle there. John 2:11 says, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory.” He didn’t pull His flesh back like He did in the transfiguration, but He manifested the glory of His power by creating wine out of water. Jesus is God, the God-man, God in human flesh, John will tell you: yes, He is God because we saw His glory.

John will also tell you that the incarnation of Christ dispenses His grace. The end of verse 14, “Full of grace and truth.” Grace and truth are together in this passage. They have to be together because the only way that you can experience grace is by believing the truth. So John says, “We have experienced who He is.” He is the essence of the Father. That’s His essential being.

Verse 15, “John the Baptist bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He was before me.’” How can somebody who comes after me exist before me? Answer: Because He is eternal. John says, “He was born after me.” Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist before Mary was pregnant with Jesus. John was born first.

The incarnate Christ dispenses grace in verse 16-17, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” We’re so glad to be delivered from the law, and to be given grace. Grace came through Christ. So He displays glory and He dispenses grace. This is the evidence of His deity.

“Grace upon grace.” It’s just endless, non-diminishing supply of grace upon grace. There’s never any diminishing of grace. To the apostle Paul who was concerned about his thorn in the flesh, our Lord said, “My grace is sufficient.” It’s a never-ending supply. All we knew under the law was threats and warnings, death and judgment. Along comes Christ, and it is grace upon grace.

At the end of verse 17, “Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” Was that promised in the Old Testament? Yes. Activated in the Old Testament? Sure. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Everybody ever saved in the history of the world has been saved by God’s grace. But grace was not fully realized until Christ came and paid His penalty on the cross. The word “realized” here means ‘came into existence’.

And the grace that Christ exhibited and purchased at the cross extended back as much as it extends forward. Verse 18, “No one has seen God at any time.” Why? He’s invisible. There are times when God has appeared as smoke and fire, but He has no form. No one has seen God at any time. However, “the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father”, the One who is in the Father, “He has declared God the Father.”

Wouldn’t you like to have God explained to you? How do you explain God? Well, you would go to that verse and say, “Look at Jesus Christ, He explains God.” So you want to know about God? Jesus defines God the Father. He displays glory, He dispenses grace, and He defines God. And if you believe that and you receive Him - Verse 12, He gave us the right to become children of God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Jul 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200719 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A8 imblog

John 1:38-51

This is on the surface a narrative portion of Scripture, as John tells the story of Jesus from His own perspective. This is a simple account of Jesus collecting His first followers. He starts out with the testimony of John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets. And John points to Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

True believing Jews knew they were sinners. John’s was a ministry of repentance. His baptism was a baptism of repentance. Now, he is confronting a nation of self-righteous people who don’t think they need to repent and don’t think they need a Savior. That was the view of the religious establishment. They were not looking for a lamb, or a sacrifice, or a savior, they were looking for a king.

They felt they had already achieved status and acceptance with God by their religiosity and their morality. But John’s message was, you are no better than Gentiles. You need to repent and you need to be baptized as an outward expression of the desire for an inward cleansing. In other words, you’re also outsiders, you need to repent or the wrath of God is going to fall on you.

So here in verses 38 to 51, we meet a small group of Jews who were believers in the Old Testament and had a true interpretation of the Old Testament that had truly changed their lives, represented by the words of our Lord, verse 47, “Behold, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” A real believer. So here is a little group: Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathanael and John.

We can add James and Thomas. Here are seven Galilean fishermen who give testimony. They start out to be the core of the disciples of Jesus, who then become the apostles of Christ. It’s amazing how the Lord chooses these insignificant people. Jesus can take five guys who know each other, that make their living catching fish, and He can transform them into world changers.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:26 said, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” The Lord has called the lowly and the nobodies and the insignificant. The seed that’s planted is John the Baptist; he’s like the first witness to Jesus. And then there is this group that is alien to the religious establishment.

The truth of the gospel spreads in every generation since that first belief, through humble weak and meek people. That’s how Christianity always grew, person to person to person; the kingdom advances one soul at a time. Sure there are preachers who preach to groups, but the primary way the kingdom moves is from one person to another, to another, and that’s how it all started.

Now the challenge for them was immense. They were nobodies when they give testimony to the fact that they were declaring Jesus to be the Messiah. Jesus who Himself also appeared like a nobody, the son of Joseph from Nazareth. And all the Jews in Judea looked down on Galilee and the people in Galilee looked down on Nazareth. So God starts this with humble beginnings.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, the advance of the gospel cannot be attributed to the power of the people. It can only be attributed to the power of God. And so, if you’re going to boast, boast in the Lord because it’s by His doing that you’re in Christ. The Lord refused to acknowledge the Jewish religious establishment. All of them resented Jesus, rebelled against His message, which led to His execution.

Jesus begins now to gather His followers, and John the Baptist fades out of the picture and makes one small appearance in John 3. But now the story turns to Christ and He takes center stage. As we look at verses 38 to 51, we’ll split this into two groups. The first focuses on Andrew and Peter; the second focuses on Philip and Nathanael. We’re still in Bethany, beyond the Jordan.

On day one he said, “The Messiah is present. He has come.” On day two he said, “There He is, behold the Lamb of God!” On day three he says, “Follow Him,” and he turns his disciples from him to follow Christ. So in verse 37, the two disciples, namely Andrew and John, heard him speak and at the urging of John the Baptist, they followed Jesus. And that’s where we pick up the story.

So this is the third day in John’s chronology and he also makes the declaration in the end of verse 39 that it was the tenth hour. Verse 38, “Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, ‘What do you seek?’ Now keep in mind that there are two of them here, and in verse 41, one of them was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. The other one is unnamed, but that’s a good indication that it was John.

So Jesus says, “What do you seek?” What’s your motivation? What are you looking for? They knew John the Baptist had identified Jesus as the Messiah. He had identified Jesus as the Lamb of God rather than the reigning King. He was a king but initially He comes as a lamb; He comes as a sacrifice for sin. So they believed John’s message of judgment and need for salvation.

Now John has been preaching for months. He didn’t just say “Behold the Lamb of God.” He gave a full explanation of the identity of Jesus Christ as the Lamb, connected with the Old Testament sacrificial system, so that they knew exactly what His coming as a Lamb meant. These are men who believed that message and had come to repent and to receive the One who would be the sacrifice.

They answered the question, “What do you seek?” with, “Rabbi.” Rabbi was a common expression where students gave honor and respect to their teacher. “Where are You staying?” We need to go where you are and we need to sit down with you, we want to have a conversation with you. And so now they have transitioned from John as their teacher to Jesus as their teacher.

Now they’re not made permanent disciples on this day. They’re just beginning to learn who Jesus is. Later on they will become permanent followers and later after that they will become apostles and be sent to preach the gospel. The Lord’s invitation is immediate. Verse 39, “He said to them, ‘Come, and see.” This shows the accessibility, the availability of our Lord Jesus.

So they came and saw where He was staying. We don’t know where, verse 39 continues, “And they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.” By Jewish time that would be four o’clock in the afternoon when they finally go to where Jesus is. So they’re in a conversation with the Son of God. This must have gone on through the night. This would have been in January, when the days are short.

That’s a conversation that I would have loved to have been a part of. Verse 40 simply notes that the two of them who had heard John the Baptist speak and followed him, one of them was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. And by the time John writes his gospel, it would have been at the end of the first century. Peter would have been well-known but there wasn’t a lot written about Andrew.

However, Andrew is the first disciple called. Andrew is called to conviction that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. Verse 41, “So he finds, his own brother Simon.” which meant that they may have been followers of John the Baptist as well, because, they’re not in Galilee where they live, they’re down in the south, across the Jordan River. Verse 41 continues, “He finds Simon and says to him, “We have found the Messiah.”

Now the word Messiah in Hebrew matters a lot to John, which translated into the Greek is “Christ.” It means “the Anointed One.” Here is a reliable first-person testimony. “We have found the Messiah.” No hesitation, no doubt, with absolute certainty: “We have found the Messiah.” Verse 42, “And he brought Simon Peter to Jesus.” That’s how God’s kingdom advances, by one bringing another.

So here comes Andrew dragging Peter to Jesus. Jesus looked at Peter and continues in verse 42, “You are Simon son of Jonah.” That must have shocked Peter. More than that, Jesus knows who he will become. He continues in verse 42, “you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).” “Cephas” is the Aramaic word, “Peter” is the Greek form of the word rock.

Our Lord is predicting what Peter will become. And the rock is Peter’s confession in Matthew 16:16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” on that rock I will build My church.” The Lord says, “I not only know you, but prophetically I know that you will become a rock. And he was from the day that the Holy Spirit came, on the Day of Pentecost, he preached Jesus Christ.

Verses 43 to 51 describes the second group. Verse 43, “The next day.” This will be day four, “Jesus wanted to go to Galilee.” You could walk that in a good portion of the day, approximately less than twenty miles. “And He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” Verse 44, “Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.” Bethsaida is a small fishing village on the Sea of Galilee.

They were all from the same village. Later on, we know that Peter moved to Capernaum because that’s what we’re told in Mark 1:21 to 29. So we meet two men who know Peter and Andrew. So Jesus comes to Philip and says, “Follow Me.” That’s a statement that Jesus makes again and again. And whatever happened between the time Philip followed and verse 45 must have been amazing.

Because in verse 45 Philip found Nathanael and said, “We found Him of whom Moses and the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” It doesn’t even tell us the conversation, but the conclusion is enough. First Andrew says we found the Messiah. Now Philip says, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Jesus was explaining to them how He was the Messiah, the fulfillment of everything the Old Testament said. So here is the second testimony of Andrew, “We have found the Messiah,” based on his eyewitness time with the Lord Jesus. You have the testimony of Philip, who has spent time with Jesus and compared Him with the Law and the Prophets. And amazingly, it is “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Nazareth was an ignored town, and Joseph was an absolutely nobody. He is the son of Joseph by family identity, although He is the Son of God by birth, right? Virgin born, Matthew 1; the Son of the Most High, Luke 1:32. And He comes from Nazareth. That doesn’t seem to work. We’re not surprised then when Nathanael says in verse 46, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John gives us the testimony of eyewitnesses who met with Jesus, and asked all their questions based on the Old Testament promises, and came to the conclusion that He is the Messiah, He is the Son of God, He is the One prophesied. Verse 47 continued, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said to him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit.”

Paul says in Romans 2:29, a true Jew is one who is a Jew inwardly, a true believer in the true God, a saved man in Old Testament terms, a penitent believer in the true God in whom there is no deceit, no hypocrisy, and no phoniness. Does that mean he was perfect? No, but he had been made acceptable to God by his faith. And he was the real thing. Here is Jesus is reading his spiritual condition supernaturally.

Nathanael’s response is obvious in verse 48, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” I not only know you on the inside, I know you on the outside. I not only know who you are, I know where you are. I can see your heart and I can see your body. Wow! Jesus saw him there without seeing him physically. That’s omniscience.

And in the time that they head toward Jesus, further explanation comes, which is confirmed by the omniscience of Christ who knows who he is and knows where he is. Verse 49, “Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.” Son of God means the same nature as God. That’s a Hebraism. What he’s saying is You are God the Son.

Verse 50 says, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” So what did the Lord mean by that? The rest of the time that you follow Me, I will show you miracle upon miracle. Verse 51, “And He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

They would have known Genesis 28:12 where Jacob dreamed that a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Jesus lived His life according to the will of the Father by the Holy Spirit, mediated by angels. It was angels that announced to Zacharias that the forerunner would be born. It was angels that spoke to Mary and Joseph.

It was a chorus of angels that announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds. It was angels who in Matthew 4:11 ministered to Jesus at the end of His temptation. It is angels that are at the tomb. It is angels that surround Him in His ascension. Jesus does what He does by the will of the Father through the power of the Spirit by the means of angels. And that is still happening today. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Jul 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200712 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A7 imblog

John 1:29-37

The gospel of John’s purpose is to present the proof that that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, so that you might believe and by believing have eternal life in His name. So in the opening eighteen verses we see a declaration of the deity of Christ. And then starting in verse 19, the evidences proving that declaration to be true. John opens the gospel speaking of the Lord Jesus as the Word.

Then he identifies Jesus as the Word with God and the Word being God, which is a Trinitarian understanding. The members of the Trinity are fully God and yet separate persons. He then introduces Him not only as the Word, but as the Life, the very life source of all that lives, and then as Light. That is to say He is God penetrating the darkness of a fallen world both physically and spiritually.

And with the introduction of John the Baptist in verse 15, John the apostle uses his first witness to the deity of Christ. And this first witness to the deity of Christ was introduced in verse 15 by name. Why is this so important? Because John was not only a forerunner, but also a prophet. And there hadn’t been a prophet in Israel for 400 years. And all Jews understood John to be a prophet.

So, if you’re going to have a human testimony of the Messiah, it needs to come from the most credible source. And the most believable witness to the person of Christ would be the one who was called by God to be a prophet and therefore spoke the word of God, and that’s John the Baptist. He came from a priestly family, which gave him extra credibility because the priests were all respected.

And his birth was miraculous because his parents were in their senior years and unable to have children. His mother Elizabeth gives birth in her old age to this son. And his birth was prophesied by an angel who showed up to Zacharias, the father, when he was doing his sacrificial work in Jerusalem. That angel told him that they would have a child that would be the forerunner of the Messiah.

He would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, that he would come in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the people back to God and prepare them for the arrival of Messiah. John lived completely apart from the religious system of Israel. For thirty years he lives like a hermit in the middle of the desert and eats whatever he can find and wears camel’s hair.

This is the man that John draws on for the initial testimony. He’s not a product of their system religiously. He’s not simply a product of a human life. He is a divinely prepared child. He is not a man who found a career because he sort of had a bent that way. He was ordained by God and so prophesied to do what he did. And he was before all people a true prophet.

The nation of Israel acknowledges John the Baptist as a spokesman for God and so John draws on his testimony and rightly so. This is the most credible, believable, trustworthy voice in Israel. And the people have come to know it and they’re flooding his wilderness location, tens of thousands from all Jerusalem, Judea, and the surrounding places to hear and to be baptized by him.

Now to get this testimony, in verses 19 - 37 John the apostle focuses on three days of the enduring ministry of John the Baptist. And so John the apostle gives us a picture of the ministry of John the Baptist. There are three points here and John has three messages to give. He gives one on day one, another on day two, and another on day three; and they’re sequential testimonies.

On day one he says, “He is here.” On day two he says, “Look at Him.” And on day three he says, “Follow Him.” And that should be the message that any preacher should give regarding Christ. And the three messages are given to three different groups. On day one it is a hostile delegation from the Sanhedrin. On day two it is the mass of people that are there. And on day three it is John’s own disciples.

We’ve already looked at day one the last Sunday. Day one, was the Jewish delegation that had come from Jerusalem, to confront John and ask him the questions that the religious leaders wanted answered. The people in power in the Sanhedrin is a council of seventy plus the high priest who ran Judaism. That council is predominantly made up of Sadducees, the religious liberals who don’t believe in miracles.

But with them were the Pharisees who were much devoted to the law. They were less political. They were the ones who studied the law, who applied the law, who taught the law to the people. This delegation from the Sanhedrin is mixed with both. John uses the expression “the Jews” seventy times in his gospel. He’s not using it ethnically, or racially, he’s using it to identify those people hostile to Jesus.

Verse 19, “Who are you?” What is implied in that question is, “Are you the Messiah?” Verse 20, “He confessed and didn’t deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.” What then? Verse 21, “Are you Elijah?” And his answer is the same. “I am not Elijah.” This is not Elijah taking on another name. In Luke 1:17 the angel said to Zacharias he will come “in the spirit and power of Elijah.”

So there will be two comings of Elijah. At the first coming of Christ there will be one in the spirit and power of Elijah. And at the Second Coming of Christ there will be the actual Elijah. So John says I’m not Elijah who returns prior to the coming of Christ. Remember, Elijah didn’t die; he was taken to heaven by God in a chariot of fire. And he will return in the future, before the Second Coming of Christ.

So another question. “Are you the Prophet?” In Deuteronomy 18, Moses talked about a prophet who would come and speak the word of the Lord. And the Jews knew he was talking about Messiah. You can read the sermon of Peter in Acts 3:22-23 and the sermon of Stephen in Acts 7:37, where both say that Deuteronomy 18 is referring to Messiah. So that was a common Jewish understanding.

And the real question is, “What gives you the authority to be baptizing these people?” Their issues were always about power and authority. They were hostile to Jesus because He had authority in what He said and what He did. He hadn’t come through their religious system. Jesus always acted on His own authority. He said in Matthew 28:18, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

He took authority over the Sabbath. He took authority over death. He took authority over demons. He took authority over creation, nature. He took authority over diseases. And this issue of authority especially irritated them when He took authority to interpret the Word of God and declare for God what God would say. It was all about authority because Jesus was a great threat to their religious authority.

Well, John was the same. The people were going to John by the tens of thousands. Typically in their history, they did have a baptism that they enacted for Gentiles who wanted to become Jews and become a part of their religion. They could go through a proselyte baptism. In other words, they wanted to be cleansed of their paganism and wanted to enter into the religion of the God of Israel.

Verse 22, “They said to him, ‘Who are you then, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us?’” And after saying, “I am not,” he finally says, “I am.” Verse 23, “I’m a voice.” He’s very humble. He said about Christ, “He comes after me but He is a much higher rank than I, for He existed before me.” Verse 27, “He comes after me, and the thong of His sandal I’m not worthy to untie.”

In verse 30 again he says, “He comes after me, but He has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.” John is selfless; he wants no titles, no honors, no money, no comforts, no followers and no disciples. He wants to point to Christ only. So he says, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness,” out of Isaiah 40:3. I am the fulfillment of that prophecy.

He is talking about the wilderness of Israel in the spiritual sense, their bankruptcy, their desert of hearts, Israel had become a wilderness with no spiritual life. I’m coming into that wilderness. I am a voice to cry out to you to make your heart a ready path for the King. The King is on the way; I’m telling you to get ready. John is a true preacher, but he’s only a voice, and he’s pointing us to Jesus Christ.

And he’s telling the Jewish people, “Make your path straight.” The low places, the base places in your life need to be lifted up. The high places, the proud places need to be brought down, the crooked part of your life, the perverted places need to be straightened out. The cluttered places need to be cleaned off to get ready for the One who is coming. I’m only the voice. I’m only the forerunner.

So verse 25, explains what motivated them, “Why then are you baptizing?” You’re not the Christ. You’re not Elijah. You’re not the prophet of Deuteronomy 18. Where did you get this authority? Verse 26, “John answered them saying, ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27 It is He who comes after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.’”

So John does what he always did, turns everybody’s attention toward Christ. He’s the One who deals with the heart. The Messiah is here in the land. At the very moment he says this, Jesus is walking toward where John is and will arrive the next day. That’s the first great message that John gives. That’s where all gospel preaching starts, doesn’t it? He is here; He has come.

That message would have gone immediately back to Jerusalem and would have made known this to the Jews in the Sanhedrin. The Jews had no excuse such as, “Oh, we’re surprised that Jesus has shown up and claimed to be the Messiah.” They are on notice before Jesus begins His ministry officially that the Messiah has arrived. And from that report, their hostility goes all the way to the cross.

Day two picks up the story in verse 29, John saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” This is group two, all the people that are gathered, and the message is, “Look at Him.” Message one: He’s here. Message two: Look at Him, He is the Lamb of God. Day one was kind of a private delegation. Day two is the public proclamation.

All through the centuries Israel knew about a sacrificial lamb, going back to Abraham and Isaac. And God providing a sacrifice for Abraham so he didn’t have to kill his own son. And then in Exodus, the Passover Lamb and every Passover after that, and every morning and every evening, there was a morning and evening sacrifice, and lambs were slain as sin offerings over and over, century after century.

They knew about sacrifice. But they didn’t know how it fit in, because they never saw themselves as a people needing a sacrifice. They assumed that the combination of their righteousness and their obedience in offering an animal was enough. But those animals couldn’t take away sin; they could only point to the one sacrifice that would take away sin, and that had not yet come until Christ.

And because they didn’t recognize their sinfulness, they didn’t recognize they were under judgment, under God’s wrath, needing a sacrifice. And that their Messiah was to be that sacrifice that Isaiah 53 was talking about. They did not understand that the Messiah would be a lamb. Every family chose its lamb. This is the lamb that God has chosen. He’s come to deal with sin, to be wounded for our transgressions.

He offered Himself as a sacrifice on the cross. He bore our sins in His own body. God made Him who knew no sin, sin for us. The Jews wanted a prophet. The Jews wanted a king. They got a lamb. They wanted a leader. They got a substitute. They wanted an exalted messiah. They received a humiliated sacrifice. They wanted one who could kill all their enemies, and they got One whom their enemies killed.

John says in verse 31, “I didn’t recognize Him at first.” John is just admitting that he didn’t recognize Him in the full sense. And John testified then in verse 32 saying, “I’ve seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained on Him.” I didn’t recognize Him.” That is a clear declaration that Jesus’ humanity was real humanity. There was nothing about Jesus that would tell you He was God.

Verse 33, “I didn’t know Him, but He (God) who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” John at that moment knows. Verse 34, “I myself have seen, and testified this is the Son of God.” Here is the most believable and credible voice in Israel affirming that this is the Lamb of God.

Now its day three. Verse 35, “Again the next day John stood with two of his disciples. Verse 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’ Verse 37 The two disciples heard him say that, and they followed Jesus.” Who are they? Two disciples of John. We know who these two are. According to verse 40, one of them is Andrew. Who’s the other one? That was John, the apostle himself.

And verse 38, “Jesus turned and saw them following Him, and said to them, ‘What do you seek?’” They said, “Rabbi, where are You staying?” In other words, this isn’t a short-term interest. Wherever you’re going and wherever you’re going to stay, that’s where we’re going to stay. That is a pure gospel ministry, modeled for us by this selfless, humble, meek man who is John the Baptist. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Jul 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200705 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A6 imblog

John 1:19-28

Now we come to the historical section of John 1. Verses 1 to 18 is theological, it presents the nature of Christ predominantly as God with God. Jesus is God and yet He is distinct from God the Father. Christ is the Creator; He is the Word, He is the expression of God; He is the Life; He is the source of all that lives; He is the Light, He is the shining nature of God in the darkness of this world.

John has introduced us to the nature of Christ theologically. That is a portion of Holy Scripture not found anywhere else. But John has a singular purpose in His gospel and it’s clearer than the purpose of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. His purpose is specific, giving you evidence so that you might believe, and it is evangelistic so that believing you might be saved and receive eternal life.

So everything John says is to prove that Jesus is the promised Christ, the Anointed One, the promised King, and the Son of God. His deity and His humanity and His being the Lord and Savior are John’s focus. So John doesn’t spend a lot of time on the historical background. He is not like Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They are called the Synoptic Gospels because they together tell the same story.

So why three? Because, Deuteronomy says that the truth must be confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses, and so we have these three inspired witnesses to tell us the full story of our Lord Jesus. And there’s much theology in the Synoptics; but John here tells us only what is important to his proof that Jesus is the Christ and that believing in His name will lead us to eternal life.

John’s first line of testimony is from John the Baptist. Verse 19 begins, “This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you? 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not. Are you the Prophet? And he answered, “No.”

22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said: “I am ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord, ‘as the prophet Isaiah said. 24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

“26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to lose. 28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.” Jesus said in Matthew 11:11 that John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived up until His time.

John the Baptist’ history is told in Luke 1:1 all the way to verse 80. He is a miracle child promised by God through an angel that came to his father, and how it was declared to his father that he would come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and he would turn the hearts of the people toward God and prepare them for the Messiah. That history is very important and very rich.

Now John the Baptist was a cousin to Jesus since the mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, were related. And John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus. And so in the same thirty years that John was waiting to begin his ministry, Jesus was waiting to begin His. Jesus waited in Nazareth, in the home of Joseph and Mary. Joseph probably died somewhere in that period of time.

John the Baptist was a desert nomad. However, after those years had passed, Luke 3:1 gives us, “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,” that puts it around 27 A.D. Pontius Pilate is now governor. Herod is tetrarch. His brother Philip is a tetrarch. Annas and Caiaphas are the two high priests and they were related by marriage. And they planned the execution of Jesus eventually.

So when John was 30 years and Jesus was 30 years, we read in Luke 3:2, “The word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. 3 And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”

“5 Every ravine will be filled. Every mountain, hill will be brought low; every crooked place becomes straight, the rough roads smooth; 6 and all flesh will see the salvation of God.’” John the Baptist was called into ministry by a word from God. John knew his history. He knew of the angelic visit to his father, although his father couldn’t say anything because he was doubtful.

In Matthew 3:5, many people from Jerusalem and Judea came to hear John. He was so remarkable, so powerful, so unique, and so effective as a preacher. In the Synoptic Gospels accounts of John, he is described as courageous, bold and powerful. He says to the leaders of Israel when they show up, “You snakes, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

So, in John 5:35 we read that of the people it was said, “You were willing for a while, to rejoice in His light.” He was a popular preacher. Not only because of the power of his preaching, but because he was saying the Messiah’s coming and that’s the message that people wanted to hear. They were weary of the centuries of biblical prophecies about the Messiah that never came to pass.

John preached about repentance that was connected to the coming of the Messiah. And so people were coming and saying, “Okay, we repent.” And John said, “If you want to repent and be cleansed by God on the inside, then demonstrate that by a public act of baptism,” which the external symbol for an internal cleansing. So he is the first formidable testifier to the deity of Christ.

So what is the character of this faithful preacher? Humility; he sought no honors. He sought no money, no accolades, no titles; no flattering words. He didn’t seek disciples because in verse 35 it says, “He was standing with two of his disciples,” and he looked at Jesus as he walked and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!’” And what he was saying to them was, “Follow Him.”

Secondly you see the character of a faithless people. In verse 19, it says, “The Jews sent to Him priests and Levites from Jerusalem.” The term “the Jews,” is a term you will see seventy times in the gospel of John. It is never used ethnically or racially. It is always used to identify the enemies of Jesus. It’s John’s choice term. You don’t find it in the other gospels, only in the gospel of John.

But the third group was the faithful people. And you get a glimpse of them in verse 37 when those two disciples heard what John said about the Lamb of God and they followed Jesus. That’s how this gospel breaks down. Through this gospel you’re going to see the faithless people associated with the leaders of Israel, and the few faithful who followed Christ. That’s going to be the story.

John the Baptist had told people that after he had baptized Christ, that Christ was the Messiah, because the Father had said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Which was the same Father who had commissioned Him to ministry. The Holy Spirit had come down like a dove; and Jesus had just come triumphantly from this temptation over Satan. John was giving all this testimony.

We’re going to join him on ‘Day one’ because John has given us this record of three specific days, giving us the sequential testimony of John the Baptist toward the Lord Jesus Christ. John receives a word from the Lord out in the wilderness to begin to preach in Matthew 3. And about the same time, the Lord Jesus leaves Nazareth after 30 years working as a carpenter.

Jesus now goes down the Jordan Valley to where John is because He’s going to be baptized by John, because that’s part of Him fulfilling all righteousness. In other words, doing everything that God required. So He is going to a place that’s identified for us in verse 28, “These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.” This is a different Bethany than what we know.

So Jesus leaves, goes about twenty six miles south and east from Nazareth, and He comes down to where John is baptizing. This all happened before this account, because in this account John is remembering at the baptism of Jesus. He remembers the baptism, verses 32 and 33, so it’s already happened. And this is where Jesus is baptized and launched into His earthly ministry.

Now John is preaching repentance. Get ready for Messiah. Jesus comes. John doesn’t really know who He is. Verse 31, “I didn’t recognize Him,” he says. That tells you there were thousands of people coming, and here comes just another Jewish man dressed like everybody else, walking forty two km from His home. And He shows up and introduces Himself, but John doesn’t want to baptize Him.

Jesus says in Matthew 3:15, “No, you have to baptize Me, for thus it is fitting so all righteousness can be fulfilled.” So He says, “Everything that God requires of His people, I’m going to do to show them the path of obedience.” So John baptizes Him, and the Holy Spirit comes down like a dove, and rested on Him. Actually He might have been manifested in light or in fire.

And then the Father speaks out of heaven, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” and John baptizes Him. And then Jesus disappeared. Where did He go? He was led by the Holy Spirit, according to Luke 4 and Matthew 4 into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. For forty days He’s tempted in the wilderness. Meanwhile, John keeps preaching; people going through a proselyte baptism.

So here comes the representatives of the Jews who are the enemies of the truth and righteousness, and John and repentance and Jesus, and they are a delegation; verse 24, notice that, had come “from the Pharisees.” So they say in verse 19, “Who are you?” It’s a respectful way to ask the question. In verse 20, “he confessed and didn’t deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’”

And in verse 21, they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” They ask that because the Malachi 4:5-6 said this of the coming of Messiah: “I’m going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. 6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

Why wouldn’t he say “I’m not?” Because he was not a recycled Elijah. However, the angel said he will come “in the spirit and power of Elijah”; with that kind of prophetic power and effect, turning people’s hearts back to God. So they said, “Are you the Prophet?” They were talking about a specific prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, you shall listen to him.”

Verse 22-23, “Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’as the prophet Isaiah said.” John is just a voice. This is the essence of real greatness, humility. But I am a voice fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah 40:3-5.

Isaiah said that before the Messiah would come He would be preceded by a voice crying in the wilderness: “Make the way of the Lord clear; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, every mountain and hill be made low; let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together.”

Now listen, he was in a physical and a geographical wilderness. But that’s not the point of the word “wilderness” in the prophecy of Isaiah. He was talking about a spiritual wilderness that was in the hearts of the leaders and the people of Israel. He says in verse 23, “Make straight the way of the Lord.” Create a highway in your heart that is open to the Lord, is what John is after.

The high things are the elevated self-righteous, prideful, hypocritical things that need to be brought low. The crooked things, the deviant things need to be straightened out. The clutter of life needs to be cleared off so that the road is clean. This is all a part of the message of repentance. Deal with the issues of the heart, which is both wretched in its self-elevation and it’s self-debasing.

“So they said to him in verse 25, ‘Why are you baptizing if you’re not the Christ, and you’re not Elijah, and you’re not the Prophet? What are you doing? Who are you?’” Verse 26-27, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to lose.”

Again John knows his place, he realizes that Jesus is God Almighty and he is just a messenger to tell others that Jesus is the Messiah, who not only baptizes with water but with His Spirit. Let us study next week what John the Baptist did and how he wanted his followers to become disciples of Jesus. Let us see the Lamb of God next Sunday. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Jun 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200628 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A5 imblog

John 1:14-18

John 1:14-18 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”

“17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” John opens his gospel in 18 verses with a prologue, and the statement is that Jesus is God in human flesh, that He is the Creator of the universe who has become a part of His creation.

Jesus is not a created man, He is God in human flesh. And that is why there have been and continue to be so many heresies concerning Jesus Christ, concerning the essence or the nature or the person of Jesus Christ. And this is the essential doctrine in the Christian faith. It must be known, it must be believed, for someone to escape hell and enter heaven, that Jesus is God.

The true church of Jesus Christ has always believed that. It has always proclaimed that. It has always demanded that. Any other view of Christ is unacceptable and a damning heresy. This is the reason John makes such a case out of the deity of Jesus Christ. John 20:31 says, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

So in His opening John talks about the nature of Jesus Christ. He introduces Him as “In the beginning was the Word.” In other words, He already existed when everything that began, began. He was with God, which means though He was God, He was at the same time distinct from God. That is Trinitarian. There is one God and yet three persons. Jesus is God and yet He is with God.

The theology here is profound. Jesus is a pure being that eternally existed. To prove that, everything that came into being came into being through Him, and without Him did not anything come into being, because He is the source of life. He has life in Himself. And the Creator whose eternal being, verse 5 says, came into the darkness of this world like a light. That Light came into the world.

In the first century, John wrote his gospel, three epistles and Revelation. John wrote 1 John to believers to identify for them the marks of true salvation. 1 John 1:1 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life. 2 that life was manifested.”

John said, we proclaim to you the Eternal Life, meaning the Son of God, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. John has touched the Creator of the universe in human form. You know, John never got over it. John refers to himself in his gospel as, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” because he understood the reality that this is the eternal Creator God in human form.

In 1 John 2:22 he says, “Who is the liar? Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? 23 Whoever denies the Son doesn’t have the Father. But the one who confesses the Son, has the Father also.” Again if you tamper with who Christ is, you will alienate yourself from God. 1 John 4:1 says, “Do not believe every claim, every teacher, every spirit behind every teacher.”

Because there are so many false prophets in the world. How do you know when someone is a false prophet? 1 John 4:2 says, “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Those who affirm the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, they’re from God. “3 Every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist, who is coming and now already is in the world.”

1 John 5:1 says, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Verse 4 says, “Whoever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” And finally verse 20 says, “We know that the Son of God has come.”

Verse 20 says, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” 2 John 1:7 says, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”

Verse 9-11, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” With John it’s all about Christ and who Christ is.

It is, therefore, not surprising that of all of the Christian doctrines, no single doctrine has been more assaulted and attacked than the incarnation of Jesus Christ. There have been all kinds of Christs offered to the world. And in the future, as we get closer to the coming of Christ, false Christs will multiply, and we have to be discerning about whether people are speaking of the true Christ.

To believe in the wrong Jesus is as damning as to believe you’re saved by a rock, or some animistic religion. You can’t be saved by believing the wrong thing about Christ. You must believe in His deity and humanity. Now, in verses 14 to 18, we come to the peak, “And the Word became flesh.” The Word, meaning the pre-incarnate Son of God whose eternal being became flesh.

The eternal Word became human, that’s what it means. So you have the God-man. The eternal God who is pure eternal being becomes a part of His creation. God and man are joined in one person, never again to be separated. Listen to that. Yet never confounded and never mixed. They are both perfect and distinct and indivisible and yet unmingled and unmixed forever.

When you see Christ in heaven, He will be exactly the same God-man that He was when He walked on earth in the post-resurrection form of the body that the disciples witnessed for forty days. He is the same Christ exactly. He will be who He was on earth, fully man and fully God in the same way He walked on earth. His humanity is not the humanity of Adam before his fall.

Jesus is fully man in the sense that Adam was after the fall. Because He lived and grew and died, and that is a factor of fallen condition. Furthermore, if He was not in the form of man after the fall, He would have no ability to understand our weaknesses and our infirmities and be tempted in all points as we are tempted and come out as a merciful, sympathetic high priest.

So He is truly human with one exception: no sin. He is without sin, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, without sin forever. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He knew no sin.” Then he says, “and dwelt among us.” For thirty-three years, He lived in our world, took on the form of a man, and became one of us. Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and men.”

How did we know He was God? John says in verse 14, “And we beheld His glory.” We saw His glory. “The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” What is glory? God’s glory is intrinsic to His nature, it is who He is. It is the sum of His attributes. The glory of God is the complex of all of His attributes, and sometimes it is manifested in blazing light.

But there is also His manifest glory, symbolically and in reality. Moses in Exodus 33:18 says, “Please, show me Your glory.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.”

That’s the powerful majesty and glory of God that would destroy us because we’re sinners. God led the Israelites by a pillar of fire at night, and when the tabernacle was built in Exodus 40, the glory of God came down to the tabernacle. So God’s glory is seen frequently in the Old Testament as light (2 Chronicles 7:1). In the future, Matthew 25:31, when Jesus comes in His glory, the Shekinah light will be back.

Revelation 6:16 says people will call on the rocks and the mountains to hide them from the face of Jesus’ glory. The sky will go dark, the moon and sun will not give its light, and into the blackness will come this blazing Shekinah presence of Jesus Christ. Again, the manifestation of the attributes of God in light. That happened in the past and in the future it will happen again.

In the meantime, the glory comes to earth in the form of Jesus. And on one occasion in Matthew 17 they went up to the mount, Peter, James, and John, and the Lord exposed His flesh and what did they see? They saw His glory, and it was so blinding, they fell like dead men under the force of this blazing light, even though it was veiled to some degree so they didn’t burn up.

When John says, “We beheld His glory” he can mean that they saw the light, the Shekinah light, because John was up there on that mount. But it’s more than that. When John says, “We beheld His glory,” he’s not only talking about the representation of that glory in light, he’s talking about the reality of those attributes which were manifest throughout the ministry in the life of Christ.

John could say: We saw His love, we saw His mercy, we saw His wisdom, we saw His knowledge, we saw His power, we saw His justice, we saw His holiness, we saw His compassion, we saw His omnipotence, we saw His omniscience, we saw His anger, we saw His wrath, we saw His kindness, we saw His patience, we saw it all. We saw a visible representation of His glory, and we saw the invisible representation in His life.

In John 2 when we go to a wedding, Jesus did a miracle there. John 2:11 says, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory.” He didn’t pull His flesh back like He did in the transfiguration, but He manifested the glory of His power by creating wine out of water. Jesus is God, the God-man, God in human flesh, John will tell you: yes, He is God because we saw His glory.

John will also tell you that the incarnation of Christ dispenses His grace. The end of verse 14, “Full of grace and truth.” Grace and truth are together in this passage. They have to be together because the only way that you can experience grace is by believing the truth. So John says, “We have experienced who He is.” He is the essence of the Father. That’s His essential being.

Verse 15, “John the Baptist bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He was before me.’” How can somebody who comes after me exist before me? Answer: Because He is eternal. John says, “He was born after me.” Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist before Mary was pregnant with Jesus. John was born first.

The incarnate Christ dispenses grace in verse 16-17, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” We’re so glad to be delivered from the law, and to be given grace. Grace came through Christ. So He displays glory and He dispenses grace. This is the evidence of His deity.

“Grace upon grace.” It’s just endless, non-diminishing supply of grace upon grace. There’s never any diminishing of grace. To the apostle Paul who was concerned about his thorn in the flesh, our Lord said, “My grace is sufficient.” It’s a never-ending supply. All we knew under the law was threats and warnings, death and judgment. Along comes Christ, and it is grace upon grace.

At the end of verse 17, “Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” Was that promised in the Old Testament? Yes. Activated in the Old Testament? Sure. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Everybody ever saved in the history of the world has been saved by God’s grace. But grace was not fully realized until Christ came and paid His penalty on the cross. The word “realized” here means ‘came into existence’.

And the grace that Christ exhibited and purchased at the cross extended back as much as it extends forward. Verse 18, “No one has seen God at any time.” Why? He’s invisible. There are times when God has appeared as smoke and fire, but He has no form. No one has seen God at any time. However, “the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father”, the One who is in the Father, “He has declared God the Father.”

Wouldn’t you like to have God explained to you? How do you explain God? Well, you would go to that verse and say, “Look at Jesus Christ, He explains God.” So you want to know about God? Jesus defines God the Father. He displays glory, He dispenses grace, and He defines God. And if you believe that and you receive Him - Verse 12, He gave us the right to become children of God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200621 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A4 imblog

John 1:6-13

Jesus is presented to us, as John opens the Word, as the Life and as the Light. Each of those is a way to speak of His deity. He is the Word because He is the communication of God. He is the Life because He is the very eternal Life itself who gives life to everything that lives. And He is the Light because He is the one true illuminator who illuminates all spiritual reality.

John 1:6-13 says, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”

“11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

In the gospel of John, we have learned that Jesus is the Word and the Life. And this evening we learn that He is the Light. In verse 4, it is said of Him, “The life was the Light of men.” And then five subsequent times He is referred to as the Light. Let’s understand why this idea of light is attached to the Lord Jesus Christ. We typically experience light in a static way.

Light in fact, is energy. Science defines light as luminous energy, as radiant energy, as electromagnetic energy, and light is moving at a speed of 186,282 miles per second. It is not static. Remember Matthew 17:2, “And Jesus was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.” Light is considered as a quantum phenomenon that cannot be comprehended.

When the spiritual light of Christ, hits the living soul, everything is illuminated in the spiritual realm. The Light, according to John, is none other than eternal life who is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word that comes from God. He is the Light because by Him everything in the spiritual realm is illuminated. Without Him, there is no Word from God, there is no life and no understanding.

John has captured some basic things, which are simple on the surface and yet profound to express, about who this person is that we call the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word is the Life, who is the Light that overpowers the darkness. The darkness, verse 5 says, cannot overpower the Light. Our Lord Jesus Christ makes everything spiritual discernible and visible. The spiritual realm is only visible in the light of Christ.

The Light will shine and reveal the nature of the Savior Himself. The Light will shine and also reveal the nature of sinners. It will shine and reveal the nature of believers. John has a gospel objective here. He says that he has written all these things that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing, have life in His name. So this is a gospel effort, this is an evangelistic book.

So we’ve been talking about the eternal Son of God, the second member of the Trinity. Verse 14 says, who “became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” So we’ve been talking about God who became a man. Now we have a shift in verse 6, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” We move from the uncreated One, the Creator, to a mere man.

He begins by pointing us in the direction of this testimony that comes from a man named John, the Baptist. Here, he’s referring to a different John. He’s talking about this John whose ministry was baptizing people who needed to repent and get their hearts right. John had people coming from Jerusalem and Judea to prepare them for the Messiah, on a superficial level, and he was baptizing them.

And his ministry is defined in simple terms in verse 7, “This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.” Looking at verse 6, it tells us that God sent a man whose name was John. This John was prophesied to come in Isaiah 40:3, he would be the voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord, and straighten out the highway.”

Secondly, his parents were barren. They were in their eighties. They would never been able to have children. John is miraculously conceived, which adds another component to the fact that he is definitely sent from the Lord. In Luke 1 his arrival was announced to his father by an angel who came from heaven. So this is a man sent from God in a very special way.

Even his timing was miraculous. Luke 1:80 says, “So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” There was a day for his public appearance, and God had ordained that very day. And, in Matthew 14 and Matthew 21, we read that everybody knew he was a prophet because of the nature of his ministry and the nature of his preaching.

John came to give a message; he came to give a testimony. He came as a man who had true evidence from heaven regarding the Light. He had the facts by which to give the message, the testimony to the court of the world, so that they would understand the truth about the Light. He is giving the facts, the evidence concerning who Christ is, why He came, and what He has done.

Verse 8 says, “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” In John 3:25, the disciples of John the Baptist are having a dispute with the Jews about purification. 26 They said to John, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, (Christ) behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.”

And John answered in verse 27, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it’s been given him from heaven.’” Which means, “Look, I received from God the commission and I have fulfilled it.” 28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I’m not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of Him.’” And that’s why in verse 30 John says, “He must increase, I must decrease.”

If they don’t hear the gospel, they can’t be saved. In Romans 10:13 it says, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Then verse 14, “How will they call on Him in whom they haven’t believed? How will they believe in Him whom they haven’t heard? How will they hear without a preacher? 15 How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things.”

Verse 17, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word concerning Christ.” So John is a model. John came to give testimony about the Lord Jesus Christ, so that all might believe through his ministry. That’s why Paul says in Romans 1:16, “I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It’s the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes.” 1 Corinthians 1:24 says, “To those who are called, Christ is the power of God.”

So the light is shining, first on the nature of true ministry. Secondly, the light illuminates the true nature of the Son of God. We know the Trinity because we see all three persons of the Trinity engaged in the Old Testament. We see that there are conversations between the members of the Trinity. In Psalm 110:1, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

We would know a little about the nature of God because His attributes are disclosed in the Old Testament. But there would be a measure of darkness until the light appears, and the light illuminates Himself. The light shines to reveal the very Light itself, the very essence of Christ. And what we learn in verse 9 is “there was the true Light, which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”

Now the second member of the Trinity becomes clear to us. When Christ arrived, we see who He is. We know that He was working in the Old Testament. He was the commander of the Army of the Lord in Joshua 5 before the fall of Jericho. We know that He was the One on the throne in Isaiah 6 of whom the angel said, “Holy, holy, holy.” We know that He is the Savior of Isaiah 52 and 53.

When we come to the New Testament and the Light arrives illuminating Himself, only then do we see the light of the glory of God like never before, shining in the face of Jesus Christ. He is the expression of the Father’s glory, the image of His person, says Hebrews 1. He is the One in whom the Godhead dwells bodily. He is the one in whom the glory of God is revealed, full of grace and truth.

What does it mean, “To give light to every man”? This was not available in the Old Testament. No one really could see the full glory of Christ until He came into the world. He is the only Light for every person. Everybody who experienced salvation and His role as the Savior, everyone who understands that, understands it because they see Jesus Christ for who He is.

Everyone who sees and understands spiritual reality, who sees the supernatural world the way it really is, is enlightened because he has seen the light of Christ. You can’t be saved apart from Christ. He says in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world. No man who follows me will ever walk in darkness.” The only light the world has is Christ. He is the only light that can enlighten anyone.

The light of salvation shines only in Jesus Christ. Christ is to the souls of men what the sun is to the world. He is the center and source of all spiritual light. He shines for the common benefit of all mankind, for rich and for poor, for Jew and for Greek. Christ is free to all. If people on earth were mad enough to reject the good news outright, their darkness would be their own fault.

How did He manifest Himself? Verse 10, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him.” He was in the world for thirty-three years. He came into His creation. For thirty years in Nazareth, the people knew Him, but the first time He came back to preach, they tried to kill Him. For three years, He ministered in Israel, banished illness, banished demons and demonstrated His power over nature.

And He demonstrated His creative power. He gave people limbs, gave people organs, gave people eyes, and new hearing. He gave people life from the dead, controlled storms, walked on water. He showed His creative power. He put Himself on display by being in the world. This is the greatest manifestation of the Savior, the second member of the Trinity, who would be our sacrifice.

Thirdly - Christ illuminated the true nature of sinners. Verse 10 continues, “And the world did not know Him.” He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. We understand that men are sinners and that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked in Jeremiah 17:9. We understand the fall in Genesis 3. We understand the depth of human depravity.

But never has that profound nature of darkness been more on display than when people reject the Light. Rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the most devastating indication of the depth of human sin. Engulfed in spiritual death and blindness, they love their sin. Men love darkness rather than light. They don’t know the Son of God in John 1. And that is still true today.

And in verse 11, “He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.” Well, it means His own place, His own people and His own nation. It wasn’t just the Gentile world that didn’t know Him. Even today, it is the very Jewish people who claimed to believe in the true God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Old Testament that do not receive Him.

Christ came to His own people, and those who were His own people did not receive Him. How deep is depravity? The greatest illustration of human depravity in history is the Jewish rejection of Christ when He was here. “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” John’s going to show us the history all through this gospel of Jewish rejection of Christ.

Fourth. The Light illuminated the true nature of believers. We are told that the plan was not thwarted in spite of the world’s rejection and the rejection of Israel. Verse 12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” That’s the true nature of believers. We cry “Abba, Father,” we speak to God as our personal Father because we are His children.

This is the second creation. That’s why it’s called “the new birth” or being “born again. The One who created us physically, will create us spiritually. Verse 13, “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” So the true nature of a believer is that that person is a new creation, a child of God forever. The Light coming into the world also illuminated the true nature of God.

To be a child, you have to be born again, “who were born not of blood.” You don’t become a child of God, because of your parents or your ancestry. “Nor of the will of the flesh.” Not because of personal moral effort, personal spiritual effort or personal religious activity. “Nor of the will of man.” You’re not going to become a child of God by your own choice or by some manmade system.

Only God can do this miracle. God is by nature a Savior. He is a Savior whose mighty power causes us to receive His Son and to believe in His name. At the very foundation we need to know that in the ministry of evangelism and gospel presentation and giving testimony and witness to Christ, God will work to give life to dead sinners. It is in His nature to do that. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200614 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A3 imblog

John 1:1-5

We begin today a study of the gospel of John. John himself, who never refers to himself in his gospel. Church history tells us who the author is. And while John is mentioned twenty times in the other gospels, he’s never mentioned in this gospel at all by name. He calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John was changed much, so much so that he is known as the apostle of love.

John was also concerned about the truth. He mentions truth twenty-five times in his gospel and twenty times in his epistles. But one hundred times in this gospel, he uses the word believe. He wants us to believe the truth so that we can enter in to a relationship of love with the Lord. John has a father named a Zebedee. They run a fishing business in Galilee. His mother’s name is Salome.

The gospel of John is identified by many as the holy of holies of the New Testament. If there’s a most sacred chapter in the Bible, it would be John 17, where our Lord Jesus prays to the Father in that inter-Trinitarian prayer, the likes of which appears nowhere else in Scripture. And John is often called the Holy of Holies because in this gospel, the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ is fully displayed.

John’s message is this: The eternal God Himself has become human. The Creator has become a part of His creation, He is fully God and fully man. Why? In order that He might save sinners from their sin, death, judgment, and eternal hell. The eternal God, infinite, transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present, unchanging, that one true and living God has become man.

There are four gospels that tell the story. Three of them (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) give us the earthly history, the birth and the life and the experiences. And the calling of Jesus on His followers and the teaching and the parables and the events of His life, including His arrest, His trials, His execution and His resurrection. They’re called synoptic gospels, because they’re the synopsis of His earthly life.

John doesn’t give us the earthly story, he gives us the heavenly story. He gives us the supernatural view of Christ. Ninety percent of what is in John is not in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Ninety percent of this is John’s alone to declare under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. John is not focusing on the history of His life. There are no parables because they were earthly stories. This is a heavenly book.

The purpose of John is to convince the sinner of the true person of Christ. John 20:31 says, “That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you might have salvation in His name.” This is a salvation book. This is an evangelistic book. And in order to have salvation, you must believe in the true Christ, not a false Christ, not a Christ of human intuition.

Christ being God is under assault and always under attack. People want to talk about Jesus but they don’t want to define who He is. The message of the New Testament and of the Old Testament, as we saw from Isaiah 53, is that Jesus is God. He is nothing other than God, nothing less than God. He is not a created spirit-brother of Lucifer and Adam, as the Mormons say.

The New Testament is full of evidence that He is God. Philippians 2:6-7 is a good example, “He thought it not something to hold onto to be equal with God but humbled Himself, took on the form of a man.” We read from Hebrews 1:8 that God says to Jesus, “O God, your throne is forever and ever established in heaven.” The Scripture is full of evidences that He is God.

Just look at the titles given to Jesus and to God. God and Jesus are both called Shepherd, both called judge, both called Holy One in Scripture, both called first and last, both called the Light, both called the Lord of the Sabbath, both called Savior, both called Mighty God, both called Lord of Hosts, both called Alpha and Omega, both called Lord of glory, both called Redeemer and on and on.

Titles given to Jesus belong only to God. Our Lord Jesus is described as eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, immutable, unchanging, sovereign and all glorious. Jesus did works that only God can do, He created, He raised the dead, He overpowered the kingdom of darkness, He forgave sin and He received worship on many occasions through His life and ministry.

The essence of what John is showing us is in verse 14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” That is the most concise statement in Scripture on the incarnation. “The Word” is none other than Christ. But the Word, who is Jesus Christ, is God who took on humanity. The infinite becomes finite. The eternal one enters into time. The invisible one has become visible.

John doesn’t explain that. He says “the Word” because that was such a perfect term to identify Christ on the supernatural side. There was a philosophical understanding of the word, that’s the Greek term ‘logos’. The philosophers talked about logos as the reality that was visible in creation. But they believed it was an impersonal reality or actually, a non-personal reality.

And even the common people saw the logos, the philosophical identification of this powerful, non-personal force in the universe as being responsible for the way things were. Now John comes along and says, “Let me introduce you to the fact that the logos is not an impersonal force; the logos is a person. The logos is a personal God who came into the world in the man named Jesus.”

And for the Jewish people, they understood it because the phrase “the Word of the Lord” appeared so many times in the Old Testament, and the Word of the Lord was simply the revelation of God. You would know something about God when He spoke. Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “God who, in time past, by the fathers and through the prophets, spoke in many ways at various times, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”

So the Word of the Lord is the Word of God to people. There’s no greater manifestation of that, than Jesus Christ. He is God speaking to us. If you want to hear from God, you can read the Old Testament and you will hear what God spoke to the fathers and the prophets who wrote that. But if you want the fullest revelation of God, you go to the New Testament because God spoke to us in Christ.

So John is telling us that Jesus is the exact representation of the nature of God. So “the Word became flesh.” Though God is an immutable, pure, eternal being and is not changing, developing, growing being, yet He enters into creation and takes on humanity, which is in the process of becoming. And He starts out in a womb and becomes a child. He grows in wisdom, stature and favor with God and man.

The One who is a pure being becomes a man, becomes flesh and dwelt among us. His humanity is not an apparition. He didn’t take on the appearance of humanity or some apparition of humanity or some illusion of humanity, He actually took on flesh and dwelt among us. Philippians 2:7 says, He was made in the likeness of men. Hebrews 2:14 says, “He partook of flesh and blood.”

For thirty-three years, Colossians 2:9, “the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily”, fully God and fully man. That’s John’s message through this book. You must be right about Christ. Any assault on His deity is a heresy; any assault on His humanity is also heresy. Now, in order to demonstrate that Jesus is fully God in human flesh, John takes us through three very important truths.

There are three things that demonstrate the deity of Christ: His preexistence with God, His coexistence with God, and His self-existence with God. “In the beginning was the Word.” What beginning? In the beginning of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The Word, who is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was already in existence when God created everything that exists.

Now, if you’re not a part of the creation, you’re not a part of time and space. If you’re not a part of time and space, then you’re eternal. John affirms His preexistence. He existed before the beginning of everything that exists. He already existed. That’s described in the imperfect tense of the verb “to be”. The imperfect tense means continuously. He was continuously existing when the beginning began.

Time began with creation. Time began on the first day when God created and the second day and the third, and time has marched on until time will one day end, and we will live in eternity without time. That is why Jesus used a title that God uses to describe His own eternality. When Moses wanted to know the name of God, God said, “My name is I AM WHO I AM.”

In John 8:58 Jesus says to the Jews, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He only speaks of Himself in the present tense because there never was a time He didn’t exist. This is reinforced in verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” The Word was with God is repeated in verse 2, “He was in the beginning with God.” This is an emphasis to make sure we don’t miss the point.

He not only exists as the eternal God, and it says it in verse 1, “The Word was God,” so He existed eternally with God. This is very important because what it tells us is that not only is He the eternal God, but He is distinct from the eternal God. And this is where we come to understand that there is one God and yet there are three persons. Here we find two of them. The Word was God, but the Word was also with God.

Only in a Trinitarian way can that be explained, to be God by nature and yet be a distinct person, being with God. We know from Genesis 1 that the Holy Spirit was also there, brooding over the face of the waters and bringing shape into the creation. The whole Trinity is involved in this creative work. Yes, God the Father is the Creator, and the Holy Spirit is the One who moves over the creation and brings life to it.

Alongside the truth of pre-existence comes the second truth of co-existence. If He preexisted time and space, creation, then He has to be uncreated. If He’s uncreated, He has to be God. All angels were created. All fallen angels fell from heaven in which God had made them holy, and they rebelled and fell. Every person in the universe is a created being except the Creator Himself.

Colossians 2:9, “In Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.” He is full deity. God was the Word. These four words in Greek are the clearest, most direct declaration of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ in all four gospels. So He is preexistent, outside time and space, before anything that is made is made. And He is co-existent, He is fully God. These are essentials for salvation faith.

Thirdly, He self-existed. If you’re not created, then you’ve existed outside creation. Pre-existent, co-existent, self-existent. How do we establish that? Verse 3, “All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being.” This is a reiteration essentially of what is in Hebrews, that God made all things through Jesus Christ.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 8:6, “There is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” God is the Creator. The Holy Spirit is an agent in creation. But at the end, God does all His creating through the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn’t deny God as Creator. But it says that the Son of God is the agent by which the creating is done.

Now, this also leads to another conclusion in verse 4, “In Him was life.” Nobody gave Him life. He is alive and the source of life. And the word used is not ‘bios’ because we’re not just talking about biological life, which is one form of life. But the word is ‘zōē’, which has to do with spiritual life, the reality of life. A baby has biological life, but it has also a spiritual life that comes from God.

God has the power in Him for all of that kind of life. And spiritual life lasts forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself life. He said that, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He is the fundamental reality of all that exists. He is not the Jesus of the cults; He is not the Jesus of Liberalism. He is the Jesus who is fully God, fully man, who is the means by which everything that exists exists.

And not only is He the means that came into existence, but Hebrews 1:3 says, “By His power, He upholds all things.” He not only gave life, but He sustains life. He not only created, but He sustains the creation because in Him was life. And then in verse 4 John continues, “The life was the Light of men.” That’s why He came into the world, to shine light into the darkness, to reveal God.

Jesus is the eternal life source, manifest in the world like light shining in the darkness. And the Light, verse 5 says, shines in the darkness and the darkness didn’t comprehend it.” Light always overcomes darkness. What is the darkness? Well, in Luke 22:53, Jesus was coming to the cross, and He said, “This is the hour of the power of darkness.” The darkness refers to Satan and demons.

This opening of the gospel of John is such a powerful statement of the person of Christ and His impact on the world. The demon darkness cannot extinguish the Light. The Light is shining in the world, it has been shining in the world for a long time. It has been available to any who would listen. Do you believe that Jesus is God in human flesh? That’s the foundation of saving faith. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Jun 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200607 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A2 imblog

Galatians 6:11-18

Please open your Bible to Galatians 6:11-18. Paul collects some thoughts here from various aspects of his emphasis in this book. Let us read these, “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! 12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.”

“13 For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”

“16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. 17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. 18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.” The cross has been the symbol of Christianity since our Lord’s death. It stands on top of churches around the world.

Crucifixion was originally designed by the Persians. But it was really perfected by the Romans, who crucified tens of thousands of people. Some historians tell us that as many as thirty thousand people were crucified by the Romans in and around the land of Israel around the time of our Lord. So the Jewish people were used to seeing people hanging on crosses, bleeding and suffocating.

It was not only an instrument of physical torture, but it was also a tool of degradation. To be suspended on high along a public highway totally naked, nailed by hand and foot, and left to bake in the sun while the gawking crowds looked up, to be attacked by birds and insects and end up dead was about as degrading as anything that could ever be done to a human being.

The ancient Roman historian Suetonius and Tacitus both wrote that the people called “Christians” were followers of a criminal who was crucified by Pontius Pilate, giving secular affirmation to the biblical account. It was offensive to the Jews because there was no way that in their messianic theology they would see their Messiah ending up on a cross, crucified by unclean Gentiles.

In spite of Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, the Jews didn’t expect the Messiah to be crucified. Consequently, the cross was for them a stumbling block, a barrier to believing that Jesus was the Messiah. To the Gentiles, the cross was just foolishness, that a crucified Jew, rejected by His leaders and His nation, was in fact the eternal Creator God of the universe and the only Savior of the world.

So Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1 that the cross is to the Gentiles, foolishness; and to the Jews, it is a stumbling block. Verse 18, “But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.” Because we see in the cross the power of God to crush His own Son for our sins, to save us as believers from divine wrath, such that it didn’t destroy Jesus; but rather He came back to life after three days.

We see the loving wisdom of God at the cross, in punishing the suffering Savior. If God wanted to have people in heaven, if God wanted a bride for His Son, if God wanted to bring to glory a redeemed humanity who would forever praise Him, He had to get them to heaven. Their sins had to be dealt with, and so He punished His Son for them, and then imputed His Son’s righteousness to us.

On the cross, Jesus died our death, that we might live His eternal life. Philippians 3:17-18 says, “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” You either embrace and glorify in the cross, or you are an enemy of the cross.

Many enemies of the cross make Paul weep. Why? Because Philippians 3:19 says, “Whose end is destruction.” What you do at the cross determines your eternal destiny. Now in Galatians we have learned much about the cross. Back in Galatians 3:1, we were told that Jesus was crucified there. In Galatians 2:20, Paul says that believers were crucified with Him there.

“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live.” When Jesus died, we died. When He came to life, we came to life because we were in Him. And then in Galatians 5:24, we learned that our flesh was crucified there. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Our flesh was crucified there. In other words, the dominant power of the flesh was broken.

Everything happened at the cross. That is in contrast to what was being taught by some Jewish teachers who said they believed in the Messiah Jesus, and said they were a part of the church. But they said, “You’re not real believers. You’re not forgiven. You’re not going to enter heaven.” Why? “Because Jesus Christ is not enough, you must be circumcised and follow the Mosaic ceremonial law.”

So even Gentiles were required to be circumcised and adhere to the Mosaic Law. That’s a false gospel. Paul says in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.” You can accept Christ and add works, and you end up with the same damning message. The law cannot save you, it only curses you.

People think that there are two roads to heaven to God. One is the religion of human achievement where you earn your way to heaven by your morality, by your goodness, by your religiosity, by ceremonies and rituals. This is the category which includes all false religions in this world. They’re all just different forms of the religion of human achievement where there is no hope for those people.

The other is the true religion of divine accomplishment, where everything is done by God, and it’s offered to us by grace and received by faith only, and not works. That’s what Paul’s been dealing with throughout this letter. In verses 11 to 13, we see boasting in the flesh; and in verses 14 to 16, we see boasting in the cross. And you will see the difference here in just some interesting ways.

Verse 11, “See with what large letters I’m writing to you with my own hand.” Very unusual for Paul to write a letter with his own hand. Normally his letters were written by a scribe who took down dictation. Often Paul would sign his name at the end, as in 1 Corinthians, Colossians, and in 2 Thessalonians. But Galatians is his first letter and he just attacks them with fury over the false gospel.

There may be another reason he writes large letters. In Galatians 4:13, he says, “But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time.” What was it? In verse 15 he says, “I bear you witness that, if possible, you’d have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.” Well, in the ancient world, when your eyes went bad, there was no cure.

Paul is looking at his letter and saying, “Because of my poor eyesight, you know how hard it is for me to write with my own hand. But what I have to say is so important that I couldn’t wait, and so I went ahead and wrote. I’ve never tried to impress you with my personal skills. And this letter is not written in an attractive way, but it is the truth, and it is the gospel from God.”

And with that he introduces again the Judaizers boasting in the flesh. Verse 12, “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh.” This reminds me of those who preach the false gospel. This is a blow at the Judaizers. He hates their doctrine. He has destroyed their doctrine, and now he wants to say a few things about their motives: Why do they spread a false doctrine?

Motive Number One is pride, “to make a good showing in the flesh.” That’s what legalists do, they show off. It seems that the more paraphernalia they wear, the more they declare their hypocrisy. The more it is for show, the less it is reality. They make a good showing in the flesh. They want to make an outward impression of being holy and virtuous for other people.

This was a way of life for legalistic Jews. Luke 16:14 says that the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were scoffing at Jesus and mocking Him. Jesus said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men.” The greater your spiritual pride, the greater your eternal condemnation. Jesus continued, “For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

Second motive was cowardice, verse 12, “They try to compel you to be circumcised only so that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” These were Jews who would condone it if you believed in Jesus but held onto Judaism. We all know the Jews in Jerusalem and Israel persecuted the believers in Jesus Christ; and they wound up slaughtering many of them.

And what offended them was the cross. But what offended them probably more was that the cross declares that you are a sinner. The cross declares that you cannot please God, whoever you are. The cross declares that you deserve to be punished, but God has punished Christ in your place. The cross declares you are a sinner who is both unwilling and unable to please God.

And the Romans had actually legalized Judaism. So the Romans saw Christianity as a threat to Caesar, because all Romans knew that Caesar was lord. And if you said Jesus is Lord you were an insurrectionist. Christians were burned in garden parties for Caesar. Judaizers held on in order to escape the persecution that comes to those who believed in the gospel of the cross.

There’s a third characteristic that shows up in their boasting in the flesh, and that’s their hypocrisy, verse 13, “For those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.” They want to show you off like some kind of convert when they can’t even keep the law themselves.

Nobody can keep the law. That’s why our Lord in Matthew 23:27 said these Pharisees are painted white like a tomb on the outside; but inside, they’re full of dead men’s bones. In Romans 2:21-23 Paul says, “You who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You blaspheme God.”

Paul will boast only in the cross, verse 14, “May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the religion of grace. The cross says, “You can’t save yourself.” The cross says, “God had to save you by offering His own Son, placing your sins on Him, punishing Him in your place.” You deserve hell; the Father gave that hell to Christ in three hours of darkness.

Why did He surrender to the cross? Reason Number One: The cross frees us from the world’s bondage, verse 14, “through the cross the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Judaism, which started out as a revelation from God, in the Old Testament had become a false religion. The god of this world is no longer my God. Paul says, “I have been freed from the world by the cross.”

Verse 15, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” I’m separated from the system that is perishing. Not only that, I am a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Old things have passed away, everything has become new.” The frustration of religious self-effort and works is gone. In the language of John, “I’ve been born again. I have a new heart, I have a new spirit.”

The power of the cross brought me the blessings of salvation.” They’re implied in the words of verse 16: “Those who will walk by this rule, this principle,” – meaning the principle of grace and faith as demonstrated in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ –“those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them.” When you leave the law behind and come to the cross, your life is flooded with peace.

Peace is God giving you what you don’t deserve. Mercy is holding back from you what you do deserve. Paul continues, “and upon the Israel of God.” This is a direct hit at these Judaizing false teachers; they are the Israel of Israel, but they are not the Israel of God. He means Jews who are real believers who belong to God. Romans 2:28-29, “The only true Jews are those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And then his final words, verse 17, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” He is talking to the people in the church who are making his life miserable because they’re listening to the false teachers. And he’s talking to the false teachers who are attacking him. Paul says, “I am beaten is not because of what I’ve done, it’s because of who I represent.”

Paul says, “I’m all of that. I’m a slave a Christ, a soldier of Christ, devoted to Him. I’m a criminal as far as the world is concerned, and I’m hated because I have Jesus branded on me.” Every scar he ever got was a brand, a brand for Christ. “These are the scars of Jesus.” And then a farewell in verse 18, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.” He is giving us his blessings too. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 31 May 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200531 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A1 imblog

Galatians 6:7-10

Galatians 6:7-10 is one of those important portions of Scripture that every believer should know. “7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

“10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The physical universe is built on absolute laws. There are physical laws, and those laws are consistent; they do not vary. Just as there are laws that control all of that, so there are moral laws. There are laws in the spiritual realm that are equally fixed and absolute.

Here is one of God’s absolute, fixed principles; it is stated in verse 7, “Whatever a man sows, this will he also reap.” Now that is true in farming, in gardening, and in planting anything. That is also true physically in his world: whatever you sow, you reap. But Paul is making the point here spiritually, that reality in the natural world is also understood in the spiritual world.

Verse 7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this will he also reap.” Don’t think you can ignore God; this law will never ever change – a principle that no one can deny. Paul says to the Galatian believers and to all of us, “Now that you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit is in you, and you are led by the Holy Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit, you will realize the fruit of the Spirit.”

Galatians 5:22, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” If you walk in the Spirit that is the fruit.” On the other hand, in Galatians 5:19, if you plant seeds of the flesh, you will harvest: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.”

Now in the Galatians 5 and 6 he’s telling us how to live the Christian life. Verse 7 starts with, “Do not be deceived.” That’s an important warning. Most Christians are somewhat deceived about the consequences of their sinful behaviors. We tend to believe that because we’re under grace, because we’ve been forgiven and that’s forever, we cannot lose our salvation because God is gracious.

But the apostle Paul says, “Don’t deceive yourself.” “Deceive” is an interesting word, it comes from planaō, which means “to be led astray.” That’s deception. 1 Corinthians 3:18 says, “Let no man deceive himself.” So not only can we be led astray and deceived by somebody else, we are pretty good at deceiving ourselves. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things.”

In Obadiah 1:3, the prophet said, “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you.” Your heart is arrogant, self-protective, self-promoting, self-fulfilling, and self-defending. Pride is the primary sin, selfishness. You have a selfish heart that wants to spin your life the best way to make you feel the best about your behavior. So your heart will deceive you. As long as you’re in this world, you have that deceptive heart.

Self-deceit is a problem for all of us, and it tends to run typically like this: you’re saved, you’re on the way to heaven, you’re under grace, the Lord will never let you go, so there can’t really be too serious consequences if I walk in the flesh. You can add to that the fact that there is a deceiver in the world. Revelation 20:3 says, Satan is the deceiver who deceives the whole world.

So you not only have an internal deceiver, you have an external deceiver. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’” If you associate with bad company, they corrupt your morals. Listen to Romans 16:17, “I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.”

So it’s not about works, it’s about the power of the Spirit. So people say: my works didn’t contribute to my salvation, they can’t undo my salvation. This is antinomianism, which is fleshly living in the name of grace. Jude 1:17-18, “Beloved, remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to you, ‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’” Well, we are now in the ‘last time’.

Now, having said that, here comes His law, “whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” That’s so straightforward and true that it doesn’t really need an explanation. Paul wants us to understand that you have a choice as a believer: you can walk in the Spirit, or you can walk in the flesh. Don’t think for a moment that you can walk in the flesh and not pay the consequence.

Remember Nebuchadnezzar who mocked God in the book of Daniel? What happened to him? He was turned into an animal. Remember Belshazzar in Daniel 5 who mocked God? And what happened to him? The destruction of his entire kingdom. You have Romans 1:18, where “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”

The wrath in Romans is the wrath of God turning them over to their own sin, to immorality, to homosexuality, and a reprobate mind. Now the wrath of God has a number of forms. Let’s start with the final form: eternal wrath is hell, where all unbelievers will suffer punishment forever. The Bible also talks about eschatological wrath; that’s the wrath at the end of human history.

That’s wrath described by the prophets and described by our Lord in the Olivet Discourse at the end of His ministry in Jerusalem, and it’s described particularly in the book of Revelation. There’s also cataclysmic wrath. Cataclysmic wrath is what we see in natural disasters and plagues throughout human history, where in some cases in the past, millions of people died from a plague.

And in the modern time, tens of thousands die in a tsunami, and many die in a hurricane, etc. The fallen world, the cursed world is subject to these cataclysmic events, which are a form of divine wrath. But eschatological wrath is a period of time in the future. Eternal wrath is after time has ended, and cataclysmic wrath kind of comes and goes at points in time and place.

But there is another kind of wrath that’s operating all the time. It’s cyclical, and it’s sowing and reaping wrath: what you sow, you reap. And it is happening all the time. “Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” Whenever he sows, he will set in motion the wrath of God. Often people nowadays call it ‘karma’. If you think you can violate it you are mocking God.

Man’s atheistic identification is a mockery of God; and you can’t do that without consequences. For it’s not just atheism. People who believe in God and reject His Son are also mocking God; or people who have received His Son, but think they can sin without consequences. That’s also mocking God, and that relates to us. Listen to Job 4:8, “Those who plow iniquity sow trouble and harvest it.”

Proverbs 1:31, “They shall eat of the fruit of their own way.” Proverbs 11:18, “The wicked earns deceptive wages; he who sows righteousness earns a true reward.” Or Hosea 8:7, “They who sow the wind reap the whirlwind.” The harvest is determined by the planting, like begets like. The fruit of a life is determined by what that life has planted. A man’s character is the harvest of his habits.

Witness, for example, the absolute frustration and hopelessness of psychiatry and psychology to put people together. Why? Because of this law. The only way that you can get out of the bondage of this law is to become a believer and to be transformed; and even then the law still operates. But for the nonbelievers, they can only sow sin, and they can only reap corruption.

Numbers 32:23 says, “Be sure your sins will find you out.” Isaiah 3:11, “Woe to the wicked! It will go badly for him, for what he deserves will be done to him.” Isaiah 59:12, “Our sins testify against us.” Romans 2:9, “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil.” So the law of God is unchanging, immutable, and relentless, as God’s nature is unchanging and relentless.

God, at the point of salvation, intercepts that operating law, intercepts and gives new life, so that now you have the capacity since being freed from that law to do what honors God, to walk in the Spirit by the miracle of redemption. You can now reap what Christ has sown. So in your daily life, if you walk in the flesh, you’ll harvest the flesh. If you walk in the Spirit, you’ll harvest the blessings of God.

Salvation doesn’t prevent people who drink, smoke and abuse their bodies from getting sick or get cancer. The person who gets in a fight may be a Christian, but that’s not going to prevent him from ending up hurt. If you drive recklessly and have an accident, being a Christian isn’t going to protect you from ending up in the hospital. If you sin immorally, that’s not going to protect you from venereal disease.

Here is king David, a man after God’s own heart. He wrote many of those beautiful psalms; a true worshiper, whose life is marked by outrageous sin; and always there are consequences. In verse 8, the law is explained: “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Flesh is always the starting point for sin.

James 1:14-16, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” From the flesh you will reap corruption, which means, decay, disintegration, degeneration, or even the ultimate corruption, which is death.

John Stott wrote, “Every time we allow our mind to harbor a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fancy, or wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh. Every time we linger in bad company, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up and praying, every time we read pornographic literature, every time we take a risk that strains our self-control, we are sowing to the flesh.”

Verse 8, “The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” What do you mean, ‘reap eternal life’? Don’t we already have eternal life?” Well, when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been given eternal life. But this is talking about here and now. This is where this law operates. This law isn’t operating in heaven. The results are showing up in this world only.

Well, what is meant with, “to reap eternal life?” Paul means that we’re going to reap the full blessings contained in that life which is already ours in Christ. Like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and other blessings. That Christian reaps all the satisfactions and all the joys of eternal life. So the law is explained.

This divine law has been stated and explained, is now fulfilled in verse 9, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” At this point, some of the Galatians, and maybe some of you are thinking, I’ve been sowing a lot of good things; I’ve been walking in the Spirit. When does the harvest come? That’s what this verse is addressing.

“Let us not lose heart in doing good,” because you can be pouring your life into walking in the Spirit and wondering why things are difficult in your life. “Don’t lose heart in doing good, in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Due time is God’s time. Christians frequently act like children. They want to sow and reap the same day. This is advice for us: “Do not lose heart. Do not grow weary.”

Don’t sin by becoming discouraged. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul says, “My beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Keep doing it, knowing your toil is not in vain. No place for weariness, no place for spiritual laziness. God has been faithful to us, we need to be faithful to sow the seeds of righteousness.

Finally, the principle has been stated and its fulfillment promised. The divine law is applied in verse 10, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The opportunity is the time period between our salvation and our glorification. Let us do good to all people. “The good” he has spoken of is love, joy, peace, all that is virtuous, noble and honorable.

The New Testament is full of calls on us to do good, to silence the critics, to manifest the transformation that Christ has wrought in our lives, to be lights in the world. This is the heart of our Christian testimony. So while we are in this season of life, let us do good to all people; let us be known by our goodness. “Especially to those who are of the household of faith,” especially fellow believers.

Ephesians 2:19, “you are no longer strangers and aliens, you’re fellow citizens with the saints, and you’re of God’s household.” You’re part of His family from whom every family in heaven and earth derives its name. This ought to be the motivation for living your life, walking in the Spirit, that you might reap the fruit of the Spirit. Holiness is the harvest of righteous sowing. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 May 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200524 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000A0 imblog

Galatians 6:1-6

We are finishing up Galatians now after Easter. Paul has been defending his apostleship, he has been defending the gospel, and he has been defining what it is to live a Christian life, freedom in Christ rather than legalism. In Galatians 1 and 2 Paul defends his apostleship, in Galatians 3 and 4 he defends the gospel. And in Galatians 4 and 5 he deals with issues of the Christian life.

Paul writes about spiritual life and how to walk in the Holy Spirit, how to live a life of freedom in Christ that is still obedient. Galatians 5:16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus, they have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, 26 let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Galatians 6:1-6, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he’s something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But each one must examine his own work.”

And then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. 5 For each one will bear his own load. 6 The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.” The church has to face this reality. As much as we want unity, purity, virtue and holiness, the church will always be divided between those who walk in the Spirit and those who walk in the flesh.

At any given time in the life of the church we have both of these side by side. We are struggling in ourselves with this conflict. Look at Romans 7:14-25, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.”

“17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

“21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ!”

So that is true in the life of every believer. There is a battle going on between the power of the Spirit energizing the new creation and the power of the flesh in remaining humanness. Since that is every Christian’s struggle, it is also the struggle of every church. There are always some who at any point in time are walking in the Spirit, and others who are walking in the flesh.

Now how does sanctification relate to this? Sanctification or our progressive holiness is the decreasing frequency of sin. It is the decreasing intensity of those episodes where we walk in the flesh. What happens is, as you are sanctified and more conformed to the person of Jesus Christ, you have fewer times when you walk in the flesh, and they are not as powerful as they once were.

The New Testament has a lot to say about this. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul was writing to a church that was like any other church struggling with sin. There were those walking in the Spirit and they apparently were not doing anything about those walking in the flesh. Paul tells them, “You’ve got to deal with this immoral person openly, and you’ve got to deliver him, if necessary, over to Satan.

There may be some fleshly destruction, but his soul will be saved,” which indicates that this is a believer walking in the flesh. They hadn’t done that. “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Throw out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump. For Christ offered a sacrifice to redeem sins, so you need then to confront sin and deal with it.”

Paul talks about an occasion where sin was confronted, and there was a positive response in the life of this individual. So in 2 Corinthians 2:6-8 Paul says, “This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, 7 so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.”

Verse 9-11, “For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. 10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” Satan wants to use division in the church.

This is a person who has repented, he’s come back for restoration. You need to forgive this person, you need to love this person, you need to comfort this person, you need to fully embrace this person so that Satan doesn’t use this situation to perpetuate division in the church. Paul is concerned that the people there are being led away from purity and devotion to Christ.

So now back to Galatians, what is the church to do in dealing with this kind of sin? Where there is sin in the church, what is our objective? Galatians 6:1 says, “Restore such a one.” Now that’s the heart of this passage. The objective of spiritual discipline and church discipline is not to put people out; that’s a last resort for people who won’t repent. The point of all of this confrontation of sin is restoration.

Now what is the pattern that we are to use in approaching sin, dealing with it, and coming to a point of restoration? In Matthew 18 we have the first instruction ever given to the church by our Lord in the New Testament. Verse 15, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.”

Verse 16-18, “But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. 18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

In other words, put him/her out of the church if he/she will not repent. You’ve gone to the person, you’ve taken two or three witnesses, the whole church has gone and he/she still does not repent, treat him like an outsider, because, as we’ve read in 1 Corinthians 5, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” You can’t just leave them there in a constant perpetual state of sin, he will affect others.

And now if they repent, look at Matthew 18:21, “Peter came and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’” Peter knows the pattern. “Well, if you do this, people are going to sin again. How often do you keep doing this? Do you do it seven times?” The rabbis said three times. Peter thought he’d double it and add one because he was felt noble.

Verse 22, “Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven times.” You just keep forgiving and forgiving. At the end of everything, forgiveness is what sustains and restores all relationships. So where there is sin and repentance, how do we deal with the restoration process; because Galatians 6:1 says, “Restore such a one.”

What does the church do? Galatians 5:26 says, “Let us not become boastful, provoking one another, envying one another.” Provoking literally means “to create a conflict.” So there’s a potential here for severe conflict between the boastful and the envious. The boastful would tend to be the spiritual ones, “thinking you have a rightful claim to honor.” That is conceit, empty vanity.

In Galatians 5:13, Paul said, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you’re not consumed by one another.” And then he says, “Walk in the Spirit and not the flesh. If you don’t come together, you’re going to have conflict in the church.”

In Galatians 6:1-2 we see the remedy for this, “Brethren, if a man is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” There are three steps when you find someone walking in the flesh. Number One: Pick them up. “Brethren, if anyone is caught in a trespass.”

Your attitude should be “in a spirit of gentleness.” It’s humility. It’s the kind of humble, gentle, sweet-spirited, loving care over someone who has stumbled; and you’re there to pick that person up. So you basically follow the pattern of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. James 4 it tells us not to judge. It means “to speak against someone in a derogatory way, in a way of accusation and defamation.”

Now sometimes they don’t want that and they don’t respond. 2 Thessalonians 3:6, “We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you stay away from every brother who leads an unruly life.” You want to stay away, because a little leaven is very corrupting. At the end of verse 1, “each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” In other words, you’re no better than they are.

Secondly, hold them up. Now you’ve got the responsibility, verse 2 says, to bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” You shoulder the load as they try to come out from under the sin that has beset them; you get under the burden with them. Whatever oppresses that believer, whatever has defeated that believer, you get under the affliction, you get under the burden.

And when you do that, thirdly, you fulfill the law of Christ. What is the law of Christ? The law of Christ is the law of love. James 2:8 says it’s the royal law. What is the perfect law and the royal law? “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” You fulfill the law of love by holding up a believer who has stumbled. You come alongside with them, you walk with them, you care for them, and you pray with them.

Verse 3, “If anyone thinks he’s something when he’s nothing, he deceives himself.” If you think you’re too good to do this, you don’t know the truth about yourself. If you think this is beneath you, you are self-deceived. Conceit is vain glory. You are nothing when you think you’re something. And then how do you get self-deceived? By comparing yourselves to others.

That’s not acceptable for believers. Verse 4 makes it clear. Rather than compare yourselves with others, “Each one must examine his own work,” in an absolute way, not compared to somebody else. You look at your own life. Am I what Christ wants me to be? You need to do that, because, verse 5 says, “Each one will bear his own load.” Our own baggage. Compare it to the Word of God and Christ Himself.

2 Corinthians 5:10, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he’s done, good or bad.” Whether it’s gold, silver, precious stones or wood, hay, and stubble; you’re going to show up at the bema judgment, the judgment of believers in the presence of the Lord. You’re going to be judged on your own baggage.

Then, lastly, there’s a final duty in verse 6, “The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.” What this implies is you now have a teaching relationship with this believer who will respond to your instruction by sharing good things back with you, so it is not a short-term enterprise. Now you have become the instructor, “The one who taught how to share.”

That’s the word “fellowship,” To fellowship with the teacher in all good things. And that will happen if you build the believer up in the Word, he will share back with you all good things. Paul is saying, you will be there receiving all the spiritual benefits that flow out of your investment in that person’s life. This is how the church sustains and maintains its unity of love. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 17 May 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200517 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000009F imblog

John 21

Well, we have examined the glories of Jesus Christ. We have seen His majesty and His glory. And like the apostles, we have fallen before Him in humble amazement. John records His marvelous words, His miraculous works, culminating at His death and His bodily resurrection, followed by His appearances. And John brings his gospel to its great climax.

The gospel of John provides evidence for the deity and messiahship of Jesus Christ, evidence that leads you to believe and have eternal life. That’s the high point of the gospel of John. Why do we have to go back to Peter? Can’t we just go flying into the book of Acts, and to His ascension, and to the Day of Pentecost and see that Peter? Why do we need this chapter?

It’s because with all the glory that has come through to the end of John 20, eventually that glory ends up in people, in ‘clay pots.’ This is for us. As our Lord ascended and the Holy Spirit came, the work was handed over to us, the clay pots who are weak, and ugly, and breakable, and marred, and replaceable. We are to carry the glorious gospel forward, even in our frailty and our weakness.

Peter did enough bad things to lose his apostle ordination. Occasionally he speaks for the devil, occasionally he pulls Jesus aside and tells Him what to do; and when it gets tough, he denies three times that he knows the Lord, and then he swears. John 21:1, “After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way.

Verse 2, Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee (James and John), and two other disciples (Philip and Andrew) were together.” Here are all the disciples who were in the fishing business. These are all from Galilea; and you can include Thomas. 3 Simon Peter said to them, ‘I’m going fishing.” Don’t misunderstand, this is not about recreation.

The Lord had told them in Matthew 28:16, “Go to Galilee, to a mountain that I tell you, and wait for Me there for further orders.” I’ll be there; you wait. In an impulsive move, Peter decides to go back to his former profession. And he is a leader, and like a bunch of followers, all the rest of the fishermen go with him. They were back in their own area and they went back to Peter’s own boat perhaps.

This is a boat big enough for all of them and they took nets. Why does Peter say, “I’m going fishing”? Hasn’t he seen the risen Christ? Yes. But he had absolutely no confidence in himself. He was a proven failure. He had overestimated his wisdom, he bragged about his strength. He openly declared that he could handle any threat and that boasting led him to betray Jesus.

The rest of verse 3 says, “They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.” Verse 4, “But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any food? They answered Him, “No.” This had happened earlier in Luke 5. And remember what Peter did then?

They fished all night for nothing. But when they obeyed Jesus they got so much fish that their net was breaking. And Peter felt not worthy. Here he was again, the same sinful man in the presence of the same Son of God. Verse 6, Jesus said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.”

There were no fish in that area. But when the Lord said to them, “Try the right side of the boat,” the authority in His voice caused the fish to do what they did, even though the disciples didn’t know who that person on the shore was. 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’ This great catch reminded them of what had happened before, and this is the last miracle in John.

“When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he was stripped for the work), and plunged into the sea.” This is so Peter, just so impulsive. Verse 8, “But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, about a hundred yards) dragging the net full of fish. 9 Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.”

Jesus had made breakfast. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught. 11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three.” It’s an eyewitness account of a number, they counted them; and it’s an indication this is a real miracle. “And although there were so many, the net was not torn.” Just another miracle; a massive catch without tearing the net.

Now that Peter and the others know that Jesus is there, they can’t fish anymore. That’s His lesson: You can’t fish; I control the fish. You can’t fish for fish when you’ve been called to fish for men (Matthew 4:19). And then the Lord does something amazing. He moves for the restoration of Peter and the others. Verse 12, “Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples dared to question Him.

Verse 13, “Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. 14 This was now the third time Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.” I don’t know what the conversation was like, but it must have been intense. There must have been a lot of apologies. We’re all guilty of defecting. And we’re all weak, and we’re all useless.

Then the Lord starts a restoration. You might have thought that He would have found a replacement group. But here is the good news. How does Jesus disciple a disciple? How does Jesus restore a disobedient disciple? How does Jesus do biblical counseling? How does He recover them for usefulness? Do you want to know? He asks him one question three times: “Do you love Me?”

I hear a lot about biblical counseling, discipleship. I have read many books on this. So how did Jesus disciple a disobedient and weak disciple? By asking him three times, “Do you love Me?” This is shocking for its simplicity. There’s no ambiguity in that, right? “Do you love Me?” The essence of what our Lord asked to restore the most critical disciple for the early church is love.

I had always known I needed to believe in Him, serve Him and witness for Him. I did not think much about loving Him. But I should have, because that is the first and greatest commandment. Deuteronomy 6, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind. That’s the first and great commandment.”

What does God want from me? God wants me to love Christ with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s the Christian life. 1 Corinthians 16:22 says, “Anybody who doesn’t love the Lord is anathema, damned.” The motive for all your sanctification and the motive for all your service is this simple: “Do you love Jesus?” So let’s look at their conversation.

Verse 15, “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’” Jesus always called him by his old name when he was acting like his old self as a disobedient believer. “Do you love Me more than these?” You mean more than these other disciples? That wouldn’t work. They were as guilty as he was. They were equally disobedient.

No. Do you love Me more than these boats, nets, fishing and trappings of your former life? This is like in Matthew 16:24, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny Himself.” You’ve got to let go of everything that made up your life. Jesus uses the word ‘agape’, the highest, noblest love. “Do you love Me more than anything else that you used to love in this world?”

Peter must have been very sorrowful. He said to Jesus, verse 15, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” But he changed the word. He didn’t use agape, the highest, noblest love of the will. He said, “I love you,” and he used phileo, which simply means a warm affection. “I like You a lot.” Why? Because he was guilty, broken and humbled. He could not say, “I love You at the highest, noblest level.”

Peter said, “I have to call on Your omniscience, and You know that I have deep affection for You.” It’s a blessing that the Lord knows everything and He knows that we love Him, even when it’s not obvious. He knows I love Him truly. I don’t love Him as I should. My love isn’t everything it should be, but it’s real. That’s what Peter is saying. The Lord says to him, “Feed My lambs.”

This is his ordination: “You’re accepted.” After all the ridiculous things that Peter has done, Jesus puts him right back in the ministry: “Feed My lambs.” Look at the personal pronoun. Jesus says these lambs are Mine.” Even with a love that is far less than the love the Lord deserves and desires, Peter is restored to the ministry with a love that only the Lord knows in His omniscience.

“Feed My lambs: My little ones, weak, vulnerable and prone to stray. I’m putting them all in your hands.” Think about John 17, where our Lord prays to His Father, “I’m going to the cross. Father, when I go to the cross I’m giving them to You to keep.” When He couldn’t care for them, He turned them over to His Father, and nothing could ever take them out of His Father’s hand. But here Jesus turned them over to Peter.

Verse 16, “Jesus said to him a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me (agape)?’ Peter said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ And He said, ‘Tend My sheep. 17 He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?’ And this time Jesus used Peter’s word phileo, ‘do you really have a strong affection for Me?’” This really hurt. This probes into Peter’s heart.

And Peter was grieved, not because it was the third time. He needed three times. After all, he had denied the Lord three times. It was because the third time the Lord questioned even the love that Peter thought he could get by with. And again he calls on His omniscience. “Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed My sheep.’”

With all our flaws and all our failures, all Jesus asks of us real love. Now this love has a cost, verse 18, “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” What does that mean? It’s a euphemism for crucifixion.

Because verse 19 says, “This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” This was the best news Peter ever heard in his life. Yes, because it told Peter this, “The next time you face death for Me, you will not deny Me.” And when his time came, he said he was not worthy to be crucified like his Lord, so he asked to be crucified upside-down.

Jesus says, “Follow Me!” Love that sacrifices in the face of death is love that obeys in life. But for Peter everything is hard. Verse 20, “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter can’t stand it when privileges are given to John to be next to Jesus.

Verse 21, “Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus didn’t say a lot, but this is funny. Verse 22, “Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” If he lives till I come the second time it’s none of your business. That’s sarcasm. Jesus says, “It none of your business if I want him to live till the second coming.”

So the rumor went out. Verse 23, “Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, only that, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?’” When John finally opened his mouth he produced the gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and the book of Revelation. John died 30 years after Peter’s crucifixion.

Peter learned his lesson. In 1 Peter 5, Peter is talking to us as a faithful shepherd. Verse 2, “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you.” He’s repeating what Jesus said to him three times, “exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 not as lording it over to those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.”

Verse 24, “This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.” Peter has gone from being a disciple who needed to be discipled to becoming our teacher inspired by God, telling us to shepherd His flock. As we read earlier, “though you have not seen Jesus, you love Him.” Peter closes his letter with, “Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 May 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200510 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000009E imblog

John 20:30-31

When we come to the two last verses in John 20, we come to John’s purpose statement. This is why he wrote this gospel. He writes in verses 30 -31, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

John has two stated purposes, one is evidential and the other is evangelistic. The first appeals to reason, the second appeals to faith. The first is that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, based on the evidence. The second is that you, in believing, may have life in His name; that’s evangelistic. The evidence is here so that we may believe, and by believing have eternal life in His name.

In John 8:24, our Lord essentially declared the exclusivity of His identify by saying this: “You will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.” The positive one is in John 14:6, “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” There is no other one to reconcile us to God, only Jesus. He is the only Savior, the only way to eternal life.

There is only one God, only one Savior and only one gospel. Apart from faith in Christ there is no escape from eternal judgment; therefore, it is critically important that God give us the evidence that Jesus is, in fact that only Savior. And that the evidence appeals to our reason so that we can follow the evidence to that conclusion that He is the only Messiah, the Son of God, the Redeemer and Savior.

And then because our reason has taken us to that conviction; our faith takes us to Christ Himself; and we believe and receive eternal life. You can discount all other religions in the world, they do not offer salvation. They are all a deception. There is no other Savior. There is no other gospel. There is no other God than the God of Scripture. There is no other revealed book than the Bible.

John states the exclusivity of Christ by saying in verse 30, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.” If you take all the miracles that John records and add all the ones that are in the other gospels, you have a list of about forty miracles that Jesus did. In particular, seven special sign miracles in John’s gospel.

But that is by no means the sum of all that miracles that Jesus did. In fact, there were many days when He did forty miracles in a day or more. There were many hours when He did seven miracles or more. For three years His life was marked by miracle after miracle, in an explosion of divine power that essentially banished disease from the land of Israel for the duration of His ministry.

The gospel writers, and in particular John, record just some of these miracles as evidence for who He is, and it’s important that you understand who He is and that you believe that He is the Savior. John 21:25 says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”

Now when we talk about signs we’re defining the purpose of a miracle. What is the purpose of a sign? A sign is to point to something. When you’re at the sign, you are realizing that you’re going in the right direction. Verse 31 says, “These signs which have been written by John so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Now what signs is John talking about? Some say that when Jesus said, “As the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,” in John 3:14 that He was pointing to Himself as the one who demonstrated the power of God to heal and restore those who were bitten. Others say that His riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, as prophesized in the Old Testament by Zechariah, is another sign.

Others say that His predicting His own death and even the details around His own death, arrest, suffering, and the crucifixion, just as predicted in Isaiah 53 is an indication that Jesus is the Messiah. And, surely, all of these things do point to Him as the Messiah, and so do the many times that He said throughout the gospel of John, “I am the living water. I am the bread of life, I am the Good Shepherd.”

So what exactly does John mean with “these signs?” He is talking about the seven miracles in the gospel of John. John records seven specific miracles up to and including the resurrection of Jesus. There is another miracle after the resurrection in John 21 where the Lord demonstrates His control over fish, the power over the animal kingdom and make animals do anything He wants them to do.

But leading up to where we are now in verses 30 and 31, there are seven miracles. These are the signs that John has in mind. Three people during Jesus’ ministry were raised from the dead, the third one being Lazarus. And then Jesus Himself was raised from the dead and they still did not believe. Jesus said before, “If they don’t believe the Scriptures, they won’t believe though someone was raised from the dead.”

The Jews wanted supernatural miracles. So in John 4:48, Jesus said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” In John 5:36 our Lord says, “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John the Baptist; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish – the very works that I do – testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”

In John 6:26, “Jesus answered them and said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.’” That was after He had fed as many as 20,000 people. You want the food. You want the healing. You want deliverance from demons. You want deliverance from death. All you’re doing now is chasing signs for your own gratification.

There had been signs throughout His Galilean ministry, miracles throughout the final year of His return to Judea, but still they wanted more signs; it was never enough. In John 10:17-18 Jesus says, “I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

John 10:37-38 says, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” This is late in His ministry, and when He claims to be the one the signs declare Him to be, they accuse Him of blasphemy. Verse 39, “They were seeking to seize Him, to arrest Him, to kill Him, but He eluded them.”

The first sign came in John 2 where Jesus was at a wedding and they ran out of wine on the third day of a seven day festival. So Jesus, at his mother’s request, turned six pots of water of thirty gallons each, into the best wine people ever had. Verse 11, “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

Look to John 4, for the second miracle identified as a sign. This is the healing of a nobleman’s son, verse 47 says, who was ill to the point of death. Jesus healed that son who was near death, and verse 54 says, “This again is the second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.” So now we know these signs are specific miracles.

The third one happens in John 5, which is the healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. He was paralyzed for 38 years, and there was this superstition that the first one in the water would be healed. Jesus came along and healed him instantaneously. And told him to stand up, pick up his bed and walk, after not walking for 38 years. This is an incredible miracle of complete restoration and rehabilitation.

Here is the fourth sign, where Jesus has power over natural law. In John 6:1-14, He creates food to feed 5,000 men. All He has to start with is two fish and five biscuits, and He feeds up to 20,000 people, gives them all they can possibly eat, and has twelve baskets left over for the twelve apostles. Subsequent to that, He walks on water and stills a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Then in John 9 we see the fifth sign, Jesus heals a man who was born blind from birth. “And the disciples said, ‘Rabbi,’ to the Lord, ‘who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” This man is healed, to put God on display, to manifest the glory of God to the people.

And then the sixth sign was be John 11, which is raising Lazarus from the dead, and he has been dead four days, his body is in a state of decay, and yet Jesus raises him from the dead. Verse 4, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” All these signs are to display the glory of God manifest in the Son of God who is God.

The final seventh sign comes in John 20 and it’s the resurrection of Jesus. In John 2:18-21, “The Jews were saying to Him, ‘What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?’ 19 Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”

Verse 22, “So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.’” John 20 records that sign. He had the power Himself to rise from the dead to conquer death. Those are the signs that John details as evidences that this is the Messiah, the Son of God. This happened to demonstrate the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

That’s the point that John reiterates in John 20:31, “These signs are given so that you may see His glory as the Messiah, the Son of God, and believe in Him.” In John 1:14, we read, “The Word became flesh,” meaning Christ “dwelt among us, and we saw His glory.” And what glory was it? “It was glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

What is the purpose of the signs? To put the glory of God in Christ on display. Now what was their response? Were there people who believed? There were some. In fact, in John 1:41, the disciples who became His apostles believed. Andrew says, “We have found the Messiah.” And in John 1:49, Nathanael says, “You are the Son of God.” There are those two terms used by believers: Messiah and Son of God.

And then the Samaritans in John 4. Our Lord discloses who He is to the Samaritan woman, verse 25, “The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.’ 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 28 She left her waterpot, went to the city and said to the men, 29 Come see a Man who told me all the things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’

Verse 39, “And many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all the things that I ever did.’ “So He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

The man who was blind in John 9, what was his response after he was healed? He didn’t have faith to be healed, Jesus healed him sovereignly. John 9:35, “Jesus looked him up and found him and said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘Who is He, Lord that I may believe in Him?’ Jesus said, ‘You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking to you,’ and he said, ‘Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him.”

There were even some rulers who believed, John 12:42, “Many of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear they’d be put out of the synagogue.” At least two of these silent believers show up to bury the Lord and declare themselves as His true followers: Joseph of Arimathea, whose tomb He was buried in and Nicodemus.

The Passover crowds were fickle in their faith. John 2:23, “When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs.” But Jesus knew it was not true faith. It was a superficial and false faith. In John 8:31, “Jesus said to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.”

This is very disappointing; there are people who believe superficially in Christ, but that’s not saving faith. The sum of it is expressed in John 12:37, “Though Jesus had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.” As Isaiah 6 says, God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart.

They would not believe, God judged them, so they could not believe. Unfortunately it still is this way right now. Do you believe? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 May 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200503 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000009D imblog

John 20:19-29

We’ve looked at the empty tomb that is the first evidence of our Lord’s resurrection. We also noted appearance of the two angels, which is the second evidence. And the third are then there are the many eyewitnesses, and particularly Mary Magdalene. It is remarkable that such a woman with such a past and with no significant role would be the first person to see the risen Christ, not the apostles.

Before they saw Jesus, however, the disciples were full of fear and doubt. The last thing they expect was a resurrection. They don’t even believe the testimony of eyewitnesses who were credible and known. Why is it that they preached the risen Christ against hatred, opposition, and eventually gave their lives as martyrs for the gospel of the resurrection? There had to be an event that transformed them.

What had happened on the day of resurrection? Our Lord comes out of the grave early in the morning, before the women arrive at the tomb. The tomb is empty, the stone is rolled away by an angel and the grave clothes are lying there. Luke 24:4, “And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.” We know they are angels.

Verse 5-8, “Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ 8 And they remembered His words.”

“9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.” All credible witnesses, well-known followers of Jesus. But to the apostles, verse 11, “their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.”

“12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.” Again, not sure whether he actually believed in a resurrection. The women are told by two angels He has risen. These who give the testimony are messengers from heaven. This is God’s word on what happened to the Lord Jesus.

In the meantime, we know the Lord appeared personally to Mary Magdalene. Somewhat later that day we read in Luke 24:13-35 about two followers of Jesus who were on their way to the town of Emmaus. They were walking and talking. In verse 15, “Jesus Himself approached them and began traveling with them. 16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.”

Jesus is in a physical form, but transcendent form. It is a physical body fit for another dimension, another realm. So they walk and talk with Him. Eventually they say how sad they are, because the one they had hoped would be the Messiah is dead. And, finally, our Lord explains to them that this is what the Old Testament promised. Verse 25, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!”

Verse 26, “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” He gave them a messianic interpretation of the Old Testament which applied to Him. They still don’t know who He is. 28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated He would go farther.

29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He stayed with them. 30 Now as He sat at the table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road.” So now Mary Magdalene has seen Him. The women have heard from the angels. And two followers on the road to Emmaus have seen Him.

Luke 24:36, “Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.” Now let’s go to John 20:19, “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut for fear of the Jews.”

“Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” When it says the doors were shut, the Greek word is actually barred or padlocked inside. They knew that since their Master had been executed as a criminal they could be next.

How did that happen? Well, Jesus in His resurrected body is able to go right through the wall the same way in His resurrected body in the grave He is able to go right through the linen wrappings. He didn’t say, “Shame on you for your doubt.” He said, “Peace be with you all.” That would be the right thing to say, because the trauma for all these disciples and followers must have been shocking.

He is not a spirit though, He’s not an apparition. This is not a hallucination. And to demonstrate that He shows them His scars, and as we read in Luke 24:42-43, He ate broiled fish. This is really Jesus in a glorified resurrected body. In heaven in Revelation 5, you see the throne of God and the cry is, “Who is worthy to open the book and break its seals?” Who has the title deed of the world and the power?

And, finally, someone appears and it’s Jesus, the Son of God, but He appears as though He had been slain, a scarred sacrifice. Even in heaven Jesus will bear those scars. Even in heaven He will be one who has evidence of having been slain. And, by the end of verse 20, “The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” It’s all clear now; they rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Verse 21, “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you!” He calms them down again. The first time He calmed them down because they were traumatized, now He calms them down because they’re erupting in joy. I know this is an exhilarating moment like none that ever any human could experience, but calm down. Why? “I have something important to say to you,” and what He says is profound but simple.

What is the first directive Jesus gave to His disciples after He rose from the dead? This must be critical, right? He has one simple message. It is so straightforward that it just occupies three little verses, and yet it is a profound sermon, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” This is His first post-resurrection sermon, and it’s a mandate. It is the first articulation of the Great Commission.

Later on when He ascended into heaven, He reiterated that Great Commission as recorded in Matthew 28: 18-20. He talks about the Great Commission at the end of Luke as well. Here is the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I’ve commanded you; and lo, I am with you always.”

But the Great Commission has three parts. Number one, verse 21, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” This is the first phase. God, the Father didn’t send Jesus to bring about social justice. He didn’t send Jesus to improve people’s economic condition. He didn’t send Jesus to elevate the morality of people. The main reason is, “The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.”

The Father sent the Son to provide the sacrifice necessary in His death, and the triumph necessary in His resurrection, to bring salvation to all God’s chosen people through all of redemptive history. That’s why you are here. You’re here for the purpose of fulfilling the very task that was originally given to Christ. Luke begins Acts with, “The ministry that Jesus began was now carried on by the apostles.”

And it’s continuing to be carried on by us. John 17:18-19, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” I send them as a people sanctified in the truth to do the very thing that You sent Me to do. Jesus came to seek and save lost sinners, and that is why all believers exist in the world today.

Everything we do, whether it’s our ministry, our worship, whether it’s our spiritual testimony that has as its objective to display a transformed life. It is transformed by God through the gospel so that the bible has credibility when we proclaim its truth. What we should do in our lives is to let men can see the good works, glorify God who transformed us to such good works, and then preach the gospel.

The second aspect is, verse 22, “When Jesus had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” This is a formidable task. When Christ began His ministry, the Holy Spirit came upon Him at His baptism and launched Him into His ministry. As the Father empowered Jesus with the Holy Spirit, Jesus empowers us with the Holy Spirit. He is our Spirit-filled model.

In John 14, 15, and 16, Jesus kept saying to the disciples, “When I go, I will come back in the form of the Holy Spirit. It is better for you that I go, because then the Spirit will come, and He will lead you into all truth, and He will teach you all things concerning Me.” You can’t do this without the Holy Spirit. How? Jesus breathed on them. In Genesis 2, God created Adam when, “He breathed into him the breath of life.”

The Holy Spirit is the breath of God. The Holy Spirit is the source of power: “You’ll receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” That did not happen then because Jesus had not ascended yet. It came in Acts 2:4, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” He descends on all the believers there, and they are turned into fearless preachers.

So first, you have a commission to go into the world to preach the gospel. Second, “You cannot do this in your own strength, so I’m giving you the Holy Spirit.” Romans 8:9 says, “He that doesn’t have the Sprit is not God’s.” Then thirdly in verse 23, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

That verse has been misinterpreted a lot. Our Lord is talking to apostles, and to other people there who were followers of Christ, and He says this to all of them. Mark 2:7, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Acts 10:42 says, “God commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.”

He’s talking about Christ. “43 Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” And what are we to preach is that everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ receives forgiveness of sin. So if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then I can say to you, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ If you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘you are still in your sins.’”

We have the right to say to someone what Jesus said in John 8:24, “If you do not believe in Jesus, you will die in your sins, and where Jesus goes you will never come.” Back to John 20:25, “So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We’ve seen the Lord!’” So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, put my finger into the of the nails, put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’

“26 After eight days,” that’s the next Sunday, “His disciples are again inside, Thomas with them. The doors having been shut. And again Jesus comes through the walls and says, ‘Peace be with you. 27 Then He said to Thomas, ‘“Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

28 He said, ‘My Lord and my God!’” That is the final evidence of the literal resurrection of Jesus. “29 Jesus said to him, ‘Because you’ve seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’” We haven’t seen the risen Christ, but we have experienced the risen Christ in His power and His presence. We love Him. We believe in the one we haven’t seen.

Why? We believe the Bible, because the Spirit of God has given us not only faith in Christ, but faith in Scripture. “And we walk,” says Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “by faith, not by sight.” We have a risen Christ, whom we love and whom we believe, whom we experience in our lives on a regular basis, who has transformed us so that our lives are different so we can tell others. Praise the Lord. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Apr 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200426 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000009C imblog

John 20:11-18

Let us now begin to look at the appearances of our Lord after His resurrection. We’ve looked at the empty tomb, which is the first evidence of our Lord’s resurrection. We also noted the appearance of the angels that is the second evidence of our Lord’s resurrection. And the third are the eyewitnesses, particularly Mary Magdalene who is the one featured in verses 11 through 18.

The women, Peter and John, Mary Magdalene included, have seen the empty tomb; but this is the first appearance of Jesus. And remarkably He appears to Mary Magdalena from the town of Magdala. We know she was a long-time follower of our Lord. We also know that her life was as severely demonic before she met the Savior. In Luke 8, we find that she was possessed by seven demons.

There is nothing in the Bible that says she was a prostitute. But certainly she was a sinful woman so that demons exacerbated the wretchedness of her condition. It is remarkable that such a woman with such a past and with no significant role in religion would be the first person to see the risen Christ, not the apostles. We know from Galatians 3:28 that in Christ there’s neither male nor female.

We know that God is no respecter of persons. And in those times, women were treated as second class citizens. But God has exalted women in the truest and purest way by giving them significant places, like in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Even in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, we know that He comes through the royal line of Abraham and David, but there were also four women in that royal line.

Matthew 1:3, “Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.” Tamar prostituted herself to seduce Judah in an immoral act. And then in verse 5 Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute living in Jericho. And then there is Ruth, an idol-worshipping Moabite, and the Moabites were cursed by God. And then in verse 6 that famous woman named Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah, who committed adultery with David.

What is God saying to us? He’s giving us, from the opening of the New Testament, a message of grace extended to men and particularly elevating women, because in the world they are so suppressed. Christianity is the only legitimate woman’s liberation movement, and here we find the first eyewitness of the resurrection is a woman with a horrendous past.

Without the resurrection there is no Christianity, without which there is no salvation, without which there is no forgiveness and without which there is no heaven. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was the divine affirmation of His work of atonement on the cross. God was declaring that He was satisfied by Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, and had accepted it as full payment for the sins of His people.

Resurrection then demonstrates that sin was atoned for, death was conquered, and eternal life is available to those who believe. You are not a Christian if you do not believe the resurrection. Romans 1:4 says, “God declared Jesus as the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.” Romans 10:9-10 says that, “If you confess Him as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

All those animal sacrifices for all those centuries could never take away sin; but the one sacrifice of Christ removes sin forever on the part of the people of God who believe. And God indicated that by the resurrection, and by ripping the veil in the temple. He ended the ceremonial system and the sacrificial system at that point. Christ is the only complete and satisfactory offering for sin.

In 1 Corinthians 15:14 Paul writes, “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”

But the resurrection is always assaulted. There are people who believe that Christ did rise, but only in a spiritual way, not in a literal physical way. And there are other liberal “Christian” teachers, ministers, and theologians who say that He didn’t really rise, but it doesn’t really matter. He gave us a wonderful example of self-sacrifice for a great cause for God. The resurrection for many is just too difficult to believe.

A favorite in the nineteenth century is still around; it was called the swoon theory. It argued that Jesus didn’t die on the cross, He went into some kind of a coma, and He was buried alive. And then laying in the tomb, the spices with which He was wrapped, revived Him. So He woke up, rolled the stone away, defeated the Romans, and went to the disciples and told them He had risen from the dead.

This theory is a Romans 1:22 illustration, “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” First, the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus were experienced executioners. That was their trade. That’s why they didn’t break His legs, they knew He was dead. They knew He was dead because they ran a spear into His side and out came blood and water, indicating rupturing of His heart.

But beyond that, how Jesus, weakened by the crucifixion, and then three days without food and water, freed Himself from the grave clothes, something Lazarus couldn’t do. The swoon theory doesn’t explain how a half-dead individual could have then managed to convince His disciples that He had died and risen again, so much so that they would give their life for that belief.

There’s a second view called the hallucination theory. These folks argue that Jesus’ followers were so overwhelmed with grief and sorrow, and they wanted so desperately for Him to be resurrected that they imagined it. They literally hallucinated it into their own conscience. The problem with hallucination is that it’s a personal experience. You don’t have group hallucinations.

And Jesus is recorded to have appeared ten times. So were all these people in all their various groupings, including 500 at one time, all having this sort of hallucination? No way! And then you have to explain how a hallucination can eat a piece of fish, point out where to throw the net to catch fish and make breakfast. And then you have to account for the empty tomb and the missing body.

But the most enduring theory of the resurrection, is that the disciples stole His body; and that basically was initiated by the Jewish leaders. When the Roman soldiers came back and they told their story, you remember there was an earthquake, and an angel rolled the stone away and the angel even sat on the stone. Matthew 28:4, “The guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.”

They know they’re going to get in trouble with Pilate, because a Roman guard is supposed to do his duty. So the Jewish leaders say, “Well, we’ll handle Pilate for you. You just go and tell everybody the disciples stole the body, and we’ll give you this money.” So they bribed them with money, and that became the dominating theory of the resurrection. The Jews will do anything to deny the resurrection.

The reason the disciples did not steal the body is because they did not expect a resurrection. The disciples didn’t believe He would rise from the dead. And, the disciples didn’t overpower the Romans or the Romans would have said that. If the disciples stole the body to fake a resurrection, the Jewish authorities surely would have done everything they could to find that body to disprove the resurrection.

More importantly, Jesus appeared ten times after His resurrection. He appeared to Mary Magdalene. He appeared to the other women. He appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He appeared to Peter, appeared to John, He appeared to the ten without Thomas, then the ten with Thomas. He appeared to seven of the apostles on the shore of Galilee, then to 500 brethren on a mountain in Galilee.

Jesus appeared to them over 40 days. Acts 1 says He was with them for 40 days teaching things concerning the kingdom, and a final appearance in Acts 1 before He ascended into heaven. Massive eyewitness testimony. All His appearances were to believers. He made no appearances to nonbelievers, with one exception. He appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, to make him the apostle Paul.

John 12:37 says, “Though Jesus had performed so many miracles before them, they were not believing in Him.” And Jesus said in Luke 16:31, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” Not long before His own death Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and He had raised a couple of other people as recorded in the gospels.

Our Lord determined that He would make some appearances for a 40-day period, and the eyewitnesses would give a record, and they would preach the resurrection, and every generation subsequently would preach the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And by the preaching of that gospel and faith in that gospel, the Holy Spirit would bring only believers into His kingdom. Let us look what happened.

Verse 11-12, “But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping.” She’s going there because she loves Him. Then she finds the tomb is empty. Her tears are for the tears of a broken heart forlorn, frustrated having lost the object of her pure love. “So she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.”

Mark 16 says that the angel was a young man. And Luke 24:4 says there were two men. Matthew 28 says an angel of the Lord rolled back the stone and sat on it. So these are angels who have taken on a male form. Mary didn’t know they were angels. And the presence of angels is proof that the body of Jesus was not stolen, but that heaven has a vital interest in the resurrection of Christ.

Mary looks in and there is the place where the body was to lie and an angel on each end. Remember Exodus 25 when the Lord gave instructions to build the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. He identified a place called the mercy seat. That was the place where God met men in mercy. At each end of the mercy seat, were two cherubim of gold, one at each end of the mercy seat. Verse 22, “There I will meet with you.”

Here in verse 12, again there are two angels, and a wonderful analogy: God is saying, “I will meet you in the empty tomb.” Once God met men in a tent, and once in a building on a golden mercy seat with two angels. Now God meets men in the empty tomb. Verse 13, Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they’ve taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

Verse 14, “When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.” Her tears again are blinding her. She has no reason to believe in a resurrection. Every time Jesus appeared after His resurrection He had to identify Himself, because He was in a different form; He had a glorious resurrection body, this was not the body that died on the cross.

This was an eternal resurrection body that would never die and never decay. That is why on the road to Emmaus, in Luke 24, when Jesus joined those disciples and walked along with them, their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.” Verse 30-31, “While He was at the table with them, He took bread, “blessed it, broke it, and began giving it to them, and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.”

Even when He appeared to the disciples they were terrified because of His entrance and because of His glory. His resurrection body was different. Even Mary didn’t recognize Him. Verse 15, “He said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

Mary thinks Jesus is the gardener. Verse 16, “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ When she heard that she turned and said to Him in Jewish Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ which is an emphatic way of saying rabbi, teacher. She knew that voice. Matthew 28 says that when the women met Jesus they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. And Mary also held His feet and worshiped Him.

The transition is too profound, and the one thought she has in her mind is, “I don’t want to lose Him again.” So He says to her in verse 17, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” He told them this many times that He was going back to the Father.

That’s the first time believers have been called brothers. They had been called, friends or slaves, but never brothers. How did we become brothers? The cross made us brothers. The cross made it possible for us to become children of God, brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:11, “Jesus who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

When it says brothers and sisters of Christ that means we share in His inheritance. Verse 18, “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord,’ and that He had spoken these things to her.” Luke 24:11, “And her words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” But their turn is coming later on that night. Well, let us discuss that next Sunday. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Apr 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200419 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000009B imblog

John 20:1-10

Here we come to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. This is not just a feature of Christianity, it is the main event. Resurrection is the point of redemption. The whole purpose of God in creating and redeeming His people is to raise them to eternal glory so that they can worship Him forever in glorified bodies. Our resurrection is secured by the power of God, the power of Christ.

The resurrection is not only a demonstration of power, it is also a validation of Christ’ death offering. God was satisfied with the sacrifice Christ offered for the sins of His people. He said, “It is finished!” God said, “I am satisfied,” and raised Jesus, and He ascended to eternal glory, sat down at the right hand of God to intercede for His people who enter into eternal glory in a resurrected body.

The resurrection then is the greatest event in history. It is the cornerstone of the gospel promise. Because Christ conquered death, and because He conquered sin, we will be raised to dwell with Him forever. How important is this? Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” That is necessary for salvation.

It is the very essence of the gospel. And to signify that on an ongoing basis, Sunday, the first day of the week, became the day that the church meets to worship. The church has been doing that since the resurrection. Since the apostles on resurrection day, the first day of the week, met with Jesus that evening, the church has always met on the first day of the week to celebrate His resurrection.

All four gospel writers, record the actual history of the resurrection. The composite of all four is the total story of the resurrection. There are several inportant things to note about it. No one saw the resurrection. But it’s not necessary to see it. All you need to know is that Christ who was dead is now alive. And there were many witnesses. And we are also witnesses, because Christ lives in us.

We really don’t need to know how a miracle happened, because there were many proofs. There are many evidences given in Scripture. There is the empty tomb, there is angelic testimony directly from heaven, and there were many eye witnesses. As we come to John’s account, we’ll blend in a little from Matthew, Mark, and Luke at strategic points to help us get a better overall picture of it.

John wants us to see the power of Christ, even in His death. And he showed us the glory of Christ, because He showed us that Jesus was in charge of His own dying. And then He was in charge of His own burial. And now He is in charge of His own resurrection. This is to demonstrate to us “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” so that we might believe that, and by believing “have eternal life in His name.”

The Old Testament promised the Messiah would rise in Psalm 16:10-11, “He will not allow His Holy One to see corruption, but show Him the path of life.” Isaiah 53:10, “He will be made alive “He will see His offspring,” and He will be eternally glorified and exalted. Jesus promised in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple (body), and in three days I will raise it up.”

John 20:1-10, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

“3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there.”

“7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.” John wants us to understand is that Jesus rose from the dead.

The first proof is the empty tomb. It’s Sunday, the first day of the week. It is so early it is still dark. The Jews numbered their days. Sabbath was the seventh day, because it commemorated the seventh day when God rested from creation, and they always worshiped on the Sabbath day. But this was the first day after the Sabbath. This is our Sunday worshipping the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus said He would rise on the third day. He had been buried on Friday. He was in the grave a few hours on Friday before sundown. He was there all 24 hours of Saturday. And He was there about 12 hours of Sunday, because the Jewish days went from sunset to sunset rather than sunrise to sunrise. Mark says it’s “very early.” Luke says it is “early dawn.” Matthew says “it began to dawn.” John says “while it was still dark.”

What that tells us, and what we know to be true from the other writers, is that Maria Magdalena was the first one there. Now she didn’t start out alone. According to Matthew 27 another Mary, Mary the mother of James and Joses, was with her. She’s in a hurry to get there before the other Mary. Matthew 28:1 says that both Marys headed for the tomb. But now we know Mary Magdalene got there first.

Now there were other women who were coming along as well. The same women who were at the foot of the cross were there on Friday when Joseph and Nicodemus were burying the body of Jesus. It says that in Luke 23:55, “The women who had come with the Lord out of Galilee saw the tomb and where the body was laid.” After the Sabbath is over, they want to get back to the tomb.

Mary Magdalene saw that the stone was already taken away from the tomb. She fears the worst, verse 2, so “she turned around and ran.” She assumed that somebody had taken Him. She runs “to Simon Peter and the other disciple,” who is John, the one “whom Jesus loved,” and said to them, “they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.’”

The stone wasn’t rolled away to let Jesus out. It was rolled away to let the witnesses in. Jesus doesn’t need the stone to be removed. He didn’t need the door to be opened that night when He showed up with the apostles and came right through the locked door. Here is clear evidence that they hadn’t planned to steal the body of Jesus. Mary is not part of a plot to fake a resurrection.

Verse 3, “Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. 4 So they both ran together.” Mary Magdalene is running to Peter and John. In the meantime, the other women arrive, and that is when the angels appear to them. Mary Magdalena missed the angel. She has that wonderful experience later. Now none of these people knew what had happened on Saturday.

They didn’t know that the Sanhedrin got Roman soldiers to guard the tomb, and then put a Roman seal on the stone so that no one would come to fake a resurrection. A Roman seal meant that it would become a violent crime, if you broke the Roman seal. And they put many Roman soldiers there. They also don’t know that in the night of Sunday, God sent a localized earthquake.

But before the earthquake, God put all those soldiers under a divine anesthesia, so they all fell asleep. Then came an earthquake, and with the earthquake the large stone was rolled away in Matthew 28:1-4. The soldiers didn’t know what happened. The soldiers fled the tomb because when they checked it, Jesus was gone. As professional soldiers, being asleep had severe repercussions.

They don’t know where the earthquake came from and how the stone was rolled away. They don’t know why the body isn’t there, so they leave. They’re gone, because Mary Magdalene never refers to them. The other women never refer to them when they get there. And Peter and John also never refer to them when they get there. So these soldiers are the collective testimony that Jesus is not there.

Meanwhile Peter and John are “running together.” John was faster than Peter. He was also a little shyer than Peter, and he is “stooping, looked in, saw the linen wrappings lying there, but.did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, and he entered the tomb. Both saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, rolled up in a place by itself.

So the other disciple (John) also entered, and he saw and believed. We don’t know what he believed, because the next verse says, “As yet they didn’t understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” The point to notice is that they had no expectation that Jesus would rise: the women didn’t and the leaders of the apostles also didn’t. Also remember the burial and that they did not embalm.

And with Jesus, they also had about eighty pounds of spices designed to overpower the stench of decaying flesh. So if somebody stole the body, they wouldn’t unwrap it. But if someone did do that, you wouldn’t see the linen wrappings lying and the wrappings around the head lying in one place. But the linen wrappings were lying there, because Jesus had just gone through them.

No one could come and steal the body. They almost all, with the exception of John, died as martyrs because they preached Jesus crucified and risen. How could they sustain that their whole life, and die as martyrs for a hoax? The Jewish leaders were afraid of Jesus. They knew He raised Lazarus from the dead. They actually admitted He had power, but they said His power came from hell.

Let’s see what happened with the soldiers in Matthew 28. They’re back at the Jewish Sanhedrin trying to explain what happened. In verse 11, “Some of the guards went into the city of Jerusalem and told the chief priests all that had happened.” What do you think they said? “We don’t know what happened. We were all asleep. Then there was an earthquake, and the stone was rolled away and the body’s gone.”

Verse 12, “So they assembled with the elders and devised a plan.” And the Sanhedrin, the Jewish elders, “gave a large sum of money to the soldiers.” Is this not bribery? Whatever the soldiers said wasn’t acceptable. So they said in verse 13, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” In the meantime the Lord Jesus is telling His followers to go to Galilee.

How did they know that if they were asleep? Well, the implications of that is they failed to do their duty and there’s punishment for that. Verse 14, “If this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” And the truth is that these Jewish leaders owned Pilate. That’s why they forced him to crucify Jesus, even though he declared His innocence five times.

Verse 15, “So they took the money and did as they had been instructed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day. ” John wrote this sixty years later, but that is still the story among the Jews: the disciples stole His body. Even though no one ever denied the empty tomb. The women were shocked and terrified. Look at Mark 16, to give you a glimpse of what the women were doing.

Mark 16:3-4, “They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.” This is important, because it shows that the women couldn’t have done it. Verse 5, “Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe.”

Luke says there were two there. John says there were two and they were two angels. First, they are near the women, and then they’re at the head and the foot of where the body was and the linen cloth is lying. Why two? Well, Deuteronomy 19:15 says, “All that is offered and all that is declared as true must be confirmed in the mouth of two witnesses.” The women saw the angels and they were “stunned.”

Mark 16:6, “The angel said, “Don’t be amazed; you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen,’” that’s the truth – “‘He is not here; behold, the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, and tell His disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’ 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

John 20:9, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.” The ridiculous notion of critics through history that the disciples were so committed to the resurrection of Jesus that they fabricated is completely contrary to the testimony of Scripture. They don’t fully believe the resurrection until they see Him and touch Him.

In Luke 24:44, Jesus reappeared that night to the rest of the apostles. He ate with them and said, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms must be fulfilled.” It is their unbelief that is evidence for the resurrection, followed by their belief in the risen Christ after they saw Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Apr 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200412 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000009A imblog

John 19:30-42

Living in this world in which the Christian gospel is so relentlessly criticized, one would think that the truth of the life and death and resurrection and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ were somehow still in question. That there is a kind of confusion about the reality. There are people who think that the Bible is some mystical book of religious people who made an effort to explain their religious experiences.

The truth is that the Bible is the living and abiding Word of God; and every word is pure, and inspired by God. It is a true and accurate record of the will of God, an expression of the mind of God, and a true account of history. Some people would tell us that they believe in the message of the Bible but not the words. They believe in the spiritually of the Bible, but not the facts.

But the power of the Word of God is found in the details. And that is certainly true when it comes to the historical record and the truth of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at the book of John today as a straightforward, accurate and historical record of what indeed did take place. John 19:35 says, “And he (John) who has seen, has born witness, and he is telling the truth so that you also may believe.”

In John 10:15 Jesus said, “I lay down My life for the sheep.” He said it again in verse 17, “I lay down My life that I may take it again.” Verse 18, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.” Such language was overwhelming. Verse 19, “There arose a division among the Jews because of these words.”

Verse 20, “And many of them were saying, ‘He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?’” No one has the power to lay down his life, to command death to take him. No one has the power to command life to pick him up again. Verse 21, “Others said, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’” The truth is that Jesus controls His own death!

He willed Himself dead. And at the appropriate time, He willed Himself alive again. In John 12:23-24 Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’” He means, “My hour to die has come in order to bear much fruit of salvation.”

John 12:27, “My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” This is My hour, this is My purpose to come and die in order to give life to others. He is ready. In John 17:1, “Jesus spoke lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify You.’”

In John 18:1-3, “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. 2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. 3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.”

Verses 4-5, 7-8, “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” 5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” 7 He asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way.”

Knowing it was His hour, He went to the place of betrayal, the place of capture, and announced to them exactly who He was; He was the one whom they were seeking. He went willingly to the cross to lay down His life, and when He had finished the work of bearing sin and the weight of the Father’s justice against that sin, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Satan had tried to kill Him. There were times when the Pharisees sought His life. Even those in His own village of Nazareth wanted to throw Him off a cliff. Not until it was His hour and His place after everything was finished did He agree. He is in control of His death. It was 6:00 A.M. when Pilate stated the verdict on Jesus, “Crucify Him,” after a mock trial which was against Jewish law.

It was 9:00 A.M. when they nailed Him to the cross, according to Mark 15:25. By 3:00 PM, six hours later, He was dead. So shocking that Pilate did not believe that. And in Mark 15:44, it tell us that “Pilate wondered how He could be dead by this time and summoned the centurion, questioning him as to whether He was already dead.” People didn’t die in six hours from being crucified; it usually took days.

The real physical strength of Jesus is inconceivable. So why so quick? Because the work was finished. But there’s another reason. John 19:31, “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”

These aren’t believers; these are the Jewish leaders, the haters of Christ, the ones who sought His death, the ones who threatened and intimidated Pilate into signing His execution. And this was not just any Passover; this was a Passover Sabbath with a sacredness above all other days in the year. And they knew the Law of God, they knew in Deuteronomy what the Law said.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23, “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he’s put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree. You shall surely bury him on the same day, so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as inheritance.” And so, the Jews come to Pilate, and they ask Pilate to brake their legs so that they die rapidly.

John 19:32 says, “The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other man who was crucified with Him.” Amazing, these Jews were killing their own Messiah but they wanted to make sure they obeyed the Law. Sabbath is coming at sunset at 6:00 pm. It’s 3:00 pm now; there are just a few hours left until sunset. Go ahead and kill the Lord, but protect your devotion to the Sabbath.

In verse 33, “But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was already dead, they didn’t break His legs.” Now, Roman soldiers were executioners, they were experts on who is dead. They know death when they see it. That’s why Pilate sent the message, “Is He really dead? How can He be dead by now? Report back to me that He’s really dead.” And why was He dead? Because His work was done.

But there’s another reason why He was dead so quick. Verse 36, “These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” Psalm 34:20 says, “He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.” This was stated also in Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12 that not a bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken. And 1 Corinthians 5:7 says Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb.

The Jews weren’t trying to fulfill prophesy by doing this. That was the last thing they wanted to do. They wanted Jesus dead, and they wanted the people to see Him as utterly unqualified to be the Messiah. Here He is fulfilling prophecy in the very act that they do to discredit Him. Jesus controlled His death. Jesus died at the exact moment that He finished the work that God had given Him to do.

But because His death was so soon, verse 34 says, “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear.” They were amazed that He was dead already. “And immediately there came out blood and water.” Verse 37 says, “And another passage of scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced.’” Dying early means His legs aren’t broken. Dying early means His side is pierced, and prophecy fulfilled.

John says the soldier saw blood and water come forth, clear evidence that He was dead. Some say that the heart had ruptured. It can happen, but it’s rare. But perhaps it is the consequence of the most mental anguish, sorrow, agonizing in sin-bearing. Such a death as the bursting of the heart muscle would be instant. The blood would coagulate and the serum would be seen as the fluid.

Look what Psalm 69:20-21 says prophetically of Him, “Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Verse 21 was literally fulfilled, could verse 20, which says, “Insults have broken my heart,” be literally fulfilled?

If Jesus hadn’t died when He died, they would have broken His legs and prophecy would have been broken. If He hadn’t died then, they would not have pierced His side, then prophecy would have been broken, and the prophets would have told a lie. But everything happened exactly to the minutest detail. That’s why John says in verse 35, “I’ve seen it, and my witness is true, so that you may also believe.”

Jesus not only controlled His death, but secondly, He also controlled His burial. Verse 38 says, “And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. He came, therefore, and took away His body.” This is really truly amazing.

Well, the four gospels tell us a lot about Joseph of Arimathea. If you put the accounts of the gospels together, he was very rich. He was a righteous man. He was a counselor of others. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish Council. Therefore, he was in on the trial of Jesus. But Joseph of Arimathea was a true believer in Jesus, but a secret one because he was afraid of his compatriots.

Joseph wouldn’t be honest and open when Jesus was alive, and now that He’s dead, it’s pretty amazing that He’s all of a sudden open. And in fact, not just open but really bold. Mark 15:43 says, “He gathered up courage.” He goes right to Pilate boldly and asks to take away the body of Jesus with the view of giving it a proper burial. “Pilate granted permission. He came, therefore, and took away His body.”

Jesus is dead, but He’s still controlling His burial. Isaiah 53:9 speaking of the Messiah said, “His grave was assigned to be with the wicked.” What the Romans did with a body was throw it out and let the vultures eat it. Or maybe throw it in the valley of Hinnom, the city dump where fire burned continuously. That was what they did with criminals. But, Isaiah 53:9 continues, “He was with the rich at His death.”

How is that going to happen? There aren’t any rich disciples. How was this prophecy going to be fulfilled because the body of Jesus was dead? But Jesus Himself is alive in His Spirit, moving on the heart of a rich man, who is a disciple of His, to fulfill the prophecy. Joseph gets the body to bury it and he’s not alone. Verse 39 says, “Nicodemus came also, who had first come to Jesus by night.”

This prominent Jewish teacher now comes out, confessing His love for Christ. Verse 39 continues, “bringing a mixture of myrrh,” which is a liquid “and aloes,” a powder, “about 70 to 75 pounds by our measurement, which would be the volume used to anoint the body of a king. We now know that He responded to the encounter with Jesus in John 3 by being born again. They responded to the call and they became believers.

Verses 41-42 say, “The place where He was crucified had a garden right nearby. And in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 Therefore, on account of the Jewish day of preparation, because the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” They needed to hurry. Because the Law said you don’t leave a dead body exposed on the Sabbath. It is still Friday but at six o’clock it would be the Sabbath.

Why the hurry? From their viewpoint, they don’t want to violate the Law. But that wasn’t the real issue. The real issue was that Jesus had to be in the grave three days. Jesus said that He would be buried three days and three nights and then arise, like Jonah was in the belly of the fish. Any part of a day and night constituted one day. So the burial had to be finished before the Sabbath day arrived.

So, they considered Friday, even though He was in the grave only a few hours before sunset, as the first day; Sabbath would be the second day; and even though He rose early Sunday morning, He also was in the ground part of the third day. It was critical that Jesus be in the grave on Friday because the prophecy, out of His own lips, needed to be fulfilled explicitly that He would be three days and three nights in the grave.

So, God moves on Joseph and on Nicodemus to accomplish this burial on Friday. The other gospels tell us, that on Sunday morning, when the women hurried to the grave, they hurried to the grave with spices. Their goal was to finish the job, because it was left incomplete on Friday in the hurry to get Him into the grave while it was still Friday. So, they had come on Sunday morning, but Jesus had risen already.

In Isaiah 53, where Isaiah described the death of Christ, that was not the end. Verse 10, “The Lord was pleased to crush Him putting Him to grief, but He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 12 I will allot Him a portion with the great, He will divide the booty with the strong.” The Messiah will be resurrected, honored and exalted, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Apr 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200405 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000099 imblog

Galatians 5:16-26

We’re looking at Galatians 5 and verses 16 - 25. As I was thinking about these verses, I began to see our own culture not in a material sense, but in a moral sense. Life in our society is the worst that I have ever seen. Open sin runs freely through the streets of our society through every level of discourse. Moral sewage once contained underground now runs openly by everyone everywhere.

And it is not just that our society is defined by that, there is a compounding reality explained in Romans 1, where we read about the judgment of God on people who reject Him. Those who know about God but don’t glorify Him as God, those who ignore the knowledge of God will experience the wrath of God. It is revealed against people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

What does it look like when God unleashes that judgment? Romans 1:24, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.” When God judges a nation, the first thing that will happen is the lusts of the heart to impurity will dominate, and then their bodies will be dishonored. You will have a sexual revolution.

The second thing that happens in verse 26-27, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” This is homosexuality.

And the third judgment is in verse 28, “God gave them over to a depraved mind.” That means the mind only focuses on sin. That’s when a kind of insanity prevails, which is demonstrated clearly in the fact that now we’re not allowed to say a man is a man and a woman is a woman. “To do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness and covetousness.”

“full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

These are all the desires of the flesh that we read about in Galatians 5:19-21. So we should ask the question, “How do we as Christians, as slaves of our Lord, how do we as saints escape this pollution? Can we live above the moral sewage that’s all around us? And, of course the answer is yes. This is not the first society that went through this kind of cycle of depravity and this kind of judgment.

The Jews believed they needed to be better people, and that meant adhering to the law of God. They couldn’t be better people on the inside by themselves, so they were trying to please God on the outside. Those ceremonial duties like circumcision, adherence to rituals in Judaism, those are the things they could do on the outside; and they believed that they became better and God would accept them.

Paul writes his letter to the Galatians to undo all that these Judiazers taught. And in the opening four chapters he talks about salvation being by faith alone, and he says in Galatians 1:6 that if you add works to it, you have invented a different gospel, “which is not really another gospel.” Verse 7, “there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”

He then pronounces a double judgment in verse 8, “If we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” Paul goes on to say, “Salvation is by faith and faith alone. Anybody who preaches anything other than that is damned.” So he uses the first four chapters basically to answer the idea of works added to faith and salvation.

And then in Galatians 5 he addresses the issue of the role of works, deeds of the flesh in regard to sanctification. He says in Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” These Judiazers were saying, “Look, you must do all these external things in order to be saved, and to be sanctified. You have to keep the external laws of Moses.”

But Paul’s message was that you have been set free from all of that. Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm, do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Don’t go back to the law. You are free in Christ. In Christ you are free from an accusing conscience, free from condemnation, free from pressure and frustration in trying to do the impossible.

These Jewish teachers were deeply concerned with the need to obey the law. They had spent their whole life trying to earn their way with God by keeping the law, and now freedom in Christ was a stumbling block to them. They believed that the law was the divine means to restrain sin, to produce righteousness, to honor God and to escape judgment. To them Paul was a heretic.

The Jews are going to say, “How are you going to do what honors God? How are you going to escape judgment if you don’t adhere to the law?” Answer, verse 16, “Walk by the Spirit.” Verse 18, “If you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law.” Verse 25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” This is Paul’s answer: this is the path of sanctification, walk by the Spirit.

We also saw that there is a conflict; because our remaining human flesh fights against the Holy Spirit. The Spirit fights against the flesh to keep us from doing what our flesh wants. There is a stark contrast however between what the flesh wants and does, and what the Spirit wants and does; and we’re looking at that in verses 19 - 23. The flesh can only produce what’s listed there.

But we as believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and verse 22 - 23 says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control.” This is very different than the world. This is how the church should display gospel power in the world. While all the world is living out the deeds of the flesh, we are to be living showing that the Spirit is in us.

So the challenge is how do you even find the real Christians? Now notice it’s a singular fruit that has many qualities. If you’re walking in the Spirit, which means you’re walking under His power in obedience to the Word of God, this is what your life is like. When you’re walking in the Spirit this is the picture. All the fruit is there when the Spirit is filling you and you’re walking in the Spirit.

The way to understand their nature is that they’re all attributes of God, they all have a heavenly quality, and they’re all godlike virtues. Now you might argue that, perhaps, meekness or humility is not a godlike virtue; but the word that is used for “meekness” here has the idea of gentleness. And certainly gentleness is characteristic of God; it shows up in His mercy and His grace toward us.

And we’ve studied love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and goodness. Now let me continue with three final graces. The first one for today is the last one in verse 22, faithfulness. If you’re walking in the Spirit you’re going to manifest faithfulness. What does that mean? Loyalty or fidelity to your word. Truthfulness, trustworthiness and honesty that is what we’re talking about.

Lamentations 3:22 - 23, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we’re not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.” God is faithful, in 1 Corinthians 1:9 and 1 Corinthians 10:13. Psalm 36:5, “The faithfulness of God reaches to the clouds.” Psalm 89:33, “Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail.”

That is truthfulness, trustworthiness, honesty and integrity. This is essential as a virtue in a Spirit-filled life that you speak the truth. That you are true to your word, true to your promise. This is basic integrity. A Spirit-filled believer speaks the truth, lives the truth, can be trusted, is honest, steadfast, unwavering in loyalty to that which is true and right and good. What about your promises? Did you keep them?

It is an attribute of God, God who is truth and God who cannot lie. And the example is Christ: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Second Thessalonians 3:3 says, “The Lord is faithful.” In Revelation 1:5, 3:14 and 19:11, the Lord Jesus Christ presented as the faithful and true One. It is an attribute of God who is true and cannot lie. It is manifest in Christ who is the faithful and true One.

And it is commanded of us, 1 Corinthians 4:2, “It’s required of stewards that a man be found faithful.” We speak truth, we live truth, we uphold truth, it says in Titus 2:10, “showing all good faithfulness so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.” We want people to adorn the doctrine of God, we want people to think well of God and be faithful to His truth.

Listen to 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee youthful lusts, pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love and peace, with all those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart.” We’re commanded to be faithful. That means loyalty to the truth of God, the truth of those very things that we declare in our own lives. Where does the power come? It’s from the Holy Spirit. Faithfulness and the Holy Spirit go together.

The second onebegins in verse 23. It’s translated as “gentleness.” It’s actually better translated “meekness.” It’s humility with kind of a gentle edge. But here the virtue is humility. It appears with lowliness and being humble as well as being gentle. And humility by its nature is gentle. Humility doesn’t run roughshod over people, even people who are struggling with sin; it treats them with a meek, gentle way.

From a biblical standpoint this word is used to refer to being submissive to the will of God. “Humble yourselves, and God will lift you up.” It also is used to refer to submission to the Word of God. In James 1:21, it says, “Putting aside all filthiness, all that remains of wickedness, in humility, receive the word.” But it goes beyond that to the people around us. In Titus 3:2 it says, “Showing consideration to all men.”

2 Corinthians 10:1 speaks of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He said in Matthew 11, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” Ephesians 4 says, “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling which you’ve been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness.” So God is the one who defines this. It is an attribute of His nature, as He as God humbled Himself to become man in Philippians 2.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” We even should proclaim the gospel with a meekness and a gentleness. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us; God is the source, God is the definer of it and Christ is the model.

One last part of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. It means “the power to keep your sin in check, the power to restrain your sin in thought, in word, in deed.” God has perfect self-control, He’s the definition of self-control. Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord, I change not.” He never sins. He is absolute eternal holy perfection. Self-control is an attribute of God. And it’s a rare word in the New Testament.

2 Peter 1:5 says, “As believers add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge; add to your knowledge self-control.” Control yourself. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” It’s the power to be consistent and virtuous. It’s the power over your corruption that still remains even in us.

The example is Christ: holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, pure and sinless. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. Titus 1:8, “For an elder must be a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word.” Titus 2:6, “Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.” We are commanded to do this daily.

Verse 23 closes with this statement: “against such things there is no law.” There’s no law against such virtue. You that are so worried about the law, but there’s no law against that. Furthermore, the law is not able to produce that kind of virtue. The law can’t restrain the deeds of the flesh. Virtue can’t be produced by the law. And certainly the Lord would never forbid these things.

Conclusion in verse 24, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” That is a strong statement of a past act. You were crucified with Christ, you died in Him, and with that death was the execution of the lusts, passions and longings that totally dominated your life. Yes, it’s still present until our salvation is complete, but it’s not in charge.

“You are now a new creation; old things have passed away, and all things new have come.” God has done His part. You can walk by the Spirit now. You can overcome the flesh. You can, and you must, verse 25, “Since we live by the Spirit in us, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Now you do your part and walk by the Spirit consistent with His will and power as revealed in Scripture, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Mar 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200329 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000098 imblog

Galatians 5:16-26

We are in Galatians 5:16-26 that we titled, “Walking by the Spirit.” We’re talking about the Holy Spirit who lives in every believer and who directs our steps both by way of biblical truth and internal power. Walking is the picture of living one step at a time, putting one spiritual foot in front of another, as we walk in the path of obedience to Scripture, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

That is a command which is not an easy to fulfill because there is an immediate conflict, as we saw in verse 17. Our remaining human flesh, our remaining human nature that is still with us until we’re glorified, sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are in opposition to one another. And the Holy Spirit works to prevent us from doing the things that we please in the flesh.

So we acknowledge that walking by the Spirit is a battleground. In order for us to be faithful to walk by the Spirit we must apply the grace which the Lord has given to us: His Word, prayer, Christian fellowship, all of those things will strengthen us against the flesh. We saw the contrast between what the flesh produces in Galatians 5:19 - 21 and what the Spirit produces in verses 22 - 23.

Spiritual fruit is a singular word, and a combination of virtues. If you are walking in the Spirit you get them all; they come as a group. And as you mature in Christ this fruit bouquet gets larger and larger as the flowers of these virtues expand fully. This is what sanctification is. It is the presence of these virtues in ever-increasing dimensions when you walk in the Spirit as a new believer.

Now these are attitudes, they’re not actions. If these attitudes are present in your life, the actions will come automatically. God wants to see these attitudes manifested in action. If your life is filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, your actions will reflect that. The Bible says that, “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.”

Whatever is in your heart will show up in your speech and actions. So as a Christian, you must be more concerned about these attitudes than actions in themselves. That is what in reality delivers us from legalism. Legalism is only concerned about the actions, the externals, whether or not the attitudes are there. True spirituality is concerned about the attitudes and the actions.

A person who is exhibiting these virtues by way of the power of the Holy Spirit will produce actions that will give glory and honor to God. The law cannot do this and you cannot do it in your own human strength, it comes only by way of the Spirit and in your new nature, empowered by God. So we have discussed some of the fruit of the Spirit, namely the first three: love, joy, peace.

As we’ve looked at these virtues, we have noticed something of the nature of these virtues. And then we’ve looked at the example of these virtues, and then the command to us to exercise and to cultivate these virtues, and then finally the source of these virtues: the Holy Spirit. Verse 23 ends with, “There is no law against such things.” These are divinely-granted virtues with a lot of overlap.

Now number four in our list is patience. There are two words in Greek that translate into “patience.” One word is hupomonē. The kind of patience that is exhibited when you are suffering some kind of trial. This is talking about different life circumstances. It’s being able to take what comes and maintain your joy and your hope, and patiently wait for the Lord to deliver you.

But that is not the word that is used here. The word here speaks about being patient with people. It’s the word makrothumia. This is a person who pushes his anger far away. That is the kind of patience with people who would otherwise make you angry. Some people have called this “long-suffering” to illustrate a lengthy notion. It really is the idea of Scripture saying, “slow to anger.”

A clearer definition would be: Patience is restraint that does not retaliate. Whatever was said to you, whatever was done to you, whatever was not done that should have been done; whatever offense was rendered against you, no matter how severe or how serious, if you’re walking in the Spirit your anger is far away. You are restrained in your anger, restrained from any retaliation.

Now this is defined for us by God Himself. Read it in Numbers 14:18, “The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness,” and that’s the Old Testament word for “grace” in “forgiving iniquity and transgression.” So patience is a response to an offense that is slow to anger, full of grace, forgiving the sin and the transgression. This is the one virtue most closely related to forgiveness.

There are many indications that this is true of God in the Old Testament. Look at Psalm 86:15, “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness.” There “slow to anger” again is connected with graciousness, mercy, and forgiveness. We’re talking about patience with those who have offended us; and it is most clearly demonstrated by God Himself.

Romans 2:4, “Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” We’re going to see that kindness is connected to patience; and it is the patience of God that tolerates us, until we come to repentance. The fruit of the Spirit is the opposite of the deeds of the flesh, which are hatred, strife, jealousy etc.

This virtue of patience brings about forgiveness. “This is the patience of God” Peter says in 1 Peter 3:20, “that was exhibited in the days of Noah.” God was so patient then with the sinful world. How patient was He? It took Noah one hundred and twenty years to build the ark; and for hundred and twenty years he was a preacher of righteousness; so God was patient before He brought judgment.

1 Timothy 1:15-16 says, “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience.” Here was not just a Pharisee, a legalistic Jew that God was patient with, but a killer of Christians that God was patient with.

Jesus is patient with sinners. 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” The reason the Lord delays His coming is not because His promise is slow, it’s because His anger is slow. He is by nature patient; and that is because He is gracious, merciful, and eager to forgive.

Paul is our example. Ephesians 4:1-2, “I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” Colossians 3:12, “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other.”

Maybe you think of patience as a secondary work of the Spirit of God in your life; but it is primary. If you don’t have patience with those who offend you and those who disrupt and invade your life, create havoc and chaos for you, if you don’t have patience with them, you are not like Christ, and you are not manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. Your lives should be patience personified.

Well, we learn that it comes from the Holy Spirit. And we read in Colossians 1:9-12 where Paul says, “Since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and ask that you may be filled … with all patience; giving thanks to the Father.” God is the source of this patience; Christ is the example of this patience and the Holy Spirit is the dispenser of this patience.

The next word in the Fruit of the Spirit that is close in character, is “kindness.” This word is sometimes translated as “gentleness.” It essentially means “goodness of heart.” It’s that high level of noble virtue that seeks always to do good. Remember Romans 3:12 where Paul says, “There is none who does good, there’s not even one.” Actually in the Greek, “There is none doing kindness.”

Where is this kindness among unbelievers? It’s the opposite of the deeds of the flesh that we saw earlier. Look at Titus 3:4-5, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us.” Ephesians 2:5-7 says, “By grace you have been saved… 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

There still is righteous indignation over sin. In Numbers 14:18 the second half of that verse says that, “God will by no means clear the guilty.” And that ultimately leads to the cross because God is kind, God is loving; but at the same time, He will not overlook iniquity. That leads to the cross, where His Son is punished to satisfy His justice, so that His goodness and mercy can be extended to us.

The example of kindness is our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:1 speaks of the meekness and kindness of Christ. So much in His life shows basic divine goodness like feeding hungry people, blessing little children and saying to the crowd in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”

And we are commanded to exhibit this. Romans 11:22 says, “God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.” If kindness doesn’t mark your life you’re not a believer. 2 Timothy 2:24, “The Lord’s slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.”

There’s a third virtue “goodness” in Galatians 5:22. Goodness is a virtue of moral sweetness, moral excellence. It usually is compared with righteousness; and that’s really helpful to kind of get the meaning of it. In Ephesians 5:9, “The fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” So here “goodness” is also connected to “righteousness.”

Listen to Romans 15:14, “Concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness.” You have strong convictions, you know what’s right, you believe what’s right, you live those convictions, and you proclaim those convictions. But there’s a kind side of your convictions, “that you are filled with all goodness.” That you have a tenderness connected to them.

David said in Psalm 23:6, “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” God’s goodness will go on forever and ever. And again David says in Psalm 27:13, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Life would have been too much for me if I didn’t believe in the goodness of the Lord.”

God’s goodness is what makes mercy happen. This is the kind of goodness that Joseph had. In Matthew 1:19, he was a righteous man, and he found out that his future wife Mary was pregnant with a child, and he was devastated because he knew her character. He couldn’t figure out how this could have happened, not yet understanding that it was done by the Holy Spirit. He had to do what was righteous.

He could have publicly shamed her; that would have had Old Testament support. But instead, he planned to cancel the engagement privately, even though they hadn’t ever come together in marriage. This is because his righteousness was tempered with his goodness. And this is how it is with God. We are so thankful that He is perfectly righteous, but His righteousness is tempered with His goodness.

In Isaiah 42 that our Lord quotes in Matthew 12:18-20, “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He’ll proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not quarrel, nor cry out; nor will anyone hear His voice.” And verse 20 “A battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out.”

He's coming as a conqueror. He’s coming to lead justice to victory. He’s coming to take over the world. He is the Lord of lords, the King of kings. But it says, “A battered reed He will not break off.” And so, you might break the reed and break the little flute and throw it away. And wicks would eventually run down and be useless, and when they were still just barely flickering get thrown away.

The Messiah, when He comes, will not take that bruised reed and break it and discard it. He will not take that flickering light and extinguish it and throw it away. There’s a goodness about Him, and Jesus was speaking of Himself. Goodness comes along with righteousness and softens the convictions. And we’re commanded to show this goodness. It’s not optional, we’re commanded to demonstrate this.

Galatians 6:10, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people. Do good to all people, especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” For us as the church and for all people outside, we are to be known by our goodness, our large-heartedness, our tenderness, our kindness and our patience. These are beautiful virtues and wonderful virtues.

And where is this all going? 2 Thessalonians 1:12, “so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” You are showing a transformed life. And that is the reason He calls on us to live walking in the Spirit so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you and you in Him.” Let us pray together.

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200322 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000097 imblog

Galatians 5:22-26

We’re in Galatians 5 titled “Walking by the Spirit.” and it is a command to walk by the Spirit. It’s a command in verse 16; it’s a command repeated in verse 25. We also noted that there is a conflict involved in trying to obey this command. In verse 17, our still unredeemed human flesh works against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. That’s why living the Christian life is a battle.

It’s the flesh warring against the Holy Spirit who is in us. And then after the conflict in verses 17 - 18 comes a contrast between the deeds of the flesh, verses 19 - 21, and the fruit of the Spirit, verses 22 - 23. To live a godly life requires not that you develop your human strength to make you more moral in life. But if you’re going honor and satisfy God, the only way possible is to walk by the Spirit.

You have to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Nothing you do in your flesh pleases God. All your best efforts in the flesh only produce sin. The Spirit alone produces righteous fruit listed in verses 22 - 23. “Walk” means to take life one step at a time in the direction that the Spirit of God has revealed in the Word of God; and He promises to give us the power to live in that obedience.

In the New Testament we are called Christians, because we are Christ-like. “Christian” is a key word to identify us. It was a word that basically was first used by pagans who named the followers of Christ, “Christians.” They thought it was a way to deride people; but actually it was a pretty noble compliment to say that they were little Christs. We are following Christ, we try to bear His image.

Another word for us in the New Testament is the word “disciple.” It also describes us, and the word translated “disciples” is mathētēs in the Greek. It means “learner” or “student.” We are students of Jesus Christ; we sit at His feet, we learn from Him. He is our Lord and Master. He is our Teacher, our Instructor. So we are called disciples, which means that we are learners.

Also in the New Testament we are called “brothers,” and “sisters,” which is to say that we are in the family. We’re not just little Christs, we’re not just students of Christ, we are also His family members. We have been entered into the family of God. We’ve been born into the family of God by the new birth, and we’ve been adopted into the family of God by the choice of God Himself.

And there’s another term that we should know. What it is to be a follower of Christ; we’re called “slaves.” The word is doulos. It appears about a hundred and twenty-five times in the New Testament; and when it is used to refer to believers it is often translated as “servant.” But we are really slaves. Which means that we give willing, loving, faithful obedience to the One who owns us, who bought us.

But there is another word, and it is “saint.” The word means “holy.” We are the holy ones; and it’s used over two hundred times. It is just a simple, plain designation for every believer. I know it’s hard to think of yourself that way. The reality is that you don’t act like one all the time, correct? But this expression is used to describe us in Scripture, and it is continuously used to describe us.

You come to the Epistles and you are at the end of Revelation designated as saints. I want you to understand this. So let me just show you a few Scriptures that will help you see it. Paul wrote Romans 1: 1, “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,” and then in verse 7 it says, “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called saints.”

You are all saints. These are young believers in Rome, and they are all designated as saints. This is a title that belongs to us all. In Romans 8:26-27, speaking of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, “The Spirit intercedes for with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

The Holy Spirit is praying for us, and in His prayers He identifies us as saints, God is not hesitant to call us saints and the Holy Spirit is not hesitant to pray for us as saints. In Ephesians 1, Paul says, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus.” In Philippians 1, “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.”

1 Corinthians was a long letter because a lot was wrong in Corinth. But in spite of all these terrible things like division, discord, disunity, fighting, strife, pride, bitterness, immorality and many other sins. Still, it says in 1 Cor. 1:1-2, “Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified (made saints) in Christ Jesus.”

You are saints by calling. It is not your behavior that earned you the right to be a saint. You are called to be a holy one, and it is an effectual call. You are saints in spite of your weaknesses. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.”

And in 1 Corinthians 6:1 it says, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” This is a heavenly calling. You have been called to holiness. You have been sanctified. You have been made a saint. This is how the Corinthian believers are called. They are saints, in spite of their sin.

1 Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” Here, Paul is talking about the misuse of speaking in tongues; and he reminds them that they are saints. This church maybe should be called Riverside Indonesian Saints, that’s who we are, and it’s important that we understand that. That identifies us as those who have been transformed.

Here is the conclusion, salvation leads to sanctification. If you’re saved you are a saint. Hebrews 10:10 says, “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” In Acts 26:18 Paul says that God sent him to open the eyes of the Gentiles that they might turn from the dominion of Satan to God, that they receive an inheritance with those sanctified by faith in Me.” Faith makes you holy.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit, then to illuminate the Scripture and empower the believer to obedience. You’re a saint, and as you study the Word of God, and the Spirit illuminates the Word of God, and then empowers the application of the Word of God in patterns of obedience. Now the rate at which you progress may have fallen down somewhere. We are not working with perfection.

And the rate at which your sainthood progresses is connected to the rate at which you’re reading and meditate on the Word of God, and walk in the path of obedience. When you fulfill the desires of the flesh, your progress stops. Spiritual maturity is a slow process. You can be doing something fleshly or something obedient. In that moment you are either walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh.

Maturity is the end result of the dominant experience of walking in the Spirit. So when you see a mature believer who manifests Christlikeness and the fruit of the Spirit, you know that He or she has been, filled with the Spirit, walking by the Spirit over a long time to have reached real maturity. So the work of sanctification began when you were saved; you became a saint. Now you need to live out your sainthood.

Ephesians 5:18-20 says, “Do not get drunk with wine, that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” First of all, you’ll worship, “19 You will speak to one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, sing, making melody in your heart to the Lord. 20 You will be giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” Believers filled with the Spirit worship and give thanks.

They are marked by humility. Christ is their model. Phil. 2:5-9, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death on the cross.”

Now let’s study the fruit of the Spirit again. The fruit of the Spirit is the proof of true Christianity. Habitual manifest sainthood shows up in these virtues in verses 22 and 23, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And if you’re walking by the Spirit you get all of it. If you’re filled with the Spirit you will worship, you will be thankful and you will be humble.

We talked before about love and joy, so let’s study the third one, which is peace. Peace is tranquility in the soul. It is the experience of the Spirit-walking Christian. God is frequently identified as the God of peace. This means that He in Himself has perfect peace, that there is no anxiety in God, there is no fear in God, there is no dread in God, there is no worry in God, only perfect calm.

He is in complete control, and He is the source of dispensing this calm. To have real peace, you can only get it from God. Now let’s talk objectively and subjectively. Objective peace refers to the Christian’s relationship to God. God was our enemy. We were under judgment, we were under wrath; but we have been reconciled to God. Now we have peace with God; that is objective and factual.

Subjectively, since we have peace with God, we experience peace in all the storms and trials of life. Now God is my Father, God is my protector; Christ is my Lord; the Spirit of God is my instructor, and my assurance, and my security for the future. God will keep all of His promises. I am His child forever. Since there is peace with God I now have the peace of God flooding my soul.

Romans 5 says, peace with God, came by Christ reconciling all of us through His death. Out of that comes the peace of God subjectively. That is why in Ephesians 6:15, the gospel is called the gospel of peace. The peace of God is found in some of the benedictions of the New Testament. 2 Thessalonians 3:16, “Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance.”

Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all peace.” It’s the tranquility of soul. Peace is that confidence that eliminates all fear, doubt, worry and anxiety. Jesus said to the disciples in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in Me also. I’m going to prepare a place for you, to come and take you to where I am.” Again, like love and joy, peace is unrelated to circumstances.

So let’s see the example in Mark 4:35-41. Our Lord is with His disciples out on the Sea of Galilee, and a storm comes, “He said to them, ‘Let’s go to the other side.’ 36 Leaving the crowd, took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 37 And there arose a fierce gale of wind, the waves were breaking over the boat. 38 Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.

They woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we’re perishing? 39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still.” And the wind died down and became perfectly calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?’ 41 They became very much afraid and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him?’”

Confidence in God eliminates fear. Philippians 4:9 says, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” Verse 7 – “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” There’s no human explanation for it, there’s no psychological explanation for it. This peace comes only from God.

But beyond that, there’s a command to pursue peace. Philippians 4:6, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Give your request to God, and your soul will be flooded with the peace of God that will guard your heart and your mind. That is a command not to be anxious, but to pray, pray believing God’s provision of peace.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Are you a peacemaker? Is your own heart at peace all the time in any situation? That is how we should be identified. And if you’re walking in the Spirit, you will not cause trouble, you will not cause anxiety; you will bring peace. An awful lot of people who name the name of Christ do nothing but stir up trouble everywhere.

So, “Who’s the source?” Well, it’s the fruit of the Spirit. But again, in John 14:27 Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. My peace I give you.” How does peace come to me? Verse 26: “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Mar 2020 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200315 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000096 imblog

Galatians 5:22-26

There’s a command in verse 16 that’s repeated in verse 25, “Walk by the Spirit.” That is a command. That is to say we are to yield the control of our lives to the Holy Spirit. The command is followed by recognition of a conflict back in verse 17, “The flesh” which still remains because we haven’t been glorified; we’re still human. So we have remaining flesh even after our conversion and transformation.

Verse 17, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” That’s the conflict; we talked about that. We are simultaneously righteous and sinful. We have a new nature, a new creation, created in Christ Jesus unto good works; but it is incarcerated in our remaining humanness.

And so there’s a great battle. Paul means that our fleshly desires are restrained by the Holy Spirit. So we have a command to walk by the Spirit. In fulfilling that command, we have a conflict between our remaining sinful flesh and the indwelling Holy Spirit. It has to do with the attitudes and actions of our lives. When the flesh is in control you get the deeds of the flesh in verses 19 to 21.

These are the deeds of the flesh. And they’re evident: 19 adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and the like. These are the kind of things that mark people who don’t inherit the kingdom of God. These are the behaviors of non-believers.

But we still have the tendency to do those things in our unredeemed flesh. And our flesh will not disappear until we receive our heavenly home and a glorified body. Then we’ll have no dealings with the flesh forever. But we are now faced with fulfilling this command and running right into a war, which is in us. Paul talks about it in Romans 7, as we already have discussed.

Last week we talked about the deeds of the flesh. It’s a disastrous listing of the things that destroy life and relationships in a terrible way. Those are the things that essentially dominate the life of an unsaved person. There may be some human good done, but basically the flesh can only produce these bad things. It produces them in thought; and there are many more.

Galatians 5:22-26 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

So if you look at a believer you might see sin on some occasion; but you will inevitably see these virtues as well. And as sanctification takes place, and as you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ and become more like Christ, you see more the fruit of the Spirit than you do the deeds of the flesh. Sanctification is doing less of the list in verses 19 to 21, and doing more of the list in verses 22 and 23.

Life lived in the Spirit produces the virtues of verses 22 - 23; and we have now come to the virtue side. Walking by the Spirit has then a negative and a positive impact. Negatively, it restrains the flesh. That is what it says in verse 17, that the Spirit who is in us stops us from doing the things that the flesh naturally desires. And the positive effect is producing the fruit listed in verses 22 - 23.

Now the deeds of the flesh are plural. Not everybody does all of those things all the time. Sinners have the freedom to choose their sin. There are some people who never get drunk, that’s just not part of their sin. So there are many more sins that could be added to the list. On the other hand, the fruit of the Spirit is singular. When you’re walking in the Spirit, it all comes in a package deal.

The fruit of the Spirit is put in the singular because virtue is not a list from which you pick. The fruit of the Spirit is the combination of all these virtues, and more, because it also says at the end of verse 23, “against such things, thinks like these,” which means there are more virtues. And it’s not laid out in a specific sequence like love, joy, peace which follow each other.

Fruit is a beautiful bouquet of virtues and its beauty is a composite beauty. That’s what the Holy Spirit produces in someone who walks by the Spirit. And eventually you will experience them all. God is the source of all virtue; fruit is seen as a metaphor for virtue. And the life of God in the believer will produce spiritual fruit depending on how much you grow spiritually.

So God desires us to bear fruit. Look to John 15, our Lord here talks about Himself being the vine, and His Father the vine keeper. He says, “Every branch in Me that doesn’t bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” So when you bear fruit, the Lord will bring into your life those pruning experiences that make you more fruitful.

We are in Christ, and Christ is in us, and in that union the branch begins to bear fruit. “4 As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you’re the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” If you’re connected to Christ there’s going to be much fruit.

Now there are some behaviors that are indicated in Scripture to be fruit. Hebrews 13:15 says, “The sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of your lips giving thanks to Him.” Worship is fruit. When you worship, when you praise the Lord, you are bearing fruit. In Romans 15:28 Paul thanked people for the financial gift to support him; and the gift was “fruit that abounds to your account.” So giving is also fruit.

In Matthew 3:8, Jesus said, “Bring forth fruit connected to repentance.” Repenting of sin is also fruit. Romans 1:13, Paul said, “I want to come to you that I may have some fruit among you.” Leading someone to Christ is also fruit. And there are more illustrations of a singular fruit. So worship is fruit, giving is fruit, repentance is fruit, bringing someone to Christ is also fruit.

So we are both righteous and sinful at the same time until we’re glorified. But we will be characterized by much fruit. That fruit will be there because that’s what the Holy Spirit is doing in us. The fruit is the proof that the Holy Spirit is in us. Listen to the words of our Lord in Matthew 7:20, “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” John 15:8, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

The fruit of the Spirit is not produced by the flesh; and all nine of them are repeatedly commanded of us. Throughout Scripture we are commanded to love, commanded to be joyful, commanded to experience peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. They are commands to us, but they are works of the Spirit. Remember that that’s true of every aspect of our salvation.

The fact that you are born again, is a work of God; and yet you are commanded to be born again. The fact that you believe is a work of God, but you’re commanded to believe. The fact that you confess Christ is a work of God, but you’re commanded to confess Jesus as Lord. The fact that you’re being sanctified is a work of the Spirit of God, but you’re commanded to be obedient.

Fruit falls into two categories. We have learned that good deeds, worship, giving, and leading someone to Christ; is all fruit. But you don’t see any of those deeds here in Galatians, all you have here is attitudes. Love is an attitude, joy is an attitude, peace is an attitude, patience is an attitude; all these are attitudes. So we can conclude that this is an attitude fruit, right?

What we have seen is there is action fruit, that’s the fruit of behavior: good deeds, righteous action. So attitude fruit comes first; and where these attitudes dominate come actions related to these attitudes. You can’t love without acts of love. You can’t have joy without expressions of joy. All of these are powered in us by the Holy Spirit collectively. So if you walk by the Spirit, the whole fruit is yours.

“How do I know you’re a Christian?” So if you want to know that I’m a Christian stick around me for a while, and what you will see mostly is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That is the evidence that mostly I’m not living in my flesh, because all that the flesh produces is iniquity. This is how we put our salvation on display.

So let’s start with love and joy. Love is first in the list because love is the greatest, according to 1 Corinthians 13. It’s the word agapē, it’s “love at the highest level.” This is the word for the noblest of loves. There are other words for love that speak of friendship, and marital love, and even an erōs kind of love. But this is the word that speaks of the kind of love that is characteristic of God.

Let us examine a four-fold pattern of these words. First, the nature of each, then the example, then the command and then the power. So let’s look at agapé love, the noblest kind of love. What is its nature? Most love in our culture is defined by some kind of emotional stimulation. But this love is defined for all of us in 1 Corinthians 13, often called the love chapter.

What is love like? “Love is patient,” verse 4 “love is kind, is not jealous; love doesn’t brag, is not arrogant, 5 doesn’t act unbecomingly; it doesn’t seek its own, is not provoked, doesn’t take into account a wrong suffered, 6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;” then “7 love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” That’s the nature of love.

Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” This is the noblest love of all loves. It means you seek only the best for everyone around you. You endure anything and everything. You believe the best about everyone. You speak the best about everyone. You sacrifice yourself even to point of giving up your life for others.

What about the example? Yes, Jesus said in John 15:12, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” How had He just loved them? By washing their dirty feet in John 13: 4-5, “So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet.”

But it even went beyond that. Love in a way that makes you willing to lay down your life for your friends. That is the pattern, our Lord’s self-sacrificing love. And then in verse 35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” In Ephesians 5:1, Paul writes, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us.”

Where does this love come from? Where do we get this kind of power to love? Listen to Romans 5:5, “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” If you’re walking in the Spirit you will love. You will love everyone. You will love strangers and you will love enemies. Yes, the only way we can love is by the power of the Spirit.

The reason you have divine love in you is because you have Christ in you, you have the Spirit in you. And if you are walking in the Spirit, walking in obedience to Christ, you will radiate love everywhere. Is that what you’re known for? And love will be there, but not alone; all the other gifts will be there as well, but love will be manifestly visible when you’re walking by the Spirit.

Just a few comments about the second word “joy.” What about its nature? It’s not related to circumstances. It is joy that has nothing to do with whether you’re healthy or sick, nothing to do with whether you’re alone or in a crowd, nothing to do with whether you are paid enough or not enough, and not related whatsoever to whether your circumstances are positive or negative.

Joy is not being “happy.” Happy is related to the word “happen,” which is related to the circumstance you’re in. And this can change rapidly. Joy does not change, this is deep settled joy. This is in the calm of the depth of your soul. It is immovable. Joy provides you constant satisfaction and contentment. Joy is as unchangeable as your Lord is. It always is based on divine realities.

What’s this joy connected to? Ultimate salvation. No matter what happens in my life, no one can take away the eternal salvation that has been given me. There is an inheritance laid up for me undefiled, unfading, settled in heaven, waiting my arrival. It’s a joy based upon the unchanging promises and power of God. Jesus said that you’ll have grief on Good Friday, but you’ll have joy by Easter Sunday.

No one will take your joy away from you, because Christ is risen. That’s what gives everlasting joy. Christ is alive, and He has purchased our redemption and an inheritance undefiled, reserved in heaven for us. Jesus said in John 15:11, “My joy I give you; you have My joy.” The very joy that the Son possesses in the promise of the Father, we possess in the promise of the Son. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Mar 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200308 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000095 imblog

Galatians 5:16-21

“16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

“18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.”

“Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Now we’re dealing with the very essence of sanctification, the very heart of Christian living. And our responsibility is summed up in verse 16, “let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” There are foundational reasons why this is critical.

We face a great challenge, because even though we have been justified, and even though we have been regenerated, and even though we’re a new creation and we have a new life and new affections and new longings and new desires, the flesh is still there. We haven’t yet reached our glorification; not until then will we be free from the sinful impulses that remain in our fallen humanity.

So as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to clearly understand the dynamics of what’s going on in our lives. And what we learned is that there is a standard that has been set for us by God as to how we are to live as believers. And at the same time, we fight against our remaining flesh to try to come close to that standard. In Matthew 5 our Lord says, “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

God will always affirm the absolute holy standard as His only acceptable standard. That is why we have to receive full righteousness from Jesus’ righteousness. And even in our sanctification, living our Christian lives, that standard doesn’t drop. Now that you’re a Christian, God is still making commands. But there is grace for us, there is mercy for us. We go to the throne of that grace in time of need.

Beginning in 1 Peter 1:13, God gives us a call for holy living, “So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.” Live according to divine priorities, and look for the day when we leave this world and enter into the presence of Christ. Verse 14, “So you must live as God’s obedient children.”

“Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” And that is taken from the book of Leviticus. God cannot set a standard lower than His own standard of holiness.

Verse 17 says, “And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” We are to live in the fear of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We are to pursue holiness at the divine level.

And in verse 22 we read, “You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.” Now these two things sum up the command for the Christian: perfect love and perfect holiness. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

On our own, we cannot attain that standard. We know that, because in our flesh we are weak and have only disobedience and death. And yet this standard is established as the standard by which we are to live. And our only hope for coming anywhere near that standard is to walk by the Spirit, and that’s what we learn in Galatians 5. The law offers no help. The law does not empower anyone, it is weak.

Romans 8:3-4, “So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”

Receiving the Holy Spirit occurs at salvation. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about the fact that when you are saved, Christ takes you by the power of the Holy Spirit, places you into the body, and then places the Holy Spirit in you to live in you. As we learned in Galatians, if the Holy Spirit is in you, then the Father is in you, and the Son is in you also, because God is one and indivisible.

The mystery of the Trinity is that God Himself in His fullness dwells in every believer. This is the only way we can live the Christian life. Galatians 5:16, “Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” The only way that you overcome your fleshly desires is by walking in the power of the Spirit. Live one step at a time following the path the Spirit lays out.

What we’re seeing in the ministry of the Holy Spirit is this: you walk in the Spirit when you go the path that the Spirit is moving in. And the path that the Spirit is moving in is the path of divine revelation, it’s the will of God. So that’s why we read in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit,” And the parallel passage, Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

So as the Word pours into your life and begins to control your behavior, under the power of the Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you walk in the way of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t something you feel. I have never felt God’s presence. But what I know is that the Spirit dwells in me because I love the Lord. I love the Father, I love the Son and I love Holy Spirit, and that is foreign to my fallen flesh.

Not only that, I desire to worship God, to please God, to honor God and to serve God. I love the gospel, I desire to proclaim the gospel. I desire to see people saved by the gospel. I have the longing to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as I love myself. Those are the impulses that indicate the Spirit of God dwells in me. And that is the essence of the Christian life.

If you don’t know what the Word of God teaches, you’re very limited, because you don’t know the path that the Spirit has laid out. That is why Jesus said, “You’re sanctified by the truth; and Your Word is truth.” As you know the Word, as the Word dominates your life, then the Spirit of God prompts you to move in the direction of what Scripture says. So reading and contemplating the Word is a necessity.

And if you do this for a long time, your involuntary reactions become biblical. You’re dominated by the Word of God to the point you think biblically, which means you have the mind of Christ; and the Spirit of God leads you down the path of obedience to Him. Your mind is influenced by those portions of Scripture that speak to you. So this is what it means to walk by the Spirit.

So, here’s the problem. God’s standard is high, and we are still fleshly. We have not yet received the redemption of the body, we still have our fallen flesh. So the challenge then is, “How do we live an overcoming life? How do we live a triumphant life? How do we live a joy-filled life? How do we get out of the deeds of the flesh, in verse 19 to 21, into the fruit of the Spirit?”

Verses 17 and 18 say, “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the Law of Moses.”

When God unleashes His judgment on a culture or on a society, one of the first things you will see is a sexual revolution. God turns them over to the lusts of their hearts, to impurity to dishonor their bodies. Wherever you see a culture with a sexual revolution Romans 1:25 was followed, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the things God created rather than the Creator himself.”

Verse 26-27, “That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.”

What is the contrast between the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit? Verses 19-21, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.” This is just a representative list.

Now Paul divides the sins into four categories. First category is sin that defiles the individual, sexual sin. And he begins with immorality, impurity, and sensuality. These are characteristic of every human being’s evil desire. And when a society allows them to run amuck and rejects God, they are multiplied exponentially. God’s judgment is to pull back divine restraint and let the society become what it wants.

The first word is “immorality,” or ‘porneia’ from which the word “pornography” comes. This word means any illicit sexual behavior. It would be inclusive of adultery, premarital sexual activity, homosexuality, bestiality, incest, prostitution and pedophilia. Any and all sexually deviant behaviors are encompassed in this word “immorality.” This is a work of the flesh, not a work of the Spirit.

The second word is “impurity,” or “uncleanness.” This defines immorality by another word but the meaning is the same. Then then word “sensuality.” It means without restraint, without limits. This is what the flesh produces. It will defile the individual from the inside, and particularly do so in a sexual way. There are more words here that have more to do with ignoring God and focusing on self.

So in verse 20, “idolatry.” The flesh will develop other gods. The flesh will make you worship something, someone, some event, some act, some experience, some hobby, some form of entertainment, more than you worship God. The greatest immoral act is to reject the true God. This encompasses any kind of false religion or any other idol that you might invent in your life.

Now there is another word “sorcery.” Drugs were associated with ancient religions. There were all kinds of shaman and witches that were always dispensing potions of one kind or another. The flesh will chase you down the path of occult false religion; where fallen angels can make you think that you’ve connected at a transcendent level, and start to worshipping demons.

The flesh will not only corrupt your own life, it corrupts all other human relations. Example: Hostility and quarreling. So what is natural to the flesh is for you to hate by nature. It’s the opposite of love; and this word has the idea of hostility. It’s a kind of hate that is hostile. And it’s a plural use of the word, we are marked by all kinds of hatreds. There are hatreds at every level for almost every occasion.

We are also marked by “jealousy,” this is actually anger. This is anger produced by hate, anger exacerbated by fighting and quarreling. And, finally, “outbursts of anger.” All four of those have to do with anger. And the outbursts of anger just means exploding anger. Selfish ambition is also part of our flesh. And what happens is life is characterized by dissention and by divisions. That’s what flesh produces.

And the flesh will also defile relations to alcohol. Verse 21, “drunkenness.” This is connected to public orgies, like those at the Temple of Bacchus. You know, humanity is depraved. And without the gospel and without the power of the Holy Spirit, this is where people live. No wonder they hate the Bible. Fights, anger, hatred and jealousy are now common in our culture.

Verse 21 ends with, “Anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” It is not what you profess, it is how you behave. That’s why the Bible says men are going to be judged on their works, because their works are the evidence of their nature, if that’s what you do. Notice the end of verse 21, “those who live that sort of life,” which means an unbroken pattern. People who behave continually like that are doomed.

If you were left to your own flesh, you couldn’t please God, even if He gave you the law. A person who is completely under the control of the flesh does not have the power to keep any of them, because the flesh is weak, and the law gives no power at all. On the other hand, the Spirit restrains that flesh so that we want to do the will of God. And we’ll look at the fruit of the Spirit next Sunday. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Mar 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200301 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000094 imblog

Galatians 5:13-16

There are Christians who say once you’ve come to Christ, once you’ve embraced Jesus as your Lord and Savior your sins are forgiven. You really don’t have to be concerned with God’s law; you are free from the law. “Whatever violation of the law we might have made, Christ paid for that sin in His death; and furthermore, His life has been credited to our account.

That is a heresy of epic proportions, even though it is popular today. And so, as we study Galatians, we want to really understanding what the Christian life should be like and what should characterize the believer. Let’s read Galatians 5:13-16, “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.”

“Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. 16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.”

This is simple, straightforward and practical. The Bible is clear about one thing, that if a person loves God, he keeps His commandments. In fact, if someone loves God, he obeys God with eagerness. He obeys God motivated by love. He desires to honor God, to worship the Lord, to bring glory to God. He longs to see the will of God and the Word of God fulfilled. True Christians love the Lord.

On the other hand, if someone does not keep His commands or is indifferent to His commands, and doesn’t seem to be concerned about honoring God or obeying the word and the will of God, that person hates God. Now that sounds extreme, but there are only two possibilities: you either love God or you hate God. There is no middle ground. Saying that that you do not care means that you hate God.

John 14:15 records the words of Jesus Himself, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments.” So Christian freedom is not freedom to be indifferent toward the will of God or to be disobedient to God. Christian freedom must be expressed within the reality that I have been turned to love God, and my freedom is defined in all the ways that I can express that love toward God.

But there is a new kind of false Christianity that is becoming popular, and the idea of it is to accommodate the current culture of sin. This is a culture that celebrates sin. Sinners want freedom to do what they want to do. They reject authority, they believe they have a right to whatever behaviors they choose, and they have a right to condemn those who are opposed to them.

Jesus said in John 8:34, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” They think they’re free in sinning, the truth is they’re in bondage to sin, they can do nothing else. Now, they will accept God and Jesus, and the church in some form of Christianity if it allows them to do whatever they desire. And there are always going to be corrupt preachers who will accept people on their terms, and not on God’s terms.

When you see someone like that, who advocates that kind of freedom, you know you’re dealing with a false teacher. In 2 Peter 2:12-18, we have false teachers described in very graphic terms. “They are like unreasoning animals to be captured and killed. They have eyes full of adultery. They have hearts trained in greed. They speak arrogant words of vanity and they entice by fleshly desires.”

Remember, to become a true Christian you have to follow Jesus Christ by denying yourself and taking up your cross. That means you deny yourself to such an extreme degree that you would be willing to sacrifice your life. Becoming a Christian in reality is becoming a slave. But it is the most rich, blessed, rewarding, joyful, fruitful, peaceful slavery, because it is a slavery of love. We love the Savior who first loved us.

Faithful Christians are not so drawn to their own lusts and desires that they will press on to the limit until God’s displeasure becomes so evident that they themselves are stricken with some sickness. True Christians don’t do that, they do the opposite: they run toward Christ, they strive for righteousness, they strive for purity, they strive for godliness, and they try to obtain virtue.

The duty of the true church is to pursue with all its passion, holiness, virtue, godliness and sanctification to confront the sinner’s sin and selfishness. And call the sinner to deny all of that, even to the point of death, and follow Christ at every cost. The Spirit and the Scripture are at work in you through the reading of Scripture; where you have people pursuing sanctification instead of self-fulfillment.

In Christ we have been freed from that bondage to love what is right, and to fulfill that which we now love. We have also been freed from the law’s curse: “Cursed is everyone who violates the law of God.” Christ removed the curse in His death and paid the penalty. But as Christians, we are not free from the moral law. We are not free from the law which is an expression of the nature of God.

God is the sum of all His righteous virtues which are expressed in His moral law. It is impossible to love God and resist His law. It is equally impossible to resist His law and say you love God. We are the ones who are free. In John 8:36, Jesus said, “If the Son makes you free, you’re free indeed.” So let’s look now at our text. Verse 13, “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters.”

You were called out from under the curse of the law, out from under the penalty of the law; and additionally, out from the external symbols of the law that were the ceremonial ritual regulations given to Moses to separate you from your neighbors: circumcision and all the festivals and feasts, all the externals, all the shadows of things to come. You don’t have to go back to that when Jesus arrives.

But what does that freedom mean? The call to freedom here is seen in many practical ways. First of all, we are free to oppose the flesh. Since you have come to Christ you are now free to oppose the flesh. Verse 13 continues, “But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.” The flesh is our unredeemed humanness, the sin that remains in us until glorification. Don’t let your flesh be the base of operation.

This tells us how the flesh functions: “The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit.” So you’re a believer, the Spirit lives in you, and the flesh is warring against the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. “These are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” It is really a fight for righteousness, toward purity, toward virtue, toward godliness; and it is empowered by the Spirit.

Do not do things based on your flesh which involve the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This is a great battle. And this started in Genesis 3:6, “Eve saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it.” Sin entered the human experience based on what Eve saw. And what about King David and Bathsheba?

2 Samuel 11:2-4, “David noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her.” If David only knew the tragic results of not “guarding his eyes” during his stroll on the rooftop.

In our generation, addiction to sexual uncleanliness and unrestrained covetousness are common sins. We will not grow in grace if we are not able to say ‘no’ to the many voices that call us to compromise our consciences. In our pursuit of holiness, this will surely mean for all of us to get rid of the unnecessary things for our “Christian Freedom.” Only a true conversion breaks the dominion of sin.

Paul says that people who practice the deeds of the flesh as the pattern of life will never enter the kingdom of God. So our freedom is limited. It’s a fight from love for joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control – all the fruit of the Spirit. You as a believer are fighting against the flesh so that you may be filled with the Spirit, and that your life might be marked by the fruit of the Spirit.

There’s even more limits on our freedom, and that is regarding things that are not forbidden and things that are not necessarily required by God. There are a lot of things that aren’t taught in the Bible, right? We talk about certain habits aren’t in the Bible, certain behaviors that are not in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t say things specifically about certain forms of entertainment. But our life is full of those kinds of decisions.

So what do we do? I’ve asked this question throughout my life when there is something that is not forbidden in Scripture. The first question I ask is this: Will it be spiritually profitable? In 1 Corinthians 6:12, Paul says this, “All things that God doesn’t forbid are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.” Not all things are to my spiritual advantage. Is this spiritually beneficial for me?

Second question: Will it build me up? Will it edify me? “Is it going to actually make me stronger as a believer? There’s this statement we read in Hebrews 12:1, “since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

So the third question is, if I do this, will it hinder my running the race of faith? Will it weigh me down? Do I need to carry this? You don’t see an athlete going out to run a marathon carrying a suitcase. That’s the unnecessary bulk. Is it something that reorders my priorities? Is it something that eats up my energy uselessly? Is it something that fills my mind with things that have no value?

A fourth question, if I do this will it be likely to start a bad habit? 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, “I am allowed to do anything, but I must not become a slave to anything.” I don’t want to start a habit that requires all my attention, my energy and my focus. I don’t want to become a slave to anything except my Lord and righteousness. Is it likely to start a bad habit that hurts me financially, time-wise, energy-wise and focus-wise?

Fifth question, Will it be consistent with Christlikeness? 1 John 2:6, “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” Would Jesus do this? Would Jesus be involved in this? That’s a pretty high standard, isn’t it? Will I honor Christ if I do this? And in Galatians 4:19 Paul said, “I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.”

Sixth question, “Will it glorify God? 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” The Christian should say, “How hard can I run in the direction of righteousness? How devoted can I be toward godliness, purity, and holiness? And how can I eliminate things that have the power to pull me in the wrong direction?

This is the kind of love that our Lord demonstrates in Philippians 2:5-8 where it says, “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. 6 Though he was God, He didn’t think that His position with God was something to be grasped and hold onto it, 7 but He humbled Himself, took upon the form of a slave who’s made in the likeness of man, humbled Himself all the way to death, even to death on a cross.”

Verse 13, “Through love serve one another.” So now I have to ask all those questions about the people around me. Will this behavior build them up? Will this be profitable to them, or will this hinder them in the race? Will this be an encumbrance to them? Will this be for them an example in the direction of Christlikeness and glorifying God? The word “serve” here, means you’re a slave to others.

Take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block for the weak. Paul says, “As a believer I am concerned to live my life in such a way that it will benefit others.” John 13:35 says, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, that you have love for one another.” Show that love to everyone, and make whatever sacrifice you need to make.

Verse 14, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” In Romans 13 the apostle Paul says basically that this love fulfills the law. It says in Romans 13:8, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” If you want to fulfill the law, just love your neighbor.

You are free to oppose the flesh, serve others, and fulfill the law at its highest level by love, and to avoid destructive conflict. Paul says in verse 15, “If you bite and devour one another, “take care that you’re not consumed by one another.” Where there is love and where there is sacrificial service, conflict disappears. Verse 16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you’ll not carry out the desire of the flesh.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Feb 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200223 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000093 imblog

Galatians 5:7-12

The opening twelve verses of Galatians 5 are designed to make it clear how the apostle Paul and God Himself feels about false doctrine and false teachers. Now I’m not talking about other religions, the issue here is about the aberrant forms of Christianity. And what Paul is attacking in this letter is the idea that you can change the gospel of salvation. Salvation is by faith in Christ alone, apart from any works.

All glory goes to God. It results in a transformed life, which then produces righteous works. And there are no righteous works or religious works that contribute anything to salvation. The gospel was preached so that people believed. Their lives were transformed. They were justified by God, their sins were forgiven, they were given the Holy Spirit, and they began to see the Spirit of God operating in their lives.

They were flourishing, until some Jewish teachers showed up, who basically followed Paul everywhere, to undermine the gospel. They were like Satan disguised as ministers of light, but they were ministers of darkness who represented Satan and the kingdom of darkness. They had a deviant, quasi-Christian message; and that’s what made them so deceptive in their message.

They taught, “You cannot be saved by believing in Christ alone; that’s not sufficient to save you. You must follow the rules and external rituals from the Law of Moses; and that means you have to go through Judaism. Paul stated that this is a different gospel. It is a distorted form of Christianity that says salvation comes by faith in Christ plus your works. But they say it is the combination that brings salvation.

Paul says, “Even if we or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.” There is a place for righteous anger over these false doctrines that have found their way into Christianity and seduced people. In the first six verses we looked at last time he confronts their false doctrine. Now Paul confronts these false teachers.

From verse 7 to 12 Paul looks at the character of false teachers, the very work that marks them. They declared that they are the people of the true God, and that they acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Savior, but they add works to faith. In fact, this hybrid kind of salvation, consists of the largest number of so called Christians in the world, including both Eastern Orthodoxy and the Roman Catholic Church.

Galatians 5:7-12, “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough. 10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. 11 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised, as some say I do, why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. 12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to circumcise you, would mutilate themselves.”

Verse 7, “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Paul liked to use the metaphor of a race, which was very popular in the ancient world. Collectively he was looking at the church and seeing that everything seemed to be going in the right direction. He is saying “you,” meaning the people in the congregation, some of whom were being seduced by these Judaizing teachers.

“Who hindered you?” It’s a rhetorical question. “You’ve got to understand who it is that is hindering you.” These false teachers act as scholars of the Old Testament. They would let you think that they have the authority of James, who was the leader of the Jerusalem church. Today they may be religious leaders, may be pastors, and they may be false teachers. But who are they really?

First, they hinder the truth. They attacked Paul’s apostolic authority, they attacked the Old Testament, and they certainly attacked the Holy Spirit’s power. They were throwing legalism at these people, and making them confused. Paul asked, “Who is it that hinders you from obeying the truth?” What does that mean? To obey the truth in the New Testament means “to believe the gospel.”

The gospel is a command. It is not a suggestion, it is God commanding you. As believers, when we present the gospel it is better not to say we share the gospel, but to talk about God commanding people to believe. Because that’s what the gospel does: it calls for obedience. Acts 6:7 says, “The word of God spread; the number of the disciples increased. And a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”

Paul in Romans 15:18 says, “I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles, obedience to the gospel command.” Romans 16: 26 says, “Now the gospel, the preaching of Christ, the mystery of the revelation of Christ is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the command of the eternal God.”

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says, “God will send the Lord Jesus from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.” Those who do not obey the gospel will be destroyed.

Some of these Galatians were almost coming in full faith to Christ, but like those in Hebrews were hesitant. And now these legalists had come along to push them into legalism and away from the gospel. Why? Galatians 6:12, “They desire to make a good showing in the flesh, and so they try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.”

Then verse 13, “And even those who advocate circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.” They want to be able to say to their Jewish community, “No, we’re supportive of Judaism. Christianity is just a branch of Judaism, and we still believe that the law has priority.” They did that for their own social benefit.

Paul says in verse 8, “This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.” This is a false gospel. If you go that way Christ is no benefit to you. You’re under the law to keep the whole law perfectly if you think you are saved by the law. You are severed from Christ, you are fallen from grace, and you will never get the righteousness you pursue.” False teachers get in the way of the truth.

Look at 2 Peter 2:1, 3, “But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.”

Secondly, they do not represent God. This is Satan’s work, even though it has Christianity as a label. They will claim divine rights, divine authority and divine power. They may even say they speak for God. False teachers are smooth talkers, but they lie the same way their father the Devil lies. 1 Corinthians 7:5, “be on guard so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

Whenever we see the last phrase in verse 8, “Him who calls you,” it is always the effectual saving call. It’s the call mentioned in Romans 8, that “whom He called, He justified.” It’s the call that awakens the dead sinner, that regenerates and gives spiritual life. It’s the call from God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. “This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.”

Recently there was a presidential prayer breakfast, which was a meeting together of apostate heretics and children of God. And people say, “But they all talk about God, and they talk about Jesus.” We applaud people who get together for some noble cause to benefit to mankind. But there is a lot of confusion about who these people represent. Some represent God and some represent Satan.

Thirdly, they contaminate the church. Verse 9, “A little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough.” Yeast is a picture in Scripture of permeation evil influence. The Jews before the feast of unleavened bread would remove all yeast. That feast was to recognize that they needed to get rid of the influence of sin. The problem was that they looked at sin only from the outside and not from their heart.

Jesus in Matthew 16:6 said, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” What did He mean by that? Verse 12 answers it, “Then at last they understood that He was not speaking about the yeast in bread, but of the deceptive teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees were dangerous. And here the apostle Paul explains it.

We see so many “evangelical people” embracing these congregations as if they are part of the kingdom of God, when in reality they are of the kingdom of darkness, and they are a corrupting evil influence. Jude 1:11, “What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion.”

And then they are described in Jude 1:12-13, “They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. 13 They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.”

Paul comes to a fourth characteristic in verse 10, “I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.” I have confidence that the Lord is going to bring you to the truth, and that you will adopt no other view. But with regard to these false teachers, they will bear judgment from God no matter who they are.

Two judgment letters in Revelation 2. The first to the church at Pergamum in Revelation 2:13-15, “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city. 14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam.”

The teaching of Balaam is being in the religious business for money, which is what false teachers do. Verse 14 continues, “Who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. 15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching.” This is another false doctrine.

Now verse 16 says, “Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” The letter to Thyatira, verse 19, “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. 20 “But you are permitting that woman, that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet to lead my servants astray.”

Verse 21, “I gave her time to repent, and she did not repent. 22 Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person.”

Fourth, God will judge them. They hinder the truth, they do not come from God, they contaminate the church, and fourth, they end in judgment from God. Then Paul says, they persecute true teachers. Verse 11, “Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised, as some say I do, why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended.”

Paul met Timothy, and was impressed by Timothy’s righteous life, godliness as a believer in Christ. His father was a Gentile, but his mother was Jewish. Timothy had never been circumcised. So Paul had him circumcised. Somebody told the Judaizers and they said, “Look, you even preach circumcision.” And Paul said, “If you think I preach circumcision, then why are you persecuting me?

Of course they didn’t think that. They persecuted him because he didn’t preach it. Why? Timothy was already a believer; it had nothing to do with salvation. But he would have had no access to synagogues. This would have made it difficult for Timothy to minister alongside Paul. So Paul accommodates the Jewish expectation by having Timothy circumcised so that together they can minister to the Jews.

The Jews had two objections with apostolic preaching. Number one was the crucified Messiah. That was a stumbling block to them, because they thought the Messiah was going to come be a king, not a crucified victim of the Romans. The greater problem was that other believers would not have to adhere to all the Mosaic ordinances. That is why they were so much against him.

Lord, I hope that the full implications of the gospel will take hold of the hearts of preachers, teachers, and believers everywhere, that they would proclaim the true gospel with boldness that would expose those hybrid misrepresentations of the gospel that comes from Satan himself. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Feb 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200216 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000092 imblog

Galatians 5:1-6

Let us read together Galatians 5:1-6, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ,”

“You who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” We know that Paul had gone into the region of Galatia and he had preached the gospel; and the gospel is that salvation comes by faith alone apart from works.

No sinner can contribute anything to his or her salvation, it’s all a work of God. All the sinner does is reach out an empty hand to receive a gift by faith. The gospel of grace, the gospel of faith was the true gospel, and Paul said any other gospel is to be damned. Only the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ can save you. So Paul planted churches and they were flourishing.

These people had heard the gospel and believed it. They had been justified, declared righteous by God. And in addition to that, they had been transformed. They had a new nature, and the Holy Spirit lived in their hearts. So they were moving in the power of the Holy Spirit, until some Jews called Judiazers came from Jerusalem. They wanted these Gentiles to become Jewish ceremonially.

They were telling people that believing in Christ by faith alone was not sufficient for salvation. They had to come through Judaism, and that required that they accept circumcision and keeping of the Mosaic rituals, ceremonies and ordinances. This was not about the internal moral law, but the external laws that separated Israel from all these surrounding nations.

So they were preaching essentially salvation by faith and works, and saying that unless you acknowledge these works and do these things, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is an all-out attack on the gospel of grace and faith. And Paul states again that salvation is by faith alone apart from works. In the first two chapters he gave a historical argument from his own personal experience.

Paul lived his whole life in the works system of Judaism; and only when he turned from that to faith was he justified and transformed. Galatians 3 and 4, are a testimony, where he defends justification by faith by going back to the Old Testament and a theological argument from the Word of God. Now in Galatians 5 and 6, he shows that justification is true as proven by the experience of believers.

There is a moral transformation. There’s a transformation on the inside that gives people new desires and a new love. Here is the evidence of justification by faith in the actual transformed lives of believers. They shouldn’t listen to these false teachers because they had already experienced the power of God. So in this section, because some of them were being led astray, Paul looks to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

And the reason is because the work of the Spirit is evidence of a justified soul. This then becomes a practical proof for the doctrine of justification by faith. The proof of which is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers. Verse 1 says, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free,” the implication is He set us free to stay free. “And do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

Christ lived a sinless life that has been imputed to you. Christ’s perfect life has been credited to you as if you lived it. You’re forgiven of all your sins, and His life is now in place of your life. The wrong view of an antinomian is, don’t worry about what you do. We’re free, we’re under grace. You don’t need to live under this burden of duty, responsibility and obedience. But that idea is opposite from what Scripture teaches.

Yes, for freedom Christ has set us free; but that does not mean we have no obligation to God to honor Him and obey His moral and spiritual commands. Our former life as Gentiles was under the slavery of sin; and we might not have known it, but under the slavery of the law of God, God’s moral law was in action, and based on that law we would all be damned.

So, we are freed from the burden of sin, freedom from relentless guilt, freedom from an accusing conscience, freedom from our transgressions, freedom from the pressure and frustration of trying to be free from “sin’s dominance.” But Titus 2:12 says, “For the grace of God is teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.”

When people are under the law, the law is instructing them externally to do something they are unable to do. Now the grace of God in the form of the Holy Spirit has moved inside of them and begins to instruct them to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. The grace of God is now the instructor, disciplining us and punishing us. In 2 Timothy 2:25 it’s translated as “correcting us.”

Hebrews 12:5 says, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you’re reproved by Him.” So it’s discipline with reproof. Verse 6: “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” It’s discipline with scourging; that’s a kind of punishment. And all fathers discipline their children; and if you’re not disciplined, you’re not a legitimate child.

Hebrews 12:10 says, “We are disciplined for a short time, but disciplined for our good, so that we may share His holiness,” disciplined for the purpose of holiness. Verse 11 admits, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” It’s discipline for righteousness.

So freedom is not just deliverance from the oppression of legalism or the law or sin, it is the power and presence of the Holy Spirit so that you now can do the right thing. And since you have been transformed, you desire to do the right thing. And all of that sanctifying instruction and discipline and correction and punishment is going on internally by the Holy Spirit throughout your life.

Freedom then is now the ability to walk in the Spirit, to live in the Spirit, to see the fruit of the Spirit produced, to live with joy and gratitude, doing the will of God from the heart. Christ did it. How did He do it? Galatians 3: 13, “He was made a curse for us.” He did it by taking our place and receiving the divine curse that we deserved. By becoming a curse, He set us free. The price was that high.

Now there was a lot of effort by Jews who claim to be Christians. They wanted to affirm circumcision and keep all the regulations of the Mosaic Law. And there was so much conflict that they held a council meeting in Jerusalem. Acts 15:5, “They were of the sect of the Pharisees, and they stood up in that meeting in Jerusalem and said, ‘It’s necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Law of Moses.’”

Peter said in verse 10-11, “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we are saved through grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” Salvation is by grace through faith. They had been saved out of paganism, they didn’t need external Judaism.

Here is what happened. There are people in this Gentile congregation who on the surface have come to understand the gospel, and have to some degree accepted the truthfulness of it. But they are in danger of turning away, and heading in the direction of the rules of the law. Some of them already had. The false doctrine said you have to be circumcised before you can be saved.

So Paul says this, “You who are contemplating it, if you do this, here are the results. Verse 2, “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.” That is a stunning statement. That’s why it says, “Behold,” because it’s shocking. This is the real dilemma: it is Christ or works, it is all Christ or no Christ, it is all faith or no salvation.

There is no hybrid salvation. Romans 11:6, “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, or grace is no more grace.” But there’s so many people who profess Christ, claim Christ, acknowledge Christ, and think that their works contribute to their salvation. Faith and works cannot go together. You have to choose. If you add anything to Christ you lose Christ. Colossians 3:11, “Christ is all and in all.”

Many Jews are disqualified for this very reason. They actually came to believe some things about Christ. We read about them in Romans 9. Israel did not arrive at that law of righteousness. Because they didn’t pursue it by faith, but through works. Many Jews had some affirmation of Christ, but it was always Christ plus their religion, Christ plus circumcision, their Mosaic obedience, and so Christ was useless for them.

Secondly, Galatians 3:10, “As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who doesn’t abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.’” And James 2:10, “Whoever shall keep the whole law and offend in one point is guilty of all.” Verse 3, “And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.”

Verse 4, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” This is repeated in Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance.”

But there is another effect. If you go the way of a hybrid religion, Christ has no benefit to you. You are a debtor to every part of the whole law. And you are fallen from grace. You are severed from Christ. If you try to invent a hybrid gospel, Christ profits you nothing. And finally, you are excluded from the righteousness that only Christ provides. The very thing you seek will never be yours.

Verse 5, “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” Now Paul is speaking to believers, including himself. We have to wait for the hope of righteousness, because it’s a gift from God. It is through the Spirit, by faith, that we eagerly await the hoped for righteousness. We’re not trying to earn it, we’re waiting for it. And in our sanctification the Lord gives it to us as a grace gift.

Paul used the verb “waiting.” This is something God has to do for us and in us, and is doing it by His Holy Spirit. It comes only by waiting, in faith, on the work of the Holy Spirit. Conclusion, verse 6, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” That’s all that matters. The whole law is fulfilled by believing God and loving God.

It is all internal. It is faith working through love. Our hearts are literally drawn to God in trust; that’s what faith is. We live trusting God, and we live loving God, and as a result, loving those around us as well. It is a working faith. It is a living faith. It is a growing faith. It is a growing love. It is a multiplying love, as we wait and the Spirit in grace does His work in us.

I read about an artist who wanted to assemble his life masterpiece, and he worked on it for years and years, and it was some kind of combination of natural elements, stones and various things. And he brought them into his studio, and he kept on building and building, and adding and adding, until it reached the point where it was finished. And then he realized it was too big to get it out of the room.

And that is essentially what happens to people who try to earn their way to heaven; everything they have built isn’t going to get out of the room. Spend all your life trying to work your way to heaven, and that’s the one place you’ll never be. Christians wait in faith and love, walk in the Spirit, and let Him do the work. The grace of God has done everything that we need through Christ, and all we have to do is believe and follow Him.

But that is the intention in a day when so many so called Christians want to make anybody and any religion feel good, especially people who are in some aberrant form of Christianity. They are tolerating this hybrid notion that salvation is a matter of faith plus works. May there be no one who walks out of this room this evening believing that, having rendered Christ of no benefit.

We all come with empty hands to receive your gift of salvation. So that You, God will forever and ever receive all the glory. None of us can boast. You have done it all. By grace You have even given us the faith to believe. We just have to reach out and receive the gift. Father we are so grateful to have a God like you. Forgive us as often fall short in giving you all the glory. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Feb 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200209 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000090 imblog

Galatians 5

America has become a term in the world that is somewhat synonymous with being free. That is our highest held and most praised of all blessings. And we thank God for the freedom that we have. But that freedom we enjoy is nowadays being terribly abused. And we are in danger of losing the very freedom we celebrate because abuse of freedom can lead rapidly to the death of freedom.

We see those things that abuse our freedom, for example, high crime rate, drugs and alcohol is destroying us. And instead of fighting those things, we continually want to make laws which allow the criminal more rights and more freedoms which are ultimately more destructive. The media through television, internet, films and books are literally drowning us in a cesspool of filth.

There are some societies that have no freedoms but we can walk the streets in the middle of the night in a big city and not fear that somebody is going to attack. In the name of freedom in our own society today, women can now murder their unborn children. In the name of freedom the journalists attack our leaders, attack the principles of our nation, and encourage a revolution against all authority.

It is characteristic of men in a free society that he will abuse that freedom because men is basically sinful. Man is basically evil. It is the nature of freedom that it can be abused to the point freedoms are lost. And what happens in the political and sociological world also happens in the spiritual world. And we should focus on that now, on Christian freedom and its potential abuse.

Look at Galatians 5. We understand freedom in this nation because we live in it. We understand freedom in the spiritual sense to some extent because it's Biblical truth. But our spiritual freedom can be abused. And the Word of God gives us some controlling factors to prevent such an abuse. I see in the church today the same kind of abuse of Christian freedom that I see in our nation.

Most churches have little concern for holiness. Christian leaders are falling into gross immorality and it's an epidemic. There are people who think because they're free in Christ, they can leave their husband or wife and sleep with another man or woman and everything is going to be fine. We have been softened into such tolerance of this that many churches are just anxious to bring these fallen leaders back into prominence.

What does Paul says about the control factors on Christian liberty? It's an essential thing. In Galatia he had preached the gospel of freedom from the law, freedom from sin. And there were some Jews who were very threatened by that. So they came after Paul and everywhere he went they told the people they had to keep the law, get circumcised, and follow every Mosaic tradition.

So there was a great battle over what Christian freedom is and Paul writes to that issue in Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Verse 13 sums it up, "For brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

It's a wonderful thing to be free in Christ, but just exactly what does our Christian freedom mean? How do we enjoy our Christian freedom without abusing it? How do we control that? Well that's what Paul wants to deal with here. He's very concerned that people understand what that freedom means and how that freedom is controlled. For freedom that is out of control is going to be lost.

How do we express that freedom in a way that is pleasing to God? You know, the church is never going to be the church it's supposed to be until it becomes spiritually committed to obedience to the Word of God. It is a commitment to a life of integrity and a walk of purity and holiness. And it has to start at the top and filter all the way down. And that's not particularly new or profound, I just want to refresh your mind.

To make this clear, Paul gives us three things that freedom is not. First of all, he says, Christian freedom is not freedom to indulge in the flesh. Paul said, “I beat my body to bring it in to subjection,” 1 Corinthians 9:27, “lest in preaching to others I myself should become disqualified.” Can you disqualify yourself in ministry? Sure, if you yourself do not do what you preach.

Now what is the flesh? Your flesh is your fallen humanness. It is your earthy, mortal, physical body. It is your humanness full of self-centeredness and prone to sin. Romans 6, 7 and 8, tell us that when you were saved, your inner man was recreated. When you came to Jesus Christ, old things are passed away and behold all things became new. And you have risen to walk in newness of life.

The life of God now dwells in your soul. And you possess an incorruptible, divine nature. The deepest truest part of you is the redeemed part, which is totally transformed and so linked to Jesus Christ that there's no way to tell where you stop and He starts. And that's why in Galatians 2:20 it says, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me."

What Paul is saying is the old man is dead, the new man lives in you, but also Christ, and I don't know where I end and He begins because I now possess a divine nature. First Corinthians 6:17, "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." The truest part of you is what is redeemed and fit for heaven. It is a holy self. It is a new creation in which dwells righteousness.

The problem is that that transformed part of you which has been made like Christ, which is righteous, which loves the law of God, loves purity and holiness and seeks to do what is right, is incarcerated in your flesh. It is imprisoned in your humanness. And your problem is going to exist because your new self, Romans 7, delights in the law of God, but the sin in me gets in the way.

And Paul says the sin that dwells in my flesh pulls me down. And he is consistent every time he talks about this; he always puts sin in the flesh. It's not in your new creation. You've already been redeemed in the inner man. All you're waiting for, Romans 8 says, is the redemption of your body. We need that outer salvation, that redemption of the body, where we get a body like the eternal body of Jesus.

Philippians 3:21 says that Christ “will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.” That is why it is not yet manifest to the world who we are. That will happen at what Paul calls the glorious liberation of the children of God. That's the full liberation when we're saved in terms of the outer man and exchange our vile body for a glorified body like Christ's.

But until that time we have this problem of the new man battling against this flesh. It is not reigning sin anymore, but it is residual sin in our flesh. And so Paul says the tendency in Christian freedom is that the flesh will want to exercise its freedom to sin on the basis of a promised forgiveness. That's true. God will forgive you. But that is an abuse of your freedom.

Our freedom is controlled because it does not allow us to indulge the flesh. Christian freedom is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin. The supreme ambition of Christ was to please the Father, "Not My will but Thine be done." And in Romans 15:3 Paul tells us that the essence of Christian freedom is to be concerned about others. In Romans 15:3 he says, "Christ did not please Himself."

Christian freedom does not mean we do whatever we want to do. It's like the Christian soldier in 2 Timothy 2:4, it says he does what he does to please the one who called him to be a soldier. There's still an obligation to please the Lord. We need to be reminded of that because of what theologians call antinomianism. Anti, nomos being the Greek word for “law.” It's an attitude against the law.

Well, I'm free from the law, it says in Romans 6. I'm not under sin's dominion anymore and I'm free to do what I want to do. And therein lies men’s justification for freedom to do evil. Many people think they're free to do what is clearly forbidden in the Word of God, under the idea that they are indulging their flesh and God is going to be forgiving and gracious. This is antinomianism.

So, the first essential part for controlling and confining our freedom to God-ordained limits is self-control, not the indulging of the flesh. For the first time in your life, when you became a Christian, you have the capacity to do what was really right, what was really good, what was really true, what was really honest, just and righteous. You are not free to do whatever you want.

Secondly, it does not mean that we are free to injure others. There is this idea also that our freedom means we can do anything we want no matter how it affects anybody. Our society thinks that freedom in America means freedom to be a pervert. I'm the little god and I'm going to do what I want to do and I really don't care how it affects you. Even people in church are more concerned about self than they are about anybody else.

And so they, in the name of freedom, think they can do anything they want to do and they really don't care how it affects anybody else, which is the antithesis of what Paul says. Look at the end of verse 13, “Use your liberty as an opportunity to love and serve one another." Verse 15, "If you bite and devour one another, beware lest you are consumed by one another!”

Your liberty is to serve people. You have never been given liberty for the purpose of hurting someone else, no matter how weak that person is. The word "love" there, is agape. It means “divine love,” and its most characteristic element is self-sacrifice. If there's anything true about that word it is that it is self-sacrificial. You are to serve each other in self-sacrificing love.

You're not to injure each other. We are free, but in a sense our freedom involves a slavery to the needs of others. And the essence of real Christian freedom is that paradox of freedom and slavery in which I am free to do what is right, I am free to serve the Lord, but I am confined by the fact that I am not free to do anything that injures you. God says, your freedom is controlled by love.

In Romans 14 Paul is dealing with a church where you have some people that are strong and really understand their freedom, and some that are weak and don't. As a Gentile living in Rome you've been involved in paganism all your life. After you come to faith in Christ, your life is totally transformed. Then someone invites you over to have dinner and they're a Christian and they say, "We're going to have roast pig."

Now. that is repulsive to him. But you go ahead and do it anyway and violate his conscience and force him to violate his conscience. He's weak in terms of understanding his freedom. So in verse 1 Paul says, "The one that is weak in the faith, receive and don't get into a dispute with him over doubtful things." Don't get into all those things that aren't necessarily moral issues, just receive him in faith.

And don't judge him. God has received him into the kingdom; give him some space to grow. The Lord will make him stand, verse 4 says. Learn to set your liberty aside for the sake of their growth and for the sake of demonstrating love to them. In verse 13, he says, "Don't put a stumbling block to fall in a brother's way." Don't destroy him for your food's sake, and don’t let your freedom be a trial to him.

Thirdly, and the final one that Paul brings up is that Christian freedom is not freedom to ignore the law of God. Some people think that when it says in the Bible we are free from the law in Romans 6 and Romans 7, some people think that we're no longer responsible to obey the moral commandments of God. That is wrong. Being free from the law means to be free from trying to earn salvation through keeping the law.

We are free from the penalty of the law. We are free from trying to keep the law without much success and therefore being killed by the law eternally. We die in Christ to rise and walk in newness of life. You are free from that struggle of human achievement to please God in the flesh. Galatians 5:14 says, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

How can that be done? Verse 16, "This I say then, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." When you become a Christian, instead of having an external set of rules to keep, you have an internal presence which leads you into righteousness. The Spirit of God in you enables you to fulfill the law. So Christian freedom is the freedom to obey the law in the strength of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Walk is the idea of daily conduct. Where does the Spirit give us His direction? In the Word of God, right? Walking in the Spirit is living in obedience to the mind and will of the Spirit of God. And that means to be saturated with the Word of God so that the Word dwells in you richly and that word then becomes the factor used by the Spirit of God to lead you into obedience.

And when we're filled with the Word of God, controlled by the Spirit of God, walk in obedience to that revealed will of God, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh, but we will fulfill the law by loving each other. For the Spirit knows nothing in terms of self-revelation except what is revealed in the Word. And He takes the Word and moves and shapes and channels your life, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Feb 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200202 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000008F imblog

Galatians 4:21-31

Galatians 4:21-31, “Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 23 The son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 This is figuratively speaking, for these women are two covenants: one from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves.”

25 “Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband.”

“28 And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 “But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.’ 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.”

We have been studying the apostle Paul who went through the region of Galatia and preached the gospel; and people who were converted to Christ. There were churches established and they were flourishing. The people had been forgiven and they received eternal life. They possessed the Holy Spirit which transformed their hearts. And they were enjoying the fruit of the Spirit.

Until some Jews came from Jerusalem, who said that they believed also in Jesus as the Messiah. However, they said to these Gentiles, “It is not enough for you that you have been saved by faith alone. In order to be truly saved, you must keep the law of Moses. And they were not talking about the moral law; they were talking about the ceremonial, civil ordinances, such as circumcision, and the feasts.

But these false teachers are wrong, because these Gentile believers lacked nothing. When Christ came the law was not valid anymore. Now there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but all are one in Christ. Now we go from shadows to substance. From an elementary school we graduate into the school of discipleship with Christ. From bondage of those old Mosaic laws to freedom in Christ.

Gospel salvation comes by the grace of God through faith alone in Christ apart from works. But some Galatians accepted false teachings. So in Galatians 3:1, Paul says, “You foolish Galatians, you have become bewitched.” So he writes this letter to defend the true gospel. He says, “The true gospel I received from Christ Himself.” Then he says in Galatians 3:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

Here Paul is giving us an illustration. It’s about Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac. And it’s about Mount Sinai in Arabia, and the present Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem that is in heaven. And it’s also about two covenants. But all of that is history, and in that history is truth being revealed. This is just a powerful historical illustration. So with that understanding, let’s look at verse 21.

Paul says, “Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?” He is talking to the Judaizers and in addition to that also to the Galatian believers who had been misled as they are now going back under the Mosaic Law. They are going to go back to circumcision, back to all the ordinances, and to the months and the days, and all of those external things.

Don’t you realize that the external law, which identified Israel as the unique people of God, is gone? Peter was told, “Arise, Peter, kill and eat,” no more dietary laws. Paul said in Colossians 2:16-17, “Let no one judge you in food or drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” These are Gentiles who weren’t raised on the law.

Do you really understand what the law says? Galatians 3:10, “As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse.” Now remember Deuteronomy 27:26, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law.’” In verse 12: “He who practices the law shall live by them.” But the fact is that no one can keep the law perfectly, except Jesus.

Now the only Bible Paul ever preached from was the Old Testament. Since the New Testament was in the process of being written. That is why in Galatians 3, he talked about justification by faith, and he obtained the proof from the Old Testament. So these Gentile people have been educated about the Old Testament; and now he can then tell the story again and use it as an illustration.

As a believer, we describe our Christian life not by our relation to the law, but we describe our Christian life by our relation to Christ, right? We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. And we continue to obey the moral law, because that is a reflection of the nature of God. And we obey out of love, not out of fear. There’s no need to go back to living the way Old Testament Jews lived, that’s all in the past.

Now, Paul’s going to illustrate this in a powerful way from the life of Abraham. So Paul says. “The law will just put you under bondage again. Not necessary.” And here’s the illustration. “22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 23 The son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise.”

The Judiazers boasted that they were the children of Abraham, which made them the unique people of God. But Paul says, just because you’re Jewish and Abraham is your ancestor, those things do not automatically save you. In Galatians 3:7 Paul says, “Only those people who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Verse 14, “the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Further Galatians 3:29 says, “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” And Romans 9:6 says, “Not all Israel is Israel. Not every Jew is a true Jew inwardly.” Jews would say, “Abraham is our father.” But Jesus said in John 8:44, “No, your father is not Abraham, your father is the devil, who does not stand for the truth.”

Here God illustrates historically these two covenants that separate works from faith. Abraham had two sons: Ishmael first and Isaac second. One was by the bondwoman, her name was Hagar; and the other son by the free woman, his wife Sarah. The son by the bondwoman Hagar, named Ishmael, was born according to the flesh. But the son of Sarah, the free woman was Isaac, born through the promise.

Works righteousness is trying to achieve God’s will in sinful self-effort by works. On the other hand, Isaac is the result of God’s power, a supernatural miracle to give life to fulfill His promise, and all Abraham had to do was believe. Human effort, works, self-righteousness, legalism and the flesh produces only slavery. You start out a slave to a false religion, and you just extend your slavery.

On the other hand, faith in God’s promise, faith that God will do what He says by His own power produces freedom. Hagar and Sarah are like two covenants, “one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar, Sarah’s maid. And this Hagar is like Mount Sinai in Arabia where God gave the Law and is now in Jerusalem,” meaning she is like the old covenant.

The two different mothers produce different sons. The bondwoman, the female slave named Hagar gives birth by Abraham to Ishmael who is a slave, and all his family are slaves spiritually and they are the Arabian people. The free woman Sarah, his wife, gives birth by Abraham to Isaac who is free. And his children are the Jews. They are born in different ways, not biologically but supernaturally.

Now here is the historic illustration. Ishmael was born to Hagar, the maid of Sarah. Ishmael is an illustration of the flesh. The promise was clear: God is going to give Abraham a son. It’s going to have to be supernatural. But they don’t want to wait on God, they want to do it their own way; so the flesh rejects the promise from God and tries to have a child by its own power over what God plans and gives.

So Ishmael is the child of flesh, but Isaac is the child of promise. By the time he’s born Abraham is 100 years old, and Sarah is 90, so they are too old. But God supernaturally creates that child in her womb. Ishmael was born according to the flesh; they did it on their terms the fleshy way. Isaac is born through the promise of God. Ishmael is born naturally, but Isaac is born supernaturally.

These two sons are illustrations of spiritual truth. Ishmael is a son born in the flesh in a sinful way, as if they could fulfill the will of God on their own sinful terms. Ishmael is an illustration of those who want to obtain salvation by their works. And Ishmael was born to a slave, and produced a whole lineage of slaves. Accomplishing what God wants by your own flesh ends up being in bondage to sin and judgment.

This is the divine interpretation. Ishmael and Isaac were born of two mothers: Hagar and Sarah. They represent two covenants: the old and the new. And we see two Jerusalems; the Jerusalem that is now on earth and the Jerusalem that is above. Hagar represents law and bondage and death. Sarah represents grace, faith and freedom. It’s not whether you’re of Abraham, your father; it’s who your mother is spiritually speaking.

“The Jerusalem of today,” Paul says, from which these Judiazers have come with their legalistic Pharisaic system, is connected to Sinai, which is connected to Ishmael and Hagar. The Jews prided themselves on being the sons of Abraham through Isaac. But Paul says, “That may be true physically, but spiritually you are the children of Ishmael. And the present Jerusalem is connected to Sinai.”

Mt. Sinai is in Arabia, which is a desert and not the Promised Land. So Sinai, Ishmael and Jerusalem today are all in the same line of producing slavery and bondage. And a sinner who seeks salvation by the law is on this legalistic treadmill his whole life. But the New Covenant through Jesus is freedom. John 3:3 says, “You must be born from above.” The spiritual Jerusalem is the Jerusalem above.

Galatians 4:26 says, “But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.” Free from the bondage of the law, free from all the ordinances that were prescribed on Israel in the past. Now you’re attached to heaven. Verse 27, “For it is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband.”

This passage is from Isaiah 54:1. That was a promise to Israel, who had been taken captive in Babylon that they would be released and would return to the Promised Land. And when they got back to their land, the women began to flourish, and the nation of Israel began to reproduce and grow. God said that to the exiles in Babylon, and He fulfilled it. God said that to Sarah, and He fulfilled it by His power.

Final point, personal exhortation. We saw the historical illustration, the divine interpretation and now the personal exhortation. Verse 28, “And you, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.” We have been born spiritually by a miracle. We have been saved by sovereign grace. Not by any work that we did; we didn’t work it out our own way like Sarah instructed Abraham to do with Hagar.

Every act has its consequences. Verse 29, “But as at that time he (Ishmael) who was born according to the flesh persecuted him (Isaac) who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.” Hagar hated Sarah and Isaac. Then in Genesis 21:8 and 9, we see Ishmael hating Isaac. Ishmael thought for years that he was going to be the heir to the fortune. But then along comes the true heir, and he is out.

The sons of Hagar, Sinai, the works, the flesh and false religion are always the persecutors of the truth. They will continue to persecute the children of Isaac and Sarah, the children of promise. The greatest persecutor of the true church is false religion, Satan’s system of works. But Paul says, “All who live godly in this present age will suffer persecution.”

“And what does the Scripture say?” Verse 30, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.’” This is a message from God. There is a spiritual war going on. We cannot become one with people under bondage. And we see that now more and more in our country and the rest of the world. Satan is clever, bondage teaching starts in schools and then grows in society.

What comes out of the human heart? What comes out of the flesh? Idolatry. It twists and perverts one’s relationship to the true God. This encompasses any kind of false religion or any other idol that you might invent in your life, whether it’s a material idol, whether it’s some kind of achievement, or some kind of object. Let’s follow only what God says for He alone is worth following, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Jan 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200126 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000008E imblog

Galatians 4:19-20

Paul says in verse 19, “My children,” he is addressing believers in the churches in Galatia, “with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” This is at the very heart of this great pastor Paul. And in the months since those churches were planted by the gospel in Christ, flourishing in the Holy Spirit, it has become apparent to him that there are some serious issues.

What he means is, “Look, I had labor pains just getting you to believe the gospel and become Christian. Now all over again, now that you are believers, brethren, you’re my children in the faith, I’m having labor pains until you become like Christ.” Becoming like Christ is the issue here. That’s the primary responsibility of every pastor and every spiritual leader. And that is my desire for you.

The believers there are in the process of being bewitched by false teachers. They’re acting in a foolish way, so much so that Paul says in verse 20, “I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.” Why, having begun in the Spirit, they would now think that they could be perfected by the flesh, which is what the false teachers were teaching.

Pastors cannot simply be concerned that the church is full. They cannot simply be concerned that the people seem happy and satisfied with what’s going on, and they like the environment of the church, they’re happy with the music and they like the style. A pastor’s pain is always connected to how few people are like Christ. Paul also says this, “until you are filled with the fullness of God.”

There used to be a lot of conversation about holiness and godliness in the church. Godliness is a word that you rarely hear now. And yet that has been the passion of Paul through his entire ministry. Compare that with the language that he expresses in 2 Corinthians 11:2-4, “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

“3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it!” Paul is concerned about their heart and he begins to witness.

Paul describes his suffering in 2 Corinthians 11:24–29, “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness.”

“in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren 27 in weariness and toil, often unable to sleep, in hunger and thirst, often having to fast, in cold and nakedness. Notice verse 28. He says, “Apart from such external things,” the more profound pain is on the inside. “My deep concern is for all the churches. 29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?”

Do you think that pastoral ministry is easy? A faithful pastor lives a life of agony and suffering. It’s a lifelong deep and profound burden for his people and their holiness. When he said “concern for the churches” in verse 28, he defined it as “intense concern over their sin.” It was all about the sanctification of his people. “Sanctification” is a word that comes from a Greek verb hagiazō, “to be holy.”

In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul says, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” There is a past form of sanctification that occurred at salvation. And there is a future form of sanctification that occurs at glorification. But the middle form of sanctification is going on throughout our lives. That is the profound concern of a faithful pastor.

The experience of salvation has four theological definitions. Election: You were chosen before the foundation of the world, before time. In eternity past God chose you. That’s completely divine, you played no role in that. Next is that believer’s justification. That also is a divine miracle of God, where the Holy Spirit awakens the dead, gives life to the corpse that is the unbeliever dead in sin.

The next element is glorification, which God planned in election, and what God activated in justification, will be completed when you leave this world and you enter into the perfect eternal glory. And between your justification and your glorification there’s only one thing, your sanctification. Election isn’t a process, justification isn’t a process, glorification isn’t a process, but sanctification is.

This is what Paul lived for; it was never about him. It was never about success for him, money for him, accolades for him. He was willing to be beaten on the outside in all the ways that are listed in 2 Corinthians 11 for the sake of adding one more voice to the hallelujah chorus in bringing to glory. But the agony of his life was the sin of his people and the issue of their sanctification.

Notice verse 20, “For I am afraid.” This is a man, as successful as any man has ever been in the work of God, and he’s in fear. What are you afraid of, Paul? “I’m afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish.” Wow. And what I wish is that you would be like Christ. I’m afraid that when I come back I’m not going to find you anywhere close to Christ.

Paul was consumed with the holiness of his people, and fearful of what sin would do to their lives. This is the heart of a true pastor. The lifelong work of God in every believer is the work of sanctification, the work of holiness, the work of godliness, the work of Christlikeness, and it is going on in every believer’s life. 1 Corinthians 1:2 says, “saints by calling, and holy ones by calling.”

And Paul had that same agony for himself. He says in Philippians 3:12, “but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” He pressed toward the mark. What’s the mark? The mark is the prize. What’s the prize? The prize when you go to heaven is to be like Christ; that’s the prize in heaven, and so that’s the mark in life. “I press toward the mark.”

Paul says in Romans 7:19-20, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” I understand there’s a wretchedness in me. It was his own sanctification that was a profound burden, as well as the sanctification of others. This is what the preoccupation of pastors and churches and all Christians should be.

1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “By His design you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification.” There are: the wisdom from God, indicating God’s wise selection of you; righteousness that’s imputed to you; the justification; and then sanctification. You are in Christ based upon God’s eternal wisdom and His choice, and Christ is now to you sanctification.

Is that the goal of your life, to perfect holiness? First Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.”

Listen to 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, “May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love, so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father.” Again, the objective of the Spirit of God working in your life is that the Lord will cause you to increase and abound in love toward Him, so that you are sanctified.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 puts it this way, “God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Your whole life is basically the fulfillment of one great doctrine. Everything that happens in our lives between our justification and our glorification is the work of sanctification. It is the all-consuming reality of the Christian’s progress toward becoming like Christ.

Listen to Titus 2:14, speaking of Christ, “who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.” Romans 6: 19, “For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.”

Your whole life is a process of God the Holy Spirit making you into the image of Christ. And it happens inexorably just as election occurred, because God willed it. Justification occurred because God willed it. Glorification will occur because God wills it. Sanctification is occurring. It is God who is at work in you to will and to do of His own good pleasure, but you need to work it out.

But in most believers, as Paul acknowledges, it’s not happening at the rate that it should be happening. And so, he’s in agony, because Christ is not yet formed in them. I too am an instrument of God, as really is every minister, to be used by God for the purpose that God is at work in His church; and that is to sanctify them. And to give me concern for my own sanctification.

As the believer is sanctified, the seductions of the world, the desires of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, are replaced by ever-increasing love, for obedience to the Lord. This leads to a longing for holiness, which leads for a stronger desire for the honor of our Lord. You can’t make this happen fast. Most pastors will never see this because they don’t stay long enough to see it. You see it in the sweet graces of old people.

How? Jesus put it simply, “You keep My Commandments when you love Me.” It’s not about you, it’s about Him. Sanctification, holiness, purity, right attitudes, right words and right actions are the result of looking at the glory of Christ, and increasingly loving Him more, until Christ literally dominates your life and is formed in you. This is the process of sanctification.

Christ says that sanctification comes from the Word, from studying at the Word and seeing in it the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The reality of sanctification was dominant in church life as the central work of the Holy Spirit in the church. That’s just not true anymore. The truth of sanctification, holiness and godliness is almost absent from popular Christianity.

Instead, the message of the new form of popular evangelicalism is that all the longings of your heart are legitimate, and God is just there to give you what you want. The things that are of the world are then incorporated into the life of the church as a necessity to attract those who have no interest in God and no interest in sanctification. Evangelical Christianity is now importing the culture.

It’s very hard to have a biblical doctrine of sanctification if you’re trying to make the church feel good to unbelievers. Faithful churches are led by godly shepherds who lead their flock away from the world, to the fulfillment of the will of God alone, regardless of what their desires might be. The faithful church only asks, “What does God want? What does God require?”

How did we get here? Churches tended to be God-centered. They were teaching about God, heaven and transcendence. Churches tended to be Christ-exalting, and faithful churches trusted in the work of the Holy Spirit for growth. Church growth was not a plan or a strategy. And churches believed that the Lord would build His church as He said He would, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

Worship was God-centered and reverent. People were humble, unselfish and self-denying. All that has changed. The churches now are psychological, sociological and man-centered, using the name of Jesus as a token, trusting in their strategies for growth. And often the message is, “Jesus wants to give you whatever you desire.” That is what Joel Osteen says every time he speaks.

How in the world did we ever get here? Well, Freud, the father of psychology and psychoanalysis said this, “Everyone should be free from all restraint and constraint to be authentic. The authentic you is ‘the you’ that is on the inside. You have every right to fulfill your own heart desires. Unleash your narcissistic lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and your pride of life.

Young people are the most likely to do this because they haven’t lived long enough to see the consequences of that kind of behavior. The most liberated people are the young because they haven’t learned any restraint. And the new age end of adolescence is 24. Up until that time they’re still living in mom’s basement. They don’t know the lessons of duty, responsibility, morality and failure.

Youthful authenticity has captured our culture. Even though they have less money than anybody else, since the people who have the most money are between 50 and 65. The only place you’ll ever see ads targeted to people 50 to 65 is on Fox News. Every believer needs to know that there is only one thing God wants in your life, and that is your sanctification, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Jan 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200119 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000008D imblog

Galatians 4:12-19

Galatians is a book to proclaim that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ; that salvation does not come to those who are good or do good works, or are religious, or are involved in religious ceremonies and rituals. Those cannot achieve salvation, nor do they partly achieve salvation, as if there’s a combination between faith and works. Works are the result of salvation, not the reason for it.

And now in verse 12, Paul sets aside his arguments, and this is a much different portion of Scripture. We have seen Paul as a theologian. We’ve seen him as a biblical scholar tapping into Old Testament texts. And he’s done all of this to make a rational and a biblical case for salvation by faith alone. At this point, we find a change in his approach; and let me begin by reading verse 12 to you.

Galatians 4:12-18, “Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed?”

“For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? 17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. 18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.”

Up to this point, there has not been one personal comment. Paul usually gives personal touches in his introduction, except in Galatians. He has been engaged in a battle to preserve God-ordained gospel truth. He has preferred truth to friendship. He has preferred fact to fellowship. He has been concerned with principles over people. But all that changes now in verses 12 through 18.

There is only one profound theological declaration which is a critical to understand. This section is where his heart takes over. Now he comes down from that doctrinal pulpit to the personal connection. His words are words of personal affection. Here we see the gentle side of Paul, and it is a rare insight. He calls them “my little ones.” He likens himself here to a mother.

A good illustration is in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, where he says, “We proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. 8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.” Beautiful words of tender affection, care, and compassion.

There are four features here, his appeal to them, and then his remembrance of them, and then his warning to them, and then his desire for them. Let’s first look at his appeal. Verse 12, “Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you.” It’s not so much the father commanding as it is the mother pleading. But there is a strong attitude behind this pleading.

He identifies them first as brethren, and then down in verse 19 as children, “become as I am.” Now what does he mean by that? Go to Galatians 2:19, “Through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I’ve been crucified with Christ.” He has been delivered from the Mosaic customs and rituals: circumcision and ceremonies. Not from morality, and not from righteousness which are forever.

So when I came to you as Gentiles, I stepped into your culture and your world without bringing Jewish traditions. I had none of those constraints on my own life. I came to you like a Gentile. As a Jew I had all those legal burdens that tied me up. I lived under it, until I encountered Christ. And Christ forgave my sin, granted me His righteousness, and set me free from bondage to legalism.

You can see Paul’s life before Christ in Philippians 3. He said, “As a Jew I had confidence in my flesh, in my own works, in my own righteousness. I was a Pharisee. I followed all the rabbinic traditions. As far as people could see, I never violated the Mosaic law until I met Christ.” Then verse 7, “Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

I gave up all that self-righteous behavior for the true righteousness in Christ Jesus. It is not the moral law, which is eternal, that he had set aside; it is that religious structure, those external things that he had set aside. He had abandoned the tradition of the fathers. And now the Galatians who are Gentiles are told that they must follow the Mosaic religion in order to be saved.

Do you really want to follow something that which was never a part of your life? No, be like me, because I have become like you.” I have become like a Gentile, free from all of it. Don’t go back into what I have been delivered from,” he said back in Galatians 3:28, “In Christ there’s neither Jew nor Gentile.” The Law was just an illustration of what was to come. Now the reality has come and that’s Christ.

Secondly, his remembrance. The end of verse 12, “You have done me no wrong.” He’s looking back to when he first came to Galatia on that first missionary journey. He said, “You’ve done me no wrong. You didn’t persecute me.” It’s recorded in Acts 13 and 14. “I came and lived with you as if I were a Gentile, setting aside all of those Mosaic traditions; and you accepted me.”

Acts 13:44-45, “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.” So the Gentiles knew that the gospel Paul was preaching was hated by the Jews, because the Jews were openly contradicting what Paul was saying.

“Paul and Barnabas,” in verse 46, “however spoke out boldly and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you Jews first; but since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” And then he quotes Isaiah, “the Lord commanded, ‘I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

That was the initial Gentile response to Paul’s preaching the gospel with the Jews calling him a blasphemer. Verse 50 says, “The Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.” You knew the Jews hated the gospel, but you believed it and received it with joy. You did me no wrong.

Now look at verse 13, “But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time.” That region of Galatia, was not on Paul’s plan for the first missionary journey. Paul was there because he was sick; that’s what it’s saying. In God’s providence somehow, Paul contracted some kind of illness. If I hadn’t have been ill, you wouldn’t have heard the gospel.”

But still God gave him enough strength to be able to do the ministry while he was there. Look at verse 14, “And my trial which was in my flesh.” Literally, he says, “My illness was a trial to you.” Why was it? It’s not so much physical as it is theological, because if you claim to be a prophet of God, a physical problems would certainly discredit your claims.

Verse 14 continues, “you did not despise or reject,” that means, “you didn’t think of me as nothing.” There was this Jewish theology, “You have sickness because you’re sinful, and God is punishing you.” And Gentiles had the same theology. In Acts 28, after Paul escapes shipwreck on the island of Malta. Verse 3 says, “When Paul had gathered some sticks, a viper came out and bit his hand.”

Verse 4, “When the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, ‘Surely this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.’” But Paul was not hurt. That’s the same theology of Job’s friends. Because people are suffering, they must be under the judgment of God. But that is the wrong theology.

Paul continues in verse 14, “Though that illness was a temptation to you to despise or loathe me, to think nothing of me because your theology told you this was a sign that I was under divine judgment, but you didn’t do that. Quite the opposite, verse 14, “You received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.” Really an amazing statement. And that shows the works of the Holy Spirit on their hearts.

Verse 15, “Where then is that sense of blessing you had?” What happened? You were rejoicing, and disciples were multiplying as you proclaimed the gospel. You experienced the work of the Holy Spirit. Where is that sense of satisfaction you had? How can you change? The people that you maybe invest the most in, sometimes somewhere down the road lose that satisfaction and begin to turn on you.

Verse 15 continues, “I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.” It’s reasonable to presume that he had some eye issues. Galatians 6:11, “See with what large letters I’m writing to you with my own hand.” Why? Possibly because those large letters are the only ones he can see. Paul would often write a few words himself so people would know this was not a forgery.

Verse 16, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” It wasn’t because of my personality or my appearance, but you loved me for the truth that I gave you. How can you now believe these Judiazers?” Thirdly, now his warning to them. Verse 17, “They eagerly court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.”

That verse applies to all false religion and all false teachers. They are aggressive. They want to exclude you from the benefits of true salvation, and walking with Christ, and living in the power of Christ. They want to exclude you from freedom in Christ. Satan wants to take as many people as possible with him to everlasting punishment in hell. False religions are spreading like wildfire in the world today.

2 Peter 2:1-3, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words.”

It isn’t wrong though to be sought. Look at verse 18, “But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.” There is some sarcasm in that. False teachers wanted money. They wanted converts to validate themselves and their false teaching, they wanted to make double sons of hell. They wanted company and they wanted to get their hands on their possessions.

On the contrary, Paul sought the Galatians, not for his own advance, but to secure them to Christ. As long as he was there, he was doing it. Even though an enemy had moved in, in spite of this situation he still seeks them for Christ and not for himself. And here’s a final point. We talked about the appeal and the remembrance and the warning; it ends with his desire for them.

Verse 19, “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” Fourthly, that’s his desire. It is the key to understanding sanctification. The word means “to be separated.” It is the lifelong work of God in every believer to separate us from sin. It is what the Holy Spirit is doing now in our lives. And yet the truth of sanctification is often treated with indifference.

Holiness is the synonym for sanctification. It defines our earthly lives in Christ. As the believer is being sanctified, the seductions of the world, the desires of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, the pride of life are replaced by love for God, love for Christ and love for the Word of God. We now love obedience, longing for holiness, and have aspirations to give glory and honor only to the Lord with your life.

This is not about duty, this is not about discipline, although it is a duty and there is a discipline; this is about love. So if you want to be more obedient, you must love Christ more. The culture is against us. A call to holiness, and a call to separate from the world is far too absolute and offensive for many. But following Christ means that there has to be lifelong work of replacing sin with thoughts, words and actions of holiness.

Legalism undermines the gospel by insisting that believers must add righteous works to faith in order to be justified. The antinomian perverts the gospel by saying, “You don’t have to obey; you’re free to go on in sin, because your sin’s paid for.” Legalism and antinomianism are not opposites. The antinomian may be the worst legalist, because he’s a rebellious legalist. And he doesn’t understand love and grace.

So whether you’re a legalist or an antinomian, you’ve got it all wrong. You’re not transformed; you’re not saved, because you’re still defining your life by the law. They’re both against grace; they’re both against love. Only when you define your life by your relationship to Christ, you will love Him, and you will love what He loves. And He loves what is holy, just and good, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Jan 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200112 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000008C imblog

Galatians 4:7-11

We are looking at this great epistle, which emphasizes salvation by faith alone. That is the Christian message. That is why there was a Protestant Reformation. Salvation is not by faith plus works. It’s not a cooperative effort between the sinner and God. The Bible is clear that salvation is totally a work of God, and we just reach out to receive the gift by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

All false religions, including false forms of Christianity, want to make salvation a combination of God’s work and ours, faith and works. That God does a part, and we do a part, and in that kind of synergism God brings about our salvation. That is the defining heresy in all false religions, where somehow you can contribute to being rescued from judgment by your own works.

So Paul in Galatians is giving arguments against salvation by faith and works. And the one that we looked at before in Galatians 4:1-11 is the powerful argument of adoption. “You have already been adopted as sons of God, with all the rights and privileges that come with becoming a son. Galatians 4:7-11, “Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

“8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.”

Paul is affirming the reality of their salvation in verse 9. You are believers now, you have experienced the power of the Spirit, and your lives have been transformed. Now why are you going back to a system of external behavior? When Christ came, we were redeemed. We were mature in Christ, and received the adoption as sons. And Paul is the only one who uses the word “adoption” in the New Testament.

Adoption as Paul uses it, is God placing us as His sons in His family. Now when we talk about adoption we’re talking about something different from what was in the mind of a Roman-Greek person in New Testament times. And as with all Bible interpretation, we have to go back and recreate the social structure, the cultural structure, so we know what something meant in that day, because that’s what it still means.

So we need to separate ourselves from the contemporary concept of adoption and go back. Jewish people adopt for two reasons. One, because they were childless. Secondly, when parents were in old age and needed someone to care for them; as a caretaker. Paul is not talking about that. Typically adoption in the Western world is an adoption of babies or small children from foster homes. People don’t adopt adults; they adopt children.

In the ancient Roman world they did not adopt children. They adopted male adults. Very rarely was a female adopted. That is why when Paul talks about adoption he talks about sons, because roman adoption is almost always an adult male twenty years of age and up. They were adopted into wealthy families, families of prominence, and virtually all those kinds of families did adoptions.

Even if they had sons, they would adopt. If they had no sons, they would adopt in order to have an heir. But if they had sons that they didn’t think were suited for the future, they would adopt another son. There was power in ancient Rome called patria potestas, which means “the father’s power.” A father could disown his son or daughter. He could also sell a son for adoption.

Often they waited until their children were in their twenties so they could see their leadership potential, their physical strength and their wisdom. They were looking for someone who would be the next patria familias, “father of the family.” The purpose was really to bring an heir into the family who was worthy of this estate and could guarantee the future of that estate.

There was an elite class of patricians in the Roman world that was unapproachable and unavailable to the rest of society. And it wasn’t secret. It was very public and official. In fact, it required senate confirmation. This involved wealthy families with estates and reputations. That was true in adoption. But the previous family in the future would be able to enjoy something of the success of the adopted son.

However, he would take the new father’s name for the rest of his life. He would get all of the rights and privileges of that family. Roman adoption meant having a son by choice, granting him complete rights and inheritance of everything.” There were four results of adoption. One: You had a new father. Two: You were heir to his estate. Three: all your previous debts were wiped out.

Four: he would have to be purchased with a high price, which is one of the reasons that poor families would make this overture of a son that was desired by a wealthy family. One other thing, “A man cannot disown an adopted son.” Once you were adopted, it was permanent. The adopted son then is more secure in his inheritance than a born son. A born son could be disowned, sold or even killed.

Nine of the Caesars were adopted. Julius Caesar had no children, so he adopted Augustus. Augustus had no sons, so he adopted Tiberius. Nine Caesars were adopted from other families into the royal line. So this is a very rich picture of what Christian believers experience in being adopted into God’s family. Paul intended these believers to understand what happens when God adopts us into His family.

We have a new Father, and we’re so intimately connected to Him that we say, “Abba, Father.” It’s an intense relationship. And we have all the rights and privileges, so that Jesus says in John 1:12, to those who believed in Him, He gave “the authority to be called sons of God.” In the millennial kingdom we will rule over the world with Christ. In heaven we will sit with Him on His throne.

In the adoption ceremony there were always seven witnesses. Why? To establish the legality of it and testify to it, in case in the future other children of that wealthy family would contest that adoption. Look at verse 6, “because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.” For what? Romans 8 says, “To witness that we are the sons of God.”

And according to Isaiah 11:2, the Holy Spirit is the sevenfold spirit. In Isaiah 11:2 there are seven features of the Holy Spirit. They are demonstrated in the menorah with its seven flames. The fullness of the Spirit is a sevenfold fullness. And so the fullness of the sevenfold Spirit is God’s witness to the legality of our adoption that can never be contested, because of the witness of the Holy Spirit.

Now let us study the consummation of that adoption in verse 7, “Therefore you are no longer a slave.” And by the way, slaves could be adopted; both slaves and free men could be adopted. Slaves, by the way, were not all the kind of slaves you might think. Many of them were highly educated; many of them were professionally skilled people. That was just their social status.

And, verse 7 continues, “if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” The point of adoption was to give the estate to that adopted son. It was that he would be the heir through God, He is choosing an heir. God chose you before the foundation of the world to be an heir of everything that He possesses. This is the nature of the grace and love of God. This is truly incredibly astonishing.

If you have been called into His family as a child, everything that happens in your life works together for good. And what is good? It’s your eternal inheritance. No one is going to be replaced. No one is going to be disowned, because Romans 8:29 says, “Whom He foreknew, He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”

“You have everything by faith in Christ,” Paul is saying to the Galatians. “You have all that God possesses. You are a son, as Christ is a son, a joint heir. Everything in God’s glorious heaven is yours. We don’t have it yet. That’s why Romans 8:23 says, “We ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” But we know there is that inheritance reserved for us.

Look at verse 8, because here is the responsibility of being a son. Adoption brought responsibility in the ancient world. You needed to show gratitude and loyalty for his love, gratitude for his grace. You needed to show appreciation for the inheritance that you were given. Before you came to know Christ, you didn’t know God, verse 8, “You served those which by nature are not God.”

There’s only one true God in the universe. And the only one way to know God is through Christ, John 14:6, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” People talk about God; but they don’t know God. They invent their own god or they have a religion that has invented the god for them, and the god is impersonated by demons. But the whole world of religious people, apart from Christians, doesn’t know God.

First Corinthians 1 says to the people who don’t know God, “You will never find God by human wisdom.” It pleased God that He would not be found by human wisdom. Where is the wise man? They see the gospel as foolishness; but they are the real fools. Romans 1 says when they had an innate knowledge God, they glorified Him not as God; but created non-gods and made idols.

“But now,” verse 9, “that you have come to know God.” What does the word “know” mean? “Know in a deep and intimate sense.” You have that intimate love relationship with God, so that you can cry out to God, “Abba, Father!” That’s where you go in your struggles of life. And the reason is that you know God” verse 9, “or rather are known by God.” That’s where it all starts.

You can’t know Him until He’s first set His love on you. He initiates that relationship. We love Him because He first loved us. We know Him because He first knew us. God knew you before you knew Him. God loved you before you loved Him. God called you before you called out to Him. First Thessalonians 1:9 says that we were rescued from idols, turning from idols to the living God.

And you’re known by God because, “No one can come to Me,” Jesus said, “unless the Father draws him” (John 6:44). Verse 9 continues, “How is it that you turn again to the weak and worthless elemental things?” Any form of false religion, including the Mosaic Law on the part of Jews, is a weak and worthless elemental thing compared to the true gospel in Christ.

Legalism is a false religion. Going back to dietary laws, going back to Sabbath observance, going back to feasts and Passover festivals. “Are you going back to what you were delivered from? Are you going back to your old family, your old bondage? Isn’t being a son enough for you? Are you regressing?” Paul says at the end of verse 9, “do you want to be like Israel?” The history of Israel might be a good warning.

Israel was led out of Egypt. They saw the hand of God in the plagues, and their protection. In Exodus 14, Pharaoh starts coming after them. So they became very frightened and faulted Moses. And then Moses says, “Don’t fear! See the salvation of the Lord.” And the Red Sea parts, and they walk through. And they get on the other side. “Wow!” I wish they learned their lesson.

They had seen miracle after miracle, the parting of the Red Sea; water and food created; and yet they were seduced to go back to Egypt. That’s what the Judaizers were trying to tell the Galatian believers to do. Verse 10, “You observe days and months and seasons and years.” They were beginning to absorb the external rituals and ceremonies again. But none of them are bound on the church anywhere in the New Testament.

Colossians 2:16-17, “Don’t let anyone act as your judge in regard to food or drink or a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath; things that are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” It’s worse than that. “Those of you who are drifting back to that,” verse 11, “I fear for you, that perhaps I’ve labored over you in vain.” That is the idea, that you earn your salvation through your adherence to religious ritual.

People who disappear, were they real believers? No. First John 2:19, “They went out from us, because they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us. They went out from us, that it might be made manifest they never were of us.” In John 8, Jesus says, “If you continue in My word, then you’re My real disciple.” Remember, Jesus joined Himself to you in love and awakened your heart.

He came to you, before you came to Him. He knew you, before you knew Him. He loved you, before you loved Him in return. And now after your salvation, you are waiting for the unfolding of your inheritance. This is the gospel. It’s about what God has prepared for those who love Him in heaven. All your past debts were canceled when you came to Christ. Your whole former life was erased.

And by the power of the Spirit through the preaching and hearing of the gospel, He establishes a relationship with you, and you with Him. He knows you, and you know Him. He loves you, and you love Him. You’re freed from bondage. It’s all by faith in Christ alone. All of this because the precious blood of Jesus Christ is applied as a payment for your son-ship. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Jan 2020 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20200105 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000008B imblog

Matthew 2

The meaning of Matthew 2 is to tell us that Jesus in the events surrounding His birth fulfilled Old Testament prophesy. The prophet Isaiah said that Jesus would be born of a virgin, and that happened, and the prophet said it at seven hundred years before Jesus was born. Micah said Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, and that happened. Hosea said that He would be called out of Egypt, and that happened.

Many prophets said He would be from Nazareth, and that was so. And Matthew assembles those specific prophesies, starting at the end of Matthew 1 and going through Matthew 2, in order to convince us that this child is indeed the promised King. In Matthew 1 he pointed out that the Child had the credentials of the King: that is, He was born of the seed of Abraham and of the line of King David.

That’s why the genealogy of Jesus is given in Matthew 1 so that we might understand that He was the promised son of David. Jesus Christ is indeed the King of the Davidic line, because He was in the royal line. After that Matthew turns to the virgin birth and establishes that He is indeed the promised King by virtue of His virgin birth. He had no earthly father.

This is the God-man. The Holy Spirit placed the seed in the egg of Mary that became the child that grew in her womb, and was born Jesus the Son of God. One grand prophesy appears in Matthew 1, where he quotes Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,” which translated means ‘God with us’.

Now let’s examine the birth at Bethlehem. Matthew 2:1-6, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”

“4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.”

Now here is the first mention of the location of the birth of Christ. It all comes from the prophet Micah, and it says that He was to be born in Bethlehem. Now the magi were the elite and cultured leaders of the Middle East. They were the Persian philosophers and wise men, who were influenced by the Old Testament, because the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive into Babylon.

And with the southern kingdom captivity came the prophet Daniel and the prophet Ezekiel who spent time in captivity as well. And so they were exposed to the Old Testament prophesies regarding the Messiah, and that grew into an expectation that there would come this great King that the Old Testament promised; and these wise men were waiting for that event to happen.

And they were given a sign, a star in heaven that moved towards Bethlehem. They followed that and came to Jerusalem seeking this King. Well, that possibility was a great threat to Herod. Upon hearing that a king of the Jews had been born, he would do everything possible to execute that king in his infancy. And Micah 5:2 tells the priests and the scribes that Christ is to be born in Bethlehem.

And that is precisely what happened. The Ruler will have the character of a shepherd, a gentle, tender kind of ruler, very different from Herod who was known as the wolf, the absolute enemy of the sheep. So the Child was born in Bethlehem, just as the explicit Old Testament prophesy says. Jesus Christ was indeed born there. The wise men went into the house, they worshipped the Child.

They gave Jesus frankincense, gold and myrrh as gifts, fit for a king. After that they would have gone back to tell Herod where the Child was. But verse 12 says, “They were warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod. They departed for their own country by another way.” Here God made a direct revelation to a sleeping person of His will and purpose. And not just here, but also to Joseph and Mary who were warned in a dream.

The second prophesy in Matthew 2 regards the exodus to Egypt. Read verse 13, “Now when they (the Wise men) had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” Now why do they have to go to Egypt?

The answer is in verse 15, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” They went and stayed there until Herod died. Egypt had become a Jewish colony. During the intertestamental period of 400 years, there were some very serious revolts in Israel, like the Maccabean Revolt. So some Jews had taken refuge in Egypt.

Hosea 11:1 says, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” Now this does not refer to Jesus Christ, it refers to Israel when God brought Israel out of Egypt. So this message shows the great love of God. Hosea illustrates it with his own life in a most graphic way. Hosea married a woman named Gomer, a prostitute. She had other lovers and illegitimate children. But in spite of what she did, Hosea still loved her.

And instead of rejecting her, he bought her back of the market. Gomer was being sold; and he bought her, and took her back, and honored her as his wife. That is a graphic illustration of God’s relationship to Israel. And the message of Hosea is this: just as Hosea had married Gomer, God had taken Israel as his wife. Just as Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea, so is Israel was unfaithful to God.

And it is at that point that God says, “Do you understand that it was out of Egypt that I called My Son?” So God goes back to that love. It is a prophecy in this sense, it called a type. There are verbal prophesies and there are type prophesies. In the Old Testament, you will see a number of types of Christ. The sacrificial lamb is the most notable one, right? Israel here is at that point a type of Christ.

Let’s go to the third prophesy, the ravaging of Ramah, verses 16 and following. When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very angry, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem from two years old and under according to the time which he received from the magi. He slaughtered every single child to prevent one from growing up and being a threat to his throne.

Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled. Jeremiah 31:15, “Thus says the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” Ramah was a small village about five miles north of Jerusalem. It was the place where the conquerors ordered the defeated multitude to be assembled and deported.

But how is Rachel involved? Well, Rachel was the mother, in one sense, of both Jewish kingdoms. One of her sons, Joseph, brought forth two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh; and Ephraim was always the most often identified with the northern kingdom. But Rachel also was the mother of Benjamin who was part of the southern kingdom. So Rachel weeps when Israel is captivated, and Rachel weeps when Judah is captivated.

And there is fourth prophesy, verse 19-23, “Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” 21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.”

22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” This was Joseph’s home; and he was to go back there because that’s what the prophets said.

We are overwhelmed to contemplate that Jesus was born on Christmas, the One who came into the world in Bethlehem two thousand years ago was, fulfilling the specific prophesy required to be the Messiah. He came to give His life as a ransom for many. He came to save His people from their sins and to establish a kingdom of peace and salvation for all who believe, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Dec 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191222 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000008A imblog

1 John 1:1-4

We live in a time when certainty and conviction about what is true is not accepted. The politically correct attitude is one of uncertainty with nothing absolute. Opinions and feelings tend to rule the mood of our time. And the church also is following this sort of inclusive thinking that wants to embrace what everybody thinks as truth. So the church has lost its foundations and so let us turn to John, because he is the apostle of certainties.

In these first 4 verses of 1 John 1 you will find 36 times some form of the word “know.” There’s no vagueness or equivocation. John knows what he speaks of, and he has confidence. He is absolutely certain about what he writes. And he wants us to share that same confidence. This is so contrary to the mood today as to almost seem insensitive, unloving, and out of touch. But this is exactly what John in his epistle lifts up and exalts.

John says there is theological certainty of the gospel. Verse 20, “We know that the Son of God has come and this is the true God and eternal life.” Also John wants us to understand that there is moral certainty. God has given a law and that we need to follow that law. And John wants to affirm that there is relational certainty of love. Verse 7, “Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”

These are the areas in which everyone’s spiritual state is tested. And anyone who fails the test in any of those categories is exposed as a fraud and a liar. So God through John is going to give us some absolutes in those three categories. God is going to give us a test by which anyone’s life can be measured as to its true spiritual condition. So you can find out how God looks at your life. So let us read the text.

1 John 1:1-4, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life, 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us.”

“And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.” John is saying, “I’m not talking about some transcendental experience. I’m not talking about some mystical thing. I’m not talking about some secret formula. No, I’m telling you this Word of life, because I experienced it. I heard Jesus. I looked at Him and I touched Him.”

John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory.” The truth was real and He was there. Christmas is about the word incarnation. We sing it every year in our Christmas carols. If you understand the word incarnation, you will begin to understand what Christmas is all about. Where do we go to understand what Christmas is? The last two verses of our text give us the purpose of Christmas.

And so John is showing us through this epistle that indeed this is all from God. It is God who has given us the gospel. It is God who has given us His commandments, which we are to obey. And it is God who has given us love and the example of love. Having first loved us, we are to love Him in return and others as well. So we can be certain of the Christian faith, they are revealed in history, witnessed by the apostles and confirmed by the Holy Spirit.

Let's look at the first two verses to understand the teaching of Christmas. First, what we have heard. What did they hear? They heard Jesus speak. Well John was there when Jesus spoke the words that came out of His mouth, the parables, the stories and the sermons. He was there with Jesus for the duration of His ministry from the beginning to the end. He was there post-resurrection for forty days, occasionally meeting with the Lord and hearing Him.

We have heard Him in a complete and continuous sense. Sixty years ago for John, but it was still a living truth in his heart. We saw Him with our eyes. He was there when Jesus cast demons out of people time and time again. He was there when Jesus touched the eyes of the blind and they saw. He was there when He put his hand over the ears of the deaf and they heard. He was there when Jesus raised dead people to come alive.

John says we can be certain about Jesus Christ. And that is verifiable, all you have to do is go back and read the gospel record of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John says, “And our hands have handled.” Jesus said in Luke 24:39, “Handle Me and realize that a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones as you see Me have.” And we know enough about John to know that he even leaned on His chest, right?

They were looking deeply into the realities of who Christ was, His power to forgive, His power over demons, His power over disease, His power over death. So John says I not only saw the events, I saw the meaning. I saw that it was God in human flesh. He is a firsthand eyewitness. Verse 2, “and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.”

My responsibility, John says, is to bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life. As a witness, as a one who saw Him, I am to bear personal witness from the standpoint of experience. The manifestation then becomes a proclamation. Christ manifested Himself to the apostles to qualify them as firsthand eyewitnesses so that they could pass that on to others the gospel. And when received, it would again be passed on to the next generation.

Peter says that he was an eyewitness to the glory of Christ at the transfiguration. All of the books of the New Testament written by apostles or those who were associated with the apostles give us the apostolic eyewitness account. The book of Acts says that the apostles’ doctrine was what was the content of the preaching and teaching and study of the church. So Christ manifested Himself to them, so as eyewitnesses they would write it down.

It is a terrible thing for people to come along, even though they call themselves biblical scholars, and attack the scriptural accounts and attack the honesty and the integrity not only of God, the Holy Spirit but of the eyewitnesses, the apostles. John says it is certain that this is the true message and the true manifestation and the true proclamation. And there’s another interesting certainty. It is the certainty of a true fellowship.

The reason that we proclaim all of this is verse 3, “That you also may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” Fellowship is the word koinōnia, which means partnership. Christmas is not about a relational connection, it is not socializing. Christmas means that we should have fellowship with God first, and secondly that we need to do life together with everyone else.

Let us first look at what fellowship with God means. John 1:4 says, “And in Him (Christ) was life.” John 5:26, “Just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” That is to say He has an equal life with the Father. He is equal in essence. And then he says in John 5:40, “You are unwilling to come to Me that you may have life.” Christ is life; He brings life and He gives life.

1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” When you were saved you were called into a partnership with Christ. “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” It’s being linked together in a common life. The preaching of the gospel produces faith, and a person who puts their faith in Christ enters into a real partnership with other believers. That is what it means to share real life.

Christianity is unique. It doesn't say incarnation is normal, but it does say it's possible. It says God is so imminent that it is possible, but he is so transcendent that the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ is an event. Christianity has a unique view on this that sets it apart from other religions. Christmas is also historical. Look at what John says: We saw it. We heard it with our own eyes, our own ears. We felt it, this eternal life.

When we give you these accounts of Jesus walking on the water, of Jesus rising from the dead, of Jesus speaking these words, these are not legends. These are not things we made up. These are not wonderful spiritual parables. These are things we saw. We saw him do this. We heard him do this. In other words, the doctrine of Christmas is that God became historical. The manger, the resurrection, the story of Jesus actually happened in history.

This goes completely against what the average person believes. The average person says these are wonderful stories, but they are parables, legends. They didn't really happen. 1 John 1:1-2 is saying: These are either lies you're reading in the New Testament or they're eyewitness accounts, but they can't be legends. These eye witnesses have told us what really happened. And the Bible includes details that are realistic, but legends do not.

When John says, "I saw him, I felt him, I heard him with my own ears, I saw him with my own eyes," everyone would know immediately he was claiming to be an eyewitness. Therefore, the readers of the New Testament knew if these were fabricated lies or they were true eyewitness accounts. If they were lies, they're the stupidest lies ever made, because these accounts were written when the people involved were still alive.

If you write that 500 people saw Jesus risen from the dead in the Kidron Valley, you wouldn't write it 40 years later like when the Gospels were written. You would write it 100 years later, when everybody in the Kidron Valley at the time was dead. If you falsely write that 500 people saw Jesus in the Kidron Valley, and people are still living the Kidron Valley who were there at that time, you're never going to be believed.

But people believed it, because when they wrote these accounts, they were not contradicted. The point of Christmas is that Jesus Christ really lived, and he really died. It happened in history. What's the big deal? People say, "I like the teachings of Jesus. I like the meaning of these stories. The meaning of these stories is to love one another, serve one another. But it doesn't matter if these things really happened. What matters is that you're a good person."

The great irony is that that is a doctrine of justification by works. When somebody says that, they're saying it doesn't matter that Jesus actually lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died; all that matters is we can follow his teaching. That is a doctrine that says: I'm not so bad that I need someone to come and be good for me. I can be good. God is not so holy that there has to be punishment for sin.

The gospel is not that Jesus Christ comes to earth to tell us how to live. We then live a good life, and then God owes us blessings. No. The gospel is that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died. So when we believe in him we are accepted and live a life of grateful joy for him. In other words, if these things didn't happen, we can't be saved by grace.

If these things didn't happen, if they're just parables, what you are saying is you believe the doctrine of salvation by works, that if you try hard enough and do enough good things, that God will accept you. The doctrine of Christmas is that Jesus came. If Jesus didn't come, I wouldn't want to be anywhere around these Christmas stories that say we need to be sacrificing, we need to be humble and we need to be loving in order to be saved.

All that will do is crush us into the ground, because by our own efforts we fail miserably, we cannot live holy lives, so then Christmas is depressing. Every year I see stories on the internet saying Christmas for some is the time of year for depression. But not if you believe these first two verses, Christmas is not just an inspiring story we can live up to, but it's doctrinal and historical, of God giving us a way to be saved.

Verses 3 and 4 tell us that Jesus Christ came to earth, God became flesh and lived the life you should have lived, died the death we should have died, as a Savior, not just as a teacher or an example. Then Christmas will do things to you. It will make you deeply thankful, and happy to have a personal relationship with God, and free to have fellowship with others. First John 1:3 says, "Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son."

This word fellowship, means that if Jesus Christ has come, and if Christmas is true, then we have the basis for a personal relationship with God. God is no longer a remote idea, but we can know him personally. If Jesus Christ is actually God in the flesh, we are going to know much more about God. He is going to be somebody we can relate to. If Jesus is who he says he is, we have 500 autobiographies from God.

Look at what God has done to get you to know him personally. Christmas is an invitation to come to know Christ personally. He says, “I don't want to be just a concept; I want to be your friend.” Greeks and Romans and even religious people today believe that the divine would not come down. But the meaning of the gospel of Christmas is that salvation in the kingdom of God has come into this world. The world is so important that He took on physical flesh.

The kingdom of God is here to transform this world, and to save us from ourselves. The future of the gospel is a new heaven and a new earth. The Incarnation gives us a relationship with God. Jesus says, I want to fellowship with you. Jesus says in Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” We are being transformed from thinking always about ourselves, to thinking more about others and coming close to them.

And why do we need to think more about others? Because at the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Christmas gives us joy. No matter how bad circumstances are, the joy is knowing that God already has a place reserved for you. Many of us are afraid to entangle ourselves in the lives of other people. But the incarnation means that Jesus Christ, God himself, got involved in our brokenness. He got involved in a major way. He paid the price for us to be saved, and he died on the cross. So similarly you should also get involved with others, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Dec 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191215 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000089 imblog

Galatians 4:1-7

False religion is typically ambiguous, the gospel is not. The gospel is clear and straightforward. The gospel tells the truth with plainly spoken words that is so direct and also blatantly offensive. The Christian gospel says that every human being sins, because everyone has a corrupt nature. And all human beings have rebelled against God by the constant violation of His holy law.

The law is a reflection of God’s holy nature. Consequently, all sinners are under divine judgment for their rebellion. The punishment from God on all mankind is condemnation to eternal hell. There are people who are eager to remove that part of the gospel. But we learned in Galatians, that if anybody preaches another gospel let him be damned. Now that causes me to pose some questions.

“How do we know that we are all sinners?” Most people think that they are basically good. “What is the evidence that we are all sinners?” Very simple: Everyone dies. The Old Testament says, “The soul that sins, it shall die.” The New Testament says, “The wages of sin is death.” If you say you are not a sinner, then you have to explain why you die. The message of the gospel is clear and true.

But after that first affirmation there is a second affirmation in the gospel, and it is this: God loves the world, and offers people forgiveness and salvation. And that answers the second question: “Is there anything that can be done about my condition?” Yes. God provides deliverance from sin, from judgment, from death, from hell to those who have faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we know that that good news is true? The answer: the Bible gives us the proof of it. The Bible is a book written by God, using ordinary people that tells us about God’s love and forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God has the desire to save people because He loves sinners, and God has sent a Savior who provided a sacrifice for sin that granted salvation to those who believe.

The Bible is the proof of that, and the Bible stands on its own internal merit as inerrant and absolutely true. “How can I be sure that Christ is the Savior? If I’m going to turn to Him, put my faith in Him, how can I be sure that Christ is able to save me?” Here is the proof: He died and rose again from the dead. He died a death that essentially was the wrath of God on Him.

God’s wrath was not for any sins that Christ had done, for He had done none. But the Father imputed all the sins of all the people who had ever believed through all of human history to Christ and punished Him for all their sins. His was the death for the sins of all who believe. How do we know that His death satisfied God? Because God raised Him from the dead.

God was satisfied, His wrath was propitiated, and God raised Christ from the dead as a divine affirmation of the satisfaction of His own sacrifice. Those are the objective truths of the gospel. You are a Christian because you believe that. All true Christians understand them, and embrace them and believe them. But how can I be certain that I have truly believed and received that salvation?

This question is a personal question. And this addresses the difference between faith and assurance that the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to save; and assurance and faith that I have actually been saved by that power. Now as Christians, there are times when we struggle in that assurance of our salvation. One of the things as a pastor is to deal with people who lack assurance of salvation.

They don’t doubt that they’re sinful, they don’t doubt that God loves and provides a sacrifice in Christ, they don’t doubt that Christ has the power to save, they don’t doubt the resurrection, but they doubt that they are saved. “I try to do some things to serve the Lord; but I don’t see much as a result of that.” Someone like that gets discouraged and wonders whether they’ve actually been given spiritual life.

Another reality that steals your assurance is disobedience. You get caught up in sins and transgressions. And because of your willful disobedience, you will question, “Am I genuinely a believer?” And I’m not talking about the occasional stumble; but I’m talking about the fact that you realize that there’s something in you that continues to disobey. And you wonder, “Have I really been saved?”

And then there’s the presence of sort of habitual, indwelling sin. Here you are, you’ve been a believer for a while and you’re still struggling with the same exact sins that have been beleaguering you for years and years, and you wonder, “If I’m really a believer, why can I not get victory over these besetting sins?” And Satan tempts us to doubt. And doubt is a temptation.

There are other things. Neglect of worship: you come now and then, and then you wonder why you’re not certain of your salvation. You worship only on occasions with the people of God; in negligence of fellowship, negligence of prayer, negligence of boldness in the proclamation of the gospel. All these things are thieves that steal your assurance. Your salvation is fixed as a true believer. But your assurance still wavers.

Things never go the way you think, and you begin to wonder whether you are a child of God. So why doesn’t God pay more attention to you? And why does it seem that you’re suffering so much? These are the kinds of things that weaken and steal your assurance. And at some point, all Christians will have gone through a time where they will say, “Am I really saved?” Let us look to Scripture.

Galatians 4:1-5, “The heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Now look at Ephesians 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

“7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him.”

This is the doctrine of adoption, one of the magnificent realities in the glorious complex of our salvation. We have been adopted into the family of God, and are children of God. He chose us, He predestined us to adoption as sons. Adoption is when you take a child born to another family and bring that child into your family for good. That is exactly what God does with us.

We were a part of Satan’s family; but God has adopted us when we became believers. 1 John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” He loves us enough not only to do the negative, to save us from our sins, but do the positive: adopt us into His own family, into His eternal Son, to share His full inheritance, the whole universe.

So how can I be certain that I truly believe in Christ so I am saved? And how do I know that I am really in Christ and have been adopted? Confirmation of that comes in verse 6, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” You are now God’s child, and because of that, God has sent the Holy Spirit into our heart.

The Spirit of His Son is the Spirit of Christ and is the Spirit of God. Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

When you were justified, when you were converted, when you were saved, you were sealed with the Spirit of promise. The Spirit of promise took up residence in your heart; which was given to you as a pledge of our inheritance, which is coming later when we receive our heavenly bodies the moment we enter into the presence of the Lord. You have an inheritance that the Lord has prepared for you.

1 Peter 1:4, “We have an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” Jesus said in John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” We have a place. We have a full inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and reserved for only us in heaven.

Then 1 Peter 1:5 says, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” So now we have this future inheritance, and we have a present protection, and that protection is the power of God; and that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in us is the protecting power of God that secures us until we receive our inheritance.

2 Peter 1:4 says also, “You have become partakers of the divine nature.” That means that the very nature of God is part of you. Again, that is a reference to the indwelling Holy Spirit who provides for us this divine life and transformation. So if you are a true child of God, you possess the Holy Spirit. In fact, it’s so personal that verse 6 says, “God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price.” Romans 8:9, “If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he’s not of His.” But you are His, and so you have the Holy Spirit. God puts His own Spirit in us. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “We are all made to drink of one Spirit.”

Your birth into the family of God determines your nature. You have died to the old man, you have died to your old life and you are now in Christ, a new creation. Our spiritual birth, our being born again relates to our nature. It is God’s work of transforming our nature, giving us spiritual life. On the other hand, adoption does not relate to our new nature, but it relates to our inheritance.

The reason that is important is that there are plenty of children who have been disinherited. We’re both born again into God’s family and we will receive the full inheritance of an adopted child. Adoption connects with election. Adoption connects with predestination in Ephesians 1:4-5, “Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, predestined to adoption as sons.”

Romans 8:11, “His Spirit dwells in you.” Romans 8:14, “All who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” 1 John 3:24, “We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” Or Romans 5:5, “The love of God had been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” So we are told the Holy Spirit is given to us. He is in our hearts inside of us.

How do I know the Holy Spirit is in me? Well, there are a number of ministries that the Holy Spirit conducts. He teaches us. The Holy Spirit shows us all the blessings that God has given us. 1 John 2:27, “The Holy Spirit is the anointing that teaches us all things.” Maybe you have had a Luke 24:32 experience: “Did not our heart burn within us while He spoke with us from the Word of God?”

The Holy Spirit also leads us. You look back and you see providence after providence of the Lord directing my every single life step all the way. There is no explanation for this except from the Holy Spirit. You have gone through the trials of life, the difficulties of life, and you have found peace and comfort. You have experienced the comforting work of the Holy Spirit in your heart.

But there’s another specific thing that Paul is saying. You are saved because you have the Spirit of God in your heart. Verse 6, “And because He’s in your heart crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” The Holy Spirit in you is crying. You know you’re saved when you get to the point of suffering, and you cry out, “Abba,”, “Papa.” This is the evidence that you are a true child of God; when threatened you rush to your Father’s arms.

Unbelievers don’t do that. This is what believers do. And notice in verse 6, it is the Spirit of His Son crying, “Abba, Father,” in you. The Holy Spirit in you which sends you rushing into the presence of God. So the reality is, in the darkest hours, the reality of your salvation will show its most powerful proof. It’s something inside of us. It’s the Holy Spirit crying and it’s us crying, “Abba, Father,” They both are indistinguishable.

Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess Jesus as Lord, you will be saved.” But listen to 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” So it’s you saying, “Jesus is Lord,” in Romans 10; and it’s the Holy Spirit empowering our faith. It’s like all other acts of faith. Crying out from the depths of our broken hearts to God is not something we do alone, it’s a partnership with the Holy Spirit. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Dec 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191208 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000088 imblog

Galatians 4:1-7

Let us read Galatians 4, and we’ll begin to examine the subject of “Sons of God,” the wonderful doctrine of adoption. All other religions, as well as false forms of Christianity, teach that people are delivered from divine punishment by their own works: works of morality and works of religion. And that is Satan’s big lie, and it has covered the world through human history since the fall.

Here we are, five hundred years after the Reformation and the church of Jesus Christ is still trying to figure out the gospel. This is not surprising since Satan works very hard to place error where the truth has been removed. So we are always in every generation fighting for the true gospel because the majority of evangelical Protestants think that salvation is obtained by faith and works.

People keep preaching a distorted gospel even today, and thus we have come to the book of Galatians which was the book that Luther was reading after he posted his theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg. He was reading Galatians and also Romans when he was converted a couple of years after he had posted his thesis of protest. He knew their religious system was wrong.

But he was converted when the power of the book of Romans and Galatians swept over his soul in the hands of the Holy Spirit. So we all have to go back and be sure we really understand the gospel. So the book of Galatians is a book for all believers in all places and all times in the history of the church to make sure we are clinging to the truth and proclaiming that faith alone saves.

Paul is the agent of its clarification. It is God who chose him to write thirteen letters in the New Testament and spell out the essence of the gospel, and the heart of it is that salvation is by faith apart from works. Galatians 2: 16 says, “A man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, for by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified.” It’s not by the Law, it’s by faith in Jesus Christ.

It’s not something you earn, it is a gift you receive by believing. We are justified by faith. Justified means that God declares the sinner righteous in His eyes because the sinner believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. God considers such a believing sinner to be the recipient of His own righteousness. This is a remarkable reality that God justifies the ungodly person who believes.

Paul has been contrasting what the law does and what faith does, and they cannot be mixed. When the Judaizers came along and said it’s faith plus works, they mixed things that cannot be mixed. The law has a purpose in Galatians 3:19, “It was added because of transgressions.” There are four reasons for the law. One, to define sin at its broadest level. There is a law written in the heart of everybody, we all have a conscience.

But that is not the complete law; and so God revealed His law to Moses in all of its completeness to define sin at the broadest possible level. Secondly, He revealed His law to demonstrate that sin is a violation of the law of God and is in fact open rebellion against God. Thirdly, because we have violated the law and rebelled against God, we are under the sentence of death. The wages of sin is death.

And fourthly, God sent the law to demonstrate that the law could not save. There it was in the hands of the Jewish people who had the best opportunity to fulfill the law, to obey the law. And they swore they would. They took a blood oath, back in Exodus 24, that they would obey the law. But they did not obey the law. In fact, they violated the very first of the commandments, which was to have no other gods.

And they violated the law of God at every point; and ultimately judgment fell on their heads, they were taken into captivity, they were taken out of their land. But Israel still exists in disobedience, apostasy and rebellion against God in a collective sense. The only thing that saves is faith, faith in God and faith in Jesus Christ. So Paul makes that distinction between the law and its work, and faith only.

Galatians 4:1-7, “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”

“5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” What does it mean when he says, “I was a slave”? He means he was a slave to the law.

The law was that guardian who had the responsibility to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. The law is to show you hell as the inevitable reality at the end of your life, and thus in desperation drive you to Christ, whom you receive by faith alone. And in Galatians 4, Paul continues with his condition in Christ, how he goes from slavery to the law to freedom in Christ.

The subject is still justification by faith alone in Christ alone; but the terms are so rich, as we come to understand the doctrine of adoption: what it means to no longer be a slave, but to be a son. The doctrine of adoption of one of the most precious of all Christian doctrines. Surrounding the reality of salvation and regeneration, you also have this great doctrine of adoption.

The doctrine of election is for the purpose of the doctrine of adoption. God chose us so that He could adopt us; and that is what adoption is. It’s when you choose someone to be your child. That doesn’t happen in birth, you just get what shows up. Adoption is where you take a son that essentially comes from another family. That glorious truth is part of the glories of our salvation.

We were chosen by God out of a world of sinners to become His adopted children. Now in these seven verses we learn so much about the wonders of this work of God called adoption. Paul says, “Let’s use a natural illustration to make the point.” A child may be an heir, but he doesn’t differ at all from a slave, because as an infant he is under a guardian until the date when he does inherit everything.

In the Jewish world, a boy on his twelfth birthday was set to come to the first Sabbath subsequent to his birthday, and his father would take him to the synagogue; and he would be presented to the rabbi, and be told that he is now ‘bar mitzvah’, son of the law. He is now passed out of his father’s hands and he is now responsible to God for his adherence to the whole law.

The father would utter a benediction. And the Jewish father would say: “Blessed be Thou, O God, who has taken from me the responsibility of this boy.” Now if you don’t think there’s been a change in the world, imagine turning your twelve-year-old son loose, taking your hands off your responsibility. No. What the father meant was, “He is now subject to You God and Your law.”

The boy then prayed the following prayer: “O my God, and God of my fathers, on this solemn and sacred day which marks my passage from boyhood to manhood, I humbly raise my eyes to Thee and declare with sincerity and truth that henceforth, I will keep Thy commandments and undertake to bear the responsibility of my actions before Thee.” That was the true and ancient bar mitzvah.

This is true of sincere Jews, although many now just give money. They were given the promise that came to Abraham; and through him it was going to go to Israel and the world. It was reiterated through David, through the prophets and the New Covenant. The promise of salvation was given. The inheritance was waiting, but it was not available to those who were still in infancy, still children.

For the Jew, his bondage was essentially defined by the written law of God. To the Gentile, his bondage was also by the law of God, but the law of God was written in his heart, because he didn’t have a written law. The law written in the heart for Gentiles, the law written in Scripture for Jews, created this bondage. And we are never released from that bondage until we become mature sons.

Look at the phrase in verse 3, “the elements of the world.” What are they? Look at Colossians 2:8, “See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” So the “elements of the world” are whatever bondage you were in.

To a Gentile it would be their philosophy, deception, and tradition of men. Or it would be in verse 21, certain rules, like don’t touch or taste. Or down in verse 23, “The appearance of wisdom in self-made religion, self-abasement and severe treatment of the body.” There are religions that think holiness is achieved by flagellation and inflicting pain on yourself. That is all a part of the elementary principles of the world.

If we’re talking about the Jews, it says in verse 3, “We were children held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.” Even the law is an elemental thing. All religion, even Judaism is really elementary. There’s no real maturity in any basic religion, if you stayed there you would be doomed. The point was to get from there to Christ. Only in Christ there is full maturity.

Any philosophy is elementary. 2 Corinthians 10:5, “Any godless idea raised up against the truth of God.” Tradition is the pattern of the past perpetuated into the present. Verse 4-5, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

The law was known by the Jews, and after the Babylonian captivity when they came back into their land they never again worshiped an idol. Idolatry had been literally taken from them in their captivity. So religiously, the Babylonian captivity had resulted in Israel’s final turning from idols and focusing on the one true God. That cleared the way for the coming of Christ.

Culturally Alexander the Great had made it a Greek world, which meant there was a common language across all those many ethnic groups, which then allowed for the New Testament books to be written in a language that everybody could read. Politically the Roman Empire had built roads everywhere so that the gospel could then be taken to the world. So it was the right time humanly speaking.

More importantly, it was God’s perfect time. He sent forth His Son, who already existed. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But John 1:14 say, “The Word became flesh.” The eternal Son became man. God sent forth His Son. He is God in human flesh. John says, “We beheld His glory as of the only begotten of God, full of grace and truth.”

God sent forth His Son. He is deity. But not only deity, it says He was born of a woman, full humanity. He had to be God to accomplish the divine person, overpower sin and death; but He had to be man in order to be the substitute for us. He had to be God to have the power of an everlasting and eternal life. He had to be God to conquer sin. But He had to be man to take the sinner’s place.

Further, it says that He was born under the law. And He adhered to the Mosaic Law in every detail. He was circumcised on the eighth day when He was an infant. He was faithful to the law. He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separated from sinners. As any Jewish man, He was responsible to the written revelation of God’s law, and He kept it perfectly. And then He became a curse for us.

Romans 8:3, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son.” What could the law not do? The law couldn’t save. It wasn’t the law’s fault, it’s holy and good; but the flesh is weak. And as an offering for sin God condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Christ fulfilled the law for us.

He sent His Son. Why? Verse 5, “so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” He wanted to redeem us, and pay the price. Our Lord kept the law perfectly. That’s His active obedience. And then He died in our place, that’s His passive righteous obedience. “And He did it to redeem us that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Wait, aren’t we regenerated? We were born again, and now it says we are adopted. How can both be true? Because both are symbols of a salvation reality. They explain two different aspects of our salvation. We were regenerated, we were given life, and we were also chosen and adopted; both are true. We are the recipients of regeneration, justification, conversion, union, sanctification and adoption.

What’s our former family? “You’re of your father the devil,” says John 8. Sons of disobedience. Our home is the world system. We were in bondage to sin and death and hell. This is the universal human condition. But God displayed His glory through love and grace toward us. And Galatians 3:26 says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:17 again speaks to this magnificent truth, “If children, you who are the children of God, if you’re now children you are heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” This is what it means to be a son of God. You’re no longer a slave, an immature child, no better than a slave. You have been delivered from that bondage; now you are fully adopted as a son. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Dec 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191201 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000087 imblog

Galatians 3:23-29

The greatness of the blessing and the goodness procured by the Lord Jesus Christ in His death is both eternal and heavenly. He did not give Himself on the cross in death to save us from sickness, to save us from sadness, to save us from loneliness, to save us from loss, to save us from lack of purpose, to save us from poverty, to save us from trouble, but to save us from everlasting hell.

It is God’s most wondrous and necessary work that He prepared a way for sinners to be rescued from hell and brought into eternal heaven. Therein lies God’s greatest work. In fact, He created the entire universe, the world in which we live, as a stage for that redemptive purpose. He sent many prophets to announce and promise salvation. He designed many ceremonies to illustrate salvation.

God established a priestly service to provide the sacrifices and offerings that depicted salvation. He worked many great acts of providence to prepare the way for the Redeemer, the Savior. He inspired Scripture that told of the Savior’s coming and His purpose in coming. He designed every book of the Bible to carry on the redemptive story to its culmination in the glory of Christ in the book of Revelation.

He designed the gospel. He designed the incarnation, the birth, life, death, resurrection and the ascension of Christ. He called the apostles and worked through them to preach the glories of the gospel. He empowered them and other preachers by the Holy Spirit to spread the good news across the world. God made all His works of creation, all His works of providence subordinate to His work of redemption.

God created heaven as a dwelling place for the redeemed. He created angels to minister to both the Savior and the saved. He designed and conducts the whole history of the world from beginning to end to serve the plan of saving sinners and bringing them to heaven. You can only understand the greatness of God’s work if you understand the misery of hell and the greatness of heaven.

And since the work of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – to bring salvation is so immense, so inconceivable, an effort that has no equal in all of the universe, it demands that we consider the misery of hell and the greatness of heaven. The end must somehow be correspondent to the means. God did astonishing things, including the incarnation and death of the Son of God.

The writer of Hebrews then asks in Hebrews 2:3, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” How do sinners receive that great salvation? How has God designed for us to escape hell and to enter heaven? By what means do we do that? False religions say, “Well, it’s a matter of doing moral things: being a good person, going to church and attending the sacraments. It’s a matter of faith and works. But that is false.

An illustration of false gospel is the Roman Catholic Church who at the Council of Trent, says, “If anyone says salvation is by faith alone, let him be damned.” Compare that with what it says about our Lord in John’s gospel. John 1 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” It’s all about believing in His name.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” In Romans 3:21 it says, “Apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe.” Again in verse 25: “Christ is God’s satisfaction in His blood received through faith.”

Verse 26: “God then becomes just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Verse 28, “A man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law.” Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are you saved through faith; not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” In Acts 16:31 there is a question, “How can I be saved?” “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,” says Paul.

That is the Christian gospel, and that is what was rediscovered in the Reformation: salvation by faith alone; sola fide. Not faith and works, but faith alone. Now, Galatians makes this truth clear. And in the book of Galatians, Paul’s entire intention is to clarify that salvation is by faith alone. Why? Paul had planted many churches in Galatia, and the gospel was preached.

And people had come to faith. And these churches were based on this truth. But some Jews came from Jerusalem who claimed to be believers in Christ, who told the Galatian believers that their salvation was not valid because it required more than faith, it required works. Namely circumcision according to the Mosaic Law, and adherence to the Mosaic Law, so that their salvation was by faith and works.

Paul identified this as a false gospel. He says in Galatians 1:6-8, “If you believe this, you are deserting Him who called you, for a different gospel; which is not really another gospel. 8 And if anybody does that, whether it is we or an angel from heaven, he is to be accursed!” Cursed are those who distort the gospel. And that is what the Judaizers were doing by adding works to the gospel.

In Galatians 3:11, Paul says, “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Galatians 2: 16 says, “Man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law. Because “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”

So why did God give the law if we’re not saved by the law? The answer is, “It was added because of transgressions.” Everybody now knows what is right and wrong; it’s built into human thinking by God. The law describes sin as not just something wrong, but as a rebellion against God. The law is also given to declare to us that when God is dishonored, the result is death. “The wages of sin is death.”

And now the purpose for the law is that it was an example to the world that the law cannot save. It was given to the people with the best opportunity to keep it, God’s people. If any human being could be saved by the law, they had the best chance. But look at Israel from the time the law is given until the time of Christ, they constantly violated every law and thus received continuous divine punishment.

By the time Christ comes you have a completely apostate nation of Israel who have totally corrupted the law and convinced themselves that even though they incessantly violated it, God somehow will accept them, because they kept some of it superficially. So when Jesus first arrives, the first thing He does in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 is attack the Jews for their false righteousness.

He destroyed their self-righteous religious confidence. The law was to manifest sin, personally and historically. You don’t want to try to come to God through works; that’s impossible, because if you have broken the law once, you’ve broken it all. You want to come by faith alone. The covenant of promise which was originally given to Abraham is the only covenant that saves.

Galatians 3:23-29 says, “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” You can recognize in those verses the dominant term there is Christ. We are no longer under the law, we are in Christ. The contrast is in verses 23-24, what the law did to us.

Then in verses 25 and following, we see what faith did for us. When we were under the law, as in Romans 8, we were in the flesh, hostile toward God, we couldn’t obey God, and could not please God. Now that we are in Christ, we can obey, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and we long to obey; and that is the pattern of our lives. The law punishes us with guilt and hopelessness, and shows us that we need Jesus.

Paul said the law is two things: it is prison and it is a tutor. Look at verse 23, “Before faith came.” Paul means not only historically when Christ came, but he sort of personifies faith in the person of Christ and the gospel of Christ. “Before Christ, before the gospel, before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.”

It also applies to the Jews, because the Jews were imprisoned by the law; and for the most of them they were never freed from that. “We were all in bondage to God’s law.” What does that mean? “We broke it, we were condemned by it and sentenced to death.” Notice in verse 23, “We were kept in custody under the law.” This means, “We were in bondage to the law. We were incarcerated by the law.”

Jesus even described them as poor prisoners, blind and oppressed, in the gospel of Luke. That is the condition of all men before faith comes. Romans 2: 14-15, “those without the law still have a law to themselves; and that’s demonstrated, because they do instinctively the things of the law.” Every nation, every ethnic group in the history of the world has had similar moral laws. It’s written in their heart.

Verse 15: “They show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.” The Jews and all other religious legalists try to cover over that reality by inventing superficial, external behaviors, rites and rituals that convince them that they are okay as they are. But actually the whole human race is cursed, headed for hell.

Verse 24-25, “Therefore the Law was our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Now what is this “tutor”? This is a personal guardian, a mentor. Typically a tutor would be a disciplinarian, someone who would discipline the person if he got out of line. That is what the law did. The law was a disciplinarian.

The law is a severe disciplinarian that troubles our conscience, that cuts our freedoms down, that locks us in; because to set us free in our hostility and fleshliness would be to do more damage. The law functions that way corporately. And despite that Law people continue to things that God does not like. We also have laws in our nation to keep people from doing what they would otherwise do.

So what does it mean to be in Christ? What is the benefit of salvation? What do we receive? Well, first of all, our death sentence is reversed, and we now have the promise of eternal life in heaven. Secondly, we’re free from external bondage and dread and we now have in our hearts an eagerness to obey God out of love and gratitude. So we are now free. You are now a new creation.

Here are the blessings that are in Christ. Look at verse 26, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Not just a son of Abraham, but a son of God; anyone who believes God, in a sense, has a connection to Abraham; and now is a true son of God. And the “we” here becomes “you.” You used to be sons of Satan. Now you have become sons of God, who obey out of love and desire.

No Jew would ever say, “Father,” even, let alone, “Abba.” “But you as sons of God not only can say, ‘Father,’ but, ‘Abba.’” Those are the words that our Lord Jesus used to speak to His Father. We are sons of God with all the rights, all the authority and all the privileges. We possess the Holy Spirit; we have an inheritance; we will one day be glorified. We have everything as joint heirs.

Verse 27 says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” What does it mean to be baptized? It’s not water baptism. “You were immersed into Christ,” like Romans 6:5, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Being a son means there is no circumcision necessary.

Verse 28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there’s neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; you’re all one in Christ Jesus.” In Christ, those distinctions are meaningless, because in Christ we are one. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This is not saying that women ought to be equal to men in all their functions and roles. Wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives.”

Finally, we are heirs of the promise, verse 29, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Abraham’s seed is Christ, you’re in Christ who is the one true seed, and therefore you receive the promises that belong to Christ. Do not remain in the prison and the discipline of the law when you can come to freedom and joy and heaven in Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Nov 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191124 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000086 imblog

Galatians 3:15-19

We have been working our way through Galatians, and are now at Galatians 3:14. But as we start verse 15, this is one of the challenging portions of the Bible, and it’s going to demand your attention. The Christian gospel is that everybody breaks God’s law, every human being who has ever lived, except Jesus Christ; and therefore, we are all under divine judgment.

However God is not only a judge, He is also gracious, and He is willing and eager to forgive men. And so we can escape the consequences of our sin by putting our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who took our place on the cross and bore the punishment that we should have received. That is the Christian gospel. Christ paid in full the penalty for our sins so the justice of God was satisfied.

The reason there was a Reformation from Catholicism about 500 years ago was because the Catholic Church had been teaching that salvation was a combination of faith and works. And the Reformers understood the Bible to say, “The just shall live by faith alone.” It is of faith, it is by grace, and not according to works. And that was the reason there was a Protestant Reformation.

So Paul is facing an attack on this. He had gone to a region called Galatia, and he had preached in many cities, and he started churches in Galatia. It was Gentile/Pagan world, part of the Roman Empire. They were predominantly churches made up of Gentiles who had no connection to the Law of Moses at all. All they had heard was the gospel of Jesus Christ; and they were saved.

Some Jews from Jerusalem came into Galatia who wanted to correct the teaching that Paul was giving. And they said, “No, salvation is not by faith alone, salvation is by faith plus you must adhere to the laws and rules of Moses, and that includes physical circumcision, ceremonies and other rules.” They said to these believers that they hadn’t really been regenerated.

They weren’t really going to heaven. They hadn’t really received the Holy Spirit, and they wouldn’t until they began to obey the Mosaic Law. Paul was deeply disturbed by this. So he writes this epistle to clarify the fact that salvation is by faith alone and not by works. Salvation produces works, but works are not a means of salvation. Works are not a cause of salvation, works are an effect of salvation.

Then in Galatians 3 and 4, Paul begins his argument for salvation by faith alone, and he reminds them of their own experience. “You already received salvation,” he said. “You already were transformed. You already saw the miracle of regeneration take place in the people around you and in your own life. You already have received and experienced the power of the Holy Spirit.

How can you possibly believe that you’re not yet saved when you have experienced all of this? Why would you believe these Judaizers who are telling you that your salvation is not legitimate, unless you adhere to the strict laws of the Mosaic Law? Why would you believe that when you’ve already experienced the blessing of salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit? It’s foolish to deny your own experience.

Secondly in verse 6 Paul says that salvation is by faith alone, and it has always been that way. And he uses Abraham as the example. Genesis 15:6 says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” You can’t earn it; God gives it as a gift of grace to one who believes in Him. So with Abraham, salvation was by faith. He was justified by faith and so are we.

Furthermore, he wasn’t justified by keeping the law, because the Law came 430 years after Abraham. So Abraham could never have had his justification through adherence to the Law of Moses with circumcision, Sabbath observances etc. Jews or Gentiles, going all the way back to Abraham, are saved by faith alone; and that is made effective, because Jesus Christ takes on the curse for all believers.

There are no conditions in that original covenant in Genesis 15. It is a unilateral covenant. And when God ratifies the covenant with Abraham, He puts Abraham to sleep, because it’s not a mutual covenant. And before he goes to sleep, God has him cut up a bunch of animals, lay them on the ground, and God, in a cloud of darkness, passes through the animals. That’s how you made a covenant.

But it was a covenant unilaterally with God Himself, “I will bless you, and through you and through your seed the Messiah, I will bless the world.” And these Jewish false teachers professed here to believe in Christ as their Messiah. But these Judiazers were now saying that faith alone was supplanted by the law, so that the new way you are saved is by faith and works.

And they would ask the question, “So why did God give the law if that’s not true?” Paul’s answer to that is the rest of Galatians 3. We also know that it was by faith after Abraham. Galatians 3:11 says, “No one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for ‘the just shall live by faith.’” That sentence is taken out of Habakkuk 2:4, who lived hundreds of years after the Law came.

So before Moses and after Moses, the righteous all live by faith alone. Moses was connected to the law, because he was the one to whom God gave the law. But the law did not change anything. The prophets are still saying, “The just shall live by faith.” When God gave the law He put on a grant display that involved majesty, thunder, lightning, earthquakes and blazing flames on Mount Sinai.

And God put the law in place for the next 1,500 years until Christ came. Why? If salvation by faith was already in place, why did God bring the law? The answer is clear. Look at verse 19, “It was added because of transgressions.” Verse 24, “The Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” Here we learn the purpose of the law.

The purpose of the law is to reveal our sins. And not only to reveal sin, but to reveal our guilt. And then to drive people to God in repentance to cry out in faith for that act of repentance will result in justifying grace of God. The law was given to make the sinner know how sinful he or she was. So we are talking about the moral part of the law. The ceremonial part was given to separate Israel from the other nations.

They had dietary laws, cooking laws, clothing laws and Sabbath laws. They had all kinds of rules laid out in the Old Testament to isolate them from the nations around them, because they were a great threat. So these external, physical laws were for their protection. God wanted to preserve and protect them, so that they could be a witness nation for the one true God, in the midst of these polytheistic nations.

Now Abraham received the promise, but the promise lacked clarity on sin. In fact, in the Abrahamic promise it doesn’t say anything about sin. But the law was added 430 years after Abraham, so that transgressions were clearly defined. And the law points us to Christ. How? The whole sacrificial system in the law points us to a final sacrifice, to a final atonement in the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

There are three things to know about the law. Number one: the law was an addition, in no way did the Mosaic Law set aside the covenant with Abraham. In verse 15 Paul says, “Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.” Then in verse 16, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.” He does not say, “And to seeds,” (many), but only one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.”

The Jews were slaughtering lambs and goats by the millions, constantly throughout their history from Moses on, because God had said, “Blood is required for a temporary sin offering.” And all this was pointing toward Christ. So the Old Testament sacrificial law pointed them to a Redeemer. But the Old Testament moral law established the nature of an unchanging God.

For 500 years from Abraham to Moses, not much information or revelation was given about repentance. But when the law comes in, repentance is added with power. For 2,000 years God had established faith leading up to the Messiah; and for 1,500 of those years He established the need for repentance. The Mosaic Law morally gives us evidence that man had no ability to redeem himself.

Men just constantly broke the law of God, and so they constantly had to offer sacrifices. And since no one could obey the Law perfectly, the whole world is found guilty. And that was the purpose of the law. Abraham received a covenant of promise, Moses received a covenant of law. Abraham brings promise and blessing; and Moses brings duty to follow commandments and cursing.

Sinners need to understand, that we all have violated the law of God, and we all are headed for judgment. But God is a God of grace who holds out a promise of forgives and eternal life to those who believe in Him by faith alone. And by that faith in Christ, He imputes His righteousness to us, and covers our sin, because Christ has paid the penalty in His death on the cross.

The covenant with Abraham promised life. In verse 11, Paul talks about the fact that we live by faith. The covenant with Moses promised death, “The soul that sins, it shall die.” “The wages of sin is death.” That’s why Paul in 2 Corinthians 3 says that the covenant of Moses kills. The Mosaic covenant reaches its apex at the cross in the death of Christ, who died under the curse of the Mosaic Law.

The Abrahamic covenant reaches its apex at the resurrection, when the risen Christ provides life to His people by faith. When you come to the gospels, what do you hear John the Baptist saying? “Repent and believe.” You must recognize that you are under the curse of the Mosaic Law, and come in faith to Christ, to receive the blessing of the Abrahamic promise.

The law was also a temporary addition. When God made a promise to Abraham and his Seed, He was talking about Christ, not just the descendant of Abraham, but the final and ultimate seed who is Christ. He says that in verse 16. So when Christ comes, the law has served its great purpose. The law was ordained until the Seed would come. It was inserted; that means it’s temporary.

Verse 19 says, “Until the Seed comes” which shows that the law is temporary in its external elements, but not in the moral character of God which is eternal. Paul tells us the Law is gone in Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which were a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

And Jeremiah said there was another covenant coming in Jeremiah 31, “Behold, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. I will put My law on their heart; I will be their God, they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sins I will remember no more.”

So they knew there was something that would supersede the Mosaic covenant. Jesus said in Matthew 5, “I did not come to break the law, I came to fulfill the law.” He came and lived the law perfectly. Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Because the gospel is a covenant of faith, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

David knew that when the Messiah came, there would not only be a new covenant and a new kingdom, but there would be a new priesthood. When the Messiah comes, there will be no more Levitical priesthood. Christ would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek who lived way back in Genesis before Moses. If you have a different priesthood, you must also have a different covenant.

So when Christ comes, you have a new covenant with a person who is ratifying that covenant by His blood, who is the King of a new kingdom, and who is the Priest of a new priesthood and a priest forever. Now we come into the present time since Christ: the law as instruction. Its primary purpose now is to create in their heart a longing for the Redeemer. Its chief task was to show all their desperate need for the Redeemer, Christ.

But there’s one massive part of the law remaining, and that is the moral law. And the moral law is a reflection of the character of God. What is the Christian believer’s relation to the law now? It is instruction to holiness. There is an old popular lie that freedom means that we have no obligation to God’s moral law. “We’re not under the law, we’re under grace.” But that is antinomianism.

What did Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” Opposition to law cripples the Christian’s soul, because it denies his need for obedience, and thus it halts sanctification. Legalism separates the law of God from His love and His grace. And antinomianism separates the law of God from His holiness.

Salvation is a relationship to God. Sanctification is a relationship to God. I can’t be saved by keeping the law, and I will not be sanctified by ignoring the law. If I love God, I love Him for His grace and I love Him for His holiness. Legalism is banished when we see the truth about God’s grace, and we enjoy Him for it. Antinomianism is banished when we see the truth about God’s holiness and we enjoy Him for it. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Nov 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191117 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000085 imblog

Galatians 3:13

I believe that our understanding of the cross, our worship of the crucified Christ, our celebration of the cross, and the level of passion or emotion we bring to the cross is really a result of our understanding of the cross. Really, the theological foundation for the cross is what leads us to worship. It’s not enough to know that Jesus was innocent and that Jesus was betrayed.

It was of course tragic. But it is not enough to know that Jesus was hated by His own people. It is not enough to know that He was beaten, scourged, mocked, humiliated and nailed to the cross. All of those things are true and elicit a certain amount of emotion, but it falls short of what really is the true understanding of the cross. A lot of people have been mistreated, betrayed, humiliated and executed.

There’s something far more significant about the cross. Look at Galatians 3 again that will help us tonight to get a fresh perspective on the cross to take us to a higher level of worship. Galatians 3: 10 begins with, “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law to perform them.’

And continues with verses 11-13, “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith. 12 However, the law is not of faith. On the contrary, ‘He who practices them shall live by them.’ 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’”

In order to understand the cross, we must understand what it means that Christ became a curse for us. What is the meaning? Well the Bible is actually filled with curses from the beginning to the end and all the way through. So what is a curse? It is a pronunciation of destruction, of doom, of damnation on someone. In ancient times many efforts were made to bring curses on people who were hated.

In the Old Testament, there was a prophet for hire named Balaam, a diviner and a soothsayer. Numbers 22:6 says, “Because whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” He could invoke curses that apparently came to pass. When the land across the Jordan was threatened by the invading Israelites, Balak the king of Moab, called for Balaam, to come and curse Israel.

However, God took over and Balaam wound up pronouncing a blessing on Israel rather than a curse. Goliath cursed, by invoking demonic gods in 1 Samuel 17, on David. Shimei of Saul’s house cursed David in his flight from Absalom. Both were as futile as Balaam’s effort to curse. Far more important are the many curses in the Bible invoked by God Himself.

In Deuteronomy 27 and 28, the blessings are not mentioned but the curses are mentioned. And they all are a result of violating the Law of God. This is to dramatize and symbolize this not only for Israel but for everybody else who violates the Law of God, you’re under a curse. And that is exactly what we read in Galatians 3:10. Not just Israel, but anybody who violates the Law of God is cursed.

Moses declares to Israel in Deuteronomy 27:9, “Oh Israel! This day you have become the people of the Lord!” 10 Now, on the basis of that, you are called to obey.” If you obey, you will be blessed. But if you disobey you will be cursed. Now here is the clear concept of the divine curse. Now to dramatize the significance of this covenant, Moses held an amazing ceremony.

Moses went to Shechem in north Israel, where there were two mountains. On the one side is Mount Gerizim and he asked six tribes to go to the top of that mountain. The other was Mount Ebal, and he asked six tribes to go to the top of that mountain. The six on Gerizim symbolized blessings. And the six on Ebal symbolized cursing. Now you have a choice. So what do you choose to receive from God?

That's the choice that God offered to the Israelites. And you know something amazing? Did Israel gather at Gerizim in their history? The mountain of blessing? No. They gathered at Ebal, the mountain of cursing. And all those things that were prophesied happened. That whole thing is fulfilled in the history of Israel. But they were warned. When God curses, He curses.

In Deuteronomy 28 are some extracts in which the curses are stated. If you disobey Me, if you break My Law, “20 The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your doings, because you have forsaken Me. 22 The Lord will smite you with fever, drought and mildew.”

25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. You shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your dead bodies shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. 28 The Lord will smite you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 You shall grope at noon day as the blind grope in darkness.

30 You shall betroth a wife but another man shall lie with her. 32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and there shall be no strength in your hand to prevent it. 45 All these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes.

58 If you’re not careful to do all the words of this Law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, severe and lasting, and sicknesses grieving and lasting. 60 He will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt which you were afraid of and they shall cleave to you every sickness.

61 Every affliction which is not recorded in the book of this Law the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed. 64 And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone which neither you nor your fathers have known. 68 You shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

When Shimei tried to kill David, Abishai came to David and said, "King David, take off his head!" But David refused because David was not a vengeful man. Listen, whenever David invoked the curse of God against anybody it had nothing to do with what that individual had done to David. It had to do with David's zeal for the righteousness and the holiness and the majesty of God.

And in Psalm 69:9 David said, “Zeal for your house has eaten me up and the reproaches that are fallen on You are fallen on me.” And when David cried to God to act in vengeance against his enemies it was to save the name of God from tarnish, not to save David. There was no selfishness nor personal vendetta. David just loved God so much he couldn't stand God to be dishonored.

These curses for violating the Law of God, are for anyone who breaks the Law of God. The Psalms we turn to, which are so comforting and encouraging to us, are also full of curses. The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. Psalm 79:12, “And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.”

The prophet Nahum pronounces a terrible curse on Nineveh, “2 The Lord is a jealous God and avenging. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger and of great might and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. 6 Who can endure the heat of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken asunder by Him.”

“7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in Him. 8 But with an overflowing flood He will make an end of His adversaries and pursue His enemies into darkness. Woe to that bloody city.” Isaiah 13:9 utters a similar curse on Babylon, “Behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the earth a desolation and destroy its sinners from it.”

But curses are not just reserved for the Old Testament. Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness.” Anyone who preaches a false gospel, Paul says in Galatians 1, “Let him be cursed.” Revelation 16:6 ends with this line, “They deserve it.” In Revelation 19, hallelujahs ring through the universe as destruction comes and God is vindicated.

And Jesus describing the day when He will judge said, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into eternal fire.” All through the Bible, such curses are given. In Luke 11, He cursed the Pharisees and the scribes. In Luke 17, He cursed those who cause His own to stumble. In Luke 22, He cursed Judas, the betrayer. Paul quotes God, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

And in one of the most difficult statements in the Scripture, Revelation 16:5, "I heard the angel of the water say, “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have judged these things.” In other words, God must judge to be righteousness. How? “6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and you have given them blood to drink.”

They're getting exactly what they deserve. Final judgment is going to come, says Revelation 18:20. God is going to come in and wipe out the whole of human society in and when He does, "Rejoice over her,” over the fall of the final world system Babylon, “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!”

This is not a surprise if you understand the holiness of God. He is holy and just, hates sin and punishes sinners. Anyone who breaks His Law is a sinner and falls under this kind of curse. 1 Corinthians 16:22 says, “If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be cursed.” You say, why are you bringing all this up? Because we all have to understand what a curse from God means.

Go back to Galatians 3:13 when it says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law.” That’s what our redemption means. And that’s why I say, it isn’t about the emotion of a man scourged. It isn’t about the sympathy we have toward one who was betrayed and hated and rejected and misunderstood. It isn’t even that we feel sorry for the nails and the crown of thorns and the public humiliation.

What’s really happened here is that Jesus is freeing us from the divine curse that falls on all who violate the Law of God by becoming a curse for us. To understand the cross is to understand that the curse that we deserve fell on Christ. He felt the full power of the destruction that should have come on us. He took the curse. This is a monumental reality. If you don’t know what God’s curse means, it is hard to grasp what He did.

Jesus took the full impact of God’s holy wrath against all our violations of His Law. He felt the full curse in a brief period of time. And the question always comes up, how could He feel the full curse in such a brief period of time? Because He is an infinite person. It’s as if all the curse that should have fallen on all the people who would ever believe and be saved, all hit Jesus at the same time, and He bore the full curse.

So when you come to the cross and you think about the significance of the cross, you have to think about the curse. God pronounced some horrific judgments and, of course, ultimately the judgment of eternal hell on all who violated His Law. And Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, and snatched us out from under the wrath of God and took the wrath on Himself.

And did He successfully take the wrath? Yes. That’s why throughout the New Testament, it says over and over, God raised Him from the dead. God killed Him under the weight of the curse. And when His wrath was satisfied and the curse was paid for, He raised Him from the dead. What we have to understand about the cross, is not just the physical features of it, but the spiritual reality of bearing all sins to satisfy the curse.

It’s just an awesome thing to contemplate, stretching way beyond our limited minds. When we think about all the sins we’ve committed, all the violations of Your Law and how every time we sin in our whole life, we are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, accumulating a massive accumulated judgment, every sin adding more weight to the mass of guilt.

And so it is with all men, and yet on behalf of those who are saved, Jesus Christ bears the full curse for all our sins. How wondrous is this? How rich is Your love, Your grace, and Your mercy to provide such a sacrifice for us? And such a sacrifice could only be borne by someone who is supernatural, someone who is infinite to bear such a massive curse for all men in a few hours and redeem them from the curse.

This is a time, Lord, for You to look into our hearts, and probe us by Your Holy Spirit, reveal any sin that is there that we need to confess, any sins that we have become attached to, any relentless occurring frequent sins that we cherish and perhaps even unknown to the people closest to us. Root them out of our hearts and expose them to us and cleanse us from them. Oh Lord, we are desperate without You. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Nov 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191110 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000084 imblog

Galatians 3:10-14

Let us talk about the doctrine of divine redemption. If you read Psalm 19, the final statement of Psalm 19 is, “O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer.” Many places in the Psalms, God is referred to as Redeemer. Psalm 78:35 calls Him the high God who is Israel’s rock and Redeemer. It was Job who, in the midst of his horrific situation, said, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

Even at the end of Luke, redemption comes back as a very important theme. The apostle Paul wrote of our God and Savior Christ Jesus who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us. Peter said we were not redeemed with silver and gold and precious stones but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb. And in Revelation 5, we find around the throne of God all the saints singing a new song of redemption.

So the doctrine of redemption is at the heart of what salvation really is. We started with the perseverance of the saints; which means that if you’re saved, it is forever. And our eternal salvation is predicated upon eternal election, the sovereign choice of God in eternity past. We saw that sovereign election and irresistible grace are necessary for salvation because of man’s total depravity.

In other words, man is absolute unable to save himself or make any contribution to his own salvation. We saw, then, that if God had predetermined who He would save, if God had chosen to awaken certain sinners to salvation, it was for them that He provided, in fact, an actual atonement so that Jesus really died to pay in full the price for the sins of those who would believe.

We also looked at the doctrine of divine love. Behind it all, God so loved us. It is that divine love that led to that divine election. That divine election led to our absolute inability to save ourselves. That divine election led to providing an actual atonement which is, in fact, to be understood as a redemption of sinners. When we are saved we have been redeemed by God.

Ephesians 1 tells us beginning in verse 4, “God in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us.”

We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness. Many times redemption is referred to in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it is all over the place. It is a critical doctrine to understand and it takes us to the heart of the gospel. If we want to talk about knowing God, being saved from sin, being rescued from judgment, becoming a true believer and experiencing the love of God, we have to understand redemption.

And redemption is all predicated on understanding the human condition. We need to understand that man is guilty before God. Man is under condemnation, under just judgment, because he has incurred a debt to God by violation of His law and he has no capacity on his own to pay. His only hope is to be redeemed, to have the price paid by someone else to be delivered from judgment.

And if we do not understand redemption, then this will blaspheme God by stealing the glory that belongs to Him as our Redeemer. Salvation has become some kind of therapy, a kind of a spiritual experience where Jesus makes good people better and unfulfilled people fulfilled and discontent people content. That’s the therapeutic view of salvation, but that is not the biblical view.

God is not a therapist, God is a Redeemer. People are not just unfulfilled, they don’t just lack purpose. They are under the just condemnation of God. They are on death row, headed for a judgment that they deserve without the capability to change that. And the glory of the gospel is that God is a Redeemer who has provided redemption, a payment in full, so that we can be bought back from judgment.

Look at Galatians 3. This is the simplest and the most straightforward passage of the Bible. I have been worried by a lot of things that go on in the name of Christianity. And one of them is the misunderstanding of the doctrine of redemption because we are so unwilling to assess the human condition accurately as sinners in need of a Savior, because the culture is totally oblivious to this and resent that idea.

When we are afraid to tell people the truth about their condition before God, salvation becomes a superficial thing. Essentially we can’t talk about redemption if we don’t talk about the desperation of those who need to be redeemed. In Luke, it wasn’t that the people hated Jesus and killed Him because they hated heaven. It was because they would not accept the diagnosis of their condition.

The Jews prided themselves on the fact that they were righteous before God, and Jesus came along and told them the very opposite about themselves, and that’s why they killed Him. It’s still an unpopular message. The only sinless person who ever lived, the greatest communicator who ever lived, the One with the greatest insight into human need, Jesus Christ, could not convince them because that was unacceptable.

And if people are going to understand the truth of the gospel, they have to accept the diagnosis, so they understand what redemption means. Then they can give God the glory that He is due as the Redeemer. Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to do them. 12 However, the law is not of faith; on the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them.”

The law acts in behalf of God upon every soul, all are held accountable. Most people think that the law of God is a noble, ethical code summarized in the Ten Commandments. An elevated standard of living that God would like people to achieve. And that’s what the Jews believed. They thought that they had accomplished at least enough of an interest in the law and enough of an achievement in law-keeping.

They believed that God would be satisfied with them and that they were pleasing to God and that they had possessed their own righteousness having achieved it through their attempt to keep the majority of the Law of Moses. The typical Jewish rabbi at the time of Jesus believed that only the common people who had neither knowledge nor interest in the law were actually under the curse.

They limited the curse to those who were indifferent to the law. In fact, in John 7:49 mockingly the leaders said, “This multitude which does not know the law is accursed.” For them, knowing the law and being able to articulate the nuances of the law and the embellishments of the law with all the minutia of the law that was tantamount in their minds to satisfying the obligation to the law.

And only those who didn’t know the law or were indifferent to it, were under the curse. Jesus came and condemned them all by the law, and they killed Him for it. Romans 4:15 says, “The law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.” Every person in the world is born with a sin nature and therefore sins, violating the law, and therefore all are subject to eternal judgment.

Let me tell you a few things about the law, because we cannot understand redemption if we do not understand the curse. Number one, the law requires behavior contrary to your nature. The law of God asks you to do exactly what you don’t want to do. It is opposite your longings, your lusts and your desires. The law calls for you to love what you hate and hate what you love.

Secondly, the law requires behavior that is impossible. It’s not only against your will, it’s against your ability. You couldn’t do holy things. Your best righteousness is only filthy rags. You can’t think holy thoughts and speak holy words. There’s not any of us who is good, there’s not anything in us that’s good. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself” and we can’t do that.

Thirdly, the law requires perfection. It’s not what we want, it’s not possible, and the standard is way too high. Matthew 5:28, “Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect,” that’s the standard. And it never ever relents. We’re trying to do what we don’t want to do, we’re trying to do what we can’t do, and we’re commanded to do it perfectly, which is beyond our capability.

Four, the law does not accept good intentions and effort as compensation. This is why the Jews missed it. They thought that their meager longings toward goodness, that their religious activities, that their efforts counted. Well, trying counts in some worldly areas, but not in law-keeping. Effort counts for nothing. Good intention counts for nothing. There’s no second place in the law.

Number five, the law accepts no pay-later plan. Now, there are a lot of people who think, “Well, I know in the past I’ve been a bad person, but now I’m going to be a good person. I know I’ve done a lot of bad things, but now I’m going to do a lot of good things and maybe as I do good things, they will cancel out bad things.” No, the debt is never negotiated. The debt of all your sin is never repaid.

Even if you were to break the law of God once in your life and never again, the rest of your life doing what was right wouldn’t cancel what was wrong, and what was wrong would be enough to damn you. Or if you lived your whole life and kept the law of God and broke it just before you died, all that accumulated merit would count for nothing. There’s no payback and there’s no prepayment.

Number six, the law is an unrelenting task master. It never says take the weekend off and do what you want. It never eases up. It never lightens the load. The law never relaxes its requirements. It never gives the sinner a moments of rest. It is stringent, unbending and unrelenting. It continues every second, every minute, every day as long as you live, because the Law is really a reflection of the nature of God.

Number seven, the law destroys happiness. When you really come under the law, it produces shame, guilt, remorse, sorrow, fear, pain, hopelessness, anxiety and depression. That’s why you find a sinner in a synagogue pounding his chest saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He has no joy, no peace and no happiness. He can’t find any relief and so he beats himself in an act of contrition.

Number eight, the law requires the severest penalty. The law only has one penalty, hell forever. There’s no parole. There’s no time off for good behavior. And nobody gets a shorter sentence. You break the law, you get eternal judgment. Number nine, the law demands but doesn’t help. It offers you nothing to help you. It can’t make you different and it can’t save you. Salvation is by faith only.

Number ten, the law listens to no one’s repentance. It doesn’t care that you’re full of shame and guilt and remorse. It doesn’t care that you’ve lost your joy and lost your peace. It doesn’t care how penitent, how broken, how sorry, how sad you are, it does not respond. It is indifferent to all repentance. Throughout the history of mankind, people do whatever they think is going to break the terrible pressure they feel.

Number eleven, the law offers no forgiveness. There’s no mercy in the law and there’s no grace, that’s why it’s law. Therefore, there’s no hope. There’s no promise that it will get better. That the future will get better. No, the future will be worse. The future is horrible and it lasts forever. I don’t think you want to work your way to hell thinking you’re working your way to heaven.

And that’s what brings us to verse 13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.” Now you understand the death of Christ. He dies on the cross and pays your debt and my debt. It is at the heart of the Christian gospel, it’s about redemption. He became a curse for us. He took our punishment. That’s the gospel. In Romans 5:6, “At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.”

Criminals sentenced to death under Mosaic Law were usually executed. The Jews didn’t crucify. So when they had executed a person, they would tie the dead body to a post and they would let that body be seen by others to cause fear. Similar to that Old Testament pattern was Christ being put on a tree, cursed by God for us. He became sin for us. He took our place that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Galatians 3:24, “The law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.” The work of the law produces wrath but it also drives the sinner to Christ so that he can place his faith in Christ and be justified by that faith. Verse 14, “that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

What is the blessing that came to Abraham? Romans 4 tells us the great blessing God gave to Abraham. “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” in Genesis 15. What was the great gift that God gave Abraham? Righteousness. He removed the curse. Not through Abraham’s works, but through Abraham’s faith. So the first purpose is justification by faith.

We are free from the penalty of the law, but we’re not free from the obligation to obey God. Christ became a curse for us to position us as righteous and holy and then to place His Spirit in us to progressively make us righteous and holy in practice. This is the glory of redemption. Let us rejoice in worshiping our God, the Holy One, our strength and our Redeemer. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Nov 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191103 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000083 imblog

Galatians 3:10-14

“10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”

“13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Verse 10 says, “Cursed is everyone”, a universal statement. This is a very difficult statement for people to hear.

Preachers are eager to tell the world that God loves them. And that message is welcoming and acceptable. And preachers are also eager to tell the world that God wants to bless them; in fact, that He has endless blessings just waiting to be received. He wants to make them happy, and healthy, and trouble-free, and successful, and fulfilled, and full of personal purpose. That is the message of contemporary evangelical preachers.

But what preachers don’t tell people is that all of them are under a curse by God if they believe that by following the Law they can be saved. Every human being who has ever lived is born cursed, and it is a curse that is permanent and eternal. That is the truth that we see in verse 10. And so they are unfaithful to leave out the truth that essentially makes the gospel so wonderful.

What does it mean to be cursed? To be blessed is to be granted all that is good; to be cursed is to be granted all that is bad. To be cursed is to be despised and doomed, devoted to destruction; that’s the New Testament term. The Old Testament uses three words, and they essentially are synonyms; they mean exactly the same thing. To be cursed is to be assigned to harm, destruction and damnation.

Now the Bible has a lot to say about curses. We do understand that there are curses that men unleash on other men, and they really intend to invoke Satan and demons to do harm. Primitive people have invoked such curses by their magic spells and incantations, and tried to bring the demons that they worship down on the heads of their enemies to either kill them or do them harm.

Curses are a part of the kingdom of darkness. In the Old Testament we see Balaam who is the king of cursers. It was said about Balaam in Numbers 22:6, that whoever he cursed was cursed. So he was a diviner, a sorcerer, a medium who literally transmitted satanic and demonic curses to other people. So curses do exist in the kingdom of Satan, evil men pronounce them on each other.

But we’re not talking about that. What we’re talking about is the cursing of God; and that curse is pronounced on the entire human race. And Jesus said this about that curse, “Do not fear those who destroy the body, but fear Him who destroys both body and soul in hell,” Matthew 10:28. Fear the curse of God. Everyone is under a curse, which means even in the present they are under the curse of God.

How do we know everyone is cursed? Back to verse 10, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.” The book of the law refers to God’s Word. Any violation of the book of the law, the Word of God, brings the curse. So everyone is cursed, because everyone has broken the law of God. Read Deuteronomy 27:9-26 where all the curses are spelled out.

All the people are affirming the curse of a breaking of any commandment of God. And those are only representative commandments, there are many more; that’s why verse 26 says, “Cursed is he who does not confirm all the words of this law by doing them. If you break this law at all you are cursed. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen,’ thus affirming that curse.

“Disobey Me and you will be cursed.” You know the rest of history. The people that day all said, “Amen, amen, amen,” confirming their obedience, as they had done back in Exodus 24. But as the centuries passed, they turned away from God. They ignored God. They were sexually impure. They made idols and worshiped those idols. They broke every law that God had given.

And every generation was cursed by suffering for their sins. Eight-hundred years later we find them being taken captive by the Babylonians. This is God’s judgment on that disobedient nation. Jeremiah 11:3-4, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed is the man who doesn’t heed the words of this covenant 4 which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace.”

The curses come from God as the Babylonians invade the city of Jerusalem, and slaughter the Jews, and take them captive. The northern kingdom is already gone captive; and now the south, Judah and Jerusalem, are taken captive by the Babylonians. The reason is verse 8, “They didn’t obey or incline their ear. They walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart.”

Verse 9-10, “And the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

Jeremiah 17:5, 7 tells us the essence, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.’” On the other hand, verse 7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord.” If you had trusted the Lord you would be blessed; but you have disobeyed the Lord and thus are cursed.

Curses are given in the Pentateuch in the book of Deuteronomy; but there are curses throughout the Old Testament. There are reiterations of God’s curse on sinful people. There are thirty nine Psalms that pronounced curses. But the psalms are divinely authored and justified. They are just as justified as the psalms that give comfort, because God wants them to know that they are cursed.

Does God find pleasure in this? No. Ezekiel 33:11, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” God cries tears of through the eyes of Jesus, who after pronouncing a curse on Jerusalem wept over Jerusalem. The truth is that everyone is cursed. Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”

The truth has been given to us, the law of God is written in our hearts; but all men suppress that truth and behave in unrighteous ways; and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against them all. The martyrs in Revelation cry out to God, “O Lord, holy and true, how long will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

And in Revelation 18:18 we see the smoke of the final kingdom of Antichrist, the final Babylon. “They were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she is made desolate!’” That’s the destruction at the return of Christ, a destruction of the capital city of Antichrist’s system.

In Revelation 19:1, 3, we get a glimpse of heaven. “A great multitude in heaven upon seeing this cry, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous. Hallelujah, for the smoke rises up forever and ever.” Why? Because we as the redeemed on earth and in heaven desire that God be honored, and that sinners would not be cursed.

Our Lord Jesus was no different. In Matthew 25:41, He said, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” But Jesus pronounced curses as well as blessings throughout His ministry. In Luke 11, He cursed the Pharisees and the scribes, the religious leaders of Israel. In Luke 17, He cursed the people who make His children stumble.

We are called to confront people with the gospel of blessing against the backdrop of the reality of the divine curse. We should be heartbroken over the condition of the world. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, neither does our Lord. Jesus pronounced a curse on Jerusalem and said it would be destroyed, and then wept. But because God is holy and just, He must punish sin; and that is why the curse exists.

Now let’s go back to Galatians. There are two curses in this passage. The first one is the divine curse on all men. The second is the divine curse on one man. We’ll look at the first one: the divine curse on all men. It says, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.’” The whole human race is cursed. Why? Because they all are under the works of the law.

In other words, they have the lifetime obligation to obey God, as Israel did. And Israel couldn’t fulfill it. They needed to repent and trust God for righteousness like Abraham. But what happens? People go the way of works. Under the law, they think if they keep some of the law some of the time and do some good things, that’s enough to satisfy God. The problem is they can’t: they sin, they die, and they’re cursed.

It gets compounded, because other religions say, “You can do good works and still please God,” so they believe false religion, and they are doubly cursed. They then follow a religion that says they can do moral works, religious works, sacraments, etc. And that is not possible, so they are cursed. It is really deadly when people say, “Salvation is by faith in Christ plus works.”

Let me make it even more practical. Anyone who believes that works are necessary for salvation has bought into a cursed gospel. Anyone who preaches that is preaching a cursed gospel. And the people who are believing it and preaching it are themselves cursed: cursed by their sin, doubly cursed by their works system, and triply cursed by preaching it.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center came out. A question was asked to thousands of people across America who are evangelical Protestants, and the question is this: “Is salvation by faith alone, or is it by faith and good deeds?” Fifty-two percent of evangelical Protestants said faith plus good deeds. And eighty-two percent of Roman Catholics said salvation is by faith and good deeds.

When we started studying Galatians 3, I said that most churches and most people sitting in evangelical churches across this country are bewitched. Similar to the Galatians who had become bewitched, even though they were true believers. They were buying into the fact that works were necessary. So Paul says in verse 10, “You are cursed if you don’t keep all the law all the time!”

In Matthew 5:48, Jesus said, “Be perfect,” How perfect? “As perfect as your Father in heaven.” Listen to James 2:10, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, is guilty of all.” So if you are operating, according to verse 10, in the sphere of the works of the law, and you ever violate one law one time, you’re cursed. And that’s the testimony of Deuteronomy 27:26, “You are cursed.”

Jewish leaders thought they were the spiritual people, they were the righteous people. Our Lord addresses them, and Paul does as well. “You’re not only cursed because of universal sin, you’re cursed because you believe in works, and you’re cursed beyond that for propagating a cursed message.” Romans 4:15 says, “The law works wrath.” If you want to live by the law, you’ll only know the wrath of God now and forever.

Then verse 11, “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Cursed is everyone because of what Scripture says. No one is justified by the Law before God, again, because of what Scripture says, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” And that’s taken out of the prophet Habakkuk 2:4: “The righteous men shall live by faith.”

So in verse 6, Paul quoted Genesis 15:6. In verse 10, he quoted Deuteronomy 27:26. In verse 11, he quotes Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous live by faith.” And somebody might say, “Well, faith and works go together.” No. Please notice verse 12, “Yet the Law is not of faith.” They are mutually exclusive. Romans 4:14 says, “As soon as you introduce works, you void faith.”

On the contrary, verse 12 continues, “The person who practices them shall live by them.” That’s taken from Leviticus 18:5, “You want to live by the Law, then you must keep it.” Then you have to live by them, and you have to be perfect.” But Romans 3:20 says, “By the deeds of the Law no one will be justified in God’s sight, no one.” Everyone is cursed by their works, and no one justified by their works.

As we close, let me just comment on verse 13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.” That’s the gospel, that’s the good news. He bought us, purchased us, freed us, and delivered us. And the good news only has real value against the backdrop of the horrendous reality of the whole human race being eternally cursed without Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Oct 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191027 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000082 imblog

Galatians 3:6-9

We come back to this great epistle of Paul written very early in his ministry to confront the constant problem of people corrupting the gospel. People do it because Satan does it. The gospel alone saves, and therefore Satan wants to confuse people about the gospel. The whole world is confused when it comes to the gospel, to the matter of salvation and being right with God.

Even the church of Jesus Christ, including its leaders and its people, are largely bewitched, by the same false doctrine that holds the world captive. Today we live in the same kind of world that Paul lived in; but this is a world where there is a singular truth. The gospel of Jesus Christ in Holy Scripture: that is God’s plan of salvation through faith alone, apart from works.

But in the time in which we live now, most people have their own self-styled corruption of the gospel, thinking somehow that God owes them heaven because they’re good persons, religious persons, moral persons, philanthropic persons, or they’re not criminals. And even if they are criminals, God still owes them heaven because there are worse criminals than they are.

Heresy can only come in the corruption of the gospel. So part of the responsibility of believers is to make sure we get the gospel clear. So that we are not, as we saw last week in Galatians 3:1, like the foolish Galatians who were true believers, but had become bewitched. They had become literally bewitched, as if they were under some kind of spell, to accept a false gospel.

Paul says, “I can’t even believe how soon you are removed from the truth to another gospel, which is not another, when you should know the true gospel. Anybody who preaches you any other gospel, let him be damned.” and he says it twice. But nonetheless, the Galatians who were true believers who had believed the gospel, were being foolishly bewitched.

We saw that in our message from the first five verses last week. And Paul asks them the question: “Remember your experience. You have met Christ. You have vividly seen His death and the significance of His death and resurrection; you have believed that. You have been regenerated by a miracle of God the Father, and you have become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Consequently, you have the full Trinity received by faith, not by works. Why are you now foolishly being bewitched by people who tell you that salvation demands works? You already have the full salvation: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. These Judiazers came from Jerusalem and they were falsely teaching: “Unless you are circumcised and follow the custom of Moses you cannot be saved.”

This issue was brought to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem to get the apostles’ opinion. They had a meeting which was recorded in Acts 15. The apostles, the elders got together and they talked about these things, and they said in verse 11, “We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the same way they also are.” Salvation is by grace, through faith, apart from works.

The teaching of God’s Scripture is clear. In Acts 16:30-31, Paul was talking to the Philippian jailers who said to him, “What do I do to be saved?” to which he said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” In John 1:12, the apostle John says, “The children of God are those who believe in His name.” Jesus says in John 3:16, “Whoever believes in the Son of Man, will have eternal life.

And it is clear from the Scripture that there are no works by which we can earn our righteousness. Isaiah 64:6 says, “All our righteousnes are like filthy rags.” We are wretched to the core, to the bone. There is nothing in us that can please God. There is nothing in us that can do anything that honors Him in the way He deserves to be honored by perfect righteousness.

Galatians 3 is Paul’s doctrinal section of the letter. This is where Paul lays out salvation by faith alone. He writes with a heart inspired by God against the Judiazers. They brought a damning heresy, because anyone who propagates that heresy is cursed. And that heresy is that they teach that salvation is not by faith alone, but by faith plus something else.

Everything was correct, but they still became bewitched. So here, in Galatians 3 in particular, and on into Galatians 4, Paul is going to prove that salvation is by faith alone. First, he proves it from their experience in the opening five verses. Then he proves beyond that in Galatians 3: 6, with Scripture which is the source of the rest of his discussion on this important topic.

And for Paul, Scripture was the Old Testament. Paul shows us that salvation has always been by faith alone. Because men are always sinful, incapable of coming to the standard of God’s righteousness. And if they are to be righteous, God has to grant it to them, and He grants it only when they believe Him, and acknowledge Him as trustworthy. Now the hero of these Judaizers was Abraham, the father of Israel.

Abraham meant everything to them. Repeatedly in the gospel accounts, the Jewish people lean on Abraham as their father. And as their father, he passed on to them their Jewish genealogy, and the assumption has been all through the history of Israel that if you’re a Jew, you’re okay with God. That’s certainly what the Jews believed in the time of our Lord; and many believe it even today.

It all began in Genesis 12:2-3, “Now the Lord had said to Abram: 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God is going to call out a people to whom He will give His divine revelation, a people who will be His witness nation in the world.

That’s their purpose. It is not simply that He designed to save the nation spiritually. In fact, most of the Jews throughout human history are now in hell. They were not saved by the promise that through Abraham, God would build a nation. This is clear in Romans 2:28-29, because it says there, “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly.” And again in Romans 9:6, “Not all Israel is of Israel.”

The nation of Israel was under the protection of God as a nation to be a witness for Him, but that did not grant them personal salvation. And salvation is always personal, it is always internal, and it is always spiritual. It is never national; it is never external; it is never physical. God is going to call out a people to whom He will give His revelation, to be His witnesses.

Abraham was 75 years old when he followed the command of God and left Haran with his wife Sarah. God says, “I am going to call you, and from your loins produce a great nation that will bless the entire world.” Abram is a believer now in the true God. In Genesis 14:22 he says, “I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.”

Abram has abandoned all the gods of his ancient family. God comes to him again in Genesis 15:1, and tells him not to be afraid, “I am a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great.” He’s been told he’s going to be the father of nations; but he doesn’t even have one child. Verse 2, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

That was his main servant; if there was no son, the inheritance would pass to the son of the main servant. Verse 4-5, “Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’ 5 And He took him outside and said, ‘count the stars, if you’re able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’

Verse 6, “Then he believed in the Lord – here’s the key verse – “and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” It was Abraham’s faith that caused God to credit him with divine righteousness. There is salvation by faith. Abraham is the prototype of faith. Abraham is not only physically the father of Jewish people, but spiritually he is the prototype, the father of all who believe God through human history.

So God gives him a nation physically, but also through that nation comes the Messiah, and through that Messiah comes a world family by faith. That’s inherent in the promise of Genesis 12. Now the Jews would say, “Yes, Abraham is the pattern. Yes, he believed God.” But how God was going to provide this seed? So Sarah suggested that he make one of the servants pregnant.

And she got pregnant and bore Ishmael, who fathered the Arab people. That was a problem that keeps going throughout all of human history, as the Arab-Israeli conflict goes back to Hagar and Ishmael. Ten years have passed and there’s still no child. Then the child is born and Abraham is ninety-nine years old. Genesis 17:2, “I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”

Genesis 17:9-11, “And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.”

At least fourteen years after Genesis 15:6, he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, Abraham was circumcised as an old man. Salvation didn’t come to him because of circumcision. The law was given hundreds of years after Abraham, so he wasn’t saved by observing the law and ceremony of Moses. There was no circumcision when Abraham was reckoned as righteous.

Philippians 3:3, “We are the circumcision who worship Christ in the Spirit.” Ours is a spiritual cleansing. Why was that particular symbol chosen? Circumcision is a symbol of cleansing, as well as a protection. Abraham was declared righteous by God, when he was neither circumcised, nor aware of the Mosaic Law or any ceremonies. God made Abraham a remarkable promise from a human perspective.

In Genesis 22, Isaac is with Abraham. They go up Mount Moriah, to offer a sacrifice. And God says to Abraham, “Isaac is the sacrifice. Put him on the altar and kill him.” And Abraham lifts the knife. Hebrews 11:19 says: he believed that if Isaac died, God would raise him from the dead. Abraham believed that he and Sarah would have a massive family that would fill the earth.

That was a picture of the sacrifice of Christ to come. Romans 4:3, “What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Righteousness came to Abraham from God because he believed. Was he righteous? No, he was not righteous.

And then Paul quotes in Romans 4:6 from Psalm 32 that God forgives the lawless, covers the sins of the sinful; and He does it by faith. And then Paul asks the question, in Romans 4:9, “Was he circumcised or uncircumcised?” Well, he was uncircumcised. Did he obey the law?” No. there was no law.” This is the biblical argument that you cannot add any works to salvation by faith alone.

Now the Jews thought following Abraham was enough. In Matthew 3, John the Baptist comes preaching to the Jews. And he’s telling them basically that they’re no better than pagans, because he says, “You need to be baptized; I’m here to baptize you.” And the only people that were baptized in their world were Gentiles who wanted to become proselytes to Judaism. So it was a proselyte baptism.

Then John the Baptist said this: “And do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father.’ For I say to you, that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; and you’re going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.” This is reality. They were falsely trusting in their Abrahamic ancestry.

In John 8:32, Jesus is talking to the Jews, and He tells them they don’t know the truth about God, they don’t know the truth about salvation. He says, “If you listen to Me, you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. So they answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, who have never been enslaved to anyone. Jesus said to them, ‘truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.”

Verses 38-39,44, “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father. 39 They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said, ‘If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham and believe. 44, ‘You’re doing the deeds of your father the devil. He is a murderer and doesn’t stand in the truth because there’s no truth in him.”

Galatians 3:7-9, “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” That becomes the New Testament word to identify all Christians. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Oct 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20191006 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000081 imblog

Galatians 3:1-5

This is the only direct, written revelation we have from God. It’s all contained within sixty-six books of the Bible: 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New. No one is to take away anything from it or add anything to it, or “it will be added to them the plagues that are written in it.” This is what happened at the Galatian church. Galatia was a region that was under the power of the Romans.

Paul writes this letter to all the churches in Galatia because false teachers had gone from church to church proclaiming a false gospel. He knows immediately that the people will be attacked, and some will be seduced by these false teachers. So Paul writes this letter to deal with what’s going on. In the first two chapters, he defends his apostolic authority as the one called by Christ, taught by Christ, and sent by Christ.

Then in Galatians 3 and 4 he clarifies the truth of the gospel. Now what the false teachers basically were saying was: grace was not enough, the cross is not enough, the Holy Spirit is not enough. You cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are circumcised and adhere to the Law of Moses. They were adding works to grace and works to faith. Paul is shocked by their defection.

Galatians 1:6-8, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” Paul begins by pronouncing a curse on anyone who preaches a false gospel.

This is a powerful portion of Scripture because Paul embraces the Trinity – the Son, the Spirit, and the Father – and essentially says, “By foolishly being bewitched by a false gospel, or a false addition to the gospel, you have called into question the work of the Son and the Spirit and the Father.” In other words, “You have assaulted heaven at its heights.” This is an all-out attack on the Triune God.

Well, the fact is that many true believers in the churches in Galatia were bewitched. They were true believers according to Galatians 3:26-29, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all of you who were immersed into Christ spiritually have clothed yourself with Christ.” And verse 29: “Since you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.”

He says to them, in verse 3, “Having begun in the Spirit.” That’s the work of the Spirit, the work of regeneration. First, the work of conviction; then the work of granting new life, regeneration, new birth. You began with the new birth. You began in the power of the Spirit. “Are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Are you so bewitched as to think that the work of the Spirit was incomplete?

The Judaizers said, “Salvation is in Christ, salvation is by grace and by faith, but also by works. You must be circumcised as prescribed in the Law of Moses. You must maintain the Mosaic ceremonies and laws.” And that’s always the lie that plagues the church and true believers. Now it is not the Judiazers, but false religions, false sects and false teachers who bewitch the Gospel.

Maybe you never thought that true believers can be bewitched. But every warning in the New Testament, every warning about false teachers and false doctrine is an assumption that believers can be bewitched. Every command to hold to the truth, guard the truth, rightly handle the word of truth is also based on the assumption of our susceptibility to bewitching. Yes, believers can be seduced into believing lies.

The bewitching comes from those who acknowledge the gospel, accept the gospel, and then add works to the gospel. Paul anticipated this in Acts 20:29-30 when he said to the Ephesian elders, “after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.”

All those warnings, all those commands to faithfulness assume that we can become bewitched. And I would just go so far as to say, most churches in our society are bewitched. Most church leaders are bewitched. At the core, they may believe the true gospel, but they have allowed so many things to be added to the gospel or to corrupt the gospel that they are bewitched.

This isn’t just a problem in the pew. It is a problem in the pulpit. All too common for Christian leaders and pastors in places of great influence to become themselves bewitched about the gospel, even the gospel that saved them. The duty of the pastor is to guard the truth, is to preach the truth, is to fight for the truth, and to protect his flock from the bewitching doctrinal errors.

Now a little closer look at the word “bewitched” for a moment. What does that phrase mean in the Greek language? The word means “to charm in a misleading way.” It always had a bad connotation. It meant, “to seek to do harm to someone by lies or deception or false promises.” It is even related to magic spells and sorcery, and the evil eye, and demonic power. It comes from Satan.

It’s a very serious word, and the Holy Spirit only used it once to describe not what’s happening to nonbelievers, but what has happened to believers. It’s as if they have been bewitched, not by magic spells, but by false doctrine. Why are they susceptible to that? This is a battle that never, ever ends, because Satan continues. And bewitching is always a deviation from the true gospel, salvation by your works.

Now Satan only has two types of attacks. We see them in Matthew 13 in the words of our Lord. He can, first of all, snatch the gospel seed before it can go into the ground and be productive. And we see that in our Lord’s parable of the soils. Satan comes and snatches the seed away before anybody can understand it. That’s corrupting the gospel on the front end where it does not have time to grow.

The second thing that Satan does is once the gospel has taken root and believers begin to grow and flourish, then Satan’s second attack is to sow tares among the wheat: false believers in a false gospel alongside true believers. And that is corrupting the gospel on the back end by bringing into the church corrupt messages that produce corrupt tares among the wheat.

Yes, believers can be bewitched. Let me make it simple: just as believers can sin against the holiness of God – and we do – they can sin against the truth of God. Just as believers sin against the holiness of God, they sin against the truth of God. There is so much confusion in the bewitched church that it is outrageous. False teachers are everywhere, especially on TV.

Paul is sad over the bewitching then and it always happens. If you can go on Oprah, as one evangelical did, and Oprah says to him, “Does a person have to believe in Jesus Christ to enter heaven?” and he says, “No,” well, he has been bewitched. Larry King said one day, “I’m going to be okay because a well-known evangelist told me, because I’m Jewish, God’s going to take special care of me.”

“You foolish Galatians,” in verse 3. It means “ignorant, deadness and impotence of intellect. You’re not using your sanctified minds. You have been bewitched. Many times Paul writes about a renewed mind: Romans 12, Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4:23. “You need to be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” J. B. Phillips’ translation says, “O you idiots, how can you be so stupid?”

Who confused you about the gospel?” Well, the Judaizers did it, of course, by their words and their false teachings. And I understand why; because being bewitched is equal to not obeying the truth. And we see that in Galatians 5:7, “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?” That is exactly the case. If you have been bewitched, then you’re not obeying the truth.

Unless there is going to be a movement back to the Word of God in the pulpit and the pew, the bewitching will continue, because foolishness will continue. Then Paul looks at it from a Trinitarian perspective: “How did you get to this point? Verses 1-5 deal with the defense of the gospel by their experience. Then from verse 6 to the end of Galatian 4 is a defense of the gospel of grace from Scripture.

First, the role that Christ played. Your experience started when Christ was proclaimed to you in verse 1, “before whose eyes, Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed crucified.” The gospel came to you openly, clearly, powerfully and publicly portrayed. What did Paul say? 1 Corinthians 2:2, “I’m determined to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified.” What does it mean?

Paul preached not just the physical crucifixion of Christ, but the theology of the death of Christ. It was that you understood that it was a substitutionary sacrifice for you. You understood that He was dying in your place, that your sins were imputed to Him, so that His righteousness could be imputed to you. I preached Christ crucified to you, and also that Christ is risen again. And the reality was you believed.

And miraculously you were transformed. Now how can you, when you have seen Jesus Christ publicly portrayed crucified, go back to the Law? Are you saying that the cross was unnecessary and you must save yourself, or are you saying that the cross was insufficient, or that the death of Christ was a partial provision, and you have to make up the rest by your works?

If you are saying that, you are blaspheming the Christ of the cross. The verb “crucified” at the end of verse 1 is a perfect passive participle in Greek, which means it has continuing reality. It’s not just crucified at a moment in historical past; it’s continually crucified. Why? The impact and the power of the cross keeps on going. 1 John 1:9 says, “He is still righteous to keep on forgiving our sins.”

The cross work is never done; it never stops. It isn’t that Christ did something that was necessary for us and then He was finished, and now we have to pick up the work. That is offensive to Christ. Hebrews 10:14 says, “He perfected forever those that are sanctified by the one offering of Himself.” The cross lacks nothing. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and not by our works.

And they knew from personal experience, that when they put their trust in the crucified and risen Christ, they were transformed. They knew that. They knew justification was by grace through faith in a crucified Christ, because they had done it and received it. They had that experience. Was that experience in vain? What could Judaizers or what could anybody else add to Christ’s work on the cross? Answer: nothing.

Secondly, they not only had personal experience with faith in the crucified Christ, they had personal experience with the Holy Spirit. Verse 2: “This is the only thing I want to find out from you. Did you receive the Spirit?” Yes, because everyone who believes receives the Holy Spirit, right? Romans 8:9: Holy Spirit lives in every believer; you’re the temple of the Spirit of God.

“If any man have not the Spirit, he’s not His.” The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our life. He is the life of God in us. He comes in, transforms us; and we become new creations. We have new loves, new affections, and new desires. There are things that we used to love that we hate, and things we used to hate that we love. And now we love the brethren, we love the truth, and we love God.

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith?” What’s the answer? By faith. There was no requirement that said you’re not going to get the Holy Spirit until you do certain things. That is another lie that says you can be a Christian without the Holy Spirit until you attain some level of spirituality. Every believer has the Holy Spirit. So the work of Christ was a finished work.

Verse 3, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” In other words, is the work of Christ only partial and you have to add the important part? And is the presence of the Holy Spirit only partial and you have to add something; and in both cases, the important part is something your flesh produces? Christ’s work is complete, the Holy Spirit’s presence is also complete.

The Law adds nothing to the work of Christ, the Law adds nothing to the work of the Holy Spirit.” Verse 5, “Did you experience Christ for nothing? Did you experience the Holy Spirit for nothing?” And what about the Father? Verse 5, “So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”

This is talking about the Father. Because in Luke 11:13 and in John 14:16 and 26, twice, Jesus says, “When I go, the Father will send the Spirit.” So in verse 5, “So does He who provides you with the Spirit” – that’s the Father. The Father is the one who provides you with the Spirit. The Son did a complete work on your behalf, and so did the Spirit and the Father did a complete work on your behalf.

You have experienced power of the gospel and experienced the power of the Spirit in your life. You have experienced the power of the Father and you have been living in that Trinitarian power. To say that all of this is inadequate is blasphemous. It diminishes the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit and the work of the Father in the miracle of regeneration. They did it all perfectly. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Sep 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190929 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000080 imblog

Galatians 3

Let us this evening be theological. I want to discuss this third chapter of Galatians, which is of great doctrinal importance. Let's put it in the framework of the culture in which we live. We are here to reach this society and this culture. We are here as evangelists, as witnesses, as ambassadors for Christ to proclaim the gospel. We are in a society that is engulfed philosophically, in postmodernism.

First, they believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Everything is relative and everything that we can seek for in life is little more than an existential experience of one's own determination and definition. Secondly, our society is characterized by the term “moral relativism.” There is not only no truth, there is no authority. That is to say, there is no standard. There is no absolute law.

Every individual is his own personal authority and determiner of what is right or wrong for him. Thirdly, our society is caught up in personal freedom. And we could say that simply means no rules. Postmodernism says no truth. Moral relativism says no authority. And personal freedom says no rules. There are no guidelines except those which you yourself choose to adopt for your own life.

And fourthly, our society believes in humanistic atheism, which means there is no judge. There is no truth, no authority, no rules and no judge. Bottom line: you have nothing to which you are accountable. There are no consequences for your behavior except those that are built into it, and you can choose to do whatever you want. You are in charge of your own destiny.

On the other hand, we need to tell this society that there is truth, there is an authority, there are rules, and there is a judge, and every single one of us will have to answer to Him. The Christian message is directly in contradiction to the reigning philosophy of today. They dismiss the idea of God and therefore the idea of accountability or judgment, how are we to approach them?

Salvation is and has always been by faith. We know that because Scripture makes that clear. Habakkuk 2 says, "The just shall live by faith," in the Old Testament. Romans 4:6 tells us Abraham was saved by faith. It says, he believed God. "And it was reckoned to him for righteousness." God imputed righteousness to the account of Abraham because he believed God.

If it is true that salvation is by faith, not by keeping the law, then why did God give the law? Galatians 3:19, "Why the law then?" Why did Abraham need an outward law? When God gave the law, He gave it in a very visible way with an immense set of circumstances that forever marks its importance. On Mount Sinai there was thunder and lightning, and the angels of God brought the law.

The people were told not even to go near the mountain which they could see burning with fire and smoke. This was the Mosaic Covenant. It is a solemn covenant attended by much phenomena to indicate its importance. God put it in place 430 years after Abraham’s Covenant and kept it there for fifteen hundred years while men had to live under the imposing power and curse of the law.

Verse 19 says, “It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.” This was done to develop a necessity for the Redeemer by revealing human sinfulness to the degree that it would create a desperation in men that drives them to the Savior. That's the reason for the Law.

Yes, Abraham had faith, but Abraham was only one man and there were others who had faith, but there was no great dominating entity in itself that would drive men in general to the need of a Savior. There was no great pervasive standard that could drive men to faith in God and drive them to the need of a Redeemer. It went way beyond the personal intervention of God in the life of an individual like Abraham.

Now, as we look at Galatians 3 and come to a better and richer understanding of the reason for the law, just look at three aspects: past, future, and present. The law as viewed from a past perspective, the law as viewed from a future perspective, and the law as viewed from a present perspective. Now, this is going to be a theological study but it's going to yield some practical fruit.

Let's start with the past. Go back to verse 19. There's a key word here that indicates the past to us. "Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator." It was added. The law was an addition. The Mosaic Law completed the covenant with Abraham. Verse 17 says it was, "added 430 years later."

And verse 17 says, "The Law cannot annul the covenant previously ratified by God that it would make the promise of no effect." When you study the Bible, you might wonder, the Abrahamic Covenant comes in Genesis 12 and when you get to Exodus 20 there comes the Mosaic Covenant 430 years later. Does that eliminate the Abrahamic Covenant? Does it invalidate it? No. Now there are two covenants in place.

The covenant with Abraham was fundamental. God promised to bless. God said, "I'll bless your Seed and through Him, I'll bless the nations of the earth." That's why when Paul was teaching the doctrine of justification or salvation, he never went back to the Mosaic Covenant, he always went back to the Abrahamic Covenant. He always went back not to Moses, but to Abraham.

Verse 6: "Abraham believed God. It was reckoned to him as righteousness." Verse 7, "Therefore, be sure that it is those who are faith who are sons of Abraham." When we're justified by faith, we come, as it were, spiritually in the line of Abraham who was saved also by faith. Verse 9: "So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham." Abraham brought blessing. Moses brought cursing.

The Abrahamic Covenant said, "I will bless." The Mosaic Covenant said, "I will curse." Here is my law and you can't keep it and I'll curse you for that. It doesn't change it. In fact, verse 14 says, that "those who are in Christ Jesus receive the blessing of Abraham." When you're coming in Christ to receive salvation, you receive what God promised to Abraham. That's why in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, it says son of Abraham.

So why did God give the Mosaic Covenant. Simply, because the Abrahamic Covenant lacked a sufficient universal emphasis on man's sinfulness. There is really nothing to motivate people to repent. Where is that universal law that calls the whole world to the reality that they are cursed by the violation of God's law and they are desperately in need of a Redeemer and of salvation?

In the Abrahamic Covenant, you have a promise; in the Mosaic Covenant, you have a threat. There was nothing universally thorough in the Abrahamic Covenant to explain man's lost condition and incapacity for self-redemption. There’s nothing in the covenant that brings the curse down on man so that he understands that he is damned. And that is essential knowledge for understanding the meaning of the sacrifice of Christ.

So in order to grasp the significance of Christ bearing the curse for the sinner and giving the sinner His righteousness, we have to understand the curse. Sinners are in desperate need of forgiveness, in desperate need of someone to die in their place, and someone to provide for them a righteousness they don't have on their own. And those are all the things that Christ provided, right?

So the Abrahamic Covenant had to be supplemented with the Mosaic Covenant in order that men might understand, that there is combination of things that operate in salvation; faith and repentance. You have a lot of Jewish people who believe in God of the Old Testament. The question is whether or not they have repented of their sin. And that's the balancing element of true saving faith.

And that repentance now is connected with an understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. So the Old Testament revelation of salvation is divided into the Covenant of Promise with Abraham and the Covenant of Law with Moses. It is blessing and cursing, blessing and cursing. When you come to Christ, you come with faith in Him as Lord and God and Redeemer and Savior. That is positive.

And you come with a terrible brokenness and a contrite heart and a sense of guilt and wickedness and sin in repentance. That is negative. "The law," verse 21 says, "can't give you life." 2 Corinthians 3:6-7 says, "The law kills." The Mosaic Covenant then reaches its apex in the crucifixion. "As Christ," verse 13, "becomes a curse for us," as He goes to the cross and takes the full wrath of God for our sin.

The summit of the Mosaic Covenant is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as He becomes a curse for us, dying on the cross, feeling the wrath of God for our sin. The summit of the Abrahamic Covenant comes in the resurrection, because we would be blessed, and we would receive life. We received death in Christ on the cross. We received life, rising to walk with Him in newness of life.

Secondly, look at the law with a future perspective. The law in view of the future is insertion. Verse 19, you see there in the beginning of the verse, it was added. At the end of the verse there is the word until. The law as “added” and the law as “until.” It was added in regard to the past. In regard to the future, it is inserted. The word "until" means it has a limit. It's not permanent, it is temporary.

It was only added, "until the Seed should come." The seed is Christ. The whole Mosaic Law with all its ceremonies and its rituals and its priesthood and its sacrifices and all of the rest, was inserted only ‘until.’ Paul calls it a "shadow." And Christ is the substance. “Until” indicates that the law is temporary. The law looks toward Christ and it points toward Him and its fulfillment is in Him.

And I'm talking about the ceremonial aspects of the law; all the sacrificial systems, all the priesthood, all the Sabbaths, all the new moons, all the feasts, all the festivals, all of those things pointed toward Christ. He was the fulfillment of all of those pictures and types and symbols. That's why Romans 10:4 says, "Christ is the end of the law." Christ said that He came to fulfill the Law.

Now the Old Testament also saw a new priesthood. The priesthood had already been transferred from the tribe of Levi to Judah, according to 1 Chronicles 5. The priesthood was transferred from Aaron to the Levites to Judah, and there would come in the end a complete transfer of the priesthood to the One who would come who was a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a priest unto Himself, that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

When you get a new priest, you get a whole new law. So the external ceremonial system including the priesthood and everything was over when Christ came and died. That's why at the death of Christ, the veil in the temple is ripped from the top to the bottom. And the Holy of Holies is thrown wide open. The sacrificial system is over. Access to God is readily available for anyone who believes.

The Day of Atonement is not necessary, no more Passover celebrations are necessary. You can transform that to the Lord's Table in remembrance of the cross. The old priesthood is gone. Christ is the priest of a new priesthood. And the law is gone as to its ceremonial aspects, its external aspects. So, the law then, the Mosaic Law, as to the past is addition. As to the future, it is temporary.

It is fulfilled at the time Christ came. And that is clear in "until," verse 19, "the Seed should come." And in 70 A.D., the Gentiles came in and destroyed the city of Jerusalem and there has never since been a sacrificial system or a priesthood in Israel again and there doesn't need to be because it isn't in God's plan. It was, with regard to the future, only a temporary insertion.

Now that brings us to the present. How do we view the Law in the present? In the past, it is addition. As to the future, it is insertion. As to the present, it is instruction. What is left is God's moral standards, they haven't changed. They were true before Abraham, they were true in the four hundred and thirty years between Abraham and Moses, and they are still true today.

And we have the benefit of all of them being written down for us, not only in the pages of the Old Testament where God's moral law is clearly indicated, but repeated over and over on the pages of the New Testament. And the Law is now given to us for some very important reasons. Look at verse 21, is the law contrary to the promises of God? No. Here's the first thing the law does. It teaches us that we are sinful.

Verse 22, the scripture has shut up all men under sin. When you read the Word of God, you find there is a standard there and you look at your life, and you recognize that you fall short. Romans 3 says that, "It stops every mouth and makes the whole world guilty." The moral part, which is the revelation of the character of God which has always been true in all eras of redemptive history.

The more we know about the law, the more we violate it, producing guilt and shame, which the Spirit of God can turn into conviction and repentance and drive us to the Savior, verse 24, "that we may be justified by faith." And how does that happen? Verse 13 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us." Christ was cursed for your sins and my sins and He paid the penalty.

Even Abraham was saved by the sacrifice of Christ. Christ died for the sins of Abraham long after Abraham had lived and died. Christ dies for the sins of all those who, under the Mosaic system, repented and believed. Christ died for the sins of those since as well as those before. The Old Testament coverings were symbols of the real taking away of sin that would come at Calvary.

Verse 29 ends it all. "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." The Abrahamic Covenant has never been set aside. It was the promise of salvation. And when you come to Christ, you enter into the promise of salvation blessing God gave to Abraham. So there is absolute truth. There is an authority. And that authority is the eternal sovereign God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Sep 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190922 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000007F imblog

Galatians 2:11-21

Why does religion exist in the world? Materialists tell us that there is nothing but the material world, there is no supernatural world. But still, religion exists. Why? And why is it so universal? And why is it so personal? And why is it in every period of time, in every location, and in every culture, every society, and every ethnic group that’s ever lived? Why also does religion take so many forms?

Religion is the connection between human beings and supernatural beings. It is a bridge to the supernatural. Why is it universal? It is universal because all people are created by God and in the image of God. All people are in some way a reflection of the divine God. Romans 1 defines it this way, “The knowledge of God is in them.” Romans 2 that tells us “the law of God is written in the heart.”

Why does Satan devise so many false religions? He is the archenemy of God. He, along with a third of the holy angels who rebelled and fell, compose the demonic forces. Those demonic forces do all evil that they can possibly perpetrate against the purposes of God. They masquerade within and among the people of God, and in the church, subtly proclaiming error. And any deviation of the gospel is a cursed thing.

The Bible is clear that the Jews trusted in themselves through their whole history. They continued that at the time of our Lord, and the apostles. They had developed an apostate Judaism, which was defined by rabbinic tradition that had replaced the Word of God. Becoming righteous to God was done by strict obedience to the Mosaic rules and ceremonies, epitomized by the scribes and Pharisees.

Galatians 2:11-13, “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.”

Why would Paul oppose him to the face? How do you do that to someone like Peter? Where does Paul get this boldness? No. Peter had done something that Paul saw as an attack on the gospel: the gospel of grace alone, faith alone, apart from works. And so he condemned him. Before the Judaizers came Peter ate with the Gentiles. but after they came he separated himself fearing their criticism.

Peter also knows that they are brothers and sisters in Christ. And when he eats with them, it’s not just a meal; it’s the love feast. He’s finding out what it is to eat all the stuff that Jews could never eat. He’s been liberated. But after these Jerusalem Judiazers came he changed because he was afraid of them. And in verse 13 the rest of the Jews joined in their hypocrisy, and even Barnabas did it.

Paul was the apostle of the gospel. If you deviate from the gospel in how you act, you’re in violation of the purity of the gospel. But it’s hard to be bold for the gospel when you’re with people who compromise the gospel but also talk about Christ. Paul is saying to the church at Galatia, “We have to have the gospel clear; that’s why we are in the world to tell others.”

Now here is the pinnacle evidence of Paul’s genuine apostleship; he literally condemns the leading apostle. Nobody questioned Peter’s apostleship. But Paul condemns him, opposing him to the face. This is the sad experience of the defection of Peter. He had no problem with fellowshipping with Gentiles until certain men came from James, the brother of Jesus and head of the Jerusalem church.

Two times the word “hypocrisy” is used in that very short thirteenth verse. Their capitulation to the Judaizers is an assault on the doctrine of salvation. Without saying anything Peter took sides with those who taught salvation by faith and works. He fractured the church. Overnight the church was in chaos because of his defection back to Judaism, as if the Judaizers were right.

Verse 14, “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?” They were not walking according to gospel truth. They were playing the hypocrite and sending the message that the Judaizers are right.

Peter believed that he could eat and fellowship with Gentiles; he had done it. He knew that since Acts 10 and his experience with Cornelius. He no longer lived according to Jewish prescription. But now he goes back to that in a hypocritical way and leads others to the same hypocrisy. He altered people’s perception of truth by his behavior. What an indictment. Paul was furious.

Consistent with what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 5: 20, “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.” He confronts Peter in a public way. Augustine said, “It is not advantageous to correct in secret an error which occurred publicly.” You have to show public condemnation of a public sin; so Paul does that. Peter needed to be confronted in public, because that’s where he led people into confusion.

Peter is not overtly saying, “I don’t believe the true gospel.” He’s just acting like what the Judaizers are teaching is true. This is a dangerous compromise. Anytime those who preach the true gospel affirm or embrace anyone who teaches a false gospel, confusion will reign. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Come out from among them and be separate. Light has no fellowship with darkness.”

Paul says further in verses 15 – 16, “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Here we see three times in verse 16, and once in verse 17 the word ‘justified.’

Paul here is going to make a statement about the doctrine of justification, which explains the true gospel’s view of faith and law. Paul unfolds this great core doctrine of justification by faith alone. This is the article of faith that Luther said, “If it’s lost, all true doctrine is lost, and the church is lost.” You are justified means you are righteous. It is the opposite of condemnation.

Condemnation says you are guilty, justification says you are not guilty. Condemnation says you are evil, justification says you are righteous. Condemnation says you are bad, justification says you are good. To condemn someone is to declare them guilty, to justify someone is to declare them not guilty. And justification is God’s free, gracious act, by which He declares a sinner not guilty.

God has forgiven that sinner, and accepted him into fellowship. That is the foundation of true religion that is Christianity. So how can man be righteous before God? How can a condemned sinner be declared just? Paul answers, “By faith. By faith in Christ alone. Not by works.” So here we have the statement of justification by faith alone. It’s so clear and unmistakable.

Paul says, “We’re all Jews by nature, those of us who are the sons of Abraham.” We’ve lived all our lives under the law. We’ve lived all our lives with Scripture. We know the system well. The Jewish religious system dominated Jewish culture. There weren’t multiple religions in Israel like there were in the Gentile world. We lived under that, and so we were not sinners as the Gentiles.

“What do you mean you’re not sinners?” He means, “In a visible, earthly sense, our Judaism prescribed our lives. Our Judaism restrained us. Gentiles are called sinners because they lived without restraint. Their deities are wretched and immoral. Their temples are full of prostitutes. We know what it is to live under the Law, and we tried to keep His commandments; we fasted, prayed and gave alms.

And what did we learn by living under the Law? Verse 16, “This is what we learned: in spite of that, we found out that a man is not justified by the works of the Law. We were there already.” Paul in his testimony in Philippians 3 said, “And we found out that a man is not justified by the works of the Law. That’s why we fled to Christ. That’s why we’re Christians.”

Jewish adherence to the Law was all external. Jesus pointed that out in the Sermon on the Mount: “You don’t kill anybody, but you hate people; so you’re a murderer in your heart. You don’t commit adultery, but you lust; so you’re an adulterer in your heart.” “We know that the Law can’t change the heart.” All the Law did was lead us to condemnation and death.

We know to try to live by the Law is futile in your own strength. A man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. On the cross He died for our law-breaking. He paid the penalty in full for our violations of the Law. He bore our sins in His own body on the cross. He became sin for us. And all that is required for us to put our whole confidence in the work of Jesus Christ.

We believed that we were justified, and we were given the Holy Spirit; and we’d been living in the life that God gave us. When we ran to Christ as our refuge, we embraced the one who fully satisfied the law of God, and the one who bore the penalty for all our sins by a judicial act of God, because our sins were paid for in Christ. God then declared us righteous by faith alone.

Nicodemus was a member of the ruling party, the Pharisees, part of the elite leaders of Jerusalem. He is a Pharisee, and there just are no conversions of Pharisees until you get to him. He comes to Jesus in the midst of all of his legalism, and he has bound himself to all the Mosaic prescriptions. And the question in his heart is, “How do I get into the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God?”

So here is a Jew who has kept the Law as much as is humanly possible, and he knows he’s not in the kingdom. And Jesus says, “You need to be born again.” Your entire life of accumulated works are meaningless. “How can that be?” says Nicodemus. Jesus says, “You have to be born from above. You can’t do it; God has to do it.” All the sinner can do is cry out to God to give him faith in Christ.

Now notice verses 17-21, Paul’s defense of justification by faith alone. And here you see that the Bible is not a lot of sentimental thoughts about religion. The Bible is full of these powerful, carefully crafted arguments of a brilliant mind inspired by God. Verse 17, “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!”

Now, Paul is talking to Peter and Barnabas. “What are you doing? You are condemning Christ.” When you eat and function with Gentiles, and accept them in a gracious way as being brothers and sisters in Christ because of faith alone, you’re right. But if you, Peter and Barnabas, go along with the Judaizing legalists, then you’re saying that our former liberty was sin; and therefore Christ freed you into sin.

By saying that, Christ made you a worse sinner than ever. Verse 18, “For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” Christ isn’t the transgressor by freeing us from the Law, you’re the transgressor by taking us back to the Law. Instead of committing sin by abandoning law for grace, you become a sinner by returning to the Law which you abandoned.

Why Paul? Verse 19, “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.” He says, this is a historical fact. I died to the Law. As a Christian, you don’t define your life by the Law. Legalists do that, and libertines do it. We define our life by a relationship to Jesus Christ. At the time that I believed in Christ, I have no more connection to the Law.

I have a new master: Christ. I obey Him out of love, not the Law out of fear. Paul says – “Love fulfills the whole Law. In fact, when I lived under the Law, I couldn’t keep the Law, and I was full of dead men’s bones. But in Christ, I can fulfill the Law.” Romans 8:1 – “from the heart.” Why? Because with justification, comes regeneration; and with regeneration, comes a new heart, a new spirit and a new nature.

How did you go from that to just living to God?” Verse 20 explains it, “I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Do you see any law in that verse? No. This is the verse that defines what it is to be a Christian.

Paul says, “Look, you can’t let go of this.” Verse 21, “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” If you add works, then grace is no more grace. If it comes by my works, then Christ died needlessly.” The pillars of the Christian faith are the grace of God, faith in Christ, and the death and resurrection of Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Sep 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190915 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000007E imblog

Galatians 2:6-10

The Book of Galatians was the first letter that Paul wrote, and it is a defense of the gospel. At the very beginning of his ministry, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he writes to defend the gospel: the gospel as revealed by Jesus through the apostles, and to him as well; the only true gospel. He is its great defender. That’s how he began his writing ministry in the New Testament.

Of all the apostles, no one was more intent on guarding the gospel than Paul: guarding the accuracy of the gospel, guarding the clarity of the gospel, and guarding the priority of the gospel. What is the gospel? It is the good news that the one true living God, who is holy and sovereign will forgive sinners and grant them reconciliation with Himself and eternal life if they put their trust in His Son Jesus Christ.

Paul was called by God in Philippians 1:7 for the defense and confirmation of the gospel. We know that it’s critical that we get the gospel right, because this is the reason the church exists in the world, to preach the gospel to every person. So people can hear, believe, and be saved and brought to eternal glory. Every preacher like the apostle Paul is to be set for the defense of the gospel.

Now Paul was absolutely sure of one thing, and that was that the gospel came down from heaven. The way of salvation came from God, the one who was offended by all the law breakers in His world. The gospel is what it is because God has said so. It is not subject to human change or replacement. Anyone who tampers with the gospel is cursed (Galatians 1:8) and will be punished.

Paul wrote the book of Romans, sixteen chapters, the longest of his epistles. Romans is a systematic presentation of the gospel in logical order embracing all the doctrines contained in the gospel. And in 1 Corinthians, Paul defends the gospel against the corruptions brought in by human wisdom and carnal thought. And in 2 Corinthians, Paul assaults the false teachers.

In Ephesians, Paul emphasizes in particular that the gospel is entirely the work of God, and that salvation in every individual case is also the work of God. In Philippians, he gives a contrast between the corrupters of the gospel and the true testimony which he himself gives. He, the true preacher of the gospel has received the righteousness of God as a gift, not by works, but by faith alone in Christ.

In Colossians, he addresses all useless attempts to add human elements to the gospel. In 1 Thessalonians, he speaks of the power and the assurance of the gospel in the believer’s life. In 2 Thessalonians, he speaks of the consummation of the gospel at the return of Jesus Christ. In 1^st and 2^nd Timothy, he gives instruction to pastors, to faithfully safeguard reading and preaching the gospel.

Everything Paul wrote was about the gospel. In Romans, he says, “I have to preach the gospel; it is the power of God unto salvation. I’m not ashamed of the gospel.” To the Corinthians he says, “Necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” He says, “I preach Jesus Christ alone and Jesus Christ crucified. I’m determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

He was a warrior to the very end. It’s always a fight against the spiritual enemy, the powers of Satan and demons. It’s always a battle against deceivers. It’s always a battle against false brethren, false teachers, false prophets and false gospels. Now what is Paul saying about the gospel in Galatians? Primarily this: that salvation by grace is received by faith alone.

Why? Because the Jews had twisted true Jewish religion from believing God, and receiving His righteousness credited to you by faith, which was true of Abraham and all the true saints of the Old Testament. They had twisted it into a works-righteousness system which was really propagated by the kingdom of darkness, and nation Israel was apostate far from God.

And when Jesus came, they would not accept the true Messiah or His true gospel; and judgment came down on them in massive force by the Romans in the destruction of Jerusalem. That judgment continues on the Jewish people to this day who will reject Christ and salvation by grace alone through faith alone. There is one God, who says there is only one way to be saved, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.

So what does Satan want to do? Well, first of all, he wants to prevent people from hearing the true gospel and being saved. Secondly, he wants to take believers who have already believed the gospel and been saved, and convince them that they’re too tight on the gospel. Many “Christian” people, want to lighten it up, because they don’t want the rejection that comes with it.

Paul writes this letter to get them to the point where they are crystal clear on the gospel by faith alone, apart from any works. So here come these false teachers, into Galatia; and they go into the churches, and they begin to confuse the believers that Paul has poured his life into. Now why should they believe him? Well, he is an apostle, and he has received that from the mouth of Jesus and he declared that to them.

He was converted on the road to Damascus when Jesus encountered him there: struck him blind, knocked him down. Three days later he receives his sight, and immediately he is sent to Arabia for three years. He goes to Nabataean Arabia, and spends three years there being instructed by Jesus. He has seen no apostle and met no apostle. He has three years of private tutoring by Jesus.

He comes back after three years, goes to Jerusalem for a couple of weeks; wanting to meet Peter. Finds Barnabas, who becomes a companion in the future. Is sent away because of persecution. Goes back and spends fourteen years planting churches in Syria, Cilicia and in Galatia on his first missionary trip. During those fourteen years he did make one visit to Jerusalem, when he brought them money from the church at Antioch.

Now as we come to Galatians 2, he comes to Jerusalem after a total of seventeen years, and went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also Titus. We saw his companion Titus; that’s very important. He is telling the Galatians, “I brought Titus. We went to Jerusalem. When we got to Jerusalem we were in the mother church with the apostles. We were there actually at the Jerusalem Council.”

This is recorded in Acts 15 when the apostles were gathered together – none of them compelled Titus to be circumcised. That was the first affirmation of the apostles on Paul’s authority and Paul’s gospel. Paul says this was an issue because of the false brethren secretly brought in by Satan, to spy out our freedom, which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.

The Jerusalem Council decided for the true gospel. They did it visibly by not compelling Titus to be circumcised. They did it officially by drawing up a document that lays out that you do not make Gentiles go through any acts, rituals, rights, ceremonies, traditions, as a necessity for salvation. We have been set free in Christ. Don’t let anybody put you back into bondage.

So when Christ died, you died in Christ. When Christ rose, you rose in Christ. Christ perfectly fulfilled the law. He has fulfilled the law on your behalf. He died on your behalf; He rose on your behalf. He lives in complete, perfect conformity to the law of God on your behalf as a believer. Galatians 5:1, “Keep standing firm. Do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

Verse 6, “But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.” Paul says I met with those apostles, Peter and John, and I met with the brother of the Lord, James, who is the head of the Jerusalem Church. They basically made no difference to me.

Look, I am simply a preacher, nothing more. I have absolutely zero authority in the world. My education gives me no authority. My mind gives me no authority. My experience gives me no authority. I have zero authority as a leader of a church. My position gives me no authority. The only authority is that authority that comes from God through His Word; and I only pass that on to you.

It is impossible to believe that you have to do something that contributes to your salvation, and at the same time, be a Christian. If you think your morality, your religiosity, your baptism contributes to your salvation or is in any part necessary, you can’t be a Christian; you’ve fallen from grace. This is about the truth of the gospel remaining with you.

It’s not about who I am. It’s not about who Peter is, who James is, who John is, or anybody else. It’s about the gospel. And they saw it. “It was the same gospel, and I had been called to give it to the uncircumcised, and Peter had been called to give it to the circumcised.” Two worlds: the Jewish world, the Gentile world. The action is: the gospel to the uncircumcised and to the circumcised.

Verse 8 takes it a step further. “For He,” (that’s the Holy Spirit) “who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles.” The same Holy Spirit that empowered Peter from the Day of Pentecost on, as he preaches, and thousands of people are converted, “The same power in Peter as an apostle is the power in me. We have the same gospel and Holy Spirit.

They both possessed the same gospel, were empowered by the same Holy Spirit. There is no difference in message, there is no difference in power between Peter and Paul, and this decision was affirmed officially. Verse 9, “James, the brother of our Lord, the head of the Jerusalem church and Cephas (Peter) and John, the main leaders of the church, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship.”

Verse 9, “They recognized the grace that had been given to me.” This is the final blow to the Judaizers. They wanted Titus to be circumcised; but that wasn’t required. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:17, “A stewardship was committed to me.” He also says that it Is required of stewards that he be found faithful. And Paul was faithful all the way to the end: fought the good fight and kept the faith.

Notice that phrase in verse 9, “recognized the grace that had been given to me.” It’s the grace of the calling, the saving calling on the Damascus Road. That was all grace, wasn’t it? It was grace from God that called him to be an apostle. It was grace that taught him for three years. It was grace that empowered him. It was grace that produced the results. It’s all of the grace of God.

If anything ever happens as a result of anything I have ever said anywhere, anytime throughout my entire life, it is not because of me, it is because of the grace that has been given to me. It is the grace that touches the souls of people. Only God’s grace accounts for the spread of the gospel. Only God’s grace accounts for the growth of the church and for the power of the Word of God to transform lives.

Lastly in verse 9 his commendation. “They gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” They affirmed exactly what God had called them to do. Paul was going to preach to the Gentiles, he was sent by the Lord to do just that. He began proclaiming Jesus saying, “He is the Son of God.” That’s why the Lord called him.

They finally ask him to do one thing. This is the final blow against the Judaizers. The only thing they asked was to remember the poor. Verse 10, “Remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.” And if you study the life of Paul, he did that constantly in his ministry. In the early church, they were having all things in common, and they would distribute it to those who had a need.

Why were there so many poor saints in Jerusalem? On the Day of Pentecost, there were hundreds of thousands of Jews that came from all over the world back to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. They were converted there. They ended up staying because there was no other church anywhere. They had to be taken care of by the people in Jerusalem. It was tough to be a Christian; you wouldn’t have any resources.

Everywhere he went Paul was collecting money to bring to Jerusalem. 2 Corinthians 9:6, “Give generously. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” 1 Corinthians 16:2-3, “Let each one of you lay something aside weekly, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. 3 And when I come, I will send your gift to Jerusalem.”

A Christian is a person who loves God, and who desires to love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. The moral law, is simply a reflection of the nature of God. If you love someone, you desire to please that person, right? If you love someone, you do everything you can to please that person. You are not required to do that, but your heart wants to do that. That’s what it is like to be a Christian.

We’re not mad like the older brother in the prodigal son story because somebody broke the law. He is furious that his law-breaking brother was forgiven, and he is furious that his father forgave him. So he really is a Pharisee; a Judaizer and a legalist. Look, we love God and we love His law. And we love each other. You don’t have to force us to meet the needs of the poor; that’s the thing we are eager to do.

So are we law-breakers now because we are believers? No. We pay no attention to the circumcision, external laws, and ancestral traditions. But the moral law is a reflection of God whom we love, and therefore we love everything about God that’s a reflection of His glory. There might be different methods, but there’s only one gospel, one theology. And the truth of the gospel must be defended and proclaimed. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Sep 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190908 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000007D imblog

Galatians 2:1-5

We are going to look more at the history and the background. Let me start with the first five verses, “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. 2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.”

“3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was forced to be circumcised. 4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), 5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”

That final statement is the reason that Paul wrote this book: “So that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.” He was in a battle against those preaching a false gospel. They were called Judaizers. They were Jews from Jerusalem who had come into Galatia with the purpose of following Paul into the churches that he had established in the region of Galatia.

There were a number of cities there where he had planted churches. The Judaizers followed him, and they came into those churches preaching a different gospel, a false gospel. Paul was shocked that the believers in Galatia even listened to them. Galatians 1: 8, “But if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”

This continued to happen throughout Paul’s entire ministry. He would preach the true gospel of grace and faith, and along would come the Judaizers and say, “Gentiles cannot be saved unless they come through circumcision, the Law of Moses, the ceremonies, ancestral traditions.” They made those a necessary pre-salvation work, and they wanted to impose those on Gentiles.

So Paul had to defend the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone, and that’s why he wrote the book of Galatians. He sets the record straight about the gospel. And the purpose of the book is summed up in verse 5, “so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you”, so you would not lean toward a different gospel, a false gospel which is merely a message that brings about damnation.

There are, on the surface of life in this world, constant wars. We’re more aware of them today than any civilization has ever been because of media. The world is in an endless conflict. It is in human relationships. It is in the family and among family members. It is in communities, in cities, in states, in nations and between nations. It is a difficult world to live in; the curse is apparent to everyone.

But there is a far greater spiritual war going on that rages at more extensive and consequential levels than anything you can see; and that is the war between God and Satan, between God’s truth and Satan’s lies. That goes on all the time. It is an endless battle. And anyone who comes into the Kingdom is defined by God as a soldier who has to defend the gospel and to defend the truth.

Our Lord warned His disciples in Matthew 13, in which He describes life in the kingdom: how it’s going to be, what it’s going to be like to evangelize the gospel in the kingdom. Satan is not just devising religions that are alternatives to Christianity, which are anti-Christianity. But that Satan would spend a great amount of his time and energy in false forms of Christianity.

Our Lord says, “There are going to be tares sown by Satan inside the kingdom, and you won’t be able to tell them apart. So you can’t go accusing people, because you do not know the true believer’s heart. Leave that to Me at the end of the age.” That is our Lord saying that the church is going to be populated by true believers and false believers. We all know this; and we all must contend with this.

Everywhere there will be false teachers; for every preacher in every era, in every place in the world. Because Satan is always at it, not only in religions outside Christianity, but also in forms of Christianity; and that is where he does his greatest damage. So Paul says to the Galatian churches, “Stop believing those false teachers. Come back to the true gospel which I preached to you.”

The point is, if you are confused about the gospel, even though you are a believer, you can’t preach the true gospel. We must first understand the true gospel. This has been Paul’s main burden, that there is ignorance about the true gospel. Consequently, they can’t proclaim that true gospel; and the church then is unable to tell the world its purpose of proclaiming the good news.

The Judaizers were saying, “Paul does not give you the truth. Paul is not an apostle. Paul does not speak for Christ. We are the representatives from the church in Jerusalem. We come from Jerusalem,” they said. “We are your Jewish brothers. We understand the true gospel. We represent the truth, Paul does not.” By doing this they tried to become the satanic sowers of tares in the churches in Galatia.

When Paul writes to Timothy, he warns him about false teachers as a young pastor. When he writes to Titus, he warns him about false teachers. All pastors and all leaders are to be able to refute false doctrine; that is a qualification. They not only are to be able to do it, but they are to do it. Satan and his emissaries are disguised as angels of light, but they are from hell. They are the angels of darkness.

Paul has to defend not only the gospel, but first his own apostleship. He begins by saying, “I did not receive my apostleship from men, nor through the agency of man.” Down in verse 12, speaking of the gospel, he says, “I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it. I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. I received the gospel the same way the original twelve apostles did, from the lips of Jesus.

After his conversion he went into Nabataean Arabia for three years. Paul was given his three years to learn directly from Christ. “I received my message not from men, not even from the apostles, not from the leaders of the Jerusalem church, not from Christians in Damascus where I was brought low when Christ called me; I received it from heaven. This is a gospel that came to me first-person from the Lord.”

But the Judaizers say, “Well, you received your gospel three years out in the wilderness. Maybe that is what you think the Lord gave you. But it doesn’t agree with the Jerusalem leaders. We know that they were afraid of you because you had terrorized the church. Finally Barnabas was willing to take you, and introduce you to the apostles. And they accepted you, and they loved you.

We actually shipped you out so you didn’t get hurt. You went back where you’d come from, the area of Tarsus where you were raised. So maybe because you have not had enough exposure to the apostles, you’ve come up with a gospel of anarchy. You have developed your own sectarian gospel, and it’s different than Peter’s, James and John, the three leading apostles.

Paul answers it in Galatians 2:1, “Then after fourteen years I went again up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.” What did you go back for this time? I went back to have the apostles hear my gospel, hear the accounts of my gospel, and tell me whether this was, in fact, the true gospel. I had learned that gospel for three years in Nabataean Arabia where I was being tutored by Jesus.

I preached for fourteen years in Syria and Cilicia, and I saw that gospel work for seventeen years. I was with the apostles fifteen days, and then on one other occasion I was with them for a very brief time. Apart from that, I was alone with the Lord in my ministry for seventeen years. But I came to Jerusalem after three years in Arabia and fourteen years of ministry and brought Barnabas, my companion.

Paul founded the churches in Syria and Cilicia. He worked with Barnabas. A church was started in Antioch in Syria. It was about the time of the death of Herod Agrippa 44 AD or so that he accompanied Barnabas on that relief mission to Jerusalem. Acts 11 and 12 tells us about it. They brought relief to the famine-struck believers there and in Judea. He then went right back to Antioch.

After that Paul went on his first missionary journey. Coming back from that first missionary journey, he remained in Antioch, and finally makes this trip to Jerusalem fourteen years after that with only that one brief delivery of some goods to help the saints there. It’s the trip recorded in Acts 15. Meanwhile some Judaizers came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren this false gospel.

Paul and Barnabas opposed them vehemently. Then it was determined that Paul and Barnabas should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church, and reported all that God had done with them. But some of the Pharisees said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”

Notice what it says in verse 2, “It was because of a revelation that I went up.” Paul is still getting direct revelation from God. He got direct revelation on the road to Damascus. He got direct revelation in the house of Ananias. He received direct revelation three years in Arabia. He has been getting direct revelation from the Lord for the fourteen years of his ministry. And that’s the reason he goes up to Jerusalem.

That’s very important to state, because Paul is not questioning his gospel, he is being sent there by God. This revelation may have come to Paul first. It may have come to the church leaders with Paul collectively. But they all agree that he needs to go to Jerusalem. This is how the early church and the apostles functioned, with direct revelation. Verse 2: “I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles.”

Verse 2 continues, “but also privately to those who were of reputation.” That would be to the apostles named in verse 9: James, Peter and John. The Judaizers, though they believed in Christ, held on to their Judaism, and therefore held on to their spiritual pride, and they even looked down at the apostles. Verse 2 continued, “Lest by any means I might run, or had run in vain.” That’s genuine honesty.

Paul wanted their affirmation. He said, “I’ve never doubted the truth that the Lord gave me. I heard it from His lips. I’ve never doubted its power. I’ve watched it for seventeen years. I’ve seen it in my own life. How else can you explain me?” I know the truth of it, but I want apostolic affirmation. And the confirmation came quickly. It came almost instantaneously.

Verse 3, “Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.” That’s the answer. Let’s not talk about theoretical things, let’s talk about practicality. He brings Titus, a Gentile, a living illustration. Paul calls him “my true child in a common faith.” Titus, a believer transformed, possessor of the Holy Spirit, companion of Paul and Barnabas.

Here is a living, redeemed, Spirit-indwelt Gentile who has not been circumcised, and who has not been made to conform to ancestral traditions or Mosaic ceremonies. What would the apostles do with him? Because whatever they would do with him would be their response to the issue. But, “Though he was a Greek, he was not compelled to be circumcised while at Jerusalem in the presence of the apostles.”

The Judaizers were looking for a corroboration of their view and they failed to get it. If the Jewish apostles in Jerusalem didn’t require this Gentile to be circumcised, then how could the Judaizers require it all over the Gentile world? But wasn’t Timothy circumcised after his conversion?” Yes in Acts 16. But Timothy’s mother was Jewish. And Timothy needed to enter into the synagogue Paul would go.

It added nothing to his life spiritually, it added nothing to his life in a saving sense. It was simply a way to give him access to the Jews along with Paul. But Titus is a Gentile. From the beginning the apostles James, Peter and John agreed with the position of Paul and Barnabas. No circumcision is not necessary for salvation, no ritual, no external ceremony. I might add no baptism, no sacrament.

Acts 15:6-8, “Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit to enable them to speak different languages.”

Barnabas and Paul related the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. The Council at Jerusalem said, “No circumcision is required. There is no work, or ceremony or tradition necessary for salvation. The Gentile is saved exactly like the Jew through faith apart from works.” They formulated a letter that said, “Be careful not to purposely offend the Jews, but preach the gospel of faith alone.”

The Judaizers had voiced their opinions, and they had been denounced by the apostles. Verse 4 says, “This was because of the false brethren secretly brought in,” (by Satan) “They came to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.” The Christian is free in Christ; free from any external ceremonies and rituals. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Aug 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190825 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000007C imblog

Galatians 1:16-24

Paul had planted many churches in the region of Galatia. He went there on all three of his missionary journeys. He had seen many people come to faith in Christ, and he had also seen false teachers coming in behind him after he left and trying to disrupt the church and establish themselves as the true teachers so they could propagate a false gospel. There is the truth and there is falsehood that tries to deny the truth.

It has always been a battle, because Satan continues to wage war against God. And Satan is the author of lies and deceit, and he infiltrates the church to this very day to confuse and lead people astray. He operates primarily in the realm of false religions, and false forms of Christianity. Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the one who leads the kingdom of darkness; and he has been successful.

Satan always wants to do is confuse people about the way of salvation which will lead them to hell. It’s always Satan’s attempt to twist the gospel, sometimes overtly and sometimes very subtly. The Lord inspired Paul to write this letter and this letter is the word of God. Paul writes it using his vocabulary and his own experience; but every word comes from God. And that is true of every book in the Bible.

Paul wrote to establish the gospel of grace and faith. Our Lord has taught us the gospel of grace, the gospel of love in His life in ministry. The apostles preached the gospel of grace, the gospel of love and forgiveness in the book of Acts. We follow their preaching. Then comes the apostle Paul who writes all these letters explaining the essence of this glorious gospel of grace.

So we really need to go back in our thinking to what Jesus taught: “What is the way of salvation?” Is it by grace alone through faith, or are there some necessary works? Is there some necessary moral behavior or religious behavior to qualify you to receive salvation? Or can you come as a naked sinner, having accomplished nothing that gains favor with God and still be saved in that desperate condition?”

Let us look at two passages in the gospel of Luke. The first is in Luke 15, the story of the Prodigal Son. This depicts the worst imaginable sinner who turned his back on his father and taken his inheritance and wasted it on prostitutes and wild living in a foreign country. When he has spent it all, he is also in the midst of a famine. So he is in despair, no future, and no resources left. He decides to go back to his father.

The father who represents the Lord Jesus Christ in the parable sees him from afar, runs to him, throws his arms around him, kisses him all over the head, embraces him as his son; puts a robe on him, puts a ring on him of authority; puts sandals on him worn by sons; slaves were barefoot. Here Christ has fully embraced the sinner before the sinner can do anything to make things right.

That’s the gospel of grace. A penitent sinner coming to the Father (Christ) will receive such grace. Our Lord told another story in Luke 18 about two men in the temple who were praying: one was a Pharisee, saying, “I thank You that I’m not like other men, this publican sinner over here. I tithe, I pray, I fast, I do all these righteous things.” He was celebrating how good his morality and his religiosity was before God.

The other man, the sinner who wouldn’t look up to heaven, he kept his eyes downward, and he was pounding on his chest in signs of grief, and all he could utter out of his mouth was, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Jesus said, “That man went home justified rather than the other.” Here is our Lord saying, “Salvation comes to the penitent as a gift of grace, without merit, and without works.”

Paul declares that when he says, “God is the justifier of sinners.” That’s salvation. It is a gift that is not earned, it is received. It is a gift of grace undeserved, received by a simple act of faith in which the sinner says, “I believe in Jesus; save me.” That’s the gift that God gives. Paul explained that in Romans 3 and 4. It’s by faith, not by works, over and over in that passage.

He sums it up in Ephesians 2:8–9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works. It is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” It’s an undeserved gift of God. It’s a gift of grace. As we read in Romans 3, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are hopeless in devising our own salvation; all we have to do is to receive it by believing in His Son.

Now that was a dramatic change from what Jews believed in the time of our Lord and the time of Paul. What the Jews believed and still believe was that God is gracious, and God will forgive; but you must contribute. There are some works that you must do. They said, “You need to be circumcised, you need to adhere to the Mosaic traditions, and if you qualify, God will take you the rest of the way.”

And, that is what every religion in the world teaches in one way or another, and that’s what every false form of Christianity teaches as well. In Paul’s day the Jews hated Christianity. They hated the idea that a Jew crucified by the Romans was designated as their Messiah; one who not only didn’t conquer Rome and their enemies, but was killed by the Romans.

They hated Christianity not only because Christ was their Messiah, but they hated Christianity because it stripped them of all their self-righteous effort and works, which they had accumulated, and by which they had adorned themselves with a kind of spiritual pride. When Jesus preached the gospel of grace through faith, He stripped them of all their self-righteousness. And they hated Him for that.

Legalistic Judaism fought against the gospel. In an amazing way, Satan began to pull into the church Jewish “converts” who believed that Jesus was the Messiah, who believed that He died and rose again, who believed that He was the Savior. But they also declared that that is not enough for salvation. You must adhere to the Old Testament covenantal Mosaic and traditional law to be saved.

Everywhere Paul went they followed his steps, and they came into these congregations declaring themselves to be believers in Jesus Christ who were there to say, “Paul has invented this message; this is not the true gospel. And you must know that you can’t be saved unless you’re circumcised and follow old covenant ancestral tradition.” They went everywhere saying this.

So they came up with a false gospel that affirmed grace and faith, but then added works. Is that really harmful? Paul answers that in the very beginning of Galatia 1:9. He says, “If we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” That’s anathema. He is to be damned, devoted to divine destruction.

Galatians 4:9, “Now that you have come to know God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.” “It was for freedom from those old rituals that Christ set us free. I, testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he’s under obligation to keep the whole Law.

Galatians 5:4 says, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” This is a very serious issue. You can talk about grace, you can talk about faith; but if you add law to the gospel of salvation, you have nullified the gospel. You have severed yourself from Christ, and you have come under a divine curse.

Why is legalism so unacceptable to God? First of all because God is perfectly holy, and therefore what He requires is perfect righteousness. And you can’t do it; and anything less than that is to fall short of His glory. So, the law is not a means of salvation, because no one can keep it. The law is not given to save us, it’s given to condemn us so we can run to God to be saved by grace through faith.

The worst aspect of legalism is that it is foremost a lie about God. It is blasphemy of God. It is slander and a wrong view of God. The reality of legalism is that it takes away and reduces God’s glory. It is an assault on God, and that is the worst possible thing that any sinner could ever do. Legalism fails to acknowledge that God is perfectly loving and perfectly gracious.

That is the essence of Roman Catholicism. That’s the Catholic definition of God. So you better do some works. And don’t go directly God, He’s hard. Jesus is tough as well, so go to Mary, His mother. That is slander against His nature as all-loving, all-gracious and all-merciful God. That is why God hates legalism, because it fails to acknowledge the greatness of His grace.

So Paul, in Galatians, is defending the gospel. And he has to also defend himself, because there is no New Testament yet, and he’s the one preaching the true gospel. And the false teachers are coming with the false gospel. Paul has to defend the gospel, which he does in chapters 3 and 4; but to do that, he has to defend his apostleship. They have to believe him. So that’s what he does in Galatians 1 and 2.

Galatians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead.” An apostle was a man who had been ordained by God, called personally by Christ, and who has seen the risen Christ. All twelve of the apostles could say that. Judas is disqualified, in Acts 1; and Matthias takes his place.

The early church knew the apostles who had been with Christ for three years. They had received divine revelation from His lips. None of them came out of the rabbinical training system in Israel. None of them were Pharisees or Sadducees, none of them were teachers. They were all working men, so what they knew didn’t come from a Judaistic source. What they knew came directly from Jesus in the three years of ministry to them.

The Judaizers accused Paul as follows, “Well, you’ve decided to be a man-pleaser. You’re floating around the Gentile world and you’re preaching an inadequate gospel that doesn’t include circumcision and the Mosaic Law. You are preaching a distorted gospel, and you have invented it on your own,” So the people in the churches are saying, “Can we believe Paul?”

He says, “Look, go back to my pre-conversion days. Go back and realize two things: I was a legalist. I was steeped in legalism as deeply as someone could possibly go. I was more zealous than everybody else around me. I was so steeped that no men could change what I believed. I was so zealous for it, that I even sought to murder the people who gave me an alternative message.”

Here’s the only explanation, verse 15-16, “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb – when God was pleased and called me through His grace.” That’s when the change came. It wasn’t men, only God could revolutionize me that way. “He called me through His grace, and was pleased to reveal His Son to me so that I might preach Him among the nations.”

What happened after his conversion? So he says in verse 16, “I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.” I didn’t enter into any conversations with people in Damascus. Verse 17, “nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.” The gospel of grace without circumcision and without law, came directly to me from God. Therefore it is the true message.

Where did you go? Verse 17, “I went away to Arabia.” Nabataean Arabia it was called. If you go north from Israel into the area around Lebanon and go east, you come to Damascus. And if you go from Damascus east and south to the bottom of the Sinai Peninsula, that’s Nabataean Arabia. Paul went into that wilderness somewhere probably near Damascus. He went there alone.

What did he do in Arabia? He sat at the feet of Jesus. He was learning. Verse 18 says, “Then three years later I went to Jerusalem. Why three years? How many years had the twelve been with Jesus? Three years. This is his private, personal tutorial with Jesus for his own three years. And you wonder why his theology takes thirteen books in the New Testament to write.

And I went there to become acquainted with Peter. He was the great preacher in the early church. Now back to Galatians 1:18, “I went to Jerusalem to see Peter for fifteen days.” And then in verse 19, “I didn’t see any other of the apostles, except James, the Lord’s brother.” Why? Most likely they were scattered preaching. But he did see James, the leader of the Jerusalem church.

Paul had a brief two-week time with Peter. But the other disciples wouldn’t even accept me at first. I did spend my time preaching, and I was preaching so much and with such effect, that they ran me out of town (Acts 9:23-25). And he gives a common Jewish vow in verse 20, “Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.”

Verse 21, “Afterwards I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.” And in verse 22 he says, “I was still unknown to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.” Outside of Jerusalem, no one even knew me. Verse 23, “they kept hearing, ‘He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” In verse 24, “And they were glorifying God because of me.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Aug 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190818 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000007B imblog

Galatians 1:10-15

Now we live in a day when culture does not tolerate absolute truth. They deny it at all levels, and they deny it even at the level that renders it insanity. The typical evidence of the insanity of our culture is to say that gender is fluid from day to day. That is the definition of insanity. And not only does our culture despise absolute truth, but it consequently rejects absolute authority.

And here we are as the church of Jesus Christ proclaiming absolute truth with absolute authority in the world around us. Never has the confrontation been more violent, never has the gospel been more readily rejected. The generation that’s developing in our culture wants nothing to do with fixed, absolute reality. And yet that is precisely what is stated in Christianity by God in the bible.

Let me give you a statement that is the most offensive claim in the realm of religion. There is only one God, one Savior, one true religion, one Holy Bible, one gospel and only one way of salvation. All other religious claims are lies, deceptions, and doctrines of Satan and demons that lead people to eternal hell, along with all the immoral, irreligious, atheistic and naturalistic unbelievers.

That is the exclusive truth of Christianity. Even within the church, any deviation from the true gospel of grace is a lie to be cursed. We understand why the world rejects this. It is, however, a sad day when people inside the evangelical church, begin to reject this truth. The Eastern Orthodox Church says, “We do not believe that man is justified through faith alone, but through faith and works of love.”

The sister church in the West is the Roman Catholic Church which has the exact same doctrine, and there are 1.3 billion people in the Catholic Church worldwide. That is false belief system within true Christianity. That is false Christianity teaching a false gospel. It is not to be joined, it is to be cursed. And the most important reality in the world is that the true gospel is the only way of salvation.

We are not surprised that the true gospel is being attacked. No sooner were the apostles preaching the true gospel than it was assaulted from inside the church. It was under attack by people who believed Jesus was the Messiah, believed in His death and resurrection and called themselves Christians, but added works to salvation. They followed the apostle Paul and added works to the gospel that he preached.

Paul taught the gospel of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. What they were adding was the works of Judaism. They were saying that a person could not be saved unless that person was circumcised and adhered to the Mosaic traditions. It happened so fast that Paul wrote Galatians, the first of his thirteen letters chronologically. And in this letter, he attacks those who tamper with the gospel.

This was the invasion of the Judaizers, the professing Christian Jews who had come from Jerusalem, but who believed that the Law of Moses had to be adhered to in order to receive salvation. They followed Paul into Galatia, and they began to bring in a satanic and false gospel. They now claimed to be true Christian believers and accused Paul as the false teacher.

So they had not just attacked the gospel, they also undermined the one who was preaching it. The people in Galatia believed Paul to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. These false teachers knew that if the people continued to believe that he was a true apostle, they would hold onto his message. So it was important to denounce not only the message he preached, but also the authority that he claimed.

They said that Paul came into the Gentile world to please men. He wanted to be popular and be accepted. So he stripped the gospel of the works that are necessary so as not to make it difficult for the Gentiles. He should, according to them, have demanded that the Gentiles be circumcised and adhere to the Mosaic traditions. But he stripped that to make the gospel easy for the Gentiles.

The truth is just the opposite, the Judaizers were the people-pleasers. They had added circumcision and the Mosaic tradition so as not to be persecuted by the Jews. That’s what Paul says in Galatians 6: 12. But they were accusing Paul of that. In Galatians 3 and 4, he defends his gospel; but in Galatians 1 and 2, he defends his apostleship. His apostolic credentials are essential to his authority.

This is the argument they used to discredit Paul. We all know who the twelve apostles were, and we all know that the Judas was a defector and a betrayer, and committed suicide and then went to his own place. And we also know that in Acts 1, it is recorded that Matthias was chosen by God to take his place. We know who the twelve are and only they are the true apostles.

But this man, this Saul who’s now called Paul, when the other apostles were clearly identified, and when the church was born and when they were preaching the gospel everywhere, this man Saul was a nonbeliever. He was a zealous Pharisee; and he was a persecutor of Christ and Christians. So how can he possibly claim to be an apostle when we know who the twelve apostles are?

So starting in Galatians 1:10, and all the way through Galatians 2, Paul presents one of the most remarkable, powerful portions of New Testament Scripture in defense of his authority. And since he wrote this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it is critical for us to understand that he speaks and writes under the authority of God and that we can trust him.

Galatians 1:10-16, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 11 But I make known to you, brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

“13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.”

“16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.” This is the defense of his apostolic authority so that his message is to be believed because he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. These Judiazers wondered where he got this message. Does he really have the right to speak for God; or did he make it up? He has to defend himself, it’s critical.

The apostles were the chosen people who received the truth of God. Now we have the apostles’ doctrine written down, but before that time it was all declared orally. The Holy Spirit then inspired the apostles and their associates to write down the truth of God in the New Testament books. But on the Day of Pentecost there were no books, and they were studying the apostles’ doctrine.

Verse 10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men?” The answer is in verses 8-9, “If we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if anyone, any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

Having just pronounced a double curse, he says, “There, am I now seeking the favor of men? Does that sound like I am a man-pleaser? Do men-pleasers go around pronouncing damnation on people? He says, “If I didn’t do that, if I were still trying to please men, I would not be a slave of Christ. To be a faithful slave of Christ requires that you pronounce curses on false gospels.”

He does not seek the honor of men, and he has the bruises to prove it. In Galatians 6:17, he says, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Those scars I received when I was in Galatia in the city of Lystra where I was stoned and left for dead. He is talking again about his authority. So Paul answers his slanderers. “I don’t act like a people-pleaser, I am Christ’s slave.”

In 2 Corinthians 5:9 Paul says, “My ambition is to be pleasing to Christ, not to men.” Verses 11-12, “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul says, “I am a true apostle, based on the fact that I received the truth of the gospel from Jesus Christ.”

The twelve apostles receive the gospel over a period of three years from the lips of Jesus. That was unique to the apostles. In fact, Jesus said they affirmed His messiahship in Matthew 16:17, “Flesh and blood didn’t reveal that to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” You didn’t learn this from the people around you. This came directly from the Father through Me to you.”

Why should we believe that Paul is an apostle? Because he received the gospel the exact same way that the twelve apostles received it from the mouth of Jesus Himself. He didn’t get it in Jerusalem. This came to him from Jesus Christ Himself. Verse 12: “Neither did I receive it from men.” What a claim: a supernatural revelation exactly as the other apostles had received the gospel.

Sure, he knew the facts of Jesus’ life. He knew the claims of Jesus. But that was just basic knowledge in the midst of ignorance. He had no supernatural understanding of the gospel. But on the Damascus road, when a light from heaven suddenly descended, slammed him to the ground, and blinded him, he heard, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,” everything changed. He saw the risen Christ.

And he saw Him five more times in his life. He saw the risen Christ and he knew that He was full of mercy and full of grace. And the veil over his eyes was gone, and he discarded all of his traditional religion. And he says to the Philippians, “It is excrement.” He received the gospel by direct revelation from Jesus Himself. Three days of blindness and Jesus is tutoring him by the Holy Spirit.

Now this is an open rebuke of the Judaizers, because all their message came from men. Judaism, at the time of Paul and the New Testament and as followed today, gives very little attention to the Scripture. The Scripture is a relic like it is in Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. To Judaism, the Old Testament was a relic that the rabbis had twisted and perverted with their massive added traditions.

It was all developed by men. As in the Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, men in religious garb sit in judgment on the Scripture. And so it was in Judaism. In Matthew 15:6 Jesus says, “Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.” Now Paul is going to support his apostleship. Starting in verse 13, he is going to support it three ways: pre-conversion, conversion and post-conversion.

First, Paul’s pre-conversion. Notice verse 13-14, “For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.” Paul describes his state in Judaism. He is a fanatic.

Yes, he heard the gospel from the lips of those he imprisoned and led to death. The reason he was a persecutor was because he heard the gospel, but heard it as blasphemy. He was so extreme in traditional Judaism that he went beyond his contemporaries. In Acts 22:4 he said, “I persecuted the Way,” – Christ being the Way, the Truth, and the Life; Christianity became known as the Way.

If I was more zealous than anyone else, how then in a short moment did I change and become a preacher of Jesus Christ and the gospel? I was a fanatic hater of Jesus and the gospel. How could I ever have changed so that in three days, I was preaching Jesus? Verse 15, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.” God had predetermined the salvation of this man.

Yes, God predetermines the salvation of every person. God transformed his life. This is the miracle of his conversion, initiated by God because he was chosen by God. God regenerates him through the effectual call by grace. And then he becomes a preacher of the people he once persecuted. God does do that to us internally. He stops us dead in our sinful tracks and reverses us, right? That’s what salvation is.

Acts 9:4-5, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord? Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” And I’m now calling you to preach My name to the Gentiles. So he says in 1 Corinthians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” God at His own time calls His elect to Himself with an effectual call and it’s through grace.

During the three days of blindness he was receiving revelation concerning Christ from Jesus Christ. For three days Jesus mentored him; and then he came out and preached that Jesus is the Son of God, and proved it. How could he have proved it so fast? Because he was a very knowledgeable person about the Old Testament, and all the proof was there. Paul’s conversion was a dramatic miracle of God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Aug 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190811 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000007A imblog

Unless we learn what it means to repent we will not see a mighty move of God in the church. Personally we should learn to practice confession that ultimately brings us to repentance. So let us today focus on that repentance. John the Baptist message focused on repentance. All he preached was repent, repent and repent! And through that season he also baptized Jesus. Remember Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days.

God begins to show us how Jesus dealt with temptations. God shows us where authority is and where our power comes from. And Jesus came out of that and preached His first public sermon in Mark 1:15, “Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

The word ‘repent’ was a word that was used that day although it was a military term. That word means a complete change of life or fault. And unless there is repentance a person cannot believe in the Gospel. It is a step of faith. It does not mean you get it all right, it does not mean that you are a perfect believer. In fact that never happens. But that means there is a step towards Christ that includes repentance.

Jesus said this Himself, and if you do not trust the Christ from the bible you cannot trust in the gospel. Repentance in the military means to make an about face. Imagine a military man or woman marching in one direction and turning around and going back in the opposite direction. That is what that word repent is all about. Repentance is the first step towards the gospel, but it is much more than that.

Repentance is designed to be a natural part of a believer’s life. It is that relationship with God where when we recognize sin in our life we turn and we move in a different direction. That is repentance and that shows that we have a healthy relationship with God. So many people have had religious experiences that have made us bitter. So we want nothing to do with God because we have never genuinely repented.

The nation Israel had decided that God's will for them was a self-generated righteousness. All God wants is a legalistic thing, where you are showing this outward attitude of love, but not what is in your heart. And that way you were generating your own kind of self-righteousness. And that whole system of legalism was maintained by men known as the Pharisees. But God requires inward repentance.

Jesus said, do you think you are going to please God by keeping all these rules? If you have even thought of these things in your heart you have already committed them and sinned. You can't keep God's laws. Romans 3:20 says, "By the deeds of the flesh or by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." You can't be justified by works. Ephesians 2 says, "Not by works lest any man should boast.”

Because after you repent, your heart is changed, your mind changes, and your life changes. And we begin to see the things of God in an entirely different light. Has there been a time in your life where you repented? You turned away from the church but now after repentance everything changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; all things have become new.”

That is authentic salvation! Anything less that that just leaves you empty and unfulfilled. It leaves you hating the things of God, it leaves you hating the church and hating the pastor. Listen to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “The lack of repentance is the root cause of having no power in the church in this materialistic and self-indulgent age. There can be no spiritual power in a non-repentant church.”

This is so relevant, because repentance never gets old. Repentance never becomes useless, because repentance is never something that we can push aside. It will always be one of the deepest needs of each person and of the church and our world. And as long as we live we need to continue to repent because we continually sin. So the foundational key for truly embracing the gospel is repentance!

If that is in the first sermon of Jesus Christ, that is really important for the church, right? So let us make something clear. To understand better what repentance really is, let us study what repentance is not. To acknowledge a few things that you have done wrong during your lifetime and confess that to a priest is not repentance. So let us look at a few examples. Repentance is not remorse.

Satan has deceived most churches by letting them think that if there is remorse over what they have done in their lives that that is repentance and they are good to go in their relationship with God. That is absolutely false. Remorse is saying I am sorry for the consequences of my actions, but I am not sorry about the sin itself. That is the sorrow that the world knows, that produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)

That kind of sense of remorse only brings death to us, death to our soul, and death to our spirit but God wants you to have life. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” God wants you to have passion in your life. God wants you to be on fire for the things of God. God wants you to love the things that He loves.

God wants you to walk with Him with incredible joy, peace and satisfaction. Not because you are going to do what you want to do, but because you know that you have been in the presence of God. Look at the prodigal son, he was sorry, but if he had not left the pigs enclosure nothing would have happened. If there would not have been a change in his life, he would have stayed with the pigs with his remorse.

He had to get out of the pigpen and go home to the father. Remorse is not enough to become repentance. Remorse is a focus on yourself, but repentance is a focus on God. With repentance we recognize the holiness of God. We recognize how worldly we are and we see ourselves in light of this beautiful and awesome God which drives us to a holy and biblical repentance.

Repentance is not regret. I think most of us have some regret in our lives. We know there are things that we should have done better. As a parent I know there are things that I wished I would have handled better. But repentance is not regret. It is not I wish I could have lived my life over, or I wish I had not done that. Listen, what is done is done and we can’t take it back.

Judas had regrets, but he had no repentance. In fact the bible says that Judas hung himself, but was that repentance? I do not think so. Some people are debating whether or not Judas repented or not. But here is person who showed in his life’s end that he had only regrets. And without true repentance there is no place in heaven for him. And with true repentance there always will be forgiveness from God.

Repentance is not reform. Reform says I am going to live better. I am going to live right. I am going to correct some things in my life. I will change things that I am going to do. Do you know what that is? That is a works approach to salvation. That is saying that I am going to improve my life, I will try to do some things that will please God by my own strength in my own way.

If you just could reform your life, why have the cross? Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Why did Jesus Christ have to be beaten beyond recognition and suffer and be mocked by the world on that cross until He died? Why did He have to be buried in that grave and then God had to resurrect Him in 3 days if you just could reform yourself? What does it mean to have a right relationship with God?

Repentance is not religion. The world is full of religion. There are people all over the world today that are gathering to be religious. And they are practicing religion which may include remorse, regret and reform. If the practice of religion would save us, why was the cross necessary for salvation? Why did Jesus have to go through so much suffering? Buildings all over are filled with people with empty hearts.

It is more important that these people be filled with something than being empty. All religion does is drive you deeper into a hole. On the other hand, a relationship with Jesus Christ will set your soul on fire. It will bring joy to your life, passion and purpose to your life. And you do not have to follow the cultural trends next week. If you fix your eyes on Jesus you will know that He is your only hope.

Look at Psalm 51:1-12, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,”

“and done this evil in Your sight, that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

“8 Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.”

God has been changing me and as I’m growing older I realize that my confessions of sin are lacking. I cannot generalize it, I have to be more specific about my sins. Often we treat repentance as if we just need to admit that we have failed to alleviate our guilt. But if we look closely at Psalm 51, what does the bible say repentance is? Repentance is a turning away from sin and a turning toward God.

Now open up your hearts, is that your experience when you are thinking about repentance? Are you turning from your sin and turning to God? Do you know that repentance cultivates a deep joy? Why? Because the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. God does not allow me to wallow too long in sin. He deals with me on a regular basis. Because when I open up the bible every morning, God begins to speak to me.

And that often brings me to a need for repentance. So how do we grow in that joy? How do we get that pattern of repentance? Number one: own your sin. Here begins the cycle of repentance. In the first three verses of Psalm 51, David owns his sin. David admits that this is his fault, his doing, his words and when that does not agree with Word of God, he is wrong. I wish that the modern church could embrace that.

It does not matter what passion I have, if it does not agree with God’s Word, I am wrong. Transgression means intentional rebellion against God. We all know what sin is but we mostly chose not to admit that, don’t we? The bible says in 1 John 1:8, that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. What kind of a person are you? Are you truthful or do you lie a lot?

David uses the word iniquity which is a distortion of what it should be. He is saying that this was his sin of choice. People like to distort the truth, they say they did not plan on doing it. But people tend to change things a little bit so they don’t look so bad. And then there is that word sin which means missing the mark that God set. The example is neglecting to do what God has commanded us to do.

What is the mark? It is God’s plan, it is God’s design. It is not our design, it is God’s. We cannot minimize or excuse our actions, David owned it. So what are we to do? We must recognize that our sanctification process is ongoing and we need to repent. Number two: confess your sin. Remember 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We need a healthy regular routine of confession of sin. You do not have to come to church and sit behind some screen and confess your sin to some priest. The Bible says that there is one mediator between God and men and that it is Jesus Christ. And if you have a relationship with the man Christ Jesus, all you have to do is to open your heart and talk to Him.

Jesus is always ready to listen. He already knows exactly what your problem is. Don’t feel ashamed, He watched you do whatever sin you want to confess. In fact, when He was hanging on the cross with those nails driven into His body, He was watching you do it. And He loved you anyway. He loved you not because you look great on social media, where you created a cool worldly image of yourself.

Jesus knows it all. And despite that He still loves you. And you don’t have to wait in line to do a confession. At the very moment the Holy Spirit deals with your heart, the very moment that you realize that you have sinned, just tell Jesus everything. Repentance is always difficult and the difficulty grows greater with delay. Do you know why some of you rarely repent?

Because you have a warehouse full of unconfessed sin that you have never dealt with. And you think if you get started it is going to be a very long day. If you start, watch God take that load of your shoulders, watch Him lighten your burden, and watch God unite your heart with His heart. Number three, trust His grace. Do not fear. We can rest in His grace. Grace is one of the most beautiful words in any language.

Psalm 51 begins with David appealing to God for forgiveness based on what he knows of God’s character. That He is merciful, and full of lovingkindness. When we come before God full of repentance we do so because of His covenant with us through Christ. God does not change, He saved you and He will forgive you. Number four: reject the temptation to justify or rationalize.

I am responsible to you but I am not responsible for you. There will come a day where I will stand before the Lord and give an account for everything I did or did not say to the church as your pastor. And that is what drives me to genuine biblical repentance again and again. I want to stay as close to the glory of God as I possibly can. Because all sin is ultimately against God.

Number five: Allow God to wreck you, then restore you. This is where people struggle the most. Most people try to avoid at all cost from being wrecked in any way. Self-preservation seems to be the god of choice in this modern world. But is that biblical? David said in verse 8, “Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.” Notice what David said, the bones which You have broken.

David understood that God loved him enough to crush him. And it was in that crushing that David looked up and cried out to God. If you all your life just build your kingdom and protect yourself where you are comfortable and happy and not let anything destroy that, you will never experience the joy and the gladness of God’s love. Listen, when God confronts us with our sins it is always painful.

It is painful to acknowledge that we are broken, but that is what repentance is. You cannot fix it. But repentance ultimately will benefit you more than you will ever think. David writes in verse 7, cleanse with hyssop and I shall be clean, whiter than snow. He knows that blood alone could make him clean. What he doesn’t know is how this exactly is being done. But we do, right? We have the full revelation of Jesus, it is called the bible.

Hebrews 9:26 says, “This Jesus who once at the end of the ages, has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Listen, Jesus will heal you and Jesus will restore you. If sin is not bitter, Christ will not be sweet. Maybe your struggle is that you do not see sin as bitter. To become God’s church we all need to repent all the time, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Aug 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190804 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000079 imblog

Galatians 1:6-9

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 If anyone preaches any other gospel to you, let him be accursed.”

The gospel is the good news about salvation. Anyone who distorts the good news about salvation is cursed. It is as harsh as the Word of God ever gets, pronouncing a damning double curse on anyone who alters the gospel. The gospel is the good news of salvation in Christ, by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And that is the only way that sinners can escape hell and enter heaven.

Obviously Satan wants to confuse and deceive and distort the gospel. This then becomes a major enterprise of Satan, the distortion of the gospel, so that people are believing something that is not true, does not save and thus end up in hell. They say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we do this, and didn’t we do that?” only to hear, “Depart from Me, I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness! (Matthew 7:22-23)

The apostle Paul here does not hesitate in proclaiming this fierce declaration of divine punishment. This is so confrontational, that this kind of forceful pronunciation of damnation is just not what you would hear preachers preach today. This is a day of tolerance. Liberals say, this is the day that you can believe anything, there’s no absolute truth: Nobody should condemn anybody for anything.

This passage is extremely disturbing to the tolerant world in which we live. But it is absolutely necessary, because salvation is at stake, and it only happens through belief in the true gospel. Now in the Old Testament you will find that God was pronouncing curses on people who turned against Him. It is the same in the New Testament, Jesus in Mark 11 cursed the fig tree; and when the disciples come back the next day it is dead.

This is a symbol of the divine curse on the nation Israel for its rejection of God and the Messiah. Jesus attacked the Jewish religious system at the beginning of His ministry when He assaulted the temple, at the end of His ministry when He did it again. The curse that comes out of the mouth of Jesus is directly from heaven. There is a severe and everlasting curse from God when God is not followed.

What about today? Is God still cursing, pronouncing judgments? Is God still declaring destruction and devastation on people today? The answer is in 1 Corinthians 16:22, “If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed,” same word, anathema. Damnation is pronounced on anyone who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever your religion, if you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ you are cursed.

What does it mean to be cursed? In Romans 9:3, Paul says, “I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren.” He desires for the Jews to come to Christ, and He is so passionate about it that he says, “I could almost wish myself were accursed,” and then he defines what it means: separated from Christ and therefore separated from the presence of God forever.

And there is more. In Matthew 25:41 it says this, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Those cursed in the Old Testament are there now. Those cursed by Jesus in Israel at the time they rejected Him are there now. Those propagating a false gospel during the apostolic era that Paul addresses here are there now in the torment of eternal fire.

And continually throughout all of human history, those who do not come in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ to love Him, acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior are cursed and are sent to eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Paul’s curse is very severe, and it applies to anyone who perverts the gospel. People who dishonored God in the Old Testament and people who reject Jesus Christ are all cursed.

Look, assaults on the gospel do not stop. The devil and his followers have always been present since the very beginning. Here we see that early in the life of the apostles. Galatians is likely the second New Testament book written. At the beginning of the ministry of the apostles, there is already widespread distortion of the gospel, propagated by Satan, his demons and his human agents.

In 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul says, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” I’m afraid what Satan did with her, he will do the same to you, and your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. The gospel is Christ – not Christ plus anything, but just Christ.

In verse 13-15 Paul says, “There are false apostles,” propagating these false christs and false gospels, “deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

2 Peter 2 warns with the strongest kind of denunciation, the false prophets already at work. Jude repeats that in his brief epistle. Paul repeatedly warns about false teachers. The Lord gives letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 that show they already accomplished destruction of false teachers. And here in Galatians Paul pronounces eternal damnation on perverters of the gospel.

Here we are talking about Judaizers. Their belief is that Jesus is the Savior, and you need to believe in Jesus, but in order to receive salvation you have to come through Judaism. You need to be circumcised physically. You need to adhere to Mosaic Sabbaths and ceremonies and laws and rituals and standards. Now these Judaizers came from James in Jerusalem as noted in Galatians 2:12.

So they are not anti-Christian, they are declaring themselves to be Christians representing the true God of the Old Testament and believing in Jesus as the Messiah. And they have come from Jerusalem the mother church, from James is the leader of that church. And they have decided that salvation cannot occur unless they adhere to the practices, rituals and ceremonies of the Old Testament Judaism.

Now Paul doesn’t see that as a minor detail. There is deadly harm, because if you add any work of any kind to the gospel, you have undone grace. Paul is not writing about a personal offense in Galatians, he is writing about the distortion of the gospel, which cuts people off from the truth, the only truth that saves. They are literally attacking God and attacking His redemptive plan.

Now this issue of adding works to the gospel had been settled. Look at Acts 15 where the leaders of the church in Jerusalem and the apostles all are together making decisions about the essence of the gospel. Verse 7, “Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.”

Verse 8-11, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

Paul says in Titus 1:10-11, “For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.” There is only one way to God, and it involves no rites, no rituals, no ceremonies, and no works of religion.

We are told what the gospel is. Paul summed it up in verse 4-5, the Lord Jesus Christ, “who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of God the Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore, Amen.” Your work is not mentioned there, because it all is the work of God, and the work of Jesus Christ, and all glory goes to God for it.

The heart of the gospel is not what you do, it is what Christ has done. God validated what He did by raising Christ from the dead and exalting Him to His right hand. Gospel is the gospel of grace; faith alone, not works. First, you see Paul’s wonder, then his wisdom, then his warning. His wonder, verse 6, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel.”

His astonishment is over the Galatians’ defection. And, nothing could be more dramatic than the absence of normal praise and love, so obvious in every one of his other epistles. Paul’s amazement over Satan disguising himself as an angel of light. He was amazed at the glory of Christ, he was amazed at the strategy of Satan, and he is amazed at the desertion of the gospel by these Galatians.

Now the Galatian’s process is not complete, but they have started to go in the wrong direction. If some of them do that, 1 John 2:18-19 says, “They went out from us, because they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us that we might know that they were never of us.” False believers would defect, because they never did belong.

But what about true believers? Look at Galatians 3:2, “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” What happens when a person is saved, when a person believes the gospel and is justified and converted? God gives that believer His Holy Spirit, right? So Paul is talking about people who have received the Holy Spirit. He is writing to believers.

Did you receive the Holy Spirit because you were circumcised? Did you receive the Holy Spirit because you went through some ritual, some ceremony, by keeping the Sabbath, followed through with some Old Testament feast?” No, you know you received Him, because your spirit witnesses with God’s Spirit that you are a child of God. So you know you received the Spirit by the hearing of faith.

In other words, “You were saved by faith, you received the Spirit by faith, and now you’re going to turn to works, as if that necessarily perfects you?” They are believers. The danger is they will give into Satan’s reinterpretation of the gospel, and consequently, they will be like Ephesians 4:14, “They will be like children tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of false doctrine.”

And that is precisely where the evangelical church is today. It isn’t that people in those churches aren’t saved, it is that they were saved by grace through faith alone. But they have been led down the path to tolerate false gospels that add words to faith, add works to faith, add baptism to faith, add certain rituals to faith, and add morality to faith to qualify for the grace of God.

Hey, can’t we all unite with the Roman Catholic Church? No, that’s a false gospel that says you can be saved by baptism as an infant, and that you can be saved by a ritual or by becoming a member of a church, or through the prayers of a priest or a saint. That’s a false gospel. Roman Catholicism today and Greek orthodoxy is like being a modern Pharisee and Judaizer of a different kind. ,

Faith is the reality of an effectual call. That is the call to salvation. That’s the call of Romans 8:30 that “Whom God predestined, He called. Whom He called, He justified. Whom He justified, He glorified.” That’s not just an open call you can take or leave. That is a saving call. 2 Thessalonians 2 says, “We are called by faith.” 2 Timothy 1:8-9, “We are called not by works.”

Secondly, Paul’s wisdom regarding the false teachers’ deception. Verse 7, “That different gospel is really not another.” The Galatians were being taught salvation by grace plus works, by faith plus works. If you add anything to it, you have distorted it. Paul says in Galatians 5:2, “if you become circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.” You have just canceled your salvation.”

Galatia 5:3, “And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.” Can you keep the whole law perfectly, because if you don’t keep the whole law perfectly, you are cursed. If you add anything, Christ becomes of no effect to you. You have taken on the responsibility for your own salvation through your own work.

Thirdly, Paul’s warning regarding God’s anger. In Verses 8-9 Paul is using a hypothetical situation to make the point. Why do people believe a false gospel? Because of the appearance of the people who propagate it. They look religious, they sound religious, and they act religious. Paul says, “Anyone who perverts the gospel is damned: anyone.” If the message deviates from the gospel of grace, then they are cursed.

So what are the lessons for us? Don’t nullify the work of Christ. Don’t make Christ’s death of no effect. Don’t think that somebody’s going to be saved by works. You put any work into the gospel of grace and you have undone it. Christ’s work was sufficient; He did it all. We cannot allow the truth to be reduced and we cannot allow it to be expanded, right? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Jul 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190728 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000078 imblog

Galatians 1:1-5

There are many who have been here a long time and we have not studied an epistle in a number of years. The book of Galatians has been called the Magna Carta of spiritual freedom. It has been called the Christian’s Declaration of Independence. It has been identified as the battle cry of the Reformation. And, of course, this is the year that we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

And, of course, the key figure in that Reformation was a man named Martin Luther, who was a Catholic monk. When he came to the study of the book of Galatians, he discovered the true gospel, the gospel of salvation by grace through faith, and he says, “The epistle to the Galatians is my epistle.” That’s a quote from Luther. It’s an incredible book, and we are going to be spending months here.

Luther’s commentary came out his teaching on Galatians, came out of his salvation experience. He was saved while he was teaching Galatians. But Luther’s commentary on Galatians became the basis and manifesto of the Protestant Reformation, and the Protestant Reformation found its message from the book of Galatians; and also from the book of Romans.

Galatians deals with the important issues: law, grace, works, the gospel, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and our Lord’s death, His resurrection, salvation, sanctification – all of these critical gospel-related realities are part of the book of Galatians. But the primary message of the book of Galatians is freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from judgment, and freedom from spiritual bondage.

It was critical in the Reformation to set people free not only of the bondage of sin, but the bondage of false religion, which had held the Western world captive for about a thousand years. There was a thousand years of darkness and spiritual bondage in which the Roman Catholic system held the church captive. And it was the Reformation and the book of Galatians that brought the freeing gospel.

Contemporary man and women in our culture pride themselves on personal freedom. Personal freedom is a big thing. In fact, we are constantly told that we don’t have a right to encroach on anyone about anything if they deny us that opportunity. They have complete freedom to control their own thoughts as to what they think, and what they might not want to hear.

Never has there been such a confused understanding of freedom. Free people think freedom comes from being free to do whatever you want to do, and to have no one impose on you anything that you don’t want. There are no absolutes in the moral world; there therefore should be no moral restraints. There is no recognition of responsibility or judgment.

But they’re not free. There is no freedom to the unregenerate soul, because that soul is bound to sin. The only freedom they have is the freedom to choose the sin that most appeals to them. There’s no freedom from sin and guilt. Therefore there’s no freedom from fear. There’s no freedom from judgment. There’s no freedom from eternal punishment. It is a lie.

The Bible says they we are slaves to sin, free to choose which sinful master they prefer, but nonetheless slaves. People are bound in the chains of transgression and iniquity, headed for a sentence from God that will assign them to eternal punishment. Jesus said in John 8: 32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” And He is talking about gospel truth, the truth of the Word of God.

The message of Galatians is the message of real freedom. Religion comes along and wants to aid man in finding some freedom from what grips him, what troubles him, what frightens him. And religion takes all forms across a wide spectrum. Some forms of religion are legalistic where you have to keep certain rules. And that’s where Martin Luther was.

That’s where monks are, and that’s what monasteries have done, and that’s what nuns have done, and many other forms of religious sacrifice, self-denial, rejection of social life, marriage, locking themselves into some prescribed form of sort of deprived living, attached to certain laws and rituals that have only to do with external behavior, because they cannot change their heart.

Every religion offers its own spin on freedom: freedom from what bothers you, freedom from what disappoints you, what causes you anxiety. And it might be the freedom offered by ritualism. If you do these rituals, they are the path to the freedom your soul desires. For some it is that rigorous asceticism and self-denial, and sometimes even inflicting pain on yourself.

For other people it’s developing a sort of self-righteous approach to life and being a good person, having a kind of morality that’s sort of generally acceptable. For some people, freedom comes in self-reliance. Freedom comes in being disconnected from anybody else’s expectations, anybody else’s inclinations or intrusion into your life. That’s more and more popular as people stay single longer.

All humanity, Scripture says, is enslaved by sin in the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan, who is the prince of the power of the air (meaning in this world) who dominates them. They are children of the devil, and there is no freedom. The freedoms they think they enjoy are only illusions on the way to eternal bondage in a hell of punishment. There is really no freedom at all.

How do you free yourself from who you are? Your problem is not outside of you, it is inside of you. It’s aided by those around you, and the culture that defines corruption and standardizes it. But you are the problem, and you will never be free until you are a changed to become a different you. And the only thing that will do that, Paul says to us in Galatians, is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Look at Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” There is the summation of the book of Galatians. Freedom comes in Christ and in no other place. There is no freedom in legalism on the one hand, in libertinism on the other hand, or anything in between. Listen: as long as you are in bondage to sin you are not free; but as soon as you are in bondage to Christ, you are set free.

Your bondage to Christ is freedom from sin, from its power, from its consequences, and someday from its presence. Christians talk about joy, peace, love, satisfaction, hope and fulfillment, because they have been set free from the bondage which dominates all people: the bondage of a sinful nature. We are free forever: free from the power, the penalty, and one day the presence of sin.

That’s Paul’s message. What an incredibly significant message it is, because every human being in the world experiences constantly the bondage to sin, the fear of death and judgment that is in every heart. Now this is no cool treatise of an academic nature. It is a hot, volatile, righteously angry presentation. The apostle Paul writes this under tremendous distress. He is righteously angry.

So what is he defending? He is defending the gospel which is under assault; and the people in the churches that he has established who are being exposed to lies and legalism. So he writes as one who is angry. You see that in the beginning of the letter. Verse 1, “Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.

Verses 2-6, “and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel.”

Verses 7-9, “which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”

Notice here, there is no commendation. He wrote 13 letters in the New Testament; this is the only one that does not have some commendation. There is a fury burning in his heart, because the gospel is being attacked; and therefore the people to whom he has preached the gospel are in danger. He writes as one who fights against the intrusion of false teachers, and for the defense of those he loves. And he is mad.

Paul along with Barnabas, had started these churches in southern Galatia on the first missionary journey. They started their first missionary journey in Acts 13 and 14. They go into this region called Galatia. Galatia is not a city, unlike Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and others that have the names of the other epistles. This is a region, and there are a number of towns in that region.

There are these towns called Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. And on the first missionary journey Paul went to all those places to preach the gospel and established a church. These were the people dear to his heart. He went back on his second missionary journey to Galatia. And he went back on his third missionary journey again to Galatia. He made a huge investment in them.

According to Acts 14:19, when he came to the town of Lystra, the Jews were so furious with him that they stoned him. So he had incredible opposition. When he went into a Gentile town he would go first to the synagogue, because as a Jew he had a connection; and because the gospel came to the Jew first and then the Gentile. He would go there to see if the Lord would save some Jews.

Some Jews would believe; but the rest would persecute him and whoever was with him, and then persecute the church that he established. So in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, you have these little new churches. Paul has now left after the first journey, left after the second and the third, and through it all, they are always persecuted by the Jews who reject the gospel.

External persecution is one thing; but when Paul finds out that there are false teachers there who claim to be Christians who have gotten inside the church and are perverting the gospel, he is furious. They are disguised as angels of light; that’s how Satan disguises himself. So in these churches made up of Jews and Gentiles. The believing Jews along with the Gentiles are persecuted by the local Jews.

And then there are other Jews who claim to be Christians called Judiazers. They believed that you could only be saved by circumcision and adherence to the Mosaic ceremonies, observance of the Sabbath, etc. So they were trying to Judaize Christians, both Jew and Gentile. They came in with their false gospel, and Paul went right to the point. He is stunned because they are listening to the Judiazers.

He says in verse 8, “If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Now that kind of preaching you would never hear today in an evangelical church. False teachers seek souls to convince them that they are shut out of the kingdom of God, but that they have a way in. That is what all false religions and false Christian cults do.

Galatians 5: 10, “I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.” Certainly this persuasion didn’t come from Him who calls you. This is a little leaven that’s going to leaven the whole lump of dough. Verse 13: “For you were called to freedom, brethren. You were called through love to serve.”

Galatians 4: 9: “Now that you have come to know God,” he says to them, “or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” You’re going backwards. All of those rules and rituals were shadows. And now the substance of Christ has come, the shadows are useless.

Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you,” Who has tricked you, who has deceived you, who has seduced you? “before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly crucified? You’ve been to the cross. You’ve seen the gospel. You know where your salvation lies. Verse 3, “are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you going to be perfected by the flesh?”

Now in Galatians Paul has three tasks. His first task is to defend his apostleship, because they have to trust him. It’s not as if there are other people preaching what he’s preaching. Paul goes to the Gentile world and essentially he is the only preacher, the speaker. They even acknowledged him in pagan places as the chief speaker. There isn’t anybody else preaching the Gospel.

And that is why at the very beginning of this letter, he stressed: one is his name and the other is his title, “Paul apostle,” “Not sent from men nor through the agency of man.” So Galatians 1 and 2 are a defense of his apostleship. Galatians 3 and 4, are the establishing of salvation by grace alone; Galatians 5 and 6, showing Christians that their walk is a walk in grace, not in law.

So heresy had hit these churches, and each little congregation was troubled, and even begun to believe it, so that they began to depart from the gospel of grace into legalism, to go from the new age in Christ and the New Covenant back to the old age. And Paul wants them to know that grace alone saves. Grace frees and empowers holy living. True freedom comes through grace. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Jul 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190721 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000077 imblog

Genesis 11:10-32

Well, let us study Genesis 11, in our ongoing study of origins. Here is an accurate account of the history of man. In Genesis 1 through Genesis 9, you go from Adam to Noah, with a very carefully laid out genealogy. Then, in Genesis 10 and 11, you go from Noah to Abraham. From Abraham, you go to the patriarchs, to Isaac, to Jacob, who is renamed Israel, to Joseph and through the 12 tribes.

God's covenant people are established as His witness nation, and that we see from Genesis 12 to Genesis 50. Exodus begins with the death of Joseph, about 1800 B.C. Israel is in Egypt by then. Exodus 2 is the birth of Moses, who then leads Israel out. Forty years of wandering in the desert, and they finally arrive in the land of Canaan, established as the Land of Promise.

The rest of the Old Testament is the story of Israel. It's a story of blessing and cursing. The Old Testament closes about 400 years before the birth of Christ. The silence is broken by the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, just about two thousand years ago. The whole story of man, up to now, is about six thousand years. Now, this is simply what the Bible says. Anybody who reads Genesis can know this.

So we saw in Genesis 10 that the nations are scattered all over the world. And in Genesis 11:1-9 we are told how they were scattered by a divine twofold miracle. God altered their language so they couldn't understand each other. Therefore, they collected into groups who could understand each other. And God not only changed their language, but also miraculously scattered them all over the earth.

Now, in Genesis 10, you have this general listing of the genealogies that flow from the sons of Noah. But as we come to Genesis 11:10, the focus is on Shem. Here it narrows down the focus on one line, the line of election, the line of Shem that goes directly to Abram, who is the father of Israel, and next to Jesus, the most important man in the history of redemption.

And after the flood, there is that ongoing contrast of paganism versus promise. The Scripture from Genesis to Revelation diagnoses man and drops him into those categories. Since the fall, which is recorded in Genesis 3, all men are sinful, wicked and in constant rebellion against God. Man is opposed to God. Mankind is dead in sin, bound in the grip of paganism deep within his nature.

Romans 3:10-18, “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips”;

14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Notice that it is all in quotes and caps, because every one of those statements is taken from the Old Testament. That is a universal diagnosis of the wretchedness of man.

So the story of man is a story of paganism and rebellion. But it is also a story of promise. In Genesis 3:15, in the middle of cursing the serpent, cursing the ground and cursing the environment around them, verse 15 produces a Godly promise, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

It is true, man chose Satan's word over God's, Satan's world view over God's. But it is also true that man was not fixed irretrievably forever in that disastrous condition. Unlike the angels who fell and could never be redeemed, man is granted a promise that One will come who will crush the head of Satan. Satan thought that after the fall of man, man would be as irredeemable as his demons. He was wrong.

God said in Genesis 2:16-17, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” The reality was that spiritual death did set in, but certainly not physical death and not necessarily eternal death. Instead, they did eat, but life still was produced by His grace.

Adam was so confident that they were going to live, that he called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. He believed in the promise that she was going to produce life, and she did. So in the midst of the curse, the disaster, the rebellion, sin and fallenness, there was God’s promise. Paganism flourished and developed, but God always keeps His promises.

And so it would be through Noah that the seed would come to bruise the serpent's head. And of Noah's sons, it would be through Shem. And of Shem's progeny, it would be through Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, or Judah, that the Messiah would come. And so the record moves inexorably toward the arrival of Messiah. And you will see this continual contrast between paganism and God’s promise.

This formal pagan religion was launched at Babel. Then this religion was formalized at Babel in the ziggurat, which was a form of pagan worship. And when the people were scattered all over the world, they took their religion with them. Some of the truth of the real God was perverted by whatever form of paganism had developed at Babel that flowed out across the whole world.

So in Genesis 11, we see Shem, in verse 10, all the way down to Abram, who appears toward the end of this genealogy for the first time in verse 26. Abram's family were pagans and idolaters. They probably worshipped the gods of astrology that had been invented at Babel. The worship of the moon god, was a cult that really flourished in ancient Mesopotamia.

To understand the family of Abram, turn to Joshua 24, for a moment. Even after the flood, the development of all these families and nations after Babel, was pagan. In spite of the fact that the flood had happened and they had eyewitness testimony that it had happened, because the survivors of the flood were still around, nonetheless, they descended into paganism.

Joshua 24:2, “And Joshua said to all the people," gathering the tribes to Shechem there in verse 2, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.” Abraham's father was an idolater. He served other gods. He was a pagan in every sense of the word.

The world didn't develop a higher kind of religion. It went down from the truth of God, down from the reality of faith in the true and living God who is the Creator, down from salvation by grace, repentance, faith, down from worshipping and loving God, down into idolatry. Romans 1, from the heights of worshipping the true God to the sin of idolatry and demon worship.

And by Abraham's time, the whole world was idolatrous. Well, they had been before they were scattered, and they were just as idolatrous after the scattering. And they still are like that today. But there was at least one true worshipper. Turn to Acts 7 where we read the great sermon of Stephen, which is a recitation of the history of God's work through Abraham with Israel.

Acts 7:2-4, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.”

Here was a man like Noah who was a true believer, and through that man, God would shape a nation to tell the world of idolaters about Him. So Abram becomes critical as the father of this people. In the midst of a sea of paganism, even the pagan family in which he lived, he had come to believe in the true God. So it was Abram that would be the father of the nation and the ancestor of the Messiah.

What was prevailing before the flood was death, judgment. What was prevailing after the flood was the promise. This genealogy goes from Shem right on down to Abram. The genealogy in Genesis 11 follows a different son of Eber, Peleg, because he is the line to Abram. This is the elect line, the covenant line. God is sovereignly controlling history, people and events to fulfill His will.

Lives are overlapping. Terah, for example, Abram's father was 128 years old when Noah died. So Noah was alive for 128 years of Terah's life. He had a firsthand eyewitness who survived the flood. The Messiah's line was: Adam to Noah to Shem to Peleg to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah to Jesse to David to Solomon to Hezekiah, Josiah, Joseph then Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke.

Here is Genesis 11:10-11, “This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. 11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.” Shem is the elect line. He lived a hundred years, and he had a son. That's interesting, because Abraham was also a hundred years old when he had a son.

Noah was 500 when his first son Japheth was born. Shem was likely born two years later. So Shem would be 100 years old two years after the 40-day flood and he lived 500 years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and had other sons and daughters, a total of 600 years. His father lived 950 years. Here we see that life span is shortening quickly. Then comes Arpachshad, who lived 438 years.

Verse 12-13, “At 35, he fathered Shelah after which he lived another 403 years. So, again, the life span is dropping. He had other sons and daughters. Shelah was a man's name, who in verse 14 at 30 years, became the father of Eber. Eber is the term from which we get "Hebrew." Then, verses 16-17, "Eber at thirty-four years, became the father of Peleg; and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years.

Peleg means divided and in his days, the earth was divided, which signals that he was born at the time of the scattering at Babel. This particular son of Eber is the chosen line. His brother, Joktan, fathered Arab tribes. But Peleg fathered the people of God. Verses 20-21, “He lived 239 years and he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters." And so their life time continues to diminish.

Notice that they're having children younger now. Nahor, in verse 24, who "lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah." Nahor is Abram's grandfather. He lives one 119 years after he becomes the father of Terah, he had other sons and daughters." So Nahor lives only 148 years. And Abram lived only 175 years, so you can see, their lives are beginning to shorten even more.

So the impact of sin, and the impact of the flood on the environment, is shortening life. Now, in verse 26 Terah didn't become a father until he was 70. But when it tells us that he had three sons when he was 70, it means that he began to have these sons at the age of 70. And in Genesis 11:32, it says the days of Terah were 205 years and he died. So after his father died, Abram left.

Now, Terah was not a believer in God. Joshua 24:2 says he served other gods. So these three boys, Abram, Nahor and Haran, mentioned in verse 26 were born into a pagan family. Also the birthplace of Abram, the town of Ur, was known by archaeologists as the major center of the worship of the moon god in ancient Mesopotamia. And in verse 27 we find out that the son of Haran is Lot.

Abram became Abraham in Genesis 17: 5, which means "father of many nations." Nahor was named after his grandfather. One of his brother's sons was Bethuel, the father of Rebecca, who married Abraham's son, Isaac, and became the mother of Jacob and Esau. Marrying your second cousin was certainly allowed. The third son was Haran. Now, all three of these names are well known in Jewish history.

Verse 29, "Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah.” The name of Abram's wife was later changed to Sarah, in Genesis 17: 15. Sarai means "my princess." Sarah means "Princess." without the "my." Why? Because she was going to literally be the mother of all nations. So her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah.

In verse 30, and we read, "And Sarai was barren; she had no child." The worst possible situation but absolutely crucial to the faith of Abraham. Because here is the example of faith for all who will ever believe. God comes to Abram and says, "I'm going to make out of you a great nation," Abraham had faith in the promise of God, faith through which God justified him, and made him to be the prototype of faith.

Verse 31, "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there." Why did they leave that place? The answer comes in Acts 7, "the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham.”

It is in Genesis 15:5-6 that God says, "'Look toward the heavens, count the stars, if you are able to count them,' and He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteous." His actual justification is here described. Mankind, believing in the Word of God, escapes paganism and is delivered to eternal realms of divine promise and salvation. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190714 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000076 imblog

Genesis 11:1-9

We turn now to Genesis 11 which has to do with the Tower of Babel. God gave us through Moses a critical revelation of the origin of all things. Here is the universe in its origin of time, action, space and matter. There is the origin of the solar system; there is the origin of the atmosphere and the origin of the hydrosphere. There is the origin of all life; there is the origin of mankind.

There is the origin of marriage. There is the origin of the family. There is the origin of sin and the origin of guilt and the origin of redemption and the origin of forgiveness. There is the origin of culture and civilization and animal husbandry and metallurgy and other enterprises. The origin of poetry, the origin of music. And there is also the origin of nations and the origin of languages.

All of that runs up through Genesis 11 so that when you arrive in Genesis 12 you have the origin of the chosen people through whom the Word of God and the Savior of the world would come. From Genesis 12 on the entire Old Testament focuses on Israel, the chosen people of God. Everything happens in and through and around that nation and is given to us to learn from.

In the New Testament, Israel failed to fulfill its responsibility to God because they were called to be the witness to the world. Their purpose is temporarily set aside and in its place of God establishes a new chosen people. They were made up of Jews and Gentiles and called the Church. And everything that happens in the New Testament then begins to focus on and through the Church.

So from Genesis 12 on God's redemptive work in the world is through Israel and through the church. Now in Genesis 11 we have the only true record of the origin of nations and the origin of languages by a single act of God. The Bible teaches that the universe and nations and languages are all created by God. Our world did not change and evolve by itself over a long period of time.

The Bible is the only accurate record of all of this. The only record for creation, the only record for the flood that is accurate. Now it's not an exhaustive history. It is brief and it is selective, but all is true and enough to make sense of the general flow and the monumental events that punctuated the life of early man from Adam to Abraham. So Noah and his family come out of the ark in Genesis 9 and they start to reproduce.

Genesis 10 then describes the development of the families. Noah had three sons and out of those sons came various sons and grandsons and then families and clans and people and nations. We traced in Genesis 10 the line of Japheth, the line of Ham and the line of Shem into the nations of the earth. Now we'll focus on the line of Shem that went straight to Abram as he was God's chosen man.

Genesis 11:1-9, “Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city.”

“and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.”

“7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

Now this is a simple and straightforward explanation of how nations developed all over the world and how languages developed; God did it in one single act. It is in a way a profound tragedy as humanity is separated and scattered from each other already having rebelled against God. And it is most likely that the Tower of Babel incident happened no more than 100 years after the flood.

We can identify the time, by the identification of a particular child that was born. That child was named for this great act of separation. Genesis 10: 25, "Two sons were born to Eber", who gives us the name Hebrew, "the name of the one was Peleg for in his days the earth was divided." And we know that Peleg was born about 100 years after the flood. In 100 years the population was totally into rebellion and sin.

And so they are in need of judgment. In the flood we see judgment by destruction. But at Babel it is judgment by dispersion. God had every reason to drown this entire civilization with the exception of the few that were true, but He didn't do that. God instead scatters them over the whole earth and changes their language. God was very patient with man as far as world destruction was concerned.

Now when they were scattered, the sons of Japheth went into a certain area and divided into various people groups. The sons of Ham went into other areas and divided into other people groups and the sons of Shem did the same. Remember the sons of Japheth became the Indo-European nations from Western Europe across Russia, actually across the Baring Straight into North America and South America.

The sons of Japheth ultimately possessed most of the territory on the earth, but lost their souls. The sons of Ham who were noted in Genesis 10:6-20, to inhabit Africa, Asia into the Far East and some of them remained in the area around Canaan. The sons of Shem settled north and east of Canaan and it's from the sons of Shem, that Abram came and from Abram came the Jews and the nation Israel.

They were the people to whom God gave the law, the prophets, the covenants, the promises, the adoptions, the Scripture and the Messiah. God has chosen them to be the proclaimers of all of that truth to the rest of the world. They were chosen as a missionary nation and Shem's great grandson Eber, as we saw before, gave the name Hebrew to those chosen people.

In Genesis 11:1-4 man is building up what he wants. Verse 5, God steps in and verses 6-8 God tears down what man has built up. And verse 9 is a summary by Moses. The contrast is between what man desires to achieve self-glory and self-fulfillment, and what God does to show man's impotence and emptiness without Him. It is an attitude of rebelling against God driven by personal ambition and pride.

And interestingly the locations are almost the same. Shinar, the plain in which they built Babel, was very near to the location of the Garden of Eden. Both of them were in the Mesopotamian valley, the lower Euphrates valley between the Tigress River and the Euphrates River. So that man then is twice thrown out of what was the most beautiful place on earth.

Once it was just Adam and Eve thrown out of Eden, now it's the whole population of the world thrown out of the plain of Shinar. Now remember that the ark landed on the mountains of Ararat, to the very north of the Mesopotamian valley. And they migrated south and east to that fertile area in the land of Shinar and they settled there. But the command of God was to populate the whole world.

But that was not what man wanted to do. Verse 1 says, "The whole earth used the same language and the same words." They all spoke the same language that was spoken by Noah. Now this is about 1,756 years after creation marked by the birth of Peleg. But because they were sinful and rebellious, that unity allowed for a concentration of evil that was unacceptable to God.

In verse 6 God says, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” The checks and balances system in the world is part of a common grace that God has given to restrain evil. So people gave their lives to stop these efforts of Hitler, Stalin and others.

And Satan is moving this world back to a one world, one religion with one ruler who is identified in the Bible as the Anti-Christ. And when that happens, the Book of Revelations will tell you that there will be mass slaughter and mass death. Sociologists and anthropologists have the opinion that man is basically good and when man massacres six million Jews, it is because they were severely brainwashed.

There was this town in Poland called Jedwabne where Jews and Gentiles had lived together peacefully for 300 years. Well in June 22, 1941 Hitler wanted to defeat Russia so he swept through Poland and he took that town Jedwabne. And on July 10, the Gentile townspeople massacred all 1,600 Jews there in one day. The ones they couldn't kill they herded into a barn, poured gasoline over them and incinerated all.

This event couldn't be explained by the sociologists. History records indicate not one of those people was killed by a German soldier nor by a Nazi soldier. Every single one of those Jews was killed by one of his neighbors. And the question the sociologist asks is how can people in a two week period massacre their neighbors they had lived with peacefully for 300 years in such a blood bath?

The Germans simply gave them permission. The Polish people did it because they wanted their farms, their farm equipment, their furniture, their money, their jewelry and all they possessed. That is the heart of man and that is their sin nature. No brainwashing is necessary. Romans 3:15 says, "Their feet are swift to shed blood." This Jedwabne incident is a testimony to the wretchedness of the human heart.

That's exactly what's going to be repeated across the face of the earth during the reign of the Anti-Christ. All he has to say is, "You can do it." When sinners get concentrated under one power in one place, wickedness abounds. God knows men’s heart. Romans 3:15 says, "man is swift to shed blood." Just give him permission. God knew the sinfulness of the post-flood people was the same as the sinfulness of the pre-flood people.

And so God scattered these people everywhere and as they left a common language they began to develop the different languages that God had assigned them because He confused their speech. And they would separate from the people with whom they couldn't communicate. They didn't even understand what was going on because before there had always only been one language and one set of words.

And as we move toward the Anti-Christ's kingdom, languages are disappearing. Half the world's people speak one of 15 languages, or more than one of the 15 languages. Ninety percent of humanity speaks 100 languages. We now have approximately 6,800 languages, and half of those are spoken by 2,500 people or less. Linguists estimate that by the end of this century half of the present languages will be gone.

"Now Cush," who was a son of Ham, "became the father of a man named Nimrod (Gen 10:8)." Nimrod’s name means rebel. "He became a mighty one on the earth." Now here's your leader. Out of all of those in the record there in Genesis 10, he's the only one that's given that title, the mighty one in the earth. He stands out because of the importance that he plays in the developing nations.

So Nimrod rises to lead these thousands of people who've come from the line of Noah and his family. He has this great kingdom that's centered in this place called Babel which is the capital city of his empire in the Mesopotamian valley. He builds a kingdom of evil, a kingdom of rebellion, idolatry and pride, very much like the later king of Babylon by the name of Nebuchadnezzar.

So later on the Babylonian empire, Nebuchadnezzar, the great king in Daniel's time, is still located in Shinar and Babylon is just a later version of Babel, this world empire established by Nimrod in the very same area where the Garden of Eden was created by God himself. In Genesis 11:3-4 we see their sinfulness, their human action. They are proud and rebellious, but they are also ingenious.

Verse four, "And they said 'Come let us build for ourselves a city and a tower who's top will reach into heaven and let us make for ourselves a name lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.'" Their plan was a three phased plan: a city, a tower and a name. First they said, "Let's build a city," their social goal. The tower was their religious goal, and the name was their psychological goal.

This is the first city of man, after the flood. The city by man, of man and for man without God. We'll have one people and one ruler. Evil power is greater when it's unhindered and unrestrained without checks and balances. Secondly they wanted to build a tower. What's the tower about? This was their connection to their gods, which indicates that they had already begun to worship false gods.

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and his ministers are also disguised as angels of light. False religion is his business to take the place of the worship of the true God. You may have heard this word, ziggurat, found in ancient cities. It was a building like a ladder by which the gods could descend and ascend and make connection with men. In fact, Revelation 17:5 traces all false religions back to Babylon.

Even the form of religion that characterizes the Anti-Christ at the end of the age in Revelation 18, is called Babylon. The gods of Rome, the gods and goddesses of Greece, India, Egypt, the original Pantheon of the Babylonians, all come from Babel. They built the tower not to reach heaven but to worship their gods. The third element, was psychological, they wanted to make a name, pride. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Jul 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190707 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000074 imblog

Genesis 10:1-32

Well, in Genesis 10 you're going to find out whether you would like Seminary. Genealogies are very popular today. Now you can find a number of websites on the Internet where you can trace your genealogy. The most notable source of genealogical information of course is the Mormon Church, but people seem to be compelled to find their origin.

Well, one thing is sure, you descended from the family of Noah. So you can say, "My family survived the great flood.” Because back in the Genesis 9:18 - 19, it says the sons of Noah came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth, and it says further, "These three were the sons of Noah and from these the whole earth was populated.” Noah is in your family tree through one of these three sons.

Scripture tells us more about these three sons in Genesis 10 and 11, we have lines of descent from these three sons. In Genesis 10:2, the sons of Japheth, and it goes on, verse 6, the sons of Ham, and it goes on to list them, and then in verse 21 also to Shem, and it goes on to list them. This chapter is called the Table of Nations, or the Family of Nations. It traces the descent of man through the three sons of Noah.

And there is more of this genealogical tracking found in Genesis 11, which we will learn in the future. But it only considers the children of Shem, because they are the dominant people in the story of redemption in Scripture. So here is Noah and his three sons, the second starting point for human history. This is history in the new world and we can all claim Noah as a distant relative.

The next crucial man on the genealogical charts in redemptive history is Abraham. And Abraham is introduced in Genesis 12. We really get into the singular importance of Abraham, the Lord's purpose for Abraham, though his name appears at the end of Genesis 11 in the genealogies. Noah, obviously is a critically important person, but the next significant person is Abraham.

And so between Noah and Abraham, we have this genealogical record which includes sons of Japheth, sons of Ham, but most specifically, sons of Shem because Abraham comes from the line of Shem. And from Abraham comes the Jewish race, the Hebrews, the people of Israel. From Abraham came the Jews, to whom God gave covenants, promises, adoption, the law, the Scriptures, and the Messiah.

But to get to Abraham, we have to work our way through this genealogy of the sons of Noah. This is the only existing written record, authored by Moses and inspired by God. That's why Shem is the last one listed here. It's as if the Lord talks about Japheth, talks about Ham, gives something of their history, and that clears the path to get to Shem. Because from Shem came Abraham, and the line of redemption for us.

There are 70 persons, tribes, and families and nations are listed altogether, to make this a comprehensive early history, and to establish the flow of history to Abraham. This was what God pledged and this is what God commanded, and it was fulfilled. And this shows how they were scattered from that starting point in the Middle East, which is still the theatre of redemptive history and will be until the very end.

And we will learn a lot about Babel when we get to Genesis 11. The son of Ham was Cush, the son of Cush was Nimrod, who is Noah's grandson who leads a worldwide rebellion against the living God, who is the Creator and Judge. So this is a story of sadness, both in the specific illustration and as we learn about all these people, tribes and nations who are all idolaters.

They have abandoned the true and living God. What you see here is the hopelessness of humanity without God. The warning of the flood which drown the entire world didn't seem to have any effect on these people because they quickly forgot. They were more interested in themselves and what the world offers. They wanted to build a tower that would reach to heaven and we see many efforts like that now.

Noah lived for 350 years after the flood; so they had firsthand testimony that would have been given to his children and grandchildren about the tremendous flood. The father of Nimrod, Cush, the great grandson of Noah, would have heard stories about the flood. And what you see here is this wickedness of man, in spite of what they knew from their grandfather’s history.

So God establishes a witness nation. It had 600 years of decline, and God calls Abraham and says out of you I'm going to bring a great people, and to this people I am going to give My Law, My promises and My blessings, and they're going to be a witness nation to the world. That was God's purpose for Israel. A witness nation to a world of polytheists and animists that there is only one true God.

So here we are at the beginning of the second world history. And we're going to see these nations in relationship to Israel, who were hearing Genesis for the first time as they were about to enter the Promised Land. Let us examine this genealogical record. There are the sons of Japheth, followed by the sons of Ham, followed by the sons of Shem. Each of these sections has three categories.

First, the son is listed, Japheth, Ham and Shem; secondly, the descendants of the son are listed; and thirdly, a summary is given concerning these offspring. Remember in Genesis 9:25 Noah cursed Canaan. Canaan winds up being a servant to both Shem and Japheth. Shem is blessed and served by Canaan, who is the son of Ham. Japheth is enlarged, has a peaceful partnership with Shem, and is also served by Canaan.

Canaan certainly was not a worshipper of God, and thus he could be cursed. God doesn't curse those who belong to him. Read carefully Genesis 3:14-17, God actually cursed the serpent and God actually cursed the ground, but God did not curse Adam nor Eve. They came under the curse on Satan because it affected mankind. So did the curse on the ground affected mankind, but curses are only reserved for unbelievers.

And so God’s curse falls on Canaan. And the curse is that he would be a servant of servants; that he would wind up enslaved under the dominant rule of others. All nations in the world come from Japheth, Ham, or Shem. And here we find that in God's purposes, children of Ham through Canaan would be servants to the descendants of Japheth and Shem. And we'll see in a moment that that in fact did come to pass.

In Genesis 9:26, Shem is blessed and Canaan is his servant, and Japheth is blessed by enlargement and peace with Shem, and Canaan is his servant. Now ultimately that comes to fulfillment when the children of Shem, the Semites, the Jewish people, conquer the Canaanites and take over the Promised Land, but there's more to it. It doesn't fully explain how Canaan becomes the servant of Japheth. We'll see that next.

Now let's look at Genesis 9: 27 - May God enlarge Japheth. Japheth was promised to dwell in the tents of Shem, and that Canaan would be his servant. This happened. Canaan did become the servant of Japheth, Genesis 14 talks about king Tidal, King of Guine (gentiles). It means nations and peoples. So descendants of Japheth under this King imposed servitude on the Canaanite cities of Judah.

Let's start with Japheth's line, “2 his sons were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras; 3 and the sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah; 4 the sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim; 5 from these the lands were separated, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.” This assumes the Tower of Babel incident has happened.

Japheth is the father of the Indo-European nations. It was in the 19thcentury that it became clear that the languages of the East and the West were related. And one of the earliest languages that is at the base of both eastern and western languages is an extinct language called Sanskrit. The Webster's Dictionary states that the Indo-European languages “are the most important linguistic family of the globe.”

In verse 2, we meet Gomer. Information from historians indicate that Gomer's people settled north of the Black Sea in an area called Crymia, and even beyond it. Later they expanded into Europe, settling in France called Gall, in Spain called Galacia, and in Britain called Celts. All of those are created of the three consonants in the word Gomer.

Six other sons are mentioned; Magog is mentioned, but hard to identify. You find Magog also in Ezekiel 35. Magog is symbolic of the end time confederacy that comes to fight against the Messiah in the last days, but it's hard to know where Magog is. Josephus identifies Magog as the place where the people of Gogh lived, around the Caspian Sea. That's the region of southern Russia, the Ukraine.

Now in verse 3, we meet some of the sons of Gomer. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. They later moved to Germany so that Jews identified their people, German Jews, as Ashkenazi Jews. Togarmah we know about, direct ancestor of Armenians. Terms like Turkey, Turkistan, Targum, come from Togarmah, the ancestors. Now let's go to the Indo part.

The third son mentioned in verse 2, is Madai, which is the root of the ancient Meads who lived in Persia, and later lived in India and were part of an empire called the Meado-Persian Empire. The ancient people of the east were known by only one name: Yahban. This terms comes from Yeban. Our most inclusive term is Hellas, from which we have the word Hellenist, which is another word for the Greeks.

Those of us who come from Europe most likely come from Japheth. Even those who come from Russia, Iran and India. And it is believed that people migrating across Russia, came all the way to the Bearing Straits, down into Alaska, down into the North American continent, down into the South American continent - and they became the Native Americans.

They became the great colonizers of the world. So based on this, most of the world's population are Japhethites. And God said they will be enlarged. Students of history will tell us that they occupy most of the world, Europe, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. They went west and east all the way to India, all the way across Russia, all the way down the Americas. A big portion of the earth belongs to descendants of Japheth, who are enlarged.

And now let us look at the whole Hamite clan. “6 Ham had four sons; Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan. 7 Cush had five sons and two grandsons from Raamah named Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.” Seven names associated in verses 13 and 14 are families, not individuals. And then from Mizraim come all the ims that are indicated there.

Cush is the Bible's name for Ethiopia. There was also a Cush in Arabia, and Nimrod, son of Cush, built his world empire in the Mesopotamian Valley, directly east of Israel, known as the Fertile Crescent, the Tigris and Euphrates Valley. Mizraim is Egypt, verse 13, Phut is Libia in North Africa, and Canaan, the fourth son, was the ancestor of the various tribes that settled in the Promised Land.

Some evidence connects the heritage of Asian people to the descendants from the Hivite strains of Ham. The other possibility of the origin of the Asians is from the Sinite strain of Ham at end of verse 17. Do you know that American Chinese relations are called Sino-American relations? The study of China is called Sinology. But for sure they all came from Noah's family.

Let’s look at verses 8-12 which introduces us to this one child of Cush named Nimrod. 9 “He became a mighty hunter before the Lord.” In other words, if you wanted to say somebody was really powerful, you would say he was like Nimrod. “10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.” This is the first time in the Bible that the word kingdom is used. He was the world's first king.

When it says he was a mighty hunter, it doesn't mean he was a hunter of animals, he was a killer of men. He was a mighty warrior and he ruled ruthlessly right in the middle of the Euphrates Valley. Great in power, great in sin, great in idolatry, great in defiance of God. This was the first real city of man in the new world, built for man's glory. It was a preview of a later city called Babylon.

Now let us get to the main one. Verse 21, "Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth.” He's listed last because that clears the path for the genealogy and the account that leads to Abraham. And here is the first reference to the word Hebrew. It is from Shem that produces all the sons of Eber, and gave the name Hebrew to the chosen people.

Verse 22 and following lists the sons of Shem. This group stretched across the Middle East from north to south. Elam, the father of the Elamites, we read about him in Genesis 14. They had a king named Kedarlaomer, who invaded Canaan, so that the sons of Canaan served the sons of Shem. And among his allies was this King of Goem, the Havaheim, the coastline people from Japheth.

So in the Battle of Kedarlaomer, Canaan was subdued both by the sons of Japheth and the sons of Shem. Elamites lived east of Mesopotamia and mixed with the Meads they made up the Persian Empire. Notice that Asher, father of the Assyrians, were conquered by Nimrod, so they became racially mixed. And it was the Aramians who developed Aramaic. Daniel and Ezra of the Bible are in Aramaic.

So Ham settles in the south, from Africa to Asia. Japheth settles to the north, Europe and into the northeast Persia and India. And Shem stays in the Middle East. Verse 31 says, "These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.” Twenty six families are listed from Shem, 30 from Ham and 14 from Japheth, totaling 70 families.

Next time we're going to see how God scattered the people from Babel in one of the most fascinating sections of Genesis. God is in control over everything and we will see how He dispersed all the people having their own language and culture, yet coming from the same origin. Praise the Lord. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Jun 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190630 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000073 imblog

Genesis 9:24-29

Starting in Genesis 6 begins the important account of the universal flood in which God drowned the entire world, all of humanity and all of air-breathing life on this earth. That has tremendous implications on us even today. The reason for God's judgment was because when God looked over the world, all He saw was sin and the only exceptions to that were Noah, his wife, his three sons and their three wives.

So along with all pairs of animals and seven pairs of clean animals which would be used for sacrifices to God, the ark was filled up, and that amount of life was protected. After the flood, coming off the ark, they began life again in the new world. “18 Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth, and Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 And from these people the whole earth was populated.”

“20 Then Noah planted a vineyard, and 21 after he drank of the wine, he became drunk, and laid uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment on their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father's nakedness.”

“24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said, "Cursed be Canaan, and a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant, 27 may God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his servant.” 28 And Noah lived 350 years after the flood, 29 Noah’s age was 950 years, and he died.”

Two things are apparent, the first is sin, and the last is death. Sin survived the flood, and so did death. And the first recorded post-flood event is the story of sin in Noah's family. There are only eight humans on the planet. And that first account of their life in sin tells us that no matter how hard they may have tried to control their lives, they were still fallen people under the curse of God.

This wasn't the first sin, this was just a sin that God chose to record. He could have chosen any of thousands of sins among them. "In Adam", the Bible says, "the whole human race sinned and died." And "death passed to everyone", says the Book of Romans. So everyone then, has the mark of Adam's sin in a fallen nature, and experiences death. And the heart of man is still deceitful and desperately wicked.

In Genesis 10 are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham and Japheth, and the sons born to them after the flood. They had no children before the flood; so after the flood they started to have children. There is a record of all their children in Genesis 10. Of all of those sons and grandsons that are noted, none is mentioned except this one son of Ham by the name of Canaan.

So why is Canaan cursed, and what is the significance of that? Genesis was written after their exodus from Egypt. The Jews, were captive in Egypt for 430 years. They were in bondage to Pharaoh. And God delivered them by Moses. God sent a series of ten plagues, and the exodus from Egypt took place. God parted the Red Sea, so the children of Israel, at least two million strong, walked to the other side.

So sometime in that period of 40 years of wandering, God inspired Moses to write the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. The first reading of Genesis occurred sometime prior to the Jews crossing the Jordan River to take possession of the Promised Land. After the 40 years of wandering they had been purged, the generation that came out of Egypt had died off.

Moses was their leader until the time to enter the land, and then the mantle was passed to Joshua. Now at that time, that land was called the land of Canaan. And that is because it was occupied by descendants of Ham through Canaan. And here are the Jews ready to take this land. And God had told them go in, and kill the people who live there. You are acting as instruments of divine judgment.

The Canaanites were truly wicked and idolatress people. And as you know the history, the Jews did not eliminate them all and they suffered their corruption. Because they didn't, it cost them ultimately to go again into captivity in Babylon, and lose the glory of their land. Turn to Genesis 15. Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and that's the line of descent that ends up being the Jewish people.

But here is the original promise to Abraham that we know as the Abrahamic Covenant. God promises to Abraham and his descendants this land. Look at Genesis 15:7. God said, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it." And Abram said, "O Lord God how may I know that I shall possess it?" But Abram asked a very important question.

And here is His promise: “9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a 3-year-old heifer, a 3-year-old female goat, a 3-year-old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon.” In ancient times, when covenants were made; there needed to be something to affirm the strength of commitment in the covenant. “10 Then he brought them all, cut in half and placed each half opposite the other, but he didn't cut the birds in two.”

So there is a little corridor between the halves of these animals and two birds that have been killed. And when the sun was going down, verse 12, "A deep sleep fell upon Abram." God gave him a divine anesthetic, knocked him out. And God said to Abram, "13 Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years.”

“14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” That's exactly what God did. The Israelites came out wealthy when delivered from Egypt. “15 As for you, Abram, you shall go to your fathers in peace, you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 And the fourth generation after the 400 years of captivity, they shall return here for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."

“18 To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.” God says I'm making this covenant, and to prove it you will see a smoking oven and a burning torch pass between these pieces, to signify the seriousness of this covenant, as if to say may I die if I don't keep the covenant. But there will be an intervening period of a 400-year enslavement.

Amorite is another word for Canaanite. And all Canaanites are in verse 19-21, “the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” So all of these people were a part of the whole Canaan culture. But God said I can't give you the land until the iniquity of these people is full.

Usually when there's a covenant, you cut the animals, and both parties walk through signifying by walking between the bloody pieces, may such happen to me if I don't keep the covenant. But Abram passed out. Verse 17, “And behold there appeared a smoking oven, and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces." That was God, Himself who ratified His promise.

And when they were standing on the edge of the Jordan River and ready to take the land, the question was: What right do we have to this land? The answer: the promise of God to Abram, this is your covenant land. But why should we kill the Canaanites? Because their inequity is complete. And you will be his instruments of judgment. But why Canaanites? Because Canaan was the one who was cursed.

Do you remember the first thing that Adam and Eve did when they fell was sew together fig leaves to cover themselves? Civilized people have always worn clothing to safeguard, as much as possible, what is a pure relationship. Clothes cover shame and protect purity. And the more they expose themselves; the more blatant the seduction. God forbid such in Exodus 20:26, Exodus 28:42 and through Scripture.

Now Ham was a believer. Ham had received the righteousness of God imputed to him by faith in God. Ham was a man who loved God and worshipped God and served God, and that is why he escaped the judgment of the flood. He was a man whom God had graciously protected in judgment, because he belonged to God. But he does something that is sinful here.

He saw the nakedness of his father. The idea here is that it was a sight that somehow pleased him. He found some pleasure in his father's dishonor. That would be the attitude of a rebellious son. It then he went outside, and told his two brothers, that would be the sin of disdain. That would be the further sin of disrespect. He should have covered his father by protecting his father.

Look at the contrast to the other sons, verse 23, "But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward, and covered the nakedness of their father and their faces were turned away so that they didn't see their father's nakedness". They would find no pleasure in their father's indiscretion. This shows what kind of sons they were.

That is a strong rebuke of Ham by their behavior, "You're out of line". And this is a strong reminder to us of the boundaries that honor God. They demonstrated the heart that is defined in Habakkuk 1:13, "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness.” What a great example they are to us in a world of nakedness, designed to remove all shame and normalize lust.

That leads to the heart of the matter, polarization. What I mean is just how life is now in the world. First it starts with propagation, you're going to produce children, they're going to be sinful; it is pollution, sin is going to be all around us, and the result of that is polarization. On the one hand, for those who follow God and honor him, there will be blessing; for those who don't there will be cursing.

That becomes the pattern through all of redemptive history. Even Jesus talked about blessing and cursing. These are the two extremes of life; that's how life is today. You're either among the blessed or among the cursed, right? There aren't any middle people. There are those people who are blessed, who know and serve the true and living God, and everybody else is cursed.

Verse 24 teaches this to us, when Noah awoke from his wine, when he had slept off his drunkenness, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. It doesn't tell us how he knew, but he knew. He knew that Ham had dishonored him, that he had shown disrespect to him, and that he had told the brothers and spread his disdain to them. And Noah responded.

By this incident, Noah had the heart attitudes of his sons revealed to him. And he responded. With a curse on the one hand, and blessing on the other. And that's how everybody in this world lives; you either live under the blessing of God or the curse of God. But God doesn't speak here. But we are given the first words and the only words of Noah in the Bible.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness, the New Testament says. He preached for 120 years while he was building the ark. But this is the first and only thing he ever says on the pages of Scripture. So he said in verse 25, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.” Why not Ham, he sinned? Canaan was the fourth son of Ham. Why does God sovereignty attach this curse to this one son?

God didn't curse Ham because he was a righteous man, and to be granted grace. But that curse was prophetic of Canaan's unbelief and they eventually became the wicked Canaanites, the nation profaned and blasphemed all that was divine and holy. The Canaanites became the enemies of God's people all through Genesis. The sin of the Canaanites was so great, that it defiled the land in Leviticus 18:28 and Joshua 23.

If you study the territory of Canaan coming from Ham - it included Sodom and Gomorrah. That whole area was the area of the descendants of Canaan. And they were the people whose lifestyle was characterized by nakedness which means having activities outside of God's boundaries. God's hatred of these sins particularly caused Him to ready the children of Israel to take that land.

Then in verse 26 -27 he also said, "Blessed be the Lord the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant". The line of Shem, from which we get the word Semitic, goes right through Abraham to Jesus Christ, and Shem becomes Israel, who subdues and conquers the Canaanites.

Verses 28 - 29, “And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.” And the promise to Abraham of the land for the people of God is still in place today. God will see to it that they receive it. The descendants of Japheth were the Indo-European people groups. They will dwell in the tents of Shem, meaning they will have a peaceful relationship with them.

All the animosity against Israel has come from Canaan from the Middle East. So the whole of human history is spanned by Adam, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah. And this is only 2,000 years after creation. But Noah died. Because even for a believer, the wages of sin is still a physical death. We shall not die spiritually, because our sins are covered and the death that we should experience has already been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Jun 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190623 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000072 imblog

Genesis 9:18-24

We've been studying Genesis carefully and slowly. Genesis 9:18-21, “Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. 20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.”

Verses 22-24, “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.”

With this passage the life of the humanity post-flood on the earth begins. The great flood which drowned the whole human race except eight souls is over. It drowned all air-breathing animals on the planet except those that were in the Ark. The water has subsided, the ground is dry, and all life has come out of the ark. All God-rejecting sinners had been swept into eternal judgment.

And now there is a new beginning; a new day dawns for the eight people who make up the entire human race. Fresh on their minds, and certainly visible around them, is the knowledge of the devastating impact of sin. The shape of the face of the earth is literally changed. It changed life physically and materially. And there was plenty of evidence of death. And so they come into a new world.

But one thing didn't drown in the flood, and that was sin. Sin was in the nature of Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their three wives. It was a new earth, but it was the same old humanity. Noah, now 601 years in this following passage sins. Age is no guarantee against sin and here is an old man who still sins. And there is this ‘young’ man age 100 or so, who also sins.

And so we learn that what the Bible says is true: sin reigned from Adam. Once Adam sinned, sin became the sovereign influence on human life. It became the king of humanity, and carries its potent poison into all peoples and families all over the world. And it was judged by God when he drowned all of humanity on earth except those whom He showed mercy to.

Notice that the son of Ham named Canaan is mentioned four times. Now Ham had four sons, and you might wonder why Canaan all of a sudden is such a significant person. According to Genesis 10:6, Ham had four sons named Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. But why is Canaan singled out? Why is there this cursing of Canaan? You know that the author of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, was Moses.

And Genesis was written after the exodus from Egypt, which occurred around 1445 B.C. It was after Israel came out of Egypt and went through the 40 years of wandering in the desert, and before Moses died in 1405. And the first time God was telling Israel that they were now to enter the Promised Land. And the land that had been promised to them was the land of Canaan.

This had been promised six hundred years before they were standing on the edge of the Jordan river ready to take the land. They had endured 400 years of captivity in Egypt and there were many other years intervening, after the promise was made to Abraham. But when Genesis was first read, authored by Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it was important that Israel get their spiritual act together.

They had reached a point of obedience to God where He was willing to lead them into the Promised Land which He had promised. And the Lord had told them, when you go in to take the land, I want you to destroy the Canaanites. Natural human nature would cause revulsion against such a command. Here were the people of God who had been taught obedience to God, to live according to the Law of God.

This must have been a severe challenge to their thinking, to go into the Promised Land and massacre the Canaanites. It would be natural to ask the question “is this right?” But here we read that Canaan and his offspring were cursed. So Canaan was an object of God's wrath, and that Israel was chosen to carry out this judgment. It was water that drowned the world of sinners; and it was Israel that destroyed the wicked Canaanites.

You also see an incident that on the surface is not so severe as to produce the curse that ends up in a genocide on a nation. A son walks in, sees his father naked, and walks out to tell his brothers, and is cursed. However consistently, in Genesis, the fate of people and of nations is determined by occurrences that seem trivial. But when we dig a deeper, it isn't trivial, and we see the connection to the son of Ham.

The sin of Noah wasn't minor and the sin of Ham wasn't minor because no sin is minor. Here God in demonstrating that sin had survived the flood. God could have picked any number of sins to illustrate their fallenness. But He picks what appears to us to be somewhat of a minor sin, to show us that even a minor sin is sin. Even the smallest iniquity can have disastrous repercussions.

God shows us those “little” sins that devastated families and devastated nations. He chose this one to make teach us that even the lack of self-control and disrespect are sins. In this section three things pop up as inevitable realities. Propagation, pollution and polarization. And you will understand how those words sum up life in the new world, and then the death that is identified for us in verses 28 and 29.

Let's start with propagation. When God made Adam he said be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And essentially, that is exactly what he told Noah's family to do back in Genesis 9:7, "As for you be fruitful and multiply, populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it". This is the new Adam, and this is the new humanity and this is the new opportunity to multiply, to populate the world.

So because of that emphasis, there's a strong repetition of the role of Shem, Ham, Japheth and their lives. Those three couples are responsible to repopulate the earth. In Genesis 5:32 Noah’s three sons were born when he was 500 years old. This makes the sons about 100 years old when the flood came, and they were married but childless. And now, Noah is 601 and they're 100, the flood is over, and it is time to have children.

And only one child of those sons is named, and that is Canaan. The rest of their propagation unfolds in Genesis 10, where you have the sons of Japheth, the sons of Ham, and the sons of Shem all listed there. But only Ham is introduced to us here as having a child named Canaan. And that Promised Land, called the Land of Canaan, is referred to 35 times in Genesis.

The act of taking the Land of Canaan was a just judgment of God on a cursed and wicked people. This is the first nation that is cursed by God. And so when Israel read this, they knew they had a cursed ancestry. And they were acting on the basis of divine judgment, which had already been determined, giving them historical justification for being the instrument of judgment on Canaan.

It says in verse 19 that they populated the whole planet. There was no other source of human life. All life on this world came originally from Adam and Eve. Acts 17:26 says, "And God made from one every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth." People get confused about that. All came from Adam and Eve and were narrowed down to the three families of Noah, and then the rest of human life came out of them.

There are no spiritless, soulless hominids in the Bible. This is an evolutionist theory. By their uniformity principles, they extrapolate back and back and man has to be two to four million years old. And so in accommodating them, Hugh Ross comes up that some man-like creature that had no soul. Evolutionists tell us that Aborigines and American Indians date back to 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. They are totally wrong!

All human beings came from Adam, through Noah. Which means that there is in the genetic code for all human beings traces from Adam and Eve. All genetic coding that is in all the races that exist today was in the family of Noah. In the world you have so much diversity; dark-skinned people, light-skinned people, with various features that are identifiable as Caucasoid and Negroid, Mongoloid, etc.

And yet all these differences in skin color and facial looks and body designs all came from the genetic code that was in Adam and Eve. And the genetic code for all of the humanity in all of its diversity today was continued in the family of Noah. Everyone from dwarfs and aborigines to seven foot two Zulus, came from Noah and his wife who received all the necessary genetic coding from Adam and Eve.

Scientists estimated that just two human parents could produce more children than there are atoms in the universe, where no two would be exactly alike. All because of the staggering variability in our genes. As people mated, variations began to occur. There is an infinite number of variables possible within just two people which eventually produced the various shades of skin and features.

And in the end there is only one race - mankind. The difference in genetics between any two people in the world, no matter how diverse they are, even if they're from the same group, is 0.2. Racial characteristic differences such as; skin color, facial features, eye shape, is 0.012, almost no difference. We really are one blood, we have been all made of one father and one mother, Adam and Eve.

For a few centuries after the flood, everybody was one big family with one language and one culture. And everybody intermarried. Many believe that that tended to keep the skin color and the physical features generally away from extremes. Very light skin sometimes appears and very dark skin sometimes appear with varying features. But because the people intermarry, the average stays similar.

Then the Tower of Babel incident happened. People were isolated so they would begin to be dominated by the genetic features that are within that people group. It wasn't just the changing of languages, it stopped marriage outside your people group because you could not marry a girl you couldn't propose to. It's only after you marry them that you can't speak to them or won't.

So the Tower of Babel accomplished a lot. God separated the languages, scattered the people all over the world, and they were isolated and whatever the features were that God designed in his sovereignty in those genetic groups then became normalized. And so various characteristics began to appear. Each of the language groups had dominated and limited genetic features that became inbred and so became normalized.

It was God in Acts 17:26, who determined the boundaries of the nations. So God sorted the gene pool out exactly the way that He wanted it, so that He could produce exactly what He wanted to produce, and all of us have that unique identity, and our national identity is purposed and the designed by God from the beginning. But we all really are the same, with a 0.2% difference.

As these groups migrated away from Babel, they encountered new and different climate zones. This would also affect the balance of inherited factors in the population. But we all really are one family. There shouldn't be any racism, there shouldn't be any animosity. We've come from the same family. Any newly-discovered tribe is just a group of people that had the same beginnings that we had.

Romans 1 explains that mankind from the beginning not only had the knowledge of God, but they also had great brain power. But because they did not glorify God (verse 21) they became futile in their thoughts. And verse 19 says that from this family, the whole earth is populated. So the whole of humanity has declined. Sad to see how humanity instead of becoming smarter became less smart.

So, first thing we have after the flood is propagation. Well, second thing is pollution, sin in the new world. Verse 20, Noah began farming, he planted a vineyard, telling us that the earth is fruitful again. And there was a different kind of rain, connected with seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, etc. This was the cyclical rain of the seasons that causes the earth to produce.

And there was a rainbow, as a reminder that God had made a promise that he would never destroy the world by water again. Noah is like Adam; they were both farmers. They both sinned with the negative effects that were far-reaching. It started when Noah planted a vineyard. God gave us fruit to produce something we can drink that is healthy and enjoyable. But it also had the capacity to ferment and to cause danger.

Verse 21, "Noah drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent". What does that mean? All we know is that he lost his sense of shame, he lost his dignity. Drunkenness disgraced him. Clothes cover shame, and they protect purity. Nakedness leads to vice. Exhibitionists, pornographers, they all advocate nakedness as if it was a virtue. But everybody knows the value of the covering.

The embarrassed nudity of primitive tribes, or the flaunted nudity of naturalists or the perverted nudity of pornographers or rock singers or movie actors may be called freedom and a return to nature and innocence, but in reality, it cannot recover innocence. Rather, it parades the victory of the sinner over reasonable shame.” And God knows the intent of your heart.

Verse 22-23, "And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.”

The effects of Adam's sin are still in operation, even in the new world. "In Adam", the Bible says, "the whole human race sinned and died." And "death passed to everyone", says the Book of Romans. Everyone who ever lived, then, bares the mark of Adam's sin in a fallen nature, and experiences death. But there is hope because God gave us a way to be saved through Christ. We will continue more next time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Jun 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190616 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000071 imblog

Genesis 9:8-17

One of the most extraordinary and beautiful natural wonders is the rainbow. And rainbows have fascinated people throughout the ages. A rainbow is a curved line in the sky composed of seven colors: red, orange, green, blue, indigo and violet. More scientifically, a rainbow is an arc of concentric colored bands that develops when sunlight interacts with raindrops.

And the different wave lengths of visible light separate and become different colors. Longer wave lengths of light, such as red, are bent the least while shorter wave lengths of violet and blue are bent the most. And depending on the angle with which the sun goes through the raindrop, it refracts a certain color, somewhere between 40 degrees and 48 degrees angle creates the span of colors.

Rainbows have preoccupied cultures throughout the history of man. Even Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz said, "Somewhere over the rainbow there's a land where dreams really do come true." On a far less trivial note, the homosexuals have adopted the rainbow as the sign of the beauty of their perversion. What is the meaning in a rainbow if there is any? Well in the Bible it does have immense significance.

According to the Bible, there is really no message in the sun or the moon or in the stars. The constellations have become the basis of horoscopes, but they just are astrological pagan inventions. And there are people writing books on the constellations as if the gospel was preached there. There's only one thing that God has placed there to give a spiritual message, and that is the rainbow in Genesis 9:8-17.

Verses 8-11, “Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Verses 12-15, “And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud. 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you.”

Verses 15-17, “and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

This is an important message from God. In fact there are three speeches from God to the family of Noah, the eight people that constitute the entire population of the earth humanly speaking. And so what God says in these three speeches to Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives is essentially God's promise to all humanity because all humanity was in those eight people.

Noah comes out of the ark. He enters into the new world at the beginning of Genesis 9. And in Genesis 9:1-7, Noah and his family are told what they were to do. They were to reproduce and fill the earth. They were to rule over the rest of God’s creation. They were allowed to eat all animals. And they were to execute those who took someone’s life, this is capital punishment from God.

So there is the instruction from God to Noah and his family about what they are to do in verses 1 to 7. And in verses 8 to 17, God says what He is going to do. Exhortation to Noah now becomes a promise from God. God says, I'm going to make you a covenant, a personal commitment made by God to man. From now on, God is known as a God who is always faithful in keeping His covenant.

It is like a legal document, and don't underestimate the value of the repetition. The word "covenant," is used seven times. Verse 9, "I establish," that means immediately I will establish this. Verse 11, "I establish," that's present. And then in verse 17, "I have established," shows I have done it. So the repetition is part of the character of this covenant and it’s for man's enjoyment from God's grace.

This was important news for Noah. There was no rain before the Flood. The earth was protected by a water-vapor canopy that made the entire planet uniform in its sort of semi-tropical climate so men lived to be almost a thousand years old and animals lived to be very old also, hence reptiles that grow continuously all their life became dinosaurs. At the Flood it rained for the first time.

The earth exploded with volcanoes and broke up the canopy, so it came down as water and the fountains of the reservoirs in the earth also came out and together deluged the earth for 40 days and 40 nights until literally covering 70% of the earth. Now in the new world it will rain regularly as God moves the water in a hydrological cycle, from evaporation into clouds, raining on land, and running back into the sea.

So this rain is going to fall from God as a blessing on the just and the unjust. It's going to make things grow. It's necessary for life, providing beauty on the earth and food. Rain is going to be common. But Noah didn't yet know that. His experience of rain was pretty severe. The thought of it was frightening. So this is not only a covenant with all of humanity, this is just good news for the only family that existed at that time.

Verse 8, "Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him." God speaks directly to the whole human race. Now I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do in verse 9, “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you.” This is precise, inspired language. And each phrase, each word, defines a specific feature of God's covenant.

First, verse 9 says, "And as for Me, behold, I”, the covenant is unilateral. That means it's a covenant made by one, a bilateral covenant would be made by two. This promise is singularly on the part of God. He is doing it without any consideration of man and his will, He is doing it without any consultation with man. He's doing it without any negotiation with man. This is not a mutual agreement.

God is not saying if you do this and that then I'll do this and that. If you don't do this and do that, then I won't do this and do that. It is not like that. Look at verse 11, "I establish My covenant." Verse 12, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you." Verse 17, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established." Never we, always I. God determines to make this promise on His own.

Secondly, the promise is unconditional. He says, "I Myself do establish." Verse 11, "I establish." Again in verse 17, "I have established." The word "establish" ‘qumin’ in Hebrew means to erect, to make stand solidly. In other words, I set this in concrete. I establish. There are no conditions on the part of man to validate it or invalidate it. Nothing man does can cause Me to break it.

Thirdly, the promise is inviolable. It cannot be changed, it's fixed. And God repeats that in verse 9, verse 11, verse 15, and elsewhere, between Me and the earth, between Me and all flesh that is on the earth. It is inviolable because it is a covenant made by the eternal God who cannot change and cannot lie. Covenant is the word, and it is used in all but in verse 10. It's all through here.

The idea of a covenant is very unfamiliar today. About the only place there is a vestige of the covenant idea is in marriage. Most people in our society are clueless about what that means. A covenant was something binding. A marriage covenant is binding for life. And when you made a covenant, everything about your character hinged on whether you kept your promise, your covenant.

Marriage now is descended to a temporary agreement with conditions for compliance sometimes written into a pre-nuptial agreement. But in Scripture, covenants were the foundation of society. People knew what a covenant was. When you made a covenant with somebody, you bound yourself to that promise and your character and your integrity and your life and your reputation was at stake.

So people in the Old Testament time, in Noah's time, and throughout biblical times, understood what a covenant was. It was a binding promise. And most covenants were bilateral and most covenants were conditional. And most covenants would have some kind of an out clause in the case of some violation. But here's God making a unilateral, unconditional, inviolable covenant.

That is why when you go through the Old Testament, one of the attributes of God that is celebrated over and over is that God is faithful. And that attribute of faithfulness is linked to the fact that God kept His covenants. And that's how a man proved his faithfulness, he kept his covenant. Now people do everything they can to break contracts, to break promises, to violate agreements that just goes on all the time.

A person proves he's a faithful husband by never violating the vow he made to his wife. And the way a wife proves that she's a covenant-keeping and faithful wife is by never violating the vow she made to her husband. And that vow that you made at your wedding is that you would be her husband and she your wife for life. And faithful men keep the covenant, and faithful women keep the covenant.

The covenant God made with Noah is still in effect. The covenant He made with Abraham is still in effect, with David is still in effect, with the priests, still in effect, with the New Covenant that the one He made for the forgiveness of sins, Jeremiah 31, still in effect. The reason the Mosaic covenant was nullified was because it was a conditional covenant, since no man can meet the condition of fulfilling the Law.

All the covenants are permanent covenants, God is faithful. Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man that He should lie." 1 Samuel 15:29, "The strength of Israel will not lie." Psalm 146:6, "He keeps truth forever." And repeatedly throughout the Scripture, "The Lord is faithful." Isaiah 49:7, Lamentations 3:23, "Great is Thy faithfulness." Psalm 89, several times, Psalm 119:89 and 90, and so it goes.

Fourthly, the promise is also universal, verse 9, "I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you,” that is with all humanity. No other covenant in force applies to all humanity. The Priestly Covenant, the Abrahamic, the Davidic, and the New Covenant only apply to believers. This promise is the basis of common grace for all humanity.

This promise is universal. Look at verse 10, "With every living creature." Verse 11, "With you and all flesh." Verse 12, "Between Me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations." Verse 15, "With you and every living creature of all flesh." And verse 16, "Between God and every living creature of all flesh." And verse 17, "Between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."

Fifthly, this promise is perpetual. Verse 12 says, "For perpetual generations.” And verse 16, “the everlasting covenant." Not eternal, but in the sense of lasting throughout all of time. And we know how long it will last. Back in Genesis 8:22, “I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done while the earth remains.” That defines the everlasting, it lasts as long as the earth remains.

So you have here a covenant that is unilateral, unconditional, inviolable, universal and perpetual. Sixthly, this is a covenant is also physical. We know this is not a covenant that's going to go on in the new heavens and the new earth. No. Look at verse 10, the fact that all the animals share in this covenant indicates that this covenant is a physical temporal covenant.

The Abrahamic Covenant is a spiritual one. The Priestly Covenant is a spiritual one. The Davidic Covenant is a spiritual one. The Mosaic Covenant was a spiritual covenant demonstrating the sinfulness of man. The New Covenant is a spiritual covenant. But this is a temporal, physical covenant. And this is so far-reaching that it physically covers all living beings.

When God gave Abraham a covenant, the sign was circumcision. When He gave Moses a covenant, the sign was the Sabbath. Verse 12-13, “And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.”

When you see a rainbow that is God's bow. He put it there because this is not the time of judgment, this is the time of peace. So God created His rainbow as a sign of His mercy toward a world of sinners. This is a symbol of His promise, never to destroy the world again as He did during the flood, until the whole universe will be destroyed by fire, as 2 Peter 3 describes it.

The only time you see a rainbow is after a storm when it has passed and the sun shines again. A rainbow is a picture then of grace after judgment. Every time you see a rainbow, it represents the victory of grace over judgment. What does this world deserve? Judgment. What does it get? Grace because this is the age when God has stopped judgment for a time.

God said to Noah in verse 17, "This is the sign of the covenant, this rainbow, which I've established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth." The Flood story is a revelation of God's wrath. But the rainbow is a sign that God is also a God of mercy, grace, patience and peace. There will be a final wrath to come, but for now God is gracious to sinners. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Jun 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190602 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000070 imblog

Genesis 9:1-6

Things have dried out after the flood, and now Noah and his wife and three sons and their three wives, a total of eight people, have left the ark. In Genesis 9, they have come out of the ark, built an altar, worshipped the Lord, and started to populate the new world. And verse 1 says, "And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”

God’s blessing is good news after judgment. They spent over a year on the ark, confined with all the animals on board, floating on the waves of judgment that have drowned all air-breathing life on the planet and much of the sea life as well. The surface of the earth has been recreated, with deep sea basins and high mountains. The ark has finally come to rest on the mountains of Ararat or Turkey.

And in Genesis 8:20, the first thing Noah did was build an alter which accomplished two things. It was an act of sacrifice, which expressed worship to God as well as penitence. Burnt offerings were offerings of penitence, offerings that recognized sin and the need for a substitute to bear the penalty for sin. And Noah and his family were very aware of their own sinfulness. So they offered many burnt offerings to the Lord.

God’s response in in Genesis 8:21-22 says the Lord was pleased with their offering, pleased with their hearts, and therefore God said to himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, even though their heart is still depraved, I'll never destroy every living thing as I have done while the earth remains. 22 As long as this planet is here, I will not destroy it and its life in this fashion".

All of that points to the one sacrifice for sin - namely Jesus Christ on the cross. So Noah was the first priest for the new humanity. And in Genesis 9, God says life is going to go on normal and God blessed Noah in spite of their sin. We know that not long after this, the world was so sinful that God had to scatter the people all over the globe and change their languages as punishment.

And this introduces us to the Age of Grace, and it's been going on for 4,500 years up until now. Man is going to produce more sinners, populating the world again with sinners, and here we are the living proof of all of that. But during this period, God is going to be patient, God is going to be gracious with sinners, and not destroy the planet in judgment like he did in this global flood.

Someday, heaven and earth will pass away and judgment will come. In fact, that day has already been fixed. So the day of the return of Christ and ultimately the destruction of the heavens and earth that we know of is fixed, and now is the time to repent. As the people in Noah's time had 120 years to repent, we have longer than that to repent. We have already had 2,000 years since the day was fixed and the revelation was written.

But in this time, before that final judgment, we experience blessing. And the blessing that is described here is fivefold. The first blessing is procreation, the second blessing is prominence, the third blessing is provision, the fourth blessing is prohibition, and the fifth blessing is protection. The first three are positive, the last two are negative. Procreation, prominence, provision, prohibition and protection.

Here is God’s divine blessing for human society after the flood and continuing until today. These are universal blessings for all mankind. They are not limited to the people who love God; they are just general mandates and blessings that frame the life of men on the earth. They deal with family, they deal with food, they deal with health, and they deal with justice.

Let's look at Procreation in verse 1, “So God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth'". And that this is repeated in similar words in verse 7. This sort of emphasizes this section of blessing, verse 7, "And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it.” Notice that God said this to them, this is direct revelation.

The privilege of procreation given to the original couple in the Garden of Eden is reiterated. “Be fruitful and multiply” is a common expression for procreation. It is used numerous times. We will see this phrase used in Genesis 17, 22, 24, 26, 28, 35, 48 and 49. And so here is this reiteration of this first and primary blessing from God. Man was made in the image of God, meaning that man is transcendent.

Man is eternal, unlike animals and unlike plants. Man has a spiritual life that is not visible, and is not physical. Man has attributes of personhood, not possessed by animals. Man has self- consciousness, reason, abstract thinking. Mankind has an appreciation of beauty, emotion, moral consciousness. And mankind has the capacity to relate to other people and to God as well.

Man also has the ability to procreate this same kind of life. Animals can procreate physical life, but only man has the wonderful blessing of being able to procreate spiritual life. Mankind is not only a physical being, but a spiritual being, a rational being, a being of moral consciousness. And the sweetest and most wonderful relationships in all of life are those between a man and his wife.

God gave to all people the blessing of marriage, the blessing of children, the blessing of family. And they would produce billions of people living in sin - the horrors of which would be mitigated by marital love and family. And as you get into Genesis 10 and 11, Noah's sons fathered the nations. They were prolific. It was out of the line of one of his sons, Shem that the people of God came.

The second blessing is prominence in verse 2, “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.” The sovereignty of man is repeated. In Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So the dominion of man was established in the original creation. And here is this prominence reestablished. Man is not only the ancestor of all human life, but the ruler over all lower forms of life. He is truly the king of the earth. He is to subdue nature, so as to use it, to shape it in the direction that will reflect the usefulness, the order, the beauty and the purpose of its Creator.

After the flood, this is still true, though it is different. This time God says, "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on all the animals". This is new. Before there was a compatibility between man and the animals, all the animals got in line and went marching by Adam as he named them. But after the fall, there was hostility between man and the animal kingdom, and that is indicated as fear and dread.

It is a blessing that animals who might harm us are afraid of us. God has wired the animals to be essentially afraid of man. The realm of animals now is no longer benign. It used to be subdued and ruled, and now it turns to fear and terror. The cursed animal world has a fear of man because of his superior intelligence. But a lion would be a threat to a man, if you are in his territory.

Man is given a more deadly rule over animals, and that is because of God's design. John Calvin said, “The providence of God it is that a secret bridle is placed on the animals to restrain their violence. God has caused them to have fear of man.” Apparently, the animals were controlled and sustained by God in the ark so that there was some kind of symbiotic relationship during that time.

The end of verse 2 says, "They are given into your hands.” God provided the entire animal kingdom for the use of man. Notice the opposite in the book "The Battle for the Beginning" says, "If evolution is true, humans are just one of many species that evolved from common ancestors. We are no better than animals and we ought not to think that we are.” That's the evolutionist view: We are no better than any other living species.

That is the rationale behind the modern animal rights movement - a movement whose reason is the degradation of the human race. And all radical animal rights advocates are evolutionists. Their entire belief system is the inevitable byproduct of evolutionary theory. We have to treat the animals the way we treat the people because they're just what we are, and they can be easily abused.

PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals maintain that killing any animal for food is the moral equivalent of murder. Eating meat is cannibalism, and man is a tyrant species detrimental to his environment. PETA, a very popular group, opposes the keeping of pets and companion animals - including guide dogs for the blind. They call this animal slavery.

There is an organization called the Church of Euthanasia. They have a web page that advocates suicide, abortion, cannibalism and sodomy as the main ways to decrease the human population. And they give on the website detailed instructions for committing suicide. And this ‘church’ only has one commandment, "Thou shall not procreate". But man is created by God in His image with a purpose and destiny.

The third is provision in verse 3, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.” Some people think that Christians should be under some kind of dietary law, because of the dietary laws in the Old Testament. But the only people under dietary laws were those in Israel under the Mosaic Law so they would learn to be set apart from their neighbor tribes.

Under the original creation, there were no dietary laws. “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you.” If you're crawling through the desert, and you can't find anything to eat, you're going to eat anything that's moving that you can catch. In the original creation in Genesis 1:29-30, man could only eat plants. Because death hadn't entered the world. Every animal and man only ate fruit and vegetables.

Shortly after the fall, man began to eat animals. In Genesis 4:20 it tells us they began to develop livestock. Here is God's official authority to do so on those who entered into the new world. 1 Timothy 4:4-5 says, "Everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. 5 For it is sanctified by the means of the Word of God in prayer". He is talking about food.

Do not be a vegetarian because it's a biblical issue. Meat eating has becomes a very important part of living in the new world. I don't know about you, but eating is a big deal in life of people. And God says, "Here's a whole world full of stuff. Everything that grows and everything that moves, you can eat." This is common grace. This is God just unloading the blessings of His creation.

But there are some blessings that come by avoiding certain things, and so the last two are negative. The fourth is prohibition in verse 4, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” Don't eat live meat. There are some people who eat live meat in the history of the world, who consider that a delicacy. The picture here is raw meat. Don't eat a live animal, because God knows it’s dangerous and He is protecting you.

Why would the Bible tell us not to drink blood? Because all diseases are carried through the body by blood. The health ramifications from blood are really serious. And animal blood can transmit many deadly diseases. Noah may not have been a flesh-eater, because he was faithful to God and God had never given license to do that. Now we cook our food. And to make that possible, God gave us fire.

Finally protection in verse 5-6, “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” This is the Law of God of capital punishment for social protection.

The greatest threat to the life of man comes from men and from beasts. And so God designed a law to protect people from being killed by others. And murder is a big problem in the world. What is the first sin that we find in the Old Testament? Cain killed his brother. And God gives an effective protection for this by essentially saying if somebody kills somebody, they are to be killed.

This is a new divine death sentence. Do you remember when Cain killed Abel? God had not instituted capital punishment. Do you remember that Cain, after he killed Abel, was afraid that somebody was going to take his life? Because anybody in his family who cared about Abel would want vengeance on Cain. So God in His mercy put a mark on Cain so he was not killed.

This is not personal vengeance, this is the responsibility of human society. Man is the instrument of God's vengeance on murder. Jesus confirms this. The soldiers have come into the Garden to take Jesus, and Peter with his sword cuts off the ear of the servant of the High Priest. Jesus heals him and says in Matthew 26:52, "Put your sword back in its place. For all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.”

Whomever murders a person in God's image, who is personal, and eternal, the murderer has committed the ultimate crime against God's creation. Crime in our society and killing in our society is aided by our failure to kill murderers. This is still the age of grace, and today is the day of salvation. Be thankful that God is patient to give people a chance to repent and be saved. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 May 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190526 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000006F imblog

Genesis 8:6-22

A 2001 LA Times article says, “Earth's greatest mass extinction. An Armageddon that wiped out nearly all life on the planet 250 million years ago may have been triggered by a massive meteor collision like the one that 65 million years ago helped end the reign of dinosaurs” a team of scientists reported Friday. The articles goes on, this extinction is called the "Great Dying."

They believe it is closely linked to a meteor. But no telltale traces of a meteor have ever been found for the extinction event. And the science team that produced the paper has no direct evidence of an impact." The article goes on, "A large number of scientists agree with a theory put forth by Dewey M. McLean, that massive volcanic activity caused the demise of species.

Scientists know there was a massive extinction event. The fossil record makes it clear. Evolutionary theory forces them to believe that 250 million years ago and 65 million years ago there was a massive extinction of dinosaurs. And this is on the evolutionary model where everything happened in a slow process of uniform change and mutation without cataclysmic divine intervention.

The earth's size, the earth's distance from the sun and rotational speed had to be just right for our universe to form. We need the air above, not only for breathing, but to protect us from cosmic rays and meteorites. We need light, but not too much ultraviolet. Heat, but not too much. And DNA code discoverer Francis Crick calculated the possibility of life originating spontaneously is impossible.

The truth about Creation is that God created the universe. And the truth about the "Great Dying" is that God drowned His world. So we can shorten the 540 million years of evolution to six days. And we can shorten the mass extinction from 250 million years ago to about 6,000 years ago. The "Great Dying" did occur. The surface of the earth shows evidence of massive volcanic explosion, and breakage in the earth's crust.

They know there have been explosive climate changes, shortened life, instant extinction of dinosaurs and mammoths. They're looking for an evolutionary explanation, but the only explanation is the Bible. The Genesis 7 and 8 record indicates that the global flood had two specific sources. The fountains of the deep, and there was water above in a canopy that filtered out the ultraviolet of the sun.

That's why people lived to be 900 years. That's why animals lived, and reptiles grew till they became dinosaurs. They were all wiped out and they are found in the fossil records. This was a massive eruption of the earth's crust that changed the shape of the planet. It created the continents, and it really made the earth primarily sea and reduced the land to the smaller portion of the two.

Psalm 104 simply says that during time of the great flood, God pushed up the mountains and pushed down the ocean basins. And that's how the flood ran down. As the mountains pushed up and the ocean basins went down, the water began to move by virtue of gravity into those ocean basins to fill up the oceans as we know them. The disaster of the flood explains the fossil record.

It explains the stratification, the extinction of all air-breathing life. It also explains the massive destruction of marine life because of the tremendous movement of the crust of the earth that was under water, and because of the tremendous cataclysms that were going on. Separation of the continents happened at that time. And so we have evidence of that massive death of marine life, as well as land animals.

We studied this flood in Genesis 6, 7, and 8. We come tonight to Genesis 8:6-22, the aftermath of the flood. This was a global flood that covered the entire earth. When it was time for the flood to be over, God began to remove the water. Verse 1, "He caused a wind to pass over the earth," and this wind began to blow the water away. And the breakup of the canopy exposed the sun and there was evaporation.

And as the mountains are pushed up, they force the water by gravity down into these great basins. The earth that appeared after the flood was very different. It now has these massive high mountains. And it has these deep ocean basins. Mountains that go as high as 30,000 feet, and oceans that go as deep as 35,000 feet. All this is extremely different compared to the earth before the flood.

Mountainous rock is lifted up. And that is true for all the mountain ranges of the world. Most of these mountain ranges are made up of igneous rock, because there was explosive volcanic movement on the crust of the earth. The base typically in these mountain ranges is of igneous rock. Whereas, on the surface, you see layers of sedimentary rock. And there is an explanation for that.

As the mountains are pushed up, they push up the sedimentary rock so that what you find on the top of the mountain is the sedimentary rock. That is why in almost every mountain range, you find marine fossils at the top of the mountain because that's where the sedimentary rock is that once was at the bottom. And it was in that great stratification layers that these burial grounds formed.

In the Himalayas, for example, they find fossilized sea animals above 18,000 feet. You might say, "Well, does that mean the flood was at least 18,000 feet?" No, it means that when God reshaped the face of the earth and pushed the mountains up, He pushed up the sedimentary rock, which was on the bottom of the earth, so that it becomes the top layer of the mountains.

The highest parts of the mountain ranges are often limestone, which is rock formed by the gradual deposit of shells. So limestone at the top of a mountain was once at the bottom of the sea. That's another indication that the whole earth was changed dramatically in the flood. Why do these scientists say that meteors did it? Because they will never say something that might make you think the Bible is true.

So when Noah and his family stepped out of that ark, they saw a very different world. There were massive mountains where there had not been mountains before. There were great valleys where there had not been valleys. And there was death everywhere. So they stepped out into a world that had been stripped of its vegetation for the most part. And the flood was indescribable evidence of the judgment of God.

Now, let's study the story for tonight. Verses 6-7, “So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.” The water is going down. The mountains are pushing up. Forty days later Noah opened the window of the ark.

He waited until the water, which had subsided, revealed the tops of the mountains. He was a very patient man. Noah didn't go very far without hearing from God. He didn't know anything about the new world. So he sent out a raven as a scavenger bird who would eat just about anything. Apparently, the raven did find some flesh, because "It flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth."

Now Noah needed to know if there was life out there. So he send out a dove that ate vegetation. And the dove was a clean bird. Verse 8-9, “He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth.”

Noah had waited seven days to send that dove out. Now he waits another seven days in verse 10 to see if the water had subsided so that plants begin to surface. One of the trees that can survive under water for a long time is an olive tree. In fact, they have so much olive oil in them, if you want to carve it, you have to let it sit for a long, long time, or it remains green and very difficult to carve.

Verse 11, “And behold, a freshly picked olive leaf was in her mouth.” The raven showed Noah there was death. The dove showed Noah there was life. That meant the little hills were exposed. That meant the valleys were becoming clear. So Noah at the end of verse 11 knew the water had receded. Verse 12, “So he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.”

Verse 13-14, “And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth.” Again the dates are there to tell us that this is history. “And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.”

Now, the ark is resting on the mountains of Ararat. Verse 15-17, “Then God spoke to Noah saying, “16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

Verse 18-19, “So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.” Look at Genesis 9:19, “These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.” He is kind of like a new Adam and Eve.

We are all descendants of Noah and his sons and his wife and their wives. It sounds very much like Genesis 1:20 where God creates living creatures and birds and sea monsters and all the things that move and every winged thing after its kind, and verse 22 says, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the seas. And let birds multiply on the earth." That is the same as Genesis 8:17.

2 Peter 3:6-7, “The world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment.” When they came off the ark, they came into a completely different world, which 2 Peter 3:7 calls the heavens and the earth which now are. That was a different world than what we now know.

And life, instead of living for 900 years, begins to be shortened. And Noah, at the time he steps off the ark, is 601 years old, and life from then begins to shorten and shorten till you come to the time before Jesus Christ. The Bible says then that a man's life may generally be 70 years. Very different from the pre-flood world. Medicine has extended life a little bit more today.

The first thing Noah did in verses 20-21 was “build an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animals, every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.”

They came off that ark, and there was death everywhere and desolation. There was plant life, but it wasn't profuse. And it had to develop and grow and repopulate the earth in the same way the animals and man did. And we don't know how much of that vegetation God preserved, but it wasn't like the Garden of Eden. It would have been the opposite of that. It was a destroyed world.

A burnt offering is primarily a recognition of total devotion to the Lord. A burnt offering was an offering that was completely consumed on the altar. It was symbolic of total devotion, total dedication to the Lord. You gave everything to the Lord. You didn't keep anything back for yourself. You didn't give anything to the priest. You just gave everything to the Lord.

But it also symbolized a recognition of repentance. A recognition of one's sinfulness. Do you know, this is the first mention in the Bible of an altar. This is the first mention of an altar used for the purpose of sacrifice. Noah on his sons' behalf and their wives' behalf said, "We completely, comprehensively dedicate ourselves to You." And this is also a sin offering.

Noah knows he's not a perfect man. He knows he's not married to a perfect woman and doesn't have three perfect sons and perfect daughters-in-law. He knows they are sinners. He knew his own sin. He knew what he deserved. And this is an act of penitence, saying, "God, this is what we deserve, and we know it. But we need a substitute. We offer You a sacrifice of atonement, a sacrifice of propitiation."

So God was pleased with the heart of the worshiper. And in response God says, "I'm not going to do this again." For 1656 years, God tolerates sin, and then comes the flood. And here we are 4500 years later, why have we lasted when God destroyed them? Because God said, "I won't ever do this again." This is what we call grace, Amen? This isn't a covenant that He made with Noah. This is one that He made with Himself.

And Romans 2:4 says, "The patience and forbearance of God is meant to lead people to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9, “And the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Oh, there are still floods, and there are still volcanoes, and there are still natural disasters, and there is still death and divine judgment and hell, but the world just keeps going along.

So the catastrophe of the flood, what the evolutionists think took 500 billion years has really taken 6,000 years. A six-day Creation of the universe and a one-year flood. Everybody says that things will continue just the same. Nobody believed there will be judgment, and so they drowned. And so the fire will come, but for some people Jesus is our ark, right? Because of Him, Paul says, "We escape the wrath of God to come." Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 May 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190519 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000006E imblog

Genesis 7:17-8:5

Now, in these verses is a direct, straightforward and simple account of this worldwide flood. This was not a local flood in the Mesopotamia in the Middle East. And there is a phenomenon in the world that agrees with the Genesis account of a worldwide flood. And there is knowledge of a worldwide flood that is really widespread. And the proof is the tradition of diverse people and diverse cultures about the flood.

There are over 270 different nations, races, and tribes that have in their tradition a flood story. Flood traditions exist in the history of India and China and Egypt. Eighty-eight percent of the flood narratives say that there was a favored family that was spared. Seventy percent say survival was by means of a boat. Ninety-five percent say the sole cause of this great catastrophe that came on the whole world was a flood.

Sixty-six percent of these traditions say that it came because of man's wickedness. Sixty-seven percent say that animals also were saved. Fifty-seven percent of the stories say the survivors ended up on a mountain. Many of them use some form of Noah's name, like the Hawaiian about Nu'u. Many of them speak about birds being sent out. Many of them speak about a rainbow. And many of them say that eight people were saved.

The flood did create a story that was passed down from that first family and has woven its way through all of human history. The flood was the second massive catastrophic event in the history of the world. The first was creation in six days. And the universe was created mature, full-grown, with no process. The second great catastrophe was the flood. Creation gave us the first earth. The flood gave us the second earth.

The true understanding of the flood, as well as the true understanding of Creation, is to be gained by understanding the Bible. There's only one way to understand the Bible, and that is to approach it with the proper hermeneutic, a way to interpret it. And that is called the literal, historical, grammatical method of interpretation. So we take literal meaning with literal understanding of the grammar and real historical account.

With a few exceptions, all New Testament books refer to Genesis 1 to 11. Also, every chapter of Genesis 1 to 11, is referred to somewhere in the New Testament. So the New Testament writers perceived Genesis 1 to 11 as real history. And the Lord Jesus Christ referred personally in what He said to the first seven chapters of Genesis. The New Testament writers took it for what it said. And that's the way we have to take it.

Jesus said, "Have you not read?" Don't you know what the Bible says?" And He said to them in Matthew 22:29, "You're mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, of the power of God." That's the real problem. So when we come to Genesis, we approach Genesis the same way we would approach any part of the Bible, and we're accountable to God to interpret it rightly.

And as you approach the text of Genesis 6 to 9, you find that God sent a flood and drowned the entire world. This flood was a judgment of God against the sin of man who had become so sinful that only eight people were spared. The rest of the entire human race, as well as all the other animals, except the fish, were also destroyed. God preserved eight and an ark full of pairs who would repopulate the earth.

The flood teaches us several essential lessons. One, that God has absolute freedom and power over His creation. He made it in six days, and He can destroy it in 40. Secondly, we learned from the flood that God hates sin. God judges it with a fatal anger. We also learned that God's judgment spares no guilty soul. And God's grace and salvation have profound meaning in light of God's judgment.

Here are some reasons why the flood was worldwide. First one is the extensive language in Genesis 6, 7, 8, and 9. It repeatedly says that the whole world was covered, that the mountains were covered, and that all under heaven perished. Secondly because the construction and populating of the ark was an absurdity if the flood was just local. Why build a big box and spend 120 years building it for a local flood?

And why would you collect all the animals if the only ones that were going to drown were in the Mesopotamian Valley? Another reason is that God promised in Genesis 8:21, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.”

We know the flood was worldwide because Genesis traces all the people in the world back to Noah and his family. We'll see that in Genesis 9 and 10 when the Lord starts to lay out the genealogy, starting in Genesis 9:18, they all come out of Noah's family. And when you look at other Biblical references to the flood, they affirm but never deny its universality. Now let us go back to the text:

“17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.”

You have the word prevailed five times. It prevailed, and then it prevailed, and then it prevailed, and it just keeps rising. The word water is used six times. The word prevailed is used five times. The word increased is used two times. The word greatly is used three times. So the flood prevailed. This is the flow of the text. The Lord's Word does tell us why God did this. The reason is sin.

“21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth.”

Scripture doesn't spend any time on the how of the flood. It is much more concerned with the why of the flood. And rather than have you becoming occupied in trying to figure out the geology of the flood or the hydrology of the flood or the geophysical effects of the flood, the Lord would have you much more concerned about the impact that sin has on human life. That's the message.

“Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. Genesis 8:1, “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped.”

“And the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.”

The water increased, lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The ark floated on the surface of the water, protected by God, not by engineering skill and not by navigational skill, because there was no way to navigate the ark. It was just a large box floating, being cared for by God. All humanity and all of the animal world was reduced to what's in that box bobbing on the top of the waters.

The mountains as we know them today were a product of the flood. The mountains prior to the flood were lower. When the Lord brought the flood, He raised those mountains. But at first the water covered those low mountains, which were characteristic of the tropical environment of the pre-flood world. Verse 20, "The water kept rising until it was at least fifteen cubits (22 1/2 feet) higher than the tops of the mountains.

Now we have mountains as high as nearly 30,000 feet. The flood wouldn't have enough water to cover those, but they rose out of the flood as God, during that time, was reshaping the planet. Volcanic explosions are devastating. Just imagine that going on all over the planet. And when God broke up the planet and reshaped it, it would be that multiplied almost an infinite number of times.

The face of the land was changed by eruptions, steam blasts, landslides, water waves, hot pumice ash and mud flows. Six hundred feet of strata was formed in a handful of minutes. Strata is created by a force moving as it piles up and it piles up. Then it rolls over and rolls over and keeps piling up, so that you may have the latest life on the bottom, rather than on the top of the strata.

The Bible doesn't give us any idea of the tremendous disturbance that occurred in verse 24 when this water kept rising and rising as the fountains of the deep were broken up, and as the great upper canopy began to deluge the earth for one hundred and fifty days. And, as God begins to dissipate the flood, He pushed up the mountains and drops down the great ocean basins to become oceans.

Psalm 104:6-9 tells us, “You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away. 8 They went up over the mountains; they went down into the valleys, to the place which You founded for them. 9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they may not return to cover the earth.” So the first point is the flood prevailed.

The second point, and this is what the Lord wants you to know. He's not interested in the geology. But He is interested in the theology. Verse 21, "All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms on the earth, and all mankind." Verse 22, “All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died.” Death by drowning.

The meaning of all of this is to teach us that the future of sinners is devastating. They all died. There is no comment on the terror of the doomed. There's no note of sympathy. The decision is without regret on the part of God and without remedy. Sinners and their corrupted environment must be destroyed. The wicked then will be destroyed by fire that will incinerate the entire universe.

Verse 23, “So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.” God is not at all reluctant to take the responsibility. He takes full responsibility for all the destruction. This is not a natural disaster. This is a supernatural judgment.

Was Noah a perfect man? Was he a sinless man? Not at all. He was a believer in the true God, who had repented of his sin and sought to obey God. Hebrews 11:7 says, "By faith, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his house." And he was saved by God, like Lot in Genesis 19, was saved from the fire and the brimstone that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 8:1, “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.” There hadn't been wind in the past with a whole different hydrology with a new different earth environment. God created wind which would begin to move the waters, which then moved the canopy since the sun was fully exposed.

Verse 2-3, “The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.” All of this was powerful and full of creativity. God created mountain ranges up to 30,000 feet. He created ocean depths where some parts of the sea are as deep as 35,000 feet in depth.

Verse 4-5, “Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.” The seventh month was mentioned so that we know this is history. Precision is here to tell us this is history that really happened.

A lot of people have tried to find the ark. Is that important? No. It's enough that the Bible says it, right? It's the same with the Shroud of Turin. Who cares? You might be able to prove it was a dead person who was crucified. But we know that Jesus died and rose again, from Scripture. The Bible is our only authority, not an old piece of cloth or some wood found on a mountain called Ararat.

Now we live in a new world. The valleys and the mountains and the lakes and the streams are here, and the seeds are here, and they began to grow again, and the animals went off, and they began to make more animals. And they moved around the whole planet and spread around and, man did the same. Seventy percent of our new world is now covered with water from the flood containing 330 million cubic miles of water.

2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come, and it will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” You say, "Oh, 4,000 years have gone by, and it hasn't happened." Remember: With the Lord, a thousand years is as a day. This flood is the greatest warning God has ever given.

But there is the ark of safety, Christ. For those who believe in Him, they will be taken out to escape that judgment, and God will remember them, as He remembered Noah. Many believers have died and are with the Lord now. But those believers who are alive when the judgment comes will be delivered from that judgment like Noah was. Because God knows who belongs to Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 May 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190512 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000006D imblog

Genesis 7:6-16

“6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. 7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.”

“10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark.”

“14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.”

The Genesis Flood has massive implications with regard to understanding the exclusivity of salvation. There is a movement today called "The Openness of God Movement." They believe that God doesn't control the future, because He doesn't know the future. But here He says to Noah that, "I'm going to drown the entire world 120 years from now," and He proceeded to do exactly that.

The Flood account is given in simple, precise and repeated detail. This is to be sure that we have here an unmistakable historical record of judgment. And so nobody is mistaken, it is repeated. It is designed to show us how God deals with sin. And it is a previews of the coming judgment of what God will do in the end of the age when He destroys the world by fire in 2 Peter 3.

At the time they were ready to enter the ark, the 120 years were up. So in Genesis 7: 2 God says, "You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female, and of the animals that are not clean, two, a male and his female." The clean animals were those used for sacrifices. They were called clean in the sense that they were set apart for sacrifice.

And God says, "You're the only ones that are righteous." We know they were righteous because God declared them righteous. They were righteous not on their own merit, but by virtue of the provision that Christ would make later at the cross. And they were righteous because of 120 years of long obedience. It says in Genesis 6:22, "Noah did according to all that God had commanded him."

And all of these animals were taken on board in order, and the reason for that in verse 3, "To keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth," which again is an indication of a universal worldwide flood. So you have the future of humanity and the future of the animal creation under one roof, all those animals and those eight souls on the ark. And all the genetic data for all the variations of life had come from those few.

The largest estimate was that you needed 30 to 40 thousand species of animals to cover all the species. And the capacity of the ark was large enough to contain 125 thousand animals according to their size. There was plenty of genetic capacity on the ark for the reproduction of all those animals. We all originally came from Adam and Eve and the difference in genetics between two people is only 0.2 %.

Now in the original creation there was no rain. There was just this mist from spring water rising from the ground watering the surface. An underground watering system that also created rivers that are in the description of the Garden of Eden. That hydrological pattern was very different from the hydrological pattern today where water evaporates into clouds, dumped on land, runs into rivers, and then back into the ocean.

And God used rain here to destroy the entire human race. But since then He has used it to bless the human race. The word for rain is in the Hebrew is ‘matar’, normal rain. But if you have it for 40 days and 40 nights all over the planet, it becomes something greater than normal rain. And the rain in verse 12 is described using a different word, ‘geshem’, meaning a torrential downpour.

Rain for forty days and forty nights is completely impossible under current conditions. That's why we know that the hydrology of Noah's day was very different. Genesis 1:6-7, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.”

There was a vast blanket of water in order to rain for 40 days and 40 nights, there had to be a lot more water up there than there is now. If all the water currently in all the clouds surrounding the earth were dumped on the earth, it could only cover the earth less than an inch in depth. God designed it to do what He wanted it to do to create that environment. It must have been transparent to see the light through it.

It's reasonable to assume that this vapor did filter out some of the killing effects of ultra-violet light because people lived so long. Also, if there was kind of a greenhouse effect from this vapor, there would be no variation in temperature. And if there's no variation in temperature, there's no wind, so you had this perfect environment, warm, tropical with adequate moisture everywhere.

And then all that was changed. In Genesis 7:4, God says, "I'm going to send rain." That means that God held that water up there for just such a time as this. In 2 Peter 3, it tells us that God is going to destroy the earth next time with fervent heat. Just as in the pre-flood world, the instrument of destruction was built into the fabric of that creation. So the instrument of our future destruction is also built in the fabric of this universe.

And God says: I will blot out, all that has life, all that grows. The earth will be stripped of all animals, stripped of vegetation, plants, trees, whole forests will be uprooted in the cataclysmic floods that would come about. This judgment will mark the end of the first creation. This is the greatest judgment in that time. And we know that this is a preview of the greater judgment to come.

Noah was 601 when he got out of the ark, according to Genesis 8:14-16, so he was in the ark for one year and ten days. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, but it took a long time for the water to subside and the ark to land and for them to leave. Does it matter that he was 600 years old? Yes, if you're a historian it matters. And Moses, the inspired writer of the Pentateuch, fixes this event in time and history.

Genesis 9:28-29 tell us that he lived to be 900, so when he came out of the ark he had 300 years left in his life. This is not myth or symbolic. Ancient historical records are dated by some significant point in a person's life. This is true of ancient writing, modern writing and it's true in Scripture. And at the time of the Flood there was only one king and that was Noah. So Noah did all what God said.

Verse 7, “So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.” They got on and just waited. Verse 8-9, “Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.” Noah was just the welcoming committee, and the animals just showed up.

Earlier in Genesis 2, God brought to Adam all the animals for him to name. So similarly He could certainly bring them all to the ark. This is one of the great miracles of the Old Testament, and in terms of volume it's the greatest. This is an expression of the power of God. Why do people believe that God created all animals, but do not believe that He could also make them do whatever He wanted them to do.

And the Lord just brought them exactly at the time they needed to be brought in. They were all put in their special compartment, no doubt there were thousands of them on the three floors. Some people said, "How did the kangaroos get from Australia? They can't swim." But remember, the earth before the Flood was quite different from the present earth configuration. There were no great oceans nor high mountains then.

One of the things following the Flood, study geology, was that ice piled up on both poles and we had the great Ice Age. And before it melted, the continents were not fully submerged and there were land bridges that stretched from the Middle East to Australia. So different animals could migrate to different areas. It's enough to know that God can do whatever God wants to do.

What about dinosaurs? If you put them in a pre-flood environment and you have got a protected environment, then you are going to have reptiles that are huge such as the skeletal remains that we find in the ground of those great massive dinosaurs. But God controlled what animal species got on the ark, and He only took a few lizards and a few other reptiles that we are familiar with.

The same can be said of mammoths. An estimated five million mammoths whose remains are buried all across the coastline of northern Siberia and Alaska were frozen and buried in the ground. All the descendants of large animals became smaller in size as the environment changed. And the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, states that matter breaks down, and life is getting shorter for animals.

And then the Flood came. Verse 10, “And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth.” Here is God saying something is going to happen in 120 years and it happens exactly that way He said it was going to happen. God fixed this chronology: A hundred and twenty years, seven days, the six hundredth year, the kids are a hundred years old.”

Verse 11-12, “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.” So for us we don't know what the second month is. The point here is to make it clear that this is history and that it really happened.

It rains 40 days, 40 nights, and the water floods the earth for 150 days. The water later recedes to the point that the ark rests on Ararat mountain in the sixth hundredth year of Noah, the seventh month of the seventeenth day. Forty days later, in his six hundred and first year he comes out, and he waits 26 days before disembarking in the second month the twenty-seventh day. This indicates the historicity of this event.

So what exactly does “fountains of the great deep” mean? Genesis 1 tells us there was water below the earth and water above the earth. The water below the earth here is described as springs in the great subterranean reservoirs. We do not know where this massive amount of water down inside the earth flowed. But it tells us it burst open maybe caused by volcanic eruptions.

It says on that same day the windows of heaven were also opened. And it took six weeks for that water up there to be dumped on the earth. And all that water filled up the sunken places known as oceans, and rising high enough to cover Mount Ararat and other mountains close to 20,000 feet in elevation. Mountains rose, valleys fell, polar ice caps were created quick freezing animals.

So when Noah got on the ark, he left one kind of planet. When he got off the ark, it was a whole different one. Look at Isaiah 24:1, "Behold the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants." Isaiah describes the Flood. Verse 18, "He who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare, for the windows above are opened.”

Psalm 36:6, “Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Lord, You preserve man and beast.” The same God who brings destruction also brings comfort. Genesis 7: 13-16 remind us of that, “On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark.”

This is history, “14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.”

The Lord brought the animals and the Lord closed the door. Remember, there's only one door on the side in the original instruction. God closed the door and He sealed it from the outside miraculously, without human hands. The whole world was behind them, never to be seen again as they had known it. The world was soon to be below them and they were embarking on the most incredible journey of faith ever.

Nobody had ever or before or since taken such an incredible journey as this. What an adventure. The biggest floating structure ever built up to that time, rain they had never seen, and the destruction of the entire planet. They're floating along in a zoo, guided only by God and living in the hope of a better world and a new life. And all the future of the world is huddled under that one roof.

And in 1 Peter 3:20 - 21, Peter sees the ark as a picture of Jesus. Because it's when we come to Christ that we rise above the judgment waters, right? As the eight were brought safely through the waters of judgment by being sealed in the ark, so believers are brought safely through judgment by being sealed by the Spirit in the ark who is Jesus Christ. Sinners, come into the ark of safety. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 May 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190505 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000006C imblog

Mark 16:1-8

Before we look at the end of Mark, please turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-7, “Brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

“4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also.”

Notice by the words here of the apostle Paul that the resurrection occupies most of this portion of Scripture. He makes a reference to the death of Christ, he makes a reference to the burial of Christ, but the main emphasis is on the evidences of His resurrection. The reason for that is the resurrection is not simply a component of the gospel, it is not merely a feature of the gospel, it is the main event.

It is the greatest event in the life of our Lord Jesus. And since His life is the greatest life, it is the greatest event in all of human history. It is the culminating event in divine redemption. It is the cornerstone of gospel promise. The resurrection is the source of eternal life for us who believe. Without the resurrection, the cross would mean nothing and the teachings of Jesus would also mean nothing.

The works of Jesus would mean nothing because without the resurrection, there would be no salvation. The resurrection is not the epilogue, it is the climax of the life of Christ and His work. The church does not and never has met on Friday, as important as the cross is. The church has always met on Sunday because the church has always understood the priority of the resurrection.

And the resurrection of Christ is also the key to our own resurrection. And what is unique to Christianity is that we who believe in Christ are promised to be raised from the dead physically, literally, bodily just as He was into His resurrection form in which we will live forever. There is no such promise in Islam or in Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other world religion.

In 1 Corinthians 15:14-17, we read this, “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile.”

As we return to the gospel of Mark, let us establish the setting. All four gospel writers tell the resurrection story. As all four tell the story of His crucifixion, all four follow it up with His resurrection. Each of the writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) bring to bear upon the story unique elements and features. The result is a blending of all of these inspired accounts to give us the full revelation of this event.

There is in the midst of this rich harmony of the resurrection accounts of Jesus Christ, one thing missing. It is the resurrection itself. There’s no description of what happened. The phenomenon is not described. No one saw it, nor could anyone explain it. How it happened is supernatural. That it happened is the critical matter and that fact is fully established by all four writers.

Listen to Mark 16:1-3, “Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”

Verses 4-8, “But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.”

“7 But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” 8 So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” And that’s the end of the resurrection account in Mark. It ends abruptly, but it also ends climactically, with amazement and wonder.

In verses 9 through 20, you will notice in your Bible a marginal note explaining that these verses do not appear in the most ancient manuscripts. Mark ends his gospel with the blazing reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, gripping the souls of these women with wonder and astonishment. The four gospels each give differing details of the resurrection. Matthew has a lot more to say beyond where Mark stops.

Luke and John also have a lot more to say beyond where Mark stops the narrative. And this shows the fact that the writing of the gospels was not some kind of contrived operation by a committee of people. These are individually inspired writers, and they’re writing from their own experiences. Mark sat at the feet of Peter and reflects much of what Peter’s view of things were. The stories are real, natural and personal.

And yet it all blends perfectly together. That proves the divine authorship of the Holy Scripture. There are some variations in what people experienced, but all these people show up on Sunday morning and experienced an empty tomb, angels, a confrontation with Christ, and are in some state of shock. All four writers of the gospels record that Jesus was truly dead. He died on a cross on Friday afternoon.

He was buried on Friday afternoon, and He was placed in a tomb, and the tomb was sealed with a stone. And they all record that on Sunday morning, He rose from the dead, the tomb was empty, angels explained that He had risen, and Christ began to appear to His followers. They all record all of that. Now, when we go through Mark, we blend in John, Luke and Matthew to get a full picture.

You will read one story of Christ into which all four writers’ elements will be blended. But for now, let’s go to Mark’s account first. Remember, Jesus said that He would rise in John 2: 19, “If you destroy this body, in three days I will raise it up.” He always said three days. We’ve seen that in Mark 8:31, Mark 9: 31 and Mark 10: 33 - 34. He said to them repeatedly, “I’m going to die and I’m going to rise.”

Now we are going to see evidence of the resurrection along three lines: the testimony of the empty tomb, the testimony of the heavenly angels, and the testimony of the eyewitnesses. Mark 16: 1, “Now when the Sabbath was past,” Saturday ends at six o’clock, they mark their days at sundown. We are now twelve hours into the day after Sabbath and it is now Sunday early morning.

Sunday is the third day. He was put in the grave on Friday afternoon before six o’clock. He was in the grave on Saturday. He’s been in the grave nearly twelve hours on Sunday. That covers the three days in the grave. Any part of a day constitutes a day. The most important day for the Jews was always Saturday. The most important day from this moment on for God’s people now is Sunday.

Since that weekend, no Sabbath has been required or is even legitimate. The last Passover happened at the end of that week, and Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper as the new memorial feast commemorating His death. And there is no legitimate Passover since then. Everything changed on the first day of that week. And that is why the church meets regularly on Sunday.

After His resurrection Jesus met with his disciples on Sunday. Acts 20: 7, “The church always met on the first day.” 1 Corinthians 16: 2, “The church gathered on the first day.” It was so established and standardized that in Revelation 1:10, it says, “John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” So it wasn’t the first day anymore, it was the Lord’s Day, and it still is early on Sunday morning, right on schedule.

And now on Sunday they come back. Verse 1, “Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.” These were women who’d been with Jesus for a couple of years. They loved and adored Him. They served and worshiped Him. They are caught up in agonizing sorrow. This is the One in whom they believed their salvation rested.

This is an action of love on their part. Verse 2, “Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.” Luke says, “At the early dawn.” Matthew says, “When it began to dawn.” But John says, “While it was still dark.” John 20:1, “Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while dark.” And these women arrive when the sun has already risen. So these women came later.

Mary Magdalene sees the stone rolled away, says John, so she turns around and heads for Peter and John. What’s the message? John 20: 2, “They have stolen the corpse.” That’s her conclusion. That tells us that she didn’t believe in a resurrection. Even with all the miracles, they still didn’t believe it. Mary just makes the assumption His body has been stolen, and doesn’t even see the other women.

Verse 3, “And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” Verse 4, “But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large.” They expected to anoint a dead body to mitigate the stench. But before that in Matthew 27:62-66 the chief priests and the Pharisees met with Pilate to secure the tomb with a seal and guards, lest his disciples steal Him away.

Something else happened on that Sunday morning. Matthew 28: 2-4, “And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.” The soldiers were so terrified, they go into a coma.

The stoned was rolled away not to let Jesus out but to let the women in. By the time the women arrive, there are no soldiers. Verse 5, “And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.” The soldiers awoke at some point and they knew they had failed at their duty. And they have to report to the Sanhedrin. We will come back to them later.

Everything so far is to demonstrate one thing alone: The tomb is empty. That’s what Mark says and so does John and Luke and Matthew. And we know the disciples didn’t steal the body because they didn’t even believe in a resurrection. The Roman soldiers knew they didn’t steal the body. The women knew they didn’t steal the body. And Peter and John knew they didn’t steal the body.

Look at Matthew 28:11-13, “Now while they were going, behold some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’”

Soldiers cannot fall asleep, they should be fulfilling their duty. And how did they know what happened if they were asleep? But, they had no other option, so in verse 15 they took the money and did as they had been instructed. The soldiers went everywhere saying, “The disciples stole the body,” And this story was so widely spread among the Jews that it was still around when Matthew wrote this twenty-five years later.

Well, the women are now in shock. They saw a young man sitting at the right wearing a white blazing robe! Luke says there were actually two angels who suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. John 20: 12, says there were actually two angels. A little later, as the women encounter the angels, they were sitting, one at the head and one at the feet on the slab where the body of Jesus once was.

Perhaps they spoke and said different things. In fact, there are different things recorded here by Mark and other writers. One of the angels said to them in verse 6, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” In Luke 24:5 one of the angels also said, “Why are you seeking the living One among the dead?”

Here is historic revelation from heavenly angels. They speak for God. There’s also a third evidence to prove the resurrection, from the testimony of eyewitnesses in verses 7 - 8, “But go, tell His disciples, and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” 8 So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing, for they were afraid.”

Matthew 28:8-10 says, “So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. 9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

The resurrection thus is established as a fact of history, as a fact of theology by the angelic testimony. It is the most important event in the life of Christ. It is the most important event in the history of the world. It is the most important event in your life and mine because it is by His resurrection that we are justified and that we will live forever. To deny the resurrection is to deny the facts. Praise the Lord. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Apr 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190421 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000006B imblog

Mark 15:33-41

Let us begin with Mark 15:31, “Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.” 33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.”

“34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”35 Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!” 36 Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.”

“37 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. 38 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” 40 There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome.”

“41 who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.” Everything about this is intended to show Jesus scorn and disdain and ridicule and mock the notion that He is any kind of king at all. But God doesn’t come down to destroy the blasphemers, and He doesn’t come down to protect His Son.

Was God not there? God was there and He was there not to protect His Son, but to punish His Son. Let’s look at the passage. Three features come out of this account. First, we look at the Savior and His sacrifice. Then we look at the centurion and the confession of his faith. And then we look at the women and the confusion in their minds. First of all, the Savior and His death in verses 33 through 38.

Here’s the high point of salvation history. This is the long-awaited Lamb of God dying for the sins of the world. Words are inadequate to capture the supernatural reality of what is happening on the cross. Verse 33, “When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.” The sixth hour for the Jews is noon for us. The Jewish day begins at 6:00 AM, at sunrise.

The Lord by this time had already spoken three times. He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” to the thief on the cross that forgiveness was available if he asked for it, which he did. Then He said to John, “Behold your mother,” to care for Mary. And Jesus said to His mother, “Behold your son,” meaning John. The third thing He said to the thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

With the sun at noon is precisely the moment that darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. What is this? Some said that this is a natural eclipse. No way. Others have suggested that this is satanic darkness. But the truth is that this is God coming on the scene. If you read the Old Testament, you would know that God is often spoken in many places as light: Psalm 27:1, Psalm 18, Psalm 26, Isaiah 2, Isaiah 60.

Light in the sense of truth, wisdom, holiness and righteousness. His presence is the Shekinah light. However, there were times when God shows Himself as darkness. And it goes back to Genesis 15:12-15, and Exodus 10:21-22, and Exodus 19:16-18 at Mount Sinai, and Isaiah 5, and Isaiah 8 when God appears in darkness. The presence of God could be manifest light or manifest darkness.

Darkness symbolizes divine fury. Darkness symbolizes righteous wrath. Darkness then, is the form of God’s presence in judgment. That is why hell is a place that Jesus said in Matthew three times, is outer darkness, where there’s weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And it is the darkness of God’s presence. He is the one who is present there in judgment from noon to three o’clock.

During that time hell came to Jerusalem. For three hours, hell came to Golgotha as God unleashed the full extent of everlasting punishment on His Son. Wrath, in Isaiah 13:9, mean fierce anger. As God is the real power behind hell’s punishing experience, God is the true power behind the darkness of Calvary for here He unleashes judgment for believers on His Son.

This was the cup of wrath that Jesus anticipated in the Garden. This is why it was such a revolting anticipation that made Him sweat drops of blood because in those three hours, Jesus suffered the eternal hell of all the people through human history who would be saved. He bore all their eternal punishments together and did it in three hours. Jesus could receive an infinite amount of wrath because He is infinite and eternal.

This darkness then is not the absence of God or the presence of Satan. This darkness is God in full judgment vengeance, God in full judgment fury. It is infinite wrath moved by infinite justice, releasing infinite punishment on the infinite Son, who can absorb all the tortures of eternities of hell and do it in three hours. It is in those three hours that Christ took the curse.

And at the ninth hour, it ended. Three in the afternoon our time. And Mark records the fourth statement of our Lord, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is the first thing He said after the darkness ended. What does that mean? Our Lord is expressing that the judgment has ended, and He wants the comfort. He experienced the separation from God.

And His words were prophesied in Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God was there in the punishment, but now Christ is saying, “Where are you in comforting?” This is a reminder that hell is the full fury of God’s personal punishment and He will never be there to comfort. Hell is punishment without relief. So even this is for Jesus to suffer.

When Jesus said, “My God, my God,” this is the only time in the New Testament that He ever referred to God in any other way than “Father.” But now He is feeling His absence. This double expression is a way to identify the person you’re addressing with affection. For example, the angel says, “Abraham, Abraham,” in Genesis 22. In Exodus 3, God says, “Moses, Moses.” David in 2 Samuel 18 - 19 says, “Absalom, Absalom.”

His cry raised no question with the people in verse 35. When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Behold, He’s calling for Elijah.” Here again a repeat of sarcasm. They heard what He said in Aramaic, “Eloi, Eloi” is “My God, my God.” But in mockery they said, “Oh, He’s calling for Elijah.” Why would they say that? Because Malachi 4:5-6 says that when the Messiah came, Elijah also would be there.

Most likely that total darkness for three hours would shut down the mocking. But this blasphemy continues. Verse 36, “Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.” That’s just more of the same abuse, more of the same scorn and blasphemy.

They have seen His miracles, they have seen His casting out of demons. They have seen His raising of the dead. They all know Lazarus was raised from the dead because that’s a family well-known by the people in the city. They have heard Jesus’ teaching. It had no effect on them. They have seen His compassion and His kindness. And now they have seen how He dies. It does not move them.

Verse 37, “And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.” Why a loud cry? Because He said in John 10:18, “No one takes it from Me. because I lay down My life that I may take it again.” He didn’t die because He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t die because He was out of strength. In John 19:30, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, He cried out on a loud voice, ‘It is finished.’”

In Luke 23:46 Jesus says, “Into your hands, I commit my Spirit.” He said three things before the darkness, nothing during the darkness, and four statements after the darkness, “And breathed His last.” In Mark there are two immediate events. Verse 38, “Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” This was the most important curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place.

This symbolized the sinners’ separation from God. But the New Covenant of salvation at the moment Jesus died was ratified. He had paid in full the punishment, justly for all who would ever believe. And at 3:00 in the afternoon on that Friday in April in the year A.D. 30, the Old Covenant was abolished. All sacrifices became pointless because the only saving sacrifice had been offered.

And when the curtain was split from top to bottom, it couldn’t have been done by man, it had to be done by God. It was God’s exclamation point on the death of His Son. And what it said was the way into the presence of God is now wide open for anyone. What does the death of the Lord Jesus accomplish? It obliterates the symbols and the ceremonies and brings salvation to everyone who chooses to enter.

The way to God has been opened by the death of Christ. It’s the end of the priesthood and the sacrificial system. It’s the end of the temple and the Holy of Holies. At that moment, the priests began to slaughter tens of thousands of Passover lambs so that people could eat the Passover meal that evening. At that same time the Passover Lamb Himself had been slain by God. So all other sacrifices were pointless.

Mark doesn’t tell us, but Matthew does, that there was another miracle that happened at the time the veil was torn. Matthew 27:51 says, “The earth quaked and the rocks were split.” And earthquakes in Scripture are very often like the darkness. The Day of the Lord is associated with not only the darkness but also with great earthquakes. Nahum 1:5, “The mountains quake before Him. The earth heaves at His presence.”

Another miracle happened according to Matthew 27:52 - 53, “The graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the graves after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” The veil is torn. Earthquakes take place. Graves are opened. Dead people come back to life and proclaim the truth after the resurrection of our Lord.

This is a pre-figuring of the resurrection. So God did show up at Calvary. Next we read the centurion’s confession. Verse 39, “So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” This centurion was involved in the execution. He’s a career battle-hardened soldier familiar with death.

He has been guarding Jesus from the beginning. He is an eyewitness of everything, most likely from the arrest of Jesus in the early hours of Friday in the Garden all the way to this final moment. He saw it all, the mock trials, the abuse, the spitting, the punching, the slapping, the sneering, the mocking, and the ridicule. He saw Jesus take it all and he saw no retaliation.

He heard what Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Perhaps he heard because he was near the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” He heard everything. He heard Pilate repeatedly declare that Jesus was innocent. And he concluded, “This is no ordinary man.” And he now comes to the right conclusion that He is the Son of God.

I don’t know how he got all of this information, but Paul, on the road to Damascus, was, by the sovereign and divine intervention of God, regenerated and converted instantly. And the thief on the cross was given life by a sovereign spirit in the midst of his ridicule. And here is this Gentile soldier, the first convert to Christ after His crucifixion. And he’s not alone, other soldiers with him had the same response.

Some wonderful things happened at Calvary. A Jewish blasphemer was saved, the thief. A few Gentiles, the blaspheming soldiers were forgiven and saved, and the message is that the grace of God in forgiveness and salvation is extended to the worst blasphemers. On the other hand, Luke 23:48 says, “The crowds, when they observed what had happened, began to return beating their breasts.”

It doesn’t say anything about them believing, but some of them did. In Acts 2, some of them must have been there on the Day of Pentecost, where three thousand repented, believed. And were saved and within a few weeks, thousands and thousands more. At the very moment of the death of Christ, the purpose of His death to save penitent sinners is realized, the Jew first and then the Gentile.

Third point is verses 40 and 41, “There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, 41 who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.” Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness of Jesus after His resurrection. Mary was the mother of James and Joses.

There’s another lady named Salome. She is the mother of James and John, the wife of Zebedee. They were eyewitnesses of His entire ministry in Galilee and subsequently in Judea for the last year of His life. And they are the eyewitnesses of His resurrection. And in Mark, only two groups have ministered to Christ. These women and the holy angels. So they functioned as a kind of earthly angels. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Apr 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190414 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000006A imblog

Mark 14:32-42

We are in the history of the Passion Week of our Lord Jesus Christ, the week of His crucifixion and resurrection. Here we see our Lord’s agony in the garden of Gethsemane as He wrestles with the coming cross. This is set on Friday morning, in the middle of the night, the very day He was crucified and died. Remember Isaiah 53 where God spoke through His prophet how Christ would suffer in our place?

Jesus knew the effects of sin, disease, unbelief, ignorance, rejection, disobedience, suffering, poverty, loss, and certainly death. He even gave temporary relief to them, showing His compassion as He healed people, cast demons out of them, raised the dead, and fed the hungry crowds. This was a temporary, physical reprieve from the sorrows of life for the brief three years of His ministry.

It was also a preview of His kingdom. He will return to establish an earthly kingdom, and in that kingdom, suffering will be diminished. Life will be lengthened. Health will be increased. But that will, even at its best, only be a preview of heaven, where there is no sickness, no sadness, no crying, no tears, and no death. But our Lord saw it all and felt it all. And He was moved with compassion.

But there was no grief ever in His life like the experience recorded in these verses. This has been called His last temptation. This particular experience of sorrow and grief is so severe, that it almost kills Him, He actually sweat blood. This is a momentous experience in the life of our Lord, in the middle of the night, on that Friday. Let me read it to you, beginning in verse 32.

“And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.”

“36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” 37 And He came and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 39 And again He went away and prayed, saying the same words.”

“40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” Jesus knew Judas had come.

This is the great battle. Jesus said, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.” Verse 32, “They came” – “they” meant Jesus and the 11 disciples, Judas left to go plan the arrest of Jesus a little later. Jesus and the 11 leave the place where they had the Passover and the Lord’s Table. Verse 26 said at the end of Thursday night, just around midnight, “They sang a hymn, and they headed to the Mount of Olives.”

On the way Jesus says, “You’re all going to fall; you’re all going to stumble; you’re all going to be scattered; you’re all going to end up denying Me.” They don’t believe it. Verse 31, “Peter says, ‘I will die before I will do that!’ And they all said the same thing.” Jesus warned them about their weakness, about the danger, and about coming temptation. That was the conversation as they headed to the Mount of Olives.

They arrive at this garden. It’s named Gethsemane, which means olive press. It’s the Mount of Olives. They grow olives there even to this day. When they arrived there, “He said to His disciples, ‘Sit here until I have prayed.’” But that’s not all He said. According to Luke 22:40 – He also said, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Use prayer as the means to overcome it.

Verse 33, “He took with Him Peter, James, and John.” Why? He left eight of them by the entrance, took Peter, James, and John deeper into the garden, which means it was a large garden. They were the leaders. James and John, had the sense that they were close to Jesus. And Peter was the recognized leader. And they needed to learn a lesson. So, Jesus calls them to go with Him.

If Christ Himself needs to pray in the face of temptation, how much more do we need to pray? As He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, He drew on the Father’s power and protection. How much more do we need to? On the way, verse 33 says, “He began to be very distressed and troubled.” What is going to shock Him? Is there anything He doesn’t know?

Yes, there is an experience He’s never had, and He’s about to have it. What was it that caused these kinds of feelings of anguish? Well, the anguish that captures Him now is something beyond that. It is the anticipation of experiencing the Father’s wrath and embracing the role of becoming a sacrifice for sin. He has never known the wrath of God. He has never known alienation.

We are tempted by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life the Bible says. He had none of those. He was fully man but had no human sinfulness. Nothing in His nature that would be drawn to sin. His temptation, therefore, is not attacking Him at the point of sin as His vulnerability, like it is for us. It is attacking Him at the point of holiness. In this temptation, Satan’s on the side of His holiness.

We struggle because the power of evil is so strong in our nature. We battle against ever-present, unholy, internal impulses. And we struggle to do what is right, to grasp righteousness. Not so Jesus. He struggled in the exactly opposite way because of His holy nature, His sinless purity, because of His total righteousness and obedience to God.

That righteousness was the single motive and impulse of His holy soul is clearly indicated in Scripture, and what God was asking Him to do was to embrace sin as a sin-bearer – not as a sinner, but as a sin-bearer to take the wrath of God for sin, to receive divine punishment. Jesus struggled because His power of holiness was resisting becoming a sin-bearer and receiving the wrath of God.

And the level of divine wrath is staggering because our Lord will embrace eternities of wrath. Eternities of divine punishment. For every sinner for whom He died, He took that sinner’s eternal wrath. For the millions of sinners for whom He died, He took millions eternities full of wrath. And He was totally undefiled and separate from sinners, and how could this be? That’s why His struggle was so immense.

Verse 34 says, “My soul is deeply grieved,” literally surrounded by sorrow. He is engulfed in this grief to the point of death. He had never said yes to guilt. He never said yes to sin-bearing. He never said yes to punishment. In fact, His anguish is so immense in this struggle of His own nature and increased in some way by Satan, trying to get Him to avoid the cross.

Luke 22:43 says, “God sent an angel to strengthen Him.” How severe was it? Luke 22:44 says the struggle was so immense, the stress on His physical form was so great that He began to sweat drops of blood. Under immense stress, the capillaries inflate, and explode, and then blood comes out the sweat glands. And this is the maximum point of human stress. And an angel had to strengthen His life.

“Remain here,” He says in verse 34 “and keep watch.” And He left the three in the garden. And verse 35, “He went a little beyond them.” And Luke 22: 41 says, “He went a stone’s throw. And He fell to the ground and He began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.” The hour of the power of the darkness, of all the suffering leading up to and including His cross.

Some people say, “Doesn’t this show reluctance to obey His Father?” Now if He didn’t react like this, we would wonder whether He was holy, right? This is the only possible of a holy person about the thought of bearing sin, guilt and judgment. We don’t have a perfect hatred for sin; Jesus did. His plea is absolutely consistent with His nature as God. No wonder He came almost to the point of death.

His words are even given here. This is His actual prayer, a passionate petition. He was saying in verse 36, “Abba! Father!” No Jew would ever even call God Father, let alone call Him Abba. “All things are possible for You,” He says. That is an absolute fact. There is nothing that God doesn’t have the power to do and the privilege to do. He can do whatever He wants in all the Earth.

However, God couldn’t allow Christ to miss the cross. If Jesus doesn’t go to the cross, then we have some big problems. Satan wins; nobody is saved and heaven is empty; hell is full; the Bible isn’t true; the promises of God are lies and there is no salvation. God said Himself that without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sins. God can’t go back on His word. He always fulfills His promises.

The request nonetheless, is clear. We know what’s on Jesus’ heart, “Remove this cup from Me.” Cup is the symbol from the Old Testament of divine wrath. You see that in Psalm 11, Psalm 75, Isaiah 51, Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 49, Lamentations 4, and other places. “Let this cup of wrath pass from Me.” Our Lord referred to it in Matthew 20:22 when He said, “Can you drink the cup that I’m about to drink?”

Earlier, in John 12, the issue came up about Him dying. He said, “I’m going to die.” And He even gave an illustration of it in verse 24, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain.” He was saying, “I need to die to bring forth the fruit that God has ordained.” And then He said this in John 12:27, “Now My soul is troubled.”

“But for this purpose I came to this hour.” He knew that. So here comes His triumphant resolution, “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” In the end, that’s what Jesus always said, “I only do what the Father tells Me, shows Me, desires of Me, and what I see the Father do. I follow only His direction.” Even when He was 12 years old, “I must be about My Father’s business.”

Well, in the horrors of that agonizing struggle, He starts to think about the disciples. We see affectionate exhortation. Verse 37, “He came and found them sleeping.” Peter, James, and John. “He said to Peter, ‘Simon,’ are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?’” Luke actually adds something helpful, “They went to sleep for sorrow.” Where was the kingdom?

Our Lord warns them in verse 38, “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation.” The point is this, in the middle of the most agony of His entire existence, He is concerned about us. Now, that’s the kind of High Priest we all need, right? A compassionate High Priest, who in the middle of a supernatural struggle, goes back because He cares about the spirituality of His disciples.

Verse 39, “Then He went away, and He prayed, saying the same words.” As in verse 36, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” He didn’t say it in six seconds. He repeated those words agonizingly over perhaps a period of hours. But He went back to pray the same prayer. He only interrupted the prayer because He was concerned about their spirituality.

Verse 40, “And again Jesus came back, still concerned. He stops praying again and comes out of this immense struggle. And He found them sleeping again, for their eyes were very heavy; and they didn’t know what to answer Him.” And then He went back in to pray some more. And He said the same thing again. Three times He poured out His heart, saying, “Remove this cup from Me.”

Verse 41, “The third time He came, and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting?’” So, we have seen the affliction and the petition. There’s a final remauk coming in the last couple of verses, the triumphant submission. He yields to the will of the Father in those three cycles of prayer. But He finally comes out triumphant. The last temptation is over.

In the middle of verse 41 Jesus says, “It’s enough.” Temptation over, struggle finished, prayer done, answer clear. “The hour has come.” He means by that it’s now here. He says, “Look, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.” There was an entourage coming, the Sanhedrin of Israel and also soldiers. There were as many as 600 Roman soldiers.

How is it that God would allow Christ to be turned over to sinners who would kill Him? That was precisely the issue that He struggled with. But He steps up triumphant in verse 42, “Get up, let us be going.” He is bloodied, but He is unbowed, and He gives the order. “See, My betrayer is at hand.” Judas was coming up the hill.

Verse 43 describes the crowd with swords – why? Because they were all afraid that if the crowds of Jerusalem found out, there could be a massive revolution to protect Jesus, and they would need this force to quell the riot. Jesus confronts them. According to John 18, Jesus went forward, “Whom are you seeking?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” He says, “I am He.” And they all fell down to the ground.

What was it that caused Jesus to come out with that triumphant submission? The answer is in Hebrews 5 :7, “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His holiness.” Jesus entrusted Himself to God, who was able to save Him from death and would do so because He was holy. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Apr 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190407 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000069 imblog

Genesis 6:13-22

Tonight we study Genesis 6:13-22. We already know that God is going to destroy the world. That message in the first 12 verses tell us that judgment is coming. Repeatedly God the eternal and holy creator and sustainer of the universe acts in history in two ways: one, sinners are judged, and two, He rescues redeemed sinners from judgment. That is the story of Scripture of redemption.

Now Genesis 6 - 9 describes the flood. This is a worldwide cataclysmic judgment that wipes out all of humanity and is essentially a preview of the final judgment of history. In the New Testament, Jesus in Matthew 24:37-39, and Luke 17:26-30, describes the future judgment of the coming of the Son of Man as being like the judgment of the days of Noah.

As we have learned, about 1650 years into human history, the flood came. God destroyed the human race, drowning them all and that was the model for what He will do in the end by fire. We are now 4500 years plus past the flood and that judgment has not yet come but it will. And there are many Christians who reject the biblical record of a world-wide flood in the Bible.

There is this new wave of theology that basically says that people all over the world who never read the Bible or hear the gospel are going to be saved because God is just too kind. He's just too merciful to destroy all these people. Well if you think that's true then you have a difficult time explaining how God drowned the entire world in the time of Noah and saved only eight.

But it is true that in judgment God always distinguishes between the wicked and the righteous. He did so in Egypt. God gave instruction about putting blood from the Passover lamb on the door posts, and if those people showed their obedience by putting that blood there, the angel of death would pass by their house while the first born children in other houses were killed.

Even the Lord Jesus spoke of this distinguishing in judgment. He said that the Father had committed all judgment to Him in John 5:28-29, “the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” God always distinguishes those of us who belong to Him.

By the time you come to the life of Noah, humanity was totally and constantly wicked. God decided to destroy all humanity but not without distinction. So having determined that He will destroy He informed Noah of the fact that He was going to destroy the entire world but spare Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. And through that, God preserved His original promise to Adam.

Now how is God going to protect Noah and his family in this holocaust? The answer to that is a real historical account but you also have a wonderful picture of how God rescues His own in the midst of judgment. In this account Noah never says anything. He doesn't speak in Genesis six, seven, eight and nine until the flood has come and gone.

And when he does finally speak the first words that come out of his mouth are a curse on his grandson Canaan. And what we learn through these chapters that this is all about God not about Noah. This is all about sovereign purpose. This is all about the almighty, holy God acting, judging and saving. Noah never says anything but he does everything God commands him to do. And there is the proof of that righteousness.

For the first time God speaks in verse 13, “And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” God is personally telling Noah of the coming of divine judgment. And the only response that Noah has through the whole account is to do exactly what God tells him to do.

Now we go to the rescue in verses 14-16. God knows the heart of Noah. He knows that Noah and his family are righteous. He knows His own purpose for them and so He tells Noah to do something. Remember He hasn't said anything about a flood yet. He hasn't said anything about water. And Noah built an ark in the middle of the land, out where there was no sea.

Verse 14-16, "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood," this isn't a boat. “Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.”

So God starts by telling him how to make an ark. It's the word ‘tebahin’ in Hebrew. It means a big box. Noah knew what a boat was but that's not what God told him to build. He said build a big rectangular, wooden box. It wasn't designed to sail and it wasn't designed to be propelled. It was only designed to float. There were no oars, there were no sails, and there was no navigator. It was just a very big box.

Now this word ‘ark’ is rarely used in the Old Testament. Only one other time it was used in the Exodus 2. This is the story of Moses. To protect Moses his mother in Exodus 2: 3-4 says, "So she got him a wicker ark," same word. "A little box made out of reeds and covered it over with tar and pitch. “4 And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him." They didn't know.

There wasn't any guidance system on it, it was just there in the river. And remember the story; the daughter of the Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile with her maidens walking alongside. She saw the ark, same word, among the reeds, sent her maid and brought it to her and you know the story from there. God controlled that little reed basket that floated Moses above the water.

In both cases God protected these arks from death by drowning. And He provided that for two outstanding men. Noah, who was to be a father of a new humanity and Moses who was to be a father of a new nation. Noah who was to lead his people into a new world and Moses who was to lead his people to a new place. Two preachers, two leaders of a new people were preserved from drowning by an ark.

The material, back to Genesis 6, was gopher wood. We have no idea what that is. Now building a box is one thing. Building a ship is another. And nobody had built a ship that big. This is massive. And Noah was not a ship builder. But this wasn't a ship. The plan was simple; make it 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high and that's it. There were no angles, no curves, just a box.

This was an immense task. That is a huge rectangle made out of wood. It's unlikely the family itself could build anything that huge so he probably employed a group of people who were skilled in building. And then the Lord gets a little more complicated, I want you to make rooms in there, compartments, thousands of them. And those rooms are on a series of three decks. And then you have to caulk it with pitch.

Now let's look at the size of the ark. It has to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. A cubit is about 18 inches. So this is 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. It's a rectangle with a flat bottom, flat sides and flat ends. The ark is the largest floating vessel ever built until the 19^th century. It was unheard of. No one could imagine or expect building a vessel so huge.

What shipbuilders learned after building ship after ship through human history is that it's critical for a ship to be stable in the water and it has to have a certain ratio. This still is the standard for large ships. And the ratios are from 6:1 to 8:1in length to width. Well do you know that the ark ratio was 6:1? Noah was not a ship builder and nobody ever had seen a boat that big, but God knows.

Henry Morris who is an engineer and a scientist concluded that the ark was so stable that it would have been turned completely vertical before it would tip over. Also it gives it a third more cargo capacity than a similar ship with a sloping hull. And the gross tonnage of the ark would be 14,000 tons. Its internal space was 100,000 square feet. And its total volume, 1.5 million cubic feet.

The ark was sufficiently large enough to carry two of every species of air breathing animal in the world. And you could do it on half the deck space. And the rest was for Noah and his family. And five additional pairs of animals, we'll find out later, who were designed for sacrifice. Only God would have the concept of building something so big that was able to float. It was 120 years before the flood came.

This to me is evidence of the integrity of the inspired character of Scripture. If Moses had invented the flood story, they never would have imagined or designed a ship that big in the ancient world. They never could have designed this from any experience they had. But God told Noah to build a flat bottom barge with no rudder; the Lord would be the rudder. And everybody in the family was going on a cruise.

A cruise with no ports and it was going to last 371 days. Verse 16 said, “You shall make a window for the ark, what was that? Well the word ‘soharis’ is used here and it's used also in Genesis 8:6 at the end of the 40 days when the window of the ark was opened. The rain came down for 40 days and then the rain stopped. By that time the earth was so flooded that they were there for a year before the floods completely subsided.

It seems to connect with some ancient sources meaning light. Some have translated that as a covering. It's better to see it as a window or better an opening. Verse 16, "You finish it to a cubic from the top." So the roof is sloped and where the roof comes out and extends past the sides of the ark there is an opening of 18 inches. Ventilation all the way around is probably the best way to understand it.

It was under the overhang and could be covered with some material during the rain. And that material could then be rolled up or removed when the rain had stopped. So there would literally be an 18 inch, a foot and a half, opening all the way around that entire ark, interrupted only by the posts that were holding up the roof providing light and ventilation.

And then Noah is told to make a door. The middle of verse 16, "Set the door of the ark, just one door, in the side of it." Many people have seen this ark as an analogy to the Lord Jesus Christ in whom there is salvation. It is also true that He is the only door available but He actually is the ark of safety and judgment. And they only needed one door and once they shut it, nobody was going to get on the ship.

So Noah doesn't know about the animals yet; he hasn't heard of that but we do. And the Lord then tells him why. Verse 17, “And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.” Here is the word flood, ‘mabule’. It is a term used only in Genesis 6-9 to describe this massive, worldwide deluge.

It refers exclusively to the Genesis flood. It is only used one other time in all the Old Testament. God reserved this word and the one other time that it's used is in Psalm 29:10, "The Lord sat as King at the flood." In a reference back to this event. So this is a unique word, an isolated word used only for this flood. This is the flood of all floods, such a flood that cannot be compared to any other kind of water disaster.

This flood, the Lord says he's bringing on the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life. Again the Scripture is very specific. Genesis 7: 21-22, “And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died.”

So this is limited to all air breathing creatures, excluding those who are under water. And he says it again at the end of verse 17, "Everything that is on the earth shall perish." Now how can people conclude there was only a local flood? There are about 75 references in these four chapters that make it impossible to conclude anything other than this was global. It speaks of the death of humanity.

Another reason it's a worldwide flood is because of the depth of the flood. The flood was at least above Mt. Ararat which is 17,000 feet high. All over the globe you can find evidences of the flood. God says in 1 Peter 3:20, "God drowned the whole world and saved eight souls," Jesus said when the Son of Man comes it's going to be like it was when the flood came. He will destroy the whole world of the ungodly.

The Lord says in verses 18-19, “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” God knows exactly who is to be judged and who is not. Noah was justified in verse 9, "He was righteous.” “19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.”

The language in verse 19 sounds a lot like the creation language of Genesis 1. Now remember the animals, "You shall bring two of every kind into the ark." You don't have to go find them because the Lord is going to collect them for you. Verse 20, "Of the birds after their kind, the animals after their kind of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind shall come to you to keep them alive."

Then in verse 21-22, “And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.” And they were all still vegetarians. And God spoke to Noah in this section seven times. A true believer is marked by a life of obedience, right? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 31 Mar 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190331 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000068 imblog

Genesis 6:5-12

Now we are coming to the reasons for the worldwide judgment of God, the Flood which drowned the entire population of the earth. Our society works hard to preserve its future, to preserve the environment, to preserve the human race, and to preserve animals. People are trying to conquer sickness, trying to figure out genetics to prolong human life. But it's not going to work.

There is nothing within the power of man to stop the inevitable destruction of the human race and the earth and the universe as we know it. The Bible tells us how history is going to end. It's going to end when the Lord Jesus returns, destroys all the ungodly, and establishes His Kingdom. At the end of that Kingdom the entire heaven and earth as we know it will cease to exist and be replaced by the eternal state.

At that time all of the human race will be destroyed. Only those who belong to God will escape that destruction. The world as we know it is not billions of years old, and it's not going to go on for billions more. It is not a universe that is uniformly sustaining itself perpetually without cataclysm and interruption. The universe as we know it is only about 4500 years old after the Flood.

This event changed the character of the skies and the earth dramatically. It also destroyed all of the human race, with the exception of eight people so that all humanity was begun again from those eight. And that destruction occurred about 1650 years after the original creation, so the whole thing is something around 6500 years old. Here we are 4500 years later on the edge of another holocaust that will kill ungodly humanity.

The big lie of evolution is that everything is always continuing the same way. That is the pervasive lie in human philosophy. Look at 2 Peter 3:1-2, “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.”

Peter says, I want to take you back to divine revelation, and there you will find how history is going to end. In verse 3 he says, “Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” They will mock the Bible. Verse 4, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Verse 5 says, “For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.” They purposely ignore the Word of God. They forget that there was a massive worldwide flood that drowned the earth. They willfully ignore that, it's in the Bible, but it's also in science, as we shall see as we get into the study of the Flood.

The Lord created the planet earth between two watery masses. One was above the earth, and one was under the earth in a subterranean location. And with that water that was surrounding the earth in the atmosphere, and that water that was in the subterranean part of the earth, it says in verse 6, “And by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.”

All things have not continued from the beginning as they were. The pre-Flood world, the world from Adam to Noah, that world perished, that world was judged and destroyed through that flood. There is also evidence for the worldwide flood in the geology of the earth, in the stratification of the earth and in the fossils that are found. Grand Canyon is one evidence of the universal flood that covered the earth.

But sinful man conveniently ignore what the Bible says and what the evidence indicates to deceive themselves into thinking that there never will be judgment. Verse 7 says, “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” In the future, the judgment will be fire that destroys all.

What God did in the past is essentially what He's going to do in the future. The only difference is He won't be using water, it will be fire. So let's go back to Genesis 6. Why did God destroy the world then? Doesn't that give us some insight into why He will destroy it now? The answer is that it does. In fact, this is why God destroyed the world and why He will do so again.

Genesis 6: 5-7, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Verse 8-12, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”

The point in this passage is very clear. The judgment of God falls on sinful humanity due to the horrible degeneration of mankind. God planned to wipe out the human race, because it was so pervasively and irretrievably wicked. The people at that time were so wicked as to have engaged themselves in perverse unions with demons. Demons dwelling in men were welcomed by women who embraced these demons.

The demons came into their marriages, into their families, and brought evil into their lives. Both the parents and the children were under demonic influence and demon control. They may have thought that they had escaped the judgment of God, but they hadn't. All that happened to them was there were mighty men, men with a reputation. Satan was able to make fierce warriors out of them, but in the end they were just men.

And in spite of the testimony of Adam, who could have told them what paradise was like before they met the fallen angel Satan, who told them what a horrible sacrifice they had to pay because of their sin. Even the testimony of Adam was not enough to keep them from the demons. The same old satanic lies were told again, "You won't die, and you will be like God," and they brought on their own destruction.

Eternal life and a higher being, that's what all the false religions of the world have always promised. Greek mythology, people cohabitating with the deities to produce super heroes like Hercules, all of these super heroes in our society from Spiderman to Darth Vader. Satan is always trying to get us to live in some fantasy world so that we can transcend our humanness.

All Satan can do is make our sin worse, our alienation from God more severe, our judgment greater. Genesis doesn't say anything about the judgment on the fallen angels who communed with these people because Genesis is the story of man. The record of what happened to the fallen angels, we studied last time in 2 Peter 2 and in Jude 1: 6 -7, as well as in 1 Peter 3.

But here we have the story of man. Here man is so bad that he is pursuing demons. We get a further description of his sinfulness in verse 5. Here we come to the first major description of the depravity of man. Keep in mind, that while the passage indicts humanity, it also exalts God. It becomes clear that God cannot tolerate sin because He is absolutely holy and just.

He will act in consistently with His holy nature. In verses 5 to 12 the earth is mentioned eight times. The earth is going to be purged by God of this wretched humanity. Corruption has gone beyond the point of recovery, or tolerance. And God is going to drown the earth. First we see what the Lord saw. Then we see what the Lord felt. Then we see what the Lord said. And then we see what the Lord gave.

God is omniscient. Everything that exists He knows fully and completely. Hebrews 4:13 says, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him.” There is nothing that escapes His gaze, or His knowledge. This is not the seeing of sudden perception. This is the seeing of constant awareness. So the Lord was aware and knew.

The people may have thought that these demon spirits could help them produce men of renown. But they weren't super beings, they were just more evil flesh. Before they came along there were other great men called Nephilim, other powerful men, and they were just more of them. And what God saw when He looked at these evil people was not just their behavior, but also their heart.

The biblical definition of what's wrong with man is not really just his behavior, that's only a symptom. What's wrong with him is his nature. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. And here He goes right to the core of the issue, verse 5, "That every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." It's down in the depths of the nature of man.

That's why when God drowned the world, He only spared eight people. The rest had no capacity to alter on their own their wicked nature and they refused to hear the Word of God, the message of God. They were left then in their depraved condition. It's chronic. And the Flood didn't change it. Genesis 8:21, after the Flood, God says, “The intent of his heart is still evil.”

Why did God drown the whole human race? Because they were wretched and wicked to the very core. In verse 11 - 12 it says, "The earth was corrupt in the sight of God and the earth was filled with violence." What happens when all the planning in the heart is only evil continually? That behavior becomes corrupt and violence breaks out everywhere. General lawlessness makes people hate each other.

But the language here is really remarkable: All flesh had corrupted their way, every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. All the adjectives, all the adverbs speak of an absolutely inclusive depravity. And it extends to every human being and it is in the heart of every human being all the time. And then you can add that it's aggravated by unions with demons.

That's what God still sees, it isn't any different today. The only people who aren't like that are the people who have been transformed by God. And we should be thankful to God that by His grace there are more than eight today. Verse 6, "And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart." God is not apathetic to the sin of man. He is never indifferent.

Ezekiel said that God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Jeremiah wept the tears of God over the judgment to come. Jesus wept over the judgment to come on Jerusalem and Israel. The Lord was sorry, it says. There's a reality to the sadness of God. In 1 Samuel 15:11 God said, "I regret that I made Saul king for he's turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commandments."

Why did God regret it? Because He was going to have to act in holy justice against Saul and that made God sad. He was sorry about what Saul had done, it made Him sad to have to judge that man. And part of that sorrow is not just over the condition of man, but it is over the fact that God must do what He must do. God is not a man that He should change His mind. Judgment falls and that is a grief to God.

You see, it is precisely because God does not change His mind that He is sad. God was truly grieved by sin and truly grieved by the immutable and necessary consequences that sinners bring upon themselves. This is anthropomorphic in the sense that God is speaking in human terms and that would be the ultimate note of human sorrow to say, "I wish that the person never existed."

Yes, God is sovereign and yes, man is responsible. God didn't make him sin. God didn't want him to sin. But God doesn't accept excuses for his sin, nor does He blame his environment. And if he rejects God, then hell is God's only solution. And that's why it says at the end of verse 6, "And He was grieved in His heart." The heart of man was devising only evil. The heart of God was grieved.

Imagine a world of billions of people and no one would acknowledge Him, no one would turn from sin and embrace the righteous God. We learned in verse 3, God graciously gave them 120 years before the Flood came. And during that time Noah preached, and he preached how a sinner could become righteous by the same way any sinner in any age becomes righteous, through the confession of sin, repentance and forgiveness from God.

And for 120 years, nobody heard, only his wife, three sons, their three wives, eight people believed. Noah said there was coming a flood, and they said what is a flood? Noah said it will rain and water is going to come out from the ground, and they said what water. Nobody had seen much water. Noah built a very large ark, and they had never seen a boat. But God always tells the truth and He does not change.

The world as we know it is the post-Flood world. And if God was patient then, what would He do now? It was 1650 years then, it is now 4,500 years. Man is still this way and as the centuries have gone on, he's just smarter in shaping the intent of his heart into evil. The only escape today is to come to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He appointed to be the Savior of all who repent. I hope many will. Let us pray!

]]> Sun, 24 Mar 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190324 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000067 imblog

Genesis 6:1-4

This is a brief passage but there are a number of interpretations of this particular passage. Genesis 6:1-4, “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

“4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” Now we're talking about a period of time in Genesis before the Flood. We have witnessed the progress of human civilization in Genesis 4 and 5.

So why does God inspire Moses, the writer of the five books of Moses, to record this? What is the significance of this? Now as we read this text there is a phrase that appears in verse 2, “the sons of God.” And it is mentioned again in verse 4. So who are the sons of God? I am convinced that these are demons and I will show you later the proof in the New Testament.

We know that according to Revelation 12 when Satan fell, he took with him a third of the holy angels. Satan’s rebellion is described in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. And we read about the serpent in the Garden in Genesis 3. We're not surprised that demons show up in human society. We are the inhabitants of the material world. Angels, both holy and fallen, are the inhabitants of the spiritual world.

These supernatural creations of God were made to serve and worship God. And they were present when God made the universe as described in Job 38:7. At some time soon after that initial creation there was a devastating rebellion among the angels and it resulted in a third of them being thrown out of heaven. The leader of the rebellion was the worship leader of heaven, Lucifer.

He was likely the highest angel, the worship leader of heaven itself. And he is cast out of heaven along with the other demons. He comes down to earth and shows up in the garden in the form of a serpent. Apparently he could come in to an animal form and in that form he tempts Eve. Eve falls and then Adam and the whole human race also falls, and is now subject to corruption and death.

The Old Testament and the New Testament indicate the role of demons as they show their deceptions and lies, primarily through false religions. We also know from the Bible that Satan is active in the world in human society at all levels. The activity of Satan and his demons are seen both in the Old Testament and New Testament texts. In Judges 9, 1 Samuel 16, 18, 19 they are described as unclean spirits.

When you come to the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and Jesus Christ arrives, demons increased their activity such that there is an explosion of demonic activity that takes place during the life of Christ. Jesus is consistently, continuously confronted with demon powers. When we get into the epistles of the New Testament, the operation of demons in the world is explained to us.

Here in this particular text is the first demon invasion recorded for us into human life. Here are the sons of God, coming down taking wives of the daughters of men and that is the first description of a mass demonic invasion. This text is designed to demonstrate how wicked man has become. It has become so bad that they are no longer redeemable in the eyes of God.

And this caused God's judgment in the universal Flood by which God drowned the entire world with the exception of eight people, Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives, as Scripture tells us. So what we are learning in the first seven verses of Genesis 6 is why God drowned the world after 1656 years of civilization. Here comes the judgment of God and only eight people survived.

Now what causes God to destroy all humanity? Mankind had become so sinful that they had engaged themselves in demonic relationships. Not only did they not seek God, but they pursued demons. And that is what we find in these opening four verses in Genesis 6. At first we see is divine blessing in verses 1-2, “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them.”

“2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” Marriage is the best gift that God can give. It is the most satisfying, the most fulfilling and the most productive. But even though mankind can procreate by God's grace and goodness, it does not guarantee a future, because all of them drowned in the Flood.

So in this time we also see demonic corruption. Verse 2 says, "The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they took wives for themselves whomever they chose.” And here is one of the wicked ways in which they corrupted that early society. Whatever this is, it's not a marriage. We see the contrast between creatures of God (sons of God) and creatures of men (daughters of men).

Sons of God can't be sons of men. Nor can sons of God refer to righteous men or to some righteous line of men since there is no such thing as a righteous line of men. And never are men in the Old Testament ever designated as sons of God. The oldest interpretation of this passage, the traditional Jewish one, the view of the church fathers is that the sons of God refers to demons, fallen angels.

Why do they say that? Because every time you have an Old Testament reference to sons of God, it refers to angels. Job 1: 6 says, "There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came among them." So that's Satan in the midst of the demons coming before the throne of God. Job 2:1, "There was a day when the sons of God, came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan was among them.”

In Job 38:7, the holy angels are also called sons of God. And that means that they are the direct creation of God. And so in the Old Testament that term, sons of God, is reserved for those who are not the product of a human union, but are the creation of God. They are called also “mighty ones” in Psalm 29:1. In Psalm 89:6 you have a similar indication, “sons of the mighty”, describing angelic beings.

But what is unusual here is that these sons of God, these fallen angels who exist in their own realm saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they took wives for themselves whomever they chose. Now you have the perversity here of these spiritual demons overstepping the boundaries of their realm. They defy God by leaving their spirit world and crossing over into the human realm.

We have seen them do that where Satan entered the realm of animals and showed up in a snake in the Garden. Now these demons are motivated because they saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. Wicked spirits attracted to female creatures, wicked perverted demons able even to appreciate the beauty that God has placed in women in some perverse and twisted way.

This refers not to rape because the word in the Hebrew "to take a wife" describes a marital transaction. There are at least six, maybe seven times in Genesis when this word is used to refer to the actual transaction of marriage. The question then comes, how can this be? How can a spiritual being, a demon marry a woman? How can they chose a wife and have a legal ceremony?

Only one way, they have to take on the body of a man. In Genesis 18 and 19 you will find that angels appear to Abraham. And they appear as men. And later on you will find Jacob wrestling with an angel in a physical form of a man and the effort is so great that he gets permanently wounded by it. And in Hebrews 13 we are reminded that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Because for us to see an angel, they always appear in a male form according to Matthew 22:30. There's no way to explain how that is. But we know that holy angels occasionally appeared in human form specifically when Jesus arose from the dead. We also know that demons can enter human bodies that have not been filled with the Holy Spirit. That civilization has gotten so corrupt that demons did indeed do that.

Notice verse 3, "The Lord said, My Spirit will not always strive with man because he is indeed flesh," and verse 4, "The sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore to them and they were mighty men and they were men of renown." Everything indicates that these children born of this union were human. So here are children born of these unions and the children are in fact just ordinary persons.

This would be a demon-dominated union and a demon-dominated family. And in verse 3 when the Lord says, "My Spirit shall not always strive with men," God says, "I am not going to continue to allow men to do this." The wickedness of society in the pre-Flood era is so great that you have people actually soliciting demon control and demons will eagerly comply. Their goal is to make mankind most evil.

Now the question is, why did they want to do this? Do you remember what Satan said, if you do what I tell you, you won't die and you will be like God. This is the original satanic lie. Now by the time you get into these 1600 or so years, the sentence of death is well known because Adam is still alive. And it's not any different today. Join the Mormon Church and they tell you that you will become a god.

In Genesis 6, along comes the enemy and says, "Hey, do not trust God. In fact, not only will Satan give you eternal life, but he will make you like God." So people embraced the demon lies. Satan never sells his system by saying this is a straight line to damnation. It's always the promise of eternal life of being something greater than you are. If you follow the spirits you are able to circumvent judgment, death and become like God.

This judgment is really delineated in Genesis because as soon as the Flood comes, everybody drowns, except Noah and his family. Pretty soon the world population grows again, right? You come to Genesis 11, and guess what? Have you heard of the Tower of Babel? What is that? Mankind is trying to build a tower to heaven. So here comes the first form of false religion to literally build your own way to heaven.

God steps in and this time He doesn't drown them all, He scatters them all, and changes all their languages. From the Babylonian mystery religions that come out of the Tower of Babel and gets spread around the world, to include the fertility rites of paganism to the celestial sex. But let me now give you proof from the New Testament that the sons of God were really fallen angels.

1 Peter 3:18-20, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.”

So the picture here is Christ after He died. Notice verse 18 says, "He was put to death in the flesh." He was dead physically, but He was alive in the Spirit. Because He is that eternal Spirit who is God eternal. Verse 19, "In which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.” These are the disobedient spirits who exceeded the limits God had set for them in the days of Noah in Genesis 6.

Again in 2 Peter 2:4-5, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” And He says in verse 1, "Swift destruction is going to come on them."

So 2 Peter 2:4-5 connects the judgment of angels sent to pits of darkness to Noah. One other verse, Jude 1:6, “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” So again there are these angels who are judged by being put in eternal chains awaiting the judgment.

So we have a demonic invasion. Verse 3 is divine response, “Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not abide in man forever.” This is the judgment of God, He has been waiting over 1500 years, since there are only 120 years left, and His patience reached His limit. And Noah, the New Testament says, was a preacher of righteousness. For 120 years Noah built a boat and preached to men. And for 120 years God was kept waiting.

Then finally, there isn't any patience anymore and judgment comes. Sadly Noah didn't have any converts, just his kids. Then verse 4, described depraved humanity, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” They were all just humans.

Satan can't change you into anything other than what you are. Satan can't give you immortal blessings. Satan cannot deliver you from the penalty of death. All you are is flesh. And all that is flesh is mortal and God's judgment will fall on all. So the sad saga of human life after the Fall is that the whole human race was corrupt. And God then grieves that He ever made man. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Mar 2019 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190317 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000066 imblog

Genesis 5

All of Genesis 5 is our study tonight. This is important because this describes genealogy. As you study the Bible, you understand why genealogies are critical. Genesis 4 and 5 are important because they provide the Messianic genealogy. But it is also important because Genesis 4 and 5 is the only authentic history of the time from the creation to the worldwide flood.

The period of time from the creation of Adam to the flood is 1656 years. And calculation of the numbers mentioned through Genesis 5 leads us to the total mentioned above. From the creation of Adam to the flood, which drowned the entire human race with the exception of Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. That clearly reveals the age of the universe and the age of man.

Enoch had a son at age 65, and Noah had three sons at the age of 500. That's a vast amount of time in which to produce children, and that accounts for the large increase in the world population. We also learn from this genealogy that people lived to be around 900 years old. And there wasn't a lot of death, which meant that the population increased at an amazingly rapid rate.

But this genealogy is also given to us to provide the hope that we can escape death. There is a man in this genealogy, who didn't die - who was delivered from death and escaped divine judgment. And the genealogy itself is part of the line of Messiah. So that when Jesus is declared to be the Messiah, you can trace His lineage back through these people to Adam and God.

It also gives a clear line to Noah. God chose the line of Seth down to Noah, so that when the flood came, the one man who was in the line that God had chosen for the Messiah survived along with his sons. And one of them, Shem, was chosen to continue that line. This is the line of the promised seed back in Genesis 3: 15, the seed who would come to bruise the serpent's head.

There is no reason to assume it's not literal. It is literal simply because the numbers are so specific. If God was talking in generalities, there wouldn't be these exact numbers that flow all through Genesis, identifying the age of these people. Some people believe that this cannot be right because there are billions of years and evolution, mutation and natural selection before the earth is what it is today.

But as we come to Genesis 5, the numbers specifically indicate it was only 1656 years; and that the people between Adam and Noah are the people named here. They are the ones described specifically. They are the first born all the way through. There were other children born, as we will see, to these individuals; but they are the first born people to carry on that generation.

We believe it is a literal genealogy. To show you how precise this is, turn to 1 Chronicles 1 in the Old Testament, where there is a repeat of this genealogy. 1 Chronicles 1:1-4 opens with these words: "Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth." There is no variation; there is no deviation from Genesis 5.

Now turn to Luke 3 for a moment, because it will indicate this very same genealogy; only we see it backwards because it ends really where it began. If you will notice Luke 3: 38; this is the genealogy of Jesus. And at the end of verse 38, it says He is the son of God, and then it says he's the son of Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalalel, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah and Shem. The same again.

Turn to Jude 14 - a little epistle next to the Book of Revelation. It says, "Enoch was in the seventh generation from Adam." And when you go back to Genesis 5, or when you go back to 1 Chronicles 1, or when you back to Luke 3, indeed Enoch is the seventh name after Adam in all of them. There are no breaks in this genealogy. This is in fact a very precise genealogy.

When you work with these numbers a little bit it becomes very fascinating. We learned that Adam overlapped Methuselah for 200 years. So Adam is still alive 200 years into his life. So Methuselah could have met Adam. Methuselah actually overlapped Noah for 600 years. So only one man bridges Adam to Noah. Why is that important? It's very important because there was no written revelation.

Have you ever tried to pass information around to a group of people and it gets confused after it was passed many times? That's why God made sure that these people stretched across that whole span of time - so that Methuselah knew firsthand about Adam and could pass it on to Noah. Noah overlapped Shem for 400 years. And Abraham died before Shem!

Shem could have told Abraham firsthand about the flood. It is very likely that Shem was still alive during the lifetime of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All the way down into the life of the nation Israel; all the way down to Jacob. You only need four people to connect Adam to Abraham. You just need Adam, Methuselah, Shem and Abraham, because God was passing down this divine truth.

For Abraham then, the account of the creation would be like referring to accounts by his great grandfather. Accurate truth was handed down. If you look at it carefully, creation occurred about 4,000 B.C. And here we are 2,000 years after Christ. That's why we say we believe creation started approximately 6,000 years ago. This genealogy provides for us this kind of insight into the actual timing.

So the accuracy at this point doesn't depend on oral tradition, even though oral tradition could be trusted because there was such an overlapping of people's lives. They knew exactly who was who. We are talking about only ten generations, and ten overlapping generations. They really knew who followed who in terms of the line of first-born sons. So this self-contained unit fits into Genesis.

If you want to get a good view of Genesis, the first section of Genesis is the generations of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 2:4. In Genesis 5: "This is the book of the generations of Adam." Go to Genesis 6:9, "This is the record of the generations of Noah." In Genesis 10, and you have the generations of the sons of Noah. In Genesis 11: 10, the generations of Shem. Genesis 11:27, the generations of Terah.

Genesis 25: 12, the generations of Ishmael; Genesis 25: 19, the generations of Isaac; Genesis 36, the generations of Esau; Genesis 37, the generations of Jacob. So Genesis 5: 1 starts with, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.” It was the sixth day in Genesis 1:27.

On that sixth day God created man. "He named them Man," because this isn't just the story of one man and his wife. This is the story of all of us. We all descended from Adam and Eve. Adam acted in behalf of all humanity. And when he fell, the whole human race fell with him. And that is where the genealogy begins. Do you still remember what happened to Abel?

He was a righteous son, killed by his unrighteous brother Cain. So Cain's line couldn't be the chosen line, because Cain was an unbeliever and an apostate who sought to live outside the presence of God. And so God gave them another son. And then he had a son. A grandchild for Cain and Abel. His name was Enosh, and he must have been a godly son because at that time, men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

It's in the line of Seth that you begin to be introduced to worship. The line of Cain is apostate; the line of Seth is worshipping. And they then become the chosen line. And it is going to be out of the line of Seth that the promised seed will come - that the conqueror will come - the one who will destroy Satan and bring paradise back. Now the pattern in these genealogies is very consistent.

You have ten names from Adam to Noah, in the same pattern. The age of the father at the birth of the firstborn; the name of the firstborn; then the name of the duration of life of the father after the firstborn; reference to other children, and then death. That pattern is consistent from verse 1 - 32. Verse 3, "When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image."

Now that is a sad note. Adam was created in the image of God. Unfortunately, Seth was made in the image of man. While still having something of the image of God in him, he is mostly dominated and marked by the image of man. This is the image of a fallen person having a sin nature. So Adam becomes the father of a son who does not bear the image of God but bears his image.

Then it tells us the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth, "were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters." And then it tells us "all the days of Adam were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died." Notice in verse 4, "he had other sons and daughters." And Adam passed the same sinful energy to them; the same power of sin, dominant in human flesh.

God had told Adam that he would die, but it took 930 years for that to happen. Wouldn't you say God is gracious? That is the first recorded natural death in the Bible. There's only one other death. Abel - and he was murdered. God said, "You eat of that fruit and you'll die." But he lives 930 years; and that is reflective again of the nature of God, who is a saving God, who withholds what the sinner deserves.

All the men in this genealogy were born before Adam died. He saw it all. He saw the righteous line, and he saw wickedness prevail. Ultimately, he saw even those in the line of Seth go bad so that, by the time the flood came, God only saved eight. If you just live 70 years, you know how powerful sin is. Imagine if you knew for 930 years that you yourself had brought sin upon the whole human race.

Now we are introduced to Enoch which means, "devoted” to God. Verse 21-24, “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”

All of a sudden, once in verse 22, and once in verse 24 it says that Enoch walked with God. No such comment is made anywhere else. We find more about Enoch in Jude verses 14 and 15. Jude is writing about false teachers here who "have gone in the way of Cain," and he names some false prophets. And verse 14, "And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied."

Enoch prophesied against the false prophets. They rebelled against the truth that Adam knew firsthand and had declared. What did Enoch prophesy? "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all." Here was a preacher who stood up and said, "God is going to judge you." Enoch looked, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through history at the coming of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul names the Egyptian magicians, as Jannes and Jambres, and they aren't called that in Exodus. Peter said, "Noah was a preacher of righteousness," and you're not going to find that in Genesis, either. The New Testament inspired writers were given this information directly by God. And here was Jude, writing this epistle, and he was told exactly what Enoch said.

Let's look at Genesis 5:21 for comments, “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah." In Hebrew this means, "Man of the sending forth." So his name signifies that he will not die until judgment has come. Almost every commentary clearly indicates that Methuselah died in the year of the flood. He is the man who will live until the judgment of God.

After Methuselah dies, in verse 27, after 969 years, the flood came to drown the world. And he lived longer that anybody else ever. It is twice said here that Enoch walked with God. Can you imagine walking with God for 300 years? This man was faithful for 300 years. Three hundred years in an environment that was advanced culturally but very wicked.

Why does God do this? Because the Lord is showing us that there is victory over death. Listen to Hebrews 11:5, "By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death." He is an illustration that if you walk with God, you will conquer death. We have that hope too, the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians 4. Some of us are going to be taken up. But even the believers who die will conquer death.

What does it mean to walk with God? It means to be reconciled to God through faith. It means to have come to God and asked forgiveness for your sins so that a relationship between you and God can be established. It means to agree with God, it means to be in fellowship with God, to love God. It will always be a spiritual relationship of intimacy. Enoch walked with God.

Verse 26-29 says, “Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. 28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”

Noah means, "rest," or "comfort." In Hebrew it means, "to breathe again." Noah brought a breath of fresh air in a world of multiplied wickedness where the line of Seth was going corrupt. Genesis 6:9 says that Noah was a righteous man who walked with God. Verse 8, says he "found favor in the eyes of the Lord." And because of that, he brought into the world a breath of fresh air.

And verse 32 says, "Noah was five hundred years old, and he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth." Shem is mentioned first because he was the line of Messiah. Shem means, "a name," and out of him came a name that is above every name. The flood came when Noah was 600. His sons married and were saved with their wives. Here is the history of redemption pictured in that genealogy. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Mar 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190310 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000065 imblog

Genesis 4:23-26

There are and always have been two families of human beings. Two societies, two cultures on the earth - the family of God, and the family of Satan. The children of God, as they are called, and the children of Satan. And every cultural clash throughout human history is really a clash between those two societies - those two families. This is true in our own nation. Issues of morality and religion are in a spiritual war.

Now, the true family of God is governed by the Bible. For the family of Satan, this book is a big problem. In fact, the Bible lies at the root of cultural conflict. Pornography wouldn't be a problem if there was no Bible. Adultery, incest, homosexuality, pedophilia, transsexualism, euthanasia, abortion, feminist rebellion, divorce and false religions would not be a problem if it weren't for the Bible.

For many people the Bible is a severe problem. No other book defines so clearly moral and religious truth. The secular culture doesn't mind the Bible, as long as you keep it inside the church. They just don't want it in the public discourse as if it is an authoritative document. This is not really the separation of church and state; it is the separation of people from the Bible.

It began in Genesis 4, as the family of Cain and the family of Seth. There is Cain and secular culture; and Seth and sacred culture. You have Cain and material society; Seth and spiritual society. Cain and those who rebel against God and love sin; and Seth and those who worship God and love righteousness. Cain is illustrated by Lamech, and Seth is illustrated by Enosh, Enoch, the sons of Noah.

Only at the beginning was the line of Seth righteous. By the time you get to Noah, there are only eight righteous souls on the entire world; and they come from the family of Seth. All the rest of the family of Seth and Cain were drowned in the flood because they were wicked. We assume that by the time of the flood Seth was already dead, or he would have been saved too.

Others in the line of Seth who were also worshipping God must have died out before the flood came. And Enoch, about whom we learn in Genesis 5 in the line of Seth, had his own private rapture in which he was taken to heaven; and he too, was a righteous man. But by the time you get to the flood, there were only eight righteous left in the line of Seth.

Now let's look at Cain and secular culture just for a moment. Verse 19-22, “And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.

The development of a secular, material culture and society is in itself a provision of what we would call "common grace." This is a provision from God for man's enjoyment of life. God has filled this planet with immense riches. Those riches contribute much to our lives. Things we see with our eyes, things that we feel with our bodies, thrills, adventure; things that we eat. And creature comforts, all that is a gift from God.

Verse 22, “The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.” God has provided for the development of secular society and culture so that man would be thankful to God.

However, man uses this world and all its riches but never gives thanks to God. And in secular culture all the enjoyments of common grace have no redeeming value anyway. As marvelous as the creation is, there will be a recreation of it all. The whole thing is going to burn up, according to 2 Peter 2 and 3. The Lord is going to come, and everything is replaced by a new heaven and a new earth.

We are very early in human history. There is that initial family in Genesis. But there is clearly no evolution. There is no evolution on the physical side; there is no evolution on the social side; there is no evolution on the cultural side; there is no evolution on the religious side. There is no evolving upward at all. From the beginning, man is fully capable at a high level, but everything has gone down since the Fall, not up.

The only testimony we have about life on the planet before a universal flood is from Scripture about the original man, who was created in God's image; and was astonishingly intelligent. He was amazingly creative, resourceful, healthy, and he had amazing physical strength, he was skilled because his mind was far beyond ours, and over time he gained knowledge, wisdom and refinement.

From the beginning Cain is involved with his son in the building of a city. And after Lamech's two wives give him sons; one develops animal husbandry, and the other one developed the most dominating form of entertainment in our society, music. And then you have the very technical science of metallurgy dealing with bronze and iron. And all of that is developed in the first family.

Add to that the development of an agrarian society. Adam himself worked the ground. And in that pre-flood world, with a benign climate and no weather and no wind and no rain and no snow, and therefore no extreme heat or extreme cold, you had a flourishing earth. And they developed tremendous skill over the long periods of time in their lives. We learned all that last Sunday.

And so there was high productivity; there was plenty for all in that kind of society. It was an amazing time in an amazing world. Many were genius - developing all the skills of animal husbandry for the purposes of milk and meat and hide involved breeding, feeding, killing and skinning. God actually authorized eating meat after the flood in Genesis 9:3, but because they were exposed to animal sacrifice they ate meat.

And then came the sophisticated blessing of music, tones and scales. And in Job 28:1-2 God says, “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore.” They had developed a very sophisticated culture, with cities and farms and ranches and business going on in the city; and mining and entertainment.

But God is not mentioned. This is secular society at its best, and it offers no redemption; and it will be ultimately destroyed. Even the smartest person now, doesn't have the intelligence that they had. We don't have the physical stamina they had; don't have the strength they had; and don't have the skill that first family had. But over the centuries, we have been able to build an amazing world.

And Lamech tells us a little more about the sophistication of that culture. Pay attention to what Lamech says to his wives. This is recognizable Hebrew poetry. God revealed it to Moses, as the author, that it was poetic. And so Moses translates and calls it, "The Song of the Sword." They had developed poetry. Real poetry is the highest level of language. Lamech was not a backwards Neanderthal.

Real poetry has components. The first one is rhythm, which is the rise and fall. Poetry has consonants which means similar sounds at the ends of words and phrases. Thirdly, poetry has parallelisms, matching lines that are parallel. And Lamech was a poet. But he's wicked, selfish, proud, insensitive, vengeful and murderous. He is the civilized savage. Just like the situation today, right?

Here's his poem in verse 23. Actually, the first line is part of the poem. "And Lamech said to his wives, 'Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech.'" You see the parallelism? "for I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me.'" There is the second parallelism. And there is the third. "'If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.'"

So what you have in that pre-flood society is wickedness pervading everything. And what would that wickedness do? It would manifest itself the same way it does today. And one of the ways would be in the rape and plunder of women, as well as robbery and murder. And there was a big security problem in that ancient world; because wicked people continually do wicked things.

And so, Lamech says to his wives, "'Listen to me; I'm telling you, I have killed a man for wounding me, and a boy for striking me. And if Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.'" "You have nothing to worry about." He is saying, "Because I have the power to kill, and I have done it. I am at least 10 times greater than Cain.” He was bragging to his wives.

There isn't anybody in human history after the flood who descends from Cain. This is what Jude calls "the way of Cain." But even though they were all drowned, the way of Cain came back, right? Secular culture. Civilized, yes; accomplished in agrarian crafts, urbanized, industrialized; tremendous artists, poets, musicians; but man is still a vicious, immoral, would-be killer who lifts himself up above God.

Let us now look at Seth and sacred culture. – Genesis 4:25-26, “And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.” Here's the first mention of sacred culture.

The line of Seth is in Genesis 5. What it does highlight is Enoch, who was so righteous he walked one day right up into heaven and never died. Noah was also righteous and therefore in Genesis 6:8 it says, "He found favor in the eyes of the Lord." His sons worshipped the true God and thus were spared judgment. Nothing is said about human accomplishments but we are introduced to worship.

The lineage is traced for us because it's important. Why? Because all the generations from the Seth are preserved through Noah, and therefore through Seth and Noah and on down comes the Messiah, who is the fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 3:15. Adam lived 930 years, and most likely died in the tenth generation through Seth, which would have been just before the birth of Noah.

In fact, Noah was the first person born after the death of Adam. What an interesting life. From the perfect, innocence in the Garden, ten generations into human history, to see the effect of sin on the planet. All these people were wicked except only eight people. Adam and Eve were God's people. They believed in the true and living God; they believed in His Word; they repented of their sin; and they had been forgiven by God.

And here was Adam, living through all of this. He saw his son Cain kill his brother Abel. He saw Cain go out of the presence of God into the land of Nod. He saw Cain develop a secular culture. He saw Lamech break the divine pattern of marriage by being a bigamist. He saw the corruption of the whole world as the world began to grow and develop. He must have waited for the promised deliverer.

In verse 26 Seth had a son, too. He married another one of the daughters of Adam and Eve, as Cain had done. And his son he called "Enosh," which is a synonym for "Adam." It means, "Man." And the key is, “Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.” Something wonderful happened in the life of Seth; a spiritual revival took place that he passed on to his son Enosh.

With the line of Seth there's a new stream of people. And we don't know how many in the Seth line were touched by it, but we see Enoch in Genesis 5: 22, he "walked with God three hundred years after he had become the father of Methuselah." And he walked with God for a total of 365 years. And in verse 24, he "walked with God and he was not, for God took him." One day he walked right into heaven.

Verse 26, "Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord," is the oldest reference to worship of Jehovah. And there is no evolution of religion. Man didn't start out with some primitive religion and evolve to a higher, sophisticated form of religion. Man started with the true, pure worship of God. Look, those people knew who was God because Adam was around. And Adam had walked and talked with God.

The first worshipper ever in the world was a worshipper of the true and living God. And after the Fall in sin it all went downhill. They knew who the true and living God was; and they passed it on. And Noah took it and told it to his sons. And after they came out of the ark, they continue to spread it. And eventually, God called Abraham and gave him the message of the true and living God; and out of him came the people Israel.

What does "to call upon" mean? It can mean, "to pray to"; "to proclaim" or, "to name." They began to worship through praying, proclaiming and praising. And the name of the Lord simply means who He is. God was known to them as the Creator, the forgiver of sin, the God who would conquer Satan. But He was also known as the Lord of grace, and the Lord of forgiveness and the Lord of mercy.

They were already involved in sacrifices that pictured the one, true sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Now worship was begun by Adam and Eve. Abel participated with them. But in the line of Cain it vanished. It was Seth that God used to restore worship. That's why in Luke 3:38 in the genealogy of Jesus it says, “Jesus, son of Joseph ……… “the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

In the midst of a secular unbelieving culture, with all its advancements materially, there's no redeeming value to it, and it's all going to burn up. But against that culture, God has placed His people, His remnant - the true believing family of God. In the midst of advancing sin in sophisticated culture, there are those true, pure worshippers of Jehovah, the personal, covenant, savior God. That's our calling too. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Mar 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190303 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000064 imblog

Genesis 4:17-22

Well, let's continue in Genesis 4. What I'm concerned about is getting the meaning here and digging out the riches of what is available in this text. When we come to Genesis 4:17-22, we come to a theme, the origin of society. And while on the surface the text may appear to be isolated, it is strictly informational. It is the story of civilization, the story of society, the story of man in his development in human history.

And that unique era of human history is called “pre-flood”. Or as scholars call it, the "antediluvian" society," that is, the civilization on the world before the flood. Now when we come into Genesis 6, 7, and 8, we're going to be looking at the universal flood. God sent a flood which covered the entire earth, and it drowned all humanity with the exception of eight people.

Therefore, the only history we have of the earth pre-flood, is in Genesis 4. It is therefore an important portion of Scripture. If we want to understand this part of the saga of man - then we have to understand Genesis 4, because it is the only record of the antediluvian society or the pre-flood civilization. Here then is God's Word, the only account of the first civilization that is available.

Now, prior to the flood, the world was very different from now. And we will learn more about it when we study the flood, but there was essentially no weather pattern. There was no wind, no rain and no snow. The terrain had more flat land surfaces. The climate was mild and warm. There was an abundance of plants and animals covering the earth, and it was an even environment with no natural disasters.

We also know about this pre-flood time because we have a Genesis 5 genealogy from Adam to Noah starting in verse 1 all the way to verse 32. That is the pre-flood genealogy of the line of Seth. We learn from that genealogy that people lived long lives for 1600 years. Adam himself lived 930 years, and Methuselah lived for 969 years. God planned for people to live very long lives.

We know because it's repeated in the genealogy of Genesis 5, that they had sons and daughters. We do not know how many sons and daughters 900-year-old people could have. But they could certainly be having many children. A good guess into the lifespan of Cain, who lived 800 years that the earth was populated with millions of people. In 1600 years, you could have approximately 7 billion people on earth.

The earth was different with a mild environment. In the early generation, all marriages at first were brother-sister marriages. Before the flood, there was purity in the human genetic system. And in its bloodstream were very few mutant genes. That's one of the reasons they lived so long. The first created microorganisms were beneficial to assist life in that first great age span.

People then would be stronger than we could ever imagine. You have to be very strong to live 900 years. They would be very healthy with resistance to disease and aging. They would be very intelligent and skilled. Can you imagine doing something for 600 years? So here is a society that's very creative, productive, strong, healthy and very intelligent. But because of the curse there is a decline in every aspect of life.

We are getting weaker physically. We are supported now by certain scientific inventions in the area of medicine; but generally, the law of entropy works, and matter breaks down. The people then were more intelligent and stronger and they lived in a far more benign and congenial environment. This pre-flood time was an amazing golden age where God provided many blessings.

Even though the world could be populated by millions of people, by the time the flood came and destroyed them all, the Holy Spirit choose to build the history focused on two families. The family of Cain and the family of Seth. Both of them were sons of Adam. So we are talking about the first family now in Genesis 4:16-24, we see the story of Cain's family; and in verses 25-26, we see Seth's family.

So the contrast here is between two families. Now God is teaching that to us because truthfully there are still only two families in the world today. There is the secular family, and there is the sacred family. And that's the way it's always been. There are only two families from the divine perspective on the planet. And Cain and Seth model for us the secular family and the sacred family.

The line of Cain is evil. And that line is illustrated by Lamech. The line of Seth is good. And that line is illustrated by both Enosh in Genesis 4 and Enoch in the Genesis 5. And so we are seeing God divide all of humanity. There is the secular, the material, the rebellious, and evil culture; and there is the sacred, spiritual, worshipping, and righteous culture. And those coexist until the end of time.

Secular culture is a provision from God for man's life. It is a common grace. God has given man all things richly to enjoy on this astonishingly rich planet. The earth itself is so full of riches that it never ceases to amaze us. We can draw out of the earth all of the materials that we use to build things and to produce fabrics, from natural products all the way to metals and jewels.

In Genesis 4 you are before the flood and the whole shape of the earth has been so dramatically changed after that such that man at his best archeological efforts can't really reconstruct what life was like then. But his creativity would be beyond anything we can imagine; and they developed a sophisticated culture in 1600 years. And there is no caveman chewing raw flesh. And there never has been any evolution.

Verse 16, "Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden." Cain rejected God. He refused to believe in the true and living God as his God. He loved his sin; he did not want forgiveness of sins. He didn't want to obey God, he didn't want to acknowledge God; he was an apostate. He was a doomed man full of self-righteousness.

He chose to do everything he could to avoid God. That's why in verse 16 to 26, you never read anything about God. God had no place in the line of Cain. God has no place in secular culture. So he is the first of the doomed sinners who refuses God's forgiveness. Somewhere along the line, Cain married. Because verse 17 says he had relations with his wife. And he married his sister.

Now notice Genesis 5:4, “The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters." So there were plenty of children in his family - more sons, and more daughters from which Cain could choose his wife. So Cain got married. I don't know how easy it was for him to convince one of his sisters to marry him, because, after all he had murdered Abel.

So verse 17 says, “Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.” The genealogy shows how sin disqualified Cain's line as the people of blessing. But even Cain had the joy of a marriage. Cain had the privilege of having children and grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Cain's genealogy here consists of eleven names through seven generations, from Adam to Lamech. It ends with Lamech's four children. In Genesis 5 there is Seth's line covering 10 generations - from Adam to Noah, and ends with Noah's three sons. Cain's line begins with this name Enoch in verse 17. This is not the same Enoch as the Enoch of Genesis 5:22. That Enoch is in the line of Seth.

So, Cain finds a wife and begins his family. Even early on there was an understanding of the legality of marriage. Their child is Enoch, or Hanoch, which means, "dedicate." It can mean, "to initiate," or "to inaugurate," something that is new; something that is inaugural. And there are at least three others named Hanoch, or Enoch, in the Book of Genesis.

Verse 17 continues, "His wife conceived and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city." Actually the Hebrew text is better translated, "he was building a city." And the best interpretation of the "he" refers to Cain. Why was he building a city? Didn't God tell him that he was going to spend his life wandering? Some Hebrew scholars said that the idea here is that he started to build a city.

"City" is a general Hebrew is a word that means, "a complex of dwellings." It could be made out of anything; it could be any size, large or small. He was trying to erect a place to settle down in. The indication of the Hebrew is that he couldn't succeed at it; because he finally gave up and called the name of the city "Enoch," or the name of the complex after the name of his son.

So it is here that you have the beginning of urbanization. It is here that you have the beginning of culture developing. As Cain's first son Enoch finishes a town. This is very important. There was no evolution of society here. There was Adam, his son Cain, and his grandson Enoch. And Enoch is the father of the first town. They're already building a society by the third generation.

Now the next verse identifies four subsequent generations: the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh - all in verse 18, "Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech." Those were just the first born mentioned in the next sequence of generations. You can be sure Cain and his wife had more generations.

So now we have a town and we have a son, who is a townsman. So we have the beginning of business. A society is already beginning to operate within the framework of a town. This is beyond the agriculture of Cain and those like him. This is beyond the tending of sheep of those who were following what Abel did. This is dwelling in the town; they are the city dweller.

And now comes the climax of the genealogy of Cain in the man Lamech. And verse 19 tells us his story. "And Lamech took to himself two wives." Man did not evolve into monogamy. The original design of God was monogamy - one man, one woman for life. In Genesis 2:24, a man and a woman cleave to each other; they leave their parents. From the beginning, and it's reaffirmed all through Scripture.

Lamech is evidence of a decline, not an evolution. You get into the seventh generation from Adam - Cain is still alive at this time; and still in the lifetime of Adam, who lived to be 930 years. Adam sees everything right on down, even to the birth of Noah. Adam actually could see what was coming, because this massively populated world was so corrupt and sinful.

Now Lamech was not the only bigamist. This just illustrates the direction society was going. And then the full comment comes in Genesis 6 where God says, "I looked at the world and it was all evil, and only evil continually." But here is where the recorded illustration of the corruption of marriage takes place. Lamech took to himself two wives, and Abraham and Jacob did too.

Abraham could not wait on God, so he decides to take to himself Hagar the handmaid and have a relationship with her. And you know the result if you go outside God's design for marriage. He has a sexual relationship with Hagar; out of that comes Ishmael, and out of Ishmael come the Arabs, who today are a severe problem in the life of Israel, and have always been.

Jacob also takes two wives, Leah and Rachel; and disaster upon disaster occurs in his family. David also took several wives, and it leads to nothing but total chaos, disaster, heartache, sin in his life. And look at Solomon, who had 700 marriages and 300 concubines. Wherever you see bigamy, or polygamy in Scripture, it brings conflict, sorrow and devastation to families.

Lamech also married two women, Adah and Zillah. These two wives gave Lamech at least four children, three boys and a girl. From its original agriculture, combined with an urban society now develops even further. Verse 20-21, “Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.”

Jabal was the original cattle rancher. This includes all animals that would be domesticated. If you lived hundreds of years and you had people who worked with you who lived hundreds of years; and you went through millions of animals in those years. You would learn about the milk of animals, the hide of animals, and well as the meat of animals. Jabal was the original meat–eater.

Jubal was the father of music. Can you imagine our world with no music? Music is a wonderful blessing to our world, isn't it? God doesn't have to provide a secular world with the beauties of music, but He does. Jubal was given the gift of music. And then he also invented instruments to play it. The word "lyre" is an old kind of harp; but in Hebrew it’s a violin.

Verse 22, “Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.” And how do you make all kinds of things out of bronze and iron? It takes a genius to do that. Metallurgy is a skill of great science. Developing metallurgy, using bronze and iron is a very difficult science that commanded great power and wisdom.

Evolution divides human history into the Stone Age, which is 100,000 B.C. to 4000 B.C. Then comes the Shalcolific Age, from 4,000 B.C. to 3,200 B.C. Then the Bronze Age, from 3,200 B.C. to 1,200 B.C. Then the Iron Age from 1,200 B.C. to 330 B.C. But here are people who did it all. There was just one period, lasting about 1600 years, in which they worked with stone, bronze, iron and made music and developed cities.

Genesis shows there was no evolution. All the elements of civilization, culture, society, and modern life, urbanization, agriculture, animal domestication, industrialization, entertainment all developed in the first seven generations from Adam even before Cain died. However, alongside culture, sin was developing as well. And there is no mention here of God because it was a secular culture. Next week we will study Seth’s culture. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Feb 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190224 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000063 imblog

Genesis 4:6-16

Genesis is the book of origins. There are the origins of the material world here and there are the origins of the spiritual world as well. And in Genesis 4 is the famous story of Cain and Abel. Cain is presented here as the prototype of the doomed, lost sinner. When confronted by God, with the opportunity for forgiveness and deliverance, he refuses. He is the first unbeliever who ever lived.

Adam and Eve were believers and this passage indicates that Abel was also a believer. These are the only four people on the planet at that time. Here is the first unbeliever; the first man utterly without God, without hope and without blessing. Cain's history is a tragic story that is the beginning of all other religions without God. Let me remind you by reading Genesis 4:6-16.

“The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”

“He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

“13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 You have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.”

“16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” That's the story of Cain. There are several points as we look through these 10 verses. Cain shows us that even the lost and the damned have hopeful beginnings. And in his case it was hopeful. Verse 1, "the man had relations with his wife." Eve gave birth to Cain and said, 'I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord."

Cain in Hebrew means, "a formed thing; a creature." And so Eve names her son, "that one that was made with the help of the Lord." And in verse 2, she gave birth to another son Abel. And Abel's name, Hebel, means, "A mere breath." And certainly his life was very brief. It's reasonable to assume he died somewhere in his teenage years, when everybody else lived for hundreds of years.

Soon Cain’s real spiritual condition was revealed in an act of worship. And that describes the doom of unacceptable worship. Everybody is a worshipper. Even the damned and those people who reject God are worshippers. You either worship the true God in the true way, or you worship the true God in a false way, or you worship some other gods, who are demons, or you worship yourself.

We read that, "Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground." No doubt there was a command of God to worship Him by bringing an offering. However, he brought the fruit of the ground, which as the text indicates, is unacceptable to God. It must have been that God revealed that what He wanted was a sacrifice of an animal that was the substitute for his own sin and death.

So here is the first example of false worship of the true God. Here is the first example of self-righteousness. Apparently, Cain doesn't feel he needs a substitute; he doesn't feel that death needs to occur on his behalf. He can bring God something of his own achievement. It doesn't tell us anything about the quality of what he brought; it just says he brought something of the fruit of the ground from his own labor.

Abel, on the other hand brought, verse 4 says, "the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions." He brought animals who were the best. That's what in the Hebrew language - "the firstlings of the flock and their fat portions" means. God required a sacrifice of the very best. And that, pictures the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, Jesus Christ - the perfect Lamb of God without blemish or sin.

In the case of Cain, God had no regard for Cain or his offering. The heart of Cain was self-righteous; and his offering therefore was not right either. It spoke nothing of his need for a sacrifice; it spoke nothing of his sin, nothing of his deserving death. So here is false, self-righteous, hypocritical worship. Cain did not please God. And he is placed, therefore, with those who are cursed by God.

And the doomed resent the true people of God and also God Himself. In verse 5 it says Cain became very angry, and his face fell. He hated the blessing that was bestowed upon his righteous brother. He hated the fact that Abel was righteous. And the righteous are always a stumbling block for the self-righteous. Those who are therefore blessed by God are always hated by the self-righteous.

Cain was angry and his face was in despair and fury. That is the way for people who hold on to their sin and their self-righteousness, who reject God, and love their sin, and love themselves. It is part of their attitude to be angry with the Bible; to be angry with the God of the Bible; and to be angry with those who believe the Bible. If you bring that attitude anywhere, they're going to throw you out.

Now let's continue where we left off last week. Unbelievers reject the Word of God. Verse 6, “The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?” This is the direct word of God, right from God's mouth to Cain. God gives him a clear invitation to be delivered from his sin. God still speaks pointedly. And He still speaks directly to us through the pages of Scripture.

God never seeks information. He knows all of that. God is prompting dialogue. He's trying to cause Cain to take an honest look at what motivates him - to get him to take a look at his sinful heart and his rage toward his brother and toward God. In the words of James 1, lust was at work in him. And lust, when it conceives, brings forth sin. And it was a deadly sin.

And then God says graciously, "This doesn't have to be the way it is." Verse 7, "'If you do well, will you bot be accepted?” What does He mean? God is saying, "You can repent and cleanse your heart. You can offer God the sacrifice that is acceptable from a right heart. And if you do that, your face is going to be lifted up. You don't have to be angry. Do what's right in your heart before Me.

On the other hand, verse 7 continues, “If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.” And sin is depicted like a roaring lion. “And its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” God says, "You got a choice. You can do what's right, and acknowledge your sin, and obey Me and bring a proper sacrifice to Me. But if you rebel, sin will destroy you, and you will spend your life trying to control it."

It's the same with us, we are born sinners. Sin is in us; but it's not inevitable that we be always mastered by sin. If we come to God, repentant for our sin, embracing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, then we are triumphant over sin. Those are the wonderful promises of the Bible. Romans 6:12 says, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts.”

God is the first evangelist. And God was giving to sinners two choices: do what's right from the heart and in your behavior. But if you continue the way you're going, you are getting a life of conflict, and you will lose. And Cain rejected the Word of God because of verse 8, “Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.”

Romans 3:10-15 describes the sinner, "None is righteous, no not one; 11 no one understands, no one seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; no one does good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive, the poison of asps is under their lips. 14 their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood.”

They don't fear God, and if it needs be, they will kill. That's why we have to have governments. If we lived in an anarchy without government and without police, murder would be going on all the time. And Cain was the seed of the serpent. Eve thought he might be her seed, who would bruise the serpent's head. But it turned out that Cain was actually the seed of the serpent himself.

I'm not surprised that through the history of the world, God's people have been persecuted and slaughtered, and that is going on even today. We know that all over the world there are more Christians today being martyred that at any time in history. But we know that death is not the end but the beginning of life forever together with Jesus Christ who has prepared a place for all of us.

Verse 9, “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” The doomed try to hide from their sin, even when confronted with the truth. They might come to church, but they refuse to admit their sin. God never needs information because He is all-knowing. In verse 10 God said, “The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.”

Cain was no longer near the body. When God confronts Cain, he had run. This is typical of the sinner. And he said, "'I do not know.'" He not only flees the scene, but he lies to cover up his sin. And then he says, "'Am I my brother's keeper?'" This is that pattern in the sinner, who will not acknowledge his sin. This was a murderer who hated his brother and loved his sin.

Sin has gotten worse since the Fall. When Adam and Eve sinned, there was a timid hiding in the Garden. And now there's this blatant lie. And sin has turned Cain into a murderer. We may not see it; but God sees it and knows it. Today people just don't classify it as sin; they say it is freedom. It's the "new morality”. Man is now the noble savage, who acts in freedom to do whatever he feels he wants to do.

All doomed people are eventually indicted by God. Now God pulls him into the court; God is the investigator who brings in the evidence; and the evidence is the blood of Abel crying to God out of the ground, metaphorically. God moves now to being the prosecutor. Verse 11, “And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.”

God says, "You did it. You are the killer. Every crime committed, every sin committed cries out to God. All sin offends Him and is known to Him. And God responds as the divine avenger. That same ground from which he had drawn his offerings; that very ground received his brother's blood. So now God pronounces a curse on Cain that will also influence the rest of humanity.

Verse 12, “When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” You are never going to be able to farm. If you try, you will get absolutely nothing. In your pride, and your cherished profession, you will not succeed. And even though God had pronounced a curse on Cain, He graciously allowed him to live.

Cain married his sister, which was in the early plan and purpose of God. This was not a problem like today in the decline of the gene pool and intermarriage in a family. And out of his loins came the population that follows. Adam and Eve had other children and they intermarried and they produced more and more children. The sad reality is, by the time that first generation passed, things became very bad.

Cain said to the Lord in verse 13-14, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” He just said, "You're not fair." There's no repentance, and no contrition, no desire to overcome sin, and no longing for forgiveness.

Cain said whoever finds me will kill me." Why? Because they were all related to Abel. The population has been growing. And Cain was going to live a long time. And people would be born; they would grow and they would have children. And they would all know about Cain, the killer of Abel, because they were all relatives. And revenge was all they knew.

Verse 15, “Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.” People always ask, "What is that sign?" and the answer is, "No one knows." But God did not want to establish personal vengeance as a means of punishing criminals.

The Lord says in Romans 12:19, "'Vengeance is mine; I will repay.'" In fact, He becomes the protector of Cain. This is God being gracious to a wicked man. Why? The answer in Romans 2:4-5, "The patience and forbearance of God is intended to lead you to repentance." However Cain had absolutely no appreciation for that whatsoever.

Verse 16, “Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” That's the saddest comment yet - no repentance. He chooses to live apart from God. He settled in the world. He loved the world, so the love of God was not in him (I John 2). Nod is an unknown place, but it symbolizes the place where God is not considered. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Feb 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190217 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000062 imblog

Genesis 4:1-5

As we come to Genesis 4 we see the story of Cain. The first person born in the world, since Adam was created by God directly. And then Eve was created by taking material from the side of Adam. Cain is the first person born into the world. And so with the birth of Cain come a number of firsts. The first birth, which therefore constituted the first family.

The first sibling follows soon after with the birth of Abel and some even believe they were twins although that is not verified in the text. We have the first birth, then the first family and the first sibling. We also have the first family disaster. The story of Cain also reveals to us the establishment of society and shows us the flow of sin into human beings in history.

The story of Cain is the first opportunity for vengeance. We have in the story of Cain the first act of worship after the fall. The first expression of hypocrisy, the first occasion of false religion and the first act of self-righteousness. And the introduction of grace. But the main theme in the story of Cain is to introduce us to the first unbeliever who sinned against God.

Cain then is the prototype of the doomed person. He is the prototype of the lost sinner. And God always has clear purposes when he records for us stories in Scripture. And the account of Cain is given here in some detail in order that we might get a complete picture of the typical unbeliever. And so we call this Cain the prototype of the doomed. And the big picture here is God’s message.

Now the story of Cain is the story of a reprobate, a story of an impenitent man. It is the story of a rejecter of God's gracious salvation. Even the New Testament comments on this account. And in Jude 1: 11, we read, "Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain.” Here Jude is associating false teachers as being under divine judgment with Cain.

In 1 John 3:12, it says, “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.” So the New Testament identifies Cain as one who is associated with the damned in Jude. And one who is associated with Satan in 1 John 3. And Abel is called righteous.

Abel was a believer. He believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he trusted in the promise of God as did his mother and father, Adam and Eve. The contrast then comes in Genesis 4 with this reprobate named Cain. Now beyond that it isn't really necessary for me to give you any more introduction. Just to repeat that here is the prototype of an unbeliever.

Genesis 4:1-7, “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.”

“And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Let us look at Cain‘s character traits. All of them are negative except the first one. At first there is a hopeful beginning in Verse 1, his mother says, "I have gotten a male child with the help of the Lord." The last is tragic; Verse 16, then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord.” Unbelievers have hopeful beginnings. So Adam had relationship with his wife, the Hebrew word Yada means to know.

Adam knew his wife. That is a euphemism for sexual relations, to know in an intimate way. It is repeated again if you look at verse 17 and "Cain knew his wife” is again Yada, And if you go down to verse 25 it's repeated again, "And Adam knew his wife again and she gave birth to a son this time the son's name was Seth." In each case, ‘Yada’ is used.

The word ‘know’ is also used metaphorically of intimate relationships. In Amos 3:2, God says, "Israel have I known." And what He means is that they are the people with whom he has an intimate covenant relationship. And in John 10, Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them." It does mean that he has an intimate relationship. So Eve conceived and gave birth to Cain.

God works the miracle of creation of new life. And Eve knew it; she knew it was not some evolutionary process. She said, "I've gotten a man child with the help of the Lord." Eve knew the child was born by the power of God working in her and in that child. The verb gotten, ‘cana’, means to acquire something. She says, "I have now acquired something that God has made along with me."

It’s interesting that Cain was named “that formed thing” that Eve and God had formed together. But Abel has a quite different name. Abel is the Hebrew word Hebel, which means a mere breath. And it expresses the brevity of life. And in the case of Abel, it was indeed very brief. Psalm 144:4 says, "Man is like a mere breath. His days are like a passing shadow."

We don't know how long he actually lived because there's no determined time before this incident which involves his murder. But measured against the long spans of life before the flood, Adam himself living for 930 years and also many people living for centuries of time, Abel's life was but a brief breath. Imagine the joy when two children were the first two ever born in the history of the world?

Verse 2 continues, “Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain was a worker of the ground.” These were both noble professions. They were many noble shepherds in the Old Testament like Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David. And of course the imagery of the great shepherd is put upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And there wasn't anything second-class about taking care of crops.

Even our Lord presents himself as the true farmer who sows good seed and brings in a fruitful harvest. And there are others in the Bible, some of them among the prophets, who were farmers. So they both had noble responsibilities and that's how life was divided. You either took care of the animals or you took care of the crops. But that's where the positives end for unbelievers.

It didn't take long apparently for Cain's and Abel’s characters to be revealed. And interestingly enough the revelation of their character is shown in an occasion of worship. When you get into the environment of worship, then the difference in character traits becomes apparent. And we find that Abel's worship was acceptable and Cain's was seriously flawed and not accepted.

Unbelievers offer unacceptable worship. This is characteristic of the doomed. It is that they offer unacceptable worship. And unbelievers generally speaking throughout the history of the world have been religious. In fact the whole of the human race is incurably religious. You can go to the darkest corners of the world and you're going to find people worshipping something.

They worship the sun, the moon, the stars, animals, reptiles, insects, a rock, a tree, a waterfall, a river, a lake, a mountain, a statue or an image of their own making. Some people even worship themselves. Mankind always has to worship something. And Cain was a worshipper. Verse 3 says, “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.”

We don’t know how old they were. They probably were young since their character would have manifested itself early, where they could have decided about their response to the Word of God and the promises of God. How did they know about it? Well, the two most potent evangelists for trusting God would be Adam and Eve. Who better understood what it meant to fall victim to Satan?

How many times did they plead with those boys to believe God and not Satan? How many times did they plead with them to put their faith in the promises of God because the promises of God brought joy and blessing compared to the promises of Satan brought death and destruction? I can't imagine anybody better equipped to get that message across than the two people who were thrown out of paradise.

Eve would have plead with her boys to trust God. And a father like Adam would have done the same. Cain and Abel could have told the story in every single detail about how the fall occurred and how wonderful it was in the garden and how sad it was that they couldn't go back. And they knew about the angel with the flaming sword in every direction to keep anybody from going in there.

Many times they had been told to believe that God was going to send someone who would bruise the serpent's head and overthrow this usurper and bring back paradise. And they were told that you need to honor God, to show respect, to worship God. We are sure that God had commanded those offerings, because otherwise how would they know to bring them to God.

So they were out of Eden, but they could still worship. Because God could be worshipped wherever they were. We learn in John 4 that God is not confined to Mt. Gerizim, he's not confined to Jerusalem, but God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth. God had told them he wanted sacrifices, so there was an altar built. And there comes Cain with the fruit of the ground.

It doesn't say he brought the first of a given crop, or that he brought the best. And by not saying it, he didn't bring necessarily the first or the best. But more significantly he didn't bring an animal sacrifice. And I'm convinced that God had instructed them to bring an animal sacrifice. Do you remember that picture of substitutionary death of an innocent victim to cover the sinner?

So here is Cain not admitting that he is a sinner. He is bringing what he has produced out of the ground. It appears to have been an offering of self- righteous human achievement. There are only two ways to offer to God. You approach God offering him what you've achieved. Or you approach God realizing that you deserve death and by offering a sacrifice as a substitute to die in your place you are allowed to live.

Apparently Cain didn't have any recognition of the sin. So here is the first example of human achievement and false religion. Later on in the Levitical Law, you can see it in Deuteronomy 26 and Leviticus 2, grain offerings were prescribed by God as reminders that God was the source of all their food. But the primary and necessary offering was the animal sacrifice for substitutionary death for sin.

And now from evil self-righteous Cain we come to righteous Abel. Verse 4, “And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.” This is very different. He brought not just animals, his offering is actually the fattest of the firstlings. The best of the best. The emphasis here then is on the quality of that offering as well as the character of it.

Animal sacrifice become clearly defined in the Mosaic Law in the book of Exodus and all through the book of Leviticus. And all those animal sacrifices were simply pictures of the one sacrifice that actually takes away sin. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And so God must have given them instruction regarding animal sacrifice. And not just any animal sacrifice, but the best without blemish.

The spotless lamb so wonderfully depicts sinless Jesus Christ. And the end of verse 4, here's the most notable thing, "The Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering." The Lord had regard for means He accepted Abel and his offering. First of all, God had regard for Abel. That means for his heart and for his spirit. That means his attitude, this man had faith inside his heart.

God always looks at the heart. And here was a man who worshipped God with his heart. Here was a believer in God. Here was a man with a righteous heart. And that's why it says, "The Lord had regard for Abel. And for his offering." That's the outside, the animals. The fact he offered what God required. 1 John 3:12 says, "His behavior was righteous." That means he did what was right.

Verse 5, “but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.” God had no regard for Cain’s offering and his heart. The New Testament makes it clear that he was evil. He is associated in Jude 13 with all the false teachers for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. So Cain is the prototype of the doomed people.

Unbelievers get angry over those who say this is the truth and this alone is the truth and this is the only way of salvation. Cain is self-righteous and he is stubbornly self-righteous. He lacks any contrition; he lacks any remorse. He's not sorry that he brought what he brought. He's not sorry about his disobedience. And he becomes angry with his brother and with God.

This is a man whose anger has reached the point of despair. In our world, the society of Cain still exists. And they work feverishly and angrily to obliterate the God of the Bible. Once a person becomes fixed in unbelief like Cain, they resent the message of the truth. The simple story of Cain is rich with instruction. And it translates right into our day. For there are still many today who walk in the way of Cain. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Feb 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190210 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000061 imblog

Genesis 3:20-24

Genesis 3:14-24, “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all livestock, and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life; 15 and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’

16 To the woman He said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. 17 Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it”; cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

18 thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; 19 by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’ 20 “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 Then the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever. 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and the flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Let us focus tonight on verses 20-24 because it is literally full of rich meaning. We essentially have the elements of salvation--the elements of redemption--so that as soon as man falls, God sets in motion the means to redeem him. He falls at the beginning of Genesis 3 and he is cursed in the middle of it, and the plan for redeeming him unfolds at the end of Genesis 3 in immediate sequence.

Verses 20 - 24 point to Christ. There are four necessary components of salvation: faith and hope from man’s side, and atonement and security from God’s side. The salvation of sinners, their rescue from sin and death, and judgment has always been by faith and hope. And it has always been through God’s work to provide atonement and security. Our response is faith and hope.

So not all the aspects of these four realities are fully revealed here. So we say the Bible does not go from error to truth. The Bible goes from incompleteness to completeness so that the complete understanding of things that are initiated even back in the book of Genesis. This requires the fullness of Scripture, all the way through to the end of the New Testament.

But as we study these verses, let us focus on the four words that we discussed. The first one is faith. We all know that salvation is by grace through faith. We are not saved by works; we are saved by faith. We all understand that. Now if I were to define faith in a saving sense, in a biblical sense, I would say that faith is believing the Word of God, right?

And believing the Word of God means believing everything God had said up to that time. So people who lived in the time of Genesis couldn’t believe things that hadn’t been written. Whatever the body of divine revelation was, faith was accepting and believing that, having trust in the Word of God, and having trust in the promises of God that whatever God says is true.

And we see that kind of faith right away in verse 20. When Adam and Eve were first created and placed in the garden, they believed God. Then along came the serpent who told them lies about God. God didn’t want them to know good and evil because they would then be equal to God. Satan also said that God lied and said that you won’t die. Satan convinced them that God is withholding something good from them.

So they begin to believe Satan and not believe God. They have experienced God’s perfection and fellowship. But now they don’t trust Him. And the moment they stopped believing what God had said and started believing what Satan said, they were catapulted into depravity, sin, sorrow and death. Consequently, starting in verse 14 the woman is cursed through the pain of childbearing and conflict in the marriage.

And the husband is having to work by the sweat of his brow to get food and eke out a living from toxic soil and plants that in a very real sense were fighting against him. All of this happened because they didn’t believe God. But in verse 20 something changes our understanding of Adam and Eve. “Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.”

The name Eve means life. This is a clear contrast with the sentence of death just imposed by God. God told them when you eat of that fruit you’re going to die. And the death principle went into activity immediately upon their sin. And now Adam calls the name of his wife Eve, “because she was the mother of all the living.” Now the creation promise in Genesis 1:28, to have children and to fill the earth was not abolished by the Fall.

Adam knew life would come from the womb of his wife. Adam knew that from verse 15, “I will put enmity,” God says to Satan, “between you and the woman [Eve], and between your seed and her seed.” Based on that promise, Adam knew that that would be the beginning of the fulfillment of that prophecy, which would stretch all the way to the coming of the Messiah, the true seed of the woman.

He also knew that the seed that would come out of the woman would crush the head of Satan. Satan was the one who had destroyed paradise. So Adam names his wife “Life,” and this is Adam’s response to God’s sentence of punishment. He trusts in the promise of God to bring through his wife a seed who would crush the serpent’s head, rescuing humanity from the devil.

What has happened here then is Adam believes God now. He was saying, “I believe You; I believe Your promise; I believe the seed will come; and I believe the seed will crush the serpent.” Because he has now come to believe God and not Satan. He has faith in the unseen Christ, not with New Testament clarity. The essence of faith is simply believing everything God has revealed.

So the original command to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth was still in place. One of those that will be born out of Eve’s loins will bring deliverance, salvation, redemption, and crush the head of the enemy, Satan. Adam and Eve hate Satan now. They’re experiencing paradise lost. They are feeling the effects of the curse, and they now put their faith in God.

A believer only trusts God, and refused to follow the serpent, God’s enemy--the lying devil. And in naming Eve, Adam demonstrates that he believes God’s word and is anticipating its fulfillment, including the destruction of Satan, his former master. So here you see repentance and faith. And Eve had the same conviction that Satan was the liar, because she accepted her name.

And with the acceptance of her name, Eve also embraced the hope of redemption and the destruction of the one who had brought this calamity on her and on her husband and on the world. Since she is the mother of all the living, it eliminates the idea that there were any other humans anywhere. She’s the mother of all the living. Put your trust in God; embrace the promise of God that He will send a Redeemer.

Secondly, salvation also requires atonement. We move from man’s response to God’s provision, verse 21, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” God’s grace is expressed in a symbolic way toward the unworthy couple who deserve death, because God said, “In the day you eat, you will die.” But immediately God is gracious, and He instead of killing them, covered them.

God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. This is new. In Genesis 2:25, “The man and his wife were naked and not ashamed.” In Genesis 3:7, when they sinned, “their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” Once they sinned they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves loin coverings because they had thoughts that they never had before.

Because of lust and because of sin, people need to be clothed. Nakedness is acceptable to God, but nakedness is not acceptable to man, because he understands that it can solicit shameful things. They felt shame for the first time. And here God reinforces that, verse 21, by making permanent garments out of animal hide. God provides for man’s physical clothing in this symbolic gesture.

God covered them with the skin of an animal, which means the animal had to die. God clothes the naked sinner, covering the sinner by the sacrifice of an innocent victim. He provides atonement, satisfaction to His own required justice with a substitute. This introduces for the first time in Scripture the matter of atonement, by covering of the sinner through the death of an innocent substitute.

God killed the animal. God took the skin of the animal and covered the sinners. This is the first death in the world. The first death is the death of an animal killed by God to cover sinners. What a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus, who is the Lamb slain by God from before the foundation of the world, to provide covering of all sinners who trust God as their Savior.

And that point God institutes the animal sacrifice as a picture of the fact that an innocent life has to be given to cover sinners. Throughout the Pentateuch: Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy--there are many examples about the necessity of offering sacrifices. Dead animals were offered to God as a picture of the necessary death of an innocent substitute in the place of the sinner.

But sacrifices don’t mean anything if the heart isn’t in them. The sacrificial system was to picture the necessity of a substitute to take the place of sinners, to be killed to bear the wrath of God. And, of course, none of the animal sacrifices ever given in the past could do that; they just was looking toward the One that was to come, who was Christ. Jesus is God’s Lamb who became the atonement sacrifice.

Salvation requires faith on the part of the man or the woman; salvation requires atonement on the part of God; and thirdly, salvation requires security on the part of God. God made the promise of the seed of the woman crushing the serpent’s head, and in that is salvation. That’s the first gospel. God then makes the model of atonement, an innocent death for the sake of covering sinners.

But there’s more. Verse 22, “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” The Lord God now acts graciously to protect Adam and Eve from a devastating possibility: “Behold, the man has become like one of Us”--only in the sense of knowing good and evil.

We’ve got a problem because now man might stretch out his hand and take from the tree of life and eat and live forever. Why would it be bad? Because he would be eternally evil. Why would he chose to do that? Because for the first time he understands what death means, because God has just killed an animal. Now he’s going to be tempted to avoid death and to eat the tree of life and live forever.

So, verse 23, “Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden.” As you know, Adam lived to be over 900 years old, which meant that the decay was very slow. Which also means that Eden was still paradise. God not only provides atonement, but He secures His people from ever falling. God secures believers from eternal damnation.

Do we believe in security of God for the believer? This is illustrated in the Old Testament. Psalm 97:10 says, “He preserves the soul of His saints.” Psalm 89:33, “I will not be false to my faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:23, “My mercies are going to be new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness.” So God is driving them out of the Garden of Eden, so that they will not end up eternally evil.

There is a final element of the gospel that appears in the middle of verse 23 then verse 24. Salvation requires hope, it requires faith, it requires from God atonement and security, but it also requires hope. Adam for 930 years was to live working by the sweat of his brow. Eve was to live that whole time being the mother of all living, bearing children painfully. The sinner then is left to suffer in hope.

Every day would remind them of what they had lost and could never regain in this life. The cherubim, guardians of the holiness of God, are stationed at the front of paradise. And the suffering of their lives expanded. Their son killed his brother. Their offspring would become so bad that by Genesis 6 God would drown the entire world with the exception of eight people.

But they lived in hope that one day they would reenter the paradise of God. Because hope is a purifying reality. First John 3:3, “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Hope is the perfecting ground. The greatest glories of heaven are reserved for the people who suffer most. Adam and Eve couldn’t enter paradise but they were living in hope that one day they would.

We too are outside the paradise of God, but some day we will enter. We have come into salvation by faith, because there has been an atonement provided for us. And we live in hope. And if you ever questioned the grace of God, then ask yourself, “Is not God gracious, who provides grace immediately on the heels of the Fall and the curse?” God loves to save us. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Feb 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190203 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000060 imblog

Genesis 3:17-19

Let us study again Genesis 3, related to the origin and impact of sin. We are studying tonight verses 17 to 19, the divine curse on the man. Our modern civilization has had a staggering scientific advancement in our life time. Science has achieved things that we never ever could have imagined. We have seen man figure out ways to unlock the genetic code to study DNA and to repair DNA.

We have seen man effectively work in cloning animals. What all you can do on my cell phone is still a wonder to me. Chemicals have been used in every imaginable way to provide a level of life both in terms of comfort as well as medical treatment. All of that simply says to us that we have made staggering progress in our grasp of the elements of the physical world.

Equally amazing to me is the absence of any understanding of spiritual reality. Even though there has been all of this amazing physical advancement, there has been virtually zero spiritual advancement. And while we have made these wondrous discoveries and come to astonishing capabilities with the physical world, the spiritual world is completely unknown to modern man.

And with all of these advancements humanity cannot resolve any of the issues of the human heart. He does not understand why he is the way he is and therefore he cannot explain nor can he remedy his problems. Things in the hearts of people are the way they are not because of evolution, or bad education, or bad psychology or lack of self-esteem. Man is getting worse spiritually because of sin.

And man will never be able to solve his moral problems, his spiritual problems, the problem of evil, the problem of crime, the problem of dissatisfaction, disappointment, lack of fulfillment, shattered relationships, etc., etc., without a proper understanding of the problem. Unless you see things the way they really are, then you cannot solve or cure this big overall problem.

There is only one way that mankind can turn if they want to understand the supernatural. And to understand the spiritual the people have to turn to the Word of God. And yet they are not interested in doing that. They do not want the Bible in the schools. They don't want any information from Christians. People who believe in the Bible threaten them and they all hate God unless He opens up their hearts.

Genesis 3 is where God explains it. Starting in Genesis 1:26 God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness and then let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Verse 28, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and every living thing that moves on the earth.' 29 And God said, 'I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, every tree which has fruit yielding seed, it shall be fruit for you. 30 And to every living thing of the earth, I have given every green plant for food and it was so.”

Verse 31, “And God saw all that He had made and behold, it was very good." There was no evil in the world. In Genesis 2:7 the story goes on, explaining how God actually made man. "The Lord God formed man from dust, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east in Eden, there He placed the man whom He had formed.

There was a probation test in perfection in this paradise called Eden. God put man on probation to see if he would be obedient by giving him only one prohibition, one thing he could not do. Verse 16-17, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

And then in Genesis 3:6, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” And in that act of disobedience, sin entered the world till the whole human race became evil.

When Adam and Eve ate and disobeyed God, the principle of death entered into the world. God had said, "In the day you eat you shall die." They didn't drop dead on the spot but the principle of death began to operate. And so the world is dying. The stellar bodies are dying. Everything on the earth is dying. The earth itself is dying. And man is in the cycle of death.

That is the consequence of sin. Man is now a dying sinner. He is perverted, he is wretched, he is evil and that's why he behaves the way he behaves. And he cannot remedy that on his own, nor can society remedy it for him. But in addition to that, you have the specific curses of God. In verses 14 and 15 God cursed Satan and the serpent. Then in verse 16 we saw that God cursed the woman.

So, a woman feels the curse in the very realm in which she exists in that of bearing children and in the relationship with her husband. She desires to have her own way and have her own will and dominate, but he controls her. Every woman who struggles with the pain of childbirth, with the struggles of raising children, the experience of conflict with her husband is reminded of the consequences of sin.

Verse 17-19, “Then to the man He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you saying you shall not eat from it, cursed is the ground because of you. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, 18 both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face; you shall eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return.'"

Man was not deceived like the woman, he chose to disobey God willfully, he chose to do what his wife wanted him to do. He chose his wife over the Word of God. And he, not the woman, as the head of the human race was held responsible for the sin. That's why in Adam we die, rather than in Eve. He is the head of that union, he is therefore the head of the race. The whole human race became sinful.

But the curse is something beyond just decay and disease, death and destruction. The curse has to do with his world. His world is the field, the work place, and he's cursed in the work place. Eve struggles with the reality of sin in the home. Adam struggles with the reality of sin when he goes out to plow the field. All of the natural effects of sin are there but these are the special added effects.

Let us study these three verses, Genesis 3:17, 18 and 19 and think about 1.the cause of this curse, 2.the curse itself and 3.the consequence of it. Verse 17a: "To Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat from it’, cursed...'" is the next word. So here is the reason for the curse.

God gives us a simple, straightforward and complete statement of Adam's motivation. Now we know from 1 Timothy 2 that he was not deceived. What it tells us here in verse 17 is what it doesn't tell us back in verse 6, the reason that he did this was because he listened to the voice of his wife, rather than the voice of God. He followed her rather than following God.

Women have always had some power over men. I think it's good to meet the desires of your wife, but not when she is asking you to disobey God’s orders. Eve knew what God had said and Adam knew what God had said. But she wanted him to eat. She was under the delusion that she would now know good and evil; that she would be like God. This was an act of self-exaltation.

This is the first time man is named Adam. And God continues in verse 17, “You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.” There was no confusion on the part of Adam, he did what his wife told him to do. It was a premeditated act of rebellion against God.

Any violation of God's law is a damning violation. The apostle Paul said, "Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God." And Adam deserves to die. He did not instantly die physically but spiritually. But the seeds of physical death began to operate and decay immediately entered in and death would come eventually. But actually he deserved to die on the spot, and so did Eve.

Why didn't God kill them? Because He's a God of grace and mercy. Liberals and critics of the Bible say, "Oh, the God of the Old Testament is a terrible God." He would wipe out the Canaanites. Now what kind of God is going to open the ground and swallow people? What kind of a God is going to tell the Israelites to massacre people and kill people? What kind of God is this?

But that's not the right question. The question should be what kind of a God allows anybody to live? The killings are the exception. And this is a matter that is central to Scripture, that God is a God of mercy. You see it in the case of Adam and Eve. When we study verses 20 to 24, we're going to learn that redemption is actually promised right then and there immediately after the curse.

The question should be: why does God let so many people live who should be dead? "The wages of sin is death." And the critics say, in 2 Samuel 6 there's Uzzah as the ark is being transported, it starts to fall off the cart, and the man holds his hand against the ark to try to stop it from falling off the cart. And immediately God kills him. People say, "What kind of a God would do that?"

Let us look at an illustration in Luke 13:1, “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” Some of the Jews up in Galilee had come down to Judea to Jerusalem to the temple to offer sacrifices. Then Pilate comes in and executes them. How can God let the Romans come in and slaughter them?

In verse 2, "And Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?” The truth is that they were wretched and terrible sinners and God was so offended by their sin that their sacrifices were mere hypocrisy and He just sent the troops of Pilate in there to massacre them.

Verse 3, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” They're saying, were these worse sinners than everybody else? And Jesus says, "No they weren't, and if you don't repent, the same thing is going to happen to you." The question is not why do people die, the question is why does anybody live? God shows us many illustrations of what we deserve.

Now notice that the curse isn't just on the man only, but it's on the sphere of the man, as in the case of the woman. Man, the king of the earth, becomes subordinate to dirt. The ground feels nothing, "cursed is the ground." But the man feels it. The word "ground" is ‘adamah’. The man is Adam, the man comes from the ground, dust to dust. Everything we eat comes out of the ground, right?

The man suffers the effect of the curse in the field, the place of his life and labor. The man engages in the battle for the food and support of the family. Man's life is not going to be easy. Not only is he personally sinful, depraved and headed toward death, but he's going to find that the ground is not going to just submit to him. Life becomes for him hard work. 2 Tess 3:10, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”

A cursed ground may consist of the lack of water, problems with the soil, problems with weeds, problems with the weather, problems with the destructive animals, problems with destructive insects. Those are all the problems that plague the ground. The earth will yield enough but in order for that to happen, it's going to take a tremendous effort for man to achieve that.

Someday the world is going to see an earth where the curse has been removed. Starting at Isaiah 30:13, which describes the coming Millennial Kingdom, it says, "Then the Lord will give you the choicest gifts of heaven, the choicest fruits of the sun, the finest produce of the mountains with the best gifts of the earth.” Isaiah 32:15 talks about the wilderness becoming a fruitful field and be like a forest.

So, here is a glimpse of what the earth is going to be like after the curse is removed. That is the way the world will be after Christ takes the curse off. It will be something like it was in the Garden of Eden. But until that time, let's go back to Genesis 3, this ground is cursed and man in order to get out of it what he needs to support his life and feed his family is going to have to toil.

Ecclesiastes 3:13, "Every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor, it's a gift of God." We need to keep busy or we will get into things we shouldn't get into. The saying that "Idle hands are the devil's plaything" is very real. And the ultimate penalty on man’s sin is death. But man was given life. But in that life he would never be able to forget the impact of sin. Do the people in this world understand this principle? Let's pray for them.

]]> Sun, 27 Jan 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190127 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000005F imblog

Genesis 3:16

Let us open the Word of God and see a true and accurate understanding of origins. The origin of the physical world as well as the origin of the spiritual world and the moral world. All of those elements are unfolded to us in the early chapters of Genesis. Now in Genesis 3 we learn of the origin and impact of sin. Why there is evil in the world is all explained by God.

And in Genesis 3:16 we find the divine curse on the woman. It says, “To the woman He said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” I have seen the struggles of women in all the world. Throughout human history there has been little difference since ancient times.

In general, women are considered less than men. Men, in general, have little interest in their personal needs, in their feelings, their emotions, and their sufferings. In general, men have throughout human history used women for sexual fulfillment, for domestic duties and to take care of the children. And until recently, men still held the power of life and death over women.

This harsh treatment of women was not the original design of God. Sin brought it in and it therefore corrupted the original relationship between man and woman, between woman and her children and made life very difficult. And we all expereince a measure of suffering because of the curse of sin. Sin has brought about death and decay, decline and disintegration and we can see that.

We all live with accidents, illnesses and disasters. There are just those general matters in a fallen world that expose us all to harm and ultimately to death. But in a specific way, women have suffered primarily related to bearing and caring of their children and their dealings with their husbands. It is the unique burden for women to have to deal with children and with husbands who do not understand them.

There are dangers that are associated with being a woman. They have to carry a child for nine months and then they have to release that child into a world full of hostilities and threats, whether they be physical dangers or whether they be moral dangers. And because the child by nature is a sinner, that child is going to look for everything destructive to entertain itself and therefore a mother has a heart that never rests.

What we see in Third World countries today is what most of the world has endured through all of its history. I have been in the most poverty-stricken slums of Indonesian cities and I've seen mothers sitting with malnourished babies in their arms, drinking filthy water. And it seems the worst of it is borne by the mothers who are either pregnant or nursing babies or trying to control their children.

We all have seen whether on television or on the internet photographs of the terrible droughts and famines that occur so often in Africa. And we see these mothers holding little babies, the bones are exposed, and the flies are landing on their faces. And while they're holding the baby that's dying, there are others that are on the brink of death. And those mothers themselves know that they'll be pregnant again soon.

And childbirth throughout human history is dangerous. Many children die and mothers then lived with suffering and sorrow. Modern science has developed medicines, medical care, contraception and education and in the western world, mitigated the physical trauma of childbirth. But there's still that fear. You don't fear your baby will die, but you do fear that your baby will be influenced by evil in society.

What do rabbis believe about Genesis 3? Do you believe that when God cursed women it was it only about the pain of childbirth?" The rabbis have always taught that a mother's highest joy is to carry her baby because the baby is totally protected. So the rabbis have always believed that the woman is at her pinnacle of joy when she is pregnant. And then comes the birth.

And then comes the sorrow after birth, the post-partum blues. And the rabbis say that the woman is sad because her baby is not there anymore and there's a level of intimacy that is gone. And as the child gets older, that disconnect is more profound because the child is exposed to greater and greater dangers physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And the mother's heart grows in fears.

Was this God's original intention? No, it wasn't. That's all part of the curse. That's what verse 16 is saying. That's not part of the original design. To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain and childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children." And, "Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you." So the curse was in her relationship to her children and her husband.

And to you women, do not be surprised that you have trouble with your children and that you suffer both physical and emotional pain and sometimes deep spiritual pain. And if you struggle with your husband, just know this, God didn't intend it that way in the beginning, that's a result of sin and you're bearing something of the effect of the curse that God put on Eve.

Genesis 3:16 explains this. In Genesis 2:16-17 God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Death was the sentence of God on man and woman. Death was the result of their disobedience. This is the judicial sentence of God.

But even though death was going to come, they would still fulfill the original mandate. Now what was that mandate? Go back to Genesis 1:27-28, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Have babies, fill the earth. That was the original intent.

God created them in the garden originally in perfection and without sin, they had eternal life, they would never grow old, they would never be ill, they would never be harmed and they would never die. This was an eternal existence at that point in the garden and God said to them, "You will be fruitful and multiply, you'll have babies in this environment."

They would have had babies and the babies would have grown, but they never would grow old and decline. We now have babies and they grow and then they grow old and decline and they all go through the same cycle. But in that perfect world they would have babies that grew just like Jesus grew, right? In wisdom and stature and favor of God and man, they just grew to full maturity (Luke 2:40).

There will be conception, pregnancies which produce childbirth. You're still going to procreate. You're still going to populate the planet. So marriage hasn't changed: one man, one woman, cleaving together for life. Remember that was defined in Genesis 2:24, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh and produce children.

But now after the Fall, physical death exists. And that's going to make the whole thing different because along with physical death comes disease and accident, injury and sorrow and it's going to hit the woman naturally in the category where she has the most invested, in her relation to her children and her relation to her husband. The human race will survive and it will procreate.

That is why Paul in Titus 2:4 says, "You older women, train the young women to love their husbands and children." That's what God wants out of the woman. Forget your career, love your husband, and love your children. Stay in that category where the curse has fallen and by the power of God and the work of the Spirit you can transform it into something of paradise regained.

Every woman who experiences these difficulties has a constant reminder of the sin of Eve who sinned in the pursuit of personal enjoyment. It looked good and it would satisfy a longing that had arisen in her. She wanted a joy that she thought was being withheld from her, so she sinned. And now in seeking personal fulfillment with a man, she will find her greatest misery.

The curse on the woman falls into two areas. First, in relation to her children. “I will greatly multiply your pain” is an interesting Hebraic phrase. The idea is intensification. I'm going to bring upon you a great sorrow and that sorrow is going to come in the area of your children. “And I will multiply your pain in childbirth.'" In pain you shall bring forth children.

It is consistent with God to make trouble a consequence for sin. It's consistent all through Scripture. God isn't forcing someone to sin. God is not the author or the source of sin. Look at Deuteronomy 11:27-28 where God says to Israel, "Obey Me and I will bless you, if you disobey Me, I will curse you.” It isn't that God creates disasters, it's that God doesn't prevent them. Trouble is inherently linked to sin.

If you are a believer and you disobey the Lord, God will chasten you. And all the negatives consist of chastening, loss of blessing, maybe an illness, some trauma in your life. Divine chastening really are the withholding of blessing. 1 Corinthians 5:5 says, “Deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

God uses the effects of sin to chasten believers. God used calamity which is an effect of sin to chasten Israel. All the categories of negatives that God promises those that are disobedient are connected to sin. Any temporal judgment which inflicts punishment is inherently linked to the effects of sin. You are going to be exposed to the impact of sin in a greater way because of what you've done, so are all women.

Here God says, "I will greatly multiply.” When it's translated "greatly multiply," it sounds like she already had pain and sorrow. But before the Fall there wasn't any pain and there wasn't any sorrow. That's why that Hebrew explanation for “I will cause to be great your pain" is simply saying I will give you a great multiplied experience of pain, the likes of which you have never had.

The word "pain", literally is a word that encompasses the experience and the emotion. The word ‘Itstsabon’ means everything that is hard to bear which can include the pain of the actual birth, and all the suffering that goes with having children. And "I'll greatly multiply your pain and your conception," the Hebrew says. I'm going to give you multiplied conception.

Her fertility was increased. That's part of the curse. So the woman could have a baby every year. She could be pregnant, have a baby, nurse the baby, and as soon as the baby is weaned after a few months, she's capable of getting pregnant again. And before the Fall it wasn't like that. There were many other wonders to enjoy. Remember in the original creation they were told to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.

But after the Fall, everything sped up and a woman's life becomes totally dominated by children and everything is much more rapid and the earth gets filled fast and then there's an earth wide drowning and then it starts over again. And today we are filling the earth in just a few thousand years. That's okay, because the world is going to be destroyed in a few thousand years anyway, right?

Pain which will come to her will threaten her life. She will almost die before her children come into the world. But it is not so frightening that it causes a woman not to want to have children. It is but for a moment. It's not just the physical pain of childbirth. That's why the drugs are necessary. Scripture is very supportive of the work of physicians. It is the suffering that children can cause later.

Jesus identified Himself as the Great Physician. Now what can a woman do to alleviate the sorrows of this curse? Not by taking an anesthetic at the time of childbirth, that's not it. Turn to 1 Timothy 2:13, where Paul is giving Timothy instruction for the church and he talks about how women are to dress in the church (verse 9), and how they are to live godly (verse 10).

Then he says in verse 13, "For it was Adam who was first created and then Eve." So in the original creation women were the helpers of men. They are equal spiritually. They are equal before God and certainly they are equal in Christ. In Christ there is neither male nor female, Galatians 3:28. But in the order of creation in the family, Adam was first, and Eve came created to be his helper.

And so as a helper Eve is not the head, she comes to help Adam. And she must adorn herself in a way that brings honor to him and attention to him and not honor and attention to herself. She is to be quiet and receiving instruction and not to usurp authority over a man. That's the divine order. Now he turns in verse 14 to the Fall and he says it was the woman who was deceived.

But, verse 15 says, "Women shall be preserved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” What a great hope. Women have been given a hard load, but it can be changed. Women are not under God's permanent shadow of displeasure. Instead of the bearing of children being the point of the curse, it becomes the point of her deliverance.

How does she do that? Here it is. "If they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint." If a woman will live a godly life and continue in faith and love and holiness and self-control. If she will be what verse 10 says, a godly woman, then she will raise a godly generation and her children will continue in the same way. She will be blessed. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Jan 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190120 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000005E imblog

Genesis 3:14-15

Genesis 1 and 2 describe the creation account. Genesis 1 gives us the six days of creation, and Genesis 2 gives us the details about the creation that God did on the sixth day, creating man and the animals. And when that is all finished, it is good. Everything in God’s created world was good at that point. But in Genesis 3, everything becomes bad, terminally bad and historically bad.

And all human beings who will live on this earth are affected by what happened in Genesis 3. It is the explanation of why things in this world are the way they are, why there is so much evil; why there is so much sin; why there is so much corruption; why there is disease, deformity, and death; why there is conflict, hatred, war; and why there are disasters of all kinds.

The serpent, who was the devil himself, deceived Eve by telling her that God lied to her, that she was not going to die if she did not obey God’s word. The serpent said that by eating the forbidden fruit she was going to become like God knowing what is evil and what is good. Then when Eve saw that the fruit was desirable, she took it and ate it. And she also gave it to Adam who ate it also.

And suddenly their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loin coverings. When they heard the Lord God they hid themselves. Then God wanted them to be both accountable for their actions. And instead of acknowledging their sin, they blamed the serpent and each other and ultimately God Himself. This showed their fallen state.

Now see what the Lord God says in Genesis 3:14-15, “The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

And to the woman He said in Genesis 3:16, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.’” This is just a portion of the Fall in Genesis 3. Suffice it to say that Adam and Eve became doubters of God. They fell and with them the whole human race fell.

Satan, who led that temptation, had by this time fallen himself out of heaven. He was the cherub; the heavenly choir director; he was one of the holy angels who desired to be equal to God, according to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. And God cast him out of heaven, along with a third of the angels, according to Revelation 12, and they now are the demon forces that are against God and against men.

When God cast Satan out, he is sent to earth. And in this passage, he is the agent that tempted Eve that caused the Fall of the entire human race. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die.” Here, having caused this sin, Satan will be cursed a second time. He was cursed first when he was thrown out of heaven, and now he is to be cursed and judged a second time in Genesis 3:14-15.

Pay attention to the second curse that God pronounces on Satan. This is also the first expression of gospel hope, salvation hope, deliverance from sin and Satan. So embedded in this curse is the hope of mankind. It is the record of Moses, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the reason our world is so full of evil. Everything from the behavior of man to devastating hurricanes is bad and evil.

We have all been plunged into a spiritual death and also into a physical death, from the moment we are born we begin to die. We have no hope of life if all we have is the Fall. And yet here in Genesis 3, we find in the middle of the curse the promise of the Savior, who will break the curse by crushing Satan. The rest of the Bible is the record of God’s grace and mercy to sinners.

Yet many in the world reject it and only a remnant of people receive it. What we have here is essentially the source of human depravity. It is the condition of the spiritual soul in which there is no fellowship with God. It is the condition of the human soul in which it will not acknowledge the greatness of sin and concerns itself only with the consequences of sin, not the sin itself.

Paradise was lost not only for Adam and Eve, but for everyone else. The loss of blessing defines the world; corruption defines the human race. The whole race, people in the past, the present, and yet to come in the future are born in this condition because of what Adam did. God reacts to this by giving divine justice which results in a perfect sentence. There are consequences to sin; whatever you sow, you reap.

If you lie, there are consequences to your lying. If you are an alcoholic, there are built-in consequences. If you take drugs, that kind of behavior has its own consequences. If you are characterized by hostility and anger, there are consequences. If you engage in homosexuality, sexual sin, if you kill people, whatever it might be, built-in to those sins are cause and effect results.

But there is a far greater divine judgment on top of these natural consequences. There is a natural built-in sequence we could even call wrath. But what we need to understand is there is judgement from God on sin. And here God renders an appropriate and just sentence, on the serpent in Genesis 3: 14-15, on the man in verse 17, and on the woman in verse 16.

Man’s sin does not threaten nor diminish God’s sovereignty. He always rules. And here He demonstrates his sovereignty through these curses. Let us look at the curses that are related to the serpent and to Satan in verses 14 and 15, because in these curses we find the first presentation of the gospel or good news. God provides in the curse itself the gospel, because God is by nature a Savior.

So let’s look at the curse directed at Satan. Genesis 3:14-15, “The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Snakes don’t talk. Satan, who is a spiritual being, embodied himself in this snake and talked through that snake. And so God here curses the snake who is the physical, earthly agent of the satanic temptation. He says, because you have been the instrument of Satan to bring about temptation and sin, you will eat dust all the days of your life. And God says, from now on, “on your belly you will go.”

Which indicates that if that’s a part of the curse, that wasn’t true prior. So after the curse, whatever was attractive about the snake was changed. The curse comes on the serpent. And I want you to understand why God is doing this. “Cursed are you more than all cattle, more than every beast of the field.” Let me explain the phrase “more than.”

In the Hebrew language it is not a comparative, it’s a selective curse. Of all the beasts--only you are cursed. Cattle refers to domestic animals. The beasts refer to wild animals. So of all the animals, only you are cursed. Of course--all animals: fish, birds and animals on the ground suffered the effects of the Fall. Only the snake was selected to be cursed, and only on the snake was the curse pronounced.

Why would God make the serpent slither and eat dust? Because the serpent then becomes a permanent symbol of the degradation of Satan. Remember that the one who was once the anointed cherub, the one who was Lucifer of the morning has been so debased and so degraded that he is slithering on the ground and eating dirt, symbolically. The serpent has become a constant picture of the curse of Satan.

Leviticus 11:42 says, “Whatever goes on its belly, you shall not eat for they are detestable.” Snakes were unclean animals. Snakes of all animals are the most reviled, the most hated and the most scorned. And again, in rabbinic teaching, the rabbis make much of the idea that this animal must have once been upright and a beautiful part of God’s creation, as was Satan before he was sent to the world.

To show how unwavering God is, let us look at this illustration. In Isaiah we have a glimpse of the millennial kingdom. Isaiah 65:25 says, “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food.” Snakes will never get out of the dirt, not even in the millennial kingdom. Permanent symbols of the degradation of Satan.

Then God moves from the animal to Satan, verse 15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This has been called for centuries the proto-evangelium. Proto means the prototype--the first evangelium, the first gospel. That is the only gospel that the ancient world had.

God says to Satan, “If you think you have won the entire human race, you are wrong. There will come enmity from humanity toward you. You will not exercise complete control.” God denies Satan at the very moment when he assumed he had triumphed. God will enable man in his sinful fallen condition, to be so totally transformed that he will hate the serpent and love God.

I know the world loves Satan and hates God. They might not say it that way, but that’s the truth. But God has redeemed out of the human race, starting from that very incident in the garden until the end of the age, a humanity that has been so transformed such that they actually hate Satan and love God. That’s the enmity that has been placed between you, Satan, and the woman and her seed.

For this to happen, there has to be a radical transformation of the human heart. It is so significant that the New Testament speaks of it as the new birth. It is so profound that the prophets, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, speak of it as having a new heart. To put it another way, the old Adam has to die and a new Adam has to be born. God will create new men and new women who hate Satan and love God.

Here is the first suggestion of regeneration, of transformation, of salvation. So here the gospel, good news, makes its initial entrance into human history, inside a curse on Satan. The gospel is first given then not in a promise, but in a curse. Not in an act of kindness, but in an act of judgment. This was the only promise of Satan’s defeat--of sinners being transformed to love God and hate Satan.

This is the promise of a Savior. This is promised salvation for Eve. But it will go beyond her. In verse 20, she is named Eve because she was the mother of all mankind. Out of Eve will come a race of redeemed humanity that will also be hating Satan. Unbelievers are your seed, Satan. Believers are her seed. Your seed, Satan, are all the haters of God; her seed are all the transformed who love God.

Verse 15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” But verse 15 mentions ‘her seed.’ And then the pronoun “he’ shall bruise your head,” This refers to an individual, singular pronoun--“he.” Her seed is a special man. Here you have this most interesting identification as her seed being “he.”

God is speaking here of the seed of a woman who will be a Man. This is the only place in the Bible where it talks about a seed of a woman. It talks about the seed of men, because seed is in the man, not in the woman. But here was Jesus born without a human father, and the seed was in the woman. And that is the virgin-born Christ, the Son of God. The only human who was not the result of the seed of a man.

Clearly that is the testimony of Matthew. Clearly that is the testimony of Galatians 4:4, “born of a woman,” And Isaiah 7:14, born of a virgin. There will come one Man who comes from the seed of a woman who will be your destroyer. This points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan understood this prophecy; and that is why Satan has been trying to destroy the line of the Messiah.

So it says in verse 15, “He shall crush you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” He will literally crush the head of Satan. The heel of the seed of the woman will be bruised, that’s an attack from the rear, with less than permanent damage. Satan was engaged in bruising the Son of God. Isaiah says He was bruised for our iniquities, and in Luke 22: 53 Jesus said that “this is the hour of the power of darkness.”

The cross was a blow on His heel, allowed for the redemption of all these sinners who love God and hate Satan. But the One whose heel was being bruised would, at the same time, crush the head of Satan. That’s an attack from the front, dealing a deadly, crushing blow to the head of Satan by providing the atonement that paid in full for the sins of all the people whom God would regenerate.

Before God pronounces judgment on them, hope, mercy, grace, salvation and good news was given. Before God sends them out of the garden and forbids them to ever come back, before punishment is placed on their backs, hope is placed in their hearts. God is by nature a gracious, merciful, compassionate, forgiving God, and so He plants hope in the midst of the curse.

What an incredible place to begin to see the glory of Christ in the Old Testament. He is the seed of the woman, the Man who crushed Satan’s head. And because of that, at the end of the book of Romans, Paul says, “Satan has also been placed under your feet.” Because He conquered Him, we in Christ will conquer as well. What an incredible God we have, praise Him always! Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Jan 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190113 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000005D imblog

Genesis 3:8-13

We're going to look again at Genesis 3 and look at origins. Many people try to find out why the world is the way it is, how it got this way and where it's going. Well the Bible tells all that God intended us to know about the origin of sin. Sin explains all the troubles in the world. Everything evil, everything wrong, everything imperfect and death all comes from an event that occurred and is recorded in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3 is the accurate record from God about how sin came into the world. We cannot understand redemptive history and it’s ending unless we understand its beginning. Why is it important to have a Savior who dies, why is it important that He returns again and restores this world, and then ultimately destroys the entire universe and recreates a new heaven and a new earth?

We cannot understand why mankind is the way he or she is unless we understand Genesis 3. It explains the universal condition of men. It explains why there must be a Savior and why the universe must ultimately be destroyed and a new universe brought into existence in its place. If you do not believe Genesis 1, 2 and 3, and if you do not understand them, you cannot have the correct world view.

God created the entire universe as it now exists in six 24-hour days. You must understand God's purpose in creating men in His own image, giving a helper to him, namely woman. You must understand the foundation of the physical universe and of man's role in it. You must understand the Fall of man. Man fell from perfection and innocence in the image of God, into sin and depravity.

He descended instantly from his original creation in the image of God to his current condition in sin and under divine judgment. Mankind was created in one day with full maturity. He was created for fellowship with God and to enjoy the world that God had made. And he fell into the fallen state ever since. And it all happened in one event described beginning in Genesis 3:1.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

“5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Now we have already studied those seven verses. We met Satan, the one who having fallen out of heaven because of his own rebellion is cast down to earth, that wicked Lucifer. The devil comes and solicits evil from Eve, and through Eve from Adam. His strategy is to lie about God, that God is not kind and good, that God is harsh, and that God is holding back from her something that is good.

And that you can't trust God's Word, even though He said you would die, you won't die. And through the strategy of deception comes the seduction. The seduction starts to take place, in verse 6, when lust begins to conceive sin. Eve thinks it would make her wise to know good and evil and she would become like God. So she and her husband both eat and that is the act of disobedience that results in the shame.

Their eyes are opened, they understand evil not by some academic process, they understand evil because it is now in them and they feel it. And they feel it even in the sexual realm so that they become embarrassed about what they had never been embarrassed about, that is their nakedness and attempting to cover their guilt, they cover themselves with some leaves that they have sewn together to try to hide their shame.

With that one act on that day an avalanche of sin was loosed that would never stop until the final destruction of this universe. For that we learn in Genesis 3: 8 – 13, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

“10 And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

What a dramatic change. This is a hundred and eighty degree reverse of their attitude toward God. They were instantly corrupted by that one sin such that they not only felt the shame of that corruption, but they resisted any fellowship with God and they resisted honest repentance. Their conversation now is evasive, deceptive and it shifts blame. That is the nature of depravity.

Depravity is a condition in which one is unwilling to honestly repent. Depravity is not just seen in man's inability to stop sinning, but in his inclination to avoid repentance. Even when mankind experiences the sin, feel the guilt and shame, even when confronted by God he will do everything to shift the blame away from himself. And if he's finally confronted by God he will not acknowledge his own sin.

It isn't that Adam and Eve didn't know they sinned, they had experienced sin. They had experienced the knowledge of evil. They had experienced wicked corrupt thoughts that somehow related to their sexual conduct and therefore covered themselves in that area. They were feeling guilty before God from their consciences and they knew they were going to be judged and that judgment was death.

But in spite of the shame and guilt, in spite of accusing consciences, in spite of judgment from God, in spite of impending death, rather than repent they tried to shift blame. Depravity is a condition in which the sinner will not repent and cannot repent of his sin. That is why Ephesians 2:1 says, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins.” They cannot stop sinning, nor can they honestly repent.

Since they understands that there is God and there is judgment, the only thing they can do is to hide. Atheists hide from God by saying there is no God. Self-righteous people hide from God by saying God is not as holy as some people would think and I'm good enough to satisfy God on my own. Other people hide from God by redefining Him. And Jews hide from God by refusing to accept Christ as their Savior.

Ninety percent of the people in America believe in God. But the vast majority of those 90 percent believe God to be the God that they have created themselves in their own minds. That's why where the Word of God is preached and God is worshiped, such as in our church, and God is exalted, sinners are not comfortable. That's exactly what we see in Adam and Eve. They are now experiencing evil.

When we come to verse 8, some time has passed since they fell, since they found some fig leaves and sewed them together. It's the cool of the day, the evening as the sun began to set in that paradise, the evening when the gentle breeze began to move. Verse 8 says they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Wait a minute. God is a spirit, right? Yes, but now the Lord Jesus is there with them, right?

On several occasions in the Old Testament, particularly in the book of Genesis, God appeared in visible, physical form as a man. He could be seen and He could talk to you. That shouldn't surprise us. Isaiah had a vision of God in Isaiah 6:1, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." According to John 12:41, “Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and he spoke of Jesus Christ.”

Isaiah actually saw Jesus when he saw God on a throne. He saw the pre-incarnate Christ. These are called theophanies, appearances of God, or christophanies, appearances of Christ. The divine Lord was comfortable in human form even before the incarnation on earth. After all, man was made in the image of God, the second member of the trinity, the Lord, who would ultimately be made a glorified man forever.

The Lord appeared to Hagar in Genesis 16, called the messenger of the Lord and the angel of the Lord, which was the Lord Himself. In Genesis 17 and 18 the Lord appeared to Abraham. In Genesis 26 the Lord appeared to Isaac. In Genesis 28, Genesis 32 and Genesis 35, on three separate occasions the Lord appeared to Jacob which was the last of these christophanies in Genesis.

God appeared in the form of a man so that He might speak to man as a friend. So, one of the blessings, that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden, was intimate conversation with God the Creator who appeared to them in visible, physical form like a man. Perhaps something like the transfigured Christ of the New Testament. Up to that day whenever they would hear God walking in the garden, they would run to Him.

But now in verse 8, "And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." Man is still trying to escape from God in God's own garden. The sinner may deny His existence, that's a form of escape. He may reject the true God of Scripture and invent a god of his own. Even Darwin said, "Of course there is a God, I believe in God but not the God of the Bible."

When God says in verse 9, "Adam, where are you?" He's not asking for information. He knew where Adam was, He is omniscient. And when He says "where are you?" He's not asking "where are you located in the garden?" He's asking "where are you now in terms of your condition?" The word "called" in the Hebrew, is a word used in the Old Testament for summoning someone to give an account.

It's a question like the one in Genesis 4: 9. Cain killed Abel and then the Lord says to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" The Lord knew where he was. He was dead on the ground. God is not asking for information because in verse 10 He said, "What have you done, the voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground." God was giving Cain the opportunity to explain what he had done.

This is Adam's reply, Verse 10, “He said, 'I heard the sound of Thee in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.'" You see, the man can't tell the truth now. That is the mark of depravity, it seeks to hide from God. Satan had promised them freedom from God's limiting control. Well, they didn't get freedom, instead they got slavery to sin, slavery to shame and slavery to guilt and fear.

Adam will not admit that he sinned. He is now evasive. He has fallen and he will not acknowledge his sin. So God asks Adam in verse 11, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Where did the shame come from, Adam? Did you know that that shame was a direct result of your and Eve’s disobedience?

Verse 12, “The man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate.” Adam has spoken in half-truths and evaded things and now he starts shifting the blame. All he has left is to say, "O, I am just a victim." His fallen nature is now corrupt. Corruption is evasive, it is deceptive, it is self-protective, it is self-justifying, and it is blame shifting.

Eve is the problem and actually You are the problem because You gave her to me. This is a weak argument because from the beginning Eve was his helper and he was the leader. She was created to be led by Adam, but she became Adam's seducer with disastrous results. And now he blames God. When their whole sinful world collapses, it's now God's fault, because He made the world the way it is.

Depravity settles in so fast and turns the lover of God into the hater of God. Blame it on somebody else. Maintain your victim status. That's what the sinner does. They now resent God. They see God as their judge, not as their friend. They have no interest in God's honor. They have no interest in God's glory. They are devoid of holiness or purity. They are now full of sin.

Look at verse 13, “Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” God said, “Explain yourself, Eve." Adam did not defend his wife, he blamed her and God. Adam didn't try to protect his wife, even though he's supposed to be a protector of his wife. That relationship has become so bad that Adam blames her and blames God.

"What's the remedy?" Nobody would ever be saved unless God in His sovereign grace breaks those bonds of depravity. And that's what God does when He awakens the sinner, from being dead in sin, to life everlasting. That is why we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus and we celebrate Easter, His great resurrection and we honor Him for everything He continuous to do for us now in Heaven. Do you believe that? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Jan 2019 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20190106 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000005C imblog

Romans 12:1-2

I remember some time ago having a conversation with a young married girl who said she was really having trouble living the Christian life. She said, “I’m trying to get all I can get from God.” And I answered, “That is exactly the opposite what you should be doing. Your Christian life does not depend on what you get from Him. It depends on what you give to Him on a daily basis.”

Look what the wise men were doing in Matthew 2:11, “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Christmas is not about what you get from Christ. It’s all about what you give to Christ every day.

Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

1 Peter 2:5 says, “We are priests bringing sacrifices to God.” And then it explains that we are to give “a living and holy sacrifice.” What does that mean? It does not mean to offer Him gifts. In the New Testament the sacrifice is called a living sacrifice. We are to place ourselves on the altar before God as an offering to Him. Romans 12 teaches us to act as if we are priests placing ourselves on the altar.

God does not want our gifts, He wants our heart. And the bible explains that that consists of our soul, body, mind and will. Giving your soul to God is what the bible calls to be “born again spiritually” and that means believing Christ. I believe that many of you have done that. You cannot please God in any way if you don’t surrender your soul first, the essence of who you are, to Him. That is salvation.

Salvation in the book of Romans is called “the mercies of God” and this incorporates every part of salvation. Let me just mention them: the Holy Spirit, divine love, grace, peace, faith, comfort, power, hope, patience, kindness, glory, righteousness, forgiveness, reconciliation, justification, becoming His child, eternal life and ongoing intercession by the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ for you in front of God the Father.

Secondly, your body must be presented to God, how you reason and all that you are as a human being. Presenting means to surrender, to offer up, without holding anything back. Romans 6:12 says, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.” This is talking about your fleshly desires and what you want based on what you see in this world that is controlled by the devil.

This is an action as you present your body up to God. That is your duty, and that is necessary for your sanctification. This is very difficult. In 1 Corinthians 9:24 Paul says, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely.” That describes your soul and your body.

God is satisfied only when the soul is followed by the body offered to Him, and He says, “This is your spiritual service of worship.” It’s worship in the Old Testament. It’s used in Hebrews 9:6 of priests who were performing worship in the service of God, but it’s used here of the believer. This is your duty as a believer, as a priest before God, to offer your body.

Thirdly, the mind must be given to God. Now, these are all interconnected. If you don't give your mind to God, you're not going to be able to sustain giving your body to God. “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” So the mind is critical. So how do we deal with the mind? Don't be conformed to this age. What does that mean? John used “this age” where He means the evil world system.

All the ideas that society believes in, that dominate social media that you see people believe in, that you see demonstrated on TV and in the movies, which is taught in the universities, that is what John means with the world system. The world is the instrument that Satan uses to promote his goals and his ambitions, and he always is doing that. And yet all that stuff is only temporary and very dangerous.

The average high school student spends nine hours privately in front of a computer screen while they’re being programmed and drawn in by the spirit of this age. Undiscerning young people are easily victimized by what their peers believe in. That’s why so much of what pop culture is belongs to kids from 10 to 25. Every world system is on the internet trying to influence your thinking, your behavior and your desires.

God calls us to be transformed by the renewal of your mind, the metamorphosis of your mind. How do you renew your mind? You renew your mind through the Word of God. You're only going to do that when your mind is saturated with divine truth, and there’s no shortcut to this. The mind, then, becomes the battleground where the spirit of the age fights with your new nature.

In Deuteronomy 6: 5, 7 it says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” The body given to God can only be sustained as an offering to God when the mind is constantly being renewed by the Word of God.

Finally, the will must be given to God. We know things, but we don't necessarily do what we should. Paul says, “I don't do what I should do. I do what I don’t want to do.” You need to put the will of God on display. Show the world the will of God by doing it. The Christian life is a strong desire generated by the will based upon what the mind knows of the Word of God.

Be thankful that you have the resources provided for you so that your mind can be the mind of Christ. Win the battle of the will. Yield to the things that are right, noble and good. And all of this we do because we’re so grateful and overwhelmed at the mercies of God, and that’s why we’re here – because all those mercies basically come to us through the cross of Christ in His resurrection.

So remember, start with giving your soul to God where you believe that Jesus Christ is your Savior. Then watch what you do in your body, realizing that with your body you show love to your neighbor and keep it holy. And since your mind controls what you do, fill that with the words of God and reject what the world offers. And then do the will of God and make that your will, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Dec 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181223 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000005B imblog

Colossians 1:15-20

Let us focus our attention on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is, why He came into the world and what the birth of the Lord Jesus really means. The humble birth of Jesus Christ was never intended to hide the reality that God was being born into the world. But it has turned out to be just that. People can accept the birth of an infant but not accept birth of the God/man.

They can accept Christmas because it seems harmless from the perspective of a manger, but people do not believe Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. And consequently for the greater part of the world, Christmas has absolutely no meaning at all. Even though the angels announced the meaning of Christmas, the shepherds understood the meaning, the wise men knew it, but most people have missed the meaning.

What is the significance of Christmas? Well there was a child born whose name is called Emanuel because it means God with us. That child was God in human flesh. In Isaiah 9:6 the promise was that a child would be born, the government would be on His shoulders, and His name was mighty God, the everlasting Father. These are designations of deity assigned to the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Who was that Son? Who was that one made flesh? He is the fullness of God. None of us can ever fathom what it means for God to be born in a manger, for God to stoop down to the greatest condescension the world has ever known.

Though Jesus Christ was infinitely rich, He became poor, assumed our human nature, entered into our sin polluted atmosphere and took our guilt, bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, was wounded for our transgressions, was bruised for our iniquities, was raised for our justification, ascended into heaven for our intercession and will return some day to take us to be with Him forever.

This, says Paul, is the mystery of godliness that God was manifest in the flesh. There has never been a person like Jesus Christ. He is unique. We can see that in Revelation when it describes the end of the age, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish His Kingdom. In Revelation 5 God is sitting on the throne with the title deed to the earth, the seven-sealed scroll.

And heaven and earth is searched for someone who is worthy to unravel the scroll, and no one is found. And John begins to weep and then he hears that the lion of Judah is worthy and Christ steps forward. And all of heaven begins to praise Him for He is worthy to take the earth. Why? He is incomparable. In all of the universe He is the only one who has the right to possess the creation.

Colossians 1:15-20, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

“18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

First let's see Jesus in His relation to God. Some say He is less than God, a created being, a high angel, a good teacher, and a prophet. But let us see what God Himself says in verse 15, "He” refers back to verse 13, the kingdom of the Son, the one in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, that one who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

A limited study of the Bible tells us that God is invisible. The Old Testament says that no man has seen God. In Exodus God says you cannot look at Me and live. In John 1 it says that nobody has ever seen God. In 1 Timothy Paul writing about God called Him the invisible God. “God is a spirit”, Jesus said in John 4:24, “and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

But God now is visible. God is invisible but God has become manifest in the person of the Son who is Jesus Christ. Paul is writing to the Christians in Colossae. This city in Asia Minor was inundated by a false teaching called Gnosticism. It means to know. Certain people elevated themselves as the only ones who really knew the truth. They were the Gnostics, the ones who knew.

They believed that creation came from evil and that all matter was consequently evil. Matter was evil and spirit was good, which is philosophical dualism. They believed that God was spirit, so God was good and therefore could never touch matter. They concluded that God couldn't create and God couldn't become a man because if God created mankind, that meant a good God created evil.

They believed that Jesus was just a good angel. So the Apostle Paul writes to tell them that Jesus is God and that He is the creator. Verse 16, “by Him were all things created.” What does it mean that Jesus is His image? We were created in God's image, but Jesus is God's image. There's a big difference. He is the replica. He is the exact reproduction. Jesus said, "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father.”

Some people say, "Well, it really means that Jesus is just a good outline of God. He just gives you the general idea.” That is not correct, verse 19 eliminates that possibility, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell." He is not the outline of God, He is the fullness of God, and He is all God. Look at Colossians 2:3, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

The tragedy is that many people in the world in this age of unbelief don't see this, apart from those Christians who find that narrow way that is found by few. And they're categorized in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

It's an incredible thing to realize that this child that came into the world was the God who made everything. It's inconceivable that such love would manifest itself, that the One who made everything would heal the sick and feed the hungry and weep over the broken hearted, that He would choose ordinary men to accompany Him in His life time. But that is what God did and Christ is God.

If God were a man I would expect Him to be sinless. Jesus was. And if God were a man I would expect that His words would be the greatest words ever spoken. And Jesus' were. And if God were a man I would expect that He would exhibit the most profound influence over human personality of anybody who ever lived, and He did. And I would expect if God were a man that He would do miracles, and He did.

And I would expect that if God were a man He would manifest love beyond human comprehension, and He did. Paul says in verse 15, "He is the firstborn of all creation." Now many people have misinterpreted this and think that Jesus was a created being like everybody else. But that is not talking about the act of birth. Jesus said in John 8, "Before Abraham was I am."

Jesus never was created and even when He became a man He was not the first one created. What does it mean that He was the firstborn? It's the word prototokos in Greek, it means the right to rule, the heir, the ranking one, the one in authority. It has to do with the rights of inheritance. In the Jewish mind the firstborn was the one who inherited everything. Christ is the inheritor of all creation.

God speaks in Psalm 89:27, “I will also make Him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” In Revelation it says, "The King of kings and Lord of lords." Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things.”

Yes, Jesus is God in a body and yes, He is the creator. The claims that He made were astounding. He claimed to be in authority over angels in Matthew 13, over men in Matthew 25, over everything in Matthew 28:18, claimed to be God, to forgive sin, to raise His own body from the grave. He proved it all and Thomas was right when he said in John 20:24, "My Lord and my God."

Again here Paul presents Christ’ deity, verse 16, "For by Him were all things created." Jesus made everything. John 1:3 says, "Without Him was not anything made that was made." God created the worlds through Christ, the action of the trinity. God is creating in Genesis 1. The Spirit is moving and bringing life in Genesis 1. And the Son is creating in the New Testament.

Can you ever conceive what is out there? Light travels at 186 thousand miles a second, so light can reach the moon in one and a half seconds. Yet our solar system is three billion miles away. And the nearest star is 20 billion miles away, the North Star is 400 billion miles away. And the star Beetlejuice is 880 quadrillion miles away and has a diameter of 200 million miles greater than the earth's orbit.

His relationship to the world is indicated in verse 17, “He is before all things and by Him all things consist.” Jesus lived as God before He was ever known as Jesus, before He ever came into the world He existed in eternity past. In John 17 He said, "Father, I've finished the work which You gave Me to do, now restore Me to the glory that I had with You before the world began.”

How incredible that somebody should be the creator of David and the son of David. But He is the pre-existing one. He is before all things. All things were made for Him for He is the heir of all things. And then in verse 17, "And by Him all things hold together." This is talking about sustaining. In Hebrews 1:3 it says Jesus Christ upholds all things by the power of His word.

If the earth's rotation slowed down, we would alternately freeze or burn. Our globe is tilted on an axis at 23 degrees which enables us to have four seasons. If it wasn't tilted like that, great ice continents would pile up on the north and south. If the moon didn't remain at its exact distance from the earth, the ocean tide would completely inundate the land twice a day.

What is His relation to the unseen world? Jesus is the one who made the angels. He is God. He is the one who made everything visible and invisible. You have thrones, dominions, principalities, powers and the New Testament adds authorities. Those five terms describe the five ranks of angels, at least those are the ones that have been revealed to us. Christ is over all of them.

Now let's move to the area of redemption in verse 18. Here Paul shows that Jesus is God in redemptive history. First of all, Jesus in His relationship to the church, verse 18, "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in all things He might have the preeminence.” In redemptive history there is none greater than Jesus Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 12 this is fully developed and the idea is that all of us are parts of a living organism, that the church is not so much an organization as it is a living organism. And everybody has a function. Jesus Christ provides growth for His church through His own life. And He provides direction from the Word for His church. He said in Matthew 16, "I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."

Jesus is also the firstborn from the dead. He gained His exaltation by His resurrection. It says that Christ became a man, humbled Himself and through the resurrection God was well-pleased and God exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. It was in the resurrection that the exaltation came. He is the firstborn from the dead.

Verse 19, "It pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell." Why was Jesus treated so badly? Verse 13-14, “God has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Verse 20, “and through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”

Why was that done? To make peace between God and man. There is a war raging between man and God and the wrath of God is poured out and spent on sinful man. Man fires back his hatred and indifference toward God and a baby makes peace. Jesus alone is able to take the hand of sinful man and holy God and because of His own infinite sacrifice on the cross, to join the two.

Why was He born? Because there was no other way to bring peace between man and God. He alone could do it. He's the incomparable, the unique, the only one who can reconcile man to God. And He did it through the blood of His cross. Do you believe that? If you believe that and you are committed to that reality, Christmas for you is truly salvation. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?2018 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000005A imblog

Genesis 3:1-5

We have done a lot of background on Genesis 3, on the issue of sin, the problem of evil in the world. All of that was really a prelude to the text itself, the biblical record of why the world is the way it is. The Fall of man and the fall of the created universe is presented here. This is God's Word on that most influencing event on mankind. It is the record of the entrance of evil.

This tells us how the perfect good creation of God became corrupted and evil. The New Testament does not treat this as fiction, allegory or myth. The New Testament gives us a number of references to Adam, one of them is in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:38. The New Testament refers to Satan as the serpent in the Garden, as the one who lied to Eve. And there is Eve as the one being deceived.

So, the New Testament gives many references to Genesis 3 and all of them are treated as actual people, a man named Adam, a woman named Eve in a garden and a serpent who was Satan. This is actual history. Jude 14 says Enoch, in human chronology, was the seventh descendent from Adam. Adam was the first man and Eve was the first woman.

Now this is the saddest event in history. All problems, personal and environmental, all that is wrong, evil, immoral, incomplete, all that is decaying, all that is inferior, all failure, all disappointment, all weakness, all sorrow, all pain, all disillusionment, all trouble, all discomfort, all regret, all conflict, everything that fails to be as perfect as God is came from this one event.

Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” The creation of animals is discussed in Genesis 1. This particular serpent was wise and the reason he was wise is because Satan himself, that fallen angel Lucifer, had moved into that reptile and was speaking through that reptile the wisdom that he possessed as a fallen angel.

This is a real reptile, sometimes translated as dragon and sometimes as serpent. So an upright reptile approached Eve, but really it was Satan. He had fallen, as we know from Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. We also remember from Revelation 12 that when he fell he took a third of the angels with him. So because of Satan this animal is more cunning and more intelligent than any other animal.

Satan only wants to do one thing, he is the solicitor of evil. He wants to entice Eve and Adam into sin. He wants to corrupt God's good creation. Now let us examine his strategy. Satan’s strategy is lies, or deception. He wants is to create a lie that Eve believes. And that is why Jesus in John 8:44 called Satan the father of lies. Here he lies about the character of God and about the Word of God.

Satan moves in to attack God's highest creation, man. He had never seen anyone who could procreate. There is no procreation among angels. Angels were all created at the same time, although some now are fallen and some are holy. Man was a creature who has the capacity to have a relationship with the living God, and also be a creature who could reproduce.

Satan’s strategy is simple. He disguises himself as an angel of light, according to 2 Corinthians 11:14. If he can get you to believe that the character of God can't be trusted and therefore the Word of God can't be trusted but he can be trusted, then he has accomplished his goal. Satan got Eve to doubt the character of God, the Word of God and believe his words.

Only in lying is Satan consistent. There is a massive amount of inconsistency in the kingdom of darkness. Satan is the leader but he cannot control what his demons do and so there is a lot of inconsistency in the kingdom of darkness. But they are constant and consistent in their lying. They are void of the truth. And everything coming out of that kingdom is deceptive.

Satan sounds like he really is concerned for Eve's well-being. From being an observer Satan convinces Eve that if she follows him, she will reach great heights of blessing. He tells Eve that he knows more than God. He gets Eve to lower her view of God and then to doubtdoubt God's Word and to believe him. Jesus said that not only is he the father of lies, but he is the first murderer.

In the garden Satan told the first lie and he killed Adam and Eve and the whole human race. Let us follow his strategy. In the middle of verse 1, “He said to the woman, 'Indeed, has God said that you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'" Why did he go to Eve and not to Adam? 1 Peter 3:7 says that the woman by God's design, from an emotional standpoint, is the weaker vessel.

She is not created to be the warrior, the fighter, the defender, the protector, instead she is the one to be defended, to be protected. She is the one who needs to be covered and cared for. That's why in Ephesians 5 husbands are to love their wives and they're to be the guardians of their wives purity and character and they are to nourish and cherish them. The husband is the spiritual guardian and protector.

But when a woman does not have that protection, she is more vulnerable. That is why in the Bible it is normal for women to have a husband, because a woman was designed by God to be a helper to a man. She needs to be protected and cared for by a man. And when a young woman becomes a widow, she should marry again because she needs that care and protection.

This is what Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 11: 3, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Eve was found by Satan in an unprotected condition and that's exactly what he wanted. He may well have succeeded with Adam, but he believed he had a better opportunity with Eve.

The Garden of Eden had everything that was absolutely wonderful and all of a sudden a talking serpent just could have been another wonderful thing. Eve starts this conversation innocently but the serpent’s strategy is deceptive. Here's just an animal in the garden who comes up and says, "Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" This starts Eve on a path of questioning God.

It's a clever plan. All sin essentially follows the same pattern. If you begin to question God, you begin to doubt God, which can lead to distrusting God, which leads to disobedience. For the first time, the most deadly spiritual force was released by that question. The assumption was that what God said is subject to our judgment. That's what launches this entire attack.

All temptation starts with the idea that we can evaluate what God has said or what He requires. The word "Lord" is what puts the emphasis on His sovereignty. And that's the word Satan wants to leave out because he hates the sovereignty of God. He will not acknowledge Him as Yahweh, he calls Him Elohim which is a generic word for God and he drops the term "Lord."

And so the devil refers to the Lord God simply as God. "Has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" Well, Satan starts by quoting Scripture, right? But he does turn the positive to a negative, reversing the emphasis by saying it the way he does. God said you shall eat of every tree of the garden, but this one of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But Satan reverses it, you shall not eat from every tree of the garden? So he casts the negative tone over it and inverts the emphasis to not eating where when God originally gave the emphasis on eating everything, except that one tree. In this way he focuses Eve's attention on the prohibition and sets her up to question God and His Word. Did God restrict you in some way?

The further implication is that there's something in God's character, in God's nature that makes Him want to limit you, He wants to steal your joy. He wants to take away your complete freedom. That's the negative twist of it. Eve, did God really tell you that you couldn't eat everything in here? There must be something about that tree that God doesn't want you to enjoy.

The fact that God gave them everything in the garden to eat, is not mentioned. She is not just talking to a reptile, she is unaware of his subtleties as the devil. So she replies in verse 2-3, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”

It seemed to Eve that this creature wants her to enjoy everything freely. But she knew enough that she could have stopped Satan at that point. She knew God. At that point she could have said, “I don't know who you are or where you've come from but you don't understand God. God is good, God cares and God has given us everything we need for pleasure and satisfaction.

Sin is a failure to believe that obedience brings you the purest good and true satisfaction. Eve knows God personally and not only had she had experience with His goodness and seen the manifest goodness of God, but she also had a clear command from God. She should have been suspicious of a talking reptile. And she should have pressed a little further to find out who she was talking to.

Taking the fruit was not the fall into sin. The Fall occurred before that act. The taking of the fruit was just evidence that man had already fallen. The Fall happened the moment she believed God was not good and that God had restricted her from something good. That lie plunged the human race into depravity. She said, “God said you shall not eat from it or touch it lest you die.”

As soon as you do not trust wholeheartedly in the wisdom and goodness of God, you're in trouble, because you have sinned. And she sinned, not when she ate, she sinned when she stopped believing God was good and only good. When you do not believe that His commandments are for your good and your highest joy, you have fallen. All sin comes from distrusting God.

Eve even adds to the command the words "or touch it." That is not in God's command in Genesis 2:17, God didn't say that. It's possible that this had been a warning given to her by Adam. But more likely she is beginning to think that God is harsh because she makes God even harsher. She is not defending God's goodness. She is not offended by the insults to God's character.

Martin Luther said, "Satan knows now that the wall has begun to topple, Satan started pushing against it so that it could completely crush Eve." Verse 4, "And the serpent said to the woman, 'You surely shall not die.'" Now this is just a lie. God tells you the truth and Satan lies. And Satan lied and called God a liar. He has been dishonored and Satan moves in.

The ultimate lie for Satan is this, there never will be any judgment for sin. Eve could have said, "Well, maybe God isn't caring and maybe He's restrictive and He's keeping back some good from me, but if I do it, I'm going to die." Satan wants to eliminate that fear, He wants people to think they will be reincarnated. Or that when they die they'll just go through a long dark tunnel and arrive at some happy place.

Satan says, "There's no absolute authority. It's your life and you can do whatever you want to do. And there are no consequences. You're not going to die, Eve. It's not going to happen." Who is telling her the truth? Satan is saying, “God doesn't love you. I'm the one who loves you. I have your freedom in mind. I don't want to restrict you." That is the love of hell.

Satan says that God's character is basically flawed. Verse 5, "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God." Satan says that God is not tolerant of people who attempt to rise to His level. He is self-protective, selfish. He resents anybody who seeks to be His equal." Satan knew that from experience, right?

Because Satan had sought to be God's equal and that's how he got punished. Isaiah 14:13-14, "I will rise and be equal to God,” and then God threw him out of heaven. In his mind he has determined that God doesn't want anybody getting anywhere near His equality. That's true but for holy reasons, not unholy ones. Satan hates God for what God did to him.

The big lie is that the God of the Bible is restrictive. The God of the Bible lies to us about the consequences of our sin because He wants to keep us from becoming like Him. When you go where God says you can't go, you will ascend to become a god. God lied when He said we would die and go to hell. God is so flawed in His character as to hate rivals. And Satan is the only one who cares about your freedom, pleasure and satisfaction.

In verse 5 he says to Eve, "God knows the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” That is what the Buddhists promise, that's what the Mormons promise, that's what a lot of false religions promise, you will be like God. But being like God, Satan says in verse 5, means knowing good and evil. Eve would know good and evil, in a way she never thought.

Knowing good and evil, was a half-truth. Verse 22, "The Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil.'" It happened. You won't become God. But God knows good and evil the way a cancer surgeon knows cancer, which is very different from the way a patient knows it. She knows cancer as a victim, enduring pain, not as a physician who seeks to cure her.

Nothing in the fruit was evil. God made that tree, it was good and all the fruit on it was good. The evil was in the heart of Eve. Satan always tells people that the forbidden fruit is the doorway to fulfillment. What a lie. James 1:15 says, “When lust conceives, it brings forth sin.” And we'll see later how it moved from her mind to her emotions and her will and her behavior. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Dec 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181209 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000059 imblog

Genesis 3:1-7

Our world is certainly preoccupied with the issue of origins. God has given us the story of origins in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 1 and 2 is the origin of the physical universe, as we know it. In Genesis 3:1-7 is the origin of evil. After the six days of God’s creation, He rested. Everything He had made, according to Genesis 1:31 was very good and God rested. He had created a perfect universe.

But we do not live in a perfect universe. And there’s a reason. Genesis 3 shows us the reason why the world is the way it is. We see how the serpent lied to Eve and said that if she would eat of the forbidden fruit she would be like God, knowing good and evil and that she would not die. So Eve took the fruit and ate and gave it to Adam who also ate it. Then they realized that they were naked.

The true diagnosis of the human condition stems from that event. God, the creator of the universe, is all good and only good. And the goodness of His creation was a reflection of the goodness of His nature. God is not the author of evil. If God created evil, then God would be both good and evil. And there would be no hope for the ultimate triumph of good, which the Bible promises.

So this makes the source of evil outside of God. Only if the source of evil is outside can God conquer evil and can God save sinners from evil. Evolution is dependent on decay and death, all effects or reflections of evil. And if God used any form of evolution, then His creation was not all good because of decay and death. Our God is not evil.

God is all good and only good. So where did evil come from? We only know what we know from the Bible. It is really useless to speculate about that. Nobody would argue that there is evil in the world. Not everybody admits that we are totally depraved and that we have original sin in us. But everyone admits there is evil in the world.

For Albert Einstein the toughest intellectual barrier to the Christian faith was not the question of God creating the world. He saw that the universe was designed so it had to have a designer. “The universe reveals an intelligence of such superiority that it overshadows all human intelligence.” But Einstein couldn’t resolve the problem of evil and suffering with a good God and so he turned away from the God of the Bible.

Einstein was wrong. He didn’t even fully understood God as the force in creation, that’s why he was never satisfied and died never having really identified the true power in the universe. And Einstein was wrong about God; God is a personal God. And God is not responsible for evil. And the problem with Einstein is he would not believe his own Scriptures of Judaism.

When it comes to the origin of evil, there are several options. You can take Einstein’s option, that there is a cosmic power: some kind of rational power out there with no personality, no relationship, no ability to connect to us, but some rational power that launched everything in our universe. Or you can take the view that God does not even exist. That is the view of the intellectual atheist.

And since there is no God, there is no evil and there is no good in reality. Those are only subjected determinations that human beings invent, but there is no true good or evil. Or you can take the view that suffering, and evil, and death don’t really exist. Christian Science believes that, and they are not Christian nor scientific. So, you can take some mystical approach to the reality of evil.

Or, you can take the view that is becoming more popular today that God has limited power. This is a new theology among evangelical Christianity and is called “process theology.” God is in process. Bad things happen because God can’t stop them. Rabbi Kushner who wrote “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” believes that God wasn’t quite sovereign yet.

One other view is that God created evil. And there are people who teach that God created evil for good purposes. He wanted to affect some good purposes and he needed evil to do it, so he created evil for good purposes. None of those is true. In spite of what Einstein thought, God is personal, and God is relational, and God is good. God does exist, so does sin, so does suffering, and so does death exist.

The truth is that God is not responsible for evil; His creatures are. Everything that God created was very good. This is affirmed throughout the Scripture. Habakkuk 1:13 says, “God is of purer eyes than to approve evil or behold evil. He cannot look on wickedness.” 1 Corinthians 14:33 says, “God is not the author of confusion.” 1 John 1:5 says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

James 1:13 says, “God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man.” First John 2:16 says, “All that is in the world,” all evil categorically, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father.” Psalm 5:4, “You are not of God who has pleasure in wickedness, neither will evil dwell with you.” And in Isaiah 6 we hear the cry of the angels that God was holy, holy, holy.

You see a glimpse of that, when Jesus came into the world, God in human flesh. He was holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners. God is not evil. He cannot be tempted to do evil. God is not responsible for evil. The source of evil, the source of sin is outside God. When God created angels and God created humans, He gave them intelligence, He gave them reason, and He gave them choice.

Intelligence gave them the ability to understand things. Reason gave them the ability to process that understanding toward behavior. And choice gave them the freedom to determine that behavior. Intelligence, reason, and choice. And with the ability they had to process that information, they would make a choice. And whether angels or men, they would have the choice either to obey God or not to obey God.

And to disobey God was to initiate evil. Evil is not the presence of something, evil is the absence of righteousness. Evil is a negative. Evil is the absence of perfection. It’s the absence of holiness. It’s the absence of righteousness. Evil became a reality only when creatures chose to do disobey. Evil came into existence initially in the fall of angels and then in the fall of Adam and Eve.

Evil is not a being. Evil is not a force. Evil is a lack of moral perfection. God created absolute perfection. Wherever a lack of that exists, sin exists. And that cannot exist in the nature of God or in anything that God makes. Evil comes into existence when God’s creatures fall short of the standard of moral perfection. But God did decree to use evil as a part of His eternal plan.

Scripture written by God always assigns the guilt and responsibility for all sin to creatures, never to God. We do know that God is holy, He’s too pure to look on iniquity, He can’t tolerate evil. We know He tempts no man, neither is tempted by any man. He is all light and no darkness. God is not the author of confusion. Sin comes into existence when the standard of moral perfection is not met.

Why would God allow sin? Number one, it brought about the salvation of sinners. God had to allow sin in order that He might save sinners. Why did God want to save sinners? To put on display His attributes that otherwise never would have been manifest. How is God going to show His grace if there aren’t any sinners? How is God going to show His mercy if there aren’t any sinners?

That was a part of God’s nature that God wanted to display for His own glory throughout all eternity. He also wanted to show love, love that is so far reaching that it can reach even His own enemies who hate Him. How is He going to show that if He doesn’t have any enemies? So, God allows evil in order that He might demonstrate grace and mercy and forgiveness and salvation.

Secondly, He allows evil in order that He might display His wrath. How would God reveal that part of His eternal nature if there were not an opportunity to judge sinners? Look at redemptive history and you see the salvation of sinners and the damnation of sinners. And you see ultimately a place prepared for those who are damned and a place prepared for those who are saved.

Thirdly, God allowed sin in order that He might forever destroy it. As long as His creatures have any measure of freedom, as long as His creatures have intelligence, that is they can know and reason, that is they can process that knowledge toward behavior. As long as they can choose what to do, and as long as they have that capacity, there is a potential to fall short of the standard of God.

We don’t know how long it was before Lucifer made the wrong choice before God. We don’t know how long it was even in the Garden before Adam and Eve made the wrong choice, but it was certainly before they had any children. So, there is the potential of a wrong choice is here. A measure of freedom is given to the creatures by which they can choose to honor God, or choose to dishonor Him.

Lucifer was the source of evil initially in the angelic realm and as we will see, and he got a third of the other angels to join him. Now, since angels don’t procreate, Lucifer didn’t pass-on his sin because angels don’t marry are not given in marriage, as Jesus said. They were all created at one time. But when Satan made a bad choice, he managed to seduce a third of the rest of the angels.

So, there are twice as many holy angels as demons since one third fell, two thirds did not. But they fell, by choice. The same happened with Adam and Eve, only it had a different effect. With angels they all sinned their own sin and their sin did not pass to anybody else because they don’t procreate. When Adam and Eve made the wrong choice, all humanity became sinful because we are all their descendants.

In Genesis 3 we meet a serpent, nachash in Hebrew. Later in verse 14, part of the curse on this serpent was that he was going to go on his belly and eat dust. So, when the serpent first appeared in the Garden, he is not yet slithering around on his belly. There’s another Old Testament word used to speak of reptiles, tannin and they are used interchangeably, although tannin is the word for dragon or sea monster.

In the New Testament, Satan in Revelation 12 and Revelation 20, is called the serpent and the dragon both. Now, this is a special reptile because this one talks. There are wonders in the Garden, and Adam and Eve are still discovering the wonders. Eve doesn’t appear to be shocked when this reptile came and starts a conversation. The serpent said, “Has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the Garden?”

This particular animal knows about God and has a devious, evil mind. This is not a story with a moral. Jewish rabbis said the serpent wasn’t really talking to Eve but the writer, Moses, uses a serpent as a symbol of evil impulses rising in Eve’s heart. Then, why did God curse the reptile? Why can’t people just take the Bible for what it says? This is exactly the way it happened because we can trust God’s Word.

Being crafty is not a reference to the character of snakes. He is comparing this reptile to all other animals and saying this one is wiser than any other animal. But this is a crafty, wicked animal because it is being used by a superhuman intelligence to lead Eve and Adam into a choice for evil that this personality already made. And the devil inside that animal knew the effect of the choice Adam and Eve were going to make.

The devil had more knowledge. He knew about the prohibition. He knew that God had said, don’t eat of that tree. He claimed to know more than Eve. In verse 4 the serpent said to Eve, “You surely shall not die.” I know more than you. But the devil knows that when you seek to be like God, the end result is shame, degradation, misery and damnation. That’s what he himself has experienced.

In 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul says, “I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted.” This is a New Testament affirmation to the reality of the Genesis account. This is important because this proves that this is an accurate historic representation. It supports that the man is the head of the woman, and when acting independently, she is more susceptible to deception.

It is also true in 1 Timothy 2:13-14, that the pattern of what happened in the Garden is sustained by the New Testament. 1 Timothy 2:13, “It was not Adam who was deceived,” Adam wasn’t deceived, who was deceived? Eve. She was deceived, and Adam just says, hey, if you’re going to do that I’m going to do that too. There was no deception. That affirms the story exactly the way it lays out in Genesis.

The devil can’t make you sin. When you sin, you bear the responsibility. And Adam and Eve are fully guilty for their sin. The devil thought he could be like God. But he’s not omniscient, he’s not omnipotent, and he’s not omnipresent. And he’s not immutable nor sovereign. He’s utterly as much unlike God as a creature could be. He functions only within the sovereign purposes of God to save sinners and to destroy evil.

The devil’s primary name is Satan. He is called Satan in Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2, and he is also called that in the Old Testament. Three times in three passages, he is identified by the name Satan. Satan is a word that means adversary, or opponent. He is the adversary of God, and he’s the adversary of man. And he will continually try to lure us into destruction.

Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. But according to John 8:44, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” Do what Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,” especially now. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Dec 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181202 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000058 imblog

Genesis 3:1-7

In the opening of Genesis 3, you have the record of the serpent in the Garden tempting Eve, and her subsequent disobedience to God, and then Adam following in her disobedience. And immediately upon that disobedience, they were both filled with shame, as indicated by the awareness of their nakedness in verse 7, and the sewing together of fig leaves to cover themselves.

This incident has monumental impact. Up to this point, according to Genesis 1:31, God saw all that He had made in the six days, and it was very good. Genesis 2, is an expansion of the creation of man on day six. And so at the end of Genesis 2 everything is still very good. But when you come to Genesis 3, a dramatic change takes place and from then on everything is very bad.

The narrative of Genesis 3:1-7 describes for us the first act of human disobedience which brought about the curse on all mankind: the Fall. The impact of that Fall has touched every part of the universe. It is accurate to say that absolutely everything wrong in our world is because of sin. If there were no sin, everything would be very good. Everything created in heaven and on the earth would be very good as it was on day six.

But because of sin, everything is very bad. From World Wars, terrorism, mass murders, serial killings, accidents, fires, crippling and maiming of people, nuclear reactor disasters, pollution, cancer, heart disease, all illnesses to all broken relationships, all divorce, all orphaned children, all drugs, all crime, all dereliction in all forms. In summary: all evil, all sadness, all failure, all death is because of sin.

So, Genesis 3 as a point of origin is critical. In fact, it is arguably the most important chapter in the Bible because it explains why the rest of the Bible tells the story of redemption. Everything in the physical world dies, and sin is the killer. Who changes gentle children into murderers, tender mothers into hateful mothers, and their fathers into absentees? The answer is sin.

Any accurate understanding of the way things are in the world demands an understanding of sin. Listen to Romans 8: 20, “For the creation was subjected to futility, or to emptiness, not of its own will but because of Him who subjected it.” In other words, it wasn’t that the whole of creation wanted this fallen condition; it was the punishment of God for the sin of man.

The creation itself, Romans 8:21 says, “Also will be set free from its slavery to corruption.” Currently the entire creation, everything that was made on the six days of creation, is in slavery to corruption. And that’s why verse 22 says, “The whole creation groans and suffers like the pain of childbirth together until now.” Because of sin, no part of creation now exists as God intended it to be.

You are not the way God intended you to be. Animals aren’t the way God intended them to be, and plants aren’t the way God intended them to be. The water and land, and mountains, and all the planets, and all of the stars, and all that goes into infinity is not what God originally made it to be. It is all reduced to, look at verse 20, futility, to be a failure.

And then, in verse 21, there is a slavery to corruption. Slavery indicates an inability to free oneself, a bondage that can’t be broken. Here is this universe unsuccessfully trying to achieve its intended purpose. That simply can be defined by two words: decay and eventual death. Everything in the universe is going in that direction, and is groaning under a constant severe pain as in childbirth.

And verse 23 adds, “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan.” Paul here is talking about believers. Everybody groans, even believers feel the weight of that, eagerly waiting for our adoption as sons and waiting for the redemption of our body. We’re waiting to finally be released from this enslavement to corruption to be recreated in Christ.

Jewish theology does not believe in total depravity; they do not believe in original sin. They think we all come into the world with a clean slate and we have the privilege of making a decision that relates only to us. And if you question that, all you have to do is read Genesis 3:7, where Adam and Eve felt shame for the first time. Before that they were without any shame because there was no evil in their mind or in their actions.

But all of a sudden their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked. All of a sudden they were having thoughts they had never had before. All of a sudden, they were thinking things they never thought before, and the paralyzing reality of wickedness caused them to be embarrassed, and so they had to cover themselves. And there is the first indication of evil thoughts.

Then, the next thing is, they hid from God, to run from God so God has to come and find them. And God confronts them about what they did and Adam says, “The woman You gave me, she did it.” And we hear blame shifting. He didn’t really blame Eve, Adam in fact blamed God. He said, “The woman You gave me.” He said: I went to sleep single; I woke up with Eve.

So, now you have a guilty conscience, you have feelings of shame, you have hiding from God. And then, you have the unwillingness to accept responsibility for your sin which shifts the blame not on another person but on God Himself. And then, God pronounces a curse on them and the whole universe felt the curse. And Satan was cursed more than any other being.

And the woman would be cursed with pain in childbirth and with marital conflict. And the man would be cursed because the ground would be cursed, and so the ground would start bringing forth thorns and thistles. And at the end of Genesis 3, and both of them are driven out of the Garden because God had to protect them from eating the tree of life, lest they live forever in a cursed condition.

We don’t know when between the sixth day and the seventh day, the birth of their first child came. We don’t know when the Fall came; we don’t know how long they lived in the bliss of Eden. But in Genesis 4, when they conceived a child, they had already fallen. They brought forth sinful children who needed to make a sacrifice to God. That was not needed if you weren’t a sinner and fallen.

And then, in Genesis 4 there is murder. Cain kills his brother Abel. And in Genesis 4:19, Lamech took to himself two wives. Now, there is polygamy. And in verse 23, “Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zilah, ‘Listen to my voice, give heed to my speech for I have killed a man for wounding me.’“ Here is a second murder out of vengeance. After then the genealogy of generations of Adam.

Genesis 6:5-7 says, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Noah was a righteous man,” verse 9 says. He was apparently along with his wife, his sons and their wives the only righteous people left. Verse 13 says, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I’m about to destroy them along with the earth.” And God in the Flood, destroyed them and the earth in the sense that He reshaped it.

The Bible’s clear descriptions of the extent of man’s sin is found here in Genesis 6. And man has not gotten better. It isn’t that God created man and he’s been getting nobler. God created man and he instantly got worse after the Fall and he keeps getting worse. Man’s sin is systemic, it is inside man. Verse 5 says, “Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

This is an elaborate description of depravity. And we are just in Genesis 6. It is so bad that God drowns the entire planet, except for eight people in the worldwide flood. Look at Genesis 7:23, “So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and animals and birds of the air. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.”

Genesis 7:24 says that Noah and his family finally saw the water subside after 150 days. And in Genesis 9:1, Noah is given the same commission Adam and Eve were given, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.” And in verse 2 it says, you can rule the animals. What God is saying there is you can kill anything you want. Verse 3, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, even the green herbs.”

Initially before the Fall they were not allowed to kill animals. There was no death because there was no sin. Now, they can actually kill the animals that have been provided for them. Be fruitful, multiply, and by the time you get to the end of Genesis 9, you have a terrible situation. Noah is drunk and he’s exposed in some sexual way, and here you have the first sexual sin.

And then in Genesis 11 you have strife and there is confusion of languages. And in Genesis 12:10-12 you have lying. Abram lies about his wife, Sarah, saying she is not his wife, because he doesn’t trust God. Then starting in Genesis 13:7, you have strife between Abram’s flocks and Lot’s. In Genesis 13:13 it says of Sodom, “The men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.”

In Genesis 14 you have the first war. In Genesis 16: 4, you have adultery, Abram with Hagar, producing a son. In Genesis 18:20 the Lord says again, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great and their sin is exceedingly grave.” Things are getting worse. It just goes on like that. What changed is recorded in Genesis 3. By one man, sin entered the world, and death passed to all men because all have sinned.

In the New Testament there are words to define sin, such as to miss the mark, to go astray, to transgress. It means to do evil, to fall, to disobey, to be obstinate, to be unrighteous, to be culpable, to be ignorant, to have a debt, to be evil, to be opposed to God, all of those things. We sum it up in 1 John 3:4, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Sin is disobeying God.

Sin is any personal lack of conformity to the moral character and law of God. Anything less than the holiness of God is sin. If you are not as holy as God is, that’s sin. And if you do anything to violate His law, that’s sin. Any thought, any word, any act, or any omission that is inconsistent with the perfect, holy character of God, or in any way violates His law, is sin. It is lawlessness.

What is sin like? Sin is defiling, it is a disposition of the heart that corrupts everything we think, everything we say, everything we do so we have to say the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Even the best about us is filthy rags. It is a deep defiling in our very nature that corrupts everything we do. Secondly, sin is also rebellious. It is by nature the despising of God.

Sin is also ingratitude. It like the nine lepers who were healed by Jesus and never came back to say thanks. Sin is to take everything that God has given us in His created world and never thank Him. Sin also consumes you. There is a push to do as much sin as they possibly can. Proverbs 4:16 says, “They can’t sleep unless they do evil. They stay awake just to perpetrate wickedness.”

Sin is fatal. The soul that sins shall die, Ezekiel 18 says. And Romans 3 says, “The wages of sin is death.” And man can’t do anything about it because his heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, Jeremiah 17. The whole head is sick, as Isaiah 1:4-6 says. He’s sick from the tip of his head to the tip of his feet. And he has been blighted with a disease that will kill him.

There’s no human cure. There’s no way that the sinner can expiate his sin even in hell. That’s why hell lasts forever, it doesn’t eradicate his sin. Nothing man does can cure the deadly malady. It will kill him physically as it has killed him spiritually, and it will ultimately kill him eternally. God rejects them because they are sinners.

How many people does it affect? 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, “In Adam all died.” Romans 5:12, “By one man sin entered the world and death by sin because all have sinned.” And everybody dies so everybody’s a sinner. Romans 3:10 says, “As it is written,” and this is taken from Psalm 14, the first three verses, “there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.”

Romans 3:23 sums it up, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That’s why David in Psalm 51 says, “In sin did my mother conceive me.” He doesn’t mean he was an illegitimate baby, he means at the point of conception he was already a sinner. Not everybody is as bad as they could be. But everybody is bad enough to be damned to hell.

So what does sin do to us? As you heard so clearly tonight, all of this is true about us, and this is exactly who we are, and this is exactly what we deserve, eternal punishment. But God has placed our iniquity on Christ. He bore our sins in His own body. God punished Him in our place. That is the glory of the gospel. Ask the Lord to forgive your sin, He’ll hear that prayer and answer it. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Nov 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181125 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000057 imblog

Genesis 3:1-7

Genesis 3 deals with a serpent in the Garden, and temptation, and forbidden fruit, and a woman who was deceived, and a man who followed her in violating God’s Word and God’s command. Then, we learn about a curse and the price that had to be paid for that disobedience. Genesis 3 is an accurate historical record of what actually happened in the Garden.

Certainly it is true that if you don’t understand this chapter, you don’t understand the rest of the Bible. You cannot understand the solution to the problem unless you understand the problem. You will never be able to understand God’s remedy for this world if you don’t understand the disease under which this world lives and functions. This explains absolutely everything about our universe and about life in that universe.

It explains everything about why things are the way they are, why we are the way we are, and what God is doing in history, and why He is saving some. Genesis 3 explains the human dilemma. All the problems of the universe have their origin in the events of this historic account: physical problems, spiritual problems, moral problems, social problems, economic problems, political problems, and all the other problems in the universe.

Genesis 3 is the foundation of a true and accurate world view. And without this foundation, everything is misdiagnosed and hopelessly incurable. When God completed the original creation, everything was very good. But now, everything in our world is very bad. God’s perfect creation was very good because there was no disorder, there was no pain, there was no disease, there was no decline, and there was no death.

However, our physical world around us is decaying and disintegrating and there is death. That’s the law of entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, which says that matter continually tends to break down toward disorder. The physical world is breaking down. This is frightening to people when we look at the celestial world, and the likelihood that another planet will destroy us.

And we watch in the national world, just the history of civilization, and we see the cycle of rise and fall and rise and fall. We look in the animal world and there is this incessant process of struggle and death. We look in the human world and every human relationship is a struggle. As soon as life is conceived in the womb, he/she begins to live and at the same time he or she gets closer to dying.

And in the spiritual and moral world, everyone finds it easier to do wrong. In fact, it’s really impossible to do righteous things. Even when you do right humanly, you generally do it to feel better about yourself which is an ill-conceived motive. It’s much easier to do evil than good. Hatred and crime and war, perversion, wickedness, those things just come with life.

Evolutionists are clueless about this, because they’re living under the self-deception that man is getting better the longer he lives. Evolution believes that man starts from simplicity and mutates upward into complexity. That he starts at a base level morally and he moves up to a higher and higher level morally. But the truth about man is a refutation of this theory of evolution.

Because man isn’t getting better; he’s getting worse. If you study human history basically there hasn’t been really any change. Men are morally no better than they were in the past. But the advancements that have come by science through the centuries, have only enabled man to escalate his corruption. So what happened? Let us learn what happened in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:1-7, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”

^“4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. “

“7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” What’s death? No such thing existed. That’s how Genesis 3 opens and the word “sin” doesn’t appear in the third chapter. But this is where it entered into our world. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, everything went from being very good to being very bad.

In Romans 5:12 it says, “Therefore just as through one man,” that’s Adam, “sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” There is the New Testament commentary on this event. When Adam sinned, we were all there. We have all come from Adam and Eve, and so we inherit what theologians call original sin.

At the end of Genesis 2, the man and his wife were naked and not ashamed. There wasn’t anything to be ashamed about because there was no sin. There were no evil thoughts. But you come to the end of Genesis 3: 7, the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

All of a sudden, there was shame. Why? For the first time in their existence, they had wicked thoughts. This is the great indicator from their viewpoint that they had sinned. And the indicator from God’s viewpoint comes when He says in verse 16 to the woman, “I’ll multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain, you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, he shall rule over you.”

Genesis 3:17-18, “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.”

Verse 19, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Now, when God curses them, those curses really are physical. There is a curse on the woman’s pain in childbearing and on her conflict in marriage. The curse on Adam is that he has to cultivate the ground, fighting thorns and thistles, and he’s going to ultimately die.

But those things don’t say anything about the moral change that took place. First of all, Adam and Eve felt shame and shame is a function of guilt, and guilt is a function of sin, and somehow they had thoughts of wickedness and were so embarrassed by those that they sewed together some leaves to cover themselves. They brought forth two sons in Genesis 4; one of them murdered the other one.

When Adam and Eve gave birth to Cain, he was born a sinner. We don’t know how long they enjoyed Eden in its glory. But once they fell, they were changed, and they passed on their sin to every human being that ever lived because they have all come from Adam and Eve. When Adam sinned, he brought death on himself and everybody else. We all inherit this death force.

We not only inherit death; we also inherit sin because we were all there in Adam. That’s original sin. The Fall not only affected man’s moral life and therefore every area of relationship, but it affected the ground, it also affected the physical universe. And Romans 8:22 says the whole creation groans under this curse. Disintegration, death, and all of that in the entire universe goes right back to Genesis 3.

Psychologists reject sin because they want to exalt man, and they want to eliminate God. So, because they reject sin, they have no explanation for why man is the way he is. They misdiagnose him totally, so they offer really no help. And what do we do? We come up with harsher penalties, the, three-strike law: three felonies in a row and you go to jail for life.

Our culture has declared war not only on sin, but also anything defined as sin. Everything is just a lifestyle choice; nothing is a sin. So, our culture has declared war on sin and consequently declared war on guilt. The very idea of guilt is considered medieval, obsolete, and certainly unhealthful. If you feel guilty about certain things, do them and just keep doing them till you don’t feel guilty anymore.

We have so much of that in our society, passing blame on others. And when children are disobedient, they say they’re hyperactive or they have attention deficit syndrome, or whatever other syndrome they could invent so they could sell people the drugs they want to sell them. And when somebody commits moral sin, they say they’re addicted to sex, and then they’re recovering sex addicts.

And they say, remember, you’ will never really recover, so don’t feel bad if you slip up here and there. Everything wrong with mankind is described as some kind of an illness. That’s just the way the world chooses to avoid the issue. All the politicians, all the moralists, and all the university people are trying to fix society, and it can’t ever be done by these people because they don’t ever deal with the reality of what is in the heart.

It is interesting what the Jewish scholars and commentators of Judaism think about Genesis 3. Judaism has always rejected the existence of sinful depravity in man inherited from Adam. They believe that what Adam did, was because he chose to do it. There is no depravity that passes down. That’s how they maintain salvation by righteousness because they don’t have a doctrine of human depravity.

They understand Adam’s sin as affecting Adam, and the rest of us all have the same choices, either to obey God or disobey God. True, the idea that the sin of Adam had brought death on all mankind is not unknown in Jewish teaching, but the reference is invariably to physical death. And is not to be confused with the spiritual death from which in Christian doctrine none can be saved except through faith in the risen Savior.

They understand the message of Christianity, but they want to cut it off at the front end. They want to deny original sin so that they can deny that men are in a condition which requires Jesus Christ to be their Savior. And they believe that, they teach: “Man can therefore achieve his own redemption by his own penitence.” Jews don’t need a Savior to be saved. But that is not what the Scripture teaches.

Scripture clearly indicates this is where evil began. And it is the New Testament that is most definitive. Christian Scientists tell us that sin is an illusion. It’s not. The liberals tell us that sin is merely finiteness; to be human is to err. And the dualistic philosophers tell us that sin is the flesh as opposed to the spirit, which is pure. Now, those are all wrong. We will get a biblical understanding of sin in our study.

Let me give you a definition of sin at this point. Sin is any personal lack of conformity to the moral character of God. Then, sin is a disposition of the heart, it is a bent. It thinks evil, it speaks evil, it acts evil, and it omits good. Let me give you those four because those are the four ways in which you sin: you sin by thinking evil, speaking evil, and acting evil, or omitting good.

Now, before we look at the seven verses, I want you to have an understanding of the theology of sin, because this is essential for our understanding. 1 John 3:4 says, “Sin is the transgression of the law of God.” It’s living as if there was no law of God. Romans 14:23, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” 1 John 5:17, “All unrighteousness is sin.”

So, when you do something that goes against real trust and faith in God; that is sin. When you know to do right and don’t do it, that is sin. When you know something pleases God, something that God has commanded, and you don’t do it; that is also sin. All unrighteousness is sin. All sin is lawlessness. And sin is any violation of God’s moral character or His law.

Where is God’s law revealed? In Scripture. Our standard for morality was established by the Bible. Our view of crime, our view of justice all came out of the Bible. Once there were certain behaviors that were considered to be against the law. But that’s changing rapidly. It’s changing in the sexual realm, in homosexuality, in the world of abortion, and euthanasia and many other forms.

Our society sinks deeper and deeper into sin, and distances itself consistently and completely from the Word of God. All we have left is tradition, and tradition will be overthrown by vote, it will be overthrown by when the people want to overthrow it. How do we tell our society about a Savior who will save them from sin when their definition of sin is basically non-existent?

In Romans 1:21, Paul says, “That the wrath of God is revealed from heaven because when they knew God, they didn’t glorify Him as God. Neither were thankful.” It is God who has given wisdom to us. It’s God who gave us the capacity to care for each other and have relationships. God surrounds us sinners with mercy, so trust Him. Let us pray…

]]> Sun, 18 Nov 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181118 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000056 imblog

Genesis 2:18-25

Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” The details are in Genesis 2:4, “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that God made the heavens and the earth.”

Verse 28-30, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 29 And God said, "I have given you every plant, yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, every tree which has fruit yielding seed, it shall be food for you. 30 And to every beast of the earth, every bird of the sky and everything that has the breath of life.”

Everyone was a vegetarian in the original creation, even the animals. Verse 31, “And God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day.” So the creation of man came on the sixth day along with the creation of the animals. So on day six, verse 27, “God created man; male and female He created them.”

Now Genesis 2 goes back into day six and gives us the details. So what you have in Genesis 2 is an expansion of the creation of man indicated on day six in Genesis 1. Now man is created in God's image. He has been given self-consciousness, he is conscious of his own existence. And he is given personality, and rationality, and creativity and most importantly he is the only one in all the creation that can enjoy relationships.

Verse 6 says that the water that watered the earth didn't come from above through rain, it came from below, from underground sources and it gushed up in springs and literally covered the earth surface. So in the beginning of creation there was a constant water supply and no rain. You had a perfect system watering the environment of the world and there were no weeds to interrupt that growth.

Everything man needed for food was already there and flourishing. It didn't take any work on his part. In that perfect environment, God created man. And in verse 8 we learned about the location of man. God made a garden which was probably east of the nation of Israel. And it was in the place called Eden which we learned is an ancient word that refers to a well-watered place.

And in that place was every tree pleasing to the sight and good for food. And there was also the tree of life in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And in Genesis 2:15 we'll learn about his vocation. And that was he was given responsibility to oversee the garden and to provide a guardianship of its wonders and its resources. Then we saw the temptation of man of that forbidden tree.

Verse 16-17 says, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” One of the dominant characteristics of man being created in God's image was that he was created with the capacity to have a relationship. No other creature is capable of a relationship.

A relationship implies a sharing of ideas, a sharing of emotions, a sharing of soul as it were in the heart and the depth of one person's personality. Genesis 2:18, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” It is still day six, everything in the garden is very good. But it is not good for man to be alone. It's still on day six.

Man's circumstance in creation was not yet complete. And that completion required a woman. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Adam could not multiply and fill the earth by himself. He certainly couldn't subdue the whole earth just by himself. And that means a woman needed to be made in order to meet Adam's insufficiency.

Now in creation, all reproducing beings were both male and female. In Genesis 6:19 says, "Of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female." Now in the Hebrew language it means a helper like him to make him capable of reproduction and ruling. So we are given some details about the creation of a woman.

Let us look first at 1 Corinthians 11:7-9, “For a man is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. ⁸ For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. ⁹ Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.” Man is uniquely created to be the glory of God, to rule the world, and to care for the creation according to God's divine plan. And it is Eve who is created from the side of Adam.

And that takes us back into 1 Cor. 11:3, "Christ is the head of every man. The man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ." There is even a responsibility of being the ruler within the trinity as well as within human creation. Woman is described here than in verse 7 as "the glory of man." Man was made to manifest God's authority; woman was made to manifest man's authority.

As far as saving grace goes, a woman comes as deeply in the communion with God as a man. She is made equally in the image of God and that image is equally restored through faith in Jesus Christ. She is as much capable of being like Jesus as any man is capable of it. She is capable of an eternal reward like any man would be in the spiritual realm, there is no difference.

But in the human realm, she bears a position under the authority of man, therefore she reflects the glory of man who reflects the glory of God in looking at the responsibility of man. And that is a deadly blow to any form of evolution. Because the bible tells us that man was made out of the dust of the ground and not born from some female. He didn't come from some female hominoid that was a part of a people group before Adam.

Genesis 2:19, “Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature that was its name.” How can anybody who is faithful to Scripture find evolution in that statement? God made everything out of the ground, out of the same material that dirt is made of.

Adam was more intelligent than you can ever imagine because his mind had never been corrupted by sin. In his unfallen condition, 6000 or so years ago, Adam was far more intelligent than any person 6000 years later being the victim of constant degeneration. And Adam was able in his mind to look at all these creatures and to determine some characteristic about them and give them a name.

At that time prior to the tower of Babylon, only one language was used to give them a name. Now if Adam could name ten of them a minute as they passed by, he could do 3,000 of them in five hours. Now as Adam looked at life, everything was perfect. And he was conscious of the presence of God.

But God was giving him an object lesson and he was recognizing some characteristics about them. He would note about these animals that they all existed in pairs. Verse 20 says, “The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.” It became apparent to him, as a full-grown man that he was created without a helper.

There was nothing compatible for him; there was no counterpart. If Adam was essentially an ape’s body with a sort of human mind, it would be ridiculous to say that he couldn't find anything in common with what he saw. So Adam comes to the conclusion that in all the creation, he is all alone. And since there was in the animal kingdom, no creature capable of a relationship to man, God made Eve.

Verse 21-22, “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.” He slept while God operated on him. And here was the operation. "God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place."

Actually, the word rib, doesn't say it well enough. Because when you think of a rib you think of a bone, right? But the word ‘tsela’ is used about 35 times in the Old Testament. And this is the only time they ever translated it just as a rib. 20 of those 35 times it’s translated as side. And that's what we should use to translate it. God put him to sleep and then slit open his side.

Verse 23, “The man said, this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." So when God did the surgery, he didn't just take bone, he took flesh. So the woman was created with material from the man. Now again according to Genesis 1:27, "she was made in the image of God." That is she has all the same characteristics of self-consciousness, cognition, spirituality, personality, relationship, motion, all those things as a man.

The only difference is that God made Adam out of dirt and God made Eve out of Adam. God took the material out of man some bone, some tissue and out of that he built woman. All the loveliness and all the beauty and all the grace that a man could never imagine until he saw one. After God closed up his side, He brought the woman to the man in all her perfection.

She would have been a mature woman; Adam was a mature man with the capability and the intelligence of created man without sin who could name thousands of animals in a very short space of time. And God brought to man this wonderful woman suitable for him and they are going to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. So ‘flesh and bone’ became from that moment a way of expressing family relationships.

Verse 24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” That is a comment from the Creator. And this establishes the foundation for marriage. And it also establishes the foundation for sexual behavior. There's only one kind of sexual behavior that God recognizes in the human realm. That is the only context in which God has ordained sexual conduct.

So you have not only the creation of man on day six, but you have in the creation of marriage. And you have the definition of sexual conduct. One man, one woman, leaving and cleaving becoming one flesh for life. And what God established in the garden has never changed. So that you have marriage defined right there in the classic statement of Genesis 2:24.

This is the only biblical definition for marriage. Two women do not make a marriage. Even though public opinion recognize that as marriage, God says that is not marriage. Two men coming together is not a marriage recognized by God. Both of those are sins are recognized as perversion. Any sexual conduct outside of marriage is also a violation of God's design.

Verse 25, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." Well, they weren't ashamed because they didn't know any evil. They didn't know that sexual desire could be used for wicked purposes. They didn't have any wicked thoughts running around in their imaginations. They had no capacity to feel shame because they didn't know evil existed. Shame is produced by the consciousness of the evil that may exist.

In the beginning it wasn't that way. In the beginning in the perfect environment there was perfect love. And the perfection of wondrous creation by God. It was a shameless love that God gave these two. They had that kind of union that God has designed to be the pinnacle. Peter even calls it the grace of life. One man, one woman leaving their parents; cleaving together becoming one flesh.

God is a God of grace and a God of forgiveness, but that doesn't change the ideal. The ideal is one man, one woman in a strong bond for life becoming one flesh. No relationship outside of that can even come close to the joys and the fulfillment of that relationship. Woman was made specifically for Adam to meet his needs. If you want to be fulfilled as a man or a woman, this is where you find your greatest fulfillment.

Soon after the fall, in Genesis 4 you have polygamy. In Genesis 9 you have evil thoughts and evil words. In Genesis 16 you have adultery. In Genesis 19 you have homosexuality. In Genesis 34 you have fornication and rape. In Genesis 38 you have incest. In Genesis 38 you have prostitution; in Genesis 39 you have seduction. As soon as the fall came Satan went after that relationship of marriage with a vengeance.

Then you can add divorce. But as Jesus said in Matthew 19, "from the beginning, it was not so." In the beginning it was perfect then it was wonderful and there was no shame about anything in that relationship because there was no evil. This was the wonder of the original creation. The next words in Genesis 3:1 are, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field.” So here we see the tragic fall of man.

Especially now this spiritual battle is raging everywhere and can be seen particularly in Colorado. Same sex marriage and abortion have become law and expressions of Christianity in schools such as prayer are now forbidden. Religious freedom in America is under assault. Government entities and actors treat religious freedom and expressions as obstacles to overcome rather than as values to protect. But God is still in charge, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Nov 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181111 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000055 imblog

Genesis 2:8-17

The peak of creation came on day six. There was no evolutionary process from species to species. In fact the God created the universe with all of its diversity and variety as we now know it in six, 24 hours days. But on day six, the final act of His creation was the creation of man and woman in his own image. And the rest of the created world was merely a stage on which man and woman would be the primary role in history.

God created man in his own image means with self-consciousness, with personality, with rationality, with intelligence, with creativity and the capability for relationship. Then He gave man sovereignty over all the created world and its vast and rich resources. With the creation of man then the real story begins. History is not about matter, it's not about stars and planets, it is not about the earth and the animals.

The real story is the story of man. Everything else was scenery for the story of man and his redemption. This starts from Genesis 2:4 to the end of Genesis 50:26. And here is the saga of man. Verse 4 begins the account of the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made heaven and earth. These are the generations of man when God created the universe.

There is no conflict between the creation account in Genesis 1 and the account in Genesis 2. In Genesis 1, you have the simple fact of man's creation. In Genesis 2, you have the details of that creation. Genesis 2:4 takes us back to day six and a more detailed look at the creation of man. Now please note the following: the creation of man, the location of man, the vocation of man and the relation of man.

Now last time we looked at the creation of man in Genesis 2:5-7 and according to verse 5 it says, “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.” But we know from Genesis 1 that trees and plants were created on day three.

So whatever these new plants are, they aren't the same trees and plants that were created on day three. When man was created, there were no thorns, and there were no weeds. Genesis 3:18 tells us that part of the curse there were thorns and thistles or weeds. So because of the curse God created weeds. Such plants did not exist on day six because there was no sin.

Secondly there were no crops. This refers to the kind of crops that man had to plant by tilling the soil. That's why it says at the end of Genesis 2:5, "these things didn't exist because there wasn't any rain on the earth and there wasn't any man to cultivate the ground." These were the things that took place after the fall. Moses tells us that when man was created, no weeds existed and no necessity to till the ground.

Plenty of food existed in the original creation. And they grew through God's creation in a perfect and very good way as Genesis 1:31 tells us, "Everything was very good." There was no need to bring forth these crops by the sweat of your brow and hard work. There was no need to fight the thorns and thistles that grew which impeded the growth of the crops after the Fall.

Genesis 2:5 says that there were no weeds on the earth because God had not yet sent rain on the earth. Now after the fall, rain didn't come until the worldwide flood. When the fall came in the Garden and God cursed the earth, at that point in time according to Genesis 3:18, "weeds came." So that man had to protect the crop and plant it and guard it and till it and keep it from the intrusion of the weeds.

The rain was a judgment from God when He broke the continual flow of water that once existed when water just gushed up from underground sources. The whole earth originally was being constantly irrigated from below. And in that marvelous earth, God provided everything for man's need and enjoyment. Everything producing in its fullness what God considered necessary.

And there He placed the man whom He had formed. The whole earth was very good, Genesis 1:31 says. But God made man a special home. God planted a garden toward the east and there he placed the man that he had formed. Again there is no testimony anywhere on the pages of Scripture that man evolved, it is always God who formed him and created him.

And so man's home was the special garden that God made for his joy and his delight called Eden. Eden actually means a place that is well watered throughout. The defining character of the garden was that it was well watered. Everything was lush, everything flourished. In fact the Babylonians call lush green land from which everything is well watered, Edenu.

Now we learn a little bit about this Garden from some other passages of Scripture. Look at Ezekiel 28:12 where we have a description here against the King of Tire, which most Bible scholars would associate with Satan where he is really talking through the King of Tire to the one who is behind him, namely Lucifer, the fallen angel, who is Satan.

Verse 12-14, “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared.

¹⁴ You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.” He says in verse 16, “I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub.” Now we learned that this garden was not only full of plants and trees, but it was also full of precious stones and is associated with the beauty of this fallen angel.

Notice Ezekiel 31 also gives us an insight into Eden. This is a judgment on Pharaoh. Verse 3, it was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches and very high and its top was among the clouds and he's talking about how Assyria was. And then in Verse 8, the sarcasm comes, that even the cedars in God's garden couldn't match them. This tell us is that Eden had cedars.

Now back to Genesis 2:9, man found that out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. Now the whole earth is covered with plants and trees. Species existing everywhere created on day three. But God took the best looking ones the most beautiful ones and the divine gardener decided that you could make a choice.

But there was also a supernatural tree there. End of verse 9, "The tree of life also in the middle of the garden." And then another tree is mentioned, "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Now all of a sudden in the midst of this amazing variety of trees which God has selected for the special home of man are introduced two trees that have properties that indicate they might not be natural trees.

There is a supernatural property to the first tree for certain. It is the tree of life in the midst of the garden. Now what that tells us is that it had special properties to sustain life eternally in the one who ate from it. When one ate from that tree, they would live forever. This tree was placed right in the middle of the garden.

And this tree was so powerful in sustaining life eternally that even after Adam and Eve fell, even after they became sinful, mortal people, if they had eaten of that tree, they would have continued to live eternally." And so according to Genesis 3:22, "they had to be thrown out of the garden, less man stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever."

To live forever as a sinner would be a worse fate than death. Among the Jews, the tree of life became a phrase used a number of times in the book of Proverbs. And it is used to express life's best joys and greatest delights. When the Jews said that something is like a tree of life, they were acclaiming it with their highest regard. Once Adam and Eve sinned, they had to be removed from it.

But there's another tree in the garden, verse 9, calls it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is an actual tree with actual fruit on it. In pictures you see Eve or Adam eating an apple, but we don't have any idea what kind of fruit this was. In the middle of the garden was the tree of life and there was also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But if men ate of that tree, he would die.

So in the whole created earth, in the magnificent Garden of Eden, there was just one test. And we know the sad story. They had everything else, but it wasn't enough. The story will unfold for us in Genesis 3. How Satan who was that angel in the garden of God tempted Eve and she fell. Adam followed and they knew evil, experientially because they did not obey God and death came into existence.

And the day they ate, they would lose all innocence. And they would be aware of evil because they had just done it. When man was created, he was happy in the garden that God made for him. And God gave him the most wonderful environment and fed him with the most incredible array of food and filled that garden with many jewels and the beauty of that place was staggering.

From the original creation, Adam knew God as generous. God didn't make an earth full of riches so that everybody could be poor. God has created all things for us to enjoy. God loaded this little planet with so much wealth and so much wonder and so much beauty and gave man, made in His image, the creativity to do incredible things. From magnificent architecture to the ability to travel to the moon.

God just gave him one prohibition. Don't eat of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was the test. But man like a child that disobeys his father, did harm to himself. He didn't want to be just dependent on God. He wanted to make his own choices. So he was banished from the Garden of Eden as we shall see the whole human race was catapulted into tragedy as a result.

Verse 10-14, "A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.”

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. That is the way it should be translated in verse 6 rather than mist. Now this river must have been an immense river. This is a huge garden. The water comes up and goes through the garden and it provides surface water and from there it divides and becomes four large and long rivers. Hard to find it now because of the flood, the earth was dramatically altered.

The onyx stone is more familiar to us; the gem used in the garment of the high priest was onyx. So the rivers go east and the south. The Euphrates also runs parallel to the Tigris and empties into the Persian Gulf. But you cannot compare any current rivers with the pre-flood rivers. This was a massive garden throughout that part of the earth where the water gushed out of the ground.

What does man do in the garden? Verse 15, "Then the Lord God took the man, put him into the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it." Work has always been dignified, even before the fall. It literally means serving and keeping. What did he do? He just did what a gardener would do, taking care of a magnificent garden. I'm not sure what it would be. But when we get to heaven, we're also going to serve the Lord, right?

God is still working in the wonders of redemption. He upholds the whole of the creation by the word of his power. We will someday in heaven have a vocation somewhat like Adam had. A vocation which expends no energy. A vocation which never makes us weary. A vocation which always brings us delight and blessing. Even before the fall, work was a noble part of man's life vocation.

Verse 16-17, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” There for the first time we see that word “die” in the Bible. There in the middle of the garden was a test. A test to determine man's love, to determine man's loyalty.

We are also tested every day. God loves us very much just the way we are, but He does not want to leave us in that condition. He wants to change us to become more like Jesus. And He uses trials and tribulations to test and change us. When you are going through difficult times, do not be angry at God. Tests are one of the ways that God shows us that He cares and that He is using everything for our good and His glory.

Man when he sinned was truly inexcusable. And he already knew good; that's all he knew because everything was very good. But if he disobeyed he would know evil. Because that is what evil is, disobedience. And it didn't matter really what the fruit was, it was a good fruit from the outside, it was the act of disobedience that experientially showed you what evil was. And that catapulted man into death. Not physical death but instant spiritual death.

And the whole Bible shows us what our heavenly Father together with Jesus and the Holy Spirit did through the ages to redeem us from a fate worse than death. And to show us His plan to let become heirs of everything that He owns, through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the whole universe. And He continually calls us to repent and believe during our lifetime. Praise the Lord. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Nov 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181104 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000053 imblog

Genesis 2:4-7

Evolution is not a reasonable explanation for the universe or life on earth in any sense whatsoever. It is scientifically impossible and it is biblically rejected. Anyone who rejects that God created the universe in six, 24-hours days makes an assault on the historicity of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture and the authenticity of Scripture.

The Bible itself stands or falls with the historical accuracy of Genesis 1. If we cannot trust the creation account, then why should we trust anything else on the pages of Scripture? Tragically, one of the most severe blows ever dealt to the Christian faith has been inflicted by so-called Christians and so-called evangelical scholars who reject widely the Genesis account, in favor of some form of evolution.

Andy Macintosh who wrote, ‘Genesis for Today’ says, "In recent years, a somewhat strange trend has developed in Christian circles. Some evangelical Christians have been developing the concept that God used evolution to make the world, which is termed theistic evolution. Such an idea is not new but it now becoming fashionable among evangelicals, as well as to liberals.

Another book which rejects creation is called, The Scandal of Evangelical Mind, written by Mark Knoll. "The Christian evangelical is increasingly being led to believe that the literal interpretation of Genesis is simply a matter of opinion and this is brought out by the book, Creation and Evolution. He says, "The issue of creation is a secondary issue like things such as passivism or politics where Christians have every right to disagree."

Is the Bible so unclear as to creation that it's a point where we can disagree? Well, many evangelicals believe so. In fact, the majority seem to think so and the irony is that while more and more evangelicals are embracing a form of evolution, while secular writers are beginning to rethink whether evolution could have happened at all. Unbelief in Genesis could ultimately destroy their confidence in the other 65 books.

The whole meaning of sin and redemption is blurred and lost if we lose the anchor of Genesis. If we are to believe we originally came from apes, with generations of violence and bloodshed and that there was no literal Eden, what do we make of the Bible's promises concerning the new Heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells? Even the well-known Bible commentator, John Stock, believes that man evolved.

Now, this is a grievous and a terrible distrust of Scripture in its first chapter and it ultimately undermines all biblical authority and brings the right to question everything that comes after Genesis 1. So as we have been learning from Genesis, it is clear that this is the true Word of God regarding creation history and we have treated it as such to the honor of God and so our own understanding is clear.

The high point of creation came on day six in Genesis 1:26, God made man. "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, let them rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in His own image and the image of God, He created a male and female.”

He created them and God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' And God said, 'I've given you every plant-yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and every tree which has fruit-yielding seed. It shall be food for you.'"

Man was made in God's image. This means that he had self-consciousness, personality, cognition--that is, the ability to rationally process information, he had intelligence, and he had creativity. And it is staggering to look around the world and see the immense creativity of man. The architecture that man created is breathtaking. The design is just amazing and then in a museum you can see painting after painting by all the masters.

There are marks of creativity in man that reflect the image of God in him and then there is the relationships we talked about. Only man builds relationships. Now with the creation of man on day six, the real story began. All the rest of creation was only a stage for man to play out the drama of redemption. All the other creation just provided the backdrop for the history of man.

Now, the history of man starts in Genesis 2:4 and goes to the end of Genesis 50:26. It is not a second account of creation, as critics have said. Genesis 2 does not deal with anything during the week of creation, except what pertains to the story of man. That's very important. Genesis 2 describes all the details under that headline of Genesis 1. Genesis 2 only deals with man with the rest of creation as the backdrop.

Now how did Moses obtain this information? He didn't get it from any human source, for no one existed to witness it. God revealed the data to him. Listen to Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” The only way we have any record of creation is if the Creator gave it to us.

Genesis 2:4-6, “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.”

How can we understand that there was no shrub of the field, no plant of the field because there was no rain when on the third day, God created plants and He created trees and it didn't rain? The flood, in Noah's time in Genesis 6, came about 1,000 years later. So how can we say, if we're talking about man, that God hadn't created the plants yet and that the reason He hadn't created them was there wasn't any rain?

Confusion comes from a superficial understanding of the Hebrew text. Kiseido, the great Hebrew scholar, says that "The first way that a Hebrew deals with history is to state the general proposition and then to clarify the details and the particulars." That's how Genesis 2 relates to Genesis 1. He affirms that Genesis 2 just adds detail to the original statement in Genesis 1 to further clarify the place of man as the central being in the universe.

What verse 5 is not saying is that there weren't any plants or trees because there were already created on day three and they didn't need rain and also didn't need man to take care of them. So the plants and trees of day three are something else. The plants and trees of today had not yet sprung up because they were dependent on rain which didn't come for 1,000 years and they needed man, which he only did after the fall.

Rain came after the fall when God created a totally different environment. The rainbow was proof of that. We can conclude then that different plants appeared after the fall and so it is right to say here they weren't on the earth. God is simply telling us that as we begin the generation of man, we are in a pre-fall environment. The fall led to rain, and the flood. The fall brought about certain plants which were not in there before the fall.

There were plenty of trees and plants, as was indicated back on day three. And they were used for man as it tells us in Genesis 1:29. When man was created, they were there already available for him but these particular two were not in existence. As stated in the words addressed by God to Adam after he sinned in Genesis 3:18, "Thorns and thistles, it shall bring forth to you and you shall eat the plants of the field.”

When God first created man, there were no thorns and thistles. Because there was no fallen-ness. It is a reference to those kinds of plants which are the product of man's tilling the soil. These species didn't exist until after Adam's transgression. It says, in Genesis 3:23, “therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.”

Verse 19, “By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread.” In the pre-fall world, there weren't any cultivated fields. Men didn't do that. In the original garden, there was a flourishing of everything that man could ever want to eat in varieties that were probably beyond description. Kiseido says, “And when the rains come in the land of Israel, the weeds flourish.”

When the story of man begins, there was no rain and no weeds. No man and no crops. When God planted the plants and trees on the third day, there was a world of vegetation. Trees and plants that naturally reproduced themselves by seed alone. But there were none of these thorns and thistles. Verse 6, “and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.”

Now this has been the traditional idea that there was evaporation coming off the ground and watering the earth. But when we look directly into the original Hebrew text, we get a different picture. In the Hebrew language it says, “But the waters of the deep went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.” It literally means water that gushes up by itself out of the ground.

So the whole earth was watered, not by rain coming down but by water coming up from springs, covering the ground. The whole earth with all of its marvelous plants made on day three was literally saturated with water. There was no evaporation to the clouds that move over the land, dropping water and flowing across the earth and back into rivers and back into the sea and then evaporate again.

This certainly fits Genesis 2:10, “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.” This is a spring-fed river literally gushing up out of the ground in the Garden of Eden, a source of water that creates a river that covers the entire garden. The ability of the earth to produce flourishing plants and trees was never dependent on rain which sometimes comes and sometimes does not.

Rain is a product of the fall. It wasn't that way in the original garden which meant there was no unpredictability. It didn't depend on anything and it wasn't something that God had to regulate as a blessing or a curse because there was only perfection and sinless-ness in His perfect world. Everything was constantly irrigated through the subterranean springs, and water was everywhere.

Genesis 13:10 says, “And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the Garden of Eden. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorra.” And so that's a picture of what it was like in Eden and all over the world before the fall. Kiseido writes, "Man would have continued to enjoy these conditions had he remained free from sin.”

All of a sudden, rain became a means by which God could bless or judge. So the original hydrological or water cycle was very different from what we know after the fall, after the great flood and now water comes a result of global continental mass air movement, annual seasonal temperature changes and it's in the hands of a sovereign God to give the rain, or to hold the rain back.

Jeremiah 5:24 says, “‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ And so it was in that environment, verse 7, “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

Now we know that God created man in His own image from Genesis 1:26, but here, we are told how He did it. He formed man of dust. Job 10:8 says, "Your hands fashioned me and made me all together." Do you see any evolution in verse seven? Do you see any hominoid ancestors there? God literally created man out of the dust of the ground. And after he dies his body will return to dust.

Scripture says that God created man out of elements that are in the dust. And so what does this mean? Well, the basic chemical elements are nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, calcium and they make up everything. We are made out of the same basic chemical elements. That is why in I Corinthians 15:47 it says, "The first man is of the earth." God made man the same way He made dirt. No evolution at all.

God blows into his nostrils the breath of life. This is to convey the thought that though man had all the physical apparatus, all the organs for life, the reality of life is something that's not really part of those physical components. There is a transcendent reality of life that only God can give. God then blew into him life and all of the bodily organs started moving in their symbiotic harmony of life. It's the breath of life.

So God literally blew life into everything that lives, everything that is animated. It's the same word as "spirit" but only into man. Although He breathed life into all living creatures, only into man is God breathing life that is in His own image. And then, end of verse seven, "And the man became a living creature." It became a soul. God literally took that physical form and breathed into it life.

And so 1 Corinthians 15:45 says, "The first man, Adam, became a living being." There is no evolution here. There's no survival of the fittest. There is no transitional man. And I am constantly amazed at the bizarre, unfounded, confused ideas of evolution that have only created an irrational scheme to explain what God said in one verse, the creation of man. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Oct 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181028 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000052 imblog

To understand who we are as people and who God is as our Creator we need to know first who God is and who we are as part of His creation. God created the whole universe as well as people and angels. And God has given us the Bible so that we can know who He is and what His plan is for us. And our God is a triune God, where God the Father is spirit, God the Son, Jesus came to earth in the form of man and God the Holy Spirit is a spirit.

As part of His creation, our God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in it. Colossians 1:15-17 describes Christ as, “The image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

Now “dominions or principalities or powers” are angels that were created before man in heaven to worship God and to do His work. In Ezekiel 28 we read about the wicked king of Tire and his pride, but behind him in verses 12-13 is Satan, “You had the seal of perfection full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the Garden of God; every precious stone was your covering. The workmanship of your settings was in you on the day that you were created."

Then in verses 14-16 it says, “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God.”

Satan, the anointed cherub, this special angel involved in worship was the heaven’s praise leader. Everything was fine until unrighteousness was found in him. Verse 17, "your heart was lifted up because of your beauty." Once Satan began to sin the sin of pride and he began to be infatuated by his own splendor and his own glory and the wonder of his own person, he then wanted to become God and violently overthrow Him.

In Luke we have a reference to that very event when he was cast out. Jesus said, Luke 10:18, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” And the choice that this angel made led to his own damnation and the damnation of all the other angels who joined him in his rebellion against God. And then that damnation affected the entire human race when Satan was involved in causing Adam and Eve to sin.

Isaiah 14 gives us more specifics. It was "Satan who was behind the King of Tire." It's also Satan in Isaiah 14 "who's behind the King of Babylon." Verse 12, "How have you fallen from heaven? Oh Lucifer, son of the morning.” Wow, he's the anointed cherub, he's the star of the morning. Isaiah is looking ahead at the future ruler, the anti-Christ. And behind the anti-Christ will be this fallen angel, this Lucifer.

And when he fell he was immediately doomed to hell. Now when Satan went down, he didn't go down alone. In Revelation 12:3-4 we meet Satan the great dragon. Verse 4, “His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.” Now this indicates to us that when Satan fell, a third of the angels went with him. Unquestionably this is a massive force of angels. These angels along with Satan became the demons of this world.

Satan is now and was at that very moment incapable of repentance, which is a gift to humans only from God. Therefore there is nothing in Satan to cause him to repent or desire to repent. He is unredeemable evil. He is malevolent and wicked and nothing else, his corruption is so complete that good would never exist in him again in any way. Thinking he could be like God, He became as utterly unlike God.

God is eternal, but sin is not eternal. And since God is eternal, and sin is not eternal, God is not the author of sin. There was a time when there was no sin. It didn't come from outside that sinning angel and all the rest of them, but from inside. Satan, a created being, initiated sin in the angelic realm, Adam and Eve were created beings initiated in sin in the human realm. God gave this fallen angel access for a time to the perfections of Eden.

Even tempting Adam and Eve was within the purposes of sovereign God. Because God planned our salvation before time began. The salvation plan came before the fall of Satan and the fall of Adam and Eve. It all fits in God's plan. That once glorious creature chose to take a cosmic gamble that would backfire. His act once accomplished would reverberate for all eternity. The whole universe would reel from the shock, and even now you and I feel the painful effects.

Little did Adam and Eve know that in their sin the whole human race would perish. But it is also their sin that brought about the wonder of God's salvation. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Verse 15, "For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of God of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.”

It goes on to say as in Adam all died so in Christ shall all be made alive. Isn't it amazing that this great cosmic thing is going on? Conflict in heaven between an anointed angel and God himself and now a conflict between a force of wicked demons and holy angels. And it comes down to earth and pollutes the entire created universe in the midst of this massive explosion of wickedness with its corruption extending into every part of creation.

So into the garden, into the world of man comes this supernatural being, Satan. He tempts Adam and Eve successfully and the whole human race and all the surroundings in the universe are corrupted by their evil choice. God steps in to save sinners by offering his own Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross in their behalf. Sinners that belonged in hell have been graciously given heaven. We will not understand all the reasons but we do understand God’s grace and salvation.

In Genesis 3, we learn how the perfect creation of the all good and only good by God became corrupted and evil. If you study the New Testament you will find a number of references to Adam, one of them is in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:38, the genealogy of Jesus starts from Adam through his son all the way down to the Lord Himself. The New Testament refers to Satan as the serpent in the Garden, as the one who deceived Eve.

Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3:6-7, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves coverings.”

Now this is the saddest event in history. All problems, personal and environmental, all that is wrong, evil, immoral, incomplete, all that is decaying, all trouble, all hate, all jealousy, all envy, all bitterness, all vengeance, all fear, all error, all intimidation, all manipulation, all deviation, all distortion, everything that fails to be as perfect as God is, came from this one event. This truly defines life in our universe. It is the reason for all imperfection and death.

Satan has one objective in mind, he is the solicitor of evil. His strategy is lies, or deception. That is why Jesus in John 8:44 called Satan the father of lies. He lies about the character of God, and he lies about the Word of God. And he targets God's highest creation in the natural world, man. Man is a creature who could reproduce, unlike the Godhead where the Trinity is eternal and unlike the angels, where some now are fallen and some are holy.

And according to 2 Corinthians 11:14, “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” He wants you to believe that he is telling the truth and the God of the Bible, is the liar. That is his strategy. If Satan can get you to believe that the character of God can't be trusted and therefore the Word of God can't be trusted but he can be trusted, then he has accomplished his goal. And that's exactly what he does in the world right now, even in your life and mine.

Many of you have experience with fallen angels or demons who like to deceive you in making you think that they are in control of life. They also tell you that human traditions are more important than the Word of God. But they are creatures who are created by God who have fallen and will lie all the time and in the end will be in hell forever. They are these spirits who want to be worshiped who then give you a little power. But their lies cause spiritual and physical death.

God says in Exodus 20:3-5 in the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” Satan starts giving you the implication that God wants to deprive you of something good.

As soon as we do not wholeheartedly trust in the wisdom and goodness of God, you are in trouble, and you have sinned. Eve sinned, not when she ate the forbidden fruit, but she sinned when she stopped believing God was good and only good. All sin is believing Satan's lie that there's pleasure, satisfaction and fulfillment out there. And God is just trying to restrict you because God is narrow, limiting and restrictive.

The ultimate lie of Satan is that there never will be any judgment for sin. He wants to make sure people think when they die they will just get recycled by reincarnation. Or that when they die there is a bright light and they are going to some wonderful happy place. Or he wants to make people think that when they die they just go out of existence. Satan says, "There's no absolute authority. And there are no consequences. You are not going to die, Eve.”

Genesis 3:4, “Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” Now this is a bold denial of what God has said. God tells you the truth but Satan always lies. Verse 5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The message here is that God restricts you because He doesn't love you. Modern psychology also says that a categorical law is harmful. The soul needs to be totally free.

Satan says God doesn't want anybody on His level and He knows that if you do that, you will be like Him." And you will know all the pleasures that God knows. And when you and I sin, we believe the lie that Satan led Eve through. She wouldn't know good and evil in the way that she thought. God knows good and evil the way a cancer surgeon knows cancer, which is very different from the way a patient knows it.

What you have here in Genesis 3 is not a myth, and it is not a tradition passed down from generation to generation. It is the written and inspired Word of God. And it explains to us exactly why things are the way they are and how sin came into our world and how it began to affect our world. Now you have to come to terms with your guilt and believe that it is wrong. You have to work through the fear of judgment which God has written in your heart and your conscience.

Eve was deceived by the serpent through the whole process. Adam just joined in the sin for reasons we don't know. But both of them disobeyed God. God did say don't eat, and they disobeyed God. And that's sin. And the moment Adam bought into deciding to be disobedient, immediately the principle of decay and death entered into his life and at that point the whole human race is plunged into evil.

We as human beings are continuously tempted by the devil the same way the devil tempted Jesus in Luke 4:3, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus at that point had been fasting for 40 days, so He was hungry. That is the lust of the flesh. But listen to Jesus answer in verse 4, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Jesus said when God gets ready to feed Me, He will feed Me.

Verse 5-7, “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; 7 if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” That is the lust of the eyes. Verse 8, “And Jesus answered, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”

Verse 9-11, “Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,’ 11 and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” That is the pride of life. We sin because we desire the lust of the flesh, the lust of our eyes and the pride of our lives, always those same three.

Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” The sin of Adam as the head of the couple is how sin enters the world. And with it comes death: spiritual death, physical death and eternal death. Whatever Adam became by way of corruption, we were there in his genes and Eve's genes.

Over and over again Paul says that our sinfulness is the result of Adam's sin. When he sinned, he brought down the whole human race that would come out of that original couple. The other side of this is when Paul talks about Jesus being the Savior and Jesus delivering you from your sin. Verse 15, “For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.”

Verse 18-19, “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” How can we be held responsible for what Adam did? On the other hand, how can you be saved by what Jesus did?

That's how God designed it for His glory. God allowed this in order that sin might come, in order that He might destroy it so that it wouldn't any more be a possibility. And in the process He would save sinners who believe and judge sinners who do not. And therefore He would put Himself on display as to His power, as to His grace and as to His justice. So God allowed it. Just as we fell in one man, we rise again in one man, the last Adam, Jesus Christ.

You see, once Adam and Eve knew personal evil, because they did it, a whole new way of thinking entered their minds. They were evil. And they were embarrassed. They felt self-conscious. They felt guilty. They felt fearful. And they were gripped by a new emotion-- evil desire, perversion, lust and shame. Their purity was marred. They were shocked by thoughts that were wicked and impure.

Even that pure gift of marriage was so polluted as to make them feel that they needed to hide their loins from God and from each other. That very part of their body which was the source of joy and the source of life became a source of guilt and they were embarrassed to be naked. And they did the appropriate thing. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. This was a feeble effort to cover their shame and to cover their guilt.

Genesis 3:21, “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” In order for God to make them a garment of skin, what did God have to do? Kill an animal for the first time. So God showed us that sin can only be covered by God through a sacrifice. From here on the story is about God’s love and mercy and grace, and how few people receive it, and how the world rejects it.

What we have here is essentially the source of human depravity. Human depravity can be defined as a condition of the human soul in which there is nothing truly good, spiritually good, in which there is no genuine obedience to God. It is the condition of the spiritual soul in which there is no fellowship with God. It is the condition of the human soul in which it will not acknowledge sin and concerns itself only with the consequence of sin, not the sin itself.

It is a condition of the human soul in which blame shifting and a constant effort to exonerate oneself and exalt oneself is a daily effort. It is a condition of the human soul which is so profound and so deep that a sinner cannot on his own even honestly repent. And this condition is true of every human born into the world. Paradise was lost not only for Adam and Eve, but for everyone else. The human race, all people are born in this condition because of what Adam did.

God reacted to this in Genesis 3:14-15, “So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

This is divine justice rendering a perfect sentence. Obviously there are natural consequences to sin. Whatever men sows, he reaps. If you lie, there are consequences to your lying. If you take drugs, that kind of behavior has its own consequences. If you are characterized by anger, there are its own consequences. If you engage in homosexuality, sexual sin, if you kill people--whatever categories of sins, surely there will be an effect.

But there is a greater reality than that, there is divine judgment on top of natural consequences. There is a natural built-in sequence we could even call wrath. We need to understand that far greater than that, is the sentence that comes down from God on sin. Here God renders an appropriate and just divine justice. The woman’s judgment is (verse 16), pain in child bearing. The man’s sentence (verse 17), the ground is cursed and he has live by the sweat of his brow.

God is always sovereign, He always rules. And here He demonstrates his sovereignty through these curses. Snakes symbolize the devil degraded and defeated. But in verse 15 we also find the first presentation of good news. That has been called literally for centuries the proto evangelium. Proto meaning the first or the prototype--the first evangelium, which means the first gospel. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.”

God says, “I’m going to turn the human race against you.” God says to Satan, “If you think you have won the entire human race, you are wrong. There will come enmity from humanity toward you. You will not exercise complete control. You will not have the whole human race.” God will enable man in his sinful condition, to be so totally transformed that he will hate the serpent and love God. That’s the enmity that has been placed between Satan, and the woman and her Seed.

There has to be a deep change in the human heart to turn man back to God. It is so profound that the New Testament speaks of it as the new birth. It is so profound that the prophets, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, speak of it as having a new heart. Here is the first suggestion of regeneration, first suggestion of transformation, first suggestion of salvation, first suggestion of good news. The gospel is first given then not in a promise, but in a curse.

Verse 15, “Because this enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, will come about because the seed of the woman will crush you on the head as you bruise him on the heel.” God is speaking here of the seed of a woman who will be a Man. The Bible talks a lot about seed of men, because seed is in the man, not in the woman. But there was One born without the seed of a man, and that is the virgin-born Christ, the Son of God.

He is the only human who was not produced by the seed of a man. The only time a woman had the seed of her own. He is virgin-born. Clearly that is the testimony of the gospel of Matthew. Clearly that is the testimony of Galatians 4:4, “born of a woman.” Isaiah 7:14, “born of a virgin.” There will be one Man who comes from the seed of a woman who will be your destroyer. This clearly is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Satan understood this prophecy. Satan has always done everything he could to prevent the birth of the seed of the woman, and snuff the life of that seed out before that One can crush his head. So it says in verse 15, “He shall crush you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” He will deal a crushing blow to the head of Satan. The heel of the seed of the woman will be bruised, that’s an attack with no permanent damage.

Satan bruised the Son of God. Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was bruised for our iniquities.” Luke 22:52-53 says that Jesus confessed that “this is the hour of the power of darkness.” Satan bruised Him at the cross, allowing for the redemption of all sinners who would love God and hate Satan. But the One whose heel was being bruised would, at the same time, crush the head of Satan. That is an attack that destroyed the head of Satan.

How did Jesus defeat Satan at the cross? By providing the atonement that paid in full for the sins of all the people whom God would regenerate. By satisfying the justice of God, by paying the full debt to God, by conquering death, by opening heaven--all the marvelous work of Christ on the cross is the crushing blow on the head of Satan. Before God sends them out of the Garden of Eden and forbids them to come back, hope is placed in their hearts.

From God's side, atonement and security are introduced which sums up salvation. Man believes with a penitent heart and God provides atonement and secures the believing sinner for eternity. What is required of the person is to repent and believe. And it's all here. The salvation of sinners, their deliverance, and their rescue from sin has always been by faith and repentance through atonement and the power of God to secure us unto eternal life.

If there is to be salvation for the sinner, if he is to be delivered from the power of sin and Satan, if he is to be delivered from death, there must be faith. Salvation all through Scripture, from here to the very end of redemptive history, is always by faith. At no time was ever anyone saved by his works. And what do we mean by that? Simply believing God as He speaks. That is to say believing whatever God has said.

This is a picture of salvation. Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves but it was inadequate. Here is the picture of atonement where God through the sacrifice of an innocent victim, an animal is killed so that a garment can be made to cover sinners. God covering the sinner with the garment of righteousness, through the substitutionary sacrifice of an innocent victim. Christ died as the Lamb of God without sin and by His death a righteous garment is provided to cover the sinner.

]]> Sun, 21 Oct 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181021 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000051 imblog

The society in which we live today, we would have to call this the sexy 21 century. That seems to be the thing that dominates everything. Every product that is sold, is sold with some sensual overture. Movies have gone to the place where pornography is matter of fact, every day routine. We are constantly having propagated to us that sexual activity is just like eating and drinking.

We have big problems with morality and immorality. They have exalted homosexuality, same sex marriage, abortion where all kinds of things have become commonplace. It is difficult historically, whether you're talking about Israel or the New Testament church, for God's people to exist as an island in a sea of paganism and not be affected by it. And more than that, and become tolerant of it.

The media has communicated sexual aberrations through its music, radio, television, internet, books, and magazines and on and on it goes to the place where it's almost with an indifferent attitude that we look at any of it. And they were based on philosophical and intellectual sins, but also by fleshly, physical sins as well. Sin does not exist in isolation. If people walk in the flesh, it's going to manifest itself in every other way as well.

In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul begins to deal with immorality. There was a situation where sexual immorality in the church was actually shocking to people outside the church. And it wasn't as if they didn't know what God's standards were. Paul had taught them and they had Apollos and some teachings from Peter on how God viewed sexual immorality. In spite of all of this information they continued to allow immorality in the church.

1 Corinthians 5:1 says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!” The word for immorality is ‘porneia’, meaning any kind of sexual involvement. Pornography is our word today. The root word, porne, means a harlot for hire. The masculine form, pornos, means a male prostitute.

Corinth and Athens, according to historians, were the two most immoral cities. Even their worship was immoral. They had prostitutes in their temples where the people went to worship. The Greek’s view of life was this idea that sex was just a biological urge and so sex was treated just like your need for sleep or exercise or eating. But they forbid any woman to do it outside of her marriage, while a man could do anything he wanted.

In the Pentateuch, the Law of Moses, God laid down His basic attitudes. In Deuteronomy 22 for instance if a man marries a woman and he finds out that she is not a virgin, the parents need to prove that with physical evidence to the elders that their daughter was in fact a virgin. If the elders agreed, the fine for that man was 100 shekels of silver and he had to stay married to her.

On the other hand if she wasn’t a virgin, she would be stoned to death. If there was adultery, then both of them would die. But if a man raped a girl in the field where she can’t be heard crying for help, then the man only that raped her shall die. Now, all of that is just to show you how God feels about immorality. It was the cause of execution in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, the Lord speaks of harlotry, immorality and adultery and says that any kind of immorality is incompatible with the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor extortionists will inherit the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:8-11 says, “Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition.”

They are written and recorded for our benefit, that we might know how God feels about that kind of activity. There is to be no immorality, not sexual activity, not sexual promiscuity, that is fooling around, nothing of these things, not being effeminate, no masochism, no sadism, no homosexuality, no lesbianism, no bestiality, all of those things in that category are forbidden.

The Christian attitude about sex should be one of reverent responsibility. We should not joke about sex, the same reason we should not joke about Holy Communion. It is not that sex is nasty; it is that sex is sacred and to joke about it is profanity. Sex is a God-given endowment to be kept in trust for the beloved, that person to whom one is able to offer oneself in the beautiful and responsible union of lifelong marriage.

Roman 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” My body is the possession of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sexual sin not only harms, it also controls. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” The more you give into it, the more it controls you. One of the things that this particular sin does, like all other sin, is that it makes people a slave. But there’s another thing that sexual sin does, and that is it perverts us. Our mind is controlled and perverted.

Your body was not created for sex; your body was created for God. And God has a specific design for it. That's why 1 Corinthians 6:14 says, "As God raised up the Lord will also raise us up by His own power. 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 says, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” We will enter into a new and glorious existence. Our sinful body will be changed.

In other words, you've got to realize that your body is sanctified as a vessel onto God. It not only belongs to God but it is one with Christ. 1 Cor. 6:15-16, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, “the two shall become one flesh.”

Verse 17, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” Because of such seriousness notice verse 18-19, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Every other sin approaches from the outside, but this one rises from within. Other sins have external stimulus. This seems to have an internal one. The cause of other sins may be outside. The cause of this is inside. This is more destructive than drugs, more destructive than alcohol. Something deep within a person is affected by this sin, so that he sins against his own body in a very serious way.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:28, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her, has already committed adultery with her in your heart.” So you certainly don't want to feed whatever does that on the inside, even if the act is not itself consummated. The point is, God's will is that you stay away from sexual sin. And it's not to get as close as you can and avoid it, it's to stay far enough away to be completely separate.

All venereal diseases are a divine reaction against sin. But not all the victims of venereal disease or AIDS or the other ones are necessarily the sinners. There are many people who may be innocent bystanders who acquire the disease through means other than sexual sin. But surely it is a judgment of God on a sinful society and the persons who commit these.

Therefore the conclusion is in verse 20, "Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's, glorify God." Ephesians 5:3 says, "Let fornication not even be named among you." Hebrews 13:4, "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." There's no escape from the consequences. Can you be enslaved by it? Yes. Will you be perverted by it? Yes.

Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:22, "Flee youthful lust.” Run away from the source of temptation. This is very important for young couples who love the Lord and are planning for marriage and find themselves in a compromised situation because they can't control their physical desires. The best thing to do is stay apart. Watch what you see, watch what you read and watch what preoccupies your mind.

Look at David, who had committed the sin of immorality with Bathsheba. And in that terrible situation that resulted from that, where the man Uriah, her husband, was killed and David lived with this incredible guilt. Psalm 51 says he became sick, and he became weak, and he became lonely, and he became sad, and he became guilty, and the great harm that came to David. There are many things that harm us, so avoid them all.

"How do you avoid sexual sin?" You walk in the Spirit. What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? The key to walking in the Spirit is being filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:17 says, "Be not drunk with wine which is excess but be being kept filled with the Spirit." Well, the key to being filled with the Spirit is to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Ephesians 5:18 says, "But be filled with the Spirit."

To be filled by the Spirit, to be energized by the Spirit is to be directed by that which the Spirit has revealed in the Word of God. It's not just to know the Word of God, but to let it dwell, let it dominate you in all its richness. We are all back to the point of letting the Word of God into our minds and our hearts as the controlling factor.

What is the instrument of sanctification that God has given us? It's your body. So we're talking here not about controlling your wife, but controlling your body. It's about self-control. What do I do to get control of myself? Well Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27 says, "I beat my body into submission." In 1 Corinthians 6:12 Paul said, "I will not be mastered by anything." In verse 13 he says, "The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord."

Just learn self-control. Just learn to create a disciplined environment. People who eat too much, or sleep too much, or goof off too much, or talk too much, or shop too much, or play games too much, or fool with whatever too much, are candidates for major disasters because they don't have self-control. The last one of the Fruit of the Spirit mentions self-control. Ask God for that blessing!

God has also given you a device and all of us have it, it's called a conscience. Romans 2 describes the conscience as that which excuses or accuses you. It is a warning device, it is a warning system built into every human being. Now you basically have two warning systems. The first one is called pain and the second one is called conscience. Pain is God's way of protecting you from destroying yourself.

From a spiritual standpoint, conscience also does the same thing. Conscience screams to you about a violation of a moral law. Conscience is not the moral law. It is only a mechanism, it is only a warning device. It has to be informed by reality. It reacts as a warning device telling that person whether they are abiding by their moral constraint or not. Two things have to happen. One, listen to your conscience. Two, inform your conscience correctly.

There are generations of people now whose conscience can't function because it's so ill-informed. The world has turned morality completely upside down. Conscience is not the Law of God, it only reacts to whatever your law is, whatever your moral structure is your conscience will react to. Once the conscience is rightly informed by the Word of God, only then it's a God-given warning device to keep you from disaster.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:12, "Look, my testimony is the testimony of our conscience.” You can accuse me of anything you want, but the testimony of my conscience is that in holiness and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you.” You can accuse me of anything you want but my conscience is clear.”

Respond to the first impulse of that conscience. Titus 1:15 says, "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, both their mind and their conscience are defiled." That's the world. They're going quickly down the path to hell because their system of belief is corrupt and their conscience is also corrupt. The world misinforms and then it tells you to not feel guilty.

Two, don't act like the godless pagans. 1 Thessalonians 4:5, "Don't operate in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.” You are the very opposite of that. You know, we are called to holiness. Verse 6, “that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.”

Do not transgress and defraud someone in the matter of sexual conduct. And the issue here is sexual sin. Do not take advantage of another person for your own sexual fulfillment. Ladies, if a guy comes along and tells you he loves you and then wants to steal your purity, that's not love. That is ignoring God’s law to defraud you, to take something valuable from you for his own gain.

Listen, if a guy really loves you, he is going to hold you up and do everything to sustain your purity. That's what love does, love doesn't defraud, love doesn't rob, love doesn't steal, and love doesn't plunder. People say, "Well what's wrong with having a little sex, we're going to get married anyway?" You don't have any guarantee that if he would do that because he's already proven that he's willing to defraud.

In Matthew 18:6 Jesus said, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” That's the most serious statement that Jesus ever said to His church. Be careful how you treat My children, you'd be better off if you were drowned." Jesus is not talking about babies, He is talking about believers.

1 Tess 4:6, “because the Lord is the avenger of all such.” I don't know about you but I'd rather have His blessing than His vengeance. Please notice, the Lord is the avenger in all these things. It's inescapable. What that means is the Lord is the one who exacts judgment. Verse 7, “For God did not call us to uncleanness.” He didn't call you to filthiness, that's how sexual sin is described by the Bible.

Verse 8, “Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” He gave you His Holy Spirit. That is to say the Spirit of Christ. That is to say the Spirit of God. That is to say the Holy One Himself has taken up residence in your life. You have all that God could give, Himself. Will you join Him to a harlot? Will you dishonor Him?

God doesn’t expect us to struggle along the path of spiritual maturity all alone. But He expects us to move along in the company of one another. We are to be interacting. Nobody grows in a vacuum. We grow by unity. The closer I am to the circle of people around me, the easier it is for me to live a righteous life. And if something isn’t right, they point it out, and that forces me back into the truth.

The Bible tells us, that we are to grow. 2 Peter 3:18 says, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” That is a command and if we say yes, how do we get there? The Bible says, “Live your life to My glory.” David said in Psalm 16:8-9, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices.”

Learn to cultivate a love for the Lord. If you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you wouldn't bring shame on His name. You cultivate a love for Christ by your prayer life, by your time in the Word and by focusing on knowing Him. And don't play with fire, stay away from the situations that capture you and snare you. Don't let your body tell you what to do and don't feed it those things that excite evil desire.

Everything God has done is to make you pure. Don't be deceived, the problem is you and it's in you, it's not outside of you. How am I going to live a holy life? Control your flesh by feeding it what builds up the spiritual and not exposing it to those things that pander to your fallen flesh. But you have to do both. So you feed it what strengthens the spiritual part and you starve it of what feeds the flesh, Amen?

]]> Sun, 14 Oct 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181014 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000050 imblog

Genesis 2:1-3

Mark 2:27-28 says, “And Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” The Sabbath was not to be a burden which men had to conform to, but the Sabbath was to be a delight which men could enjoy. The Jews had turned it in to an almost unbearable burden. The second thing was even more shocking was, Jesus declared His sovereignty over the Sabbath.

Exodus 20:8-11, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

There is no question about the other nine commandments being permanent and binding. We are to have no other gods. We are never to make an idol. We are to worship only the true and living God. We are never to take the name of the Lord in vain. We are not to dishonor our father or mother, but rather give them honor. We are not to murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or covet.

Those are all moral commands, with the exception of verses 8 through 11, the fourth command regarding the Sabbath. There are people who believe they all are permanent. One would be the Seventh Day Adventists. We can consider them a cult because they believe that the writings of Ellen G. White are inspired by God and are equal to the Bible. We know that only the Bible is the Word of God.

Should we be observing Saturday or perhaps Sunday as a replacement Sabbath as a holy day? Genesis 2:1-3, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

Notice in verse 3 the word “holy.” This is the first time the word “holy” is used in the Bible. The root means “to separate,” it is a separation that elevates or exalts. God designates this seventh day as an exalted day, a day lifted above all other days. And God makes it holy, and declares it to be so for three reasons. The three reasons are connected to the three verbs that make up the text.

First of all, it is a day that is unique because the heavens and the earth and all their hosts were completed. This work of creation was done in six 24-hour days by God, and since that close of the sixth day, there has never been any further creation with the exception of those divine miracles in the Old Testament, and the miracles through the Lord Jesus Christ, in which He creates wellness within this fallen creation.

Secondly is the verb “rested.” It says in verse 2 that “by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested.” And then in verse 3 again, “He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” This is a unique day because after the creation being completed, God stops and rests. He rested only in the sense that He stopped work, not that He had to replenish His energy.

He rested means really that He was satisfied. And that takes you back to Genesis 1:31, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” God didn’t go to work again until the Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve fell and God did something. Genesis 3:21, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” And then He drove them out of the Garden of Eden.

Now God had to preserve, as Hebrews 1:3 says, He had to “uphold the universe by His power” because it was now subject to decay because of sin. And so, God went to work to preserve the universe that He had made, and He also went to work to fulfill all aspects necessary in the plan for redemption of that creation. There is nothing here about man needing to rest because it was God doing all the creating.

There certainly is no rational reason for picking the number seven, then designating weeks, and months, and years to be in sets of sevens. It’s actually kind of an awkward way to use seven. It might be simpler to do them in tens. And yet it is universally adopted across the world, and it is designed to be unique because every seventh day is a reminder of the power and the glory of God expressed in the magnificence of six-day creation.

To reject God as Creator of the universe in six days is to curse the seventh day. To believe that somehow God used billions of years is to not sanctify the seventh day. There’s a specific reason why we live in seven-day units, and man has always done so, and it is because every seventh day provides for us a reminder that God is the Creator who created in six days the whole entire universe.

So, when you go back to Genesis 2, there’s no mention of the Sabbath being a law, no mention of it being a day of worship. The next time you run into that word is in Exodus 16. Hundreds of years have passed. Patriarchs have come and gone. None of them worshiped on the Sabbath. It was not prescribed for them. It was not mandated for them, not for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the rest of the people of God.

The first time the Sabbath is mentioned in a significant way is in Exodus 16 when God feeds the people manna from heaven as they wander in the wilderness, and the manna comes every day except the Sabbath day, and the day before they get enough for that day so that they don’t have to work on the Sabbath. And that gives them a little preview of what’s coming because in Exodus 20 they learn the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 31:12-17, “And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.”

“15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”

When God made a covenant with Noah, He promised Noah that He would never destroy the world again and God identified a sign. A rainbow. When God made a covenant with Abraham, He designated a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, participation among the people Israel was the sign of circumcision. And here we have in the Mosaic Covenant another sign, and the sign this time is the Sabbath.

The first view of the Sabbath was to produce gratitude for the wonder of creation. The second, to produce repentance for losing paradise. And so, the Sabbath took on a new meaning. Yes, it still is a reminder that God created, but it’s a reminder that the creation of God which was originally perfect is now marred, and the realm of His creation is stained by sin, and the universe is groaning, and we are groaning as well.

Obviously they couldn’t keep the law, but the people of Israel were to be driven in penitence to plead with God to be merciful to them as sinners. When Jesus came, everything changed. He not only cleansed the temple, He also abolished the temple. He didn’t just want to eliminate the bad priests and keep the good priests. He actually eliminated the priesthood.

Jesus obliterated the sacrificial system because He brought an end to Judaism with all its ceremonies, all its rituals, all its sacrifices, all of its external trappings, the temple, the holy of holies, all of it, including the Sabbath. The Sabbath observance went away with all the rest that belonged to Judaism. How did Jesus treat the Sabbath? Any way He wanted. He is the mediator of a new covenant, a much better New Testament.

There is that transition in the New Testament. As Jesus arrives, everything that is part of the system of Judaism is coming to its end. Look in Luke 14:1-3, “One Sabbath, when He went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”

Verse 4-6, “But they remained silent. Then He took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 And He said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” 6 And they could not reply to these things.” Jesus appears to have chosen the Sabbath day for His healing purposely because it struck a blow at this symbol. Jesus is announcing the end of the Sabbath.

Look at John 5:5-7, “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

Verse 8-9, “Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” Jesus didn’t have to heal the man to do something that violated their Sabbath, but He did it purposely.

Verse 15-16 says, “The man went away, told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.” Jesus never did violate the Ten Commandments, the law of God. But Jesus did anything He wanted on the Sabbath, in the sight of the leaders. And in the doing so, He brought down that whole system.

In verse 17, Jesus goes even beyond that and defends what He did by saying this, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This is a claim that He is God. Verse 18 says, “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

And yet the Pharisees missed the whole point of the Sabbath. They found no rest from their endless works efforts at salvation. They had no real honest repentance. The Sabbath laws were mere shadows of hope, a weekly reminder that there was a paradise to be regained and it was through the means of righteousness. When Jesus came, He brought true rest. The child of God is now a new person.

Under the new covenant we are healed, washed, found and accepted. We have entered into rest with the Creator Himself. We have been given His righteousness. We cease all effort to earn our salvation. Jesus literally did away with the Sabbath. God’s true rest didn’t come through Joshua. God’s true rest didn’t come through Moses. God’s true rest comes only through Jesus Christ.

The rest that the New Testament is concerned about is the rest that comes to our soul from hearing and believing the good news preached. Hebrews 4: 9-10 says, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.” There are only two concepts to get to heaven. You work your way in or it is a gift from God because you believe.

To the Jews, they were working. But when you enter the rest of grace and faith, works cease. Romans 14:5-6, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.” There were Jews who had come to faith in Christ but had a hard time letting go of the Sabbath.

In other words, if each person is fully convinced in his own mind and does what he thinks is right, it really doesn’t matter. Verse 8 says, “If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” Don't make an issue out of the Sabbath. Some people are concerned about dietary laws. Those things are just part of a passing scheme.

Galatians 4:9-11, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.” You do not have to go back to the prescribed festivals, laws and the Sabbaths of the Mosaic Law.

Colossians 2:16-17, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Don’t let anybody hold you to a Sabbath. And that’s referring to the weekly Sabbath, because the other festival Sabbaths are covered under the term “festival and new moon.”

In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council decided that Gentile believers in the church were not required to observe the Sabbath. The apostles never commanded anybody to observe the Sabbath. It is gone, with one exception. In Genesis 2, we are reminded that every seventh day that goes by is an opportunity for us to acknowledge the greatness of our Creator. And on the first day of the week, Sunday, we celebrate God as our Redeemer. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Oct 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20181007 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000004F imblog

Genesis 2:1-3

Let's now read Genesis 2:1-3, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

Now the initial creation account closes. That account that unfolds in Genesis 1, more elements of that creation, namely the creation of man, are expanded in Genesis 2. But the primary account of creation itself ends with those words, a reference to the seventh day. The seventh day is mentioned three times in those verses. It has real significance, because this is the first time the word "holy" is used in Scripture.

And holiness, is elevation, or exaltation, above the usual level. It is a day separated from the other days and more important. It is a day exalted. The Hebrew use of it means God made this day holy. And there are three reasons why it is unique, by three verbs in this passage. The verb "finished," you see it there in verse 1, you see it again in verse 2; the verb "rested," you see that in verse 2 and again in verse 3; and the verb "blessed."

It became a holy day, because God completed, God rested and God blessed. Also, each of those three verbs is associated with the work of God. In verse 2, "God completed His work which He had done." Verse 2 again, "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done." Verse 3, "God blessed the seventh day and because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."

Now look at the first verb, "completed." It is clear that the entire work of creation was completed, that's what the Hebrew term means. That is again to reiterate that creation was finished at the end of day six, finished in six 24-hour days. Since that time, there has been no other creation. The heavens were completed, the earth was completed and "all their hosts" simply means everything in the heavens and everything in the earth.

Now how important it is to consider your options when you consider the completion of creation. Option one, is materialistic evolution that is the option that believes there is no such thing as creation and there is no God who is creator. Materialistic evolution believes that the entire universe as it now exists came into existence out of nothing through billions of years, mutated into the intricate, complex and vast universe of today.

The second option is theistic evolution which believes that God does exist as the original mind and the original power who launched and punctuated with creative acts the process of evolution. So the process of evolution is going on with some divine assistance. The third possibility is divine creation which affirms that the eternal God made the universe completely as it is now in six days, after which all creation was completed.

And we learned that the first option can't be true because evolution is impossible. Random chance cannot result in anything. Nobody times nothing cannot equal everything. The system of life, DNA, the information encoded in genetic structure in every living cell prevents evolution because DNA only allows a living entity to be what it is and nothing more and when change does occur it is inferior rather than superior.

The second option is also impossible since evolution is impossible, theistic evolution is also impossible. We're left with only the third option that is the universe is created by God and it is the only reasonable belief. More than that, it is the testimony of Scripture. How the universe came into existence is clearly told to us in Genesis 1 and 2. There is no part of the Scripture that indicates that any evolutionary process existed.

When God wrote the Bible, He initiated revelation with the historical record of creation. That is foundational to the gospel. It's foundational to all theology and all history. Creation is the foundation of all truth and all true religion because the issue of origins is critical to any understanding of the role God plays in the universe. Christianity does not begin with accepting Jesus Christ as Savior, it begins with accepting God as creator.

When the church demands that people recognize God as creator and sustainer, they will know God is acting in this world and that they are accountable to God. When they understand that they are accountable to the creator and the Bible is true when it speaks of creation just as it is true when it speaks of the gospel, they then become aware that they are under God's sovereign authority, then they view Scripture completely different.

So we have come to this point in Genesis where we affirm what it says, that the heavens and the earth were completed in six 24-hour days, about six or seven thousand years ago. So when you come to day seven in that original week, all creation has ceased. If you believe in evolution, you have to believe that things are still evolving and that is in direct contradiction to the statement that the heavens and the earth were completed.

Now we remember for six days God created in each case in a 24-hour day as indicated by the phrase, "There was evening and there was morning." And at the end of the six days the heaven and the earth were completed. Look at Genesis 1:31, "God saw all that He had made. Behold, it was very good." That is God's final stamp of approval on His completed creation. It was finished and it was very good which was to say it lacked nothing.

Now that takes us to the second verb here, “rested”. “And since by the seventh day God had completed His work which He had done, He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done." Three times it is said that God was finished, creating everything that has existence. It is not that God was worn out after a tough work week. Isaiah 40:28 says, "He does not faint or grow weary."

When God works whether He's working in creation or whether He's upholding the creation by the Word of His power as we saw in Hebrews 1, or whether He's doing any particular task, there is no dissipation of energy, there is no breaking down of matter, there is no disintegration of the pure, holy power of God. Psalm 121:4 says He doesn't slumber or sleep. He needs no refreshing because He never gets tired.

The Hebrew word rest simply means "not to do work." And what it is saying is since He had completed the creation, there was nothing for Him to do with regard to the creation. He ceased to do the work of creation, that's what it means. And the word is used in those negative ways even in the Mosaic Sabbath Law texts. God was done with His work and so He didn't do any further creation work.

But there's something more than that. There is also a positive effect in that word. Exodus 31:17 says, "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth," and again reiterating exactly the same time as Genesis, "six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day”, it says literally in the Hebrew, “He ceased creating and was refreshed.” Now that's an addition, that's the positive side of it.

What does it mean He was refreshed? The idea of that Hebrew word "refreshed" is the idea of satisfaction or delight. It is to say that God finding delight because of satisfaction. It's really the response of God to what is stated in verse 31 that He saw everything He made, was very good and because of that He was satisfied. He found a certain fulfillment, satisfaction of accomplishment.

When you read this, there is a startling omission here. What component of the first six days was there in every single day but not on day seven? The little phrase that says, "There was morning and there was evening," it's not there. In any kind of examination of the creation account, you find great care taken by the Spirit of God in inspiring Moses to write down this historic description of creation.

What was God telling us by not saying that? The reason it doesn't say “evening and morning” is because that didn't end in 24 hours. In fact, God's delight wouldn't end until sin came. That one day, that seventh day inaugurated some period of time in which God delighted in a world that sparkled with pure life and a world which enjoyed the presence of God and a man and his wife in open fellowship with their creator.

The conditions and characteristics then of that seventh day were designed by God to continue and they would have continued had it not been for the sin of Adam and Eve. It was not God's design that they would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that brought the curse. It wasn't God who prompted them to do that and destroy their paradise. They chose to sin. The entrance of sin devastated Eden's perfection.

Isaiah 59:2 says, "Your sins, your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God." The seventh day had an evening and a morning because the cycle of days began in creation, but the seventh day 24-hour period inaugurated that period of time after God's having created in which He delighted. We don't know how long that was because we don't know how long it was until man sinned.

Let us summarize God's rest then. He enjoyed perfect fellowship with Adam and Eve. There's no command for man to rest on the seventh day; that is not in Genesis. There is no Sabbath rule given in the Abrahamic Covenant. In Genesis 12 and the following chapters you have the rehearsal of the Abrahamic Covenant, God's first great covenant with Israel, and there is no discussion of any Sabbath.

The third verb connected with the seventh day is in verse 3 says, "God blessed that day." In other words, God identified it with some unique holy character. What does that mean? God set it aside as a remembrance. All of creation occurred in six days. And then on a seventh day God took that day and said that He was going to bless that day to be a day in which you will acknowledge the creation was done.

There is no rational reason and no scientific reason for weeks. Why seven days? You cannot divide 365 days into sevens, it doesn't work. That's why some months have 30 days, some months have 31 days and February has alternate days, depending on whether it's Leap Year. Why is everything counted in weeks? Weeks don't even fit well into months. Why do we use seven days?

The only reason is because God established that order in creation. And every week of our lives we go through a cycle that is intended by God to remind us that He created the world in six days and then rested. Every time a seventh day passes we should be acknowledging God as our creator. To reject God as creator and to reject a six-day creation is to deny God His true identity as creator.

If we believe what the Bible says, then every seventh day that passes is a reminder that God created the entire universe in six days and was finished. And for that glorious accomplishment He deserves our praise. Saturday is the day that we should enjoy the creation of God. And what God did was indeed very good to the degree that He completely delighted in it. Saturday gives testimony to God as creator.

And Sunday gives us testimony that God is our Redeemer because of the resurrection. On that first day Christ arose because He had finished redemption. God knew that when He gave us Saturday and Sunday. One day for the creator, and the next day for the Savior. Sunday is a perpetual witness that God finished redemption and is the God of salvation. Sadly in our society most people don't care about what God did for them.

But for those of us who believe in the one true and living God, we believe in creation and no week goes by without a memorial and no week goes by without a witness, and no week goes by without a testimony. No week goes by without a holy day, that's where we get the word holiday. No week of our lives ever goes by without one day that points to God as creator. Every seventh day is that.

Do some practical things on the seventh day. Go out and rejoice in the beauty of God's creation. Go play with your grandchildren and the wonder of human life. No week goes by without a reminder that God is creator. That is what's on the heart of God as He blesses the seventh day. God has established a universal pattern for man. Man isn't even discussed here.

God was in a permanent condition of delight over the completion of His creation until sin came. The text says that this day is simply God's design for human life. And isn't it amazing that the whole world operates on seven-day weeks? Remember in America when they tried to change everything over to centimeters from inches, and feet to meters and nobody would buy into it because housewives didn't want to get rid of their utensils.

That was really what stopped the whole thing. Husbands would complain because all the recipes would be wrong if they started cooking with liters and all those other things. So we are stuck with our own system as over against the whole world who has a different system. But in the case of calendars, the whole civilized world operates on weeks and there's no reason for that except that's the way God designed it.

So that everyone often in the routine of life would face the fact that a great creator created it all in six days and every seventh day He gave us that reminder that His creation was done. Isn't it sad that people won't give Him the glory and honor He deserves? Now all of that opens up the teaching on the Sabbath law based on the Mosaic economy. How is that connected to this?

Well, I'm not going to tell you tonight. Next Sunday I'm going to take you into the Sabbath law of the Mosaic economy and show you if and how that connects and if at all it establishes a precedent for what we do now on the Lord's Day. That's going to be a fascinating study. But we will leave it at that. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Sep 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180930 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000004E imblog

Genesis 1:26-27

Genesis 1: 26-27, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them.” I would like to conclude about fossils before I talk about the text.

There is a scientific book called In the Beginning is written by Walter Brown, who is a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For 21 years, he was the chief of science and technology studies at the Air War College and professor at the Air Force Academy. He has exposed, as have many others, the lies of evolutionists trying to make their case. He says that fossils of apelike men are grossly overstated.

For example, it is now universally acknowledged that Piltdown man was a total hoax, and yet it has existed in textbooks for more than 40 years. Prior to 1978, the evidence for Ramapithecus consisted of a handful of teeth and jaw fragments, and Ramapithecus was one of the largest categories of transitional ape man. We now know that it came out of some teeth and jaw fragments. It is now known that Ramapithecus was just an ape.

Scientists now believe, that Ramapithecus was probably the extinct relative of an orangutan, nothing more. You find some interesting information about that in a book by Roger Lewin called Bones of Contention. One of the other supposed transitional forms is called Nebraska man. The only evidence for Nebraska man turns out to be a pig’s tooth. Quite an overstatement of false facts.

And the skulls of the Peking man are considered by many experts to be the remains of apes that were systematically decapitated and exploited for food by man. The classification Homo erectus is considered by most experts to be a category that should never have been created with regard to them. They show that this animal should never have been classified as Homo or manlike.

And then australopithecines, found most in South Africa, are quite distinct from humans. Several computer studies of the australopithecines have shown that their bodily proportions were not intermediate between man and living apes at all. Further study of their inner ear bones that were used to maintain balance show a similarity with those of chimpanzees and gorillas but a complete difference with those of humans.

One of the fossils, a three-and-a-half-foot-tall, long-armed, 60-pound adult called Lucy – you remember the discovery of Lucy – was initially presented as evidence that the australopithecines walked upright in a human manner. However, studies of Lucy’s entire anatomy, not just a knee joint, now show this is not true. Lucy, swung from trees and is an ape, not a woman.

What did really happen is recorded for us in the Bible. Let’s go back to Genesis 1. According to verses 24 and 25, day six featured the creation of land animals. Cattle, would be domestic and tame. Creeping things are all the creatures low to the ground. Beasts were four-legged, non-domesticated animals. And then in verses 26 and 27, we find the creation of man, instantaneously by God.

He created Adam full-grown and then as Genesis 2 indicates, later on created a helper, Eve, full-grown and fully functioning as well. Now, everything that was created before the creation of man, was to provide the environment in which man would live and in which man would enjoy the blessing of God and for which he would thank and praise God, the creator of it all.

There’s another component that is wonderfully mysterious and it is introduced to us in verse 26 by the words “then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.’” And verse 27: “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God.” And then, in Genesis 5:1, “In the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.” This is man’s unique identity.

We are now introduced for the very first time to the fact that God is a Trinity, and of course it’s been hinted at because the word for God, elohim, has a plural ending. Now we’re suddenly introduced to the great reality that there is an executive divine committee. In the gospel of John in the New Testament, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” That is Christ.

God uses language that reveals He is communicating with others. He is in communion with others in this creation. This is a clear, unmistakable reference to the Trinity, though the fullest clarification doesn’t really unfold until the New Testament. You can’t fully understand the Trinity until the second person of the Trinity, is incarnate and until the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, comes at Pentecost.

There are in the Old Testament passages that indicate communication between the members of the Trinity. For example, in Psalm 2:7 the psalmist writes, “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have crowned you.” There the Father, was communicating to the second member of the Trinity, the Son. That was fulfilled in the incarnation of Christ and referred to in Hebrews 1.

Later on in Psalm 45:7, again the Father is speaking of the Son. He says, “Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” There is communion between the Father and the Son. Look at Psalm 110:1, “The Lord says to my Lord” –“The Lord [being the Father] says to my Lord [being the Son]: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’”

Look at Isaiah 48:16. Here is communication between the members of the Trinity. But until you come to the incarnation, you don’t see the full identity of the second member, and until you come to the book of Acts with the coming of the Holy Spirit, you don’t see the full presentation of the third member, the Holy Spirit. But here you have, back in Genesis, an indication that God, by nature, is in relationship to Himself.

God had a divine purpose before the world began and that divine purpose was to take a bride, as it were, for His Son. God the Father desired to give to His Son an expression of love in a bride that would be a redeemed humanity to be given to His Son to love and adore and praise and glorify His Son and also to serve Him forever. That eternal purpose of God unfolded within the council that is God within the Trinity.

1 Peter 1:20 says, “Christ was foreknown [which means predetermined] before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in these last times for the sake of you.” So Jesus, who has appeared in these last days for your sake, to die on the cross, to rise again, to be your Savior, was planned before the foundation of the world. So before day one of creation, before He created people, redemption was already planned.

So God’s whole saving purpose, was something God promised long ages ago. The Greek says before time began. When did time begin? On day one. So before day one, God had already planned the gospel. God promised that He would choose some, that He would grant them faith, that He would give them the knowledge of the truth, that He would produce in them godliness, and that He would grant them eternal life.

The question is: To whom did He promise it? We weren’t even created until day six. He didn’t promise it to angels. We don’t know precisely when, but He didn’t promise salvation to angels because angels don’t experience salvation. The angels who sinned and fell out of heaven fell forever and there is no salvation for those angels. So to whom did God make a promise of salvation before time began?

Let us look at 2 Timothy 1:9, “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before time began.” Here, it says God had a purpose that involved Christ Jesus from before time began. So He must have been discussing then with Christ the necessity of an incarnation, the necessity of a sacrifice for sin, and all of that.

Before there was any creation, in the council of God, the plan was there for a redeemed humanity who would bring glory by means of the incarnation and the sacrifice of the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. We know from the New Testament that they would be redeemed by the work of the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who would convict their hearts of sin and regenerate them and grant them the new birth.

And at that particular point they would be transferred from death to life, they would become God’s own. Ephesians 1: 3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

So the divine decree unfolded before time began, before anything was ever created. And this was from the council of the Trinity. Verse 4 says He predestined us. He did it because of His own will. In fact, look at John 6:37 and John 17:6, repeatedly, Jesus refers to every believer as those whom the Father has given him. Jesus says, “All that the Father gives to me will come to me and I will lose none of them.”

In John 17:24 Jesus prays, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” The Father wanted to show His love to the Son and He determines that the way to express that love is to create and redeem humans and then bring them to glory so they become like Christ before the universe was even created.

Philippians 3:20-21 says, “The Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body.” 1 John 3 says we’ll be like Him for we see Him as He is. And so the Father is going to make us literally replicas of Jesus Christ, who will radiate His glory, and we will praise Him and honor Him and glorify Him and serve Him as well forever. That is the Father’s love gift to the Son.

1 Corinthians 15 says when the Son receives that redeemed humanity from the Father, when the Father gives the Son that redeemed humanity, when we are all there and time is no more and we are all in the presence of God and when the Father gives the complete redeemed humanity to the Son, 1 Corinthians 15 indicates that the Son turns right around and gives it all back to the Father so God is all in all.

And what has been achieved by that is a redeemed humanity along with holy angels populating the new heaven and the new earth forever, for no other purpose than to serve and praise and glorify God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who is worthy of glory. In Revelation 13:8 and 17:8 where twice it refers to believers as those whose names have been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life.

Only one component in the physical universe lasts forever and that is man. For only man in the end mattered to God ultimately. Everything else was only created to provide a world for man which would cause man to praise and thank and glorify God. And put God’s wonderful power on display and God’s wisdom on display and God’s intelligence on display. It was only man that was the product of intra-Trinitarian communion.

What is the image of God? Man was sort of shaped and formed like God. He was created on a divine pattern. That means we are created on an eternal pattern, which is not true of anything else that was created. We do share biological features with the rest of the creatures. But we are not highly evolved apes. We are transcendent in our significance because we have been created in the image of God.

And above all, the image of God indicates the ability to personally relate to someone else, especially to God Himself. Being able to know Him, being able to love Him, being able to obey Him, being able to worship Him. The image of God can be summed up by the word “personal.” We live and move on the basis of relationships. We understand love. We understand sharing thoughts, attitudes, ideas and sharing experiences.

And that is why when God created man, He immediately said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Why? Because the image of God is personhood, and personhood can only function in relationship. God Himself never existed as a single, lonely, solitary, isolated individual. He has always existed in a family. He is the Father. The second member is the Son. The third member is the Holy Spirit.

God can see, hear, and smell according to Genesis 8:21, He can touch and He can speak, whether or not He has actual physical eyes, ears, nose, hands or mouth. Furthermore, when He has designed to appear visibly to man, He has done so in the form of a human body, such as in Genesis 18, and the same would be true of angels. They are spirits but there are occasions when they take on bodies.

Relationship are actualized in communication, thus language. Only human beings are specifically designed to acquire just a range of language systems that we see manifested in the world’s 5,000 plus languages. Second, he was made as king of the earth to rule and subdue creation. And third, he was made as propagator of the human race to populate the earth, and fourth, he was the recipient of rich and plentiful blessings all around him.

Noam Chomsky research, on the uniqueness of the human species in regards to language is so convincing that he is not welcome in evolutionist circles. Human capacity for language is a door into the eternal realm. It demands the recognition that we have been created for communication with one another and communication with our Creator who made us in His image. God communicates and so do we. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Sep 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180916 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000004D imblog

Genesis 1:24-26

Satan is the archenemy of God. Satan is an incurable liar and a deceiver, and the Bible says he is the father of lies. Satan hates the truth of God and he dominates the world that he rules with falsehood. Romans 1 says that civilization in general has exchanged the truth of God for the lie that pervades all human thought governing all intellectual work, all science, all philosophy, all sociology, all psychology and everything else.

But there are two lies in particular. Lie number one is that life is random. That life is just the way it happened with nobody planning and it just evolved that way. There is no purpose to it. There is no sovereign unfolding plan being carried out by a powerful creator. To put it another way, the universe, as it exists, was not created by God, nor is God the authority over this creation. It’s just a matter of random chance.

The second lie: Truth is relative. The Bible does not give us the truth about right and wrong, life and death, morality and immorality in the past and the future. There is no authority beyond yourself. Those two lies are so established in our society that people hate the Christian worldview, which opposes those lies. We believe the universe was created by God and is sustained by God and ruled by God.

We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, no matter what it says, whether it’s talking about history, morality or creation. A truly Christian view, is that God is the creator, God is the moral law giver, and the universe around us is the work of his creative hand, and the Bible is the revelation of his moral and spiritual law. We believe that what Genesis 1 says is as true as any other part of Scripture.

In fact, any disbelief in or tampering with or altering of Genesis 1 is an act of rebellion against God and his Word. Anyone who attacks the veracity of God and the Word of God brings upon himself the threat of divine judgment. Revelation 22:18-19, “if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book, God will take away his share in the tree of life.”

Most professing Christians would deny the testimony of Genesis 1, that God created the entire universe as it is now in 6 - 24-hour days about 7,000 years ago. Satan is very clever and subtle, and has done a successful job in selling the lie of evolution. In fact, when most people think about evolution, they think about man. They think about that picture in National Geographic of the apelike creature becoming a man.

And they say, there is fossil evidence for this. Well, the fact of the matter is there isn’t. John Ankerberg and John Weldon wrote in ‘Darwin’s Leap of Faith’, “Despite widespread belief to the contrary, the fossil record of mankind is woefully inadequate to justify any belief in evolution. Despite 130 years of searching, there are no fossils that have convincingly related man to any other species.”

Duane Gish writes, “There is no evidence, either in the present world or in the world of the past that man has arisen from some lower creature. He stands alone as a separate and distinct created type or basic morphological design, endowed with qualities that sets him far above all other living creatures.” The evolution of man has been divided into three sort of Latin terms: Ramapithicus, Australopithecus, and Pithecanthropus.

Ramapithicus, the first one, is just one of a long series of creatures that have been suggested at one time or another. All different kind of bones have been thrown into that category and they all have been suggested as missing links, but they were all related to the ape family. And then there’s Australopithecus. Zuckerman headed a research team which studied the anatomical features of apes, man, and the Australopithecan fossils.

Most evolutionists seem to classify Australopithecus as a genus of the hominoid or family of man, rather than apes. But Zuckerman replies to all of them, “I myself remain totally unpersuaded. Almost always when I have tried to check the anatomical claims on which the status of Australopithecus is based, I have ended in failure.” And he concludes that this was just an ape.

And that’s also the way it goes with Pithecanthropus. You might know him as the Java man or the Peking man, the creation of some kind of transitional form out of some minute skeletal fragment. They now believe it was never a man at all, but some creatures related to the gibbons which are apes. And Cro-Magnon man, Neanderthal man, they now know were nothing more than just human skeletons.

Here are some quotes from some leading evolutionists. Robert Martin writes, “So one is forced to conclude there is no clear-cut scientific picture of human evolution.” Leaky is a very famous name in human evolution, a noted paleo-anthropologist, says, “It may never be possible to say exactly what evolved into what.” That’s pretty comprehensive. Spend your whole life to come to that conclusion.

The bones that they think are 4.5 million years old are identical to humans today. That means that there was no evolution in 4.5 million years. Scientists and those who follow their deception about evolution are like the Jews of Jesus’ day who said, “We will not have this man to reign over us. We will not come under the sovereignty of God.” And so they are described in Psalm 14:1, “The fool said in his heart, ‘There is no God.”

Look at the creation of man on day six. Genesis 1:24-25, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Verse 26-27, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Now we’ve already been through the first five days of creation. The first five days really were outfitting the environment in which man would live. Man is king of the earth. Man is the pinnacle of God’s creation created in God’s image. And all the rest of the creation simply provided his surroundings, preparation for man’s arrival. And even on day six, as I just read, there was a finishing touch in creation.

It was the creation of man with his redemptive purpose that God really had in mind. Everything else in the universe will perish. Everything else in the universe will go out of existence. The stars will fall – according to the book of Revelation – the sun will go out. The moon will come to an end. The whole universe will roll up like a scroll. The whole creation will melt with fervent heat.

Now we find the text of Scripture giving more time on the creation of man than any other element of the creation, and all of Genesis 2 expands that creation of man because it is so critical. So, on the sixth day, when vegetation and animal life had been fully established, man who rules over all created life on the earth was formed. God refers in the Bible to the land animals in three categories: Cattle, creeping things and beasts of the earth.

Cattle is a word that speaks of animals which can be tamed for man’s use. Generally, these would be animals that would provide milk, such as a goat and a cow. And animals that could be ridden such as a horse and a donkey. And then the creeping things, like snakes and lizards. Anything that creeps or crawls on the ground, which would include all insects, as well as rabbits and squirrels and the like.

And then the third category, beasts of the earth would be four-legged animals of some size which are generally not tamed. Lions, giraffes, elephants, rhinos etc. that are not domesticated. In general, this would be the large mammals that roam the earth in an untamed form. Now this general classification has no relationship to the man-made system of taxonomy.

Now somebody might say, “Ah, the cattle came first and out them evolved the creeping things, and out of them evolved the beasts of the earth.” That’s a problem because the very same thing is repeated in verse 25, only in reverse order. The beasts of the earth come first, the cattle come second, and the creeping things come third. So the mixing of the order is a good way to indicate that these were created simultaneously.

Now when God brought them forth in verse 24, they are called “living creatures.” Living creatures have consciousness, but not necessarily self-consciousness. They are conscious of their environment so they can react to it. They are in the world simply as part of the environment of Man, as God displays his wonder to the king of the earth, his creation, mankind, who is made in His own image.

Now notice again in verses 24 and 25 it repeats the phrase “after their kind.” That is becoming familiar to us. We see it 10 times in Genesis 1. This indicates limitation of variation. You don’t want to get technical and say it means species or genus or family or fila or whatever the scientific terms of categorization might be. But what we will say is it means there is a limitation on variation.

In each case there is a DNA, a chromosomal strip that is coded in every cell of every living thing that determines that living thing’s nature. And it will be true to its nature. It can be varied within that DNA, but it cannot become something other than what it is. That is controlled, as we’ve learned many times, by the DNA. And that’s implied by the concept of “after their kind.”

Notice the formation of plants occurred before the creation of any animal life, before the fish and before the birds. That contradicts the traditional evolutionary system, which says that all animal life started in the sea and crawled out of the sea over billions of years, and once it got on land, plants evolved. But in Genesis plants are created first, and then the creation of the sea creatures, the air creatures, and the land creatures.

God created all creatures the way they are. Although there are variations, there are limitations on that variation. One doesn’t evolve into the other. And that’s repeated ten times in Genesis 1, as if God knew somebody would come along and try to tell a lie about one kind becoming another kind and no limitation on variation existing. It says at the end of verse 24, “And it was so.” It means it was permanent, and that’s the way it stayed.

Let’s look again at verses 26 and 27, the culmination of God’s creation. “And then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

God speaks and creates. This is what is called “fiat creation.” Fiat because the Latin word fiat means “let there be.” God speaks it into existence. We’ve heard that over and over. But verse 26 doesn’t say, “Let there be.” It says, “Let us make man.” This is a major shift. Because God is a trinity when he introduces himself personally, it is in the plural language. He’s letting us in on a Trinitarian plan.

So there are Trinitarian references in the Old Testament. But the full understanding of the trinity really blossoms in the New Testament. Because the second member of the trinity becomes a man. Their conversation was about redemption of people because the earth had already been formed. And according to Revelation 13:8, Revelation 17:8, our names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the earth.

God perfectly loved the Son. He wanted to demonstrate his love for the Son, the pure love that he had for the second member of the trinity. And he determined that he would do that in a remarkable way. That is, he would get a bride for his Son. And by “a bride” he meant he would get a redeemed humanity who would honor his Son, adore his Son, love his Son, worship his Son, and serve his only Son forever.

He would bring that redeemed humanity up to where the trinity lives in the glories of heaven and they would live there forever. Creating the whole universe and everything that was in it was merely the stage for the plan to unfold. Because that creation spoke about God and who he was, and it told man of his greatness and his glory and his power. The heavens declare the glory of God.

But what puts God on display in a remarkable way is that he is gracious enough to save sinners. God is gracious, God is merciful, God is forgiving, God is kind, and that could never be displayed unless there were sinners out there that God could be gracious to. Angels were created for the glory of God. But there’s no grace shown to angels, so God can’t display his grace and mercy to angels.

Angels were either holy or they were fallen and are and damned to the lake of fire. God didn’t have to create any of us, just like he didn’t have to create anything else. But he created everything else to create a stage to reveal himself to us. That’s why Jesus said in John 6, “All that the Father gives to me will come to me.” And he wrote their names in a book before the foundation of the world.

We were predestined before the world was ever created. “Let us make man.” God gets very personal here because now he’s creating those who are eternal. And those who will eternally bring him glory either in heaven or in hell. How did he do it? He formed man of dust from the ground. That’s why bodies decompose and go back to the dust. But our soul goes to heaven where God provides us with an eternal body, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Sep 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180909 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000004C imblog

Genesis 1:20-23

The text says, “And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

“22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.” We have day by day gone through the Creation week with some amazing insights given to us by the word of God. But I am now sort of reintroduce you all again to the amazing diversity and complexity of the created order.

It is staggering how, as we begin to look at the Creation with any kind of thought, any kind of depth, we come face-to-face with the immensity of the intelligence and power of God. December 1996 brought the death of an evolutionist and astronomer named Carl Sagan, one of the most well-known astronomers in the world. His belief was that life just sort of happened and he ended up his life with absolute hopelessness.

Near the end of his life he was interviewed by Ted Koppel on television who asked Sagan, “Do you have any words of wisdom for the people of the world?” Sagan replied, “We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a star that is one of 400-plus-billion other stars that make up the Milky Way galaxy, which is one of billions of other galaxies which make up a universe. That is well worth pondering.” end quote.

In the end, this brilliant evolutionist only knows that the universe exists. He doesn’t know how, he doesn’t know why, and he doesn’t know who the creator is. How sad. Everything in the universe points to God, the Creator. Even Albert Einstein said, “Of course there is a massive intelligence behind the universe. A man is a fool who doesn’t believe that,” The evolutionist refuses to meet the God who wants to be known.

Some birds navigate by the stars when migrating. How can birds raised from eggs inside a building where they have never seen the sky orient themselves toward home when shown an artificial sky representing a place they’ve never been. Look at the Bombardier beetle who has two chemicals in his body which mix perfectly and at the right moment combine outside his body. When they’re fired, they explode in the face of the enemy.

However, the two chemicals that create an explosion outside the body, never combine prematurely to blow up the beetle. And how did the beetle evolve those explosives and keep them separate? Now look at God’s power. The University of Alberta, once calculated that there are an average of 1,800 storms in operation at any time, and that those 1,800 storms expend energy of one billion, three hundred million horsepower.

Rain of four inches over 10,000 square miles would require the burning of 640 million tons of coal to evaporate enough water for such a rain. And to cool the vapors and collect them in clouds would take another 800 million horsepower of refrigeration working 24 hours a day for 100 days. And yet God, by the massive power of the sun evaporates the water, refrigerates it in the sky, and sends it back down again as water every day.

The U.S. Natural Museum says there are over 10 million different species of insects. There are 2,500 kinds of ants. One colony of ants can have as many as 100 million ants. Some have estimated there are five billion birds in America. Ducks can fly 60 miles an hour, eagles can fly 100 miles an hour, and falcons can dive at 180 miles an hour. Codfish can lay nine million eggs and herring only 70,000.

Just think what God created. The Earth is 25,000 miles in circumference, weighs 6,586 sextillion tons, hangs in empty space, spins at 1,000 miles an hour with perfect balance. And at the same time, it is moving through space around the sun at 1,000 miles a minute in an orbit of 580 million miles. It does so at a perfect angle set to create the seasons, which provide all the crops which feed its inhabitants.

The sun burns up four million tons of matter per second. Consider things that are very small, like the atom. We know they exist, but to this day they’re not visible. Atoms are so small it takes three atoms to make up one water molecule. If you take every molecule in one drop of water and blow it up the size of a grain of sand, you would have enough sand to make a road one foot thick, one-half mile wide from L.A. to New York City.

Let me talk about the ‘wheel of life’. That is what scientists call it, and it is found in the enzyme ATP synthase. It won a joint Nobel Prize in 1997 for two scientists, Paul Boyer of the USA and John Walker of the U.K. The wheel in this enzyme rotates at about 100 revolutions per second. This miniature motor is 200,000 times smaller than a pinhead. Every cell in every living thing has thousands of these motors in just one cell.

The ATP motor’s job is to make the molecule adenosine triphosphate, ATP, from adenosine diphosphate, ADP, and phosphoric acid, a synthesis which requires input of energy. The ATP can then break down into ADP again giving up the energy by coupling itself to another chemical process within the cell. So energy is directed and the products are recycled constantly, of which you have 10 quadrillion motors going on all the time.

Says Dr. Walker, “We require our body weight in ATP every day.” We are turning over that amount of ATP, cycling that energy, to keep ourselves thinking and walking around, doing whatever we normally do. In 1993, Professor Boyer deduced how ATP was produced, but it was left to Dr. Walker in 1994 to provide the first detailed picture of how the motor works. He used x-rays and an electron microscope to take an atomic snapshot.

And then some Japanese fellow came along in 1997 with a tiny fluorescent filament attached to the electron microscope so that the motor could be seen spinning under the microscope. Each motor is built from 31 separate proteins, and remember this is 200,000 times smaller than the head of a pin and they have 31 protein components that are made from thousands of precisely-arranged amino acids.

These little machines are producing, with every turn of the wheel at some 100 revolutions per second, the necessary energy to keep you alive and keep you functioning. “It’s incredible,” says Dr. Walker, “to think of these motors of life spinning around in all the cells of our bodies and they are spinning in all the cells of everything that lives.” Who designed and energized these little wheel motors? Only God can do that.

R.C. Sproul says there are only four options for the origin of the universe. Option number one, the universe is an illusion. It doesn’t exist. Option number two, it is self-created. Option number three, is it self-existent and eternal. Option number four, it was created by someone who is self-existent. Either it doesn’t exist or it created itself, or it always existed or somebody created it.

Sproul says, “Option number one must be eliminated for two reasons.” “First, if it’s a true illusion, then someone must be existing to have that illusion, so therefore everything is not an illusion.” Secondly, you can eliminate the illusion theory, because if we assume the illusion is absolute then nothing exists But if something exists, then whatever exists must either be self-created, self-existent, or created by someone who is self-existent.

Option two, that the universe created itself. Well this is contradictory and logically impossible. Sproul says, “In essence, self-creation requires the existence of something before it exists.” “For something to create itself, it must be before it is.” It’s impossible for solids, liquids and gases. It’s impossible for atoms and subatomic particles. It is impossible for light. It is impossible for God.

Sproul points out that an entity, like God, can be self-existent and not violate logic, but He can’t be self-created. When scientists say, “Well, 15 to 20 billion years ago the universe created itself,” what are they saying? They’re saying nothing exploded into something. That is a logical impossibility. Then you have option number three, that the universe, as it exists, as we know it, has always existed eternally, but you are not eternal and neither am I and neither is the world.

So we are left with only one possibility. The universe exists because it was created by someone who existed before it existed, namely God. Matter can’t create itself. Only an eternal, preexisting God could create it. CNN reported that only nine percent of Americans believe that life arose purely by chance. Over 90 percent of Americans believe that God was involved in creation, but that God used evolution as His method.

Evolutionists think they’re wise, but they are actually fools. They make the creature the creator by saying: Life creates itself. They see the creation as the life force which creates. The truth of origins is clearly given here in six 24-hour–solar days, six days defined as having an evening, a period of darkness and a morning, a period of light. In six days, God created the entire universe the way it is now.

Now on day one, God created the material and light. Day two, the seas and the heavens. Day three, the earth and vegetation and day four, the lights, the moon, the stars and the sun. Now we come to day five. Here God created all the creatures that populate the seas and the skies. This is the day when God completes the home for man and He creates the first living beings.

Genesis 1:20, “Swarms of living creatures.” That is the first time anything is said to be living. Plants aren’t so designated. They are organisms that have a kind of life, but it is not a conscious life. The first living beings created by God came on day five. Now, there are two phases on day five. First phase, the creation of conscious life, secondly the creation of reproductive life.

“Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures.” So He first of all filled the waters. Swarm is the word chosen here because it has the idea of movement, Plants are not called living creatures because they aren’t mobile. Cassuto, the Jewish commentator, writes, “The primary significance is abundant, swift movement of many creatures as they proceed to crisscross in all possible directions.”

The seas would include freshwater as well; all the waters of the earth. The term living is that very familiar Hebrew word nephesh, which speaks of soul or being or life. This is the first time we really have a living creature that moves on its own. Living things are conscious, though animals are not self-conscious. They respond to their environment as individuals, it is a mechanism that we call instinct.

When God created the fish and all those animals, whether you’re talking about fish or whales or sea-going dinosaurs or plankton or whatever is in the food chain, when God created all of that there was no evolutionary process. Verse 20 indicates the same thing, “Let the birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” And the birds that are flying around the globe do go very far.

Verse 21, “So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” Remember reading about Leviathan, this massive, powerful sea creature? God says in Job 41, “Can you put your hooks in and control Leviathan?” God is describing a dinosaur, a seagoing monster.

And God saw that it was good. And that includes the sea monsters. That’s why it says in Psalm 148:7, “Praise the Lord from the earth you great sea monsters and all deeps.” God created everything that lives in the water and that flies in the air at the same time on the same day, and He created them after their kind. We could conclude at that point that animals didn’t eat each other.

Evil came into the world after the fall of men. So day five first brought the creation of conscious life and secondly, of reproductive life. The more you know about reproductive systems, the more incredible it is. Every species, from the most small kind all the way to the largest land and seagoing mammals and dinosaurs, all have different reproductive processes, all encoded in their own DNA.

That’s what it says in verse 22, “And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” Be fruitful and multiply is an Old Testament phrase for reproduction. In Genesis 1:28 when God is creating man, it says, “God blessed them,” that is male and female, “and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply.” That was His command for them to produce offspring.

All living creatures are like complex machines. All living organisms characteristically have three properties. They are self-sustaining. That is they have the capability to sustain their own life like those little, tiny wheels going around inside of you. Secondly, they are self-repairing. That is they fix themselves as they go. And most definitively, they are self-reproducing.

What is so sad is that man refuses to see God in creation. What grieves me most of all is people who say they’re Christians, who believe the Bible, and then claim evolution. Why would you blaspheme God or dishonor God in order to honor a Godless evolutionist; or in order to buy some scientific credibility. I don’t know about you, but I better start believing the Bible in 1 Genesis 1. I don’t have to wait until Genesis 3. What about you, do you believe the bible? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Sep 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180902 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000004B imblog

Genesis 1:14-19

We come now to day four in Creation which is described in Genesis 1:14-19, “And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.”

“16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.”

The Bible describes the creation of all the stellar bodies that occupy the vast endless space around us. Evolution has struggled to explain all the bodies that exist in the universe, how they could have evolved out of spontaneous generation. All of the orbiting spaceships have given no insight into how the bodies in the universe could have possibly evolved. And that’s understandable because they didn’t.

Genesis 1:14-19 simply says, God made them all. When it says that God made the stars along with the sun and the moon, it is saying something about His immense power. That simple statement at the end of verse 16, which says, “the stars also” is so staggering to be beyond comprehension. Light has to travel 32,000 years before it will reach the center of the Milky Way, our galaxy. And there are at least 50 billion galaxies in the universe.

Most of the stars you see are not actually stars, but are rather multiple star systems revolving around a center mass. Now if light travels a couple more million years, it will encounter open space. It takes another 20 billion years before it reaches the edge of the known universe. After 20 billion years of travel, it will pass 50 billion galaxies with about 100 billion stars.

So how can such a distant light reach the earth so fast in a six-day creation? If it takes light hundreds of thousands of years to get here, how can we see it instantly? Well, God can not only make the stars out there, and make us here, but he could create all the light in between also instantaneously. Light already existed, it was created on day one according to Genesis 1:3. And so, all He had to do was to put it where He wanted it.

Every set of stars, every one of these galaxies has the fingerprint of God upon it different from any other. George Wald, who came from Harvard and was the winner of the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine, acknowledged this dilemma. He said, and I quote from the Scientific American Journal, “The reasonable view was to believe in spontaneous generation. But the only alternative is a single primary act of supernatural creation.”

Wald went on to state his view, “One has to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that the spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. Yet, here we are.” He did not believe that the entire universe consisting of billions upon billions of galaxies is the product of irrational random spontaneous generation, something coming into existence out of nothing by chance.

Let us go for a moment from this immense universe to the smallest complexity of life, your DeoxyriboNucleic Acid, DNA. This exists in every single cell. Your body has 100 trillion cells or so. And every cell has an actual physical strip of DNA. It is coded information that is coiled up. Now, you have 46 segments in that little coil. Twenty-three came from your father and 23 came from your mother to make the 46.

The combination of your father’s and your mother’s DNA make up the 46 to determine what you look like, much of your personalities and abilities precisely and explicitly. That little coil determines exactly how every single cell in your body is to function throughout your entire life. If all your cells have the same 46 segments of DNA components, let us just uncoil them. One little cell DNA strip would be 7 feet long.

It would be so thin that we couldn’t see it under an electron microscope. That’s in every one of you 100 trillion cells. However, if all the DNA in your body is stretched out and connected together, it would stretch from here to the moon one-half million times. If all this densely coded information were placed in type written form, it would fill the Grand Canyon 50 times. That is how fearfully and wonderfully you are made.

You can go to the farthest most complex part of the universe or you can look into the smallest complexity of the cells within the human body, and all you are going to see is the hand of an intelligent and powerful creator. Now let’s look at your brain. Your brain has about 100,000 billion electrical connections, yet your brain fits in a quart jar and operates for 70 years on 10 watts of power fueled largely by what you eat.

The only reasonable view is that the universe was created by God more powerful, more complex, and more intelligent than we could ever imagine. But we don’t have to wonder how he did it, because He told us how He did it. We have the account. Many evolutionary scientists tried to explain how the universe evolved but they cannot. In one day, God filled the universe with all the stars, suns, and moons by His word.

The creation is introduced in verse 1 with an overview statement, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s the summary statement and as in that statement you have everything that is notable categorized. Herbert Spencer who died in 1903 said that all that is knowable in the universe can be summed up in five categories, time, force, action, space and matter. Everything that exists can fit into that.

Then starting in verse 2 it begins to describe how He did that. He did that in a six-day process. That process is described from Genesis 1:2 till Genesis 2:3. This is then the generations of the heavens and the earth. On day one God made the material, He created the space, the time and the matter. He created a universe that was unformed and uninhabitable and then He created light as it indicates to us in verses 2 through 5.

On day two, He separated the waters that covered the surface of the earth and took some waters above and left some below on the earth. Versus 6 through 8 talk about that and in the middle He created the expanse that we know as heaven. He sent some water above to exactly where we don’t know, but that water went to the middle of heaven, which is the place of all of the stellar bodies He created on day four.

Then on day three, in verses 9 to 13, He separated the dry land from the water on the earth creating then seas and land and then, two kinds of growing things, trees which produce fruit that has seed and plants which have their seed in themselves. That brings us to day four. Now we go back from the earth into heaven and He populates this vast expanse of heaven with the luminaries.

In day four, as verse 14 says, “Then God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens.” This is not some process that God initiated, this is something that God completed. He literally speaks it into existence. Listen to Psalm 33:6-9, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts,” that is all the stars, moons, suns, comets and everything else that is there.

Verse 9 says, “For He spoke and it came to be; He commanded and it stood firm.” In other words, it didn’t change, it didn’t develop. He spoke it into existence and that’s the way it stayed, exactly the way He spoke it into existence. And the complexity of it literally is staggering. You would think stars are in the same place all the time. But they are moving. We can chart our courses by them, because they appear to be static.

But our own sun is taking our entire solar system and dragging it from one end of the universe to the other in an orbit that is huge. In fact the whole Milky Way Galaxy is in an orbit that scientists calculate takes 225 million years to complete. And everything else is also in corresponding orbits. The whole thing is incredible. And it all is doing now exactly what God designed it to do and created it to do in a simple word.

God created light, light is not created by stars. Light is not created by the sun. Light is simply created by God and attached to those luminaries. So we have the creation of light in verse 1, which identifies day and night and the evening and the morning and the first 24 hour solar day, and it’s now that same light for that same purpose, attached to these heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon and the stars that are identified down in verse 16.

Now the creation of light on day four does produce an important issue because light was already shining. People say, you can’t have light shining all over the place without stars, without a sun, because the light we know comes from those sources. How could God created plants on day three and a sun on day four? Because photosynthesis which is critical to the life of plants doesn’t exist apart from the sun.

But there was light already on day one. And where there is light there is heat. And where there is light and heat there is photosynthesis. The requisite conditions for plant life to survive on day three were already in existence because light was already there doing what light always does. The source just hadn’t been specifically explained. God is the creator of light. So, He took the light and attached it to the luminaries he made on day four.

Now darkness already was in existence, we know that back in verse 1. Light came into existence also on day one, so it was already in existence. This affirms that the day existed without the sun, and night existed without the moon and without the stars. Again, the sun is not the cause of daylight because there had already been three periods of daylight and three periods of dark before day four.

But God created these bearers of light and gave to them the task of separation and now, from our standpoint, it is the sun that brings us the light during the day, and the moon that brings us light at night, along with the stars. The first purpose then of these luminaries was to separate the day from the night, or to create a day as we know it, a 24-hour day. The second thing was to dominate.

Verse 14 continues, “And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.” The verb here, let them be, means let them serve. They were signs pointing to seasons and days and years. That is to say, these stellar bodies would divide the year into seasons and they would divide time, into seasons and into days and years. So you have seasonal times as well as calendar times.

So God created the sun and it dominates life on the earth. Along with the moon it determines the seasons. It determines the calendar year. They dictate to us when we work and when we rest. It is the rotation of the earth on its axis that determined the 24-hour day. It is the rotation of the moon’s orbit around the earth that determines the month. And the earth’s rotation around the sun determines the year.

And across the face of the earth, mankind lives by weeks. Where do you think they got that? Out of Genesis 1. That was the period of time in which God created the universe. So days and years are respectively the shortest and longest measures of time that are fixed by the movement of the sun and the moon. And within the framework of these days and years, the sun and the moon also affect the seasons.

Some people really get carried away and see in the stars some astrological signs. Our culture believes that there is some kind of zodiac and that these stars are actually powers that have a great impact on people’s lives. That is pagan and unbiblical. It is ridiculous at best, it is demonic at worst. And even some Christian teachers believe these signs.

Verse 15 says, “And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.” This is a technical phrase and it means, it was made permanent. It means in Hebrew that creation was a firm, fixed and established condition. Look at verse 16, “And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.”

The most popular theory is that our solar system formed from a cloud of swirling gas, dust, and particles. And if that is true then the planets in our solar system and the 63 moons must have evolved from the same material, right? Well, they don’t. About 98 percent of the sun is hydrogen or helium, but less than 1 percent of these planets are hydrogen and helium. There is no natural process that could form stars.

Psalm 8, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him.”

God gave us the account of creation so we would praise him such as is done in Psalm 8. And what does the evolutionist do? They rob God of His glory. They ought to be falling on their faces, oh Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. And wonder of wonders, you care about us. You care enough to love us, to send a savior to forgive our sins and to bring us to eternal glory. That’s the right response to Genesis 1.

God understands everything about you. There is as much glory in the immensity and the complexity of the creation of your body as there is in the complexity and the creation of the universe. Everywhere you look, you see His majesty on display, anything less than a life of worship is an affront to God punishable by an eternity in hell. But He is merciful and loving and He proved that through Jesus Christ who died for us. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Aug 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180826 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000004A imblog

Genesis 1:9-13

Let us continue studying Genesis 1:9-13 in more detail so we can learn more about what God is willing to let us know, “And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

“11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.”

The Genesis account says that the eternal God created out of nothing, without preexisting material, the heavens and the earth, which simply means the universe. He created the universe as it is now, in a sequence of six solar days, the third day which we just read. He capped His creation, on the sixth day, by creating man in His own image; an intelligent being with personality, with self-consciousness and cognition.

This creation occurred in a period of one week of normal days, about 6000 or so years ago, and the entire creation was mature and aged at the instant of its creation. Death did not exist, nor any corrupting influence; and the creation was good. Death and corruption entered the creation for the first time at the Fall of Adam and Eve, which is recorded in Genesis 3. There was no evolutionary process because nothing died.

Later the surface of the earth was reshaped drastically by the great universal Flood, described in the book of Genesis. A flood which rearranged the earth cataclysmically, as water rose above the mountains, coming down from above and surging up from below the earth. As a result of that flood only eight people survived: Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives, and the animals survived which were in the ark.

It’s hard for people to admit this because science for so long has reigned supreme in contemporary thinking. Evolution has become an absolute in our society, but it is coming apart at the seams. Based solely on the scientific arguments pro and con, many have been forced to conclude that scientific creationism is not only a viable theory, but that it has achieved superiority over the normative theory of biological evolution.

In practical terms, the past decade of intense activity by scientific creationists has left most evolutionist professors unwilling to debate the creationist professors. Too many of the evolutionists have been publicly humiliated in such debates by the weakness of their theory. Evolutionists have had to learn that evolution cannot stand up against creationism in any fair and impartial debate situation.

Experience will prove that the same is true for the age issue as well. Evolutionists’ beliefs regarding the origin and development of life cannot withstand the scrutiny of an informed opposition. And neither can evolutionists claim that the universe has existed for 10 to 20 billion years, and the earth for 4.5 billion years. To delay the collapse of public acceptance of such claims, evolutionist scientists avoid debates.

Evolutionists believe that for billions of years, sediment causing geological stratification has been building up. Now scientists have measured how regularly meteors shower the earth. If it took billions of years, that sediment should have within it meteors at specific intervals. But all literature failed to turn up one single meteorite anywhere in a geologic column. This “clock” indicates a young earth where all the meteors are on the top.

Philip Johnson has written a book called, “Darwin on Trial.” If you're interested in more scientific information, read that book; he describes abundant scientific evidence against evolution, as do many other writers. Now, that’s just sort of a little bit of an introductory tidbit about the science side of things. I want to mention one other thing that’s a biblical issue before we look at day three.

There is this question, when were angels created? They are not mentioned in Genesis 1. Well, no other text of Scripture, states specifically when angelic beings were created. What is definite is that they are creatures, and they did have a beginning. They are also immortal. Once created they live forever, but only the triune God is eternal, without beginning and without ending. Angels are created beings.

Now, some have suggested that they had to be created on the sixth day, because it was on the sixth day that God created man, and angels, according to Hebrews 1:14, were created to be ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who will be the heirs of salvation. And since they were created to serve humans, who receive salvation, therefore they would have been created along with humans on the sixth day.

But not all angels just minister to the saints. In fact, if you go into heaven in Revelation 4 and 5, you find them primarily worshiping God. They are definitely seen in the book of Revelation, worshiping God at the consummation of history, and it seems likely that they could have started worshiping God at the beginning of history. Job 38:4-7, tells us that the angels were present when the foundations of the earth were laid.

So it could well have been on day one, if the foundations of the earth means that original formless, void earth that had not yet been refined into its final form. Psalm 104: 2-5 speaks of the shining of God’s light during the original creative process and mentions the angels just before referring to laying the foundations of the earth, and it means therefore at the shaping of the earth on day three.

What is important is to know that they are created by God. They are the product of the Creator of all things, visible and invisible (that would be the spirit world of angels). Now let’s return to Genesis 1. On Day 2, God created the expanse that we know as space, the great expanse that we know as heaven. Just imagine the speed with which the whole of the infinite heavens were created.

Science has come to the place where they recognize this. There are scientific clues; they call it the “Big Bang” theory. We like to call it the “Big God” theory. World magazine records this in their May 1, 1999 issue, “The entire universe popped out of a point with no content and no dimensions, essentially expanding instantly to cosmological size.” This is now taught at Stanford and M I T, and other top science schools.

Their explanation of the beginning of the universe is similar to the traditional theological idea of creation ex nihilo, out of nothing.” One of the world’s top astronomers, Allan Sandage of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution says, “The Big Bang can only be understood as a miracle,” end quote. Genesis 1 tells us that Day two was a big bang by God, who instantaneously created the universe.

On the first day, God divides light from darkness. On the second day, God divides the water below from the water above. On the third day, God divides land from sea. “Let the waters below the heavens...” Now, that is the water that still remains on the earth. The water above has gone into the expanse of heavens. So, the earth is engulfed in this water. Beneath the water is solid matter hidden covering the earth.

There is clear testimony of Scripture, that God created all of this instantaneously. Look at Job 38:4-8, the Lord says, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” “Where were you when the morning stars,” the angels, “sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy in creation?” In verse 8, “Or who enclosed the sea with doors, when bursting forth it went out from the womb.” God’s creative work, on day three in Genesis.

What you have in Genesis is a careful, detailed, real account of creation, with nothing poetic, nothing mythical whatsoever. Back to Genesis 1: 9-10, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

Because it was now habitable. So now you have the three parts, earth, sea, and heaven. Verse 11, “And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.” So as soon as the earth was ready to sustain life, life in its simplest form was created and intended to be the food for all of the higher life yet to be made.

Verse 12-13, “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.” God repeated that the vegetation was capable of reproduction. One of the great wonders of the world is the science of seed dispersal.

Plants were made by God, not as seeds, but as full-grown plants, containing seeds that could then multiply. That’s the way the whole of creation was made, it was made mature. When man was created he was created as a full-grown man. There were edible plants that yielded seed and fruit trees whose seed was in their fruit, bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them on the earth, and it was so.

One important note: This little phrase is repeated over and over – “after their kind.” That phrase is repeated ten times in Genesis 1. A plant can only bring forth something of its own kind. A tree can only bring forth something of its own kind. It only has the capacity to function on the basis of a genetic code that is in it. This eliminates any possibility of an evolutionary process.

1 Corinthians 15:35-39 says, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.”

There are designs beyond which any living organism cannot pass. Each type of organism has its own unique structure of the DNA and can only specify the reproduction of that same kind. There is a tremendous amount of variation potential within each kind, facilitating the generation of distinct individuals and even of many varieties within the kind, but nevertheless precluding the evolution of new kinds.

In Genesis 1:11 -12, you have the origin all vegetable life, and you have its orderly continuity fixed by means of certain seeds and kinds that perpetuate that life. Never has a plant evolved into something higher; in fact, if you study mutations and change in genetics, it’s always negative. Fruit flies have such a short life span they can observe it over many generations to see the evolutionary process taking place.

The only problem is that in order to make them mutate rapidly, they bombard them with radiation. And exposure to heat, chemicals and radiation can create mutations. But mutations do not create new structures. You may have crumpled wings, oversized wings, and undersized wings, you may have double sets of wings, but you don’t have a new kind of wing; nor does the fruit fly become a honey bee. And mutations do not reproduce.

So, Genesis 1:1 -12 shows us that the intelligent agent is the living God, who on the third day of creation separated the land from the sea, caused plant life to sprout from the land. Two categories, plants which have their seed in them, trees which have their seeds in the fruit that comes from them; they therefore are able to replicate themselves throughout the end of time as long as a given species exists.

God looked at it all in verse 12 and saw that it was good. And then God signs off again in verse 13, “And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.” There was a 24-hour day; that is so clear. Those terms, evening and morning, are used more than a hundred times in the Old Testament, and they always refer to a 24-hour day. God did it on the third day.

Let me close by quoting Job 26: 7-14, “He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. 8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. 9 He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it his cloud. 10 He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.”

“11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke. 12 By his power He stilled the sea; by his understanding He shattered Rahab. 13 By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

When God – he’s talking about rain, and when God breaks into the darkness with light, and rain, and storms, and lightning, and fury, and all of this, we’re just hearing a faint sound, a faint indication of His immense incomprehensible thunder. We are only looking at the fringes of His ways. The depth of His creative power surpasses all our capabilities of understanding. We can only say what an awesome God we have! Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180819 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000049 imblog

Genesis 1:6-8

As we look again to Genesis 1, we come to that now familiar verse to us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and that answers the questions of origin. The heavens and the earth, was a Jewish phrase by which they described the universe. Now, let us look what the Word of God in Genesis teaches about origin. This account here in Genesis is telling us about the origin of the universe.

And it says that the eternal God, at some point in time past, created out of nothing, without preexisting material, the universe as it is now in six solar days. He culminates creation on the sixth day by creating man in His own image, with intelligence, with personality, with self-consciousness and cognition, meaning the ability to think and reason. On the seventh day it was finished, and God rested from creating

This occurred about 6000 years ago, and the entire creation was mature and aged at the instant of its creation. At the time of creation, death did not exist. In fact, no corrupting influence of any kind existed. And that’s why God looked at His creation and said, “It is very good.” There were no animals nor any plants dying. There was no natural selection process going on. There was no survival of the fittest, everything was perfect.

Death and corruption entered the creation for the first time when Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God. And that is described in Genesis 3 and has nothing to do with the six days of creation. Later on, after the fall, the surface of the now-cursed earth was reshaped drastically by a worldwide flood. It was so deep that it completely covered the mountains all over the face of the earth.

It was that cataclysmic world flood that also deposited fossil beds all over the globe. That flood wiped out all humanity, with the exception of eight people and the animals in Noah’s ark. They alone were the survivors. All of humanity then are the descendants of those eight. Noah, his three sons, Noah’s wife and their wives. That is the Genesis record. And the Bible is superior to human science.

The accuracy of the Genesis text is no different than the accuracy of any other portion of Scripture. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. 2 Peter 1:21 says, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Bible is true whether it is Revelation and prophecy or whether you’re talking about Genesis and historic origins.

Furthermore, since origins are not repeatable, they are outside the realm of science. Since origins were not observable, since there was only one there and that was God, no one can comment on origins but God. And so what you have in Genesis is the only accurate firsthand eyewitness account of origins by the Creator, Himself. Now, in spite of that fact, many people, including Christians, believe scientists who criticize Genesis.

In fact, there are many theologians, bible commentators, well-known pastors and preachers, who deny the Genesis account because they accept evolutionary science to one degree or another. Science has proven nothing that negates the Genesis record. In fact, the Genesis record is what answers the mystery of science. But sadly, Christians and Christian theologians have denied the Genesis account, being intimidated by science.

Now, there is one book that comments on Genesis. One book that is the absolutely infallible, inerrant, authoritative commentary that has ever been written on Genesis. And that Book forever settles the issue of the accuracy of Genesis. It is the New Testament. It was written by simple men, who were given the words to write by God, Himself, so that the Creator is the author.

You have in Genesis the account of the creation. And you have, in the New Testament, the Creator’s commentary on the Genesis record. There you will find the affirmation there of the six-day creation. There is an affirmation of instantaneous creation. There is an affirmation of man being made in the image of God, an affirmation of Adam being created and then Eve. There is an affirmation of the fall there in very specific terms.

There is an affirmation of the flood there in very specific terms. There is an affirmation of Noah and the surviving family of Noah. All of the Genesis record is very carefully referred to by the inspired New Testament. You can’t find anything about evolution in Genesis. Without exception, references to creation and especially in Genesis 1 to 11 describe historical events in past times.

Citations of creation given in Genesis 1 to 3 are considered in the New Testament to be literally true and historical. The New Testament doctrine is based on these citations in Genesis 1 to 3, and would be without any validity and even erroneous if the events of Genesis were not historically true. If Adam were not the head of the whole human race, then Jesus Christ, the last Adam, is not the head of the new creation.

The New Testament makes a large number of references to Genesis and to creation. And it does so very naturally. There is no attempt to defend, no attempt to explain it, it’s simply stated as fact. Mark 13:19 says, “For in those days shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created.” John 1:3, “All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.”

Romans 1:20, “For God’s invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That’s what He did on day one.

Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.” Hebrews 1:10, “And, You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.”

Acts 17:26 says, “And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.” He is the creator of all the nations of men. 1 Corinthians 11:8-9, “For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.” Again God created.

And in 2 Peter 3:5, Peter refers to the flood and even to the pre-shaped world when it was engulfed in water, when he says, “For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.” Ephesians 3:9, “and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things.”

Romans 1:25, “Man worships and serves the creature more than the Creator.” Revelation 4:11, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Revelation 14:7, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Hebrews 2:10, “For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Evolution has been introduced really as an atheistic alternative, as a godless alternative. And evolution demands irrational faith in chance. It has been proven by science that it can’t happen, because DNA, the genetic code information is fixed.

Naturalism says nature is all there is. And that is virtually the assumption that underlies all natural science. It underlies all naturalistic, humanistic philosophy. It underlies all intellectual work. It underlies all morality, or better stated, immorality. In other words, the underpinning of our entire culture is this idea of nature is all there is. If naturalism is true, then man created God, and God didn’t create man.

And if belief in God is just a groundless superstition, then we don’t have to listen to anything stated in the Bible, and certainly not the Ten Commandments, the moral laws, and so forth. So, what religious people think is a threat. They’re non-intellectuals and they intrude on our moral freedoms. In fact, we should just talk about rights and values. And rights and values are only to be decided on by every individual.

In the wake of all these massacres all over, nobody is talking about sin. People don’t do wrong because of sin. They do wrong because somehow they overextended their rights. Somehow they had warped values. They are treated as having a psychological problem rather than a theological problem. There is no Creator, and there is no moral judge. There is no purpose for life. There is no destiny and there is no true theology.

The naturalistic evolutionist hates God and loves sin. They were very perverse in their own personal lives. The theistic evolutionist who wants to impose evolution on Genesis and kind of unite it with God, will say he loves God and he will say he hates sin, but he actually loves God a little and he loves his academic reputation a lot. The governing discipline in the world, the most important arena of understanding is not science.

The governing discipline is theology. The only way you will ever understand the universe, the only way you will ever understand the history of man, the only way you will ever understand behavior and why people do what they do, the only way you will ever understand the flow of life and where we came from and where we’re going is when you understand true theology that comes from the Word of God.

You are all theologians because you know the true and living God, and you know the means by which He is known. And in a world that evolves, it’s very hard to have any fixed points. That’s why educators today are relativists on everything. And until kids learn the standards from God, things are going to get worse because there are no answers in evolution. Only society standards which evolve and are relative.

There is no hope for a society where naturalistic evolution is the queen of the sciences, where everything has to answer to that. Students are given values clarification by teachers who don’t have any moral standards. And then they’re told they need to create their own lifestyle where there is no authority, no sin, no fixed divine law, no shame, no guilt, and no set of consequences.

And they are absolutely convinced that everything that exists today is a result of chance and random processes. As one writer said, “The universe as we know it is just one of those things that happen from time to time.” But contrary to all of that, an unwavering faith in the accuracy and truthfulness of the Bible is at the heart of all sound theology. And it starts with believing the Genesis account.

That is critical to a Christian worldview. Of the Christian College Coalition consisting of 110 Christian colleges, only six affirm the Genesis account. So we have over a hundred Christian colleges that do not have a Christian worldview. I’m trying to do two things in these messages, give you some rational thought, a little philosophical thought, and some scientific stuff before we continue into the text.

So what happened in day one, is God creates time, space and matter. And it’s covered with water completely and then surrounded by darkness. And then on day one, verse 3, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” God called the light day, the darkness He called night, and there was evening and there was morning, one day.” God then fixed the light/dark cycle in the permanent day/night continuum of 24-hour solar days.

Let’s go to Day two. God separated heaven from earth. Then He separated the water from the dry land so there’s a place for the fish in the sea and the land life on dry land. Thus the universe is made ready for life in the first three days, a very reasonable approach. Light from dark, heaven from earth, dry land from water. And in between those two elements there is an expanse. Expanse conveys the idea of space.

In verse 8, God called this expanse heaven. And, some waters went up, some of the waters stayed below, and He created space in between. The separation of water above the sky and below has led to much discussion. There are many who believe that there was created around the earth a canopy of water. Whitcomb and Morris believe that the waters above the expanse were like a vapor that engulfed the whole earth.

And they suggest, that is why people, animals and plants lived so long in the beginning. You had dinosaurs and people living long enough to become like Methuselah, 900-plus years old because they were shielded from ultra-violet light because of this water canopy. And then at the flood, that canopy burst loose and drowned the earth, along with the tectonic cataclysm that broke up the earth and created the post-flood environment now.

But we don’t know that for certain. There’s nothing in Genesis about a vapor canopy over the earth. But, it seems to be a reasonable explanation. And the suggestion has been made that water vapor has the ability to screen incoming solar radiation and to disperse much of the radiation reflected from the earth’s surface. So it would serve as a global greenhouse, maintaining a warm temperatures around the world.

The combination of warm temperature, adequate moisture everywhere would be conducive to extensive stands of lush vegetation and growth around the world. No barren deserts and no ice caps. And then at the flood when God drowned the earth, we were all exposed to the ultra-violet light and life was shortened up and people just lived 60 years after that. Is that really the way it was? Well it doesn’t say that in Genesis.

As a theologian we can only say what the Bible says. We could only say that God created the kind of canopy, the kind of water in the atmosphere that was controlled so as not to produce the ill effects that creation scientists mentioned. The phrase “And it was so” used here in verse 9, verse 11, verse 15, and verse 24 lends itself to the understanding of the firm, fixed and unchanging nature of that element of creation. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Aug 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180812 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000048 imblog

Luke 14:25-33

Let us start with some basics, if you do anything in service to Christ make sure that it has a biblical foundation. Because God will not bless you in it. If you operate in the flesh you will only get what the flesh can produce. Next we need to remember what Jesus said is a true disciple. We know that you are His disciple if you love one another. And we should be in love with the body of Christ, the congregation.

We need to be connected to the body of Christ, we need to be engaged with the people of the church, and we need to become friends with everyone in the church. And if you are not, you are not a disciple. Those are the words of Jesus and not me. Jesus also said that if you are my disciple you continue in my work. And that means that we are committed to the word of God. Jesus said and if you are not, you are not my disciple.

Jesus also said that you are not His disciple if you do not produce fruit. John 15 said that as a disciple you will produce fruit. What I’m trying to say is that Jesus wants us to know what an authentic believer is. Jesus also wants us to know that there are many fruits that are not real. Similarly there are a lot of people who claim that they are followers of Christ, but are they really?

There are a lot of fake Christians. And the bible speaks very clearly about this. We are talking about the spiritual condition of our churches. But what we need to know is that Jesus loves us all deeply. What Christ longs for is that you give yourselves totally and completely to Him. He will not stop coming after you by placing people who will push you to have an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is not a relationship that all of us have had. Jesus wants us to know what a true relationship with Him is like. Are you really a disciple of Christ? Do we know what a real disciple looks like? And are we producing disciples? If what we are doing in church is not geared to producing disciples, then it is not of God! And if it is not of God, that means we are standing in opposition to God.

God does not care how much you like what you are doing, or how much the people like what you are doing, or how long you have been doing it. If it is not producing disciples in some form, brothers and sisters, it does not serve the church. Why is Jesus teaching us to become an authentic follower? Because you cannot be a follower of Jesus and not be a follower of His mission!

And His mission is deeply rooted in this concept of being His disciple. Now doing all these things that we just mentioned does not make you a true follower of Christ. But this serves as authentication that we really are a disciple. You can’t say I’m supposed to love the body of Christ, I’m supposed to pray more, I’m going to produce fruit. No, those things are the product of what a believer does, it is a natural outflow if you are a believer.

It is the Holy Spirit in you that is guiding you and prompting you to do what a true disciple does, then it will come out by itself. And if that is not there we need to be honest and ask that question: What is missing in my life? Am I truly a disciple and am I producing disciples? Now let us continue by looking at this verse, “A disciple will consider the cost of following Jesus.”

We need to learn what the difference is between what the modern church does and what the Bible says we should do. Sone churches are diametrically opposed the word of God. Let us look at Luke 14: 25-33, “Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

^“27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— ²⁹ lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’”

^“31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

Wow, who says ‘to hate his family’ to the church, especially to people who are not sure? Would you say that first time visitors? Well, Jesus said that because He deeply loves people and He is concerned about the condition of their souls. Jesus wants the world to know the truth. And He wants us to understand that following Christ is not easy. It is not an event at the church, it is not being a disciple of Jesus.

Jesus was very direct, He was not careful with his words, but He was very intentional. Jesus wanted us to understand what He was teaching about being an authentic disciple. In verse 26 Jesus is mentioning every family relationship that there is and He says you cannot be my disciple unless you hate them. In our culture that is just rude. But remember: You cannot be a follower of Him and not be a follower of His mission.

And doing what is required of a disciple does not make us true followers of Christ but rather serves as authentication that we are. You had a heart change and a mind change. But you are not finished, you are still a work in progress. But that word ‘hate’ and God somehow do not fit. Let us look at the real meaning of the word hate in Aramaic. It does not mean anger. It means to love less. Your relationship to Jesus comes first.

All your relationships to the people closest to you should be less than you love relationship with Christ. You must love God more than you love your spouse, your children or your parents. So the way you should love God compared to the way you love anyone else is so great that you can call it hate in comparison. It does not mean to despise people in your family or that you ignore them. Family is special to God.

God taught us to love even our enemies. Martin Luther King said that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. He was not all about causes, he was all about Christianity. Only Jesus and His truth can transform a person. When He was preaching the gospel for change, the gospel was popular and civil rights were not. But today the same message is used to make civil rights popular and not the gospel.

We are loving people best when we love them with the gospel. That is the only way we can achieve change that lasts and that continues. Jesus is warning all potential followers that if you follow Jesus, you have to hate everybody else in comparison to Him. Think about the average church member who attends church only 1.1 times a month in America. Do we know what it really means to follow Jesus?

Jesus is also saying that all your family members and close friends might dislike you if you become a follower of Christ. This means that my relationship to Christ is way more important than any other relationship. But as a husband if you are asked: Are you available? Most will want to check with the wife or the family. How many of us would say, let me check with Jesus? Because we have not totally surrendered to God!

Following Jesus is to be the disciple’s ‘first love.’ This pursuit is to have priority over any family member and one’s own life, which means that other concerns are to take second place to following Jesus. That might not be what you do now, but that is what Jesus said about His followers. And we all need to be reminded of that because the world is teaching us the opposite. And many politicians mock the idea of following God.

Jesus not only taught this but He modeled this for us. We now do not have to guess or speculate what that looks like. Focus on these three words: purpose, priority and prayer. This is key to understanding what Jesus modeled for us. Jesus put the purpose of God above His family. Jesus never was concerned about what human culture dictates. The disciples in John 4 were concerned that Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well.

So they wanted to change the subject and asked if Jesus was hungry. But look what Jesus said in John 4:32-34, “But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know. 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat? 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” Jesus said the purposes of God are more important than food or family.

Jesus gave the priority of His time investing in the kingdom of God. Everything Jesus did was looking through the lens of kingdom opportunity. Everything was structured to focus on that priority. And everything in your life should have that priority of time and commitment on God’s kingdom too! You should organize everything so that you too can present the life and purpose of Jesus.

Jesus revealed thru prayer His most valuable relationship. Do you know how many times it says in the bible that Jesus prayed? We do not know how long He prayed but there are 25 instanced where it was mentioned that Jesus prayed. But we also know that Jesus prayed without ceasing. We know that He was in constant communication with God the Father. And that is really what prayer is.

Jesus shows us that prayer was a constant relationship between Him and God the Father. We know that Jesus is God but we can see that there is that bond between Him and the Father that is constant. Notice in John that He deals with all those other things that compete with priority. If you are married, you know that your spouse is the greatest competition for time with God.

Here is the problem: there are too many fake Christians, fake ID Christians. By revealing what a true disciple is, God is revealing to us His true identity. No fake ID’s can deceive our all-consuming God who knows our heart. Our God is never fooled by our fake persona. Our God will never be fooled by our words that profess something that we do not possess. There is a big difference between professing and possessing.

Because God loves us so much that He wants to tell you the truth that too many are functioning as fake Christians. This is not where you should be spiritually. So what are the signs of fake discipleship? A fake disciple will not love his church. A fake disciple will not have a commitment to the Word of God. A fake disciple will not be producing spiritual fruit. And a fake disciple will not count the cost of following Jesus.

What does a fake disciple look like? If you come to Christ, it is going to cost you your life. If you are not willing to give up your life, you are not willing to come to Christ. That sounds difficult. By grace, we accept by faith what Christ has done. And that same grace continues to pursue us beyond that salvation experience, giving us room, giving us time and giving us grace to continually grow us day by day in our relationship with Christ.

I believe this is a process that is hard because my flesh is strong. I want to do what I want to do. I want to give what I want to give. I want to sacrifice what I want to sacrifice. I didn’t understand all that was involved. The deepest teaching of what a disciple is, is in this part of Luke 14. Look at verse 27 one more time, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

This is the beginning of a commitment, but the following verses from 28 on describe the cost involved. Following Jesus is not like having a meal together, it is not like going to see an event, and it is not a fellowship in church. It is giving your life to Christ for His cause and purpose. It is surrendering all that you are. In this time many people think that if they go to church a couple of times a month, they are a follower of Christ.

If you throw out what the bible says you can probably say that. But God says it is much more. It is not about God controlling you. It is about God leading you on an adventure of eternity. An adventure that will bring satisfaction and fulfillment to your life like all this fake produce can never even get close to. And yet there are many who miss this principle. What does it mean to carry your cross?

Listen to what Warren Wiersby says, “It means daily identification with Christ in shame, suffering, and surrender to God’s will. It means death to self, to our own plans and ambitions, and a willingness to serve Him as He directs.” When you get baptized as the first thing you should do when you accept Christ as your savior, we say that you are buried with Christ and raised to a newness of life with Christ.

That’s really what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. The old is dead and the new you has been brought to life. You are transformed and you have passion and purpose. When I am obedient to Him, there is a joy and excitement that nothing else compares to. I don’t have to find the next high, the next adventure, the next mountain top, there is just nothing better than walking with Christ.

So let me ask you, are you fake or are you the real deal? How do you answer that? Remember the parable of the soils from Matthew 13? You remember that there are four different soils? Let us read Matthew 13 where Jesus explains this in further detail. It is the story of the wheat and the tares. Jesus has already given the parable, talked about the seed being sown, and how it is accepted or rejected by the various soils.

Matthew 13:24-30, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

“28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Here Jesus clearly states that there are fake believers right among the real disciples. Whenever you see opposition to the Word of God and whenever there is leadership in the church that opposes their own faithful preachers, you know that what Jesus said is true. It is the fakes among the real disciples that cause the most damage in the body of Christ. Because the fakes are among the real believers but they do not produce fruit.

And the true believers are influenced by the fakes to the point that they believe that that is normal behavior. And yet God’s Word totally denies that premise. These are people who confuse what the image of a true believer looks like. In the modern age we live in it is prevalent everywhere. The tares right alongside the wheat. Hey people, let us not fool ourselves that we do not have them here right in your churches.

Hey I don’t know who that would be, this is not my call. But I know what the Scripture says about it. I know what Jesus, who really loves us, is trying to say to us, to even the tares who are in your churches. He is calling to us all. And He is saying to you, recognize the signs of true wheat! The tares experience all the resources as do the wheats, they go through the same experiences, but in the end all are harvested by the reapers.

Only God’s servants who are directed by Him know who the tares are and how closely they are to the wheat. God cannot be fooled. And it says that the fakes, the tares, are cast in the fire. And the true disciples remain. Is that really true? Well, let’s look at Matthew 13:36, “Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

Now listen to Jesus in verse 37-43, “He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.”

41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Wow, this not me speaking, this is what God says! “43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Jesus had been dealing with those people that only follow when there are benefits and blessings. Only when the times are good and there are no trials. The people that want to be healed by miracles and want to live a life with Jesus only during good times. Remember back in Luke, He turned to the big crowd that followed, because He wanted them to know the truth. Don’t follow me because of the miracles, but count the cost!

This parable drives that point home to all of us. I don’t see the tares as bad people. But if they are not all in for Christ, they are going to corrupt other believers. That is not necessarily intentional, but it is the depravity of their condition. Their hearts are darkened and they are still directed by Satan himself. They are always offended, always upset, they are not committed and they want to do it their way.

And sometimes the tares are looking around and think I’m doing as well as the others, so I am OK. Maybe the wheat looks at the tare and thinks they can live that way and do those things and they can be non-committal and it seems that they are good church members. That must be part of the normal body of Christ. But that is wrong. Our standard is not the tares. Our standard is not the other wheat. Our standard is only Jesus.

Our standard is what He calls us to. Our standard is to count the cost. And to check our hearts to make sure that we are not a fake ID, we need to make sure that we are authentic. The purpose of the tares is clear, they are intended to take the nutrients of the soil and deprive the wheat. That is why the enemy puts them there. They cannot be removed until the harvest.

Don’t wait until harvest to realize that you are a tare rather than wheat. Let the Holy Spirit in, let Him crack open that humanistic view you have of religion. Let Him break down the walls that have blocked the Holy Spirit from penetrating your heart. Let Him shine the light of truth in your life in such a way that when you look at the words of Jesus and you honestly examine your life, you realize that you look more as a tare than wheat.

And it may be because you are a tare. “41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Are there tares right here? Jesus profoundly loves you. He is providing us with this Bible that says, I don’t expect you to be perfect.

God says that He looking for you to be what He intended you to be. But Jesus is saying to us, I want to know whether you are in or out. The Bible says that these things are written that you might know that you are saved. And based on the words of Jesus do you know that you are wheat? Don’t say yes, I believe I am wheat, but… Has there been consistent evidence of the proper fruit that says you are a disciple of Jesus?

God allowed you to be here this day to hear the truth. Now what you do with it is your decision. Jesus loves you and He wants you to know the truth today. And He wants you to be supernaturally transformed today. And He is passionately pursuing you right now. He will not stop coming after you. And today is the day for you to make that final decision with the power of the Holy Spirit. I will for sure become that wheat.

My life does not look like what it is supposed to. And today I am going to make that decision for Christ. So how do I do that? God says that a decision like that is made through prayer. Let God know right now that you desire to place your faith in Him. Your desire is to turn away from sin and to live by His power alone, which is called repentance. And you want to live for Him by His strength, because you by yourself cannot do it.

If that is your desire, then pray this with me, “Jesus, I want to be your disciple, I want to follow you, I come to you at this time, wanting to become wheat. I ask you Jesus, to forgive me of every sin that I have ever committed, and I ask you to forgive me of the sins I will commit. Jesus make me new today. Give me everything that I need to live a disciple life, and Jesus today by faith I accept your gift of salvation. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer in your heart and mean everything you said, you are saved. God is calling everyone to come and be forgiven and live with Him forcever and ever. He has already paid that price on the cross, all you have to do is accept that and believe! Just come forward so that I can talk to you and continue to build you up for the challenges that will come. But greater is He that is with you than who is in the world.

]]> Sun, 05 Aug 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180805 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000047 imblog

Genesis 1-2

The lie that the universe as we know it today evolved is the most sophisticated, complex and highly educated lie in existence. It has, for all intents and purposes, captivated the entire world. It is believed by the greatest mass of humanity, at least in the western world. And even though it is impossible and irrational, it is nonetheless perpetuated with great force and with great academic effort.

This evolutionary theory has demanded and received almost universal acceptance in the world. The theory that no one created the universe as it is, but that it came into being by chance and it progresses through constant changes, mutations and transitions upwardly from simplicity to complexity completely through a random process basically rules human thought.

And those people who reject God and the Bible, those people who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, those people who love sin, those people who don't want a moral judge or a moral law, we expect those kind of people to be happy with such an explanation of the way things are. And theologians and Bible commentators have felt it necessary to take the simple explanation of creation in Genesis chapter 1 and basically deny it.

I was reading recently a very established and well-known commentary on the book of Genesis in which that is precisely the view of the author, who says this really doesn't mean what it says. God really didn't mean that He did this in six days; He obviously meant something else because science has told us that couldn't be the way it is. But there is nothing in the text of Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 that in any way describes evolution.

Why do most people and those who claim to be Christians do that? Number one, so they are accepted in academic circles. If you are in an academic setting, you want to maintain your position and your job. Secondly, people do that because they are ignorant of true DNA science. And thirdly, they may be compelled the same way that Darwin was compelled, and that was by the illusion of appearance in our environment.

However, the Bible doesn't allow for any such illusion. In 2 Peter 3:4 it tells us that mockers come and say, “Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.” And those mockers, who are basically denying the Second Coming, say nothing changes. Obviously they affirm creation, but they say since creation nothing has violated the uniformitarian process, the gradual process of change.

But 2 Petrus 3:5-7 say, “For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”

Peter is pointing to the fact that everything has not continued through a uniformitarian process since the beginning, but rather there have been two great cataclysmic events. One is creation, and the other is the universal global flood. Uniformitarianism is the belief that the origin and development of all things can be explained in terms of the same natural laws and processes seen operating today.

They insist that all geologic features and formations once attributed to geologic cataclysms can now be explained by ordinary processes functioning over long periods of time. Creationists, Henry Morris and John Whitcomb, used evidence from natural processes to prove the necessity of a universal flood to explain the present geological structures of the earth, which cannot be explained from present slow processes.

True science is not at all on the side of evolutionists. Widespread geologic phenomenon such as the preponderance of sedimentary rocks and structures all across earth’s surface, including seashells on the tops of the highest mountains, rapid, almost sudden deposits of fossils, and extremely large and deep fossil graveyards, all point to a watery catastrophe, not some extremely slow natural process of billions of years.

For instance, there’s the vast Tibetan plateau which consists of sedimentary deposits which are thousands of feet thick, located presently at an elevation of three miles above sea level. The Karoo formation of Africa contains an estimated 800 billion vertebrate animals. The herring fossil bed of California contains approximately one billion fish within a four-square-mile area. Uniformitarianism fails to offer a reasonable explanation for this.

When oil reservoirs are tapped by drilling, the immense pressure in the reservoir forces up the oil through a kind of spouting geyser. Scientists named Dickey and others have published the results of their research in Science, “Studies show that any pressure built should be dissipated, bled off into surrounding rocks within a few thousand years. The pressures found within oil beds argues for creation less than ten thousand years.”

Henry Morris wrote on the subject of world population and the Bible chronology. And he shows how the world population is an indication of the age of the earth. The conservative average population growth of one-half a percent per year, which is a fourth of our present rate, that would add up to the present population of the earth in only four thousand years. And according to biblical chronology, four thousand years ago was the Flood.

God created the earth as it is, He created it with the appearance of maturity. Well, on the first day He made light and darkness. On the second day He made the heavens. On the third day He made the earth. On the fourth day He made the heavenly bodies that provide light. On the fifth day He made fish and birds. And on the sixth day He made land creatures and man. And He made them all mature and fully developed.

When Adam was created, he wasn't a newborn; he was a full-grown man. Everything was full grown, fully developed. If you found an oak tree in the Garden, and you were a botanist, you might get your little saw, and saw that little oak tree, and you might start counting rings, and you might find that according to the rings in that oak tree it was 400 years old, but it was actually one day old. It was created fully mature.

And if you saw those mountains, you might have assumed that the mountains, and the canyons alongside of them, and the valleys were formed by years of wind, and water, and eruptions, and earthquake, and the fact is it was all made in one day. And if you looked up into the heavens like Adam did, and you saw the incredible expanse above you, and you wondered how long they’d been there, the answer was 48 hours.

It was sort of like Jesus turning water into wine and there was no process. He just turned water into wine, instant creation in a split second. Evolution is impossible because nobody times nothing equaling everything is impossible. An alteration in genetics can only fulfill the entropy, the second law of thermodynamics. Any living thing is subject to the genetics that it has and nothing beyond that.

Now, God always existed. That’s why in Exodus 3:14, He says, “I am that I am.” He’s the eternal one. Now, the question we did not discuss last time was why He created. And, of course, the first answer is because He wanted to. And the next question is why did He want to? Because He wanted to display His glory, and creation gave Him another opportunity to put His glory on display to heavenly angels as well as to mankind.

In Revelation 4:11 it says, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” And He desired to do it so that eternally in His presence He will be praised and glorified for this immense display of creative power, which puts His majesty and His nature on display. In Isaiah 43: 20 He says, “I did it for My glory.”

And within this creation God made man. He not only did it to display His glorious great intelligence, power, wisdom, love of beauty and complexity, but also He is displaying so much about His nature in the creation. By virtue of the creation of man He displayed something He would have not otherwise been able to display, and that is His grace and His mercy. He did it to put His glory on display.

God did it also in order to provide a bride for His Son. God one day said to the Son, “I love You so much I want to give You a gift, and so I'm going to create and I'm going to redeem out of humanity a bride for You. And that bride will bear Your image, and that bride will worship You and adore You and serve You forever and ever. This glorious plan of God to give to His beloved, would reflect His glory and praise to Him forever.

To provide a beautiful bride for His Son, the eternal Father created an entire universe, and in it a world which previously had no existence, as the nursery and the home in which the bride would be reared. Such an incredible gift from the Father to the Son required a creation out of nothing. So, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” By doing that, God launched a previous non-existent reality, which is time.

God gave us a sequence. Genesis 1:2-5, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So evening and morning were the first day.

As day one begins, we find the earth in a unique condition. It was formless and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. A Hebrew might translate this like this, “As to the earth, it was formless and void.” What do the Jewish scholars think about this? They say it’s just the word for devastation and emptiness. It was a waste place and there was no life there.

God created them, God spoke them into existence; but yet they were unorganized, and uninhabited. God had not yet shaped them, and God had not populated the cosmos. Secondly, verse 2 says, “Darkness was over the surface of the deep,” and the reason for that is that God hadn't created light. And up to this point, throughout all of eternity there was no created light. Everything was darkness.

What does the deep mean? Deep is a synonym used in Scripture for the sea; in fact, look later in verse 2, “Darkness is over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was also moving over the surface of the waters”, and here God through the Holy Spirit defines the deep as water. So the earth is covered with water. That is referred to also in Psalm 104:6, “You covered it with the deep as with a garment.”

The unformed earth was literally covered with water. This is what 2 Peter 3:5 meant: “The earth was formed out of water and through water.” Proverbs 8:27 says, “He drew a circle on the face of the deep.” The matter became spherical. The third commentary on the state of the earth on day one is, “The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” This word “hovering” indicates divine care and supervision.

The biblical worldview of God is that He is directly involved in His creation. His hand is never lifted from the elements and the working of the material order. This is the antithesis of philosophical deism that says God is like the originator of the creation, but then walked away from it. But rather you have the living God superintending, hovering over the waters, being directly in charge of the entire process of creation.

Douglas Kelly says, “The speaking into existence of created light is the first of a series of three separate accomplishments by the creator which were essential to making the chaos into a cosmos. On day one, light separates day and night. On day two, the firmament separates the upper waters from the earth, constituting an atmosphere. On day three, the waters below the heavens are collected into seas, and thus separated from the dry land.

And with the creation of light, there was established a cyclical succession of days and nights, periods of light and periods of darkness. And we see here in verse 5, He called the light day and He called the darkness night, and so you have the cycle of night and day. That means the earth immediately began rotating on its axis, and there was a source of light on one side of the earth corresponding to the sun.

In verse 4, “God saw that the light was good.” Now, that statement is repeated in verse 10, verse 12, verse 18, verse 21, verse 25 and verse 31. Everything that God created was good. And the end of it, verse 31, He sums it up, “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Now, the works of the Creator could only be good, so that doesn't surprise us. God is the source of everything, and everything He made was good.

And verse 4 says, “And God separated the light from the darkness.” This starts the cycle of days. He separates the light from the darkness. And that they would operate consecutively for given periods in an unchanging cyclical order. He made it so because it suited His creative plan. But how could there be light before the sun was created? I don't know. But God can create light, and can create the sun later too.

The reason all creation now is cursed, is not because of God, but because of the Fall and the rebellion of man, the corruption of His totally good creation. In Genesis 3:6-7 we see how the Devil lied to Eve and enticed her to go against God’s command. And in Genesis 3:14-19 God pronounced a curse on all mankind but also on creation, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.”

Genesis 3:16, “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.” And to Adam in verse 17-19, “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground.”

This glorious creation, corrupted by the Fall, will some day in its corruption find God recreating it all, and then will be created a new heaven and a new earth, which forever will not know corruption. Jesus came to prepare a place for all of us who believe to free us from this curse. And He gives us that choice to make while we are still alive. God is calling you! We have lived here, and praise the Lord, we will live there. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Jul 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180729 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000046 imblog

Genesis 1:1-2:3

The Bible opens with a statement, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” With that statement the Word of God, Holy Scripture, affirms the existence of the universe and everything in it as the product of God’s creative act. We are shown that evolution, the dominant theory of science, is not true. What exists, exists not because it evolved, but because God created it.

In past weeks we have shown that evolution is impossible and irrational. There has never been one shred of evidence that matter on any level can or will organize itself all by itself. A cell cannot increase its complexity. A cell cannot add information necessary in its DNA or its genetic code to take itself to a higher level. That is impossible; it has never been done; nothing mutates upward.

The truth is that species die out. There are millions of species that have died out in this world, and there are hundreds, according to many scientists, that become extinct every day. There were species in the past that we don’t have today, such as dinosaurs. They may look like links between various species, but maybe nothing other than just an ancient species that went out of existence.

Evolution is a violation of all that modern science knows to be true. On the other hand, we don’t need evolution to explain anything, because we can read how it happened in Genesis 1:1. Inorganic matter cannot organize itself upward to become organic matter. Organic matter cannot organize itself by random features to become more complex and ultimately reach the level of human intelligence and personality.

“God created the heavens and the earth,” and starting in verse 2 we find out how. “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Verse 3, “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” Verse 4, “And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Verse 5-7, “God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. 6 Then God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ 7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.”

Verse 8-10, “And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

Verse 11-13, “Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, plants yielding seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.”

Verse 14-16, “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.”

Verse 17-20, “God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”

Verse 21-23, “So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”

Verse 24-25, “Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Verse 26-27, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Verse 28-29, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.”

Verse 30-31, “Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 2:1, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.”

Genesis 2:2-3, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Now there is the accurate account of the creation of the universe. The creation account is laid out from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3.

This is the first part of the creation. The second part is called the generations. Starting in Genesis 2: 4, what follows is the history of man. This says that God created everything in the universe. Everything that exists, galaxies or black holes or solar systems, or whether it is the smallest grain of sand or a bacterial microbe on the earth, everything was created by God. He is the creator of all things visible and invisible.

This include every form of energy, every form of matter, the speed of light, nuclear structure, electromagnetism, gravity, every law by which nature operates was created within the framework of this creation. Behind the creation of everything in the universe stands the living God who eternally existed as God. Starting in Genesis 2: 4, He singles out man and goes back over the creation of man and then tells the story of man.

So this is the only eyewitness account of creation. Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 is not allegory. There’s nothing in the Hebrew text to indicate that this is an allegorical picture or mystical poetry, that this is some kind of literary style that is something other than actual history. This is purely expressed history from God written down by Moses. The Creator himself gave Moses this accurate account of history.

Genesis is the only record of creation; it is the only source of creation information. Now as we look at this first verse let’s ask three questions. How did God create, by what method? We have already suggested that he couldn’t have used evolution for two reasons. We affirm that, number one, the text of Genesis 1 leaves no room for evolution, and two, evolution doesn’t happen.

All creation began and ended in six days. Look at Genesis 2: 2, “By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” He created the entire universe out of nothing, from no pre-existing material, and He did it in six days. We know that from Genesis 1:5. The first day he created light and it says there was evening and there was morning, one day.

God says it was one day, and then just to make sure you know exactly what He means, it was the kind of day that has an evening and a morning. What kind of day is that? That’s basically what we call a solar day. It’s just a common everyday day. God did all this in six days, verse eight says there was an evening and a morning on day two, and verse 13 says there was an evening and a morning on day three.

Verse 19, there was evening and morning on day 4. Verse 23, there was evening and there was morning on day 5, and verse 31, there was evening and there was morning on day six. He’s just talking about six normal days. The whole of creation, was completed on the sixth day, and the Bible always speaks of creation as a past event. Evolution speaks of creation as continuing.

Hebrews 4:3 says, “His works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Hebrews 4:10 says, “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” God finished creation, never adding to that original creation. On the seventh day He rested from creation, and He continues to rest from creation. What is He doing now? Conservation; He upholds all things by the word of His power.

The Millennial kingdom is about restoration; when He restores the earth as we know it and the universe back to its original character. So you have creation, conservation and restoration. Finally, recreation is the new heaven and the new earth. When yom, is modified by a number, without exception in Scripture, it refers to a normal solar day. Why did God take six days for creation? God took six days to establish a pattern.

In Exodus 20 He gives us the pattern, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

When did this happen? Did it happen millions and billions of years ago? Science used to say two billion years, but now they’ve changed it. They lean toward 20 billion years and about every year it gets longer. What about fossils? It is true, there are billions of fossil fields all over the world. The Bible gives accurate information into what it was. It was the universal, worldwide flood. Genesis 6 and 7.

In Matthew 24:37-39, we read about the flood there, and it uses the Greek word kataklusmos, the word cataclysm. It totally rearranged the surface of the earth and engulfed the entire earth in water, and that massive hydraulic cataclysm is what produced the extinction of many animals instantaneously that produced the fossils. 2 Peter 3 talks about how God destroyed the whole earth by flooding it with water.

Starting in Genesis 5, there is the flood and all the years of people’s life are given. You add up those, from the first man Adam to the flood you have 1,656 years. Verse 10 goes right on down to Abraham, that’s 225 years. So something under 2,000 years, and you are at Abraham. And from Abraham to the return and rebuilding of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of Israel you have about 1,500 or so years.

Following the rebuilding and the restoration you’re at the end now of the Old Testament. You’ve got 400 years of silence. So you have about 2,000 years that we started out from - the creation to Abraham. From Abraham to the New Testament is about 2,000 years, and from the beginning of the New Testament to now is about 2,000 years. Now, the evolutionists just mock that the world, the universe is 6,000 years old.

Scientists come along and say, what about the speed of light? If God created a star out there, and it’s a number of light years away, it would take a million years for it to get here. The light can’t get here and the fact that we can see the light of the star way out there indicates that millions of years must have gone by. But God not only created the star, he created the light in between there and here also.

The speed of light is generally accepted as being 300,000 kilometers a second. A light year is the distance light travels in a year. The first measurement of the speed of light was made by a Danish astronomer, Rømer, in 1675 and then by an English astronomer Bradley in 1728. The speed of light in 1675 was about 2.6 times faster than today, and it continued to decline until 1960 when atomic clocks began to be employed to measure it.”

Barry Setterfield, an Australian scientist, measured a rate of 5.7 kilometers decrease in velocity per second between 1675 and 1728, and 2.5 kilometers per second decrease between 1880 and 1924, and he kept charting the decrease. If the speed of light has indeed decayed along with everything else, then the empirical measurement of the age of the solar system would fit precisely into the genealogical chronologies of Genesis.

Assuming that’s correct, that would explain why the dates derived from various types of radioactive measurements on geological elements such as the half-life of uranium 238 decaying into lead over millions of years would all be skewed. Because the velocity of an electron in its orbit is proportional to the speed of light. Everything changes and what appears to be old isn’t old at all. We’ll get more into the why next time. Let us pray together.

]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180722 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000045 imblog

Genesis 1:1

Evolution is an impossibility. And we have been examining why in the last couple of messages. Every living thing has a DNA code, a genetic code programmed with the exact information to produce, preserve and repair that living thing. It has no less than that necessary information and no more than that necessary information. The genes in every organism limit that organism to what it is.

There is no genetic information to transform it into something other than what it is. The Bible talks about kinds of living things that can reproduce after their own kind. There can be variations within a kind, but not anything beyond that. Science tells us that evolution is a process called mutation, which simply means to change. But mutations do not change the nature or the kind of any living organism.

When mutations occur, there is always a loss of existing information. Mutations never add new genetic information. Mutations are not a mechanism for an upward evolutionary process. Dr. Werner Gitt, a director and professor at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, says, "Mutations only cause changes in existing information and, in general the result of mutations is injurious.”

The body is made up of trillions of cells. The amount of genetic information in one of those cells has been estimated to fill at least one thousand books of 500 pages. That's to run one cell out of trillions in one human body. And most scientists think that is an underestimation of the complexity. Where did all this information come from? Better yet, from whom did all this information come?

Why then do scientists continue to advocate this theory of evolution motivated by chance? Well, the bottom line is they do it to avoid God. They do that to push God out of their lives, to avoid His law, to avoid His standards, to avoid His will, to avoid His Word and to avoid His judgment on their lives. Evolution is what Henry Morris so aptly called it, "The long war against God."

The Old Testament says the fool has said in his heart there is no God. It is not rational to reject the Creator. It is not rational to empower chance. It is not rational to assume that one kind of living organism can become another kind. It is not wise to reject God's law and God's Word and God's gospel. If it is neither rational nor wise, then why do men do it? And the answer is that men do it because they love sin and they love darkness.

Because their deeds are evil. They love themselves and they love their sin and they refuse to worship God or submit to His Word or His law. And Scripture shows us that what is in God's world is in God's Word. All we know about creation from nothing is what the Creator has told us, and the only place He has told us is in the Scripture. Evolution is a long war that Satan has carried on against God.

There is an almost universal belief in evolution that permeates every area of human thinking has affected every area of human life. It has affected social sciences, it has affected behavioral sciences, it has affected psychology, it has affected liberal arts, it has affected philosophy and it has even affected religion. Evolution is responsible for the political developments and the chaotic moral and social disintegrations everywhere.

Morris in his book “The Long War” shows how everything from genocide to fornication to homosexuality to abortion, to all matters of the destruction of human dignity, not seeing man as made in the image of God. And everything else, is all a part of the result of a materialistic, humanistic universe without God. So says Morris, evolution is nothing more than the long war against God.

The story of the history of the nations is given us beginning in Romans 1:18. What you have here is the cyclical history of what happens in the nations of the world throughout history. Verse 18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The truth about a Creator is obvious.

Verse 19 says, "Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” And He did that by giving them the ability to reason, which is basically a sequence of cause and effect patterns. Anytime you come to understand a principle, it is because there is a cause and effect relationship, there's a sequence of things that builds to a conclusion.

God is, according to verse 20, the Creator of the world. You can look at the creation of the world and experience His invisible attributes. You can look at creation and you know that God is intelligent beyond comprehension. You can look at creation and you can know that God loves beauty and order. You can see His goodness manifest in the rain, and the sunshine, and the food we enjoy, and the beauty of the world.

And the wonder of romance, and the blessing of children, and the exhilarating joy of adventure. So much can be known about His eternal power and divine nature. So much can be known, verse 20 says, that if you don't see God in this and you don't recognize Him for who He is, you are without excuse. The creation is intended to point you back to God, and to show you something about the mind of God.

Any progressive creationistic view, or any theistic evolutionary view, strikes a blow at the intention of God in Creation, to manifest His great power. God did not create it all and then let evolution take it over. That doesn't give glory to God; that gives glory to ‘the survival of the fittest’, which is invented by Charles Darwin and his friends to explain appearances, when they didn't know what they know today that contradicts it all.

Verse 21-23 says, “Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” They call it wisdom, God calls it folly.

They worship the creation instead of the Creator. Verse 25 says, “They exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” That is what evolutionists do. They literally believe that the creature is the creator. Romans says that they threw wisdom away and accepted stupidity and folly because their foolish hearts were darkened.

Verse 26, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions,” which are sexual sins, homosexuality and every other kind of sin that he lists in verse 27 to 32. So they just plunged into this horrible iniquity. That is the real story of where evolution comes from. It is part of the long war against God. And if we had time I would quote you many quotes from evolutionists who give blasphemous and mocking statements about God.

God is the Creator of everything. John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Everything that is, is made By Him In Hebrews 11:3, it says “by faith we understand.” In other words, we have to believe the Bible.

"By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God,” that God spoke and everything was created. Listen to this, "So that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible." Now this statement totally eliminates evolution. What you see in the created world was not made out of some other material, but rather, everything you see in God's created universe was made by Him out of nothing!

And that is exactly what it says in Genesis. Colossians 1:16 speaks of Christ as God the Creator, and says, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth.” Notice how many times the Scripture repeats the word all. What does that mean? Well, "in heaven," means everything that exists in the universe. "And on the earth," everything in this earth. Everything outside this earth and everything on this earth.

And listen to this, "visible and invisible." You can see a mountain, He made it. You can't see the wind, but He made it. You can't see an electric current going through the air but He made it. And that includes angelic beings called thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities, “all things have been created by Him and for Him.” This is an absolute statement.

In the Bible this truth is repeated many times. Moses says in Deuteronomy 4:32, “For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth.” There was the sixth day when God created man on the earth. That was not the final stop in a multi-billion year process of evolution. Psalm 104:1-2 says, "O Lord my God, You are very great; who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.”

Evolution only tries to solve the question of how life generated on earth, but how do they hope to explain when you have an infinite universe? God did that, He stretched it out. He made the oceans, He made the earth. The Psalm goes on like that. Verse 11-12 says He made the wild animals and the birds. Verse 14 says He is the one that caused the grass to grow. And on it goes to verse 24, "O Lord, how many are Your works!"

And the more we know scientifically, the deeper we penetrate into the mysteries of this creation, the wiser the Creator becomes. The earth is full of your creatures. It goes on to talk about “the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, animals small and great. There the ships move along and Leviathan, the sea dinosaur, the great whales, goes on like this. Verse 31, "Let the glory of the Lord endure forever.”

In Isaiah 45:9, God gives a warning to the evolutionists, “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’? Verse 12, “I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.”

In Mark 10:6 Jesus says, "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female." In Mark 13:19, Jesus says, “For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.” Ephesians 3:9, “God who created all things." 1 Peter 4:19, “let those who suffer entrust their souls to a faithful Creator."

In Revelation 10:5 an angel comes down and has a little book that describes the judgment of God, who identifies God as, "Him who lives forever and who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it." Now in Revelation 14 when the tribulation time comes and judgments are coming from the throne of God, you can see God’s impending judgment.

But during the time when God pours out judgment, that seven-year period, particularly in the last three and a half years, at the same time the gospel will be preached. It will be preached by two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11, who will, “prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” It will be preached also by the hundred and forty-four thousand Jews mentioned in Revelation 7.

But there's one other great preacher in Revelation 14: 6, "I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.” The message is, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”

The angel will preach the gospel: the Creator has become our Redeemer. The same God who created, in the end will be bringing judgment in anticipation of His re-creation. This is the constant message of Scripture, that the Creator is the Redeemer. How? Psalm 33, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host." He just “spoke,” verse 9, “and it was done.

It really affects me to hear the critics assault the Bible. Douglas Kelly, who has written an outstanding book called ‘Creation and Change’, says, "Many biblical interpreters have attempted to avoid the obvious conflict between a straightforward reading of the text of Genesis and opposing naturalist theories of origins. They suggest that Genesis 1 through 11, are poetic writings rather than chronological history.

Genesis 1 is not written according to the laws of Hebrew poetry. You can find lots of passages in the Old Testament that are. This isn't. There are no usages of the typical, traditional types of parallelism that occur in Hebrew poetry. And Douglas Kelly says, "No amount of exegetical straining can find the slightest poetic view of Genesis 1 - 11 in the books of the New Testament.”

Henry Morris says: "The New Testament is even more dependent on Genesis than the Old Testament. There are 165 passages in Genesis that are either directly quoted or clearly referred to in the New Testament. And there are 200 quotations of Genesis in the New Testament. The portion of Genesis which has had the greatest attacks of unbelief is the first eleven chapters, which had the greatest influence on the New Testament.

What they really want to argue with has to do with the first three chapters of Genesis and what they are most concerned with is creation. They think that science has made its point that the Bible is wrong. But Genesis is history. It's ludicrous, when there are so many clear-cut statements that this is history, to make the history part that has to do with God myth. I believe all of the Bible, do you? Let's pray together.

]]> Sun, 15 Jul 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180715 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000044 imblog

Genesis 1:1

Last Sunday night we talked about the issue of origins and tonight I want to continue on the issue of creation and the gospel. The issue of origins is absolutely critical to all human thinking, human behavior and human life. It is the foundation of our existence and our purpose. Without a right understanding of origins there's no way to understand the ultimate meaning of anything.

There are only two options when it comes to origins: there is a Creator God, or there is not. And the evolution equation that we discussed is "nobody times nothing equals everything." If on the other hand there is a creative intelligence, if there is a Creator God, then creation is understandable. It is plausible and it is rational. And even the scientists who think honestly about origins, will tell you that there must be a creative intelligence.

So if this universe is the product of a Creator God with an infinite amount of intelligence and power, how can we know anything about this God? There is only one answer and that is we can only know about Him and how He created if He chose to tell us. That's the only way we can ever know. And yes, He has. In fact, He has given us 66 books of personal self-disclosure. And God has revealed how He created the universe.

In Psalm 19:1-6 God says through the writer, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. ² Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.” In other words, day and night, everything in the universe speaks of a Creator God. Verse 3, “There is no speech, nor language; where their voice is not heard.” In other words, it's a revelation that is unmistakable.

Verse 4, "Their line has gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Everyone on the globe can see the creative evidence of a Creator God, “In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. 6 Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

God picks that one celestial body out of the great expanse of the universe, that one celestial body that most dominates our life, the one that is closest to us in terms of a star, the one that has the greatest impact on us, the one that affects us, the sun. And he says about the sun that the sun runs its circuit from one end of heaven to the other so that nowhere in the world its heat is not felt.

Science has discovered that the sun moves in orbit. We talk about the sun as the center of our solar system and everything orbiting around it, but the sun itself has an orbit and this orbit goes from one end of the infinite space to the other. So the psalmist says you can look at the universe and it gives you testimony to the glory of God, to the majesty of His intelligence, to the massive character of His power to create all of this.

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God.” God breathed out His Word. 2 Peter 1:20-21 says, “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The only source of knowledge we have about God is the Bible and the external evidence of God in creation.

We can know that God created, as we look at the creation around us. But we cannot know how He created unless He reveals it to us. So we can know some things through what theologians call natural revelation. But in order to really know God, and how He created, and how He operates, and how He saves, we have to have special revelation, which is the Bible and the Bible alone.

When God began the Bible as His self-revelation, He began with an account of origins. He began by telling how He created the universe. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." And then He goes on into Genesis 2:4 with a description of precisely how He created the universe. Genesis begins here, but it doesn't end there. Genesis is a book of origins.

Now the word genesis, means origins or beginnings. First of all, you find the origin of the universe. Genesis 1:1 is unique in all literature, all science, and all philosophy. Every other system of cosmogony explaining the universe, starts with eternal matter, or eternal energy in some form. Only the book of Genesis starts with eternal God. Genesis then is the book of the origin of the universe.

Secondly, in Genesis we find the origin of order and complexity. This world is an orderly world. It functions on fixed rules and it is profoundly complex. Order and complexity do not arise spontaneously. They are always generated by a prior cause programmed to produce order and complexity simultaneously. And in Genesis we meet God, who programmed order and complexity into His universe.

We also find in Genesis the origin of the solar system. The Earth, as well as the sun, and moon, the planets, all the stars of heaven, were brought into existence by God, the Creator. Genesis tells us about the origin of the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. The earth is uniquely equipped with a great body of liquid water and an extensive blanket of oxygen-nitrogen gaseous mixture, both of which are necessary for life.

These do not show up on any other celestial stars or planets and are accounted for only by special creation by God to provide an environment fit for human life. We also find in Genesis the origin of life, the marvels of the reproductive process. The almost infinite complexity programmed into the genetic system of plants and animals are inexplicable apart from special creation by a great, supernatural, powerful intelligence.

And Genesis tells us about the origin of man. Man is the most highly organized and complex entity in the universe. Man is the great illustration of order and complexity. He possesses not only intricate, physical, chemical structures in the capacities of life and reproduction, but beyond that physical part, there is a nature which can contemplate abstract beauty, and love, and worship, and understanding about its own meaning.

It is self-awareness that singularly identifies and separates man from the rest of the created order. In Genesis you also find the origin of marriage. The remarkable universal institution of marriage and the home, a monogamous, patriarchal, social culture is described in Genesis as ordained by the Creator. Polygamy, infanticide, matriarchy, promiscuity, divorce, abortion and homosexuality all were developed after the Fall.

You also find in Genesis the origin of evil. The origin of physical and moral evil in the universe is explained in Genesis as an intrusion into God's perfect world, allowed by God as a concession to the principle of human freedom and responsibility and also to manifest Himself as Redeemer of sinners as well as Creator. You find also in Genesis the origin of judgment on evil. God's wrath is set in motion.

Also, in Genesis you find the origin of salvation by grace through a substitute and God's mercy. God is merciful to Adam and Eve and doesn't kill them instantly, even though they will die for their sin. God develops a system of animal sacrifice which pictures a substitute who will take the place of sinners, which is an act of mercy and grace on God's part. The plan of redemption leading to Christ is put in place.

Genesis talks about the seed of the woman, that being the seed planted by God in Mary; who is the Messiah, the Savior. In Genesis we find the origin of language. It is hard for evolution to explain how you go from grunting and making unintelligible noises to human speech. The gulf between instinctive chattering of animals and the intelligent, abstract communication of man is absolutely unbridgeable by evolutionary process.

Genesis also tells us not only how man was given by God the ability to communicate but how so many languages occurred from the judgment of God at the Tower of Babel. You find in Genesis 12, the origin of organized systems of human government for the maintenance of orderly social structures through systems of law and punishment. You find in Genesis the origin of culture.

You find here such things as urbanization, the development of metallurgy, music, agriculture, animal husbandry, writing, education, navigation, textiles and ceramics. You find in Genesis the origin of nations that is related again to the Tower of Babel, as God takes one race and scatters them all over the world. That is the only source of how we have so many different peoples with different languages and cultures.

In Genesis there is the origin of religion. Both the true religion and false religions appear in the book of Genesis; organized systems of worship and conduct. The origin of man's unique characteristic, of man's own consciousness and his ability to begin to comprehend a God and to structure a system of response to the God he believes exists. That all appears in the book of Genesis.

Also significant is the origin of the chosen people, Israel, who were the conduit for God's revelation to all of the world. It was Israel that was God's people, through whom He gave His revelation and through whom His saving covenant came, in Genesis 12, to Abraham. If you don't believe the Genesis account, then you have no hope of understanding the truth. Unconverted scientists aren't going to discover it.

If you believe Genesis, you believe about the origin of sin, you believe Genesis 3. Or maybe you are not sure about that because you don't really believe there was an actual Adam and an actual Eve. Listen to what Jesus said in 1 Corinthians 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” And there was a real Christ, so you can be sure there was a real Adam.

I am not going to prove to you that Genesis is true by science. I am going to proclaim to you what Genesis says and let science adjust itself to that explanation. As you will see, Genesis will do that. All you can know about how God created is what He said. That is all you can know. And if you don't believe what He said about creation, what kind of precedent have you established for the rest of the Bible?

Do you know how all of redemptive history ends? According to 2 Peter 3:10, “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” And immediately after that Revelation 21:1 says, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” Do you believe He can do that? Is that going to take another billions of years of evolution?

If God can dissolve the whole universe, if He can cause havoc at the time of tribulation, and refurbish it during the time of the kingdom, and then totally recreate it at the end of the thousand years, if He can do all of that, then I don't know why you have a problem with Him creating the universe in six days. You see, the implications of rejecting the account of Genesis are profound.

There is a coalition of 110 Christian colleges across America, but only six that we know of believe in the creation account in Genesis. And most Christian leaders and most Christian educators have allowed the teachings of evolution to be added to the Bible; they insert evolution in between the verses in Genesis. Most Christian leaders believe that the universe is billions of years old.

Yet the words of Scripture say that God created the universe in six literal days. You can translate it any way you want, the word yom means day and you have six days. But they believe that scientists have proven that the age of the earth must be billions and billions years old. And they have allowed the authority of the Bible to be undermined. Now if you can't trust the words of Genesis, when do you start trusting the Bible?

If man is created at the end of the evolutionary process, whether it's a naturalistic evolutionary process, or it's a theistic evolutionary process launched by God, it is a process by nature of death. It's a process known as the survival of the fittest as the order rises higher and higher until it gets to man. But death doesn't even come into the picture until man sins. How can you have death before the Fall?

So the sin of Adam and the curse of death is meaningless, because there's been death for billions of years; it is contrary to the biblical record. Because what you have in Genesis is a perfect world until man is confronted by the devil, and falls into sin, and God curses the universe and then comes death, disease, suffering, violence, and bloodshed, and not before. Evolution makes no sense in that perspective.

In fact, evolution cannot happen. That great reality is the encoded information in the DNA of living organisms. And every different living thing has a completely different code. The DNA of higher biological organisms, consist of about one thousand million bits of information which determines the nature, the growth, the development and the death of billions of cells in that living organism.

Now do you believe that such supremely complex machines, which is what living organisms are, storing and retrieving the precise information to service a thousand million cells, diagnose defects, and repair them, and reproduce, all developed at random by chance out of nothing? Where did the code come from? There's no code in there to turn the monkey into a man. There's no such thing as jumping out of your species.

1 Corinthians 15:39 says, “There’s a flesh of animals and there's flesh of birds,” and “there's a flesh of man.” And it's all determined by the genetic code, and they don't crisscross and jump over those bounds. Where did it come from? It had to come from a divine mind who made everything. When God created, He created everything and encoded everything. Everything shows the imprint of God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Jul 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180708 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000043 imblog

Genesis 1:1

Tonight I want to address the creation concept. If you are a high school student, if you are a university student in any other than a distinctively Christian school, you are going to be given this indoctrination about evolution as if it were fact. And what I'm going to be saying to you is contrary to just about everything you hear. Let us get into the text of Scripture and see how Scripture itself addresses popular evolutionary theory.

This is important to all of us because understanding origins in the book of Genesis is foundational to the rest of the Bible. If Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 don't tell us the truth, then why should we believe anything else in the Bible? If it says in the New Testament that the Creator is our Redeemer, but if God is not the Creator, then maybe He is not the Redeemer either. And everything else is also false.

This has implications with regard to the truthfulness of Scripture, implications as to the gospel, and implications as to the end of human history, all based on how we understand origins in the book of Genesis. So the matter of origins then is absolutely critical to all human thinking. It becomes critical to how we conduct our lives as human beings. Without an understanding of origins, there is no way to comprehend ourselves.

There is no way to understand humanity, as to the purpose of our existence, and as to our destiny. If we cannot believe what Genesis says about origins, we are lost as to our own purpose and our destiny. Whether this world as we know it evolved by chance without a cause, which is called evolution, or was created by God, has immense implications for all of human life and existence.

There basically are only two options. You can either believe what Genesis says or you do not. And that is no over simplification. Believing in a supernatural, creative God who made everything is the only possible rational explanation for the universe, for life, for purpose and for destiny. Now the divine equation given in the Bible is in stark contrast to what evolution claims, which says “nobody times nothing equals everything.”

That divine explanation is found in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I don't know how it could be said any more straightforward than that. Either you believe God created the heavens and the earth or you do not. Really those are the only two options you have. And if you believe that God did create the heavens and the earth, then you are left with the only record of that creation in Genesis 1.

In the first verse of the Bible God said plainly what man didn't discover until the nineteenth century. Everything that could be said about everything that exists is said in that first verse. Now either you believe that or you don't. You either believe that that verse is accurate and God is the force or you believe that God is not the force that created everything. And then you are left with all happened by chance or randomness.

Whether the world was created by God or evolved by chance without cause has been debated a long time. It has been debated since Darwin. But the debate comes down to this, either you believe the Bible or you don't. Either you believe the book of Genesis or you don't. And if you don't believe the book of Genesis, then what do you believe? Well basically you believe in naturalistic evolution.

Some theistic evolutionists who would say well God launched it all, but then evolution took over and they would deny that the Genesis account is accurate in saying that God created the universe in six, twenty-four-hour days. Progressive creationists would say the same thing, that creation did not occur as Genesis says, but rather it was over long ages and God did some creative work alongside the evolutionary process.

Those theistic evolution and progressive creationism views, also deny the straightforward text of the book of Genesis. So you either believe Genesis or you don't. And if you don't, you can be a theistic evolutionist or a naturalistic evolutionist. Among Christians there are some who are theistic evolutionists but those who make up the unbelieving world are mostly naturalistic evolutionists.

Douglas Kelly says, "There is no doubt that the biblical vision of man as God's creature whom He made in His own image has had the most powerful effect on human dignity, on liberty, on the expansion of the rights of the individual, on political systems, on the development of medicine, and on other areas of culture. How different is this from the humanistic viewpoint of man as merely an evolved creature, because there is no God.”

Apart from the belief that mankind is created in the image of a transcendent God, the divinely derived dignity and liberty of human beings completely disappears. For the genuine materialists there is no fundamental, only a gradual evolutionary difference between a man and an animal. And their conclusion is: The issue is between man created in the image of God and an animal in human form.

Either we evolved out of the slime and can be explained only in a materialistic sense, meaning that we are made only of material, or we have been created by God and made in His image in a heavenly pattern. And the debate is not just biological, it is moral and it is spiritual. The debate gets to questions about man's dignity, about man's nature in the image of the heavenly pattern, the image of God.

It asks questions like who is sovereign in the universe, who is in control? Is there a universal judge? Is there a universal moral law? Is there a lawgiver? Are people to live according to God's standard? Will there be a final assessment of how men and women live? Is there a final judgment? These are the questions that evolution was invented to avoid. Evolution was invented to kill the God of the Bible.

And this is not because evolutionists and materialists didn't like God as creator, but because they didn't want God as judge. Evolution was invented in order to eliminate the lawgiver, to eliminate the inviolability of His law, to eliminate guilt, to eliminate the binding standard for human thought and conduct. Evolution was invented to do away from universal morality and universal accountability.

The Christian view says: Man was created by God in His image and is loved by God. Because of this all men are endowed with eternal value and dignity. Their value is not derived ultimately from themselves, but from the source transcending themselves, God Himself. The materialistic view says: Morality is defined by every individual according to his own views and interests, and so is relative.

The Christian view says: Morality is defined by God and immutable because it is based on God's unchanging, holy character. The materialistic view says: The afterlife brings eternal annihilation, or personal extinction. The Christian view says: The afterlife involves either eternal life with God or eternal separation from Him; so either the glories of heaven, or the terrors of hell.

This is the foundation of all truth. Francis Schaeffer, the apologist, said if he had an hour to spend with a person on an airplane, he would spend the first fifty-five minutes talking about man being created in the image of God, and the last five minutes on the gospel of salvation that could restore man to that original intended image. Christianity does not begin with accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. Christianity begins in Genesis 1:1.

God created the heavens and the earth for a purpose and destiny which He Himself had determined. Understanding and believing the doctrine of creation in the book of Genesis is foundational in accepting, that the Holy Bible is to be taken seriously when it speaks to the real world. People say, "Well, the Bible is myth and fantasy and allegory and tradition, and doesn't really speak about facts to the real world." No, this is all true.

The Word of God is to be taken seriously when it speaks to the real world on every subject. If we avoid dealing with what the Bible says about the creation of the material universe, then there is a tendency for our religion to be disconnected from the real world. There's a tendency to put Scripture into some mystical category, to put Christianity into some stained glass closet, that doesn't impact the space-time world.

If you start with Genesis, and tamper with the literal nature of that text, you have created a mystical approach to Scripture at the very launch point. James Denney in the late 1890’s said, "The separation of the religious and the scientific means, is in the end, the separation of the religious and the truth, and this means religion dies among true men.” You can't say this is not reality, without severe implications to the rest of Scripture.

The doctrine of creation as identified in the book of Genesis is foundational. It is where God starts to reveal His story. And you can't change the beginning without impacting the rest of the story and the ending. In the Bible, God speaks, and He speaks in Genesis 1:1 and says He created the heavens and the earth. He is the one who speaks right through all of Scripture till its very end.

When you change Genesis 1 you separate Scripture from reality and you divorce the true religion from reality. Evolution would love to do that and strip Scripture of its veracity. It wants to reject God as lawgiver, judge and Savior. It wants to destroy the dignity of man as created in the image of God. According to evolution man is quantitatively better than the animals, but qualitatively he is the same.

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, their national director, Ingrid Newkirk, said this, “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." No difference. All higher forms of life are to be considered equal. We have the Church of Euthanasia, which believes that animal rights are superior to human rights. He says: "Let's kill humanity first because humans are only a minor species in the overall diversity of nature.”

There are animal rights groups that maintain eating meat is murder. Man is the tyrant species. And there was one who said that killing chickens is equal to the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis on the Jews. These people really do believe that man is simply the end of an evolutionary series of chance occurrences that has no purpose and has no destiny beyond any other species along the line in that evolutionary process.

If evolution is true, their argument may be pretty valid. It's pure luck of the draw that man has evolved the big brain. Had certain mutations not happened in our ancestors and instead happened in the ancestors of monkeys we might be where they are. So they say, "We have no ethical right to use our superiority, to violate the rights of other animals, who through no fault of their own didn't evolve the same abilities."

Evolution basically says that over a long time, by chance, matter evolved into the entire universe. Jacques Monod won the Nobel Prize and in his book Chance and Necessity he says this, "Man is alone in the universe's unfeeling immensity out of which he emerged by chance." Chance alone is the source of every innovation. "Pure chance, absolutely free but blind, is at the very root of the stupendous edifice of evolution."

Nature, according to Darwin, was the product of blind chance and a blind struggle and man, a lonely intelligent mutation, was scrambling with the brutes for his sustenance. Darwinian nature held no clues for human conduct and no answers to human moral dilemmas. He is protoplasm waiting to become manure. Now, that is a far cry from being created in the image of God.

This evolutionary idea is deadly. And in our recent history in western civilization, no one demonstrated the deadly character of this evolutionary idea better than Adolf Hitler and he was followed up by Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung, all of those who massacred masses of people, millions of people, and committed genocide. At the bottom, at the base of their belief system and philosophy, was evolution.

Darwin was determined to escape from a personal God at all costs. To the end of his life he was in that war, trying as he would to escape from God, he never really could. And his emotional life atrophied under the strain of the battle, religious feelings disappeared and with it everything else; the world became cold and dead. He had deprived the universe of God and all meaning and so he had deprived himself of all meaning.

In contemporary science, chance takes on new meaning. They don't want God to be the cause, but something has to be the cause so the cause is chance. There's a mathematical probability. That's what chance basically used to mean. But let me tell you about chance. Chance is not a force. Chance doesn't make anything happen. But in modern evolution, it’s been transformed into a force of causal power.

It's been elevated from being nothing to being everything. Chance is the myth that serves to undergird the chaos view of reality. And it's the opposite of logic. Logic says, "Oh, there's a universe. Somebody must have made it." There's a universe, more complex than a building, infinitely more complex than a piano, somebody who is very powerful and very intelligent made it." They say, "No, chance made it." That's rational suicide.

Remember the statement: Ex nihilo, nihil fit; out of nothing, nothing comes. And chance is nothing. So when scientists attribute power to chance, they have left the domain of science. There's no explanation of the universe without God. Max Planck, in 1900 presented the theory that energy comes in units called quanta which moves continuously. There's only one thing that explains it and that is the ongoing power of God.

In Hebrews 1:1-2, we read that God who “in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” Psalm 19 says He made the universe. The only things we know about God are those things which He has told us, and that is why He gave us the Bible. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Jul 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180701 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000041 imblog

Acts 28:17-31

We are looking at the end of the book of Acts. Now the part that we are going to look at is the end of the beginning of the history of the church. The Holy Spirit has given us in the book of Acts the first historical look at the early church. Going back to the beginning, the book began when our Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit and said “you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.”

The gospel began in Jerusalem then throughout all Judea and then spread to Samaria and all through the world to the city of Rome. Now at this point the record ceases, but the story does not end. And the story of the church will go on throughout all eternity for it does not end. In fact, right now in 2018 we are writing the continuation of the book of Acts as the Spirit of God continues to build the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The book of Acts, then, is really an unfinished book. In fact, as you look at verse 30 and at the very end it ends so abruptly that many have thought that there was a lost chapter. Verse 30-31 says, “Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.”

We don't know what ever happened to Paul. We don't hear what happened in the growth of the church in Rome. It seems to be very incomplete. And this is by design of the Holy Spirit, because the story that has no end. The record just ceases to be written, but the story goes on. And as we have journeyed through the book of Acts, we traveled from one country to another and finally we arrive in the city of Rome.

From the three-thousand who were saved at Pentecost to those who will believe right here in the last paragraph of Acts 28. We saw the unity of the church beginning in Acts 2, we saw the fellowship of the church in the world. We saw the reaction of the Jewish leaders and the consequent persecution which resulted in the spread of the gospel and the conversion of the Apostle Paul.

We have seen how the church has spread and finally reached the city of Rome. It is incomplete but enough has been written to reveal the source of power for the church who is the Holy Spirit. Enough has been written to reveal the pattern of blessing for the church, which is to walk in the Spirit. Enough has been written to indicate the approach of evangelism for the church, which is to declare Jesus Christ.

Now just a few things we should know about Rome so we get an idea of what Paul was facing. Historically speaking the golden days of the imperial city were long gone. Rome was on the way down by this time. The dictators of Rome had turned it into despotism. The emperors had seized more and more power and this emperor was maybe the worst of all, and his name was Nero.

When Paul arrived Nero was probably no more than 25 years old but already his hands were bloodied with the murder of his own mother. Which probably occurred maybe a year before Paul arrived. And likely, also the murder of his wife Octavia had also taken place. As Paul entered the city, he would have seen the temple of Jupiter which stood out and dominated the city. There was no Coliseum in Rome at the time of Paul.

Rome had become the center of paganism and the center of immorality. The population of Rome at the time when Paul arrived was approximately 2 million people. Historians tell us that one million of them were slaves. The rest were citizens but vast majority of them were poor. And nearly all of the two-million people, both the slaves and the citizens were destitute. And all of the money was controlled by just a few.

Most of these poor people had no homes and their lives were filled with immorality, and into this depraved and deprived humanity came the Apostle Paul, the messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his interest in Rome was not sociological, it was not economic, it was not cultural, it was purely evangelism. He desired was to win them to Jesus Christ and to mature them as Christians.

Paul’s first approach at evangelism is recorded for us beginning in verse 17, “And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: “Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.”

Notice that Paul begins to work right away. "Paul called the leaders of the Jews together,” Now that is all of the leaders of the synagogues. And historians have told us there were 7 to 12 synagogues operating in Rome at this time in history. And here we see again that whenever Paul went to a city previously he always went to the Jews first because that was where he would find an open door.

Although Paul has been accused by many Jews throughout history of anti-Semitism, he had no such attitude. And although he has been maligned, persecuted, threatened and abused by the Jews for the past several years before he gets to Rome, he feels no animosity and he goes directly to them at the very beginning. Paul loves Israel to the point where he wished himself to be accursed for their benefit.

Because Paul was chained, he couldn't go to a synagogue to speak to them so he had them come to him. And they all did come. They certainly had heard about him. In addition to that, he was a very unpopular person in the Roman world and in the Jewish world. In about every synagogue he had come to, he won some people to Jesus Christ. And that information had certainly reached these Jews in Rome.

Paul was the one who was going around with all this Messianic information and certainly the Messianic issue was interesting to them. So the Apostle Paul confronts the leaders of the Jews. He knows that this was a delicate matter. He must explain his circumstances as a prisoner. But he must also show that he is innocent of any charges that have been laid against him by the Jews and at the same time he must not alienate his Jewish audience.

So Paul gives a brief defense in verse 17. This is the sixth and final defense since his arrest in Jerusalem. They accused him of sedition that he was a reactionary against the Roman government. They accused him of sectarianism, as a leader in the sect of the Nazarenes. And they accused him of sacrilege by saying that he profaned the temple and therefore blasphemed God. But he had done absolutely nothing wrong.

Paul was a prisoner in Rome not because he was guilty, but because the Romans were being blackmailed by the Jews. If the Romans did not keep him in prison, if they did not prosecute him, the Jews would lead an insurrection against Rome in Judea and that would be very bad. So the Roman governor succumbed to the pressure of the Jewish leaders and kept Paul a prisoner.

Verse 18, “When they had examined me, they wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death.” They were the Romans, Felix, Festus and Agrippa who found him innocent. Paul is saying, this is a Jewish problem. So what did Paul finally do? Verse 19, “But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation.”

Paul is saying, I'm not condemning the Jews, I'm only defending myself. I have nothing against them. He was no traitor to the natural cause of Judaism, he was a Jew in nationality and he was a Jew in interest, and certainly he was a Jew in his special love for them. Notice that he says, I have nothing to accuse my nation of. What he's saying is, I am the accused not the accuser.

Verse 20, “For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” The antagonism was based on this point. Who is the hope of Israel? Who is the hope of every Jew? The hope of Israel is the Messiah. And along with the Messiah came the resurrection. And for preaching that Jesus is the Messiah, and He rose from the dead and provides resurrection.

The Jews knew that God had promised a Messiah and that that Messiah would bring a kingdom, and in order for the Jews that had already died to share in the kingdom there would have to be a resurrection. Isaiah 26:19, “Your dead shall live, together with my dead body they shall arise.” Daniel 12:2, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Verse 21-22, “Then they said to him, “We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. 22 But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.” They were saying, we are open to hear what it is that you have to say. The Roman government was critical of prosecuting a case without evidence.

And so here Paul begins preaching to the Jews. Verse 23, “So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.” Notice how long the meeting lasted, "from morning to evening." That's early in the day till sundown of the day.

Now this is Paul's pattern all through the book of Acts. He labors to prove the gospel of Jesus Christ is the true and necessary fulfillment of Israel's religion, of Old Testament history and the typology of Moses and Old Testament prophecy as it was spoken by the prophets. So he takes the Old Testament, the Jewish Scripture, and interprets the coming, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And it was not just a sermon, it was a dialogue that was much like his other things where he interacted in response to their questioning. And as Jesus authenticated the presentation of His kingdom by signs and wonders. That's exactly what the apostles did as well in the book of Acts. They presented the kingdom to Israel and authenticated it by signs and wonders. The condition for the kingdom was repent and have faith in Jesus Christ.

Verse 24, “And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.” Now there you have the division that always comes in the preaching of the gospel. This reminds us again too that the response to the gospel of Jesus Christ is based upon a person's own faith. Both are in the imperfect tense which means continuous actions, some were continuing to believe, and some were continuing to disbelieve.

We see it historically, in Acts 14:4, "The multitude of the city was divided. Part held with the Jews, part held with the apostles." Let’s see Acts 17:4-5, “And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks. 5 But the Jews were not.” In Acts 18: 6, “But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” And we also see the same thing in our own day.

The Lord had been offered to the Jews, that is to Israel, in the gospels, and through Acts constantly the Jew first. But there never was that national acceptance, there was always only the small remnant that believed. And all of a sudden, it reversed right here. The Spirit of God speaks for the fourth time of prophecy from Isaiah. Historically throughout the Old Testament Israel failed to live up to the information and the revelation that they had.

They grieved God, and judgment after judgment came. One tragic note in the history of Israel was when the entire northern kingdom just disintegrated. What we have today, which is called Judaism, is only a faint shadow of what Judaism was. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. This is the last time God ever went to the Jew first, right here. Paul quotes Isaiah 6. Isaiah, Jesus, John, and Paul all quoted the very same words.

Verse 25, “So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said, “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers.” That is the last Biblical abandonment of Israel. After Paul had spoken those words that is what drove them away. There is a note on inspiration, the Holy Spirit speaking through Isaiah. God knows the future.

Verse 26-27, “Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive; 27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”

Willful unbelief is turned into sovereign unbelief. But God is not through with Israel. Romans 11:23-24, “And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?”

Verse 28-31, “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” 29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. 30 Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.”

This isn't the end of the Acts of the Apostles. Paul goes on from here. Paul wrote the book of Colossians, he wrote the book of Philemon, he wrote the book of Ephesians and he wrote the book of Philippians in these four years. John goes on at least another thirty years. This isn't the end of the story of the church, this is the beginning of it. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Jun 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180617 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000003F imblog

Acts 28:1-16

For many months we have been following Paul as he travels to Rome. We don't know what is going on in his heart but it will be interesting. Psalm 107 declares that God created both the storm and the calm. And then it says that God is in the business of fulfilling desires. One of the greatest frustrations of mankind is realizing that most of their dreams and ambitions are unfulfilled.

But that is only the frustration of humanity because God is able to fulfill dreams. God is able to maximize anticipation into reality. The Psalmist said in Psalm 37:4, “Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” He will plant dreams in you and then He will fulfill them. There needs to be no frustration in the life of a believer. God is definitely in the business of fulfilling desires.

Psalm 145:19 says, "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him." When a person puts himself in the right relationship with God, God will fulfill that his desires. And we see that in this passage. We just see it as Paul arrives at Rome and received the fulfillment of that desire that has lingered in him for years. Now let us draw some principles out of it. Our last study of Acts 27 was about Paul being a leader.

Now in Acts 28 we are going to see the blessing of God on a faithful leader. Last time we saw about ten qualities of a faithful leader that were exhibited by Paul during the journey and the shipwreck. And so the trip to Rome is a rich narrative because it not only gives us principles of leadership but it gives us the principles on which God blesses faithful leadership. So now we come to the last stage.

Now this portion in Acts 28:1-10 describes the journey from Malta to Rome. It has already lasted two and a half months and for fourteen days they have fought the wind and the sea against the Euroclydon, which is a northeastern hurricane. They can't navigate because there are no stars and no sun visible in this terrible storm. But God has somehow controlled the hurricane and pushed them actually to the island of Malta.

Remember when they arrived at Malta, they wrecked the bow of the ship into the sand and the stern began to disintegrate. The soldiers became afraid and decided to kill all the prisoners because if they escaped the soldiers would be held responsible. But the centurion Julius prevented them from doing that and then all 276 people made it to shore. Everything that God said came to pass.

Imagine having been told by the Apostle Paul what would happen and then it became true. Think about the credibility of Paul and the God he claimed was ruling in the world. Acts 28:1-2, “Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. 2 And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold.”

The first thing we see is pagan hospitality and this is wonderful. Hospitality is to be the characteristic of a godly man according to 1 Timothy and Titus. And that goes back to Genesis 18 when Abraham and Sarah put on a dinner for some people that turned out to be God and two angels, so be hospitable to strangers. Christians are to treat all strangers with kindness and love.

Jesus in Matthew 10:40-42 says, “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

Well, when you look at this story, often our lives aren't as friendly as they ought to be. Malta is the Phoenician word for "refuge" or "escape." It is sixty miles off the south tip of Sicily. And the natives kindled a fire and received every one of us. It's mid-November and it is cold and they are wet and exposed to the wind. God always notes kindnesses in Scripture even by pagan people toward His own.

One of the reasons so many wonderful things happened there at Malta was because of those people being so openly kind to those strangers. The activity of the people on Malta is a classic illustration of the internal revelation of God to the pagan. Even an individual without a knowledge of Jesus Christ, has the sense within him of what is right and wrong. Where does he get that sense? He gets it because the Law of God is written in his heart.

This is one of the great proofs of the inward knowledge that God has revealed Himself to men. People always say, what about unbelievers that have never heard of Jesus? How will they know? Believe me, God has written His Law into their hearts, they have a sense of morality, they have a sense of kindness and love that is granted to them by God, they have a sense of right and wrong.

Verse 3, “But when Paul had gathered some sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.” From his position as a prisoner on the ship he is gathering the sticks, but he has risen to rule the ship. But now the situation has changed but Paul is still the leader because he's the resource that all of them have. As a leader he is willing to do the menial task that usually goes to others.

There is something significant in the Holy Spirit telling us that he was gathering sticks. A true leader has a servant mentality and he never lost his perspective. He was always sacrificing. Listen, Jesus said, "For the Son of man came not to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.” Humility is necessary for a true spiritual leader. Jesus in John 13 washed the disciples’ feet.

Unfortunately from one of the sticks “a viper came out of the heat and fastened on his hand." A "viper" is a poisonous snake. It's interesting that today there are no snakes on Malta. They have since ceased to exist there but these snakes must have been there in some quantity because the people immediately recognized it and the severity of the bite in the hand of Paul.

Verse 4, “So when the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” There's their theology. The words are an affirmation of their faith. This was the goddess Dike that was personified as Justice. She was the daughter of Zeus. Of course this is all mythology.

So they all expected Paul to fall dead as a victim of the goddess Dike. These pagans have a sense of justice and a sense that sins get punished. There is a sense of morality. Now they didn't take that morality too far, they allowed for gods who wouldn't tolerate murder but they didn't mind adultery. They made gods to accommodate their theology but at least the germ of morality was there.

Now notice the contrast. One is a sense of goodness the other is a sense of evil. Goodness and its consequences; evil and its consequences. And so we see that the pagans have the full understanding of goodness and evil. Now this all began when Eve and Adam ate the fruit and received the knowledge of good and evil. And men have that sensitivity, they have that awareness and that's why God holds them responsible for their activities.

And if they live up to the moral standard of God, and they believe and accept as much revelation as they have, God will continue to reveal Himself to them. Verse 5, “But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.” Well, that kind of calmness is conspicuous. Usually such a snakebite would create panic and a person would be running around in horror.

Look at Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” This is fulfilled in Paul.

Now remember that is not for today. If you play with poisonous snakes you cannot claim Mark 16:18. This was purely for the apostolic era. God used miracles to confirm His apostles and to confirm their word. Verse 6, “However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.”

All of a sudden he is not a murderer, he is a god. No, Paul didn't like that. He didn't like to be thought of as God, he wanted to be thought of as a representative of God not as God or a god. He didn't want to be a part of that proliferation of deities, that polytheism that they were involved in. But it was good that they recognized supernatural power, because that is the platform on which Paul's gospel is made creditable as a divine revelation.

That brings us to the third point, the public healing. Verse 7, “In that region there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days.” Remember there were 276 people that he took care of. Verse 8, “And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him.”

Now notice that Paul did two things, he prayed and he laid his hands on him. Why did he pray? Because all power is from God. Why did he lay his hands on him? Because he wanted people to see that it was through him that God moved in power. It was the power of God but Paul was only the representative of that power. What Paul was doing was identifying God's power and the fact that he was only God's agent.

Surely Paul preached also. The Lord Jesus Christ performed miracles while pointing out that these miracles were to corroborate the testimony of the gospel. Peter when he performed miracles earlier in Acts preached Christ. Paul when doing miracles established that he represented God, he then proclaimed the divine message. And tradition tells us that he founded in these days the church at Malta.

Verse 9, “So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.” Why? Because God was showing His kindness to those who had been kind to His people. More than that, God was establishing the credibility of Paul as His minister. We know Paul was on the island three or four months so he had plenty of time to follow up that confirmation with the gospel message.

These people really had a church and many of them came to Christ. Look at verse 10, “They also honored us in many ways; and when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary.” When did they depart? Verse 11, “After three months we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island.” Paul did 3 months of preaching, and by now, many of them were believers.

Verse 12-13, “And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days. 13 From there we circled round and reached Rhegium. And after one day the south wind blew; and the next day we came to Puteoli.” Tradition says that Paul founded a church in Syracuse, Sicily too, which is an island about 65 miles away from Malta with a three day layover there. Then to Puteoli, the lovely port in the bay of Naples. Today it's called Pozzuoli.

Verse 14 says, “Where we found brethren, and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome.” There was a large Jewish trade community in Puteoli and they had a terrific time for seven days with the Christians. It wasn't a church that Paul founded; they were already there. Paul finally, was just 145 miles from Rome and here was a group of Christians, it must have thrilled his heart.

Now they would have to go from Puteoli on the famous Appian highway, named after Claudius Appius who was the builder in 312. Verse 15, “And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.” 33 miles from town those Christians walked and greeted him as he comes in the caravan chained as a prisoner.

Verse 16, “Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him.” He had a house of his own, but he was chained all the time to a Roman soldier, verse 20 tells us about that. Never being able to get away from that guy would really be tough.

We see in this passage the faithfulness of God to a faithful man. God says, I will fulfill the desire of all them that fear Me. Look what God provided. Number one, he surrounds him with kindness. Remember in Acts 27:2-3, when they first left Caesarea he arrives in Sidon and immediately he is ministered to by the Christians. In Acts 28:1-2, his needs are met by the Maltese.

Second, God ministered to his needs. When he was sick in Sidon he was ministered to medically. In Acts 28:7 he was ministered by Publius by being given a place to stay. God continual ministered to his needs supplying exactly what he wanted. Thirdly, God encouraged him. In Acts 27 God sent an angel to him and the angel said, do not worry Paul, you're going to make it to Rome and everybody is going to make it.

Fourthly, God protects him from harm. God saved him in a hurricane. God saved him in a shipwreck and saved him from a snakebite. Fifthly, God blessed his influence. And sixthly, God fulfilled his desire. He wanted to get to Rome, and he got to Rome. He wanted to be encouraged to know that the Christians loved him. God met his desire. God is a faithful God. He rewards those who faithfully serve Him, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Jun 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180610 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000003E imblog

Acts 27

This is a narrative. It says nothing outright about leadership, the subject of leadership just comes out here; and the more I have studied this account, the clearer it has become as a good basis for discussing leadership. The world faces a crisis of leadership and the church is no different. And there are many problems related to leadership in the church, or misguided leadership; and so it is a critical study.

If you are a Christian, you probably have some leadership responsibility, whether it’s in your home or whether it’s with a Bible study group or whether it’s at work. Problems relate often to a power struggle for leadership or mistakes made in the position of leadership. What most people are looking for is somebody who has the kind of leadership that falls under the category of a strong natural leader.

And typically a leader like that is visionary. Secondly, action-oriented. Thirdly, they are courageous. Fourthly, a natural leader is energetic. Fifth, a leader tends to be objective-oriented rather that people-oriented. Sixth, strong leaders tend to be paternalistic, making sure everybody is protected. Seventh, they are egocentric. Eighth, they are intolerant of incompetence. And, ninth, they are indispensable.

But this really denies the primary requisite of biblical leadership, and that is that you accomplish God’s goals through God’s people, not by doing it all yourself. So, there is the difference. And it isn’t easy to lead well. You have to organize and lead people who are all volunteers, none of whom you can command. And there are always enough successes to keep you in it, and enough failures to keep you on your knees.

It’s difficult to have confidence in your judgment. That’s why the only place I would want to be a leader would be in the church of Jesus Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes leaders have a lack of trust of people. You’re afraid that somebody won’t carry through, because you are responsible. Leaders also are sometimes guilty for being too authoritative.

And if you are the leader, somebody will be mad at you, always. Another tension in leadership is defensiveness. And you probably will fail, but that’s all right. And you will make mistakes in personal judgment. And you will make a mistake in your own wisdom. And sometimes you need to be defensive, because sometimes you will need to explain why you did a certain thing.

The world’s standards aren’t our standards, but the tensions are the same, and God has given us this responsibility. There never has been a perfect leader yet other than Jesus Christ. Everyone makes mistakes. You have to accept the responsibility. With all of your shortcomings, keep charging ahead. Now, with that as an introduction, let’s look at the principles of leadership that flow out of Acts 27.

In Acts 27, Paul is being sent to Rome. For two years he has been a prisoner in Caesarea. Paul really wanted to unite the Jerusalem church with other Gentile churches. Not only did he bring money, but he brought some Gentile representatives from the various churches with him. But it didn’t work; and in the midst of the fury that was taking place in Jerusalem, the authorities took Paul as a prisoner.

The Jews wanted to kill him but they could not prove his guilt through several trials and finally Paul says, “Look, this case isn’t going anywhere. I appeal to Caesar.” And as a Roman citizen, he had the right to do that. And so, he is now being transported to Rome in order that his case might be tried before the courts of Caesar in Rome. Frankly, he was guilty of absolutely nothing.

As we begin in Acts 27: 1, he’s on the ship ready to go. When the journey starts, the lowest ranked guy on the ship is Paul. He is a criminal and a prisoner. There is a Roman centurion named Julius, and under him, there would be other officers, and then there were the soldiers of Augustus’ regiment itself. And then there was the captain of the ship, and there were the sailors. There were many people ranked far above Paul.

He didn’t know anything about sailing the Mediterranean to Rome. He didn’t know anything about the organization of the Roman army. But what is so amazing is by the time the ship is out of port and on its way, Paul takes over the entire trip. And before it’s done, he’s running the life of every individual on that ship. Because as a leader, he will rise to the top. And that’s exactly what happens.

Verse 1-2, “And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy,” – we being Paul and Luke, because he is the author of Acts – “they delivered Paul and some other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustan Regiment. 2 So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we sailed along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.”

Verse 3, “And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care.” Now Paul is a prisoner who is highly resented by the Jewish population in Jerusalem, but also a Roman citizen, who needed protection. But amazingly as they land at Sidon, Julius lets Paul go into town to meet his friends. In one day, Paul convinced Julius that he was trustworthy.

What happens to a Roman soldier who lost a prisoner? He lost his life, right? How in the world would he have done that? Only one way: he trusted him. His friends also must have trusted him. He had been a prisoner for over two years. But they never lost confidence in him. If you are going to lead, you have to lead from the vantage point of being a servant. 1 Corinthians 4 says, “Let it be said of us that we were servants.”

In Matthew 20:25-28 Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

The second principle of leadership comes out in Acts 27: 4-10, “When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. 5 And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.” They had to transfer here to a ship going further west to Italy.

“7 When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone. 8 Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. 9 Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous, Paul advised them 10 saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.”

This was somewhere between September and November, which was a dangerous season for sailing the Mediterranean. Now here Paul admonished them. You might say, Paul the prisoner is giving advice? The second principle is that leaders always take the initiative. He says, “Guys, we can’t continue now. I perceive if we do, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.” In verse 37 it says in the ship there were 276 people.

Even though he is in a subordinate rank, he takes the initiative. And once Paul took the initiative on this trip he never gave it up again. Here is the first principle of taking initiative: he identified with the need. Secondly, he comes up with a solution. The third thing a leader does is he takes action. Number Four: He delegated responsibility. And, fifthly, he works alongside the people. A leader is somebody who takes the initiative.

Do you know what we need in our church? Less critics and more initiators. That is the kind of people we look for. It doesn’t matter what the rank is or the position. A leader also uses good judgment. In verse 9, Paul said that sailing was now dangerous.” A leader is not a gambler in the essential things, he is careful. He may take a calculated risk, but he doesn’t trust luck.

Verse 11-12, “Nevertheless, the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. 12 And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there, also if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there.” So the centurion says, “Let’s go.”

Initially things were great, verse 13, “When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete.” But look verse 14-16, “But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called Euroclydon. 15 So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her drive. 16 And running under the shelter of an island called Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty.”

Verse 17, “When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the Syrtis Sands, they struck sail and so were driven.” They had these great bands of rope that were around the hull, because the only thing that held the ship together was pegs. And so they would winch ropes to tie it together, so that it would not shatter in the storm. So, they were really panicky.

Verse 18-21, “And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. 19 On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. 20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up. 21 But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.”

Verse 22-25, “And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 Therefore take heart, men, for I believe that it will be just as it was told me.”

Verse 26-28, “However, we must run aground on a certain island. 27 Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. 28 And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms.”

Verse 29-31, “Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come. 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”

Verse 32-34, “Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off. 33 And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.” A leader focuses on objectives, not obstacles.

Leadership leads by example. Verse 35-38, “And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat. 36 Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves. 37 And in all we were two hundred and seventy-six persons on the ship. 38 So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea.”

Verse 39-41, “When it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible. 40 And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore. 41 But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the stern was being broken up by the waves.”

Verse 42-44, “And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, 44 and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land.”

Paul rose from the place of a prisoner to the place of a leader. He manifested trust, initiative, good judgment, and authority in his speaking. He strengthened others and he was always enthusiastic and optimistic. He never compromised on his absolutes. He focused on objectives not obstacles. He led by example. He delegated responsibility and he succeeded.

God needs leaders like that in every dimension with His work as a service. Maybe you do not feel you are capable, but God knows your potential. May God raise up more and more leaders in this church to carry on His work. May the Lord give you the courage to just try and with the Holy Spirit’s help you can do anything for His glory and for your benefit. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Jun 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180603 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000003D imblog

Acts 26:19-32

A believer who walks in the Spirit has to be reproductive. What we really want is believers who through the overflow of their spirituality are going to produce disciples. We have learned in the book of Acts that we have to present Christ with boldness and fearlessness. Paul saw, as the directive in his life, to win people to Christ and mature them in the faith.

As we study this passage we see how much the apostle Paul is under all kinds of pressure, he's a prisoner now. Actually the Romans are holding him, but under the pressure of the Jews. He is having to give his testimony many times, and every time he gives his testimony he always declares his innocence. But even though he's innocent they won't let him go because of Jewish pressure.

And every time he declares his testimony it winds up being a presentation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and this always throws everything into chaos. In Corinth he did the same thing. He did the same thing in Philippi. He went into town presented Jesus Christ, and a group of people got saved. He found an evil possessed girl and he just cast the demons out. He got thrown in jail, and then let the jailer to Christ.

Whenever it was time to give a defense it turned out to be an attack. He never defended his behavior; he just zeroed in on whoever he wanted to reach. They were trying to kill him in the courtyard, but the Romans rescued him, and hauled him up the stairs. He turned around at the top of the stairs and preached Jesus to the crowd. He was never on the defense, he was always on the attack.

The Christian is a soldier who has a sword for attacking. And the sword is the Word, and the world is the objective. And we may have to fight through the demons to get there, but that's what we are called to do. It is a spiritual war and we have to be on the offense. Nobody will accidentally be saved by our witness. It only happens if you confront the society.

Here Paul faces this king by the name of Agrippa. Remember that Festus was in a dilemma. Since Paul couldn't get any justice in Caesarea he appealed to Rome. The only problem was that he had no accusation because Paul hadn't done anything. So when Agrippa came along with Bernice to welcome Festus, he figured maybe this guy will help me to explain the reason for his incarceration.

So they put on this big hearing. Everyone of importance was present, and here was Paul in the middle of them. And he is here to defend himself. He is to speak to the issue of his imprisonment and the crimes that he is supposedly to have committed. But instead of being defensive, he attacks Agrippa. And when he's all done Agrippa says, "Are you trying to convert me?" And Paul says, "Yes, and everybody else in this place."

Agrippa said, "All right Paul, speak. I want to hear what you have to say and we will see if we can find an accusation out of this mess." So Paul spoke. And he said, "Agrippa and Bernice, I was a zealous Jew and all the Jews know it. I was a Pharisee. I was so zealous that I went about doing all the things I could do against Jesus of Nazareth. One day as I was walking on the road to Damascus to catch Christians something happened.”

“A light brighter than the sun hit me, and everybody around me and we fell to the ground. And I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' So I said, 'Who are you Lord?' And He said, 'Jesus whom you are persecuting.' And you know what happened? Jesus said to me, 'Get up, get on your feet for I have appointed you a minister and a witness.”

“And I want you to tell the things that you have seen and what I will reveal to you. I will delivered you from the Jews and from the Gentiles to send you back to them and here's your message,'" verse 18. "To open their eyes, turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith in Me."

He says, Agrippa, I was literally transformed by Jesus. He is alive. I was seeking to persecute Christians even in faraway places and sovereignly out of heaven the living Christ, who is not dead, focused on me and spoke to me and blinded me and commissioned me to preach and told me what my message was. How could I possibly resist that?

Paul wants Agrippa to know that he is not a rebel, he is not a traitor, and he is not someone who is against Judaism. He has been selected by Almighty God and the resurrected Messiah has transformed his life in an instant. Now that is a sovereign act of God in the conversion of Paul. Notice in verse 18 a tremendous pattern for evangelism. First thing to do is conviction: open their eyes.

So first when you try to lead somebody to Jesus Christ is to show them what they really are. You can't show a guy that he needs to be changed unless he sees what a mess he is right now. You have to strip away his securities. You have to take away whatever he is hanging on to. And so there must be an opening of their eyes. This is conviction, a recognition of personal sin and judgment by God.

The second thing, after conviction, is illumination and turn them from darkness to light. You have to show them truth. Having been convicted of sin and error, now let me show you the truth. Then you have conversion. When the response comes they are turned from the power of Satan to the power of God. They are taken out of the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of darkness and brought to God.

And with that comes sanctification that they may receive forgiveness of sins, so they are made holy. The penalty is paid, the power of sin is broken, and their life is purified positionally. This means from God’s standpoint they are covered with the righteousness of Jesus. Then you have the promise, the inheritance together with those who are sanctified. You tell them what is in the future for them.

The key is by faith in Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you are saved through faith that not of yourselves, that is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

So you see salvation is an act of faith. There's the gospel right there in verse 18, Jesus says, "Paul, you're to be my gospel presenter. You're to go out and tell men, proclaim." And so he tells Agrippa and everybody else what he was called to do and at the same time gives them the gospel. So we see Paul's testimony commencing. "Agrippa," he says, "It was God who did this to me. The living resurrected Christ did it."

Now notice in any act of the sovereignty of God there has to be human will to respond. And there is an act of the will here in the case of Paul. We see his commitment in verse 19, “Therefore king Agrippa," after I had heard from the living Messiah who wasn't dead, Jesus of Nazareth that I know was crucified, and after He spoke to me, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” I submitted my will as a commitment.

This is necessarily a part of response. There must be an act of the will. There must be obedience. Salvation is a sovereign act of God. But it also involves an act of human response. The call to the ministry is a sovereign act of God. But it also demands a human response. In Galatians 1:16 Paul says, "When the Lord called me into the ministry I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, but I did what God had called me to do."

I didn't seek any human wisdom. I responded instantly to God in obedience. Obedience is the response that God asks for. Now this is part of the paradox of sovereignty and responsibility. God acts sovereignly to bring about His will, but He demands within the framework of that sovereignty a human response. So that when you give your testimony you don't say, "Well one day I was zapped and I was saved while I didn't do anything.”

God sovereignly moves on your will, but your will has to be activated. Now you can resist that. That's true but you pay a high price. Remember Moses in Exodus 4. God said, "Moses, I'm telling you to speak for Me." Moses says, "I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." Then the Lord said, "Because of your unbelief, Aaron shall be your mouth piece and you shall be as God to Aaron.”

What is obedience? Number one: obedience is a mark of conversion. Romans 6:16 says, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Secondly, it is a recognition of authority. When you obey you are saying you are in control and I am in submission.

When you do not obey God you are playing God. If God says, "My desire for you is to do this," and you say, "No, I'm going to do this," you have replaced God as the controlling authority in your life. Thirdly, obedience is a characteristic of faith. In Hebrews 11:8 it says, "And Abraham obeyed God." And the next verse says, "By faith." Fourth, obedience is proof of love. Don't tell God you love Him, unless you obey.

Paul says, that the central hope of the Jew was the resurrection. The central hope of the Jew was a living Messiah. There is a living Messiah. There was a resurrection. The resurrected one spoke to me. I saw His glory. I heard His voice. I could do nothing but obey. He commissioned me into His ministry, instantly I obeyed. I have preached repentance and turning to God and works that proved that that repentance was real.

Verse 21, “For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.” You know why they wanted him dead? Because he was offering equal salvation to Gentiles. The Jews could not tolerate equality with Gentiles. And so Paul says, "They wanted me dead because I offered an equal salvation to Gentiles." That's how he became a prisoner to begin with.

He says in verse 22, “Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come.” Paul had help from God all the time. We struggle and work and discipline ourselves to work as hard as we can to produce as much as we can for the glory of the Lord and at the same time it's all done with His under girding strength.

And so Paul says, “I'm only preaching what the Old Testament taught, which is that the Messiah would have to suffer. Verse 23, “that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” Here I am two years later saying the same thing I said then and just as boldly saying that there is equal salvation to Jew and Gentile.

What happened as a result of his testimony? Well first came the criticism. Verse 24, “Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!” What made him say that? Paul just said that Christ rose from the dead. Festus couldn't handle that resurrection idea. No Roman with any reason could ever believe that stuff.

But Paul answered. Verse 25-27, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. 26 For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.” Paul says: I'm not mad. I speak with a clear mind and the king knows it.

Agrippa hasn't said a word and yet Agrippa is standing there with his mouth shut attesting to what Paul has said as being true. Anybody who believes the prophets, anybody who believes Moses, and anybody who believes historical fact must conclude that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. Verse 28, “Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

Verse 29, “And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.” Are you trying in such a short time to convert me? Paul says, "Hey, I am trying to convert all the dignitaries that are there. Paul says, "I wish you were all like I am, spiritually speaking."

Verse 30-31, “When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them; 31 and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.” The Holy Spirit includes this here to show that the king and the governor both agreed that Paul was innocent.

True Christianity is guilty of nothing worthy of death or bonds. Verse 32, “Then Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.” There wasn't any reason to appeal to Caesar now. There was no a letter written, but they still hid behind the appeal of Paul.

What hindered Agrippa and Festus? One: big egos. Two: immorality. Agrippa was vile, self-centered, and ignorant, the same things that hinder other people. But it didn't discourage Paul. When he got to Rome the first thing he did was to start preaching Jesus again. It did not change Paul. Let us follow his example. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 May 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180527 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000003C imblog

Acts 26:1-18

Our study of the life of Paul as a prisoner contains six testimonies. This is the fifth. He has been accused of sedition. The Jews accused him of stirring up trouble against Rome. He has been accused of sectarianism, of being a religious heretic. He has been accused of sacrilege, of blaspheming God by desecrating the temple. But he didn't do any of those things. All of them were false charges.

Felix, even though Paul was innocent, wouldn't let him go because he knew that would upset the Jews and therefore upset the political situation in Judea. Festus, then when he came to take over the governorship found that Paul was in custody. He too did not want to release him because he didn't want to upset the Jews for they wanted him dead. So both of these governors had been blackmailed into keeping Paul a prisoner.

Now Festus had a problem because the apostle Paul has appealed to Rome. The problem is that Festus has to send him now to Rome without any written accusation because he can't find anything to accuse him of. Well at that time King Agrippa who was a vassal king, arrives on the scene paying a courtesy call to Festus. Here Festus sees a possible way out if Agrippa can come up with some viable accusation.

What stands out is that more than the testimony Paul gives to defend himself is the testimony that he gives to Agrippa to try to convert Agrippa into a Christian. He actually targets Agrippa and attempts to get him to respond to the Gospel and even gives an invitation at the end. Paul saw it as an opportunity to preach the gospel. Festus looked at it as an opportunity to get an accusation. Agrippa looked at it as a curiosity.

It didn't matter to Paul about his own security, it didn't matter whether they put him in chains, put him in jail or killed him. You see boldness is born of the consciousness that he was expendable. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we can see his theology, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." Paul believed that the gospel was a transforming fact.

Well Paul believed in the transforming power of the gospel and that was the basis of his desire to proclaim it. 2 Cor. 5:18, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” Now the word reconcile means to bring back into proper adjustment. The New Testament uses it only of men, never of God. God is never out of adjustment.

Man is out of adjustment. It is man that must be brought back into proper adjustment to God. That's the ministry of reconciliation. The Bible here tells us that we have been given the ministry of adjusting people to be right with God. We are in the business of bringing people to the place where they can become a new creation in Christ, where old things have passed away and all things have become new.

He has given us this gospel message, which is the ministry of reconciliation and we are to carry it out. We are like ambassadors representing the government of God in a foreign land. It is a tremendous activity that we must be engaged in. It is begging people to be converted. There's nothing wrong with begging people to come to Christ. Paul says, "We beg you in Christ's name to be reconciled to God.”

Notice 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For He says, “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.” Paul says we have been granted the ministry of reconciliation, the gospel of proper adjustment, and today is the day it must be done.

When Agrippa said to Paul, "Are you trying to convert me?" He put his finger right on what is the goal and objective of every believer who confronts an unbeliever. We're in the business of converting people in the power of the Holy Spirit. We can get so smug in our sanctification and so happy in our fellowship, that we forget the whole world of people that are going to hell constantly. And we must always keep that perspective.

At the end of the gospel of Mark our Lord in laying down the simple commission said this, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." At the end of the gospel of Luke 24:46-47 he said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

This is the gospel commission. Ephesians 6:19-20 says, "And pray for me that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” He says, "Pray for me because I ought to speak the gospel boldly." That is a prayer we ought to pray for each other all the times, right?

Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” Do the work of an evangelist. Nobody has the gift of evangelism. You just have the command. We are in the business of changing people's lives. As somebody says, "Are you trying to convert me?" Of course we are, that is our call.

Remember what the scene was like? That auditorium, where Festus was, used to be Herod's palace. It was just a display of fancy with all the pomp that goes with the king and everybody important was there and here came the apostle Paul. And at that point Agrippa took over and began questioning Paul and we come to the beginning of Paul's testimony.

Acts 26:1, “Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself.” Verse 2-3, “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, 3 especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore hear me patiently.”

Here was Agrippa, a Jew who had been educated in Rome, a man whose total allegiance was toward Rome, a man who played politics with Israel but really down in his heart he was a Roman. And Paul felt that this guy being Jewish will understand the character of my argument. And being Roman he will be more objective in evaluating it. He won't be swayed by the Jewish hatred of Jesus Christ.

His key message is that Christ is the Messiah as proven by his resurrection. His resurrection is proven by my transformed life. And so Paul goes through how his life was transformed when he met Christ on the road to Damascus. And in effect he is saying, “I couldn't argue when the Lord Jesus Christ himself, raised from the dead, struck me down on the road to Damascus, changed my life, and commissioned me into the ministry.

Paul wants to give his testimony because he wants the people to see the change in his life that Christ made. Proof of Christianity is that there is a transformed life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation.” So Paul is saying, “Agrippa, I want you to know what Jesus did.” Agrippa needed to hear what Christ had done in his resurrection power and Paul wants to tell him and everybody else who hears.

Acts 26:4-5, “My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. 5 They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.” From childhood on Paul was educated at Jerusalem. He is a Pharisee.

Having talked about the conduct of his past life he now goes into his condemnation. Verses 6-8, “And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. 7 To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. 8 Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?”

What was the Jewish hope of the promise? The Jewish hope was the coming of the Messiah to deliver Israel. Israel had been struggling against bondage and they knew nothing but fighting and slavery. They were ruled first by Babylon, then the Persians and then the Greeks and now by the Romans. The resurrection was their hope that the Messiah would deliver Israel and set up His kingdom.

So Paul says, "I'm being condemned for believing what all the Jews believe." Now in verse 7 he says, "Look, this isn't anything that I have invented. All the twelve tribes agree to this." Paul didn't believe there were only two tribes and the other ten were lost. I am being accused for having hope in the Messiah. Why should it be incredible with you that God is able to raise the dead?

Well Agrippa probably thought, "Sure, but what we don't believe is that Jesus is the resurrected Messiah.” He knew that the Jews believed in resurrection but that they wouldn't accept the resurrection of Jesus. Matthew 28:11-12 says, “Some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. 12 When they had consulted with the elders, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers.”

This was just bribery! They said in verse 13, "Tell them: his disciples came by night and stole him while we slept." Now if they were asleep how could they possibly testify that the disciples came and stole the body? And if you get in trouble with the Roman governor for sleeping we'll take care of that. Verse 15, "So they took the money and did as they were taught and this is the saying commonly reported among the Jews until this day."

Verse 9-11, “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them.”

Verse 11 continues, “I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” Paul is referring to the fact that he was a member of the Sanhedrin and he actually voted in the death of Christians. So he says, "I know how it is because I used to feel that way about Christ and I didn't believe He was the Messiah and I was really strong. I went out under the authority of the Jews and I slaughtered Christians."

Paul begins his conversion in verse 12-13, “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, 13 at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.” That is really bright because the sun at midday in the Middle East is really bright.

Verse 14-15, “And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Jesus said to Saul, “give up, you can't win.” He was smashing his head against a stone wall. “15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Acts 26:16-17, “But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you.”

Verse 18, “To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” Paul says the Lord told me that I had been given a ministry of turning people from darkness to light. It was a commitment to convert people.

Notice in verse 18, the first thing you have to do with unsaved people is open their eyes because they are blind. Jesus even said about Israel in Mathew 15, “They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” When the Word of God comes along men all of a sudden see what they never saw before, and that is sin. The word of God in the hands of the Holy Spirit opens men's eyes.

Every man in the world is under the power of Satan or the power of God. In Ephesians 2:1-2 it says, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” Any human being in the world other than a Christian is guided by the spirit of Satan that works in him. He needs a total rebirth.

And in a sense Paul was saying, "Forgiveness is available, Agrippa. Whatever you and Bernice have done.” In addition there is a bright future. He gives you an inheritance among them who are sanctified. And so Paul quotes to Agrippa the words of Jesus, as they were given to him in Damascus. I pray that we too will touch the life of an unsaved person to convert them to become a child of Jesus Christ. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 20 May 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180520 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000003B imblog

Acts 25:13-27

This again, is historical narrative, and we are studying the apostle Paul, and the pattern of his life. The Holy Spirit has, for an explicit reason, given us this historical narrative, so that we might emulate the man, as the man was. We need to remember two things; the pattern that Paul used in evangelizing, and the boldness of his person. This is the example of a man who knew what we have to do in presenting the gospel.

Christians are definitely trying to convert you. This is the goal for which we go into the world, to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ, that they might be redeemed. And some Rabbis have argued that the Jews don't try to convert the Christians; so why do the Christians try to convert the Jews? Because our Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 28, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, making them My disciples."

But look at the response here. Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuaded me to become a Christian." There are a lot of sermons where many people are almost ready to be saved, on the verge of coming to Christ. But that is not what this is saying. The Greek statement is “Are you trying to convert me?” It's mockery. We know what Paul says is right. Yes, that is absolutely what we are trying to do.

The Apostle Paul wants to gain the heart and soul of Agrippa. The goal in this passage, is to get Agrippa clearly into a position where he understands the gospel and can make the right decision for Christ. At this moment the Apostle Paul has already been proven innocent, in four different hearing situations - before the mob, before the Sanhedrin, before Felix and before Festus.

Paul has not blasphemed God by desecrating the Temple, as he was accused of. He has not defied Israel by disobeying the Mosaic Law. He has not defied Rome, by being an insurrectionist and creating riots against the government. He has not done any of those things, and all of those courts, both Jewish and Roman, have attested to the fact that he has not done those things.

He has been kept a prisoner, because the Roman Governors don't have the courage to release him because they know the Jews want him dead, and they are afraid of the Jews. They are afraid that there will be riots, and they will have a hard time coping with them, so by acquiescing to the Jews they delay it. So this is just blackmail. That is an old story with Roman Governors. The Jews treated them all the same way.

Paul should have been released; he has been proven innocent on four occasions. But they still have him in prison in Caesarea. Paul, realizing that this just can't go on like this, realizes that his life is in danger, he knows he is not going to get justice in Caesarea. So the only recourse left to him is that as a Roman citizen, who was brought before a court anywhere in the world, he can appeal to Caesar.

And in Acts 25: 10-12, Paul makes this appeal to Caesar. In verse 12, Festus says, all right, "To Caesar shall you go." Now, that was a bold move because, as I mentioned before, Nero was crazy, and submitting himself to the judgment of Nero wasn't necessarily a good way out. But Paul did it, because he knew that the Lord, in Acts 23: 11, had promised that he would make it to Rome.

Paul was obedient to God's will, to go to the place God had designed for him, and he really wanted to go to Rome. Deep down in his heart, he had a desperate desire to go there. When he wrote the letter to the Roman's earlier, at Corinth, he said to them, "That I desire to come to you. I long to see you, to impart some spiritual gift." Romans 15:24 says, "On my way to Spain."

Now, there is a big problem here. In the appeal that Paul makes to Rome, Festus must acquiesce and send him there. But, along with the prisoner, there had to be a report, and the report had to contain the accusations against the prisoner on which the trial and the case were based. But there were no accusations that had proof, so there was nothing to write down. There was nothing of which he is accused of worthy of bringing up.

There were no witnesses to attest to anything. All they had was a desire, on the part of those Jewish leaders, to have that man killed. They knew he was innocent. It was the same with Jesus, it didn't matter that He was innocent. They hated what Jesus stood for. They hated the fact that He rebuked their sin. They hated the fact that He unmasked their hypocrisy, and they hated Paul the same way.

But, fortunately for Festus, a man named Agrippa happened to arrive on the scene, making a courtesy call on this new procurator. Festus had just been inducted into the governorship of Judea, and his neighboring vassal King was a man named Agrippa. And Agrippa just happened to arrive, to cement relationships. And Agrippa was perfect to help Festus in trying to find an accusation.

Festus knew that the reason he couldn't really figure this thing out, was because it was a Jewish thing. And when Agrippa, the Jewish King, arrived, he figured here is a guy who is able to solve this mess. Verse 13, “And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus.” Agrippa and Festus then have this brainstorming session to determine what they are going to do with Paul.

Now, this was purely a courtesy call. Festus was the superior to Agrippa. Even though he was the King, he was only a vassal King. He was what Queen Elizabeth is to England. The Roman Government had subjugated all of Israel's own authority. So, he was really Roman oriented with Roman allegiance, though he was Jewish. But, as a King, he was in charge of appointing Priests and Jewish worship. So, he knew all this.

Now, Agrippa was one the Herod's. The Herodian family was a family of Kings, and they ruled in the New Testament Era. You can go all the way to Herod the Great, and extend all the way to this Herod Agrippa II, he was the last of the Herod’s. Now, Herod Agrippa II was the brother of Bernice, and this is one of the most infamous relationships because they lived in incest. Bernice was also the sister of Drusilla, who was the wife of Felix.

Herod Agrippa II was the son Herod Agrippa I, who beheaded James and imprisoned Peter. He is the man, in Acts 12 who decided one day that it would be Agrippa Day in Caesarea. He invited everybody to come and he made a proclamation. And all the people said, oh what a man, this is the voice of a God and not of a man. And he loved it. And an Angel of God right away punished him and he was eaten by worms and died.

Herod Agrippa's uncle had beheaded John the Baptist, and his great grandfather, killed all the babies at Bethlehem. So, it was really a bad family. He was really eager to help Rome. He lived in Rome, until his father died in 44 A.D. Claudius, the Emperor of Rome wanted to appoint him to the Kingdom that his father had, but he was too young - only 17. So, they waited till he was 23, and then they gave him a part of the territory.

Now, in the Jewish War, which really brought about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. he tried to prevent the Jews from revolting. He tried to keep the peace. And in fact, when Vespasian moved his troops against Jerusalem, he joined the Roman army and fought against Jerusalem. So, he really was a traitor to Judaism. He died in Rome, the last of Herodian Dynasty.

Now, Bernice was his sister. Historian Josephus, tells us that they lived in incest. And Bernice fooled around, and once in a while she had a lover, but would always comeback because the lover would dump her. In fact, the son Vespasian, Titus, the one who really caused the destruction of Jerusalem, took Bernice as his lover. But when he got her back to Rome he dumped her, and she went right back into the incest with Agrippa.

Agrippa had a very good reputation in Jewish matters. The Apostle Paul acknowledges him as "an expert" in Acts 26:3. Verse 14-15, “When they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying: “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix, 15 about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him.”

They did not want a trial. The implication is, they just wanted an execution. Verse 16, “To them I answered, ‘It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him.” He said to Agrippa, "I told them that Roman law prohibits executing a man without a trial.”

They tried to blackmail him, but he didn't let them do it. And so he said, "You come down and we will have an official trial." Verse 17, “Therefore when they had come together, without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in.” Verse 18, “When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed.”

Festus had probably some idea of what the man had done. Claudius Lysias did; remember he thought Paul was that Egyptian rebel. But when he got in there he says, "I found out that there was no accusation of anything that I had imagined." Fetus said, "I've got a problem now. This guy here was innocent of the whole matter. I inherited him from Felix. I know the Jews want him dead, but I can't figure out what he did.”

"Now, the guy is appealing to Caesar, and I have to send him to Rome, but I don't have anything to report. Will you please help me out of this mess?" He finally concludes, in verse 19, "The only thing I know is, they had some questions against him about their own religion." He didn't understand Judaism. He said further, "And about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.”

Could you believe that? This guy is out of his mind. Why do they bother with him? I don't understand this thing. Any intelligent Roman knows you don't rise from the dead. But he goes around affirming, 'Jesus is alive.'" So what? He didn't understand the implications of the resurrection because he did not understand the implications of the execution of the Messiah. He didn't understand the life and work of Jesus Christ.

And the issue is always the resurrection. Verse 20, “And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters.” Actually the Jews pressured him into trying to get him to Jerusalem, because they wanted to ambush him on the way. But here he says, "I determined to take him to Jerusalem, so there is a solution."

Verse 21, “But when Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I could send him to Caesar.” Now, let me say a word about Augustus. Augustus is not a proper name. Augustus really is an adjective. The word in Greek is ‘sabastas’, which literally comes from the root, to worship. And who was the Revered One? The Augustus Caesar of this day was Nero.

Verse 22, "Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, he said, “you shall hear him.” This was probably one of the most dramatic scenes in all of the New Testament. Verse 23, “So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at Festus’ command Paul was brought in.”

Verse 24, “And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer.” Verse 25, “But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him.”

Verse 26 -27, “I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write. 27 For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him.” This is an honest man; he says, “I have nothing certain to write to my lord."

The stage is all set for Paul to preach. Everything that ever happened in that man's life, he turned around to evangelization. And whole place is jammed with people who do not know Christ. In the New Testament when you read about church meetings, they pray and eat together, have fellowship and study the word of God. But they never meets to evangelize, it goes out into the world to do that.

Next you will see how dramatic and dynamic Paul’s presentation was. He just unmasks the sin of those people and he tears Agrippa apart. In Acts 26:1, we see the beginning of Paul's testimony. We have seen the consultation and circumstances, and now here is the commencement. We ought to have the knowledge of the Word of God to be ready to give an answer to the man who asks us for the reason of the hope that's within us.

The Lord Jesus was the master of taking every opportunity and turning it to himself. A woman at a well needs water and she finds out that Jesus is the water of life. She can have a well of water springing up into eternal life. A lot of people need food, and Jesus feeds them bread and then turns around and says, "I am the bread of life." A candelabra, sits in the middle of Temple; Jesus walks in and says, "I am the light of the world."

The High Priest takes the pitcher of water and pours out the water and they're all thanking God for the water and Jesus says, "I am the water of life. If any man thirsts, let him come unto to Me and drink." And so, the Apostle Paul speaks. Two years he was in a Caesarean prison, and all he could ever talk about is Jesus Christ. Can we be like him? Come back next week to hear what Paul has to say about Jesus. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 May 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180513 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000003A imblog

Acts 25:7-12

The Word of God is such a treasure when you realize what is in there, the riches that are there to be discovered. We have found that many of the deepest treasures in the book of Acts are down under the surface. Most of the doctrine and spiritual principles are implied or illustrated. An example of that is this passage with many principles, and let us learn how God will nourish us with it.

We see in this passage the hatred of religious people toward Christ and Christians. We see also the binding power of sin illustrated. Then we see evidence of the sovereign providence of God; and then the way in which the world persecutes. We see also the innocence of the life of Paul and the effect that such a life had. We also see the exoneration of Christianity in terms of a political or criminal activity.

We see the courage of a committed Christian. We see, how a Christian is to behave toward his government, and also his attitude toward persecution. Finally, we see the impact of one totally dedicated life. These are tremendous principles. None of them are new. All of them the Holy Spirit just puts in this narrative here as a reminder. Like Peter said, "I will not cease to put you in remembrance of these things."

As we discussed the last time, Acts 25: 1-5 was the assassination plot. The Apostle Paul, has been accused by the Jews of three things. First, sedition, that is, crimes against Rome, being an insurrectionist. Then sectarianism, that is, being a heretic; and lastly sacrilege, blaspheming God through the desecration of the temple. These accusations are all false and without evidence, and yet, they are made against him.

As a result of this, Paul found himself before Felix, the governor, to be tried. Felix knew Paul was innocent, but he didn't want to upset the Jews who wanted him dead. So Felix kept him in prison for two years. At the end of two years, Felix was taken from his assignment and hauled back to Rome. As Acts 25 opens, Festus arrives in Caesarea to take over his responsibility.

He came to Jerusalem, then in verse 2 the Jews asked to bring Paul to Jerusalem where they planned to ambush and kill him. Festus didn't know that but answered in verse 4 that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and he himself would depart shortly for there. If you have anything to bring against the man, let's do it in Caesarea. Persecution against Christianity often comes from false religions.

Satan, who disguises himself as an angel of light and designed all the systems of false religion, of course is antagonistic toward Christianity. Throughout the book of Acts it is the Jews, the religionists, who persecute Christ. And when I say Christ that means both Jesus Christ when He was alive, and those who teach what He taught and believed in Him as their Messiah. All other belief systems continue this persecution.

The only times Roman persecution broke out was when it was a religious issue. Satan brings all the unbelievers into the systems of false religion and they are in opposition to the truth. That's why an ecumenical movement is absolutely ridiculous. The only way they could ever get together is if Christianity is run by Satan, because he is running Judaism and Islam. True Christianity is a rebuke to all other religions in the world.

Jesus said, "He that is not with me is against me." If Christianity is Jesus Christ, and anything other than Christianity is in opposition to Him, there can be no communion there. Throughout history, it has been the religionists who have persecuted the truth. Go back to the history of Israel, and you will find that the biggest problem Israel ever had historically was the problem with the pagan religionists.

We always stand isolated. That is our identity, because all the systems of religion in the world are against Christ. You say, "They don't seem to be." That's the idea. They secretly bring in destructive heresy. It's not always obvious; it's subtle. Some religions are violently anti-Christ, some religions are subtly anti-Christ by being pro-Jesus ethic and nothing more, certainly not pro-Jesus as God in human flesh, the Savior of the world.

A second principle is the binding power of sin. It's been two years since these religious leaders had to deal with Paul. You would think that in two years, they would have forgotten about the guy. But when two years is up, and Festus, the new governor arrives, the first thing they say to this guy in verse 2 is all about Paul. Hate really drives itself deep, then it stays there. That's the character of sin: it's binding.

In John 8:30-32, “As Jesus spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus says, I'm glad you believe, but the proof of the true faith is if you continue. And if you continue in my word, you are truly saved, and the truth shall make you free.

Jesus implied that they weren't free. They were slaves. Of course, they didn't like that. They said, "We are Abraham's seed." They thought that just because they were Jews, that meant they were really free. They said, "We have never been in bondage to any man." How about the Egyptians, the Babylonians? Have you forgotten the Medo-Persians, the Syrians, the Greeks, and the Romans? "Well, we're talking spiritually."

Jesus answered them in verse 34, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” They were slaves. Sin is a slavery. Sin binds. The only way you could cease being a bond slave was to die. We need to realize that when you were crucified with Jesus Christ, as Romans 6 says, you died in Him, you were freed from death, and became a slave to a new master.

A third principle that we saw in the passage was the providence of God. In spite of what seemed to be the normal course of events, God was ordering all things. "Hey Festus, why don't you take Paul up to Jerusalem? We want to do proceed with his case," He said, "No." That's strange. But instead of saying yes, he says no, and there isn't any reason to say no, other than the fact that God is in control over everything.

I feel peace when knowing that God is in control. Lamentations 3:37-38, “Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed?” Nothing happens for good or evil unless it is allowed by God. Festus didn't know it, but he was just moving along on the divine timetable. The truth is that God controls the destiny of every person.

Now let us look at the text where we see the assassination plot, then the accusation presented in verses 6-7, “And when he had remained among them more than ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, he commanded Paul to be brought. 7 When he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.”

They present many charges and complaints. We find here another principle which is: the world persecute falsely and for Christ's sake. Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:11, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” In other words, they do not hate you, they hate Christ. It isn't you they resent, it's Christianity.

Next principle, the effect of an innocent life is powerful. 1 Peter 3:14, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” If you suffer for sin, that's a different story. But if you're suffering for righteousness' sake, if you are living a godly life and all of a sudden, you are accused of following Christ, you are blessed.

Verse 15-16, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.” Take care of what you are, what you say, and make sure of what you think.

Christianity is not a revolution, it is not a political threat, it is a personal relationship to a living God, and the world doesn't have to fear Christianity. God has established that in His Word. So every time there is a trial of Christians in Acts, Christians are exonerated. So why did the Romans start persecuting them? Well the Romans worked long and hard to come up with a unifying factor that could pull it all together.

What they decided was Caesar worship. They established Caesar as a god and demanded that everyone worshipped the emperor. Once a year, every inhabitant of the Roman Empire had to take some incense, burn it for Caesar, and then publicly declare, "Caesar is lord." After that, he could worship any god he wanted to, but he had to believe first in the god Caesar and declare that verbally.

We know that no Christian would do that. Salvation is confessing Jesus as Lord. That's the testimony of a believer. And because of that persecution began. Now remember the persecution is not political, it is religious. They then persecuted the Christians for religious disloyalty. It's always false religions that lead persecution against the truth. It was then that martyrdom began.

A Christian is a model citizen; a Christian is someone who conforms himself to the government for his own conscience's sake, as well as for the sake of what God would do to him if he didn't. 1 Peter 2:12 says, “Have your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

Acts 25:8 says, “Paul answered for himself, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all.” He had not done any of these things. That's the end of the case. You don't bring a case into court and say, "He did this and this," and the judge asks for evidence and you say, "There is no evidence. I'm just saying he did it." There is no case.

Verse 9, “But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?” That sounds like a compromise. They wanted to have Paul go to Jerusalem and they as the Sanhedrin would judge him. No, says Festus, we'll go to Jerusalem because they want that, but I will be the judge.

By this time, Paul is a little bit upset. He shows it in verse 10, “So Paul said, “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know.” Now Festus did know he hadn't. In verse 18, when Festus later on talked to Agrippa, he said, “When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed.”

Verse 11, “For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.” He says, "It isn't death that I'm avoiding; it is justice that I want. I know Roman law, and if I haven't done anything, there is no reason to deliver me to them." That is courageous.

“I appeal to Caesar” was not just an offhand comment; that was an official appeal. This brings us to the appeal proposed. In fact, an appeal could be given before or after the verdict of the lower court. All the Apostle Paul had to do was to say, "Ad Caesar emprovoco" and that case ended on the spot and was transferred to Rome. This was one of the rights of a Roman citizen, and that is what Paul does.

Appealing to Caesar wasn't really that great when you consider who Caesar was. Nero was an immoral man. He killed Brittanicus, the son and heir of the emperor Claudius. He killed his mother, Agrippina, to please his lover, Poppaea, who was the wife of someone else. He burned Rome and got mad at Poppaea and killed her by kicking her in the stomach when she was pregnant.

He wanted to marry his adoptive sister Antonius, but she refused his request so he killed her. He married Messalina after he assassinated her husband, and he spent his career assassinating all the best citizens of Rome because he couldn't stand good people. Finally, he did the smartest thing and killed himself, which delivered everyone.

In this principle, we see the courage of a committed Christian. The Apostle Paul stands up and does two courageous things. He rebukes directly the governor of Judea, Festus. Then he puts himself in the hands of a maniac. Courage is born of confidence in God. I know that he believed that God could overrule Festus and God could overrule Nero, and on that basis, he was courageous.

Verse 12, “Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!” He could have done this two years earlier, he could have appealed. But Paul has laid out for us here a pattern that believers should follow. We are to put ourselves in the hands of government, because the government is an institution of God. If you fight against the government, you are resisting God.

Paul, by his attitude, disconnects Christianity from Judaism in another way. The Jews had fanatically been anti-Roman; Paul makes it clear that Christianity and a condescension to government and authority go together. Civil government, in whosoever's hands it may be, is no less a divine institution and is to be obeyed; even if Nero is on the throne, when Paul said this. Let us put ourselves in God’s hands too. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 06 May 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180506 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000039 imblog

Acts 25:1-7

We come to Acts 25, and we are examining the last years of Paul’s life, which were spent as a prisoner. First in Jerusalem, then in Caesarea, and finally in Rome, at which point he was executed. He has, as far as we know it, completed his missionary journeys. Though in his imprisonment at Rome, he was able to do a bit of mission work. The Holy Spirit tells us, the trials and defenses of the apostle Paul during this period.

Why is it that from Acts 21 through Acts 28 we are so heavily saturated with the various defenses Paul made before the various tribunals and judgment seats of men? There is no church founded, no great missionary deeds started. There is no doctrine taught in our passage this evening, or in the entire Acts 25. But for the most part, it's just more historical narrative that becomes so typical in the book of Acts.

We have reached a strategic point in Paul's life. First, he was mobbed in Jerusalem; they tried to kill him. Then the Romans rescued him and he gave the first phase of his defense to the Jewish crowd. Then the Romans decided they'd take him to the Sanhedrin and try him there. He gave his second defense there and left them in chaos. After that, the Romans took him to Caesarea and tried him before Felix.

There he gave his third of defense. And now the Holy Spirit leads us into Acts 25. And the same thing occurs again--Paul is lead before Festus, the next governor of Judea and he gives his fourth defense. And he does the same thing again in Acts 26 before the king Agrippa. Again and again, the apostle is seen defending himself in his trials. As we look at this passage, we are going to look for some divine principles that are hidden.

We are going to see some profound principles that are hidden in this passage. But that doesn't make them any less important. First, the power of an innocent Christian testimony. Every time Paul was tried before a court of the world, he was always rendered innocent. His innocence stood as a tremendous rebuke of their own sin. And we see the power and the impact of a blameless life.

Secondly, we see the hatred of religious people toward Christianity. The most volatile hostility in the world toward Christianity comes from other religions. The reason for that is that Satan is the master of all these other religions. Satan is fighting our triune God. And the truth is that what is happening now in our society where the fight between conservatism and liberalism is in full swing, is actuality the same spiritual warfare then.

Historically, the greatest persecutors of Christianity have been religionists. Whether it was Judaism, which now is like pagan worship of anything else outside Christ, or whether it was Caesar worship. It was always a worshipful mask that covered the face of persecution. Don't expect religious people to be tolerant; because Satan is the head religionist and he's always fighting Christ and Christianity.

Another thing that we see here is the binding power of sin. Have you noticed that when someone begins to sin and becomes a captive to that, the sin habit becomes almost unbreakable? That's what Paul meant when he talked about being a slave to sin. And we see how Spirit-filled Christians always create problems in the world, because the world is always opposed to what Christ does in their lives.

Another principle that we see here is the courage of a committed Christian. One of the lost virtues for many Christians, is courage. Courage is the outward side of faith on the inside. Courage is just the legitimizing of my faith; if I really believe God, I'll step out. Courage is in response to faith, and we see here the tremendous courage of Paul. I mean, he did things that showed courage because he believed God.

One of the early criticisms of Christianity was that it was a political activism, a political overthrow orientation. In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit records all the trials of Christians before the Roman world because they always come out innocent. The church was innocent of any political activity to overthrow any government. Unfortunately, some Christianity has become politics. It's to the defamation of Jesus Christ Himself.

Another principle is the power of the totally committed life. We wonder, what one person can do. If you look at Paul long enough, you'll see what one person can do. He affected everyone. From the simplest man on the street to the palace of Rome, he showed the impact of a totally dedicated life. Another principle that we're going to see is the principle of the providence of God, where God works out all the circumstances to get His desired results.

Now as we look at the text in Acts 25, the first twelve verses deal with Paul before Festus. We will be considering the first twelve as a unit where they deal with Paul before Festus. Now, Felix had been recalled to Rome. He had been cornered by the Jews. He was so inept and had made such a mess, that the whole of Judea was in an uproar. Riots were going on everywhere.

They decided it was time to get rid of Felix, so Rome recalled him in dishonor in A.D. 59 and replaced him with a man named Porcius Festus. That is told us in Acts 24:27, “After two years," that means two years of Paul being in prison there, "Porcius Festus came into Felix's palace." Felix had left Paul bound a prisoner, even though he had never been accused of anything, because he wanted to pacify the Jews.

So Festus inherits not only the political problems of Felix, but also the prisoner of Felix, namely Paul. Historians don't tell us a lot about Festus other than to say that, for the most part, he was a good administrator. Josephus, who is probably the most informed historian of that period, makes the statement that Festus was better than Felix and better than Albinus. Albinus was the governor who followed Festus.

Festus was not a procrastinator like Felix. He was one who dealt with things as swiftly as possible, and we'll see that in this account in Acts 25. The first is this, the assassination was plotted. The second point will be the accusation presented. So as we come to verses 1-5, we see the assassination plot toward the apostle Paul unfolding. Because of Felix’s incompetence; he left a legacy of hate.

Verse 1, “Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.” They had taken over the palace of Herod and turned it into the Roman headquarters, where the governor lived and from where he ruled. After three days in Caesarea, he recognizes the need to go to Jerusalem. So he goes up to Jerusalem. The first thing he has to do is pacify the Jewish population.

He must get to know the high priest, the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin; and he must become aware of the customs and politics as they exist in this situation. He knows these contacts are important. Felix before Festus was afraid to do what was right with Paul, because if he did, the Jews would be upset. This isn't anything new for the Romans; they were afraid of history repeating itself.

During the 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, Israel is for the most part dominated by Greece. They were governed by Antiochus Epiphanes which means Antiochus the Great One. And during that period a man named Judas Maccabeus started a revolution. So every Roman governor was concerned. So Festus goes to Jerusalem to work on it.

Verse 2, “Then the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul; and they petitioned him.” The first thing that they say to this new governor is about Paul. Two years have gone by and still, the first thing they say to this guy is about Paul. Verse 3, “asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem—while they lay in ambush along the road to kill him.”

They didn't want justice; they just wanted a favor, "That Festus would send Paul to Jerusalem." They were really trying to take advantage of this new guy. He only knows that Felix messed up and wants to pacify the Jews. They were ready to trap him in the very beginning. If he ever executed Paul, they could ask that he should be replaced because he had executed an innocent man.

Paul has been in jail for two years and hasn't done anything; but they are absolutely paranoid about anybody who preaches Christ. Here you see the hatred of religious people. They claimed to love God, but they have murder on their minds. The real struggle isn't between all the false religions. The false systems are fighting the truth of Christianity. The reason people hate the truth is because they are in Satan's system.

The reason they despised Paul was not because he was that kind of a person. No, he'd lived his whole life as a Jew before his conversion, and they had loved him. But after he became identified with Jesus Christ, they immediately hated him, not for his sake but for Christ's sake. The greatest persecution toward the truth comes from false doctrine and false teachers who slander us. Satan's hate goes on.

When you see the world as Satan's evil system, don't just think of crime, immorality and war. When you think of the world, think primarily of religion. That is the pinnacle of the development of Satan's system, for he is an angel of light and his ministers are angels of light, 2 Corinthians tells us. The hatred toward Jesus Christ did not come from atheism, it came from Judaism.

All religious systems claim to know God, but the facts are, they don't know God. That's why they despise Christ and all those who follow Him. What is the greatest sin? Look at John 16:9, “Because they do not believe in Me." Jesus says, if I had never come and confronted them, I would never have unmasked the truth that they are not believers.

It is dangerous to live a godly life in an ungodly system. We are the world's conscience. Do you know what the world is like without a conscience? Look at the Tribulation. The conscience is taken in the rapture and all hell breaks loose. The second principle was the power of a godly life to rebuke a godless world. Let me give you a third principle: sin enslaves. Imagine for two years being influenced by hate.

Go back to Genesis 4 and see what hate did to Cain. Look at Esau and watch hate drive a man through his whole lifetime. Go to the sons of Jacob and find out what hate did toward Joseph and the results of it. Go find a man named Saul and see what it did to him. He hated David, and it drove him to the place where he killed himself. Read Esther and find out how hatred drove a man named Haman to be hanged of his own gallows.

It's true when the Bible says that the only one who can break the power of sin is Jesus Christ. Those who have hated are all of a sudden able to love. Look at verse 4-5 now, “Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. 5 Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.”

So why did he refuse them? All of the human factors would have told Festus to take Paul to Jerusalem. So why didn't he do it? He didn't do it because of the providence of God. Who is really running everything? Festus? No, God is in charge. Did you know that God ordains the attitudes and actions of men to bring about His own ends? Do you know that, even in government, do you know who was really coordinating the last election? God.

You say, "Oh, the world is going downhill! It's terrible: politics, hatred, drugs, everything is going wrong!" You know what? God is always at work, praise the Lord! Isn't it exciting to see Him going where He wants to go? I never worry about politics; I never worry about the economy; I never worry about wars and what is going to happen because I trust God, and God is running and controlling all of it.

In Acts 2:22-23, it says, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know. 23 Him being delivered by Pilate." Is that what it says? No. "Him being delivered by the determinate purpose and foreknowledge of God." Who is running it? God is. And God always has a specific purpose!

Let me show you an illustration in Genesis 45:7-8. You remember the brothers of Joseph sold him into slavery? They sold him to a caravan going to Egypt, and he wound up with Potiphar, then Pharaoh, then became a ruler. His brothers arrived, and Joseph talks to them. Look what he says. "God sent me before you to preserve you on earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance."

So who really got Joseph into Egypt? Not his brothers, but God. You know what would have happened if Joseph had never gotten to Egypt? All of his brothers surely died in the famine that came and the Messianic line would have been obliterated. So God preserved that family. So God sent Joseph, in advance, to Egypt to make sure that when the famine came, Joseph have Egypt all filled with extra wheat.

That's providence. That's God using the natural circumstances to effect His supernatural desires. Do you know who is running the politics of the United States of America, behind the scenes, to effect His own will even through the evil of men? God. "The most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He will." You may not understand what God is doing, but you can trust Him.

The accusation is presented in verse 6-7, “After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. 7 When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.” May God use these principles to speak to your hearts. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Apr 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180415 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000002B imblog

Acts 24:17-27

Let us look further at Acts 24. Felix was a man who had a great opportunity to be saved but postponed it and forfeited it. Here at our church, are concerned with studying the Word of God and examining every verse. Because 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable." And so we expect the Spirit of God to teach our hearts from this Bible passage.

This deals with this man Felix who was the Roman governor assigned to Judea. The Apostle Paul was on trial before him. Paul had been accused of certain crimes, but all of them were false charges. They had been conceived by some Jewish leaders who wanted to kill Paul because he was a threat to their theological security. So the case finally found its way to the governor of Judea, named Felix.

And we not only see Paul and the example of his life, we also see God at work. This deals with the legal aspect in the trial, and also the personal aspect of Felix. Few people have had the privilege of having the Apostle Paul in their house for two years. With all of Paul’s brilliance, and all that God could do through him, and all that Felix heard and was exposed to, he should have made the right decision. But instead he rejected it.

There are three parts of the trial: the prosecution, the defense, and the judgment or verdict. The prosecution was discussed in Acts 24:1-9, the Jews accuse Paul of three things: First, he is an insurrectionist who stirs up Jews against Rome, which is not true. Secondly he is accused of sectarianism, he was a religious heretic being a member of the Nazarenes. Thirdly he is accused of profaning the temple against God.

All those charges against Paul are false. But Paul expected this. Throughout the history of the church, we learn not only biblically but historically, that Christians who live holy lives in Satan's world will always have to contend with false accusations. Matthew 10:16 says, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves." Jesus says that when we begin to confront the world with the truth, there is going to be hostility.

Matthew 10:17-18 says additionally, "But beware of men." Your biggest problem will be people. He doesn't say, "Beware of Satan." We know that Satan is working behind the scenes. "Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils and scourge you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.”

Verse 19-20, “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” That is the promise of divine inspiration, and that belonged to the apostles. In other words, He would give the Gospel writers recall of all that Jesus said, accurately.

Verse 22, "You shall be hated of all for My name's sake." Notice the reason for this hostility is not because the person is a bad person; it's because of Jesus Christ. So since Satan is controlling the world, and since he is so strongly against Christ, the system that persecutes the believer is really persecuting Christ. "You will suffer for My name's sake. It is because of the hatred for Me, they will also hate you."

Now, Jesus says in verse 26, "Don't fear them, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden that shall not be known." In other words, don't be afraid of fake news, because there will come a time when judgment will be done and proper rewards will be given and we will know the truth of who deserves reward and who doesn't. Don't fear, God will be make everything right at the end.

Verse 27, "Whatever is going on in darkness will be revealed in light, whatever you've heard in secret, you speak out boldly. What you've heard in your ear, you shout from the housetops because, in the end, God will vindicate and truly reward." Verse 28. "Don't be afraid of those who kill your body, but be afraid of God who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

God knows everything immediately. Anything that exists, He knows. He doesn't count and He doesn't discover truth; He has instant knowledge of everything even before it happens. Now, we should expect trouble and believe that God still will take care of us. You need to be willing to pay the price. Do not be surprised when you get false accusations. Satan attacks Christ through those who call themselves Christians.

Luke 6:22 says, "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.” Have you ever been alienated, ostracized? "And when they criticize you, speak evil of you. He says, "When all that happens, blessed are you, for the Son of Man's sake." They're doing it because they hate Jesus.

Now look at the defense in Acts 24. Paul, having heard their false charges of sedition, sectarianism, and sacrilege against him, decides he will answer them when he is asked to by Felix in verse 10. He replies first to the accusation of sedition. Verse 11 says, I haven't done anything to cause a political revolution. It's only been 12 days since I arrived, and seven days were in the temple purification and five of them I've been here in Caesarea.

Verse 12, when I was in the temple, they didn't find me disputing with anyone, I wasn't inciting a crowd in the synagogue or the city. 13 Neither can they prove the things of which they now accuse me.” The world's perspective is always reversed. They accused Paul, but the man who ought to have been accused was Felix, for his corruption. And the Jews, in turn, for their corruption as well.

In verse 14, he answers the second accusation, that he was practicing religious heresy. He says, “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.” I do worship according to Christianity. But in fact, I consider myself, in the truest sense, a Jew. I worship the God of my fathers, and believe the Law and Prophets.

Verse 15, “I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.” In other words, "I am committed to the facts of Judaism right down the line. They are the heretics." The implication is that they're not worshiping the true God; they don't believe all things in the Law and Prophets, and they don't believe in the resurrection. So Paul indicts them.

The third accusation was sacrilege. They accused Paul of profaning the temple and was blaspheming God. He replies to that in verses 17 but notice verse 16, “This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” I have a clear conscience; I have not created a riot, I have not gone into a heresy, and I have not blasphemed God.

Then he replies in verse 17, “Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation.” He explains his motive. It wasn't to blaspheme God. I came simply to bring alms to my nation." Alms means money for the needy. Remember he had collected that money from all the Gentile Christians, and he was bringing it to give to the Jewish Christians as a sign of love.

Verse 18 says, "Whereupon certain Jews from Asia," Asia Minor, a Roman province where Paul had preached at Ephesus for three years, "Found me, purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult." Believe me, if he had done what they accused him of, bringing a Gentile into the inner part, there would have been a hassle going on. They just jumped on him and tried to kill him on the spot. They hated Paul.

Verse 19-20 says, “They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me. 20 Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council.” In other words, "If there was a hassle going on in there, you ought to get some of the people who were in the hassle to come here and give testimony. So where are your witnesses?

The only thing they could come up with, in verse 21, “unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.’” The only thing they can accuse me of is making an issue out of the resurrection. Of course, it's only a theological discussion, no issue for a court. And Felix knew this, because he received a letter which explained it.

Claudius Lysias, sent this letter along which said, "Felix, this guy hasn't done one thing to break the law. It's only a theological issue between the Jews." What Paul says in giving his testimony is, "I have a clear conscience. My life is blameless." Matthew 10:16 says, “Be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.” Then you are a rebuke to all those who would accuse you.

So that's the prosecution and defense. The only thing left is the verdict, or the judgment. Part three. What is the only possible verdict that could ever be rendered? Innocent. There are no witnesses, right? The preliminary hearing held at the Jewish Sanhedrin had no conclusion at all, and the only issue involved in the whole thing is theological. What does Felix do? He knows that the Jews have perjured themselves.

But Felix was afraid. What was he afraid of? Well, he has a Roman citizen on his hands, and Roman citizens had certain rights, but he had a worse problem. He had a lot of Jews on his hands who were very angry, which can cause revolutions. Remember Pilate? The reason that Pilate finally allowed Jesus to be crucified is that he wanted to pacify the Jews because he was afraid he'd lose his job if he couldn't rule well.

Verse 22, “But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.” Lysias knew more of Christianity than the accusers did. But Felix, having a more perfect knowledge of the Way, knew what he should have done. But he just permanently postponed his decision.

Verse 23, “So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him.” The history of Paul's trial before Felix just ends there. It's the record of a trial, the record of a man before a pagan judge, being accused by Jewish accusers, but who is innocent. Paul is a holy man, and they can't find anything wrong.

How do we see God in this passage, aside from Paul? We don't know of any sermon that he preached or anything that he wrote there. This may have been a furlough. He had been chased all over for long enough. He needed a rest. Besides, he had so much accomplished in his lifetime and he worked so fast, he probably had only a few years left.

Let us look at Felix in verse 24, “And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.” Felix may have been exposed to Christianity through Drusilla. If, in fact, she was the daughter of the Herod Agrippa of the New Testament, then he would have been very familiar with the beginnings of Christianity.

Paul gave him the content of the Gospel. He told him Jesus was God, born of a virgin, lived a miraculous life, died on the cross for the deliverance from sin, and rose the third day from the dead. Verse 25, “Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

Every person is required to respond. That is the Gospel, you must conform to it or be judged. Paul talked to Felix about his sin, and that he had not lived up to God's standard. The ultimate end is judgment to come. This is the usual pattern for evangelism; one-to-one. Then you say, "But because we cannot live up to that standard, Jesus Christ took your penalty, paid your judgment, and offers you His righteousness by faith."

But what happened? When you keep resisting, your heart becomes harder and harder. A habit starts out as a little silver thread that a child can break, and it soon becomes a cord that a giant can't sever. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation." Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.” Rejection is a guy saying, "I'm coming," but he never comes.

Verse 26, “Meanwhile he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him.” Felix wanted a bribe. "The love of money," Paul says to Timothy, "Is the root of all kinds of evil." He thought that Paul brought all this money to Jerusalem, so he probably had some left.

Verse 27, “But after two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound.” Felix was replaced because there was a big riot in Caesarea and Felix put it down with such violence that the Jews managed to get him recalled from Rome. He turns Paul over to Festus, and we'll see next what Festus tries to do with him.

Some of you have probably thought about receiving Jesus Christ but you've never done it. You've said, "I'm going to do it someday. When I have time." But you never have time and you're lulled into the deceitfulness of sin to think there ever will be. Do not harden not your heart. Come while you still have the opportunity to receive Christ. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Apr 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180408 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000024 imblog

John 20:1-10

John 20 is about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Everything from now on is about the risen Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a feature of Christianity, it is the main event, it is the point of redemption. The purpose of God in creating and redeeming His people is to raise them to eternal glory so that they can worship Him forever. And the resurrection to eternal glory is not only in glorified spirits, but also in glorified bodies.

Our resurrection is secured by the power of God, the power of Christ demonstrated in His resurrection. Because He lives, we will live. Because God was satisfied with the sacrifice Christ offered for the sins of His people, God raised Him from the dead, validating His work on the cross. God said, “I am satisfied,” and Christ ascended to eternal glory, sat down at the right hand of God to bring them all into eternal glory in resurrected bodies.

The resurrection is the greatest event in redemptive history, or in human history. It is the most significant expression of the power of God on behalf of believers. It is the gospel promise. We are saved to be raised from the dead, and into heaven we go forever in that resurrected form. The purpose of salvation is a resurrected people. Because Christ conquered death, because He conquered sin, we will be raised to dwell with Him forever.

All four gospel writers record the actual history of the resurrection. The composite testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is the full, revealed, inspired picture of the resurrection. There are several interesting things to note about it. No one saw the resurrection. All we need to see is that the Person who was dead is now alive and there were many witnesses. And we are witnesses too, because Christ lives in us.

No Bible writer tries to explain the resurrection, because there is no rational explanation. It is a supernatural miracle like all the other miracles that our Lord did. You had the entire creation account of the universe in one chapter. In Genesis 1, you go from absolutely nothing to the entire universe coming into existence in six days. The fact is stated and the results are obvious, but there is no explanation for it given in Scripture.

It is a creative miracle. You can’t study creation from a rational, observable, scientific perspective; you can only accept the miraculous declaration that the Creator gave us. We don’t know anything about how God did creation; but we know it’s there, and He told us He did it in six days. And He is God who can do anything, we don’t question that.

We don’t know how any of the miracles of Jesus occurred. There’s no way to diagnose them or to understand them humanly. And we have no explanation for the resurrection. It happened the way all miracles happened. It happened because God willed it to happen, and by His supernatural power it happened. How it happened doesn’t matter; that it happened matters and there were eyewitnesses.

Oh, there are many evidences given in Scripture. There is the empty tomb, which is a pretty good indication. There is angelic testimony, directly from heaven; and there were eyewitnesses. All of that is described in the John 20 for us. As we come to his account and as we go through this, we will blend in a little from Matthew, Mark, and Luke at strategic points to help you get a better overall picture.

John wants us to see the glory of Christ, even in His death. And he showed us the glory of Christ, because he showed us that Jesus literally was in charge of His own dying. And then He was in charge of His own burial. And He is in charge of His own resurrection. This is all to demonstrate to us “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” so that we might believe that, and by believing “have eternal life in His name.”

The Old Testament promised the Messiah would rise. Psalm 16: “because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. 11 You make known to me the path of life.” Isaiah 53: “He will be cut off,” but He will be made alive. “He will see His offspring,” and He will be eternally glorified and exalted. Jesus promised He would rise. Matthew 26:61, “Destroy this body, in three days I’ll raise it again.”

God says in Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It is the very essence of the gospel. And to signify that on an ongoing basis, Sunday, the first day of the week, became the day that the church meets to worship, the day of resurrection. The church has been doing that since they met with Jesus that evening on the first day of the week.

It is that first day, Sunday that we see in John 20:1-10, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ² Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

³ Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. ⁴ So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. ⁵ And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there.

⁷ and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. ⁹ For as yet they did not know the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.”

Jesus said He would rise on the third day. He had been buried on Friday. He was in the grave a few hours on Friday before sundown. He was there all 24 hours of Saturday. And He would have been there about 12 hours of Sunday, because the Jewish days went from sunset to sunset rather than sunrise to sunrise. Jesus was in the grave on Friday, all day Saturday and about 12 hours on Sunday, which is counted by the Jews as three days.

Mark says it was “very early,” and the sun had risen. Luke says it is “early dawn.” Matthew says “it began to dawn.” John says “while it was still dark.” The integrity of Scripture is maintained in the honesty of these statements. Clearly all of them placed the arrival at the same time. The sun may have just arisen over the eastern desert. But the eastern desert was behind the Mount of Olives, so the city was still in darkness.

It was John who said “it was still dark” when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. What that tells us is that she was the first one there. Now she didn’t start out alone. According to Matthew 27 another Mary, Mary the mother of James and Joses, was with her. But she got there first, she was in a hurry to get there before the other Mary. Now there were even other women who were coming along as well.

The same women who were at the foot of the cross were there on Friday when Joseph and Nicodemus were burying the body of Jesus. So they don’t go anywhere or travel anywhere on the Sabbath. It says in Luke 23:55, “The women who had come with the Lord out of Galilee saw the tomb and where the body was laid.” The Sabbath is over. They are awake on the morning of the first day.

The first thing they think about is getting back to the tomb. They probably think, “We’ll go back and pour some more anointing on the body of Jesus.” So Mary Magdalene comes early to the tomb while “it’s still dark,” but it’s light enough that she “saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.” Now we see an empty tomb. The stone wasn’t rolled away to let Jesus out. It was rolled away to let the witnesses in.

A resurrected Jesus doesn’t need the stone to be removed. He didn’t need the door to be opened that night when He showed up with the apostles and came right in. Mary fears the worst, verse 2, so “she ran.” She is assuming that Jesus is still dead, but taken. And that’s exactly what she says. She runs “to Simon Peter and the other disciple,” who is John, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb.”

Her shock here is clear evidence that they hadn’t planned to steal the body of Jesus. She doesn’t expect a resurrection. She is not part of a plot to fake a resurrection. They would never do that and then go out and preach and die as martyrs for something that they faked. Peter and John run also. “Peter and the other disciple went out,” verse 3, “and were coming to the tomb. The two were running together.”

In the meantime, the other women arrive. And at that time the angels appear to them. Mary Magdalene missed the angel. Now none of these people know what had happened. They don’t know that the Sanhedrin got Roman guards to guard the tomb, and then put a Roman seal on the stone so that no one would come to fake a resurrection. It was a crime to break the Roman seal.

Mark 16:3-6, “Mary the mother of James, and Salome are saying to one another, ‘Who’s going to roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’” They saw the stone had been rolled away, which was very large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe. The angel said, “Don’t be alarmed; you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen, He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” So here you have a second testimony of heavenly angels.

They also don’t know that on Sunday night, God sent a localized earthquake. But before He sent the earthquake, He put all those soldiers under some kind of divine anesthesia, so they all went to sleep. And then came an earthquake, and with the earthquake the stone was rolled away. Matthew 28: 1-4 describes it. The soldiers didn’t know what happened. And the soldiers fled the tomb.

We know they’re gone, because Mary Magdalene never refers to them when she gets there. The other women never refer to them when they get there. Peter and John never refer to them when they get there. They’re shaken by the earthquake out of their divinely induced comas. They know they have failed in their duty, and so they go right back to the Sanhedrin. And they are collective testimony that the body is not there.

Meanwhile back at the tomb, Mary Magdalene assumed that maybe somebody has stolen the body of Jesus. She has no thought of resurrection. She runs to Peter and John; they don’t have any thought of resurrection either. The two are “running together.” John wants us to know that he was faster than Peter. Since he is the author of this gospel he says, “The other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first.”

He was also more hesitant than Peter, and he’s “stooping down, looked in, yet didn’t go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, entered the tomb.” Peter was not shy. Both had “entered the tomb and saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple also entered, and he saw and believed.”

Here is the evidence of an empty tomb: the absent guards; the stone removed; the body gone; the grave clothes neatly lying in place. Now remember that they did not embalm, they wrapped bodies like a mummy. And in the case of Jesus, they had about a hundred-pound weight of spices. And then they would wrap around and around the head the spices as well. So the body was wrapped, and the head was wrapped separately.

Now if somebody stole the body, they wouldn’t unwrap it. It would be a lot easier to carry a body all wrapped up and at least smelling reasonable than it would be to unwrap a corpse and touch the flesh itself. But if that happened, you wouldn’t see the linen wrappings lying in one place where the body had been and the wrappings around the head lying in another place where the head had been. Jesus had just gone through them.

They apostles almost all, with the exception of John, died as martyrs. And they died because they preached Jesus crucified and risen; and if they faked His resurrection, that would have been absolutely the most idiotic thing they could have ever done. How could they sustain it their whole life, die as martyrs for a fraud? The Jewish leaders were more afraid that Jesus would rise than the disciples.

Go to Matthew 28. The soldiers are back at the Jewish Supreme Court trying to explain what happened. In verse 11, “Some of the guard came into the city of Jerusalem and reported “to the chief priests all that had happened.” What do you think they said? “We don’t know what happened. We all fell asleep and then there was an earthquake, and the stone rolled away, and the body is gone. That is all we know.”

Verse 12-13, “When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” How do you know that if you were asleep? Verse 14-15, “If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.”

And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.” The notion of critics throughout history that the disciples were so committed to the resurrection of Jesus that they fabricated it, is completely contrary to the testimony of Scripture. They don’t fully believe it until they see Him and touch Him. The first line of testimony for the resurrection of Christ is the empty tomb, the second is the angelic declaration, and the third is the testimony of the eyewitnesses.

The resurrection is the event by which God validates the sacrifice of Christ. All those animal sacrifices for all those centuries could never take away sin; but the one sacrifice of Christ removes sin on the part of the people of God who believe forever. And God indicated that by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, by ripping the veil in the temple, ending the ceremonial system and the sacrificial system at that point. Christ was the complete and satisfactory offering. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Apr 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180401 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000021 imblog

Isaiah 53:10-12

This is an inexhaustible portion of Scripture, both as to its depth and its extent. It is perhaps the single greatest evidence of the inspiration and divine authorship of Holy Scripture. 700 years before the arrival of Jesus Christ, it records the details that were played out in His incarnation, His humiliation, and His exaltation. The theme is the Servant, who is promised by God to come to bring salvation to His people.

It is also the most comprehensive prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. But I want to begin in Luke 24 where we find our Lord Jesus on the road to Emmaus. He has been crucified but it is now Sunday and He is alive. He has died and risen again. He is walking on the road to Emmaus with a couple of His disciples who are bemoaning the fact that He has died and have no knowledge of His resurrection.

He speaks to them in Luke 24:25-27, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” The Old Testament prophets revealed that the Messiah would suffer and then be glorified.

That was the part that was absent from their Jewish messianic theology. They had a theology of glory for the Messiah; but they had no theology of suffering. And when Jesus says this, He has suffered. With a thorough inspection of all Jewish literature from the past, there is no evidence that they ever believed the Messiah would come and suffer, let alone as a sacrifice for their sins. They did not know that Jesus would die for our sins.

Those are the elements of the work of the Messiah, and those two theologies summarize the entire Old Testament presentation of Messiah. You will find in the Old Testament in the Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings, statements about the Messiah’s suffering and His humiliation. You will also find throughout the Old Testament statements about His exaltation. But the two come together in Isaiah 53:12 .

Here is the most complete messianic prophecy in the Old Testament, 700 years before Jesus arrives, and those details are verified with absolute accuracy by history. What we know from this is that there will be two comings of the Messiah. The First Coming has suffering, death, and resurrection; the Second Coming has exaltation and glory. First He comes as a sacrifice for sin, the second time as the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Both of these are presented by the prophecies of the Old Testament. They are brought together in Isaiah 53 in a way that is almost like the New Testament, where both of these are clearly laid out from Matthew to Revelation. Now in Isaiah 53: 10-12 we meet the One identified in this section of Isaiah as the Servant of Yahweh, the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah. And now we see Him as the sovereign Servant.

To understand this, we need to go back to Isaiah 52: 13-15 where God says, “Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, My people, so His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will startle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him for what had not been told them, they will see and what they had not heard, they will understand.”

All three verbs there used to describe “My Servant” are used to describe God Himself in Isaiah 6. And John 12 says that the vision in Isaiah 6 of God high and lifted up and sitting on a throne, was a vision of Jesus Christ. So we learned that the Messiah here will be as God is, the very essence of God. He will startle many nations. He will literally shut the mouths of kings, who will be stunned at the majesty and glory of His presence.

They will see in Him things they had never seen and hear from Him things they have never heard. This all fits the Jewish messianic glory theology. He is God. He is exalted. He succeeds and He prospers. That’s what that verb means in verse 13. He conquers the world. He subdues the nations. He says things and does things that have never been said and never been done as He exercises His majesty and His rule.

But there is an enigma in verse 14. Many are going to be astonished because it says His appearance is disfigured more than any man and His form marred beyond human likeness. Twice it identifies Him as a man. He is God in verse 13, and He is man in verse 14. As God, He is highly exalted, and as man, He is marred so severely that it is beyond any other man, beyond the form of any of the sons of men.

Who is this? And Yahweh God is speaking. Here is the mystery that is impossible at first to be unraveled, how this glorious person can at the same time be scarred, more disfigured than any human being, and ultimately come out of that, in verse 15, and be glorified. Well, we know what it means. The Messiah will both be humbled and exalted. This is Philippians 2, He humbled Himself and God highly exalted Him.

The suffering Servant fits into the purpose of God. That He would come in humiliation and He would also come in exaltation. Both His humiliation and His exaltation are here promised by God. This is God’s plan; this is God’s promise; these are God’s words. The suffering Servant, the disfigured Messiah is no victim, but rather the victorious Son of God chosen by the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit for suffering and for glory.

How does that happen? Well the answer to the enigma of Isaiah 52:13-15 is Isaiah 53. This explains both His suffering and its purpose, and His glory and its purpose. So Isaiah 53 contains the most important truth ever given. The good news of salvation for sinners by the death of the Servant of Yahweh as the only acceptable sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. God begins and ends this great prophecy.

In between the declaration of God’s purpose and the affirmation of that purpose, comes Isaiah 53: 1-11. Here is the rejection and the hatred of the Servant by a future generation of Jews. Starting in verse 1, all the verbs are in the past tense, and they continue in the past tense. That means that this is not a prediction of something in the future; this is a prediction of something in the past.

But it describes the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is in the future. Yes, but the Jews who are making the confession are looking back to it and realizing that they were so wrong. Isaiah 53:1-11 is basically the content of the confession of Israel in the future when they do what Zechariah 12:10 says, “Look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him,” and forgiveness is open to them and Israel is saved.”

The promise of Israel’s future salvation is laid out in Jeremiah 31, the new covenant. It’s repeated in Ezekiel 36: 22 - 29, where He saves them and gives them a new heart and gives them the Spirit and forgives their sins and puts the knowledge of Himself in them. That’s the promise of the future salvation of Israel. It’s reiterated in Zechariah 12:13. And all of that is affirmed by Paul in Romans 11:25 - 27, “So all Israel will be saved.”

It is then that they will say He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, chastened, punished for our well-being, scourged for our healing. God the Father caused the iniquity of us all to fall on God the Son. He was led as a lamb to slaughter. There is a future salvation for national Israel that is promised in the Old Testament and reiterated in the New Testament.

And Calvin working on the Geneva Bible, placed in the notes of Romans 11 this part, “The blindness of the Jews is neither so universal that the Lord has no elect in that nation, neither will it be continual for there will be a time in which they also as the prophets have foretold will effectually embrace that which they now so stubbornly for the most part reject.” All theologians then affirmed the future salvation of Israel.

They go through this confession until verse 11, and then the final word is left for God. And God affirms their confession in verse 12. And it is God who says in verse 11, “Yes, My Servant will justify the many, He will bear their iniquities.” Verse 12, “He poured out Himself to death, was numbered with the transgressors, and bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.” That is God’s affirmation.

Up to this point, the provisions and the benefits of the Servant’s death have been viewed from the perspective of the people. The final lines from midpoint verse 11 to 12, will shift, and we’re going to hear now God‘s perspective. This is what God has done to His Servant. They have a full soteriological understanding of the cross of Christ. These are Jews in a future generation who make this confession, and they get the whole picture.

This is amazing because remember, this is 700 years before Christ even comes, and these are words coming from Jews thousands of years after that and indicating a complete understanding of the cross. Israel knows then what the reality is. Verse 10, they know that God was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief if He would render Himself as a guilt offering. They understand the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

Men are doing the worst that they can do, and they are pleased to do that. But here, God is delighted to crush Jesus. Men are doing the worst that they can do for the sinless One, and God is doing the best that He can do for sinners. Jesus is God’s Lamb, chosen by the determinate counsel of God; the purpose of God has determined that He will die. It is God who laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Now this is not the death, as some have suggested, of a martyr. Physical difficulties are present, whether they are burned at a stake, killed another way; but if you study the history of martyrs, you find something quite interesting. Throughout the history of the church, you can see that martyrs die testifying to faith in the Lord. Martyrs die with hope in their hearts. Martyrs die under the sweet comforts of grace.

Our Lord’s death was not like that. Why? Because Jesus didn’t die under the sweet comforts of grace. Jesus died under the relentless and unrelieved terrors of Law. Jesus died under divine wrath unmitigated. Jesus died tasting hell. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” No believer ever died like that. But every unbeliever dies like that. Every unbeliever dies tasting hell.

God’s pleasure in crushing His Son in this way was not in His pain, but in His purpose. It was not in His suffering; it was in His salvation. Literally in Hebrew, He would render Himself as a guilt offering, because He would die to save sinners. But the pain and the agony was necessary. He had to die under the full realities of divine law and wrath.

The Jews understand it as the guilt offering. Why would the Holy Spirit put those words in Isaiah? There were five offerings the Jews gave, according to Leviticus, when they had their sacrificial system. There was the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. Three of those were sacrifices. The other two, the grain and peace offerings were not.

Three of them were animal sacrifices that were pictures of the deadly results of sin. But also they were hopeful in that God would allow a substitute to die in the sinner’s place. And the sacrifice of an animal pictured the fact that God would allow a substitute. But of those three offerings the guilt offering is the most comprehensive offering.

The guilt offering, or the trespass offering, added the dimension of restitution or propitiation, which is a verb that means to be satisfied. It was the sin offering and the guilt offering that were offered every day in the morning and evening sacrifices. So they had these offerings going on all the time. It advanced the idea that the sin offering has to have repentance.

The sin offering recognized the existence of sin that brings death and also the hope of a substitute. But the guilt offering, because the whole animal was put on the altar, was the picture of complete satisfaction. The Jews understood that the offering of Christ was the guilt offering in that it was the complete offering. It provided full restitution, and full propitiation, the debt is fully paid and the sinners are free.

But they don’t stop there. Here is more of their confession. The middle of verse 10, “He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days and the good pleasure of God will prosper in His hand as a result of the anguish of His soul He will see and be satisfied.” So Jesus cannot be dead. This is a confession of His resurrection. Now these Jews shift into future tense the results of what He has done. Jesus will see His offspring.

And they have a final word in their confession, verse 11, “As the result of the anguish of His soul, He will see and be satisfied.” He will see the plan to its completion. He will see the redeemed gathered in. God is satisfied by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and Christ is equally satisfied by seeing all His children gathered around His throne forever, loving, worshiping, and serving Him in His presence in heaven.

God will rejoice over the salvation of Israel that we are talking about in the future. And so will Christ. And as the result of the anguish of His soul, literally, He will see His spiritual offspring, including Israel, and be fully satisfied. The Servant’s full joy and satisfaction comes from providing righteousness, redemption, forgiveness and eternal heaven for His children. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180325 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000019 imblog

Acts 24:10–16

It starts out as the trial of Paul before Felix, and it ends up as the trial of Felix before Paul. Here is an illustration of the tragedy of postponing a decision about Christ. Acts 24:24-25 says, “And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. ²⁵ Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

Jesus commented on discipleship in Luke 9:57-61, “someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” In the back of his mind he was thinking, "That's the way I'll get to the top." Jesus said, “You will suffer if you follow Me. I have no worldly goods.” The man never followed.

Look at the next man. Here, he is invited by the Lord to follow Him. But he answered, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." Well, the point was, the father wasn't even dead yet. He was really saying, "Yes, I'll follow You as soon as I get my inheritance." What was the implication? Lack of faith. "I'm not going to preach the kingdom without any money to support myself." Did not trust Jesus.

Look at the third one who said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” I want to go home and get everything fixed up and in order." Jesus said, "No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." That's procrastination, materialistic motive, lack of faith, and the third guy puts worldly issues first.

People who postpone are gambling with their lives. This is what happens when a person continually rejects. Even though he has good intentions of someday, that someday begins to fade. Luke 13:24 says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” The narrow gate is the way of salvation. “For many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” Few will be saved, verse 23 says. Because your own heart can become hard.

Secondly, God stops calling after a certain point. In the pre-Noah time, God said, "My Spirit will not always strive with man.” We meet such a man named Felix in Acts 24. Now in this passage, we find Paul and Felix confronting each other in a trial. We have been looking at it from Paul's viewpoint and as we conclude our study, we will look at it from the viewpoint of God and Felix.

The Jewish leaders desired to kill Paul. They had one great fear, and that was that they would lose their authority, their power, their prestige and position in the eyes of the people. So anyone who came along and won a great following of the people was really a threat. Paul had great success in winning Jews to Christ, and of course, the leaders began to be fearful, so they set about to kill him.

They had tried to kill him three times in a riotous situation, and once they had tried to kill him with a plotted ambush. After those four attempts, the Romans finally decided to get Paul out of town to save his life because Paul, after all, was a Roman citizen and they had to protect him. Secondly, he had committed no crime. So the Romans brought him down to Caesarea and put him in protective custody.

The accusers of the Jews went to Caesarea to bring the case before Felix. And then these accusers came, attempting to get Paul executed for crimes of which they will accuse him. Paul has been in Caesarea for five days, waiting for his accusers to arrive. Finally they get there. They hired a certain lawyer named Tertullus to inform Felix as to what Paul had done.

He praised Felix, thanking him for all he has done. That was just flattery; they really hated Felix, and Felix knew it. Here is their case: "We have found this man to be a nuisance." They had three accusations. First, treason. He is a threat to the security of Rome because he leads the Jews in insurrection. He leads the Jews to riot against Rome.

Secondly sectarianism; they accuse him of being a ringleader of the Nazarenes, who were Christians. That is what they had called Jesus, the Nazarene. When they put on the cross “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,” that was supposed to be a mockery. This implied, too, that it had political overtones, because many similar sects of Judaism were militant.

Thirdly, they accused him of sacrilege. "Who also has gone about to profane the temple." There were territories in the temple forbidden to Gentiles, and they accused Paul of bringing a Gentile into the place. He hadn't done it, it was a lie like the rest of them. Then they said, "Whom we took and would have judged according to our law," but of course, that was a lie too. They wanted to kill him in that riot.

Then Lysias came and took Paul away because they were trying to kill him. And he commanded his accusers to come to you. “So if you will just examine Lysias," verse 8 says, "He will tell you that what we say is true." Then they brought their witnesses in verse 9, and they all said, "That's right, we all say he did that." So they had prosecution from their lawyer and witnesses to agree to it. But these were all lies.

Now let's look at the defense, and watch how Paul defends himself. He does it calmly, courteously, and categorically. Verse 10-11, “Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: “Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, 11 because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship.”

Notice that Paul doesn't have a lawyer. No, he had someone better than a human lawyer. When Jesus was leaving He told His disciples, in the Gospel of John, that He was going to send another Comforter. The word 'comforter' is from parakletos, 'a lawyer for the defense'. He didn't have a human lawyer, but he had the divine lawyer for his defense.

Every word he said to Felix was the word of the Holy Spirit. So it was Paul talking, but it was the Holy Spirit moving through him. Paul says, "Felix, you have been a judge long enough around here to make a fair evaluation, so I am glad to give my case." Felix had been governor for five years. Prior to that, he was under Cumanus, the governor of Samaria, for four years. So for at least nine years, he was acquainted with Jewish affairs.

Now, you would have to know Jewish customs to make any judgment in regard to Jewish affairs. Paul is, in effect, saying, "Felix, I know that you have been around long enough to know that this is a theological problem, and to know the real reasons behind this, and I am glad to give my defense, because I know that you understand that." He was telling the truth and there is no flattery here.

Flattery, for a Christian, is unacceptable at all times. Flattery is when you say something that is beyond the truth to elicit something for yourself. When you hear Tertullus say, "Oh, most wonderful Felix, oh, most noble, ect, ect." It's not true; and everybody knew it and Felix knew it. Proverbs 26:28 says, "A flattering mouth works ruin," and Psalm 12:3 says, "The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips."

So Paul replies first to the charge of sedition in verses 11-12, “Because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. 12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city.” Paul is saying, "I haven't had time to start a riot.” And that is right.

He did not have the personal responsibility of ministry there. Why would he feel that way? Acts 22:17-18, 21 says, “Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ 21 Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’”

Jesus Christ Himself, by direct revelation to Paul, said he was not responsible for the ministry in Jerusalem. There were already tens of thousands of Jewish Christians there and evangelism, for the most part, in the city of Jerusalem, was a one-to-one thing. They were winning others. So Paul did not sense this tremendous drive for confrontation that he sensed in other places, so he had done none of these things.

Verse 13, “Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me.” So he denies the charges and makes clear the fact that they can't prove them. He has done nothing treasonous. Secondly they accused him of sectarianism; being a heretic. Paul cannot deny his Christianity, but he also wants to make sure he denies their charge.

Verses 14-16, “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. ¹⁵ I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. ¹⁶ This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.”

The Way is the title of Christianity. Jesus said, "I am the way." Peter said in Acts 4:12, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Peter even uses it in 2 Peter 2:2, “And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” So Paul says, I am a believer in the Way and I truly worship my God; and I believe all of His revelation, including resurrection.

The high priests are the real heretics, who have ceased worshiping God, because there is only one way to God. Jesus said, "No man comes to the Father but by Me.” If you believe the Law and the Prophets, you have to believe in Christ, because all they talked about was Christ. They had charged him with belonging to a subversive offshoot of Judaism. Paul denies it, while at the same time he affirms that he is a Christian.

Paul says that Christianity is true Judaism, and Judaism without Christianity is the same as worshipping a totem pole. They are heretics because they don't worship the true God, because you can't worship Him except through His Messiah. They don't believe the Scriptures, because if they believed the Scriptures, they would worship the Messiah. Add to that they don't even believe in the hope of Israel, which is the resurrection.

Becoming a Christian is not forsaking the God of Israel, it's coming to Him the only way: through Christ. Paul was a completed Jew. Romans 2:28, "He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; he is a Jew who is one inwardly. His circumcision is not of the flesh but it is of the heart." The only true Jews in the world are Christian ones. The rest are apostate. The true Jew is the one who continues to obey God through the Messiah.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16:22, “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.” In Romans 9:6, Paul says the same thing, "All Israel is not Israel." Paul is saying, I'm the only true Jew here who has come to the Messiah. In addition, he says, "I believe all things that are written in the law and the prophets." Why? If you believe the Old Testament law and the prophets, you have to believe in Christ.

Most Jews reject Christ, so then they have to also reject the Old Testament. That's why today, most Jews don't believe in the literal truth of the Old Testament. They have explained it all away. The only thing they live by is the Judaistic ethic. In fact, most Jews don't even believe in a Messiah anymore, they believe in a Messianic era. But to deny Jesus as the Messiah is to deny the Old Testament.

Jesus said in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” In Luke 24:27 on the road to Emmaus, Jesus opened up the Old Testament, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” You can't study the Old Testament and not come to Christ.

Even though I have not been born into Israel, I am better off and so are you, as a Gentile Christian, than an unbelieving Jew. Luke 12:48 says, “To whom much is given, much will be required.” Romans 11 says that God, in His wonderful grace, chose to graft us in. The unbelieving branch was cut off, and God grafted us in. But the Bible says there will come a time when Israel is also going to be grafted back in. In fact, then all Israel shall be saved.

The traditional hope of the Jew was the resurrection. Isaiah 26:19, Job 19:26, Daniel 12:2, in the Old Testament all taught resurrection. Abraham believed in a resurrection, that's why he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. Paul says, as one who believes in God and His word, and in the hope of the resurrection, that causes me to want to live a pure life. I don't want to offend God, and I don't want to offend man."

You ought to live a life that fits the Word of God if you really believe it. Paul stood up and said, "I'm innocent. Check my life." Can you do that? Can you stand before the world blameless, void of offense? So Paul defends himself and sets the stage for the verdict, which we will discuss the next time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Mar 2018 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180318 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000018 imblog

John 15:9-17

Starting in John 15, we have this definitive statement about distinguishing a false branch from a true branch, a false disciple from a true disciple, a false Christian from a true Christian. He does it with this analogy of a vine and branches. If you are attached to Christ don’t leave. Give evidence that your faith is real. If you leave, you demonstrate that you are a fruitless branch, you never had eternal life, and will be cut off and burned.

In other words, if you are connected to the vine, the life of God, which is pure and holy, will manifest itself through you. You will be characterized by righteousness: by righteous thoughts, righteous words and righteous deeds – not perfect, because that divine nature is still incarcerated in unredeemed human flesh, and only when you get rid of this sinful body will you be perfect.

Our Lord says words that are familiar to us in verse 9 and 10, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” For us, that statement in verse 9 is so important: “Abide in My love.” “Stay in the place of My love.” Jude 21 says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.”

Well, how do you stay in that circle? How do you do that? You love Him in return. How do you demonstrate that love? Go back to 14:15. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:21, “He who has My commandments keeps them is the one who love Me.” Stay in the place where you can receive the maximum outpouring of love. If not you’re going to get disciplined. Hebrews 12:6, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens.”

When we think of friendship, we think of equality. We don’t think of hierarchy. We don’t think of commands, and submission and authority. But that rather strange reality of “you can be my friend if you do everything I say to you” is exactly what Jesus says in this passage. “I want you to be My friend. But if you expect to be My friend, then you must do everything I ask you.”

Verse 12-15, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

Verse 16-17, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.” It seems strange in calling people friends to keep repeating to them commands, but that’s exactly what our Lord does.

Now, I know there are a lot of things in the Bible that people don’t understand. There are some things that we don’t understand because we can’t, because there is an infinite reality to them and we have finite minds. There are eternal realities we cannot grasp; there are a lot of them. Just try to think of eternity and see how that works. So there are things that we can’t understand because we are finite.

Old Testament writers were actually writing as the Spirit of God spoke to them, and they wrote it down, and then Peter says they read what they wrote to try to figure out what they were talking about, because they were talking about the future and they wanted to know what time, what person they were writing about. The Messiah hadn’t come, and gone through His life and death and resurrection ministry.

I love the things that I can’t grasp because it proves to me the Bible wasn’t written by men; it is one of the marks of its divinity. However, there are some things that people think are hard to understand that are not. One of those things is the doctrine of divine election. God elects people, predestines people to salvation; wrote their names in a book before the foundation of the world.

Just so you know where we are in this text, it is Thursday night of the final week of our Lord’s life. Friday He will die on the cross. The whole evening has been spent with the disciples. They were all there at the beginning, all twelve of them, for the Passover meal in the upper room. After the meal has ended, Judas was dismissed; Satan entered him, and he will come to the garden, arrest Jesus, and put Him on the cross the next day.

It’s an amazing night. It was the last official Passover meal. Our Lord has for all the hours as recorded in John 13, 14, 15, and 16, been making amazing promises to His disciples. He has been giving them some warnings along the way; but primarily, these are words of great promise. And as they walk, the Lord, one more time, gives them an amazing promise: “If you do what I say, you can be My friends.”

And our Lord then, in John 17 summarizes it in verses 25 and 26 with this final statement: “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” This is where the love of God is promised through Christ to all who belong to Him.

But love hits its high point in John 15:12-17; and the high point, of course, is verse 13: “Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends.” In this paragraph that we just read, the Lord expresses His love and commands His disciples to love Him and to love others, to live in love. We are to love them and love each other. Love defines this relationship.

And it is a very unique kind of love. In verse 14, we read, “You are My friends.” But in verse 15, it says, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Jesus identifies the disciples as slaves or servants who are also friends. This is a new dynamic reality: we are servants who have now become friends.

The word “friend” in the Greek is philos. It’s from the Greek verb phileō which means “to love, to have affection for.” Jesus says, “You are My friends – servants who are loved.” There are no secrets. Verse 15 basically says that I will tell you everything. Everything the Father has revealed, I pass on to you. You know Me better than anyone knows Me. You know Me most intimately.”

If you say you’re a Christian, then immediately you would say, “Jesus is Lord.” That’s what sets a Christian apart. Caesar is not Lord. And by the way, in the ancient world, everybody was confessing “Caesar is Lord.” Along came these other people saying, “No, Caesar is not Lord. Jesus is Lord, and we are slaves of Jesus. We are intimate friends of Him.” You can’t even be a Christian unless you confess Jesus is Lord.

Romans 10:9-10, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” It is an essential required confession and belief, and it demands heart submission.

“Jesus is Lord.” That is the Christian confession, it is the word Kurios. The word “Lord” means “one who has power, ownership, and absolute authority.” It is used 750 times in the New Testament, and its meaning is not in question. When the New Testament refers to Jesus, it primarily refers to Him as Kurios, Lord. The lordship of Christ is clearly declared throughout the entire New Testament.

When you say “Lord,” that’s slave talk. You are saying, “He is the Master with absolute power and absolute dominion.” But now the church is much less interested in theology; and practically speaking, evangelicalism. It’s really all about me. They have really been influenced by the culture. The church has become an assembly of people who think they are there to tell God what He needs to do for them, what He needs to give to them. Jesus said in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call Me Lord and do not the things which I say?

Christians are servants. The Bible doesn’t condone slavery. It recognizes that it is and has been a social construct, but it assaults every unrighteous abuse of every kind of relationship, including that one. But we recognize, that that may be the best of all possible relationships because you are bought and owned, and cared for, and protected, and provided for, and rewarded, and loved.

Have you heard the word doulos? It means slave. It appears 130 times in the New Testament. Now, you won’t find them because almost all of those are translated by the word “servant” or “bondservant.” A slave is someone who is bought and owned. A slave was somebody who had no personal rights and no freedom. That is very different from being a servant. A servant is someone who serves. A slave is someone who is owned.

I’m not free under Christ. My freedoms are defined by Him. My duties are defined by Him. My convictions are defined by Him. My words are defined by Him. My actions are defined by Him. My relationships are defined by Him. Everything in my life is defined by Him. When I said, “Jesus is Lord,” I have yielded up total submission to the control and commands of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul says, “You are not your own, you were bought with a price.” Acts 20:28 says again, “the church of God which He has purchased with His own blood.” 2 Peter 2:1 refers to “the Lord who bought them.” Revelation 5: 9, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seal; for You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”

What does it mean to be a Christian? Oh, Jesus wants to come into your life and fix everything, make you happy, and give you what you want. That is an absolute lie. That’s the same thing the devil promises to people. The message of the cross is, “Jesus is Lord and if you want to follow Him and receive forgiveness of sin and salvation, you confess Him as Lord, and you become His slave.”

The whole New Testament is based on it. We are chosen. Do you see what He said in verse 16: “You didn’t choose Me, I chose you”. I went into the slave market of sin. I chose you. I bought you. I own you. I care for you. You’re dependent on me. I discipline you, I reward you, I protect you, and you obey Me so willingly because your heart has been changed, that you’re not just slaves, you’re also friends.”

I’m so blessed to be His slave; to be chosen, bought, owned, provided for, all my needs protected from all harm, and one day, I will be more than a friend; I will be a son with full inheritance. I will be a joint heir. Revelation says I will be in heaven, sitting on the throne with Christ, my brother, and inheriting everything that God has. You are a slave who became a son; Jesus is a son who became a slave.

You are a slave who will receive all the glories of heaven when the reality of you being a son is fulfilled. He was a Son who possessed all the glories of heaven and emptied Himself of them to become a slave. Jesus shows us what that slavery is: “Not My will, but Thine be done, all the way to the cross; if it means death.” That’s taking up your cross, emptying yourself, denying yourself, and following Jesus all the way to death.

And as a result Philippians 2 9 says, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” That’s the name Lord. Revelation 2:17 says, we too will be given a a name of honor that no one knows except him who receives it.” We will have a personal name that God gives us in our exalted condition. All you should want at the end of your life is to hear, this, “Well done, good and faithful slave.”

The New Testament shows the same pattern, Matthew 20:16 says, “Many are called but few are chosen.” John 3 says that “the Holy Spirit saves whom He will, when He will.” And this is a divine work. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that is not even of yourself, it’s a gift of God.” James 1:18 says, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth, He regenerated us by the word of truth.” Revelation 13:8, “Those whose names are written from the foundation of the earth in the book of the life of the Lamb.”

Why does God do the choosing? Because no man on his own seeks after God. And more importantly, He does it because He is God, and it is for His glory. Do you think you did something that made God obligated to do something for you? No, Romans 11:36 says, “For of Him and through Him, and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever.”

Is there injustice with God? No. Because, as He said to Moses in Romans 9:15-16, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Salvation is His choice, He chooses to make us willing, and then makes us His own. This is the doctrine in the Bible that crushes pride, exalts God, produces joy, grants honor, motivates holiness and gives hope to us as believers. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Mar 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180311 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000017 imblog

Acts 24:1-9

Let us turn to Acts 24. Some passages in the Scripture are very theological and some books are very much historical narratives, and this is one of those. Often, doctrine is implied rather than stated. So what we are really seeing is the moving of God in the life of one man, Paul. Last week, we saw the providence of God during the attack on Paul. We learned that God works today more through providence rather than through miracles.

However, the miracles God performs today primarily are the miracles of the new birth. But this is not the time when people are doing miracles. This is the time that God is ordering His will through providence. Again a miracle is when God violates the natural world to accomplish His purpose. And providence happens when God uses all the circumstances of the natural world to accomplish His purpose.

Nevertheless, God is still continuing work. But it looks like God is now beginning to phase out the apostolic miracle era. In the beginning of Acts, you see miracle after miracle. Then all of a sudden toward the end, you begin to see that God starts working more with His providence through the circumstances rather than injecting Himself and violating what is the normal flow. God begins to work through the circumstances.

Remember, early in the book of Acts when Peter and John were in jail? An angel just came down and escorted them out. Later in the book of Acts, what happens? Through a series of circumstances and decisions between the Romans and the Jews, Paul gets out. But it isn't miraculous; it is providential. So we begin to understand the changes in the way God works. It becomes more and more a historical narrative.

In the background God is continually moving. In this evening's discussion, we will only get to Acts 24:9, although we would need to cover verse 27 to get the whole story. Of course, you will have to come back next week to see what God is moving toward, because that is good too. It is the story of Paul, but it is also the story of Felix. Felix was a bad man in every sense. He was corrupt and he stole someone’s wife.

When she was still a 15-year-old girl, she married another man, a king. But Felix seduced her and stole her. Tacitus, the historian, said about Felix, "He had the office of a king but he ruled it with the mind of a slave." He had opportunity but he blew it. But the greatest opportunity lost in the history of man is Judas. Can you imagine living three years in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and still being condemned to hell?

But there is another one like Judas, and his name is Felix. Do you realize that, as we will see in our story today and next Lord's Day, Felix had the Apostle Paul living in his house for two years? You say, "Well, maybe Paul didn't say anything." You don't know Paul. That's opportunity. There wasn't a mind like him; there wasn't a man like him. But Felix rejected all that Paul stood for and proclaimed.

His name is Antonius Felix and he is the governor of Judea. He follows in the line of Pilate. He ruled in Judea from A.D. 52-59, and the reason he ruled is because his brother, Pallas, was close friends with Claudius. So he got the job that way, not because he had any great qualities. His term as governor was marked by trouble; the Sicarii, the professional assassins, were around during his time.

He did manage to quell some riots, but he overdid it to the extent that he killed so many people that he alienated the Jews he was trying to protect. They hated him. And he comes off, in this story, not only as indecisive and a procrastinator, but also as a coward. As we look at this passage, we have to take it as one unit from verses 1-27, even though we will divide it. It is the trial of Paul before Felix.

You can look first at what Paul is doing (that's what we will do tonight), you can look at what God is doing (that's what we will learn next week), and you can look at what Felix is doing (that's what we'll sum up the next time). You could use this to teach about the attitude of Paul in trial. You could use it, to teach about the tragedy of procrastination. And you could use it to teach the providence of God.

Paul is the man who took the Gospel to the Gentiles, and he really took three tours to the Gentiles. As we come to Acts 24, he has just finished his third mission trip. This is the last of his trips as a free man; he is now a prisoner. His ministry as a prisoner took place in three cities: Jerusalem, Caesarea and Rome. He only spent a few days in Jerusalem, a few years in Caesarea, and then he went to Rome.

Claudius Lysias, was the ruler of Fort Antonia in Jerusalem, and he assumed Paul must have done something terrible for people to try to assassinate him. But he tried to get an accusation but couldn't. So he decided to torture Paul and stretched him out on a rack to scourge him, but Paul reminded the soldiers standing by that he was a Roman and in a panic, they cut him loose. So there still was no accusation.

Claudius then decided to take him before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council. But they started fighting each other, and he still didn't have an accusation. So he wants to keep his job, and he can't execute a Roman citizen who is guilty of nothing. But in an area like Jerusalem, he needs to pacify the Jewish people or he will have a riot on his hands, and maybe lose his life and job because he hasn't been able to keep the peace.

Then he finds out that the Jews want to kill Paul. In order to try and get out from under the burden, he takes Paul out of town in the middle of the night and uses 470 Roman soldiers to escort him to Caesarea. Well, he has turned Paul over to Felix now, but now Felix is saying, "What should I do?" Felix too has a sense of Roman justice and an obligation to Rome. And without an accusation he has to pacify the Jews too.

Acts 24 is divided into: the prosecution, the defense and the verdict. Let us look at the prosecution. Claudius Lysias sent Paul and a letter with him, saying, "I'm sending this guy, but as far as I can see, it's only a matter of Jewish theology. He hasn't really done anything for which he should be put in jail or killed." He gives Paul a verdict of innocence. Then, he says to Paul's accusers, "Tell Felix what Paul has done wrong.”

These Jewish leaders wanted him dead. He was a tremendous threat to them. You see, he undermined their security. They loved their spiritual prominence. Then Paul came along and called them hypocrites, and preached Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Messiah, the very one they had deemed a blasphemer and executed through the Romans. So Paul did the same thing Jesus had done - he was destroying their theology.

Besides, he was winning Jews to Christ all over the place, and this was really creating problems. So they marched down to Caesarea for 60-miles to accuse him. We see the prosecution in verse 1, “Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.” In addition to Ananias, there were the elders, the key leaders of the Sanhedrin.

They hired a smooth-talking orator, Tertullus. He probably spoke eloquent Latin, and he was the guy they were going to have plead the case. It says at the end of verse 1 that, “He gave evidence to the governor.” Verse 2, “And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight.”

Tacitus, the historian, says, "Felix thought he could do any evil and get away with it. He indulged in every kind of barbarity and lust." Verse 3 gets even more exaggeration, “we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.” Felix didn't believe it, but he was there smiling because those Jewish people had to endure all this baloney. There was nothing noble about him at all.

Verse 4, “Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us.” The real truth was that he didn't have anything to say. Verses 5-9 give us the accusation. Notice that the accusation falls into three categories, sedition, sectarianism and sacrilege. Sedition is a violation of Roman law; sectarianism is a violation of Jewish law and sacrilege is a violation of God’s law.

First, the accusation of sedition can be translated as treason. Verse 5, “For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” What that really says is he is a nuisance. Nowadays you would say, this man is a pain in the neck. That isn't an accusation, it is just a general statement.

Sedition is against the Roman government. Paul is accused of creating sedition among all the Jews throughout the world. There is insurrection, riots are happening. Paul would preach, surely someone would get angry and stir up the riot, and he was usually there when the riot was happening. But Paul could never justifiably be accused.

Notice the exaggeration, “He is a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world.” He doesn't name any riot, because if he had named any area, it would have immediately removed the responsibility from Felix to that area under whoever had jurisdiction there. The accusation of treason is just not true. He created dissention everywhere only because people responded to what he was preaching.

All through Acts, Christians are on trial for their preaching. With great detail, the Holy Spirit records all the features of the trial. Why does the Lord feel that all the details of all these trials have to be here? The Lord put it here because throughout history, in the early church in particular, Christianity was always condemned on the basis that it was treasonous, that it was an insurrectionist movement, a revolutionary movement.

In Acts, it is clear that they were innocent of any violation of civil law. Christianity is not political treason. Jesus said in Matthew 22, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's." Paul said in Romans 13, “the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” 1 Peter 2 says, "Submit yourselves to the kings and governors and police." Christians are not political insurrectionists; Christians should be first class law-abiding citizens.

Claudius Lysias had already written a letter where he said, “I perceive this to be a question about their law, having nothing to do with death or bonds." In other words, "It isn't a legal matter for us to consider, it's strictly a theological issue between them." This is a vague, non-specific charge, which is really inadmissible as any kind of evidence. The second accusation is sectarianism against the Jewish people.

Verse 5 says, "A ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." Six times in the book of Acts, Jesus is called a Nazarene. It was a term of contempt. There were a lot of Messianic groups at the time. So by calling Paul a ringleader of this sect of the Nazarenes, he throws him in the bag of troublesome, Messianic offshoots of Judaism. From their Jewish standpoint this is heresy. He is anti-Jewish and he violates Jewish laws.

The third accusation appears in verse 6, “He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.” Now the temple was very sacred. There was an outer court, and it was where the Gentiles could come. But Gentiles could not go past the barricade into the inner part of the temple. In fact, there were signs posted there, disallowing them to go in. If a Gentile went in, he would pay with his life.

The Romans allowed the Jews to have the right of capital punishment for that offense only. The Jews had to get the Romans to crucify Christ, because in any other area of violation of their law, they had no right to take a life. When Paul was in the temple, these Jews from Asia Minor who saw him there, accused him of bringing a Gentile in there. He hadn't done that, but they just used that as an excuse to kill Paul.

It's amazing to me that religious people are often the most immoral and unethical. Throughout the history of civilization, you find terrible things done by Christians. Things like the Crusades, where the 'Christians' marched across Europe to take the holy places from the Turks, and while they were marching, they slaughtered all the Jews along the way so the Jews wouldn't hassle them about the holy places, all in the name of Christ.

That is why Jews have a hard time with Christians. They know that Germany was the birthplace of the Reformation of Christianity, the home of Martin Luther. And the Catholics and Protestants are still killing each other, and all in the name of Christianity. This is not true Christianity, but does the world understand that? True ethics and true morality only come with a true relationship with God.

What happened when they came and accused him? Some manuscripts do not include the end of verse 6, all of verse 7, and the first part of verse 8. Let's just accept that it is still in. So what Tertullus is saying is, "Look, he has profaned the temple and if you'll examine him, you'll find this out." But Paul didn't do that. That's the problem.

So in verse 9, he brings in witnesses, “And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so." They just perjured themselves, lying blatantly. In the name of God, 'servants of God' they called themselves, 'lovers of God, lovers of the law and here they are lying in order to preserve their religion and to execute a man they didn't want around. This is a clear illustration of what all Christian should expect.

The Apostle Paul loved those people. In his heart, he had compassion for Ananias and the elders, just as we would for Jewish people. There's no need to even separate them. You don't love the Jews as a little glob in the corner as some strange commodity, these are just people that God loves. Yet, in God's wonderful plan, they have a unique place. Come back next week and hear the defense of Paul. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Mar 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180304 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000016 imblog

Acts 23:12-35

We are studying Acts 23 as we look again at the life of the Apostle Paul as he is now a prisoner. There are some who desire to take his life. Paul had just been through three riots, all directed at him. He escaped death three times. And now, he is alone in his cell, and the Lord Jesus comes to him in person in verse 11, and says, “Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also in Rome.”

The Lord comes in the middle of the night to a lonely, forsaken and discouraged apostle to strengthen his heart. All the world, it seems is plotting against him. The Gentile world is antagonistic just from a pagan standpoint, and the Jewish world was very antagonistic because he preached the Messiah they rejected. Perhaps he felt a bit like David, who wrote these words in Psalm 56.

Psalm 56:1-4, “Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; fighting all day he oppresses me. ² My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High. ³ Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. ⁴ In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?”

In verse 12, there is an incident that happens that allows Paul to know for sure that his confidence is well-placed in the God who will deliver him. It took two long years from the time of the promise, in verse 11, to the time that he gets to Rome. But all through that time, he never waivers. God made a promise and he believed the promise. God immediately, in verses 12-35, sealed that promise.

In these verses nothing about the Lord is mentioned, nothing about the Holy Spirit, nothing about salvation, nothing about redemption, nothing about the Messiah, nothing about any Christian doctrine that is described anywhere else in Scripture. There is nothing about anything practical for the Christian life, and there is nothing here in terms of actual doctrinal instruction.

But this has to be one of the greatest illustrations in the entire New Testament of the providence of God. God does things in two ways, through miracles and through providence, and they are different. A miracle happens when God breaks the natural process to invade it in a supernatural way. Providence is when God gets His will by using the natural circumstances to accomplish what He wants.

How many times have you read in the Bible, "God came and did this," and that's a miracle. How many other times have you read, "So-and-so did this, so-and-so did that and all of a sudden, it all worked out the way God wanted it." That is the difference between miracles and providence. A miracle is God invading the natural world supernaturally; providence is God supernaturally using the natural to accomplish His will.

So in Acts 23 we see the same thing: the providence of God. It is the use of the natural events rather than the miraculous. For example these are miracles: the Apostle Paul being stoned at Lystra and the Lord raising him from the dead. The Apostle Paul being in jail and the Lord used a local earthquake that only opens the jail doors and chains. But through providence all of the circumstances are woven together to accomplish God's purpose.

So this is a beautiful illustration of the providence of God. Of course, some people have a difficult time trusting providence. There are today a lot of people who always want a miracle. But providence is really an even greater miracle. Because God can accomplish whatever He wants to accomplish through the ordering of things exactly in the way that He desires to accomplish His will.

God is saying to Paul, “I'm going to take care of you. I know your needs. You are sitting in a cell, you are upset, and then Jesus came and comforted you. There is a murder plot against your life. Leave it to Me, I will take care of everything. And as we see this murder plot unfold, we see the providence of God as He weaves together all the circumstances to accomplish the protection of His child.

The murder plot was formulated in verses 12-15, and the plan in the life of Paul is very much like the life of Jesus. Both were Jews, both were preachers of God, both were rejected by their own people, both had murder plots against them, both stood before a confused Sanhedrin, both were prisoners of Rome. Paul knew the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus (Philippians 3:10) like no man that ever lived.

Verse 12, “And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.” Now here is the plot. Disappointed at not being able to kill Paul, a group of these zealots planned another way to kill him. They were very determined as indicated by the phrase, "They bound themselves under a curse."

They invoked the vengeance of God if they didn't accomplish it. Of course that is dumb. That is why Jesus said, "Swear not at all neither by Heaven or Earth." But they wanted to include God’s name in it so they appear very holy. "We will kill him or God strike us dead," They wanted God in on the murder plot. It's interesting to note that the rabbis provided absolution for those who just couldn't come through with their vow.

The reason they were so violent is that they were influenced by Satan. Satan wanted Jesus and the Gospel destroyed. The rebellion began in Heaven, and it continued on earth. Even when God began the plan of redemption to send the Messiah, Satan still fought against it. He tried to have Herod kill Jesus by killing all the babies, he tried by tempting Christ, by killing Christ, by sealing Christ in the tomb. But Satan cannot win.

Verse 13-14, “Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. 14 They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul.” They didn't want Paul in front of the people making another speech or he might wind up persuading too many of them.

Verse 15, “Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.” It was an ambush and the plot was formulated. “Did the Sanhedrin agree?” According to verse 20, they did agree. Even though some agreed with Paul, they were probably outvoted.

But here we see the wheels of providence move as the plot is found out. Verse 16-17, “So when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” Paul's nephew found out about the plot somehow.

God worked the circumstances to have that boy hanging around the conspirators to get the right message. Then this boy had the presence of mind to go and warn his uncle Paul. This is step one in the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus. Verse 18, “So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you.”

Verse 19-21, “Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside, and asked privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” 20 “And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more about him. 21 But do not yield to them, for more than forty of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for you.”

Here is a youth asking the Roman commander not to give in! You can see how God is superintending all this. So the whole plot was found out. Verse 22, “So the commander let the young man depart, and commanded him, “Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.” The commander did not want another argument with those Jews. He was wise.

Claudius Lysias, the commander, doesn't want to take sides. He wants Paul out of town, to protect his life and Claudius' position; and he wants to turn him over to Felix and let him deal with it. To get him to Caesarea, over at the coast, was smart because that was a Gentile-dominated territory. There was less likelihood of a revolution, or assassination. So he calls his forces in.

Verse 23, “And he called for two centurions, saying, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night.” So each man would take the 100 troops that were under him, and this is the heavily armed infantry. Verse 24, “and provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”

Verse 25, “He also wrote a letter in the following manner.” Luke records for us this letter verbatim, but he never read it. This is a good illustration of divine inspiration. That's how the whole Bible has been written, by inspiration of God. The letter was probably written in Latin, so the Spirit of God had to give it to Luke in Greek. But the Spirit does well at translation!

Here is the letter, starting in verse 26 till verse 30. It is a typical letter where the guy is writing to his superior and he pads his case. Verse 26-27, “Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings. ²⁷ This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. Coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.” He summarizes the events that have brought him to this place of sending Paul.

No, he didn't know Paul was a Roman until he had already rescued him and strapped him on the frame to be scourged. Only then did he find out that Paul was a Roman and panicked. After he found out Paul was a Roman he quickly halted everything. But, instead he says, "So I came to the rescue with the army, having understood that he was a Roman," protecting his rights as a Roman.

Verse 28-29, “And when I wanted to know the reason they accused him, I brought him before their council. 29 I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains.” I followed due procedure, I took him to the council. And he concluded, the whole issue is Jewish; it has nothing to do with Roman law.

He is stating in verse 29, the innocence of Paul. If you go back in the history of Israel, you'll find that the leadership of Israel has been corrupted through the centuries. They lifted up evil men and murdered good ones. They did it to the Messiah, they did it with Stephen, and they're trying to do it again with Paul. Israel's history is filled with the killing of those that God has sent with His message.

Verse 30 is really the key; Paul would never have been able to go from Jerusalem to Caesarea unless there was a reason. The normal reason would be because there was an accusation against him. Since there was no accusation, Claudius says, "I'm sending him for protection," and that's legitimate. Verse 30, “And when it was told me that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him immediately to you, and also commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him.”

It was a smart thing to do; he saved his neck and his reputation, with both the Romans and the Jews, by acting wisely and cautiously. Verse 31-32, “Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. 32 The next day they left the horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the barracks.” The distance from Jerusalem to Caesarea is almost 60 miles.

Once they entered Antipatris, they were in Gentile territory. Verse 33-35, “When they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. 34 And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also have come.” And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.”

The governor said, "Keep him in my house." Do you know that it used to be the palace of Herod? He wasn't able to enjoy it since he declared a day in which he was going to honor himself and God struck him and worms ate him because he didn't give glory to God in Acts 12. So his palace was taken over by the Romans and turned into the house of the governor.

Paul had been escorted by 470 soldiers and now, he was going to stay in the palace. God is taking care of him. This passage tells me things about God even though the name God isn't mentioned. First, it tells me God is faithful. He makes a promise in verse 11, and right in the morning He carries out the fulfillment of it. Paul is 60 miles closer to the promised destination in the first day.

Second, God is caring. He knows how much Paul can handle. He knew how much Paul had endured, and He knew it was time for Paul to go first class. People always think God wants everybody to be poor, destitute, and barely scrape by. No, God knows when He needs to carry you. The Lord knows those things. It is His delight; fear not little flock, yes that means all of you. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Feb 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180225 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000015 imblog

Acts 23:4-11

In Acts 23, the Apostle Paul is facing the second phase of his trial. He has been captured and this is the beginning of his life as a prisoner. It doesn't hinder his ministry. It just gives it a new dimension. But in this particular situation, we find the Apostle Paul, as so often in his life, under stress, but maybe this is most severe stress he has ever known. He knew that he was in the last phase of his life, but he did not know when.

Even though he said in Philippians 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain," he did have plans to go to Rome. He wanted to confirm the Christians there. He had just been through a terrible ordeal, a riot in which his life was at stake, but rescued by the Romans. He faced being scourged. Rescued from that, he now is brought to face the high court of Israel, the Sanhedrin.

Here is a great illustration of how the Lord ministers to one of His children in need. Here is the Apostle Paul, conscious of the potential of death in his own life, and aware of the tremendous trial that he was going through. And in the midst of this, we see a God who comforts him, particularly as we will come to verse 11. We Christians have a God who is not to be feared but, rather a God who comforts us.

There are times when we wonder where God went. Or if we don't wonder, the question enters our mind, “Does He care? Master, do You care if we perish?” What kind of a God do we have? Listen to Isaiah 49:14, the people of Israel said, “The Lord has forsaken and forgotten me.” Listen to God's answer, “Can a woman forget her nursing child? I have engraved you on the palms of My hands. I see you before Me all the time.”

I can see Paul in this situation when he becomes pensive and thoughtful after this phase of his trial is over, and he is alone in a cell. And maybe he is thinking, “Does God really know that this could be the end for me?" Remember what Jesus did in Mark 4:39, “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” Does He care? Yes, it is proven He cares.

Yes, our God is gracious, and He is forgiving. You say, "But is that true at the times when we fail?" Yes, because grace and mercy and forgiveness can only happen in times of failure. Do you understand that? If there is no failure, there is no grace. If there is no failure, there is no forgiveness. Now we see Paul, and he might think he failed and look at God's response to that error.

Now look what happened to the Apostle Paul. The Sanhedrin is hastily convened in Fort Antonia by Claudius Lysias, the commander-in-chief, and they try to make sure what this man has done. The Romans saw the crowd trying to murder Paul, and they didn't know what the accusation was. Claudius assumed there must be a crime, or they wouldn't have been trying to kill him in the temple court.

So, in Acts 23 the session of the Sanhedrin is called together. And we see three major points in this text: the confrontation, the conflict, and the consolation. Paul says, "I stand here convicted of nothing. Everything that I've done, I've done conscientiously toward God, and that hasn't changed since becoming a Christian. I'm still being obedient to what I believe is the voice of God.

Actually no Jew ever had a clear conscience. Why? Because the Old Testament system never purged the conscience, right? That's why Hebrews 9 and 10 say that only Christ, in His perfect sacrifice, purged the conscience of a believer. What a Christian has that a Jew does not have, is the absolute freedom from the guilt, because all sins are forgiven; and so those Jews didn't understand that statement.

Well, the confrontation then led to conflict. Verse 2, “And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.” It either means a blow with a club or with a fist. Verse 3, “Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”

The high priest had violated the law. Jewish law safeguarded the rights of a man on trial. He had not even been accused of a crime, let alone proven to be guilty. Paul was calling on the vengeance of God. You are a hypocrite. You have brought me to be tried by the law, and you are in violation it yourself. You whitewashed wall is a term for a hypocrite. Paul was somewhat angry, and that was a sin.

Some say that maybe he was not angry, but saw this as an opportunity to gain a legal advantage. But in a legal situation, you don't have to call somebody a whitewashed wall to make your point. Verbal abuse is unnecessary even if the high priest was a whited wall. Verse 4, “And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” Was he really? The high priest was in a God-ordained position but he was Satan-motivated.

Here is the key word, to revile in anger. It can be translated to abuse, to slander, to insult, to curse, and to blaspheme, and they all mean the same thing. The crowd said, "Paul, you have blasphemed the high priest. They read Paul's attitude as anger, as mockery, not as just a calculated legal move. When God set up His theocracy in Deuteronomy 17, there has to be authority.

God ordains authority and submission, and God knows that there will be bad leaders but God still said to Israel, "You submit," because submission is the principle that keeps the government together; and that judge or that priest will pay for his own failure. He is accountable to God. You're accountable to be submissive to him unless he makes you do something in direct violation to God’s word.

So when Paul spoke that way to the high priest, he did violate the law. The high priest had no right to inflict punishment on him, but Paul had no right to react that way. Because he was taking an action that violated the principle that God had ordained, the principle that goes with that office. So a man in that position was not to be desecrated, because it was a God-ordained place, even though the man was satanic.

Now, Paul was right when he said God was going to smite him, because he had violated the role of the high priest. But look what Paul's attitude was. What is your attitude when somebody comes to you and says, "You did such and such wrong." What's your reaction? Paul did not retaliate in defense. He submitted to the Word of God and apologized. That was the spiritual right thing to do, because he had violated the law.

Verse 5, “Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” He condemned himself in front of that whole court. He said, "I've sinned. I'm sorry." Paul admitted he did wrong. But the next best thing to not sinning is to confess it the moment you've done it and submit to the authority of the Word of God and turn from it. That's what Paul did.

We see his humanity when he answered. We see his spirituality when immediately he caught himself and publicly confessed that sin and turned from it. If you deal with sin in your life that way, you would save yourself a lot of chastisement. 1 Corinthians 11:31 says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” If we would take care of our own sin, we wouldn't have to be chastened by God.

That is a humble man. God help me to be so and you. The thief on the cross looked over, and said, "We indeed, suffer justly." And that's the one that went to be with Jesus. God is honored when we acknowledge sin and turn from it. Your sin is not to be compared to someone else’s sin, because there is always a worse sin. It is only to be seen in comparison to the holiness of God.

Now we come to the issue of conflict. In verses 6 to 10 this conflict turns into a victory. Watch what he does. The Spirit of God has given this man such wisdom. Verse 6, “But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”

In Jewish theology, there were basically three sects: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. Essenes were the ones that lived down near the Dead Sea in Qumran, the esthetics and the monastics; but the Pharisees and the Sadducees were in the middle. The Pharisees were the super-legalists who believed in miracles, and the literal interpretation of Scripture. The Sadducees were the liberals of the day, they threw out the miracles.

The Pharisees were the majority. The Sadducees, the minority; but they had the control, because they were the priestly family. So Paul looks at the Sanhedrin, a group he knows well, because he was a member; and he perceives that the groups are there. Now, these people got along only when they met together in the Sanhedrin. The rest of the time, they always argued.

So Paul just caused the whole Sanhedrin to have a civil war. He's just calmly stood there while they started the fight. You see, the real issue at stake was Paul had given his testimony; and Paul declared in his testimony that he was going down the Damascus Road and who spoke to Jesus of Nazareth. Well, that meant that Jesus of Nazareth was alive, right? So that was saying that there is resurrection!

The Pharisees were like Calvinists. They believe in absolute sovereignty. The Sadducees were like Armenians. The Sadducees believed in free will, and so they used to always argue about predestination and free will. They were at the opposite ends constantly. Paul preached the resurrection. That's what people got upset about. He preached that Jesus was alive, that Jesus had talked with him twice, and this is what infuriated everybody.

The Sadducees say there is no resurrection nor angels nor spirit. They denied that the soul lived after the body. They said, "The body dies. The soul dies. There's no heaven. There's no hell." Sadducees started as a reaction to the Pharisees' concept of rewards for service, and that reaction went all the way to the extreme of denying any kind of rewards. So no afterlife, no miracles and no supernatural works.

Verse 9, “Then there arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ party arose and protested, saying, “We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.” Paul is just standing there. They were willing to let Paul off the hook in order to make their theological point against the Sadducees. The last phrase about “an angel or spirit” doesn't appear in the best manuscripts.

Paul did not say it was a spirit or an angel that had spoken to him. It was Jesus Christ. But they wouldn't accept that. You see how they changed the testimony to fit their theology? But they wanted to include that part of their theology, so they said, "What if an angel or a spirit spoke to him?" And the Sadducees would say, "There are any no angels or spirits?" And away they would go.

Verse 10, “Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.” Every time the commander tried to get an accusation against Paul, he couldn't get it. Now the whole Jewish court is fighting each other, and Paul's still standing there with no accusation.

Probably, they closed in around him, and the Sadducees were yanking one way, and the Pharisees were yanking the other way. So the Romans had to rescue Paul again. Wow, God has planned for everything. The leaders of the nation of Israel are thrown into confusion, and Claudius has got the whole Roman army on the side of Paul. When God has justified somebody, it is difficult to charge him.

So Claudius Lysias says, "I still don't know what this guy has done.” So Paul is put in the barracks for the night. And now we come to the consolation. Verse 11, “But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”

It wasn't enough for the Lord to just remind him of a few principles. Jesus actually came to him. Jesus came and stood by him and He gave him three things, “Consolation and commendation and confidence." Consolation. "The Lord stood by him and said, 'Cheer up, Paul." Can you imagine you are sitting there and, all of a sudden, you hear Jesus say, "Cheer up, Paul." What would the voice of Jesus be like?

Do you believe the Lord is that close to us? The Bible says the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Jesus said, "I may be going away from earth, but I'll never leave you forsaken. Lo, I'm with you always." 2 Corinthians 7:4 says, “Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.”

And Jesus came personally into that little cell that night and calmed Paul’s heart. “Cheer up, Paul.” Not a lot of theology in that, is there? He just said, "Cheer up. I'm here with you." Paul said in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing.” Why? "The Lord is at hand." Isn't that good? That is real consolation. We are never alone.

Jesus said, “Paul, you have testified for Me in Jerusalem." He said, "Paul, you finished your work here. You did what I wanted." Then He gives him confidence. "And so you must you also bear witness at Rome.” The Lord just promised that. God came personally, and He gave him thanks for the past, comfort for the present, assurance for the future. Cast all your care on Him. And He will be with you forever. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Feb 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180218 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000014 imblog

Acts 23:1-3

Last Sunday we looked at what happened to the Apostle Paul when he was taken prisoner by the Romans, after he was attacked by the Jews. Some Jews had spread the rumor that Paul was anti-Jewish, and against the culture of Judaism. So they started a riot, which was designed to end in his death. In the middle of this attempt, the Romans intervened, saved Paul’s life, and started to take him into the barracks, going up the steps to Fort Antonia, which was adjacent to the temple ground.

At the top of the steps, the apostle asked for permission to speak to the Jewish people, and Claudius Lysias, the commander of the troops, allowed Paul to do that, figuring that he would then find out what crime this man had committed. So Paul told about was his testimony about how he was a Jew, how he revered his Judaism, how the traditions of Judaism meant much to him. He was not anti-Jewish. He did not desecrate the temple. And he was not against the law of God.

The commander still did not know why they wanted to kill him and so he planned to scourge Paul to find out the truth. While he was stretched out to receive punishment, Paul quietly introduced that he was a Roman citizen. Immediately in a panic, they cut him loose, because it was a crime punishable by death. So the commander still did not know the crime for which Paul is accused of.

His only recourse then was to take Paul to the Jewish Sanhedrin, and place him before the tribunal of his own people, who then could explain the accusation against him. Now, as we approach this particular passage in which Paul speaks to the Jewish council that has been gathered by Claudius, we are reminded of continuing Jewish opposition to the Gospel. All the way through the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we see this.

Well in Acts, we have that same hardening process that surges with the apostolic ministry. Acts is divided into three parts. The first part Acts 1 to 7, describes the spread of the gospel in Jerusalem; Acts 8 through 12 has to do with the spread of the gospel in Judea and Samaria; Acts 13 through 28 has to do with the spread of the gospel to the uttermost part of the earth. Those are the places of witnessing: in Jerusalem, in Judea-Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

And along with the apostolic preaching of the cross, in each of the three sections came the rising tide of Jewish antagonism. In the first section, on the Day of Pentecost when the gospel was first introduced in Jerusalem, there were 3,000 people saved. There was no opposition. The miracle of different languages was so remarkable that the best they could come up with was ridiculing the apostles as if they were drunk.

In the second phase after that in Acts 8, the persecution started from there under Paul; and the church was scattered into Judea and Samaria, which brought the gospel to the next area, which meant evangelism in new dimensions and new territories. And so from Acts 8 to Acts 12, opposition increased. Finally climaxing, as it goes on into Acts 13-14 with the Jews cursing and blaspheming in Antioch of Pisidia, and stoning Paul in Lystra.

The third phase of Jewish opposition comes as the gospel goes to the world, and everywhere Paul goes, Gentiles and some Jews are saved, but the majority of the people turn against him in violence. Finally, Paul takes his journey all the way to Rome, and it in Acts 28:25-27 it all ends up with a final denunciation of Israel because of their opposition, “So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word.” The Jews departed.

“The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, 26 saying, “Go to this people and say, “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive; 27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”

Now, this is the fourth time this has been stated in Scripture. And, this comments on the indifference of Israel. So we see that one of the themes running through the book of Acts is the same as it was in the gospel, Jewish antagonism. And, as much as our hearts go out to Israel, and as much as we love the people of Israel, we still see it today, the same kind of antagonism from the Jews.

Well, this is just typical of the reaction to the gospel, and what is so astounding about it is that the Messiah, Christ fulfilled every Messianic prophecy. He was everything that they anticipated the Messiah to be and more, and yet they rejected Him and continued to reject Him, which shows that the religion which God gave them to lead them to Messiah, was ignored and it became an end in itself.

Now Claudius Lysias puts Paul in front of the tribunal of his own people in Acts 22:30. So the commander of this garrison of soldiers at Jerusalem, brings the Sanhedrin into Fort Antonia. Usually, the 70 members of the Sanhedrin meet in the hall of an amphitheater forum. The high priest was the president, and as the 71st member, he would usually sit in front.

But on this occasion, Claudius Lysias had gathered the Sanhedrin in the basement of Fort Antonia, and he brought Paul down to them. This is the fifth time that the Jewish council, had to evaluate the claims of Christ. The first time was at the trial of Jesus. The second time was in Acts 4 with Peter and John. The third time was before the Twelve in Acts 5. The fourth time was with Stephen. And now the fifth time with Paul.

So they had heard the truth from Jesus, Peter, John, the Twelve, Stephen and Paul. They had made wrong judgments based on impure motives all the way through; and here they are for the fifth time. God is gracious, right? The greatest evangelist of the gospel was face to face with those men, and they heard the truth five times. They condemned themselves because they believed not (John 3).

They were blinded by Satan; therefore, the light of the gospel could not shine on them. So Paul comes before the Jewish council to give an answer to a false accusation. The council was made up of high priests, and some special members of the family of the high priest; and also of elders. Now, an elder was the head of a tribal family. Also included were scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. And the high priest was the moderator.

The Sanhedrin had its own police for arresting people. They could take care of all punishments except capital punishment. For that they had to defer to the Roman government. That is what happened in the case of Jesus. The only time they were allowed to take a life was when somebody desecrated the temple. When a Gentile entered the temple, they had the right to kill him; and that is what they wanted to do to Paul.

But as a Jew, Paul was not allowed to be killed. But they twisted it so that Paul would die for desecrating the temple by bringing this Gentile into the inner part. Here are the four parts of the trial. The confrontation, the conflict, the conquest and the consolation. So let us start with the confrontation. Paul likes to confront situations. He is courageous. Now, this is the kind of courage is the kind that changes things.

Acts 23:1, “Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” The statement "looking earnestly" means he stared at them. He looked at them eyeball-to-eyeball. They were people he knew. Some of them were the students of Gamaliel, who had studied with him when he was younger. Many of them were Pharisees. They all knew who he was.

Paul had been the persecutor of the church and now they thought he was a traitor. Note the first thing he said, “Men and brethren.” That was not the proper way. Acts 4:8 tells, us how Peter addressed them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel.” Paul just told them that he was not in a situation of submission. He says, "all through my life, until now, I have done what my conscience has told me God wanted me to do."

Now what does that mean to them? They are not judging Paul now, they are judging God. My motives have always been pure. In Philippians 3:6 he says, "I was concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” Paul says to those guys, "You know this is true. You know how I operated within the Sanhedrin, you know how I persecuted the church. You know my zeal for God.”

Well, that really made them mad, because that made him right. He was saying, in effect, "I'm right. I'm doing what's right," and they knew this. 'I felt it was necessary to persecute Jesus of Nazareth.' Even when he was going around threatening slaughter against Christians, he thought he was doing the right thing. He was a conscientiousness man toward God. "I've always done what I believe God wanted me to do."

But our conscience is not always the key to truth. There are a lot of conscientious people who are dead wrong. Now, conscience can be used by God, and if our conscience is as God designed it, it will convict. But you can mess your conscience up. You can also have a defiled conscience, an evil conscience. Having a good conscience toward God isn't going to save anybody unless truth is involved.

The New Testament says you can have a weak conscience as described in 1 Corinthians 8:7. Titus 1:15 says, “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” Hebrews 10:22 says, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

1 Timothy 4:2 says you can have a seared conscience. That's a conscience that is covered with scar tissue. Scar tissue causes you not to feel anything and divine truth no longer creates any sensation. You have so defiled your conscience that it has become an evil conscience. In that situation, a person can believe what he's doing is right and be dead wrong. People can go to hell and not even realize it.

Conscience is that which makes moral judgment on your action. For a long time in Paul's life, his conscience was telling him what he was doing is great, and it wasn't. His conscience get corrected, when he got saved. It became in 1 Timothy 1:19, a good conscience; in Acts 24:16, a conscience that didn't want to offend God. And in 1 Timothy 3:9, it became a pure conscience.

The key is in Romans 9:1-3, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.” Paul tells everybody that he really has a heart for Israel. His conscience is his witness in the Holy Spirit.

When you can say, "I have a clear conscience, what you are simply saying is that, "I don't sense any guilt. My conscience tells me my acts are morally valuable to God." Our rejoicing is a testimony of our conscience: that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have behaved ourselves in accord with what the Spirit was doing through my conscience.

Well, the confrontation. Acts 23:2, “And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.” This is a new high priest, the son of Netavias, who started in 47 A.D. and went about 12 years after that, and then was assassinated. This high priest lost his cool, he was one of the most disgraceful and foul profaners of the office of high priest. The ancient historians have all bad things to say about him.

He became very pro-Roman, and really bowed to Rome, so much so that his own people began to hate him. Imagine a Jewish high priest who is pro-Roman. They hated him and, finally in 66 A.D., a group of Jewish insurrectionists started a war against Rome. One of the people they wanted to get was Ananias. They found him hiding in an aqueduct, dragged him out, and murdered him and his brother.

Now, here this Ananias commands one of his people to hit Paul on the mouth, which came as a shock to him. Verse 3 says, “Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?” He says, "You are a phony. You just look good on the outside. You are rotten on the inside.”

The high priest had violated the law, so he says to him, “Here you are, the great judge who's going to bring me the law, and you yourself are breaking the law." Jewish law says, "He who strikes an Israelite strikes the Holy One." The Jewish law safeguarded the rights of a man, and he was innocent until proven guilty. Paul wasn't even accused of anything, let alone judged on it and convicted.

What Paul said turned out to be a prophecy. It wasn't long until that was exactly what happened. God took his life, he was murdered. Paul was like a fiery dragon, breathing in and out slaughter. It is amazing that it took from Acts 9 to Acts 23 before we see this. Since his conversion, the Holy Spirit just made a different person out of Paul. That is real transformation.

If you learned about conscience, you learned a good thing. If you learned about boldness, you learned another good thing. I hope that God would give us that same kind of boldness that Paul had, and that same kind of commitment to live before the world with a good conscience. How is your conscience? Is it supported by the Holy Spirit? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Feb 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180211 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000013 imblog

Acts 22:15-30

Up until Acts 21, we have been following the ministry of the Apostle Paul as a free man. Beginning in Acts 22, he becomes a prisoner; and from here on out until his death, he remains a prisoner. His ministry is not diminished, it’s only different. Now during the time, he gives six different defenses of his actions and his attitudes. The first defense is given here in Acts 21:27 – 30.

In the midst of his arrest and defense, we see principles of how to give a positive testimony in a negative situation; and we have tried to draw those principles out. Now we are going to look at the final part of the narrative which has to do with attitude. In giving a positive testimony, attitude is extremely important. My attitude toward the unbeliever is going to influence my testimony.

If I really love that person, the negative in his/her life is going to be superseded by the positive of my love; and it won't really matter how antagonistic he/she is or how unlike he/she ought to be, I will love them anyway. And so attitude then becomes critical. Many Christians have been accused of having wrong attitudes, thinking they are superior, unloving and uncaring.

A genuine, caring, honest, deep love for the lost is basic to effective testimony. People who are the most effective in reaching the lost are the people whose love is genuine, because we tend to do what our love motivates us to do. The Christian who is condemning and self-righteousness is one who really doesn't love those people as Jesus did, so instead of winning people, he alienates people.

Now, in this passage, Paul displays for us the right attitude toward the unbelieving, and that's basic to influencing them for Christ. First God so loved the world, then He gave His only Son to die for the sins of those who believe. Paul also makes the statement of his love for Israel. He loves Israel so much, he is willing to be accursed. And it's with that attitude that he gives them the gospel.

Now the Apostle Paul just concluded his third missionary tour. He's arrived in Jerusalem at the time of the feast of Pentecost. It's a time when Jerusalem is jammed with people. Now on these three mission tours, Paul had both a positive and a negative impact. Positively, he won a lot of people to Jesus Christ and started a lot of churches. Negatively, he alienated unbelieving Jewish people everywhere he went.

The first thing he would do when he went into a town was to go to the synagogue. And he would preach Christ in the synagogue; and some of the Jews would believe and the rest of them would be antagonistic and, for the most part, they would hate him. And, as he went from town to town, a whole lot of Jewish people, mostly the leaders rather than the populace, hated him.

All along his way to Jerusalem, he faced hostility from Jewish leaders. Now, to make things worse, when he arrives in Jerusalem at feast time, all the Jewish leaders from all over the world are there too. So he arrives in an explosive situation in Jerusalem at the same time as his enemies. He is surrounded by all his enemies who hate him. These non-Christian Jews from Asia Minor, now see him in the temple.

Paul had ministered there effectively for three years and founded seven different churches. But they begin by accusing Paul of being against the Jews, against the law, and against the temple. This was all a lie concocted to generate mob violence against him, and it worked. And the whole population of legalistic Judaism, was whipped into a frenzy to bring about his death; and so they start a riot.

In Acts 21:30 they took Paul out of the temple, and then shut the doors. They are about to kill him in verse 31. But when the Romans saw that a riot started in the temple, the centurions and their soldiers entered to break up the riot. Verses 31 to 36, then, is the Roman arrival. Now, the Roman commander-in-chief, thinks that this is the Egyptian revolutionary that previously had led a riot.

They grab Paul and shackle him and then they drag him up the stairs through the mob, carrying him over their heads. So Paul is now on the top of the stairs, heading for the barracks. He is totally quiet and submissive, allowing himself to be shackled and taken prisoner. Why? Because God had told him through the prophet Agabus that this was going to happen, right?

Now notice, Paul accepted the situation as God's will. God wants to bring you trials and difficult situations, for those tests are what make you strong. God wants to bring you into difficult confrontations with an evil world, because that is how people react when confronted with the gospel. So you might as well get trained to face these negative situations; and when they happen, accept them as from Him.

Now then Paul, always creates opportunities to witness to people. Let us see what he does when he gets to the top of the stairs. He asks the commander, "Could I say a few words?" And the man is surprised that Paul speaks Greek. "Can you speak Greek?" "Yes," Paul said, "I can speak Greek. I come from Tarsus of Cilicia, which was a high-class place. This will be a great opportunity to find out what the accusations were.

So he said, fine, you speak. In the midst of a negative situation, Paul created a positive opportunity. Then he began to speak in Acts 22: 1-5 to the whole crowd. He spoke in Aramaic, the Hebrew language. Paul says, "I'm a Jew." Verse 3, "I studied at the feet of Gamaliel," who was the leading Jewish teacher of his day. "I was taught according to the strictness of our father’s law," that is the interpretation of the Law of Moses.

"I was a Zealot," which is the most right-wing in the Pharisees' party. I was every bit a Jew like you, and I even was zealous enough to do what you're doing today. I've persecuted people just like you are persecuting me. And, in a sense, he justifies their action. Then he says, "Not only that, I was supported, in verse 5, by the high priest and the whole Jewish Sanhedrin."

Paul was giving a positive testimony in a negative situation. Do everything you can to win your audience. Establish common ground. I know your motives. I understand your zeal, etc." Hopefully, they were saying at this time, “this guy is not so bad. He is a Jew, studied with Gamaliel, was a right-wing on the Pharisees' party, had orders from the high priest to do everything he did, and he just justified our motives.

But most of the mob did not know what was going on. Now, the first part of his defense describes the part before his conversion. The second part is the circumstances at his conversion, verses 6 to 16. Remember he was going to Damascus to capture Christians, and imprison them in Jerusalem. Then he saw a great light and heard Jesus asking him why he was persecuting Jesus of Nazareth.

You know that was another confirmation that Jesus had risen from the dead. If Jesus talked to Paul, this proves that Jesus of Nazareth was alive. Paul says, in case you doubt that, a whole lot of people were with me who saw the same light, and fell on the same ground. The only difference is they didn't hear what I heard. That message was special for me. Paul says, "What happened to me was a divine, supernatural act of God."

Verse 10, “So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.” I was going to Damascus minding my own business. Then a very bright light, and a voice out of heaven saying, 'Go do this,' I became blind, and I went. If you want to accuse somebody, you better talk to God. He did it.

Then a man showed up by the name of Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews who dwelt there. Verse 13-14, “He came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him. 14 Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the ‘Just One’, and hear the voice of His mouth.”

That is a Messianic term describing Christ. And, every Jew standing there knew who the God of our fathers was. Now this is the key, Paul is exalting the Lord. He just wants them to know that if they reject this, they know they are rejecting God. Paul made sure that if they were going to deny him, that they were going to deny God, the God that they claim was their God, the God of their fathers, Isaac, Jacob and Abraham.

Paul says, the reason I am what I am is because God invaded my life and made me this way. If you want to argue, you will have to argue with God. Make sure that what you are giving testimony to is the miracle that God has brought into your life. The clearest testimony leaves a person only one option: to either accept the truth about God or to reject it. I believe in the sovereignty of God.

But every person has to respond to God's invitation, and that's exactly what we find in verse 16, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Now here is the balance of salvation, the response of the man. Revelation says, "Your names were written in the Book of Life from before the foundation of the world." Some people believe everything, but they never receive the offer of salvation.

Three years after his conversion, Paul returned to Jerusalem from Arabia. That period is discussed in Galatians 1:17-18 and Acts 9. Now his defense includes his commission after his conversion. Verse 17-18, “It happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony about Me.”

Even as a Christian, three years later, Paul still revered Jewish customs. "So I was praying in a temple, and I was in a trance." This is a state of being transported out of the normal senses. Sometimes God takes His choice servants and gives them a consciousness beyond the natural senses of man. Paul was allowed to perceive a world of spiritual activity. In the presence of God, you will be open to that world.

Verse 19-21, “So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. 20 And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ 21 Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’” If they wouldn't listen to Jesus after He performed miracle after miracle right in front of their eyes, they also will not listen to you.

Well, when he said the word Gentiles, it released all their prejudice. They hated the Gentiles, and what bothered them most was that he was going around preaching equality. The Jew and Gentile are one in Christ, and they didn't have to become Jews. They didn't have to keep the law, and this infuriated them. So let us see the action of the people. All logic, all sense and all reason was consumed in their flames of prejudice.

Verse 22-23, “And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” 23 Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air.” Whenever they wanted to stone somebody, they took off their outer garments. But since Paul was at the top of the stairs, they started throwing dirt.

Look at the attitude of Paul in the midst of all of this. His heart overflowed with love, love for everybody. Love for the Jews throwing the dirt, love for the Romans standing there guarding him. That was his character. Claudius Lysias had a real problem. And so he figures like any Roman soldier, let us torture him.

Verse 24, “The commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.” So he brought him in to be scourged. They would stretch the man's body to the extreme, so that all the lashes would cut right into the flesh. Now scourging, if it didn't kill him would cripple him for life.

Verse 25, “And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and un-condemned?” Paul had never been scourged, because it was a crime to scourge a Roman. The penalty was execution. He was not mad. It's just a question that he offers. Paul said that every mark on his body was a mark of Jesus Christ.

Verse 26-27, “When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.” 27 Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.” Do you see how God had equipped Paul for every trial? Verse 28, “The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.” And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

He wasn't a second-class citizen. He was a first-class citizen. Verse 29, “Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.” Paul's attitude was selfless love for those around him. He did everything to win their hearts, and he loved the Gentiles enough to spare that commander's life.

Verse 30, “The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Feb 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180204 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000012 imblog

Acts 22:1-15

From the beginnings of the Old Testament and the New Testament, there are always those who have been willing to give a testimony for God or for Christ against all odds. Whether it was Daniel, who would not cease to pray, and was willing to enter the lions' den; or his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who would not worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar and had to enter a fiery furnace.

Or whether you find someone like Peter, who would not follow the directives of the Sanhedrin, but rather would obey God and preach the gospel, no matter what it cost him; or Stephen who, even in dying beneath the bloody stones as they crushed the life out of his body, announced the reality of the Lord Jesus to those who were throwing the stones.

Throughout history of God's people, beginning in Old Testament times and all the way through the end of the Tribulation till Jesus raptures His church, there have been faithful people, who are willing to confront the worldly system, willing to suffer for the truth and give a positive testimony in the midst of a negative situation, because Satan will do everything he can to make the situation difficult.

Realize that it is confrontation and spiritual warfare that we're talking about. It is never easy. The more you witness for Christ, the harder Satan works against you. And the longer you do it, the closer you get to the end of the age, the worse people become. You will never give a positive testimony, without experiencing criticism and resistance. But you also experience the power of God to overcome that situation.

It is the great climax of his ministry. He has evangelized all over, from Jerusalem as far as west as Achaia, Macedonia, as far east as Seleucia, Syria, and then through Galatia, Pisidia and Asia Minor. In all of those areas, he has established churches. He has gone back, to mature those churches. And the last act, as a free missionary, is to bring this money to Jerusalem to try to bring these Jews and non-Jews of the church together.

When he arrives in Jerusalem, some of the Jewish Christians think he's anti-Jewish, that he doesn't believe in the traditions and the ceremonies of Israel. And some of those Jewish Christians, even though they had given their lives to Christ, were still used to the customs of Israel. It was hard to separate religious customs from the custom of life and culture; so some of them were still doing these very Jewish traditions.

So Paul joins in with them and goes through a Jewish ceremony in order to show these Jewish Christians that he was not against the customs and the ceremonies of cultural Judaism. But while he was in the temple, he was seen by some people who knew him from Asia Minor. When he was in Ephesus he had dramatically affected the entire province.

He had not only established the church at Ephesus, but from there he started six other churches in Asia Minor. All seven are listed in Revelation 2 and 3. Many Jews had been converted from Judaism to follow Jesus, but the rest of the Jews hated him. In fact, there was a riot in Ephesus, and they tried to kill him there. And now, here come some of the same Jews to Jerusalem.

They are there for the feast of Pentecost, and while they are there, they see Paul in the temple going through this Nazarite purification ceremony. Now they feel they have a chance to get him. In Ephesus, Gentiles saved his life; but there are no Gentiles to stop this. So he is attacked in Acts 21:27, and this becomes his arrest and first defense.

Paul was falsely accused of being anti-Semitic, against the law and anti-temple by bringing Greeks into the temple. Of course he didn't do that. But they grabbed him, and they hauled him out of there for the purpose of beating him up and killing him. To the rescue came the Romans who were stationed at Fort Antonia, which was right adjacent to the temple. The chief captain was told that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

Immediately, he took soldiers and centurions and ran down; and when the Jews saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the chief captain took him and commanded that he be bound with chains, demanded to know who he was and what he had done. Some cry out one thing and some cry out another, and he gets no answers. So he commanded him to be taken to the barracks.

Verse 35, “When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.” Verse 36, "For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, 'Away with him!'" Instead of worshipping God, they wanted to kill Paul. Judaism was the right religion up until the cross, but after the cross, it ceased to be the right religion.

What we will study now is the defense or the apology of Paul. The word apology in Greek, apologia, means a speech in defense of something. This is apologetics, this is defending himself, not apologizing. It begins in Acts 21:37 and continues through Acts 22:21. His speech in self-defense is basically biographical and experiential. Initially the chief captain thought that Paul was the Egyptian who rebelled against Jerusalem.

Acts 21:39, “But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.” Verse 40, “So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language,” which was really Aramaic.

Now when you share Jesus Christ with people, it is more important that you tell the truth of Christ than it is that you tell about your experience. But, along with that, you are going to explain who He is and what He has done in your life. There is power in personal testimony when the emphasis is right. When the emphasis is just on you, it's wrong. When it is on what God has done in you, it is right.

Acts 22:1-2, “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.” 2 And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent.” Now Paul defends himself on two counts: his motive and his deeds. So there he stands with chains on his hands, surrounded by Roman soldiers. And he begins by gently addressing the mob as brothers and fathers.

"He knows our language." See how God has given him all the tools to communicate with the right people in the right language. Paul was given this opportunity, and now he gives his defense. And his defense has three parts: his conduct before his conversion, verses 3 to 5; the circumstances at his conversion, verses 6 to 16; and his commission after conversion, verses 17 to 21.

Notice his conduct before conversion: verse 3, “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.” This was an excellent beginning. He shows them that his motive was never anti-Jewish.

Paul says, "I'm as Jewish as you are.” Paul is proud of it; and he is trying to identify with them. He was brought up in Tarsus and educated in Jerusalem under the teacher Gamaliel who was a Pharisaic leader of great eminence. He was the greatest disciple of Hillel. There were two great Jewish rabbis who became the heads of two strains of Jewish interpretation, Shammai was the conservative school with a narrow interpretation, while Hillel was the liberal school with a broad interpretation.

Then he adds, “And I was taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law." Now, the law of the fathers is simply the Old Testament Mosaic Law, as well as all the traditions, the historic faith of Judaism. What does it mean “the strictness of the law?” That meant the extreme, strict interpretation. He was a law legalist. Then he adds. "And I was zealous toward God.”

Josephus the historian says, "You could divide the philosophies of Judaism into four parts: Sadducees were the religious liberals, who didn't believe in resurrection and in miracles; Pharisees were the strict legalists; Essenes, were kind of the far outs. Then fourth, the Zealots, who were super-nationalistic, anti-Roman and extremely legalistic. Paul says, "I was one of those zealots, so don't accuse me of being anti-Jewish."

To add to this, he says at the end of verse 3, "I was zealous toward God, as you all are today.” He actually justifies their motives for beating him up. Look at verse 4, “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.” Paul says that he had that same zeal for God that they have. I was the most orthodox character that ever was in Judaism.

See the term this Way? That represents Christianity. Jesus said in the last night before His death, "I am the Way." And Peter said, "Neither is there salvation in any other." People always say, "The thing I don't like is that you believe that Christianity is the only way." But everything that Jesus says in the Bible is the truth and anything that contradicts it is wrong. We are grateful that God provided one way of salvation by sacrificing Jesus.

Then he adds verse 5, “As also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.” So now he calls in the high priest to be his witness. So he said, why don't you check with the Sanhedrin, all the council of the elders?”

Now in verse 6, he gives the circumstances at his conversion; and in this he gives all the glory to God. “Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.” And, it adds a footnote that isn't in Acts 9; the earlier text didn't tell us it was noon. The light would have been even brighter because it was noon and the sun was bright.

This was the blazing Shekinah glory of Jesus Christ. God is light, and God reveals Himself throughout the Bible in light. At the transfiguration in Matthew 17, Jesus Christ was revealed in bright light. This glorious light of God is now revealed to Paul. Verse 7, “And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

He was blinded. Not the blindness of darkness, no, this is the blindness of light. So for three days, he was only able to concentrate on the image of Jesus Christ in light that God had seared into his eyes. Verse 8, “So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.” The despised Nazarene Jesus is actually the Lord of glory.

Verse 9, “And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.” Paul draws in more potential witnesses for the corroboration of his story. And they all fell down on the ground. And Acts 9 says that they heard the noise. Here it says they didn't hear the voice. This means that they could hear a sound like thunder, but they couldn't distinguish the articulation, the voice.

When God speaks directly, He speaks directly, which isn't for public consumption. Christ was talking to Paul but the others did not hear it. Verse 10, “So I said, “What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.” This shows the sovereignty of God. If you ever doubt who initiates salvation, just remember the conversion of Paul.

God already reversed his entire life. Salvation is an act of God. You acknowledge it every time you pray for somebody's conversion. "God changed him." “You will be told all the things which are appointed for you to do." God has chosen Paul and appointed his destiny. This is God's plan.

Verse 11, “And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.” So being led he goes wandering into Damascus to hear what he has been appointed to do. Do you know he is not even converted yet? And God already is giving him this whole layout on his destiny before he has even made a statement of faith. That is sovereignty.

Verse 12 says, “Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there.” Paul wants the people who are hearing him to know that his Christianity was not something concocted by a bunch of anti-Jewish people. It was Jesus of Nazareth, whom they knew to be Jewish, that spoke to him. And Ananias also was a devout Jew, who was involved.

The completion of all that Judaism means is in Christ. Verse 13, “Ananias came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him.” God gave him the power to announce that miracle, and God gave Paul his sight back. Ananias said a lot of things. Some are recorded in Acts 9, Acts 22 and Acts 26. If you want the total speech of Ananias, you put all three passages together.

Verse 14-15, “Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. 15 For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.” The God of Israel chose and transformed the life of Saul. So, one of the most important things in sharing your faith is to be conciliatory. The next point in giving a positive testimony is to tell what God did when He entered your life. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Jan 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180128 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000011 imblog

2 Peter 2:10-16

We all have experienced fake news but that is nothing new. Ever since the fall, the father of lies, the devil has been spreading lies. But God is protecting truth and so we learn now how to recognize false teachers so we can protect ourselves from these influences. Revelation 22:18-19 says, “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life.”

In 2 Peter 2:10b -16 we are going to be looking at false teachers who secretly introduce destructive heresies. This section is a stream of violence vented on false teachers who are seducers of men's minds and hearts, who work for Satan against God. They are consumed in a blast of divine fury put into words by the Holy Spirit through the pen of Peter.

Peter speaking on behalf of God calls the false teachers in verse 12 “irrational animals,” who have no rational capability. They operate on passion compelled only by instinct. Animals do not reason. So he is saying that false teachers are equally self-indulgent, equally driven by the instincts of their own passion and they serve men best when they are dead.

Why has Peter exploded in such a fury on these false teachers?" In John 21, three times Jesus said, "Feed My sheep, feed My lambs, feed My sheep." From the very outset, Peter was called to be a shepherd who fed the sheep. And he is very irate at false shepherds who are feeding poison to the congregation.

2 Peter 2 clearly describe false teachers. The first three verses gave us a general outline, then in verse 4 through 10a he described the inevitability of their damnation. Remember now, God gave us this epistle to warn the church that these false teachers are very dangerous and how to defend ourselves against them. Part of it is recognizing them as false teachers and understanding how God views them.

And so, as Peter gives this diatribe against the false teachers, we're going to notice several points. And I want to give you the first two. Number one, their exaggerated self-opinion. Verse 10b-12, “They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.”

Verse 12-13, “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you.”

Now here is a text that describes their attitude. The first word says it all in verse 10, not afraid. They dare to defy God and His truth. They give no thought to the consequence of what they're doing against God and to the ramifications that are going to come. And then he adds, self-willed. This means they are arrogant and determined in their own way. And nothing will stop them, not the truth, not the lordship of Jesus Christ.

And how presumptuous are they? In verse 10, he says, "They do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties." Historically people have interpreted it in a number of different ways. Well the word "revile" means to blaspheme, to speak evil of, to mock, to ridicule, to denigrate and to degrade. They do that to angelic doxa, it means glories, dignities, dignitaries. And in the context they are angelic dignitaries.

Now, what angelic dignitaries is he talking about? It is a reference to demons. So how can demons be called glories? Are they glorious beings? The answer is yes, they can be called glories in the sense that they have a persona and a level of existence in the supernatural world that has a dignity and a transcendent quality about it that is beyond us.

Paul said in Ephesians 2:2 that he is the prince of the power of the air. Jesus said in John 12:31 that the devil is the ruler of this world. There is a glorious persona that is possessed by even fallen angels, for they still retain the imprint of majesty. Just like fallen, sinful, unregenerate mankind retains the imprint of the image of God.

In fact, in Ephesians 6:12 they are called by Paul principalities and powers and rulers. How can already cursed demons be blasphemed? Even fallen angels have an angelic majesty of sorts and they are not to be taken lightly. We are to avoid irreverence toward them. Listen, they are serious beings, and God is serious about them. And holy angels are also respectful of them.

So what's the practicality of that? It can be applied to the foolishness of the charismatic demon chasers. Arrogant false teachers underestimate the power of Satan and they underestimate the dignity of the host of angelic majesties and they think they are stronger than demons. They assume that there will be no retaliation because they feel a certain kind of invincibility.

And then there are the liberals who come along and just flatly deny demons even exist. Anytime you despise or minimize the power of Satan and his fallen angels, that's a foolish act. Speaking against those glorious beings is elevating yourself to a level you really don't belong on. It's a terrible presumption.

And in contrast, look what he says in verse 11, "Whereas angels," and anytime you see the word "angels," it refers to the good and holy angels of God. "Whereas angels who are greater in might and power." Greater than who? Well certainly greater than the devil and greater than those false teachers. "Do not bring a reviling judgment against demons before the Lord."

Turn to Jude 1:8 - 9, where we have a parallel text, “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Apparently there was a conflict between Satan and Michael over the body of Moses. Satan wanted the body of Moses, but Michael kept it. And remember, Moses never was allowed to go into the Promised Land. But even Michael, the super angel, did not dare pronounce against the devil a judgment, but he left it in God's hands and he simply said, "The Lord rebuke you."

But, in 2 Peter 2, false teachers, who are lower, are not afraid to do what holy angels, who are higher, are afraid to do. Verse 12, “But these (false teachers), like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption.” They don't even know against whom they are talking.

Jude 1:10 says the same thing, “But these (false teachers) speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.” “Brute beasts,” he says, just have instinct, not reason. They can only respond to preprogrammed, prepared stimuli that are built into their physical being, through the act of God's creation.

The end of 2 Peter 2:12 in Greek says, "In their destroying they shall be destroyed." When these false teachers destroy God’s people with their false witness and lies, they will receive God’s judgment that brings destruction upon themselves. And down in verses 19 to 22 you can see the details of that destruction.

Verse 13, “And will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you.” Galatians 6:7 calls that the law of sowing and reaping. If a man dedicates himself to lies, false teaching, to a daring, brazen, lustful passionate approach to the things of God, it will destroy him.

So first these false teachers are proud. Secondly, they live ungodly. They go from attitude to action in verse 13, "They count it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime." Normally sinners do their debauchery at night (1 Thessalonians 5:7). But these sinners are so wretched that they do it in the daytime. “They are spots and blemishes.” They are dirt and filth. Blemish means there is a defect, they are diseased.

Then Peter says, “They are carousing in their own deceptions.” They are living in sinful pleasure, enticing others to do the same sins. “While they feast with you.” When they show up for your church dinner, they pollute it. 2 John 10 -11 says, "If anyone comes to you and does not bring the right doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; ¹¹ for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

Verse 14, “They're having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.” These people have lost moral control that they cannot look on a woman any time without seeing her as a potential adulteress. Living by lust brings sinful thoughts, which dominate so that lust can never be satisfied.

"They entice unstable souls," which means they get other people to behave like this. They draw in the unwitting, the weak to their sexual deviations, to their lies and to their passions. Then he says, "They have a heart trained in greed." Sex and greed often go together with false teachers. And Peter says finally in verse 14, "Accursed children!" which means they are marked by a curse.

Now in going astray they have followed the pattern of the prototype false prophet, a man by the name of Balaam. Jude 1:11 says, "They have run greedily in the error of Balaam.” He was a prophet and he had been given by God the ability to speak for God. But false teachers can be characterized by what payment they want. Balaam also had a prize and a payment that motivated him.

The Moabites wanted victory over Israel. Balaam had a reputation as being a prophet who could be bought. In Numbers 22, he sounds like a loyal man, but Peter says, "Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness." He preferred money over obeying God. And God had to intervene to prevent him from pronouncing a curse on Israel because his true desire in life was the love of money.

Now what means did the Lord use to stop him? Verse 16: "He received a rebuke for his own transgression." Now there was no outward transgression yet because he hadn't prophesied anything, but it was the wretchedness of his greedy heart. And what did God use to rebuke him but a dumb donkey, speaking with a voice of a man who restrained the madness of the prophet.

Let's look at Numbers 22 beginning with verse 20, “And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.” 21 So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. 22 Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.”

23 Now the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. 24 Then the Angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. 25 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again.”

26 Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 27 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”           

Now that's a shocking moment in the life of Balaam. This is not a new donkey, this is an old donkey. “30 So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?” And he said, “No.” 31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face.”

How is it possible that a donkey can speak? Well, remember what happened in John 12:28-29, “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” 29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.” Only Jesus could hear the voice of God. And remember in Acts 9:4 that Paul heard the Lord speak to him in a way that others didn't hear? Surely what the servants heard was some donkey braying, but God made the normal braying of a donkey clear to the mad prophet Balaam, the prototype false teacher.

Look at Revelation 2:14, where the Lord says to the church of Pergamum that He has a few things against them, “because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam.” Now we know he was greedy, but what was his teaching? Well, “he taught Balak how to plunge the people of Israel into sin, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit immorality.” There was a holy war against the apostasy that had been generated by Balaam.

So these verses give us insight into how false teachers follow the path of Balaam. First, they identify themselves as good Christians, we are preachers and teachers they claim. Secondly, they practice evil dressed up in religious robes while teaching others false doctrine. Thirdly, they are in it for the money and all the sexual gratification they can get. And fourthly, they encourage others to follow their way. May God give us wisdom and faith to stand strong against them! Let us pray.

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Acts 21:27-40

This evening, we want to put in perspective Paul's ministry as a prisoner. He was put in jail for a short time in Acts 16 at Philippi, together with Silas. But the Lord sent an earthquake and the jail opened, and he was able to save the jailer and his household. But beginning in Acts 21, he really becomes a prisoner from that point on.

And he gives six separate defenses for his actions. The first defense begins in Acts 21:18; the second in Acts 22:30, etc. Now, the first defense, is before the council. The second, the third and the fourth was before the governors who are Felix and Festus; the fifth one was before the king, and the last one before the Jews. The first two came in Jerusalem, the next in Caesarea and the final was in Rome.

Now, in Acts 21, we come to the first of these defenses. And it is given before the mob at Jerusalem, where he is accused. So we can name this, "How to give a positive testimony in a negative situation." And really, that could be the title of the rest of the book of Acts, because it continually is a negative situation in which Paul gives a positive testimony.

Christians are faced at times with the dilemma of how to give a positive testimony in a negative situation. This maybe on the job, you have given indication that you are a Christian, and somebody has criticized you, and so every time the opportunity presents itself to open your mouth, you sort of struggle in your heart. Some of us get into situations where great disasters occurs and the world watches to see if our faith is any good or not.

As we come to the Apostle Paul, we see a man who knew how to take a negative situation and make it into a positive testimony. We are going to see now his boldness. As a prisoner from here on out, we can begin to understand how Paul viewed his imprisonment. Paul always viewed his situation as something that God authored. He is always a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

In Philippians 1:13 he says, “It has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ.” And so consequently, being in prison just represented a new ministry. And in Philippians 4:22, he says, “All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household.” This means he is winning people to Christ who were available to be reached through prison.

And then he says in Philippians 1:12, “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel.” And God uses him to give a glorious testimony; positive witness in every one of those trials, even though they were all negative situations.

In Acts 21:27, we are reminded that Paul has arrived in Jerusalem. The Jewish Christians there in Jerusalem had heard that he was anti-Jewish; that he had thrown out the Jewish customs, and he was against the ceremonies and tradition of Jewish life, and all that was not true. Paul was himself still very much Jewish.

Here he was at the feast of Pentecost. He attended the synagogues on the Sabbath. He had taken a Nazarite vow himself in Acts 19, and shaved his own head. The Apostle Paul had not thrown out the Jewish traditions. He was in transition. It was taking time for those old things to die. But some of the Judaizers that told these Christians he was anti-Judaistic, and so they were anti-Paul.

And when he arrived in town with all his Gentiles friends, because he came there to bring money to the Jerusalem saints because they needed it, and to show love from the Gentile churches, and his welcome was good from some. But the others were greatly concerned because the tens of thousands of Jewish Christians thought he was anti-Jewish.

And so in order to change his reputation, they had him go to the temple, fulfill a Nazarite vow with four other guys, pay the bill for the whole thing in hopes that the Jewish Christians would say, "Hey, if he would do that, he's certainly not as anti-Jewish as we have been led to believe." And he did that, and although the text says nothing about it, that it must have had a positive effect on the Jewish Christians.

But, it did not have any effect on the non-Christians Jews. So we meet the mob in verse 27, “Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him.” They are a group of people, who are trying to murder the Apostle Paul, without knowing what they are doing, or why they're doing it.

The Jews from Asia are not from China but from Asia Minor. And Asia Minor was a Roman province in which where the cities of Ephesus Laodecea, Philadelphia, Thyatyrus, Sardis, and Smyrna are, which are mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3. These Jews are likely from Ephesus. And they knew Trophimus in verse 29, who was an Ephesian. So they recognized Paul from the synagogue there.

Now, there had been a riot back in Ephesus earlier in Acts, where they tried to kill Paul, but cooler heads prevailed, and they couldn't accomplish it. But now they really saw their opportunity because there were no Gentiles, because before they had squashed the riot. But now there were just Jews, so when they saw him in the synagogue, they stirred up all the people.

Here is Paul finishing up his Nazarite vows, and a whole bunch of these Jews from Ephesus descend on him. Verse 28, “crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

Historians tell us there could be 2 million people there at Pentecost. That is why those Asian Minor Jews were there. This is 50 days after Passover. And it was the Old Testament feast of harvest sometimes called the Feast of Weeks, and sometimes called the Day of First Fruits. And the feast of Pentecost became associated with the celebration of the birthday of the Law, which means they were celebrating Jewishness to its nth degree.

Paul wanted to be there, which indicates that he does revere the Law. In Romans 7:22, he said, "I delight in the Law of God." So he wasn't anti-Jewish Law. Secondly it was a Jewish celebration of the law, which means that the crowd was hyper concerned about the Law and its sanctity. So they stirred up the crowd, when they start yelling, "Help" as if some blasphemy has occurred.

Look what they accuse him of. "He teaches all men everywhere." That is so general. And notice the accusation, "against the people." So he is accused of being anti-Semitic. Now, as a Jew, that makes no sense. But that is an accusation that is still going on today. Jewish people have never been able to live with the fact of the conversion of a Jew to a Christian, because the Jewish person associates his religion with his race historically.

But the one who would reject the Messiah actually would be rejecting his own Judaism. The real rebel against Judaism is the unbelieving Jew who will not accept his Messiah. The Christian Jew is the one who has accomplished that which God has designed to be accomplished through Judaism; that has faith in his Messiah who has come and died and is risen, and living and interceding for us today.

To become a messianic Jew by coming to Jesus Christ, is for many Jews a rejection of everything that Judaism is, when in fact it is the very opposite. To reject Jesus Christ is to reject everything that Judaism is. And when they said he is against the Law, they meant he is anti-God. He is anti-Moses and anti-biblical. And then to sum it up, “And against this place that is the temple.”

So they accused him of blaspheming the Law, blaspheming God, and blaspheming the temple. Verse 29 says, “For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.” They didn't see him in the temple. That was another lie. Paul just spent seven days going through a Nazarite vow, so how can he turn around and bring a Gentile in there?

But even if Paul had taken Trophimus in there, it would not have been Paul that died, it would have been Trophimus. Paul couldn't be killed because he was a Jew. So the whole thing was a pretense and the mob had no idea what they were doing. Verse 30, “And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.”

They wanted to get him out of there so they could go on worshipping God, while they killed Paul. This is what they did at the trial of Jesus. They wanted to make sure they didn't violate the Sabbath while they executed the Messiah. Butin the great providence of God, the life of Paul was not yet over.

And so God activated the Romans. Verse 31, “Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.” Outside the temple area, on the north side adjacent was Fort Antonia, which had a great observation tower from which you can see right into the temple court. And it had at least 1,000 well trained Roman soldiers.

They did not allow any civil disorder. Verse 32, “He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.” Verse 33, “Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done.”

Agabus the prophet’s prophecy comes to pass. The Jews have captured him, and now they deliver him to the Gentiles, who chain him. And they did it because they assumed that he was a rebel leader. Well, Romans were good at trying to bring about justice. And so this commander wanted to find out what Paul was accused of, who he was and what was going on.

Verse 34, “And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks.” Verse 35 says, “When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.” The disappointed crowd now was screaming what it had screamed 25 years before to the Messiah.

Verse 36, “For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!” And that's what they said to Jesus. That means kill him. And the chief captain can't figure out what he has done, or even who he is. In all of this, the Apostle Paul hasn't struggled or said anything. Paul was really humble. He submitted to God's plan, even though it involved suffering at the hands of the world.

Now we are going to see the defense of Paul. The word defense in Greek is apologia, from which we get apology and apologetic. Look at Acts 22:1, “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.” Now, an apology often has a negative meaning. It used to have a positive meaning. To give an apology was to give a reason for your behavior or a reason for what you believe in.

It is a testimony of his experience and what God has done in his life. But let us watch how Paul makes something positive out of a negative situation. Verse 37, “Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek?” Greek was the language of those who had been outside Jerusalem and educated elsewhere.

Because he thought that Paul was nothing but a common rebel rouser. He did not know that this man was an intelligent, cultured, educated man with a Greek upbringing. Verse 38, “Are not you that Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?” In 54 A.D., Josephus says there was an Egyptian rebel, who got 4,000 assassins to create havoc in Jerusalem and the governor killed either 400 of them, and routed them all.

And always when the feast days occurred, there was the threat of the assassins trying to attack Jews. Now, when the commander saw them grabbing Paul, he thought that they have caught one of those assassins, maybe that Egyptian himself. But of course when Paul said to him in Greek, "Can I speak to the people?" he knew that such an Egyptian rebel rouser would not be cultured enough to speak Greek.

Verse 39, “But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.” Tarsus was ranked with Athens and Alexandria as a city of culture, art and education. And Cilicia was the territory surrounding Tarsus. That was enough to show that he was a cultured, educated man.

Paul only knew how to deal with a situation one way, confrontation. There is something exciting about that kind of boldness. Verse 40, “So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language.” It's really Aramaic. So to turn a negative situation into a positive one, you have to do two things.

One: Accept the situation as from God and use it as an opportunity. Because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow. Look how He accepted the suffering. He did not deserve to suffer. Similarly you are going to suffer when you too don't deserve it. And when Jesus was reviled, He did not revile in return. He just said, "God, I accept that it is from you.”

Two: Turn it into an opportunity. Jesus in the midst of that negative situation redeemed you and me. Paul always got into a negative situation in Acts. After Paul preached a sermon they were furious. They said, "We absolutely forbid you to preach." And he answered, "who shall I obey, you or God?" And they beat him up and threw him in jail. But Paul was filled with boldness, and he spoke the Word, and many people got saved. May we do the same, let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Jan 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180114 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000000E imblog

Acts 21:17-26

This is the conclusion of the third of Paul's missionary tours, tours in which he not only preached the gospel and established the church, but in which he matured the church. And he collected money from the Gentile congregations to give to the poor saints at Jerusalem as a token of love and as a gesture of unity. We are looking beyond just the historical facts, to the principles and the qualities of spiritual truths that underlie what we see.

As we study this, we can see one great spiritual quality in these passages, and that is the amount of humility. We talked about Paul's power in preaching, we talked about his teaching and his persistence. We have talked about his discipline and his courage. And we have talked about his commitment and his convictions. But there is one that underlies all this, and that is the quality of humility.

We are going to look at the arrest of Paul, but it is the measure of the man who is seen in the midst of these circumstances that stands out. And that should become applicable to my life and yours. I may never get arrested, I may never have to experience what he experienced, but I need to learn that humility that he exemplified and to practice that in my everyday life.

Now, as he goes toward Jerusalem, he doesn't go alone. Verse 15, “And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem.” Notice they went up. Everything is up to Jerusalem because it is high on a plateau. And verse 16 says, “Also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain Mason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to lodge.”

Mason is a common name, and he was a Hellenistic Jew from Cyprus. He was raised in a Greek country and he had a Greek name. And it is probably the reason that they had arranged for Paul and his friends to stay there. So they found a liberal Hellenistic Jew, who was willing to take them in. We are now seeing the last of the ministry of Paul as a free man.

From verse 27 on, Paul becomes, as he called himself in Ephesians 6:20, an ambassador in chains. From here on out, Paul is a prisoner, which does not minimize his ministry in any way at all. It doesn't affect the accomplishment of his objectives. They just changed, and he goes on doing what he always did, whether he was free or a prisoner.

Now, as we look at the passage beginning from verse 17 on, and concluding in verse 36, there are four C's that appear, and we can study only a portion tonight: Communion, concern, compromise and consequence. First we find communion occurs as he arrives. And this is not the Lord's Supper. The word means fellowship or sharing.

Verse 17, “And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.” They were thrilled about the money, not for themselves necessarily, but there were many needy saints. And there was great joy in their hearts because they brought along a group of Gentile converts. They knew that animosities existed between Jews and Gentiles. These were Christian Jews who had fellowship with him unofficially.

The official meeting happened next, verse 18, “On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.” Let us look at how the church leadership changed. When the church at Jerusalem first began, it was ruled by apostles. In Acts 4:35, you have them all bringing their money and putting it at the apostles' feet. But in Acts 15:2, it says that, "Paul, in Jerusalem met with the apostles and the elders."

And now in Acts 21, they go in and meet only James and the elders. So what happened to the apostles? They are not dead, but they are all gone preaching all over the place. And when Paul writes the last of his pastoral epistles, and lays down the organization of the church, the church is to be ruled by elders. And Paul says in Titus 1:5, "Appoint elders in every city." That becomes the pattern.

Verse 19, “When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.” Notice that Paul declared it particularly. He didn't speak in generality. He told them incident after incident of what God had done. He got down to specifics, because there's the thrill. Verse 20, “And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.”

In the Greek the word myriads translates literally to tens of thousands. It is a word used to speak of the angels. And you need many elders to take care of a congregation of 20,000 people. And they were listening to Paul’s report where he told them about all the new churches in Syria and Cyprus, Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia Minor and all the Jews and Gentiles that were saved.

Do you know that many people boast of their accomplishments, while none of it is theirs, it is all God’s work. There is something about humility that just kind of comes through in these verses. If it's there, you will get it. And with Paul, it is just there, he is so free with giving God the glory, and that is really what humility is all about. Every time he gave a report, it was like that

Look what happened in Acts 14:27, Paul came back from his first journey and listen to his report, “Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” That's so good because they see themselves only as tools while God is doing all the work.

Look at Acts 15:12, when they came to Jerusalem, “Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.” Peter did the same thing. He came back and told them that he had won a Gentile (Cornelius) to Christ by the power of God.

Let's look secondly at the concern. These Jewish elders and James, were really concerned because there was a problem. This is what they said about the concern in verse 20, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.” Tens of thousands Jews believed, but they all want to follow the law. Not the law in terms of salvation, but in terms of the ceremonies.

These were Jewish Christians who hadn't yet lost their Jewish ceremonies. They were still keeping the Passover. They were still keeping the Sabbath. They were still watching what they ate and watching what they wore. They were going through their routines. So the Jews did believe, and they were saved, but they had never eliminated the ceremonies of Judaism.

Why do the Jews still have all their ceremonies? Because God had split the veil of the temple and once the holy of holies was unveiled, all believers have direct access to God. And God had clearly told Peter in Acts 10:15 that there was no more dietary law. God said three times, “What God has cleansed you must not call unclean.” And so they had had plenty of information, but they still found it difficult to change.

The book of Hebrews is the clearest book ever written on the transition from Judaism to Christ that shows you to drop the old and come to the new, and it was written in 68 A.D. God just gave them two years to make that change, and then the whole system was taken away. And do you know that since 70 A.D. until today, those forms don't exist anymore? There are no more sacrifices, and all those features of the temple are gone.

In 70 A.D., you know how God got rid of all Jewish ceremony? He just destroyed Jerusalem. He allowed Titus to come in and wipe the city out, right off the face of the earth. One hundred thousand Jews were killed. Within a few years after that 985 towns in Palestine were destroyed and everybody was killed. He just destroyed Judaism in one fell swoop; and God allowed it to happen.

Verse 21, “but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.” All these Jewish Christians who are hanging onto the old forms have been misinformed by the Judaizers. These people said you should accept Jesus, but you could only do that after you become a Jew.

So, according to them, if you are a Gentile, you have to get circumcised first, to become a Jew, and then you can come to Jesus. And once you did, you had to continue to keep all the Mosaic Law. So consequently, the Judiazers were not saved since they depended on the works of the law. They were undermining Paul by saying that he doesn't' want anything to do with Judaism.

They said that Paul is teaching that you should abandon Moses who was sacred to them. Satan is the father of lies. Paul never taught Jews to forsake Moses. He taught Gentiles not to think they had to become Jews. He taught Gentiles not to be circumcised and not to follow the ceremonies of the Law. But he did teach Jews to be circumcised, and to follow those traditions. In fact, he actually had Timothy circumcised in Acts 16:2-3 because he was a Jew.

Our society is full of lies because Satan is a liar. That is why Paul said to Timothy, “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.” So the Judiazers gave this big lie in verse 21, "He teaches all Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses?” Those are lies. "Saying not to circumcise their children," that's a lie. "In order not to walk after customs," that's another lie.

Verse 22 says, “The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come.” These elders said, this thing could blow up. We have tens of thousands of Christian Jews who have been taught that you're an apostate. But that is wrong. Paul had already written Romans, when in Corinth. And Romans 14:1-8 says, look, if a Jew wants to observe the Sabbath day, that's no big deal. And if a Jew doesn't want to eat certain things, don't force him. Let us not offend him, be loving and be kind to him.

So they come up thirdly with a compromise. Some people think that compromise is a negative where you sacrifice truth for the sake of expediency. But there's a sense in which compromise can be neutral or inconsequential, or even positive. Sometimes you can make a compromise in a relationship that is a very loving act. We can see following this that the elders already have a compromise in mind.

Verses 23-24, “Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. 24 Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.” These men have taken a Nazarite vow, which means they are separated unto God.

Now, as a symbol of separation, he would restrain himself from drinking and from joy. So they say to Paul, "Now, first, take them and purify yourself with them." If you do that, the people will think that you really are on the side of Jewish custom. Then they asked, secondly, to pay all their expenses. Now, that's more involved, because there are a lot of animals sacrificed and all the meals and drinks for seven days.

Now, it's a compromise because Paul did not feel that it was an absolute necessity, but he was willing to listen to them. And he could see that maybe there's the possibility of winning some people over on this basis. And Paul loved unity in the church. This is what Jesus prayed for. And God looks at their hearts. And if their hearts were really pure, God was pleased, even though the form was strictly Jewish.

And so the Apostle Paul does this. But, they want to make one thing clear, in verse 25, “But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

Now what is Paul going to do? Look at verse 26, "Then Paul took them in, the four of them, and next day purifying himself with them, entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification." It was seven days, so they went in there to fill out the seven days, "until such a time as the offering could be offered for everyone."

Paul didn't argue, he just went along with the compromise. Was it a mistake? It is wrong to compromise truth for the sake of the method, right? And there are an awful lot of people that do that. But did Paul violate his conscience? I don't think so, because in Acts 18:18, he himself took a Nazarite vow, “He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow.”

We don't know what the results were to the Christian Jews who were there. The only thing you see here is the riot that happens from the unbelievers. It's a good illustration to the elders, which becomes a New Testament principle. Paul submitted himself to the elders to set a pattern for all future church activity. 1 Corinthians 9:19, “I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.”

So how do you see the humility in a man? One, in verses 19-20, he was humble before God. When he came to give his report, he said, "This is what God has done." Second, he humbled himself before Christian authority. The elders said, "Do this." He did it. Thirdly, he even humbled himself to suffer the pain of persecution, because it was God's will. That's true humility. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Jan 2018 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20180107 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000000D imblog

Acts 21:10-16

What do we need most this coming New Year? The answer in the bible is courage of conviction and great faith. We find, in Acts 21, a demonstration of that in the Apostle Paul. And we have learned here, that an example is maybe even more instructive than what we hear and learn from his writings. So, we have benefited by looking at the historical narrative and extracting from it, principles that can be applied to our own lives.

We have studied this little slice of the life of Paul, a trip from Miletus to Caesarea. As he concludes his third missionary journey and goes to Jerusalem, we have seen a great illustration of the tremendous commitment that he had, to the call that God had given him. This subject of commitment and dedication is something that should be expressed, in all kinds of ways and all walks of life.

The dedicated and the committed people; the people who are willing to pay whatever the price, are the ones who make the difference. And face it, most aren't, so most people are just spectators. As someone has aptly said, "There are the people who make things happen, there are the people who watch things happen, and then there are the people who don't know what's happening.

In Hebrews 11, you have that great chapter on heroes of the faith. Verse 24 introduces us to a man named Moses, "By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Now, Moses had risen to the heights of Egyptian society - he was a prince. And he had all of the wealth that went along with it. But, "he refused it, says in verse 24.

Verse 25 says, "Choosing rather, to suffer affliction with the people of God, than you enjoy the pleasures of sin, for a season." He was faced with a decision. According to Hebrews 11:23-25, it says that Moses knew that he had been called of God, to lead Israel out. So, on the one hand he had his position in Egypt and all of its wealth. On the other hand to become the leader of Israel, he would sacrifice everything. It was a difficult choice.

But he choose the call of God to be the leader of the people of Israel, and so he made his choice. Verse 26, “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” Moses believed that the reproach of being God's anointed, was of greater value than all the treasures of Egypt. In other words, he would rather be hated, and be God's anointed than be loved and belong to Egypt.

And the reason he choose that way, at the end of verse 26, "For he looked to the reward.” He was willing to sacrifice temporary riches for eternal reward. He knew the pleasures of sin were only for a season, and God's reward was eternal. So verse 27, "By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him." He didn't worry about a visible king, he knew the invisible God.

There was another person. Hebrews 11:31, "By faith, the prostitute, Rahab, did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace." Here was a lady who went against her whole society. Against all of the politics in city of Jericho, she chose to have faith in God, and believe those spies, and make a sacrifice. And she hid those soldiers at great risk to her life but she was willing to pay whatever price for what she believed in, and God honored her.

That woman was a prostitute, and that is bad. But she was also a Canaanite, and an Amorite, that's worse. All the Amorites and Canaanites were devoted to destruction. But do you know that God's grace has always been wider than Israel, and that Amorite Canaanite Gentile prostitute was induced into the line of the Messiah? She was the mother of Boaz, the great great grandfather of King David. That is God’s grace, Amen?

There were others. Verse 32, "What shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon.” A judge who faced the Midianite army with only 300 men who had no weapons but only pitchers and trumpets and torches. But he believed God and he was willing to stake his life on it. And then there was, Samson, who won so many victories over the Philistines. And David, who conquered Goliath, and so forth and so on.

See, they always believed that the eternal reward was far greater than any sacrifice. In Romans 8:18 Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” That's the ultimate choice, you obey God and there is an eternal dividend. Or you hang on to what you have in this world, and you will be eternally separated from God.

Verse 36-37, “Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” All these people suffered, because they believed in a goal that God had given them, and they were willing to die for it. That is commitment.

And look at verse 38-39, “Of whom the world was not worthy." They were too good for the world system. “They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these having obtained a good testimony witness faith, did not receive the promise.” And they did it all by faith alone and they gave their lives for a hope that they never saw.

And now God is asking of us, that same level of commitment for a hope that is already a fact in history. Christ was here. He did live, He did die, He did rise again, and He reigns at the right hand of the Father, and He will work His will and power through us. Do you believe that?

So, we learned that there are different kinds of commitment levels. There is an incomplete commitment, you never give it all to the Lord. There is an insincere commitment, you are a hypocrite and then there is an intermittent commitment. You’re committed today, but who knows about tomorrow. Now God wants a commitment to His cause that is constant. And as we study Acts 21, we see this kind of commitment in the Apostle Paul, and it just grows in the verses we look at tonight.

And we have four points that help us understand the courage of conviction. The courage of conviction knows its purpose, can't be diverted, pays any price and affects others. Now, the courage of conviction knows its purpose. You can't be courageous unless you've got a conviction you're fighting for. Now, Paul had a conviction, verses 1 to 3, he was on way to Jerusalem to deliver this money to the saints in Jerusalem, they need it and it will help unify the church.

Secondly, the courage of conviction can't be diverted, no matter what happens. And that was Paul in verses 4-6, he arrives in Tyre and they all said, don't go to Jerusalem. He said, goodbye anyway, and left for Jerusalem. But he couldn't be diverted. If it is the will of God, it is to be fulfilled in spite of what other Christians say.

Thirdly, courage of conviction pays any price. It can't be diverted at any price. Think of Daniel, he did what he always did. He prayed to God. Nothing diverted him, and he would pay any price. He wound up in the lion’s den. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, were told to bow down to false gods, and they would not do that. And they walked right into a fiery furnace. That's paying the price.

However in each case, God delivered them. God honors those who are willing to stick by their commitments. You're always safe in the middle of His will, no matter what's going on. And if you don't belief that, you just read Acts again, and watch how those people went from one fire to the next, in the middle of God's will, and were protected from ever being burnt. It's exciting.

Caesarea is the last stop before Jerusalem. Verse 8, “We who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.” Remember Philip from Acts 6, chosen to be one of the deacons of the church - one of the seven - full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith and men of wisdom. And he had been first a deacon and then an evangelist.

Phillip’s headquarters was in Caesarea. It was a Roman city. The Romans occupied it with their soldiers and their forces. In fact, it was the place where the fortress was and it was occupied by Herod. Now Philip had four daughters who were virgins. And it says, "They did prophesy." And so as Paul is waiting, verse 10 says, “And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.”

Well, the fact that he was a prophet is interesting. He is a prophet, not in the Old Testament sense, but in the New Testament sense. In the design of God, for the early years of the church, there were two key positions for men. They were "apostles and prophets" according to Ephesians 2:20, “The apostles and prophets were the foundation of the church.”

Now as foundational men, they had a limited time ministry that they ceased to be. In fact when Paul writes for the instruction of the church, he turns the leadership of the church over to pastors and elders, and there's no mention of apostles, and the term evangelist, all of a sudden comes into use. And so, the apostles and prophets were replaced by teaching pastors and evangelists.

The Apostles' revelation was for the most part doctrinal. They wound up writing the New Testament epistles, as well as the gospels, but the prophets had a practical kind of revelation. Paul as an apostle gave revelation concerning doctrine. Agabus as a prophet gave revelation concerning the practical life of the church. In Acts 11:28, he gave revelation about a coming famine. And now he shows up again now and gives another prophecy.

Verse 11, “When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” He says, Paul, when you get to Jerusalem, you're going to get bound and delivered to the Gentiles. And that is precisely what happened.

God gives us at times a vividly illustrated lesson. For example, King Solomon was a failure and afterwards the Kingdom of Israel was split up. Look at 1 Kings 11:29-30, “It came at the time when Jeroboam went of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah found him in the way." Jeroboam is going to be the new king, and "he is clad in new garments, 30 and Ahijah took the new garment and tore it into 12 pieces.”

And he said in verse 31, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you.” A very picturesque, illustration. Look at another prophecy like that in Isaiah 20:2, “the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.”

Verse 3-4, “Then the Lord said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.” It's a sign of the total defeat that's going to come to Ethiopia and Egypt. And it was a sign to Israel, because they always looked to Egypt for support instead of trusting God.

Now back to Acts 21. So God has used His prophets, to communicate messages of impending suffering, and they were vividly illustrated. Verse 12, “Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.” Here is Paul and of all his friends at Philip's house all the Caesarean Christians and they all cried and pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

Verse 13, “Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” He reaffirms the courage of his convictions at this point. Many friends of Christians have done, perhaps as much as the enemies, to deter them from accomplishing the objectives of God.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” And moms and dads, someday you may have to give your kid up to the mission field. Be objective enough to accept the fact that if he is in the will of God, he is as safe as the sovereignty of God, and he is strong. And that is all you need to worry about. Let us not talk people out of doing what God wants them to do. We all have to be willing to pay the price.

Paul says, "I am, ready." He was ready to do whatever needed to be done. That's why sometimes the Lord can't use everybody, because everybody is not ready. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul said he was, "ready to die." There were only two kinds of execution in Rome, the most torturous kind crucifixion or the merciful kind, that Paul got, which was chopping off your head with a sword.

Verse 14, “So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.” Verse 15-16, “And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem. 16 Also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us.” Here you see that courage is contagious. He was going to be imprisoned and they were going to be identified with him, but they became courageous because he was.

Do you have a spiritual conviction in your life that you are willing to follow no matter what? If you have the courage of conviction, God will use you to affect the lives of others. If one person could make that commitment to another person, certainly we should make it to our Lord, right? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 31 Dec 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171231 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000000C imblog

Luke 2:7

Surely Luke 2 is the most widely-known chapter in the Bible because it tells the story of Christmas. And yet we are going to be seeing it in some profound and perhaps unfamiliar ways as we come to grips with its great truth. Two thousand years ago the Creator of the universe, the eternal God, entered human society as a baby. God put on humanity.

It was a night like any other night but it wasn't a child like any other child. This child was the Lord Jesus Christ, God and man became one. This birth was so monumental that it became the high point of history, the apex. All history before this birth is B.C., Before Christ. All history since is A.D., Anno Domini, Latin for "the year of our Lord."

Let us look at Luke 2:7, “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Christmas initially meant "no vacancy" to Joseph and Mary, and that was all the more severe since Mary was about to deliver a baby.

This young couple, had journeyed about eighty-five to ninety miles from their home in Nazareth. She was nine months pregnant, and in a matter of a few days ready to deliver a baby, and no place to stay in Bethlehem. No relatives waiting with a warm home. And it was pretty cold as it was late fall or early winter.

The true meaning of the birth of God in human form is now treated trivially, surpassed by all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. But Jesus is the Savior of the world. He is coming as the Messiah to Israel first. But then He is coming as the Savior for every individual person who puts their trust in Him.

All of this is part of the perfect plan of God, providentially getting this couple exactly where they need to be because the Messiah was a son of David and was to be born in the city of David, so says the prophet. In order to fulfill that prophecy, that couple had to be there and God worked through the decree of Caesar Augustus for a census to accomplish that.

Micah 5:2 says, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me, the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” Micah prophesied this 700 years before the birth of Messiah, the eternal being. Bethlehem is also where David was born.

In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, Immanuel, the God of eternity stepped into time and space. And God announced through the angel Gabriel, that the Son will be called the Son of the Most High. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will have no end.

And the angel said to Mary in Luke 1:35, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God." In other words, it's going to be a miraculous conception. God is going to plant life in you without a man. You are going to be a mother, even though you are still a virgin.

The Lord of omnipresence was initially confined to a body of a baby. That little life grew up to become the sinless Lord Jesus Christ. And the angel Gabriel told the people that God had arranged everything and this has been predicted in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.

Sadly it is common knowledge, that the world has largely rejected Him. The nation Israel in general has rejected Him. And among all the people that need a Savior, few have believed in Him and been saved. That stable in Bethlehem was a metaphor for our sin and our wretchedness.

But it is also a picture of our heart. When Jesus knocks on the door of a person’s heart, I wonder why God would want to come in. Jeremiah described the human heart in Jeremiah 17:9 as, “deceitful above all things.” No matter how much we try to cover it up, in God’s eyes, our heart too is full of deceit and malice just like that unclean stable.

John 1:10-11 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” He came to save sinners, but the Jews did not believe that He was the Messiah. He came down from heaven to earth to give all of us a chance to believe in Him as our Savior.

When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, God took a lamb and slew it. From the beginning of man, God has made it plain that only with the shedding of blood there is remission of sin, and forgiveness of evil (Hebrews 9:22). John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). So that is another reason He was born in a stable.

Christ is the Lamb that was going to be sacrificed on the cross for us, taking our place and receiving our punishment, so that forgiveness of sin might be justly and freely offered. It was not by chance that Mary and Joseph could not find room in the inn when they arrived in Bethlehem. Their coming to a manger in a stable was all according to God’s foreknowledge and plan.

God’s plan was that Jesus, who is our sinless Lord, would come into the world full of sin. A world that resented His ministry. And God calls us all to believe in Jesus and to follow His example to witness in this world, to serve and to love people who are more interested in the world than in salvation. But we often are like the inn keeper who has no place for Jesus and no time for Him.

But while we rejected Him, God showed His love by sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to teach us and give us an example of what we should do and how we should live. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

By the shedding of His blood, Jesus paid the price for our sins and thereby redeeming us, then He rose from the dead and returned to heaven. But He now continues to offer that free gift of salvation to all who believe in Him. Just contemplate what that means, Christ will forgive all your sins, past, present and future and you will spent eternity with Him in heaven.

You may think you are not good enough, that there is too much wrong in your life. Maybe you feel that your sins are too big for God to forgive. Maybe you are in jail for life and you feel there is no hope. But no matter what you have done, our creator God, who loves us so much that He is willing to sacrifice Himself, can and will save anybody who believes in Him and repents, Amen?

If you truly believe that in your heart, pray with me this short prayer, “Oh heavenly Father, come into my heart and forgive my sin. I know that I am a sinner. I want You to cleanse me and I know that You died for me on the cross and that You paid the penalty for my sins. Thank you so much for your grace and mercy, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

If you prayed that sincerely, God says you have stepped from darkness into light. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Praise the Lord.

]]> Sun, 17 Dec 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171217 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000000B imblog

2 Peter 3:8-15

Peter has explained that divine revelation in this epistle is for the purpose of safeguarding the church from the continuous onslaught of false teachers. In chapter 1 he gave us important instruction about how to make sure that we’re in a right relationship with God. In chapter 2, he described the characteristics of false teachers. And then in chapter 3, he has been refuting their main error in whatever assembly.

These false teachers were attacking the Second Coming of Christ. So in 2 Peter 3:1-10 Peter has refuted those who deny the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. He has unmasked the false teachers in this epistle. And he has armed all Christians who read it and understand it for protection. Peter has affirmed the truth that Jesus will come again, and we should thank him. History has a goal and a purpose.

If Jesus is not coming, if there is no judgment, if God’s not going to intervene, that means that men are left with no hope and no future. When there is no future, hedonism prevails in your heart and you live anyway you want to live. On one of the tombs is written, “Once I had no existence, now I have none. I am not aware of it, it does not concern me.” And that indicates that for many there was only apathy.

Even so, those who do not know Christ should be grateful that He’s coming back to make all things right. But Peter is more concerned that believers have a proper understanding and a proper response to the return of Jesus Christ. And he says in verse 11, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what kind of person should you be in conduct and godliness?”

What kind of person should you be if you know that Jesus is coming? If you are looking forward to that final heaven, that final glory, that eternal state, shouldn’t it have some very strong implications to live holy? “The day of God” in verse 12, refers to the eternal state. We don’t long for the day of the Lord used in verse 10; that is a term of judgment, destruction and damnation.

We long for what comes after the day of the Lord, namely that eternal state of righteous glory when, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, everything resolves in God in His ultimate glory. That is explained in verse 10 which says, “The heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”

Now verse 11 is not a question, it is an exclamation. When he says “what sort of people ought you to be,” implied in that is at what level of excellence ought you to live, when you know that you’re going to see beyond the day of the Lord the day of God and eternal glory. That is a challenge to Christians to conform their lives to the reality of eternity.

If Jesus is coming to make you an heir, if Jesus is coming to take you to be with Himself; if Jesus is coming to build for you a new heaven and a new earth; if Jesus is coming to deliver you from judgment and if Jesus is coming to take you into the kingdom of eternal righteousness, that ought to impact your life. In other words, if you have been redeemed and sanctified for that, then you ought to live in light of that.

In fact, in 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, Paul adds, “We have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to Him, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” There will come a time when we are going to receive an eternal reward.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, at that point in time when the Lord judges the secrets of our hearts, every one of us will have praise from God and we will enter into our eternal reward. We as Christians are not a part of this world system. We are pilgrims. We belong to a heavenly place. We are waiting for a city whose builder is God, a city not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

What kind of people ought we to be, at what level of excellence ought we to live, he says. So, confidence in the glory of the coming day of God has some implications. Peter lists a number of them. First, there is a general statement in verse 11. “What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?” And that’s the arena in which he is speaking.

Holy conduct refers to action; godliness refers to attitude. Holy conduct refers to the way I live my life; godliness refers to my attitude towards God in my life. Holy conduct refers to that which rules my behavior, and godliness refers to that which rules my heart. And so he is saying what kind of person ought you to be in heart and in behavior, in motive and in action, in attitude and in duty.

Both terms are in the plural, untranslatable in English. But in Greek, it takes the concept of holiness and godliness and spreads it over every area of our life. Tradition tells us Peter was crucified and because he was feeling unworthy to be crucified like his Lord, he pleaded to be crucified upside down. And Peter’s final words are this, what kind of person should we be in all areas.

What is the answer to that? The answer flows, starting in verse 12 down through verse 18. That takes us back to 1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Live in the light of that grace that is bestowed upon you when Jesus is fully revealed in all His glory and sets up His eternal kingdom.

And then he says in verse 14-15, “as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” If we are headed for His kingdom, we should behave in a manner consistent with that identification. Hope makes us holy. Now, since someday we’re going to be with Him, how do we begin in this process of holiness?

By expectation. Notice verse 12-13, “Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat, but according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Here is the concept of expectation. Be like Paul, “It’s nice to be here, but far better to depart and be there.”

What does that mean? That means that I’m going to be dealing with the issues in my life, so that when He comes I won’t be ashamed. 1 John 2:28 talks about not being ashamed when Jesus comes, “When He appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” If my life is right, then I’m waiting for the presence of Jesus. ‘Parousia’ literally means the presence.

That phrase “day of God” refers to that eternal state when God is all in all. On account of the day of God, God has to destroy the present universe. To make way for the day of God there must be the day of the Lord. Verse 10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” If there is to be a new universe in which righteousness dwells, then the Lord is going to have to destroy the old sin-cursed universe.

We know that the Lord destroyed this world once by water, drowning all of the people that were in it from waters underneath and waters above the earth, so in the future He will destroy it by fire. And the day of the Lord is not the result of any natural calamity. And it is not the result of some nations using nuclear weapons. It is the divine judgment by Almighty God through the power of Christ whom He has appointed as judge.

Now keep in mind that the day of the Lord comes in two parts. It comes when Lord Jesus returns in the Second Coming at the end of the time of Tribulation. And then He sets up His thousand-year kingdom. At the end of that thousand years, the second phase of the day of the Lord comes. God sees it as one day, because verse 8 says, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

But the first time that Jesus comes, at the beginning of the thousand years, there are some previews of the end of the thousand years when fire destroys the universe. Look at Revelation 8:7, the trumpets are blown to pronounce the judgment at the end of the Tribulation time. When the first trumpet sounds, “there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”

Verse 8-9, “And a second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.” That’s only a preview of the devastating fire of the earth that will consume everything at the end of the thousand years when the Lord sets up the new heaven and the new earth.

Another preview in Revelation 9:17-18, “And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.”

And at the last preview at the end of the thousand years, Satan is released from prison. He comes out to deceive people who rejected Christ. Revelation 20:9-10 says, “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. ¹⁰ The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

And that is the starting point of the final devastation of fire that consumes the whole universe. That’s how it is going to end. And then comes the holocaust when all of the universe is consumed and the elements melt with intense heat. Right down to the elements, the microscopic components that make up the building blocks of matter. First John 2:17 says, “And the world passes away.”

When God’s day arrives, man’s day is over. That’s why it’s called the day of God. His corruption of the universe and that of fallen angels is finally judged. And so in verse 13, Peter says, “But according to His promise we are looking,” not for the day of the Lord. We’re looking for the day of God, the day of eternity, “for the new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” We’re looking for a new universe.

Isaiah 60:19-20, describes that world, “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. 20 Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. 21 Also your people shall all be righteous.”

Look at Revelation 21:1-3, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God will be with them and be their God.”

Verse 4-7 says, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” ⁵ Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” ⁶ And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. ⁷ He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”

Look at Revelation 21:23-27, “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

Our response should be that of John in Revelation 22:8, “And I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things and when I heard and saw I fell down to worship.” His heart was right. He just worshipped the wrong person. He fell at the feet of an angel who said, “Get up, worship God.” Verse 20, “He who testifies to these things, says yes, I am coming quickly.” John’s response is “Amen,” Come, Lord Jesus.”

2 Peter 3:14-15a, “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” This is what we look forward to, the Lord Jesus comes to Rapture His church out, then comes phase one of the day of the Lord, the judgment. Then we come back with Him to reign a thousand years in our glorified bodies.

At the end of that time He destroys the universe, but preserving the already made righteous and redeemed and leads us finally at the end of the thousand years into the day of God. That’s what we are made for and that is what we should be preparing for by trusting in Jesus. The best is yet to come as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, Amen? Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Dec 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121210 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000000A imblog

Acts 21:7-9

We have been studying Acts, which is the history of the church in its early years from its beginning in Jerusalem until the time that it became founded and formed in Rome. So it's the sweep of Christianity as it begins in Jerusalem and sweeps across the Gentile world to Rome. The history of the church is not the history of events, but it's the history of people.

The church catalyst in the early years was Peter. And soon after that, we met people like Philip and Steven. And then there were others unnamed. And then we met the Apostle Paul. And starting in Acts 13, everything was about Paul. And we see him in combination with Barnabas, Silas, Timothy and Luke. And now, Paul is filling out the rest of the Book of Acts in his ministry.

As we come to Acts 21, he is concluding his third missionary tour. He is on his way back to Jerusalem. And woven into the history and this narrative are principles that apply to life. So the Book of Acts has become for all of us, a precious and practical instruction manual on the life of the church and the believers inside.

And we have seen examples rather than precepts, and great principles that are applicable to our lives. And in Acts 21:1-15, we have seen the courage of conviction as kind of a focal point. Paul is a man of conviction, and that conviction needs to be transferred to us. We are not talking just about commitment, but more about a life that is committed.

We can learn more from Paul based on what he does than what he says. What makes it so powerful is that he does what he talks about. If we study the epistles of Paul, we get all that exhortation, which is good. But when we study Acts, we can say, "This guy believed that. He made it operable. And here are the results of it." That gives application to this information.

Now Paul expressed his commitment in Acts 20: 22-24, “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. 24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Paul says, “I have a ministry that the Lord gave to me. I'm going to fulfill that ministry, and I don't care what the price is." Now the issue is this: Can you practice what you just preached? At stake is the issue of the supreme lordship of Jesus Christ in the life of a believer. It is about my submission to His supremacy and my obedience to His Lordship.

God knows what it is He wants us to do. And we have been given the opportunity to fulfill that ministry. The question is whether we submit ourselves to that Lordship totally and thereby accomplishing our job. Now dedication begins with a conviction, and then secondly with the courage to see it through. And there are different levels of conviction or commitment.

First of all, there is the incomplete commitment. In other words, you are committed up to a point if it doesn't get too scary, or if it doesn't really intrude on my schedule a lot, or if it doesn't conflict with my own self-desires. For instance a man by the name of Demas. He was a good fellow, or Paul wouldn't have chosen him as a companion.

And Paul loved him, which says something else about his character. And he accompanied the Apostle Paul on certain ministries with apparently some degree of involvement and success. But then Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:10, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.” If you're struggling in your life where you do not obey the Lordship of Christ, you are not committed.

The second type is an insincere commitment. This is the verbal commitment that is not followed through. Peter said, "Lord, whatever happens, I will die for you." And when given the opportunity, he denies Christ on three occasions. That is an old word, defined in Scripture under the term hypocrisy. This is all talk and no action. This is all pretense and superficial.

A classic illustration was a couple named Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, who wanted to be treated as holy people. So they said to the church, "We will give all we have from the sale of our land to the Lord." But then they gave only a part, and kept the rest for themselves. And Peter said, "You have lied to the Holy Spirit." And God took their life and they both died. Many people who want to appear pious but who are really not.

The third kind is an intermittent commitment. It all depends on which day you talk to them whether they are committed or not. And the extreme form of it is in the church of Ephesus, in Revelation 2:4, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” These are the ups and downs of Christianity. And very often, the downs take over, and they just subsist at that low level.

Now God's choice for his people is not an incomplete, an insincere, or an intermittent commitment. God's choice is a total, constant, and full commitment, the kind of dedication that continues, no matter what happens. And Paul was this kind of a man. He had convictions, he was committed to them, and it didn't matter what the consequences were, he had the courage of conviction.

And he did not have a different Holy Spirit. He had the same resources all Christians have. So don’t say, "I'm no Apostle Paul." Well, he did not start as the Apostle Paul either. He began as Saul of Tarsus. It was the Holy Spirit that made him like that. And you are nothing either, neither am I, but we both have the same Holy Spirit. So in His power, you have been given that same ability. Are you going to use it?

God desires that we all have the courage of conviction. All other kinds of commitments are worthless. Jesus established the norm when He said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Commitment means that you only think about what God wants, which means to deny yourself. Yes, but that's for spiritual giants. No, it is for normal Christians, you and me.

We see in Paul that the courage of conviction has four features. First, the knowledge of purpose. You cannot be convicted to fulfill something if you don't have a purpose. Secondly, it can't be diverted. Thirdly, it pays any price. And fourthly, it affects others. Paul put it this way: "That I may know Him." Or maybe the objective can be to walk in the Spirit. There needs to be a godly goal.

Paul was a man of conviction, and his goal was Jerusalem. He was going to get there with that offering. What's so big about delivering the money? Well, he felt it was important to unify the church, and to meet the needs of the poor saints in Jerusalem. Secondly, it can't be diverted. Now once the conviction is established, the courage comes.

Paul also fulfilled prophecy. Acts 9:15-16 says, “But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” God didn't say, "I'm going to make him suffer." God said, "I'm going to show him how much he is going to suffer." God promised to reveal to Paul his sufferings before they came.

God was really confirming to Paul that He was still in charge of his life. God was still right on course in spite of what he knew was going to happen. See, how well God prepared him for that? God just fulfilled the prophecy all along. So Paul was not disobedient, he was following the leading of the Spirit of God.

Now in the Bible, there are a lot of people who illustrate a lack of this kind of courage. Such a person is portrayed in Acts 13. There was the first Gentile church in Antioch, their pastors were Barnabas, Simeon, Niger, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul. They were all God-blessed men. But God wanted to sent Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey.

Now they took with them a guy named John Mark, who felt the call of the mission field. And in Acts 13:13, “Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.” John Mark saw the Taurus Mountains, where all the robbers that inhabited the caves of those mountains were, he simply quit.

Now Paul was a strong man and had a difficult time tolerating weakness in anybody else. And so when he heard the suggestion to take John Mark again, he refused. The last time he didn't have the courage to go with them. So Paul and Barnabas split up. God used that for His glory, because now He had two teams. Paul took Silas, and Barnabas took John Mark and went to Cyprus.

Thirdly, the courage of conviction pays any price. This is where John Mark blew it. Most of us probably have already done that many times. It may be as simple as this: you know you should share Jesus Christ with somebody, but because of your ego, you don't want to be rejected or embarrassed, so you don't do it. Or God wants you involved in a ministry, but that would diminish the time you need to make more money, etc.

Let’s come back to Acts 21:7, “And when we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day.” So now their ship had crossed the Mediterranean and docked at Tyre. And they went from Tyre 27 miles to Ptolemais, either by ship or by walking. They have only one day there, but they maximize it.

Paul did not waste any time. You can imagine that he taught them, that he shared with them, he listened and solved some of their problems. He worked with them, this was his kind of life. This wasn't his congregation, but at the same time, he felt a spiritual obligation to maximize his time for them.

Verse 8, “On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.” Caesarea is west of Jerusalem about 70 miles. It was the port of Jerusalem in Bible times, not now. Today you have to go south of Caesarea about 20 minutes to the port of Tel Aviv, which is the largest city in Israel.

Caesarea was a Roman city, the headquarters of Pilate and the Roman Garrison. It was a fortified city and remained so throughout many centuries, even to the time of the crusaders. And the Jews even considered it, though it was in the territory of Israel, to be almost a foreign city.

We entered the house of Philip the evangelist who was one of the seven. What seven? The seven in Acts 6. Remember that the first church grew so fast, they didn't know what to do. By Acts 4 there were 20,000 people in the Jerusalem church already. So they chose seven deacons in Acts 6:5, “Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas.”

This is the same Philip who is also mentioned in Acts 8:5-8, “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by him, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 8 And there was great joy in that city.” And in Acts 8:40 it says, “But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.”

Philip was an evangelist. That's the only time that anybody has been given that name. He started out as a deacon and now he is an evangelist. Remember this principle: God honors those who have been faithful in little things. If you want to be used by God, let God lift you up to a ministry of the future. Just be faithful now.

Paul arrives in Philip's house and lives with him. And he had a few extra days until Pentecost in Jerusalem. Did you know that Philip had met Paul indirectly 20 years before? Under what circumstances? When Paul was persecuting the church, Philip was one of the ones who ran out to Samaria. And now Philip hosts Paul in his own home as a brother in faith.

Imagine the joy meeting his original persecutor and knowing what Paul had become? Galatians 1:22-24 says, “And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. 23 But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God in me.”

The first guy who started non-Jewish evangelism was Philip. He preached in Samaria to the half-breed Samaritans. And while preaching there, the Holy Spirit said, "I want you to go to Gaza," which is the desert. He obeyed and there he met the Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah and led him to Christ and baptized him. That was the first gentile convert.

So Philip was the predecessor to Paul. God used Philip to begin what Paul expanded. And the two ministries in the church now are evangelism and pastoring. The work of an evangelist is to plant churches. So look what happens. Verse 9, “Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.”

Now the gift of prophecy functions in two capacities. One, in terms of revelation, and two, in terms of proclaiming the truth. Maybe Luke, the author of Acts, is hinting to their involvement with him. He didn't have firsthand experience of everything, so the Holy Spirit had to get it to him using revelation. Paul, after he becomes a prisoner is shipped back to Caesarea for two years.

So Luke would have time to talk with these girls. An early church father by the name of Papius said that Philip's daughters were commonly known as informants on the early history of the church. The historian Usivius, also quotes Papius to support the fact that these four girls were used to transmit revelation of the Holy Spirit.

The real issue in courage here is the word “trust.” If you do not follow up on your commitments, you do not trust God and you have dishonored God, because you are questioning God's faithfulness. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to determine your goal, and then live committed to that goal, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Dec 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171203 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000009 imblog

Acts 21:1-6

Let us continue in the journey of the Apostle Paul as he concludes his third missionary journey and goes to the city of Jerusalem. It is the courage and the commitment of Paul, who believed in something enough to abandon his own self-pleasure to see it come to pass. Now that is the spirit that is characteristic of all of God's greatest people throughout the history of biblical revelation.

Look at Numbers 13:2, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel.” And 12 people went in and ten came back and said, 'We can't go into that land, there are giants over there and we are like grasshoppers.' But Joshua and Caleb said, 'No problem. Let's go get it.' Fortified cities, massive armies, but they believed God, and they were willing to risk their lives.

There was a lady in the book of Judges, who happened to be a judge in Judges 4. Her name was Deborah, and she believed that God had given the children of Israel a victory. And so Deborah encouraged the army, said, "Look, the victory's ours, let's just go take it." And she led them out and they won.

And in 1 Samuel 17, there is that story of a young boy named David who had five round rocks and a slingshot, and said, "It's only a giant, and God is going to give the Philistines into our hands." And he went out there and twirled that slingshot around and won a war. He had conviction and he was willing to stake his life on it.

And there were three young men in Daniel 3, named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were willing to stake their life on a spiritual principle that it was proper to worship God and not idols, and they walked into a fiery furnace. They were willing to die for what they believed. There was another man named Daniel. In Daniel 6, they said, "If you don't quit praying, we'll put you in the lion’s den." They put him in the lion's den, and God saved him. That is courage of conviction.

And in Acts, we have been finding out repeatedly that these people have convictions that they are willing to die for. And Paul was one of those people. Paul said to the Ephesian elders in the parting in Acts 20:38, “You will see my face no more.” Why did he say that? Because he was moving towards Jerusalem, and he was well aware that all the way along, the Holy Spirit kept testifying to him that bonds and afflictions awaited him.

Even though he realized the danger awaiting at Jerusalem, even though his heart burned to reach the city of Rome, and even though he knew the saints loved him and appreciated him, he still didn't stop because he had conviction and courage to see it through. His conviction was to collect money from all the Gentile churches and to give that to the poor saints in the Jerusalem church.

It was a two-fold project: one, to show that the Gentile churches loved the Jewish church, so to unite the church, and two: to meet the practical money needs of the poor saints. And he believed that God had given him this goal, and this cause, and this objective, and he pursued it. He saw the Jerusalem church as a besieged fort. It was cut off from supplies and it had been through famine and persecution.

Of course it was a dangerous thing to do, because all the followers of Judaism hated Paul. They chased him and tried to kill him. And now he is going to the center of Judaism - Jerusalem itself. As we study Acts 21, we see Paul's courage and conviction and there are four aspects of the courage of conviction, namely: 1: knows its purpose, 2: can't be diverted, 3: pays any price, and 4: affects others.

The first factor in expressing courage is that you have to believe in something. There has to be an objective, a goal, or a purpose. Now, for Joshua and Caleb, the conviction was that God has given them this land. So if God has given us this land let us be courageous and go possess the land that God has given us. But it all begins with the belief that God gave them that land.

For Deborah, the conviction was, "God promises victory." For David, the conviction was, "God wants Israel saved from the Philistines." For the three Hebrews, "God wants to be worshipped, and does not allow us to worship any other gods," and we have the courage to believe that conviction, whatever the cost. For Daniel, same thing. Paul said in Acts 20:23-24, "The Holy Spirit witnesses in every city that bonds and afflictions await me. 24 But none of these things move me.”

In the first three verses of Acts 21, we see that courage of conviction knows its purpose. Acts 21: 1, “Now it came to pass, that when we had departed from them,” It speaks of a love bond, which is hard to sever physically, and so they had a sad kind of parting. “And set sail, running a straight course we came to Cos, the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.”

So they sailed unto Cos, which indicates they had a little boat that hugged the coastline. Patara was a large port, since the Xanthos River emptied there into the Mediterranean Sea, where larger ships would dock to take stuff inland. Verse 2 says, “And finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.” Phoenicia is the coastline area of Palestine.

Now this is a large ship, because it says in verse 3, “When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo.” Syria, is the coastline area, and Tyre is the famous city mentioned in the Old Testament. Here again we see that Paul is a man on a mission. He is directly going towards Jerusalem.

Verse 4, “And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.” Paul waited till the ship again left Tyre, and would sail down the coastline to the ports near Jerusalem. A simple narrative, and yet underneath it a tremendous truth - the Apostle Paul accepting the challenge of bearing this gift to the Jerusalem church.

The only time that you really get that depth of courage is when you have that depth of commitment to an objective. Let's talk about a general, spiritual objective. Paul shares his objective in Philippians 3:10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” Our objective also should be to know Christ.

The Bible is not the objective; the Bible is the means to accomplish the objective. But in order to know Him, I have to know His Word and that is in the Bible. Paul then says in addition, I want to know the power of His resurrection. I want to know the fellowship of His sufferings. I want to feel the pain of His sufferings, as I suffer for His sake. I want to know everything there is. That's a great objective.

My own objective would be, one, I want to know Him. Two, I desire to feed His flock. But in order to know Him and to feed His flock I have to know His Word. So my objective, though it is general, becomes very real and actual. In order to accomplish the ultimate objective there is a practical thing that I have to do, and that is pursue Scripture. So you can have a general goal that becomes also a practical task.

Do you have an objective? Some say, "My objective is to win my unsaved husband to Jesus Christ." That is good. Are you willing to pay any price to do that, sacrifice your own self-will, your own pleasure, anything for that objective? Somebody might say, "My objective is to be in the ministry, to finish my study and my training and to serve God." Are you willing to make any and every sacrifice to accomplish that?

Every Christian ought to have an objective. Because without it you are not going anywhere, and you will never have the occasion to know what it is to express courage, and to be able to set your will aside to accomplish what God laid on your heart. So first of all, the courage of conviction knows its purpose. Secondly, the courage of conviction can't be diverted.

Watch verse 3 again, “And we landed at Tyre there, at the coast of Syria," not far from Jerusalem. Verse 4, “And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days.” These were Christians Paul didn't know, because he did not start the church in Tyre. That is correct, but he indirectly did so, because it was started out of the overflow of the persecution of Stephen. So Paul was the cause for the growth of the church even before he was saved.

But they said to Paul, through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. They loved him and they didn't want to see him hurt, because he was so hated by the Jews. Now the question is: Did Paul get a word from the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem? If he did, then he went anyway, he was disobedient. So is Paul disobedient? Did he make a mistake in going to Jerusalem?

So what does the phrase, "Through the Spirit," mean? That phrase means, through the exercise of the spiritual gift. 1 Corinthians 14:3 defines it as, "Edification, consolation, and exhortation," teaching, preaching. But the gift of prophecy was also predicting in the early church. Now you can exercise a spiritual gift in the true energy of the Spirit or in the flesh. It is not conclusive there how it was.

Maybe it was a mistake to go but his love for the church in Jerusalem made him do it. If you read the Bible you will find that everybody that God used fouled up. Noah failed after the flood and got drunk, Abraham denied his wife, Isaac failed due to fleshly lust, Jacob failed daily, Moses failed and was left out of the Promised Land and David had a terrible blot on his life. Peter denied Jesus and Thomas doubted Him.

But God is in the business of picking up those who fail. Aren't we glad? However, Paul did not fail here. He was not deny the Spirit at all. "Why?" First of all, he lived in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul would not, all of a sudden, become carnal, without any indication from God that he did.

Illustration: Acts 16:6, “When they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia." You know what they did? They didn't preach in Asia, Paul didn't violate the Spirit. Verse 7, "When they come to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit allowed them not." They didn't go there either.

Verse 9-10, “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia.” Now watch, the Spirit said, "No," Paul said, "No." The Spirit said, "No”, Paul said, "No" again. Then the Spirit said, "Go to Macedonia," and what did Paul do? He went to Macedonia. Listen, this man lived in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Listen to Acts 20:23, “the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.” Does the Holy Spirit say, "Don't go?" No, the Holy Spirit says when you get there, this is what is going to happen. The Holy Spirit knew he was going, and it was a case, not of prohibition, but of preparation. Paul told them in verse 24, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy.”

In Acts 24:16, he said something similar, “I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” Listen, he was so sensitive to the Holy Spirit, that he would always obey God. The message the Holy Spirit was giving him was this, "Paul, don't go unless you are willing to suffer what is going to happen." And he was.

That is the courage of conviction. And it was natural that his friends, who, by prophetic spirit, could foretell his pain, would try to talk him out of going. But Paul had no concern for safety, only for service. And he is like Jesus who firmly headed for Jerusalem. This is courage of conviction that cannot be diverted.

Soon after the beginning of the reign of ‘Bloody Mary’ in England in 1553, an officer was sent to bring various preachers in for trial. A godly preacher named Hugh Latimer was brought to London. When the officer arrived, Latimer said, "My friend, I go as willingly to London to give an account of my faith, as ever I went to any place in the world. The Lord will enable me to bear witness to the truth, either to her eternal comfort or discomfort.”

‘Bloody Mary’ burned him at the stake, and she burned two other preachers with him. And as the flames were leaping up Latimer said these words, “We shall light a candle in England today that will never go out.” The costliest fire the Roman Catholic Church ever lit was that fire. It became the flame that ignited the English Reformation and the death of Catholicism in England. This man had conviction and the courage to die in the flames.

Verse 5, “When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way; and they all accompanied us, with wives and children, till we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed.” Do you see the beauty of what they did? We just saw that with old friends in Acts 20. And this is what Paul did with new friends. One thing about Christianity, it doesn't take long to make a sweet fellowship.

And so in the city of Tyre we see that the goal of Paul could not be diverted. Even these new, sweet, beloved Christian brothers and sisters, with all their love, and all their advice, as well meaning as it was, could never divert him from his God given objective. May we all learn to follow Paul’s example as he follows the example of Jesus. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Nov 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171126 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000008 imblog

Acts 20:29-38

God always mediates His rule through specially chosen and qualified leaders. First were the patriarchs, then the judges, and then the prophets, priests and kings. In the New Testament God mediates His rule in the church through pastors and evangelists, and the Holy Spirit guides the individual believer. And so there is authority and submission as a two-fold operation of God in the world.

God now rules over people through a directed order that falls into three categories: the family, the church, and the state. And in all of these areas God has set in order that there be leaders and followers. That there be authority and submission. In the family, the parents are the leaders. In the church, the pastors and elders are the leaders. In the state, the government officials are the leaders. This is God's ordained pattern.

God directs His rule in the church through pastors and elders. And that takes us directly into Acts 20. Now here Paul is giving information to church pastors and elders who are given the responsibility of leading the church of Jesus Christ. Now the world's evaluation of leadership, is not the way God evaluates it. So what is it that makes an effective leader in the church?

The world says that leaders have to be visionary, and they have to be action-oriented. They should be involved, aggressive and courageous. They are also energetic and they are normally object-oriented, rather than people-oriented. They are egocentric, and they are always indispensable. In other words everything rises or falls with them. And in most cases these are the people that rise to the top and get into leadership.

But there is no such category of leaders in the Bible. All of the biblical qualifications completely circumvent anything like that and are spiritual and internal, rather than physical and external. The only one way that Biblical leaders lead is not by precept and verbiage, but by example.

Philippines 3:17 says, “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.” Philippines 4:9 says, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” So Paul said, we lead by example.

Now such a responsibility of being a leader is difficult. Because it is a responsibility given by God to take care of people and that is always a big task. Hebrews 13:17 says, "They watch out for your souls, as those who must give account." And James 3:1 says that, "we shall receive stricter judgment if we stumble." But it also can be so rewarding that it overcomes the possibility of failure.

So in Acts 20, Paul gives the pastors all the precepts of leadership. Priority number one in spiritual leadership is to make sure you are right with God. Personal holiness is foundational. The most important task is not to prepare your sermons, but it is preparing yourself to be a channel that God can use effectively. So my primary responsibility is to make sure that my life before God is what it ought to be.

Verse 28, "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves." And we saw in 1 Timothy and in Titus, the qualifications for a pastor were all spiritual. No man is really useful to God who is not holy. And you are only as useful as you are set apart unto God. Look at David in 2 Samuel 11, he took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah and made her pregnant.

Then in 2 Samuel 11:15, he wrote a letter to the soldiers and said, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retreat, that he may be left there, and smitten, and die." And so he was killed. Now he has committed adultery and murder. And you know what happened, he rendered himself totally useless to God. But God spoke to his heart and he broke under the weight of his sin, and he then wrote down his feelings in Psalms 51.

Psalm 51 is the broken heart of David over the sin of Bathsheba and Uriah. Hear what he says, "Have mercy upon me, O God according to Your loving kindness: according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only God, have I sinned.”

What he is saying is, “God, restore me, bring me back. Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence. Do not take your Holy One from me." David wouldn't have been worth anything in teaching or in converting anybody until he was clean. Do you see what he is saying? And it is not different now. The first priority in the ministry of any man is his own holiness.

Priority number two is also in verses 27-28, feed and shepherd the flock. Some of us perhaps are familiar with what is commonly known as congregational rule, where the congregation rules. That's foreign to Scripture. In the Scripture the congregation is subject to the authority of the pastors. Because when you put all the people over the leaders you have violated God's pattern for authority in the church.

Once those men are chosen by God and ordained of God, it is their job to rule for God, as they stand as under shepherds for Christ. And so leadership is important: leading the flock, making wise decisions, leading them into the places that are going to be beneficial to them, but also feeding them. And they feed with the Word, as God has called them to.

Now the third priority is: to watch and warn the flock. Feeding is the positive and watching and warning is the negative. This is protection and vigilance. Yes, the backward look is watching what is coming up from the rear. One of the greatest and one of the most strenuous kind of struggles is to protect the congregation.

Look at verse 29, “For I know this that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” How do you know it? Because Paul knows Satan and how he works. Paul says, false teachers are going to arrive as soon as I am gone. Wherever the truth is proclaimed, Satan will come in with lies to undermine it.

In Matthew 7:15 Jesus made reference to wolves, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." And, again, in Matthew 10:16, Jesus sends out people who are going to preach for Him and He said this, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves." And the twelve disciples went off knowing they could expect to run into some wolves in sheep's clothing.

Do you know what a good minister of Jesus Christ does? He reminds people to watch out for false prophets, for doctrines of demons and for seducing spirits. And God condemns these people. 2 Peter 2:1, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”

2 Peter 2:18-19, “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.”

False doctrine comes in, not only from the outside, but from the inside. Verse 30, “Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” Did that happen at Ephesus? Yes, because Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:3, “remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.”

Paul even named them. 1 Timothy 1:19-20 says, “some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, 20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” 2 Timothy 1:15 says, “All those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.”

Most people do not realize that this happens right now. Many churches in America are dominated by false teachers. We have to watch out for the tares being sown among the wheat. In Matthew 13:29, Jesus said, "Don't gather up the tares lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.”

The only one way to keep the tares from getting in, is to watch and warn. And it is up to us who is here as a part of the Riverside Indonesian Fellowship, whomever is teaching, whomever has responsibility, whomever sits in places of leadership. We owe that to the Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of the purity that He wants presented to Him.

Verse 31, “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Why did Paul weep? Because he knew the terrible consequences of false teachers. He says, "I warned you night and day." So the pastor is to be vigilant. And Paul is saying, do it like I did it. Again leadership is by example.

2 Thessalonians 3:8-9 says, “We worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, 9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.” So the pastor is there to protect the congregation from the wolves of false doctrine through being a good example.

The fourth priority is to study and pray. Acts 6:4 says, “We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Verse 32, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” That's what prayer is.

1 Peter 2:2, “that you may grow thereby, the pure milk of the Word." The Word causes us to grow "and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." As you study the Word you are build up and you are assured that the promised inheritance is really yours, set apart for all those who are holy through Christ.

This is His church. Ultimately, only God can safeguard and care for them. And so, Paul says, "I commit you to God." And everything the church ever does should have that kind of committal. That becomes a priority for every kind of ministry. We must pray about everything. Everything we do must be for God. Look at Acts and you will find that they prayed before they did anything.

Do you know there's no substitute for prayer? That sounds a little bit old fashioned, but it's true. Not prosperity, not good ideas, not good programs, not growth, not success, not confidence and not talent. It is easy for a church to only depend on yourself with wonderful programs and good committees and take all the credit. But who do you really need to thank? Do not rob God of His glory!

Well the last priority for the pastor is, no self-interest. And Paul uses himself as an example. Verse 33, “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel.” Paul is saying, you have to remember in all your ministry, look at it as a giving ministry, not a receiving ministry, right? God does not bless the ministry of a man who is more concerned about money. Matthew 6:24 says, “You cannot serve God and mammon (money).’

Paul would go and do anything, for anybody, anytime for nothing. Paul says in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” He says in verse 34, “Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me.” Paul always took care of himself so that he was not a burden to the others, he lived to tell people about the gospel of Jesus.

Verse 35, “I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ That is probably one of the most interesting quotes in all the Bible. It's what we call agrafa. It is a quote that Jesus gave that nobody ever wrote down and Paul quotes it. If you look for that in the New Testament you will not find it, but Jesus truly said it.

In the ministry one of the great ways that our godliness is manifest is in our love of Jesus Christ, with absolutely no thought for money. And God takes care of you when all things are right before Him and you are the kind of man you ought to be. 1 Peter 4:11 says, “If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

Verse 36-37, “And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him.” They are all kneeling while praying. Do you know why they loved him? They loved Paul because there was a consistency between what he said and what he was daily.

Verse 38, "And they were sorrowing most of all for the word which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.” When he told them he wouldn't see them any more they just sobbed. And if the power of the Holy Spirit in me can come anywhere close to ministering the way the Spirit wants me to, then God will reward me with the love of the saints also. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Nov 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171119 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000007 imblog

Acts 20:25-28

Let's look at Acts 20:25-28 as a unit. Leadership is very important. Poor leadership destroys institutions, while good leadership builds them up. In God's Kingdom, leadership is emphasized. Even the angels are organized. There are principality angels. There are ruler angels, and there are archangels. God knows that there must be authority and submission in everything.

God always ministers His Kingdom through key leaders. God dislikes ineffective leadership. In Hosea 4:9, God is not only commenting on the sins of Israel but on the sins of Israel's leaders. He says this: "Like people, like priest." In other words, "I can't expect anything out of the people that I'm not getting out of the leaders. Whatever the leaders are, the people will be.”

God says that He will punish the leaders, because they have rendered the people sinful by a failure to lead them into holy patterns. Jeremiah 5:31 says, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so.” In other words, the people love the inadequate leadership they are getting.

In Matthew 15:14, Jesus said, "They are blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Jesus said people will follow their leaders. Therefore, God puts a premium on leadership. God sets the standard high for adequate leadership, and if God set it high, so did Paul, because Paul was a godly man.

Paul is closing out his third missionary journey in Acts 20. He is stopped at Miletus on its way to Jerusalem, and he is hurrying to Jerusalem to get there for Pentecost and also to take an offering for the poor saints there. And while he has an opportunity he asks if the elders of the Ephesian congregation will come to Miletus that he might give them some final words.

Now, leadership in Scripture is a two-sided issue. It is an issue of great responsibility with great joy, and it is an issue of great responsibility with great potential for judgment. Good leaders are doubly blessed. Bad leaders are doubly chastised, because Luke 12:48 says, “to whom much is given, from him much will be required." And that is a principle that runs in anything that God is involved in.

For example, James 3:1 says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” On the other hand, 1 Timothy 5:17 says, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor.” So you have the double honor for the good leader and the double judgment for the poor leader. Leadership has a tremendous responsibility.

So the task of the early apostles was to appoint such leaders in each church. When I say elders, that is the same as pastors, and they are always as a plurality, never a one-man pastor. But the elders there have been trained, discipled and matured by Paul. And they had been appointed by Paul and raised up spiritually by the Holy Spirit.

Paul said in Titus 1:5, “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.” So Paul is talking to men that he himself has discipled, and he gives them a charge that really is much bigger than just the scene that you see in Acts 20.

What Paul tells these people is just basic to any kind of biblical leadership in the church. If the church is the church of the New Testament of Jesus Christ, it ought to follow the biblical patterns, right? And if the church does not follow biblical patterns in leadership, it will never follow them in the congregation. Real reform in the church, real New Testament revival must come first at the level of leadership.

Now we are going to see not just a word from a man, but a word from the Holy Spirit to the church of Jesus Christ throughout history. And so we say that they are appropriate to the church today as they were the very second that Paul uttered them from his lips. They give us for all time God's perspective on the role of the pastor and elder in the church, who are one and the same.

So the church, like every other dimension of God's Kingdom manifested on earth, depends upon its leadership. We find that in Ephesians 4, God desires that the church be built up. He wants the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body. He wants unity of the faith. He wants a deep knowledge of the Son of God.

He wants the church to be matured to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. In Ephesians 4:14, “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men.” He does not want the church to be loveless but like verse 15, “speaking the truth in love.” He wants the church to grow up and increase in love.

First of all, let me tell you what the church leadership is not. Number one, New Testament biblical leadership is not a political power play. You are a leader in the church rightfully when God has appointed you as such. Second, biblical leadership is not a dominant dictatorship.

In Matthew 20:25-26, Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” And New Testament biblical leadership is not charismatic control either.

Matthew 20:27-28, “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The greatest leader that ever lived was a servant, and He taught us the greatest principle of leadership example. What Jesus was is what we should become.

The key to real leadership is an exemplary life. Jesus says, a true pastor is really a pastor only as long as you follow what I say and what I do. When you don't follow Jesus anymore, you are no leader. You may have the title, but you are nothing. And you are only a pastor if you are going to follow My words and when people can look at your life and see some consistency between how you live and what you say, right?

Paul was able to disciple leaders, not only by what he told them but by how he lived. Let us look at Acts 20 and read what real biblical leadership is. Now Paul closes out his instructions to the Ephesian elders, and he charged them to order their ministry after the priorities that God has set down. They were priorities that he didn't talk about only but that he did in his own life.

Remember in verses 17 to 24 Paul pointed out the four dimensions of the ministry. First he said, the ministry toward God is service to the Lord; and to the church it is teaching; toward the lost it is evangelism, and toward myself it is sacrifice. We covered that in detail. Paul, now having finished that, wants to concentrate on the church. He wants to give them the priorities for teaching the church, so that they are effective.

Look at his summary in verse 25 to 27, “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.” I have given you all the facts regarding the Kingdom of God, and that phrase is a general statement speaking of all of God's operation and God's rule. Verse 26, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.” Why? Verse 27, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”

Now Paul says in verse 26 that he is pure from the blood of all men. Is it true that a teacher or a pastor is going to be guilty of the blood of certain people? Apparently, it is. In Ezekiel 33:8 God says, “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.” Ezekiel will be chastised for unfaithful ministry.

And Paul is saying here, "My hands are clean, I have been faithful to declare the whole counsel of God.” Every messenger of God has to recognize that if God has committed to him a ministry, and he doesn't fulfill it, he's going to be chastised for the failure to fulfill it. That's what James 3:1 means when he said, “Don't hurry into the teaching ministry, because there is the greater condemnation if you fail to be faithful.”

Now Paul zeroes in on teaching the church, and starting in verse 28, he says, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” You pastors primarily are responsible for the church in Ephesus. Now here are your priorities.

There is no difference in the church between a pastor and an elder or a bishop. They are all the same thing. Now Paul then is speaking to these leaders to be responsible for the direction of the church, and he gives them five keys to leadership. These are the priorities, so basic but so important.

Principle number one: Make sure you are right with God. “Take heed to yourselves." The priority begins with you. You are not ready to minister, you are not ready to endure what is involved in ministry, and you are not ready to face the responsibility of ministry unless you are right with God. This is the foundation in the ministry.

To give you some idea of how the New Testament points this out, Mark 13:9 says, “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them.” In other words, if you're not right with God, you will never be able to handle what is going to happen.

Paul expressed this in 1 Timothy 4:16, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.” That is a priority right in the middle of ministry, that is character. Then he says, "And to doctrine." That is creed. Then he says, "Continue in these things." That's conduct. Take heed to your character, your creed and your conduct. You are the key to your ministry.

Paul knew that the day that holiness ceased to be a part of his life, effectiveness also ceased. 1 Corinthians 9:27 says, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” I'm only useful to God as long as I live a holy life, as I am yielded to the Holy Spirit, as there is purity in my life. God uses holy instruments.

Some pastors really tragically fall. What happened was that their relationship to God became not holy. They became unholy men, and once that happened, they were disqualified. They became a useless, dishonored vessels, and even though they maintained their redemption, because justification is a forever thing, they lost their service for Christ. Holiness is the basic commodity in all spiritual leadership.

Look at the qualifications for New Testament leaders in 1 Timothy 3:2-3, ” A pastor then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not covetous.”

1 Timothy 3:4-5, “One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” All right, so New Testament leadership depends on the man, be a holy man. And then there is a second priority of the man in the church position of leadership is that he is to feed and lead the flock.

Verse 28 says, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock.” No favoritism, the church is seen as a flock. There is something about sheep that is characteristic of Christians: helpless and ignorant followers. That is an historic term that God has used for His people. Even Jesus in Luke 12:32 says, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Now we have a rather simple task in definition, although it's not simple in function. So we are shepherds over the flock apportioned to us. By whom? By the Holy Spirit. It is a thrill knowing that, all pastors are assigned as an under shepherd of Jesus Christ to take care of the flock. There are two responsibilities that are given, and that is to lead and to feed.

A pastor would really be there to care for, to discipline, to bandage their wounds, to exercise authority over them and to guide them in the right way. But the essence of shepherding is to feed. Because what the shepherd does most is to get the sheep to the place where they can feed. But it involves the whole concept of leading as well.

What do we mean by leading? Well, we mean ruling. "The elders that rule well are worthy of double honor." This means selecting the direction of the church. What should the flock do? Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account." Every pastor has to give an account to God Himself for how they cared for the flock.

This is His church. Jesus said to Peter three times, "Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs." They're not Peter's, they're not mine. They are His! The Holy Spirit added at the end of verse 28, "Which He has purchased with His own blood." The flock of God is so precious that He paid the supreme price. So I want to make sure I take care of it well, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Nov 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171112 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000006 imblog

Acts 20:21-24

As we have seen, Acts 20 is Paul's love in action, because he expresses his love for the Lord and his love for the church by the sacrifice of himself and his dedication to his ministry. What was his secret in being able to be so successful? The success of the apostle Paul has nothing to do with his methods directly. Indirectly the methods grew out of who he was. The one word that spells leadership success is the word, example.

The Lord Jesus Christ taught repeatedly by giving Himself as the example. Do to people what I have done to you. He expressed his love in service by washing their feet. Jesus manifested what they were to do by doing it himself. In Acts 1:1 Luke says, “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach." So Jesus not only taught but he also set the example.

And the reason Paul was so successful was that he was a great example. There was no credibility gap between what he said and what he did, and people patterned their lives after him. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” The Christian life is imitating the example of Christ and Biblical leadership is what Paul exemplified.

And so as we study Acts 20, we are finding great insights into effective ministry, and they are not academically listed in a list. They are just there in his life, and they are the keys to his success. The Christian life is being what God wants you to be and then letting the Holy Spirit work through you. Paul was called by God, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that he lived an effective holy life.

Paul saw the outline of his ministry in four different dimensions: He saw his ministry as it related to God; to the saved; to the lost; and to himself. And they were all spiritual perspectives. Godly leadership is a question of giving the right example. In Romans 1:1, he says, "A servant of Christ," but in verse 9 he says, "God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit." He didn't just serve God externally but internally.

Now the mentality of a servant is to obey orders. Therefore, the mentality of Christian ministry should be obedience. God gives the orders and I carry them out, I don't worry about what the reaction is going to be, I don't worry about what people are going to say, I don't try to please men. In Galatians 1:10 Paul said, "If I try to please men I am not the servant of Jesus Christ." So he says, "I have got to serve God."

He says in Acts 20:19 that we need to "Serve the Lord." But with two characteristics, "With all humility of mind and many tears and trials from the plotting of the Jews." He said there are two things that have to go with service, humility and suffering. And the suffering comes from the inside in tears and from the outside in persecution.

Humility is basic to being a servant. You can't be effective as a servant unless you see yourself as lower than your master. Paul says, I am nothing, I am just there so God can get through to you. I am nothing but a channel, no glory in me. We were just there as servants, diochonos, it means service. We are servants, that's the only right way to look at our ministry.

Paul expressed this in 1 Corinthians 4:1, “Let a man so consider us." In other words, when the books are written and they write down our name, let it be said that we were like “as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” What is a mystery? It's something that was hidden and is now revealed. That is the Bible, where a whole lot of mysteries are revealed. We are stewards of the Bible.

What is a steward? Well, let us imagine you are a big house owner, and in order to keep the business alive you had to be on the move. You would turn over the running of your whole operation to a person called a steward. And this guy would direct everything. He would make sure that nobody overdid something so that they ran short. He managed the whole thing for you the owner.

As Christians we all are stewards and you are in a ministry. You may not be a pastor, but you are a servant of the Lord. Don't you have spiritual gifts? And the dispensing of those spiritual gifts is your stewardship, and if you don't do it faithfully you are an unfaithful steward. We all have been entrusted with goods to bring blessing to those who do not know God yet and those who are in our care.

That is why a good way to minister as a pastor is to preach expository, because then you are going to preach the whole word of God. That is what Paul said in Acts 20:27, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.” The more you do that, the less you are going to have factions, because the less people are going to misinterpret what you are teaching. Now this is the heart of Paul and this is what God desires.

There are only three possible sources of truth. What are they? Well, one is human speculation based on human science. That is the one most people believe in. They say that it has to be true if it can be repeated and humanly verified. And with more new information all that continually changes. Much of what is in the Bible cannot be repeated and humanly verified and is miraculous.

Then there are people who say, the truth is through the infallible institution of the church. And the Roman Catholics have been telling people that whatever the Pope states is true. But there is no such thing as an infallible perfect human being, except Christ. So many of their teachings have a human origin and are continually changed to the point that many teachings are in contrast to the Bible.

The only real source of infallible truth is in the Bible through biblical revelation. God is true and God speaks truth, so then when we have His truth, that's where we have what we need. And all that we know about truth is right here, in the Bible. But the devil is working hard to create unbelief in this spiritual warfare everywhere using the world, our flesh and himself spreading lies.

Paul's view of the ministry toward the lost is evangelism. Acts 20:21, “testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” This was his obligation to the world. And here you have the gospel that he preached to Jew and Gentiles alike. 1 Corinthians 9:16 says, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”

The gospel relates directly to the plan of salvation, the work of Christ on the cross and the resurrection, and repentance from sin and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's presentation of the gospel was always thorough, it was always complete, it was never shabby, and never was there missing ingredients. There are two sides to the gospel message, the negative side is this, repentance.

What does repentance mean? Well the word ‘metanoya’ means to change your mind. It doesn't mean, he repented by changing 10 degrees. No, it means turning 180 degrees, to go from one to the opposite, to make a valuation about Christ and reverse it. And this is the first aspect in man's experience of salvation. It is not the first aspect in salvation, the first aspect in salvation is the call of God, the decree of God.

Some people say that you can be saved without repenting of sin. This is not possible. Luke 24:47 tells us of the importance of repentance. Jesus says, “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in My name to all nations.” If it wasn't important, He wouldn't have it being preached to everybody. Repentance is just as much a part of salvation as forgiveness, otherwise He wouldn't have lumped it in the same context.

Jesus says in Luke 13:3, “unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” In 2 Peter 3:9 it says, “The Lord is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” There must be a turning from sin. Repentance is the conscious act of the sinner, whereby he turns from his sin and goes toward God. And it involves three things: Intellect, emotion and will.

First of all, repentance starts with the intellect, you have to change your mind, that's what the word means. As an illustration look at Acts 2:23, “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.” Because they had made a judgment, they were facing sin and they said, we judge Jesus to be a fraud, He is not our Messiah.

So Peter, in his sermon in Acts 2 says, I want you to change your mind about Jesus. And so he approaches them on an intellectual basis, and he gives them all the facts and all the fulfilled prophecies, so now it's an intellectual thing. And in Acts 2:36 he sums it up, “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

In other words, here are the facts people, summarizing it, he is Messiah whatever you think. That's intellectual. You can't repent until you know the facts. And so he says, intellectually, change your mind about Jesus. Change your evaluation, you said he was not the Messiah, the evidence says he is, intellectually change your mind. And that's where it all begins, repentance starts there, when you come exposed to the gospel to the place where you say, Christ is who he claimed to be.

Then there's the emotional part. Repentance there is an emotional response. Because, in the next verse, Acts 2:37, “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” They were torn up because they had executed their Messiah, they were standing in opposition to God and they knew it. Every honest repentance is an inside emotional reaction.

But then the third, and the key, is the will. Like the prodigal who said, I'm standing here in the pig slop, my father is home, he has everything I need, and he will accept me. So he had to activate his will. He had to get up and go. Do not be confused, repentance differs from remorse. Remorse is sorrow for the consequences of sin. But repentance is condemning the sin that brought the consequences. I'm sorry I got caught is different from I'm sorry I did it.

Well, true repentance is what we're talking about and that's what Paul preached. In order to be saved, you must show intellectually that you are living in rebellion against God. And then the spirit of God will convict your heart of sin and righteousness and judgment, and then by exercising an act of will you turn from sin toward God. So the negative of salvation is repentance. And that brings us to the positive side.

The positive side is expressed by Paul in Acts 20:21 as “faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” You turn away from sin, you turn toward God, then you place your faith in Jesus Christ. What does faith in Christ mean? Well, it's recognizing that you are a sinner, Jesus is the Messiah, and He has made a claim on my life, and I'm going to exercise my will and turn to Christ. And when you turn, then you place your faith in Christ.

So Paul preached salvation, he felt it in his heart to preach it. Sometimes when we think about the sovereignty of God we think, well, I don't need to get too pushy with people, I'll let God do that. In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul says, “we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” Paul pleaded with people, trying to get them to come to Christ.

Paul's view, then, of the ministry toward God, service; toward the church, teaching; toward the lost, evangelism; and lastly, toward himself, sacrifice. Look at Acts 20:22-23, “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.”

Paul only had one reason to live and that was to finish the work God gave him, and he just wanted to get it done. But, you know, the last thing on Paul's list of priorities was self-preservation. He says, "Don't worry about me getting picked up, I'll die if that's what the Lord wants, I just want to do what He wants anyway." That's a combination of faith and confidence.

Verse 24, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” He says I'm here for one reason, that's to finish what the Lord gave me to do. The whole view toward self in the ministry for Paul was sacrifice.

Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 2:29-30, about Epaphroditus, “Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; 30 because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.” People now say, oh, don't overdo it, we must eat and sleep properly.

When was the last time you made a sacrifice of anything? I mean comfort, money and time. We really live a life of leisure time in American Christianity. On Sunday we all get on our Sunday clothes and the high point of our Christianity is when we go to a retreat. If you are viewing Christianity as a vacation, you are in trouble.

Well Paul concludes with these words in verse 25, “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.” Hey, I have released my responsibility, whatever happens now is up to God. Verse 27, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Nov 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171105 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000005 imblog

Acts 20:7-17

The love of the Christian for the lost is certainly one of the responsibilities for the Christian. The other one has been the study in Acts 20 and that is the love for the Church. We are called to love the lost, to be concerned about them, to care for them, and we are to follow the example of love for the Church from Paul as well.

And in Acts 20:1-17, we have been learning about this from the character of the Apostle Paul. What really makes a man an effective minister of Jesus Christ? Some say it is men of great intelligence. Others say he has to have great knowledge or great leadership ability, or great boldness, or great speaking and writing ability. And really all of those things are a part of the life of every effective man of God.

But behind all of these things is the one great under-girding fact that makes men stand out in church history is their love for the Church, based on their love for Jesus Christ. A most interesting study is the biographies of great preachers. And the common denominator is a deep love for the Lord Jesus Christ, which shows itself in a tremendous love for the Church.

In Philippians 1:3-7, the Apostle Paul says, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, ⁵ for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ ⁷ just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart.”

As we look at Acts 20:1-17, we have been studying just a simple narrative. But here we see the actions of Paul that show the attitude of Paul. Love isn't something that is just spoken. It is something that has to be demonstrated, right? You can say very little and yet demonstrate love. And you can say a lot and demonstrate none of it.

This is one of the greatest chapters where love is demonstrated. In the first half of Acts 20, Paul loves the church. In the second half, the church loves him back. Now Paul is on his third and final missionary journey. He has stopped at every place where he has had an effective ministry, and he has met with the saints there and said his farewells. And now back in Jerusalem this is the end of his third journey.

And we saw his love demonstrated in several ways. First, in verse 17 we saw it demonstrated in his embrace of them. We saw Paul’s love in terms of his visible, demonstrated affection. And in Acts 20:37 we see how the people fell all over him and kissed him on the neck. And we are reminded how the New Testament says to greet one another with a holy kiss and to demonstrate your affection.

Then we saw that his love was visible by his giving. Paul was gathering a collection of money for the poor saints in Jerusalem. And we looked into that whole thing and saw the passages in Corinthians that are comparative to this. And here we see a man who absolutely was selfless. His total preoccupation was to minister to the needs of others.

1 John 3:16 says, “God demonstrated His love to us when He gave His Son to die on the cross.” We ought to be willing to lay down our lives for the brothers, right? And so Paul demonstrated that kind of love. There was a need, and he wanted to meet it. And he went all over the eastern Mediterranean for a couple of years to collect money for the needy people in Jerusalem.

He also demonstrates his love is his teaching. Verse 2, “Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece.” He traveled all over Macedonia teaching. And when he got to Greece, he wrote the book of Romans, doing more teaching. He gave much exhortation, instruction and encouragement.

The key to ministry is to feed and protect. Now this expresses the loving heart of the Apostle Paul who was weary, spent and persecuted. And yet he stops everywhere he goes and teaches and teaches. Why does he do this? Because the consuming desire in his heart was to bring the saints to maturity. And it compelled him.

And then we saw his love in his persistence. Verse 3. "He stayed three months in Greece. And when the Jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail to Syria, he purposely returned through Macedonia." He was going to go to Syria to go to the Passover in Jerusalem, to catch the boat. But he found out about a plot to kill him. But that didn't stop him, it just detoured him.

Paul wrote about love in those terms. Remember in 1 Corinthians 13:7, he said, "Love bears all things, love hopes all things, and love endures all things." For the love of the Church, he could bear anything, and in the middle of it, he would hope and endure. That's the character of persistent love.

And verse 4 tells us some fellows met him there in Troas. These were representatives of the Churches that had taken the offerings, so that when he came to Jerusalem, it would actually be presented to them by representatives of all these Gentile churches. What a beautiful picture of unity for the Jewish Christians, to see the Gentiles in person coming all that way to give them the money that they so desperately needed.

And his love is visible in his availability. To whom you really love, you are available too. Now as we look at verses 7-14, we're going to see a lot of different things and a lot of little insights, but overall, just notice the availability of Paul. Verse 6, “But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.”

And the reason they were staying seven days was to await the ship that would take them back to Jerusalem. Verse 7, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” Here we have one of the first accounts of a Christian meeting.

So when did they come together? The first day of the week became the meeting time for the church. "Didn't they meet every day?" Sure they did. They met, from Acts 2:46, "Daily, from house to house." And Christianity is not a one day a week thing, right? Those Christians were together usually during the week. So it was common for the Church to meet on a daily basis in its early years.

But the church came together on the first day of the week, I prefer to call it the Lord's Day. In Revelation 1:10 John says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." Now when they met together in John 20:19 on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared to them. Verse 26 says, “And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst.”

The only way you can allow for worship on Saturday is, one, to ignore the history of the Church; two, to assume that the Old Covenant is still in vogue where you are saved by works only; and three, to reject the teaching of the Apostle Paul. Colossians 2:16-17 says, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

And once the real thing appears, you don't need the shadow anymore. The Lord's Day historically and biblically became the time when the Church met together. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul just assumes it. He says, “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper.”

Roman 14:5-6, "One man esteems one day above another." Some people still keep the Sabbath, he says. "Another esteems every day the same." Some of you have your liberty. "Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.”

In other words, as long as you are conscientious, don't worry about it. But don't do something that's going to make your brother feel offended. If he is still stumbling along, thinking the Sabbath is important, then don't offend him. And this was written for a Jew. God was very tolerant of when they worshipped, but they did worship on the Lord's Day, and that became the norm.

First, they met in the temple, and then after that they started meeting in synagogues. But eventually, that just didn't work, and so they began to pull out and establish their own Christian assemblies. And the natural place to meet, first of all, was in homes. And by the end of the second century, they began to build their own church buildings.

We need the fellowship, the unity in the body of the church. So they broke bread. Now what does that mean? Well, that is a reference to an old Palestinian custom. The meal was officially begun when the host broke bread, literally. And the breaking of bread came to refer to the Christians coming together, where they did two things. They had a love feast and communion, or the Lord's Table.

When the Catholic Church dominated the world, before the Reformation, communion stopped being an informal, sharing together in the memory of Christ. It became a priestly ceremony that is now known as the mass. Communion is something we should to more frequently than we do. The best place to teach your children communion is in your home. People say, "Only ordained ministers can do that." But that is not in the Bible. Jesus said, do this until I come, and I will do it with you in the kingdom.

Verse 8 says, “There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.” The pagans used to say that Christians got in their meeting places in the dark and then committed all sorts of abominations. So "there were many lights," in there, just so that nobody in town could criticize them for meeting in the dark. And those lights were oil-burning lamps, which with all their fumes would create a stuffy atmosphere.

Verse 9, “And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.” Verse 10, “But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.” One liberal commentator said, when Paul put himself around him, he could hear his heart ticking, and then said, "Oh, he's all right." No, doctor Luke stated he was dead. What happened was a resurrection miracle.

Paul wrapped himself around the boy. And then a miracle happened. All of the broken bones and injuries of his body that had caused the death reversed themselves and he came back to life. Why does God do that? Well, God always does miracles to increase faith. Maybe some people were saying, "Who is this guy? Can we believe everything he's telling?” And God’s work always confirms His teachers in the New Testament era!

Verse 12 says, “And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.” I love to see resurrections in the Bible. Because they just add another guarantee that my resurrection is going to happen too. Verse 11, “Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed.” That is a long sermon.

Verse 13, “Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board; for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot.” Paul walks. Why? It was customary for those people whom he was leaving to accompany him in the beginning. Paul walked so he could have more time with them. He wasn't in a hurry, he was available.

Verse 14-15, “And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. 15 We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we came to Miletus.” The winds only blew from early morning to late afternoon, and so every thirty miles they stopped, to stay overnight. That's why it tells us about all those little stops.

Verse 16, “For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the Day of Pentecost.” The Miletus ship was going to get there sooner than the one that stopped at Ephesus. But notice verse 17, “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.”

Here he stops in Miletus, and he's got a few days before the boat takes off. What does he do? Rest? No. He calls for the elders of Ephesus to come over that he might teach them some more. Instruct them some more. Exhort them some more. The man is unbelievable in his commitment to the love of the Church. And when those elders got there, they gave him back all the love he had given them. They just poured it all over him.

How are we to love the Church sincerely? How are we to demonstrate it? How did Paul do it? Number one, by affection. Secondly, we said Paul loved the Church as illustrated in his giving. And we said Paul loved the Church in terms of his teaching. Then Paul showed his love by his persistence. We said also that Paul's love was seen in his availability. And lastly, Paul's love was seen in his concern. Let us all also follow his example! Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Oct 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171029 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000004 imblog

Acts 20:17-20

Let us look at Paul's perspective on his own ministry. Many great men never finish what they begin. There are unfinished sculptures, unfinished paintings, unfinished books, unfinished symphonies etc. But life is cruel in that sense. For the ungodly, there is no guarantee that they will ever see the completion of what they dream to do.

But that is not so for the Christian. God gives the Christian the time he needs to finish the ministry God gives him. When God calls you, He will not only give you the spiritual gifts, He will not only open the doors, He will not only make the ministry possible, but He will give you the time to finish it. That is Paul’s testimony.

In Acts 20:22-23, “I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.” Acts 20:24, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Paul knew that he had only a certain amount of time, and that in that time he would finish his ministry. He had that confidence, because he pursued it and he believed that God would allow him to accomplish it. God prescribes the limits of every man's life sovereignly. And if God calls you to a ministry, within that sovereign frame there is the possibility of accomplishment.

Now if a Christian does not accomplish his ministry, it's not a question of shortage of time, it's a question of failure on his part to make proper use of his time. Paul says twice, "Redeeming the time." Redeem means buy up time, and that's what Paul was doing, he wanted to maximize every moment. He didn't waste time. Paul then lived his life using up every moment so that he would finish his ministry.

Here are some thoughts about time. In Ecclesiastes the wisdom of man intersects with the wisdom of God periodically. Look at Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Just as much as God guides all the other factors of existence, He guides time in Ecclesiastes 3:2: A time to be born and a time to die.” The bounds of a man's life are sovereignly designed by God.

Ecclesiastes 3:17, “I said in my heart, “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.” God grants time for every work to be accomplished. In Acts 17:26, Paul preaching on Mars Hill said, “And God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times.”

In Acts 20, we watch the Apostle Paul as a man who is running against the clock as he finishes his ministry. Some say, you will never be able to finish the work. Why? Because so much more work needs to be done. But God didn't ask me to win everybody in the world. God just puts us in this little place here and said, this is your area, cover it.

When the Apostle Paul came to the end of his life, in 2 Timothy 4:6, he said, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.” He said, Lord, I can die now. How did he know that he was going to die? Verse 7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He had a little grace time left at the end. He finished the course.

Let us look now at Acts 20:17, “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.” Paul, on this third missionary journey is saying farewell to his beloved in the eastern Mediterranean area. The ship is stopping there for several days, and he has a chance to call the elders in Ephesus, which is about 30 miles away. These were his own disciples, he won those people to Christ and he founded that church.

And for three years he nurtured them, and taught them, and they grew and grew until he had a whole flock of mature Christians. And out of that flock rose those men who were called of God to lead. They were capable, mature elders or pastors. This is really the Biblical pattern for the church, you grow your own leadership. And Paul had done it there, and now he turned the church over to them to nurture it.

Now Paul’s speech, in verse 18 is the only speech in Acts that Paul made to Christians. All the rest of his messages are to unbelievers. This whole little passage here is like a combination of Paul. All of the little Pauline phrases all pop up in this passage. It's as if he just pulled together everything that he'd been writing and just put it all together. So here is the Apostle Paul communicating to believers.

Verse 18, “And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you.” He says that, from the first time that he came, you know how my ministry operated. So here, he may be defending himself against some people who have tried to undermine him. Or it may be that he is simply expressing a pattern for the ministry.

Let us look at verse 19, “serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews.” Paul says, here are the four ways I view my ministry, for God I see it as service to Christ; for the church I see it as teaching; for the lost, I see it as evangelism; and toward myself, I see it as sacrifice.

Now let's look at the first one: for God. Paul saw his ministry as service to Christ. And we have to see ours as the same. Verse 19, the main words are, "Serving the Lord." In Acts 27:23, Paul says, “For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve.” Paul viewed his ministry, primarily as service to Christ.

If your ministry focus is to be popular with people, you are wrong. Remember in Galatians 1, Paul came down heavy on them. The Judiazers accused Paul that the reason he didn't impose the law on them with circumcision, was that he wanted to be popular. So Paul answers that criticism in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”

Do I sound like a men pleaser when I curse those people? You have to choose in your ministry, whether you're going to serve God or people. Do what is right and let God take care of the consequences. Whatever it is, render it to Jesus Christ, and you should consider that obligation as if Christ was standing in the room, for Jesus Christ Himself is really there, and we represent Him.

But it is not only just in what you do in the church and what you do in terms of your active ministry. Look at Ephesians 6:5, “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ.” You should work at your job as if you were working for Jesus Christ Himself.

God says that you ought to serve whoever your master is, even if he is not a Christian, as if they were Jesus Christ Himself. That is your obligation as a Christian. Everything you do from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep at night is service to Jesus Christ. There is no secular and sacred division.

You say, but I'm not in the ministry, I just am a mechanic. That is service to Christ. Our service is no less personal than if Jesus Himself were our employer, and remember, I serve Him, not men. I'm not making the effort in my ministry, to say what everybody wants to hear. Many things are avoided because people don't want to offend the guy who gives the most money.

In the ministry, as a servant of Jesus Christ it is a matter of responsibility. But, the highest responsibility is the responsibility of teaching. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” When I prepare a sermon, my thought is, will God be pleased, not will the people like it.

Now such service to Christ is rendered with two things. Verse 19, "Serving the Lord with all humility.” It is one thing to be a servant, it's something else to have the spirit of a servant. Serving the Lord is to be done with all lowliness, and this is a high calling, and this is something you enjoy doing, the spirit of a servant. Not just service, but in the spirit of service, in humility.

In 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, Paul says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The only reason we have the capacity to do anything is because of Him.

But there is a second thing in verse 19, “with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews.” Serving the Lord involved humility and also, suffering. The suffering servant Jesus of Isaiah 53 is the perfect example. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”

So all that will live godly in this present age are going to suffer persecution. There are two areas that the suffering comes from. In verse 19, "With many tears," that's inside suffering, "And trials," that's outside suffering. Paul shed many tears. Why? Because it pained him when God was dishonored, he grieved when he saw those things in the world.

Three things made Paul cry: One, because people were lost. Romans 9:2-3 says, “I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.” He says, I wish to be cursed myself if Israel could get saved.

Secondly, he cried over carnal Christians. 2 Corinthians 2:4 says, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.” I wrote crying because of your carnality and your inconsistencies.

Thirdly, he cried about false teachers, because they undermine God's work. In Acts 20:31 he says, “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Philippians 3:18, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.”

There is also suffering from the outside in Acts 20, the Jews plotted to kill him. It was at this time of his life, that he wrote 1 Corinthians 15:30 where he makes reference to some of the problems. He says, "Why stand we in jeopardy every hour." And then the next verse, "I die daily." The Jews continually plotted to kill him, they saw him as a heretic, as a threat to their religion.

Suffering is just a part of living a holy life in an unholy world. You could gage your Christian effectiveness by the waves you make. And if there are no waves, you probably are not affective. There should be some reaction by the ungodly system against you. God looks at your priority of serving Christ and your humility and a willingness to suffer.

The second thing that Paul emphasized in the ministry toward the church was teaching. Acts 20: 20, "And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shown you and have taught you publicly and from house to house." His ministry, toward God was service, toward the church it is teaching. He says in verse 20, "I kept back nothing that was profitable." Paul did not avoid anything even if it might offend somebody.

What part of Scripture is profitable? 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” David says in Psalm 40:10, “I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly.”

Ezekiel 33:7-8, “son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.”

The implication there is that the Christian minister is responsible to communicate the truth of God or stand in the place of chastisement for not doing it. And if that individual dies in his sins, then it may be that you shall suffer some chastisement for a failure to communicate. So you are going to be punished for failure to minister to that person.

Notice the two ways he taught: publicly in the synagogue and two years in the house of Tyrannus. Paul knew that it was one thing to teach it, but it was another thing to teach in a home Bible study to a family, to apply spiritual truth. Christian ministry is public, but you ought to be able to bring that down to somebody's house and somebody's life, and make it work.

Paul went from house to house because he really cared, he was involved, and his ministry was something that you could test in your life based on these truths, and it would work. Our obligation toward God is to serve Him. My obligation toward the church is to teach the people in the church, whether it's done publicly or privately, to reinforce that teaching and to make it livable in our daily lives. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Oct 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171022 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000001 imblog

Acts 20:1-7

Acts 20 gives us an exciting insight into the ministry of Paul. And we now see the love that he had for the church people. Paul said in Ephesians 5:1, "Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it." But that also was Paul's testimony. Jesus gave Himself to redeem the church; Paul gave himself to serve the church. In redeeming the church, Jesus died. In serving the church, Paul also died.

Paul had a tremendous desire to see the church be what it ought to be. So that whatever the will of the Lord became the will of Paul also. You know it is when we fall in love with Jesus in the truest sense that we begin to want what He wants. 1 John 5:1 says, “Everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.” It is spiritual maturity to love with Christ those whom He has made believers.

And we need to learn how to submit our wills to Him. In Ephesians 3:20 Paul said, "now unto Him that is able to exceed abundantly above all that we could ask or think according to the power that works in us." In other words he says to all Christians, you ought to really be moving out powerfully. You ought to be fulfilling your potential and Paul saw God glorified when the church was maximized in terms of its potential.

Paul lived and suffered and died for the love of the church. In Colossians 1:24, he said, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” In other words, I suffer in the place of Christ; I take all attacks of the world meant for Jesus willingly for the sake of His church.

And Paul’s goal was the perfecting of the saints, to bring them all full maturity that they might honor God and therefore Jesus be satisfied. If the goal of the ministry is not for the love of the church to see the saints brought to the place where God is glorified in their lives, then you have a perverted goal. If a man approaches the ministry for the love of his own ego, then he has the wrong goal.

If you really love the believers, then you will know they need you to minister to them, to be grown up. The ministry of gifts is for others. My gift only becomes effectiveness when it is given to you. I care that you grow up and that Jesus is honored in your life. Paul loved the church enough to die for the sake of the preaching of the gospel and the nurturing of the saints.

Now Paul is on his third missionary tour. He is in the same area of eastern Mediterranean generally that he had been previously. And he was going further west to Asia Minor and to Macedonia, then to Achaia where Corinth was. He planted churches all over the place. And this time he has companions with him for almost three years. But it is coming to a close because he is leaving Ephesus.

Paul is going back to Jerusalem then from there he wants to go to Rome and from there to Spain. And so there is a feeling through this passage of finality. And you sense that when farewells come along there is love that rises to the top. And so we see a series of goodbyes and farewells all through Acts 20 as Paul goes back toward Jerusalem.

Now as we look at these 17 verses, we see six different things here that express Paul's love: his affection, his giving, his teaching, his persistence, his availability and his concern. We saw last week that Paul's love is revealed in his affection. Verse 1, “After the uproar was ceased (the riot of Ephesus), Paul called the disciples to himself and embraced them.” But the usual custom was a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Today, we see somebody hug, and it is over. But in those days there was time for people to talk and there was fellowship. And in Acts 20:37 it says, “Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him.” There was something about Paul that endeared him and people could affectionately touch him, embrace him and kiss him.

There should be such an affectionate feeling toward every person of God. There must that kind of love in your home with your children. It is good for them to be able to show their affection. When kids grow up in homes where parents are gone, the child does not know the meaning of physical love. Five times in the New Testament the church has commanded us to demonstrate its affection physically. Ii is important for us to demonstrate our love.

Secondly, Paul's love was demonstrated in his giving. He was all over the place collecting offerings for the poor saints at Jerusalem; verse 2 says, “Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece.” Imagine it took him close to one year to collect all that.

We can tell a man's love by his sacrifice. Paul during most of his ministry earned his own living by making tents and working with leather. And he didn't ask for anything while he was busy seeking to meet the needs of others. He was a selfless and a giving person. What's the opposite of love? Always being egotistical.

Now this principle is illustrated in 1 John 3:16 when it says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Genuine love then is defined in terms of supreme sacrifice. And Jesus is the standard. Notice there is a moral obligation when it says, “And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” That is the supreme sacrifice of love.

Some Christians aren't even willing to give their time or their money, let alone their life. Many aren't even willing to give you their attention. Now not many of us are going to be called on to give our lives. But notice that he mentions the brethren. Many people are concerned about humanity, but they just don't like people. As CS Lewis said, “Loving everybody in general is an excuse for loving nobody in particular.”

1 John 3:17 says, “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” Don't say you love the brothers unless you meet the need of the one guy that crosses your path. Statements of love only are not enough. Verse 18, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

Can you really say you love the brothers unless you are willing to make a financial sacrifice? 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” In other words, if you really love the way Jesus loves, you would make yourself poor to make somebody else rich.

We see his love in Acts 20, thirdly in his teaching. It was wonderful that Paul showed physical affection, and it was wonderful that he took care of financial needs. But it is most wonderful that he gave them spiritual truth, right? That's what makes them grow up to be all that Jesus wants them to be. He loved them with much exhortation, much teaching, much preaching and much encouragement.

It is a simple principle: if you really love your children, you are going to teach them. Whenever I see an unruly child, untaught, undisciplined and rebellious, I assume the parents did not love the child. They may say they love the child, but their actions show the opposite. For if they love their child, they would teach the child all the principles that will make his/her life fulfilling.

The same principle applies. If you really love the church, you will teach the church. Paul here shows us a loving ministry. He teaches the flock tirelessly, selflessly driven, not by his own desires or his own ideas, but by their need for spiritual food from God. In the early church, preaching is the key to everything. And that is true for our church too.

When Paul wrote to Timothy, he said in 1 Timothy 4:13, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Do three things, read the text, apply the text and teach the text. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” That is expository preaching.

And he said, remember the day is coming when they will not listen. And we are living in that day. Many churches are far away from preaching of the cross and God's truth. One of the reasons is that there is no belief in the authority of Scripture. The second thing is the liberal theology. There are many men who preach the use of men’s reason as the final authority. They treat science as all-knowing and the Bible as false. That has done much to destroy the positive response to preaching.

Thirdly, the church has been invaded by media, materials and music. All kinds of wonderful movies and musicals and all kinds of new media things that are very good. But that cannot take over the teaching of the Word of God. And in some churches there is so much music that it takes away from the focus on the sermon. The real problem in the church isn't poor attendance; it is spiritual malnutrition.

Some churches put the emphasis on the pastor not as a preacher, but as a counselor and social worker. If God's principles aren't emphasized for your own spiritual and mental health, how can you please God? That has caused preaching to decline because now the church is identified as a community organization rather than a teaching ministry. God wants the church to be a place where you can minister.

Fourthly, we see Paul's affection also in his persistence. Verse 3, “and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.” Paul was in Greece which was really in the city of Corinth. Remember that he wrote the book of Romans there. And he planned to board the pilgrim’s ship at Cenchrea to go to Yerusalem, but the Jews plotted to kill him.

Well, he found out about the plot. In fact in verse 23, he admitted that the Holy Spirit had witnessed to him that in every city nothing but bonds and affliction awaited him. They did. But Paul was absolutely persistent, he trusted God. And so when he heard about this, all he did was change his route to return through Macedonia. He was going to get that money to the Jerusalem saints if it was the last thing he ever did.

He even said in Romans 15:30-31, “Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.”

Love is persistent. Well if you really love the Lord Jesus, you will love the church against all odds, you will continue the ministry against discouragement, against persecution and against all kinds of confrontation. He went again on this long journey, this is a tired and weary man. But he would never consent to change his plans, because he believed God was in it.

Verse 4-5, “And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia—also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 5 These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas.” Notice that little word us. Luke the author, is back. Paul had left Luke at Philippi, now he comes back through Philippi again, picks him up and so the narrative becomes about us.

Sopater, Aristarchus and Secundus were from the Macedonian churches. Gaius and Timothy were from the Galatian churches. Tychicus and Trophimus who are mentioned elsewhere by Paul were from the Asia Minor churches. And 2 Corinthians 8 says, "Titus was from Achaia." So these are guys from different area churches with their money to give the Jerusalem saints as a token of love.

Verse 6, “But we sailed away from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.” He originally wanted to be in Jerusalem for Passover, but when the plot came up, he couldn't make it. So now he hopes to get there by Pentecost which was 50 days after Passover. We cannot control our plans, but God always knows what is best.

And lastly, Paul loved the church because of his availability. Verse 7, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” He knew he had to leave the next day. After they took a break in the middle, he came back and verse 11 says, “Paul had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak and then he left.”

Look at verse 7 again, "Now on the first day of the week." Here is the first direct statement of the time when the church met. In Galatians 4:10-11, Paul says, “You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” That part of worshipping on Saturday is gone.

Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” The early church met on the Lord's Day and so do we as well. May it be true of us whatever our gifts, we so love the saints that we measure that love by sacrificially giving ourselves, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Oct 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20171001 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/8lpywtm2 imblog

Psalm 145:1-8

“I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.”

If we're going to worship God as He wants to be worshiped, if we're going to praise Him as He deserves to be praised, what are we to do? Psalm 145 answers that. There is nothing in this psalm about specific acts of God. This psalm is applied to anything and everything for which we should praise God, and for us the supreme thing is the sacrifice of Christ.

In the early section of the Psalms there are many psalms of sadness, psalms of lament, psalms of suffering and pain and sorrow and trouble. But as you begin to move through the Psalms, the psalms of lament begin to give way to psalms of joy and thanksgiving and praise and exhilaration. And the closer you get to the final psalm, the more there is an increase in praise and thanksgiving and the rejoicing gets louder. How does this psalm direct us to praise God? Well, Psalm 145:4 tells us that.

It is the Biblical duty of every generation of Christians to see to it that the next generation hears about the mighty acts of God. The older generation should teach the newer generation to read, think, trust, obey and rejoice. It's true that God draws near personally to every new generation of believers, but He does so through the Biblical truth that they learn from the preceding generation.

But there is another reason that Psalm 145 is so relevant today. Not only does it speak of the imparting of truth from one generation to another, it speaks of a certain kind of imparting. Notice the words. It does not say, "One generation shall merely teach Your works to another." It says, "One generation shall praise Your works to another." The education of the next generation must not only aim at teaching, it must involve praising.

Teachers and parents who do not exult over God in their teaching will not bring about exultation in God. Dry, unemotional, indifferent teaching about God - whether at home or at church - is a half-truth, at best. It says one thing about God and portrays another thing. It says that God is great, but teaches as if God is not so great. Let praises carry the truth to the next generation.

Now our aim should be to grow children and young people here at our church, who are radically surrendered to Jesus and radically committed to His cause of world evangelization. We mean that they are so deeply committed that no price is too high to pay to follow Jesus wherever he leads, no matter how distant or how dangerous.

Let me read you a quote from Jim Elliot's journals to underscore this aim. At age 22, Jim Elliot had a promising ministry in the United States. He probably would have been a very successful pastor or evangelist or teacher. His parents were not very excited about his call to go to the Quichuas in South America. They wrote and told him so.

He answered them this way on August 8, “I do not wonder that you were saddened at the word of my going to South America. This is nothing else than what the Lord Jesus warned us of when He told the disciples that they must become so infatuated with the kingdom and following Him that all other allegiances must become as though they were not. And He never excluded the family tie. In fact, those loves that we regard as closest, must become as hate in comparison with our desires to uphold His cause.”

“Grieve not, then, if your sons seem to desert you, but rejoice, rather, seeing the will of God done gladly. Remember how God described children in Psalm 127? He said that they were as an heritage from the Lord, and that every man should be happy who had his quiver full of them. And what is a quiver full of but arrows? And what are arrows for but to shoot? So, with the strong arms of prayer, draw the bowstring back and let the arrows fly - all of them, straight at the Enemy's hosts.”

"Give of your sons to bear the message glorious, give of your wealth to speed them on their way, pour out your soul for them in prayer victorious, and all you will spend, Jesus will repay” (Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty, p. 132; hymn quote from "Oh, Zion Haste"). That's what education for exultation in the next generation is all about: to grow that kind of child and teenager and young adult.

Where do they come from? The answer is that they come from God. God makes hearts like that. And He is sovereign: He can make such a heart in a dysfunctional family and a failing church. But that is not His ordinary way, and it is not the way He commands. His ordinary way is to create hearts like that in God-exalting families and in churches where “One generation shall praise Your works to another.”

Notice one key word in Jim Elliot's explanation to his parents. He said, "[Jesus] told the disciples that they must become so infatuated with the kingdom and following Him that all other allegiances must become as though they were not." Why use the word "infatuated"? Because Christianity is more than right thinking, it is also right feeling about the kingdom. It is not just education about following Jesus; it is exultation in following Jesus.

That's the link with Psalm 145:4, "One generation shall praise Your works to another, and declare your mighty acts." What we want from the next generation is not just heads full of right facts about the works of God; we want heads full of right facts and hearts that burn with the fire of love for the God of those facts - hearts that will sell everything to follow Jesus into the hardest places of the world.

Convictions that shape the Way we educate. So how shall we do this? How shall we do education and exultation for the next generation? I will mention three convictions or principles that will shape the way we aim to shape children and teenagers. Psalm 145:4 gives us the overarching aim: "One generation shall praise Your works to another."

How? Parents have to educate their Children. Foundational to all our ministry to children and teenagers is that God's ordinary way of shaping children into radically committed, risk-taking, countercultural, wise, thinking, loving, mature, world Christians is through parents who teach and model a God-centered, Bible-saturated worldview to their children.

Because Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

Centuries later, Asaph says in Psalm 78:5-7, “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; 6 That the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, 7 That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.”

And in the New Testament, Ephesians 6:1-4 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

The Biblical pattern is for parents, especially fathers, not to relinquish their role as the primary teachers and shapers of their children's mind and heart - not even to the church. The Biblical pattern is for parents to continually impart to their children a God-centered, Bible-saturated vision for all of life. Education for Exultation is primarily to restore parents to their God-ordained role: Parents educate their children.

The Church is in partnership with the parents in educating the children. There are lots of reasons why this is important. Practical ones include the facts that 1) some children don't have believing parents; 2) some single parent homes are so stressed and overworked that they need all the help they can get; 3) there is a whole range of competencies in moms and dads that may need supplementing in this world; 4) even the best home-teaching will benefit from reinforcement in a church setting; and 5) some aspects of God's character may be taught better in a larger church setting than at home.

Consider Deuteronomy 31:10-13, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

Notice those words in verse 13, "Their children who have not known . . ." Does this mean that Moses assumes that fathers will be delinquent, and a gathering every seven years will make up the difference? Probably not. Rather, it means that there are some things that are going to be picked up and seen and felt in this kind of gathering that would not ordinarily be picked up at home.

The function of a church gathering would be educational. The younger generation would learn for the first time the full meaning of the covenant. Although they would know about it beforehand, its significance would dawn on them fully only as they left their homes and heard the public reading of the law in the presence of others. (Peter C. Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976, p.371)

One lesson to draw from this is that church education can be an important supplement and reinforcement to what parents do at home. Therefore partnership between parents and church is important. There is advice in the New Testament that the Jewish people in home teaching should not rule out the supplementing of education from others who have special spiritual expertise.

In Acts 22:3, Paul was making his defense before the Jews, and said, "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today." Notice the reference "educated under Gamaliel" - literally "at the feet of Gamaliel."

This was the usual place for the younger students of a gifted rabbi to sit as they were instructed. This does not mean that the parents were delinquent. It means that when we say parents have primary responsibility to shape their children's mind and heart, but they should avail themselves of gifted teachers to supplement their own efforts.

So principle #1 is: Parents educate their children. Principle #2 is: The Church is a partner with the parents in educating the children. And now principle #3 is that the Church helps equip the Parents to educate the Children. When children grow up and become adults, they don't cease to learn and grow. And as some of them move toward parenting and teaching children, they must continue to be taught and shaped Biblically, and the church has a high calling to see this happen.

Moses says in Deuteronomy 4:9, “Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren.” First, Moses must minister to the people and they must give heed to themselves and their own souls. Only then will they be able to teach their children.

So Paul says in Ephesians 4:11-12, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Pastors and teachers need to equip parents in the ministry of teaching Scripture and other ways to nurture their families and others.

The church that educates only children with Biblical truth will get shallower. To keep the reservoir of truth and doctrine full and deep - for all ages - is the aim of education for exultation in the next generation. Ephesians 4:15-16 says, “but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Christ 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

I hope and pray that you all will become a part of this. I see people willing to lead our Bible study groups that includes children, but God wants all of us to become involved. We all have different gifts that God wants to use to equip the body of Christ. God knows each one of our potential, but we all have to step up and be courageous and do what He says, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Sep 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170924 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/p3sala19 imblog

Acts 20:1-2

Let us study Acts 20:1-17. This describes the love of Paul for the church. In Ephesians 5:25-27, Paul wrote this, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

Paul says, "Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her." And Paul also loved the church and gave himself for it in terms of service. And by that I don't mean the institution, I mean the people who are the church. Paul lived for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of the saints. We can see in the activities of him the depth of the love of the Apostle.

Paul saw himself as totally expendable for the sake of others. He said in Philippians 2:17, “if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.” In other words, if I give my life in your behalf, what joy that is for me. It was his life to see people saved, to see Christians come to maturity and be discipled to holiness.

In Romans 1:11 he said, “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established.” In 2 Corinthians 7:1 he said, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.”

Paul says in Ephesians 3:16, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” Ephesians 3:19-20, “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

To the Philippian church he expressed the same thing. In Colossian 1:9-10 Paul says, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Paul says, we exhorted and encouraged and charged every one of you as a father does to his children that you should walk worthy of God. This was his passion, he loved the church because he loved Christ. Look at 1 John 5:1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.”

If you really love Jesus, you are going to love the people in the church that are His. And if you have trouble loving your brothers and sisters, then you have trouble loving the Savior. Because they are all His. He has an ongoing love affair with every believer! So if you have a problem with that, your problem is loving Jesus.

Paul didn't have that problem. He loved the church and was willing to give himself for it in terms of service. Remember what he experienced. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 says, “Are they ministers of Christ? I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. ²⁴ From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.”

“²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.”

Contrast this with our own attitude. Sometimes it is real difficult for us to just get up and go and help someone or to pick up someone or to listen to a cry for help. Let alone to have this kind of love for all the people in the church with no exception. Now what is amazing to me is that as Paul went through this he still remained a believer in total grace.

This is the outpouring of service of a man who was totally aware that everything he had, he had by the grace of God. And he did it out of love. But on top of all of that stuff, the thing that really got to him was verse 28, “besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.” For Paul all those external sufferings are somewhat incidental to his real love for the people.

It was just in his heart. Nobody put him in charge of a church; he just went and started them. The greatest griefs that Paul gained in his life were not those that came from being beaten or being shipwrecked or being stoned. The greatest griefs were those people that defected from the church. What tore his heart up was the situation in Corinth where he knew which people left.

And when he got to Troas, he was anxious for Titus to report about Corinth. He couldn't stay in Troas so he crossed over to Macedonia just waiting for Titus. And when he finally met Titus and received the news that everything in Corinth was great, he just gave a great big sigh of relief. His burden for the church was lifted. The greatest pain he ever knew was the pain related to the church.

1 Corinthians 4:11-16, “To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. 12 And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure. 13 being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all things until now. 14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.

15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore imitate me. And for this cause," verse 17, "I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” Paul said, "Be followers of me as I am of Christ."

So here is the heart of the man where his emotional reactions were only faith and joy. What did he do in Philippi when he was in the inner jail? He sang. On other occasions when he was in difficult situations, he just trusted God. Did he ever cry? Yes, he cried a lot. Look at Acts 20:19, “serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews.”

Where did the tears come in? Go to Acts 20:31, “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” The dominance of tears in the life of Paul came, not through his physical pain, but through the anxiety of teaching the saints. When Paul left Ephesus he said in Acts 20:29, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.”

There are two things that make a great church, great teachers and great Christians, love and sound doctrine. And here was Paul who had great doctrine, but he also was a man who had great love. Look at Acts 20:1-2, “After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia. 2 Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece.”

Let's look first at his affection. Now you know there was a riot in Ephesus. The silversmiths, who made little idols of Artemus were getting uptight because their profits were going down. So Christianity affected Ephesus economically as well as politically, socially and religiously. And so a riot ensued. And they all stood in the theater there for two hours screaming and the whole thing was quieted down by the town clerk.

Well after the uproar ceased, Paul calls the disciples to him and embraces them. Now the word embrace refers literally means ‘to draw to oneself’. So it's an intimate word in that sense. It was used to refer to greetings that were customary among eastern people. For instance in 2 Samuel 19:39 where the king “kissed Barzillai and blessed him.” This was a demonstration of affection to break down barriers.

This is described in the Greek word philama or phileto which is a friendship love and it means a kiss of friendship. It was a kiss you would give to a relative or to one who was a very close friend. There are at least six occasions in the New Testament where you have the statement of greeting one another with a holy kiss.

There's another Greek word that is used for this and it is ‘cata phileo’ which means to kiss fervently and affectionately. That was used to describe the embrace and the kiss of the prodigal son who came home and embraced his father. Luke 15:20 says, “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”

Also in Luke 7:37-38, “And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.” Here she kept on affectionately kissing His feet.

Do you think Jesus appreciated that? Sure He did. He wasn't a God that was distant from the people. In fact He gives a mild rebuke to Simon for not kissing Him. It is easy sometimes for people in places of spiritual leadership to become standoffish. That is not the nature of Jesus and Paul. The woman kept on kissing Him and Jesus just put her up as an example of what should have been done.

Acts 20 also tells me that Paul loved the church because secondly, the church gives. That is one of the greatest ways to measure love, by giving. 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Love does not seek its own,” it always gives. So in Ephesus, he writes that he was going through Macedonia and he is going to come to you and collect this money that the churches are giving.

And he had several reasons for that. One, he was a man of integrity. When the Jerusalem leaders approved of him, they sent him out with one request, that you remember the poor of Jerusalem. And secondly, he knew that there was a real need there. James 2:5 says, “Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” He was talking about the poor in Jerusalem.

And all the time he is collecting for the poor Jerusalem church, everybody is telling him, Paul, you're going to get into trouble. Do you know what Paul answered in Acts 21:13, “For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” He knew there was a need and at all costs to himself he met the need. That's giving, that is love defined.

Well there was another reason, he loved the church in its unity. He saw that the giving of all this money from the Gentile churches to the Jewish church in Jerusalem would be a beautiful picture of the unity of the body of Christ. Because there was always that problem of Jew and Gentile. They will see the love of the Gentiles and it will tie the churches together.

In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul tells them how to get the money together, “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” It is interesting that he said to plan ahead. And then he says in verse 5-6, "I'll pass through Macedonia and I'll stay with you for the winter." Verses 8-9, “Even though there are many adversaries, I will stay.”

Now Acts 20:2, “Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece.” Somewhere, either at Troas or Macedonia, he writes 2 Corinthians. Listen to 2 Corinthians 1:8, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.”

But Paul was totally committed to the needs of others. In 2 Corinthians 2:13 he says, "I had no rest in my spirit." Why? Because Titus was not there. The Corinthians had received the first letter and Paul wanted to know whether they cleaned up the mess. “So taking my leave of them, I went from there to Macedonia." In 2 Corinthians 7:7 Titus came with the news that they believed the letter and they repented. That is what Paul lived for.

A third thing in Acts 20 that tells me how much he loved the church is his teaching. Verse 2 says, “he came into Greece or Achaia," that's where the Corinth church was. In his heart he knows that he is not coming back. His teaching was with much interaction, much communication, much sharing, much speaking, teaching, exhorting and much writing. Paul wanted to perfect the saints.

Jesus bought the church at the price of His life and the price of His blood. He is committed to the care of every saint, who ministers to every other saint. Do you love the people in the church? God, help us to see the church as a ministry that we are to give ourselves too in total love to the sacrificing of our own lives. At the end of verse 2 Paul got to Corinth and went to Gaius house. He had a little project, he wrote the book of Romans.

Do you love all the people in your church? And the measure of your love for his people is how much you desire their maturity spiritually. Ask for the power of the Holy Spirit in imitating Paul and Jesus every day! Well, let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Sep 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170917 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/fc667mm6 imblog

Acts 19:21-41

This passage of Acts 19:21-41 deals with a riot in Ephesus. There's not a lot of doctrine here. This is a historical narrative dealing with an incident that occurred in Ephesus. However, allow the Holy Spirit to teach us spiritual truth through this historical event. The history of Christianity has taught us is that the church thrives when it is persecuted.

The persecuted church confronts the world and grows and has an effect. So persecution and effectiveness work together. The church needs to be the conscience of the community, and not the comforter of the community. When the church becomes the friend of the system, and begins to play sociological or political games, then it goes against the Word of God.

Now in the city of Ephesus the Apostle Paul has been there for nearly three years. This is his third missionary journey. As he arrives at Ephesus, God has already laid the groundwork through Aquila and Priscilla. And Apollos, that great orator, also contributed. And now Paul arrives and great things begin to happen. In Acts 19:1-7, the church was really born as 12 disciples of John the Baptist were brought to Jesus Christ.

We saw the last time that Paul, in verse 8, went into the synagogue and began to teach there for three months. There were some who were hardened, but there were some who believed. As a result of this teaching, verse 10 says "all that dwell in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." So Ephesus became the center for evangelism that extended to the entire province of Asia Minor.

Now the result can be summed up in verse 20, "So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed." That is really the key. Wherever the Word of God dominates, results occur. There always will be push-back because Satan cannot tolerate the pure Word. So the Word always has two results, progress for the gospel and persecution from Satan.

In Ephesus persecution started. Satan in verse 9 has people speak evil about Christianity. Then there were these exorcists who tried to mimic what Paul was doing to confuse the issue. And from verse 21 on, Satan creates a riot that surges through the entire city of Ephesus to counteract the work of Paul and the Christians. Satan always opposes the progress of the Gospel.

In Jerusalem, Satan sent opposition through Judaism. In Antioch, the opposition was personal prejudice and envy. In Lystra, the opposition was paganism. Among the Judaizers, the opposition was ceremonial legalism. In Philippi, the opposition was sorcery. In Thessalonica, the opposition was political revolution. In Athens the opposition was Hedonism. In Corinth the opposition was philosophical skepticism.

And in Ephesus here, the opposition was pseudo-religious materialism. In Ephesus there were three attacks of Satan: hardness of heart, hypocrisy and hatred. And here in Ephesus in verse 21 their anger is based upon their desire for material gain. In other words, Christianity decreased their business income.

Verse 21, “When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” Paul sees that the church at Ephesus can stand on its own. He has been there for nearly three years teaching.

There are elders there of quality enough to lead the church. Churches have been established throughout Asia Minor. Why does he want to go to Macedonia and Achaia? He already established all those churches in Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. Why go back there? Paul wanted to go there and then to Jerusalem.

The church of Jerusalem was very poor. And Paul wanted to take a love offering from his churches to the church at Jerusalem. He wanted to go to Macedonia and Achaia to collect their offering. In 2 Corinthians 9:1-2 he alludes to this offering, “Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; 2 for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready.”

In Romans 15:25-26 he says, “But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. 26 For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.” Why? Paul was teaching about the unity of the body. Secondly Paul was teaching the practical lessons of love. That love really means the self-sacrifice of giving your money for the sake of somebody else.

Paul is planting churches in key centers along the road from Antioch to Rome. He believed in growing evangelism by the process of reproduction where you would win people to Christ to establish a church. Then that church would grow and send out others to establish other churches and by multiplication you would conquer the whole area.

So from Jerusalem, then Rome and all the way west to reach Spain with the Gospel. Romans 1:13-15 says, “I often planned to come to you, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.”

Verse 22, “So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.” We all know who Timothy is. He had come back to Ephesus and now Paul sends him to Macedonia to let them know he's coming. But about Erastus we don't know anything, since that was a common name.

Well, it's clear why he stayed. He wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 16:8 says, “But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” Well the adversary comes to the forefront, beginning in verse 23, “And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way.”

Now let us study the causes of the riot, the characteristics of the riot and the calming of the riots. Now we have to understand that the real cause of the riots was Satan's antagonism to the prevailing of the Word. But as we look at these verses, there were some superficial reasons that actually started it. And we have said that "the Way" was a reference to Christianity.

Jesus said, "I am the Way" and Acts 4:12 says, "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” So the Christian message spread over Asia Minor. God was doing exciting things and Satan stirred up the people so they got upset. This riot will provide for you some insights into the typical mob psychology, as well as some insight into how Satan operates.

Verse 24, “For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen.” It is likely that Demetrius was an important person among silversmiths. People who were artisans of the same craft would ban together and are powerful in the community at which they existed. And all of these people would ban together for common profit.

The silversmiths made their living by selling these little shrines to the tourists. Demetrius was the guy who made silver shrines of Diana and brought big profits to the craftsmen. And all these people would be buying their typical household gods. Verse 25, “He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade.”

What happened was that the gospel really affected their incomes. Because people were accepting the truth of Christ and turning from idols. Bad for business. Verse 26, “Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.”

The Christian preachers were denying the existence of gods made with hands. So Demetrius confessed that the apostolic preaching was successful. Why does God take up 20 verses to tell us about a riot? Because it is exciting to see the success of Christianity from the mouths of pagans. Do you see how important that kind of apologetic is?

They all get together and riot, but they don't know what to do. On the other hand Paul was committed to Jesus Christ and turned that province upside down. But secondly it was the success that came by the influence of a purified church. All those victories came because of a positive ministry. They didn't go around criticizing Diana. All they did was preach a positive message.

And if you want to change the community for Jesus Christ, don't protest against a community. Just live a holy life and start leading people to Jesus Christ. And the end result is that the community won't be able to handle you. The power of a new life is not in demonstrating, but in using that time to win people to Christ. God helps us to create issues by being what we have inside.

Verse 27, “So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.” Listen to Mark 8:36, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” Luke 16:13 says, “You cannot serve God and money.”

Well the speech caused a riot. Let us look at the characteristics of the riot. Verse 28, “Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” The first characteristic of the riot is anger. They got upset about Christ and not about you. Because people don't like to be confronted with their sin. And they don't want to accept the fact that their entire way of life is wrong.

The second character is confusion. Verse 29, “So the whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s travel companions.” The theater ruins still exists today in Ephesus. We don't know much about Gaius because there are several people of that name. But Aristarchus was a man of Macedonia,

So there is this mob filling the theater and they have two guys standing in the middle of them. Verse 30, “And when Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him.” Paul had experienced so many victories of God that he wasn't afraid at all. But it is presumptuous to put yourself in danger and then expect God to deliver you.

The same message came from another source. Verse 31, “Then some of the officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater.” Each province had Roman government people who were assigned to keep the peace, to make sure they kept their allegiance to Rome and worshipped the emperor.

Verse 32-34, “Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander motioned with his hand, and wanted to make his defense to the people. 34 But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” They didn't want to hear one word from a Jew.

Now we come to the calming of the riot. Verse 35, “And when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said: “Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Zeus?” In other words, don't you realize that we worship the great goddess Diana who came down from heaven?

Verse 36, “Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly.” Nothing can affect our great goddess. And nothing could ever change that. Verse 37, “For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess.”

The Holy Spirit put this story in here just to have an unbeliever give testimony in verse 37. Verse 38, “Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.”

Verse 39, “But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly.” In other words, if it's a social issue, let us bring this case to the assembly when it convenes. Don’t have a riot. Why was he so concerned about the riot? Verse 40, “For we are in danger of being called in question for today’s uproar, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering.”

Romans 13 says that Christians are to be subject to the powers that be that are ordained of God. Verse 41, “And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.” The town clerk did a great favor for the Ephesians. But he did no favor for the church because he agreed and confirmed the superstition of the people.

The moment the church is under the protection of the town clerk, they were in more danger than they were when the riot was going on. The first glimpse of the Ephesian church was under the leadership of Paul and Timothy. But the last glimpse of the Ephesian church is in Revelation 2:4, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

You know what happened? If you go to Ephesus today you will find a squalid Moslem village near where Ephesus was that doesn't have one single Christian in its population. The church will always thrives; a riot is no threat to the church, but patronage is actually dangerous. The church always should be the conscience of the community. Whenever we are patronized by the system, we die. So do not be afraid of persecution. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Sep 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170910 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ayfvxkn3 imblog

Acts 19:11-20

In Acts 19:13, we are discussing the area of exorcism is because we find the word "exorcist", where it appears for only one time in the New Testament. Let us look at Ephesians 2:2 at our character before becoming a Christian. Paul says, “You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”

The prince of the power of the air is the Devil. He is called the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience. Since the time of the fall, all men have become Satan's tools. They are born into the world functioning in response to satanic impulse. Man is a slave, then, to Satan and his demons. Like the ship is at the command of the pilot who turns and directs it as he wills, so is the life of an unbeliever driven by the will of Satan.

Now, Satan rules unbelievers in two general ways. First, he rules men by virtue of their understanding. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.” So the natural man, the man without God, is left with only the information which is available to him apart from God. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe.”

The second thing that Satan dominates in the unregenerate man is the will. Though he cannot make you do something, he can certainly draw you in that by temptation. In John 8:44, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.” So Satan then dominates men by tempting their will. Now, this is the predicament of every unbeliever.

Jesus Christ comes with power to free men. According to 1 John 3:8, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” And Hebrews 2:14 says, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

In Ephesians 6:10, Paul says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Now, when Jesus began His ministry, He first began this by showing His power over Satan. Even when Satan tried to eliminate Him at His birth, he couldn't do it. And after His baptism, when He was inaugurated into His ministry, Jesus was led into the wilderness, not by Satan, but by the Spirit of God.

Why? Because at the very beginning of His ministry, it was made known that Jesus had victory over Satan. Satan tempted Him three times but lost out every time. And Jesus went all through His life the same way. When He came to the cross, it looked like Satan was the winner, but he wasn't. And at the cross, according to Colossians 2:15, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, Jesus made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

The power of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing that can overrule Satan. Satan is the prince of this world because he dominates men's understanding and men's will. There is no human magic, no sorcery, no exorcism, no ritual, no ceremony, and there is no formula that can overrule Satan's power. Even the name of Jesus used as a gimmick will not work.

The New Testament accounts of the casting out demons reveal this: It is always a matter of authority, never of ritual. Matthew 8:16, “When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word.” What about Matthew 17:21, where it says that, 'these come out only by fasting and prayer.”? That was before the cross and was the usual pattern during the Old Testament age where they prayed and fasted.

Nowhere in the New Testament, is there any exorcism of demons from a non-Christian or a Christian. So, in this age, how do non-Christians get rid of demons?" There is only one way; that is to come to Jesus Christ. Well, what about all the unsaved people in the world? Are they all demon possessed? They are certainly all under the control of Satan.

Can a Christian have fellowship with a demon?" Yes, according to 1 Corinthians 10 they can be duped by Satan. In Corinth some Christians were coming to participate in the Lord’s Supper at the Lord’s table, and then went right back to their pagan religion. Paul says in 1 Corinthian 10:20, “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.”

So what is going to happen to them? 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 says, “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself.”

Many Christians have become so preoccupied with the Devil and their demons, that there are these deliverance ministries where you can go and get delivered. Listen, Jesus said in Matthew 12:28, “I cast out demons by the Spirit of God.” The only issue in the Christian's life is the issue of yielding to the holiness of God and to the Holy Spirit that eliminates Satan's power.

Look at Ephesians 6: 12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” So it is clear that we are going to struggle against demons, right? Now, if a Christian is struggling with demons, where is he going to get the victory?

Verses 13-16, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

So the solution is not a deliverance ministry; the solution is putting on the righteousness of God. Verse 17-18, “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Of all the responsibilities that we have toward one another, there is no command to cast demons out of each other!

The bible calls us to love one another, teach one another, edify one another, nurture one another, comfort one another, build up one another, reprove one another and so forth; but it doesn't say cast demons out of one another. Now, I can rebuke your sin, and I can give you wise counsel about your sin, and I can admonish you about your sin, but I can't live a holy life for you.

Let us go back to Acts 19. You know the greatest thing we have to overpower Satan? The key to understanding that in verses 8 to 20 is in verse 20, "So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed." Of course, it wasn't written down then; God poured it through Paul, so he had the Word. The Word of God influenced the Ephesians by its proclamation, its confirmation, its competition and its conviction.

The Word arrived through Paul and was proclaimed. Verse 8, "He went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the Kingdom of God." Verse 9, “But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.”

So after three months, they started opposing Christianity in front of the whole town, speaking evil of the Way, those who had been hardened along the way. Instead of believing, instead of being softened, the longer Paul preached, the harder their hearts got. And so finally, they attacked Christianity verbally and Paul departed from them and separated the disciples' preaching daily in the school of Tyrannus.

We know that he taught for five hours all afternoon, and late at night in houses leading bible study. He was a pastor/teacher. Verse 10, “And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” The Word just spread everywhere. And along with its proclamation was its confirmation, and this is where we begin tonight.

Verse 11, “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul.” When God moved into an area, Paul not only preached the Word but God confirmed the Word with miracles. This was the way God worked with apostolic preaching. Today, we believe a man's message because his message is according to the Bible. But in those days, there was no New Testament; the only way to validate somebody was to witness God’s supernatural work.

Mark 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” 2 Corinthians 12:12, “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” So in verse 11, God did miracles by the hands of Paul; God needed a human instrument. Paul would preach, and miracles would occur.

Now, the people would see Paul and not really see God doing all the work. And so they got the idea that this Paul was some kind of super being. And verse 12 says, “so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” Here is where you get this idea of healing cloths or handkerchiefs.

The people in Ephesus were very superstitious. And when they saw these miracles coming out of Paul, they assumed the power was Paul's. And so they got Paul's old sweat cloths and they figured that those cloths could work the same thing for them. In spite of their superstition, God still did these miracles! God was confirming the Word, and He did not let their superstitions interfere.

Well, what happened as a result of these miracles? Look, at verse 12, "the diseases left them.” They were physical healings. It is ridiculous today for people who call themselves “healers” to offer their handkerchiefs for healing. In Ephesus, Luke makes a distinction between physical disease and evil spirits. Not all illnesses are caused by demons.

Let's look thirdly at the competition. When something good happens in the name of Jesus, Satan will do something counterfeit. Verse 13, “Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” They thought they had a new trick.

They had never seen anything like this. They got this idea of using the name of Jesus to get some benefit. There always will be people that take Christianity and make it something marketable. Notice the word "exorcise." It literally means, “Expelling demons by using sacred names.” It is using sacred formulas, and using the names of gods.

And this is going on today in the Roman Catholic Church. Exorcisms have been done, but they are not valid. First, there is no need for them, right? Only confession and repentance are necessary. And we have exorcisms in the occult today and they had them then, it was Jewish exorcists who also tried to do it, but none of it ever was legitimate.

Verse 14, “Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.” But look what happened. Verse 15, “And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Evil spirits can speak with a human voice. In Isaiah 8:19, it says “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter.” Did the demons know Jesus? Of course. Demons were all created as angels up until the fall.

And the word "know" means personal knowledge. This demon felt no compulsion of power to obey. They may have used Jesus' name, but there wasn't any power in it. Verse 16, “Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” And "overpowered," means to dominate. An old manuscript includes the word "both" here.

The demon was very powerful. This must have been a total shock to them. They were used to perfect cooperation because they were working for Satan all along. Satan would make it look like they had great success in casting out demons. Why? Because that just perpetuates error. Satan kept them trapped in that counterfeit system. Satan gave them the illusion that they could.

And so this demon didn't cooperate because Christ is in control. The Lord Jesus Christ messed up the whole plan by not letting that demon leave. Luke 10:17 says, "Even the demons are subject to His Name." 1 Peter 3:22, "Angels and authorities are subject unto Him." Satan has really deceived a lot of people in this whole area of exorcism. Satan brought the competition; but Christ overruled them.

Now let us look at conviction. Verse 17, “This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” They said, “The name of the Lord Jesus, don't use it in vain! Even the unsaved began to recognize that the name of Jesus is powerful and exceptional.

And verse 18 says, “And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.” These people confessed their used spells. According to magic theory, the only good spell is the one that is secret. Once you divulge the secret, the spell is no good. They were giving up all their magic. People believed, confessed, and were transformed.

Verse 19, “Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.” And the word "burned" is written in the imperfect tense, which means they kept on burning. Verse 20, "So the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed." Brothers and sisters, I hope and pray that you're saturated by the Word, that you may know victory. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Sep 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170903 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/telldyo3 imblog

Acts 19:8-20

The word exorcist in the New Testament is only used one time here in this passage. Jesus came into the world the Bible says in Hebrews 2:14, "that trough death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” We see it prophetically in the book of Revelation where we see Satan in prophecy bound for 1000 years, then released for a moment, and then thrown forever into hell.

But also we see the power that Jesus Christ had over the works of the devil and over demons. Mark 1:32-34 says, “At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.” Here Jesus Christ also controls them, He didn't permit them to speak.

In Mark 5, Jesus goes to the east side of the Sea of Galilee, the country of the Gadarenes. And there was a man with an unclean spirit. Now all demons are evil and anti-God, but when it says unclean spirit, it means that that demon is the vilest. Verse 3-4, “who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him.”

So this involves a supernatural strength. Mark 5:5-7, “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” The demons know Jesus. How did they know Jesus?

Demons have been in existence since before the world was created. They knew Him when they were still holy angels in heaven. They worshipped Him before the fall of demons. They also knew Him because the word was out. Luke 4:33-34 says, “Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

Even the demons know what the ultimate end is. Verse 35-36, “But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. 36 Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”

The Lord never did want any publicity from demons. Now whenever Jesus dealt with demons, it was never a case of exorcism, it was always a case of authority. There was never a struggle, there was only absolute authority. And Jesus gave this very same power over demons to some of His followers. In Mark 16:17 it says, “In My name they will cast out demons.” This does not mean using the name of Jesus like a magical formula. It means on the basis of His power and His person demons should be cast out.

Luke 10:17 says, “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” So Christ granted to them the power over demons. And that was a special granting in the Gospel accounts. In Acts, after the Holy Spirit had come, the Apostles had this power. And they used it always in the in the case of unbelievers.

Acts 5:12, 16, “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.” Acts 8:7, “For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.”

In Acts 16:18, Paul did it to that girl who kept coming along and she was demon possessed. Paul turned around and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out the same moment." Jesus cast out demons by authority. Jesus passed that same authority onto His Apostles. The Apostles also could cast out demons authoritatively with a word. And they were gone. Now that is one of the apostolic gifts.

No apostolic gift exists today where an individual could out a demon from an unbeliever in the name of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 2:3-4 it says, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”

Prior to the time of Christ, all during the Old Testament, right up to the cross, demons existed. And demons would indwell people. Well how did they get rid of them then? Here is the answer that Jesus gave in Matthew 17:21, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Under the Old Testament pattern, demons came out in an answer to prayer. People prayed and fasted over spiritual issues, like demons.

But when Jesus came, it all changed. He came in absolute authority over demons. And He passed on that authority to His apostles and they did the same thing. Why did God give them the authority and not us? God gave them the authority for the confirmation of the Word which they preached. Why would these listeners believe the Word? Because they also did supernatural wonders to attest to its truth.

Now today we don't need miracles to confirm the Word. God still does miracles, but not confirming miracles because the Word is already here in our hands. You can judge any man's message, by whether it squares with the Bible. What about us? Well there are people today who are still trying to do it in an apostolic fashion. There's a preoccupation today, especially in Indonesia, with getting rid of demons.

The power of Jesus Christ alone can overrule Satan. There is no other way. And no demon can overpower Jesus Christ. There is no religious rite, there is no formula and there is no exorcism that works. But what about all of these so-called exorcisms that are being done by people? They all do not work. If something is not of Christ, it is of Satan.

Does Satan cast out Satan? No. Would Satan like you to believe he cast out demons? Sure. Satan is the deceiver. And that way he extends his power. There are people today who use the name of Jesus as a gimmick. Listen to Matthew 7:22-23, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

How do you get rid of demons? There is only one way a unbeliever is going to get rid of demons is by receiving Jesus Christ. You cannot exorcise a demon out of the heart that belongs to Satan. Well what about a Christian? How does he get rid of those demons? Where does the Spirit of Christ live? In me. Right? For a Christian to get rid of the problem of demons is in the area of confession and holiness.

If I have Jesus Christ in me, I have His power. Colossians 2:9-10, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him.” If the Holy Spirit dwells within me, I can deal with Satan in the power of Christ that is mine alone. Now maybe I need believers to point out sin to me, to pray along with me, but that's what Christ can handle in my life as I confess and repent of sin.

All you need to understand is that if I lean on the power of the Spirit of God, He delivers me from whatever it is. Now the word exorcism then doesn't belong in the Christian's vocabulary. There may be times when a counseling session in admonishing and prayer needs to take place, but that depends on that person's willingness to confess his sin. The demon is gone when the Spirit of God is in control.

1 John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” You can't be filled with Christ and something else. Exorcism only appears once in Acts 19: 13, “Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

The dictionary definition of exorcism is the process of expelling evil demons. But exorcism is really the process of thinking you have dispelled demons. Because exorcism doesn't happen and doesn't work. But Satan just loves to get people preoccupied with it. The key was supposedly the magical words and all kinds of little formulas that involved the names of gods and all kinds of things that are used to expel demons.

These have been found around Babylonia, Syria and Egypt, and in some of the ancient writings. Missionaries have found exorcism to be a part of everything from South Africa to Asian cultures, and from South American to Europe. And one of the most common ways they use in these incantations is pain. There's a shrine in India where people go to have their demons exorcised through severe beatings.

Can Satan influence Christians? Sure, if a Christian strays from the real issue of his life which is his own sin and his own honest confession and his own dealing with his own sin nature and his own dealing in the Word of God, if he blames everything on demons, Satan will likely keep him there. And then the Christian life turns into a demon hunt.

But when Jesus arrived, all demons wanted out. And by simple faith in Him, He dwells in you. You have nothing to fear. Now if there is willing, willful, protracted, unconfessed and sin that you have not repented from, you have given place to Satan. Historically the Roman Catholic Church has been involved in rites of exorcism and they have all the secret formulas for it. But that is not biblical. Christianity mixed with anything, is not Christianity.

Now let us get back to Acts 19. Paul in his third missionary journey started out in Antioch as always. Remember on the end of the second journey he had left Corinth and on his way to Jerusalem, he had stopped at Ephesus. And then went back to Antioch. Now he again returns to Ephesus. There he found certain disciples John the Baptist. He led them to Christ, they were saved, and the church nucleus began.

Now the number one feature of Ephesus was the Temple of Diana. And it was a place where all kinds of sorcery and witchcraft existed with magical exorcists all over the place. Here Paul was really confronted with this power of the underworld of evil against the Gospel. The very beginning of verse 8 says, “He spoke boldly for the space of three months." Here we see the power of the Word. Verse 20, "The Word of God prevails mightily."

The power of the Word in Ephesus is in, its proclamation, its confirmation, its competition, its conviction and its domination. And we are going to discuss point one this evening. The Word that was powerful in Ephesus, because it was proclaimed. Paul was disputing and persuading. He was trying to explain and prove the things concerning the kingdom of God. He is preaching the whole area of the kingdom of God.

Acts 28:30-31 says, “Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence.” Verse 9, “But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.”

The word there for ‘hardened’ is in Greek in the imperfect tense which means they were continuing to be hardened. Gradual rejection of Jesus Christ results in hardening of your heart. They just weren't passive in their non-belief, they were active. They spoke evil of the Way to Christ. And that same word in Matthew and Mark, is translated as, they cursed Christianity from the very beginning.

So these people cursed the Way before the whole town. How can you teach somebody who is standing up and cursing you? So Paul departed from there and reasoning with disciples daily in the school of Tyrannus. And here's the first church and the school. An ancient Greek manuscript adds that Paul taught in this hall of Tyrannus from the 5th to the 10th hour (from 11 till 4). Five hours every day. What hunger of the people.

Do you want to know why Ephesus grew so much? It was because one man saturated those people with the Word of God. Verse 10, “And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” All seven of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 were founded during these two years. All of Asia Minor was evangelized to the point where at least six other churches began.

Paul even had evening home Bible studies. Acts 20:20 says, “I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house.” So during the day he taught he school of Tyrannus, and at night he taught in the homes of believers. And in the process he evangelized the whole area of Asia Minor.

By the time he left, he had a whole group of elders all ready to take over as his pastors. He said takeover, shepherd the flock, I commend you to the Word. You know what makes a difference in this church? Teaching the Word of God and at every point of false doctrine, Satan is defeated. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Aug 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170827 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/kdraecm7 imblog

Romans 4:3

This year we are remembering that exactly 500 years ago in October 1517 the Protestant Reformation began. There was a separation from the Roman Catholic Church initiated by Martin Luther and continued by John Calvin and others. During the Reformation Martin Luther was put in a castle for his own protection. It was a very difficult time in his life because all kinds of things were going on that he was afraid of.

Luther understood life based on Psalm 46, “the Lord is our refuge and our strength and our fortress.” He wrote as a kind of signature hymn for the Reformation, “A mighty fortress is our God.” Luther wrote hundreds of hymns but this one survives because of its grandeur and its message, it is powerful, penetrating and it glorifies God.

In July of 1505, Luther, a twenty-one year old university student was walking along near Sutterheim, Germany when he was overtaken by a thunderstorm. He was struck to the ground by lightning and he cried out in his terror, “St Anne save me and I shall become a monk.” It is indeed interesting that a man who called out to a saint to save him would eventually repudiate the idea that we should pray to saints. And the man who would become a monk would eventually renounce his vows of monkhood and monasticism and he would in turn become one of the most famous men in all of history.

More books have been written about him than any other man who has ever lived except for the life of Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul. I have Catholic friends who say that Martin Luther was a traitor, he was a man with many flaws and that he began what is known as the Protestant Reformation because of some personal grievances. If you are looking for a man with flaws, indeed you should look at Luther. I surely do not agree with everything that Luther taught, said or did.

But at the same time whether you are a Catholic or Protestant, whatever you religion is, you and I need to appreciate the struggle that Martin Luther had and how it was eventually resolved. Luther struggled with depression or guilt or a sense of alienation from God, a disconnectedness, a disquiet of spirit. People sometimes call it an existential despair.

He wondered how he could please Almighty God. And so in honor of his vow there in the thunderstorm, he enrolled in the Augustinian monastery in Erferdt, Germany. And there was a beautiful church attached to it with beautiful windows. And it was in this church, next to the cloister, that Luther would prostrate himself on a slab of stone. And there he took his vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience.

Luther felt terrorized by God. He saw God, unlike many of us, as very holy. So when he performed his first mass, he trembled and later said, “I was utterly terror stricken, I thought to myself, in what way shall I address His majesty seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince. Who am I that I should lift my eyes or raise my hands to the divine majesty? I am but dust and ashes full of sin, and I am speaking to the living and true God.”

Luther used all of the things that are made available in that monastery in terms of the facilities of the church. Nowadays it is not possible to see the actual place where Luther lived, it is a room but it is more like a prison cell, which you can see through a lattice. It is a solid stone floor, walls and ceiling. Luther slept without blankets so as to put to death the needs of the flesh. He sometimes fasted so long that people thought that he might die.

He begged for his food to humiliate himself. And in those days it was clearly believed that we had to be perfect to get into heaven. But how is that kind of perfection obtained? What do we need to do to satisfy Almighty God? It was believed that in a monastery you had some special consideration. But Luther knew no peace because he never knew whether he had done enough.

In those days the believe was that there are two kinds of Christians. There were the saints who go to heaven directly after death and the common person who died with too much sin to go directly to heaven. The Catholics still believe in purgatory, which is the place where one would be able to eventually be purged thoroughly enough to enter into heaven. But nobody knew how long purgatory was or how torturous the process might be.

Luther used the sacraments of the church. Of special consolation to him was confession. Sometimes he would begin by reciting the seven deadly sins and the Ten Commandments and then he would start, one time lasting seven hours. And then Luther would say to the priest, I think we should meet again because I forgot something. The priest became so exasperated that he said, when you confess, let it be for some big sin like murder, adultery or blasphemy but not for all these small little sins.

Luther was a better theologian than his contemporaries because he realized that the issue was not whether the sin was big or little. But the real issue was whether that sin had been forgiven or not. Because Luther understood, as many Christians today do not, that the slightest small sin may banish you from God’s presence forever and Luther understood that. The question was how do you do this?

But he got to a dead end, sins in order to be forgiven had to be remembered. If they were not remembered they could not be confessed and therefore cannot be forgiven. So could he trust his own memory? But the issue was even deeper than that. What if he did what God considered to be sin but he did not recognize them as sin. So when he looked into his heart he realized that his problem was much greater than all that.

He realized that his whole nature was corrupt and that he was a sinner even if he remembered all of his sins, even if he confessed all his sins. Tomorrow would be another day, and that tomorrow would be fraught with more confessions because more sins would be committed. And so the situation was like perhaps mopping up the floor with the faucet running.

So when does this all end and when can I have assurance that I have done enough for God? Luther was in despair. Now in the year 1511, he was transferred to Wittenberg where there was a new university, so he went there to teach philosophy. And as you enter into the university, passed the door you see a courtyard. That is where the confession priest met him one day and said, why don’t you teach the bible instead?

And so Luther began to teach Scripture, and that is when some understanding began to dawn. So he began to lecture on the book of Psalms. And then he came to Psalm 22:1, “My God. my God, why have you forsaken me?” And Luther thought, why did Jesus Himself experience that alienation? Why is it that Jesus went through this? He experienced what I have experienced. And so he began to understand that it was for all of us that Jesus suffered that.

And when he was lecturing on Romans he noticed that Romans 1:17 says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Luther trembled when he read that word, the righteousness of God. Look at Romans 1:18 where it says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”

Initially Luther thought that he would have a better chance of meeting God’s demands if He was not perfectly righteous. But how can you reach the demands of a God that has righteousness as one of His attributes? So Luther struggled with this and then he read Romans 3:23-24, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” We are justified freely by grace.

And in Romans 4:3 it said that “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.” So Luther pondered this day and night and he finally saw the connection between the justness of God, which terrified him, and the statement that “the just shall live by faith.” When Luther understood what God said, he felt himself reborn, and that he now was able to enter into the gates of paradise.

Luther discovered what had been lost, through the centuries of tradition that we are saved by the righteousness of another, namely Jesus Christ. It is somebody else who gives us righteousness that we do not have. And it is received by faith. What he learned was that there is an attribute of God called righteousness, but there is also the gift of righteousness that God gives freely to those who believe the Gospel. No wonder that Luther felt as if he entered the gates of paradise. His search was over.

Meanwhile there was a Pope name Leo who needed some money. The construction of St Peter’s Basilica, regarded as one of the holiest shrines, located in Vatican City began in 1506 and was still unfinished. So Pope Leo decided to issue a new proclamation of indulgences. Now indulgences have been sold for centuries and it was a payment in the form of work or money that would shorten the length of time that you would experience in purgatory as the temporal consequences of sin.

The emphasis is on ‘temporal’, for example indulgences would never keep someone out of hell because those were eternal consequences. But indulgences would help in that it would shorten your time in purgatory. But these indulgences now were sold with a new twist. You not only could buy indulgences for yourself and your family, but now you could also buy it for those who have died and are presently in purgatory.

Across the river from Wittenberg was a man named Tetzel who was selling indulgences. And he would say to people, “Listen to your mother who is in purgatory, who is now saying, can’t you not give some money, and I would be out of this torment of fire.” So people paid a lot to buy these indulgences. And people from Wittenberg came to Tetzel and told Luther that they had purchased an indulgence for sins they had not yet committed but were intending to commit.

When Luther heard that he was very angry. At that point he was not against indulgences, but he was against their abuse. In anger Luther walked the half mile from the University to the castle church there in Wittenberg, inside the beautiful sanctuary. And he actually took 95 theses that he wrote out, and he attached those theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517

The original thesis were written in Latin, in fact today on a metal door you have all of them inscribed in Latin. And they were translated into German and they were distributed all through Germany. He was challenging the abuses of the church. As a result of this Martin Luther became famous. And this became a string of events that ultimately resulted in what we call the Protestant Reformation.

Now the real message of the Reformation is that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). So there were two transactions that happened on the cross. The first transactions was that our sin was credited to Christ. And it is very clear that Jesus himself is sinless. So our sin caused Him to be legally guilty of all our sins that are evil.

The other transaction is that His righteousness is connected to us, it is given to us as a free gift. We now become the righteousness of God in Christ. So Jesus was getting what He did not deserve, namely our sin, and we were getting what we do not deserve, namely His righteousness. We are getting His righteousness by faith. We are saved by His merit entirely and not our own.

This righteousness has several characteristics. First it is a free gift. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Think of this, it has to be free. Can you imagine us as sinners buying our way into heaven? And giving God something we think in exchange for His righteousness? We learned from Romans that we are tainted and even the best of our works are tainted.

So if we are to receive righteousness it has to come from God, untainted by our own sin, and it has to be given to us as a gift. Luther says that we are like parched ground, we cannot insist on rain coming, but if the rain comes it falls on the ground as a free gift from above. So the real issue is not the greatness of our sin, God can save anyone as long as they put their trust in Jesus Christ.

Not only is it a free gift, but it is given equally to all who believe. Romans 3:22 says, “The righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.” There is only one kind of righteousness that is perfect, that cannot be improved upon. So there is no division between “saints” who Catholics believe have more righteousness to enter heaven than the common people who believe. So Luther rejected purgatory, because that was based on the belief that saints had more righteousness than the rest.

This leads to the priesthood of the believer. In 1521 on Christmas Day something new happened in the church. First all the liturgy was in the German language instead of Latin. For the first time they heard something they could understand. For the first time people were able to participate in the Lord’s Supper together. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.” Now all believers, not just priests, have the same access to God.

Luther was hiding in a castle for 10 months because the Catholics had put a price on his head, and there he translated the Bible in the German language. He did the entire New Testament in 20 weeks. Eventually he translated the Old Testament also which took years. He wanted for the common person to be able to read the Bible. Look at the impact, centuries later of people now who can read the Bible to their children.

And lastly, the righteousness of God is given to us permanently. When was Luther actually saved? Jesus said we must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. Was it at his baptism? No, baptism does not convert you. Was it during those times of confession? No. As Christians we confess our sins, but that is not how we became Christian. We need one act that permanently settles our relationship with God.

When we are born again, we belong to the family of God. Hebrews 10:11-14 says, “And every priest offers repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But Christ, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

That single sacrifice is sufficient and when you place your trust in Jesus, all your sins past, present and future are forgiven. Jesus death on the cross was so well accepted by God, that if you believe in Him you become a child of God forever. Now in that context, confession becomes very important because that maintains our personal relationship with God. Our status is secure but we want to maintain a blessed relationship with God.

This does not mean that you can now sin without impunity. If you truly believe and God has given you a new heart, then you automatically will not think that. You will want to serve God to the best of your ability. It is free when you trust in Christ alone, not in Christ and works, not in Christ and anything else. Good deeds flow from our relationship with Christ, but are of no merit for salvation. The merit of Jesus only is complete and total.

Are you ready to receive Him in your heart and accept Him as Lord and ruler over your life just like Luther did 500 years ago? If you are, just pray with me in your heart, because this is just between you and the Lord, “Almighty heavenly Father, come into my heart and forgive my sin. I know I am a sinner. I want your cleansing and I know that you died for me and that you paid my penalty, thank you for your grace Lord Jesus. Amen.”

If you prayed that sincerely, God says you have stepped from darkness into light. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Praise the Lord.

]]> Sun, 20 Aug 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170820 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/6bg1io69 imblog

Acts 19:1-7

We believe in two things that make the church what it ought to be. One, there has to be an honest kind of biblical love and you have to have sound doctrine. So our commitment is not only to love the congregation and exercise the ministry of spiritual gifts and have fellowship with one another, but also to systematically verse by verse teach the Bible.

Acts is the historical record of the early church from the day of Pentecost through those early years. And now in Acts 18 we learned about one message that has three parts. We are studying how a person changes from Judaism to Jesus. And in Acts 18:18 the Holy Spirit gives us three incidents that illustrate that transition from Judaism to Jesus.

When Christianity was established and a New Covenant was introduced, there were many Jews who found it very difficult to make all of the transition rapidly. And so there were many people in the midst of transition, coming to Jesus Christ from Judaism. Now in our study here, we see the apostle Paul, though a believer in every sense, still taking a Nazarite vow which can only be found in Judaism.

So even Paul is in transition. And then we studied Apollos in verses 24 to 28. Here we meet a disciple of John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet. A man who believed that Jesus was that Messiah but didn't understand the cross, and who did not understand the Resurrection. John the Baptist only knew that Jesus was the Messiah and didn't know all that Jesus had done.

So now we come to the third section of our study, in Acts 19:1-7 where we meet a group of 12 men who also are in transition. Now remember that the whole of Judaism pervaded their lives. Christianity came in and it took time for all of the adjustments to take place. In some cases like Paul, he couldn't let go of some old patterns. And people like Apollos just didn't know the whole Gospel.

And so the Holy Spirit had to bring them along in individual circumstances to lead them to a full understanding of Christ and Christianity. Now our key discussion this evening is taking from a scene that we all face today in Christianity. And that is the question in Acts 19:2 where Paul says, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

We live in a time when Pentecostalism or the charismatic movement has posed this question to many Christians. The view that they take is that you can be a Christian and not yet possess the Holy Spirit. And at some point after your salvation you then by a certain activity allowed through certain information you can receive the Holy Spirit in certain ways.

And so the charismatic movement would make a distinction between having the Holy Spirit and possessing the fullness of the Spirit or the Baptism of the Spirit. But if you say a person receives only a limited portion of the Spirit, then you are saying in effect that the person has not received the Spirit at all. And that is wrong.

Jesus promised that we would receive the Spirit as salvation, which means receiving the Spirit as the Spirit is. And to draw the conclusion that the Spirit comes in part only and then later on in fullness is not biblical. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”

Many people say, “Well we receive Jesus as Savior but not as Lord.” That is also not accurate, Jesus is the Lord who reigns. And you receive Him for who He is. And the same is true of the Holy Spirit. There are no degrees in receiving the Holy Spirit. In other words the Christian receives the Holy Spirit in full from the moment of salvation.

The primary thing for a believer to do in the world is to exalt God. And when you hold a wrong view of Him, of His Son or of the Holy Spirit that grieves the Holy Spirit. The thought that you could be saved and get the Holy Spirit later is based on the book of Acts. But we cannot take transitional things in Acts as the norm for the Bible.

As we have learned, Acts is a transitional book. And learn these things and so this is a means for you to teach others. The New Covenant has come, so the old covenant, as Hebrews 8:13 says, “is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” And people come to Christ but still find it difficult to make the full transition.

And so in Acts, there are various transitions. Let us look back at our text as we saw three sections to our transition. First of all Paul was in transition in Acts 18:18 to 22. He was still making Nazarite vows on an Old Testament basis. He still wanted to fulfill this vow in the right way and he wanted to be there for the Judaistic feast.

Secondly we saw Apollos, a Jew born in Alexandria, an eloquent and learned man, mighty in the Old Testament. But he knew only the baptism of John which meant that he knew Jesus as the Messiah, but not the cross and His resurrection. Then Aquila and Priscilla explained to him the way of God more perfectly. After that he went back to Corinth and he taught believers who began under Paul.

Now we come to our third group in transition and that's in Acts 19:1-7. Now in these seven verses, God is still dealing with Old Testament influence. These 12 people are Old Testament saints still in transition. Verse 1, “And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.”

In Acts 18:21 Paul had said to the Ephesians, “I will return to you, God willing.” And God did will and so he started his third missionary journey, went through south Galatia and confirmed the churches and strengthened them. Verse 2, “And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

Now when we look at the word disciple, it's easy to make the assumption that they were Christians. But verse 2 says, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" John points out that you can't always determine whether a disciple truly believes. Jesus in John 8:31 says that “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” John 6:66 says, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” So the word disciple just means learner, and is no proof of Christianity.

People assumed that they were Christians here because the word disciple in the book of Acts is used to speak of Christians. But here they were not Christians yet. Why? Because they didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit in terms of His being granted to Christians. A Christian is somebody who believes in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And they didn't yet know that.

Verse 5, “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” In the early church, when were people baptized? Immediately upon believing. If you look at Acts 2:41, "3,000 believed and were baptized." All through the book of Acts, baptism is immediate upon salvation. If these people were Christians in the sense of believing in the finished work of Christ, they would have known the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The charismatics believe that there is a second blessing. That salvation is the first blessing and then you surrender later on and you get the Holy Spirit as kind of a second blessing. This is the failure to recognize the transitional nature of the book of Acts. We cannot take the experience of the people in Acts in a transitional period and make it the norm for the church.

Not all of the disciples of John the Baptist had all of the information about Jesus. John was saying repent for what is at hand, the kingdom. And one day in prison he looked around and saw that Jesus was not setting up a kingdom. In fact it looked as if Jesus was becoming a victim. And he begins to wonder, is this the Messiah or not?

So when John heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah. And if John himself had some questions about Jesus being that Messiah, it's easy to understand that some of his disciples too might not have understood a lot about Jesus either. Thus these disciples in Acts 19 could not have received a full understanding of Jesus as their Messiah. So they were not Christians yet.

And secondly, what happens in transition does not necessarily set the pattern. Romans 8:9 says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Without the Holy Spirit, you are not Christian. 1 Corinthian 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?”

God says in Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put My Spirit within you.” Now the credibility of God is at stake. And secondly the credibility of Jesus is at stake also in John 14:16-17, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever 17 the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” There was no other condition, just the prayer of Jesus.

Who receives the Holy Spirit? All who believe. You say well many people don't have the Holy Spirit. That is right. Jude 1:19 says, “These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.” They are mockers who walk after their own ungodly lusts, not Christians. Ephesians 2:22 says, “In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

But in Acts 8, there are Christians who didn't have the Holy Spirit. Does it matter? No, because it's transitional. Acts 8:14-17, “Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”

These are Samaritans and Jews hated Samaritans. Now the Jews had received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Gospel had been preached in Samaria and for 500 years they had separate temples. And so God in His wisdom withheld the Holy Spirit from them until Jewish apostles arrived. And they saw them receive the Holy Spirit with the same manifestation that they had received on Pentecost. And then they could witness to the Jews in Jerusalem that God had made the Samaritans one with them.

Remember what happened to Cornelius in Acts 10:44-45? He also received the Holy Spirit, he also spoke in tongues as they had on the day of the Pentecost and all the Jews that were standing there were absolutely shocked. And Peter went back to Jerusalem and says, those Gentiles got the same thing we got. God wanted them to see that. God does not want any schism.

People who go around seeking for the Holy Spirit to have greater power and think they can earn the Holy Spirit are doing in a sense exactly what Simon, the sorcerer, was doing by wanting to buy the Holy Spirit and are to be castigated in the same way that Peter castigated Simon. When you take the gift of God and turn it into something which can be obtained through human means, you have destroyed the concept of grace.

Now back to Acts 19:2, “Paul said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” Why does he ask that? Because then he can establish by the answer whether they are saved. He is saying that faith is the key. Verse 3, “And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

Actually John the Baptist did teach about the Holy Spirit. But they did not know that the Holy Spirit had been given. John said the Holy Spirit would come. Verse 4-5, “Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

If a person knows nothing about the Holy Spirit, we should teach them about Christ, that He is the Savior. And in verse 6, “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.” 2 Peter 1:2-3 says, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.”

Do you know that that is the last time it ever happened when a person lays hands that the Holy Spirit comes in the New Testament? Verse 7 simply says, “Now the men were about twelve in all.” Well why did they speak in tongues? Two reasons. One, God wanted to tie everybody into one church. And secondly God knew that they needed a strong convincing that the Spirit had come. So that the Jews too would know the Spirit came.

We met three transitions here, first Paul, then Apollos, then the 12. And we see these three groups still. We still have people like Paul who are saved, but hanging on to legalism. And then we have Jewish Christians who function fruitfully in the body of Christ as opposed to maintaining isolation. And then we have people like Apollos, who are people who believe in God, but they have never met Christ. I hope you are not in transition, but have come all the way to the fullness of experiencing all that God has provided for you. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Aug 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170813 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/27ycj5yt imblog

Matthew 14:13-22

Matthew 14:13-22 records a high point in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. This particular miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle recorded by all four gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Thus we conclude that it is of unique quality. Each writer not only includes the miracle but puts it at a point of climax in the life and ministry of our Lord.

When the Lord began His Galilean ministry, He looked for the crowds in the cities; He attempted to make known to them His name, to demonstrate His power through mighty works. He tried to teach them concerning the Kingdom of God and Heaven. He wanted to manifest Himself as the King offering a Kingdom.

We also know that the religious leadership has rejected Him. There is a rising hostility with this increasing publicity from our Lord. As we come to this particular miracle, His popularity reaches a pinnacle. In fact, the result of this miracle is that the general public in Galilee wants to make Him the king by force. They are in awe of Him, and willingly follow Him; this is the high point.

It also is the beginning of His withdrawal, because just prior to this high point has been the murder of John the Baptist. So there is not only religious hostility from the Pharisees, but there is political hostility as well. Herod, the petty ruler, is very threatened by the Lord Jesus, as he was by John the Baptist. So because of all that hostility of both the religious and political leaders, the Lord begins to withdraw Himself following this miracle.

And as we move through this, this being the last year of His life on earth, He spends most of His time only with the Twelve, readying them for what is about to happen in His death and resurrection and preparing them for the task at hand, as they will be the foundation for the building of the church.

It all begins in Matthew 14:13 with, "When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself." It was hard to find privacy in Galilee; the area is quite small: 50 miles long and 25 miles wide and there were 204 towns, with at least 15,000 people in it. So it was very densely populated. But our Lord found a quiet place, and went there privately by boat.

Luke 9:10 tells us that He went to a place called Bethsaida or Bethesda. Basically, there were two places called that; one on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and one on the western shore. The one on the east was called Bethsaida Julia because it was named by Philip the tetrarch for the daughter of Augustus Caesar. Luke says that is where He went.

About a mile south of that town, there was a grassy hillside which continued from the plains by the Sea of Galilee to a high mountain. Jesus took His disciples, got out of the little boat, and ascended that slope to find a place in the trees up the hill. But this desire for privacy with His disciples is overruled by the need of the people.

Verse 13 continued, "But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities." Some of the cities close by began to empty their people into an accumulating mass of humanity walking across the northern end of the Sea of Galilee to go to the place where they had noted Jesus was going in the little boat.

Mark 6:33 tells us that some were even there already when He arrived, the fast ones, the ones who ran. The lame, the blind and those who were ill and had come for healing, would have arrived much later. So even though there were some who were there before He arrived, He went beyond them into the mountain with the Twelve and sought the time of solace and quiet. But the crowd begins to swell.

John 6:2-4 tells us why, “Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. ³ And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.” So there were, no doubt, not only the people collecting out of the towns and villages, but pilgrims on the way to the Passover who would have added to the crowd.

Frankly, the majority sought Him, not because they believed what He said, not because they worshipped and adored Him, but because they heard the diseases He healed and wanted to see close-up all these wonder-working incidences, and maybe have their own disease healed, but surely at least be fascinated by it.

The crowd by now had become real large. Verse 21 says it reached 5,000 men. You can be assured that there would be at least 5,000 women with them and likely even more than that, for women were uniquely drawn to Christ. And multiples of children would be in addition to that. In those days, large families with many children were common, and so there may have been 25,000 people there and that number may even be conservative.

Matthew 14:14 says, "And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” Jesus felt their pain, He felt their hurt, He felt their need. That means His heart went out to them. Jesus Christ, though God, was passionate, and felt the pain in His own heart.

This is God’s nature whose heart goes out to those in need. This is not based on whether they will respond or reciprocate by believing; it is that God's heart goes out to all those in need. That's why, in Matthew 10, the Lord said to the disciples that He would give to them the power to heal diseases. He could have demonstrated His divine power by having them fly over tall buildings or walk on water or create food.

The reason He gave them the ability to cure disease is because the heart of God goes out toward those who hurt. The Bible tells us in verse 14 that He healed their sick. Jesus sets aside His rest, refreshment, priority of time with the disciples. God is never too involved in the running of the universe and all of the "big issues” of His plan, and He can set it all aside to help to one who has a need and is asking for help.

In Matthew 14:15 we read, "When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, 'This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.'" The disciples of Jesus are very concerned with the hunger of this group; and you don't see that in Matthew's version of the account.

Between verses 14 and 15, there is an interlude, so turn for a moment to John 6:5, “Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” And Mark and Luke added that Jesus not only healed them, but He taught them concerning the Kingdom of God. But before He even started that, He plants a question in Philip's mind: where are we going to buy bread to feed this group?

There are several reasons why Jesus asked that of Philip. Number one is because Philip was from that area, and would most likely know where so much food might be gained. Secondly, He asked Philip, John 6:6 says, to test him. Philip was like a lot of us - It took him a long time to get the picture. In John 14:8-9 Philip asked, "Show us the Father," and Jesus responds, "Have I been so long with you, Philip, and you still don't know? If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father."

Philip probably told this to the other eleven and said, "Hey guys, we have to figure out a way to feed these people." They thought all day and never came up with an answer. In fact, Philip said, "We have 200 denarii," which was 200 days' wages and probably what was in their treasury to provide for their daily needs. He says, "That's all we have and no way that is going to be enough.” So they have no resource.

Andrew comes, and says, "Lord, I've been through the whole group and found one kid with five flat barley cakes and a couple of fish." Barley was the cheapest grain, and the poorer the people, the more likely they were to use barley to make little bread cakes. They would take the fish, which were sometimes pickled, and then put them like a relish on the bread.

Finally, evening comes and they still had no solution. The Jews had two kinds of evenings; one was from 3-6, the other was from 6-9, and this was the first evening, prior to the setting of the sun. Matthew 14:15 says, “When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, 'This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.'" That was their solution.

Matthew 14:16, “But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” Sure. They're thinking, "We don't have any food." Jesus knew that, so why would He say that? It was very simple. Jesus wants them to face the fact that they don't have any food. We are people who without Jesus do not have any resources at all. And unless we admit that He will not help us.

They said, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." That is it. How can that provide food for 25,000 people? They are baffled, and it is very important that they realize, "We haven't got it, and we can't do it.” That's a great spiritual lesson for all who serve God; we haven't got it and we can't do anything just like they couldn’t.

Here we come to the great part of this story. In Matthew 14:18 Jesus says, "Bring them to Me. Bring the five bread cakes and two fish." Now, in a sense, He is saying to them, you don't have anything, but what you do have, give to Me so I can use it to transform everything. You can imagine that they are sort of sitting back and wondering what will happen next.

In verse 19, Jesus does a strange thing: He commands the multitude to sit down on the grass. It is the spring of the year, and the grass is green. This is a lovely spot, the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The grass sloping down to that plain next to the shore would be a beautiful place to sit, and the sun would be setting in the west and the little whitecaps would be seen as the breeze comes across the Sea in the evening. The air would be cool, and they're going to have a picnic!

Mark tells us that the Lord told them to seat the people in groups of 50 and 100 with aisles in between, so that the disciples could serve them. Of course, the disciples are obeying the Lord, but they can't figure anything out. They still don't know what is going on. They are all seated in order, prepared to be served. Then, this is even more interesting in verse 19, "He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed.”

It says in Matthew, "He blessed," and in John 6:11, it says He said 'thanks,' therefore we can conclude that saying 'thanks' to God and blessing God are the same. Verse 19, "And He broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes." The miracle is almost hidden, isn't it? It doesn't say He got up on top of the mountain and shouted, "Food!" or that the earth shook. He just started handing out bread and fish and never stopped; He just kept creating new food.

It must have been real good, because it had never been touched by the curse. It was the best bread and the best fish they had ever eaten, and it just kept coming. You say, "How much was there?" Well, verse 20 says, "So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.” This is a picture of God. The supply was exactly equal to the demand. This is the concept of abundance.

Of course, there was some left. When they collected all the fragments, there were 12 baskets full! There were also twelve disciples. Amazing. As great a wonder as the ability to create was the ability to create exactly the amount that satisfied everyone with exactly twelve baskets left over for the disciples. God doesn't waste His miracles.

What was their reaction? Verse 21 says, “Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” John 6 says that they tried to make Him king. He could not only heal all their diseases, but He gave the best-tasting food there ever was. This has to be their king, so their political aspirations reached a fever pitch, and they tried to force the issue.

Verse 22 says that “Jesus made His disciples get into the boat”, which means they must have fought against it. They didn't want to leave Him, “and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.” Verse 23 says, “He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” So what is God teaching us from all this?

First, He taught about compassion for people in need, and showed them the heart of God, which was not just for spiritual needs, but also for physical needs. Second, He then taught to sacrifice rest and leisure to meet the needs of others. Thirdly, He taught that while helping to meet physical needs, we also have to teach the truth of the Kingdom. When you help someone sick or hurting, the purpose is to introduce them to the Gospel.

The fourth lesson is to learn to obey even if you do not understand why. When the Lord tells us to do things that we don't understand, do them anyway, because something wonderful will happen. Number five, do things in an orderly fashion. God is a God of order; look at nature, everything is created in order, every creature is perfect in the way it grows, moves and every detail is there for it to function in the proper order.

The sixth lesson is that ministry is serving others, not serving yourself. Jesus says, "Give Me all you've got, and let us give it to them." The disciples didn't eat until they had fed everybody else. We are called to provide for others first, and God will make sure there is provision for us.

Number Seven is to learn to share with those who have not. From all His blessings, we must give blessing to others, so we by doing that we bless God. He has given us time; He wants a return. He has given us talent, spiritual gifts, money, possessions and all of it has come from His creative hand. He asks that we share it with others; that's what stewardship is.

The eigth lesson is to learn to trust the power of God to provide what seems impossible. Think about that in terms of ministry. We are responsible to feed others spiritually, to represent Christ day in and day out, to stand between Him and the world, and to feed the church. I don't have it and I can't get it in my own strength, and that is why I depend on Him to provide it.

Lesson number nine, is to begin with your own, available resources no matter how small. A little becomes much when it is placed in God's hand. God often uses small things; He used the tears of a baby to move the heart of Pharaoh's daughter. He used a shepherd's stick to work mighty miracles in Egypt. He used a sling and a stone to conquer a nation. Jesus likes to have the weak; that way, when incredible things happen, we know it's all because of His power.

The truth is that God wants to provide for people through you. When He took the little bread and fish and He broke it and He gave it to the disciples. They stood between Him and the multitude. Now we stand between Jesus and the multitude, and God wants to feed the multitude through us. It depends on your availability and your heart of service. That is the important spiritual lesson for everyone in this generation. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Aug 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170806 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/9o8cnmbw imblog

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

As we study Matthew 13, I hope that you have your Bible ready, your mind is open and your heart available to the Lord because we have some great things that God will show us as we look at this parable about wheat and tares.

We know that the Lord is the King of the earth. Within that kingdom, the Lord Jesus allows Satan a limited amount of freedom. And He also allows sinners a certain amount of freedom. And yet over it all He is still the King and He is still ruling. Every phase of human history, then, marks some facet of the rule of Jesus Christ.

Initially God conveyed His rule on earth through Adam. And then there were the patriarchs, and then the monarchs, and then the priests and the prophets and then the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And then God conveyed His will and His rule through the Apostles in the early church.

There will come a future time when God will again bring His rule to earth as mediated through the living glorified incarnate Lord Jesus Christ and that we know as the millennial kingdom. And then, finally, the earth and the heaven will be merged in the eternal kingdom on earth becoming one and the same.

But there's one period that we left out in recounting the periods and that is the period of time from the rejection of Christ to the return of Christ, the age in which we live. This, too, is a form of His kingdom. The Bible designates it in the New Testament as the mystery form, that which was not seen in the Old Testament. We are now living in that era.

Jesus in Matthew 13 tells us what it will be like. He defines for us in seven parables, the character, the extent, the value and the end of this period known as the mystery form of the kingdom. God is mediating His rule on the earth now through His church, through believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Now, His disciples didn't know about this period of time just as the prophets of old didn't either. So when the Messiah arrived, they thought immediately He would establish His kingdom and all the rebels and unbelievers would be destroyed and holiness and righteousness would fill the earth and the kingdom would be as predicted by the prophets.

Even after Jesus died on the cross, they were still curious about the kingdom. And it led them to ask Him in Acts 1:6-7, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom?" To which He replied, 'It's not for you to know the times, or the seasons which the Father has put into His own power." That's not your business.

The kingdom will come, the angels said, but it won't come until He comes back in His fullness. The kingdom of glory and righteousness, the kingdom where the Lord Jesus rules with a rod of iron and tolerates no evil, that kingdom that is anticipated by the prophets, waits until His return. But in the meantime, there is a form of the kingdom described as the mystery.

Jesus begins to tell them parables here in Matthew 13 to help them understand the nature of this period in which we live. And He begins to describe it to them and the first is a parable of soils. He told them there were four kinds of soils: the hard soil, the rocky soil, then the thorny soil and then fourthly, the good soil which produced real fruit. In this kingdom state, not everybody believes and bears the fruit of righteousness.

John the Baptist, the immediate forerunner of Jesus Christ doesn't even see this interim period. Here is the John the Baptist saying - When He gets here it is going to be fire and burning up of all the chaff and only the wheat will be kept. And all of this too, was based upon the Old Testament prophet’s sayings.

And so, the Lord Jesus needs to explain to them what He's going to do with the unbelievers who are in the earth during this mystery form of the kingdom. And He does that now in parable number two. He answers their question with a parable that begins in Matthew 13:24 and is called the parable of the wheat and tares.

Matthew 13:24-30, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶ But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷ So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

So let us see what each verse teaches us. Verse 24, "Another parable put He put forth to them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.” This is then about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom  of God. The kingdom ruled by God from heaven. This is talking about the mystery form, the time since Jesus, and this age now and even into the millennial period later.

Then verse 25, "But while men slept," and this indicates that he had a lot of people helping him with the sowing. They slept because it was night and a man who works hard has the right to enjoy his sleep. And so his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. The enemy sowed all throughout, and then went his way.

And verse 26 says, “But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared." It became obvious at one point in the growth that this was not wheat. Verse 27, "So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?”

They are shocked. They wouldn't have been shocked if there were only a few of those weeds because they always had a few in the crop that they had to deal with, but they were shocked because the whole field was full of them. And in verse 28, "He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?”

Now we can recognize them now because the heads have matured and we can tell the difference now. And so, they said - We can tell them apart, we'll go through the field and we'll tear them up. Verse 29, "But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.” Jesus said, “Don't do anything.”

Verse 30, "Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” Now, that's the narration. A very simple story that is easy to understand. But what does it mean?

Later on, after He's given a couple of other parables in between, it's time to explain the parables and as we learn from the other gospels, He explained all of them to them because they on their own could not fully understand them. So in verses 36-43 Jesus explains it. Verse 36, “Jesus first sent the multitude away." Now that is most important, He only wants to be with His disciples.

Verse 36 continues, “and went back into the house.” Very likely it was Simon Peter's house in Capernaum. “and the disciples came and they asked, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” They wanted to know that. And that's the way it is. God only reveals His truth to those who are His own and He answers their question.

So, Jesus explains to them what's going to happen to the tares, those that aren't wheat. Verse 37, "He answered and said: He who sows the good seed is the Son of man." Now Christ is the Son of man, the common title for Himself. And He uses it because it identifies Him in His incarnation, with His humanness. But it is also Messianic. In Daniel 7:13 the Messiah is to be called the Son of man.

Verse 38, “The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.” So, the Lord is sowing seed in the world, which is His field. It belongs to Him. He is King of the earth. He holds in His hand the title deed even though He hasn't really laid claim to it fully as He will in Revelation 6 when He unrolls the scroll, which is the title deed to the earth and takes back the earth.

Well what does Jesus sow? It says the good seed are the children of the kingdom. What this means is that the Lord puts the children of the kingdom in the world. Most commentators say that the field is the church and that is where the wheat and the tares grow together. But Jesus said in verse 38 that the field is the world.

What is it saying? God sows His children of His kingdom throughout the world. So, you have believing people that have been planted all over His world. This is a picture of the church in the world. We are placed within the world's system. We're not called to isolate ourselves. We are not here by accident; we're planted here specifically by the Lord, right?

First of all, we're here to be matured by the trouble the world gives us, right? 1 Peter 5:10 says, "After you've suffered a little while, the Lord will perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you.” John 16:33 says, “In this world you'll have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." So the Lord plants us everywhere so we can develop.

He also plants us here, so that we can influence the world. Do you realize that everybody who is wheat was once a tare? We were all real bad before we got converted, right? So, the Lord puts us in Denver not only to become mature by the pressure of becoming Christian, but to also influence others into becoming followers of Jesus, like we are.

Our redemption must be at work and that's why Jesus said in John 17:15, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” Do not take them out of the world; we are supposed to be in the world. There are only two kinds of people in the world, children of the kingdom and children of the wicked one.

In John 8:44, Jesus said to those leaders of Israel, "You are of your father, the devil." In I John 3, John compares the children of God against the children of the devil because those are the only two kinds there are. The origin of evil is from the evil one, God is not the author of evil. Evil proceeds from the evil one.

So, good and evil are mingled in the world. This is how it has been and this is how it will be in the mystery kingdom. Satan now really has his fallen angels everywhere. In fact, in some parts of the world they are so thick it is hard to find in there some wheat. And he likes to sow them as close to the wheat as he can. And he does sow them in the church.

In Matthew 7:21-23 it says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” These are church people.

And that's where we come to verse 39, this is very important, "The harvest is the end of the age." Jesus is saying if you are trying to judge the world without divine insight, you're going to wind up condemning Christians. Do you know that the church has done that throughout its history? That is not the church's function to go around ripping out the tares. We are not to attack the world.

What was the Lord Jesus Christ's attitude toward those people? Jesus treated them with meekness, love and kindness, right? How did He treat Judas? Judas was there in His presence and He didn't blow him away with fire. He was patient. And this is the time of patience. He was gracious, and this is the time of grace.

You see, the Lord knows how many people belong in the kingdom. We are not to pray that God would destroy them. We are to pray that God would save them, that He will redeem them. That's the only proper attitude. That was the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ the night in which He was betrayed.

Now, that brings us to the climax in verse 39, ^“The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.” Now listen to me, angels are called by God to give judgment. Christians are called to influence by doing right. We are not called to judgment. We are not called to condemn the world. We have to preach against its sins. We want to love sinners while hating their sin.

Verse 40-43, "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, ⁴² and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

People think they're going to be in hell and everything is going to be fine. They're going to be with their friends and they'll love it down there. But this verse tells us that not only is hell a fire, but it tells you what your reaction is going to be, grinding teeth and piercing shrieks, an eternal, inevitable, inescapable judgment. Hell is not being with friends, it is isolation from God and everyone else.

Then comes the anticipated kingdom, then comes the righteous Shekinah, lighting the face of all the saints for all the ages. "They'll shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." So Jesus says - that part of the future is coming, just as surely as the judgment. In fact, Daniel 12:3 says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”

Verse 43 is the application. Simply it means you better listen. What and who are you listening to? If you are a believer, you are to coexist in this world and you are to influence the world for good, not be influenced by it. Who are you following? If you are not following Christ, you are following the devil. You are to be used by God to reach that brother or sister near you so they too can become children of the living God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Jul 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170723 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/7n13ofso imblog

Acts 18:24-28

The Book of Acts records transitions and we see the fading out of Judaism and the coming in of Christianity. We have to understand that it sometimes was a slow transition. Salvation is an instant miracle, but losing all of the traditions of Judaism comes a little slower. Jews who come to Jesus Christ find it difficult to break with patterns that were so much a part of Judaism.

Judaism was not an isolated creed of theology, it was a way of life. It all began because of the Old Testament. God first prescribed the moral and ethical law and the Ten Commandments and God declared that the basis of everything is this code. But God also wanted them to be a witness in the world. So He gave them some other prescribed things that were just external so that the world might see them as a unique people.

Now, in addition to the Old Testament, throughout the history of Israel, there have always been rabbis. And they all were teaching and interpreting and adding to Scripture. And all of this was accumulated until today, so you have this set of volumes known as the Talmud. And you will find that a rabbi has not only prescribed his life around the Old Testament, but even more so around the Talmud.

But at the core was the law, the ceremonies, the rituals that they had to keep and they believed that if they kept all those laws, they would go to heaven. Now, God in the Old Testament was a gracious God. Faith is still the way of salvation in the Old Testament as it is today. But what happened was that the Jews supplanted faith with law, and by the time of Christ, they believed that the only way you go to heaven was by keeping the law.

And, of course, the leaders in front were the Pharisees. They were hyper-zealous for the law and they tended to drag everybody after them. Now, when a system has that kind of grip, it's scary. Why do the Jehovah's Witnesses stick with it? Because they're told that if they don't, they will go to hell. The same thing happens, not with Biblical Judaism, but the kind of Judaism that existed in the day of Christ. They feared for their souls.

Now, contrast that with the opposite extreme that grows under legalism, a false sense of righteousness. There was a rabbi named Jahudah who at his death, lifted up his hands and told God that none of those ten fingers had ever broken a single law. Oh, that is the sickest kind of self-righteousness. But that is the other extreme, isn't it? There is terrible fear and then there is false self-righteousness. Both of those tie those people down.

Into this system comes Paul and he is saying, "Grace, grace, forget all those laws." And the Jews are having culture shock. That is why when he went into the synagogue their reaction was so violent. And that is why in the Book of Acts when Jews get saved, there is a time lapse before their physical trappings catch up with their soul that has been recreated.

Peter was a classic example, he knew the New Covenant. He talks about what they had done to Christ and he says in Acts 2:36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” And we have no question about his understanding of salvation. We know that he was really a spirit filled man. He had all the New Covenant features. He was in Christ.

The law of God in terms of ethics is still valid. But all of the ceremonies and rituals added by rabbis were gone. And Peter was a new creation in Christ and he was living by grace. Now look what God does in Acts 10:9-16, “The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance.”

“11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.”

And now in the New Covenant, Jew and Gentile were going to be one in the church, and God did not want any difference anymore. But Peter could not handle that. He actually said, “not so Lord, I have never done that.” See, transition hadn't caught up with him. How many times God had to tell him the same thing before he even understood it? Three times. You see, that transition was difficult.

In Romans 14 and 15, you have Paul saying to the church, now you Gentile Christians, I know you have liberties, but when you invite those new Jewish believers over to your house, don't serve pork. Romans 14:3, “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.” Because we have to recognize the transition.

Now, we want to live by biblical doctrine, but we are not interested in having trouble over what we eat like Peter did. We are not interested in all the traditions of Judaism. The Charismatic Movement always wants to adapt the Book of Acts to everything. They are going to get in a lot of trouble if they are honest about that.

We saw last week the first one in transition was Paul. This week, we are studying the second one, Apollos. Next week, we're going to see the third, which is a group of twelve disciples of John the Baptist. They are all in transition. Remember that Paul was dragged before Gallio when the Jews wanted to get him banned from preaching everywhere. But Gallio did not want to judge in religious matters. God really protected Paul.

So Paul sailed to Syria at the end of his second missionary journey, together with Priscilla and Aquila, that wonderful couple he met there in Corinth. Then Paul cut his hair in Cenchrea because he had made a vow. Now we see Paul in transition. This is an Old Testament thing, a Nazarite vow. He would restrict himself to holiness under God. As a Jew the high point of their thanks is to take a Nazarite vow.

In the Old Testament, the hair that he cut off had to be taken to Jerusalem and burned with an offering in order to complete the vow, and so he hurried to Jerusalem. When he came to Ephesus, he left Aquila and Priscilla to enter into the synagogue and persuaded the Jews. Paul had to get to Jerusalem because he had to offer up his hair and he wanted to get there for the feast.

Notice in verse 21, "But I will return again to you if God wills." Paul believed his salvation was sovereign, but he also believed that God was in control of his service. James 4:14-15 says, “Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

Now we see not only Paul in transition but also Apollos. Paul is on his missionary journey in Phrygia and Galatia. But meanwhile, he dropped Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus. So now the scene shifts back to Ephesus. Verse 24, “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.” Apollos came from Alexandria which had a great Jewish population.

Now, notice it says that he was an "eloquent man." The word in the Greek is a very different word which doesn't occur anywhere else. It means that he not only was a fluid, eloquent orator but his content was correct. Was he greater than Paul? Well, possibly. 1 Corinthians 2:1 says, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech.”

Paul never really valued his preaching ability. 2 Corinthians 10:10 says, “For his letters are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” If you young men want to pattern your life after somebody, just follow Apollos. He was an eloquent man and, "and mighty in the Scriptures." The word Scripture always refers to the Old Testament. He was a powerful man naturally in terms of teaching.

He was not yet a Christian at this point, so consequently, did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Later on, when he comes to Christ and he receives the Holy Spirit and gets the gift of the Spirit in those areas. And it did not take him long to make an impression. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:12, “There are divisions among you," and, “each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”

So in no time, he was ranked right up there with Paul and Peter in terms of the esteem of people. He was a dramatic, unique man. Now in 1 Corinthians 3:6 Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the increase." So, Apollos was building on the foundation that Paul had laid. 1 Corinthians 4:6 says, “These things I have figuratively transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sake." Paul had actually worked through and in Apollos.

Pay attention to that little phrase “mighty in the Scripture.” What we need today in this world, and in the church, are people who are mighty in the Scriptures. It takes real dedication to be mighty in the Scriptures, and thank God for people like Apollos who set the pattern. Later on when he saw the factions in Corinth, he was so grieved in his heart that when in 1 Corinthians 16:12, Paul asked him to go back but he wouldn't go.

Verse 25, “This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.” The word instructed is the word ‘catecaho’ in Greek. It means to teach orally by repetition. You know what the catechism is? It's teaching that you read which then gives you the answer. Repetition, repetition.

Compare that to Paul. Galatians 1:11-12 says, “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul was in Arabia when he got it directly from Jesus Christ. That is the difference between divine revelation and human instruction. Only apostles and writers of the New Testament had inspiration.

Apollos was instructed in “the way of the Lord.” God mentioned it in Genesis 18:19 to Abraham, “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord.” This is an Old Testament term which doesn't necessarily mean he is a Christian already. This is talking about the standards that God sets for a people in a particular time.

But that same term in the New Testament is used differently by John the Baptist. Matthew 3:2-3 says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare ‘the way of the Lord’; make His paths straight.’” Now, the way of the Lord refers to the Messiah.

Apollos was a student of John the Baptist. The end of verse 25 says that “he knew only the baptism of John." He accepted the fact that the Messiah was Jesus. The verse says, "He was instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in the Spirit. He spoke and taught accurately the things of Jesus." He was not a Christian yet because he didn't know the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He also was not baptized in water that follows faith.

Verse 25 also says, “He spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord.” Accurately means with exactness. Physicians really work hard because it's a matter of life and death. A Bible preacher should be just as careful in teaching the Word of God as a physician is with a scalpel because it is a matter of eternal life and eternal death. The greatest investment you will ever make is to study the Word because exactness bears fruit.

Everything God does is with exactness. Luke 1:3 says, “It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first.” Luke could write this because God gave him exact understanding of everything. One more thing, Paul says in Ephesians 5:15, “See then that you walk circumspectly,” with exactness. The Christian should live his life with the same kind of preciseness that God wrote it.

Apollos had come to the place where he believed that Jesus was the Messiah but he stopped short of the cross. He only knew the baptism of John. He was ready for Messiah. He just didn't know the Messiah had come, died, risen and gone to heaven. Verse 26, “So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”

They explained what happened after he finished his sermon. Jesus went to the cross, and rose again. They told him that the Holy Spirit has come, the new age has been born and all else. They gave him the truth of Jesus Christ. They told him the fullness of the facts regarding Christ. And the Holy Spirit doesn't say much about it. Why? Because he was already a saint.

Verse 27, “And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace.” Achaia was were Corinth was and he helped them much. Verse 28, "He vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.” How exciting it is to see what God is doing. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Jul 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170716 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ih3h5b6t imblog

Acts 18:18-23

The book of Acts, written by Luke, describes the early years of the church and is really a book of transitions. It is the beginning of the New Covenant. It's the beginnings as the church begins to form itself and separate itself from Judaism. The old things of Judaism faded out very slowly, and the new gradually phased in. The writer of Hebrews gives us the theology of the change from Judaism to Jesus.

He says, for example, that Moses, David, Joshua and all of those great characters of Judaism have all been replaced by Jesus. Then he goes beyond that and says that the laws, the ceremonies, the rituals and the patterns of the Old Testament have given way to a whole grace kind of life. No longer are we ruled by externals, but we are ruled by the Holy Spirit within our hearts.

God's people, Israel, have given way to God's people, the church. The system of multiple sacrifices has given way to the “once for all” sacrifice of Jesus. All the way through Hebrews, we saw the viewpoint of the New Covenant as it means the old is set aside. Hebrews 8:13 even says, "The old is obsolete and ready to vanish away." And the book of Acts gives us the history "from Judaism to Jesus.”

The history of the book of Acts gives to us many insights into the depth of Judaism as we see people coming to Jesus Christ, receiving Him as Savior, being introduced to the church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation, identifying with the church in every way but still hanging on to features of Judaism. We also see other Jews who see Christ, who in their minds believe it but aren't willing to leave Judaism and become a Christian.

As we study Acts, we see in actuality and in history what the book of Hebrews said was the fact that we must change from Judaism to Jesus. But you cannot go to the book of Acts and just take these things and frame them as a theology. The reason that does not work is because things are in a state of flux.

In Acts 19:2, it says that Paul met some disciples, and he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” That simple statement has very serious implications. Paul says in Romans 8:9, “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Yet here you have this statement that may indicate that there is a gap between when you are saved and when you get the Holy Spirit. We will study that later.

And transition is not easy for a Jew, because Judaism is not just a religion. It is as much a nationalism as it is a culture and a race. It is a way of life, it is a heritage. Jewish people are in love with Judaism, and rightly so. It was ordained of God. It is a point of pride, a divine institution, and it doesn't die easily. We see that today. Jewish people who come to Jesus Christ, have great difficulty in breaking with all of those traditions.

The church needs to do everything it can to incorporate them and at the same time allow those old institutions to die out. When the church was born, Judaism in God's eyes became a dead issue, but the burial took an awfully long time. The early church had just been formed in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, and after Peter preached 3,000 were saved. They were fellowshipping and having communion and all.

In Acts 2:47, it says, "They were praising God and having favor with all the people." Now watch, "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Notice this is the church, separated from Israel altogether. Verse 47 continues, “And the Lord added to the church daily.” But then look at Acts 3:1, "Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.”

The church had already been established. And Peter and John were the two primary leaders in the church, and yet after the establishment of the church, they were still going to the temple at the prescribed Jewish prayer hours. Judaism died very slowly, because it was so much a way of life for so many years. These Christians were first of all and for most of their lives Jews. There were patterns that were difficult to change.

So there was flux in the book of Acts, and that many of Jews who are coming to Christ are finding it hard to get to all the features of Christianity. Not only because of the strength of Judaism but secondly, because all of the features of Christianity hadn't been revealed yet. They really didn't know what to substitute for it. Even when the church was born, for the most part, the church was born in a synagogue.

In Acts 19:8 when Paul comes to Ephesus, he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months. He just ministered right within that framework. Aquila and Priscilla were Christians when Paul came to Corinth, but they met him at the synagogue, so there were Christians still attending the synagogue. When Apollos came to Ephesus, Acts 18:26 says he began to speak at the synagogue and Aquila and Priscilla heard him.

Only later in Ephesus, in 1 Corinthians 16:19 Paul writes and says, “Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.” It was years before the church moved out of the synagogue and had an identity all its own. Acts portrays all of this flux. There are also other things in the book of Acts that are transitional.

When the Jews really got angry, sometimes the church was forced out of the synagogue. For example, in Corinth, in Acts 18:6, the people opposed Paul and he shook out his clothes and said, "Your blood be on your heads. From now on, I'm going to the Gentiles." He went out and started Christianity in a Gentile house.

So there were times that the church did move out, but for the most part, it maintained an interesting relationship with Judaism. This is the reason that in the book of Acts Christian people started going back to Judaism and others going back to Christianity. That is characteristic of this period of history. The Holy Spirit was doing unique things, special things, initiating things that are not the norm for all of the Christian's life.

Let's look at three persons and groups in transition: 1) Paul, 2) Apollos and 3) twelve disciples of John the Baptist. All three of them are pictured in transition from Judaism to Jesus. All had some connection with John the Baptist, who represented the last Old Testament prophet. Jesus himself said in Matthew 11:11, "Among them that are born of women, there have not risen greater than John the Baptist."

All of them were Messianic Jews who came to Christ through John. They were slowly coming over to Jesus and letting John fade away. John wanted that to happen when he said in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease." That doesn't mean we minimize the Old Testament. The principles, morals, standards, and truths of the Old Testament are timeless, but the ceremonies and rituals went away when the New Covenant came in.

Let us look first at Paul. Acts 18:18, “So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow.” Here Paul is in transition. Before Paul became a Christian, he was Jew, absolutely entrenched in Judaism. This shows how he had just as tough a time making the transition as anybody else did.

Philippians 3:5-6 says about Paul, “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” He was a Jew at the limit of Judaism's capacities. Yet he became a Christian.

Being a Christian is an instant miracle, but the transition takes time and old features of Judaism died slowly even in Paul's life. By the time he gets to Philippians, a lot more was transformed. He says in Philippians 3:7-8, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. ⁸ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

From now on, Paul says, I'm not interested anymore in ceremonies and in rituals. I only know one thing, I want to know Christ. In Colossians he said not philosophy, not legalism, and not carnality but only the knowledge of Christ is important. Because of that, the Lord wanted Paul, in verse 18, "to still remain a good while in Corinth." God said, "I will take care of all circumstances." Paul’s heart was so blessed that he took the vow in gratitude to God.

Now Syria is where Palestine is, where Jerusalem is. Paul is in Greece about 1,500-miles away, and boats didn't go real fast in that day. Note that verse 18 continues, “he took with him Priscilla and Aquila." The only way that Paul is going to take them is if there's somebody else to take the responsibility of pastoring that people, right? For a year and a half he raised up adequate spiritual leaders for the city of Corinth.

Verse 18, “He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow.” In the Old Testament, there was a certain kind of vow that had to do with your hair, it was called a Nazirite vow, which means to promise something. A Nazirite literally was saying, "God, I promise to consecrate myself totally to You.”

How long did those vows last? The Bible doesn't say. The Mishna regulations say that a Nazirite vow could be 30 days, 60 days, or 100 days. Paul's was probably a 30-day vow. "Why did God only allow that once in a while?" Remember, they didn't have the Holy Spirit yet. We don't need to take a Nazirite vow today, because we are to be separated from the moment we are saved till the moment we meet Jesus, right?

Why did he make this vow?" Usually it was made in gratitude to God for special deliverance or special blessing. Had Paul had special deliverance in Corinth? Yes. Had he had special blessing? Absolutely. Paul was blessed and thrilled with what God had done in allowing him finally to stay in one place for a long time, and see God work and disciple and raise up some saints and see the church growing up in this sinful city.

A lot of people were making these Nazirite vows in those days. God in Amos 2:11-12 says, "I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not so, O you children of Israel?” Says the Lord. 12 “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink.” Amos is condemning the Jews, Amos was trying to show how evil Israel was by making Nazirites, who are not allowed to drink alcohol, drunk.

People often talk about whether you should drink alcohol or not. In the Old Testament, a Nazirite totally separated for God didn't touch any of that. What is allowed now? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." Anything that controls your senses is not of God. The same thing is true with drugs. Anything that gives Satan an opportunity to control your life in ways that you would normally be able to resist, is not good.

When Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:17, he said, “Therefore come out from among them and be separate.” Paul explained that Christian separation is something totally different. Brothers and sisters, we should not just take a 30-day vow of devotion to God. We should live that way all our lives, right? 1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.”

Verse 19, “And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.” Priscilla and Aquila were placed there, really in the service of Christ. This is about the year 52. It wasn't until the year 57 that they popped up in Rome again. They may have been there for five years.

And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16:19, "The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.” Paul did not sent them there as preachers. They went to Ephesus as tentmakers and God used them to start a church. Don't think that because you're not a minister, that God doesn't have a purpose for your life. Your life has just as much purpose as mine is or anybody else's.

Verse 20, “When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent.” That is a switch, usually they wanted him to leave. This time, they want him to stay, and he left. What is he leaving for? Verse 21, “but took leave of them, saying, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing.” And he sailed from Ephesus.”

Now Paul landed in Ephesus. It becomes a great location of God's work in years to come. It was the marketplace of Asia Minor and it was also a center of Roman government. It was the seat of the Pan-Ionian Games, and there was the Temple of Diana, their god of fertility. A whole pagan superstition grew up around Diana, where you buy these charms and amulets for all kinds of healing. And it was a sanctuary place where criminals would be safe.

Paul says, "I will return again to you, God willing." Everything in your life depends on if God wills. Verse 22, “And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up and greeted the church, he went down to Antioch.” What church did he greet? Caesarea is the Mediterranean seaport right opposite Jerusalem. If you have ever been to Jerusalem, you know you go up to Jerusalem and you go down from Jerusalem. It is a drastic change, altitude-wise.

Verse 23, “After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.” Paul was a traveling pastor going to all the country of Galatia in order to strengthen the disciples. Then he went off on his third mission journey. Paul went back to the same churches three times! Amazing! Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Jul 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170709 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/tk0fbabw imblog

Acts 18:11-18

This is the story of the arrival of the Apostle Paul and with him the Gospel in the city of Corinth. And we are seeing Paul who is somewhat discouraged. And God knows what he is going through and is going to encourage Paul. We learn that Christians are surely going to have trouble in the world, but God will accompany them through it. In fact, based on his experience Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3, "God is the God of all comfort."

We saw as Paul arrived in Corinth on his second missionary journey, that he was discouraged. In 1 Corinthians 2:3, he wrote, "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling." The very threat of the city itself, with its sinfulness, must have caused him to tremble. But God moves to comfort and to encourage him. We learned that there are four ways that God encourages him. We have discussed the first three.

God first encouraged him with companionship. Verse 2, "Paul found a certain Jew named Aquila born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla.” He lived and worked with them, for they were by occupation tentmakers or leatherworkers. Verse 4 says, "He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." After that God encouraged him further with two old friends, Silas and Timothy who came from Macedonia. They came bearing good news and brought money so that he didn't have to make tents anymore, and he could preach full time.

Secondly, Paul was encouraged by his apostleship as a preacher. He was encouraged by converts. People started getting saved, and his heart became thrilled. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was Messiah. Verse 6, “But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

Then he began his ministry among the Gentiles. He entered a certain man's house named Titus Justus. Probably this is the Gaius mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14 whom Paul baptized and mentioned also in Romans 16:23. His name may have been Gaius Titus Justus. This man was a Gentile who worshipped God and his house was next door to the synagogue. This was his first convert.

The second convert was in verse 8, “Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.” All in imperfect tense Greek verbs, which means they were continuously occurring, continuous action. Day by day people were hearing, were believing and were being baptized one by one. Not all at once.

Can you imagine the joy in Paul’s heart when he started seeing God just pull these people out of the Corinthian society one at a time? He was encouraged not only by companionship and apostleship but by thirdly fellowship. He was encouraged by his friends, and his converts and thirdly by his God, the God of all comfort. God is most encouraging by His own personal presence in the life of Paul.

By this time, they were tremendously antagonistic toward Paul. Verse 9, “Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent.” God is personally involved with His servants. So many times when we serve Jesus Christ, we get the idea that we're just a drop in the bucket. We're just one little piece of what God's doing, and He's really not interested in us. That is not true. God is personally, actively involved in the life of every servant.

The Lord spoke to Paul in the night in a vision. Paul right here was at the point of stopping his preaching. Because the Lord came to him and said, "Do not be afraid but speak and do not keep silent." Which implies that Paul was really thinking about stopping his preaching. The Lord gives him three guarantees in verse 10, “or I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”

They are three promises that every Christian should apply in his own life. No. 1 "Keep preaching or witnessing, for I am with you." The emphasis is on God's very presence. That is the promise of power. None of us can begin to fathom the power of God. Maybe you can understand that once there was nothing and then there was the whole universe. Maybe that will give you some understanding of His power.

A God who can speak everything into existence must have some kind of incredible power. Think of the kind of fuel that it must take to drive all things in the universe at the speed of light. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” We haven't even begun to see what God can do. And God is saying to Paul, “I myself am with you."

In the book of Judges we see a man named Samson. He kills 30, turns around and kills 1,000, turns around and kills 3,000 at the end of his life. How could he ever have that kind of power? You know the key to the Book of Judges is in 2:18, “And the Lord was with the judges." The key to the book is when the Lord is with you, you have power. Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

The second thing God says to us, not only power but also His providence. “No one will attack you to hurt you,” That’s the negative. The positive is, "I'm with you." Look at verse 2 Timothy 4:16-17, “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.” And it says, “Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.”

When you understand the power of God and the providence of God working on your behalf, you have nothing to fear. The third reason not to stop witnessing is in verse 10, "I have many people in this city." In other words God promises that you will have results. Sometimes we underestimate God and we think that God is not able to use us to produce fruit.

God promises to every Christian that there will be fruit in that person’s life. Notice what God says here, "I have many people in this city." In other words, there are some elect here chosen before the foundation of the world, who are waiting to hear the Gospel so they can believe. God says, "I have chosen them. Their names are in the Book of Life. They need to hear the Gospel, so they can respond to it now."

Paul just preached the Gospel to everybody and let God worry who was elect. His responsibility was to deliver the Gospel to everybody. That's the divine side of salvation. The Bible teaches that God chooses people to salvation. Some people worry about the doctrine of election, because they think that makes everything unfair. Better that you should stop your panic and find out how you can deal with it, because it's in the Bible.

“If God is choosing people to be saved before the world began, how can You make men responsible? That's not fair.” Are you judging God? Are you the standard of what's fair, or is He? Who are we? Romans 9:20-21, “Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?”

People often say, "Well, if you believe in that doctrine, then you can say and do whatever you want." No. Listen to Colossians 3:12-14, “Therefore, as the elect of God, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

You cannot deny scripturally the doctrine of sovereign election. It's all over the Bible. He has called us to salvation before the world began, not just to Christ's likeness, not just to maturity but to salvation. Does that mean that if a person is not chosen, he goes to hell? Are you saying that if I'm not elect, I can't come to Jesus?" No, the Bible never says that. But the Bible also teaches human responsibility, doesn't it?

You see, the Bible teaches both of those things. You let them exist, as we said before in a paradox. God also says, "Whosoever will, let him come." If you are a faithful Christian witness, somebody is going to get saved as a result of your witness. It may be that you planted it, may be that you only watered it, but it's going to happen. Jesus said in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”

It is ordained of a Christian that he brings forth fruit. Now let me take it a step further. In John 15:1-2 it says, “I am the true vine. My father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He prunes." If there is somebody who is not bearing fruit, he will be removed. Is that a Christian? No, that is a non-Christian who only externally attaches himself to Christ, but his heart is far from Him.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We are saved for good works. James 2:14 says, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” Verse 20, “O foolish man, that faith without works is dead.” Verse 26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

So what does that fruit consist of? Well, first of all, it consists of graces. Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.” Hebrews 13:15, "The fruit of your lips." Praise. In Philippians 4:17 we learn about the fruit of giving. Colossians 1:10 says, “that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” And converts are also fruit.

God gave Paul companionship, apostleship, fellowship and lastly hardship. He was encouraged by his enemies. There are three ways, first, by who your enemies are. If you have bad, sinful and evil enemies, that's good. You are doing something right. Secondly, you can be encouraged by how ineffective they are. Thirdly, you can be encouraged by seeing what God does to them. Have you ever seen your enemies get saved?

Watch what happens to Paul. Verse 12, “When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat.” Any verdict by a Roman proconsul became a precedent. So if Paul could be judged as a criminal, and his preaching stopped in Achaia, the other Roman proconsuls would do the same. Verse 13, “This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”

The Romans saw Christianity as a sect of Judaism, therefore, it came under what the Romans called "permitted religions." Judaism was one of the permitted ones. Christianity was seen as a sect of Judaism. What these Jews were trying to do was to get Gallio to acknowledge that Christianity was not Judaism. They wanted to convict Paul.

Gallio knew enough about the Jewish religion that they were looking for their Messiah. All that Paul was announcing was that Jesus is that Messiah. Gallio believed that Christianity was, in his mind, just a form of Judaism. It certainly was no crime, and that's exactly how he responds. Here we see how God uses Gallio providentially to accomplish His purpose.

Verse 14, “And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you.” In other words, "If you actually had a case here, I would do something.” Verse 15, “But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.” That's a theological problem. You deal with that one, no sense for me to get involved.

Verse 16, “And he drove them from the judgment seat.” They probably really hung around and persisted. Finally, he called the police to get them out of there. The Apostle Paul hadn't even opened his mouth. He was just standing there, watching all this going on. You see, you can also get encouraged by how ineffective they are, right? They couldn't stop him from preaching.

Look what God does with your enemies. Verse 17, “Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things.” Who are these all that beat them? We really don't know who beat up Sosthenes, but they beat him right in front of Gallio who "took no notice of these things."

But look what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:1, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.” Look, it turns out that Sosthenes became a believer. God really encourages His saints by what He does to their enemies when He transforms them. Verse 18 says, “So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him.”

Brothers and sisters, Isaiah was right. If you wait on the Lord, He will strengthen you with friends, converts, with His own presence, and even through your enemies. God in Isaiah 51:12 says, “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die?” With God we don’t ever have to be afraid, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Jul 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170702 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/1eggdl5t imblog

Acts 18:9-10

Now in Acts 18, the Apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey in the City of Corinth. And that city was the center of immorality of the world at that time. Now, as we saw in our study last week, Paul was going to face was not only the trouble of that kind of a city, but it was the trouble that he himself was experiencing in his own life. He was discouraged, tired and weary.

Corinth was a sin city, debauched at every level. Romans 1:24-32 is a catalog of the activity of the Corinthians. Romans 1:24 says, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.” This describes not only of personal sexual activity, but also sexual relationships with animals.

Verse 25-27, “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”

Verse 28-31, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.”

And here was Paul alone in this place and being somewhat fearful and hesitant and overwhelmed with the corruption there. But in 2 Corinthians 12:10 he said this, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” And before that in verse 9 he says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Do you know how corrupt the church itself was? Paul ministered in that church, perhaps for as long as two years. But what happened to that church? By the time he writes 1 Corinthians, they are corrupted beyond description. That says that the intensity of the corruptness of Corinth was irresistible. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5, to see what it did to the Church. And you can see the same thing in our cities today.

The society has a tremendous effect on the church. 1 Corinthians 5:1 says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!” Everybody is talking about your sexual sin.

And the worst of it is verse 2, “And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.” But then Paul goes on to say, "Get that guy out of there. Don't you know that one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel? Verse 5, “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

Look to verse 9, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.” Beloved, choose your friends wisely. Verse 11, “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.”

1 Corinthian 6:9-10 tells us, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Listen verse 11, "And such what were some of you?" This is a typical cross-section of the culture of Corinth.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 7:2, “Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.” They were just having sex and they weren't interested in getting married, just like what is happening today. Young people say, “I know that we have sexual relationships and we're not married, but we love each other." Well, in the bible that is still called fornication.

Now, Paul arrives in Athens alone, and he has a kind of formidable enemy. Before he can ever begin anything, God has to encourage him. When Jesus told the disciples that He was going to leave, He immediately knew their reaction, and He says to them, "Let not your heart be troubled.” Jesus is sensitive to the comfort of the saints always. God is a compassionate Lord.

Oh yes, there are discouraging times, but you are learning during those times, and you're just waiting for God’s encouragement. Isaiah and Jeremiah were two prophets in the Old Testament who got more discouraged than anybody else. God said to both of them, "I want you to spend your whole life being My prophet, but nobody will listen to anything you ever say." That is a rough calling, and yet they were still faithful as they carried out their entire ministry without much of a response except antagonism.

Jeremiah wrote a book about his weeping, it's called Lamentations. He was called the weeping prophet. And he wept from the beginning to the end over Israel. They never listened to him, and he knew that captivity was coming, and they never listened. Lamentations 3:15, “He's filled me with bitterness, and made me drink wormwood.” I have lost the peace. I've forgotten what used to be happy times.

God has a lot of names in the bible but one of my favorites is this one, the God of all comforts. That is His name: compassion, comfort and encouragement. Wait on Him and see. So there are four ways that God used to comfort Paul: companionship, apostleship, fellowship, and hardship. We talked last week about companionship, his friends. Aquilla was from Pontus and he had a wife named Priscilla who came from Rome.

So they moved to Corinth. They were plying their trade there, and the Apostle Paul came to them. Verse 3 says because he had the same trade. And so God had two choice people waiting for him. God encouraged him with friendship. He found a home to live in. He found beloved friends, saints in Christ, to nourish him and to cherish him, and to encourage him and to share fellowship with him.

Paul worked for sustenance, he needed to work. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” Paul worked because he never wanted pagans to think that Christianity was a commercial enterprise. In 1 Thessalonians 2:9, he says, “Remember, brethren, for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”

In 1 Corinthians 9:14, Paul says, “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” But that certainly should be at the discretion of the people. Preachers who put a price tag on their ministry; have eliminated themselves from the liberty to let the Spirit do what He wants to do. If I go somewhere and speak and they give me some money, that's good. But I never demand anything, I just want to do what the Holy Spirit wants.

And Paul worked all week and then preached on the Sabbath. First God encouraged him with companionship. His friends first were new friends, Aquilla and Priscilla. But then came old friends. Verse 5, “When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia" and that thrilled his heart. Listen friendship is very important. Secondly with apostleship. He was encouraged first with his friends, next it was with his converts.

Verse 5 continues, "Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified the Jews that Jesus was Christ." A later manuscript evidence says that the phrase "compelled by the spirit" is better translated, "He began devoting himself completely to the Word." In other words, when Silas brought the money from the Philippian church, Paul was freed from making tents, so he could give himself entirely to his preaching.

Paul was testifying to the Jews that Jesus was Messiah. Verse 6, “But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” To blaspheme is to ridicule the person of Christ. To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit in Matthew 12 was to attribute the works of Christ to Satan.

Paul was so infuriated at the blasphemy, that he says to those Jews, “I'm finished with you. I have exercised my responsibility. I have given you opportunity. You blaspheme Jesus Christ. I'm shaking the dust off my clothes. The blood is on your head. I'm going to the Gentiles.” And we discussed last week that he just marched out of that synagogue, turning his back on Israel. And we found he just went next door.

Verse 7 says, “And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.” He goes into this house, and this guy comes to Christ. So God begins to encourage him with a convert. Verse 8, “Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.”

Thirdly, God encouraged them with fellowship. God comes to him personally, because when those people got saved in verse 8, the persecution didn't stop, right? But the persecution just got more intense all the time, and so it was a rough thing. And so God says, "Well, his friends are good, and his converts are good. But now I will go down and talk to him Myself."

God reserves special times of intervention. At least five times in the book of Acts when Paul comes against a crisis where there's no way to go and no clear direction, God Himself intervenes. And so now comes God. Verse 9, “Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent.” Paul, don't stop preaching. Now this implies that Paul was getting tentative about preaching.

Verse 10, “for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” We, as Christians, are given the same promise. Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus' name in Matthew 1:23 is Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Secondly God says, “Don't stop, no one will attack you to hurt you." God said the same thing in Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.

What does that verse mean, "I have many people in this city?" Does God choose who will be saved? Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Are we chosen to be saved before the foundation of the world? Yes, because the bible says that. Listen to Revelations 13:8, “All who dwell on the earth will worship the devil, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

Well, what about human responsibility? Oh, I believe that too. Look at verse 6, "Your blood be upon your own heads.” Listen; if you come to Jesus Christ, you came to Him because you were chosen before the world began. If you reject Jesus Christ, it's your own responsibility. You say, "Those two don't go together." Right. But you must allow in the Scripture for the paradox of sovereignty and responsibility.

Realize that we have little brains, and God is bigger than the universe. So we are not rattled because we can't justify sovereignty with responsibility. We just let the two exist, because that paradox exists in every other major doctrine. Who wrote the book of Acts? You say Luke and I say the Holy Spirit. And yet it wasn't Luke and the Holy Spirit working together. No, every word was chosen by the Holy Spirit, and yet Luke himself had all those words in his own vocabulary. This is a paradox.

Who lives a Christian life? I do, but Jesus says in John 15:5, “Without me, you can do nothing.” He does. Well, it's a paradox. What was Jesus Christ; God or man? Both. That's a paradox. You see, in every major biblical doctrine where God reduces Himself to human terms, there is a paradox. The bible says, "If he goes to heaven, it is because he was chosen before the foundation of the world." Then the bible closes with these words, "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely."(Revelation 22:17)

Listen; if you want to come to Jesus, you come. How God fits that into His sovereignty is His problem. He will do it, and you don't need to worry about it. If I understood God, I would be God. No one understands God fully except Jesus. And so God here encourages Paul, first with His power, "I am with you." Then with His preservation, "no man shall ever hurt you." Thirdly with his promise, "I have many people in this city." God says, I have ordained you that you should bring forth fruit. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Jun 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170625 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/p3veo5pg imblog

Acts 18:1-8

Paul gave great advice to the Thessalonians from the city of Corinth. In fact, he wrote this advice right while he was experiencing what we are studying this evening. Paul was really writing out of his own experience. But God is an encourager, and we are going to see in these verses how God strengthen His weary servant who is preaching the Gospel in the city of Corinth.

When Paul arrived in Corinth, he had been chased everywhere. He started out in Antioch of Syria on a missionary journey with Silas; started some churches there, and went through Galatia, confirmed the saints there, and continued west. He was driven by the Holy Spirit. He finally crossed over from Troas and entered into Philippi, where he preached, and was hassled again and chased out of town.

In Thessalonica he was persecuted terribly; and had to run for his life. And he got to Berea, and no sooner had he established the church there, the Thessalonian Jews arrived to chase him out again. He was alone in the city of Athens, and he presented the Gospel clearly and there wasn't any persecution. After he left Athens he comes to the city of Corinth.

And now God moves in to encourage him. And it is from this Corinthian experience, he wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:13, "Brothers, do not become weary in doing good to others." If Athens was the city of learning, Corinth was the city of sin. It was the most depraved city in that world of that day. In fact, the actual name Corinth became a common term which meant immoral.

To say that a woman is a Corinthian woman meant that she was a prostitute. Now, Corinth was vile to the very core. The whole city was depraved because of the following reasons. It was the center of trade and travel, and sailors and caravans were going through it all the time. And it was the place for entertainment and it connected South Greece to North Greece. So Corinth was in a very strategic location.

Now, Corinth was also important politically. Corinth was the provincial capital, which meant that the proconsul of Rome stayed there, and the headquarters were there. If Athens glorified the mind, Corinth glorified the body. You can imagine what must be going on in the world around the church. And Paul had to write two letters to restore them, telling them again and again to repent and to purify themselves.

Now, the Lord speaks to Paul in verse 10, “For I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” Now these were God's elect, sovereignly chosen ones. And they were in that city and not yet saved, but they were about to be saved as Paul brought the Gospel. God had prepared their hearts in the midst of all that sin. God will not do a lot with intellectuals, but He always does a lot with sinners.

Paul wasn’t long in Athens, but he stayed long time in Corinth, where it became a base of operation for the Gospel. From the city of Corinth Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, and the book of Romans. And it was back to the Christians at Corinth that he wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians. So the Corinthian church became an important base for Christianity.

Now, when Paul arrived there, he was really discouraged. But our God is a God of encouragement. There are so many places where the Psalms refers to God as a God of encouragement. Just think how many times in the New Testament, Jesus said, "Be of good cheer." In John 16:33 Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

God has always been concerned with the encouragement of His own. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Discouragement is part of life when your hopes and dreams don't come true. Or maybe there is an ungrateful heart or a criticism that is unjust. We all have experienced that, but our God will encourage us.

And in Acts 18:1-18 God encourages Paul in four ways. First, God encourages Paul with giving him companionship. God brings some friends into his life. Number two: God brings some converts into his life, and that's encouraging. Three: God himself comes in fellowship with him and encourages him. And fourth: hardship, his enemies. Did you know you can be encouraged by your enemies?

So let us start with companionship. Paul arrives in town all alone. In 1 Corinthians 2:3 Paul wrote how he felt, "I was with you in weakness and fear, and in much trembling." And when he wrote to the Thessalonians, he wrote it right from Corinth, when he was there in Acts 18. 1 Thessalonians 3:7, "Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith." Now that shows us that he was hurting.

Then God brought two people into his life that came to love him, such that he mentions them frequently in his ministry. Acts 18:2, “And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them.”

Pontus was a province just on the southern edge of the Black Sea north of modern Turkey. A Jew named Aquilla had come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. It's interesting here that Aquilla is mentioned first. But from now on, the remaining verses mention Priscilla first. It might be that Priscilla was strong spiritually; and consequently was named first. Most likely they were Christians already.

By the time Paul wrote the Book of Romans, which was later on in another visit to Corinth, the church at Rome had already grown to the place where the faith of those Christians had spread all over the world. And one of the things that helped to spread that faith was that all the Jewish Christians were expelled from there. Now, the Gentile Christians remained, and the Church remained.

So when Aquilla and Pricilla and the other Jews were in Rome, persecution broke out against the Jews and Claudius forced them all out in 39 A.D. Suetonius was a historian who wrote about his life. And one of his statements about Claudius was this, “As the Jews were indulging in constant riots at the instigation of Chrestus, Claudius banished them from Rome."

Verse 3, “So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers.” The literal word is leather worker. And they were doing the same. Historians say that in the synagogue, everybody would be sitting according to their trades. Maybe that is where Aquilla and Priscilla met Paul in the synagogue. And because Paul was of the same craft, he just moved right in their business and became a part of their lives.

And Paul worked hard. That's just the kind of man he was. God doesn't want everybody just to raise support. God wants some people to work. And then when the time came, God takes care of the support needs. In 1 Thessalonians 2:9, he says, “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”

God will take care of the servant of God. He needs to put the needs out there and let God supply. If you feel God calling you to do a ministry, go ahead, prove yourself faithful while you earn a living. And if you're faithful enough, God will release you from your efforts to earn a living and will support you full time to do your ministry if it's that important to Him."

But sometimes God waits until you have become more spiritually mature or have repented of some sin issues and have learned to be obedient and have learned to trust Him before He gives you a ministry. His timing is far better than our timing. And learn from Paul’s example how much work, courage and tenacity it takes to preach the Gospel, while the Jews attacked him from all sides.

Look at verse 4, “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.” See, Paul had to work on the other days. He was proving to the people of Corinth he didn't come to intrude on them and demand from them. He came to give himself to them. And secondly, he was waiting for the time that God could free him up to do it full-time when the time was right. That is how God works.

What Paul did every Sabbath was reason in synagogue. And the verb to reason means to discuss by question and answer. It means to convince, to dialogue, which means you continually discuss it again. Notice he was in the process of persuading them. He was seeking to persuade them that Jesus was the Messiah.

It is exciting to see how God brought two people into a lonely man's life, who became so beloved that they had a place in the rest of Paul’s life. In Romans 16:3 and in 1 Corinthians 16:19 they are mentioned. In 2 Timothy 4:19, they're mentioned again. And eventually a church grew up in their house. It is not good for man to be alone.

But what is just as good as new friends or maybe better? Old friends. And so verse 5, "When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia." Two old friends arrive. Now, the Philippian church sent him money, but how did they sent it? 2 Corinthians 11:9 says, “And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied.”

So Silas had gone to Philippi, and the Philippian church had taken a love offering, and he brought that. And Timothy brought news that the Thessalonians were growing. In 1 Thessalonians 3:6, it says, “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you.”

Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians right there in Acts 18:5 when Timothy and Silas arrived. 1 Thessalonians 3:7-8 says, “Therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith. 8 For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.” You know, that man's very life was the growth of his children. Verse 9, “For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God.”

He was doubly blessed because Silas came in with money. He said, "Paul, I have news for you. You don’t have to continue as a tent maker." The oldest manuscripts say this: "Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word." Timothy came with all the joy, Silas came with a love offering. Now you see how God comforts a disheartened saint: with companionship. What a joyous time.

Paul worked when he had to work. But that doesn't mean that every preacher is supposed to work extra. If the need is there, then it should be done. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:7, “Whoever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?” In other words, the support comes from within what you are doing.

And 1 Corinthians 9:11-14 says, “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? 13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.”

That means, if you preach the Gospel, you should live from your preaching. In other words, the church should support the one who preaches and teaches. And that's indicated in 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” The word double honor has a monetary connotation. The congregation needs to give him sufficient monetary support for his faithfulness in preaching and teaching.

Well, how did the Jews respond? Acts 18:6, “But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” They made their ultimate decision, which was that Jesus was not the Messiah. They opposed Paul, and they blasphemed Christ.

The bible teaches individual responsibility. If you die without Jesus Christ, your blood is on your own head. We are going to see how that fits in with verse 10, where God says, "I have many people in this city." That's a sovereign statement of election. Here is a statement of human responsibility. We will put them together and see what the significance is later. But now Paul says, "You are responsible for your own decision.”

Verse 7-8, “And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.” God always calls a remnant to Himself. And next we will see how God encourages him with fellowship and hardship. And that is the way we too are often encouraged, right? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Jun 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170618 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/jsk5rc8d imblog

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Paul ends 2 Corinthians 13 by saying, “Finally brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³ All the saints greet you. ¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Paul is telling us what a pastor should really be concerned about, he summarizes the concerns of his heart for the church.

The Corinthian church had been under siege from the world, the flesh and the devil, just like many churches are experiencing now in this area. The culture around them was filled with immorality. Their culture had all kinds of sinful devil worship which influenced their lives prior to coming to Christ. This continues to be a bad influence, as they were surrounded by all that. This is also true now here in Colorado.

The devil, who is behind all false religions, was able to come into the church at Corinth in the form of false teachers who were teaching lies. They wanted to destroy the people's confidence in Paul. They had come to attack the church and had some success in doing so. And then, there was the attack from the flesh. People were committing sins of the flesh which was their way of life before they repented and had come to Christ.

Now as Paul comes to the final summation, he had three concerns for them. He desires for them and for us too, that is perfection, affection and benediction. He begins in verse 11 by saying, "Finally, brethren." Brethren is a term Paul used to refer to the believers at Corinth. These three words sum up what any faithful pastor would want for his church and what I want for every Christian here.

Notice what is not mentioned in his list: prosperity, success, physical health, comfort, freedom, honor, prestige and all the things that people pursue, even in the church. For 13 chapters Paul defended his apostleship, his ministry, his integrity, including a straightforward confrontation of the false teachers who were lying to them. And in his final summary, he tells them what he really wants to happen in that church.

Look first at perfection. Verse 11, "Brethren, farewell, become complete." The key to understanding this point is found in that statement, "Become complete.” It means to put in order. This does not mean that it is incomplete. It could be translated as wholeness. It is used to refer to restoring a broken bone, or to locating a dislocated joint.

The same word is used in Hebrews 10:5 and it's translated by the word "prepare," that it has the idea that something is ill prepared, something is not ready, something is not right and it needs to be further prepared. We could translate it "mend your ways." Paul is calling for restoration here. There are a lot of things in the church that are not right.

Get your life in line as a church. This is spiritual wholeness. Try to have everything consistently in conformity to the Word of God and the will of God. This is the equipping of the saints for the work of the service. This is the building up of the body of Christ till it becomes mature and reaches the fullness of Christ, as he says in verse 13.

We should try to get everything in the kind of harmony that was exhibited by Jesus Christ, where his theology and his thoughts and his words and his life all were in perfect harmony. Everything he did, everything he was, everything he claimed, everything he believed was in perfect integrity. We are talking here about spiritual wholeness.

That is what life is all about. You go through your whole Christian life being restored, getting the priorities back in appropriate places, correcting errors and facing sins. That is exactly what the church should be involved in. We are given this responsibility of getting the church in order according to His Word and it is a never-ending battle. But we are given the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the Word of God to do this.

Where there is laziness, indifference, apathy and lethargy, it needs to be turned back into energy, commitment, devotion and service. And that is what pastors do much of the time, but that's what the people need to have as a goal as well. Galatians 6:1 says, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”

Paul knew that evangelism was a byproduct of that attitude. He knew that changing the world around them was more likely to occur when they became what God wanted them to be. They need to reject the false teachers, reject their lies, and reject their heresies. They need to repent from the sins of the flesh and the world. They need to hear and follow the truth of God.

And they need to start with their own hearts. That is why 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” Start with yourself. Make sure things are in order in your life. Keep first your own life in order and then to be concerned about the lives around you.

Study the Word of God so that you can witness to people about God's will so they can live according to it. Try to conform the church to the Word and the will of God, because that's the desire of God. We can know God's desire for the church and the people through what Paul wrote because it is God who inspired Paul to write this.

Now doing this is an endless task. Just try to do that in your family with your spouse and with your children. Just try to bring them back in line with God's way and God's Word and God's will. And to do that in the church there are some features that make that happen. Let us study what God through Paul is telling us to do about this.

Number one, look at the word "farewell." This could also be translated as the greeting when you met someone. And the word really means "rejoice," It all started when Jesus came out of the grave and first greeted the disciples, He said, "rejoice." So it became the greeting everyone used. The early Christians said something meaningful, they said, "Rejoice," because Christ is alive.

Paul said repeatedly in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says, “Rejoice always.” The life of the church needs to be expressed in joy. Joy is a part of our Lord's legacy. In John 16:22  Jesus said, “I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”

We should be joyful all the time. Our sins are forgiven. Our past is dealt with. Our present is under the power and control of the Spirit of God. And our future is secure in God's promises. Christian joy is not something superficial. Christian joy is the experience from deep confidence that God is in control of everything and all is well. Circumstances on the surface change but joy remains.

What about illness? What about death? What about economic difficulties? What about the loss of a job? What about disappointment in affection? What about broken friendships? A good understanding of God's Word gives you the confidence and that is shown when you rejoice. Rejoicing is an act of appreciation for the work of Jesus Christ.

The second one is in the phrase "be of good comfort," in verse 11. Actually the verb here means submission. If a church is to have integrity and demonstrate the fullness and the wholeness of spiritual life, if we are to be what we ought to be, we must have joy but we also must have humility. Paul says, we must be willing to submit to the authority of God, a call to obedience.

The third key word is truth. It’s found in the phrase, "be of one mind." Now normally you think of people who learn to agree with each other. But that is not it. The key word here is truth. This phrase says, "Think of the same thing, and have the same convictions. In other words, believe the same things that the Word of God teaches. This is truth based on a unified understanding of God's Word.

In Romans 15:4:5 Paul says, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning. 5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded.” And there is the point, there is a standard of truth to be understood. There is a standard of truth to be adhered to. In 2 Corinthians 13:8, Paul said, "For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”

The standard of truth is the Word of the living God. There is so much misunderstanding about this today. We are often criticized for being narrow minded so they say and somehow that is wrong. But in fact, this is what God requires for the wholeness of His church. If we have the fullness of Christ, then it has to be in line with the truth. Sound doctrine establishes the basis for all the functions of the church.

So perfection then includes joy, submission, truth and fourthly unity. That comes from the phrase, "Live in peace." One of the reasons churches do not split up is because they believe the same things. But when you have a teacher who teaches something different, then you create the fracture. So if you want to live in peace, you have to be like-minded, submissive to the truth and expressing joy in that truth.

God gives us a promise at the end of verse 11, “If you do this the God of love and peace will be with you.” What it means is that you will know the fullness of blessing from the God of love and peace. As the church pursues spiritual wholeness, as the church expresses joy, submission, truth and unity, the presence of God flourishes.

Do you know there are times when God does abandon His church? Look at Revelation 2:5, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” In other words, lots of things were not right. If you don't change, I will come and blow the light of your church out.

The second thing Paul sought was the affection of the church. 2 Corinthians 13:12-13 says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss, all the saints greet you." What was a holy kiss? It was common in the ancient times to greet one another with a kiss. That was a way to demonstrate affection. We love sacrificially. We love by meeting needs. We consider others more important than ourselves.

What really sets us apart as a Christian and a church is that we love one another. The love that should govern our life comes from God. God is love and He showed it by sending His only Son to live a sinless life and to take on the punishment for our sins and die for us. This is very different from selfish worldly love. Because it is so different it is also very difficult to learn and to practice. So God created the church to also teach us to practice this love. And sadly we often fall short in this matter.

And Paul knew there often was division in the church. So he wants them to demonstrate affection. Most notably this was done at the Lord's Table where sin was brought out. Once they had confessed and repented, they were restored with this kind of embrace. Verse 13 says, "All the saints greet you." Sometimes when someone has become critical of me, I will purposely embrace them to break down walls.

Verse 14 is the benediction meaning, "Solemn invocation of blessing on someone.” Paul says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Paul wanted that they would have many blessings. And he knew that if they were obedient and faithful, they would receive those blessings of God. And this is what God wants us to do here in this church.

There are some important things about this benediction. It is a Trinitarian benediction. It speaks of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that is the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. So each member of the trinity is there. And there is also an obvious equality here. Now any denial of the doctrine of the Trinity creates a false god and is a form of idolatry.

The Mormons say, "God was once as we are now and is an exalted man who became God who then created the Son and the Holy Spirit." Not true. So when the Mormons say they believe in the God of the Old Testament, they don't. When they say believe in Jesus Christ, they don't. When they say they believe in the Holy Spirit, they don't. They have created idols with the same names, but they are not the true God.

There are many places in the Bible where the trinity is demonstrated to us. Go back in Genesis 1:2, you will find God is creating, the Spirit is moving on the waters. John 1 says Christ is the Creator of everything there is. The trinity are all at work in the resurrection. There are passages in the New Testament that say Jesus raised Himself from the dead, others say the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead, others say that God the Father raised Him from the dead. Clear reading of Scripture yields that there are three personages in the Godhead who are all equal.

There are no illustrations that can help us understand this. But I don't have to understand everything I believe. There are lots of things that my brain and mind can't grasp. Paul said, it was the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that saved me and He came as a result of the love of God, the Father. And the result was that I entered into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The scheme of salvation makes the trinity very clear. God, the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit are all involved in salvation. As a pastor, I want you to know this all and experience it also. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Jun 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170611 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/uzczzy6o imblog

Acts 17:30-31

As we continue to study Acts 17 we see that Paul was very busy preaching around Athens, but only one sermon is recorded for us. We understand that the reason we are created is to know God. And that is Paul's message in Athens. And people at that time were very similar to the people here in the Rocky mountain area in that their learning was loaded with idolatry and devil worship. So with all their religion, they still didn't know God.

And so Paul reacted to this idolatry by disputing this in the synagogue with the Jews and with those Gentiles attached to Judaism and also preached in the market place daily with people who happened to be there. And verse 18 indicates there were also certain philosophers. Well, his preaching and disputing had such tremen­dous effect that he was taken before the ruling court, the Areopagus, and he was asked to give an account of what he believed.

Now there are only two kinds of people in the world. Those who know God and those who do not know God. Now, of those who know God, they know God through Jesus Christ alone for there is no other way to God except Jesus Christ. And of the people who don't know God, there are two groups. There are those who know they don't know God and there are those who don't know they don't know God.

In John 8, Jesus had a blistering dialogue with the Pharisees, and informed them that they didn't know truth and that their father was not Abraham but their father was the devil. And Jesus answered in verse 54, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me of whom you say that He is your God." In other words, you claim that God is your God but Jesus says in verse 55. "Yet you have not known Him."

In their minds they thought they knew God. But Jesus said you don't know God, but I know Him. Now, here are religious people. Yes. But do they know God? No. You can have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. You can get very emotional about God and not know Him at all. Today there many people involved in biblical studies on a scholarly level who have no actual love for the Scriptures and do not know God.

These are men and women who have advanced degrees and teach classes on the Bible at secular universities and yet do not know Christ. Entire scholarly societies exist for the purpose on critically analyzing the Bible, not for edifying God’s people but for tearing down the text and encouraging unbelief. Jude 1:4 says, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In Romans 2, the Jews boasted that they knew God. In Romans 2:17-18, Paul says, “Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, 18 and know His will.” They claimed to approve of excellent things, to be students of the law, to be guides of the blind, lights to those in darkness, instructors of the foolish. Paul says alright if that's true, verse 21, “You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?”

You sure don't act like it. Verse 21-24, “Giving out information that a man should not steal, do you steal? You say that a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhors idols, do you rob temples. 23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

But that's the way it is with many people. They don't know that they don't know God. And it is very important that they realize that. In Titus 1:16 Paul is describing the Cretan Jews to Titus, the first pastor in the island of Crete, as he was having a lot of trouble with the Jews there, “They profess that that they know God, but in works they deny Him being abominable, disobedient and disqualified for every good work.”

They have the trappings of religion but they don't know God. And this is the pattern today predominantly, even in Christians. What is it that would make somebody think they knew God if they didn't? Many people know a few things about God and they know a little bit of the Bible and they have some knowledge about the church. And so they equate that with knowing God. It's one thing to know about God; it's something else to really know Him.

There is another reason that people think they know God; they have religious feelings. Have you heard it said: well, I'm very religious. So they sort of sprinkle their regular worldly activity with a little bit of religious salt. They get spiritual goose-pimples just thinking about God. They emotionally react to religion. And they assume that is the knowledge of God.

Now, the third thing that confuses people is they go to church. And they think that going to church automatically is knowing God. In fact, they may put something in the offering. And then they might even close their eyes when somebody prays or reads from the Bible. And they may sing a song. People think they know God because they do things that Christians are supposed to do. They help people and they give to charity.

Some people think they know God somewhat because they at times read the Bible. And they feel that if they know a little bit about the Bible and that's equal to knowing God. You know, whenever Satan could use it for his advantage, he quoted Scripture. That doesn't prove anything. And you know, this is true today of Israel, of Jehovah witnesses and every other cult that comes along. And it is true of all kinds of liberal factions within Christianity.

And as we witness we have to realize that everybody falls into one of these groups. The religious people who think they know God and don't. And the non-reli­gious people who don't know God and know they don't. And so Paul says you don't know God and you have admitted it, so let me introduce Him to you. Now, we have used this three point outline. Getting to know God involves recognizing that God exists, recognizing who God is, and recognizing what God is saying.

First of all, they were not atheists. They believed in gods. But they needed to recognize that there is a God up there that they didn't know. So, first they must recognize that that God exists. In Mark 12:34 Jesus says, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." Why? Because the man said in verse 32, "There is one God and there is none other but He." That man believed that God exists and that there is no other God.

Step two is recognizing who God is. Paul explains that in Acts 17: 24, “God made the world and all things in it." He is the God who creates. And we have discussed an abundance of passages in the previous sermons from Isaiah 45 that indicate that God is the creator God. The second thing that Paul says about God is that He is the ruler. Verse 24. "Seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth." God rules the universe. He not only made it, He continues to uphold it and to rule it.

The third thing Paul says about this God is that He is the giver. Acts 17:25 says, “He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” God is the ruler of the universe, who occupies the heaven and the earth. So you don't worship God as a statue. In realty He indwells us if we believe. And don't ever think that something you do will really help God. No, we are the ones who need help.

And God is the con­troller. Verse 26, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” God controls men’s destiny and history. This God made everything and keeps it all hanging together. Psalm 31:15 says, "My times are in Your hands." God is operating in history.

And God is also the revealer. Acts 17:27, “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” Do you know why God created, upholds and controls history and destiny through what we call providence? In order that He might reveal Himself. God sustains the universe through providence for one reason only, so that men may see God.

God's objective is that men might see that revela­tion and follow it and finally know Him fully. God disclosed Himself in all these ways so that men might see who He is that they might follow what He is saying. The natural revelation of conscience and the natural revelation of creation are there that men may seek after God. And there is no excuse for those don't, because the revelation is so dominant.

And remember, He is not far from every one of us. And every man has enough of the revelation of God to be responsible. You see, what the earth is, is God on exhibit. It is idiotic to wander through the world and think, "I wonder if anybody created this." So what happened? Well, man sees the light but he loves his sin more than he loves righteousness. He loves darkness more than he loves light. And he does it because God says, "Their deeds are evil.”

All nations, all men on the face of the earth have the same opportunity to see God. For God is in and around every man. God is the revealer but men have not accepted His revelation. For a long time I wondered if people in parts of the world who had never heard of the gospel, would be held responsible. But then I learned that God does not hold men responsible for what they do not know. But the truth is that God reveals it to every person. And God is not far from any.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You shall seek Me and find when you shall search for Me with all your heart.” Psalm 145:18-19 says, “The Lord is near to all those who call upon Him in truth. ¹⁸ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. He will hear their cry and will save them.” Oh, that is so important. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life.”

Acts 17: 28 says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.” Paul is quoting here two Greek poets who were talking about Zeus. Paul is saying: your own poets in the ignorance of the true God have given us living proof that God is knowable. Even though they attach it to the wrong god, it is obvious to them that there is a God.

Your own poets recognize there must be a God. Paul says you've got to know who God is and know what God is saying. And they never did. There are a lot of people like that. They believe God is the Creator, and the Sustainer. But they don't know God; they just have the wrong god. Verse 29, “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.”

If God made us and we are His offspring, that would mean we are created beings, then God must be more than something we made. God cannot be stone or silver or gold in some kind of artistic representation. If you really want to know God, don't look at some idol and don't go to some shrine. If you want to know God, have a personal relationship with God. And that will bring you to step three: Learn and know what God is saying.

There are the people who know God exists, and who know who God is but they don't know what God is saying. Verses 30-31, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Notice the word ignorance. God is not going to overlook it any more, He commands all men everywhere to repent. The word ‘overlook’ means that God does not actively interfere with special judgment. God dealt with them as in the Old Testament times according to the light they had. There were of course consequences. The wages of sin is death. Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

So Paul is saying God was allowing them to live up to the light they had and accepting Him on that basis. In Romans 1:18 Paul says, "The wrath of God is revealed against all unright­eousness and all ungodliness of men." It doesn't matter if they are pagans. Of course, wrath operates, of course there are consequences. But God will not actively interfere in the life of the nations with special judgment.

Romans 2:13-15 says, “For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience.” The principle is to whom much is given much shall be required.

Notice a powerful transition. “But now God commands all men everywhere to repent.” There is a difference between now and the past. Verse 31, “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Nobody can ever be saved since the cross except by believing in Jesus Christ.

God guaranteed Jesus would be judge in that He raised Him from the dead. And that resurrection was God's approval of Christ. Those were the credentials of Jesus Christ as judge. Acts 17:32-34, “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter. 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.”

Paul separated the group right out. See, to believe God exists, to believe who God is, causes you to hear and do what God is saying. Remember Matthew 11:27, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” The only people who know God are the ones that know Christ. Do you? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Jun 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170604 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/b4ldgjw3 imblog

Acts 17:25-29

We are progressing through Acts 17 in our study and we find Paul al alone in Athens. He is overwhelmed by the idolatry of the city. They wor­shipped thousands of gods. And their gods are the great masterpieces of art and so, this city is tremendously cultured, but at the same time, greatly idolatrous.

Now, when we think about idolatry, we might think about a statue in a Hindu temple. Or maybe dances by the priests of Baal around the altar of Elijah. But Greek idolatry in Athens at this time was sophisticated and cultured. They were the philosophical and the intellectual class of the world. It was a sophisticated and complicated kind of thing.

And we have to recognize today that in America, as in all parts of the world, we are also victims of idolatry. In the truest sense, you only choose which god you are going to worship. Everybody bows down some­where. Even the atheist bows down to himself, which is the most extreme kind of idolatry. Everything apart from God is idolatry.

Billy Graham asked a student at the University of North Carolina if he believed in God, and he said "yes, I have my own private god." And we see this all the time around us. We still bow down to those deities. Let me name a few. One is humanism. That mankind can solve their own problems. You know, this is the time when science was exploding and we thought we were really able to conquer all of these worldly problems.

The second deity that everybody worships is materialism. The panic of the energy crisis is that somebody is whittling away our materialism. And we're not going to be able to get all the extras we want. And life may reduce itself down to the dull, boring basics. And we won't be able to entertain ourselves. And so, little by little somebody is whacking away at, our little gods of humanism and materialism.

The third god that our society worships is sex. Everything from advertising to zoos is propagated through sex. Whether it is cars or deodorant or toothpaste or films and books now use that same language. Like Billy Graham said, “they rival the drippings of a broken sewer." People now are beginning to go back to old things, they are actually worshipping the occult. And some people even have physical idols that they worship now.

Western man with all of his culture, with all of his information, with all of his scientific knowledge is in the same satanic trap that governs the life of an individual somewhere in the middle of nowhere who's bowing down to a rock. Everybody bows at something. Idolatry is worshipping anything but God Himself. And it comes in all kinds of packages.

And the reason is that God created every human being to know Him. That's clear in Scripture. Not to know God means that you are totally dis­connected from the purpose and significance of your life. And you may bow down to your little deities but you will never experience any ultimate satisfaction. As Augustine said "you've got a God-shaped vacuum that only He can fill.”

And so it's a tremendously frustrated world. And of course people are addicted to drugs and alcohol and they are killing themselves at a rate like never in history. And the reason is because they cannot cope with the fact that they have a multiple of things they bow down to that give no satisfaction.

Now, this was the same problem in Athens as we study Acts 17. With all their gods they had no satisfaction so they were open to a god they did not know, yet who could satisfy them. Because until mankind knows the true God, he knows no peace. He knows no satisfaction in the truest sense. Adam and Eve in the beginning were in the Garden of Eden together with and they were satisfied.

But once they fell, God separated Himself from them. And they lost the knowledge of God. And since that time men come into this world without knowing God. But even in a world where there is no true knowledge of God, there is still a little knowledge in our conscience and creation. In other words, God has planted within us the knowledge of Himself in our conscience and in the world that He has made.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 says, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; ²⁴ But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.” Now, in this life you might be smart, strong and rich, but you are nothing unless you know God.

In Exodus 20:3 God said, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Is that just because God is selfish? No. The main point is that it is a vio­lation of His creation. Verse 4-5, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.”

God does not tolerate rivals. You were made to know Me. Jealousy is not always evil. God said in Exodus 34:14, “You shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” You say, God, why are You so concerned about that? There aren't any rivals. Oh, yes, there are. God in effect says that every person was formed by God in the womb. It was not an evolutionary process. So God has a right to be jealous.

But there are two kinds of jealousy. One kind of jealousy is, “I want what you have and because you have an idol, I hate you.” That is covetousness gone wild. But there's another kind of jealousy that says you are mine and I love you and I don't want anybody to take you from me. Now, that is pure virtue. Married persons who feel no jealousy at the intrusion of another lover into their home would surely be lacking in moral perception. For the exclusiveness of marriage is the essence of marriage.

1 Corinthians 10:22 says, “Are you going to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?" That implies if you provoke the Lord to jealousy, He's going to do something. He has created man in His own image. And man cannot know his meaning until he knows God. And God will move to protect His own and He will punish an intruder.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 says, “The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God.” So ultimately it's disastrous not to know God. It's a matter of spending eternity in hell. Can everybody know God? Yes, Romans 1:20 says that there is enough knowledge of God available in you and around you so that you are without excuse.

Paul would like to declare God to the people of Athens. Circum­stances may come and go, but the knowledge of God remains. Think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who answered the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, if we're going in that furnace, our God may deliver us, but if not, we still won't bow. Why? They knew they had the right God. They feared nothing. Now, that confidence and satisfaction comes to the life of one who knows the Lord. And no substitute can bring that.

Paul says there are three things necessary. One, recognize that there is a God. Two, recognize who God is. Three, understand what God is saying. They didn't know who He is and they didn't know what He was saying, but they at least believed He was there. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

The fool is the guy who denies God is. Some of them are atheists. Atheism is like a cactus sitting in the desert telling another cactus that there is no ocean. But there are those who like to do what they want to do and they don't want any judg­ment, so they get rid of God, so they can live easier. Then there is the agnostic who doesn't believe there is a God. Then, there is evolution which says, there may be a cosmic intelligence, but God has never manifested Himself. Everything is an accident.

Then, there is the polytheist who believes there are many gods. That is what is being propagated in America today. There are books about the spirit world written by demons, which tell us about all the hierarchy of the many gods and the prince of Venus and this ruler over here and this ruler over here. Many people believe there are many spirit beings, but those are not gods, they are only demons.

And then there are many people that are being dominated by this Eastern meditation. They are trying to get everybody to get to a higher level of consciousness. Transcendental meditation. They want the whole world to believe that meditation is what you need and that Christians are the problem. And so after the rapture, they are going to rule during the tribulation period. And everybody now is a god.

And then there is pantheism, which is a different kind of atheism. This says everything is God and if everything is God, then God isn't anything. Another view is deism. That says that there is a God somewhere and He made the universe. But after He created it, He went away and let it run down and He is totally uninvolved. All those are forms of the denial of the true God.

The greatest testimony to God is right here in the Bible. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” Deuteronomy 4:35 says, “To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.” Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images.”

Back to Acts 17, in knowing the unknown God we must believe that there is a God. Secondly, we must believe who God is. Paul tells them who God is in verse 24, "God who made the world and everything in it.” Think about God's creative power. Look at Job 26:6-7, “Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction has no covering. ⁷ He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.”

First of all, He created everything out of nothing. Isaiah 44:24 says, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by Myself.” He created the universe by projecting His own thought into existence. Psalm 148:5 says "for He commanded and they were created".

And God never gets tired. Isaiah 40:28, “The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.” And He is just as active now upholding what He made. That's the second point. He's not only Creator; God is the ruler. He holds it all together. Remember Hebrews 1:3, “He upholds all things by the word of His power.”

We launch men in these rockets and fly them around in space for many days and then they come back and they land where we expect. Why? Because the universe and the physical laws are constant. Imagine if all the laws were diminishing, and the world was decaying and God wasn't holding it together. We couldn't calculate anything.

Third thing, God is the giver. Look at Acts 17:25, “Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” Job 22:2 says, "Can a man be profitable unto God?" God is as good as He could possibly be. The pagans didn't understand this. They were always bringing food and were thinking that gods needed it. The Hindus still do that today.

Psalm 50:10-11 states, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹ I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.” Do you think God needs you to bring an offering of food and put it before some altar? God does not need our food. We all need God, because it is God, who gives to all life and breath and all things.

Romans 11:36, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.” James 1:17 says, “Every good and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” 1 Timothy 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” Whatever we have comes from God.

Fourthly, God is the controller. Acts 17:26, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” Every nation is ordained by God. And God even determined the times and the boundaries of their habitation. That means that God is controlling history and destiny of men and nation.

You couldn't see what is happening in the USA, Israel, Russia and Syria without believing God is controlling history. History is His story. God has appointed the his­torical times when certain nations exist. History is on schedule and God is running it and it's going to culminate in the coming of Jesus Christ.

The fifth thing, God reveals all. I think about God and then I stop somewhere but the thing that amazes me most is that He lives in me. How do you get to know God? John 14:6 says, "No one comes to the Father except through Me." Christ is the one who introduces you to God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 May 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170528 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/cirpo33s imblog

Acts 17:22-24

We always look at the Word of God here because we believe that it is authoritative. We believe that it was written by God Himself. And it reveals His truth. Paul is on his second missionary journey. He founded churches in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea, which are all cities in Greece. He has been chased out of every one of them. He has left Luke, Silas and Timothy behind to care for those churches and he stands alone in the city of Athens.

And Paul preaches a sermon based on "getting to know the unknown God." Christianity somehow has drifted away from an intense understanding of God. We have "Jesus Movements”, but they end up in a sentimental humanism. And we have "Holy Spirit Movements", but they end up in emotionalism. Jesus came to introduce us to God. And the Church desperately needs to get the right perspective on God.

Knowledge of God is the key to everything. What were you made for? You were made that you might know God. God wanted creatures who would acknowledge Him. And so He made you to know Him to give Him glory. If you don't know Him then you are a blemish on His glory. And yet we see many men who refuse to give Him glory.

Do you know what eternal life is? Eternal life is not a quantity of life. We sometimes think of eternal life as the concept of life that is going-on-forever. No. Eternal life is not a length of life. Eternal life is a different kind of life. Listen to John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God.” So eternal life is the kind of life that knows God.

The reason Jesus died was to give you the knowledge of God that was lost in sin. Remember when Adam was created, he knew God, right? He walked and talked with God in the cool of day in the garden. But immediately when Adam sinned he was blinded to God and cut off from God's presence. And that presence is only restored in Christ, who said "I am the way and the Truth." He meant the truth about God.

If I were to ask these questions: What is the best thing in life? What brings me the most joy? What brings me the most delight? And what gives me the most contentment? The answer would be: knowing God. And more than that, knowing that He never leaves me. That is why man's original state is restored in Christ. That is eternal life.

Listen to Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; ²⁴ But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,”

Acts 17:23 tells us the characterization of modern day man. What do so-called smart people glory in? They glory in their own intelligence. And what do strong people glory in? Their strength. And what do rich people glory in? Their money. But God says don't glory in any of that, because that all will fade away. Verse 24 says, let him that glories, glory in understanding and knowing Me. God is the source of everything we ever need.

What pleases God most? Listen to Hosea 6:6, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” God says, your religion doesn't do a thing for Me. I want you to know Me. God wants a personal relationship with you. God created man initially to know Him, but sin entered and turned out the lights.

Romans 1:18 describes it, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in ungodliness.” Every person in this world has resident truth about God available to him. Romans 1:19 says, “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” It is instinctive for men. Children have no problem believing in God. That concept is planted in them from the beginning. Only later men begin to rebel against God.

Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Look at the world and examine the creation, you see the amazing macrocosm, the giant world of stars, and the microcosm, the minute world you can only see with a microscope, and you say "there has to be a God who made this."

So God is knowable, His deeds are in me and around me. Now, if we fail to recognize that, verse 20 says, “we are without excuse." Verse 21, “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Instead of acknowledging God, they turned against God, became vain in their thoughts and thus became foolish.

They thought they were smart, verse 22, but in fact they are stupid. They changed the glory of an incorruptible God, into a man-made image. They started worshipping statues and beasts and ideals. And then verse 24, "God also gave them up." God let them go. If that's the way you want to go, God lets them go. Now you see, that was the terrible plight of all men, and every person is in the same state.

Well, Paul arrives in Athens there in Acts 17 and he is nose to nose with a bunch of heathens who don't know God. And the Athenians were cultured heathens just like we have today. He saw the city full of idols, we now see the internet full of earthly desires. And then it stirred him emotionally when he saw the glory of God not really going to God. Verse 17, there­fore he preached and he reasoned.

No matter how many gods a man has, no matter how much religion he has, if he never gets to the true God then he never knows satisfaction. In Athens they had thousands of gods and in the mists of all of that they had statues to unknown gods. That shows the ultimate agony of idola­try. No matter what a man fills his heart with, there will be no fit until he knows the true God.

Now in order to know the unknown God, you've got to know three things. Number one, recognizing that there is a God. Number two, recog­nizing who God is. Number three, recognizing what God is saying. Ultimately, knowing God means that you believe that there is a God, that you understand who He is, and that you understand what He requires.

Hebrew 11:6 says, “He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” I can't prove that God is real to you. I can sure give you a lot of evidence, but God is not provable in an empirical sense. That's why it says, “He who comes to God must believe that He is.” It's a question of faith. John 1:18 says, "Nobody has ever seen God at any time.” But His deeds are everywhere.

The bible explains why there are atheists. Psalms 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.” Verse 3-4, “They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one. 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the Lord?

Why do people buy atheistic philosophy? Because they want to eliminate the ulti­mate judgment on their sinfulness, consequently they elimi­nate God. Psalms 10:11,13 says, “He has said in his heart, “God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see.” Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, “You will not require an account.”

And can you imagine believing that there is no God. That is believing that everything in this universe came by accident from nothing. People say, "Oh, you Christians, you live by faith." Well, if you don't believe in God, tell me what you believe. Let me just give you two reasons that the Bible uses. One, is law of cause and effect. I believe there is a God because I see these things in the world and I wonder where they came from. No effect can ever come about without a cause.

And when you talk to the evolutionist he says, well, once there was a puddle. And inside the puddle was a one celled thing and that one celled thing decided let's be two and then they were two and then those two said let's be four. See, and here we are. Now you say, that's real good, but where did the puddle come from? How can you have a puddle in nothing from nothing? That just doesn't make sense.

Hebrews 3:4 says this, "For every house is built by some man but he that built all is God." Can you imagine seeing a new home and somebody says, “One day we had a lumberyard deliver a whole pile of lumber and we set a stick of dynamite and blew it up and it all landed like this." You would say the guy is an idiot. Well, then how can the evolutionist say that's how the whole universe came into being? The first cause is God. How could you ever have anything without a first cause?

There is another reason the Bible says that it's logi­cal to believe that there is a God. And that is the law of intelligent design. The world is absolutely intricate, and the design is so astounding. The big argument we have in evolution is how do we ever get as complex a being as a human out of a puddle? How do you get intelligence from non-intelligence? How do you get moral judgment from a non-moral?

What's the difference between a horse and a man? Or a monkey and a man? It is moral and ethical judgment. Wisdom. The thinking processes. How do you get those things? Listen to Psalms 94:9-10, “He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? ¹⁰ He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge?”

In other words, intelligence comes from intelligence. One who creates hearing has to hear. One who creates sight has to see. One who makes moral judgments has to be a moral being. There was this skeptic, who didn't believe in God. Then he discovered the design and creation of the world and it shattered his belief. In essence he wrote, God geometrizes. The key to the universe was unlocked when he saw the intricate design of a flower, there is order in the universe and it speaks of a God.

And Athens was full of people who were practical atheists. The Epicu­reans, they believed that pleasure was the highest good, didn't believe in God. And so here Paul is about to present the true God. Verse 23 says, “or as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.

Galatians 4:8 says, “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.” But Paul says right there, you didn't use to know Him but now you can know the true God. I Chronicles 28:9 says, “Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”

Secondly, He must believe or recognize who God is. First of all, Paul says God is the Creator. Verse 24 says, I want you to meet the unknown God. He is God who made the world and all things. And so Paul just shot down the Epicurean and Stoic philosophies with his first statement about who God is.

God created everything that there is, and the Bible defends that. Listen to Psalms 146:5-6, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, ⁶ Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever.” Isaiah 40:12 says, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

Verse 28, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.” Who made it all? God made it all. Isaiah 45:18 says, “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

Here is an evolutionist's belief. One: no supernatural power created. Two: all creation is a matter of chance. Three: living matter comes from no matter. Four: intelligence and moral judgment appears with no source. Add it all to­gether and you have this equation--nobody times nothing equals everything. Then the law of thermodynamics, would find proofs that the very opposite of evolution is true. Everything is going down not up.

So Paul says to meet God, who is the Creator. Verse 24. "Of heaven and earth." Genesis 14:19 says, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.” God didn't only make it, He owns it and He rules it. He is Lord. Listen to Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.”

Meet God, the Creator and Ruler. If you will accept God’s Word this evening as the truth, God will give you real rest. Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” You've got to know who God is, but you will only know Him personally through Christ. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 14 May 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170514 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/b5jbu726 imblog

Acts 17:16-34

Paul was a man who brought to a great city exactly what that city needed. His message to Athens 2,000 years ago is relevant today for every city on the planet. First of all, he was a Jew. He was expert in the law and in tradition. He knew and observed very carefully the rituals of Judaism. He was a Pharisee, which meant that he took the matters of religion very seriously. And he was a teacher and a strong leader.

He was also a Roman citizen. He was skilled in secular matters, as he was skilled in religious ones. He was knowledgeable about politics, the military and even athletics. He was mentored by the greatest of Jewish scholars, a man named Gamaliel. He grew up in the Greek culture and philosophy in his hometown of Tarsus. And he possessed a brilliant intellect and a single-minded commitment to causes he believed in.

He had immense integrity. Had an amazing ability to write with clarity, and to speak in the same way. He demonstrated fearless courage, even in the face of death. He was well read and was well traveled. And he had been chosen, personally, by the resurrected Jesus Christ to be one of His official representatives to proclaim the Gospel of the cross and the resurrection.

He came one day to the most celebrated city in the ancient world, the city of Athens. At that time, it was the center of literature, art, and philosophy of the world. It was also the religious and political center of the world. It was the city of ideas. And, although in the first century Athens was under Roman rule, it was still intellectual independent.

And at the very heart of the city, was the focal point called the Acropolis. And there was a collection of sculptures of many deities and philosophers. It was the city of Socrates and Plato. It was the adopted home of Aristotle, Epicurus and Zeno. And some historians tell us that the literature and the sculpture of Athens never will be equaled in the world's history. It was in every sense, the epitome in the world of human achievement at that time.

And to that great city came Paul, alone, hated and pursued. He was on the run, from those who wanted to take his life. But the city had an immediate impact upon him, which led to his impact on the city. Let us continue in Acts 17. It records the story of the spread of the Gospel of the resurrection. The predominant figure in the first half of Acts is Peter. The predominant figure in the second half of Acts is Paul.

Both of them, eyewitnesses of the risen Christ who were given the responsibility to preach the resurrection. In his preaching, Paul finds himself in Athens. Verse 16, “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.” Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy, to join him. Paul visits the city and what he sees are the souls of the people.

He wasn’t wowed by the marble and the gold. But the widespread religion of that city moved his emotions in a very negative way. Any man of God who looks at a city and sees the soul of that city given over to idols, sees the emptiness of false religion, and is grieved. Verse 17 says, “Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.” And we know that he always presented Christ.

The reaction would come rather quickly, in verse 18, “Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” "Idle babbler," means insignificant seed picker. They mocked and disdained him. He was like an uneducated seed picker trying to pass off cheap philosophical ideas, as if they were legitimate. That sounds like the typical reaction to preachers of the Gospel today by philosophers and university professors.

Some thought a little better of him. Verse 18 continues, "Others said, 'He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.'" Obviously, the Epicureans and the Stoics hated him, because he said, that God was who He was, and that God was incarnate in only one man. And he also at the end of verse 18, preached Jesus as God in human flesh and that He died and rose again.

And here Paul preached exactly the message that that city needed to hear. They needed to hear the message of the resurrection. They needed to know that eternal life comes only through Christ. They needed to understand that God became a man. And that man is Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life, and died a substitutionary death. He paid the penalty for your sins and mine. He rose from the dead that He provides for us eternal life.

Well, there was a process to follow if you want to announce a new deity and discuss a new philosophy. Verse 19, “And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?” The Areopagus is today called Mars Hill, not far from the great Parthenon where the supreme court of Athens convenes. The Epicureans and the Stoics also listened.

But there are others who are curious about what he is saying. And the reason for that is given in verse 21, “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” What they had experienced brought no satisfaction, and no ultimate answers. They had all these gods and all these religions and still empty hearts. And so they were open to new things.

So Paul was there with the elite of the city, the philosophers, the leaders, the judges, the authorities, and they all want to know what he believes. He basically gives them a three-point sermon. I am here to introduce you to the one true, living God. Point one: This God is knowable. The agony of an agnostic is that you will never know. Verse 22, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious.”

Then he says to them in verse 23, “for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.” You worship in ignorance. “Let me introduce you to the one true God.”

Even Albert Einstein is quoted to have said, when he was asked if there is a Creator. "Of course there is a cosmic power. Not to believe that is foolish, but we can never know Him." But Einstein was wrong here. God is not the unknown god. God is knowable, and Paul says: I am going to introduce Him to you.

Second point, God is the Eternal Spirit. And Paul defines the character of God in verses 24 to 29, “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.”

Paul introduces the true God to them as the Creator. They believed that God was matter but Paul says, "Matter is not eternal, and you are not God. God is God, and He made everything that exists, including you. God is the God of Creation. God is the God of time and matter." God is not, as the Mormons say, a perfected man who was once a creature just like us and kept getting better until he finally became God. No, God is the Creator.

Secondly, he says, "God is the owner of everything He created. He is Lord of Heaven and earth. He is the Lord of everything." Thirdly, he says, "God, who is the Creator and is the owner of all His creation, does not dwell in temples made with human hands." That is, He is transcendent. He is beyond the bounds of the physical. He is that Eternal Spirit. God is not the God you made with human hands. God made you. He is the Creator.

That is why the Second Commandment in the Ten Commandment says, "Make no graven image." Do not diminish God and confine God to some form. Psalm 139 says God is everywhere, “7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”

Paul says, "He is also the giver and sustainer of life. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things." He is the almighty sustainer. Romans 11:35-36 asks, “Who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?” 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.”

And then Paul says in verse 26, God is in charge of everything. He made from Adam every nation. Out of Adam came Eve. Out of that couple came all of humanity down to Noah and his family at the flood. And then out of them the rest of humanity. And it was God who determined their appointed times, and God who determined the boundaries of their habitation. It was God who decided their place in history and their place on the map.

And this hits right at the Athenians' pride, because they viewed themselves as self-made people. They viewed themselves as being unique, and they despised the uncultured and illiterate barbarians, as others were called. But they had not created themselves. They were what they were because of God. God had appointed them as a nation. God had appointed them at that place at that time of history. God is sovereign over history.

And then in verse 27 and 28, Paul said, "God is immanent." This doctrine means, "That all of these nations that God has identified, should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, because He is not far from each one of us." Yes, He is outside time and space, but, at the same time that He is also immanent. That is, He is not far from each one of us, you can know Him.

In fact, verse 28 says, "In Him we live and move and exist." He holds us together. The universe doesn't operate just at random. It operates on fixed laws because God is the operator. God is not far from each of us. So he is telling them, you have been looking all your lives for the God who satisfies your heart. The God you can know. And yet He is near to every one of us.

And then Paul adds in verse 28, "As some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His offspring.'" He is referring to Epimenides and Aradus, who had both written about the fact that there was a God who had created man, and that God would have to be known personally. So Paul says, "Some of you have looked at Creation and made the right conclusion.” There is a God who made it all, and we are in some small way like Him.

Then he makes his third point, God has spoken. The information in points one and two is enough to damn you, but not enough to save you. Natural revelation, is just enough to damn you. You need special, specific revelation to save you. Verse 30-31, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

God has been very patient throughout human history since the flood, when He destroyed the whole world. And here we are, 4500 years later, and He still hasn't destroyed the world since the flood. So he is says, “But God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent. It's time to repent from your sin and your idolatry. It's time to turn to the true God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ."

Why? Because, God has appointed a day. Hundred and twenty years before the flood, God came to Noah, and said, "I'm going to drown the whole world 120 years from now." And God appointed a day. One week before the flood came, He said, "Get in the boat. I'm going to shut the door, because in seven days the flood will come." Well, God has fixed another day. "He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world."

This time, by fire and judgment, He will judge it justly and rightly. He will judge sin as it should be judged. And He not only fixed a day, He has chosen a man whom He has appointed. Who is the judge? He chose a man, and He furnished proof to all men of that judgment by raising Him from the dead.

Do you understand God raised Jesus on the one hand to be our Savior, but also on the other hand to be our judge? It's amazing they didn't persecute him. What happened? Paul must have described the resurrection of the dead that will occur at the judgment, when all the dead of all the ages will be brought before God and Christ will judge them according to their deeds.

Verse 32, “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” The first group mocked while there were others who wanted to know more. Verse 33-34, “So Paul departed from among them. 34. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.”

So what is your response? Are you going to mock the resurrection? Maybe your reaction is to say, "I'd like to hear more about this some other time." Do you know that postponement is the same as rejection? And because only God knows what will happen tomorrow, God says the time is now to decide. We can only hope and pray that your reaction is to believe, to repent and to embrace Christ as your Savior, so He will not be your judge. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 May 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170507 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/jgfpzua6 imblog

John 20:1-18

When I was in college, over 45 years ago, the arguments were more prominent than they are today about whether Jesus rose historically and bodily from the dead. There was widespread consensus among believers generally in America that deciding about that claim really mattered. You took a stand, you believed in the resurrection, or you didn’t. And if you did, you believed the rest of the Bible and you are a Christian.

Today that question, “Did Jesus really rise from the dead historically, bodily?” is not as prominent or as intense because people feel that it doesn’t matter to them, because different people believe in different things. I may or may not call myself a Christian, and if the resurrection seems helpful to me, I may believe it; and if it doesn’t, then I won’t, and I don’t think anybody should tell me that I have to choose.

In my college days the assumption pretty much was that there are fixed, closed natural laws, that make the world understandable and scientifically manageable. And these laws do not allow the truth of the claim that someone has risen from the dead to live forever. The modern world with its scientific understanding of natural laws does not allow for resurrections.

But today the assumption is not that there are natural laws outside of me forbidding the resurrection of Jesus, but there is a personal law inside of me that says: I don’t have to adapt my life to anything I don’t find helpful. In other words: Truth for me is what I find acceptable and helpful.

What really Matters? Now with that inner law in place, it doesn’t matter whether Jesus rose from the dead, because, my issue is: Do I need to care? Do I find that idea helpful? Do I feel that it helps me flourish as a human being? And if it seems like it doesn’t, then I will just view it the way I view UFO’s and possible life in some distant galaxy. If it helps you, that’s fine; but don’t press it on me.

Some of you think that way without even knowing that is the way you think. You have simply absorbed it from this culture, since that way of thinking is woven into most internet and television shows and advertising and movies and today’s educational curricula. You have created your own god that will accommodate all that you want.

What we need to do is to raise the level of everyone’s awareness of how we view the realities that are coming at us every day. And my hope is that when we examine the resurrection of Jesus, you will not so easily be carried along by the assumptions from 45 years ago or the post-modern assumptions of today, but may with God’s help have a true concern for what really matters to you.

Paul in Athens. Let me begin with a sermon that the apostle Paul preached to philosophy-lovers in Athens about 20 years after the resurrection of Jesus. It is found in Acts 17:30-31, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

At that point in the sermon, his listeners cut him off and mocked him because of the claim that Jesus was raised from the dead. This in itself is very significant because it means the amazing spread of Christianity in the early years did happen in a world that did not believe that resurrections were possible.

It will matter to you. Notice what Paul said: God commands the whole world to repent, because we have all sinned against Him, that is, we are de facto idolaters. This repentance is urgent because God is going to judge the world in perfect righteousness. And He is going to do it by Jesus Christ, the judge of every human being who will stand before the living God-man, Jesus. None of our excuses will work in that court. We will all be guilty unless we have trusted Christ as our Savior and Lord.

This word of God through the apostle Paul is flying full force into the face of the contemporary assumption that even if Christ rose from the dead, it doesn’t matter to me. Paul is saying: It will matter to you whether you find it helpful or not. God’s judgment of the world by Jesus Christ is like death, it is coming, and saying it doesn’t concern you, is like closing your eyes and saying there is no light.

The last thing Paul says in his sermon in Athens is: “This God has given assurance (or evidence or proof) to all by raising Jesus from the dead.” In other words, the resurrection of Jesus is designed by God to be a global warning or assurance that repentance is necessary for everyone.

Resurrection known through Witnesses. God always intended for the resurrection to be known and believed through human witnesses. This doesn’t rule out the work of His Spirit in opening our eyes. There were no video recordings or photographs. When it happened, God saw to it that there were witnesses, and that Jesus appeared to witnesses in enough settings that they were fully convinced of His reality and could tell others.

When Paul says, “God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.” What Paul meant was that the testimony of those who saw Him will spread through the whole world and be a valid assurance that this really happened.

The way God designed so that we know. Another eyewitness, the apostle Peter in a sermon preached about 8 or 10 years after the resurrection of Jesus said in Acts 10:40-41, “God raised [Jesus] on the third day and made Him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.”

In other words, God’s intentional design was not for the risen Christ to be seen by everyone, and not even in the day when it happened. And not today, as much as we might wish we could! His intentional design is: Jesus appeared repeatedly and with many proofs (Acts 1:3) to a limited group of people whose job it was to bear witness in what they said and what they wrote so that everyone who hears or reads this witness will be able know the assurance that God provides for the world about the resurrection of his Son.

That is what we have in John 20, John’s eyewitness account of the resurrection appearances of Jesus. That’s what we have in Matthew 28, Matthew’s eyewitness account; Luke 24, Luke was not an eyewitness but lived and traveled with Paul who was, and he talked to many others (Luke 1:2); Mark 16, as we hear Mark describe Peter’s eyewitness testimony, as well as his own.

John, a witness. Look at John 19:35 in the middle of Jesus’ crucifixion, John breaks off and says, “And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.” This is what Paul meant: The world can know what happened in those last hours because there were witnesses, and they give testimony and there are ways to test the truth of the testimony of witnesses.

Look at John 21:24, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.” This is not hearsay. And his testimony can be checked out with other testimonies in the New Testament. So let him explain what he witnessed and judge for yourselves if these things are true.

“They have taken the Lord.” Look at John 20:1–2, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Mary did not believe the resurrection had happened. She assumed His body was moved. This is another evidence how slow the disciples, including the women, were to believe Jesus had been raised. These were not easily excitable, gullible people, who quickly believed what other told them.

Peter and John at the Tomb. John 20: 3–5 says, “Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple (John), and were going to the tomb. 4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. 5 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there.” This is what Jesus’ body had been wrapped in when they buried him (John 19:40).

Verses 6–7: “Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.” What does John want us to learn about the resurrection from this?

1. Risen bodily, not just spiritually. Some look at the resurrection as a symbol of Jesus’ ongoing influence or his spirit alive in the world. That is not John’s point. The body was not there. He had risen bodily. In fact, one of the most striking historical facts is that the enemies of Jesus in those first weeks and months in Jerusalem could not produce the body. There was no dead body, because Jesus was raised bodily.

2. Like the body that died, but not exactly. Second, this body was not exactly like the body that died, and yet it was like the body that died. There is continuity and discontinuity. This is important because the resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament is viewed as the first fruits of the harvest of the resurrection of all Christians. 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 says, “even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 but each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”

The point of saying the linen cloths were there, is probably to show how this resurrection was different from Lazarus’ resurrection. Do you recall John 11 where Jesus raised Lazarus after he had been dead four days? In John 11:44 it says, “The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Different from Lazarus. People had to help Lazarus out of the linen strips and face covering because he had a mortal body. He would die again. After the resurrection, Jesus had an immortal body. He would never die again. Romans 6:9 says, “We know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again.” Jesus’ body is different. He passed through those grave clothes the way he passed through doors. John 20:19, 26 says, “the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

But at that very moment of entering the room like no ordinary body can, he says to doubting Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27). This was a physical body that you could recognize and touch. And Luke tells us Jesus ate fish after He had risen (Luke 24:43).

Why It Matters. Remember, those who are in Christ, who believe in Him, and belong to Him, and receive forgiveness from Him, will be raised like Him. Paul says in Philippians 3:21 that Jesus “will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” This is not another life on another galaxy. This will happen when God judges the world by Jesus Christ.

Here’s the issue: Do you see? In John 20:8 it says, “Then the other disciple [John], who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed.” What did he see? What did he believe? Jesus wasn’t there, just some cloths that He left behind. Compare this to Mary in John 20:18: She has met Jesus in the garden and spoken to him. She returns to the disciples and says, “I have seen the Lord.”

The Witness has become a window. Let me close with an analogy. Your doorbell rings this afternoon and one of your friends asks to talk to you. He comes and says, “I have some really bad news. Your brother Jim is dead.” And you say, shaking your head, “I don’t believe it. I just saw him this morning. He was fine. I don’t believe it. It can’t be.”

And your friend says, “We went to the game together, and as we were leaving, this car went out of control and jumped the curb and hit Jim. I knelt over him. I waited for the medical examiner. I saw it. He’s gone.” And you say, softly, “I see.” What do you mean, “I see”? You mean that the witness of your friend has become a window so that you can understand what happened. And the reality in the window has become plain. You were not there.

“I have seen the Lord.” God has brought you here to hear this message and for this Scripture and for this story of the resurrection of Jesus and this witness. And my prayer for you is that you will now or very soon, by God’s grace, say, “I see.” There is one main difference between Jesus and my illustration: He is alive. That’s what Mary said, “I have seen the Lord.” Do you see? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Apr 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170416 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/cm6s0e5y imblog

Romans 13:8-10

Romans 13:8-10, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

This focuses on the key to obedience. When Jesus commissioned His disciples, He said that an essential part was to teach them to obey everything He commanded. Inherent in marriage is the necessity of obedience to the Word of God and the law of God. When Jesus originally called the disciples to obey Him, He called them to "Follow Me." He was establishing by that a relationship that He would be Lord and Master, in which He would give the commands and they would obey.

When Jesus responded to the rich young ruler who came to Him and wanted to know how to obtain eternal life, He established another issue. He said to the young man, "Sell all your possessions, take your money give to the poor and follow Me." And the young man went away rejecting that offer. It wasn't that he didn't want eternal life, he did, it was that he didn't want to obey Jesus. In other words, if you aren't willing to follow Me, you cannot have eternal life.

When Jesus had to rebuke Peter, the disciple, because he wanted to know what was going to happen to John in the future, Jesus said to Peter, "It's none of your business what happens to John, but you follow Me." And took him all the way back to the beginning as if to say, "Have you forgotten? I give the orders and you obey them." Those illustrations are true, nothing is more important of the gospel than the call to obey Jesus Christ.

When a person comes to Christ for salvation, it is a call to obedience. In fact, the apostle Paul even called salvation the obedience of faith, a faith that obeys, a faith that submits and a faith that follows. Such obedience is an essential component in our Christian living. It is foundational to our power, our joy, our usefulness and our blessing. Coming to Jesus Christ for salvation was an affirmation that I will obey Him.

1 Peter 1:2 says, “to the pilgrims elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience.” We were set apart from sin by the Spirit in order that we obey Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that, however we find such obedience difficult. We can feel that we should be obedient and still not obey. In Romans 7:15 Paul says, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”

In other words, in my inner man I love the law of God and with my inner man I desire to do it because it is holy, just and good. I want to obey, but I have a struggle in doing it. Sometimes we are like children who love their mother and father, love them deeply, and know they have their best interest at heart, but yet even in spite of their love, we sometimes disobey when we are given a command.

It's that way with the Lord. We know that we want to obey Him. We know obedience brings blessing, we know that. We know what our deepest desire is, that is fixed, we desire that which is holy, just and good. But there are those moments in which the commands of God somehow interrupt our activities and they frustrate us because they make us stop the pleasurable things that our flesh enjoys.

This is very different for people who don't know God, who aren't His children. The Law of God is not any authority in their life. He is not their Father and it doesn't matter to them what He says, they're not about to stop their pleasure. They are only interested in themselves and what they think is right, not what God says is right. They are focused on obtaining worldly satisfaction even if that is fleeting.

To the true child of God, obedience is a sweet and desirable thing. Obedience is the path of blessing. Obedience is the expression of the deepest desire of the redeemed soul. Listen to David in Psalm 119:47, “And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.” And verse 97, "Oh how I love Your law. This marks the desire of the born-again child of God. He has a willing heart and spirit that longs to obey.

So how can I find the path to obedience? How can I get over the frustration of disobedience in my own life which goes against the grain of my new nature? Paul answers in Romans 13: 8-10 that the key to obedience is love. Like the obedience of a child, what ultimately compels him to obey willingly is love. The same is true in the spiritual dimension. If I am going to keep the law of God which I love, it is going to be because I love not only the law, but I love God and I love others.

Paul says in verse 8, "Owe nothing to anyone." He has been talking about paying your taxes. The government is ordained of God and they have a right to tax you so pay it. He is not saying that you should never borrow money. Jesus gave a parable at the close of Lukas 19:23 in which He said to the unfaithful servant, “Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?” So Jesus approved the whole transaction of interest, whether given or taken.

But from there he says, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another.” And he says you have a debt that you must pay and that is to love one another. I want you to owe people love. The debt of love is a permanent debt. It never leaves us. It's a debt that we pay all the time but never reduce. This should mark us as real Christians.

John 13:35 says, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” In John 15:13 Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” 1 John 2:10 says, “He who loves his brother abides in the light.” In 1 John 3 he says if you don't love your brother, how can we say the love of God dwells in you? In Matthew 5:44 Jesus even said, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

And in Galatians 6:10 Paul said, “do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Paul said in Colossians 3:14, “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” 1 Corinthians 14:1 says, “Pursue love.” Philippians 1:9, “that your love may abound still more.” 1 Timothy 2:15, to continue in love. 1 Peter 1:22, to love one another fervently with a pure heart.” Scripture tells us continuously that we have to love.

How are we to show this love? Well, the Scripture says we are to show love by teaching others, by ministering to the needs of others, by serving one another's spiritual growth through exemplary behavior that sets a godly pattern for them, by coming alongside them to bear their burdens and so fulfill the law of love, by covering their faults, because love does cover a multitude of sins, by forgiving them as God for Christ's sake as forgiven you. We are to love by sacrificing even our own lives.

Remember Romans 5:5 where Paul says “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” Every command to love says that we have the capacity to love. God doesn't ask us to do what we have no capacity to do. So we should comprehend the resource of love that is in us by the indwelling Spirit whose fruit is love. Paul says that you have a reservoir of love that is unlimited, which means that you have an incomprehensible capacity to love.

And your responsibility is to give that to people all your life long. That's your Christian life being lived out. If you understand the resource, if you comprehend the love of Christ in Ephesians 3:13-21, if you submit to the Holy Spirit whose fruit is love in Galatians 5:22, if you purify your heart and soul in a sincere love as in 1 Peter 1:22, and if you realize the cry of people who desire to be loved, you will be fervent in your love.

One of the reasons you come to church, Hebrews 10:24, is to stimulate one another to love and good works. So if we understand the source, submit to the Holy Spirit, purify our hearts, realize the urgency, make a conscious choice, and mingle among people who need that love, then we're going to love them according to the Lord’s command. I have an unlimited resource of love, I can love anyone as much as possible and that love reservoir will never diminish.

You don't love someone and think, “I've been wanting to love that person for a long time, I'm glad I loved him and now it's over.” No, that's not how love works. In fact, I have found that the more I love, the more it grows my loving condition and the more I love to love. Love then is this deep desire rising from within my regenerate soul to seek the well-being of all people around me.

We live in a culture that doesn't know about this love. This is the most selfish society in human history. The continual decline of man's moral condition since the Fall makes man more and more wicked because the Bible says evil men grow worse and worse, so they are worse now than before. And at the core of all sin is pride which kills love. So the longer man lives on this earth the more morality declines, the less interest he has in another person. So people want only what satisfies them now.

Paul says, let me take you to the Ten Commandments, and consider the second half of the commandments. The first four commandments have to do with a man's relation to God and the last six have to do with a man's relation to his fellow man. So he goes in to the ones related to our fellow man, picks out four of the six, and says, "These and the rest sum up in this statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." There's the key to obeying the entire law. Love does not replace law, it makes obedience possible.

So the first four commands are pretty simple. What they tell us is that we should love God, be faithful to Him, reverent and holy toward Him. In Matthew 22: 37-40, this man asked Jesus, "Which is the great commandment?” 38 Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. 39 And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

So I submit to you that the key to obedience is love. It's not some effort to try to catalog every single issue in life and figure out how to follow them all. It is to have a heart and soul committed to expressing the reservoir of the love of Christ inside of us toward others. So then by loving with the love of Christ, you automatically fulfill all the ten commandments of the Law, which is what Paul says in Romans 13.

First Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Love doesn't get angry, love doesn't remember offenses against it, love does not rejoice in somebody else's unrighteousness. Love will endure everything. Love tends to believe everything. Love maintains enduring hope. Love can suffer through anything and it will never fail and therefore it will fulfill the whole law of God.

How do I do that? Well simply put, the fruit of the Spirit is love and if you walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the desire of the flesh but you will fulfill the desire of the Spirit which produces fruit that will produce love. So you need to walk in the Spirit. By letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly to control your mind and your behavior, the Spirit of God then will direct your life so that He yields the fruit, which is love.

Practically speaking do the following: mend a quarrel; take the blame for it. Search out a forgotten friend and rekindle a relationship. Let old bitterness die and forgive that person. Text a loving message to someone who loves you. Encourage someone you know who is discouraged. Keep all your promises. Forget a wrong that was done to you, do not take offense. Say thanks all the time to people. Tell somebody you love them. Pray for your enemy. And ask God to help you love the way Jesus loved by doing what love calls you to do. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Apr 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170409 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/t0ckb3a3 imblog

Romans 1:1-4

The best news is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and forever lives to make intercession for those who know Him and love Him. We live in a world where most news is bad news. A look at the internet will reveal that our world is not only bad, but seems to be getting worse. Our culture is negative, hostile and despairing. We seem to be progressively eliminating the once precious things that we hoped would result in a better world.

Many thought that when we are supremely educated, we would be able to solve our problems. We thought that when we have invented enough creature comforts, that we would be able to make life pleasant and meaningful. We thought that when we became adept at all the physical sciences, psychology, sociology and economics, that we would be able to use the genius of the human mind to make a better world.

But now there is a certain kind of despair. Men and women have become victims of constraining, unrelenting power within them, pushing them toward self-destruction. They are now face to face with the reality of sin. But no matter what we know in terms of enlightenment, no matter how we understand the human mind and what makes seemingly for meaningful relationships, we cannot overcome the reality of our own sin.

Let me discuss with you, four major areas where sin produces bad news for the human race. First of all, the basic element of sin is selfishness. It says that I am God and I will do what I want. And the basic element of sinfulness is pride. The dominant word in sin is I. Man wants to please himself, he wants to satisfy his own desires. He wants to do his own thing and he will press the limits of society that is tolerated.

Man, in his selfishness, will consume everything in sight, whether it is people or things, whether it is a possession or a friend; whether it is a career or a life mate; a family member or an acquaintance. When anything ceases to be satisfactory, it is discarded like a worn-out shoe, past its usefulness. And so people like that use up things, and they also use up people.

We now live in a world of people who demand their rights, who will fulfill their ego at all cost, who use and abuse each other to achieve their own personal satisfaction; whether in business, or marriage, or love. Selfish lust will twist everything. And their hunger for gain, or sex, or fame, or popularity, or money, or adventure, or thrills will cause them to destroy everything around them.

A second result of sin is guilt. Guilt, by definition, is a pained conscience. Guilt says this is wrong. And guilt produces fear: fear of retaliation and fear of judgment. And guilt produces anxiety, a tension that everything is going to go wrong. So people try to bury their guilt. And that guilt causes sleeplessness, illness, drunkenness, being hooked on drugs and ultimately suicide.

Or they go to a psychoanalyst who wants to shift the responsibility to somebody who negatively impacted their life or even their parents are faulted. And thus, guilt leads to further isolation and alienation. A fearful person becomes afraid of the people around him. A drunken person isolates himself into his own perverted thoughts. And a person who blames others for all his problems eventually will alienate the people he needs most.

And guilt leads to an inability to have a meaningful relationship. And man is pressed deeper and deeper into the pit of his own despair. And that leads to a third problem in sin. We could call it meaninglessness. Life becomes simply a pursuit of selfishness, and then a cover-up of guilt that is not fulfilling. Life becomes what Ecclesiastes 1:2 says, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

In Ecclesiastes 2 it says, "I looked to my wealth and it provided me nothing. I looked for joy, they provided me nothing. I looked for sorrow and they provided me nothing. I looked in relationships but I couldn't sustain them. They provided me nothing. I looked at everything that had brought success in my career and it offered me nothing.” It becomes a string of twenty-four-hour periods that have no value.

And there is a fourth element, hopelessness. Looking ahead into the future, all of it looks bleak. We see a culture that would rather kill instead of compromise; that rather hates than love another person. After all, life has no meaning, and the future has no hope. The news is always bad. Death looks like the only escape if you believe it is an endless nothingness. And endless nothingness would be a better choice than this hopelessness.

You look at the world around you, You might assume that as clever as we are, as educated as we are, as capable and powerful as we are in terms of what we can produce; as clever as we are in discerning problems, we would have been able to solve these painful realities. But man in no way, by no means, has the capability to alter the human heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked.”

And the longer human history goes, the Bible says, the worse men’s nature becomes. Men’s sinful nature is gradually becoming more sinful and more meaningless. And we have reached the limit in terms of our capabilities, so we are stuck with sin and selfishness, guilt, meaninglessness and hopelessness. Jesus said you will die in your sins and the destination of all unforgiven sinners is hell forever.

The manifestation of this sinful human life is bad news. We can see it on the internet every day. And the judgment of God, the worst news, is in the Bible. You say, well once in a while there is some good news. That's right. Even sinners have to sleep. And now and then there is a moment, or an incident, or an experience that brings us a fleeting joy.

But the question is, is there any long-term good news? Is there anything to say to a world that is rapidly descending down into the pit of hell? Is there anything that can take away men’s selfishness? Is there anything that can give us meaningful relationships? Anything that can deliver us from guilt? Anything to give us hope? Anything that tells us how to escape judgment? The answer is yes, there is a way out.

Look with me at Romans 1:1 written by the apostle Paul, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God.” Gospel means good news. "My task" he says, "is to preach the good news of God." Sometimes he calls it the good news of salvation, or the good news about Jesus Christ, or the good news of His Son, or the good news of the grace of God.

The good news is: You don't have to live in isolation. You don't have to live with fulfilling your lusts and finding them unsatisfying. You don't have to live with guilt and anxiety and fear. You don't have to live with meaninglessness and hopelessness. You don't have to live in the fear of judgment. The good news is forgiveness for all their sin and restoration to God, renovation of their nature and eternal bliss in heaven.

Why would God want to give good news to such bad people? Because God is love and He loves you. And that is why God gives good news to bad people, because the love of God could not even be quenched by the death of His own Son. John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but should have everlasting life.”

So Paul says in Romans 1:2, “He promised the gospel before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” If you read the Old Testament, you will know that the prophets tell us that there will come a Savior. There is coming a Lamb who will be slain for the sins of the world. There is coming One who, being lifted up, will bear your sins and your iniquities. And Paul says, “It came in Jesus Christ. And I am here to tell you about it.”

Jesus said if you have seen me, you have seen God. They questioned Him about his age, and He said in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was, I am.” God came into the world, God, the second member of the Trinity that we call God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus came into the world to bring about the good news from God. The Father promised He would send His Son. God has come into the world to save us. That's the good news.

Man longs to have the God-shaped vacuum in his heart filled. That's why there are so many different religions around the world and through human history. There is an emptiness in man's heart that can only be filled by God. And we create the god of our own confusion to fill it until our hearts are opened to the knowledge of the true God. Only the true God is able to send good news in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And Paul says He is man, born as a descendant of David according to the flesh, who is also God. And He was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the Holy Spirit. God's Son, came into the world as man and God. He was born a Jew. The fact that he is God was proven by the resurrection from the dead.

Socrates taught for forty years, Plato taught for fifty years and Aristotle taught for forty years. But Jesus taught for only three years, yet the ministry of Jesus infinitely transcends the 130 years of the world's great philosophers. Jesus wrote no poetry, yet more poems have been written of Him than any person who ever lived. Every sphere of human art and greatness has been enriched by the humble carpenter of Nazareth.

In Romans 1:3 it says, "He was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.” That descendant was Mary, who was in the line of David. Even Joseph, her husband though not the father of Jesus physically, because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, but Joseph was also in the line of David. Joseph was in the kingly line and had there been a king in Israel, it could have been Joseph.

So God had a Son who was fully man, born of a virgin. He was also a royal man with a right to reign. Why? Because God promised that He would send a savior who would be a king. He would be the king over a spiritual kingdom and an earthly kingdom, but more than that: an eternal kingdom. God will give Him the throne of his father David. And He will reign forever, His kingdom will have no end.

Why did He need to be a man? If He was going to be the substitute for our sins, He had to be one of us in order that He might bear the sins of men, that He might bear the guilt of men, that He might bear the punishment of men, that He might feel the wrath of God for men and be our substitute on the cross. That's good news! We don't have to feel His judgment on our iniquity because God became fully man and redeemed us.

But notice in Romans 1:4, “And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” He is not just man, He is God. He came down to us as a human through Mary. He came down to us as divine through the Holy Spirit. He is the God man. And it says, "He was declared as God when He conquered death through the power of his Spirit. God gave evidence that this is a divine Son.

Josephus, the great Jewish historian, lived from 37 A.D to 95 A.D., and wrote that Jesus Christ really lived, “Now there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man. He was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to Him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us had condemned Him to the cross, those that loved Him at the first did not forsake Him for He appeared to them alive at the third day as the divine prophets had foretold these and thousands other wonderful things concerning Him. The Christians, so named from Him, are not extinct to this day.”

There is a description of Christ by Publius Lentulus to the Roman Senate, “There appeared in these days a man of great virtue named Jesus Christ, who is yet among us. Of the Gentiles, accepted for a prophet of truth, but his disciples call him the son of God. He raises the dead and cures all manner of diseases. A man of stature, somewhat tall and comely, with a very reverend countenance such as the beholder can both fear and love Him. His hair, the color of a chestnut full ripe, plain to the ears, whence downward it is more curling and waving about his shoulders.”

“In the midst of his forehead is a partition of his hair after the manner of the Nazarites, forehead plain and very delicate. His face, without spot or wrinkle, beautiful, with a slightly reddish complexion. His nose and mouth are faultless. His beard is abundant, in color like his hair, not long. His look is simple and mature. His eyes are changeable and bright.

“He is terrible in his reprimands. Sweet and amiable in his admonitions. Pleasant in conversation, without loss of gravity. He was never known to laugh, but many have seen him weep. In proportion of body, most excellent. His hands and arms are beautiful to behold. His conversation is grave, infrequent and modest. He is the most beautiful among the children of men.”

But He had to be more than a man if He was going to bear our sins, if He was going to conquer death. For, if He was only a man, He would have had to have died for His own sins. And so, the resurrection becomes the signal, the miracle that marks his deity. This is good news. As God, He conquered death. And He says, because I live, you shall live also. Have you confessed Jesus as your Savior? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Apr 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170402 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ytzt81ky imblog

Luke 2:47-52

The central person throughout the New Testament is Jesus Christ. He is presented as the Savior, the King, and the Lord. He is God, the Son, who became a man to live a perfect, sinless life, then to die as a redeemer for sinners, paying fully the debt for sin and to rise from the dead. He then ascended into heaven where He now lives, interceding for His own and someday shall return to establish His Kingdom on earth.

Because salvation is only in Jesus Christ, the New Testament begins with four gospels, four historical accounts of the life of Jesus, focusing on who He is and what He did. If you are saved from your sins, if you are to escape hell and enter heaven forever, it will be because you believe in Jesus Christ and what the Scripture says He did. Therefore the gospels present Him as God, the Son, the Savior of the world, and the Lord.

And all of Luke has been designed to make very clear, who Jesus Christ really is. Zacharias, the Old Testament priest, and his wife Elizabeth affirmed the identity of Jesus as the Messiah. The angel Gabriel identified who Jesus would be, Immanuel, God with us. The angels in the field talking to the shepherds identified who He would be. Joseph and Mary knew who He was and gave testimony. And the old people in the temple, Simeon and Anna; their testimony is added to all the rest.

But Luke is not finished. There is one more testimony that is critical, and that is the testimony of Jesus Himself. And that is our focus tonight. There are critics that have said that Jesus was just a man and at the age of thirty he began to realize his messianic expectation. And he was pressed into acting the role of a Messiah for the sake of what turned about to be an ill-conceived attempt at revolution. All of this, are misrepresentations. The fact is that from His conception on He was God in human flesh.

At the age of twelve, He was fully aware of exactly who He was and why He had been sent into the world. At the age of twelve He had been living in obscurity in Nazareth. There was no external pressure to make Him become something He was not. When He declared Himself in this passage in verse 49 to be the Son of God, He did it because He knew by that age exactly who He was. So added to the testimony of men and angels is the testimony of the God-Man Himself.

We meet then in Luke 2:39-52 the child who is God. From birth to thirty, when He embarked upon His public preaching ministry, we know nothing by way of biblical record except for this one incident. Now if God picked one incident and one statement, you can be sure it is of monumental consequence, and indeed it proves to be so. The statement focuses on the fact that He knew exactly who He was and why He had come.

From birth to twelve is covered in verse 40, “The child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him." From age twelve to thirty is covered in verse 52, "Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor of God and men." And in the middle in verses 41 to 51 there is only a glimpse of Jesus and only one sentence of Jesus as the incarnate God living in this world.

Verse 40 refers to physical development and becoming strong, and that is added by the phrase "increasing," or "being filled with wisdom," and that refers to the spiritual development. In twelve years Jesus grew physically and He grew spiritually to the place where He was filled with divine wisdom. He had reached the age of twelve. It tells us that in verse 42.

The Jews considered the age of thirteen the age when you became a son of the law and you stepped out from under the shelter of your parents and you became an equal to your father under the law of God. You went from being a boy to being a son at the age of thirteen. His human mind had developed to the point where it could contain the mind of God. He had developed a full understanding of divine wisdom.

Verse 40, "The grace of God was upon Him," and that's because He was perfect, He was sinless, so He received the favor of God resting on Him as God's Son in whom He was well pleased. He progressed from perfect innocence to perfect knowledge and perfect holiness. He was tempted in all points, the temptations of an infant, of a young child, of a teenager, yet without sin. He identifies Himself not only to Joseph and Mary who needed to understand who really was in charge of His life, but also to all of us.

Verse 41-45, “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother[l] did not know it; 44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him.”

At the age of thirteen they made that transition which later became known as bar mitzvah and a ceremony was developed. It was traditional that at the age of twelve the son was taken to the Passover so that that child would get a full exposure to all of the implications of the law of God that were played out in the Passover which occurred on a Sabbath and then was followed by a seven-day feast called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Jesus watched the sacrificial lamb be slaughtered for His family to take and eat, and must have fully known in His own mind an image that pictured His own death as the Lamb of God, who alone could take away the sins of the world. He knew that He was come to seek and to save those which are lost. He knew that He had to die and three days later rise again. What captivated His mind is too high for us to begin to understand.

When His parents were on the way back, it says in verse 43, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Their assumption was, as we noted in verse 44, that Jesus was with relatives or acquaintances. They had never known Him to do anything other than what was right, appropriate and expected by His parents. But, according to verse 44, at night at the end of the first day's journey they realized He wasn't there and they didn't find Him.

They waited overnight and then, verse 45, return to Jerusalem and then waited until the next day, before they began to look for Him. And that's why verse 46 says, "It came about that after three days," they finally found Him in the temple. Can you imagine how difficult it was to find Jesus at a time when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were in the big city of Jerusalem?

And when they did find Him, it says in verse 46, "Sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions." The teachers were seated. We don't know who these teachers were. Luke is kind to call them teachers, but from now on, he calls them lawyers or scribes, and he never calls them teachers again.

He reserves that word teacher for Jesus only. Once Jesus was the teacher, nobody else is worthy to be called by Luke a teacher. Living in the out-of-the-way place called Nazareth, to be able to sit in the midst of the great Jewish teachers, those expert in the law, expert in the prophets, expert in the holy writings of the Old Testament and the Pentateuch, was a great opportunity for Jesus.

Jesus was the listener. This is a favorite method of Jewish teaching, this dialogue method. The customary pattern for teaching in Judaism, and even by the apostle Paul, was for students to gather around the teachers and stimulate discussion by asking questions. This would engage in dialogue. Paul says that in Acts 17:2, "He reasoned with them out of the Scripture," in a question-and-answer format.

But Jesus will never be the student again. Verse 40 tells us that He has been growing in His physical ability to comprehend. He is listening to how they understand the truth of God. He has a hunger for discussing the truth of God, something that was all there ever was in pre-incarnate fellowship with God. Someday He will ask questions of teachers again, but questions that only He can answer.

Verse 47, "And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.” He was stimulating questions. Maybe they weren't capable of giving answers, or they asked His view on things, which is amazing when you think He is only twelve-years old. They were amazed, it says. And that is a response all through the gospels. Verse 33, “Joseph and Mary, were amazed at the things that are being said about Him."

This is found repeatedly throughout the gospel story. Jesus creates astonishment and amazement, the kind of wonder created by the presence, power and wisdom of God. But there is no pride here. There is no self-centeredness, self-promotion and there is no arrogance. His questions are so penetrating, so insightful and so powerful that they generate astonishment from the teachers who surround Him.

Verse 48, “So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” His parents finally found Him and they were astonished like the other people. Jesus astonished everybody all the time. But their astonishment was most of all because of where He was. He seemed impervious to human circumstance.

Here He was three days later. Where had He stayed? What had He eaten all this time? Those things were not on His mind at all. He was engaged in a dialogue about the Old Testament. It was amazing to His parents. And they were personally perturbed because for three days they have been without Him. His mother says to Him in verse 48, "Son, why have You treated us this way?" And this is the first time the sword pierces Mary's heart.

Look at Luke 2:35, Simeon said, “a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” This child had been a great joy. After escaping Herod, after escaping the slaughter, they had returned back from Egypt to Nazareth. The child was obedient, compliant, submissive and loving. And Mary loved that Son like no other child and that Son loved her like no one ever loved her. There had never been a sword, but now there was a sword.

Mary is taking it personally. It is a normal motherly rebuke but she was putting the blame on Him saying, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” She assumed that He had been hiding from them. But He hasn't been hiding from them. He was not disobedient. But they're taking it personally because of the stress of three days.

The whole scene was necessary because they needed to be reminded of His real and true identity. And it was necessary to make a relationship break between Jesus and His earthly family because they were just temporary. He had come to do the will of His heavenly Father, as He says over and over again, particularly in John's gospel. And though the break will not be implemented for eighteen years, it is announced here.

We see that in verse 49, “And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” This is a profound statement. These are the only words recorded of Jesus in thirty years and they tell us who He was and why He came. In other words, you know who My Father is and you know this is My true house.

Verse 50, “But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.” They knew who He was. They knew He was virgin conceived. They had been told that by God through an angel. They knew He was the Messiah, the Son of David. They knew He was God in human flesh. They knew what kind of a child He was. They could see it manifest in everything He said and did.

But they still didn't understand what He meant. What He said is so profound that some of us are still trying to figure out what He meant. And this often happens. There were a number of times when Jesus said something to the disciples and they didn't understand it. What Jesus meant was, "You are temporary, God is My true Father, and the home in Nazareth is temporary, I belong with God's people.”

So in verse 51, “Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.” Jesus continued for eighteen more years to be their child until He was thirty years old and began His ministry. His relation to God, did not nullify His duty as a human to His earthly parents. He was an obedient child all through His birth to twelve years and He would be an obedient adult.

But after thirty, that relationship changed. In Mark 3:31 when she came to find Jesus with some of her other children, the crowd said, "Your mother is seeking You.” And Jesus said, “Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, the same is My brother, My sister, My mother.” So He distanced Himself not because He didn't love her, but because now He was the Savior doing what the Father wants.

And then in verse 52; from the time of this incident when they went back to Nazareth until He began His ministry around the age of thirty, "Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men." Here in His adult life, He was still growing stronger in divine truth and spiritual favor with God. He will become the teacher and make it clear that He is God's Son and He will move to die on the cross and rise again.

But for all the thirty-three years, Hebrews 4:15 says that He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He had to come down to earth to live a perfect life so that we can take His place before God. And for a brief moment it all comes into focus. "I'm not your Son, Joseph and Mary, God is My Father.” Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 26 Mar 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170326 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/s3lujzh5 imblog

Luke 2:39-46

Let us look at Luke 2:39-46, “So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. 40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. 41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.”

“43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; 44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.”

We are proud if we have an honor roll child. But we may somewhat over estimate their capabilities, when compared with true child geniuses. Wolfgang Mozart, at four he began music lessons with his father. At six he was a virtuoso on the violin and harpsichord, creating a sensation with this ability to sight-read music at six. He wrote his first symphony at eight and at eleven, he passed the test and was offered the salary job of city concert master.

And then many believe the most brilliant child prodigy alive today is Kim Ung-Yong, born in 1963 in Korea. He was talking at five months, writing at seven months. His IQ is estimated higher than any. When he was four years old he was fluent in Korean, English, Japanese and German and he was solving intricate calculus problems on Japanese television before his fifth birthday.

Amazing children, but all of these children are nothing compared with one twelve-year-old boy named Jesus, the child who is God. In a dramatic and moving account of the one recorded incident in the first thirty years of Jesus' life, Luke gives us a glimpse of this child who is God. No human genius, no IQ measurement in excess of the number 200 could even come close to the mind and the capability of this child.

But it is important for Luke to tell us that the child knew that He was God; that the child understood who He was, that He came to a complete understanding of His nature and His mission. This is not something that came on Jesus later in His life, but rather this was His true identity. He was the child who was God and He knew He was God and He understood what that meant in terms of personhood and in terms of identity and mission.

Now before this here was the testimony of Simeon and Anna as to the identity of the child. And after that we heard from Gabriel the angel that this in fact is the Messiah, the Son of God given to Mary. And Matthew's gospel recorded that he spoke to Joseph as well in a dream. We have heard the testimony of Zacharias (the father of John) that a horn of salvation has been raised up in this child born to Mary.

But now let us hear from the child Himself. Luke 2:38-39, “And coming in that instant Anna gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. 39 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.” That refers back to verse 22 that requires that after a Jewish woman gave birth to a male child, she was to go forty days later to Jerusalem to make a purification sacrifice.

And that's exactly what they did. Setting apart the male child, verse 23, indicates they were following the Old Testament instruction that had been given in Exodus and in Numbers. And then verse 24, to offer the sacrifice, in their case a pair of pigeons, because they were too poor to afford a lamb. So they made the sacrifice and they uniquely presented this child, this virgin-conceived child to God.

And then verse 39 says, after doing all of that, they went back to their own city of Nazareth. However, between the completion of that and the return to Nazareth, there's an important part of the history of the birth of Christ that Luke did not give. It is the visit of the wise men. It is the slaughter of babies by Herod and the deliverance of Jesus through warning by an angel that caused them to flee to Egypt and escape that massacre.

All of that occurs between the time of purification at the temple and the time they returned to Galilee. Read Matthew 2:1-23 which tells you the whole story. Well it had to have happened then because they were already living in a house. The wise men came to a house, not to a stable. It also had to have happened then because when they came for purification they were poor so they had to offer two birds as it says in Luke 2:24.

After the wise men came they brought gold and frankincense and myrrh. Literally they brought immense wealth to Joseph and Mary. Certainly providing enough money for them to have purchased a lamb for the sacrifice if in fact the wise men had come before that ceremony was held. But they bought turtledoves, which indicated they had no money, which proves that the wise men had not yet been there.

Everything in Matthew 2 happened between the purification presentation at the temple which included the testimony of Simeon and Anna, and the time they left Bethlehem to go back to their home town of Nazareth. They lived there in Bethlehem for months during which the wise men came, during which Herod wanted to slaughter all of the male children and during which they escaped by instruction from an angel into Egypt. So after all of that, they finally go back to Nazareth.

Now we pick the story up in verse 40 and it is here that we begin to focus on the life of the child who was God, “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” That one verse and that one sentence covers twelve years, right up until the next two verses when they came to the Passover and verse 42 says, "Jesus had become twelve years old.”

Thirty years of Jesus life are going to pass before us, essentially in two verses, verse 40 and verse 52, with an incident in the middle at the age of twelve. It is very important to understand that if you have thirty years of history and only one incident recorded, that that incident is of monumental significance. And we are going to see that before we finish our lesson from this portion of Scripture.

Let us begin by looking at the silent years of childhood, from birth to twelve as recorded in verse 40, “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” This is important for us to affirm that Jesus was fully man. This is to indicate to us His real and true genuine humanity. He grew from His infancy to being almost a man at the age of twelve.

His growth is uniquely defined as becoming strong. There is a physical component in that and as Jesus grew and was sinless, without the effects of sin in His life, He grew as no other child ever grew. His growth was never hindered, never restricted, or affected by sin. He could certainly do the labor of a carpenter which Mark 6:3 indicates is what He did in His father's business.

This child who is God would have a physical strength and a physical prowess that would be beyond any other human. But when it says in verse 40, “And became strong," the word "strong" really is best linked with the following phrase "increasing in wisdom," so that that it describes the strength of being, literally in the Greek, full of wisdom.

There's real humanity here and yet the wisdom of God came upon Him gradually. He didn't understand that when He was an infant. He didn't understand that when He was a child. But by the time He reached this age of twelve, the fullness of the wisdom of God as to His identity and His mission and the truth of God had come to its fruition in His mind. At twelve He thought like God thinks, full of wisdom.

And it says in verse 40, "The grace of God was upon Him." Grace, not the kind of grace that comes to sinners who don't deserve it, but grace was the favor that God gives to one who does. It simply means that God favored Him, similarly to the testimony of God at His baptism in Matthew 3:17 where God says, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." This is all it says about His childhood.

Jesus also learned from experience. In Hebrews 5:8 it says, "He learned obedience from the things He suffered.” Hebrews 4: 15 says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus suffered the temptations that comes to a child, to be selfish and self-centered. He suffered temptations that come to all teenage boys.

Now in Luke 2:41-51 we come to the incident when Jesus was twelve years of age. The only incident recorded during the first thirty years of His life. And the only time He is ever recorded to have said anything. And it took place after that presentation at the temple. It is the moment in which He reveals that He knows who He is and He knows why He came.

Jesus declared Himself as God the Son, in verse 49, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” That is a monumental statement, the reality of which we will explain further in the days to come. But let us see how the narrative unfolds that leads to that great confession. Verse 41, twelve years later, “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover." Now this was normal for Jewish people to do, to go to the Passover.

In Exodus and Deuteronomy there are instruction for the Jews to maintain their involvement in three main feasts held every year. These are the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and the feast of Tabernacles. Passover was a one-day feast that happened on the fifteenth of Nisan and attached to the Passover was a seven-day feast called the feast of unleavened bread.

Joseph and Mary lived eighty miles north of Jerusalem in the town of Nazareth. And as the Jews became scattered, typically a Jewish man might only come to one of the three feasts every year and that would be Passover. And it celebrated God as the Redeemer of His people, God as the deliverer, the Savior, the rescuer of His people. It memorialized an event that is recorded in Exodus 12.

It was required traditionally for men to go, even at the time of Jesus, but not so much the women. In fact, for a woman to go to Passover, was to demonstrate on her part a rather unusual spiritual devotion to God, His Word and to obedience. Verse 41, "His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year." So Luke reminds us of the devout character of the faith of Joseph and Mary.

Verse 44 indicates that they went in a large company of people traveling together. And traditional Jewish scholars would say the children were in front, followed by the women, and then the men. Both dominant rabbinical schools, Shammai and Hillel, at the time of Jesus, taught that it should be a family event as Exodus 12:26-27 indicated, for the instruction of Israel is to teach your children that God is the Redeemer of Israel.

At Passover, Jerusalem would have hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from everywhere. They would be trying to find a place to house themselves where they could have their family together for the meal, where they could cook the lamb and all that went with it. They would be purchasing their sacrifices. Some historians tell us a quarter of a million animals would be slaughtered that week.

Seeing the blood dripping off of the altar, and running in a river out the backside of the temple ground down the back hill into the Kidron brook red with blood as it fell down into the Valley of Hinnom to the south, all of that would make it a vivid experience for the twelve-year-old Jesus who is now filled with the wisdom of God and sees it all from a divine perspective.

Then the family would take the lamb home and roast it. And it would be eaten always by candlelight because it was at candlelight that the Passover took place. They would sing psalms and they would pray to God and they would worship and celebrate God as their Redeemer as they ate that lamb. At the end of the meal, Jesus would have looked at Joseph and would say this, “Why is this night different from all others? That question then gave Joseph, the opportunity to repeat the amazing story of the Passover in Egypt.

Why is it important that Jesus was there at the age of twelve? Well at thirteen Jewish boys were considered to be obligated to the law of God themselves. That is why after Jesus’ time, an official ceremony developed and that is known as bar mitzvah, which means ‘son of the law.’ Becoming a son of the law brought you in touch with your guilt and your need for redemption.

Verse 43, “When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it.” Here Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary were godly parents since they stayed for the full 8 days which most of them did not do. Verse 44, “but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances.”

Verse 45-46, “So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.” His lingering was not disobedience. He was responsible, obedient, sensitive and thoughtful. He was perfect.

But there was something different. Jesus was moving from responsibility to an earthly parent to a responsibility to God. That's why He says in verse 49, “I must be about My Father's business.” He is drawn into doing the things that have to do with His true identity. He knew exactly why He came and His mind was filled with the things of God. And for that unfolding, we have to wait till next time. Let's pray together.

]]> Sun, 19 Mar 2017 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170319 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/2f94k3xf imblog

Acts 17:16-34

This is the story of Paul in the great city of Athens. Now in Acts 17 the Apostle Paul and company were on the second missionary journey. The church was established in Antioch, the first church outside of the area of Palestine as a missionary base to reach the rest of the world. And Paul was sent out from there. The first time with Barnabas and the second time with Silas, and they went through Galatia and founded a church in Philippi.

Then they founded churches in Thessalonica and Berea but because of persecution Paul had to flee. He left Luke in Philippi and left Silas and Timothy in Berea and now he is alone in Athens. And some would tell us it is the low point of his ministry. He left all of his friends to carry on the work of discipling, and he was persecuted continually. And here we learn this great principle from him in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” When things are tough we need the Holy Spirit to strengthen us.

Let us see what kind of a man Paul was. He was not only a Jew, he was a Pharisee, a student of the great teacher Gamaliel. He was expert in the law, he was an expert in the Old Testament. Beyond being a Jew he was a Roman citizen with special knowledge of politics. Beyond that he was a Greek, by virtue of his environ­ment, he was raised in Tarsus which was influenced by Greek culture, art and philosophy.

And adding to that he had a brilliant mind. He had an intense commitment. He was a tireless pursuer of any goal that he set. He was a fearless preacher. He was a great question and answer dialogue man. He was well-travelled and well-read. In Acts 17:28 he says, “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.” Here he quoted two Greek philosophers.

Now beyond Paul there is the city called Athens. And some historians tell us that Athens in its prime in the 4th and 5th century B.C. was the greatest city in the world and maybe never has been equaled since. The art, the literature, the architecture and the philosophies that existed in Athens in those years has never had a match. Now Athens was in the province of Achaia and technically Corinth was the capital but Athens was the major city.

Historians say that Athens at the time of Paul was also the intellectual center of the world. And Athens offered a place for almost every god in existence. So it was a pagan city in the fullest sense, super cultured. Added to this was its philosophical bent. Socrates and Plato were from Athens. And Athens was the adopted city of Aristotle, Epicurus who founded the Epicureans and Zeno who founded the Stoics.

However it still was a city without God. It had a god for everything and then after all of those gods they had another statue called “the unknown god" because all the gods they had never satisfied them, so they still looked for another one. That is the absolute frustration in idolatry. But God is about to do a mighty works as Paul confronts the city. This is the cross verses the cults.

Let us see how Athens effected Paul. It says that it aroused his spiritual interests. In Paul's day everything was alive and the buildings were all marble and gold glittered from one end of the city to the other. Statues were every­where and it was absolutely breathtaking. Imagine walking in that city and being overwhelmed by the wonder of the culture and the arts, the wonder of the architecture and everything that was there.

Verse 16, “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.” That was his only comment. Because he could see beyond the superficial, he had the ability to look beyond the cultural facade and see the reality of men’s hearts. There is not one line in Paul’s writings about the architecture.

Renan, the French atheist said, "That ugly little Jew abused Greek art by describing those statues as idols.” Here was a man who was indifferent to the things that usually pre-occupy us. We usually focus only on the façade, the outside. But Paul sees things with spiritual eyes. 1 Samuel 16: 7 says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” How do you see this city? We too should recognize the many men that are damned to eternity.

That's what hurt Paul. He didn't get real excited about the superficial things. In Revelations 3:17 we have some insight on how Jesus looks at churches. The Lord says to the lukewarm church, “You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” Our Lord saw the church at Laodicea with spiritual eyes.

When Paul walked into Athens, he saw two things. One, verse 16: full of idols. Two, verse 23, “for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.” In spite of all their gods, they still were not satisfied!

How do you see your city? Do you see it like Paul saw Athens? Our people here have filled our city with idols to imaginary deities and they are lost. Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives above the city of Jerusalem, and you know that Jesus cried and said in Matthew 23:37, “Oh Jerusalem, Jeru­salem. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Paul also saw the people of Athens being lost. What do you see?

Two, Paul hated idolatry because it steals the glory of God. Paul said, I'm preaching Christ, the obedience of the faith for the sake of His name, for the sake of His glory. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 Paul says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 2 Cor. 4:15 tells you, “For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.”

How did Paul look at the city? One, he saw that all these men were lost. Two, he saw that they did not give glory to God. There's a third thing that Paul did. Verse 17, “Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.” He preached to the Jews and Gentiles and then he went to the marketplace. He gave the Judaism background and then put Christ in that context. He also gave the Gentile context and fit Christ in that.

How do you win the world? Well, you just go out there and you find just whoever's around and you just tell them about Jesus Christ. Paul just took off and he was preaching in the market­place. All the towns in those times had a center place, maybe a large court, the public buildings were there, the temples were there and around this big area would be a colonnade full of small shops and farmers would sell their crops.

And so Paul, after he finished at the synagogue, he slid into the agora and he talked to anybody who came across his path. It says at the end of verse 18, “He preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.” Now they had a real hang-up on the resurrection when he went to the synagogue and preached about a dead, resurrected Messiah. Now in Athens they had a hang-up on resurrection, so he preached on resurrection.

How could Paul ever have an effect on a city like Athena? Well, he wasn't alone, the power of God was in him. And look what happens. He affected Athens first with contempt. Verse 18, “Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say? Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.”

The Epicureans got their name from Epicurus who was a philosopher in Athens from 400 years before. Epicureans believed that everything happened by chance. There was no real reason for anything and nobody was in charge. Second thing, death was the end of everything. Three, they believed in all the gods but the gods were remote and didn't care. And fourthly, they believed that pleasure is the main purpose in life.

On the other hand you had the Stoics, who were the nice guys. They weren't out each for themselves. They believed, first, that everything was God. The trees were God, the dirt was God, they were God, and the buildings were God, in other words pantheism. If everything is God, nothing is God. Secondly, everything is the will of God. No matter what happens, everything is the will of God. They were fatalists.

And so these two groups run into Paul. They said in verse 18, you have picked up bits and pieces of philosophy and religion and slapped it all together and now you are trying to pawn it off as knowledge. So they mocked him. You always hear that Christianity is not even reasonable. That is what happened to Jesus in John 7:15, “Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”

But Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:18-19, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” Verse 20, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So the first group mocked and there have always been mockers.

It says in the middle of verse 18, "Others said, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.” Whatever their assumption of foreign gods was, they didn't listen very well. But they were curious in terms of questioning. And they were looking for something new. This was interesting for them.

Verse 19-21, “And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean. 21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” The Areopagus was the name of the court.

And there are a lot of people like that in our world today, intellectualism is a god. They bow to the god of the mind. Paul said to the Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” In 2 Timothy 2:16 he says, “But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.”

So Paul gets up there in verse 22 and he preaches through verse 31 on God, the person of God, Christ and the resurrection. So there was contempt, questioning, and some curiosity and fourthly some conversion, some people got saved. Look at verse 34, “However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.”

The beauty of the gospel reaches the most important people of Athens and the least important, the common woman. Ii is so beautiful that two people at both ends of the spectrum were saved in the same sermon. That's the power of the gospel to bridge the gap. But before the conversions ever happened there were the same old responses. Verse 32, “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”

So here Paul preaches the resurrection and they laugh at him. That is nothing new. Remember in Acts 2:13 they laughed and they said, - Oh, you guys are drunk. And in Acts 26:8 Paul told Agrippa, “Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?” Look at the answer in verse 24, “Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”

In the last days in which we live we can expect more of this. Jude 1:17-19 says, “Beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.” There were not only mockers but there were also questioners.

Verse 32, "Others said, “We will hear you again on this matter!” You know that that is just as deadly as mocking the gospel. That is the same as in Acts 24: 25, “Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” Hebrews 3:8 says, “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness.” Delaying is rejecting, believe in Jesus, before you are too late.

But then there were some curious on that occasion and look what Paul did in verse 33, “So Paul departed from among them.” Paul left to see the response. Verse 34, “However, some men joined him and believed.” Here you have the conversion. And one was a member of the Areopagus court and one was just a woman who was not any­thing particularly special in the world. But she was special to God.

Do you know that our nation still worships Athenia, the deification of the human mind? They worship Demiter, mother earth, and they call it ecology. They worship Zeus, the god of force and power. They worship Bacchus and Remor, the gods of lust. And we still have our Epicureans, existentialists, materialists and heathenisms. We have our Stoics. They're the ethical society talking about brotherhood and helping the poor and God is in you and you are God yourself. Let us not be influenced by Satan the deceiver, be like Paul, bringing light to a dark world. How about you? Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Mar 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170312 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/vylt0qvv imblog

Acts 17:4-9, 12-15

When Adam sinned it was a twofold problem, Adam and the whole human race not only fell and became cursed but the earth itself is also cursed. So when you put a cursed man in a cursed system, he is going to get along in that system pretty well. Only when you apply righteousness that you will cause disturbance. And that is why the truth of God, throughout history, will always turn man's world upside down.

Now, throughout God's redemptive history, God has sent people to do that to worldly system. And they were sent to smash, head on, into man's system and show that it was wrong. From man's viewpoint, his system is right-side up, but from God's viewpoint, it is upside down. From man's viewpoint, a Christian turns the system upside down. From God's viewpoint, the Christian turns the system right-side up.

God has used men and women, individuals, small groups and larger groups. People are the vehicle that throw the worldly system into chaos. Righteous people running into an unrighteous system always create waves. Now in Acts 17 we meet a few of these people. Acts 17: 6 characterized Paul, Silas and Timothy with these words, “These that have turned the world upside down.”

These people turned the world upside down because of five things that are illustrated in the text, One is courage, second is content, third is converts, fourth is conflict, which will happen when the first three happen, and fifth is concern, and that is the motivation that makes it all happen. Let us review the first two. The biblical definition of courage is confidence in God.

If you are hesitant to witness, or to do anything - you just do not have a proper perspective of God. Let us see now how confident Paul was. He was on his second missionary journey and he was pursing the plan as God has directed him, which was to go to Thessalonica, in verse 1, "and there was the synagogue of the Jews there." Verse 2, “and Paul, as his manner was, went into them.” This first shows great courage because he was attacked in most every synagogue.

He had confidence in God, if God puts him up to it, then He will not forsake him in the middle of it. He had to go the Jewish synagogue because he had to oppose the existing religious system to bring those Jews to a knowledge of Christ. We jumped back and forth between Thessalonica and Berea, because they are parallels. And we learned that courage is based on trusting God, confessing sin and thanking Him in advance.

Now, the second thing that we see here in a man who affects the world is content. So, it wasn't just Paul's courage, it was what he said. Many Christians say that they are living witnesses at work. Nobody ever got to heaven by watching somebody. You got to say it, sooner or later. You have to open your mouth, and something has to come out that relates to truth of God that you can proclaim and defend.

As Christians we need to know the Word of God, so we can give an answer to people. Notice that Paul, in verse 2, for three Sabbath days, reasoned with the Thessalonians out of the Scriptures. Reasoning really means that he answered questions. Verse 3, "And he took the Old Testament and opened and showed from the Old Testament text, "that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead.”

Both Isaiah 53 and Psalms 22 show that. So Paul said at the end of verse 3, “Jesus, whom I preach, is that Messiah.” So, he did an Old Testament study and then said, "Christ fulfills it," and he did this on three occasions on the Sabbath day. Reasoning implies that the mind is involved. This cannot be an emotional response. The Gospel has to be absolutely factually clear to them.

He did the same thing in Berea but the Jews there reacted very different. Why? Acts 17:11 says, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” They wanted to know where you can find the content of what Paul spoke about in the Old Testament.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” Paul knew the Word and there is no shortcut. But no one can completely master the Bible. You can get the principles, but the study never ends. It is possible to know how to save a drowning person in the lifesaving class. But can you save a drowning person when the ship goes down, and you are in the ocean?

How can we know the Word? One, confess your sin, because if there's unconfessed sin in your life, you have a hindrance to knowing the Word, 1 Peter 2:1. Second thing, always study the Word, there's no shortcut. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God.” Third, make the Word come alive in your own life, apply it to whatever you do. Not just in your head, but in your actions. Experience is the best teacher. And fourth, share it. The best way to learn the Word is to tell somebody else.

Now, the third thing that makes somebody who really affects the world, is having converts. When you start seeing other people come to Christ, then you know that God is using you. Why? Because you're multiplying the influence, right? Every Christian should see converts. Well, it may be that you plant, it may be you water, but it will be God who controls it all and who gives the increase.

Jesus promised that every Christian was going to be productive. Listen to John 15:16. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” John 15:5-6, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered.” So, converts are part of the fruit.

Now, you cannot do it alone. You have to reproduce, that is what it means to have converts. Paul was so effective because he went into town and people believed him. You have influenced the world when you effect other people. Verse 4, ‘And some of them were persuaded.” Paul presented an airtight presentation of Christ which was used by the Holy Spirit to bring them to salvation. Paul persuaded them, as it were, against their will to believe.

Now, in Berea, the attitude of the Jews was totally different, they were waiting to believe. All they wanted to do was to consult their Old Testament and see if it was true. Verse 11, “they searched the Scriptures daily" and so in verse 12, “therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.” Bereans believed right away but the Thessalonians had to be persuaded.

So, they had a harvest down there and the church in Berea was born. What is interesting is that you do not hear another word about Berea in the bible, but you hear a lot about Thessalonica. And Thessalonica became the most beloved church for Paul. And of all the churches that are written to in the New Testament, they seem to be the most like Christ wanted the church to be.

This happened to prove that salvation is the equalizer. It doesn't matter what you were before you were saved. At the moment of salvation, the issue is what you do with the spiritual resources that become yours. People say, “Well, so and so, before he was saved, he was into dope and Satan, so we can't expect much from him.” However the truth is that you can expect just as much as you can expect out of the finest guy that ever was, when he gets saved. Because the resources from God are the same, right?

The most common reason that people will not believe is that they do not investigate the Scripture. The bible covers hundreds of years of history. It covers all of the revelation of God, who made the universe. It covers spiritual reality. How did you ever come to such a conclusion? Well, you know, I read it a couple times. I was in a class somewhere in college and this guy said it was a lot of baloney. They did not really read it.

People who make the world different are the people who multiply the holiness in the world by leading somebody to Jesus Christ. How? Here is a pattern. One, recognize your obligation. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Acts 1:8, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me.” In John 15:26-27, Jesus said that the Father wants to give testimony by the Spirit through you, to the world.

To have the truth and not to share it feels like a crime against humanity, and against God. So, recognize your obligations. Secondly, accept the results. They are not always positive. Do not say, “I witnessed and nothing happened. I'm not doing that anymore.” And the more you do it, the harder Satan is going to resist it. And the closer we get to the coming of Christ, the harder men's hearts are going to get.

Thirdly, know your power source, and whatever the negative reactions are, your power will overcome them. The Holy Spirit will do the convicting, the Holy Spirit will do the empowering, and you don't need to worry about the negative. Recognize your obligation, recognize that the results are not always positive and know that you are given power and fourthly, remember His promise. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”

So courage, content, and converts are affecting the world. And out of those three, will come number four: conflict. If you have courageous effort combined with the right message and people get saved because of your faithfulness, there is going to be conflict. Why? Because you are creating holiness in an unholy environment. And as such you are causing trouble, but that is what God wants you to do.

In fact, Paul knew it was coming because he was already gone by the time they came to get him. Verse 5, “But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.” The thing that they envied was the Gentiles, who had been offered the Messiah on an equal basis with the Jews.

They knew Paul and the others were staying with Jason, so here come these people to Jason's house, “And they sought to bring them out to the people." But God is way ahead of them. Paul, Silas and Timothy are gone. Just Jason is there. Verse 6, “But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

The first charge is a general revolution. The second thing they charged them with is "treason against Rome." Verse 7, “Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus.” They crucified Jesus for claiming to be a king. Remember Pilate questioned Him, "Are you a king?" And the chief priests answered in John 19:15, "No, We have no king but Caesar.”

Men do not like to hear that Jesus is King. Verse 8-9, “And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.” These rulers really acted wisely. It could've really exploded, if they didn't get rid of Paul. But they were afraid that if they punished him, that he had won enough converts who would start a riot.

So they made Jason post a bond, to guarantee that Paul and Silas and Timothy wouldn't trouble them anymore. So, they had a guarantee for the good behavior and quick exit of Paul, Silas and Timothy. Verse 10, “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.”

Paul described this in 1 Thessalonians 2:17, “We brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavor to more abundantly to see your face with great desire." But Paul says in verse 18, "Satan hindered us." This whole setup, with the security bond guaranteed by Jason - meant that there was no way he could get back in there, as long as those magistrates were there.

So, conflict came and it was a good thing. The church in Thessalonica became the best church. But Paul couldn't even get back to see them. They went to Berea and what happened there? Verse 13, “But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds.”

So, Paul had to leave them again. Verse 14, “Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there.” Why? Paul's great concern for new believers is discipleship. Verse 15, “So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.”

These guys that changed the world had a concern. This was not concern for the lost, although everyone should have that. But they had another concern. Look at verse 16, “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.” Paul was concerned with all the idolatry.

Paul saw that God was not being glorified. The greatest motive that any Christian should always have is to glorify God. Psalm 23:3, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Paul didn't see the worldly glory of Athens, what he saw was that God was not being honored. What about you? How do you react to secularism, which does not believe in God’s authority, everywhere? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Mar 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170305 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/w8aabw2c imblog

Acts 17:1-9, 10-15

Here in Acts 17, the Apostle Paul along with Silas, have just been released by God from jail in Philippi through an earthquake. The church in Philippi has been established beginning with Lydia with her household and the jailer with his household. So there is a little group of believers there. And Luke remained with them. So Paul and Silas and Timothy left Philippi after having been beaten with rods and are bruised and bloodied.

Through it all, Jesus Christ had been glorified and consequently they rejoiced. Anybody else might feel discouraged but not these men. As they left Philippi, Acts 17:1 says, “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.” Here we see, a tremendous undaunted spirit that characterized Paul.

Listen to what Paul and Silas were able to do at Thessalonica, Acts 17:6 says, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” It's amazing that anybody could affect the world so much that the people said, “They are turning it upside down.” There are Christians who live their whole life and have absolutely no effect on anybody. And here were two people of whom the world said, "They have turned us upside down.”

And this rumor has made its way to Thessalonica, which is over a hundred miles away. Paul and Silas disturbed the comfort of sinners. And God always provided those kind of people. Elijah always hassled King Ahab and his wife Jezebel because they were bad. Ahab said to him in 1 Kings 18:17-18, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals.”

In Acts 21:28-29, the Jews are “crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.) It is all fake news.

What is it that makes a man shake the world? Well, the characteristics are right here in Acts 17. It is implied in the text. As we watch these men operate, focus not in what they say, but why they do it. What were the principles operating in their ministry that made it a success? There are five things that made these men who turned the world upside down. The five are: courage, content, converts, conflict and concern.

Now, we are going to look at two passages together, going through Thessalonica up to verse 9 and then straight on to Berea. We will compare verses to see spiritual principles that made these men, who turned the world upside down. Now we begin with Thessalonica, in the first nine verses, and Berea, in verses 10 to 15. They were very different towns.

Thessalonica had become a famous city of 200,000 people and it was the capital of Macedonia. Three great rivers came through it and converged into the sea and so it was an important port. And the Egnation Highway went through the middle of it, which made it easy for armies and everybody travelling east and west to move through. That city is still the most important port city in Greece and it is now named Salonica.

On the other hand, Berea was totally insignificant. Approximately 50 miles, south west of Thessalonica, an out-of-the-way place that no one would have known about had not the Apostle Paul gone there. And so, you have two different cities, one on the highway and one on the byway. But you have the same thing going on in both places that illustrate to us the principles that make a man that turns the world upside down.

Principle No. 1, courage. We will see it in Thessalonica and in Berea. We have seen that courage was a part of the early church spiritual gift. And we too need to have that right now in the world. We saw from the very beginning how they would go into a town and they would run into opposition, and immediately they would become courageous. And the more pressure, the more courage they had. And the more courage, the more dynamic the message became. And that is needed everywhere in the world today.

In Act 20:22, Paul says, “Now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there.” He knew it was all going to be bad, he just didn't know how badly. Verse 23-24, “except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. 24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

No person ever really affects the world for Christ who doesn't have the courage of his conviction and the courage of his calling. You can be convicted about many things, but if you do not dare to tell somebody about it, it doesn't do any good. You need not only the courage of your conviction, but the courage to carry out the calling God gave you. Only courageous people will make a difference.

Look at Acts 17: 1 and see courage illustrated. Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis, now that was 33 miles from Philippi, they went to Apollonia that was 30 miles from Amphipolis. And then they went to Thessalonica, which was 37 miles from Apollonia. The significance of that is that they had minds set on Thessalonica “where there was a synagogue of the Jews.”

And we have seen that every time they went to the synagogue, they got persecuted by the Jews. But look at verse 2, “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them.” Now that shows courage. He had just gotten over terrible pain and agony in Philippi. Now he goes to Thessalonica and he goes right back into the synagogue again. Why? Because that was God's calling on him.

In spite of all the pain, he still loved Israel. He had an obedient spirit to the Lord. The Spirit was leading him to go to the synagogue. And he went right in there, as his manner was, he never thought about the pain that he was going to have to endure. He did the same thing in Berea. Verse 10, “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.”

When they sent him away by night, they were trying to get him out of trouble in Thessalonica. We will discuss that later. But what happened when he got to Berea about 50 miles away? What did he do? He went right into the synagogue of the Jews. It didn't matter to him one bit that he just jumped out of one fire into the next. He did what God called him to do.

There are three steps to that kind of courage. Step No. 1, trust God. David was in trouble all the time. And what does he say in Psalm 27:1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?" When God is on your side, you do not have to fear. Verse 2, “When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.” Then he says in verse 14, "Wait on the Lord, be of good courage." Let it be God’s battle.

Any kind of courage has to depend on your theology. An inadequate doctrine of God, will make you a coward. Well, how can I trust Him?" You have to know Him. How? Read the Bible, dig into the text. The better you know Him, the better you trust Him, right? The better you trust Him, the better you're going to be able to enter into battle with confidence and not fear.

Second step, confess your sin. If you go into battle with known sin in your life, there will be not much victory. If you go out to witness to the world and you are living a sinful life you will not be believed. David is saying in Psalm 7:3, 5, “O Lord my God, if I have done this, let the enemy pursue me and overtake me.” Verse 8, “Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity within me.” Verse 17, “And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.”

Now, in Psalm 7:10 it says, "My defense is of God who saves the upright in heart.” So, when you are in battle against the enemy, you better be sure, Number 1, you trust God; Number 2, you confess sin and you are pure. Remember the breastplate of righteousness in Ephesians 6:16? If you go out to battle with a hole in your breastplate of personal righteousness, Satan will hurt you every time.

In the midst of all it, thirdly, thank Him in advance. Do you know what that does for your attitude when you go into battle and say, "God, I'm going out there boldly and I am going to say what I need to say and I am going to thank you for the victory that hasn't been won yet." Look at Acts 28:15, “Paul thanked God and took courage.”

Second thing, a lot of people have courage, but they don't have content. You need to speak the truth. Paul was never offensive personally. He was offensive because of what he said. You have to offend people to make them realize the gravity of their situation. Read Romans 1 where he talks about sin. And then in Romans 2, he talks about why Jews and Gentiles feel so secure and leaves them stripped, naked and lost. And in Romans 3 he offers them Jesus Christ, our Savior.

The Gospel has to offend sinners. Romans 9:33 says, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense.” In 1 Peter 2:7 it says, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” And what stone is it? It is the rock of offense. And who is that? Jesus Christ. And people have been stumbling over Him and been offended by Him ever since the truth in Old Testament that He was coming.

So what was the issue for the Jews in Thessalonica? The issue was who the Messiah is and the fact that Jesus died. Paul says in Romans 11:9 and Romans 1:23 that the cross to the Jews is a big stumbling block. Verse 2-3, “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and showing that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”

Paul reasoned with them for three Sabbath days in a row. The word “reasoned" is a word from which we get words like "dialog." It indicates not just a formal sermon. He allowed for questions and answers. The imperfect tense indicates a repeated questioning for a long time. Answering questions is a good way to learn. Christianity is very defensible. This became his pattern in the synagogue.

Acts 18:4, “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks." Paul used the mental approach in dialog. Salvation is then a mental thing, not emotional. You must perceive the truth. Paul used reason and he persuaded them in their own minds that these things were true, then the Spirit had the truth to use to open their hearts. He was defending Christianity.

True evangelism is a defensible presentation of Christianity. It is being able to listen to all questions and then give the right answers. Where did he get his information? Look at verse 2, “He reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” He was an expository preacher. But he didn't have the New Testament. That's right, he taught from the Old Testament that Christ needs to suffer and die. Look at Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.

Now, look at Berea. Paul gave them the same message. Verse 11 says, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” Look at the difference between Thessalonica and Berea. In verse 4 it says, "And some of them were persuaded.” But here, in verse 12 it says, “Therefore many of them believed.”

What was the difference between the two groups? One of them Paul had to persuade into the truth. The other one was ready and their hearts were open. They searched it out in Scriptures all by themselves. When the persecution came in Berea, it came from people who were from Thessalonica. The difference in their character was just their open-mindedness and sensitivity to the truth and not being prejudicial.

How can I have content like that that can make me turn the world upside down?" First, confess and repent of all sin. "Why?" 1 Peter 2:1-2, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” Two, study hard. There is no shortcut. 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Three, personalize the Word. Translate what is academic into your own life. The things that you teach effectively are the things that you have learned from your own life. Experience is the best teacher. Romans 12:2 says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Trials and tribulations are there in our life so we grow and we can use that experience to teach others. Fourth: Share it. There's no better way to learn than to teach. So anywhere you are you can witness to others about why Jesus is your savior.

The Gospel we preach must have two things. It must have qualities that can be open to public questioning. That is Thessalonica. And it must have qualities that can be opened to private research. That is Berea. Can you present a message to this world and defend that message biblically? Secondly, can you present such a message that sends them to the Scripture and find its truth there? With the Holy Spirit you can do anything, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170226 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/gr5qbcx7 imblog

Acts 16:19-40

Acts 16 will really leave an impression on all of us. Remember Lydia and her marvelous liberation? And then the incident about the woman possessed by a demon. And now we come to the third incident, the story about a Philippian jailer and how God reached out to him through an earthquake. The ultimate question that a man can ever ask is “What must I do to be saved?" And the only answer is given, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And the ultimate question is, “What is life all about, where am I going and what am I doing here.” Often when a man comes to the place of terrible distress over his own life, only then is he ready to hear the message of salvation. Everybody who is not saved, is looking for meaning in life. For some, it is money, for others it may be prestige. For some maybe it is a new car or another wife. Maybe for others it is sex. Maybe it's athletics. For some people it is alcohol; for others it is drugs, but nothing really will satisfy.

We are traveling through the book of Acts with a great missionary team made up of Paul, Silas, Luke and Timothy. Now, they and the gospel have arrived at Philippi, the beachhead in Europe. And God directed them down by the riverside and they met some women there who were worshipping the true God. And God directed them to one woman in particular by the name of Lydia. And God opened Lydia's heart and she and her whole household were saved.

And immediately when God begins a work, Satan begins a counterwork. They ran into another woman who was a demon-possessed girl. In verses 16 to 18 it records that she followed Paul around for days and she tried what Satan loves to do, to infiltrate. She said, Oh, they are telling you the truth. You ought to believe them. Satan will say anything to get into the organization and then he will begin telling falsehood.

Paul didn't like this, so in verse 18 he just turned around, and didn't even talk to the girl; he just talked to the spirit in her. He said, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And the spirit came out the same hour." So, the enslaved lady was instantly freed. But the reaction was typical. Verse 19, “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.”

Now, that reaction sets up what happens in verses 19 through 40. Satan's infiltration plan failed because Paul just cast out the demon. But if Satan cannot infiltrate, he has another alternative called persecution. And what happens when the church gets persecuted? It just grows. You see, the blood of the martyrs has always been the seed of the church. But Satan can't resist persecuting them even though he knows it doesn't work. Persecution always results in blessing. They multiply. Infiltration is what destroys.

What will bring positive results from a negative situation? Now here it is suffering persecution. This girl was essentially doing what all the rest of those fortune tellers and palm readers do; she was making a fortune. But she had some agents who were taking most of it, while she was only getting the residual. They didn't care about the girl. They were not happy that she is now delivered from that devil.

They realized that they lost their income. Now, we know that it is all about the money. Remember Mark 5 when Jesus came to Gadarenes where there was a maniac who had a legion of demons. And Jesus cast all the demons out of him. None of the people in town thanked Him. And after Jesus sent the demons into a herd of pigs who went right off a cliff and drowned, the reaction of the people was: “Hey go away, you killed our pigs.”

1 Timothy 6:10 is very explicit when it says that money can get into the way of spiritual perception, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” It doesn't say that money is evil. Mark 10:23-25, “Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 24 And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Well, Acts 16:19 says “they dragged them into the marketplace.” This is a switch for Paul. Back in Acts 8:3, Paul dragged Christians hauling them out of houses, both men and women. But here we see how Paul looks at persecution. Actually, for him it was an opportunity. This place was the big city center, with all the courts and the temple in this big marketplace. Verse 20, “And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city.”

Every Roman colony in a Greek city, was given two men who had supreme authority. So they said to the praetors, "These men, being Jews" and you could just feel the contempt. Anti-Semitism was a big thing in the Roman world. It is marvelous that God had just the right men who were of the right nationality with all the right citizenship and all the right background to do exactly what He wanted them to do.

They were Jews, which added to the beating, which added to the jailing, which resulted in a man's conversion, all planned by God. Verse 21 says, “And they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” That is correct. According to Cicero and Tertullian, the Romans had a law that no Roman could believe in or follow the teachings of a religion that had not been approved by the Senate.

They got into this mess in the first place by being bold. So first, persecution opens up new opportunities. In Acts 4 they preached so they were put in prison but because of that they were able to preach to the Sanhedrin. They were released and told not to preach again. But they preached again and people got saved. Every time they did it boldly, the Lord brought results.

Verse 22, “Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.” Now, the local police carried with them, for the purpose of punishment, a pile of rods. This was a Roman punishment but without a trial or anything. Do you know that Paul received punishment like that three times in his life? Verse 23, “And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.”

Verse 24, “Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.” According to archeology, the stocks that they used in those days had a series of holes that got wider and wider and the idea was to spread the legs of the individual as far as they could go in order to induce cramping. And so after all the beating was done, their legs were stretched to increase their suffering.

But that didn't bother Paul. He was in prison often and later on in his life in another prison he wrote in Philippians 1:12-14, “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Secondly, persecution led to singing praises. We for sure have never suffered anything like this. Look at their attitude in the midst of this. Verse 25, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” They wanted the prisoners to hear them, they were giving a witness. On what basis could they praise God? Because God never changes. If God is worth praising right now, He is worth praising anytime at any moment.

A Christian is defeated, when he begins to focus on his own problems. Christians often say where is God? Or, what's happening in my life? Has God forsaken me? If you just are willing to be patient and wait, God is perfecting you. And so they are there singing praises while in pain. Remember 1 Peter 5:10, “But may the God of all grace, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

The Christian life, depends upon your knowledge of God. You can base your whole Christian attitude on who you really believe God is. When you understand who God is, then you can look everything else in the right perspective. God doesn't change. They never let their problems alter their theology. So they were suffering purposefully and they knew it. They were just singing away, waiting for God to do what He was going to do.

How can you have a song in your heart? Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be filled with the Spirit” then you will “be singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” That comes out of a Spirit-controlled life, but even when you are Spirit-filled, you are still going to have problems. However with the Spirit you are able to go through them with victory. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

God always uses what He needs to use to accomplish what He wants. It was like that with me. God speaks to some and they listen. Others He has to beat up through all kinds of trials and only then they pay attention. Verse 26, “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”

Now, that is a specific earthquake localized right in the jail. And the effect of it was that it opened all the doors and opened all the chains. Now, that's amazing. Do you realize that when you go out to share Christ with people that God is on your side? And when the time comes when God is going to reach the prepared heart through you, it will happen. God just shook that jail till all the doors flew open and all the chains fell off.

Verse 27, “And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.” If jail doors ever did all fly open, what prisoner would stay inside? And so the jailer takes out his sword to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had fled. Verse 28, “But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”

We don't know why they all did not leave, except that God kept them there. They had been hearing Paul and Silas singing praises to God and all the sudden God moved this earthquake. Verse 29, “Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.” Now who is in charge? Look how God can reverse the situation that fast. Salvation is a sovereign work, it is the work of God.

God had done all the preparation. The jailer knew that he was a lost man. He knew that he was sinner and he fell down before Paul and Silas. Salvation is the work of God and we are just around to supply the gospel. Verse 30, “And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” He didn't say, how did this happen? God had convicted him to that point already supernaturally.

Verse 31, “So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” He was ready, nothing stood in his way. That is the right question and that is the right answer. Verse 32, “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.” Then they taught him what Jesus Christ did and who He was, and they taught everybody in his house also.

Does that teach that if a man gets saved, his whole house is automatically saved? No. They all heard the gospel and believed. Verse 34 says, “Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.” Salvation is by believing. Not by going to church or reading the Bible.

This guy was really saved. How do we know? Verse 33, “And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.” Not only did he believe in his heart, but he also showed his commitment to Christ, by washed their stripes at that hour of the night. He was transformed when God changes his life. Look how he suddenly became hospitable.

Verse 34, “Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them.” This jailer puts them in his house, cleans them up and he feeds them. He had the fruit of salvation. And he also rejoiced! Do you know that a few moments before he was contemplating suicide? God alone can transform a man that fast. Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Paul's desire was to take care of believers. So God had a plan. Look at verse 35-36, “And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go. 36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”

Verse 37, “But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.” It was forbidden under Roman law for the government to inflict a wound on a Roman citizen. Verse 38-39, “And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. 39 Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city.”

They could be fired and that really scared them. But this was good for Christians. Actually Paul is saying, if you touch a Christian I will report you to Rome. He came back to Philippi later on and they didn't dare to lift a finger. And he left Luke there to care for them. Verse 40, “So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.” God really coordinates everything! Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170219 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ig7lps4m imblog

Acts 16:16-18

We are now in Acts 16 and the gospel has just reached Europe. It started in Jerusalem, then to Judea, Samaria and it moved into Asia when a church was founded in Antioch and spread to Galatia. And it is now moving to Europe, going further west. And in Acts 16:11, Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke, who is just picked up here, set sail from Troas on the Aegean Sea across to Neapolis, which was the port of the city of Philippi.

Now the Holy Spirit focuses on the inevitable dichotomy that always occurs when the gospel is presented: some people believe and others are influenced by Satan. And we are presented with two women, one named Lydia, and a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. These two women really reflect a picture of every person alive. Because everybody is either in the category of Lydia or in the category of those enslaved by Satan.

Let's look at verse 13, “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.” They were Jewish and Jewish proselytes. Women have always played an important part in God's work as well as in Satan's work.

Last week we began to study the liberated woman, Lydia. Jesus said in John 8:36, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” This assumes that there are people who think they have freedom, but in reality they don't. The only true freedom is available in Jesus Christ. There is no freedom in eliminating God or turning Him into someone that responds to all your wishes. Lydia was a liberated person because of what Jesus Christ did in her life.

Let us look at her in verse 14, “Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” She was a Gentile who had a prepared heart. So God brings along Paul and Silas and they pour in the proper information and God has what He needs to open her heart. And that's exactly what happened.

She was saved. She was born again and she was justified. And the results was verse 15, “she and her household were baptized.” She had a tremendous personal testimony that had an effect on her house such that they all were saved and baptized too. Then verse 15 continued, “she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.”

When Lydia was truly liberated, she became preoccupied with taking care of those strangers who had preached the gospel. She really persuaded them until they said they would stay. Comforting of people, being hospitable, being generous by feeding people and caring for people and loving them is a tremendous ministry. And God knows that this type of ministry has great potential.

The word "hospitality" literally means "the love of strangers”. And this is a great tool for evangelism and fellowship. In Leviticus 19:33-34 God says, “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” And remember, love is not an emotion; love is a command.

Love is a principle of self-sacrifice and service. We are to love strangers. The Jews had a saying: There are six things, the fruit of which a man eats in this world, and by which his horn is raised in the world to come. In other words, six things will bring reward in the end. And they had a list and number one was hospitality to a stranger. They knew that God honored that particular grace.

In the ancient world hospitality was very important. The inns in those days were bad, filthy and expensive. And they were often houses of prostitution. So Christians had a great opportunity to make their homes available, not only for the comfort of the saints, but for the evangelization of the unsaved. In 1 Timothy 5:10, they had a list of widows who were worthy of serving. One of the qualifications was “if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet.” That meant hospitality!

In 1 Timothy 3:2 are requirements for a pastor: blameless, a one-woman man, temperate, sober-minded, good behavior, given to hospitality. So his home should be open all the time to anybody who would need it. And, women, there is no greater ministry than the love that you share to a Christian brother or sister by allowing them to be in your home and for them to see what Christian life is all about.

The Old Testament shows us some hospitality principles. Now, Abraham had some visitors like nobody ever had. Genesis 18:1, “Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.” Now, this is what we call a "theophany," or a pre-incarnate appearance of God. The Lord appeared in a human body. We know that because He ate. Now, this is like the reincarnation of Christ, only before and only for a temporary time.

Verse 2-5, “So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him (God came with two angels) and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you have said.”

Abraham showed real hospitality. Get under the tree, I will get you some water, have some bread. And listen to what Abraham did in verse 6-7, “So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it.”

Sarah was baking in the kitchen, and Abraham cooked a fatted calf. Verse 8, “So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.” Now, that's loving hospitality. The Scripture indicates then that the two angels left and went to Sodom. And when they got to Sodom, they found hospitality in the house of Lot. In the meantime, the Lord stayed there in this house. We all should be hospitable because you just don't know who will show up.

Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” But someone greater than angels are coming for dinner. Jesus said in Matthew 25: 35, “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.” Verse 40, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

Do you know who could come to your house more important than angels? A Christian. Are Christians higher than angels? 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” If a Christian comes to your house, that is in the spirit of Christ Himself. Matthew 10:40 says, “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

In Romans 12:13, it says you have to show hospitality. In I Peter 4:9, it says, “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.” Lydia was a lady who showed hospitality and this was the evidence of the genuineness of her salvation. She was instantly liberated to be exactly what God wanted a woman to be, to make a home where she could lodge strangers to meet their physical and spiritual needs.

Let us look now at the enslaved woman in verses 16 to 18, “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.”

This is a sad contrast. Now, in the world's view, she may have seemed like a liberated woman. Why? Because in the first place, she wasn't influenced by religion. In the second place, she wasn't tied to some man having to serve him at home. She was out there doing her own thing, making money and creating issues. But her biggest problem was that she was enslaved by Satan.

So the church began to grow. Lydia and her household all got saved. Now who do you think is going to retaliate? Satan. It's absolutely inevitable. He is not omnipresent, but he is fast. He gets there as they went to prayer. “A certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.” The literal Greek translation is that she had a “python spirit.”

In Greek mythology, Pytho was at the foot of Mount Parnassus and is a dragon. This dragon guarded the oracles of Delphi. The term "oracle," means either a place where mediums consult demons or it means the revelation the demons give themselves. So the oracles at Delphi was a large temple where medium priestesses were conjuring up demons and giving out information.

The people really believed that their gods were alive. They believed in Apollo, Jupiter, Venus and Mars. They believed that Apollo spoke through the oracles at Delphi. And so the term python means any kind of medium contact with the god Apollo. This slave-girl was one of the thousands of priestesses from Delphi who would say something which was in reality information from a fallen angel or evil power.

That girl was just like a facade and demons talked through her. In fact that is often the way Satan works. He uses unbelievers and false teachers and false religions where they add or subtract from the Word of God and thereby millions are deceived. Scripture is the only infallible authority for a believer. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

This girl was making a fortune because everybody wants to know the future. As it says at the end of verse 16, she brought much profit to her masters. Well, here there is a clash of light and darkness. We saw it before in Cyprus on the first missionary journey. They started to preach the gospel and here came this magician. It's the same thing here. God moves and Satan counter-moves. He's been doing it all through history.

Anybody without Jesus Christ is in exactly the same position she was in. You say, but I know some good people who wouldn't do this. Listen, if you do not know Jesus Christ, according to Jesus in John 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.”

It is the same Satan doing all this. The only question is how he manifests himself in this case. This girl was a slave and so is every woman or man who does not know Jesus Christ. Look how Satan operates, he is very subtle. Verse 17, this girl now, has this demon speaking through her and she is crying out, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”

That is a true statement. So what is Satan doing speaking the truth? Actually he does it frequently. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 says, “For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” Satan has been doing much evil in the name of Jesus Christ for centuries.

That is what is so diabolical about cults. In eight out of ten things they are right and that is how people get attracted. They will speak just enough truth just to hook you, and then you are lost and damned by the error of their system. The people in town are going to think, hey, this girl must be part of Paul’s group. Can you see how subtle Satan is?

Satan gets people who say they are Christians when they are not. False teachers come in the church not by stating that they're false teachers. No, they state that they are the best and really legitimate and then they begin to propagate false doctrine. Satan is subtle and he always starts with infiltration. And if he cannot destroy the church from within then he will try with persecution.

She chose the phrase, "Most High God." The Gentiles would understand because that was their term for the God of Israel and it is also the Jews' own term, El Elyon, the God Most High. Then she said, “who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” We need to be careful not to put Satan's people in a place where they give testimony of Jesus Christ.

Christ never needs testimony from Satan. Verse 18, “And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.” Paul didn't like what she was doing and he felt sorry for her.

So Lydia sought to know God and she listened and God opened her heart. That is what we all need. How is your heart? During your lifetime God gives you the opportunity to choose. If you seek to know Him, and if you listen to His Word and respond when He opens your heart like Lydia, you shall be free forever. And there is nothing more important, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Feb 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170212 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ii7kolz5 imblog

Acts 16:11-15

The whole message is really about two women, a liberated woman and an enslaved one. So these two women that we are going to talk about are in opposite situations. One of them is godly and the other one is Satanic. And tonight we're going to talk about a lady called Lydia, who is the liberated lady. And next Sunday we will discuss the second one.

And really they are mirrors of every woman. For every woman fits either in to the Lydia category or in the category of the maid who had a spirit of divination. There are only two kinds of people in the world, liberated ones and enslaved ones. And that is the same for men, there are only two kinds of men in the world, liberated men and enslaved men.

For a while Paul and Silas on this the second missionary tour, must have felt that the Spirit of God was continually saying the word 'no'. Because no matter which direction they wanted to go they were stopped by the Holy Spirit. Paul and Silas started in Jerusalem and went north on the second missionary tour. They went to Galatia where Paul and Barnabas had come on their first tour.

The first time around Paul and Barnabas came through Paphos on the isle of Cyprus, but on this journey they came backwards to the churches that had already been founded at Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Antioch in the area known as Pisidia. They had strengthened the believers, because the priority in evangelism is to develop strong Christians who are able reproduce themselves.

Now it seemed very natural to progress west into an area known as Asia Minor. There were great cities there, Philadelphia, Sardis, Thyatira, Pergamum, Smyrna and Ephesus who really became strongholds for the gospel. But it says in Acts 16:6, "That the Holy Spirit forbid them to preach the Word in Asia." Now we don't know how He did that but it was done. Well that left them only one way to go.

Paul managed to wiggle through a narrow passage way between Bithynia and Asia and keep going like that. This is a great lesson for us to learn, when doors slam shut, keep on moving. That may be God’s test of your faithfulness and out of that test may grow your capacity to do the job that really needs to be done. So if you learn to be persistent, as they were, God will open doors to some marvelous things.

So they came to this little town called Troas. Now town was named Alexander Troas after Alexander the Great. It was a town that was ten miles away from the city of Troy and where the word Trojan horse comes from. It had been a free Greek city until Caesar Augustus made it a Roman Colony. This whole territory was famous. Helen of Troy, the great heroes of the Trojan War, Homer and Hippocrates, all came from that area.

Then God gave directions in verse 9, "A vision appeared to Paul. He saw a Macedonian man who said, come over into Macedonia and help us." Well that was the first step of the gospel moving into Europe. Now Macedonia is today called Greece. It was under the power of Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. At that time it was simply a Roman province with great cities like, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens and Corinth.

In verse 10 after the vision they left right away. Verses 11-12, “Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony.” And God provided a boat. Do you understand that God never asks somebody to do something without a means to do it?

Samothrace is this little island half-way between Troas and Neapolis. And Neapolis up here is the port of Philippi, which is ten miles inland. This island is a mountain coming out of the sea, "and the next day they proceeded to Neapolis,” then they walked to Philippi. That only took two days while the return trip took five days. So when God opens the door, the boat is ready and the winds are favorable.

And when they walked to Philippi, they met two women. Now these two women represent the two different categories, one was liberated and one was enslaved. It's amazing that all these women who are talking about liberation do not really understand what liberation is. The idea to have abortions whenever you want, to be free to fool around sexually with anybody, to act out blatant lesbianism, and to violate patterns of love and submission, is ridiculous.

That is not liberation. What they are really doing is exchanging one kind of human bondage for another worse kind. But down deep they soon discover that what they really want is the flight of the soul. They want the soul to be free to transcend the bondage that they will never transcend. That liberation is a mirror of the fact that people are still prisoners, they just are in different prison cells.

But here we are going to meet a liberated lady named Lydia. Her liberation was to be content with what God designed her to be. That is when you are truly free. Jesus defined it this way in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” A person can really be liberated through Jesus Christ, when he or she is liberated from sin, death, Satan and hell, Amen?

Now, let us look at this lady. Verse 12 continued, “And we were staying in that city for some days.” Now this city of Philippi was an important city of Macedonia. One of the reasons it was important was it was located on the Egnatian Highway, one of those massive Roman accomplishments, a road that was 490 miles long. It was an area where there was much traffic and trade and military movement built in about 146 B.C.

Well, the gospel landed there. Verse 12 says they just hung around for a few days waiting for Saturday, because that was the Sabbath. Paul went always to the synagogue of the Jews because they would have a hearing for him there and a place to speak because he was Jewish and a Pharisee. He also went to the Jews to win some to Christ so they could help him evangelize the Gentiles.

However in Philippi there was no synagogue. It took ten men to make a synagogue, but there weren't even ten Jews. So the gospel spread in Europe is going to begin with a bunch of women. In Christ there is neither male nor female in the sight of God. Verse 13, “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.”

Apparently there were not enough Jewish men to have a synagogue. And here were some women, with no men to lead them and no men to teach them. But they faithfully met anyway and they had a place of prayer. Maybe they just had a grove of trees, or maybe a little wall, we don't know, but they were accustomed to go down by the river. One of the things the Jews did in their worship was ceremonial cleansing.

This is one of the most beautiful stories of the liberation of women by Jesus Christ. Women at that time in the world, whether they were Greek women, Roman women or any pagan women, were looked upon as slaves. For example, if a man didn't like his breakfast he had a right to kill his wife without recourse. No woman had the right to change her religion apart from her husband.

One of the biggest problems of Christianity was this that in Christ there was no male and no female. A woman could come to Jesus Christ and be totally liberated independent of her husband’s desires. A lot of women were getting saved and these husbands were getting real uptight. In 1 Peter 3, Peter instructs saved women to win their unsaved husbands by living such a Godly life that they can't resist it.

Paul addressed this problem in 1 Cor. 7 when he talks about the unbeliever who can't deal with Christianity and finally just departs. And Paul says if he wants to depart let him depart. And it was all because of the liberation of women. Paul was raised a Pharisee, and you know what prayer had to recite? “Oh, God, I thank You that I am neither a Gentile, a slave or a woman.” Just imagine, for the first time here was a religion where a woman could choose totally independent from the desire of her husband.

Verse 14-15, “Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.”

Now her name is Lydia. Lydia is also the name of the area she came from. So she's Lydia from Lydia, an area in Asia Minor where the city of Thyatira was. That city was a very important place biblically because the church was placed there according to Revelation. And here was a Gentile lady who had become a God-fearer, she had turned to the God of Israel worshipping Him. Incidentally, Thyatira was famous for purple dye.

God loves an enterprising woman. Look at Proverbs 31. God wants a woman to be creative and enterprising as long as it never affects the responsibility she has to her husband and home. Verse 14 says first that this lady worshipped God. This is the beginning of her liberation. She was a slave to sin, to Satan, to hell to death and then she turned to the true God. She became a God-fearer, a Gentile who turns to God.

But she didn't do this independent of God. Romans 3:11 says, "No man seeks after God." God had drawn her and she was already seeking God. Now Jesus had lived, died, rose and ascended into heaven, the gospel was being delivered and she as a pagan, didn't know the gospel but she was seeking to know God. If there is a pagan who in his heart honestly seeks to know God because he was chosen, God will reveal Himself in the gospel to that individual.

Listen to John 7:17, Jesus said, “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” It is saying if there is a seeking heart God will never shut Himself off from that heart. Here is a seeking lady. And Paul, Silas, Luke and Timothy are wandering all over following the Holy Spirit just to get to this lady. That is God’s attitude towards a seeking heart.

And that is also God’s attitude in your Christian life. If you really want to know His will it is available. As God told Israel through Moses in Deuteronomy 4:29, “You will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Psalm 119:2 says, “Blessed are those who seek Him with the whole heart.” And read Hosea 6:3 that says, “Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.”

Second thing, she not only sought, she also listened, and she heard Paul. All people have ears but many don't hear. Jesus encountered many hypocrites, who didn't hear anything. They didn't see the truth when He stood in their presence. Matthew 13:12 says, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

And the implication is that without faith these hypocrites could not understand the truth, but this woman heard it with faith. Faith comes by hearing. And the actual Greek of that verse in Romans 10:17 is, “Faith comes by hearing a speech about Jesus.” We translate it faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. That is not entirely correct. Faith comes by hearing and hearing a speech about Jesus, Amen?

Third thing about her; this woman not only sought and she not only heard but then God opened her heart. Look at verse 14, “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” She put her faith in Christ. Salvation is of the Lord, that's what the Bible says. People say to me - don't you get discouraged if people don't respond? No, that's all up to God. He's the one who opens the heart.

In evangelism it is not about having a clever approach. One of the most important things in presenting the gospel is clarity of content. We often talk about evangelism like it's an emotional decision, it is not. It is God’s work in the heart of an individual. As you go through the book of Acts they are only speaking about Christ, about the resurrection, about historical facts about Christ and the gospel.

So whenever we evangelize we must be full of understanding. And when the time comes and the man understands the content, God has the ability then to open his heart. And it may not always be dramatic and it may not always be emotional but it's still happening. It ought to be exciting and thrilling and you ought to be as emotional about it as you want to be, but do not forget to give a clear content along with it.

Verse 15, “And when she and her household were baptized.” This happened because they could see that God had opened up her heart. They not only did they baptize her but they baptized her whole household. Acts 16 is the household chapter. The next person that gets saved is the jailor and he also gets saved with his whole house. God is building a church in Philippi with only a couple of households.

Lydia's house became the place where the church met. Look at verse 40, “So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.” Women are important in the church but the lead and the rule of the church belongs to the men. Well, where are the men? They are there in verse 40.

Verse 15 continued, “She begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.” If you think my salvation is real, “come on into my house and stay.” That's true hospitality. Let us be content with what He has designed for you. Only Jesus Christ that can free you from prison. How is it with you? Are you really free or are you a slave of the world? You too can be free right now! Just give your life to Jesus. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170205 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/5gf5c03d imblog

Acts 15:36-16:10

Ever since the Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, we have been busy pursuing the ministry of evangelism. The church has done this since the very statement of Christ, and there are many methods of evangelism. There is everything from a simplistic personal presentation to a sophisticated media presentation of Christ to many people at once.

Underneath all this methodology there are some foundational features of evangelism that are very important and are the same. What God wants to say not only comes directly but very often it comes indirectly. The key to Bible study, is to be able to take the Scripture and extract the principles that are there either by direct statement or by implication. That is what it means when we study Scripture.

So what is the purpose of the Holy Spirit? What principles are implied in what is going on here? Now keep in mind that as the Holy Spirit has been inspiring the book of Acts, these things have been in the text over and over again. Now as we approach Acts 15:36 we know that the church has been growing. What came out of the Jerusalem Council was great unity and the process of evangelism improved.

The Jerusalem Council is over and the results have been announced to the people in Antioch. There's great rejoicing because their salvation is by grace alone. And now it is time to preach the message and the church begins to move out. And as we see the beginnings of the second missionary tour, implied in this narrative are the foundation principles of evangelism.

Effective evangelism calls for the right passion, the right priority, the right personnel, the right precautions, the right presentation and the right place. We will discuss them one at a time. Effective evangelism is the right passion directed toward the right priorities by the right people who take the right precautions to make the right presentation in the right place as guided by the Holy Spirit.

So effective evangelism begins first with the right passion. Verse 36, “Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” In Greek the term "some days" is an undetermined amount of time, but not very long. It is hard to keep Paul in one place for very long.

Paul had a passion for the gentile world that is lying to the west of where he was located in Antioch, and he was always thinking of how to reach people. He was a man driven by a desire to communicate Christ. You can read 2 Corinthians 4 and 2 Corinthians 5 to see the tremendous power of his motives.

In 2 Corinthians 4 he was motivated because of the mercy God had given to him. He was so thankful for salvation and the love of Christ that had been planted in him that he felt like a debtor to everybody else and to God. And he knew that if any man was in Christ he was a new creation and that moved him.

Romans 15:24 says, "Whenever I take my journey to Spain I will come to you.” So Paul saw Rome as just a stopover on the way to Spain. He said the same thing in verse 28, “Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.” There is only one way to have that passion, supernaturally.

How do you get it that passion?" By studying the Word of God as it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, "you are transformed into His image." That is the only way to “reflect His glory,” right? It demands to become so united with Jesus Christ that He is loving people through us and we become His extension.

Second thing, evangelism not only needs the right passion, it demands the right priority. Verse 36, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” Now Paul here is more than a missionary evangelist who goes around and gets people saved and then leaves them for other Christians to follow up.

Paul was a Biblical evangelist where he saw his responsibility not only as winning people for Christ but also maturing them. Notice that when he took off on a second missionary tour in verse 36 he was planning with Barnabas to go right back to the same place they just finished evangelizing in Galatia. The priority in evangelism is discipleship. He loved their fellowship and he wanted to make sure that they were growing.

1 Corinthians 4:14-15 says, “I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. 15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers.” In other words, you have all kinds of people who would discipline you. But you don't have too many that will love you like I love you like a loving father. So Paul saw himself as a loving father responsible for the spiritual care of his children.

The best way to evangelize is to produce reproducing disciples. Paul knew that leaving a lot of spiritual babes was not the way to evangelize because they weren't mature enough to reproduce. It is better to spend yourselves on a few individuals who might become mature and become like Paul. Jesus spent most of his time only with 12 individuals, didn't he? The heart of evangelism is maturing believers.

You know where Paul went on his first missionary journey? Galatia, right? Where did he go on his second missionary journey? Galatia. Guess where he went on his third missionary journey? Acts 18:23, “After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.” In the long run it is the reproduction of reproducing believers that really multiplies the evangelizing of the Gospel.

The third thing in evangelism that is important is the right personnel. Look at verse 37, “Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark.” Barnabas insisted on "taking John whose surname was Mark." Remember John Mark got up there to Perga in Pamphylia and looked at the Taurus Mountains and heard all the bad stories and he just took off and went back to Jerusalem in Acts 13:13.

Actually John Mark was a great guy. He was the son of the lady in whose house the prayer meeting was being held the night Peter got out of jail. He is also the author of the Gospel of Mark. But Paul didn't have any confidence in John Mark. Verse 38, “But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.”

Paul was courageous and courageous people have a hard time tolerating cowardice. Verse 39, “Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus.” They did not agree, and they took off in two different directions: Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. That's where Barnabas came from. And they continued to disciple the saints in Cyprus and send them out to witness.

Verse 40-41, “but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.” Who was right? The Scripture doesn't say but we know that God arranged for Paul to take Silas and for Barnabas to team up with Mark. So instead of one team, there are now two teams. Barnabas later was commended by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:6. And Paul also loved Mark in 2 Timothy 4:11, "Timothy, come and be with me. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.”

God chooses the right people for the right job. If you are going to travel around in the Roman Empire it is helpful to be a Roman citizen. Silas was a Roman citizen. If you're going to be visiting synagogues it's helpful to be a Jew. Silas was also a Jew. And if you're going to announce that the Jerusalem church has established salvation by grace, it's nice if you happen to be from the Jerusalem church. Silas was.

The Gospel that started in Jerusalem spread north until it hit this area of Cilicia and Syria. In verse 41 they went there to strengthen the churches. Again they knew the priority, strong believers will reproduce. Now where to go? Acts 16:1, “Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.”

Now this woman's name is given by the Apostle Paul. Timothy's mother's name was Eunice, and his grandmother's name was Lois, and she was a believer but his father was a Greek, so here was a half-Jew, half-gentile. What a perfect choice. Here is a guy that is from the Roman Empire and he has an in with the gentiles and he has an in with the Jews.

Verse 2, “He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.” That's another important factor in the right personnel. Remember the qualifications for elders and deacons in the New Testament that they be blameless in terms of their reputation. Verse 3, “Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.”

The last time Eunice and Lois saw Paul he was blood-soaked and he was lying on the city dump. He had just been stoned. And here he was saying, "I'd like to invite your son to come along on our missionary efforts. How about it, mom?" In 1 Timothy 4:14 Paul says to Timothy, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.”

In other words they had a little commissioning and they laid their hands on them and Paul was reminding Timothy that they had ordained him. And so the Lord filled up his team now consisting of Paul, Silas and Timothy. Paul had a special relationship with Timothy. Paul called Timothy, "My true child in the faith" in 1 Timothy 1:2 and he called him "my beloved and faithful child in the Lord" in 1 Corinthians 4:16.

In 2 Timothy 1:5 Paul says, “when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.” You know who led Timothy to Christ? Lois and Eunice. So Timothy was really a second-generation believer and that confirms strongly the priority of evangelism. Win somebody else who in turn will win another person.

Fourthly, it involves the right precautions. Acts 16:3, “Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.” Some says, Paul was a Judaizer here. That isn't necessary for salvation, but that isn't the point. It says that Paul circumcised him because of the Jews in those quarters.

Paul recognizes that this is key to reaching the Jewish people and the synagogue was the first place he went in every new town. He had been brought up in a synagogue situation. All he needed to do was just get circumcised and he would have full entrance and full acceptance among the Jews and it wouldn't hinder his work among the gentiles. And so it was just to allow the ministry to function more smoothly.

Now when Titus came along and Paul forbid him to be circumcised. Now some people are confused why he let Timothy get circumcised and not Titus. The simple answer is that Titus was not s Jew. To circumcise a gentile would then have been to impose legalism but to circumcise a Jew was simply to allow him to be more effective.

In addition to these features, evangelism is founded on the right presentation. Verse 4, “And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.” Salvation by grace through faith. And, "We want to add this, that you abstain from blood and things strangled and fornication and things offered to idols." Why? So you don't offend others.

So what is the message of Christianity? Two fold. 1. Salvation by grace 2. Living with love. You are saved by grace and now you live the royal law of liberty which is the law of love. That's what they preached. And the result? Verse 5, “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.”

You need the right passion, the right priority, the right personnel, the right precautions, the right presentation and lastly in the right place. Look what happened when God stops them in verse 6, “Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.” God is leading His people every step of the way.

Look at verse 7-8, “After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. 8 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.” They can't go east, they've been there, and in the south is water. So north, to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. But Paul still had a corridor there, and so he just went between Bithynia and Asia and he kept going and finally he got to Troas.

He stopped because he was at the Aegean Sea. Verse 9, “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” You know what cities were there? Philippi, Corinth and Athens. The Gospel was going to reach Europe. Verse 10, “Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

Well God uses those who have the right passion for the right priority with the right personnel taking the right precaution to make the right presentation and they submissively keep following Him. Are you a reproducing disciple? This is what God is telling tonight. You can with help of the Holy Spirit! Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Jan 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170129 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/k0m89md0 imblog

Acts 15:22-35

So the decision is clear, the doctrine is settled and we discussed fellowship last week. And all believers are under is the law of love, the perfect law of liberty, also called the royal law, as James calls it. And we went into that in detail last week. So, the decision then is that we are not going to hassle them, they are saved, we accept them, but we need to be careful in the area of fellowship, so not to offend them. And that is love in action.

Verse 22, “Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.” Do you realize that there is in that verse something that is foreign to most church meetings? The whole church agreed! Because the Spirit never disagrees with Himself, and if everybody is Spirit filled and Spirit controls, then everybody will agree.

And so this early church had the unity of the Spirit. Now you may have a group deciding issues: you may have a class deciding issues, but if they relate to spiritual issues they ought to be decided on the basis of total unity. Then you know you have the mind of the Spirit. If there is a wayward individual there, you need to deal with him on an individual basis and with love lead him back to Christ.

They chose two men to send along with Paul and Barnabas. The Jerusalem Church wanted everybody to know that this teaching was right, so they sent two of their own up there. They sent Judas and Silas. Of Judas we know nothing, but of Silas much has been said. Silas is called Silvanus by Paul and Peter, and he was the guy who accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. He was also the one who carried the first Epistle of Peter.

Notice it says they were chosen men among the brethren. Jerusalem sent two of its best leaders, to give a solid report on what the decision was. Salvation is by grace through faith, plus nothing! We see here that the authority in the Jerusalem church is granted by God to shepherds of Christ. When you have a church without authority, without strong central leadership, then you have nothing but chaos.

Verse 23 says, “They wrote this letter by them: The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.” The Jewish brethren wrote to the Gentile brethren, just imagine the tremendous positive impact of just that greeting. Cyprus and Galatia are not mentioned because they were extensions of Antioch.

So they wrote to all the Gentile churches. Verse 24, “Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law,” to whom we gave no such commandment.” Those Judiazers were not authorized by the Jerusalem Church to say those things. They pretended to be representatives of the Apostles. Those new believers were not just troubled, they were really torn up and horrified.

And here the word trouble, in the Greek language is used for legalism. The Spirit of God has shown the deep turmoil that legalism brings about when it is imposed on grace. It messes up people. False doctrine is big trouble. Legalism is deep trouble because when we start tampering with the doctrine of salvation, we destroy grace. And when you destroy salvation and you have damned people.

The Old Testament does not teach legalism. God loves the Law, but God hates legalism. God always wants obedience. Obedience is doing something for the glory of God. Legalism is doing something for the glory of self. Legalism is doing something so that people think you are spiritual. There is a big difference between the Old Testament law and the New Testament law.

The Old Testament says, if you do this, then I, God will do this. Exodus 19:5-6 says, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” It is also illustrated by the Sabbath, you work six days and I will give you the seventh day off.

But the law of the New Testament says in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” It is the exact opposite, because we have every spiritual blessing we want to live according to that blessing. Now, some Christians in the New Testament are doing it the Old Testament way. I am going to do this and that and God will like me better. No, no, you have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing if you believe.

Therefore legalism is the wrong attitude. You are not only obedient the Old Testament way but secondly you do it for self-glory. That is the natural outcome when you start doing things as a Christian to earn God's favor. Because you are going to say I did this and I did that, so, God must be happy, and that means you are glorifying yourself. God does not tolerate being superfluous pious. Self-righteousness is terrible stuff.

God says, cut out all of that superficial stuff and get down to repentance and I'll clean you on the inside. Legalism is not obedience, legalism is doing things to earn blessings, and secondly, doing it for self-glory. These Jews were hung up on legalism. There is nothing you can count on except the work of Jesus Christ which has been done, and that is offered to you as a free gift. Obedience will come as a result of it.

In Acts 15:25-29, the decision of the council was given, “it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

Paul and Barnabas were given the greatest commendation that you could ever give to somebody. It says that they are men who risked their lives for Jesus. Acts 14:19 tells us that Paul was stoned and left for dead. And the pattern of their lives was always a willingness to suffer for Christ. Paul’s whole life was one dangerous adventure. And that was true of Peter and John, it was true of Stephen.

You ever heard of losing your life for the fellowship of another believer? Some people are giving their lives to minister to believers and unbelievers. Well, sometimes the people who are the highest up in ministry are the loneliest. Well in the end Paul became very ill and plus being a condemned criminal in Rome wasn't real good. Why did Paul do that? He did it for the benefit of others and he was not afraid of death.

Romans 14:7-9 says, “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” Paul says, it does not matter if I am alive or dead, I am the Lord's anyway. That is called continuity of life.

When you understand the continuity of eternal life you have no fear of death, when you have no fear of death you're willing to do a lot of dangerous things. If you see death as a great giant monster on the road of life that is going to consume you in some horrible way, well of course you’re going to be afraid. If you see death as the release of all your hang ups and freeing you to experience all the blessings that God has, it's a different attitude.

How do you feel about the name of Christ? Psalm 115:1 says, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory.” Exodus 34 tells us that God is a jealous God. How can God be jealous, that's a sin. No, jealousy is neutral. It can be a sin if you are jealous of your neighbor's wife, his job, his money, his car and his house. Jealousy like that is a sin.

But if you are jealous for the sacred name of God and the honor of Jesus Christ, that's good. We should set aside our egos for the sake of Christ. You know what Jesus said? Look at Matthew 10:39, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” If you died fighting for the honor of the name of God, you will never die, you will live eternally with God.

Verse 27-28 say that they also sent Judas and Silas to confirm the testimony and “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us,” now there is the key to their success. And that was beautiful, there is unity because they were all filled with the Spirit. So they were of one mind, simply because the Spirit was in control.

Usually I hear, I am going to do this, but I don’t know what the Holy Spirit wants me to do. Or I do know what the Holy Spirit wants me to do but I do not want to admit that and obey that. That is why we all must be filled with the Spirit in order to serve God with all our heart and strength and in unity.

Well they gave their decision in verse 28, "to lay upon you no greater burden." We’re not going to impose law on your grace. Only these necessary things in verse 29, "that you stay away from idols and fornication and strangled things and blood,” which will offend the Jews. Then he says, "From which, if you keep yourselves, you shall do well." If you don't do these things it will be to your benefit.

So we have seen dissension, the discussion and the decision. Let us continue with the development. Verse 30, “So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch; and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter.” What it means is everybody was there. Verse 31, “When they had read it, they rejoiced for encouragement.” Grace is really encouraging, isn't it?

How would you like to have to keep your salvation by works? Would you be encouraged by that? I don't think so. Grace is encouraging, in legalism there is just guilt and fear. There is a blessing Paul gives in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.”

First there was encouragement, then rejoicing, so the second thing was celebration. It says in verse 31, "When they read it they rejoiced,” Look at Mount Sinai, what came out of Sinai before the law? Thunder, smoke, fire, quaking of the ground. Now compare that to what comes before salvation. Luke 2:10, “Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”

Verse 32, “Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words.” They were ranked next to Apostles in the church in terms of importance, they spoke directly from God. Verse 33, “And after they had stayed there for a time, they were sent back with greetings from the brethren to the apostles.” These two guys stayed long enough to teach those Gentiles, isn't that unity of the church?

And the Gentile arms were wide open. They had these two Jewish teachers from the Jerusalem Church teaching them. Now they were encouraged, and full of joy. Acts 20:32 says, "The word of His grace is able to build you up." Only grace builds you up. So grace is cause for celebration and encouragement. What does Peter say? "But grow in grace."

Well, lastly there was continuation. Verse 34 isn't in the original manuscripts. So let us look at verse 35, “Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord, with many others also.” They just picked up where they left off. And once the message of grace was understood and established, they went away following where the Holy Spirit was leading them next.

Satan must be getting tired of having all of his plans reversed. Satan says, I'll move into the church with a false doctrine of salvation. What happened? As a result of that the church crystallized its doctrine. Satan says, I will split the Jews and Gentiles, but as a result of this effort the Jew and the Gentile were blended together.

Satan said, I will halt the progress of the gospel, the crystallizing of the doctrine of salvation, the unity of the Jew and Gentile, but it only resulted in speeding up the progress of the gospel. Satan sets up the most perfect circumstances for God to accomplish what He wants. Let us thank God for reversing everything that Satan does for positive results.

Well, and they went about doing two things, teaching and preaching, evangelism and edification. The message came back and what happened? The church established the doctrine of salvation, picked up where it left off and took off in greater ways than it had ever seen. There's no other salvation, except in the name of Jesus Christ, and that alone.

And God does not change, He knows what is going to happen here in America with all the unrest and the plans of ungodly people to cause confusion and fear. God knows the end from the beginning and His goal is to call you to Himself. Matthew 10:26 says, “Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”

Be strong in this time of uncertainty, continue to serve God in whatever capacity He has assigned to you, be persistent and faithful to the God of the Bible, who knows your problems and who is full of grace and mercy. And remain close to Him in whatever situation you are, because His promise is to not leave you nor forsake you ever. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Jan 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170122 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/1293x73j imblog

Acts 15:19-21

The early church met together on the crucial question of how a person is saved and we have been studying it now for a few weeks. And we have learned how the Apostles defended the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith plus nothing. And then having defended that teaching they entered into the area of fellowship. There any rules to the conduct of a Christian in relation to other Christians, and that is the subject tonight.

Man is separated from God by sin, but God at the same time desires to draw men back to Himself. So God set a plan in motion to recover man, to turn off the darkness and turn on the light, to forgive his sin, to redeem him. So how do the two get together? The answer is in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

How is a man saved? Well, that had to be decided in the Council of Jerusalem. Now, the Jews had always felt that to come to God a person had to become a Jew. In the New Testament, Christianity was introduced and salvation through Jesus Christ by faith was taught, but the Judaizers disagreed. So they trailed Paul and Barnabas everywhere and announced to newly saved Gentiles that they had to be circumcised and keep all the laws of Moses.

And that issue needs to be settled because if we don't have the right doctrine of salvation then nobody gets saved. Acts 15 began with dissension. They were all meeting in Jerusalem because everything began there, and the Apostles and the elders of the church were all considering this problem. So Paul and Barnabas presented their view first and then the circumcision party got up in verse 5 and said that everybody had to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses.

Following the dissension we saw the discussion, in verses 6 to 18, and there were three major speeches, first by Peter, one by Paul and the last one was by James. Peter defended salvation by grace alone, and he used the case of Cornelius as an example. Cornelius was saved purely by grace through faith. God gave him the Holy Spirit, and God purified him by faith it says in verse 9. And in verse 10 and 11, he discouraged putting the law on these Gentiles when nobody else was saved by the Law.

The crowd is stunned and silent. That was followed up by words from Paul in verse 12, and they gave another reason why salvation is by grace alone, because God approved of the message of grace. Paul and Barnabas are doing miracles, and performing signs and wonders. God is validating their message, which was grace alone, while God was not confirming the work of the Judiazers.

Then the last proof was the statement of James in Acts 15:13-18. And James simply says salvation is by grace because the Old Testament prophesied that Gentiles are going to get saved as Gentiles. The Old Testament says in Amos that some men are going to seek the Lord, and all the nations, who call on His name are going to be saved.

In verse 19 James says, “Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God.” Let us not hassle them, by requiring legalism. Now that is the conclusion, and that is what the Apostles agreed on. In Romans 1:16 the Apostle Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first, also to the Gentile.”

But doctrinal issues don't always resolve heart attitudes. So the salvation doctrine was grace, but fellowship with Gentiles needed to be carefully planned and they needed to learn some things. Verse 20, “but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.”

Do you know that the most offensive thing for a Jew was idolatry? God continually punished Israel about worshiping false gods. So sometimes a Jew would eat at a Gentile home and get served meat that has been offered to idols. To a Jew this was offensive, because he did not understand that there was no idolatry there. So even though we are free under grace, we need to be sensitive to how Jews feel to be able to minister to them.

So James says, stay away from foods offered to idols. In 1 Corinthians 8:9, Paul says, “But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.” That's the principle of caring for the weaker brother. Then, in Acts 15:21 James says, “For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

Remember that Moses is still being studied and many Jews are still under the instruction of Moses. Then James says, stay away from fornication in verse 20. Gentile idolatry was all wrapped up with sex and prophetesses and priestesses were prostitutes and worship in the temples like Diana were simply orgies. And so James says, avoid any kind of sexual activity or implication that has to do with fornication.

Now this is also a moral issue, and 1 Corinthians 6 deals with this on a moral basis. It is wrong to join yourself sexually to somebody outside of marriage, because you are joining Christ to a harlot. It's wrong morally, but it's also wrong in fellowship. The effects are deep and long lasting for many generations. Then the third and the fourth thing James says is, "Abstain from things strangled, and from blood." Those were dietary laws.

There is nothing wrong with eating meat with blood, in the Old Testament those rules were given to set Israel apart as a distinct nation so they could not eat the same things, they couldn't have the same schedule because their calendar days were all different, with Sabbaths and so on. God did a lot to keep them separate, so they would be a pure witness. But in the New Testament He is putting Jew and Gentile together, so God eliminates all those things.

Remember the sheet that came down in Acts 10:12-16, “In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. ¹³ And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” ¹⁵ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” ¹⁶ This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.”

That is over Peter, Jew and Gentile are now one in the church. That's the way God designed it, there's no more clean or unclean. Rise Peter, kill and eat all of it. So that ritual is over but some Jews weren't free. The Jews had been restricted from eating things strangled, because the blood hadn't been drained, and from drinking blood. And so he says to them, don't do those things.

Now why does James tell them to avoid that? Does abstaining from all those things save you? No, we are saved by grace through faith, but here it has to do with fellowship. If the body is to be one and Jew and Gentile are to get along together then Gentiles are going to have to restrict their freedom for the sake of the conscience of a Jew.

Some people think, I am saved so I will just do what I want. Once in a point of time I got saved, from there it is all grace. But that isn't how it works. You know there have always been laws? Before the fall, Adam and Eve in the beautiful garden and everything was pure but God still had a law. There is a tree over there, but don't eat that fruit. Every man on the earth is under some kind of law from God.

Right now all saved people are under a law too. What is this law? Well, it's called the law of Christ or the royal law, which means in James 2:8, it came from the King. Now the Mosaic Law was called, the yoke of bondage. But the New Testament law is quite different, it is called the perfect law of liberty.

Jesus said to His disciples, after He just washed their feet, and shown them His love in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” In the Old Testament the law worked differently, “Do this, or you will die.” It was a law built on fear.

The Bible says in 1 John 4:18, “perfect love casts out fear.” We have a new kind of law, I don't worship God because of fear, I serve Him because I love Him. It's a law of love, but that's only one dimension. There is another one in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” When a person can't carry their load, help that person.

Romans 13:8-10, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness, “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

We don't need a list of rules is because the love that we have for other people makes it not necessary to give any specifics. That is the law of love. James 2:8 says, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.” The Christian life boils down to one thing only, and it is loving others, and that's it. Not circumcision, not ceremony, just love.

When you love somebody it alters your behavior toward them. I think of my family relation, I take care of my family, but I also need to treat everyone else as my family. If have a need, I try to provide that. If they are hurting, I comfort them, if they need discipline, I discipline them. When they need love, I give them time, and it is all because I try to love every one like I love myself.

The greatest force in the world is love. What men have done for the love of a women, and what women have done for the love of a man, what people have done for the love of a cause or a country, something they believed in, is truly amazing. Love is the greatest force in terms of motivation. How do you obtain that kind of love toward God and toward others?

Galatians 5:13-14 says this, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now watch, verse 16, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

So the first principle of loving somebody is to walk in the Spirit. When you love people and you can't help it, it must be Christ in you. In Ephesians 3:16-19 Paul says, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.”

You will never know the love of Christ, until you are strengthened with His might by the Spirit in the inner man. The Spirit walk is necessary to be able to love. Why? Because you are unable to love in the flesh. It has to be the love of Christ through the Holy Spirit. And the walk of the Spirit is a day by day yielding to the Holy Spirit.

The second principle goes back to the perfect law of liberty in James 1:18, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.” Verse 21-22, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

In verse 25, you will see the perfect law of liberty operating, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Worldly love is just all emotion, but Godly love is not a feeling but a principle that says you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself, and bear one another's burdens.

You may not feel lovey-dovey but you may love, by action and by deed. And so the law that a believer is under is the law of love. Converted Gentiles even though they were free, were not to act antagonistic. They were not to condemn, they were to love them. And if they restricted their behavior from certain things to keep them from offending others, that was a good thing. That is the principle of love in operation.

Now this principle was difficult to learn by the early church. Look at Romans 14:1-2, “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. ² For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.” That's not a moral issue, if your thing is vegetables, great, I love you anyway. Then Paul says in verse 12, “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” So that neutral inconsequential things don't mess you up.

So James said to the people at the Jerusalem Council, you are in grace, and you are free, but there is a royal law, a law of liberty, and it says, don't do those things that are going to offend your weaker brother. Help him carry his burdens, and wait till the Spirit of God brings him to maturity. Paul said, if I am with the Jews, I become as a Jew, if I am with the Gentiles, I become as a Gentile, that by any means I may win them for the Lord. Well, let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Jan 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170115 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/vj174a78 imblog

Acts 15:13-18

We are continuing our study of Acts 15 as we look at what happened at the council of Jerusalem. The church faced its first crisis regarding the doctrine of salvation. Some were trying to teach that a man was saved by grace plus works. Others believed that a man is saved by grace alone. And so the conflict was resolved in the council of Jerusalem.

Now as we study Acts 15, we learn about the concept of grace. Now grace is a word that is essential in Christianity. All other religious systems in the world approach God, whoever God may be in their own system, based upon deeds or works of men. There are certain things that a man does and because he does those things God approves of him and he can approach God.

Only Christianity offers salvation which absolutely has nothing to do with what you do, or what you have done, or what you will do. The salvation that is in Christianity stands apart from every other religious system, as grace salvation. And that grace is God's free salvation, offered to men on the basis of what Christ did, and apart from what men might do.

I am saved not because of anything I deserved, not because of anything that I did, not because of I am a good person, but because of all that Christ is, and all that He did, which I only believed and God accounted to me His salvation. Now grace then, is the free effort on God's part to save men. God did not just offer grace to save you, but God wants to make you like His Son. He wants to conform you to Jesus Christ.

Now when you experience the grace of salvation, that is only the beginning, then you move secondly to what Paul describes in Romans 5 as the grace in which we stand. Having been saved by grace I live in grace, and then that grace is expanded to conform me to Christ. The ultimate end of my salvation is that I will be like Jesus Christ. And I have done nothing to deserve it, not before, not during and not after.

But you know that even within the confines of Christianity people misunderstand grace. They misrepresent grace and even fight grace. Men always want to tack works on to free grace. That is what happened in the early church. God was offering free salvation to Gentiles, and the Jews were saying, no, you must be circumcised and you must obey the law and all the ceremony. So the basic issue is, how does a man get saved?

Now, Acts 15 is divided into four parts. We saw last week the first part which was the dissension. The Jews and the Gentiles were arguing about whether you had to be circumcised. Well, the argument got hot in verse 5, they even came to Jerusalem and the Pharisee Christians got up, and said, Gentiles have to be circumcised and they have to keep the Law of Moses.

Well the dissension led secondly to the discussion. Here are three men that dominate the discussion, namely Peter, Paul and James. Look at verse 11, "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” That is the statement of the Apostles, because they had a pre-council session, and they all agreed already. They simply stated their faith, that it is grace plus nothing is all that is needed to be saved.

Peter supports it with four points, he said salvation by grace is evidence by past revelation. In verse 7, he says, it happened like that ten years ago, God was saving Gentiles by faith alone. Secondly, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 8, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us.” In other words, only saved people get the Holy Spirit. Now if God gave them the Spirit that means they were truly saved, without circumcision.

Third thing, God forgave and purified them. Verse 9, “and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” God cleansed them of all their sins. Then Peter adds to that the inability of the Law of Moses to save anyone. Verse 10 says, “Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Look he says, why put legalism on them, it didn't even work for us?

And then Paul declared what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles. When Paul preached a grace message, God confirmed it with miracles. God has already attested to the validity of the grace salvation by the miracles He gave. And then verse 12 says, "And after they had held their peace."

Now we come to James, who adds the sixth proof of salvation by grace. It is called the prophetic promise which goes from verse 13 to 18. Verse 13-14 says, “And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: 14 Simon (Peter) has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.”

James says, Peter just told you that God first visited other nations. Now he says in verse 15, “And with this the words of the prophets agree.” God was going to save Gentiles through the church, without having them become Jews first. James reiterates this at the end of verse 15, "Just as it is written." And he quotes Amos 9: 11-12, using the Greek version of it, the Septuagint, in the next verses.

Verses 16-18, “After this I will return, build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down: and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up. 17 So that the rest of mankind (the Gentiles) may seek after the Lord, even all the Gentiles, who are called by My name, says the Lord, who does all these things. 18 “Known to God from eternity are all His works.”

This means that whenever salvation comes, that it will be coming from all the nations, all the Gentiles. And this means that Gentiles are saved as Gentiles. They don't have to become Jews first. God says, I call them directly to myself. There is nothing about circumcision and keeping the law and becoming a Jew first.

Verse 16 says that Israel will be reestablished, verse 17 says the nations will also be saved, as nations. This is a millennial prophecy. And there are two parts to the thousand year kingdom, Israel's restoration in verse 16, but also Gentiles are going to be saved as Gentiles directly by God in verse 17.

So how do Gentiles get in the millennial kingdom? Well, remember the judgment where Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25? When Christ returns He is going to judge the Gentiles. And the goat Gentiles who have mistreated Israel, and given evidence of not believing in Christ, are going to be cast into the lake of fire. But the sheep Gentiles, who have believed in the Messiah are going to inherit the kingdom.

Now those Gentiles are going to have many generations of children in the kingdom, and their offspring of millions of Gentiles are going to get saved just like everybody else, by believing in Jesus Christ. But not all of them will be saved, and there will be a worldwide rebellion at the end of the thousand years, led by Satan when he is loosed from prison. But the point of Amos is this, they will be saved as Gentiles.

Everything that is going to happen in the future kingdom has a limited fulfillment in this age of the church. For example, in the millennial kingdom Christ is going to reign, but now He reigns in the hearts of believers. In the kingdom there is going to be peace, but now there is peace in our hearts. In the kingdom He will pour out His Holy Spirit on all people, in the church age the Holy Spirit indwells the believer. The full character of the kingdom is in a limited sense seen in the church now.

Verse 16 is in there because those Jews needed to know they were not being replaced by Gentiles. That is God's promise that in the midst of the Gentile salvation. In the midst of the history of the church, God has not forgotten Israel. Peter said in his sermon in Acts 3:15, “you killed the Prince of life,” but he turned right around and said in Acts 3:25, “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God is not finished with Israel. You can study the Old Testament and the New Testament and you will find that the promises of Gentile salvation are all the while connected to the restoration of Israel. James quoted those verses just so they would know God had not changed His plans and that God never forgets or changes His promises.

Now there is a second reason. The Jews felt strongly that Zechariah 8, explained why the Gentiles had to become Jews first to be saved. Zechariah 8:20-22 says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Peoples shall yet come, inhabitants of many cities; 21 the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, “Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will go also.” 22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.” This is speaking about Gentiles.

And then Zechariah 8:23 says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” At the end there are going to be ten Gentiles hanging on the sleeve of every Jew.

Now the Judaizers interpreted that passage that you have to become a Jew to get to God. But it did not mean that at all. What it meant was the Jews were simply the messengers. In the tribulation period God seals a hundred and forty four thousand Jews out of Israel, to be His witnesses. In the early church who carried the gospel to Israel? The Jews. Who was it that carried the gospel to Samaritans? The Jews. Who brought the gospel to the Gentiles? Paul and Barnabas. Jews. God has always chosen, chosen Jewish servants.

Here is also the chronology of God's history. Verse 14, God is going to visit the nations and take out of them a people that believe His name, that's the calling of the church, right? What follows the calling out of the church? The return of Christ. What follows the return of Christ? The restoration of Israel, “I will build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down.” And what follows all of that? Gentile world salvation, verse 17.

There you have eschatology, the order of events in the future. Notice the return of Christ follows the calling out of the church. And this is our faith. So there's the dissension followed by the discussion, and what a powerful weight of evidence. And now here is the decision. In verse 19 James says, “Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God.”

But James is wise, and he knows that Gentiles who have lived such a free life could take this principle of grace plus nothing and just run wild. And so James comes back with some principles that have to do with fellowship. There are some things that I’m free to do them in grace, but I don't do them, because I would offend some of you and therefore cut off my ministry to you.

Now you see this is where fellowship comes up, so immediately and just to introduce it in verse 20-21, James says, “but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. 21 For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

Now we know salvation is by grace but fellowship has some basic features that need to be considered. Abstain from four things: pollution of idols, fornication, things strangled, and from blood. Why? Because there are still Jews in every town who follow the Law of Moses. And if you Christians live in violation of this blatantly and overtly, you are going to cause all kinds of problems in Jewish evangelism, you are going to offend young Jewish Christians who don't yet understand their liberty.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:9, “But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.” Okay, if meat causes my brother to be offended, I will not eat meat. That is spiritual maturity. People say to me sometimes, Stan do you drink? And I say, no. I basically don't do it because I feel there would be some believers offended by it, and I desire to do those things which shall build up the believer, not cause him to stumble.

The second thing James gave them as a principle, is not only to abstain from pollutions of idols, but also from fornication. You know the whole of Gentile worship was involved with sex. Prostitute priestesses, the whole thing was just one big orgy. And he says to them, you know that you Gentile Christians are going to have to absolutely stay away from everything that relates to sexual idolatry that you used to do originally.

Real fellowship is brought about by self-sacrificing love that says, what I do, I do with you in mind. We are saved by grace unto good works. Listen beloved, works have nothing to do with being saved, but salvation has everything to do with the work of fellowship. Let us learn more of that next week. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Jan 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170108 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/x4yi2pm5 imblog Acts 15:1-12

As we come to Acts 15 the gospel has by this time begun to spread to the Gentile world. Paul and Barnabas have accomplished the first missionary journey. The Jerusalem church has already established their first church in the Gentile world in Antioch of Syria, and Paul and Barnabas went out to evangelize Cyprus and the area of Galatia in Asia Minor. They returned back to Antioch, and they stayed there for a long time with the disciples.

Now this has been a difficult journey, it established a whole new approach for the church, and a whole new ministry. That is the invitation to the Gentiles to enter into the fullness of the church of Jesus Christ, and all of the blessings promised to Israel are now theirs, equally. The Apostle Paul along with Barnabas had not only evangelized, but they also followed up. They had organized the church by appointing elders, and then they returned to Antioch to carry on their ministry there.

Now because Gentiles had been included in the church, this becomes the reason for all the disagreements we see in Acts 15. It was always difficult for Jews to allow the Gentiles to come into the church. For the most part, Jews in the early years of the church saw Christianity, only as a sect of Judaism. Christianity was considered part of the progression of Judaism. Christianity for them is a logical fulfillment because all of the promises to Israel are fulfilled in the coming of Messiah.

And the more legalistic the Jew, the more difficult it was for them to accept this. From the beginning Moses had prescribed to them all the patterns of living, and they legalistically, ritualistically and sacrificially were abiding by all of these laws, so that they had a strict life style. And here were these Gentiles who lived without restrictions, and suddenly they would enter into equal blessings with these normally strict Jews.

So the Jews began to resent the fact that Gentiles were entering the church on an equal basis, without having to subscribe to the Jewish law. And they also realized that there were a lot more Gentiles than Jews. And so these Jews decided to take a stand against what Paul and Barnabas were teaching, who were undermining the traditions of the forefathers, and as such were destroying Judaism, so they thought.

Now what they really wanted was for the Gentiles to become Jews first. Now, the question of whether God wanted to save Gentiles wasn't an issue anymore, since that was mentioned many times in the Old Testament. But how was God going to do it? What was the method of such salvation? Is it by grace alone, or is it by grace and law? Is it by faith, or is it by faith and works? That is the issue of the Jerusalem council.

And that is still the issue of the church now and with all of the sects and everything else that is false that we have within the framework of Christianity. All those false beliefs are the ones who are adding something to God’s basic method of salvation. This is amazing because the longest running heresy in the church is all these wrong modes of salvation where they are adding something else to faith.

Well this is the main issue for Christians, because if we don't know how to get saved then we don't know what basically Christianity is. I could be wrong on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, I could be wrong on the doctrine of future things, eschatology, I could be wrong on the doctrine of ecclesiology, the study of the church, and l could mess up in interpreting a few scriptures, but if I mess up on the doctrine of salvation, then I really cannot enter heaven, right?

And I will spend my eternity in hell trying to think of that doctrine. That's the critical issue.in Acts 15. Now I want to share four features, and we will take two features today and two the next time. First there was the dissension, then there was the discussion, and then next week we will discuss the decision, and after that the development.

So let us look first at the dissension in Acts 15: l, “And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Now these are false teachers. 2 Peter 2:1 says, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”

They were trying to impose circumcision on the Gentiles. Now the brethren in verse 1 are the believers at Antioch, and the certain men came to straighten out the saints in Antioch, as angels of light. Really they are ministers of Satan, teaching false doctrine, they are self-appointed guardians of legalism. Some say that they followed the path of Paul and Barnabas and visited every city they had just come from on their missionary tour.

That seems possible because when Paul wrote Galatians, he wrote the whole book to answer this very same question. At the time Galatians was written, before the Jerusalem council, it was written back to all those churches that they had visited, to straighten out this very heresy. These false teachers were pretty zealous to travel by foot, everywhere through the Taurus Mountains.

Now here you had a potential disaster, because to impose legalism on the Gentiles, could have been absolutely destructive. Now imposing law of needing to be circumcised, is the position that is known as Judaizing. The term Judaizer means to impose upon Gentiles a ritual or ceremony that belongs to Judaism.

Now in Galatians 2:21 Paul gives us a summary, “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” If righteousness is ours through law, then we don't need grace. In other words if I go in to the court and the judge declares me innocent, I don't need grace, right? But if the judge says, you are guilty, but you can go free, that is grace. And every man is guilty. We have all broken the law, only grace is able to save us.

So the Apostle Paul was clear, he said there is no connection between law and grace. Nobody is able to save himself by keeping the law, all the law did was to show you how bad you were. Nobody ever was justified by the law, only by grace, and if you try to mix the two you destroy grace. God declares everyone a sinner and then gives grace to those who believe.

Well, this was the issue in Antioch. Acts 15:2, “Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.” Here come supposed believers from Jerusalem, they all arrive in Antioch and you know what they won't do? The first thing they won't do is eat with the Gentiles.

In Galatians 2 Paul tells us what Peter did. Peter was at Antioch too, at the time that some of these Judaizers showed up, who believed that you had to get circumcised to get saved. Galatians 2:11-12 says, “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed. 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.”

So the Apostle Paul really criticized Peter. Galatians 2:l4, “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?” Paul saw the wedge that was being driven between Jew and Gentile, in fact the whole book of Galatians just shows how to correct that.

So they had to settle it, and they decided to go up to Jerusalem. Now the leaders of the church were the apostles, and the elders were the stationary leaders, and the leader in Jerusalem was James, the brother of our Lord Himself and the writer of James. Acts 15:3, “So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren.”

These were the converts of Stephen and Philip, Peter and John and they didn't have any hang ups on legalism, and so they were just rejoicing and they were building support as they went. They not only had the Antioch church but now they had Phoenicia and Samaria all agreeing to receive Gentiles into the church purely by grace through faith.

Acts 15:4, “And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.” That must have been quite a report. The apostles recited the months and years of victory. But listening to all this information, the circumcision party got upset. Verse 5, “But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

Well the dissension lead to the discussion, look at verse 6, “Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.” Now here you have the first of three speeches, given at the council from Peter, Paul and James. All three of these speeches are in support of grace, plus nothing, and they lay down for us, one of the most monumental passages proving salvation by grace through faith anywhere in Scripture.

Now verse 11 gives us Peter's view, “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” He is not speaking for himself only, the elders and the apostles have had a private conference, and out of that conference here is their statement. The only thing you see in there is grace, which is God's free undeserved favor.

Now with that as the proclamation of these elders and apostles, they go about to prove that grace is all that is needed. Peter makes several points, Paul adds several, and James closes it off. First point, salvation by grace is proven by past revelation. Look at verse 7, "Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.”

Peter says, this issue was settled at least ten years ago. You know that God chose me to go to the Gentiles to preach the gospel and they believed, and that's all God asked, God did not impose circumcision then. So Peter reminds them that the basic principle of salvation by faith has already been settled with Cornelius, at least ten years before.

The second proof is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 8-9, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” Does God give His Holy Spirit to unbelievers? No, only to believers. Does God know their intent? Yes, Peter covers that, “God who knows the heart.”

1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” Romans 8:9 says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” The fact that they received the Spirit means that they are a true believer.

Third thing, cleansing from sin, verse 9, “Purifying their hearts by faith.” God does not cleanse people who are not truly converted, right? Because God purified their hearts by faith, means faith is enough. If God made them holy that settled it. In Ephesians 1:7 he says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” We cannot earn forgiveness.

Then Peter points out another evidence that salvation is by free grace alone. He says in verse 10, “Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Don't challenge God and don't question God, His decision in salvation is final. Don't put a yoke (the law) on the neck of those Gentiles that we couldn't even carry.

In Matthew 23:4, Jesus said what the Pharisees did with the Law, “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” Contrast that with Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:29-30, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Verse 11, “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” The last proof was given in a short speech by Paul. The last great evidence for salvation by grace that we will talk about is the fact of miracles, by God. Verse l2, “Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.”

God does not confirm false doctrine by miracles. Paul and Barnabas were traveling around preaching salvation by grace and faith. And God was attesting to their message by miracles. God did not confirm these Judaizers by miracles. But everywhere Paul and Barnabas went they preached grace through faith, they had miracle after miracle.

Listen to Mark l6:19-20, “So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Jan 2017 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20170101 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/70yph8l3 imblog Micah 5:2-4

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” ³ Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. ⁴ And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.”

What is the future for us who believe? Micah was concerned in the same way because of Israel’s sin and God’s judgment. Micah lived when Assyria captured the northern kingdom and took the ten tribes of Israel captive and he knew that this was all God’s judgment. Verse 3 really says, “Therefore God shall give Israel up until the time of the coming of the Messiah, then the remnant of Israel shall return.”

The chief priest and the scribes knew that Micah 5 was a reference to the Messiah. So they told King Herod in Matthew 2 that He will be born in Bethlehem. God always fulfills His promises and so Jesus was born in Bethlehem, even though his mother and Joseph were living in Nazareth when she got pregnant. He had to be born in Bethlehem because He was the Ruler in Micah 5:2.

Micah 5:4 says, “For now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.” The coming King was not just an earthly king, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is going to be great all over the world, not just in Israel. But look how God arranges the birth of Jesus.

There is the contrast between how insignificant Bethlehem was and how very significant the Messiah is. Verse 2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” Ephrathah is a name that means “fruitful.” Why Bethlehem? Because Jesus is of the lineage of David and he was from Bethlehem.

But the point of verse 2 is that Bethlehem is very small. God chooses something small, quiet and out of the way and does something there that changes the course of history and eternity. Why? So that we cannot boast in the achievements of men but only in the mercy of God. God does always what is best, He does not focus on human accomplishments, but He does everything to magnify His own glory and His grace.

1 Corinthians 1:27-30, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

God chose a stable so that no innkeeper could boast that God chose his inn. God chose a manger so that no one could boast that he build the bed for Jesus. God chose Bethlehem so that no one could boast that the greatness of the city was the reason it was chosen. And God chose you and me to stop us all from boasting that we are so good. This is the reason for Micah 5.

The deepest meaning of the insignificance of Bethlehem is that God does not grant the Messiah and salvation based on our ability or greatness. When God chooses He does that based on His prerogative to magnify His glory and His mercy. So let us say with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest!” We get the joy and He gets all the glory.

Christ assures us of the promises of God. David was the greatest ruler in Israel and was born in Bethlehem and was a man after God’s own heart, and also a shepherd. Micah is reasserting that God’s promise will come true.

Listen to God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-13 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Christ will protect us and give us peace. Verse 4, “And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.” Jesus is alert and working for those who trust Him as their shepherd. And He will feed His flock, He will not leave us hungry or thirsty, He will take care of every need that we have.

“He shall be great to the ends of the earth.” Every knee will bow and confess Him as Lord. The whole earth will be filled with His glory. Micah 4:3 says, “He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

The message tonight is that the great enemies of sin and judgment still must be defeated for us to have peace. And the gospel at Christmas is that Christ has defeated the enemy, Satan, on the cross, so that “all our sins are cast into the depths of the sea.” Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom He is well pleased, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sat, 17 Dec 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161217 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/910484zv imblog Acts 14:21-28

Qualities of great missionaries is the theme, and in these verses we find flowing out of the narrative the principles which are the qualifications of effective service. We are following Paul and Barnabas who have been touring Galatia and ministering the Gospel to the Gentiles as the church expands. And we find that in their ministry there are features that rise out of the text that indicate to us factors of success.

It's not a lecture on success factors but rather an illustration of it. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,” and that is the calling of believers that still stands. Further, Jesus said in Acts 1:8 prior to His ascension into Heaven, "You shall be witnesses unto Me." It wasn't really an option; it was a statement of fact. All believers after receiving the Holy Spirit are witnesses. The issue is what kind of testimony you give.

Christ wants faithful Christians to dedicate themselves to carrying out the Great Commission with diligence and success. But as you study the history of the church it is always the minority that does it. Sometimes in several periods of church history there are men and women who really show up, and then there are masses of Christians lost in the fog who are not doing much at all.

David Livingston greatly influenced the continent of Africa toward God. William Carey brought the redemptive transforming power of Christ effectively to the millions in India. William Booth started in the slums of London the beginnings of an evangelistic movement now known as the Salvation Army. One individual powered by the Holy Spirit has stood up in different times and cast his footprint on the world.

While the majority of the church sleeps, there have been great men who changed its history for God. What is the difference between the Christian that makes things happen and the Christian that doesn't know they're happening? Well the answer lies in Acts 14 as well as in many other parts in the New Testament. But it is here for sure, because in this chapter there are at least eight qualifications of a successful missionary.

The world is still affected by what Paul has written. Now flowing out of this record of their touring Galatia are some principles that signal their greatness, and these principles will help us understand what makes the difference in the Christian experience. Now let us review those and then discuss the last three in this chapter.

The first key to their success was they were ministering spiritual gifts in areas where they were gifted by the Holy Spirit. And even though we don't have a specific gift of preaching we need to minister in all those other areas. For example, we all don't have the gift of exhortation but we're all called on to exhort each other. We all don't have the gift of teaching but we're all to declare Christ.

Now Paul and Barnabas were functioning according to their gifts in preaching, teaching, exhortation and administration in Acts 14. Secondly we saw they were successful because of boldness. If you don't go through opposition you never get anywhere because there always will be opposition. The third thing we saw that is intrinsic to success was divine power, we can't function on our own strength.

The fourth point that we saw is humility. Well Paul and Barnabas didn't want any exaltation. They were humble servants. Whenever you start getting proud you just have to keep remembering what you were. Isaiah 51:1 says, whenever you think you're something, “remember the hole of the pit from which you were taken." Proverbs 18:12 said, “Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.”

There's a fifth thing that we have studied and that is persistence. Nobody could stop Paul. They tried to stop him in with about as strong an effort as imaginable. Verse 19,

“Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.” They tried to stone him.

Verse 20, “However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.” There is a debate about whether Paul was dead and was resurrected or whether he was nearly dead and was revived. I don't believe he was dead. The main reason is the word "supposing." It says in verse 19, “supposing him to be dead.” The word ‘suppose’ is used mainly to mean ‘supposing wrongly.’(In Matthew 5:17, Matthew 10:34, Acts 16:27, Acts 17:29 for example) It was not a miracle of resurrection, it was a miracle of restoration.

Robert Morrison of England set his heart on going to China as a missionary and he studied Chinese in London. In 1807 he came to New York to get a ship to go to China but China didn't accept foreigners. Finally he booked passage and he landed in China. He got off, went in a French warehouse in Canton and stayed there for six months. He learned to cook Chinese food and to dress in Chinese clothes and adapt himself in Chinese culture and he studied the Cantonese language.

Preaching was illegal but he gathered over the years a little group of people around him, never more than 10 in private, in hiding, and he tried to instruct them. Seven years after he landed in Canton he baptized his first convert. That's persistence. Finally working all day and night, month after month he translated the Book of Acts into Cantonese, and he succeeded in having it printed. Well, the authorities found out about it and put a stop to all his printing. He was forbidden from all of it.

He persisted, and continued to evangelize because he believed God wanted it. He mastered the language and he translated the entire Bible into Cantonese. He also wrote a six-volume Chinese/English dictionary. He gave 27 years of loneliness and self-sacrificing persistence and today there is an academy in Taiwan called Morrison Academy because his persistence became a blessing to many.

The key to persistence is maximizing every opportunity. Behind every obstacle is an opportunity. What do you do with your time? Let’s assume that you have a life span of 70 years. What does that life consist of? Three years of those 70 would be spent in school. Eight years in entertainment, six years in eating. Five years in transportation, four years in conversation, fourteen years working, three years reading and twenty-four years of sleep. How much time did you give to God?

If you came to church every Sunday for the service and you prayed five minutes in the morning with your Bible and five minutes at night and lived 70 years you would have given God five months. What are you doing with your time? How persistent are you in maximizing every moment? What I do you with idle moments. There is a saying, “Idle moments are the devil’s workshop.” Some Christians are physically awake but they are spiritually asleep.

James 4:14 says, "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Ever seen the vapor rise off a hot glass full of tea? That's your life. Use it. Time is the only chunk of eternity you have. Be persistent. Now let's look at the three last qualities for tonight. Follow-up is the first one. Effective Christian service is a commitment to follow up what you begin.

Verse 21, “And when they had preached the gospel to that city (meaning Derby) and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.” They could have gone from Derbe straight back to Antioch or Syria, but they went all the way back through every city they had been in and retraced their steps. Why? They believed in having follow-up.

Because the purpose of the Great Commission is not to introduce people to Christianity, but it is to make them disciples. Well it was dangerous to return, because they had been kicked out of every town. But they went back fearlessly because they believed in follow-up. Because it was more dangerous for those new spiritual babes not to have meat and milk, so they went back. Don't ever lead anybody to Jesus Christ that you are not willing to nurture.

Now what is follow-up? Four things that we are going to have to learn. The first thing is strengthening. They went back to all those cities, verse 22, and “strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God”. A new baby can't stand up, right? You have to lift them and hold their arms and that is exactly the way it is with a new Christian.

Acts 15:32, 15:41 and 18:23 all talk about strengthening new believers. It means to to help them to stand on their own, to be strong, and that is the goal for every Christian. Because we know that the devil is using other belief systems to sidetrack new believers. But Paul and Barnabas went back to these cities and it was more dangerous that time than the first time just for these important follow-ups. That shows real commitment.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” So when they went back and strengthened the brothers, that doesn't mean they had a little service. That means they spent time to teach the Word of God.

The second aspect of follow-up that every Christian servant needs to remember is exhortation. Now you can give them the doctrine but don't stop there. You continue with, "What are you going to do about it?" You know what exhorting means? It means to push a person toward a certain kind of conduct. It means to say, "Now here are the facts. Now go do it!" Of course we need to exhort, that is the challenge.

Listen to 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, “We were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. 8 So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.” Verse 11, “as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children.”

Paul says here two things that they needed to be exhorted to do. One, to continue in the faith. Whenever somebody first hears the Gospel and the seed is planted, what is the concern right away? Satan snatching the seed. Sure the world is alluring and you've come to Christ but everything hasn't changed and there's certain things that you expected and they didn't happen that fast, but continue in the faith and God will vindicate Himself!

Verse 22 says, “We must through much tribulation enter the Kingdom of God." You must teach a new Christian to anticipate tribulation or trouble. Everyone who lives godly is going to suffer persecution. We have to fight for it. The third feature of follow-up, not only strengthening and exhortation but thirdly follow-up that is organization. Verse 23 says, “So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

We have to do things in the church as it says in 1 Corinthians 14:40, "Decently and in order.” The Lord has designed that the church be ruled by elders, and that the church be served by men and women called deacons, and that they are leaders of the church. So they ordained elders in every church in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. Paul must have stayed around teaching those people because they had to be mature enough to be recognized as elders.

Leadership in the church should be selected by the evangelist who found the church in the case of missions or in the case of an ongoing church by the pastor there. They should handle initially the selecting of people who qualify biblically, and then to present those chosen for the approval of the congregation. And when the leaders meet together all decisions are made unanimously. And if there is a disagreement then somebody is out of touch with the Holy Spirit. Then it becomes a matter of prayer until there is agreement.

Well they went all the way back to all the cities and did all that follow-up. They showed the seventh quality, commitment. Now they are going back home, cross the Taurus Mountains again with all the robbers and fast rivers. Verse 24-25, “And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. 25 Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.” That is commitment, they preached the Word.

Now, number eight and the most important of all is praise to God. Verse 26, “From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.” Imagine when they arrived at Antioch and nobody had heard from them for two years? These are the two most beloved people in the church and they probably looked emaciated and scarred all up from beatings with rods and whips and stone.

Verse 27, “Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” They told all the people that God was doing it all and that He used them in a mighty way giving glory to God. That's all God wants anybody to do is be there and He will do it all.

Verse 28, “They stayed there for a long time with the disciples.” It was then during that time that Paul wrote the letter to the church in Galatians. They gave all the glory to God. What do you want to do with your life? Applications are open to believers for successful missionaries. If you would like to apply, God is patiently waiting for you if you want to go. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Dec 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161211 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/390zy021 imblog Acts 14:10-21

Coming Acts 14, we study the continuing story of Paul and Barnabas, who are on their first missionary journey to the Gentiles. What really makes somebody effective in the service of Jesus Christ? Here Paul and Barnabas just in their ministry make it obvious what are the qualifications and the qualities. This is not a lecture; it is a living illustration. And there are at least eight qualifications of effective service.

The first quality of an effective missionary was they were ministering using their spiritual gifts. We saw at first four prominent gifts. They both exhibited the gift of preaching or prophesy. They also had the gift of teaching in verse 21. They had a third gift, exhorting in verse 22, “Strengthening the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith." Then a fourth gift in verse 23, the gift of administration.

1 Peter 4:10 says, “As every man has received the gift, so let him minister the same as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Really effective Christian service then begins with the ministry of your spiritual gifts. Pray about it, ask God about it, be filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God will automatically do it through you, if you're available. God wants you to know your gift and He wants you to minister.

The second thing we saw in effective ministry was boldness in verses 1 to 7. They knew there was brewing a persecution. Verse 2 says, “Unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.” Well, they knew this was going on, but it never deterred them because they were bold. It never hindered them from preaching the gospel. They didn't hesitate to declare what they believed to be true.

The third thing that is so necessary and basic to Christian service is divine power. They did everything in the power of God and we saw the illustration of the healing of the lame man in verses 8-10, how Paul spoke and he was healed. God's power flowed through Paul in the area of preaching, teaching, exhorting and administrating as he ordained the elders. They didn't do it in their own strength.

Ephesians 6:10 says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Acts 1:8, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Where do we get that power? Ephesians 3:16 says, “you would be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” In other words, the strength for that is the Spirit in the inner man.

Paul, as he was filled with the Spirit of God, saw power flow in his life, and it flowed unrestricted. Now, this power you get it when you get saved. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given you a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, love and a sound mind.” God gives you His Holy Spirit but the power doesn't flow until you live under the control of the Holy Spirit. Some people are like a big automobile engine, but they are unable to locate the ignition switch.

Let's go to the fourth thing and let's pick it up where we left off last time. You take somebody whose gifts are really functioning and who has boldness and divine power really flowing and you know what the temptation is? It's very easy to be tempted to be proud. It is difficult sometimes to acknowledge that it is all totally God's power.

So the first thing you have here is a great illustration of humility. And every really effective ministry is a ministry of humility. It has to be that way. Now humility isn't something where everybody walks all over you and you go around saying, "I'm nothing." Humility is simply this, it is knowing that everything that happened for the good was God, and everything that happened for the bad was you.

God resists the proud and He fights them. But what does he do for the humble? James 4:6 and 10, says, “God resists the proud, gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves before the Lord and in the right time, He will lift you up." Jesus said in Matthew 18:4, “Whosoever shall become as this little child, shall become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Humility is a necessity.

Here comes the temptation. Verse 11, “Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” They believed an old story in Lystra for many years. One time, Zeus and Hermes, two gods, came to earth in disguise, to the town of Lystra, and they asked for a place to stay and something to eat, and everybody refused them.

Except two people: an old man Philemon and his wife Baucis. They fed them, kept them, so forth. And the whole town was punished by those two gods, they killed everyone. But Philemon and Baucis were made the guardians of a beautiful temple and when they died, they had the honor of being turned into two great trees. Now that story was the tradition of Lystra.

Now, here come two guys and they do that miracle and immediately everybody thinks, "Uh-oh, Zeus and Hermes are back. We are not going to blow it this time." Verse 12-13, “And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.”

Paul and Barnabas didn't know what was going on. The Spirit puts a footnote in verse 11, "saying in the Lycaonian language" because Paul and Barnabas couldn't speak Lycaonian and they did not know what was happening. Satan is so subtle. In the town before, he wanted to kill them. This time, he wants to make them a god. Sometimes pride is more devastating than persecution. Pride ruins all evangelical efforts.

Well, they finally found out what was going on. Verse 14-15, “But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out 15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things?” Outside the city was the temple to Zeus and if the gods had descended, they were to be honored, and so they brought the oxen, to get them ready for sacrifice.

When they discovered that the town was planning a ceremony to honor them as gods, they really got upset. They didn't want any of the world's fame. They saw that as blasphemy. How do we know that? Because it says Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes. That was a Jewish thing, a sign of desecration. That was a token that something was blasphemous. They showed that they were not false teachers.

Do you know how to tell a false teacher? Inevitably, a false prophet wants to build a cult around himself that exalts him and you see that all the time. Jesus said there's a test for that. In John 7:18 He says, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true.” Jesus said in John 7:28-29, “I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29 But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.

Well, Paul cried out further in verse 15, “We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.” You know who they worshiped? Paul says, "Stop worshiping useless things and turn to the living God who created everything that exists."

Verse 16, “Who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.” In other words, God did not fully pour out judgment on the Gentile nations because they did not have the same revelation Israel had and the principle is to whom much is given much is required (Luke 12:48). So in the Old Testament, we see Israel being judged. Now at times we see Gentile nations being judged, but they were not judged harshly.

Some say, “They don't know that God." No, they do, here it says that everyone knows that God. Any person in this world is responsible for the knowledge of God, for God has written it in their conscience, God has revealed it in the creation, and God continues to reveal it in providence.

Verse 17, "Nevertheless, He left not Himself without witness in that He did good, and gave rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Romans 1:19-20 says, “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”

So Gentiles didn't have the written law, but some lived up to the conscience that God had placed within them. But a person can also say, "I reject the God whose knowledge is innate” and then he/she has to accept the consequence. So this is the first example of Paul's Gentile sermons. Well, what happened in result of the sermon? Verse 18, “And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.”

What were the characteristics then of Paul and Barnabas? First of all, a ministry of gifts, boldness, power, humility and one more persistence. This is the "never say die" attitude. Well, they apparently hung around Lystra for a while. And then verse 19 says, “Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.”

There was enough Roman law to scare them, so they thought Paul was dead after they had crushed him with stones. This indicates that the Jewish people did the execution because Gentiles didn't stone people. He looked like he was dead, so they hauled him out to the dump and threw him there, hoping nobody would find his body.

The same bunch that threw the rocks at him was the same bunch that was saying these are gods. How soon they forgot the miracle. Disillusioned fanatics are easily led into contradictory action. Disillusioned people grow sullen and bitter, and usually they take out their resentments on the one who spoiled their illusion. It was real mob violence.

But look what happened in verse 20, “However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.” Where did the disciples come from? From fruitful ministry. Do you know who three of them were? "There's no names there." Yeah, but the names come later: Lois, Eunice and Timothy. They were saved out of that community (Acts 16:1-2).

"When the disciples gathered around him, he rose up." Was that a miracle? Definitely! But what is more amazing is the next statement, “And he went into the city.” That is persistence. He was not finished yet. The slight interruption had only delayed him a matter of a few hours and he had apparently communicated to these disciples about courage or they would have been afraid to stand out there with him either.

“And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.” Wow, anybody else would need at least a couple of days to recover, but not Paul. The next day he went; no time to waste. Barnabas couldn't believe it probably. Paul, you've just been stoned yesterday. It's a 30-mile hike to Derbe. But they went the next day. Now that is real persistence.

Verse 21, “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and taught many, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch.” He didn't rest at all, because when God raises you up, He also restores you completely. Derbe was the first city they'd been to they hadn't started a riot, so God did give him a bit of a rest. There's something wonderful about that, because Paul never lost a day.

Ephesians 5:15-16 says, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Spiritual maturity has a lot to do with how you use your time. "To redeem" is in the middle voice which means "buy up for yourself, time." Not chronos, clock time, but kairos, opportunity. We call a man a fool who throws away money. The Bible calls a man a greater fool who throws away time.

I know people who have said, "I would like to teach something." And they do it for a short time and then I hear from them, "I can't come at that hour, or I don't have time for that." What happens to persistence? Where is that "never say die" commitment that says, "No matter what happens, I believe God wants me here. I'm going to go against all odds. I give it my all."

Well, Paul never got side-tracked, he just redeemed every opportunity. It didn't matter if he was stoned till he was almost dead. Philippians 4:11-13 says, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” How about you? Are you learning from the example that Paul sets for us? Three more attributes we need to learn next week. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Dec 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161204 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/8t9k19x1 imblog 2 Corinthians 4:15

“For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.” Here Paul wrote that in our service to God, even a converted thankful man cannot be the end of our ministry. Our ministry reaches its goal only when God’s glory is exalted. And thanksgiving plays an important part in all our ministry.

In the Greek language there is a connection between grace and gratitude (thanksgiving) because it comes from the same original root word. And we need to see this relationship so we might understand what real gratitude is. Gratitude is more than saying “thank you.” We have to have a real feeling of thanksgiving in our heart before it becomes really gratitude.

But gratitude is more than being delighted in a gift. If you give a ten year old a new electronic game, he might just brag that his game is better than his neighbor’s. He is still ungrateful because his delight is not directed at the giver of gifts. Gratitude is the feeling you have about the giver because he has given you something good or he has done something good for you.

But here is also something else. The feeling of gratitude also rises in direct proportion to how undeserved the gift is that we receive. In other words, gratitude flourished in the sphere of grace. Gratitude is the feeling of happiness that you feel toward somebody who has shown you some undeserved kindness, which is a person who has been gracious to you. But there is something else that happens.

Expressions of gratitude also shows us a person who has humility and wants to encourage us. Being thankful conveys humility because it is saying, you do not owe me your service, I’m happy to receive your grace, I’m honored that you are willing to meet my need. I am a mere beneficiary of your grace and encouragement, because you are my needed and helpful benefactor.

We all have to be most grateful toward Jesus Christ and God, the Father in verse 15 above. Why? 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” Grace happens when the emptiness of one is filled up by the fullness on another.

Our poverty is replaced by His wealth. And all that happens not because we deserve it, but because Jesus is gracious. His riches are free. Therefor gratitude is felt in our hearts because we have received in Romans 5:17, “abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.” This gratitude is more than being freed from condemnation, it is being thankful to Jesus for the riches of salvation that He has given us.

There are two other observations from that one verse. First Paul says that ‘his ministry is for your sake.’ Secondly Paul says that the purpose of his ministry is for God’s glory. So Paul starts by saying that everything he endures in the ministry is for the sake of us in the church. 2 Timothy 2:10 says, “Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

Paul lived for the sake of others, he lived to do good and his aim was to make them thankful in their hearts to Jesus. And since gratitude is caused by grace, his ministry was the gospel of grace. But the point of ministry should never stop with mankind, for Paul and for all of us it should ultimately always be for God’s glory. We learned from Colossians 1:16 that “All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Paul says that also in Romans 11:36, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Gratitude glorifies the giver, it acknowledges that we are infinitely in debt to God. Psalm 50:23 says, “Whoever offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors God.” And when you endure hardship for ministry and you are so thankful for God’s sustaining grace at the same time, it will seem that it all was no sacrifice at all, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Nov 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161127 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/d61a4f71 imblog Colossians 1:15-20

The apostle Paul wants to help us understand who Jesus is by studying Colossians 1, this grand passage. Colossians 1:15-20 says, “Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

“17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

All those statements are absolutely exclusive. No one else is the image of the invisible God. No one else can be the first born of all creation. No one else can be the creator of things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible. No one else sits over the thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities. No one else is before all things and holds all things together. No one else is the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the first-born.

The angel said at His birth, “this is Jesus who will save his people from their sins and his name shall be called Emmanuel which means ‘God with us’”. What you have in the birth of Christ is the Savior who is God in human form. God entered our sin polluted world without being tainted by it, He took our guilt, He bore our griefs, He carried our sorrows, He is unique, no one has ever been like Him. And no one ever will be.

In Revelation 5, John has a vision into the throne room of heaven and the presence of God. He sees in the hand of God a scroll representing the title deed to the universe. The universe at the present is in the hands of Satan, the destroyer of souls. And Satan now is the god of this world. But God is saying, who is worthy to take the title deed and to open its seals and is able to take back the world and the universe.

And as John looks, in all heaven and earth no one is found worthy. No great intellect, no great military leader, no great monarch, emperor, and no great religious man. And John begins to weep because no one has the ability to take back the universe from Satan. And in the midst of his tears, he can discern one stepping forward from the throne who is both a lamb and a lion, Jesus Christ Himself and He takes the scroll.

But to really understand the greatness of His person, we need to study what Paul wrote here under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that reveals Jesus Christ. Here we see first Christ and his relationship to God and then in his relationship to the created universe, then as related to the unseen world, then as related to the church and then to all other revelations.

So let us start with Jesus in his relation to God. Verse 15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation.” Now the church in Colossi was influenced by a religious error. There were false teachers then as there are now. These religious teachers thought that they had a superior knowledge. They taught that Christianity was a low level religion and they had elevated themselves to a much higher religion.

They believed that an evil being created the universe and therefore all matter is evil. They believed that only the spirit was good. Anything that was invisible and intangible is good, so God could never take on a body. Jesus could never be God in human flesh because the true God is good and He wouldn’t touch flesh. So, according to these false teachers, Jesus is not the creator God.

So Paul is writing to correct them and he simply says to them, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” And in verse 16 he says, “by Him all things were created.” There is one God and He created everything existing and that one God came into the world in the form of Jesus in human flesh. In relation to God then, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the replica of God, the complete reproduction.

Hebrews 1:3 says, “Jesus is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person.” He is the essence, the substance of God. John 1:14 says, “we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Philippians 2:6 says that Christ beforehand was “in the form of God.” But He divested himself of that and came in the form of man. That is why He could say in John 14:9, “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”

Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.” And in Colossians 1:19, it says, “all the fullness is caused to dwell in Him.” In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul says, “Christ is the image of God.” He is a full manifestation and revelation of God. Paul wants to make it crystal clear that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh.

So what attributes should God have if He were a man? He had to be sinless. Jesus was. Hebrews 4:15, “He was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.” Even Pilate who sat as his judge after all the false accusations came to this conclusion, “I find in him no fault.” The Roman centurion came to the same conclusion and so did the thief on the cross. In trials before Annas, before Caiaphas, before Herod and passed back to Pilate, nobody could come up with any fault.

If God were a man, we would expect Him to speak the most profound and greatest words every spoken. Well, Jesus did that. We never heard anybody speak like this and every time He preached they were absolutely astounded. If God were a man, we would also expect Him to exert a profound influence on human personality. He did. The impact of Jesus Christ on humanity is without equal.

In fact, just look at the disciples who were basically common people who had a hard time comprehending some of the basic issues of theology and truth, but the power of Jesus’ life transformed them into people who changed the world. And still, He is transforming people like that.

Now if God were a man, we would also expect Him to do miracles. Jesus did that repeatedly, publicly, unarguably and dramatically. He even brought dead people back to life. If God were a man, we would expect Him to know the future. And Jesus did. He predicted things about himself, things about the nation of Israel, details about the future and the end of the world. And everything that was predicted about Him all came true.

If God were a man, we would expect Him to show us what God was like. Jesus did that. We saw in Him love, show mercy and grace that was beyond anything any human could ever experience. And we saw in Him a level of virtue, fairness, wisdom the likes of which the world has never seen. If God were to come into the world as a man, He would come out like Jesus Christ and that did happen. Jesus Christ is the exact reproduction of the invisible God, He makes God visible.

Verse 15 identifies Jesus as “the first born of all creation.” That is not a reference to time. He was not the first person born in creation. Adam was made and then Eve was formed out of his rib and then they started having babies. What it means is that of all of creation He is the ‘prototokos,’ which means the heir, the supreme one, the one with the rights of privilege, prestige and honor.

In Psalm 89:27, God says, “Also I will make Him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” First born being defined as the king of kings, the supreme one. Hebrews 1:2 also speaks of this, “His son whom He has appointed heir of all things.” And that is why in verse 3 at the end “He sits down at the right hand of the majesty on high.” He sits down on the very throne of God.

Some people now may be confused about whether Jesus claimed this. Certainly the Jewish people of his time were not, they wanted to stone Him for blaspheme. John 10:33 says, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” Indeed, He was God. Thomas had it right when he said in John 20:28, “My Lord and my God”.

Look at the second relationship, not only do we see Jesus in his relationship to God, but in his relationship to creation. It says in verses 16 -17, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

We are dealing here with the Creator and the Sustainer of the whole universe. Whatever is in heaven and in earth, whatever is visible or invisible, it is all created by Him. He is before all of it and in Him, all of it hangs together. And again, that is exactly what we read in Hebrews 1:2, “through whom also He made the worlds,” that is the whole cosmos.

How vast is the cosmos? Just think, a ray of light travels at 186,000 miles per second, so it reaches the moon in 1.5 seconds. Now, if we can go at that speed, we can reach Mercury in 4 ½ minutes, because it’s only 50 million miles away. In fact, in two minutes we can be at Venus, that’s just 26 million miles and 4 minutes and 21 seconds we can hit Mars.

And then if we want to take a little longer trip, we can go all the way to Jupiter. That’s 367 million miles and with the speed of light it will take us 35 minutes. And if we want to go to Saturn, well, that will take an hour, because that is 790 million miles away. And then if we still want to go further we can go to Uranus which is 1,608,000 miles and Neptune which is 3 billion miles and Pluto is past all of that.

And when you get all the way to Pluto, you haven’t left the front porch. Beetlejuice, this amazing star is 880 quadrillion miles away, and has a diameter that is greater than the earth’s own orbit. That is a really big star. Who made all that matter? Jesus. He made the creation and He made it very good. But man stained it with sin and Jesus will one day come back to recreate it and bring it to the glory originally intended.

All the things have been created by Him and for Him for his own good and his own pleasure and his own purposes. Jesus existed before there was anything, which means, Jesus is eternal. He was before the creation because He was the creator. He is the one who holds it all together. We don’t believe the deist view that God created the world and then walked away. Hebrews 1:3 says, “Jesus is upholding all things by the word of his power.” He keeps everything moving, keeps everything in orbit.

Look thirdly, at his relationship to the unseen world. Verse 16, “All things were created by Him, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.” Now those terms are in the New Testament because they are indicative of ranks of angels. We can find those terms in Paul’s writings, several times in Ephesians and that tells us that Jesus is the creator of all the angels. The highest angelic beings are subject to Jesus Christ, whether they be Seraphim or Cherubim or whether they be demons or Satan himself.

In Hebrews 1:6-8 says, “But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “Let all the angels of God worship Him. 7 And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire?” 8 But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” The angels worship Him because He is the sovereign Creator.

Now look at Jesus and His relationship of the church. Verse 18, “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first born of from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” Jesus is the head of the church. Biblically the metaphor of the body is often used. All the functions of the human body are under the control of the brain in the head, both voluntary and involuntary, giving direction to all that we say, think and do.

Christ is the source of all truth, all knowledge, all wisdom, all growth, and all guidance in his church. Secondly, He is the beginning of the church. In Matthew 16 Jesus said, “I will build my church.” The church is the creation of Christ and the source of its existence. And He is also the first born from the dead. He is not the first person ever resurrected. There were people that Jesus raised from the dead before He himself was resurrected.

We are not talking about who was raised the first in time. But Paul says that of all who have ever been raised, Jesus is the prōtotokos, He is the supreme one. His resurrection is a guarantee of the ultimate resurrection into eternal life of all believers. Jesus has given birth to the church by His own resurrection. Verse 18 says, He himself has first place in everything. He is absolutely preeminent.

Verse 19, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.” Here Paul adds a word about Jesus in his relationship to all other revelations. Jesus is the fullness of God’s essence, and it is in Him alone because it pleased God to do that. Why? The answer is in verse 20, “to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

Why did Christ come into the world? To save sinners, to shed his blood through death and pay the price for sin in order that He might present us to God, holy and blameless. He came to remove the curse of the universe and to restore it to its original, intended purpose, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Nov 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161120 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/5m1s6jf8 imblog Acts 14:1-10

Acts 14 deals in the beginning with qualities of a great servant of Christ in any place, not necessarily as a missionary. But since the passage deals with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey, certainly these are qualities that we should study. We know that every job has certain qualifications. And it is God's design to use the people who most closely fit His qualifications for the most significant tasks.

So if we as Christians ask ourselves why it seems that we never really get in on what God is doing, it may be that we are not qualified yet. God wants to use the most qualified people to do things because the results are ultimately and eternally significant. Well, here we find two people who were super qualified. Now there are at least eight qualifications found in this chapter and we will study them over the next couple of weeks.

Let me say this at the beginning that you can read Acts 14 and never hear one of those qualifications. But, it is taken out of the narrative. This chapter is about Paul and Barnabas who went from Iconium to Lystra to Derbe, and back again. And while they were doing it, they were preaching and creating opposition and in the flow of that narrative, they exhibit these eight qualities of effective missionary service.

Now notice, this is a chapter where Paul just exhibits them without saying a word and we can see them just leaping off the page. So here we see them in practice, not just talking about it but doing it. Quality No.1 that makes for effective Christian witness is the ministry of spiritual gifts. Now this is generally revealed throughout Acts 14 and we will take it just in generally on an overall basis.

Last week, we saw that they went to Antioch in Galatia and there they preached Christ and created a riot. They were then thrown out of Antioch, so they proceeded further into Asia Minor, to a town called Iconium. We see them in Acts 14:1, as they have arrived at that town carrying the gospel to the pagan world, and they are ministering using their spiritual gifts. Every Christian at the moment of salvation receives spiritual gifts.

A spiritual gift is not a natural ability. It is not something you exercise in your own strength. It is a channel through which the Holy Spirit ministers through you to others. There are varying spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and in Romans 12 and all believers should be aware of their spiritual gifts because this is how God uses you. Now the first one that Paul and Barnabas use is the gift of preaching.

Acts 14:1 says, “Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed.” Here they exercised the gift of preaching which is a spirit-given ability to declare the gospel with clarity and power. In verse 21, "And when they had preached the gospel to that city, (that's the city of Derby) and made many disciples.” There they are again exercising the gift of preaching.

But they had another gift, they had the gift of teaching also. Notice verse 21 again, "And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many..." Verse 22, "Confirming the souls of the disciples..." The only way to confirm somebody is to teach them doctrines of Scripture. So they exhibited again their gift of teaching.

Thirdly, they had another gift that is the gift of exhortation. Sometimes it's exhibited publicly. Sometimes it's exhibited in a one-to-one basis in counseling. It is the ability to encourage somebody to pursue a certain course of action. So first they would preach the gospel, then they would teach doctrine, then they would encourage people to follow what they just learned. Notice verse 22, "Strengthening the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith.”

They also had the gift of administration. The Bible says that is the ability to put the pieces together to make all that function. Notice verse 23, “So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” They went back after they had gone through those cities and organized the church in each city on their return.

Those are all leadership gifts and those are the gifts that pastor-teachers and evangelists still have today. Those are gifts necessary for the teaching pastor to declare the gospel, to teach doctrine, to encourage people to follow it and to organize for effective functioning within the body of Christ. Now those are permanent gifts.

There were also special gifts just for the Apostles which we don't have today. In 2 Corinthians 12:12 it says, “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” This is the gift of miracles. It is a temporary gift given to them to confirm their preaching since the New Testament was not completed yet.

Now it is not a question of saying, "Oh, I wish God would use my gifts." It is already functioning with your gifts and then being moved by God into critical situations. Peter was just going everywhere doing a lot of things. God uses people who are already busy and actively ministering their gifts. And the Spirit of God will direct you to the strategic places where you are going to see those gifts maximized.

From the time of Paul's conversion, he began to minister. As soon as he was saved it says he was preaching in Damascus and he never stopped preaching and he was teaching. When Barnabas was looking for a good guy to help him in Antioch, he wanted the guy he knew was functioning already. And he found Saul and made him his co-pastor. Because the Spirit of God is always collecting people who are functioning already.

If you have got some spiritual gifts, use them. That is the beginning of effective ministry service. Now there is a second qualification that really comes out of the first seven verses is: boldness. We need to be reminded that boldness is a basic ingredient to the Christian experience. Let us begin by looking at verse 1 and follow the pattern of boldness revealed in the city of Iconium.

Iconium is about 100 miles southeast of Antioch. Remember that they were kicked out but they did not give up and quit. They stayed right where they were and pursued the path the Spirit of God had led and they came to Iconium. Verse 1, "They went both together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed.”

We see again that Paul goes to the Jews because he loves them and he knows there's a ready-made audience. And he knows also that if some of the Jews get saved, they can help him win the Gentiles. Well, they both preached with tremendous results. People believed, but we have no idea whether they continued in the faith and were really saved. The pattern so far has been to go into the synagogue and have a terrific start. And then immediately after that, trouble.

Verse 2, “But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.” And so these Jews who were unbelievers, who did not obey, stirred up the Gentiles against the Apostles. And whoever had believed and apparently some were saved, and they are called "brethren.”

Verse 3 says, “Therefore they (Paul and Barnabas) stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” Now that phrase, "a long time," in the Greek is used elsewhere to speak of a time somewhere between a month and three years. So they remained and they continued to preach and teach, speaking boldly in the Lord.

They knew the resentment was brewing. And yet they were bold in their continuing to preach. And a quality that really makes the difference is the quality of fearlessness. It is the declaration of truth in the face of any opposition. Paul didn't even know how to live any other way than that. He had a tremendous commitment to boldness. Boldness is a necessity to any effective service.

"Well, how was the Lord giving testimony?" By those miracles. They would preach and the Lord would give them the power to do miracles and people would believe and so the Lord was giving testimony by granting signs. It pointed to the power of God. This was the gift of miracles as the Lord confirmed the Word of grace. Well, the city began to polarize. The longer they stayed, the more it polarized.

Verse 4, “But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the Apostles.” Paul and Barnabas, split the town down the middle. They polarized the believers and the unbelievers to two extremes and the thing was a smoldering caldron about ready to explode. Jesus said in Matthew 12, “He that is not with Me is against Me." Jesus even said in Matthew 10, "I have not come to bring peace but a sword, to divide.”

Verse 5, “And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them.” Gentiles didn't stone people. This was a Jewish form of execution in connection with blasphemy. So the Jews convinced the Gentiles to join in and the whole mob came to kill Paul and Barnabas.

Verse 6-7, “They became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. 7 And they were preaching the gospel there.” God wants living, bold servants and it was apparent they would not really have any necessity to stay. Their ministry had been completed there. So they took off.

But Paul left an impression on that town, there was a description of Paul from Iconium that says, “He was a man small in size with meeting eyebrows, a rather large nose, bald-headed, bow-legged, strongly built, full of grace, for at times he looked like a man and at times he had the face of an angel.” Now we will never know whether this was true, but he was really remembered in that town.

They only went 18 miles away to a place called Lystra. And they were going the wrong direction away from civilization. The further east they went and the further distance from the coastline and the city of Perga, the greater the dangers. Corrupt magistrates, super-stitious natives, hostile sorcerers, rebellious Jews and a lack of Roman law. But they went because the Holy Spirit sent them to preach Christ.

The third qualification is power. Any effective Christian servant, any effective missionary, will experience the free flow of the power of God. Acts 1:8 says, "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Does every Christian have the Holy Spirit? Yes. Does every Christian have power? Yes. Does every Christian exhibit the free flow of that power? No. But they did.

Watch for example verse 8, “And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.” Since he was born he had never walked. Transportation wasn't easily accomplished in those days so it is likely that he had grown up there. Everybody knew he was the town cripple. But he was listening to Paul's presentation of Christ.

Verse 9, “This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed.” God was working on that guy's heart. He was listening and Paul was continuing to stare at him. Out of all people, Paul's eyes stuck on this cripple man. Cripples were everywhere and yet the Spirit of God drew Paul right to that man. And it says, "Paul perceived that he had faith to be healed.”

Paul as an Apostle was given the gift of healing and Paul saw here an opportunity in the power of God to confirm his message. All of a sudden, verse 10, “Paul said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.” Now that's the test of faith for the crippled man. He leaped first, walked later. This guy just got right up and started walking.

Here is Paul right in the middle of his sermon, while ministering his spiritual gift, the Spirit of God was able to let the power flow to accomplish a dynamic miracle. This is just another illustration how that in the life pattern of the man of God, the flow of the Spirit is free to exercise itself at any point. Now that is the kind of power that we are talking about. In the middle of doing one thing, the power of God does another thing.

How could we ever experience that kind of power? It is a question of confession. What is the one thing that bottles up the power? Sin, and sin just needs to be confessed. We need to confess it as soon as we commit it. That just keeps the channel of blessings clear. If you are harboring sin, you are clogging up the channel. A Christian who is so sensitive to sin that as soon as it occurs, he is confessing, is the one in whom the power flows freely.

We can't do miracles like this. We don't need that kind of confirmation. We have the Word of God, but God wants to express His power through us. His power in witnessing, His power in prayer, His power in our spiritual gifts, and His power in accomplishing the ministry He gives us and He wants the free flow of that power. And that comes by living in constant harmony with the Holy Spirit and in confession of sin moment by moment.

Listen what Paul says in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” You also have that power. Ephesians 3:19 says that we are filled with all the fullness of God. That is power, just let it flow. A man of God is effective ministering spiritual gifts, boldness and power. May it be also with you and me. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Nov 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161113 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/6510xm3o imblog Acts 13:42-52

We have been studying the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in the city of Antioch. That city was in a region called Pisidia which was in a larger area called Galatia. This is the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas were two of the five pastors of the church in Antioch of Syria, a different Antioch, and they had been called of the Holy Spirit to go out and carry the gospel to the Gentile world.

When Paul arrived at the synagogue there, he was invited to preach and his sermon affected the whole city. It was the most influential thing that had ever happened in the city of Antioch. Whenever the gospel is proclaimed in the midst of sin and wherever there are unsaved people, it is bound to have results that are going to be shattering. The gospel was preached in Jerusalem and it exploded. But there was also persecution that came about, and bitter opposition and hatred.

Then the gospel moved to Judea and Samaria as our Lord Jesus had said that it would and as it spread into those areas, and the same devastating results came to pass, turning things upside down. There were people committed to Christ and others hating them and fighting and resisting them and the forces of God for good were set against the forces of Satan for evil. That is always how it is when the gospel is preached.

And now as the good news of Jesus Christ reaches into the city of Antioch, a Gentile community, it has the same devastating effect. Paul and Barnabas arrive and the whole city is in uproar in a matter of a week. And in most cases of evangelism, the chaos and the persecution came directly from Israel.

Everything that God had designed, was designed initially for Israel and yet all throughout the early church and all throughout the life of Christ, Israel rejected it all and fought against it and really played the part of Satan's advocate. You go to Jerusalem, for example, and the early church there in Acts 4, 5, and 7 charts persecution and all of that persecution is directly from the Jews against Christ and Christians.

Now Paul preached about Jesus. He announced that Jesus was the culmination of history, the fulfillment of prophesy and the justifier of sinners and he wrapped it up with a warning and an invitation and tonight we're going to see the response. What did they do? The initial response was positive, in the beginning things really looked good. The subsequent response was split, some very negative and some very positive.

Eventually the issue is going to be whether there is a commitment to Christ and the thing is going to split and that's exactly what happened in the city of Antioch. The reason why Antioch exploded, basically is because the gospel always creates opposition. Christ said in Matthew 10:34, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword." The gospel automatically divides people between the saved and the unsaved, the people who accept it and the people who reject it, and so it causes division.

Look at Acts 13: 42-44 to see how positive it was at first. In fact, through verse 44, it looked like it was a revival. Not until verse 45 do you really see any opposition. There were four things that were tremendously positive. One, they were really pleased. Look at verse 42, “So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.”

Second point, they were persistent. Again, this is a compliment to Paul. What a teacher he was because it says in verse 43, “Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” The term "devout proselytes" embodies both the proselyte who had been circumcised and the one who was just a God-fearer who had come to the synagogue but never gone fully for circumcision and Judaism.

“Paul and Barnabas persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” Does that mean they were saved? We don't know just based on verse 43. Paul and Barnabas also did not know whether they were saved or not either and because nobody can know. God knows for sure but we can't really know their hearts. There is only one way where we can really tell when somebody is born again and that is if they continue in the grace of God.

Look at 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” John 8:30-31 says, “As Jesus spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” Jesus said that the real saved person continues in the grace of God.

So Paul and Barnabas saw that they had made a profession of belief and he says, in effect, “Validate the genuineness of your confession by continuing in the grace of God.” Now for a Jew, there was a special problem, because they were used to living not in the grace of God but under the law. Paul says now it is a matter of believing. I am offering you a new way.

The great temptation for a Jew was to make an intellectual ascent to Christianity and then under the pressure of his Judaism, under the pressure of his tradition, under the pressure of his friends, be pulled back into Judaism and trying to work your way in under the law and thus invalidating his faith. And so Paul is saying, “I want to see that it is real by you continuing in grace.”

Now that is the problem of the group to whom the writer of Hebrews speaks. Remember the warnings in Hebrews to those Jews who knew it was true and who came all the way into a church and believed in their heads and said, "Yeah, this is for real.” But then they were drawn back to Judaism. Hebrews 10:38 says, “Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”

Look at Galatians 5, where Paul had warned the people "Don't go back to law. Stick with grace." Verse 7-8, “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.” “You didn't get this from God,” he says. In Galatians 5:1, Paul says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

And so in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas say, "Indicate the true character of your faith by continuing in the grace of God." Continue, thus validating your faith. Look at verse 44, “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.” Everything looked good at the beginning but Paul wasn't convinced that they were true believers because the subsequent response went the opposite way.

Verse 45, “But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.” If there was anything a Jew couldn't tolerate, it was Gentiles homing in on salvation. It's an amazing reversal, isn't it? You want to know the cause? Prejudice. They did not like Gentiles receiving the same salvation and blessings of God. It was selfishness. It was their feeling that they only had this personal privilege and superiority.

The same word is used in Acts 5:17 of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. It translates as the word, “indignation.” They couldn't stand anybody else getting blessed. How tragic is it that prejudice blinds, and so they closed their minds and they were finished. And the sad thing is that they went right back to Judaism. They picked it up again the next Sabbath and all that “continuing in the grace of God” was lost.

Well, they started arguing and a big crowd was there and they were apparently really contradicting Paul. At the end of verse 45, it says they were blaspheming and blasphemy is the worst kind of sin. It is the sin of speaking evil of God and of Christ and they did it. Did they realize that they rejected their Messiah, forfeiting everything for all eternity?

People reject the gospel for many reasons but they are always the same. They love their sin. Now that sin may have different forms. It may be everything from sex to prejudice but it's always the same thing. They're not willing to sacrifice their ego and the established patterns that satisfy self. And here, a whole group of people lost out on eternal heaven for something as stupid as prejudice against Gentiles.

Verse 46 says, “Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, but also to the Gentiles.”

God wanted them to be His priest nation and His witness nation and so God said, "I'll send the gospel to you first and if you will believe it, spread it." In Jerusalem and even when they arrived in town, Paul went to the Jews first, he had a priority of Jewish evangelism. God is going to reach the world and if you are not the vehicle then the Gentiles will reach the Gentiles. How sad that the Jews pushed the Messiah away after hundreds of years of waiting for Him.

Paul made a fearful statement in verse 46. It says, "And you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life.” Do you know that a man who rejects Jesus Christ judges himself? I believe in human responsibility. God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). In John 3:18, it says, “he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

And then to justify what he said, he quoted their own prophet. Verse 47, he quoted Isaiah, “For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.” Jesus was the light of the nations. Remember Simeon in the temple when the Baby Jesus was there? Simeon said in Luke 2:30, 32, “My eyes have seen Your salvation. A light to bring revelation to the nations.” The Messiah was sent to the nations.

While the Jews were negative, the Gentiles were very positive. Verse 48, “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” The Jews were enraged and the Gentiles were getting saved. It says there “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." That sounds like God chose them. Exactly.

Do you mean they were ordained to be saved? That's right. Do you believe that God chose those that would be saved? Absolutely. The word “ordained” is tatogmonoi, which is a form of the Greek verb ‘taso’, and there is papyrus evidence to indicate that the verb "taso" means to inscribe or to make out a list. And what it is saying is that as many as were put on the list for eternal life believed.

So when did God write the list? The answer is in Ephesians 1:4, "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” That is election. Do you mean that everybody who is saved is saved because God ordained them and wrote their name? Yes. But you just said in verse 46 that if a man goes to hell, it's his own fault. Right. But those two are contradictory." Exactly. The Bible teaches both.

And I believe both. That is God's problem, not mine. But I know this, if a man dies without Christ, it's his own fault. And if a man comes to Jesus Christ, it's all God's doing. When you are saved, God gets all the credit. When you are lost, you get all the blame. Now this we cannot understand. I just believe it, because both are in the Bible.

As many as were written on the roll believed but everybody who disbelieved was pronouncing sentence on himself. You have two doctrines in the Bible, beloved. Human responsibility, where if a man dies without Christ, it is his own fault. Divine sovereignty, a man comes to Christ, it is only because the Father drew or drags him.

Verse 49, “And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region.” When people get saved, they share it. Let me show you the key. Verse 44, “They all came together to hear the Word of God." Verse 46, "It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken." Verse 48, "And they glorified the Word of the Lord." Verse 49, "And the Word of the Lord was being spread." The key is the Word to everything; speaking God's message.

What were the results of a negative response from the Jews? Verse 50, “But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.” Apparently, they got to these chief men through these women. And Paul and Barnabas were thrown out of that area.

But the sad, fearful results of the Jews is in verse 51, “But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium.” That was an important symbolic statement. Jesus said in Luke 10, when you evangelize, when the people don't believe the Messiah, shake the dust off your feet and leave that town. Treat those Jews like they are Gentiles. They were saying in effect, "We consider you heathens, lost and doomed.”

And positive result in verse 52, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” See the contrast? Paul and Barnabas left two different groups. God saw some as pagans. God filled the others with His Holy Spirit. You either live life without the knowledge of God, or you live with His Holy Spirit inside you. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, "He that is not with Me is against Me." Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Nov 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161106 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/367a7ddy imblog Acts 13:38-41

Now, several weeks ago, we saw that Jesus was presented as the culmination of history in verses 17 - 23. History is the story of man and God created man for a two-fold purpose. One is to have fellowship with Him. God is a Trinity, consequently His very nature speaks of fellowship; and so He created angels. And God created man to have fellowship with Him, but man chose to go his own way and sinned, such that fellowship was broken.

God created man for a second reason, to give Him glory. But man refused to do that and after becoming a sinner, the possibility of man giving glory to God was over with. And now God has men whom He created for two purposes, fellowship and glory, but they have ceased to do either. So history now becomes the recovery of man's lost destiny. History now is God recovering what He initially created man to do.

From the beginning of the Bible to the end, we can see God's process of recovering men. He lost them in Genesis in the very beginning but He recovers them and draws them into a new heaven and a new earth in Revelation in the end. And the whole Bible is the story of God recovering man's lost destiny and the only way that it could ever be done was through the perfect work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said this in John 14:6, “no man comes to the Father but by Me.” Jesus Christ is the only one who can bring man back to God, who can restore fellowship and grant man the capacity to give God glory. We were created for God. In Colossians 1:16, Paul said of Jesus, "All things were created through Him and for Him."

Now the key to all of this, is Jesus Christ. Paul went through history in verses 17 to 22 and he resolves it in verse 23, “From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus.” A savior is somebody who can bring men to God, that is Jesus. And there is his declaration, Jesus alone brings men to God.

Look at Hebrews 2:8, “You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” When God created man, He created man to rule for God in fellowship. Verse 8 continues, “For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.” Man lost his purpose. God made him to be king of the earth but men forfeited all of it. There was no fellowship.

What happened when Adam sinned? The fellowship stopped, the first thing he did with Eve was hide. Instead of giving God glory, they were ashamed. And so Hebrews 2: 9 introduces us to the only one who can solve the problem, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He, by the grace of God should taste death for everyone.”

There is only one way to get back and that was to deal with men’s sin, because God can't tolerate sin. The wages of sin is death. Only death deals with sin. Somebody has to die for man's sin for us to get back into the presence of God and be restored to his original destiny. And so Christ had to come and He, by the grace of God, tasted death, not for Himself but for every person.

Hebrews 2:10, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” In other words, everybody ever made was made for God. Anyone who goes to hell is an intruder there. Hell wasn't created for man. It was created for the devil and his angels.

Now God wants to get all men from here to glory. And in order to get them to glory, somebody has to lead them, the captain, the leader, and in order for Him to do that, He is going to have to be made perfect through suffering. He is going to have to die for their sins. That is what the Bible says and so Jesus came and paid the penalty for sin; and because of that, He became the perfect leader to lead us back to God.

Jesus says in Hebrews 2:12-13, “I will declare Your name to My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise to You. 13 I will put My trust in Him. And again, here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” Here is the group of people that Christ has won and is taking back to God. Verse 17 says, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Every Jew knew that history was moving toward the Messiah. But they didn't know that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, they killed Jesus as a criminal. But Jesus restored the purpose of man's destiny, for it is in Christ that we are kings again in the kingdom on earth, and we shall reign with Him. History is God's recovery process and Christ is the only way it can ever happen.

So Paul says to the Jews, “Yes, the Messiah is Jesus,” and their question is, "Why should we believe that He is the Messiah?" And so Paul comes to his second point in Acts 13: 23 - 37, which we saw last week, because of the fulfillment of prophesy. Jesus is not only the culmination of history, He is the fulfillment of prophesy and that is the most devastating and greatest proof that Jesus is the Messiah. You can't see it any other way. It is absolutely overwhelming.

Jesus fulfills every issue of messianic prophesy in His first coming and will fulfill every-thing in His second coming. Paul gives three areas of prophesy. One, the forerunner. In verse 24 and 25, he speaks about John the Baptist who preceded Christ. They knew that from Isaiah 40:3, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the paths for the Lord." So when John announced the Messiah, that prophesy was fulfilled.

The second area of prophesy which we saw last time was during the crucifixion. When Jesus was dying on the cross, verse 29 says, "When they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down." All the time He was on the cross, He was fulfilling prophesy after prophesy. The third area of prophesy that Jesus fulfilled after the crucifixion is the resurrection. Look at verse 30, “God raised Him from the dead.” Verse 33, God raised Him from the dead, just as He said in Psalm 2. Verse 37, God raised Him. So Jesus fulfills all these prophecies.

And this is the message for tonight, Acts 13: 38 - 41. Jesus is not only the culmination of history, the fulfillment of prophesy, but He is the justifier of sinners. Oh, what an incredible point this is to give to Jews. Now, before we look at verse 38, we must realize that every Jew had his mind dominated by those three themes: God's plan for Israel, God's promise of a Messiah and God's provision for sin.

Jews were dominated by the concept of sin. In our world today, sin is kind of overlooked. We live in an age where people believe that we have to get rid of all the Victorian hang-ups and all the old Bible morality and there is no such thing as sin and go ahead and do whatever feels right for you. That is the morality of today. There is no ethic, there is now same sex marriage, free abortion, etc. Just break the law if you don't agree with it.

But in those days, there was a tremendous sensitivity among the Jews to sin. How could they escape it? Every week, they met in the synagogue and they read the Scriptures and and you know what it talks about? Sin, sin, sin. Look and read their history, you can hardly find a bright light. Just sin, centuries of it, and how God dealt with it and how serious it was. Jews were also aware of the consequences of it.

There are three things we can learn from David. No. 1, David was sensitive to sin. No. 2, he knew he deserved punishment. No. 3, he asked for punishment. Now most of us do all right on No. 1. We're sensitive to sin, right? We also do OK on No. 2. We know we deserve punishment. But we really do poorly on No. 3. Punish me God; I deserve it. And yet, the Bible is very clear about the fact that chastisement brings about maturity.

Some people want to get rid of the law because it condemns. No, it's a good thing, there is nothing wrong with the law. It just shows you how sinful you are when you try to break the law. All of us need to learn how to handle yourself. One thing about the New Covenant that is exciting is that you not only have the same orders, but you now have the power within you in the form of the Holy Spirit to carry them out.

Now look at verse 38, “Therefore let it be known to you, brothers that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.” This is precisely the thing that has burdened every Jew for so long. What kind of forgiveness? Verse 39, “and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” All the Law of Moses did was just cover your sin a little bit. Paul says, “Here comes Jesus and through Him all sins are forgiven.”

That is really good news to everyone. Peter had that in his sermon in Acts 10 about forgiveness of sin. Verse 39, says it clearly, “from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." The word "justified" means declared righteous. You are declared to be right before God, by Him, which Moses could never do. Moses just covered it up with animal sacrifices.

To expand on this, look at Hebrews 9:6, “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services.“ That is the holy place. Verse 7, “But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance.” The sins of the past year were gathered up and he would sprinkle blood and take care of the past sins of the year in a general sense for the nation.

Well, it was temporary, right? Verse 8, “the Holy Spirit indicating this that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest.” That was only a picture and it couldn't be real while the first tabernacle was yet standing. Verse 9, “It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience.”

Now notice, one thing a Jew never experienced was freedom from sin in his conscience. As a Christian, the thing that I enjoy as much as anything is a conscience free from guilt. It's a glorious thing to know that my sin has been paid for by God's son, Jesus Christ. And that God sees me as pure as snow, and I have no condemnation because I'm in Christ.

Imagine the Jew tremendously pressured by the ever conscious presence of his sin. Like David says in Psalm 51, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” And as a Christian, the fantastic release to know that all my sin are dealt with. And so Paul says that the animal sacrifices were only a parable, there wasn't ever any clear conscience, right? Go down in verse 14 and he says, "It was Christ who was able to purge your conscience.”

Look at Hebrews 10:1, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” We will use the word "righteous" instead of perfect. It means that in Hebrews. That was the Jew's dilemma and then verse 2 says, “For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”

Verse 4, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” But Jesus came and it says in Hebrews 10:12, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” The work was done. Verse 14, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” See, the law of Moses couldn't make a man just and the Jew knew this.

Romans 3:21 is the greatest passage on justification in the Bible, it says, “But now the righteousness of God is apart from the law." So, how do you get righteous? You can't work on being righteous. The only righteousness that'll ever get you into heaven is God's righteousness, and you can't be that good. It is in verse 22, "The righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ upon all them that believe," Then in verse 28 Paul sums it up, "Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."

Now Paul closes with an invitation and a warning. Verse 40, "Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you.” Paul says, "Listen, if you don't respond to Jesus Christ, something's going to happen to you that was spoken of in the prophets and you better beware." What is it? Paul quotes Habakkuk 1:5 in verse 41, “Behold, you despisers, marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you.”

Some people asked Billy Graham, "Do you believe in heaven and that other place?" People use "hell" a lot until they start talking about the real place. Then they don't like to say the word. Billy said, "Yes, we believe that." They answered, "Well, I can't believe that God would send people there.” Here the Bible says that of course you can't believe it. The Bible says that God's going to do a work, a work of judgment, which nobody is going to believe.

It's unbelievable because we have misconstrued the character of God to begin with. God deals with sin seriously and that it's difficult to believe. There is a hell where in Mark 9:44, “the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched”, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is going to be a day of judgment and men don't believe it, but that doesn't mean it isn't going to happen. What God promises always comes true. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Oct 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161030 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/3w77x8b8 imblog Acts 13:23-37

God here is presenting Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, the Savior of the world, through the words of Paul. And the Old Testament and the New Testament are both equally concerned with presenting Jesus Christ. The Old Testament presents the Christ who will come. And the New Testament presents the Christ who did come. But they all focus on Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, God keeps promising a Deliverer, a Savior, a King and a Messiah; and in the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth fulfills every single prophecy that God ever made of a Messiah. The ones that are yet to be fulfilled by Him will be fulfilled in His Second Coming, which we will see. In Genesis 3:15 God says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.”

Now, we all know that the woman has no seed. Here is a prophecy of a virgin-born man, and that He would bruise the serpent's head. This virgin-born man would deal a killing blow to Satan. That was the first Messianic prophecy so beautifully fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who was born of a virgin. Isaiah 7:14 says, "A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a child," and it was Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus fulfilled the virgin-born prophecy, and He also fulfilled the prophecy of victory over Satan as He won the victory at the cross; and the writer of Hebrews says, "He destroyed the power of the devil in His own death." Isaiah 9:6 says, "This Messiah who comes would be God.” In Psalm 2:7, God says, "This is My beloved Son." And Jesus claimed to be both God and the Son of God; and He substantiated both claims.

The prophet Micah said, "When He comes, He will be born in Bethlehem." Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Moses told us in the Pentateuch that the Messiah would be a son of Abraham. And Matthew tells us, "Jesus was a son of Abraham." In Numbers 24:17, it says, "The Messiah will be a star out of Jacob." In Luke 3: 34, we find that Jesus comes through Jacob.

In Genesis 49:10, the Bible says that, "Jesus will come through Judah." Revelation 5:5 calls Him the Lion of Judah. In Isaiah 11:1 and in Luke 3:23, 32, we find that Jesus came from Jesse. In Jeremiah 23:5 it says, "Behold, I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and He will reign and prosper," and the New Testament repeatedly says that, "Jesus was the son of David." In Matthew 2:16, He fulfills that prophecy.

In Deuteronomy 18:18, the Word of God came to Moses, "I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen, like you. And I will put My Words in His mouth," and Jesus came along, and the people in Galilee looked at Him in John 6:14, and said, "He is like that Prophet,” like Moses. In Psalm 110, God said that, "Whoever the Messiah is, He will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. A priest for eternity forever."

Those are just a few proofs, and all of the details of the life of Jesus Christ just fulfill prophecy after prophecy after prophecy. There is no way this could be manufactured, it is a mathematical impossibility. The powerful argument of prophecy sweeps away all doubt that Jesus of Nazareth is not the Messiah, the Deliverer of Israel.

Now, let us continue to look at Paul who is basically used by God to present Jesus to the Jews. Now, the sermon falls into three parts. Jesus Christ is presented first as the culmination of history; secondly, as the fulfillment of prophecy; and thirdly, as the justifier of sinners. Now, a while back, we have seen Paul's first point, that Jesus is the culmination of history.

So in those verses 17 to 22, Paul describes their history. God led you out of Egypt, took care of you in the wilderness, brought you into the Promised Land, divided the nation for you, and gave you the portions that you were supposed to have. Even when you wanted a king, He gave you a king. Then He raised up His king David, and David ruled.

And then we come to verse 23, “From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus.” And then he gave the last word of verse 23, Jesus. None of them expected to hear that. Paul recites their history. "Yes, God is controlling your destiny. God is controlling your history. Your history is going toward a Savior, the seed of David." And then, wham, Jesus...

History will reach its apex in the Savior who will make it possible to bring men to God; and that Savior is Jesus. Verse 23 is the bridge to his second point: Jesus is the seed of David. Through the line of Mary, He had the blood of David. Through the line of Joseph, He had the right to the throne from David. So through both parents He was David's seed.

And now Paul gives another great statement. Secondly, he says, "According to the promise.” Jesus is presented as the Messiah because He fulfilled all the Messianic prophecy. In the Old Testament, God prophecies what will happen, and it all happens to Jesus, He is the fulfillment of God's prediction. That is the reason why you have all these prophecies about Messiah, Jesus comes along and fulfills every one of them.

Now, Paul doesn't expect those Jews to just believe that because he tells them, so he begins then to quote these prophecies one by one. And from verse 23 through 37, Paul outlines the fulfillments of prophecy in the life of Jesus of Nazareth that qualify Him to be the Messiah.

Let's begin in verse 23, notice the word promise. God said in 2 Samuel 7:13, “I will raise up a Savior according to the seed of David.” God always keeps His promises. Numbers 23:19 and Isaiah 46:9-10 say, God cannot lie. Jeremiah 33:17, "For so says the Lord: 'David shall never lack a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.'" In other words, David's line will never die out so that there is no descendent.

Well, that's the first promise, and Jesus fulfilled it. In verse 24, Paul then says, “After John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.” The first great prophecy in regard to the coming of Messiah, was the prophecy that there would be a forerunner to Messiah to prepare the way. Paul is talking about John the Baptist and he is called that way because he baptized many people.

Verse 25, “And as John fulfilled his course." Notice the word fulfilled, it means that a prophecy was fulfilled. The Messiah is coming, but before His death and resurrection, there is the baptism of repentance. It is ceremonial cleansing among the Jews. Why? Because they were getting themselves ready for the Messiah, so their hearts would be ready to receive Him.

Before anybody even in this age comes to know Jesus Christ, there must be repentance. There must be the turning from sin in the heart, and then the turning to Christ. The reason we have so many shallow conversions today is that people don't really know Jesus Christ. There is either an omission or a minimizing of the concept of repentance.

Verse 25 continues, “John said, I am not He. But behold, there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.” The most demeaning task of a slave was to take the shoes off the dirty feet of his master. And only the lowest of the lowest had the right to do that; and John says, "I'm not even worthy to take off His dirty shoes." That's humility, isn't it?

Verse 26, “Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us the word of this salvation has been sent.” Here he makes the two distinctions: the children of the stock of Abraham would be Jews, and the “those among you who fear God” would be Gentile converts. And Paul says, “the salvation that comes in Jesus as announced by John is for us.”

Now, at this point, there are two questions. If I was a Jew, I would say, “If Jesus is, as you say, the Messiah, why didn't our leaders recognize Him?" And question No. 2, if by some unbelievable circumstance, He was the Messiah, and they did kill Him, does that wipe out God's plan? Paul proceeds to answer those two questions, giving prophetic reasons.

Verse 27, “For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” Listen to that powerful statement. Because they were blinded by their own sin, they killed Him because they didn't want to know who He was.

How could our leaders miss Him? They have missed Him because they didn't understand what they were reading. Too much sin, too much hypocrisy. The second question was, “If they killed Him, did that wipe out God's plan?” The answer to that is at the end of verse 27, "They have fulfilled them in condemning Him.”

Look at verse 28, “And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death.” Listen to Psalm 69:4 prophecy, "Those who hate Me without a cause are more than the hairs of My head." There wasn't any legitimate accusation that could hold up, and Pilate repeatedly said, "I find no fault in Him.”

God knew they would do that. Jesus fulfills every prophecy. Some people say that Jesus got up there on the cross and tried to fulfill all the prophecy, but how do you get the whole nation of Israel to condemn Him without a cause? Look at verse 29, “Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.”

Psalm 22:18, "They divided My garments among them and for My clothing they cast lots." In John 19: 24, the soldiers said, "Let's not part His garment. Let's cast lots." Exactly fulfilling the prophecy. The Roman soldiers fulfilled it without knowing it. Psalm 69:21, “And for My thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink and gall." In Matthew 27:34, "They gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall."

In Psalm 31:5, it says, "Into Thy hands I commit My Spirit," the statement of Messiah. In Luke 23:46, "Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit," said Jesus. Psalm 34:20 says, "He keeps all His bones, not one of them is broken." John 19:33 says, "But coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.”

In Zechariah 12:10, the prophet said, "They will look on Me whom they have pierced." In John 19:34, a soldier took a spear and pierced His side, fulfilling the prophecy. The Romans were in on the fulfillment. The Jews were in on the fulfillment. Jesus was in on the fulfillment. The crowd was in on the fulfillment. Everybody was in on the fulfillment, because God ordered it all. Jesus was Messiah every way you look at it.

Notice in verse 29, "They laid Him in a tomb." You know that fulfilled prophecy? Isaiah 53:9 says, "And they made His grave with the wicked." It was assigned to be there, "but with the rich at His death." Jesus didn't end up where the criminals were buried, but He was buried in the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah.

Look at verse 30, "But God raised Him from the dead.” God and man see Jesus’ death differently, and God reversed the verdict of Israel, right? God gave His approval, and raised Him from the grave. And then He gives evidence in verse 31, “He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people.”

And then in verse 32-33, he says, “And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers. 33 God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” God predicted this and it has to do, not only with His incarnation, but also with His resurrection.

Then Paul goes to a second promise, verse 34, “And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.” That's Isaiah 55:3, God had given all these promises to come in Messiah. So he says, "I raised Him so that I could grant the promises, the sure mercies, to you through Him.”

Then the last promise in verse 35, “Therefore He also says in Psalm 16: 8-10: ‘You shall not allow Your Holy One to see corruption." Some people say, that refers to David. So Paul answers in verse 36, “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption.”

Verse 37, "But He.whom God raised up saw no corruption.” Oh, he's saying, "Hey people, you have to believe Jesus is Messiah." God raised Him from the dead. Jesus is the Messiah, because of what happened before He came, what happened while He came, and what happened after He went. God raised Him again to life.

Jesus is the Messiah. He is not only the culmination of history, He is the fulfillment of prophecy. God always kept every promise. Fulfilled is the key word all through there. And God has appointed a future day of judgment. The Bible says, 'That for every man who rejects Jesus Christ, there will be the judgment of eternal hell." For one who rejects Jesus Christ, Hebrews 10:31 says, “it is a fearful thing to fall under the hands of the living God.”

]]> Sun, 23 Oct 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161023 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/5084t3g6 imblog Habakkuk 1:1-3:19

The situation which Habakkuk faces is the imminent invasion of the southern kingdom of Judah by the Chaldeans, which is another name for the Babylonians. This invasion eventually happened at the end of the sixth century BC, and Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. The Lord revealed to Habakkuk beforehand that Judah was going to be punished for her sin.

Unlike Joel and Zephaniah and Amos, Habakkuk does not even mention the possibility that destruction could be averted. He does not call for national repentance. It is too late. Instead, he predicts the destruction of Judah, and beyond that the doom of the Chaldeans themselves. And he tells them that the only way to preserve your life is by faith.

So even though destruction is decreed for the nation, there is hope for individuals who hold fast their confidence in God. The full doctrine of justification by faith, as Paul taught it in Romans, is not yet here. But the picture is here. So let us survey this prophetic book, and then focus on how it unfolds in the New Testament as “justification by faith.”

Judah's Wickedness and Judgment

Habakkuk cries out in 1:2–4 that Judah is full of violence and perverted justice. Verse 4, “Therefore the law is powerless and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore perverse judgment proceeds.” Amos had warned the northern kingdom that injustice would bring judgment, and that did happen in 722 BC. Now here is the southern kingdom of Judah, 130 years later, guilty of the same offenses.

So in 1:5–11 God foretells what he intends to do. Verse 6: "For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.” God uses nations like a sword to chastise his people. And God still does that right now.

But verse 12 expresses the confidence Habakkuk has that God will not utterly destroy his people, "Are You not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction." God is using the Chaldeans against his people, but it is not for annihilation but for correction and judgment.

The Chaldeans' Wickedness and Judgment

Then in 1:13–17 Habakkuk shows that he laments that the proud (1:11) and violent (1:14, 15) and idolatrous (1:16) Chaldeans should themselves escape the judgment of God. They certainly are no more righteous than Judah (1:13), even if God is using them to do his work of judgment.

Now, in Habakkuk 2, he awaits the divine response to his protests. In 2:2-3, the Lord answers him in a vision. We are not told what he saw but what Habakkuk says is based on what he received in that vision. The word regarding Judah in verse 4 is this, “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just will live by his faith.” There is hope for those who will hold firm their trust in God as the calamity comes.

But the word regarding the Chaldeans in 2:6–19 is a five-fold woe. Verse 6: “Woe to him who increases what is not his.” Verse 9: “Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high.” Verse 12: “Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed.” Verse 15: “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor that you may look on his nakedness.” Verse 19: “Woe to him who says to wood, awake; and to a silent stone, arise!” (Idolatry)

In other words, the great power of the Chaldeans will, in the end, come to nothing. Why? Because as 2:14 says, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters covers the sea.” Habakkuk need not fear that a rebellious nation will have the last say. The earth is the Lord's, and He will fill it with his glory.

Habakkuk 2 closes with these words in verse 20, “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Let all the nations be still and know that he is God. His glory will fill the earth, not the glory of the Chaldeans. So God assures him that the pride of the Chaldeans will come to a woeful end (2:6–20) and that any in Judah who humbly trusts God will gain his life (2:4).

Habakkuk's Song of Praise and Faith

Chapter 3 is Habakkuk's response to what he has heard. But it is more than his own personal prayer. It is intended as a psalm to be used in worship. When it says in verse 3:1, “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth,” means that the prayer is to have musical accompaniment with a spirit of excitement and triumph.

This is confirmed by two things: 1) the very last phrase says, "To the Chief Musician, with my stringed instruments,” and 2) the use of "Selah" at the end of verses 3, 9, and 13. The reason this is important to see is that Habakkuk wants us to be able to sing this prayer with him. It is here to show us how we should face the judgment of God. How should the godly prepare for this tribulation and calamity?

We should ask the same question. Tribulation is coming upon the world, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:21. How should we prepare for it? How shall we endure it? First in Habakkuk 3:2 he prays, “O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid, O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.”

Habakkuk feared of the judgment of God. So he prays that in the midst of His wrath, God still will have mercy on him. Then in 3:3–15 he sings of the greatness of God's power, and especially his power to save. Verse 13, “You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck.”

The prophet knew God's power from His work in the past, and so he counted on God’s ultimate victory in the future. So verse 16 says, “When I heard, my body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered my bones; and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops.”

And finally, in Habakkuk 3:17–19, he breaks out into this wonderful song of faith, “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”

In other words, no matter how severe the tribulation when the Chaldeans invade the land, Habakkuk will never stop trusting God. Even though God himself has roused this “bitter and hasty nation" (1:6), Habakkuk is confident that in wrath God will show mercy to those who trust Him and rejoice in Him alone when all else fails. And this is true today, no matter how difficult your life is, when you trust God, He will save you!

The Main Point

Now the main point of this little book is negatively : Proud people, whose strength or ingenuity is their god (1:11, 16; 2:4, 19), will come to a woeful end, even though they may enjoy prosperity for a season either as God's chosen ones in Judah, or as the victors over Judah. All the proud, whether Jew or Gentile, will perish in the judgment.

But Habakkuk stresses the positive side of his main point, namely, "the just shall live by his faith." He states it as a principle in 2:4, and then he celebrates it as this great song in Habakkuk 3:16–19, which says that even when all the fruit and produce and flocks and herds are destroyed and my very life is threatened, yet will I still rejoice in God. When Habakkuk says that, he shows us what he means by faith in the phrase, “The just shall live by his faith.” He means banking all your hope on God no matter what happens.

Amos had said to Israel, "Seek good, and not evil, that you may live. Remember establish justice at the gate, and it may be that the Lord of hosts will be gracious" (5:14, 15). So Habakkuk could have said to Judah: The just shall live by doing good! The just shall live by executing justice at the gate! But are we saved by just becoming better people by doing justice and loving mercy? No. We do good because we are thankful we are saved.

And unless we have the gospel, that part of God's message of doing good works will become dreadful legalism and a difficult burden to the conscience. When Habakkuk says, "The just shall live by his faith," he means two things. One is that all those who are made righteous are also the ones who have faith in God.

Having a right standing before God always includes faith in God. The other thing Habakkuk 2:4 says is that faith is what saves us from God's wrath. "The just shall live by his faith" means: faith causes people to be reckoned by God to be just, and faith is what secures their life and keeps them safe for eternity.

The Heart of the Gospel

Habakkuk's message is the heart of the gospel but it doesn't reveal how righteousness and faith are related. He simply says, "Righteous people have faith, and this saves them.” The heart of the gospel is further explained in the New Testament after Jesus came to save us. The righteousness which God requires comes by faith, and it is only possible for us sinners to have it because Christ died to redeem our sins.

Genesis 15:6 says, "Abraham believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.” The relationship between trusting God and standing righteous before Him is that God looks at our faith and counts us as righteous. The reason God can do that for us sinners is that Christ took the punishment for our iniquities on himself.

Already in Isaiah 53:11 this is made plain, “By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities." When God reckons a person righteous because Christ died for him and because he puts his trust in Christ, that is what we call justification by faith, and that is the heart of the gospel.

Those who do not believe God according to Romans 2:5, are “storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.” On that day it will be clear to all how dumb it was for millions of people to live their lives as though the God who made this world for his glory would never call them to account for how much He was ignored and hated by them.

Acts 17:31 says, “He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.” Therefore, ask yourself: Would I be saved before a holy God if I died tonight? Am I ready to take my stand in the divine courtroom and hear the Judge pass an eternal sentence on me? There will only be two verdicts, either "condemned" or "justified," hell or heaven, eternal death or eternal life.

If you want to be reckoned righteous on that day, listen to Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk knew that everybody in Judah was a sinner. And he knew that the holiness of God prevents Him from ignoring our sins. Habakkuk 1:13 says, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.” So Habakkuk 3:2 taught that the only thing that could save us is faith in God's mercy.

Habakkuk couldn't understand how God would do that. But God had revealed it, and so he proclaimed it: the just shall gain their lives in the judgment by faith. Habakkuk knew that when he called them "just," they weren't sinless. He meant that those who are right with God in spite of their many sins are those who trust God for his mercy.

The New Testament Revelation

Paul said in Romans 3:24-26, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

When you put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, when you give up trying to lead your own life and establish your own worth, three things happen: 1) Your sins receive their punishment. 2) God's holiness is preserved. 3) And you receive your undeserved justification.

1) Your sin receives its deserved condemnation. On your deathbed you will realize that you will stand with all your sins before God. Sin must be punished. But God, who is rich in mercy, sent his Son to take our sin on himself and suffer for it. If you believe Christ, the death He died becomes your death. Your sins become his, and they have received their punishment through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

2) If His holiness had not been at stake, He might have just ignored your sin. But he maintained His righteousness by requiring an infinitely valuable sacrifice, the death of his own Son. A righteous God cannot ignore sin, unless there is an atonement, a sacrificial substitute. Therefore He sent His only Son, so that our sin might receive its deserved punishment, and God’s righteousness is preserved.

3) Finally, when you trust in Christ you receive your undeserved justification. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, even though we do not deserve this. It is a free gift from God for us, although for God it was not free, because He gave His only Son. And now we understand how in the New Testament, the just are reckoned justified by faith. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Oct 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20161002 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/46xa6e65 imblog Acts 13:14-23

Look at Psalm 2, which is an Old Testament prophecy telling us how history will culminate in Jesus Christ, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? ² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ³ “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.” ⁴ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. ⁵ Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ⁶ “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.”

⁷ “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. ⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. ⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” ¹⁰ Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. ¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. ¹² Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”

That Psalm explains that God controls history, and history finds its resolution in Jesus Christ. Now, turn to Acts 13:14-23 where we will see how Christ is presented by Paul as the culmination, the goal and the climax of history. Let us consider just the first part of Paul's first recorded sermon. Paul has been preaching for many years by now, but this is the first one that we have in the Word of God.

So in Acts 13 we see the third catalytic sermon in the New Testament. Something new and exciting started and the sermon of Paul is at the heart of it. It is the longest record of his sermon even though it has only excerpts from his sermon. Now, the church has expanded already from Jerusalem, and it reached Judea and Samaria.

Many people are saved in the city of Antioch in Syria where they established a church. Barnabas became the pastor but he couldn't handle it alone. So he looked for Saul and together they preached for one year. Three other leaders have come from that church. They are listed in Acts 13:1, Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen.

So there are five leading elders, and the church continues to grow and it is Spirit-filled. And then God says, "It's time to reach out. Separate to Me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them," and so the church lays hands on them, and agrees to stand behind them. Go," and they send out Paul and Barnabas to reach the world.

Well, the first place they went was to Barnabas' home Cyprus. They preached the Gospel there, and they had a victory over Satan because the Holy Spirit was with them. They immediately ran into conflict with Elymas the sorcerer over the soul of Sergius Paulus. But they came out on top because he believed and was saved. Great things began to happen and they pursued their first missionary journey.

Acts 13:13, “Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.” This meant that they went by boat across the Mediterranean to the north, and they landed at a little place called Pamphylia, and seven miles inland was Perga. Now, the whole area is called Galatia, and when Paul wrote to the Galatians, it was to all the cities of that area.

So first they went to Cyprus where Barnabas was from, and then they went to Asia Minor; in the Galatian section and landing in Pamphylia on the coast. Now, and here it notes that John, meaning John Mark, departed from them, and returned to Jerusalem. That is John Mark, the writer of the Gospel of Mark. It is possible that he was afraid to cross the dangerous Taurus Mountains.

Verse 14, “But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.” Now, that is not Antioch of Syria. Notice that the Bible passes over what may be one of the most difficult journeys of the early church with just a simple statement, "They departed from Perga and came to Antioch.” To travel that way was very taxing because it was 3600 feet high on the Taurus Mountains over more than a hundred miles.

Now, Antioch was a colony founded by Augustus, which was the administrative center of south Galatia. It was the most important city in that part of the Asia Minor area. It had a large settlement of Jews. Why didn't Paul preach in Perga? It is very likely that he was very sick while he was at Perga, and that is indicated in Galatians 4:13, “You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.” In other words, "When I first came to Galatia, I was very sick.”

Then in Galatians 4:14 it says, “And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.” Whatever it was, he did not preach there, but he pursued an unbelievable treacherous journey. Paul had fortitude, determination and courage like few other people, and he pressed on to Antioch together with Barnabas.

Alexander the Great wanted to join Parminio in Phrygia. So he had to cross the Taurus Mountains; and he said the toughest part of all of his campaign was to get through these mountains, especially to defeat these brutal, lawless tribesmen who just confiscated and slaughtered everybody that had the courage to come through there. Paul never forgot this journey.

In 2 Corinthians 11:26-27, he said, “in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” Nearly all of that occurred right there in the Taurus Mountains.

Paul went to the synagogue because it was a ready-made audience. Plus it was customary in a synagogue for visiting people to have the right to speak. Being qualified in the Old Testament, many would readily accept what he wanted to say at least until he introduced them to Christ. And the primary reason that he went to the synagogue was because he loved Jews and he wanted Israel to be saved.

In Romans 10:1 Paul says, "My heart's desire and prayer for Israel is that they may be saved," so he loved the Jews. You say, "Well, I thought the Jews were set aside." Yes, as a nation, but not individually. So there he goes with Barnabas, and they sit down. It's the Sabbath day. Verse 15, “And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”

The orthodox Jewish synagogue today would follow much the same pattern as this one did. The first thing is the recitation of the S H E M A, Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Following that prayers are offered. Then Scripture that is read is always a portion from the Pentateuch and it's divided over a seven-year period. Following that the Prophets are read, and that is also called the haftorah, and it is also prescribed over a seven-year span.

Then following that there would be instruction and teaching; and if there is a competent visiting guest, he is invited to do the speaking. And it just so happened that Paul and Barnabas were there; and Paul was competent. They may have noticed his Jewish character. Whatever it was, they were aware that he was a teacher. And he was respected as a former member of the Sanhedrin. Somehow they knew this, we don't know how.

Paul just waits on the Spirit of God, and God gives him the opportunity. Verse 16, “Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.” You learn here something, and that is that if the preacher stands in the place of Christ, he has the right to command the attention of the people. You have the right to say, “This is the Lord's time. Listen, for what I say is the Word of God.”

Paul begins his sermon with God, "The God of this people of Israel." Now, God is the first of the two main characters in the sermon, God and Jesus. God really dominates this thing. For example, in verse 17, God chose, God brought out. In verse 18, God put up. Verse 19, God destroyed and God distributed. Verse 20, God gave. Verse 21, God gave. Verse 22, God removed, God raised up, and God gave testimony. Verse 23, God raised up. Etc.

Jesus, is mentioned one time by name, in verse 23. The title of this sermon really is, “God presents Jesus.” Verse 23 is the key statement that ties the thing together, “From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior Jesus.” Jesus has to be presented by somebody that they respect, right? And they respect above all the God of Israel.

Now, there are three parts to the sermon: the culmination of history, the fulfillment of prophecy and the justifier of sinners. First, Jesus is the culmination of history, and that is what we will study now. One of the greatest questions that face all men, is the question, "Where is history going?" What does this life mean? Do we just live to die? I mean is that it? Is anybody going anywhere?

Dostoyevsky is right, “If there is no God, there is no purpose in life. If there is no purpose, then everything is permitted. If everything is permitted, we are a disaster.” Well, some think that history is just an endless repetition of evil, and it never is really any new evil. But the bible says that history is going somewhere. And every Jew in that synagogue at that day knew that it was going to culminate in the coming of Messiah.

God is a God who desires fellowship and He desires to be glorified. For the sake of His fellowship and His glory, He created creatures who could have fellowship with Him and give Him glory. But in the Garden, men went their own way. They refused to have fellowship, and they refused to give Him glory.

But God said, “I'm going to redeem man back to Me; and I'm going to make it possible for men who has rejected Me and sinned to still be able to enter fellowship with Me and still be able to give Me glory." And that that would only be possible when a Deliverer came who could take men out of the bondage of sin, right? The cross and the coming of Messiah is the real climax of history.

However that was only the first half of the climax. The second half of the climax of history is the Second Coming of Jesus. He is waiting in an age of grace for men to acknowledge Him as Savior, giving them time to repent. And when He comes again, history will culminate in His Kingdom, and men will enter fellowship with God, and they will give Him glory forever and ever.

Now, Paul wants to lead up to this. He starts with the history of God's special care for His people. Verse 17, “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it.” That expresses the power of God and he uses Old Testament terminology.

In verse 18, “Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness.” God was not only powerful, but God was caring. God cared for Israel in the wilderness as a father would care for his son, making sure he had enough to eat, enough to drink and his needs were provided.

In Canaan there were many different tribes, you can read them in Deuteronomy 7:1. It wasn't till the seventh year of David's reign that the Jebusites, the last of the seven tribes, finally were wiped out. Look at verse 19, “And when God had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment.” And so God set them up in the land.

Verse 20, “After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.” In other words, the whole captivity lasted four hundred years, and the wandering the in the wilderness took forty years. And the landing in the Promised Land took approximately seven years. Which totals about four hundred and fifty years.

So for four hundred and fifty years, God has shown His faithfulness. Once they got in the land, God gave them judges. Judges were just deliverers who rose up at different times in different places for special purposes, to preserve Israel. So God preserved Israel by His power, by His care, by His faithfulness, and by these men who were sent out for a specific purpose. The last of them was Samuel.

Verse 21, “And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.” And so God even responded to their desires in the plan of His history. Notice that the desires of people don't alter the plan of God's history. They wanted a king; and they had a way to choose one. Whoever is the tallest and most handsome, that is our king.

But he was not a king that God wanted. God wanted a king that would obey His will. See verse 22, “And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.”

A man after God's heart is a man whose desire is to fulfill the desire of God. God chose the right man. David is not a perfect man. A man after God's own heart is a man, “Who will do all His will.” Yes, he did sin, and what is God's will if a man sins? Repent and turn from it; and when David sinned, he repented and turned from it.

It all comes down to verse 23, “From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus.” Oh, they knew that from 2 Samuel 7, that said that God is going to send a Messiah, and He will be the seed of David. They all knew that He would be born, said Micah, in Bethlehem, right? That's the town of David. The fulfillment of prophecy and the justifier of sinners we will discuss next time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Sep 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160925 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/21h04mog imblog Amos 8:4-7

Amos was a sheep breeder from Tekoa before God called him to be a prophet to Israel. And even though Tekoa is in the southern kingdom of Judah (ten miles south of Jerusalem), Amos delivered his message to the northern kingdom of Israel. His ministry happened in the reign of Jeroboam II, which means that Amos prophesied some 40 to 60 years before the northern kingdom was taken into exile by the Assyrians in 722 BC.

Why Speak the Word of God?

In retrospect we can see that Amos' warning of coming judgment on Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, did not cause repentance and did not save the people. So we learn that the Word of God may not always have the effect we desire. But we must be faithful, like Amos, and speak what we are given from the Lord, and trust that He has his secret purposes in all He does, and that they are good.

So don't think it strange that sometimes your own testimony falls on deaf ears. We have to continue to speak the Word of God not for the certainty of converts but the certainty of God's call to repentance. In the words of Amos 7:15, "The Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go prophesy to my people Israel.'" So perhaps we had better measure its true success not by its effect on Samaria, but by its effect on us sinners who hear this here now.

So the central message of Amos is of judgment. The reason is that the sins of the people causes the wrath of God to grow. And the grace of God is seen in the several calls of these prophets send by God for repentance. What gives Amos his special power and impact even today is the way he exposes the roots of Israel's sin to the light of day. So that is where we want to compare it with our sins today and accept what God has to say to us today.

Prepare to Meet Your God!

The central message of Amos is the prediction that judgment is going to fall on the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos 5:18-20, “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light. 19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or as though he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light? Is it not very dark with no brightness in it?”

The word that sets the tone for the whole book is Amos 1:2, "The Lord roars from Zion." That is the keynote. And in Amos 4:12 you hear this warning, “Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” That is the prophecy: the terrible day of the Lord is coming. If you meet Him in your rebellion, you will meet a ravenous lion roaring out of Zion. If you run, you will meet a bear robbed of her cubs. And if you hide in your house, you will be bitten by a rattlesnake on the windowsill. There is no escape for unbelievers on the day of the Lord.

What gives this message of judgment such strength and weight in the book of Amos is the portrait that he gives us of God. Three times he pauses just to paint a picture of who the Lord of judgment is. In Amos 4:13 he tells us who it is we are supposed to prepare to meet, “For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is; and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the earth—the Lord God of hosts is His name.”

He knows every thought of your mind before you speak it. He governs all the workings of the solar system, and steps from the Appalachians to the Rockies in one stride. Do you want to meet him roaring from Zion, or rejoicing over us with gladness? Amos pauses again in 5:8 just to ponder who God is, “He made the Pleiades and Orion, He turns the shadow of death into morning, and makes the day dark as night, He calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth, and the Lord is His name.”

In other words, prepare to meet the God who builds constellations in space like tinker toys, and spins the earth like spinning a ball, and beckons for a tidal wave like a man whistles for a dog. And in Amos 9:5-6, “The Lord God of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell there mourn, all of it swell like the river, and sinks again like the Nile of Egypt; He who builds His layers in the sky, and has founded His strata in the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth—the Lord is His name.”

Remember Israel, when Amos says the day of the Lord is coming, he means the Creator is coming! What will it mean when the Creator says in Amos 9:4, “I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good?” So the strong message of this prophecy is the fierce judgment of God coming upon the northern kingdom of Israel. The Creator and Ruler of all things will roar out of Zion against all His enemies. So prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

Forsaking God

Why has God determined such a terrible judgment against his people? What are the sins that lead to this message? We see one main sin which has caused at least three other sins, and together these four sins have caused the wrath of God to grow against Israel. The main sin is that the people have forsaken God. And the three sins that branch off from this rejection of God are addiction to luxury, indifference to honesty, and cruelness against the poor.

Let us investigate these. First, the main sin, Israel has forsaken God. Amos 4:6–11 describes five acts of chastisement that God had performed, each aimed at winning Israel's heart back to God. But the result is the same each time. Verse 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 say all the same thing, "Yet you did not return to me, says the Lord." The prophet could scarcely make it clearer that the main sin of Israel's judgment is that she is far from God and needs to return.

For many this became outright idolatry, for example in Amos 5:26-27, “You also carried Sikkuth your king, and Chiun your idol, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves; therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,' says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.” And they rejected of God for example, in their sexual behavior in Amos 2:7 it says, "A man and his father go in to the same girl, to defile my holy name." The root of all sexual sin is an indifference to God's holy name.

There are many people today who, in the Lord's house, talk as if God is real, but in their sexual lives do not ask the question: Does this holy God approve of my behavior and delight in my sexual habits? Another subtle way of rejecting God is expressed by going to church, giving offerings, and singing hymns but having a heart that is far away from God.

Listen carefully, Bethel and Gilgal were central places of worship in Israel, but in Amos 4:4-5 the Lord indicts the hypocrisy of the people, “Come to Bethel and transgress; to Gilgal and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!" says the Lord God.

Then Amos 5:21–24 says, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your sacred assemblies. 22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. 23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your harps. 24 But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Amos is a devastating Word of God for people who give token attention to God through assemblies and songs, but whose hearts are much more genuinely engaged by money, sports, business, family or hobbies. If your outward acts of worship are a mask to give you some respectability while your heart is really attached to the world and to your own comfort, then God hates your worship and despises your offerings and songs.

So when Amos calls for repentance in 5:4–6, the first thing he says is, “Thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live; 5 but do not seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal nor pass over to Beersheba, for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. 6 Seek the Lord and live.” In other words, get real with God. Don't equate Him with places of worship or acts of religion. He is a person. Seek Him, know Him and develop a personal relationship with Him.

Addiction to Luxury

But Israel did not return to the Lord, and so out from this main sin of rebellion against God grew three ugly sins that increased God's wrath. Israel became addicted to luxury, they became indifferent to honesty and they did not care about the poor.

They forgot God’s warning in Deuteronomy 8:17-19, “then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ 18 “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.”

Amos 6:13 says to Israel, "You rejoice in Lo-debar (i.e. nothing) and say, 'Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?” God had allowed Israel to prosper, and she fell in love with her luxury and boasted in her strength and wealth. Amos gives God's response in 6:8, "The Lord God of hosts says, “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and I hate his palaces!” When God is no longer the treasure of your heart, you will focus on the pleasures and comforts of this life.

Listen to Amos attacking the lovers of comfort in 6:4, "Woe to those who lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches." Verse 6, “who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the affliction of the offspring of Joseph." These are people who live for comfort, and do not grieve over the lost; people who love themselves, and have no idea what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

There is a warning in Amos 3:15 which hits close to home to middle-class people everywhere that I hesitate to read it. But the Lord says there, "I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end.” Take heed and guard your hearts diligently, lest you find yourselves enslaved to comfort and addicted to luxury.

Dishonesty and Callousness toward the Needy

The love of comfort leads to dishonesty and callousness toward the needy. Amos attacks this evil in Israel more than any other. Amos 2:6-7 says, “Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals. 7 they that trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and pervert the way of the afflicted.”

In 4:1 Amos gives us a picture of wealthy women in Samaria, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the mountains of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, 'Bring, that we may drink!'" Then in 5:12 he shows how corruption and callousness mingle, “I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins—you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate."

And finally in Amos 8:4–6 we see how hypocrisy and love for wealth, dishonesty and callousness all combine, “Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and make the poor of the land fail, 5 saying, "When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may trade wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel large, falsifying the scales by deceit, 6 that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and even sell bad wheat?”

These are the sins that feed the wrath of God in Amos' day, and these same sins feed God’s wrath in our day here too! Our sins are shown in rebellion against God (even when cloaked with church attendance), in addiction to luxury and comfort, being indifferent to honesty, and total disregard toward the poor.

Calls to Repentance

Now there are only a few calls to repentance that spring up out of the message of God's wrath. One we saw in Amos 5:6, "Seek the Lord and live." So there is hope for the converted. But Amos makes it clear that conversion is more than just changing your mind about God. It means exchanging the love of comfort for the love of goodness and justice.

Amos 5:14-15 says, “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live, and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

What does it mean to have justice established in the gate? It means no more exploitation; no more disregard for the poor, and no more policies who steal from the rich. No more socialist committees who dictate what should happen, and no more rich cats who do not care at all for the poor. No more false advertising. When wages are fair, agreements are kept, and everyone loves his fellow man and all to the glory of God, then justice at the gate will be established.

And how shall we do it? By asking the Holy Spirit to produce people whose hearts are aflame with the righteousness of God. It will not be because Christians push through a prayer amendment, or because Christians push through bigger government subsidies for housing and health and jobs. It will be because the Holy Spirit has exerted such a profound spiritual effect on the heart and soul of people that they feel pangs of conscience when promises are broken and babies are aborted.

If violations of love are not treated at the spiritual source of men’s heart, then the river of evil that flows out of it will break through every legal dam and sweep the world away with injustice. If we, as Christians, are not wholeheartedly engaged in this spiritual work, no one else will do it, for no one else has the Holy Spirit and the message of redemption. So then, who will be able to stand when the Lord roars from Zion? So may the Holy Spirit guide us in evangelism and doing good to all, Amen? Let us pray!

]]> Sun, 18 Sep 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160918 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/3280370b imblog Acts 13:1-13

Let's turn tonight to Acts 13. Obviously, Acts is a missionary book about spreading the Gospel. This chapter is about "Satanic Opposition to a Spirit-Filled Mission." Satan is working today, as he did then. We see it not only in our culture, but in other cultures around the globe. The enemy is always actively antagonizing the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Now, Satan is at work in the world in many ways. But be aware of the fact that he is always active. And when we set out to accomplish the work of God, we can expect to face the opposition of our enemy. Now, let's look at the satanic resistance to a Spirit-filled mission in Acts 13 which is a critical chapter in the flow of expanding God’s Kingdom.

It has been about 25 years since Pentecost. The church has flourished. It has reached Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and it has been concentrated primarily in those areas. But now it is time to move into the Gentile world, to establish that final part of our Lord's commission, and that is to preach the Gospel to every person in all the world. And by this time, an effective base of operations has been planted in the church at Antioch.

Antioch was a marvelous church, a Christ-honoring Spirit-filled church that is ready to evangelize the world. They had a very strong foundation in the truth of God. And it had many gifted men and women who were highly trained and capable. This is for us a pattern and example. A church committed to what we see here in Antioch is a church that can evangelize the world.

The work of the Holy Spirit was everywhere. Look at these following verses, verse 2, “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said." Verse 4, "So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia." Verse 9, "Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit." Now if you go back to Acts 11:24, it says of Barnabas, "He was a righteous man and full of the Holy Spirit.” This was a church under the control of the Holy Spirit.

A Spirit-filled church is simply a church in which the people walk in consistent obedience to the will of God and where is the will of God expressed. In Ephesians 5:18 it says, "Be filled with the Spirit," and in Colossians 3:16, it says, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” So it all has to begin with a Spirit-filled church in order to affect the world around it.

Now, for a church to be effective it has to have the right leadership. Look at verse 1, “Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” The church that would reach the world will always feature strong, spiritual men as leaders.

In 1 Timothy 3:2-5, the Apostle Paul shows us the kind of men that can become leaders in God’s church, and the standards are high, “He must be blameless.” A one-woman man, and that means that he is to be totally committed to and in love with his wife. That is a present tense spiritual qualification. Just being married to the same woman does not qualify you, because that doesn't say that you really love of her.

Verse 2-5 continues, “Temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. 4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” He is not to be a recent convert and so on.

Secondly, the church that is going to reach the world has to be engaged in spiritual ministry. What does that mean? It means to serve the Lord and to fast and pray. And how is the Lord served? He is served in the explanation of His Word and in prayer, and that is the same perspective of Acts 6:4 where it said, "We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word."

The word minister basically means to serve in a priestly manner. They see their ministry as an act of worship to God. My sacrifice to God is my service rendered, and every sermon I preach is in my heart an offering to the very sanctuary of the Old Testament to present it to God. Every day I live, every hour I study, every moment I pray is what I offer God as an act of worship for Him.

Now, there are many other things you have to do like work on projects and do all kinds of details, but never lose sight of that priority. These men ministered to the Lord rather than just to the people. When all you are concerned about is ministering to the people, you tend to compromise, because the people become the end. But as long as you are offering everything to God, there is no place for compromise.

They also fasted, which indicates the intensity of their prayer. Fasting is a way to express devotion, vigilance and passion. Stopping to eat will not make you look better or feel better. And that happens when you are so passionately consumed by God in your heart that you have no desire for food; and it is even sometimes just a partial abstinence from the things of the world.

Then comes a third element and that is a spiritual mission. Verse 2 says, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” The Holy Spirit moves and speaks through the prophets before the completion of the New Testament. The apostles gave the doctrine. The prophets spoke the practical aspects and the application.

And notice that it happened as they were ministering. God uses the ones that are in the middle of ministering. God takes the best. God called Barnabas and Saul and send them for a special mission. There is a call when the Spirit of God puts His hand on your heart, and that call is dominantly expressed through your desire.

Verse 3, the church responded, “Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.” That is a sign of affirmation and confirmation. It's like saying, “Hey guys, we are with you. We are in solidarity with you and your cause. We stand behind you with prayer and support, and we sent you out.” Verse 4, “So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.”

Verse 5 says, “And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant.” That refers to John Mark. So they departed to Seleucia, which is the port of Antioch, about 15 miles away on the Mediterranean. Cyprus, was the home of Barnabas about 110 miles away, and then, beyond that, Salamis and there they preached.

That was the main trade center, the largest city, with a great number of Jews. That was large enough to have many synagogues. They went into one of those synagogues, and they preached. Did you notice at the end of verse 5, that they had John as their helper? This is John Mark, named in 12:12 of Acts. John, whose surname was Mark, who's mother's name was Mary; and they used to have home Bible studies in his house.

And as they are sent on a spiritual mission; they run immediately into spiritual militants. Verse 6, “Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus.” This was an amazing name for a sorcerer because it means ‘son of salvation’. Now Paphos was the seat of Roman government and it was also the center for the worship of Venus, the love goddess.

Tradition says that Venus was born out of the foam of the sea; and she was worshipped in the wildest sexual orgies imaginable. The city was a sin pit where people wallowed in moral filth. No wonder that they found this sorcerer named Bar-Jesus there. Verse 7 continues, “who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.”

God arranged for Barnabas and Saul to have an interview with the Roman governor. So they received an audience with him, and they found alongside of him this sorcerer who was basically a medium who contacted demons. And so here was an evil satanic man who was a false prophet. Verse 8, “But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.”

So here we see the spiritual battle, Satan's agent, Elymas Bar-Jesus, begins to withstand them in order to turn away the Governor from the faith. So whenever you set out to reach a soul for Jesus Christ, you can be sure that the devil wants to prevent you from doing that. Elymas comes from the Arabic word alamin, which means powerful. It also shows us that Sergius Paulus dabbled in the occult.

Listen to the dangers described in 1 Timothy 4:1, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits.” Have you ever wondered why someone comes along and seems to be interested in the faith, and all of a sudden falls away? It may have been a hellish invasion by "deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons." So the satanic seduction that happens when faith confronts a soul is nothing new. And we see it illustrated in Acts 13.

Now, Satan not only resists us on the outside, but he resists us also on the inside. Verse 13, “Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.” You have the outside attack related to Elymas, and you have the inside attack from John Mark. Do you know, the church in its mission is very often devastated internally as much as its devastated externally? There is disunity, discord, dissension and an unwillingness to go.

Here is John Mark, he just bails out. We are not told why, but he had no good reason, and Paul never forgot it. In Acts 15:37-38 it says, “Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.”

And you know what happened? Verse 39-40, “Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.” Paul knew that John Mark had demonstrated cowardice, and Paul was tough. Barnabas wanted to forgive him and restore him, but Paul resisted.

But Paul forgave him in his old age. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:11, "Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.” God restored Mark, and Paul was willing to take him back. What made Mark leave Paul and Barnabas? Well, it might be fear of the danger. They were going to have to cross the Taurus Mountains and their caves were always full of robbers.

Paul referred to the perils of robbers in 2 Corinthians 11:26. The dangers were clear when Mark thought about the difficulty of the journey, the tremendous price he had to pay, and so he just quit; and that attacks the mission from the inside. So whenever you start a project where people have to go out there, they get attacked. But then there are those who never make it out because they quit right there.

Verse 9-10, “Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?” How do you deal with the devil? Head on. The occultist is deceitful, wicked and mischievous. Secondly, he says, "You son of the devil." Your name may be son of salvation, but you are the son of Satan.

Verse 11, “And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.” God struck him blind on the spot. But the battle wasn't really with Elymas. The battle was for the soul of Sergius Paulus.

Verse 12, “Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.” There are many souls all over this world that God would reach. There are many tribes in areas of Papua that have never heard the message of Jesus Christ. There are many places where Satan has a stronghold. And, yes, there is always a spiritual war out there.

Do you know what we have learned in missions? We learned that the geographical location of your feet has absolutely nothing to do with your heart. If you are not concerned about souls here, there is no reason to believe you will be concerned about souls somewhere else. Spiritually minded men and women who are engaged in spiritual ministry are the kind God chooses and calls to a spiritual mission.

And they must face the fact that immediately upon the call to a spiritual mission, they are going to run right into the militants of Satan to thwart that effort. But if they are faithful, and if they call on the resource and the power of God, they will know the spiritual mastery that God gave to these men that day. For our God will not change, Amen? He is always the same and the victory is ours.

The key behind everything is that we should be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Many people think we now live in a post-missionary time, but that is not true. We need more people to minister for Christ all around the world. There is a lot of work to be done. Satan will continue to resist, but God’s Word says in 1 John 4:4, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” That is the promise of victory. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Sep 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160911 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/a3s7q89a imblog Acts 12

We are certainly becoming aware of the animosity toward God and toward the Christian faith. We see the continued hostility all over the world. There is even a document put out by the Russian Orthodox Church which warns all Russian Orthodox people throughout the nation of Russia to watch out for the wolves who are coming in sheep's clothing and teaching a perverse doctrine that salvation is by grace alone.

We know that the hostility of our own nation toward Christianity is now escalating. And as the wicked people of our culture find there are no Christian influences in the culture itself, they will continue to become more aggressive in their evil, and they will want to destroy anybody who stands in the way. And because of that there will be an escalating hostility against Christians.

This may well be a sign of what is to come in worldwide hostility in the time of the tribulation. One thing is for sure, there is a long war against God. It's been going on ever since Lucifer decided to be like the Most High and was thrown out of heaven. His name became Satan. He took with him one third of the angels; they became the demons, and they have orchestrated evil ever since that event in the war against God.

They employ all the human beings they can to engage in this war against God and his purposes and his kingdom and, of course, the reign of his own Son, Jesus Christ. Now, we have learned in Revelation 12 that there is going to come, in the time of the tribulation, a final great effort against God lead by Satan through anti-Christ and the false prophet who is introduced to us in Revelation 13.

This is the culmination of this long war against God. And because of this we need to realize tonight how stupid it is to fight God. Whether you are a terrorist anywhere, or anti-Christian in whatever country, or you are anti-God from a Muslim perspective, or whether you are just a homosexual or a lesbian or an adulterer and you are hostile to the law of God in general, it is foolish to fight God.

Go back into the history of the Old Testament, and we see this long war against God. For example, God had a standard for sacrifice: Abel obeyed it; Cain fought it and wound up cursed. God made a standard for morality: Noah kept it and the rest of the world fought it and were drowned and damned. God had a standard for sexual purity: Abraham kept it and Lot fought it, and his wife died and his seed was cursed.

God had a standard for spiritual priorities, not earthly ones, Jacob kept that standard; Esau fought it and lost the blessing. And there, just in the book of Genesis alone, we see the stupidity of fighting God, God's purposes, God's plans, and God's word. The history of the world is full of the shattered shells of men and women who threw themselves against God like eggs thrown against granite cliffs.

From the book of Exodus on, the history of Scripture reveals a certain type of person who leads the fight against God. And that person is the king or the ruler. The first such ruler to fight God is Pharaoh. It cost him his honor, it cost him his throne, it cost him his people, it cost him his son, and it cost him his life. On the other hand if you pray and believe, this might happen.

Look at 2 Kings 19:20-22, “Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.’ 21 This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:

‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you, laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back! 22 ‘Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.”

Look at verses 35-37, “And it came to pass on a certain night that the Angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. 37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.”

Even so Satan is always engaged in fighting against God and God's people and God's purposes. One of these rulers who fought against God we see in Acts 12. Here we start to know the family of Herod, the first of this family known as Herod the Great. He appears on the scene in 41 BC, and from that time to the birth of Christ, Herod the Great is in power. He was a wicked man, and he was married 10 times with a lot of children.

One of his children was Herod Agrippa the First who was educated in Rome but obtained the good graces of the Jews. He was the ruling power in Acts 12. He is the tragic figure who becomes our example in this chapter of the folly of fighting against God. Look at Acts 12:1, “Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.”

What does that mean, “about that time”, what time? Well, this is the time in Acts 11:27-30 when there was a great famine during the reign of Claudius. It was 44 years after the birth of Christ. After the ascension of Jesus Christ, for the next few years, there was a moment of respite following the persecution and the death of Stephen. But here persecution comes again, and it is led by Herod.

The Jerusalem congregation by now has grown to be many thousands of people. They are already beginning to feel the hurt from the famine. And on top of that they are now persecuted by Herod. Now the irony of it was that it was really a political move by Herod, and not an anti-Christian one. The best we can tell by reading about Agrippa was that he was like all the rest of the Herods, where the only thing that they really cared about was their own power.

Herod set out to persecute Christians because he knew the Jews hated them, and he thought this was one way he could get on their good side. Verse 2 says, “Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.” Here, one of the two sons of Zebedee became the first martyr among the apostles. The Jewish Talmud informs us that execution by the sword was used when someone lead the people to worship other gods.

Herod was really trying to gain a position with the Jewish leaders. Verse 3, “And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also.” This worked once, it will work better twice. If he could gain political advantage by killing one of them, think of the advantage he could get by killing their leader. Verse 3 continues, “Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread.” That is the Passover.

Jerusalem was full of crowds, jammed with pilgrims. He wanted to wait till the Passover was over and the pilgrims were still waiting for the next event. So he arrested Peter. Verse 4 says, “So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.” Herod was afraid that some group of Christians might find a way to release Peter.

So verse 5 says, "Peter was therefore kept in prison.” Herod is going to fight against God by destroying the leader of Christianity. But there are consequences because God fights back. Jeremiah 21:5 says, “I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath.” Revelation 2:16, “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth”

Next we have proof by the account of Peter's imprisonment that you cannot defeat God. Herod put him in jail; but God let him out. Verse 5 continues, “but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” James 5:16 says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Prayer is the key to opening the storehouse of God's power in situations like this.

And while they were praying, God in his power acted to fulfill His purpose. Verse 6, “And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.” Look it says that Peter was sleeping, he was not afraid. When he said in 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your care on him for he cares for you," it was something he had practiced.

Verse 7, “Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands.” Peter was sound asleep, so the angel hit him to wake him up. And says, "Get up quickly." Chains fall off his hands. And the angel said to him in verse 8, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”

Verse 9, “So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.” Peter is still in a total fog. Verse 10, “When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.” Wow!

No prison can hold the servant of God whom God wants to free. Angels are ministering sprits sent to minister to the saints. Well, now Peter is all alone. Verse 11, “When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

Verse 12 says, “So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.” So Peter makes his way through the narrow streets to one of the chief meeting places for the Christians in Jerusalem, namely the home of Mary, the mother of John and Mark because he knows the believers will be there praying.

Then verse 13, “And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer.” Rhoda is a name that means rose. The believers were praying for Peter. These prayers were going on all night. Now, Peter wants to get inside where he cannot be seen. Verse 14, “When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.”

She was so excited, she forgot to open the door. God answered our prayers; he's at the door! Now, to show you the shallowness of their faith, verse 15, “But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.” They invent a theology here to accommodate their unbelief. That's a Jewish belief that everybody has his own angel. But that's not taught in the New Testament.

Verse 16-17, “Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.” That is not James the son of Zebedee but the head of the church, another James, the Lord’s brother.

James, our Lord's brother, also was martyred in 62 AD, being thrown down from the pinnacle of the temple. And Peter went to another place to hide. He faded away. And when you come to Acts 13, we are introduced to Paul. Peter was the main player in God's story from Acts 1-12, but from Acts 13 on it is Paul.

Verse 18, “Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.” These soldiers were very much aware of the penalty for losing a prisoner. And panic set in. Verse 19, “But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.”

Verse 20, “Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country.” Now, these two Phoenician cities were very dependent on Herod for their food during this time of famine. Herod had cut them off, and they were hurting.

Verse 21-22, “So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. 22 And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” Now instead of refusing such worship and praise, instead of giving glory to God alone, he accepts it. And by doing that, he is glorifying himself instead of God and thus declaring war on God.

Verse 23, “Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.” Herod collapsed according to Josephus; he was carried away and eaten up by worms. And Josephus says he was dead in five days.

Verse 24-25, “But the word of the Lord grew and multiplied. 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and also took with them John, who was also called Mark." The work of God went on. Persecution didn't stop it. It's reminiscent of the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Sep 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160904 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/8nf3196w imblog Acts 11:1-30

We are now beginning to study Acts 11. God’s plan of evangelization began at Jerusalem and then it just spread. Now, the last part of evangelism was taking the gospel to the Gentiles. As we study Acts 11, the gospel has already been taken to Jews in Jerusalem and to Samaritans, and in Acts 10 it was taken to the first group of Gentiles in the house of Cornelius and Peter was the messenger. And Cornelius was wonderfully saved as was his household.

Now Peter must report to the Jews in Jerusalem, in Acts 11, what has happened. And he knows that this is not easy. It was difficult to allow Gentiles into the church and God had to give him a special vision to prepare his heart. The Jews in Jerusalem have had no such vision. They still had the typical prejudice to a separatist view of the Jews being superior.

He in Acts 11:1-17 recounts what had happened and I do not need to comment on that because they are a verbatim recitation of what we studied in Acts 10. Acts 11:1 says, “Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.” It is interesting that apparently they had already heard what had happened and before Peter could defend himself they had already formed some preconceived notions.

Verse 2, “And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision," that's the name of a party of Jews who believed the only way to become a Christian was to become a Jew first. And in Acts 15:5 in the Church Council in Jerusalem they said that nobody could become a Christian until he had been circumcised. Verse 2 continues, "So the circumcision contended with him." They didn't believe Peter so they argued.

The legalists hassled him continually in these words, verse 3, “You went into uncircum-cised men and ate with them." Now that was totally taboo. You didn't have fellowship with uncircumcised people and eat with them, and least of all would you include them on an equal basis in the church. And Peter did both, so this group was just infuriated.

But Peter just recites the facts beginning with verse 5 till verse 15 where he described the vision from God where that sheet came down three times which said that there is no difference between Jews and non-Jews. And that six Jews accompanied him to the house of Cornelius. And that Cornelius also saw a vision where an angel told him to send men to Joppa to pick up Peter who would them tell how to be saved.

Cornelius had a ready heart, and so was his household. And Peter was the instrument to bring the good news they waited to hear. Verse 15-17, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 17 If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” God promised it and God did it! What else can I say?

This is just a repetition of Acts 10. There is no place in Scripture where you have the same thing repeated twice in a row, one time after the other. After all that description of Cornelius' vision when Peter got to his house, Cornelius described the whole thing again, and the Holy Spirit put all that in there again. So this is repeated three times in these two chapters. When God repeats it three times, it is very important that we remember this.

Peter knew it was a spiritual test but he confronted it in this way. Peter didn't act alone, he took six people with him. Because he wanted the testimony of six others to confirm his own. The Jews knew well the Egyptian law which said that where there are seven witnesses the case is closed. And Roman law said that on any will there had to be seven seals. So Peter with six other guys go with him and that made seven and he was verifying that this thing in fact was true.

Verse 18, “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” This is one of the most shocking statements in Jewish history. Shocking for a Jew to make that admission. Gentiles can get saved. Why? Because until the Jews who were Christians made that statement they could never begin evangelizing the Gentiles.

So the whole thing with Cornelius and Peter finally comes back to Jerusalem and they make that great admission that was really the trigger that started the church to reach out to pagans, and you and I are the products. Peter through the Spirit convinced them of that because Peter had been convinced of that first by God.

Some historians tell us, that it took at least seven years from Pentecost to the founding of the church at Antioch. Then from here, the groundwork is done and they move out to evangelize the Gentiles. Why did it take so long? Number one, apostolic authority had to be established. The apostles were the ones who were the spokesmen for God and they were the ones who laid out the doctrine. They had no Bibles yet.

The second reason was because the right instruments had to be prepared. It took time to mature these people. Do you realize that when the church was formed everybody was a spiritual baby? It's tough enough to grow a group of spiritual babes, but can you imagine having a whole congregation all saved on the same day? So they needed some time for preparation.

And the third thing is that they all needed time for their prejudice to change. And so for these reasons the Spirit of God delayed and at least seven years went by before they began to move toward Antioch. God in His wonderful providence really has blessed His Word there. And as you teach the Word of God you become stronger, and your doctrine becomes firm and clear.

The same thing happened right here in this situation in this text. As a church, when the groundwork is laid, it begins to move out. And you know it's not something you have to generate. Amazingly the Spirit of God does it. Verse 19, “Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.”

Now Phoenicia is on the coast of Palestine right along the Mediterranean Sea. There are two famous cities there: Tyre and Sidon. And from either of those port cities you could catch a ship and go west to the island of Cyprus. And that is what they did. But some of them just kept going north till you come to Antioch, the capital of Syria. And notice this: that they were preaching to Jews only. Why? Because they still believed that salvation was only for the Jews.

These were all scattered, and then the Cornelius incident happened, which means they hadn't heard of it. So they had no precedent for Gentile evangelism. Verse 20, “But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.” They obviously have the gift of preaching and people got saved. And they did it in Antioch. So God works in many ways!

Antioch is 15 miles from the mouth of the Euphrates River, founded in about 300 B.C.

And it was made a free city under the Roman government in 64 A. D. It became the capital of Syria and it grew like crazy. It became the third largest city in the world at that time with at least 600,000 people. A network of Roman roads criss-crossed Antioch but even with all these good things, it was basically known as an evil city.

But God so many times creates the loveliest rose amidst the ugliest weeds, and so He planted the first Gentile church in Antioch. He wanted to reach a city with a lot of people and indeed He did. Notice that the founders of the church were two men of Cyprus and Cyrene. Nobody knows their names. Verse 21, “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.”

This was the birth of the first Gentile church. Well, the Jews in Jerusalem had to deal with the case of Cornelius, and they now have another one. Verse 22, “Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.” Barnabas is a beloved character in the early church.

In Acts 9, when Saul got saved and came to Jerusalem he said, "Hey, I'm your friend now, I'm saved.” And they said, "Sure, get him out, he is a killer of Christians." But then Barnabas put his arm around Paul and he leads him in and says to the others, "I want you to meet him. He is a good guy, he has been changed by God.” Barnabas was a loving, righteous person. His name means Son of Encouragement.

But there was something else, Barnabas had the right spiritual gifts. He had the gift of exhortation and the gift of teaching. What else? They need to be led in evangelism. And he had the gift of preaching. He had the right gifts, spiritually but also physically. Do you know where he was from? Cyprus. He was from the same place where the guys who founded the church in Antioch were from. They know his gifts and they already love him. This is God providentially arranging everything.

Verse 23, “When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.” Barnabas had the gift of exhortation! And the term “with purpose of heart,” means with a firm resolution. Your approach should be to exhort them to cling to the Lord. What concerns us the most is that they hold on to Christ, right? That their faith is real.

What does it mean with “continuing?” Barnabas meant: “take the Word, which you've heard, the Word, which is available, as taught by the Holy Spirit, and saturate yourself with all of it." And that brings results. Look at verse 24, “For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.” The term ‘many people’, is ‘aglas ekinas’, which means a giant multitude. People there were really being saved.

Well the work got to be too much, it was overwhelming. Barnabas had to find the right guy to add. Verse 25 says, “Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.” Yes, he chose the right man, a winner: Saul of Tarsus. Again God’s providence! Now in the meantime years had passed. Paul went all over Cilicia starting churches. And according to 2 Corinthians 11, he was being beaten up mercilessly and he suffered much.

Verse 26, “And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Now watch what they did. Here we have a massive multitude of believers and they have to keep them clinging to the Lord. And they have to reach this big city that is pagan, vile and immoral.

It says that they focused on teaching for a whole year. At every level, in every way, teach the Word of God. Acts 13:1 says, “Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.”

They made teachers: Barnabas and Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and so on. They taught men who became teachers of other men. That's what the church is about. The calling of every church, is to teach and make disciples, not to entertain the saints, not to placate the saints, and not to create recreation for the saints but to teach the saints.

So the church grew. First groundwork, then growth. There's one other thing needed, that is generosity. The church not only needs to be sound in doctrine, but they need to have love. The Spirit of love just is shown in verses 27 to 30. It says you have to know that the church wasn't just doctrinal, they were loving. There's always the need for that balance.

Verse 27, “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.” There were prophets in the New Testament. They were foundational like apostles Ephesians 2:20 tells us. And they spoke for God, and they preached as described in I Corinthians 14. But they also sometimes predicted the future for God. They have ceased as an office.

Verse 28, “Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.” History says Claudius ruled from 41 to 54 and during the year 45 and 46 there were great famines in Israel. No crops came through, they all failed. These famines are recorded by Chassidus, Josephus, Yesevias and Cassius.

Verse 29, “Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.” Here are Gentiles showing their love to those people who so long hated them. Every man gave according to the potential that he had. Do not be like many believers who just give their left-overs to God.

And verse 30 says, “This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.” They not only sent money, they sent men, their best men. I hope we are generous enough to send money and men around the world. Isn’t that the righty thing we can offer to God? And may our church follow the pattern of the Antioch church and have the same kind of effect on the world, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Aug 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160828 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/dg057mgc imblog Acts 10:44-48

The church was born in Jerusalem, and it was comprised mostly of Jews at the beginning. But, within this was a faction of people called the Circumcision Party; and they had come to the conclusion that the only way into Christianity was through Judaism. They made circumcision the standard to keep the undesirables out.

Well, Jesus was there to smash dividers, and this was one that had to go; and so in Acts 10, the Lord adds to the church Gentiles. These are the pagans who were despised by the Jews and who in turn also despised the Jews as well. Now, this is going to be difficult, but our Lord had already designed to build one body. As Ephesians 3 says, "The mystery of the church was that Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs and one in Christ.”

This ultra-conservative group had no basis for it, because in the Old Testament it was clearly outlined that God didn't have favorites. Peter says in verse 34, "I perceive this. I'm learning this, that God is no respecter of persons." Jesus Himself said to them in His parting words in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."

In Galatians 3:26-28, Paul says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God's promise was that in Abraham's seed, all the families of the earth should be blessed.

Salvation was not just for the Jews only, but it was in order that they preach it to everyone else.

Now Cornelius is an important Gentile, because he ruled over a hundred men in the army of Rome. He doesn't yet know how to be saved, but he does know that he has found the right God. And so God brings Peter to him, who is preaching to him beginning in verse 34. Cornelius is not alone. He has gathered together a whole household of people, and they are all waiting what Peter has to say.

So this is an important chapter in the Bible, because this presentation launches the Gospel into the world; and we see the salvation of many Gentiles. Now, we have seen the sovereign call of God, and how He prepared Cornelius. Then there had to be submissive will to respond with desire to study the Gospel, and all you needed then was the proclamation. And so Peter appears with a simple presentation.

So Peter started by saying that salvation is available to everyone who believes. Secondly, salvation is in Christ, and that is what Cornelius needed to hear. Christ is your Savior and verse 42, "He is also your Judge." John 5 says that Jesus Christ was given this position of Judge by the Father. So he presents Christ as the only way of salvation.

Then he concludes with an invitation in verse 43, “whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” And what is fantastic is that it doesn't tell us what happened next. It just says in verse 44, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” Well, how many people were saved?

Well, believe me, Peter had results. Peter never preached without results. They either came and believed Christ, or they got mad. For example, in Acts 2 Peter’s sermon caused 3,000 people to be saved, because the Spirit of God had prepared their hearts. The next time Peter preached, he preached to the Sanhedrin. What happened? They got furious, because there was no work of the Spirit. Why? Because they had already willfully rejected the message again and again.

Sovereign call and submissive will must be present for salvation to occur. Now God doesn't give His Holy Spirit to unbelievers. So having the Holy Spirit fall on them verifies their salvation. And from a human standpoint, that is the only way we can verify anybody's salvation, right? By their fruits you shall know them. Three things led up to their salvation: sovereign call, submissive will and a proclamation. And three things follow that: spiritual power, confession and fellowship.

Let's start with spiritual power. Wow, what a thrill to preach the Gospel and have everybody in the crowd get saved. Peter’s message was suddenly interrupted while he was speaking. Look at Acts 11:15, when he reports to the people in Jerusalem, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.” What does that mean?" The minute Peter said, "Salvation is available in Christ," and when he said, "It is by faith," bang, they believed.

Immediately when somebody believes, God grants that somebody His Holy Spirit. There are some Pentecostal friends who teach us that you get the Holy Spirit later on. Du Plessis, a writer for the Pentecostal viewpoint, says that Cornelius was already saved, and this is the time that he received the Holy Spirit. The problem is, in Acts 11:14, Peter was telling the people in Jerusalem what God said to Cornelius, “Peter will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.” So they were not saved yet.

This is the time for Cornelius’ salvation, and at the moment he believed, God interrupted Peter. In effect, God said, "All right, Peter, they have received the message. I’m going to give them the Spirit, because they believe." It is wrong to say that somebody can be saved and not have the Holy Spirit. Here, they believed and God interrupted Peter's sermon and gave them the Holy Spirit. This was the Pentecost of the Gentiles.

Now that becomes the norm for every believer from this point on. When a man believes, God gives him the Holy Spirit. The first thing that happens when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, instantly God gives you the Spirit of God who dwells within you from then on, and His presence is as eternal as your salvation. That is absolutely clear in Scripture, and let me begin with Ezekiel 36 to show you how clear it really is.

Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Now, that is salvation. The man needs a new heart, because the old one is according to Jeremiah 17:9, “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Notice, salvation and the Spirit are connected at the same time. Verse 27, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

If you didn't have the Holy Spirit, you couldn't obey God. You must have the Spirit in you in order to have the power to do anything spiritually. Remember what Zechariah 4:6 said, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” John 14:17 says, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

Now, look at John 7:37 where Jesus says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” Salvation could come at that day to those people if they would turn to Jesus Christ. Remember the water that He gave the woman at the well? He said in John 4:14, "If you believe in Me, I will give you water, and you will never thirst again." But Jesus explains further in verse 38-39, “He who believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.”

Here is a twofold promise. No. 1, you are going to receive the Holy Spirit. No. 2, it is going to flow out of you like rivers of living water. This means spiritual refreshment from Me, and a flowing of the water of life that comes out of Me to you and the world. That's the promise; but in verse 39 Jesus says, "You can now believe, and you will gush like a river of water; but that can't happen until the Spirit comes in.” The principle is this: all who believe will receive the Spirit.

So Jesus says, "Do nothing till the Holy Spirit gets here." And that's what they did. And then in Acts 2, the water started to gush; and it flows all through the Book of Acts. Those believers, they filled Jerusalem in a matter of weeks till the Sanhedrin said in Acts 5:28, "Oh, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine." Those believers were all filled with the Spirit and in right away, the Word of God was gushing rapidly from their hearts.

Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me.” So if a Christian did not receive the Holy Spirit when he was saved, he would not have the capacity to communicate his faith. That is contrary to everything we know about the commission that God has given to us. Some say, “Maybe you can do it on your own strength.” Well, the Gospel record shows us that before the cross of Christ, before His resurrection and His ascension and before He sent the Spirit, the disciples couldn't do anything.

The power behind the rushing of living water is the power of the Spirit of God. In John 16:7 Jesus says, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” And Jesus went, and He sent the Holy Spirit. There aren't any qualifications at all except believing. And in the life of a man, at the very moment he believes, wherever that man is in the world, the Spirit of God is dispensed to that man's heart. If it is not so, then we have no power to witness nor any power to obey.

Romans 8:9 says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Some have said to me, "Well, I am saved, but I don't have the Spirit.” Well either, "You don't know you have the Spirit," or "You are not saved." If you are saved, you have the Spirit. If you don't have the Spirit, you are not saved. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”

If a person says, "Well, I'm saved, but I don't have the Spirit," you wouldn't even know your identity, your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's part of salvation. In 2 Corinthians 6:16, Paul says, “For you are the temple of the living God.” As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jude 1:18-19 says, “There would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”

If we don't have the Holy Spirit, we are totally incapacitated. Here are the reasons: No. 1, the Spirit is given to you for power for witness. The second reason you need the Spirit is for prayer. Romans 8:26-27 says, “The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us[b] with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

I need the Holy Spirit in my life, because He's praying for me. He is my advocate on earth, as Christ is my advocate in Heaven. Third reason you need the Spirit is for security. If you do not have the Spirit, you don't have any security. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

What does the seal mean? When Jesus was buried, remember what they did to His tomb? Pilate sealed it, which was saying, “Rome secures this grave.” Only a higher authority than Rome could open it; and He did. The seal meant security, it cannot be broken. Now when you were saved, God said, "Secure" and He gave you a seal. Who is it? The Holy Spirit. The only one who could ever violate that security would be a higher power than God, and none exists.

The fourth reason is that the Holy Spirit has been given to me as a seal for authenticity. In 1 Kings 21, Ahab, raja Samaria said, I like Naboth's vineyard, and I want it." Jezebel said, "Honey, whatever you want." So she wrote a letter, and she sealed it with the king's seal. That was an authentic letter. How you can tell an authentic Christian? One that is really saved has the king's seal, which is the Holy Spirit. That is God’s seal of authenticity!

The fifth reason is that the Holy Spirit is your guarantee. In Ephesians 1:13-14 it says, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” God promised this in Ephesians 1:11, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” How do you know you are going to get it? Well, the Holy Spirit is the down payment on the full inheritance of Heaven.

Another thing, you need the Holy Spirit to guide you into truth. John 16:13, “when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Meanwhile, in Acts 10:44, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” The Spirit then comes instantly at the point of faith, and the Jews see it. And verse 45 says, “And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.” God made sure there were plenty of Jews there to see the Gentiles get it too.

There are two kinds of hearing. You can hear without faith or you can hear with faith. Cornelius and all of his gang heard it with faith, and they believed, and God immediately dispensed to them the Holy Spirit. And the Jews who wanted to prevent the Gentiles from coming in were astonished. Why? Because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. God was destroying their prejudice. How did they know this truly happened?

Well, because it says in verse 46, “For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.” The Jews heard them speak in foreign languages. Nowhere in the New Testament is speaking in tongues ever recorded as occurring in a single individual, as in most modern Pentecostal experiences. In the Book of Acts, on the three occasions where tongues are mentioned, they come to an entire group at once. They are a corporate, church-founding group conversion phenomenon in Acts, and they never occur subsequently in the experience of any one individual.

Verse 47, “Then Peter answered, “Can anyone forbid, that these should not be baptized with water who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” Notice how important baptism is? If you have been saved but not been baptized, you are disobedient. That is your public confession. It symbolizes the death and burial and resurrection of Christ as you are identified with Him. Verse 48, “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.” You know what Peter did? He let those six Jews baptize all the Gentiles.

Peter goes back and says, “Our group baptized them, these guys were right in on it." He wanted to have some corroboration to his testimony, so he has them do the baptizing. Do you know what the third sign of true salvation is? Sweet fellowship. Have you ever known a baby that didn't want to eat? Here Peter had a whole bunch of new converts. He wasn't going to walk out the door. They asked him to stay a few days. Peter, please feed us spiritually, love us and teach us.

So we see salvation coming to this group of Gentiles. What a glorious chapter. Let me zero in on the one lesson you can see this evening. God is no respecter of persons. The door to heaven is wide open. I hope you don't have any prejudice. I hope you're free to share the Gospel with anybody and any time. And that is what Jesus always said, He is the friend of sinners, and that includes all of us. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Aug 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160821 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/4isyr7z6 imblog Acts 10:36-43

The Spirit of God has a special message for us tonight, and it's the message that Peter gave in the house of a man named Cornelius, to him and to his household. Let me review a little bit. The Book of Acts is one of the most important books in the New Testament, because it is the only pure historical book. It records for us the growth of the church from its birth to its first early years.

Jesus Christ has already died, been buried, risen again, and ascended to Heaven. After that He sent the Holy Spirit back to form His church and to live and dwell in His church. In the first 20 verses of Acts 10, we found the sovereign call, how God prepared the heart of Cornelius. In the verses 21 to 33 that followed, we saw the submissive will. We saw how Cornelius was ready and eager to know salvation. Now, all Cornelius needed to hear was the proclamation. He just needed an explanation, his heart was ready, and here comes Peter.

Let us now look at the sermon of Peter. It is a simple sermon, it is clear and concise, and I don't want to add to it much. I just want to preach you Peter's sermon. Now there are three parts in what Peter preached. It has an introduction, the main theme and an invitation or conclusion. Here is Peter's introduction in verse 34-35, “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.”

Paul in Romans 2:11 says, "God is no respecter of persons," and that is throughout the Old Testament. God doesn't prefer smart men over unintelligent ones or rich ones over poor ones. Or a certain race over another race. God is impartial. Peter is saying, "Cornelius, I know you're a Gentile, but salvation is available." I don't care about your culture, your background or your race. Paul said in Romans 1:16, "For the Gospel of Christ is the power of God to everyone that believes.”

2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise." That means God keeps all His promises. People are slack and do not keep their promises. But God does, He is long suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The argument of 2 Peter 3 is, "Well, the scoffers say, "Where is the coming of the Lord? Why doesn't He get here? He must be impotent.”

Peter says, "No, He is not impotent. He doesn't come because He is merciful, and He is waiting to give men an opportunity to respond.” It is mercy, 2 Peter 3:9 continues, "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Across all barriers, across the board, salvation is available. It's not for super-religious people. It is for all men everywhere who respond and believe.

Now, as a Jew, Peter had been taught all his life that God had a special love for Israel, that God liked Israel better than He liked anybody else; and so to extend himself to Gentiles was extremely difficult. But God prepared him with a vision, and in this vision God began to break down this attitude and prejudice, and so Peter says, "I am beginning to understand that God doesn't have any favorites culturally, religiously or racially.

Verse 35 says, “In every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted with Him." That is not saying you are saved by works. What it means is that God looks into the heart of that pagan, and if he is living up to the information God has written in his conscience, he is acceptable. In other words, you can know God just from what He has written in your heart. That doesn't mean the man is saved. That means that God looks favorably on him.

Cornelius feared God. He worked righteousness the best he knew how, but he was not saved. John 7:17 says, “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine.” In other words, Jesus said that God will give him more light. God will reveal the truth. Cornelius had lived up to the light he had, and here came Peter with the rest of the light and God is impartial.

The second thing that Peter says is that salvation is in Christ. Verse 36, “The Word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all.” The only one who can provide you with resurrection life is Jesus Christ. Why? He is the only one that was ever raised from the dead. Buddha's tomb is occupied. The tomb of Mohammed is occupied. But Jesus' tomb is empty. In John 14:19 Jesus says, "Because I live, you will live also."

Peter said, "This is the Word which God has sent." God has been giving messages for a long time, unfortunately people are not listening. You cannot reach God by your own power and design. You are natural, and He is supernatural, and by that definition, the natural cannot understand the supernatural. Since we cannot enter into the supernatural, the supernatural reduced itself to us, and Jesus speaks to us in this world.

And what did God say? God simply used Israel as a vehicle, not as an end. They were ineffectual however, so God cut a new channel, which is the church. And what He wanted to say was, "There is peace through Jesus Christ." We are all born into this world in with a sin nature that is in conflict with God. But God sent us the Word, Jesus. And God revealed His will, which is that men know peace with Him through Jesus.

There is war everywhere. The Bible says there is no peace for the wicked. From the time a man is born into this world, he is born in sin. He is in rebellion to the moral law of God, which flows in the universe. There will never be peace between nations and there is no peace within the individual heart. The reason there is no peace in the individual heart is because men don't have peace with God. They are in a world that is going against the grain. No wonder they cannot be at peace.

And now God says, I have a message, and my message is peace. Would you like to be at peace with God? When you come to Jesus Christ, the old way of war dies. The old life dies, and you rise in a new life at peace with God. Living according to God's standards and living in the life of God is absolutely revolutionary. But that is God's message to the world, real peace.

2 Corinthians 5:18 says, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” How did He do it? By not imputing their trespasses to them. God took care of our sins in Christ; therefore, we can have peace with Him. The thing that creates the friction is sin, and consequently there's no peace. Now even though we still sin, it's covered by the blood of Christ and it's forgiven and cleansed. The Lord says, "I will not remember it."

Peter says in verse 36, "Preaching peace through Jesus Christ." There's no other way. There is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ, but don't worry. If any man is really living up to the knowledge of the true God within him, God will give him the light that he needs to come to that full knowledge of Christ; and there is no other way. At the end of verse 36 it says, "He is Lord of all." That means about several things.

Peter is saying to these Gentiles, "Jesus is God in a human body. He is Lord.” There is no other Lord. "He is Lord of everything there is." There is no way that a man can enter into peace with God other than through Christ. He is Lord not only of those who believe. If anybody knows the truth, they know it because they know Him. Jesus is the Lord whether you believe or not.

Now verse 37-38 says, “That Word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

That information about Christ was known throughout Judea, and began in Galilee after the baptism which John preached. This isn't anything new to you. Cornelius, you have heard the Word. Cornelius was in Caesarea, just 40 or 50 miles from Jerusalem. So Peter says, "Cornelius, you have heard all about Jesus. The Word has been proclaimed all throughout Judea and Galilee. You must know about it.”

Then Peter says, let me give you some specifics, it all began after John the Baptist. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and he announced the coming of Christ. Then one day as John was getting the people ready, the Messiah came. John turned to Him and said in John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." And Peter says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power."

The Holy Spirit and power always go together. God anointed Jesus and immediately His ministry began. He was baptized and the Spirit of God descended upon Him. God was saying, "This is My Messiah." God set Him apart as the Redeemer, the King, and the Anointed One, Jesus of Nazareth. Nazareth was a little town in Galilee, and everybody thought nothing good could come out of there. It was part of His humiliation that Jesus came from there.

Jesus got up one day in the synagogue, and this is what He read, from Isaiah 61:1-2, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Now, this was a prophecy of the Messiah and all the people listened. They thought, "Oh, He is reading about our coming Messiah," and Luke 4:21-22 says, “Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus said, I am that Messiah, and I am anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah. So Peter repeats this in Acts 10:38, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power."

Jesus began His ministry in the power of the Spirit. It continues in verse 38, “Who went about doing good.” And some of the things that He did that were good are illustrated, it continues, "And healing all who were oppressed by the devil." There is a conflict in the universe between God and Satan, and Jesus came into the world to resolve it. After His baptism, immediately He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, and Satan tempted Him; and the conflict began for three years during the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Realize that the battleground for God and Satan is the universe, but the battle was resolved on the earth. Jesus Christ fought against Satan and He won, although it didn't look like He did. Verse 39, Peter says, “And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree.” This is not just hearsay. We, the apostles all saw this.

Satan has two things he can use as a weapon, disease and death. Satan tried to use the power of death on Jesus; and it says at the end of verse 39, "Whom they slew hanging on a tree." The Roman soldiers did the actual crucifixion. The Jews put Him to a false trial and brought it to pass. Both were instrumental in His death, and the devil tried to stop Jesus by killing Him. But Jesus showed that the devil's power wasn't powerful at all.

Verse 40-41, “Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.” Men judged Him a blasphemer and executed Him. But God raised Him up and said, "He is alive. He is the Messiah. He is the Redeemer." It made no sense to show Himself to unbelievers, they would not believe it anyway.

Yes, it's important, and because He lives, you can live. 1 Corinthians 15:20 says, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Pilate tried to keep that grave shut. "Seal it and get those Roman soldiers around there," which didn't do a bit of good. God just gave a divine anesthesia to all the soldiers, and Jesus just walked out. Then He sent an angel, who just removed the stone so the disciples could enter in.

Satan is still trying to make people doubt the resurrection. Easter is the name of an ancient Chaldean goddess Ashtoreth, who was associated with Baal worship. Easter eggs come from the myth that a great egg fell from heaven into the Euphrates River, and out of that egg came Ashtoreth. And Lent is the worship of Baal translated into Christianity. It has nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In verse 42, Peter says, “And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.” So Peter concludes his sermon by saying, "Salvation is only in Jesus Christ. Here's the invitation.” Verse 43, “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone.

Remission is forgiveness of sins and forgiveness comes when you believe. Whosoever means anybody who believes. It is in Christ and it is by faith. Romans 10:9 says, “If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and bore your sin? Do you believe He rose from the dead to give you life? If you believe that, Christ will come into your life and resurrect you spiritually. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Aug 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160814 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/43sjxi8w imblog Acts 10:21-35

Carnal pride in the early church had warped the outreach of the Jew toward the Gentile. And prior to that, there was no interaction between Jews and Gentiles. They were considered Gentiles to be unclean. The exclusiveness, which had been designed by God for Israel for the purpose of holiness and witness, had become a point of pride, and it had been perverted. The Jews hated the Gentiles and the same the other way around.

Paul describes that in Ephesians 2:11-15, “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.”

In other words, the wall that always separated in the temple the Gentile from the Jew, The Lord Jesus has smashed. In fact, when Jesus Christ died, He just tore up the whole temple except the Holy of Holies. Now everyone can have direct access to the Holy of Holies. Hebrews 4:16 says. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.” The veil is ripped, now you can pray boldly to God. This is the theology in Ephesians.

Now, the actual history of it is here in Acts 10. We find the first Gentile who is called by God to enter into the fullness of all the promise of God. This is the final phase in the expansion of the church that still continues now. Now, this is also the day Cornelius got saved, and we don't want to minimize that. So we see the sequence of salvation as illustrated in Cornelius, and this is a general pattern for how salvation happens in the life of anybody.

Scripture is like a diamond. It has different facets, and every time you turn the light on, you see a new one. We are looking at timeless principles as to how God saves men which are active and alive today. So, first in salvation there is a sovereign call that we saw in Acts 10:1-20. It all is initiated by God. God just picked him out of all available Gentiles. God chose to do this in Cornelius' life. And God also chose Peter, the messenger; and He chooses how too.

This is not separated from man's will, but it is in conjunction with man's will. Cornelius' heart was turned toward God. He began to search for God, because God had already found him and turned his heart. And then God responded by giving him a vision and telling him where he could get the information he needed. He lived up to the light he had and God gave him the opportunity to increase his faith by being obedient and sending men to find Peter. God never does things apart from active faith in response.

Then God began the preparation of Peter. He sovereignly chose Peter, first of all, because he was available, but God had to prepare him, so He gave him also a vision. The vision broke down all of his prejudice and prepared the way for the meeting with this Gentile. But you will notice Peter had to have active faith too, where he was willing to go with the messengers, as we shall see today.

We talked about how sovereign timing brought the two together at absolutely the right moment. Peter hadn't even finished with his vision when the Holy Spirit said, "Wake up, Peter, go downstairs. The people are there waiting for you. and go with them." No way could this happen by chance. So there is sovereign choice and sovereign timing. God is active initially in salvation. It all begins with Him.

Isaiah 65:24, "And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer." Before Cornelius knew what he was looking for, God was giving it to him. Look as an example in Acts 16:14, “Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” The only power in the universe that can track the sinful heart of man is God's sovereign power.

In Luke 24:45, "Then opened Jesus their understanding that they might understand." God only can open up our mind so that we can understand. John 6:45, “And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” Jesus said that the only people who ever come to Me are those whom God has sovereignly, supernaturally taught. Salvation is of God, because the unenlightened, dead in sin, natural man cannot grasp the truth of God.

So salvation begins with sovereign call, sovereign preparation. Second point of salvation is submissive will. Peter already was a believer, but Cornelius, he responded by his will actively. They obeyed the sovereign will of God immediately. God does prepare us, and we must respond. You are saved by faith and you have to walk by faith. John 8:30-31 says, “As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.”

So the point is obedience is the continued action daily. Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” They did not obey in their heart and there was no continued action.

Luke 9:23, “Then Jesus said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” That is a submissive and obedient life. Legitimate faith will make necessary sacrifices immediately, and in both cases with Cornelius and Peter, their action was immediate. Salvation is a willing commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, obedience to Him, no matter what the cost.

Cornelius was ready, and when God moved, he responded and away he went. Verse 21, “Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, “Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?” Peter is also ready. This whole vision about clean and unclean was no longer a problem for him. And here he faces three Gentiles, which beforehand would have been traumatic.

Verse 22, “And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.” Even the Jews thought highly of him. So they got Peter at the house here, and they said, "Cornelius sent us because of the angel.”

Verse 23, “Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day Peter went away with them, and some brothers from Joppa accompanied him.” No ordinary Jew would have done this. Not only was it not done with Gentiles, but least of all was it done with occupying Roman soldiers. It was too late to travel back to Caesarea, so they decided to just stay, and Peter just showed that the walls had come down. After all, he was living in the house of Simon the tanner, one of the most despised trades imaginable by Jews.

Another fact is amazing, "Some brothers from Joppa accompanied him." God hadn't said, "Peter, you go and take certain brothers." No, God just said, "Peter, you go." Peter took them without any direct command from God, yet their presence in the house of Cornelius was a tremendous key to everything that happened.

Do you know there were six orthodox Jewish Christians that went with Petrus according to Acts 11:12, because verse 45 says they were of the circumcision. This was very strategic. In fact, they became the key to the unifying of Jew and Gentile. God not only led Peter through the vision, but God led Peter through Peter's own desires and ideas. This is providence. God knew it was crucial to have them there.

How does God lead us now? He leads through our desires, and here we see exactly that. Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” How many times have we done something you just decided to do? You get there, and you cross some eternal significant event. You meet some guy who doesn't know Christ. You lead him to Christ, and the course of his history is totally changed.

How many times has God not only influenced our desires to do something, but arranged the circumstances to accommodate it? That's how He leads through His will. He leads the available Christian, not by vision, but by desire and the active will, as He moves on our will, so we respond. That's how He works. The will of God is not given to us some ecstatic way, but rather as He orders our desires God providentially works.

So here come seven Jews to meet a whole house full of Gentiles, a monumental moment. Two men come together from two different worlds, sovereignly prepared and, also submissive in their wills. Cornelius completely believed the only vision he ever had. That's faith. He is going to completely uproot his whole life situation because of this only vision he ever had. He was so full of faith that he was willing to seek help from a Jew.

And there is no Scripture record that tells us that Peter ever had a vision either. Peter also believed the first one he had. And you know what is shocking? It all went against everything he had ever been taught his whole life, yet he still believed, and did what it taught. Peter is willing to accept the uncircumcised pagans into his house. He is willing to travel far to more unknown Gentiles without any idea what will happen.

Verse 24-25, “And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.” Imagine a Gentile Roman centurion worshipping a Jewish fisherman. Verse 26, “But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I myself am also a man.”

Peter said, "Don't worship me.” He disallowed it at the very start, and no Christian is ever to be worshipped. There is only one in the Bible who ever accepted worship. You know who that was? God. There is only one in the New Testament who ever accepted worship. Who is that? Jesus Christ. Then who is He? God.

Verse 27, “And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together.” Here Cornelius had brought a bunch of people together, and again, you have the same principle. Nobody told Cornelius to do this. God had worked through the desires of Cornelius, and he had brought other Gentiles in, because it was important that not just one Gentile got saved.

Verse 28, “Then Peter said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” The Old Testament ceremonial law didn't say that, but the rabbis added that. In fact, the rabbis said that defilement by going into a Gentile home was a seven-day defilement. Verse 29, “Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me?”

Peter came right to the point. Spiritual maturity is eagerness to do what God wants. Everything that Peter had known has been reversed. Verse 30-32, “So Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.”

Then verse 33, “So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.” Now we come to a simple Gospel message that Peter gives. In fact, Peter doesn't even get his sermon going. Peter later on gives testimony to the Jews in Jerusalem. He says, "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them." The Spirit came, and the Lord ended the meeting.

Just picture the scene in Cornelius' house. The Jews are there and the Gentiles are there. Verse 34-35, “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” We are not dealing with different nationalities, racial prejudice, or anything like that. And Peter says, "I am beginning to understand that." That's quite an admission.

And God taught that from the very beginning. Deuteronomy 10:17 says, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality.” 2 Chronicles 19:7, “let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality.” James 2:1, “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.” Do not be prejudicial.

God is not only the God who cares about Israel, but He cares about all men. God selected Israel, not because He liked them better, but because He needed somebody to be His witness. And within the body of Jesus Christ, make sure that we are equally sharing the love and the ministry with all people, rich or poor. When we are doing it for the glory of the Lord we are on the right track.

So Peter says, in every nation, whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted. Many Jews were not accepted by God. Why? It looked good from the outside, but in their hearts they did not really have the right faith. Jesus says in Matthew 8:11-12, “And I say to you that many will come from east and west (Gentiles), and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom (Jews) will be cast out into outer darkness.”

So Peter sets the theme by saying, salvation is available to any man, any place, any kind of man who will live up to the light that God has given him and has a seeking heart. We need people to go and preach the good news. You know, there are people in this world who are just waiting for somebody to explain Jesus Christ to them. Maybe the Spirit of God will allow us to have an opportunity to do just that. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Aug 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160807 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/53g8t933 imblog Acts 10:1-20

We are continuing to study week by week, and now we come to Acts 10 which has a primary mission emphasis; because it deals with this great missionary principle and historical fact. The Gospel had been committed first, to the people in Jerusalem; and then to Judea and Samaria; and finally, the design of God was to take the Gospel to the uttermost part of the earth. And our master plan of evangelism is in Acts 1:8.

Remember Matthew 28:19-20 which recorded the Great Commission, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel." Initially, the church was Jewish; and it was stretching them to be able to reach Samaritans, whom they despised. And it was an even greater step to reach the Gentiles, whom they doubly despised. And so as we come to Acts 10, we learn in the Word of God how God began to open the church to the Gentiles; and He did it through Jewish men.

Now the key in the early church is Peter. The church exploded in Jerusalem, and then it exploded all throughout Judea and Samaria, and people were being saved everywhere. Peter was moving around. He was the preacher to the unsaved. He was also the teacher to the saints. And in Lydda, he healed a man named Aeneas who eight years had been a paralytic. And that caused all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon turned to the Lord.

He stayed there for some time until he heard from some disciples that there was a beloved Christian lady named Dorcas in Joppa some ten miles away, who had died. And knowing that Peter was near, they did not bury her, but only set her up in an upper chamber. They went to fetch Peter to see if he could raise her from the dead. And Peter did precisely that; and in response to that miracle of God, many believed in the Lord.

Peter had a very special commission. For in Matthew 16:19, our Lord Jesus Christ said to him, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus meant, “Peter, you will unlock the door in the expansion of the church. You are the point of contact between the Spirit of God and the church." And on Pentecost, Peter was in Jerusalem and the church began there, and it was he who preached, and he was there when the Spirit came. And then he was also present in Judea and Samaria.

And the last key left in Peter's hand was the key that opens the church to the Gentiles. And that was difficult for Peter, because he had been raised with Jewish traditions, engrained with legalism, and super-nationalism. So that there wasn’t any room for Samaritans or Gentiles, who were considered to be unclean. But already the Spirit of God has begun to change Peter.

Then in addition, another tradition that was breaking down is because he stayed, in verse 43, in the house of Simon, the tanner. And that work was despised by Jews, because it deals with dead animals; and no self-respecting Jew would have anything to do with such a man. But Peter stayed in his house maybe as a long as a couple of years and, so he shows that his prejudices are being changed by our Lord.

God wants to take the Jew and the Gentile and make them “one new man." Ephesians 2:13-16 says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation. 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body.”

Well, in order for God to change this dichotomous situation into unity, He is going to do a little preparation. So in Acts 10:1-20 tonight, God introduces to us this confrontation that finally results in the Gentiles being brought into the church. God prepares first the Gentile and then He prepares the Jew. The Gentile is Cornelius and the Jew is Peter and He gives each one a special vision, which is like training in preparation.

Now, as we watch what God does with Cornelius and Peter, we will see principles of what God does with everybody, because you have here a receiver, Cornelius, and you have a messenger, Peter. Let us see how God prepares the receiver who is going to receive the Gospel and how God prepares the messenger who is going to give it. And then at God's perfect timing, He brings the two together. Learn from this, because it is important for us to understanding of how God is going to use us to do the same.

Acts 10:1, “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius.” The first thing we learn about God's preparation is that God chooses the receiver. God chooses the one who receives the Gospel, as well as the one who brings it. In John 6:37, Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” But then He said in verse 44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

God is in the business of choosing. Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” God had Cornelius all singled out. In Acts 13:48 it says, “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” God had already determined who would be redeemed. God does all the selecting.

Now Caesarea was a military garrison, and the home of Pilate was there, or any other procurator of Palestine, because the Roman government had their headquarters there. And also it was populated by Gentiles with only a minimum of Jewish people. It is about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv. Augustus has given this city to Herod as a gift. So, it had been made into a beautiful city.

Verse 1 continues, Cornelius was “a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment.” He commanded 100 men. A Roman legion had 6,000, and it was divided into ten divisions, and each division had 6 centurions. Verse 2 says he also was, “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” Cornelius wanted to know God, and he had lived up to the light that he had. So God moved in to give him more light, the light of the world, Jesus.

So another thing we learn about God's preparation of the receiver is that God responds to the willing and open heart. Election never violates volition or choice. They always go together. I don't know how, God knows how. But Cornelius was sovereignly chosen by God, and he also had a searching heart. God reached down and gave him, really, the disposition to turn and seek God, even when he was dead in trespasses and sins.

All right, Cornelius was a devout man. That means he was religious and he feared God. This was a Gentile who abhors of his own religion, the immoralities and the idolatries of his own faith, and he had come to the conclusion that the God of Israel was the true God. He actually began to pray to that God. He perhaps become involved in worship in certain synagogues.

So God had to not only to choose him, and respond to his searching heart, but also He had to prepare him. Verse 3-4, “About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” 4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord? So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.” The ninth hour of the day," is 3:00 PM, which was the time for the evening prayers for the Jews.

Here appears crystal clear, an angel who says, "Cornelius” and talked to him. Soldiers aren't supposed to be afraid, but he was afraid of this. You know that anywhere in the world, God sees and reads the heart of every single individual. Like smoke ascending from a fire, your prayers and the deeds that you have done have risen up to God, and He is moving in response to you.

Verse 5-6, “Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” God always wants to tie with faith an act of obedience, because that's what the Christian life is all about. Praise the Lord, he believed God and he was obedient. Next in order to break the barriers down, the Lord wanted Peter to lead Cornelius to Christ in Cornelius' own house, which no Jew would ever enter.

Cornelius obeyed immediately. Verse 7-8, “And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. 8 So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.” Here was a man of true faith, and God gave him the opportunity to prove the obedience of faith. Meanwhile, He prepares the messenger, Peter, down in Joppa.

Verse 9, “The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour.” That's noon. It's time for prayer then, and so Peter was going up on the roof to pray. Now, God had to change a lot in Peter. He began as a racist, and God had to tear that down, and God needed one more vision to get Peter over the hump in dealing with Gentiles. We are going to see that the work of the Holy Spirit on the messenger is identical to that on the receiver.

God chooses the messenger that He wants, just like He chose the receiver. The Spirit of the Lord moves on people and leads them in the way that God wants them to go. If you feel God leading you strongly, obey the Spirit promptly. God wants you as a messenger for a specific mission. In John 15:16, Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.”

Verse 10-11 says, “Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth.” God gave him a vision that involves eating, and here comes a big sheet. Verse 12-13, “In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

Here is the key point, the animals in it were clean and unclean. In Leviticus 11, God laid down some absolutes, so in the mind of a Jew, there was a great division between clean animals and unclean animals. And these dietary laws were so distinct that they couldn't get together socially with Gentiles, and that's the point of Leviticus 20:25. And now God says to eat all this.

Verse 14-15, “But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean. 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” And verse 16 says, “This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.” What is this specific meaning of the vision? God is abolishing the Old Testament Jewish dietary laws. They were designed to separate the Jew from the Gentile. Now the body of Christ is designed to unite them.

The Jews and the Gentiles who were both in the church wouldn't eat together, and this is what Paul dealt with in Romans 14. Paul says, "Do not purposely offend that Jew who doesn't yet understand his liberties." And Paul also says to the Jew, "Don't you try to make the Gentile conform to dietary laws that God has set aside." See, God wanted to remove the barrier so they could be one in Christ.

Mark 7:14-15 records the words of Jesus, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: 15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.” Jesus is simply saying, "I'm not concerned anymore about what you are putting in your mouth. I'm only concerned about what you are saying and if that is not loving it will defile you."

1 Timothy 4:1-3 is very clear, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

Verse 17-18 says, “Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. 18 And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there.” God not only prepares the receiver and prepares the messenger, but He uses divine timing for just the right moment, before Peter could wake up, bang on the door, there the guys were.

Verse 19-20, “While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you. 20 Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.” God wanted an act of faith out of Peter, just like He did out of Cornelius. Are you available when God calls you and He has also already prepared the receiver?

The Apostle Paul operated on this principle. It says in Acts 18:9-11, “Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” 11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” God can and will use you if you are ready. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 31 Jul 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160731 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/t618lyui imblog Genesis 18:20-32

What is one of the first things you learned how to do as a Christian? It was learning how to pray, right? Sure it is and rightly so since God wants this communication with us right from the start. Remember what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus where he met Jesus, he could not see and did not eat or drink for three days, but he learned to pray. And it remains a very important part of the Christian life no matter how old we become.

Jesus himself demonstrated the importance of prayer by the time and effort He took to withdraw from the crowds so He could be alone to pray. Can you say that you too demonstrate prayer’s importance in your life the same as Jesus did? Do you make prayer a priority, or is it often just an afterthought, a habit or a crutch for tough times? Well, let us learn together the importance of prayer from the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis.

Genesis 18:20-32, “And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” 22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?

“25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” 27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”

“29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” 30 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”

Through our text this morning the Holy Spirit will not only teach us the necessity to pray but remind us how to pray. Let us use this thought as our theme: 1. Pray humbly; 2. Pray unselfishly; and 3. Pray boldly. Our sermon text describes what happened after the Lord came down with two of his angels disguised as travelers and dropped in on Abraham and Sarah. God stopped by to strengthen Sarah’s faith in the promise that she would have a son in her old age.

Often it is difficult for us to believe God in all that He has done and promises to do. There are so many implications of what has been said in Genesis that it is difficult for men to fathom the immensity of what God has done in creating the whole universe from nothing. We as humans find it difficult to believe that God who created the laws of nature, can overcome those laws anytime He wants to. And so when God said that Sarah in her old age was going to have a son, she laughed because she did not believe.

Look what God says about Himself in Genesis 18:14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” There is absolutely nothing too hard for God, not only does the Bible show and prove that everything that has ever been prophesied has and will come true, the Bible itself is living and powerful.

Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” So God looks at the intentions of your heart and He knows exactly what you need and how you can serve Him. And if you respond to His call, He will supply you everything you need to spread the gospel and to glorify Him.

Let us go back to the Genesis account. Once the visit was finished God and his two angels got up and started making their way to the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. You see there was another purpose for which God had come down to earth. God said to Abraham in Genesis 18:20-21, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know”.

Of course God did not actually need to go down to these cities to check out what was going on. Since God is everywhere and knows all things and can see all things, He was well aware of what the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were planning in their hearts. But by telling Abraham that he had come to investigate, God reminds us that even though He knows everything, He still wants us to learn more about Him. God is revealing Himself progressively first by the Law in the Old Testament but then through His Son in the New Testament.

So what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah that prompted God to come and judge? The answer is ‘grave sin.’ The people of these two cities were acting in a way that was totally contrary to God’s word. What were they doing? While we could point to the specific homosexual sins that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of, we should stress that in addition to their sins, it was also their attitude towards sin. They all were persistently sinning all the time.

The citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah didn’t care that what they did was wrong. Such an attitude is called impenitence and can sometimes be found in our lives as well. You see it doesn’t matter whether you kill ten people, or just sass your parents, both sins are detestable in God’s eyes and if we don’t repent of either sin we would deserve to meet the same end that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah did.

Isn’t it amazing that God shared his plans with Abraham? That reminds us that we as Christians are so blessed because we have the Bible, where God shares Himself and His plans for us. From the Bible we Christians understand more of what is going to happen to the world now and in the end time and what we can expect after death. But most importantly that God loves us and wants to save us. God is not looking for us to have a religion but a personal relationship with Him. These are topics that those who don’t read the Bible will never know.

Having found out that God was planning on destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham began to intercede on behalf of the inhabitants of those cities. This is where we learn that Abraham loved those people and he showed that by his asking for God’s mercy for those that believed. And that we show love too when we pray intercessory prayers. Abraham knew that his nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom and he did not want him or his family wiped away with the wicked. Let us learn from Abraham’s love by his petitions to God.

The first thing we learn is that although God had just let Abraham in on God’s plan for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham didn’t get cocky. Instead he approached God in humility. Abraham said in Genesis 18:27, “I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes.” Abraham based his requests on mercy, not merit. He knew that the same sinful heart that beat in people of Sodom and Gomorrah beats in his own chest.

He recognized that it was only by God’s grace and patience that he had not been destroyed for the many times that he had failed to obey God and did not trust his promises. What we deserve is the same punishment that Sodom and Gomorrah. But the sacrifice of Jesus opened the door so that we are forgiven and can now pray directly to God with boldness. Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Abraham’s prayer is not just exemplary because it was humble; it was also unselfish. Instead of thinking of how he could judge these people, Abraham was concerned for his nephew and his family, and any other believers that might be in those cities. Therefore he prayed for God to spare both cities if there were 50 believers. Abraham wanted the people of those cities to experience the same grace he had experienced from God.

In the same way our prayers too should be unselfish which is another way of describing what love means. Love is what sets us apart from people who do not know God. Before God changed us, we were all selfish and egotistical and only thinking about ourselves. But because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, we learn to love. And that is expressed in Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

The Apostle Paul said 1 Timothy 2:1-4, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

“Pray for everyone!” Paul says. Start with your family, the people in church, your co-workers, friends, and pray for your enemies too. The Bible says that by praying for others it will benefit you. Matthew 6:19-20 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Although Abraham approached God in humility and unselfishness he was also bold. Even though God had said that He was planning on destroying Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham boldly asked God to reconsider. Abraham knew that while God is just and must punish sin, He is also loving and patient with sinners. He therefore appealed to God’s mercy and patience so that the righteous could be spared.

The most amazing thing about this account is that God listened to Abraham’s prayer and agreed not to destroy the cities if he could find 50 believers in them. God knows exactly who is in those cities, and He knows the end from the beginning but He invites us to pray because He wants to test us to see how much we really care and love our fellow man.

Abraham was not only bold in what he asked for; he was bold in how many times he came to God with his petition. Six times, starting with 50 righteous people going all the way down to 10, Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus also encouraged his disciples and all of us to be persistent in our prayers. But remember and know that God’s timing is not like our timing, and yet He is never too late.

This of course doesn’t mean that God will always do what we want him to do just because we are persistent. We need to recognize that we don’t always know what is best for us, while God does. Did God answer Abraham’s prayer? No. He did end up destroying Sodom and Gomorrah because there were not even ten believers in either city but He did answer Abraham’s prayer by rescuing the believers, Lot and his daughters.

God gave Abraham more than he asked for. He not only allowed Lot and his daughters to escape with their life, He allowed them to escape with their faith. Had Lot and his family continued to live in Sodom they too could have eventually adopted the sinful life-style of the people around them and losing their love for God. To a certain degree those sinful attitudes had already rubbed off on Lot’s family.

As they were fleeing, Lot’s wife turned back to look at what she had left behind even though the angels had warned Lot’s family not to do that. Because of her disobedience, and because of her love for the things of this world, God turned her into a pillar of salt. So many of us do not realize that the things that you love in this world are fleeting and break down and do not give you real happiness and instead lead us to destruction.

Would Lot have also lost his faith had he remained in Sodom? The Bible says that the influence of others is very strong. The fact is that even though Lot was there for a long time, he did not influence people to come to God. And being apart from a body of believers is always full of danger. Because 1 Corinthians 12:21 says, “And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” We as believers need to stay connected with each other.

Therefore God not only gave Abraham more than he asked for, He showed that He knew what was best for the believers involved. Hey Christians, trust God and pray without ceasing. Not just because that’s what God has commanded you to do but because there are wonderful blessings connected with prayer.

Religion with all their rules is not what God is looking for. Look for example at the Pharisees in Judaism. Being in fellowship with God and having a personal relationship with Him is what God wants. Bring your requests to God in humility knowing that’s it’s only by his grace that you can come in His presence, but be bold knowing that God has promised to listen and to answer your prayers.

Pray lovingly for others knowing that God will answer our prayers in the way that it best for others and us. Don’t take prayer for granted just because it’s something you do all the time and you do it out of habit. Demonstrate its continued importance in your life as you learn to pray all the time! Amen. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Jul 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160724b http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/sobw9p47 imblog Acts 9:36-43

Open up Acts 9, and we will take up where we left off last week. We just began to study verse 32 to 35; and we are seeing here two miracles that Peter does in the power of Christ. One is the restoration of a man eight years sick with paralysis. And the other is the raising of Dorcas from the dead. Now this is his personal ministry; and this is important, because there are principles that can be applied to our personal ministries.

Peter after Pentecost, after the Spirit of God empowered him, was a great success. He became the leader of the Twelve and a powerful preacher to the multitudes. Peter was really the opener of the Gospel, both to the Samaritans and to the Gentiles. He it was who had the keys to the Kingdom in Matthew 16. He also was the point of contact for the coming of the Spirit of God. Paul is the theologian and we see in Peter a lot of action. Peter shows us principles rather than telling them to us.

Now, in Acts 9, Peter has more principles to teach us, and they just become apparent in what he does. He is the great teacher by example, he got involved with people on a one-on-one basis. And here we see two simple little vignettes from the life of Peter that indicate some of the things that made him effective in personal ministry.

Last week we mentioned six things that are the marks of effective personal ministry. No. 1, Peter was involved. No. 2, he was Christ-exalting. No. 3, he was available. No. 4, he was prayerful. No. 5, he was fruitful. And no. 6, he was free from prejudice. These are things which should be learned by us and applied to each of our lives so that we might have effective multiplication-type ministries. God wants us to work one-on-one with other people.

Let us review what we learned last week. We only got past the first two. No. 1, Peter was involved. He was always going. Well, when he was Holy Spirit activated it was in perfect conjunction with his temperament. Verse 32 starts with, “Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country.” God always chooses those who are already active in the mainstream of His ministries for His biggest tasks.

Verse 32, “And he came down to the saints who dwelt at Lydda”, right on the pathway to Joppa. Verse 33, “There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed.” Because Peter was involved, God led him to this place; and because he was available, God used him to heal this man. As a result, verse 35 says, “So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.”

Next, Peter was Christ-exalting. Verse 34 says, “And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.” Then he arose immediately.” He really makes a disclaimer repeatedly regarding his own ability and power. He says, "Jesus Christ makes you well." Peter had only one desire, and that was to exalt Jesus Christ.

Later on, in Acts 10, Cornelius worshipped him. But Peter grabbed him and said, “get up, Cornelius. I myself also am just a man." Peter rejected any worship. Don't ever credit yourself with the victories. Don't ever lift up yourself in conversation, in your wisdom, in your ability to teach the Bible, and your ability to handle their problems, always exalt Christ. Be preoccupied with that.

Now, thirdly, Peter was always available. All we can ever say is, "God, I'm available," and then anything He does through me is great. Often our priorities get so fouled up that we do everything else but be available to God. Verse 36, “At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.”

So this is to introduce to us a miracle. God worked these miracles through His apostles, and Peter was the apostle in proximity to Joppa, and so God was going to work this through him. These apostles had power, 2 Corinthians 12:12 says, “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.”

This woman Dorcas was full of good works. She lived to give to others gifts of charity. Specifically, she made clothes for them. She was the one who did things for the poor and did things for the needy. She is everything a disciple is to be, because she was really fulfilling what God called her to be. She is a Proverbs 31:20 woman, “She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.”

So we are introduced to Dorcas. Then verse 37, “But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.” Now, the custom of the Jews at death was to immediately to bury the body, since they did not do any embalming. But in this case, they didn't bury her, which was very unusual, because dead bodies were a very unclean thing in Israel to a Jew.

Verse 38, “And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.” They knew that Peter was given the power to raise the dead. Verse 39 says, “Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.”

Peter doesn't say, "Look, she died. Praise the Lord, she is now with the Lord.” No. Peter just got up and dropped everything else. When God says, "Go," that's the time to go. Understand your priorities. They were crying about Dorkas’ death, they loved her so much because she made all their clothes. Look what Peter did first in verse 40, “But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.”

I just want to mention that the ministry of the women in our church is marvelous. There are deaconesses and others who go out and minister, visit sick people and work with women who have needs and other problems. God has designed a place for women that is equal to men. Galatians 3:28, “there's neither male nor female in the body of Christ.”

Here we see in Acts 9, a ministry going that is for widows by women. You know, the church has a responsibility, according to 1 Timothy 5, to care for the widows. Widows are the most vulnerable group in history. If you have a widow in your family, you are to care for her. And if she has no family to care for her, the church should care for her. That's the design of God for the church.

So Peter was always involved, Christ-exalting and available. Now, let's get to the fourth one. He was prayerful. In verse 40 Peter kneeled down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, 'Tabitha, arise,'" This reminds us of what Jesus said to the child of Jairus in Luke 8:54, “Little girl, arise.” Here Peter says, "Tabitha, arise. “And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up."

Wow what a miracle, she had been dead between 36 to 48 hours. But when Peter said, "Arise," everything in her body was reversed, all the decay that had begun to set in was reversed, and she came out of there as fresh, clean, and whole as new. God performed a miracle, and it came about because Peter was available and prayerful. He acknowledged that only God is the source of power.

The temptation is there for every Christian, when you have a little success to think you did it. Remember, whatever is done, God did it all. In Ephesians 3:7 Paul says, “I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.” Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” It is all because of His power.

Five young Christians one time were in London years ago, and they were interested in going to Spurgeon's church to hear him preach. So they arrived early, hoping to get a seat, and the doors were still locked. As they were standing on the steps a gentleman walked up to them and introduced himself by this statement, "Would you like to see the heating apparatus of this church?"

They thought, "who wants to see that?" But they didn't want to be impolite, and so they said, "Why, fine, if you would desire to show that to us, yes." So he proceeded to take them in the door, through a long hallway that looked like a dead end. Then the man opened a door, and there was this large room filled with 700 people on their knees in prayer. At which point, he said, "There is the heating apparatus of this church."

They later found out that their unknown guide was Charles Spurgeon himself. You see, he recognized the power was not his, but the power was God's, and it was unleashed in prayer. You know what prayer is? Prayer at this point is simply the admission that I can't do it, but God can. That releases power. Jesus did it. He went to the cross, but before He got to Calvary, He went to Gethsemane to pray. Make prayer a priority in your life.

Well, Dorcas sat up. Verse 41, “Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive.” Wow, can you imagine the joy? This was not solely for Dorcas' benefit. Her friends considered it a joy because their loved one returned. But God had a different thing in mind. Verse 42, “And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.”

Do you know why God did it? For the same reason that all of the other miracles had been done, as confirming signs to prove to the whole world that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was true. God had evangelism in mind. This is God's process of multiplication of believers. Here Peter dropped everything and went up to take care of some weeping widows, and what happened? Revival broke out in the city.

We cannot determine how effective any ministry is going to be. God may have multiplication in mind that will stagger your imagination. The power in the Gospel doesn't depend on the eloquence of the preacher. It doesn't lie in the wisdom of men. Spurgeon said, "We might preach till our tongues rot, till we exhaust our lungs and die, and never a soul will be saved unless there is the power of God.”

Verse 42 gives us the fifth point, Peter was fruitful, “And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.” He did the miracle through the power of God. The fruit came as an indirect result, but fruit comes. All believers are saved to be fruitful. In John 15:8, Jesus said, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

Now, you may not see all this fruit in your own lifetime. William Carey in India who had 35 years of ministry there and saw only a handful of people saved. He is in heaven now, but he's still bearing fruit right today in 2016. You see, some plant, some water, and God gives the increase. Christians will be fruitful if they follow the patterns of the Word of God.

What do we mean with the fruit of a Christian? We mean Christ-likeness, look at Galatians 5:22 and Ephesians 5:9. Hebrews 13:15 says, “The fruit of my lips praise." Giving to the needy is fruit, Romans 15:28. Blessing other people is fruit, 1 Corinthians 14:14, praising with my soul is fruit. Colossians 1:10, Holy living is fruit. But most significantly, people that come to Christ are fruit. Every Christian should bring others to Christ.

So Peter's ministry was fruitful, not because it was directly attached to the miracle, but because God blessed what he began to do. If we love Jesus Christ, everything we touch in our ministry can issue in fruit. Be faithful in your ministry. Sometimes just working with one individual may bear far more fruit than speaking to a mass of people about Christ.

Lastly, the final verse is important. Peter had an effective personal ministry because he was free from prejudice. Verse 43, “So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner.” One of the most despicable trades for a Jew was that of a tanner, because he dealt with the skins of dead animals, making leather. In fact, the Mishnah said if a woman had a husband who took on the trade of a tanner, she had the right to divorce him. A tanner was not respected and, it was ceremonially unclean.

Peter, as a Jew has been trained and raised in all the prejudices and all of the Old Testament attitudes; and prejudices die hard. These are tough lessons for Peter. First he had to present the gospel to the Samaritans, and his heart has opened up as he accepted the Samaritans into the body. And then in Acts 10, he will have to accept the Gentiles. Not only that, he will have a vision to eat that was previously unclean. And now he is living with a tanner.

What cripples Christianity around the world, and it comes under many different guises, is just prejudice. This is an inability to accept people for what they are, and it's so true in so many Christian circles. If you don't fit the mold, they are not interested in you. You can't minister effectively for Jesus Christ as long as you see somebody in a prejudicial sense. In any ministry, if you are prejudiced, you are a detriment to the ministry.

It says, "Peter stayed many days." The same phrase was used to speak of Paul's three years in Arabia. So Peter probably stayed there for some years. We need to learn to love people and to accept them for what they are. Jesus did. Now, He didn't like their sin, but He sure loved them. Prejudice needs to die if you're going to have effective personal ministry. So be involved, exalt Christ, be available, be prayerful, be fruitful and be free from prejudice. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Jul 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160724a http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/99a6dp90 imblog Acts 9:32-35

We just concluded in Acts 9 the section on the conversion and transformation of Saul of Tarsus in to the apostle Paul. And now we're coming back to a study about the apostle Peter. He is a fascinating disciple and we all are richer because of his life. And what we are going to study are the marks of effective personal ministry. Because from this passage we can learn the basic principles that are exhibited in the personal ministry of Peter.

Here we don't see Peter like we have in the past chapters of Acts preaching to great crowds of thousands. Here we see him kind of isolated with individuals. And some tremendous principles come out of the text as we shall look at Acts 9:32-43. Now the apostle Peter with all of his weaknesses who likes to say the wrong things, finally after Pentecost really began to speak for God. His life is the dominant theme in the first 12 chapters of Acts.

Now we see a dynamic and powerful apostle who not only is the leader of the church, but the leader of the other apostles as well. And we learn both sides of living the Christian life from Peter, how not to do it in the gospels and how to do it in the book of Acts. Peter's life is a lot like Paul's life, they both had to turn around. And Peter gives us, directly and then indirectly, many of those principles of ministry.

Let us look first in 2 Peter 1:12-21, where Peter shares four basic principles for effective ministry. This is just to get our minds thinking about ministry before we go back to Acts. Before you can have an effective personal ministry, you must possess certain things personally. Here we see the heart of Peter exposed and he gives us four things that really helped him to have an effective personal ministry.

Number one, personal concern. Verse 12-13, “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. 13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you.” Now here Peter expressed his concern for those to whom he ministers. He wants them to learn. Communicating the truth only is not enough, they have to be reminded again and again so that they can remember it correctly and tell it to others.

The second thing here is personal urgency. In verse 14, “knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.” Peter said I am going to die, just as Jesus told me." In John 21:18-19, the Lord said to Peter, “when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.” 2 Peter 1:15 says, “Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.” Peter wants to use all his time to teach others.

The third thing that characterized Peter was personal experience. Verse 16, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” And lastly Peter says you not only need personal experience in effective personal ministry, but also personal knowledge. So he explains that with verse 21, “prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

And he calls this in verse 19, “a prophetic word confirmed”. So Peter says to begin with we need to look at our own lives, and there are four things that are needed for effective ministry: Personal concern, personal urgency, personal experience and personal knowledge. Let us go back and examine how effective Peter’s ministry was in Acts 9.

In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus gives us the Great Commandment, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” Now God began with believing Jews and then they would go out to reach the whole world.

Acts 1:8 is the strategy for the church, “you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be My witnesses”. And this being said to 120 Jews, you all are going to be the beginning of this explosion. "And you'll start in Jerusalem, then you go to Judea, Samaria, and finally the uttermost part of the earth." That's the outline of the book of Acts.

So God starts with a small group of believing Jews. And they were all gathered up there in the upper room and the Spirit of God came in power, baptized them into the body, filled them such that they began to speak to everybody the wonderful works of God and every many heard that in his own language. And then Peter preached the sermon and 3,000 people were saved and the church began in Jerusalem that day.

Then it grew from there and they continued to preach in Jerusalem. Peter was thrown in prison and he preached to the Sanhedrin. Then he went back to the temple, and when an angel let him out of prison on another occasion, he preached again to the people and the church grew more. In Acts 4, there are 5,000 men in the church to say nothing of the women and the children and young people. And so the church grew mightily in Jerusalem.

And finally the Jews brought Peter and the apostles before the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:28 and they say this, "You have filled all Jerusalem with your doctrine." And so they mark off Jerusalem and say it's time for Samaria. And the Lord used a man named Saul. And the death of Stephen started a great persecution against the church. And the Lord just let the church get persecuted by Saul. And believers were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.

Acts 8:4 says, they were scattered abroad and they went everywhere preaching the Word. So the church moved to the second step in the commission, Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria. And they had marvelous results. But it is tragic for Jerusalem, because it spelled really the final call to Jerusalem. As Jerusalem Jews had confirmed their unbelief, they rejected Christ and so God just moves on.

And now the third step in the expansion of the church is the ministry to the Gentiles. The Samaritans were half-breeds, so they were a little bit akin. But the Gentiles, that was going a long ways. And as you know, God chose a special man to do the job with the Gentiles by the name of Saul. But before God used him, He had to switch him around. And so we read in Acts 8 how He transformed Saul into Paul.

And he had to have some time of preparation. And so he spent three years in Nabatea and Arabia and in Damascus learning from God, then finally after that he came down to Jerusalem for 15 days before he had created such havoc they had to ship him to Tarsus to calm the scene down. And so we have been only introduced to Paul who is going to be apostle of the Gentiles. And he has gone back to Tarsus.

So let us then refocus on Peter who dominates from now through Acts 12. He becomes God's man in the expansion of the church. It is not Paul who opened the door to the Gentiles, it is Peter. In Matthew 16:18 our Lord commissioned Peter for this, saying, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Then Jesus said in verse 19, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Now that phrase there is synonymous with the church. The kingdom of heaven was the expanding church. Jesus says, Peter, you are the guy who is going to unlock the doors as the church expands. Now Peter was there preaching in Jerusalem at Pentecost. Peter was there in Samaria also. Remember the Samaritans believed, but they didn't receive the Holy Spirit to be included in the body until Peter arrived and laid hands on them.

And as we get to Acts 10 in a week or so, we're going to see Peter opens the door to Cornelius, the Gentile. He receives the Holy Spirit, and Peter has unlocked the last door in the expansion of the church. So Peter was the key to opening the doors of the church. Later on Paul comes back in in Acts 13 and begins the ministry of following up and building that church that Peter really officially initiated.

God is beginning to prepare Peter for the move to the Gentiles. And so God is preparing him for Acts 10 when he's going to come face to face with Cornelius, the Gentile, and he's going to see the Gentiles included in the church, which was a big shock. And he went running back and he said you'll never believe this, but the Gentiles have the same thing we have got. But his heart is beginning to soften.

Now, Peter in Acts 9 is taking a trip from Jerusalem down to Joppa directly west to the coastline. Joppa is a sea port, now called Jaffa, a suburb of Tel Aviv, 50 miles west of Jerusalem. Peter was moving around teaching, preaching, winning new believers, confirming saints and building them up. Now what happens illustrates to us what brought him such an effective personal ministry.

My hope is that some of us will be able to use these principles for effective personal ministry. Now I have pulled six of them out of the text that I just simply want to share with you. Peter was effective personally because he was involved, exalting Christ, available, powerful, fruitful and free from prejudice. These are basics to effective personal ministry.

First of all, he was involved, Acts 9:32, “Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda.” The rest of the apostles were out in Samaria and Judea moving around and preaching too. In fact, when Saul finally came to Jerusalem, according to Galatians 1, he said the only apostles he found there were James and Peter. The other ten were moving around preaching.

God keeps His richest ministries for His busiest saints. Have you ever noticed how that some Christians seem to get involved in a lot of things that God is doing? You know why? God uses people who are already working in the mainstream flow of what He is doing. And rich ministries always bear much fruit.

God uses His priority ministries for His people who put Him in the priority place. If you're faithful over little, He will make you lord over much. But you have to start where you are. Somebody says, Lord when I get done with this and that, I'm going to serve You. No, it is today that He wants you to get going, not someday in the future.

Lydda is an interesting town that is old and historic. In the Old Testament it was called Lod, and it is still called that today and if you have ever been to Israel, you have been there, because that is where the airport is. At that time it was an important city because it was right on the trade route from Egypt to Babylon going east. Now there were some saints there. Let me talk about that term ‘saint’ for a bit.

When the Catholic Church speaks of the saints, they speak with an entirely different vernacular and context than the Bible does. The word saints in the Bible simply refers to all Christians. There is not a hierarchy of super pious people or people canonized by God. The body is equal to anyone else because positionally, we are all perfect in Christ. Sainthood is a positional thing, not a conditional thing.

If ever there was a saint in the Catholic Church, it is Peter. Peter's sainthood is magnified and glorified beyond imagination. But let us see in Acts 10:25-26 what happened, “As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I myself am also a man.” Remember they wanted to make God's out of Paul and Peter and worship them. And Peter said no and Paul also says, don't do that.

So now let us look at Acts 9:33, “There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed.” And it was always very serious, especially when they had no treatments. And it was usually permanent and it was progressively deteriorating.

Here we see the first principle and that is involvement, he cares. The second one, he exalted Christ. Verse 34, “And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.” Then he arose immediately.” Notice first the word “arise”, even in the miracles of Jesus there was a response of faith demanded. Aeneas had to exercise his will in response to the statement of Peter.

Matthew 7:24 says, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Then the second thing that is interesting here is Peter said “make your bed.” Every time in the Bible you hear about healing where Jesus Christ is involved it is absolute, a complete healing, where he instantly is able to make up his bed.

All ministries that ever has true fruit always exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. At the moment that you begin to think that you can do it yourself, you have disqualified yourself from fruit and fruitfulness. Whatever is being done to His glory is being done by Him. Paul says in Ephesians 6:10, "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." There is no strength elsewhere.

Look at verse 35, “So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.” Now Sharon here is not the name of a girl. It is the name of a valley from Joppa north to the top of Mount Carmel, a long valley between the mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, a beautiful fertile valley. Notice at the end of verse 35, they all turned to the Lord because Peter exalted the Lord.

People exalt many things besides Jesus, but all those other things are just additions to your life. You have to recognize that you are a sinner, and reject everything you have lived for and turn around and go God's way. And yes, that's difficult. Jesus isn't a turn on, He is a turn around. If you want an effective personal ministry, just do two things, get involved in what God's doing already and live to lift up Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Jul 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160717 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/c07q02ni imblog Acts 9:20-31

In Acts 9 we have these three accounts of the conversion of the apostle Paul. There is no other conversion in Scripture that is described with so much detail. All his life was a battle. Before he encountered Christ on the Damascus Road, he was warring against Christ, against the gospel and the church. And after that, he was warring against Satan, and against lies, deception and false religion, and fighting to save sinners.

When Paul gave his testimony to the Roman leaders in Acts 26:9, he said, “I thought I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus,” and that is what he was doing. But Christ conquered him. The blasphemer Saul became the preacher Paul. The agent of hate became the prophet of love. That heart full of anger for the blood of Christians now desired that the blood of Christ renews every heart.

He was totally transformed from a volatile enemy of the gospel to become the greatest apostle of the New Testament, the most saintly and heroic person who has ever elevated the name of Jesus Christ. He is the greatest example of the power of the resurrection and gospel transformation. And we have been studying his life as we have been working our way through this chapter.

First we saw in the opening nine verses, that he had a new master, Jesus Christ. It’s an encounter with Christ which changed his soul. This changed his life and his eternal destiny. And immediately, he enters into a new realm, a new domain. And we see that in verses 10-12. In his blindness, Paul is left there for days and he is praying. The mark of true conversion is communion with God.

Then we saw that he not only had a new master and a new life, but he had a new mission. And Ananias came to him to tell him what the Lord had told him. Verse 15: “This man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the nations and kings and the sons of Israel.” He is called to be a missionary.

Verse 17, “And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” So Ananias after getting a message from the Lord, put his hands on him to symbolize solidarity and transfer to him what he’d heard from the Lord.

For his new mission to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles and to kings and to Israel, he must have new power. And that new power is the power of the Holy Spirit. He is filled with the Holy Spirit. And you remember in Acts 1:8 it says, “You will receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you.” The indwelling Holy Spirit empowers the believer.

And what did the Holy Spirit do with this man? God takes what is already there, the DNA and the experience, and God develops that into something that can be used for the kingdom: like leadership ability, willpower, self-discipline, motivation, persistence, convictions, boldness and strength. All of those things were already created in Paul, but the Lord refines these usable characteristics.

Secondly, God has to replace the unusable characteristics like hatred, animosity, bitterness and anger and He replaced them in Paul’s life with love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. Paul became a model of humility. And that’s what the Lord does in every born-again life. A new master causes you to have a new mission to serve Him for the rest of your life. And the power for that service is the Holy Spirit because that is what He does.

And we are to be filled with the Spirit. In Acts 9:17, Ananias told Paul, “to be filled with the Holy Spirit.” That’s how we are to live our lives, and it produces a submission to one another. It produces love in a marriage, submission between children and parents. So all of these things were true of Paul, and they are true of every believer.

On the Damascus Road, Paul saw Christ and after that Christ blinded him. Ananias declares that Paul saw the Lord. And later on, Barnabas shows up and Barnabas declares that Paul saw the Lord. So the fact that Paul saw the Lord is confirmed by three witnesses: Ananias, Barnabas and Paul himself. This was no figment of his imagination. He saw the Lord and he began to live his life controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Paul developed a keen sensitivity to sin under the leading of the Holy Spirit. He had a hunger for the truth of God, the revelation of God and the Word of God and he became an instrument through which that word came. He did nothing to grieve the Holy Spirit, nothing to quench the Holy Spirit, but everything to honor the Holy Spirit and move in the Spirit’s power. And he received a new family, a new fellowship with the saints.

Transformation results in a dramatic change in your relationships. All the people Saul hated became the people he loved. And all the people he formally associated with became his enemies. He was a hero to the Jewish leadership; he was a one-man campaign with their blessing and their manpower and their authority to stamp out Christianity. But after the Damascus Road experience, everything changed.

Acts 13:44-45 says, “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.” In Acts 14:19, “Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.”

In Acts 17:5 the same thing happens, “But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.” And in Acts 21:27 is written, “Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing Paul in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him,

Verse 28 while crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” Verse 30-32, “And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. 31 Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.”

These are the same Jewish people who considered him a hero before. The change in this man was dramatic, now he became their archenemy. All the people that Saul hated became the people he loved; and all the people that loved Saul became the ones who hated him the most. How is it possible that there is such a total transformation, such a 180 shift? Only by the power of God and a total transformation of a man’s soul.

Let us now continue in Acts 9:20, “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues that He is the Son of God.” He also had a new message and he presented that right away. Verse 21-22, “Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests? 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.”

This conversion is so radical that immediately Paul goes from persecuting Christians to preaching that Jesus is the Christ. And where does he go to do that? In the very synagogues that gave him the authority to capture and execute Christians. He is so motivated to speak about the Lord Jesus Christ, even though he is just a new convert. What does he know?

Well, this is a highly educated man who sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the most outstanding Jewish teacher at that time.

The very synagogues that had solicited his help to eradicate Christianity, were the places that he went. Paul’s courage is really incredible. It would have been much easier for him to begin somewhere else. But he goes right there because in Romans 1:16 he says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

And he is proving it. Now how do you prove to Jews that Jesus is the Son of God? There is only one place he can use, that is the Old Testament. Paul was an Old Testament scholar trained by elite Old Testament scholars. And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit illuminated all that he knew about the Old Testament, and it all pointed to Christ. He looked at Christ and he had his own Isaiah 53:5 experience, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.”

He probably did what Jesus did in Luke 24, went back to Moses, the prophets, and the Holy Writings and taught them everything about Jesus that he knew there. He perhaps declared that Jesus was the fulfillment of Psalm 22, that Jesus was in His resurrection the fulfillment of Psalm 16. And that Jesus was the final ultimate Lamb depicted in all the other animal sacrifices; that Jesus who would come and redeem His people.

Now it is good to give a testimony about what the Lord has done in your life. But you have to get to the facts of the gospel. Romans 10:14 says, “And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Verse 17, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Christianity is not a feeling; it’s not an experience. It is a historic fact.

History is the basis of all our Christian faith because it all really happened! Christianity and the gospel is not subjective, it’s objective. And you must prove that the gospel is true from Scripture. It is centered not in your life and not in mine and not in our experience. It is based on the saving acts of God recorded in Scripture, culminating in Christ, all historical acts that were accomplished outside our lives.

Verse 23, “Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him.” Do you know how long “many days” was? Paul says in Galatians 1:15-18, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him fifteen days.”

Paul spent three years in Damascus and in Arabia before going to Jerusalem. What was he doing in Arabia? He was receiving revelation from the Lord. That’s what he says in Galatians 1:11-12, “But I make known to you brothers that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” So after returning, the Jews plotted together to do away with him. Because he was going to be preaching again.

Verse 24, “But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him.” Everywhere Paul went he made enemies. Verse 25, “Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.” Ancient cities are surrounded by high wide walls, and in those walls were houses, and their windows were on the outside of the wall.

Verse 26, “And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.” They didn’t know what had gone on for three years. Verse 27, “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.”

So verse 28-29, “So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. 29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists.” He did that for two weeks. Because in Galatians 1:18, it says, “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him fifteen days.” And similar to Stephen he disputed with the Greek Jews about Jesus Christ.

Because of that they were attempting to put Paul to death. And so in verse 30, “When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.” They know how useful he is now, so they send him to his home. Acts 15:22, “Then it pleased the apostles and elders, to send chosen men of their own church to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas and Silas, leading men among the brothers.”

The next verse 23, “They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.” How did they get to Syria and Cilicia? Besides Tarsus Paul went there too. So he proclaimed the gospel to the Jews and also to the Gentiles.

Verse 31, “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” Because Paul, the persecutor was changed to an evangelist and the church increased. Peter takes over the story in the book of Acts now and Paul comes back later. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Jul 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160710 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/fsrh3882 imblog Acts 9:10-18

People talk a lot about transformation, becoming better than you are now, improving yourself. And what they really mean are some superficial options for transformation like new clothes, or cosmetic surgery, or diets, or relocation, or new friends, or cultivating a better self-image. But none of that is really capable of creating a new transformation. Only Christianity can result in a complete transformation.

Look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Christianity is about transformation, but people cannot change themselves. Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?” Jeremiah 2:22, “For though you wash yourself and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God.” Or Jeremiah 9:4-5, “Everyone does not trust any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant. And every neighbor will walk with slanderers. 5 Everyone will deceive his neighbor and will not speak the truth.”

We cannot change our sinful nature. We don’t even have the ability on our own to respond to divine force, divine discipline or divine punishment. Proverbs 27:22 says, “Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.” Nothing from this world that can change man.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Isaiah 1:5-6 says, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it.” Only God can totally transform a person on the inside and on the outside through the gospel. So let us look again at Acts 9.

The story of Saul should eliminate all questions about the sovereignty of God in salvation. Here is a classic illustration that God is the initiator of salvation, that God is the seeker, since no man seeks after God. Here is a man who lived for one purpose, and that was to uphold a false religion; and secondly to hurt, imprison and even kill people whom he saw as a threat to that religion.

Let us read his story in Acts 9:10-19, “Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”

“13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

“17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.”

This event is absolutely full of miracles. Not only was the appearance of Jesus on the Road to Damascus a miracle, but the word from the Lord to Ananias in a vision was a miracle; and another miracle vision was given to blind Saul introducing him to Ananias. This is a conversion unlike any other conversion. So something dramatic and miraculous had to happen if a new apostle was going to be added to the original ranks.

This man, from that day forward, is completely transformed. This Christ-hating killer is totally changed. Acts 9 gives us a picture of that transformation, and we see parallels here to our own experience of conversion. And while we don’t have a miraculous conversion with the Lord appearing in light from heaven and visions, it is still initiated by God. Your conversion, your salvation, was initiated by God from heaven.

Do you remember what Nicodemus says to Jesus in John 3:4-5, “How can a man be born when he is old?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” If you have been born again from above, that is a sovereign work of God. What happened to Paul after that work began also is an illustration of what happens in the life of every believer, without the outward miracles.

Saul knew what Christians preached, he knew the gospel. But he rejected it, until the Damascus Road expereince. Saul who had been persecuting the Lord Jesus, fell on his face before the Lord Jesus and said, “You are Lord.” He made a confession that Christ was everything that he had heard from these Christians and Stephen. He acknowledged Jesus as Lord; and as Lord, Jesus gave him a command. And that is exactly what he does; he obeys the command.

This is where the transformation of any life begins. It begins with an understanding of the gospel and a confession of Jesus as Lord. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation,” says 2 Corinthians 5:17. So if you are looking for a changed life from the inside out, a totally transformed life, there is only one place: you can look to Christ. In Christ only there is transformation.

The New Testament spells it out like this: The one who is dead in sins becomes alive to righteousness. The one who is ignorant of divine truth becomes wise in divine truth. The one who is insensitive to divine presence now tastes and sees that the Lord is good. The one who belonged to the kingdom of Satan now belongs to the kingdom of God’s Son. The one who is bound for hell is now bound for heaven. The one who hated God now loves God. The one who loved sin now hates sin.

Let us follow Paul’s response in verse 10, “There was a disciple at Damascus Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’” He says essentially what Paul said. Here the Lord gives to Ananias a vision of Paul, and gives to Paul a vision of Ananias. God miraculously is creating a basis in which these two men can meet. Remember, Saul is now still blind in the house of someone named Judas.

The second thing that happens when someone is transformed, is that they immediately enter into dependence and communion with God. Who is this Ananias? Well, he is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. He actually might be one of the main targets of Saul’s persecution campaign. In Acts 22:12 Paul says this about Ananias, “A man who was devout by the standard of the law, and well-spoken of by all the Jews who lived there.”

The Lord says in verse 11-12, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” This street in Damascus runs from the eastern gate to the western gate right through the middle of the city, and it’s about three miles long.

Do you know that praying is the first response to conversion? When a baby is born, a baby immediately breaths in air to live automatically. And prayer is like spiritual breathing. The first thing that happens when Saul meets the Lord Jesus Christ is that he now lives in the presence of God, and he learns to pray. Now he prays in blind, helpless dependency. The transformed life is the life that cries out to God.

Everything in his life has changed. Everything he once hoped in, everything he put his trust in, everything he worked for, all religious attainments, all spiritual accolades were useless now. He says in Philippians 3:8, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

And prayer is not a one-sided conversation, and Paul learns that fast, because Ananias is given a corresponding vision, and Paul is told that. He has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. So Ananias knows to go see Paul. Paul knows Ananias is coming, even though Paul is blind. This is an indication that God is in absolute and total control of the thoughts and minds of a man.

And then there is a third reality in salvation that has to do with the service that we are called to give. Look at verse 13-14, “Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” The idea of finding Saul seems crazy to Ananias because he has no idea about the Damascus Road encounter.

So God encourages Ananias with the fact that Saul is praying. And then the Lord says in verse 15, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.” First, you have nothing to fear because he is praying. Secondly, you have nothing to fear because I’m commanding you to go. Thirdly, you have nothing to fear because Paul is a chosen vessel of Mine to become a preacher of the very gospel he had persecuted.

Paul is chosen to preach the gospel before the Gentiles, and before kings and also to the children of Israel. He preached to Israel first, but he ended up as a missionary to the nations. And then finally he preached to kings. So Ananias do not be afraid, God says in verse 16, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Paul is not going to be the one persecuting others, instead he is going to be the one suffering. And Paul suffered a lot.

Look at 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.” And he ended his life as a martyr.

In Acts 22:14-16 where Paul is giving his testimony, Ananias said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Righteous One, and hear the voice of His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” So Ananias tells him exactly what God has in store for him.

This is Saul’s commission for ministry. The transformed life is a transformed vocation, as well as a transformed communion, as well as a transformed relationship. Service now becomes the priority of life, it becomes the reason we live. And we are empowered for that service by the Holy Spirit. And so that leads to the very next element in the conversion of Paul, which is also parallel to us.

Verse 17-18, “And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.”

There is now a new Lord, there is a new life, there is a new mission, there is a new power, and there is a new fellowship. Go back to verse 17 and look what Ananias said to Saul, “Ananias after laying his hands on him said, ‘Brother Saul.” Transformation creates a change in relationships. Ephesians 2:19, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s family.”

You have a new relationships with all other believers. 1 John 1:6-7 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” We are one body, one family and one fellowship.

What does baptism symbolize? Our burial and the death of Christ, and our resurrection to newness of life in Christ. But also, it symbolizes our union with all other believers. And they showed that by taking care of him, feeding him so he was strengthened. And Ananias baptized him. What an amazing thing. Paul now has a new family. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 03 Jul 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160703 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/122v0p80 imblog Acts 9:1–9

Beyond the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Paul has had the greatest influence on my life. He is the author of 13 of the New Testament books and the dominant figure for most of Acts, and the main player on the stage after our Lord ascends back into heaven. He is the inspired author of these New Testament books that shape all our theology and our understanding of the gospel.

His conversion is one of the great stories of human history. And as we come to Acts 9, we see what God did to a man named Saul, whose name was eventually changed to Paul. So great was that transformation that it needed to be reflected in his name. And so we are told in Acts 13:9, that his name was changed to Paul. His conversion was so important that it occupies much of the book of Acts. His conversion is repeated in Acts 22 as he gives his own testimony, and then repeated again in the Acts 26.

The conversion of Paul was pivotal to the future of the church, and it was fitting that because he was such a unique individual: by birth, a Jew; by conviction, a Pharisee; by citizenship, a Roman; by education, a Greek; and then by grace, a Christian. He became a missionary, a theologian, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, a preacher, a leader, a thinker, a statesman, a fighter, and a lover, all at the same time.

We met him back in Acts 7:58, when Stephen had preached a wonderful sermon, going through the history of the Old Testament and culminating in the arrival of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Jews had betrayed and murdered. They rushed Stephen to stone him to death; and before casting the stones, verse 58 says, “They laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” And Acts 8:1 begins, “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.”

Here is some information about Saul. His home was in Tarsus, right on the Syrian border. Today, it would be on the border between Syria and Turkey. Tarsus was distinguished for its higher education, having one of the three great universities in the ancient world. The others were in Athens and in Alexandria in Egypt. And its crowded wharfs were on the Sidonis River which made it a bustling cosmopolitan city.

Saul’s father was a Roman citizen, but a Jew who passed on the assets of Judaism and Roman citizenship to his son. Saul was so very Jewish that he says in Philippians 3:5-6, these words: “I was circumcised on the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, which means completely devoted to the law, a Pharisee.” “As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to the righteousness, which is in the law, found blameless.” He was a devout Jew.

Every young Jewish boy had to learn a trade, and young Saul was taught to weave cloth out of black goat’s hair and fashion it into strips that could be sewn together to make tents. At about 13, when a Jewish boy would become officially a son of the law, it is very likely that Saul was sent off to Jerusalem. Because his family wanted him to study Judaism at the highest level under a well-known teacher named Gamaliel.

So Saul became an expert in Judaism, and in the Old Testament. And by the time of Stephen, Paul is in Jerusalem. And we know that he was highly agitated and angry because he is also a Hellenistic Jew from outside Israel like Stephen. And this man has been circulating among the Hellenistic synagogues in Jerusalem and preaching Jesus Christ. And Stephen is able to gather together a large number of Hellenistic Jews to come to hear about Christ.

And these new believers in Jesus are saying that He died to pay the penalty of our sins, and He rose from the dead to provide salvation; so they are preaching a risen Christ. The church is expanding and exploding by thousands of new people and Saul is furious. He may have tried to argue with them in synagogues, but he certainly silenced Stephen, not with an argument, but with an execution. He then rose to become the leader of the movement to stamp out Christianity.

Years later, he said in Acts 26:9-11, “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”

After clearing Jerusalem of those he believed to be heretics, Saul himself decided that he would go after them. He heard that a group of them had gone to Damascus and he received permission from the religious leaders to go to Damascus. Now read Acts 9:1-2, “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

“Breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” means that Saul lived to arrest and kill Christians. And this led to a trip to Damascus, a journey which changed the world. The high priest, as president of the Sanhedrin, was the head of the Jewish state so far as its internal affairs were concerned, and he acted as the one who had absolute authority to give to Saul. With that authority, he takes off for Damascus.

Damascus in ancient times was called, “a handful of pearls and a goblet of emeralds.” Because it was a lovely white city in a green area of plains and trees. Asians used to call Damascus “the paradise on earth.” There was a large Jewish community there, right in the corner of the Mediterranean, where Syria meets Turkey today. And it is estimated by historians that there were tens of thousands of Jews there in 66 A.D and 20,000 of them were massacred.

Paul knew there were Christians in Damascus. In verse 2 they are identified as “belonging to the Way, both men and women.” That is most likely a sarcastic designation because the Christian believed that Jesus Christ was the only way to God. Remember our Lord’s words in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” Anybody who was associated with Jesus was for Paul a sign of the enemy and he would make them prisoners.

From Jerusalem to Damascus, you just basically go north. Historians tell us it took about six days for that kind of trip. And then verse 3-6, “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Verse 7-9, “The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” What happened? He just met the Lord Jesus Christ, and then came his momentous conversion.

Let us consider four simple events. First, a divine contact, then divine conviction, divine conversion and finally divine communion. The divine contact comes in verse 3 where Saul suddenly saw a light from heaven. Here is another illustration that the Holy Spirit was making everything happen according to the will of God. This again, is how salvation happens. This is a direct sovereign act of God on Saul. Now not all saved people have this kind of experience.

God usually calls in a still, small voice, but in the case of Saul, He called with a blazing appearance. Now verse 3 here is very cryptic. But there is a lot more detail in Acts 22 and 26 where Paul gives his testimony when he is called into court. Those chapters tell us it was about noon, directly under a bright sun. But there was something extraordinary because we read there that the light of God was much brighter than the sun.

The whole group then collapses to the ground in sheer terror. Acts 22:9 says, “Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.” This is similar to John 12:29, “The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” God spoke there to Christ, and the people heard the sound, but couldn’t understand it.

And in their lack of understanding, they experience something very different from Paul. Verse 7, “The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.” But look what happened to Paul. Look at verse 17, “So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Paul saw the Lord Jesus. Well, what does that mean? In 1 Corinthians 15:8, he says, “Last of all, as to one untimely born, Jesus appeared also to me.” He saw the glorified Christ coming out of the middle of this blazing light. This is a glorious sequel to Stephen when he saw heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And Stephen’s prayer is answered when he said in Acts 7:60, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

And then we see in verse 4, the divine conviction. In bringing a person to salvation, there is an initial contact initiated by God, and then there is the conviction of sin. And verse 4 says, “And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He doesn’t know what hit him, obviously. In Luke’s writings, the repetition of a name like this implies a rebuke or a warning: “Martha, Martha.” “Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” “Simon, Simon.” Here, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?

Why does Jesus say that? Jesus wasn’t even on earth, He was back in heaven. But our Lord teaches this significant reality to us, that to persecute any of His people is to persecute Him, because He is inseparable from His people. He is bound together with all the members of His body so that every stroke which is directed against us is a blow that falls on Him. Persecuting us is persecuting Him.

Later on in his life, Paul would say in Colossians 1:24, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Saul learned the great truth that he soon taught and lived, that every member of the body of Christ is one with Christ, the glorious head of the body. That’s how identified we are with Him. Isaiah 53:4, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”

There are many sins in the world, but the most terrible sin is rejecting Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 16:22, “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.” That is the unpardonable sin and the unforgivable crime. And Saul is literally smashed with that indictment: “You are persecuting the Son of God.” Now that leads to the divine conversion in verse 5, “And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Saul knew very well the Christian gospel. But it was because he thought it was blasphemy that he was killing these people. He knew they were proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, this man as the Son of God. This man is God’s chosen sacrifice for sin. This man rose from the dead. And Saul did not forget the words of Stephen that they had killed the Righteous One, a Messianic title, and that Stephen saw Him, the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God in heaven.”

And now Saul knows that Jesus is alive. He is the Messiah. He is the One who was standing at God’s right hand. Saul’s heart was broken, he is lying beneath the conquering Christ needing mercy. His heart is full of repentance and sorrow, but at the same time it is healed in faith. His conversion was shocking and sudden. All his doubts were erased and Saul knew the truth immediately.

The battle was over. It had been a difficult battle for Saul. He had been kicking against the goads. What does that mean? A goad was like a nail which was used to pierce and stab an ox to keep him moving. It means to inflict pain on yourself by continuing to do what you do. You can’t fight God, and not experience pain. So all of this is just to describe the feelings of Saul in this amazing encounter.

Proof of that conversion comes really fast. How do we know he was converted there? In his testimony in Acts 22:10 Saul answered and said, ‘What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’” The first response of a true conversion is submission and confessing Him as Lord. Saul had a new master: “Master, Lord, what do you want me to do?”

Acts 9:7-9, “The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” He is broken, devastated, submissive and obedient. This are signs of salvation.

And there’s one final component: the divine communion. What did he do for three days? Saul communed with his new Master. The last thing he had seen before he went blind was the blazing presence of the glory of Jesus. Great guilt weighed him down. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, all that he had considered precious became rubbish. Salvation was sudden, but its depth are experienced slowly. He is now confused, helpless and without friends. He has friends who are now enemies, and enemies who don’t know they are to be friends. For three days, he communed with his Lord.

This is a magnificent picture of salvation in all its beauty and glory. It is sudden, it is explosive, it is a miracle in the blink of an eye. And it embodies that sovereign work, that conviction of rejecting Christ as the great sin, that conversion of submitting while saying, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” And then that contemplation and communion that thinks deeply about this miracle. Well, that’s only the beginning. Much more to come about even this encounter can we learn later. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Jun 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160626 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/k9hr36o6 imblog Acts 8:25–40

We are in Acts 8 comparing a faith that does not save and a faith that saves. Last week, we looked at a faith that does not save, as illustrated by Simon the magician. This week, we look at a faith that does save, as illustrated by the Ethiopian eunuch. In both cases, Philip is the key instrument of God in this narrative.

Philip the deacon, not Philip the apostle, is a non-Israeli Jew from the Greek world who was part of the church in Jerusalem. He was brought to Christ along with many thousands of others in the early church. And he was one of those noble men who were chosen to provide service and leadership to the church. He was a powerful and Spirit-filled man, a gifted preacher and the Lord performed many miracles through him, how amazing!

We will see his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8: 25. But before we look into that, I would like to describe what is happening to the church. The Holy Spirit is pushing over major barriers. The church began in Jerusalem with those Jews that were gathered there. There was an initial barrier against the Greek-speaking Jews, the non-Israeli Jews. But that barrier was quickly overrun because many of them were actually there on the Day of Pentecost; and there were 3,000 who believed.

And then there was the next big barrier, which was Samaria. That barrier meant nothing as Philip and the Christians scattered out of Jerusalem by the persecution of Paul, and began to spill over into Judea and across the border to the north into Samaria; and everywhere they went they were preaching the good news, the Word. So as a result of the persecution, the barriers to preaching the gospel in Samaria collapsed.

So the next thing to be reached is the uttermost part of the earth. So starting in Acts 8: 25, we have the first Gentile conversion. This is an individual from Ethiopia, a foreigner, an alien. The Jewish people had such disdain for the Samaritans that they did not want to deal with them at all. But at least Samaritans had a distant traditional and racial link. However the Ethiopians, representing the Gentiles, had no connection at all.

In Acts 8, we see Philip as the instrument of God confronting, first of all, Simon in Samaria, and demonstrating what a false faith looks like. And now we find Philip confronting an Ethiopian eunuch and showing us what a true faith really is. Acts 8: 25, “Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.”

Remember that the Holy Spirit had not come yet, even though many people had believed under the preaching of Philip, until Peter and John arrived. So the Jews would know that the same Holy Spirit fell upon the Samaritans that had fallen upon them on the Day of Pentecost. And there was repetition of the same phenomena and the presence of the same apostles who had been there at Pentecost to make sure everybody knew the Jews and Samaritans had to be together in the one church.

With the arrival now of the Holy Spirit, things really begin to happen. Philip is about to encounter an Ethiopian eunuch and this is the first time the church expands into the uttermost part of the earth. Israel, as a nation, had always been called to be God’s missionary people. But they vacillated between a Jonah attitude of isolation and animosity toward the nations around them. But the one thing they wouldn’t do was to evangelize the nations, which was what they had been called to do.

So the goal of God to reach the world through Israel hits a stalemate, and God through the church, creates a fresh channel with new people, while setting Israel aside; and they are still set aside even to this very hour. And they are not taking the gospel to the world until you get to the time of the tribulation when God saves 12,000 out of each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Then you have 144,000 Jewish missionaries bringing the gospel to the world, finally fulfilling what they were originally called to do.

But it now begins to unfold on a desert road initially with one person. The kingdom of God advances one at a time. First there is the preparation in this encounter, and then there is the presentation, and then there is the personal response, and that is a simple universal sequence of any gospel encounter. As we look at those three portions, we are going to see the components of a faith that saves.

Look first at the preparation in Acts 8:26-29, “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”

Now that shows us that this is a well-designed and prepared encounter by the Holy Spirit. So the preparation for true salvation begins with the sovereign work of the Spirit. Salvation is God’s work, not man’s work. It is initiated by God. It is a reflection of His will; because no man seeks after God. The natural man is dead in trespasses and sin, ignorant, helpless and disinterested.

But by the purpose and the power of God, the light of the gospel begins to shine into the darkness and it shatters that natural blindness, and it shatters that second blindness, that is satanic blindness, the blindness that the god of this world imposes on sinners. Remember Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, when He said, “You must be born of the Spirit.” In other words, you must be born from above.

God is the one who chooses, God is the one who calls and God is the one who spiritually activates the human heart. We don’t help God in making a decision about this. Dead men in sin are unable to do anything. In John 6:44, Jesus said, “No man comes to Me unless the Father draws him.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “The preaching of the cross is to those that perish, foolishness.” The total incapacity of the unsaved to see, to understand, to receive and to believe, has to be overcome by the Holy Spirit.

And we know this is happening because an angel of the Lord speaks to Philip and tells him to go directly to this individual who is a court official of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, for the sake of the gospel. Here, we have an illustration. And it is graphically laid out for us; whereas most of the time in our lives, we have no idea that that is going on. This is all prepared by the Holy Spirit using an angelic messenger.

Where did this happen? On the road to Gaza, a city of the Philistines given by Joshua to Judah. In 96 BC it was totally destroyed and a new city was built a few miles away, but the road to Egypt still ran through an old fortress in ruins. So it really was a desert road that was much traveled. So the Spirit commands Philip to go on that road and he is obedient. Verse 27, “He got up and went.”

And there was, providentially, the Ethiopian court official of Candace, the Queen who was in charge of all her treasure, as he had come to Jerusalem to worship. God already had chosen this individual man. God had written his name in the Book of Life, from before the foundation of the world, so that the conversion of this eunuch was in the plan of God from eternity past, as is true of everyone who is saved.

But how are they going to know unless there is a preacher? Somebody has to go and preach because Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” So there has to be, secondly, the submissive will of a servant. The Lord has chosen to do His work through human instruments. It was Peter on the Day of Pentecost, in Acts 2, who preached the gospel and 3,000 people were saved. Again, the gospel is preached in Acts 4 and 5,000 are saved. And then the gospel continues to be preached by Stephen.

Philip got up and went even though it didn’t appear sensible or logical. And he ran into the Ethiopian court official as he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. And if you want to know how eager Philip was to do what he had been called to do, check out verse 30, “So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And then there is a third element, which is the searching of the sinner. Now we come to the individual. There is not going to be any real salvation take place unless the sinner is searching for that. We cannot give the gospel to people who are not interested in it or think it is foolishness. Notice in verse 27, this Ethiopian eunuch is reading Isaiah.

This man had been castrated to serve in a harem. But this man is not just another eunuch among many, he is the Chief Financial Officer of Ethiopia – trusted, respected and honored. God clearly forbids castration in Deuteronomy 23:1 because it is maiming the image of God and it was also paganism. Now he has come to Jerusalem to worship more than a thousand miles. He has been searching. Somewhere he has heard about the God of Israel and surely some Jews must have migrated into that area.

In true salvation there has to be a genuine hunger for the truth. Remember in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are they that seek Him with the whole heart.” Or Jeremiah 29:13, “And you shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with all your heart.” At this point, for those who are searching, it is time for the Word of God.

And he is not just reading anywhere in the prophet Isaiah, he happens to be reading Isaiah 53:32. This is the most important chapter in Isaiah, and it is the presentation of the gospel. He is reading the very best passage you could be reading. So Philip said in verse 30, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Verse 31, “And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”

Verse 32-34, “Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”

Verse 35, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” Simon wanted to have power, this man just desperately wanted the truth. John 16:13 says, “The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.” The passage he was reading describes the substitutionary atonement of Christ as He was led as the sacrificial Lamb of God to slaughter, silent, humiliated, his life removed from the earth. It is a prophecy of the death of the Messiah.

Philip is truly an evangelist because here in a divinely orchestrated encounter explained to him Jesus, starting at Isaiah 53. When our Lord in John 15:27 was talking to the disciples Jesus says, “When the Spirit comes, He will testify to you about Me.” Philip was filled with the Holy Spirit in explaining that. This is just like what Jesus did on the Emmaus road to the two disciples where He took them back to the Old Testament and explained all the things concerning Himself.

Philip even taught him baptism. Look at verse 36, “And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” There had to be a pool of water in that area of the desert. Why is that significant? Because baptism signifies union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. This demonstrates that the issue was salvation.

How important is baptism? God allowed for this providential encounter in a place where there is no water except there in that place. That ought to give us a clue. God providentially orders the process of salvation, and He makes sure there is water. The eunuch has faith and obedience. Nothing is hindering him. “Is there anything that prevents me?” Go to verse 38, “And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”

This is the first official baptism of somebody from the “uttermost part of the earth”. Now a comment about verse 37. That verse does not appear in any of the ancient manuscripts, so it was added later. Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” He answered, “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” This is the proof of a genuine faith.

Verse 39, “And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.” Wow, what is that? That’s a miracle, you can read about a similar thing with Elijah and you can read about it with Ezekiel. Philip disappeared. Well, what about follow-up for the eunuch? Where there is faith, there is obedience and there is joy.

So Philip gets snatched away – he is a time traveler! Verse 40, “But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.” Azotus is a New Testament title for the town of Ashdod which was the Philistine city where they took the ark a long time ago. Ashdod is about 20 miles north of Gaza where this happened.

Irenaeus, the early Church Father says the eunuch became a missionary. And there are some sections of Africa in which historically, groups of Christians claim this eunuch as the founder of their church. That’s tradition maybe. But, perhaps, the tradition grew because of a real influence from this man’s life. What about you, are you influenced by this? My hope is that several of you become like Philip. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Jun 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160619 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/gjgba48f imblog Acts 8:9–24

Let us now look in Acts 8 again at a man named Simon, not Simon Peter. This Simon lived in Samaria, and here Simon illustrates for us a faith that does not save. After we have studied Simon, we are then going to look at a man from Ethiopia. And when we see that man from Ethiopia, we will see a faith that does save. So let us learn from the contrast between the nature and character of saving faith and that of a false faith.

Acts 8:9-24, “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

“13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money,”

“19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

This is important in the history of the church because Acts 8 begins with the great persecution of the early church led by a man named Saul who supported the murder of Stephen. And beginning on the day that Stephen was murdered, Saul began to persecute believers from the church in Jerusalem. It caused them to flee and to be scattered throughout Judea and Samaria; while the apostles remained in the city.

Acts 8:4 says, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the Word.” While the apostles stayed in Jerusalem and continued to preach the Word in Jerusalem. This was the Holy Spirit using persecution to fulfill the promise of Acts 1:8 where our Lord said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Persecution was the catalyst, and it went from Jerusalem, through Judea, and into the next area, Samaria. Evangelization in Samaria becomes the bridge to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles will actually be reached in Acts 10. Persecution led to preaching, and preaching led to productivity, meaning fruitful ministry in Jerusalem, in Judea, and beyond.

Philip, the deacon, now becomes the key character. As Stephen dominated Acts 7, Philip dominates Acts 8. It is Philip who encounters Simon the magician. It is Philip who encounters the Ethiopian. It is Philip then who confronts the reality of false faith as well as the reality of true faith. These two stories are vital for us, in particular to show the difference between a non-saving faith and a saving faith.

And based on what you read, Simon looked like a true believer. We read that he believed in verse 13. We read that he was baptized and that he continued. And you might say that someone who believes and is obedient to baptism and continues to follow fits all qualifications of a true believer. He looked good on the surface. Even Philip himself was convinced.

Philip didn’t really discern that he was not a true believer. This only became apparent when the apostles Peter and John showed up – and we’ll look at that in just a moment. Jesus taught in Matthew 13 that there would be people who would respond initially, but would have no depth, and they would eventually quit because of not wanting to suffer tribulation, or because of their love of the world and riches was too great. Jesus also said that it would be hard to tell them apart.

Simon, with all that looked good, but lost out on salvation. And as we look at his life and see the narrative through Luke, we can see four characteristics of false faith in Simon. He had the wrong view of self, he had the wrong view of salvation, he had the wrong view of the Holy Spirit, and he had the wrong view of sin. He was egotistical, he viewed salvation as external, he viewed the Holy Spirit as economical, and he viewed sin as something you can evade; and all these are wrong views.

Acts 8:9, “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.” He was a magician in the Greek language. You remember the magi, the wise men who came to visit the Christ? They were magicians also. That’s what the magi means. They were priests who didn’t know God, and who were superstitious and had their magical arts. Simon thought he was someone great.

Many people practiced magical arts of different kinds: astrologers, soothsayers and sorcerers, pagans who dealt in incantations, charms, divinations and horoscopes. They could do some amazing things, as many magicians can today, by deception, slight of hand and aided by demonic power. The Samaritan people were generally superstitious. They mixed some parts of the Old Testament with superstition and magic. So here we meet the first false teacher who propagates what later became known as gnostic ideas.

Gnosticism didn’t really come into being until much later than this. But the seeds of Gnosticism are already in the New Testament. What is Gnosticism? It’s from the Greek word gnosis which means people who have the secret knowledge; people who feel that they have ascended beyond the masses. The Gnostics were those who claim they are the only ones who had access to the divine secrets.

Notice verse 10, “They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” Simon taught, along with the practice of magic, that sort of pseudo philosophy which we find later in Gnosticism, that he was an elevated being. The Samaritans were convinced by Simon that he was the Great Power of God, almost a sort of god in human form.

Do you know that this is precisely how the Mormons see Jesus? According to them Jesus is not God, He is an emanation from God. He is a great power of God, elevated above man, but below God. The Mormons also believe that Satan is the same. He is the spirit brother of Jesus, who is also a created emanation. Satan used this man Simon to counterfeit divine power and hold the people captive. That’s the business Satan is in.

So first, we see that there is a barrier between Simon and salvation and that is pride. Now he was not unusual in the ancient world. There were astrologers and magicians everywhere. They made a comfortable living with their trickery and their demonic power. Many of them were conscious frauds, convinced that the reality was just a show, and very adept at pulling it off. But pride is a real hindrance to anyone in coming to Christ. It robs the heart of the possibility of genuine brokenness, repentance, humility, which is necessary for salvation.

He had no fear of judgment. He had no sense of his own wretchedness, his own sinfulness. For the Jews, their mask was only the honor of God and this caused the killing of the Son of God. For the Pharisees, their mask was purity of life, when in reality they were vile and filthy inside. Pride is the deadly sin that cost king Hezekiah his kingdom and it cost Peter almost his life. Pride was in the fallen angel’s hearts and it cost them heaven.

Proverbs 8:13, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance and the evil way do I hate.” Proverbs 16:5, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.” Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction.” Proverbs 21:4, “A high look and a proud heart are sin.” And so the sum of it is in James 4:6, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.”

Justin Martyr, one of the early church fathers says, “Simon was honored. He was so famous that he had a statue in Rome, where there was an inscription that read, ‘Semoni Sanco deo.’ which means, “To Simon, Holy God.” But, his birthplace was in the land of Samaria, where he lived all his life, and where he had kept the people long under satanic bondage.” Here Simon illustrates the fact that God hates pride.

Secondly, Simon believed that salvation was external. Verse 12-13, “But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.”

As this happens, Simon’s hold on people begins to dwindle and because of that he falls in line. Even Simon believes and is baptized, and he continues on with Philip. Why? Because he’s watching the signs and miracles taking place and he is absolutely amazed. He is attracted to the miracle power. That’s his business; that’s what he’s into. Instead of being humble, his pride causes him to follow because he wants in on that power.

Any false miracle worker knows the difference between what he does and what is real. Simon knew the difference between demonic deception, which he was very accomplished at, and a Godly miracle. He was impressed with the real power as opposed to his counterfeit power. And he wanted to mix his power with that power and elevate himself even more. He saw this miracle power as a commodity to be added to his arsenal, so he decided to join the movement.

And this is a satanic approach because Satan always wants to join the church. Satan always wants to talk and act like a believer, a Christian or a true preacher. So in Simon, we see the first example of one who, having been baptized in the name of Christ, enters into the church with the sole purpose of corrupting the faith he professed.

Ludwig Ott, the Roman Catholic theologian, says this, “Baptism confers the grace of salvation.” Another quote from Ludwig, “Even if it be unworthily received, valid baptism imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark.” And a final quote: “Baptism by water is necessary for all men, without exception, for salvation.”

Here Simon believed and Simon was baptized. Yet he was never saved; he received no grace. He saw salvation as an external thing. “I’ll do the ceremony. I’ll be baptized.” He thought that by being baptized, he would be in and now he could tap into the power. And that means, thirdly, that he had the wrong view of the Holy Spirit. He had an economic view of the Spirit.

Verse 14-17, “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 for He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

Now this is important. We see in verse 14, that the apostle heard the news about the marvelous response to Philip’s preaching in Samaria. Peter and John were sent to inspect whether this was true. They were going to go see if this evangelization of these Samaritans was genuine. Peter and John came to look at the harvest; to give the sanction of the apostles on what was going on and, thirdly, to confer the Holy Spirit. Verse 15 says, “that they might receive the Holy Spirit.”

“Why is it that when they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit does not come immediately? Well it is important to know that the book of Acts is a historical time for transition. The Samaritans did not receive the Holy Spirit at the very instant they believed because the Jews needed apostolic testimony and evidence that they were to be included in the one church. Why? Because the Jews hated the Samaritans.

For 500 years, the Samaritans had worshipped in Mount Gerizim on their own. The Jews in the south and the Samaritans in the north each claimed in their own way to be God’s chosen people; there was intense rivalry between them. Jews didn’t even go through Samaria. It would have been very difficult for the Jews in Jerusalem and in Judea, who believed in Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit, to believe that the Samaritans were included in the one church, and baptized into the one body, as 1 Corinthians 12 says.

Remember that Philip was a Hellenistic Jew, and the rest of the people were Samaritans. They needed the most trustworthy Jews there to witness to this unity; Peter and John, so that everybody knows that the Holy Spirit came in the same way on the Samaritans that He did on the Jews at the Day of Pentecost. And that’s exactly what happened. Verse 17 says, “Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

And Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands. How did Simon know that since the Holy Spirit is invisible? Look at Acts 10: 44-46 when the gospel reaches the Gentiles, “While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.”

In Acts 11:15-17 Peter is giving his testimony about what happened when he went to Joppa, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”

Why were they so amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also? The Jews thought that they only were God’s chosen people, so God had to repeat the coming of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the apostles, not only to the Samaritans, but also when it happened to the Gentiles in Acts 19:2-6. So the Holy Spirit comes when the apostles arrive in order that everyone will know that they all have the same salvation.

Acts 8:18, “Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money.” Simon wanted to buy the true Holy Spirit. Today false teachers are trying to sell false spirits too. But Isaiah 55:1 states, that where the invitation has come, it comes without price, without cost and without money.

Verse 19-21, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.” Philip didn’t see that at first but Peter saw its sinfulness, you are not a Christian because your heart is not right. You can’t buy the Holy Spirit.

Verse 22-24, “Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

What was in his heart? I don’t know. There’s no confession; there’s no asking for forgiveness; there’s no repentance, nothing but a kind of scornful comment. Here is a man who starts out looking good, but ends up horrible because he had the wrong view of everything. Let us pray so that we also do not fall in that same trap, Amen?

]]> Sun, 12 Jun 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160612 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/8w39n12k imblog Acts 8:1-8

It was January 8th in 1956, when five missionaries were massacred in Ecuador by a tribe known as the Auca Indians. It was maybe one of the greatest tragedies in missionary history in this Era. Persecution occurs in many places in the world, and there were very dangerous mission fields. But this was tragic as these martyrs because were all so skilled and trained, and so profoundly dedicated to the Lord with tremendous potential.

And through their death, a missionary movement exploded, starting really with their wives, and then their friends. Eventually the entire tribe of Auca Indians was evangelized with the gospel and a church was planted there. That church grew and flourished across tribal areas. It was a powerful church movement. One of their killers came to the US to give a testimony of his faith in Christ to churches here.

Most Christians have heard about the story of the five missionary martyrs in Ecuador. It illustrates that the darkest moment for the church may really be an explosion of church growth and development. What happened among those Auca Indians in the establishment of a church and several generations of believers is one of the great missionary stories of God starting a church in what appears to be a backdoor way.

But that is precisely how the original church grew. Look at the book of Acts 8. The purpose of God was that the early church would be planted in Jerusalem, and then it would go to Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the world. That was essentially the Great Commission of Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The death of Stephen is the trigger that launches the persecution of Christians. That’s where we pick it up tonight in Acts 8:1, “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Verse 3, “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

Persecution has always been a reality against the true church. The true gospel and the true Lord are hated by Satan, the ruler of this world system, and all men who don’t belong to Christ are a part of that system. They are of their father, the Devil. In fact our Lord says this in John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

John 16:2-4, “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” Persecution of Christians is global. It is the reality wherever the gospel has been proclaimed.

And now persecution of Christians is escalating. Mostly today we might think at the hands of Muslims. We read about that all the time in the news on the internet. And by the way, they are doing that because they think they are pleasing God, the very same confused motive that the Jews in the book of Acts who persecuted the Christians had as well. But persecution is coming not only from Islam but from other false religions.

In many countries devotees of immorality persecute the church. Devotees of homosexuality persecute the church. Those who are advocates of godless freedom to sin hate biblical Christianity. They hate those who hold to Scripture. This persecution comes from individuals, from groups and from governments. Even our own government is engaged in persecuting Christians who do not condone certain immoral behaviors.

Biblical truth has become very unpopular. Unbelievers now have defined morality in their own terms, and anything that speaks against that is to be rejected - and that, of course, means the Bible. The satanic kingdom is exercising now freedoms in America and that it once didn’t have. Time will tell what they will do to the church, what they will do to believers, what the price will be that we will pay. But it is to be expected.

It’s like trying to stamp out a fire, and in the stamping you just send them into the air and they start a ring of fire wherever they land. The persecution of the Christians in this ravaging effort led by Saul only causes the gospel to fulfill its intended purpose: “You will be witness in Jerusalem, and then Judea, then Samaria, then the world.” And that’s exactly what happens.

Persecution had driven the missionary effort in Jerusalem. And here we have the first mission effort about to begin to get out of Jerusalem, and go to Judea, which is the area in which Jerusalem exists; and then to the area north, which used to be the northern kingdom, the area of Samaria. It also launches the greatest missionary in Scripture by a man named Saul who was notably influenced by Stephen.

The leaders of Israel wanted to stamp out the church, but instead they just spread the gospel everywhere. Saul wanted to stamp out the church; but he just spread it. Acts 8 is a critical turning point in the early history of the church. The gospel is now going to go to Judea, it’s going to go to Samaria; and before Acts 8 is over, it will touch a man from Ethiopia.

Now let’s look at three points in sequence - persecution, preaching, and productivity. Ferocious persecution is led by a man named Saul. Acts 7:57-58 says, “But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

Paul gives testimony to that in Acts 22 when he says in verse 20, “And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.” This young Pharisee wanted to slaughter the church, and he launched the effort against Stephen. That’s why they laid their coats at his feet. It’s a symbol of authority.

What is interesting about that is that Paul himself, after his conversion, suffers a whole lifetime of treatment very much like Stephen. In fact, at the point of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9:16, the Lord says to Ananias, “For I will show Paul how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” What was done to Stephen really was also done to Paul.

The Jews rejected Stephen’s preaching and teaching; so they did with Saul. Stephen was accused of blasphemy; so was Paul. Stephen was accused of speaking against Moses, speaking against the Holy Place, speaking against the law; so was Paul. They rushed on Stephen with one accord and seized him; they did the same to Paul. Stephen was dragged out of the city; so was Paul. Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin; so was Paul. Stephen was stoned; so was Paul.

Stephen passes off the scene in short order, but we have a long history of Saul, who became Paul. Only God’s grace could transform the blood-thirsty Saul into a blood-washed Paul. And when Paul identifies himself as a murderer in this epistle, that all started with Stephen. The death of Stephen sets off the full persecution, and Saul is the leader, and all the people are scattered.

There’s a note at the end of verse 1, “except the apostles.” They are like faithful watchmen and they remain at their post to strengthen the souls of those disciples who were unable to flee and stay in the city. There is still a church there. There are other souls to come into the kingdom in the city of Jerusalem. There are others to be won by the gospel, and they are to shepherd that church.

Eventually the apostles go, but not yet, not in the early days of the church when they need to care for the congregation. And then verse 2 says, “Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.” That’s an important statement. Devout men, not necessarily Christians. Devout men simply meant pious Jewish people who came to Jerusalem whenever the feast was to be held. They were dutiful, traditional Jews.

These men are saddened by this behavior. Perhaps, they are men who later come to faith in Christ. This is to remind us that though the Christ-hating, murderous leaders of Israel had the stage in these scenes, there were others who did not agree. There were people with some sense of right and wrong, with some devotion to God and they show their sadness by making loud lamentation over him.

The Jewish law also commanded that the body of an executed person be buried, and that no public weeping is allowed. These men defied that tradition and they made loud lamentation over him. They were not going to join the evil of this action even though they were not believers and maybe they are open to the gospel.

So Stephen comes and goes, but Saul comes and stays. He becomes the prime mover, first of all, in the persecution. Verse 3, “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” Paul in Acts 22:3-4 said, “I am a Jew born at Tarsus, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our Father, zealous for God. 4 I persecuted the Way, meaning Christianity, to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons.”

This persecution led to the second word “preaching.” Verse 4, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” It is talking about a missionary effort. They didn’t hide in hills, they didn’t retreat to some isolated place in the desert; no, they went everywhere preaching the Word. Everyone was a preacher. Persecution promotes the very thing which it means to destroy.

Persecution disconnects the church from its comfort and sends it out in dependence of Him. It is right and proper for all of us to be preaching the gospel. Luke illustrates with just the story of Philip. Philip was chosen to be a deacon. This isn’t Philip the apostle, this is Philip the deacon. In Acts 21:8 he is called, “Philip the evangelist.” Why? Because he went everywhere preaching the Word. This is an example of being faithful over little, and becoming lord over much.

Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom when the kingdom split after Solomon. The Jews, John 4:9 says, had no dealings with Samaritans. In the year 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom and the capital Samaria. They brought in invaders and strangers, pagans of various sorts, and the Jews that were left intermarried with them and produced this hybrid group of heretics.

But Philip, as a Jew, has none of that. He knows the gospel is to go to the ends of the earth, and so he preached. Verse 5, “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.” Why would he preach the Messiah to them?” Because they believed in the coming of the Messiah. Remember to whom did the Lord Jesus reveal His messiahship first? A Samaritan woman by a well.

Verse 6, “And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did.” The powers to do miracles extended from the apostles to this first generation of deacon evangelists. Philip does things that the apostles did, verse 7, “For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.”

That is what demons do when they are confronted by the power of Christ. Why was Philip given the power to do this? To authenticate the message. There was no New Testament yet at that time. How do you sort a true teacher from a false one? False teachers were everywhere. By seeing their power over demons, power over disease, and power over deformity. This is stunning, this is powerful, and they are fascinated.

There’s a third word in Acts 8: 8, “So there was much joy in that city.” This is just the story of one of the scattered believers. Stephen dies; Saul launches a massive persecution. Instead of killing the church, it spreads the church. One testimony of one man by the name of Philip and an entire city begins to rejoice.

What does that tell us? The first fruit of salvation is joy. When people believe the gospel and are saved, they experience incredible joy. Isaiah 61:10-11, “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will exalt in my God, for He has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. I will rejoice greatly.”

The gospel goes to the world because believers are persecuted. Now we don’t need to be eager to be persecuted. We don’t need to create situations where we get persecuted. But on the other hand, we don’t have to fear persecution because persecution historically has accomplished the purposes of God. We need to know that this might very well happen. We need to keep courageous and bold, and proclaim the truth in the midst of persecution and know that God will use persecution to accomplish His divine purpose, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Jun 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160605 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ckdznf1h imblog Acts 7:54-60

We continue to look at this incredible account at the end of Acts 7, as we are studying the first Christian martyr to be killed for his testimony concerning Christ. His name is Stephen and we met him in Acts 6. He was one of the men chosen to provide ministry in the church. He was a man of good reputation, full of wisdom and faith and of the Holy Spirit. And he was a great, courageous preacher who ended up being the first martyr.

Stephen was brought before the Jewish Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin. He had been preaching in Hellenistic synagogues, occupied by non-Israel Jews who had a number of synagogues in Jerusalem. So Stephen not only cared for the widows as we saw in Acts 6, but also went to the synagogue of the freed men, which had some Jews from Cyrenia, Alexandria and from Cilicia in Asia, where he proclaimed the gospel.

And in that synagogue, men argued with Stephen. They were, according to Acts 6:10, “unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen was speaking.” So, because they couldn’t win the argument, they attacked the man. In verse 11 they accused him of blasphemy against Moses and against God. And in verse 13, they accused him of blasphemy against the temple and against the law.

He is now in front of the Supreme Court and the high priest asks him in Acts 7:1, “Are these things so?” Well, the answer from Stephen started from Acts 7:2-53. First, he shows that he is not a blasphemer of God but a true believer in God. He is also not a blasphemer of Moses, but accepts that what God gave Moses was a divine revelation. He is not a blasphemer of the law of God; he regards the law as the law of God. Nor is he a blasphemer of the temple. So, he defends himself against these four accusations.

However at the same time, he turns the tables on the Jewish Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin, and all the other Jewish people who were gathered there. And he says, in reality, along with your forefathers, you all have blasphemed God. You, along with your forefathers have blasphemed Moses. You, along with your forefathers have blasphemed the law of God in your disregard and disobedience. You are blasphemers of this temple because, as Jesus declared in Matthew 21:13, you have turned it into a den of robbers.

So Stephen ends his sermon in verse 51-53, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels, and did not keep it.”

Let us now look at verse 54-60, “Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’ 60 Then falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them!’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

Saul was in support of putting Stephen to death. And on that day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. And the result was that they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen and lamented loudly over him.

The real victims here are the murderers who killed Stephen who sealed their own destiny. Stephen in reality was the victor. It is just the reverse of what it appears. Stephen had just gave his defense, a really profound sermon. And at the end, he comes to Jesus, who is the Messiah, and all of Israel show that they are the blasphemers of God, Moses, the law and of the temple.

The world is in fury, doing its worst which only brings out the very best in the man of God. Stephen confronted them boldly with a direct attack from the Word using the sword of the Spirit, and he stabbed it deep into their souls. And they killed him for it, but God honored him for it.

Look at the contrasts. They were full of anger but Stephen was full of the Spirit. That we can see in verse 54 and the first part of verse 55, “Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven.” When he began his sermon, Stephen agreed with them as they believed the Old Testament Scripture. They listened with agreement as he affirmed his belief in the true God and in Moses, and in the law, and even the temple.

He started reciting their history, but as the emphasis of his argument became clearer, their interest turned to fury. They accused him of blasphemy but he turned it around and accused them instead, and they were literally outraged. The arrows of God’s truth, by the power of God’s Spirit through the boldness of this Jewish preacher, brought an absolute outrage.

Hell does not produce remorse; it produces anger. That is why it’s forever, because they just keep on sinning. Their fury against God never abates. Hell is full of people in a furious rage, furious because they are there, furious because of the influences that they followed, furious because of the decisions they made, furious at the one that consigned them there. If you will not hear the gospel, even judgment can’t overrule such anger.

In Revelation, let us look at the great tribulation when the judgments of God come on the earth, judgments under the seals, under the trumpets and the bowls. let us look to Revelation 9:20-21 for example, where it says, “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by those plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons and the idols; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

Revelation 16:8-11, “And the fourth angel poured out his bowl (of judgment), on the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce heat; they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. 10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast,” the antichrist, “and his kingdom became darkened; they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pain and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.”

Stephen had indicted them as blasphemers and activated their fury. They are damned by their continuous rejection. They have hardened their hearts against the truth. They have rejected the testimony, the gospel preaching of the apostles. They have rejected the messages and the ministry and the miracles of Peter and Stephen. And their rejection is so deep that the only response they have to another indictment is absolute anger.

This was not a sudden outburst, there was a growing tension that gradually rose higher and higher as Stephen spoke. These dignitaries had never faced such a prisoner. He spoke like a judge, not a prisoner. He was more like an accuser than the accused. His conscience had led him to where he regarded no price too great to pay for his convictions. Stephen no longer faced an orderly council, but a mob whose minds were irrational with hate, and whose emotions were bent on murder.

They were not willing, for anyone, to expose and reveal the depth of their sin. This is a satanic reaction. Herod killed John the Baptist because John pointed to his sin and rebuked him for it. The Pharisees crucified Jesus Christ because He denounced and exposed their hypocrisy. The Jews reacted in the same manner toward the apostles. And Stephen is the first of a multitude who, in their unflinching exposure of sins, died at the hands of the sinners they exposed.

Stephen was continually filled with the Spirit. During the martyrdom of any Christian, throughout the history of the church, there was none who died with rage and anger, who called down fury on the heads of their persecutors. Every story of martyrdom always depicts a lovely calm, supernatural peace and a divine strength.

But there is even more. 1 Peter 4:14 says, “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” Something happens in that hour of martyrdom where there is a double portion of the Holy Spirit. Not only is the Holy Spirit living in every believer all the time, but there is a special grace and glory that comes on the martyr who is under severe threat of life.

In Luke 12:11-12 Jesus said, “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how, or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” It’s really like there is a triple portion of the Holy Spirit. One, to possess the Holy spirit; two, to have a blessing from the Holy Spirit who gives grace and glory; and three, to even be given instruction at that hour as to what you are to say.

Notice there are other contrasts. They are marked by spiritual blindness, versus Stephen with his spiritual sight. Stephen saw in verse 55-56, “the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, 56 ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Versus the Jews in verse 57, “who cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed together at him.”

Incredibly, Stephen saw the glory of God. He saw what Adam and Eve saw in the garden when they walked and talked with God. He saw what Isaiah saw in the vision of chapter 6 the Lord lifted high up on the throne. He saw what the apostle Paul saw in 2 Corinthians 12:2 when he was caught up in the third heaven. He saw what Moses saw when he was taken up to the Mount and the glory of God was revealed to him.

He saw what Peter, James, and John saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. But not just the glory of God. He saw Jesus standing there at the right hand of God. God manifested Himself in light. Stephen saw the light, and standing at the right hand of the light, he saw Jesus. As Mark 16:19 says, “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.”

But, there is something unusual. The references to the Lord in the gospels, and even in the book of Hebrews have Him sitting in His glorified state at the right hand of God, the place of honor and power and majesty. But here the ascended Christ is seen standing. Do you know why? Because He cares for His suffering servants. He gets up to welcome Stephen, one of His own, into heaven.

In the crisis moment, God opened to him such joy that the present suffering wasn’t even worthy to be compared. So, the dying saint begins to sense heaven, and then he sees the glory of God, and then the Son of Man, Jesus, standing at the right hand of God welcoming him. So Stephen says in verse 56, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Those words were familiar to the Sanhedrin because Jesus Christ had said that very same thing. Mark 14:62, “the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” That was the final blasphemy from Jesus according to them. And for that, they murdered Him.

Here is living testimony of Stephen that the Son of Man was where He claimed He was going. To for the Jews, this is the most blatant blasphemy. And, unless they are willing to admit that they were wrong about Jesus, they have to kill Stephen. Stephen had spiritual sight but they are completely blind. Jesus even called them blind leaders of the blind.

They didn’t want to know God’s truth. They were hard-hearted and stiff-necked, as he said to them back in verse 51. They were blind willfully, and now they were blind judicially. That’s why in Romans 11:8, it says of them what it says in Isaiah 6, that seeing they couldn’t see, hearing they couldn’t hear. They wouldn’t repent and so they couldn’t be saved.

There’s a third set of contrasts: the contrast between death and life. They were killing him but for Stephen it was only the entrance into glorious life. Verse 58-59, “When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’”

Even in their rage, they wanted to follow the law required in Leviticus 24 that anyone who was stoned be stoned outside the city. Leviticus 24 provided that stoning was the appropriate sentence for blasphemy. But the truth was that they had no right to kill anybody. The Romans only had the right to do it. But they set that aside. They would have had to have had probably two or three witnesses.

Deuteronomy 17:7 says the hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death. And afterward, the hand of the people. Well the first stones didn’t kill Stephen, and the stone by the second witness didn’t kill him. Because, verse 59 says, “they went on stoning Stephen.”

In verse 58, they laid aside their robes so they could be more accurate with the stones and throw them down harder. They laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. It is far better to depart and be with Christ. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Essentially, that’s what Christ said on the cross in Luke 23:46, “Into Your hands I commend My spirit.”

There’s one final contrast between hate and love. The hate, obviously, we see it all the way through their stoning him. But in the middle of all this hate, we see the beauty of love. Verse 60, “Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them!’ Having said this, he fell asleep.”

That is really the ultimate moment in Stephen’s testimony. While kneeling He pulls himself up to pray. He prays for forgiveness for them. This too is like our Lord, who said on the cross in Luke 23:34, “forgive them for they know not what they do.” This is a rare prayer. What love, what sweet grace of God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 May 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160529 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/58d3xvnq imblog Acts 7:18-53

As we come into Acts 7, Stephen is on trial before the Supreme Court of Israel. He stands all alone without a lawyer on his side to defend himself against these four charges of blasphemy. But, he’s not content to only defend himself; he will accuse them. He will indict the Sanhedrin of Israel and it will cost him his life.

The church has been proclaiming that Christ is alive, is the Messiah and is the Savior. And now this knowledge has spread beyond Jesus and beyond 11 apostles throughout the city. It is literally everywhere in Jerusalem, and they have used the temple as their meeting place. The Jews have tried repeatedly to silence these Christians. They have done everything, and now they will kill for that.

But Stephen sees this trial as an opportunity to stand before the highest religious leader’s body in Israel, the Sanhedrin, and speak the truth to them. And then to turn the tables and indict them as the real blasphemers. So, when speaking to Jews, he started with the Old Testament. He builds his entire defense and indictment from Old Testament history.

Stephen defends himself in four categories: God, Moses, the law, and the temple. So, in the opening part of the Acts 7:2, he says, “Hear me, brothers and fathers,” he calls God “the God of glory.” He describes God having appeared to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, and he goes through the history of God promising Abraham land and a people all through the Abrahamic covenant.

And he reminds them that even their early fathers rejected the leader that God gave them. They rejected Joseph, who was given to them as God’s leader. And thus, the true blasphemers of that era were the forefathers themselves who rejected Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery and even later came and rejected him again. The history of rejection is very much a part of Israel’s forefather’s history.

So in verse 17, as “the time of the promise was approaching.” Coming to the end of the 400 years, that designated time, it is time now to enter the Promised Land. The patriarchs have all died. This is consistent with Hebrews 11:13, “All these died in faith without receiving the promise.” But it was now time for God to bring His promise to pass. They have become a massive community of people, and they pose a serious threat.

“There arose,” verse 18 says, “another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.” He didn’t know how great Joseph was, what an incredible leader he was, what an honorable man he was. And so, he decided to turn them into slaves because he was afraid they would be a threat. Alarmed at the size of them, he used every deceptive means to destroy them.

Verse 19, “It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they wouldn’t survive.” Pharaoh decided the best thing to do to slow their growth down is to murder all their babies. Exodus 1 gives all of this information. Exodus 1:22. “Every son that is born you shall cast into the Nile river.”

But God had another plan. Verses 20-23, “At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. 23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.”

So when Moses was approaching the age of 40, God moved in his heart. He knew his origins. Moses’ sister had arranged for him to be nursed by his own mother, who certainly made sure he knew about the true God of Israel and where he really came from and who he really belonged to. And now at age 40 he remembers the plight of his people who are being abused by the Pharaoh.

Verse 24, “And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.” In fact, Moses not only killed him; he buried him in the sand. Here was a defender of Israel offering himself as a deliverer to Israel, to alleviate their pain and suffering, and to aid them in their distress. But that was not their reaction.

Verse 25, “He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.” So it was the Israel people who didn’t understand God. They have rebelled against God. They have killed the deliverers that God sent to them. They rejected Joseph the first time, and they reject Moses the first time, just as they rejected Jesus the first time. So the charge that he is a blasphemer of Moses was absurd.

And then he turns the table again and indicts Israel of old for doing the very same thing they did with Joseph, being a rejecter of God’s deliverers. Verse 26, “And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why do you wrong each other?’” He’s a true deliverer. This is all you could ask out of a leader: somebody who can defeat and bury the enemy and bring peace. But look at their response.

Verse 27-28, “But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’” This is a slave pushing away Moses. Moses is rejected. He had saved a life. He had come as a peacemaker but he is confronted like a criminal. Obviously, he would’ve rather have kept that silent. That’s why he buried the body. Now, it was his own people, who were broadcasting the reality. Moses had no choice.

So in verse 29, “At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.” They didn’t want him as a deliverer. They didn’t want him as a peacemaker. Stephen’s point is this: Israel always is the rejecter. Israel is the blasphemer. Israel again rejects God’s anointed deliverer just as they did in the case of Joseph. And leads up that they rejected the righteous one in verse 51. So Moses leaves and 40 years go by.

Verse 30, “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.” That’s why there were a total of 430 years by the time it was all over. Israel blasphemed Moses, and therefore blasphemed God so, redemption was postponed another 40 years. What had Moses been doing for those 40 years? Well, he met a daughter of Jethro and her name was Zipporah. He married her and he had a family there. And an angel came to him in this occasion of the burning bush in Exodus 3 and re-commissioned him.

“When Moses saw it,” verse 31-34, “he was amazed at the sight; and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And come now, I will send you to Egypt.’”

God is always faithful and He will rescue His people. And that place was holy because God was there. Stephen says in verse 35, “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.” They rejected Joseph the first time and he came the second time as the deliverer. They rejected Moses and he came the second time as the deliverer. They rejected Christ the first time and He will return again as the Deliverer.

Verse 36, “This man, Moses, led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years.” Stephen has shown the Jews that they had a consistent pattern of rejecting God’s deliverers. They were priding themselves on their great love of their historic leaders, but their fathers had rejected both Joseph and Moses outright. And Stephen lays the weight of rejection on them.

Verse 37, “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.” They all knew that was a messianic prophecy from Deuteronomy 18:15. Moses was a deliverer from among his own people; so was Jesus. Moses came down from a palace to a role of a slave to rescue slaves; so did Jesus. Moses offered himself and was rejected; so did Jesus.

Moses came back a second time to redeem his people and lead them to the Promised Land, and Jesus will do the same. Stephen, as a believer in Jesus Christ, gave more honor to Moses than anybody did. Stephen answers then, the charge of blasphemy of Moses. He gives accolades to Moses, honor and respect to Moses. But most importantly, he believes in the one of whom Moses spoke.

The third charge was that he was a blasphemer of the law. After they left Egypt, after Moses led them out through the Red Sea, into the wilderness for 40 years, it was there that Moses received the law. Verse 38, “This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.” This was Exodus 19.

What is an oracle? It is a statement from God. Why is it living? Because Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The law that came to Moses on Sinai was a spiritual revelation from heaven. Stephen understood that God is the author, angels are the mediators and Moses was the recipient.

He is saying that the Pentateuch is written by Moses through inspiration, and the truth all comes from God. It is God’s law and it is alive and powerful. He is not a blasphemer of the law. And here comes the indictment of them again in verse 39-40, “Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt. 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Our forefathers were unwilling to be obedient to Moses, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. Do they not remember that God parted the sea and drowned the entire Egyptian army? Moses is barely up in the mountain, and they have already forgotten him, and they want to go back to their idolatry. Who are the real blasphemers? It is the people who are disobedient, who turned their hearts toward Egypt.

It was there at the foot of Sinai that they began their idolatrous history. They showed how much they cared for divine law. What did the law command? Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other Gods before me.” And what did they do? Verse 41, “And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.”

Verse 42, “But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?” Verse 43 sums it up, “You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.”

And finally he answers the indictment that he blasphemed the temple. Starting in verses 44-47, “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.”

Verse 48, “Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says.” And he quotes Isaiah 66:1-2 in verses 49-50, “Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; what kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord, ‘Or what place is there for My rest? Was it not My hand which made all these things?’”

By the time that Stephen was facing the council, they worshipped the building and not God. Temples are always temporary. First there was a tent, and then there was Solomon’s temple, and then there was Zerubbabel’s temple and then Herod’s temple was built and after it was cursed by Jesus it was soon destroyed. So, Stephen ends up indicting them for having executed the Messiah.

Verse 51-53, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

If a first generation preacher like Stephen, who’s been a believer in Jesus Christ for only a few months, can preach with that kind of courage, may the Lord release on this generation a myriad of Stephens. The new covenant is not Judaism, it is new. God is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, anywhere, by everyone and at any time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 May 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160522 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/6k9897a2 imblog Acts 7:1-16

Acts 7 is a long chapter, but it is not intended to be studied in every detail. It’s the big picture so we’ll go through it in just a couple of weeks or so. We are going to see how it all unfolds. One of the things that Christians are responsible for is found in 1 Peter 3:15, “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”

We always need to be able to defend the faith. The effective Christian is one who can articulate the truth and defend what he believes in a biblical and reasonable way. We call this apologetics. Are we apologizing? No. It comes from the Greek apologia. It means to speak in defense of, or to give a defense. Apologetics is a speech in defense of our faith that comes from biblical truth.

Here Stephen gives a defense of his faith, and it is totally from the Old Testament. He had come to understand that the entire Old Testament leads us to Jesus Christ. In the beginning the disciples didn’t understand the purpose of the Old Testament. In the four gospels, they don’t refer to the Old Testament. But after Christ has taught them the Old Testament, they just are filled with quotes from the Old Testament.

So Stephen starts his defense of God from creation, and moves to the revelation in Scripture. This is necessary for all of us, but especially for those in spiritual leadership. In Titus 1:9 we have principles, standards, characteristics, requirements for those who lead in the church. They must, “hold fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the doctrine so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”

Why? Titus 1:10 says, “For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision who must be silenced.” How do you silence a deceiver? You silence a deceiver with the truth. Why? Verse 11, “Because their deceptions are upsetting whole families teaching things they should not teach for the sake of money.” We expect that from false teachers, but it is sad that there are people responsible for the truth who still propagate error for the sake of money also.

Paul proclaimed the truth. And he defended the truth by unmasking error. Philippians 1:7, “It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” Positively, he confirmed the gospel. Negatively, he defended the gospel.

Paul is the great defender of the faith in the New Testament, but there was a defender of the faith before Paul. Stephen also gave a speech in defense and also as a confirmation of the gospel. He was selected along with six other men because some of the Jews from outside of Israel weren’t getting their fair share of food. So the twelve disciples, the eleven plus now Matthias, chose seven Hellenistic Jews who would be in charge of that ministry.

Now, Stephen is not really a deacon. He is more than a deacon, but he serves widows. He is less than an apostle, but the Lord gave miracle powers to him and to Philip. He is really not a prophet, but he is a great preacher. And through people like Philip, Stephen and the rest in Acts 6:7 it says, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”

Now, when Stephen spoke in these synagogues of the non-Israeli Jews, they were not agreeing with him and they debated him. But Acts 6:10 says, “They were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” So verse 11, “Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” Verse 12, “And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council.”

They had four accusations. Stephen speaks against God. He speaks against Moses. He speaks against the law, and he speaks against the temple. And he is now in the Sanhedrin. He has only been a Christian for months at the most, but what he speaks here shows a stunning understanding of the Old Testament. So, he is now going to defend himself.

The high priest, Caiaphas, says to him in Acts 7:1, “Are these things so?” His accusers think they’re going to put him on trial before the most elite biblically people in the land. They are so angry that they call him a blasphemer and the law requires that blasphemers are to be executed. So Acts 7 is Stephen’s apologia speech in defense of the Old Testament, but it is more than just a defense. It becomes a powerful offensive sermon leading to Christ.

And everything Stephen refers to is a New Testament validation of the Old Testament. Objective number one is to get them to listen to him so he starts with their history. He starts with Scripture, and he makes clear that the things that are precious in Scripture to them are precious to him too. He is not a blasphemer because he believes Scripture.

The second thing he does is answer the charge of blasphemy of God. He makes direct positive reference to every accusation. The first part is the defense against the charge of blasphemy of God. The second part is a defense against the blasphemy of Moses. The third part is the defense against the blasphemy of the law. And finally, a defense against the blasphemy of the temple. He just refutes them one at a time.

Now, let’s look at how he defends himself against the accusation that he blasphemed God in Acts 6:11. He takes the severest accusation first. The new covenant is not anti-God. The gospel that they had been literally filling Jerusalem with and turning it on its head is not anti-God. Stephen states his belief in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel. Acts 7:1, “And the high Priest said, “Are these things so?”

Verse 2-3, “And Stephen said, ‘“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.” He mentions God in the opening 19 times.

Stephen gives God His most exalted title, “The God of glory.” This title appears only once in the Old Testament in Psalm 29 where it pulls together many of the components that make up the glory of God. God is known by many names. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides. Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals. Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord our peace. Jehovah-Raah, the Lord who sheperds. Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Righteous One. Jehovah-Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord omnipresent. Jehovah-Elyon, the Lord most high. And Jehovah-Mekaddishkem, the Lord who makes holy.

But all of those are the parts that make up the God of all glory, the God who is El Hakkavod, the God of glory. Stephen says, that’s the God I believe in. He ascribes full supremacy, full sovereignty, full glory to the God of the psalmist, David. Stephen actually died seeing some of that glory, in verse 55. Before they stoned him to death he saw the God of glory that he has just spoken about.

It is that God who, “Appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.” Mesopotamia is the Greek term for Chaldea. The city that Abraham came from in Mesopotamia is the city of Ur. So God manifested Himself to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. But He also appeared to him later in Haran, another city about 500 miles northwest of Ur, also in Mesopotamia.

There God appeared to Abraham in Haran when He gave him the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12:1-3, “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

And Stephen quotes what was in Genesis 12:1, “Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.” Abraham obeyed God, came to Canaan, which became Israel. Verse 4, “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran, from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.” So Stephen is saying, “Look, I acknowledge God’s call of glory on the life of Abraham. I acknowledge the Abrahamic Covenant.”

And he knows his Jewish history. He knows that when Abraham arrived in the Promised Land, he did not receive any permanent possession. The land was a promise to Abraham, but not a possession. Verse 5, “Yet God gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.”

That’s why Paul in the book of Romans says Abraham was justified by faith. Verse 6, “And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them for four hundred years.” This also was told to Abraham in Genesis 15. They would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years in Egypt. But God gave them a promise through the Abrahamic Covenant.

Then in verse 7, Stephen goes on, “But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.” God said this in Exodus 3. They were judged in the ten plagues initially. Then they were judged by the collapse of the waters of the Red Sea which drowned Pharaoh and all of his army. So by this opening, Stephen has captured their interest because he is talking about their history. And he has defended himself. And now he turns the tables on them.

Stephen begins to indict Israel for sin in verse 8 as he moves from the early period in Abraham to the patriarchal period of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. All Jews are sons of Abraham and all Jews are sons of Isaac. All Jews are sons of Jacob, producing the twelve tribes from which they all come. So he’s continuing to identify with them.

But then swiftly in verse 9 begins the indictment, “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him.” 1 Chronicles 5:1 says, “Reuben’s birthright was given to Joseph.” Remember in Genesis 37 he has a dream and he says basically that he was going to rise above all the others. God has ordained that I will have a prominent place.”

Well, this activated the brothers to fabricate the murder of Joseph to make Jacob think he had been slaughtered by an animal. Then they sold him into slavery. They went against God. They were rebellious and they blasphemed God by selling the chosen one into slavery. Stephen wants them to see in the story of Joseph an illustration of Israel’s reaction to God’s plans now.

Stephen is not the blasphemer, they are the ones who have a history of blasphemy. Of course, it all culminates in verse 52, when he asks, “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?” Israel as a people have been set against the plan of God from the start. So who are the real blasphemers?

They resisted God even though God had clearly declared His will. God overruled the evil designs of the brothers and Joseph ended up being falsely accused of something immoral with Potipher’s wife. He ends up in jail and interprets dreams through God’s power and eventually gets out of jail, and in verse 10 he becomes the prime minister of Egypt. This is all the working of God which they all knew.

Joseph’s story is a parallel story to that of Christ. Stephen is saying, “Look, the history of the fathers is the history of rejection of God’s anointed, God’s chosen.” And then when for the second time they visit Joseph, in verse 13 as recorded in Genesis 45, “He makes himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. Verse 14, “And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all.”

Then verse 15-16 says, “And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.” What is this all about? They all died in Egypt, but 400 years later, they returned and were buried again in Shechem inside the Promised Land.

So Stephen is saying, “I don’t deny God. I don’t blaspheme God.” He covers the history of Israel starting with the God of glory from Abraham to Joseph. He answered their charges that he was not a blasphemer of the true and living God. He indicts them by looking at the blasphemy of their forefathers in rejecting God’s chosen one Joseph. That is an indictment of their crucifixion of Christ in rejecting God’s chosen One again.

So Stephen tells us to be bold in your evangelism! Be biblical in your evangelism. Declare God’s person, power, and sovereignty in framing history, declare God’s faithfulness in His promises to fulfill them. Stephen is going to give us three more lessons. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 May 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160508 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/61615icn imblog Acts 6:8-15

Do you remember that Acts 6 opened with a problem in the early church? A problem because some of the Hellenistic widows who had come to faith in Jesus Christ and were now a part of the church but were from Greek countries rather than the land of Israel - were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. In order to make sure their needs were met, they selected seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom to put in charge of this task.

The first man in the list and the only one about whom it says anything is a man named Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. He becomes the main character through the rest of Acts 6 and 7. Stephen was a Greek-speaking believer in Jesus Christ who had belonged to a Jewish synagogue in a foreign land. He along with all the rest were chosen to care for the widows who spoke Greek.

Verse 8-11, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

Verse 12-15, “And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council.” 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

Stephen was an amazing man. He was not a deacon, but he was in charge of serving tables. He was not an apostle, but he did signs and wonders. The miraculous power granted to the apostles was extended to him and also to another leader by the name of Philip. He was not a prophet, but he was a great preacher. He is a very unique man. He stands between the apostles and the structure of the early church.

One whom everybody deemed to be a servant, and yet a miracle worker and a preacher and the first Christian martyr. This is a man who is great by every divine measure. He is a transitional person between Peter and Paul, like a bridge. He is chosen by Peter and the apostles and he was martyred at the hands of Paul. He didn’t minister to the Israeli Jews or to the foreign gentiles, but he ministered to the foreign Jews. And it was because of his martyrdom and the persecution that the believers scattered.

And that was the purpose of God in his martyrdom because Jesus had said in Acts 1:8, “And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” What was going to send them into Judea? What was going to send them into Samaria? What was going to send them into the world? Not a missionary mission, but persecution, martyrdom and the threat of death.

And that is what happened to Stephen in Acts 7:54-58, “Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.”

It is the death of Stephen that becomes the catalyst to fulfill the promise of Jesus in Acts 1:8 before His ascension. He takes the first step beyond the Jews in the direction of the Gentiles. The mantle of Stephen falls on Saul, one of Stephen’s most bitter enemies at that time. Stephen was essential to God’s plan for world evangelization. It was his martyrdom that launched the church into the world.

What we know about him is all in this text of Scripture. We know what was important in his life and that is this amazing courage. Because of that courage, he put himself in a position to lose his life, but that was God’s plan. He is the first Christian martyr, but the possibility of imprisonment and even the threats of death had no effect on him because he was totally committed to being faithful.

We just studied that the church was purified by the Lord Himself. God killed a couple who lied to the Holy Spirit that sent fear through the church. The price of belonging was high. Only the ones who wanted their sin dealt with and who wanted to walk in righteousness participated. They got organized and brought together these godly men mentioned in Acts 6: 5, to provide ministry for them.

Stephanos means “victor’s crown” and he actually won that name in his martyrdom. So the choosing of Stephen establishes at the beginning his uniqueness and his greatness. Out of all the thousands of men, he is the first one in the list of seven. Specifically it says about him in verse 5, “He is a man full of faith,” his life is dominated by faith. If he is full of faith, what did he believe?

Listen to Acts 7: 2-3, “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.” He is quoting Genesis 12: 4-5, “Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.”

Again, he’s quoting Genesis 12 and 13. The first thing we know is that he believed the Old Testament. He believed also that God determined and ruled history. History was all a revelation of God’s character, God’s purpose and God’s plan. He believed in the God revealed in the Old Testament, and he unfolds that all the way through his sermon.

In Acts 7:52, “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.” He believed Jesus was the Messiah. And he believed that His death was the pivotal point in which history turned. He also believed that Jesus was risen. Verse 55, “he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

He believed in the Holy Spirit. In verse 51 he says, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit.” He was full of faith, and he believed in all these great spiritual realities that he delineates in this great sermon. He believed so strongly in the Lord Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, that he was willing to be stoned to death.

This is a man, back in Acts 6:3, who is also full of wisdom. In fact, his wisdom is so profound, it is so beyond argument that when he speaks, his enemies cannot withstand what he says. And in anger they kill him because they can’t answer his arguments. Furthermore, in Acts 6: 8 it says, he is full of grace. It’s not talking about the grace that he received, it’s the grace that he gave.

How do we know that? Look at Acts 7:59-60, “While they are stoning him, he is falling on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” What kind of tenderheartedness is this? No anger, no vengeance and no violence. This kind of grace comes out of full faith and is a product of the Holy Spirit.

Then it tells us in Acts 6:8 that Stephen was full of power. This is the result of being full of the Holy Spirit such that he is given the same powers as the apostles. He is performing great wonders and signs and miracles among the people. That happened to validate him as one who speaks for God. This happened before there was a New Testament. A speaker for God had miraculous power.

Let’s look now at his courage. This man, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, full of wisdom, full of power and full of grace met the hostile world head on. He preached Jesus as Messiah to the Hellenistic Jews. Verse 9, “Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.”

This is his mission field. The apostles evangelized the Jerusalem Jews. Paul later will go to the Gentiles. But Stephen is there to evangelize the Jews in gentile lands. He starts in Jerusalem where synagogues for these communities of Grecian Jews who had resettled in the land of Israel. These synagogues functioned in the language of the country of the people who made them. Because he is one of those Greek Jews named in verse 5.

So he goes to the synagogue where he can reach his people. During apostolic times, even Jewish communities from outside Jerusalem managed to establish their own synagogues where foreign Jews could meet. Historians tell us that there were nearly 500 synagogues in Jerusalem. Many of these synagogues in Jerusalem at that time were for those foreign Jews who needed to interact with their own people.

Now, the synagogue of the Freedman, what was that? Pompeii, the Roman general, had carried off large numbers of Jews as prisoners to Rome. He had hauled those Jews away in 63 B.C. and sold them as slaves. Most of them eventually found their freedom, and they came back to their land. So the synagogue of the Freedmen basically was developed by freed Roman slaves who had returned to their own city to worship.

There also was mentioned Cyrenians, people from a city in the Libyan area. They had a large Jewish colony there. They also participated in a synagogue in Jerusalem. Then Alexandrians, from the capital of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great. A huge Jewish community was there and a library of many Jewish scholars. Cilicia is also mentioned, a large Jewish settlement known in Asia Minor near Syria.

Then there were also some from Asia, the western part of Asia Minor. The main city was Ephesus. So you have five groups. Maybe there were three synagogues mixed and they all spoke some Greek well enough to interact. We don’t know, but to them Stephen went. And what did he do? He rose up and spoke up. He was not invited for a weekend conference.

He spoke with them and they argued back. Verse 10, “But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” It probably was a debate between the old covenant and the new covenant. Or a debate over the identity of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. Or a debate about salvation by grace, and Stephen won the debate because the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Verse 11, “Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” Stephen was arguing against the misinterpretation of the Law of Moses. He was also arguing for the deity of Christ. By dismissing the saving power of the Law of Moses, he was seen as blaspheming Moses. By identifying Jesus as God, he was blaspheming God in their minds.

To these Jews, these words were blasphemy against Moses, and blasphemy against God by saying Jesus is equal to God. Verse 12, “And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council.” These agitated Hellenistic Jews spread that news that Stephen was a blasphemer. To the point where they came up to Stephen and dragged him away, and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

This is where the false witnesses show up. Verse 13, “and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law.” Well, that tells us something about this debate. Certainly, he was telling them the true purpose of the law, to define sin, not provide salvation. Verse 14, “for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

So Stephen preached on the old covenant that only mirrors God’s nature and does not save, and the entrance of the new covenant with Jesus as Lord and Savior, who is the Messiah. But this is great boldness and Stephen knows what they have done to the Lord. He also knows that they have already imprisoned and beaten the apostles. He knows that it is the Jews who will perpetrate these persecutions. But his courage is undiminished.

Acts 6:15, “And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” All members of the Sanhedrin are accusing him of blasphemy. But he looked like he has transcended above all of it. All of his power in the Holy Spirit and all of his faith came out on his face. Only once in the history has God ever put His glory on the face of a man. That’s in Exodus 33 on the face of Moses. He was reflecting the glory of God.

And at the end of his life, Stephen saw the glory of God in Acts 7:55-56, “He saw the heavens open. He saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” God is still looking for men and women like this who can serve Him full of faith, grace and wisdom and full of the Holy Spirit who have courage with no limit. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 May 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160501 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/eq4940dh imblog Acts 6:1-7

Acts 6 is important as a basis for understanding the proper organization within the church. There has been a long debate about how the church should be organized in our current age. A church needs to be well organized and well-staffed that runs efficiently, but on the other hand they also need to deal with home Bible studies and nurturing the life of the body of Christ.

Every dimension of God's world is well organized. If you read the Old Testament you will find out that the Old Testament was ordained by God and it's a system from beginning to end. There are some people who believe that the church must be run like a business, that it must develop an organizational charts with committees and sub committees. And that everybody should fit into all of the programs that are ordained by executive committees of that church.

But the New Testament church really is an organism. And the life of the body depends on its connection to Christ. But the church has to be organized. And we must be here at certain times or we're not going to be able to function rightly within the framework of the body because this is the time we teach and get taught. There are certain things that must occur organizationally.

Now the early church was organized which just means that it functioned in an orderly manner. The apostle Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 14:40: "But all things should be done decently and in order." Now the early church as we come in Acts 6 needs to get better organized. They have had a tremendous effect upon the Jewish community in Jerusalem.

They have astounded people with the miracles and the wonders and the signs that have been going on. Multitudes have been coming to Jesus Christ. Real love exists. The community of believers is sharing in all things. And there is a beautiful kind of relationship everywhere. But you know what? The Spirit of God knows that it needs to get better organized and in Acts 6 we find the beginnings of the organization.

Biblical church organization accommodates what the Holy Spirit is already doing. In Scripture we can see the growth of the church. The church begins to live and breathe and move and develop ministries and then the Spirit moves in and the church puts a frame around it so t it can function smoothly. We need to see what the saints are doing and then to put a frame around it to help them do it effectively.

Now the early church was really moving in evangelism. Exciting things were happening, but they came to a point where they needed to make their evangelism more effective. They needed to accommodate the Spirit of God so that what the people want to do in the energy of the Spirit can be done smoothly and with the best benefit. That is the correct organization.

Let us study how they got organized. A couple of times it tells us how many believers there were. First three thousand and then five thousand men, which meant somebody was taking count. It is also important that they had a certain place and a certain time to meet together for public worship, prayer, and the study of the Word. All of that was basic organization.

Now this early church accommodated the Holy Spirit. They met the first day of every week which is a Sunday. It says in Act 2, they broke bread from house to house. They must have had some organized way of going around to the various houses and letting the others know where they were going to be at what time. Money and goods were being collected and distributed. Everybody's need was being met and it was all organized.

Biblical church organization should never be imposing on the work of the Holy Spirit. That's why the job of a pastor is not to develop programs and schemes and then find people to do them. My commitment is to just keep teaching the Word and when a bunch of people want to do something, to give them an opportunity to do it. Organization is never an end in itself, it has to allow for spiritual growth.

Now in the early church the apostles taught, the apostles ruled and everybody else carried out what they said. But as the church grew they began to face problems organizationally. And we see now that necessity again becomes the mother of invention. Let's look at this in Acts 6:1-7 as the Holy Spirit gives us time this evening, to consider four things that appear here in the first spiritual organizational meeting.

First of all, what was the reason for organization? Secondly, what were the requirements for the people? The third thing is the roster. Who are the right people to carry it out? Fourthly, what is the result when the church begins to get organized to accommodate the work of the Holy Spirit? Does it help?

So first let's look at the reason. Acts 6:1, “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” Conservatively there were at least 30,000 members at that time. Can you imagine trying to handle a congregation that large, not only handling their spiritual needs, but also all their physical needs and caring for the poor and the widows and everybody else?

And here were the twelve apostles for all those people. The church had grown so fast that you have not had time to adjust to anything. Here they are only a couple of months old with 30,000 people and now they are faced with big problems. Too many people in the church and still growing all the time.

And just handling the care of the believers is a great problem, making sure that the poor people get the food they need, and making sure somebody's collecting all that, making sure that somebody provides elements for the Lord's table, and somebody figures out how many people are going to be there so everybody has enough and making sure that the baptism is cared for.

In addition to that they had accomplished the number one goal that Christ had given them when He said, "You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world." They had already filled Jerusalem with their doctrine in Acts 5:28, right? Now they were ready to move out now to Judea, Samaria, and the world. They were on the threshold of Gentile evangelism.

They need to accomplish what God would have them accomplish in an orderly way. But they were on the verge of an evangelistic explosion, in fact Acts 6 introduces Stephen to us and Paul began evangelization of the Gentiles in Acts 7. But as soon as we are on the threshold of something big, Satan begins to work to mess things up. Let us look at the same three strategies Satan uses ever since the early church.

Number one is persecution. Whether it's the emotional persecution of being ostracized from your society, or whether it is mental persecution or physical abuse, Satan always attempts to get the Christians to become afraid and chicken out of the battle. And Satan tried that in the early church and it didn't work. He persecuted the early church and the message was spread even faster and that gave God the opportunity to do more miracles to more abundantly prove that Jesus was the Messiah.

And his second approach is sin in the body. And Satan tried that with Ananias and Sapphira but God moved in and just killed them dead right in front of the whole church. And you know what that did to the church? It purified the church immediately. And it made sure that those who were added to the church were pure because the word was out. If you get into that deal as a hypocrite and you're liable to die. So Satan’s ploy failed. The purer the church the faster the gospel spread.

Satan has a third tactic, dissention. If church fights within itself than its message is lost in hypocrisy and its energy is dissipated on internal struggle. How many churches have you known that are just bickering back and forth with little petty pride issues, discontent, gossip and power struggles? Everybody's energy is used up in trying to keep things together, so that nothing is left to fulfill the commission of our Lord.

Let's look again at Acts 6:1, “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” There were the native born Palestine Jews, called the Hebrews and there were Greek Jews or the Hellenist Jews who lived in Asia Minor, North Africa and all those areas, but they had maintained Jewish heritage and always came back to Jerusalem for Passover and Pentecost and the other feast days.

So they spoke two different languages, Greek and Aramaic; therefore, they would tend to group into the language groups where they could communicate. Not only that, the native Jews looked down on the Grecian Jews because they felt they had probably been polluted by alien culture and they weren't true Jews, loyal to the land. The reason for their complaint was that their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

Now the care of widows was always a part of Jewish custom as was all the care of the poor. Two collectors set out every Friday morning and they mingled through the marketplace and they went from house to house and they collected an offering. That offering later in the day was passed out to the poor and the widows. If somebody was in temporary poverty they received enough to survive, but if somebody was permanently poor they received enough for14 meals for seven days. Next Friday they would come back again. It still is the church's responsibility to meet the needs of the widows and the poor now.

These widows for some reason were not getting help and so griping began. But that's OK. If you have a complaint you want to go to the people that can do something about it. So they went to the apostles. They don't deny this because this actually happened. Verse 2, “And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” They knew what their calling was to preach the Word of God and they didn't want to leave that.

Now look at verse 4, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” We must concentrate on the duality of our ministry, prayer and preaching. Preaching must involve constant prayer for those to whom you preach, so that God would make of us the right vessel. And every week we have a prayer list where we share all of the various specific needs that come from all the congregation.

The apostles have set the pattern that we must follow. It's a commitment. But we have to recognize that this kind of commitment involves a lot of self-discipline. Galatians 6:6 says, “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.” So please pray for me that God might give me wisdom in knowing how to balance the time I give you all and the time I’m with my wife.

What are the requirements for people that can take over some of these ministries? Verse 3, “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.” Requirement number one is that they be from among you. God expects the church to find its own leadership from within itself. Secondly they must be honest. Next, thirdly, full of the Holy Spirit.

Later on Paul splits it up and defines two different categories: elders and deacons and deaconesses. Why were there seven? Because the Mishna said in Jewish towns anybody conducting business would have to have seven men and so there were seven very likely in order that they might conduct the church business within the Jewish town. This is the kind of leadership the church needs.

Who was chosen? Verse 5, “And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.” Look what it says. They chose. That is why we always ask for suggestions from the congregation as to who should be deacons and deaconesses who serve in the church.

Who were they? Stephen, we'll see more about him, full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Phillip, we'll see much more about him too. And then the next five we've never heard of before and never will again, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch. All seven names are Greek. The church got together and unanimously chose seven Grecian Jews to lead them. That proves the loving unity of the church.

And what are the results? Verse 6, “These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.” This is their commissioning service. The church got organized and you know what happened when the church gets spiritually organized as the Spirit directs it, the results are fantastic. Verse 7, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”

More people got saved faster. And not only that, look at this shocking statement, "A great many of the priests became obedient to the faith." Those are the ordinary priests looking for their Messiah. They found Him in Jesus Christ and they had a revival among the priests.

The church needs to accommodate whatever the Spirit of God is doing by putting enough structure around it to make it effective and that's what they did and look what happened. God blessed them. Let us pray to God that we should be what we need to be and let the Holy Spirit do what He wants to do among our people. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Apr 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160410 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/586sxo0m imblog Acts 5:17-42

We have seen the foundation of the church being laid. We remember how the gospels end with a commission to evangelize the world. There will be the coming of the Holy Spirit our Lord tells His followers and when the Spirit comes, the Spirit will enable His people to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. This proclamation will go on for all of human history until our Lord Jesus returns to establish His glorious kingdom.

The church exists on earth for the purpose of its own development. The church is the means by which the Lord builds the kingdom. God uses believers to bring about the salvation of other believers. This is what the apostle Paul reminds us of when he says in Romans 10:14-15, “And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” It is the church’s responsibility then to send out its people for the proclamation of the gospel to gather the rest of God’s people.

The church has begun to grow through the means of the proclamation of the gospel. Acts 2:41 says that on the day the church was born 3,000 souls came to true faith in Christ. Acts 2:47 then tells us that the Lord added daily to the church, the number of people who were being saved. And when we come to Acts 4:4 it says, “There were many who heard the message of the apostles, and they believe and the number of men came to be about 5,000.” And with women and children there were approximately 20,000 members.

Acts 6:7 says, “The Word of God kept on spreading. And now it has swept through a great many of the priests who are becoming obedient to the faith.” In Acts 8:6, it’s still happening, “And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did.” And in Acts 9:31 the church has now stretched from Jerusalem into Judea into Galilee and into Samaria, as our Lord said it would.

Evangelism is at the heart of what we do. It is the goal and the reason we are here in the world. It is why the Lord left us here, but it also is the byproduct of our spiritual development. Evangelism is our mission, but it doesn’t occur effectively. It only occurs spiritually and supernaturally by the working of the Holy Spirit in Christ-like believers. They are the ones that reproduce.

In Acts 5:17-42 we see really one story and what you have here are five essentials of evangelism. The church was growing and they were going everywhere proclaiming the truth. Look at Acts 4:29-31, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken.”

In the beginning of Acts 5, we saw the devastating sin of Ananias and his wife Sapphira. Sin is like a cancer in the fellowship and it threatened their power and eliminate their impact on the world; and so it was immediately judged by God forcefully. Both of them dropped dead, right in the service worship of the church on the Lord’s Day. God Himself did the disciplining. And after the church was purified, the church began again its ministry of evangelism.

So the first essential is purity. That is vital to a church’s integrity. Jesus Christ has come to remove our sin, remove our guilt, to grant us righteousness, to make us a holy people who are zealous for good works. If that is our gospel, then it better be visible in the church. That is why a corrupt pastor, or corrupt leadership and corrupt people who identify themselves as a church is such a devastating thing in evangelism.

The world wants any excuse that it can find to reject the gospel. They say, “Well, I know a lot of people who go to church, and they are all hypocrites.” This destroys our claim. We are claiming transforming power through Jesus Christ. The Lord can take a sinner and turn him into a saint. A holy life presents the evidence of the gospel transformation, so the church has to be holy if it is to be effective in its evangelism.

Number two is power. Go back to Acts 5:12, “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.” There is an explosion of apostolic signs and wonders, not only in the neighborhood, but in the city of Jerusalem and beyond. People were being brought in, and everyone is being healed, and everyone is being delivered from unclean spirits. Now all of this is happening after the apostles had been forbidden by the authorities to do so.

Please note that “many signs and wonders were regularly done by the hands of the apostles.” Listen, this is not a miracle-working church. This is a church with miracle-working apostles. There is a big difference. Scripture makes that distinction. There were specific signs that identified an apostle. Signs, wonders and mighty deeds, Paul told the Corinthians, were the signs of an apostle.

Now you say, “How does that apply to us now?” It applies to us because we have the record of all that power in Holy Scripture. We don’t have apostles doing miracles. We have a lot of false apostles who are doing false miracles, but we also have the complete divinely-inspired record of all the apostolic miracles of the New Testament.

And we possess the power of the Holy Spirit who is doing the marvelous work of conversion. “Well, what if people don’t believe the Scripture?” Oh, I don’t expect them to. I don’t expect anybody to believe the Scripture. Because 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” They won’t believe unless God does a divine miracle and opens their eyes.

The third essential for evangelism is persecution. Persecution is inevitable. You cannot be effective in evangelism unless you anticipate the persecution. The world cannot stand a pure church and persecution will surely happen right now more than ever before. This will threaten cowardly people, but it will not threaten the people of God, the true church and those who are bold in Christ, right?

Let us look for an example in Acts 5:17-18, “But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.” Jesus said in John 7:7, “They hate me because I tell them their deeds are evil.” The early church was convicted to ignore the persecution and proclaim boldly the gospel, and that is what they did.

So here comes another wave of persecution. This time it comes from the high priest along with the Sadducees. Who are they? The Sadducees are the leaders of the temple operation. They are fundamentalists who only accept the first five books of the Old Testament, the books of Moses. They are very agitated at Jesus because His teaching exposes them as heretics. And they are filled with jealousy because of Christianity.

Verse 19-21, “But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.” The Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection and these apostles were preaching a risen Christ. They didn’t believe in angles, so God sends one of those very beings they deny to take His apostles out of prison.

Angels are repeatedly used as messengers in the book of Acts. Now, the angel opened the gates of the prison and took them out. They are delivered and what are they told to do? The angel said, “Go stand and speak to the people in the temple,” the domain of the Sadducees. God wants boldness in the face of persecution.

God expects obedience at any cost and preaching the gospel at any cost. Christianity is abundant life and life eternal, life in His Son. So they arrive in the morning, and they began preaching the gospel again. God puts them right back in the very place that is going to be the greatest threat to the people who put them in prison to start with.

In the middle of verse 21, “Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.” The council is all the Senate of the people of Israel, the Sanhedrin. These are the elders of Israel. They’re influential. They are the supreme court of Israel. So they sent orders to the prison to bring these Christians out. They want to indict them.

Verse 22-23, “But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” How did that happen? A mysterious, miraculous event, just another indication of the supernatural realities that happened in the early church to demonstrate its divine character, because only God can do these things.

Verse 24-25, “Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25 And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” They probably thought that they are somewhere hiding. No. There they were back preaching with more confirmation than ever because now they were there by a miracle that no one could deny.

Verse 26, “Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.” You say why would the people stone them? They are filling the city with sick and demon-possessed people, and they know that these people can all be healed and delivered. If these guys treat the apostles badly, it will surely incite a riot. Their lives could be in jeopardy.

Verse 27-28, “And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.” They won’t even use the name of Jesus. The second indictment is that you are making us responsible for the death of this man. Remember Matthew 27:25, “And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

The fourth essential in evangelism is persistence. Did this arrest and all this harassment and threats scare them? No. And starting in verse 29, we see the persistence of Peter and the apostles as they answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” That’s the simple reality. We have been commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all people. We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost part of the earth.

Verse 30-31, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” This is boldness. Peter says, “We didn’t invent this.” Verse 32, “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

The last essential is providence. Providence is God’s control of all circumstances. Ultimately, the impact of our evangelism is in the hands of God. Look what happens when the leaders in this supreme court of Israel are meeting officially. Verse 33, “When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.” Why didn’t they kill all these Christians right there?

A strange thing happened. Verse 34, “But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.” The Sadducees were dominant in the Sanhedrin, but there were also Pharisees. And they were the teachers of the people and had influence with them. The Sadducees want them all executed immediately, but here is a man who represents the people. And he’s a master teacher of the law, respected by all the people.

Verse 35-37, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.”

Act cautiously, if you execute these men, and you may have a full blown revolution. These things have a way of resolving itself. Verse 38-39, “So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God! So they took his advice.”

Verse 40, “And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.” Here God uses this man to keep the opportunity to preach the gospel alive. Verse 41-42, “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

This is providence. God has His purposes in every age, in every country, in every time and place and that still happens here. Everything is in God’s hands. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Apr 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160403 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/lbmn7s1d imblog John 20:19-23

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

The Bible has two parts: Old Testament and New Testament. The New Testament has 27 books: four gospels to tell the life of Jesus, 21 letters to explain the meaning of Jesus for our lives, one history book about the early church, and one prophecy book. All 27 of those books deal with Jesus as alive, risen from the dead and the central, living reality in the universe today, He himself being very God and very man.

And what I want to do in this message is look with you at Jesus’ first appearance to all his frightened disciples after the resurrection. And what I want us to see is: How did the risen Jesus act? And what did the risen Jesus say? That first appearance to the disciples as a group happens in John 20:19–23. Let’s look at the first part of verse 19 to see how Jesus acts. “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them.”

Three Facts and How Jesus Deals With Us. So this is the evening of the Sunday that He rose from the dead. That morning Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20:1–18). But now He appears to all the disciples (the eleven apostles) at once. Notice three things: the doors are locked; the disciples are frightened; and Jesus comes to them and stands in their midst. Those three facts tell us three things we can know about how the risen Christ deals with us today.

1. The doors were locked. Jesus did not have to knock. He did not even have to open the door. He simply was there. And He wasn’t a ghost. Look at verse 20: “He showed them his hands and his side.” In another place he said, “Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). So he has a physical body. But not exactly like ours: the same, yet different. He was simply there, in spite of the closed doors.

Which means that today in your life, Jesus can go where no one else can go. He can go where no counselor can go. He can go where no doctor can go. He can go where no lover can go. He can reach you, and reach into you, anywhere and anytime. There is no place where you are, and no depths of personhood that you are which Jesus can’t penetrate.

Jesus' resurrection from the dead allows Him to do what no one else can do. There is no one else like Him in all the universe. He is alive, and He is the one and only God-Man. What he is capable of, you cannot imagine. And it is incredible to contemplate that all the complex layers of your life, which neither you nor anyone else can understand, are familiar territory to him.

2. They were afraid. Verse 19, “The doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.” Their leader had just been crucified as a threat to Caesar. Their fear is totally understandable. And into that fear Jesus comes. I want to draw your attention to this because this is the way I feel the need of risen, living Jesus most often. Through fear.

Fear that I won’t be prepared for what I’m expected to do. Fear that the church won’t prosper, or the class in the seminary won’t be attended, or the bible study class won’t help people. Fear that my children will not believe in Christ. Fear that I don’t do enough on our mission trips. Fear that I might drift into worldliness and uselessness.

And what Jesus is saying in this action is: I come to my own when they are afraid. I don’t wait for them to get their act together. I don’t wait for them to have enough faith to overcome fear. I come to help them have enough faith to overcome fear. And I testify after twenty years of being a Christian, this is still true. The risen, living Jesus is still doing this.

3. Jesus comes to them and stands in their midst. Verse 19: “the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them.” The point here is that He came right into the middle of their meeting. He did not come close to the outside wall and call out through the wall and deal with them as a distant deity. He wasn’t toying with their faith. He wanted them to see him and know him and believe in him and love him.

That’s what He wants for you today. And that’s what I want for you today. I want you to experience the living Jesus. To know him. To have him draw near into your life where no one else can go. To have Him help you in your fear the way no one else can help you. And to have him come close to you, not calling to you from a distance, but coming right to where you are. That’s what I pray happens in this service.

Three Gifts in What Jesus Says. So that’s the way he acts as the risen, living Christ. Now what does he say? And in this first appearance to the disciples he says three things. And these three things turn out to be three gifts to you: the gift of peace, the gift of power, and the gift of purpose. The opposite of peace is conflict. The opposite of power is weakness. The opposite of purpose is aimlessness.

Many, many lives are ruined by conflict, weakness, and aimlessness. Jesus did not come into the world and die and rise again to ruin your life, but to save it. And what we will see is that He saves us from ruining our lives by becoming himself our peace and our power and our purpose. I am praying that God will do this for you: Make Jesus your peace and your power and make Jesus your purpose.

So what did He say? Two times he said, “Peace be with you.” On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.”

Before Jesus says anything about power or purpose He wants to establish peace. The order here is really important. The peace that Jesus gives is before any of our empowered actions and our purposeful deeds. We don’t initiate peace with Jesus by our actions. He initiates peace with us. The apostle Paul explains it like this: “He [Jesus] himself is our peace, who has made us both one [Jew and Gentile] and reconciled us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility (Ephesians 2:14–16).

Jesus says, if you trust Me your hostility won’t be held against you. The wrath of God is turned away. That’s what Paul meant when he said in Ephesians 2:16, “Christ reconciled us both to God through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” All the hostility between God and us was absorbed on the cross. Here, look at my side and my hands. I made peace with these. Justice was satisfied with these. Peace between you and God (and Me) was established with these.

A Peace Accomplished. The peace that Jesus offers the disciples is peace that He accomplished when He died for them on the cross. That’s why in verse 20 it says, “When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.” I am the one who died. I am the one you abandoned. And I am the one who was “pierced for your transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). And the reason I can offer you peace is because by my blood I have covered all your sins.

Where Peace comes in your Life. So there are four relationships where the risen Christ brings peace into your life: 1. Peace between us and God. That’s the first meaning: He is standing there among them as a friend and helper, not a judge. That’s why God sent Him, so that God’s justice and wrath could be satisfied another way besides eternal punishment. God makes peace with us by substituting his Son’s suffering for our penalty. Now he comes to us as a loving Father.

2. Peace between us and others who are in Christ. To be reconciled to God is to be reconciled to all who are reconciled to God. No hostility vertically or horizontally. No racism. No ethnocentrism or sexism. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

3. Peace between us and our own souls. Peace with yourself doesn’t mean that you start seeing past sins as desirable. Peace doesn’t mean that past sins cease to be painful. But it means they cease to be paralyzing. The pain may not be taken away immediately, but the penalty is taken away immediately through Christ. And that makes it possible to heal and to move on with hope-filled life while you do.

4. Peace with the world. Yes, when Jesus died He did what needed to be done (Colossians 1:19–20) so that someday, in God’s time, all evil will be cast into outer darkness and the entire new creation will be full of peace and righteousness. “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:7). Peace with the world is an amazing achievement.

How Do We Receive This Peace? Everybody doesn’t have it. It’s a gift of God. We have to receive Him or walk away from Him. He is our peace. If we have the living Christ as your Savior and Lord, we have the peace that He gives, the peace that He is. “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Everything else is the effect of peace, not the cause. It is fruit, peace is the root.

Power by the Spirit. Jesus was going to pour out the Holy Spirit after He ascended into heaven (Acts 2:33). That happened about seven weeks after His resurrection. We read about it in the first chapter of Acts. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The work of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives is that he makes us able to do what we are simply not able to do on our own. He gives us power.

So here in John 20:22 Jesus acted out the parable, “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” He said in effect: realize that my breath, my life, my word will be in the Holy Spirit. In John 14:18 Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” The risen, living Jesus has come to us. He has sent us the Holy Spirit, His Spirit. He has breathed on us.

This person, this power is our only hope for accomplishing the purpose He has for us. And He gives that purpose in verse 21b: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” I want you to live in the world as my representatives, my ambassadors. I want you to take my peace and take my power, and glorify my Father the way I have (John 12:27-28).

Our Central Purpose for Existence. Jesus comes to us and gives us his peace with God. Then he gives us power to do the kinds of things that we as humans can’t do, like defeating our own selfishness, and loving other people, and treasuring Christ above all. And then with that peace and that power He gives us our central purpose for existence in verse 21b, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

I’m sending you to extend my peace and my light and my truth and my life in the world. I am going to my Father, but I give you my Spirit. I am the power in you. So go and glorify me in this world. That’s our great purpose, in the peace of God, by the power of God, to do the will of God for the glory of God, and for the good of others.

And if you are puzzled by verse 23, here’s what it means. It’s a good way to end this portion of Scripture. Jesus says to the disciples: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” What Jesus means is this: When you tell people about what I have done, speaking my word, about my work, in the power of my Spirit, I am the one speaking through you, so that if anyone believes your word, I forgive their sins. And if anyone does not believe your words, I don’t’ forgive them. And since you are my voice and my truth, I speak of you forgiving them, and you withholding forgiveness.

Which simply means that right now: what you decide based on this message from this fallible, sinful, human messenger will decide whether you are forgiven or not. As an ambassador of Christ, I urge you to believe in Jesus and thus to be reconciled to God and receive as a free gift his peace, his power, his purpose, in the name of Jesus, who is alive right now. This truly is the most important decision you can make in your life, Amen?

]]> Sun, 27 Mar 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160327 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/08t1026e imblog Acts 5:5-14

Acts 5:5-14 says, “When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you[a] sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

“10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. 12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,”

Killing people at the offering, frightening the people in the church and terrifying the people outside the church sounds strange. But as it turns out, that kind of divine action of bringing judgment on the church God used as a means to add more believers. This is the first sinful event in the history of the church. But this is not the first sin. There was always sin from the Day of Pentecost on because though they were redeemed, they were still sinful. But this is the first sin recorded in Acts.

The church was born on the Day of Pentecost. God is at work and something remarkable is happening. First, 120 believe. Then it’s 3,000, and then Peter preaches again and God adds another 5,000 men. Add the women and the children to that, and the church is 20,000 or so, and it’s all flourishing and joyful. Acts 4:32-37 ends with an amazing unity of the church. They were all, “one heart, one soul.” Everybody was willing to share what they possessed. Verse 34 says, “There was not a needy person among them.”

Against the background of all this wondrous work of God is this really devastating Sunday in the early church. By its nature it is the sin of hypocrisy that the church has to always recognize. It is exposed because the Lord exposes it. It normally survives for a very long time. In fact, in some cases, we don’t ever find this out because sometimes hypocrisy is so well-managed. By its nature, hypocrisy is hidden, it’s a disguise. But God hates hypocrisy, even in the early years of human history.

Hypocrisy should be exposed, and it should be judged, for the sake of the hypocrite and for the sake of the church. Many so-called churches today welcome many people who make a pretense of interest in Jesus Christ and never warn them about hypocrisy. The idea today is to make everybody feel comfortable and to welcome people who have only a superficial interest in Jesus. But that’s not God’s attitude towards hypocrisy. We need to have the hypocrite exposed for the church’s health sake.

Having superficially committed people in the church is detrimental. They may feel good about it, but it doesn’t help the church. It doesn’t advance the gospel effectively because it confuses people as to what a Christian really is. What you can see is not nearly as dangerous as what you can’t see. And hypocrisy literally takes the very power and testimony out of the church because, by design it tends to be invisible.

So let us look first at sinful pretense, Acts 5:1-2, “But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.” Against the beauty of what happened before is the word “but.” Two believers of that church lied to the Holy Spirit. They were hypocritical believers.

There is praise being heaped on the people making the sacrifice, and Ananias and Sapphira want to get in on this. So they decide they are going to sell a piece of property, and they make a public declaration that they are going to give all the proceeds to God, but this is a complete pretense. They are like Pharisees in Matthew 6:1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” The sin is not that they didn’t give everything. You don’t have to give everything. But it is a sin to lie about it.

They had vowed to the Holy Spirit to give everything, and this was a pretense before the congregation and before the apostles while they were secretly only giving some of it. They wanted spiritual status. They wanted to be honored and appreciated as others who had done this. They sought prestige. They wanted to be thought of as godly and generous and sacrificial, but they just wanted to appear to be giving up everything.

It’s trying to create the impression you’re something you’re not. You’re doing something you’re not, you’re giving something you’re not. Thus, did Satan move from the outside persecution to the inside? What did persecution do to the church? It empowered the church and expanded the church. The old saying, “The blood of the martyrs becomes the seed of the church,” is absolutely true.

So Satan was being counterproductive by persecuting the church. He’ll do it again and he’s done it through history, but a persecuted church is a purified church, and a purified church is a powerful church and a growing church. So Satan decides that his external work didn’t profit him much, so he goes inside the church to corrupt the church from the inside. What God hates is the sin of hypocrisy among believers.

So we see sinful pretense in the first two verses. Then we see the spiritual perception which comes quickly in verses 3 and 4, “Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.’”

Peter immediately saw the deception. How did he know that? The Holy Spirit is at work here, and he was given the ability to discern this. What Peter did was pretty bold on his part because everything in the church is going really well. Peter might have thought, “You know, it’s better that they sold the land and we got what we got. After all, Ananias and Sapphira are some of the wealthier people in our congregation. We want to be appreciative.” But those are the thoughts of a rationalizing compromiser.

Christians cannot be demon-possessed in the sense that demons take up a permanent residence in them, but they can be demon-influenced or Satan-influenced. Paul says in Ephesians 6:11-12, “Put on the whole armor or God, 12 because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of spiritual darkness and wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Ananias and Sapphira had given place to the devil. They were money lovers and they were greedy and they were also liars. But they were really glory-seekers, and that is so ugly. Glory-seekers pollute the church. Just be honest. Thirdly, there comes swift punishment. God moves fast to perform surgery. Cut out the hypocritical cancer from this beautiful creation, the body of Christ. The judgment is swift and terminal.

Acts 5:5, “When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.” You could say he died of a ruptured heart, or you could say God killed him, but whatever happened, he was so terrified at that moment that it was over right away. Sapphira was not there. She doesn’t show up until three hours later. Verse 6, “Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.”

That’s an illustration of how the Jews dealt with dead bodies. The young men take him out to wherever the appropriate place was, and they bury him. There elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Verse 7-8, “About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

Peter said to her in verse 9-10, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also. 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.”

Notice the question in verse 9, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Do you think you can deceive the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God? From the very beginning on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came, there were visible manifestations of the Spirit’s power. Languages were being spoken people didn’t know. There was a loud noise like a mighty rushing wind. There were tremors. There were miraculous signs and wonders being done at the hands of the apostles. It was very clear that the Holy Spirit was present and powerful.

Somebody might say, “Well, this is the end. There’s no hope for that church. People are going to run like mad. They’re going to flee.” Do you know that the first instruction to the church is to confront sin? That process is described in Matthew 18. But very few churches do that because they say that people will leave the church. If you confront sin people will run away and who are we to judge them anyway? But 1 Corinthians 5 says, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” if we do not do that.

So we learned about the ‘sinful pretense’ followed by the ‘spiritual perception’ of Peter which led to ‘swift punishment’ and that produced now the fourth thing, a solemn purging. The end of verse 5, “Great fear came over all who heard of it.” Great fear of God. And verse 11 says, “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” So twice, the same thing in verse 5 and in verse 11. This is a holy fear of God.

What do we learn from this? God hates the sins of the saints. They corrupt His church. God hates hypocrisy. God hates lying and God punishes sin. People died in the early church at the Communion table. There was a sin unto death. Purity is critical to the church, and critical to the power of the church and the testimony of the church. Now, we’re not perfect people, but we don’t want to be hypocrites.

The Lord will uncover sin, and we have to be involved in that. If your brother sins – go to him, take two or three witnesses, tell the church if there is no response, and pursue purity in the church. Did God’s punishment destroy the church? No. Verse 12, “The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.” There they are back in that place that we saw Peter with them in Acts 3. They are all back in one accord.

After the sin was dealt with, the corruption was removed and the hypocrites were dead; they were back to where they were before. The signs and wonders take place again. They’re all unified again. Verse 13, “No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.” Is that good? That’s contrary to church growth strategy isn’t it? But it can’t be a place where non-believers are comfortable. They didn’t have a church growth strategy. The Pastoral Epistles hadn’t been written yet.

The people had immense respect for their purity and their morality and their virtue. That’s what we want. We want the world to see our unity. We want the world to see our purity. We want the world to see that we are a group of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who confess Him as Lord and Master, and we are His loving, devoted slaves. He calls us to holiness, and we pursue that holiness.

So they will respect our unity and our purity. That’s the Lord’s design for a church, and it worked. Verse 14, “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” Who adds to the church? The Lord. Tolerance for sin, is making unbelievers feel welcome. But that is totally contrary to the very action of God Himself in the Book of Acts.

A real pastor, a true shepherd will not spare anyone. He will do it by the plan that God has ordained. Look at 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” You’d better examine whether you’re a true believer or not because when I come, it’s going to be a direct approach. I don’t care who you are.

In the Ananias story, because they were wealthy, usually they were the kind of people that leaders didn’t want to offend. But look what happened in regard to church growth. Acts 6:7, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” Acts 8:6, “And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did.”

Read in Revelation the letters to the churches, and you will notice how the Lord Himself says that when a church is impure, He may come and fight against that church with the sword out of His mouth. However at the same time, forgive others as we have been forgiven by Christ. It’s a place of the confrontation of sin, and also forgiveness, grace and restoration. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Mar 2016 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160320 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/y20eh567 imblog Acts 4:32-5:11

Open your Bible to Acts 4. This section actually records the loving, caring sacrificial unity of the church. That’s in the first part. And then when we come to Acts 5, it introduces to us the first sin in the church. We know the new church was born on the Day of Pentecost. They were days of fellowship. They were days of teaching sound doctrine. They were days of breaking bread around the Lord’s Table, and eating meals from house to house with fellow believers.

The testimony of converted souls was loud and clear. The result in the early weeks of the church, had been an explosion of believers, to the point that perhaps as many as 20,000 people have now come to faith in Christ, and gone through the waters of baptism. Everything at this point in the church is joyful, and upbeat, and glorious. And when persecution broke out, the church met it head on. And the church was triumphant, even in the face of that persecution.

God was real. Christ was alive and the Spirit’s power surged through them. They met their persecutors with courage and boldness. Never had the world seen days like these. Never before had the atonement for sin been offered. Never before had the resurrection of the redeemer taken place. Never before had forgiveness of sins been offered. Never before had the Holy Spirit taken up full residence in people. Never before had there been new natures implanted in redeemed souls.

It was glorious, and the people were literally on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit, and the sheer force of the truth of the gospel. But Satan was still active. His first acts against the church with persecution failed to quench the fire. Eternal purposes were being unfolded. Eternal power was being unleashed. And external pressure was like pouring gas on that fire. Satan then knew that if he was going to do damage he had to get on the inside of the church.

It’s in this section that Satan causes the first open incident of sin in the church. This is the beginning and sin has had a foothold in the church ever since. This is the reality that Satan works in the church. Jesus said that Satan would sow tares among the wheat. The first instruction that our Lord gave to the church was that, if someone is in sin, go to that person. If they don’t repent, take two or three witnesses. If they still don’t repent, tell the whole church, and that’s essentially the first duty given to the church.

Moral sin and doctrinal sin have plagued the church ever since. This is where Satan does his greatest damage. History would tell us that to persecute the church externally only causes the church to become purer and more powerful and more effective. So, Satan now works mostly inside the church. And I pray that as you hear this, that it will make you perhaps more alert, more wary, more thoughtful about the seriousness of sin in the church.

This passage also demonstrates the honesty of the Bible. It would seem that the ugliness of this sin might well have been left out. But God will not give us something that is false, and certainly not His church. The church is not perfect. It wasn’t perfect in its beginning, and it is certainly not perfect now. It is a hospital for people who know they are sick and also know where to find the cure. There is always sin in the church because the church is full of sinners.

And God took that early church with its sin, its sinners, and transformed the entire world. The fact that the Lord, from the very beginning, had to work with sinful people, gives us hope. People say often, “I don’t want to go to church because there are a bunch of hypocrites there.” My answer is, “That’s right, and there’s plenty of room for another one.” We would say that’s also true of Israel and the church, and even true believers are characterized legitimately as an assembly of redeemed sinners.

But before we get to Acts 5, let us look at sin into perspective in verse 32-35, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.”

The church gatherings were all joyful, loving, and unified. Here is the great illustration of that. Their unity and their love was genuinely sacrificial. How far would you got to meet somebody’s need? Are you prepared, if you own a piece of land, to sell your land and take the money, and hand it over to the church and say, “Do whatever you want with this money to meet the needs of people?” Are you prepared to do that? Loving unity should always mark the church.

Now, this became very practical. The church people owned land like Barnabas. They owned things. But people treated them as if they belonged to anybody who might need what they could provide. Look at verse 34, “There was not a needy person among them.” Amazing. How could that be? “For as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought of what was sold.” Wow! What would it take for you to sell your house to meet someone’s need? This is the spiritual grace that has literally engulfed these people.

Why did they do that? Because they trusted the apostles to distribute them. They didn’t want to make that decision. That’s what you do also, when you give to the church every Sunday, you lay that money at the feet of the pastor and shepherds who make a decision as to how best that is to be used. That’s a pretty amazing level of confidence. And it was all voluntary. Everybody sold everything, it all went into one pot, and they doled it out equally.

Look at Acts 5:4. Peter confronts Ananias about a piece of land. “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” They did not immediately sell everything and then distributed it to the people. People continued to own things. But whenever they saw a need, their sacrifice was great. Remember, there were thousands of people who came for the feast of Pentecost, when the church was born. They don’t want to leave because there is no church in their towns.

So you have lots of people with no homes, no jobs, who have abandoned Judaism. They are viewed as apostates and they are kicked out of the synagogue. They are basically outcasts that have to be cared for. Even the apostle Paul after this, travels throughout Asia Minor raising money to take back to give to the poor Jerusalem saints, many of whom never left. Some of whom gave everything they had away, and therefore had needs that had to be met.

Do you know that this is the Christian view of money? None of it really is ours. God does not say 90 percent is yours and a tenth is mine. It all belongs to God. It is God who gives you the power to get wealth. All of it is a stewardship of resources that belong to God. You belong to God. Your children belong to God. Your money belongs to God. Your abilities, your talents, your resources, they all belong to God, and they are all there to be used for His glory.

And when love was so compelling, so driving, people gave their stuff up easily. But this didn’t last, because much later 1 John 3:17-18 says, “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” So, already when you get to the end of the century, Christians are being selfish.

Then Luke, in writing this history, gives us an illustration, verse 36-37, “Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.” Now you know that Barnabas’ real name was Joseph. Barnabas was a nickname. It means Son of Comfort, or Son of Encouragement. He had the gift of coming alongside and strengthening people.

He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and full of faith. He actually became a co-pastor of the church in Antioch, in Acts 13:1. He was one of the group of co-pastors. We’ll learn more about him in the Acts 14 where he was called an apostle. Barnabas comes up again in Acts 15 in an argument about whether to keep John Mark who has been a disappointment to Paul. So Barnabas was a very important person.

Now back to Acts 4. Barnabas is a living illustration of what is going on. He sold property, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. We are talking about a significant amount of money to meet a special need. Amazing generosity. Barnabas is just one out of many that did that. He was Jewish, a Levite, attached to the service of the temple and he was significant. He gave out of the love of a pure heart, and he was sacrificial, really a model of what many others did.

So now we come to Acts 5:1-2, “But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.” The name Ananias means, “The Lord is gracious.” His wife’s name Sapphire actually can mean beautiful. They had watched all of this going on and they wanted to get in on some of the honor, so they sold a piece of property but kept back some of the price.

It says that Ananias did this for himself with his wife’s full knowledge. And bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. They are professed believers. We could even assume they are real believers. They are actually in communication with the Holy Spirit, as well as being strongly influenced by Satan. It says that they were real believers because of verse 32, “the congregation of those who believed.” It isn’t just the unbelievers in the church that sin; it’s the believers in the church that sin.

So they sell their property. Obviously, they publically stated that they brought the full price of the sale, but they kept back some of it, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Just as everybody else had done, they get in line to obtain honor for themselves. The sin is not that they didn’t give. The sin is not that they didn’t give enough. In the New Testament, there’s no amount prescribed. Their sin is in lying. God hates lying.

Verse 3, “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? “ Yeah, of course they lied to Peter and to John and to the other apostles. But they most of all lied to the Holy Spirit. And secret sin on earth is an open scandal in heaven. It is a lie that is intended to make them look spiritual. They thought that they would be applauded for their sacrifice. And at the same time, they could free up a little cash and stash it away.

That is hypocrisy, creating a deceptive perception of one’s spiritual character. Hypocrisy is not just a lie; it is living a lie. They are the ones who want to be elevated in the church, and they have been around a long time. They want people to think highly of them. They put on a façade. Is the church full of hypocrites? Absolutely. None of us, truthfully, none of us lives as we ought to live. None of us lives the Christ-like life. But neither should we pretend that we do.

What sin would you have picked to be the first sin that the Lord disciplined in the church? Maybe you would’ve picked immorality or stealing or some form of blasphemy. Maybe you would’ve picked some relationship characterized by anger, hostility and lack of forgiveness. Those are all part of life in the church. But the sin that the Holy Spirit places here to inaugurate our understanding of sin in the church is the sin of hypocrisy, pretending to be something you’re not.

Verse 4, “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” The first sin identified in the life of church is lying to God. Well, lying to men, sure. But who thinks that nobody will know if you lie to God? We cannot deceive Him. He knows what is in your heart. He knows your thoughts.

This is hitting the church at its most deep point. This is why 1 Peter 4:17 says, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And that judgment begins with the spiritual integrity of the church. If the church is to be exposed, let it first and foremost be exposed for its hypocrisy. That deadly, hypocritical reality in a church is a kind of leaven that leavens the whole thing.

Have you wondered why amongst the people in the church there are so many Christians in name only who only pretend to be real Christians. Look at what Christ says in Matthew 13:25-26, “but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.” Well, we will see the consequences of all this next week when we will look at the results and the impact. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Mar 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160313 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/374e7r52 imblog Acts 4:13-32

We are dealing with how to handle persecution and this our concluding study of these verses. The book of Acts records the life and times of the early church, from its birth through the early years of its growth and its spread to the whole world. So along with the birth of the church, we anticipate a reaction from the world.

In John 15:18, Jesus had warned by saying, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” John 16:2 says, “The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” So persecution comes in Acts 4 in the very early days of the church. Because of the great sermons of Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, the church grew and by this time, there were at least 20,000 people.

And opposition will come politically and religiously. Now the event that teed off the persecution is recorded in Acts 3. Peter and John stood on Solomon's porch and the healed man was standing between them when Peter preached a great sermon on Christ. He announced that their Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth that they had rejected their own Messiah and executed Him. And he indicted them for that. And then offered them salvation through the grace of God.

In response to this sermon and to the growth of this new faith in Jesus, there was a tremendous antagonism on the part of the leaders of Israel. And in Acts 4 that breaks out and it became more severe as we go through Acts, just as it did in the case of Jesus. Now the persecution in Acts was physical abuse, although Satan knows that we fall prey to the temptations and the persecutions in the areas of ego, reputation and pride.

Paul recognizes persecution and in Philippians 1:29 he says, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for his sake.” That is the response to the Christian who really showes his Christianity in the world. And he says in verse 30, “engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” Paul is saying, you are going to get what I got when I did it.

Acts 4:5-31 gives us principles to respond to persecution. And that is what we began to study last week. But before that let us look at James 1:2, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” Why? Verse 3, “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” God has a plan, He wants to make you patient. Verse 4, “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” God is bringing you to maturity.

The plan of God is that you be perfected and made mature. And there are really two things that bring you to maturity. Number one is the Word of God, 1 Peter 2:2, “long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” But number two, trials, persecution, suffering and problems. These two things are to bring you to spiritual growth and maturity.

James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” Persecution brings maturity and also reward. In 1 Peter 2:20 he says, “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” Doing good here means proclaiming Christ.

Glory is connected with persecution. 1 Peter 5:10 says, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” All through Peter he connects glory with suffering, first the suffering then the glory. That's part of growth into maturity. That is being where God wants you, proclaiming Christ by your life and your lips that sets up a reaction in the world by Satan and you understand it.

What happens if we are out there and the Lord leaves us? Romans 8:35-36 says this, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 2 Corinthians 12:10 says, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

In Philippians 2:17-18 Paul says, “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.” Paul considered persecution a blessing, because he was getting persecuted in order that others might hear about Jesus. We have to look at persecution as an opportunity to suffer for the sake of somebody else’s salvation.

There is another way Paul looked at his suffering in Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” Paul says in Romans 14:8, “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.” So this is all for you.

Now Paul says two things here. Number one, I suffer for your sake. But secondly, I am given the great opportunity of filling up in my flesh the afflictions that are meant for Christ. The world still hates Jesus. So that when we are persecuted, they are really persecuting Jesus Christ. And when a Christian stands in place of Jesus Christ and gets persecuted, he is really getting that which is directed at Jesus. That's what Paul means.

Now that's how much Paul loved Jesus. He said, I will take it all for Jesus. So He can just be up there in glory getting what He deserves, I'll stick around down here and I'll take it. I'll fill up in my body the afflictions meant for Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 1:5, Paul said, “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” And in Philippians 3:10, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

There are seven principles here to respond to persecution. Last week, we looked at the first three. Principle number one is to be submissive to it. Peter and John just willingly went along. God must have some reason. Second principle we saw last week was to be filled with the Spirit. Verse 8, "Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit." They didn't try to handle it in their own strength and develop their own strategies. They just yielded to the Holy Spirit.

Third principle, boldly use it as an opportunity to present Christ. Jesus had told them to go into the entire world to preach the gospel to everyone. And now they were given this opportunity at the Sanhedrin. And so Peter in verses 8-13 preaches Jesus. And he even indicts them for crucifying Him. And then in verse 12 he says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Now what was the effect? Verse 13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” They were shocked. How could you explain two unlearned amateurs handling a dispute with the Jewish high Supreme Court and coming out on top? These two guys had such assurance and confidence that is unbelievable in the face of possible death.

And they kept remembering that these guys had been associated with Jesus and what reminded them of it was the fact that they were doing the same thing that Jesus did. The thing that shocked the Jews about Jesus was this: He taught them as one having authority. And Peter too was teaching the same way.

Not only that, Peter and John had done a miracle just like Jesus. Another thing that Peter and John had done so well is in verse 11, handling the Old Testament. Jesus was the master at using the Old Testament and applying it. And they had done the same thing just as masterfully as Jesus did it, because they did it directly under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So the Jews were saying, it's obvious that these guys have been with Jesus.

That brings us to the fourth principle in responding to persecution, be obedient to God at all costs. Verses 14, “But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.” His legs are doing terrific, he has been standing for at least three hours. But what is interesting is that though they could not deny the miracle, they wouldn't accept that it was from God either. This is the blindness of sin.

Verse 15-16, “But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” So there was no way they could set it aside, and yet they were intent on rejecting it and getting rid of these people. That is unbelief in its hardest type.

Here is their decision, verse 17, “But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they brought them in, verse 18, “So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” Wow. The early church had to be commanded to be quiet and the modern church has to be commanded to preach the gospel.

But that is not acceptable, they are so bold. Verse 19-20, “But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” They don't cower away. They simply say we have a higher authority. There comes a point when you must be obedient to God. That is when we obey Christ and disobey the government.

Verse 21-22, “And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.” So they were afraid of the people. Persecution breaks out, but it doesn't break them. They remain obedient in the middle of it.

Number five, be more closely bonded together. Verse 23, “When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.” Severe trials bind us together for the common love and security of the body. If we really confronted the world, there will be community.

The sixth one, is praising the Lord. This is the reaction to persecution, verse 24-26, “And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed.”

Verses 27-28, “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” So much is happening all over the world that is against believers, but here we see the faith in God that we all should have, because He has planned everything already and He knows what is going to happen.

Verse 29-30, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” They asked for all boldness. They didn't pray for the Lord to smash their enemies. They were looking for not an escape, but for power.

How many times have we been afraid to speak up and to witness for Christ? Do not be afraid of what people think about you, the only thing we need to be concerned about is what God thinks about us, right? So ask the Holy Spirit for boldness in every situation, because He will give you the right things to say and do for His glory. We are just an instrument in God’s hands.

So God did it in verse 31, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” God answered their prayer. And the effect of persecution is the opposite of what Satan wanted. Verse 32 says, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”

Now some of you have never experienced this, because you have never lived a godly life. A few of you will live godly, and you will suffer persecution, and if you are submissive, Spirit-filled, and boldly use it as an opportunity, are obedient at all costs, you will bless the Lord and God will give you greater boldness and victory, and the glory and the reward and the joy that comes with it. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160306 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/t0njau70 imblog Acts 4:1-12

We come now to Acts 4. Persecution is an intrinsic part of Christianity and always has been. And here we have some truths given to us in the example of the apostles as they handled persecution. Actually persecution is a blessing to all churches and all believers. Five times in 11 years the church in Jerusalem was persecuted on an organized basis. And here we learn about the beginning of these persecutions that are still going on today, some 2,000 years later.

During the first 300 years of the church's existence there were ten major persecutions. Beginning with Stephen and extending nearly to all of the apostles, untimely death became the common way to go, if you were a Christian. The first persecution broke out under Nero Domitius, the sixth Emperor of Rome and about the time A.D. 67, which is shortly after the church began.

That was only the beginning of what the church experienced. And Satan's persecution, as time has progressed, has become all the more subtle. It is not obvious how it is that Satan persecutes today. But today Satan's techniques are apparently much more successful. Now this is the beginning of the steady stream of persecution that has gone on since the commencement of the church. In one way or another the Christian church is always under persecution.

Persecution is not always political. It is sometimes personal. It is sometimes religious. It sometimes comes from illegitimate Christianity. The greatest persecutor of evangelical Christianity now is probably liberal Christianity, at least here in America. Satan usually directs the persecution today not at the physical body, but at the ego. He directs his persecution at pride or reputation or status, etc. And it is really very effective.

So today the persecution doesn't make heroes out of anybody. And while the church today is not being killed physically, the church has succumbed to a kind of living spiritual death. The perfect illustration is the church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1, “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

Satan has killed the church in terms of its spiritual effect without ever having to kill the Christians in it. In fact, by letting them all live in a kind of godless Christianity, he has a greater effect than if he wiped them all out. And so Satan whose persecution in the past has slaughtered Christians physically, has found it much more effective to kill the church by making it complacent, indolent, fat, rich, socially oriented and accepted by the world.

Now Jesus in John 15:18-19 warned the church to expect persecution, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” When a Christian loves the world, Satan has accomplished a greater persecution than if he had killed that guy, because he has destroyed his positive effect. In fact, he has made him a negative.

And Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Now that is a very clear statement. You say well, I have been a Christian and I have not suffered persecution. Read the verse again, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." So then if you are not suffering persecution, it is because you are not living a godly life in Christ Jesus.

If you live the life in Christ that God intends you to live, you will by the very nature of that life be in opposition to the world and the world system. If you are not suffering some persecution, you have either fallen right into the flow of the worldly system so that they don't know the difference or they haven't discovered yet who it is that you really are. You have hidden it well. But when you begin to live openly for God in the world then you will confront the world and persecution will automatically follow.

We see this in the early church. If you really live a Christian life, the world will be drawn to you, to the loving nature of your person. But as soon as they find out what you believe, then all of a sudden that which draws them to you, unless they come to Christ, turns to be a negative. The early church in Acts 2 and 3, looked real positive. The world was amazed at them and they found favor with all the people. Then suddenly the people found out who the church believed in and everything changed fast.

Now in Acts 3, Peter had gone with John to the temple and there he had healed the lame man. A crowd had gathered together in the courtyard. Peter and John stood in Solomon's portico and in between was the healed man when Peter began to preach. And he preached a powerful message regarding Jesus as Messiah or the Christ. And he indicted Israel for executing Christ. He closed with an invitation to them in verse 19, "repent and be converted."

You see he confronted the world. He stood up in the middle of their temple where they were doing their religious duties and he said this is wrong, and he confronted them face to face. Now that's the kind of confrontation that brings hostility. But that is the kind of confrontation that God expects us to be involved in. It is not a lame message in order to protect our ego, our status and our prestige.

The response to what Peter’s message we see in Acts 4:4, “But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” Now that is what we are trying to have happen. If we do not say anything, not only do we not suffer, but nobody gets saved either. You say well if I do that, I am liable to get really messed up. That's right. You are liable to get messed up and somebody else is liable to get saved. And our lives are all expendable my friends.

The total membership role of the men in the church at that moment was five thousand. So in addition to that, they were probably at least another five thousand women and children. The church grew so fast from this point on that it was not possible to keep an accurate account. But many believed and that was the reaction. Now that was worth the price that Peter paid.

Now let's look at Acts 4:1-2, “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”

Look who is involved. It says, the priests who were to represent God, which shows you where the priesthood had gone. The second person that we meet is the captain of the temple police. Here is the political opposition. Now the Roman government was very tolerant, but against public disorder they were merciless. Then we meet the Sadducees, the power sect in Israel. They were the high priestly family.

They were a small group, but had great political influence in Israel. They believed that only the written law was binding and not the oral tradition. So that none of the rabbinical laws were binding that the Pharisees lived and died by. They also believed there was no resurrection of the body. Thirdly, they did not believe in the existence of angels and the spirit world. And lastly they believed that man was the master of his own destiny so they did not believe in God’s power.

These religious liberals were very angry that “they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” Number one, verse 2 said, "they taught the people." They believed that only they had the right to teach. Look at verse 13. "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marveled." Unlearned means that they didn't know the sacred writings and the Jewish law. These guys are not even Jewish theologians.

And the second word "ignorant" means that they are uneducated amateurs. And to make it even worse, they were from Galilee which was the most backward area. And they were mad because Peter opposed their theology. Peter preached Jesus and through Jesus, His resurrection and that they hated. They had determined that Jesus was a blasphemer and here Peter was back announcing all over town that Jesus was the Messiah and you all have killed your Messiah.

And thirdly, they didn't like the resurrection idea. Peter kept announcing that Jesus was alive. That is a scary thought because what would prevent Him from bringing about the vengeance that they justly deserved? And they knew they were hypocrites. And so they reacted. Verse 3, "They arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.” So three hours have gone by before they arrested them.

So the persecution began but at the same time five thousand men believed. Imprisonment didn't nullify their effect and it didn't prevent the progress of the gospel. This was the first instance in which persecution has only led to the extension and the establishing of the church rather than destroying it. It has brought it growth. Trial and persecution on a whole church-wide level is God's way of maturing His whole church.

Persecution results in real growth for many reasons. First because it strips off all of the dead weight. If people have to lay their lives on the line for Jesus Christ, then the only people that stay are willing to do that, right? The quickest way to get rid of the tares is just to make the wheat pay the price of total discipleship and the tares will just drop off because they are not really that committed.

Now watch seven principles in reacting to persecution. Number one, if persecution comes, be submissive. Verse 3. "And they arrested them and put them in custody." Does it say that Peter and John resisted and a brawl ensued? No, they just put them in jail overnight. They knew that their arrest was in God's hands. Verse 5-6, “On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.”

The scribes, the elders, and the rulers, along with the high priests made up the Sanhedrin. This is the Supreme Court of the Jews. And even in the Roman times, they had the right to arrest. It had 70 members and then the high priest was ex-officio President, so there were 71. And it included the priests and the scribes, who were the experts in the law. And the elders who were from the people. And it also included people from priestly family.

Now they got together in their Sanhedrin council and they brought in Peter and John. Verse 7 says, “And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” So God had just given them the wonderful opportunity to preach to the Sanhedrin. There was no way possible to preach to those men except this way. And that is why we must be submissive in persecution.

What a question. By what power and by whose authority? Just exactly the question that set the stage for Peter to preach. The second principle in dealing with persecution is, be filled with the Spirit. Verse 8-9, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed.”

It is simply submission, I submit to you Holy Spirit. Every Christian has within him the Holy Spirit. He is there to empower us, and as we yield to His power that power is released. Peter and John found themselves out of step with the ongoing pattern of belief. They collided hard and they didn't run and hide. They stood there. They submitted and they were filled with the Spirit. They were victorious.

Verse 10, “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.” Peter first establishes the injustice of the persecution by stating that all they had done was a good deed in verse 9. And then in verse 10 he announces the facts boldly. He doesn't back off at all on the indictment of Israel for executing Christ.

The principle is to never accommodate the gospel by deleting what offends somebody. And then as if to dig a deeper hole for them, in verses 11 and 12, he quotes Psalm 118:22 right out of their own prophecy and concludes, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

That is a prophecy of the death and resurrection of Messiah. And the cornerstone of a building that wasn't perfect would be thrown away because everything else in the building would be imperfect all the way up. So the prophecy says that Jesus is the cornerstone, but the builders rejected it thinking it was imperfect. But God would bring it back and make it the cornerstone. That's exactly what happened with Jesus. They rejected Him. But God raised Him from the dead and created a new temple, Ephesians 2:20, which is the church.

And Peter is saying in effect people if you don't turn to Jesus you will be damned. There is no other way. People always accuse Christians of being narrow minded. Unfortunately, the word of God is followed and it is always right and anything that contradicts it is wrong. So be submissive, be Spirit-filled and boldly use it as an opportunity to preach the gospel. That's the first three ways to be victorious over persecution. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Feb 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160228 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/46gkonwl imblog Acts 3:19-26

We are going to continue to study the conclusion of Peter's sermon in Acts 3:19-26. It is preached in Jerusalem in the temple courtyard in front of a multitude of people who have been gathered by a miracle of the healing of the lame man. And Peter is preaching and exalting Jesus Christ and indicting Israel for the execution of their Messiah.

So Peter concludes his message in verse 19 with the words, "Repent therefore and be converted". Now that's really the climax of his message but it is not the end in the sense of its appeal since it continues through verse 26. And it would have been easy for us to assume that God would have brought final judgment upon Israel. But that is not how God operates because our God is a God of mercy and a God of grace.

Now Peter's message is very clear, it is very powerful but beyond all of those qualities that we see in the first 8 verses, the most important feature is the statement of verse 19, for that is God's grace in action. God is lovingly patient and God is forgiving and Peter says, "He is not willing that any should perish." And He tenderly calls men to Himself, even men who have been their whole life long against Him.

And this grace reminds me of the life of Jeremiah, there were forty years of Jeremiah's ministry. And it was a ministry of judgment, he was announcing the destruction of Jerusalem and God kept delaying it for these forty years. And that is a parallel of what we have here, for Jesus being crucified, judgment didn't come for forty years later. Not until 70 AD that Jerusalem was destroyed and Judaism was wiped out.

Now the book of Acts is in this particular historical interval. God is in that grace period of forty years in connection with Israel. And He has postponed judgment for forty years and during these years He leaves open the option for Israel to come to the Messiah. The book of Acts, then, covers those forty years and has much to say about the church but also has much to say about Israel.

Even though the church has already been formed its unique identity, God is still dealing with Israel. And God is really through Jesus Christ, through the early apostles holding out the same offer He held directly through the mouth of Christ when He first arrived, when Jesus first came preaching, "Repent for the kingdom is at hand"--a kingdom for Israel.

And now in verse 19 we see the conclusion. And Peter calls them to just do two things: repent and be converted. One is active; the other one is passive. If they instead of determining that Jesus is a blasphemer, a mocker and no Messiah, will reverse their decision see Him as Lord, God and their Messiah, God will change and convert them. So Peter cries to Israel from the bottom of his heart to repent.

Now Peter doesn't leave it at that because in the remaining verses he gives them five reasons why they ought to repent. There are five exciting things that will happen if Israel repents. Number one, their sin will be forgiven. Verse 19 says, "Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out". Now we studied the word blot out last week and we found that it meant totally removed.

In Col. 2:13 the Bible says He has forgiven us all our trespasses, something that was not possible for the Old Testament believer. They never had a freedom from guilt, because as soon as they offered a sacrifice they would go out and sin again. There was none of that freedom that we have of Jesus taking our guilt of sin to the cross and redeems us forever. So Peter says you can have your sins forgiven if you will turn to Jesus.

Second reason, not only will your sins be forgiven but the kingdom will come. Oh, what a promise this is. Look at verse 19-20, "Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.” The times of refreshing cannot come unless you repent and be converted.

Now what are the times of refreshing? That is a reference to the kingdom, the earthly millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ. The Bible both Old and New Testament indicates to us that Jesus will reign on earth for a long time. And in Revelation it is a thousand years that Christ reigns on earth. In 2 Samuel 7, David was promised that he would have one of his own seed sit on the throne in Jerusalem and reign in a kingdom.

They have always waited for when the Messiah is going to set up His kingdom. And when finally their Messiah came, they rejected Him and God said, that forfeits it, they cannot have the kingdom if they will not have the King. And so Peter says repent in order that the kingdom might come. That is the point. They had to repent before the kingdom could come.

And let us look at the term 'times of refreshing' for just a moment and show you what significance it has. This phrase, times of refreshing, is not just some undetermined era, no it a fixed, set, predetermined time that God has placed in His own plan and yet it depends upon Israel's repentance. That is the same paradox between sovereignty and human will that you find everywhere in Scripture.

Now it's called the times of refreshing. To the Jew that was very important. They have been persecuted throughout all its history. The Jews have been mistreated all through the years partly due to their own failure to recognize Christ and so God has chastised them in this way because of their sin. And Israel is longing for the time when they can go somewhere and rest.

Notice verse 21, “Whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” "For restoring all the things", means that everything reverts back to what God meant it to be in the beginning.

Isaiah 11:6-8, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.”

You see, the whole animal curse is reversed and natural enemies cease to be. Verse 9-10, “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” Who's the root of Jesse? Jesus Christ.

"Resting place shall be glorious", that's the ‘times of refreshing,’ it is a direct reference to the kingdom. Look at Isaiah 35:1, “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.” The reason the desert is so dry is because it's cursed. The desert is going to become fertile like the most fertile places in Israel. And then he says, verse 5, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped". Everyone is going to be healed at the kingdom.

God sends the kingdom and His promised blessing. But even though it is a sovereign thing from God's viewpoint, from Israel's viewpoint it depends on their conversion. Now when it says ‘all things’ it means just that. There are so many things going to be changed in this kingdom. Everything' going to be restored to what it was, everything. And all or this is taken from Scripture.

This is all from Revelation 5 on. Remember the Father sitting on the throne and in His right hand He has a scroll with seven seals and that scroll is the title deed to the earth. John begins to weep because there's nobody there to unroll it and see what it says. All of a sudden one of the elders stands up and says the Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy, the Lamb of God to unroll the scroll and Jesus steps up and He unrolls the scroll and step by step He takes back the earth. And there is the record of the rest of it till Revelation 19.

Now the first time the Jews forfeited it by their rejection and their rejection still remains when Peter preaches. And when Israel turned from the Messiah, Jesus turned from them at that point. It's a sad thing but God is still gracious and even later on here in the book of Acts He comes back for a second invitation to Israel. It is the same standing offer, repent and you can still have the kingdom even though you executed the King.

In Luke 19:43-44 it says, “For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” And then Luke 21:24, “They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

Jesus said, since you turned your Messiah away judgment is coming. But even with the promise of judgment He still extends grace. It is clear in prophecy that there are three steps involved prior to the kingdom. Step one is the restoration of Israel back to the land. It's in Ezekiel 36 and 38, and also in Luke 21, Mark 13 and Matthew 24 and 25. Secondly they have to repent in their hearts. Thirdly the kingdom comes. Beloved, do you realize that we step one has already happened? God will redeem them during the tribulation and the church is taken away before that happens.

Peter says not only should you repent because your sins will be forgiven and the kingdom will come but thirdly, the Messiah will also return. Verse 20, “that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.” And so the Messiah's coming was always connected with the kingdom and the kingdom was always connected with Israel's salvation.

The church age will end when the church is taken away. And after that there is a seven-year period called the tribulation. Daniel 9:24-27 explains it. Israel is redeemed during that seven-year period, and it is immediately followed by the kingdom. Because once Israel is redeemed the kingdom can come. Someday they will. Praise God. Jesus cannot come until they say, “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 23:39)

Zechariah 12:10 says, "I'll pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for Him.” Do you know that God is talking here? Now some people don't believe that Jesus is God. But it says right there that they pierced Me and shall mourn for Him. There's a Trinitarian designation right there.

And then in verse 21, "which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the age began". All your prophets have been telling you this all along. Have you read Zechariah lately? Peter is not preaching a new message, he is just saying to them why don't you listen to your own prophets? They told you the kingdom couldn't come without you accepting the King.

Now there's a footnote here in verse 21 which is a definition of biblical inspiration. You want to know how the Bible was written well here it is. Middle of the verse, "Which God has spoken". Who spoke? God. What did He use? The mouth of all His holy prophets. This is how the Bible was written. No prophet was a speculative theologian, prophets were messengers who delivered a message direct from God.

Peter says this is a good illustration. Verses 22-23, “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.” Peter uses Moses for two reasons, the greatness of Moses and the fact that Moses was the oldest prophet Israel had. This is out of Deuteronomy 18:15 and 19.

In verse 23 Peter says, "that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people". You can't have any blessing let alone the kingdom if you don't accept the King. What a powerful statement. And so Peter uses Moses to show them they need to repent in order to avoid judgment. Now the phrase 'a prophet like me' was familiar to the Jews, they knew that their Messiah would be like Moses.

Then in verse 24 Peter says, “And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.” You can find every detail about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Jesus even said to the Jews, why don't you study the Scriptures they speak of Me. They had enough evidence. But the Jews didn't believe their own prophets, you just killed them.

If you repent the promised blessing will be realized. Verse 25, “You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” You are the sons of the prophets and the covenant in the truest way because all the prophesies and all the covenants came to pass in their lifetime in Christ.

Well I'm not a Jew what does this say to me? It says the very same thing. You better change your mind about Jesus and then you can receive all the blessing of God because every blessing promised to Israel is passed on to us in Christ. I pray no one will leave this evening who doesn't know Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Feb 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160221 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/n4t00lwc imblog Acts 3:19-26

Beginning at verse 19, Peter continued his sermon, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.”

“23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

This is the conclusion of Peter's second sermon. And the Lord's unfinished work is preaching the gospel which He began to do, and not the work of redemption which He finished. So the church was equipped to preach and to teach and to go forth from the place that Christ left. In the early years they were all commissioned to preach and they all did. But Peter was especially commissioned to be the apostle to the Jews.

He had already preached a great sermon on the day of Pentecost and now in Acts 3 Peter preaches again and this time his theme is again that Jesus Christ is exalted and Israel indicted. And any man who is not responding to Christ is indicted in this sermon. Now the Holy Spirit performed a miracle to gather the crowd again. Here is the miracle of the healing of the lame man to confirm the Word so that men would believe the message.

And as Peter starts to preach, in Solomon's portico, he has John on the other side and in the middle is the lame man who was made whole. Now Peter's theme in verse 13-18 was the same theme as all apostolic preaching--exalt Christ and indict those who reject Him. And in his exaltation of Christ he presents Christ by six different names. Each one of those names were names in the Jewish mind would relate to Messianic prophecy and Peter is saying, this is your Messiah.

Peter says you denied Him, delivered Him, you desired Him not, you destroyed Him. So in just that brief section, he with great power presents Christ in His majesty as the Messiah and indicts Israel for what they did to Him. And this is a classic example of the right apostolic application of the gospel compared to the need of man.

But Peter doesn't stop there, gently he says in verse 17, “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” They were not ignorant in crucifying Christ, they did that openly but they didn't know that Jesus was their Messiah. As long as they were in rebellion towards God they would never understand Christ as their Messiah. So because they were ignorant, God holds them only guilty of manslaughter, not premeditated murder and He extends grace to them.

And then Peter moves fast to his conclusion in verse 19, "Repent therefore and turn back". Repent on the basis of what? First, on the basis that you killed your Messiah, you have got to repent. Secondly, on the basis that God will be gracious, accept it. So repentance is based on two things: their deed and attitude toward Christ and God's attitude toward them in offering forgiveness.

And this brings us to two important biblical doctrines: the doctrine of repentance and the doctrine of conversion. First of all, what is repentance? The Greek word has to do with changing your mind. It means turning around, a one hundred-and-eighty degree turn, all the way around to the opposite direction. To repent then, is to change your mind.

Let us look at an illustration in Matthew 21:28-31, “A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.”

Now pull the word repentance right out of the verse 29 and you have got the meaning of repentance, “He said I will not but afterward he changed his mind and went.” That is repenting. Peter is saying to Israel, reverse your conclusion regarding Jesus Christ because you are wrong and we have all the evidence to prove it.

Now there was much involved in reversing their decision. The nation Israel had decided that God's will for them was a self‑generated righteousness. They tried to live the best way possible to please God. And that whole system of legalism was manipulated and maintained by the Pharisees. And if the Jew kept the three hundred and sixty‑five negative commands and the two hundred and fifty positive commands, he was safe and he was righteous. They thought that's what God wanted.

The apostles came along and said, you have got to change your attitude about what God wants, because that is not what God wants. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, if you have even thought of sin in your heart, you have already sinned. You cannot keep God's laws. Romans 3:20 says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight.”

And Paul told them to repent and receive free righteousness through faith in Jesus. All you need to do is turn away from your system of legalism and turn to Jesus Christ, receive Him by faith and God imputes His righteousness to you. We will see more about this later. You see it is only Jesus who can make you righteous. That is Acts 20:21.

And the same gospel message we give to anybody today. Whatever it is in your life to please God if it doesn't involve faith in Jesus Christ, then turn around because you are going to a dead end. Now God's design for men is that they repent, but it isn't that simple. God knows that there needs to be some prodding along the way of life. And God certainly uses things to prod us into repentance.

There are at least five things that God uses to bring men to repentance. Number one is knowledge. God wants that they change their minds about being self-righteous, and change their mind about Jesus just being a good teacher. God demands total righteousness; and God says you can have that only by faith in Jesus Christ. God has revealed certain things that if they know them, they should respond.

For instance in Matthew 11:21 God was going to judge two cities in Galilee, He says, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” God did certain things in the midst of certain people to cause repentance.

God has done many miracles and they have been designed to bring men to Him. Jesus was doing miracles to bring men to Himself. And the apostles also were doing miracles in the early years of the church to bring men to Jesus Christ. Miracles were signs to bring men to Christ and the knowledge of these signs was to cause men to repent.

The second thing designed by God, is sorrow for sin. Have you ever done something wrong and then you felt bad? Why does God want to make us feel guilty all the time? It's because it's a good thing to remember our mistakes because hopefully we will not do them again. This is God's gentle reminder. You sin and your conscience leads you to being sorry for sin.

Don't ever equate sorrow with repentance. There are a lot of people sorry for sin. You know a lot of people think that being sorry for your sin is repentance. But that is not repentance at all. There are a lot of people sorry for sin who are not saved because they do not turn from sin. That is what's important. Look at 2 Corinthians 7:9, “As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting.”

The third thing that God has devised to bring men to repentance is goodness. Romans 2:4 says, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” God has made a world where man can know goodness and yet men despise God's goodness. Matthew 5:45 says, “For He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Fourthly, Revelation 3:19 says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Do you know why God is rebuking you and chastening you by various trials? He wants to turn you around. God sometimes puts us through really serious crises to bring us to change. That happened in my own life.

And it was chastisement that God had to use in my life. And so I want to always warn people, if you see the goodness of God and you have the knowledge of the truth and you have a sense of guilt about your sin, don't wait until God has to chastise you. If God wants you He will get you and the pain is real.

God uses a fifth thing to bring men to repentance and that is final judgment. Acts 17:30-31 says this, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.” Don’t always talk about the positive things. The message of judgment is all over the Scripture and it must be preached because it is designed by God to lead men to repentance.

Remember how Israel reacted to judgment preaching in Matthew 21:32, “For John (the Baptist) came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” So Jesus says in verse 43, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

That's a strong message. Verses 45-46 say, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that He was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.” They tried to kill Him. God did everything and yet they never did repent.

The second doctrine, in verse 19 is conversion, which means to turn back. And it's used in the New Testament of a sinner who turns back to God. Now let us look to a definition of repentance in relation to conversion. Let's imagine conversion as a total circle and split the circle in half. Half of it is repentance and half of it is faith, the whole circle is conversion. Repentance is turning toward God and faith is receiving Christ.

But notice, it is passive, repent and be converted. You cannot convert yourself. Have you ever heard people say, “Well I used to be a Catholic but I converted. You can't convert yourself, you can only be converted. That is an act of God. To begin with you turn around from sin, but faith in Jesus Christ is an act where God places faith in you to change you into His child. So both repentance and faith both make up the total which is conversion.

Peter then gives five reasons why men ought to repent. Five reasons why Israel ought to repent. Let's just look at the first one in verse 19, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” Now next week we will consider the other four but let's look at this one for a moment. Under the Old Covenant, sin just didn't get blotted out, it only got covered up for a while.

And until Jesus Christ came nobody's sins were blotted out, they remained right there on the list and God covered them for those who believed in Him, offered the sacrifices that expressed their faith. Only Christ could blot them out. God said in Isaiah 43:25, “I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” The word 'to blot out' literally means to wipe the writing of the papyrus.

God keeps a record of every time an individual broke one of God's ordinances. It's as if God in heaven has a list of every sin that every man ever commits. Did you know that the dead when they rise at the great white throne will be judged out of the books? Can you imagine how long your list and mine must be?

How do we pay it off? Death. But you know the wonderful thing about that list? We don't have to die the death that is the wages of sin. Who did it for us? God blotted it out, how? "By nailing Jesus who took our sins to the cross." What is the wages of sin? Death. And Jesus did it all for all time.

Well, I'm still sinning every once in a while. That doesn't matter, your sins were all in the future when He died and every one of them was already there and He erased them all. Remember 1 John 1:9? "He keeps on cleansing us from all sin." God does not see one single sin because you are in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Feb 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160214 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/9en5v92q imblog Acts 3:11-18

Peter preaches in Acts 3 and this is a marvelous sermon. And he is going to talk about the names of Jesus. Peter preached in Acts 2 on the first day of the church's birth; he preaches again a few days later in Acts 3; and in Acts 4, he preaches again. Peter is commissioned by God to be the apostle to the Jews, to the circumcised ones, to Israel, to declare Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the Messiah.

And the results are exciting as the church is born and at the conclusion of his first sermon there are 3,000 who come to Christ. After his second sermon there are 5,000 men numbered among believers, in addition to women and children. And so under the ministry of Peter the church is born and begins to grow rapidly. His sermons are about Jesus Christ and they are about sin.

But in this sermon in Acts 3, he focusses on the name of Jesus Christ. In Acts 3:6, he said to the lame man, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." And then in verse 16, he tells the Jews who are now listening to his sermon, “And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

This is the subject of his preaching. That name of which God says is above every name. He is the theme of every sermon preached by the apostles and the theme of every gospel message and of every messenger of God throughout the history of the church. And in fact, Peter said boldly and specifically in Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Thirty-three times in Acts reference is made to “that name”.

Jesus is the single most important figure in the history of the universe. All blessings are found in His name. You may think that the human names are important and they might be if you are sent to go ask a favor of somebody and you tell them that Joe, Mr. Important, sent you, you will probably get what you want. But that does not work with God. God responds only to one name, Jesus Christ who said in John 14:6, "No man comes to the Father but by Me." That is the only name that gives you access to God.

As we have seen the Holy Spirit confirmed the preaching of Peter by miracles and signs to prove that the message was indeed divine. In Acts 2 first of all, the Spirit of God designed that miracle of languages when they all began to speak about the wonderful works of God in the native languages of the listeners. And because of that the crowd gathered together shocked at the divine nature of such a miracle. And it was in that against that backdrop that Peter preached the name of Jesus Christ.

Then in Acts 3, the Holy Spirit does the same thing again. Before Peter begins to preach and announce the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit allows them to bless that lame man with the gift of healing in the name of Jesus Christ. Again this act of God gathers the crowd in wonder and amazement. Peter then preaches his message that was confirmed as divine by that astounding miracle.

And this is exactly what Hebrews 2:4 says, “God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.” So as we come to Acts 3:12-26, which is the message itself, we must be aware that all that happened in Acts 3 is a testimony of the work of the Holy Spirit. He makes the miracle happen and He gives Peter every word that Peter speaks. Peter and John are simply around to be used.

Now with that as the backdrop we then begin to see the sermon. Verse 11, “While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.” Now, before we come to the sermon in verse 12, let's look at the introduction. Well, the Holy Spirit has already provided the living illustration of the lame man who followed Peter and John.

Verse 12, “And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?” They were aware that the crowd was staring at them thinking those two are just a couple of fishermen from Galilee. Peter now is about to change their focus to Christ because he had said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Peter said we didn't do it, this is all God's doing. This is hard for them to understand because they did not believe that Jesus was of God. Yet it was obviously done in Jesus' name wasn't it? Peter calls them "Men of Israel," which is the most courteous way you can address the Jewish people. And in fact, he even tells them in verse 25, you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant. God is not yet through with Israel. They are only temporarily blinded as Paul says in Romans 9, 10, and 11.

And then Peter indicts them for their bad attitude toward Jesus. This is the main theme in Acts 3:13-18. He is presenting Jesus by six names, six different titles of the 208 titles that He has. And as he presents these six names, at the same time he presents six statements about each name. Peter calls Jesus first Servant, then Jesus, the Holy One, the Righteous One, Author of Life, and then in verse 18, Christ. Those are the six names.

The first statement and the last statement are by God and the middle four are how men treated him. First the Servant dignified and then lastly Christ declared. God dignified Him and declared Him to be Christ. But in the middle, look what men did. Jesus was delivered up. The Holy One denied. The Righteous desired not. The Prince of Life destroyed. So while Peter is presenting Jesus as Messiah, he at the same time is indicting Israel for being opposed to God and for denying and rejecting their own Messiah.

Let us begin in verse 13, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus.” Peter is tying it all into Israel. This is our God. And so he uses all the right terms. God is also the God of all men, but God is especially the God of covenant promise with Israel.

And Peter wants them to know that he is in continuity with all the Old Testament prophets. He is declaring the same God they serve. Now look at the term ‘servant’ for just a moment and see what it says about Jesus. The term servant is a reference to an ambassador. Jesus serves God as an ambassador commissioned from heaven to earth to represent him. That's exactly what the Messiah is.

And when He came into the world, He repeatedly declared that He was indeed a servant of God. Now let me just pull two passages. Isaiah 42:1 says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” And in Isaiah 52:13 it says, “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.”

Jesus also claimed to be the servant of Isaiah's prophecy. Matthew 12:15-18 says, “Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.” The Word of God says Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.

Jesus was serving God. He came to die because that was God's plan. John 6:38 says, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” But you know He was in service to us as well. In John 13:4-5, He teaches all of us how to serve, “He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

And afterwards Jesus says in verse 13-16, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”

All right, let's look at the second name, Jesus. In Matthew 1:21 the angel said, “And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The word Jesus comes from the Old Testament name Joshua. It means salvation of the Lord or it means Jehovah Savior. Joshua caused the people to serve the Lord in all his days, but he couldn't save them. But our Jesus preserves His people in holiness forever and is able to keep them from falling and present them faultless.

He is the Savior God, the deliverer and yet men delivered Him, that's how twisted they were. The one God dignified as their deliverer, they denied and killed as an imposter. In verse 13 Peter continues, “whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.” You did it. Five times Pilate didn't find any fault in Him. Matthew 27:25 says, “And all the people answered, “Let His blood be on us and on our children!”

Verse 14, “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.” The term the Holy One describes Jesus and it means ‘separated unto God’. Israel didn't want to know that He was the Holy One. But there is somebody in the Bible who did know it. Luke 4:33-34 says, “And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Wow, the demon knew what Israel didn't want to know.

Peter's approach is very direct. He says: your sin is that you denied the Holy One. He could have talked about the hypocrisy. He could have talked about their lying and cheating. He could have talked about a lot of things, but it would have all been surface issues. What he talked about was them living in open rebellion against God because they rejected Christ.

It was true, but you denied it. And so their denial remained. He was Holy, but they desired Him killed as if He were unholy. He was the servant whom God glorified, but they debased Him. You see all the way through they're in contrast to God and to Christ. And every man without Jesus Christ is living in rebellion against God. And to those people judgment comes.

So the servant is dignified, Jesus was delivered, the Holy One denied, and now number four the Righteous One not desired, they desired the unrighteous. They had a choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Jesus was righteous and innocent of any crime. And Peter says, you killed the innocent and turned loose the guilty one. Barabbas was unrighteous and a convicted criminal. That shows you where you are.

Verse 15, “And you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” This is a powerful indictment. Now He is called the Author of Life. It is also used in Hebrews 12:2 and translated “the author and finisher of our faith”. To every Jew, only God was the author of life. Psalm 36 reflects the feeling of every Jew, "For with You is the fountain of life."

Jesus made that claim in John 1:3-4, “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In Him was life.” And in John 11:25, He says to Mary and Martha at the home of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is the life giver.

Look at verse 16, “And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.” Do not misunderstand. It is not because of that lame man's faith, it is because of Peter and John's faith. The gift of healing does not operate based on the faith of the one who got healed, it operates based on the faith of the healer who depends on God.

And so Peter presents Christ as the Messiah and ties Him into this marvelous miracle. And he says you have seen this happen right in front of your eyes and it is by faith in Jesus, the One that God has glorified, and you have denied and delivered, and not desired and destroyed. You stand with the crucifiers, you agree with their judgment of Him, and you live in that open rebellion against God and you are just as guilty as they.

And then gently Peter in verse 17-18 says, “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.” He says, now I know you did it through ignorance. Jesus in Luke 23:34 said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” God in His grace is accounting it as manslaughter not first degree murder.

Look at verse 19, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” Come on, just turn around. The door's open, come on in and your sins will be erased. The last name that is mentioned in verse 18, is Christ. Christ simply means Messiah. And Peter ends by saying, "He is your Messiah by all the fulfilled prophesies regarding His suffering.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 31 Jan 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160131 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/6u5hw407 imblog Acts 3:1-10

We are dealing now with the birth of the church. Our Lord has sent the Holy Spirit to equip the church to do the work that He had begun to do. Jesus gave them everything they needed to finish His unfinished work. On the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came in Acts 2 all of these ingredients came together in that church and mighty indeed was that church. In the first day 3,000 were added to the beginning 120 and it continued to grow today in 2016.

And from that very first day the Spirit of God gave gifts to the members of the church by which they could build the body up. Certain grace gifts, and spiritual gifts, by which they could minister to each other to build the body. In addition to that, to that early church, God gave certain sign gifts. Gifts which were not meant for the building of the body, but were meant to be signs to unbelievers for the purpose of believing of the gospel.

Jesus said it is not only a matter of the words that I say, but you should believe me for the sake of my works. In other words, the miracles that He did corroborated the words that He said. Nicodemus understood that. He said in John 3:1, "We know that you are a teacher who came from God not because of what you say only, but because nobody can do the things that you do except God be with him."

So Christ Himself accredited His ministry by certain miracles. In the early church, He gave that same capacity to the apostles in order that the word that they spoke might also be confirmed by signs and wonders and mighty deeds. The confirmation of any man's ministry today is not that any longer, it is whether he matches the word of God. This has become the standard because the New Testament is God's final revelation. 2 Corinthians 12:12 says, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.”

Now we have studied that those gifts were miracles, healing, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. They were signs not only to unbelieving Jews, but unbelieving people confirming that the gospel was true. Now one of those gifts was the gift of healing. God granted that to them to verify that they were divine messengers. And when they would preach, there always would be miracles, which would be evidence to the people that God was speaking.

And after the miracle of the languages in Acts 2, 3,000 believed. After the miracle of the lame man in Acts 3, by the time you get to Acts 4:4, there were already 5,000 believing men, plus women and children. And there may have been as many as 15,000 converts within the first week of the birth of the church. So it wasn't just the message, it was also the confirming miracles along with the message.

Now on the very first day of the church, this confirming ministry of healing began. Look at Acts 2:43, “And fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.” Then as we come to Acts 3, the Holy Spirit merely selects one of these miracles as an illustration. And the miracle occurs in verses 1-11 and then Peter's sermon in verses 12-26. You see the miracle gathers the crowd and confirms the testimony that Peter is about to give as being from God.

And so Acts 3 then is a living illustration of Acts 2:43. There are some biblical facts regarding the whole problem of healing that you should know, because there is much confusion about it today. And the word of God has some things specific to say about it. There are certain people who claim to have the gift of healing. And there are also healers that do demonic healing which is supposedly of God.

First of all, the gift of healing in 1 Corinthians 12, was one of the gifts of an apostle. That can be verified throughout the book of Acts. They are the foundation says Paul. An apostle was a person who had seen Jesus Christ, with the exception of Paul who was an apostle in a special sense. So that healing today would not be the apostolic gift of healing. Secondly, Satan and his demons also can heal. And not only that, they can do it in the name of the Jesus Christ. So just because some healer uses the name of Christ, that is no guarantee that God is involved.

Our Lord predicted this in Mark 13:22, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.” Also Matthew 7:22-23 indicates that some of the healings would even be done in the name of the Lord, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

And the danger of delusion in this area is compounded in these days as we get closer to the coming of Christ, for the Bible teaches us clearly in 2 Thessalonians 2 that in the latter times close to the tribulation there will a great increase in the working of Satan through these delusions. Verse 9 says, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.”

During the tribulation, this reaches an apex. Verse 7 says, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.” So we need to be very aware that God is not necessarily involved in everything that comes under His name. The name of Jesus Christ is used in all kinds of ways that have nothing to do with Him. Satan usually masquerades in the church, claiming to be a minister of God, but in reality is controlled by Satan himself.

This is the opposite of simple trust and obedience. The typical healing movement today is based upon a misinterpretation of Isaiah 53:5 which says, “And with his wounds we are healed." And healers have historically understood that to mean that in the atonement there is physical healing for everybody. That is a gross misunderstanding because it has nothing to do with physical healing. Christ did not die for the ills of the body, He died for the sin of the soul.

Much of healing today in the name of Christ falls under some categories, like fraud, such as in the case of this man who was exposed on television. There is also the issue of mass hypnosis where people believe so strongly in an authority figure that they release their emotions and come under the spell of it and they have what we could call an emotional compensation. Their illness is overridden by their emotion to be well and in response to that they supersede the illness with a consciousness of health. But this only works momentarily.

But let us now look at the word of God. What does it say about physical healing? In the New Testament, there is no indication that the apostolic gift of healing was ever exercised in the behalf of the believers. Nowhere in the book of Acts was the gift of healing used to benefit the established church. It was a sign to unbelievers. There was also salvation, but at no point do you find the apostle Paul going back to the established churches and heal the sick people there.

And God punished Jewish exorcists and put fear in their hearts, so many repented. Look at Acts 19:18-20, “Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”

The healing ministry today constantly involves Christian people. Are you saying that God doesn't heal? No, God does heal and God answers prayer. But when we pray, we must pray not commanding to be healed, we must pray if God so desires we be healed. We don't have the right to command. Healing by God is in response to prayer and to his will. And the instruction from the apostle Paul is just to pray for all saints.

Do you know when certain Christians get sick, it is because God is testing them and refining them and equipping them to be what they otherwise could never be. God didn't choose to remove Paul's thorn in the flesh, did He? And in James 5:15 when it talks about sickness it is referring to spiritual weakness.

Nowhere in the Bible is anything said about anointing the sick with the unconditional promise that the prayer of faith shall make them well. But God can still choose to use healing miracles in places in the world where there are no bibles and no knowledge of Christ to prove that what the missionaries are saying is the truth.

So let us get back to Acts 3:1, “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour,” which is 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon. And this was the time of the evening sacrifice and the evening prayers. Verse 2, “And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple.”

He was 40 years old, it tells us later. Josephus tells us that all of the gates in the innermost court were made overlaid with silver and gold. But this one was bigger than all the rest. It was 75 feet high and 60 feet wide and it took 20 men to close it. Verse 3-5, “Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.”

Verse 6, “But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” That is an interesting statement. If I had been a cripple sitting at that gate for 20 years plus, and some guy comes along and said to me: I can't give you any money, but in the name of Jesus rise up and walk, I would have thought he was mocking me, right? At the most what he knew about Jesus Christ was that he had been tried as a blasphemer and executed.

But somehow God by sovereign salvation began to move in his heart. He had no reason to believe Peter and John apart from maybe that he had heard some truth, but he didn't reject them. He heard what they said and he sensed the power of God moving in his life. Jesus never promises anybody material gain. Peter and John are living proof of that. They had nothing. They had poverty but yet also power. And Peter says what I have I give you. It was unexpected.

A man can be going along in his own way thinking all he needs in life is money and a little comfort. Then God reaches into his heart and redeems it and a miracle happens that he never dreamed of. Wasn't that how it was when you met Christ? Something happened far beyond what you ever imagined. Life became fuller and so many things replaced the mundane. So that is how God began a sovereign work.

And this miracle was in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It is as if Peter said because of who Christ is, what He is, by virtue of His character, His authority and His power, rise up and walk. So Peter is saying rise up and walk on behalf of Christ, this is what He wants. They were so sensitive to what the Spirit of God was telling them that they were acting on behalf of Jesus Christ.

And that's what every spirit filled Christian does. And then watch what happened, not only was the miracle unexpected in the name of Jesus Christ, but it was instantaneous. Verse 7-8, “And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”

Now that is how God heals by creating new legs instantly. In tender love, Peter is available to be used by Christ. And he reaches down and picks him up. Oh there is a great truth in that. The power was Christ's but the hand was Peter's, you see. That is exactly what God wants to do in us. All the ministries that God wants to bring to bear, He wants to bring it through our availability.

Remember we talked about the responsibilities of fellowship? So much to be done in ministry to each other as we are available. Do you know that we don't primarily want your attendance or your money? We want you to do, is to minister, to care and to love and to be sensitive to each other’s needs. That is what God wants and that is what we want. So Peter took his hand and lifted him up while God did the miracle.

Now I believe God heals through medicine and doctors. And I believe God has given us wisdom to perceive and to find and to use these wonderful tools today to heal. But when God decides to do a supernatural miracle, there are always these specific characteristics. They were sovereign, they were supernatural, they were sudden, they healed completely and their purpose was to validate the message.

This guy was full of joy. Imagine forty years of begging and now he is up and jumping around. And the whole temple echoes his joy. Paul says, "Rejoice always and again I say rejoice." This is part of worship. And see, the only real worship going on in that place was that man. All the other worship was just empty ritual.

Verse 9, “And all the people saw him walking and praising God.” So two results, joy to the man who praised God and testimony to the people. Verse 10, “and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” This was a sign, listen to Isaiah 35:6, "Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, in the day of Messiah."

God used this sign to gather the crowd who were shocked over that miracle and then Peter began to preach. What did Peter say? Come back next week and you will find out. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Jan 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160124 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/jk56r616 imblog Acts 2:42-47

In Acts 2:42-47 we learn some of the ideal characteristics of the church. There are really two main ways in which the New Testament exhibits to us what the church should be like. One of them is doctrinal and that is in Ephesians. The other is historical and that is specifically in Acts 2. We see this new born church in its prime when the memory of Jesus was still vivid, when the gifts of the Spirit were fresh and when there was a vitality that was beautiful and glorious.

So the church was born in Jerusalem on that first day and had three thousand added to the original of one hundred and twenty disciples. They knew who was a part of the church by a profession of faith and by baptism and this is really the precedent for such a thing as membership in a church. So they know who has committed himself to Christ and for whom they are responsible in ministries. So the firstfruits of the church were gathered on Pentecost which was a feast celebrating First-Fruits.

Now as we go through the book of Acts, we are going to see how it grew and how it reproduced. And we are going to see the growth of the church out to the end of the book of Acts. Now what was this first church like? And perhaps even more significant is, can we be like that church? Every true evangelical church has tried to capture that all through the ages since.

But before that we have to know what that church was like. Now as we look at verses 42 to 47 in kind of a general way, we begin with a little group of humble disciples who have counted the cost; and are identified by public baptism with Jesus Christ, thus separating themselves from their Judaism. The church, the new dispensation is born and people filled with the Holy Spirit and possessing the power promised by Christ begin to do what Christ did not finish.

Now you will see that this was an ideal church for many reasons. Number one, it had the proper content. Number two, it had proper character. And number three it had the proper results. To be a growing church, we have to go back to the church beginning and begin with its content. In Ephesians 4:11-12 it tells us that there were apostles and teaching shepherds and evangelists given to the church for the perfecting of the saints.

Let's look first what indicated this church had the proper content. Well, it was a saved church; and in verse 42 it says that they continued steadfastly. In other words, continuing in Christ is a proof of real salvation. People always say, what about so-and-so? They believed for a while and then they dropped away. 1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” Continuation is a sign of true salvation.

Notice the second thing, the church has to have the proper character. They were not only a saved church, they were also studying doctrine. Verse 42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.” They gave themselves to being instructed and teaching others. Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:2, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Reproductive cycles of teaching is the right pattern for the church. It never was intended to be an entertainment center. And you cannot teach if you yourself do not study. The pattern for growth in the church is given in 1 Peter 2:2, which says, "As babies desire milk you desire the word that you may grow by it." Growth comes from teaching. Teaching, studying, content, doctrine is the basis of the church. Not emotion-doctrine.

1 Timothy 4:6, “you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” Verse 16, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” And then he says in 2 Timothy 4:2, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” So it was a saved and a studying church.

Third, they were a fellowshipping church. It says in verse 42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Fellowship just means spiritual togetherness. The fellowship of the body is the interaction of believers with each other in ministering their spiritual gifts and various other ministries. And this church was involved in that.

Now fellowship is a positional word that comes from a word that means partner. When you receive Jesus Christ you became a partner with Christ. You also became a partner with every other Christian. You can never be out of partnership with God or with other believers. But you lose the joy of that fellowship when you sin, that's 1 John 1:4, "These things I write unto you that your joy may be full.” Fellowship is permanent but the joy comes and goes as you participate in the fellowship.

It was also an awesome church. Verse 43, "And awe came upon every soul". This church brought awe, which means reverence, not terror. It is the idea of being aware that something supernatural is going on. God is working and every soul felt a sense of awe. Their life was so real and so powerful such that other people were mesmerized with their mouths open because they couldn't figure it out.

For example Luke 7:12-16, “As Jesus drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear (or awe) seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “God has visited his people!”

Not only was it an awesome church but it was also a miraculous church. Verse 43 continues, “and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.” In Acts 5:14-16 we can see the effect, “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”

The works that Peter did and the miracles all were pointing directly to Jesus as Christ, the Messiah. And the apostles were given power to do miracles in order to confirm the word they preached. In Hebrews 2:3 it says, “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard.”

Now when the Word was fully completed in Scripture, the age of miracles as such ceased. If different people come and they all teach different things, I can tell very quickly who is teaching the truth, I compare him with the Bible, Right? I don't need miracles anymore I have the standard right here. When that which is perfect has come being the word of God, then those other things begin to fade away.

Do you think God does miracles? I know He does. If you're a Christian He did one great miracle-- He made you a new creature. I have seen God do miracles in the church. I've seen God touch people's bodies and heal them. I've seen Him touch their minds and give them understanding. I've seen Him patch together broken homes. I've seen Him piece together broken hearts. I've seen miracle after miracle. He's still a God who by miracles cares for His own and accomplishes His will.

There is another thing about this church's character, it was a sharing church. Verse 44, "And all that believed were together and had all things common." They just passed stuff around, humble, loving selfless people. Verse 45 says, "They sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need and they continued daily with one accord.”

Many of these people that had received Jesus Christ undoubtedly came from out of town. So consequently there were some immediate pressing problems. What do we do with these people who having received Christ are now lingering around to grow in their faith and to sit under the apostles' teachings? They did not want to go back immediately but remained to be taught in their new faith.

In addition to that there were many poor people in Jerusalem whose income may have been cut off by certain Jews when they had named the name of Christ. So they had an immediate problem of dispensing welfare to these individuals. And of people, who perhaps for a little season, had ceased their employment in order to sit under the teaching of the apostles and would later on go back to their employment.

So these people were sharing with each other and living with each other. Verses 44-46 say, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.”

But the key thing to understand are the two verbs in verse 45, there are sold and parted. They were selling their possessions and goods and parting them to all men as every man had need. The idea here is simply that when somebody had a need somebody then sold something and supplied that individual's need.

For God there is no difference between the visible church and the invisible church. The New Testament word ekklesia, means the called out ones, the assembly of believers; the church. Now that word is used to speak of the spiritual reality of all believers in the whole world. The same word is also used to speak of the local congregation. And if you are not involved in your local church, you are disobedient to the concept of fellowship.

Now look at the symbol of their togetherness. Verse 46 says, "breaking bread". This refers to the Lord's Supper. The symbol of their fellowship was the communion. We all meet at the foot of the cross as sinners saved by the grace of God. And thus the cross is that which brought peace which reconciled us to God, which also reconciled us to each other. And so it becomes a symbol of our unity with Christ.

And we do this the last Sunday of every month. It is not a public service for unbelievers, it is for us who love Jesus Christ to share and fellowship. And when we come together for the Lord’s Supper in a real spiritual sense Christ and every other believer is one with us when we partake of that cup and that bread. Now watch the rest of verse 46, "And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple". They still went to the temple for prayer and to witness too.

And then verse 47 it says, “they were praising God.” Did you know that everybody was involved in praising God and giving Him all the glory? So it was also a praying church. Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence and if you can get enough people praying then you are going to activate God's power. Jesus told them in John 14: 14, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

And they were in prayers. And it's not talking about the individual prayers as it is talking about coming together collectively to be involved in prayer. The church will be packed for a Christian rock concert or for a Christian comedian but when you announce a prayer meeting only a few faithful saints will trickle in. I believe we would see miracles happen if we got together in mass and prayed. Do you believe that?

And they got the proper results. They were a church that attracted people. It says in verse 47, "And having favor with all the people.” Aristides, the Athenian philosopher, was an unbeliever viewing the early church wrote this about Christians: "They abstain from all impurity in the hope of the recompense that is to come in another world. They do not worship strange gods and they walk in all humility and kindness and falsehood is not found among them and they love one another. When they see the stranger they bring him to their homes and rejoice over him as over a true brother. And if there is among them a man that is poor and needy and if they have not an abundance of sustenance they will fast two or three days so that they may supply the needy with the necessary food.

They observe scrupulously the commandment of their Messiah. They live honestly and soberly as the Lord their God commanded them. Every morning and all hours on account of the goodness of God toward them they praise and laud Him and over their food and their drink they render Him thanks. And if any righteous person of their number passes away from this world they rejoice and give thanks to God and they follow his body as though he were moving from one place to another. Such is the law of the Christians and such is their conduct."

Lastly, they were a growing church. Listen verse 47 ends with, "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” We have to be faithful in telling people the good news, but it is the Lord who was doing the adding. And He is still in charge today, Amen? Are you doing your part in witnessing about His love for you to everyone around you? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Jan 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160117 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/7610614c imblog Acts 2:37-42

What is discussed in Acts 2:37-42 is the question: how is a man saved? By what act and by what method and through what person? There have always been those people who promise to save the world and free man from all of his trials and there are endless solutions offered to man's problems. But none of them succeeded. So how will man know that he or she is saved forever? What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?

There are many answers coming from everywhere. The legalist says keep the law, that is how you are saved. The moralist says have your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds. The Universalist says don’t be concerned, we will all go to heaven. The ritualist says you have got to do the right rituals to go in. And some say you have to be descendants of the right person to go to heaven. And they take Scripture out of context to prove their point.

That is why we have to compare Scripture with Scripture to make sure that we are accurate. Now that makes this passage important because it is one that is used by ritualists to defend the baptismal regeneration viewpoint which says that to be saved you have got to be baptized. That salvation is not simply by faith. They say it is by faith and baptism in water. But there is much more to this passage than that.

Now this passage deals with the end of Peter's sermon. And it's a very important to look at what happens in response to Peter's preaching, because we are gaining principles here for our own witness, for our own evangelism and preaching. Now let me review a little what we have learned from the book of Acts so far. From John, we learned that Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to equip the church.

And on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came. The Holy Spirit then baptized all of those disciples gathered there in Jerusalem into the body of Christ, then filled them with the Spirit. In the meantime, there was a sound like a great rushing wind which gathered these people and there were several hundred thousand pilgrims in Jerusalem at that time.

And as they came together to where all these disciples were speaking the wonderful works of God in the native languages of all these outsiders who had traveled to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, they were astounded. So the Spirit of God had gotten the crowd there by advertising a sound like a wind. But then there was this sign, the miracle of speaking the wonderful works of God in another language, which prepared them for the sermon that was coming.

So God directed their attention to what Peter was going to say. But the Spirit of God had gathered the crowd, had opened their minds by the sign and the fact that they were speaking in different languages the wonderful works of God that every Jew knew. This made it hard for them to deny that this was of God. Because there are only two supernatural sources for the Jew, God and Satan. And Satan surely would not be proclaiming the wonderful works of God.

So Peter stands up and explains to them what is going on. There are four parts to this sermon: the introduction, the theme, the appeal, and the results. The introduction is explaining Pentecost. Peter uses the illustration that the Holy Spirit has provided for him. The second is the theme exalting Jesus. The third is the appeal exhorting the people, and fourth is the results examining the effect.

So Peter begins to preach with a beautiful illustration, explaining to them that in Joel what they are seeing is the beginning of the fulfillment of Messianic times. Joel said that in the last days God would pour out the Holy Spirit. They are beginning to see a preview of what will come in the kingdom. Now we know that these last days have already lasted for over 2,000 years. So Peter is saying that you are seeing the beginning of the end. Their Messiah had arrived. Their anointed king had arrived.

And Peter moves immediately in verse 22 to introduce the Messiah as Jesus of Nazareth. Now that is very startling, because they have just executed Jesus of Nazareth as a blasphemer. They had actually killed the one they had been waiting for, for a long time. And this is what Peter convicts them of. This great sin. And now he wants to prove to them that Jesus is the Messiah.

First, by describing the life of Christ and say that because He did miracles, wonders, and signs, He was being accredited by God as the Messiah. In verse 23, he describes the death of Christ and says the death of Christ was no accident. Jesus was no victim, but this was ordained by God fulfilling explicit prophecy. Then he takes the resurrection of Christ, in verses 24-32 and says, Jesus Christ is the Messiah because of His resurrection.

And Peter shows how the Old Testament prophet David, even says He was a prophet right here in this passage. Verse 30, that David predicted Messiah would be a resurrected individual. And Jesus had done that fulfilling of David's prophecy so He must be the Messiah by life, death, resurrection.

Then he goes on to show that He is Messiah by virtue of ascension in verses 33 to 35. Jesus was exalted to the right hand of the Father, they stood there, were eyewitnesses and saw Him go to heaven. The conclusion then of his theme is in verse 36, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

By now Peter has really indicted them as executioners of their own Messiah. And he goes right to the core of the problem. You see the most blatant sin that a man commits is not lying or cheating or committing adultery. The blatant sin for every sinner is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ. And that is the cardinal sin that the Spirit convicts. John 16:8-9 says, "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me.”

Now look at his appeal beginning in verse 37, “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Now whenever you go into any kind of sale, you are taught to “close” at the right moment, the purpose is get them to sign on the dotted line, right? Just sign here and you are in indebted from that moment on.

What shall we do? That is a great question. That shows that they are desperate. That is where the Holy Spirit wants to convict every man. Now notice it says they were pierced in their heart, it means as if to penetrate with a sharp knife. It carries the idea of suddenly jamming a dagger into somebody’s heart.

What affected them so much? Number one, the sorrow that the Messiah had been put to death. Here they have been waiting for the Messiah for centuries and finally when He gets there, they put Him to death by the hands of the Romans. They were convicted because they saw the Messiah themselves and yet they executed Him. But secondly, because they had a deep sense of guilt that they themselves had actually done it.

And then thirdly, Peter announced to them that there were multiplied witnesses to prove that this same Jesus who had been crucified was now alive. And so they were afraid of His wrath. Because Peter said in verse 35 that God was going to make Jesus’ enemies His footstool. There will be judgment on the enemies of the Messiah. So they realized the fearful action of God toward His enemies. What they did was the worst possible sin in all of the universe.

Fourthly, they were also grieved to the heart because they could do nothing to change what they did. They had nothing to turn to. Well, that is just the kind of hopelessness that Jesus Christ can meet. And as long as man thinks he can do it on his own, he can never experience real salvation. It is all by grace, Paul said. Until man is desperate and has nowhere to turn, then at that point God intervenes with saving grace.

The apostle Paul also came to that point on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:6, Paul was “breathing out threats and murder” verse 1 says. On the way the Lord stopped him. And a voice out of heaven in verse 5 says, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." You know that Paul was instantly blinded and for three days he did not eat or drink. He was scared as well as convicted. But God changed him totally and after Ananias laid hands on him so that he could see, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

But perhaps even more impressive is the illustration of the Philippian jailer. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas, were shackled and put in the inner prison for healing a slave girl. And as they were singing and praising God, suddenly there was a great earthquake such that all the prison doors opened and everyone's bands came loose. The keeper of the prison, knowing he would have to pay for the escape of prisoners with his own life, woke up and seeing the prison doors open, drew out his sword and was about to kill himself.

But Paul in verse 28 cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” You see God allowed fear to bring that man to a trembling state. He brought fear into the heart of Paul. He brought fear into the heart of these Jews over what they had done in rebelling against their own Messiah.

And they came to that point where they had a deep sense of guilt where they feared the justice of God and the retribution of His Messiah. A desire to be saved from that brought them to the place where they said to Peter what do we do. And it is just that state in which the soul is prepared to receive the Savior. If conversion is real it is the offspring of conviction.

Conviction is the key in the hand of the Holy Spirit that opens the heart to salvation. And the tool of conviction is the Word of God which is illustrated in Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

In Zechariah 13:1 it says, "On that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin.” In other words, once conviction comes, it is followed by cleansing. And Peter replies in verse 38: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Notice, he hasn't said anything positive until that final statement in verse 38.

His message is based on the fact that they have no right to exist as a rebel against God. What does repent mean? It means a 180 degree turn. It is the absolute opposite. Jesus Christ is not an addendum to your activity. He is not a little divine salt on your diet of human activity. It is total commitment. Repentance is more than fear of consequences. True repentance dreads sin itself. True repentance hates sin because of what it is; it is an affront to God.

You see, salvation is not a question of education. Salvation is not a process; it is an act that happens in a moment. So Peter calls on them to make a change that is dramatic. Then he adds this, “repent and be baptized.” Is baptism critical? Absolutely, yes it is very critical. Peter does not tolerate a secret disciple. If you really believe, don't only change just your attitude, you have to openly change who you associate with.

Now notice verse 38, “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He made that clear because in Judaism there were all kinds of washings. Wow, this meant that their families and all the rest of their world would count them as dead. Because the most despicable thing a Jew could do would be to follow Jesus Christ who was a blasphemer they had executed.

But Peter says, I want you to be baptized because that is a symbol of your union with Christ. Well, it says repent and be baptized. Do you have to be baptized to be saved? The Word of God does not teach that. Water does not save anybody. It only shows you’re your commitment is total which is really the meaning of salvation. It is a public sign of what has gone on inside your heart. And the Spirit of God doesn't come as a result of water baptism, but of repentance.

Every believer receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation; 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, we are all baptized by the Spirit into the same body. That is salvation. And it is important that baptism should follow salvation immediately as an act of obedience. Some people have been Christians for a long time and never followed baptism and thus not publicly declared their union with Jesus Christ. They are not obedient.

Notice verse 39, “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” So this is a promise not only for Israel but for Gentiles. Verse 40, “And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” Yield yourself to the salvation provided freely in Jesus of Nazareth, your Savior.

Well, how many believed? If there were several hundred thousand people there, look in verse 41, “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” Compared to the thousands of people, that is really not very much. But do you know what, they baptized all three thousand. That means those three thousand people were really saved. Verse 42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

You see, it is not who comes to the front that the angels rejoices at, but it is those who are still there when it is all over. If your evangelism is right, you will save a lot of tears for the church. Don't be involved in bringing tares into the church. And the first day that little church began, that church had well over three thousand people in it and they were together for real and they were about to change the world. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Jan 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160110 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/953tkrwp imblog Acts 2:22-36

Acts 2:14-36 is the first apostolic sermon recorded in Scripture. It has no parallel. The substance of this event and sermon is so critical because it was the climactic moment of an incredibly important day. Everything was building up to this sermon. This was the day that would launch the church and the message of the church into the whole world.

This was the Feast of Pentecost, 50 days after Passover. Christ had been crucified on Passover. Pentecost was a celebration of the Feast of Harvest where hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims came from all around the Mediterranean to the city of Jerusalem. The feast was a celebration of God’s provision for a harvest. And the coming of the Holy Spirit on this day signaled that God was beginning to gather the great harvest of His redeemed church.

The believers, that is the church, were baptized with the Holy Spirit that day, and placed into union with one another and Christ. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and thus became a powerful force. They launched immediately into evangelism. They began to speak in languages that only the people from outside spoke, and the content was the wonderful works of God. The effect was astonishing. There was a supernatural sound, like a hurricane, that drew the crowd together where the believers were.

It was a divine event that shocked the people of Jerusalem. The church immediately went into action, and Peter, representing the church, preached a sermon. Their first activity was not to have a strategy session to decide what to do. The first thing the church did was preach the Gospel. Organization would come later, when the church meets for prayer, and fellowship and the breaking of bread, and to study the apostles’ doctrine.

Their transformation proved that the Holy Spirit had come, and the new age had been born. And the first sermon goes like this, “The Messiah has come. He is Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had just crucified.” They were set up for this, probably like no other audience in history. Peter begins his sermon with an introduction from verse 14 till verse 21. During this Messianic age, “It shall be,” verse 21, “that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is the age of salvation.

So, starting in verse 22, we come to the second part of this great sermon: the theme. We have seen the introduction, explaining Pentecost and exalting Jesus Christ. Here, verses 22 down to verse 36, Peter presents Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. Verse 22, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know.”

In other words, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Jesus Christ both Lord and Messiah. That is his sermon. This is the Messianic age because what Joel 2 prophesied has started to come to pass. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit. But to the Jews, Jesus was a blasphemer, an imposter and a false teacher. To say that Jesus was the Messiah was to increase the blasphemy.

So, Peter set out to prove to his people that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had crucified, was in fact, their Messiah. His argument is so powerful such that 3,000 people are stabbed in the heart, that’s the word used in verse 37. They are pierced. And Peter uses arguments based on Old Testament verses. This is a model of apostolic preaching of the death and resurrection of Christ based on Scripture.

Peter describes the life of Christ in several statements. His first evidence that Jesus is the Messiah is that God has attested to that through wonders, miracles and signs. Wonders describe what He did as to their appearance. Miracles describe what He did as to their nature. Signs describe what He did as to their intention. They were supernatural works, manifestations of divine power. The statement, “as you yourself know,” convicts them because all these miracles were done before their eyes.

So, he starts with the life of Christ, and he reiterates in one little summary statement, the miraculous ministry of Christ which was divine validation. This is proof by God that He is the Messiah. So we know that, first by His life. Secondly, we know that by His death, look at verse 23, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknow-ledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” The very person whom God, the Father, delighted to honor, you have dishonored, you have slain.

This Jesus from the town of Nazareth was delivered to death “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Plan means design, purpose and will. It is a strong statement, it is a definite plan. It means it was decreed and determined. Christ was delivered to death because God planned it and God ordained it. And also, according to the foreknowledge of God.

That word in English means that you know something before it happens. Did God make this decree because He looked down history and knew something was going to happen? No. So what does it mean? It means fore-ordination. It means that God can make everything happen through providence whereby He uses everything and everybody to accomplish His will and plan in the future. That decision God made in eternity past.

Again, foreknowledge is an act. God ordained that the Lord would be the Lamb, unblemished, who would shed His blood as the price of redemption. In Romans 11:2 it says, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” It’s the same notion. Romans chapter 9, chapter 10 and chapter 11, is all about election. God specifically choosing, and God chooses on the basis of His foreordained end.

Peter is saying in Acts 2, that the Lord did not die accidentally. How can Jesus be the Messiah if He let Himself get executed at the hands of the Romans? How can He be the Messiah if He was rejected by the leaders of His people? So, Peter said: it was not the Romans’ decision. It is always God’s decision eternally. There never was a time when God saw new information, and on that basis made a decision. No, everything that God decrees is eternal.

So, the Jews have to change their thinking dramatically. The death of Jesus is God’s plan. And this launches all apostolic preaching to the Jews. And that is what they preach all the way through the Book of Acts. Christ, the Messiah must have suffered and died. If they knew the Old Testament, they would have known that the Messiah had to die. Isn’t that what Jesus told His disciples on the road to Emmaus? Didn’t He go back to Moses and the law, and the prophets, and speak of the things concerning Christ?

Look again at verse 23, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” In other words, you all nailed Jesus to the cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Wow! The fact that it was God’s plan didn’t lessen their guilt at all. What they did is described as wickedness of lawless men. You, the Jews, you were the instigators. You are responsible along with them for putting Him to death. It was Pilate, Herod, the Romans and the Jews.

What we have here is this juxtaposing of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, right? The fact that we have been chosen, and called, and regenerated, is a mighty miracle of God. But at the same time, we are responsible for faith, and unbelief, and we are held accountable for it. The writers of the Scripture, when they bring these two things together did so being inspired by the Holy Spirit. People often ask how these two things can be harmonized. Maybe they cannot in this life.

All biblical preaching must include this conviction, not just for little sins. It isn’t because you broke the Law of Moses that you go to hell; you go to hell because you reject Jesus Christ. That’s the ultimate sin. So, Peter, the preacher, boldly accuses his audience of murdering the Messiah. Jesus is not a victim. This is all in the plan of God, but you are still guilty.

And then, starting in verse 24, Jesus is declared to be the Messiah by His resurrection, this now becomes the essence of this presentation and the major theme of apostolic preaching. Verse 24, “God raised Jesus up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” His resurrection was also foreordained and predetermined by God. Peter said, “You killed Him but God raised Him.” All through this sermon, Peter emphasizes the difference between how God treated Jesus and how Israel treated Jesus.

Peter connects this preaching to an Old Testament prophecy in Psalm 16. And this became a pattern of speech among the apostles to go back to Psalm 16:8-11. Verse 25-28 copies that, “For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’”

So while David wrote the Psalm, he wrote it in the first-person as the very words that Christ would speak. The Jews thought maybe this is David’s first-person testimony of his own hope that he is somehow going to escape death. But no one ever claimed that David rose from the dead. They all knew where his grave was. His spiritual resurrection occurred when he died in this life and entered into the presence of the Lord, and his bodily resurrection still waits for the fulfillment of Daniel 12, when the resurrection of the Old Testament’s saints will take place in the future.

Verse 29, “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.” What I read now is the testimony of the Messiah declaring in verse 25, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.” Sure, there were those dark moments on the cross. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” But when that was over, He said, “into Your hands I commit My spirit.” God did not abandon Him. Verse 26, “Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced.”

Verse 28, “You have made known to me the paths of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.” I will go through death, and out the other side into your presence. You will not abandon Me. He refers to Himself in verse 27 as the Holy One, well-known name for Messiah. Every detail of the death of Messiah was presented in the Old Testament. And the promise of His resurrection came through David. And everybody knew the Messiah would be a descendant of David. His mother Mary and even His father were in the Davidic line.

Verse 30-31, “Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.” Who is Messiah? The one who comes at the time of the Messianic age, and rises from the dead. That leaves you one possibility. “This Jesus,” verse 32, “God raised up, to which we are all witnesses.” The only conclusion is that Jesus is the Messiah.

Peter explains one other aspect of the Messiah, and that is His ascension. Verse 33, “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” The ascension is in Acts 1:9. They were there, eyewitnesses to His ascension. He was exalted to the right hand of God, and that was just the initial aspect of what happened because of His ascension. And once He had reached the right hand of God in that split second, having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured forth this which you have both seen and heard.

This all happened because the Messiah went back to His glory. And Peter quotes another Davidic Psalm to prove Jesus is Messiah by His ascension. Verse 34-35, “It was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ It was God the Father saying to the God the Son, the Messiah, “Sit at My right hand, and I will make all Your enemies Your footstool.” That is drawn out of Psalm 1:10, “the Lord said to My Lord,” both are equal in essence and nature. One member of the Trinity speaking to another.

Verse 36, his conclusion, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Peter doesn’t blame the Romans. He says you need to know that the house of Israel did this. The Sanhedrin rejected Him as a blasphemer, condemned Him to death. You joined in; you screamed for His blood. You crucified Him. His Messiahship was announced at His baptism. It was confirmed through His ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

And did you realize that this is not the word of Peter? Go back to verse 22, “this man is attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him.” Verse 23, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknow-ledge of God.” Verse 24, “God raised Him up again.” And it is God the Father who says to God the Son, “You are My Lord, sit at My right hand.” This is all the work of God.

That takes us to verse 37, “Now when they heard this they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” The word ‘pierced’ is only used here in the New Testament. The power of the argument wasn’t some kind of clever insight. It was the overwhelming power of the evidence from testimony and Scripture. That word is to literally penetrate with a sharp instrument. But metaphorically it is sudden and acute pain. So, they’re facing the reality: we have killed the Messiah. That leads to another reality: the fear of divine wrath.

The first and primary responsibility of all gospel preaching is to be truthful to Scripture and thereby causing profound, painful conviction and fear, most of which has been taken out of any kind of gospel preaching today. At this point, the first expression of amazing grace appears in apostolic preaching. Verse 38, Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” So then, those who had received His word were baptized; and that day there were added about 3,000 souls.

Are you pierced too? Or are you not affected by what you really believe? Facts and trends published by Life Way says and I quote Barna.org, “56 % of all Millennials born between 1984 and 2002 believe that Jesus sinned, and this is more than any other generation. And even millennials who have made a personal commitment to believe Christ do not believe that Jesus is the way to heaven.” Many people all around us are lost and believe what the majority of the Jews believed 2000 years ago. Are you spreading the good news? Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Jan 2016 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20160103 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/vy9p5g27 imblog Zechariah 9:9-16

"What's wrong with the world? Why is there all this injustice? Why is there all this turmoil? Why is there all this war everywhere? Why all the disease and the pain and the agony? And why is this chaos existing in the world?" There's a very simple answer. The King has not come yet and because of that there is chaos.

Well, Jesus came one time before and promised to right the world. He said He was the Messiah of the world, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And He offered His Kingdom to his people but they rejected it. So Jesus went away and He said, "I will be gone a little longer, but I will be back."

When Jesus comes the second time, the world will be determined to destroy Him. But in contrast to His first coming, when men succeeded in killing Him, at His Second Coming, He will destroy His enemies all over the face of the earth. And then only after that judgment, He will begin to minister healing and the wonders of His salvation will come to pass. That is the message of Zechariah 9.

But the Lord inserted a historical event that would happen to let future generations know that whatever God says will always come true. Have you ever heard of Alexander the Great? Zachariah 9:1-8 describes to us the conquests of Alexander the Great as he swept through Syria, Phoenicia, Philistia and Israel. Now all that happened just a couple hundred years after this was written.

After finishing with Alexander in verse 8, Zachariah turns to Christ, an even much greater conqueror, in verse 8, and God says Alexander will pass by on his way to Egypt and return back again but he won't harm you. And then God looks to the future and says, "No oppressor shall march over them anymore, for now I will make sure of that."

Zachariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” I have never seen a conqueror riding around on a donkey's colt. Where is the white horse?" But this shows this is a different conqueror.

Let us look at the character of this greater conqueror. Compared to the army of Alexander the Great comes one who does not inspire fear, but He inspires praise and peace. This is Israel's own king who is not cruel and oppressive, He is righteous. He is not killing people, instead He is saving people.

So Zechariah says, "Get excited!" And then he describes four elements to His character. First, He's a King. Secondly, He is just. Thirdly, He has salvation. He is the Savior. And then lastly Jesus is meek. When they crucified Him, they took all of His belongings. Do you know how much He owned? Just one robe, that was it. But in reality Jesus owns the whole universe. So the word ‘meek’ means that even though He owns everything, He willingly subjected Himself to the wrath of God to save us from our sins. Because we cannot save ourselves.

Now let us see what God says about the Second Coming of Christ through Zechariah. It says in verse 10, "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

And then in verse 11, “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” In Genesis 15 God made a promise to Abraham to make a great nation out of him and to bless that nation. But God was not making that promise with Abraham, God was making that promise with Himself.

And this covenant is fulfilled by the blood of Jesus Christ. And God says Israel has been in a dry well a long time but because I have made a vow to Israel, they will be out someday. And because of that God calls them ‘prisoners of hope’ in verse 12, “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.” Everything that has been withheld from you will be given back in double measure.

The Holy Spirit gives us another pledge in verse 13-14, “For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. 14 Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning the Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.” This describes God’s victory.

Now, the final triumph we see in verse 15, “The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar.” Israel would take the strength of its enemies and turn it into its own strength.

And lastly, we see His care in verse 16, “On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.” Now all of a sudden God is a Shepherd King, saving His flock and that now includes all who believe. Psalm 23 is the theme song of the Kingdom. God's people will be like the crown on His head in the Kingdom.

In that day, beloved, there will be joy like the world has never conceived. That is the message God calls us to pass on to everyone. The only reason you and I will ever enter that Kingdom is if we love Jesus Christ, Amen? My hope is that we tell everyone. Let's pray together.

]]> Sun, 20 Dec 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151220 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/1k8dknn8 imblog Acts 2:14-21

Acts 2:14-42 is the sermon of Peter on the day of Pentecost. It is important because it is the first Christian sermon ever preached. And thus it sets for us a pattern of apostolic preaching and a pattern that carries down for our own preaching today. And this is very important because here we can find principles of teaching men how to preach the word of God with power.

In many churches, the pattern of the Holy Spirit moving in the church is bogged down because men are lost in all kinds of worldly psychology that is nothing compared to the power of the word of God. When Paul told Timothy what to do about his ministry he said it as simply as you can say it, "Timothy, preach the Word." And the book of Acts is a record of apostolic preaching.

Acts 4:2, “The Jews were greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” Acts 8:5, “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.” Acts 8:25, “Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” Acts 8:35, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” Acts 8:40, “But Philip found himself at Azotus, and he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”

Search Acts 13, 14, 17, 20, and right to the end of the book of Acts and you will find that the priority in the church was the preaching of the Word. Now it is important to have Bible studies and Sunday school but nothing supplants the preaching of the Word. Religious instruction and exhortation is an integral part of Christian worship. It is so designed by the Holy Spirit. In the ministry of Jesus, the Bible says that Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus Christ repeated three times that He came to preach. John writing many years after that looked back and said in John 7:28, "Jesus proclaimed as He taught in the temple." His preaching was powerful but His preaching was at the same time compassionate. Preaching involves the gospel proclamation and theological instruction. And you all should know the definition of preaching.

Often we hear, that pastor is a good preacher, but not a teacher. That is not possible. He is not a good preacher if he is not a teacher. The theological view of preaching right out of the Word of God is that it contains the proclamation of the doctrine with instruction. That is how our Lord preached. He told His apostles to go into all the world and to preach and to teach, and there is no difference. In fact, those two words are used in the gospels interchangeably when referring to Jesus Christ.

The history of the church records the preaching of the Word of God. Nowadays people have used a lot of things that try to replace preaching. And the sad part of it is that most people let it happen. Open U Tube and the internet and instead of seeing men preaching the word of God, you see musicals and movies and the other things going on and they all have their place. But never do they supplant the powerful Holy Spirit which energizes the preaching of the Word of God.

Peter is the preacher and he is Spirit filled and Peter has been restored and it all begins with a sermon. It says that when the Spirit of God had filled them, they stood up and they spoke. And later in Acts it says when they were filled with the Spirit, they spoke the Word with boldness. We saw a few weeks ago how the Spirit of God prepared the scene for the sermon.

By the sound that they all heard of the wind, the crowd gathered. And when the disciples began to speak in all of these languages, they were amazed and shocked and astonished. They could not figure what happened. Some of them said they are drunk. How can these uneducated Galileans speak all these different languages? They couldn't figure what was going on. It was time for somebody to come in and eliminate the confusion, perfectly setting the stage.

In Acts 2:14-42 the whole sermon appears and we will study it. It is the foundation of all our apostolic proclamation. The preaching of the cross all through Acts, through the Epistles and even today should follow this pattern. But the Holy Spirit tied the whole thing to the true God of the Old Testament by making these languages speak about the wonderful works of God. So that the people were seeing this miracle and they had to conclude that it came from God. The Spirit of God has done all the preparation.

Now let us look at the content of Peter’s preaching. And the content or ‘kerugma’ in the New Testament is made up always of the same things. First, it is centered on Jesus Christ. And throughout Acts it involves the fact that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Secondly, it indicated that Jesus was God in human flesh. Thirdly, it centered on His life and work, particularly death and resurrection. Fourthly, it talked about His second coming and fifthly, it always ended with the fact that salvation was in Him alone.

But it was not just proclamation, it was also ‘didache’, the Greek word for teaching. There is no such thing as preaching without content and doctrine, they always went together. In the book of Acts we read that after one of the apostles had preached, it says that people were persuaded. This indicates that they were going through a logical process. That there was doctrine involved and that there was truth.

So we need to understand the importance of preaching and its priority and secondly we understand the character of preaching. Now as we come to this sermon, it has four parts and really all sermons do. It begins with an introduction, and then it has a body or proclamation, then thirdly it has an appeal and then finally a result. The introduction explains Pentecost, the proclamation exalts Christ, the appeal exhorts people, and the results examines the effects.

Tonight let us study the introduction and see how far we can get. Acts 2:14, “But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.” Notice that he is standing here with the eleven and that indicates that Matthias is now part of the twelve disciples, selected in Acts 1. So Peter stands up and this is a great moment.

The Holy Spirit has set the stage. The people are confused. From Peter's standpoint everything is ready. He has been filled with the Spirit of God. He is about to open his mouth and God is going to speak through him. And it says "he lifted up his voice." Listen to what he said, "Men of Judaea and all who dwell in Jerusalem," all of you who have travelled here for the feast of Pentecost, "let this be known to you and listen to my words." In other words, listen well because God is speaking through me.

Now Peter begins with an illustration. The Spirit has confused these people so that they are curious to find out what is going on. Look at Acts 2:15, “For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.” No Jew would drink or eat prior to the third hour of the day which was nine o'clock in the morning. That was time for morning devotions. Especially not on a Sabbath, or a festival day, since this was the feast of harvest, Pentecost. And preaching out of the Old Testament is God’s chosen approach in the book of Acts, because they needed the right frame of reference.

Verse 16-21, "But this is that what was uttered through the prophet Joel." And then he quotes Joel 2:28-32, "And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Now in this passage, Joel prophesied about the kingdom and the coming of the Messiah. For example verse 18, "in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophecy." And verse 20, "the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood," and these things are happening in connection with the kingdom and the tribulation and then at the end, the day of the Lord. When is that? That is the time when Jesus comes in judgment to set up His kingdom.

Now the Jews knew when Messiah came He would come first to judge the ungodly and then to set up His glorious kingdom. And so Joel is talking about the kingdom of Israel to be established when Israel is in their land, the one that was promised in the Old Testament. Notice this phrase, verse 17, "In the last days it shall be." Throughout the Old Testament the prophets would speak of the last days, and it always referred to the time the Messiah sets up His kingdom in one big happening.

They didn't expect a 2,000 year addition to intervene. There is no reason for a Jew reading the instruction of Daniel to think that there is going to be at least 2,000 years between the 69th and the 70th week of Daniel. In other words, they only saw the Messiah coming in the last days. Now remember, everybody has been living in the last days since Jesus arrived to minister.

And when God has called the fullness of the Gentiles (Romans 11:25) and gets through regathering Israel to their land, then the last days will be consummated. Now Paul in 1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 Timothy 3:1, talks about the last days there, but he is talking about the last days of the church. We are living in the last days of that interval of 2,000 years. Do you believe Jesus is coming soon? We are also in the last days of the church.

But not all of the things of this prophecy have been fulfilled, right? No, just the very beginnings. Prophecy will be completely fulfilled at the beginning of the millennium as Christ comes and the great judgment at the end of the tribulation. Then He sets up His kingdom and the visions, dreams and prophesying and all of that is going to take place, and all of the wonders in heaven and earth and the day of the Lord as well.

So Peter says what you see is the beginning of the end. In other words, a preliminary fulfillment. Look at verse 17, “in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” Has that happened yet? God has poured out His Spirit, right? But not on all flesh! All flesh happens in the millennial kingdom. Because when the kingdom happens the only people who will be in the kingdom in the beginning will be believers. And so all of them will receive the Holy Spirit.

But at this time, He has poured out His Spirit on believers only. Everything that is going to happen in the kingdom has already begun to happen in a kind of a pre-fulfillment sense in our lives. We live in a kind of a mystery form of that kingdom but the full millennial earthly kingdom is yet to come. In the kingdom there will be perfect peace. Is there peace in the world now? No, but there in my heart there is peace and prosperity.

In the kingdom, Jesus Christ reigns. Does He reign in the world now? No, but He reigns in my life. In the kingdom, Christ is the judge of all things. He is the one that brings all things to light. In my life He is just the same by His Spirit convicting me and revealing things to me. Everything that is going to take place in the kingdom in a pre-sense is now living within me in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 17 continues, “and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” God is going to communi-cate whether you are awake or asleep, and men are going to prophesy. And verse 18, "even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” Everyone will be touched. Verse 19, “And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.”

Peter didn't know when Jesus was coming back, but it fired him up. But Peter says it is going to be like this, quoting from Joel, "blood, fire, vapor of smoke." John reveals more in Revelation 8:7, “The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”

And then we read in Revelation 9 about the smoke as the demons ascend out of the pit. All of these things are pictures of the coming judgment of Christ when He returns. Then in verse 20 it tells us something more, "It says the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. And before that great notable day of the Lord come."

You see there Jesus' coming is again tied with the wonders in heaven. As we saw in Revelation the wonders in earth as well. And so before that great and terrible day of the Lord, these wonders shall occur. Now the term the day of the Lord has to do with the coming of Christ in judgment. It is a term that refers to the coming of Christ during the tribulation and at His second coming when He judges.

It's a terrifying term. It's an Old Testament term for judgment. So you see what Peter does? He ties this whole thing together as the fulfillment of prophecy with a powerful urgency that messianic times have already begun. It is the last days and he wraps it up with Joel's great climax in verse 21, "And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

A natural question would be at this point coming to the end of verse 20, how do you get out of it, right? So Peter says it shall be those that call upon the name of the Lord. Do you see what he's doing? He's driving into their hearts the need for salvation. And then as we'll see next week, he begins in verse 22 to show them who it is and it is alone that can save them, you see?

The power of this sermon, the way it has been carried, led of the Spirit of God brings Peter right up to the fact that we need to be saved and you need to be saved now and here's how. Through Jesus Christ and Him alone. Are you saved? Do you know others that are not? Are you willing to tell them about Jesus? Ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit so you too can have that power. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Dec 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151213 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/dqetueg8 imblog 1 Timothy 4:1-5

1 Timothy 4:1-5 says, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”

In verse 1, the Holy Spirit is describing “in later time” what is happening right now where some people are departing from the faith. They are thinking that it is more fun to do things for themselves and they listen to what people say in social media and the internet, which the bible says are “deceitful spirits and teaching of demons.” All religions that do not believe in Jesus come from and are controlled by the devil and deceitful spirits.

Verse 2 says that we have these false teachers, controlled by these evil spirits, who are so affected such that their conscience is burned and non-existent. Who controls the mind of false teachers who teach others to focus on number one, which is themselves? Who controls the mind of people that focus on all the things that the world is showing you?

1 John 2:15-16 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world.” And we know that evil spirits and demons reign in the world for a temporary time set by God.

Who controls what you read and watch on the internet? Who do you think controls the mind of these people that blow themselves up to kill others? These are lies of false teachers influenced by deceitful spirits that make the false promise that you will earn heaven if you sacrifice yourself and kill other people. A lot of evil is perpetrated in the name of false religions and many people are lured by clever lies on the internet to join evil spirits in their efforts to go against God’s teachings.

Verse 3, “who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” This describes some things that, according to these false teachers, are forbidden and we have examples right around us. There is a rule against marriage for priests and nuns, and there are many other religions that have strict laws against eating pork or non-kosher foods.

We can spend many hours on many more false teachings beyond these examples that are going around in this country and all over the world, but the purpose of these verses is that we recognize the source of all this, which is the devil himself and his evil demons. Anything that promises happiness and fun and excitement that does not come from God, is from the devil and he is a liar and a deceiver.

Everything that Lucifer promises is a lie and he has been like that from the beginning of time when he was expelled from heaven. And whatever God created that is good was copied by Satan which is fake with the opposite purpose to do evil. The devil wants to destroy us with things that look good and are enticing outwardly for a short period of time but really lure us in his trap to destroy us. Sin always looks good and feels good and the devil knows what your particular weaknesses are and he exploits them to the max.

Now in verse 4 is the key phrase, “everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected,” but there is a condition to this, “if it is received with thanksgiving.” God gave everything to us in order that we will realize that those are all gifts of God and because of that we thank Him. Some of these good things sometimes do not look so good even to us, believers. But when you receive gifts and thank God, you fulfill its purpose. And later on maybe you will understand that God indeed is good all the time even when at first you suffer.

The greatest good for people is that we become children of God and be with Him in heaven forever. And sometimes we need to experience hardship for us before we are able to realize our deepest need. Going to prison is bad but if in prison we are converted to Christ than that is the best thing that could ever happen to us. Becoming deathly ill is terrible but if that drives us to Jesus, than that is the best thing for us. Losing your wealth is bad but if that makes you realize that true happiness only comes from the Lord, that that is good.

So the first error of apostates and their false teaching was the failure to thank and praise God for what He made. The second error was to fail to understand that everything He made is good, not evil. And the third error was failure to believe what the Word says because it says it is good. God said in Genesis 1:28 and 29, "It is good."

Verse 5 says, “for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” Everyone receives general blessings from God like nature and life but only believers receive God’s special goodness because they have an intimate relationship with God the Father that is manifested by doing the Word of God and by prayer. We ask for power from God, because we know that without Him we are nothing spiritually.

Think about all that you have received from God, from the largest gift, your salvation, to even the most mundane things that you maybe are taking for granted like your health, your work, your family, your possessions, like your ability to worship God and your ability to use your brain, and your ability to hope and to trust and to tell others about this amazing God that you know. Spend time and meditate on all this and read Scripture and be thankful for all that God has given you, Amen.

]]> Sun, 29 Nov 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151129 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/an71nm0j imblog Acts 2:4-13

Here in Acts 2, the church is born. Jesus had promised two great events. First, Jesus promised the birth of the church in Matthew 16:18 when He said, "I will build My church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it." Then Jesus also promised the coming of the Holy Spirit. In John 14:16-17 He said, "I will pray to the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth." And in Acts 1:5 He said, "You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Now, the birth of the church, as we learned last week, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred simultaneously. Because the theological definition of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that it is the placing of believers into the church. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:13 defines it very clearly when he says, "For by one Spirit were we all baptized into one body." That is, at the moment of salvation every believer is placed into the church, which is a closely-knit together body. That is the baptism of the Spirit.

This was the beginning of the design of God, so the baptism and the entering in of the church didn't happen to these disciples the moment they were saved. This is a transition time, the Holy Spirit did not come until the day of Pentecost so we see the transition of two ages, the Old Testament age and the New Testament age. That does not mean that you receive Christ and 50 days later you get the Holy Spirit. That is simply what happened there in the transition.

From then on, at the moment you are saved, when you believe Christ, you is baptized into the body and becomes one with Christ. So the definition of the true church today is those people who have been placed into a union with Christ and who are at the same time received the Holy Spirit in their hearts. All Christians are part of the body. All Christians are indwelt by the Spirit. And the body was formed in Pentecost, Acts 2.

The evidence of the Spirit's coming in the first four verses, the effect of the Spirit's coming is in verses 5-11 and the explanation of the Spirit's coming in verses 12-13. Now, last Sunday we began to talk about the evidence of the Spirit's coming and we will pick that up now to fulfill the meaning of that feast from Leviticus 23. You see, these three feasts are types or pictures prophetically of what is to come.

The Spirit came on a specific day designed by God, the day of Pentecost. So on God's chosen day the church was born, just as on God's chosen day Jesus arose, as on God's chosen day Jesus died as pictured in Leviticus 23 in the feasts that He gave to Israel. Notice verse 2 where it tells us the evidence, "And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” Notice the sound. This is the breath of God, the Holy Spirit.

Then in verse 3 it says, “And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.” Not only were they blended together in verse 2 into the body through the baptism of the Spirit, but in verse 3 the Spirit of God came to indwell every one of them as signified by the tongues resting on each of them. There is no such thing as a Christian who doesn't have the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 says "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.”

Then, in addition to receiving the baptism of the Spirit, verse 4 says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” So in verse 4 the Spirit of God released His power to fill them. Baptism grants the power; filling turns it on. So for a theological definition look to 1 Corinthians 12:13, where the baptism of the Holy Spirit is placing the Spirit in your heart.

The filling of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5:18, is a matter of yielding to the already present Holy Spirit so that He totally controls you. Every Christian already possesses the Holy Spirit; it's only a question of whether you yield to His power or not. The only issue in the Christian life is not who is Lord, but it is are you obeying who is Lord? It's only a question of whether am I following or not.

Now, a lot of Christians, who have the Holy Spirit, do not understand what it means to yield to the total dominance of the Holy Spirit. Self-will, self-effort, self-design, do your own thing and not yielding certain areas of your life does not mean you don't have the baptism of the Spirit. It only means that you are not willing to totally yield to the Spirit. Paul only said to allow the Holy Spirit who is already there to fully control you.

And it says at the end of verse 4, “As the Spirit gave them utterance.” In other words, at that point, all that came out of their mouth would come from the Spirit. And they began to speak but it was not them. It was that they yielded to the Spirit of God and He controlled what they said. So this speaking in languages, did not occur as a result of the baptism of the Spirit; it occurred as a result of the filling.

Now what are these other languages? Well, they are real languages. They were not gibberish or non-sensical talk or ecstatic speech. It always has meant languages. In fact, in verse 6 it mentions the word language, in verse 8, tongue, and in verse 11, tongue. There are two different words used, one is glossa and the other is dialekto. So this means languages and dialects, not gibberish.

Now, the miracle of languages here was important because of the strategy of the spread of the gospel because in Jerusalem at this time there were millions of Jewish people from all over the world. And this specific miracle was specifically for this occasion. But it happens again in Acts several times and not only in Jerusalem and not with just a group of Jews. In fact, it happened to Gentiles too. Let us look at this together.

Look at Acts 8:14-17, “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

Here you have a group of Samaritans who are despised by the Jews. Because originally they were pure Jewish stock but they inter-married with Gentiles. Now the gospel came to Israel, the Messiah of Israel is believed. Then all of the sudden some Samaritans believed too. Now, the Jews want to treat the Samaritans as second-class Christians. So to insure that that did not happen, the Holy Spirit converted those Samaritans the same way.

But at the moment of their conversion, they did not receive the Holy Spirit. Because the Spirit of God wanted some very important Jews to be there when it happened so they would know that, indeed, it happened just like it happened to them. And so not until Peter and John went up there, did the Holy Spirit come. So that they could say to the Jews, that the Samaritans got the same thing they got. And they too must have spoken in languages, so there would be no difference. This is uniting the body of Christ.

Let us now look at Acts 10. Peter has gone over to Cornelius who is a Gentile. Acts 10:44-47 says, “While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

It was important there that they speak in languages so that those Gentiles would know they got the same thing that the Jews got at Pentecost. In other words, as the church is being formed in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit wants everybody to be sure that the church is one body, right? And Peter is telling about this in Acts 11:15, "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.”

What a shock, that was hard for him to handle. Acts 11:16-18, “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted.”

The reason that they received the same Holy Spirit in the same way was to tie them in with the one body that was born at Pentecost, not because there was any significance for languages anymore, only as a connector to Pentecost. The language in itself had nothing to do with anything, it simply connected them. Now, there is one other group that hasn't been included in the body yet and that is a little group of 12 Old Testament saints who were baptized by John the Baptist. And the Holy Spirit wants them in the body, too.

Acts 19:1-7, “And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.”

So the same thing happened to tie them together with the first group at Pentecost. This is all perfectly designed by the Spirit of God. But once the body included all the Old Testament saints and all the New Testament Jews and the New Testament Gentiles, there was no reason for this phenomenon anymore, because everybody who comes to Christ now is covered under what has already happened to Jews and Gentiles. And here we see a picture of those who yielded and the Spirit moved through them to a special miracle.

If Pentecostal people want to make speaking in tongues, the norm for all Christians, then they also have to have noise from Heaven like a mighty rushing wind, and tongues of fire because this is a special wonder by God for a special historical event. This was not primarily for preaching the gospel. This is a sign. You see, this was to get the attention of the Jews that something supernatural is going on and then Peter would preach the gospel. This is always the apostolic pattern.

The preaching of the apostles throughout the early church was accompanied by signs and wonders. 2 Corinthians 12:12 says, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.” How do you know the apostle is speaking from God? If he has super-natural things going on along with the message, that is pretty good evidence, right? But this did not substitute for the preaching, the sermon which comes in Acts 2:14 and there are many more sermons following.

If there still is such a gift of languages as in Acts? Then why does God make people go through years of studying other languages before they can ever begin to preach and witness? And if God had designed such a language miracle for today, it would seem that it could be put to great use. Why is it only for certain special people in special movements who get together in special prayer meetings and speak it to each other, who already speak the same language and who already, know the truth?

Let us look now at the effect of the Spirit's coming, Acts 2:5, “Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. Now, the statement, "from every nation under heaven," means Jerusalem is invaded at Pentecost by a cosmopolitan assembly of Jews from everywhere. Verse 6, “And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were confused, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.” That was the sound from heaven like before, a mighty hurricane that confused them because there was no wind.

Verse 7, “And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?” The Jews looked down at them because those people were uneducated, uninformed, farmers and people who just really weren't in the cultural flow. And here, all of the sudden, these uneducated Galileans are rattling off all these languages and they are absolutely dumbfounded. Verse 8, “And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?”

In verse 9-11 they name all these languages, “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” Jews from everyplace were all gathered together. What a strategic time for the Spirit to do something. And notice in verse 11 it says this. "We do hear them speak in our own languages the wonderful works of God."

Now, watch the strategy of the Holy Spirit. First of all, the Spirit sent a sound like a hurricane just to make sure they are gathered together. Then they had this marvelous miracle of speaking in several different languages just to make sure He made them wonder. And when they then began to speak about the wonderful works of God, then the Jews only had two choices. Either this was a miracle of the devil, or it is a miracle of God. But when they started praising God, it showed that it was God.

And then when right out of the midst of all this praise of God Peter stands up and they have no other option but to say this has to be from God. The devil will not run around Jerusalem praising God. So Peter jumps up and says, now let me speak to you about what this God has to say to you concerning His Son. What a beautiful setup for the message. And that's exactly what happened. We will get into that next week.

Now, in this crowd there are a lot of unbelievers. With all the proof in the world some people still are not convinced. It has nothing to do with how well we present it; it has to do with how the Holy Spirit breaks down the barriers. Verses 12-13, “And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” So with mockery they embrace the theory that drunkenness teaches new languages.

The work of God splits people right down the middle and men either come to love Jesus Christ or they come against His own with hate. And so the Spirit of God moved in a marvelous way to prepare those who hear. And so does the Holy Spirit want to work through your life. Let the Spirit of God fill you that when you open your mouth there might be reception. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Nov 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151122 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ac630bld imblog Acts 2:1-3

It is important to know what God does as described here. And it is important for us to understand what we are a part of, in being the church of Jesus Christ. Acts 2:1-3 says, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.”

That is the phenomena that God designed to inaugurate the birth of the church. This is our story and our history. As we come to Acts 2, we will experience through Scripture the actual beginning of the church. In Acts 1, the disciples were waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit; in Acts 2, He arrives. In Acts 1, the disciples were equipped for their ministry; in Acts 2, they are empowered for their ministry. In Acts 1, the believers are held back; in Acts 2, they are sent out.

First, there was the Old Testament, God speaking in many ways to the fathers by the prophets, establishing a true understanding of Him and His redemptive purpose. After the completion of the Old Testament, there was the arrival of God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was made flesh and dwelled among us. And 33 years later, the next great event in God’s redemptive purpose, Christ’s death, ratifying the new covenant by the sacrifice of Himself.

And a few days later, the next great event, which was the resurrection from the dead by which God affirmed the satisfaction that He had in the sacrifice Christ had given. Forty days after that, the next great event was the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ as He went back to heaven to be crowned and now is seated at the Father’s right hand, having accomplished redemption.

The next great event is this one in Acts 2, the coming of the Holy Spirit to bring the believers together and establish the church. John 7:37-39, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

By the time we get to Acts 2, Jesus has already ascended. He has been glorified, and now He sends the Holy Spirit. A new thing is born that has never been known before. Some-thing never seen in the Old Testament. Something promised in the New Testament, and even described by the Lord Himself who spoke of the church in Matthew 16:18. But the church up to this point has been a mystery, something hidden that is about to be revealed.

And this is the beginning of the church, what the church is and how the church lives and then this unfolds through the rest of the writings of the New Testament, even to the place the church will play in the final redemption and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ in the Book of Revelation. So here, we meet the bride of Christ, the church. Here, we meet the branches connected to Christ, our God.

Here we meet the people for whom Jesus is the good shepherd. Here we meet those who are part of the kingdom of salvation, ruled by the Son of God. The church is called a household. It is called a family of sons and daughters by adoption. It is called a spiritual temple with Jesus and the apostles as the foundation. But it is also called a body, and in fact, it is the body of Christ. This is the most unique identification of the church.

In the Old Testament, Israel is basically called a vine. You can see Israel as it is called a kingdom. We can see Israel identified as a household and a family. We can see Israel as a building that God is building. But the unique metaphor for the church found only in the New Testament is that the church is the body of Christ. It is the union of believers with Christ as the living principal through them all.

Not one nation ethnically, but Jew and gentile all one in Christ. The dividing wall has come down. Everyone is placed into the body of Christ by Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what our Lord promised in Acts 1:5, “For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” That is very important because Jesus is saying, “This is the baptism with the Holy Spirit.”

When you hear someone talk about the baptism of the spirit, think about Acts 1:5. Jesus referred to what happened a few days later on Pentecost. That is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is much confusion and misrepresentation of that wondrous work of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is Christ immersing us in the Spirit, which we share with every other believer and so together we are the body of Christ.

Jesus ascended 40 days after His resurrection. We are now ten days later when we read Acts 2:1, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.” What Luke describes in verse 1 is history, completely at the discretion of God. The baptism with the Holy Spirit was a sovereign act of God based on God’s timing, not based on anything they did. The word Pentecost is a Greek word meaning the 50th in sequence or in order. To the Jews, it was the name of a feast that happened 50 days after Passover.

It commemorates the firstfruits of the wheat harvest in Leviticus 23. After the exile, it became the traditional celebration to remember the giving of the Mosaic Law, the birth day of the Torah, because it was 50 days after the Exodus from Egypt that God gave Moses the law. So the Holy Spirit’s timing is also very important because God decided that this is the proper day to fulfill images from the Old Testament.

And the key feasts really are pictures of the work of Christ. The first was Passover. That was in the spring on the 14th of Nisan, and Passover was a picture of the death of Christ. Christ was the ultimate Passover lamb, the one true sacrifice for sin. And God bringing the fulfillment of the picture of the Passover had His son die on the Passover.

That is why 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “Christ, our Passover.” So the first feast of Leviticus 23 was the Passover, fulfilled in the sacrifice of Christ. The second feast in Leviticus 23 was the next day after Passover. And it was the firstfruits, the celebration of the harvest to come. This is a picture of Christ’s resurrection, which came after his death. 1 Corinthians 15:20 says, “Christ is the firstfruits of those who sleep.” Fifty days later came the third feast in Leviticus 23:15-16. It is the Feast of Harvest, this is Pentecost.

It celebrates the wheat harvest by offering two loaves baked with leaven. The crop is not yet fully in, but this anticipates a full harvest. This is why Pentecost is connected with firstfruits. It was a Feast of Harvest, not because all of the harvest had come in yet, but because the first fruits had arrived, which promised a completion. Pentecost is the day that the Lord sends the Holy Spirit, as a kind of first fruit, as the guarantee that our future inheritance will be completed.

Let me add that the Feast of Pentecost is the birth of the church as well. In the firstfruits festival the day after Passover, which pictured the resurrection, they brought bread with no leaven. Why? Because leaven represents sin. The first fruits festival celebrated the resurrection of Christ, so there was no leaven because in Christ there is no sin. However, when they brought their loaf at Pentecost, it had leaven. Because while there is no sin in Christ, there is sin in the church. That is the particularity of these images in Scripture.

All of that in the Old Testament in Leviticus 23 looks at this significant event. The Passover looked at Christ’s death. The firstfruit feast the next day looked at His resurrection. And then Pentecost 50 days later looked at the promise guarantee given by God in the sending of the Holy Spirit of a full inheritance yet to come in the future. So in God’s perfect design, since the early ages, the church was designed to be born at Pentecost to fulfill these typical predictions.

Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” The Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost because of all of this. This is another sovereign act of God at the precise time and in the place and in the way He wanted it to happen.

So they are all together in one place, waiting, and on the day of Pentecost, verse 2 says, “And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” Suddenly, unexpectedly, the church is born. Suddenly the Holy Spirit arrives, miraculous, divine from heaven. This is the proper origin. It takes its source from God alone.

Let’s look at the phenomena for just a minute. There came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind. The wind here, however, is not actual wind, but a metaphor to describe the kind of sound they heard. There is no wind, only the sound of a hurricane. And the presence of the breath of God filled only the house. They were completely immersed, completely baptized. That is what that word is intended to convey. Literally being engulfed with the Holy Spirit. This is the coming of the breath of God.

They are immersed in the presence of the Holy Spirit who then takes up residence in their lives. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” This is an overwhelming transformation, a divine miracle.

So for the first time ever in redemptive history, a group of people who put their trust in the Savior is immersed in the Holy Spirit, drawn together in one body because they now possess the same spiritual life, the life of God through the Holy Spirit in them. Romans 8:9 says, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” This is not something you work for, this is an essential component of salvation.

This regeneration is giving you a new life, and every believer is united with all other believers in the body of Christ by sharing the life of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” The spirit comes from God as a gift. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” God paid a high price to place His Spirit in you.

The first time it happened on Pentecost, and then it happened in the salvation of every believer from then on. Suddenly, they hear this hurricane like sound, but there is no hurricane. And after an audible phenomena, then they see a visual one. Verse 3, “And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.” Tongues that looked like fire on each person. It was not a real wind, and it was not a real fire. Each had received the Holy Spirit, their baptism had occurred.

This is not the baptism of fire of Matthew 3:11, that baptism of fire is judgment. This is the visible manifestation of the descent of the Holy Spirit. Why is it necessary to have a visible demonstration of the Spirit descending on everybody? It is impossible for them to know what has happened if there isn’t some sign by which they can know that the Spirit has come down and done this. The rushing wind would say something happened, but the individual tongues over everyone would show that it happened to all of them.

Do you remember when the Holy Spirit came at the baptism of Jesus to empower Jesus for His ministry that the Holy Spirit came down on Him in the form of a dove? And He rested on Jesus. Here, the Holy Spirit comes down, and it looks like small tongues, and something like flames resting on the head of the disciples, symbolizing the descent of the Holy Spirit and the baptism that Jesus had promised.

Now you will never lose the Holy Spirit because the He himself is the down payment on the future inheritance says Ephesians 1. So the Holy Spirit is God’s engagement ring, God’s guarantee, God’s down payment, God’s first fruits. You cannot lose the Holy Spirit and you cannot live without the Holy Spirit. That is permanent.

But the Bible does say in Ephesians 5:18, “be filled with the Spirit.” What does that mean? It means let the presence of the Holy Spirit dominate you. In the beginning they were completely filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Filled not in the sense that you would fill a glass, a static filling, but filled in a dynamic sense as you would fill sails that moves you along, like in the words of Peter, holy men of God were moved along.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit, you do not feel, but the filling of the Spirit you do. Because if you let the Holy Spirit take over, all the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 you will experience: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.” When all of those are your attitudes, you know you are being filled with the Spirit.

The challenge for a Christian is not to redo the baptism. That is when the Holy Spirit took up residence and that happens only once, that is not experiential. That is a divine reality like regeneration. The fruit of it, however, is the work of the Holy Spirit in us to control us for our good and God’s glory, and that’s something that is maintained by the means of grace and by our faithfulness. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the ongoing experience that we want to sustain.

Acts 9:17, the conversion of Paul, “So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” This concept of being filled with the Holy Spirit means that the Holy Spirit who resides in the life of a believer is taking over complete control.

Baptism grants the Holy Spirit, but filling means yielding to Him. Only when you believe are you to be baptized. But we are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and the results are laid out in Ephesians 5:19-21, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

In Colossians 3:16, you have exactly the same instruction, only instead of saying be filled with the Spirit it says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” So this means to be dominated by the Word which dwells in you richly, and that means to be obedient to his will as revealed in His Word. So the church is born on the day of Pentecost. And what signifies its birth is the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Nov 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151115 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/q7n0nlwz imblog Acts 1:12-26

Now, this passage beginning in verse 12 really talks about two kinds of disciples, the false disciple and the true disciple, a study between Judas on the one hand and a man named Matthias. Jesus in Acts 1 is equipping His own for what is going to happen in Acts 2, where the Holy Spirit descends and the church is born and evangelism begins and the work that Jesus began to do is to be continued in them.

But before that can happen there is the preparation for the birth of the church. We saw that He gave them the proper message and He gave them the proper manifestation. He revealed Himself to them in His glorified post-resurrection body in order that they might be confident that He was really alive from the dead. Then Jesus gave them the proper power. He promised them that the Holy Spirit would come and empower them.

He then gave them the proper mystery. He said there are some things you don't need to know and one is the time of His return. And so He left it for every man to live with the knowledge that Jesus could come at any moment. He also gave them the proper mission. They were witnesses to go to the world with the gospel. And then He gave them the proper motive: He would be coming back to see if they had been faithful.

But there is one thing left and that is the proper men. Jesus wanted to be sure that the proper men were involved in carrying out the job. And so in verses 12 to 26, basically, we see Jesus replacing Judas with the proper man to fill in the ranks of the 12 to do the job. It's marvelous to realize that God works His will through men, even in God's operation in providence.

In providence, God’s plans may develop through unexpected concurrences of a million human wills, some of them yielding, some of them rebellious, some of them believing, some of them ignorant and all blended together to accomplish God's will. In the Old Testament when Gideon was to defeat the foe, the Bible gave the slogan of battle as "the sword of the Lord and of Gideon." So it wasn't just the sword of the Lord only, because God pours His will through men and operates through men.

Now, we know that the ranks of the disciples have been depleted by Judas Iscariot. So he is to be replaced by the will of Jesus Christ. There are some who say that this was a mistake on Peter's part. However Jesus Christ chose the first 11 and He also chose the one to complete the 12 in order for the birth of the church. And the apostle Paul was an apostle of a different order. He was a very unique apostle and he filled two qualifications out of the three and on the basis of those two, was declared to be an apostle.

Now, this does not minimize the apostle Paul, for the apostle Paul, though in a different season, under different circumstances, was also selected by Jesus Himself. This is described in Acts 10:40-41 where Peter says, "but God raised Him on the third day and made Him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses.” So Peter says Jesus chose or appointed the 12 and Paul also. Christian service is not a matter of human will; it is a matter of divine appointment.

Paul says in Romans 10:15, "And how are they to preach unless they are sent." So who does the sending? God does. In these days there are many people who are running around who have not been sent who make themselves ministers of God even though God has not called them. Unless God has called you by laying it on your heart, by preparing you, by training you and giving you the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, do not enter the ministry.

The Lord would not allow His church to be founded on an error without ever stating it to be such. We believe that Peter is inspired by the Holy Spirit as he speaks and as he leads those who are in this little meeting in choosing the one to replace Judas. The Lord chooses whom He will for His ministries. The age of the Old Testament, the age of law is coming to an end. The choosing of this one ends it. In Acts 2, there is the beginning of the new age, as the Holy Spirit comes and a new dispensation is born.

Now in the text there are basically three parts. First of all is the submission of the disciples in verses 12 to 15. Now, Jesus had told them that they had to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit arrived. In verse 4 He said, don't go anywhere, stay in Jerusalem, wait for the promise of the Father, which was the baptism of the Spirit in verse 5. And verse 8a says, then you will have the power to do the job.

And it was very important for them to wait because the Holy Spirit could not come until Jesus got back to Heaven. John 16:7 says, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” So there was some time in which they had to wait for the arrival of the Spirit because they couldn't go out to do ministry unless they had the power from the Holy Spirit to do it.

So they showed their obedience. Look at Acts 1:12, “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.” Now, that gives us the location where Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Mount of Olives. Luke also tells us that Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives toward Bethany, which means from the back side of the Mount of Olives according to Luke 24:50. Now, a Sabbath day's journey is a technical term that measures a distance of 2000 cubits.

In the wilderness around the tabernacle all the tribes of Israel were set in particular locations. They all faced the tabernacle. The furthest location away was 2000 cubits so that on the Sabbath you were permitted to go to worship but no further. Sabbath was reserved for worship, no work was allowed. And so, consequently, the term "a Sabbath day's journey" became synonymous with a distance of 2000 cubits.

Verse 13 says, “And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.” Notice that there are only 11 disciples here. There is a Judas, the son of James, but he is not Judas Iscariot. And they are not alone, there were others with them.

Verse 14 indicated that, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.” These women have been around helping to anoint the body of Christ with spices, and they were there at the resurrection. And it also mentions His brothers, referring back to Jesus. Yes, they were His half-brothers because Jesus was virgin born.

We even know their names: James, Joseph, Simon and Jude. And James and Jude figure prominently in the New Testament for James wrote the epistle of James and Jude wrote the epistle of Jude and James was the first head of the Jerusalem church. He heads up the Jerusalem council in Acts 15. So they became believers. It is exciting that they were even here because in John 7:5 it says, "neither did his brethren believe in Him.”

But by this time, there they are gathered in a prayer meeting with the rest of His disciples. Well, how and when did that happen? Well, there's not a lot of revelation on it, but in 1 Corinthians 15:7 it says, “Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” That was the time when James became a believer, seeing his own brother resurrected. And then very likely, he became the catalyst for the rest of them.

Let us discuss for a moment Mary, the mother of Jesus. We have to understand that Mary is never exalted in the Scripture. She was exalted in reference to Jesus that was born from her, but not in herself. In Mark 3:31-35, Jesus was teaching in a house and His brothers and mother came and wanted to talk to Him. He replied by saying, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" And then He pointed to the audience and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers." He said, "For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus minimized the spiritual significance of Mary and His physical brothers. They had to be redeemed just like anybody else. Notice what it says in verse 14. They didn't pray to Mary, they prayed with Mary. Mary was praying to be redeemed. Among all women, she may be the most wonderful kind of wife and mother imaginable, but she is not deity. She is praying to her Son like everybody else. She is never again mentioned in the New Testament. And Paul never mentions Mary in any of his doctrines of redemption.

Verse 14 tells us that “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer." It is a beautiful and sweet kind of fellowship. But the coming of the Holy Spirit did not depend on their prayers. The Spirit, in Acts 1:4, was "the promise of the Father." They were praying because for the first time they were removed from Jesus and the only communication they could have with Him was through prayer. And that is the beginning of a new age for before that no one had ever prayed to Jesus.

Then verse 15-16 says, “In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.” Notice in this part of Israel at that time there were only 120 believers. They were small in quantity, but they were large in power. And in 30 years they were already in Rome and the gospel had spread everywhere.

Peter has been commissioned to lead and he knows there is a problem. They don't understand what had happened to Judas. In Matthew 19:28 Jesus had said to the disciples, “you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And they recognize there are now only 11 guys. So Peter acts under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and stands up in verse 16. Notice, he is not talking out of his own ability, he has a Biblical context and inspiration.

Peter wants them to know that what Judas did was all prophesied by the Scripture by David in the Old Testament. Did you know that the betrayal of Judas was planned into the plan of salvation? Just like God uses godless men throughout the Old Testament to accomplish His purpose, so He used a godless Judas to bring about the end according to God’s will. God works through men.

Judas had received by divine appointment to be a disciple, but he was never saved. In John 6: 64, Jesus talks to His disciples and says, "But there are some of you that do not believe." And in verse 70 He says, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” The tragedy of Judas is that he could have turned to Jesus Christ. And Jesus warned him gently all along throughout his life but he never repented.

Verse 18-19, "Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood. Evidently, Judas tried to hang himself and as he tried to suspend himself, the rope snapped and he had fallen on the rocks below and his stomach burst.

Verse 20, “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “Let another take his office.’” Peter said it was prophesied by David in Psalms 69:25 that Judas would be wiped out. And then it says, "Let another take his office," and that is in Psalms 109:8. So Peter quotes two Psalms and this means that he would be replaced. So Matthias coming was a fulfillment of prophecy. Peter is saying, trust God. This is the way God planned it from the beginning.

And that leaves Peter to carry out the selection of the next disciple and this is just a simple narrative. Verse 21-22, “So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

Here you have two qualifications for an apostle. Number one, he had to be with Jesus from the baptism of John to the ascension. Number two, he had to be a witness of the glorified, resurrected Christ. Paul doesn't fit those qualifications. Paul was indeed an apostle, but he was an apostle of a different order. He fits two other qualifications. Number one, he did see Christ in post-resurrection glory on the road to Damascus. And number three of the three qualifications, Paul was chosen by God.

Verse 23-25, “And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” So the third qualification is that he has to be chosen by God and Paul was chosen.

And we don't know anything about either one of them because they are never mentioned. It is not always the stars on the horizon that the Lord chooses to do the things He wants done. Sometimes it is the people you don't even know that are really moving and doing the job for God. And here are two guys that nobody knows. We have no idea who they are and they don't appear before or after this.

Then it says in verse 26, “And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” Well, what about Barsabbas called Justus? It doesn't say. Did he demand a recount and went out in a huff and joined another group? No, he didn't do that. I imagine he hung in there and did a great job. But Matthias was chosen. I don't know why. I know God chose him and that is more than enough for me.

So what was the method of choosing? Well, they drew lots. No, it's not gambling. Sometimes God would talk audibly. Sometimes God would talk through the mouth of a prophet. And one other way was through the drawing of lots. This was the last act of the Old Testament era. You will never hear it again the rest of the New Testament because in this age we don't need that kind of direction from God. We get our direction from the Bible and the Holy Spirit who "shall lead us into all truth."

Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." Oh, the Lord can control even the littlest details, can't He? So for all Christians I hope you have learned the beauty of submission to the will of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in directing all His people even in the smallest details of life. Remember, obey the Spirit promptly! Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Nov 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151108 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/v7932alq imblog Acts 1:5-11

“5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

“9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Now we learned that the Lord’s work of redemption on the cross is completed. He has given the offering that sanctifies forever those who believe. He has provided sufficient atonement to satisfy the wrath of God. He has born in His body our sins in His death, and we have died and risen in Him. However, the work of gathering the redeemed goes on through the apostles, and then through the church as the apostles establish the church. This is indeed the history of the gospel in the world.

The responsibility for the proclamation of the gospel and the establishment of churches passes to these 12. They are actually 11 until a little later when a 12th is chosen to take the place of Judas, a man named Matthias. They are the first wave of evangelists and preachers that go out to gather the redeemed and to establish the church. Here we are two millennia later, and we are still engaged in the same work of gathering the redeemed into churches and taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.

So this history goes on until the last person in the plan of God is redeemed, and then the church is raptured out of the world, and that glorious era comes to its fulfillment. So we are seeing the Lord then pass the baton in those verses that we just read to His disciples. You can see there that Jesus is speaking, according to verse 2, to the apostles whom He had chosen.

Now from a human standpoint, to give them such a massive responsibility seems like a really bad idea. To think that these 11 plus one are going to be able to take the gospel to Jerusalem alone would be a stretch, and then to think they would fill Judea with the gospel and then expand into Samaria, and then would go to the ends of the earth is to many people totally impossible. It is such an unthinkable thing.

As many as seven of them have been fishermen. And not only are they the most unlikely people to do this task, they don’t seem well suited to it for a number of reasons. They have demonstrated weak faith, and it would take some very strong faith to get a grip on that kind of enterprise, and Jesus repeatedly says, “Oh, you have little faith.” Not only that, they have a track record of very sketchy obedience.

In fact, when the Lord has given them specific things to do, they have failed to do them. In the heat of that night that Jesus went into the garden to pray, He just asked them to stay awake and pray, but they fell asleep. And you can add to that that they are cowardly. When Jesus was arrested in the garden, they all forsook Him and fled. After His resurrection, He asked them to go to Galilee and wait for Him. They went to Galilee but they didn’t wait for Him. They went back to their old enterprise, fishing.

Somehow, if these men are going to change the course of human history, something has to happen to them. So the apostles then become the focus of our Lord in this opening section before He leaves. They are the ones He chose for the job, John 15-16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you.” “The apostles whom he had chosen,” at the end of verse 2. These provisions from Jesus are laid out in these first eleven verses.

The whole letter is written to Theophilus, which could be translated ‘friend of God’. It is a Greek name, probably some noble gentile. There is some history that says he was a convert in Antioch of Paul and Barnabas. So Theophilus doesn’t need to be identified to the readers of Acts, because they would all know who he was. And in Luke 1:1 he is called, “most excellent Theophilus,” which is reserved for a very important person.

Luke is eager to find open doors with gentiles, and that is what begins to happen, with the ministry of Paul in Acts 13 all the way to the end of the book. The gentile world has no experience in the gospel, essentially not about the Old Testament. And the church in its early years is persecuted by the Jews and by the gentiles as well. So Luke is doing whatever he can do to make the gospel acceptable in a gentile world.

Remember, the gentiles thought this gospel was foolish. Some of them saw it as a threat, and some of them persecuted the believers. In many towns, Paul was persecuted, and ultimately he was executed. Well we are going to see that unfold. Occasionally Luke records an incident where the Romans are kind of to Paul. Luke is saying to the readers, “Hey, they were not afraid of him, they even were kind to him.”

Let us now see the tools that God gives them in this section. First of all, we told you they had to have the proper message. Acts 1:1, “Jesus began to do and teach.” We know that Jesus began and will continue this work through His apostles and through His church and His people until He comes again. We have to teach the truth. That is why the New Testament emphasizes sound doctrine. If anybody preaches any other Christ, don’t listen to him. Let him be an anathema, Paul says.

We are stewards of the gospel in our generation to make sure it gets spread correctly and passed to the next generation without defect. Jesus spent 40 days speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. They were to make sure they had the right message. It’s all about the right words. Whenever God discloses Himself, He discloses Himself in words, and the words of divine revelation are written down.

The Bible claims for itself that every word of God is pure, every word, like silver refined seven times in a furnace. There is always an attack on the doctrine of inerrancy of Scripture, even right now this is happening in the evangelical world. But that is not surprising because Satan wants always to attack the word of God going back to Genesis, right? It doesn’t mean that the writers themselves understood the words necessarily. 1 Peter 1:10-12 says that the prophets of old looked at what they wrote to try to understand it.

Secondly, let us look at the proper confidence. And what is that confidence? It is that confidence that comes when they see Him alive. Acts 1:3, “He presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over those 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” He probably talked about what it meant to have God as your savior, God as your king personally, not universally, but personally in the heart.

They also needed the right power. Let’s look at Acts 1:4, “Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem.” “He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father.” What was their response? Look at God’s promise in Ezekiel 36: 25-27, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

The Father promised the coming of the Holy Spirit in Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”

So they knew that connected with the arrival of Messiah and the establishment of the kingdom would come the Holy Spirit. Jesus reiterated that promise. In John 1:32, John the Baptist said, “I have seen the spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and he remained on Him.” When the ministry of Jesus began, the Holy Spirit comes on Him. In the city of Nazareth, Jesus says in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.”

So Jesus is the prototype of the filling of the Holy Spirit, the empowering of the Holy Spirit for ministry. Jesus Christ is the God man, but He is fully man and He is empowered by the Holy Spirit, and we know that His whole ministry was basically operating in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So Jesus promised to his disciples that the Holy Spirit would come upon them as well. In John 7:37-39 Jesus says, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me as the scripture said from His innermost being will flow rivers of living water,’ but this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Then Jesus goes on in Acts 1:5, “for John baptized you with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Baptized is a word that means immersed. You’re going to be submerged with the Holy Spirit not many days from now, and He was talking about the day of Pentecost. This is not a request to the apostles to get baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is not telling them to seek it, to plead for it. This is a statement of fact for every believer.

Acts 1:8a, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” The job is too great, too demanding to be done in human strength. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power.” Every believer following Pentecost receives the Holy Spirit, which takes up residence and is literally the dominating power of our lives. Paul prays in Ephesians 3:16, “that according to the riches of his glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”

Fourthly, our Lord identifies what we will call the proper mystery. Verse 6, “When they had come together, they were asking Him saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them in verse 7, ‘It’s not for you to know times, which the Father has fixed by his own authority.’” There is a necessary mystery. The part that excited them the most was that this was going to happen soon. They wanted to know.

They were expecting the kingdom promised to Abraham and David, with all the promises that were reiterated through the prophets. They were expecting that Israel would be restored, that the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 would be fulfilled, and that the throne of David would be elevated again. They would be the dominant nation in the world. In other words, they believed in a kingdom just for Israel.

Jesus said, “None of your business when that’s going to happen.” That’s very different than saying, “That’s not going to happen.” Because in Matthew 25 and in Luke 13, He told them the kingdom was going to come. He told them He was going to come. He described features of His coming, features of His kingdom. But what He does tell them here is, “You can’t know the time when it will happen.”

It is going to come at a time you least expect. It’s going to come like a thief in the night. He is going to come suddenly. Here we are a couple thousand years later, and we don’t have any more information on it than they did, but I have news for you. That’s a good thing not to know so that every generation lives as if He might come at any moment. The doctrine of imminence.

We should invest in every single day everything that you can for the sake of the kingdom of God. God revealed enough to excite our anticipation and kept enough secrets so we don’t know when it is, so every generation lived in the anticipation that He could come at any time. Now all that leads us to a conclusion tonight. Let us call it the proper mission. Verse 8b, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The word witnesses is martyres, plural. We get from that the English word martyr. The connection is that the word witness came to be the word martyr because so many witnesses to the gospel died. That word came to mean one who dies for his testimony because so many did. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up your cross.” You have to be willing to lose your own life.

The more distinctly Christian we are, the more we will be labeled as extremists, homophobic, intolerant and guilty of hate crimes. Cultural Christianity, with consensus coming from a Biblical understanding, is gone. The people who carry the elections want nothing to do with that. The gospel advances by personal testimony to Christ one soul at a time. The only question is are you a faithful one or an unfaithful one?

Well, there is a final word here, the proper motive. Proper motive is tied to the proper mystery. Acts 1: 9-11, “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” The verb there is very strong. Why are you transfixed, gazing into the sky, as if you are losing Him?

Verse 11b, “This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you’ve watched Him go into heaven.” He went in clouds and He will come back in the clouds. Is that a motive? Yes for sure, that should be the great motive. He is coming suddenly, unexpectedly, and that kind of splits into two realities, personal meeting and eternal reward. The personal meeting with Jesus where He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And the eternal reward crown that He gives to all faithful servants.

We are living in the greatest revival of Biblical truth in the history of the world simply because of all the available electronic capabilities. We are also nearer to the second coming than we have ever been as the gospel is extending to the ends of the earth. Many verses in a New Testament encourage us to be faithful until He comes. My hope is that you will see that in a fresh light. We give you glory, oh God, make us more faithful, in our Savior’s name, Jesus Christ, Amen.

]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151101 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/cj2yowa5 imblog Acts 1:1-3

“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”

Luke, the writer, is referring to his Gospel of Luke as volume 1, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. Acts is volume 2 about the continued doing and teaching of Jesus. The gospels tell the story of the finished work of Christ. Remember what He said in his high priestly prayer in anticipation of the cross in John 17:4, “I have finished the work you gave me to do.” And on the cross in John 19:30, just before He gave up his life, he said, “It is finished.”

So the first volume, the Gospel of Luke, and all the other gospel writers, tell us of the finished work of Christ. The long awaited sacrifice for sin that satisfied God fully, He offered. He saved forever those who believed, and secured their redemption by his resurrection from the dead. Nothing can be added to the finished work of Christ. It was satisfactory to God, and so God raised him from the dead to validate His satisfaction.

And then God gave Christ a name above every name, exalted him to his right hand, gave him the name Lord, restored him to exalted heavenly glory, and even added a new dimension now as the savior because he had offered personally the sacrifice. This is the work that Jesus finished, but there also was the work that Jesus only began. The work of redemption he finished. The work of proclaiming the gospel, teaching the kingdom, and living the kingdom He only began.

Christ began in his ministry to collect the elect. By the time he ascended into heaven, there are just a few. They are all in one little country in the midst of this world. A hundred and twenty gather in the upper room in Jerusalem, and several hundred more in Galilee, and that is the beginning of what Jesus began. So Acts is the story of what Jesus continues to do and teach, the story and the long process completing God’s redemptive work through Christ.

So Luke 1:1-4 says, “In as much as many have undertaken to compile account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses of servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well having investigated everything carefully from the beginning to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.”

Luke is a fastidious and meticulous historian from a human standpoint. And added to that, he is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and he doesn’t know this will be called Luke, and he doesn’t know that volume 2 will be called Acts. He writes one great, long history, and the goal was exact truth. To provide certainty of the facts of redemptive history, to provide full assurance to believers, like Theophilus and others, that God’s promise of salvation was being fulfilled.

The prophecies in the Old Testament that came through the prophets were precise and identified places where Christ was born in Bethlehem and details about his life and details about his death. So Luke wants to show us that all the precision of the Old Testament that pointed toward Christ was fulfilled with the same kind of precision in the New Testament.

So Acts then continues the story of the exact truth of God fulfilling Old Testament prophecy with the coming of Messiah, and then after Messiah’s resurrection and His ascension, God continues to fulfill the story, and Luke writes to provide certainty so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught so that you may know.

At the end of Luke Jesus opened their minds to understand the scripture, and He said to them in Luke 24:46-49, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

And that is how Luke ends, and Acts begins with the arrival of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is promised in the book of Luke and comes in the book of Acts the way the Messiah was promised in the Old Testament and in the book of Luke. This is an exact and precise history. The early readers were taught then essentially that the apostles and the prophets all spoke the truth.

This is not just a broad overview. As in the Old Testament, all that is going on in Luke and Acts is being done by God. God is the sovereign power behind all of redemptive history, and the Spirit works the will of the Father, and the Son does the will of the Father. Luke loves to use a particular word in its death in the Greek language, and it means it is necessary. Luke uses that word 40 times in his writings to affirm to us that it is necessary that this happen.

It is necessary Luke says it because the Old Testament prophet said it. It is necessary, Luke says in Acts, because Jesus predicted it and promised it. So Acts is written to give believers an exact account so they could have confidence that God is still fulfilling His redemptive promise. This assurance is necessary because Judas had killed himself, and another had to be chosen to replace him among the 12, and that happens in the Acts 1. Nothing can stop the purpose of God from unfolding, not even the suicide of Judas.

So what do we call this book? The Acts of the Apostles? The only time the apostles appear is in Acts 1. So it is inaccurate to call it the Acts of the Apostles. Some have said it should be called The Acts of the Father because God is clearly at work unfolding his redemptive plan. Because the Lord opens the heart of Lydia in Acts 16:14, and when they do church together they begin to report all that God had done. You could also call it The Acts of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit separates Paul and Barnabas, to send them on the missionary trip out of Antioch.

Some prefer to call it the Acts of the Risen Lord because the theme of the preaching through the whole book is about the resurrection. Starting with the message at Pentecost, Christ has risen from the dead, and all the apostolic preachers feature the risen Christ. But is the risen Christ really acting?” Alan Thompson, says this, these all are “The Acts of the Lord Jesus through His people by the Holy Spirit for the accomplishment of the Father’s purposes.” That’s it in essence.

Is Jesus involved in the Book of Acts? Yes. He has gone back to heaven and been placed at the right hand of God, given a name above every name. And several times in the NT epistles, He is reigning from heaven as the head of the church, as the king over his spiritual kingdom, He extends his kingdom through the history of the Book of Acts. Acts 2:47 says, “And the Lord was adding to their number, day by day, those who were being saved.”

Jesus, the Lord of the church is still at work. He is adding people to the church. In Acts 11:20-21, there were some men of Cypress and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began also preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. So again, the king is reigning over His kingdom, He is building his church, He is saving his people.

If you go to Acts 8, you find Paul persecuting the church. Who stopped Paul? Jesus did, He showed up on the Damascus road in Acts 9. Now Jesus is involved both in the growth of his church and in stopping the destruction of his church. Jesus appears in Acts 18:9-10 in a vision to Paul and says, “Don’t be afraid any longer. Go on speaking, and don’t be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in the city.”

Acts 23, things are getting very difficult for Paul. Persecution is increasing with a conspiracy to kill him. Verse 11, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage, for as you have solemnly witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.” I’ll protect you until you reach Rome. So the Lord Jesus reigns over his kingdom from heaven, He is engaged in building his church by adding people to the list of saved souls. He is doing it by the preaching of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit.

And all along, the believers are suffering for their noble efforts and being rejected by the world, but the Lord is protecting them so that the gospel can be preached, and the elect will be gathered, and this is the history of the church until He returns. Now Luke is not an apostle, but he is a close friend of the apostles for 30 years from 30 to 60 AD. And he knows the history, from the death of Christ on. So he knows what happened in Jerusalem and Judea and beyond because he was there.

So in a sense, what began to be in the Book of Acts still is, and on the same basis, we are living this history, which while not written down in the New Testament is written down with the same exact precision in heaven. There is another message that you need to understand is very important in this pattern of growth, and it is this: The gospel is universal, and it goes well beyond Israel.

Even the disciples were stuck on the fact that all the promises of God were theirs and theirs alone. They had the traditional attitude toward gentiles that they had developed through centuries, and toward half-breed Samaritans, it was even worse. And Jesus, after all, came to Israel and really never went beyond Israel, other than journeying a little bit into Decapolis, an area around Galilee where gentile towns had developed.

There are many passages in the Old Testament where the messianic promises relate to the world and other nations. But somehow the Jews missed that. In Acts you realize that Philip is preaching to the gentiles, that a gentile eunuch is converted, that Peter is preaching to a gentile soldier named Cornelius, and that the church is established after Jerusalem in a gentile city called Antioch, and that Paul takes the gospel to the gentiles all over Asia Minor.

And that leads to a discussion in Acts 15, how does this all work? God allows the same miraculous phenomena of tongues to occur so that the Jews don’t think this is some kind of a second class event to Pentecost. So there was a very important message to proclaim to the Jews through the Book of Acts, and it starts in Acts 1:8, “Go preach in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world,” that Christianity is global.

We could divide Acts into six sections. Section 1 begins from the beginning and ends at Acts 6:7 which tells the story of the church at Jerusalem. Up to Acts 9:31 it moves the church throughout Judea and into Samaria and says at the end, the church increased. Then comes to the third section from Acts 9:32 to Acts 12:24 which includes the extension of the church to the gentiles, Antioch, and that ends with these words, “Let the word of the Lord continue to grow and be multiplied.”

The next section is Acts 12:25 to Acts 16:5, and this tells the story of the church going way beyond Antioch, jumping into Asia Minor, and the preaching tour through Galatia by the Apostle Paul. So the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily. These sections all end with the same sort of summary of the development of the growing church.

Acts 16:6 begins to tell the story of Paul reaching the great gentile cities, like Ephesus and beyond Asia Minor even into Corinth, and this ministry goes on all the way into Acts 19:20. So the Word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. The final section, from Acts 19:21, goes all the way to the end. It tells the story of the final years of Paul’s ministry before his imprisonment in Rome.

Luke had lived through 30 miraculous years from the resurrection to the imprisonment of Paul. He lived during the first fulfillment of The Great Commission by the force of apostolic preachers to the point where churches were established, and the next generation was put in place by placement of elders. Luke wrote a history, which started in Jerusalem, and ended when the gospel penetrated Rome, the capital of their world.

Look at Acts 1, because the Father’s plan worked through the Spirit’s power by the Son, has some requirements. Let us read Acts 1:1-11, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”

4 And while staying with them He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

“9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” And with that, they went back to Jerusalem. Initial lessons were taught.”

This is the last talk Jesus had with them before He went back to heaven. And in these words here, He gives to them all that they need. The first is you have to have the proper message. You have to have also the right confidence. Thirdly, you have to have the right power. And then, you have to have the right mystery. Then you have to have the right mission, and you have to have the right motive.

To effectively carry on Christ’s work, you have to begin with the right message. It all starts with the words of Jesus. That’s why there are four gospels, so we can get as many of the words of Jesus as the Holy Spirit wants us to have. Many people are giving others the wrong message. Biblical ignorance and false teachers are at an all-time high.

When you know the Word and you believe the Word, you are powerful. There are all kinds of people who write books that critique Christianity, call things into question, deny the inspiration of Scripture. These are from so-called Christian writers, Christian scholars. But those kind of people are impotent. They are just other people with false opinions. Faith comes by hearing the truth concerning Christ, Romans 10. Let us talk about the others next time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Oct 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151025 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/2zu1fma1 imblog Matthew 28:16-20

Matthew 28:16-20, “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We enjoy Christian fellowship and it is rich and rewarding but that is not our primary responsibility. We are also called to praise and worship and that too is lovely and enriching but that is not our primary responsibility. We are also called to learn the Word of God, to teach, that we might understand better the Scripture but that too, as vital as it is, is not our primary responsibility. Our primary responsibility is summed up in one sentence here in this passage in verse 19, "to make disciples of all the nations." That is the primary reason the church is here!

If we were saved for fellowship then we would be taken to heaven where fellowship is perfect. If we were saved for praise and worship we would be taken to heaven where praise and worship is perfect. If we were saved for the sake of teaching and training in knowledge and wisdom we should be taken to heaven where knowledge is perfect. The reason we are left here is in order that we might make disciples of all the nations. That is our God given priority as a church. Jesus came, the Bible says, to seek and save the lost and we have the same task to seek and bring the good news to the lost.

The Bible indicates that we are commanded to make disciples, to make followers of Jesus Christ. This is a command. The Bible also says in Acts 1:8 that we are equipped to do it. After the Holy Spirit comes you shall be witnesses. Having received the spirit at conversion we therefore have the resource for witnessing. Teaching, ministry, fellowship and worship are all important but the primary goal is not to do something with the believers but to do something for the lost.

We get so involved in spiritual ministry and in Christian fellowship and Christian relationships and so busy in church activities and service that we forget the needs of lost people. Sometimes even our theology is a little inaccurate and we assume that the elect are the elect and then the Lord will never close the kingdom down on earth until the elect are all in. So we have feel less responsible to be faithful to this commission. But all of these other things are less important than this command.

So what is necessary to make me effective in making disciples of all nations? What is my qualification and my motivation? What are the influences in my life that will cause me to fulfill the Lord's command? There are five of them in this text. And they sum up in great measure all of the necessary ingredients and qualifications for effective evangelism. In the text they are explicit and implicit. One way or another, they appear here for our instruction.

There are five keys to making disciples. Number one, availability. Everything starts at this particular point. And this is implicit in Matthew 28:10, "go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.” Effective ministry starts with showing up, with being initially available. No matter what other ability you might have if you are not available the other ability is not of any consequence. It was at a mountain which Jesus had prior designated as a meeting place. We don't know even the time that this occurred. It was after the meeting with the seven that occurred in John 21 where they were in the midst of fishing.

Somewhere between three or four weeks, after the resurrection, Jesus meets with his disciples. This is most likely the meeting that is indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:6-7 as a meeting in which Jesus appeared to 500 at one time. Not only were the disciples there but also the women who were believers. Galilee was where most of the believers were. When the believers in Jerusalem gathered in the upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost there were only 120 of them.

In this crowd were believers with all their weaknesses, with all their questions, with all their fears, with all their bewilderment about how it was Jesus wound up dying on a cross and now Christ is here for all to see. Apart from the women and the disciples those in Galilee had no opportunity to have seen Him before this. Remember again these are not the elite, not many noble, not many mighty, they are the poor and the common, those who put their faith in Christ taken from the masses of the people.

When Isaiah 6:8 says, "Here am I. Send me," he was reiterating the point of availability which is the starting point of any effective service to Christ. They wanted to see the living Christ. There was enough desire in their hearts to follow Him to bring them there. Because they were there, they were privileged with His presence, His promise and His great commission. They were the little people and they submitted themselves to this designated time and place with the desire to be with Christ. There are some big people, who have their own agendas who never bother to show up and consequently miss it.

So fulfilling the mission duty of your life to make disciples of other people begins with meeting the Lord in the Word, in prayer and in the assembly of the redeemed. Not forsaking the assembly of yourselves together as some do and much the more as you see the day approaching. You are never going to have an impact on the world unless you are willing to set aside that designated time and place to be in the presence of the living Christ, with His people, in His Word, in communing prayer with Him.

Many people never bother to go to the lost because they cannot even bother to get together with the saved. You have to ask yourself about your availability because those people who are most effective in making disciples are doing that because there is an overflow of communion with the living Christ. They choose to be in the Word, they choose to be in prayer, they choose to be in the assembly of the redeemed and out of that fellowship with the living Christ comes the impetus to carry out His cause.

There is a second necessary ingredient that flows out of verses 17-18, it is the word worship. Verse 17, "And when they saw Him they worshiped Him." They prostrated themselves in adoring worship, which is the right response. This is consistent with Matthew's emphasis in the very beginning as he introduces the coming of Christ and His birth, he is careful to point out that wise men came and worshiped Him. And here as he finishes his Gospel he is pointing out again that He was worshiped.

But notice however at the end of verse 17 that “some doubted.” Why does Matthew say that? Doesn't it seem an unnecessary addendum that might give some justification for their unbelief today? The answer is simply because that really happened. The Bible always has transparent honesty. The biblical writer is never caught up in some human effort to convince people of the resurrection by contrived and selective reporting. They just record the fact, and the truth is some were doubtful. They had their doubts because that's part of human sinful nature and they had not seen the resurrected Christ before.

And Jesus did another interesting thing, verse 18 says, "And Jesus came and said to them." Why do you think He did that? It was to give them more evidence. What did he say to Thomas in the upper room? Do you want to know who I am, see My scars. That is plenty of evidence. This is the first time for them. So Jesus came nearer and nearer to erase their doubt. And so they saw His beauty, that appearance, so mild and yet so almighty. So entirely human and yet divine. Here is the lion of the tribe of Judah, the conqueror of death and hell and yet the Lamb of God with the marks of the slaughter upon Him.

To worship it to acknowledge deity, majesty, sovereignty and glory. That is essential in the life of a disciple maker. Only when you are consumed with love and praise to Christ you are literally controlled by that. You evangelize out of a worshiping heart. If you really love the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul, mind and strength then His cause is your passion, right? People who are not worshiping as they should, do not champion His cause and preach His message because they are more occupied with their own agendas. Where is your heart? If your heart is set on Christ then Christ is all, His kingdom is all, His cause is all, and His purpose is all you live for.

There is a third word out of the text, submission. Verse 18 continues, "All authority in Heaven and earth has been given to Me.” This is a staggering, far reaching statement beyond my ability to conceive. But let me begin to explain. When Matthew began this gospel he introduced Jesus as king. He gave His royal lineage and had a group of wise men acknowledge Him as king. Being a king means being almighty, sovereign. And now as he ends his gospel with the same thing. This means we are called to submit.

Now this particular authority is not what a great conqueror gets when he conquers a nation and on the basis of what he has done he is the authority. This is authority based innately on who Jesus is, not on what He has done. He is God. And it is the authority that belongs to deity. But this authority has been reaffirmed by what He has accomplished on the cross and through the resurrection. Thus as the conquering hero and one who is God He has complete freedom to do exactly what He wants when He wants, how He wants to whomever He wants.

There is a fourth word, obedience. Verse 19, "Go therefore," This means, if you are available and if you are worshipful and if you are submissive, therefore go. We have a command in this verse to make disciples. There are three participles: going, baptizing and then one in verse 20, teaching. In Mark 16:15 Jesus says, "go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Luke 24:47 says, "that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nation." It all starts with going.

Mark's gospel says to preach the gospel. Luke's gospel says preach forgiveness of sins. Matthew says to make disciples by going and baptizing. Where is the gospel here? Well that word ‘baptizing’ is loaded with gospel preaching because to be baptized is to be visibly show a symbol which illustrates the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a public sign and confession of that. It assumes the preaching of the gospel; the death and resurrection of Christ and all that was involved in its significance.

That ordinance of immersing a person in water, is a way for a person who put their faith in Christ, to demonstrate their faith and their union in Christ. If a person was converted to Jesus Christ they were baptized. And every believer is to call others to be baptized. It seems to be that many people are going but not all who are going are baptizing. Salvation is a matter of faith not water baptism but water baptism is the sign of true faith because faith without works is dead. The very first work that is visible in public is that of baptism.

If you are claiming to be a Christian and have never been baptized there is reason to be suspicious of the reality of your claim unless you have never heard this before. When we preach Christ we should call people to be baptized, to make that public pronouncement of their union with Christ, confessing Jesus as Lord with their mouth and with actions show that we are His. If they are unwilling to take that stand there is reason to assume theirs is less than a saving faith. One who refuses baptism is likely not exercising true faith.

Calling people to salvation is the mark of baptism. Somebody might say well, I might get persecuted if people know that I was baptized. Well if persecution stands between you and baptism then you do not really believe that Christ is God almighty and He says that you are blessed when that happens. I'm not saying that if you have not been baptized you are not a Christian. But I'm saying there is reason to overcome whatever is holding you back. Some people are afraid to be identified as Christian in a Moslem country. Others fear ridicule or gossip. The important thing really is fearing God and not fearing men.

The fifth word is teaching. In verse 20, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Making a disciple does not end when they believe; and it does not end when they are baptized. You have a task at hand and that is to teach them to observe all all the things that Jesus has taught you. Making disciples involves going, preaching the gospel including the forgiveness of sin, calling for saving faith, baptism and then it involves instructing them to a lifelong obedience to the Word.

There's no discipleship apart from personal faith. There is no discipleship apart from a willingness to be taught the commandments of Christ in order that you might obey His Lordship in your life. Let's not cheat on what is the message we are to obediently proclaim. We start with availability, worship, submission and obedience. We make disciples the way the Lord said to do it because He knows what is needed.

And finally, the last word, power. Such a noble responsibility, such an eternal task, demands something beyond our own resources. So at the end of verse 20 this great promise, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” I am with you till the second coming is what Jesus has in mind. You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. He is with you always in the form of His indwelling Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:5, “so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Ephesians 3:7, “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of His power.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11, “that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power.” Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”

David said to the people in 1 Chronicles 29:5, "Who is willing to consecrate his service this day to the Lord?" That's the question. Who is willing to be available to the Lord's presence? To worship the Lord's person? To submit to the Lord's authority? To obey the Lord's plan? To be empowered by the Lord's might and resource? Are you?

Yes, He is with us always. “It is not by human strength but by My spirit” says the Lord in Zechariah 4:6 and until the ultimate consummation of everything, until Jesus comes He is our power, He is our resource. Those are the words that lie behind the life of effective evangelization. Availability, worship, submission, obedience and power, and when those are part and parcel of your life you will be effective for God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Oct 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20151018 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/rfrh8mou imblog Matthew 28:11-15

Matthew 28:11-15, “While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. 14 And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.”

Now it is obvious that this is all about a bribery and about a lie regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yes, someone did defeat death, Jesus Christ did. And yes, He made a way for you and I to defeat death as well. In fact, there is no hope of life after death, there is no hope of heaven, there is no hope of eternal blessing and joy without the resurrection of Christ. Still in spite of the fact that the resurrection is the only hope of salvation for man, the only key to eternal life, the majority of people reject it.

To reject the resurrection for whatever reason is to commit spiritual suicide. It is to damn your own soul to an eternal hell without God. And in so doing, you not only lose the future but you lose the meaning and the value of the present. For if the future has no meaning, then how can the present have any meaning? Furthermore, to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ and therefore deny the hope of eternal life goes against the grain of the human heart.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "God has set eternity in their heart." There is something inside man that reaches out for immortality that is not satisfied with life only on a temporal level. The religions and philosophies and personal anticipations of the human race throughout all of history reflect this desire for immortality. And only Jesus said in John 11:25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die."

Through the years there have been many explanations offered to explain away the truth of the resurrection. Here are some of their theories. First of all, the "swoon theory." Here it says that Christ never really died, that the reason He got out of the grave was because He was not yet dead. Shock from the loss of blood on the cross and the wounds sent Him into a semi-coma. And when they took Him off the cross and put Him in the tomb, the aroma of the spices and the coolness of the tomb revived Him. And when He came out of the grave, the disciples assumed that He was resurrected.

History will support that the Romans knew when someone was dead. They were experts at execution. And when they came by and did not break Jesus' legs because they were convinced He was dead, they knew that. And then they rammed a spear into His side and out came the blood and the water around the heart, again indicating that He was dead.

This theory means that Jesus survived severe beating, crucifixion, the spear thrust into His side, draining blood out of His body, entombment three days with no food or water. Woke up without any medical assistance having lost most of His blood, able to moved the stone, over-powered the Roman guards and then walked seven miles to Emmaus on feet that had been pierced with nails. That is absurd.

There is a second theory, the "no-burial theory.” This says that Christ was never put in the tomb so He wasn't there on Sunday. Since He wasn't there Friday or Saturday, we don't expect Him on Sunday. The disciples thought He would be in the tomb and that is why they thought He had left the tomb. But in reality He was thrown in a pit with a lot of other criminals.

This theory doesn't work either because the testimony is all contrary to that. Furthermore, why did the Jewish leaders then seal the tomb? And why did they post a Roman guard? If the body was thrown in a pit, they could have easily disproved the resurrection by going back to that pit and bring the body and say, "Here is his body." Why not just produce the body? No, the no-burial theory doesn't work.

The third theory is the "hallucination theory." Everybody who thought they say Jesus after His dead hallucinated. They thought they saw Jesus because they wanted to see Him so badly. How could 500 people up in Galilee have the same hallucination at the same time? And since they didn't even believe or expect a resurrection, where was this strong desire that brought them to hallucinate? And where was the body?

There is also the "telepathy theory." There was no physical resurrection but God sent back mental images and put them on the minds of people so they would think He was alive. That makes God a deceiver. It says Christianity is based on deceit. It makes liars out of the Apostles. It also held a conversation with the people and even ate with them. That is absurd. If this is just telepathy, where's the body?

Then there is fifthly the "seance theory." And that is that a medium conjured upon the spirit of the dead Jesus by occult power and that in a demonic way this seance took place in which the dead Jesus made an appearance. How is it they could touch Him? How is it that they could hold on to His feet? How is it that He could eat? And where was the body? Why is the tomb empty if this is nothing more than simply the projection of a medium spirit?

There is another theory, the "mistaken identity theory." Somebody impersonated Jesus to falsify the resurrection. He must have crucified Himself to produce the scars in His hands. He must have stabbed a spear into His side to produce the scar. And how do you explain walking through walls or controlling the fish in the sea, creating a meal, appearing and vanishing at will, ascending to heaven in full view of the Apostles?

Renan, the French atheist, has tried to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ saying that it was based on the testimony of one eccentric delirious woman named Mary Magdalene who had seven demons and was insane. Did he forget the 500 plus other witnesses? Did he forget the ten separate appearances recorded in the gospel record of Christ after His resurrection? And where is the body? Why is the tomb empty?

There is one other theory that the Jews adopted, namely the "theft theory" that says the disciples came and stole His body. Now obviously if the body is not there, they have to explain why the body is not there. Somebody had to take it. That is the only explanation that makes sense because it explains the removal of the body. So who took it? The Jews would not take it because they wanted Jesus to stay buried. The Romans would not take it because they were not interested.

So this theory says the disciples came and stole His body. Why did Matthew bring in this ridiculous lie about the body being stolen? The answer is two-fold. Number one, to demonstrate that the apostasy of Israel was full and final. They denied the resurrection just like they denied everything else. Secondly, this testimony of the enemies of Jesus is the best testimony as to the reality of His resurrection.

So Matthew then, in a most unique way, discusses this incident of the lie about the resurrection of Christ. Now it is Sunday morning, and a group of women come. There is an earthquake as they approach. When they get there, the stone is rolled away, and sitting on it is a flaming angel in white garments. Christ has been released out of the grave. He is alive. That announcement is made to the women. They check the tomb out and it is true. They leave that place and as they move along the road they are met by the risen Christ who speaks with them.

Remember what happened to the soldiers? Matthew 28:4, "When they saw the angel, for fear of him the guards did shake and became as dead men." Now these Roman guards saw the angel and it was their fear of that holy angel that caused them to faint. They experienced the earthquake. They saw the moving of the stone. And they fainted at the sight of this holy angel. So they have experienced this.

The women then have come and gone. In verse 10 Jesus said to those women, "Stop being afraid, go tell My brothers that they should go to Galilee and there they shall see Me." Verse 11, “While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.” We don't know precisely when but it was at the time when the women were going. And it says that some of them go to make a report to the chief priests and tell them all the things that happened.

Maybe some of them were too frightened because they were afraid to let others know they had lost the body and therefore would lose their lives because Roman law said that if a soldier fails in his duty, he pays with his life. Whatever the reason, some of them felt they had to report back to the chief priests. Because Pilate had delegated them to the chief priests in Matthew 27:62.

Notice in verse 11 it says, "They told the chief priests all that had taken place.” They described the earthquake. They described the rolling of the stone. They described the arrival of a blazing angel sitting on the stone. They described the empty tomb. They described it all. They knew it was a supernatural event. And they understood that Jesus rose from the dead. And so, they told that to the Jewish leaders.

So the Jewish leaders heard about the resurrection even before the disciples heard it. But they didn't believe. They had said back in Matthew 27:42, "Let Him now come down from the cross and we will believe Him." And here is something even greater, He came out of the grave but they would not believe. They were so resistant and so blind and so locked in to their own religious belief that they would not even investigate the truth.

That news brought shock and fear. But it did not bring repentance and it did not bring faith. They were without excuse. They were informed about the resurrection and they didn't question it. All they did instantaneously was say, we cannot let this get out. We have to stop it. We are only interested in preventing people from hearing about it.

So, verse 12 says, "And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers.” This was an official meeting of the Sanhedrin, to deal with something supernatural that had happened at the grave, an earthquake, an angel, the tomb was empty and the body was gone. The disciples had not stolen it. The soldiers would have reported that.

First, in verse 12 we learn that they gave a lot of money to the soldiers. They were willing to pay any price to lie about the resurrection. They could not let the people think that Jesus had risen from the dead because the people would never follow them but only Jesus. Then secondly in verse 13, "Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” The soldiers are told to lie about the resurrection.

So, the soldiers told lies for the sake of money. They were materialistic. They knew it was lie, but they were willing for money to say what the Jews wanted them to say. And there was a third thing and a very important one if you were a Roman soldier. Verse 14, "And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers were afraid that if Pilate heard this message they would be court-martialed and get the death penalty.

So, the three resolutions were, bribe the soldiers, tell them to tell others that the disciples stole the body, and take care of the soldiers if they get in trouble with Pilate. The soldiers' response we find in verse 15, "So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.” Matthew is writing this about 30 years later, somewhere around 63 A.D and he is saying then that this lie is still believed among the Jews that the disciples stole the body.

One writer has said, "Not on historical faith but only on the faith of the heart rests the salvation of the world." God sets these soldiers aside and makes them preachers of an anti-gospel who don't even believe in it. And they were successful at what they did. In the year 114 to 165 a man named Justin Martyr, one of the early church fathers, writes that this lie was still among the Jews the most common opinion.

He writes, "You Jews selected men and sent them into all the world proclaiming that a certain atheistic and lawless sect has arisen from one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver whom we crucified, but His disciples stole Him by night from the tomb and deceived men by saying that He is risen from the dead and ascended into heaven." So even in the second century, this is the commonly reported view among the Jews. And the lie is still around today.

Why is it written here? Because it is convincing proof of the reality of the resurrection. It is evidence supplied not by the friends of Jesus but by His enemies. And their testimony is even more astounding because it is so unexpected. It was impossible for the Roman soldiers, to deny that Christ had by some supernatural means left the grave. They saw it themselves. The tomb was empty. The earthquake, the angel, the whole thing they witnessed.

But it is impossible to believe their explanation. First of all basically, these disciples are cowards. When the soldiers came into the garden to capture Jesus all the disciples ran away, right? So if the disciples came and stole the body, where did they get the courage to confront the Roman guard? How would these men who would not defend the living Christ would now try to steal a dead Christ? Peter denied Jesus Christ even to a little girl.

And how were they able to roll the stone away without the Romans noticing. Further, it is impossible to believe that all the Roman soldiers were asleep. They always rotated their watches and they knew the price of being killed was too high to fall asleep. The fact that they gave them money tells us clearly this is bribery. You don't bribe people to tell the truth.

But most ridiculous of all, they said that His disciples came by night and stole Him away while they slept. So while you were asleep, you saw the disciples come and steal the body, did you? You cannot have it both ways. If you were asleep, you don't know what happened. So the whole explanation is self-condemning.

The testimony of Scripture is that Jesus rose from the dead and Matthew is telling us here that we can believe the testimony of His friends or we can believe the testimony of His enemies and we are going to come up with the very same conclusion. There is no other historical event that is as truly and thoroughly examined as the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Lord arose. And because He lives, He gives life to all who believe in Him. What about you, what do you believe? Let us bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 27 Sep 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150927 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/xixnquk9 imblog Matthew 28:8-10

Let us study Matthew 28 as we return to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world has learned many great truths and life-changing events. But not any one of them can come close to the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That resurrection of is the heart of the Christian faith. When Jesus rose from the dead by the power of the Father, He was affirmed to have accomplished what He came to accomplish.

And 2 Corinthians 4:14 says that as God raised up Jesus from the dead, so also shall He raise us up. We belief in resurrection life and that is built on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because He lives, we shall live also. Death is not the end. For the believer it's a door that enters into eternity. Job 19:25-27 says, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”

The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees the resurrection of every believer, no matter what happens to the body. That is the promise of God. So this then is the single greatest event in the history of the world. Anybody who denies the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be a Christian. Look to 1 Corinthians 15:13-14, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”

Then verse 17 says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” His argument is that the power of sin is not broken. And every man therefore is under the total domination of sin to be damned forever by it. No, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just negotiable reality, it is the very cornerstone of the Christian faith. And if you remove it, the whole thing falls apart.

But bless God, Jesus did rise. So let us go back to Matthew 28 and see His resurrection. Now verse 1, is literally, long after the Sabbath, it is Sunday, the third day since Jesus was put in the grave on Friday. For at least five times already in Matthew's gospel, it stated that Jesus was in the grave and that He would be there three days. And now it is that third day, resurrection day. Now Matthew approaches the resurrection scene from the attitudes and emotions of the women who were there.

Remember the first attitude we saw was the attitude of sympathy. Early in the morning they were coming out of devoted love and sympathy to Christ to anoint His body one more time before decay finally totally took over. In Mark 16 it says as they approached the grave they were concerned about who might roll the stone away because it was so large. They weren't at all expecting a resurrection and they were not aware of the guard at the grave and that it was sealed.

The women were Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, the mother of James and Joses. And Mark says also Salome was there. Salome was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John. And Luke says that Joanna was there, the wife of Chuza who was one of the stewards of Herod. So it was a little group of women who came to the grave. They wanted to see it and then to go and anoint the body of the Lord.

When they arrived, their sympathy turned to terror. Verse 2 tells us there was a great earthquake caused by an angel of the Lord descended from heaven who rolled back the stone and sat on it. The angel did not open the grave to let Christ out, the angel opened the grave to let people in. Christ had already left. He didn't need to wait for the stone to be removed, He went right through the stone just as later on He went through the walls of the upper room to meet the disciples with the door being shut.

Now one of those women, Mary Magdalene, was very devoted and impulsive. She was like the counterpart of Peter among the women. She saw the opened tomb but didn't really look at the angel. John 20 records that Mary Magdalene turned immediately and ran back into the city to find Peter and John to tell them that something terrible had happened, someone had taken the Lord.

Meanwhile the rest of the women remain and they face an angel whose face is like lightning. And that identifies him with the glory of God. This then is a messenger from God because his garment is as white as snow, speaking of holiness and purity. The glory of the Father was transmitted to those women which demonstrates that this is a messenger from God.

So fearful was he, verse 4 says, that the soldiers were knocked unconscious. And they are lying on the ground in a coma. The women are also very frightened. And in verse 5, “But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.” That must have been a comforting word for them. And then in verse 6 he says, "He is not here, He has risen as He said." And the emphasis is on "as He said," this is what Jesus predicted. "Come, see the place where He lay."

And if you compare the other gospels, the women went into the tomb and as they went in the angel went in with them and the angel repeated the same message again. And then a second angel appeared, one at the head and one at the feet and the two angels together repeated the same message and said He was raised. And then in verse 7 the angel said, "Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead.” Fascination has to give way to proclamation. You have to get the message out.

Now the evidence was all there. Not only the empty tomb but the unconscious guards. And then there was the testimony from a holy angel. And then there was the orderly grave clothes. The other gospel writers pointed out that if the body of Jesus had been stolen, they would have had to rip those linens off Him which would have been scattered all over. But they were lying perfectly as they had been lying when He was in them with the headpiece where the head would be and the rest where the body would be, as if He had lifted out.

These women knew that the disciples did not believe in a resurrection, so they wouldn't have stolen the body to falsify a resurrection. Oh there was plenty of evidence that it really was a resurrection. Look at the rest of verse 7, “and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” And this would be the climax of Matthew's gospel. The promise of the resurrection would be fulfilled.

And Jesus said it in Matthew 26:32, “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Galilee of the Gentiles where the Lord first ministered and first did His miracles and first redeemed souls and was first hated and rejected. Galilee, a microcosm of the world. Jesus would commission them to preach the gospel in Galilee was in a sense to say, "I want this to be a representation that you must go to the ends of the earth."

There were some appearances of Christ in Jerusalem before the meeting in Galilee. This is Sunday morning and just in a matter of moments He will appear to Mary Magdalene who will arrive back at the grave. The women who have been there since she left are now on their way to the disciples. And as they are leaving, Mary Magdalene and Peter and John are coming and He will appear to Mary. And later on He will appear to Simon Peter as Luke 24 and 1 Corinthians 15:5 tell us.

So Jesus will appear personally to Mary because of her deep devotion and because she stayed by the grave. And a personal appearance to Peter because he of all the disciples had seemingly defected the farthest and needed grace for restoration. And after that there would be an appearance to two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus. And then on that very Sunday night, all the disciples were gathered in the upper room and the Lord appeared to them also.

Luke 24:36-37, “As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.” In fact there were only ten disciples at that time, Thomas was missing. And eight days later John 20:26-29 tells us, He appeared again in the upper room, and this time Thomas was there and when Thomas saw the scars he said, "My Lord and My God." So there were several appearances to the disciples in Jerusalem.

But the great appearing in which there was the great commissioning occurred in Galilee. And that is the one of which Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:6 when he says, "And after He had been seen by Peter and the disciples, He was seen by about 500 brothers at one time." And that was that great meeting in Galilee where He spoke to all the gathered disciples on a mountain. And even after that, He appeared to Apostles prior to His ascension.

And every time He appeared to them it says in Acts 1, He spoke of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. For 40 days, from resurrection to ascension, at varying intervals to varying groups of the disciples, He appeared. But the high point of all those appearances was the appearance on the mountain in Galilee with those 500 people plus where He commissioned them to preach the gospel to the whole world. And every meeting in Jerusalem prior to that was just a preparation for the great commissioning that would occur in Galilee.

And so the women had come to the tomb with feelings of sympathy. That turned into a feeling of terror and now that feeling began to give way to the emotion of joy. Verse 8, “So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” The angel said go, and they spun around and took off. And they are running into the city to find the disciples to tell them the message from the angel that Jesus was raised from the dead.

According to Mark 16:13, the apostles did not believe them. That's important because it reaffirms that they didn't steal the body because they didn't even believe in the resurrection. Luke 24 also indicates the same thing, in verses 10 - 11, and verses 22 to 25. So the women go to find the disciples and when they find them they cannot even convince them that it is true.

Now meanwhile, the soldiers are still unconscious. The tomb is open. The angel is there. Peter and John and Mary Magdalene are returning to find out what is going on. Look at John 20:4, “Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.” John never uses his own name, always calls himself the other disciple, or the disciple whom Jesus loved, or the disciple who leaned on Jesus' chest, something like that. And he came first to the grave.

Now John was faster than Peter but he was also a little more timid. And he just stooped down and looked in, he didn't go in. And he saw the linen clothes lying there. And he cannot figure out what is happening. And then comes Simon Peter and he just goes in right away. And he saw the linen clothes lying there and the cloth that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes but in a place by itself, indicating that there had been no struggle at all but that Christ had just left the clothing perfectly.

Then after Peter went in, John also went in and he saw and believed (verse 8). He had such a heart of faith, didn't he? Peter still had many questions but John goes from curiosity to faith that fast. John 20:9, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead.” Oh, they heard Him say it, but it didn't register. They were unwilling to allow Jesus to say He was going to die, therefore they blocked out of their minds that He might rise again.

But John believed and Peter questioned. And John 20:10 says they went away again to their own home. They were trying to figure it out. But verse 11-12 say, “But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.” These two angels are still there. Verse 13, “They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

Verse 14, “Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.” Maybe she was crying and she couldn't see too well. That is probably right but the reason she did not know it was Jesus was because Jesus after His resurrection was not known by anyone who saw Him unless He opened their eyes. For in His resurrection glory He was changed. How else could the two disciples on the road to Emmaus walk with Him and talk with Him and not know who He was until He disclosed it to them?

Verse 15, “Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Verse 16, “Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Rabboni is only used for a highly exalted teacher and it means master. And Jesus in that moment revealed Himself to her and she was the first, says Mark 16, to see the resurrected Christ.

Mary grabbed Him and did not want to let go. And then in verse 17 Jesus says, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” One of the greatest statements of all of Scripture! He says, from now on they are My brethren, not friends like He had called them in John 15:15. Why? Because of His death and resurrection they have been brought fully into the family of God.

After having revealed Himself to Mary, the Lord then supernaturally transports Himself out in front of the other women and comes along the road to meet them. Matthew 28:9, “And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” That was the ordinary greeting. Here is Christ in resurrection glory in a very simple and warm way says to the women He loved ‘good morning!’ “And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.” Now their joy turns into worship.

They knew He was the risen Christ. This was their recognition that He was to be praised, worshiped and honored. They were doing what Paul says everyone should do, every knee should bow, every tongue should confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God, Philippians 2:11. The evidence is there for the women. And in that moment, their worship turned to a new emotion, a new attitude of hope. Verse 10, “Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

What does the resurrection mean? First, it means that the Word of God is true. Secondly, it means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and as God He has power over death. Thirdly, it proves that salvation is complete, on the cross Jesus conquered sin and death and rose victorious. Fourthly, it proves that the church is established. Jesus says I will build My church and death won't stop Me. Fifthly, it also proves that judgment is coming. The judge is alive. And sixthly, it proves that heaven is waiting for those who believe. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Sep 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150920 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/w7x17yzv imblog Matthew 28:1-7

This is the great cornerstone of the Christian faith. Everything that we are and have and ever hope to be, is predicated on the reality of the resurrection. There would be no Christianity if there were no resurrection. On the other hand because there is a resurrection, all elements of our faith are affirmed as true in every sense.

Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead. But there are many possible reactions to the resurrection. First, there is the reaction of rationalism which says that the resurrection must be rejected because it cannot be explained by human reasoning. The humanistic view says that only that which man can perceive and explain can be true. So rationalism rejects the resurrection as it rejects God and all other miraculous elements of redemptive history.

A second reaction is the reaction of unbelief which just refuses to believe the plain truth. Unbelief is a denial of what is a fact, because the resurrection is perhaps the most indisputable fact of all of ancient history, based on evidences and testimony from eye witnesses. Another response is indifference. That is the response that says it may be true or in fact it is true but I just don't care. That is not at the top of my priority list whether it happened or not.

And there is also the reaction of hostility. It is more than a rationalistic rejection based upon the supremacy of human reason. It is more than indifference and more than ignorance, it is anger. The proper response is the response of faith, of belief, of application of the reality of the resurrection. Now all the gospels believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ not because they were forced to believe, but because they who were close to the evidence, as were all the other people of the believing community.

In Matthew 28:1-10, we are going to join those who see the resurrection through the eyes of faith. Some people think that the Bible is just a whole lot of spiritual truths put together at random. That's not true. What we see in Matthew 28 is the climax of everything. It is the point of everything and the purpose of everything. This is a time then to memorize everything we have learned so that we may understand the glory of the resurrection, this greatest of all events.

The first sermon ever preached in the church the day the church was born was preached by Peter in Acts 2 and it's a sermon on the resurrection. The reality of the resurrection became the theme of all apostolic preaching. Peter preached again on the resurrection in chapter 4 and again on the resurrection in chapter 10. And Stephen preached the resurrection in chapter 7. And Philip preached the resurrection in chapter 8. And Paul preached the resurrection in chapter 9 and chapter 13 and on to chapter 28 of Acts.

The whole theme of the New Testament is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we are here because of the resurrection. This is Sunday, this is the first day of the week, and this is resurrection day. Spurgeon wrote, "We gather together on the first rather than the seventh day of the week because redemption is even a greater work than creation and more worthy of commemoration. Jesus has placed our rest day not at the end of a week but at the beginning of the rest. Every first day of the week we should meditate on the rising of our Lord and seek to enter into the fellowship in His risen life.”

Here is the foundation of all our hope. Because Jesus said in John 14:19, "Because I live, you shall live also." It was Jesus who said in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. Who-ever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” The resurrection is the core of all we believe. And so we are real excited to study this record of our Lord's resurrection.

Now each of the four gospel writers presents the resurrection in a unique way, picking out certain elements of the event of the resurrection to enforce certain spiritual truth from the mind of the Spirit to the heart of the reader. And as we go through Matthew's picture of the resurrection, we are also going to draw from Mark and Luke and John in order to enrich and fill out the wholeness of the scene that we may appreciate all of its great truth.

Matthew approaches the resurrection through the emotions of a group of women. Mark, Luke and John all approach it differently. They all use the same historical truth, there is no contradiction, but each is selective as to the elements of the resurrection on which they focus for the purpose the Spirit of God gave to each writer.

Let us look at it from Matthew’s viewpoint, emotionally. We are going to look at it through the heart of some loving women who are sensitized to the event itself in marvelous ways. So we will feel the resurrection. We will experience the resurrection as we share in the emotions of these women who first encountered the risen Christ.

Let look at Matthew 28:1, “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” That beginning phrase really means "long after the Sabbath" to express the idea that an interval of time has occurred since the Sabbath which ended Saturday at sundown. And now it is "toward the dawn of the first day of the week." Notice the Jews did not name the days. They just named the days numerically after the Sabbath, it was day one after the Sabbath and so on.

So, now it is Sunday morning and maybe ten hours have passed since the Sabbath. This is the third day the Lord has been in the grave. He was there part of Friday, all of Saturday the Sabbath and ten hours already on Sunday toward dawn on the morning of that first day with reference to Sabbath. Mark 16:2 says, giving us the same time note, "And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen.” And Luke 24:1 says, "At early dawn..." And John 20:1 says, “while it was still dark.”

So the stage is set on this third day for a great event to happen. Jesus had said He would rise from the grave on the third day. He had said it many times as recorded in all four gospels. It is resurrection day and it is Sunday after the Sabbath. But the Sabbath that Jesus was in the grave was the last authorized Sabbath. So it was the end of the Sabbath as part of the old covenant. And it was also the dawning of a new covenant which would no longer be at the end of a week but at the beginning. It is the start of a new era.

And that is why we meet on Sunday, not on the Sabbath, Saturday. Let us now join the women. And this evening we are going to look at their attitudes and emotions as they are confronted with the fact that Jesus whom they expect to be dead in the grave is gone and alive. At first they feel the emotion of sympathy. These women loved the Lord Jesus Christ more than anyone else.

Look in Matthew 28:1, "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” But they are not alone. Mark 16:1 adds, "Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him,” she was there too. Luke 24:10 adds, “Now it was Mary Magdalena and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them.” And John uses the plural pronoun "we" in John 20:2, so we assume that he too saw all those women.

John indicates that the group arrives at the grave at the breaking of dawn. They did not come to see the resurrection, their faith could not handle that. They didn't believe it, they came to see the grave. But why? Mark 16 says, "Here they came in the morning to anoint Him.” What was the point? Hadn't He already been anointed in excess of 70 pounds of anointing substance? The Jews had a tradition to anoint on the third day to preserve the body a bit longer because at the fourth day the body was too decayed.

And Mark 16 says that as they were walking along, they were having a discussion about how they were going to get this great stone out of the way. They had no idea it was being guarded by Romans and sealed. And what they lacked in faith they made up for in compassion. It is one final act of love. But no sooner do they approach the grave the sympathy is transformed into fear. Their second emotion was of terror.

Verse 2 says, “And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.” Now this is the second earthquake in three days. There was an earthquake when Christ died that split the rocks wide open and opened graves and dead people came alive among the saints. And now God again is moving and God is demonstrating it physically.

The epicenter of the earthquake is at the tomb. The women feel the earthquake not knowing what has happened. Matthew tells us why, "for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven." When this angel came the garden it created an earthquake. Nothing says that he let Jesus out of the tomb. That is a fallacy. No one actually saw the resurrection, it occurred in an invisible way, Christ just came out of that grave.

The angel moved the stone to let the women in so they could see that He was already gone. Well, how could Jesus get out of there? The same way John 20:26 says, “Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them.” The same way He came through the wall into the upper room is the same way He went out of the rock of the grave. And when the women arrived, they went in and they saw. And when Peter and John arrived, they went in and they saw.

And there were the linen wrappings undisturbed the way they had been wrapped around His body. And the head napkin in the place for His head. It was just the way it had been when His body was in it only Jesus was gone. And little do the high priests and Pharisees know that all of their efforts would only increase His influence and only validate His resurrection.

Now here we have to insert John's gospel special interest in Mary Magdalene. Mary was to the women what Peter was to the Apostles. When Mary comes in all she sees is that the stone is moved and the body gone. And she does not pay attention to this angel. John tells us her reaction in John 20:2, “So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Mary Magdalene didn't know who that was. John 20:3, "So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.” Verse 4 says they ran and John outran Peter and arrived first. The other ladies stayed and they have the wonderful encounter with an angel. The angel is described in Mathew 28:3, “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.” So here is a holy angel representative of deity, a created being who represents the uncreated cause of all beings, God Himself.

And verse 4 says, "And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.” They were there to make sure nothing happened but something happened they couldn't have anticipated. And they went into temporary coma. Fear will cause people to be paralyzed to the point where they go unconscious and that's what happened. Yes, the women were afraid too but they were sustained by the angel himself.

Verse 5, “But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.” Some things need explaining even though no one is asking. And so he explained to the women, this is what he said, "Stop being afraid, there's no reason to be afraid." Now remember, Mary Magdalene is gone but the rest are there. She's right now on her way running trying to find Peter and John. Meanwhile the angel calms the fears of these ladies.

The soldiers had reason to fear when Christ arose. But those who loved Him had no reason to fear. They came to find a corpse, not to see a resurrection. Their faith was weak, their understanding was feeble but God is ever gracious. And they loved the Lord Jesus Christ and even in the moments of their doubt and despair, God recognized their love and responded in grace. The Greek text says, "He was raised, He is not here."

And the word indicates resurrection from the dead. That's why the soldiers who were experts at death didn't break His legs, He was already dead. They thrust a spear into His side penetrating the heart and out came the blood from His heart and the water from the pericardium. And these same women, along with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, would have known that He was dead. And lying in that tomb for this the third day, no question He was dead.

But now He was raised. And the Bible emphasizes that He was raised by the power of the Father in Romans 6:4, Galatians 1:1 and 1 Peter 1:3. In addition Jesus in John 10:18 says, "I have power to lay My life down and I have power to take it up again." So He was raised not only by the Father but He was raised by His own power. And then in Romans 8:11 it says, "It is the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead." So the whole trinity is involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And then the angel says, verse 6, "He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” Well Luke 24:3-4 says they did. And it also says the angel showed up on the inside, too. And when they got inside the angel appeared again and gave them basically the same speech. Why did he give it twice? Well, it was the kind of message you would need to repeat at least twice to emphasize the incredible reality.

Then Luke 24:4 says that first angel who gave that speech twice was joined by a second angel, one at the head of where the body used to be and one at the feet of where the body used to be. The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament on the top had the Mercy Seat where atonement was made for sin and on both sides it had two angels too. And here with an angel on either side with Christ in the middle is the true Mercy Seat where Christ made atonement for all the sins of the world.

Then in Luke 24:5-7 it says those two angels then gave another message, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Now this is the third time they repeat the same message. And finally after that third time it says in verse 8, "And they remembered the words of Jesus."

The angel then commanded in Matthew 28:7, “Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” Even though those disciples were weak, they fled, they denied, they abandoned the Savior and yet he says, I want you to go as fast as you can and tell them Christ is alive. What grace that is.

You know why those women were the first to see the angel and the living Christ? Because they were there. The closer you stay to the Lord and what He is doing, the more you are going to enjoy what He is doing. What you may lack in faith you make up for in devotion, what you may lack in understanding you make up for in loyalty. And God will confirm your weakness and turn it into strength, Amen? Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 13 Sep 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150913 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/xd6hqus5 imblog Matthew 27:62-66

One of the greatest and the most essential attributes of God is that God is above all things sovereign. Theologians call it the supremacy of God, that is to say that God controls all things. The ramifications of that are beyond our ability to grasp, but that is what the Bible teaches. The One who created all this is also the One who sustains it all. The One who ordained is the One who brings it to pass. The One who established the plan is the One who sees it to its fulfillment.

Daniel 4:35 says, "God does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” And Ephesians 1:11 says, "He works all things according to the purpose of His own will." The world and the universe and all that is going on with the billions of isolated circumstances are not functioning at random. There is a design and a designer and a purpose and an objective and an intention in all of it.

How God could take an infinite number of circumstances, attitudes and events that exist both in the natural and the demonic world and pull them all together to work out His own will is really beyond our comprehension. How the infinite mind of eternal God can collect, collate and bring to perfect harmony every isolated bit of data that exists in the entire universe and make it all work for His will is well beyond our understanding.

We need to understand that God basically rules the world through two things. The first one is miracles. In other words, in order to accomplish His purpose there are times when He interrupts the natural course of history. He interrupts it supernaturally. He overrules natural law. He invades it with supernatural power to accomplish His will. So to achieve His goal He sets aside the natural laws and does things that are scientifically inexplicable.

Scripture is full of things like this. Creation obviously was the first interruption when God in a matter of six days, created all that exists. Then there was the flood when God drowned the entire world except for saving eight people and two of each kind of animal. And then the plagues that came in Egypt and the death of the first born when God overruled nature to get His people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

And then the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea for the people of Israel but then closed to drown the armies of Egypt. And then we remember that God brought water from a rock, miraculously overruling the natural. God provided manna from heaven and birds to eat when the people wanted flesh to eat. God on one occasion caused the sun to retreat and go backwards on a sundial. On another occasion He had the sun stand still for a day, the earth stopped revolving.

But there is a second factor that is equally significant. God not only takes the world and the universe to its destiny by the use of miracles, but secondly, by the use of providence. Now the word ‘providence’ is not in the Bible. It is like the word trinity, which also isn't in the Bible but the trinity exists. Providence is a term to describe a very important way in which God controls things that are happening in the universe. It means that God manipulates and uses all of the events that are happening to fulfill His own ends, to bring His predetermined conclusion to pass.

Now in many ways providence is a greater miracle than a miracle, to me the greater wonder is that God can take it all and still make it work for His will. The diversity of an innumerable number of events, circumstances and attitudes that occur within the limited freedom of men and demons are all pulled together by God to accomplish exactly what He wants done. It is incredible not only to conceive that it can be done but to make it happen. But that is always what God does.

And within this, all of these beings are making random choices, all of these things are functioning in a way that seems at least to them to be detached from any sovereign control. But God sets the birth and death of every man. He sees all they do. He knows all they think. He hears all they say. He uses their good and He uses their bad. He uses the free choices of men. They are made to fit perfectly into His eternal purposes. Even the choices being made by fallen angels called demons are fitting perfectly into His purposes.

Paul said in Philippians 2:13, "It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." He controls everything, even sin, He allows some, He prevents some and limits all of it to His purpose. In Proverbs 16:9 it says, "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” In John 5:17 Jesus says, "My Father works and I work." In other words, while He is on earth He says we are still working. What are You doing? We are controlling everything to bring about the eternal plan.

Now let us look at a biblical illustrations. Joseph was one of 12 brothers who hated Joseph because he was the favorite son. So they decided to get rid of Joseph. There were a group of Midianite traders heading to Egypt through the land of Canaan. And so they sold Joseph to these traders who took him to Egypt and made him a slave. He became a slave because of the whim of his brothers because of their hatred.

Joseph ends up serving a man named Potiphar. Now Potiphar’s wife liked the way Joseph looked. And so she decided to seduce Joseph, but he won't have a thing to do with it and runs. She grabs his coat and accuses him falsely of intending to rape her. He is then thrown into jail for 14 years. In jail he comes across another prisoner who has a dream. He interprets the dream with God’s help. Then Pharaoh has a dream and the Pharaoh says, "Who can interpret my dream?" And somebody says there's a guy in jail who can interpret that dream. So he comes to the Pharaoh, interprets the Pharaoh's dream, and Pharaoh makes him Prime Minister of Egypt.

The Pharaoh's dream said there would be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine, so during the seven years of plenty Joseph collects 20 percent tax from everybody of all their grain and stores it away to feed his nation during the seven years of famine. So what happens? The people living up in his homeland don't have any supply, they haven't prepared for this. So they all come to Egypt to buy some food to bring back. So Joseph's family comes to him to get food.

And what happens is recorded in Genesis 45:4, "Joseph said to his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. They came near and he said, I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt." That's a long way from where they thought he would be. For in verse 5 he says, "Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me here, for God did send me before you to preserve life."

Now God could have just picked up Joseph and dropped him into Egypt and made him Prime Minister instantaneously. But He didn't do that. That would have been a miracle. God instead used His providence. A lot of random choices by a whole lot of people did nothing but work out God's perfect plan. Verse 6-8, "For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

But, you will never in any account of Scripture see the providence of God anymore graphically then you will see it in the scene we are in right now in Matthew 27. That was just the introduction. The greatest illustration of the sovereignty of God and the providence of God is in the death of Jesus Christ. That's the greatest illustration.

God used all of the human and satanic forces to kill His Son to accomplish His redemptive purpose. There were many miracles surrounding it, the earthquake, the darkness, the rocks splitting, the tombs opening, people coming alive, the tearing of the veil from top to bottom. But the cross itself and the crucifixion of Christ and His death and His burial was non-miraculous. But God controlled everything. God controlled the hatred of the Jews. God controlled the hostility of the Romans toward the Jews.

God controlled even the defection of the disciples. He controlled every element, the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, every piece of that entire scene was controlled by God, so much so that Jesus even rode into the city on the very day that Daniel prophesied He would do it. Jesus rode into the city the very day everyone else was selecting their Passover lamb, He came as the true Passover lamb. He died on the very day that the Passover lambs were slaughtered. Every single detail was covered.

Now with that theological perception as a background, let us go to the text now and just briefly mention what we saw last week. We see the providence of God at work with fulfilled prophecy in Matthew 27: 57-60. And the man God uses to do this is a man named Joseph of Arimathea. Isaiah 53:9 says, "His grave was assigned to be with wicked men, but He was with a rich man in His death." He was supposed to be thrown with the criminals but He wound up with a rich man in His death.

The second prophecy of His death is in Matthew 12:40 and that says that as Jonah was three days in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days in the earth before His resurrection. The Jews had come earlier and begged to have the bodies down. Joseph wanted the body. Pilate ordered to take it down. The real reason it had to come down was Jesus had to be in the grave on Friday so He could be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And all these people acting on their own were working out God's plan.

Now the second way we see the providence of God here is through the two women in verse 61. If Joseph was used to show the deity of Christ through fulfilled prophecy, they are used to show it through first-hand testimony. And then finally we come to the third group that God providentially orders in the scene to bring about the amazing burial of Jesus Christ are the chief priests and the Pharisees.

Verse 62, "Now the next day that followed the day of the preparation," which is Saturday, the Passover Sabbath, the holiest day of all the Jewish calendar. "And the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate." They represent the Sanhedrin and then the Pharisees, and they agreed only on one thing, to eliminate the movement around Jesus Christ. They were afraid of one more thing. And so they get together in a small group and they come to Pilate.

Yes, they went into the Gentile building to meet Pilate. Before on Friday they wouldn't go in because they didn't want to be defiled for the Sabbath because they were in a Jewish crowd. Apparently they hated Jesus more than they loved their own law, and as long as there is no Jews around to see that they're violating the scruples, they go right in to Pilate. Verse 63, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.”

They understood what He was saying is that He's going to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth just like Jonah was. Jonah went in and Jonah came out. They knew that He was saying I'm going to go into the ground, be buried and rise. The disciples didn't understand that He was actually talking about a real death and a real resurrection. But the Jew’s concern was that Jesus had said He was only going to be three days in the earth.

So, in verse 64 they say, "Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” They are afraid that the disciples will fabricate a resurrection to keep the movement alive. The irony of it is the disciples had no such thought, they were somewhere hiding. They don't understand the real death and the real resurrection as happening, even though Jesus said to them over and over.

Jesus said it in Matthew 16:21, Matthew 17:23 and Matthew 20:19. You go to Mark and you see the same thing. Mark 8:31 says, "He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, by the chief priests, scribes, be killed and after three days rise again." The disciples still did not get the message. In fact John 20:9 says, "When they came into the empty tomb, as yet they knew not the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead."

The end of verse 64 says, "The last fraud will be worse than the first." What was the first deception? On Palm Sunday Jesus comes riding into the city on the colt, when garments and branches were thrown on the street. They were giving Him all the Messianic accolades as He came into the city and the Jews saw that as a tremendous deception. The whole crowd has gone out to Jesus. They are deceived because they think He is the Messiah.

Verse 65, "Pilate said to them, you have a guard of soldiers and make it as secure as you can." And then verse 66, "So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.” They put some wax on the stone and some wax on the wall of the cave and sealed the wax so that if anybody moved the stone, they would have to break the seal and they would know it was violated. And that wax may have been stamped with a Roman imprint so that they would know they were violating Roman law.

You see what they are doing? There are people today who still want to say, "Oh, if the body of Jesus was gone the disciples stole it." God made sure that a whole lot of pagans who rejected and hated Jesus Christ set it up so that there was no way possible for the disciples to steal His body. And if that in fact is the case, the only way He could have come out of there was by resurrection. So God uses the wrath of men to praise Him.

What would have happened if there was no guard and no seal? If we were preaching a message that Jesus rose from the dead somebody would surely say, "Don't give me that, it never happened. They just took His body and somebody took on His identity and somebody who looked like Him made a few appearances.” But the unbelieving world itself made sure that there is no other explanation for the absent body of Jesus Christ except a resurrection.

God's sovereignty and God's providence is not some distant doctrine only for theologians. It is when you can't explain the trouble you're going through that you need to understand the providential power of a sovereign God who takes every bit of the diverse data of the universe and controls it all for your good and His glory and eternal purpose. Is that comforting? It doesn't matter what it is. He demonstrated His ability to do it in the death and burial of Jesus Christ.

Whatever happens in your life, whatever you can't understand, whatever you struggle with, whatever doesn't make sense, whatever trials you may be going through, it all fits. Ask no questions. This is part of God who is doing it. He is at work. It's for His glory. It's for our good. He is in control. He hasn't abandoned His throne. Our hope and our confidence is in the God who providentially and if need by miraculously controls all things to His own intended and eternal purpose. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Sep 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150906 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/juazuttj imblog Matthew 27:57-61

Usually this portion of Matthew is passed by quickly. It doesn't contain any verses we might remember. In fact, for the most part it seems to be a rather routine portion which discusses the burial of Jesus Christ. But it is really an amazing passage of Scripture. And in looking at the burial of Jesus Christ, we are face to face with some astounding truth. The burial of Jesus Christ is as supernatural and as miraculous in many ways as was His death and as will be His resurrection.

There is supernatural intervention in every detail in the life of Christ, from His birth to His burial to His resurrection, everything is controlled by God the Father for the fulfillment of divine purpose and prophecy. Even His burial becomes a testimony to His deity. Even His burial is proof in fact that He is none other than the Son of God who He claimed to be.

Now it comes to us in three testimonies. The first testimony comes through Joseph of Arimathea, the second through Mary Magdalene and the other Mary in verse 61, and the third through the chief priests and Pharisees from verse 62 to 66. All of them play an important role in the burial of Jesus which role ultimately speaks to the truthfulness of Christ's claim to be the Son of God. And so, God is giving testimony to His Son in this.

Let us begin with Joseph of Arimathea who is the first focal point of the burial of Christ from Matthew 27:57-60. And we don't know much about the man but enough to really see some marvelous things. There are two explicit key prophecies that must be fulfilled in the burial of Jesus. One is an Old Testament one given by Isaiah. The other is a New Testament one given by Jesus Himself.

In Isaiah 53:9 says, "And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death.” So Isaiah says it was assigned for Him to be placed in a criminal grave, yet that didn't happen but rather He was with a rich man in His death. Now that obscure prophecy would be difficult to understand until we arrive at the burial scene of Jesus Christ, where instead He is buried with a rich man in His death.

The second prophecy is given by Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 12:40, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Jesus here predicts then that there will be three days between His death and resurrection. Not only that, that He will be in the earth three days. He calls them three days and nights, as the Jewish colloquial expression was.

Now let's go back to Matthew 27:57, "When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.” Now the evening of the Jewish day is from 3 P.M. to 6 P.M., the closing out of the day, the Sabbath day will begin at 6 P.M. and run from evening to evening. And so by 3 P.M. in the afternoon on Friday Jesus was dead. That in itself is amazing because usually those who were crucified lived longer than that.

Remember that Jesus was dead not because someone took His life but because He gave His life. It was important that Christ be dead by 3 o'clock so that He could be in the grave on part of Friday so that that day could be included in the three days He had to be in the earth. He had to be buried on Friday so that Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at least a portion of each of those days, He would spend buried as He had prophesied. Now go to John 19 and see how this scene unfolds.

John 19:31 says, "Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.” Whenever John uses the term Jews he refers to the leaders who hate Christ. The day of Preparation was the technical term for Friday. As far back as Exodus 16 the Jewish people were to keep the Sabbath holy and that meant no work and any food preparation had to be done the day before.

So, the leaders were concerned that the bodies would hang on the cross on the Sabbath. It was not just any Sabbath but it was also Passover. Passover falling on the Sabbath. And so they wanted to make sure to obey all the regulations on the Passover day and in the Passover season. Deuteronomy 21:22-23 says, "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day.”

And so because of this, they come to Pilate and request to take them down after they died. And so to make sure that happened quickly they request in John 19:31, their legs be broken. That literally means to smash the legs until the bones broke which causes the body to only hang from the wrists and to suffocate the person. And then following that they would give "the death stroke." They would then ram a spear into the heart.

So John 19:32-33 says, “So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.” Even in His death, prophecy was fulfilled for in Psalm 34:20 it says explicitly of the dying Savior, "He keeps all His bones and not one of them is broken." Verse 36, "For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”

The Roman soldiers were not realizing that they were doing all that to fulfill the prophecy of Psalm 34. The Romans did not break Jesus' legs because that is exactly what God wanted them to do, to fulfill a prophecy that would demonstrate that God indeed was certifying this as the Son of God. You seemed not convinced yet, so look at John 19:34, “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”

If they knew Jesus was dead, why did they do that? The answer is in verse 37, "And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” And that is out of Zechariah 12:10. They did exactly what God intended them to do to certify that this is indeed the one of whom the prophet spoke. Even in His death, prophecy is being fulfilled. The spear wound was so deep that He could say to the still doubting Thomas in John 20:27, “put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

Now typically when a body was taken off the cross it would be thrown into a common criminal's grave or pit to be burned or eaten by scavengers. And that was what would have been assigned to Jesus. Isaiah 53:9 says that Jesus would be assigned with the wicked in His death, but He would wind up with the rich. And so, God the Father in a miraculous way moves on the heart of a man, in verse 57, “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.”

Mark 15:43 says he was a Sanhedrin member, a member of the ruling body that convicted Jesus Christ of the crime of claiming to be the Son of God and sentenced Him to death. It also says he was a knowledgeable counselor, and that he had a heart that really sought God and God's truth. Luke 23:50-51 says, “Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.” And it was important that he was rich.

And that for the sake of the fulfillment of the prophecy. The only thing we know about Arimathea is from Luke 23:51 that says it was a city of the Jews in Judea rather than Galilee. Now we assume that he lived in great proximity to the city of Jerusalem because Joseph of Arimathea had his own grave right outside the city. Now it also says that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, as someone who believed what Jesus said.

John 19:38 says, "After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.” If the Sanhedrin found out he was believer of Jesus, it would be the end of his Sanhedrin rights. And it would be the end of his wealth because he wouldn't be able to do business with anybody. It would be the end of his social status, his family would be alienated and ostracized.

But God moves on his heart. And Mark says he summoned up courage. He had to move fast because God had to have somebody get Jesus in the ground while it was still Friday. So far the Jews had cooperated. They were in a hurry to get Him down. So Pilate had cooperated, now God needed somebody who could get Jesus in the ground before Friday ended at 6:00 PM. When Jesus said three days and three nights He wasn't saying three full 24-hour periods, but three portions of those full 24- hour periods.

And God arranged it such that Joseph has a tomb near enough so that Jesus can be carried from the cross after being let down by the soldiers to the tomb and put in the grave still on Friday. And this was not done so that they wouldn't violate the Sabbath. Joseph had already done that when he went in to Pilate's building to ask for the body. Secondly, when he himself carried the dead body of Jesus from the cross to the tomb, he would have defiled himself already with a dead body.

So Joseph went to Pilate in verse 58, he didn't know what Pilate would do to him. Pilate had had enough of the Sanhedrin, which had put him in a humiliating position for a haughty Roman. Why would he be generous to a member of the Sanhedrin and give him the body? Besides, the only person who had the right to a body would only be a family member. So, the only reason Joseph had to want the body was that he was a follower of Jesus Christ. So there was no human reason for Joseph to expect that body.

Joseph was operating with haste not because he was concerned about his own observance of the Sabbath but because God arranged it so that Jesus be in there before the Sabbath began. And he is doing this for a man he believes in not who has risen from the dead, but who is dead. He was drawn by love for Jesus to do this for Him, who had been so desecrated and dishonored, even at the loss of all of his own benefits in life.

So Mark 14 says Pilate sent some soldiers to check if Jesus was dead because he couldn't believe He was dead already. And Joseph wanted the body. John 19:39-40 says, “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.” Both Joseph and Nicodemus anointed the body with many spices to keep the smell of death away.

Myrrh was a liquid and aloe is a powder and they mixed it. And Joseph got the fine linen, it says in verse 59. The only time anybody was anointed with 72 pounds was when they were royalty. So they buried Him with a burial of a king. And the women helped too. They wrapped the arms and legs, and then the torso and a special napkin for the head. And as they wound those linens around Him, they filled it with these spices.

Matthew 27:59-60 says, “And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud. 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.” That tomb there is known as the Garden Tomb and just off to the right of it is a skull-shaped rock and beneath that on the highway is where Jesus was crucified. Oh how God superintended every detail to make sure Jesus would be in the ground and it would still be Friday.

The stone was there because there were grave robbers, and people were buried with things of value. And it all happened on Friday. Verse 62 says, “The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation.” The burial of Jesus Christ done by this secret disciple now becomes public for the world to know throughout all history. Joseph of Arimathea, did orchestrate all to fulfill prophecy that Jesus would be buried for three days and that He would be with the rich in His death.

Now verse 61 tells us there was a second group of people who also were used by God to give evidence of the deity of Christ. Verse 61 says, "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.” Now the other Mary, is defined as the mother of James and Joseph, also called by the other writers as the wife of Clopas. She was one of those ladies who served the Lord who came with Him from Galilee.

What's the significance of verse 61? Look at Matthew 28:1, “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” The two women come to get a closer look. Verse 2-5, "And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid.”

There are only two eye witnesses to the resurrection, two Mary’s, what a testimony of God's special gracious place for women. The disciples were only second-hand witnesses. They felt the ground shake. They received communication from a dazzling brilliant angel whose garment was white as snow and whose face was like lightning. We do not worship someone that we hope came out of the grave, we have first-hand eye witnesses and they went and spread the message.

And the angel said, "Don't be afraid. I know you seek Jesus who was crucified. Verse 6, “He is not here, He has risen. Come and see the place. Now go and tell the disciples He is risen." And they became the priority witnesses. The first-hand testimony was given by two women to the resurrection of Christ. They ran out of that place, verse 8 says, they ran to bring the disciples word.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a hoax, there were people who saw it. Not people who had something to gain, not the disciples of Jesus that someone might think must have fabricated it to carry on their particular program. These were women. They were disciples of Jesus in one sense, but certainly not the ones that the world would assume would be the ones to fabricate the resurrection. In fact the truth is the disciples were a little reluctant to even believe them.

There is a third group and this is fascinating. God also uses the chief priests and the Pharisees to verify the deity of Jesus Christ. How does He do that? Come back next Sunday morning and I'm going to tell you but we don't have time for that this evening. It is the most amazing thing. They are so concerned that the disciples are going to steal the body that they set the situation up to prove the resurrection really happened. And God causes the wrath of men to praise Him. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Aug 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150830 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/c8p8ixzx imblog Matthew 27:54-56

Let us this evening study Matthew 27:54-56, “ When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” 55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.”

Let us look at the four responses to the death of Christ. They demonstrate the kind of responses we can see even today. There is the response, first, of saving faith; then the response of shallow conviction; then the response of sympathetic loyalty and then finally the response of selfish fear. Two of them are responses of unbelievers, and two of them responses of believers, and they are the same responses we find today to the cross of Christ. So it has a practical application to our own time.

First, look at the best response of an unbeliever and that is the response of saving faith. That is illustrated by the centurion and some soldiers mentioned in verse 54, "When the centurion and those who were with him, watching over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.” The centurion was the commander over a hundred men, who has been given the task of guarding Jesus, which started when the trial began before Pilate early on Friday.

So they have been in charge of Jesus for quite a while now. And the centurion has become aware of all the issues surrounding Jesus. It may well have been that he not only heard all the cries of the Jews and their accusations, but well may as well have heard the conversation privately between Jesus and Pilate related to Jesus' kingship. So they are the same men who nailed Jesus to the cross, who have pressed a crown of thorns into His brow, hit Him in the head with reeds, spit on Him, and mocked Him.

They are the very men who gambled for His garments in an amazing display of indifference. Frankly, they are ignorant. They are part of the scene because they, as Roman soldiers, have to do what their commander tells them and Pilate has put them in charge of Jesus. The centurion knew the Jews hated Him. They knew the Jews have accused Jesus of claiming to be the Son of God, claiming to be a king, therefore being a threat to Rome, being a threat to Judaism.

However, something happens that changes what they think. In verse 54 it says, "When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe.” Now think about this, when it went instantly dark like midnight at noon and the sun failed, and when the earthquake came and split the ground and the rocks split open and the graves split open and the veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom, they knew something was happening that was way out of the ordinary.

It says then in verse 54, "They were filled with awe." They were very afraid. It is not just being afraid of an earthquake or being afraid of a darkness. It is the idea that inherent within their fear is a spiritual awe. And all of a sudden, they come to the conclusion that this is not just another criminal, not just a rebel, a deranged man and an impostor. The phenomena is overwhelming to them.

The centurion has heard Jesus speak. He has heard His words on the cross, profound words which have penetrated his heart. He has seen all of this amazing miraculous phenomena taking place. It is that reverential fear that comes to one who knows that he may be under the judgment of God. And the awareness of their sin in doing what they did to this man leads them to one other step. And the centurion said this, but it wasn't just him, it was the other soldiers as well, "Truly, this was God's Son."

The fear indicates the sin, the confession indicates the salvation. If their fear was only a human fear, they would have cried for help or they would have run. But it wasn't, it was awe that men only reserve for God. In fact, in Mark 15:39 says that it was immediately after the centurion heard Jesus say "It is finished. Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit," that he said, "Truly, this was God's Son." So it was those final words of Jesus that just drove the truth into his heart.

How does he know that? Was it the demeanor of Jesus, the graciousness of His spirit on the cross, the silence when rebuked, the sense of being on a divine mission which He has finished? Do you know why he knew this was God's Son? The only way anybody can ever know that is by the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 16:16, Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Flesh and blood has not revealed that to you but My Father in heaven has." Peter knew Jesus to be the Son of the living God because the Holy Spirit told him that. That is a sovereignly revealed truth.

1 Corinthians 12:3 says, "No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit," That is not something a human being concludes in his own mind. What you have here is a product of the Spirit of God just like you have it in Matthew 16. The Spirit of God had taken this open hearted centurion and a few of the other soldiers who were there and began through Christ on the cross and His attitude and His words and all the miracle phenomena all around to bring them to faith that only comes from God.

Further, Luke 23:47 says he also glorified God, affirmed the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ and then declared Him to be God's Son. Now that kind of faith is saving faith. If the thief on the cross by simply saying, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom," can receive a guarantee of eternal salvation, certainly this man could be saved with this kind of faith. He was saved at the foot of the cross.

The soldier is using this title in reference to what the Jews have been accusing Jesus of. And if you go back to Matthew 26:63, the Jewish accusation comes forth there, "I adjure you, says the high priest, by the living God that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God." Now the Jews are accusing Jesus of claiming to be the only Son of the only God, which is to them blasphemous. This Roman is only responding to that Jewish accusation by saying, "Truly, He was indeed exactly who He claimed to be."

Do you understand the grace and mercy of God? Do you understand the love of God? Then understand this, Jesus Christ in the process of being crucified, redeemed the people who crucified Him. So that when Jesus said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," what did the Father do? He forgave them. That prayer was answered in the very moment of His death.

We can see the best fulfillment ever in John 12:32 where Christ said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself." And there He was lifted up on the cross, and indeed He drew a thief from one side and a group of soldiers from His feet to Himself. O, the unspeakable grace of God that He won the very soldiers that killed Him on that cross. So the first and the best response that a pagan could ever have would be the response of saving faith. And the centurion sets the standard for that.

There is a second response is the response of shallow conviction. In Luke 23:47 the centurion saw what was done glorified God, and said certainly this was a righteous man after he heard, "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit." But then verse 48, and the shallow conviction is illustrated by the crowd, “And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.”

They saw the same things, the darkness, the earthquake, the rocks splitting, the graves opening and the veil of the temple ripped. They knew something very wrong. They would see all of this going around and their understanding of the Old Testament would tell them that God was judging and they would feel guilt, and they would feel sin. We know that because it says, "when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.” That was a sign of their grief, a sign of their guilt and remorse, self accusation and despair.

And it still goes on today. There are people who see the cross and they understand that Jesus is there because He is bearing their sins. They feel bad about that. But what is so shocking about verse 48, it says they beat their chests and returned. There's no salvation, there is just conviction. Like the people who come and hear the message today and they feel convicted and there's anxiety in their heart and they know they are sinners going to hell. But they go home and it passes. But they turn on the television, they eat a sandwich and watch a football game. It's gone, back to life as usual.

But look what did happen in Acts 2:36. On the day of Pentecost, a few weeks later, the same crowd is in Jerusalem all gathered to hear Peter. And there were many who were there at the foot of the cross, who beat their breasts and went home. But now Peter stands up to preach, and he indicts them for killing Christ. He tells about the resurrection, how God raised Christ from the dead and he says, "The same Jesus whom you crucified, God has made Lord and Messiah."

So verse 37-38, "Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter says in verse 38, " Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Verse 40-41, “And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save your-selves from this crooked generation. 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

Look at 2 Corinthians 7:9-10, “As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” The soldiers were sorry and by the Spirit of God and in answer to the prayer of Jesus, they were saved. The crowd that did not believe was also sorry but theirs was not a godly sorrow to repentance to salvation, they resented only the consequences.

In Matthew 27 we see a third response called sympathetic loyalty. Verse 55 is an illustration, "There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to him." Later on, according to John's gospel, they approach the cross and it is then that Jesus speaks to them and commits the two to each other for care. Here are these women who are loving and sympathetic, though their hopes are crushed, Jesus is gone. And they have been watching their Master die. Their loyalties are so deep.

They have no fear of the Jews. They have no fear of the Romans. Nothing can overpower their love and their sympathy for Christ. But where are the disciples? According to John 19:26-27, only John was there. We don't know how many women were there. According to Luke 8:2 we get a glimpse, "And also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities."

Verse Luke 8:2-3, “Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.” They provided meals, they gave money, they gave garments, and they gave out of their possessions. They attended to the disciples and the Savior as they went about in their Galilean ministry. Jesus held them to Himself like the sun holds the planets. They just never left Him.

Don't ever underestimate how the Lord Jesus Christ looks upon the role of a woman. These women were the original eye witnesses to the death of Jesus Christ and before any man ever saw the risen Christ, a woman did? And not just any woman, but one of these women. Therefore, in the early church the primary sources for the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are these loyally sympathetic women.

The Holy Spirit allows us to meet a few of them in verse 56, “among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.” Mary Magdalene simply means she is from Magdala, a little town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The reason she is called that is because she has no husband and no children. Notice the second one is Mary the mother of James, and the next one is the mother of Zebedee's children. John tells us her name was Salome.

How about you? When the world is hostile toward Christ and they are mocking Christ and laughing at Christ, do you just fade away or do you say something back? Would the whole world know that you belong to Jesus Christ? Is your love for Christ and loyalty to Christ so magnetic that you're attached to Jesus Christ no matter what it costs, no matter what anybody says, no matter what hostilities you have to endure? Are you unwavering in your commitment?

There is still a fourth response: selfish fear. Who's the illustration?" The disciples of Jesus. But it doesn't say anything about them in Matthew. It doesn't say anything about them there because they weren't there. But that says a lot. Did they lose their salvation? No, because the Lord upholds them. But they sure entered into cowardice. They violated the basic principle of discipleship from Matthew 10:38, "You're not worthy to be My disciple unless you take up your cross and follow Me." We have to be willing to give our lives.

Isn't it sad that He died alone with only the women and John? Isn't it pathetic after all He'd done they weren't there? And it still goes on today. There are still those of us and times for all of us when we should be standing for Christ in a situation and we aren't. We're gone somewhere. We hide, we fade. We want to save our reputation or our name or our prestige or our career. We don't want to be named with Jesus Christ.

So, where are you? Do you want to be like that centurion who says, truly He is God's Son? Or are you like the crowd? You feel the conviction but you're going to go home and it will pass. If you're a believer, are you like the women? Are you there with sympathetic loyalty standing for Jesus Christ whatever the cost, no matter goes on around you? Or are you like the disciples, hiding somewhere in selfish fear so nobody finds out who you really belong to? Let us privately ponder this important issue. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Aug 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150823 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/nwj5zfst imblog Matthew 27:45-54

The most powerful signs ever given on the cross came from God. The sufferings of Jesus physically were not unique, even the Apostle Paul was scourged five times by the Jews and beaten three times with rods. In order to really understand what is going on there, we have to understand the signs that God gave while it was happening, and it is found in Matthew 27. Six miracles occurred in those verses we are going to read now.

Matthew 27:45-54, “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”

“51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Miracle number one, supernatural darkness. Verse 45, "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." When Christ was born, Luke 2:9-11 says there was great light that dawned. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, in the anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah says in Luke 1:78-79, "whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” When Jesus came, the light went on, the gospel shining in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world, whoever believes in Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life." Our Lord was identified with light, He was the light to the Gentiles, to the world. But at His death there is darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. The Jews begin to measure their day from 6 A.M., the sixth hour is noon. From noon to three it was dark.

Mark 15:25 says, "He was crucified at the third hour," 9 A.M. So the first three hours He was hanging there naked in the light. Those three hours passed. Soldiers had nailed Him there. They had placed the sign over His head. He is suspended there in indignity as the passers-by, the soldiers, the curious, the religious leaders watch and mock and insult Him.

During that three hours He only spoke three times. Once He said of the soldiers to the Father in Luke 23:34, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." The second time He spoke to a penitent thief at His side in Luke 23:43, "Verily, this day you will be with Me in paradise." Once more in John 19:26-27, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” All three of them were revelations of His grace and of His compassion.

But as the second three hours began, at noon when the sun had reached its apex, an incredible miracle took place. The Bible just says, "There was darkness over all the land." There was a Roman historian named Flagon who mentioned this darkness. Tertullian also wrote to some pagans mentioning this darkness. So there are historical records of this strange darkness at this place at that time.

God had interfered on other occasions. Do you remember in Joshua 10:13 the sun stood still for a whole day? Do you remember in 2 Kings 20:10-11 the shadow moved back-wards from the sun on the sundial? And those seem to have affected the whole earth. On the other hand, there was at least one time, when God blackened only a certain area and that was in Exodus 10 during the plagues in Egypt.

What caused this darkness? Some have suggested it was some local heavy clouds obscuring the sun or an eclipse. But this is not an eclipse because Passover is in the middle of the month and the month always began with a full moon that is on the opposite side from the sun. So what happened was a supernatural darkness, there is no natural explanation. And God made it happen in the middle of the day.

So why did God do this supernatural miracle? God who turned on the lights at creation has every right to turn them off. Was it mother nature, or was God throwing a veil over the sufferings of Christ? Was this an act of sympathy to cover the horror of His dying? Was this some kind of divine protest so that men couldn't see what they had done? What was God really saying about the cross with the darkness?

Darkness in Scripture is a symbol of judgment, darkness characterizes hell. Isaiah writes of the darkness of judgment. Joel, Amos and Zephaniah all write about it. Jesus speaks of it. God's salvation is always seen as light. God's judgment is always seen as darkness. And God was saying by the darkness that the cross was a place of judgment. And God only judges one thing, and that is sin. God turned out the lights because this was a judgment on sin.

This is a judgment on sin being borne by an innocent man. That is what the Old Testament sacrificial system pictured, a judgment on sin in the death of an innocent sacrifice. Isaiah 53 says, "The Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief, rendering Him a guilt offering He will bear their iniquities and justify many." Romans 4:25, "He was delivered for our offenses." 1 Corinthians 15:3, "He died for our sins." 1 Peter 2:24, "Who in His own self bore our sins in His body on the tree." And Matthew 20:28 says, "He came to give His life a ransom for many."

This was the wrath of God to once and for all end the discussion of who killed Jesus, God did it. It was by the determinant plan and counsel of God. It was God who was pleased to crush Him. There were secondary causes, the Jews and the Romans, but the primary cause was God Himself. Jesus was being judged by the wrath of God and God was pouring out His full fury on Jesus as He bore all the guilt of all believers. The darkness showed that God's wrath was being poured out.

That's the first miracle by God at the cross. Sin was really being judged there. Jesus was not dying as an example, He was not dying as a martyr to a noble cause. He was not dying as a good man who shows us how we ought to take our convictions to death. He was dying as a sacrifice for sin and the supernatural darkness shows that God was giving us a sign to make that clear to us.

There is a second miracle. Verse 46, "And about the ninth hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'" As the darkness came to an end, the life of Jesus is almost gone. The fury of God is almost spent, but Jesus can contain the pain no longer. It is not the pain of the cross and wounds of scourges, it is the pain of separation from the Father. Jesus literally screamed.

We are reminded again that this was a man who was sinless and so His physical capacities were not diminished by the curse. Psalm 22:1 says that, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" This cry of Jesus demonstrates the real agony. “As a ransom for many” means He had to die in their place, and He knew He would feel the fury of God's wrath. This is a supernatural separation, and while Jesus was not separated from the Father by nature, He was separated from the Father by fellowship.

Christ did not cease to be God but lost the intimacy of fellowship with His Father which He had eternally known. In fact, it was His Father's perfect love for Him that caused the Father to put the whole redemptive plan in motion and elect people and then set history in place to redeem those people, to gather them into glory in order that He might bring a bride to His Son as a gift of His love. Why? Because God is of purer eyes than to behold evil and iniquity, Habakkuk 1:12-13.

What else does Jesus’ death tell us about the cross? If darkness demonstrates wrath, God's separation demonstrates holiness. Wrath is at work but so is holiness. The word "holy" means separate. At the same time that God is pouring out His wrath in judgment on sin, He turns His back protecting His perfect holiness. He had to turn away from His own Son when He made Jesus sin for us. This is a holy moment that guilty sinners, separated from God, are being atoned for by this man hanging on that cross. God had to abandon Jesus at that point because He is holy and Jesus had become the guilt offering.

Now verse 47, "Some of those who were standing there when they heard it began saying, 'This man is calling for Elijah.'" That is not an honest statement. They didn't mistake what He said. They know the difference between Eli, and Elijah. And He spoke loudly and clearly. This is mockery, with sarcasm they said, "Oh, He's calling for Elijah." Why? Because in Malachi 4, the Old Testament ends with these words, "Behold, I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord."

Before the Lord comes in judgment, before the Lord comes to set up His Kingdom, Elijah is going to come. They did not realize that John the Baptist had already come in the spirit of Elijah. And so they are just mocking, "If you are the Messiah, you must be calling for Elijah." This shows how men manifested their hatred to the Son of God, hanging there dying for their sins.

It was at this point that Jesus said something else. He said, "I thirst," in John 19:28-29. Matthew doesn't record that but Matthew records the response. Verse 48, "And immediately one of them ran and taking a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave him a drink." So this is the second time, but this time He asks, His thirst is great. Verse 49 says, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him." More mockery.

There's a third miracle and it appears in verse 50. This is also absolutely supernatural. Verse 50, "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit." And what did He say? John 19:30 says, "It is finished." He did not say, "I am finished." And according to Luke 23:46 He said, "Into Your hands I commend My spirit." The Father had turned at that point. The wrath was over and He can see again the Father's face, and commits Himself to the Father having accomplished redemption.

Jesus did not die at the hands of men. The Jews couldn't kill Him, the Romans couldn't kill Him, nobody could kill Him, He alone voluntarily gave His life. Jesus said in John 10:18, “No one takes My Life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” No person can't end their life by saying it. In the Greek He dismissed His spirit, "Go now." And His Spirit self left that body on the cross and ascended into the embrace of His Father. This is a miracle.

It means that Jesus voluntarily gave His life. That He did it because He loved us. Jesus laid down His life for His sheep. 1 Timothy 2:6 says, “Christ Jesus, 6 gave himself as a ransom for all.” Or Isaiah 53:12, "He poured out His soul to death." The Father is saying the Son did it voluntarily out of obedience to His Father and love for us.

There's a fourth miracle which God shows us in verse 51, "And behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." At the moment that Jesus gave up His spirit, when literally He left that human body, the great veil that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies was ripped from top to bottom. The place where only the high priest could go once a year, after he had cleansed himself. And he had bells all over his robe and a rope tied to his foot in case he went in and the bells stopped ringing which meant he probably died, somebody would be able to pull him out.

This most holy place represented the presence of God where no unholy person could go. But after Jesus died on the cross, the Holy of Holies is ripped wide open and access to the throne of God is now made available. Men would be shut out of God's presence for all time had not Christ paid for their sins and opened the only way to God. At that moment there was no longer a Levitical priesthood, temple, nor any sacrifices. And in 70 A.D., to emphasize that, the Romans came in and totally obliterated the temple and the sacrificial system has never been restored.

And this happened at three o'clock in the afternoon and that temple was filled with hundreds of thousands of people, and priests who were deep in blood, slaughtering one Passover lamb after another for everybody who was celebrating the Passover. And yet in that moment Jesus eliminated the priesthood; no more offerings, no more Holy of Holies, and no more temple. Torn from top to bottom? This couldn't have been done by men. High, ornate, inaccessible and God tore it from the top all the way down.

In Hebrews 10:19-20, there is a wonderful statement, "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.” By His flesh He opened up the way into the very presence of God. So we have seen supernatural darkness, separation from the Father, self-giving death and the tearing of the veil.

And now a fifth miracle. It's described there in verse 51 as an earthquake, "And the earth shook and the rocks were split." Jesus Christ promised that one day He will come back as judge. He will split the Mount of Olives wide open and create a great valley. He will judge the nations and set up His Kingdom. After that thousand-year reign, He will change the entire universe as we know it, and replace it with a new heaven and a new earth. This will lead to paradise regained. And here God affirms the reality of that future.

There is a sixth miracle. When the rocks were split, verses 52-53 say, "The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many." What does this signify? This is a preview again of an actual opening of the grave and the final glorious resurrection of the dead.

Spirits coming down from heaven joined those bodies and three days later they went in to Jerusalem. They had to wait three days in order that Christ would be the first-fruits of the resurrection, that's 1 Corinthians 15:20. And in the resurrection we see the subduing of death and the new physical living in the glories of the new world together with our risen Christ. Wow, what miracles. Bow with me in prayer.

]]> Sun, 16 Aug 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150816 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/gvjvf732 imblog Matthew 27:38-44

Let us look tonight at Matthew 27:38-44, the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember that Jesus said in Matthew 16:4 that His generation was a wicked generation? And Paul, identifying Christ rejecters in general, says that basically they are filled with all wickedness, Romans 1:29. All of this is true because of what Jeremiah explained, that the heart of man is desperately wicked.

This wickedness of man is clearly seen in the execution of Jesus Christ and this was Matthew's particular concern. And as we have seen here, wickedness is not content just to execute Jesus Christ, it must torment Him also in the process. It must slap Him and stab Him and spit on Him and defame Him and blaspheme Him and keep that up all the time He is dying. Such is the cruelty of the human heart.

As we read in Isaiah 53, that was the mark of His life. He suffered more sorrow than all man who have ever lived combined. According to Isaiah 53:4, He carried our griefs and bore our sorrows and in addition to that His own sorrow in being alienated and separated from His Father. So He not only suffered more than any man has suffered, but He suffered more than all men together have ever suffered.

How did He suffer? Let us see, He suffered from temptation. Hebrews 4:15, “He was in all points tempted like as we are.” He suffered in self denial. He refused to have those normal comforts of life. He deprived Himself. As Paul says in Philippians 2:7-8, “but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” He knew no personal possessions. He knew hunger and thirst and weariness. And He suffered rejection, He was hated, despised, mocked, reviled, rebuked, blasphemed, and falsely accused all His life long.

And now it is reaching the culmination of the events surround His cross. This great monumental suffering is because He suffered the wrath of God on the cross when He became sin, God then had to pour out all of His fury against all human sin on Jesus Christ. Now as we come to the scene before us in verses 38 to 44, we see His suffering at the hands of different kinds of wicked men.

We noted the last time that there were four different groups that appeared in the scene. Let's call them the ignorant wicked, the knowing wicked, the fickle wicked and the religious wicked. And every person in the world who does not come to faith in Jesus Christ fits into one of these groups. They were there at the cross and they are now everywhere around us today.

Now last time we looked at the ignorant wicked who were illustrated to us by the callous soldiers in verses 27 through 37. We saw that the soldiers basically were Roman Legionnaires stationed in Caesarea, with Pilate. They really had no first hand knowledge of Jesus. To them Jesus was just another criminal and a somewhat deranged one at that. They no doubt think Him to be somewhat deficient intellectually and mentally. Through all the tortures, He never says a word which probably confirms their suspicions.

They are the ones who have Him as we see verse 27-30. They have scourged Him and then they stripped Him. They bowed their knees before Him and mocked Him saying, "Hail, king of the Jews." And as they rose from the ground they spit in His face. Then they took the reed out of His hand and smashed Him in the head with His own scepter. He was an object of mockery. And the soldiers trained in killing and maiming people enjoyed their torture of Jesus Christ.

And verse 31 then, after they had finished their mockery, they take the robe of Him and put back on His own garment. And they lead Him away to crucify Him. As they leave the city in verse 32, they force a man by the name of Simon from Cyrene to carry the cross of Christ. They then, verse 33, come to a place called Golgotha, meaning skull place named for the shape of the hill. They give Him wine mingled with myrrh that would act like a sedative for those who face death.

He tasted it and wouldn't drink it because He wanted to go to the cross with all of His senses acute and alert. The cross would be lying on the ground, the victim would be placed down on the cross and first His feet would be extended, and then a large nail would be driven through the arch of one foot and then the arch of another foot. And then both of His hands would be extended and great nails would be driven through His wrists.

Once the victim was nailed there, the cross would be picked up and dropped into a hole. The victim is now crucified. Slowly He would begin to sag down, more and more weight is being placed upon the nails running through His wrists, such that excruciating pain would shoot up the arms. And so they crucified Him. And as you know, they divided His garments by casting lots. And verse 36 says, "Sitting down they guarded Him there."

Dr. Davis Truman writes, "At this point, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed. Air can be drawn into the lungs but it can't be exhaled. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream. He would grasps short breaths of air, hours of searing pain as tissue is torn. A deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with fluid and begins to compress the heart. And this leads to death."

What agony. And the soldiers just sit there and watch. They have seen it over and over. Do they know who He is? No, there's a sign of the accusation in verse 37. Pilate, wanting to show the innocence of Christ puts over the head of Jesus, "This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." in all three languages of the times so everyone could read it. And thus in sarcastic words he mocked the Jews by saying to the whole world, "There's your king, you despicable people, you deserve such a king."

Pilate's mockery actually stated the truth. Jesus is the King not only of the Jews but of everyone, but the soldiers were ignorant of that. And the world is still full of people who reject Jesus Christ out of ignorance. It is a willful ignorance, it is an unnecessary ignorance but it is nonetheless ignorance. And many don't seek to find out, because they love the world so much.

But there is another wicked group besides that group and that's the one we come to in verse 38, “Then were there two robbers crucified with Him, one on the right hand and another on the left.” Let us call these people the knowing wicked. Now they don't know everything but they do know a little. Now this was another way to dishonor Christ, to put Him in between robbers, evil doers, criminals. So He is with the wicked in His death.

The word used here basically means bandit, or plundering robber, not a petty thief. These are robbers who kill, who are the worst of criminals. They knew something of the claims of Jesus as is evidenced by what they say. We find that in verse 44, “And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.” So they knew some of the claims of Jesus.

They were familiar because they were a part of the Jewish society. Obviously they knew something more than the Roman legionnaires would have known who had nothing to do with life in that part of the world. But they are also wicked, they heap insults at Jesus. These were materialistic bandits, whose life revolved around possessions and obtaining material by force. They have no thoughts about truth, justice, honor and godliness, and they have no concern for morality.

There are many people like them who know about Jesus, but their life is all concerned with material things. They have little regard righteousness and truth. They live for self indulgence and they pay a great price for it. And to show you how deeply committed they were to their life style, here they are hanging on a cross in the hours of their own death and they are still insulting the one who claims to be the Son of God.

But they are not the worst rejecters because there's another group. We see them in verses 39 and 40. We can call them the fickle wicked. Verse 39 - 40 says, "And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Since people were crucified along a highway, the road to the north of the city would be full of people because it was the day of the Passover.

Here were these Jews probably some of the same crowd that had cried "Crucify Him." The same crowd on Monday that had hailed Him with their hosannas, "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord, the son of David." This is the same fickle crowd. They wanted His miracles, and they listened to His teachings. And they knew who He claimed to be and they knew there were many demonstrations that proved those claims.

But now He is just a victim of a Roman crucifixion. He is rejected by them. Actually, they kept on reviling Him; it's continual blasphemy. And did it with the wagging of their heads in a taunting kind of mocking form. Psalm 22 predicted this is exactly what they would do. It says in Psalm 22:7-8, “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the LORD; let Him deliver Him; let Him rescue Him, for He delights in Him!”

Now why did they mock Jesus in verse 40? Because those were the two things that came out of the trial of Christ before Annas and Caiaphas. You remember back in Matthew 26:61, they got some false witnesses for that Jewish trial who said, "This fellow," that is Jesus said, "I am able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days." Well, actually Jesus said this a long time prior to this, in fact, nearly three years earlier when He had first come to Jerusalem. And at that time in John 2:21 He said that He meant the temple of His body, right?

And then over in Matthew 26:63-64, Caiaphas said to Him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so.” So they sort of capture these two things: the accusation that Jesus was going to destroy the temple and the claim that He was the Son of God which they said was blasphemy. The fickle crowd that was throwing palm branches and hailing Him as the Messiah before, now was mocking and blaspheming His name on Friday.

They are reminiscent of people today. Many people have been to church, maybe they have been raised in the church, and they know the message. Maybe they had Christian parents and Christian training. They maybe have made a profession of faith at some point, and they have been baptized. But that's all in the past. They're not interested in that anymore. Jesus didn't fulfill their expectation. They thought He ought to attack Rome, not them.

How could He be the Messiah? He has been here all week and now look at Him, He is hanging on a cross, put there by the Romans. He is a victim. This is not our Messiah, because they assumed the Messiah would come to defeat Rome and all the other nations. They had forgotten their praises and now in their disappointment, they had turned against Him and were blaspheming His name. The consequences for that are tremendous.

And the world is full of people who taunt Jesus now, who once hailed Him. Oh, it was never real salvation. But they knew the truth about Him and now they reject it. The fickle wicked are really traitors, but they are not the worst group. The worst group is yet to come in verses 41 to 43, the religious wicked. They are illustrated to us by the hypo-critical religious leaders, who appear to represent God and truth and purity and the Word of God, but the truth is that they are filled with hate toward Christ of God Himself.

Verse 41-42, “So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.” All those various orders of priests were mocking Him along with the scribes who were the authorities on the law and the elders who were supposed to be the revered and renowned men of maturity and wisdom in the land. They constitute the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel.

"He saved others" and they meant by that His healing ministry, and His deliverance from demons. "He did it for others, Himself He cannot save." There is never an indication that the religious leaders of Israel denied His miracles. But they said they were done and accomplished by Satan. They said He does what He does by the power of Beelzebul, but they never denied them.

And when they see Jesus hanging on the cross unable to come down, this affirmed in their minds that indeed He did have power but it was Satan's power. So when we put Him on the cross, we can be sure He will stay there because God is on our side. Look, the fact that He is there shows that His power is not as great as ours. His is using Satan's power, ours is God's power, so they reasoned. So they attacked His power.

Then in verse 43 they attack His person. He had claimed to be the Son of God on many occasions, and now they throw that in His face. They have all their religion but they had nothing to do with God. They were blind leaders, false teachers, false prophets and hypocrites, who are doomed to hell. Everybody who is unbelieving in any period of time is as guilty as the crowd there.

Zechariah 12:10 says that someday Israel will look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as an only Son. And Hebrews 6 says that anyone who rejects Christ is guilty of crucifying the Son of God and putting Him to open shame. You either stand with those who believe or you stand with those who crucify. Christ on the cross said this, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

Look now at Luke 23:39-43, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

I don't know where you are today. Jesus longs to embrace you into His arms, to give you the salvation He so freely offered. He stayed on the cross not because He couldn't come down, He stayed on the cross because He wouldn't come down. And the Savior shed tears for those who shed His very blood. Such is the compassion of God and the gift of salvation. Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 09 Aug 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150809 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/qs4vkle2 imblog Hebrews 11:24-29

“By faith, Moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the King, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. 29 By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”

This was written to some Jewish people who had heard the gospel were interested in the gospel, but who had not yet put their faith in Christ. So when the gospel comes along and says forget keeping the Law, forget circumcision, forget the rituals, none of those contribute to your salvation, it’s all a matter of grace and faith, the Jews would wonder if this was not some new message. And so the writer of Hebrews is pointing out here that salvation has always been by faith.

And to make his point, he goes all the way back to the beginning of the Old Testament. We have already learned about Abel and how he demonstrated faith and it was by his faith that he was reconciled to God. And then we learned about Enoch. And then we learned about Noah. Then we learned about Abraham. And then we began to learn about Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And in every case we have seen that those men all had a right relationship with God through faith. Faith defined their relationship.

So it is stunning to say that Moses operated in the spiritual realm by faith, not by Law. The writer of Hebrews tells us that the faith of Moses is based on the series of choices that he made. In fact, verse 25 even uses the word “choosing.” This is a good way to look in general at the life of faith because genuine saving faith is selective. There are certain things you accept and certain things you reject and they’re modeled here in the story of Moses.

Moses is the next example of the truth in Hebrews that salvation comes not by works, not by ritual or outward appearance, but by faith. That personal belief in the Word of God, is our identity. Life is a series of choices that we make. We make either good choices, or bad choices. You often hear people say, “I made some bad choices.” They don’t want to admit that they were lustful, passionate sins. We face the opportunity every single day over and over again to make the right choice.

Who are we? Many people who retire lose their identity, because their work gave them their self-esteem, they were engineers, doctors and so on. What is your identity based on, is it your job or is it based on your personal relationship with God? You either choose the way of God, the way of truth and righteousness, where you will live forever with God because He knows you and loves you. Or you choose the way of the flesh, the world and Satan, where all you efforts in this life have no meaning and you will be forgotten in hell as soon as you die. Many people put their names on Hospitals and buildings because they want to be remembered forever, and yet as soon as they die they are totally forgotten.

Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life that both you and your seed may live.” Joshua 24:15, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

So now we look at Moses who made the right choice. He chose God’s way. He chose to believe God, to believe the revelation of God, the Word of God, to live a life of faith. And his faith is demonstrated in his decisions that related to things he rejected and things he accepted. Moses upbringing is described in Exodus 2, in Acts 7 by Stephen and in Hebrews 11. Let us use parts of these three sources. Hebrews 11: 24 says, “By faith, Moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”

Exodus 2:10 says, “The child grew and the mother brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son.” He was maybe twelve years old by then. And so, he would have learned of the promise to Abraham. He would have learned of that promise to Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. He would have learned the history of Joseph, who had died in hope of the Promised Land, knowing that there would come a time when God would lead His people out of Egypt. And also that God had promised to send a deliverer for Israel, the ultimate Messiah in Genesis 49:10.

And verse 11 then says, “Now it came about in those days when Moses had grown up,” forty years passed between verse 10 and 11. The years of Moses maturing, which according to Acts 7:22 were the years in which he learned all the wisdom of Egypt. So he started out with a foundation in his life which was the truth of God revealed up until that point from his parents. And after that he is learning the wisdom of the Egyptians.

Now what is going to take hold of his heart, what is his identity, who is he in the eyes of God? Is it going to be the wisdom of the Egyptians or is it going to be the truth of God? Would it be the formal education in Egypt, the Egyptian wisdom, Egyptian idolatry, he would have learned hieroglyphics. He would have learned the languages of surrounding nations, so that he could interact with them and trade. But would he have lost what he had as a foundation of his life, the Word of God?

When he reached the age of maturity, he faced the crucial decision. He now has become fully absorbed into the Egyptian culture. What is his choice going to be? Let’s go back to the book of Hebrews and we’ll return to Exodus a little later. The answer to the dilemma comes in verse 24, “By faith, when he had grown up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” And that is the first point that needs your attention, he rejected the world’s prestige.

What was more prestigious than to be the grandson of the Pharaoh, the greatest ruler in the world at that time? The most sophisticated society, highly advanced, he understood the honors of being a prince in Egypt. He understood the status and the comforts, the power, wealth and privileges that he would have. So, this is the biggest decision of his life. Should he forsake it for the call of God? And he knew that God had called him.

Look at Acts 7:21-25, where Stephen says, “Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in the all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. 23 When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was givng them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.”

Exodus 2 describes the same thing. That is the moment in which he rejected the prestige and the honor and everything that came with being a prince in Egypt. This is an act of faith. Why? Because if you operate on sight, you’re going to take what you see: power, prestige, money, fame, all of that that is his as a prince in Egypt. He exchanged what he could see for what he couldn’t see. This was an act of faith. Most people live all their life chasing those things and they wouldn’t leave the chase to live a life of faith.

So Moses trusts God to fulfill and accomplish his purpose in his life. He rejects what he has in hand, the prestige and power of Egypt and choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God. To put it in our context today, faith rejects all that the world has to offer: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, as 1 John 2:16 describes it. The disciples used another word just as strong in Matthew 19:27, “We have forsaken all to follow You.”

In the words of Jesus in Luke 9:23, “Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Me.” This is the first act that we see in expressing faith on Moses’ part. Faith is willing to deny itself, to deny all that it possesses. If someone will not let go of the things of the world, they cannot come to God. Remember, that’s what happened to the weedy soil, thorny ground, right? The deceitfulness of riches and the preoccupation with this world and that’s what led to your unfruitfulness.

Secondly, he rejected the world’s pleasure. Verse 25, “Choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.” Sin is fun and pleasurable. There was plenty of it in that Egyptian culture, especially if you were the prince. No sensual desire would go unfulfilled. Moses had to be willing to turn his back on all the pleasures of sin. Remember what Job 20:5 says, “The triumphing of the wicked is short and the enjoyment of the hypocrite is but for a moment.”

The third thing that he turned from, not only the world’s prestige and the world’s pleasure, but also from the world’s riches, verse 26, “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” He considered, in the Greek, he made a judgment. He was looking to THE reward, to the divine reward, to the eternal reward.

What does he mean by the reproach of Christ? He would be blamed in a similar way to that which Christ endured. Although Moses didn’t know Christ, he knew there was a promise of a coming deliverer. But we know and the readers of Hebrews know that he was willing to take a reproach to move from having everything to basically having nothing, from being honored to being treated with scorn and disdain, as was Christ.

He bore the kind of reproach that is characteristic of Christ who was infinitely rich, infinitely privileged, infinitely satisfied in the presence of God and set it all aside to the do the will of God, to come down to suffer ill treatment on behalf of the people of God. Moses is, in that sense, like Christ. He knew his life was in the hands of the invisible and eternal God.

Moses also rejected the world’s pressure. Look at verse 27, “By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” How could he give up all the treasures of Egypt to become a reproach? Because he chose the pathway to greater riches than anything Egypt had to offer. How could he then not be afraid of Pharaoh having killed an Egyptian? He would have to flee for his life. That’s exactly what he did, he fled to Midian where he had to stay for forty years.

What it actually says there in verse 27, “By faith he left Egypt,” it’s a stronger word than that, it means a heart renunciation. In the Greek both here in Hebrews 11 and also in Luke, they forsook all to follow Jesus. So it has the idea of not just simply physically leaving Egypt but renouncing Egypt. He rejected the power that Pharaoh had over his life. He rejected the fear of man, to borrow the words of Proverbs 29:25.

Forty years he had been living in the land of Midian as a shepherd and now in boldness, he walks right in to the face of Pharaoh and makes his demands. And it doesn’t go well when the Pharaoh rejects. First the waters turn to blood, then the frogs come, then the dust and the gnats and then the dog flies and the blood-sucking insects, then the death of domestic animals, then the dust, the boils, the hail, the locusts, the darkness and verse 28 would indicate the final plague, the death of the firstborn.

Where did Moses get this kind of faith and courage? He endured as seeing Him who was invisible. He saw a greater King with the eyes of faith, he believed God. The man made the right decisions, he chose to reject the world’s prestige, to reject the world’s pleasure, to reject the world’s riches, and to reject the world’s pressure. So he makes the right decision. True faith accepts the Word of God even though the end is yet unseen.

Back to verse 23, “By faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” Pharaoh had made a decree to kill Hebrew baby boys and they fearlessly hid the child and protected the child. Well the word “beautiful” is an interesting word. In Acts 7:20, Stephen says, “he was beautiful in God’s sight”. They knew this child was special to God with a divine destiny. Moses’ parents are models of faith who trusted the plan of God.

Then we see the providence of God. After Pharaoh’s daughter found the little baby and Miriam said, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And so the baby went back to Jochebed, the mother and stayed there and developed for many years. Theologians think that the responsibility of Moses was clarified to him in those years and that his parents explained that he had been specially called by God. And so, by the time he went back to Pharaoh’s place before his teenage years, he already knew that God had a special plan for him.

Moses never deviated from what he knew was his calling. And so his faith was like his parents and behind his refusal to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Exodus 2:11-12, “It came about in those days, he had grown up”, that is when Moses reaches his forties, “he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren, 12 so he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

The Bible doesn’t say this is the right thing to do, it’s a sinful thing to do, but it does indicate that he was willing to make the choice to pay the consequences to be identified with his people. Verses 13-14, “When he went out the next day, behold, two Israelis were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”

And even his own people rejected him because they were afraid that the Egyptians would come and kill them all. He was forced to leave the land for forty years, live in the land of Midian while God shaped him into the leader He wanted him to be. And after he had been prepared by God for forty years, he went back, commissioned at the burning bush. He walks into Pharaoh’s presence, pronounces divine judgment on him, and calls him to let the people go. True faith accepts the Lord’s plan.

He didn’t try to develop his own strategy. He accepted the Lord’s plans, and the Lord’s provisions, and the Lord’s promise. Verse 29, “By faith he and all the people of Israel, as many as two million, passed through the Red Sea as thought they were passing through dry land and the Egyptians when they attempted it were drowned.” The story of Moses is not the story of Law, it’s the story of faith, right? Faith makes all the right choices. What about you? Following God is the only way to be saved, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Aug 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150802 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/eepz8qd0 imblog Matthew 27:27-37

Death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have. No one was concerned with a quick and painless death. No one was concerned with the preservation of any measure of human dignity. Quite the opposite. Crucifiers sought an agonizing torture and complete humiliation that exceeds any other design for death. That was the torture that our Lord Jesus Christ endured for us.

But it also demonstrates the grace and mercy and the love of God like no other event in history can. And so we could go to a text about the cross and spend an entire focus on God's self-revelation of love and grace in the cross. That is, for the most part, the intention of the gospel of John. As John writes about the cross, it is always from the viewpoint of God. He shows that it is a fulfillment of prophecy, that this is God's plan.

But that is not Matthew's purpose. Matthew approaches the cross from the very opposite viewpoint. Matthew describes the crucifixion not from the standpoint of the goodness of God but from the standpoint of the wickedness of men. How evil men are and how much the death of Jesus Christ demonstrates the wickedness of the human heart. So there are two opposite truths revealed in this one event.

Matthew's intent is to present the wickedness of man in the scene of the cross. And from verses 27 through 44, we see four groups of the wicked around the cross. The ignorant wicked, the knowing wicked, the fickle wicked and the religious wicked. This evening, we want to look at group one because it occupies the longer part of the text and next time we will discuss the final three.

The ignorant wicked are illustrated by the callous soldiers in Matthew 27: 27-37. Notice verse 27, "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.” Let us stop for a moment. Pilate had already sinned against justice and against conscience. He has sinned against truth and against integrity and against character. He has sold his soul for popularity and security. He is a miserable fearful man. He is forced to do things to Jesus he knows are against justice.

So, as we read this passage, Jesus has already endured the scourging mentioned in verse 26. He has been tied to a post by His hands, His feet suspended off the ground. Two Romans soldiers, one on each side, have wooden handles with leather thongs, which at the end have rocks, bones and sharp metal attached. And then they proceed to lacerate the body of Jesus Christ until blood is oozing out all over His body. This was the first thing that was carried out by the soldiers.

For the most part, Rome conscripted soldiers out of the countries it occupied and frequently in Israel they had brought in soldiers that they had taken from Syria. They used these soldiers because the Syrians could speak Aramaic which was the common language of Israel. And so you have soldiers that reflect the Roman military power and presence. They were not Jews because Jews were exempted from any service in the Roman military and would not at all desire to do that.

And so, under Pilate’s leadership, they mock Jesus' claim to be a king. Now the soldiers, did not do this independent of Pilate. For when John's gospel tells us that Jesus later was brought out to the crowd after scouring and in this garb of the king with which they dressed Him, it says that Pilate came out also. So Pilate must have been aware of what was going on and wanting Jesus to appear as a mock king to show how foolish their claim was that this man was a threat to Rome or Israel.

Jesus now becomes the object of the soldier’s ridicule as they all gather around Him and begin their little game. The first thing they did in verse 28, was strip Him. They love to do this because they don't like the Jews. They have had a lot of problems and any way they can mock these Jews, they enjoy thoroughly. And there are no Jews in the praetorium. The Bible tells us the Jews wouldn't come in there lest they would be defiled and thus be unable to celebrate the Passover.

And then it says in verse 28, "They put on Him a scarlet robe." In Pilate's praetorium is a discarded robe that one of the soldier's would wear as an outer garment, a rough cloth so that he would not be cold. Matthew says it was a scarlet color. John tells us it was purple. The difference between scarlet and purple isn't great and an old robe is maybe faded in certain places. Maybe in the mind of John it was intended to represent a purple robe because purple was the color of majesty and they were mocking Him as a king.

Then verse 29 says, "And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in His right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” In Genesis 3:18 after the sin of Adam and Eve, God curses the earth and says, “Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” We can see the crown symbolic of' His bearing the curse of the world. For on the cross, Jesus not only took away sin but He removed the curse of the whole earth, Amen?

In addition verse 29 says they put a reed in His right hand. The right hand was the hand of authority. And the reed was the symbol of a scepter of the king and this was to be His scepter. And if He was a king, He had to have a scepter. And they bowed the knee before Him as if He were king. And they mocked Him saying, "Hail, king of the Jews."

And so, they carried on their game further in verse 30, “And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.” The Greek text says they repeatedly struck Him on the head. They did this primarily to show how powerless His authority was. What kind of a king are you, we can rip the very scepter out of your hand and beat on your head with it? Your sovereignty is a laugh.

John 19:3 adds in the same scene, "They kept punching Him." It's a scene of human evil. They don't even know Him. It is the depravity of the human heart, given the opportunity to do whatever it wants it does. It is a brutal amusement. And through it all Jesus endures, He offers no resistance. He is willing to suffer for sinners, to suffer not only the death on the cross but everything that came along with it. He will fulfill His calling. Hebrews 12:3 says, “He endured such contradiction of sinners.”

So, verse 31 says, "And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.” Crucifixion originated in Iran and they had a deity by the name of Ormuzd. And he was the god who considered the earth to be sacred. And so anyone who was executed had to be lifted up above the earth lest his evil would defile the sacredness of the earth. And so the Persians devised crucifixion as a way to suspend a person above the earth in execution.

It came from the Persians, then to the Carthaginians and after that the Romans took it and used it extensively. From the time of Christ and around the era of Roman occupation of Israel, the Romans crucified at least 30,000 Jews. And they did it all next to the highways in order to warn people what happens to someone who violates Roman law. And so, they followed the normal procedure with Jesus.

Verse 32 just says, "As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.” Matthew says, "As they went out..." he's referring to go out of the city because execution always had to be out of the city. That was a part of Levitical Law. And that is why it says in Hebrews 13:12, “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.”

That man, Simon of Cyrene then took His cross. Matthew doesn't tell us what went on before they went out of the city. John 19:16-17 explains it, "So he delivered Him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.” There is nothing in Scripture to suggest that Jesus carried only a portion of the cross. That wood would weigh over 200 pounds on His back in the condition that He was in.

Typically a prisoner would be surrounded by four Roman soldiers, one at each corner, moving Him through with other soldiers before and behind. And now this being the very Passover day, with everything in motion, the place would be crawling with people. And they would parade a prisoner down the main streets. And hanging around the prisoner's neck was a placard on which was the indictment for which the prisoner was to be executed so that everybody would know the price of the crime.

And it was during that procession that Jesus gave His last public message. It is recorded in Luke 23:27-29, "And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Now that is something that no Jewish mother could ever imagine. Jesus says you better weep for yourselves and your children because the day is coming when you will wish you had no children.

Verse 30, “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” You are going to have such terrifying judgment; you' will wish you had no children to be slaughtered before your very eyes. Then verse 31, "For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” What does that mean? Jesus is the green tree and the population of Jerusalem is the dry tree. If the Romans will do this to Him who is innocent, what will they do to the Jews who are guilty?

A green tree is not burned, however the Jews are the dry tree, they should be burned. That's His implication. You burn dry wood, not green wood. When the time for your judgment comes, watch and see what will happen to you. And we know He is referring to the destruction of 70 A.D. which was precipitated by their hostilities against Rome. Jesus' last message to them on the way to His cross was a message of coming judgment.

But when they had just come out of the city it was apparent that even Jesus, in all of the strength that human kind could ever have, has run out. His blood has drained. The agony is beyond belief, a full week, a late night Passover, no sleep, the betrayal of Judas, the defection of the disciples, the long trials, the injustice, and all the beatings. So they find a man from Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to bear the cross.

Cyrene was a Greek settlement. It was located west of Alexandria and today it would be located in Libya. There were many Jews there because it was a trade center. Simon was a Jew from that north coast of Africa who was in Jerusalem because it was Passover. His name is a Jewish name, Simon. Mark 15:21 tells us that they compelled Simon of Cyrene who just passed by coming into Jerusalem.

No Roman would carry a criminal's cross, certainly not a Jewish criminal, certainly not such a criminal as this strange and bizarre character. And then Mark 15:21 says that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus. Now that's interesting, these are Greek names. But who are these two and why are their names identified? Well, remember Mark wrote his gospel from Rome and the first readers may well have been Romans and here may well have been two that they knew.

Simon now carrying the heavy cross, Jesus alongside surrounded by the four soldiers before and behind. Verse 33, “And when they came to a place called Golgotha.” That is an Aramaic term translated to Greek and then to English meaning the “place of a skull.” In Luke 23:33, it is called the Skull and uses the word kranion from which we get cranium. And the Latin Vulgate translated that to "Calvary" which was the Latin term for cranium.

This is a place not as some have suggested where skulls are lying everywhere, or it would have been called the place of the skulls, plural. Furthermore, the Jews would not let a lot of bones just lie around, which was intolerable to them. So it was called that way because the area looked like a skull and was shaped like that. Christ was crucified, not so much on top of it as in front of it, right along the road as everybody walking by would be able to see.

And so, when they came to Golgotha, the place of a skull, they began the procedure by verse 34, “offering Him vinegar to drink.” Actually the text in the Greek says wine, "mixed with gall." Now gall simply is a general term referring to something that is bitter. In Mark's gospel, it says the bitter that they gave Him was myrrh. And myrrh is a sort of a vegetable narcotic that was put into the wine as a way to calm the person down.

From the vantage point of the soldiers, that calming down wasn't on their part an act of mercy, they really didn't care whether the victim suffered or not. It made it easier because it was difficult otherwise to hammer four nails through someone's limbs if they weren't stupefied to some degree. But we know from history that it was done by an association of wealthy women in Jerusalem. They provided this from their viewpoint to ease the pain. Verse 34 continues, “but when He tasted it, "He would not drink."

The reason is He Himself said in John 18:11, "Shall I not drink the cup My Father gives Me?" He was going to endure the full pain of everything. Verse 35, "And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.” There were no dramatics, no cries of pain, it only says they crucified Him. The Bible is not preoccupied with the physical events of the cross. It is preoccupied with the wickedness of men. It does not describe the agony of Jesus. It only describes what men did to Him.

Now in John 19:23-24 it says, “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took His garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, also His tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven into one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” And it quotes out of Psalm 22:18.

And then verse 36, "Then they sat down and kept watch over Him there." And then a note in verse 37, "And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” If you compare Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, you will get the whole statement, "This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." It was mockery. And Pilate puts it in Aramaic, in Greek and in Latin, the ignorant wicked soldiers.

The world is full of people who just laugh at Jesus and don't know who He really is. But there is a great ending to this. Look at Matthew 27:54, “When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Luke 23:47 says, "The centurion glorified God and said, this is a righteous man." Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Jul 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150726 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/e9utam64 imblog Matthew 27:19-26

Let's open our Bibles to Matthew 27:19-26 where we see the most impactful question ever faced in verse 22, "What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?" Why is it that every person must answer that question? Why do we have to make a decision? And the answer to that is because of who Jesus Christ is. Because of what He said and what He did.

The Scriptures proclaim that Jesus is God. From the very beginning in Matthew 1:23 it said His name shall be called Emmanuel which is ‘God with us’. The Scriptures also proclaim that Jesus is one with God the Father. In John 8 it says to know Him is to know the Father. In John 15 it says to hate Him is to hate the Father. In Matthew 10, to believe Him is to believe the Father. In John 14, to see Him is to see the Father. In John 5, to honor Him is to honor the Father. And in Mark 9, to receive Him is to receive the Father.

Furthermore, the Old Testament indicates that He is the promised Savior, that He is come into the world not only to show us what God is like but to bring us to God in an act of redemption. And the prophets outlined the details of His life with astounding accuracy. His birth, Micah said it would be in Bethlehem. Daniel gave us the approximate date. Isaiah told us it would be a virgin birth. Genesis 22 indicated it would be the line of Abraham. Genesis 49 indicated it would be through the tribe of Judah. Second Samuel 7 said through the seed of David. Hosea said He would be taken out of Egypt.

You see, we have to deal with the God man Himself. The perfection of Jesus Christ is absolutely astounding. And His perfection is demonstrated. If you study His life you will find out for example that He was holy. He loved righteousness and He hated sin. He overcame temptation every time. He rebuked sinners and He will judge the unbelieving. And He is our example that we cannot ignore.

For Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem our sins, to bring salvation, to remove transgressions, to destroy Satan, to set up an eternal kingdom of peace and glory for those who love and believe in Him. And it was essential in doing this that He die for our sins. And as we are in Matthew 27, we know that we are close to the cross and therefore close to the climax for which Christ came into the world. He came to pay the penalty as our substitute and to rise again that we might live forever.

Jesus had spent three years teaching and preaching, healing, casting out demons, and raising the dead. Now that is all coming to a climax as He enters into Jerusalem for this His final Passover. On Thursday night they eat the Passover. And near midnight they leave that upper room in Jerusalem to go out to the Mount of Olives to the garden of Gethsemane. And it is at midnight as Jesus prays there, sweating drops of blood in conflict with Satan in three waves of temptation. After strengthening from God, He resolutely sets His face to the cross.

Then Judas arrives with all of the religious leaders and the temple guards along with Roman soldiers numbering about 600 men. They come into the garden and take Jesus captive. And then they rush Him off to the house of Annas and Caiaphas for a mock trial in order that they might somehow legitimize their desire to execute Him.

There were three phases to the Jewish trial with no indictment. They tried bribing false witnesses. They paid off Judas. But even Judas came and threw the money back and said, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." On Friday morning from 1 AM to 3 AM, there was a mock trial in front of Caiaphas at which time they accused Jesus of blasphemy for saying He was the Christ, the Son of God which was not blasphemy but the truth. Then they spit in His face and slapped Him while He was blindfolded.

First, in Luke 23, they accused Him of being the leader of an insurrection, stirring up the people to begin a revolution. Secondly, they accused Jesus of forbidding people to pay taxes to Caesar. And thirdly, of claiming to be a king which made Him a rival against Pilate, against Caesar himself. So they had to manufacture a Roman issue. And so, they tried to convince Pilate that Jesus was in fact a rebel who was vying for the throne of Rome. And, of course, it was all a lie.

Pilate came out and talked to them outside. Got their accusations and walked back in to conduct his trial with Jesus Christ. Came back out a few minutes later likely about 5:15 in the morning. And he says to them, his verdict is "I find" and that is a technical term for a verdict. He says "I find no fault in this man." John 18:38 indicates that finding in the first phase of the Roman trial.

But the people refuse to accept the verdict and they screamed and more powerfully accused Jesus of sedition and being a threat to Roman rule. Remember, Pilate was in a difficult place. He had already caused three riots among the Jews. He had been reported to Tiberius Caesar for the last one. The Romans wanted peace and Pilate was having a hard time keeping it.

Pilate knew that if he released Jesus, which would be consistent with his verdict, he would cause another riot. It probably would get back to Caesar and his job and maybe even his head would be on the line. But we saw that the accusations of the Jews proved the innocence of Jesus. So He is glad that they have no legitimate accusation against Him, though they have tried and tried.

The second thing we noted was the attitude of the Lord. And in it all He was completely silent. Verse 12, "He answered nothing." Verse 14, "He answered them not a word." There was nothing to say. Because Pilate had come out after phase one and said Jesus is not guilty. So when all the crowd started screaming all the accusations, He didn't say anything. The court had been held and the verdict was in. And calmly and majestically He stands there innocent.

Realizing then that Jesus was from the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas in Galilee, and that Herod was in Jerusalem for the Passover, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod. Pilate wanted him to condemn Jesus to death. But Herod thought the idea was ludicrous. How could this man be a king? He mocked and put a oversized robe on Jesus and made a joke out of the whole thing. And then Herod sent Him back.

So Pilate had Jesus back again. And through it all, the innocence of Jesus will be stated five separate times. The religious world, the pagan world, the demons of hell cannot come up with one accusation that stands. 1 Peter 2:23 says, "When He was reviled, He reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not, but committed to Him who judges righteously."

Luke 23:13-15 sums it up, "Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him.”

And Pilate reiterates the third phase of that Roman trial. In John 19:14, it is about six AM and all this hurry up court has taken only about an hour or so. He also has to deal with his own conscience and sense of justice. So, Matthew 27:15-17 says, "Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

It's now the day of the Passover for the residents of Judea, Jerusalem. And so, he calls the people because his plan is this, Jesus is popular with the people, Jesus is hated by the leaders. He also knew that the leaders wanted Jesus dead out of jealousy, verse 18. So he thought he could pit the leaders against the people, and free Jesus. Barabbas was a criminal, an insurrectionist, a murderer and a plunderer, compared to Jesus who is called the anointed was a king.

But in verse 19, an amazing thing happened, there was an interruption. And while he was distracted for a few moments, the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. A providential divine interlude gave the leaders the time they needed to stir up the multitude against Jesus. And so, the multitude was sucked in by the leaders and Pilate's effort failed.

Verse 21-23, "The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” Look at Luke 23:20-22, "Pilate willing to release Jesus spoke again to them, but they cried saying, Crucify Him.” He said to them the third time, Why? What evil has He done? I have found no cause of death in Him, I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go."

Five times Pilate announces the innocence of Jesus Christ then still sentences Him to death. Matthew 27:24-25 says, “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

I have a love for Jewish people. And what they said in verse 25 does not reflect the attitude of every Jewish person, not even every Jewish person who lived in the time of Christ, not even every Jewish person in that crowd, but this was the dominant cry of the crowd that day. And it is true that the blood of Jesus Christ was by their own testimony taken on the people of Israel. Yes, He was executed by the Romans but it was the Jewish population and leaders that screamed that His blood be accounted to their charge.

Now let us go back to verse 19. Pilate had to take his chair out on the porch in front and the people stayed out in the courtyard. And Pilate sits it down, as a genuine judicial act, on the Judgment Seat. At that point, his wife sends an urgent message. The message is this: "Have nothing to do with that righteous man." This is a desperate thing and what she said carried weight with Pilate. Why? She was convinced that Jesus was a righteous man.

And here is the testimony incredibly of a pagan. Here, the nation of Israel curses Jesus Christ, takes His blood on themselves, kills Him as an unjust and evil man and a pagan woman who knows nothing says He is righteous. What depth of evil and denial of the authority of Old Testament Scripture have they come to. And her word to her husband was, "Don't have a thing to do with Him. You're dealing with a righteous man."

She was fearful of the consequence, and she was right. Pilate later on was taken out of Palestine, sent to Gaul and there he committed suicide. He committed suicide for the same reason that Judas did, because both of them couldn't deal with the tremendous guilt of having betrayed and dealt unjustly with the only perfectly righteous person that ever lived. The primary cause of suicide psychologically is retribution, it is self inflicted punishment.

Now where did she get these fears? Verse 19, "for I have suffered much because of Him today in a dream.” Nothing in the text says that this is a supernatural dream. The dream may have been simply the providence of God. Everything that happens here is under the control of God by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. Here Pilate was trapped with this Jesus and his wife had a dream of fear and a testimony of a pagan Gentile woman to the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Here Jesus is exalted again by a pagan who could see what they refused to see. Go to verse 24, "Pilate said, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.” Pilate really tried. He had suggested that Jesus be released at the Passover. He had rendered Him five verdicts of innocence. But Jesus was to be crucified and that was a Roman way of death. So the prophecy had to be fulfilled. Now Pilate just wants the people not to blame him.

Pilate tried to get rid of Jesus in so many ways, at many times, but he just couldn't do it. But again he affirms the innocence of Christ. If he could find one thing about Jesus that would make Him guilty, everything would be simple. Then he could execute Jesus and maintain his conscience. So, we go to verse 26, "Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.” Matthew doesn't give us the details.

John 19:1 does, "Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him." The Jews always gave 40 lashes save one that the Romans didn't. We don't know how long they pounded Jesus, tore and ripped His flesh. We do know that He couldn't carry His own cross because He was so weak. And believe me that if there ever was a man of strength, it was Him, because a man without sin would be a man of strength. But He was beaten so weak that someone else had to carry it for Him.

And so in John 19:7, "The Jews answered, we have a law and by our law He ought to die because He made Himself the Son of God." And just now do they the real reason which was blasphemy. Well, Pilate just heard something he didn't want to hear, that Jesus was the Son of God. Verse 8, "And when Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was even more afraid." Now in the pagan mind of Pilate, there was room for a lot of gods with a lot of sons. So he goes to Jesus in verse 9, and he said to Him, "Where are You from?" He doesn't mean what town either. “But Jesus did not answer him.

John 19:10-11, “So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” You don't have any power unless God allows it. But the people who delivered Me to you are the greater sinners.

Verse 14-16, “Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.” They said they had no king but Caesar. That is the total rejection of Jesus Christ stated: Put His blood on our account.

Jesus wasn't on trial here. Who is really on trial? Everybody else is, that's right, we are all on trial, too. What we do with Jesus Christ will determine our eternal destiny. What are you going to do? Hate Him? Mindlessly reject Him because everybody around you does? Or maybe we just laugh at the whole thing. Or maybe you just say, "Well, look, I'm not interested in it, I really don't want to have anything to do with this." Or maybe you just choose what is and sacrifice eternity like Pilate did and put Jesus away. Everyone will make a choice and it will be an eternal thing. Let us pray you make the right one, Amen?

]]> Sun, 19 Jul 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150719 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/2giyax35 imblog Matthew 27:11-18

In this passage, the most important question that could ever be asked is posed in Matthew 27:22, "Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” That is the key question. But Pilate is not alone. Every human being on the face of the earth faces that very same question, what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? And the answer to it that will determine your eternal destiny.

Pilate made the wrong choice in response to that question. He asked the right question, but instead of going to the right source, he went to the wrong source, and got the wrong answer and as such ended up as an eternal tragedy. Let us study the beginning of Matthew 27 because here is where we find the transition from the Jewish trial of Christ to the Roman trial.

Christ was tried in a three phased Jewish trial and the Jewish leaders gave Jesus the death sentence. And now in order to accomplish that, they have to convince the Romans to come to the same conclusion. Because under Roman occupation, the Jews had no right of execution. They have had to depend upon the Romans to do that. And so we see in verses 1 and 2 that they take Him to Pilate to open the three phases of the Roman trial.

So it was very early, about 5 A.M. when they arrived at Pilate's judgment hall. We will now see some elements that demonstrate the innocence of Christ. Each of them shows His perfect righteousness. Look at verse 11, “Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” Pilate was asking Him relative to the accusation the Jews had made. But Matthew doesn't give that accusation.

Let us look for that in John 18:28, “Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.” And because they wouldn't go in, Pilate had to come out. And he did. Verse 29 says, "Pilate then went out to them." They were below him in the street and he was on a porch. "What accusation do you bring against this man?”

Verse 30, “They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Amazing. They challenged Pilate for even asking the question. Pilate asked a proper judicial question: what is the accusation? But they don't give an answer. And again, the absence of any accusation here is another affirmation of the perfection of Jesus Christ.

So Pilate says to them, verse 31, "Take Him yourselves and judge Him according to your law." Now he knew who Jesus was. When the Roman soldiers came along with the Jews to the garden to take Jesus captive, they were there because Pilate had granted permission for them to be there. He even had an opinion about why they wanted to take Jesus Christ. “To which they reply in the rest of verse 31, "It's not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”

And of course, there was the plan of God which demanded it as well. That's what verse 32 says, "This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” Jesus said that in John 12:32, "The Son of Man shall be lifted up." So they were fulfilling prophecy while thinking in their own minds that they were doing this to maintain legality, but they were really doing it to fulfill the plan of God.

And then Pilate went back into the judgment hall. "And he called to Jesus and he said," in Matthew 27:11, “Are you the king of the Jews?" Now where did he get that accusation if they didn't answer anything? We have to go to Luke 23:2 which says, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” But that was not the reason He was convicted in the Jewish trial.

They convicted Him in the Jewish trial of blasphemy because He said He was the Son of God. But they also know that blasphemy in a Roman court is not enough of a reason because the Romans do not execute people for their religious persuasion. The only way they can get Pilate involved is to accuse Jesus of something that is a threat to Roman security. Many Jews were crucified because of revolt against the Roman government.

And so, they come up with this idea that Jesus is a threat to Roman security, that He is a rebel, stirring up the nation against Rome. Secondly, that He forbids the Jews to pay taxes, that is that He is not rendering to Caesar what is due Caesar. And thirdly, that He claims to be a king, who is a rival to Caesar himself. Now this is new, they just concoct this on the spot. And of course, their accusations are totally false.

Jesus was very submissive. He taught the people to respond to those in authority over them properly. He also taught to pay taxes. When He was approached and asked if He paid taxes through Peter the Apostle, He said yes we pay taxes so we don't offend anyone. He even said, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." That is pay your taxes to the government, but save your worship for the Lord.

And yes He was a king, but not a king who was a threat to Caesar. When they tried to make Him a king, He disappeared from their midst so there would not be a riot and a revolution. So all of their accusations were lies and again a great testimony is born to the perfection of Jesus Christ. The only thing they can come up with are lies of such obvious nature that anybody reading the Bible knows they are lies.

And so, Pilate calls Jesus back in and says, "Is it true? Are You the king of the Jews?" And He answers yes, I am a King and says further in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” What He is saying to Pilate is My Kingdom is an internal spiritual Kingdom.

Now back to Matthew 27:11, "Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” And then He explained what He meant as we saw in John. Then Pilate comes back out to the people and says to them, "I find no fault, He is not guilty." Verse 12, "But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer.”

Here is Pilate out on the porch again, and the whole crowd is stirred up. In Luke 23:5 which describes this very same moment, it says, "But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.” And they started to accuse Him more fiercely. They started to really put the heat on Pilate. And he is afraid of the hatred of Jesus in the hearts of these leaders who are Satan possessed.

The accusation is empty talk. Pick up the Bible and you read about Jesus Christ and there is no fault in Him. Whether they were the religious court trial that mocked Jesus under Caiaphas and Annas, or a pagan court conducted by Pilate, they came up with the same verdict, He was innocent. They had to manufacture lies to kill Jesus Christ. Did he really believe that Jewish leaders, who absolutely hated Roman oppression, would bring to him someone because he was a threat to Rome?

Ridiculous. Anybody who was a real threat to Rome, they would hide and join in his revolution. They wouldn't expose him. They hated Jesus because He could do what they couldn't. He could heal people and He could teach wisdom and He could even raise the dead. And He was popular and they were not. Even a pagan unbeliever could see that their real issue was envy.

Verse 13, “Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” Verse 14, “But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.” Jesus had said what He needed to say when He was on trial. The judge had given the verdict. And He's not going to answer the crowd and He's not going to answer Pilate because everything was said already.

Pilate was absolutely amazed. He had seen many criminals who would plead their case and cry out for mercy and protest loudly to those who were wanting to convict them. He had seen all the people demanding their exoneration, pleading their innocence and here is Jesus, absolutely quiet, never saying a single word. Where is the rival to Caesar? Here is a calm peaceful man who is offering Himself without reason.

Now for Pilate it was difficult to refuse the Jews. When he first came to power as the appointed governor he rode into Jerusalem with his soldiers and their banners, which had an image of Caesar. The Jews objected because they believed them to be idols. And they rioted and demanded that he take those off his banners, but he refused to do it. The Jews persisted so he called for a meeting in the amphitheater, surrounded them with his soldiers and threatened to cut off their heads. At which point they bared their necks, pulled their heads to one side and told his soldiers to go ahead and cut off all their heads. So they called his bluff and he gave in and removed those images.

Later on, Pilate needed a better water supply by building an aqueduct to bring water into the city of Jerusalem. And to do it, he took the money out of the temple treasury, money which was devoted to God. This so greatly irritated the Jews that they rioted again, so that he had to send his soldiers with spears and swords to kill many people to break up the riot.

Thirdly, when Pilate established a residence in the city of Jerusalem he made shields for his soldiers on which he had engraved "Tiberius," the emperor. Which to the Jews again was an emblem of a false god and they demanded that the shields be changed. He refused to do that. So they reported him to Caesar. And Caesar sent word down to get those shields changed immediately. So they have Pilate right where they want him.

He cannot afford another message sent to Tiberius. He cannot afford another riot. So he is a coward because if he does what is right and releases Christ, he is going to have a riot on his hands. And something is going to happen and he knows that it could end up in him losing his job. And it could even be possible for Tiberius to remove a governor and then execute him for his unfaithfulness.

When Pilate heard the word Galilee, he gets a great idea. Luke 23:7 says, "As soon as he knew Jesus belonged in Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod who himself was at Jerusalem at that time." It is still around five o'clock in the morning and Herod happens to be right in Jerusalem. So Pilate decides to send Him to Herod Antipas, who knew about Jesus, because Jesus had a great ministry in Galilee. Jesus removed disease from Galilee.

And when Herod heard that he was going to have the opportunity, Luke 23:8 says, he was very glad. He was excited because he had wanted for a long time to see Jesus do a miracle. So Jesus early in the morning meets with Herod who has a court of his own presence there. And Luke 23:9 tells us, "Then he questioned Him in many words. But He answered nothing." Herod has no right to judge a man in the land of Palestine; that is a Roman right. Pilate is the judge, and the verdict is already in.

So Luke 23:11 says, "Herod with his men of war treated Him with contempt and mocked Him and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe." But he came up with no accusation. So Pilate says in verse 14-15, "You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.”

So, Herod sends Him back. And when we come to verse 15, Pilate has to deal again with Jesus. Pilate says first I find no fault in Him. Then secondly he says that Herod found no fault with Him. Pilate is really a coward. He could have ended it after the first statement or he could have ended it after the second statement. Why is he bringing it back to them again? The reason is because he feels trapped. He cannot just defy them without a riot and a riot could be fatal to his career and even to his own life.

That takes us to the animosity of the crowd, the accusation of the Jews and the attitude of the Lord. What is Pilate going to do? He is not willing to defy the Jews again. Lately he has tried that and lost. So he comes up with an idea. Matthew 27:15, "Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted.” And if you read Luke and Mark we will find that the people even asked for it.

And he realizes that they have in hand a notable prisoner. Verse 16, “And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.” John 18:40 says he was a robber. And we know from Mark 15 and Luke 23 that he was an insurrectionist who was also a murderer. So Pilate sees an out. He sees the idea of giving them an option between Barabbas and Jesus. Verse 17, "So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

Pilate even adds the name Christ after the name Jesus twice, once there and once in verse 22 to emphasize the difference between Barabbas and Jesus who is called the anointed, which is another way for king. Who are you going to choose: your anointed Messiah or Barabbas, the criminal? Because he knows about the triumphal entry to Jerusalem, and he knows this miracle worker had made Himself one whom the people cheered. So he sees the crowd coming and feels he can play off the people against their leaders.

Verse 18 tells us, “For he (Pilate) knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.” But the people wouldn't be envious because they were the recipients of Jesus' ministry, and not in competition with Him like the leaders. Then something interesting happened in verse 19. There was an interruption from his wife and we will come back to that next time. God allowed a divine intervention, a pause to give time for the leaders to stir up the crowd against Jesus because it was God’s plan that Jesus die, right?

So the leaders used whatever leverage they could to stir up the crowd. Mark 15:11 says, "The chief priests incited the crowd to bring about the freedom of Barabbas." And by the time Pilate comes back from this little interlude, he has a real problem on his hands because the crowd and the leaders have become one. And in verse 21, "The governor answered and said to them, “which of the two do you want me to release for you?"

He didn't know anything about the demons of hell that were involved in the scene, nor did he know about the plan of God. And out of his mouth comes verse 22, "What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?" And that is the question that is in front of us all. So how do you look at Jesus? The answer to that question will determine everything that is truly important. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Jul 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150712 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/4niqs3c1 imblog Matthew 27:1-10

Do you know that each year twice as many Americans kill themselves as kill each other? Suicide ranks among the top ten killers in the United States and we are way down the list of nations in terms of frequency of suicide per population. We don't really report suicides very well so that the actual suicide rate might be as high as twice the number of reported suicides every year. Why do people do that? Most of those who analyze human behavior come up with five reasons or categories in which suicides fall.

First, some people kill themselves for what we could call retaliation. They are angry and they want to hurt someone and they think the best way to hurt someone is to kill themselves. And often they are right, they will inflict a hurt on someone from which that person can never recover. Secondly, people kill themselves for what we could call reunion. This particularly is common among those who kill themselves at an older age. They have lost their life partner, and rather than try to live alone, they take their life in order to join that person wherever they may believe that person is.

Thirdly, some people take their lives out of what we could call rebirth. In other words, they are tired of the way it is in this life and they would like to get another chance. They believe maybe there is another world somewhere and it would be better than the one here and they would like to try all over again. Fourthly, suicide that is what psychologists have called "retroflex." And that is to say that someone is very angry at someone else but they cannot kill someone else so they kill themselves out of frustration.

But the most dominant reason is what we could call retribution. People take their lives to inflict upon themselves a severe punishment which they believe they should receive. They have sinned and they think that there is no other way they can come out from under the anxiety and the pressure of their own conscience. They feel total failures overwhelmed by guilt and they kill themselves as an ultimate punishment.

A guilt-ridden conscience then probably is a dominant factor in many suicides. The guilt that a person feels may be a result of real sin and real wrong and real evil, or it may be artificial. It may also be inflicted upon them by unrealistic standards established by their parents, or peers or by their own desires. There are two classic suicides in the Scripture that are illustrations of this.

The Old Testament suicide is Ahithophel in 2 Samuel 17 who betrayed David. The New Testament one is Judas who betrayed Jesus Christ. In both cases, they took their lives out of the guilt of betraying an innocent person, their plans going array and everything falling apart. And unable to deal with the anxiety, they took their own lives. So let us read about the suicide of Judas in Matthew 27 this evening.

Now Scripture infers in the case of Judas and in the case of Ahithophel, that suicide was an act of an evil of a deranged mind and is not a viable solution. It is a crime against God and it is a crime against self. It is to take a prerogative on oneself that belongs only to God who gives life and takes life. It is an act of sin and a lack of trust in the wisdom and purpose of God.

Judas committed the most enormous crime that any man ever committed, for he betrayed the most innocent man, the only perfect man that ever lived. And he really only had two choices. Either he could go to Jesus Christ whom he had betrayed and seek forgiveness, or he could eliminate himself. And he opted for self-destruction.

So, in our passage today, Matthew takes us away from the trial of Christ for a moment to follow the story of Judas to its tragic end. Matthew’s primary purpose in giving us the story of Judas was not to just tell us the story of Judas. It was to demonstrate the purity and the perfection and majesty of Jesus Christ. He is presenting the King. And in this contrast, Jesus Christ is exalted against the evil backdrop of the death of Judas.

Actually Matthew does this in a series of contrasts, the first is a contrast between the unjust leaders and the sinless Lord. As we have been following the first two phases of the Jewish trial of Christ, we have been made very much aware of the injustice of the trial. There has been no legitimate accusation against Jesus. He has been permitted no defense. There were false witnesses called to give testimony. Judas was bribed to be a traitor and every single statute which accommodated their justice system was violated.

And in the midst of it all, the silent majestic Christ stands innocent. Finally they decide to kill Him for blasphemy. Jesus said He was the Messiah, the Son of God, but that wasn't blasphemy, that was the truth. So He will be executed for the truth, for being who He really is. He stands as the sinless Messiah, the Son of God as over against the unjust leaders who have tried to accuse Him. And the contrast between the two paints the majesty of Jesus so beautifully and clearly.

Already phase one and two of the Jewish trial have occurred between 1 and 3 o’clock in the morning. Since that time, Jesus has been a bound prisoner in the house of Caiaphas waiting there until the dawn. They want to have another trial at the dawn, just a short time, so they can put a veneer of legality over their illegal trial. They know their law requires it be held in the daytime.

Matthew 27:1-2, “When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.” Luke says they led Him into their counsel. What Luke was saying there is that this time they had it in their counsel, their proper place: the judgment hall. They took a formal vote so it would appear to be a legal trial to put Jesus to death.

Pontius Pilate was governor of that area from 26 to about 36 A.D., right through the ministry and death of Christ. The Jewish trial now is over. And as you come to verse 2 you begin the Roman trial. The religious trial is over, now comes the Roman secular trial. They have to decide there whether this is in fact legitimate for them to execute this man whom the Jews want dead.

Now that brings us to another contrast between the guilty Judas and the innocent Jesus. Verse 3-4, "Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” We just see Judas here as Jesus is transported from the Jewish trial to the place of Pilate. And in process, Judas who betrayed Him saw Jesus was condemned.

And just as when Peter saw Jesus and Jesus saw Peter, Judas also was devastated at the sight of Jesus and overcome with his own sinfulness. So he has the same reaction, seeing Jesus condemned tears Judas to the very core of his being. And it says, "When he saw Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind.” He is feeling the pain of guilt and the pain is excruciating and paralyzing because he knows that what he has done is evil. Built into every human soul, there is a sense of right and wrong.

That is God's gift to man to hold him back from evil and its ultimate end, eternal hell. Even the devil himself indwelling him, even the demons at the apex of their activity, even sin when its reached its highpoint can't cancel out God's warning system. And we all should be real grateful for that warning system because if we are Christians, it once drove us to Christ. But Judas did not genuinely repent, the word used is metamelomai which means to feel sorry, to feel sad, to wish it hadn't happened. And that's as far as it goes.

The only thing Judas knew to do was to undo what he had done. So he went to the priests right there taking Jesus to the place where Pilate would rule on Him. He wants to give back the 30 pieces of silver. He sought not righteousness but relief. There was no desire for the truth, there was no belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior. He just wanted to get rid of his pain. He wanted to unload his guilt because he knew that he had betrayed an innocent man.

That's just the way sin is. It looks good and then you take it and it stings with a poison that you may experience the rest of your life and except for the grace of God you will never be relieved from. Verse 4, he says, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." He doesn't say this is God's Son, this is the Savior, he just says I have sinned because I have betrayed innocent blood. This is Judas testifying to the perfection of Jesus Christ. This is His betrayer saying this is an innocent man.

What is the meaning of this? Judas is following basic Jewish jurisprudence. He came back as a false witness to confess that he was a false witness. He came back under such tremendous guilt that he wanted to have his life taken. He knew Deuteronomy 16 that a false witness who witnesses against a person unto death pays with his own life. No man who ever lived felt more guilt than Judas felt because no man ever committed a greater crime than he committed.

So, what was their response when Judas came back? Look as verse 4 continues, “They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” What do we care, that is your problem. As shepherds, they are really bad, having no concern about him at all. Jesus rightly characterized them in Matthew 23:4, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” They're indifferent to this man's guilt, indifferent to his pain, his anxiety and his remorse.

Deuteronomy 27:25 says, "Cursed is he that takes reward to slay an innocent person." Judas knew that he was cursed. So, what is Judas going to do? How's he doing to deal with this? Well, verse 5, "And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.”

Did you notice the word temple? It is the key to understanding this thing. There are two words in the Greek language that are used in the gospels for temple. The first word “hieron” means the temple total, the whole area, the courtyards, the walls, basically the whole thing. The other is the word naos, it refers to the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary in the middle. When he went back, he threw the silver not into the hieron, he threw it in the naos, the Holy of Holies.

Why? Spite. There was only group of people that could go in there. Who was it? Priests. And he was saying to them, "If you won't take it willingly and do something with it, I will force you to take it and do something with it." And he threw it into a place where only the priests could go and therefore they had to deal with it. It was an act of spite.

And then he left and it says, "and hanged himself." Why did he do that? In Deuteronomy 21:23 there is a well-known Old Testament passage that is repeated in the New Testament in Galatians. It says this, "Cursed is he that hangs on a tree." So Judas takes his life as an ultimate act of punishment and does it in a way that is ultimately cursed by God. Because he feels he justly deserves that.

He could have gone to Jesus Christ, but he didn't. And death doesn't relieve guilt. Death doesn't relieve sin. Death doesn't relieve misery. And death doesn't relieve pain. It just makes it permanent and intensifies it beyond imagination. Whatever Judas suffered before he killed Jesus, he suffers this day, far more severely than he did then.

In Acts 1:18 it says that Judas fell headlong on some rocks and his bowels gushed out when he burst open. He hanged himself, the branch broke, or the rope broke, the noose slipped, but the combination of both was the result. Verse 6 says, “But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.”

Now, we now have not only the testimony of Judas to the innocence of Christ, but the testimony of the whole Sanhedrin. They finally said it was blood money, which money is illegitimately paid to someone to get someone else killed. Here you have the testimony for all time and for all the world to hear right out of the mouths of the chief priests themselves that the money they gave to Judas was blood money. They didn't mind taking it out of the treasury, but they were too pious to put it back where it came from.

Verse 7, “So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.” A potter's field would be a place that had been used by potters for a long time, all the clay had been scraped off. It was just a field that was there. You could probably buy it fairly cheaply. So they would use polluted money to buy a polluted field to bury polluted Gentiles in. So by their own lips they confess to their deed.

Verse 8 says, "Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.” Who called it that? The people did. Thirty years after this when Matthew writes, it is called the "field of blood". So the testimony of the population themselves was that Jesus was executed by bribery, unlawfully. The hypocrisy of men was nothing but fulfilling the prophecy of God.

Verse 9-10, "Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.”

Men thought they were doing what they wanted, but all the time they were fulfilling God's plan. It was prophecy. This act of buying that field to bury strangers in was a testimony to the whole community, a living memorial to the bribery, to the blood money. Let me add a footnote. Acts 1:18 and 19 says, where Judas fell and his bowels gushed out, that's about 43 days after this, the people also called it the field of blood, because Judas was associated with that blood money. Thirty years later the field they bought was still the "field of blood."

Was that the plot of man? No, it was the plan of God. This prophecy comes from Zechariah 11:12 and 13. It is altered by the Holy Spirit to give its full meaning. In Zechariah it mentions the 30 pieces of silver. It mentions the potter's field. But if all you had was Zechariah, you wouldn't understand the fullness of the prophecy, so the Holy Spirit here alters the words a brief bit in order to make its meaning full.

Jesus is exalted by the testimony of the chief witness and bribed traitor as to His innocence. He is exalted by the testimony of the Sanhedrin themselves that they have blood money in their hands. He is exalted by the testimony of the populace of Jerusalem who call everything related to this incident, a field of blood. And He is exalted by the fact that all of this fulfills the prophecy of the Old Testament. And so, out of the ugliness of the scene comes the beauty of Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Jul 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150705 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/hgrkpslp imblog Matthew 26:58, 69-75

We come to a familiar story, the story of the denial of Peter the apostle. It is a rather sad and tragic story, but at the same time one of the most encouraging and hopeful of all biblical accounts. The greatest gift God could ever give men is the forgiveness of sins. There would be no relationship to God without the forgiveness of sins. That is why Exodus 34:6-7 says, “I am the Lord God, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin,” and He went on to describe His gracious forgiving character.

1 John 1:7, 9 says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, keeps on cleansing us from all sin. 9 And if we confess our sins, He is faithful and still righteous to forgive us.” And that is exactly what we see in this Bible passage. No saint in scriptural record ever sank to the depths of sin that Peter did on this occasion. And the wonder of wonders is that even in the extremity of his sin, the Lord was there to forgive him. That is a hopeful truth for us.

Peter, who fell so deeply, was soon after restored to become the leading spokesman of the early church, and the great leader in the first twelve chapters of the book of Acts. So it is an encouraging story, for all of us who are sinners saved by His grace. Now, in order to understand this text, which is Matthew 26:69-75, we need to back up. There are reasons why it happened. When you begin to read verse 69, and you find Peter in the courtyard, and some servant girl comes to him and identifies him with Jesus, and he denies it, again and again, you say to yourself, “How could this happen?”

As they are going along toward the Mount of Olives, Jesus said to them in verse 31, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” Jesus predicts that they will all forsake Him in the midst of His trial. “But after I am raised up again,” verse 32 says, “I will go before you to Galilee.” So He predicts His resurrection, and that He will gather them back together, and will lead them to Galilee.

Now Peter responds in verse 33, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Peter says, in effect, everybody else might do it, but I will never do it. Peter felt himself to be invincible. He could not imagine any circumstance or any difficulty that could cause him to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here we see him boastfully saying, “You’re wrong, Lord,” which takes an awful lot of ego, but that is what he did.

In verse 34, “Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Mark adds that He said “before the cock crows twice” so Jesus was very specific, “you will deny Me three times.” Jesus says, “On the contrary, not only will you not stay true to Me, compared to all the other disciples, but you will deny Me three times before the cock can crow twice.” In verse 35 we see Peter’s pride, “Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And his words influenced all the other disciples, and they said the same thing.

They are indifferent to the need to pray. The Lord goes back to pray a second time in verse 42, and in verse 43, returns to find them asleep again. In verse 44, He returns to pray, comes back the third time in verse 45, finds them asleep again, says, “Sleep and take your rest later on.” Jesus could already see Judas and the band of temple guard, Roman soldiers, and priests coming up the slope toward them.

In verse 57 it says, “They took Jesus captive.” Comparing Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John they took Jesus captive and tied Him up. They want to carry out a trial in the middle of the night in the house of the high priest. And so verse 57 continues, “ and they led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.” We know from the other gospel records that Jesus first was taken before Annas, who was the former high priest. John 18 describes the whole scene in detail. The high priest lived in a palatial home in Jerusalem, somewhere near the temple. And it was common for families to share the same home.

So Jesus is taken away, and He is brought into that great courtyard. All the denials of Peter occur in that same place. John 18 says, that the first denial occurred while Jesus was before Annas. The other gospel writers tell us that all the denials took place in this same courtyard. Annas and Caiaphas shared the same courtyard. In verse 58, Peter followed Him. Although he had all fled it says in verse 56, when Jesus was taken prisoner, Peter couldn’t stay away. He was pulled by the love that he had for the Lord, and so he comes back to follow the Lord at a distance.

But he wasn’t alone, according to John 18:15, accompanying him was also John who was known to the high priest, we don’t know how, but it gave him entrance into the high priest’s house. Peter was shut out, he couldn’t get in. Apparently John went back out and worked it out with the girl who watched the door to let Peter in. So John unwittingly contributed to Peter’s tragic denial of Christ.

Why would Christ even predict that Peter would deny Him? Because it was to teach us a lesson about spiritual unpreparedness, and even beyond that, to teach us a profound lesson about the restoration of a sinning saint, a lesson we should all know about. John disappears from the scene, and now Peter becomes the focal point. And so verse 58 says, “And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end.”

Peter should have known the outcome, the Lord had told him enough times, but he didn’t trust his ears. And so he enters the courtyard, and totally ignores the prediction of Christ that he was going to deny Him. And Peter was outside, the other writers tell us “sitting by the fire.” He is in a crowd of temple police, Sanhedrin members bustling in and out, the servants of the house are there. It’s a little before 1:00 AM, and the whole trial is going to last two hours; and in these two hours, Peter is going to deny Christ.

Verse 69 says, “And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” Mark 14:66 says “one of the servant girls of the high priest.” John 18:17 says, “The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” And Mark adds that she said, “Jesus, the Nazarene.” They loved to use those terms of derision in reference to Jesus. And so she comes with her information to impress the guards that are sitting around the fire that indeed this Peter is one of the followers of Jesus.

She repeates her question several times, so that everybody is listening. Look at Peter’s reply. Verse 70, “But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And his denial is not to this servant girl only, it is to everybody, who have now heard everything. This is Peter, unbelievable. Mark says, “I don’t know Him.” And John says he said, “I am not.” And the truth of it is, he said it all, “I am not, I don’t know Him, I do not know what you mean.” Just a natural way to respond.

It took a little servant maid to take down the chief of the twelve. Gone were all his high and heroic protestations to Jesus, gone was his courage that supposedly existed in his heart. From his hand had been snatched the sword, and now out of his heart had been snatched his character, and now there he was, the coward, unable to confess his heavenly Lord, cringing in denial. He was afraid of being arrested. His self-preserving instincts took over, and he denied what he knew was really true.

What reveals our character is our involuntary response, not planned response. And his involuntary reaction was one that showed his character to be weak and sinful. And it was the result of strong ego, an unwillingness to listen to the word of the Lord, a failure to pray, and an acting on his own impulse, independent of the plan of God. He was on his own, and on his own he was weak, just like anybody else.

And so he heads for the corridor and he says to himself, I’m not going to have this kind of vulnerability there. So he went away from potential danger, away from recognition. Luke 22:58 says, “And after a little while,” then follows verse 71, “And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And Mark 14:68 says, “He went out into the porch and the cock crowed.” That was the first crow, he has denied the Lord once, and the cock has crowed once. He’s got two more denials and it will crow the second time.

Peter didn’t hear that first one. The crowd and his own tension interfered as he tries to hide there. And there he is, exposed again. Matthew tells us it was a different servant girl. Luke 22:58 adds that at this time a man also spoke to him, the same as the girl did. This is the time of his second denial. When they confront him, the crowd must have been drawn into it, because it says in verse 71, “and she said to the bystanders, he is one who followed Jesus.”

His response is really unusual, verse 72, “And again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’” Peter is angry, embarrassed and frustrated. He is also afraid and he is trapped. By now his denials are getting more vehement, and this time he doesn’t just lie, he lied in his oath. An ultimate oath would be to swear by the living God. Back in verse 63, when the high priest wanted the truth out of Jesus, he said, “I adjure You by the living God, tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Peter said, “I pledge the truth before God, I do not know this Jesus.” Unbelievable.

It’s the second denial and it was worse than the first. It demonstrates a lack of trust. Why couldn’t he just say the truth, and commit himself to the care of the Lord? Because he didn’t have the spiritual strength; he was weak. There are people who think that because they know so much about the Bible, and because they have experienced so many things in terms of the moving of God, that they now are beyond the possibility of a disaster, and that is just when you are most vulnerable. That is right where Peter was.

Verse 73, “After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” “How much later was this?” Well, Luke 22:59 says it was an hour later. So he just sort of milled around for about an hour. The first hour, two denials, and then another hour goes by and here comes his third denial. By this time they were spitting on the face of Jesus, and with their fists they were pounding on His face. And maybe the screams of blasphemy on Him held him there.

It says here that a group “came up and said”, the spokesman for the group, according to John 18:26, was a relative of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” Verse 74, “Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” Cursing basically means to pronounce death upon yourself at the hand of God if you are lying. May God kill me and damn me if I am not speaking the truth.

And then verse 74 continues, “And immediately the rooster crowed.” That’s the third time. And the rooster crow was about 3:00 AM; the Lord’s prediction came to pass. Luke 22:61 tells us that at this very moment, when the cock crowed, “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter instantly remembered the saying of the Lord, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” Peter was able to see the Lord and His look must have burned Peter’s soul, to show him to never ignore what Jesus says.

How can that happen?” We cannot defy the Word of God and survive. Spiritual self-confidence, not praying, and independence leads to compromise. If you think you can handle every situation, you are going to fail. That’s where Peter was. And this was the hour of the power of darkness, the forces of demons and the enemy, and Peter was no match for this in the flesh. And the key to this whole message is that the true Peter is seen not in his denial, but in his repentance.

Peter went out and wept bitterly and came back to be restored, and therein lies the difference between a Judas and a Peter. Both will sin, but one will be repentant and restored, and the other will be damned. In Luke 22:32, Jesus said, “Peter, Satan desires to have you, but I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not.” The reason that we stay saved is not because of something we have done, but because of Jesus who owns us. Jesus didn’t hold Judas because He never had Judas, but He owns Peter and Peter’s faith didn’t fail.

Verse 75, “And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus.” Peter remembered that Jesus said it would be this way that he would do it three times before that cock crowed twice. And then it says, “He went out.” That’s the second thing, none of the gospel writers tell us where he went; that’s a private moment of repentance to come to grips with your own sin. That’s for him and the Lord, whom he so grossly offended.

But we do know that the third thing he did was not only remember and go out, but “he wept bitterly.” And you know something? It wasn’t until he saw the face of Jesus, and it wasn’t until he remembered the words of Jesus, that he repented. His sin didn’t make him repent. It was the Savior that made him repent. And here’s a very important principle.

It is not our sins that make us weep and repent. It is when we see what kind of Savior we have sinned against. And so we always need the vision of who He is. The sin alone didn’t do anything to Peter. It is the repentance born of a recognition of the kind of Savior we have sinned against. That is why the ministry should be, not a ministry of just telling you to turn from your sin, but a ministry of lifting up our God of glory, of lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ, so that in seeing Him, you understand the heinousness of oue sins.

And the end of the story is Peter’s restoration as an example to all of us of what we receive when we sin and need restoration. In John 21, Peter is in Galilee, and the Lord appears after the resurrection. And He comes to restore Peter, and says, “Simon, son of Jonah do you love Me?” And He says it to him three times. And three times Peter says, “I love You, I love You, I love You.”

Why do you think the Lord gave him three opportunities to say that? The Lord was bringing him back. For the three times of denial, there were three times of affirming love. And the Lord accepted Peter’s testimony, and the Lord restored Peter, and He said, “Feed My sheep, feed My lambs, feed My sheep,” and He put Peter back on his feet, and back in the ministry, and he became the great proclaimer of the gospel in the early church. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Jun 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150628 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/iih5d9r3 imblog Matthew 26:62-68

We are tracing our Lord’s steps to the cross, to the resurrection, to His ascension, and His commissioning of His own for the ministry that He left behind. There are great truths coming to us from the Lord Himself. We will conclude this evening the unjust sentence of Jesus. It now is Friday morning, just after midnight. Jesus has celebrated the Passover with His disciples on the Thursday evening, instituted the Lord’s Table, and taught them some great truth recorded in John 13 through 16, and prayed to the Father for them in John 17.

Then, leaving the upper room with the eleven disciples, since Judas is already dismissed to carry out his act of betrayal, they proceed to the Mount of Olives, to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus enters into long prayer sessions with the Father, three of them, in which He does battle with Satan. And out of those times of prayer, He comes strengthened and ready for the cross. Then the garden is approached by Roman soldiers, temple police, Jewish leaders and Sanhedrin members, including the high priest. They have all come to arrest Jesus. There is no crime, no indictment, but they want Him dead and out of the way.

We know that this is the hour of Satan. Jesus said to those leaders in Luke 22:53, “This is your hour and the power of darkness.” When Judas left the upper room, before Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, John 13 tells us, “Satan having entered into Judas, he immediately went out, and it was night.” This is something new for Satan, because most of the time prior to this, Satan has been trying to prevent Christ from going to the cross. But by now, he is resigned to the fact that Jesus is going to the cross. And so Satan’s effort now is to cause the cross to be so terrible, and the death there so fatal, that Christ cannot rise again.

And after Jesus did rise, Satan continues to spread lies that He had not risen, trying to stop the message of the resurrection. In John 8:44, Jesus said to those leaders who wanted Him dead, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

But it is important to understand that it is also a holy moment; where God is at work. And here God uses the anger, hatred and evil of Satan, to fit within His own holy redemptive purpose. It is like Genesis 50:20, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” We must always remember that whatever Satan does, is always within the confines of God’s will and purpose. So it is a plan that has its origin, in one sense in hell, but has its genuine heavenly source in heaven.

There’s a third party involved in the arrest and execution of Christ, and that is evil men. In John 11:47-48, just after Lazarus had been raised from the dead, a few weeks before this very hour, they met together and said, “He does many miracles, and 48 if we don’t kill Him, the Romans are going to come and take away our temple and our nation.” In other words, they would take away their position, destroy their temple, wipe out their nation, and that would be the end of them.

And that is what prompted Caiaphas then to say in verse 50, “it is better that one man should die, rather than the whole nation.” And from John 11:53 we know that he didn’t realize that that was a prophecy that Jesus would in fact die for His nation. And so, unwittingly and out of a mouth of hatred, came a prophecy of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ for the redemption of His people. But the Jewish leaders only saw it as a threat to their existence.

Now understand this: because this is the plan of God, in no way this lessens the evil of Satan’s conspiracy and the evil of the men who carried it out on earth. Because this is God’s plan; He overrules their chosen evil to do His good work. And so let us look at this scene where they have come and taken Jesus captive in the garden of Gethsemane and they have tied Him up. Here they come to take Jesus Christ, the King of glory and the Son of God, and they come quite determined.

At Jesus very appearance, John 18:6 says, the whole crowd of almost one thousand fell down to the ground. And lying there, they were exposed to the power and judgment of the Son of the living God. Now, any thinking person is going to say to himself, “This is not just another man.” But there was absolutely no response in their hard hearts, and no response in their cold heads. The power that crushed them to the ground brings about no reality of the deity of Jesus Christ or His lordship.

A little later, Peter takes out his sword and slices off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest. Jesus walks up and said, “That’s enough; let’s stop before we have a battle.” He touches his head and creates instantaneously a new ear on that man. Now, that is a miracle not of power and judgment, but of kindness and mercy. Many people would think, “Wow, this power that gives an ear instantaneously to someone who has lost his is something to reckon with; we better examine who He is.” But no they go right pass that warning sign as well.

They were so locked into their own false religion, they were so locked in to their own self-righteousness, into their own style of living and worshiping, and into their own power and prestige such that they were so threatened by Jesus’ holiness and purity and power that they were afraid to find out the truth. Because if they found out that He was the Messiah, His own words had damned them. And rather than find out the truth, they wanted Him gone. And so the scene is filled with a recklessness, to get rid of Him in spite of all this.

We discussed last Sunday their wonderful system of jurisprudence and justice, right? Their supreme court was the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council that met in Jerusalem, made up of 71 elders, priests with the high priest so they would always have a majority in voting. And it was built on the premise that everyone in a trial is entitled to first, a public trial, secondly an opportunity for defense, and thirdly, no conviction without the conformation of at least two or three witnesses. Built into their laws was that any false witness would pay the same penalty he sought for the one he witnessed against.

They built into their safeguard system also that no court could convene at night, or in any other place than the Judgment Hall itself. That no one could be executed the same day in which he was tried. That there always had to be a day intervening. Then all the votes had to be carefully counted; that no one could incriminate himself by giving testimony against himself, which testimony could stand alone against him. All those were built-in safeguards. But they violated every single one of them in this trial.

Now, beginning at verse 59, we find out that they can’t come up with anything to accuse Jesus of, so they look for false witnesses. They can’t even find people to do that and successfully get it across. Finally they come across two of them, verse 61, “They say that He said He was able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days.” And we know from Mark’s gospel, that even those two couldn’t agree on what Jesus said. So now no one can find anything, because He didn’t ever do anything wrong; He was God in human flesh. So it was impossible to get an accusation.

Now we come to the illegal and unjust condemnation. Notice that they are in a big hurry, they have to get Jesus convicted, and do it all before dawn, before the people come and start milling around, because the people like this man Jesus. So Caiaphas in verse 62 “stood up and said, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” They have just had a group of these false witnesses coming and going, trying to concoct lies about Jesus, none of it successfully. And Jesus stands there, with a gaze right into the eyes of Caiaphas that must have burned his soul, without saying a word.

Up to this point, all they can hear is the echo of their own stupidity and anger, and it is bad. But Jesus said nothing, because there was nothing to say. If they weren’t going to uphold their own Jewish law, He would. Maimonides, the Jewish scholar said, “The law does not permit the death penalty as a sentence for a sinner by his own confession.” And that had always been Jewish law. Their law provided for Him to stand there silent.

The calmness of Christ against the fury of Caiaphas is very visible. You see, nobody really here sees Jesus on trial when you look at the story, in fact you see them on trial. It’s clear who Jesus is. And verse 63 says, “Jesus remained silent.” Isaiah 53:7 said when He was led to His trial, “Like a lamb before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.” And Caiaphas knew it was the silence of innocence.

So Caiaphas became totally frustrated, such that he changed further plans for bringing in false witnesses. Verse 63, “And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” ‘I adjure you,’” means I call you to a solemn oath, “by the living God.” This is the most sacred oath that a Jew could ever call for. You vow before the living God who hears you and who punishes liars, who is a God of truth, “that you tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

This is that which they want Jesus to say, because to them to claim to be the Son of God is to claim to be deity, and that is blasphemy, if you are not God. Only God has the right to claim that. And so they want Jesus with His own mouth to blaspheme, and then they will have their reason for execution, because in Leviticus 24:16, it says, “If anyone blasphemes the name of God, he is to be put to death.”

The only crime they could come up with was that He said He was God, and that wasn’t a crime, because that was the truth. So Jesus was executed not for saying He was God apart from truth, but for being the God He said He was. Remember in Luke 4:21, He read the scripture from Isaiah in the synagogue, closed the scroll in His hands, set it down and said, “This day is this fulfilled in your ears.” In other words, I am the Messiah. I am the one the Scripture speaks of.

When Jesus met with the woman of Samaria at the well in John 4:25, she said, “I know that the Messiah comes whose name is Christ.” And He said in verse 26, “I that speak to you am He.” He claimed overtly that He was the promised Messiah. And when He rode into Jerusalem in Matthew 21, the people said, “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.” All those were Messianic titles. But He had not flaunted that. In Matthew 16:20, He said to His disciples, “Tell no man that I am the Messiah.”

Jesus also claimed to be the Son of God. That’s why Caiaphas asks Him that, “Are You the Son of God?” What did he mean by that? Did he mean just another creature God made? No, he meant deity. Why else would they call it blasphemy? When Jesus said He was Son of God, He meant He was equal with God, a Father and a Son of the same essence, the same nature. And Jesus also said He was one with God, “I and the Father are one.” In John 19:7, the Jews said, “He has to die because He made Himself the Son of God.”

And Jesus answered by oath by the living God in verse 64, “Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Yes, I am the Messiah, I am the Son of God, I swear by the living God. Jesus here quotes Daniel 7:13-14, this prophecy of the Messiah, “hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Jesus speaks here of being exalted for a coronation, and He will return to earth as judge and King to establish His eternal kingdom.

In other words, “Caiaphas, you are going to see Me again when I come in clouds of glory as judge of all the earth. You are going to see Me at the Great White Throne when I call out of the graves all those that have lived and rejected Me and My Father, and I become your eternal judge. And He calls Himself here “Son of Man,” because that is the phrase that is used in the prophecy of Daniel, and that was His common title for Himself. And so He has condemned Himself in their eyes by His own words, which their own law says is unjust.

Verse 65, “Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.” Well, was it really blasphemy? No, because what He said was true. But the high priest didn’t want to know the truth. In John 10:38, Jesus said, “even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” They knew He raised Lazarus from the dead.

There are many people like that today, who reject Christ not because they have examined Him, but because they are afraid to examine it, because it will overturn their life and expose them for what they are. And so, Caiaphas did what a high priest had a right to do; according to Leviticus 21:10, to tear his garments when God was dishonored, and so he does a little theatrics. He’s not grieved because God’s name is dishonored, he is happy because Jesus can now be executed.

No one is there to prepare a defense for Jesus. No evidence of anything. Verse 66, “What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” This again is not according to judicial protocol at all. Where is the scribe who is writing down the “yeas” and the “nays,” and the waiting for a pause, so that each one knows the seriousness of his decision? It’s a mad mob, screaming for His blood. Mark 14:64 says it was unanimous. The usual careful vote was thrown out. And the law of the Mishnah said you had to postpone the vote for a death a day was also ignored. They wanted Him dead fast.

Look how the supreme court of Israel responds. Verse 67-68, “Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?” This is supposedly the best of all the leaders, who come together to constitute the Supreme Court. And in Luke 22:65, it says “they did many other things to blaspheme Him.” Jesus told the truth, that’s not blasphemy. Spitting in the face of God that is blasphemy of an absolutely inconceivable type.

And then Mark indicated that when the Sanhedrin got tired of it, they turned Him over to the temple police, and they kept slapping Him and doing the same thing. This is a group of people who have abandoned all sense of virtue, righteousness and holiness. And any person who rejects Jesus Christ stands with the spitters and slappers. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “If you are not with Me, you are against Me.”

If you wrongly judge Jesus Christ, He won’t wrongly judge you. He will rightly judge you. The sin here is the sin of proud, self-sufficient unbelief. It is the sin of thinking you can be right with God by ignoring the mediator. I’m overwhelmed at the grace of Christ. My deserved condemnation is carried out in His undeserved condemnation.

I place my faith in Jesus Christ. I was once a captive at the will of Satan, but Christ became a captive that I might be set free. I was once an outcast forsaken, a soul lost without fellowship, but Christ became forsaken, that I might be made forever a member of the family of God. I was once accursed from God, but Jesus became accursed for me. I was dead, but Jesus died that I might live. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150621 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/l0s42gsg imblog Matthew 26:57, 59-61

Our Lord Jesus is offering His life for the sins of men and women. Look at Matthew 26:57, 59-61 which gives us the record of the illegal, unjust trials of Jesus. We want to discuss the nature of the trial of Christ so that we might understand how illegal and unjust it was, and how, in spite of that, it demonstrates His holy, perfect majesty. Let us look at a little background on the judicial system.

The Jews have always prided themselves on their sense of fairness, their sense of equity, and rightly so, for they have basically a foundation of justice that has benefited the whole world. The sense of justice and jurisprudence that we have, even in America, finds its origins in the Judaic justice system, as do all other equitable systems around the world.

The Jewish system of law and judgment was predicated on one Old Testament passage, primarily, and that is Deuteronomy 16:18-20, “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Now, there you have God’s standard for justice; local judges, judging the people with fairness and righteousness, not being partial, never taking a bribe, justice and only justice. Now, as they began to work out the application of Deuteronomy 16, it was decided that in any area where there were 120 men as heads of families, there was to be a local council. It was really a community that was large enough to have a synagogue, and also this local council.

This council became known as the Sanhedrin. That is a Hebrew term, but it is off of a Greek term which means “sitting together,” to make judgments, to decide issues of civil and criminal aspects. The council would be made up of 23 men taken from the elders of the village. Always an odd number, so that in any voting there would always be a majority. They acted as judges and jury in all matters. And one of them would be called the chief ruler.

Now, in Jerusalem, the capital city, the religious center of the life of Israel, there was the Great Sanhedrin. This was composed most likely of 24 chief priests, 24 elders, 23 scribes plus the high priest which makes 71. They were the final court for appeal. The men who were on that group were chosen because of their wisdom and their proven track record of impartiality.

There were three things in criminal procedure that the laws upheld in the Sanhedrin guaranteed to a person. Number one: a public trial. Everything was to be open, so that no one was wrongly accused and forced into some kind of penalty without a fair trial. The judges were always under the scrutiny of the people, who were able to see what was going on. Secondly, the Sanhedrin guaranteed the right of self-defense. There was to be someone who provided a defense for the accused. Thirdly, no one could be convicted of anything unless proven to be guilty by two or three witnesses.

Those things remain with us even today under the basic guarantee of courts in our own society. Being a false witness was a crime punished with the same penalty the false witness sought to bring. And that comes from Deuteronomy 19:16-19, “If a false witness accuses a man of wrongdoing then both men, the one accused and the accuser, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, and thus you shall purge the evil from among you.”

And in a case where death was prescribed as the sentence, the execution could only be accomplished on the third day. The day in the middle was a day to make sure that all the evidence was in. And the witnesses who witnessed against the person with the death penalty were the ones who had to cast the first stone in the execution. So the witnesses were the executioners. So you wanted to make certain that your testimony was true, because you would not only be guilty of lying, you would be guilty of murder.

Do you remember in John 8 when these Pharisees accused this woman of committing adultery? And Jesus said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” In other words, if she is guilty, then we are going to execute her, and you that have witnessed against her will have to cast the stones. But only if you have not done the same thing, then you have a right to cast that stone. The witnesses were the executioners, and that was the system.

Now, let us learn a little bit about the Sanhedrin trial procedure. If you cause the condemnation of a person that is not guilty, his blood will fall on you, and God will demand of you an account. Nowadays an oath is required like, “Put your hand on the Bible and swear before God to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” A person who does not have the full use of his physical and moral faculties cannot testify. And Jewish law also says: no person can himself testify against himself, and on the basis of that single testimony be held guilty.

The witnesses are to attest to the identity of the accused, to depose to the month, day, hour and circumstances of the crime. In other words, it cannot be hearsay or generalities. “After an examination of these proofs, the judges who believe the party innocent stated their reasons. Those who believed him guilty spoke afterwards, and with great moderation. If one of the judges was entrusted by the accused with his defense, or if he wished in his own name to present any elucidations in favor of innocence, he was allowed to do that. But this liberty was not granted to him if his opinion was in favor of condemnation.” They really leaned on the merciful side.

“When the accused person himself wished to speak, they gave the most profound attention, and when the discussion was finished, one of the judges recapitulated the case and they removed all the spectators.” Two scribes took down the votes of the judges, 23 was a quorum. “Eleven votes out of 23 was sufficient to acquit, it required 13 to convict. If a majority of votes acquitted, the accused was discharged instantly. If he was to be punished, the judges postponed pronouncing sentence until the third day. And during the intermediate day, they had to fast.

Then on the morning of the third day, they returned to the judgment seat, and each judge who had not changed his opinion said, ‘I continue of the same opinion and condemn.” Anyone who had first condemned might at this sitting acquit, but he who had once acquitted could not change his mind to condemn. If a majority condemned, two magistrates immediately accompanied the condemned person out to the place of punishment.” So they executed him on the same day they sentenced him. Ecclesiastes 8 says with swift punishment you decrease crime.

So it looked like these people have a high sense of justice, mixed with a sense of mercy. And they have built safeguards here that are going to make it pretty good for someone who is innocent, because you have many opportunities to come back in with testimony. But it didn’t turn out to be so for Christ. In the Jewish trial of Jesus Christ, they violated every single law of justice known to them.

The axiom of the Sanhedrin was this: the Sanhedrin is to save, not destroy life. Well, that wasn’t true in this case. No criminal trial could be carried through the night – this one was. The judges who condemned a criminal had to have a day in between before the execution, and they had to fast all day – but they didn’t, they killed Jesus the same day. There had to be witnesses who witnessed against Him, but there were none. There had to be defense, but there was no defense. There was not even an indictment.

Jesus had two major trials. First was a Jewish religious trial, and then a Roman secular trial. Because the Jews were an occupied people, Rome was in authority over them, and the Jews did not have the right of execution. They couldn’t kill a criminal. The Romans reserved that right. So the Jews could condemn Jesus to death, but they couldn’t execute Him. So whatever they accomplished in their religious trial, they had to sell the Romans on, because the Romans were the ones that were able to kill Jesus.

The Jewish trial and the Gentile trial each have three phases. So there are really six different trials Jesus was involved in. The Jewish trial began when Jesus was first taken to Annas, who sent Him to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin in the middle of the night, and then Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin met again in the morning to try to legitimatize their evil deed. Now, after they had finished their work, they took Him to the Romans, to Pilate. Then Pilate sent Him to Herod, and then Herod sent Him back to Pilate, who condemned Him to death. All of them violated justice.

In all these trials leading up to the execution of Jesus Christ, they did not find anything wrong about Him. They wanted Him dead, and so they had to invent means to bring about His death. The sentence was already determined, but it was the crime they didn’t have. Now, let us begin with the first aspect: the illegal, unjust arraignment. Look at verse 57, “And they that had laid hold on Jesus, led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.” But Matthew doesn’t give us the phase before that, which is in John 18.

In John 18:12-13, we come to the initial arraignment, “So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.” Here John helps us here to fill in the whole story. In studying the gospels, it’s a composite. The life of Christ is given in four different paintings, and each one emphasizes different features and aspects of the same scene. And so, first He was led to Annas, and He comes like a criminal, bound to be offered as a sacrifice.

Now Annas despised Jesus Christ. He was a threat to his security, his power, his prestige and everything. He resents Jesus’ holiness because he is so utterly sinful. Everything about Jesus caused him anger, and he is under the direction of Satan himself and all his demons. “This is your hour,” Jesus said, “and the power of darkness.” And so they send Jesus to him, in his house, which is illegal because it is at night and no such procedures were allowed.

Annas had been high priest for 20 years before this, Caiaphas was now the high priest. That’s interesting because under God’s design, high priests were high priests for life. But it had become a political position, which was bought and sold. It was so connected with being able to bow to Rome that high priests came and went rather rapidly. But when Annas went out as high priest, five of his sons and one son-in-law, Caiaphas, who married his daughter, succeeded him, so he maintained control in all criminal temple proceedings.

And so when a Jew came he would bring either a sacrifice or an offering. If you brought some coins as an offering, you couldn’t put pagan coinage in there, because they were inscribed with a pagan image which was considered an idol. So he had to exchange it for temple coinage. And the money changers were charging the people way more than they should.

And if a Jew came in with his lamb or a turtledove, he must have the priests examine the animal to see if it had no blemish. And if you didn’t buy that animal in the temple, it was almost always blemished. The first thing Jesus did when He came to the city of Jerusalem in John 2:13-17, was cleanse the temple. He went in and overturned the tables and threw everybody out. Now, that was His initial contact with Annas, and now you understand why Annas hated Jesus, right?

So Annas had to come up with some indictment against Jesus, and bring Him into the Sanhedrin, condemn Him and execute Him. Now look at John 18:19, “The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.” Here Annas violates all sense of justice. If you bring a person in for an arraignment, you tell them what wrong they have done. You don’t ask them to talk in generalities, hoping you can uncover a crime for which you have already given a sentence. This is illegal and unjust.

Verse 20-21, “Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” Jesus in effect says, “If you have got a case, present it, Annas, don’t ask Me, I can’t incriminate Myself. Annas was embarrassed and frustrated. Annas was no match for the infinite mind of Jesus Christ.

Verse 22, “When He had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” But the Lord basically offered no retaliation. 1 Peter 2:23 says, “When Jesus was reviled, He did not revile in return.” He was ready, He had settled that in the garden, in the Father’s will. John 18: 23, “Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

Let’s look again at Matthew 26:57, “Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.” And according to Mark 14:53, it says all of them were there. But based on Luke 23:50-51, there was at least one that wasn’t there. Joseph of Arimathea was not there, because it says there that the man, who gave his tomb to Jesus, was “a good and righteous man, who did not consent to the death of Christ with them.”

But since Annas failed to bring a charge, they had to become prosecutors. They had to invent a crime and then try it. Look at verse 59, “Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death.” The only way you can kill an innocent man is to have people lie about him. So they went out then, in the middle of the night, trying to find some liars, who would come and do the very thing which their own law doesn’t allow them to do.

Jesus was not condemned because of something He had done. And verse 60 says it, “but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward.” Mark 14:56 says, “For many bore false witness against Him, but their witness agreed not together.” Verse 60 continues, “At last two came forward,” verse 61, “and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”

Mark 14:58 says, “These two witnesses said, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and within three days I will build another without hands.’” Even the testimony in Matthew differs with the testimony in Mark. In John 2:19, Jesus said, “You destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it,” and verse 21 says, “But he was speaking about the temple of his body.” The problem is the two of them didn’t agree, and the priests knew it; and they dropped the issue right after this.

You see, the only people on trial this day really were the people who were accusing Jesus, right? And they show themselves to be wretched, wicked, sinful, unjust men. Christ will always, by His very presence, mark those who are of Satan. When you come into confrontation with Christ, you will be exposed for who they really were. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150614 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/akuk8n7a imblog Matthew 26:50-56

We are looking tonight through the eyes of Matthew, who along with Mark, Luke and John, record this section that deals with the betrayal and arrest of Jesus Christ. It brings into focus the plan of Judas. Bethlehem gave the world it’s most loved and respected person, Jesus Christ. And a little town called Kerioth, 23 miles south of Jerusalem, gave the world its most despised character, Judas.

Jesus on Thursday night, before the celebration of the Passover with His disciples, said that one of them was a betrayer, identified Judas, and then sent him out to do what he was ready to do. And after he was gone, they celebrated the Lord’s Supper, and Jesus taught them and prayed to the Father on their behalf. After that He, with the eleven remaining disciples, went to the Mount of Olives, to a place called the Garden of Gethsemane. And there the Lord entered into prayer as Satan came in three waves of temptation against Him, but He was strengthened by an angel, and resolutely ready to die on the cross.

While Jesus was praying, the disciples were sleeping instead of praying. After the third time of prayer, He came back to the sleeping disciples and wakened them, because it was the time of His betrayal. He knew that there was a mob of people coming toward the garden, led by Judas. First there is the coming of the mob, then the kiss of the traitor, then the defection of the disciples, and finally the triumph of the Savior. As we look at each of these, it will unfold in all of its reality, for it is a dramatic scene.

Verse 47, “And so Judas, one of the twelve, came and with him a great multitude with swords and clubs,” and John adds “with torches and lanterns and weapons,” “from the chief priests and elders of the people.” So we know that behind the whole thing were the chief priests and elders. They had enlisted a Roman band of 600 men, one-tenth of a legion that came along. The Jewish leaders had convinced the Romans that indeed Jesus was an insurrectionist who would lead a revolution.

So the crowd that day was an unjust mob. Jesus had done no crime. Jesus is the King of Righteousness, and to mistreat Him is utter injustice. Secondly, the crowd is also mindless. And it is so today; there are people all around the world who reject Jesus Christ simply because they see others do the same. Thirdly they are cowardly. They find strength in numbers. And then fourthly, they are profane. Their sinful hands beat on Him, plucked His beard, and pushed a crown of thorns on His head, and nailed Him to a cross. He was treated sacrilegiously.

We also looked also at the kiss of the traitor. Here, a prolonged kiss and an embrace is the sign of betrayal. Who would do that? Only one possessed of Satan himself. Jesus spoke when Judas came to Him, “Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” Luke 22:48. And Mark 14:45 indicates that Judas simply said, “Master, Master,” and kept on kissing Him. So Jesus endured this despicable kiss. And in verse 50, Jesus says to him “comrade”, no longer friend “do what you have come to do.”

Now, the mob is another illustration of false discipleship. Judas is a classic example of one who feigned love and loyalty and yet betrayed Christ. He is an illustration of wasted privilege, and he is a picture of the love of money, because there was nothing higher priced than Christ, and he sold Him for 30 pieces of silver. He is the false disciple, who loses his opportunity, who loves money more than the Son of God, and who is the hypocrite who betrays the Son of God with a kiss.

And many people today are just the same. They are many false disciples in the church. They feign loyalty and they feign love to Christ. They pretend to care, but they really don’t and they would substitute Jesus for anything else that seemed more valuable at the moment, and they do. And when they see that life isn’t going the way they thought it would, and they’re not getting out of Jesus what they thought He would deliver, they will go for something else. That is with us even here today.

Now, that brings us to the third point, which is the desertion of the disciples. Notice the last half of Matthew 26:50 again, “Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.” John 18:12 said they were the Roman soldiers, the temple police and the Jewish authorities – they all did it together. But before they could tie Him up, Luke 22:49 says, “And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” Do You want to have a battle here in the garden?

Well, right after the question of Luke 22:49 was asked, guess who acted? Verse 51 says, “And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.” Matthew, Mark and Luke don’t tell us who it was. But John tells us who it was. “Why did John tell us?” Because the gospel of John was the last one penned many years afterwards, and it was safe to say who it was then. The earlier writers Matthew, Mark, and Luke don’t want to identify Peter, because he will experience difficulty for using a sword against the Jews and the Romans.

John also tells us whose ear was cut off; his name was Malchus, and he was an important person, the adjutant to the high priest. Now, Peter was not going for his ear; he wasn’t that good with a sword, he was going for his head, but he ducked. Peter’s idea was, “We’ll just take them all on.” Well, whatever gave Peter such boldness? You see, when the whole mob came into the garden, as soon as Jesus went out and said to them, “I am He,” they all fell down to the ground. So Peter thought, “If I get into trouble the Lord will knock them all down anyway.”

Furthermore, it was just part of his nature to react rather violently. Where did he get a sword? Luke 22:38 tell us, “And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.” Now, some people think what the Lord meant was “that will be enough to win the battle,” but obviously that’s not what the Lord meant, because the Lord said to Peter as soon as he used his sword, “Put it back.” What the Lord meant was, “Look, that’s enough, we are not into physical swords.”

2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.” Christianity makes no advances by earthly weapons. Any so-called earthly holy war in the name of Christ is utterly unholy. The Kingdom of God does not advance with fleshly weapons, only with spiritual weapons, tearing down the dominion of Satan that rules and reigns in the hearts of men and women. And so Peter is out of sync with spiritual reality there.

Remember what Jesus said in John 18:36 to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Spiritual battles are never won with military power. In John 18:11, “Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” And then the Bible says Jesus touched and healed the ear of Malchus and gave him a brand new ear.

That is the only miracle recorded in Scripture where Jesus heals a fresh wound, so it is unique. It is also very insightful because there was no faith on the part of Malchus. The miracles of Jesus were sovereign miracles. Sometimes there was faith, sometimes there was not. This guy just stood there, lost his ear and the next thing he knew, he got another one. It wasn’t a question of his faith, it was a sovereign act of Christ.

So why didn’t the Lord allow a war? Three key words will unfold these reasons. Number one, the word is fatal. Verse 52, “Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into it’s place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” That is reason number one! What Jesus is saying is this: people who use a sword for personal acts of violence will be punished with execution. That goes right back to Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” Our Lord out of His own mouth advocates capital punishment.

That is God’s divine law for the preservation of the sanctity of human life. In Romans 13:4 it says, “But if you do wrong, be afraid, for the government does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.” A Christian has no right to take a life. We are not talking about self-defense, and defending yourself from someone who is trying to kill you or those around you. We are talking about an act of vengeance against someone else.

Secondly, it is not only fatal, but it is foolish, because of who Christ is. Notice verse 53, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” More than twelve legions is more than 72,000 angels. Do you know how powerful one angel is? Well, in 2 Kings 19, there was only one angel who killed 185,000 Assyrians all by himself, so just think what 72,000 angels can do. God is all powerful, that is foolish.

So if God wanted to defend Jesus, He certainly could. And so even when governments do things that are unfair, and people do things that are unfair in the name of the government, we have no right to use a weapon. If the Lord wants to deliver us, He can deliver us. And then there is a third reason, and that’s the word fulfillment, in verse 54, “But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

Jesus has to be taken captive. Jesus has to be led away like a sheep to slaughter quietly, as it says in Isaiah 53:7. It has to be like Psalm 41:9, that My own familiar friend has lifted up his heel against Me. It has to be like Zechariah 11:12, that I be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. It has to be the way Psalm 22 says, with all the events of the crucifixion. It has to be like Jeremiah 23. It has to be like Zechariah 13:1. It has to be like it was all prophesied.

And then in verse 56, Jesus says it again, “But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled.” And the “all” is what He said back in verse 31, remember? Jesus said, “You will all fall away because of me this night.” And they all fled out of fear. The Lord let Himself be tied up, and now they were afraid. And even though the Lord in John 18:8 asked those Romans and those leaders to let the disciples go, they knew they could come after them too.

But there was one guy who did not run away. Mark 14:51-52 say, “And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52 but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.” That is the only place he is ever mentioned, just a young man who cared about Christ. Why did the Lord put that little incident in there? It may be an indication that if the Lord let this man to escape, He would have had some deliverance planned for the disciples as well, if they had been faithful, right?

Let us look at some signs of a weak disciple. First, they were unprepared. They confused good intentions with strength. They were overconfident and they didn’t take to heart the promises of John 13 to 16, given them that very night. If they had listened to His prayer in John 17, as He prayed for the Father to keep them, and if they understood that all power was theirs, and anything they need they could ask for and they would receive, that would have strengthened them. People defect when they are weak in the Word and they are weak in prayer.

Secondly, they were impulsive. They acted on emotion rather than revelation. They did not think through what was right. They just reacted totally impulsive, with no sense of what was going on and what would be the proper reaction. Many Christians who are unprepared, who are not in the Word, and who don’t spend time in communion with God do not sense the heart of God for a given situation. So they react to their impulses and their feelings only. If you are a victim of your own anxieties, you are going to have problems.

The third thing is that they are impatient. They cannot wait to see what wonderful thing God would have done. There are many Christians like that, and all of us from time to time are like that. We often take the easy route of escape, and we bring reproach upon the Savior because we are not up to the task. And if we endured it, we would see the delivering hand of God, and give Him glory and praise.

Furthermore, they are carnal. That is, they are dependent on their fleshly power, their fleshly weapons, and when they lose their fleshly weapons and their resources, they don’t know where to go. They don’t know what it is to believe. So we could say in summary that weak disciples are inconsistent. They promise all kinds of things, they just don’t deliver; like so many of them today.

So let us look now, in contrast, to Christ Himself. We see the triumph of the Savior and His majesty. You could look at a scene like this, and it could look like something that tears down Christ’s glory, something that robs Him of any majesty. But on the other hand, if you listen to it carefully, through the words of the Spirit of God and the heart of Matthew, you see just the opposite. It’s in spite of all of these things that you see the triumph of Christ.

Here you can see the triumph of Christ in His confrontation with the crowd. Sometime when Judas comes to kiss Christ, something remarkable happens. Note that in John 18:4-6, “Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek? 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.”

Almost a thousand people fell and hit the ground. Who do you think is in control here? Jesus was not a victim for a moment. The fact that they were allowed to stand back up again was because He allowed them to. And then He asked them again in verse 7, “Who do you seek?’ They said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Verse 8, ‘I told you I am He. If therefore you seek Me, let these go their way.’” Jesus was working out His disciples’ deliverance. The amazing thing is that He had total control of that mob.

There’s another scene that shows us Jesus confronting the crowd, verse 55, “At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.” Jesus is saying to them, you know that you would have taken Me anytime in the temple if you had a good reason, but you didn’t because you knew you had no right to do this, and you feared the people.

And they were being led by Satan. Even as Jesus faces the crowd, it is God who controls it all. So where are you? Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me.” Do you stand there with the triumphant Savior, willing to endure whatever comes along? You are somewhere that you know and God knows. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Jun 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150607 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/xsbuvmea imblog Matthew 26:47-50

We are again at Matthew 26:47-50 as we continue to study the last days of Jesus on earth. This particular portion is one that generates a tremendous amount of emotion and anger on the one hand, and real love on the other; of a desire for revenge on the one hand, and yet complete trust in the plan of God on the other. This passage is about the act of betrayal and the arrest of Jesus Christ. The kiss of Judas is a despicable and repulsive act and so there is a certain amount of anger and vengeance.

But Christ is perfectly calm in the midst of this event. And we now come to that text in which He is face to face with Judas the traitor. Jesus is betrayed by one of His own disciples, and arrested to be executed on a cross. And as we go through this narrative, we see the drama of the scene, the tragedy of it, as well as the triumph. And so we want to examine the attack of the crowd, the kiss of the traitor, the defeat of the disciples, and the triumph of the Savior.

Let us begin with verse 47, “While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.” Matthew, Mark and Luke all say that while Jesus was speaking, the mob arrived. And so what was Jesus saying? And it is while He is awakening the eleven disciples from their sleep, asking them to move forward, then we pick up verse 47, it all is happening so suddenly, so fast.

Matthew says, “Judas, one of the twelve.” The Bible writers are rather kind in the way they speak about Judas. They could have said, “Judas, that wretched, vile traitor,” but they don’t. They are much more restrained than other extra-biblical writers in history. Many apocryphal books talk about Judas with tremendous disdain and hatred. But when you look at the Bible writers, there’s none of that. All they ever say about this man is that he was one of the twelve.

And that statement, rather than carrying just pure disdain, has built into it a kind of profound mystery. It’s almost as if they are saying, “It is impossible to believe it, but this man who betrayed Jesus was one of the twelve.” Judas knew Jesus more intimately than any other human beings on the face of the earth and still did this. And so rather than statements of repulsion, this is a statement of shock – “one of the twelve.”

It is early Friday morning when Judas arrives. He had left the disciples long before the Lord’s Supper was even instituted. And upon leaving, we learn that he went out and consummated his agreement with the Jewish leaders. He said, “How much will you give me if I give you Jesus?” So he got them all together and said, “This is the moment, you have to act with speed because Jesus is away from the crowds. He is also possessed by Satan, so he no longer is in control, for it says in John 13:27, “Satan entered into Judas.”

And they arrive and Judas wants compensation for what he believes are years of poverty, following a Messiah who is not going to bring a Kingdom that he had hoped for. He had to meet with the Jewish leaders. And then they had to get permission from the Romans and it was likely that he had a meeting with Pilate himself. In Matthew 27:62-63 it says, “Now on the next day, the chief priests and the Pharisees came together to Pilate saying, ‘Sir, we remember that the deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again.” They don’t identify Christ as the deceiver, so they must have had some prior conversation with Pilate about this.

So they must have been able somehow to convince Pilate that this Jesus was a potential rebel, and that He was going to lead some kind of insurrection against Rome. And they did not want that to take place, since they had just finished putting one down. In Mark, 15:7 it says, “And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.” They see Jesus as another potential Barabbas and they better stop it before it got started.

And so on that pretense, the Roman soldiers join the Jewish leaders under the leadership of Judas, and they proceed to the garden to take Jesus captive. The Romans had brought in extra troops for the Passover, and to see a group of Jewish leaders all together wouldn’t be strange, because this was a holy season. And so it seemed the moment was right. It was so in the mind of Judas, and in the mind of Satan, and in the mind of the religious leaders, and in the mind of the Romans, and it was also in the plan of God, for this all was being done by the foreknowledge of God, it says in Acts 2.

Now with Judas, came a large crowd, with “chief priests and elders of the people.” The elders were representatives from the people who ruled and it would be made up of Sadducees and Pharisees. It is important to know that the Jewish leaders were behind all of this. In fact, in John 18:3 it says, “So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there.”

The high priest was there, because a little later we meet the servant of the high priest, who would be a very important person, the adjutant to the high priest, the highest religious office in the land. Now, in John 18:3, it says there was a band of soldiers which in the Roman army is one-tenth of a legion which is six hundred men. You add officers and servants and you have quite a large group.

Luke 22:52 says there were “the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders,” so that adds another group which would be the temple police. And John says they came with lanterns and torches. But it was full moon since Passover was celebrated in the middle of the month when the night would be quite bright. So they came with lanterns and torches because they assumed they would have to chase Jesus out of a hiding place. So they came to take the rebel by force if need be, with several hundred men.

We also read in verse 47 that they also had swords and clubs. The word “sword” means a short sword, the kind carried by a Roman soldier for an arrest. They carried the large sword when they were going into an armed conflict with another army. And then you will notice that it says they carried clubs, like a police nightstick. That would be the regular weapon of the temple police. So the Jews were armed, and the Romans were armed as well.

Instead of welcoming the Son of God, instead of embracing the long-awaited Messiah, instead of falling at the feet of one who was to be worshipped as the living God, they sent a group of soldiers to arrest Him. This is a vivid illustration of the wickedness of the world. If you don’t think the world is wicked, then ask yourself how it can reject the most pure, and wonderful, and lovely person that ever walked on the earth?

First of all, their wickedness is manifest because they are unjust. Did they have a right to take Jesus Christ and kill Him? What crime had He done? And Pilate even later on in Luke 23:4 says, “I find no fault in this man.” And Pilate was a man educated in the law. Christ had done nothing wrong. There was no crime. They are just utterly unjust.

John 8:44 says, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning.” Their deeds against Jesus Christ have no relationship to truth, no relationship to fairness and to goodness. And not only is the world unjust, but the world is mindless. What did the soldiers in Rome have against Jesus Christ? Absolutely nothing. What did the priests have against Jesus? Nothing.

What did Jesus do? Did He heal the diseases of their people? Yes. Did He restore their people to spiritual life? Yes. Did He teach their people divine truth? Yes. But they are absolutely mindless. It just takes some perverted leaders to decide that Jesus ought to be killed, to stir up an entire population. They are as mindless as the people who followed Hitler. These leaders are moved to save their reputation, for the sake of preserving their place as spiritual leaders.

Oh, the world is like that today too. There are people across our nation who reject Jesus Christ in just as mindless a way as these did. People say to me, “Well, I can’t believe in Jesus Christ; I have been raised Jewish.” Well, if that’s your only reason, that’s as mindless as these people. You better consider the claims of Christ yourself. And there are people who say, “I can’t receive Jesus Christ; I just don’t buy any of that.” And my response is, “Well, you must have studied deeply into the life of Christ to come to such an astute conclusion.”

Then they say, “Well, I’m not sure the Bible is even true.” And then you simply ask them if they have read it, and they will confess that they really haven’t. They are not thinking, they follow the mob mentality, if the rest of the people around you reject Christ, do you just follow? Don’t be mindless; don’t become a victim of somebody else’s bitterness or emotion or rejection of Christ. Don’t you reject the Son of God because somebody else did. The world is mindless.

They are also cowards, do you really need hundreds of men with swords and clubs to take one person in the dark of night? A guilty conscience always makes a coward out of anybody. Wickedness always fears that it gets what it deserves. Do we read that any one of these people talked to Jesus, to find out whether He was indeed an insurrectionist? Cowards always come in big groups. They find protection in the horde. They are not about to confront truth, they always hide in the mob.

The wicked world is also profane. The world has absolutely no reverence for what is sacred. Every time we hear the word “Jesus” uttered out of the mouth of someone as a curse word, we see the profanity of the world. Every time God is mocked, or Christ is mocked, or every time God’s Word, or God’s way, or God’s will is disdained, every time Christ is rejected, it is the same profanity exhibited as in the garden, where the world profanes the most sacred thing in the universe.

There are so many competing religions everywhere and the name of Jesus is now mentioned in many false religions and the meaning of who Jesus is and what He stands for is so often distorted in so many ways. Liberal theologian opinions and evolution is dominating YouTube and many other social media outlets and public opinion gives very little credence to what the Bible says.

You see, the world is still the same. They are still coming with their unjust, mindless, cowardly, profane evil attitudes. The attack of the crowd begins with the kiss of the traitor. Verse 48-49, “Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi and he kissed him.” There was nothing about Jesus to distinguish Him from any other human being. They needed a sign, so there would be no mistake. So Judas came up with the sign. Of all the things that he could have done, he chose a kiss, in his twisted, deranged thinking.

Kissing was offered from a pupil to a beloved teacher as a sign of respect and love. It was only to be offered to a teacher when the teacher offered it first. It was very brash to walk up to a teacher and offer a kiss, unless it had been invited by his own first embrace. But a kiss was a sign of affection, of intimacy. Inferiors kissed the back of the hand. If above the level of a servant, they might be able to kiss the palm of the hand, in that day. Slaves would kiss the feet. And those who would come in to receive mercy from an angry monarch would also kiss the feet, begging for pardon.

So a kiss on the cheek was a sign of warm love, intimacy, unselfish love, so that the kiss of Judas then becomes the most despicable act of all acts. He could have kissed the hand of Jesus, but he chose to feign affection for Christ, not only to provide a sign, but thinking in his stupidity to deceive Christ and the other disciples. So he says, “The one I will kiss is the man; this is feigned innocence. It is a weak attempt to conceal his real character and treachery. The delusion of thinking that he could deceive the Son of God is beyond description.

Proverbs 27:6 says, “The kisses of an enemy are profuse.” It is part of an enemy’s deceit to overdo it. The hatred of the priests would have been enough. It is inconceivable that a man could return such treachery for divine love. And may we add, Judas is no less guilty because Jesus accomplished redemption for all who believe in Him; that does not mitigate his guilt at all. That only overrides his evil, it does not eliminate it.

And in the midst of all of this, Luke 22:48 records, “Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And in Mark 14:45 we read that Judas went ahead, and said, “Teacher, teacher,” and kept on kissing Him. This profanes a holy act, because in Psalm 2 it says, “Kiss the Son.” He was acting like one who grieves. Maybe the disciples will think he has come to warn Him, so he is separated a little from the crowd by now, and feigned sorrow and love. And Jesus endures it.

And in verse 50, “Jesus said to him, ‘Fellow, do what you came to do.” In the literal Greek it is not “friend.” You might find differing translations, but the text is not saying “friend”, philos, it is the word hetairos which means “fellow.” Jesus did not call Judas a friend anymore. He used it in John 15, when He said to His disciples, “I call you friends.” Judas had left. This is not a friend. Judas is associated still with Christ but he is not a friend.

Everything was resolved in Jesus heart, He was moving to the cross. He endured those kisses of the betrayer, and simply said, “Do what you came to do.” That statement was the farewell of Jesus to the son of perdition. That was it. And we know that Judas, who is in hell at this moment, must have that ringing in his ears, and will have that for all eternity, “Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? (Luke 22:48). Do what you are here to do.”

Judas is no solitary betrayer, there are Judases in every age. There are Judases in many churches who have come there and feigned love for Christ, and feigned adoration of Christ, but they are deceitful, and they are hypocritical, and they are in it for what they receive, a certain amount of salved conscience, a little peace of mind, a certain reputation that they desire to gain, a certain sense of self-satisfaction. But they are hypocrites, and they are in it for themselves.

And so the reality for each one of us is that we will also find ourselves in the garden there. We either stand with the wicked, unjust, mindless, cowardly multitude and we stand there with a false disciple or we will find ourselves with the disciples and with the triumphant Savior. The disciples ran and were weak but when the Holy Spirit came they became strong. Where do you stand? That’s the ultimate question. If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you are not worshiping Him, we invite you to do that this day. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 May 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150524 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/usgrgxru imblog

Matthew 26:39-46

Isaiah 53 describes the suffering of Jesus Christ. It uses words like this, despised, rejected, esteemed not, stricken, smitten, afflicted, wounded, bruised, scourged, oppressed, slaughtered, imprisoned, judged, and cut off or killed. Sin, disease, unbelief, doubt, disobedience and rejection were all around him all through his ministry. But no sorrow previously felt can match the pain of this last week, and as we enter into an understanding of the sufferings of Christ we have to begin in the Garden of Gethsemane and so turn to Matthew 26 again.

Before Jesus came to the cross, He came to the garden, and we get a better understanding of his suffering on the cross by understanding his suffering in the garden. When we understand his suffering in the garden we get a deep insight into how painful the cross would be. We get a great insight into how greatly He loved the father, how devoted He was to the father's will, how greatly He and the father loved sinners. And we also learn from Him how to face the biggest temptation ourselves and triumph as He did.

Here as he faces the cross we find him at the deepest point of sorrow in his life to this point. This is sacred ground. It is also very personal. The disciples weren't even there, although they were nearby. We wouldn't know anything about this if Jesus hadn't given it to the writers of the gospel record. Here is a profound look at Jesus' humanity. We say much about his deity but not much about his humanity. Here are the deepest most profound insights into the humanity of Jesus given anywhere.

Here we see him, who in all points is tempted like as we are yet without sin. Here we see him being equipped to be a merciful high priest who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Here we see him as man, suffering the agony of temptation, and yet triumphant in his trust in God. He shows us here how to battle Satan and trust God at the same time. So in Matthew 26 we will do our best to look deeply into the heart of our savior.

Verse 36-40, "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?”

Verse 41- 46, “41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on.[e] See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

The lesson from Jesus was a very direct lesson. They were going to see how he faced temptation, how he dealt with it, and so he took them into this his darkest hour. Now we have focused our thoughts on several important words. The first word is sorrow which we discussed last week. As they start up the slope of the Mount of Olives, all of the sudden the anticipation of Calvary begins to weigh heavy upon the Lord. And it says in verse 37, "And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.”

Our Lord’s soul is totally repulsed by the thought of dying on the cross and it isn't because he hates the thought of physical pain. It is because he hates the thought of the wrath of God being poured on him. The alienation and separation from one to whom he is eternally linked as God of very God, the thought of having his absolute sinless being scarred by the wrath of God as he bears the punishment for all believers. There is a severe loneliness that comes over him.

Think about all the things that made him grieve. The defection of Judas, the desertion of the 11 disciples, the denial by Peter, and then the rejection of the nation Israel. Here is Israel's Messiah who came to redeem his people instead by them is rejected and murdered. And then he could be depressed by the injustice of men, to be cheated by petty courts and bribed judges and witnesses and men whose lies deny him justice.

Think about the cursing and the mocking, and the depression of suffering. Here is the eternal companion of God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit who will now feel the accumulated pain of the wrath of God from all the sins of all time. Think of the punishment of God expressed on the cross by the words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus Christ is here experiencing the pain he anticipates on the cross, and this alone is suffering enough.

The agony is such that in verse 38 He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” It means He was overwhelmed with sorrow, and surrounded by sadness, and engulfed with distress. How serious is it? Enough to kill Him. Now on the cross He didn't die from the nails. He didn't die from the crown of thorns on his head. He didn't die from the lashing on his back. He didn't die from the spear in his side, no He was already dead.

What did he die from? He didn't die from long hours of asphyxiation although that is the way crucified victims eventually died. He died very fast for a crucified victim. He died of an exploded heart because of the stress, of the agony of the cross. The anguish even here before he gets to the cross is severe enough to threaten his life. Sorrow grips the scene and that leads to a second word, supplication. Verse 39 says, “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

And now He is alone. His grief grows. Jesus is simply saying is there any other way? Does it have to be this? He's not asking to avoid the redemptive work. He is just asking if there is another way to accomplish it. If it is possible doesn't mean in the sense of power, but if it is possible in the sense of the plan is there any other way. If there is let this cup pass from me. But Jesus in Matthew 20:19 said that He would be delivered to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.”

In John 12:27 Jesus said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” God am I asking you to deliver me from this hour of redemption? No, this is why I came, but is there any other way to do it? And then his wonderful response, "not as I will, but as You will." There's the commitment to do the Father's will. Complete and perfect obedience. At this point Luke 22:44 tells us He began to sweat great drops of blood.

Unbelievable anguish. Luke immediately says in verse 43, "And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.” God had to intervene at that moment to keep him alive, the agony was so profound. And so Jesus prayed and after this prayer he returned to the three disciples. Matthew 26:40-41 says, “And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

So verse 42-43 says, “Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.” Now Jesus is more resolved. His first prayer was let it pass, his second one was if it cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. It is hard to imagine what the pain of the actual sin bearing might be when this pain seems so far beyond comprehension and the pain of the cross was much more.

So verse 44 says, “So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.” Sometimes people will ask me how many times do you need to pray. Doesn't God hear you the first time? Of course He does. The issue here is not whether God hears you. The issue here is the passion of the heart. He in the midst of the battle of temptation. He does not want to feel the full fury of the wrath of God poured out upon him.

What was his spiritual battle like? Hebrews 5:7-10 tells us, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although He was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest.”

Here you see His profound love for the father and willingness to do His will. You see His profound love for unworthy sinners as He anticipates what He will suffer. There is unrelenting agony together with the resolution to keep the will of God the Father. Waves of Satanic attack. Remember in the first temptation Satan came to him three times. This seems to bear the same mark, three times again.

From sorrow to supplication, and now to the third word that helps us see into this tremendous occasion, it is the word sleep. It characterizes not Jesus this time, but His disciples. Verse 40, “And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with Me one hour?” It is natural to sleep after midnight especially after a very busy week. Compounded by a huge Passover meal and then a long walk up a hill. Luke adds something more about their sleep. Luke 22:45 adds, "They were asleep for sorrow." They cried themselves to sleep.

Verse 40, “And He said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with Me one hour?” Verse 43-44, "After the second time of prayer he came back and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. 44 So he went back and prayed again saying the same thing." Verse 45, “Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on.” At the crisis moment in life, are you sleeping?

Jesus says, “Stay awake, this is crisis time, Satan is active, demons are active.” Never have they been more active than they are right now as we get close to the redemptive work of the cross. All hell is geared up, you better be awake. You cannot be indifferent to My struggle, indifferent to your own struggle, the impending defection. But they were, in their sorrow and self-pity, they just collapsed.

In all spiritual battles the victory goes to the vigilant, not the sleepers. How many times does Jesus say, "Wake up." We have to know what is going on around us. We have to understand the times and the seasons and the movements of the enemy and the important issues. Keep your eyes open. We cannot be unprepared for the crafty schemes of Satan. But the disciples were. They should have been praying, but they were sleeping and when temptation came, they fell. They weren't ready.

Sorrow, supplication, sleep, and then a final triumphant word, strength takes us to the conclusion. They were weak, but Jesus was strong. Verse 45, “Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” It is happening right now. And we know Jesus has defeated the hosts of hell; He stands covered with bloody sweat on His face and dripped over His clothing. He is courageously ready to face the cross. The last temptation is over.

The cup was in his hands. He had drunk it and there was no trembling. The son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners, He could see at that very moment through the olive trees the torches in the hands of the crowd that were coming led by Judas. The son of man has committed himself to the father's will. He has come through the last temptation with strength and in verse 46 He says, "Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Jesus is saying, "Let us go meet them. The hour of redemption has come.” Do you remember when He met them in John 18:4-5 He said, "Whom do you seek?" 5 And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." And He said, "I am He." Matthew 26: 47-49, “While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed Him. ”

That infamous kiss. Jesus saw it coming and walked right toward it. What is the key to this? What are we learning here? We want to see the power of Christ over Satan. We want to see the power of his love for the father over his own fears. We want to see the greatness of his love for sinners. But there is a lesson for us here that is basic and profound. We saw how He dealt with temptation so we can deal with it too.

Jesus said it to the disciples in verse 41, and He says it to us too, "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." What was Jesus doing up there when he was battling temptation? He was praying. Alert, awake, understanding what was going on and praying with all the passion of his great heart.

Do you want to be victorious over the devil? You want to be triumphant in your Christian life? The Lord has taught you this great lesson. In the private intimate moments of his own struggle with Satan in the wilderness He showed you need the word of God in your life because if you will have those principals engrained in you it will lead you toward righteousness.

Secondly, even though you have good intentions, your spirit may be willing, but your flesh is miserably weak. You cannot stand on good intentions. You cannot stand on your own self of confidence. Throw yourself before God and cry out for deliverance from the strength of temptation. We are not Jesus Christ, so pray always. Let us pray now.

]]> Sun, 17 May 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150517 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ct1i94ae imblog Matthew 26:36-39

Our text this evening is from Matthew 26:36-39 about the Son in sorrow. When we study the life of the Lord, we realize that indeed He was a man of sorrows. There are statements about His sighing out loud and about His being grieved. But the sorrow here is an accumulation of all the sorrow He ever knew, and all that which was yet to be experienced. We cannot understand the profound nature of the suffering of Jesus Christ, because He, as infinite God, could experience something that we cannot comprehend.

So to enter into the suffering of Jesus in this text is to tread on holy ground, and to try to understand something that is really ultimately not understandable; to try to explain something that is really inexplicable. We stand in awe of the God-Man, fully aware that He is God, and yet seeing Him suffer in pain as a human, almost as if He were not God. But what is the purpose of a passage on the suffering of Christ?

Let us read it and find out, Matthew 26:36-46, “Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?”

41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Now, this is the Lord Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, immediately before His capture, mock trial, and execution. It is part of the preparation of the cross. We have already seen Matthew outline for us elements of preparation; the preparation of the religious leaders, who were setting the plot to capture Christ. We saw the preparation of Mary, who loved Him and anointed Him for burial, as it were. We saw the preparation of Judas, who set out to betray Him. We saw our Lord bring to an end the old Jewish economy in the final Passover.

While it is a struggle that Jesus must bring Himself into harmony with the plan of God, it is also an important element of preparation for the disciples, because out of it they will learn the lesson stated in verse 41, where our Lord says, “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Even in the midst of this struggle with the enemy, who tries to divert Him from the cross, the Lord goes beyond His own experience to teach His own. The disciples must learn about how they are to face temptation and severe trials and we should learn the proper way to face severe temptation.

Now, let me give you five key words to think about: sorrow, supplication, sleep, strength, and sequence, and I will unfold those as we go. But before that let us look at verse 36, “Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” They will be in that garden only a very brief time before Jesus will be taken prisoner. But before that occurs, something else must occur, and that is a time of intercession with the Father.

So the Lord uses this time to be instructive to His disciples and to us as well. It gives us insight into how to deal with temptation. They were in a garden called Gethsemane, which means “olive press.” John 18:2 tells us that Jesus went there often with His disciples. It was a private, shaded place, away from the crowd, the streets, the city and the busyness. It was a place where He could go to spend the night in prayer with His Father or instruction with His disciples.

Now, the disciples are told to stay. They have been told that this is the time for Him to die. In Matthew 26:2, Jesus said to the disciples, “Two days and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.” Jesus said to them in verse 31, “This night you are going to face a temptation, and you are going to be offended, and you are going to run.” So they knew they were at a crisis point. They should have understood what He was saying in verse 41, “Watch and pray;” be on the alert and spend your time in intercession.

Do you know , there is no indication that they even prayed. They existed in a kind of smug self-confidence. Verse 37 says, “And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, who were James and John, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.” Now, we know for sure what He was going to do. He says, “I’m going to go and pray.” And He uses a very intensive word – always used for praying to God. I’m going to go and pour out My heart to God.”

And so He takes Peter, James and John with Him. Somebody says Jesus took them for companionship. There may be an element of truth in the fact that He loved their companionship. But that was not the reason He took them. Someone else has said He took them because they were the weakest of the bunch. And if you watch Peter and James and John, you might come to that conclusion. But that doesn’t really fit either, because He had given more of Himself to these three than any others.

The truth is that He took them because they were the three leaders. He took them because there was a lesson that had to be taught to the rest, and He couldn’t take them all or there wouldn’t be anybody left there to watch. He wanted them to be able to communicate it to the rest, and these were the ones the rest looked up to. They were the ones who would be the teachers.

It says Jesus took the three with Him and He went a little further in verse 39. In fact, He went probably 30 yards beyond them because Luke says a stone’s throw. So He wasn’t there to patrol them, and He didn’t have them there to support and sympathize with Him. They were there because there was something they needed to learn out of this experience about how to face a trial that they could pass on to others. And that they might see something of the agony of their Savior so that they might understand His love.

Sinful, fallen humanity will not acknowledge its weakness. Unfallen, sinless humanity acknowledges its weakness. Jesus was fully human, and He knew that in humanity is a lot of weakness. Tears are a sign of human weakness, because they are a sign of pain. Suffering is a sign of human weakness. God knows no pain and no suffering as eternal God in deity – except that which He chooses to consider on behalf of man.

So, when you enter into a severe trial, you must not look to other men, but you must look to God. Jesus passed the severest test in the history of humanity. And that is why Hebrews 4:15 tells us, “We have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” When you go to the Lord Jesus Christ with your needs, you’re not talking to a high priest who doesn’t know how you feel. He knows our weakness and we all have to learn from this marvelous passage to trust God in the midst of our trials.

Jesus’ ministry began and ended with a severe temptation. Back in Matthew 4, Satan came to Him, after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, and Satan tempted Him three times, right? How many waves of temptation come to Jesus here? How many times did He go to pray? Three times. And Jesus was victorious in both of those very personal, intimate solicitations to evil from Satan. And Jesus reveals both of those encounters to teach us profound truth.

Jesus replied the first time with Scripture. The second time He responded to this wave of temptation with prayer. So the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but that are spiritual using the Word of God and prayer. That is why Ephesians 6 says, “Take the sword of the Spirit, and pray always.” And so Jesus is completing the lesson that if you are going to handle temptation, you handle it on the strength of the Word of God and the power of God sought through prayer.

Now, let us look at the first key word “sorrow” that helps us understand the text. In verse 37-38, after having gone on with Peter, James and John, some distance further from the other eight, it says, “He began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” Now here our Lord is entering into deep anguish. Every single thought of anticipation of that cross that dwelt in His omniscience repulsed Him. He agonized every conscious moment of His incarnation over the reality of the cross, because everything in it He despised.

This brought Him to an indescribable agony. His whole soul is so repulsed that it is beyond description. And here in lies a new understanding of the love and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You see, He died on the cross every conscious moment before He died on the cross, because in His omniscience He experienced His own death before it ever happened. So no wonder He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isa 53:3).

The pain here it reaches its apex, but the fact that He endures this, that He goes through this victoriously, shows how much He loves the Father, how submissive He is to the Father’s will, how much He loves sinners who need salvation. Still the anticipation of this brings terror, pain and sorrow. And remember at the grave of Lazarus, in John 11:33-35 when He walked up to that grave, and He began to groan for sorrow. He wasn’t weeping for Lazarus; He was about to bring him out of the grave. It was the power of sin and death that gripped His soul there.

The Greek word sorrow means, to be away from home. Home is where you belong. Jesus was away from home. He was isolated in conflict with hell. He was depressed not only about what had happened, but also what would happen. How can Judas treat Him this way? And then there was the desertion of the eleven. He who was the faithful teacher, loyal friend, encourager, forgiver, supporter, is He to be forsaken by those He would never think to forsake Himself?

Then there’s the denial by Peter. Peter with whom He had spent so much time, how can he deny Him and curse His name? And then to remember the rejection by Israel, too. He is the Lord of the covenant, He is the King of glory, the King of grace, the source of their hope. He is the bringer of the Kingdom, who loved Israel and calls Himself Israel’s Lord and King. He came to redeem His people. Is He to be rejected by them? Is He to be murdered by their unbelief?

And then there is the injustice of men. He comes into a world in which He has made the laws. He is the God of equality and the God of what is fair, and what is true. Is He to be cheated in the courts of lying men who will deny Him His right to justice and truth? And then there is the cursing and the mocking that’s going to come. But He is the one for all eternity who knew nothing but the praise and the adoration of holy creatures. And then there’s the loneliness. He who is the companion of God, is He to be alone, forsaken by all, so that even God the Father turns His back?

And then there is the bearing of sin. The spotless, sinless, holy Son of God is to become sin for us. At the moment of death, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He is called sin who knew no sin.” And then there is death itself. Jesus as God is immortal and eternal; He knows no death. But as the writer of Hebrews 2:9 says, “So that He might taste death for every man.” And so He faces something which an eternally undying being can never face, and yet He dies as man for man. And all of this was sorrowful reality. And this is the struggle of our Savior.

And this is the struggle that He is in with Satan. Satan came playing on Jesus Christ’s worthiness. Why are You here on the ground crying out to God in agony, sweating drops of blood? You are the Son of God. Why are You to be humiliated by eleven deserting disciples and one wretched traitor named Judas? You deserve better than this, You are the Son of God. But in Matthew 16:22-23, when Peter said to Him, “Don’t go to the cross,” Jesus said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan.”

And that brings us to the second word, supplication. It says in verse 39, “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” First, He said, “My Father.” He called God “Father” every time He prayed to Him except once, and that was on the cross when God forsook Him. When Jesus called God “Father”, the Jews just could not handle that, because they did not call God their personal Father. He was the Father to the nation, but there was no intimacy to that.

Here Jesus goes a step further, and doesn’t only say “Father,” He says, “My Father,” and Mark says He cried “Abba,” Daddy. Jesus is articulating the intimacy of His relationship with the Father, which He will not release. “My Father,” is very possessive, very personal, very intimate, and He holds on to that. Jesus says, “If it is possible to do this any other way, I would want that, but if it’s not, let it be.” And that is a prayer of resignation to the will of God.

When He says “if it be possible,” He’s not asking if it is possible within the power of God, because anything is possible within the power of God. He is asking, is it possible in the plan of God. If it is possible morally, if it is possible in the consistency with the plan to save sinners, is there any other way. This is an unbearable thing that is torturing Him in the garden. “This cup” is the symbol of the experience He will endure. The cup is often associated with divine wrath. Psalm 75:8, Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 49:12, all three of those, and other scriptures, speak of the cup of judgment, or the cup of wrath.

And the cup that Christ was going to drink was the fury of God over sin, was the attack of Satan, the power of death, the guilt of iniquity. All of that was in the cup. And He could wish that He could escape if there was any other way. And so the Lord Jesus Christ then begins the supplication, and the supplication shows us genuine agony because it shows us the desire to be relieved of it. That is the way to face temptation, in prayer and commitment to the will of God. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 10 May 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150510 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/ec1hxww1 imblog

Matthew 26:20-30

Let us open our Bible to Matthew 26 where he is preparing us for the cross of Christ. We have discussed the preparation of the religious leaders, the preparation of Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus who anointed Jesus with costly perfume. We have seen the preparation of Judas. From Matthew 26:17-25 we find the final Passover, an essential act our Lord has with His disciples as He moves toward the cross.

In verses 17-19, we saw that it was Thursday night after the sun has gone down. And so, the Lord on that evening celebrates a Galilean Passover Day, and yet there is another Passover Day on Friday which means that Jesus can keep the Passover one day and die during the Passover as the Lamb of God the next day. Our Lord desired to keep the Passover with His disciples in order to teach them, to give them the promise of the Holy Spirit, and to institute a new memorial feast which we know as the Lord’s Supper and time to unmask the betrayer.

Verse 20, “When it was evening, He reclined at the table with the twelve.” That is really all that Matthew says about the supper itself, the Passover meal. It is after 6:00 PM on Thursday evening. Christ will be captured later in the night, brought to a mock trial early in the morning, crucified and He will die at about 3:00 PM on Friday. The Passover meal has to be eaten that night before midnight and nothing can be left for tomorrow.

Notice it says, “He reclined.” That’s interesting because historically when God set the Passover up, you have to eat the Passover standing up, with your loins girded in haste, with your staff in your hand and your shoes on, ready to move out. But through the years, the custom became a rather elongated feast, and since they were no longer in a hurry, they would recline as they did at very many feasts.

And verse 21 says, “And as they were eating.” And that just takes us into the Passover meal itself. Now there was a defined sequence in the Passover meal. The tradition is that the first thing was the initial cup of red wine mixed with water so that they would not become drunk. And that first cup is called “the cup of blessing”, it symbolized the blessing of God (Luke 22:14-17).

Next, following that first cup, would be the washing of their hands. This ceremonial cleansing before the meal itself, is a recognition of the need for personal holiness because they were celebrating God’s deliverance. Now, after they washed there was a little bit of an interlude where the conversation of the disciples turned into an argument among them: which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24).

It’s quite amazing that while they ceremonially washed their hands as a sign of the cleansing of their inward soul, their souls were filled with pride, self-glory and ambition. There was no connection between what they were doing on the outside and what was going on inside their hearts. Not unlike many people who come to the Lord’s Supper and go through the motions while entertaining sin in their own lives. Jesus knew what they were thinking and here He teaches all of us about real greatness.

John 13:4-14, “Jesus, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.”

Jesus gave them a profound lesson on humility, on condescending love, on meeting the needs of someone else and taking the role of a slave. And He said further in verse 15-16, “For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him” and taught them humility which was a strong rebuke to their pride.

And Jesus also gave them a verbal rebuke as well in Luke 22:25-27, “And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”

The third part of the Passover feast which was the bitter herbs which was symbolic of the bitterness of bondage in Egypt. There was also the sauce and into this the unleavened bread and the herbs were dipped. And then, came the fourth part of the Passover which was the second cup. Again, red wine mixed with water. And then the head of the table, in this case the Lord Himself, took that cup and instructed those who were there as to the meaning of the Passover meal.

Following that there was some singing. And what was sung was the hallel, from which we get the word “hallelujah” which means “praise.” The hallel is Psalm 113 through 118, and at this point they would sing Psalm 113 and 114. After the singing of the first couple of psalms, the lamb would be brought out and the major portion of the meal began. And the father again would wash his hands, take pieces of bread, bless them, break them, and eat them with the lamb and everybody else began eating also.

Verse 21 continued, “Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Mark 14:18 adds, “One of you who is eating with Me will deliver Me over.” Now, this is a shocking thing because in that part of the world at that time, when you ate a meal with a person, that means that you consider him to be a good friend. Betraying a friend was unthinkable. But Jesus always spoke the truth, so they knew one of them had done it.

Verse 22 says, “And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” And John 13:22 says, “The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.” Luke 22:23 says, “And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.” They had just been rebuked for their pride and ambition, and they were doubly shamed by the washing of their feet. And so they are very aware of their weakness, so that they don’t trust themselves.

Judas was very adept at his hypocrisy. The fact that they had chosen him to be the treasurer shows they did not have any doubt about his integrity. And Jesus did nothing to outwardly expose Judas at all. In fact, Jesus had done everything He could to pull him close to Himself. Here he was sitting on the left side of Jesus at the table which Edersheim, the Jewish historian says was the place of great honor. It was to him Jesus dipped the sop and gave it. Again, a symbol of him as the honored guest.

And in verse 23 Jesus answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me.” They had no knives or forks; they ate with their hand, dipping the bread, dipping the herbs, dipping the lamb also. Now, who did that? All of them were eating and dipping. He is saying it’s one of you who is here. In John 13:18 He quotes Psalm 41:9, “I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.”

Psalm 41:9 speaks of Ahithophel in 2 Samuel 16 who was the familiar friend of David who betrayed him. And Ahithophel is a picture of Judas, the arch-traitor, who betrayed Jesus Christ. The wretched one who sat at the table, dipped the sop, ate with Christ, turned around and betrayed Him. In Luke 22:21, “Jesus said, ‘The hand of him that betrays Me is with Me on the table.’”

So, in verse 24 Jesus says, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” In other words, don’t think this is a plan gone wrong. It is exactly what God had prewritten in prophetic history. No one is doing anything to me that is not a direct and immediate fulfillment of the eternal plan of God.

So, Judas was a betrayer by his own choice. Judas was a betrayer who rejected grace, and rejected the offer of salvation. Judas rejected all of that, made his own choices and yet some way, somehow in God’s marvelous mysterious sovereignty, he was placed right into the middle of the betrayal of Jesus Christ to accomplish holy purposes. But it doesn’t make him a good man. Judas was a cursed man. Jesus said he was a devil. The Bible says he was a thief. He sold Jesus for money; that is all he wanted.

At the end of verse 24, “It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” The more you reject, the more truth you understand and refuse, the greater the punishment in hell. Therefore the most severe damnation in hell comes to Judas. Hebrews 10:29, “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace?”

That takes us to the last thought, unmasking the traitor. Verse 25, “Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” And he had to say that, if not the others would become suspicious. At the end of verse 25, Jesus said to him, “You have said so.” At that particular moment, John 13:23-26 tells us that Peter leaned over to John who was on the right side of Jesus, Judas on the left, and said to John, “Ask the Lord who it is.” So, he didn’t hear this discussion between Judas and Jesus.

And so, in John 13:25-26, “John leaned over and said, ‘Who is it?’ 26 And Jesus says, ‘The one I give the sop to.’ And He dipped it and He handed it to Judas.” Jesus identified to John only who the traitor was. And then, it says in John 13:27-28, the most frightening thing that ever happened in the life of Judas, “Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.”

But Jesus got rid of him before they actually ate the meal because he should have no part in the Lord’s Supper. After that, of course, verse 26 says, “And as they were eating.” They went back to the meal, back to the final Passover. After 1,500-plus years of Passovers, this was the last divine Passover ever held. It is a remnant of a covenant that is no longer needed. Jesus here celebrated the Passover as a way to bring it to its end.

Christ began a new memorial feast which He begins not in the Old Testament but in the New Testament, not remembering a lamb in Egypt but remembering the Lamb of God on a cross at Calvary. And we come to that in verse 26, “Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

“Blessing it” means, Jesus took bread and gave thanks. He thanked God for the bread, but not only for the food but for the provision God gave in His resurrection power symbolized in this wonderful feast. And then, in verse 27, “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you.” And He gave thanks again, and gave them those directives.

So Jesus breaks the bread and passes it around. Some people think it symbolizes the broken body, but Christ’s body was not broken. John 19:36, “Not a bone of Him was broken that the prophecies might be fulfilled.” Mark tells us that all 11 did drink the cup. That is the idea that all of us who come to the Lord’s Table. The new doctrine comes at the end of verse 26 when He said: “This is My body.”

The unleavened bread had always been a symbol of leaving Egypt, and the unleavened bread was a way of saying “we’re starting new; there’s no influence of the old life.” So, it was symbolic of new life. But now it’s something different. Now, unleavened bread means “My body”. Now He is transforming the Passover, He now initiates the new. “I want you to take and eat this bread as representative of My body.”

Now, some people think it really becomes Christ’s body. The Catholic Church teaches the doctrine of transubstantiation. That was also the thought of the Pharisees in John 6. But the intent was “this is symbolic of My body.” And Luke 22:19 adds, “Which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” And that is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:24. So Christ is saying I give My body to die for you and do this in remembrance of Me.

Then, in verse 28 He says, regarding the cup, “This is My blood of the covenant.” That is basically a quote of Exodus 24:8. Jesus is saying that God when He made a covenant with man required blood. When God made a covenant with Abraham, there was blood shed by animals. That’s why Hebrews 9:22 says “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

And verse 28 continues, “which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Literally, “for the benefit of many.” And who are the many? All who believe, Jews and Gentiles, not just for the nation of Israel. “For the forgiveness of sins,” that is why Jesus came. So, our Lord instituted the bread and the cup as a memorial for all time that we might remember the self-sacrificing, blood-spilling death of Christ for us.

There has never been an authorized Passover since but a lot of Jewish people are still doing it. So, if that ended then, how long do we celebrate this new one? Verse 29 says, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” We are going to remember His sacrifice together forever in some marvelous way that He has designed.

And then, in verse 30 it says they sung a hymn. This glorious redemption will always celebrated. We cannot grow spiritually unless we learn to praise and glorify God in song. Well, they had already sung Psalm 113 and 114 and maybe continued with 115 till 118. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Apr 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150426 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/afe5wdpc imblog

Matthew 26:17-19

The purpose and the climax of the life of Jesus Christ was His sacrificial death. Mark 10:45 says, “He came to give His life as a ransom for many.” The death of Jesus Christ is not the end of the story, it is the theme of the story, beginning to end. And if you go back into the Old Testament, you will find that things are beginning to be laid down there to help us understand the meaning of the death of Christ, which is yet to come.

In the story of Adam and Eve, we first learn that sacrifice is necessary to cover sin. Then in the sacrifices of Cain and Abel, we learn that it is a sacrifice of death. And from Abraham, we learn that God Himself will provide that sacrifice, as God provided an animal in the place of Isaac. And at the Passover in the Old Testament, we are reminded that the one who is sacrificed has to be without blemish. And all of this is preparing us for Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice, the gift of God, the unblemished lamb.

So as we come to Matthew 26, 27 and 28, we come to the great apex of the plan of God. Now Matthew wants to present Jesus as king, as majestic, as glorious. And Matthew faces now something that is humanly impossible; how to maintain the majesty, dignity, glory of Jesus Christ in the midst of His betrayal and His death.

Last week we saw the elements of preparation by God. How God had set the time table and that everything was moving from Wednesday till Friday. And on Friday, the plan of God comes to its culmination. We saw the preparation of the leaders of Israel who were plotting His death. They felt they should wait eight days until the feast was over. But they were already preparing to execute Jesus Christ.

Then, in Matthew 26:6-13, we saw the preparation of Mary, who as a loving friend, anointed Jesus with a costly perfume, pouring out on Him her love and wanting, in a sense, to prepare Him for the death that was coming. And then, in verses 14-16, the preparation of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, who for money covenanted with the leaders to betray Jesus Christ at a clandestine moment in a secret place when the crowd wasn’t around.

Now, those four elements of preparation involved others, not Christ. As you come to verse 17, there is the section where Christ Himself prepares for His death. And we see Him in different ways preparing for His death. First, in the final Passover through verse 25; then in establishing the Lord’s Supper; then in helping the unprepared disciples; and finally in praying to the Father. All four of those are His own preparation.

So, we have four elements of preparation by others, and four elements of preparation by the Lord Himself. Now, this evening we begin by looking at verses 17 and following to see the initial element of preparation, the Passover, as He prepares to enjoy that meal with His disciples. That is definitely part of the preparation for His death, and you will see that as we move along. In fact we are also doing the Lord’s Supper tonight.

The text begins with what we can call “setting the time” It might not seem like much but it is absolutely essential. Matthew 26:17-19, “Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.”

Now, inherent in that text is a richness that really has escaped me for many years until recently. Jesus wanted to have the Passover and His disciples were ready to prepare it and God had made plans so that it could be prepared. Matthew 3:15 says that He came to fulfill all righteousness having to do with the law of God. And one element of the law of God was to keep the Passover. And in verse 21 it says, “As they were eating.” So, here is the final Passover that our Lord has with His disciples.

Now, the Jews had a year filled with special commemorative celebrations, their festivals, their times of remembering the work of God in the past. But the greatest of all their celebrations is the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread; both are mentioned in verse 17. The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted one week, from the 15th of Nisan until the 21st, as prescribed by the Old Testament. And the day before that was the Passover. So, the combination was an eight-day festival.

The Passover celebrated God’s delivering Israel out of bondage in Egypt where they had been for 400 years. The last plague from God was the death of all the firstborn in every family in Egypt. So God said to Israel, “kill a spotless lamb and put the blood of that lamb on the doorposts, so when the angel of death comes to slay all the firstborn of Egypt, seeing the blood on your door, he will pass over.” That is the Passover.

And as a result of that, Pharaoh said, “Get out, I have had it, that is all I can take.” And he sent the Jews out and so God delivered them. So, the Passover was commemorating the sacrificial lamb whose blood caused them to escape the judgment of God. And it was a symbol of God’s ultimate Passover Lamb, Jesus, whose blood would cause them eternally to escape the judgment of God.

God instituted in Exodus 12 the continual feast of the Passover. It was a meal, and it was held the night before the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The lamb, according to Exodus 12, was to be selected on the 10th of Nisan. And we know that Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem on Monday, the 10th of Nisan in the year 33 AD in which our Lord died. That was the day in which everyone in the city of Jerusalem was selecting their Passover lamb.

So Jesus entered the city on that Monday, and He entered into the hearts of those people as their Passover lamb on the proper day. And He fulfills the symbolism of the Passover lamb in every respect, arriving in Jerusalem on the tenth of Nisan to offer Himself as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, and dying on the 14th of Nisan, as the Passover sacrifice for the sins of the world.

They sacrificed the lamb on Passover to commemorate the lamb to remind them of the price of their sin. So, it was a time of sacrifice to depict the necessity of sacrifice of the innocent for the atoning of sin for the guilty. But we know that none of those lambs could take away sin, right? And what a profound example God gave, there were thousands of lambs, goats and bulls that could never do year in year out, what Jesus Christ in sacrificing Himself once and forever.

Now, unleavened bread is bread that does not rise because there is no yeast in it. When they came out of Egypt, God said, “You take no leavened bread,” because leavened represented influence. And God said in effect, do not take anything of your Egyptian life and plant it into your new life. You are delivered from that, and start as new people in a new land. That became a symbol for cutting themselves off from worldly things.

So, in verse 17 the disciples come to Jesus and say, “Where are we going to prepare to eat the Passover?” It is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And Mark adds in Mark 14:12, “When they sacrificed the Passover.” So, he tells us explicitly that it was on this first of eight days that the Passover was sacrificed. And the Feast of Unleavened bread began the next day, which was the 15th of Nisan as it should be in Leviticus 23:6.

Now, in the year our Lord died, Passover came on a Friday. From year to year, it would fall on a different day. We know that from Mark 15:42, “It was the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath.” Since they could not work on the Sabbath, they had to prepare everything the day before. In John 19:14, Jesus is before Pilate, and He is being tried, and what day is it? It is the preparation day of the Passover; it means it is the time during the Passover that is called preparation which means Friday.

Now, let’s go back to our text, verse 17, it’s now Thursday morning and it’s time to prepare the Passover meal. They already have their lamb on Monday when they arrived in the city. But there are many things to prepare for Passover. They had to prepare the slaying of the lamb which could only be done in the temple court. And it could only be done from three in the afternoon to five, no other time. And then it had to be roasted.

They also had to prepare their unleavened bread. And they had a paste made out of apples, dates, pomegranates and nuts all mixed together and it was into that thick sauce that they dipped their bread as a part of the meal. And then there were four cups of wine to remind them of the covenant in Exodus 6:6 where God said, “One, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Two, I will deliver you from slavery to them. Three, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. And four, I will be your God.”

Then, later in the evening, they had to eat the Passover meal, Exodus 12:8. They had to have ten men at least to eat it because they had to eat all of the lamb and leave none for morning. So, they say to Jesus, “Where we going to hold it? The law said it had to be in the city of Jerusalem so everybody had to find a place where they could have at least ten men and as high as 20. They do not have a building, what are they going to do?

And the answer is absolutely fascinating. Verse 18, “Jesus said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” Now, among two million people the disciples are told to find a certain someone they do not know. Fortunately, Mark says that they were to look for a man carrying a pitcher of water.

Who usually carried the water? The women did. So, it was rare to see a man carrying water. According to Mark 14:13-14, Jesus said, “Follow that man to the house he goes to, follow him right in and that is the man.” We also know from the other accounts that the Lord asked only two disciples to do this: Peter and John. The ten other disciples stayed with Him, and there are reasons for that. One of the reasons was that only two people were allowed to accompany a lamb to sacrifice. And Peter and John are chosen because they are closest to Christ.

Why all the secrecy? Why doesn’t Jesus just say, you remember so-and-so, our friend, you know where his house is, that is where we are going to do it. No, He doesn’t say that because of Judas Iscariot. Remember verse 16, “From that time he sought opportunity to deliver Him over.” Judas was looking for a quiet, secluded place away from the mob where he could turn Jesus over to the religious authorities to be executed. And Jesus knew that and so He would not say.

And Peter and John did not come back. They went early in the day, prepared all of that, and the rest of the disciples never met them again till that night when they came with Jesus to the place. Why? Because it was essential that Jesus celebrate the Passover with His disciples. Because Jesus wanted to transform that into the Last Supper and the table of Communion as the memorial to His death. He wanted to give them the promise of His Holy Spirit, and it wasn’t God’s time yet for Him to die.

And Mark tells us the man had a large second floor, a large room, spacious, furnished and ready to be used. So, Jesus was obligated to keep the Passover. Verse 19 says, “And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.” And notice verse 21, “And as they were eating.” So there is no doubt it was the Passover. But there is a problem, why Bible scholars through the years have fussed with this.

Turn to John 18:28, “Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early Friday morning.” Thursday night, they ate the meal which means Thursday afternoon that lamb was killed. That evening Jesus came with the other ten, they ate the meal. Then Judas went out into the night. Jesus left the meal in the middle of the night and went to the garden. The soldiers came to the garden, captured Him in late Thursday night.

So on Friday morning they bring Jesus to trial. They lead him to the Hall of Judgment to meet with Pilate, the Gentile part of His trial. And the Jews didn’t go into the Judgment Hall. Why? Verse 28 says further, “They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.” How is it that Jesus already has a Passover meal, and yet the Jews don’t want to get defiled because they haven’t eaten the Passover?

Well, Christ came to die as a Passover lamb, right? Matthew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus died on Friday after the ninth hour which would be 3:00 PM. At that precise moment the screams of those sheep would be heard from the temple as the slaughter began. The Jewish leaders, mostly Sadducees, would be slaughtering those lambs at the moment Jesus died. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, as Christ our Passover who was sacrificed for us.

Jesus fulfilled every prophecy to the very letter. Then, what is Jesus doing with the Passover on Thursday night? It all depends on how we count the hours of that festival day. The normal Jewish day went from sunrise to sunrise. But festivals and special days and the Sabbath day went from sunset to sunset. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, according to Exodus 12:18, had to be celebrated from sunset to sunset. The Day of Atonement also was from sunset to sunset.

This Passover day, since it was not prescribed specifically in Exodus 12, could be calculated from sunset to sunset or sunrise to sunrise. Josephus said the lamb has to be eaten during the night and nothing left for morning. The Mishnah says it must be eaten by midnight. Now, the Galileans and the Pharisees, counted the Passover from sunrise to sunrise, whereas the Judeans and Sadducees counted it from sunset to sunset.

So, the Galileans and the Pharisees begin to calculate the beginning of Passover in the morning to the next morning which is Friday morning. The Judeans and the Sadducees begin Thursday evening till Friday evening at sunset. So, the Galileans and the Pharisees have to eat it that night. For the others it begins in the evening, and so they prepare their lamb Friday afternoon, and then eat their meal as Sabbath comes on Friday night.

What does all this mean? Jesus had to be crucified on Friday because that’s when the traditional Judean Passover lambs would be killed, from 3:00 to 5:00 on Friday. That’s why it says, “In the ninth hour.” He also had to keep the Passover because He had to transform it into the Lord’s Table. So, how could Jesus keep the Passover and still be the Passover lamb? In that very year, there was no problem having a Galilean Passover on Thursday night and dying in the Judean Passover on Friday afternoon perfectly on schedule, and violating no Jewish law at all.

God rules history and tradition, and every detail of human existence to bring about the fulfillment of His own perfect plan. And Jesus had to keep the Passover to fulfill all righteousness, to instruct His disciples, to teach them the new memorial feast that would come out of the Passover. And yet He had to die as the Passover. And He did both because God had so moved in history that both would be possible by His sovereign providence. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 29 Mar 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150329 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000001A imblog

Matthew 26:1-16

Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew 26. We’re coming now to the most significant section in all of this gospel because its focus is the cross of Jesus Christ. Everything to this point is only introduction. This is the main theme, the cross of Jesus Christ, the climax of redemptive history and the greatest source of hope in the heart of any man or woman who ever lived. You cannot have Christianity without the cross of Jesus Christ.

The cross foreshadowed the acceptable sacrifice of Abel, foreshadowed the ark that saved Noah, foreshadowed the sacrifice provided on Mount Moriah--a ram in the place of Isaac, prefigured the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. We see it foreshadowed in the serpent lifted up in the desert for healing. We see the cross detailed in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. We see the pierced and wounded Savior in Zechariah 12 and in all Scripture.

Now Matthew deals with the cross in concise, straight-forward way. This is the narrative of the cross. And here we are dealing with the reality of it historically. Oh, we will see the theology and its meaning, but the story of the cross is as it happened. And Matthew breaks up the picture of the cross into clear, distinct elements. In Matthew 26 we see the preparation for the cross. And then in Matthew 27, we see the trials, execution and burial of Christ. And then in Matthew 28 comes the resurrection.

Let us look at the preparation for the death of Jesus Christ, seen in four elements, or four perspectives. Matthew 26:1-16, “When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” 3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 5 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. 8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”

11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” 14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.”

And this is still Wednesday; it has been a very long Wednesday. In fact, this Wednesday has lasted about many months in our study. So much has happened on this Wednesday. We go all the way back to Matthew 21:23 where Wednesday’s activities began. Matthew 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and here we are in Matthew 26, and we are still on the very same day, a very eventful day.

Do you remember that Jesus arrived in Bethany on Saturday? Sunday He was in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, when a great crowd came there and He taught and ministered to them. Monday He got on the colt and rode into the city of Jerusalem where the crowd said, “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord,” as they threw palm branches and garments on the street. He went to the Temple that Monday, then returned to Bethany. Tuesday He came into the city, cursed a fig tree on the way, and then went to cleanse the Temple. And He came back on Wednesday morning and He began to teach.

And then began this conflict with the religious leaders and the conflict began in Matthew 21, 22, and reached its climax in Matthew 23 when Jesus pronounced a series of curses. So toward the evening of Wednesday, He ascended the Mount of Olives with His disciples, sat down and it was there in the twilight that He began to tell them the truths about His Second Coming. It’s now late Wednesday and Jesus has finished all these sayings, but He has something more to say. They were like impatient children.

Now Jesus comes right back to reality in Matthew 26:1-2, “When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” And so, the Lord says it’s time for the cross now. This is the fourth and last time that He tells them of His cross in Matthew.

And as we prepare to understand the death of Christ, He gives us four perspectives. The first one is the preparation of sovereign grace. Everything has to come together in the death of Christ: the plan of God, the hatred of the Jewish leaders, the adoration and worship of those who followed Jesus, the betrayal of Judas; all of this has to blend together. God plans all of these diverse things so that the death of Christ comes at precisely the right moment.

So first, we see the preparation of sovereign grace. And Jesus, because the Father has revealed it to Him, says here, “After two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.” Jesus says this is the Father’s time. It is not that this death of Jesus Christ is an accident, and people who write books like The Passover Plot saying that Jesus was a well- meaning revolutionary whose revolution went sour and wound up getting Himself killed, are wrong. No way, He knew exactly what was going to happen.

There were many times when the leaders tried to take His life, but they were not able to do that. It wasn’t a well-meaning revolution that went bad at the end. They had been trying to kill Him from the very beginning, but unsuccessfully because Jesus was always in control of everything. Everything was always on a divine schedule in a majestic, dignified, powerful and authoritative way.

And in John 10:18 Jesus said, “No one takes My life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” And Pilate, fool that he was, in John 19:10-11 said to Jesus, “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”

People have tried to kill Christ from the time of His birth and from the beginning of His ministry in Nazareth. But all of these attempts to take His life were unsuccessful because it wasn’t God’s timetable. Do you know that this was a time when the Jews did not want to do it with Jerusalem swollen with pilgrims, many of whom are from Galilee. Verse 5, “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.” But this was the exact time when God wanted it done.

So we see the sovereign grace of God that brings Christ to the cross to die for the sins of men. Two days from Wednesday is Friday when all the Jews would be celebrating their Passover, when lambs were being slain all over every place, He would be offered as the Lamb of God. What perfect timing. The sovereign One has planned that the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world will be sacrificed on the Passover, when all the lambs, who couldn’t take away sin, were being sacrificed.

Why? Because He was the Lamb. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us,” in the last part of the verse. He is our Passover, He is the Lamb of God, John the Baptist said, that takes away the sin of the world. He is a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the earth, says John in Revelation. And when Philip was talking to the eunuch in the desert, he opens Isaiah 53 and he reads about a lamb that was taken to slaughter, a lamb that did not open its mouth, the sacrificial lamb, which was Jesus.

Secondly, we see the preparation of hateful rejection. As Jesus was speaking these words to His disciples on Wednesday night, that same night the Sanhedrin had called a special meeting in the palace of Caiaphas with the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people (verse 3). They were the wealthy, the aristocratic people of the society. And they had only one thing in mind.

Verse 4, “and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.” Again they are plotting His death, only this time it’s going to happen, not in the way they thought, because verse 5 says they did not want to do it during the feast and so their plan was to wait at least eight days. God’s plan was just two days. In spite of what their plan was, God would accomplish His plan.

So the Sanhedrin, the ruling body, is threatened; Caiaphas is insecure. Josephus tells us his real name was Joseph Caiaphas. He was a wicked man who was always trying to kill Jesus. Ordinarily the office of high priest was always from the Levy tribe, but that had gone by the wayside. And since the Roman occupation you had to buy your way in. But the people demanded some sort of priestly ancestry. So Caiaphas married the daughter of Annas, the previous high priest.

So he was the epitome of symbolism in the religious system of Israel, decadent as it was. And yet he carried out all the priestly function. He alone could go into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. And so the hypocrite Caiaphas gets his group together and they want to do something with Jesus. But they needed a way to pull it off. And, of course Judas became their opportunity, he became the betrayer.

Now that takes us to a third preparation, a loving worship. “Now when Jesus,” verse 6 says, “was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper.” Now we move from Wednesday back to the previous Saturday. Why does He jump back?” Because this is part of the preparation for the cross. And it happened on Saturday when Jesus arrived. Really? Yes, because John records the same event in John 12:1 where he says it was six days before the Passover and that is on Saturday.

Now Simon was a healed leper. The only cure for leprosy was Jesus Christ. And one way he could show his gratitude to Christ was to offer Him a supper. Simon now having God in human flesh, in his own home and inviting also Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and all twelve of the disciples. This is a group of twenty people for supper and Matthew, Mark and John all record this incident.

And all of a sudden, verse 7, “a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.” How precious? A year’s wages Mark tells us, 300 denarii, very expensive. John says it was Mary, who understands that Jesus is moving to His death and she understands something of the resurrection and she wants to prepare Him for that.

And so you have the preparation of loving worship here. And when she came to Jesus, she shatters the whole bottle. And it says in Matthew here that she poured it on His head. John says she poured this perfume on His feet. Which means she poured it all over Him. What in the world made her do that? It was an act of love, it was an act of honor. And she was so adoring and so controlled by worship that she could not deal with restraint.

She was pouring out her love, her heart of compassion and her devotion. She was honoring the One that was going to die and rise again for her salvation, to bear her sin. She did it for you, for me; and we all should have done it. She understood what the disciples didn’t understand. She wasn’t bound up in wanting to get right into the kingdom and have the glory. She apparently understood more of Jesus’ teaching then they did. She symbolizes the outpouring of love that God desires.

Those disciples in verse 8-9, they saw it but they did not understand, “And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But this was not a time for the poor, this was a time for worship. In John 12:6 it says, “He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”

Jesus says to Judas in John 12:7, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.” And in Matthew 26:10, “But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.” Jesus literally said to them, ‘Why are you making her feel bad or guilty as if this is a wrong thing?

And then He says this in verse 11, “For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have Me.” Jesus is saying it’s a question of priority; yes, there’s a time for charity, and there’s a time for ministry. But this is a time for worship. And as much as we should pour out on those who have need, so we should pour it out in an act of worship to God. We need to learn this kind of overflowing gratitude, this kind of adoration.

In verse 12 Jesus says, “She poured this perfume on My body, she did it for My burial.” This was an act of preparation, this was her way of showing love to Me, a devoted follower who sat at His feet, according to Luke 10:39. And Jesus said in verse 13, “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Here two thousand years later, we see the sacrificial worship of this lady who loved Jesus Christ.

And so we see the preparation of sovereign grace, hateful rejection, and loving worship. And then finally, the preparation of betraying hypocrisy. Verse 14-15, “Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests. 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.”

Money was the most important thing to Judas. He was going to get as much as he could. He set up the betrayal that Saturday night. Luke 22:6 and Matthew 26:16 says, “From that time on he began looking for an opportunity to betray the Lord in the absence of the multitude.” So all the time Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as Jesus is in the city teaching, he is looking for the moment when he can betray Him. And Judas bargained for 30 pieces of silver, which according to Exodus 21:32, is the price of a slave.

The greatest example of lost opportunity is Judas Iscariot. There are only three ways to approach Jesus Christ’s death. One, you can ignore it and reject it. Two, with loving worship together with Mary or three, you can stand with Caiaphas, the priests, the scribes, the elders and Judas who claims to love but really hates. Where do you stand? Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150322 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000001B imblog

Matthew 25:19-30

This evening our text is Matthew 25:14-30 and there are three servants, two are living and one is partly living. One is expressive of the emptiness of life, the uselessness of life, the worthlessness of life when opportunity and privilege is carelessly wasted. That's the essential message of our text, the tragedy of wasted opportunity.

Among those who are the true children of God there are those who are false. The church tolerates people who do not really know the Lord, who do not really walk with God. And there are some people who would have us believe they are having a private relationship with God but the phone isn't hooked up. We see it in this parable and again it is a parable of warning. The Lord is simply saying we are going to sort out the sheep and the goats when I come in My glory, so you better be ready.

And the Lord explains this in two parables about readiness. The first one in the first 12 verses of Matthew 25 is the parable of the virgins. The second in verses 14 to 30 is the parable of the talents. Both emphasize the need for preparedness for the coming of the Lord. The parable of the virgins emphasizes being alert with a prepared heart. The parable of the talents emphasizes working and being faithful in serving Him while waiting. And so these two balance out the view that all Christians need to have.

What do Christians need to know? First of all, and let us review our responsibility and our reaction and then go on to our reckoning and our reward. Within the framework of the Kingdom we have received a great responsibility. The second parable is about a man who has a lot of servants and he goes far away and he leaves them in charge of what he possesses. And he divides the possessions out, giving out five, two and one talent. He is giving them responsibility commensurate with their capability.

And they are to handle that so that he receives a return when he comes back. Being gone for a long time, he wants to make sure that his servants know how to make the most of their opportunities. And so he puts them in the charge of His things based upon their capabilities. It is this way in the visible Kingdom of our Lord, that Kingdom of those who belong to the Christian church, whether they are true or false.

Each believer has this bag full of gospel privileges. In other words, it is a privilege to have learned the truth of God, to know the saving truth of Christ. And some people have five bags. On the other hand, there are some people who only received one bag of talent. Their exposure to the gospel is minimal and they are rather simple in their understanding of divine truth.

That takes us to the point two and that is our reaction. What have we done with our spiritual opportunities? Remember what it says in verse 16, "He that received the five talents immediately went, traded with the same, made other five talents." Now here's a person who makes 100 percent return on the investment the Lord has given him. He maximized his spiritual privilege. He is a genuine Christian. He gave the Lord all that he had.

And then in verse 17, "Likewise he that had received two, he gained two more." He had limited privilege in terms of comparing him with five, but he made use of all the privilege he had. He fulfilled all that he could from the opportunity God gave him and returned also a full service rendered based on the opportunity he had received.

So use your spiritual opportunities, all God wants is a return on what you have. And so the first two return to the master a wholehearted return of commitment and service. They are true believers, those who really served with a full heart. Then you come to verse 18, "The one who received one talent went and dug in the earth and hid his lord's money." Now there's the mark of a false servant.

He made no effort at all, he just thought about himself. He is not a true believer. He is a virgin with no oil. There is no fruit in his life. He is a privileged person who does not does not take advantage of the opportunity given to him. When he hears the gospel, he doesn't respond to it. And even though his spirituality is limited, he is still responsible. Hell is full of people who wasted even their limited privilege.

Now that brings us to the reckoning. Verse 19 says, "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.” The implication there again is that the Lord is telling them His coming will be delayed, just like Matthew 25:5 where He said the bridegroom tarries. But the day is coming when the Lord comes back to take a look at what you have done with the privilege.

It will be judgment time. It is a time for evaluating the service rendered, finding out who the true servants are. As described in verses 31 to 46, it is a time for separating the sheep from the goats. The goats will never enter the Kingdom, but the sheep will go into it. And so, when He comes the tares and the wheat will be separated. The net pulled in and that which is in it will be separated.

Verse 20 tells us what happened, "The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.” And he is excited with anticipation because he knows he has done his best with his opportunity. So he will have boldness in the Day of Judgment. Or as John says it, he will be not ashamed at the coming of the Lord.

There is no ego here, there is no boasting here, there is no pride here. He is saying five talents you gave me, I recognized the source of every privilege, I recognized the source of every opportunity, I have what I have because of You, not because of me. Yes, I recognize that You are the source, but I also rejoice that I was faithful in responding.

And the master recognizes integrity in his heart. Look at verse 21, “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ The master says you are good and you are trustworthy. It is a characterization. He is not just commenting on his service, he is commenting on his character.

It is quite remarkable that the God of the universe, could ever look at us and say "Excellent, you good and faithful servant," isn't it? That is the provision of the grace of the gospel. It is the provision not of our own strength but of the power of the Holy Spirit. And that commendation will outstrip any medal ceremony in the world, to receive that incorruptible crown of righteousness which the Lord waits to give to all those who wait His appearing.

What you do in eternity and what I do in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of service rendered to Him is determined by my service right here. Because eternity will be a time of service. Those who are alive on the earth when the Lord Jesus comes, who are the good and faithful believing servants will go into the Kingdom in their physical form and they who have proven faithful will be given more responsibility there then they had even here.

Well, heaven is not going to be boring. If service to the Lord here is the great joy of life, then heaven is the ultimate joy and ultimate service. And heaven and the Kingdom as well prior to the eternal heaven and new earth is going to be a time of great and glorious service. If you are faithful here over the little service opportunity here, He will make you lord over many things there.

In other words, in heaven there are going to be ranks of people, right? Well, in heaven we will all possess eternal life, we will all be like Jesus Christ. We will all be perfect without sin. So, in a sense, everybody will be all equal in glory in eternity. And that is what is meant by the parable of the servants who served in the field, you remember. Some worked an hour, some worked twelve, but they all got the same pay. Because we are all going to end up in glory on the one hand.

But, while that is true, it is also true that there will be differing levels of service for sure. For those who go into the Kingdom and as well for all of us in eternity we all are dependent on our God-created capacities. Now, service in the Kingdom now demands different kinds of people doing different things, true? All of us will have differing assignments in eternity.

The angels also serve God with different ranks, right? There are angels and archangels and seraphim and cherubim and principalities and powers and rulers and we too in our glorified state will all be given a special place of service. And that place of service will be related to the service we rendered here. And the service we are able to render here is in a measure dependent upon sovereignly designed gospel privilege so that ultimately our eternal service is dependent on God's sovereign choice for us and our response to that.

However, when you get to heaven you won't have the sense of relative service. Each one of us will be exactly like Christ, perfect, sinless, fully possessing eternal life. So whatever service we render it will be infinitely and perfectly satisfying. So there will be no sense of disparity, or not sense of lesser privilege or greater privilege than anyone else has. Because the privilege we occupy there will be in exact accord with our eternal God-designed and God-given capacities.

So when people say, "Are we all going to be the same in eternity?" The answer is yes. "And yet are we going to be distinct?" The answer is yes. And we let God resolve those paradoxes that are beyond us. Look, verse 22-23, "The one who received two talents came, said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I've gained two more talents. 23 His master replied, “Excellent, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things, I'll make you ruler over many things."

Now notice there's another part of the commendation at the end of verse 21, and at the end of verse 23, "Come and share your master’s happiness!” This is a marvelous statement. We not only will receive a verbal commendation from the Lord and serve Him eternally, but we will share the very joy of the Lord Himself. We will be as joyful as the Lord is joyful. Imagine the consummate joy of a redemptive plan completely finished.

During the time of our Lord's reign on the earth, there will be people living in the Kingdom. They will live through the Tribulation and are redeemed. The Lord will come, they will still be alive. He will set up His Kingdom and they will go into the Kingdom in physical bodies alive. We, the church, will come down in glorified bodies so the millennial Kingdom will be made up of physical people on the earth and He will have these spiritual glorified people that have already gone to be the Lord and come back in their glorified bodies. And they will live together under Jesus’ rule there.

And then Jesus will give out certain responsibilities. And to those who have greater capacity, as demonstrated in a faithfulness prior to His coming, He will give greater extent of rule. As those with a lesser capacity will receive a lesser level of rule. So God has designed things sovereignly and while the Kingdom provides a certain amount of equality, there will also be a certain amount of inequality in the sense that we will all be distinctly serving and ruling in ways unique to each of us.

Now look at verse 24-25, "Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.”

Here is one who only professes to believe. He says his goal in life is to serve his master. But there are two things that betray him. Number one, he produced nothing. There was no fruit. Secondly, he attacks the character of his master. He is not a loving servant who respects and loves his master. He says, "I knew that you are a hard man.” He is illustrative of a man who just wasted opportunity.

He is functioning out of fear. He says, "Religion is too difficult for me.” And religion is full of people who would make that excuse. And then he says "harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed." You know what that means? You are harvesting somebody else's work. Now does he know the God that we know? He does not have a personal relationship with the Lord at all. He is blind to his master's kindness and grace.

Verse 26, " His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?” You can read the Scripture. You can hear the message. He is a God of grace and mercy and compassion. He says, "You are wicked in the sense that you pursued your evil pursuits. And you would not toil in My service because you had no heart for that.”

Verse 27, "Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.” He is saying to him, "You're a liar. You ignored your spiritual opportunity because your own desire is different. It wouldn't have been a full return like five on five and two on two, but you could have done something with it.”

And then finally to the reward. What happens to these servants? Verse 28 says, "Take therefore the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents." Why him? Well, he was the one with the greater capacity. It's a great concept. Now in the church today a lot of people are serving the Lord. Some of this service is being done by people who belong to the visible church but are not redeemed. So sometimes tares are very involved.

But in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ throughout eternity, there will be only service offered by true believers. And here He quotes this principle in verse 29, “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” In other words, the ones who have demonstrated fruit, the ones who have used their opportunities will receive in abundance.

God in sovereignty will give the service to whomever He wills. But He will take it away from the phonies. Then what happens to them? Verse 30, "And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Just be sure you're ready when He comes. And it may not be that you wait till the Second Coming for that day may come the moment you die and that may be very near. Well, let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 15 Mar 2015 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150315 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000001C imblog

Matthew 25:14-19

In Matthew 25 tonight we will look at one of the great parables in all of the Scripture. It is a parable about the tragedy of wasted opportunity. The Bible calls all of us to make the most of spiritual opportunities, we are called to maximize our privileges. We are reminded to sow our seed and not expect much for we do not know whether we will prosper either in this or that. In other words, we should take advantage of every chance we get for we know that any missed opportunity is a wasted one.

Proverbs 10:5 says, "He who gathers in summer is a wise son; he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.” You better store up while you can, you better harvest while there is harvest to be had. In Isaiah 55:6 it says, "Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.” In Jeremiah 8:7 it says, "The stork in heaven knows her appointed times and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming, but My people know not the judgment of the Lord." The animals know where to be when and how to care for themselves, and that's more than some people know.

And our Lord Jesus also called us to make the most of the moment, to make the most of every spiritual privilege and spiritual opportunity. In John 12:35-36 Jesus said, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” Again, calling us to take advantage of spiritual opportunity.

So let us learn from Matthew 25:14-19, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.”

The simple overarching message is the tragedy of wasted opportunity. The disciples asked: when is Your coming? And Jesus has already answered five times in Matthew 24 and 25, "No one knows the day nor the hour." He gave signs of the period before His coming. He described the birth pains and He discussed the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. He talked about the evil of the great Tribulation period. He's given them all kinds of details as to the events around His Second Coming, but as to the exact moment and the exact day, He has not told them.

And the call comes in His holding back the exact day and the exact hour so that we must be ready at all times. And He explains it by using two parables: the parable of the virgins in verses 1 through 12 and the parable of the talents in verses 14 to 30. Both of them basically have the same intention. They are two very important parables. And verse 13 notice, links them together. And at the end of the first parable He says, "Watch therefore," Then verse 14 begins, "For it is like a man traveling," and it takes us right into the next parable.

Now the parable of the virgins and the parable of the talents differ in how we need to live. The first parable emphasized waiting. It was on that internal heart attitude that longs for the coming of the Lord. The parable of the talents is not an emphasis on waiting, it's an emphasis on working and serving. While we are waiting and while we are looking and while we are watching, we are to be serving the Lord. And that's what the parable of the talents emphasizes. And together they provide for us an ideal balance of living in anticipation of the Second Coming.

We should also make most of our opportunity and stewardship and magnify the very role that God has given us to serve Him. And if one of those things is over-emphasized, or one of them is lost, the Christian's experience is out of balance. People who are no longer looking for the Second Coming but spending all of their time working in the world have lost that which is necessary for balance. And people who are always looking and waiting and not bothering to be working have also lost a very important balance.

The balance of the Christian life can be seen by the virgins who had extra oil. The oil represented a transformed nature, a redeemed soul, a changed life. And the talent parable illustrates the fact that true believers manifest that necessary grace in the life of service. So on the one hand you have saving grace, on the other hand you have the product of that in the serving life. That's the balance in Christianity. True saving faith is the faith that works. James 2 says, faith without works is dead.

What do we need to know then about spiritual opportunities? There are four things in this parable that we need to know. We need to know the responsibility we receive, the reaction we have, the reckoning we face and the reward we gain. Those are the things we need to know as we anticipate using our opportunities. And they are all here in this marvelous parable.

Let's start with the responsibility we receive in verse 14. It is a transition right out of the former parable which was talking about the Kingdom. So the Kingdom is likened to two of these parables, this being the second one. The Kingdom is the sphere where God rules by grace and salvation through Christ. Now sometimes the term, the "Kingdom of heaven" is used for the exclusive internal invisible spiritual body of redeemed people.

But on the other hand, sometimes the Kingdom of heaven is used to refer to the visible Kingdom, which is made up of people who identify themselves with Christ, some are real and some are false, right? The Kingdom, for example, is like wheat and tares in Matthew 13. The Kingdom is like a dragnet full of stuff that is dragged up from the bottom of the sea, some is fish to be kept and some is refuse to be thrown away. The Kingdom is for instance made up of soil, some is good and some is bad.

We do the same thing with the word "church." For example, sometimes when we refer to the church we are talking about the truly redeemed, aren't we? But when we say something is wrong in the church today, we could be talking about the mixture of stuff that's in the church. The same is true in the Lord's references to the Kingdom. He is talking about two kinds of servants, the kind who use their opportunity and the kind who waste it. But both of them identify themselves as servants of the Lord.

So, this Kingdom is like a man who travels on a long trip into a far country. And in those days travel was difficult and you could be gone for two years. So he calls his own servants and delivers them his goods. The Kingdom is filled with different kinds of servants. It is a net full of fish to be kept and garbage to be discarded. There is wheat and tares. It is virgins with oil and virgins without. It is two houses, one with a foundation and one without a foundation. It is two paths and two gates.

So we must understand that in the Kingdom there always is this combination unless the Lord is specifically talking about the invisible inward spiritual Kingdom for the truly redeemed. So here's the picture. The man has a lot of people who attach themselves to him. Their heart attitude is going to be manifest right here. And there are a lot of people in the Kingdom today, a lot of people in His church today, under the authority of the Christ- appointed leaders and pastors today.

And we can see the comparison of the kind whose hearts are right and the kind whose hearts are not right as we put them up against this very parable. Now notice what happens. "He calls his own servants" and he delivers to them his goods. He's going to be gone long enough and he has to keep up with the economy. So he has to make wise investments. He has to make sure that everything is cared for.

Now, the word for servant here is the word “doulos” and we could even translate it as an "employee." Here were people who were trustworthy capable servants and he gave each of them a certain amount of his goods so that they could bring him back a return on his property while he was gone. They were stewards to handle the funds and assets and resources for the profit of the master, which profit they would return to him upon his arrival back.

Now notice verse 15, and this will tell us the responsibility we have, "And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.” Now he knows the skill of each of his servants. So he apportions out to them that which he believes they are capable of handling properly. To the first he gives five talents, to the second two and to the third one. They are only illustrative. The numbers could be different but they illustrate low and high and somewhere in the middle.

We know that a talent basically in the English sense speaks of someone's abilities. But actually it meant a weight. That's why in Revelation 16 it talks about a hailstone weighing a talent. Now the value of each talent would depend on whether it was gold, very valuable, or whether it was silver, quite a bit less, or whether it was copper, quite a bit less again. It's probably best to see this as silver because the word used for money in verse 18 is a word that is frequently used to refer to silver coinage.

And the idea of the owner was, take this, invest it and get a return for me on it, show yourself a faithful steward. It isn't important what the monetary value was. What is important is only to see what they did. Now notice in verse 15 also, "He gave them to every man according to his ability." Each man's ability was that which determined what he received. Some people had greater capacity to handle a large amount of money than other people did.

So as we look at the parable we can see that the master here is the Lord Himself. And going on a journey is the Lord going back to heaven where He is right now. We are now given a management role. And we have been given various bags of talents. And that is what we are to use for the working out and the serving that God would have us accomplish while He is away, until Christ comes back. Not all of us have received the same amount.

Everybody is created differently with differing mental capacities, differing verbal capacities, differing skills, talents and capabilities. And then, you add to that the fact that each us has been exposed to different opportunities, different privileges, different teachers, and different discipling processes. And maybe there are people who are limited educationally and maybe some people are limited mentally and some people are limited emotionally.

It is a picture of spiritual capacity and spiritual privilege and spiritual responsibility and spiritual opportunity. And in the story, the servant who really loves his master is going to say, "Wow, here's my opportunity to really invest my time and my energy and my thought and my work to bring him back a return on what he's given me. Here's my opportunity to show him that he was right in trusting me, to sort of return his confidence in me.” So the issue is what they do with those opportunities.

The talents in our bag that we carry would include the teaching we have received. How much opportunity to hear, mixed with our God-given and God-created intellectual capacities, emotional capacities and gifts and skills? And how much opportunity for fellowship? And how much opportunity for spiritual advantage and insight? And how much opportunity for blessing? And how much have we received of all that the Kingdom offers? That's our bag, mixed with our God-given capabilities.

All of us in the visible church, who identify ourselves as servants of the Lord, whether we're real or not, have been given these privileges. And you have the privilege of hearing the Word of God, of being taught, of meeting people who love the Lord and walk with the Lord. God put you here to fill your bag here. And God has given you the opportunity to be whatever it is that He designed you to be. He gives each person gifts according to the measure of grace and the proportion of faith.

Notice also, that the five doubled his and the two doubled his? This shows an equal percent of faithfulness, even though the result is not the same. It is true in spiritual ministry that some have greater results than others. And the implication of this parable is that even in the Kingdom there will be different levels of rulership for people with different capacities. The issue is, did we give back to God when given the opportunity a maximum return? If you have five, He wants five more back. If you have two, He wants two more back.

It is a stewardship bag, it is a bag of privilege. We are managing that part of God's fortune. Listen, every time you sit under the teaching of the Word of God, every time we read the Word of God, every time we learn a great truth out of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit just dropped something else in our bag. And now you are responsible for the living out and the working out of that opportunity and privilege you have been given.

What do we do with the spiritual opportunity? Verse 16, "Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made five more talents." His heart instantly responds to the privilege of serving his Lord. That is the fruit of inward salvation. And he went and traded, the word means to work literally. He went out and did business. He made the most of his spiritual privilege, the most of his spiritual opportunity.

And verse 17 says, "Likewise, the one who had received two also gained two more." He made the most of his, too. Not everybody has the same opportunity. Some people hear the gospel a very limited way. Some people have exposure to a massive amount of it. But in both cases they gave a maximum return on the privilege God gave them. And that's what God was after. Be faithful to maximize your opportunity.

But, verse 18 says, "He that had received one went and dug in the earth and hid his lord's silver money." Now that was a common thing to do when you wanted to save money. He does absolutely nothing with it, he wasted his opportunity, wasted his privilege. God says that the one who has the very least opportunity is equally responsible.

The responsibility and the reaction then leads to the reckoning. But notice the reckoning in verse 19, "After a long time, the lord of those servants comes and reckons with them." He comes back to see how they've done in terms of stewardship in regard to their opportunity. And that's the way it's going to be when the Lord returns. Have you really given the Lord a whole life of service in return for that? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Mar 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150308 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000001D imblog

Matthew 25:1-13

Matthew 25:1-13, “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.”

“8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

Four times already the Lord has said He is coming in an unknown moment. And now He gives a parable and concludes the parable by saying, "You know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." This parable is to teach us the suddenness and the unexpectedness of the coming of the Lord which therefore should call us to be prepared for His coming.

Notice verse 1 starts with the word "then" which takes us to the time when the Lord comes that He has just been speaking of at the closing of Matthew 24. The time when He comes to reward the faithful servant and to punish the unfaithful servant. At that time the Kingdom of heaven, will be like this. So here is a parable to illustrate the time period of the Second Coming to the time of the coming of the Lord which calls for alertness and readiness on the part of all of us for that time will come suddenly.

And this parable warns the world not to let that happen again. For there will be no recourse in the future. Now the theme of the parable is very simple. The parable is meant to teach us that Jesus is coming to judge sinners and to reward the righteous. And He is coming in an unexpected moment and everyone should be prepared. And there will be no second chance. People may knock, but the door will be shut. The day of opportunity will be gone forever.

Now the parable is simple. As you read the many commentaries that have been written about this parable, it can get very confusing. There are the allegorists who want to turn it into an allegory and give every single thing in it a mystical meaning so that you get lost in a mass of verbiage of hidden secret spiritual ideas. That is not the intent of a parable. And then there are the ones who want to see in everything something applicable to the Christian life. And that is wrong as well.

Let's look first, at the wedding. And only that which is significant to the application is drawn from the wedding scene. It would be a typical wedding in an Israel town at the time of our Lord. A wedding was the greatest social celebration that those people knew anything about. Everybody got involved, friends, family, everybody. It was a time of happiness. It was a time of celebration.

But it's essential for us to know that in a Jewish marriage, there were three elements. Long before the scene here there was an engagement. And the engagement was an official contract between the two fathers who were giving their daughter and their son to each other. So engagements weren't really made with the couple, they were made between the fathers.

After that, there would be the second phase of the wedding and that was a betrothal. Now the betrothal was the official ceremony. The couple would come together before friends and family and they would make vows and binding covenants. Thirdly, they had an official wedding and they were then married. And any breaking of a betrothal period was a divorce. And if the husband happens to die during that period, the wife was considered a widow even though the marriage had not been consummated.

So the fathers made an initial engagement for the children to be married. The children then made their vows to each other which were binding. And then there was up to a year for the young man to get things ready to provide a place for her, perhaps to build an addition on his father's house, or a house of his own, or to purchase land and cultivate a field and show that he could care for her. At the end of the time that he would take her and they would live together. There was no ceremony, just the official wedding celebration. And that is the third phase and that is what we see here.

So just imagine the anticipation of the bride and bridegroom having to go through the process of finally coming to the place where the marriage was going to be consummated. And the parable here describes phase 3, the actual the wedding feast, where he comes to her house and she's waiting there with all of her bridesmaids and he arrives with all of the men and he collects his bride and her maids and they all go with torches, parading through the night and through the village in a celebration unequalled in their social life.

Everything is ready. Then the wedding party would go into the house and celebrate as long as seven days. At the end of that period of celebration, the friend of the bridegroom, who was like the best man, would take the hand of the bride, place it in the hand of the bridegroom and after that everyone would leave. And so it would be a marvelous beginning to a glorious life together for this bride and bridegroom.

A second thing we need to know to understand from this parable is the ten bridesmaids. Notice verse 1, "Ten virgins took their lamps," actually the Greek word means torch. There was a long wooden pole and on the top of the pole would be a kind of a wire mesh attached, filled with cloth. That cloth would be soaked in oil and then lit to give a flaming torch. They would carry with them a little flask of oil so that they could keep that lit for as long as necessary.

So here are ten virgins who take their torches and go to the house of the bride, waiting to meet the bridegroom. They are the young girls who will attend to her. They are called virgins. They were young in those days when they married and these were her friends who as yet were not married, chosen because they were sisters or close friends. And there was no special spiritual meaning attached to being a virgin.

Now they take their torches. They bring it because that is a sign they are invited. Just like perhaps at a wedding today where bridesmaids carry flowers as a symbol that they belonged to the wedding party. And they brought their torches along to light the night sky in the wonderful procession that they would all celebrate when the bridegroom finally came.

It says they went to meet him. Now who are these girls? They are professed Christians. They are those who claim to belong to Christ. They are those who have gathered with other Christian people to await the coming of the Lord. They are those who say they know Christ and they anticipate His coming. Who say they believe and they know about the wedding and they know the time is near and they even say they have made their preparation.

They have on their wedding garment and they have their torch. Their presence symbolizes their interest and their torch symbolizes their profession of faith in Christ. They show outward marks of watching for the coming of the bridegroom. They show outward marks of readiness. They show outward marks of commitment to Jesus Christ. There are part of the believing community. They profess to hear the gospel and believe. They profess to be disciples waiting for the Son of God, the Kingdom.

And, when you just see the ten of them, they look all the same. They all have on their wedding garments. They are all chosen bridesmaids. They all attend to the bride. They all have their torches. And they are at first indistinguishable but they are not alike. And this is the message of the parable. Verse 2, “five of them were wise and five were foolish.” The searcher of the heart knows.

And there is a characterization in verse 2, as Jesus looks into the heart of these ten. Five were sensible and wise and five were stupid. So they are very different. Not outwardly distinguishable, but inwardly very different. As different as you can be, wise and stupid. The Lord reads our character and marks our place. The Lord knows them that are His and them that are not His in every assembly of worshipers.

We may not, but He knows. And the differentiation here is preparedness. Here is where their wisdom and foolishness manifests itself. Verse 3 and 4, “Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.” The wise, they carried the flask with the extra oil, the fools had no extra oil. They all made profession but only five had the genuine oil of preparedness.

Now what is that oil? It is the reality of saving grace that distinguishes people. There is a crowd of people all of whom outwardly apparently honor Jesus Christ, but there will be different hearts, some prepared and some unprepared. The oil is like the garment of Matthew 22:11, you remember that the wedding feast there, the king calls a wedding for his son and he sees the guests and he finds a man without a wedding garment. He is also unprepared. He tries to crash the Kingdom, without a prepared heart.

This is a repeated message of our Lord and this needs to be emphasized in every church across this world because the church is filled with people who are unredeemed and unprepared for the coming of the Lord. The Lord didn't say one of them didn't have any oil, He said five of them didn't. God sees a large number of people like this. They will be at that moment unprepared though they have been religious and though they have nice feelings toward Christ, many people are self-deceived into thinking that all is well.

Look at verse 5, "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” In this analogy from our Lord, the bridegroom doesn't come when they expect him. This is a hint to the disciples that it is going to be longer than they think before Jesus returns. In Matthew 24 and 25 the Lord is saying even when you have seen the signs given in Matthew 24:4-31, even when you've seen the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, it's still going to be a time before He finally comes.

So people are seen waiting and waiting and then going back to the normal things of life, they doze off and go to sleep. They can't keep themselves awake and they fall asleep. Nothing wrong with sleep. But there is something wrong with it if you are not prepared for what is going to waken you out of your sleep. And so you settle back in to doing what you normally do, that is to eat and sleep and work. And so, the groom tarries and the girls fall asleep. Their false sense of security let them sleep in their day of opportunity.

Let's look at the bridegroom in verse 6, "And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” Our Lord is simply saying it is an unexpected time. Exodus 12:29 tells us that the deliverance of Israel from Egypt began at midnight, also in an unexpected time. Maybe that is why the rabbis used to say that the Messiah would come at midnight.

And this is the glorious moment that begins the wedding. And even though it is late, it will go on for seven days anyway. The procession is collected as the bridegroom comes with his ten attending men, perhaps. He then meets the bride with her ten bridesmaids together with their lamps, they are ready to light them and proceed to his prepared home for her. This is the analogy of the Second Coming, the very moment of it.

Verse 7 says, "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.” And the ones with the oil poured the oil on ready to go and lit the torch and it flamed in the night sky. Those who had no oil, they knew it now. Maybe they thought they could just buy it down the street just before he got there. Maybe they hadn't even bothered to think about that, maybe they thought they could just sort of borrow that, they were just unprepared.

And verse 8, "And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But if the call to be at the judgment seat of God came to you whether in death or in the Second Coming of Christ, and when you were not ready, all the saints in heaven and all the people on earth could never save you. Salvation is non-transferable. It is not that the wise were selfish, that's not the point. The parable is intended to teach the non-transferable nature of salvation. The saved cannot save the lost.

So, the wise answer in verse 9, "No, lest there be not enough and you. Go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves." The idea here is to teach that you have to procure your own, you personally have to have a relationship with Jesus. The buying does not mean that you have to pay a price for salvation, no, it is a free gift. But you pay the price of giving up your whole self, right? Like the man who sold everything he had to buy the treasure hidden in the field and the other man who sold everything he had to buy the pearl of great price.

People, this is the most fearful teaching the Bible gives! And Jesus gave it over and over again. In the church are myriads of people who are unprepared to face God. And they are deceived about that. And in the moment when they face the reality of their unpreparedness, it will too late. That reality of imputed righteousness is not there. That transformed character is not there. Oh, they may belong to the community of believers but they are not prepared.

Verse 10, "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.” What a thought. There are those moments of sheer terror immediately after the awareness that you have met holy God and are unprepared. The lesson is the same for us. Every one meets God at the moment of death if we are not alive in that time of His great coming. Matthew 7:23 says, "Then will I profess to them, depart from Me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity."

Notice verse 11 and 12, “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” There is no second chance. The only sure way to be ready on the unexpected day is to be ready every day. Verse 13, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” You don't know that exact moment of the Second Coming, so be ready all the time. You see, to be a little late is to be late forever.

In Luke 21:34 we hear it again, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” In other words, you live for this world and if you are caught in the moment of confronting God, you will know, verse 35, “For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.” Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 01 Mar 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150301 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000001E imblog Matthew 24:43-51

Someone said, “The Christian exists in a tension between what is already and what is not yet.” We have already experienced salvation; we have not yet experienced the redemption of our bodies. We have already received the power of the Holy Spirit; we have not yet seen the fullness of that power. We have already received life eternal but we have not yet participated in the resurrection. Yes, already He has borne our sins, but we look for Him because not yet has He come the second time to full and glorious salvation.

1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Yes, we have received Jesus Christ, yet we are not yet like Christ. Those who would look and hear the message of the second coming of Jesus Christ but who are not ready for that event should live in fear. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:11, “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Deuteronomy 4:24 says, “Our God is a consuming fire.”

In Matthew 24:3, “The disciples gathered around Jesus on the Mount of Olives and they said, ‘Tell us, when these things will be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” So in verses 4 through 35, our Lord gave the signs. Now He answers the “when” question in verse 36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”

We are now living in the church age. It comes to an end with the rapture of the church. That is the beginning of the Day of the Lord. The church is taken out. The restrainer, the Holy Spirit, does not restrain evil anymore. There’s the rise of antichrist. He looks like the savior of Israel, but halfway through a period of seven years, immediately after the rapture of the church, he desecrates the Most Holy place, he sets up an idol, calls the whole world to worship himself, and that triggers the Tribulation.

In that Great Tribulation, all kinds of terrorizing events take place. They are called by Jesus, the birth pains of the kingdom. They are the successive pains that come upon the earth that issue in the birth of the kingdom of Christ. They come at the very end, similar to birth pains come at the end of a pregnancy. The judgment of God falls as described in Revelation 6 through 18. Then the heavenly bodies fall and the powers of the heavens are shaken, and in that blackness, Christ appears in verses 29 to 31.

But how long from that sign of the Son of Man in heaven to the actual establishing of the kingdom and judgment, we don’t know. And there is an interval there. In the book of Daniel, it’s at least a 75-day interval, but it might even be more than that. And somewhere in that time period after the Tribulation, Christ is going to come in final glory and judgment. But the exact moment, the exact day is not known.

Now, that’s very important, brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ’s second coming will occur at an unknown time. It could happen in any generation. Before it happens, there will be the rapture of the church, there will be the time of Tribulation, there will be the rise of antichrist, there will be all the signs, the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then some time following that, Jesus Christ will come.

Now, what is to be our response to this sudden coming of Christ? First of all, we saw in our last sermon, alertness. Look at Matthew 24:37-39, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

It’s amazing that the people in the time of Noah didn’t believe it was going to rain because they had had somebody telling them that for 120 years. Noah was a preacher of righteousness and judgment. And he gave them a very large sign of coming judgment by building a massive boat, an ark. And it says until the Flood came and engulfed them, they didn’t realize it. They just went on with the routines of life, literally ignoring the preaching of judgment, the sign and the symbol of the coming Flood. And so it will be in the day of the second coming of Christ.

The world mostly will ignore the rapture; they will ignore the abomination of desolation; they will ignore the events that occur during the Tribulation time. They will ignore even the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; they will rationalize it away. And when Jesus comes, they will be shocked. But such is the blindness of the human heart. Listen, the people in Israel couldn’t even tell when God Himself walked in their midst. And the truth is that in that age, sin will be worse than it has ever been.

And then judgment comes in verses 40-41, “And then shall two be in the field and one taken and the other left. Two grinding at the mill, and one taken and the other left.” This judgment will divide humanity. Those taken are taken in judgment. Those left are left to go into the kingdom. The righteous will be left to go into the kingdom and the wicked will be taken away into outer darkness and eternal judgment.

So what is the first response to the sudden unexpected of second coming? Verse 42 says, “Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord does come.” In Matthew 16, Jesus said to the Jews, “You are great at predicting the weather but you have no idea about the spiritual signs.” So the first requirement is alertness. The second is readiness.

Look at verse 43, “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.” “But know this” states a fact. If the householder had known time the thief would come, he would have been watching. Jesus says, “the householder did not know what time the thief would come, so he could not have prevented his house to be broken into.”

And the Lord’s coming is often likened to the coming of a thief. It is not that Christ is like a thief, it is that Christ will come suddenly and unexpectedly like a thief comes suddenly and unexpectedly. Now, that it is hard to imagine people will not be affected by the rapture and all these other events. But sin is so overwhelmingly blinding, and the mystery of iniquity having reached its apex, and hostility toward God reaching a fever pitch, such that people are going to explain it away in other ways.

Verse 44 says, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Look for just a moment in Luke where the Lord gives basically the same warning in a few different terms. Luke 12:35-37, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.”

Now we can go back to Matthew 24. So what is the difference in being alert and being ready? Being alert has to do with recognizing the signs. Now readiness has to do with a prepared heart, it has to do with salvation. And there is a third thing that is required, not only do we have to be alert, and be ready, but we also have to be faithful. Notice verse 45 through 51, faithfulness. Here again is a beautiful analogy, a parable, which our Lord also uses in Luke 12 in another setting because it illustrates so very clearly the point that He wants to make. It is a powerful, powerful illustration.

Matthew 24:45-51, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Who is this faithful and wise servant whom his lord has made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? In this parable the lord is like God, the servant is like every man and woman in the world. And every person has been given a stewardship, every one of us has been given a responsibility. It is as if the Lord says, “here, you manage life and intellect, emotion and talent and spiritual sensitivity, all that I give you in creating you in My image, all that I give you in terms of opportunity to serve Me, you’re responsible for.”

In other words, every person in the world - not just Christians - every single person in the world has been given a management test by God. Life, breath, privilege, all those things are granted to us by God and they are a stewardship for which we are accountable. And hell will be populated not only by the devil and his angels, but by people who wasted that privilege, who embezzled God’s substance. Every man and woman in the world will be accountable to God for the wastefulness of their stewardship and who failed and refused to serve God in the way that He commands.

Verse 46 says, “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes will find so doing.” That indicates that they are believers, redeemed and obedient. Obedience is always the mark. Doing the will of God is always the mark of true salvation. So when the Lord comes, He will find the true servant doing what He told them to do – fulfilling His will and living out their stewardship to the fullest.

Verse 47, “Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.” What that says is when the Lord comes back and finds His servants faithful and obedient, He is going to put them over everything He possesses. Revelation 3:21 says, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” What you do with this little slice of time now will determine whether or not you will rule in eternity with Christ.

Verse 48-51, “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Those people, who not being faithful over little, cannot be made lord over much.

And there are many people who are going to be like that. They say, “Okay, I have heard all this prophetic stuff. As I see the signs coming, I will just wait till the last moment. And in the meantime I’m going to focus on myself, and if the others get in the way and try to take anything I have got, I will punish them. And I am going to have my fun and I am going to eat and drink with my friends. I am going to live the worldly lifestyle with gusto.

That is an illustration of an unregenerate person. And that’s why it says he will be given a portion with the hypocrites, verse 51. It doesn’t seem to indicate here that he’s much of a hypocrite. I mean a hypocrite is somebody who pretends to be religious. This guy isn’t pretending to be religious, not beating up people and running around with drunks. But he will go to the same place that religious phonies go, which is to say that the category is broader than just this single illustration. It’s for all the unregenerate people.

Well, the lord of that servant is going to come in a day, verse 50 says, when you’re not looking for him and an hour you’re not even aware of. Don’t postpone choosing. Christ isn’t going to change. If you don’t want Jesus Christ now when sin is to some extent restrained, what makes you think you’ll want Him more in the future when sin is unrestrained and your evil is never higher in the history of man?

And verse 51 says, “When the master comes back and finds his unfaithful servant, he cuts him in two.” The Greek verb is also used in Exodus 29:17 to describe the sawing in half of an animal when it was offered in sacrifice. It is to illustrate the serious, devastating judgment of the Lord. Jesus is going to come when they don’t expect it, and the people are going to pay with a severe price. The man’s going to be cut in half, given a portion with all the rest of the unbelievers and hypocrites, and spend the rest of eternity weeping and gnashing his teeth in hell.

So what is to be the right kind of preparation for an unexpected and sudden coming of Christ? We have to be alert, ready and faithful to His command and His Word and fulfill the stewardship He has given us. We are going to learn more about this as we go into Matthew 25, as we look at the virgins, some of whom were ready and some of whom were not, and as we look at the talents, some of which were wasted and some of which were used.

Now, listen carefully what 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 says, “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” Just when you think everything is okay, just when you think you are going to make it and survive, then sudden destruction comes on you like travail on a woman with child. And they shall not escape.

I don’t have any desire to go through that tribulation period. The reality is much worse than any description in the Bible could conjure up in our imaginations. We want to see and meet Jesus Christ. Why would I want to be in an antichrist rule when I could be in the presence of Christ at the marriage supper of the Lamb? The Lord will take us out because our hearts are ready. But for the rest of the world, they’re going to think, “Oh, it will all work out, peace and safety.” And then sudden destruction when they least expect it. I hope you’re ready.

There is an interesting story of three apprentice demons who came before Satan. And he sent them to the earth to do their apprenticeship. And the first demon said, “I will tell people there is no God.” And Satan said, “It won’t work; they know better.” And the second apprentice demon said, “I will tell people there is no hell.” And Satan said, “It won’t work; they know better.” And the third demon said, “I will tell people don’t hurry, there still is much time.” And Satan said, “You will gain many souls.”

Paul said in Romans 13:11-12, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Listen to God and do what He says. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150222 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000001F imblog Matthew 24:36-42

Let us continue with Matthew, looking again at the signs of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is only a few hours now from betrayal and execution on the cross. He sits on the Mount of Olives and His disciples approach Him with an important question in verse 3. They say, “Tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” They have this feeling inside that the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is coming very soon.

So their question has two parts. What are the signs and when will it happen? And our Lord began by answering the “what-are-the-signs” question. And we have already studied that from verse 4 through 35. In that section, He tells them the sign of His coming. And specifically in verse 29 where it says the moon doesn’t give its light, the sun is dark, the stars fall, the powers of the heavens are shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. That’s the sign of His coming to earth, when they see Him in heaven.

And those general signs are triggered by a particular event in verse 15, the abomination of desolation, when the antichrist sets up the idol of himself in the Holy of Holies in the temple of Jerusalem and demands that the whole world worship him. That triggers the birth pains. Now, all of these signs, beginning with the abomination of desolation until the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, are rapid signs. The Bible tells us three and a half years, or 42 months, or 1260 days. Now, that’s the what-are-the-signs question.

Now, beginning in verse 36, Jesus discusses the “when” question. When specifically will He come? And that’s where we begin our study this evening. Verse 36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” He tells them the “when” is an unknown. The signs that precede the second coming have been clearly given in Matthew 24 and also in Revelation 6 through 18. But the specific moment, that is the day and hour are not known.

Look at Matthew 24:42, “Watch therefore for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” Verse 44, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Verse 50, “the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of.” Matthew 25:13, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” So Jesus is talking about the specific moment after the tribulation.

Remember that both Daniel and John writing in Revelation tell us that the Great Tribulation is a period of three and a half years, or 42 months, or 1260 days. We find that in Daniel 7:25, 9:27 and 12:7. We find it in Revelation 11:2-3, in Revelation 12:14 and Revelation 13:5. So that is very clear. Immediately after, says verse 29, comes the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Now, how immediately after, we don’t know. And once the sign comes, we don’t know how long it’ll be before He actually establishes His kingdom.

Daniel gives us a hint of it because in Daniel 12:11, he speaks of a period of testing and tribulation of 1290 days adding another 30 days on the end. And then in Daniel 12:12, he speaks of 1335 days adding another 45, making a total of 75 days. So Daniel sees a three-and- a-half-year period, or 42 months, or 1260 days, and then he sees another period, which is not described, of another 75 days.

So the Rapture, the rise of antichrist, the birth pains, the sign of the Son of Man, all those things have not happened yet. We don’t know what generation they will come upon. But the generation that it comes upon, even with all those signs, still won’t know the exact day and the exact hour when Christ is coming. God has chosen not to reveal that specific moment and to give no specific sign of that specific moment. And there is reason in His great wisdom for that.

We would not have an incentive to be spiritually prepared on a daily basis if we knew exactly when the Lord was going to come. And then Jesus says, “No, not the angels of heaven.” Even the angels don’t know it. The natural world does not know it and neither does the supernatural world. Now, angels in Isaiah 6, are hovering around the throne of God doing His bidding. In Matthew 18:10, they are face-to-face with God in intimate communion with Him.

Now in Mark 13:32, which is the parallel passage, it says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” How is it that Jesus Christ, who is God, cannot know something? Well, that is easily explained if we understand the meaning of His incarnation. Jesus Christ is fully God, but when He became a man, He voluntarily restricted the use of His divine attributes. So He lived without using His omniscience unless the Father told Him to use it.

In John 15:15, you have a very important verse in understanding Christ. Jesus said to the disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” In other words, Jesus’ knowledge in His incarnation was qualified by what the Father had revealed to Him. And the Father revealed things to Him through Scripture; that is, the Old Testament, as He studied the Scripture, through experience as He walked in the world and saw the moving of the power of God, and also through direct revelation.

How could He grow in wisdom if He was God? Because He grew in wisdom in the sense that He limited His knowledge to what the Father revealed to Him, so as long as He lived on earth, the Father was constantly revealing things to Him, so He was growing in wisdom. That was a self-imposed humiliation of His divine nature to accomplish your redemption and mine. And so as you look at Him here, in a sense He is still growing in wisdom. He is still increasing in knowledge because the Father has yet not revealed this to Him.

Now after the resurrection, this timing was revealed to Him. So that when He came out of the grave in the glory of His resurrection life, in Matthew 28:18, He said to His disciples, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and earth.” And then in Acts 1:7, He said this, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority,” and Jesus now doesn’t include Himself anymore. So after the resurrection, His knowledge was complete again.

But we don’t know the exact moment of His return. And there is a reason for that. Because the Lord wants every generation to live in expectancy, every generation to live prepared for that. So Christians ever since the New Testament have always lived in the eagerness of the coming of Christ knowing that it could come right away. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:7, “so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here is a first generation church in Corinth waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, why is Jesus waiting so long? The first part of that answer comes out of Revelation 14:15-16, “Another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.”

The imagery here is very important. You plant and the grain grows to its full ripeness and then you harvest. And the Lord has waited for the ripening of evil and sin. And God is not going to move in judgment until the harvest is ripe, until sin has run its course, until all the ungodliness of the mystery of iniquity is revealed. Only then the sickle will be put in and the harvest will be accomplished. So that is the reason God has waited for these two thousand years.

There is another reason in Romans 11:25, “For I do not desire brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” The fullness of the Gentiles speaks of the gathering in of the church in this age. God is waiting to collect the Gentiles who forever throughout eternity will give Him glory, praise and honor and serve Him. And also, verse 26 says, “so all Israel will be saved.”

Now look at 2 Peter 3:8-9, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God is waiting because He is long- suffering toward us, He is waiting until all the Gentiles and all the Jews planned from eternity past have come to redemption. It is not a lot of time because for God no time has gone by at all.

Look what the world thinks in 2 Peter 3:3-4, “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” The world is full of uniformitarians who believe that nothing ever changes. But verses 5-6 say, “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.”

Listen, the world has not always continued the same way. God wiped out the entire world except for eight people in the flood. And there is evidence all over the globe, for a worldwide flood where God drowned all of human civilization. In Genesis 6, God looked over the whole of mankind and said He saw nothing but wickedness and evil continually and decided to only save eight righteous souls on the face of the earth: Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives.

But 2 Peter 3:10 says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” At the time when the Lord comes in His second coming to begin His thousand-year kingdom, the heavens and the earth are dramatically changed. He recreates a new heaven and a new earth for the Millennium kingdom.

Then at the end of the kingdom, in Revelation 21, John talks about the new heaven and the new earth. So this re-creation process is two-phased. When Jesus comes, there will be a modification of the universe. And at the end of the 1000 year kingdom, there will be a re- creation of a new heaven and a new earth that is eternal. During the kingdom it will be a restored earth as we know it and a restored heavens as we know it. But in the final eternal state, we will be in a new heaven and a new earth, something we have never known.

So Peter describes the whole dissolution of everything at the end of the 1000 year kingdom and says there will be a disintegration of everything as we know it in space and on the earth and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, he says in verse 13. But that change begins before the thousand years as we have a restored heaven and a restored earth. And we know that because the collapse is very clear in the Tribulation and something new comes out of that and then finally something even more glorious in the eternal state.

Now let’s go back to verse 36. No one really knows the exact day and hour. We know the generation, right, because it’s the generation that sees the birth pains in verses 32 to 35. So what should be the attitude of every generation? First of all we should be alert and secondly, we should be ready. And thirdly, we should be faithful. And now we’re going to look only at the first one, alertness. The unexpectedness of the second coming calls for alertness.

Now, here Peter relates the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and its cataclysmic tribulation judgment back to the flood. It is the only illustration in human history that can even come close because that event totally destroyed the face of the earth. And so we are going to find that the attitude that prevailed during the time of Noah will be the attitude that will prevail during the time of the second coming. That is the meaning when Jesus says in verse 37, “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”

You see, in the days of Noah, people ignored the truth. Do you know how long Noah preached? Noah told people there was going to be a flood. And they laughed because it had never rained. And there was no water there. And you know how long he built that boat? A hundred and twenty years and they laughed and they ridiculed and they derided him. But 2 Peter 2:5 says he was a preacher of righteousness. For 120 years, they went on with life as usual while he preached judgment to them by building a great big wooden boat right in the middle of everywhere so everyone could see it. And they still did not believe it.

Well, how will that compare to the second coming? Verse 38-39, “Whereas in the days of Noah that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” What it means is life went on as usual, right? They just lived as if nothing would ever change. They totally disregarded what was going on. They didn’t see its implications. And that’s exactly what will happen in the Tribulation.

And there are going to be signs for three and a half years. And there will be preachers of righteousness, and the hundred and forty-four thousand, and the two witnesses of Revelation 11, and the redeemed Gentiles from all over the world of Revelation 7. The people will hear the message but they will not believe it until they are washed away in the ultimate judgment in the second coming. They will come up with all kinds of reasons to mock and laugh and ridicule. And if they were that wicked in the day of Noah, they will be more wicked in the day of the coming of the Son of Man.

Listen, there will be a massive redeemed remnant, innumerable, according to Revelation 7. There will be the revival and the faith of the nation Israel. But there will be also a worldwide rejection of all of these things as having anything to do related to God. And then you understand what it says in Genesis 7:11-16, when they went in the ark, and shut the door. “And so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be,” it says at the end of verse 37, “And so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be,” it says at the end of verse 39. Twice, it says that.

And then Jesus gets very specific in verse 40 and 41, “Then shall two be in the field, one shall be taken, the other left. Two grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left.” The word “one” in verse 40 is masculine in gender while the “one” in verse 41 is feminine in gender. And so it’s just life as usual, and in the midst of the routine of life, one shall be taken in judgment. Two at the mill and one is taken in judgment. And the other left – the other left – what are they left for? They are the redeemed and saved.

Now verse 42, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” So the word here is to be alert. It’s a present imperative, be continually alert. Every generation, every person, be alert, “For you know not what hour your Lord does come.” It’s a cry for constant vigilance, constant alertness. He will come and men who recognize that He is coming will be alert spiritually to that coming.

Listen, this is not fiction, this is fact. This is how it will be. Just as the prophets said how it would be in His first coming and He fulfilled every prophecy, so will He in His second coming fulfill all. And if He’s not your Lord now, He will be your Lord then. And His Lordship will be made manifest in His right to send you into eternal hell, into punishment. And at that moment, every knee will bow, some in loving adoration, some in terror, but every knee will bow. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Feb 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150215 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000020 imblog Matthew 24:32-35

God’s Word to us this evening is from Matthew 24:32-35, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

The hope of every Christian is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. The Bible says we are looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God and waiting for the redemption of the body. The day when the saints (believers) shall also judge the world, when we shall all be changed and we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

We look back to the cross where our souls were redeemed. We look forward to the second coming where our bodies will be redeemed. And we long for the day when Satan will be defeated. It is in that day that saints and all creation will be liberated and that sin and death will be eliminated. Matthew 24 and 25 is Jesus’ own sermon on His second coming. So we are finding wonder after wonder as we hear the Savior tell them that this is not the end, but He will return in glory and power to establish His kingdom.

Now, tonight we come to this short portion in which our Lord gives the parable of the fig tree. But in order to understand it, we have to look at the context. Jesus sits down with His disciples after climbing the Mount of Olives. And this happened after Jesus final word to the Jewish people in Matthew 23:39, “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord,” when He introduced His coming in the kingdom that was promised by the prophets of old.

Then Jesus answers the disciples’ question: What are the signs? And beginning in Matthew 24: 4-14 He describes some general signs that would occur immediately prior to His second coming. And those signs were called in verse 8 birth pains. Then in verse 15, He said there is one thing that triggers these general signs and it is the abomination of desolation. Verse 21 calls it the great tribulation in which the birth pains take place.

Then Jesus gave them the specific sign in verse 29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun is dark and the moon doesn’t give its light, the stars fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens are shaken.” It’s the disintegration of the universe. “And then appears the sign in verse 30-31, “When you see the Son of Man in heaven, then in all the tribes of the earth there will be mourning and you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 He’ll send out His angels and with a great sound of a trumpet, they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

After giving them those things as indicators, Jesus knows in their mind they still have many questions. Like how long it does last until the kingdom is established? How long until the Son of God reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords? How long do the birth pains last? How long is it from the sign in heaven to the kingdom on earth? And to answer the “when” question, He gives them this parable and its explanation in verses 32 to 35.

First, this is a simple analogy – verse 32, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.” Parables were given to make things clear to just the disciples. When Jesus gave a parable to the religious leaders and never explained it, it was a riddle to them.

But our Lord wants the disciples to understand what He says. Notice what He says, “Learn this parable.” In other words, don’t just listen but get the message, let it sink deeply into you. Paul uses the same verb in Philippians 4:11 where he says, “I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.” Something that he learned deeply through experience, it sunk into his heart.

So here is the explanation: “When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.” What does that mean? When the tree buds, it is spring, and spring means summer is near and summer means harvest. And when the Lord in Matthew speaks about harvest, He is speaking about the time to separate the good from the bad, of judgment. In Matthew 3:11 John the Baptist said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” And that fire is the fire of judgment.

So this leads to an application in verse 33, “So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near!” Well, when you see all the things that Jesus just talked about, the birth pains of verses 4 to 14, the abomination of desolation of verse 15, the need to flee because of great tribulation in verses 16 to 28. And then the sign of the Son of Man in heaven as the sky goes black and Jesus appears in all His glory, you know that it is near.

What is near? Luke 21:31 says, “So also when you see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is near at hand.” It is the end of man’s day, and it is the beginning of God’s day. The Millennial kingdom of Revelation 20:4-5 is in view here, when Jesus Christ reigns with His redeemed saints for a thousand years upon the earth and Satan is bound.

This is the glorious kingdom promised to Israel when Israel will be back in its land and will be preserved from all its enemies and become the servants of the Most High God, the time when Gentiles will be led by the Jews who will take them to God that they may know the true God. It is the time promised by all the prophets of old, that great kingdom.

And then in verse 34, further application, He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” Now, the question immediately is: What generation is He talking about? What generation is not going to pass, to die, to come to an end? And there are a lot of different answers. Let us examine some answers and see what the right answer is.

View number one suggest that this generation refers directly to the disciples, that what Jesus is saying is: “You disciples will not die before the second coming.” But that’s not true, right? And those people who hold that view say Jesus was simply wrong. They say we should not be surprised that He was wrong because He even admitted that in Mark 13:32 that the day nor the hour knows no one, not even the Son of Man. So they say Jesus even confessed His own ignorance.

What Jesus confessed there was that in His incarnation, being a human He said He did not know. He chose not to have that knowledge. But it’s one thing to choose not to have knowledge, it’s something else to propagate something that isn’t true. And Jesus never lost His connection with the truth. Jesus is not wrong. And it is unlikely that this generation means “this group of disciples” because if that’s what He meant, He could have said, “You will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled.”

View number two is that it refers to the disciples, but Jesus is talking about the fulfilling of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. In other words, this doesn’t describe the second coming. And many commentaries hold this view, that this whole thing is a description of the destruction of Jerusalem and that Jesus is saying, “You, this generation now, you disciples and the people of your time are going to be here in 70 A.D. when all this will take place.”

That also is unacceptable because you cannot confuse the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. with the second coming of Jesus Christ. The disciples did not ask Him about the coming of Romans, they are asking about the coming of Christ. When they said in verse 3, “What shall be the sign of Your coming?” They didn’t ask, “What’s the sign of the Romans coming?” And when He answered them, He answered their question and their question had to do with His coming.

For example, was the sun darkened, the moon not giving its light, the stars all falling out of heaven and the Son of Man appearing in heaven in gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth? When at that particular time did all the tribes on the face of the earth mourn? That did not happen, no way. And in 70 A.D., it was the Romans against the Jews, it wasn’t nation rising against nation and kingdom rising against kingdom and earthquakes and pestilences all over the world. No.

The third view is that it refers to the Jewish race, not generation. He’s saying, “This generation of Jews, this Jewish people, they will not die until all these things come to pass.” In other words, He is predicting the survival and continuity of the Jewish race until the second coming. Now, that’s true. But again, that’s not a good interpretation here for a couple of reasons. It doesn’t say “Israel,” and if the Lord was talking about Israel, surely He would say “My people.” To call them “this generation” seems to be a rather indifferent way to speak of the covenant people.

There is a fourth view, that is by “this generation” it means “God rejecting, Christ rejecting, kinds of people”. In other words, the kind of people that we have been talking to all day in the temple that hate what I stand for, these phony, religious people are going to be around until the second coming. So don’t expect things to get better. But it is vague and not consistent with the issue in the hearts and minds of the apostles. They’re not concerned about whether evil people are going to survive until the second coming, they’re concerned about when all that is going to happen.

There’s a fifth view, and that is that the fig tree is Israel. Jesus didn’t say that. So now you have stopped the analogy and you have got an allegory. And you have to explain what the elements of the allegory refer to. So we say then that the fig tree is Israel and when it puts forth its leaves, maybe that is the statehood of Israel in 1948. Okay, that’s sort of a popular view. But in the first place, Jesus didn’t say that, and secondly how in the world the disciples would have ever perceived the statehood of Israel in 1948 is pretty far- fetched.

Remember, Jesus is illustrating the things He has been teaching them. He is not trying to say something that is so obscure that it could never be perceived by anybody who lived before 1948. Plus, if the tree was Israel and it started to have leaves, we would assume that it was life coming into Israel that would be spiritual, not physical, and Israel, though alive today, is one of the most secular nations on earth.

Now, there is a sixth view, which is, when you see all these leaves, what are these leaves? The birth pains, right? The sign in heaven, all the things Jesus has been describing through the whole chapter of Matthew 24. When you see all those things, you know that judgment is near. And this generation – what generation? The “this” has to modify the people who see all those signs. This generation that sees all those things will not end until the rest is fulfilled.

We learned that it is a period of seven years called the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer. 30:7), but the real tribulation period lasts three and a half years, 1260 days, or 42 months, and that’s reiterated again and again by Daniel and John. And the generation that is alive when it begins is going to still be around when it ends because, it lasts just three and a half years.

Now, who is this generation? Among Christians, there are two main views. Some say the church will be there, that is a post-tribulational view. They will be taken out of the world after the Tribulation. So some of the Christians will get slaughtered in the process. We will go through it and we will go up and meet the Lord in the air and come back down for the kingdom. Other Christians believe in a pre-tribulational rapture, which means, before any of this, we are taken out and we spend the time with the Lord and come back at the end of the seven years tribulation.

Reason number one: The church appears as the theme in Revelation 2 and 3. And our Lord speaks to the church and purifies the church and writes letters to them and sends messages to the church and then ends that at the end of chapter 3 with Him standing at the door, knocking ready to come in. In Revelation 4 and 5 the church is in heaven. In Chapter 6, the Tribulation breaks out on earth, and from chapter 6 through 18, the whole story of the Tribulation, there is never one mention of the church. This absence is quite significant, especially when the church has been on earth in 2 and 3 and they are in heaven in 4 and 5.

Reason number 2, there is nothing in the New Testament to instruct the church about how to endure the Tribulation. The church is also not mentioned in Matthew 24, and there’s no warnings about the Tribulation and how to deal with it and how to handle the antichrist as a church. In fact, the only church found during that period is called the mystery harlot, Babylon, the false church which is to be destroyed.

Thirdly, the Rapture is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 where we are caught up to be with the Lord in the air and ever are we with the Lord. Why does Paul make such a great point about the Rapture if the church after the Tribulation goes up to meet Jesus and then comes right back down again?

Fourthly in Revelation 3:10, it says, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” That is a promise to those who have kept the Word of God by faith in Christ that they will be rescued from tribulation.

In John 14:3, it says “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” So Jesus is preparing a place in the Father’s house which is up there in glory. And that’s where we go in the Rapture and remain for those years until we return for the glory of the kingdom and all that it promises.

Let us look at verse 35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Wow! Heaven and earth shall pass away. The earth that we know, the heaven that we know, will be no more, and in their place is going to come a new creation. Then Jesus said this: “but My words will by no means pass away.” That is an unchanging authority. We believe all this will happen exactly as it says.

Are you ready for that? To go with the Lord’s raptured people to be in His presence or do you find yourself staying for the tribulation that follows? Seeing that you know all these things, what kind of person ought you to be, Peter said. You ought to be holy and faithful looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 08 Feb 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150208 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000022 imblog Matthew 24:29-31

Matthew 24:29-31 says this, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Do you remember in Acts 1:11, when He ascended up into heaven, two angels came and said, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” In other words, as He went away, so will He return, physically, bodily, in clouds. The very same Jesus in the very same way.

Now, one way to go through this is just to look at the sequence of the second coming, verse 29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days.” A clear chronological indicator for us that the Lord’s second coming in glory to set up His kingdom will follow immediately after this time period called the Tribulation.

Israel in the end time will be in their land where they will rebuild the temple to worship God. But in the middle of the seven-year period the antichrist will make a pact with them, but in Daniel 9 it says that he will break the covenant and he will abominate, that means, he will desecrate and blaspheme the sacred place of the Jews. He will tear out the altar to God and he will establish an altar to himself. He will make himself the God of the world. And when that happens the signal has come that the Tribulation has begun.

Now, let’s see how the Lord sets the stage for the second coming. Verse 29 again: “The sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give its light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” The whole universe as we know it, begins to disintegrate. In Luke 21:25-26 it says, “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

One statement at the end of verse 29 helps us understand more, “The powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” Now, in the heavens, there is a controlling influence. In fact, Hebrews 1 it says that the Son upholds all things by the word of His power. So God Himself in the Son holds things together so that gravity doesn’t fluctuate, so that orbits don’t fluctuate. And we can calculate all of that because of the unchanging, fixed powers of the heavens so that bodies move consistently at all times.

But all of a sudden, the Lord changes things and the powers that normally hold the universe together no longer do the same and you have big changes. And the earth is affected by this incredible change of the whole universe.

Now is the Lord saying this for the first time that all this will happen just before Christ comes? Do you know that this has been described in the Old Testament before? Look at Isaiah 13 and 34. Many people believe that these Isaiah passages only relate to Babylon’s destruction. Yes, Isaiah does predict Babylon’s destruction, but as so very often in the Bible there is an historical fulfillment and there is a prophetic one as well in the future.

Notice Isaiah 13:6-9, “Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will be limp, every man’s heart will melt, 8 and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; they will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; they will be amazed at one another; their faces will be like flames. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy its sinners from it.”

Look at this in Isaiah 13:10-12, “For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.”

Look at Isaiah 34:1-4 where he sees the future, “Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it. 2 For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, and His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. 3 Also their slain shall be thrown out; their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree.”

So the Lord’s imagery in Matthew 24 is consistent with the prophets before Him and even after Him in writing the New Testament. Verse 30, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.” Now, Jesus gave them a list of general signs in Matthew 24:4-14, but He still hasn’t given them the sign. What is the sign of the new kingdom? Well, the old church fathers used to believe that it was a blazing cross that would fill the black heavens. But that is not in verse 30.

The sign is the Son of man in heaven, that’s the sign. In fact, at the end of verse 30, it says He will come not just with glory but with great glory. Glory like the world has never seen. So much so that Revelation 6:16 says, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” From the face of the One who sits on the throne, the One who comes in blazing glory. And it’s none other than the Lord Jesus Himself.

We can see a glimpse of the glory of Jesus in Matthew 17 where it describes the transfiguration. Jesus took James, Peter, John up to the mountain, pulled aside the veil of His flesh, and they saw His glory and they got a taste of what His second coming glory would be like. Even though it was only a small one but Peter never forgot it, because he wrote 2 Peter 1:16 which said, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” Peter saw His glory!

The sign then is going to be the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ coming in majesty. He will be distinguishable, he will be recognizable, and yet He will be in full glory. It also says at the end of verse 30, “and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” In the same manner as you have seen Him go, Acts 1:9-11 says, He will come back. He went in the clouds, He will come back in the clouds.

Why mention clouds? You know, the Old Testament tells us that clouds are the chariot of God. Psalm 104:1-3 says, “Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, 2 who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. 3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds His chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind.”

And so the scene is chaotic, the world is in panic, people everywhere are dying of sheer terror. They are in the dark and only the Lord holds them together enough so that they can see the rest of these events. And in the midst of that black chaos appears the glory of the Son of God in heaven, in majesty, an unveiled holy Shekinah presence and riding on the chariot of God, the clouds. And no doubt He circles the globe because it says in Revelation 1:7, “Every eye shall see Him.” That’s the sign.

Now turn for a brief moment to Zechariah 14:6. If we translate just out of the literal Hebrew we really get a clearer picture, “And it shall be in that day that there shall not be light.” That’s exactly what Jesus said in verse 29, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven.” Zechariah said there won’t be light. Either way, it refers to the sun, the moon and the stars.

And then Zechariah 14:7 says, “And it will be one day which shall only be known to Jehovah.” What Zechariah is saying is there is nobody that could ever describe this day. There is no scientific explanation for this day. No human being could understand this day. It is one day that only the Lord can explain. And then the rest of verse 7 says, “Not day and not night.” It’s not day and it’s not night because there are no heavenly bodies anymore. That’s why Jeremiah 30:7 says: “Alas, for that day, for there is none like it.”

But the end of verse 7 says, at the time of closing, at the end of that day, there will be light. And at the end of that prophetic period, the light will come. And what is that light? It is the sign of the Son of Man in heaven coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. How brilliant is that light? Well, in Revelation 21:23 and Revelation 22:5, it tells us that in the eternal city of Jerusalem, in the heaven of heavens forever, there is no light for the Lamb Himself, God is the only light.

So what is happening to all the Christians? The church will be taken up maybe seven years before the Tribulation begins to be with the Lord. We will be having the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9) and there is a time of rewards. Why? Because in Revelation 3:10 God says, “I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” We will be delivered, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 says, from the wrath to come.

Do you mean we won’t get to see it?” Well, let me answer that this way. Turn to Colossians 3:4, “When Christ who is our life shall appear,” when He appears for the whole world and comes in His glory, “then shall you also appear with Him in glory.” Wow, that’s a great truth. You are not down there, you are already up there. And when He comes in glory, you will appear with Him in glory.

In Revelation 19:7, we have a picture of the marriage supper of the Lamb when the Lord is joined to His redeemed church, His bride. It’s called the marriage of the Lamb. Then verse 14, “And the armies that were in heaven,” already redeemed souls that includes the church and the redeemed saints of the Old Testament who also are the invited guests to the marriage supper. Verse 9, “Blessed are they who are also invited to the marriage supper,” verse 8, “all robed in fine linen, white and clean, symbolizing their perfection in purity and righteousness,” And we all come out of heaven together.

Notice, verse 30 at the end, “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power,” that’s the word for strength. He has power over the whole created universe. He has power over Satan. He has power over demons. He has power to slaughter all the Christ-rejecting unbelievers worldwide. He has power to establish His kingdom. He has power to redeem His elect. This is power without equal. His power is so great that the things that have been devastated in the chaos of blackness and the chaos of the earth immediately are made right.

When His feet touch the Mount of Olives, Zechariah 14:1-4 says, everything begins to turn. He comes right back to the very place He left. That’s where He is going to set up His kingdom. And He comes with a sword out of His mouth, Revelation 19 says, and He kills all the people who are rejecting Him who are still alive, and they’re sent into eternal hell. And then He establishes the glory of His kingdom. Daniel 9:24 says, “He ends transgression, and He ends sin and He brings in everlasting righteousness.”

Another key word in verse 30, “Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn.” Look at that word “mourn”, when He comes, there will be sorrow. They are going to not be repentant, but they are going to curse and blaspheme God. Like Revelation 18:2 says, “Oh, alas, alas, Babylon, which is our worldly system, is fallen. Verse 22, “The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore.” Music will suddenly stop all over the world because the terror will be so great. So the Gentiles will mourn.

But the Jews will mourn also. Zechariah 12:10 says: “They will look upon Him whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him as for an only son.” They will realize that they have pierced their Messiah. Then it says in Zechariah 13:1, “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.” Their redemption will draw near, and at that moment all of the work of the hundred and forty-four thousand and the fruit of the gospel preached by the angel is going to come together and in that moment all Israel will be saved, says Romans 11.

And verse 31, the word “select”. When He has judged all and the mourning has taken place, the mourning of those who are dying in the eternal judgment, the mourning of those who are repenting, He will send His angels. Angels are God’s gatherers to collect men. In Matthew 13 we find them in several of the parables, sent out to gather people for judgment, to bring them before God. But in this case, they are not gathering people for judgment, they are gathering them for glory.

And by the sound of a trumpet, the angels, the messengers of God go and they gather together His elect, the redeemed who have been scattered all over during the work of the hundred and forty-four thousand going all over the earth. And during the gospel preaching by the everlasting angel, there have been those who have believed. And the angels go all over the world to gather them from the four winds, another way of saying from everywhere – nobody is left out.

That is how it is all going to end. It cannot be very far away. And if Christians are leaving seven years before the tribulation happens, we better get ready. So ask yourself: Where are you? Your eternal destiny is at stake. Are you going to be a part of the disaster here or a part of the glory up there? It’s your choice. By God’s grace as the Spirit prompts your heart, I pray you will respond to the Savior. Let’s bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 01 Feb 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150201 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000023 imblog

Matthew 24:15-28

Let’s open Matthew 24, as we continue to learn from this great sermon on the second coming by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is known as the Olivet Discourse. The second coming of the Lord Jesus is truly a fascinating subject. The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:11, “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” In other words, realizing that Christ will come in judgment, we present the gospel so that men may escape that. And we who are believers serve the Lord knowing that someday He will come to reward us, and we want to be faithful to Him.

The disciples don’t realize that it is yet thousands of years away because they don’t understand that there are really two comings of Christ. He comes the first time in humiliation to die, then there is a long period of time, until He comes the second time in glory to reign. So Jesus answers them, beginning in verse 4, with a sermon about His second coming. Now, some people have tried to say that this is a sermon about the destruction of Jerusalem, that this all was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed. For many reasons that is impossible, as we have given many reasons in our previous messages.

And so they ask: “What is the sign that it’s all going to come to an end?” And that’s their question in verse 3 and that triggers the sermon that goes from Matthew 24:4 right through chapter 25. And the Lord responds by giving them a series of signs from verse 4 through 14, which He calls in verse 8 “the beginning of birth pains.” As we said, birth pains are right at the very end, before the birth. And so there will be certain things happening at the very end of man’s age after which the kingdom of our Lord Jesus will begin.

But Jesus goes one step further in verse 15 and says there is one single event that kicks the whole thing off. “When you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand.” Verse 21 says: “For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

The “abomination of desolation” happens when the antichrist comes in to the temple which will be rebuilt in the end time; the Jews will be worshiping there. He comes in as their protector and their ally. He comes in as the one who defends them against the threat of Russia and Arab aggression. He comes in to sort of be their savior. Daniel 9 says they sign a treaty with him. He is the leader of a revived Roman Empire, a European confederacy who promises to be the protector of Israel.

And in the middle of a seven-year period he violates his treaty with them, he desecrates their worship in the holy place, he sets up an idol, an image of himself. And according to 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13, he demands the whole world to worship him, and that is the trigger that breaks loose the whole holocaust of the end time. So verse 15 describes that as the abomination of desolation. Abomination means doing a detestable thing; desolation meaning that ruins. A detestable act of idolatry that ruins, that brings sacrilege in the temple of God.

Now, when that happens, all the things from verse 4 to 14 will break loose. Pseudo-saviors will come, wars, rumors of wars, nations against nations, kingdom against kingdom, famines, earthquakes, and people delivered in persecution to be hated and killed. And there will be betrayals and false prophets and sin will run rampant, iniquity will abound and the love of many will grow cold, and all of that is going to be triggered by the abomination of desolation at the midpoint of the seven years.

Satan’s counterfeit king becomes king of the world and he is a demon-possessed, hell-inspired, Christ-hating, God-defying, Christian-killing, Jew-despising man of sin who takes over the reins in the world. And Satan pulls out all the stops to try to destroy all Christians, all Jews, the nation of Israel and try to stop Jesus Christ from establishing His kingdom.

Now, as we come to verses 16 to 28, Jesus warns us. And He warns all the readers who read this, who will know this in the time that it happens. And He warns about four things: calamity, confusion, spiritual collapse, and the second coming. Verse 15 says: “When,” it starts, “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation” – then go to verse 16 – “then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains.” Now, when this happens flee. Get out fast because as long as you stay in Jerusalem, you are going to die. You will be persecuted, because the antichrist wants to eradicate Israel.

Satan tries to eliminate Israel, thinking he can thwart the plan of God, which is fulfilled ultimately in bringing Israel to salvation and to their kingdom. Satan has tried to wipe out the Jews throughout history. And when antichrist takes over in Jerusalem, sets up his throne right there in Jerusalem, the Jews that are left there are going to be very vulnerable, and so Jesus says in that day you better run away fast.

And if there happen to be any Christians who refuse to worship the antichrist, you better run too, if you are in Judea. Judea is the area in which Jerusalem is the main city, the southern part of Palestine. In Revelation 13 it says he wants to make war with the saints. And we also know in Revelation 12 that he wants to wipe out Israel. And so Jesus says that when this happens, there should be an exodus out of Jerusalem and out of the land for self-preservation.

Not everybody is going to make it. Go back to Zechariah 13:8 for a moment, “And it will come to pass that in all the land, says the Lord, two parts in it shall be cut off and die.” There’s going to be a terrible slaughter. The holocaust on the Jews of the future is going to be far greater than anything in the past. Two out of three are going to die. Verse 9 says: “A third part will be spared and refined and kept by God.”

Look at Revelation 6:9, when the fifth seal is opened, which is the seal that describes the Tribulation, “Under the altar are the souls of those that were slain for the Word of God and the testimony which they held.” Here are believers. Here are Christians, Gentiles or Jews, out of the Tribulation time who have been martyred for their faith. That’s part of fulfillment. That’s why Jesus says, “Run fast because your life is at stake.”

In fact, verse 16 says: “Flee to the mountains where you can hide.” And then verse 17 gets descriptive, “Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house.” In those days the housetop was where the patio was, there was an outside staircase going up, you still see that in Israel today. If you happen to be caught up there, don’t even go inside to get your belongings, get down the stairs and out of town because when that thing happens, as it says in Revelation, devastation will come and death like a flood.

And so the Lord urges them to retreat for safety. The Lord is not advocating a martyr complex. Verse 18 says: “Neither let him who is in the field return back to take his garment.” “Garment” refers to the outer cloak, and if you’re out there working in the field and you have laid your cloak on the cart far away and you are told that it is happening, don’t go back to the cart to get anything, get out. Satan has taken over and the holocaust is coming quickly.

And then verse 19, “And woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing.” Why? Well, some commentators say because it’s so hard to run when you’re pregnant, no question that that’s true. But there is something more than that in this. When Hosea 13:16 looks at the end time and talks about the salvation of Israel and the bringing back of Israel and how God will bring judgment on those who have judged Israel wrongly, it says, “Samaria is held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God.”

Now when God comes to bring His judgment against those who have rebelled, when God comes to restore, first He must purge. And it says further in verse 16, “They shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces.” When the antichrist comes, it seems that there is going to be the devastation of infants. You see it here prophesied in Hosea, and that also happened when Christ was born. When Satan tried to stop the birth of Christ he massacred many babies. And that is why the Lord warns us in that regard of what is going to happen in that day.

When Satan has total control of the world for a short time, when the church is removed, and when the Holy Spirit, the restrainer has taken back His restraining power, all sin goes unchecked and that is what will happen. And then verse 20, Jesus says: “Pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” It might be cold, it might be raining, and it might even be snowing because there are parts of Israel where there is snow.

Pray that it’s not going to be in a time when you cannot travel fast on the Sabbath day. The radical Jews will stone you if you do that because they hold to the Sabbath law you cannot travel more than 2,000 cubits or approx. 1000 meters. Why? Verse 21: “For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time nor ever shall be.” The worst time the world has ever known will happen. And that is described in Revelation 6 through 19 in detail.

And that period lasts for three and a half years, as that is clearly given to us, not only in the book of Revelation but also by the prophet Daniel. It says in Daniel 7:25 that this antichrist who comes will be for a time, times, and a dividing of a time. Again a time is one, times is two, and a dividing of a time is a half – three and a half years. That always has been the timeframe in which this great ruler wreaks havoc across the face of the earth. And we saw that in Daniel 12 and in Revelation 11:2 and also in Revelation 13:5.

It is sad to say this, but the true message to give to Israel today is that things are not going to get better, they are going to get much worse. It will be so bad that Zechariah’s prophecy is going to be fulfilled. There will be a desecration and abomination that is going to take the lives of two out of every three people. And in verse 22 it says, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened.”

Now, what does that mean, “shortened”? Well, Jesus says three and a half years, 42 months, 1260 days. Every time the Bible speaks of it, it speaks of the same time period. And no place does it say it will be shorter than that. So the word for shortened could mean it is stopped instantly, it immediately ends. Unless it was terminated fast, even the elect would perish. But there might be a better explanation for that word.

It doesn’t say “except that day,” but it says “those days.” And if you take those 24-hour days, except those 24-hour days should be shortened, that when the abomination of desolation occurs and people start running for their lives, Jews and non-Jews believers, that God supernaturally by His mercy and grace is going to alter the length of daylight in order to give them the protection of darkness.

“Well, where do you get that?” Look at Revelation 6:12-13, in opening the sixth seal there was “a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became like blood 13 and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as fig trees casting her untimely figs.” Look in the trumpet judgments of Revelation 8:12, “A fourth angel sounded and a third part of the sun was smitten, third part of the moon, third part of the stars, third part of them darkened and the day shown not for the third part of it.” Daylight will be reduced by one third.

Now, you can relate the word “elect” to Israel as they are called in the Old Testament. We see it in Romans 9 to 11 where Paul talks about Israel as the elect nation, not redeemed Israel, but Israel as a nation. We can also see in the word “elect” the redeemed believers from all nations. So for the sake of preserving His elect nation and His elect redeemed people, He shortens the day so that the antichrist cannot massacre the Jews and believers.

So Jesus says, if you are alive then and you see the abomination of desolation, run as fast as you can. Because severe calamity is coming there will be confusion. All these people run, and the ones that don’t die are all hiding out here. We don’t know how the Lord is going to take care of them, but they are out of the city. And they are very vulnerable as all people in great desperation are.

So verse 23 says watch out for confusion, “If any man says to you, here is Christ, or there, do not believe it.” For there shall arise false Christ’s, and false prophets who point to the one who claims to be the Messiah. And they are going to show great signs and wonders, according to 2 Thessalonians 2 demonstrating power from the devil. Verse 24 says, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

Do you know that that is not possible? Jesus says, no, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect. But the truly elect who know Christ could never be deceived. When somebody says, “I am Christ,” the Mormon Jesus, the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Christ, this Christ, that Christ, you will never deceive one who really knows Christ. John 10:27 says: “My sheep hear My voice, they know Me and I know them.” And if somebody defects to another Christ, they never knew the true Christ.

Verse 25, “See, I have told you beforehand.” He did clear back in Matthew 7, Matthew 15, Matthew 16 and Matthew 23. He’s been telling them all along, “Watch out for these deceivers. Don’t be fooled. Don’t look for some secret Messiah.” Look verse 26, “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it” Then how do we know when He gets here?

Verse 27, “For as the lightning comes out of the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” It is like lightning going right across the sky from the east to the west, His coming will be sudden, public, visible, universal, and glorious. And the whole world is going to see it. Look at Revelation 1:7, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him.”

Read Revelation 19:11-15, “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

Now verse 28, “For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” Now, that’s a little proverb, sometimes they are called eagles, but the word basically has to do with a vulture. And it is simply like an analogy. Christ is going to come as it were a vulture to a dead carcass. The world is going to be so sinfully corrupt, that it lies there as a wretched, decaying carcass to which the Lord will come in judgment to tear and rip that carcass to pieces.

Now, what Jesus is saying is that the world is going to decay and become corrupt and dies. The world is going to be more wretched than ever. Go back to verse 12, the iniquity shall abound. The church is gone. The restraining Holy Spirit has pulled back His power. Sin is rampant. And the world becomes so wretched that it is like the decaying carcass of an animal. God comes down in final judgment. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150125 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000025 imblog

Matthew 24:8-14

We are looking at Matthew 24, the great Olivet Discourse, the sermon of our Lord given to teach about His own second coming. The disciples have asked Him the questions in verse 3 that trigger this great sermon. They want to know when it is that the Messiah judge His enemies, purge Jerusalem, gather the scattered Jews and establish His kingdom.

Jesus gives the longest answer to this compared to any question asked in the New Testament. He tells them that His coming is in the future. But beginning in verse 4, Jesus says, there are some things that are going to happen before My coming. When these things begin to happen, get ready. In fact, in verse 8, He calls them the beginning of birth pains. The birth being the coming of the Messiah into His kingdom.

And so the Lord is describing what will happen in the very end, the Great Tribulation. Now, remember that the Old Testament prophets never separated out a first and second coming. And so it seemed to them that the first time the Messiah came would be the only time and He would do it all then. What they didn’t see was that there would be a first coming, then a long period of time before the second coming.

And before He comes, Jesus says, there will be these birth pains that will tell us the establishment of His kingdom is near. And there are six of them, beginning in verse 4. Number one was deception, and we looked at that this last week. There will always be people claiming to be Jesus Christ. But He’s not referring to those that are here now, He is referring to when there will be an abundance of false Messiahs who try to deliver a world in total chaos.

Now, let’s go on to the second of the signs. The second is not deception but controversy. Matthew 24:6-7, “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Global warfare, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom. The point is that nations globally will be engaged in wars and rumors of wars.

Daniel 11 takes us all the way to the time when the Messiah is coming to set up His kingdom. And just prior to that, Daniel 11:40 says, “At the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him.” “Him” is the antichrist. In Daniel’s prophecy, the antichrist rules a great kingdom basically made up of the territory that once belonged to the old Roman Empire. He will be the king of a revived Roman Empire engulfing Europe.

And so the antichrist is a threat to the whole world. And Israel is always threatened by its Middle Eastern neighbors, so they want protection and so they make an agreement as written about in Daniel 9:27 with the antichrist. And at the time of the end, with the antichrist ruling this great confederacy with great power over the rest of the world, the king of the south starts to attack the antichrist. This is probably some kind of African coalition that pushes north. And then it says the king of the north, probably Russia is attacking towards the south as well.

So the king of the south and the king of the north all converging on the holy land, Israel. Daniel 11: 41-43 says, “And many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of his hand,” that is the hand of antichrist, “even Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42 And he shall stretch forth his hand and also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape, 43 but he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver and over all the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.”

So here the antichrist defeats all of these great powers. And then verse 44 says, “Immediate- ly tidings out of the east and again out of the north shall trouble him and he goes forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many.” Here the antichrist after this big victory, plants the tabernacle of his palace between the seas and the holy mountain. What he does is he establishes himself as God.

But then it says in Zechariah 14:2-3, “For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.” That’s exactly the way Daniel ended his prophecy. So this is all consistent from the prophets as well as from our Lord.

Now, Revelation 6 gives us even more detail as we look at wars and rumors of wars. Here you have seven seals unfolding. It’s symbolic of a will left to someone that was sealed seven times. And as God opens one seal after another, He takes back the world for Himself. The second seal opens in verse 4, “There went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat on it to take peace from the earth.” The false peace by the antichrist is taken from the earth so “they begin to kill one another and there was given to him a great sword.” So here you have the world beginning to kill itself.

Revelation 6:5-6, “When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius.” He is balancing out grain under famine conditions. There is not enough food for everyone and that is the result of war.

And then we come to the fourth seal in verse 7 and verse 8 describes it, “I looked and behold, a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth.” And here is the massacre of one fourth of the population of the world. Approximately one and a half billion people are massacred in the slaughter that takes place worldwide.

Now go to Revelation 9:13-15, “Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.” And here comes another host of demonic forces to massacre a third of the population that’s left after the original one-fourth have been slaughtered.

Verse 16, “And the number of this army of horsemen is 200 million, and I heard the number of them. And they came and they had tremendous power to kill.” Verse 18. “By these three was the third part of men killed and by fire and smoke and brimstone,” and so forth. Verse 20-21, “And the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood which neither can see nor walk, neither repented they of their murders nor their sorceries nor their fornication nor their thefts.” After all that, people still did not repent.

In Revelation 16:13, John sees “three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” These three demonic spirits, no doubt high ranking demons are spirits of demons working miracles. Verse 16 says they are gathered to a place called Armageddon. And they come there ready to fight and there’s a holocaust of war as they battle each other. And in the midst of that battle, Christ comes and destroys them all. So Revelation, as well as the prophets of the Old Testament, support the words of our Lord.

There’s a third sign of the birth pains and it is devastation. Deception, controversy and now devastation. The middle of Matthew 24:7, “And there shall be famines and earthquakes in various places.” In addition to the false Christ’s, in addition to the worldwide massacres and the wars, there will be disasters of staggering proportions over all the whole earth. And in Luke 21:11, is added the word “pestilences.” Then he adds “fearful sights and great signs from heaven.” That’s all going to mark the end time.

See, the Lord has restrained sin. He is restraining sin for the preservation of His people, for the preservation of His earth. But when He takes that restraining back, and I believe that is concurrent with the Rapture of the true believers in church, everything begins to disintegrate. And the universe begins to fall apart. At that point, Revelation 9 says hell opens up and Satan lets loose demons that have been there through the centuries. And God allows them to do signs and wonders to deceive the world as sin runs rampant.

Now, look at Revelation 6:12, “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal and lo, there was a great earthquake.” Revelation 16:18, “And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.” And verse 20-21, “Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. And men blasphemed God.”

Now, Jesus also said it will be a time of famine. Again, look at Revelation 6:6 and here is the third seal that opens in the time of Tribulation, “And a measure of wheat for a denarius, and three measures of barley for a denarius, and see you do not hurt the oil and the wine.” A denarius is one day’s wage. A measure of wheat is a pint and a half. Famine conditions.

And the other thing that Luke 21:11 said, “And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.” Then Matthew 24:29 says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” That was also prophesied in Joel 2, repeated by Peter in his sermon in Acts 2.

So our Lord says the end time will be marked by deception, by controversy, and by devastation. Let me give you a fourth: desecration. And here we focus on believers. Now look at Matthew 24:9, “Then they shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” To desecrate means to treat a holy thing in an unholy way. The holy people of God will be treated unholy. There will be widespread persecution of the redeemed that exceeds all other persecutions.

So Jesus says believers in that day will be delivered up. That is a technical word often used for being arrested. In Matthew 4:12, when Jesus had heard that John the Baptist was cast into prison, it there uses a word that means to be arrested. So He says in that time, true believers are going to be arrested, afflicted and murdered. And because they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be hated by the world.

Well, where do the believers come from if the church has been raptured? In Revelation 7: 9- 10 it says, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Who are they? Verse 14: He says, “These are they who came out of the Great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” How did they get out of that Tribulation? They were killed for the sake of their commitment to Jesus.

Now go back to Matthew 24 and because of that desecration of the redeemed, the fifth sign is defection. Jesus turns to talk about the believing people, and He says first, there will be persecution. Look at Matthew 24:10, “And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another.” They start betraying the true believers, turning them in, telling where they can be found, to be killed.

Are they real believers? Of course not. If they were real believers, they would continue in the truth. Real believers would give their life, if need be. Jesus said it in John 8:31, “If you continue in My Word, then you are My real disciple.” The true disciple is willing to suffer like his Master suffered. The Lord says in Matthew 10:32-33, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

If Satan is running all over the world disguised as an angel of light, that age is going to be filled with all kinds of false religion. In Revelation 17 we see this evil, vile world religious system called the harlot, the great prostitute. It is a prostitution of religion. If the church is a bride, this is a harlot. And so there will be all kinds of religious deception flourishing as Satan does everything he can to call people away from the Lord.

Now, look at Matthew 24:12, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Some defect because they won’t pay the price and die. Some defect because they are deceived. And some defect because they choose iniquity or “lawlessness.” It is the word that means they violate God’s law. It’s just sin so abundant that it will draw people who are moving toward the truth to back right out of it.

And then verse 13: “But he that shall endure to the end, same shall be saved.” How can you tell the saved? Because the saved don’t defect, right? They’re not going to go away because the price is too high. They’re not going to go away because they are deceived. They are not going to go away because they love evil. Endurance is always the mark of the mark of the saved. They endure to the end.

The final sign of the coming, the final beginning birth pain, is declaration. Before the Lord comes back, this has to happen. Matthew 24:14, “The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come.” In spite of persecution, defectors, false prophets, false Christ’s, demons all over the earth, in spite of all of that, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. And then it’s going to come, the kingdom.

How is that Gospel going to be preached? Look at Revelation 14:6, just before the bowls are poured out, just before the final birth pains issue in the kingdom, just before the final holocaust begins, “I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,” says John. “And he had the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people.”

That is the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 and it happens right before judgment. And that’s why the angel says in Revelation 14:7-8, “Fear God and give glory to Him. For the hour of His judgment is come and worship Him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.” 8 And another angel comes behind that angel and says, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” man’s days are over. And then shall the end come – but not before that, says our Lord. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Jan 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150118 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000026 imblog Matthew 24:4-8

Now we come to Matthew 24 and 25 that is known as “The Olivet Discourse.” It is a sermon by our Lord Jesus Christ, delivered on the Mount of Olives. Its subject is the second coming of Christ. This is His own message about His own second coming. Jesus came to Israel to be their Redeemer, their Savior and their King. But John 1:11 says, “He came to His own and His own received Him not.”

Thirty years after He entered this world, He began His ministry by offering Himself to the people of Israel and He ended it by them rejecting Him. It’s only a couple of days now before He will be executed on a cross by the very people He came to save. He pronounced judgment on the nation Israel, judgment on the false leaders and judgment on the people who followed their deceptions.

But that pronouncement of judgment, is followed in verse 39 by these words: For I say to you, you shall not see Me till I come as Messiah and King. So on the one hand, Jesus pronounces judgment; but on the other hand He says I will be back. On the one hand, He says your house is left to you desolate, wasted; and on the other hand, He says I will return, as it were, to restore it again.

They had no idea that Christ would come and then He would go back and it would be a long period of thousands of years before He returned. That’s why the New Testament calls that a mystery which was hidden in time past. The whole church age as we know it is an unrevealed thing in the Old Testament. There’s a big gap which they did not understand.

Now go to Luke 4:16-20, “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” 20 Then He closed the book. (Isaiah 61:1-2)

The first time the Savior came, He came to preach. The second time He comes, He comes to judge. And so it wasn’t until the gospel unfold that we begin to see the distinction between the first and second coming. They think it’s imminent. And so Jesus has to explain to them that it isn’t, that it is yet in the future. They want to know the signs of the coming of Christ, the signs of the end of the age, and the signs that say this is coming now. And so Jesus takes them all the way to the end time.

Now, in verses 4 to 14, He describes many of the signs of the coming of Christ. People coming and saying, “I am the Christ,” and deceiving, wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famine, earthquake in verse 7. Verse 9, persecution and killing and hating. And then there is defection from the faith and false prophets in verse 11. And the love of many grows cold in verse 12. The gospel of the kingdom is preached in verse 14. He’s describing all kinds of signs that are going to come at the end of the age. They are signs of the coming of the Messiah.

Now notice verse 8, “All these signs are the beginning of birth pains.” It’s the Greek word for birth pains, the actual pain a woman has in bringing forth a child. Now when does birth pain occur? At conception? No. During pregnancy? No. Birth pain occurs just prior to giving birth, that’s the last thing that happens. We start monitoring the frequency of birth pains until they come in a rapid succession and then it’s time.

Now, to illustrate that look at 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 where Paul says, “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” He says you have the Olivet Discourse, you have the teaching of our Lord. Now, how does a thief in the night come? Very quietly, unexpectedly and suddenly.

And in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 he says, “For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them.” The coming of Christ and the destruction with it is sudden. Then he says, “As labor pains on a pregnant woman,” same illustration. So this is consistent with the use that Jesus has. And the way the illustration is used in 1 Thessalo-nians 5 is the way the illustration is used in Matthew 24. So when it says these are the beginning of birth pains, this has to put us at the end of time.

Now, a second indicator, is found in verse 13, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” What is the end? He’s talking about the end of the age. Now, it has to do with people who are still alive at the end of the age, right? The troubles that come upon people who are alive at a time when they could endure to the end of the age.

Notice verse 14, another indicator, “And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, for a witness to all nations and then shall the end come.” So prior to the end of the age, there is going to be worldwide preaching of the gospel. There are many places in the world where the gospel is not being preached at all and has never been preached. But before the end, it will be preached in all the world.

There is another indicator in verse 15-16, “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” In other words, it’s all going to break loose when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

Now, what is that? Look at Daniel 9:27, “And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” The antichrist goes into the temple in the future Tribulation time, he desecrates the temple, he commits sacrilege in the temple where the Jews have set up their worship, and it says he does it until the final end – and that which is determined by God to be done is poured out on the desolate.

In other words, in Daniel 9:24-27, the prophet says the abomination of desolation takes place right before Christ sets up everlasting righteousness, right before final judgment and vengeance. So it has to be at the end time. So Matthew 24:15 says, “When you see the abomination of desolation, then you know you are seeing the signs of the end.”

Now notice verse 21, here is another indicator that we are looking at a future time. It says, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” It will be the worst time in the history of the world. This has to be the end time when God’s vengeance breaks out.

Another indicator is in verse 29-30, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.” So Christ comes immediately after the Tribulation. The Tribulation of which He speaks is the Great Tribulation of verse 21.

Finally, look at verses 32 to 34 as the last indicator, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”

The Lord says, there’s a parable, a branch puts forth its leaves, you know summer is near. You have a fig tree, you see leaves, and you know fruit comes in the summer. In other words, it’s just a sign. So likewise, when you see all these things that He’s been talking about, a time of Tribulation like no other time in the history of the world, and all these other signs, when you see those, know that the end of the age is near.

“The sign of the Son of Man coming” in verse 30 and “this generation” in verse 34 that is alive when the signs happen, the generation that sees them all coming to pass, “will not ever pass away till all of this is fulfilled.” In other words, the fulfillment of all the time of the end is going to be seen by the people who see the signs. So the signs are reserved for the people who are going to be alive at the end time.

So now, do you understand that the whole of the Olivet Discourse is going to happen in the future? Now, that is not to say that some of the things that will happen then don’t happen now, but they will happen then at a scale and on a level and on proportions that are far beyond anything we have ever known now. We have wars now, we have earthquakes now, we have famine now, we have trouble in our world now, but nothing compared what is going to take place at the end time.

Please notice something else in these following verses; verse 6, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled.” Verse 9, “Then shall they afflict you and shall kill you and you shall be hated.” Verse 15, “When you therefore see the abomination of desolation.” Verse 20, “But pray that your flight be not in winter,” and so on. Somebody might say, “Well, how can this be future when He is talking to the disciples and He says you, you, you? Isn’t Jesus talking to them?”

When God picks up a prophet and transports him into a future time to speak on a future theme, he speaks directly to the people of that time. And so the use of “you” doesn’t mean that this has to be fulfilled by the people who hear Him. “You”, means whoever you are, alive in that time. This is the prophetic freedom to speak directly to the society in the future to which God has transported the prophet in the process of revelation.

And if you want to see Old Testament use of that, it’s all over the place. The prophets of the Old Testament frequently spoke directly to people who were yet to be born in the future saying to them you, you, you, though they had not even been born. For example, Isaiah 33:17-24; Isaiah 66:10-14; Zechariah 9:9; Zechariah 3:17-20, and on and on. In all of those passages the prophets speak in a direct way to people yet unborn to whom the prophecy will directly apply.

Now, having put us into the future, understanding that we’re looking at the time known as the Great Tribulation, a time in the future just before Christ comes, what are the signs of His coming? What are the signs to indicate the establishment of His kingdom? What are the signs to indicate the end of man’s age and the beginning of God’s eternal, glorious kingdom?

Well, first we need to look at verse 8. Jesus gives us the beginning of those signs, the beginning of those birth pains. Remember they start out rather slowly. If you study the book of Revelation, you see the unfolding of the seals. And six seals are unfolded and then the seventh. And bursting out of the seventh seal comes seven trumpets. And bursting out of the seventh trumpet comes seven bowls of wrath poured on the earth. We can see an increasing speed. The seals seem to go over a period of years. The trumpets, over a period perhaps of weeks, and the bowls, maybe over a period of hours or days as the birth pains are coming faster at the end.

So let us start with the Lord in the sermon looking at the beginning. And in the beginning, there will be six birth pains. Let me give you one this evening and the other five next time. The first is deception. Now, this does not mean there’s no deception today. There has always been deceiving and deception. There always have been people who come in the name of Christ, or in the name of God, to lead people astray. But not like there will be at the

end. Everything is heightened, intensified, and escalated.

So we are looking at a time when deception is at its apex. “And Jesus answered,” in verse 4, “and said to them, ‘Beware that no man lead you astray.” Don’t be deceived. There are going to be people in that period of time who are looking for answers, the world is going to begin to disintegrate, evil is going to run wild. In fact, it even tells us in verse 12, “because lawlessness shall abound.” You think it’s bad now? It will be much worse when the church is gone and the Holy Spirit, the restrainer, is not here.

And the world will fall apart. Here is a world where natural affection is gone, where social relationships are disrupted, a world that is in economic chaos. A world that is living in full sin and everything begins to collapse. And that is a world looking for leaders. And that is a world looking for saviors and deliverers, and as soon as they start crying out for those kinds of leaders, there are going to be false Messiahs. And it says in verse 5, “Many shall come in My name saying ‘I am Christ’ and shall deceive many.”

And this myriad of false Christ’s ultimately will culminate in one false Christ known as the Antichrist. He will be the ultimate demonized individual, Satan indwelt. And Daniel calls him the little horn, the willful king. And John calls him the beast. And Paul calls him son of perdition and man of sin. And he is so convincing that Daniel 9:27 says even Israel as a nation makes a covenant with him, believing him to be their deliverer. And all the nations of the world fall into his deceptions and come under his power.

In Daniel 8:23 it says, “In the latter times, the time of the kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full.” Do you know why human history waits? Do you know why God doesn’t intervene now? He’s waiting for transgression to come to its fullness. And so in that day “when the transgressors are come to the full, a king with a fierce face and understanding dark sentences shall stand up.”

What does, “understanding dark sentences” mean? He has communion with the demons and the devils of hell. He is a medium who contacts the spirits beneath. Verse 24, “And his power shall be mighty, not by his own power, and he shall destroy willfully.” It’s not his own power; it’s the power of hell. “And he shall prosper and continue and destroy the mighty and the holy people.” He will be a very effective deceiver. He uses peace, he uses negotiation to consume the world and bring them into his power.

So the beginning of the birth pains is deceit, false Christ, that’s Matthew 24. And the beginning of the Tribulation, Revelation 6, is false peace, a false rider on a white horse who is imitating the true rider on the white horse of Revelation 19 who is Christ Jesus. And so Daniel sees the same thing. In the latter time, when the transgression comes to the full, here comes this king. He brings power to himself through peace and he stands up against Christ, the true king.

This is how the end starts. It starts with this antichrist and he goes for 42 months or three and a half years, the second half of the 70th week of Daniel, that seven-year period, spoken of in Daniel 9:27. Daniel said there’s one week of tribulation, one week – it is a week of years, seven years. In the middle, this antichrist sits in great power, and for the last three and a half years.

So Jesus says, “keep your eyes open in the end that you be not deceived because there are coming false Christ’s in My name saying, ‘I am Christ,’ who will deceive many.” And it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, “Then shall that wicked one be revealed.” Verse 9-10, “Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders 10 and with all deceivableness in unrighteousness in them that perish.” He comes and deceives the whole world. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Jan 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150111 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000027 imblog Matthew 24:1-3

Starting this first Sunday in 2015, we are going to study Matthew 24 and 25, known commonly as “The Olivet Discourse” because it is a sermon given by our Lord to His disciples on the Mount of Olives. The theme of this great sermon is the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is a sermon from our Lord about His coming and the end of the present age and the establishment of His kingdom.

The whole sermon is triggered by the question of the disciples. The answer the Lord gives is the longest answer to any question recorded in the New Testament. Its insights are essential for any understanding of the future, and as we move through we are going to be amazed studying these truths about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible says a lot about it, the Old Testament prophets, particularly Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and the book of Revelation in the New Testament. And much of it is found in the prophecies of Daniel especially when compared with Revelation. But what Jesus Himself said must be treated with tremendous emphasis, after all this is our Lord’s own teaching on His return in glory to establish His kingdom.

But it is always important to understand the background and that is where we are this evening. Everybody is curious about the future, especially the Jews of Jesus’ day. They were tired of being oppressed. They long also to see the coming of their Messiah because they know when the Messiah comes He will make things right. And so they are filled with ‘end time’ anticipation. This is the study of the last things.

They knew the Old Testament talked about God setting up a kingdom. They anticipated an anointed king, a Messiah, or in the Greek, a Christ who would come and establish the rule and reign of David again on the earth. They knew what Isaiah 9 said when there would come One, the government of the world would be upon His shoulders, and He would rule and reign. He would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace, and of the increase of His government and peace there would be no end.

And surely they knew Daniel, and that there was the promise of great holocaust at the end but that holocaust wouldn’t be the end because there would come a stone cut out without hands that would establish an eternal kingdom on the earth. They were well aware of what the prophets had to say. What did the Jews think was going to be the end of the age? When did they think was the coming of the Son of Man or the Christ?

So let us look at the material that they wrote in those 400 years between the Old and the New Testament when they wrote religious books that were non-biblical. For example, the Book of Enoch, the Psalms of Solomon, the Assumption of Moses, the Book of Jubilees, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Fourth Book of Ezra, the Apocalypse of Baruch, and the Book of the Secrets of Enoch. They are not God-authored, but they reveal the thinking of the Jews at that time.

The Jews believed that before the Messiah came, there would be a time of terrible tribulation so that before the Messiah arrives, there would be a time of birth pain, the nation will suffer some tribulation. They anticipated a time of a breakdown of morals, a time when honor and decency would be torn down, a time when the world would become warlike. In another one of their books, it says there will be earthquakes, tumult of peoples, scheming of nations and confusion of leaders.

The second thing that they had in their eschatology was that into this turmoil would come a forerunner announcing the immediate arrival of the Messiah and he would be like Elijah. That is why they were so drawn initially to John the Baptist because he was so much like Elijah. In fact, the Jewish oral law says that money and property, if the ownership was disputed, or anything found whose owner was unknown must wait “until Elijah comes” because he would set everything right.

The next thing they saw was the coming of the Messiah. First a tribulation time, then a announcer and then the coming of Messiah Himself, the one who was the King, the great, divine figure who would come to end the present age and establish the age of the kingdom and vindicate God’s people. The next thing they saw in their eschatology is that the nations would ally themselves and gather to fight against the Messiah. Amazing.

For example in the Sibylline Oracles, we read this Jewish teaching, “The kings of the nations shall throw themselves against this land, bringing retribution on themselves. They shall seek to ravage the shrine of the mighty God and of the noblest men whenever they come to the land. And then with a mighty voice God shall speak unto all the empty- minded people and judgment shall come upon them and all shall perish.”

Again, this was the Jewish belief at the time of Christ, and it’s exactly what the Bible teaches, exactly what we understand from the Old Testament prophets and from the book of Revelation as well. The next thing they taught in their eschatology is that the result of that battle against the Messiah would be total destruction of all these nations. In other words, He will come and destroy all the hostile nations and show that their offensive and defensive weapons are utterly useless.

Then they believed the next event would be the renovation of Jerusalem. This would be the purification of that city so that it would be the Jerusalem of the great Millennium, the Jerusalem of the great eternal glory of the king. In fact, in the book of Enoch it says, “All the pillars were new and the ornaments larger than those of the first Jerusalem. So they saw this renovating of the whole of Jerusalem.

The next event they saw was that the Jews who had been scattered all over the world would be collected back. They would be re-gathered back into the city of Jerusalem. In fact, to this day, the Jewish daily prayer says this, “Lift up a banner to gather our dispersed and assemble us from the four ends of the earth.” They look for the day when the Messiah comes, defeats all these nations, renovates Jerusalem, and then re-gathers all the Jews from all over the world.

The point is, they understood the Old Testament prophets the same way we do. We understand the same sequence. And then after that, they believe Palestine will become the center of the world. All the nations would be subdued and they would come to Jerusalem to worship the king. And finally, the last point in this little eschatological flow was that there would come a new age of peace and goodness and glory that would last forever.

Now, follow their thinking. They had been under tribulation, from their viewpoint, for a long time, right? They had been under the Persians, Greeks and now the Romans. And they still remembered not long before when their people had suffered in the Maccabean period, the terrible desecrations by Antiochus Epiphanes and the Greeks. And so they may have thought the tribulation of the Roman oppression was in fact that.

And then shows up John the Baptist. Here is the one like Elijah. And then suddenly comes Jesus Christ. And He heals people and He raises the dead and He has this amazing power to feed multitudes. And He is a miracle worker who banishes disease from Palestine during the duration of His ministry. And He comes riding on a donkey into Jerusalem at the Passover. And they say to themselves, “This is the Messiah.” And the first thing that will happen is that the nations of the earth are going to gather against Him and He is going to destroy them.

And so they immediately think He is going to start a war and the Romans are going to be the first ones to get it. And once He has done that, then He is going to purify Jerusalem. He is going to throw out all the hypocrites and all the false religion and all the false worship. And then we are going to see that glorious final temple where the true worship is going to go on. And then He is going to gather all the Jews from all over the world and establish the eternal kingdom.

Now that is in the mind of these disciples as we approach Matthew 24. Well, how did they feel when Jesus told them that He was going to die? That was not in their end scenario. And so they are thinking, “No, that can’t happen.” They cannot comprehend the death and the resurrection of Christ. And they have a very compressed view of Christ. They see it all happening when He comes the first time. They don’t understand that He came once, and now we got a long time period until He comes again.

That’s why God calls that a mystery because it was not revealed in the Old Testament. In fact, Paul calls the whole New Testament a mystery hidden from ages past because it unfolds a time period not seen previously. “Mystery” meaning that which was hidden. Now, what brings it into focus here is Matthew 23:38-39, “See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ”

So when they hear Jesus say, “I am going to renovate your house and then I am going to come,” they really think He is on schedule. But Jesus just said “your house desolate”, not “My Father’s house,” which He used to call that. Now it’s your house because God left. And you won’t see Me again until I come in Messianic glory.

So let us read Matthew 24:1-3, “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

They are simple guys and they look at this massive temple surrounded by walls on the top of a mount. It was more like a fort than a temple. It’s impossible to think that it could be put up, let alone that it could be torn down. The Babylonian Talmud says that they never saw a finer building than this temple. And Luke says it was built with beautiful stones. In fact, Josephus tells us that Herod built the place.

And when you read Josephus he says the thing was leveled to the point where you would never know that anybody ever inhabited the place. The Romans tore the whole thing down, because if they were going to conquer the Israelites effectively, they had to totally devastate their entire religious orientation. So Jesus says using a double negative – “not even one stone shall be left here upon another.” And that’s exactly what happened.

So they say in Matthew 24:3, “When will these things be? And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” They connect these two things; “Your coming and the end of the age.” And they were really excited and anxious. And this carried on, even after the resurrection, in Acts 1:6 after the resurrection, they asked Jesus, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They were still asking that.

What are they thinking as we begin Matthew 24? Right now is the kingdom, right now is the judgment, right now is the establishing of the eternal kingdom of the glory of Messiah, right now it is all going to happen. But the whole point of this sermon of Jesus is to tell them this: “Hey brothers, this is not going to happen right now.”

The Old Testament prophets looked ahead and compressed all the time factors and just saw Messiah coming, setting up His kingdom. They didn’t see a big gap and that is why it’s called a mystery. So the disciples say, “What shall be the sign of this and of the end of the age?” What a phrase, “the end of the age.”

It is used five times in Matthew, that same phrase – the end of the age. And the word sunteleia means the complete end, the final end. It is used also, not only in this verse but in Matthew 28:20, where Jesus promises that we have authority as we go out to make disciples. And then He says, “Lo, I am with you to “the end of the age.”

In Matthew 13:39, the parable of the wheat and the tares, it says, “The harvest is the end of the age.” The end of the age, then, is the time of God’s harvest, Jesus says, and the reapers are the angels, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the age. It says in Matthew 13: 42, “Cast them into the furnace of fire where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

So the end of the age means the very end of everything, when God comes in final, complete judgment and takes the unbelieving and sends them to hell and the believers go into His presence forever. So the disciples’ question is about the end of the age. It is an ultimate kind of question. Now you can go back to Matthew 24 for one moment. They’re asking Jesus questions about final ultimate things.

When is the Messiah coming in full glory? When will the final judgment take place when the ungodly are damned and sent to hell and the righteous are sent into the glory of the kingdom? And what is the sign we look for to indicate it’s going to happen? The Lord’s answer begins in Matthew 24:4, “And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.”

Now, listen very carefully, the Lord’s answer begins in verse 4, and Jesus is answering their question. And their question has to do with the second coming of Christ and the end of man’s age. He says nothing about the destruction of Jerusalem from now on. That was outside the Olivet Discourse in verse 2 before the question was even asked. And it’s only a small example of the kind of judgment that God is going to bring in the end of the age when the Messiah comes again in His glory.

And so what Jesus is saying to them is, look, what you have seen is not the end of the age. What you have seen is not preliminary to the full coming of the Messiah in His glory. Let Me show you what is the indication of His full coming. Let Me show you what are the signs of His second coming. Let Me show you what does indicate the end of the age. And that is the theme of the sermon in the Olivet Discourse.

It takes them from where they are to what will be the character of the time when the Lord comes again. And so He lifts them from their historical moment into the far future, a future which we have yet not entered into, and describes all the events surrounding the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what we are going to see as we approach verse 5 next week.

Oh Lord prepare our hearts so that we are more and more influenced by this to tell others about Jesus. Lord, we know that You are coming again in the near future and yet there so many people right here in Denver that do not know about You, that will die without a relationship with You. Lord give each one of us that desire to follow the Great Commission to preach the gospel to whomever You have put in our path. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Jan 2015 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20150104 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000028 imblog Luke 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-2, it happened on a day in history when Caesar Augustus was the emperor of Roma and Quirinius was governor of Syria. It was a day planned in eternity before the creation of the world. Indeed the whole universe with billions of galaxies was created for this day and for human history. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” It happened on a perfect day, in the fullness of time, appointed by God before the foundation of the world. It happened in a real city that exists today called Bethlehem, the City of David, the great King of Israel, six miles from Jerusalem.

The City that was prophesied in Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrata, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” If you have ever sinned against God you need a Savior. Matthew 1:21 says, “you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” Only God can forgive sins against God.

That is why Jesus said in Matthew 9:6, “The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.” Therefore a Savior was born. Luke 2:11-12 says, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” So one angel announced this great news and pointed toward the animal shed where the baby Jesus lay.

But it took an army of angels to respond to that news and to declare the meaning of that news and to pronounce the ultimate outcome of that news. Luke 2:13-14 says, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward whom He is pleased.” The angels gave us two great purposes, Glory to God and peace and goodwill toward those whom He is pleased.

First, God is glorified because this Child is born. Second, peace is given to whomever receives this Child. God created the world and sin destroyed a portion but God came to reclaim the world in Jesus Christ. The point of creation and redemption is that God is glorious and should be praised for His glory by a new peace-filled humanity. Only the people who receive Christ and trust Him as Savior will experience the peace that He brings.

There are three relationships in which God wants you to pursue this peace and enjoy this peace. First it has to start with peace with God, then peace within you own soul and finally peace with other people as much is humanly possible. True peace does not mean the absence of conflict, true peace means the presence of joy and tranquility and rich interpersonal relationships.

The peace of God or the peace of Christ can never be separated from God or Christ. If we want peace to rule in our lives, God must rule in our lives. Christ does not give you peace separate from Himself. His purpose is to give you peace by being united with the most glorious Person in your life. So the key to peace is keeping together what the angels said, glory to God and peace to man. And what holds the two together is believing the promises of God by Jesus. Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.”

Peace with God comes from “being justified by faith” (Romans 5:1) meaning having faith in Christ causes God to declare you to be just by imputing to you the righteousness of Jesus. And this comes through faith alone, not by works, not by tradition, not by baptism, not by church membership and not by living a good life. After having been justified, God adopts us in His family, He is our Father and we are His children and we have true peace.

Peace with ourselves comes from having peace with God. As we grow in the enjoyment of having peace with ourselves we will lose that sense of guilt and anxiety that gives us a sense of hopelessness. Peace with God gives us the ability to trust in His promises and that will glorify God. Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Peace with others is what we have least control over. Paul says in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” Some of you this Christmas will experience awkward or painful relationships, but God says to make peace no matter how difficult. Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

Be amazed that in spite of all your sins God has forgiven you of all your sins from the past, present and future. This amazement makes our hearts tender, kind and forgiving. It may be not accepted, but that is an issue between the other person and God. You be obedient and by doing that you glorify God, do not focus on your effectiveness in peacemaking. And you will be like the angels glorifying God in the highest, so that God would get all the glory forever, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Dec 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20141214 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000029 imblog Matthew 23:37-39

Let's open our Bibles to Matthew 23:37-39. This evening we come to the last few verses of this powerful Chapter. Some of my favorite people are Jewish: Jesus, Paul, Peter, Moses and Abraham. In fact I feel in my own heart the pain of the other Jews’ unbelief, the pain of their persecution. They have a covenant with God and they can't understand why it never turns to blessings, why it always seems that they are under a curse. Why?

The Jews have suffered more than any other nation in history. And yet through these centuries God has preserved them. They are never wiped out. Why? If they are the people of the adoption and the promises and the law and of whom even the Messiah came or is to come, why have they suffered so much? The present picture of the Jews in suffering really begins with the destruction of Jerusalem.

In 70 A.D., Titus Vespasian became the Roman general who besieged the city of Jerusalem and before it was over, over a million Jews were killed according to Josephus. Two years before that in 68 A.D. the Gentiles of Caesarea had slain 20,000 Jews and captured thousands more and sold them into slavery. And that really began the 2,000 years of holocaust that the Jews have suffered. For example, around that period of time in one single day, the inhabitants of Damascus killed 10,000 Jews.

They were guilty of no crime, yet they were victims of unbelievable persecution. In France they were accused of crucifying Christian children. They were accused of drinking the blood of Christian children which they had executed. The Jews who refused to become Christians were murdered. In 1236 in the time of the crusades, there were several crusaders who came to Anjou and Poitou and there they trampled to death 3,000 Jews under their horse’s hooves.

The Jews had scattered all over Europe after they lost Jerusalem and their land. And they found their way into England where they were safe for a while until there was an issue about a Dominican monk. In the Roman system, the Dominicans were a very well-known group, and one Dominican monk decided to study the Hebrew Scriptures in order to convert to Roman Catholicism. But in the process, he became converted to Judaism and was circumcised. The result was that the Roman Catholic Church was irate, and the Dominicans felt betrayed and so they took vengeance on the Jews.

They expelled them from Cambridge, laws were passed against them. They were hanged, they were exiled and they were made to wear a badge of inferiority. Finally, around 1290 the king made a decree that if any Jews were left they were to be expelled. They fled into France, which already had expelled Jews under the reign of Louis the XI, but by now the Jews could find at least a place to stay where they could live.

When the black-death disease came in the 14th Century the Jews were blamed. The plague that went all across Europe and tens of thousands of people were killed. It was said that the Jews had poisoned the wells in France and caused the black death. And so they began again to kill the Jews. One entire congregation was together in a meeting and they burned them all in that one place.

As a result they fled further to Poland and Russia. And in our contemporary time today we know about many Polish and Russian Jews. Poland really became a homeland for them. It was in Poland that they established Talmudic schools. It was in Poland that they built seminaries that they did much of their work. Then came this great conflict with the Roman Catholic Church in there again was tremendous persecution there.

Some of them managed to flee to Spain, but historians tell us that Spain was "the hell of the Jews." The two people who heaped the most horror on the Jews were King Ferdinand and queen Isabella, who commissioned Columbus to sail, who later found the western hemisphere. So while they were giving the world the benefit of opening up the western hemisphere, they were doing all they could to massacre the Jews in their own country.

All across Europe Jews became known as swine. Finally in 1492, when Columbus was sent west, the Jews were sent east out of Spain. The ones that went to Russia to this day have been persecuted. We have all read about the terrible plight of Soviet Jews, haven't we? That situation has persisted for 2,000 years like that for these people. In the middle of the 17th Century, the first persecution broke out in Poland. There was some safety there for a couple hundred years but then it all of a sudden that too changed.

Periodically through the centuries Germany had been massacring Jews, accusing them also of using Christian children's blood for their Passover. So they accused the Jews of stabbing the body of Christ. Anti-Semitism just flowed through western civilization reaching somewhat of an apex in the terrible Dryfus affair in France. Dryfus was an officer in the army who was put out of the army and humiliated as a traitor simply because he was Jewish.

By the time you come to World War II there were 16.5 million Jews in Europe. So while God is allowing all of this, God is not allowing it to exterminate this people. And then, Hitler came and he started the indescribable Holocaust extermination of nearly six million Jews. Only this time it wasn't hatred based on religion. It was hatred based on race and that was a whole new thing. Now secular society picked up the legacy of religious anti-Semitism and gave the world racial anti-Semitism.

Why is it this way with us? Why so long do we suffer? The answer is in Matthew 23:37- 38, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate.” Stop there at that point.

What do you mean “your house is left to you desolate?” The Lord Jesus is saying Jerusalem, nobody is going to plow your ground anymore. Nobody is going to cultivate your field. No one is going to plant the crop. No one is concerned about your noble vine. No one is going to water you. No one is going to build a hedge around you. No one is going to protect you. You are on your own left to the elements.

For nearly 2,000 years the nation Israel has had to live its life without God and His protection, that's the difference. Why? Because God has left them unprotected from all the holocausts that the world could bring to bear. Why? Because of what it says in verse 37, Jesus came and He wanted to gather you to protect you. I wanted to bring you under my wings and you would not. Why? Because they refused their Messiah.

Now this passage closes the sermon of Matthew 23. It ends with this lament, because though God is going to judge that nation by removing protection and letting Satan go full blast at them, He still has compassion for them. Because Satan wants to exterminate Israel more than other nation, because they are the nation in the plan of God which Satan wants to thwart, because he desires to eliminate them so that Christ can never inherit them and fulfill the promise of God to them.

But the heart of God is grieved as ours ought to be. God says I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. In Jeremiah God speaks through the prophet and calls for the people to glorify Him and to obey Him and then says in Jeremiah 13:17, “But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears.” This really grieves Him.

And it started in 70 A.D. in that terrible destruction of Jerusalem and it's still going on right now. And it will get worse. The hand of God is still off and Satan is still doing his thing. There's a time described in the Bible as the great tribulation. We're going to learn more about when we get into Matthew 24, but that is going to be worse than any other holocaust Israel has ever seen.

That doesn't mean that individual Jews can't come to Christ. They can and they do and they will, because always God has His remnant, always. Now we called verse 34 to 36 the condemnation. But the second thing tonight is compassion, verse 37 and 38. From condemnation to compassion, this is an outpouring of wrath equal to the outpouring of grief. It provides for us an essential balance and an essential understanding of the character of God and Christ.

So we read in verse 37, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem," and there is sorrow in the repetition isn't there? And if we parallel that passage with Luke 19:41-42 where it says, "Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” So He wept tears and it may well be that He wept again on Wednesday as He had on Monday.

Just the idea of the repetition is important. Often in Scripture repetition like that is an indication of great emotion. And Jesus characterizes the city not as the city of peace, but as the city, "who is killing the prophets and are stoning the messengers.” In fact, in the book of Revelation God calls Jerusalem “Sodom and Egypt”. Sodom relates to perversion, and Egypt relates to being pagan.

So God says, that is it, you are desolate. I take my hand of blessing off and all hell will break loose on you, culminating in the tribulation time when Revelation tells us the mouth of the pit is open and the demons that for centuries have been bound are released to run ramped across the earth. This terrible time of Jerusalem's chastening here is a symbol for the whole nation as it was very often in the ministry of the prophets.

And then you see the heart of the Savior. Look what Jesus says in Matthew 23:37, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” In other words, all the time of His ministry, He wanted to gather them. Matthew 11:28, "Come to me all you who are heavy laden, I'll give you rest." Even as Jesus dies on the cross, He gathers a thief into His arms who is willing to believe.

There's an intimacy and tenderness here. It's very personal, intimate and warm. Jesus wanted to give them security and the key to the whole deal is the last part of verse 37, "but you were not willing." That's the key. Here God would, but you wouldn't. And in the midst of that paradox of sovereignty and volition, we've got to see this passage. And every soul that spends eternity outside the protection of God is there because they would not come and repent.

Theologically, man's choice is as much a part of salvation as is God's choice. In this sense, grace is resistible and every person is responsible. And so we see the heart of Christ. Look at verse 38, "See! Your house is left to you desolate.” Jesus before had called it "My Father's house," but now He says it's your house. The temple has been so desecrated now your house is deserted. God just left. In 1 Samuel 4:21 it says, Ichabod, the glory has departed from Israel.” Now you are on your own.

In Luke 19: 43 Jesus said to them, "The day shall come upon you that your enemies shall cast a trench about you and compass you around and keep you in on every side." He was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and Josephus says the city was raised to the ground. Nothing was left but one prominent tower and a part of the western Wailing Wall. It is divine punishment for rejecting Christ and cumulative sin of a nation killing prophets and stoning the messengers of God. Is that the end? Bless God it is not the end.

Condemnation in verse 34 to 36, compassion in verse 37 and 38, and finally, conversion in verse 39, “for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Jesus says, I'm gone. Farewell from your Messiah. Your rejection is final and it was proven because when the apostles came and preached after Christ was gone, they wanted them dead too. Is that where the verse ends? No, it doesn't end there.

In the Old Testament God promised them that He would re-gather them. That ultimately He would be their Savior and king. That ultimately they would come into a relationship with Him and ultimately all the covenants would come to fruition. We have a God who makes promises that He will keep, so it doesn't end there. It says “till you say blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." Well, what does that mean?

Well, back in Matthew 21: 9 that was a cry meant to identify the Messiah. The Messiah was the coming one. Zechariah 12:9-10 says, "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Then they will recognize Me as their Messiah.

When the wrath is fully poured out, God is going to turn the tables and God is going to destroy the nations that come against Jerusalem. And on Jerusalem He will pour out the spirit of grace. And the scales are going to come off their eyes and they're going to look again at the one they pierced, Christ. And they're going to mourn as for an only son. Is He the only son? Yes, because there was only one Messiah. And the unbelievable will happen. There will be great mourning in Jerusalem and all over the land.

And in that day Zechariah 13:1-2, "In that day, there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitance of Jerusalem for sin and for cleansing. 2 It shall be in that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land." God's going to wash the whole nation clean. All the false prophets and unclean spirits are going to go. God's going to save His people. Then they will see Jesus for who He is and say blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord, that's our Messiah.

What does it have to do with me? Listen, if God has punished and cursed by abandoning His own beloved people Israel, what do you think is going to happen to you if you reject Jesus Christ? Do you think you'll fare any better? This lesson of a nation in history can be reduced to a lesson for a man and a woman in this moment of time. You have to make a choice. The Lord seeks to gather you into the safety of His love and salvation. Will you allow that to happen? Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 07 Dec 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20141207 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000002A imblog

Matthew 23:16-33

In the Word of God, the most honored, the most dignified is the true and faithful man of God. In other words, God lifts up faithful, true servants of His name. And throughout Scripture we read of the wonderful testimony of these individuals and God calls us to give them honor and respect. The apostle Paul said that people treated him as though he were an angel or even as Christ Himself, in Galatians 4:14.

But on the other hand, the most severely condemned are the false spiritual leaders. The harshest words of condemnation and wrath are reserved for those who parade themselves as true spiritual leaders, but in fact are liars and hypocrites. Scripture repeatedly warns about teachers who do not know God, who are strangers to the salvation they claim to proclaim. They are warning men of a hell that they themselves will populate.

Jesus rebukes them as perishing in the midst of plenty. Matthew 23 stands as a peak above all other peaks in Scripture in its condemning terms that we read through verse 36. And honestly, it's difficult to preach this passage because it’s condemning these false leaders over and over. But we must because it stands as a warning. And so we find ourselves instructed for today by learning why they were so condemned.

And may we transport that message to our current situation and apply this to the false spiritual leaders of our own time. Let us not name religions, denominations or movements, but let me give you the criteria out of the word of God so that you can make those judgments on your own. But you need to be discerning, honor those who are true spiritual leaders as Scripture leads you to condemn and avoid those who are false.

Now it is still Wednesday of His last week, two days from the crucifixion. The mounting hostility to Jesus Christ has reached a fever pitch. He intimidated them every way possible and they wanted to eliminate Him and then when the whole city seemed to be swept up in the fact that He might be the Messiah, their anger was even raised beyond what it had been before.

They no longer asked Jesus any questions. He had made them look like fools every time they did, so they silenced themselves. And so on this Wednesday He preached a final sermon. And it is against false spiritual leaders and it is a warning to the people to stay away from them in verse 1-12. And then it is a condemnation of them themselves from verse 13 on and ends with a lament over the consequence of the unbelief of Jerusalem, which was the product of false spiritual leadership.

Seven times Jesus uses the word woe. He pronounces this kind of curse on them and it is not wishful thinking. And He pronounces the final judgment on the religious leaders of Israel who have rejected Him and led the people in an equal rejection. And so we're left with seven curses. First of all, false spiritual leaders are cursed for keeping people out of the kingdom as we saw in verse 13, "For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for you neither go in yourselves, neither permit them who are entering to go in."

Secondly, false spiritual leaders are cursed for perverting people. They not only shut them out of heaven, they usher them into hell. Verse 15 says, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Thirdly, false spiritual leaders are cursed for they subvert the truth. They have developed reasoning that undermines truth. God is the God of truth, who cannot lie says Paul. And so any false system is a lying system. False religions are filled with lies, untruths, broken promises and that's exactly what the Pharisees and scribes had developed, a religion that evades the truth.

Jesus calls them blind guides, because they lived under the illusion that they were the guides of the blind. Romans 2:19-21 says, "You are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?” In fact, earlier in Matthew 15:14, He said, "the blind are leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind, both are going to fall in a ditch."

Only God can change the lying nature and replace it with truth nature. And that is a redemptive work, a sanctifying work, a work of regeneration. But in order to appear pious, they had developed a system by which they could lie without being judged. And they would vow that to God, and make a promise to some person and then in order to affirm that they wanted a contract sealed in blood.

But in Matthew 5:33-37 our Lord says to them, “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’” In other words, a person of integrity does what he says. There is no need for anything else.

So Jesus said in verse 16, “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.” So they say, swearing by the temple means nothing. But if you swear by the gold in the temple that's something. How ridiculous. They knew what the Old Testament said pay your vows, meaning: keep your promise. God hates lying.

This is illustrated in Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 who said we are going to give all we receive from the sale of this property to God. It sounded so religious and so spiritual. But when they received that money and they looked at how much it was they thought we made a mistake. The church doesn't need all this. We can't give all this to them, let us keep part of it. And you know what God did? He killed them in front of the whole congregation.

The point here is, the leaders had developed a system whereby they could lie. And so in verse 19, “Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?” Jesus doesn't even deal with the immorality of it here. He deals with the stupidity of it. Verse 17, “Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?” In other words, the only reason the gold is sacred is because it's in the temple because that is where God dwells.

And then in verse 18, they had another little deal, "whosoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.” Jesus says, you morons, which is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? The gift standing alone is nothing, only when it is on an altar offered to God that it becomes something.

It was just a silly way to evade having to keep your word. And you see false spiritual leaders need that because they lie all the time. So Jesus says, in verses 20-22, "Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.” So if you swear by anything that represents God, then you are going to touch the God who fills it all.

Fourthly, false spiritual leaders are cursed for reversing divine priorities. Look at verse 23, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” Well, you know what mint, anise and cumin are? All three of these are kitchen items used for flavoring food.

In the Old Testament law, God instructed His people to give one-tenth of all their crops and all their products to the treasury in Israel. So every year when you got your crop, ten percent of it went to the priests because the government was a theocracy run by priests. There also was a second tenth was for ceremonies and national festivals and so forth and there also was a third tenth paid every third year for welfare and for strangers.

And the Old Testament text said in Leviticus 27:30 and Deuteronomy 14:22, that this included "all the increase of your seed." Now what that meant was, you plant your seed and whatever you get of the increase, you tithe that. But these literalists had taken that to the extreme. God meant for you to tithe the grain and the wine and oil products. They were real good at counting seeds, but they "have neglected the weightier elements of the law," which are, "justice, mercy, and faith."

False religious leaders get wrapped up in inconsequential minutia and have no capacity to deal with the weightier matters. Jesus used the tradition of the rabbis who believe there were light elements to the law and weighty elements. And here He says the weighty elements are justice, mercy, and faith. The Jews had been taught in Micah 6:8, "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

And they had no faith. They walked by sight and they walked by works. They walked by law and they walked by their own efforts. But they did not have the real spiritual stuff. At the end of verse of 23 Jesus says, "These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone." He means you should take care of the tithe as well. Tithe does have its proper place still in Judaism in the gospel time.

It is amazing how false religious systems have so much minutia and so little reality. They really operate as people who have no internal spiritual commitment at all. Verse 24 describes them in a very graphic way, "Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” In the Old Testament in Leviticus 11:42, the smallest unclean animal was a gnat, an insect. The largest unclean creature that was forbidden to a Jew was a camel in Leviticus 11:4.

So Jesus says to them, do you know what you're doing? You are all confused, your whole priority system is inverted. You're just fooling around with stuff that doesn't matter. You are afraid to eat the tenth mint leaf and then you are allowing into your life hypocrisy, dishonesty, cruelty, greed and self-worship. You substitute insignificant forms and outward acts of religion for essential realities of the heart.

Fifthly, so the false spiritual leaders are condemned for excluding people, perverting people, undermining the truth, inverting the rules, and also for extorting the people. Verse 25, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.” You have a ministry that looks pious, but the whole thing is based on taking advantage of other people. You use people, you extort people.

All the plate and the cup have been cleaned ceremonial, the only problem is that the food on the plate and the wine in the cup were stolen. It all looks so religious and yet everything in it and on it was gained by extortion. How many false religious leaders are there all over the world who are offering people how to get rich and the riches they have gained is all the stuff they have stolen from those very people.

So Jesus says in verse 26, "You blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also.” This is so prevalent today, as false spiritual leaders become rich, they become fat, they become wealthy with their false piety and yet they have the heart of a thief.

Sixthly, false spiritual leaders are cursed for their deception. Verse 27 says, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” Jesus says you are guilty of deception. You contaminate people, you aren't what you claim.

On the 15th of Avadar, which is the month of March in Israel in the time of our Lord, there was an unusual custom. It was right after the spring rains that came and washed away the white-wash that the Jews used to white-wash the tombs. And the reason they did that was in preparation of Passover, along the roads where people would be travelling, for fear that they might inadvertently touch a tomb and thus be defiled. And because of doing these ceremonial cleansing processes, they could avoid other activities.

And so as you came into Jerusalem, you would see these beautiful clean white tombs everywhere. But they weren't what they appeared to be. Verse 28, “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” They looked so pure and so white, but they were tombs. And anybody who touched them would be contaminated and Jesus says, and that's what you are. You're whited tombs.

Then the seventh one, false spiritual leaders are cursed for pretension. Verse 29-30, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.” They said, we're so much holier than they. This is the ugly pretense of spiritual pride. Jesus had told them earlier in Matthew 21 how they had killed all of the prophets from God in the parable of the vineyard and the landowner and the servants and the son.

And Jesus says in verse 31, “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.” Why? Because right there they were plotting to kill Him. They were so consumed with their own deceit that they didn't even see the reality that they were killing one greater than the prophets, the son of God. Verse 32, "Fill up then the measure of your father’s guilt." What does He mean? Go ahead. You're scheming to kill the greatest prophet of all, the Son of God.

Jesus knew that this was the reason that He came, to die to save those who believe. Even the devil was fooled, only God can turn something so heinous as being crucified into the greatest act of love for humankind. As it says in Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Nov 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20141123 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000002C imblog

Matthew 23:13-15

Without question, the most significant issue facing the church is false teachers. Let's open Matthew 23:13-15, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Jesus attacks these religious leaders head on beginning in verse 13. He has already warned the people about them in verses 1-12 along with warning the disciples not to be like them. In the first seven verses He said, you are to be warned about them. And then in verse 8 to the disciples, you're not to be like them. You have to be true spiritual leaders showing the true attitude and the true heart who really serves God.

And then beginning in verse 13 Jesus turns from the crowd which He was warning and the disciples which He was exhorting, to those false religious leaders. And remember He is in the temple court a couple of days before His death. The crowd is there swelled by the Passover season. The leaders are there and He confronts the leaders in the face of the whole crowd so that everyone hears exactly what Jesus calls them.

This is not the first time Jesus has condemned them. In Matthew 7 in the Sermon on the Mount, He told the people to beware of the false prophets who come as wolves dressed like shepherds who don't spare the flock. So His first sermon was a warning about them, and His last sermon is again a warning about them. And our society needs to be warned not only about humanism, secularism and immorality, but we need to especially be warned about false spiritual leaders.

Jesus told the people in the first seven verses that they were false teachers because they lacked authority, they lacked integrity, they lacked sympathy, they lacked spirituality and they lacked humility. And now He turns to them and tells them exactly what He thinks of them and what is true of them and what is about to come to pass on them. And this is a warning for us today, because we have many more false spiritual leaders then they did.

The Lord knew He was going away and He wanted to be sure these people moved away from the influence of these evil men to hear the message of His apostles. And so we must follow true spiritual leaders who seek not to be served, but to serve; who seek not to fleece the flock, but to feed the congregation. Who seek not the highest honors, but are after no honor at all. Who do not scatter the flock, but gather the flock. And who like Jesus "do not break a bruised reed and do not quench smoking flax."

So having warned the people, Jesus turns to these leaders and from verse 13-33 He gives them seven woes; seven curses. This kind of confrontation is foreign to us today. It seems as though if you speak against any false system or any false religious leader, people pounce on you as if you don't know the meaning of tolerance and graciousness and love and kindness and all of that. But that is a warped perspective and this text will show you why it is so.

This is the Lord Jesus. Liberal theologians have decided that He wouldn't say these things, so they would just eliminate them. The Jesus that they like wouldn't say this. So they just say He didn't say it, but He did. And out of His mouth comes the most fearful, the most terrible series of words that He ever uttered on this earth. The rejection of Him by these leaders with their hearts that has led astray the people is cause for divine judgment, and this was pronounced on them.

It's a serious passage. And the tone of it can be revealed by the terms that He uses. Verse 13, hypocrites. Verse 15, hypocrites, He calls them sons of hell. Verse 17, fools and blind. Hypocrites in verse 23, 25, 27, 29, and then in verse 33, “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” Jesus is calling them what they really are and He says it calmly with crushing power.

And yet there is a certain sense of sorrow. It is not just a scathing rebuke of judgment without any emotion. It is filled with a certain melancholy that ultimately breaks forth in verse 37 as Jesus says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” And Luke tells us that on the day He rode into the city and knew of it's coming judgment, when He came near He beheld the city it says He wept over it.

There are two key words that will help explain this section. The first is the word woe, which appears seven times and identifies each of the distinctive thoughts. The word woe in the Greek is a most interest word. It is a word used, for example, in the Septuagint to express grief, despair, dissatisfaction, pain, and the threat of losing your life. It's used in the New Testament to speak of sorrow and judgment. It mingles punishment and pity, cursing and compassion.

And there's another word that dominates the text and that is the word hypocrite. It originally came from a term which mean actor. Someone who pretended to be something he wasn't. And gradually it became a bad word and finally it came to mean a deceiver. One who pretends an outward goodness but inwardly is evil. Jesus condemns that in Matthew 6:2, "Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.”

When Jesus says woe, woe, woe all these times, this is not a wish, this is a statement of fact. It isn't like people today might say well ‘damn you’ which seems to be a rather popular phrase in America. It is not just a wish that you be damned, it is a fact. Divine judgment is set in motion when Jesus says you are cursed. This is indeed a curse that worked its way out in reality and the death and eternal damnation of these false religious leaders.

Now the woes can be divided up, and we are just going to cover two of them this evening. False spiritual leaders are cursed because they keep people out of the kingdom. Now just think about that, they keep people out of the kingdom. That is a definition of false religion and of false spiritual leadership. Look at verse 13, "For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves, neither allow them who are entering to go in."

There is a little phrase there, following the kingdom of heaven, "against men." It's very vivid because it is literally before men. So it really means “you shut the doors of the kingdom of heaven before men.” The picture is that men are moving in that direction and right in their faces you slam the door. And it also is supported by the fact that the end of the verse says neither permit them that are wanting to enter or continuing to enter.

Jesus came into the world to announce the kingdom, to bring salvation. But before Jesus came, He had a forerunner named John the Baptist and his message was repent. In other words, turn from your sin for the kingdom is at hand. The king is coming. Get ready for the kingdom. And all Israel were there being baptized. They were there confessing their sins. They were there getting their hearts ready for the Messiah.

And right then the Pharisees and the Sadducees showed up and they shut up the kingdom. How did they do that? By denying the word of God, by misinterpreting the word of God, by denying that Jesus was the Messiah, by denying His deity, by denying salvation by grace, by denying the need for repentance. They closed the kingdom in the faces of the people through their works-righteousness system that had no place for Jesus Christ.

The church needs to know the Word of God and it needs to take a stand against false religious leaders. Paul writes to Timothy that they propagate heresies and doctrines of demons. Luke 11:52 says, "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” False religious leaders keep people from being saved.

Go to John 9 and read about the account of a blind man who was born blind for the glory of God's sake. This blind man was healed by Jesus in a great expression of divine power and compassion. And having been healed by Jesus he then became an interesting topic of discussion for the religious leaders who asked the parents who said to talk to the son. Verse 22-23, “His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

In other words, they had no room in their theology for the Messiah. They had already made up their minds about that. So in verse 24, “So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.” And in verse 34 they really rebuked the blind man when he tries to explain that Jesus must be from God. They said, "you were born in sin. Do you teach us? And they threw him out.” They were in the business of sending people to hell.

Now secondly, false spiritual leaders are cursed not only for exclusion, but for perversion. They not only keep them out of the true religion, but they corrupt people in their false religion. They pursue converts and make them perverts. Matthew 23:15, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

And so the Lord looks at these Pharisees and scribes and says you're just going around the whole part of the world you live in for one convert, for one proselyte, because they were busy trying to add to their numbers. When you are in a false religion it helps if other people join. Now there were two kinds of proselytes. One is there was what was called a proselyte of the gate and the others a proselyte of righteousness.

Now the proselyte of the gate was a Gentile who just attended the synagogue. He just barely got in the gate, that's the way they referred to him. He stopped worshipping his pagan deities and he started worshiping the true God. He is called two things in the book of Acts. He is called a worshiper of God in Acts 16:14 and Acts 18:7 or also called just a plain worshiper, Acts 13:50 and Acts 17:4 and 17.

But the other convert was the proselyte of righteousness. This was the guy who accepted everything these Pharisees and scribes taught. And so he became a self-righteous, legalistic, tradition keeping, law keeping, circumcised proselyte. This is what the Pharisees were after. Now there were many people who became ‘proselytes of the gate’ but very few became proselytes of righteousness. And that's why it says that they zealously go everywhere to get one convert.

And look what happens, you have made him two times more a child of hell than yourselves. Have you ever noticed that a convert to a cult is more zealous and aggressive for the cult than somebody raised in it? That can be said of Christianity. Frequently people saved out of the world and brought into Christ from an ungodly background are more zealous for their newfound faith than people that are raised up in it. And so they make a spiritual convert who turns out to be perverted becoming a son of hell.

Now the word hell in the Greek is ‘Gehenna’. This comes from a valley near Jerusalem called the valley of Hinnom. In the Old Testament time the worshipers of the god Molech burned their children there alive. Read 2 Chronicles 28: 3 and Jeremiah 2 and 7: 31. That valley then became identified with the worst kind of paganism, with the burning of human flesh of infants. And so that became the symbol of eternal burning, the place of constant fire and it became synonymous with hell.

Now let us close with just two things. One is this, if you're a Christian, you ought to be thankful that somewhere along the way in your life you met somebody who was a door opener, not a door closer, Amen? I thank God that I was raised in a Christian home with Christian parents who taught me the truth. And sometimes when you get a little uptight about the church because, you couldn't find a place to park your car or you didn't particularly care about the solo or the pastor wasn't very good that day, get things in perspective will you?

The one thing you can bless God for is that at this place you're hearing the truth and you have heard the saving truth. And it may have been not here, but somewhere else that someone gave you the saving truth. And you have the responsibility to praise and thank God for the place you are where the truth is preached and taught and lived and believed. And I hope you're grateful for that with all of its imperfections.

Secondly, dear friends, if you're a Christian, you are a kingdom door opener, do you understand that? You have to be out there calling people away from the closed doors to the open one. In other words, we have been given the keys to the kingdom. We know how people are to come in. We understand the truth of the gospel and it's our tremendous responsibility to open that door to folks and to call them out of those false systems. Don't be afraid, call these false religions for what they are.

Sometimes if you have courage to say the truth to people, you will plant a thought in their mind they can't get away from. On several occasions when the doorbell ringers come and want to teach you about some cult, just give them a fast list of the things that Jesus called these false teachers. You are a hypocrite and a false teacher, and just say: I'm not interested in talking to you.

I will be happy to open the door to the kingdom and share with you the truth. But I will not listen to your damning lies and let them go away with that in their mind. Instead of going away thinking they have defeated you in a debate there needs to be a confrontation. And you have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as to how you should do that, but we need to be calling people away. As Jude 1:23 says, we need to save others by snatching them out of the fire. Well, let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Nov 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20141116 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000002D imblog Matthew 23:1-12

Well, authority in the church is not popular, and even authority from the pulpit is not popular. I have no personal authority. The only authority that I have is when I rightly proclaim to you the truth of the Word of God. And so when we talk about ministry, we are talking about human beings called by God to proclaim His Word and His Word is authoritative by nature.

When we talk about authority in the church, we’re not talking about power wielded by people because of church law, the traditions of men, as Jesus referred to them. The Law of God is an authority. The gospel of Christ is an authority. Everything that God has said in the Word of God is the final word and that has authority. If you know the truth and you provide the truth, you are the authority.

No one ever walked this earth who had more authority than Jesus Christ. As far as God was concerned, He had the highest of all titles, Lord and God. As far as men were concerned, He had no title, He had no office. In fact, He was basically demeaned because He came from a nondescript area, Galilee, and even more nondescript town, Nazareth. He had no education. He had achieved nothing in the religious world. He had no authority in terms that people view as authority.

But when He spoke, for instance after the Sermon on the Mount, the people were stunned because He spoke as one having authority and not as the rabbis. Every single thing that came out of His mouth was absolutely true. He spoke only what the Father showed Him and only what the Father said. He further said that the Father had committed into His hands all authority in heaven and in earth. And the day will come when He will exercise the authority that goes with the title King of kings and Lord of lords.

Those then who are in the church proclaiming accurately the Word of God are speaking authoritatively. That is why believers are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:12, “And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.” Or in Hebrews 13:7, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you and considering the result of their conduct imitate their faith, obey your leaders and submit to them.”

That is just hard for a contemporary church to swallow. They think the preacher should be a good story teller, a guy with a lot of insights, with which he should make some interesting talks with some good kind of intuitive perspectives, throw in a few personal illustrations, and that’s about it. But the idea of standing in a pulpit and saying, “Thus says the Lord...” and preaching the Word of God and making it binding on every person steps over the bounds and the tolerances of many people.

Did Jesus have a conversation with His enemies who disagreed with Him? Did He try to see where they could agree? Or did He flatly condemn them? The answer is very clear. In every volatile confrontation that Jesus had with His enemies, He never identified any common ground. He upheld the truth and inevitably condemned those who were in error. There are many people who feel that if you teach the truth of God, you will drive people away. However a church is an assembly of people who want to know God through knowing His Word. But there will always be counterfeit authorities.

Matthew 23:1-12, “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe that and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.”

“6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This is His final message to the Jews in the temple area, on Wednesday of the Passion Week. His last words warn people about counterfeit authority. And this is the full revealed text of what He said. Mark refers to what He said, Luke also only refers to what He said but Matthew gives us the full account, at least the full revelation that the Spirit intended for us.

Now, the first thing about the scribes and Pharisees can be seen by the repetition of one word as you look through this chapter. Verse 13, “hypocrites,” verse 14, “hypocrites,” verse 15, “hypocrites,” verse 25, “hypocrites,” verse 27, “hypocrites,” verse 29, “hypocrites,” they are therefore insidious and extremely dangerous. They have a deadly effect on the people who follow them. They lead them right into the mouth of hell.

Verse 15, “You travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” Counterfeit religious authority making sons of hell, which is why they are cursed. Verse 13, “Woe to you,” verse 14, “Woe to you,” verse 15, “Woe to you,” verse 16, “Woe to you,” and then verse 23, verse 25, verse 27, and verse 29. This is damnation pronounced upon religious hypocrites.

Why does our Lord call them counterfeit religious authorities? Number one, they are not authentic. Verse 2, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.” In each synagogue there was always a special seat called the “Moses’ Seat,” and it was the place where the leading expert in the Law and religion sat to teach. It was the seat of the reigning authority in religion, so when the Pope speaks ‘ex cathedra’, he speaks out of the official seat of authority which is deemed infallible.

The point is that the scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. They were not put there by God. Jesus warns His own Apostles that the day will come when the Jews will throw you out of the synagogues. This will be led by those who have usurped the seat of authority there and see preachers of My gospel as threats. That’s what happened. Persecution first broke out in the synagogues, not only in the land of Israel but even in the Gentile world as Paul went from city to city. False spiritual leaders are always self-appointed experts.

There’s a reason that serious Christians throughout history have designed ways to train men before they place them in positions of leadership. Because a person in the place of authority and that tells others, “thus says the Lord,” better have the skills to know that his interpretation is accurate. You better have the necessary tools, spiritually and mentally, experientially to take on this formidable task. There’s a reason for ordination.

We live in a time today when anybody who wants to can open a church with no doctrinal statement, no board, no accountability, no training, nothing, and go off and say whatever he wants to say in whatever way he wants to say it and become a self- appointed and self-controlled entrepreneur. Today you don’t even have to know any theology. It’s kind of popular to say, “I don’t know about that.” And that’s the whimsical new way to minister.

In Jeremiah 14:14-15, the Lord said, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them.” You think that has gone away? That hasn’t gone away. Therefore, verse 15, “Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them, yet they keep saying there shall be no sword or famine in this land. By sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end.”

In contrast to that, someone has been called by God, gifted by God, confirmed by the leaders of the church and faithful to the Scripture, that’s where true authority comes from. Counterfeit authority inevitably is self-appointed, and when you try to hold them to a biblical standard, they will scream that you are intolerant, narrow minded, bigoted, judgmental and condemning because that’s their only defense and that defense has worked well in contemporary evangelism.

Secondly, counterfeit authority lacks integrity. Verse 3, “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe that and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.” They tell you what Moses said, and they certainly do that. So, do what they say but do not do according to their deeds for they say things and do not do them. In other words, when they do reflect the Law of Moses and they try to press it upon you, it is something they themselves do not even obey. They have no integrity.

False teachers are always corrupt on the inside because counterfeit religious authority cannot restrain the flesh. If you’re not a true Christian, there is nothing in your false religion that can contain your flesh. As far as people could see, Paul lived a blameless life as a Pharisee, but his heart was rotten. And as he came to understand the reality of that, it led him to Christ. The flesh is only being contained and it is building pressure.

That’s a sad state. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 7:16, “You’ll know them by their fruit.” Time and truth go hand in hand. Eventually the truth will be known. False teachers are full of mass vice. They possess a superficial goodness. So what you want to do when you’re looking at someone who supposedly has spiritual authority is you want to see the life. God intended those who are true leaders of His church to live with His people and have their lives under constant scrutiny.

Thirdly, characteristically it lacks sympathy. Verse 4, “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” They gave people many rules, regulations, financial demands that were impossible to do. There were well over 600 laws that all people were supposed to conform themselves.

And then it says, “They themselves will not move them with so much as a finger.” No sympathy, no care, they are loveless and they are abusive. Ezekiel 34:3-4, “You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.”

In Matthew 12:15 Jesus heals a whole group of people following Him. And it is said that this is a fulfillment of what was spoken through Isaiah 42:1-3, “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, my Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.”

In other words, Jesus picks up the broken, He picks up the bruised, the very kind of people that the Pharisees and the scribes totally ignored. In fact, the Pharisees and the scribes were convinced that they were in the desperate condition they were in because of the judgment of God. Counterfeit spiritual authority always abuses people and they will abuse the people who are least able to defend themselves.

Number four, and they lack spirituality. Verse 5, “They do all their deeds to be noticed by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.” Jude 1:19 says, “These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.” They’re spiritually dead, even though they head up religious schools and colleges and seminaries and denominations and call themselves pastors and preachers, it’s all for show. They convince themselves that public acclaim is equal to spirituality.

And Jesus describes some of the things they actually did, they broadened their phylacteries. Phylacteries were little leather boxes that they placed on their body because Deuteronomy 11:18 said, “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” Actually that was metaphoric and symbolic, to make sure that what you think and do is according to the Word of God. But instead they enlarged their boxes to parade their increased spirituality.

Finally, they lacked humility. It’s already hinted at in the phylacteries and the tassels, but the Lord gets even more specific in verses 6-7, “they love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called by men rabbi.” Rabbinic writings give elaborate explanations as to the place and rank and treatment of Pharisees, and punishments for those who fail to do it. The Mishnah says, “It is more punishable to act against the words of the scribes than against the words of the Scripture.”

Jesus is warning these people about them and He is saying to His own in verses 8-12, “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

You be the opposite. Don’t let anybody call you rabbi as if you are the one in whom all truth resides. For one is your teacher and you are just brothers. And don’t let anybody call you father as if you are the source of spiritual truth and life. There is only One who is the source, the One who is in heaven. And don’t even be called leaders. There is just one leader and that is Christ. You are all brothers and followers.

Repeatedly He told the disciples if you want to be first, be last. True spiritual authorities faithful to the Word of God are called by God, gifted by God, set apart by God, not self- appointed. They seek to serve, not to be served. They are faithful in preaching the Scripture, not inventing their own ideas. They feed the flock and sympathize with the flock. They seek to demonstrate the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Seek no honor for themselves but all honor for Christ. They do not preach what they will not live. They lift up the broken and the bruised. Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Nov 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20141109 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000002E imblog Matthew 22:41-46

Let's open to Matthew 22:41-46, “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: 44 ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’ 45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” 46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.”

“What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” This is the most important question of all questions. When it comes to opinions about Jesus Christ, the world has a variety of suggestions. For instance, about 100 A.D. the Jews wrote this of Jesus, "Jesus practiced magic and led Israel astray." Julian the Apostate who ruled the Roman Empire from 361 to 363 wrote this: "Jesus has now been celebrated about 300 years, having done nothing in His lifetime worthy of fame, unless anyone thinks that it is a very great work to heal lame and blind people and exercise demoniacs in Bethsaida and Bethany.”

The Jewish leaders of that time said Jesus did what He did by the power of the devil himself. But for the most part, humanity has been somewhat condescending to Jesus, somewhat patronizing, somewhat complimentary. Some of the great philosophers of the world have looked at Jesus as the best of men. Rousseau wrote, "When Plato describes his imaginary righteous man loaded with all the punishments of guilt yet meriting the highest rewards of virtue, he describes the character of Jesus.”

But the other side of all of that is the denial that He is more than the best of men. And it has always been that Christianity has found its most violent detractors and its most aggressive attackers coming at the deity of Jesus Christ. The major emphasis of those who deny the reality of Christianity is to attack the deity of Jesus Christ, that He is a man and nothing more.

Christian Science teaches that Jesus was a mere man who demonstrated a divine idea but His blood cleanses nothing. The Mormons say He is the spirit brother of Lucifer, the devil. Scientology teaches that Christ achieved as a man, "A state of clear but not the highest state of an operating thetan." The Unification Church leader, Sun Yung Moon says Christ must achieve perfection and He will do it by marrying and having perfect babies. The Unitarians teach that Christ was a man.

All false religious systems cannot accept the deity of Jesus Christ. And that is where the battle lines are ultimately drawn in terms of the Christian faith. These misrepresentations and misconceptions are not new, they even existed in the time of Jesus Christ. And they are essentially behind the scenes in this text. The Jews believed in a non-deity Messiah, who would be a human political military leader. And this text comes as a correction to that serious error.

Now this is still Wednesday in Matthew 22 of the Passion Week, Christ will be crucified on Friday to rise on Sunday. He preaches and teaches the Kingdom. He is stopped in Matthew 21:23 by the Jewish authorities who ask Him, "By what authority do You do this? Who gave You that authority?" He doesn't answer their question, but He does give them three judgment in the form of parables saying to them, "You are shut out of the Kingdom of God and others are going to be put in there in your place."

They are incensed by the fact that He teaches contrary to them. They're incensed because He has power that they don't have. They're incensed that He has popularity with the people that they can't seem to attain. They want to get rid of Him. And so they come back at Him with three questions meant to discredit Him. But the questions did not discredit Jesus, they all discredited only the ones who asked them.

They are still huddled there in the midst of the temple courtyard surrounded by all the people with Jesus as the focus of attention. And for the last time personally Jesus confronts them. His confrontation is a pronouncement where He says to them you thought Messiah would be just a man, I'm telling you Messiah is also God and your failure to understand that is the cause of your judgment. You ask Me by what authority I did these things, now I am telling you that I am also God.

But there is more to it than that. There is also an invitation here because not all the Pharisees rejected Christ as some. Jesus said to the lawyer, as recorded in Mark 12:34, "You are not far from the Kingdom." So there must have been more who were close to salvation and for whom the information about the deity of Jesus Christ could bring them to the knowledge of Christ.

Notice what Jesus asked in verse 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ?” Now Jesus is not asking about Himself, it is indirect. He is not saying I am the Christ. He is asking them for a Messianic identification. Christ is really a New Testament term for the Old Testament term of "Messiah." “Whose Son is He?”

Look at their answer in verse 42, “They said to Him, the son of David." Any Jew would have given that reply. That's what all the scribes taught. They got it from the Old Testament in 2 Samuel 7:12-13, where God says this, “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

But there will be coming a seed out of the loins of David, some life in the Davidic line that is going to have an eternal Kingdom. He will be a Son of David. And from 2 Samuel on, the Jewish people knew that it would be David's son who would be the one to reign and rule as the anointed, the Christ, the Messiah. Psalm 89:3-4 says, “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David 4 Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.’”

And in Matthew 9:27 we will hear this cry to Jesus, "Have mercy upon me, O Son of David." We find in Matthew 20, the two blind men in Jericho cry the same thing, "Have mercy upon us, O Son of David." They were calling out to Jesus as the Messiah. When Jesus in Matthew 12:22 healed many people, in verse 23 all the people were amazed and said, is this not the Son of David? That was a Messianic title. When Jesus rode on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem, they cried "Son of David, Son of David."

And that is why Matthew presents Jesus Christ's genealogy in Matthew 1. He starts out the gospel with the genealogy of Jesus Christ as the Son of David, and then he traces the entire genealogy from Abraham through David down to Joseph to Christ. In other words, David sets in motion a line which resulted in the birth of Messiah. Luke 3 does the same thing through Mary, and it indicated that this is indeed a son of David, because both his father and mother were in the Davidic family.

They could have disqualified Jesus as being the Messiah if they could have proven that He did not have a Davidic genealogy, right? And we know well that they have checked this. In the temple they kept records on the genealogy of everyone. In fact, the records were kept so well that everyone knew their genealogy. And because they never brought it up indicates that in fact He was from the line of David. Therefore was qualified humanly to be the King of Israel.

But their answer, as right as it was, was inadequate. It was correct but it fell short of the full answer. They were really saying to Him, "Who do You think You are, letting people call You Son of David? That Messianic title is too great for You." And He is saying no, it is too a small a title for Me. David had many sons, thousands of descendants. How was one to be distinguished above Solomon, or above Joseph the father of our Lord?

The Lord responds by presenting them something that is infinite and incomprehensible. Verse 43, "He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ The word "Lord," kurios, a common word in the Greek, is used many times in the New Testament for deity, it's the title of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in the Old Testament the word there for Lord is Adonay. That too in the Old Testament is a title for God.

So, Jesus says if Messiah is only David's son, as a human, how is it then that David calls Him Lord God, as deity? Look at verse 43 again. "How then does David in the Spirit call the Messiah Lord?" When David called the Messiah Lord he was in the Spirit. Revelation 1:10 also talks about John being in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. It means to be under the control of the Spirit. Compare Mark 12:36, the comparative passage, where the Savior said, "How then does David in the Holy Spirit call Him Lord?"

So in verse 44 Jesus quotes directly from Psalm 110:1, "The Lord said to my Lord.” David wrote that Psalm, "The Lord (Yahweh) said to my David’s Lord (Adonay), sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” Two Lords here are speaking together. And Jesus used Psalm 110:1 because they all agreed that it was a Messianic Psalm. In fact, Psalm 110 is the most often quoted Psalm in the New Testament; it is quoted by Peter, Paul and the writer of Hebrews. And in all three gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, this Psalm is attributed to David by Jesus.

Now what is the Lord saying? Anybody who wants to eliminate the deity of Christ has to deal with this verse. When the Lord says David calls the Messiah Lord in this Psalm, the Lord Jesus is interpreting this Psalm for us and He is telling us three things. Number one, the Psalm is Messianic because David is talking about Messiah. Secondly, Jesus is saying David wrote that Psalm even though you don't see David's name as the author. Thirdly, Jesus affirms the deity of Messiah. That is its intent.

And what did God say to David's Lord? Verse 44, "The Lord God said to my Lord, the Messiah, the Christ, Sit at My right hand." God the Father Himself, the Yahweh of Israel, the Creator of the universe, has designated a position of rank for the Messiah that brings Him to His own right hand and puts Him in a co-equal place of power and authority with Himself, declaring His deity. That is why the writer of Hebrews says that God has lifted Christ and placed Him at His right hand.

Now the right hand of God is the place of power and authority and might. And that authority and power is invincible because it also says in Psalm 110:1, "Till I make Your enemies your footstool." In other words, I will subjugate everything under You. There may be Christ-deniers, there may be enemies of the Kingdom but ultimately I will take all those enemies and they will become Your footstool. Christ will put His feet on their necks. And that was the sign of the defeated foe.

Verse 45, "If David then calls Him Lord, how is He his Son?" This is a riddle they can't answer, verse 46, "And no man was able to answer Him a word." And they couldn't answer Him because they would not acknowledge what was clear out of that passage and that was that He had to be God as well as man. Only that way can He be son of David and David's Lord at the same time. Psalm 110, one of their favorites, has that all right there.

Now where does it connect up with Jesus? Well they knew He was the son of David, having checked His genealogy. Did they now have enough evidence to know He was also the Son of God? Jesus did so many things to prove He was God, they had to fight the obvious to conclude anything other than that. John 20:30-31 says, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

The essence of Christianity is that Jesus Christ is the God-man. Regardless of what these cults and all these liberals say, that is to deny the very heart of the Christian faith and to make out yourself as a fool when the Scripture is so abundantly clear. If there were nothing else in the Bible but Revelation 22:16, it would be enough, it states, "I Jesus have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches." Listen to this, "I am the root and the offspring of David."

Yes He was human. He is called in the Bible Son of Man, the man Christ Jesus, man of sorrows. He possessed flesh and blood. He could be touched. His feet could be kissed and washed. He had a soul and spirit, that human part of us. Jesus says, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful” in Matthew 26:38 and in John 13:21 it says, “He was troubled in His spirit.” Hebrews 4:15 says, “He was in every point tempted like as we are.” He was the son of David, He was a man, He was as we are.

But He is also God. And He shared with God the attributes of omnipotence. He is the creator. He is the commander of the elements, as we see in His life. He is the controller of all the creatures. He is the provider of food. He is the healer. He is the raiser of the dead. He is the forgiver of sin. He's the judge. In Matthew 18:20 He said that He was able to be everywhere at all times. He is omniscient. He knew things that people were thinking. He knew them before they ever said something or never said anything. He showed that He never changed. He demonstrated in His life that He like God is holy and true and wise and sovereign and loving and eternal and glorious. And when people worshiped Him it was all right.

And the conclusion can only be that He is God, David's Son and David's Lord. And if they had had open hearts, they could have seen that. And if they had asked the right question, if the Messiah is Son of David, and the Son of God, are You that Messiah? They should have put these facts together. But their obstinate unbelief left them with an inappropriate response.

Verse 46, "And no man was able to answer Him a word, neither dared any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions." He shut the mouths of the critics, frankly, He silenced those who wanted to ask Him questions to trap Him. Mark says in Mark 12:37, “the common people heard Him gladly.” The common people wanted to hear more, but the leaders never got Jesus’ message. They refused to believe.

What is your response? In Matthew 26:63, the high priest gets up and says, "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” 64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said.” They wanted Him to say it so they could kill Him for such blasphemy. All the evidence was presented and yet they still thought He was a blasphemer. Some just silently walked away and a few believed. How about you? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Nov 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20141102 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000002F imblog

Matthew 22:34-40

In church is the time when we should listen intently to the Word of God. He confronts us with His truth so we might respond in a way that would be pleasing to Him. No matter in what era, at whatever age, with whatever group of people you may be talking, it is universal that love is the greatest experience possible. However, the love of God is quite a different kind from the love that the world understands. And that is God’s message for us in tonight’s text. Our text is about a divine kind of love, which only God can produce.

Now remember it is still Wednesday of the last week, the Wednesday before the Friday when Jesus is to be crucified. And Jesus is in the temple. He has entered the city on Monday and was hailed as the Messiah, the one who would come to set Israel free. And they hoped that He indeed would be that Messiah. But on Tuesday He went to the temple and attacked their false religious system and cleansed the temple, threw out the money changers and the buyers and sellers who had desecrated God's holy house.

And after spending the night in Bethany at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, Jesus with His disciples came back to the temple and is spending the day preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Now the religious leaders resented Jesus Christ deeply. The Scriptures say they already were plotting His murder. They hated Him because He taught contrary to their teaching. Reason number two: He was more popular than they were. And thirdly: He demonstrated powers and abilities that they could not even conceive of.

So they attempted to publicly discredit Jesus. Their first question came in verse 15. The Pharisees with the Herodians asked Him whether or not they should pay taxes to Caesar. In their minds they were convinced that He would say no because He represented the law of God and He was not going to acquiesce to the Roman government. And if He did they would send the Herodians to report Him as a rebel leader and the Romans would kill Him. Well we know the answer, “And Jesus said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” So that did not work.

So the Sadducees asked the second question in verse 23; they wanted to know Jesus’ view on resurrection. They make up a bizarre situation and they assume that if He confirms a resurrection He's going to be stuck with this strange situation and the people will see that Jesus has His failings. But again His answer confounds and astonishes them and that test failed too as we saw last Sunday. And that brings us to the third question.

One more time they in verse 35, ask Jesus a question to test Him. This was their last attempt. Verse 34. "When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Herodians, and then He had silenced the Sadducees they gathered together to discuss the situation.” It is interesting that it says He put the Sadducees to silence; the verb means to gag them. It was used, for example, in Mark 1:25, in silencing a demon. Also in Mark 4:39, of silencing a storm. They had more to say, but they just could not say anything else.

In this exchange of words we see a fulfillment of prophecy. In Psalm 2, in which the Psalmist looks ahead to the Messiah, it says, "the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed." In Acts 4:26, it says, "The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ." This is exactly what happened. So let us look at the approach of the Pharisees.

We have to know what they have in mind. And this has often not been clearly delineated. It is important that we understand why they asked this specific question. Usually we refer to this passage, we talk about the passage, we isolate it from its context, and we focus on the great 37th verse while we do not understand what they were really after. However when we understand what they intended to accomplish, it makes sense.

Verse 35, "One of the Pharisees, who was a lawyer." Now the word lawyer means a law expert, who knew the law, who interpreted the law and who taught the law. And now he is sent to ask a question on behalf of the rest of the Pharisees. He is an emissary directly sent by the Pharisees who are filled with hatred, but it seems that he is not quite as committed. He is a little more objective and he is attracted to the wisdom of Jesus.

And it says in verse 35, "He asked Him a question to test Him." So he is not totally honest. Now it is essential that we understand what this question is all about. The number one hero in Judaism historically still is Moses! Only Moses spoke to God face to face as a man speaks to his friend. Moses was chosen to be the recipient of the Ten Commandments of God. Moses penned the first five books of the Old Testament. Many of the Jews believe that Moses was in a category above the angels.

The Jews believed that Jesus attacked the teachings of Moses. That is why in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” But they believed that Jesus diminished Moses and they wanted Him to say that. They want Jesus to affirm that His word supersedes Moses so that they can accuse Him of being a heretic who has departed from the faith delivered by the greatest authority, which is Moses himself.

So here is the question in verse 36, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Now the Jewish law has 613 separate laws, because there were 613 separate letters in the Ten Commandments. That is the way the Jews did things, it is called rabbinic letterism. And they divided that into two parts. They said there are 248 affirmative laws, one for every part of the human body and there are 365 negative laws, one for every day of the year. Then they divided the 613 laws into the light laws and the heavy laws. The light laws were optional and the heavy ones were binding.

So there was a lot of debate about what was light and what was heavy, what was really important, what wasn't so important, and so forth. So they thought: if Jesus is trying to establish Himself as the Messiah, He is going to say something to set Himself as the authority. So they ask: just give us the greatest law, and they figure if He has something new to say, it cannot be an old law.

Look at His response in verse 37, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” What an answer! Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5, He quoted Moses. He quoted the most familiar thing that Moses ever wrote, the Shama. Deuteronomy 6:4-5, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." That was the most familiar Scripture to all of those Jews.

In a Jewish house you will see a little box, usually with the Star of David on it. Inside there is Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Have you ever seen an orthodox Jew strapping to his forehead the phylactery, the little box strapping to his arm and inside the boxes on his arm and on his head is Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Every Jew at the time of Jesus who was faithful to his religion twice a day had to stop and recite that statement. Jesus affirms His solidarity with Moses.

The word in Deuteronomy 6:5, you shall love aheb in Hebrew, the verb refers primarily to the love of will, the love of the mind, the love of action rather than the love of feeling, the love of emotion. It is that highest kind of love. Not the love that you just feel, but the love of dedication, the love of commitment, the love that says this is right and this is noble no matter what I feel. And that's the word,agapeo, which is the love of intelligence, it's the love of purpose, it's the love of will as opposed to phileo, which is the love of emotion or affection and eros, which is the love of the physical senses.

The word heart basically in the Hebrew understanding is the core of a person's identity. You remember Proverbs 4:23, "Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life." Everything comes out of the heart. The heart in the Hebrew understanding is the intellect, which produces the thoughts, produces the words and produces the actions. It's as a man thinks in his heart that he is.

And the word soul refers best to emotion. For example in Matthew 26:38 it says, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful." The mind is another way to say might. Might is a very broad word but it has to do with intention and will. It has to do with moving ahead with energy with purpose or with intention or with will. And then Mark adds the word strength, which is all of our physical capacities.

And so you can see here that in an overlapping sense there are four channels for love to be perfectly balanced. It's an intelligent love, it's a feeling love, it's a willing love, and it's a serving love. It carried itself right out to how we act in our physical strength. So our intellectual part, our emotional part, our volitional part, our physical part all comes together to love God with our total being, with all that we are to really love God, that's the great commandment.

God is not looking for people who go through religious ritual, who on the outside can go through the motions. God wants people with their whole being love Him. God loved us with His whole being, Because He gave us everything He was and is and will be. He gave us Himself in death for our sin. And He who gave us His wholehearted love does not want our half-hearted love in return.

And as He loved us enough to give His Son, we are to love Him enough to give ourselves, as He said in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” We are to lay down our life for Him. God loved us and gave us His Son, as He showed that love can sometimes happen even where there is no initial reciprocation. So we are to love God not for what we gain but because it is the right thing to do.

God wants more than just our belief. James 2:19, says the devils believe and tremble, because though they believe God they do not love God. And that is the distinguishing mark of the redeemed. They love God. And God demands that we love Him with a perfect love, with a love that is as wide as all of our capabilities and capacities. No one is ever right with God until his heart and soul and mind and strength manifests love for God.

A person does not become a Christian just because they may believe. A person becomes a Christian when they demonstrate a consuming love for God. Paul said that in Romans 7, the things that I do that are sin I don't want to do, but in me is my flesh and it does these things, but that is not what I choose to do. The essence of what he is saying is I love God and I love what is right and I love what honors God and even though I don't always do it I love it. And even though sometimes I sin, I hate that.

It always starts with a love for Jesus and as a result of that love there is a desire and a commitment to obedience. When Jesus gathered in the Upper Room with His disciples He says in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." 1 John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." Ephesians 6:24 says, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."

And so what God desires is that we love Him, and what kind of love is this? It is a love that trusts in God's great power in Psalm 18. It is a love that seeks fellowship with God in Psalm 31:23. It is a love that secures the peace of the soul in Psalm 119:165. It is a love that is sensitive to how God feels in Psalm 69:9. It is a love that loves what God loves in Psalm 119:72, 97 and 103. It is a love that loves whom God loves in 1 John 5:1. It is a love that hates what God hates in Psalm 97:10. It is a love that grieves over sin in Matthew 26:75. It is a love that rejects the world in 1 John 2:15. But above all this love is a love that obeys.

And so we are those that love Him and keep His commandments, and that is the mark of a believer. You show me someone who doesn't have any interest in keeping His commandments and I will show you someone who doesn't love Him and someone who doesn't know Him. We must be forgiven for that and God wants to forgive us for that and that is why Christ died on the cross. He bore on the cross the sin that we should have born. And what sin was it? Primarily it was the sin of rejecting God.

But God also infuses us with an ability in the present and future to love God. And that is what it means in Romans 5:5 when it says, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit of God when given to us in salvation enables us to love God. We can't love the way we are supposed to love, and because we can't love that way, we need enablement, so Jesus comes to pay the penalty, to forgive the sins of the past and to enable us to love God in the future.

Let us look at verse 39, “The second commandment is the same, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." This flows from love for God, when you love God right, you love people right. The Pharisees didn't do that. They used people. They were cruel to people. Witness their treatment of the prophets, and their treatment of Christ. They were not lovers of men. They were haters of men, they stole their money, they took bribes and did all kinds of evil things. They are self-lovers.

So you are to love your neighbor as yourself. In other words I take care of somebody else the same way I take care of me. We are very concerned with our own comfort, with meeting our own needs, we are very concerned that our own goals are met. When I see somebody else hungry do I take care of them with the same speed, the same concern? Do I have the same feeling toward someone else who has a need? When I'm uncomfortable I want to find comfort. Do I have the same feeling for someone else who is in discomfort?

Christianity isn't that complicated, it just says love God and love men. If you love God you will do what He says. If you love men you will do what they need. Verse 40 sums it all up, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." If you just love God with all your being and love everybody as you love yourself, you don't need any more rules. Everything else is just an explanation of that.

The lawyer who asked the question said in Mark 12, "You're right," and he repeated what Jesus said. And Jesus said to him, "You're not far from the kingdom." You see if you believe this you are not far, but just believing is still one step short of loving Him. The answer was so right and so clear that it says, "No one dared ask Him any more questions."

So the message for us as Christians is, look at yourself, do you really love God? Look in your heart. Do you sense that it is there? And do you love others as well in the name of Jesus Christ? Let us ask for His help so we learn to practice that love in our lives every day, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Oct 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20141026 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000030 imblog

Matthew 22:23-33

Let's continue our study of Matthew 22:23-33, but before we look specifically at the text we need to talk in general. Mankind always has had thoughts about resurrection, it's just built in the heart of man in every culture, with few exceptions, that there must be a life after life. For example, in the tomb of Pharaoh Kiops sealed over five thousand years ago was discovered a solar boat, which he had built so he could sail through the heavens in his next life.

In the ancient Greek religion often a coin was placed inside the mouth of the corpse so that he could pay his fare across the mystic river of death into the land of immortal life. Some American Indians used to bury a pony and a bow and an arrow with a warrior so that he would be able to ride and hunt in the happy hunting ground. In Greenland Eskimo children, when they died, were buried along with a dog so that they wouldn't have to find their way through the cold wasteland without a guide.

Now Jews were no different. It was part of Jewish thinking that there was life after life. If we study the Jewish writings around the time of Christ we find this affirmed. For example, in this non-biblical book called Second Maccabees, we get an insight into Jewish history, their attitudes, philosophy and beliefs, and we have quite an interesting section about the idea of resurrection.

It describes a man named Rassis, an elder in Israel, who is greatly upset about being under the bondage and domination of the Greeks, and so he decides to kill himself. In front of a crowd, he takes his sword and proceeds to disembowel himself and then he tears out his intestines. And Second Maccabees says, "So he died, calling on him who is lord of life and spirit to restore them to him again." His belief was that there would be another physical life restored after this one was lost. And by taking his life he was hoping to get life in a better situation.

There is another book called the book of Baruch. It says in the 50th chapter, "The earth then shall assuredly restore the dead, which it now receives in order to preserve them. It shall make no change in their form but as it has received so shall it preserve them. And as it is delivered to them so shall it raise them. For then it will be necessary to show to the living that the dead have come to life again and that those who have departed have returned again." In other words, some Jews believed that you would die and come back to life in the same form in which you die.

The Pharisees believed that whatever relationships, whatever situation, whatever marital condition, whatever physical defects, whatever scars, whatever clothes you had on when you died, that's exactly what you would be like when you came in the next life. And the reason that they believed that was so was that when the resurrection happens the ones who were living would know it was a resurrection. If you came back in a different form they wouldn't know you had been resurrected. They wouldn't know it was you.

And then Baruch goes on to say eventually those people who were resurrected would then be transformed into the same splendor that angels have who would be made equal to the stars, they would be changed into every form they desire from beauty into loveliness, from light into glory. But first you had to come back and stay awhile the way you were.

In Psalm 16, one of the most familiar and often used text by the Jews, it says in verse 9-11, "Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices, my flesh also will rest in hope, for You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life." In other words, there is hope that there would be no corruption ultimately, no ultimate death, but life after life.

Psalm 49:15 says, "But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol or the grave, for He shall receive me." Psalm 139:8 has the same idea. Hosea 6:1-2, talks about after two days on the third day He will revive us, make us alive. Daniel 12:2 is perhaps the most direct statement of all, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

But the Bible didn't spell out how it was going to be, and so there was a lot of debate whether or not you would have your old clothes or your new clothes, and there was a lot of discussion about the form, but we can see from the writing of Baruch, that they believed we would come back in the same form you left to make the point that we had been resurrected and later on we would be transformed.

Now as we look at Matthew 22, most Jews believed strongly in resurrection except one group. Verse 23 says, "The same day came to Jesus, the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection." Now they were at odds with all of Jewish culture and theology. In Acts 23:8, they are introduced this way: "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both." So they were an unusual group in Judaism.

Now there were four major sects in Judaism: Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes. Essenes were sort of hermits down in the desert who spent all their time copying scrolls and most likely copied the Dead Sea Scrolls, which we have found. Then there were the Zealots who were political activists, who were very nationalistic, who were giving trouble to Rome. And then there were the Pharisees who were the religionists. And then there were the Sadducees who were the aristocratic ruling class in Judaism.

In fact, the chief priests, the high priest and the noblest of the priests were Sadducees. The majority of the members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body in Israel were also Sadducees. So they had great power, influence and they also were wealthy because they also owned the temple concessions, the money changing, the buying and selling of all sorts of sacrificial things that went on there under their power. And politically they were pro Rome, so they were not a popular group.

Now religiously they were fundamentalists, they were more narrow minded and crueler than the Pharisees. The Pharisees, says Josephus, were more lenient in the application of the law because they wanted to get around the law so they invented all kinds of ways to circumvent the law. They refused everything but the Old Testament. They prided themselves on preserving the pure faith. They were very fastidious when it came to levitical purity and following the levitical order.

Now the key doctrine was that they denied the resurrection. Well if they believed in the Old Testament and many passages there speak of resurrection, how could they deny the resurrection? Because they gave primacy and authority only to the five books of Moses. They said all the rest of Scripture just as commentary on the books of Moses, and since resurrection is not taught there, therefore we do not believe in resurrection.

So therefore, you can live anyway you want here and now, right? They believed that the body and soul went out of existence at death, no penalties and no rewards, no future, nothing, just non-existence. Therefore, they filled up their life with anything and everything they could. Because they were somewhat limited by literal interpretation of the Scripture, they used their religion just to gain profit.

So the Sadducees disagreed violently on resurrection and they disagreed on their attitude toward Rome, and the Pharisees tended to be the lower class and they the higher class, so there was social animosity and political animosity and theological animosity, but there was one thing they agreed on and that is that they must get rid of Jesus Christ. So let's look at our text and see the approach of the Sadducees.

It is Wednesday two days before our Lord was crucified. Jesus has been teaching in the temple and He is stopped by these religious leaders who ask Him a series of questions to get Him in trouble with Rome so He would lose His life but He evaded that so marvelously and indicted them instead. Now the Sadducees come and their intent is to discredit Him with the Jews. And so the attempt here is to discredit Him as a teacher.

And the reason they have instantly become involved is because Jesus has just disrupted their business. One day before, on Tuesday, He had cleansed the temple, thrown out the moneychangers, thrown out the buyers and sellers of all the goods there, and now He is invading their territory. As the people hailed Him as the Son of David, the Messiah, they see now that this man can cause a revolution. He is starting something that only the Romans can stop and they can see themselves trapped.

So the Sadducees and Pharisees got together and they said, "What do we do for this man does many miracles. If we let Him alone the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." So the Sadducees got in on the death plot with the Pharisees because they also rejected Jesus' teaching. The people were turning away from them and listening to Jesus and He was talking resurrection just as the apostles after Him did. In fact, Josephus says it was the Sadducees who murdered James, the brother of our Lord.

Let's look at verse 24, “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.” Now that was what was known as the levirate law, a historic Jewish law taken from Deuteronomy 25:5-6. If a man marries a woman and he has no male child, and he dies that man's family name is not passed on. So an unmarried brother is to marry her to raise up a child and that firstborn son will be considered the child of the dead husband.

Now let us look at verses 25-28, “Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. 27 Last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.” So in the resurrection this lady is going to come back and be everybody's wife and you have polygamy in the eternal resurrection life. What a crazy thought.

They know Jesus believes in resurrection. In John 11:25-26, He said by the grave of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” They knew His teachings and so they figured, we got Him. He is not going to have an answer for this and all the people are going to know that we are smarter than He is.

Verse 29, “Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Had you known the Scriptures you would have known that God promises resurrection. If you knew the power of God you would know that He wouldn't recreate people with the same problems here. And so Jesus directly moves into those two dimensions. First on the power of God in verse 30, "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven."

We are never going to be angels, but we are just like angels, eternal beings who do not marry and do not procreate. And so the Lord is saying, look we are going to be different in the resurrection, there will be no marrying. We have to realize that the best of this life cannot even begin to touch what is in eternal life to come. Nobody will be closer to anybody else because we will all be perfectly close to each other and all perfectly intimate with the living God Himself.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says God has made all different kind of bodies, right? There are bodies of birds and of animals and there are heavenly bodies, terrestrial bodies and celestial bodies. God is the master of so much plurality and variety in the creating of bodies that He is going to create something new and different for us too. God is not limited and we will see that demonstrated in the resurrection also.

And then Jesus says you are not only ignorant of the power of God, but you are also ignorant of Scripture. Verse 31, “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God?" And Jesus quotes Exodus 3:6 in verse 32, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Is that supposed to be a statement about resurrection? It is indeed a statement and the argument here is of the verb tense. He doesn't say I was the God of Abraham, I was the God of Isaac and I was the God of Jacob.

You see in Exodus 3:6, Abraham was dead, Isaac was dead, and Jacob was dead already. And Jesus’ point then, at the end of the verse is, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. So if God says I am the God of these people they must be alive. God is not worshipped by corpses. He is not the God of people who don't exist. I am the God who continues to have an intimate relationship of life and worship with these who are ‘dead’, which means they still must be alive.

The unchanging, eternal, covenant keeping God who made His promises to His chosen will bring them to fulfillment and they are alive to rise again to enter the fulfillment of the covenant given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are alive to inherit all that was ever promised to them. Jesus did what all the masterminds of the Pharisees had never been able to do. He came up with a verse right out of the Pentateuch. He was not the fool but He made them look like fools.

Now finally the astonishment in verse 33, “And when the multitude heard this they were astonished by his teaching." In Luke 20:39 it says, "Some of the scribes, not Sadducees, said, 'Teacher You said well." It blew their minds. Amazing, marvelous, this Jesus Christ, hailed as king, hailed as Savior, hailed as Messiah, confronted by hate filled religious leaders who wanted Him discredited and dead. He is unaffected by their assaults. And He only manifests greater glory, produces greater wonder and continues to confound His enemies.

Oh it should be exciting to us to see Christ come up with things that no one else could ever come up with, answer questions that can never be answered by others. Why? Because this is the infinite mind of God, this is proof positive that this is God in human flesh. And so we see majestic and deity revealed here and that is marvelous to see. We know in whom we have believed, and He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. We see His deity in His profound wisdom.

Second thing, we see His commitment to Scripture. Oh how He loved the Word, oh how He knew the Word, just exactly the right one for the right situation. Bless God that He put His confidence in the Word, because if Jesus leaned on the Word that is a great confidence builder for us to lean on the Word too, isn't it?

And thirdly we see His affirmation of the resurrection. Whenever we might be prone to doubt the resurrection we are reminded that Jesus Himself never doubted it for a moment, and affirms here that those who are dead are still alive because God is the God of the living. And so we can be encouraged with another view of Jesus as God, with another view of His dependence on Scripture, with another view of the hope of everlasting life. Instead of them discrediting Him, He discredited them and exposed Himself in all His majesty one more time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Oct 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20141019 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000031 imblog

Matthew 22:15-22

Last Monday He rode on a donkey into Jerusalem and was hailed as the Messiah. Tuesday He cleaned the temple out of all the moneychangers and sellers and so forth. And now this is Wednesday in Matthew 22 of the last week of our Lord's life. Friday He will be crucified and on Sunday He will rise from the dead. Now He is back in the temple teaching on the kingdom, and He has collected by the magnetism by His personality and the dynamics of His teaching a massive crowd of people who are interested and fascinated by what He is saying.

Now this makes the religious leaders real irate. They resent Jesus Christ and so they stop Him in the process of teaching and they say to Him, "By what authority do You do these things and who gave You the authority?" His response to them is to tell them that they are under the judgment of God. And He tells them that in three parables.

The first was a parable of two sons. One son said, "I will not obey you father," and later did. The other son said, "I will obey you father," and never did. And Jesus said, "You're like that second son. You keep saying you're going to obey God but you never do. And you will be kept out of the kingdom. On the other hand tax collectors and harlots are like the first son who live a life that defies the father but in the end they repent and do obey." And He said, "Tax collectors and harlots will enter into the kingdom instead of you."

And then He gives them a second parable of the vineyard with the tenant farmers. The man that owned the vineyard is God. He leases it out to tenant farmers and they work the land and they produce the crop and then when the owner sends back his servants to collect what is due to him they beat up the servants and kill them and finally he has no servants left so he sends his son and they kill his son. And Jesus says, "You are the tenant farmers; you who kill the prophets; you who will kill the very Son of God. The kingdom will be taken from you and given to someone who is worthy of it."

And then Jesus gave them a third parable, which we looked at last week in Matthew 22, the parable of the royal wedding feast. And He likens them to people who were already invited but when the feast begins to celebrate the son they will not come, they will not honor the son, and they will have no part of the celebration. And so they are shut out. And again Jesus says, you are going to be kept out of the kingdom of God and others are going to come and take your place. Three parables of judgment.

Now they have to react to this because this is in the middle of the temple courtyard with many people around. And the Lord Jesus has just devastated them with three prophecies of their judgment put in parabolic form. And they knew exactly what He was saying. He attacks their unbelief and their rejection and calls down the judgment of God. And in their anger and fury, they were going to report Him and the Roman government will come down here to get Him and kill Him. That was their plan.

So now these three parables are followed by three questions and those questions take us through the rest of Chapter 22. This evening we are going to look at the first of those three, verse 15 to 22. Verse 15, “Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.” The Pharisees want to trap and ensnare Jesus so they went off in the corner somewhere in the temple and they began to talk and figure out how to trap Him in a statement.

Instead of crying out for mercy, all they want to do is kill the one who brought them the warning and offers to save them. It is like the guy whose drowning who tries to drown the guy who is trying to save him. Now let us look at their approach, verse 16, "And they sent out to Him their disciples." Why do you think the Pharisees sent their disciples, why didn't they go themselves? Because they long ago had been revealed to be fake. There was no way they could go up to Jesus and pretend to really believe in Him.

They find a group who Jesus doesn't know as their followers, they brief them thoroughly and send them to masquerade as honest questioners. They are trying to fool Jesus. And it says, "It was the disciples with the Herodians." Luke doesn't even mention the Pharisees or the Herodians, he just calls all of them spies. All they want is to get Jesus to make an anti-Rome statement so they could report Him to the Romans where they would kill Him. They were spies masquerading as religious people interested in what He believed.

Why the Herodians, who are they? They were the ones following Herod. They were not religious; they were political. The Herodians were a dynasty of Edomites who ruled the land of Palestine. Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, Herod Archelaus were all of the Herodian family. In 6 A.D. Archelaus, who was the son ruling in the south was deposed and in his place the Romans put a governor and that's how we know Pilate as the Roman governor for the southern part of Palestine.

So here are the anti-Roman Pharisees and the pro-Roman Herodians getting together against Jesus Christ. Why? The Pharisees recruited the Herodians because when Jesus said his anti- Roman things they needed to have some pro-Roman witnesses, who would be believed by the governor because they were known as pro-Roman that this man is an insurrectionist leading an anti-Roman rebellion movement.

Well why did the Herodians cooperate? Because the Herodians didn't like Jesus either; in fact, Herod Antipas cut off the head of John the Baptist, because he confronted Herod about his wicked, wretched life. And they didn't like Jesus, who came after John, any better than they would have liked John. So they agree that they are against Jesus even though they can't agree on religion or politics, and that sets the stage.

Now look to verse 16, “Teacher, we know that you true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.” Watch their approach: "Teacher”, the highest honor you could pay a man. The Talmud says the one who teaches the law shall gain a seat in the academy on high. And then they say, "We know that you are truthful.” You have integrity. Not only are you a truthful person, and you teach the way of God in truth, you have truthful information to give.

Not only that, they say, "nor do You care about anyone." They don't mean Jesus is indifferent to people with needs; they mean He is not swayed by other opinions. And then they add this: "for you do not regard the person of men." In other words you are not intimidated by anybody. Everything they said was true. You think they meant it? No, they didn't mean it. It was evil flattery, with only one thing in mind: setting you up to let you down. Build your ego up so high that you are stuck trying to live out your reputation.

Now they think where He now with so much integrity, so much truth, so much conviction, and so much courage that He has to answer them truthfully. He's going to have to live up to His reputation now. That leads to their attack. Watch this in verse 17, "Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?" Simple, but very delicate! What is your opinion? Mark adds in his parallel account, "Shall we pay it or shall we not?"

The Romans counted all the people and this tax is called head money. In other words each year every individual had to pay this census tax. It was a personal tax and the amount was one denarius. A denarius was one day's wage, one day's wage for a Roman soldier, a fair wage for any worker. The Romans provided certain services to the people by officials, government, soldiers, and so forth, they had to have compensation and so they have various taxes.

Now this didn't sit well with the Jewish people. They saw themselves as a theocracy ruled by God. And when pagan Rome moves in, and imposes itself on them, starts taxing they have the feeling that they're giving what belongs to God to Rome. They felt that that head tax was the most offensive because they could understand the property tax, the income tax and the business tax as going to Rome since they rendered services, but as individuals they belong to God. And so the most galling of all their taxes was this census tax.

And so they were sure that the only thing Jesus could say to them was not to pay it. That's what they were hoping. Now watch verse 18, "But Jesus perceived their wickedness." Jesus knew because He knows everything. He is omniscient. John 2:25 says, "He had no need that anyone should testify of man for He knew what was in man." He knew the questions and their intention before they even asked. Verse 18 continues, “And said, "Why do you test me, you hypocrites?"

They were right, He was direct and not intimidated by anybody. And He called them exactly what they were: fakers and pretenders. You hypocrites. Jesus had never seen those people before. These guys walk up totally new, and flatter Him to the hilt and He says, "You phonies." Now here is the heart of the text. Verse 19, "Show Me the tax money. So they brought Him a denarius." So that tax would have to be paid in the Roman coinage of one denarius.

Jesus takes the coin in His hand. It was a silver coin minted by the emperor, because only the emperor could mint silver and gold. So any silver coin would reflect the image of the Caesar. It would not only have his image, but it would have some kind of writing identifying him. This was the common practice among kings, to hail their sovereignty they would mint coins with their pictures on it.

And every time a Jew reached in his little pouch and pulled out a denarius it offended him because it was a reminder of Roman oppression. And it was a graven image and they were offended by that. In Israel today there are places where you cannot take a photograph and if you try they will stone you because they still are offended at any kind of image.

And in verse 20 look what Jesus says. "Whose image and inscription is this? Verse 21, “they said to him, "Caesar's." And a denarius from the time of Tiberius, had on one side the image of Tiberius' face and on the other side it had him sitting up on his throne in high priestly robes, with a crown on his head. So the coinage was more than secular, it was religious. The emperors not only believed they were high priests, they believed that they were gods.

So the Roman emperor was always called the high priest. The appearance of a strange star in 17 B.C. had caused Augustus Caesar to inaugurate a 12-day feast what he called an advent celebration and the Roman College of Priests was called together that year and they voted to grant mass absolution from sins for all the people in the empire. Coins at that time hailed Augustus Caesar as the son of God, so the state offered salvation in addition to prosperity.

Listen to what Jesus says next in verse 21, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." That is so profound that it is hard to communicate everything that is in that. First of all notice the word render, it is the word pay back or give back. It speaks of an obligation. Give back Jesus says, he minted it. It refers to something that doesn't even belong to you.

Now when they asked the question in verse 17 they didn't use that word. They said is it lawful to give as a gift? Their perspective was that they had a choice of giving or not giving. Jesus said, you're giving what belongs to him. What does the Lord say here? Pay your taxes! Even a blasphemous government, even a government about to be the executioner of the Son of God, even that kind of government has to be paid.

And the New Testament reaffirms this in Romans 13:1, "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." Government is an institution of God just like marriage, the family and the church, is a special institution of God. It's a sin not to pay your taxes. Verse 3, "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise of the same."

Don't be selective and pay the ones you want. You pay them all. Look at 1 Peter 2:13-15, "Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether the king is supreme 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do good. 15 For it's the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.”

God wants Christians to be models of virtue, models of integrity in the world so that we can be good examples. In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Paul says, "That we should pray for all men and 2 for kings and all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet peaceable life in all godliness and reference." You should live in the world in a godly and an honest and a peaceable way and you should render to those in authority exactly what those in authority call for.

Listen, everything you have you receive is from God. It is God that gives you the health to do your work well and He gives you the opportunity to work in that specific job and the brains to perform the job well. The Lord just says some of that I want you to give to society because I have ordained government so it can be leading to a peaceable, and happy and quiet life.

But it is the second half of Jesus’ answer in verse 21 that's so dynamic. He says, "And render to God the things that are God's." What was Caesar asking for that only God deserved? Worship. That's the issue. You can pay your tax to Caesar but don't you dare render to him your worship, that's what Jesus said.

Do you see the distinction? Give to Caesar what is Caesar's but you better reserve for God what is God's. And that is why this USA started out with a clear distinction between the church and the state because what belongs to government is owed to the government; and what belongs to God we need to give to God. But unfortunately that is changing more and more, and we are not giving to God what He deserves.

Romans 12:1 tells us what God deserves from us, Paul said, “I beseech you brothers, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” These spies do not have a clue who they are trying to trap, the Son of the living God, and He gives them an answer that is absolutely astounding. Look at the aftermath in verse 22, "When they heard these words they marveled and left Him and went their way." They could not say anything else and so they left.

Well you know something, that's sad. Why do people do that? There are people in here this evening that don’t want to follow Jesus and instead of responding to God and give God what He deserves, they just leave. But I am literally in awe of Jesus Christ. This answer is again a revelation of the deity of Jesus and the incredible genius of God, Amen? Well let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 28 Sep 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140928 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000033 imblog

Matthew 22:1-14

“And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said, 2 The Kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son and 3 sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come. 4 Again he sent out other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatted cattle are killed and all things are ready. Come to the wedding. 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, and another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies and destroyed those murderers and destroyed their city.”

“8 Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

This parable is about a royal wedding feast. It is directed in a very specific way in its historical context and yet in general has far reaching complications. First, let me explain the historical setting. This is the Wednesday of the last week of our Lord's life and ministry. Friday He will be crucified. Sunday He will rise from the dead. For three years He has been preaching and teaching the gospel of the Kingdom.

Jesus has been proclaiming Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. He has been offering Himself and His Kingdom to the people of Israel, His own people, the called people of God. And now the three years are ending and the people have rejected Him. And the leaders have rejected Him and are extremely hostile to Him and by Friday will turn Him over to the Romans for execution.

And Jesus is back in the temple. Now that it is cleansed, He has come there to teach again the gospel of the Kingdom, the good news of salvation. And as He teaches, the people are listening, Jesus is the center of attention. And the religious leaders are really threatened by this because He speaks of an internal righteousness that they know nothing about in their external self-righteous religion. And He is a threat to their system.

And in Matthew 21:23 they stop Him and say, "By what authority do You do these things and who gave You this authority?" They are angry and hostile and they are already planning His death the Bible tells us. And so Jesus answers them with three parables. The first one in Matthew 21:28-32 is about two sons. The second one is a parable about a vineyard that was leased out to tenant farmers in Matthew 21:33-46. And this is the third parable in Matthew 22:1-14. And each of the parables has a message of judgment.

The parables say this: you have rejected Me, all of the Old Testament prophets spoke of Me, all of My miracles validate My claim to be the Son of God, the Savior, the Messiah, and all the words that I have said affirm that. But you have consistently for three years rejected Me and now God rejects you. Now this is your judgment and they are in the form of parables of judgment and they climax in this third parable.

Now parables are simply stories, analogies used to convey spiritual truth. And the best way to do it is to start with something they know to explain the unknown. And Jesus was the master of analogies and the master of figures of speech and the master of articulating truth. And Jesus used all the things of common life, all the things of daily routine and turned them into spiritual messengers which conveyed profound spiritual truth.

Now it is a story, verse 2 says, about the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus always talked about the Kingdom of heaven. It is a sphere of God's rule. It is a dominion where God rules, where God is sovereign, it is the dominion of redemption and salvation. The Kingdom is that place where God's children live. It is a community of people who are redeemed, who are under the rule and the guiding and the leading of God.

And so Jesus says it is like a king who prepared a wedding. But the word itself means a wedding which was inseparable from a big feast. How long? Normally it was seven days. And if you were a king, it could go on way beyond that. It was one great grand glorious celebration. And a wedding made by a king for his son would be the wedding of all weddings. Even in our culture we understand the grandeur and the majesty and the spectacle of that.

And what our Lord is describing here is the greatest celebration that people can imagine. He is saying the Kingdom of heaven is like the greatest celebration imaginable thrown by the wealthiest person imaginable for the most honored person imaginable. He wants to capture all the best that life could ever imagine to give. And so Jesus says there was a king who made a wedding feast for his son. This was the biggest and best celebration of all.

Now verse 3 says, "He sent out his servants to call them that were invited to the wedding. And they would not come." In those days, people did not have watches and they were not as rigidly tied to time schedules as we are today. And preparation was also difficult. Time was somewhat flexible. And so the phrase "that were invited" means they were notified before.

Now when the feast is ready to begin, the servants are sent out to these people to say it is time to begin. And unbelievably, they would not come. It's unthinkable. If you had been given an invitation to a two-week festival connected with the royal wedding, you would surely go. But they wouldn't come. And now we are beginning to see the impact because the people, including the religious leaders, are saying, "That's ridiculous. Nobody in their right mind would not go."

What was the king's response? Verse 4, "Again he sent out other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see I have prepared my dinner my oxen and my fatted cattle are killed and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” Verse 5, "But they made light of it." They treated it with indifference. "And went their ways." They just walked away from it. This story is hard to believe. No one would ever do this.

"And one went to his farm, and another to his own business." No, we are not coming to the great grand glorious royal wedding feast, we are going to go to the farm and over to the store. Such selfish preoccupation with your own enterprises. Such a forfeiture of joy and celebration and such an insult to the king. Such an affront to his graciousness for such an invitation was the highest honor in a country.

Now look at verse 6, "And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully and killed them." Wow, why did they kill the guys who came to call them to the feast? That's what it says. Outright hostility is added to indifference. And both reflect a certain rebellion against the king. What really does this mean? The story is clear.

The Kingdom of heaven is the community of the redeemed. It's the place of divine blessing, salvation by grace. Who is the king? God. Who is his son? Jesus Christ. And the idea of a great banquet is a Jewish idea. You can read it in the Talmud that the Jews said that when the Messiah comes, God will put on a banquet to end all banquets and we will feast with the Messiah. And God is calling people to come to His Kingdom and honor His Son.

Who are these people that are called in verse 3 and 4? Well, they are the already invited ones. Who are they? The Jews, Israel. Look in Genesis 12 where God made a promise to Abraham, the people of Israel and said, "I will make you a great nation, a nation through whom the earth will be blessed. And they shall be as the sand of the sea and the stars of the heaven." They were the invited ones.

Who are the servants that go out to call the already invited ones? Preachers like John the Baptist, like Jesus Himself, like the Apostles, right? Sent out two-by-two to preach the Kingdom and so here were the already-having-been-called ones, the nation Israel, the Kingdom is offered to them. The King says, "Here's My Son, here's My Kingdom, come and honor My Son," and this is how He sends out His servants.

And what do they do? The people treated them with indifference. And some of the people killed John the Baptist, cut his head off. They killed Jesus Christ. James was the first of the Apostles to be beheaded. And the rest of the Apostles is a list of martyrs, isn't it? They killed God’s servants. The indifferent people in the parable are the people who were preoccupied with the farm and the merchandise.

Most people who are indifferent to the gospel are secular people. Their preoccupation is with stuff. They are interested in earthly matters, they had no time for heavenly issues. They were so busy with business, they couldn't understand salvation was offered to them. So trapped by the farm and the shop that they couldn't go to the celebration. Finding their satisfaction in the pursuit of wealth.

False religion is hostile. You look at the history of persecution around the world and the persecutors of the truth are the purveyors of religious error, inevitably. And that is why in Revelation 17 when you see the final world system of religion that comes together in the end times, it says that final world religious system is drunk with the blood of the martyrs because it is false religion that stamps out the truth in hostility.

Now look at verse 7, "When the king heard of it, he was furious." He had been gracious. But his patience has a limit. And when they have killed his servants, he responds in anger. And it is justified, for unrighteousness has slain righteousness. "He sent out his armies and destroyed those murderers and destroyed their city."

Even today we understand that murderers pay with their life, even though we struggle with that capital punishment issue. And, of course, the Bible articulates that it is. And so what was done was just. The order was given to destroy their city. Verse 8, "Then he said to his servants, the wedding feast is ready, but they who were invited were not worthy." Why? They weren't worthy because they would not accept the invitation. That's all it says.

You see, when the servants go back to call another group in verse 10, they call those that are bad and good, it says. So it isn't that they are looking around to find the most noble and the most moral and the most self-righteous people in the world and say, ah, they're worthy. No, worthiness is only tied to saying yes to the invitation. They weren't worthy because they refused salvation in the Son, they wouldn't come.

Here Israel was cast off as God's called people. Why? Because they rejected the Messiah. And He says your city is going to be burned, and in 70 A.D. it happened. Titus Vespasian, the Roman general, conquered Jerusalem, murdered one million, one hundred thousand Jews, and threw their bodies over the wall. And Josephus, who was an eye witness, wrote that neither pity for age nor respect for rank was shown. The emperor had ordered the entire city and sanctuary to be razed to the ground, except that part of the wall that enclosed the city on the west. And that is the wailing west wall that remains.

The third facet of the parable is called "new guests invited." Verses 9-10, " Therefore go into the highways and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.” So the point is, go everywhere and get everybody that will come. Go into all the world and preach the gospel, make disciples. That is the mandate.

That's what Paul says in the book of Romans when he says, "The fall of Israel is the rising of many." Now isn't that the heart of the gospel message? That's where we are now, isn't it? Their fall became our rising. God will not be frustrated, beloved. The festival is going to have some guests and it is going to go on.

And notice verse 10, "So the servants went out into the highways, the crossroads, the forks in the road, and they gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good." You mean, bad people can come? Yes, God is calling everybody bad and good. And the thing that makes them worthy is not their inherent goodness or badness, but their willingness to accept the invitation. And all can come if they're willing to come on God's terms.

And then finally, the last little scene in this parable is very important, the intruder expelled. Verse 11, "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who did not have on a wedding garment." The point here is that there was only one guy who wasn't properly garmented. The parable doesn't say anything else. So the best thing is to assume that everybody else were wearing the proper garments.

"The king says to him in verse 12, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless." He had no excuse. Which means that everybody could have had a garment, including him. But he just didn't accept it. Verse 13, "Then said the king to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

There are going to be people who try to crash the Kingdom, they come in and they join the church and they get involved. They are like the people in Matthew 7:22-23 who say, "Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons, have we not done many wonderful works in your name? Lord, Lord, we preached. 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" These are Kingdom crashers, these are tares among the wheat. They do not have the proper garments.

So what is the proper garment? Matthew 5:20, "For I say to you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven." What is necessary to enter the Kingdom of heaven? Righteousness, a God-given righteousness. Job 29:14 says, "I put on righteousness and it clothed me." Isaiah 61:10 says, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness."

Verse 14, "For many are called but few are chosen." Paul often talks about the call in Romans and that is an internal call by God to salvation. This call here is an external call. The gospel invitation is sent out everywhere. Some are indifferent, some are hostile and some try to crash the Kingdom on their own terms. But few are chosen. So the perfect balance to that is that God is sovereign. That is a mystery we will never understand, but we believe it. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Sep 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140921 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000034 imblog

Matthew 21:33-46

Now keep in mind that this is the last week of our Lord's life. His time on earth is coming to an end. Friday He will die. This is Wednesday and on this morning Jesus is in the temple and He is teaching about the kingdom and preaching the gospel. The day before, He cleansed the temple. The day before that on Monday, He rode on a donkey into the city to the hosannas of the multitude, many of them believed He might be the Messiah.

Now the religious leaders, chief priests, scribes, elders, including the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Herodians and all of those who were in responsibility for the religious life of the nation and the temple itself were infuriated at His teaching because everything was contrary to what they taught, because He taught things that were internal and their religion was all external. And because He unmasked their hypocrisy and their pretense.

And so we find in Matthew 21:23 that they ask Him by what authority does He do these things and where did He get that authority. They want to see His ordination certificate. The Lord replies to them with a trilogy of parables. And for this evening, let us look at parable number two as an illustration of a great spiritual truth. Here is another parable about judgment.

So Jesus says in verse 33, "There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.” This is a very common scene in Israel. And Jesus took something that was well known to explain something that was unknown, something that otherwise was beyond the grasp of people. And so He talks about planting a vineyard.

Vineyards were vulnerable to wild animals and robbers and so they was always a hedge around it. The point being, the man took care in protecting the vineyard. Then it says he dug a winepress in it, where the grapes could be turned into juice. And as the grapes were crushed, the juice would flow down and be collected and put into wineskins and jars. That was the way that they turned their grapes into grape juice and wine.

Then He tells us that the man built a tower for security, shelter and storage. Now the point of all of that is to demonstrate that the man took great care in doing it right. And then it says he leased it out to tenant farmers and went into a far country. Now this is also common. He works out an arrangement with the people who are leasing it. And they are to give him a certain portion of the crop each year. The remainder of which belongs to them for their own livelihood.

Then verse 34. "Now when vintage-time drew near He sent his servants to the vinedressers that they might receive its fruits." So at harvest time he wants to collect his portion so he sent his servants to them to receive from them what was due to him. They may have given it to him in currency, having sold what was produced. They may have given it to him in terms of grapes or in terms of wine which could have been then transferred at the marketplace into cash. Whatever, he came to collect what was rightly his.

But then a shocking series of events takes place in the parable. Verse 35, "And the vinedressers took his servants and beat one, killed one and stoned another." These tenant farmers had become independent, possessive and now they wanted everything. But look how gracious the owner is. Most people after sending the first guy would have taken some pretty strong action. But the owner sent one, then sends another and then another. Look at verse 36, "Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them." They killed them all.

Some critics have said at this point, "Well, this makes the parable a little farfetched. Nobody would keep sending servants if they just are being killed." And the reply to that is, that's correct. This is where the parable becomes really uncommon. And it is the heinousness of such a thing, the incredulity of it that where our Lord is making His point.

And so they have killed all the servants. And verse 37 says, "Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.” That phrase "last of all," is full of emotion and sadness. Here is a grieved man and now he has only got his son left. In fact, in Mark 12:6, the parallel passage, it says he is his only son. He says I will send him, surely they will respect my son.

But verse 38-39 says, "But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.” They knew exactly who he was. They planned his murder, it was premeditated, the result of careful planning with full knowledge of who he was. And they committed murder so they could control everything.

Now the people are very interested. They know it's a parable. They know He has a spiritual point in mind. But the story itself is so captivating that even without the interpretation they are captivated by the evil of these men and the sadness of the father who lost all his servants and his son. And so we move from the illustration to the conclusion. And in a very traditional rabbinic way, Jesus leads them down the path and makes them conclude the story themselves.

Verse 40, "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” Now the assumption here is that the owner has forces and resources that the servants didn't have and while he could protect himself, they cannot. So when he gets there, what is he going to do? It's pretty obvious what he would do. And those self-righteous religious leaders are ready to give their answer and show their righteousness.

And so in, verse 41, "They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” They love to feel so irate at injustice and evil. This feeds their hypocrisy. Luke 20:16 tells us that some people cried saying, "God forbid, no, no, no,” as if they were unable to imagine what he would do to those evil men.

Now two things are said in verse 41 out of the mouths of these leaders where they condemn themselves. "He will destroy those wicked men miserably," that's number one, and this is number two, "And will lease his vineyard to other farmers who shall render to him the fruits in their seasons." First is judgment, second is replacement, remember that. So with their own mouths they have concluded the illustration.

Now let us see the explanation, because this is missed by many people. Jesus explains the parable but in a veiled way. Watch verse 42, "Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes’? It doesn't seem to be much of an explanation at first, does it? And it's amazing how many commentators pass it off and say, "Well, Jesus is moving to another idea here."

It is a quote out of Psalm 118:22-23, the same Psalm from which the hosannas had come that had been offered to Christ two days before and even the day before by the children in the temple. Psalm 118 was familiar to these leaders and they knew that verse that said the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. And it is that prophecy that the Lord uses to explain the parable.

Now the heart of what Psalm 118:22-23 is saying when builders want to build a building, they need a corner stone. The corner stone is the most important stone for many reasons. It's key in the foundation and it sets the angles for the walls. And so a cornerstone is the most carefully selected stone of that the building to set-up its walls and to make sure its form is in perfect order. And cornerstones were usually massive stones.

The psalmist said that there was a stone that the builders rejected. They thought that it is not the right stone, it was not perfect in their opinion and they rejected it. But the stone that they rejected became later the corner stone. Who did it? "It is the Lord's doing and it is a wonder in our eyes." In other words, God brings back a stone that men reject and puts it in the place of the most significance.

In the Psalm Israel was a stone which the empire builders of the world rejected. This is the historic sense of the Psalm. The empire builders of the world saw Israel as insignificant and unimportant. They had no place for Israel in the building of their great empires. But not so the Lord, for the stone Israel which indeed is the cornerstone of the redemptive history of the world, was despised and rejected, but God sets back in the place of significance in the building of His redemptive plan, right?

But there was something even more important that give us a Messianic perspective where there is a double fulfillment that is intended to go far beyond the nation Israel and to talk about one who comes out of the loins of that nation. Peter is preaching in Jerusalem addressing the leaders of Israel, the Sanhedrin, the same group that Jesus is talking to now, in Acts 4:10 says, “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.”

Now look at the next verses in Acts 4:11-12, "This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” So who is the stone then of Psalm 118? Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified. The rejected stone is the crucified Christ, the restored cornerstone is the resurrected Christ.

Peter reiterates the same message in 1 Peter 2:6. Christ is the cornerstone. Paul says it in Ephesians 2:19-20, where he says, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.”

Now listen carefully, the men in the vineyard parable killed the son. And these leaders say, "Well, the landowner is going to destroy those wicked people and take away the vineyard from them." And the Lord is saying by quoting Psalm 118:22-23, "The stone which the builders rejected, that same stone is now the cornerstone.” And what that means is that Jesus Christ whom you rejected is the only way you can be saved. This foretells the rejection of Israel.

So here is the explanation of the parable. The stone is the son. The builders are the farmers. They rejected the son like the builders rejected the stone. The stone is Christ, and the builders represent Israel and its religious leaders. The parable then is telling us that the son is Christ. And the landowner that sent the son is God. And the vineyard is the sphere of God's blessing, the world we live in. And the servants that were sent and murdered? They were the prophets.

This is one of the most missed and yet most clear claims to deity that our Lord ever gave. He says here God sent you prophets and then God sent a son. And Mark 12:6 says, the only son. And so Christ distinguishes Himself as the Son of God, sent from God as being different than the prophets. He is the Son of God, this is a claim to deity. They knew who He was. They saw His miracles. They heard His words. They knew who He was but they wanted Him dead because they wanted to possess the Kingdom on their own terms.

Do you realize that Jesus is here telling them to their face that He knows they will kill Him? There is no surprise to Him. He said in John 10:18, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Notice also verse 39 in the parable where they took the son out of the vineyard to kill him. And that is consistent too because Christ was crucified it says in Hebrews 13:12-13, outside the gate of Jerusalem, right?

Now the application, verse 43, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” And what are those fruits? What John the Baptist talked about in Matthew 3:7, the fruits of repentance, righteousness that comes out of a life that repents from sin. God turned away from Israel.

Will they ever come back?" Yes they will, God will graft them in, all Israel then will be saved. The day will come, says Zechariah, when they will look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as an only Son. Salvation will come to Israel. But for now, they are set aside and Romans 9:25 says a people which were not My people are now My people. A new people, a new nation, a holy nation, not ethnically defined, but defined by faith in Christ.

I will give it to a nation. What nation? Well, the word means "people." What people? Well, the same nation of which Peter speaks in 1 Peter 2:9, "A holy nation." It is the church, the redeemed of this age. We are that nation, praise the Lord. We bring forth the fruit of repentance, the fruit of righteousness by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the new channel to bring the gospel of salvation to a world that needs it so much. So, verse 43 brings up the replacement idea.

Then verse 44 is the result of the judgment. They themselves said the landowner will destroy those wicked men. And that is exactly what the Lord says, listen to verse 44: "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” He is saying whoever tries to seize the Lord Jesus Christ to do harm to Him shall be broken into pieces. And then in the final judgment when He falls on you, you will be crushed to powder. That is what it says. Oh such strong words.

That brings us to their reaction, verses 45-46, "Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.” They knew He was talking about them, they understood the whole thing. They knew they were the ones who killed the prophets and tried to take over the vineyard and would kill the son.

What have we learned about God? We learn about His grace to men, giving them privilege, blessing, giving them a hope of promise, giving them potential great reward, giving them a vineyard of blessing in which they can live. We learn about His patience with men. We learn about His love for men because He not only sent messengers, He sent His Son.

We also learn about the judgment of God. He will come in destruction against those who destroyed Christ. Those leaders have just heard the truth about themselves, but they could care less and they still tried to put Him in prison. This is characteristic of all unbelievers who reject against the truth. What are you doing for God? Are you working the vineyard for His glory? Or are you hating and wanting to kill the messenger? Remember that God loves you and that He is waiting for you to come back. Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 14 Sep 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140914 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000035 imblog Matthew 21:23-32

Let's open our Bibles this evening to Matthew 21:23-32. The word "authority" is a strong word filled with meaning. We talk about the authorities and we rightfully have a sense of respect, a sense of awe and a sense of fear. They are able to determine things, to decide things, to render judgments and to wield certain rights and privileges. These are the people who have the power to set the rules, to determine the judgments and the verdicts.

But there is one who has authority that surpasses all other authorities. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said this, "All authority is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." That is an amazing claim to power. And Jesus demonstrated that, for example when He had concluded the Sermon on the Mount, it says in Matthew 7:28-29, "The people were astonished at His doctrine for He taught them as one having authority." In their culture that meant He quoted nobody, He didn't say He had gotten this truth from some eminent rabbi. He just spoke with authority.

He had so much authority that He was a problem to the Jewish system because they believed that they were the only authorities. But He never asked their permission for anything. He totally ignored them. And when we say Jesus had authority, we mean not just that He had power but that He had the right to do it. It was given to Him by God and He said that again and again. He said in John 5 to 8, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner."

And because of that, you have to understand, that He placed Himself against the authority system that existed in a very dramatic way and ultimately it led to His death. You see, the Jews were distressed and appalled that He acted without any approval, without any authorization. He never consulted the Sanhedrin. He never quoted an eminent rabbi. He did what He wanted, He said what He wanted and He acted as He wanted. Such behavior was absolutely unacceptable to them.

And this sets up conflict. All through His ministry, He opposes the false teachings of the existing Jewish authorities. And it comes to a severe conflict as we read in Matthew 21. Now let me remind you of the setting. Jesus now is in the midst of a procession that goes from Jericho up the hill to Jerusalem for Passover. Having arrived in the vicinity of Jerusalem, He stays in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus that Saturday night.

On Sunday, He awakened in Bethany to a great crowd and spent that day with the multitude of people who had come there. On Monday, He sent His disciples to find the foal of a donkey to bring to Him fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah. He rode triumphantly into the city of Jerusalem while they threw palm branches and clothing in His path and hailed Him "Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the Son of David." They hailed Him as Messiah. And that procession ended at the temple.

Tuesday morning He went again back into the city, this time He went directly to the temple. And when He saw the devastation by the selfish money-changers and animal sellers and all of that, He proceeded to clean out the temple. And when He was just finished clearing out the temple, little boys began to shout "hosannas" and to sing in praise Him and this infuriated the leaders even more. And they are threatened more severely than ever and in fear they work all the more feverishly to plot His murder.

On Wednesday morning, He goes back to the temple and again passed the fig tree which has been cursed to teach His disciples some profound lessons about false pretense without fruit. And it is on Wednesday morning in the temple that we find Him in verse 23. He has cleansed the temple the day before and He now confronts the leaders and the people who are gathered there. It seems that He had to clean the place up before He could go minister.

Now He begins a confrontation in Matthew 21:23 that it doesn't end until the end of Matthew 23. Let's see how this begins in verse 23, "Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” Now you know the issue is authority. Jesus was the Savior and He came and confronted the heart of the nation where it needed to be confronted and that was at the point of its religion.

So He came to the temple. That's always the place where God has to begin His work. That's why the New Testament says judgment has to begin at the house of God. And it says in verse 23 that He was teaching of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God to a vast multitude. And the people really listened, it says in Luke 19:48, "All the people were very attentive to hear Him." But the leaders confront Him and ask Him, "By what authority do You these things? Who gave You that authority?"

Now, let us find out who this big group of leaders is. First, Matthew says the chief priests and the elders. The chief priests would include all the priests; the high priests, the captain of the temple who was second in command, he was in charge of all the worship, and under him came the weekly priests who offered sacrifice and carried out ceremony, the priests of the daily course and there were 156 of those. And then there were overseer priests who had charge of the keys and the doors and the gates and little areas of administrative responsibility.

And then you had the non-priests, the rabbis and the scribes. Here you have the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the Zealots and the Essenes, none of whom could agree with each other. They all had divergent rabbinical viewpoints and everybody had their own rabbi with their own view. Even though they can't get together on anything, they can sure get together against Christ because theirs is the religion of human achievement, it is a religion of human works.

And this is the way it is today. All the religions of the world, though they all disagree with each other, they commonly stand together against the truth of Jesus Christ, right? So all these guys have been having a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus. They can't take what is going on. He counters everything that they affirm. And so they say, "By what authority do You do these things? Show us Your credentials. Where is Your Sanhedrin approval?"

According to Edersheim, the Jewish historian, the Sanhedrin was the only one that gave authorized ordination papers. And a person who wanted to be ordained as a rabbi was ordained as Rabbi Elder Judge, because he was given the right to teach, to show wisdom and to make decisions, to render verdicts. And once he had his rabbinical authorization he was recognized as a credentialed teacher. Jesus had no such credentials, no such authorization.

Look at the counter-question in verse 24-25, "But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” Jesus says I'll answer your question if you answer My question. He's giving them an opportunity to honestly answer the question. And if they answer the question, their own question will be answered.

Now Jesus is talking about John the Baptist, "The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men?" Everybody knew about him, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.” The last prophet of the Old Testament age, a great man, he had been out there in the desert, all Israel had been going to him. And he had been saying the Messiah is near, the Messiah is coming.

John was preaching a message of repentance. John was preaching a message of get your heart right with God. Now when Jesus says "the baptism of John," He means the whole ministry of John which was symbolized by his baptizing work. So He's saying you tell Me then, was the ministry of John the Baptist from God or of men?

Here's their situation. If they say it was from heaven, they have to admit that Jesus is the Messiah, because that is what John said. If they say no this is of men, they will lose their credibility instantly because the whole nation believed he was from God. People are going to say you are supposed to be the observers of religious happenings and you conclude he is not a prophet? So this is a difficult question for them.

So verse 25 continues, "And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’” So they got in a continuous discussion. When John said the Messiah was coming, and now the Messiah is here, if we say he's from God, why don't you believe him?” That's what He'll say to us. Verse 26, "But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” These guys were trained at ignoring facts. It didn't matter what the evidence was.

They did not care what Jesus said, they did not care what He did, they did not care how powerful His miracles were, how inexplicable they were on a human basis, they still refused to believe. You remember in John 5, Jesus heals the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethsaida and He's all finished healing the guy and it says, "Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay Him." They wanted Him dead instead of saying He has the power of God, He can heal, He must be the Messiah John spoke of.

Typical of people who come to hear the gospel message and look at the virtue of Jesus Christ already having convinced themselves that their way is right and the way of God is wrong and no matter how much evidence you give them, they'll still reject because that's their predisposition. So, here is the answer of the religious leaders of Israel. Verse 27, "So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

They rejected the light so He turned it off, I have nothing more to say to you. And He really didn't answer them anymore. He judged them in Matthew 23:33, "You serpents, you generation of snakes, how can you escape the damnation of hell?" But when He was confronted before the High Priest in Matthew 26:63 it says, "And Jesus held His peace." And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders in Matthew 27:12, "He answered nothing."

So, we see the confrontation and the counter-question, but He is not through with them though. He does have something more to say to them of judgment. And so, in verse 28-30 we see the parable, “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go.”

It's a simple parable. A father has two sons. The reason you have a father and two sons here is because built into that relationship you have a responsibility for obedience. The father goes to his sons, he runs a vineyard, he says go to the vineyard and go to work. Son number one says, "I will not." But afterwards he repents and goes. Son number two says, "I will." And never does. You just have two bad sons, it's a characterization of humanity, see.

And Jesus says in verse 31, "Which of the two did the will of his father? They said to Him, the first." They mean the guy who did it was the guy who said he wouldn't but repented and did. Well, they were right. That was the characterization, the parable. How does He connect that with them? When they answered the first, they put themselves in a dire situation for a great rebuke.

Verse 31 continues, "Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” They are living under the illusion that God is thrilled with them because of their purity. And tax collectors and harlots is a euphemism for the scum of society. Tax collectors were traitors who sold themselves to Rome to exact unfair taxes from the people. And harlots were those who symbolized all of the God-defying immorality. So Jesus says, you are like that second son who says you will but you never do.

The point here is you have people who claim obedience but don't obey, and also people who deny obedience but ultimately do and that's the difference. Tax collectors and harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you, which is a strong statement. The idea is they are going to go in and you are not. Religion doesn't get in you in the Kingdom. And sin repented of and forgiven doesn't keep you out of the Kingdom. In other words, Jesus gave them a whole judgment message.

Then verse 32, "For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.” Here Jesus answers His question, was John's ministry from heaven or earth? "He came in the way of righteousness." Not just with a message of righteousness, no, in the way of righteousness. He was a holy man. And he had a righteous message as well as a righteous life and you still believed him not.

Then Jesus gives them another indictment, "But the tax collectors and the harlots, prostitutes, believed him." They heard John and they accepted his message. They repented. And then Jesus says you saw tax collectors and harlots repent and have their lives transformed, you did not even believe after seeing that. In other words, you rejected the message and you rejected the power that you saw in people by the prophet of God.

Like today, you can sit and listen to the preacher preach. You can listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can listen to the saving message of Jesus Christ and you can walk away and say, "I will not believe that message preached by John, that word preached by Jesus, that word preached by the preacher today, I will not believe it." And that's your first indictment.

And then comes your second indictment because you too have seen that power in that gospel transform lives and you have seen people's lives changed and their lives transformed. And even after having seen that, you still don't believe. That's the second indictment. And the word that we see in this to those men is a word of final judgment, a word of doom, a word of hell, hopelessness.

For those who had been exposed to the full light of the Son of God, the full light of the prophet of God, John the Baptist, they had seen it all, they had heard it all and they would not believe the message and they would not even believe the transforming power. And so Jesus turns out the light. End of discussion.

So, have you looked at your own heart? And what did you see? Do you believe the message? How about the transforming power? Can you deny that? Genesis 6:3, "My Spirit will not always strive with man." The Lord didn't always strive even with His own rebellious hard- hearted willfully blind people and He will not with men today either. And no man should should fall under the wrath of God to condemnation that comes to unbelievers. Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 07 Sep 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140907 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000036 imblog Romans 12:1-2

Let us come together to worship God on this, the Lord's Day in the mountains with eager hearts. We are going to look at Romans 12:1-2, to study what spiritual worship really means. The text says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

After having studied some years ago the eleven chapters of profound and thrilling doctrine in Romans that defines what God has done for every believer, Paul does not say, "Now here's what you need to get." No, he says, "Now here's what you need to give." The key to powerful living is not getting something more, but giving all we have. And it is sad that many Christians think that what you need to be successful in living the Christian life is to get something, when the real issue is to give which then will result in blessings by itself.

1 Peter 2:5 says, "You are living stones, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." We are all priests under God whose goal is to offer up spiritual sacrifices, like priests of the Old Testament who offered up physical sacrifices of animals before God. Now as spiritual priests there are many kinds of sacrifices. Scripture talks about what we can offer in Hebrews 13, praise and thanks to God, and our prayers for all what we possess. We offer Him worship when we serve others which is truly an act of worship. But above all a believer must offer himself as a living sacrifice.

Presenting yourself as a living sacrifice is the sum of the previous eleven chapters of Romans 1-11. The conclusion in Romans 12 that Paul gives us is that we need to give back to Him all that we are. That's the supreme act of spiritual worship. And that is very difficult, but absolutely necessary if we are ever to know the fullness of the blessing of God and bring Him glory by giving yourself totally to the Lord.

Most Christians never really achieve that. They flirt with the world, they flirt with the flesh. They flirt with their own personal desires. They become victims of the philosophy and psychology of the world around them. They entertain themselves with the world's mode of entertainment. They think along the lines the world thinks and therefore forfeit the fullness of the blessing that God would have for them.

Now the central concept in these verses is the phrase "a living sacrifice." This language here is definitely the Old Testament language of ritual offerings. In the Old Testament a person would come to God bringing whatever it was that he was going to sacrifice to the priest who took it, who killed it and put it on the altar as an offering to God. That system has come to an end. There is no more animal sacrifice pleasing to God.

Now what God wants is living sacrifices. No more dead animals, but living men and women. So the essential act of the Old Testament Jew's life, his religious life, was the offering of a sacrifice as an indication of the genuineness of his faith. The central act of a believer now in the New Testament is the presentation of his heart, his soul, his mind, and all that he is as a living sacrifice to show his faith.

But do not misunderstand the intention of the Old Testament. When describing the central act of the Old Testament Jew in the ceremony and the ritual which God had instituted to offer an animal for the temporary forgiveness of his sins, it was also offered as a symbol of the offering of his own life. In other words, the intent of the Old Testament, in the sacrifice of a dead animal was as a symbol of the offering of the heart and the soul.

But now God calls for the living sacrifice. This is a call to dedication, this is a call to commitment. And this is the only logical conclusion to redemption. Romans 12:1-2 is the only proper response to God's redeeming work. Out of this text we learn that there are four elements in a living sacrifice. The four elements, that appear in this passage of Romans, in presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice are your soul, body, mind and will.

First, offering myself as a living sacrifice implies that my soul has been given to God. It is a call to a regenerated soul to make a proper offering. And only a regenerated soul, a redeemed soul, a saved soul and transformed soul can understand that. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.” So the soul must come first. Scripture refers to the soul as that inner part of man which God seeks to redeem.

Romans 8:8 says, "So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God." An unredeemed person cannot please God, cannot make an offering to God and cannot worship God. There can be no sacrifice made of body, mind or will unless there is first the giving of the soul in redemption. 1 Corinthians 13:3 says, "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned, if I have not love it profits me nothing." In other words, if I do not possess the love of God, all my acts of self-sacrifice are worthless.

Now believers are further connected by this statement, "I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God." What does he mean by that? All believers have experienced the mercies of God. And since we have experienced the mercies of God, therefore, we ought to do this. The mercies of God includes everything that God has done for the believer listed in Romans 1 through 11, all of it. And what have we learned in these first eleven chapters? What are the mercies of God?

Think of them. Love, God's love is shed abroad in the heart, it says in Romans 5:5. Nothing can separate us from the love of God it says in Romans 8:35. Grace in Romans 1, 3, 5, 6, all the way through, grace, grace and more grace of God. Romans 8 tells us we have received the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. It says that in Romans 8: 2, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16 and verse 26. The Holy Spirit is a mercy given to us by God, an undeserved blessing. How about peace? Romans 1:7, Romans 2:10, Romans 5:1, Romans 8:6 and elsewhere says that we have received peace in our hearts.

And faith, over 20 times, and comfort, Romans 1:12, and power, Romans 1:16, and hope, Romans 5:2 and Romans 8:20 and 24. And we've received patience, Romans 9 and 11. And doing good, Romans 2:7. And we have received glory and honor and righteousness and forgiveness and reconciliation and justification, all of those are the mercies of God. And in Romans 5:10, we have received eternal life and freedom in Romans 6 and 7 and resurrection in Romans 8 and sonship in Romans 8. These are all mercies of God.

Paul is saying is, "Look, you who have received all of these mercies of God, which we do not deserve, because that is what mercy means. So what should be our response having received so much? Does it seem too much to ask that we give back to God ourselves? Is that something for which we ought to be patted on the back for such an act? No! It is all because of the work of Jesus Christ in the mercy of God to us who believe.

Paul says that gratitude ought to be our strongest motivation. It is almost an act of instant response, to give himself as a living sacrifice to the God who gave him so much. To hold back at all is an incredible act of ingratitude, demonstrating a lack of thanksgiving to a gracious and merciful God. Psalm 116:12 says, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?" Well, fortunately God doesn't expect us to return in equal. And because you have experienced the mercies of God, you ought to give yourself as a living sacrifice.

What is important in life are the principles that you hold fast to that you have been taught and are able by sound doctrine to live by. You live day to day based on that foundation of truth. To put it another way, ethics rise out of dogma. In Galatians, Paul has four chapters rolling with doctrine and when he hits chapter 5:1 he says, "For freedom Christ has set us free, therefore stand fast," In Ephesians, he has three chapters of doctrine, and then in chapter 4 he begins, "I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy." Paul comes to exhortation after the foundation of doctrine has been laid.

We have to know what we believe before we can apply it, right? In John 13:17, it says this, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." And Peter says, "Sin is the result of forgetting what happened when you were saved." And James says the same thing, "Don't be a forgetful hearer." Salvation is where it all begins and the doctrine has been established. The saving of the soul is the first thing, next is the regeneration of the inner man.

Secondly, the body must be presented to God. Now "present" here is a temple term meaning surrendering and yielding. It also is a technical term for the Levitical offerings, to bring it as an actual sacrifice. And what God wants here is our body. He already has the soul, right? He already has that inner man. And now what He wants us to give Him the body, that new me, that new creation is now called upon to present the body in which it exists.

Now that is quite difficult because the body is the place where our humanness resides, isn't it? If you don't think so, then you do not understand the point of death. Because when a person dies, their spirit goes to heaven, and their body goes to the grave. And once that separation is made, there is no problem. The body contains our humanness and our humanness contains our flesh and is that contains our sin as we learn in Romans 6 and 7.

In Romans 6:12 it says, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Sin will no longer reign in your soul, which is transformed. But it will still be there in your body. Verse 13 says, so don't yield your bodily members as instruments of righteousness to sin, but yield yourselves unto God. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul says, "What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?" So dwelling within this flesh is the Holy Spirit dwelling in our redeemed soul.

Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:4-5, "that each of you should know how to possess his own body in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.” And again he is saying the same thing. You who are redeemed must know how to take hold of your body. He says in Philippians 3:21, “the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

And it is a fearful thing the way the body can dominate the redeemed soul, isn't it? Here we are redeemed creatures with redeemed souls which have transformed the inner man, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, living in us and yet isn't it remarkable how much power is still there in the body to retard the work of the Spirit, to dominate the redeemed soul? The body is the center of desire and the center of disease and the center of depression. The body is the center of doubts. And it must be offered to God as a living sacrifice.

Well, biblically we can bring an unredeemed body under the subjection of the power of the Spirit of God. According to Romans 6 the body can become an instrument of righteousness. Whenever your body is used for the purposes that are divine it becomes an instrument of righteousness. But whenever it used in something that displeases God, it is an instrument of unrighteousness. And note too, that vice was rampant in those days, much like it is in our day, that people tended to be tolerant of those sins.

And that's why we need to listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:12-13, "All things are lawful to me but all things are not expedient, all things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any.” I will not allow myself to become a victim of anything. And then he goes on at the end of verse 13 to say, "The body is not for fornication but it's for the Lord and the Lord is for the body."

David Livingston, a missionary to Africa, said, "People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of the great debt owing to our God which we could never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own reward of healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? It is no sacrifice, it is a privilege.

The third one, the mind must be given to God. And verse 2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world." O could we say so much about that. "But be transformed by the renewing of your mind." And here he tells us that one of the basic keys to being able with your soul to offer your body is to be sure that your mind has been renewed.

Believe me, the world is an instrument of Satan to promote his goals and his ends and his ambitions, and we can see it everywhere. We can see how the spirit of this age is a spirit of pride, a spirit of boastfulness and ego. Don't masquerade wearing the spirit of the age which is inconsistent with what's really in you," Don't wear the mask of the world. Stop what is not representative of what you are in your inner being as a regenerated child of God."

On the other hand, he says, "But be transformed," totally changed. We need to change our outward appearance to match what we are within. In Matthew 17 it says Jesus was transfigured, His outward appearance was made to be exactly like His inward. He was God in human flesh and for a moment His human flesh manifested the God that was inside Him. And you too are to be transformed like that.

How do you do it? “By the renewing of your mind.” The word "renewing" here is renovation. The renovation of the mind. How do we renovate our mind? By the Word. That's the key to the renewed mind. The key is if we are going to walk worthy, we have to know the Word of God. In Colossians 3:10, it says put on the new man that is renewed in knowledge. Colossians 3:16, “let the word of Christ dwell in your richly.”

And finally, we must present our will to God. We have to give our will up and we have to say: “You are good and You are the perfect will. I don't want what I want, I want only what You want.” See, I don't care where I live, I don't care what I possess, I don't care what I have and don't have, I just want whatever You want, that's all.

A renewed mind will be expressed in a submissive will and in a body presented as a living sacrifice. You can't present your body unless you have a renewed mind because you won't have the will to do that. But when you have a renewed mind, your will is submissive to God and you will offer your body as a living sacrifice. Do you do this only once in your life? No, you do it all the time, every waking moment, it's a conscious renewing act. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 31 Aug 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140831 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000037 imblog Matthew 21:12-17

Let's look to Matthew 21 for another event with the Lord Jesus Christ in the week in which He was crucified. Our text today is on Tuesday, the day after His coronation, His entry into Jerusalem. Monday, He had entered into Jerusalem to the cries of "Hosanna, to the Son of David, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest," as tens of thousands of people hailed Him as the King, Messiah and Savior.

The procession on Monday went through the gate into the city of Jerusalem and the procession ended at the temple. Mark 11:11 tells us that Jesus came in that procession to the temple and then He returned to Bethany to spend the night with Mary, Martha, Lazarus and the twelve disciples. It is now Tuesday morning where He goes right back to the temple. And in Matthew 21:12-17, we find out what happened when He arrived there.

One of the places in the city that was most crowded was the temple. All week long they are coming to see it, coming there to pray, coming into the court of the women to put their offerings in trumpet-shaped receptacles that hung on the walls, coming with sacrifices and offerings of all kinds to give to God to seek cleansing from their sin. And it is to the temple that Jesus comes and shows us one of the most amazing scenes of this last week of His life.

Now as we approach verses 12 to 17, which is the temple encounter, look at it as the presentation of Jesus' Messianic credentials. And just to be sure that they have not missed His message, He enters into the temple and demonstrates to them again the nature of His kingship and of His Kingdom. And it is a far greater demonstration then was His lowly inauguration. First of all, He showed He was on a divine mission. And that is clear in the first statement of Matthew 21:12, "Then Jesus went into the temple of God."

He was on a divine mission, because that was His Father’s home, you understand that? You see, the temple is the issue, not Rome. And the Messiah did not come in His first coming to solve those militarily, politically, socially, economically problems, although He will in His Second Coming. But before He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to establish His own eternal Kingdom, He first must come and be received by men in their own hearts. So He must come first as the Savior before He could come as the glorious King in His Kingdom.

Jesus is concerned with the people's relation to God. And this ought to be clear to anyone because when Jesus came the first time to Jerusalem, this is exactly where He went also. And in John 2:13-17, we will find that He began His ministry at Passover. And now the Jewish Passover was at hand. So Jesus went to Jerusalem and found in the temple those people that sold oxen, sheep and doves with money changers everywhere.

And after He made a whip of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple including the sheep and the oxen and He poured out the changers money and overthrew their tables and said to them that sold doves, "It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” He was concerned with how people worshiped. He was concerned with their relationship to God, not their relationship to an earthly kingdom.

And so by going to the temple as the first act after His inauguration, He is identifying for us clearly His mission territory. Three years had not changed that purpose. He goes right back to the temple, even though He had passed and seen many things inconsistent with God's design and God's will. The priority thing is the relationship between men and God, for only when men are right with God can men be right with other men.

The measure of any society is their relation to God. Read Romans 1, worship is always the issue. The problem with society is not that it has bad laws or that it has human inequities. The problem with society is that it has abandoned God. And some would accuse us of being indifferent to the national political issues, indifferent to the social issues but that is not true. We know what Jesus knew and what Peter reiterated, that judgment must begin at the house of God.

The issue was not whether they reacted rightly, the issue was that they should see the holiness of God. It demonstrated His vengeance against sin and the desecration and blasphemy of false religion. When Jesus cleansed the temple, we realize there never was real reform, there was no real renewal, but that doesn't mean He shouldn't come. He should come because God must reveal how He feels about false religion. He must show clearly and unforgettably how He feels about people who treat Him in an unholy way.

The temple is the focal point of all of the people there. And as Jesus comes He faces the outer wall of columns that surrounds the whole temple area. Through the main opening, He enters into the Court of the Gentiles where anybody could come in. Inside there would be a gate called, "The Gate Beautiful." And inside that was the Court of the Women for the Jews only. In fact, there was a sign by the Gate Beautiful that said if a Gentile dared to go in there, he would be killed.

There was a massive gate in the Court of the Women made out of Corinthian bronze that took 20 men to open. And inside that gate, there is the Court of the Israelites where only men could go in to give their offerings. They would take the sheep or the turtledove, or their grain offering and prepare it there and then take it to another gate which went into the Court of the Priests where the burnt offering altar was, the altar of incense.

And they could look through that opening as they handed the priests their sacrifice as he took it in and offered it. From the Court of the Priests there was another little door that entered into a 600 square foot courtyard, at the back of which was what was called the holy place. It was a small little building which included in it the holy place and the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant was, separated by a veil into which the high priest could enter only once a year on the Day of Atonement.

Now Jesus was standing in the Court of the Gentiles where the Jews felt if Gentiles could be there, so could anything else. It was known in those days as the bazaar of Annas, the high priest, a corrupt man who saw the temple as a way to get power and wealth. He had this great idea where He and his priests would sell concessions. In other words, you could rent space in the Court of the Gentiles to sell sheep, lambs, doves, pigeons, oil, wine, salt and exchange your money and the other pre-requisites that go along with sacrifices.

When you finally got into the Court of the Israelites, every offering that you were going to give had to be approved. And if you bought it outside the temple, it was not going to be approved, you must purchase your offering in the Court of the Gentiles. According to Edersheim, the great Jewish historian, you would often have to pay ten times the value of that offering. So you were extorted.

Poor people, according to Levitical law, did not have to bring a lamb because they couldn't afford a lamb, so they were allowed to offer a dove instead. Most historians feel that in today's currency, a couple of birds might be worth a half shekel. But if you wanted to exchange your money, because you had to have exactly a half shekel, because you only had foreign currency, you would pay a twenty-five percent fee just to make small change.

But this is Jesus' home because this is the house of God. And it has been turned into a den of robbers. Christ came first of all to deal with men on a spiritual level. That's the point. He came to throw out corrupt worship to bring in true worship. Second point, He has divine authority. If we cannot see that He is the Messiah because of His mission, we ought to see that He is the Messiah because of His authority.

Now the high priest was a powerful man. And the one who was the head of the temple police was also powerful. And then you had many orders of priests that had influence. And if you walked through the Gate Beautiful, for example and you were a Gentile, the Romans had given them the right to kill you. So they had great authority and power within the walls of that temple precinct area.

But they were about to meet Jesus who was so much more powerful. It says in verse 12, "Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.” Those kinds of people, those extortionists, those money hungry people want to hang on to their money and their business at all cost. And the priests didn't want to be shamed and lose face in front of all those people. Now if you think Jesus is just some meek and lowly gentle person, maybe you ought to study this a little more deeply.

The last thing that the priests would have liked to see would have been to be shamed in the eyes of the people there by some would-be Messiah, but that's exactly what happened. It simply says, "He cast out all them that sold and bought," just threw them all out. Not only the sellers but the buyers, too. He just threw everybody out of there that was involved in that enterprise. And the leaders, they could not stop Him. They did not have the power.

"How did He do it?" It doesn't say, maybe it was just His word, “OUT." That got Lazarus out of the grave. That also spoke the worlds into existence when creation occurred. So He could have done it with His word, but there was more than that because it also says He overthrew the tables of the moneychangers. He went through the place and started flipping tables over. He demonstrates not only His authority, but His physical presence as well.

And then it says in Mark 11:16 that Jesus wouldn't allow anybody to carry any vessel through the temple. They apparently were using the temple area just like any other public street and He just stopped that immediately. It may also imply that nobody carried anything out of there. That they were thrown out and had to leave all their stuff behind. Now if you can get all those people to split and run and leave everything behind, they must be scared.

And later on in Matthew 21:23, the chief priest said, "By what authority do You do these things? What a dumb question, as if He needed any other authority. They should have known by what authority. So blind were they. Even in the Protestant churches, we have false teachers of the Word of God who are in it for the money. And we cry out for Christ to cleanse our churches today as He did clean the temple then, Amen?

There's a third credential that I want you to see. He not only showed He was on a divine mission and demonstrated divine authority, but He revealed a commitment to Scripture. He vindicates what He does by this in verse 13, "He said to them, “It is written." And then He quotes Isaiah 56:7, "My house shall be called a house of prayer." And Isaiah adds and Mark also includes, "Of all nations." Matthew leaves it out because his audience is primarily Jewish.

See, the temple was to be a place of prayer. It was to be a quiet place, a place of worship, a place of prayer, a place of meditation, a place of contemplation, a place of confession, a place of praise, a place where people went to commune with God, to seek God, to open their hearts to God. Not to be a business, not a stockyard, not a thoroughfare for people carrying on their worldly business. And He continuous in verse 13, "But you have made it a den of thieves," another Old Testament quote from Jeremiah 7:11.

There's a fourth thing I want you to see. We also see Him as the Messiah because of His divine compassion. And in that moment verse 14 comes beautifully to us, "Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them." And they always hung around the temple because that is where God was and that is where the people were and they needed to beg from the people so that was the best place to be.

The compassion of God in Christ is seen in His healing ministry. One of the reasons there are ill people and disabled people is so that God in His mercy can dispense to them His compassion and thus reveal that element of His person. The Pharisees did not care about those people. They were making money off the poor, they abused the poor and despised them. But not Christ, God is compassionate. Jesus says in Matthew 11:4-5, "You go tell John that the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them."

Do you know that that is the truest kind of worship? True worship is in the name of the Lord meeting the need of someone, that is a far greater worship than a sacrifice, is it not? Verse 15, “But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant.” How could they be displeased? Because they could care less about the crippled and the blind. And a compassionate person intimidates an uncompassionate person. So they were intimidated, angry, resentful and jealous.

One other credential was positive, Jesus accepted divine worship. And in verse 15, in the middle it says “the children." The leaders of Israel may not have known who He was but it was pretty clear to the kids. Have you ever met an atheist kid? I never met one. They believe the evidence. They had just seen somebody throw out all of the corrupt and evil people in the temple. It was pretty clear to them shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David."

The priests and scribes said to Him in verse 16, "Do you hear what these are saying?" They wanted those children to stop, that's blasphemy. You can't worship this man in the temple of God. So they could sell cattle at an exorbitant price, cheat people out of their money, do all the rest of the stuff but you couldn't worship the Messiah there? That shows you where they were spiritually.

Remember in Luke 19:39-40 of the coronation day, the triumphal entry, the chief priests came and said, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." And Jesus said to them in verse 40, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out." Here He says the same thing, He quotes Psalm 8:2 in verse 16, “And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”

If God will not be praised out of the mouths of the mature, He will be praised out of the mouths of the immature. God is going to get His praise to His Son, even if the stones have to cry out, as Luke 19:40 said. He just alludes to that Psalm as an illustration of what is happening. What a glorious event. And the fury of those leaders was simply because of their unbelief. All the evidence was in, even little children could see it.

One other thing that proves He was the Messiah is this, He was rejected. Verse 17 says, "Then He left them." And in that simple physical act, there was a volume of truth. “He left them, went out of the city to Bethany and He lodged there.” He had nothing more to say. It's reminiscent of Genesis 6 where the Bible says God's Spirit will not always strive with man. There comes a time when He leaves.

How about you, are you still with Him? Since we all need to grow to become more like Him, let me aks you, are you too on a divine mission for God? Does it hurt in your heart when you see a lot of sin in the world and even in the church? Do you have a commitment to Scripture just like Jesus? Are you learning to have compassion on others like Jesus had? And do you understand that you will often be rejected just like Jesus? Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 17 Aug 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140817 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000038 imblog

Matthew 20:29-34

Matthew 20:29-34, “Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. 30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!” 31 Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!” 32 So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 33 They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” 34 So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.”

A very simple story, easy to understand and not even unusual in the life of Christ for stories like this happened thousands of times. So much so perhaps that as John said, all the books of all the world couldn't even contain them. Why this story? Why is it here? As Jesus goes to Jerusalem to die, why stop in the progress of such a great event as the Passover where He is to be the lamb, slain from our sin. Why include a story of two blind men?

Well, one overpowering reason is indicated by the word "compassion" in verse 34. Jesus had great compassion. While the world wanted to silence these kind of people, Jesus wanted to hear what they had to say. While the world wanted to make sure they didn't get in the way, Jesus wanted to be sure He stood with them. While the world did not want them to articulate their needs, Jesus wanted to meet their need.

Jesus could have been preoccupied with His disciples, which were to carry on the legacy after His death. He could have been distracted by the thought of dying itself and becoming the sacrificial lamb. He really didn't have time to stop and take care of a couple of blind men of which there were many. And yet He has time. And Jesus Christ is not too busy redeeming the entire world to give sight to two blind men who have nothing to offer Him but their problem.

But that may be a more profound lesson than we have thought. Blindness, in fact, is a matter of record in the Bible. It is quite common, physical blindness and spiritual blindness. Physical blindness occurred quite frequently in the ancient world. Poverty, lack of medical care, unsanitary conditions, brilliant sunlight, blowing sand, certain kinds of accidents, war, fighting, all of these things could cause physical blindness.

But even more common than physical blindness was spiritual blindness. And metaphorically the gospels and the epistles speak more often of the blindness of the heart. In fact, it's summed up in the words of John 1: 9-11 which says, "That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own and His own received Him not.”

Or in the John 3:19 where it says, “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Or Romans 11:25 which says, “Blindness in part has happened to Israel.” Or 2 Corinthians 3:14 which says, "But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted.” Or Jesus' words in Matthew 23:16, "Woe to you blind guides, you blind Pharisee," Jesus said, you are blind to God. You are able to see physically, but you are spiritually blind to God.

Now the case of these men is interesting because while they are physically blind, they appear to have unusually clear spiritual sight. Physically they see nothing, however spiritually they see very well. And they will see even better when the Lord Jesus is finished with them, because they will also see physically. Why are people spiritually blind? They're blinded by sin. Matthew 6:23 says, “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded.” So Satan has double blinded them. And then God may add a triple blindness when He sovereignly makes the eye blind, as Isaiah 6 indicates, in a judicial punishment of unbelievers. So we see then that many people are blinded by sin and doubly blinded by Satan and triply blinded by God. And it is into the darkness of man's spiritual blindness that Jesus comes.

Do you remember when He announced His arrival in Luke 4:18, He said He had come to give sight to the blind? And He was not primarily speaking of physical blindness, instead He was primarily speaking of spiritual blindness. He said in John 8:12, "I am the light that lights the world, whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness." He came to give spiritual light to blind eyes.

And sometimes He gave physical sight to blind eyes. He did that for three reasons. First of all, He was demonstrating that He was the Messiah. Secondly, it was part of millennial preview. He was showing them what it was going to be like in His Kingdom when all of that kind of thing was turned over and there was glorious wholeness and healing in the Kingdom. And thirdly, it was a matter of symbol or picture.

Every time He healed someone of physical blindness, He was in effect saying that's only a symbol of what I want to do to the soul. Every time He unstopped the ears so that someone could hear sound, He was in effect saying and that is exactly what I want to do to the heart so you can hear and understand the Word of God. And every time He raised someone from the dead physically, He was saying I am able to give life to the soul as I am able to give life to the body.

And that is why Jesus found it no more difficult to forgive sins than to heal someone. And when posed with that question, that's what He said, "What's the difference? I am showing you by My absolute control over the physical world and the natural laws that I also have control over the spiritual world and the supernatural laws.

And so, in the case of these two blind men, you have Messianic proof. And you have a heavenly preview. And you are given a marvelous picture of what He is able to do to the heart. And then you have the reality, after this incident these two blind men can see and are saved, redeemed souls. They see physically and they see spiritually. And they demonstrate to us that no matter how involved our Lord is, His heart of compassion always reaches out to those who cry for His help.

Now let's look at the scene in verse 29. It's a very simple story and a simple scene. "As they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him." Jesus had finished His ministry in Galilee. He also finished His ministry in Peraea, the area east of the Jordan, of a few weeks there and now He is on His way to Jerusalem. So He has to cross the Jordan River again to the west.

And so by now Jesus is ready to leave. He spent the night and now He is going to Jerusalem. He must move to the Passover. And so we pick it up in verse 30, "And behold two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed by cried out saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David." Now, it says in verse 29, "As they departed from Jericho" this happened. Mark says, in the comparative passage, "As they were leaving Jericho." But Luke 18:35 says, "As He came near Jericho."

Isn't this a biblical error? Two have Him leaving, one has Him coming." John McArthur believes that as Jesus is moving with this crowd and they come to the gate, then all of a sudden the cries of these blind men are heard at which point He returns to the city to confront them. Note that each gospel writer is not comparing what the others says, they are not copying the same extraneous source. They are writing from their own heart under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And it still makes sense.

Now, verse 30 says, "And behold," and that is a term of exclamation that is not here because of these blind men, like that was some big deal. The reason they put a "behold" in there is because of what they said, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David." They call Him by His Messianic title. Two beggars, Mark says, who were begging, Luke says, sitting by the wayside, Matthew says, screaming out the Messianic title. Where did they get their information and faith?

Now, at this point we find another fact. Luke only discusses one of the two blind men, the more prominent one, but never says there was only one. Now Mark goes a step further, he gives us the name of one of them in Mark 10:46. His name is Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. Matthew just wants us to see the majesty of Christ. Luke emphasizes the same, but Mark names this man’s name. Maybe he was well-known. So that when Mark’s letter is read, it's as if Mark is saying, "And you know who one of those guys was? It was your friend Bartimaeus.”

Verse 30 says, "When they heard Jesus pass by, they cried out saying, Have mercy on us." And then in verse 31 at the end, "They cried again saying the more, Have mercy on us." The word "cry" here means to scream. It's used in the New Testament of the screaming of demon possessed people in Mark 5. It's used of the loud anguish cry of a mother giving birth to a child. And the desperation is powerful and dramatic. And they screamed, "Have mercy on us."

They did not say, "God, we have been treated unfairly, why don't You make it right." They recognized that they needed mercy. "Take pity on us. Look at our sad situation." There's a sense of true humility in that. They wail with an intense desire to be healed, but they make no demands and they make no claim to being worthy. And they are so persistent. Verse 31, "The multitude rebuked them that they should hold their peace and they screamed louder." The world always tries to keep people from getting to Jesus, don't they?

It isn't really different now. People get disgusted with beggars and if you've ever been in a part of the world where there are a lot of them, you really do kind of slough them off and they do get in the way. But their hearts were right. "Have mercy on us, take pity." They felt their deep need. They knew they deserved nothing. They were quite different from the Pharisees who sought no mercy because they believed on the basis of merit, they possessed a right to everything. And they were persistent.

There's a third thing here is that their perception was correct. As blind as they were physically, they were able to see spiritually because they shouted, "O Lord, Son of David," that's the Messianic title. For it says in Matthew 1:1, “In the beginning of the genealogies of Jesus that He is the Son of David, Son of Abraham.” That is the most common Jewish term for the coming king. They believed that He was the Messiah. There wasn't any doubt in their mind that this was their only chance.

And He indeed was the Son of David. And when the birth of Jesus Christ occurred in Luke 1:32, we read, "He shall be great and be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father, David, and He shall reign and the end of His Kingdom shall never come." It's the same thing they called Him in Matthew 21: 9 when He came into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, "Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest."

When you have come to the point of all the faith that is possible, the Lord will meet you at that point of faith and take you all the way to redemption. And that is what He does with these two blind men. And so, we see their sad plight, their heartfelt plea, their strong persistence and their sound perception. Verse 32, "And Jesus stood still and called them and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?" He stood still, He stopped the whole procession.

Here was a great moment in which He did three things, gave Messianic proof again, gave a heavenly preview, and a marvelous picture of what He would do for the heart. It was a time to demonstrate His credentials all over again, but it was more than that, it was a moment of tender compassion on behalf of two needy people. And He called them. How did He call them?

Well, in Mark's account it seems as though He called them with a messenger. Someone ran back to these guys who were over there by the gate. And he ran back and in Mark 10:49 it says, "Be of good comfort, rise, He calls you." And in Mark 10:50 it says, "The blind rose up and threw off his garment and went to Jesus." Maybe he figured he would come back and be able to see enough to find it again.

This is to evoke out of their hearts a greater expectation, this is to confirm in the crowd exactly what He was doing. And the response is a simple plea of verse 33, "They said to Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened." You see, they are confessing they are blind and that needs to be made very clear. And that leads to their supernatural privilege, verse 34, "And Jesus had compassion on them, He touched their eyes, immediately their eyes received sight."

Now it says that Jesus had compassion. And that's the real message, He felt their need. He felt their pain. He hurt for them. There is such a tenderness in Him. He reached out and He touched their eyes. And doctor Luke adds in Luke 18:42, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And instantly all physical laws were set aside and just as God creates something out of nothing, Christ created seeing eyes.

Oh, Jesus used many methods. Sometimes He touched, sometimes He didn't. Sometimes they touched Him. Sometimes He spoke, sometimes He merely thought a thought and they were healed. Sometimes He put fingers in ears, sometimes He used clay, and sometimes He used spit. He healed in many, many different ways. But always His healings were total, complete and instantaneous which defied any natural explanation.

Now this takes us to a final point. They had a sad plight, strong persistence, sound perception, a simple plea, supernatural privilege and a submissive pursuit. The end of verse 34 says, "They followed Him." That's just a little statement but it is a beautiful statement. In Mark 10, "Jesus said, "Your faith has saved you." Well, which way did they go? Their way was His way from that point on.

You do not have to have faith in the New Testament record to be healed. There were plenty of people healed in the New Testament who didn't have faith, but you'll never find salvation without faith. When Jesus said, "Your faith has saved you," that's exactly what He meant. They were truly saved.

There is another reason that these guys really had a transformed life. It says they followed Him. Somebody might say, "Oh yeah, but they were just following Him to Jerusalem." But it says in Luke 18:43, "They followed, glorifying God. And the multitude started chanting praises to God.” I hope that you have been touched by the compassion of Jesus. And if you have cried out for Him, He will make you see spiritually. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Aug 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140810 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000AF imblog

Matthew 20:20-25

Matthew 20:20-25, “Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” 22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” 23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.”

We live in a very proud and egotistical generation. People promoting pride as a virtue. But society depends on relationships; meaningful, on-going, supportive relationships. So when people are all committed to themselves alone, built into that is the disintegration of all relationships. All social inter-relationship are at a stress point because everybody is screaming for their own rights, everybody is consumed with self-esteem, self-promotion and pride.

Some Christians now think that God's only design for us is to be healthy, wealthy, prosperous, happy, satisfied, fulfilled and so forth. We know very little about sacrifice. We know very little of the pain of suffering. All we want to do is eliminate all that so that we can get on to self-fulfillment. We are consumed with the creature comforts, pleasure, vacations, travel for the self-satisfying feeling that we get by fulfilling what we believe to be deep needs.

And we have forgotten the whole subject of humility. There was a time in the church where there were many who were teaching and preaching on humility and there was a certain brokenness in the church. At the time of the Reformation, or the time of the Puritans and you find there was a sense of brokenness, of contrition. There was a humility, a meekness within the church that gave it great power.

And the Bible is very clear about pride, "A proud heart is sin," says Proverbs 21:4. "Every one who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord," says Proverbs 16:5. Proverbs 8:13 says, "And the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance." In fact, pride in Romans 1:30 is the mark of man's fallenness into a reprobate mind. In 1 Timothy 3:6, it says "Pride comes from the devil." In 1 John 2:16, it says it is a part of the world. And in 1 Timothy 6:3 and 4 it says it belongs to false teachers. So, pride is an abomination.

In fact, the Bible in James 4:6 says that God resists the proud. In Isaiah 23:9 it says He brings the proud into contempt. In Psalm 31:23 it says the proud will be recompensed, that is judged. In Exodus 18:11, the proud will be subdued. Psalm 18:27, they will be brought low. They will be abased, Daniel 4:37. They will be scattered, Luke 1:51. They will be punished, it says in Malachi 4:1.

But on the other hand, humility is a virtue in the Bible and is exalted as a virtue. Micah 6:8 says, "What does the Lord desire of you? But to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." In Psalm 138:6 it says, “Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly." In Psalm 10:17, "Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble." Over and over, and we can read dozens and dozens of Scriptures, God exalts humility.

One key verse we should remember, Proverbs 15:33, "Before honor is humility." The ones that the Lord lifts up are the humble. And that's why Colossians 3:12 says that we are to put on humility. 1 Peter 5:5 says we are to be clothed with humility. Ephesians 4:1-2, we are to walk in humility. If you ever desire honor and glory from God, it comes through humility. Now this is contrary to our earthly philosophy where pride is always exalted.

Now the lesson of honor through humility and glory through suffering, we all need to learn and the disciples needed to learn it too. And that is the essence of Matthew 20:20-28. The disciples were into self- promotion, self-glory, seeking to be somebody special, to be recognized and esteemed. And the Lord needed to correct that, and He does correct that in this passage. Unfortunately He taught it a lot better than they learned. And He has to reteach this lesson just a few days after teaching here on the way to Jerusalem.

Now remember that the disciples basically forsook all and followed Jesus. And they did so genuinely. But they followed Him knowing that whatever they gave up now would be more than replenished when He entered into His Kingdom. And so, there was this residual materialistic element in their thinking where they were awaiting the time when Jesus established His Kingdom and returned to them a hundred fold everything they had ever lost.

And He has just finished verses 17 to 19, in what is a clear description of His death. Now in Matthew 20 He reiterates for the third time that He is going to Jerusalem to die, to suffer. He's trying to balance their perspective. Yes, there is a Kingdom, but the way to the Kingdom is through suffering. Death then glory. Humility is before honor, as it says so in Proverbs 15:33.

And Jesus had emphasized humility in Matthew 18:3 when He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” That's the mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ. And He tried to get that message across to the rich young ruler by saying, "Come into My Kingdom, abandon everything you have and come to Me with nothing."

And now 2000 years later, we still suffer from the same kind of selfishness that the disciples suffered from. Jesus talked about suffering and all they could think about was their own self- glory. It is the same today, beloved, Jesus is still talking about suffering. He is still saying, "Take up your cross." He is still saying that the path to glory is through humility.

Jesus is still saying give your life away in ministry, give up everything you have in this world to do what Christ wants no matter what the cost. And people are still missing that. We are still hearing the health and prosperity stuff that increases people's self-love. People also today look at grace like a free lunch, like a free ticket to the storehouse of divine goodies where they are supposed to check out anything and everything they want.

Later on, even after Jesus taught them this lesson in Matthew 20, they were in the upper room meeting and Judas was there betraying Him and Jesus said in Matthew 26, "One of you will betray Me," and they were asking who it would be. And in the middle of all of that they were still arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom. At the very night of the Passover, at the Lord's Table as Jesus was telling them of His own death, betrayal, they still were debating about which of them was going to sit in the chief seats in the Kingdom.

That's not what God has called us to. He has called us to humility. In fact, in 2 Timothy 2:12 it says if we endure, we will reign with Him. And after we have suffered a while, says 1 Peter 5:10, the Lord will make us perfect. And the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be ours. As we suffer here, we are glorified there.

And John Calvin wrote, "For so blindly do we all rush in the direction of self-love that everyone thinks he has a good reason for exalting himself and despising all others in comparison. There is no other remedy than to pluck up by the roots those most noxious pests, self-love and love of victory, this the doctrine of Scripture does. For it teaches us to remember that the endowments which God has bestowed upon us are not our own but His free gifts and that those who plume themselves upon them betray their ingratitude," end quote.

Now we need to reexamine then this whole idea of humility as a path to glory. Let's look at our text. Two teachings are given, how not to be great in verses 20 through 25; and how to be great in verses 26 to 28. Let us study the first one tonight. Four wrong worldly ways to seek greatness are given in this; two by example and two by instruction of our Lord. And men pursue greatness through those means but they are not adaptable to God's Kingdom.

Number one, is political power play. Now the world will tell us if you want to get ahead it all depends on who you know, right? And so you manipulate people and circumstances to find your way in with those you want to get in with and they will pull you to the top. Let's look at this political power play in verse 20, "Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him." Now it amazes me that this happens upon the heels of Jesus' explanation of His coming death.

By the way, Mark 10 is a comparative text, tells of the same incident in verses 35 to 41 and there the mother is not even mentioned. There it's James and John who are asking. So we don't want to get the idea that she was on her own, or that they were tagging along. They came as a trio. Matthew seems to focus on her. Mark definitely focuses on James and John. The request was from all three of them.

And so, they come. And Jesus says in verse 21, "What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” They want the chief place in the Kingdom. They are seeking self-glory, honor and esteem. If you don't think James and John were bold, read Mark 3:17, their names were "Sons of thunder."

And they came to Jesus using a family relationship. When Mark describes the crucifixion of Jesus he mentions the name of the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Matthew just calls her the mother of the sons of Zebedee. But Mark gives us her name, Salome. And John says that she was Jesus’ mother’s sister. So the mother of the sons of Zebedee is the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. Now you understand the politics?

And they want to use the fact that they were His cousins as a special impetus. You see, this is manipulation. And Mark 10 says she wouldn't tell Jesus what she wanted. She wanted Him to promise to give it before she told Him what it was. That's very childish, it also betrays a tremendous ambition. They wanted this so badly that they actually wanted to corner Christ into promising something that they thought if He knew He wouldn't do. They still did not realize that He is all-knowing.

There's always that self-seeking, even in Christianity. But our Lord rejects political power play. That is not how you reach the place of blessing and honor in the Kingdom. In verse 22, "But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask." The highest places of glory are reserved for those who went through the deepest places of suffering. When we are afflicted and persecuted for the cause of the gospel, we are building up a greater inheritance of glory in eternity.

So we learned in the early part of Matthew 20, that all of us equally receive eternal life. And yet, somehow, mysteriously so, though we all inherit the perfection of Christ's likeness in eternity, all of us who believe no matter what our lives were like, there still is beyond that a glory reserved for those who suffered the most for the cause of Christ in this life. I don't know how God harmonizes those, but that is God’s business.

Verse 22 continued, "Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" Now the cup is an Old Testament symbol that means to take everything in, to drink it to the last drop. Our Lord is saying, are you able to suffer to the degree that I am, to drink the whole cup? Isaiah talks about the cup of God's fury. Christ calls it in Matthew 26:59, really the bitter cup of suffering.

That's how God balances it. And because Christ suffered most, He is glorified most. And whoever suffers next most to Him will be glorified next to Him. And so eternal weight of glory is predicated on suffering. So if you seek then that place of eternal glory where you can exalt the Lord Jesus Christ forever in His presence, uniquely seated beside Him in some sense, you will find it not by political power play and not by audacious ambition, but by humility and suffering and a total self-denial and self-sacrifice for His sake.

Now these two disciples did not understand. At the end of verse 22, they said to Him, "We are able." That is excessive confidence. There are a lot of people who charge into a task and think they can do it. And that is also true in a lot of ways in the spiritual dimension. It's like Peter, who said in Matthew 26:33, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” And we all know what happened. Before the cock crowed, he was denying the Lord.

Well, in verse 23, the gentle Savior responds to them in a tender way. He says, " You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” You will taste it. You will never drink the whole thing but you will taste it. And Jesus was telling them the truth.

James was faithful, wasn't he? Acts 12 says he was the first dying martyr. And John was faithful, too, and he was the first living martyr, exiled to the Isle of Patmos to spend out his life. They did drink of the cup. They couldn't have drunk it all as Jesus did, but they tasted that same cup. They knew the fellowship of His sufferings, if not the fullness of them. They came around by the power of the Holy Spirit. See, they never were able to handle this until after the Spirit came and infused them with internal spiritual strength.

Jesus is emphasizing His submissiveness to the Father. He is the one passing out the rewards. He is the one who gives the ultimate glory and it is His decision to whomever He has prepared that. Verse 24 is an interesting insight, "And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers." No, they weren't spiritual, they were mad because they got in there before they did. Read Luke 22:24 to 27, they were all arguing about who's going to be the greatest.

And so, the Lord teaches them another lesson. Look at verse 25, "Jesus called them unto Him and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.” This is the world's way. We've seen them all. They have been and gone and they keep coming.

They lord it over people. And that's how they get their greatness. That's a style of leadership you find in a lot of places. This happens in the church, too. But if you would like to be great before the Lord, He is saying, don't use your natural capabilities, your natural personality characteristics to manipulate and move people around. Don't do that.

If you would be great, learn the lesson that Jesus teaches in verse 22. That before honor is humility, that before you ever know the crown, you drink the cup. And for us to be exalted we have to use the way of humility. It's not seeking those things. But it's seeking to know God and to humbly walk with Him that allows God to lift you up. That's His way. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Jul 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140720 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000B0 imblog

Matthew 20:17-19

We return this evening to Matthew 20:17-19, “Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”

It is very clear exactly what Jesus said. This is the third and last prediction of our Lord regarding His death and resurrection. The first one He gave to the disciples in Matthew 16:21. The second one He gave them in Matthew 17:22-23. And this is the third and final prediction. The second adds detail to the first and the third adds detail to the second. This is the most complete prediction of what was going to happen.

People who know the Christian faith realize that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the center of all biblical revelation. He doesn't just say He will die and rise. He doesn't just say He will be crucified and rise. But rather He explains in detail that He will be betrayed, He will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn Him to death, then hand Him over to the pagans where He will be mocked, scourged and finally crucified. And following that, He will rise from the dead.

Now the theme of this particular prediction by our Lord is His sufferings. Some rejectors of the truth have tried to put Jesus Christ into a totally human category. Some of them have been more generous and said He was a well-meaning, loving, gentle, peaceful kind of individual who somehow got caught in a very hostile world and accidentally wound up getting crucified. Others have said that He was a self-styled, would-be conqueror who tried to pull off a coup of sorts only He wound up being a victim of His own revolution.

However, they are all wrong. The sufferings of Jesus Christ were no accident, no miscalculation and they were no surprise to Him. Jesus gives here detail by detail precisely and exactly what is going to happen to Him. In fact, the first recorded words that were spoken out of the mouth of Lord Jesus were, "I must be about My Father's business," and the last words were, "It is finished." And He finished it in His death.

Now Jesus wanted the disciples to understand this. They were so in tune with the glories of the Messiah, those prophecies they seemed well to understand. It was the suffering Messiah they didn't understand. And we don't want to be too hard on them because Jews today with all that they know still don't understand that. You see, the disciples were looking for a lion, they didn't know they needed a lamb.

Now let us look at the passage just to consider several elements of what He said. First, the plan of suffering, Verse 17, "Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, 18 behold we are going up to Jerusalem." By the way He speaks here we know what He is doing. Behold is an exclamation, it may seem shocking to you, it may not be what you want to do, but we are going to Jerusalem. There is resolution and conviction in His statement.

And you'll notice it says, "going up to Jerusalem." They were already going that way. And when you go up, you really go up. Jericho is about a thousand feet below sea level, Jerusalem is over 5,000 feet above and in a straight line they are fifteen miles apart. That is very steep and that is why the Bible says they were going up. And they were not alone. Matthew 20:29 says there was a great multitude that followed Him.

And as this is Passover time they are attracted because they would normally be on this journey anyway and they have now found themselves in the company of this wonder working Jesus, this astounding teacher and healer. And so here we find Him surrounded by all these people as He is moving toward Jerusalem.

Now Mark 10:32 gives us the parallel account to this, and Mark says the disciples were amazed and afraid because they knew the hostility of the Jerusalem chief priests and the scribes. They had already run into conflict with these Pharisees on several occasions. And they really couldn't see any point in going right into Jerusalem. And so they were somewhat confused.

And many of the disciples had given up on the concept of an immediate Kingdom, at least emotionally if not intellectually. And all they could see was we are going to go right in there and die. In fact, in John 11:16, when Jesus said we are going to go to Jerusalem or to Bethany which is right in that proximity, Thomas who is called Didymus said, "We will all go with You and die too."

Then Mark tells us that Jesus walked in front of them and they followed in the back. He is like a commander who is leading his troups into battle while putting himself in the most dangerous and vulnerable position. Jesus was steadfast in moving toward His own death on behalf of these disciples and they are afraid and amazed, dragging behind Him, feeling both the anticipation of the Kingdom with the fear of death and not knowing what to expect.

Luke in the parallel passage of Luke 18:31 says, "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished." So Jesus says that we have to go because this is the prophetic plan. This is no accident. This was foretold by myriads of prophets. And people who accuse Jesus of being some misguided patriot or some well-meaning peacemaker whose revolution went array, not only do they not understand Jesus but they do not understand the Old Testament either.

This is the culmination of the redemptive plan of God. And you can go back into the Old Testament and you will find passage upon passage upon passage predicting all of the factors of Jesus Christ's life. Zechariah 9:9 says that He would enter into Jerusalem. Psalm 2, that He would know the fury and rage of His enemies. Zechariah 13:7, that He would be deserted by His friends. Zechariah 11:12 says that His betrayal would be for 30 pieces of silver. Psalm 22:16 says that He would be pierced on the cross.

Exodus 12:46 says that none of His bones would be broken, also Psalm 34:20. Psalm 22:18 says that His garments will be parted by casting of lots. Psalm 69:21 says He will be given vinegar to drink. Psalm 22:1 says He will cry out in the pain of distress. Zechariah 12:10 says they will pierce Him with a spear. And Psalm 16:10 says that He will rise from the dead. Psalm 110:1 even says He will ascend to heaven.

All of those things are part of the Old Testament prophets. And if you want a detailed description of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, read Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 and Zechariah's prophecies and you will have all the details of our Lord's death on the cross. So when He is going to Jerusalem, He is on schedule, on target, on plan, no deviation at all.

The death of Jesus Christ is the primary event in history and the primary event in the Bible. This really comes into focus, first, in Genesis 3 because of Adam and Eve's sin. And immediately when they sin, they feel cut off from God. They immediately become aware is that they are naked. And God comes and clothes them with the skin of animals, so there has to be death. And so some animals are slain to make clothes for them. The Old Testament teaches that guilt and separation are covered by sacrifice.

Sacrifice is the only way to deal with guilt and separation from God. This is setting in motion the truth that demands the ultimate Passover lamb. In Genesis 22, a second profound element of sacrificial truth is taught. God gave Abraham a son by the name of Isaac in whom all his hopes resided. He was to be the seed out of whose loins would come a generation of people who would number as the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven.

And as God comes to Abraham and says, "I want you to kill your son," we can see the slaying of all the things that God had promised and planned. And yet Abraham is faithful and committed to do what God says so he packs a bunch of wood on Isaac's back and they start for the hill of sacrifice known as Mount Moriah. They get up there and Abraham puts Isaac down on top of the altar that has been prepared and lifts the knife to kill his own beloved son. And at that moment, God stops his arm and provides a ram in the thicket and he sacrifices the ram and God spares his son.

What sustained Abraham, Hebrews 11 says, and made him willing to do that is that he believed God would raise Isaac from the dead. So committed was he to God keeping His promise that he figured if God says kill him, then God's going to have to raise him from the dead to fulfill His own word. And he believed God would always keep His word. But God held his hand and provided a ram. So the second truth of redemption taught in Genesis is that God will provide a substitute.

Now we see more of God's unfolding redemptive plan, look at Exodus 12 and we get the third principle in relation to redemptive sacrifice. God says that He is going to send the angel of death through Egypt and He is going to slay the first born of every house. If you want to be protected, you have to sacrifice a lamb that is unblemished. Put the blood on the doorposts and the lintel, the angel of death seeing that will pass by you. In other words, you will be delivered from judgment by making a blood sacrifice that is pure.

Now we go from there to the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness at Sinai. God gives the law. And then God begins to unfold through Moses all of the intricate complex elements of the sacrificial system so that sacrifice for those people became a way of living. Every day, every national feast, every act of worship, every approach to God, every day of every year was based on sacrifice. So sacrifice became their way of life.

Now let us bring it all together. From Adam and Eve we learn that sacrifice covers the guilt of sin. From Abraham we learn that that sacrifice can be paid by a substitute which God will provide. From the Passover, we learn that that sacrifice must be unblemished. And finally, from the sacrifice in the law, we learn the importance of sacrifice in a worshiping life. There will be no worship of God without sacrifice.

So God had to provide then a sacrifice to cover sin, through a substitute, who was unblemished, who could redeem His people and provide a special sacrifice that could open up the way of worship forever. And that's why, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn and the sacrificial system was over because Jesus was the one final sacrifice that created access to God so we could worship from then on without ever having to offer another sacrifice.

So, if you look at the Old Testament, the whole concept of it is that there is the need for a sacrifice. And so, our Lord says we have to go to Jerusalem. The disciples figured we are going there for the Passover, what they didn't know was that they were going there with the Passover lamb. They were thinking Kingdom, Jesus was thinking sacrifice. They were thinking glory, and He was thinking suffering and then glory.

But Jesus is on schedule. He says, particularly in John and at least seven different places, that He will do the will of His Father. And even after His resurrection when He met those disciples on the road to Emmaus, it says in Luke 24:26, "Ought not Christ who have suffered these things and enter into His glory?" Jesus surely took them through a better lesson than we just discussed, but basically a similar one.

They just couldn't comprehend that He had to suffer. 1 Peter 1:11 says, the prophets were looking at what they wrote and they saw two things, they saw the sufferings and the glory that should follow. And if you don't see both of those, you will not understand it. That's why Jews even today have missed Jesus as their Messiah because all they can see is the glory, they don't understand the suffering.

Jesus adds His own prophecies to what the Old Testament prophets say. The Son of Man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes. They shall condemn Him to death, shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, to crucify, and the third day He will rise again. Jesus is predicting all these things. And only God can tell the story before it happens, right? This is God in human flesh, who else knows all that?

This is no ordinary man. He knew how many husbands a strange woman He had never met had and the one she was living with wasn't her husband. And He knew a conversation before a conversation occurred. He told His disciples to go get the colt, the foal of an ass and He told them the conversation that would happen when they asked the guy for the animal, before the guy even was asked. He forecast the fall of Jerusalem in Matthew 21. I mean, this is God!

But in the meantime, they mocked Him. Remember they put a reed in His hand, crammed a crown of thorns on His head and spit all over Him. And they jeered at Him. And all of that kind of mockery He describes. Then they scourged Him. They lacerated His back with leather thongs in which there were bits of bone and metal in the end. And ultimately they crucified Him. And all the details are there and, of course, He rose from the dead.

Now let us look at the amount of His suffering. Look at Isaiah 53, verse 2 says there's no beauty that we should desire Him. That is the suffering of being rejected. And then you have the suffering in verse 4 of bearing other peoples griefs and sorrows. Then you have the pain of betrayal and humiliation and unjust guilt. But the greatest suffering is the suffering of the soul being stricken and afflicted by God Himself, where He cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?"

Well, we have seen the plan, the prediction, the amount and now let us see the power of sufferings at the end of verse 19, "The third day He shall rise again." Suffering is not the end. And as it said in Psalm 16:10, God would never leave His soul in the grave, He would never let His holy one see corruption. Jesus burst out of that grave and is alive to this very day and that is the power over His sufferings. Bless God for that. Jesus conquered death. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Jul 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140713 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000B1 imblog

Matthew 19:30-20:16

One of the great prophets of the Old Testament was Ezekiel. And Ezekiel spoke to the people of God who were in Babylonian exile. One of his emphasis was to remind them of the sins of Judah, which caused the 70 years of exile. Among those sins was one which he points out in his prophesy, Ezekiel 18, where twice in that chapter he says this:

Ezekiel 18:25, "Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, oh house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?" Israel had accused God of being unfair. And Ezekiel said, "That's one of your sins. You have said God is not fair." That sin has since been committed many times by many people, who when things in their life don't go the way they think they ought to go, accuse God of being unfair.

It is that very issue which is the theme of Matthew 20. And God defends Himself against this accusation a number of times in Scripture. And at least half a dozen times in the New Testament He defends Himself against this accusation by saying He is no respecter of persons. He treats all people equally. It is sin for believers to accuse God of being inequitable in His treatment of His own. Let's begin in Matthew 19, the last verse, which should be the first verse of Matthew 20.

Matthew 19:30,"But many who are first will be last and the last first." Matthew 20: 1-16, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.

“6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’ 8 “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ 9 And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.”

“11 And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”

So you see this parable is bracketed by the same statement, "The last shall be first, the first be last." That set of brackets defines what the parable in the middle is about. It's all about being last and being first. Now in examining this passage there are four things we should remember. The proverb itself, the parable which illustrates it, the point of it, and then some principles.

Let's look at the proverb. It is a truism, and the Lord apparently coined this proverb and likely used it very frequently. Look at Luke 13:30 for another use of it. Now the parable is a riddle in a sense and so is the proverb. When you read the proverb, you might say, "What does that mean?" And reading the parable explains the riddle with just some basic things to understand.

Now the only way for the last to be first and the first to be last would be if they all crossed the finish line in a dead heat. Right? If you're last, you're last. But if you're last and first, and if you're first and last, that means you all end in a dead heat. If there are ten people in a race and they're all first and they're all last, it means everybody finishes the same.

And that is the intent of the parable. It is to demonstrate that everyone will finish equally, that God is no respecter of his own, that God treats all of his own equally. Verse 1, "For the kingdom of heaven." Now remember again, this is the sphere of salvation where God rules over the redeemed, where God rules through the grace of salvation. So He is illustrating how it is among the saved, among the redeemed, among God's people in his Kingdom.

It's like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. The scene is very real to the Jewish listeners. In fact, in the fertile plain areas the grain field was the major enterprise. But on the mountain slopes which dominate the land of Israel, the vineyard was the most valuable property and also required the greatest amount of labor. The steepness of the slopes on which the vines grew best greatly increased the labor it took to maintain and harvest it. And in Israel this is still going on.

Now a Jewish workday started at 6:00 a.m. and it ended at 6:00 p.m. They had a 12-hour workday and they did it six days. So at the start of the long workday, the owner went to find laborers for his harvest. Obviously, he wouldn't have enough in his normal workforce to do this kind of intense labor that had to be gathered so rapidly.

Hired laborers in ancient Israel were the lowest people on the social ladder. They were basically unskilled. They were untrained and they were unemployed except for a day at a time. Life for them frankly was somewhat desperate and precarious because if they did not work they did not eat. And if they didn't work neither did their families eat.

It was an iniquity not to pay that man at the end of the day in which he did his work. So this parable is a vivid story that could happen in any Jewish town on any day during the harvest. Hired laborers would do this. They would congregate at some point in the marketplace, around the marketplace, and they would wait there for someone to come along and hire them. That sets the stage.

This man went out early in the morning before 6:00 to hire laborers for his vineyard. And verse 2 says, "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard." Now a denarius was not normal day worker’s pay. It was better than that. In fact, it was a very generous wage. It was standard pay for a skilled employee or a Roman soldier. And both owner and workers agreed on this wage.

And so he sent them into the vineyard at 6:00 a.m. to get to work. And then verse 3 he says, "He went out about the third hour and saw others standing in the marketplace." It's now 9:00 a.m. and he realizes by now that it's going to take more men. So he returns to the marketplace because he needs more help. And he finds some men standing idle because nobody has a need for them.

And to those, in verse 4 he said, "You also go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will give you. And they went." This is no time to be negotiating, they are just glad there is work. Oh, they knew what he had agreed to pay those earlier ones if they had been there from the beginning. They're willing to take whatever this very generous man will give them. They are filled with joy just to be paid something.

Well, it gets to be noon and the man is in need of more. So verse 5 says, "Again he went out and about that sixth hour (that would be noon) and then the ninth hour (that's three in the afternoon) and he did the same thing. The process is repeated and you can be sure that these men were really glad this late in the day to have this kind of opportunity to earn something, the day fast passing them by.

And then, verse 6-7, "And about the eleventh hour he went out." This would be 5:00 in the afternoon. "Why have you been standing here idle all day long?" 7 They said to him, "Because no one hired us." He said to them, "You also, go into the vineyard." And then verse 8, "And when evening had come." It's now 6:00 PM. "The owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages.'" Let's stop there for a minute.

This man is going to follow the prescription of the Old Testament, Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 24. The day has ended. He calls the steward who manages the labor force and says, "Get them in line in accord with the Mosaic Law, and we are going to pay them “beginning with the last and then moving to the first." So start with the ones that worked an hour and then pay those that worked more until the ones who worked 12 hours.

So now we are getting to the proverb and its meaning. The first, go to the last part of the line and the last come to paid first. Here's where proverb and parable touch. So he pays those who started at 5:00, and then he pays those who began at 3:00, and those who worked six hours, having begun at noon, and those who worked nine hours, having begun at 9:00. And the last group who started at 6:00 are last. The normal rule, which we like to live by, first come, first serve is not the way God does it.

It becomes shocking in verse 9, "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius." Wow, one denarius a day is incredible, but one denarius an hour, that's mind-boggling. And everyone who came at different times were all paid the same. Generosity is wonderful. Now, those who started early in the morning are starting to get excited. "What are we going to get?"

Verse 10, "But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.” So verse 11-12 says, "And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.”

But he answered, in verse 13-14, and said to one of them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.” The only issue here was jealousy, envy. In verse 15, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?”

Does my compassionate kindness to others irritate you? And then the Lord reiterates the proverb in verse 16, "The last shall be first and the first last." Everybody got the same pay. So you understand the proverb and you understand how the parable illustrates it. What's the point? What's the spiritual message here? What's it teaching us?

Well, this is a parable about the Kingdom. It is not an allegory. It is a simple illustration made to make one spiritual point. The householder is God. The vineyard is the Kingdom. The laborers are believers in the Kingdom. The day of work is time given to us. The evening is eternity when we receive our reward. The wage is eternal life. The steward is Jesus Christ who was given the task of rewarding His own.

All who come into Christ's Kingdom to serve Him no matter how long, no matter how short, no matter how hard, no matter how easy the circumstance, will in the end equally receive the same full reward. What is that reward? Eternal life, eternal glory and eternal Christ likeness. Those who come first to God will receive no more than those who come last. Those who come last will receive no less than those who come first.

It's a tremendously encouraging thing. Life may be inequitable, but God isn't. And eternity won't be either. Every believer, no matter when converted or what manner of service or for how long will receive the crown which is eternal life spoken of in James 1:12 and will receive the crown of righteousness spoken of in 2 Timothy 4.

How wonderful it is to realize that the same glorious eternal life will be given to the penitent thief as was given to the faithful apostles. The same eternal life will be given to that sinner who near death turns from a life of wickedness to embrace Christ as is given to that missionary who spent 50 years in a jungle in deprivation and difficult labor. The person who received Christ on a deathbed after a life of wickedness will receive the same glorious eternity as one who all his life served Christ and died a martyr.

Do you remember that after that Peter spoke back in Matthew 19:27, Peter said to Jesus, "Behold we have left everything and followed You. What then will there be for us?" These guys said, we left everything to follow you. Surely the implication is there's something more for us than these other folks that you're evangelizing.

And Jesus responded to that by showing Peter and the rest of them that no matter whether they had left everything and followed Him for a long time or whether they came to Him at the very end of life, they would all receive the same eternal reward. They knew it was a Kingdom. Certainly they loved Jesus and believed in Him and continued to follow Him. But they were still pretty shallow and very selfish.

This is about the reality of eternal life. Rewards are discussed later. But they are not on the basis of the time of service and they are not on the basis of the difficulty of service. They are on the basis of the motive. How do we know that? 1 Corinthians 4:5, "the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.”

With God it is equality, we all receive eternal life. Tax gatherers and harlots who come in at the end of their life are going to stand with missionaries and martyrs who gave their all. All believers will be equally given the blessedness of glory. We will all live in the Father's house and inherit the whole inheritance. We will all become like Christ. How good is God!

God initiates salvation sovereignly. Jesus said in John 15:16, "You have not chosen me. I have chosen you." God establishes the terms. And God is continually calling people into his Kingdom. God redeems those who are willing especially those who have no resources. All who came into the vineyard worked. There were no deadbeats, no freeloaders. And what is the work? Evangelism.

Another principle is that God gives all of us more than we deserve. The lesson is that humility and a sense of unworthiness is the only right attitude. There's no place for envy. It is absolutely ludicrous to say, "I hope when I get to Heaven I will have more than you." But that's what the disciples of Jesus were doing.

And then the last point and the main point. All eternal reward is by grace. Length of service, difficulty of service, no factor. Works are irrelevant in the matter of eternal life. Some of you are saying, "Oh, but what about my crowns?" Well, you will get a crown which is life and a crown which is righteousness and a crown which is incorruptible. And the truth is in the end it puts God's great grace on display. He is glorified by His generosity. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Jul 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140706 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000B2 imblog

Matthew 19:16-22

Tonight we're looking at Matthew 19:16-22. Perhaps you have had that experience where someone is led to Christ by you and you see no change in their life, nothing really happens differently and they don’t even connect with the church. Maybe you've been struggling with why that happens. God is going to give you the answer to that this evening.

Matthew 19:16-22, “Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

Notice in verse 16 that the young man asks about how to obtain eternal life. The term "eternal life" is used about 50 times in Scripture and is essentially the heart of all evangelism. In other words, we try to get people to seek eternal life, to receive eternal life. In fact John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

And here comes a young man who walks right up and asks Jesus that very question. Most of our work in evangelism is to get somebody to this point. If you can just get the person to say "what do I need to do to inherit eternal life", all you have to do is to add: believe, sign the card, walk the aisle and get baptized. You've got him right where you want him to be.

But this young man ignored the whole process of the normal pre-evangelism effort. Like how do you know there's a God, how can you believe the Bible and on and on. He walked right up and asked Jesus the question about eternal life. Now, that question appears on several occasions in the New Testament. Not only asked by this young man, but also asked by a lawyer and also by a group of people in John 6.

Jesus acts very different from what we are used to. But, oh how we much do we need the truth in this text. We have many contemporary unbiblical modes of evangelism with its decisions, and its aisle walking and the advice to just believe. And this is leading people into the delusion that they are saved when in fact they are not.

So how does one obtain eternal life? Well, first of all, it's necessary to know what you want. He knew he didn't have it. Matthew tells us that he was young in verse 20 and that he was rich in verse 22. And in Luke 18:18 it says that he was a ruler. Most likely he was a ruler of the synagogue, a Jewish religious leader, devout, honest in relationship to Judaism, young, wealthy, prominent and influential.

As far as the culture of his day, the religious environment of his day, he had everything. And that's why in verse 16, Matthew says, "Now behold," It was amazing to Matthew that he would come and admit that he didn't have eternal life. He had not found permanent peace, joy and hope. He was basically coming on the grounds of a felt need. He was restless and anxious in his heart. There was a sense of being unfulfilled.

Paul says that our citizenship in the kingdom obtains a divine character and we all of a sudden come alive to God and that life never ends. But our life also has a quality of existence that is special, not just the quantity. I can now respond to God. Before I was saved I was dead in sin, totally unresponsive to the God’s environment. When I became a Christian, I was given the capability of responding to the divine environment forever.

Secondly, this rich young man knows what he wanted so he felt deeply the need. Now many people who don't feel any need for eternal life. They really don't care to be alive to God and they really aren't interested in it. And we can say they're not desperate enough. This guy not only knew what he wanted but he also felt deeply the need.

Thirdly, to obtain eternal life it is also necessary to seek diligently. The prophet of the Old Testament, Isaiah said in Jeremiah 29:13, “if you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me.” Well here is a diligent seeker. You say, "How do you know that?" Well, in the parallel passage in Mark 10:17, it says “one came running, knelt before Him.” Now he humbles himself. He's serious, motivated and anxious. He doesn't mind losing face with all the people who thinks he's a spiritual example already.

Fourthly, in obtaining eternal life he came to the right source. You know, there are lots of people looking hard for eternal life but they are looking in all the wrong places. Why does Satan creates counterfeit religions all over the face of the earth? So that people go chasing after the wrong thing. Jesus not only was the source of eternal life, He is that eternal life.

No doubt he had heard of the power of Jesus and His teachings because he comes to Him and says ‘master or teacher.’ Mark and Luke tell us he called Him "good." It's added here in Matthew, but it wasn't in the manuscripts of Matthew. And he said, agathos, meaning good on the inside, good morally, in nature and in essence. You perhaps know the secret of getting eternal life.

He did not think that Jesus was God or the Messiah. He was struck with the power of Jesus' teaching and the power of His life that he thought surely this teacher has to have the secret to eternal life. And even though he didn't know who Jesus was in the fullest sense, he certainly did come to the right place.

In verse 16, he asks, "What do I need to do to get eternal life?" And Jesus' answer is amazing. Jesus actually puts up a wall in front of this guy. Verse 17, "So He said to him, why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." Only God is good and Jesus said, so go on out and keep His commandments. There's no new information, there's no secret way.

Why would Jesus say that? Because, this guy is coming to Jesus seeking salvation based on his felt need only, because he has anxiety and frustration instead of joy, love, peace and hope. And that means there is something missing. What is it? His sin issue. This young man has no idea how much he has offended a holy God. His desire for eternal life is wrapped up in himself, instead of thinking more about how much he has angered a holy God.

So, Jesus confronted him with the fact that he has violated God’s law. Salvation is for people who want to turn away from the sinful things of this life and turn to God. And they need to repent, confess that sin and affirm their commitment to live for His glory. They must know that unless they are willing to forsake all things in this life, they can't be His disciples.

And when Jesus says to him, "You keep the commandments," He is asking this young guy to compare himself against the divine standard so that he will see that he comes up short. All evangelism must compare the sinner against the perfect law of God so he can see his own deficiency. Look at Paul in Romans in chapters 1, 2 and 3 affirming the sinfulness of man before he ever gets to salvation.

The rich young ruler had no understanding of his offending God, so he had no remorse. There has to be remorse, you have to be begging God for forgiveness. There needs to be a sense of meekness. There needs to be a sense of mourning being overwhelmed by your sin. You see, he didn't have that. A holy and pure God will not tolerate evil at all.

And look at this young man’s answer in verse 18-19, "He said to Him, “Which ones?” So, the Lord responds by giving him the last half of the Ten Commandments in reverse. “Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

You know, the Ten Commandments are divided into two parts. The first half deals with God, the second half deals with man. In other words, man's relation to God is the first half, no idols, never take His name in vain, all that. The second half deal with man. Jesus gives him the second half which are easier, right? They are both impossible to keep but the second half is less impossible. Otherwise he wouldn't have said, "Well, I have kept all those."

In other words, you might think you did the second half. So Jesus gives him the easier half of the impossible. And then adds a little one at the end just to make it really difficult, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." So, Jesus compares him to the Ten Commandments, against the law of God. You have to understand that it is God that you're sinning against.

Now we cannot preach grace until we have preached law, right? Because nobody will understand what grace means unless he understands what the law requires. No one understands mercy unless they understand guilt. So Jesus compares the guy to the commandments of God, where it says that we have to keep them all.

But in verse 20, "The young man said to Him, All these things have I kept." The Jews saw everything on the outside and they never dealt with the heart. Jesus said in Matthew 5, I know you don't think you murder but when you hate someone, you murder in your heart," right? And I know you don't think you commit adultery, but when you look on a woman to lust after her, you have committed adultery in your heart. And when you divorce your wives without biblical grounds, you commit adultery as well.

In other words, Jesus says to them all through Matthew 5, on the outside you look good but on the inside you are full of evil. The Ten Commandments were simply external pictures that were to be indicative of hearts that were right. The point is that this man did not understand the internal character of God's law. And so he thought he was really okay. What he was saying, in effect, was "I don't have any real sin.

Listen, this man couldn't be saved because he didn't understand the real meaning of salvation, which is a sinner coming to God and asking forgiveness, right? If you don't think you have sinned, you can't be saved. This is the way how self-righteous religion works. It's very self-deceiving, it's very self-convincing. Now, the Bible says at this point in Mark 10;21, "Jesus looked at him and loved him." There was something genuine in him. He really was a religious person. And Jesus loved him and Jesus is not willing that any should perish.

God must be at work through the Holy Spirit as an element in true salvation. It isn't some pre-salvation human work. We know we are dependent on the Spirit of God for it and that's the mystery of how the Spirit works in the human will as well.

So, Jesus goes even another step in verse 21, "He said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Jesus is actually saying, "Are you going to do what I want you to do? Who runs your life? Do you or do I?" And He gives him a test. Jesus gives him a command and says when you're done with this first command, come right back here and keep on following Me.

True salvation includes a submission to obey the Lord. A person coming to Christ does not understands fully all that that confession may mean, but all the Lord is asking for here is the willingness. The sin of this guy was a sin of covetousness, it was a sin of indulgence, it was a sin of materialism, wealth and all that stuff. And he was indifferent to people who were poor and people who were in need.

Do you have to give away everything to be a Christian? No you don't. The Lord didn't say that to other people. But do you have to be willing to do whatever the Lord asks you to do? Yes. And it is different in different cases. But the Lord took us right back to the principle of Luke 14:33, the people who are My disciples are the people who forsake all.

Jesus knew this was most important to this guy. For some people it might be a car. For some people it might be a girl. For some people it might be a job or a career or a certain sin they want to indulge in. For this guy, it was his money and his possessions. And the Lord put His finger on it and said, "Are you willing to give every bit of that up?"

Jesus knew right where his heart was and He was saying, "Unless Jesus Christ is the number one priority in your life, there's no salvation coming to you." Now, salvation demands these two things. Number one will you acknowledge your offense to God and number two will you turn from your sin? And if you're not willing to do it on those terms, Jesus doesn't take you.

In Matthew 13 you have two parables, verses 44 to 46, you have the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl of great price. Those refer to the salvation that's offered in the Kingdom. And in both cases, you remember the man sold everything he had, bought the field to get the treasure and the guy sold everything he had to get the money to buy the pearl, so all it cost you is everything you have.

People do not understand the full implications of the Lordship of Christ. Salvation involves a commitment to giving up everything else. Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart you will be saved.” There's a price for salvation, all you have, all you possess for your Lord.

And what was his reaction? Verse 22, "But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions." He went away. Why? What was more important to him than Christ? Possessions. He could not come on those terms. He went away sorrowful because there was some honesty in his heart. He really did want eternal life, but he wasn't willing to pay the price.

He came for eternal life and he left without it. Oh what a sad, sad thing. And so we learn a lot, don't we, from this story about how we should present the gospel and what our Lord expects. And the more we become like Christ, the more we are willing to tell others about Jesus so that there is a possibility they will repent and are saved.

What will you say when someone comes up to you and asks you why you are a Christian? Will you talk about the hard subjects such as sin and punishment as well as mercy and grace? Oh Lord, give us the understanding and willingness to work for You whenever and wherever You call us. Let's pray.

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Matthew 19:13-15

Matthew 19:13-15, “Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.” This passage perhaps more than any other passage gives that passage where we find our Lord blessing little children.

This particular incident is not only recorded in Matthew but it's also recorded in Mark 10 and Luke 18. Parents in this scene wanted Jesus to touch their children, to bless their children and to pray for their children. And I know there are many parents throughout all the countries of the world who know the Lord who have the same longing as these parents in a spiritual sense to bring their children to Jesus.

Verse 13 begins with the word "Then" and the word "then" just sort of links things up with the prior passage. He's in a home here and it probably was crammed full of people. And, "They brought to Jesus little children." The indication is that perhaps some had reached Him and others were still coming. And while that was going on the disciples were watching. They felt it to be a non-priority deal to have these parents coming to Jesus while He was supposed to be teaching.

You see, it was customary to do that in Jewish society. In the Talmud it said that they were to bring their children to any great teacher of the law, that he might bless them and pray for them. Because they believed that these men who specially represented God were close to the heart of God, had a prayer life that had more faith than normal people might have and they longed to have their children prayed for.

Now when we think about Jesus loving little children, we must realize that He knew they were born of the flesh and that which is born of the flesh is flesh, John 3:6. He knew that what David said was true in Psalm 51:5, "In sin did my mother conceive me." There was this sin nature operative from conception on. There was no idea that children are righteous or holy or pure or innocent or undefiled.

So, here come the parents bringing their babies to Jesus. And it says at the end of verse 13, "But the disciples rebuked them." The disciples were really threatening them, "Look, you can't be interrupting the Lord by bringing up these babies, it is disturbing when we are trying to learn. We can't have this kind of triviality." And so, they oppose this process.

In verse 14 it says, "But Jesus said, “let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” What it doesn't tell us is what Mark 10:14 tells us, that Jesus was angry with the disciples. He uses the word indignant; only two or three times He really got angry at them. And the only time that particular word of indignation is used by Jesus is in reference to them.

Maybe Jesus was angry with them for these following reasons. Number one, He loved babies and they were a creation of God, and His creation. And He felt a sympathy for them for the world in which they were born. And the disciples had not learned such an attitude. Secondly, He is angry because He also loved their parents and He knew that if you say no to people's children, you are going to have a tough time getting their attention. The way to a parent's heart was through their baby and He wanted to demonstrate the genuineness of His tender love and care for the little ones.

Thirdly, maybe He was angry with them because no one is outside the care and plan and love of God, not even a baby. Everyone is included in the plans of God and He truly cares for everyone. No one ever coming to Jesus Christ intrudes on Him. Fourthly, He was angry because children provided Him a tremendous illustration, a tremendous analogy for salvation. And He took advantage of it every time He could.

Fifthly, Jesus was angry with them because they should never decide who can or cannot come to Christ. That was not within their prerogative. If you follow the life of Christ, you will find that He refused some people they brought and He sought out some people they rejected. And it is a lesson of who really is in charge. And so, He really was teaching them about their lack of concern for little ones.

And that is a principle of ministry that God has used in His church from the very beginning. God has given His people a heart for children. We praise God for what He is doing with little ones, from the nursery right on up to the Christian school. All the things that we do with children are done because we believe that Jesus wants the little children to come to Him. And when they come to Him at an early age, they are ready and eager.

One writer said, "As the flower in the garden stretches toward the light of the sun, so there is in the child a mysterious inclination toward the eternal light. Have you ever noticed that when you tell a small child about God, he never asks, `What or who is God? I have never seen Him.' Or when you teach a child to pray that it does this as though it were a matter of course. Or tell them these little ones the stories of the Savior, show them the pictures with scenes of the Bible, how their pure eyes shine."

The coming of children to Jesus is very important. Why? Look at the end of verse 14, "For of such is the Kingdom of heaven." He is not saying that these children are in the Kingdom of heaven, but of such as these. These are the kind who have a place in the Kingdom. And notice, there is no baptism here of babies. He just says babies such as these, prior to the time when they can understand and respond to Christ, prior to the time when they can exercise their own faith, these little ones belong to the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of heaven is the sphere of God's rule in Christ through grace. And He says these have a place. Jesus is including all babies, and when you're in the time when you don't understand, like a little baby, that's the time God has placed you in special care under His sovereign rule as the King. It says nothing about the faith of their parents, nothing about any rite or ritual or baptism, nothing about them being elect or non-elect, He just says those who are like these belong in My Kingdom. And grace is extended to them.

That's why I believe with all my heart that if a baby dies before it can reach the time of making the decision itself, if that baby dies, that baby goes into the presence of Jesus Christ because they are uniquely in the care of the King. I don't know how God gives that grace to them other than by a sovereign act on His own part. I do know that it is dispensable to them by virtue of the death of Jesus Christ for their sin.

Now, that does not mean that all little babies are saved. If they were all saved, then when they got to be old enough, they would lose their salvation and that is a theological problem. It's what was in the heart of David in 2 Samuel 12:23, when his infant son died, he said, "He cannot come to me but I shall go to him." And David knew that he was talking about death, but he also was talking about the fact that in death he would see again that son he loved.

Well, babies are sinners, because they are produced by sinners. And yet God has a special place for them. But it is also a tremendous responsibility for us because if you have in your arms a little baby that belongs to the Kingdom, your task as a parent is to make sure that when that little life comes to the point of decision, the decision it makes takes it fully into God's Kingdom. What a responsibility to make sure that little life given to you for your care is returned to the King after your stewardship is completed.

But Jesus isn't finished. Luke tells us He added one more thing when He had those little children in His arms. He said in Luke 18:17, "Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God, like a little child shall in no way enter it." And what does He mean by that? We discussed that in Matthew 18:3. He means the openness, the honesty, the lack of pretention, the lack of hypocrisy, the dependency, the weakness, the humility that casts oneself in total dependence on the strong arms of the Lord.

His Kingdom is filled with those who are babies and those who came as babies, who knew in themselves they had no resource. And so the "of such" broadens the concept and I agree with John Calvin who said, "The passage broadens to give Kingdom citizenship to both children and those who are like them." And it tells us in verse 15, “And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.”

What about your children? Just remember five key words regarding how to you bring your children to Jesus and draw some spiritual conclusions from this passage. First one is "remember." Remember first of all that God created your child. Psalm 139:13-14, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb, 14 I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works."

Secondly, God gave that child to you as a "gift." Psalm 127:3, "Children are an heritage from the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward." God made that child and God gave that child to you as a gift. And then that child is to be a "blessing" to you. Psalm 127:4-5, "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth, 5 happy is the man who has his quiver full of them." Children are to be a blessing to you.

Fourth point to remember is this, if God made them and God gave them to be a blessing, then God wants them "returned" to Him for His use. And that is why Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he won't depart from it." That's why Ephesian 6:4 says, "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Because the task that you have is to give your children back to God, that's your stewardship.

Fifthly, "teach," we are called by God to teach our children. They have limited knowledge, they have limited reasoning and they need to be taught. You remember how it was said in 2 Timothy 3:15, “that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures” that were taught to you by your mother and your grandmother? Lois and Eunice are in there feeding that little boy with all the divine truth they can possibly pump in.

Go back to Deuteronomy 6 for a moment. Let us look at a pattern that we need to understand if we are going to effectively teach children. God gave this to Moses in the very beginning to teach His people because it is so basic and it has not changed. Verse 4, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." In other words, if we are going to teach our children, we have to begin with worshiping the right God in the right way.

Secondly verse 5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” What does that mean? That means internalize what you believe about God. Not only have the right theology, but the right heart. If you're going to teach your children, you have to have the right God and the right faith and it has to come right out of your heart. It has to be internal with you, not just external.

And then verse 7, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” What does that say? That says that you have to teach from life situations, out of every trial, every struggle and every moment of life, you teach the truth of God. It is not enough to read them a Bible story and then live a worldly life the rest of the day.

They have to see the Lord in every life situation. All of life becomes a blackboard in which you teach the truth of God. And it has to be unending, unceasing and constant. Teach it diligently all the time, sitting down, walking, lying down, rising up so that it is part of the flow of daily life. It is important that you set up the right convictions, the right standards and the right objectives spiritually for them and that everything in life speaks to those things.

And there's another thing. Verse 8-9, "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” You know what means? Give them a lot of reminders. Do you have Bible verses hanging around your house? Do you have little plaques that remind them of great scriptural truths hanging in their rooms? Do you read them bible stories? In a child's life their world ought to be filled with these reminders of Godly things.

Finally, watch out for the world. Verse 10-12 says, "So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”

You need to warn your children that when they get out in the prosperity and in the world that they not forget God. The world will encroach on all the good things you have taught them and then little by little it will eat away at that. So you watch and you warn. And here is the key, you have to set a good example. You will never get your children to live the kind of life if you are not willing to live like that, except by the overpowering grace of God.

David sinned much himself and then just before he died he said to his son, "O Solomon, obey all the commandments of God," he pleaded with Solomon to do that. But Solomon was worse than David, he multiplied wives and concubines numbering in the hundreds. And in the end he became a man of despair and his son Rehoboam was a total disaster and he lost the kingdom because he had no fatherly example and he listened instead to his own generation and what a disaster that was.

You have to be the model. Parents must be aware of the personal value of truth for their own sakes and not just for the sakes of the children. We cannot make a child believe in a truth because it is good for them. They will sense it when we are doing something to manipulate a certain response. Only the authenticity of parental commitment to truth apart from the lives of the children will bring freedom to share or pass on that truth to them.

Sixthly, love your children. What does that mean? That means weep with them, laugh with them, sacrifice for them and protect them. Don't provoke and exasperate them. Be unselfish, serve them, provide their needs, give them gifts, show them affection and give them discipline. Love them in all those ways.

And finally when you have done all that, trust God that if you bring up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he won't depart. And you will make a lot of mistakes, we all do. But if you have done your best in the power of the Holy Spirit, trust God that He who has begun a good work will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ. And that trust translates into prayer. Pray for your children. Let us pray!

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Matthew 19:10-12

We have been examining Matthew 19 and we find that the first twelve verses contain our Lord's teaching on the subject of divorce. And it is important that we do that in order that we really understand God's will relative to marriage and divorce. Much like the Galilean ministry only shorter, the Lord preaches, teaches and heals and the crowds follow Him in Perea. And so He is confronted in verse 3 by His enemies, the Pharisees, to test Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

So our Lord is confronted with a question in a time where marriage attitudes were similar to our time. To hold a strong view of marriage and a strong biblical view of divorce, means that you are very unpopular, not only outside the church, but in some cases even in the church. And so, they were attempting to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people by having Him become a hardline kind of legalistic person that nobody likes.

But Jesus says no, you cannot divorce your wife for any reason based on what God has said. And there are 4 things said: God made one man for one woman; God created a strong bond; God made them become one flesh; and this is His creative work that men therefore cannot break apart. And then the Pharisees use this argument, verse 7, they said to Him, if God’s intention was no divorce, “why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce?”

They took that from Deuteronomy 24 but they twisted it because in the text of Deuteronomy 24:1 to 4, Moses does not command divorce. We saw that Moses tolerated divorce and that's the same of what our Lord says in verses 8 and 9, "He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

At that point, the Pharisees disappeared. The reason they disappeared was they had just been exposed as adulterers, because they had to face the reality that any divorce for reasons other than adultery causes you to become an adulterer when you remarry. The fact is they had done that many, many times, and they were just adulterers showing others what adultery looks like. So we don't see them anymore.

But by this time, the disciples are enraptured with this teaching of our Lord. And the scene moves into a house in verse 10. And the Lord sits down with the disciples and I'm sure they continued that discussion with a lot of other thoughts about marriage. We wish we had that discussion, but we don't, so we just get the response.

The disciples are actually shocked by it, because Jesus has not expanded the Old Testament law one bit, He simply reaffirmed it, no divorce. And, frankly, if God killed all adulterers with the capital punishment that He assigns in Leviticus, there never would be any divorce. But God in His grace has let some adulterers live and so divorce is a merciful concession there only when that adultery is hardhearted and irreconcilable.

There is still a place for forgiveness where there is repentance. And so the disciples are very curious about this because they have grown up in a culture where divorce was rampant, very much like ours. And what the Lord has said leaves them struggling and so we come to the next point in this discussion of these twelve verses. How do they handle this? It is foreign to the experience of their day, the way they have been taught.

In that Jewish culture, divorce was actually a virtue. This is a quote from the Talmudic writings of the rabbis, "Among those who will never behold the face of hell is he who has had a bad wife, such a man is saved from hell because he has absolved his sins on earth." "A bad wife is like leprosy to her husband. What is the remedy? Let him divorce her and be cured of his leprosy." "If a man has a bad wife, it is a religious duty to divorce her.”

So watch their reaction in Matthew 19:10, “His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” Wow, if you get into that deal and you cannot get out of it, it would be better to never get in it. But they were wrong, it isn't necessarily better to be single. There are a lot of people who are like them today; they avoid marriage because they are not ready to make a lifetime commitment.

And they forfeit the richest meaning in life and that is a true relationship of love that lasts a lifetime. They settle for a cheap counterfeit. Listen to Proverbs 5:15-19, “Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. 16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? 17 Let them be only your own, and not for strangers with you. 18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. 19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love.”

In other words, there is a marvelous, wonderful element of marriage and that is a good thing, it is a blessed thing, it is a God-given and God-created thing. Proverbs 18:22 says, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD.” And Proverbs 19:14 says, "A wise wife is from the Lord." So, the Bible says that marriage is a good thing. 1 Peter 3:7 calls it the "grace of life." It's kind of like the whipped cream on top of the dessert, it is the best thing about life.

The reason marriages don't last is because people don't get married for the right reasons! They get married without make commitments. They get married without any understanding of virtue and character. Basically people today pursue romantic feelings, romantic emotions, all those hearts and flowers, puppy love and infatuation that does not last. Romantic feeling is that high euphoria where people make relationships based on romance, and when they lose that feeling, they quickly go to somebody else.

But that's the way the world lives. So they go from one romance to another romance to another romance and the result of it is just what we see in our society today. The saddest result is that we are producing a generation of disoriented, unloved, lonely, isolated kids who are often turning into criminals and misfits because they don't have any meaningful long-term relationships. They have never experienced the love in a family that has a good marriage.

Listen, if you get married for an emotional feeling, you're making a big mistake. Now, there should be some of that there, but you better be able to see beyond that to virtue and to character. You better be able to see beyond that to common spiritual values, common life values. And you better understand that you are making a life long, one man, one woman bond, becoming one flesh and God-made. That is God's plan.

And the disciples needed to hear what people today need to hear, what you and I need to hear, and that is that marriage is a lifelong commitment and that is not reason to avoid it, my brother, that's reason to get in it. Because in the genuineness of that lifelong friendship, God will bless you in ways you will never experience as a single person. You ought to start having different criteria to evaluate the people. Well, I guess that needed to be said.

So you better be looking for character and when you find a godly person with whom you share common values in Jesus Christ and with whom you can build a deep, profound and meaningful companionship of life, then you better grab on to that opportunity. And I believe God will give you some emotions that will make you happy and thrill you, but there better be more than just that romance.

And if you don't know that yet, then you better slow the process down. Otherwise you may spend your whole life trying to keep a relationship together. So find someone with like precious faith and like values who loves Jesus Christ and has a life goal the same as you do and ask if God might not bring you together. If you find someone you want to marry but he or she does not have those values, you better back off.

Marriage is a sacred thing. And it is the greatest gift that God could ever give. When you have two people who love Jesus Christ and love each other and live a life together under God's leading and direction and in the power of the Spirit, it gets so good sometimes you have to pinch yourself to realize it's real. And that's as God intended it.

So, what happens? What does the Lord say? He says to them in Matthew 19:11, “But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given.” What saying? The saying, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But Jesus says - Look, not everybody can handle being single, except those to whom it is given. This is not for everyone.

Matthew 19:12 describes those people to whom it has been given, "For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb," a eunuch meaning one who does not engage in sexual activity with the opposite sex. And we would say that that is congenital, and they have no capability of functioning in that way, no desire to function in that way.

“And then there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men." This is talking about castration. And in history, there were people chosen to work in harems and they were castrated so that they could not have sex with the women in the harem of the king. There were also religious pagans who believed that castration was a way to please their gods.

And then thirdly, Jesus continues, "There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs, for the kingdom of heaven's sake," and this is not by physical surgery but this is by dedication and commitment; they have made themselves eunuchs. In other words, there are some people who are not married for God's sake.

Now it is interesting that Jesus mentions only just those three categories. There is nobody there who is not married just because they don’t want to make a commitment they can't get out of, because that is not what God designed. That just leaves you in a state of singleness where you are faced with worse problems, such as trying to satisfy your own desires.

Now, look at the end of Matthew 19:12 where the Lord says this, "He who is able to accept it, let him accept it." This is an important statement here because the Lord puts this in there knowing that most people are not going to be able to accept this, right? You see, many people do not agree with this. Many feminists say they do not need a husband and many males do not feel they need a wife.

Because they do not know the Lord Jesus and therefor do not love Christ, the Bible has no authority in their life. And so, what it says in it is meaningless to them. In other words, if you are under the authority of the Word of God, then you better receive this teaching. And the teaching is: you are married for life or you are single for the glory of God or for some other physical reason, not so you can just play around and not make commitment.

And so as Christians, we should be hearing this and receiving it. But there are a lot of questions. And you know what? Those aren't answered in this text. But there is in the New Testament a commentary on the teaching of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 7. And what Paul does is this, Jesus lays down the very strong clear divine pattern and Paul helps us deal with the mess we are now in.

There are six reasons for marriage and we will discuss them all. Reason number one, procreation, having babies. Genesis 1 brought a man and a woman together, married them, told them to fill the earth, to have babies. Children are a heritage from the Lord, like arrows blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them, as Psalm 127 says.

Do you know that approximately 35 percent of all marriage-age, childbearing age couples today are permanently sterilized? Why? Because they look only for romantic love and they want to be able to flit from one relationship to another and kids become a long-lasting problem, right? But God knows that kids become a binding force too. Nothing is clearer that you two are one when you see yourselves in that one child that's born of your union.

Two, Marriage is for pleasure. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled.” You can experience the greatest pleasure with each other as long as your place has not been defiled. 1 Corinthians 7 says, your body is not yours and her body is not hers, they belong to each other. And the Old Testament talks about the satisfaction of the physical relationship, the pleasure that God has created as long as we stay within the boundaries He has set.

Three, Marriage is for purity. In 1 Corinthians 7:2, the Bible says that to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife. The best way to prevent any form of adultery is to have a loving, satisfying relationship with your wife. And after you have put your relationship with God first, marriage is second area you need to concentrate on. Start by practicing your faith first in your own family.

Four, Marriage is for provision. Ephesians 5 says that the man is to nourish, cherish, provide for, to care for, to be like a Savior to his wife. The Bible teaches that marriage is a provision of security. In fact 1 Timothy 5:8 says, "If a man doesn't provide for his own household, he is worse than an unbeliever." Marriage is a provision for the care of the weaker one and so that she may be fulfilled in childbearing and companionship.

Five, marriage is for partnership. When God made Eve, He said He made Adam a helper, somebody to come along side, so you don't do things alone, you do them together. There's strength in that fellowship, isn't there? And I confess to you that my wife is strong where I am weak. She tells me when I need to be told and if she didn't she wouldn't be strength to my weakness. We learn to compliment each other as God has chosen our partner.

Finally, marriage is picture of Christ and His church. Ephesians 5 is a graphic demonstration in the face of the world that God loves and has an unending relationship with the church, His bride, whom He loves and for whom He lives and dies. Who's the most important person in our life? Christ. That settles the issue really, because now we can say I accept it, if you Lord say it. I’ll do it because You are teaching us that. Let's bow in prayer.

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Matthew 19:1-6

Now we come to Matthew 19. In this section we have the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ on the subject of divorce. There are few other subjects as pertinent to our own time as this one. Our society has redefined marriage and divorce continues to have an enormous effect on our society as a whole. So let us learn from Jesus, our creator, what He says about divorce.

Matthew 19:1-6 says, “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there. 3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

In Newsweek, a journalist asked this simple question - Is there anyone left in the land who has not heard a friend or a child or a parent describe the agony of divorce? No. Divorce has become prevalent to the point where all of us are touched by it in our family or circle of friends. Millions of people each year are impacted by divorce. All fifty states in America now have "no fault" laws which require no reason to get a divorce.

In the past, families and marriages were held together by three reasons. First, there was family moral force. In other words, the family meant a lot to you. Life revolved around family. There was love, hope, comfort and security there. But as the family began to fly apart by the invasion of the internet, cell phones, Facebook and the redefinition of marriage in our society, the family began to disintegrate. There was no longer that cohesive unit that could force a moral value system on its members.

There's a second reason and that was community expectation. A certain amount of community tradition, a divorced person was a scandal, well not anymore. There was a certain pressure applied by the expectation of a community that valued traditional marriage. Now instead there is a lot of pressure from proponents to accept same sex marriage. Community today has totally changed that tradition and redefined biblical marriage.

And then there was a third reason that held marriage together and that was the doctrine of the church. But that too has been jettisoned conveniently as the slide has progressed and now you have even in the Christian church a weakening of the biblical statements about divorce, so that the church has moved to acquiesce to the demands of its constituency which is pleading for more and more concessions all the time.

Now, that brings us to our passage tonight and there are only two choices. We can either follow the world's opinion or obey the Lord's Word. Either we go with the flow of what's happening in our society, and give in to the worldly system or we hold up the Word of God and say – “This is what God requires. And as for me and my house, we will follow and obey the Word of the Lord.”

The Bible is very clear on what it says about divorce and remarriage. The problem is not that the Bible is unclear but that our own thinking is fuzzy. We can't look at a problem and say - In order to stop the problem, we'll take the Bible's standard and just raise it. That's not right. But on the other hand, you have the people who say - Look we've got to minister to these people; we've got to accept these people, so let us just lower God’s standard.

What we must do is go back and see what Jesus said in the pages of Scripture. Matthew 19:1-2, “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.” Stop with me for a moment, did you know that those first two verses spell the end of the Galilean ministry?

Since Matthew 4:12 the Lord began His ministry in Galilee, He has been flowing through that area of Palestine, ministering, preaching, teaching and healing. It is to Galilee of the Gentiles that the light has come. But as always, men love darkness rather than light, and the mass of the population never really came to the light. And now that light goes out in the sense that that part of His ministry is over.

Jesus now is headed to Jerusalem and we begin the last phase of the life of our Lord as He moves toward the cross, toward His passion and His resurrection. So, this is a critical point. The people had their opportunity during the Galilean ministry, they had their moment of truth, and now it ends for them. And how sad, how pathetic that even in His own town, they still tried to kill Him.

It also says, "When Jesus had finished these sayings." What is it referring to? Well, the sayings of Matthew 18, when Jesus had finished teaching on the child likeness of the believer. He had on His lap a little infant and He used that infant as an illustration, and taught all those great truths that we learned in chapter 18. Now that little statement itself signifies the conclusion of a major discourse.

So where did Jesus go? He came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan River. The Lord is leaving Galilee but instead of going straight down to Judah, He goes east, crosses the Jordan River, goes down the backside of the Jordan, and then will cross again south by Jericho, ascend up the mountain to Jerusalem. And it is of great importance that He takes that route because it takes Him into a very interesting region.

The area beyond the Jordan was called by the Jews, "The Beyond," an area known as Perea. So from the Galilean ministry, we enter into the Perean ministry. And chapters 19 and 20 discuss our Lord in that area of Perea. Recently, it had become rather densely populated. It was a territory under the control of Herod Antipas. Remember he was the one who had John the Baptist beheaded.

Also, any Jew traveling from the north to the south would go that way because if he went straight south, he would have to go through the land of the Samaritans. They considered the Samaritans to be a defiled people. So, there would be a lot of pilgrims going that way as well. So, the Lord would be able to minister to the inhabitants of Perea as well as to the pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.

Now, in chapter 19 we enter into the final phase of the gospel of Matthew. From here on out we have the final presentation of the King and the final rejection by the nation Israel. So, He presents Himself and is ultimately finally rejected and crucified. While interspersed through all of that, He taught more lessons for the disciples so that they are able to carry on the ministry. So, it's a time of transition for the Lord.

Now, as Jesus moves along with this crowd and the healings, we come to Mathew 19:3, “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” The Pharisees were always looking for an opportunity to discredit Him and take His life. They were the religious establishment and they were being attacked directly by virtue of the truth that Jesus was preaching.

Obviously they wanted Him to look bad in front of the people. They had two things in mind. They wanted to discredit Him with the people so He would lose popularity. And secondly, they wanted to destroy Him. And so they have concocted this calculated test. Now, on the surface it seems like a rather simple question, but it is a clever question and an astute question meant to attack Jesus Christ.

Divorce was a volatile issue among the Jews. Everybody knew about it and divorce was very common. Women were treated as if they had no rights at all. And the Pharisees were leaders in this, not only by what they taught but by the example of their lives. They were constantly divorcing their wives. And they were also teaching that you could divorce your wife for any reason.

In fact, Rabbi Hillel said you could divorce your wife for putting too much salt on your food. You could divorce your wife if she spun around in the street and somebody saw her knees. You could divorce your wife for speaking to men. You could divorce her if you found somebody prettier because then she became unclean in your sight. You could divorce her if she was infertile. You could divorce her if she didn't give you a child that was a boy. So in effect they already practiced no-fault divorce under the guise of any-fault divorce.

Now, the Pharisees knew Jesus didn't teach this. In Matthew 5:27-28 it says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus said in Matthew 5:31-32, "Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”

So, they are hoping that Jesus will respond with some strong statement on divorce and alienate all the people. They want to show Jesus as being intolerant. And they also want to show Him as not following the teachings of the Rabbis and the teachings of the Pharisees. And they are hoping they can discredit Him by describing Him as a legalist who is against the popular view.

There was a fortress in that area, and a palace called Machaerus and Herod Antipas had also a prison there. One of the prisoners he had kept there was John the Baptist. He was put in prison because he criticized Herod about God's law on divorce. And because of that he had his head chopped off. The Pharisees were hoping that Herod would act and treat Jesus in the same way.

But notice Jesus response in Matthew 19:4-6, “And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Jesus didn't answer their question immediately from His own viewpoint, He went beyond Himself, beyond their customs, beyond their Rabbis, beyond their traditions, He went all the way back to God. Your argument, He is saying, is not with Me. God's Word is the foundation of this issue. Let's go back to the Word of God. We know they've been reading it. And He quotes Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24, Have you not read, He says?

And then He goes on to quote God out of Genesis and He gives, and here's the main part of what we're going to learn this evening, four reasons why it is not lawful to divorce for any cause. Let us listen to God, He says. Let us just let God speak. Four reasons why it is not lawful to divorce.

Reason number one - One man was created for one woman. Did you get that? One man was created for one woman. Look at it, verse 4, and He quotes from Genesis 1:27: "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning, made them a male and a female." Now the word ‘made’ here means ‘created’. He says - Have you not read about the creation? Are you not aware of it? You see, God created Adam and Eve. He did not create Adam and Eve and Ethel and Albert.

He didn't not make provision for polygamy. Divorce for Adam and Eve was out of the question. God set in motion for all of human history, how it is to be, one man, one woman, inseparable. God never intended two people to be married and to be fooling around seeing if they like somebody better.

Second reason why divorce is not permitted is that God created a strong bond. It says in verse 5, "For this cause," that is for the reason of this union between a male and a female, "a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife." This is Genesis 2:24, still prior to the fall of man. God's divine wonderful order, and the word ‘cleave’ means basically, to have a bond that can't be broken. It means to be glued stuck.

So we have two hearts, diligently and committed to pursuing one another in love, stuck together in an unbreakable bond; glued in mind, glued in will, glued in spirit and glued in emotion. That's why I Corinthians 7:4 says, “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does,” it is an exchange, it is a total abandonment of myself to my partner.

The third reason why marriage does not allow itself to be broken and that is because of one man and one woman become one flesh. Jesus says in verse 5: "They two shall be one flesh, wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh." They are not separated anymore. They have become one person in the union of marriage. It is an indivisible number.

Now, what does that one person mean? When those two people get married, they literally, in God's view become one person. They become the total possession of each other, they are one in mind and spirit and goals and direction and emotion and feeling and will. And that oneness, ultimately, is best seen in the child they produce which is the perfect emblem of their union, because that child represents all that they are in one.

And a fourth reason, is in verse 6, “therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." This is not talking about how you view each other, this is God saying - I make marriages, and you better not take them apart. I put two people together in a union. It's a God ordained institution. Every time a couple comes together and experiences the joy of friendship, or the joy of sex or whatever else, they are experiencing the miracle of God.

The miracle that a man and a woman can surrender themselves to each other in the fullness of a meaningful intimate relationship is an act of God. And even unbelieving people can enjoy the joy and the meaningfulness of a loving union. Every child born into the world is a creature of God. It doesn't matter if their parents are both unbelievers who don't have a clue about God.

And the same is true of marriage. The marriage that produces the child is an act of God whereby two people are brought together to enjoy the fullness of life. Abortion is to childbirth what divorce is to marriage. As abortion kills the creation of God, so does divorce. That is His answer, but that's not all the answer. We're going to pick it up from here next Sunday. Let's bow together in prayer.

]]> Sun, 04 May 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140504 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000B6 imblog

Matthew 18:28-35

Let's continue our study of Matthew 18 of several months ago where we have learned that believers need to be treated like children. And Matthew 18 concludes with a great lesson on how we need to forgive others in the form of a parable from Jesus Himself.

And so we saw the inquiry about forgiveness and we saw the extent of forgiveness in verse 22. The Lord says to forgive 490 times and by that He means an unlimited amount, endlessly and continuously. And we also discussed the effect of forgiveness when we looked at Matthew 6: 12-15 where the Lord says, that if you don't forgive each other, He won't forgive you.

And then we came to the example of forgiveness, beginning in verse 23 of a masterful parable loaded with great truth. It is spoken to the disciples. About a month ago we looked at the beginning of that parable from Matthew 18:23, “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.”

And we saw that this king is God. And this servant is a man who has been given a privilege. He was like a steward, who was given a whole territory of responsibility in which he collected taxes which then were to be given to the king for the operation of the kingdom. And periodically the king takes an account of those who have been given this responsibility.

Every person in a sense then is a steward of what God has bestowed upon him or her. And every person at some point in time will be asked to come before God to give an account of that stewardship. And we pointed out that this is a time of conviction. It is the time when God calls men to give an account of their life.

Now verse 24 tells us about this one particular individual, "And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.” And this term here describes an unpayable amount. We talked about that amount last month. Here is a man brought before God, convicted of a huge debt. And verse 25 says, "But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.”

The man had no resources for paying the full amount of debt, but all that could be paid would be paid and this was the custom. Selling everybody in the family into slavery and selling everything they had so that whatever could be realized from that sale could offset the debt is common practise. Now the principle is clear. All men are brought before a holy God and they all must give an account for the stewardship of life and everything else that they have been given.

And they will be convicted at that point of their sin debt that could never be paid. God has the power to deliver them over to judgment in hell. And although men will spend forever in hell paying what they can pay they still will not be able to pay off their debt in hell. That's why hell is forever. And so it is a terrible, but righteous sentence for the debt is real and the man has defrauded the king.

Notice verse 26, "The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Here is a broken man who knows he is on the edge of judgment. And he worships and he says, "Master," and he affirms the sovereignty of the king over him, "have patience with me and I will pay you all." He recognizes the justice of his sentence. He does not say it is unfair, he simply says please be patient and I will pay you everything.

Now, the reason the man says ‘I will pay it all’ is because he really doesn't understand the enormity of his sin. People who are brought to moments of great conviction about their sin, when brought face to face with God want to say, “God, just be patient and I'll promise I'll do better, I'll give you my life, I'll do whatever I can.”

And they really don't yet understand either the enormity of their sin or their inability to pay them off. But there is true contrition and there is true sorrow and there is genuine brokenness because of verse 27. And that is the key to the entire parable, “Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.”

Now that is the key to interpreting the parable. The man was released. What does that mean? He had no responsibility to pay that debt anymore, none. The man was released from any obligation. And then secondly, he was forgiven. He was freed from having to do anything because the king did everything.

Now, this describes the saving grace of God. The man is released from any obligation. And he is totally forgiven. And that is the essence of salvation. The king himself absorbs the loss and that is exactly what was shown on the cross of Christ. Because it was on the cross of Christ that Jesus in His own flesh absorbs the loss. He Himself paid the price for your sin and mine.

This man had real repentance and genuine contrition even though he did not understand the enormity of his sin and he really does not understand how it is all forgiven completely by the grace of God. The master frees him from any responsibility to pay the debt on his own and forgives him of all his sin.

So the essence of what the Lord is teaching here is forgiveness. Now we saw all of that as the initial understanding of the parable and now we move on to verse 28 and the main message. Up to now we just talked again about our last discussion several weeks ago at the beginning of the parable.

Now watch what happens in verse 28, "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ Wow, that is amazing. How soon did this guy forget his Lord's compassion? It says that “he went out and found”, in other words, he was looking for somebody. He didn't inadvertently run into the guy. No, he was out there searching for this fellow. And notice, it was one of his fellow servants.

What this means is this other servant was a man who also has been forgiven. Another one from within the family. And so the Lord then gives this parable for the family of those who are believers in Christ who are in the fellowship. It describes in the parable a Christian brother or sister. It is used consistently that way in the rest of the parable in the four times that it appears. So he finds another fellow servant, another believer.

Now this other servant was not necessarily of the same rank. He perhaps worked under this first servant. But they both served the same king. And what happens is really absurd. He goes, finds the guy, takes him by the throat, literally the Greek says he went about choking him, and saying pay me what you owe me.

If the man is not a true Christian as some would have us believe in this parable, then the whole parable in its context breaks down. Because the impact of the parable is that here was a man who was fully forgiven, right? And he went out and he wouldn't forgive someone else. We don't expect him to forgive if he wasn't forgiven himself. We don't expect him to do what God did if God didn't do that.

This is not a parable about genuine salvation. It is a parable about forgiveness and the validity of forgiveness and one believer forgiving another. And what makes this parable so powerful is that the guy was really forgiven. And now he gets his hands on this other servant and starts to choke him. That is the old collection agency approach. Just use force to strangle them to death if they do not pay.

Christians struggle with this. Do you have anybody who owes you money? Do you think of them? Hmmm, how many times have you choked them in your mind? We still have the same problems in the church of Jesus Christ. Somebody says something you don't like and for the rest of the time in the church you avoid that person. Every time you see that person, anger comes up in your heart, you are bitter and you hold a grudge.

Maybe there are people in our church right now who are still unforgiving toward other Christians and that is causing all kinds of anxiety, pain and friction and yet they are Christians. They cannot forgive others, because they will not forgive. The flesh rises to seek its vengeance. Christians can really hold grudges and retain bitterness. I hope that God speaks to you through this sermon.

And so he says "pay me what you owe me." We shouldn't be startled that this is a Christian. And look at the response in verse 29, "So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” Isn't that the same thing you were pleading and you were begging the king to let you off the hook and now a guy owes you only 18 bucks and you're strangling him?

He's begging. This isn't worship. This is a servant to another servant. And he says look, just be patient and I'll pay you all and he could have paid given a little time. But the application is obvious. Compared that with our sins against God where our debt is impossible to pay, all other debts we incur with people are easily payable. The point is when we have received forgiveness from God that is so far reaching and so comprehensive, how can we be so small as not to forgive another.

And we ought to get used to forgiving others. We surely are going to need it. And we may need it from the very person we won't give it to. It's really bad that Christians do this. It's the reason churches split. You get people in a church, maybe somebody does something they don't like and instead of being able to give it to the Lord and forgive and embrace that person in love, they just get bitter and that bitterness becomes divisive and breaks up churches.

It's bad but it's more common than we would like to admit. And it may well be that the disciples were in the midst of doing it themselves. They were, fighting to see who would be the greatest in the kingdom and in order to sort of keep their supremacy, they may have cultivated in their hearts certain attitudes towards the others, which in their mind demeaned the others so they could feel good about themselves by exaltation.

Look at the response in verse 30, “And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.” He had no compassion. This is an impossible bad reaction. He was pitied, so he should have pitied others. He was forgiven, so he should have forgiven, himself loved, he should have loved, himself having received mercy, he should have dispensed it.

So if you're not willing to forgive, your flesh is winning. And when you do that, you will cut yourself off from that relational forgiveness with God that makes the communion so sweet. And if you see a lack of power, a lack of hunger for God's word, a lack of love for prayer and communion, it may be because there is a blockage there and the Lord isn't giving you that forgiveness that brings a sweet relationship with Him.

So look what happens in verse 31, "So when his fellow servants," there is that term again, here is a group of Christians, “saw what had been done, they were grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.” They saw the whole thing. They did the only thing they had left. They were very grieved. There are two things in here that stand out. One, there was one servant who was unforgiving and second, there were other servants who were sorry about that.

This is the majority kind of attitude of those who have been forgiven. What unites God's forgiven people is that they want to become forgivers themselves. And they know the standard God has established and they know how He longs to give forgiveness. And they understand the holiness of His law. And they understand the unity of His family and they understand the richness of fellowship and so they are sorry.

What do you do when you have done everything and the person still will not respond? We go to the Lord don't we? If believers would be this concerned about each other's sinfulness, oh how great the power of a healing spirit there would be in the fellowship. They told the king everything that had gone on. That is God's people going to the Lord in prayer about a sinning brother or sister.

What was the response of the king? Verse 32, “Then his master after he had called him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.” What's God's attitude? He says "You wicked servant." Now some people say oh, that can't be a Christian. Could God say to a Christian oh you sinful person? In Romans 7 Paul himself affirms his sinfulness as a believer.

God says, "I forgave you all your debt." God reaffirms the reality of that full forgiveness. He says, "I forgave you all that debt because you begged me." And then in verse 33 we read, "Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” And the word pity explains a beautiful thought. You should have had compassion and pity just like I did." God had compassion and forgave him.

That is the most liberating thing there is. Somebody has done something to hurt you, said something about you that wasn't true, they've maybe done something to defraud you economically or property wise or whatever and you are going to let this thing burn in you or you are going to get your revenge. No, God says just have compassion on them.

Verse 34 says, "And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.” The Lord gets angry every time you sin, don't you think so? The Lord has holy indignation against evil, even in your life and mine. Look at Hebrews 12:5-6, "My son do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives."

So verse 35 says, "So my heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." And again the ‘you’ is the group of disciples who are believers, genuine ones. He's not saying this to unbelievers because they can't do and can't act like God toward each other and forgive.

One old saint of long ago said, "Revenge indeed seems often sweet to men, but oh it is only sugared poison and it's after taste is bitter as hell. Forgiving, enduring love alone is sweet and blissful. Forgiveness is a shield from which all the fiery darts of the wicked one harmlessly rebound. Forgiveness brings heaven to earth and heaven's peace into the sinful heart. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Apr 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140427 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000B7 imblog

Matthew 28:1-10

It's always a challenge to decide which Scripture to select because Scripture is filled with resurrection truth. Because the resurrection is the foundation stone upon which the church is built. Without the resurrection of Christ there would be no service this evening; there would be no church here or anywhere else; there would be no Christian faith.

The first sermon ever preached after Jesus rose from the dead was preached on the resurrection in Acts 2. And the resurrection was the theme for all apostolic preaching and for all gospel preaching through all the years of history since. In the book of Acts, Peter not only preached on the resurrection in chapter two, but also in chapter four, and then, again in chapter ten.

Galatians talks about God the Father who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Ephesians talks about Christ who was raised from the dead. The book of Philippians speaks of the heart of Paul, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection." To the Colossians Paul wrote, "God who has raised Him from the dead." To the Thessalonians he wrote "His Son whom He raised from the dead," speaking of Christ.

The resurrection is not just the theme of the New Testament, but it is a theme in the Old Testament as well, as noted by the sermon from Peter quoting from the Psalmist, "The foundation of our faith, the foundation of the church, the foundation of our eternal hope is the resurrection of Christ." We come then to the greatest single truth in Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But for this evening let us go back to just the simple truth of the narrative. Back to the history, back to the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who record for us the eyewitness account of the resurrection. To do that, let's go to Matthew 28:1-10. We are going to view the resurrection through the first eyewitnesses who were a group of women. Women who had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Messiah while he was ministering in Galilee.

They traveled through Galilee following Him, ministering to Him personally, caring for Him whenever and however they could. They made the trek with Him south to celebrate the Passover at which He was crucified. They were there surrounding the foot of the cross at His death. These same women were there at His burial anointing His body with spices, helping to see that He was placed in the tomb in a dignified and respectful way.

It is those very women who were there in the morning of the dawn of the resurrection. Matthew 28:1 begins by recording this, "Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.” Here we meet not just these women, there were some others as well.

Mark adds that Salome was there, the mother of James and John, the wife of Zebedee. Luke adds that a woman by the name of Johanna was there, the wife of one of Herod's stewards. John mentions only Mary Magdalene but uses the pronoun "we" indicating there were others. It was a group of women who were there at the burial and who were back that Sunday at the dawn having left their place of rest in the dark.

Why did God choose women to be the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection? Well, some say because God often chooses the weak, those who are not the noble, those who are behind the scenes. But the real reason why they were the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection is because they were the first to show up. It's amazing how you will find yourself in the center of God's purposes if you are there where He is working.

Matthew tells us, "It was after the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week." Mark adds, "It was very early at the rising of the sun." Luke adds, "It was at early dawn." And John says, "While still dark." Right at that time when darkness is slowly fading and light is coming, that was the hour of the greatest event of all events, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

And now we're going to see that event through the eyes of these women. But not just through their eyes. We're going to see it through their emotion, through their attitudes. Yes, their eyes will behold many things, but beyond that we will see how they react to it. And the real story of the resurrection here is to go through the emotional transformation that takes place in the hearts of these women.

The first attitude to note is sympathy. It says in Matthew 28:1 that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and the rest of the women came to look at the grave. They came to see, there was no thought of resurrection in their minds. Mark 16:1 says, "Because they had bought spices that they might come and anoint Him." Now we know that the Jews did not embalm their bodies.

Remember in John 11 when Lazarus was dead after four days, his body smelled. And here we are on the morning of the third day, decay should already begin. And the women having a hard time handling that emotionally, come for one last effort to put spices on a body that will send out a fragrance that will overpower the stench of decaying flesh. It's purely an act of sympathy. They had no idea that Jesus was alive.

When they got there they had a problem because there had been a stone rolled across the face of the grave. They ask in Mark 16:3, "Who will roll the stone away for us?" It was very large and massive. They couldn't do it. Maybe the women never realized that it was sealed with a Roman seal that couldn't be broken. And there they are, spices in hand, ready to demonstrate their compassion for Jesus whom they loved so deeply.

But they also felt great fear. Matthew 28:2-5, "And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. 5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.”

Notice in verse five the angel says, "Do not be afraid." Matthew alone gives us the detail of verse two, "That a great earthquake occurred." And even without any kind of equipment, there was no problem finding the epicenter, the source was the tomb. You say, “What caused the earthquake?" Not what, but who, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat on it.

Now the earthquake came but nothing says Jesus came out. You know why? He was already gone. Do you understand that the angel did not roll the stone away to let Jesus out? He rolled the stone away to let the women in. Jesus didn't need the stone removed to get out any more than He needed the door opened to get into the upper room where he appeared to the disciples.

In fact, the Scripture tells us that the grave clothes that were wrapped around His body when He was buried were lying in the very place that they were when they were on His body. He went out through the grave clothes and through the grave and through the stone. A glorified, resurrected Christ rearranged the molecules of His supernatural body and He went right through anything. He had already risen.

And in the first light at the dawn of the third day to fulfill the prophecy, Jesus came out of the grave through the stone, alive. Now there's a little drama that Matthew doesn't record. Mary Magdalene who was loved and saved by Christ was a devout follower. When she came and saw the stone rolled away she panicked. John 20:2 says, "Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Now Simon Peter along with John, were staying in Bethany and that is two miles away. She's reporting to the two leading apostles. Her assumption is that some grave robbers have come; and they've stolen His body. And in her fear, she tells nothing about the angel and she just goes on her way. Now, hearing that, Peter and John start running to the grave. Peter goes first and John comes after Peter. But John came to the tomb first but because he is more timid he stops and looks in; Peter bolts by him to see what is there.

Now we are back at the tomb with the other women. Mary is gone while the women look from the open tomb to the angel. Matthew 28:3, "And his countenance was like lightening and his garment is as white as snow.” That's the reflection of deity. So this angel of the Lord takes on the character of deity. Its shining light reflects in this angelic being not his own deity but the glory of God.

The Roman soldiers who are now waking up after the earthquake and it says in verse 4, "The guards shook for fear of Him and became like dead men." Now these are Roman soldiers and they have seen a lot. And they should be ready for anything and yet they literally fell over and passed out. They later came to see the chief priests and told them their story. And, of course, the chief priests bribed them to lie about it.

Verse five, "the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid. Fear not, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.” The New Testament says, "He raised Himself." The New Testament also says the Father raised Him, and the New Testament also says the Spirit raised Him. They were all in on it, the whole Trinity.

In Matthew 28:6-7, the angel said, “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” His resurrection already happened. No one saw the actual resurrection of Christ.

The angel says, at the end of verse six, "Come, see the place where He was laying." They went in. Then Luke 24:3-4 says, "Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.” John 20:12 says, "One of them sat at the head and one of them sat at the feet of the slab where Jesus had been lying.” And it says, "The women," Luke 24:5 "were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground."

And then the angel said to them in Luke 24:5-8, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ 8 And they remembered His words.” The evidence for its truthfulness is beyond question.

Hundreds of eyewitnesses saw the risen Christ. Women who never expected a resurrection don't fabricate one. Disciples who never expected a resurrection don't make up one. And none of them would go out and die as martyrs if the resurrection was fake. And how else can you explain their transformed lives? And how else can you explain the church and thousands of years of history of transformed lives by the living, risen Christ?

There's another emotion in Matthew 28:8-10, "So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. 9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

Fear starts to give way to joy as they head toward the disciples. By the time Peter and John arrived, the women are gone. And they're going to tell the disciples the message the angel gave them. And that is to go to Galilee and Jesus will meet you there. There would be several occasions where Jesus would meet with the eleven, but not until Galilee would everybody be gathered together. And in that great assemblage in Galilee would come the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

It's important to note that when the women tell the disciples what happened, the disciples did not believe them. It's a sad reality that their faith was so shallow. The women were full of joy because if Jesus really was alive there is a great future. It's not over. It's not all darkness and despair and the end. Jesus died and He rose again and He blazed a trail through the grave and to life forever. There is a great future. And that wasn't the end of their transformation.

There's another attitude that comes in verse nine, when they are walking along or running to the disciples to tell them this message from the angel that He's alive and they're to meet Him in Galilee, "And behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.” So their attitude changed from joy to worshipping.

Jesus is no figment of their imagination, this is not a group hallucination. This is a person. They grasped His feet. They seized Him with adoring love. They were overwhelmed with thanks, overwhelmed with wonder. They acknowledged Him as Lord and God and Christ. They bowed the knee to Him. They recognized His deity, His glory and His lordship.

That is where God wants to take you. Your amazement and wonder and your astonishment over the reality of a resurrection will damn you if that's all there is. And so will your joy that there may be another life because Jesus conquered death unless you come to the place where you bow your face before Him and confess Him as Lord and worship Him as their Savior. And that's what they did.

Jesus said to them in verse ten, "'Do not be afraid. Go in and take word to my brother to go and leave for Galilee and there they shall see me.'" That angel really did his job right, didn't he? And here, they get the same message from Jesus. And what does this produce? They've gone from sympathy to fear to joy to worship to hope. "What? We're going to see Him again? We're going to be with Him again? We're all going to go together to Galilee and we're all going to be together."

At first it was all fear. Then it was fear mixed with joy. Then it was fear added with worship. And Jesus had to say to them, "Stop fearing." And now the fear is gone and the heart is left with hope. "Stop your fear. Just go tell my brother we're all going to meet in Galilee." Well, that's the right response - hope.

Not that we're all going to meet in Galilee, but that we're all going to meet in glory. That's the way to respond to the resurrection. There's a place for sympathy. There's a place for holy fear. There's certainly a place for joy. But what really matters is that you fall on your knees and worship and that your heart be filled with eternal hope. That's the evidence of salvation. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Apr 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140420 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000B8 imblog

Luke 19:28-38, Matthew 27:15-22

This evening as many of you know today is Palm Sunday. The day, taken from the Gospels, where a whole city of Jerusalem threw a parade for Jesus. As Jesus rode a donkey into the city of Jerusalem, the people threw their clothes and palm branches in anticipation of His coming. Thus we get our word Palm Sunday, this day marked a time of celebration where Jesus was worshipped and praised.

This day is bittersweet for us because even as we read of the celebration that day, we know that Friday is coming. The sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross is coming. We know that many people in this same crowd will within a few short days exchange their words of praise to words of judgment. Shouting Hosanna, Hosanna at first and then later shouting “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”.

This evening I want to focus our attention on these two gatherings both of which focused on Jesus, but with very different attitudes and results. If you have your bibles turn with me to two passages one from the Gospel of Luke and the other from the gospel of Matthew and let us see what that tells us.

Let us start with Luke 19:28-38, “When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’”

“35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. 36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. 37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying:“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Now compare that to what happened the following Friday in Matthew 27: 15-22, “Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. 16 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.

19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.” 20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!” 22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”

How can people be so fickle where they praised and worshipped Jesus on Sunday and by the next Friday they asked for His crucifixion? The truth is that when you do not have a strong personal conviction of what and who you believe, you are easily carried away with whatever everyone else says or does at that moment. It is hard to go against the current, it is hard to tell others about your faith if everyone else is against it.

The great evangelist, Billy Graham, has been quoted many times as saying that the greatest mission field in our country to today are the people in our local sphere of influence – all the friends you know and the people sitting already in our churches. Now one thing that I do know is true is that many people know what to say, how the best way to say it, even how to act in it, but when the rubber meets that road, there is no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. No salvation - just empty words.

We see a perfect example of this in our two passages this evening. On Sunday Jesus rode on a donkey into the city with the people shouting praises and worshiping God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. On Friday many of these same people are shouting give us Barabbas, we want him, crucify Jesus, crucify Him. Why this total change?

Well there are many possible reasons, but one simple reason is that their words did not match their heart. They possessed a casual faith, not a committed faith. They had religion but they missed a relationship with the person Jesus. They knew the religious rules but they had no idea who Jesus was. So how can we have a committed faith? How can we be real and sincere, consistent in all that we do?

Well this evening I want to offer you some keys to just such a faith. The first key is that a committed faith is not self-centered it is Christ-centered. This sounds obvious, but we often miss it. In America, we tend to say to God, “Hey God, here is my calendar, here is my agenda. Now I can squeeze you in here or here, pulling God out or turning to God only when it is convenient or useful for me. That is not real faith, a committed faith has Christ as a priority over everything else!

In Luke 19, the people praised Jesus as He passed by, but many of them praised him for two selfish reasons. First, because of His miracles. He had healed the sick, raised the dead. They praised Him because He was serving them. Second, because they saw in Jesus a way to be delivered from the Roman occupation. They wanted to be set free from Rome as Israel was set free from Egypt. Their praise was conditional with the attitude of “Jesus what can you do for me now”.

A few days later at the trial they saw a beaten and disfigured Jesus, a man who no longer looked like a deliverer or a conqueror. And as words were said about him, they bought into all the lies and quickly changed their position. For them it was all about me, me and me now. They totally missed the bigger picture that this was the Lamb of God that sacrifices Himself for the sins of all people who believe in Him and that only faith such as that is capable of giving us eternal life.

There is a legend about an ancient village in Spain. The villagers learned that the king would pay a visit! In a thousand years, a king had never come to that village. Excitement grew! The villagers all agreed to celebrate big. But, it was a poor village, and there weren’t many resources. Someone came up with a clever idea. Since many of the villagers made their own wines, the idea was for everyone in the village to bring a large cup of their choice wine to the town square, “We’ll pour it into a large vat and offer it to the king! When the king draws wine to drink, it will be the very best he’s ever tasted!”

You see every villager reasoned, "I’ll withhold my best wine and substitute water, what with so many cups of wine in the vat, the king will never know the difference!" The problem was, everyone thought the same thing, and the king was greatly dishonored. In other words the faith that they showed was for the benefit of other people only, so others would think that you wanted to honor the king. Only God knows the inside of your heart and all your motivation in what you do and if your deeds are not to glorify God, everything is useless.

Today, on Palm Sunday 2014 choose to honor our great King, Jesus Christ by giving him our very best, by withholding nothing, by giving Him our all. This does not mean that everybody should become an evangelist or a preacher. No, you can still do your work as you have been doing, but the question is where is your priority? What is it that takes up most of your desires or time? Do you really see yourself as a child of God who is constantly seeking to do God’s will? Are you really worried for all your fellow workers who do not believe to the point that you are willing to witness to them given the opportunity?

A second key is that you have a committed relationship with Christ. Many of those who gathered to throw their coats and palm branches onto the street and who shouted praises did so because it was what everybody else did at that time. At that one brief moment it became popular. Perhaps some began doing it with sincere motives, but others soon did it because others were doing it.

Later at the trial, shouting crucify Him was the thing to do. In fact for a brief moment it was the trendy thing to do to make a mass murderer and criminal their hero when they shouted we want Barabbas. In our own lives a committed faith comes only through a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ. One where every day is fresh and new as he personally directs our steps. In order to have a committed faith we must develop and maintain a personal relationship with Jesus.

A relationship with Christ means that we know Him personally through experience, through time, through communication and through trust. Only through experience can we claim a relationship, only through having spent time with Him under good and bad circumstances. Only through listening as He speaks through the Bible and through the Holy Spirit and through waiting on Him for His timing do we begin to know Him more and more little by little.

And only through trusting Him where faith is the only thing that sustains us, that gives us strength and that comforts us in those dark days where it seems that there is no hope. Only through that experience of His comfort where He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Only through a relationship do we get to know Him, trust Him and learn to love Him. Not through religious rules but through a growing personal relationship!

And maintaining that relationship is crucial. We all are tempted to have other things take priority in our life, we all tend to slack off in our daily walk with Christ, we all are sometimes lazy in reading our bibles, but remember God is faithful even though we are sometimes not faithful. And our relationship with God affects everything else that we do!

A third key is that committed faith is not swayed by personal trials and crises. At the parade it was trendy to offer praise, everyone was doing it. But at the trial to speak out for Jesus was risky and possibly even life threatening. Many of us come to Jesus expecting everything to go well. Maybe some slightly bad but not too much of it.

So when the bottom suddenly drops out for us, when our finances disappear, when we find out that we have cancer, when our loved ones die, we often ask God why me? Thinking it is not supposed to happen this way. If our faith is based on our situations or circumstances, it will never be a committed faith. It will always be a casual faith or no faith at all. True faith is related to a loving relationship with God who never changes.

In my life I have gone to many big Christian events. Many packed large stadiums, where the praises for God rock the entire arena. When returning home while everyone is still glowing from the worship, it is easy to feel full of faith. But how about tomorrow, can you still be excited for Jesus in a world that is not praising Him but in fact is mocking and laughing and is often angry at God?

A committed faith takes the good with the bad, knowing that all we are ever promised is that in the midst of both our good and bad; Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. He will stand with us. And He will use every experience for your good and His glory. He will use it to refine you, to shape you and mold you into the person He wants you to be. And yes that takes time and yes it is painful at times and yes His chastening is not always pleasant, but only through that do we really know that God loves us.

A story is told of a little girl who while walking in a garden noticed a particularly beautiful flower. She admired its beauty and enjoyed its fragrance. “It’s so pretty!” she exclaimed. As she gazed on it, her eyes followed the stem down to the soil in which it grew. “This flower is too pretty to be planted in such dirt!” she said. So she pulled it up by its roots and ran to the water faucet to wash away the soil. It wasn’t long until the flower wilted and died.

When the gardener saw what the little girl had done, he exclaimed, “You have destroyed my finest plant!” “I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it in that dirt,” she said. The gardener replied, “I chose that spot and mixed the soil because I knew that only there could this plant grow to be a beautiful flower.”

God has placed us exactly where we are now. We must trust Him. In the trusting we eventually see that He is using our pressures, trials, and difficulties to bring us to a new degree of spiritual beauty. True contentment comes when we accept what God is doing and thank Him for it even though we do not understand His ways. God always knows what He is doing and He wants to use us when we have a willing and trusting heart.

So let me ask you this evening, is your faith casual or committed? As we approach this week where our Jesus suffered incredibly for us, in a week where our sins, past, present, and future were the nails that hung him on that cross, doesn’t Jesus deserve your trust? Doesn’t He deserve total control of your life? Doesn’t He deserve a personal relationship with you? This week consider it all… and choose to give it all to him, Amen! Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Apr 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140413 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000B9 imblog

Matthew 18:23-27

The disciples and us as believers are spiritually like little children and we need to learn to grow like children. So last week we began to learn about forgiveness, about the importance of forgiving one another and of not holding vengeance. We started last week with the inquiry about forgiveness in verse 21, "Then came Peter to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"

And we learned that Peter was basing this on the Jewish tradition which said you can only forgive three times and no more. And Peter feeling the heart of the Lord and the generosity, the mercy, the tenderness, the loving kindness and grace of our Lord said, do we go beyond that Lord to seven times? Do we forgive each other seven times?

The extent of forgiveness came in verse 22 with the Lord's answer, “Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” That is the extent in what the Lord is saying, in other words there is no limit to your forgiveness. Forgiving of one another is born out of love and mercy and grace that ought to be ours because we understand how much God has forgiven us, right?

We also saw the effect of forgiveness last Sunday, when you forgive others, you will be forgiven also. Now it is important that we understand the meaning of that. When you don't forgive someone else, the Bible says God does not forgive you in the relational sense. So you have a wall of sin between you and God.

And as long as that barrier exists, two things occur. One, you do not experience the joy of communion with God. Two, you do experience the chastening of God. And so there's an effect brought to bear upon the believer in this matter of forgiveness. So the question of Peter explained to us the extent of forgiveness. And we have seen the effect of forgiveness as well.

Now, let's look at an example of forgiveness from Jesus Himself. And this lesson takes up the rest of the chapter. It is a parable and I would like to read it to you. So follow along beginning in verse 23, “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.”

There is a certain cruelty in this parable. In fact, there is such severity in the attitude of the king in verse 34 and in the application in verse 35 that many people who have studied this parable concluded that it couldn't be speaking about Christians. Because how could the Lord get angry with Christians and how could He turn Christians over to tormentors. How could he make them pay their debt? It just can't be applied to Christians they say.

Well, do you know that this parable does apply to Christians? And as we go through the parable verse by verse, we will highlight where this is in reference to Christians. If you do not forgive others you will not be forgiven and you will experience two things. You will not know the joy of communion with God and you will know the chastening of the Lord and as we learned, chastening that comes to a sinning Christian is a sign of His love.

The Lord is firm and strong in dealing with His own, because that is part of how He conforms them to the holy standard of His revealed will. We also know clearly from Hebrews 12:6 that the Lord does chasten His own. He scourges them and even the terminology is somewhat parallel to the idea of having tormentors in verse 34.

Let us look at how the parable begins. It begins with the word ‘therefore,’ and that word links it with the previous passage. And the previous passage is all about a Christian forgiving other Christians. It's all about my brother or my sister who sins in the fellowship and needs to be forgiven and restored. And the parable is built on that principle and so therefore applies to those within the family of God who need forgiveness.

It is a very dramatic parable; the only question is whether or not we choose to obey its application. Now let's look at the parable beginning with verse 23, “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.” Jesus likes to explain His Kingdom in terms of parables, stories of everyday life which carry a spiritual meaning.

Jesus says people who are in my kingdom need to understand that my kingdom is like this. Now the main character is a certain king which is a reference to God. This is the first parable given in the New Testament in which God is likened to a king. The word servants, doulios, means bond slave or bond servant. Now that word has to do with a servant who is in bondage to his master.

And their responsibility was to report to the king, to rule in his behalf, primarily in terms of collecting taxes, which were then to be turned over to the king for the support of the entire kingdom and for the royal treasury. This term servant refers to men in general. When God created man and put him on earth, He made man a steward of all that He possesses.

And whether man knows Christ or not, they have been entrusted with the treasure given by God. Their very life and breath is a gift from God. All that they possess belongs to God. All the money they have belongs to God. It is God who gives them the power to get wealth. All the talent they have is God-given talent. All the capacity, capability and potential they have has been deposited in them and on them by God Himself.

So all of these people, who have been given many things, belong to the king and they owe an account to Him. And that is why in verse 23 it says, that the King wanted to settle accounts with them. This is perhaps a periodic accounting. They had to give the king and the royal treasury the proper percentage and keep for themselves for their own operation what was rightful for them.

This accounting is a time of conviction when men are called to face God to explain what they have been doing with their life. For some people that might be happening tonight in this very service. But periodically through the flow of life as men possess in their hands the stewardship of the things that God owns they are called to give an account for their life.

In Romans 1, it says that God has deposited in man the knowledge of Himself. God has given to man in the environment around him enough information that he can follow that path to the knowledge of God. God has given man the intellectual capability to understand and reason and see the truth. God has presented to him the revealed Word and the Holy Spirit. God has given a treasure to men and they are to follow that perception to the full understanding of who God is and what He wants.

You were called to an accounting. Someone preached the Gospel. Someone confronted you with the sinfulness of sin. Someone showed you the law of God and how miserably short of it you were. Someone demonstrated to you that you had violated the law of God and you looked in your heart and by the convicting work of the Spirit and the word of God, you saw that it was so. And you came for the grace of salvation.

And for some of you that conviction was heightened by a physical illness. Or it was heightened by the death of someone you love very much or the loss of a job or a painful experience. But God calls all men to such accountings. Alarming circumstances awaken the conscience, men who appeared to be asleep before are all of a sudden alerted to the sinfulness of their sin.

And when Paul saw the sinfulness of his sin, he had the right response. But, not all people did. The rich young ruler was confronted by Jesus Christ and he was convicted, but he rejected the conviction. He had an accounting that day, but he rejected the accounting. He was told that he was covetous in the heart and that the sin problem wasn't something on the outside, it was something deep on the inside. But he turned his back and walked away. Paul on the other hand was held to an accounting and he saw the law of evil desire. Only instead of walking away, he embraced the Savior who alone could deliver him and he was redeemed.

And so what we have here then is God calling men to account for their sin. Look at verse 24, "And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.” It's the time of conviction. And one is brought in, because these people don't come voluntarily. He would never have come if he had not been forced to. Why would he want to be discovered as an embezzler? And the debt that he owed is ten thousand talents.

Now people try to figure out much this was. Because values change so much, all we can say is this was a whole lot. As an interesting comparison, at the time around the life of Jesus, the total revenue collected by the Roman government from Judea and Samaria, was 600 talents. And when the temple was built and the whole place was overlaid in gold and that was only 3,000 talents. So some people have estimated that ten thousand talents is somewhere around 2 billion dollars.

In the Old Testament and the New Testament the largest number in the Greek language ever mentioned is ten thousand and to mention more than that related to for instance angels the term used becomes ten thousand times ten thousand in Daniel 7:10. The same term we find in Revelation 5:21 describing the angels again. It would be like us saying the guy owed the king zillions. He owed an incalculable debt beyond any ability to pay.

Now think with me because this is really a profound truth. This is our sin, brothers and sisters. We are brought before God in a moment of conviction. And we are faced with the fact that our sin is incalculable, it is so much. The sum of our sin is beyond comprehension. Now that's what God intends for us to understand when you come to be convicted by the power of the Spirit through the word of God.

When a person comes to the accounting time of conviction before God, it is so that they may see the utter sinfulness of sin. That is the critical element in bringing someone to true salvation. Every one of us who are saved must be brought to the point where we see this mountain of sin that we cannot pay. It's the same kind of attitude that we find in the heart of David who even though He was a man after God's heart prayed, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness.”

Our sin is a debt and it is a debt that is beyond measure. It is so great that we can't even estimate it, let alone pay it. Now look at verse 25 and see what happened, "But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.” This is a real debt, not an artificial one. The man had embezzled the money from the king. And the man did not complain because the punishment is just.

If you could not pay a debt, you instantly became a slave and you paid your debt by working off what you could. Your wife became a slave and all your kids became slaves. And everything you owned was sold and turned into cash for the one to whom you owed the debt. Now keep in mind that the debt could never really be paid anyway. And this is a picture of hell. Where else do people go as punishment for the debt they owe to God? People go to hell to pay for their sins, but you need to know that even eternity in hell will still not pay for their sins.

The parable is saying is the debt is unpayable. You could never recover what was lost. And the sad fact is that men who have spent eternities in hell will be no better for their payment than they were when they began. And when people go to hell, it is just, because God is a just God who says that sin is an unpayable debt.

And the king is not a tyrant, in fact, he has been merciful in not calling this individual to an accounting long before he did. But God is always merciful and maybe He has called and convicted your heart again and again about your sins. And always you have rejected Him and ultimately when He sends you to pay for the sin that you wish to hold to yourself, He will be a just God.

Look at verse 26, “The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” He was broken, devastated and totally shattered. He was going to be in permanent bondage, because he could work his whole lifetime, and never pay it off. He doesn't plead for justice. He had the right attitude where God wants men to be when He convicts them of sin, right?

And then it says, he not only fell down, but he worshiped. And that is literally to kiss the hand, the knee, the foot of the monarch to whom you plead for mercy. And like so many broken men, he doesn't really understand everything. And so he says, "have patience with me." So he pleads for compassion for the Lord's patient endurance for he promises to do better than before.

Verse 27, “Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.” Here God forgave an absolutely incomprehensible debt in a moment out of compassion for the debtor. What does it mean? He released him from the obligation. Why did he do that? He was moved with compassion. And where does compassion come from? It comes from love. This king happened to love that servant, as God loves all men.

What did the guy do to deserve that? He didn't do anything. But if you come to God with a broken heart over your utter sinfulness knowing you could never pay the debt, crying out to God for mercy and facing eternal judgment and saying Lord please. In the midst of that brokenness God will come in His tender forgiving grace and loving kindness and forgive your debt in Jesus Christ who already paid your debt.

God then embraces him and makes him a son, that's the gospel. If God has so forgiven you, what is the parable saying? Are you forgiving each other? And if we have been forgiven so much, how much should we forgive? That's the second half of the parable for next Sunday. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Apr 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140406 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000BA imblog

Matthew 18:18-20

Let's look together at Matthew 18:18-20, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven 19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Now this particular passage speaks of the Lord's command for the holiness of His church. And here we find His instruction as to our part in that purity. And that sin has to be dealt with. How does the Lord deal with sin in His church? Item number one is the ministry of the Word. The Word is an instrument of holiness, it is a purifier.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of holiness. And the ministry of the Spirit is essential to the holiness of the church. But thirdly, this all must link up to Matthew 18. The Lord is moving in His church with purity in mind, penetrating people, searching out sin and ready to deal with this, not only through the ministry of the Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but through the ministry of His people.

In Matthew 18 Christ is involved in purging His church through the people who represent Him in the world. And that's why at the close of the passage He says “when you're gathered together in my name, I'm there in the midst of you”. In other words, when the church is moving to discipline itself, to seek its purity, Christ is there in the midst moving among all who are doing His purifying work.

John McArthur says that never is the church more like Jesus Christ than when it is engaged in dealing with eliminating sin and when you are seeking the purity of His church. And yet, in most churches across the world today, this is not in the thinking of their pastor nor the people.

Many people live under the illusion that to revitalize the church and really win the lost souls we just have to talk about love all the time on some kind of sentimental level. But they don't understand that you are never going to have revival and restoration until you have a sense of how holy God is and how sinful man is. Only out of that understanding comes true brokenness and true revival.

Richard Lovelace writes, "The whole church was avoiding the biblical portrait of the sovereign and holy God who was angry with the wicked every day and whose anger remains upon those who will not receive His son. So the church substituted a new god who was the projection of kindness mixed with a gentleness of a Jesus who hardly needed to die for our sins. And many congregations were having ministers to protect them from the real God."

And then He insightfully says, "It is partially responsible, not only for the general spiritual collapse of the church in this century, but also for a great deal of evangelistic weakness. For in a world in which the sovereign holy God regularly employs plagues, famines, wars, disease, and death is instruments to punish sin and bring mankind to repentance, the image of God as pure benevolence and love cannot really be believed, let alone feared and worship in the manner prescribed by both the Old Testament and New Testament."

John Owens said, "The extent and power of the spiritual life depends on the mortification of sin. Sin has to be faced, exposed and dealt with. Christ wants to do that in His church. I believe Christ came into the world to do one thing. Now if you want to take all the will of God and compress it to one statement, God wants His people holy. That's the message. And that's why Christ is moving in His church.”

In the kingdom, Isaiah 35:8 says that, "A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness." In James 4:8-10 it says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Now let's find out how again. The place of discipline, in verse 17, is the church, the assembly of God's redeemed people. Second, the purpose, the end of verse 15, "If He shall hear you, you have gained your brother," restoration, and he needs to be regained as a treasure that was lost. And the person of discipline is you. We're all responsible. We are all to be workers of holiness.

So when do we do it? Verse 15, "If your brother trespasses against you." And every sin actually is a sin against all of us, either directly or indirectly. The process of discipline then, we saw in verse 15-17. Four steps; step one, go and tell him his sin alone, privately. If he responds that's the end of the process. If he doesn't, step two, verse 16, take one or two with you that his attitude and his response might be confirmed by two or three witnesses, which according to Deuteronomy was the standard of legality.

Now if he doesn't respond in that setting then, step three, verse 17, tell the whole church and that means the whole church then goes to try to restore him. And if they still do not hear, then step four, treat them as heathen or a tax collector. And we pointed out that those were two types of people who symbolized being an outcast. Treat them like you would somebody on the outside of your church. But we always have to try to forgive them and call them back.

What is our authority? By what right do we do this? And that we find in verses 18-20 and this is the climax of this text. And all the effort to have a spiritual revival without ever confronting sin and without ever proclaiming the holiness and the fear of God is just absolutely a wasted effort. We must do this disciplining though it is very difficult, but what is our authority?

Two reasons why we have authority. Number one, the Father in heaven acts with us. Did you understand that? And that is what it is saying, look at verse 18, "Truly I say to you," it's a good thing He put the word truly there, because it's so hard to believe, truly, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Now that may seem at first obscure to you, but these are rabbinical terms familiar to the Jewish audience.

This refers to a rabbi either binding someone's sins on them or loosing their sins from them. In other words, after the discipline process you are either still under the bondage of sin or you are free from sin because it is forgiven. And the verse says that, "whatever you bind on earth," when on earth you say to someone you are still bound with sin, it will already have been bound in heaven. And on earth when you say to someone your sins are loosed, you are freed from them, heaven will already have done that as well.

In other words, when the church finally gets around to saying your sins are bound on you or your sins are loosed from you, the church is then beginning to act in accord with the Father who is in heaven, who has already said either they are loosed or they are bound based upon whether the person responded to the conviction of sin or not. Now the point is this, heaven ratifies what is done on earth when the church follows this process of discipline.

Listen, if you sinned against a person in the church and that person goes to you and you don't repent and two or three go to you too and you don't repent and then the whole church is pursuing you and you still don't repent, we can say your sins are bound on you. And we can say that because we have gone through the process to determine that based on the word of God. And now we are simply saying what the Father has already said in heaven. So the church is acting in the behalf of the will of God the Father in heaven.

On the other hand, if you're in sin and we go to you and say you did not repent the first time and two or three go and then you do repent and your heart is broken and you grieve and you turn from your sin, we can say your sins are loosed, welcome into the fullness of the fellowship. We are merely doing on earth what has already been done in heaven. So we act with authority on behalf of the Father in heaven who has already done what is right in your case.

This is taking the kingdom in heaven and bringing it to earth. That's our authority. Heaven stands with us. You say well how can it be our authority? Because we've followed the biblical pattern. When you meet someone that is in a religion that does not recognize Christ as savior you can say, "My friend, you are lost in your sin. You don't know God. You don't have forgiveness of sins. You don't know Jesus Christ."

And after explaining the gospel to him, you have the right to say to a sinning friend, you my friend are bound in your sin and the Father in heaven is acting with you when you say that. You become the ambassador of heaven on earth. This is why the church must do this. As I said at the beginning, the will of God can be condensed into one thing, "be you holy for I am holy."

A lot of times people think if you try to be aggressive and you try to confront sin and call it what it is, that you are being unloving and all of these other things but what you're really doing is you are really fighting God's battle. You are lining up with heaven. It’s hard to convince people of that in this time because people do not understand that love goes hand in hand with holiness.

And verse 19 basically repeats what it said in verse 18, because it is hard to accept that the Father in heaven is acting with us. So Jesus says "Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” The two here are the two witnesses who confirm the unrepentant heart or who, on the other hand, confirm the repentant heart.

When all of you who are looking into this person's life agree that his sin is still there or his sin is repented of, whatever it is, covering anything, the Father will be agreement with you. This verse is not talking about a blank check from God for obtaining prayer results and this has often been totally misused if you use it out of its context where most people think it just means any two people, if you can just get them to agree, God has to give you what you agreeing to.

I have heard that said so many times and there is even an Indonesian church song about that but that is not what the bible says. The two here are the two witnesses in a case of church discipline who really want God's will done and if they agree over this issue and follow the biblical pattern, they can be confident that they will receive it and God will do what's right. That confidence is very important, because when you move into discipline, you probably will get a lot of push back which makes you wonder if you are doing the right thing.

Second reason, not only does the Father in heaven act with us, but the Son of God on earth acts with us also. And here is another verse that gets terribly misinterpreted, verse 20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Now you have probably heard that often, if we can get two or three people together God will be there. Listen, if you have just one person, God is there, right? When you call on Him at any place, at any time, all by yourself, God is there, right?

What are the two or three people in this context? These are the two or three witnesses related to church discipline. That is why it's so important to teach the context and flow of Scripture. Two or three witnesses, when you gather in my name, what does that mean? To do my works Jesus says. I'm moving among the church. And when you gather together in the name of Jesus to reflect my character and my will, there am I in the midst of that.

Isn't that great to know? Not only is the God the Father acting in heaven with us, but the God the Son is there on earth with us at that moment. We are truly fulfilling the will of God and the work of the Son when we are acting in the purging and the purifying of His own church. We all have to be a part of that ministry of holiness.

In closing, just a word about the sinning victim in this, we really need to bring that brother or that sister back, don't we? You can't just let them go. They need to be brought back. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian who lived and died through the terrors of Nazi Germany wrote a little book that I read many years ago called ‘Life Together’. In it are some very profound thoughts that might give us a better understanding.

Listen to what he says, "Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him. And the more deeply he becomes involved in sin, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed sin poisons the whole being of a person.”

“This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession, the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin is brought into the light. The unexpressed is now openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted, but God is able to break gates of brass and bars of iron" (Psalm 107:16).

Listen to this, since the confession of sin is made in the presence of a Christian brother, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders. He gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God. He finds the forgiveness of all his sin and the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother. The expressed acknowledged sin has lost all its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear the fellowship apart.

Now the fellowship bears the sin of the brother. He is no longer alone with his evil for he is cast off his sin in confession and it handed it over to God. It is no longer reckoned to him. Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God and the cross of Jesus Christ. The sin concealed separated him from the fellowship and made all his apparent fellowship a sham. The sin confessed has helped him to find true fellowship with the brethren in Jesus Christ.

What a tough ministry, the ministry of restoring the sinning brother. It is the key to purity of the church. It is the key to revival of the church, the renewal of the church, and the reaching of the world through a renewed church. We must hear these words of our Lord and we must act on the Word of God. Are you ready to be involved in that minister of reconciliation and holiness? Are you willing? Come on God is calling….! Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 23 Mar 2014 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140323 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000BB imblog

Matthew 18:15-17

Let us continue our study of Matthew 18:15-17, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

As I shared with you last week, this is a passage that deals with discipline among God's people. Now the word discipline is not a negative word. It is a positive word, it is a word about training. So when we talk about discipline in the church, we are talking about bringing people into line with God's standard. We are children and all children need to be disciplined and basically they're disciplined two ways. By what we call positive enforcement and by negative enforcement.

Now positive enforcement simply says if you do this there will be a reward. And the Scriptures have told us that if we spare the rod, we hate the child. And so there is also that kind of re-enforcement that says if you don't do this, here are the consequences. Now we find the same thing is true in God's family. There is positive affirmation in the Bible where God says if you do, I'll bless you. And then there's that negative re-enforcement that comes along if you rebel there will be chastening.

The neglect of dealing with sin not only allows the person sinning to drift away further and further, but it sets a standard that allows others to walk in the same path of sin feeling no consequence will be forthcoming. But where we act against sin we not only pull the person sinning back, but we re-establish the right kind of model of virtue. In the Old Testament when God set out to punish a few, the others are afraid they too will be punished. And so there has then to be discipline.

Now there are several elements of discipline that we have covered last week of this text. First is the place of discipline. And notice verse 17, it is in the ekklesia, the church. It does not have a specific meaning here, not the Baptist church or the Presbyterian church or any other denomination, but any assembly of God's redeemed people. Wherever God's redeemed people come together there we have to be dealing with sin.

Secondly, the purpose of discipline is to gain back your brother or sister. The intention of discipline is not to put people out, but to keep people holy. When a person goes into sin and disobedience to God, they are lost to the fellowship. And it is that we wish to gain them back and the word there is a commercial word. It has to do with losing a treasure and wanting to recover it, and being sad about the loss of something valueable.

Thirdly, we noted last week the person in discipline. Now it's clear who the person is, it's you and me. It's an individual thing. There is no spiritual police, there is no particular search and seizure committee. We should all be involved in going out to seek one another to restore one another to gain back the sinning brother who's drifted away from the community of God's people.

But there are some prerequisites. First you have to be willing to go. Jesus is saying you go and you tell him. And that indicates that you need a responding will to do that. Secondly, there must be a zeal for God. And we need that kind of response so that when God is dishonored, we feel the pain. And the third thing is personal holiness. You can't go, as Jesus said in Matthew 7, to take a splinter out of somebody else's eye if you yourself have a two by four in your own.

We all need to become people of holiness. Well, that takes me to a new point tonight, the provocation in discipline. How do you know when to do this? How do you know when to approach someone? Notice again in verse 15, “if your brother sins against you.” So now the question is, what constitutes a sin that needs discipline? What's the answer? All of them, that's why the text is general.

You know, there are minor sins and major sins. But sin is sin and it is the antithesis of the utter holiness of God. And any sin puts a stain on the fellowship, it spoils the communion. And so any sin ought to be corrected. If any member of the Christian fellowship sins in violating God's standard, the process immediately goes into action. That is God's desire.

And it should be immediate. The issue is holiness, any sin. Now look further at this text. You'll notice it says "If your brother sins against you." The comparative passage in Luke 17:3 says, “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

So if a person does not sin against you, you are not responsible. But there are two ways you can be sinned against, direct and indirect. The direct way that you might be sinned against would be if somebody punched you in the nose because they were mad at you, or if somebody stole from you, or somebody deceived you or somebody abused you or someone slandered you or someone raped you, etc, etc.

And the text says if such a person sins against you, go and tell him. Why? In order to gain your brother. It isn't that you go and retaliate. That's not it. When you get sinned against, deceived against, slandered, abused, whatever the sin is, and this is a brother in the Christian church family, you go and tell him the sin and get him to confess and repent that you may gain him back as a brother or gain them back as a sister in Jesus Christ.

But our tendency is if somebody wounds us or sins against us or commits an act of disobedience to God which affects us directly, we put them on our grudge list. And we let bitterness cultivate in our hearts and resentment and anger. And Jesus said, if you get sinned against, go and gain your brother back with an attitude of forgiveness. That is what it says in Luke's passage. Go to him, rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him.

But what if someone sins against us indirectly? Now listen carefully, any sin in the assembly of God's people is against any of God's people, because it stains all of us. Paul said it twice in 1 Corinthians 5 and in Galatians 5, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." You can't isolate sin, it influences everybody. That's why the Israelites had to take unleavened bread out of Egypt so nothing old could influence them.

Now that brings us to point five, the process in discipline. How do you go about it? Four steps, are clearly outlined. Step one, verse 15, "Go and tell him his sin between you and him alone." Show it to him so there is no escaping it. Take the time and the effort that is needed. It's difficult with the people you know, because they know you and when you go and start talking about their sin, they may have something to say to you about your sin.

There will be a marvelous union of two souls knit together, if you go in the right attitude. Here's the right attitude in Galatians 6:1, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” Go in humility realizing that it could be you that could have been tempted. And then it says you go bearing his burden and fulfilling the law of Christ. And what is the law of Christ? It's the royal law of love.

So if you know about a sin towards you, you go one on one. It doesn't ever need to get beyond that. If you go to that person without saying anything to anybody else and you go by yourself to confront that sin, in love and humility, and if that person repents, you will have a bond of intimacy that nothing would be able to break. That is how secrecy in the body of Christ is protected.

Galatians 2 is an illustration of this. Peter sinned in separating himself from the assembly of God's people to stick with some legalizers when he was Antioch. In Galatians 2:11 Paul says, "I withstood him face to face, because he was to blame." Did Peter respond? Yes, he responded so much that in 2 Peter 3:15 he calls Paul "our beloved brother Paul." How did they get such a love bond? Probably because Paul was willing to confront him with his sin, he loved him enough so that there was born a bond of intimacy.

But what if he refuses to hear? Then you go to step two in verse 16, "But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ The Jewish people knew very well that God had established that law in Deuteronomy 19:15, "That all things were to be confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses." This was for protection, so that no one was passing on slanderous information about anybody which was unconfirmed.

Now this begins to put the pressure on. You take a couple of people with the same objective in mind, you want to gain back your brother. And the idea is to show him his sin so that he or she really understands it so there might be genuine confession and genuine repentance and restoration. This is the second attack in the battle for this drifting brother or sister.

Now why have one or two more people? In order that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. These are not one or two people who saw the sin or who knew about the sin. They are witnesses of the confrontation who can later come back and confirm the words that were spoken there. It is really as much a protection for the one being approached as it is for the one approaching. So God wants confirmation of either the repentance or the impenitence by the mouth of two or three witnesses.

What happens if they don't want to listen to the two or three who come? Verse 17, “And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.” Sometimes the church leaders gives this information through groups, we may say it at a Communion Service. Sometimes it may be said at a class or a fellowship or a Bible study, but the statement is this; our brother is lost to us, tell it to the church for what purpose? Restoration is always the purpose of discipline.

So many times in the life of a church, people just drift away and I have examined my heart over the last years and many people that I know drifted away into sin and I have lost them, because I didn't follow up on step one or having gone step one I said they're not going to repent. And maybe went to step two but then just let it go. I felt that I failed them because I didn't pursue them. And I failed the Lord in that."

Now is there an example in the New Testament of this? Do we see any third stage discipline? Look at 2 Corinthians 2:5, “But if anyone has caused grief (because of sin), he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. 6 This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man.” In other words, apparently almost the whole church said this guy is in sin. And so the church knew and they went after the guy and he repented.

And so verse 7-8 says, "on the contrary, on the other hand, you rather should forgive him," which assumes that he has repented in response to the whole church coming after him. "And then comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him." Now here's the case where the whole church knew and went after him and the guy repented and now that he has responded, don't let him stay out there. You embrace him again and you forgive him and you love him.

So what if they don't respond? Look at verse 17 again. "But if he neglect to hear the church," and that phrase is between each step. It's after step one, it's after step two, and it's after step three. If he doesn't hear the whole church. Then it says, step four, "Let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector." A heathen was somebody outside the covenant and an outcast. It wasn't that they didn't want to include him, as an outcast he was outside the church.

But the tax collector in many ways might even be worse of. He was not only an outcast by sin, he was an outcast by choice. He had defected to the enemy. And so when you talk about a heathen man and a tax collector in the time of the Lord Jesus Christ, the people would have understood him to be speaking of those outside the fellowship. But that does not mean you should not care about those people. Matthew who wrote this passage was himself a tax collector. And Jesus has always been wanting to save tax collectors and other sinners.

What happens when the whole process is unproductive? God says put them out of the fellowship. Don't let them have the blessings and the benefits. 1 Corinthians 5 makes this clear. In the Corinthian church was a man who had a sexual relationship with his father's wife, a form of incest that is abominable to God. And instead of being brokenhearted over the incest, Paul says, "you're puffed up and you haven't mourned."

So he says in verse 4-5, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Put him out of the fellowship if he lives in continued sin. You turn them out delivering him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be redeemed in the end.

In 1 Timothy 1:20 Paul says, "I took Hymenaeus and Alexander and turned them over to Satan that they might learn not to blaspheme." They needed to learn, they couldn't do that in the church. When you put someone out, the sanctifying graces of God's assembly are no longer there and then they begin to realize how much it really meant to them. But if a person can have the people of God surround him and be accepted and have his sin too, they may continue and not repent from their sin.

2 Thessalonians 3:6, "We command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly and not after the tradition in which he received of us." The word withdraw means to avoid. You don't let them in your fellowship. You don't let them in your assembly. We're talking about sinning members of the family.

When we put a person out, we don't treat them like a brother, we treat them like an outcast, we put them out. But how do you treat him now? You need to always call them back. 2 Thessalonians 3:15 says, "Count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." And so there's a sense in which you never really let him go, admonish him, come back, get your life right, confess your sin and repent of your sin. God will restore you if you repent.

This process will bring us closer to each other, this will give us courage to get involved in the life of our brother or sister. And this will teach us what real love means, how we can learn to put this in practice in our church. Often times we feel slighted or hurt and how wonderful it is to first of all for that brother or sister to be willing to listen and then to realize what they have done wrong maybe without realizing it but also how wonderful is it then to have a stronger bond once you have forgiven each other, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Mar 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140309 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000BC imblog

Matthew 18:15-17

Let me read to you our text for this evening from Matthew 18:15-17, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

This passage deals with the discipline of a sinning Christian. So this is a very important text from our Lord. It demands our response. We have been redeemed to holiness; we have been saved unto sanctification. Purity of life is the goal which God has established to bring us to Himself. You cannot read the Scripture, Old or New Testament, without being convinced that God seeks the holiness of His people.

1 Peter 1:16 sums it up wonderfully when it says "Be holy for I am holy." And if it says so in the word of God it must be lived out. And if God is so greatly concerned about the holiness of His people and the holiness of His church for the sake of His holy reputation, then I and every other believer must be equally concerned about that as His representative. And no church can preach a message it doesn't live out before God and before the world.

Many churches would speak very clearly that certain things are wrong and sinful and call people to the right lifestyle, but never really enforce that message. And so while there was no tolerance in the pulpit, there was a great tolerance in the life of the people. And what happened through the years is that preaching got separated from daily living and preaching became this exercise where you try to convince people about living godly, but in reality, you are not following up about it. And when preaching is unrelated to daily life, it has no meaning.

In fact, the disciplining of sinning members in a church body is almost unheard of in our society as well as the rest of the world. An evangelist once said, "I know of not one single church in the whole world that is involved in disciplining sinning members, not one." And then John McArthur said to him, "Well, we are committed to that." And he said to him, "If you do that, you will empty the place. They would mention that often misinterpreted Matthew 7:1 passage, "Judge not lest you be judged.”

And everybody is a law to himself and we're all independent and we don't want to get involved in each other's problems and that seemed to be a cultural reality that had worked its way into the church to the loss of the church's purity. So how do you get the people of God to be holy? We can't just preach it and then be indifferent to what people are doing in response to that. There has to be more than just saying it. There has to be a way to pressure people to conform to holiness in a wholesome kind of Godly pressure.

Let us look for a moment at Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira his wife sold a possession and had vowed to the Lord to give it all but they kept part of it. This sin here has nothing to do with giving, the sin here has to do with lying to God. So Peter says to them, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land?" Once you made the promise you conceived evil in your heart to defraud God and you didn't lie to men, you lied to God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down and died. God killed him on the spot and his wife three hours later and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

This is still God’s church, right? He is still the head of His church. He has not changed His attitude toward sin and He has not changed the desire to see the church pure. But He has taken the authority and He has put it in the hands of the Godly men who lead the church. And in essence He has said, you represent me in that church and you be to that church what I would be to that church. And so we must confront sin.

Now let us look at the context of Matthew 18 again. Let me just briefly remind you of its essence, it is on the childlikeness of the believer. God sees the believer as a child. In fact, when the Lord is teaching this He has in His arms a child. And He sees us like those children; we are spiritually what kids are physically; immature, weak, dependent and so forth and so on.

And as we began Matthew 18 already, we have seen that first of all in verse 3-4 that you enter the Kingdom like a little child. In verses 5-9, we go through life protected like a little child. In verses 10-14 you must be cared for like a little child, and now in verses 15-20 you must be disciplined like a little child. So here we learn that that is exactly what has to happen in the family of God.

This is made clear in Proverbs 3:11-12 where it says, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.” Here is the same analogy as a Father must discipline to correct a child so the Lord must discipline to correct His children. We are like children and we need to be taught to obey and the way we learn is to find out the consequences of disobedience.

Without consequences there will be no change. Now follow this concept through Proverbs 10:13 where it says, “Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding, but a rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding.” A child needs to be corrected. How are you going to correct him? Here you find the need for a rod. In other words, there needs to be consequential pain for his misbehavior. Proverbs 13:24 says, “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.”

Hebrews 12:6 says it again, "For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son He receives." And then gives us the reason why in Hebrews 12:10, "But He chastens us for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness." In other words, God disciplines us to conform us to Himself by external or internal consequences. Sometimes the pain of guilt or the pain that comes from outside, forces us into obedience so that we conform to the standard of His holiness.

So we are like children who hear preaching against sin and teaching against sin and who then are expected to conform to the pattern of holiness. Children don't do that automatically. And like children, who have a tendency to be disobedient in life, we also have a bent to disobedience in spiritual life. So we have the tendency to drift towards evil unless we are pressured into obedience. And that is why there must be enforcement.

So why are the evangelical churches in the world so unholy? The issue may be that we have not preached the right message always and we have not been obedient in its implementation in the lives of people. And so we have said in effect that as long as the sermon is right and as long as it is orthodox we really don't care what you do. And you cannot say that to children. I would hate to have to spend a day with your children if you have never disciplined them.

So we are called in this passage to implement discipline in the church to deal with sin in order that the church might follow the pattern of holiness. Now let's study several elements of discipline tonight. First of all, look at the place for discipline, in verse 17 twice he mentions the church. Listen carefully; this is the third time this word is used in Matthew, the first one being in Matthew 16. It does not refer to the church born at Pentecost. It was a word simply meaning the collection of God's people.

Some commentators have felt that it refers to the Jewish synagogue, but that is not correct. Nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus gives rules for conduct in a Jewish synagogue. He is not interested in revising the synagogues. He is interested in establishing His own redeemed people and His own redeemed church. And furthermore, verses 18-20 are not related to a synagogue, because in no synagogue they are gathered in Jesus’ name and there He is in the midst of them.

In is His redeemed people He wants to see holy and pure people without blemish. And so discipline happens in the fellowship of the redeemed. Along that line in 1 Corinthians 6:1 Paul indicts the Corinthians about the sin of suing each other. He says, "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?” In other words, what are you doing taking your grievances and your problems before the unbelievers? That is the court of unregenerate men and not of saints.

In other words, the church for believers is the highest court and so all church discipline should occur within the fellowship of believing people. It may be in your family, that's a unit of God's redeemed people that constitutes His church. It may be in your Bible study or your fellowship group. But it should be among God's redeemed people and there is no higher court than that. And the spiritual leadership of that assembly should get involved.

Let us look at the purpose of discipline. Verse 15 says, “If he hears you, you have gained your brother.” The purpose of discipline is restoration back to holiness. God has always been concerned with restoration. Proverbs 11:30, “And he who wins souls is wise.” In Galatians 6:1, Paul says, “if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” In James 5:19-20, “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death.”

Now this is always the goal of discipline, it is not to throw people out. It is not to be self-righteous against their unrighteousness. It is not to exercise authority in power in some unbiblical manner. The purpose of discipline is to bring them back. Now notice in verse 15, the word “gained”. It's a word from the commercial world used for example to talk about accumulating wealth. Gain in the sense of treasure or goods or commodities.

So God sees a sinning brother then as a loss of something valuable and this in fact is the heart of God that He cannot let one soul go because each is to Him a treasure. And the church has to have that same sense as well that we can't allow someone to just float away and say well, I don't know where they are, but I just really don't want to get involved. I think they fell into sin. There's a treasure that's gone from us. And when restored we regain that wealth.

Let me give you a third principle, the person who has to restore is you! Let us look at verse 15 again, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.” So who is God talking to (through Matthew)? You. You say me? I just can't do that. I'm not the type of person that confronts people, I am too loving. God says, this is all about each one of you, not about the pastor only, not about some church committee. Discipline is for everybody in the church including those who lead in the church (Deacon and Core group).

And if you do not care, then you are not concerned with the things that God is concerned about. If you allow yourself false pity, indifference, self-righteousness, contempt for someone, disdain for them because maybe their sin was against you and you are glad they’re gone or pride or being a coward or busyness or whatever it is that prevents you from being faithful in the work of Christ to confront your sinning brother, you have failed. If I ignore the restoration of a wandering sheep, I have become a wanderer too, by my disobedience.

Look at the main verb in verse 15, "Go and tell him." Go and tell him what? Just go and tell him he is in sin. Look at verse 16, “But if he will not hear, take with you...” If he still doesn't want to hear you, verse 17, you tell again it to the whole church. God says go and tell him. If he doesn't hear it, take some people and tell him again. If he doesn't hear it, tell it to the whole church and have the whole church go and tell him.

We need a whole bunch of people who are out there enforcing holiness. We need to be ministers of holiness who become awesome weapons in the hand of God. And this doesn't mean that you do it with spiritual pride, no, it means you do it with a heart of concern and compassion and love. And that is up to you, you have to be willing.

You know, if you see a parent who never disciplines a child you see a parent who doesn't love that child. You hate your child if you don't discipline your child and conform your child. The same thing is true in the spiritual dimension. God is saying don't you hate your neighbor in your heart by never rebuking him of his sin and confronting him with his evil. Why? If you love him, you would want to restrain him from the consequence of sin and you would want to restore him to the place of blessedness, right?

Willingness to confront sin is born out of zeal for God. In John 2:13, Jesus came to the Passover in Jerusalem and found in the temple the people selling oxen, sheep and doves, and the money changers who were cheating the people. And it says in verse 15, "He drove them out with the sheep and the oxen, poured out all the money all over the place and flipped over the tables.” And said in verse 16, “Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise." Jesus has such a tremendous desire for the holiness of the house of God, how about you?

David says in Psalm 69:9, "Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.” In other words, God when you are dishonored, I have such a zeal in my heart, such a longing for your glory, that when you are dishonored, I feel the pain. Now the willingness to confront sin is born out of the zeal for God's name and God's reputation and God's glory.

Jesus says I can't let you make His house a den of thieves, I can't tolerate sin in His house, I must drive it out. The temple is not His house any more. You in the church now are the house of God, right? The assembly of the believers is the holy habitation in which God dwells. And we should have the heart of Christ who can no more tolerate unholiness in this His church than He could tolerate it in His Father's temple in Jerusalem. We can't have willingness to confront sin unless it is born out of zeal for God.

Where did zeal for God come from? In order to be engaged as a minister of holiness for the sake of the purity of the church there must be personal purity. Three things are necessary, willingness, zeal for God and personal purity. You are not going to be filled with zeal for God's house, you are not going to be consumed with the desire for the holiness of His name unless you are walking in that holiness.

Look with me at Matthew 7. Although this passage comes in a different context initially, it is the principle that bears repeating in our text. Matthew 7:3-5 says, “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

So what is God saying here? Before we can go to confront anybody else about their sin, take care first of your own sin. When a church moves out to enforce holiness and enforce purity, when a church moves out to confront sin, by the very virtue of that direction, it will be in the process of self-purification. And the end result will be there will be less discipline necessary though the church is more committed to doing it. Do you understand that?

Because when you begin to move in that direction, the demand that it makes on you is to purify yourself. This is a difficult ministry, but it all is not easy. We hear a lot about teaching and preaching, training, serving, singing in the choir, helping here and there, leading this and leading that, but where are the ministers of holiness? Our Lord calls for them in His church. Next week, we will find out how they go about their work. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Mar 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140302 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000BD imblog

Matthew 18:10-14

The Word of God is so rich as we continue to study Matthew 18:10-14, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11 For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. 12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

As we learned in the beginning of Matthew 18, believers are commonly referred to as children. We understand ourselves in the church to be the children of God. Our Lord in this text reminds us that no one enters the Kingdom unless he or she becomes like a little child, humble, dependent, weak, ignorant, immature and needy. Having entered the Kingdom we remain children. We then are instructed to treat each other like children.

In verses 5 - 9, we are taught to protect them from damaging influences. First, in verse 5, we need to receive each other as though we were receiving Christ. How you treat another believer is exactly how you treat Christ. And then on the negative side, don’t do anything to cause them to stumble into sin, you would be better off dead. Woe to those who cause another believer to stumble. Judgment is pronounced on those who cause other believers to engage in sin directly or indirectly.

So we need to do whatever it takes to avoid that. Take dramatic action, and Jesus uses vivid imagery like cutting your hand off, cutting your foot off or plucking your eye out. Do very severe things metaphorically speaking, in order to not lead another believer into sin. This is part of receiving them as you would receive Christ and protecting them as you would protect a child. Well that is the picture that then transitions over into the spiritual realm.

Now as we come to verses 10-14, we are instructed here also to care for children. It's not just receiving them as we would receive the Lord in a general sense, with love and affection. It's not just protecting them. It is providing for them all that we can, assuming the responsibility we have for the spiritual care of those other believers. And I want to go back to that because it has so many practical implications.

So let us talk about the rule which our Lord establishes in verse 10, and the reasons which He unfolds in verses 10-14. Matthew 18:10, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones.” And then the reason is triggered by the word “For,” or “Because,” and then you have the reasons to follow. “Be careful that you do not look down on someone, to think little of someone, to have no respect for someone, to treat them with disdain, to see them as worthless or to be indifferent to them.”

We are not talking about physical babies or actual children. It is believers here who are identified as if they are children. We are the offspring of God. We have been born again into His family and we are His children. But it's not just that. We remain needy, weak and dependent. We need help and strength and provision and care from those around us. Every believer is very precious. And the Lord will not have any who belong to Him ignored or treated with unkindness or indifference.

Now remember, this is the first instruction the Lord ever gave to the church. And it comes, a long time before the Great Commission. Of course, in the end, the goal of the church in the world is to proclaim the gospel and see people saved, right? That's the goal. But to achieve that we need to build a strong mature church. A church is internally strong because it expresses love and mutual ministry. The Lord desires that we together as believers have a unified strong testimony to the world.

So the first instruction is for the church to be a real church. The Lord is concerned about how believers treat each other. And following that it is important how believers treat non- believers. It is again about maturing the believers as the path to effective evangelism. When unbelievers see the power of Christ exhibited in the lives of believers that exist in the body of Christ, then the testimony of the gospel becomes believable.

The world of course, looks down on the lowly, for the most part, despises the simple minded, the humble, the meek and the weak. The world lifts up and exalts the great, the prominent and demeans the rest. That is not the Lord's way of dealing with His church. And we better get used to dealing with the lowly because that is basically all of us.

First Corinthians 1:26-28 says, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.”

And so the church is primarily made up of these kinds of people. We are called then to express loving care and respect for every person in the church, no matter who they may be. Maybe weak, maybe ignorant, maybe they seem to lack giftedness, maybe poor, maybe uneducated, maybe socially deficient, maybe helpless, maybe dependent, but we are to care for all of them.

So how are we likely to mistreat other believers? Maybe by flaunting our liberty. The principle is in Romans 14:3, “Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat. And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.” You might be a Gentile and a new Jewish believer comes to your house and you serve him pork. And he says, “My whole life I have been told not to eat that.” Yeah, but you are now free in Christ. Rise, Peter, kill and eat. The dietary laws are now gone. But that is exactly what you don't want to do. Do not be a stumbling block to his new faith.

You may have a person you want to take to a movie or to watch a certain thing on television and this thing which expresses certain immoral behaviors may bring back into that person's mind a recycling of all past temptation. And I don't ever want to do anything that may be a freedom for me but some new convert, some person saved out of something in the past would look at that and be deeply offended. It's a question of restricting liberty so as not to offend.

There is another way that we can disdain others in our fellowship is by withholding from those in need. In society we tend to be reciprocal where we do something for somebody with the expectation that they will do it back. That is not the way we are to function in the body of Christ. 1 John 3:17, “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” Little children, let us not love with word but in deed and truth. And what is it that qualifies this person to receive our love? He has a need.

When anybody in need comes across our path, we have a responsibility without respect of persons if the opportunity presents itself and if we have the ability to meet that need to do just that. So we never flaunt our liberty in the face of those we do not need to impress. Let us never look down on the poor and those who are on a lower social strata. Let us never withhold what we have from those in need no matter who they are. God calls us to help those in need the way He helps us too.

Another thing, we should not look with disdain on a Christian who has fallen. There is a temptation to gloat a little bit and pass on this sad demise, usually prefaced by such a statement as, “Oh I hate to say this, but did you hear about So-and-so?” And the net effect of that is to give people the idea that you are the superior one. But in Galatians 6:1 says, “Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to himself lest you too be tempted.”

Verse 2-3, “Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ (which is the law of love), 3 for if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” The truth is, we are not any better ourselves and we better look at our own heart carefully lest we too are tempted and end up in the same situation. Do not add pain by inflicting more damage on the person by gossiping about the sin that cannot be recovered.

Sometimes it's easy when interacting with people to draw conclusions about their problems being a result of some sin we don't know or understand. That's Job's friend's theology, right? That was the theology of the Jews, this man sinned, or else his parents sinned, that's why he's blind. There are actually people in the Charismatic Movement now that think if you're still in a wheel chair, or if you're ill, or if you have cancer, it's because you are living a substandard Christian life. They are so wrong!

Another way that we can disdain other believers is by looking down on those who are over us because they are young. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul instructs Timothy, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness.” Sometimes we feel that age gives us certain rights, age is tantamount to maturity. The truth is that it does not, you can be old and immature and young and very mature. You can be old and carnal and young and spiritual. You can be old and sinful and be young and godly. Age is not the issue.

Another way you can belittle a believer is by taking advantage of a fellow believer for personal gain. First Thessalonians 4:6, “Do not defraud one another.” Do not take advantage of other Christians for personal gain. Do not use people to obtain something to enrich yourself especially not another believer.

Now let's go back to Matthew 18 and remind ourselves that we are commanded to be careful not to despise one fellow believer. And here are the reasons for the rule, okay? Matthew 18:10, “For I say to you that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Why is this important? Because there is a relation of believers to angels, the angels that have as their responsibility the care of believers.

This does not mean that every child has his or her personal guardian angel. There's nothing in the Bible that says every believer has his or her personal guardian angel. All this says is that believers have their angels, that there are angels who are the unique protectors of believers. The guardian angel idea comes from Judaism. The apocryphal story of Tobit indicated that there was a guardian angel for every individual. And there is reference to that idea in Acts 12:15, but it just indicates that that's what the Jews believed.

This is consistent with Hebrews 1:14, which says that believers are ministered to by the angels. They are there in heaven, it says, always beholding the face of My Father who is in heaven. So these angels who take care of believers enjoy the privilege of all the holy angels of being in the presence of God in fellowship with Him, waiting to be dispatched at His discretion to do whatever it is that He would want them to do.

We can find in Scripture all of the areas in which angels do their work on behalf of believers. First, in 1 Corinthians 4:9 they watch the Apostles. In Ephesians 3:9-10, they watch and marvel at the church. In 1 Corinthians 11:10 it says that the angels are watching the submission of women to men in the church. They watch the preachers in 1 Timothy 5:21.

The angels will watch believers being rewarded in Matthew 16:27. They are also guiding and we see several illustrations of this in the book of Acts 8, 10 and 11. They are also providing for Hagar in Genesis 21, providing for Israel in Psalm 78, providing for Elijah in 1 Kings 19, and other occasions. We see them in Psalm 91 protecting the people of God in Acts 5 and 12. We see them giving answers to prayer in Daniel 9 and 10 and even in Acts 12. We even see them attending to the death of the saints in Luke 16 and Jude 9.

So let us see verse 12, “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not lead the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?” Now we move from the relationship of believers to angels to the relationship of believers to the Lord who is seen like a shepherd. And the Father is concerned about every single believer. Verse 13-14, “And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

We then should care for each other like children, to the degree that we pursue each other back from danger, back from sin. And notice it is individual care. It is heartfelt care because when the Father finds the one, He rejoices over it. It is implied then that it is forgiving care. The emphasis here on restoration, recovery which implies forgiveness.

And the Father's joy is great. He even rejoices over this one more than over the ninety-nine which had not gone astray. God, you would think, would have a restrained joy, because He still would have the joy over the people who didn't wander away, but here it says He has the greatest joy over those who wandered away and are recovered. This is because God delights in forgiveness. This is simply shows the extent of God's grace.

Augustine says this, “What then takes place in the soul when it is more delighted at recovering the thing it loves than if it had never been lost?” Until you lose it, you never realize the extent you have missed it. So also is the love of God, this is His heart that recovers. It's an amazing thing, when you help a sinner recover, when you turn a sinner from his ways, as James 5 puts it, when the sinner is found and recovered, the sinner's greatest joy must be because of the Father's great joy. This is the greatness of God's grace.

How we care for one another is important to the Lord. It is the foundation of life in the church and it is the foundation of our effective testimony. We enter the Kingdom of Heaven like children. Now that we're in the Kingdom, we receive one another as we would receive children with love and kindness knowing that how we receive each other is how we receive Jesus Christ.

We protect each other like we would protect children from what could damage and harm them. We care for one another. We pursue one another when they wander away because this is the heart of God and this is the responsibility of the holy angels. Well, are you doing that now in our church? We are all on a journey where we learn new things all the time and sometimes reminders like this make us grow even more, Amen? Let us pray!

]]> Sun, 23 Feb 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140223 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000BE imblog

Matthew 17:14-21

Faith is the cornerstone of Christianity, and the bible teaches that faith moves mountains. Faith accomplishes great things. We have heard that many, many times. But I wonder if we really understand what it means. Let us look at Matthew 17:14-21 where we need to look at a lesson taught by the Lord Jesus Christ on the power of faith.

“14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your little faith; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Let’s look what faith has accomplished in the Old Testament. It was faith in God's care that enabled Job to say in the midst of personal disaster in Job 13:15, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." It was faith in God's protection that enabled Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to stand on the edge of the fiery furnace and say, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king," Daniel 3:17.

It was also faith in God's Word that enabled Daniel to survive the lion's den, as it says in Daniel 6:23, “So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.” It was faith that saved the sinful woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head, as it tells us in Luke 7:50.

And as you look at Hebrews 11, the Bible tells us it was faith that enabled Abel to offer a better sacrifice. It was faith that caused Enoch to be moved to heaven without death. It was faith that allowed Noah to build a great ark and preach righteousness. It was faith that caused Abraham to follow the call of God. It was faith that caused Sarah to have a child. It was faith that caused Joseph to hope in the future.

It was faith that called Moses to reject the pleasures of sin for the reproach of Christ. It was faith that caused Rahab to receive the spies. And it was faith that came in the time of crisis to Gideon and Barak and Samson and David and Samuel and many, many others. And so we have throughout Holy Scripture, the testimony to the life of faith and to the power of faith.

Now in our text tonight, Jesus makes a great statement about faith when He says that faith moves mountains and that it makes nothing impossible. The point that Jesus makes in many ways is a summary of the testimony of the people of God through all of history that God moves powerfully when we believe the power of faith.

Now in Matthew 17:14 we start a special section because here the Lord begins an instructional period for His disciples that runs through Matthew 20. This is their final preparation for the ministry. He has given them a revelation of His person as King. He is giving them His program for the Kingdom. And now He gives them the principles for living in that Kingdom.

Jesus begins by teaching them in Matthew 17 about faith. And then He teaches them about citizenship, how to live in this world. In Matthew 18, He teaches them about humility and about offending, and then about discipline and about forgiveness. In Matthew 19, Jesus teaches them about marriage and about divorce and about children and about wealth and about rewards. And then in Matthew 20 about position and compassion.

So now the whole scene takes place as the disciples--Peter, James and John--with the Lord Jesus are coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration. They have just seen the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ and as they descend they are met by a large crowd. And in verse 14 we read, "And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him.”

Mark tells us it included scribes, Jewish legal experts, and many other people from around the northern Galilee area and also the nine other disciples who weren't there at the Mount of Transfiguration. So you have the disciples, the scribes and the multitude of people. And they are all here waiting to meet Jesus and the three disciples who came down from the mountain.

Now let us look at the first element in this text: the pleading of the father. There was a man kneeling down before Jesus Christ. Here is a man in a posture of reverence and humility. And then you hear what he says, "Lord...," you can see he revered Jesus. So, though we may not know the full quality of his reverence, we know the man believed that Jesus could heal. This man believed He had divine power.

And so he has a request, "Have mercy on my son." The word "mercy" basically means to show compassion. The father is pleading for his son. And when you add the narrative of Mark and Luke that parallels it, it becomes obvious why the father was so desperate about his son, he is epileptic. In the Greek language, it means to be ‘moonstruck’, believing that this was caused by the moon. It is used to describe behavior that includes epilepsy, convulsions and seizures. And it says he suffers severely.

Now in Mark 9:17, it says that the child was also dumb, that is he couldn't speak. And Mark also adds in chapter 9: 25 that he couldn't hear either. This child was deaf and dumb. And in Matthew we find this out in verse 15, "He often falls into the fire and often into the water." And so he was always in danger of being burned or being drowned.

Mark and Luke added other symptoms; Mark says that there was a demon in him who caused all that. And so in the fit that would go on, the demon would thrash the boy’s body. Luke says the demon causes him to cry out and slams him down. Mark says that he foams at the mouth, he convulses, and he wallows and rolls in the dirt.

And in Mark 9:21, the question is asked of the father, "How long has this been happening?" And he answers, "From childhood." Now we understand why the father is pleading. And this is his only son. Here is the only beloved son of his father and he is facing the only beloved Son of God. Jesus can identify with him. Jesus can understand the heart of this father.

You might say, "How do people get demons in them like this?" If you are not a Christian, according to Ephesians 2:2, you are ruled by the prince of the power of the air who can dispatch his demons to do anything to you that they want to do. And this is not to say that this child was evil, it was the choice of the demon and God allowed it. So we come from the mountain top of the Second Coming right back down to reality of sickness and demon possession.

That leads us to a second point. The pleading of the father brings us to the powerlessness of the disciples. Verse 16, "So I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him." Does that seem strange to you? Look at Matthew 10:1, “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.”

They had been given the power to do this and now they can't do it, even though they had already been healing. So they had the promise and they had the power, what was missing? Well, they didn't appropriate the power. They couldn't do in Matthew 17 what they were promised to do in chapter 10. Now let's leave that for a moment, we will come back to that.

This father doesn't have a lot of faith in the disciples of Jesus but he still has faith in Jesus. That leads us to what is called the perversion of the faithless. And now it's time for Jesus to speak in verse 17, "Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”

We are seeing the heart of Christ, the pain of His heart, the disappointment that comes out of His lips. The whole generation was faithless and perverse, but who were the specific ones who weren't exercising faith? His disciples. So the Lord is saying, "Oh, you disciples are symbolic of a whole generation of faithless people." And if you don't trust God, you get twisted, and that's what perverse means.

At this point Matthew doesn't tell us what happened, but Mark does. The father brought the boy. And as he brought the boy, Mark says, the demon in the boy saw Jesus and when he saw Jesus he threw the boy into convulsions. The boy began wallow in the dirt and foam at the mouth. And to be deaf and dumb in addition to that, oh what horror.

Well, the demon knew Christ. Remember Acts 19:15 when the demon said, "Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?" Those demons know Jesus. And this one knew Him, just like the demons in the maniac of Gadara knew Him (Matthew 8:28-33). When he saw Jesus, this fallen angel of Satan threw him into convulsions.

Now verse 18, "And Jesus rebuked the demon and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour." Wow, the child was cured from that very moment. He could speak, he could hear, he could think, no more seizures, no more wallowing, no more foaming at the mouth, no more foul language. Amazing, miraculous!

Luke adds a wonderful footnote, "And all were astonished at the majesty of God." Do you know why Luke uses that phrase? It reminded him of the transfiguration. On the mountain, the majesty of God was seen in Christ and here was it seen in His power over the demonic world. And Luke uses that word majesty of God the very same way Peter uses it in 2 Peter 1:16, “we were eyewitnesses of His majesty on the holy mount.”

Now that brings us to the main point, the power of faith. And we are going to find out what all this teaches. The whole incident is merely an illustration of a lesson in verse 19, “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” They didn't ask, "How did You do that?" They knew how He did it, they wanted to know why they couldn't. So, Jesus teaches them a great lesson.

Verse 20, “ So Jesus said to them, “Because of your little faith (in the original text not unbelief); for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” You know, their main problem was little faith. Have you heard Jesus say to them four times, “O you of little faith.”

What is Jesus really saying? Little faith is the kind of faith that believes in God only when you have something in your hand. Oh yes, I believe God. Oh yes, the Lord provides. But little faith can't believe God when we do not have in hand what we want. Great faith says I believe God without anything in my hand. I believe God in the middle of the storm of life. I believe God though there's nothing in my cupboard. I believe God though I don't have any money.

And sometimes we fall into that same category. We can believe God, "Oh yes, I trust and believe the Lord." And then we hit the storm and we cannot see our way out, our faith comes to a halt and we enter into despair. You see, when faith stops, despair begins. When faith stops, worry begins. When faith stops, doubt begins.

And now Jesus begins to let them go on their own, He starts to teach them a profound lesson that everything you want, everything you need isn't necessarily going to come the first time you ask God. That's the lesson. You know what little faith is? It's the kind of faith that doesn't know how to persist in prayer. And have you noticed that that very often happens with new Christians?

But the Lord is strengthening us. The longer you have been a Christian, the tougher the test has to be to strengthen you. Like when you start lifting weights, you start with a little bit and you see it right away. But the longer you do it, the more weight you have to add to see any progress. And so the trials and tribulations that God gives us get longer and harder as we grow because that's how He continues to strengthen us.

And then He says in verse 20, “for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Now you say, “Wait a minute, You just said we had little faith and that's why we couldn't do it, but now You tell us even if we have little faith we could do it." No. The principle of the mustard seed is not that it's little, no, it is that it starts small but then grows big.

Matthew 13:31-32, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” So the parable of the mustard seed is about something that starts very small and grows very large.

There are many things that God desires for you to experience in your life that God desires to accomplish in your life that are available to you only through the exercise of His divine power. But that power will never be tapped until you have the faith that starts small. And when it meets with resistance and when you don't see it happen right away, that faith doesn't die small, but it gets larger. And you need to continue persistently in prayer.

Now this is not saying that if we have little tiny faith the size of a grain of mustard seed that we could move a mountain. It's not talking about literal mountains. It's talking about mountains of difficulty. It's figurative. Jesus never meant this to be taken physically and literally. What He meant was, if you have faith enough, all difficulties can be solved and even the hardest task can be accomplished.

What the disciples should have done when they didn't heal the man the first, second or third time, was to keep on praying and keep on believing God till their persistent prayer broke through and reached its point where God wanted them to learn, and then God would have responded. He withheld it in order that they might continue to stretch their faith.

And listen carefully, the antidote to little faith is persistent prayer. Listen, James says, “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” The passionate continuous persistent prayer gets results. You may never know the full rewards that God wants to bestow upon you until you learn persistent prayer. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Jan 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140126 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000BF imblog

Matthew 17:7-13

God is a spirit and as a spirit is invisible. God cannot be confined to a form in fullness of His being, He is everywhere. When God does reveal Himself in the Old Testament, He chooses to reveal Himself as blazing glowing light. We see it in the garden, in the Shekinah presence. We see it in Exodus 33 as Moses sees the light of God's Shekinah glory and it's transferred to his own face.

We see it in Exodus 40 when the tabernacle is symbolic of the dwelling of God among the people of Israel and it says the glory of God came down and filled the tent of the congregation so that the priests couldn't even minister in there. And then when it was time for them to move in the wilderness, the glory would go up into the sky and it was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night and it would lead them through those 40 years in the wilderness.

When they came into the Promised Land and built the temple, 1 Kings 8 says that the glory of God descended on the temple and filled the temple and God was manifesting His being as light. When you come to the gospel, we find Jesus Christ and as God revealed Himself on the mountain, on the face of Moses, in the tabernacle and in the temple as light, so He reveals Himself in Jesus Christ as light veiled by human flesh.

In fact, as we proceed into the book of Revelation we find that when we get to the eternal state, the eternal heaven, the holy city, the new Jerusalem which is the eternal dwelling place of the saints, the Bible says there is no moon and there is no sun and there are no stars to light it because the glory of God is the light and the Lamb is the lamp.

Now as we look at Matthew 17 there are five evidences of the deity of Jesus Christ, five statements of His royal majesty as the promised King who would come in majesty glory. First, the transformation of the Son, the incredible visual revelation of who Jesus really is, God Himself in blazing light that comes from the inside out, that is hidden by His earthly body and is only shown as a preview of His Second Coming at the end of the age.

Secondly, we have the testimony of the saints, Moses and Elijah as representatives of the Old Testament; Moses, who is the giver of the law and Elijah as the guardian of the law. Now Peter knew that this was also the time for the Feast of Tabernacles which commemorates their wandering in the wilderness. And their custom was to build again the same booths which they lived in for 40 years. Maybe Peter wanted his own Feast of booths because this too is a picture of redemption out of bondage and into the promise.

In spite of all that Luke says Peter didn't know what he was saying because, the one thing Peter missed was this was not the end time, this was just a preview of it, right? This was just a glimpse of glory. 1 Peter 1 says, it was hard for them to see the Messiah being glorified and still having to suffer. So Peter was wrong.

The third line of evidence in this passage is the most powerful testimony of all, we could call it the fear of the Father in verse 5, "While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

Three times, in Matthew 3:17; John 12:28-29 and in Matthew 17:5, God speaks out of heaven and says "This is My Son." Now that is testimony beyond argumentation. And when God gives His testimony, men should listen. So in verse 6 it says, “And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.” They just went flat prostrate on the ground. They were very afraid.

Why are people so afraid in the presence of God? God is infinitely holy and men are totally sinful. Adam and Eve sinned, "And they saw that they were naked.” In other words, there was shame to be seen because they knew they were not only being seen on the outside but they were being seen right through to their sin. And sinners in the presence of an infinitely holy God always feel need to hide. That's just how it is.

What did God say? In Matthew 17:5 He says, "This is My Son." Now God is not talking about some kind of functional relationship, He is talking about essence. This is My Son in the sense that the Son is the same as the Father. This is Me, this emanates from Me. In human terms: this proceeds from My nature, from My essence, from My person, He is as I am.

Notice He says, "This is My beloved Son" to tell us that between the two there is also a love relationship, a relationship of feeling, of commitment, of identification in every way. And then He says "in whom I am well pleased." In other words, everything He is doing is according to the divine plan. He's going to the cross because that's the plan. He's going to suffer because that's the plan. Now confirmation comes from God Himself and then the Father says at the end of verse 5, "Listen to Him."

So, we have seen the transformation of the Son and the testimony of the saints of Scripture and we see the fear of the sovereign Father. Let me give you a fourth proof. Another great element of this picture is the scene itself. Jesus says back in Matthew 16:28, I am going to show you the Son of Man coming in His royal majesty. Now how does He fulfill that?

Look, Christ is the center of this picture. And Christ will be the center of the Second Coming, right? It is the coming of Christ. And when Christ comes, Matthew 24, Matthew 25 and Matthew 26 says He will come in glory and power. And here we see Jesus in glory and in power. So the preview is accurate.

And when He comes, Zechariah 14:4 says, “He will come and His feet will touch the Mount of Olives.” Look when Jesus took them to this preview He took them up to a high mountain. And when Jesus comes in glory, He will come to His people to gather them together, right? So, when Jesus goes up the mountain, He takes Peter, James and John with Him when He is glorified and they are representative of the people to whom Christ returns later.

And when Christ returns, He returns not only to His saints, but also with His saints. Those saints that have already been gathered to Him, they will come with Him as represented by Moses and Elijah. So, you have the saints to whom He comes in Peter, James and John waiting on the earth. You have the saints with whom He comes already glorified in Moses and Elijah. And He is coming in blazing glory to a mount and there is the whole glimpse of the complete Second Coming.

Now Moses died and we know he died because Jude 1:9 tells us there was a dispute over his body, right? What about Elijah? He never died; he just got in his chariot one day and when the trip was over he was in heaven. In this preview Moses represents the saints that died and Elijah represents the saints that are just taken up to heaven. All the parts are represented. No wonder Peter says, "When I talk about the Second Coming, I'm not giving you some fairy tale. I was an eyewitness of it."

And just as fast as it began, it ended. Look at verses 7-8, “But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid. 8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” This means that the preview is over. But it was just like Jesus said in Matthew 16:28, they saw the Son of Man coming in His royal majesty.

And they were so traumatized that they would never ever forget this event, never. That's why Peter can write in 2 Peter 3:3-4, "that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” They only show how stupid they are, we know He's coming, we have no doubt.

What would be your reaction to seeing that scene? They wanted to tell everyone. But Jesus commands them saying, "Tell what you saw to nobody." Wow, that is difficult. That is like Zechariah's problem when John the Baptist was born and he didn't believe, so the Lord made him dumb so he couldn't tell anybody he was going to have a son.

Well, why does Jesus tell them not to say anything? He said it earlier in Matthew 16:20 don't tell anybody these things. Why? Because the world of that day in that place only wanted a political Messiah to knock off the Romans and their misguided intentions and expectations only would confuse the scene. So Jesus says in verse 9, “don't say anything until the Son of Man is raised again from the dead.”

Why? Because after the resurrection, the people will know that Jesus didn't come to conquer the Romans, Jesus came to conquer death, right? And they will know that this is a spiritual reality, not an earthly one, not a political one, not a material one, not a military one and not an economic one. Jesus is not involved in politics. He is involved in conquering death and sin and hell.

That brings us to the fifth indication that Jesus was the Messiah, Son of God. It is the connection with the forerunner. Verse 10, "And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” They knew what Malachi 4:5- 6 says, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Very often the Jews must have questioned them on that, how can this Jesus that you follow be the Messiah when there has yet been no Elijah, right? Now there were some people who really wanted Jesus to be Elijah. And so in Matthew 16 when Jesus said to the disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of Man is?" They answered, "Some say that You are Elijah."

The Jews believed that Elijah would be the great reformer who would bring holiness out of ungodliness and order out of chaos. He would destroy all evil, they taught. And when the Messiah arrived He would just receive it. They saw Elijah as the real restorer, and the Messiah just came to control it. But they keep saying that Elijah ought to come, so where is Elijah?

So, verse 11, "Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.” But then He says a strange thing in verse 12, "But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished.” Verse 13, "Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.”

You say, "Is John the Baptist really Elijah?" When the prophet said Elijah must come, he didn't mean the actual Elijah. He was speaking of one who would come in the same manner as Elijah, with the same style as Elijah in the same mode of operation as Elijah. And, the problem with the Jews was that they were looking for the literal Elijah.

Do you remember in John 1, the chief priest said to John the Baptist, "Are you Elijah? And he said, I'm not Elijah." And people are confused at this point. That's right. He is not Elijah but he was one who came in the spirit and power of Elijah. If they had received the Messiah, if the Messiah had set up His Kingdom then, John the Baptist would have fulfilled that prophecy. He would have been that Elijah-like prophet to restore all things for the Kingdom.

But when they did to him whatever they desired, which was to cut off his head, they refused him, they didn't allow him to restore. Look at verse 12 at the end, "Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer at their hands." They wiped out the Elijah-like preparer of the Messiah, and they also killed the Messiah and in doing so they rejected the restoration and the Kingdom.

So we believe that in the future, before Jesus comes again for the second time, another great prophet will come in the spirit and power of Elijah to set things right. And he will restore all things and they won't do to him what they did to John the Baptist. And they won't miss who he is. And following him will come the King in royal majesty and glory.

In Matthew 11:13-14 it says the same thing, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.” If they had believed John's message and received him and received Christ, he would have been that Elijah fulfillment. But because they killed him and killed the Messiah, there has yet to come another one like Elijah.

That's why Luke 1:17 says, “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” He was to be the fulfillment if they had believed. But they didn't. So where the Jews say He can't be the Messiah because there's been no Elijah, Jesus says indeed there was an Elijah and if you would have listened to him and believed him, he would have fulfilled that Elijah prophecy.

So the fifth evidence is that Jesus is truly the regal glorious Christ, the Son of God, the King because there was an Elijah who came before Him. The only reason he couldn't fulfill it was because they killed him along with the Messiah. And when He comes again, He will be proceeded by another person like Elijah in that same mode.

Let us conclude with the last statement of verse 12, "Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer." That's the message of the text, Jesus is saying I have to go and suffer, Matthew 16:21, I have to die. And then He says and so do you, in verse 24. If you're going to follow Me, you're going to deny yourself, you're going to die to your own desires and die to your own sin and you're going to take up a cross.

In other words, you're going to bear a reproach. Some people don't believe Christians ought to be allowed in society. Some people enjoy mocking them and scorning them and in some cases taking their lives. But that's how it is, you're going to have to take up that cross and follow Me. And this is suffering. And some day yes there will be glory.

And so, we are reminded of what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy who was indeed in suffering as well for the reproach of Christ in 2 Timothy 2:12, "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him." That's our great hope, isn't it? Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Jan 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140119 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C0 imblog

Matthew 17:1-6

We began our preview of the Second Coming last week by looking at Matthew 16:27-28 and now we are continuing in Matthew 17:1-13 with the same theme. Last week Jesus begins by promising His disciples that He is going to return in glory. Let's look what Jesus says in Matthew 16:27, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels and then He will reward each according to his works.”

This is the first clear promise of the Second Coming recorded in Matthew's gospel. And Jesus says, listen, I have been talking about self-denial, about bearing your cross, and I have told you that I must go to Jerusalem to suffer many things and be killed. But it will not always be that way. There will be a day when the Son of Man comes in the full glory with His angels and then He will be the supreme judge to judge every man.

Now the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is introduced here and Matthew talks about it in more detail in Matthew 24, 25 and 26. Matthew is presenting Jesus as the King and as He comes the first time, as we know, He is rejected. But the end of the story is when He comes again and is royally crowned and rules as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In the Old Testament there are about 1525 prophecies of the Second Coming. In the New Testament, one out of every 25 verses, or 320 verses talk about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in glory, power and majesty to judge and to reign. So when our Lord says this in Matthew 16:27, it is not some obscure verse standing alone. This is the Lord repeating to them this promise.

But when you are in the middle of much hostility, rejection, cross-bearing, self-denial and even death, this is hard to believe. And so the Lord in His wonderful grace goes a step beyond the prophecy and He promises them a preview. So Jesus says in verse 28, “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

And that preview right away begins in the next verses, Matthew 17:1-13. It is His transfiguration. And at that event, Jesus gave them the picture of His majestic splendor and majestic glory. And yet this is just a small glimpse of His actual glory. In fact, everything Jesus did, all of His signs, wonders and miracles, all of those done by the Apostles, all of His marvelous teaching, His effect in the world, was a taste of His Second Coming glory. That's why Hebrews 6:5 says, “and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come."

And so our Lord is saying to the disciples and to us also that we should never doubt the reality of the Second Coming. This came at an important time because they needed some balance. They just learned that Jesus was a suffering Savior and now they needed to see a glimpse of Him as a glorious King. And so they are reminded that humiliation now results in glory later. And as the gospels tell us, if we suffer with Him, we shall be glorified with Him also later.

Also in understanding the Old Testament, it was common for a prophet when he made a prediction about a far distant event, to also make a prediction about something that is going to happen in the near future. This was in order to verify themselves as prophets and to give hope for the future.

And so Jesus is accrediting Himself as a trustworthy prophet by saying yes I will come in the last day in the great Second Coming. And to prove it, I predict that some of you won't die until you see Me in My regal majesty. And when the near event happened, they knew He spoke as a trustworthy prophet and they could trust Him for the future event.

So let's look at the scene in Matthew 17:1, “And after six days," by the way, Luke says eight days. Luke may be including the day the promise was given and the day it was fulfilled which would add the two days to make it eight. Buy we don't see any contradiction here, it was just the difference between how Jews count their days compared to the non-Jews.

So, Matthew says, "Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves.” These were the most intimate disciples of our Lord. Now why does He take Peter, James and John?" First of all, to be witnesses of His glory. Deuteronomy 19:15 established a principle that any testimony had to be confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses.

And so, as Jesus takes them up a high mountain, they were not surprised. It perhaps had happened on many other occasions that they were alone with Jesus, certainly Mark 5:37 indicates they were there at the raising of the young girl. They also accompanied Him, in Mark 14, into the garden of Gethsemane the night that He agonized greatly. In many ways it seems proper that those who most intimately knew His sorrow and suffering also should witness His glory.

And another reason Jesus took them was because they were acknowledged trustworthy leaders. And when it came time to articulate what had happened, they would be believed. They could convince and influence the rest. Jesus restricts it just to three, the three that are very intimate with Him, but who also can confirm Him as the Son of God.

Now when they get up in the mountain, what do you think the disciples were doing? Luke says they were sleeping. Matthew doesn't tell us that. And while they slept Jesus was praying. In fact, we see it later on, when the Lord is in the garden of Gethsemane pouring out His heart to the Father in that agonizing prayer. And at that very time the disciples also sleep. In fact, Jesus rebuked them and said in Mark 14:37, "Could you not watch with Me for an hour?”

And Luke's gospel 22:45 gives us the reason they were asleep. The Bible says they were sleeping for sorrow. Many people when they get really depressed want to sleep. Sleep is a way to escape, isn't it? And maybe it was what happened in Luke 22, they were sleeping because it was the only way to deal with their sorrow.

But they woke out of their sleep and Jesus rose from His prayer. And a most incredible thing happened. This has never happened in the history of the world and we have the privilege of looking at it. In the events that follow from verse 5 to 13, we have five great proofs that this is the King of glory, five great verifications that this is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Let's look at the first element of that testimony. Verse 2, “and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.” Jesus was transformed, there was a metamorphosis. He changed in body and form and even His clothes became like light, it was all supernatural.

The glory inside Jesus was unveiled. Here was Jesus whom they had seen walking around every day in human form and characteristic, suddenly revealed the reality of the blazing brilliance of God. This is the greatest testimony to Jesus Christ, of any passage in the Bible. If you really want to know who Jesus is, here it is. The glory is radiating from the inside out. Jesus is aglow like a divine light bulb and His brilliance is brighter than the sun.

The glow goes right through His garments sending light everywhere. For whenever scripturally God manifests His invisible Spirit, it is manifested as light, right? We read about the Shekinah, the glow of God's light in the Old Testament. God manifests Himself in blazing light, as pillars of fire or a cloud. When God, who is an invisible Spirit, chooses to take a form to reveal Himself, apart from the incarnation of Jesus Christ, it will form as blazing light. This is God.

And Peter gave testimony to that. In 2 Peter 1:16 he says, "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” We saw the very essence of God pouring out of that human form, transfigured before our very eyes.

In Revelation 1:13-16 we have the same picture of Jesus Christ, “One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.”

You see, Jesus Christ in His human form is veiled. The body is like a wall that hides the reality. But when He pulls that veil back for a moment, it is the brilliance of God that is seen. God who is full of glory reveals the essence of His nature. When Jesus came into the world He is still God but He took that veil of humanity and clothed the glory. But here He gave a glimpse of God Himself.

Secondly, by the testimony of the saints. Look at verse 3, “And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.” Luke adds, “in glory,” which means not with glory but surrounded by Jesus’ glory. And now Peter, James and John are not only seeing something that is beyond their comprehension, they now are hearing a conversation. Here is the second great confirmation of Jesus Christ.

Somebody once asked, "Well, how did Peter, James and John know they were Moses and Elijah?" Well, I don't know, but we know that God communicated to them who those two were. So Moses and Elijah were there but a better question is why they were there. Do you know that sometimes the Old Testament is called Moses and the prophets? Moses is synonymous with the Old Testament. Moses was Israel’s king, priest and prophet. Moses was the greatest man of all men in the Jewish mind.

Who could stand with Moses? Only one, Elijah. If Moses gave the law, Elijah guarded the law, the greatest guardian of God's law. He had a heart for God. He walked with God. He had miraculous power. His zeal for God was unequaled. Every prophet should be like Elijah. Elijah represents all the prophets. He is considered the most zealous and preeminent of them all.

So what do Moses and Elijah represent? The law and the prophets. And what is the law and the prophets? It's the Old Testament. And why are they there? They are there as the Old Testament saying, "This is the One of whom we spoke." It is the affirmation of the law and the prophets. It is all that Jesus said when He said, "I have come to fulfill the law and the prophets." It is the affirmation of the saints.

There's something more. Look at Luke 9:30-31, “And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” So Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus and now we also know what they were talking about. They were talking about Christ's death.

So they were speaking of Christ's death just as the exodus under Moses delivered the Israel from the bondage of Egypt, so the exodus of Christ's death would deliver His people from the bondage of sin. And maybe that's why later it was easier for them to explain that Christ must have suffered and given His life because that was God’s plan. And that's why Peter could stand up at Pentecost and say that the Lord was crucified by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God.

Death is a part of the plan of God in spite of how people explained the life of Jesus Christ differently. He didn't die as a well-meaning patriot who did not achieve his goal. He died as the One ordained to die from before the foundation of the world and His death was as much a part of God’s plan as His Second Coming will be. And it is so important for the disciples to know that.

Verse 4, “Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” In other words, Peter is saying is this is so good, may it continue longer, we will build some booths here. Wow, how do you put glory in a booth? We don't know what his motive was.

Luke 9:33 says that Peter had no idea what he was saying. But it's helpful here as a contrast to what was going on. Matthew 17:5, “While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” In other words Peter, be quiet and listen to Jesus.

Peter didn't understand that this was only a preview and he had to go through the suffering and the hardships and the cross-bearing and the self-denial and the Messiah still had to suffer and die. And he didn't understand that you cannot put Jesus, Moses and Elijah in equal places. You see, Luke says that when Peter said this, Moses and Elijah were moving away. Jesus does it all Himself.

So, the testimony to the Kingship and royal majesty of Jesus Christ comes from the transformation of the Son and the testimony of the saints and the fear of the Father. Someone else arrived on a white cloud. Starting in Exodus 13:21 just begin to look for white clouds. And we can follow those white clouds all the way to Revelation 14:14, “And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like the Son of Man." White brilliant clouds is where God is shown.

And it says a voice comes out of the cloud. Now we are faced with the awesome presence of Almighty God. Matthew 17:6 says, “And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.” So thirdly, God Himself was there to say in addition to the testimony of the Old Testament, in addition to the testimony of the transfigured Son is the testimony of the Father, "This is My beloved Son."

Brothers and sisters, there is a divine tension that ought to exist in every Christian's life. That on the one hand it is good to walk with God. On the other hand, it is fearful. It is good because He is there in mercy and grace. It is fearful because He is there in holiness and judgment. So check your life and change it if you do not walk with God the way you know you ought to, repent and come back to Him and He will bless you. Let us continue with more next week. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Jan 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140112 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C1 imblog

Matthew 16:24-28

Well Happy New Year, has everyone made their New Year’s resolution? Most New Year resolutions have to do with our physical condition but I’m reminded what the bible says in regard to that. It is true that there is some benefit in being in good shape, but it is more important to be in good spiritual shape, right? And here as we pick up where we left off a month ago, God steers us right away to what is most important spiritually.

Let us go back this first Sunday in 2014 to Matthew 16: 24-28, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

This is opposite to some of the trends we see in Christianity. Some charismatics say that Jesus is here to make you healthy, wealthy and happy. And they tell us Jesus wants you well. And if you aren't all those things, then you're not demanding your rights or you don't have enough faith because Christianity is designed for you to get everything you need and want.

And even the fundamentalists and evangelicals through the years have saying, wouldn't you like to have abundant life? Wouldn't you like to know peace? Wouldn't you like all your problems solved? It will make you a better businessman and a better athlete, and we advertise the "get" without the "give," the "gain" without the "pain."

To come to Jesus Christ, yes, is to receive and keep on receiving forever and ever. But there's pain before the gain and there is a cross before the crown and there is suffering before the glory. And there is sacrifice before the reward. And I know that is what the Lord is teaching us in this critical passage.

We are called to win by losing. That's the heart of discipleship. We are called to give it all up before we gain it all. Jesus had told the disciples the same thing in a little different way, but the same lesson.

In Matthew 10:37-39, He said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

So, what we have here in Matthew 16 is an often repeated principle that we see in Mark 10 and John 12 and at least four times in Luke. And we have only suggested maybe half of the places in the gospels where it appears, to say nothing of the myriad times it is rearticulated by the writers of the epistles. And even the Apostle Paul in Acts 14:22 says, "It is with much tribulation that we enter the Kingdom."

There are some things that our Lord especially taught, some specially loved truths which He went back to again and again. And we will never understand salvation and we will never understand discipleship unless we understand this principle. The principle is winning by losing. Let's look at the text. First of all, look at the principle as it's articulated in verse 24, "Then Jesus said unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me."

Why reiterate this if He has taught them before? Because He knows that they have not learned it. The disciples too were raised in the glory concept of the Messiah. They expected the Messiah to overthrow the Roman yoke, to dethrone the Herods, to establish the Kingdom with all of its glory. And it was difficult for them to understand that Jesus didn't do that. And instead of the leaders saying, "This is the Messiah," they hated Him and sought to kill Him.

But as they spent two-and-a-half years with Jesus, His miracles couldn't be explained humanly, His teachings couldn't be explained humanly, and so they finally, by the work of God in their hearts, affirmed that in spite of what they saw not happening, He was in fact the Messiah. Peter speaking for all of them said, "You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

In response to that, Jesus said in verse 18, "I will build My church and the gates of Hades-- and death will not hold it in.” If they take My life, I will rise up again. If they take your lives, you will rise. If they martyr those in the church, they will rise for death itself cannot contain the power of the church. So, this is a glorious moment for them, Jesus is going to continue to collect His redeemed people and death is not going to stop that.

And then it says in verse 21-23, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” They never paid attention to the last part of the statement. 22, “Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

And then Jesus gives a key statement at the end of verse 23, "You're an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Peter, that offends Me because you're thinking the way men think. And how do men think? Men think about the gain without the pain, the crown without the cross, the glory without the suffering, the reward without the sacrifice. God says the gain comes through the pain and the glory comes through the suffering.

Because you cannot put God in the hearts of His people, in the midst of an anti-God society without suffering, without a reproach, without hostility. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, "All that will live godly in this present age shall suffer persecution.” And He says to Peter, you don't understand God's ways, to put holiness in the midst of an unholy society there has to be a great reaction.

Now comes the teaching in Matthew 16:24. It starts with the word "then." Jesus says, "look, let's go back to that first lesson when I called you and told you to leave everything, your nets, your family, your livelihood, your life style, your home and follow Me and I would make you fishers of men. Verse 24, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

So if you follow Jesus Christ, you have to come on His terms. And even Christians, if one thing goes wrong in your life, and you get a little flack here and there, some people quickly start to get discouraged, like: What? Is God abandoning me? Not so. In the saving transaction as a person comes to Christ, with what attitude must they come? Here it is, three things: self-denial, cross bearing and loyal obedience.

Verse 24, look at the first, self-denial. Now the word "deny" means let him disown himself. It could be translated, "Let him refuse any association with himself." But He's not just talking about your self-conscious self. What He's talking about is your selfish fleshly needs. In order to come to Jesus Christ, you must affirm that there in your flesh dwells no good thing.

Your fleshly thoughts and desires are from the old man, before God starts to change you into a new man. Denying self says that I am nothing by myself and what I can do is possible through Christ only. And the self-esteem cult that goes around saying we've got to build up people's self-esteem is taking them the opposite way that the message of the Bible does because the more you focus on yourself, the more you think you are self-sufficient and the less likely you feel in need of a Savior.

We must see ourselves judged and condemned and realizing that by ourselves we can do nothing to change that. In desperation, we reach out and seek a rescuer outside ourselves and that rescuer is Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." It is subjecting oneself to the Lordship of Jesus while rejecting self-sufficiency.

Jesus in Matthew 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, lays out the right attitude for those who will enter the Kingdom in verse 3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom." The foundation of all virtue is to be poor in spirit. This means that you are humbled by your own depravity. And you are like a beggar crying out for someone to give you something. You are that poor. You have nothing good in yourself.

There's a second element here, "Take up his cross," Jesus says, dying to self is one thing, taking up your cross is another. What does that mean? Oh, I have heard the cross being all kinds of things, everybody from your mother-in-law to your wife to a cantankerous neighbor. What does it mean, "Taking up your cross?" It is the willingness to endure persecution, rejection, shame, suffering, even martyrdom for His sake.

Now when He said, "Take up your cross," you know what the people understood? The Lord is saying following Me is like putting on the cross of your own execution. Because the world is going to attack you. Not all of the twelve were executed, but many of them were martyred. And you will bear reproach and you will be ridiculed if you live for Christ. That is what 2 Timothy 3 means, you will suffer persecution.

Now in our society today, it isn't so obvious. I mean, we are not being martyred for Christ, but there is still a reproach we bear. And if we live in total devotion to Jesus Christ, we will cause a big reaction all around us. Self-denial means that I will try to live like Jesus Christ, I will identify myself with Him, and I will name His name up to and including the point of death.

The third element in the principle of discipleship is loyal obedience. "Follow Me," in verse 24 is a way of life. If we say we belong to Jesus, 1 John 2:6, we ought to walk as He walked,” putting our feet in His footprints, being loyal to the divine will. And that's what our Lord meant in Matthew 7:21 when He said, "It's not everyone who says Lord, Lord that enters My Kingdom but he that does the will of My Father." And so, the true disciple is marked then by self-denial, cross bearing and loyal obedience.

Now that brings us to the paradox in verse 25, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it." What's it saying? Whoever lives only to save his earthly physical life, whoever lives to preserve his comfort, will lose his spiritual soul. But whoever is willing to give up his earthly physical life, deny himself, bear the cross, and follow the Lord Jesus obediently, will save his spiritual soul.

In other words, you have a choice. You can go for it now on this earth and lose your life forever. Or you can give it up now and gain your life forever. That's the key. The word "life" here is the same as "soul" and the same as "self", it's the same idea. It's talking about yourself, your life, your soul, that inward part of you, the real you. If you spend your life going for the gold right here you will lose everything forever.

In our day if a person truly follows Jesus Christ, he abandons his own safety, his own security, his own ease, his own comfort, his own selfish indulgence, his own consumptive materialism, and he comes after Jesus Christ. And so he may have to give up a lot of things in this life. On the other hand, the Lord may pour other blessings on him. It isn't that you have to give it all up, it's that you have to be willing to do that, if necessary.

God is not going to make everyone a martyr. I'm just saying that if you come to Jesus Christ on His terms, you should be willing to become one. That's the word of God. You have to be willing to lose your life in His cause apart from this world to gain eternity, rather than spend your life trying to get everything here and lose eternal life forever.

Verse 26 strengthens the paradox that confirms the principle, "For what does a man profit, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" And here is the ultimate hyperbole. Let's say the guy gains the whole world but he loses his soul. What's he got? He's got nothing. What is a dead man who owns everything? He is still a dead man. And even worse, an eternally dead man.

And that leads us to the “parousia”, that's the word for "coming." Verse 27 says, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” Jesus says, you better decide what you're going to do because there will come a judgment day. Remember John 5 says that the Father has committed all judgment to the Son and He will judge every man according to his works.

And it's a two-fold judgment. The ungodly are going to be judged according to their works and thrown into hell. And you and I when Jesus returns are going to be rewarded according to our works. And we'll receive crowns if we've been faithful. And so we can look forward to that time.

And the disciples might be saying, "How do we know that's going to happen?" That takes us to verse 28, the preview. Jesus says I'm going to give you a sneak preview of the Second Coming, “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

What do you mean they won't be dead until they see the Son of Man? This is the preview. Three disciples actually saw Jesus glorified at the transformation and they remembered it and Peter writes in his epistle, "I was an eye-witness of His majesty." Paulus saw Christ on the road to Damascus. And you can experience Him too.

Now listen. The man who selfishly focuses on himself, his great overwhelming concern is seeking security and prosperity with ease and comfort, that man no matter how prosperous he may appear is an eternal pauper. The man who gives his life for Christ, the man who abandons self, may become a beggar, he may become a martyr, but he will be a prince with God forever.

]]> Sun, 05 Jan 2014 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20140105 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C2 imblog

John 1:1-14

Let’s look at John 1 and think about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. What would the Christmas story be with no manger, no Joseph, no Mary, no Bethlehem, no shepherds, no angels, no star, no wise men and no baby? It would be John’s account of the Christmas story, John 1:1-14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

One line from the text stands out and I want us to look at verse 14, and here is the story of Christmas in four words, “The Word Became Flesh.” That is the most profound truth of all truth. That’s why we celebrate Christmas. And God tells us through John things that are vast and incomprehensible in very simple terms, so that a child can understand them and yet the wisest of the wise cannot plumb the full depth of them. The Word became Flesh.

Who is the Word? Verse 1 says, “The Word was with God and the Word was God. And this Word became flesh, verse 14 says, and “dwelt among us and we beheld His glory.” The Word became flesh and lived among us without giving up any of His glory. There is a supernatural reality going on here that is critical for us to understand because the eternal God, the infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, all present, unchanging God of the universe became a human being. That is the message of Christmas.

Emmanuel means “God with us.” That is the essential truth of Christianity and that is the only truth that can save a sinner from hell. John writes his gospel to get that truth across. And not only John, but all the other writers of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament all want us to know that Jesus is God.

In fact, if you go through the New Testament, you will find all kinds of evidence. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one. If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” There are direct statements about Him that He is God. Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and My God.” Titles are given to Jesus that belong only to God, the eternal judge, the holy One, the First and the Last, the Lord of the Sabbath, the Savior, the Mighty God, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Lord of glory, the Redeemer. These are terms that are used of God alone in the Old Testament and of Christ in the New Testament, more evidence that He is God.

And then Jesus did works that only God can do, raising the dead, overpowering the Kingdom of Demons, and forgiving sin. Jesus also received worship. We have that throughout the story of the New Testament from the gospels all the way to the book of Revelation. The angels cannot be worshiped in Revelation 22. Men cannot be worshiped in Acts 10, but Jesus accepted worship, evidence that He is God.

Jesus also received an answered prayer, something only God can do. The evidences of the deity of Jesus Christ filled the Scripture, but none of them are more powerful than this opening section of the gospel of John. And it gets often overlooked. And John explains it in verse 14, “The Word became Flesh,” God became a man. The infinite became finite. The eternal one entered time. The invisible became visible.

Why is He called the Word? Because that term logos in the Greek is loaded with meaning, both for Jew and Gentile. The term “Word” is used once there in verse 14 to describe Jesus in the incarnation and three times in verse 1. And there is no explanation of it. Greeks would completely understand what John was saying because the Greek word logos was a title given to the creative force, to the ordering intelligent mind of the universe.

It would be like what is today called ID - intelligent design. But like the Greeks, it was considered some kind of impersonal force. It was Einstein who first launched this when he said, “Of course there is a God, but we could never know it. This is a cosmic force, cosmic intelligence.” And we cannot identify this as the God of the bible because then we not only have a Creator, we have a judge and a Law giver and an executioner for those who reject Him.

But John says that this Logos is not an impersonal power. Logos is not some kind of floating principle of reason. The Logos is a person. To the Greek mind, the Logos was the most powerful force in the universe, the creative power, the source of wisdom, knowledge and intelligence. And John is saying this is a person and He became a man, a personal God who came into the world in the form of Jesus.

To the Jew, the Word had even more meaning. If you read the Old Testament, you will read this many times, “The Word of the Lord came to so-and-so.” The Word of the Lord was simply God revealing Himself, His person, His nature, His will, His wisdom and His truth. The Word of the Lord was the expression of the personal God, the true and living God of the Old Testament and by His Word God had spoken.

Hebrews 1 says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets.” John is saying that the revelation of God, the disclosure of God, the manifestation of God is now incarnate. The expression of God’s nature, will, wisdom, truth is now embodied. That’s why Hebrews 1:2 says, “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” God is being revealed in Christ. You are hearing from God. You are seeing God unveiled and manifest.

So God, the Word, became flesh. “Became” is an important verb. God is a pure being, unchanging and immutable. God is not at any point incomplete. And yet, though He is God, He became a man. And that was a change. The Incarnation was that event when God took on the fullness of humanity while remaining fully God. Two natures not mingled, fused together in oneness, in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And to make it clear, verse 14 says, “And dwelt among us.” Christ’s humanity is not an illusion, it is not a vision, it is not just some kind of mental experience. He took on humanity. Philippians 2:7, “He was made in the likeness of men.” In Hebrews 2, “He partook of flesh and blood.” And to make this statement irrefutable, He lived in this world thirty-three years as a man among men with no indication that He was any other than a human being, till He began His ministry.

In Colossians 2: 9 Paul says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” no diminishing of His deity, He is fully God and fully man. Now John is giving us three lines of revelation that help us grasp the deity of Christ. First of all, John shows us that the Word became flesh by virtue of His preexistence. Let’s see that in verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word.”

In the beginning of what? That is a phrase taken out of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 refers to the original beginning of everything that exists. In the beginning, when everything that exists came into existence the Word was. In other words, Jesus already existed when everything that exists was created. Jesus is not a created being, He existed before creation, He already was preexistent. The testimony of Scripture is that He is before all things.

The Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others tell us Jesus was a created being. In fact, the Mormons tell us that the God of the Bible was created by another God who created the God of the Bible who then created Jesus. Those are lies because they deny God being God and Christ being God. Not only did He exist in the beginning, He was with God. In John 1:2 it says again, “He was in the beginning with God.”

That literally means face-to-face with God in intelligent personal communion. He is then distinct from God because He is with God. He preexists in fellowship with God. This is so important! In John 17:5 Jesus prays at the end of His incarnation, looking at the cross, “Restore to Me the glory I had with You before the world began, when we were face-to-face.”

And what was His relationship with God? God the Father says about His Son in Luke 3:22 at His baptism, “This is My beloved Son.” He is not a competitor to God, He is not another God. He is not a lesser God. He is before any creation existing in intimate, personal communion with the Father. And it is a communion of perfect love. Jesus is not part of the creation. He is outside the creation and He is before time. And if He is outside the creation and before time, He is eternal. And if He is eternal, He is God.

Secondly, John not only speaks of the preexistence of Christ, but he speaks of the co- existence of Christ. Go to verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” He is both with God and is God. Here is the mystery of the Trinity, right? He is distinct from the Father, having face-to-face communion with the Father, and yet is fully God as is the Father.

So when you think about the Christmas story, this is what is at the heart of it all, the one who came into the world is God Himself. He is God the Son who was eternally with God before anything existed, who is preexistent and coexistent with God.

Thirdly, God through John wants us to understand that not only is Jesus preexistent and coexistent with God, but He is self-existent. And now you are really come to grips with the substance of deity. When you talk about His preexistence, you are talking about His eternality. When we are talking about His coexistence, we are talking about His equality. But now when we talk about His self-existence, we are talking about the essence of His nature. First is eternality, second is equality and thirdly is essence.

What does it mean that Jesus is self-existent? It means in simple language, verse 4, “In Him was Life.” John 5:26 says it again, that in God is life and in the Son is life. What do you mean by that? Jesus didn’t receive life from any other source. He possesses it as an essential part of His nature. That’s why Jesus could say, “I’m the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” This is the truth of the self-existence of God.

And this reality concerning Jesus Christ is foundational to the Christian faith. And unless you believe this, you cannot be saved, even though you talk about Jesus all the time and say you believe in Jesus. If you don’t believe in the Jesus who is the eternal God, who is self-existent, who has life in Himself, then you believe in a different Jesus. And if you have another Jesus, you have another gospel, then the bible says you are cursed.

Everything that is created is becoming something else, right? All the creation moves, shifts, alters and changes. And if you want a clear illustration of that, look in the mirror, take a picture from ten years ago, and you will know what you’re becoming. You may not like what you’re becoming, but that’s the way it is. God is pure being, He doesn’t become anything other than He is.

This is the foundational reality of all realities, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And God gave life to everything that has life, right?” He gave life to everything that has life, because life is in Him. Most important truth of all truths right there in Genesis 1:1, and that is a very most assaulted truth. In many places in our world today, there is a massive effort to deny the creation account of Genesis 1. Get rid of the creation and you can get rid of the Creator. If you get rid of the Creator, you can live the way you want to because there’s no punishment for your sin.

There is more in verse 4, “In Jesus was life and the life was the light of men.” He came into this world as that eternal life and when He arrived, the light was on. Jesus said in John 8:12, “I’m the light of the world, whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness.” Life is one thing and light is something else, but here they are fused together. Life is the principle, light is simply the illustration.

The preexistent, coexistence, self-existent life of God in Jesus became the light of men. The light overcame the darkness of ignorance; the light overpowered the darkness of sin. As God and the Word are the same, light and life are the same. The light combines with life and manifests itself. The metaphorical way of showing the impact of the arrival of Christ, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Paul calls it, in 2 Corinthians 4, shines.

What is the proof that Jesus is the eternal God? There can be only one proof and that one proof is that He existed before time began. John gives it in verse 3, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being.” Apart from Him not even one thing came into existence that has come into existence. Nothing.

Yet the response is amazing, verse 10, “He was in the world and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” They still don’t. Then he explains it further in verse 11, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Now he’s talking about Israel. The Jews rejected Him, they killed Him, along with the Romans. And that’s the sad reality of sin.

The second line of testimony is creation as well, but this time spiritual creation, verses 12 and 13. It says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” This is a creative process.

Not only is the Word, the Lord Jesus, the Creator of the material universe, but He is the Creator of His own family through spiritual creation. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God.” How did it happen? “They were born of God,” not by any human means, not by blood, that means humanity, not by the will of the flesh, that means your own will, it can’t happen. This is a spiritual creation by God.

Lots of people believe in the shepherds and the wise men and the angels. Lots of people believe in the baby Jesus. The big question is, do you believe in the Son of God? In John 20:31 he says, “These things I have written to you, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name.” Do you believe in Him as your Redeemer, your only hope of salvation, your Lord and your God? Think about this and decide, this is just between you and God. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Dec 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131222 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C3 imblog

Matthew 2:13-23

I. CHRISTMAS CAN BE FULL OF HASSLES.

For many Christmas time is a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older. Christmas costs too much, too much time in shopping and decorating, too much stress trying to get everything done. But think about it, it was a hassle for Joseph and Mary too.

The first hassle was Mary’s pregnancy. Joseph and Mary were betrothed, but not married. Joseph was ready to call the whole thing off until an angel explained the situation. Would the angel explain the situation to mom and dad and the rest of the family? Imagine what Mary endured as an unwed mother, the whispers and guessing: why Joseph would do such a thing or who would have thought such a thing of a nice girl like Mary?

Not long afterwards the Emperor made every male Israelite return to their birthplace and pay a new tax---a bill Joseph hadn’t planned on paying, a trip he hadn’t planned on making. They make the difficult trip to Bethlehem, where they meet another hassle: no room in the inn. So Joseph settles for the only accommodations available: a stable surrounded by animals, without a doctor, without a nurse, without an epidural, Mary gives birth and everything is OK. But not for long.

Matthew 2:13-15 says, “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

How would you respond? Lord, haven’t we been through enough? But Joseph packs up his family, and strikes out for Egypt, where he stays waiting for a word from the angel. Over and over Joseph and Mary endure hassles all for the sake of the Baby.

But notice something: for every hassle, God provides help. He sends angels to explain what He’s doing. He provides funds them to get to Bethlehem, and provides a reservation in the stable. He sends the Wise Men’s gifts to finance the rescue of Jesus from Herod. Over and over God always provides help to deal with our hassles.

And He does the same thing for you and me. He won’t always save you from every pothole in the road, but He will give you grace to keep on going. When Christmas is full of hassles, remember God is full of help. Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Why not turn to God for help?

II. CHRISTMAS CAN ALSO BE FULL OF HURT.

Pain doesn’t take a holiday. Christmas is a bitter time for many. Sometimes it is grief missing a loved one who has passed on; sometimes it is living in a sick or handicapped body. The single person or divorcee dreads spending another lonely Christmas wondering why. Families of military men and women miss loved ones even more at Christmas than any other time.

But the truth is Christmas has been full of hurt ever since Jesus was born. When Herod figures out the Wise Men have fooled him, he gives orders for his troops to ride out to the little town of Bethlehem to kill all small sons 2 years old and younger. These innocent children are slaughtered like lambs and nobody even tells the parents why their little boys were murdered.

O God, why do you leave me here, hurting and helpless in this sick body? Lord, why do I have to hurt so much at Christmas? There is no answer, all we really know is that God makes a promise to all of us who are in pain: He promises His presence. Psalm 34:18-19 says, “The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. 19Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” So what does Christmas really offer to hassled and hurting people?

III. CHRISTMAS BRINGS US HOPE.

People can live decades bearing the heavy burden of shame and guilt of wrong choices, with no hope of forgiveness, no hope of peace. People can spend all their lives looking for meaning or purpose. People can live and die with absolutely no hope that they will live again after they die. But nobody has to live without hope.

Matthew 2:19-23, “Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” 21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

Because Jesus lives, you and I can have hope today. Vs. 19 tells us the Baby lives despite the wicked king Herod who tried to kill him. History tells us Herod’s kingdom is divided up among his heirs. And an angel announces to Joseph its safe to go back to Israel, so once again the little family packs up and hits the road. So after praying Joseph and his family to go to Nazareth, where Jesus spends the rest of His growing up years, waiting for the day He will fulfill His mission.

The Bible explains it this way: John 13:1, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father.” Jesus didn’t die in Bethlehem as a Baby because His hour had not come. It would not come until many years later, when Jesus would willingly, purposefully lay down His life on the Cross to offer us hope.

That Baby in the manger grew up to be the Lamb of God on the Cross, and that Cross is what brings hope to the hassled, hurting people who need to know that Jesus paid the price for their sins. He cares for them, and with that hope, God can help them start all over again, can erase their past and give them eternal life. That’s why you and I can celebrate Christmas.

God doesn’t offer us a hassle free or hurt free life, but He does offer us a hope-filled life through our faith in Jesus Christ. This evening, Jesus Christ invites you to follow Him, and hope again, in spite of all the hassles and all the hurting—hope you can find right now, by believing His Word, and accepting His love. Let us come tonight to Him.

]]> Sun, 15 Dec 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131215 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C5 imblog

Selected Scriptures

Well, Christmas is near, do we all understand what it means that Jesus is the Messiah? It was John the Baptist who declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God, was the Messiah. It is a term used in the Old and New Testament, to describe the coming of the Redeemer and the Savior. At His trial before He was killed, the High Priest confronted Jesus and he said to Him, “Tell us whether You are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

The word “Messiah” in Hebrew is the equivalent of the word Christ in the Greek; it’s the same concept. But the Hebrew word “Messiah” means to smear oil on and it spoke of someone who is officially anointed. Who was anointed? Well, it was an official ceremony by which someone fulfilled a special mediating role for God in the theocratic kingdom of Israel. Kings, Priests and prophets were anointed.

To mediate means to act as a middle man between man and God. The king ruled for God among men. The prophets spoke for God to men and the priests provided the necessary sacrifices to bring man to God. They therefore all were mediators but all of them were limited in their mediation. All of them were sinful. And the promise of the Old Testament is that there would come the perfect King, the perfect Prophet and the perfect Priest.

He would be the anointed One, the Mediator. As a prophet, He would speak for God. As a king He would rule for God. And as a priest, He would redeem for God. That is why we call these mediating offices because they stand between men and God. So that’s the office of Messiah. And now the question is who does it all. Who is this person?

Well, the Jews asked that throughout their history, as the prophecies of the Messiah unfolded and are recorded in the Old Testament. They ask the same question, “Who is it of whom the prophets speak?” In 1 Peter 1:10-11 it says that the prophets looked into what they wrote to see what person and what time was meant when they were writing as they waited for the coming Messiah.

What kind of person can be the perfect Mediator between God and man? That person must be fully God to represent God, and fully man to represent man. The Old Testament described the details of this person, even telling us something about the lineage and the event by which the person would arrive. The Messiah will be a son of Abraham in regard to lineage and a son of David which gives Him the royal right to rule.

How would we know when the right son of David who was also David’s Lord arrived? In Isaiah 7:14 we read that prophetic promise of God, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign, you will know.” How? “A virgin will be with child and bear a Son and she will call His name Immanuel.”

We know who that is because in Matthew 1:21-23 it says, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

That has never happened in human history before, the birth of Christ, and has never happened since the birth of Christ. And when He was born He is the Son of David but He is David’s Lord. He is the Son of Mary, but He is Mary’s Lord and Savior. He is the Son of Abraham, but He said in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He is Immanuel, God with us. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.

What did He do to mediate? The angel says that His name was to be Jesus, “Jehovah saves,” for He will save His people from their sins. He comes to redeem His people. He is the anointed, mediating Redeemer. He will offer the sacrifice that redeems and He will gather into His eternal kingdom all those who belong to Him. But what does He do to reconcile sinners?

Jesus came to bring the Word of God and to rule as God. But He cannot rule over them unless they are reconciled. So His primary task is the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus said in Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.” His ministry is a saving ministry. Those He reconciles to God will receive the full understanding of His revelation.

So while He is the perfect king and prophet, His mission has to be priestly, He must make to God an acceptable sacrifice for sin. None of the animals that were sacrificed throughout all of the history, going all the way back to Genesis 4, could provide salvation or atonement. None of them could reconcile a sinner to God. They only pointed to the one who would offer a full and final sacrifice.

What priests did in the Temple was to bring the sacrifices of the people before God and ask God for forgiveness for the people who were truly penitent. But none of those sacrifices took away their sin. They only symbolized the one, true and final sacrifice that could and did forgive their sins.

Jesus is not only the priest who offers the sacrifice, but He is the sacrifice as well. He will save His people from their sins by offering Himself to God as a sacrifice. The Old Testament clearly expected this. In Genesis 22 we have Abraham taking Isaac up to the mountain and God tells him, “Take Isaac up to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering.”

Everything that Abraham is promised lies in the life of Isaac and yet God tells Abraham to kill Isaac. But as an obedient Abraham goes there believing that if he has to sacrifice Isaac, the Lord provides for him in Genesis 22:13, “a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up in the place of his son.” Here is the first substitutionary atonement in clear and graphic terms.

Listen to Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” Atonement is in the blood, in the death of an animal as a substitute. But the blood of bulls and goats can’t take away sin, that’s what the New Testament says. In fact, God condemns sacrifices if your heart is not right.

The Old Testament anticipates that salvation will come through a substitutionary sacrifice offered to God as an atonement. Isaiah 53: 4-10 says, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

“7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief when You make His soul an offering for sin,” Reconciliation then comes through a substitutionary, vicarious atonement of an acceptable, final sacrifice. And that is why John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God. Everybody brought their lamb and God also had a Lamb, the lambs that the people chose couldn’t take away sin, but only God’s Lamb could.

In Hebrews 9:11-12 it says, “When Christ appeared as a high priest,” so He is the ultimate, anointed priest “of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood He entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption.”

That is absolutely necessary. The following verses 13-14 say, “If the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ who, through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

Hebrews 9:15, “And for this reason Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” In other words, the death of Christ is the sacrifice that saved the people who lived before Christ, as well as those after Christ, salvation is based solely and only on His sacrifice.

Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Even though it was so clear that God required a sacrifice, why didn’t the Jews get it? Because sinners want to believe that they have within themselves the goodness that can satisfy God. And so every system of religion in the world believes in human works except Christianity and the Gospel.

The Law is holy, just and good, as represented in the Mosaic prescriptions that were given to Moses in Exodus 20. It is the Law of God. It is a reflection of God’s nature. It is holy, just and good. But no one can be saved by following the Law. Why ? Let’s look at Galatians 3:10, “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse.”

Deuteronomy 27 says, if you don’t keep the Law perfectly, it curses you. The Jews believed they could, as every other religion does. But the Law mandates perfect performance. And the Law refuses to accept good intentions and noble motives. The Law refuses to accept a good try. The law is also unrelenting. There are no days off, none. You have to live perfectly every moment every day without change.

And the Law demands the severest penalty. You are cursed, headed for death, both physical, spiritual and eternal. And the Law has no power to help you. The Law gives no second chances. The Law doesn’t balance the good against the bad. The Law therefore holds out no hope of forgiveness, no hope of reconciliation. In fact, the Law stirs up sin. Galatians 3:13, one of the great verses in all of Scripture says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law.” How did He do it, “By becoming a curse for us.” That’s vicarious, substitutionary atonement. He took our place. He’s not only the priest that makes the offering, and He is the offering as well.

A man is justified, Romans 3: 28 says, by faith in Christ. That becomes the theme of the New Testament gospel. That’s the mission of Messiah. Any understanding of Christ other than that will not save, cannot save. We have to understand that we have been redeemed. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

2 Corinthians 5:18-21, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

What should we do in the world? We tell people they can be reconciled to God. That’s our message. So we have a ministry in the world and that ministry is really fulfilled when we preach the message about reconciliation. God reconciles sinners to Himself through Christ, verse 18, through His Messiah. How, by not counting their trespasses.

How can God not count trespasses against sinners who are guilty? Every sin that’s ever been committed in the history of the world will be punished, every single one. Divine justice demands it. How then can God punish every single sin committed by every single person and still save people? He has to punish someone else for their sin. And that’s what He did when He punished Christ as His Lamb.

The way to understand that is on the cross God treats Jesus as a sinner so He can treat you as a saint. On the cross, God treats Jesus as if He lived your life so He can treat you as if you lived Jesus life. And He had to live a perfect life as well as die a substitutionary death. If He hadn’t lived a perfect life, He could not have died as God’s unblemished lamb.

God justly regarded Adam’s sin to apply to the whole human race because the whole human race was represented in Adam. And so He justly imputes or regards Christ’s obedience to apply to all who believe in Him. Adam’s disobedience was not confined only to Adam; it spread to all who were in Adam. And so Christ’s obedience was not confined to Christ; it spreads to all who are in Christ.

How did God affirm the perfection of Christ? By raising Him from the dead. Romans 1:4 says, “He is declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus, Messiah, our Lord.” The resurrection affirms Messiah’s identity, His atonement, His exaltation, His authority and His intercession for us in heaven all affirm the perfection of His substitutionary death, which was the capstone on a perfectly righteous life.

So let us check all that the Old Testament says specifically about the Messiah. Was He Jewish? Was He a direct descendant of David? Whose public ministry began about 483 years after the Babylonian captivity of the Jews? Was He born in Bethlehem? Was He born of a virgin? Did He claim to be the Son of God? Was His coming preceded by a powerful messenger preaching repentance? Was He renowned for His wisdom, His teaching, His power, His righteousness? Did He perform miracles? Who entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey being proclaimed king? Who was scourged, beaten, spit on, hated, despised, tortured and killed? Who was pierced, crucified? Was He numbered with the criminals? Did He die in the place of sinners? Who was buried in a rich man’s tomb? Whose clothing was distributed by the casting of lots? Who rose from the dead and became salvation to the world?

In John 10:24, the Jews gathered around Jesus and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.” Jesus is God and proved it again and again and the proof is still here today. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Dec 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131208 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C6 imblog

Matthew 16:21-23

Matthew 16:21-23, “21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Now that last statement is an important spiritual principle, "you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” The purposes, plans and acts of God are set against the sinful purposes of men. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” In other words, men cannot see where God is going. Psalm 92:5-6 says, “O LORD, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.6A senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this.”

And we can go against God now just as much as Peter was used by Satan against Jesus that day. Because Peter thought, in his own wisdom, that he needed to correct Jesus Christ. And we also often go to God as if to correct Him when we see things happening that we don't think fit the way things ought to be. And sometimes we want to help God by doing things as if God needs our help.

We need to learn as we mature spiritually that God does many things in ways we cannot understand. Look at David who was refused in 2 Samuel 7 the privilege of building the temple because he was a man with blood on his hands. But when God took away that plan, God gave him back something better and said, you will have a son and that son will have an eternal throne. God promised him the eternal Davidic kingdom on which Jesus Christ would reign forever.

And perhaps the most powerful of all passages in regard to this comes from Isaiah as he speaks on the behalf of God in chapter 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

That is why we are taught in Romans 8:26 that the Holy Spirit groans making utterances for us because we don't know what to pray for as we should. And we see here that Peter wanted to correct the Lord because He was not doing things according to Peter's expectations. A profound principle of learning is to live our lives according to God’s plan rather than our plans.

Peter is a believer and so this lesson applies to us all as believers, right? The disciples just now have affirmed that Jesus is their Messiah. Peter, their spokesman, in verse 16 says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus responded by saying, “this is not something you got from your own human wisdom, verse 17, but this was revealed to you by God the Father.”

And following that, He says to them, in spite of the rejection, in spite of the hostility, in spite of the misunderstanding of the multitudes of people, in spite of the fact that I am not setting up My Kingdom instantaneously and overthrowing the Romans, I am continuing to build My assembly of redeemed people, My church.

And He says to them at the end of verse 18, “Look, I am the Messiah, I am building My Kingdom, and death will not stop it.” And after having said that, He then moves in verse 21 to tell them He will die. But they must know by now that His death is not permanent because He says the gates of Hades can't stop Him. And so He says again in verse 21, “I will be killed and I will be raised again the third day.”

So the one thing they still cannot handle is that the Messiah should suffer and die. They're like all the rest of the Jews of whom Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.” And because their understanding is incomplete, Jesus reminds them in verse 20 not to preach it until they get it right. And that does not happen until after His resurrection.

Now they don't understand all that He's teaching. In fact, note that it says there that He began to show these things. And they are getting lesson after lesson. Jesus is talking about it in chapter 17 and in chapter 20, in John 12 and He probably talked to them about it many times that were not recorded. He's continuing to tell them about His death and resurrection which they never are able to grasp.

For example in John 13 when Jesus stoops to wash the dirty feet of the disciples, Peter says, "You will never wash my feet." And what he really is saying is, “I cannot accept a humiliated Messiah, this cannot be.” And when Jesus does go to the cross, they scatter. And even after the death of Christ as they walk the road to Emmaus, they are confused about what has happened.

So the Lord is teaching them lessons which they do not fully understand until the Holy Spirit comes. When the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus said to them, He will bring all things to your remembrance. And all of a sudden when the Spirit of God came, they understood all these lessons and all their meaning, it all became real to them.

Now according to this text, it teaches us that we must not substitute the things of men for the things of God. First, Jesus gives us the plan of God in verse 21, "From that time forth," it says and we should stop here for a moment. This is a key phrase, "From that time forth" is a phrase used by Matthew to mark a transition.

In Matthew 4:17, he uses the phrase to mark the beginning of Jesus primarily public ministry to Israel. And now he uses the same phrase to mark the beginning of Jesus private teaching to the disciples. So we have moved into a new phase in the life of Christ, a new era, His ministry now is primarily private. Jesus is teaching them truths they won't fully grasp until after the resurrection, after the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Note the word "began." Now this passage makes it a discussion of a series of events. So it is not a single incident in verse 21, but a flow of information to which Peter finally reacts. Peter has been thinking about it, he may even have offered the consensus of the other disciples. So this comes to Jesus as a premeditated satanic temptation, offered to divert Him from the divine plan.

Peter actually is offering the plan of men as a substitute for the plan of God. Now notice the word "must" in verse 21, “From that time forth began Jesus to tell His disciples how He must..." Now that is the must of a divine imperative. It is a must that is older than the circumstances in which we hear it. This is the plan of God set in motion before the foundation of the world.

Jesus had to die because men are all sinners and they must have their sin paid for. And because of this divine requirement, which is without the shedding of blood there could be no remission, men needed a death and God required a death. And only an infinite God is able by His death to save many people. And prophetic promises foretold that, the prophets had said the Messiah would die. God by His determined council and foreknowledge brought it to pass.

And so all these things, human sin, the demand for a sacrifice, the divine decree, and the prophetic promise all come together to say “He must”. Men cannot say, "God, do it according to my plan." That sounds ridiculous and yet we do it all the time, when we complain, “Oh God, I don't like the suffering I'm going through, I don't like the circumstances that exist," and so on and we begin to talk to God as if we know a better approach. That is the same thing that Peter did.

Now look at the divine plan, beginning in verse 21. First, He must go to Jerusalem, the city of sacrifices. He had to be the Passover lamb, He had to die the death for sin. At the moment, He was still in Caesarea/Philippi, that little town in the northeast corner of Palestine. But now He must go to Jerusalem. Thomas in John 11:16 said, "We will go with You and die also." In other words, they knew what awaited them there.

It was the center of hostility. Matthew 15:1 indicated that the Jewish leaders who gave Jesus the most trouble were all from Jerusalem. The religion of the Jews hated Jesus Christ. But the Jews would not have to chase Him. Jesus went and offered Himself for He Himself said in John 10:18, “No man takes My life from Me, I lay it down of Myself." He said to Pilate in John 19:11, "If it weren't for God you couldn't do one thing to Me.”

Jerusalem means "foundation of peace" and it became known as the "Golden City." This is the most well-known city in the world. First mentioned in Genesis 14:19 as the dwelling place of a priest of El Elyon, the God most high, a servant of Yahweh by the name of Melchizedek, a picture of Christ. And as Melchizedek was associated with that city, so would be the Anti-Christ later.

That very location is the place where Abraham goes to sacrifice Isaac and finds a sacrificial animal who also is a picture of Jesus Christ who would be a sacrifice in that same vicinity of Mount Moriah. David came and took that city and made it the capital of Israel and it was the city of David in 2 Samuel 5:9. Three months later he brought the Ark of the Covenant there and it became the city of God for He dwelt in the Ark symbolically.

Solomon called it the standard of perfection in Song of Solomon 6:4 and he built the temple to the Most High God there. It has become the sacred center of worship for the Jews. But the city of Jerusalem by the time Jesus got there was hostile to God. It wasn't the city of God anymore. We can't even call it Jerusalem, foundation of peace because when Jesus was born they tried to kill Him as an infant.

And when He began His ministry, the first Passover He went to Jerusalem, He took a whip in John 2, and He had to clean out the defilement in the temple there. On the second Passover, He went and violated their Sabbath tradition and they tried to kill Him, says John 5. The third Passover of His ministry, He deliberately stayed away because of their hatred.

Later in the year, He went to the Feast of Tabernacles and the leaders in John 7 tried to arrest Him to execute Him. In John 8 He went to the temple to teach and they tried to stone Him to death. He taught on the porch of Solomon and had to escape for His life. And when He returns for that last Passover and raises Lazarus from the dead, He did it at the expense of His life and they killed Him.

Jerusalem has a new name today in Revelation 11:8. Listen, "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified." And in 70 A.D. God used the Romans to wipe it out. It will get its rightful name back, Zechariah 14 says, when it flourishes again when Jesus returns to set up His glorious Kingdom and then again it will become Jerusalem, the golden city of David, the city of God, the foundation of everlasting peace.

The second phase of God's plan was to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests and scribes. Now those three groups of people constituted the Sanhedrin which was made up of leaders and judges from all of Israel. Then you have the chief priests who were primarily Sadducees and the scribes who were primarily Pharisees. And together they were the legal court, and Jesus is going there to be tried by the religious leaders of Israel, even though the trial is a mockery. The holy city and the leaders are both not holy.

Verse 21 says also that He must be killed. The word here is not a word of judicial execution, it is a word that means to be murdered. And Jesus says that He was going to be killed. But they did not pay attention and they did not hear the part of verse 21 that said, "And be raised again the third day.”

So we see the things of God in verse 21. Now look at verse 22 and see the things of men. Peter began to rebuke Jesus and he came on strong. It's because of pride, the Lord had just told him, "O blessed are you, Peter, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you but My Father was in heaven," and he was beginning to feel like a spokesman for God.

And look what Peter says, “Far be it from You, Lord,” That's an idiomatic expression, it means “Lord, take it easy on Yourself...don't do that." And then he adds, "this shall not happen to You!” We're just not going to allow it. It just didn't fit the plan and he would make a great liberal who wants a kingdom without a cross.

The Lord immediately answered in verse 23, "He turned and said to Peter," Get behind Me, Satan, you are an offense to Me.” As soon as Peter said this to Him, the Lord knew the source and He said, “Go away, Satan.” He had said that once before, in Matthew 4:10 when Satan took Him up and tempted Him, and after the temptation was over, He said, “Be gone, Satan.”

And remember that the same believer, who can be used to speak the Word of God in one verse can be used in the next one to speak the word of Satan! The same believer who on the one hand extols the plan of God can on the other hand extol the plan of Satan. The same one who takes a side with God can turn around and take a side against God, yes Jesus is talking about us and to us.

Here is the specific principle at the end of verse 23, and Jesus now gives us a generalization from that specific incident and He puts Peter's action in a category that all of us are in from time to time, "For you are thinking along not the lines of God but the lines of men.” And men still see the cross as a stumbling block because our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways.

Peter was thinking selfishly and all he could see was the process and not the end. All he wanted to do was to eliminate the present pain; he gave no thought to the ultimate value of that pain. And we are like that too. We forget that the Bible says that through trials you are perfected and that God is moving us to the image of Jesus Christ. All we see is the present pain and we cry to God to release us when it is that which perfects us.

We must learn that there is pain in the sanctification process and you're going to lose your life in the process. But that's the road to glory, that there's no glory to be had without pain. The Lord’s way is suffering, then glory, then joy, then blessing. Peter learned that, too. 1 Peter 5:10 says, "After you have suffered a while, (God will) perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you.” May we too learn this. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Dec 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131201 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C7 imblog

Matthew 16:13-28

What is a biblical church? Not every place that says it’s a church is a church. So let's learn from what Jesus says. In Matthew 16, you have the word "church" used for the first time. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ who begins by saying in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My church.” It is His Church, not ours, He will build it and He also gives us the necessary components for a church to be a church.

You have all kinds of churches today, even places that are called atheist churches. If you say that is a Buddhist Temple, that's clear. If you say that is a Jewish Synagogue, that's clear. But if you say that is a church but you are not, then that is serious deception. The Lord Jesus lays out the foundation, the defining characteristics and marks of the church.

And Jesus gives us that in Matthew 16:13-28. All the New Testament epistles that write about the church are basing what they write on this specific text. Here the Lord of the Church establishes the foundation of the church. I am going to give you seven of them. Number one: The church is a gathering of people who make a great confession.

In verse 15, Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” People say many things, but what do you say? “And Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" That is the great confession. Jesus said, "I will build My church on that confession." The first absolute in a church is a biblical understanding of Jesus Christ.

Anything else results in a false church. It must be another belief and therefore it is anathema, it's accursed. 2 John 1:9-11 says, “He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

The church is not a group of people who gather together to hear a motivational speech or are seeking help for their addictions. The church is not a collection of people who want to feel spiritual. It is an assembly of people who from the heart have made that great confession that there is a living God who has manifested Himself in His Son, who can give us eternal life. We are those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and confess Him as our Lord.

Look to 1 Timothy 3:15-16, “that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.” The true church is an assembly of those who agree to that there is the mystery of godliness, and the mystery is that God became a man.

But there is more. The church is not only built on a great confession, but a great communication. Remember verse 17, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” There is only one way that we can know the truth of the great confession and that is by divine revelation.

It is the Word by which we are saved. And we are also sanctified by the Word, John 17:17, says, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John Calvin said, "If a church does not have sound doctrine and exposition of Scripture, it's not a church." And he added more things, church discipline and baptism and the Lord's Table. If any of those are missing, that's not a church.

Now let us go to verse 18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” This is a simple verse, but it has caused all kinds of confusion. This is Peter, he is just a man. In fact, down in verse 23 Jesus says to him, "Get behind Me, Satan." So we don't want to hold him up too much.

This is not his inauguration into the Papacy. Jesus says to Peter, you wouldn't do anything or know anything if My Father in heaven had not revealed it to you. You are Peter and upon this rock I will build My church. Well, petros or Peter means a pebble, a small rock, but upon this rock, petra, this rock bed, I will build My church. Jesus says, you're just a pebble and I am going to build My church on a rock bed.

In other words, “Peter, you are one rock, and I'm going to build My church on the confession you made. But there are many other confessions and I'm going to build My church on all of that too.” Scripture indicates that this confession is also made by the rest of the Apostles. Ephesians 2:20 says, that the church is built on the foundation of the Apostles and the prophets, and they all made that confession.

The church is not built on the supremacy of Peter. It is built on the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, the holy one, the Lord. And if Peter makes that confession and the Apostles make that and you and I make that, Jesus will build His church. God revealed it all and they just wrote it down. They wrote the New Testament based on their own confessions.

The church then is built on the great revelation of God which is contained in Scripture. And a church built on that, the gates of Hades cannot overpower. Gates of Hades is just a euphemism for death, even death cannot destroy this. In fact history verifies this, the more you kill the people of the church, the more the church grows.

Verse 19 adds, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ‘Binding and loosing’ are terms that explain repentance. You are bound in your sin if you don't repent, and you are loosed from your sin if you do repent.

And Jesus says, look, by preaching the gospel you loosen the cords of the curse by which we are bound and make forgiveness of sin possible and that heaven agrees to. But when you reject the gospel, you bring down on yourself a heavy judgment and the authority to bind is also given to the preachers so that their mockery of the preachers does not remain unpunished.

We must not be tempted by the worldly things that appeal to people, especially the self-righteousness and hypocrisy that so dominates our secular culture. Jesus here teaches us that by those means we will never bring about the saving faith first professed by Simon Peter. As we teach and proclaim God's Word, the Father in heaven reveals the truth in the minds and hearts of the people and brings them to true and saving faith.”

There is not only a great confession and a great communication at the foundation of the church, but there is a great contrast. Verse 20, “Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.” Wow, that seems exactly the opposite of what you would expect.

Why did He say that? Their view was that Jesus was going to come and provide military power and overwhelm the hated and despised Roman occupiers. Their view of the Messiah was that He was going to give all of the promises to David and Abraham in the Covenant to the Jews and fulfill everything, give them their land in prosperity and blessing and dispel all Gentile influence.

They were looking for an earthly king and Jesus didn't want anything to do with that. He warned the disciples they should tell no one that He was the Christ because they had still the wrong view of the Messiah. They did not understand yet what Jesus was going to do. This is the great contrast.

Turn to John 18 for a moment. It's the conversation between Jesus and Pilate. The Jewish leaders had brought Jesus to Pilate. They wanted him to execute Jesus. In verse 29 he said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?” What did He do? And Pilate then brings Him in, in verse 33 and asks, “Are You the King of the Jews?" Now pay attention to the answer.

John 18:36-37, “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here. 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

It is irrelevant to the Kingdom of salvation what the earthly governments do or what they don't do. The church has no direct role in providing a more acceptable life style for sinners. We aren't called to create a Christian culture or a Christian nation. We are called to influence the world and all that are around us with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well there's a fourth foundation, let's call it a great conquest. Look how much is here and how cohesive and critical it all is. Verse 21, "From that time on, Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day."

A true church is centered on a great conquest, Christ on the cross. He cannot be our Lord and Savior without a cross. That's why the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:2, "I preach Christ and Him crucified." We know that. We celebrate the cross regularly by the Lord's Table as we remember the cross, and realize that there our sins were paid for.

We see the cross throughout all of Scripture, a cross that casts its shadow backwards over the Old Testament, forward over the New Testament. We can't understand Christianity without the cross because there the justice of God is satisfied. He was made to be sin for us that we might become righteous in Him. The cross represents the righteousness of God, the justice of God but also the love, grace and mercy of God.

Number five in the list of a true church is a great conflict. A true church is actively engaged in a war against Satan. Verse 22-23, “Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Peter just wanted to do was offer a plan B, a better way. And he winds up being identified as if he's the devil himself and Jesus said, "You are in My way, Peter, get out of the way.” When you side against the revelation of God, you are a stumbling block to the divine purpose and you have taken up Satan's agenda because that's what he does. You're not focused on the divine will but on your own.

We live in the midst of an unending conflict. We fight against every false interpretation of the revelation of God. When we know of people in the congregation who live in opposition to the revelation of God, we have to act against that. If you find somebody whose life style is full of sin, Jesus told us what to do in Matthew 18. Whether it is a doctrinal error, a rejection of the theology of Scripture or against the divine purposes for holiness in the church, it has to be dealt with.

A true church also is a great contradiction. Verses 24 to 26, "Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me, 25 for whoever wishes to save his life shall loses it, whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. 26 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul?'"

Some people think that the church was designed to make people feel good, boost their self-esteem, feel like they are connected with God and that God is their sugar daddy, just whatever you want, whatever your felt need is, I'm here to fulfill your needs, I want to make something out of you, I want you to be all you can be, I want you to think positively, I want you to be able to create your own world and whatever it is in your mind, I can fulfill.

That's not the church. That has nothing to do with the church. The church is defined by the great contradiction, everybody who is there has to give themselves up. It is all about self- denial. It is all about giving up your life, taking up a cross meant you would be willing to die for the gospel.

You're there because you want to obey Christ. You're there not to save your life but to lose it. You're there not to hang on but to give it all up. Jesus said you can't come into My Kingdom if you don't hate yourself and hate your father and mother and hate your earthly possessions. Lord, I refuse the person I am, there's nothing good in me at all, I am like Paul the chief of sinners. Forgive me.

What marks a true church? Humility, selflessness, a broken and contrite heart and meekness, gentleness and submission. Christ-exalting, Scripture committed, separated from the world, centered on the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, engaged in a conflict with sin all the time both in doctrine and in life, and self-denying, self-sacrificing and humbly obedient.

When you are in a true church, you have a gathering of people who look forward to a great consummation. Verse 27, “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels and will then recompense every man according to his deeds." A true church is all caught up in the glory of the future and not caught up in the present. In fact, the things that we endure in this time in this place are just minor details.

Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” James 1:2-4 says, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

You know what makes heaven so good? Because we anticipate purification. We look forward to the time when we no longer have sin, we no longer have the battle with the flesh. We look forward to the time when we see Jesus face to face.

This is a fallen world and we are fallen people, forgiven but fallen. We serve, giving the Lord in our service gold, silver, precious stones that they may stand the test at the end and we may be rewarded with the privilege of greater service to the Lord in days to come. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Nov 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131117 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C8 imblog

Matthew 16:13-17

This has to be one of the most important texts in the Word of God. So let us this evening consider Matthew 16:13-17, “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Now this passage describes the apex, the high point of Jesus' endeavor to teach the disciples. And the final examination the Lord gives them really only has one question that you either pass or fail. When Jesus said to them in verse 15, "But who do you say that I am?" He really asks the question that every human must answer - Who is Jesus Christ? And on that answer hinges your eternal destiny.

This is the apex of the New Testament and of the Old Testament, - Who is Jesus Christ? That supreme confession of Peter is the basic reality of Christianity. For over two years our Lord has been moving to this moment, teaching, affirming, reaffirming, establishing, reestablishing, building and rebuilding their confidence, their commitment until Peter, on behalf of all of them, says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And so, let's look first at the setting. Verse 13 says, “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi.” Now, the word Caesarea just simply means of Caesar. It is a town named after Caesar. This town is called Caesarea Philippi to distinguish it from another town called Caesarea down in the south western part of Palestine. Today it is part of the southwestern corner of Syria, but at this point in history it is under the control of Israel.

That territory was controlled by Philip the Tetrarch, who was a kind and patient man posing no threat to Christ and His disciples. He was, however, committed to Caesar as indicated by the name change of that town to Caesarea Philippi because he enlarged it and wanted to distinguish it from the other one.

Now this particular incident is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke because of its importance. And Mark tells us that this conversation happened as Jesus was walking to some villages somewhere around Caesarea Philippi. The Lord just had come out of a prayer meeting. The other gospels indicate that Jesus had been with the Father, and in the midst of the walk He asked them this important question - Who do you say I am?

Later on in Matthew there is a second question asked by Pilate that is a corollary to that first question, Pilate said - What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? The first question is: Who is Jesus Christ? The second question in Matthew 27:22 is: What am I going to do with Him? Both of them are very important.

Matthew 16:13, “Jesus asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man am?" The term ‘Son of Man’ refers to Jesus, and it is used 80 plus times in the New Testament and so it is the Lord's most common designation of Himself and although it is definitely a prophetic title of the Messiah taken from Daniel 7:13-14, He uses it more as a sign of His identification with humanity.

Now, Jesus has been serving for two plus years, and He has been preaching, teaching, healing and doing signs, wonders and mighty deeds, so what is the result of all of this? Jesus came into the world to reveal Himself and now it's time to find out what His disciples were thinking. Do they really know who He is? Nothing is as important for Him and the extension of His Kingdom as that question.

But Jesus is not really looking for an answer because He knows their heart, so this is a leading question. He knew what they thought about Him but He wanted out of the disciples' mouth a clear statement from them. He is after a confidence statement, a confession of who He is. It's time for that now, the lessons are over, the course has reached its apex, now comes the test.

What is the consensus of the general public about Me? And they respond in verse 14, "Some say, they said, that You are John the Baptist." This was indicated in Matthew 14:1-2 when it says: “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”

There's another opinion, look at verse 14, "Some said You are Elijah." Elijah was the highest prophet. And in Malachi's 4:5 it said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” The Jews believed that Elijah would be resurrected, and that he would come back from heaven prior to the coming of the Messiah. And so some said this is Elijah.

Do you know that if you were to go to a Jewish Passover today, you would see at the Jewish Passover table an empty chair, and if you were to ask the host why there is an empty chair during the Passover in which no one sits, he would tell you it is the chair for Elijah. The Jews are still waiting for Elijah to come because when he takes his seat the Messiah is not far behind based on Malachi.

Now also notice in verse 14 that others said Jesus is Jeremiah. Where did this come from? Well, it comes from the Apocrypha, the non-biblical writings between the Old and the New Testament in the Roman Catholic Bible. There is a legend that Jeremiah, prior to the Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C., took the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense out of the temple and hid it in Mount Nebo.

And legend says that before the Messiah comes back to establish His Kingdom Jeremiah will return and get the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense and restore them to their place. And so Jeremiah suddenly had become a hero although when he was a prophet they threw him in a pit to get rid of him.

Lastly, there was a more general opinion among some that He was one of the prophets that had risen again. So all having in common the same two factors: a forerunner of the Messiah, and one coming back from the dead. You see, the resurrection has to be in there so they can explain the supernatural character. They never deny Jesus' miracles.

But they would not accept that He was the Messiah, they got as close as they could without getting to the truth. They are very much like our world today that wants to believe only so much about Jesus without accepting the whole truth. Pilate said "He's a man without fault." Napoleon said "I know men and Jesus Christ is no mere man." Diderot said: "He's the unsurpassed." Straus said: "He's the highest model of religion." Lecky said: "He's the highest pattern of virtue." Close...but not close enough.

And so Jesus asks them the second question, verse 15, “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And here is the most important question of all. My friend, you cannot avoid that question. You are pinned against the wall of eternity and you will be forced to answer that question. And your eternal destiny depends upon the answer you give.

What was their answer? Verse 16 says, “Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Simon Peter was the spokesman, wasn't he? Whenever there was some speaking to be done, he did it. You see it everywhere in many places. This isn't just Peter; this is Peter gathering up the consensus of the disciples and speaking on their behalf. Jesus calls him Simon Peter; his legal name so it gives a very official character to the confession.

Look at the confession in verse 16, it is decisive, it is emphatic and it has no qualifiers. "You are the Christ." You are the Messiah! You are the anointed one of God. You are the One we have been looking for, the eternal King, the eternal Savior, the embodiment of all of our hopes and all of our desires and all of the promises. You are the One God said You would be.

You might say - Didn't they always believe that? Yes and no. In John 1 when they first met Jesus, Andrew runs to get Peter, he says - Peter, we have found the Messiah. But from the time they made that initial assessment they begin to waver. Why?

They believed the testimony of John the Baptist and believed what they saw when Jesus did all his miracles. But then, all of a sudden the humiliation and the rejection and the hatred and the bitterness started and they began to wonder. So, there was this confusion because it didn't seem to be working the way they thought it should. They were strong in faith sometimes and weak at other times.

They have seen many incredible miracles. They have just heard profound teaching. They are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah even though as He goes to the cross particularly, they begin to shake a little. And in the John 14 passage where the Lord is telling them that He is going to die and leave them, they're getting very nervous and they say - We don't know where You are going.

But at this point there is this supreme confession that they believe He is the Messiah. And the Spirit of God imbedded this in their hearts when He came and made them the men that changed the world. Through all of the struggles and hatred of the Pharisees, the rejection of the people and the confusion of their Messianic expectations, still they arrived at that point of proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah.

Well, they got the answer right, He was and is the Christ. And then Peter added to the confession, "The Son of the living God," not only the Son of Man, but the Son of God, not only God, but the living God, as opposed to all the dead idols. And when Jesus is called the Son of God, it is saying that He is one in essence with God.

Now, they said that and they believed that He was God. And you might say - Well why then did Philip say in John 8:19 – Where is your Father? It is because the disciples did not understand the meaning of Jesus also being God at the same time. They did not understand the Trinity, and I don't either. So, I understand their question, but they believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

Now, look at verse 17, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar- Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Jesus says - you didn't get that information about who I am from your humanness, it wasn't your superior intellect, it wasn't your intuition, there's nothing in the human realm that could reveal this. Only the Spirit of God can reveal this to you for we all are just blind people.

Now, the question is - how has the Father revealed it? How? What did the Father use? The Father revealed Jesus Christ to be the Messiah through Christ Himself. That's the way it is today. You will discover who Jesus Christ is only when you look at and listen to Jesus Christ and when you follow what He teaches. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

And what is the result? What happens when you believe? Matthew 12:8 says, "For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." The Sabbath was the center of all life in Israel. Sabbath means rest or cessation. And the Sabbath was a time of rest with two things in mind, one - cessation from work and two, holy convocation. In other words, there was worship and there was rest.

In fact, God gave Israel a catalogue of Sabbaths. In Leviticus 23 there are seven different Sabbaths. Now that concept of the Sabbath is a symbol, it is a picture, it is a type, it is not a reality. The reality is that someday there will be a true rest for the people of God. The whole Sabbath system had no other purpose except to point to the One who would bring true holiness and rest.

Now, turn to Luke 4:16-19, “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Jesus says then – in verse 21, “this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” That is exactly why He violated their Sabbath ordinances, because Jesus, the reality, was there. Jesus is the Lord over the whole sabbatical system which ruled and governed their lives. And that is why the New Testament repeats every one of the Ten Commandments except - Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy - it doesn't repeat that one.

In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul comes to this very conclusion, “16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Don't let anybody judge you on that. That's why it says in Hebrews 4:3, “For we who have believed do enter that rest.” It is the rest of salvation.

Listen, since I embraced Jesus Christ who is the Sabbath, who is the fulfillment of all the pictures - I seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. I am seeking a holy convocation with God every moment of my life. And I have a rest. I don't need one day a week to rest spiritually, I rest in God always.

That's why Paul uses the term redemption so much, there's a Jewish element there. Because God has set us free in Christ. He has given us the liberation. You violate the Sabbath not when you work on Sunday. No, no, no. You violate the Sabbath rest when you refuse Jesus Christ and you continue on in your own self-righteous works.

What happens when you believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God? Look at verse 17, "And Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon." What does it mean to be blessed? Ephesians 1:3, “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” All of the divine supernatural resources that God can pour out on His children are yours.

And so our Lord acknowledges the great confession of the disciples. He stamps it with approval. And He promises to bless them. And that's the promise that He makes to you as well. That if you confess Jesus as the Savior, the Son of the living God, and you embrace Him, that you shall enter into holy rest forever and you shall cease from your own self- righteous works and you shall be blessed. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Nov 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131110 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000C9 imblog

Matthew 16:5-12

Last week we were taught that everyone in the world is blind to spiritual reality. Everyone, whether you are a non-Christian or a Christian, our humanness traps us in a world that is blind to spiritual reality. We learned about the blind who will never see, and now we are studying the blind who will be made to see. They are the ones who embrace Jesus Christ and now have Him as eyes, ears and truth-teacher.

And when we met the blind who will never see; we pointed out the things that are characteristic of those blind people. They seek fellowship with the darkness rather than light. Then they also cursed the Light. Their whole intent in coming to Jesus Christ was to discredit Him. And then we noted about them is that they only plunge into deeper darkness.

Then the last characteristic of one who is blind and will never see, is that he is abandoned by the Lord. The Lord says, "I'll give you no sign," and, "He left them and departed." So those who are blind and will never see are so because they run from the only hope they have.

Now, let us look to out text tonight Matthew 16:5-12, “Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” 7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.” 8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Now here we see the other group who will be made to see. Equally blind, because humanness in itself is blind to spiritual reality, these are dependent on the sight given to them by Jesus who comes alongside to help. And here are those characteristics of the blind who are made to see; they seek the Light, receive greater Light and are taught by the Lord.

So let us study those who are made to see seek the Light. Look at verse 5, "Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.” The Lord Jesus Christ has been around the Sea of Galilee, and He keeps going back and forth across the lake. After feeding 4,000 men plus women and children in Decapolis, He got in a ship and arrived back at Magdala, and was confronted immediately by the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And He is followed as always, by His disciples. It says, "His disciples also came to the other side.” And here you find the mark of one who really will come to see, he seeks the Light. The disciples pursued the Light. Now, they were standing at the crossroads; because they had been raised in a Jewish society; and they had learned to respect the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And when Jesus came along, He was the antithesis to everything they taught. He talked about freedom, not law; and all the things the Sadducees denied, Jesus affirmed; and so it was very clear to see that He was the very opposite of them. But when Jesus came to the other shore, they were there too; and that's what always marks out someone who will be made to see. He seeks the Light.

The Scripture is full of statements like Jeremiah 29:13 and Proverbs 8:17 saying, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” And so these disciples were seekers. They sought to know the truth. Jesus was not a light to be seen; He was a Light to be followed; and they sought that Light continuously.

Not all of them who originally were interested in the Light were faithful to follow. In John 6:66-68, when Jesus began to speak of the real commitment which He required for a disciple: “eating His flesh, drinking His blood,” and it says in verse 66, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” You see, they followed the Light.

They knew they needed help in seeing. Psalm 119:18 says, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” Verse 33, "Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes." And then verse 73, "Your hands have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding.” In other words, they knew they couldn't know by themselves; so they sought the Light.

Also they are the eager learners. They are the ones who, when asked, "Will you go away?" answered, "No Lord, there's nowhere to go. You have the Words that we must hear." And so they followed; it isn't that they had some innate ability to be able to see on their own. It isn't that they're any better or any different than the rest.

Now, it is important to note that the disciples indeed needed help in believing and understanding. Jesus gave them that speech of “you of little faith,” on several occasions. They needed help in seeing spiritually, they seemed unable to understand the things the Lord was saying.

Go back to Matthew 13 for a moment, and in verse 9, the Lord had given the parable of the sower and the seed and the soils; and of course He closes the parable by saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." In other words, "If you have the spiritual hearing capacity, then hear it.”

Verse 10, “And the disciples came to Jesus and they said, "Why do You speak to them in parables?” Why do you use veiled sayings, things that aren't clear on the surface? And He said in verse 11, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

And down in Matthew 13:15, Jesus says, “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.”

But verse 16-17 says, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” And you know what's amazing about that? They didn't understand the parable any better than the Pharisees did or the other people who were there.

But the point is then in verse 18, Jesus says, "Hear therefore the parable of the sower," and He explains it to them. You see, the difference between the blind who will never see and the blind who are made to see is not that the blind who are made to see all of a sudden get some innate ability to see in their humanness. The difference is the Lord teaches those that are His. That's the difference.

And this brings us to the great doctrine of illumination. When you, who know Jesus Christ, read the Word of God, you not only have the Bible, but you also have the Holy Spirit residing in you who opens to you the Scripture. You see, while the disciples were on the earth, Jesus taught them. And after He was lifted up the Holy Spirit continued that teaching. We are all blind, but those who are made to see are taught by the Holy Spirit.

When the Lord anticipated leaving them, He wanted to teach them much; and so He taught them after He rose since He was there for forty days. Acts 1:1-3 says, “Jesus began both to do and teach during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

And as Jesus gathered them in John 14:26 He said I am going away, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” In other words, Jesus says, "When I go, the Father will send Him, and the process will continue unbroken," right?

Oh, this is a great promise. The promise is given only to the one who seeks the Light, that he will be given greater Light, because, not only will he be given the Word of God, but he will be given the indwelling Spirit of God, to teach him all things spiritually from the Kingdom.

The reality is that the Spirit of God is working in and elucidating in the heart of each one of us as He is our resident teacher. That's why 1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

In 1 Corinthians 2:4 Paul says, "My speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power." In other words, when you hear him speak, it isn't human wisdom you're hearing. It's the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit coming to you. And so God speaks to us through the voice of His spokesman.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, “When our Gospel came unto you, it came not simply in human strength, but it came in the power of the Holy Spirit.” So we are taught by the teachers whom God has empowered with His Spirit to teach and by the resident Truth Teacher dwelling within us; and so we are led to greater understanding and greater Light.

Now, let's see how the Lord used this occasion to teach these disciples greater truth. Verse 5, they forgot to take bread. That's important; because, it's not easy in the wilderness to get anything to eat; so they needed to plan ahead on that; and they forgot. By the time they got to the other shore, Mark 8:14, the comparative passage says, "They looked around and found one bread cake," which would be like one flat cracker.

Now we can learn one of the greatest lessons in discipling. The Lord takes each moment of distress as a divine opportunity to teach truth. You really build someone to maturity by getting alongside them, and interpreting life in terms of its spiritual significance. That is how you make a disciple. It is taking the struggles, the anxieties, the situations of life and interpreting them on a divine level.

Verse 6, "Jesus says to them, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” He is saying to them, "Look, don't be concerned about physical bread. Be concerned about the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." In other words, "Get up on a spiritual level.” Christ now is months from the cross only, and He wants them thinking spiritually.

Well, leaven is yeast. And so leaven means influence, something held over from the past applied to the present. That is why, when Israel left Egypt, they were not allowed to have leavened bread. God was saying to them, "Don't take something from Egypt and put it into your new lifestyle. It mostly means evil influence, although, in some cases, could mean a good influence.

So what is the leaven of the Pharisees? Well, Luke 12:1 tells us, "The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy, phony religion, externalism, legalism, ritualism and ceremonialism. Everything is on the outside, nothing in the heart. And then beware of the leaven of Herod, Mark adds, which was political ambition, materialism and secularism.

Well, what was their reaction? Verse 7, "The reasoned among themselves." They said, "We think He said this because we have taken no bread." And so, He gives them this lesson in verses 8-10, " O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?”

And so He says, "Have you forgotten that if it was a physical bread problem, I could take care of that? Why are you still on that?" And so in verse 11, He says, “How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

And this brings us to the next point about one who is blind but made to see, and that is that he's taught by the Lord. See how patient Jesus was with them, He really taught them. He comes right back and repeats the same lesson. Verse 11 continues, "I'm talking about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Focus on the spiritual dimension.

That's why the Christian has to read the Word of God regularly, make it a habit. Why? Because as you read it, the Holy Spirit teaches you; and as He teaches you, He elevates you out the physical dimension, where you begin to take God seriously. And after the Lord's patient teaching, just like He has to do with us, the light dawns, you will understand.

Verse 12, “Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Stay away from false doctrine. Jude 1:23 says, "Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”

Look at 1 Corinthians 2:9, “As it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” We are all blind, we can't perceive it. We can't know it externally and objectively. We can't know it internally and intuitively and subjectively. Spiritual reality is not available to human perception.

But look at verse 10, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” Isn't that great? Even the deep things of God are revealed to us by the Spirit. So verse 12 says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

Brothers and sisters, you have in your life as a believer the resident Truth Teacher, the Spirit of God. As you open the pages of the Bible, and the Holy Spirit teaches you, you find yourself plunging into the deep things of God. We who know nothing, we who are stone blind can now begin to experience a little bit of God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Nov 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131103 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000CA imblog

Matthew 16:1-4

The basic issue in this portion of Matthew's Gospel is the subject of spiritual blindness. Do you know that we spend every year $ 10 billion in the United States on eye care. Seven percent of our population is legally blind, but the most amazing statistic is that 100 percent of our population is spiritually totally blind.

You and I cannot see either, except for the illuminating work of the Spirit of God; because, even though we are redeemed, in our humanness we have no capacity to perceive that. Even redeemed humanness can't perceive it. It is all the result of the illuminating work of the Spirit of God.

The people who are blind to the reality of the spiritual world are divided in two groups. There are the blind who will never see it; and there are the blind who will be made to see it; and in our passage we meet both kinds. And the difference between the two is what a person does with Jesus Christ. If you follow Jesus Christ and believe in Him, He makes you see. If you reject Him, you go through life and eternity blind.

In John 1:5-10 we read, "And the Light shines in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”

Now, in Romans 1:21 it says, "because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

John says, "Men are blind." Paul says, "Men are blind. They can't see." In Ephesians 4:17-18 Paul says, “you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” So men do not see.

Psalm 82:5 says, “They walk about in darkness." Psalm 115:5 says, “Eyes they have, but they do not see." In Exodus 5:2, Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord? I do not know the Lord." Of course he didn't, no one does by themselves! Proverbs 4:19 says, "The way of the wicked is darkness." And in Isaiah 42:18 he says, "Look you blind, that you may see.”

The Bible says that three things contribute to this total spiritual blindness. One is sin. We are blind, because sin has blinded us. Sin is paralleled in the Scripture very often with darkness, and the Bible says that we walk in darkness. And it says in John 3 that, "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.”

The second contributor to blindness is Satan. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” So there's the blindness of sin compounded by the blindness caused by Satan.

And, thirdly, there's the blindness because of God’s sovereign judgment. Luke 19:42 says, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!” In other words, if Jerusalem had only awakened to who it was that was in their midst, “But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Later it says in verse 44, “because you did not know the time of your visitation.” You did not awaken to the Light when light was here, and now I affirm you in your blindness.

And so most people just go through world as if the world was all there ever was. That's all there is, is the perception of the world around them; and they missed the reality of the spiritual dimension. Now, these blind people fall into two categories, the blind who will never see and the blind who will be made to see.

In Matthew 13, the Lord described this age and says, "Here are the parables that explain to you the nature of this mystery time." And He gave seven parables. Now, those parables taught that it is a time where there is mixture of belief and unbelief. And that's the characteristic of this age; and frankly mainly rejection, but there are some who believe.

Now, we are at the last of those illustrations to help us understand this era. Again we see the characteristic of the rejecters, and then we'll get a glimpse of the disciples who portray for us the good soil that received and believed the Word. And it is the last time that He really offers the Pharisees and Sadducees an invitation. From now on when He meets with them, it is condemnation.

Sinful blindness and satanic blindness here become sovereign blindness. So He is turning away from those who have ultimately rejected Him. He focuses on His own; and His ministry priority becomes, not the multitudes, not convincing the skeptics, but teaching and disciplining His own, so they'll be ready for the task at hand when He leaves.

Now, let us look first this evening at the blind who will never see. Matthew 16:1-4, “Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.”

Here we see the rejecters again. They are personally blinded by their own sin, satanically blinded, and now sovereignly blinded by God. Now, the setting is interesting. Verse 1 says, "The Pharisees and the Sadducees came." Now where is Jesus now? Well, verse 39 says, "He came to Magdala." As soon as He gets out of the boat, He's back in Jewish territory.

Now the amazing thing about that is that the Pharisees and the Sadducees could even do anything together. They hated each other. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection but the Sadducees did not. They did not believe in angels, in the Holy Spirit and in immortality. They were the theological liberals and the Pharisees were the theological conservatives.

The Pharisees believed in the literal interpretation of the law. They also believed in the traditions. All of the Talmud, all the rules that had been passed down that they thought was equally binding with the written Word of God. On the other hand, the Sadducees did not accept the traditions of the elders, the traditions of the rabbis. They accepted only the Scripture, but they did not believe it literally.

And the Pharisees were mostly common people while the Sadducees were the aristocrats. There was also another factor. The Pharisees were the sons of what were known as the Hassidic Jews. This was a group of Jews during the Maccabean Period between the New Testament and the Old Testament, who were the pious and holy ones; and they despised the influence of Gentile culture.

On the other hand, the Sadducees loved to mingle politically with the Gentile culture. In fact, one of their daughters married Herod, and they even got mingled up with the Herodians. They were the compromisers and the politicians. So the Pharisees come together with the Sadducees; the blind leading the blind. They both believed you were saved by works, self-righteousness; and so they came to attack Jesus.

The second characteristic is that they curse the light. Matthew 16:1 says these guys came, and they were testing Him, hoping He would fail. They were trying to discredit Him publicly. They were trying to They were trying to discredit Him publicly. They were trying to make Him look bad and "they desired that He'd show them a sign from Heaven.

Jesus Himself was a sign from heaven, and where did they think He got all that food to feed the 50,000 people that must have been in those two feedings? And where did those limbs come from that He reattached, and those eyes, and that life that He breathed into those who were dead? No, they wanted only to curse the Light of the World, that's all.

The Jews had a superstition that demons could do earthly miracles, but only God could do heavenly ones. So they said, "Hey, what You have done You did by the power of Beelzebub," in Matthew 12. So they are now saying, "Now do a heavenly one," and they could have said, “Joshua made the moon and the sun stand still. Elijah made fire come out of Heaven. Now do something up there like a sign from Heaven.”

This shows that they had rejected every single miracle Jesus had done before as evidence of His being the Messiah. Even Nicodemus, who was a lot smarter and a lot more pious had said in John 3:2, "We know that no man can do what You do except God be with him." So they had ignored all of that. Of course they couldn't understand anything spiritual.

This is the same as with Pharaoh. God kept demonstrating His power to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh kept hardening his heart. He didn't want to acknowledge any signs; and finally God just devastated the whole Kingdom. Voltaire, the French atheist, summed it up when he said, and I quote, "Even if a miracle should be done in the open market place before a thousand witnesses, I would rather mistrust my senses than admit a miracle.”

Now, that's a man who is blind and will never see. Woody Allen said, "I would believe if only God would give me some clear sign, like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank." That's mocking God, isn't it? You see liberal critics of Scripture only want to deny the truth of God. They want to run to human intellect, to rationalism, to skepticism, to their own ego and all they are showing is that they seek darkness and not light.

Now, look at our Lord's reply in verse 2-3, “He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.”

What He is saying to them is simply this, "Your sensitivity to weather is strange since you are so insensitive toward the things related to God's Kingdom. You pass yourself of as theologians; but you are much better at the weather than you are at theology." They could see physical signs, but not the spiritual.

They were the theological experts, the experts on the Kingdom movements of God, but Jesus said, "You have no clue. You don't even know what's going on. You didn't recognize John the Baptist. You didn't recognize the Messiah. You didn't know what the miracles meant. You didn't know what My teachings meant. You missed it all." In Matthew 23, Jesus calls them "blind guides."

That is a judgment on those who reject the Word of God and call themselves religious leaders, and call themselves theologians. They do not know what time it is. They don't see God's Kingdom. They can't read the realities. Our world is full of them. They can teach you everything, except what is most important, which is about Jesus.

There are signs everywhere that Jesus is coming back. The disciples in Matthew 24:3 said to Him, "Lord, what will be the signs of Your coming at the end of the age?” And He said to them in verse 6, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars." We see that. Verse 7, “And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” We have got a world hunger problem and an increase in earthquakes”, then He continues in verse 11, "Many false prophets will rise up,” and the world is full of false religious leaders.

Ezekiel said, near the end God is going restore His people Israel. And now Israel has become a nation. And then the Bible tells us there will be a unifying of the world. They will all come to one great spiritual union. And in the end time, it is the antichrist who will fill the role of the leader.

The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 2, "There will be an increase of lawlessness," and we see that in our society. First Timothy 4:1 says, "A rise in seducing spirits and doctrine of demons," and it also says in 2 Peter 2, there will be apostasy, denying the faith, denying the Lord, denying the Second Coming. This all is happening in the time we live now. This is the end of the age; and I hope you see the signs of the times.

People who are blind and will never see finally are abandoned by God. Matthew 16:4, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. And He left them and departed.” The point is that God doesn't try to convince the heart that seeks the darkness, curses the light, and plunges deeper and deeper into the pit. That is not the heart that God responds to.

What is the sign of the prophet Jonah? Back in Matthew 12:40-41 Jesus says, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 And the men of Nineveh shall arise in Judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here.”

The only sign you are going to see is the resurrection. Only Jonah's generation is better off than you are, because Jonah's generation repented, and you won't. In fact, these same religious leaders, when they knew of the resurrection, took money and bribed the soldiers not to say anything about Him rising. That's how they cursed the Light.

And what happens as a result? The end of verse 4, "He left them and departed." When God abandons somebody, that is the most severe of all acts; and that's what happens to people who are blind, who curse the Light and plunge deeper. If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you are always in danger of God abandoning you to your darkness. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Oct 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131027 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000CB imblog

Matthew 20:20-28

We live in a very proud and egotistical generation. This is not new, during the time of the Bible, particularly in the Roman Empire, pride was exalted as a virtue and humility was looked on as a weakness. But when people are all committed to only themselves, this will result in the disintegration of all relationships.

And we know that materialism in the business world is based on pride, self- promotion and success-motivation, building yourself up, getting more riches and more self-esteem. Everything is built on pushing yourself to the utmost and ambition for worldly success. You keep thinking: I deserve more than I'm getting now and on and on it goes.

But the Bible speaks about pride very clearly. "A proud heart is sin," it says in Proverbs 21:4. "Every one who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord," it says in Proverbs 16:5. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance," it says in Proverbs 8:13. In fact, pride in Romans 1:30 is the mark of man who has a reprobate mind. And 1Timothy 3:6 says, "Pride comes from the devil."

In fact, the Bible says in James 4 that “God resists the proud.” Isaiah 23:9 says that the Lord brings the proud into contempt. In Exodus 18:11, the proud will be subdued. Psalm 18:27 says, they'll be brought low. They'll be abased, Daniel 4:37. They'll be scattered, Luke 1:51. They'll be punished, Malachi 4:1 says.

On the other hand, humility is exalted as a virtue in the Bible. And we need to understand and practice that in our daily life as well. Micah 6:8 says, “And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Psalm 138:6 says, "Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly.” Psalm 10:17 says, “LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble.” God exalts humility.

Now the lesson of honor through humility, and of glory through suffering, we all need to learn this and this includes the disciples. That is the essence of our text this morning in Matthew 20:20-28. The disciples were into self- promotion, seeking to be somebody special, to be recognized and to be esteemed. And the Lord needed to correct that. Unfortunately Jesus taught this a lot better than they learned. In fact He had to teach this lesson again just a few days after teaching it here on the way to Jerusalem.

Now remember that the disciples left all they had and followed Jesus. But they believed that whatever they gave up now would be replenished many times over when He set up His Kingdom. And so, they were eagerly waiting for the time when Jesus’ Kingdom came and He returned to them a hundred fold everything they had given up.

And the Lord had even reinforced that promise in Matthew 19:28-29, “So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.”

Well, this fed their materialistic tendency. That was not the intent, but that's all they heard. When Jesus talked about suffering, they didn't get it, it went in one ear and out the other. And Jesus just finished, in verses 17 to 19, a broad description of His death. He has talked about it already in chapter 16 and 17, and now in chapter 20 He reiterates for the third time that He's going to Jerusalem to suffer and die.

Yes, there is a Kingdom, but the way to the Kingdom is through suffering. Humility is before honor, as it says in Proverbs 15:33. And Jesus had also told them in Matthew 10 that if you weren't willing to lose your life, you shouldn't follow Him. Then in chapter 16, He told them again to take up their cross and follow Him and that meant death.

And Jesus emphasized humility in Matthew 18 when He said, "unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” And He tried to get that message across to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:21, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But the man wouldn't do that.

And in Matthew 19:27 Peter still asks, “We have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” And now 2000 years later, we still have the same kind of selfishness that the disciples had. Jesus is still talking about suffering. He is still saying, "Take up your cross." He is still saying there's humility as the path to glory. Jesus still is asking us to give up everything we have in this world to do what Christ wants us to do no matter what the cost.

People today look at grace like a free meal. They look at grace like a free ticket to the storehouse of divine goods where they can check out everything they want. They think that all God wants to do is give them health, wealth, happiness, wisdom, comfort and satisfaction. And the explanation for almost every inter-personal problem is thought to lie in someone's low self- esteem.

So let us reexamine then this idea of humility as a path to glory. There are two points in this text, how not to be great in verses 20-25; and how to be great in verses 26-28. Jesus begins with four wrong worldly ways to seek greatness; two by example and two by instruction of our Lord. Jesus said, "My Kingdom is not of this world." So the principles for this world do not operate in His Kingdom. So here are the ways not to be great in God's Kingdom.

Number one: political power play. Now the world says that if you want to get something, it all depends on who you know, right? You manipulate people and circumstances to find your way in with those in power so they'll pull you to the top. Look at this political power play in Matthew 20:20, "Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him," that's James and John, "kneeling down and asking something from Him.”

Mark 10:35-41 is a comparative text, and tells of the same incident but there the mother is not even mentioned. There it's James and John. So we don't want to conclude that this was primarily her idea, or that they were just tagging along. They came as a trio. Matthew seems to focus on her, but Mark definitely focuses on James and John. The request was from all three of them.

And Jesus says in verse 21, "What do you wish? She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” Now they are seeking self-glory, promotion, honor and esteem. They really sought the praise from people. They were bold, their names were "Sons of thunder," they were demanding.

And they came to Jesus in what is a political power play. The mother of the sons of Zebedee is the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. And they want to use the fact that they were His half- cousins as their ace in the hole. So because their mothers were sisters, they come as those who think they have an in. This is politics and manipulation.

And in Mark 10 it says that the mother didn't want to tell Jesus what she desired. She wanted Jesus to promise to give it before she told Him what it was. Very childish, have you ever had your child do that to you?" They wanted this so badly that they wanted to corner Christ into promising something that they thought if He knew He wouldn't do. Of course they did not realize that He was all-knowing.

And yet the church still suffers from those people who come in and want to have preeminence, who love the chief seats just like the Pharisees did in their synagogues. There always will be those who are self-seeking. But our Lord rejects totally any political power play. That is not how you reach the place of blessing and honor in the Kingdom.

The second wrong road to honor in verse 22 to 24 is called ambition. "Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you're asking." The highest places of glory are reserved for those who went through the deepest places of suffering. Who will be those who receive the greatest reward in heaven? The Word of God says: those who suffered the most in life for the cause of Jesus Christ.

Those who confronted the hostile world and paid the most in self-denial and dedication for His purposes, those will be the ones who receive the greater glory. So when we are afflicted, not afflicted with illness or because of our carelessness or our sin, but when we are afflicted, persecuted and suffer for the cause of the gospel, then we are building up a greater inheritance of glory in heaven.

But Jesus is saying you don't know what you're asking. "Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?" If you seek to sit beside Me, you must endure the same suffering that I experience. Now the cup is an Old Testament symbol that means to take everything in, to experience it all. It's reminiscent of Isaiah who talks about the cup of God's fury. Christ drank all that, it is the bitter cup of suffering.

At the end of verse 22, “they said to Him, "We are able." That is excessive confidence. If you think you can do it in your own strength, you can't. It's like Peter, you know, who said in Matthew 26:33, "Well, everybody may forsake you, but I'll never forsake you." And you know what happened? Before the cock crowed, he denied the Lord three times.

Matthew 26:56 says, “Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” They couldn't handle it. Well, in verse 23, ever the gentle Savior, He responds to them in a tender way. He says, "You will indeed drink My cup." You'll taste it. And He knew that they would be faithful. Acts 12 says James was the first martyr that was killed.

And John was faithful, too, and he was the first living martyr, exiled to the Isle of Patmos to spend out his life. They did drink of the cup. They couldn't have drunk it all as Jesus did, but they tasted that same cup. They knew the fellowship of His sufferings. They were able to by the power of the Holy Spirit. See, they never were able to handle this until after the Spirit came and infused them with internal spiritual strength.

Now let us look at what verse 24 says, "And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.” No, they weren't spiritual, they were mad because James and John got in there before they did. Read Luke 22:24-27, they were all arguing about who's going to be the greatest among them.

And so in verse 25, "But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,” That is the world's way in seeking prominence by dominating as dictators. And then there is another way to power by charismatic control. Verse 25 continues, “And those who are great exercise authority over them," the charisma, the ability to speak with glibness and so forth gives them a certain power to sway and move people.

Now as you look at verse 26, the standard is different. And you hear Jesus saying, "Whoever desires to be great among you." Is it right to be rewarded and seek that? The fact is that Jesus here advocates it. Matthew 16:27 says, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”

And so, it's not wrong to seek that, it's only wrong to seek it for the wrong reason. If you seek greatness on God's terms, you will seek it on the track that He has ordained. And that is the track of suffering. And so, if you seek the glory on that path, it is in itself a self-effacing seeking. You understand that?

Oh, there are those who seek the glory but would avoid the pain. Only God can read the reason why we did what we did. So, there's nothing wrong with desiring that. I desire to give all that I have to serve Christ. I desire that I might be able to give Him the most glory possible. I want to fulfill my spiritual gifts. I want to maximize the potential I have for God.

Now look at the end of verse 26, He says, “but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” The simple principle in Scripture is that you cannot lead until you have proven you can serve. You cannot be given the responsibility to lead until you have shown the humble heart of a servant. So, people who want to lead have to come on their own and serve among us, and should God approve of your service, He will lift you up to a place of leadership.

Now the word for servant here is diakonos. We get the word "deacon" from that. It is a word that had to do with low menial service. You would hire a deacon to clean up your backyard, take away your trash, and serve a meal. It talks of the person who doesn't have much education or training, just a person who willingly comes to serve.

Next in verse 27, “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave." We don't understand much because we don't have slaves. But they did. They knew what it was to serve in terrible conditions. And yet, for them it became a graphic demonstration of how committed they should be to serving one another to find the true place of greatness.

The cost of greatness is humble and selfless service. It is important to get this across to young men who are in the ministry so that they would not fear the hard place but instead seek it. And the cost of greatness may be persecution, it may be death. And for some the true path to glory is marked by loneliness, there is a real sense of being apart from the social scene. There is a price to pay for greatness.

There is weariness there too. Fatigue is the price of pushing past mediocrity. And criticism is another part of the pain. You can expect to be misunderstood and misrepresented, misjudged, wrongly evaluated and accused. And to handle that without self-defense, without self- justification means that you bear the burden between you and the Lord and perhaps someone close and dear to you. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

The Lord Jesus Christ went through the greatest humiliation ever. God became man. The sovereign of the universe, the sovereign of all eternity came to be a victim of sin. That is the greatest humiliation of all. And that's why in the Kingdom He's the greatest. He is the greatest, the most exalted because He was the most humbled.

Most kings demand to be served. This king came to serve. So, the passage then comes to a wonderful climax in the fact that the Lord Jesus is not only our example, but He's our redemption. He's our ransom who purchased us from sin. Greatness in the Kingdom, capacity for glory in the Kingdom is in direct proportion to humility and selfless service rendered.

And if your spiritual life is as it should be, then you will seek that eternal glory and you will desire it with all your heart which will cause you to serve Christ with a whole heart and to take the right path even though it means pain or suffering that brings about that eternal weight of glory. Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 20 Oct 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131020 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000CC imblog

Matthew 15:29-39

There is one line in verse 32, where it says, "Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, 'I have compassion on the multitude.'" Here the theme of this text is the compassion of Jesus Christ. Basically it means to suffer with; but the English dictionary describes compassion as this: A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the pain and remove its cause.

The Greek term is basically a verb form added to a word that means bowels or stomach; and it means that Jesus actually felt stomach pain over the needs of people for whom He desired deliverance. That's exactly why He moves in the world. That's exactly why He redeems man. That's exactly why He heals and comforts and extends grace and mercy and loving kindness, to reach men and deliver them from their sins

Again and again in God's dealings with Israel in the Old Testament, it says about God in Exodus 33:19 and in Romans 9:15, "I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion; and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy."

Jesus Christ is God incarnate, in human flesh; and so when we come to Matthew 15:32, we are not surprised to hear Jesus say, "I have compassion." We've heard Him say it before. Matthew 14:14 states, "Jesus went forth, saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion." In Matthew 9:36, it says, "He was moved with compassion, because they were scattered as a sheep without a shepherd.”

So let us now look at our text tonight in Matthew 15:29-39, “Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel 32 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”33 Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?” 34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.” 35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.”

Now, back in verse 29, for a year and a half, Jesus had been ministering in Galilee. He had been serving in that northern area of Palestine among the Jewish people doing miracles, signs, wonders and teaching of the Kingdom of God. But after all that time there was a mounting resistance and much hatred.

And so in verse 21, as we noted last time, He left and went across the border into the region of Tyre and Sidon. But no sooner had He arrived in that Gentile land than He ran into a Gentile woman, verses 22 to 28, who came to Him desiring a healing for her child and who, it says in verse 28, exercised great faith.

Jesus is reaching beyond the covenant people, beyond the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He's reaching out to Gentiles, and He is giving us a prophetic picture of the extension of the Kingdom in the purpose of God to encompass the lost. The intention of Christ coming to Israel was not just for the Jews, but that it was the means to reach the whole world.

Jesus in the three years of His ministry did many things that are a preview of the Kingdom. The transfiguration on the mount when He demonstrated His full glory was a small glimpse of the glory He has when He returned to set up His Kingdom. That He healed everyone is indicative that in the Kingdom He will heal all the nations, as it were.

Now, He came from the area of Tyre and Sidon; the south part of Lebanon and He went east in order to come along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee to a place called Decapolis. Now, it is interesting to note that there was a time gap between the two feedings. Before in Matthew 14:19 when He fed the 5000 it says, "He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass.”

Now, in Matthew 15:35 it says, "He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground." So what happened to the grass? During the feeding of the 5,000 men, it was spring. It is late summer now, because many weeks have transpired to walk through Tyre and Sidon, then to go east across the Jordan, then walk south again on the eastern bank, and now down to Decapolis.

Some people have criticized the two feedings. They think that Matthew mixed up the facts at this point, and he just repeated the same story with different numbers. But the details are very different in these two cases, and the reality is that Christ gave provisions for Israel first but that He also gave provision later for those people who are outside Israel. This is a profound lesson, similar to what happened in the Day of Pentecost with the Spirit of God descending.

The Holy Spirit descended among the Jews and this phenomenon of speaking with tongues occurred. But when the Gospel in Acts 10 was taken to the Gentiles, the very same phenomenon occurred again. And Peter went back to the Jews and said, "You're not going to believe this, but the same pouring out of the Holy Spirit that happened to us happened also to the Gentiles."

That is the whole point, so that we can see that God treats all men the same way. And so if our Lord was to feed the Jews, He also demonstrated that He would also feed the Gentiles. The Lord ended each phase of His ministry with a feeding. He ended the ministry in Galilee with the feeding of the 5,000 and He ended the ministry in the Gentile area with the feeding of the 4,000.

Now Decapolis is on the southeast edge of the Sea of Galilee. It's not far from the area called Gadara where Jesus, delivered two demoniacs and sent the demons into the herd of swine. It's the southern end of the Golan Heights now. Decapolis means ten small Greek cities. They were not under the rule of Israel or any of its monarchs. They were Gentiles, wedged in the middle of Jewish lands.

So they were totally into Greek paganism with statutes for Zeus, Athena, Artemis, and Hercules and many other Greek gods and Jesus came there. Now they were actually somewhat familiar with Jesus. In Matthew 4:25 it says multitudes came, "From Galilee, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from Judea and then from those countries beyond the Jordan," which would be Syria and so forth.

So when Jesus arrived again in that region, verse 30 says, "Great multitudes came unto Him," and we know why they came. Eventhough it was a wilderness area. It may have taken some time for all of them to gather, but they did come, and because they knew Jesus could heal anyone, they brought with them, "those that were lame and blind and dumb and mutilated and put them down at His feet and He healed them all.”

Now, look at the word mutilated or maimed. That same word is used later on in Matthew 18:8 where our Lord says, “It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire.” It has a unique meaning, it is about someone who has lost a limb or other body part; but Jesus healed those people. If they didn't have an arm, He gave them one. If they didn't have a leg; He gave them a new one. If they were missing an ear, He gave them a new one.

It says at the end of verse 30, "He healed them," and that statement is profound; yet it almost passes by unnoticed. It says also in this text that, "They put them down at His feet." You can imagine 4,000 men plus women and who knows how many thousands of children, probably 20,000 total being around Jesus. Can you imagine the chaos of this? They surely were not waiting in line.

People with no arm are going away with a new arm. People who had lost their eyes were going away with new eyes. People who had never spoken were speaking, and people who had never been able to walk were walking. And this was going on for all of them, you see. The result we see was verse 31, "The multitude marveled.” This is beyond imagination, this is incredible.

Their wonder was greater than the wonder of the Jews, because they was always limited by their skepticism. It was always limited by their spiritual pride and the bondage of their ceremony and tradition; and the blindness that exists on Israel today was there then already. But these Gentiles didn't have that; and so Mark 7:37 says, "They were beyond measure astonished."

Everybody was totally whole. Nobody with a problem was missed, and nobody was less than complete. And the greatness of the result comes at the end of verse 31, "They gave glory to the God of Israel." You see, it wasn't their God. Again, this reinforces the fact that these people were Gentiles. But they knew God was in their presence.

Now, what does it mean to glorify God? Look at Luke 5:25, Jesus heals a paralyzed person, "And immediately the man rose up, took up his bed on which he was laying, departed to his own house, glorifying God." Now, we learn more about that as we look at verse 26, "The people were amazed and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, 'We have seen strange things today.'"

So glorifying God in this context is a combination of praise and fear. The positive element says, "This inexplicable, this is miraculous," and it is the other one says, "This is fearful," because a God who has that power is also a God who knows the sin of my heart; and there was a sense of fear in His presence, and rightly so.

Now this continuous for three days; the crowd never leaves. All day long, the Lord heals and surely teaches them the things pertaining to the Kingdom, invites them to embrace Him. At night, they don't go anywhere. They lay down on the ground, and they sleep; and when the Lord awakens in the morning with His disciples, they're all still there; and it goes on the second day and night; and then the third day.

Now verse 32, "Then Jesus called His disciples unto Him and said, 'I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me now three days and have nothing to eat." Now, this is amazing. Three days not eating and drinking is going to weaken anybody. Here the Lord shows his compassion, because they are not like Him who fasted for forty days and forty nights. Here we begin to understand the infinite and all-encompassing compassion of God.

This compassion of God extends even to the need of daily food. That's why David said, "I've never seen the Lord's people begging for bread." That's why Jesus said in Matthew 6, "Look, if My Father takes care of the grass and the lilies, don't you think He'll take care of you?" And that's why the Lord said also said there, "When you pray, say this, Give us this day our daily bread," because God cares about that.

And at the end of verse 32, He says, "I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way." And that is what God calls us to do also and in order for the church to be Christ in the world, we too have to demonstrate this compassion at that level, because God is as infinite in His compassion as He is in the other attributes.

Verse 33, "And the disciples say to Him, 'From where should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude?'" They mean, in this wilderness area they are far away from towns, there was no resource. The emphasis is not here on their unbelief, but on their recognition of their lack of resources. They knew Jesus could do it, they hadn't forgotten that.

Verse 34, “And so Jesus says to them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.'" And He didn't ask them how many fish they had, but they remembered the last time, and they knew that His favorite lunch to provide was bread and fish, so they threw in the deal about the fish. They hadn't forgotten. It says here, "We've got seven loaves and a few little fish.”

So in verse 35-36 it says, “So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples (and He kept doing that for a long time); and the disciples gave to the multitude.”

And then verse 37 says, “So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.” Again, the Lord never leaves them half full. And there were 4,000 men, besides women and children. Everybody was satisfied and they got seven baskets full of what was left.

Remember the first feeding had twelve baskets, but here you have only seven. Why the difference? The basket in Matthew 14:20 is kofanass, a little basket typically used by the Jews. But the word for basket used here is spurdiss and that is a big Gentile basket. How big was it? Acts 9 tells us that the same basket, spurdiss, was used to lower the Apostle Paul down the wall in Damascus. It ends in verse 39, "He sent away the multitude, got into a boat and came to the borders of Magdala.”

What is the lesson for us? We often don't have the resources; but are we willing to give the little that we do have, huh? The Lord says, "Give Me what you got. It isn't enough, but I will multiply it and make it enough." And then He fills everybody.

In reality we often don't believe that. We think, "Well, if I give this, I'll only have this much left for myself." That's because we don't believe that God is in the business of filling up. When you learn that you can give everything you have prompted by the Spirit of God and this will never diminish the infinity of God's provision for you, you have learned a lot.

The Lord doesn't need helpers, but He uses the disciples. I'm grateful that God’s plan involves us in that we can serve. He chose to use human instruments; and that teaches us that it is God who creates and we must deliver. The disciples never get anything until they have given everything away; and then they get to collect what is left over; this is the principle of spiritual investment by trusting God

In order to get something, they had to give it away to others. We are called to give it all away, to pour our energy and our money and our resources into those who have the need, and in giving it all, God gives it back. 2 Corinthians 9:6 says, "If you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you will reap bountifully." And so our compassion is measured by our giving. Are you giving it all away for Jesus? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Oct 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131013 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000CD imblog

Matthew 15:21-28

Matthew 15:21-28, “Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” 23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” 24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”

Jesus says of this woman, "You have great faith." The Bible speaks of little faith, weak faith, and also of strong faith, abiding faith and obedient faith. But what is the nature of great faith? This isn't the first time our Lord has said this. In Matthew 8, a centurion came to Him and wanted Jesus to perform a miracle on behalf of his servant, who was paralyzed. Jesus said to him, "I have not found so great faith in Israel." And both were Gentiles.

Verse 21, "Then Jesus went out from there," that is, from Galilee where He had been ministering for a long time, “and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.” The pressure was mounting, His ministry was so far-reaching, everyone knew about it. And hostility was rising from the people who wanted to force Him to be a king and the Pharisees wanted to kill Him.

So from the frenzy of Galilee, He went to the north, the region of Tyre and Sidon. He went beyond the political and religious jurisdiction of the leaders of Israel. The journey was perhaps 50 miles through rough mountain passage roads. It was a great change in climate, from the hot area of the Sea of Galilee, to the high cool mountains of southern Lebanon.

So Jesus left Palestine, the land of Israel, for a brief time to go into the border region of Phoenicia. For Jesus, this was a deliberate withdrawal. Some people find it contradictory that He actually went into a Gentile land because of what it says in verse 24, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." We'll see what verse 24 means as we move through the text, but it is in no way violated the truth of that verse.

Mark 7:24 says, "He went away to the region of Tyre. When He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it." So He did not specifically go there to minister. But Jesus knew there would be some ministry there. The people of Phoenicia, that area now known as Lebanon, had already heard much about His ministry.

As far back as Matthew 4, when Jesus was beginning His ministry in Galilee, verse 24 says that people were coming out of that area north of the border of Palestine and were going down to Galilee, because they had heard of Jesus. And they were bringing multitudes with them, and He healed their diseases and cast out their demons.

Mark 3:8, which also records an earlier time, says, "From the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude heard of all that Jesus was doing and came to Him." Note that they must have had receptive hearts. These were hearts that were not burdened by the legalism of Judaism, not bound by the chains of tradition. They were less intellectually proud and less religiously proud.

Look at Matthew 11:21, Jesus says, "Woe unto you, Korazin and Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." So Jesus says that the people of Phoenicia were quite receptive and that is not true among the Jews.

So although He is not fully opening the ministry to the Gentiles, or canceling out the priority of Israel, He is extending Himself to open hearts. Jesus knew that when He got there, He would meet this woman, because He knew everything. And before He left, according to Mark 7:31, He did minister to many people in that area, so He responded to other open hearts.

There is symbolism in this; He is abandoning traditional religion for true faith. He is abandoning religious pride for humility. He is abandoning the one who seeks nothing for the one who seeks with an open heart. He is always available to that person. His mission has always been what He said in Matthew 28, "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations."

Look at verse 22, "Behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him." This person, according to the Jews, cannot enter into the blessing of God. First, it's a woman, and secondly, she's a Canaanite. They were the original occupants of the Promised Land, and God said to Israel, "This is now your land, the land of our covenant, and when you enter that land, totally eliminate the Canaanites.”

Mark calls her a Syro-Phoenician, that is, from the area of Syria and Phoenicia, or Syria and Lebanon. This is the woman who comes to Jesus, and she is a picture of genuine, saving faith. She is outside the covenant, a sinner from a people of sinners, she has no worthiness to ask anything of our Lord, and she is the perfect example of a sinner who comes without right or privilege to embrace Jesus Christ by faith alone.

We can conclude that she is totally dissatisfied with her idols. If she has been worshiping Astarte alone or in concert with other gods, they have not been able to solve her problem. Her needs are not met, and so she comes to Jesus Christ believing in her heart that He can meet her need. Jesus says of her in verse 28, "You have great faith."

This is an important note: great faith is a relative term. To her, it was great faith because her knowledge was so limited. She was a pagan outside the covenant, outside the Word of God, and she had been in area where the Lord Jesus had not been doing His mighty deeds. So based on having little information and almost no content, her faith is great.

On the other hand, when the Lord says to the disciples, "Oh you of little faith," it is only little in a relative sense; relative to all they knew and to all they had been exposed to. But in her case, this is great faith, that is the key to the whole passage. If you don't understand that the faith of the woman is the issue, you can't understand what goes on.

There are five qualities that mark great faith. The first one is that great faith is properly directed. She put her faith in the right person. She was disillusioned with the idols, the no-gods, all the things of this world, like money, status and worldly knowledge. She now puts her faith in Jesus. Many have great faith, but in the wrong things!

Secondly, faith is repentant. We see that in verse 22, "A woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, 'Have mercy on me.'" What does that mean? What does mercy say? Mercy says, "I'm here in spite of the fact that I don't deserve anything."

The term 'mercy' is a biblical term. In the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, the word eleeo, is used 500 times! It describes man's relation to God that man comes to God only to seek mercy. David cries out to God in Psalm 51, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to Your loving kindness, according to Your tender mercies." This is the opposite of the spiritual pride of the Pharisees and scribes.

Genuine saving faith really understands the blessing of Christ. There is repentance, a sense of unworthiness and penitence. You recognize that you are asking a favor that you do not deserve. Great faith has repentance; repentance isn't something you add to faith. Faith and repentance, like Siamese twins, are vitally joined together. Faith and repentance are like two spokes in the same wheel.

Thirdly, her faith was also reverent. Listen to what she says, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!" She gives Him such a reverent title, and really two titles. The first is Lord, sovereign deity, and second Son of David, promised Messiah and Savior. She knows Jesus has supernatural power.

The fact that she seeks and believes that Jesus can free her daughter from a demon vexation indicates that she believes that Jesus has power over the supernatural kingdom of Satan and demons. She understands that the word 'Lord' has some sense of deity, of the supernatural, of sovereignty over darkness and demons.

Then she calls Him, "Son of David." That is a Messianic title, the right to be a king, and there is sovereignty in that as well. David was a king, and this Lord who was his son was also of royal lineage. She sees in that Messianic name the royal, sovereign Christ. It certainly was of great contrast to the irreverent Jews who called Him a drunk, a friend of sinners and demon-possessed.

People in our day are very irreverent toward Christ. They would use His name profanely, as a curse word, an epithet to express their anger or bitterness. Even in the church, I fear that we sometimes have become irreverent. Great faith has great reverence, a sense of respect and awe.

She says, "My daughter is badly demonized." This ought to be a warning that even a little child in a pagan society is susceptible to being demonized. It is nice to see a mother, outside the covenant, who didn't know God, who loved her baby. We don't always see that kind of love in our society. God has built in, even to pagans, that a woman should love her child. We see less and less of that today.

Fourthly, great faith is persistent. Notice beginning in verse 23, Jesus puts up a series of barriers for this woman. Some people come to Christ and have to struggle through their own doubt, some struggle through their inabilities, but this woman, in order to get to Christ, has to struggle through the barriers that Jesus puts up Himself.

In verse 23, she says, "'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.' But He answered her not a word." He didn't say a word. You say, "That isn't like Christ. I mean, why does He remain silent?" Did He care? Sure. Did He have compassion? Of course, but what was He doing? Why didn't He say anything?

Jesus wanted to test, to strengthen and to increase this woman's faith to reach its full potential, so He puts up barriers through which she must persist to show the reality of true faith. That's why this account is in the text, to contrast it with the shallowness of the prior ones we have seen. So Jesus puts up the barriers through which only genuine faith will persist.

So Jesus doesn't say anything. His disciples are not nearly so in control, verse 23 continues, "His disciples came and urged Him, saying, 'Send her away, for she cries out after us.'" They're saying send her away please! It is no big thing to just heal and send her away.

Instead, Jesus says this to her, and of course they heard this in verse 24, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Wow, it's saying, "Lady, you're not a Jew. Sorry." Why would He say that? He had healed the centurion's servant, given grace to a Samaritan. And the multitudes who had come out of Tyre and Sidon in Matthew 4 had been healed, and the demons had been cast out of them.

Jesus is saying first of all that the plan is still the same. He would go back into Israel, and preach to them and call them to believe and come to His Kingdom. Even when He ascended into Heaven, Peter stood up in Acts 3 and says, "You have killed the Prince of Life," and at the end of the sermon, he says, "But you're still the sons of the covenant." In other words, God is still calling out to them.

Mark 7:27 adds in his account that Jesus said, "Let the children first be filled." In other words, "I'm going to feed Israel first." We always knew that He would go to the world, and Israel was to be the channel, and already many Gentiles had responded, but Jesus wanted them to know that that was still God’s plan, to go through Israel.

Fifthly, great faith is humble. Verse 25, "Then she came and worshiped Him." This is a humble lady! She's not mad, she's worshiping. She says, "Lord help me." By the way, it says that she worshiped, and the word is proskuneo, which means she bowed down, and put her head in the dirt in worship.

Worship is always accepted by the Lord. Whenever Jesus was worshiped, He accepted it because He deserved it; He was God. This is the truly seeking heart, the beatitude attitude, where you come begging in your spirit, meekly, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and even the Lord Himself cannot put sufficient barriers to hold you back.

Then the Lord says, "It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." At first He's silent, and now, He calls her a dog! It's another barrier. You're thinking, "Is the Lord trying to convert this woman or not?" But He gives her a little picture.

There are two words in the Greek for 'dogs,' and one is the mangy, vicious kind of dog that runs in packs and prowled around the garbage. The other is the word for little pet dog, and that's the word Jesus uses. So it is not a vicious statement; what He's saying is that while you're eating dinner, you don't take the kids' food and give it to the begging pet dog at their feet.

And she said, "Yes, Lord." Now, she's not just emotional, but she's sharp, "Yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." She picks up on His analogy and takes it a step further; she's persistent. If Jesus was going to make being a Jew an issue, she would go through that. That couldn't stop her either.

That was a true statement. Through the time that Jesus was feeding the children of Israel, crumbs were dropping to the Gentiles, and we see it all through the gospel account. Finally, of course, the time will come when the church is born and Gentiles are embraced in a marvelous way. What a persistent lady.

Watch our Lord's response in verse 28. "Then Jesus answered and said to her, 'O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour." That was a saving day for that lady, because she had great faith. That's what great faith does. How is your faith? Let's pray that our faith is like hers.

]]> Sun, 06 Oct 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20131006 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000CE imblog

Matthew 15:10-20

Let's together examine Matthew 15 this evening to hear from Him who speaks through His Word. We are all very conscious today of the term 'pollution.' We see it on the internet, air pollution, mind pollution and environmental pollution. The word pollution is also a biblical word. In fact, the word 'defile' in the Bible is the same thing.

Matthew 15:10-20 says, “When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” 12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” 15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

Five times in that text we see the word 'defile.' The dictionary basically says that the word defile means 'to make impure, unclean, dirty, foul,' or 'to pollute.' Hundreds of times, God speaks to the issue of being polluted or defiled. In Psalm 119:1, the Bible says, "Blessed are the undefiled." In James 1:27, he calls for pure religion and undefiled.

Paul, in I Corinthians 3:16-17 says, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." So we must understand what pollutes us and how to deal with it. Paul told in Ephesians 5:27 that the Lord wanted His church to be holy and without blemish.

There are three points here: first the principle stated, second the principle violated, and thirdly the principle articulated. Look at the principle stated in verses 10-11, “When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

The Pharisees had come to make Yesus look bad. Look at Matthew 15: 2-3, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. 3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” Then He pointed out that their traditions which just man- made rules so they wouldn't have to support their needy parents, which was commanded in the Scripture.

So instead of embarrassing and discrediting Jesus, they had been publicly shamed and discredited by the words of our Lord, who ended up in verses 7-9 by calling them hypocrites who are described by the prophet Isaiah and who worship God in an empty manner, substituting the Word of God for the traditions of men.

Jesus says, "Listen and understand." It is not difficult to understand, but since it is the opposite of everything they've ever heard of in their religion, He wants them to listen carefully and think it through. That brings us to verse 11, "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” It is not so much a matter of understanding it as it is more a matter of accepting it.

Jesus is saying, "Defilement is an inside matter, not an outside matter." You see, the Pharisees had come along and said, "You have defiled Yourself by eating food that is defiled," and the Lord is saying that it isn't what goes in that defiles, but what comes out of your mouth is what defiles you. Jesus is saying that defilement is not a physical issue, but a spiritual one. It is not a ritual matter, but a moral one.

You have just seen Jesus crystallize in one statement the antithesis between Judaism and the truth. Frankly, they shouldn't have been so shocked that He would preach that the heart was the issue, because even in the Old Testament, in I Samuel 16:7 God says that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart? Jesus says that; it's not what goes into your mouth, but what comes out of your heart that matters.

The parallel passage in Mark 7:15 says the same basic statement, but instead of saying, "That which comes out of the mouth," it says, "That which comes out of the man." In other words, the evil that is in us is not only demonstrated by what we say but also by what we do. The mouth is the more dominant revealer of our internal pollution. But really, it is a symbol of the whole man.

Mark adds just a small sentence at the end of Mark 7:19 that says, "Thus He declared all foods clean." Jesus is saying, "There are no more unclean foods, no more kosher, no more ceremonies, no more forbidden food. That all has passed and is over."

The Jews for their whole life have been following a prescribed diet based upon clean and unclean, not only that which was defined biblically, but that which was defined traditionally, and they had a massive amount of ceremonial stuff that they had to abide by in their diet and activities: eating, drinking, touching, and all these things. They were living by external rituals.

External rituals cannot change the heart and it cannot ever really deal with the inside of a person, therefore all religion apart from the truth is left with only externals. Every false religion is full of all kinds of rituals, and external issues. The heart is wretched, and the Pharisees were really wretched and filled with hate, desiring to murder Jesus.

Where did all this ceremony and ritual and washings and all the rest come from? It all started in the book of Leviticus; you'll find a long list of ceremonies that they were required to follow. There are animals they could and couldn't eat, birds they could and couldn't eat, things they could and couldn't touch, ways they could and couldn't cook and many features of clothing. These are the ceremonies of the Old Testament.

But notice: at no time in the Old Testament does it ever say that these things were sinful. So the Bible does not define these things as sins, but says that it made a person unfit to worship God. They had to follow whatever cleansing was necessary to prepare them physically to come into the presence of God. All this started in the Old Testament.

"Why?" Here's why. When God gave the Old Testament, it was in the early days of God's redemptive plan with His covenant people. Whenever you want to teach a child, you gave your children books full of pictures. So they started to learn the world through pictures. The Old Testament is also a book full of pictures, and the entire ceremonial system was like a set of pictures.

God was saying, "Do you see how you cannot come into God's presence to worship Him physically when you are ceremonially unclean? God wants you to come to worship Him spiritually only when your heart is pure." Do you see the picture? The whole ceremonial system is a picture of what God wants his people to be inside their hearts. Remember that circumcision doesn't save people, or save the Jews; circumcision was a physical sign that what tearing away had occurred in the flesh, God wanted to do in the heart.

That's why the prophet said, "Circumcise your heart." If God was concerned that we be clean on the outside, how much more was He concerned that we be clean on the inside. Sadly for Israel, they just focused on the pictures. So by the time of Jesus, instead of receiving the fullness of real spirituality, they were just adding more pictures and ceremonies to the ones given in the Bible. In fact, when the reality came, they killed Him.

In Matthew 23:4, Jesus says, "They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” That is really the essence of Hebrews 9-10. We will never understand the book of Leviticus until we understand the commentary on Leviticus, which is Hebrews. Listen to some selected statements.

Hebrews 8:5 says that all of those ceremonies in the Old Testament are an example and a shadow of heavenly things. In Hebrews 9:9-10, it says that they were figures for the time then present, and that foods and drinks and various washings and fleshly ordinances were imposed until the time of reformation, which is the time of the arrival of the Messiah and the new covenant. Hebrews 10:1 says, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things.”

That's why, Hebrews 10:22 summed up in this: "Let us draw near with a true heart, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." In other words, God was after the spiritual cleansing. That's why Hebrews 6:1-2 says, "Leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ.” That's talking about Judaism. "Let us leave the doctrine of 'washing,' and that's what it means.

In fact, Hebrews 5:12-6:8 is written to Jews who are sitting on the fence and won't abandon their ceremonialism. He's saying, "let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” 'Perfection' in the book of Hebrews refers to salvation. He's saying to leave the washings, since they were only pictures and symbols, nothing more.

So what is the Lord saying in verse 11, “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” It's one of the ways in which Jesus fulfilled Matthew 5:17, "I have not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it." In a very real sense, there are many ways He did that, and this was one of the ways, by abolishing the ceremonial system, by putting an end to the pictures, and by bringing the reality.

In the New Testament, we see this transition. Mark 7:19 says, "Thus He called all foods clean," and ended the system of ceremonial foods. So what really defiles? It says that things of our heart defile in verse 18. In Titus 1:15, it says unbelief defiles; in 1 Corinthians 8, idolatry defiles; in Hebrews 12, bitterness defiles; so these are all internal issues in the New Testament because the external picture has passed away.

An illustration of this is Acts 10. Peter went up onto his roof to pray, and the Lord put him in some kind of a trance. He was hungry, and we would have thought he would see a table spread with kosher food, but instead in his vision, Heaven opened and a big sheet came out with everything in it, four-footed beasts, wild beasts, creeping things and fowls of the air.

And a voice tells him, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat. Go for it, Peter; it's all for you." His reaction is, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” But the voice tells him a second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common.” That happened three times to get the message across.

Let us go back where now we see the principle violated in verse 12. Mark tells us that they had now moved to a house, very likely the house the Lord used to stay in Capernaum. They are inside, away from the crowd and away from the scribes and Pharisees. And now it's time to teach the disciples.

Verse 12, "Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" They were trying to help the Lord out here. They were warning Him to be careful about what He says, or He could get them in a lot of trouble. But they did not understand how wrong the Pharisees really were.

The second thing we learn about hypocrites in verse 13 is that they are not only offended by the truth, but destined for judgment. Jesus says, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted." Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares, where God sowed the wheat, and the enemy, Satan, came and sowed the tares. This means that the ones that God doesn't plant will be rooted up, or judged.

Notice the beginning of verse 14, a very important statement. "Let them alone." That is a hard statement. What does that mean? It really can be translated, "Stay away from them." What does that mean? One, it's the staying away of judgment. Hosea 4:17 says, "Ephraim has joined idols; let him alone.”

Secondly, it's the staying away in terms of, "Don't you act as the judge." Remember how we saw that in the story of the wheat and the tares? They said in Matthew 13, "Should we rip the tares out?" And He said, "That's not your job; the angels will come in due time and do that. Your job is to proclaim the message of the Kingdom. We'll take care of the judgment. Don't try to rip them up.”

There is a third reason. Why? Because verse 14, hypocrites lead others to disaster. "They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a pit." The pit means Hell; they lead people to Hell, so stay away from them. Don't be close to them because they lead people to disaster.

Finally, the principle is articulated. Verse 15, they move into the house, and they're together, and Peter said, "Explain this parable to us." He's talking about the parable in verse 11, about the mouth and stuff going in and coming out. It wasn't that they couldn't understand what He meant, it was just that they couldn't accept it; Peter especially.

Verses 16-18, “So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.” The cesspool is inside of you, and it is your heart.

Verse 19-20, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

If we're to be sure we avoid the defilement, we need a pure heart. Isn't that Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” So the prayer of every individual should be, "Lord, purify my heart."

How does He do that? Only one way can our hearts be purified, and that is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who purifies the heart and washes away the sin. In the terms of Ezekiel, He gives us a new heart. Every person needs that. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Sep 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130929 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000CF imblog

Matthew 14:34-15:9

This evening, let us look at Matthew 14 and 15. It is important to understand that God wants to cleanse your hearts, and to wash you on the inside; He will not tolerate your empty external worship. God says in Isaiah 66:2 that He has made everything, but He still looks for one thing: "I look for one who is poor and of a humble spirit who trembles at My words.”

God wants genuine worshipers. The prophet Amos, in chapter 5: 21-27 says, "I don't want any more feasts, festivals, sacrifices, and I want you to stop your singing until you get your hearts right." Malachi 1 and 2 say the very same thing, "Don't offer any more polluted offerings, lame and blind animals, don't desecrate your marriage relationships and deal treacherously with the wives of your youth and then come into My temple and purport to worship Me.”

Isaiah said it, and Jesus, our Lord, said it as well in this text and we also need to say it today. Let's look at Matthew 14:34-36, "When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.”

Matthew 15:1-9, “Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’”

“5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, 8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

That is an important passage; it defines the religious battle between Jesus and the religion of His time. As we look at this text, we need to see Jesus in His many character traits. First of all, in verses 34-36, we see Him as the compassionate healer. Then right after that in Matthew 15:1-9, He becomes the condemning judge.

Next week, in Matius 15:10-20, we will see Him as the correcting teacher. In each case, He is setting right something that is wrong. He cured their diseases; their hypocrisy, He unmasked their religion and explained what a true relationship with God means; and in verses 10-20, He corrected the wrong doctrines.

We start in verse 34, "When they had crossed over," that is, the disciples and our Lord had gone over the Sea of Galilee. Remember that they had spent the day before feeding the multitude and healing and preaching the Kingdom, and at night, Jesus had come, walking on the water. They finally arrived at the shore, and sometime after that, they had come into the land of Gennesaret. So it may be later in the next day.

Remember when they came to the other shore early in the morning, Jesus taught that important spiritual lesson that He is the bread of life. The same crowd that had been on the eastern shore had come across; they had a free dinner and they were back for a free breakfast. But instead of Jesus feeding them physically, He fed them spiritually, speaking about the bread of life. Later in the day that they retreated to the land of Gennesaret.

Gennesaret is a land area about 3.5 miles long and maybe up to 2 miles wide at its widest point. It borders the northwestern coast of the Sea of Galilee. It is close to Bethsaida and Capernaum. According to Josephus that land was lush with unrivaled beauty, marvelous crops and a variety of products. It was a beautiful area that had four springs and magnificent wheat fields. All kinds of vegetation grew along the edge of the lake which was inhabited by many kinds of birds.

Jesus wanted to spend time with His disciples, but is interrupted again. Matthew 14:35-36, "When the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, and brought to Him all who were sick and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.”

They may have remembered the woman in Matthew 9, who grabbed His robe and was healed. All they felt they needed to do was to touch Him, they are saying, "We need so desperately what you have to give, but we don't want to be an extra burden. You don't have to get around to all of us; we'll just touch You, and that way we'll be as little a problem to You as we can be." So there is sensitivity in their approach and great faith.

But this also is an example of people who only came to Jesus to get what they wanted. Then, having gotten what they wanted, they left. Even today in our contemporary Christianity, Jesus is often times seen as a genie who responds to our wishes, and having received our wishes, we abandon any meaningful relationship. So in spite of their self-centeredness, He still healed them. That shows the compassion of God.

Now we come to the condemning judge phase. As compassionate as He is on the one hand, so condemning is He on the other hand. God is compassionate, but is also a God of great judgment and justice. Let's look at Matthew 15:1, "Then the scribes and Pharisees who were of Jerusalem came to Jesus." This delegation is sent after the Passover at the request of the Galilean Pharisees who were also upset at Jesus.

So this was an important delegation of high ranking scribes and Pharisees who were sent from Jerusalem. They are representatives of the legalistic, self-righteous, external religious establishment. They are of Satan, not God; they hate Jesus Christ. They despise the truth that is in Christ. They are the enemies of our Lord.

They want to attack Him publicly to make Him look bad in front of everyone. They want to discredit Him and since they were more prestigious than the local leaders, so Jesus handled them with more severity. What Jesus taught was the exact opposite, and they were on a head-on collision course. They believed that worship was ceremonial and external, and Jesus taught that it was from the heart.

And this is the same battle we face today with hypocrisy in the church, and people all over the world who call themselves Christians but who are not, but go only through external motions. The first blow is thrown in Matthew 15:2 by the scribes and Pharisees, "Why do Your disciples transgress the traditions of the elders?” They had thought a long time about that question, and it sums up the battle instantly.

Let us study this so you'll understand what the tradition of the elders was. Tradition is that which is handed down from one generation to the next. This is not coming from God who gave us Scripture. Anytime you have a religion that is Scripture plus tradition, you have a problem. That is the case now with Roman Catholicism and the case with Judaism. People no longer can distinguish what is from God and what is from men.

The Talmud, which is the Jewish law, says that God gave the oral law to Moses, and then told Moses to pass it on to other men of the synagogue who were to do three things with the law of God. First, they had to properly apply God's law. Two, they were to teach that to many disciples so they too could apply the law correctly. Three, they were to protect the law; don't let it be attacked, but wall it in.

Since obedience was not spontaneous from the heart, the only other way to get people to do things is to force them to do it. So they started adding more and more laws and they became the spiritual enforcers of the laws. The ultimate result was that it totally obscured the law of God. What the people saw was the wall fortification, but they couldn't see the law of God.

And that wall is what we call the tradition of the elders. When Israel and Judah went into captivity, it was a shock to the land of Israel and the Jewish people. It was as if God had abandoned them. The God-fearing Jews among them realized that they had departed from Jehovah God, and they were getting what Isaiah and Jeremiah said they would get; which is the judgment of God because they departed from God.

So the only hope of reconciliation was to turn back to God. As a result of that, a movement started to reacquaint the people with the law and all the traditions of the elders, to get them back to the right kind of behavior. Ezra fathered a whole group of people known as scribes, who were to collect, collate, interpret this tradition of old. It kept getting bigger, every rabbi commented on it. So much so they lost the distinction between the law of God and the tradition of men.

Over the years, this thing became very difficult to handle, so in 200 A.D., Rabbi Yehuda committed it to wiring and it is called the Mishnah, which is from the Hebrew verb 'to repeat.' Beyond that, there were commentaries on the Mishnah, because it needed to be explained. So they then had the Gemara, which are a series of commentaries on the Mishnah filled with all kinds of things.

And in Jerusalem they put the Gemara and the Mishnah together, and it became known as the Talmud. In Babylon, they did the same thing, only they made it four times as big by collecting four times as much material, so the Babylonian Talmud is now considered the most accepted among the Jews. By the way, there are at least 20 volumes in Hebrew; a massive amount of material.

So here are these guys with all their tradition, and they had come to be so committed to it that the Talmud says, "The words of the scribes are more lovely than the words of the law.” It is a greater crime to transgress the words of the school of rabbi Hillel than the words of Scripture.” “My son, attend to the words of the scribes more than the words of the law." So they loved ceremony and tradition more than truth and righteousness.

Matthew 15:2, "Why do Your disciples transgress the traditions of the elders?” That is a general statement, but then they give an illustration. "For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." They're not talking about cleanliness and anyone knows you want to have clean hands before you put food in your mouth; that is not the issue. They are accusing the disciples of violating a religious tradition.

They believed that every Jew had to go through ceremonial washings of your hands for two reasons. Reason number one was that if you had touched a Gentile that day, you were defiled and there was a prescribed ceremony to detoxify your Gentile touch. Secondly, there was a demon by the name of Shibtah, which dwelt on people's hands while they slept. So if they did not eliminate him, they would allow him to enter into their bodies.

Do not think this is unique to the Jewish people, throughout history, even also in Christianity, people have been attached to all kinds of meaningless ceremonies that have obscured the truth. Many people believe that dancing is forbidden or that casual clothes or shorts are unacceptable in church or that certain tribal traditions have to be part of their church. There are all kinds of specific human traditions that are not from God.

Watch how Jesus responds to this. Now we go from confrontation to condemnation in Matthew 15:3, "But He answered them, 'Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?'" Notice the word 'also,' that is an admission of guilt. Jesus is saying, "Yes, we do break your tradition.” Then He dismisses it; He doesn't even bother to deal with it, because it's so meaningless.

Jesus said to them, we're not violating any commandment of God, but you with your traditions think that that is more important than Scripture. They said, "Why do you break the traditions?" and give Him an illustration, and Jesus answers, "Why do you break the commands of God by your traditions," and gives them an illustration too. Verse 4, “For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’”

That is a clear command from Exodus 20:12, and the understanding of honor is respect, love, concern and also financial support; we are supposed to take care of our parents and give them the money they need to live on. On the other hand, He quotes Exodus 21:17, which says that if you don't honor but revile or remove the dignity of your father or mother, then you should be put to death.

Verse 5-6, “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.” They had developed a tradition that if you said, this is for God, I'm giving my money to Him, you wouldn't have to give it to your parents. But the Bible doesn't ever say that, that is just a human tradition.

They were so selfish that they didn't want to meet the needs of their own parents, so to justify that, they developed this tradition of “corban” or “this is a gift to God”, and in that way they were exempted from having to give it to the people who were in need. Jesus said, “You are using your tradition to cause people to disobey God in honoring their parents."

We think of tradition as something wonderful, because there are traditions that are warm, that bring to us good memories of past days and help us to keep culturally alive and sensitive, but the tradition of the elders is instead selfish, debilitating and godless. Jesus said, “You break the commandments of God. True religion is based on obeying the commandments of God from the heart.”

Jesus in verses 7-9 offers a commentary on them right out of Isaiah 29:13, "You hypocrites." He was calling them spiritual phonies, frauds. "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you." In other words, when Isaiah said this in chapter 29, it was not only true of his own people but he was speaking right to you! We know that Satan invariably corrupts the truth with hypocrites.

Then, Jesus quotes Isaiah in verse 8, "This people draws near to Me with their mouths, and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me." God is not interested in ceremonial, ritualistic, traditional religion. You hear people say today, "Our family goes to such-and-such a religion, and it's a tradition with us." If it is just tradition and not a personal relationship with God, it is meaningless

In verse 9, He quotes again from that same text, this time from the Septuagint, or the Greek version, "In vain they worship Me, because they are teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." They are putting human wisdom on the level of divine wisdom. That's why Ezekiel 36 says that God is going to take away the stony heart and put a heart of flesh in because only then can we accept God’s wisdom.

May our worship be true and what God wants it to be. Let us examine our heart, and look whether we love Jesus Christ with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Do you long to be in His presence, to be like Him, to obey Him from the heart? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Sep 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130915 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D1 imblog

1 Samuel 17:1-51

Session II - What you do reveals what you believe

In 1 Samuel 17 God brought David in the middle of His activity. King Saul and the Israelites were at war with the Philistines. Still a young boy, David was sent by his father to visit his brothers in the army. When David arrived, Goliath a giant soldier nine feet tall challenged Israel to send one man to fight him. The losing nation would become slaves of the winner. Israel’s army was terrified.

1 Samuel 17: 1-51, “Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.

4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

8 Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul. 15 But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

16 And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening. 17 Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. 18 And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.” 19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

20 So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. 21 For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. 22 And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23 Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them.

24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. 25 So the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.” 26 Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 27 And the people answered him in this manner, saying, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”

28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”

29 And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” 30 Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did. 31 Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul; and he sent for him. 32 Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!” 38 So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off.

40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. 41 So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good- looking. 43 So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

48 So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.”

David said that God was almighty and that He would defend Israel’s army. David’s actions proved that he really believed these things about God! Many thought that David was a foolish young boy and Goliath laughed at him. However God gave a mighty victory through David so everyone would know that there is a God and He is really almighty.

What you do reveals what you believe about God. Many people do not have the faith to believe that God can do the impossible; many people have a belief about God that is limited by human reasoning. Many people give up on challenges that God puts in front of them because they convince themselves that there are too many roadblocks.

Do you believe that God is sovereign and has the right to do in your life whatever He pleases? Do you believe that God has control over the roadblocks? From the story of Moses in the bible, do you believe that the same God who was able to convince the Pharaoh to let Israel go would also be able to remove whatever roadblock there is for you right now?

When the storms of life overtake us, we often respond as if God does not care about us. Whenever you are faced with a crisis of belief, what you finally decide to do says everything about your belief or unbelief in God. God’s power has no end while our abilities are so limited. Are you willing to risk ridicule and gossip to experience God’s intervention?

True Faith requires Action

The following people mentioned in Hebrews 11 are all individuals who have demonstrated their faith by their actions. Let us look at a few of them, “5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

24By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

32For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Verse 40 explains that God has planned something far better for people of faith than what we can find in this temporal world.

Hebrew 12:1-3 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

Outward appearances of success do not always indicate faith and outward appearance of failure do not always indicate a lack of faith. God is the one who knows your heart and a faithful servant is the one who does what his Master asks of him, no matter what the outcome may be, Amen?

Let us spend some time reflecting what we need to do now:

What kind of action is God expecting from us? Are you listening to what God is saying to you? How strong is your faith in Him? Do you believe that God still works the same way as we have read for the last two days from the Bible right here in Denver, CO? What happens when we feel that God is calling us to do something? Are we willing to adjust our life to Him?

]]> Sun, 08 Sep 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130908 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D2 imblog

Daniel 3:8-30

We have been studying “Experiencing God” for a while and we have learned the importance of obedience. We know that we should be obedient because God knows the future and He is shaping our character through trials and tough times and unless we are obedient we will not grow the way God wants us to.

And often times the assignments that God has for us are only possible if He is working through us, when we try to do things on our own we will surely fail. So you must decide whether to believe God or whether you ignore God and just muddle through by yourself. And then you wonder why you do not feel close to God and do not experience Him. This whole process is called the crisis of belief.

The word ‘crisis’ means decision or judgment, so this is not a calamity in your life, but a turning point where you make a decision. You must decide what you truly believe about God. The way you respond at this turning point will determine whether you become involved with God in something God-sized that only He can do or whether you will continue your own way and miss what He has purposed for your life.

Now remember, this is not a one time deal, this is a continuing process throughout the rest of your life that you have to make decisions every day whether you are willing to grow and serve God or not. This is a living testimony of what you believe about God. Your actions day in and day out are the clearest testimony of your relationship with God.

Would you tell a group of people that if you walk around that city for a number of days and then blow some trumpets that the walls of that city would fall down? Imagine how big Joshua’s crisis of belief was that week and how big it was for all Israel. Even though David was close to God, when he was at war with the Philistines did he experience a crisis of belief? Of Course! David still had to decide what he believed about God, he still had to walk out in faith trusting that God would do what He promised.

An encounter with God requires faith!

When God speaks, our response requires faith. That is the way it was in the Bible and that is the way it is right now here in Colorado. Hebrew 11:1 says, “Faith is being sure what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We live by faith , not by sight.”

If we can clearly see how something can be accomplished, we do not need faith. Faith is the confidence that whatever God has promised will happen and is true. Faith is believing that the God who gives us these assignments is the same God who will make sure that we will be provided with the strength and the wisdom and whatever else to accomplish them.

Faith is not based on an idea or concept, our faith is based on a Person, who is God Himself. It is based on us being obedient to what He is asking us to do in our lives; our faith must be based on God’s power and not on human wisdom. When God lets us know what He wants to do through us, it will be something that only He can do.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us why faith is so important, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Obedience indicates faith in God. The problem we often have is that we are self centered and self reliant. We think that we can do things by ourselves with our own wisdom and power. The fact is that we are weak and powerless.

God always reveals what He is going to do and when we join Him, He will work through us and with faith we can confidently obey Him because we know that He is going to bring to pass whatever He purposes. Jesus says that what is impossible for man is possible for God (Mark 10:27) and the Bible continually proves that this is true.

Just imagine that you have to sell your house, your whole future depends on that. And the house is a mess, a lot of deferred maintenance, and it is falling apart both inside and out, and nobody wants to even go in and see it. They drive up and take one look and drive off again. And people say that your house is practically worthless. And you know deep down in your heart that things are falling apart and you know it.

You are desperate, absolutely desperate for the sale of your house, your future depends on it, and all you material goods that you have accumulated all your life are in that house. And things are getting worse economically every day. Murphy’s Law which says that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong,” just happened to you. Your survival depends on the sale of this house and nobody thinks it is worth anything and nobody is even looking.

By now it has become a matter of life and death. And when you almost have given up hope, when your thoughts have become morbid and you are desperately seeking a way out, and suddenly a potential buyer shows up. And as you try to recover from the shock of seeing even one buyer, the buyer takes only a cursory look around as if he already knows the condition of the house, and then says, “I’ll buy it, full price!” And not only that, the buyer says again, “And I’ll give you a deposit up front that you can take to the bank.”

Now you are thinking, “No way, this is a cruel joke, somebody must put him up to that, like some people who are “pranked” on TV. This must be a hoax, this just does not happen. I have been waiting so desperately and so long and now this sale so quick? But this buyer must be real wealthy, because he says that not only wants to give me the usual 10% deposit, but he wants to pay it in full right now.

You say, would you repeat that again? You heard it the first time but you cannot believe your own ears. But here is the buyer taking out a check and writing out the full amount of the asking price of the house. And then he says, “I’ll be back later to close on the house.” Do you realize that what the buyer did with that house is in fact what Jesus has done with you; He has bought you with all your faults and paid the price in full on the cross. And He will come back someday to live with you in a mansion that He has provided for you. This is not some stranger; this is the Creator of heaven and earth who will always do what He promised.

God is not someone who writes your name in the Book of Life in pencil and then erases your name when you are bad and then writes it again when you are good. No, God has written your name in the Book of Life the moment your trusted the Lord Jesus and your name is written in His blood that cannot be erased forever. And that is why God can be trusted.

Let us spend some time reflecting:

The times we refused to do things for God because we were more interested in doing things for ourselves in this world. The times we refused to do things that require faith, because we lacked faith. The times we hesitated so long that the opportunity passed and we regretted not taking that opportunity to tell someone about Jesus. Are you willing to pray to God right now to ask Him to change you, to give you greater faith?

Encounters with God are God-sized!

The only way we will understand what God is like is to see Him at work in our world. We will learn more about His nature when we realize His activity. Whenever God is involved His assignment will also have a God-like dimension. So the world will begin to know Him.

Some people think that God will never ask them to do something that seems impossible. But if that assignment that God is giving me is something that I can handle on my own, it is probably not from God. The assignments God gave in the Bible were always God-sized. They were always beyond what people could do in their own strength because God wanted to show them His nature, His strength and His love for the people and for the world that was watching.

God told Abraham to become the father of a large nation while Abraham and Sarah were real old and had no son. God told Moses to deliver the children of Israel, to cross the Red Sea and to provide water from a rock. Jesus told His disciples to feed 25,000 people and to make disciples of all nations. None of these things are humanly possible. Only God can do that and when they are willing to get involved they will learn who God is.

Let us read Daniel 3:8-30: “Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. 9 They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image; 11 and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.”

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.

28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver. 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.”

So here is an example of God’s work. Who received the credit? Even a pagan King gives God all the credit and blessed Him. God has not changed, He is still at work in sustaining us, but do we see Him working? What our world sees are devoted Christian people or a church serving God, but they are not seeing God. Why? Because we are not willing to attempt anything that only God can do.

Let Christ be lifted up, not in words but in real life. Let people see the difference the living Christ makes in a life, a family or a church. When the world sees things happen through God’s people that cannot be explained except that God Himself has done them, the people will be drawn to a God like that.

God is more concerned about your walking with Him than what you accomplish for Him. You can complete an assignment for Him, be a leader for Him without ever experiencing Him. God can accomplish what ever He wills with or without us. What God wants is that we really experience Him. Then you and the people around you will know more of Him then you have ever before.

]]> Sun, 01 Sep 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130901 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D3 imblog

Matthew 14:28-33

Matthew 14:22-33, “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

“28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

This last verse is the highpoint of everything else - worshiping the Son of God. When we proclaim the name of Jesus, as His disciples of old did, we are very much aware of the kinds of response that we can expect, just as they were. We are aware because we too have heard the teaching of Jesus.

In Matthew 13, Jesus taught that there would be four kinds of response to the message of the Gospel. He likened the responses of men to soil; there would be hard, stony ground - those who openly rejected the message. We saw that kind of reaction in Jesus' ministry in Nazareth at the end of Matthew 13, when He would not do many mighty works in their midst because of their unbelief. He was rejected by the people of His own community. This was stony ground.

We saw at the beginning of Matthew 14 another illustration of that kind of soil. We saw Herod, who also openly rejected the message of Jesus Christ and would, if he had the chance, have killed Christ as he killed John the Baptist. So we can expect now in this era of the Kingdom of our Lord that many people will reject Him with the same harshness as they did then.

We then saw a different kind of people. We saw the feeding of the 5,000 and were introduced to people who were like shallow soil, where for a while there was interest and something springs up. But it never bears fruit because its roots cannot go deep since the soil is too shallow. We also saw the thorny ground where it seems that it will produce fruit, but because of the weeds they choke the life out of that which was planted.

We saw in the crowd who followed Jesus people who were looking for political, economic and social answer to their problems. They were seeking a Messiah who could overthrow Rome and deal with the rule of Herod and give them national liberty. But when Jesus, the day after He had fed them, the day after He had walked on water, said to them, the issues that I speak to you about are not about physical food, but rather spiritual food: “I am the bread of Life”, they walked away.

And the Lord also gives us, in tonight’s passage, an illustration of the good soil, because we find in verse 33 that those disciples who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” It will always be that way when we evangelize. We can expect that strong resistance, that short-term response that will wither away, but we can also expect true worshipers where their hearts were prepared by our Lord to receive His word.

The disciples are the good soil because they believed and responded. When in John 6:14- 15 they saw the crowd wanting to make Jesus king because He had healed them, taught them, and fed them, it seemed at that moment to those disciples that this was what they had waited for. They thought that all their ministry, anticipation and preparation had reached its climax. They wanted Jesus as a king too.

Then in verse 22, right at the pinnacle of His popularity after two years, when they could see themselves overpowering the hostility and rejection of the political and religious leaders, the people wanted Him as a king, and yet at the very moment Jesus made them get into a boat and told them to go ahead of Him to the other side while He sent the multitudes away and He prayed by Himself.

You see, His Kingdom never was a political or economic kingdom, or a welfare state, or one which depended on physical revolutions. Jesus said to Pilate in John 18:36, "My Kingdom is not of this world." But they must have been disillusioned as they rowed their little boat on the north side of the Sea of Galilee, wondering when the Kingdom would really come.

Our Lord wanted to give them a picture of what His Kingdom really was, by walking on water. That showed them that He was much more that just an earthly king, Jesus is the universal King of all things. Then, He built faith in their hearts that showed them that His Kingdom is in the heart of man, in the hearts of those who love and serve Him. So in the early morning on the Sea of Galilee, they saw the true King and His kingdom.

What happened that they believed what they said in verse 33, "You are the Son of God," when they not long ago were really disappointed? Later on when the crowd leaves in John 6:67-69, “the Lord says to them, "Will you also go away?" 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life, 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The answer to that question comes in this passage.

Now, after leaving the multitude on the shore when they were about to make Him king, Jesus gave the disciples an exceptionally great proof: Matthew 14:25 says, “Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.” But there was more to it than just that, because here we see demonstrated many of the attributes of God that they had to see in this occasion, and therefore conclude that Jesus was God's Son.

That statement 'the Son of God' is an affirmation that Jesus Christ is God. It is used 45 times in the New Testament. It is speaking about Him being of the same essence as God the Father. It was that claim for which the Jews crucified Jesus. They understood very well that Jesus claimed to be equal with God, as God's Son.

How did the disciples come to that conclusion? We saw last week that Jesus gave them proof of His divine authority and power in the way that He controlled not only them, but the multitude as well. And verse 23 says He was up on a mountain, praying privately. Here we know that Christ also cared for them, not only was He all powerful but He also loves His people and cares about their situation.

We have a God who is loving, faithful, caring and compassionate. When they saw that in Jesus Christ, they were convinced that this was One who was equal to God, and cared for His own. They had experienced that He had healed them. In fact, Peter’s mother-in-law was healed. They had experienced that He had fed them, and now they see that He comes to them in the midst of their need and becomes their refuge.

When Jesus had said to the disciples in verses 22-23, "Go to the other side," the text says, that when they started that way, the wind was contrary. It would have been so easy for them to have turned around and gone with the wind back to where they came from. But instead of that, they continued to pursue the direction that the Lord had told them to go, they were obedient.

When a believer is obedient, no matter how severe the storm, he is as safe as if he were at home in his own bed, because the place of security for the believer is the place of obedience to the Lord. Remember last time, they took the only boat? They were in the middle of the sea and they thought the Lord couldn't get there because there was no other boat. What a profound lesson about God's protecting love, when humanly speaking there is no way, He makes a way, the storm is His path to save His own.

There was another demonstration of the deity of Jesus, which was expressed in His love, and we find it in verse 28. Although Matthew and Mark and John record Jesus walking on the water, only Matthew records this particular incident with Peter. Verse 28, "Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' 29 So He said, 'Come.'"

Scripture again and again wants us to realize that our God is a God of love. And the way He demonstrates biblical love is by meeting a person at his need. John 3:16, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," Why? Because of His love, He meets man at his greatest need: his sin. Many commentators have discussed why Peter did what he did.

Just to be sure, Peter says, "If it's You, Lord, then tell me to come on the water." Peter wanted to be where Jesus was, so much so that he was willing to climb out of the boat and go to be where Jesus was. But would you try to walk on water for that? Only if you believed that He had the power to hold you up the same way He was being held up. Simply stated, it is an act of affection built on faith.

Don't chastise Peter. Peter fell asleep in the prayer meeting. But we all have fallen asleep in prayer meetings, at least those of us who go to prayer meetings. Peter tried to divert Christ from the Cross, and the Lord had to say in Matthew 16:23, 'Get behind me, Satan.'" But we have all stood as a blockade to the purposes of God, have we not? Peter stood outside the trial of Jesus and denied Him on three occasions, and we have all denied Him many many times, most often by our silence, right?

You may criticize Peter for all his faults and you are right, but don't say that he didn't love the Lord Jesus Christ or that he didn't trust Him. The thing that consumed Peter's heart was that he loved Jesus Christ and sensed in His presence real safety. He believed that if the Lord could walk on water, he also could get to where Jesus was and be saved in the midst of an environment that he could not control and of which he was in great fear.

All the while, the Lord is building up Peter’s character that is going to lead and to be the catalyst in the first years of the history of the church, because Peter was that in the first 13 chapters of Acts. Peter receives a monumental lesson in the last chapter of John's gospel, and the Lord finally explains Peter’s commitment to the ministry, in the way the Lord questions 3 times whether Peter loves Him.

There was something in Peter that said, "If all of this has gone by, and it is not yet clear that I love Him, it will be clear to everyone from here on out," and it was. The day came when he had to offer his life, tradition tells us, and he requested that he be crucified upside down, because he had not the right to be crucified as His Lord. That tells us that Peter was a faithful martyr.

That's why he could lead the other apostles, and why he is the first name in the list of the apostles every time it appears in the Bible. He was the closest to Jesus Christ, because he wanted to be close. Look at verse 29; Jesus said, "Come." The Lord never invites anyone to do anything sinful or proud. When He said, "Come," it was that of a loving father for his child who has longed to see the safety of his father's arms.

Jesus knew Peter's faith was weak, that it couldn't withstand the storm any better than the little boat could. But the Lord never rejects frail faith; He takes it and builds it. He never rejects a weak love; He takes it and builds it, because that is the essence of divine love - to take a man or woman where they are and bring them through a trial that increases their capacity to believe God and love Him more.

So Jesus said, "Come, this is going to be the greatest lesson of your life, Peter." It says in verse 29, "When Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water." That's all he wanted to do: to go to Jesus. But this was a hard test. He knew the Lord could handle a storm, and he had seen that. He figured the Lord was in control of the whole deal, but when he got out there, the test was a little tougher than he thought.

He is walking on the water, but the waves and the wind are terrifying. It says in verse 30, "But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!'" He wanted to be where Jesus was; his faith got him out of the boat, but he had never been out of the boat in the storm.

This is the whole point. We don't need to be taught what we already know; we need to be taught what we don't know yet. How else do you build up the faith of a man but by putting him in an extreme situation he's never experienced, and then showing that God is faithful and powerful so that now, he can trust God that much more, right?

That is what the Christian life is all about: learning to focus more on Jesus and to trust God more and more so that we can step out in faith and attempt those things which by ourselves are impossible. So Peter was afraid and he began to sink. So he cried, "Lord, save me!" Here, we see the loving Lord in verse 31, "Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'"

Do you know that “little faith” is better than no faith? All of us could be characterized as having little faith mixed with doubt. That is why the Lord brings into our lives the difficulties, trials, struggles, and the pains - so that, going through those things, we see that He sustains us. Little faith grows and grows. Peter learned that Jesus could take care of him when he couldn't take care of himself.

Matthew 14:32, "When they got into the boat, the wind ceased." It all just stopped. They were in the middle of the sea, the storm stopped, and in John 6:21 it says immediately they're at the shore. Wow! Mark 6:51 says, "They were amazed, and wondered greatly." Then it says that they worshiped Him. You see, they knew that all power belongs only to God.

What is the message for you? Worship Him with all your heart! He demonstrated the sovereignty of God, the omniscience of God, the protective care of God, the divine love of God, the power of God; He is God in human flesh! God calls you to bow your knee to Jesus Christ; they did it, and were good soil that bore much fruit. How about you? Where is your fruit? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 25 Aug 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130825 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D4 imblog

Matthew 14:22-27

This is one of the most important and well known miracles in the life of our Lord, in the lives of His disciples and in our lives as well. To understand this marvelous event look first at Matthew 14:33, "Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God.'”

Something just happened to convince them of that. What happened was so convincing that the next day Peter, speaking for the rest of the disciples said, "We believe and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." That is the greatest discovery you can make, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God.

Verse 33 is the first time human beings have said that. God the Father said it at the baptism of Jesus; the demons said it on the eastern shore of the sea, but His disciples never said that before. They have seen miracle upon miracle, healings, raising the dead, casting out demons, they have heard preaching and teaching without equal, and they have been hearing it for two years.

But something very spectacular must have happened to give them such confidence as is indicated in verse 33 and the next day in John 6:69-70. That is the essential reality in the New Testament that He is equal with God. In the Old Testament, God alone was to be worshiped. The law began with, "You shall have no other gods." That was the monotheism of the Jewish religion that only the true Jehovah God is to be worshiped.

However, in the New Testament, again and again we learn that Jesus Christ also is to be worshiped. The conclusion is then that Jesus Christ is equal with God, and that is affirmed in the statement that He is the Son of God, He is of the same essence as God. If we look at the New Testament, we will see the worship of Christ planted everywhere.

In the gospels we see the wise men first worshiping Him in Matthew 2, the leper worshiping Him in Matthew 8, the Gentiles worshiping Him in John 12, a Canaanite woman worshiping Him in Matthew 15, a maniac out of the tombs worshiping Him in Mark 5, a blind man worshiping Him in John 9, the disciples worshiping Him at His resurrection and again in the mountain in Matthew 28 and then worshiping Him at His ascension in Luke 24.

In the epistles, Hebrews 1 says that all the angels of God worship Him. In Philippians, we find that God demands that every creature on the earth, over the earth, and under the earth bow the knee to worship Jesus Christ. If we go all the way to the book of Revelation, we find Him being worshiped by all those in glory, in chapters 4, 5, 11 and 19.

So for two years, His ministry had been on the rise and He had been proclaiming, healing and casting out demons. Then, in the later part, Jesus was joined by the disciples who also began to proclaim, and cast out demons, and to heal. The excitement grew and the multitude became convinced that Jesus should be their King.

But at that moment, Jesus sent the disciples away; He sent the crowd away and went into a mountain by Himself. In their little rowboat, as they were pushing their way out to sea, they must have been disappointed trying to figure out how He could spend two years getting to this point, but when it was imminent Jesus withdrew instead.

Jesus didn't want their shallow commitment, the crowd had political interest and self- indulgent interest; all they could think about was free food. The next morning, they showed up again for breakfast and Jesus said to them, "You seek Me not because you care about Me or what I say, but because you want another free meal." And they left. They were like thorny soil, only in it for what they could get out of it. When Jesus gave them a lecture on theology, they split. But His disciples didn't leave.

At that point, in John 6:67-69, Jesus said to them, "Will you also go away?" 68 Peter said, "To whom shall we go? Only You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we believe and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." The multitude left, but they stayed. They said, "We are sure." How did they get so sure? Because of what happened in this passage.

Look at Matthew 14:22-33, “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

“28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Please notice five aspects of the divine nature manifested in this event. They worshiped Him first, because they knew He was the Son of God on the basis His divine authority. It is just kind of implied there, but in verse 22, it tells us, "Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away." This shows that Jesus controls everything. He controlled those who were His own, and those who were not.

But He controls also the wind and the waves and the sea and their thinking and their faith and everything else that He controlled. Jesus had authority over everyone and everything, and it comes through to us clearly in this story. In John 5, He said that He had authority to judge all men, and that authority was given to Him by the Father. So He had authority over time and eternity, over life and death, over destiny.

In Mark 1:27, the people asked, "What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Not only does He have authority over life and death, time and eternity, Heaven, Hell, and destiny, but He has authority over the supernatural world and over fallen angels.

He also can transmit that authority to others, according to Luke 9:1, to His disciples, “Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.” We see it in Acts 3 with Peter and John in the temple, when they healed the lame man who was begging there. "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." There Peter exercised that authority granted to him by Christ.

In Matthew 28:18, Jesus ultimately says, "All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in Earth." What is authority? It is defined as ruling, sovereign control. He is in control of everything. He controls nature. He creates whenever He will create; He stops the storm whenever He wants to, and causes the wind to cease. He can walk on water; He has authority.

Go back to verse 22. It says that immediately after they had wanted to make Him king after He had fed them, "Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side." The Lord knew this was difficult for them, so He just sent them away and removed the temptation. Fully aware of their weakness, and their susceptibility to the plans of the crowd, He said, "Go to the other side."

Mark tells us that they were headed to Bethsaida, John says that they were headed to Capernaum; they were both side by side, Bethsaida being a suburb of Capernaum. So it just means they were going in that general direction in a short trip across one little corner of the Sea of Galilee. It says later on, when they hit the storm, the wind was contrary to them.

Usually men would say, "Let's not fight the wind. Let's turn around, and it will blow us back to the shore." But not them; when the Lord said, "Point your bow to Capernaum," they did it. They fought it all the way even though they weren't making much headway; they continued in their obedience to the authority of Christ.

Even the mob couldn't resist His authority; verse 23 says that after Jesus had sent the multitude away, He went to pray privately. He sent the whole crowd away! They were going to kidnap Him; but He had total control over them. "Where did they go?" They went to sleep, thousands of them, sleeping all over the grassy hillsides and wherever they could sleep.

How do we know where they went to sleep? Because when they woke up the next morning, they were all in the same vicinity according to John 6:22-65, and they said, "It's breakfast time. Where's Jesus?" But Jesus was not there, He was in Capernaum already. That's where He taught them unless they ate the flesh of the Son of Man and drank His blood they would have no life. They said, "Forget it," and from then on, many followers left Jesus and He spent more and more time with the disciples and less and less time with the crowds.

Notice it says in verse 23 that it was evening. This would be, by Jewish definition, the second evening. The first evening was from 3-6, and the second evening was from 6-9. From 3-6, the first evening, He had fed them. From 6-9, we're in the second evening, and it's coming toward darkness. As it grows dark, He is alone in the mountain, and He is praying. Always remember that if Jesus needed to pray, how much more do I need to pray!

In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus said to Peter, "Satan has desired to have you, Peter, but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail." Isn't that a comforting thing? That is the High Priestly work of Christ. Right now, this moment, at the throne of the Father, He prays for you and for me and He prays with the authority of God. Doesn’t that give us great confidence?

Secondly, His divine knowledge. Verse 24, “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” John's gospel says 25-30 stadia or furlongs, out into the sea, which is about 3-4 miles into the sea. Mark adds that they were distressed in their rowing. And John 6:18 says it was a fierce wind. It is dark and gloomy, the storm is violent, and worst of all, no Jesus.

The last time they got in a storm like this, Jesus was sleeping in the back of the boat and all they had to do was wake Him up and have Him stop the storm, which He did. But now He isn't here. To make it even worse, He can't get there because they took the only boat. John tells us in John 6 that the next morning when the multitude got up, they saw there was no other boat.

But all the while, they're in the middle of the sea going through all this trauma, and He's up on the hill praying for them. This is a wonderful picture of the High Priestly intercessory work of Christ, isn't it? They don't know it, but they're secure. For five or six hours, they have been at it, with no success. But isn't it comforting to know that Jesus knows that? And He knows your present situation too.

Verse 25, "In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea." Nothing special, it just says He went walking on the sea, just like you would take a walk on the shore. It is described so naturally that it is really overpowering. He knew where to walk; He knew exactly where they were. It didn't matter that it was very dark. That is His divine knowledge - He knows everything.

Psalm 139 says that night and day are the same to Him. This happened during the fourth watch of the night. The first watch was 6-9 in the evening; the second watch was 9-12; the third watch was 12-3; and the fourth watch was 3-6 in the morning. They had been at this all night, and they are in great anxiety and fear.

He waits a long time before He comes; that is all part of the lesson. Do you realize that if you never have a storm, you would never know that He can handle a storm? We never really understand the power of God in your behalf until we are pushed to the extreme. That is part of the lesson. Why do you think our Lord didn't go to Martha and Mary until Lazarus was so dead that he smelled? Because only in the impossibility of that extreme situation that they would understand the extent of His power.

Jesus knows our sitting down and our rising up, - where we are, what our needs are. He has known us from your womb. If we ascend to heaven, He is there; if we make our bed in sheol, He is there. If we take dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, there will His hand lead us and His right hand will hold us up. It doesn't matter where we are, because He knows everything.

In fact, as He is walking on the water, the water will flatten out and becoming placid; He does not even get wet. It says He came toward them. Why? Because they had needs, and were at the end of their rope. He couldn't see them from the mountain, or in the dark in that stormy night, but He knew exactly where they were.

Thirdly, His divine protection or divine care. Verse 26, "When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!'" The Greek word means an apparition. "And they cried out in fear." Mark adds that they all saw Him; this isn't just one guy who thought he saw Jesus. Because there are those liberals who want to tell us that they just thought they saw Him.

Mark adds another interesting note, it appeared that Jesus would have passed by their boat. The Lord is always there, but He wants to hear the cry from the heart of the one in need. He always stops for the ones who call, and they screamed, "It is a ghost!" Matthew 14: 27 says, "But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.'"

'Be of good cheer' is an English colloquialism that means to take courage, take heart, don't be afraid. You see, God is the protector of His people; oh what a great truth! The storm never gets so extreme that He doesn't know where we are, or that He can't walk on the water. He will protect His own and He never comes too late.

This is not to teach the disciples how to walk on water; none of them ever did. After this incident, no one in the Bible ever walked on water. This is to teach people who are limited in what they can do that God is able and willing to help and do the impossible. It is to teach that in the extreme, we don't need to fear because He is there with us, and He will respond to our needs. Let us continue next week on what else God wants to teach us. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 18 Aug 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130818 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D5 imblog

Matthew 14:13-22

Matthew 14:13-22 records a high point in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. This particular miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle recorded by all four gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Thus we conclude that it is of unique quality. Each writer not only includes the miracle but puts it at a point of climax in the life and ministry of our Lord.

When the Lord began His Galilean ministry, He sought the crowds in the cities; He sought to make known to them His name, to demonstrate His power through mighty works. He sought to teach them concerning the Kingdom of God and Heaven. He wanted to manifest Himself as the King offering a Kingdom.

We also know that the religious leadership has rejected Him. There is a rising hostility with this increasing publicity from our Lord. As we come to this particular miracle, His popularity reaches a pinnacle. In fact, the result of this miracle is that the general public in Galilee wants to make Him the king by force. They are in awe of Him, and willingly follow Him; this is the high point.

It also is the beginning of His withdrawal, because just prior to this high point has been the murder of John the Baptist. So there is not only religious hostility from the Pharisees, but there is political hostility as well. Herod, the petty ruler, is very threatened by the Lord Jesus, as he was by John the Baptist. So because of all that hostility of both the religious and political leaders, the Lord begins to withdraw Himself following this miracle.

And as we move through this, this being the last year of His life on earth, He spends most of His time only with the Twelve, readying them for what is about to happen in His death and resurrection and preparing them for the task at hand, as they will be the foundation for the building of the church.

It all begins in Matthew 14:13 with, "When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself." It was hard to find privacy in Galilee; the area is quite small: 50 miles long and 25 miles wide and there were 204 towns, with at least 15,000 people in it. So it was very densely populated. But our Lord found a quiet place, and went there privately by boat.

Luke 9:10 tells us that He went to a place called Bethsaida or Bethesda. Basically, there were two places called that; one on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and one on the western shore. The one on the east was called Bethsaida Julia because it was named by Philip the tetrarch for the daughter of Augustus Caesar. Luke says that is where He went.

About a mile south of that town, there was a grassy hillside which continued from the plains by the Sea of Galilee to a high mountain. Jesus took His disciples, got out of the little boat, and ascended that slope to find a place in the trees up the hill. But this desire for privacy with His disciples is overruled by the need of the people.

Verse 13 continued, "But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities." Some of the cities close by began to empty their people into an accumulating mass of humanity walking across the northern end of the Sea of Galilee to go to the place where they had noted Jesus was going in the little boat.

Mark 6:33 tells us that some were even there already when He arrived, the fast ones, the ones who ran. The lame, the blind and those who were ill and had come for healing, would have arrived much later. So even though there were some who were there before He arrived, He went beyond them into the mountain with the Twelve and sought the time of solace and quiet. But the crowd begins to swell.

John 6:2-4 tells us why, “Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.” So there were, no doubt, not only the people collecting out of the towns and villages, but pilgrims on the way to the Passover who would have added to the crowd.

Frankly, the majority sought Him, not because they believed what He said, not because they worshipped and adored Him, but because they heard the diseases He healed and wanted to see close-up all these wonder-working incidences, and maybe have their own disease healed, but surely at least be fascinated by it.

The crowd by now had become real large. Verse 21 says it reached 5,000 men. You can be assured that there would be at least 5,000 women with them and likely even more than that, for women were uniquely drawn to Christ. And multiples of children would be in addition to that. In those days, large families with many children were common, and so there may have been 25,000 people there and that number may even be conservative.

Matthew 14:14 says, "And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” Jesus felt their pain, He felt their hurt, He felt their need. That means His heart went out to them. Jesus Christ, though God, was passionate, and felt the pain in His own heart.

This is God’s nature whose heart goes out to those in need. This is not based on whether they will respond or reciprocate by believing; it is that God's heart goes out to all those in need. That's why, in chapter 10, the Lord said to the disciples that He would give to them the power to heal diseases. He could have demonstrated His divine power by having them fly over tall buildings or walk on water or create food.

The reason He gave them the ability to cure disease is because the heart of God goes out toward those who hurt. The Bible tells us in verse 14 that He healed their sick. Jesus sets aside His rest, refreshment, priority of time with the disciples. God is never too involved in the running of the universe and all of the "big issues” of His plan, and He can set it all aside to help to one who has a need and is asking for help.

In Matthew 14:15 we read, "When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, 'This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.'" The disciples of Jesus are very concerned with the hunger of this group; and you don't see that in Matthew's version of the account.

Between verses 14 and 15, there is an interlude, so turn for a moment to John 6:5, “Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” And Mark and Luke added that Jesus not only healed them, but He taught them concerning the Kingdom of God. But before He even started that, He plants a question in Philip's mind: where are we going to buy bread to feed this group?

There are several reasons why Jesus asked that of Philip. Number one is because Philip was from that area, and would most likely know where so much food might be gained. Secondly, He asked Philip, John 6:6 says, to test him. Philip was like a lot of us - It took him a long time to get the picture. In John 14:8-9 Philip asked, "Show us the Father," and Jesus responds, "Have I been so long with you, Philip, and you still don't know? If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father."

Philip probably told this to the other eleven and said, "Hey guys, we have to figure out a way to feed these people." They thought all day and never came up with an answer. In fact, Philip said, "We have 200 denarii," which was 200 days' wages and probably what was in their treasury to provide for their daily needs. He says, "That's all we have and no way that is going to be enough.” So they have no resource.

Andrew comes, and says, "Lord, I've been through the whole group and found one kid with five flat barley cakes and a couple of fish." Barley was the cheapest grain, and the poorer the people, the more likely they were to use barley to make little bread cakes. They would take the fish, which were sometimes pickled, and then put them like a relish on the bread.

Finally, evening comes and they still had no solution. The Jews had two kinds of evenings; one was from 3-6, the other was from 6-9, and this was the first evening, prior to the setting of the sun. Matthew 14:15 says, “When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, 'This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.'" That was their solution.

Matthew 14:16, “But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” Sure. They're thinking, "We don't have any food." Jesus knew that, so why would He say that? It was very simple. Jesus wants them to face the fact that they don't have any food. We are people who without Jesus do not have any resources at all. And unless we admit that He will not help us.

They said, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." That is it. How can that provide food for 25,000 people? They are baffled, and it is very important that they realize, "We haven't got it, and we can't do it.” That's a great spiritual lesson for all who serve God; we haven't got it and we can't do anything just like they couldn’t.

Here we come to the great part of this story. In Matthew 14:18 Jesus says, "Bring them to Me. Bring the five bread cakes and two fish." Now, in a sense, He is saying to them, you don't have anything, but what you do have, give to Me so I can use it to transform everything. You can imagine that they are sort of sitting back and wondering what will happen next.

In verse 19, Jesus does a strange thing: He commands the multitude to sit down on the grass. It is the spring of the year, and the grass is green. This is a lovely spot, the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The grass sloping down to that plain next to the shore would be a beautiful place to sit, and the sun would be setting in the west and the little whitecaps would be seen as the breeze comes across the Sea in the evening. The air would be cool, and they're going to have a picnic!

Mark tells us that the Lord told them to seat the people in groups of 50 and 100 with aisles in between, so that the disciples could serve them. Of course, the disciples are obeying the Lord, but they can't figure anything out. They still don't know what is going on. They are all seated in order, prepared to be served. Then, this is even more interesting in verse 19, "He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed.”

By the way, it says in Matthew, "He blessed," and in John 6:11, it says He said 'thanks,' therefore we can conclude that saying 'thanks' to God and blessing God are the same. Verse 19, "And He broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes." The miracle is almost hidden, isn't it? It doesn't say He got up on top of the mountain and shouted, "Food!" or that the earth shook. He just started handing out bread and fish and never stopped; He just kept creating them anew.

It must have been real good, because it had never been touched by the curse. It was the best bread and the best fish they had ever eaten, and it just kept coming. You say, "How much was there?" Well, verse 20 says, "So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.” This is a picture of God. The supply was exactly equal to the demand. This is the concept of abundance.

Of course, there was some left. When they collected all the fragments, there were 12 baskets full! There were also twelve disciples. Amazing. As great a wonder as the ability to create was the ability to create exactly the amount that satisfied everyone with exactly twelve baskets left over for the disciples. God doesn't waste His miracles.

What was their reaction? Verse 21 says, “Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” John 6 says that they tried to make Him king. He could not only heal all their diseases, but He gave the best-tasting food there ever was. This has to be their king, so their political aspirations reached a fever pitch, and they tried to force the issue.

Verse 22 says that “Jesus made His disciples get into the boat”, which means they must have fought against it. They didn't want to leave Him, “and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.” Verse 23 says, “He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” So what is God teaching us from all this?

First, He taught about compassion for people in need, and showed them the heart of God, which was not just for spiritual needs, but also for physical needs. Second, He then taught to sacrifice rest and leisure to meet the needs of others. Thirdly, He taught that while helping to meet physical needs, we also have to teach the truth of the Kingdom. When you help someone sick or hurting, the purpose is to introduce them to the Gospel.

The fourth lesson is to learn to obey even if you do not understand why. When the Lord tells us to do things that we don't understand, do them anyway, because something wonderful will happen. Number five, do things in an orderly fashion. God is a God of order; look at nature, everything is created in order, every creature is perfect in the way it grows, moves and every detail is there for it to function in the proper order.

The sixth lesson is that ministry is serving others, not serving yourself. Jesus says, "Give Me all you've got, and let us give it to them." The disciples didn't eat until they had fed everybody else. We are called to provide for others first, and God will make sure there is provision for us.

Number Seven is to learn to share with those who have not. From all His blessings, we must give blessing to others, so we by doing that we bless God. He has given us time; He wants a return. He has given us talent, spiritual gifts, money, possessions and all of it has come from His creative hand. He asks that we share it with others; that's what stewardship is.

The eigth lesson is to learn to trust the power of God to provide what seems impossible. Think about that in terms of ministry. We are responsible to feed others spiritually, to represent Christ day in and day out, to stand between Him and the world, and to feed the church. I don't have it and I can't get it in my own strength, and that is why I depend on Him to provide it.

Lesson number nine, is to begin with your own, available resources no matter how small. A little becomes much when it is placed in God's hand. God often uses small things; He used the tears of a baby to move the heart of Pharaoh's daughter. He used a shepherd's stick to work mighty miracles in Egypt. He used a sling and a stone to conquer a nation. Jesus likes to have the weak; that way, when incredible things happen, we know it's all because of His power.

The truth is that God wants to provide for people through you. When He took the little bread and fish and He broke it and He gave it to the disciples. They stood between Him and the multitude. Now we stand between Jesus and the multitude, and God wants to feed the multitude through us. It depends on your availability and your heart of service. That is the important spiritual lesson for everyone in this generation. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Aug 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130811 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D6 imblog

Matthew 14:1-13

This passage is one of the most tragic, and yet triumphant texts in the Bible. It tells the story of the murder of John the Baptist, but there is far more to the story than just that. This is a picture of how a man, through fear, forfeited the Kingdom of God and forfeited the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

As we come to Matthew 14, we will see the second of the eight incidents that are recorded from the end of Matthew 13 through the beginning of Matthew 16; eight instances that show us how people responded to the preaching of the Kingdom. In chapter 13, we saw the city of Nazareth - the first illustration of an unbelieving, rejecting people.

The last passage dealt with a town that rejected Christ; this one deals with a man who rejects Christ. The last passage dealt with common people who opposed the King; and now we see a king who opposes the true King. The last passage revealed the treatment of the Messiah; and now, we see the treatment of the forerunner, or the messenger, or the agent of the Messiah.

The last passage showed rejection and resistance based primarily on jealousy; this one shows rejection and resistance based primarily on fear. But both of them have, at the bottom, selfish pride, and in all cases, that is usually what damns the soul - an unwillingness to give up what a person is to embrace Jesus Christ.

The story is told in a flashback. Remember that Christ is teaching; the twelve are trained, and they have been out two by two, preaching and proclaiming the Kingdom. The message is out; the signs, miracles, healings, casting out of demons and raising the dead - all of this is going on, and this finally reaches Herod, and we now see his reaction.

Matthew 14:1 starts with "At that time," and that is an indefinite phrase; at the general time of Christ's and His disciples' preaching, when He was being rejected, when hostility was beginning to grow, "Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus." Now we meet the main character Herod, who rejects Jesus in this passage, the one who is the stony ground.

He is called the tetrarch. Technically, that means 'a ruler of a fourth part.' Tetra means a fourth of something. But it was used to describe any subordinate ruler in a section of the country, and there were many subordinate rulers in Israel at that time. So he wasn't really a king, but only a small potentate.

The name Herod is familiar because if we go back to Matthew 2:1, when Christ was born, we'll see that there was a king then by the name of Herod. That was a different Herod, he was Herod the Great, a descendant of Esau, an Arab. In addition Herod the Great was also married to a Samaritan, so you see how unpopular he was among the Jews.

Yet Herod was their king, appointed by Rome, however he was so fearful when he heard the word that a King had been born, that he slaughtered all of the babies then, in order that he might eliminate anyone who would pose a threat to his throne. But Herod the Great has long been dead by the time that this passage occurs, and this now this Herod is one of his sons.

Herod the Great had three sons by different wives, namely: Archelaus, Philip and Herod Antipas. Archelaus was in the south, Philip was in the north, and Herod got the middle, which was Galilee, and to the east of Galilee, the area known as Parea.

There are still two other Herods, one is named Herod Agrippa, read Acts 12; he declared a 'Herod Day,' to celebrated his power, and didn't give God the glory, so God punished him and he was eaten by worms and died. There is also a Herod Agrippa II, and we find him in Acts 26. Paul preached to him. So basically we have: Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, Herod Agrippa I, and Herod Agrippa II.

Now Herod Antipas was not particularly aware of the ministry of Jesus at first. But finally, he heard of the fame of Jesus. This after the Lord has been ministering, He has trained the Twelve disciples and they are out ministering, so the word is spreading rapidly and the hostility is growing. The combination of all of those things brings this to his attention.

His reaction is quite strange. Matthew 14:2, "He said to his servants, 'This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.'” This was a great concern to him, because he had murdered John the Baptist. The fear of any murderer would be the possibility of the one he murdered coming back from the dead. The guilt he had for murdering John the Baptist convinced him that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead.

Compare this to Luke 9:7 which says, "Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, 8 and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again." So at first, he got the same report that the disciples gave Jesus in Matthew 16:14, "Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and some say Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

That is an important indication that John also had done some miracles. If he came in the spirit and power of Elijah, that means he has miraculous powers just like Elijah. So when Herod hears that Jesus has this miraculous power, which he knew was in John also, he is assured in his mind that John the Baptist is back from the dead.

Let's look at the reason for that reaction. Here comes the flashback; it is how the story is told. In Matthew 14:1-2, Herod is reacting to Jesus, and here is why he thinks Jesus is similar to John the Baptist. Matthew 14:3-4, "For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. 4 Because John had said to him, 'It is not lawful for you to have her.'"

Matthew thinks back to that event and let me introduce you to the characters. First: John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, a great, holy and righteous man of God. Jesus said in Matthew 11:11, "Of them that are born of women, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” He was an incredible man, the forerunner of the Messiah. This man's job in the world was to announce and introduce the Christ.

In contrast to this man of God, we meet Herod. We've already talked about the biographical data, so let us look now at his character. He was evil, debauched, shameless, pushed around by an overbearing woman, given to all excesses, troubled in his conscience but refusing to obey, and John the Baptist really disturbed him.

So Herod no doubt realized that the best thing to do with this guy was to kill him, just like his father had tried to do with the Messiah originally, when he slaughtered all the babies. He was like every other weak and fearful tyrant who can only think of killing a rival; he had learned a lot from his father.

So he put John in prison, according to verse 3, and behind this was his wife, Herodias, pushing the issue. Archaeologists have dug up a great dungeon there made out of masonry, there were holes in the masonry where wood and iron were attached, in order that a prisoner might be chained to the dungeon wall. They believe that was the place that was the prison of John the Baptist where he was kept for about a year.

Herodias was 'his brother Philip's wife.' The bible does not designate her as his wife, though she was married to Herod. So the Holy Spirit refuses to recognize her marriage to Herod. In Matthew 14:4 it says, "John had said to him, 'It is not lawful for you to have her.'" So now listen to all the facts surrounding that family that are mind boggling.

Herod Antipas was married to the daughter of king Aretas of Nabatean, Arabia. This is where Paul went during those three years when he was silent and God was preparing his heart before he came back to minister. Now Herodias was the daughter of another brother of Herod who is married to Phillip, so Herod Antipas is marrying his brother's daughter, in other words Herodias married her uncle.

They decided each to go through with their divorces and come together in marriage. John the Baptist confronted that situation. After Herod divorced his own wife, king Aretas became so upset that he attacked and destroyed Herod's entire army, and Herod himself would have been killed except that the Romans saved him.

So Herod and Herodias are married by the time we come to this scene, and another Philip, the brother of Herod, dies. This Philip is the one who ruled the northern areas. Immediately, Herodias wanted that area; she wanted to be the queen with more territory. However, Caligula, the Roman Emperor, gave it to Agrippa. She was so upset that she said to Herod, "Go to Rome, and even though you didn't get the other territory, force him to make you a king.” Herod tried to talk her out of it, but because of Herodias’ insistence he finally makes the trip to Rome.

However, Agrippa found out about that, and so he sends a faster messenger to Caligula and tells him that Herod is planning a rebellion and all of this is just a ruse. So when Antipas comes in to ask to be made a king, Caligula already believes he has a rebellion and revolution on his mind, so he takes away his throne and puts him in exile until his death. And on top of that he exiled Herodias with him. But all that happens later.

All of this wretchedness was brought to John's attention, and he tells Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have her." He didn't just say that once, but the Greek text indicates he kept on saying it everywhere. John just said what was true in the spirit and power of Elijah. This made Herod very uncomfortable, and it made Herodias livid. She was furious that John kept saying it, and as a result they threw him in prison.

The mark of greatness; the mark of a man of God is being fearless in confronting the sins of men even though they are the highest leaders in the nation or the world. You don't hesitate with leaders; when there is sin to be confronted, you confront it right away. They hold your life in their hands, but that's OK, you are God's man. Christ, Stephen, Paul, Peter and John the Baptist all confronted this and it is the only right thing to do.

Matthew 14:5, "And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet." Herod Antipas lives by fear; he fears his wife, he fears the loss of his throne, he fears John the Baptist, but he is afraid to kill him because he is afraid of the people. So he just keeps John in prison to try to buy time. In the meantime something interesting happens.

It says in Mark 6:20 that Herod feared John. He knew that John was a righteous, holy man, and he protected him. Herod was listening to John, fascinated by him, so his fear was turning to fascination. But Herodias was seething; she was a woman of immorality, she was vindictive and she wanted John dead. She became so incensed with anger that she would even stain her own child with guilt beyond description.

Matthew 14:6, "But when Herod's birthday was celebrated," and by the way, only non-Jews celebrated birthdays, Jews never did, “the daughter of Herodias,” named Salome, “danced before them and pleased Herod.” Herodias had this all planned; by the end of this party, Herod will be drunk and stuffed and very vulnerable. So when it is time for the dancing girls, she brings in her young 16- or 17-year old daughter to do this dance.

Verse 7, "Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask." In his drunken stupor, he lost all sensibility. He wanted to be the magnificent benefactor and made an oath to himself that she can have anything she wants. Mark 6 says, "Up to half of his whole kingdom." That will tell you how far gone he was.

Verse 8, "So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, 'Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter.'" Herodias didn't want to wait until Herod sobered up; she wanted it now. And Herod was too proud to break his stupid oath. He wanted everyone to think his word was pure gold; that he knew what he was doing and he feared losing his reputation and in fear of his wife, and in fear of the people there, so he filled his cup with iniquity.

Verse 9, "And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her.” He was trapped and he knew it, but his pride wouldn't let him do what was right; he was just like Pilate. Pilate also was trying to hold on until they said to him, "If you don't kill Jesus, you're no friend of Caesar." And afraid of losing his name and reputation and throne, he killed the Son of God.

Verse 10, "So he sent and had John beheaded in prison." Silently, in the depth of that dungeon, John the Baptist was murdered. After a year of imprisonment, John the Baptist is dead. His work is done; he has gone to his reward, a faithful and uncompromising man. That is the true prophet of God. Look at a beautiful ending to an ugly scene. Verse 12, "Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus." So John's disciples buried his body.

Jesus knew what had happened, but it was good that his disciples told Him, for John was so beloved to Him. Verse 13, "When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself." Luke tells us that His disciples were with Him and they were alone. The timetable did not involve Herod, so Jesus doesn't go to confront the man.

It would have been a very important time to be alone with the Twelve to talk about what it is going to cost them to preach the Kingdom. They saw the first preacher and he was killed. Christ, the second preacher, would be killed. The majority of the Twelve would be martyred for their faith as well, so this was a very important time to be together to talk about the price, the cost, and a time of instruction.

Herod wanted to see Jesus. But Jesus did not want to see him then. In the intervening period of time He ministered. But Jesus did sent a message to him. In Luke 13:32-33, “Jesus said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ 33 Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.”

The only time Jesus met Herod was at His trial. Look at Luke 23:8-12, "Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. 9 Then he questioned Him with many words."

“But Jesus never answered. 10And the chief priests and scribes stood and accused Him. 11Then Herod, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.12 That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other." Common mockery of the Son of God united these two tragic men.

Listen, if you are holding onto your reputation, for fear of what others may think, for fear of the attitude and actions of those who may reject you, for fear of the loss of face or reputation, for intimidation by evil people, you have forfeited Christ and damned your soul. Please do not be fearful of men, only fear God and do not hold on what you cannot keep anyway. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Aug 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130804 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D7 imblog

Matthew 13:53-58

We have finished looking at the seven parables of Matthew 13 and now come to the final section of Matthew 13:53-58, "Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables that He departed from there. 54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?”

“55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57 So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

We know of the power of faith or belief. In fact, our Lord said that if a man had faith the size of a mustard seed, he could remove mountains, do the impossible. David believed God and was able to slay Goliath. Abraham believed God and became the father of a great nation. A lame man believed God and was healed. A nobleman believed God and his son was raised. The leper believed and was made whole.

On the other hand, we need also to understand the power of unbelief. As believing saves the soul and enables the power of God fully to be released on behalf of the person, so unbelief stops the release of the power of God. Verse 58 says it so well. "He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” The power of unbelief stops God from showing what He can do.

So let us read in verse 53, that “He departed from there.” 'There” means Capernaum. Remember that in Matthew 11:23-24 Jesus said, "And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for you.”

Jesus had pronounced a curse on Capernaum, and when it says that at the end of verse 53, "He departed from there," Capernaum's history ended and God's judgment began. It marked a crisis in the town's history from which it never recovered. If you go today to Capernaum, no one lives there; it is an utter ruin. It has felt the curse of Jesus Christ for its unbelief.

Jesus went back to Nazareth in verse 54. "He came into His own country." That was walking distance from Capernaum. It says He went into the synagogue and taught them. This is not the first time He had done that. At the very beginning of His Galilean ministry, He went to His own hometown. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

Let us look what happened about a year ago in Luke 4:16-30, “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

That is a very important text that describes the ministry of the Messiah and, to the very letter, the ministry of Jesus Christ. He was saying, "The Messiah is here in your midst; this is fulfilled." This is a monumental claim; this is the greatest day above all days in the history of Israel, the day when the promise is fulfilled!

“20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.”

So Jesus left Nazareth and made His home in Capernaum. One year passes, and now we are back in Matthew 13. His desire is to return to give them a second chance, for Nazareth, that narrow minded, prejudiced and proud town. He went back fearlessly, graciously and lovingly to those same people who had tried to kill Him before.

Matthew 13:54 says, "He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished." He went right back into the teeth of the storm, right back into the same synagogue, and taught them. People would all be sitting there in the same place. In Matthew 7:28-29, it says the people marveled at His teaching because He spoke as one having authority, not like the scribes. First, this means to speak with conviction. Let us look for a moment how Jesus speaks.

The second way He taught was with all-knowing knowledge because He is God. Thirdly, there was grace in His speech, warmth, gentleness, love, sensitivity. Fourthly, His speaking was very powerful. In Luke 4:32, it says, "They were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with power." Power speaks of its effect on the hearers.

The fifth characteristic of His speech is in John 7:46, where they said, "There was never a man who spoke like this man." His speech was unique; He said what no one else said. He didn't say what was obvious, but what was not obvious, and He spoke primarily about the intentions of the heart. He cut through the traditions to the stuff they had never heard.

So what was their response to One who was authoritative, knowledgeable, gracious, powerful and unique, they were astonished. They were blown away by Him, astounded, amazed. But look what was in their heart in verse 58, “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

You can be amazed at Jesus, astounded at Him, astonished, but that doesn't mean anything if your heart is filled with unbelief. How can you explain that? How can you be unbelieving when you have just heard all this? Because unbelieving is a choice, an act of your will, it is something you determine. Let us look more at the power of unbelief.

Number one, unbelief blurs the obvious. Look at verse 54, He teaches, and they are astonished, but look at their question, "Where did He get this wisdom and these mighty works?" That is a stupid question. Where do you think supernatural miracles come from? Where do you think divine wisdom comes from?

Every time liberal commentators on the Scripture or liberal theologians do the same thing again and again. They deny the truth, and then they begin to concoct some impossible scheme to explain away everything supernatural and then they stand back and pat themselves on the back and commend their own intellectualism.

One of the greatest apologetics or defenses of the deity of Christ is the fact that it is not His friends or disciples or the Christian church that affirm that He did these miracles, it is His enemies. Over and over in the Bible, it is His enemies who never refuted that He did these miracles. There were thousands upon thousands of miracles, so much so that John 21:25 says, "The books of the world could not contain them."

Jesus practically eliminated disease from Palestine, taught profoundly on every conceivable subject related to life, death, time, eternity, God, man, heaven, and hell. John 5:36 says, "But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness of Me." Everyone should make the obvious connection between these supernatural manifestations and God.

All Jews knew that wisdom comes from God, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and yet they say, "Where does He get all this wisdom?" Did they think He had taken an advanced course at the Rabbinical Training Institute? No. They knew where it came from God. So where does He get this power to do these mighty works - healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and healing the lame? Those questions are the stupidity of unbelief. For those who are continually demanding more and more of that kind of evidence, it is a love of evil.

Secondly, unbelief also builds up the irrelevant. When you witness to someone who is resistant and unbelieving, inevitably, they will attach themselves to something that is totally irrelevant and focus on that to divert you from the real issue. Maybe you have brought someone to church, and you present Christ to them. You get comments like this, "They weren't very friendly. I didn't like the seat; the guy in front of me kept moving his head, the preacher speaks too loud, or too long. I hate that music.”

The Jews were totally surprised that a person from their town could have risen to such power. They just wouldn't accept that Jesus from their community could have gone higher than they did; it was a pride issue, an envy issue, a pettiness issue. It was all bound up in their unbelieving hearts, so they come up with all this totally irrelevant stuff.

Matthew 13:55-56, “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” What does that have to do with the truth of what He said? James also did not believe at first but he later became the head of the Jerusalem church and presided at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.

In John 7:15, the same approach is used again, this time in Jerusalem. He went into the temple and taught, just as He had done in Nazareth. And there is the same reaction; the Jews marveled. But this is their reaction. "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?" They're saying this guy can't be special because He does not have a degree. They ignore His words and works because of a lack of human education.

And thirdly, unbelief blinds you to the truth. In verse 57, it says they were offended by Him. They couldn't handle it, this couldn't be the Messiah; they were offended at Him. "He can't be the Messiah!" Jesus must have talked to them of their sinfulness, and the need to repent, and the whole thing offended and scandalized them.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, "The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God." When he talks about why God set Israel aside, he says in Romans 11:20, "Because of unbelief they were broken off." They refused to believe, not because the facts aren't there, but because there is not a willingness to deal with their sins.

Only those who believe will understand. In John 8:31-32, the Lord said, "If you abide in My word, 32 you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." It is only those who show a willingness to understand; the heart has to be open. Remember the story of Lydia, in Acts 16:14 it says, “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul,” that is what needs to happen.

The Lord responds with a statement He used on several occasions in verse 57, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." That was a proverb. They were saying, "No one from our town could be an expert. This is just Him, no one special." But He is saying, "You have fulfilled the proverb, you have rejected Me.”

In John 7:5, it says, "For even His brothers did not believe in Him." This demonstrates that humans are typically envious and jealous, even within His own family. So there was no honor in His own town; He was nobody. There was no honor in His own house; He was just the older brother. And so what happened next?

Fourthly, unbelief blocks the supernatural. As a result verse 58 says, "He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." There are times when Jesus acted in response to faith, and times when He acted where there was no faith. While faith, then, is not necessary for miracles in the gospels, but unbelief that is hard and overt will always stop miracles.

Look at Luke 17:14 where the ten lepers met Jesus, and Jesus said, "Go show yourselves to the priest,” to pass the test he gives. The minute they obeyed Jesus they were physically healed. This test was done so that they could go back into society, because lepers were outcasts. Jesus healed all ten of them, but only one came back to give glory to God, and Jesus asked, "Where are the other nine? And He said to him in verse 19, "Your faith has made you well."

Jesus didn't mean the man was cleansed from leprosy; he already was and so were the other nine. What He meant was, "I healed them physically by My sovereign choice. Their unbelief ended the miracle at that point. You came back, and receive not only physical healing, but your faith has made you well." Being well relates both to the physical and spiritual, and only that man received the salvation of his soul. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Jul 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130728 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D8 imblog

Matthew 13:47-52

We come to the last of seven parables given by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 13. And this one is the climax. This particular parable is a parable about judgment. It is a parable about hell. And the key of the parable is found in verse 50, the furnace of fire, where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Our Lord spoke often and a lot about hell, He said many things about the damned, the wicked, the Christ rejecters. But of all of the terrifying things that Jesus ever said, perhaps the most startling was when He said to the Jewish leaders in Matthew 23:33, “How can you escape the damnation of hell?”

We don't normally associate the Lord Jesus Christ with hell, but He said more about hell than he did about love. He said more about hell than all the other biblical preachers combined. Some people think that hell is fun. What deception. Hell is not fun. There is no way to describe hell, nothing on earth can compare with it.

No living person has any idea what it is. No murder scene with splashed blood and oozing wounds could ever suggest something that can come close to hell. Let the most gifted writer exhaust his skill in describing this unending flame and he would not even brush the nearest edge of hell.

This is a parable in which the Lord warns us about hell. Remember, just like in the parable of the wheat and the tares. He allows good and evil to coexist during this period. But in the end comes judgment. We have seen the parables that describe the nature of the kingdom, the power of the kingdom, the personal appropriation of the kingdom, and now we come to the climax and the judgment.

It is a fearful warning that in the end there will be eternal separation of the damned from the redeemed. And the world is moving toward this. Every human life is moving toward that inevitable hour, every day at least six thousand one hundred and seventy people in the United States alone will die and enter eternity, and most of them will go to hell.

Matthew 13:47-52, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things? They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

Fishing in our Lord's time was a common enterprise. Fishing for some of the disciples was their way of life, so they would understand clearly what He said. Basically there were three ways to fish; you can do it with a line and a hook. The second kind of fishing was using a special net. It was a net that was like a large circle and on the outer perimeter of the circle were weights.

The fishermen threw the net so well that it would hit the water in a circular form and as it sunk toward the bottom it would capture in it as the lead weights pulled down the edges, all the fish that were in that area. So the fisherman would wait until he saw a school of fish, then he would spin that net to capture the fish and he would pull the net together. And that is the net our Lord taught them to be fishers of men, throw out the net and catch men for Christ and pull them in.

But that is not the net that is used here, this was a troll net. It speaks of a very, very large net that could not be worked with the hand of a man. One end of this large net was attached to the shoreline and the other end was attached to a boat. And as the boat would begin to move in a circle, it would sweep into all the fish into that net.

This net basically is immense and it brings in everything. This is like a great vertical wall that has swept up everything, living and dead, it sometimes pulled in all kinds of things, seaweed, every form of life that would be there would be caught in that net. Verse 48, "And when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away."

Now the picture is very clear, isn't it? Let's look now at the spiritual principle in verse 49, "So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just." Let us stop at this point. There's a lot that you could say about that parable and there are some interesting possibilities. But the Lord is only interested in teaching one thing and that is the separating process that went on where angelic beings are used to separate people in judgment.

You see, during this era good and evil go together and God allows evil. But the time is coming when He will separate those who know the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who do not. And that separation is inevitable and it is ultimate. This dragnet draws in all kinds of fish. The kingdom of heaven is like that net, it moves silently through the sea of life, drawing men, almost without them knowing it, to the shore of eternity.

The only spiritual thing that the Lord pinpoints in this parable is that last act of the fishermen. Everything else passes without comment. And I think we ought to leave the rest without comment and just take what our Lord meant to teach. When He spoke of fishers of men, He used that in a positive way to speak to the disciples of catching men for Christ. But when He speaks of this drag-net, He is talking about gathering men for judgment.

Look at verse 49, "So shall it be at the end of the age." This is just a general statement that all in the world are caught ultimately in the net of judgment, to be separated in the end. And notice again that the angels are the executioners. The angels are the separators, just as we saw in verse 41, just as we see in Matthew 24; the angels come with the Lord to act out judgment. Just as we see in Matthew 25, just as we see repeatedly in Revelation

14. The angels are the agents of God's judgment.

Matthew 25:31-32, 34, 41, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

And Jesus said in John 5:28-29, “for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” There will be an eternal destiny for every soul that has ever lived on the face of the earth.

Men may not perceive the kingdom, they may not see God moving in the world, but He is always moving. And men very often when touched by the gospel of Jesus Christ, or threatened by judgment, run toward the freedom they think is ahead of them but sooner or later they run right back into the same net because there's no real freedom out there. And they are inexorably moving toward the inevitable judgment.

All people are gathered in the net. The kingdom will ultimately engulf them all. And God with His angels will separate them. Now, that leads me to a third thought, and that is the peril. Verse 50, "And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Now that is a fearful verse. And yet Jesus spoke more of hell than anybody else. If Jesus had not taught us about hell, we would not have believed it. We cannot conceive of eternal damnation. More than anything else, Jesus threatened men with hell. And if you don't think so then you haven't been paying attention to the words in His ministry.

This was a constant part of what our Lord taught. Now if you then, are to evaluate what should be the emphasis of preaching, based on the example of Christ, it should be preaching on hell. Our generation doesn't do that. It's so terrifying. Now, what is this furnace of fire?

Number one, hell is a place of unrelieved torment. The Bible defines it as outer darkness. Our Lord describes hell as unrelieved darkness forever with no hope of the light and no hope of the dawn. And the Bible also says it is a fire. Now it is not a fire that we would know as fire, to burn something in this world.

Fire is God's way of describing it because it is a tortuous, unrelieved kind of fire, more terrible than any fire that we would ever know. But fire here describes the torment of the damned; no relief from the suffering, the agony and the pain, forever.

Only two times in all of Scripture that we have any insight into how people respond to hell. The one is the Lord's parable in Luke 16:24 where He says, “the man cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” And the other is in Matthew 13:50 where our Lord said that there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. That's hell.

Secondly, it is a place of unrelieved torment for body and soul. When an unbeliever dies, his soul goes out of the presence of God, into the torment of hell. It may not be the final lake of fire that comes after the great white throne judgment, for that needs a transcendent body to endure it, but it is a torment as illustrated by the rich man who in hell was tormented.

In the future, there will be a resurrection of the bodies of the damned; they will be given a transcendent body that will then go into a lake of fire to be punished forever. We, as Christians, will be resurrected to have a transcendent body also, a glorified body, where we will live with God and all angels and redeemed people forever in heaven.

And that's why Jesus in Matthew 10:28 said, "Fear not them that can destroy the body, but fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." You see, hell encompasses soul and body. Transcendent, eternal bodies are going to be given to the damned so that they will suffer in those bodies forever.

Jesus said in Mark 9:48, “the worm does not die.” Now what did He mean by that? When a body decays, worms begin to consume that body and the worms will die when the food is gone. But in hell, the worms never die because the body, though it is continually being consumed, is never consumed. The Lord was saying the unrelieved torment of body goes on and on.

Thirdly, torment of body and soul happens in varying degrees. In other words, for some people, hell will be worse than others. It says in Hebrews 10:29, "Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”

People who have stepped on Jesus Christ, who have rejected His cross, will experience a greater hell than those who have not. The same way as there are degrees in hell there will be degrees of reward in heaven as well.

Matthew 11:24 says, "It will be more tolerable for Sodom than for you." In other words, it's only relative, it isn't going to be tolerable for every being, but it will be more tolerable for them than for you because of what you have experienced. You had Jesus Christ in your city, they didn't. You rejected Him with more information; therefore hell will be more severe for you.

And then you have that parable in Luke 12 where the Lord says in verse 47-48, "And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.” So, hell will be unrelieved torment of body and soul in varying degrees.

Fourthly, there is torment for body and soul in varying degrees endlessly. The worm never dies, the fire never goes out, the light never breaks, the sweet relief of death never comes, endlessly. The only reason in which we in this life can even make it through trials and suffering and disease is because we know there will be an end to it.

Well, how do you avoid hell? Only by receiving of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you don't appropriate the kingdom, you see, if you don't take the treasure, if you don't purchase the pearl of great price, there's no way out.

Now, the final point, the application. So in verse 51, Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?" Have you got this all put together in your minds? And do you see that it's going to go along like this with good and evil until the end and then comes a final separation? Did you get it?

And they said to Him, “Yes, Lord, we understand it.” And Jesus accepted their affirmative answer, otherwise He would not have said what He did in verse 52, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

And the wise head of a household or teacher teaches the old with the new in balance. Now you have a storehouse that is filled with old and new. They knew the Old Testament and now they had heard the mysteries of the kingdom. They were one up on the scribes who only knew the old stuff. But Jesus says - God called you and prepared you to tell others. I hope that we all realize that God is telling us this now so that we are willing to preach the gospel at any time, to anybody, anywhere, Amen?

]]> Sun, 21 Jul 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130721 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000D9 imblog

Matthew 13:44-46

This evening we're looking at two parables taught by our Lord, and we can take them together because they touch the same subject. Matthew 13:44-46, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Jesus is saying, - there is nothing in all the universe to match the priceless value of the kingdom of heaven. And that is what we're going to see as we learn these two parables now. Remember the Lord is teaching in this chapter in a series of seven parables of describing the kingdom.

Now in this series of seven parables, we gain insight into this period of time. The first two parables tell us about the nature of the mystery form of the kingdom. The parable of the soils tells us that in this kingdom there will be those who believe and there will be those who do not. In the second parable of the wheat and the tares, we find that the believers and the nonbelievers will grow together until the harvest that comes in the end.

Now the second two parables speak of the power of the kingdom. In spite of the fact that good and evil are growing together, the good will triumph in the end. And so the good element is described as a mustard seed planted in the field, so that though the kingdom began very small but when Jesus comes His kingdom will fill the whole earth. And the parable of the leaven shows the internal permeating influence of the kingdom which touches every dimension of human life.

Well, then if the kingdom covers the earth and permeates and influences, how do we become part of the kingdom? And so, our Lord explains in this third couplet of parables about the value of the kingdom. And these two parables, as do the previous two couplets of parables, speak to the same subject.

Let us look first of all at Matthew 13:44. It is the parable of a hidden treasure, a very simple story, “the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Now this was the common way for the people then. They had no banks as such and so usually men took whatever they considered of great value and they buried it in the ground, particularly in Palestine because that was a place of war. Conquering peoples came in to plunder and so people would bury valuables to recover them again later.

And so, here is a man who is working in a field, maybe he's plowing or whatever, and he comes across a treasure buried in the ground. And immediately he puts it back where he found it and sells every single thing he possesses, and buys that field in order that he may gain that treasure.

Now this parable introduces an ethical situation. People have said - how can you have Jesus telling a story in which there's an unethical activity, in which a man does something that is wrong? Look, the guy uncovers a treasure, and then he hides it without telling the owner and he goes to buy the field. Isn’t that stealing?

First of all, Jewish Rabbinic law said - "If a man finds scattered fruit or money, it belongs to the finder." So the man is within the permission of the Jewish Rabbinic law. So the Jews listening to Jesus would not have perceived this man as unethical. Secondly, that which was hidden in the field did not belong to the man who owned the field.

The owner of the field didn't know it was there. He had not gone to the effort to uncover it and dig it out, no doubt it belonged to a previous owner of that same field who had buried it there, maybe died in battle, or died by accident, unable to recover it and so the man who had uncover it by Jewish law did have the claim on it. The owner of the field had not done that.

Now, thirdly, this man was very trustworthy and fair. If this man was not an honest man when he found the treasure he would have taken it and split. But he didn't do that. He took that treasure that he had found; and he put it right back in the ground. Then he liquidated everything he owned and bought the entire field just so that he could do what was right to get that treasure. No one was defrauded.

The point of the parable is here is a man who found something so valuable that he sold everything that he had to get it. That's the point of the parable. He was so overjoyed, he was so ecstatic that he was willing to do anything to get that treasure.

Now let's look at the second parable of the pearl, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” A merchant man is a person who would go around and buy things on a wholesale basis and then sell them to somebody who would retail them.

Pearls would be the equivalent of diamonds today. If you had pearls, you had a fortune. It was incredible the extent to which people went in those days pearl hunting. Many people died gaining them. They basically tied rocks to their bodies and then jump off the side of the little boat and go to the bottom amidst all the sharks and whatever else, holding one long deep-drawn breath and fearing lest they go too deep and die.

And they would come up with these treasures and when once discovered, a pearl that was of perfection and beauty would be incredibly valuable. So valuable are they that the Talmud says, "Pearls are beyond price." So valuable were they that when women wanted to show their wealth, according to 1 Timothy 2:9, they put pearls on their head.

Our Lord in Matthew 7:6 says, "Don't cast your pearls before swine." Jesus is comparing the least with the most priceless. You don't give the most valuable thing to a pig, that's foolish. And so pearls were really perceived like we perceive diamonds today. In fact, in the book of Revelation, God begins to describe heaven as pearls in its beauty.

Now, what are the principles from the two parables? Number one, the kingdom is priceless in value. Both parables teach us the incomparable value of the kingdom of the Lord, we're talking about salvation; we're talking about Christ Himself and the gift of salvation that He gives. The kingdom is the most valuable commodity that can ever be found and only a fool is not willing to sell everything he has to gain it.

In Christ’ kingdom there is a treasure rich beyond comparison. That treasure is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading and eternal. Salvation, forgiveness, love and joy, peace and virtue, goodness and glory and heaven and eternal life are all in that pearl that is salvation and is equivalent to being in the kingdom.

Secondly, the kingdom is not outwardly visible. The treasure was hidden, and the pearl had to be sought. The treasure is not obvious to men. The value and the preciousness of the kingdom of heaven, of salvation cannot be seen although it is there. The world looks at us and they don't understand why we all are worshiping God.

It says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him." And in 2 Corinthians 4, it says, “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

Most people never bother to look beyond the surface. They are so busy fiddling around with the worldly treasures and the toys and the pebbles that lie on the surface, they never get to the treasure underneath. And there have been many times that we have gone and given the description of the treasure and the pearl to people who right away turned their backs and walked away. They do not care.

They do not want that. They do not understand its inestimable value. It is not easily perceived. That is why it says in Matthew 7:14, “narrow is the way and few there be that find it." That's why it says in Luke 13:24, "Strive to enter in at the narrow gate for many I say will seek to enter in and shall not be able." In other words, it must be diligently pursued.

Thirdly, the kingdom is personally appropriated. And this is the essence of these two parables. Now we are dealing with two individuals. And each of them finds something specifically for himself and takes it himself. This is to show us that you can be surrounded by the kingdom, surrounded by Christian friends and not be a member of the kingdom. There are just a lot of people in the church who are not Christians.

There are many Jews who, although they are born Jewish and are although they are under the covenant of God with Israel, are going to forfeit all that kingdom treasure because they have never personally come to know Christ, right? In Romans 9:6 it says, "All Israel is not Israel." And the same is true today. There are many people on earth who have never accepted the kingdom personally.

It is not enough to be under the influence of the kingdom. It is not enough to just be under the influence of the church, or the influence of Christianity, it is not enough to just, as it were, lodge in the branches or be touched by its permeating influence, there must be personal appropriation. And at some point in time, in order to do that, men and women must realize the incredible value of the kingdom.

Many people spend their whole life pursuing what they think is valuable but at the end they realize that what they thought would bring them happiness instead brought them much misery and regret. In our world diamonds are the epitome of value. But the real value of the kingdom is so much greater than that.

And then in Job 28: 12, now that you've been looking for all that worldly stuff, we find what is really valuable, that you have never bothered to look for, and that is wisdom. If you want to know the real value of things in life you're not going to find them in worldly places, you're only going to find them in the revelation of God.

Fourthly, the kingdom is the only source of true joy. If we look at verse 44, it was for the joy that the man had when he found the treasure that he sold everything to buy it. Because the Lord is teaching us something that I have believed all my life. And it's confirmed here. The basic desire of all human beings on the face of the earth is to be happy. The Lord designed that.

Jesus even said in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” And I John 1, it says, "These things I write to you that your joy might be full.” And in John 16:24, our Lord says, “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

And Romans 14:17 says, "The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." In Romans 15:13 it says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” People want to be happy. And true joy comes when you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fifthly, one can enter the kingdom from different circumstances. Now in both cases there are some similarities. They find something of great value, in both cases they understand its value, and in both cases they are willing to pay any price for it. So they're very similar, aren't they? But there's one big difference.

In case number one, the man just comes across the treasure y surprise. In case number two, the man knows exactly what he is looking for, right? Now even if the number one person was a treasure hunter, he didn't know what he was looking for. But number two did. The man in the field was going through whatever routine he went through and doing what he normally did he stumbled across a fortune.

There are people who enter the kingdom like that, aren't there? The Apostle Paul was not seeking to enter the kingdom; he thought he was in the kingdom. He was on his way to Damascus to kill Christians. The next thing he knew, he landed in the dirt, and he was redeemed. And then there are some people who come to church to oppose the preacher, and then they get saved.

And then there was the other, the one who looked for the pearls. This is the one who is seeking virtue and seeking that which is of true value, but what he doesn't understand in his seeking of religion which always comes through the works of men is that all of it is wrapped up in just one pearl. And so, there are people who enter the kingdom, almost by accident, but from God's side it is all according to plan. And then there are people who search.

Lastly, the kingdom is made personal by a transaction. In both of these cases, they bought the treasure and the pearl. Salvation cannot be bought but what it means is that they made a commitment. The Bible tells us that salvation is God's free gift, Romans 3. And it is not of works lest any man should boast. We don't purchase it on our own with our own goods. But it is bought nonetheless.

There is a great Old Testament passage that people always understand as salvation by grace. Isaiah 55:1 says, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” But they forget that it says come and buy, you just don't buy it with money. But there is a purchase transaction in salvation.

The transaction is this; you give up all you have for all He has. Did you get that? That is the essence of the transaction of salvation. I give up all I have and God gives me all He has. Now the real issue is whether you are willing to make the transaction of salvation which says that you are totally willing to give up yourself to receive Him.

This does not mean, you can get saved when you stop your sinning and stop your cursing, and stop your drinking, and stop your wife beating, and stop your arguing and your fighting and your lusting, then come to Me. No. I can't get rid of those things, I exchange all my own will and my own strength and my own resources, I strip myself bare and I receive Your strength and Your power. That's the transaction.

The kingdom is precious. The kingdom is hidden. The kingdom is personal. The kingdom is joyous. The kingdom is entered from different circumstances, but always the price is to abandon myself to receive the supreme sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130714 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000DA imblog

Matthew 13:31-33

Let us now read two parables that really must be understood together in Matthew 13:31-33, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” 33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

Small things can have very large effects. All music, all symphonies, concertos, hymns and songs come basically from eight notes. All the profound words that have ever been uttered or written in the English language come from only 26 letters. That is really the lessons of these parables. Now let me give you some background so that you will understand the disciple’s feelings as Jesus was teaching them.

The disciples believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised King who would set up the kingdom. But for them, the kingdom had very clear definitions. It would come in glory and in power. There would be great cataclysmic events. And there would be the punishment of evil doers. They were looking for the music, the triumph, a blazing display of power and glory as the Messiah established His kingdom.

But, it didn't happen that way. And that's why they kept asking themselves -Was this the Messiah? And even though He would tell them again and again that He was; they would still struggle with it. And even into Acts 1:6 they were still asking – “Will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They never quite understood it because their expectations were so different from what they were seeing.

The Jewish rejection kept mounting and getting more violent and more overt. And instead of Jesus talking about what He would do to them, He started talking about what they would do to Him. And instead of Him saying - He was going to kill them, He started saying – They are going to kill Me. That was very hard for the disciples to handle. And so Jesus teaches them why in Matthew 13.

He says - before the kingdom comes, here is a form of the kingdom which now exists which you must understand. And He calls it the mystery form in verse 11. And now Jesus says I will unfold it to you. And so He gives them seven parables which explain to them the kingdom in its mystery form, prior to the blaze of glory that they were anticipating.

The first parable He gives them is about four kinds of soil. Three of these soils do not receive the seed. That tells them that this form of the kingdom will include much rejection. In fact, most of the world rejects it. The world is either the hard soil that doesn't even let the good news in or the rocky soil that lets it in a little while and then it withers, or the weedy soil that finally chokes it out because of the love of this world and the cares of this age.

And the immediate question would be - what's going to happen to those who reject? And so the Lord tells them a second parable. The wheat and the tares, the kingdom citizens and the rejecters are going to grow together until the judgment. And He is saying is it is not your job to be the executioners, which is for the angels in the judgment. Your job is to keep on being the wheat in the midst of the world so that you will influence the tares that are all around you.

Now, what do you think the next question is that they are going to ask? We've got all these people who reject and they're all over the place because the tares were sown throughout the field. And evil is so powerful and evil is so dominating in its influence, if these two things are going along together, isn't that going to strangle the power of Christ in the world?

And so, Jesus teaches them these two parables that show from very small beginnings, things very insignificant, the kingdom is going to grow in spite of the opposition to ultimately influence the whole-wide world. These parables talk about the victory of the right. That in the end, the little tiny mustard seed fills the earth, the little piece of leaven, leavens the whole loaf of bread. The power of the kingdom, in spite of its smallness, will sweep the world.

The first parable of the soils talks about the breadth of the kingdom. The seed is sown in the whole world. The second parable talks about the length of the kingdom, it will go on until the harvest. The third parable about the mustard seed talks about the height of the kingdom. And the fourth parable of the leaven talks about the depth of the kingdom as it is hidden in the dough and influences from within.

Now the Lord does not explain to us these two recent parables, but don't feel bad. The Lord gave us the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us He explained all of these things to them. But for us, we have the resident Holy Spirit and we, because we are taught the mind of God as revealed in the Word of God, can understand this in as His plan.

The mustard seed describes the external power of the kingdom. Matthew 13:31, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.” Here's a farmer, who is going to plant a crop of mustard. Why? Well, it was used for its oil, medicinal use and also for flavoring. Even today, they still raise mustard crops.

Verse 32, says that, "which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” This particular mustard seed grows to a bush, about eight feet in height. But sometimes it will grow to 15 feet in height. The Lord is saying there is no connection between the smallness of the seed and the largeness of the end result.

Jesus in verse 32 says, "This is the least of all seeds." Now critics who want to attack the Bible pounce on that statement. See they say, that proves the Bible is not inerrant, because a wild orchid seed is smaller than a mustard seed, therefore if Jesus didn't know that, He is not God. The critics say - Jesus is wrong, either because He's ignorant, or He's wrong because He's going along with their error.

Now listen, of all of the seeds that were sown in the past untill today in 2013 to produce edible products, the mustard seed was and still is the smallest. Recently this was affirmed by Dr. L. H. Shinners who is a director of the largest herbarium in the southwest USA, having 318 thousand botanical specimens from all over the world. He said, quote: "The mustard seed would indeed have been the smallest of those planted as a crop at the time of Christ.”

Now, Jesus was also speaking proverbially. To the Jew, because the smallest seed he ever dealt with was a mustard seed, it was used to describe something small. For example, the Jews talked about a tiny breach of the Mosaic Law being a defilement the size of a mustard seed. They talked about a blemish on an animal the size of a mustard seed. To this day the Arabs talk about faith weighing the amount of a mustard seed.

And our Lord even used the same in Matthew 17:20 where He said if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, “Be moved, and it would be removed.” So, it was proverbial. And He was using a story with a proverb that they used, but in His marvelous infinite wisdom, He happened to pick a proverb they used that was right. Now everyone understands what the parable says.

First, the kingdom will start small. Can you imagine how this is important to tell the disciple? They were being smothered by oppression, rejection and blasphemy. And Jesus says - It's okay. That's the plan; this will start from something very small. In Luke 17:20 it says, “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation.” You can't see it. Not in this form.

The kingdom is already here, but it's a little seed starting very small, you can't see it yet. Just like when you plant that mustard seed in the ground, you can't see it, but it's there. And in that seed is the potential for a massive tree. And in that little seed planting of the kingdom is the potential for a kingdom that extends to the ends of the earth.

And think of those disciples. All of them put together wouldn't add up to a mustard seed. They were so small, so inadequate, so unqualified, so fearful, so faithless and so weak. And that was the form of the kingdom that was planted. But in the heart of that little infant in that manger was eternal life that would burst forth into an eternal kingdom.

This is a marvelous truth because this is not seen in the Old Testament. This is mystery revealed. If we talk to a pastor today who has a church of 60, maybe he feels inadequate. You'll hear people - well, our church is so small. But when the kingdom started it only had 12 and so far it's doing very well. Before it's done it will cover the entire globe.

The kingdom started very small, but the kingdom ends up very large. In Psalm 72:8-11, it says, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.9 Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. 11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him.”

Isaiah 54: 2-3, “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.” Jeremiah saw it. Amos saw it. Micah saw it. Zechariah saw it. Ultimately the millennial kingdom comes; Jesus reigns over the whole earth.

Revelation 11:15 says, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Jesus says - this thing gets so big that the birds of the air come and build their nests, and live in its branches.

So what do these birds represent? Look at Ezekiel 31:3, 5-6, “Indeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with fine branches that shaded the forest, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. 5 ‘Therefore its height was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its branches became long because of the abundance of water. 6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young; and in its shadow all great nations made their home.” All this is saying is there is one great dominant world power, a whole lot of other little ones get sheltered in the branches.”

So let us look at a very similar lesson in the parable of the leaven. Matthew 13:33, "Another parable spoke He to them saying, The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.” When we take a piece of fermented dough and place it in that new loaf and it permeates until it leavens the whole loaf and causes it to rise.

Now, the leaven used is very small. But you'll notice that it is hidden in a massive amount of dough. This is indicative of the enormity of the task accomplished by a little bit of leaven. Now frankly leavened bread is superior to unleavened bread. So secondly, it has a positive affect; it makes it better and tastier. Sometimes leaven is used as an example of the influence of evil, but here the leaven represents the good influence of Christ, His kingdom, His gospel and His subjects in the world.

Jesus knew that the Jews understood the analogy of leaven related to evil and that they perceived the massive moving spread of evil and what better thing to grasp that which they understood and say - that's exactly how fast and how unstoppable and how penetrating will be the spread of the kingdom.

After Jesus went to heaven there were only 120 little disciples, banded together in Jerusalem, and look today millions across the face of the earth have been influenced by Christianity. All of the caring and benevolent organizations, all of those things that help the poor and give aide to those that are down-trodden and depressed and so forth, comes out of the Spirit of Christ put through the hearts of His people are leaven in the world.

Second lesson, the positive influence of the kingdom comes from your heart. God has to plant His leaven inside the people of the world. This is the time for men to be saved; this is the time for Christianity to do its work. The world has been injected with eternal life and it's spreading everywhere. Ultimately every knee will bow and here we are extensions of that same eternal life, Christ Spirit dwells in me.

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We don't need political positions; we don't have to be the President of the United States. We don't have to have laws and guns and soldiers to dominate the world with Christianity.

No, we can just begin to move from a small beginning. You know, before the Lord returns the second time, it says in Matthew 24:14, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world. It's going to extend, it's going to go and permeate everybody. And then, finally, our Lord will come again and set up His kingdom.

Let me close with these thoughts. We have 300 thousand missionaries globally in the earth for Christianity in 2010. Approximately 78 million bibles are distributed every year. They estimate right now that there are several million house churches meeting in China with approximately 160 million Christians. Some say that there are more Christians in China now than in the United States.

Do you realize that when the church started in Jerusalem, it took them seven years before they established the first mission church in Antioch? Ninety-five percent of the population of the world has all or part of the Bible in their own language. And ninety percent of all the tribes on the face of the earth have had the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing?

It sums up really what our Lord said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build My church and the gates of hell will not hold it in." Doesn’t that show confidence? Christ is building His kingdom. And the day will come when it all climaxes and it's indicated in Revelation 11:15, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

That's where it's going ultimately. Christianity will win, Jesus will reign, evil will be destroyed, evil men will be sent to hell and the kingdom will come in its eternal fullness. What a hopeful parable. Next Sunday, we're going to find out how you and I personally deal with the kingdom in our lives. Bow with me in prayer.

]]> Sun, 07 Jul 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130707 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000DB imblog

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

As we now study Matthew 13, I hope that you have your Bible ready, that your mind is open and your heart available to the Lord because we have some great things that God will show us as we look at the second parable. It is the parable about wheat and tares.

Remember that the Lord is the King of the earth. Within that kingdom, the Lord Jesus allows Satan a limited amount of freedom. He also allows sinners a certain amount of freedom. And yet over it all He is still the King and He is still ruling. Every phase of human history, then, marks some facet of the rule of Jesus Christ.

Initially God conveyed His rule on earth through Adam. And then there were the patriarchs, and then the monarchs, and then the priests and the prophets and then the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And then God conveyed His will and His rule through the Apostles in the early church.

There will come a future time when God will again bring His rule to earth as mediated through the living glorified incarnate Lord Jesus Christ and that we know as the millennial kingdom. And then, finally, the earth and the heaven will be merged in the eternal kingdom on earth becoming one and the same.

But there's one period that we left out in recounting the periods and that is the period of time from the rejection of Christ to the return of Christ, the age in which we live. This, too, is a form of His kingdom. The Bible designates it in the New Testament as the mystery form, that which was not seen in the Old Testament. We are now living in that era.

Jesus in Matthew 13 tells us what it will be like. He defines for us in seven parables, the character, the extent, the value and the end of this period known as the mystery form of the kingdom. God is mediating His rule on the earth now through His church, through believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Now, His disciples didn't know about this period of time just as the prophets of old didn't either. So when the Messiah arrived, they thought immediately He would establish His kingdom and all the rebels and unbelievers would be destroyed and holiness and righteousness would fill the earth and the kingdom would be as predicted by the prophets.

Even after Jesus died on the cross, they were still curious about the kingdom. And it led them to ask Him in Acts 1:6-7, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom?" To which He replied, 'It's not for you to know the times, or the seasons which the Father has put into His own power." That's not your business.

The kingdom will come, the angels said, but it won't come until He comes back in His fullness. The kingdom of glory and righteousness, the kingdom where the Lord Jesus rules with a rod of iron and tolerates no evil, that kingdom that is anticipated by the prophets, waits until His return. But in the meantime, there is a form of the kingdom described as the mystery.

Jesus begins to tell them parables here in Matthew 13 to help them understand the nature of this period in which we live. And He begins to describe it to them and the first is a parable of soils. He told them there were four kinds of soils: the hard soil, the rocky soil, then the thorny soil and then fourthly, the good soil which produced real fruit. In this kingdom state, not everybody believes and bears the fruit of righteousness.

John the Baptist, the immediate forerunner of Jesus Christ doesn't even see this interim period. Here is the John the Baptist saying - When He gets here it is going to be fire and burning up of all the chaff and only the wheat will be kept. And all of this too, was based upon the Old Testament prophet’s sayings.

And so, the Lord Jesus needs to explain to them what He's going to do with the unbelievers who are in the earth during this mystery form of the kingdom. And He does that now in parable number two. He answers their question with a parable that begins in Matthew 13:24 and is called the parable of the wheat and tares.

Matthew 13:24-30, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

So let us see what each verse teaches us. Verse 24, "Another parable put He put forth to them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.” This is then about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. The kingdom ruled by God from heaven. This is talking about the mystery form, the time since Jesus, and this age now and even into the millennial period later.

Then verse 25, "But while men slept," and this indicates that he had a lot of people helping him with the sowing. They slept because it was night and a man who works hard has the right to enjoy his sleep. And so his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. The enemy sowed all throughout, and then went his way.

And verse 26 says, “But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared." It became obvious at one point in the growth that this was not wheat. Verse 27, "So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?”

They are shocked. They wouldn't have been shocked if there were only a few of those weeds because they always had a few in the crop that they had to deal with, but they were shocked because the whole field was full of them. And in verse 28, "He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?”

Now we can recognize them now because the heads have matured and we can tell the difference now. And so, they said - We can tell them apart, we'll go through the field and we'll tear them up. Verse 29, "But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.” Jesus said, “Don't do anything.”

Verse 30, "Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” Now, that's the narration. A very simple story that is easy to understand. But what does it mean?

Later on, after He's given a couple of other parables in between, it's time to explain the parables and as we learn from the other gospels, He explained all of them to them because they on their own could not fully understand them. So in verses 36-43 Jesus explains it. Verse 36, “Jesus first sent the multitude away." Now that is most important, He only wants to be with His disciples.

Verse 36 continues, “and went back into the house.” Very likely it was Simon Peter's house in Capernaum. “and the disciples came and they asked, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” They wanted to know that. And that's the way it is. God only reveals His truth to those who are His own and He answers their question.

So, Jesus explains to them what's going to happen to the tares, those that aren't wheat. Verse 37, "He answered and said: He who sows the good seed is the Son of man." Now Christ is the Son of man, the common title for Himself. And He uses it because it identifies Him in His incarnation, with His humanness. But it is also Messianic. In Daniel 7:13 the Messiah is to be called the Son of man.

Verse 38, “The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.” So, the Lord is sowing seed in the world, which is His field. It belongs to Him. He is King of the earth. He holds in His hand the title deed even though He hasn't really laid claim to it fully as He will in Revelation 6 when He unrolls the scroll, which is the title deed to the earth and takes back the earth.

Well what does Jesus sow? It says the good seed are the children of the kingdom. What this means is that the Lord puts the children of the kingdom in the world. Most commentators say that the field is the church and that is where the wheat and the tares grow together. But Jesus said in verse 38 that the field is the world.

What is it saying? God sows His children of His kingdom throughout the world. So, you have believing people that have been planted all over His world. This is a picture of the church in the world. We are placed within the world's system. We're not called to isolate ourselves. We are not here by accident; we're planted here specifically by the Lord, right?

First of all, we're here to be matured by the trouble the world gives us, right? 1 Peter 5:10 says, "After you've suffered a little while, the Lord will perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you.” John 16:33 says, “In this world you'll have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." So the Lord plants us everywhere so we can develop.

He also plants us here, so that we can influence the world. Do you realize that everybody who is wheat was once a tare? We were all real bad before we got converted, right? So, the Lord puts us in Denver not only to become mature by the pressure of becoming Christian, but to also influence others into becoming followers of Jesus, like we are.

Our redemption must be at work and that's why Jesus said in John 17:15, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” Do not take them out of the world; we are supposed to be in the world. There are only two kinds of people in the world, children of the kingdom and children of the wicked one.

In John 8:44, Jesus said to those leaders of Israel, "You are of your father, the devil." In I John 3, John compares the children of God against the children of the devil because those are the only two kinds there are. The origin of evil is from the evil one, God is not the author of evil. Evil proceeds from the evil one.

So, good and evil are mingled in the world. This is how it has been and this is how it will be in the mystery kingdom. Satan now really has his fallen angels everywhere. In fact, in some parts of the world they are so thick it is hard to find in there some wheat. And he likes to sow them as close to the wheat as he can. And he does sow them in the church.

In Matthew 7:21-23 it says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” These are church people.

And that's where we come to verse 39, this is very important, "The harvest is the end of the age." Jesus is saying if you are trying to judge the world without divine insight, you're going to wind up condemning Christians. Do you know that the church has done that throughout its history? That is not the church's function to go around ripping out the tares. We are not to attack the world.

What was the Lord Jesus Christ's attitude toward those people? Jesus treated them with meekness, love and kindness, right? How did He treat Judas? Judas was there in His presence and He didn't blow him away with fire. He was patient. And this is the time of patience. He was gracious, and this is the time of grace.

You see, the Lord knows how many people belong in the kingdom. We are not to pray that God would destroy them. We are to pray that God would save them, that He will redeem them. That's the only proper attitude. That was the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ the night in which He was betrayed.

Now, that brings us to the climax in verse 39, “The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.” Now listen to me, angels are called by God to give judgment. Christians are called to influence by doing right. We are not called to judgment. We are not called to condemn the world. We have to preach against its sins. We want to love sinners while hating their sin.

Verse 40-43, "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

People think they're going to be in hell and everything is going to be fine. They're going to be with their friends and they'll love it down there. But this verse tells us that not only is hell a fire, but it tells you what your reaction is going to be, grinding teeth and piercing shrieks, an eternal, inevitable, inescapable judgment. Hell is not being with friends, it is isolation from God and everyone else.

Then comes the anticipated kingdom, then comes the righteous Shekinah, lighting the face of all the saints for all the ages. "They'll shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." So Jesus says - that part of the future is coming, just as surely as the judgment. In fact, Daniel 12:3 says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”

Verse 43 is the application. Simply it means you better listen. What and who are you listening to? If you are a believer, you are to coexist in this world and you're to influence the world for good, not be influenced by it. Who are you following? If you are not following Christ, you are following the devil. You are to be used by God to reach that brother or sister near you so they too can become children of the living God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130630 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000DC imblog

Matthew 13:10-17

Matthew 13 is one of the greatest chapters in all of the pages of Holy Scripture. We are all striving to understand Christianity in our time and how to make the church what God wants it to be. But all efforts to understand the church age, the period we live in, must begin at Matthew 13 in the New Testament.

Here is the analysis of the church age from the viewpoint of Jesus Christ Himself. This is the biblical presentation of the church and our Lord discusses the nature, the qualities of this period of time that we know as the church age. It is a marvelously prophetic chapter. The Lord talks about things that are going to come to pass. And so, it is tremendously important for us to understand the nature of this age.

Now, remember that Matthew has presented Jesus Christ as King. He has shown us that Jesus is the anointed of God, the Messiah, the Christ, and the Savior of the world. He has come to bring His kingdom. Jesus did what John the Baptist said he would, He offered a kingdom. And He called people to acknowledge Him as the King.

However, by the time we reach Matthew 13, they have rejected the King and they have refused His kingdom. And so we are at a monumental point in redemptive history. And so, as we come to chapter 13, the kingdom is postponed to a future time, a time when the people of Israel will accept the King, will acknowledge His kingdom and receive it in its fullness.

The time between this rejection and His return is a time that is called the mystery form of the kingdom, because it is a time hidden from generations past. In Matthew 13:11, “He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Jesus calls it the mystery. No one knows the details of this period of time until Matthew 13 and Jesus gives us where it all begins.

Now, to look at how the Old Testament sees this mystery period, turn first to Zechariah 12:10- 11, "And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon Me, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning."

There's going to come a day when the people of Israel will look upon the One they pierced, and that means the crucifixion of Jesus, and they will mourn greatly. And they will be bitter that they ever did that. Now that tells us that when the King came, He would be rejected and He would be crucified.

Psalm 22 tells us the same thing. Isaiah 53 again tells us the same thing. There would be a piercing; there would be a rejection and crucifixion. But later there would be mourning over that. But Zechariah, the Psalmist and Isaiah say nothing about the time in between these things. When the mourning comes though, Zechariah 13:1 says, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."

Zechariah 14: 4, "And His feet shall in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in its midst toward the east and toward the west and there shall be a very great valley and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half toward the south."

This is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, splitting open the hillside there, the Mount of Olives. Then it says in verse 9, "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord and His name one." So Zechariah saw the rejection and the piercing and even a resurrection, and after that mourning and then a salvation of the people of God, and then the establishment of the kingdom.

Now, let's go back to Matthew 13 with that in mind. Can you imagine how important it is that Matthew 13 be where it is? If the kingdom is postponed until a future time, when the people of the King will receive the King and the kingdom will then come, what happens in the meantime? Matthew 13:10, “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

And that is precisely the question answered by the series of parables in Matthew 13. Each parable describes a particular facet of this period in which we now live known as the mystery form of the kingdom. We could also say that this is the church age, that's just another term for the same period of time. It will end when Jesus takes His church out, as it began when He called the church into being.

Now, as we begin to look at Matthew 13, let me give you this evening just a general overview and a sense of what our Lord is teaching here. Three points that I want you to note: the plan, the purpose and the promise. These three will help us to get a grasp of this great chapter. First is the plan, verse 3, "And He spoke many things unto them in parables."

There was an important reason that Jesus spoke in parables as we shall see in our second point. But let's discuss that plan first. All of the parables here in this chapter were spoken at one time. On this very occasion, the very day that Jesus left the house and went to the seashore and the multitude gathered and when He went out offshore in a little boat He gave these parables.

Now, He only spoke those things in parables. It says in Matthew 13:34, "All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them.” Listen carefully, He did not explain the parables to the multitudes, He only spoke to them in parables.

So what is a parable? It really means laying something along side something else so that a comparison can be made. That's basically what it means, a comparison or an illustration. There is a spiritual truth that may be hard to understand, so we lay along side of it a physical, earthly story which gives you a better understanding of that spiritual truth.

So Jesus teaches spiritual lessons about a period of time no one knew about. And He does it in a simple way so that the people can understand the story very easily. He uses a field and He uses grain. He uses birds, and a road and thorns and the sun and wheat and tares and mustard seeds and a tree and leaven and a treasure and a pearl. Those are all things those people understood.

And all throughout Jesus’ teaching prior to this, recorded in Matthew, He gave them graphic analogies. For example, men were to be in the world like salt and light. That's teaching by analogy. In Matthew 7 He talked about a wise builder and a foolish builder. He talked about a foundation of sand and a foundation of rock. Jesus explains in pictures, but now our Lord extents that into a full story with many parts in which He conveys spiritual truth.

Now, parables are effective because, first, they make truth clear. Most people think in pictures and take abstract concepts and make pictures out of them. We may not understand the concept of spreading the gospel, but we do understand it when we see a man throwing seed in a field. They make truth easier to understand.

Secondly, they make truth memorable. If you remember the story and you carry the story in your mind, you can always recover its spiritual meaning because all of the elements are there in the story. And so they allow truth to be passed on to others. Thirdly, they make truth interesting. They change it from rather dull spiritual thoughts down to life situations that grab our interest and can be applied.

And fourthly, they make truth personally discoverable. In other words, as the story goes, you begin to understand that spiritual truth and see it in the story so that you internalize that truth yourself. So, parables are a marvelous mode of teaching and thus our Lord spoke in parables as the Hebrews commonly did.

Now, as we begin to look at the chapter, we see a sequence of parables. But while parables explain things and parables help us understand things, they help only when they are explained to us, an unexplained parable is nothing but a riddle. And that is why Jesus had to explain everything, even to His own disciples.

In Mark 4:11, “And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables.” Jesus only explained the parables to the twelve and those who believed, not to the rest. So that tells us about the purpose of parables, they are to reveal and they are also to conceal. To believers they make truth clear, to unbelievers they make truth even more unclear.

Look at Matthew 13:12, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” Whoever is born again, whoever has received the King and believes in the King, whoever has accepted God's truth will get more of God's truth. That is enlightenment and that is illumination.

Do you remember the parable of the talents of our Lord in Matthew 25:28-29 where you find the evil servant and the Lord says, “Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” To those who live up to the light of Christ, He will give more light. But whoever does not believe God, "from him shall be taken even what he has."

What does that mean? Well, there may have been a little bit of understanding as Jesus taught and preached and performed miracle after miracle. They had seen the signs of the Holy Spirit. They had seen wonders. But when they said no to the King, even what they had they lost. None of it made anymore sense and they began to descent into deeper darkness all the time.

We see that today. Nobody in our society is more disoriented than the Jewish people. They had everything. But as soon as they rejected the King, the light went out; they began to lose the meaning of everything they had. Judaism has moved from orthodoxy to what is called Conservative Judaism and now to reformed Judaism where they don't even believe the Bible as the Word of God.

All men, now listen carefully; are in process, either they go up or they go down. That's a fearful thing. No man stays static, the longer you know Jesus Christ, the more faithful He is to reveal His truth and the stronger you grow. The longer you refuse Jesus Christ, the more you slide on that slippery slope, and the deeper the pit of darkness becomes.

Verse 13, Jesus says, “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” Because they will not hear with understanding, I will now speak to them so they cannot understand. Man says no, so God says no as well. God confirms men in their own stubbornness; God binds them by their own chain. And for them the parables become interesting stories but they really don't know what the point is.

And then comes this marvelous statement in verses 14 and 15, “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’”

This was no surprise to God that they rejected the King. They fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 6: 9-10. You know when Isaiah wrote that? He wrote that at a time of judgment on Israel. He just pronounced a series of curses for all of their drunkenness, debauchery, their immorality, their bribery and their oppression of the poor. He cursed them for their hypocritical religion. And then, at the height of all of that King Uzziah died and the country plunged into dark days of judgment.

And it wasn't long after that, Jeremiah echoed the message of Isaiah and the great hordes came and swept away the people into Babylonian captivity. That was the first fulfillment of Isaiah's words and Jesus gives here's the second message. So, these parables are words of judgment of unbelief on those people. And the fact that we, who love Jesus Christ, understand the Bible is not a statement about our intellect; it is a statement about God's gracious illumination of our hearts and minds.

And do you want to see what the third step was? Look at 1 Corinthians 14:21-22, quoting Isaiah 28, another judgment by Isaiah on Israel, ‘In the law it is written: with men of other tongues, (or languages,) and other lips I will speak to this people, and yet for all that will they not hear Me, says the Lord. 22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers.”

People often ask me, what are tongues for? It says right there, they are a sign, not for those who believe, but for those who do not believe. Where was tongues primarily used? On the day of Pentecost, for the Israelites. Why? They wouldn't listen when Jesus spoke to them clearly in their own language, so He judged them by speaking to them in a language they didn't know. You see the progression of judgment? Tongues are a sign of judgment upon Israel.

Now, we've seen what is concealed, let's look now at what is revealed in verse 16, "But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear." Isn't that great? On the other side we are given the understanding of the parables. Because Jesus explained them and we have the New Testament text and also because the Holy Spirit is our teacher. That's the illumination.

That is why the Psalmist in Psalm 119:18 cries out, "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things out of Thy law." That's the heart of Isaiah in 64:1 when he says, "O God, rend the heavens and come down." I've got to have an explanation of what He's saying.

But verse 17 says, “for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Peter says, they were looking into their own prophecies and searching what person and what time these things would come to pass.

Oh how wonderful it is that we now have the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. Even for the saved ones there has to be divine illumination. There has to be the discipline of study so there will be illumination by the Holy Spirit. Jesus isn't here to explain HIs Word, but He did send the Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth.

Let's look at the promise in verse 35, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Do you know who said that? Asaph in 1 Chronicles 29:30 and that is what he said also in Psalm 78:2. Asaph predicted that the Messiah would speak in parables as an act of judgment.

God didn't adjust, before the foundation of the world He knew they would reject and He knew He'd have to put that mystery period in there. Everything is on schedule. God is not making alterations as time goes. He's sovereign. Well, I hope that gets you excited for the remaining messages of Matthew 13.

]]> Sun, 23 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130623 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000DD imblog

Luke 7:36-50

Let us learn this morning from Luke 7:36-50. When we think about witnessing, when you think about evangelism, when we think about missions, when we think about reaching lost people, what is it that makes the most impact? What is it that can impact a person to embrace Jesus Christ?

A transformed life is really is very powerful testimony. The church has a message that is believable when it demonstrated that people have transformed lives. Jesus knew that in His own personal evangelism, it was powerful to present a transformed life. Jesus uses the transformed life of a woman as a testimony to a Pharisee and all people around the table at this occasion when He spoke.

Most people when they read this identify it as the story of the immoral woman. It is not really that. She is only an element of the story. It is the story of Jesus evangelizing a Pharisee. They accused Jesus of being only interested in drunkards and tax collectors and other sinners. And He was, but He wasn't just reaching those sinners, but He was even trying to reach religious sinners like this Pharisee.

Jesus was committed to presenting a gospel offer to all sinners, whether they were the low-life sinners, or whether they were the high-life sinners, whether they were the outcasts. And now He reaches out to demonstrate His power to forgive sins to a self- righteous Pharisee by using the very person that the Pharisee despised the most, the immoral prostitute whose transformation was very clear and inarguable. This Jesus uses as evidence of His power to transform.

The host in this story in Luke is a Pharisee. Luke 7:36, “Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat.” On the surface it looked like he was open to Jesus. Well that was not the case, as the story makes it very clear. He was a fastidious guardian of the Law. They were the legalists. They were self-righteous.

And the scribes and the Pharisees had already collectively determined that Jesus was a blasphemer. He was a blasphemer because He forgave sin. And so He acted as if He was God forgiving sins. They hated Him because He preached against self-righteousness. And He had continually defiled Himself by hanging around defiled people the Pharisees would never hang around.

They hated Jesus' message. They were in the process of accumulating incriminating evidence against Him. So Simon the Pharisee invites Jesus to his house. He is no friend of Jesus at all, he is a hypocritical enemy. He hated everything Jesus said and was. But the full hostility hasn't yet broken out. There's still in process of accumulating their material against Jesus.

Now here Jesus was willing to go into the house of a man that He knew was a hypocrite. He knew the man had evil intentions. But nonetheless, Jesus, gracious as He always, came to seek and to save that which was lost, and is willing to expose this wicked hypocritical Pharisee to the power that He has to transform. And so He entered the Pharisee's house.

Now you didn't sit in a chair then. They reclined and you ate with your elbow propping up your head and that was how you had your conversation. The idea in that part of the world at that time was to keep your feet as far away from the table. Because the feet were dirty from the street and they should not be close to the dining table.

The table is in the middle and around the perimeter walls there's space for the local people to come in and experience the event itself and to hear the discussion and learn from it. So usually there are other people around. And sometimes there are lower class people that would come into a Pharisee's house. That's the scenario.

Luke 7:37 says, “And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil.” Now "behold" indicates something shocking is taking place here. It wasn't shocking for a stranger or a poor person to come in, but it was shocking that a woman in the city who was a sinner, meaning a prostitute, came in.

This is just a woman we don't know and it was not Mary Magdalene. But this is a sinful prostitute with a bad reputation. Sinner is a term to describe reprobate people. It refers to those who were considered low class, a woman who chose to be a professional adulteress, immoral, filthy, impure, perverse and is living a flagrantly sinful life at a public level.

She knows that Jesus is going to be there and she has a plan. She brought an alabaster vial of perfume that was part of the trade of being a prostitute. The kind of perfume that's indicated here is not cheap oil but a costly perfume. An alabaster container specifically was quarried and carved in Egypt.

Luke 7:38, "and stood at His feet behind Him weeping." And as she weeps, she began to wet her feet with her tears. She notices that Jesus’ feet are dirty. And this is really a social disgrace. And so since the tears are profusely running down her face, she allows them to fall on the feet of Jesus.

And verse 38 continues, "and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.” She had no towel either, so she had no choice but to use her hair to clean and dry His dirty feet. Some of the rabbis said if a woman did this in public, it can be grounds for divorce.

Once His feet were clean, verse 38 continues, “and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.” She was kissing His feet in continual expression of affection. And then the final act of generosity, anointing them with perfume. And so swept away in the emotion she snaps the alabaster bottle and she pours all perfume out on His feet.

This could be a serious problem for Jesus. She's a known prostitute. Someone could say, "How does this prostitute know Jesus so well?” And she's touching Him and she's washing His feet with her hair. Not only that but she continues to embrace His feet as if she didn't want to let Him go, expressing her emotion.

Then in verse 39, "Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” What he means is, "He just doesn't know who she really is, and that proves that He's not a prophet because if He was a prophet He would know she's a prostitute.”

So we read in Luke 7:40, "And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, “Teacher, say it.” Notice that Jesus answered here what Simon was thinking in his heart and not what he was saying. Isn’t that ironic? Simon concluded Jesus didn't know who the woman was, therefore He's not a prophet, but Jesus knew that Simon was thinking that and so He said, "Simon, I have something to say to you."

So Jesus gave him a parable in verse 41-42, “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.”

Do you know that 500 denarii is the same as 500 days wages. And another person came and needed only 50 denarii. They both couldn't repay the debt. So he graciously forgave them both.

Wow, can you imagine that happening with the bank that holds the mortgage on your house? That just doesn't happen. And the word there is grace, is term used for forgiving a debt as well as a theological term used by Paul of the forgiveness that God gives us in Christ. This is a very generous thing. And you know what makes it so generous?

What makes it so generous is any time somebody forgives a debt, they themselves incur that debt in full. When God forgave your sins, He then incurred the debt and Jesus Christ died to pay it. The debt doesn't go away. It still has to be paid, but the forgiver incurs it and pays it. So in forgiveness the debt is transferred to the forgiver.

So Jesus tells this story and then He asks Simon at the end of verse 42, "Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Verse 43, “Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” So he does not give a straightforward answer. Verse 42 continues, “And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” Whoever was forgiven the most is going to be showing the most love.

And then in verse 44 it starts to make sense. Jesus turns toward the woman, now we've established a principle here, what's the principle? Great love comes from great forgiveness. Simon, it came out of your brain and your mouth, right? So He turns to the woman who is at His feet and everybody else turns there too and then He says to Simon, "See that woman, I am seeing great love out of that woman.” What does that mean?

Luke 7:44-47, “Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

That's true in the church today. You show me some kid raised in a Christian family, it's all they've ever known. And their level of gratitude and forgiveness is little. Then show me somebody who lived a sorted, wicked, Godless life and was rescued in adulthood and totally transformed and there's a whole different level of love. That's the principle.

Notice the statement from Jesus, "I say to you, her sins which are many have been forgiven," that's past tense. It didn't happen right there then. Something happened in the past with continuing effect. She came there already forgiven, to find Jesus to thank Him. We don't know when. But since Jesus had come to her town, she had been redeemed.

This is a transformed life. You can't explain this woman's behavior any other way. She's been forgiven. She's grateful because all the bondage of her sin is gone, all the depth of guilt is gone. You, Simon, didn't do anything for Me. You showed Me no honor, you showed Me no respect, you showed Me no affection, you gave Me no sacrifice. You insulted Me with your lack of respect and your lack of love.

We can go all the way back to Genesis 18, 29 and 45, and you will find on occasions when people came together there were feet washing ceremonies done in order to make sure that there was an embrace, a kiss of affection and love. This was part of what you did when you received a guest. That's what she did.

The host gave no water, she gave her tears. The host gave no towel, she gave her hair. The host gave no kiss, she repeatedly kissed Jesus’ feet. The host gave not even cheap oil, she poured out expensive perfume. And the reason she did this is because she has been forgiven much. This is an example of real forgiveness.

And so, Jesus is showing this self-righteous Pharisee what real transformation looks like. The people saw it, verse 49, “Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’” They knew He could teach and preach, heal and cast out demons, and here He could even forgive a woman’s sins.

They were always asking questions. They should have been able to answer that, shouldn't they? God alone can forgive sins, right? But they never get that far. Every meal that Jesus ever had with the Pharisees ended up in obstinate unbelief, it all ended up the same way. Self-righteousness is such a terrible kind of blindness.

The people said, "We heard that this man forgives sins. How can we know that this woman is forgiven?" We can't see forgiveness; we can only see the transformation that it makes: the joy, gratitude, love and affection. So Jesus then used that woman as clear testimony to His power to transform a life. Jesus uses this to witness to the Pharisees of the power of His truth.

Her salvation was evident, not by something she said, she didn't say anything, but by her love to her Savior, so profuse and so passionate. And then in verse 50, “Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” It is not your love that saved you; it was your faith that saved you, that is what produced your love.

Your faith always saves you, always. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” It was your faith that always saves. And because your faith saved you, your love comes out because your sins are forgiven. Literally, "Go into peace, go into God's Shalom and live there forever."

Now what level is your love for God? How much do you really love Christ? Have you come to Christ in faith and embraced Him and experienced this powerful and total transformation of forgiveness so that you're literally filled with joy and gratitude and love like that prostitute in the story?

Do you still remember when you were saved? Do you still remember how that affected you emotionally? Do you still remember that feeling when you had that load of sin lifted off your shoulders? Do you still have that urge to tell others about the Gospel of Jesus? Do you still pray for all your friends who still do not believe?

We should be marked by that. It is that awesome love for Christ that is the single greatest proof visible to people of the power of the gospel. An ungrateful, loveless Christian undercuts the testimony of the gospel. Let us learn to put on display our gratitude, our fervent love to our Christ and the world will take note that our sins have truly been forgiven. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130616a http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000DF imblog

Ephesians 6:1-3, Proverbs

Now we’re all very much aware of the massive onslaught on the family. The church of Jesus Christ, those who are committed to Christ and to the Word of God, need to lead the nation and lead the world in upholding marriage and childbearing as God’s most precious blessing in all of human life.

In the familiar language of Psalm 127:1-2, we read this tribute to the family, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchmen keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors for He gives to His beloved, even His sleep.”

In every situation, we have to trust in the sovereign care of God. And then He uses the family as an illustration. Psalm 127:3-5, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. 5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.”

Children are a blessing from the Lord. Your children are a gift from the Lord; they’re borrowed, in one sense. They are on loan to be led to the knowledge of Christ, through the gospel so that righteousness can extend to the next generation. So it is true that Scripture says it’s not good to be alone. And Scripture also says it’s a blessing from the Lord to bring up children.

Now we are very much aware that children have a dominating role in our culture, which is not good. Once we had a patriarchal society, where the father was in charge. Now with no one home, because the father and the mother both work, we have a child-centered home and a child- centered society. Kids have been liberated from regular routine, constant, parental care and authority and are being raised by their peers, or by the media.

One school teacher put it this way, teachers are afraid of the principals, the principals are afraid of the superintendents, the superintendents are afraid of the board. The board members are afraid of the parents. The parents are afraid of the children. And the children are afraid of nobody. It’s a disaster in a society when children make their own way.

So let us look first at the responsibility of children. Ephesians 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

The word “children” here is not a word for infant. I will always be the child of my parents in the sense of this word, no matter what age I am. It is a common word used to speak of believers, those who are born of God who are children of God at any age. It includes all children, but it is not in particular pointing to small children because they can’t be commanded in the simple way this verse does it.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right,” means nothing to your three-year-old. This is referring to those that are old enough to understand the nature of the command as coming from God with a promise. And it is essentially the basic command that makes a home work.

Children, obey your parents. It is so basic to civilization that this command is given in Exodus 20:12 in the Ten Commandments, right? But the flipside of that commandment in Exodus 21:15,17, and Leviticus 20: 9, is that if a child doesn’t do that, capital punishment is pronounced upon a rebellious, disobedient child.

This is all about giving that child wisdom, instruction, understanding and discernment. Proverbs 1:8-10, “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction. Do not forsake your mother’s teaching; 9 they are a graceful wreath to your head and ornaments around your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you,” and there’s the alternative, where instead of being raised by your parents and obeying your parents, you follow your peer group and it’s disastrous.

In Proverbs 2:1-6, “My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, 2 make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding. 3 If you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding. 4 If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasure, 5 you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God, 6 for the Lord gives wisdom.”

In Proverbs 3:1-2, Solomon says, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and years of life and peace, they will add to you.” Proverbs 4:1- 4, “Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, and give attention that you may gain understanding 2 cause I give you sound teaching. Don’t abandon my instruction. 3 When I was a son to my father, when I was tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, 4 then he taught me and said to me, ‘Let your heart hold fast to my words. Keep my commandments and live.’” This is the theme.

Proverbs 4:10, “Hear, my son, accept my sayings and the years of your life will be many.” Obey your parents and you’ll live a life of quality and quantity. Proverbs 5:1, “My son, give attention to my wisdom.” Proverbs 7:1, “My son, keep my words, treasure my commandments within you.” Proverbs 8:32, “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me and blessed are they who keep my ways.”

This is what every father and mother should teach their children, to follow the wisdom that came from God through the parents. And this wisdom was supported with discipline. Proverbs 12:1, “Whoever loves discipline, loves knowledge.” Proverbs 13:1, “A wise son accepts his father’s discipline.”

So it’s the instruction supported by discipline. Proverbs 15: 5, “A fool rejects his father’s discipline. But he who regards reproof is sensible 6 and great wealth is the house of the righteous but trouble is in the income of the wicked.” There are temporal benefits and economic benefits to obeying parents as they disseminate wisdom that comes from God.

Children lack in four areas that are demonstrated to us in Luke 2:52 in the case of the Lord Jesus. We read that our Lord Jesus grew, increasing in wisdom and stature and favor with God and men. Here are the four categories in which children need to grow. Wisdom, that’s the mental capacity; stature, that’s the physical capacity; favor with men, that’s the social capacity; and favor with God, that’s the spiritual capacity.

We care for them mentally by what they learn and what they understand. We care for them physically by what we give them to eat and how we take care of their physical needs. We want them to develop socially. We want them to learn social graces, how to interact with people. And then we want them to develop spiritually with God.

Now let’s look closely at, “Children, obey your parents.” That is because that’s what the Lord wants you to do. Parents teach by asking, “Do you think the Lord is pleased with your attitude? Do you think the Lord would be pleased if he saw you do what you’re doing?” We’re constantly reminding them that this is bigger than just the mother and the father, this is all about the Lord.

Often times children say to you, “But why?” And you say, “Because it’s right.” “Well who made it right?” God determines what is right. There is right way and there is wrong way, and the world isn’t going to tell your children that. Your kids say, “But everybody else is doing it.” Well, we’re not everybody else. We’re different, we’re separated to do what the Lord wants we should do.

There’s more than just obedience because Ephesians 6: 2 says, “Honor your father and mother.” This is the attitude that goes along with the behavior. The action is obedience, the attitude is honor. Our obedience is to be coupled with honor, respect, love and affection for a parent.

Kids don’t come hard wired to conduct their lives this way. We have the responsibility to teach them how to obey and honor their parents so that they would know what it means to obey and honor the Lord. And that is the primary challenge for a parent. They’re not going to learn that on their own. They need, to be led to the knowledge of Christ but they also need to be taught obedience and honor through discipline.

Honor your father and mother is the first commandment with a promise. And what is the promise? Ephesians 6:3, “That it may be well with you,” First, quality of life comes to an obedient child. Obedient children will enjoy life, because they will enjoy the blessing of God. That is the promise of God. And here’s also a promise that “you may live long on the earth.”

How do you get your child to obey and honor parents? Well, let’s go back to Proverbs 3: 11-12, “My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, or loathe His reproof, for whom the Lord loves, He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” It’s by correction, that’s part of discipline.

We get an idea of some of the means of correction, Proverbs 10:13, “a rod is for the back of him who lacks understanding.” In Proverbs 19:18 we read, “Discipline your son while there is hope and don’t desire His death.” Discipline him while he is still young because if you don’t discipline him, you might be looking into his casket when he is an adult.

In Proverbs 22:15, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, the rod of discipline will remove it far from him.” Proverbs 23:13-14, “Do not hold back discipline from the child. Although you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 14 You shall strike him with a rod and rescue his soul from Sheol.”

Corporal physical punishment of a child could actually be used by God to save his soul from hell! Now you understand why there’s such a movement in the non-Christian world to get rid of corporal punishment. The devil does not like people to be saved from hell.

In Proverbs 29:15, “The rod and reproof give wisdom. But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.” Verse 17, “Correct your son and he’ll give you comfort and delight your soul.” It says in Proverbs 28:24, “Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, ‘It is no transgression,’ the same is companion to a destroyer.”

Summing it up, Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he’s old, he won’t depart from it.” And you want your children to be a blessing to you, don’t you? We’re not talking about child abuse; we’re talking about what is reasonable and in the context of love as we all understand. And we’ll see that in the second point, the submission of the parents.

If you cross the line of discipline, your children will become angry and they will resent you and they will resent the Lord, and they will resent the church, and they will resent the gospel. You want to make them sorry that they violated your love and care for them. You want to make them sorry that they dishonored the Lord. But what you never want to do is make them angry at you and at God and at Scripture and at the church.

Now what specifically is the role of the father? 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12, “You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” And two things come out of this: the responsibility to live the life and set the example, and the responsibility to instruct.

And Paul starts with example, “be devout, holy”. It refers to one’s heart relationship to God. But then he says, “justly,” and that moves to righteous behavior, adherence to the law of God. In the inside my heart has to be right before God, and on the outside we see the manifestation as I try to live my life of fulfilling the law of God, both toward man and God.

And then he adds, “and blamelessly.” Free from anything that would discredit him, anything that would disqualify him. This is how it has to be in a father. This is a work of grace, so is sanctification. We can only say that after years of struggle. Can you say that God knows how devoutly, how righteously, how blamelessly you have lived your life? That only happens by grace, and your children will see that.

You know, it isn’t so much what fathers say to their children that influences the chld, it’s what fathers are; otherwise you’re going to have hypocrisy, right? And who wants to pattern his life after a hypocrite? He says, “You are witnesses and so is God, how devoutly, and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you children.”

It isn’t just that you need to live a godly life before unbelievers. That’s true, Matthew 5:16, “let your light shine, right, they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” But you need to live a godly life like a father before his children. So they need to know you. That’s the first role that the spiritual father has is to set the standard by example.

Then in verse 11, he adds the instructional part of it, “as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, by witnessing, testifying, solemnly charging every one of you, as a father does his own children.” That’s how we have to view the responsibility of spiritual leadership of a father.

The father is the spiritual leader of the family. It’s a balancing act, it really is. On the one hand you have to have a concern for your children and a concern for the spiritual relationship to God. You have to have a concern for kindness and a concern for discipline. You have to be patient and you have to be firm and loving.

And look, in a family with children, this always is a problem. That’s why there is a mom and a dad, because those things have to be in balance. Children need to grow up with love, acceptance, compassion, tenderness, patience, warmth, security; then you grow up with a model, a good example, strong teaching, encouragement and direction.

That’s not easy to do. But that’s the standard that God sets. Who is going to be able to do this? Well, Paul asked that question in 2 Corinthians 3 when he said, “Who is adequate for these things?” No man is adequate for these things. Then he said this, “But our adequacy comes from God.” It is by God’s grace and God’s power that we are able to even do this kind of leadership.

Do you remember in Hebrews 13: 17, where the writer of Hebrews says to people in the church, “Submit to your leaders for they watch for your souls?” When the leaders are parents in a family, like a faithful father who watches their souls, the children will grow, flourish and mature. Those children become the joy of the parents, right?

What is my greatest joy humanly speaking? To one day see people in the presence of the Lord. That’s the same for a father, to see his children in the presence of the Lord; that’s his greatest joy. It isn’t just the success of the church; it’s the eternal fellowship of the family you love. That’s what being a father is. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130616b http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000DE imblog

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Matthew 13:1-9, “On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Jesus was the master teacher and He taught in parables. Let us look now to one of His most well- known parables this evening. At the moment Jesus was teaching that story He could probably see a sower sowing, because the Sea of Galilee is ringed with fields even today. Jesus is speaking to them in a language they understand because it is part of their daily activity.

Jesus always starts with something they can understand and moves to something they need to learn. He begins with something they see and moves to something they can't see. He starts with something natural and moves to something supernatural. He starts with what is material and moves to that which is spiritual. He starts with what is simple and moves to what is profound.

The story starts in verse 3, "Behold a sower went out to sow." A farmer who was to sow seed in his plowed field. The rows would already been furrowed, plowed and prepared to receive the seed. And he would take the seed, and measured out each amount in his hand so he could distributed it evenly. He would continue until he had sown all the seed in the prepared field.

But we notice that the seed could fall in four different places. First of all, in verse 4 He says, "And as he sowed some seeds fell beside the road," or on the road. "And the birds came and ate them up." Now people traveling, walking everywhere or riding on an animal had to go through the fields.

And so fields were basically bordered by paths. And so the people wouldn't walk through his fields but stay on the paths. Historians tell us they were only about three-feet wide so that land was not wasted on pathways. As a result they became hard paths, and seeds falling on them couldn't penetrate it.

The second kind of soil is in verses 5 and 6 and Jesus calls it stony soil. And it says, "Others fell upon the stony places where they did not have much soil." In Palestine there are large plates of limestone rock that lie beneath the surface and beneath the plow. And so a farmer doing his best to plow the field never getting down to that hard soil wasn't even aware it was there, those are the stony places.

And when the seeds fell there, when their roots hit bed rock and there is little soil, the plant grows only in the beginning. But verse 6 says, "When the sun had risen, they were burned and because they had no root so they withered away. Having no soil the plant died.

There's a third kind of soil here in verse 7, "And some fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them." The farmer knows that the weeds grow faster. And when there is water and the warm sun comes, the weeds grow fast and suck out all the moisture and leave nothing for the fragile young plant and it dies.

But, verse 8 tells us there is also good soil, "And others fell in the good soil and yielded a crop and the crop in varying degrees, a hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold." This is deep, soft, rich, clean soil. Oh, it varies from thirtyfold, sixtyfold to a hundredfold because the nutrients in the soil vary from place to place. But notice the key thing, "It always produces a crop."

Now if you were a farmer in Palestine, a tenfold crop would have been very, very good. But a thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold would have been astonishingly large. But the Lord, uses hyperbole here to make a spiritual point. There is the possibility that this seed can find good soil, go in and produce an unimaginable large crop.

Well Jesus told that simple illustration and then in verse 9 He said, "He who has ears, let him hear." Which is another way of saying, "Do you guys have any idea of what I've just said? Do you know what I'm talking about?" A parable without an explanation is a riddle. And we all know that the disciples were somewhat slow in truly understanding the words of Jesus.

So He explains it. Go down to Matthew 13:18-23, “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;”

“21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

After a little interlude, Jesus gave to His disciples and not to the crowds, a further explanation. He says, let me tell you what I am teaching you spiritually in that story. And that opens up to us then this parable. There are only three components here, there is the sower, there is the seed and there is the soil, that's it.

Now the parable doesn't say anything at all about the sower. It just says the sower went out to sow. But we can find elsewhere in Scripture some insight. Look at Matthew 13:37, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man," talking about Jesus Christ. But now the sower is anyone who preaches this message. First it was Jesus, then it was the Apostles, then Paul and now it's us. We are like a sower and our calling is to sow, that is to preach the Gospel.

Now what is the seed? Well, verse 19 says, "When anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom." So the seed is the Word of God. That is the message about how to get into God's Kingdom, the message that God is inviting people to come into that Kingdom. And that Kingdom involves joy and peace, fulfillment and satisfaction and goodness, grace and mercy in this life and eternal glory in heaven. And you enter that Kingdom by putting your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Christ is the living seed and the Bible is the husk that holds it. The husk that holds the seed is the most precious thing in the world next to the seed. Christ is the most precious thing, and next to Christ the Bible which brings you Christ is the most precious thing, right? So the parable is all about sowing seed, presenting the gospel, the good news of how to get into the Kingdom.

And the main emphasis of the parable is the soils. And this is where Jesus is talking about us now. Verse 19, "When anyone hears the good news about salvation and entrance into the Kingdom and does not comprehend it and does not grasp it, the evil one comes, snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road."

Now Jesus is explaining what it means when the seed falls on the road. That is the hard-hearted person, the stiff-necked person, the resistant and belligerent person. But would you notice there it tells us what the soil is because it says in verse 19, "that which was sown in his heart." So the soil is our heart.

Jesus taught that the results of hearing the gospel always depend on the condition of the soil, not on the skill of the sower. It's the character of the hearer that determines the effect of the Word on him. If you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you turn your back and walk away, that doesn't say anything about the seed, that just says everything about the soil. And in this parable we have 4 types of hearts: an unresponsive heart, and impulsive heart, a preoccupied heart and a well-prepared heart.

Well let's look at that first heart, the unresponsive heart. In verse 19, the soil that never was plowed up, the soil that was down around the field beaten hard. The seed was thrown onto the hard road cannot be absorbed. The seed can't penetrate. Birds fly down, eat the seed and what's left gets trampled.

The analogy is powerful. There are hearts like this, many of them correspond to that hardness of the footpath that crosses that field. And the heart has become a wide road, crossed by the multitude of sins day after day. Never softened by conviction, never softened by repentance, never softened by self-searching, the heart grows callous. No fear of the Lord and the love of the Lord isn't even appealing anymore.

And Satan comes, Jesus says, and snatches away the seed. Satan wants to make sure it never has a chance to penetrate and grow. He snatches it away through the influence of false teachers, through the fear of man, through pride. He snatches it away through doubt, through prejudice and through stubbornness and through procrastination. And sadly he snatches it away mostly through the love of sin.

Now there's a second kind of soil in verses 20 and 21 and it's this rocky soil, or an impulsive heart. This is where seed was sown on stony places, it's the man who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no firm root in himself, so it is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the Word, he immediately falls away.

Just emotional joy and enthusiasm don't necessarily indicate true faith. Somebody coming out of a dilemma, or a disaster, or out of being hurt by somebody in their life, wanting help, and when they're told this is the answer, there is an exuberance. But we cannot have true joy without commitment to the King, the roots are real short.

We all deal with this. I have had people that I thought I had led to the understanding the gospel and I've tried to disciple them personally and all of a sudden they're gone. They had no roots and couldn't grow. Why? Jesus says in verse 21, "Affliction or persecution because of the Word caused them to fall away." They never realized that, to be a Christian could cost you a lot.

It could cause your own family to turn against you. It could cause some close friends to turn against you. And there will be a real price to pay. And when there was pressure put on the individual, they couldn't handle it. You see, trouble and persecution are helpful. They do two things, they strengthen believers and they show who are the non-believers. After you've suffered a while, Peter said, the Lord will make you perfect.

Third, there's that ground full of thorns, a pre-occupied heart. In verse 22 Jesus says, "The one on whom seed was sown among the thorns or weeds." Who's that? Well that's the man who hears the Word, with a receptive attitude, but he's just into the spirit of the age. He is into his career, his environment, his world and that's the focus of his life. And the deceitful allurement of riches choke the Word and it becomes unfruitful.

Remember what James said, if you're the friend of the world, you're the enemy of God. And if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. This doesn't mean that we are isolated from the society around us, it's a question of what we long for. It's a question of what our passion is, what our priority is. It's one thing to understand riches as gifts from God and embrace them as evidences of His blessing, it's something else to pursue riches as the god of your life.

Now let's talk more about these weeds. The good seeds is not native to your soul, the weeds are. They used to be in there, they live there. But the good seed is alien to you and it has to be protected and cared for and cherished, unlike the weeds, who are at home in your heart. And as long as weeds live they grow. And eventually these thorns will tear and choke out the good seed so it can't flourish.

The last category of soil is the hopeful part of all of this, verse 23, "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man or woman, who hears the Word and understands it, gets it, and bears fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold", in other words a well prepared heart.

That's a person who hears the Gospel, accepts it, holds it and takes the Word in, there's genuine repentance, there's a genuine influence of the Spirit of God in his heart, fighting those noxious weeds of his former life, there's some deep soil and he produces fruit.

Now not every Christian produces the same amount of fruit. There are different conditions in the soil that cause different levels of fruitfulness in the crop. And the same thing is true of our spiritual lives. We all bear some fruit, some bear more fruit, some bear less fruit, but we all bear fruit. That's the distinguishing mark of believers.

What is fruit? Well Hebrews says the fruit of your lips praise to God. And Paul said the first people he led to Christ in Achaia are fruit. Paul also wrote to the Philippians and the Colossians about the fruit of righteousness. And Paul wrote to the Galatians about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control, so we have action fruit and attitude fruit.

And it differs from person to person because there are different levels of devotion and different capacities by God's design. The issue is not the skill of the sower, it's the state of the soil. And the more seed you throw the more likely you are to hit good soil. Start throwing seed in every direction and you're more likely to hit good soil. That's what we're here to do, do you understand that?

Jesus says there's only one reason to stay here on earth, the only thing we can do here that we can't do in heaven, the only thing we can do here and can't do there is to throw seed. Just throw seed. And the disciples needed to know this because they were going to get rejected big time, right? They were going to get martyred in the process of sowing the seed.

So how is your own heart this evening? You're so excited about what Christ has done in your life, you're so thrilled about what God has granted to you, you think the next guy is going to love the salvation message too. You give it to him and you're running into a brick wall. The issue is the soil, it needs to be prepared by God first.

What kind of courage do you have? It's unlikely you'll get crucified. It's unlikely you'll get burned at the stake. It's unlikely you'll be thrown in a prison or exiled to an island in the Mediterranean. How much courage do you have to throw seed? Pray that God will bring you across prepared soil.

And if you are that hard soil or you are that rocky soul, or you are that weedy soil, please ask God to plow your heart so you can receive the saving message of the gospel that Christ died for your sins and rose again that you might have eternal life in heaven. Let's pray together.

]]> Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130609 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E0 imblog

Luke 7:11-17

Let us look at Luke 7:11-17, where we read this wonderful story of Jesus raising a man from the dead. Jesus Christ is probably the most well-known person in the literate civilizations of the world. But knowing who He really is, is not known by everyone. There are many diverse opinions concerning who Jesus Christ really is.

There are the Muslims who think that He was simply a human prophet. Or the Mormons who believe that He is a created being, the spirit brother of Adam and Lucifer and you could go on and on with other opinions. But the truth is that Jesus is God, fully man and fully God. And that is the core, the heart and the foundation of the Christian faith.

That is also the testimony of Scripture. And before we look at Luke 7, just read John 1:18, "No man has seen God at any time." There are people who have had a limited view of God. Moses saw the glory of God. With Adam the presence of God was manifested to him in the Garden. There have been times when God disclosed Himself in a limited sense. But no one has ever seen God fully, because God said, "No man can see Me and live."

So nobody has seen God but the best view is the view of God brought to us by His only begotten Son, the One who is of the same essence as God. Jesus explains God, Jesus reveals God. So when you look at Jesus, you are seeing God. That is why He Himself said, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father."

And as Luke unfolds the history of Jesus Christ, he continually demonstrates to us that there is no other explanation for Jesus Christ then that He is God. The angelic revelation indicated that the child would be coming down from heaven, that He would be Emmanuel, God with us. The virgin conception of Mary indicated that this child was God. Luke in building this case that Jesus is God, comes now to His power over life and death.

Luke 7:11-17 says, “Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. 12 And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. 16 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.” 17 And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and the entire surrounding region.”

Jesus' deity is evident because He raises a dead man from the dead. We are going to see more evidences that Jesus is God. First we are going to see some implied evidences before we see an explicit demonstration of divine power. Verse 11, “Now it happened, the day after," that is soon after the healing recorded in the prior passage. Remember that Jesus healed the slave of the centurion? And then "He went to a city called Nain, and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd."

Why did He decide to go to Nain? Nain is about 20 miles from Capernaum, a full day's walk. It was a small and insignificant town. And it still exists today with the same name. Two hundred people live there. What is going on there is that makes Jesus determined to go to Nain and to drag His entourage with Him for a whole day's journey?

Now this introduces us to this idea of divine purpose. God never acts without a fixed goal and a fixed purpose. There are no unexpected coincidences. Everything within the plan of God is settled and brought to pass. He has perfect intentions for everything He thinks, everything He says and every act. His mission is clear, His objective is clear, His strategy is clear, His plan and His purpose will come to pass.

In Jeremiah 29:11, God says, "I know the thoughts that I have toward you." In other words, there are no random thoughts in God's mind. He also says in Isaiah 55:11, "My word which goes forth from My mouth shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

And that is the way it is with Jesus. In John 4:4 He says, "I have to go through Samaria." Because there is a well there and there will be a woman there at the moment we get there, for an encounter that has been planned from eternity past by God. In Luke 9:51, "It came about when the days were approaching for His ascension; He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem." He knew when He was going to die, when He was going to rise and when He was going to heaven.

This is evidence of His deity. He knows the future. He knows the divine purpose. He works on a timetable. A number of times He said, "My hour has not yet come." In Luke 13:33 it says, "Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem."

And He just keeps accumulating this crowd of people who are drawn by His miracles. They don't have any clue why He's going to Nain. They don't have any sense of divine purpose. They're like us, they cannot tell the future, they can barely interpret the present. They have a hard time interpreting even the past. But Jesus knows the past perfectly; He knows the present perfectly and He knows the future perfectly. He knows exactly where He's going and why He is going there.

So here is Jesus moving toward Nain because it is in the plan of God to have an encounter there with a funeral procession. And the reality was that when Jesus left in the morning, the man has not died yet because the Jews never kept a body overnight. They didn't embalm it and decay sets in immediately. All they did was anoint the body externally and wrapped the body in cloth.

Secondly, divine providence. God not only has a purpose, but God can orchestrate all of the possibilities to bring about that purpose. Jesus was going to Nain to raise a dead man. How was Jesus going to control all of the issues, like the timing of the funeral, the service, the right place and the right moment to meet? Providence refers to God's superintending control over all human actions and events to cause His predetermined purpose.

That is one of the most amazing abilities of God. A miracle is easier to understand than that. A miracle is when God steps in, interrupts the natural and injects His supernatural power. Providence isn't that. Providence is God taking all the natural events and orchestrating them perfectly to cause His purpose. The complexity of that is absolutely awesome.

Verse 12, "And when He came near the gate of the city.” And so, perfect timing; He approaches the gate of the city. Nobody knows why He's going there, yet He does. It's all planned, "behold, a dead man was being carried out." Exact providential timing, God is in control of everything. The man dies at the right moment. They get him ready for the funeral at the right moment. They are on the way to the funeral.

"Behold," is the word in verse 12, "Wow," from a human viewpoint, this is a surprising event. From the viewpoint of Jesus, this is exactly on schedule. From the human side, it's a startling coincidence. However, there is no such thing as a coincidence in God's perspective. The Lord is just gracefully, purposefully taking a step at a time, arriving at exactly the moment when that procession comes out of town. Biblical history is filled with that kind of scheduling.

Out comes this wailing noisy crowd and this dead man was being carried out, it says in verse 12. The funeral was over. People were carrying the corpse that had been sprinkled on the outside, dusted with some powder and some herbs and then wrapped and laid on a flat stretcher. The word coffin appears here in the account in verse 14, but it's pretty clear that he wasn't in a coffin.

It was a stretcher. The body was laid upon and having been wrapped and a cloth placed over the top of it. Burial places are always outside of town. The grave was dug, as is common today, and stones were placed on the top so that people not go near it because you would become defiled. They would whitewash them, so the people could see and avoid them.

Now the dead man was the only son of his mother. If you didn't have a son, it was the end of the family line and heritage and history was so important. And the fact that this is an only son makes this even more of a sad scene. In the funeral procession, the family goes first, and in this case the mother alone is going ahead of the casket.

Not only is the future of her family gone, but the present is in jeopardy now because she has lost her protector and her support. That is the most sorrowful experience in Jewish society. And she had sympathy, it tells us in verse 12 because a sizeable crowd from the city was with her, the flute players, the cymbals, the wailing women, the friends and the rest of the townspeople, they were all there to try and help.

So divine purpose and divine providence meet to become divine compassion. And you see something in Jesus that is true of God, verse 13, "When Jesus the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her." One thing is clear is the distinction of the God of Israel, the Creator, Redeemer God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true and living God, is a God of compassion, right?

It is the nature of God to feel compassion. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "The Lord's loving kindness indeed never ceases, His compassions never fail, they are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness." He's the God of all comfort. In Mark 8:2 He said, "I feel compassion for the multitude. Because they've remained with me three days and have nothing to eat." It wasn't even a spiritual thing; He just felt pain inside because of their hunger. God cares.

And verse 14 it says, "He came up and touched the coffin, or the stretcher; and the bearers came to a halt." Let us set aside divine compassion for a moment, and move to a fourth point, divine purity. He touched the dead. Nothing defiled Him. He wasn't subject to any defilement, real or ritual. As it says in Hebrews 7:26, "He is holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners.” Instead Jesus is the One that causes a dead body to come alive.

There's another element of the divine which is divine authority. It says, "The bearers came to a halt." They just stopped. What was it about His person that just stopped everything? This again indicates that He is God. And He carries about Him a holy authority, He didn't even say "Stop," He just put His hand on them and said, "Woman, stop crying," and He stopped the procession.

What was it about His presence, His bearing, His authority? Well those are all implied indications, those are all attributes of God. God has authority. God is holy and undefiled. God is compassionate. God orchestrates providence. God determines His purposes. This is God. But that's implied. What is explicit is the last point, His divine power.

The middle of verse 14, "He said, 'Young man, I say to you, arise.'" Psalm 33:6 says, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the breath of His mouth all their hosts." He created the entire universe with His speech. So here is the Creator who created the entire universe now opens His mouth and says, "Young man, I say to you arise." The second He said that, life surged into the corpse. This is creative divine power, this is God.

In John 5:25 -29 it says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

So God the Son has been given the responsibility to give life. Some day in the final end of the age, He will give life to the whole world. Every person who has ever lived and died in this world, He will resurrect. That time was just one resurrection; later it will be millions upon billions. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and Last.

And by the way, do you notice here nobody asked Him to do this? Faith never is to be considered necessary for divine power to work. This is the lie of many faith healers is that the reason people don't get healed is that they don't have enough faith. Jesus heals here, no request and no faith is noted.

Verse 15, "So he who was dead sat up and began to speak." Jesus’ miracles are always instantaneous, complete and without rehabilitation, or process. He says, "Look, your mother needs you." That's why He did it. After this, both the mother and the son probably wanted Jesus to stay around so they could find out everything about Him and surely He gave them the good news of the gospel. But the initial deal here was that this was a broken-hearted mother and that made for a brokenhearted Jesus.

Well that takes us to the response, verse 16, "Then fear came upon all." Why were they afraid? Well, because they knew they were in the presence of God. When God's power is on display, they know God is present. So they were terrified because God was there and they knew God was holy and they knew they were not. That's the sinner's trauma.

They began to glorify God. Go to the end of verse 16, "and, “God has visited His people.” God is here." They've been praying that for a long time. There hadn't been a prophet for over 400 years. There hadn't been any miracles. There hadn't been any words from heaven. God had been silent for centuries.

And verse 17, "And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and the entire surrounding region.” They were right, God was visiting, but they didn't understand that God Himself was actually there in Christ. And in the consequence of that rejection is given in Acts 15:14, it says, "God visited the Gentiles to take out a people for His name."

When Israel didn't respond to the visit, God took out a people for His name, namely the church. You would have thought that the Israelites could not possibly forget all that Jesus did and say. But look at it again in the middle of verse 16, what they said, "A great prophet has arisen in us," Was Jesus just a great prophet? That's what the Moslems say. That's what the Mormons say. That's what the Jehovah's Witnesses say. No. He is the Son of God who came down from above for us.

In Matthew 16:13-16 Jesus said to the disciples, "Who do men say that I am? 14 And the disciples said, 'Well some say You are Elijah, some say You are Jeremiah, and a lot of people say You're one of the prophets.' 15 And He said, 'But who do you say I am?' 16 And Peter said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," That's the only right conclusion.

To say a prophet has risen within us is wrong. Christ the Son of God who is God has come into the world. That is the gospel, eternal life and resurrection for those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the One who came from heaven to earth to die for our sins and rise again for our justification. There is salvation in no other name. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130602 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E1 imblog

Matthew 12:43-50

Let us look now at Matthew 12:43-50, the last section of this great chapter. The Pharisees were moralists who were committed to ethics, standards, principles of life and morals. They lived by a complex and demanding ethical moral code. But in the process of their moral pursuit, they rejected God Himself, who was in their midst in human form.

They cleaned up their lives outwardly, and they convinced themselves that they were righteous, moral, and good. Consequently, when someone came along preaching the message of sin, they were not interested in listening. Jesus could not reach the religious, self-righteous, moral people who were under the illusion that everything was OK. They recognized no sin, so they needed no Savior.

That is always the danger of morality. Morality creates an illusion of safety when in fact the person who is moral may be in the greatest danger of all. We see this particularly among the Mormons, who feel so secure because of their morality when in fact, they are under the judgment of God and it is so hard to convince them.

Chapter 12 concludes, beginning in verse 43, with our Lord's response to that ultimate rejection. The purpose of this section is very simple. It is to warn the people not to listen to the Pharisees and moralists, but to come to Jesus Christ, and there is a big difference. On the one hand, you have morality; on the other hand, you have a relationship. Those are the two points we should talk about - morality versus relationship.

Morality, in and of itself, is a dangerous thing. Self-righteousness is a damning thing. You'd be better off to be immoral and face the reality of your need for a Savior, than to live under the illusion that because you have a moral code on the outside, all is well on the inside between you and God.

Let's begin by looking at Matthew 12: 43-45, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Here in this parable, the Lord Jesus gives us the results of morality, the results of the ethical, religious approach. Verse 43, "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none." The main character is an unclean spirit, a demon, a fallen angel who is vile, wretched and wicked.

Do you know that some demons are more wicked than others? That is indicated to us in verse 45, where it tells that when this demon returns, he comes with seven others that are more wicked than himself. This simply means that demons vary from vile and wretched to most those vile and most wretched.

So there is, dwelling in this man, a vile, unclean, demonic spirit. This tells us that this is where they like to be; this is an insight into the fact that these beings live in men. In this case, this one goes out of a man for a while. It doesn't tell us how, but we will see the best explanation as we move through the story.

So the evil spirit has gone out, he leaves the man and then walks through dry places seeking rest. It says that there is a restlessness with this spirit; he seeks refreshment and rest, but cannot find it. This disembodied demon is at rest only when he can find a place back in a human life. This is a very important for us to note, because our Lord is saying that demons go in and out of men and seem to be more at home in them than out of them.

Jesus concludes in verse 44, "Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'" That is an interesting statement, 'my house.' There is a sense in which the demon perceived that that human being was his own dwelling place. Demons not only function within men, but apparently they take up a permanent residence there, because we see that in the term 'my house.'

So he went back. Verse 44, "And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order." This is the key to understanding what is going on in this parable. Why did the demon leave in the first place? This was an unclean demon because it says so. Most likely, the man went through some kind of a moral reformation. In some way, he cleaned up his act, and got rid of some evil vices.

There are men and women that do that. They can try to stop doing evil and try to clean up their act. That is why we have New Year's resolutions and calls to improved physical and moral behavior. Even criminals at times may try to stop their life of crime and try to live a respectable life for a while.

Sometimes they are responding to the fear of prison or of death, or pressure from people they love and care about. Sometimes they may be responding to religious pressure. It is very possible that this could have been an individual out of whom even Lord Jesus had sent this demon, because our Lord healed people who were not necessarily saved. Remember the ten lepers that He healed, only one came back and was redeemed.

The Lord is illustrating here an external kind of cleansing, a moral reformation, a kind of 'cleaning up your act' approach. This is what had happened as a result of the ministry of John the Baptist. When John the Baptist came preaching repentance, they were not receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, they were just cleaning up to get ready to receive Him.

They were sweeping out their spiritual house and getting their lives right in anticipation of the coming of Messiah. But when the Messiah came, the vast majority of the people never let Him in. So they sat there, all cleaned up and adorned, but refusing the entrance of the Messiah.

The result of it all is in verse 45, "Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first." Those people never let Christ come in to fill the empty place and the result was that their condition became worse.

The key word is at the end of this verse: empty. That is outward cleansing only, but Christ never comes in. They would not receive Christ. Theirs was a superficial, external morality, with no place for Christ. Many of them had come to John the Baptist and repented and been baptized. And the Pharisees were preaching the gospel of morality without Christ.

The empty house, then, speaks of the spiritual vacuum that is created when people get moral but do not know Christ. The reason it is more dangerous than immorality is because it says right here, from the lips of our Lord, that instead of just having one unclean spirit, you might get eight devils back. A self-righteous, moral person can become the victim of Satan even more than an immoral person.

How is this worse than to be moral?" When a person becomes self-righteous and moral, he then loses the sense of fearfulness about evil, and feels himself beyond the activity of Satan so that Satan can come in with many demons, without that individual ever being aware, or prepared to deal with it.

Notice in verse 45, it says, "They enter and dwell there," which means 'to settle down and be at home.' They come in and find their permanent place in the heart of a moral person. Better the person should have been immoral and know deep down that he has to change than to be living under the illusion of morality and be demon-infested.

Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:15, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Jesus didn't preach morality; He preached salvation, repentance from sin. God is not interested in making America moral without Christ; all that will do is give them a false sense of security and maybe increase their potential for damnation. It is easier to reach someone who is overwhelmed with their sense of sin than to reach someone who is proud of their righteousness, right?

Morality is like taking a big hog out of the muck, giving her a bath, painting her toenails, putting a ribbon on her neck, and letting her loose. She'll go back to the slop she came from because there is no change in her nature. People who escape the pollutions on the outside may intensify their damnation because they are empty inside.

That takes us from the word morality to a second word that is very important here, and that is the word relationship, starting in verse 46. Morality is not salvation or regeneration or redemption. In order to have a true redemption and regeneration, there must be a right relationship. So the Lord finishes with a beautiful invitation, and it was made possible in the setting there by the arrival of Jesus' family, His mother and brothers.

Matthew 12:46-50, “While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” 48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

It says in John 7:5 that His brothers didn't believe He was the Messiah, but certainly they cared for Him. Mary knew, and she loved Him. And the word that perhaps came back to them was that Jesus had really gone too far now. Now He was giving these terrifying rebukes to the leaders. In Mark 3:21-22, it tells us that the friends of Jesus reported that He had become mentally unbalanced.

Mary and His brothers came, probably prompted by Mary, on a sort of rescue mission to try and get Him out of the situation into which He was getting Himself so deeply entrenched. They knew He was being accused of terrifying things; they could see the imminence of His death and wanted to help, so they came.

Verse 47, "Then one said to Him, 'Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.'" That could be embarrassing, a grown man, and to be teaching and full of authority against these scribes, Pharisees, and unbelievers with the blistering, dramatic language of judgment.

But it wasn't for Jesus, because, as always, He was the master of every occasion, of every situation. This was not a time for mothers and brothers to dominate His life, even though they cared for and loved Him; this was a time for preaching a message that needed to be preached, and they gave Him His opportunity.

In verse 48, Jesus answers, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" This does not mean that He is denying His family, or that He didn't love them, because on the cross, the one great thing that He does in terms of taking care of what's left on earth is to be sure that Mary is given to John so that he can care for her. So we know He loved them.

But He is teaching that earthly, physical relationships are not the most important part for Him. In other words, "Who is really related to Me? Who is really in My family? Who really has any intimacy with Me? Who can really put demands on Me regarding responsibility and fellowship?”

In verse 49, He answers His own question, "And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, 'Here are My mother and My brothers!'" He's saying, "Do you want to know who is related to Me? Here they are. My disciples are related to Me; they are My spiritual family." That is the real family that matters.

This was to Mary and His brothers an invitation as well. Mary had to be redeemed just like everyone else; that's why then the angel gave her the message, and she thanked God her Savior. And so did His brothers. This was a broad invitation to all who were there. He was saying, "A relationship with Me is a spiritual issue. These who believe in Me are related to Me.”

So how do you get that kind of relationship? How does that happen? In verse 50 He simplifies it with a beautiful statement, "For whoever," and aren't you glad that word is there? Whoever; there is no limit on that term, "does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

That is a great truth. Jesus says, "To be related to Me is not a physical thing, it's a spiritual thing. The next question is, "How do we get into that relationship?" And Jesus says, "By doing the will of My Father." Notice He put in there, "The will of My Father who is in Heaven." They were asking for a sign from Heaven. The Father had given them a sign from Heaven, and that's why He says, “Doing the will of the Father in Heaven.”

I'll show you what it is. Back up to Matthew 3:17. At the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ, we hear the voice of the Father, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" So the will of the Father in Heaven is that the people on earth acknowledge Jesus Christ as His Son.

Look at Matthew 18:11. This is a great bible passage that expresses the Father's will, "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost." Jesus said, "I have come to do the will of Him who sent Me." Here He said, "I have come to save men." Therefore, the will of He that sent Him is to save men. Doing the will of the Father in Heaven, then, is coming to salvation in Christ.

It isn't what you say, it is what you do; and doing the will of the Father is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving the gift of salvation that He offers. That is the invitation of Matthew 12. In Acts 4:12, the apostles say; "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

There are plenty of people calling for morality, but we are calling for a relationship with Jesus Christ. And out of that relationship comes true morality, as generated and affected and maintained by the power of the Holy Spirit. Do you have that relationship with Jesus? You can have that today. Bow with me in prayer.

]]> Sun, 26 May 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130526 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E3 imblog

Matthew 12:38-42

The Bible is clear that all men are sinners, separated from God, and on target for divine judgment. It is not easy to determine how sinful man is, because there is, in the world of men, a sort of relative goodness. There are religious, moral, good people who say they believe in God and do good things to others. But ultimately, the sinfulness of man is made manifest when a person comes face-to-face with Jesus Christ; at that point, there can be no hiding it.

Before we continue Matthew 12, I want first to discuss John 15:22-25. Here, our Lord is meeting with His disciples in the upper room. This is the night of His betrayal and arrest, only hours before His death. As Jesus speaks to His disciples, He gives them all kinds of insights that they might be held together by the truth when He is gone. One of the things Jesus promises them is that the world will hate them because they hated Him.

Then He talks about the people who rejected Him, "22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” Here, He is referring to the Jewish leaders who appeared to be holy, righteous and religious. They appeared to love and obey God, and to keep His laws and no one really knew how vile and sinful they were, because of their mask of religion.

However, when Jesus confronted them with their rejection of the living Son of God, it became clear how sinful they were. The Lord calls them in Matthew 23, "whitewashed tombs, serpents, brood of vipers, fools and blind guides, wicked men with black hearts and poisoned mouths." The evil of their hearts would never have come to the surface, but by rejecting Him and ultimately taking His life, they showed their true character.

In John 15:23, Jesus says, "He who hates Me hates My Father also." The truth about them is now known; they don't love God, they hate God, because if they loved God, they would have loved Jesus. When you come face-to-face with Jesus Christ and you reject Jesus, at that point, the truth is out. No matter what you appear to be on the surface, your heart of evil is known in confrontation with Christ.

That's true today in many ways; there are many religious groups who seem to go along very well with their religious masquerade until someone confronts them with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and when they reject it, the real truth is made manifest. They don't love God at all.

Take the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses and others cults - who appear so religious, so good, so righteous and so obedient to the laws as they believe God gives them. When you confront them with Jesus Christ, all of a sudden their hypocrisy is revealed. They don't love God; they hate God, because they hate His Son. The same thing happens in liberal churches where people talk about the Bible without really studying it, and adopt political, social and psychological solutions only. When you walk in and introduce the Gospel of Jesus Christ; you will find out that they really don't love God.

So by the time we reach Matthew 12, the Pharisees are hardened in their rejection. They say that Jesus is a Sabbath-breaker, because they're trying to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people. They want to maintain their power, control, dominance over the people. When the people begin to become attracted to Jesus, they feel they must discredit Him publicly so that they can maintain their place.

But Jesus attacks them. He says, "You don't understand your own Scriptures, You don't understand the Sabbath, and you don't understand that I am the Lord of the Sabbath." So they attack Him a second time in chapter 12. This time they say, "He is not only a Sabbath-breaker, but satanic."

And Jesus says, "That kind of accusation is absurd, prejudiced, rebellious, and betrays your hearts. You are be damned for it, and you are beyond the point of repentance and forgiveness. You will never be forgiven." Each time they attack Him, they lose. But they have one final attack at the end of Matthew 12.

Jesus judges the people who have rejected Him as we see in Matthew 12:38-42, “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.”

They say, "Master," and this betrays their hypocrisy, "We want to see a sign from You." When a scribe came, in an official assembly of scribes and Pharisees, to ask a question like this of Jesus, the question must be what the law requires of Him. So the scribes must have determined from the law that if He is the Messiah, He should do a sign. That was an official question.

So the people were being told that this Jesus had not yet sufficiently proven His claim to being the Messiah, that there was yet a sign that needed to be done. What kind of sign are they asking? He's done healing after healing, cast out demons, transformed lives, given salvation, and forgiven sin; what more could they want than the thousands and thousands of miracles that they had already seen?

They desired that He would show them a sign from heaven. So Jesus says, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." The Jews were always after a supernatural verification of everything. That's why the Lord gave the ability to the apostles and those who worked with them to do signs, wonders, and mighty deeds, because that was the expectation of the Jews.

They wanted a spectacular display of control over the celestial sphere. They would have liked to have seen Him rearrange the stars, or have clouds gyrate into unique forms and spelling out in Aramaic, "This is Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Messiah." They believed He couldn't do it, and they wanted to discredit Him in front of the people.

His reply is most interesting. Verse 39. "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign." In other words, "If you had been faithful to God, you wouldn't need that kind of thing. You manifest the adultery of your hearts in even seeking such." He says to the entire Jewish nation of His day, "You are an adulterous generation. You have violated your vows and followed false deities."

They had been unfaithful to God and had committed harlotries with their legalism, traditions, self-righteousness, and their own egos. They had abandoned God; their harlotries were no longer attached to the gods of the Canaanites, but to the gods of their own design and devising. Isn't it obvious that they had no relationship with God if they planned to kill His Son? Then Jesus says this, "No sign will be given to you.”

Jesus did not do it, not for the reason they thought. He is able to do whatever, He was the one who created everything, He could have rearranged it any time He had wanted. Look at the book of Revelation and read what He will do in rearranging the universe, because He will.

Jesus then said this, "No sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." Do you remember the story of Jonah? He took a short ride in a long fish. He was called by God to preach in Nineveh, he said, "I don't want to go to Nineveh," and took a boat the opposite direction. There was a storm, and he told the captain, "The problem is me. Throw me out."

They threw him out, a great fish swallowed him up, and he was in the fish for three days. A disobedient prophet would make anything have a stomach ache, so the fish vomited him up on the shore. He went to Nineveh and preached, the whole place repented in sackcloth and ashes, and God spared His judgment.

Jesus said, "This generation will be given no sign except the sign of the prophet Jonah." Look at verse 40, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." That's the sign. It's a prophecy, brothers and sisters.

Jesus here says the story of Jonah was a prophecy; just as much as the prophecy of Isaiah 53. It was a picture rather than in word, of Jonah spending three days and nights in the belly of the great fish, and as such shall the Son of Man be three days and nights in the heart of the earth.

It looked like the end of Jonah, but it wasn't; it looked like the end of Jesus, but it wasn't. Jonah was buried in the depths; Jesus was buried in the depths. Jonah came out; Jesus came out. It was a picture of the resurrection. It was three days for Jonah; it was three days for Jesus. It was a perfect picture.

Here we see that Jesus believed the story of Jonah. Isn't that good? I read a commentary that said, "Just because Jesus refers to Jonah doesn't mean that He really believed that it actually happened." Well, you may want to believe Jonah was a liar, but it's impossible to believe Jesus was a liar. If Jesus said this is the story, then this is the story. Jesus validates the authenticity of the story of Jonah.

Another note on the 'great fish.' Some people say it's a whale, but the term is simply a great fish and we don't really know what particular kind of fish it was. It may have been a special fish that God created and placed there, and after it did its thing, that was the end of the species. I don't know, but whatever it was, it was a big enough fish for Jonah to get completely all the way inside.

Another thing is that it says three days and three nights. People always seem to have trouble with that because they think, "If Jonah was there three days and three nights, that's a 72-hour period, so Jesus has to be buried for 72 hours. If He rises on Sunday morning, that puts the crucifixion to Thursday, not Friday.”

Well, the phrase 'a day and a night' simply was a phrase referring to any part of that 24 hour period. So when you refer to a period, the Talmud says, "Any part of one is as the whole." So Jonah was in the fish some part of three days, as the Lord was in the earth some part of three days, not necessarily the whole 72 hours.

So this is a picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was His last sign, after that Jesus ceased doing any miracles in His earthly body. But, yes, in His glorified body He came and went with the apostles, and He could appear and disappear instantly, but as far as performing miracles, Christ did no more after the resurrection.

So we come to the last sentence in verses 41-42. By association with Jonah, the Lord spoke of Nineveh, the city to which he went. He says this, "The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.”

Jonah 3:5-6, "So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes." That was the attitude of repentance.

So a Gentile, pagan, idolatrous people, outside the covenants and the law of God got a disobedient, rebellious prophet who came and preached nothing but doom to them, did no miracles, and the whole place repented and believed God. Contrast that to what verse 41 says, "A greater than Jonah is here."

Here are Jews, not Gentiles. These are God's people, those who have the law. One came to them greater than Jonah. Who was He? He was the God of Jonah in human flesh, and He was perfect, sinless, compassionate, powerful, and His message was not of doom but of grace, mercy, forgiveness, salvation. He did miracle after miracle and sign after sign.

But they hated and killed Him. So says our Lord in verse 41, "In judgment, the people of Nineveh will rise up and condemn these people,” for with much less, they believed and repented. They act as a historical condemnation of the unbelief of Israel. He is not done, He recalls another event in their history from I Kings 10. Verse 42, "The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it."

If you read 1 Kings 10, you'd read there about the Queen of Sheba. The land of the Sabeans was in Arabia. These people were very prosperous because they were on the trade route to India. They had developed their trades and skills, so that this queen was literally extremely wealthy.

It says that she would stand in judgment with this generation and condemn it. She is a Gentile, an Arab, a she! A Gentile woman is going to condemn the chosen people. Why? Because in verse 42, "She came from the farthest parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon." She crosses the desert with all of her entourage from a remote land to come without an invitation to seek that wisdom.

You know what happened when she got there? It was more than she thought it would be, and she was so astounded that she started unloading on Solomon treasure after treasure. This was her way of honoring him and thanking him. Think about that.

Look at verse 42, "And behold, One greater than Solomon is here." Jesus is saying, "You don't even have to take a journey! I'm here, and you don't care." Here was a Gentile woman with no invitation who crossed the desert with all this stuff to hear wisdom from the lips of a man who speaks the truth of God, and here they won't even listen when He is in their midst! And He's greater than Solomon.

There are people today who reject the wisdom of Jesus Christ. They may be sitting in a church, and someday Ninevites and a Gentile queen, will condemn them in judgment. What it is saying is that those who are far off that believe, which proves that those who are near are responsible to believe. If you exist within Christianity and reject Jesus, yours is the greatest condemnation. Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 19 May 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130519 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E4 imblog

Matthew 12:33-37

Matthew 12:33-37 says, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

It has been estimated that from the first 'good morning' to the last 'good night,' the average person engages in 30 conversations every day; some of you average more than that, some of you, less. Statisticians have estimated that each of us will spend 13 years of our life just talking. Words are very important in communication, but especially as mentioned in the Word of God, in Matthew 12: 37. "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Does it seem startling to you that Jesus said that your eternal destiny will be determined by your words? Let's find out why Jesus said this. In nine chapters, Christ offers Himself, His teachings and His miracles and then in the tenth chapter, He calls together men who will assist Him in that offer and in chapters 11-12, we find the open rejection of the people. Is this surprising? In reality it is not, it is just a fulfillment of John 1:11; He came to His own, and His own received Him not.

As we move through chapters 11-12, we have seen that the rejection gets worse and worse. First, there was doubt, then criticism, then indifference, then open rejection and finally, blasphemy. That is what we read in Matthew 12:22-32; that is the record of the blasphemy of the Jewish leaders against Jesus Christ.

In verse 24 the Pharisees say, "This fellow," referring to Christ, "Casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons," and that, of course, is a name for Satan. So they watched Jesus cast the demons out of a man who was blind, deaf and dumb (verse 22), they saw the amazement of the people (verse 23), who began to wonder if Jesus might not be the Messiah, the Son of David.

So they publicly accused that He did it all by the power of the Devil. They had concluded the opposite of the truth and had blasphemed the Lord and the Holy Spirit who worked through Him. They had committed the worst crime in human history. Then Jesus condemned them in verses 31- 32; He told them that that kind of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, who was at work through Christ, could never be forgiven.

In other words, if you have all the revelation there is to have - you have seen the miracles, heard His teachings, seen the quality of His life, seen His attitude, been exposed to everything there is about Him - and your conclusion is that He is from the Devil, then you are unredeemable. Their words became that which ultimately damned them.

But Jesus wants to clarify this. It is not that you are damned only by your words; it is that you are damned because your words will reveal the corruption of your heart. That is the substance of the passage. So the Lord begins to speak about what people say. He has just heard the most damning words that men have ever uttered, and so He talks about the tongue in verses 33-37.

He begins with a parable in verse 33, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit." That is a parabolic axiom, a statement of fact, a truism. If a tree is good, it has good fruit; if a tree is bad, it has bad fruit, because the tree and fruit are one. In other words, "Consider the tree good and its fruit good, or else, consider the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt."

So the Lord is saying, how can you say, when I cast out demons, which your own disciples also do, that I am evil? You've acknowledged it is a good thing to do. If that which I do is good, then the tree is good; but if I am evil, then doing that is evil, and if doing that is evil, then your own disciples are doing evil also.

They knew that disease was a result of sin; in fact, they even pushed that so far that they felt that if a person had a disease, he or she actually had sinned to get it, or their parents had. So they knew sin and disease were connected, so the healing from disease was to deliver one from the consequence of sin. They knew that was good. The healing of the blind, giving of hearing to the deaf and voice to the dumb - they couldn't deny that it was good. Jesus did good things, so He must be a good person. They should be consistent in their argument.

The character of Jesus’ life should have been clear to them from what He accomplished. If you were to look at John 10, in three different verses (25, 37, and 38), Jesus says through John's gospel, "If you have trouble believing Me," or affirming who I really am, “believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” How else can you explain what I do than that I am from God?

From the parable, He applies it in a strong way in verse 34, “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things?" That is the personalization of His parable. "What would we expect out of you but evil words, when you are evil to begin with?" Jesus was consistent in His evaluation; there was a corrupt tree, so He knew all the fruit would be corrupt. The blasphemy they uttered gave clear evidence of what was in their hearts.

Notice what He calls them: "Brood of vipers" or “children of snakes”. That was a favorite phrase used by our Lord. He wouldn't fit very well into that accommodating, lovey-dovey kind of approach where pastors are afraid to confront people about their sin and only say encouraging things. When rebuke needed to be given, Jesus gave it without hesitation.

There were several occasions when Jesus called the Pharisees a generation of vipers, and that was as strong an accusation as He could utter to them. In Matthew 23, He does that and also in Luke 3:7. The one who started calling them that was John the Baptist in Matthew 3:7. Keep in mind that this is all right in front of a large gathering of people.

Why does He select vipers? That represents the Old Serpent himself, Satan, the Devil - the original snake in the Garden of Eden. He is the father of all these other vipers. They descended from the Devil himself. They were filled with the poison of deadly legalism, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, treachery and moral filth. And they taught that to their victims as well.

After that He continues in verse 34, "How can you, being evil, speak good things?" And He applies the parable, "How could we expect anything else out of your mouths than blasphemy? Notice the statement 'being evil.' That is a strong theological statement, a statement of the depravity of the human heart. They were evil in everything they thought and did, and that is the legacy of the fall of Adam, that men are born into the world in sin.

That is why Paul says, "All have sinned," and to the Ephesians, "You were dead in trespasses and sins." David said in Psalm 51:4, "In sin did my mother conceive me." Jeremiah said, "The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" The Bible, from Old Testament to New Testament, shows the heart of man in all times and all circumstances, and his heart is always evil.

Man without God abides in that evil being and produces only evil products and fruit. 1 Samuel 24:13 says, "As the proverb of the ancients says, 'Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.'" So Jesus says, applying the parable, "We would expect vile things from vile people," and that is the case. They speak because of who they are.

From there, He moves to the third thing, which we'll call the principle, at the end of verse 34. Here, He directly states the principle that He has in mind, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Whatever you are on the inside is going to spill out of your mouth. That is the principle of this Bible passage.

The Pharisees blasphemed Jesus. But Jesus says, “Your blasphemy shows that you condemn yourselves because if that is what comes out of your mouth, then that is what is in your heart. We cannot expect anything different from you, being evil." This is one of the most definitive, far-reaching, and practical applications in all of Scripture.

Let's look at some terms in that principle at the end of verse 34 so that you'll understand what it is saying. The heart is the basis of our thinking - our thoughts, our mind, our will, our source of knowledge. It sometimes means emotion, but the idea here is the place of thinking, reasoning, the mind and the will.

Let's go back to Matthew 12. He says that their thinking process is blasphemous, and it will come out of your mouth. Notice He says, "Out of the abundance of the heart." He uses a word which means an overflow. It is a surplus, and the word implies an excess. It's as if the heart is full of something, and it has to have an overflow valve, and the mouth is that valve. So that when your heart overflows with thought and intent, your mouth is going to be the spill-over.

A man's character is known by his mouth. I don't have to talk to a man very long or on very many different occasions to find out whether in his heart is pure and wholesome or lustful, evil and full of dirty thinking. I don't have to listen to him very long to find out whether his heart is kind, gentle, and thoughtful, or cruel, because out of his mouth it will be known.

Go back to this principle in Matthew 12:34, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." I don't have to take time to show you that this principle is all throughout the Scripture; you can do that yourself. If you read Proverbs 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 18, the first part of Psalm 64, and many more places, you'll find this same principle illustrated or commented upon. In the New Testament, you'll find the same thing.

For example, in the familiar epistle that deals with the tongue, in James 1:26 says, "If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless." In James 3:8, it says, "No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."

Paul, describing the sinfulness of man in Romans 3:13-14 says, "Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." The mouth becomes the ultimate demonstration, as it were, of the evil heart. Whatever is in the heart will come out the mouth.

Let's look at the principle expanded in verse 35. He just applies it. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things." That's so simple; obviously you can only bring out what you have got inside.

If you are an unbeliever and don't know God, in you dwells no good thing. So you can't get any good out of it, because there is nothing good in there. You can only bring evil out of the treasure because evil is all there is in your treasure. You are like a computer; if there is garbage in, there is garbage out, and you can't violate that.

So the Lord says, then, that you will be judged by that. The criteria by which God determines your eternal destiny can be the record of what you say, for an evil person will not utter anything that is truly good. Only a good person made good by the grace of God and the transformation of his heart will utter good things, and evil as well, as we try to overcome the flesh.

Therefore, we come to the fourth point, the punishment in verses 36-37, "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Some people have a problem believing that we will ultimately be judged on our works and on our words. This is not to negate salvation by grace through faith, but simply to show you that salvation by grace through faith will demonstrate itself in good works and good words, so that they become the objective criteria by which God can make that judgment. If Christ has never changed your heart, then you will speak words by which God will condemn you.

Look at verse 37 and the last phrase, "By your words you will be condemned." That judgment here is primarily the judgment of the Great White Throne which is the ultimate eternal judgment. Christians aren't going to be there because our sins have already been dealt with and paid for at the cross. Sure, we have sinned with our words, but ours are under the covering of the blood of Christ.

For unbelievers Luke 19:22 says simply, "Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant." You see, when God comes to the time to judge the evil people in Revelation 20, He opens books. Those books have in them all the deeds and words of these people. You can run through all the deeds and words and find no good thing, and He keeps a complete record.

We are accountable in our lives for everything that we say, and God has a way of recovering all of that and using it in that time of judgment to indict the ungodly. But it also says in verse 37, "By your words you will be justified." What does that mean? That means that a believer will be justified objectively by his words. When there is a transformed heart, there will be a transformed mouth, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Careless words speak of those words uttered in a thoughtless way, the careless words that kind of just escape. When we get angry, we get upset, anxious, fearful, irritated, frustrated, and then it comes out - those careless words that came out accidently. The real you will come out when you speak in anger, in hatred. Now go back to verse 36. Consequently, we have to give an account for every idle word that we speak.

This is tremendous accountability for "Every idle, useless word." Take the unbeliever. How does this relate to him? He is the main object, because Jesus is speaking here about the Pharisees. Their words are useless in promoting the Kingdom of God and advancing the name of Christ and exalting God's glory.

The Bible says they are evil words, for the mouth of the wicked pours out evil words. They are lustful words, for the lips of an adulterous woman drip honey, and smoother than oil is her speech. They are deceitful, for the tongue is a deadly arrow which speaks deceit. They are cursing words; his mouth is full of curses. They are oppressive words; his mouth is full of oppression, says the Scripture.

Christians are also accountable to God for what we say. We have to learn to tame our tongues too. There are those good things, those times we praise and thank God, those times we exalt Christ, and speak truth and wisdom, when we utter those words that prove we are the redeemed. But then there are those times when that bitter water comes out of the same fountain and James says, "These things ought not to be."

Paul says, "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt." Our speech should be spiritual, wholesome, fitting, kind, sensitive, loving, purposeful, edifying, gentle, truthful speech, and we should pray what the psalmist prayed in Psalm 141:3, when he said, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 May 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130512 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E5 imblog

Matthew 12:31-32

This evening, we are focusing on Matthew 12:31-32. Let us see again that the Lord Jesus Christ lived in total submission to God the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 3:16, when He was baptized, we see the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ at the initiation of His ministry. We believe that Jesus was conceived by the Spirit of God and indwelt by the Spirit of God. But there was a unique empowering by the Holy Spirit for His ministry that began at His baptism.

And according to Mark 1:12, “Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.” So the Holy Spirit begins to energize what He says and does, and where He goes. A little further after His baptism, Luke tells us what happened next in Luke 4:14, "Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.”

Then Luke 4:18 tells us that Jesus says, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” In that verse, we see His preaching, healing, and deliverance from demons, all of it is because the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him.

With that in mind, we approach this passage in Matthew 12. The Jews of Jesus' time had seen all of the miracles, witnessed all of the deliverances, heard the preaching and teaching and felt the magnetism of the person of Jesus Christ. There was no question about the evidence; there was little argument about the manifestation of divine power. But were they willing to give the Spirit the glory and honor for what they saw?

Matthew 12:22 gives us what happened that brought it all to a head, "Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw." In other words, He not only brought physical healing, but also a casting out of a demon.

Now we come to verse 23, “And all the multitudes were amazed and said, 'This is not the Messiah, is it?'" This amazement led to the accusation, because the Jewish leaders couldn't tolerate the people concluding this was the Messiah because Jesus was such a threat to their security. So they said in verse 24, 'This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.'" In other words, "His power is satanic."

When they said that, who were they actually blaspheming? The Holy Spirit, because it was the Holy Spirit that was ministering through Jesus, for in His voluntary humiliation, taking the form of a servant, He had given Himself over to the power of the Spirit. That, then, becomes the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

Blasphemy is to speak evil against the Holy Spirit, and the most evil that you could possibly speak against the Holy Spirit would be to say that He is the Devil, that He is Satan. That is what the Pharisees said about the power of the Holy Spirit; that was their accusation.

This accusation, then, leads to the answer in verse 25. Jesus has to respond to their accusation, and He does it in three ways. First of all, He says, your accusation is absurd. In verse 25, He says, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.”

In other words, He gives them a basic human truism: you can't survive an internal revolution, or the dividing of what you are trying to hold together. Therefore, verse 26 says, "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?"

Secondly, Jesus says their answer is not only absurd but prejudiced. Verse 27, "And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges." Their disciples, believed that they were exorcists who could cast out demons.

So Jesus said, they are doing on the surface the same thing I'm doing. You say they are of God but I'm of the Devil; that is arbitrary bias, and only manifests your prejudice. The fact that you would come up with such an inconsistency shows that all of you are just prejudiced against Me.

Thirdly, you are also rebellious. In verse 28 it says, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom is near.” If I'm doing it by God's power, then you are seeing God's Kingdom. Jesus is saying, if I can control the demons of Satan, then I must be able to tie up the Devil himself. If I am the one who can tie up the Devil, then God is in your midst. Your problem is that you are rebellious, and will not believe Me, so you are against Me.

They had cursed the Spirit of God, and now God through Christ is going to curse them. They have committed a sin that is unforgivable. Verse 31, "Wherefore," in other words, based on all that He has said and all that has gone on, "I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men.”

That is a very simple statement; sin and blasphemy are, in a sense distinct, although blasphemy is sin. Sin is a large category of evil deeds, thoughts or attitudes. Blasphemy is one kind of sin within that broad category. Blasphemy is the unique sin of speaking evil against God, saying things about God that are not true, speaking of God in a derogatory manner; that is blasphemy.

Jesus begins by saying, "All that kind of sin and blasphemy is forgivable." It will be forgiven when all conditions are met. And the condition for forgiveness and sin is very clearly given in the New Testament as repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. When you confess your sin, and turn from your sin to Christ in faith, believing and receiving Him as Savior, then God will forgive all your sin and blasphemy.

Look back to Psalm 32:5 where David says, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Psalm 103 says God forgives our sins and removes them as far as the east is from the west. Isaiah 43:25 says that God will blot out your transgressions for His own sake; and He will not remember your sins. In 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

God will graciously forgive any sin, even the sin of blasphemy. You say, "Would a Christian do that?" Christians do that too; any time you think a thought or say a word that speaks against God, you have blasphemed, spoken evil of His name. If you have said, "God, that wasn't fair," even that is blasphemy.

What Jesus is saying there is that even a redeemed person may have to deal with the reality of blasphemy in his life, when he says to God, "That isn't right, or not fair, or wasn't wise; why did You do that?" When you are angry at God, in a sense you are speaking evil against God. But all that is forgivable.

Look at verse 31 again, "All kinds of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but,” and that little word “but” makes all the difference, "the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven men." Now we are introduced to something that is not forgivable. This is the only sin in the Bible of which it is ever said that it is unforgivable.

Do you know the penalty for blasphemy in the Old Testament? Leviticus 24:14-16 says that the penalty was death by stoning. If anyone spoke an evil word against God, they stoned him or her. When you look at the wretched and wicked society of the anti-Christ that exists at the end time, and read Revelation 13, 16, and 17, you will find that it is characteristic of that day that they blaspheme the God of Heaven.

This sin is further defined in verse 32, and we'll see what it means. "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him." If you speak against the Son of Man, that's forgivable. But the emphasis comes from the words 'Son of Man,' and that is a title that designates not His deity, that is 'Son of God,' but His humanity.

So He is saying, "You can speak a word against the Son of Man, and that would be forgivable because you may speak against Him, seeing nothing more than His humanness." In other words, your perception may not even allow you to be dealing with deity as a factor; you are condemning what you perceive in His humanness (even though you're wrong), you may just not know the facts; who He really is.

Nevertheless, when you speak against the Holy Spirit, that will not be forgiven you, not in this time period or in the time period to follow, because when you begin to speak against the Spirit, then you are saying, "I recognize the supernatural, I see the supernatural, only I think it is from Hell, not from Heaven." For that, you won't be forgiven.

When you have seen the supernatural and the ministry of the Spirit of God through Christ, and you conclude that it is of the Devil, you can't be forgiven because now, you are speaking against the Spirit of God, the power of God, as made manifest through Christ. So now you're speaking against His deity, His divine nature, and calling it satanic.

The Jews once said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" They weren't impressed with the human elements of Jesus; but that was a far cry from saying, "Yes, we've seen His supernatural power, seen His miracles, heard His teachings, seen Him cast out devils, and our conclusion is that His power is out of Hell." That was unforgivable.

Why? Forgiveness is based on repentance and faith in Christ. If they concluded that Christ was filled with the Devil, they certainly weren't going to listen to His message about repentance and put their faith in Him. The reason they could never be forgiven is because they would never believe.

If you only knew a little bit about Jesus Christ, you could be brought along to know a little more and a little more, until it finally dawned on you what the truth was. But if you have known all the truth, and you have concluded that He is satanic, you're hopeless. For them, it became a permanent state; that's why, at the end of verse 32, it says, "It will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."

So it isn't as if God is simply arbitrarily saying, "I don't like the way you're treating My Son; I will never forgive you, even if you come to Me." No, what He is saying is, "You have had so much evidence and you have drawn your conclusions, therefore it is obvious you will never come to Me. So you will never be forgiven."

"Is this a sin unique to that era?" No, to commit this specific sin, you would have to know everything that there is to know about Jesus and then still reject Him, so there may be a possibility that this very same sin will be committed again in the Kingdom when Christ returns.

When He is back on the earth, and does what He does miraculously at that period of time, there will also be people who will rebel. Revelation tells us that there will be a host of them from around the world who will fight Him, so that very specific sin of attributing the works of the Spirit to Satan could be committed again.

However, when Jesus comes back the second time He will not be in humiliation mode any longer, but He will be in an exaltation mode, and all He does will be His own works, though certainly in harmony with the Spirit. At that time, they will be blaspheming Him for His own works, and that too would be unforgivable if they have seen enough so that they have all the light that could possibly be given.

Less than forty years after the Jews rejected Jesus, God destroyed the entire Jewish society in 70 A.D. He destroyed the temple, wiped out the city of Jerusalem, massacred 1.1 million Jews, and in the years that followed, conquerors came through and slaughtered the Jews of 985 towns and villages. Because only a remnant believed, and the rest said, "He is of the Devil."

However that kind of sin is not unique, because it came in the very next period. Hebrews 6 describes the period that immediately follows the life of Christ, and we see the same kind of sin occur again. Hebrews was basically written to Christian Jews, but periodically, there are warnings to unsaved Jews, who have had all of the intellectual information and evidence but still will not come to Christ.

The Jews at that time had received very much the same kind of evidence that the Pharisees had received. They had heard the message, not preached by Christ, but by His apostles, who had His commission; they had seen miracles, the power of the Holy Spirit manifest through the apostles.

The warning comes in Hebrews 6: 4-6, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”

It says, "They tasted the heavenly gift." That is the salvation message, the Gospel, bound up in Christ. How? They followed Him around, saw His power, heard His message and saw His miracles. They didn't eat His flesh and drink His blood, as John 6 says they would have had to have done. They just dabbled in it, just tasted it.

Jesus said in John 6:54, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." He didn't say, "Taste the blood." You had to drink it; so there was a total commitment. They tasted it, knew its character and quality. If you're there at the point of highest revelation, you'd better believe at that point, because if you don't, you will become an apostate - unredeemable, forever and ever.

You say, "What about this age?" In this age, the same principle is valid. If you have been exposed to all of the truth concerning the Gospel that God can give, in other words, you have enough knowledge to make a decision, and your final conclusion is that it is not the truth, you are unredeemable.

I'm not the judge of when that happens, but there will come a time when God turns out the lights, where you can never find your way back. I think that is the spirit of Jesus when He says, "Believe while you can," and Paul when he says, "Now is the acceptable time to believe." Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 05 May 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130505 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E6 imblog

Matthew 12:22-30

Let us read Matthew 12:22-30, “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

“25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.”

“28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”

Let us study this important passage, where we see the climax of the rejection of Christ. Let us begin with verse 22, "Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute," and we can assume that he was also deaf, because the dumbness might indicate that. "He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw."

Jesus has done healing miracles perhaps thousands of times in His ministry. But now He shows another side of His healing power because it involves dealing with demons in addition to a physical disability. At this point, the people cannot deny the power of Jesus. They know that this is supernatural power. It is instantaneous and total with permanent results!

They were saying to themselves, this man is meek, humble, gentle, compassionate, and He runs around with poor people. He won't argue, wrangle, or get angry. Can this be the Messiah? Sure, He can do amazing things, but maybe there is an explanation. That is the ambivalence they felt, and that is precisely why last week’s sermon about who Yesus really is, is so important.

And people now still are ambivalent. Educated people with all kinds of degrees have become so smart in their own eyes that they in fact have become dumb and they influence all the other people. In Luke 10:21 the Lord says, “thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.” So called scientists are still trying to explain who Jesus is and God’s incredible creation of the universe is still explained as evolution.

But let’s get back to this miracle. Do you know that demons can possess people? They can live in people, the Bible is clear on that. They can affect people in many ways, and in ways we might not even know. There are demons who may cause people to flail around and froth at the mouth. There are demons who may create in people physical illnesses, blindness, deafness or dumbness as in the case of this person. And no MRI machine can detect them.

Jesus approaches this individual, delivers him from the demon, and instantly, not only does he have spiritual deliverance from demonic control, but he is physically totally whole. He was blind, and instantly, he sees; he was dumb, and immediately, he talks; he was deaf, and immediately, he hears everything. Wow, only God can do that!

Matthew 12:23, "And all the multitudes were amazed and said, 'Could this be the Son of David?'” Now this was convincing, everyone was amazed, they were blown away. It was overwhelming. You could translate it this way, "This can't be the Son of David, can it?" In other words, there is much ambivalence.

'Son of David' is a title for the Messiah in 2 Samuel 7:13, where God said He would raise up a Son of David who would have an everlasting Kingdom. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they cried out, "Son of David," which was a Messianic title. It meant the ultimate King who would reign on David's throne. When the Pharisees hear that question, they go into an instant panic; they must stop that process fast.

If the people think He might be the Messiah, it is going to be real bad for the Pharisees, because Jesus has already criticized them in Matthew 5-7 and said that their righteousness does not equal that which is necessary for the Kingdom, and the way they teach and act out every dimension of life, religious and secular is in violation of God's original intent.

So look at what they say in verse 24, "Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, 'This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.'" The phrase 'this fellow' is a derisive term, it means a 'nobody.' They are saying, "This can't be the Messiah. We can't even tolerate such a thought. He is nothing and what He does is by Satan's power.”

The Pharisees were actually separated from Jesus by some distance, and they began to poison the crowd. They are saying this to the people, not to Jesus face to face. But in verse 25 it says, "Jesus knew their thoughts," which means that He didn't hear what they said, but He doesn't need to hear, because He can read their minds. Do you see that His enemies, who hated Him the most, were forced to conclude that what He did, He did by supernatural power?

You cannot come along with some patronizing stuff about Him being a nice guy or a good teacher. His friends won't let you, and neither will His enemies. You must conclude that He is supernatural, and then the only issue left is whether you think it is from God or from Satan, because those two are the only two supernatural kingdoms that exist.

The Pharisees, in fact have become defenders of the supernatural character of Christ. Obviously, they weren't going to say that He was from God, so they only had one alternative. They say, "He casts out demons by Beelzebub.” That is originally the name of a Philistine god, Beel which comes from Baal. And the ancient word for lord is 'Zebub' which means 'flies.' So Beelzebub means lord of the flies.

Jesus knows this, because in verse 26, He answers using the word 'Satan' in response to their word 'Beelzebub.' They have already said, "Demons are in Him," in John 8:48, and that He was the Devil in person in Matthew 10:25, and now they are saying the Devil is in Him. They had only two options: God or Satan, and they chose Satan.

Watch how Jesus answers their accusation by telling them that there are three things wrong with it. Matthew 12:25, "But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them." 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.'" So Jesus first says, your reasoning makes no sense!

He then makes the application. Verse 26, “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?" In other words, do you think Satan is so stupid that he is going to commit suicide? Is he having demons cast out other demons, defeating their purpose? Don’t forget that outside the Trinity, the devil is still the most intelligent being in existence.

Satan is not going to try to destroy his own work; Jesus on the other hand spent His entire ministry casting out Satan. But there will be inconsistencies in Satan's kingdom. And the reason is very simple, Satan is total evil, and evil like that will always be chaotic. So within Satan's domain, there will be discrepancy, because he is not omnipotent, so he can't control everything.

Secondly, their reasoning was prejudiced. It showed the evil predisposition of the Pharisees' hearts. Verse 27, He says, "If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?" In other words, "Don't your disciples do the same thing?" There were followers of the Farisees who were involved in exorcisms; they were going around with strange incantations and activities, trying to cast out demons.

We even meet a gang of them in Acts 19; they were totally unsuccessful, and trying to usurp the Jesus movement and get it on their side. They were trying to use His name because it seemed to have so much magical power. But listen to what the demons said to them in verse 15, "Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who in the world are you guys?" Yes, the demons knew they were counterfeit.

So Jesus is saying, "You've got your own disciples doing the very same thing. Why would you say that I do it by the power of Satan unless you are totally prejudiced against Me? Because when they try to do it themselves, you ascribe it to God, but when I do it and the evidence is irrefutable that God did that, you ascribe it to Satan. It just shows how prejudiced and biased you really are.”

People do not reject Jesus Christ because of a lack of evidence that He is God; they reject Him because they love darkness more than light because their deeds are evil. They don't want the intimidation that Christ brings into their sinful life. In their bias, instead of being open to receive Him, they reject Him and therefore have to conclude absurd and prejudicial things about Him.

Jesus even takes them a step further and says at the end of verse 27, "Why don't you let your sons be your judges?” Let the ones who are doing it be your judges. What do you think they are going to say, is this by the power of God or of Satan?

If they say they do it by the power of Satan, they'll betray the whole religious system and condemn themselves. But if they say they do it by the power of God, then they'll affirm that Jesus is doing the same thing; He must be doing it by the power of God too.

Thirdly, Jesus says that they were rebellious. Verse 28, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you." Jesus, in His incarnation as a servant, did not have the use of His own powers, He was obedient to the Father and energized by the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit was doing this through Him.

What does that mean, “surely the kingdom of God has come upon you?” The Kingdom is wherever the King happens to be, and He is saying, "I am the King, and because of that the Kingdom is near you." The Kingdom is near, but these Pharisees are so far away. They are worse than the people of Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum; those cities were indifferent, but the Pharisees are not indifferent, they are full of hate and blasphemous.

There is a future Kingdom, in the millennial Kingdom; and beyond that, in the eternal Kingdom of the new heavens and new earth. But we also believe that the Kingdom is wherever the King is. I believe that the King lives in my life, so the Kingdom is here, the sphere of His rule is in my life and hopefully in yours as well.

Hasn't He demonstrated the powers of the Kingdom, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, freed the demonized, raised the dead, pardoned the sinners, preached the truth and unmasked the hypocrites? He's done everything to demonstrate who He is, and there is no other explanation than that He is supernatural and that His supernatural power comes from God. So then the Kingdom is wherever Jesus is.

He demonstrates that marvelously in verse 29, “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”

He is saying, in effect, "The Kingdom of God is overpowering the kingdom of Satan. In binding up the strong man, I have demonstrated My power over the kingdom of Satan, or else, how can I cast out all these demons?”

Jesus is saying, "Haven't I demonstrated to you, by My ability to tie up Satan, that I am greater than he? Haven't I shown you that My ability to control his hosts, to throw out his demons, to deliver men who are captive to his system and free them from their diseases, haven't I shown you that I have power over his house?

Some people go around saying, "I'm going to bind Satan." Forget it, you are not strong enough to bind that fallen angel. There is only one who can bind him, read Revelation 20. At the beginning of the millennial Kingdom, the Lord binds Satan for 1,000 years. This is a little taste of the Kingdom. Christ can tie Satan up because He can enter his house and steal men who are captive to his system.

Christ is still doing that, did you know that? Once, we were all Satan's property, weren't we? We were children of wrath, like the Jews in John 8:44, "Sons of your father, the Devil." We were ruled by the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), and Jesus took us out of his hand and delivered us, just as He delivered the soul of that man on that day.

In Luke 10:19, the Lord Jesus even says, "I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (Satan).” The death-blow to Satan was struck at the cross, where “Jesus Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).”

Presently, Satan is still running around, but his power is limited, his doom is sealed, and his time is short. Jesus is saying, "If I'm the King, then the Kingdom is here." This means that the kingdom is available to you too; please enter it by faith in Christ.

Then He tells them they have to make a decision. Verse 30, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad." He used a similar phrase in Mark 9:40, but He had a whole different meaning in mind. There, He was talking about service; here He is talking about salvation.

It is very simple: Jesus says you cannot be neutral. You either gather or scatter; you either say, "Jesus is of God," or, "Jesus is of Satan." There are only two options because you can't deny His supernatural power. Brothers and sisters, you can only affirm Jesus Christ as who He claims to be. You are either with Christ or against Christ.

So verse 30 deals with personal relationships and your effect on others. It is those kinds of people that Jesus addresses in verses 31-32. Who are those that commit this unpardonable sin? When can it be committed and how? We'll see that the Sunday I come back from Indonesia. Don't miss it. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Apr 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130421 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E8 imblog

Matthew 12:14-20

Christ is our model; He is the perfect servant, the perfect minister, the perfect shepherd and leader. Let us learn from the following verses what His model was like so we can imitate Him. We ended last Sunday with Matthew 12:14, “Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.”

Let us tonight pick up at verse 15, “But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. 16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 18 “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory.”

Jesus has many titles in the Scripture. But perhaps none is more wonderful than the title Jehovah God gave Him in verse 18, “My servant, My beloved.” This word appears in Greek to refer to an especially trusted noble servant. It is used in the Old Testament, in Genesis 24, to speak of Abraham's Chief servant. It is even used in the Old Testament to refer to a supernatural servant, namely an angel.

Then God says, "My beloved". The term used is the supreme representation of love, "agape". He is the supremely loved one. It is a reference to the intimate bond of love that exists between the Father and the Son and describes the reality of the incarnation. How that Christ, having that love with the Father, face to face, gave it up to come into the world but was restored to it and exalted highly, as we know in Philippians 2.

As you read verses 14-21, you will see a number of character statements about the Messiah. There are at least nine of them. The first statement that comes out in this passage is this; the Beloved Servant Son was condemned by false servants. The whole description of Jesus Christ here is set in a context of Jewish hatred and rejection.

The Jews had decided that Jesus Christ functioned under the power of Satan. And so these Jewish religious leaders had concluded the exact opposite of the truth. They were trying to destroy Jesus, but God had Him set for exaltation.

The rejection is open now. The religious leaders attacked Christ, and yet there was a certain measure of indifference, after all, "If He's not anybody special, let's not get too excited about it." That rejection ultimately ends up in blasphemy, for which, Jesus pronounces upon them damnation, and tells them basically, "You'll never be forgiven."

They were offended greatly before when Jesus broke their traditions on the Sabbath and they had planned to kill Him and now it was just moving along collecting momentum. They believed that they were God's beloved servants; but they misunderstood, and Jesus clearly explained that to them. So their only discussion now was when, where and how they would kill Him.

The true prophet of God is always attacked by false prophets; the true preacher is always attacked by false preachers. This war is always a spiritual war because Satan wants to counter the true with the false, the Anti-Christ, the ultimate false Messiah.

The second statement describes that Jesus was devoted to God's plan. Look at verse 15, "But Jesus knew this, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him." Verse 16 says, "Yet He warned them not to make Him known." Jesus knew what they were plotting. John 2:25 says, "Nobody needed to tell Him what was in the heart of a man, He knew what was in the heart of a man.”

The real reason they wanted to kill Him was fear, jealousy and guilt. As you look at those words, "Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there," we should have a certain sadness in our hearts. The pattern was like this; Jesus preaches, positive response, opposition comes, withdrawal, find a new place. Jesus preaches, good response, opposition, withdrawal to a new place. That cycle went on and on like that for a two year period.

Daniel had predicted, to the very day, a period of 69 weeks, of seven years, until Jesus Christ would come as King. Everything had to happen and every prophecy had to be fulfilled. Everything had to be fulfilled to the letter because that's how God planned it. And Jesus, realizing that His time had not come yet, moved away.

Jesus was totally committed to the Father's will; He would only operate on the Father's timetable. Many times He said, "My hour has not yet come." The time was not right, it wasn't to happen yet. That's characteristic of the Servant Son, the Beloved One. So He said to these people, "Don't make me known."

Some people wondered why He said this. In Matthew 8:4, "See that you tell no one," He said, after having healed a man. Again, in Matthew 9:30, "Their eyes were opened and Jesus sternly warned them saying, 'See here, let no one know about this.'" Jesus was doing everything He could, on a human level, to prevent His early untimely execution. He wanted to work on God's timing.

There's a third element that we see in the character of this Beloved Servant, He was compassionate toward the needy. In verse 15 it says, "And many followed Him when He withdrew." Those were the ones He warned, not to make Him known, not to tell the religious leaders who He was or where He was going. And it says, "He healed them all." That is an insight into the heart of God.

Christ is moving away to save His own life, He is preoccupied with a great eternal plan, and yet, in the midst of all that, He is concerned about their physical condition and He healed them all. This was the opposite of the Jewish leaders who did not care about the poor and the widows, and who mistreated the sick.

They forced on the people heavy burdens and Jesus condemned them by saying in Matthew 23:4, “but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” Those burdens were all these extra man made laws they created. They had no concern for the people, while it says in Matthew 9:36, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”

The heart of God is especially tender toward those who suffer. The Old Testament says in 1 Samuel 2:7-8, “The Lord brings low and lifts up. 8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap.” The Lord cares about the people who suffer and Jesus exhibits the heart of God.

And when Jesus came, it says in Matthew 8:17 that, "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” Ultimately in eternity He will cure all our diseases. In the new Heaven and the new Earth there will be no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more tears and no more death. The work that banishes that, was done by Jesus on the cross.

Then notice in Matthew 12:17 it says, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, then follow verses 18-21 which are taken from Isaiah 42:1-4. But Matthew does not quote it verbatim but under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he gives us an interpretation of it.

Now, remember the Jews are expecting the Messiah to be a great political leader, a great military conqueror. They're expecting the Messiah to be a warrior like individual. They're also expecting that the Messiah would be recognized by all of their religious leaders who, supposedly, are the servants of God who best know His word.

But Jesus is the opposite of all of this. He's condemned by the religious leaders, they are even plotting His death. He seems to be ministering on a timetable that involves long lasting humiliation and rather than being a strong warrior, He is gentle and compassionate and trusted by the Gentiles.

So then Matthew tells us about the prophecy of Isaiah, Jesus is chosen and cherished by the Father. Verse 18, "Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased." It's an obvious use of personal pronouns; "MY servant, whom I have chosen; MY beloved, in whom MY soul is well pleased."

The Father chose the second member of the Trinity to be the Servant Son. God said that at His baptism, right? Matthew 3:17, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased." God said that at His transfiguration in Matthew 17:5, “This is my Son, in whom I'm well pleased.” The Beloved Servant is chosen and God is pleased.

The fifth statement comes out in the character of the Beloved Servant, He was empowered by the Spirit; verse 18, "I will put my Spirit upon Him." You might ask, "If Jesus Christ is the second member of the Trinity, why does God need to put His Spirit on Jesus?” If He is already God with the power of God inherent in His very nature, does He not already have the Spirit?

And in asking that question, you have to understanding the depth of how much He emptied Himself. Because Jesus Christ has set aside the use of His deity and He is, in effect, saying to us, "I have surrendered Myself to the Father's will and to the Holy Spirit's power." That is how deep He descended.

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus said, "“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Jesus was anointed with the Spirit of God in some unusual way which we may never understand. But Acts 10:38 says this, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power."

That is why, when the Pharisees say in Matthew 12:24, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons," Jesus doesn't say in Matthew 12:31, "You have blasphemed Me," He says, “blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven." The Holy Spirit formed the link between Christ's deity and His humanity. That is true submission. Jesus humbled Himself; He emptied Himself such that He was empowered by the Spirit.

That's a wonderful because it makes Him in some way like us, right? For, we have the same need of the Spirit of God, because we are helpless and desperate and without power from the beginning. So He is a perfect model for all of us, who desperately need the power of the Holy Spirit.

There's a sixth statement, Jesus was faithful in giving His message. The end of verse 18 says, "He will declare justice to the Gentiles." God's Beloved Son would bring the message of righteousness. That means the truth about man, about his sin, about his guilt, about his judgment and about the righteous standard of God and about what Christ can do about that.

The seventh characteristic, He was full of humility. Verse 19 says, "He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets." The Pharisees and the Sadducees were always arguing with people in public. Jesus spoke with wisdom and dignity and He had force and authority. No nasty public wrangling, no fuming. Zacharias said, "He would be meek and lowly”; and He was.

The Lord would never seek to show His preeminence through carnal force, through shouting or public debate. His method was the opposite of violence. He would not shout down the opposition, He would proclaim righteousness in meekness. They were in a fury, He was quiet. They were frantic, He was composed. His humility is evident.

There's an eighth character statement: the Messiah encourages the weak. Verse 20, "A battered reed, He will not break off and a smoldering wick He will not put out." I suppose every human has a trait of destruction in him. A little boy walks down the street, sees some ants; he'll stop for a few minutes to exercise his power over these tiny little creatures; crushing them and then walks on.

The prophet was telling us that within the character of Jesus Christ you cannot find that, He will never further injure those that are already injured. Often reeds were used to make flutes but eventually, as people blew and blew, the moisture from their mouth would cause it to crumble in a few spots, so they would just throw it away and get another one. Jesus wasn't like that; He could take what was bruised and make it whole again.

And you know what a wick does that's almost gone, it only makes smoke. It doesn't give light, only black smoke. And somebody would say, “let's put it out." But the Lord would come along and find the little wick that was smoldering and fan it back to a full flame. This is His compassion; this is His tenderness toward the weak.

This is what God is calling elders of the church to do in James 5, to come along side those that are broken and those that are spiritually weak and hold them up in prayer. Jesus treats the broken people with genuine concern. He gives strength to the weak, He lifts up the fallen, He heals the sick, He saves the tax collectors, He loves the prostitutes, He comforts the mourners, He cheers the fearful, He reassures the doubters, He feeds the hungry, He forgives the sinners; because He is God with us.

The end of verse 20 says, "Until He leads righteousness to victory." "He will overcome the world," it says in John 16:33. He will overcome opposition; He will ultimately fulfill God's word and establish God's kingdom and win the victory. He will bring righteousness to its triumph. Sin will be banished forever. As Isaiah 11:9 said, "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Now, apart from just the glimpse of Christ, what does this say to us? I say, "I too, am a son of God. I too, have been called to be a servant and I am His beloved. And by His love He saved me before the world began and that was granted to me in Christ. If that is the case in my life; then Jesus is my model, Amen?

Christ is our model; He is the perfect servant, the perfect minister, the perfect shepherd and leader. Let us learn to follow His model in our daily life, even though we know that we are far from perfect. And that is why we have to love our fellowman knowing that none of us are perfect and we need much forgiveness the same way our heavenly Father forgives us through Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 14 Apr 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130414 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000E9 imblog

Matthew 12:1-14

Matthew 12 shows us how much the leaders of Israel hated our Lord. This chapter focuses on the rejection of the Messiah. In many ways, it is a turning point; the growing unbelief of Israel reaches its climax in rejection. And in the latter half of this chapter, we see the blasphemy that follows their rejection.

We saw it in Matthew 5:20, when the Lord said to the people of Israel, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter My Kingdom," and then He showed in chapters 5-7 how wrong their religion was. And in Matthew 9:3, they accused Him of blasphemy, in verse 11 of spending His time with sinners, and in verse 34 of being demon possessed.

Jesus confronted them, most of all, about their sin. They were unwilling to respond to His message of sin and salvation; they believed that their works in following the law saved them from sin. First, they doubted, then they criticized; and then it became indifference. And now, it has become open rejection, blasphemy and they are filled with hatred.

As we study Matthew 12:1-14, they begin to plot His murder. We can see how that ultimately leads to Calvary's cross. It starts with a particular incident in verse 1, "At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath Day." They rejected Christ because He violated their Sabbath; that was the last straw for them.

The Sabbath Day, to them, was the greatest example of their religious system. Everything in their legalistic system ultimately focused on that one day, and when Jesus violated their rabbinical traditions on the Sabbath, He was attacking the heart of their system.

The word 'Sabbath' basically means they stopped doing what they did on other days. Remember when God created the world, it says in Exodus 20:10, “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work “ Verse 11, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.” It is the only commandment that is a ceremonial command.

The Sabbath commandment was unique between God and Israel as a ceremonial rule; all the other nine are moral absolutes. We know this because in the New Testament, every other command is repeated except this one regarding the Sabbath. It is not repeated because it was a specific covenant; much like circumcision was, only between God and Israel.

At the time of Jesus the Sabbath was the ceremonial law of God. It is not a binding law for the church, but it was law for Israel. So the Lord would honor the Sabbath, as would His disciples, insofar as God intended it to be honored. But the Pharisees had added so many other things to the Sabbath that the meaning changed totally.

The Sabbath became a day of burden instead of it being a day of rest. We don’t have time to tell you all the many laws. In the Talmud, there are 24 chapters listing all the Sabbath laws. One rabbi spent 2.5 years just trying to understand one chapter. Accordingly, it would take approximately 60 years to figure out all the rules of the Sabbath.

For example, you could only travel up to 3,000 feet from your house, other wise it becomes work. But if there was food there, it also could be considered your house and you can travel another 3000 feet. You could never carry a burden that weighed more than a dried fig, or you could carry something that weighed half a dried fig twice that day.

There was a long list of things you couldn't eat on the Sabbath, and forbidden food on that list could be consumed as long as it was no larger than an olive. If you put half an olive in your mouth, but found out it was rotten, and spit it out, you couldn't eat the other half because your mouth had tasted it as if it was a whole olive.

Nothing could be sold or bought, nothing could be washed, a letter could not be sent even if you put it in the hand of a non Jew for delivery. No fire could be lit, and that's why conservative and Orthodox Jews have a time switch on their lighting systems so that the lights go on automatically on the Sabbath. An egg could not be boiled, even by laying it in the sun in the sand, which was common practice.

You couldn't take a bath for fear water would spill onto the floor and wash the floor as it fell off you. A woman couldn't look in a glass, because she might see a gray hair and pluck it out. Jewelry couldn't be worn, because it weighed more than a dried fig. There were 24 chapters of this; the law goes on endlessly about wine, honey, milk, and spitting.

So the Sabbath became a heavy burden where you could not do anything. Now you understand what it meant when Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest." That's what the Sabbath was supposed to be. So Jesus came along and paid absolutely no attention to all those rules and it infuriated the religious leaders.

Matthew 12:1, “At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and the disciples began to be hungry and they began to pluck the ears of grain to eat.” Here was a problem, because Jesus shouldn't be going places on the Sabbath; you couldn't go more than 3,000 feet. But He and His disciples are moving along, because God's law didn't say that, though the rabbinical law did. The fields were everywhere; and the grain was planted in great long rows.

The Lord had made a provision for the traveler in Israel in Deuteronomy 23:25, "When you come into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor's grain." In other words, you are allowed to pluck some of the grain and that is what they did.

But the Pharisees had taken this concept of not reaping on the Sabbath and gave it a more detailed explanation. You couldn't even pull a handful of grain and this became the incident that triggered their fury, because they did not allow that on the Sabbath. They said a man could only eat on the Sabbath if he were starving to death.

They even said that on the Sabbath when a man was ill, you could stop him from dying but couldn't help him to get any better. They also said you could put a bandage on a man, but not a medicated one. In other words, you could keep someone from dying but certainly couldn't make him better on the Sabbath. That was also a fine line.

Matthew 12:2 says, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” Here are these Pharisees who were also walking more than 3000 feet themselves yet they still had legalism without understanding its purpose. They had buried God's law so deeply under their tradition that it was unbearable.

Some people think that being a Christian requires a lot; just compare this to Pharisaic Judaism - theirs is a really heavy yoke. The yoke of Christ, even with the standards that He has, even with all that His lordship implies, isn't anything like this. So they indicted the Lord with their traditions and distorted the intention and motive of God's Sabbath.

First Jesus says that the Sabbath law was never intended to restrict needs of necessity. Second, it was never meant to restrict service to God. And thirdly, it was never meant to restrict acts of mercy. The Sabbath was to reflect what the other nine commandments reflected: love toward God and love toward your fellow man.

The first four of the Ten Commandments talks about our love to God through loyalty, faithfulness, reverence and holiness. The second six talks about love to our fellow man through respect, purity, unselfishness, truthfulness and contentment. This is summed up in the Mark 12:30-31, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” Romans 13:8-10 says that love fulfills the law.

Look at the illustration Jesus uses in Matthew 12:3, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry?" David was fleeing for his life. In 1 Samuel 21 Saul was going after him. He didn't have any food and he and his men were very hungry. So he went in to Ahimelech, the high priest, and asked him for food. And they ate the showbread off the table in the tabernacle.

Every week they baked 12 loaves of bread to represent the 12 tribes of Israel, and every Sabbath, the loaves would be taken away and new ones were put in place. And according to Leviticus 24:5-9, they were to be eaten by the priests only. This 'showbread' was picture of God's providing relationship to His people.

Still, David ate the showbread. Matthew 12: 4, “David entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests.” Because God never created a law that was intended to overrule human need.

God will even violate one of His own ceremonial law, not His moral laws, if He has to meet a need, because God is love. The Pharisees didn't understand this, "That the Sabbath was made for man," so he could rest and have his needs met. Jesus said to them, "If David can violate a divine law, so can One greater than David violate a rabbinic tradition to express the heart of God in meeting need."

Jesus gave them a second illustration in verse 5, "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?" Every Sabbath, all the priests worked; they lit fires, they slaughtered animals and lifted them up on the altar, and those animals were much heavier than a dried fig. Preachers and teachers also work hard on Sunday, but they do not violate the Lord's Day.

And now look at verse 6, "Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple." Jesus said, if in the tabernacle, David could eat the showbread; and if, the priests can violate the Sabbath laws to serve God in the temple; then I am allowed to do it as well because I am greater than both of those.”

Verse 7, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless." Jesus says, you are condemning these guiltless disciples, and you wouldn't have done it if you had known what God really wanted – a merciful heart, not a mere ritual.

People think Christianity is rigid and hard. No, God has given us standards but He doesn't want those to overrule meeting our needs, serving Him, or showing mercy. Kindness and self-sacrifice are what God wants. God wants an obedient heart, and the Pharisees were far away from that. They were serving the Lord, but their rules had to be met first.

Verse 8 says, "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Jesus says, I initiated it and I will interpret it. He says, you are not in charge of the Sabbath; I am in charge of the Sabbath. He would not allow perversion of His purpose for the Sabbath. He wrote it, He would interpret it, and He would fulfill it.

Why do we not keep the Sabbath anymore? Because Jesus fulfilled it. Hebrews 4 says that because of Christ, we have entered into rest. Romans 14 says, some people want to keep the Sabbath and some don't. It's no big deal; don't offend them, let them. That's why Paul says in Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

That's why Jesus rose on the first day of the week. The disciples met together on the first day of every week (Acts 2:1), regularly breaking bread on the first day (Sunday) of the week (Acts 20:7), and they were to collect their offerings when they came together on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:1). Why? Because that was the day that they commemorated and celebrated the resurrection of Christ!

Jesus closes with an illustration in verses 9-13. He goes right into their synagogue to illustrate the lesson He just gave. There is a man there who had a paralyzed hand, and this man meant nothing to them until he became an opportunity to catch Jesus. Verse 10, “And they asked Him, saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' that they might accuse Him.”

That question tells me that they believed that Jesus could heal that man, but it didn't influence them. Isn't that amazing how blind they were? The reason they picked a man with a paralyzed hand is because it wasn't a life and death issue. Their laws said you could prevent someone from dying on the Sabbath, but not make him any better.

Verse 11, "Then He said to them, 'What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?'" Now, this was just one sheep, so they would bring together enough people so that each guy could lift just a little, enough to save that sheep.

He is confronting them and saying, "You tell me. Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath?" If they say yes, then they cannot find fault with Jesus. If they say no, it is not lawful to do good on the Sabbath, then it shows how misguided they were. So they don't answer.

Verse 13, “Then Jesus said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.” Was that a good thing to do for that man? The true meaning of the Sabbath was to show the goodness of God and to bless others. In fact if you have an opportunity to do good and have the ability to do good, and you are not doing good, that is evil, that is a sin.

Verse 14, "Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him." Why? Because Jesus was good and they were evil, that's why. Jesus connected the Sabbath with the heart of God - benevolence, mercy, and goodness. The only function that ceremony ever has is the illustration of a right attitude toward God and toward your fellow man.

Why do you come to church? Why do you worship? What's your purpose? What do you do every day outside the church? Are you defining your spirituality in terms of a bunch of little rules you do or don't do? Legalism can never stand in the way of meeting needs, serving God, and showing mercy, because that violates the love of God. I hope that we understand what is truly important in our daily life and not become like those blind Pharisees. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Apr 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130407 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000EA imblog

1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Did you know that the present age is Easter time? It begins with the resurrection of the Christ, our Redeemer and ends with the resurrection of the redeemed, the believers and we live between two Easters and in the power of the first Easter, we go to the second Easter. In other words, we live now between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of all the believers that is to come.

Paul presents in 1 Corinthians 15, an unparalleled case for bodily resurrection. It is the greatest document ever written on that subject. And it is all based on the reality that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the grave. One cannot be a believer without believing in the resurrection of Christ because Romans 10:9-10 says if you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and confess Him as Lord, you will be saved.

Now the first eleven verses of 1 Cor.15 then are an affirmation of what the believers at Corinth have already believed, that is that Jesus rose bodily from the grave. Then having laid out the reality of Christ’s resurrection in the opening eleven verses, starting in verse 12 Paul shows the consequence of denying bodily resurrection.

Paul says that if Christ is not risen, all gospel preaching is useless. Your faith is empty. The Apostles are liars, and we are all still in our sins. And then Paul goes to a negative point and shows the absolute disaster of all Christian Gospel and the entire divine plan of redemption crumbles if there is no bodily resurrection.

Then Paul starts the affirmation in 1 Corinthians 15:20-29, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.”

“25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.”

So let us start with verse 20, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.” They know it from the eyewitnesses in 1 Cor. 15:5-8, “He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me,” the apostle Paul himself.

So the resurrection is a historic fact. They believe it when it comes to Christ. Now Paul wants them to understand that as believers they will be resurrected as well. Everything in God’s plan demands the resurrection. The whole redemptive plan is dependent on a bodily resurrection, of Christ and of all who believe. Christ has risen and so will we rise.

These are the words of Jesus in John 14:19, “Because I live, you will live also,” The fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead and He continues to be alive. Not like Jairus’ daughter who was raised and died, not like the widow’s son who was raised and then died, not like Lazarus who was raised and died. Christ was raised to live forever. That’s the foundation of the gospel.

Let’s start with the Redeemer, verse 20, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Every Jew understood firstfruits, it’s an agrarian term for the first crop to be harvested. And when the firstfruits came in, for sure the rest of the crop was on its way.

The Jews were ordered by God back in Leviticus 23:10, “You shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.” This is a sign of your harvest to come and it guarantees the harvest. And so it is with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is the guarantee of the full resurrection harvest of all believers.

It is the same way plants come to life out of dead seeds buried in the ground, and Jesus even referred to Himself in that way, that He would be like a seed buried in the ground in the gospel of John, that would spring forth into life. As He comes to life, He guarantees that the full harvest will come in the future.

And just as Christ who guarantees that resurrection has come to life, we will be raised. Christ was not the first to rise again. But He was the first to rise again and never die. And thus He is guarantying for us a resurrection not like Lazarus but like His, that we will be raised to life and never die again.

Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” So, here we have the foundation of our own resurrection in the resurrection of Christ. And notice again in this verse, He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. “Asleep” is a term referring to death for believers. When you die, your soul doesn’t sleep, your body does. When you die, 2 Corinthians 5:8 says, “we are pleased to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

How can one man’s resurrection have such an effect on all of us believers? Paul’s answer to that is in verse 22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” The analogy is between Adam and Christ. Adam as man is the head of the natural order, and Christ as God is the head of the spiritual order.

Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Similarly there is a causal relationship between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of all the people who believe. The act of the God/Man affects many people.

So from Adam we inherited sin, guilt and corruption. But with Christ, that chain is broken. Christ pays the penalty for our sin, conquers death on our behalf and death is overpowered. And all who put their trust in Christ, all who are a part of His spiritual seed possess His resurrection life.

All who are in union with Adam are so by natural descent. All who are in union with Christ are so by spiritual descent. In other words, all in Adam are in Adam by natural generation. All who are in Christ are in Christ by spiritual regeneration. All who are in Adam have the common factor of sin. All who are in Christ possess the common factor of life.

So we have met the Redeemer, now let us look at the redeemed in verse 23, “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” It doesn’t all take place at once. There is a specific order and a specific process.

Christ the firstfruits comes first then after that those who belong to Christ. And when is our resurrection? At the end of verse 23 it says, “at His coming.” The Christian hope is the coming of Christ at the end of the age. The word here is parousia, which means arrival, so that the fulfillment of resurrection for all the redeemed will occur when Christ returns.

Right now, the dead bodies have decayed or only ash remains. But believers who are with the Lord, absent from the body (2 Cor. 5:8), are called “spirits of just men made perfect.” They are there in personality but not in physical form. You might ask, “Are they just sort of floating around waiting for their eternal bodies?”

Well maybe from our perspective they are, but in heaven no time exists, there’s no such concept as waiting. We just know from Scripture that at the coming of Christ, there will be a great resurrection of the godly of all the ages. It is called a resurrection of life and it is also called the first resurrection. The second resurrection is the resurrection of the unjust to damnation.

And this is where we have to talk for just a moment about the components of resurrection. The first event that triggers the end is the Rapture of the church; believers are being taken into heaven. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4, and there are no signs to warn us. This is not describing Christ’s return to judge and establish His Kingdom.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” So the first resurrection of believers will happen at the Rapture, when Christ snatches away His redeemed.

Then comes the Great Tribulation, a period of judgment on the earth, Revelation 5-19 describes it in detail. It is a period that is a sequence of judgments that start out as seal and then trumpet and then bowl judgments on the earth. At the same time, there is a great work of salvation and redemption going on along with that judgment.

But at the end of that period of time, the end of that seven-year Tribulation, there will also be a second part of the believer’s resurrection, another part of the harvest. And that part of the harvest is described in Revelation 20:5 which describes the end of the Tribulation and the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, “The rest of the dead didn’t come to life until the thousand years were completed.”

Why? Because people will continue to die, believing people will die in the time of Tribulation, some of them killed by the Antichrist, and they will die during the thousand year kingdom. There will be a great rebellion at the end of the thousand years and a lot of people will die during that period.

So we have four parts: the resurrection of Christ, the first resurrection of the church at the Rapture, the second resurrection of the Old Testament and Tribulation saints at the end of the Tribulation period, and the third resurrection of those born and dying in the Kingdom at the end of the Millennial period. That’s the final phase and all of that is compressed in three words, “At His Coming.”

Those are the stages in the resurrection of the redeemed. Let look at the heart of his passage, the redemption. 1 Corinthians15:24-27, “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.” 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”

What is the purpose for God to tolerate everything in human history? It is so that He can give to His Son a Kingdom made up of people who will love Him, and worship Him and adore Him and serve Him forever and ever in perfect joy, peace, and purity. It is a Kingdom of the redeemed of all the ages. The church, the Old Testament saints and Tribulation saints, and the saints who die during the Millennial era, all are raised now and in heaven.

We know the Millennial Kingdom ends when it says in 2 Peter 3:10, “The elements will melt with fervent heat,” the universe will be changed, “both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” And in its place there is a new heaven and a new earth. And that is when Jesus hands over the Kingdom to God, the Father.

When? Until He has abolished all other authority and power. The plan of redemption itself is not complete until there are no more enemies of God in existence to tamper with His purposes. They will all be cast forever into the Lake of Fire, they will be bound there with Satan and his angels for whom hell was originally created forever.

This is where history is going. And then we have verse 27, “For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.” That’s referring to God the Father. Meaning, “God is not subjected to Christ. All things even death, are subjected to Christ, everything except God is under His dominion.

The resurrection of Christ then guarantees our resurrection and ultimately guarantees the abolishing of death. Christ then takes everything that has been put under Him, verse 28, “Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

In other words, when the Son has received His redeemed humanity, when all enemies are destroyed and He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, when everything is under Him, except God Himself, He will then take the Kingdom, all that the Father has given to Him, and He will give it back to the Father in a reciprocal act of divine love so that God may be all in all.

Here in a wonderful inter-Trinitarian way beyond our comprehension, the Father who ordained redemptive history to gather a bride for His Son, a Kingdom for His Son, when the Son receives that Kingdom which is a gift of the Father’s love, in a reciprocating act of love, the Son hands the Kingdom back to the Father. The grandeur of this crowning event cannot be fathomed.

Sometimes we think about salvation in very personal terms. But it’s better for us to think that salvation by the grace of God, is really not about us, it is about infinite love of the Father for the Son and wanting to give to the Son a gift of His love which is a redeemed humanity that will love Him, adore Him, worship Him, praise Him and serve Him forever.

And the Son recognizes that all the redeemed are gifts from the Father so He says in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me.” The Son when He receives them all, gives them back to the Father. Everything is restored to God that He may be all in all. The Son has come as a servant of God into the world to take back to God redeemed souls. He has conquered death; and He has by His own resurrection provided a full resurrection for all who believe.

Does Christ still reign? Of course He reigns. He sits at the right hand of the Father and reigns. And Revelation 11:15 says He’ll reign forever. And in Luke 1:33, the angel Gabriel said when He was being announced Jesus was going to be born, “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Revelation 3:20-21, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” In some way we too are given a role in reigning and ruling together. This is a glimpse of heavenly worship.

We too as believers one day will have resurrected eternal bodies and God is all in all at the end because the Son gives back what the Father has given to Him. This is a magnificent picture of the final paradise on a new earth and a new heaven and it all happens because of the resurrection of Christ! Wow. Let us remember that at the Lord’s supper.

]]> Sun, 31 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130331 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000EB imblog

Matthew 23:32-39

This morning we are examining one of the saddest scenes in Scripture because it pronounces doom on the nation of Israel. They are condemned because they have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and in rejecting Him, they have rejected God Himself. And now on this Good Friday they are about to murder Him.

And they were led by their scribes and Pharisees. Jesus attacks and pronounces judgment on these false spiritual leaders. For centuries, the Jews waited for the arrival of their Messiah. The hope and the heart of the Jew was that when the Messiah would arrive and establish His kingdom, blessedness for every Jew would come with that kingdom.

But when the Messiah came instead of believing and receiving, they rejected and despised Jesus, and ultimately they had Him executed. And along with Him they sought to kill all those who represented Him. And so this is the climax of the ministry of the Lord Jesus to Israel. He has articulated the gospel to them. He has given them many opportunities to repent and to believe in Him but they refused. Now their punishment is coming.

It is also the last sermon Jesus ever preached publicly. This does not mean that Israel would not hear the Gospel anymore. After Jesus is crucified and rises from the dead and ascends back into heaven, there still will be preachers of the gospel who will go through Jerusalem and the land of Israel. And if the people will listen to them, there is still hope for some individuals.

And Jesus, who has been talking to a great gathering in the temple court at the Passover celebration on Wednesday of that week, now turns to the Pharisees and the scribes who are standing with the crowd and gives them a series of seven curses which start with “woe.” This is a very bold and dramatic act in front of the whole crowd.

All the woes in Matthew 23:13-29 can be summed up as follows; first He cursed these false leaders for keeping people out of heaven. Secondly, He cursed them for turning people into children of hell. Then He cursed them for undermining truth and substituting lies. Then He cursed them for making rituals more important than justice, mercy and faith. Then He cursed them for robbing from the people. And finally He cursed them for pretending to be pious and holy and better than all who preceded them when in reality they were the same if not worse.

And now in this section our Lord says in verse 32, "Fill up then the measure of your fathers." Fill up is a term used often in Scripture in connection with sin and judgment and wrath. It is the image of a cup being filled with God's divine wrath. Revelation 16:19 talks about the cup of the fury of His wrath. In Matthew 26:39 Jesus says "let this cup pass from me," it is the cup of divine judgment.

God allows only so much and when the cup is filled up, judgment comes. And so our Lord, in a command says to them fill it up, finish it off, do the rest of the evil that has to be done. It is similar to what He said to Judas in John 13:27, "Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

Now notice what He calls this cup. He calls it “the measure of your fathers.” Fill up the same cup your fathers were filling. The history of Israel has been a history of filling their cup with sin. Generations of Israel have been sinning and sinning and just filling the cup until finally judgment comes. And now Jesus says that the cup of man's wickedness is almost filled up.

In verse 30, they said, “if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have participated in taking the blood of the prophets.” And Jesus says in verse 31, “Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.” Why? Because He looked into their hearts and they were plotting His death. They were filling up the same cup full of murderous sins which their fathers filled up.

They are like poisonous snakes that are hard to detect and are deceitful and deadly. That's exactly what John the Baptist called them back in Matthew 3:7 when he said "Oh you brood of vipers, you snakes." Here we are several years later and they have not changed. The ministry of John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus Christ had no effect on them.

And then Jesus says in verse 33, "How are you to escape being sentenced to hell?" And the answer is, no way. He's talking about their spiritual leaders and He says there is judgment coming real fast. Notice verse 34, “Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town.”

Why is Jesus sending more preachers and teachers and writers? There would be some who would be converted. There were 3,000 on the day of Pentecost right? And there will be many thousands more after that. But you leaders and this nation will not receive them, you will kill them and persecute them and you will pile more guilt upon your head and thus have greater judgment.

God is not all love, grace, kindness and mercy. He's a God of holiness, justice and judgment and wrath and a God of vengeance against evil. And if men choose that, He will be glorified in their condemnation as much as He is glorified in the conversion of those who believe. God will be glorified either way.

These are the last words in Revelation 22:11, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still." In other words, as it is at the end so it will be forever. God will be glorified through it all.

I hope we can see this too in our own nation, either in America or in Indonesia, because we are right now also filling up the cup of God's wrath. And this generation alive today is guiltier than any generation in the past, because we have the accumulated testimony of God's truth in this culture and we also have the accumulated lessons of why we should not act against a holy God.

Now notice in verse 35, He says, “so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.” The cup of wrath is going to take only so much and it's going to spill on you.

From the beginning of the Old Testament, Genesis 4, the first murder of a righteous man. Cain could not tolerate the purity of Abel, so he murdered him. And murdering righteous men happened all the way through history, until the last Old Testament martyr, Zechariah, son of Barachiac, who wrote the prophecy Zechariah.

You are as guilty as those who slew Zechariah and everybody in between those two. Verse 36, "Truly I say to you all these things shall come upon this generation." All these things, all this guilt for righteous blood is going to break on your heads. But the heart of God is grieved as ours ought to be.

This is the guiltiest generation in the history of Israel, because it rejected the light that had accumulated through thousands of years of divine revelation. And it's all going to come on you. You have filled up the cup and now it's going to poured out. And it started in 70 A.D. in that terrible destruction of Jerusalem and it is still going on right now.

Look at verse 37-38, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate.”

He says, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” that repetition is the repetition of grief and emotion. And He characterizes the city not as the city of peace, not as the holy city. He characterizes the city as, "You who are killing the prophets and you who are stoning them who are sent to you,” that's the city you are.

It is the climax of great emotion and compassion. The Lord Jesus is saying Jerusalem; nobody is going to plow your ground anymore. Nobody is going to cultivate your field. No one is going to plant the crop. No one is going to water you. No one is going to prune you. No one is going to protect you. You are left on your own now.

Privilege was given to Israel unequal to any privilege ever given to any nation, but with it came tremendous responsibility. Now there are 23 chapters of the gospel of Matthew, of the coming of Messiah, His birth, His ministry, His message, His miracles, His call and His cry to Israel. The Messiah has come in human flesh and He demonstrated all that God is, yet they reject it totally.

For nearly 2,000 years the nation Israel has had to live its life without God and without His protection. The difference is because God has left them unprotected from all the holocausts that the world could bring to bear. Why? Because Jesus came and said that He wanted to protect them. He said: “I wanted to bring you under my wings and you would not.”

And do you know that their situation will get worse? The persecution of Israel isn't over. The hand of God protection is off and Satan continues to attack. There's a time described in the Bible as the great tribulation. It's also called the time of Jacob's trouble. The worst is yet to come. The cup is still being poured out.

In fact, in Revelation 11:8 God calls Jerusalem Sodom and Egypt. It's not the holy city. It's not the city of peace. It's not the city of God. It's important to note that Jerusalem here is a symbol for the whole nation as it was very often in the ministry of the prophets. When Jesus says, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem," He is talking about Jerusalem's symbolic use which means all the people and the nation Israel.

Jesus said, "How often would I have gathered your children together?" In fact, all the time of His ministry, He wanted to gather them. He wanted to call them to Himself. Matthew 11:28, "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Even as He dies on the cross, He still gathers a thief who is willing to believe. That's the way it was until they silenced His voice in death.

And finally, verse 39, "For I tell you, you shall not see me again." Stop for a moment. Jesus says, My mission to you as Savior as a nation has ended. But what's the next word after again? “Until,” now there's hope in that. "Until you shall say blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." Now what does that mean?

Well, in Matthew 21:9 when Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem they were praising Him as the Messiah, while shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David," and they quoted Psalm 118:26, "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." That was to identify the Messiah. Jesus says now, “Until you recognize me as your Messiah” Israel's history is going to get worse and more tragic. We can read about it in Daniel, in Revelation and in Matthew 24.

But God promised in Zechariah 12: 9, “It shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." 10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

God is going to destroy the nations that come against Jerusalem. And one day He will pour out on Jerusalem the spirit of grace. And they're going to look again at the one they pierced meaning Christ. And they're going to mourn as for an only son. Yes, because there was only one Messiah and they're going to recognize oh, now we see, we have killed the only son, the firstborn, the Messiah.

And Zechariah 13:1-2 continues, "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” God's going to wash the whole nation clean. 2 And on that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.”

Zechariah 13: 8-9, when it is all done, “In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. 9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.”

Further in Romans 11:23-27, talking about the end of Israel it says, “And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.”

“25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; 27 and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

So what does it mean “all Israel will be saved.”? Is that not in contrast to Zechariah 13:9 we just read and knowing how many Jews did not believe and still do not believe now in Christ and have perished through the centuries?

Let us look at Romans 9:6-8, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”

Not all Jews are called Israel, but the people who believe in Jesus Christ, they are called Israel, the children of Abraham. So what does this have to do with me? If God has chastened and punished by abandoning His own beloved people, what do you think is going to happen to you if you ignore Jesus Christ? Today we remember His sacrifice for our sins on the cross!

The principle is the same for a nation or an individual. You make a choice everyday whether you believe Him or not because by your deeds God knows whether you serve Him or not. Are you a child of Abraham now, really? What are the last words for you from Jesus on this Good Friday? So whatever your decision may be this morning, we offer His invitation to believe, and we pray that you will respond to it. Let us pray.

]]> Fri, 29 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130329 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000ED imblog

Philippians 2:6-11

The question, "Who is Jesus Christ?" is the most important question that needs to be answered. Peter answers in Matthew 16:16-17, "You're the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you." That didn't come from a human source. "But My Father who is in heaven revealed that to you." And that is the great revelation of Christianity that Jesus is God in human flesh, that is to say the eternal God becomes a man. And in Philippians 2 we learn how God explains who Jesus is.

Phillipians 2:5 ends with Christ Jesus and then it describes Him in these words: “6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

C.S. Lewis writes, "In the Christian story, God descends to re-ascend. He comes down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity, down to the very roots of the humanity which He Himself created. But He goes down to come up again and brings ruined sinners up with Him.”

This is the central miracle of Christianity. This is the defining reality of our faith. It is about the incarnation. It is the most grand and the most wondrous of all miracles. It is the theme of the text that I just read to you. This text is about the descent of God the Son. And on this Palm Sunday I want to just walk you through it one phrase at a time.

Let's begin with Philippians 2:6, "Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God," let's stop there. The Bible is written in two languages, the Old Testament originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament originally written in Greek. And so we need to consider what the Greek words meant for they are the original words for the New Testament.

The word “existed” in Greek is a word that was used to express the continuance of a state or condition. It is not the common Greek word for being. It describes the essential nature of a person. It describes that part of a man which in spite of all the changes of life and all the circumstances remains the same. Paul is saying that Jesus existed as to His essential unchangeable nature in the form of God.

Now what does form of God mean? Whatever the form that God takes, it is all a reflection of His deepest being, what is in Himself. And God as to His form may appear as shining light in the garden, known as the Shekinah glory. He may appear as fire, He may appear as a cloud, He may manifest Himself in a number of ways. God the Son even manifested Himself visibly in the Old Testament as an angel called the angel of the Lord.

So we learn that Jesus is in the essential form of God. He never has been and never will be any other than God. Now His outward form changed. He was a fetus in a womb. He was an infant born. He was a child. He was a youth. He was an adult. But Paul is saying, Christ Jesus exists as to His nature in the unchanging character of God.

He is equal to God because He is God. And so He can say in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one." Or He can say in John 14:9, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." He is the Word who created the world in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He is the Word who became flesh, the form of God becomes the form of humanity.

People still are trying to figure out who Jesus is, and here it is clear who He is. Colossians 1:15 states, "He is the image of the invisible God." And if you go back to verse 6, the Apostle Paul begins to explain the incarnation. And now he says, "Even though He is God,” although He is God in true nature and essence, “He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.”

Jesus in every sense equal with God refuses to cling to that equality, to the privileges and the rights that go along with that equality. The incarnation begins with Jesus willing to let go of the glory that He had with the Father before the world began. This is the way He expresses it in His prayer in John 17:5 when He says, "And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” He is unselfish.

And because He is not selfish we see the third statement, verse 7, "He emptied Himself." The verb "to empty" is keno from which we get this theological term, kenosis, the self-emptying of Christ. He emptied Himself of the privileges and the rights that were His by His divine nature. He refused to hold it to His own advantage and emptied Himself in order to benefit others.

But understand that it does not mean that He emptied Himself of His deity. He is eternally God and never less than God. Even hanging on the cross in the midst of His suffering, even in the moments when He was under the judgment of God His Father, even when He was bearing the weight of sin and the wrath of God against that sin, He did not for a second cease to be God.

The issue is that He did not demand His rights as deity. In John 5 He says He set aside His independent authority and He acted only according to the will of the Father. He had willingly humbled Himself, and He set aside the things that He was entitled to. For example, He says in Matthew 24:36, "Of the day and the hour when He will come again, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."

He set aside His omniscience on occasion and then at other times He knew what was in the heart of man. He limited His omniscience and He limited His omnipotent power. If He wanted to, He could have called a legion of angels to rescue Him from the crucifixion at any time, right? But He didn't do that, He willingly paid for our sins.

The next statement explains this self-emptying. It says in verse 6-7, "He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, He emptied Himself and taking the form of a bondservant." Paradoxically Christ who is God and never ceases to be God now becomes the servant of God. He says, "I only came to do what the Father shows Me to do. What I do the Spirit does through Me." His kenosis was not a subtraction of His nature but it was a subtraction of His privileges.

And that's not all. Verse 7 also says, "Emptying Himself, taking on the essential nature of a servant, He was made in the likeness of men." It means that He was given the essential attributes of humanity. It wasn't until He was twelve years old that it really fully dawned on Him, when Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52), that He was to do His Father's business. He was truly human in every sense.

And He was at all points along that human chronology tempted like all people are tempted, yet He was without sin. It says He was born of a woman, born under the Law, subject to the law of God like all other men are. Colossians 1:22 says of Him, "He has reconciled you in His fleshly body through death."

Jesus took the form of a servant to serve the purposes of His Father and came down to become like men. But He didn't just come down to show us how men ought to live. Verse 8 takes it further, “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross."

Having become man, Christ was then recognized as such by those who saw Him. In the days of His flesh, they couldn't see His deity. That was the judgment of the world that He was nothing but a man. The people rejected Him as God, they thought His claims to deity were blasphemous, whenever He said He was God they picked up stones to try to kill Him.

Today is Palm Sunday and in Luke 19 we see how Jesus came into Jerusalem riding a colt which is a picture of a King for He is a King but not an earthly King like the Jews wanted. Five hundred years earlier, the prophet Zechariah had proclaimed that fact in Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

By waving palm branches they were showing that they expected Jesus to be another king, another general of the army, one who would lead them to overthrow the Romans. They were saying that they were ready to pick up their swords and shields and go to war if He would lead them! They did not understand who He really was and what He really came for.

That is how the world still looks at Him as a good man, a noble man, a religious man, a peaceful man, or a peace loving man, a man who wanted to help, etc., etc. But there is more in verse 8, "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself." He was already humiliated just being on this planet, but He wasn't humbled as far as He was going to be humbled.

He didn't say stop, this is as far as I'm going. He didn't fight back. He didn't kill His enemies and those who plotted His death. Even when they took Him into a sequence of trials prior to His crucifixion and they had false witnesses and false testimony, He never ever responded. When He was reviled, He never said to God, "That's enough humiliation, I'm not taking anymore."

At the end of verse 8 it says, “He became obedient to the point of death.” This is something completely foreign to God. God is life, He cannot die. This was His ultimate "yes" to God. This was His ultimate act of service. This is His lowest hour. It was not a natural death either, it was an execution. It was an unjust slaughter of the Son of God.

And it wasn't just death, "He became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." This is the most shocking feature of Christ's humiliation. Crucifixion, you see, was the most horrific way to die. Developed by the Persians, the Romans had picked up this form of execution. It was the most painful, the most humiliation and the most cruel form of death imaginable.

A person basically was nailed by hands and feet to a wooden cross. They hung suspended like that, being held basically only by two wounds through the hands. The feet usually nailed together with one nail against a little block so the victim hanging on the cross is pushing up trying to catch breath. The sun is blazing, the mouth is parched, the blood loss through those four great wounds is great.

Crucifixion was only for the worst criminals and the non-Roman citizens. It was hated by the Jews, and the Romans had filled Israel with crucifixions. Some historians think there were as many as 30 thousand people crucified around the time of Jesus. That is how the Romans kept everybody in line. And they lined all the highways with crosses and they stripped the land of trees to make those crosses.

The truth is that Jesus on the cross not only paid for the sins of the world physically but also spiritually where He took the wrath of God the Father for all the sins of those who believe. He knew He had to face separation from God the Father (Matthew 27:46, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). And the people, all they can think about is He's going to come and bring them glory. But there couldn't be any glory until there was a cross. There couldn't be a Kingdom until there was a sacrifice of blood for sin.

Verse 9 says this, "Therefore also God highly exalted Him." What did God do to exalt Him? The Father raised Him from the dead, didn't He? The first deed of the Father's exaltation was the resurrection. And by God raising Christ from the dead, God affirmed the validity of His sacrifice. God raised Jesus to show that He accepted His sacrifice. Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished."

And then forty days later, He ascended into heaven. And when He reached heaven, He sat down at the right-hand of the Father in His exaltation. The Bible says that when He went to heaven, He took His place on His throne. He was exalted in His resurrection. He was exalted in His ascension. He was exalted in His coronation. And He's also exalted in His intercession, for He ever lives to intercede for all who come to Him.

And then verse 9 says, "God gave Him a name, He bestowed on Him a name which is above every name." Some people think that is the name Jesus. That's not it, because there are many people named Jesus even today. That's not the name above every name. And God gave Him a name which is above every name, in Revelation 19:16 that name is King of kings and Lord of lords.

God sat Him on His throne; and verse 10 says, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. At the name given to Jesus, the name Lord, every knee bows, those who are in heaven, angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands (Revelation 5:11). And the glorified saints who are there will bow. And on earth, men and women, they don't all bow by choice, some do, but most will bow by compulsion.

The day will come when those who refuse to bow to Christ as Lord in life will bow to Him in judgment. And even those under the earth, demons, damned fallen angels, they bow, they bear His wrath, they feel His fury forever. Everybody bows eventually.

And eventually, verse 11 says, “every tongue confesses Jesus Christ is Lord.” Nobody escapes that. You do it willingly, or you're forced. You do it now and you're forgiven and you will gladly bow in heaven. You reject Him now and you will bow one day at the seat of judgment and feel His wrath forever. The word "confess" means to acknowledge, every tongue will one day acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

You want to be a Christian? Here's how. Confess with your mouth, Romans 10:9, Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, which is the affirmation of His lordship. That is the heart of Christianity. He came down that He might go up. All of this, it says, to the glory of God the Father.

We live in a world where you go down before you go up. And certainly the greatest truth in that regard is the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is God, the God/Man who came all the way down to die on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins.

The question now that you know who Jesus is, is what will you do with Christ? Do you remember what the Pilate said to the people in Matthew 27:22, "What then shall I do with Jesus?" That's the question you have to answer too. You either acknowledge Jesus as your Savior and bow your knee willingly, or you reject Him and one day you will acknowledge Him as judge and bow your knee unwillingly.

How many times has Jesus knocked on the door of your heart? Don’t be like many who say, later, later, I can always do that later. Hebrews 3:15 says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Don’t worry about the consequences of becoming a child of God, whatever the negatives, they do not compare to the positives. Ephesians 3:20 states that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, Amen?

]]> Sun, 24 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130324 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000EE imblog

Matthew 11:25-30

The key to this section is found in verse 28, Jesus says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This is one of many invitations given by our Lord. Christ came into the world to save sinners.

Let us look at another invitation just to give you more understanding of the spirit of our Lord. In Luke 14:15-24 Jesus gives us another remarkable parable, “15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

“16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.” The picture is of a man who gives a great feast and he sends out many invitations. The people apparently responded and said we will all come.

And then in verse 17 when everything was finally ready he sent the servant to say now is the time for you to come. You’ve already promised and said you’d come and now is the time. And in verse 18 it says that they all began to make excuses.” The first said, I have bought a piece of ground and I must go see it. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I have to test them. And another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.

Now, these are really just feeble excuses. And they are emblematic of Israel. Throughout history Israel had been invited and Israel said, “Oh, we will come. Just tell us when it is ready.” And when the Messiah came and said all right, it’s ready, they all began to make excuses for not coming.

Was the banquet canceled? No. Verse 21 says, “So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.”

What is Jesus saying to us? This last group of people could not come on their own. The poor people were intimidated by the wealth of the master. The maimed and the lame couldn’t get there unless they were brought in. And the blind couldn’t find it. This was a group that had to be ushered and carried in. They were the destitute and the outcasts and the hurting.

Then the servant said in verse 22-23, “Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room. 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” And the ones who were originally invited, verse 24 says, will never taste of the supper. All who refuse the Lord’s invitation for salvation will be excluded from the Kingdom.

Now this is a picture that shows that the Lord first came to reach His people Israel, the ones who had originally been the invited guests. But when the time was ready they were not ready and made all these excuses. So He turned to the outcasts, the hurting people, the humble, the deprived and the desperate and they came.

The point of this parable is that God will call whoever will come. And those who come will be those who have no resources. Those who are brought are in because they can’t even get there on their own strength. The Lord gives an invitation and now is the time to respond.

And so, in Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will gave you rest.” Now, the key word, as we saw 2 weeks ago, is that word rest. It appears in verse 28 and 29 and the word rest means salvation. We learned that last time as we compared it with Hebrews 3 and 4.

Now, there are five elements in His call for salvation. The first two are foundational to the latter three. And we learned last time that the first element is humility. In Matthew 11:25, Jesus said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” Babes are people that are needy with no resources, they can’t save themselves and they are dependent on God’s grace.

The second element is revelation. Verse 27: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Now, that is a verse that is profound and deep.

Basically it is a commentary on the word “revealed” in verse 25. It says that God has revealed the things of the Kingdom to babes. What Jesus is saying there is that all truth is wrapped up in the Father and the Son. And the only people who know it are the people to whom the Son reveals it.

Salvation comes when there is sovereign revelation from God. No man will know anything about Kingdom salvation unless Jesus reveals it to him. It is not available to the human mind. The first statement in verse 27 says: “All things are delivered to Me by My Father.” That statement means that Jesus is God. It is a statement of His deity.

That is the first time in the New Testament that Jesus said, “My Father.” He has said, “Father,” and He has said, “Our Father.” But now He is saying it in a way of uniqueness as God’s only begotten Son. In John 10:30 He said: “I and My Father are one.” Then the Jews took up stones to kill Him. They didn’t try to stone Him for saying He had one purpose with God, they attempted to kill Him for saying He was equal with God.

So, the first statement about His deity is that intimacy of My Father. The second one is the statement, “All things are delivered to Me.” What does “all things” mean? Matthew 28:18 sums it up this way, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and earth.” Everything pertaining to life is committed to Christ. Everything pertaining to the universe is under His sovereignty.

Now, having said that He goes on, “And no man knows the Son but the Father.” Only God can know God. We cannot understand God. Our puny brains can’t fathom it. All the religious leaders of that day thought they knew God. They thought they had it all figured out. But Jesus says no, only the Father knows Me.

And then look what He says, “Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son.” Not only does only the Father know Me, but only I know the Father. All the knowledge of divine truth is bound up in the Trinity; it is a mutual perception by the Father and the Son and of course the Holy Spirit.

And no man with his limited resources can ever perceive that knowledge. That is why philosophy is fruitless. That is why man-made religion is equally useless and vain because all revelation, all content, all truth about God and His Kingdom is locked up only in the Trinity.

How do we ever get it? The end of verse 27 gives us that, “the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” In other words, the only way we will ever know it is by a revelation by the Son, by revelation from God Himself. Salvation, then, becomes in its foundation that combination of a humble heart and an infinite God revealing Himself to that humble heart.

And there you have the two elements that are always balanced in any proper perspective in salvation; you have man’s part, a prepared and ready and open heart of humility and God’s sovereign, gracious revelation. Martin Luther said, “Here the bottom falls out of all merit, all powers and abilities of reason or the free will men dream of and it all counts nothing before God, Christ must do and must give everything.” end quote.

The third element is the word repentance as a key in verse 28. Note that that statement is immediately followed by an all inclusive statement, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.” In John 6:37 the Lord said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” Yes, there is the sovereignty of God, but then there is also that open invitation, and how God harmonizes that is something that only He knows.

Look at the phrase, “all you who labor and are heavy laden.” What brings men to Christ is that they are working hard and bearing a burden from which they cannot get relief. It refers to the search for the truth, the search for relief from a sin-laden, guilt-ridden conscience, trying-to-earn-your-own-salvation. And “heavy laden” means fruitless striving after peace, contentment, joy, happiness and rest.

Come to Me, Jesus says, which means change your focus to Me, which is repentance. When you have run out of gas, turn from wherever you were going to Me, turn 180 degrees, that’s what repentance means. Unlike the Jewish Rabbis who were lost themselves and just piled on more burdens.

And in Matthew 23: 4 our Lord said about the scribes and Pharisees, “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” So Jesus says when you have somebody put so many rules on you and the sin and guilt has finally driven you to total exhaustion, you should come to Me and find rest.

In Acts 2:38 Peter says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.” He preached again in Acts 3:19 and had the same message, “Repent therefore and be converted.” That is, turn around that your sins may be blotted out when the times of rest shall come.

In Acts 17:30 in that masterful sermon on Mars Hill, Paul says: “God commands all men everywhere to repent.” In chapter 20 as he decided to leave the elders at Miletus there from the church at Ephesus, he wanted to refresh in their minds what the ministry was and he said, “It is this, testifying to the Jews and the Greeks repentance toward God.” Turning around and turning toward God.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:9 he wrote: “We thank God that you have turned from idols to serve the living and true God.” In 2 Timothy 2:25 Paul says, “we are to instruct men so that God would give them repentance.” In Acts 5:31 it says: “The Lord has come to offer repentance.” In Luke 15 twice it says, “The angels of God rejoice over one sinner that repents.”

See, repentance is all part of salvation. And when Jesus blasted in fury at the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum back in verse 20, He did it because they did not repent. What does it mean to turn from sin? It means to realize the crushing load of sin and the impossibility of self effort and then turn to receive God’s grace.

The fourth element in the invitation of Jesus is faith. Jesus says in verse 28: When you turn, “Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I’ll give you rest.” That’s the object. We turn from sin to Christ. We need to preach repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 20:21 says, the object of our faith is not a creed, it is not a church, it is not a pastor or a preacher, it is not a set of rituals or a bunch of ceremonies, the object of our faith is Jesus Christ. Come unto Me. Believe in Me. Come is the equivalent of believe.

In John 6:35 Jesus said: “I am the bread of life, he that comes to Me shall never hunger, he that believes on Me shall never thirst.” Come means to believe. Believe in Me. Sometimes the Bible says it receive Me, sometimes it says - eat Me, or drink Me, or confess Me, or hear Me, but it all means to believe.

John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Real faith is trusting in Jesus even though times are tough, even though you are terribly disappointed, even though it seems that nothing is working out, even though the doctor tells you that you have cancer, even though your family hates you, even though you feel distraught because you have lost a loved one.

There’s a fifth element and that is submission. The text does not end at verse 28. Follow verse 29: “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

“Take My yoke upon you,” means there is a submission involved in salvation. The phrase “yoke” refers to entering into submission to something. And Jesus says when you come to Me you must come with a submissive heart. The Jews knew the yoke was instruction. And then He adds this phrase: “And learn from Me,” it is a yoke of submission to His Lordship and to His teaching. It is a yoke that means obedience.

True salvation occurs when you in your desperation turn from sin to Christ with a willingness to have Him take control of your life daily. You cannot take Jesus as Savior and not as Lord and King, which means in all aspects of your life you give Him total control.

Now, you might say, “Isn’t salvation all of grace?” Of course, it’s all of grace, but in order for you to truly respond to His grace there has to be a brokenness and a humility in your heart which causes you to turn from your old life to Christ and the legitimacy of your turning is indicated by your willingness to submit and obey.

So what does it mean to be under the yoke of Christ? It is a yoke in the spiritual dimension. The yoke that He makes is easy and the burden He gives is light. Why? Because He is meek and lowly, He does not desire to oppress us. He is gentle. He is tender. And He gives us something we can carry.

And the proof of your salvation is in how you live your life daily. Yes, we are all continuously learning what it means to be more like Christ. And how you live is based on what you know and have learned so far from Him, right? But He gives us only what we are capable of doing and He is growing us in the process.

And He knows what is best for us, even if we do not like it at that moment. Only later on can we see how God uses everything to make us stronger. And we might complain and not see the benefit, but when we learn to trust Him we will come to know Him better and better and we will see His wisdom in all that we have to experience.

And when we are humble and we react trustingly to every new revelation that He gives us and we continue to repent from our sins and believe that this is for our own good and submit to Him obediently, He will give us true rest. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130317 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000EF imblog

Luke 15:11-32

Let us start with some background to this story. Christ is on His way to Jerusalem the last months of His life. He is planning to offer Himself as God's perfect sacrifice for sin, die on the cross and then on the following Sunday rise again from the dead, having accomplished our redemption.

He has been preaching the message of salvation for nearly three years now and calling people to enter into the Kingdom of God through repentance and faith in Him as the Messiah. But He has developed big enemies, the Pharisees and the scribes. They basically changed the Old Testament into Judaism and they ruled the synagogues. They are legalistic, corrupt, and hypocritical and they hate Jesus.

The reason they hate Jesus is because He directly confronted them on their hypocrisy. He exposed them as false teachers who do not truly understand Scripture nor the will of God. They did not know the true way of salvation. And no matter how He said it, they hated it.

And so to get back at Jesus, they accused Him of doing the miracles by the power of Satan. That was their conviction and so that is the lie that they spread throughout the land. And whenever they saw Jesus together with sinners, they affirmed that by saying that He was comfortable with Satan's people and uncomfortable with the people of God whom they believed themselves to be.

Now Jesus answers their lies and says in Luke 19:10, “The reason I associate with these sinners is because I have come to seek and to save that which is lost." Jesus explains how God feels about lost people. In Luke 15 He told two previous parables of the recovery of a lost sheep and a lost coin. And now we have the main parable of two sons.

This is probably the most famous story that Jesus ever told, it is the story of two lost sons. God is showing in these three parables the increasing value of what was lost. The first was about 1 lost sheep among a hundred, the second was about 1 lost coin among ten and now we have two lost sons.

The first part of this story of two sons is to show the joy of God over the repentance and the reconciliation of the lost younger son. And the second part is about the older son who is self-righteous and who needs to repent as well. The climax of the whole story indicates that it is the other son, the one we don't think about, that is really the main objective.

We often call this story of the younger son, “the prodigal son”. The word prodigal is an old English word, which basically meant "spend thrift," meaning somebody who is wasteful extravagant and self-indulgent.

Now there are three characters, the younger son, the father and the older son. So we should look at this story in two parts. Let us begin with the younger son. First we read about a horrible request. In verse 11 Jesus begins by saying, “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’”

When Jesus said that, you could imagine the shock of the Pharisees and the scribes. This younger son has no love and gratitude for his father whatsoever. Saying that really meant, "Dad, I wish you were dead. I would much rather have your money than have a relationship with you.”

No one ever got your inheritance until your father died. The son would be slapped across the face if he asked for it and then very likely he would be shamed publicly and perhaps disowned of everything he had and even considered as dead and not considered part of the family anymore.

So the younger son is asking for all the material stuff, land, animals, buildings, whatever possessions he is entitled to, so he can sell it quickly. In a two-brother family, according to Deuteronomy 21:17, the older son gets double what the younger son gets, that means two-thirds go to the older son, one-third goes to the younger son.

And here comes the first surprise in Jesus’ story. Verse 12 continues, "And he divided his wealth between them." The father actually grants him what he wants. He is willing to endure the agony of rejected love. And the greater the love, the greater the pain when that love is rejected. Do you realize that this is a picture of God?

This is God giving us as sinners our freedom to do what we want. The sinner doesn't care about God and all he thinks of is his own pleasure. It didn't take long for step two, verse 13, "And not many days later." And here he begins his rebellion. He didn't wait long because he does not love his father or his brother.

And the older brother does not love the father either. In fact, when the younger brother comes home at the end and the father is happy, the older brother is angry. He is equally unloving, equally ungrateful even though he stays home. Only the father shows real love and once we know Him we can learn that sacrificial love too.

So what did the younger son want? Not many days later he sold everything quickly to get the cash now. This is a picture of the blessings and mercy of God that is meant to lead the sinner into a relationship with God, but the sinner does not appreciate this and he thinks that happiness is obtained by earthly things and he rejects God’s love.

So where is the older son in all this? Why doesn't he defend his father's honor? It is because he didn't love the father either. He was happy to get his share and stay home. This is like a dysfunctional family, one seems good and stays at home, the other is rebellious and wants to leave but both hate each other and their father.

Well what happened next in verse 13, “the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.” He spent everything through wasteful living. In fact, down in verse 30, his older brother says, “He devoured your livelihood with harlots.” And Jesus put that in the story because that is an accurate reflection of what He wants to tell us what the young man did.

This young son represents sinners, the rebels, the immoral, those who clearly have no faith or love for God. These sinners are the tax collectors and the outcasts and the non- religious. They don't want anything to do with God’s law or His rule. They don't want to be accountability to anyone, including God.

But sin never works out the way you expect. Verse 14 says, “But when he had spent all,” He surrounded himself with those so-called friends that are always there when you spend a lot of money and so he runs out of money even quicker. Like Vince Young, the NFL quarterback who in 2006 had a 52 million dollar contract and now is broke.

Verse 14 continues, “There arose a severe famine in that land.” That's not his fault, but that is how life is. What is a severe famine? The people listening to Jesus would surely understand that. They would remember, for example, the times when Israel was under siege and women ate their afterbirth and people even cannibalized their children. That is all described in 2 Kings 6.

Here he is in a foreign land, all his resources are gone and now he is living with the consequences. But he is still not ready to go home to humble himself and to face his father. So he does what people do when they hit bottom. It says at the end of verse 14, "and he began to be in want.” He looked for work.

And finally it says in verse 15, “Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” Desperate people do desperate things. This Jewish boy is feeding pigs in a Gentile land. Many Old Testament passages indicate that pigs are considered unclean.

And verse 16 says, “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.” He didn't get anything to eat. This is the greatest tragedy that these Jews could ever conceive of. And that was the point of Jesus, now there is nothing he can do to save himself.

This is the picture of a sinner who has exhausted all his plans, I will fix my own life, I will do drugs, I will get drunk, I will go to some self-help group, I will move to a new neighborhood, or I will marry a new person. When all that stuff does not help, the sinner wakes up desperate and what he cannot do himself; only the father can do.

Verse 17, “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” Real repentance begins with an accurate assessment of your condition of helplessness, of no resources and impending death.

Now he remembers that his father is loving, kind and very generous. His father is not a hard man, he is a forgiving man. So the son has nowhere to go, but he believes in his father. This is a picture of one whose repentance leads to salvation because, not only repentance here but faith in his Father.

So verse 18-19 begins, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ Listen to how severe he is about himself, "I have sinned against heaven and before you." We have to realize that ultimately all sin is sin against God Himself.

Those Pharisees and Sadducees liked the idea that he came to his senses, they like the idea that he is coming back. But according to them he will have to earn his way back. That is Pharisaic theology, along with every other religion in the world.

But listen further in verse 20, “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” At this point, the Pharisees and scribes were totally surprised. The son had been outrageous and he should be punished, but that is not what happened.

In fact, while he was still a long way off, his father sees him which is an indication that the father was seeking, right? God, the Father always seeks the sinner for salvation and reconciliation, He is the divine initiator. And then when the son finally gets there, even more shockingly, he embraced him on the neck, stinking and dirty as he was.

Verse 21-24, “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” Isn’t this incredible?

Did you notice that the father hugged the son before he completed want he wanted to say? This is a picture of the grace of God that comes before there is repentance. The son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But he left something out (verse 19), "Make me like one of your hired servants.” Why? Because of grace there is no need for works.

This is not a story about the prodigal son; this story is primarily about our gracious God. The lost sheep in the first parable was found because the shepherd looked for it. The coin was found because the widow did not give up looking for it. And the son was restored because the father kept waiting for him to come back. Jesus seeks sinners!

So let us look at the main point in this story, beginning in verse 25, “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. 28 But he was angry and would not go in.”

“Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Look, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots; you killed the fatted calf for him. 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Here Jesus painted a picture of the older brother as a self righteous person who thinks that he has done nothing wrong (look at verse 29) and feels the he was the only righteous person all along. Remember who Jesus was talking to? He was addressing the Pharisees and the scribes who were so self righteous.

What is self righteousness? Well there two signs, number one a person like that does not want to repent, because they see themselves as being already righteous. Number two, the self righteous person cannot rejoice. Look at the older brother; he does not want to come in to celebrate with the rest. Now who are they that rejoice? They are the servants who rejoice, which are the souls of people and angels in heaven rejoicing with God.

You are self righteous when you think: God why are you blessing that person? Maybe you are self righteous if you are jealous of someone else’s ministry. You are self righteous when you feel you do not need to pray, because that says that you can do everything on your own. You are self righteous when you are proud of what you have achieved, and do not realize that it all is by grace from God.

You might be self righteous if you find something wrong with everything in the church. You might be self righteous if you are critical of other people, of what they wear, of what they do or not do. You might be self righteous if you are thinking that it is good for others to hear this message, because there are so many people that really need this.

The younger brother cannot be saved unless he repents of his sins, but the older brother cannot be saved unless he repents of his self righteousness. Let us do what Jesus did, He sought sinners. And in the same way Jesus seeks the unrighteous, He also seeks the self righteous. And He is seeking right now, whoever you are! Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Mar 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130310 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F0 imblog

Matthew 11:25-26

Our Lord came into the world to save sinners, to save them from wrath, to save them from hell, to save them from sin. And Jesus Christ expressed this purpose of the incarnation when He said in Matthew 18:11, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost." That is the purpose and message of Christianity, salvation.

We can find the same invitation in Isaiah 55:1-3 which says: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you - the sure mercies of David.”

At the end of the Bible another invitation, in Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” God is always inviting people to come for salvation. This is the character of our Lord.

In John 6:35, Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” When Jesus says, come He is saying, believe on Me. I am the bread of Life and I am living water.

Look at this beautiful invitation now in Matthew 11:25-30, “At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 26 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Do you understand this wonderful text in all its fullness? The key to understanding it is to know what Jesus is offering. When He says - Come to Me - what is the reason? Simply stated, I will give you rest. And He says in verse 28, "I will give it," and He says in verse 29, "You will receive it." But the promise of our Lord Jesus is for rest.

Now, just what is this rest? We don't understand the invitation unless we understand what the rest is. The literal Greek says I will rest you, or I will refresh you, or I will revive you, but of what does our Lord speak? Let’s go to Hebrews 3 to find the answer. Now, rest is a common Old Testament word. But the concept of rest was a Jewish concept. They thought of God's promise as a promise of rest.

Let us begin with Hebrews 3:7-9, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says (quoted from Psalm 95): “Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years.”

This is a warning. First of all, Hebrews is written to a community of Jewish Christians, but periodically through the book there are warnings for some Jewish people, who are outwardly convinced that this is all true but they will not commit themselves to Christ, because they fear their Jewish friends and family, and being kicked out of their synagogue.

And so, they sit on the fence and that is the place of a potential apostate who knows it all but never makes the right decision and finally hardens himself into the most severe kind of condemnation because he who knows the most will also be condemned the most.

So in Hebrews 3:10-11 it says, “Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘they shall not enter My rest.’” Now rest to the Jews in the wilderness meant the land of Canaan, the land of promise.

We believe that there were some among them who were truly redeemed in history, but in the analogy that is being drawn here, He is saying - These people started to move in the right direction and they believed that there was a better land, but they wandered in limbo until they died without ever entering into that. And He says don't be convinced that the gospel is really true but stay in the limbo.

In His analogy rest means salvation. Now you show me a person who does not know God's ways, who always errs in his heart, a person who hardens and resists God and who doesn't hear His voice and I'll show you an unbeliever. These are unbelieving people who do not enter into rest, who are not saved.

Back to Matthew 11, so what is rest, then? We have the same concept here, Jesus says in verse 28: " Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” You shall find rest for your souls; Jesus is offering them salvation, saving rest. There are five definitions in the dictionary given for rest and they parallel what salvation rest is.

Number one, the dictionary says that rest is to cease from all action or motion, to stop labor and exertion. And that is the rest that our Lord offers. To enter into God's rest means no more self-effort to earn God's favor, no more fleshly works to seek His mercy. We rest from legalism, from self-righteousness. We rest in His consuming grace.

Secondly, the dictionary says that rest is to be free from whatever wearies or disturbs. In the spiritual sense, to enter God's rest means to be at peace with God, to possess the peace of God which passes understanding, to have a heart totally calm in the midst of a storm, to have no more frustration and no more anxiety over life and destiny, sin is forgiven, no more guilt anymore.

Thirdly, the dictionary says to rest is to be settled or fixed. To enter God's rest means to be positionally secured in God, no need to run from philosophy to philosophy, from religion to religion, from guru to guru. Fourthly, to rest means to be trustful and to enjoy faith without fear, to trust that our eternity is in His care and love.

And fifthly, to enter God's rest means from now on we depend on Him for everything. This is Jesus Christ's own invitation to people to come to Him. And how did He do it? Now let us look specifically at the first of these five reasons tonight, and hopefully we can discuss all four of the other ones next Sunday.

Our Lord knew the Jewish attitude was going to come to a full rejection on a national scale, and yet He reaches out to those who wish to come. The early days of popularity had passed, opposition has formed itself, but in the midst of it all, the Lord is still tenderly giving His invitation.

As the invitation starts please notice how it starts. Jesus says: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” This is a recognition that all responses, negative and positive, are in the sovereign control of God.

Verse 26, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.” In other words, in all invitations there must be recognition that God is the one who must be praised, who will determine what happens. Whenever you introduce Christ, you must believe in your heart that God is the sovereign One behind everything. And His plan right on course.

There are five elements in His invitation. The first one is humility, or dependence, you can use either term. Verse 25-26 again, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”

Some people might take, “You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent” to mean that the smarter you are, the more trouble you're in because God just doesn't want smart people in heaven. That's not what it is saying. Look at the phrase "these things." We have to know what it is that He's hidden. What are these things?

He is talking about the things pertaining to the Kingdom, the teachings of Jesus about God, about righteousness, about salvation, the teachings of Jesus about obedience and submission, about deep, eternal and spiritual truth. Does that mean that deep spiritual truth is not available to the educated and the wise? It is only available to the babies?" Correct.

1 Corinthians 2: 9-14 says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard." Now that refers to empirical, external worldly study. God says that spiritual knowledge is not empirically or objectively available. "Neither has it entered into the heart of man." That is subjective, it is not internally perceivable, “The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” There we are back to those things again. Those things pertaining to the Kingdom are not available through external perception nor internal rationalization.

“10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” And then in verse 14, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Jesus is saying, these things regarding the Kingdom, are hidden from the intelligent people, meaning they're hidden from the people who think they can discover the truth with their intelligence alone. This really refers to one class of people who imagine that absolute truth can be known through the human mind.

The statement does not mean that God has withheld the truth from smart people, it just means that every person who thinks he is so smart he does not need it, is doomed. In fact, if you think you are so smart that you don't need the truth and you willfully reject it, God will then close your mind to it once and for all.

In John 12:37 Jesus had done so many miracles yet they believed not. Verse 39 says: "Therefore they could not believe." You see, it went from a personal choice to reject, to a divine affirmation of that. And in John 12:40 Isaiah says, "He blinded their eyes, hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them.”

Now, who are the babes in Matthew 11:25? It is a synonym for a small child, one who doesn't have any intelligence, any education, who is just very limited. So, we have a helpless child, who can't speak, can't eat solid food, who is still nursing at his mother's breast and totally dependent.

Who are the ones who can enter into salvation? They are the dependent, not the independent. They are the humble, not the proud. They are the helpless and they recognize it. They are empty and they know it. They are aware that they have no resources in life. You have to reach the point where you abandon all of your own resources.

So, the comparison between the wise and the babes is not a comparison between smart and dumb people. It is a comparison between those who think by their own intellect they can save themselves and those who know they can't, and are totally dependent on God's grace.

In His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” A begging spirit is a person who has no resources and knows it, who is ashamed to lift up his head. Yet he is the one who gets into the Kingdom. This was absolutely the opposite of everything that the Jews had been taught by the Pharisees and the scribes.

Further in Matthew 5: 4 it says: "Blessed are they that mourn." Who not only are aware of the poverty of their soul but who mourn over their condition. And then the next: "Blessed are the meek," who are humble. And then who are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. They know they don't have it, they know they don't have righteousness. They know that and they hunger and they thirst for it.

And so it seemed good in God's sight. Good. Why? Because that glorifies God. And that is the supreme reason for everything in the universe. It would not glorify God if the conceited entered the Kingdom. That's why it's so very difficult, you see, to reach the prominent and famous, the people who already think they have everything, and so easy to reach the broken people by comparison.

Listen to Isaiah 57:15: "For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him who is of a contrite and humble spirit." Isn't that great? Man thinks that he must attain that by worshipping his intellect and his reason. And God is up there with the contrite, humble spirit.

And then he says, “To give rest to the spirit of the humble and to give rest to the heart of the contrite.” God says I give rest, but I give rest to humble people, people who are filled with contrition, brokenness, a sense of dependency. That's the kind of invitation the Lord offers. No place for pride.

In Luke 18, two men went into the temple to pray and the Pharisee said - I thank You that I'm not as other men are, like this tax collector over here. I fast twice a week, give tithes of all that I possess. He thought he was good enough with his religious intellectual pride. I'm not like other people, I'm superior.

And over in the corner was the sinner beating on his breast and saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And he wouldn't even lift his head up. And Jesus said that man went home justified by God rather than the other. There's no place in God's Kingdom for pride, it's only for the humble, it's only for the babes and for the dependent.

And Jesus, the Son of God gave us an example of that! Listen to what Philippians 2:5-9 says, “5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”

8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” Let us remember that as we partake of the Lord’s Supper and are reminded again of His sacrifice for us.

]]> Sun, 03 Mar 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130303a http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F2 imblog

1 Corinthians 10:1-6

Most people would agree with the axiom, "Too much of a good thing can be bad," right? Too much money makes somebody indulgent, irresponsible and materialistic. Too much popularity makes one proud and selfish. Too much power makes one implacable, compassionless, invincible and abusive. Too much blessings is a problem too.

You know, Godly wisdom tells us that self-denial is healthy; some measure of deprivation is beneficial. It is beneficial for your character to be faced with some weaknesses which you cannot easily overcome.

What is really hard to handle is to have all you want of what you want when you want it, because then self-control, self-denial, and discipline disappear. And where a person lives in undisciplined freedom, they live on the edge of self-destruction.

And amazingly this can happen in the Kingdom of God too. Look at Deuteronomy 6. The children of Israel had been in Egypt for 400 years. They were slaves and they existed one step above animals. They lived in poverty and deprivation and weakness and need and abuse.

And then God, in a mighty display of power, brought a man named Moses and ordained him to lead Israel out of the land of Egypt. Two million slaves left Egypt. In order to do that, God had to bring a series of ten deadly plagues, the likes of which the world had never ever seen before.

You remember the final miracle was that God sent the death angel to execute the first- born. But for every Jewish family that sprinkled the Passover blood on the door, the death angel passed by and spared that first-born. And in that great miracle of judgment, there was also a miracle of deliverance, and that was all that Egypt could take.

And they said, "Get out of this country. We can't take anymore devastation from your God." And so the children of Israel were released. It wasn't long however, before pharaoh pursued them with his army. You know the miracle. The Red Sea opened. They walked across on dry land. Pharaoh tried to follow, and the whole Egyptian army was drowned.

They were then led into the wilderness as a result of these great liberating miracles. After 40 years of wandering, they were given the privilege of going into the land of Canaan, the land of milk and honey, the land which was the most fruitful piece of earth. God gave them the best, and they took over the land from the Canaanites, and it was a very good place. But when things are too good there is always danger.

God knows this and here comes His warning in Deuteronomy 6:10-15, “10 “So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”

That was God's warning to them of the danger of blessing. Great cities built by an advanced civilization in the ancient world, the Canaanites. They moved into homes and houses that they didn't build. And then they went out to get water from wells they never dug, and they plucked grapes from vines they never grew, and harvested wonderful olives from trees that they never planted.

And so in verse 13, He says, "You shall fear the Lord your God, and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name." That is, you need to make covenants and promises to God to be faithful. "14You shall not go after other gods for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you. 15 Lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth."

Now the New Testament gives us another illustration of this in 1 Corinthians 10. Sadly they did exactly what God told them not to do. They enjoyed all of the homes and all of the things that were in them, they enjoyed the wells and the water, they enjoyed everything that was in the land flowing with milk and honey. And they, in spite of all of that, turned to idols.

The kingdom split. The northern kingdom was taken into captivity and destroyed in 722 B.C. The southern kingdom went into captivity 586 B.C. and taken to Babylon, and God did bring destruction on that land. It was a sad disregard of a very clear warning of the danger of blessings.

You have a similar situation with the Corinthians. The Apostle Paul is writing to a very blessed church and he spent nearly two years with them. He has come to love these people. In his introduction in 1 Corinthians 1: 4-5, Paul says, "I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which is given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him.”

They were a church planted by Paul, probably the greatest preacher ever next to Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 1:7 he says, "You come short in no gift. You have had all the teaching, all the treasures, everything.” In fact, in chapter 4:8, he says, "You're filled to the brim.” There is nothing lacking.

Now, to make his point more strongly, Paul is using a biblical illustration from 1 Corinthians 10:1-5, "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.”

Paul says, I'm concerned about the danger of blessings. I'm concerned about you enjoying all these freedoms that are yours in Christ. And the blessings of this grace upon grace where all your sins are forgiven, and you are not under the law. I'm concerned that you're not going to discipline your body. So let me remind you about Israel.

Let's go back to when they came out of Egypt. They all came out, he is looking at everybody. Paul says, "All our forefathers, our ancestors were under the cloud." What does that mean? The glory cloud, the Shekinah cloud that led Israel when they wandered in the wilderness. Do you remember they were led by a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud by day?

So he says, they all experienced divine direction and divine guidance. And he says they all passed through the Red Sea. They all experienced divine miraculous deliverance. So this is a people who have experienced miracles, the 10 miracles of judgment in Egypt, the great miracle of being led out of Egypt, being led by a Shekinah glory cloud, the very presence of God in visible form.

Then 1 Corinthians 10:2 says, "All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." That simple means this: you were all literally one with your leader. There were no divisions or separated groups. So they knew solidarity in leadership. They experienced divine, miraculous leadership under Moses.

Then they were given divine provision. They all ate the same spiritual food, the same manna, the same birds that God provided. They all drank the same spiritual drink. And the spiritual drink was the drink provided by the spiritual source who is God.

And actually, it tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:4, the spiritual rock that followed them was Christ. This is the pre-incarnate Christ, before He was born in Bethlehem; He existed eternally as God the Son, the second member of the Trinity. And, of course, He ministered to Israel. He would be Israel's Savior.

But before the incarnation, He literally was with them, following them in their wilderness wanderings so that the very Christ Himself was in the midst of His people. They had been given divine provision of food and water. They were always under the special care of the rock who is Christ who followed them, who was really the source of all the miracles that met their needs.

You the HKBP church also have all these same privileges. This is all the best that God can give. And the sad reality of verse 5 is, in spite of that, with most of them, God was not well-pleased, and their corpses were scattered all over the desert. That is pretty shocking, two million died in the desert. From the first generation that came out, only two people went into the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb.

1 Corinthians 10:6 says, "These things became our examples." This is not just history. This is an example for us. "to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted." First problem, they started to desire the things of the world. They wanted what they had in Egypt. They wanted what other people had.

Then they got into idolatry, verse 7, "Don't become idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written, and it quotes out of Exodus 32 where it says, "the people sit down to eat and drink, and then rose up to have sexual amusement." They got into the world.

They committed, in verse 8, sexual immorality and in one day, 23,000 fell. And then there were others who tested Christ in verse 9. And then there were others, verse 10, who complained and they died. Do you know that fourteen thousand seven hundred complainers were destroyed?

Well, is grumbling in the category of major sins? When we cannot see all the blessings that God has given us and we are egotistical that is sin. I mean what did they have to complain about? What is it that was still unsatisfactory? And why would they take for granted the miraculous goodness of God?

And why would they want to be immoral when God had given them everything within marriage to provide blessings? Why would they worship a golden calf when they knew the true and living God who delivered them from Egypt? And why would they want what the world had to give when it was the world that nearly destroyed them?

How does that relate to our life today? How many people have premarital sex which is immoral? How many people have sex with someone that they are not married to? We don’t worship a golden calf but how many of us worship money and things instead of tithing to God? And how many think more about themselves than about other people that have much less? When you're greatly blessed, beware.

Well, this is what the word of God is for us today, we better learn self-discipline; self- denial, moderation or we are going to wind up being disqualified. The danger is that we begin to feel so comfortable, we begin to feel that God owes us something which gives us reasons to complain and we don’t have the joy of salvation.

Or we only focus on the trials of life without seeing all the things that God has already blessed us with. You don’t appreciate and don’t remember all that God has done for you. And you do not tithe and you are robbing God. You begin to drift closer and closer to old familiar sins.

That is my fear for the future of the church. What could happen to us is that we become self-indulgent, and we abuse the grace of God. That's why, it's so important for us to ask, "Have I done everything to please you, Lord?" "Have I gone too far in pleasing myself? It's time to examine our hearts, Amen?

]]> Sun, 03 Mar 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130303b http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F1 imblog

Matthew 4:1-11

There's never been an era of man's history when temptation was not a problem. Man has always struggled with temptation. The only refuge from temptation is the grave. We know it from the Old Testament; we know it from the New Testament. The greatest of the saints realized the reality of temptation that faces every believer and the battle rages today.

But God has given us a wonderful plan for victory. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "There is no temptation that has taken you but such as is common to man,” We have all have experienced it, "But God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that you are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

Temptation is going to happen. God allows it as a test; but Satan wants to turn it into an illicit temptation. Maybe it's a financial setback, or maybe it's a problem in your family, maybe it's a good financial deal that tempts you to do what is wrong. Maybe it's a persecution or a deprivation or an occasion to go along with sinful people, or a person who attracts your base nature, or maybe it's somebody who has something you wish you had.

Our life is just full of testing grounds and as we endure them as a test, and as we find the way of escape that God has provided we go through victoriously, but as Satan twists it to a temptation, and we succumb to the temptation we fall to sin, we then loose the victory.

If you want to know how to handle temptation, you have to learn from Christ, because He is the only one who ever lived on earth who was able to take temptation right to its limit and never internalize it, never let it kindle lust, never let it become sin.

Jesus knows how to handle every category of temptation. He is the only one who shows us victory, He is the only one who can give that victory to us. Let us learn how He did it and how it can be applied to how we must face temptation.

There are two reasons to present the temptation of Christ, and the first is to demonstrate that Jesus is the King of all other kings by showing that He can defeat the only other great ruler in the universe, Satan himself. Matthew shows that Satan is a creature, subject to Christ's power and authority. And secondly, it is in the Word of God as proof that victory over sin is possible, and to show how the believer should resist temptation.

Now, there are three things that we should look at here, the preparation, the temptation, and the triumph. We saw the preparation in Matthew 4:1-3. Immediately after His baptism, "Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil." Of course the test was from God, the temptation part was from the devil. "And when he had fasted forty days and f 6rty nights, he was afterward hungry. And when the tempter came to him.”

It was immediately after Jesus’ baptism that He was tempted. Remember and pay attention to this spiritual principle, immediately after a victory in our life, Satan sometimes hits us with the greatest attacks. And the principle is from 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” It is when we feel the most secure that we become the most vulnerable. When we realize we are weak and ask for God’s help we are strong.

So what was Satan’s purpose? He wanted to try to have Christ commit sin. And if he could get Christ to commit an act of sin, he would then thwart the entire plan of God, right? He would destroy it all, because the world needed a sinless Savior.

The place was the wilderness. Difficult circumstances, a barren, lonely area inhabited by wild beasts. The devil’s plan was to attack Christ at the point of His strength. Christ did have the ability to make stones into bread, and He did have a right to eat, after all He was the Son of God. But even though He had that right, He would be acting against the will of God the Father.

We will see that in each case, Satan tempted Christ with a right that He had and a power that He had. He always tempts us where we feel our strengths are where it is possible to fall and that's the subtlety of his attack.

Now let's see how Satan approached Him. Matthew 4:3, “Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Notice the word “if”? The first word Satan said, if, the doubt. This is the way he tempted Eve, so also he tempted Christ, and so he will tempts us. The devil always begins by trying to create doubt about the reality of the divine standard of God

Maybe he tempts us with whispering doubt into our souls, doubts about who we are in Christ, doubts about the truth of God's revelation, doubts about God's power, doubts about God's love, doubts about our conversion becoming a child of God. He always plants doubts about our abilities and doubts about our strengths.

He knew Jesus was God's Son, and Jesus knew who He was but that didn't stop Satan from starting with the word if. Now look at the temptation itself, make stones into bread. Now what was wrong if Jesus made bread out of stones to satisfy His hunger? Can God’s own Son not do a miracle when He is hungry?

The point of the temptation was not in feeding His hunger but in the suggestion that His hunger was incompatible with His being the Son of God. In other word Satan was saying, God is not fulfilling His part of the deal. Satan was urging for Jesus to sweep aside every human need by a divine act. The temptation was to really exercise personal selfish authority to satisfy His own wants and not to do the will of His Father in denying Himself and suffering for us.

The crowd said the same thing at the cross, if You're the Son of God, get off that cross, if You're the Son of God what are You doing up there? Remember that? Can you hear the voice of Satan, hey you're a Christian, you deserve better than this, get it your way. Don't wait for God, He hasn't delivered what He promised.

It was a wicked attempt to cause the last Adam to fail where the first Adam had failed because of food. You see the first Adam failed with the apple, and Satan wanted the last Adam to blow it with the bread. But the temptation was far beyond that. The point of Satan was to try to destroy the Son's confidence in the Father.

Listen, in Hebrews 10:9 the words of Jesus are written, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." To succumb to Satan's temptation would have been to do Satan’s will. And when Jesus finally was victorious He said, "Not My will but Your will be done.” Jesus had given Himself to the Father's will; He said it again and again in His life. And it was the basis of that absolute trust that Satan was trying to break.

Jesus shows His attitude in Matthew 4:4, "But he answered and said, it is written," an you're going to find that every time. Jesus says to obey God and to depend on God and to wait for God's sustenance rather than to seek satisfaction in this world. And He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

That text pictures Moses who is reminding Israel of God's tender care for His people during the wilderness journeys. And what Moses is saying is also what Jesus is saying to us right now. You don't need to complain, God is going to take care of you, you don't need to be worrying about getting your satisfaction. If you live by God's Word, God will honor your obedience and take care of your needs.

Jesus says, Satan you teach falsely that for a man to appease his hunger and to stay alive he has to have bread; but that is totally wrong. Jesus declares that it is not bread, but it is the creative, energizing, sustaining power of God that is the only real source of a man’s existence, right?

James 4:14 says, you cannot say today I'll do this and tomorrow I'll do that, since you don't know what tomorrow brings, your life is like a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away, you could be dead in the morning. The only thing that keeps you alive is the sustaining power of God, not your bread.

The overall motive of my life and your life should be to do only the will of God and believe Him for all the benefits. Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Why would you worry about food or clothing? If God takes care of the grass and the birds, isn’t He going to take care of you?

It's easy when you're in business to fall into this, you say I need this for my business if I just cheat a little bit on this deal, I'll close this deal and I’ll be rich. You know what you've just done? You have lived by bread alone, and you've just forfeited the blessing of God who alone grants life and existence and blessing. And who owns everything in the world anyway, God.

Now comes the issue of obedience. Matthew 4:5-6, “Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

The devil is now quoting Psalm 91:11-12. But he misquotes the verse for his own needs. The devil said, “here is something God said, try it and prove it. You want to trust God? Here's a great opportunity, do a swan dive off the pinnacle of the temple, see if His angels will catch You and gives You a nice soft landing.”

Now this is the opposite of the first temptation, instead of doing it Himself against God's will, now the devil is asking Jesus to let God do it all, all right God I depend on You, I'm testing You. The sin is now imposing on God. In the first temptation a peril existed, in the second one Jesus creates the peril. And Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, "it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” (Matthew 4:7)

Did God expect His Messiah to do some fantastic miracle? Isaiah 53 says, “2He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” “7He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”

It says in John 1:11, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Had He fallen to this temptation He would have perverted His reason for coming. He would have destroyed the whole plan of God. You are not to tempt God with your own plans. So Jesus refused.

People go down the road of temptation, and almost in some sin and they ask, please God, get me out of this! Or else later on they blame God, right? You know when the Lord confronted Adam who he blamed? God says to him, Adam, why did you eat that apple? And Adam said in Genesis 3:12, "The woman you gave me, she gave me that fruit." See, he was blaming God, and not his wife.

I have heard people in church ministry say, well we don't have the money, but we are going into this great new building program. And we're putting God to the test, to see if He will prove Himself faithful. That is leading many to a dead end. It is a bad thing to test God. Trust the Father, Jesus says, He has proven Himself.

For example, the guy who is a deadbeat says, well, why should I work if God is going to provide? See now you're testing God. Because God has said in His Word, if you don't work, you don't eat. One way God provides is through you working. So you can't bypass the means of grace and then expect God to be put to the test, that's a sin.

And now the devil tries one final attempt to achieve his goal. The third temptation, Matthew 4:8-9, “Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

Now here the devil shows his real intentions. He finally says, what I really want is for Jesus to worship me!! This was a legitimate test because the devil was given dominion over the earth for a while and it would have meant an opportunity for Christ to bypass the cross, the death that had been pictured in His baptism. The devil could just have turned it all over to Jesus, but He would have to sell His soul to Satan.

Instead of the long bitter road to the throne He could rule at once, no shame, no glory, no hatred, no persecution, no animosity, no bitterness, no, no buffeting spitting, crucifying, none of that, He could have it. Just like what Satan told Eve, "You shall be as God."

But once more our Lord gave a quick and decisive answer from Deuteronomy. The Son of God makes no deals with Satan. And at the end of Matthew 4:10 He says, "It is written, you shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him only shall you serve." Jesus would never ever compromise the single most important reality in all the universe, that God and God alone is to be worshiped.

Satan comes at us like that; he suggests that in the world of commerce, the world of society, the world of politics. We can get what we want, we can fulfill our lusts, we can have our pride, all we have to do is compromise the truth and just go the world’s way, and seek to be popular on their terms, and go along with their sins and we will go down the wide road leading to destruction together.

And we forget that in the kingdom that Jesus has prepared for His people that the whole world will be ours. And in the eternal state of the new heavens and the new earth all of the possession of the universe will be ours. If you want happiness let it come from God, don't seek it in an immoral love affair. If you want comfort, let God give you true comfort forever.

Well, let's look at His triumph. Matthew 4:10, “Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan!” But he is not defeated yet; he just leaves to come back later, again and again, and is finally defeated at the cross. Even as Satan tempts you, we know that he has been defeated and will be punished in due time.

And look what happened in Matthew 4: 11, "Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” These angels brought food, and they worshipped Him. And they rein- forced the fact that Jesus was an obedient Son in whom the Father was well pleased and that one day that which He had been promised by Satan would be His.

Angels have spent time with Jesus, they were there at His birth, all during His earthly life they protected Him, He said He could have called twelve legions of them if He wanted to. They were there at His resurrection announcing it, they will be there at His second coming, and here they are taking care of Him.

So in conclusion, watch for temptation at the high points of your spiritual life, or when you just embark on the beginning of a new ministry. Be careful of times of weakness and times when you are in evil surroundings. Jesus was in the wilderness and when He was weak Satan came. Watch for when you feel strong, for that is when Satan likes to push you into sin. Watch for the subtlety of his temptation. Finally know the Word of God. The Word is your sword, Amen?

]]> Sun, 24 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130224 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F3 imblog

Matthew 11:16-24

Our Lord wants people to respond to His message. And so one of the things that Jesus commonly said was, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear." We also find our Lord saying that even from heaven in Revelation 2 and 3 in the letters to the churches He repeatedly says: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

In other words, the Lord wants men to react to what He says. But while calling He knows that most people do not listen. It is basic to biblical truth that men are given a choice when confronted with the truth of God, to hear it, to believe it, to act on it, or to reject it.

And now in Matthew 11 and 12 we see the various responses to Christ. Now we have already seen that one of the responses is honest doubt. John the Baptist believed and yet he had some doubt. And so the Lord dealt with that in the first fifteen verses. Some other responses to Christ are much more serious.

Jesus now is going to talk about rejection, a superficial kind of amazement. And He is going to talk about blasphemy later in chapter 12. But in our section tonight He is going to speak of two other responses to Christ that are very common. The first is criticism and the second is indifference.

One talks about what men do and the second one talks about what men don't do. And a person can be damned to hell just as much by what they do not do as by what they do. When you look ahead to the great white throne judgment it is certain that some people are going to say - I never did anything against God. And that is their fault. They did nothing.

And so Jesus asks a question in Matthew 11:16, "But to what shall I liken this generation?” I called for this generation to hear, but they do not hear. The majority of them were not interested in listening to Jesus Christ, even though His miracles were beyond question convincing that He was from God.

And then Jesus describes all the negative ways in which that generation responded to Him. The first one He talks about is criticism. What characterized them was they were just critical, no matter what He did or what He said, they criticized it. There was no validity in the criticism; they were just looking for something to pick on.

And there are people like that today. No matter what the message is, no matter what is done by the church or those who represent Christ they will always criticize it, because they are not seeking truth. They will not acknowledge their sin and they are not interested in a Savior and so they just sit back and criticize.

So Jesus begins by saying, “How can I illustrate what this generation is like?” And then He says in Matthew 11:16-17, "It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their friends 17 and saying, we have played music for you and yet you have not danced; we have mourned for you and yet you have not lamented.”

The idea was that the marketplace is like the town square and children would like to play games to imitate what their parents did. And one of the popular make-believe games they played was "Wedding," and another favorite was "Funeral," because both were public social events. So many kids would join in but there were some kids who didn't want to play.

Now the principle of the parable of Jesus is very clear. There are some people who just do not want to participate no matter what the game is, right? They will criticize the wedding and they will criticize the funeral. Nothing satisfies them. Now, Jesus says that is like this generation. They are like children who are just critical.

Now look at Matthew 11:18, and here comes the application, "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.” Now what is that? John came in an austere mode. He came preaching the message of judgment and condemnation. John talked about an axe chopping at the root of the tree. He cried out for repentance and asked to see the fruit of repentance.

And you know what they said of him? He has a demon, he is possessed. They hadn't had a prophet in 400 years and they could see that he was great. He had the power of personality to attract them. And they basked in his light for a season. But the critics among them finally just said - Ah, he's nuts. Instead of seeing his life style as a rebuke to their indulgence, they just ridiculed him.

On the other hand, look at Matthew 11:19, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking.” In other words, He was the opposite of John. He came and got into the flow of social life. He had meals with people and dwelt in their homes and attended the social activities. He was in their synagogue. And He walked from village to village. And He was in the boat and He was a part of their life.

And so, the Lord came in a very different way than John did and hear what they said further in verse 19, “Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ You see, because Jesus mingled they criticized that, and because John didn't mingle, they criticized that.

Just so you know, the word "glutton" is a person who always ate a lot. And they said He was a winebibber which means He was a drunkard. By the way, what the Lord did drink was wine mixed with water, which would stimulate about as much as our tea and coffee. But the point is that He came in the normal flow of life.

But they went beyond that and they said, “a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” Because He came mixing with all kinds of hurting, needy people, sharing their sorrows and their joy, they said He was no good. And because John came living in the desert, fasting, looking different and eating different food, they said he was crazy and demonic.

And the point of the whole deal is that they were just always critical. There was nothing that could be done that could please them. It's a bad response, because, the end of Matthew 11:19: "Wisdom is justified by her children." The best interpretation is "Wisdom is justified by her works."

In other words, you can criticize whatever Jesus or John does, but in the end the truth will justify itself by what it produces. You can criticize Christ, but how do you explain the people whose lives He has changed, right? You can criticize the church but explain why the church has had the impact it has had on the world.

Truth or wisdom ultimately is justified by what it produces, and that is an unanswerable argument. The wisdom of John the Baptist which insisted on repentance and the wisdom of Jesus which insisted on salvation was shown to be justified by what it accomplished in the hearts and the lives of the people who believed. And that is testimony to the truth.

Some people are just critical. And we all have met them. They are not even looking for the truth. They just want to find everything wrong with Christ and Christianity and that's a tragic response. Because in the end, the truth will be justified by what it produces. Now, we've seen the response of criticism, now let us see the response of indifference, what men didn't do.

It is so important to realize that what people don't do is enough to condemn them. In Matthew 7:26-27 Jesus said, “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

And then in Luke 17:26 - 27 it is written, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” And the Lord says it will be the same way now.

There were many critics who stood around the boat that he was building in the middle of the desert, about the 110th year, and said, "The guy is crazy. He is building a boat in the desert. And he is talking about rain, what is rain?" No one had ever seen rain. And then there were the people who just went on eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, who did not care, until it rained. By then it was too late, the door was shut.

And the Lord says it is going to be the same way. Now those passages illustrate the indifference of men toward God, but not as aptly and as powerfully as does this following verse in Matthew 11:20, “Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.”

The gentleness of verse 19 is gone now. They have had the fullness of the Galilean ministry with all of its miracles, they've seen enough to know, forgiving sin, casting out demons, raising the dead, and all others. And now they still have not repented and so He moves to the statement of His judgment.

This is the wrath of the Lamb, as gracious as the Son of God is in His friendship with sinners, so fierce is He in His denunciation of those who will not acknowledge their sin. It is holy anger. It is holy fury that you see in this passage.

Now, Jesus mentions the cities, in which most of His mighty works were done. Now this would be the Galilean cities, where His ministry had taken place. The city refers to the people who lived there. And the reason He began to condemn them was because His mighty works were done in their presence but they did not repent.

When people have that experienced all that and still do not repent, their guilt becomes aggravated and they are more guilty then if they never heard or saw a miracle at all. It is far better for you to know nothing about Jesus Christ than to know something about Him and reject Him. Hebrews 10:26 says, there is greater punishment to the one who knows of Christ and tramples His blood under his feet than to one who never knew.

And I say that because God said that because God cares about you. He says in Luke 12:48, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” One commentator said, "Every hearer of the New Testament truth is either much happier or much more wretched than the men who lived before Christ's coming.”

Now Jesus gives us two illustrations of indifference in the cities of Galilee. First, Matthew 11:21, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

A woe is a curse. Chorazin was a little village in the hills two and a half miles north of Capernaum. It is now extinct, just ruins are left. And then there was Bethsaida out in the plain of Gennesaret, above the Sea of Galilee. It was the hometown of Philip, Andrew and Peter. And Jesus had done many miracles in that little village.

But look what He says, "For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." In the minds of a Jew, they were the two most wretched cities were historically. They were Gentile, pagan, heathen societies. And God destroyed them.

In other words, Jesus says you are worse than they are. For a Jew to be told that he is worse than a Gentile is the absolute worst in that society. And then He added this in Matthew 11:22, “But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.”

What is the day of judgment? Jesus has in mind the great white throne final judgment when all the dead of all the ages are brought before the throne of God to be judged for their eternal punishment. And He says, the judgment of the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida will be more severe than the judgment of Tyre and Sidon.

That tells us there are degrees of punishment in hell, brothers and sisters. And the more severe hell belongs to those who knew the Lord Jesus Christ and still walked away from Him, more severe than the most immoral people who didn't know Him.

But it becomes even worse. A second illustration in Matthew 11:23-24: “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”

What is He saying is that Capernaum was the guiltiest of all. That little fishing village is now in ruins. This was the home of Jesus during His Galilean ministry and where the Lord did so many miracles. He healed the centurion's son. He healed the demoniac in the synagogue. He healed Peter's wife's mother and there was the paralytic that was carried through the roof that He healed.

And the people of Capernaum had this illusion that they were prosperous and they were saying, "We're just going to be exalted to heaven." They were so self-righteous. But Jesus says, "You will be brought to hell." There would be an eternal punishment on the souls of the inhabitants.

They are already incarcerated in a place of torment, even now. But final sentencing awaits the great white throne and they will be severely sentenced for what they did not do. If somebody asked me: what is the worst city in human history? You might answer Sodom. I mean, what other city did God rain fire and brimstone on?

Jesus says revise your list. Now it is Capernaum. Did they have a homosexual problem? Not that we know of. Did they attack God's people? No, they just ignored Jesus, that's all. They were indifferent.

You just can't ignore Jesus Christ and think that it just changes how God feels about you. You simply bring deeper guilt on yourself. Do you know what is the worst of all sins that blinded Capernaum? They thought they were already righteous. Self-righteous people will not admit it. And yet theirs is the severer judgment.

That's why throughout the New Testament our Lord forgave prostitutes and said woe to you, Pharisees, because they had no need of Him. Well, what makes them worse? Indifference. They did not openly opposed Christ, nor ridiculed Him, they just didn't pay any attention. Please don’t make the same mistake, let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130217 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F4 imblog

Matthew 11:7-15

Let us study a very special man by the name of John the Baptist in Matthew 11. Think for a minute, who are really the great people in the world? Some would say the geniuses of the world, others would say the educators, some might think the wealthy or the famous or the entertainers, or the athletes, or the kings, or the heroes.

But when it comes to greatness as God defines it, it is very different from the world. Tonight we are looking at a man from a common family, no wealth, no worldly education, no success, no physical beauty, no earthly possession or position, and yet our Lord says he is the greatest human being who ever lived up to that time.

Look at Matthew 11:11, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.” Now that is a statement of fact from the mouth of our Lord Himself who is speaking in this text. And to emphasize it He says at the beginning of verse 11, "Assuredly," which means, a fact beyond dispute.

And then He says, "Among those born of women." Now what is that? Basically that is a Jewish reference to the human race. He was the most powerful personality and the most powerful voice ever heard; He had dynamic ability to communicate. In this sense he was greater than Adam or Enoch. He was greater than Melchizedek or Abraham. He was greater than Joseph or Moses or David or Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah or Daniel.

Our Lord reinforces John's greatness and He does it by discussing three truths about John. The first one is his personal character. He was a man who could overcome his weakness. Everybody has weaknesses, everybody has failings and problems. The question is whether or not you can overcome them and that is the mark of greatness.

The first thing John did was admit that he had a weakness, and not only that; he was also willing to admit it to the people beneath him. One of the great marks of this kind of man, one of the truest tests of greatness is humility. The person who lives under the illusion of pride is the true fool.

And Jesus taught in Matthew 23:11, “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.” And John had the humility to say in Matthew 3:11, “He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.” And in John 3:30 he said: "I must decrease and He must increase."

In Matthew 11:7, the 2 disciples of John just left but the multitudes were still there. All the people had heard this conversation, and they were now aware of John's doubt, but everybody knew that he was a prophet according to Matthew 21:26. They must have been a little bit quizzical at this point and thinking, well, maybe he isn't as great as we think.

And so the Lord begins in Matthew 11:7 to reaffirm in their minds John’s greatness, because people are so often quick to assume that to admit weakness is not to be great when just the opposite is true. Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”

So Jesus asks them a very simple question. Can we believe him? Is he a vacillating person? So, look what He says, the first statement: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see?" Why would you make such a long journey? What was it that attracted you to that man? Was it because he had a weak character, blowing back and forth with every new wave that came along?

John was not weak, John was a man of conviction. And he did not hold back his message for anybody. When all of the religious leaders came out he said to them in Matthew 3:7-12, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

“10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

He spoke against sin at any time and against anybody. In fact, the whole leadership of Israel had let Herod's sin pass, Herod's adultery and Herod's illicit marriage. But John faced him face to face and told him it was a sin and that's why John was in prison and soon to have his head chopped off.

Third thing, his life was also marked by self-denial. The truly great people are the people who can deny themselves. When we look back in history and read about great generals who went through incredible hardship for a victory, or scientists who were locked up in some kind of a situation for years trying to discover a cure which we now take for granted.

Or when we read about a missionary who gave his life by the time he was 30 years old preaching the gospel to some tribes someplace inland, we then are reminded that that's the mark of greatness. John the Baptist lived in the wilderness. His cause was not comfort. He was not interested in gaining favor from people above him who could support him.

He was a man consumed by a greater cause such that he would not be attracted to the world systems. Now if you want to know what kind of life style he had it's very simple. John had a rough garment of camel's hair, a leather belt, this is Matthew 3:4, around his waist. And his food was locusts and wild honey.

Truly great people are concerned with a mission that supersedes any personal comfort or self-indulgence. And we know, we are all tempted to just go to the easy way. John's commitment was an all consuming commitment. In fact, according to Luke 1:15 it said: "He would drink neither wine nor strong drink." And that meant he took a Nazarite vow.

It also was part of the Nazarite vow to allow your hair to grow without cutting your hair, never putting a razor to your head which didn't exactly keep you up with the current society trend and hairdos. There were very few people who took that vow for life, only people like Samson, Samuel and John the Baptist. He was committed to self-denial.

Now when we talk about self-denial don’t be mistaken, we are not talking about one who denies himself to accomplish a goal that is obtainable. No, John was great because of his personal character was great. Secondly, in his privileged calling. He was given the greatest task that any human being ever had, that is announcing the arrival of God in human flesh.

The only person in the human race that even comes close to John in that regard is Mary. Mary was chosen to bear the Messiah. But in many ways John was greater than Mary. Mary gave birth to a baby. John proclaimed a King. Mary brought Jesus into 30 years of obscurity. John ushered Him into three years of effective ministry. He was a remarkable man.

Look at Matthew 11:9-10, and the Lord's third question: “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.” How could anyone be more than a prophet? “10 For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.”

So, his greatness comes not only from character but from his calling. True greatness always matches the right man with the right position. That's why it's so great when a person is called to become a Christian because God knows what your strengths are and God through His will and the Holy Spirit can lead you into that which is the greatest fulfillment of that ability.

In Amos 3:7 it says: "The prophets are the ones to whom God reveals His secrets." And John was one of those prophets with a message from God. And it had been 400 years since there had been a prophet. So when John came he spoke with power and conviction and people were changed. They didn't all believe his message but they all saw he was a prophet.

How could John be more than a prophet (Mat 11:9)? Well, first of all, he not only prophesied but in verse 10 he was himself the fulfillment of prophecy. He is the fulfillment of Malachi 3:1. And he not only predicted the Messiah, he actually baptized the Messiah. He touched the living Christ. His task is to prepare the hearts of the people for Christ’s coming.

He was great because of his personal character, and then because of his privileged calling. Lastly, he was great because of he had the right impact. He became the focal point; he was the culmination of all of Old Testament history. Matthew 11:12 says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Everywhere he moved there was a violent reaction.

And “the kingdom of heaven”, refers to God's rule, God's will, God's message, God's principles and God's purposes. And there has been violence since John came along. Now, what is the nature of this violence? Some commentators would read this way: The Kingdom of heaven is suffering violence (persecution) and violent men are seizing it. And that's how the King James translates it.

But there is another way of translating it, and it would read this way: The Kingdom of heaven is vigorously pressing itself. What it says, then, is that the Kingdom is moving ahead and people are forcefully entering it. This becomes positive then. And it's saying that John the Baptist is effective moving ahead and the kingdom is violently pressing forward through the sinfulness of the world.

And if you look at the history that is what happened. John the Baptist had a great impact. He was leading many people to Christ. In Luke 1:16-17 it says about John, " 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Yes, and many refused but look the end of the Matthew 11:12 would read this way: Violent men are taking possession of it. There were the forceful who dared to step out, who dared to break with tradition, who dared at great cost to separate themselves from the worldly system, who came and took possession of the reign of God, who crowned Jesus Christ as Lord.

And that is the meaning of a parallel statement in Luke 16:16, where it says: "The law and the prophets were until John, since that time the Kingdom of God is preached and every man presses into it." And because of that parallel passage, it is saying - that the Kingdom is moving ahead under the power of John, and aggressive, forceful people are entering in that kingdom.

Well, does that express the proper perspective on salvation? Yes. In Matthew 7 it says that if you are going to enter into the narrow gate, it's hard to enter, that there must be a striving. Listen to what it says in verse 14, “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

You see, entrance into the kingdom requires earnest endeavor, energy and utmost exertion. Because Satan is mighty and his demons are powerful and sin hold us. God can break that and allow our hearts to respond. But the kingdom is not for weaklings, the compromisers, it is not for rich young rulers, it is not for would-be disciples who want to go home and collect their inheritance.

The kingdom is for men and women who are willing to enter it and affirm the Lordship of Christ. Becoming a Christian means you step out against the flow, you go against the trends in society. It is a way of violently pressing in, breaking the bands of your own sin and self.

Then Matthew 11:13, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” John is the culmination of everything. Everything from Genesis until John is moving along to the moment that he pointed to Christ. And there was only one message from Genesis till then which was – “The Messiah is coming.”

And in Matthew 11:14 it says: “And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.” Now what does that mean? Simply this, in Malachi 4:5 it said that before the Messiah came to set up His kingdom on earth, Elijah would come as a forerunner. Now would this be a real Elijah? No. Elijah's not going to be reincarnated. But one like Elijah.

How do we know that? Because that's what it says in Luke 1:17, “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah.” And in John 1:21 he says: "I am not Elijah." and Jesus here says, "If you receive it, he is Elijah," then we know what it means by Elijah who is to come. Another person with his power, with his kind of character; a powerful, rugged individual who will announce the Kingdom.

And what does it say in verse 14? If you receive the Kingdom, if you open your hearts to the Messiah then God will establish the earthly kingdom and John will have fulfilled that prophecy, he will have been that Elijah. But, if you refuse the kingdom, then John is not going to fulfill that Elijah prophecy and there will yet be an Elijah-type person to come in the future.

Well, they didn't receive the kingdom, did they? So John was not that Elijah. And before the kingdom comes in the future, read Revelation 11, there's going to come two witnesses and there will be that Elijah that comes to announce the Kingdom. John could have been him if they would have believed and then the Kingdom would have been established right then. But they didn't believe and so he was not that Elijah.

Jesus is saying, if John is the forerunner then I am the King. And if I am the King, the Kingdom is being offered. And that puts you in the place of having to make a choice. Don't refuse it. A few received into their hearts the King and so there was a kingdom in the heart. But there yet waits another Kingdom on earth.

Now Jesus is going to make sure that they understand the greatness of John the Baptist, but only as an illustration of a greater spiritual truth. That's why at the end of verse 11 He says: "but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” In spite of his greatness, the least person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

When it comes to human talent and playing a role in human history there has never been anybody as great as John the Baptist, but when it comes to the spiritual dimension the least person in the spiritual dimension is greater than the greatest person in the human dimension, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130210 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F5 imblog

Matthew 11:1-6

We are examining the first 6 verses of Matthew 11 this evening. But before we look specifically, let me explain why this text is here and what it wants to do. The book of Matthew starts with, "Who is Jesus Christ?" And for ten chapters, Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has presented Him as the Son of God, the Savior of Israel and the Savior of the world.

In that effort Matthew tapped every witness to the claims of Christ. We begin with the testimony of history as we see the genealogy that points to Christ as Messiah. Then, we see the virgin birth, as He was conceived by the Holy Spirit without a human father. Then there is the fulfilled prophecy of the Old Testament in chapter 2.

In chapter 3 is the testimony of John the Baptist, a prophet of God proclaiming the Messiah. And the testimony of God the Father, who said, "This is My beloved Son." In chapter 4, we watch His power as Jesus Himself defeats Satan. Then in chapters 5-7, we have His words - the truthfulness, the power and the authority of what He said verifying His claim. Then, in chapters 8-9, we see His healing, casting out demons, raising the dead and forgiving sin. All of these testify to His deity.

Finally, in chapter 10, as we have been learning in the past few weeks, we see the testimony of His disciples. They were so convinced that He was the Christ that they were willing to pay the dearest price of loyalty to Him - death itself. Now in chapters 11-12, Matthew has a different purpose in mind. What is the reaction of those who have heard and seen? In fact, he lists for us the various kinds of reactions to the claims of Christ.

For example, in Matthew 11-12 we see all the negative responses: doubt, criticism, indifference, amazement, rejection, blasphemy, and fascination. But you'll notice nothing is said about the last section of chapter 11 and the last section of chapter 12, because both of those deal with positive responses; the response of faith, the right response.

So the first response in the first 6 verses is the response of doubt. You might even call it perplexity or confusion, but doubt says it better. When the New Testament talks about doubt it primarily focuses on believers. We have to believe something before we can doubt it. So doubt is the unique problem of the believer.

I want to encourage you, in that doubt is something that occurs in the life of a believer. In fact, the illustration in Matthew 11 happens to be John the Baptist. And John the Baptist was a strong believer. It says in Matthew 11:11, “among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist." If the greatest man that ever lived up until his time had doubts, then we can feel comforted when we doubt as well, right?

He had to continually remind them not to doubt. Frequently in Matthew, Jesus said to His disciples, "Oh you of little faith," and in Matthew 14:31, "Why did you doubt?" In Matthew 28:17, at the end, after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to them and it says, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.”

Let us begin by examining the passage tonight, and then we will discuss this problem of doubt. Verse 1, "Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples." That is what He did in chapter 10: He had taught them, trained them, prepared them to go out into the world and represent Him. He knew that they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit, and after His ascension that they would build the church.

As Christ was ministering alone, He is approached by two disciples of John the Baptist in verse 2. John had heard in his prison about the works of Christ, so he sends these disciples to ask in verse 3, "Are you the Coming One, or should we look for another?" The Coming One is a title for the Messiah.

John was in prison and he needed a report on how things were going, so some of his disciples would follow Jesus around. Some people might say, "Well, John didn't believe," but that's not true. The form of the question implies that he believed but was having some doubt He's saying, "I believe that You're the Messiah; am I wrong in believing that?”

Jesus answered them in verse 4, and said, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see." He knew they had been around for a while, and had seen a lot, and reported a lot, so He says, "Go tell him that the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

Why did John doubt, and why was he perplexed? As we look at the text, we can find four reasons why he doubted, and I believe they are the same four reasons why we doubt, why we have times in our lives when we doubt God.

Reason number one: difficult circumstances. Humanly speaking, the career of John the Baptist ended in disaster. John was this fiery, dynamic, bold and courageous man who preached exactly what needed to be preached to people who needed it and never had any fear. When he saw sin he rebuked the person who committed it right away. That was the reason he was imprisoned.

Herod, the ruler of Galilee, went to see his brother and he took a liking to his brother's wife, so he seduced her. When he returned home, he divorced his own wife and then took his brother's wife as his new wife. John the Baptist heard about that, and he in public told Herod that he was an adulterer and a vile sinner.

Herod immediately threw him in prison, and would have killed him, except he was afraid of the people, because the people thought he was a prophet. At the bottom of one of Herod’s palaces in the middle of the desert was a dark hot dungeon. For over one year, he was held in the blackness of that pit without any fresh air. This place now is called Mukawir.

He was a true saint, a prophet of God, holy, faithful, selfless and loyal. He had done exactly what God told him to do; he had announced the glorious coming of the Messiah. He had been filled with the Spirit since the time he was in his mother's womb; he had taken the Nazarite vow - the highest spiritual commitment possible. Was this his reward?

Doubt comes from our inability to deal with negative circumstances; trials. John must have thought, "Didn't Isaiah 61:1-2 promised that when the Messiah came, He would free the prisoners and set loose the captives? What's going on here? This isn't the way it's supposed to be.

John doubted but he did the right thing - he went immediately to the Lord. That's the place to go if you have doubt over those kinds of things; pray to the Lord. Negative circumstances are tough, but all they need to do is drive us to the Lord, who will respond to those struggles by replacing our doubt with faith.

By the way, John's circumstances never got any better; they got worse - he got his head chopped off. Doubt comes from difficult circumstances, but that only gives us an opportunity to exercise faith. Faith, when it is exercised, gets stronger and being with the Lord is better than anything else, right?

The second thing that causes doubt is worldly influences. Notice that it says in verse 2 that John had heard about the works of Christ, and this confused him. The people all thought that when the Messiah came He would first defeat the Romans, wipe them out, and give Israel back her land.

John was influenced by the thinking of his day, saying, “Is this supposed to be this way?" The wrongs were still wrong, the injustices were still there, the sin was everywhere. It just wasn't the way it was supposed to be, and his thoughts became the same as the thinking of the people around him.

In fact we have the same doubts today, right? "If God is a God of love, why is the world so messed up? If Christ loves everyone so much, why do children die and people starve, or get diseases, and there is war and death? If your God is so loving, why doesn't He make things right in this world; why is there so much injustice? If your God is so loving, why is He punishing people to Hell?"

The world does not know God or His plan; they don't know Christ or understand who He is. The natural man does not understand the things of God, and if you begin to let the world force you to think that Christ must be who they say He must be, then you'll start doubting. Again, the solution is to pray to Him.

Jesus says to John, "See, I can do all that. I can stop disease and give resurrection life to the dead. I preach good news to hurting people. It is going to be right, just trust Me for the right timing." Then He adds in verse 6, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

Thirdly, there is incomplete revelation. John had heard about Jesus and what was going on. His disciples had come back and said they had seen this and that, but he really doubted because he didn't have the opportunity for a firsthand look. He didn't have the opportunity, like Peter said, to be an eyewitness of His majesty.

So John needed some firsthand information and the Lord said, "OK. If you need some eyewitness information, I'll give you some." Remember Luke 7; right there, on the spot, Jesus did some great miracles and said, "These are for John! These are John's miracles, now take them to him and tell him." The Lord gave him a more complete revelation.

How does this relate to you? A lot of people doubt because they just don't understand God's revelation. You have to know the facts. I would promise you that your doubt is erased as you daily expose yourself to the revelation of God. Let God speak through His Word; and the closer your relationship is the less you will doubt.

We all need a firsthand manifestation of the living Christ to dispel doubt, and it comes through the pages of Holy Scripture. That's why the Bereans were more noble, because they searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. God gave them the evidence.

Fourthly, people doubt because of unfulfilled expectations. When John preached about Christ in Matthew 3:11, he said, “but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” which is judgment.

In other words, "You'd better get your life right because the Messiah is coming." The implication was that if your life was not right, you would be judged. He was preaching that the Messiah was coming to judge. And here came Jesus, with a small group of twelve characters, wandering around Galilee, healing and doing miracles.

He sounds like David in Psalm 9, 10, 35, 52, 58, and all those psalms where David asked God to punish his enemies. He sounds like the people under the altar in Revelation 6:10, “How long, O Lord, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” He's thinking, "If You are the Messiah, why no punishment?" He has unfulfilled expectations.

You expect God to do something. If there is someone in your life who is a wretched, evil, and vile and they seem to prosper all the time, you might think, "How long will you let this happen, God? This doesn't seem fair." Or maybe you've been looking for the Second Coming for so long, you just sort of gave up.

John had all these expectations, and maybe you think like him, "I wonder if the Messiah ever will come. Is this whole thing true?" Many people say, "Everyone has always believed that, but He hasn't come yet." 2 Peter 3:3-4 says, “Scoffers will come in the last days 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Look how Jesus answers in Matthew 11:5, "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Why? Those are all signs of the Kingdom, for in the Kingdom, all disease is eliminated, no more dying and the world will know the Gospel.

Jesus is saying, "John, if it is your Kingdom expectation that is causing you doubt, look again at these things. They are all the marks of the Kingdom; you are seeing them in a preview. It will all come, so don't stay too long in the trap of doubt, or you will lose your blessing."

Don’t forget, the words of our Lord answer the problems of doubt. If you doubt because of difficult circumstances, look at His works that prove that He cares for people in difficulties. If you doubt because of worldly influence, look at His works that prove that He is in control, and will show it fully one day.

If you doubt because of incomplete revelation, then look at His works, study them, read them, and see who He is. If you doubt because of unfulfilled expectation, look again, for these are the previews of what He will do in His Kingdom. If He could do them then, He proves Himself to be the one who can do them in the Kingdom.

The best part of this story is the part that Matthew doesn't put in, and it is this: John had his doubt removed by the Lord's answer. How do we know that? Look at Matthew 14:12. It talks about John being beheaded and his head is brought on a platter. "Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus."

Why did they tell Jesus? Because they believed Jesus. Why did they believe? Because John believed in Jesus and that made them believe in Jesus too. The fact that they went immediately to Jesus is indicative that John was satisfied with the answer from Jesus. Jesus was part of their lives and their plan because John first was satisfied.

We all doubt, but know this. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, "If we believe not, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." When you doubt, God will be faithful; you won't lose your relationship to the Lord. He will be faithful because God cannot deny Himself.

He has affirmed that you are His child and He will hold on. Knowing that, you can have the confidence to go to God with your doubt, and He'll give you the answer you need. As Luke 12:29 says, “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130203 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F6 imblog

Matthew 10:34-42

So, a true disciple, a true Christian is one who is not afraid of the world. He is so committed to the Lordship of Christ that he's not afraid of what men might do to him, and he favors the Lord. When he comes to the point of having to witness, he will confess and not deny Jesus Christ no matter what it costs him.

Now let's go to a third sign of a true disciple, a true Christian forsakes his family. In Matthew 10:34, our Lord says, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Now this is a most dramatic statement.

In other words Jesus says - Some of you who are real will confess Me when you have to face men in day to day life and when you are brought before the courts of men. Some of you will deny Me because it is not that important to you and you prefer to save your reputation and your life.

Jesus says, that just proves that I have come to bring a sword, I cause divisions. I force people to make decisions that will separate one from another. The very fact that some confess Christ and some deny Christ proves that My coming back will cause war.

Now the Jews figured out from the Old Testament that when the Messiah came He was coming to bring peace. And we understand that because that is part of it. And as Jesus is speaking to His disciples, they had already begun to experience the peace in their hearts that came from having a relationship with Jesus.

But Jesus wanted them to understand that there is more than that view. So the Lord says - Don't be under the illusions that I just bring peace. I did not come not to bring peace, but a sword. And here we have again a paradox. The Lord is saying on the one hand – I am the Prince of Peace, but on the other hand there is going to be a sword.

Even in the Old Testament this was foretold. Micah 7:6 describes the time the Lord comes, “For son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.” The intervention of God in history through the incarnation of Christ is going to split the world into parties that will be pitted against one another.

In fact, Martin Luther said: "If our gospel were received in peace, it wouldn't be the true gospel." And he saw it divide. When he preached the truth in the Catholic Church the result was not peace, it created the biggest rift in the history of religion. It effectively shattered the Catholic Church and started the Protestant Reformation.

Now, verse 34 is paradoxical because when the angels proclaimed His birth they said, "peace on earth." And Jesus in John 14:27 said, "My peace I give to you." And in John 16:33 He said, "In the world you'll have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world," and again promised them peace.

Oh yes, the first coming brought a partial peace, that being the peace that comes to the hearts of those who believe. But the Lord says - just remember this as you go out, you are going to cause division, a real separation. The Gospel does that, it is the refiner's fire that burns away unbelief. When Christ came a war broke out.

Luke 12:49-53 says, “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

If you are a true disciple, you would be willing to follow Jesus in your own home even if your family does not agree, this is difficult right? Because that's the place you want the peace and intimacy. Those are the people you love. Look at Matthew 10:35, and here is how Jesus says it: "For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’.”

Now this is a most difficult verse. It's not so bad when you are at odds with your neighbor or your boss, or your friend, or your acquaintance, but when it gets into the family and your commitment to Jesus Christ means that you are going against your family, that's really tough.

Jesus says that there is no other relationship that is more important than the relationship with Him. And following Jesus Christ may mean that you have created a big division in your own home. But that's the mark of a true disciple.

There are wives that will not come to Christ for fear of separation from their husband. There may be husbands who will not come to Christ for fear of separation from their wives. There are children who will not come to Christ for fear of their fathers or mothers and visa versa.

What we are talking about is the Lordship of Christ, becoming a Christian is affirming your commitment that Christ is your Lord, your absolute master, to the point where you forsake everything. It isn't just sticking up your hand, signing a card, walking down an aisle and saying - I love Jesus. It is by faith where the manifestation of true faith is a commitment that cannot be swayed by anything.

Matthew 10:36 says: “a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” That's true. Christ came to bring a sword, even in your house. And then verse 37, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

Jesus says, “You cannot receive salvation if your family means more than Me.” You must choose. And sometimes that choice is about your own life. You might want to be willing to take Christ and lose your family, but would you be willing to take Christ and lose your life?

Now we are getting serious about who is a Christian, aren't we? And so we say the true disciple does not fear the world, favors the Lord, forsakes the family, and fourthly, a true disciple follows the call. Matthew 10:38 says, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”

Now you have heard many devotionals or sermons on “bearing your cross, or taking up your cross.” And you heard so many definitions of what the cross means, like my wife is my cross or my husband is my cross. Or a teacher that drives you crazy, or your neighbor, or your boss is your cross. No, none of those are your cross.

When Jesus said - Take up your cross, the Jews knew immediately what He meant. He was talking about dying on the cross. When Judas of Galilee led a rebellion and tried to overthrow the Romans, they were crushed. And the Roman general Varus wanted to do something so they would never try that again so he crucified over two thousand Jews.

And he put their crosses up and down all the roads of Galilee so everywhere the people went they saw them hanging on these crosses along the roadside. And every Jew that was crucified had to carry their cross for his own execution on his back after he marched to the cross. And these Galileans all remember that.

So Jesus is talking to them in a historical context and He is saying - he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. And He is saying - You take up your cross, means: you must follow me and go to the most painful death imaginable.

Now remember this, total self denial is to the point of death. The Lord is really focusing on who is a true Christian. And now Jesus teaches that we should prefer death for His sake more than life for our sake. And this is the example He gave: He died on the cross for our salvation.

Then Christ adds this rich thought in Matthew 10:39, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” In finding you life, in securing your physical life and focusing on this world you just lost your soul. But, if you are willing to lose your life for My sake, you will really find eternal life in the end.

The one who confesses Jesus Christ and dies for it is far better off than the apostate, the unbeliever who stays alive by denying Christ and who receives eternal damnation. It is better to lose your comfort and to be persecuted by the world, it is better to even lose your family, it is better to even lose your life than to forsake Jesus Christ.

And praise God, it is not that we will necessarily have to do all these things, but if we are real disciples and if the situation requires this we are willing to do it. See, up to now its all been kind of negative. Isn't there a positive? Sure there is and the text ends on a positive note, and it is quite thrilling.

Number five, Matthew 10:40 says, -a true disciple fosters rewards. We do have a positive effect. You see, we are the destiny-determiners in the world. When we bring the sword that separates, on the one hand are the unbelievers, but on the other hand are the believers. And when we preach and when we live and when we give our testimony, some become believers, don't they?

And for them Christ is so positive. Not everyone is going to refuse the message of the disciple, some are going to believe, some are going to receive their Lord. And since we have no ability to reward their faith, the Lord will do it for us. Look at Matthew 10:40, “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

When you represent Jesus Christ and you present the Gospel, the people who believe it are the ones who receive you. And when some receive you, they are receiving the Lord. And the ones receiving the Lord are receiving the One who sent the Lord. You become an agency of men receiving God Himself.

It goes even beyond that. Matthew 10:41, “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” When you go out representing God by your life and by your speaking and your living, those who receive you will also receive the reward that you receive.

What does that mean? That just means exactly what it says. Anyone who presents Christ, the one who receives will share the presenter’s reward. If the Lord gives to me a reward for proclaiming Him to you, Jesus will give you the same reward for receiving. And we all share.

So, I then become a means for your blessedness. You want to be a blessing in the world? Then confess Christ before men. Then stand up boldly and do not mitigate your testimony and don't be ashamed of Christ. And let your life become the source of their reward.

When you think of prophets and righteous men you think of maybe classy people. But the Lord gives us a wonderful thought in Matthew 10:42, “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

Who are the little ones here? They are the new disciples. And that was what the twelve were right then, they still were a bunch of unproven nothings. Remember the beginning of Matthew 10? They were nobodies.

And Jesus says - When you see people who proclaim the Gospel, you can demonstrate that you receive it by giving them a cup of cold water. People then will be rewarded when they believe our message because they will be saved. They will be rewarded because they will share in the very reward we have proclaimed.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is pretty fantastic. You become the source of conflict for the majority of people in the world, and a source of blessing for the minority portion. And you and I who are followers of Christ, we have become the reason of much warfare in the world. We become the plumb lines for God in determining who will go to heaven and who will not.

I pray to God that we all are willing to follow the Lordship of Christ at any price, so that many people may be antagonized and some may be blessed. The challenge is not easy and that is why we continually must rely on the Holy Spirit for strength, wisdom and perseverance.

There was a missionary in India named Henry Martyn. He spent a lifetime there doing more than his share of missionary service when he announced that he was going to go to Persia because God had laid it upon his heart to translate the New Testament into the Persian language. By then he was already an old man.

They told him that if he stayed in India he would die because of the heat. And then they told him that Persia was even hotter. But he went anyway and studied the Persian language. He translated the entire New Testament in nine months. And then he was told that he could not print it until he received the Shah's permission.

So he traveled 800 miles on the back of a mule to Tehran, but he was denied permission to see the Shah. He turned around and made a 400 mile trip to find the British ambassador. The ambassador gave him the proper papers and sent him back to the Shah. And so he traveled another 400 miles, which makes 1600 miles. He rode his mule at night and rested during the daytime.

He finally arrived and was received by the Shah who gave him permission for the Scriptures to be printed and circulated in Persia. Ten days later he died. But shortly before he had written in his diary this statement: "I sat and thought with sweet comfort and peace of my God, my Companion, my Friend and Comforter in solitude." This was certainly not a life of ease but a life worth remembering.

In a real sense God may call on you and me to give our lives to build a bridge for a remnant to cross into the presence of God. And that starts right now, wherever you are, whoever you meet, in whatever situation God puts you and whatever task He gives you, Amen?

]]> Sun, 27 Jan 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130127 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F7 imblog

Matthew 10:32-33

Now there are five signs of a true disciple. Number one we said last week, a true disciple is not afraid of the world. Verse 26 to 31. Jesus taught us that we are going to be in a hostile environment, we are going to be persecuted, yes here in America too it is becoming more and more of a problem.

And Jesus gives us three reasons not to fear. He encourages his disciples and us too to show our genuineness first of all because of vindication. Someday the truth will be revealed, what is hidden will be made manifest. In other words God's going to overturn all the inequities and He is going to vindicate the righteous.

And you will be honored and exalted if you just have an eternal perspective. The true disciple’s affections are not of the world, he is a new creation, his citizenship is in heaven and he has an eternal perspective and he's not afraid of the world because he knows ultimately it will be overturned and he will be vindicated.

Secondly, Jesus taught to not fear men but fear God. And if you truly fear God you will not fear men. What can men do to you? They can only kill the body at the worst but God is the one who controls eternity and the bodies and souls of men.

Maybe it is at your job or in your classroom and you know you ought to do what is right and so the fear of God says, I must speak and witness for God, but the fear of men says, shut up, don't make a fool of yourself. And you can determine by how you reacted whether you fear men more or fear God more.

And then the third thing, Jesus says that we should not fear the world because we know that God values us very much. Look at the two sparrows, though they are worth only a penny, every time one of them hops or dies, God cares. Look at the hairs of your head, He's got each hair all labeled and numbered.

So we don't fear because of God will vindicate us, and God is much more powerful than men and God highly values us. And so the first mark of a true disciple is he doesn't fear the world, he will boldly speak when he is confronted with the evil system and He will confess Christ.

Now, let us go to the second mark of a true disciple, A true disciple acknowledges the Lord. Matthew 10: 32-33, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

What do you mean, therefore? Well it's all built on the previous passage that's why I had to go over it. If you know that you have the promise of God for vindication, if you know you have the power of God, and that He is the one you truly fear, if you know you have the protection of God because He values you highly therefore you would be willing before men to confess Jesus Christ without fear, right?

In order to be a true Christian we have to believe that in the end God will gain the victory and lift up His people. And you believe that God has a greater power than men, and you believe that God is a Father who cares for His children, and if you believe all that then you are willing to confess Christ.

And so in view of God's promise and power and protection, what could be more reasonable for a disciple of Christ than to fearlessly confess Jesus before men no matter how hostile they might be. Any shame now would be overcome by eternal glory.

Paul says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.” I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because I know its power. He knew God would protect him because he had been stoned before and they only stop after he was dead and yet God raised him from the dead.

The real heart of discipleship is to be committed to being like Jesus Christ. And being like Jesus Christ means to be being treated as He was treated and that means having to face a hostile world fearlessly. And in the midst of it to be willing to confess before men, Jesus as your Lord, and believing that He will do the same before the Father in heaven.

Now Matthew 10:32 uses the word ‘confess’. What does that mean? That means to affirm, to acknowledge and to agree. The idea is a verbal statement of faith, trust and belief in Jesus as your Lord, and a subsequent life that follows that confession. You can confess with your mouth, as in Romans 10, and you confess with your life daily as you live out that confession.

God will protect His own people and God will care for His own people, God is the ultimate judge of the earth and so we have no excuse for shrinking from our duty because of the fear of men. This goes for times of persecution as well as in good times. Whether you stand in front of a sympathetic group or whether you stand in front of a hostile group, a true Christian confesses Jesus.

Now look at verse 32, here's the key, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men." This emphasizes the public character of the confession. If someone is not willing to do this you are not His disciple. Romans 10:9-10 says, "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Now this is not a work of man, this is a work of God. And so it's going to cost us something to be a Christian, it must be public, it must be genuine, and its genuineness is marked by our willingness to confess, to affirm and acknowledge that we belong to Christ no matter how enemies surround us.

In Revelation 2:l3 Jesus says to the church at Pergamus, “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas, My faithful martyr, was killed among you.”

Jesus says, you have named My name and you have never denied My faith even in the midst of persecution when somebody died. And that is how you tell a true believer, the hallmark of genuineness. This is a good place for us to examine ourselves, we might think, I'm ashamed to speak of Christ in my family. What I would do in the midst of persecution?

But let me add that there are many lapses in all of our lives as Christians where we fail to live up to His standard, right? I mean that is what forgiveness is all about, if the Lord said, all right if you're a genuine disciple and you were always that way, you would be perfect and none of us are.

There are true disciples who also failed and denied the Lord. Think of Peter. He denied his Lord, but you know how he reacted? He went out and "wept bitterly." His heart was broken, because he knew the standard and he was broken when he failed to live up to it.

Then there was Timothy, the best student of Paul he ever discipled, the man who was to take over, this great young man with all the talents and the gifts from God and yet Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:8, Timothy, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.” Even Timothy had a lapse.

We all will fail but a true disciple always confesses. So you need to do what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." Are you willing to stand up and confess Jesus Christ? If you will, look at the end of verse 32, "He will confess you before the Father, who is in heaven."

What does that mean? That means Jesus will say to God on the Day of Judgment, this one belongs to Me. He will affirm His loyalty to you as you have affirmed your loyalty to Him. True Christians will confess Christ, oh there will be lapses, they will fail but the pattern of their life will show a willingness to be more like Christ and to be treated as He was treated.

Archaeologists found information on a governor named Pliny in the province of Bithynia who wrote a letter to Trajan explaining the problems he had with Christians. Informers told him there were Christians among his people and so he decided to forbid all Christians to worship Christ. And he ordered them to worship the gods of Rome and the emperor himself.

He had tried all of these things in confronting these Christians but in the end he said this, "None of these acts, those who are really Christians can be compelled to do." If they are real Christians, he said, they won't do this even having to endure all kinds of torture.

Now let's look at the other side of it, verse 33, "But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Now this could speak of people who deny Christ flagrantly, who openly hate Him. But this verse could also relate to someone close to Christianity.

Some people follow Christ only outwardly, they go along as long as things go easily. But when there is a test, when things become a little bit difficult, they deny the Lord. You could deny the Lord by just not saying anything. You could also deny Him by your actions, by living the way everybody else lives.

You can also deny Him by your words, you can just say the things they say, and talk the way they talk. You can deny Christ in a lot of ways. But that kind of a denial it says in verse 38 will be repaid by a denial on an eternal level when the Lord denies you before the Father in heaven.

Notice in verse 32, "I will confess," and in verse 33, "I will deny," and the future tense verb points to the final judgment. Remember Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Why? Because their life was a denial of Him!

This is very important. There is an anxiety in the heart of every pastor as the shepherd of the flock, that there is someone in the midst of the sheep who is not real and will wake up someday in eternal damnation. Jesus felt that in His heart all the time.

Judas is the classic example of this, he was going along pretending to belong but when it got tough he got out. And his actions in effect said, Jesus is not the Messiah, I have to find my way out of this deal. He didn't just leave; he tried to make a profit in some way. But on Judgment Day, what fearful thing would happen to him.

Look with me and examine what will happen in Matthew 25:34. Here is a picture of the judgment and this is the judgment of the sheep and goats at the end of the tribulation, the judgment of the nations. The Lord comes and sets the sheep on His right hand, those are the ones who love Him and know Him and the goats on the left, those are the ones who don't know Him.

Matthew 25: 34, "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” In other words He says, these are the ones that confessed the Lordship of Christ. How did they do that? Oh they did it by their mouth in Romans 10 and they did it before men in Matthew 10.

But look else how they did it, “35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

What is this saying? It is saying this, listen careful brothers and sisters, you must confess Christ with your mouth, which is the public affirmation of your faith before men no matter how hostile they might be. And here you confess Christ by your actions, by living like Christ in the world so that you manifest to all people His own heart of affection.

And you confess Christ by showing love. And if you have no love how can you say God dwells in you, says John. In other words you will confess Christ by feeding someone who is hungry and quenching the thirst of one who is thirsty, by giving a home to a stranger, clothes to someone naked, by visiting the sick and the prisoners. Why? This is a manifestation that you are like Christ.

The credentials of a true disciple are not only the power of God but also the compassion of God. And to be like Christ is to manifest Christ likeness in your relationships. It is your attitudes and actions and words that radiate Christ.

Christ could see a crowd and at times He would weep over them, Christ could see an injustice and He wanted to make it right, Christ saw somebody hungry He wanted to feed him, He saw somebody thirsty He wanted to give him water, saw somebody who was sick and He wanted to make that individual well again.

I am the first one to admit that I am not all I ought to be but I can see a progression in my life for which I thank God. So I ask you to look at your life. There is a cost and that is an open confession, and if you're willing to do it then He'll confess you before the Father.

So when you look at your life and you fall short, you see those lapses, what is your response to those lapses? Is there a brokenness, do you ask His forgiveness and do you mean it from your heart and do you try to do better? That is the attitude of a believer.

Well there are more marks of a Christian than we will look at the next one next week, and you know what it is? A true disciple also not only fears not the world and favors the Lord but forsakes his own family. We will get into that next time. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 20 Jan 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130120 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F8 imblog

Matthew 10:16-23

As the Lord Jesus Christ is sending forth the Twelve, in verses 16-23, He teaches them how to react when the world rejects them. They need to learn to anticipate rejection. He has commissioned them and now He says in verse 16, “I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Don't expect it to be easy."

They were given divine power; with a certain invincibility in that power. On the other hand, they were sheep, and as such are very vulnerable. So, in the ministry, there is always this tension between the power of God and the weakness of man.

Verse 23 ends with the coming of the Son of Man, so this affects the history of all of God's people. Some things here are directly and specifically related to the Twelve, and others go beyond that, to relate to all of us and especially to that generation that will be alive just prior to the second coming of the Lord.

We discussed last week who the wolves are. Notice verses 17 and 22 say, "Beware of men. You will be hated by all men." Though it is true that we wrestle against demons but they find their form in the world through humans so that men become the pawns and the agents of demons. So we are attacked by the human system.

And they are vicious because they hate Christ; it is not that they really don't like us; it is that they don't like the One we represent. Jesus Christ is despised and hated by Satan and his demons. Thus men, as his agents will express that hate toward us.

And how do the wolves attack? First of all, they attack through religion. Verse 17 says, "Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you," that is, they will beat you with whips, but usually with rods strapped together, "In their synagogues." This is the key word in verse 17 because it establishes a religious context.

The Jewish people had synagogues, or meeting places, in every town and village. There they would carry out their own particular brand of law. If someone violated the laws of Moses or rabbinical tradition, he would be brought before the local synagogue. A tribunal of 2 to 3 judges would render a verdict, followed by a sentencing.

Old Testament law required no more than 40 such stripes to be given to each victim, according to Deuteronomy 25:3, so they never gave more than 39 to be sure they would not break the letter of the law. So it was a part of the function of the synagogue to discipline. They would actually beat the people in front of the whole congregation.

Our Lord told the disciples to expect to be delivered up to the councils, the local courts in the synagogues. The supreme court of the land was the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. He told them not to surprised to be scourged in the synagogues.

The apostles were scourged in the synagogue in Acts 5:40. Acts 22:19 tells us the Apostle Paul, before his conversion, went from synagogue to synagogue dragging in Christians and having them scourged for rejecting Judaism. 2 Corinthians 11:24 says that Paul himself was scourged five times, and probably all of those happened in synagogues.

The fact of the matter is that our Lord Jesus Christ was actually sentenced to death by religious men of Judaism who wanted to get rid of Him - the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees and elders. And Jewish persecution of Christians continued until the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. While the Bible shows that Jews once persecuted Christians, that is only a representation of religious persecution in general all over the world.

In the time of the Apostle Paul, the Romans persecuted the Christians terribly. In the city of Ephesus, they worshiped Diana and Artemis. When the Gospel was preached there, in Acts 19, they put the idol-makers out of business. So a riot broke out, and persecution started against Christians.

Many demons have influenced pagan people in remote areas to massacre many missionaries century after century in the history of the church. Throughout history what killed true believers was the local religion because Satan is behind all those false religious systems.

When the ultimate persecution will occur during the Tribulation in Revelation 17, true saints will be massacred all over. Revelation 17:5 names the final form of world religion as, "Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”

This all came from Babel. When the Lord scattered the people from the Tower of Babel, they spread the roots of false religion around the globe. All pagan religions of the world can be traced back to that original, false system. At the end, they run full-circle; they started at Babel, they spread around the world, and they come together in Satanic Babylon.

In Matthew 7:15, our Lord warned of those who would come dressed in, "Sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." In other words they come in the name of religion. 2 Corinthians 2 says Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so don't be surprised if his ministers are disguised as servants of righteousness. Such religion masks itself as respectable, but it is a persecutor of the truth, doing everything to destroy it, even taking life if it has the authority, because it is operated by Satan, who is a liar and a murderer.

A second source of attack, in verse 18, is the government, “You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles,” like Pilate, Felix and Festus, in biblical days. "And kings," such as Agrippa I and II, Herod Antipas, and others in the biblical picture.

When you are brought before them to give that testimony, whether it's a positive testimony of the Gospel, or whether it is an indicting testimony to condemn them, just do not be surprised. The Roman Empire persecuted Christians. Most of the disciples who heard Jesus' instruction in Matthew 10 died at the hands of the Roman government or some ancillary government.

In Russia, countless Christians were slaughtered after the revolution. Many were slaughtered in communist China as well. In Uganda, under the government of Idi Amin, Christians suffered horrifying atrocities. The governments of the world will persecute Christianity because Satan is the prince of this world. We already have experienced that the US government has denied us some of the freedoms we have had in the past.

Persecution also comes through the family. In verse 21 it says, ““Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.”

That's why, in Matthew 10:36-37, He says, “and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” In other words, who do you love more, Jesus or your family.

Only God knows how many people have been persecuted, betrayed, or killed by members of their own family because of their faith in Christ. Only God knows how many people in other countries throughout the history of the world have betrayed to authorities their own believing family members.

What are the sheep supposed to do? Number one: be wise. Verse 16 says, “Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the serpent is a symbol for wisdom. The ancients viewed snakes as shrewd, smart, prudent and cautious, using great skill to avoid danger.

In Colossians 4:5 Paul says, "Walk in wisdom toward them that are outside." In other words, Christians are to be wise in dealing with the wolves of the world around them. What kind of wisdom? Be subtle, anticipate, be sensitive, cunning and cautious, be wary and be shrewd like a serpent.

Say the right thing at the right time in the right place. Discover the best means to achieve the highest goal. There is no sense in creating havoc all around us. We know that they are anti-Christian, they don't want to hear our message, so we must be careful in how we approach them, use discretion.

When the Pharisees asked Jesus if we should pay taxes, our Lord could have replied, "Caesar is a rotten and evil sinner, who is damned to Hell forever." But instead He said, "Give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's and to God, the things that are God's." He didn't compromise the truth, and He was very wise.

Secondly, He says, "Be harmless as doves." Christians are not to cause harm or create problems. We are not to be running through the world, always fighting back, suing and crushing people, and being intrusive, behave brash or rude. We have to be gentle and harmless.

More than that, the concept here is purity and innocence. In Song of Solomon 5:2, the husband says to his wife, "My dove, my perfect one,” this is a symbol of purity, holiness, and innocence. While we are to be wise, we also are to be pure. But when we seek a wiser method in dealing with a problem, we should never compromise the truth. Those who represent Christ are not to cause injury or employ trickery or deceit in trying to escape from danger.

In Luke 6:27, Jesus summed it up by saying, "Love your enemies, do good to them who hate you." He's saying to maintain your purity and wisdom, show a gentle spirit. In I Corinthians 9:22, Paul said, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." Be discreet, but never compromise the truth, so that you maintain your purity. Find that balance between the two.

In 1 Peter 2:23, when our Lord was reviled, He didn't revile in return. When He was cursed, He didn't curse back. When His enemies abused Him on the cross, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. Such was the gentleness displayed by Jesus. That is a good example for us.

Thirdly, beware. Be on your guard and be perceptive. Be careful. Don't give the wolves an opportunity to condemn you or take you in their court. Their evil intention is to make you compromise. Beware constantly, Satan strikes when you least expect it.

Fourthly, do not worry. Verse 19 says, “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak.” In other words, when they haul you into the courts, and threaten your life, don't be anxious, be calm.

Jesus told the disciples not to worry because He would take care of them; He would give them what to say. He said, "Just go about your business ministering. Don't worry about what is going to happen. Be wise, harmless, and beware. And if you come before a council, I'll take care of it." They didn't need to prepare a defense; they just needed to stay calm. In Philippians 4:6 Paul says, "Be anxious for nothing."

Jesus gave the reason for not being anxious: "For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak." When anyone in any age at any time goes before any council in the name of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God will bring to his or her mind the right things to say. Verse 20 says, “20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” All you will do is responding, but God is the one really speaking.

Fifth, be real. Verse 22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” What is that saying? This is not saying people who can make it through persecution will hold on to their salvation. It is saying endurance is a hallmark of genuine salvation. Those who are really saved will survive.

Nothing is more purifying to the church than persecution. Essentially, it's the same principle we find in Romans 2:7, “eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality.” It's the same in Hebrews 3:14. “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”

There is nothing that can destroy you, Paul said in Romans 8, “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Last, keep moving. Verse 23, “When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” There is no sense in standing around taking harassment and persistent persecution until someone kills you.

That's what Paul did; he would preach, a riot would start, then he'd leave town and go to another. When a riot broke out there, he went to the next town, and so on. He just kept moving; he wasn't going to stay in one place and die - life was too precious; there were too many towns to reach and too much to be done. We have to keep moving.

So what is the sum of the Lord's instruction to us? Do not provoke animosity or destruction. There is too much work to be done and still too many places to reach. Every one of us matters in God's eyes. We have to move to the receptive places and keep moving, knowing that God is with us all the time. In the power of the Spirit, He will help us to say the right things and have the effect that He wants us to have.

A poet wrote, "Jesus is our Shepherd, guarded by His arm, though the wolves may try, none can do us harm. When we tread Death's Valley, dark with fearful gloom, we will fear no evil, victors or the tomb." No matter what Satan does, even to death, he can't win against God's sheep.

Are you willing to serve Almighty God even if the cost is high? This is the most important thing that you can ever do in your life. And you cannot lose! God Himself guarantees it. Amen?

]]> Sun, 13 Jan 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130113 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000F9 imblog

Matthew 10:24-25

Let us begin in 2013 by listening to what our Lord says to His disciples beginning in Matthew 10:24, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!”

This section of Scripture is the beginning of the most crucial and the most definitive passage ever uttered by our Lord on the subject of discipleship. This is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ on what the cost is, and what it involves. And because of this it demands our greatest attention.

Now discipleship is extremely important here at our church. Our task is as stated by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

In Matthew 10 our Lord is making disciples. He is building up disciples. He has the group of twelve and He is building them to maturity to send them out to reproduce and advance the Kingdom. And that is the same process He has called all of us to be engaged in as well.

And this means much more than leading people to Jesus Christ. That is not the end of our task that is just the beginning. To put it in the terms of what Paul told us in Ephesians 4:12, our task is "equipping the saints for the work of ministry." We are to produce mature disciples who minister and who in turn can reproduce themselves.

Now that's what our Lord was after. He wanted people who would come and learn from Him. He said in Matthew 11:29, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” That is the essence of what conversion is. Conversion is the willingness to learn from Jesus Christ all things, whatever He has commanded.

And my commitment is to do that although I often struggle with my weakness and ignorance and my flesh to accomplish that end, but I know what the task is and I know that I'm committed to that task. But what I don't know is whether you are committed to the task of learning and that's the issue.

The Lord knew what His task was. He knew what the truth is and He knew how to communicate the truth but what He was looking for was open hearts to receive it, the ready mind and ready heart. And all our goal should be a transformed life like that.

When Jesus called disciples to Himself, He carefully instructed them in what they would be facing. And consequently it kept out those half-hearted people who weren't willing to make the commitment. Jesus did the same thing when He talked about a narrow gate and a narrow way. He kept out the people that were not willing to make the commitment, to pay the price.

Now that is true discipleship. That is how it is to be when you become a follower of Jesus Christ. And this passage is going to force you to face that reality. The Lord really reduces discipleship down to some clear basic issues. We'll cover a little tonight and some more next time and then finish it out later.

And if you have ever wondered what the real stuff of commitment is, and what it really means to be set apart or sanctified, you'll find the answer right here. This text is so filled with truth regarding discipleship that it has been the focus of Christians through the centuries in learning Jesus' perspective on dedication to Himself.

When you became a Christian, you did not just buy fire insurance, you did not just jump down the escape hatch from hell, you affirmed the Lordship of Christ and that means that you affirmed a response of obedience. You said - You are the teacher, I am the learner. And you will learn all things whatever He has commanded you. If you came in on any other term, it's questionable whether you are saved at all.

Now, the people who have responded to the truths of Matthew 10:24-42 have been the kind of people who change the world. We're talking about total dedication, total commitment, the real stuff, nothing held back. And those are the kinds of people who in deep self examination came to a dedication level that set them a cut above everybody else and made them the kind that God could use to change the course of history.

Jim Elliot, the Auca Indian martyr wrote in his diary this: "God, I pray toYou, light these idle sticks of my life that I may burn for You. Consume my life, my God, for it is Yours. I seek not a long life but a full one like You Lord Jesus." That's exactly what he got. In the very flower of his youth a native Indian threw a spear killing him.

It's this kind of dedication that we're talking about. This is to put it in a contemporary mode so you don't think it's just something way back when. If you know anything about the history of revival in the United States, you've heard the name Jonathan Edwards, a great preacher. God used him mightily. There was a reason. The reason was he was willing to pay the price. The reason was he gave everything.

And this is what he wrote: "I claim no right to myself, no right to this understanding, this will, these affections that are in me. Neither do I have any right to this body, no right to this tongue, to these hands, feet, ears or eyes. I have given myself clear away and not retained anything of my own. I have been to God this morning and told Him I have given myself wholly to Him, I have given every power so that for the future I claim no right to myself in any respect. I've expressly promised Him, for by His grace I will not fail. His law is the constant rule of my obedience. I will fight with all my might against the world, the flesh and the devil to the end of my life.”

Now that is consecration. And God used that man beyond his imagination. Now, we too are called to that kind of commitment. And I am forewarning you that that's what you are going to face in this chapter. And as we continue to read Jesus’ words you are going to be put against the wall repeatedly to evaluate and self-examine your commitment level.

Now, let's examine Matthew 10:24-25 this evening. Jesus has named the twelve; the priority focus initially in the chapter is on the twelve. But as you go through the chapter you can see clearly that it extends beyond them. In fact, in verse 25 it talks about the people who minister till the Son of Man returns at the second coming.

We see first the twelve and then we see all those who follow Christ. First, their initial mission, and then we see their later mission after the Holy Spirit empowers them. And then we see the mission of all who ever serve Christ as we flow through this marvelous chapter.

Now, as we have studied Matthew 10:23 we have covered everything till the second coming, till the Son of Man comes back. So that now He has taken us to that wide level, and in that context He talks about every disciple He'll ever have throughout all of that period and gives the definition of their discipleship from verse 24 to 42.

Now our Lord is going to say this - For those people who truly want to come and be My disciple, here's what I ask. This is what I require. This is the stuff of real discipleship. Note how honest Jesus is right up front. He doesn't hold back anything.

He tells them the cost. You don't do anyone a favor by trying to get them to accept Christ without letting them know what is really involved in such acceptance. You see, it will cost you your family, it will cost you your inheritance and it will cost you your comfort and those are the terms.

The disciples might be thinking - Wow, in verse 16, we're going to be sheep among wolves. Verse 17, we're going to get scourged in the synagogue and we're going to be dragged before pagan courts. Verse 21, our own family is going to put us to death. Verse 22, we're going to be hated by all kinds of people for His sake. Verse 23, we're going to be persecuted so we have to keep running from city to city.

So now in verse 24, Jesus begins His general teaching on discipleship. And the Lord says – “The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his lord.” In other words Jesus says, “Why should you expect to get any different treatment than what I received?” Do you hear that, do you understand that?

This statement is obvious. The disciple is always below his teacher. If I'm your teacher then you are going to learn what I teach you. But Jesus uses another metaphor, the servant and his lord. In the first case we assume the disciple chooses his teacher, in the second case - the lord buys and owns his servant.

But in either case, there is the role of subservience, we are under Him. The disciple is a learner. The teacher is the one who knows. The lord is the master, the slave is the doulos. And by its definition he is the one who does what the master tells him. So, the Lord is saying: The basic principle of discipleship is that you submit yourselves to Me.

We choose to be a disciple to learn at the feet of Jesus but He chooses us as His servant - sovereignly. When you become a Christian and you affirm that you will follow Jesus Christ, you are saying - I submit to the truth and wisdom You will teach me. I will follow Your orders and I will carry them out.

Well there is both a positive and a negative in this. Let me talk about the positive for a minute. Jesus also uses that phrase in Luke 6:40, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone after he has been fully trained will be like his teacher."

Some day the disciple will be like his teacher. What does it mean to be a disciple then? It means to pursue being like Christ, that is the basic element of discipleship. From the positive side the Lord is saying - when you're fully trained you're going to be like Christ.

This is the goal of all discipleship as stated clearly in the Great Commission - Go into all the world and make disciples. What does that involve? Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. In other words, a disciple is one who knows the Word and obeys the Word and teaches others.

The goal of the Christian life then is to grow toward Christ likeness. According to 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” That's the goal even though it isn't fully consummated.

On the other hand, Jesus is also saying the disciple is not above his teacher, and the servant is not above his lord in the sense of persecution. In other words Jesus says, don't expect to have it any different than I did. And the more like Me you are the more they will treat you like they have treated Me.

You can gauge your own Christian life that way, right? The more like Christ you are the more the world will treat you like they treated Christ. Could it be that you don't get much persecution because there is not much similarity between your life and Christ’s life?

The context in this world is persecution, hostility and death. And we have to be ready to accept that. This is an amazing call to discipleship. I want you to come and be My disciples and be like Me and get ready to pay the supreme price. That's what He is saying. And if you are not willing to come on those terms then you are not going to come.

Now, go to verse 25 and see how Jesus adds an insightful phrase - "It is enough, for the disciple that he be like his teacher and the servant like his lord." A true disciple is content to be like his teacher and a true servant is content to be faithful to his lord. That’s enough.

Paul was like that and in his great prayer in Philippians 3:10 he said, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” I don't ask to be loved by the world, I don't ask to be accepted, just let me know the fellowship of His persecution even in death.

And you want to know how they were treated? In verse 25, the Lord gives an illustration. "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" And here He uses the word - The master of the house, and it's the idea of the Lord of the house. And if they call Jesus the devil and you are under Him what do you expect they will call you?

And, did people call Jesus the devil? Yes, that's right. They called Him Satan, because Beelzebub is a reference to Satan. Go back to Matthew 9: 34 when Jesus had healed the blind men, and healed the one with the demon, the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” In other words, He is working for the devil - the prince of demons.

They were so self righteous and they thought they knew God, but they actually were so far from the truth, that they saw the holy Son of God living in human flesh in the world and they watched and heard Him and they still said - He's demon possessed.

Go over to Matthew 12:24, “Now when the Pharisees heard it,” and here again Jesus is healing, and casting out demons, they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” There again they said He's demon possessed.

Now look at Matthew 10:25 again. Here Jesus says - They will call Me Beelzebub. They will not say He works for Beelzebub or He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, they will now say He is Beelzebub. He is Satan. This is the ultimate blasphemy. And Jesus says if they say that about Me what do you think they are going to say about you?

Now what is the point of all this? You have to be willing to pay the price. The more you move to be like Christ, which is the goal of all discipleship, the more the world is going to treat you the way they treated Him and they are going to treat you evil because that's the way they perceived Him.

Some of us became Christians because we saw something in the life of someone else that we wanted. There's something attractive; joy, freedom from guilt, a sense of forgiveness, a hope of eternal life, peace in the heart, and so while we're becoming more like Christ we will become more attractive to those whom God is calling to Himself.

But we will become more distasteful to the system that hated Christ. That is the price of discipleship, more attractive to those who are called and more hated to those who do not believe. It goes together. And this is just the introduction now. We will learn more the next time about the five marks of true disciples. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Jan 2013 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20130106 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000FA imblog

Matthew 10:16-23

As the Lord Jesus Christ is sending forth the Twelve, in verses 16-23, He teaches them how to react when the world rejects them. They need to learn to anticipate rejection. He has commissioned them and now He says in verse 16, “I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Don't expect it to be easy."

They were given divine power; with a certain invincibility in that power. On the other hand, they were sheep, and as such are very vulnerable. So, in the ministry, there is always this tension between the power of God and the weakness of man.

Verse 23 ends with the coming of the Son of Man, so this affects the history of all of God's people. Some things here are directly and specifically related to the Twelve, and others go beyond that, to relate to all of us and especially to that generation that will be alive just prior to the second coming of the Lord.

We discussed last week who the wolves are. Notice verses 17 and 22 say, "Beware of men. You will be hated by all men." Though it is true that we wrestle against demons but they find their form in the world through humans so that men become the pawns and the agents of demons. So we are attacked by the human system.

And they are vicious because they hate Christ; it is not that they really don't like us; it is that they don't like the One we represent. Jesus Christ is despised and hated by Satan and his demons. Thus men, as his agents will express that hate toward us.

And how do the wolves attack? First of all, they attack through religion. Verse 17 says, "Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you," that is, they will beat you with whips, but usually with rods strapped together, "In their synagogues." This is the key word in verse 17 because it establishes a religious context.

The Jewish people had synagogues, or meeting places, in every town and village. There they would carry out their own particular brand of law. If someone violated the laws of Moses or rabbinical tradition, he would be brought before the local synagogue. A tribunal of 2 to 3 judges would render a verdict, followed by a sentencing.

Old Testament law required no more than 40 such stripes to be given to each victim, according to Deuteronomy 25:3, so they never gave more than 39 to be sure they would not break the letter of the law. So it was a part of the function of the synagogue to discipline. They would actually beat the people in front of the whole congregation.

Our Lord told the disciples to expect to be delivered up to the councils, the local courts in the synagogues. The supreme court of the land was the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. He told them not to surprised to be scourged in the synagogues.

The apostles were scourged in the synagogue in Acts 5:40. Acts 22:19 tells us the Apostle Paul, before his conversion, went from synagogue to synagogue dragging in Christians and having them scourged for rejecting Judaism. 2 Corinthians 11:24 says that Paul himself was scourged five times, and probably all of those happened in synagogues.

The fact of the matter is that our Lord Jesus Christ was actually sentenced to death by religious men of Judaism who wanted to get rid of Him - the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees and elders. And Jewish persecution of Christians continued until the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. While the Bible shows that Jews once persecuted Christians, that is only a representation of religious persecution in general all over the world.

In the time of the Apostle Paul, the Romans persecuted the Christians terribly. In the city of Ephesus, they worshiped Diana and Artemis. When the Gospel was preached there, in Acts 19, they put the idol-makers out of business. So a riot broke out, and persecution started against Christians.

Many demons have influenced pagan people in remote areas to massacre many missionaries century after century in the history of the church. Throughout history what killed true believers was the local religion because Satan is behind all those false religious systems.

When the ultimate persecution will occur during the Tribulation in Revelation 17, true saints will be massacred all over. Revelation 17:5 names the final form of world religion as, "Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”

This all came from Babel. When the Lord scattered the people from the Tower of Babel, they spread the roots of false religion around the globe. All pagan religions of the world can be traced back to that original, false system. At the end, they run full-circle; they started at Babel, they spread around the world, and they come together in Satanic Babylon.

In Matthew 7:15, our Lord warned of those who would come dressed in, "Sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." In other words they come in the name of religion. 2 Corinthians 2 says Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so don't be surprised if his ministers are disguised as servants of righteousness. Such religion masks itself as respectable, but it is a persecutor of the truth, doing everything to destroy it, even taking life if it has the authority, because it is operated by Satan, who is a liar and a murderer.

A second source of attack, in verse 18, is the government, “You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles,” like Pilate, Felix and Festus, in biblical days. "And kings," such as Agrippa I and II, Herod Antipas, and others in the biblical picture.

When you are brought before them to give that testimony, whether it's a positive testimony of the Gospel, or whether it is an indicting testimony to condemn them, just do not be surprised. The Roman Empire persecuted Christians. Most of the disciples who heard Jesus' instruction in Matthew 10 died at the hands of the Roman government or some ancillary government.

In Russia, countless Christians were slaughtered after the revolution. Many were slaughtered in communist China as well. In Uganda, under the government of Idi Amin, Christians suffered horrifying atrocities. The governments of the world will persecute Christianity because Satan is the prince of this world. We already have experienced that the US government has denied us some of the freedoms we have had in the past.

Persecution also comes through the family. In verse 21 it says, ““Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.”

That's why, in Matthew 10:36-37, He says, “and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” In other words, who do you love more, Jesus or your family.

Only God knows how many people have been persecuted, betrayed, or killed by members of their own family because of their faith in Christ. Only God knows how many people in other countries throughout the history of the world have betrayed to authorities their own believing family members.

What are the sheep supposed to do? Number one: be wise. Verse 16 says, “Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the serpent is a symbol for wisdom. The ancients viewed snakes as shrewd, smart, prudent and cautious, using great skill to avoid danger.

In Colossians 4:5 Paul says, "Walk in wisdom toward them that are outside." In other words, Christians are to be wise in dealing with the wolves of the world around them. What kind of wisdom? Be subtle, anticipate, be sensitive, cunning and cautious, be wary and be shrewd like a serpent.

Say the right thing at the right time in the right place. Discover the best means to achieve the highest goal. There is no sense in creating havoc all around us. We know that they are anti-Christian, they don't want to hear our message, so we must be careful in how we approach them, use discretion.

When the Pharisees asked Jesus if we should pay taxes, our Lord could have replied, "Caesar is a rotten and evil sinner, who is damned to Hell forever." But instead He said, "Give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's and to God, the things that are God's." He didn't compromise the truth, and He was very wise.

Secondly, He says, "Be harmless as doves." Christians are not to cause harm or create problems. We are not to be running through the world, always fighting back, suing and crushing people, and being intrusive, behave brash or rude. We have to be gentle and harmless.

More than that, the concept here is purity and innocence. In Song of Solomon 5:2, the husband says to his wife, "My dove, my perfect one,” this is a symbol of purity, holiness, and innocence. While we are to be wise, we also are to be pure. But when we seek a wiser method in dealing with a problem, we should never compromise the truth. Those who represent Christ are not to cause injury or employ trickery or deceit in trying to escape from danger.

In Luke 6:27, Jesus summed it up by saying, "Love your enemies, do good to them who hate you." He's saying to maintain your purity and wisdom, show a gentle spirit. In I Corinthians 9:22, Paul said, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." Be discreet, but never compromise the truth, so that you maintain your purity. Find that balance between the two.

In 1 Peter 2:23, when our Lord was reviled, He didn't revile in return. When He was cursed, He didn't curse back. When His enemies abused Him on the cross, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. Such was the gentleness displayed by Jesus. That is a good example for us.

Thirdly, beware. Be on your guard and be perceptive. Be careful. Don't give the wolves an opportunity to condemn you or take you in their court. Their evil intention is to make you compromise. Beware constantly, Satan strikes when you least expect it.

Fourthly, do not worry. Verse 19 says, “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak.” In other words, when they haul you into the courts, and threaten your life, don't be anxious, be calm.

Jesus told the disciples not to worry because He would take care of them; He would give them what to say. He said, "Just go about your business ministering. Don't worry about what is going to happen. Be wise, harmless, and beware. And if you come before a council, I'll take care of it." They didn't need to prepare a defense; they just needed to stay calm. In Philippians 4:6 Paul says, "Be anxious for nothing."

Jesus gave the reason for not being anxious: "For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak." When anyone in any age at any time goes before any council in the name of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God will bring to his or her mind the right things to say. Verse 20 says, “20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” All you will do is responding, but God is the one really speaking.

Fifth, be real. Verse 22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” What is that saying? This is not saying people who can make it through persecution will hold on to their salvation. It is saying endurance is a hallmark of genuine salvation. Those who are really saved will survive.

Nothing is more purifying to the church than persecution. Essentially, it's the same principle we find in Romans 2:7, “eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality.” It's the same in Hebrews 3:14. “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”

There is nothing that can destroy you, Paul said in Romans 8, “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Last, keep moving. Verse 23, “When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” There is no sense in standing around taking harassment and persistent persecution until someone kills you.

That's what Paul did; he would preach, a riot would start, then he'd leave town and go to another. When a riot broke out there, he went to the next town, and so on. He just kept moving; he wasn't going to stay in one place and die - life was too precious; there were too many towns to reach and too much to be done. We have to keep moving.

So what is the sum of the Lord's instruction to us? Do not provoke animosity or destruction. There is too much work to be done and still too many places to reach. Every one of us matters in God's eyes. We have to move to the receptive places and keep moving, knowing that God is with us all the time. In the power of the Spirit, He will help us to say the right things and have the effect that He wants us to have.

A poet wrote, "Jesus is our Shepherd, guarded by His arm, though the wolves may try, none can do us harm. When we tread Death's Valley, dark with fearful gloom, we will fear no evil, victors or the tomb." No matter what Satan does, even to death, he can't win against God's sheep.

Are you willing to serve Almighty God even if the cost is high? This is the most important thing that you can ever do in your life. And you cannot lose! God Himself guarantees it. Amen?

]]> Sun, 09 Dec 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121209 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000FB imblog

Matthew 10:16-23

We come this evening in our ongoing study of Matthew's gospel, to a very wonderful passage, chapter 10 - part of our Lord's instruction to the Twelve as He sent them out. It tells us more about Christ, and gives us more to be grateful for, and I trust that the Spirit of God will use this study this evening to grow us spiritually.

In Matthew 10:16-23 Jesus says, “16 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 18 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

“21 Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

Jesus here instructs the Twelve on their first missionary venture as part of their training. Before they are finally sent out after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, they need to have some anticipation of what it will be like when they face a hostile, Christ-rejecting world. So the Lord sends them out two by two for a short time to give them a taste of what they will face later.

And Jesus gives them specific instructions that are related to them. But beyond that, He gives them principles that will not only relate to their full mission after the ascension, but beyond that to touch all people who represent Christ in the church age and even into the period of the Great Tribulation.

In Matthew 10: 23, you will notice that it ends with the coming of the Son of Man, which is the second coming of Christ. This describes the history of God's people from the time of Jesus' first coming to the time of His second coming. He sees the Twelve on their first mission but also all those who represent Him afterwards.

There are some very specific things that related to the apostles. For example, it says in verse 8, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons." There is no indication they actually did raise the dead on this first mission. But they would do that in their final mission after the resurrection after the Holy Spirit came.

It also says in verse 17, "They will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues." They weren't persecuted until after the resurrection of Christ. Some things are uniquely fulfilled by those who will live in the Great Tribulation. People often misunderstand this section, wondering how and where these all apply. But this is a common biblical pattern.

It is common in biblical predictions to have both an immediate and future fulfillment, and that is what our Lord is doing. He is predicting the role and the place of the apostles, but also has in mind the ultimate sense that these things will happen clear through history up to the time of the Great Tribulation.

Look at the opening statement in verse 16, and see what it means. "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” Sheep are helpless, stupid, dependent and timid animals. They are so easily scared that even a rabbit jumping from behind some brush can cause a whole flock to stampede. That is a good thing, because when danger comes, they are really helpless.

And the biggest enemy of sheep is the wolf. If you had lived in Palestine in the Lord's time, you would have understood how difficult the task of the shepherd is. Not only did he have to defend his sheep against wild animals but also against the things they did to themselves. Sheep find many ways to injure and kill themselves. If a shepherd reported that a sheep had been killed, he had to prove that a wild animal had killed it.

Sending people out as sheep is actually a very realistic example; Christ is the Good Shepherd, He knows His sheep, He loves and cares for His sheep, they know His voice. But the idea of them being among wolves was the Lord's way of graphically illustrating the situation you face when you confront a Christ-rejecting, God-hating world with the message of the Gospel.

Sometimes those wolves are right among us. Paul said to the elders of the Ephesian church in Acts 20:29, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” In Romans 8:36, Paul says, “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Sometimes the wolves are on the outside. Remember the wolf in sheep's clothing in Matthew 7:15? "The wolves are out there," Jesus says, "And you're defenseless in and of yourselves." This doesn't mean that we're going to loose, it just means we don't have the resources in ourselves. John 10 tells us the truth that the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep; He will defend us.

Pay attention to the honesty of Jesus. We are so concerned about getting people saved that we at times dilute and weaken the Gospel. We don't talk about repentance or confession of sin or humbling oneself or hungering and thirsting for righteousness. We don't talk about the lordship of Christ, or obedience and the narrow way, or the cost and the price to follow Him.

Then, when someone becomes a believer, we don't talk about going out into the world as sheep among wolves. We don't recruit people for evangelism and say, “There are some hungry wild wolves out there. Are any of you sheep willing to volunteer?”

Because we have weakened our presentation of the Gospel and reduced what service to Christ really is, people will come to Him based on false assumptions. It just clouds the issue for them and everyone else. That's why so many are on the broad road and so few on the narrow road. But many on the broad road think that they're saved because they have only heard the watered down version of the Gospel.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, in 1849, after the siege of Rome, said this to his soldiers, “All our efforts against superior forces have failed. I have nothing to offer you but hunger, thirst, hardship, and death. But I call on all who love their country to join with me," and they came by the hundreds.

During WWII after Dunkirk where thousands lost their lives, Churchill said, "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat." Similarly, our Lord offers blood, sweat, tears, hunger, thirst, and death. That's the way it is, and He never sends anyone out without telling them the full truth.

Life is also tough here. If you're not suffering persecution, it could be the result of not being open about your faith. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Many churches in Indonesia are persecuted. We thank God that it is not as bad here yet, but persecution will come.

So much of our Christianity is locked up inside church walls that I often wonder if the world even knows who we are. If we are open with our faith, there will always be a price to pay. We cannot confront a God-hating world without a reaction.

So who are the wolves? The Twelve are told that they will be persecuted, but it didn't happen until after the crucifixion. Verse 17 tells us that men are the wolves. Yes in Ephesians 6:12 it says that we wrestle, "Against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Yes Satan is behind all that but its agents are human.

Throughout history it has been men who have slaughtered, who have imprisoned, crucified, burned at the stake, and stoned the saints of God. Men have snuffed their lives out, and still do it in Moslem countries, parts of Africa and anywhere someone is brave enough to declare their faith.

Matthew 5:10-11 says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” Jesus knows that men are doing those wicked things. It had already begun before the time of our Lord, first to the Prophets and now to His disciples and followers.

Don't be shocked when you are criticized. Don't be surprised when you are fired for articulating your faith. Don't be surprised when you're not invited to parties or certain activities, or when some girl or guy rejects you because of your faith. Don't be surprised, because human agents represent the kingdom of darkness.

You ask, "Is it widespread?" Look at verse 22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved." It isn't isolated, it's standard fare. I'm talking about all kinds of people through all ages of history reacting negatively to the Gospel when it is lived and presented.”

Here is a second question, looking back at Matthew 10. Why are the wolves so vicious? It's very simple, verse 18 says, “You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake.” They are vicious not because they really hate you, but because they hate Christ.

Look at verse 22 again. "You shall be hated by all for My name's sake." The concept of 'name' there refers to all that Christ is. It's because of who He is and what He's done that we are persecuted. In other words, if Christ is not made manifest in me, no one will persecute Him in me. But when I am persecuted, it is because I represent Christ; it is because I reflect Christ in the world.

In Colossians 1:24. Paul said, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.” Paul took blows meant for Christ. Paul really identified with being able to be punished, not for what he did, but for what Christ was doing through him, in confronting the world of darkness.

Peter said in 1 Peter 4:14, “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” When the Kingdom is built, Satan will cause people to react; they will rebel, ostracize, criticize, condemn, turn you away, and falsely accuse you. But we are blessed to take the blows meant for Jesus because He suffered all the punishment meant for us.

Paul really understood this. As Paul was on the road to Damascus, the Lord strikes him down and blinds him. He's on the ground, and Acts 9: 4 says, "A voice says to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” Now Paul had never met Jesus, and Jesus was not on earth, He was in Heaven, so how was Paul persecuting Jesus?

Because Christ was living His life through His people, and when Paul persecuted His people, he persecuted Him. Paul never forgot that. We are sent into the world like the Twelve to represent Christ as sheep among wolves. And the reason the wolves are so vicious is that they hate Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, "He that is not with me is against me." There is no middle ground.

This is one of the richest passages you'll ever see in the Bible about how we are sent to a hostile world. Jesus told them, "Men, I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves." Later He told them in Hebrews 13:5, "I'll be with you. I'll never leave or forsake you,” and you will win in the end, the sheep will defeat the wolves. Not in their own strength, but on the basis of Christ's power.

The disciples wanted to stay close to Jesus because they knew He was their resource. He was the source of their food - He fed them on the side of the hill. He was the source of their tax money; on one occasion He provided it from the mouth of a fish. Jesus was the source of their human need for love - He poured His love on them and cared for them. He taught them. He was everything to them.

When He told them He was going to go away and leave them to the wolves, they were afraid. But He also told them He would send His Spirit to dwell in them. He would become their strength and power to overcome the world. Through the resident Spirit in the life of a believer, that believer communes with the living Christ.

Jesus gave them a way to remember that in this at the Lord's Table. He said, "Come to the table and remember Me, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. Every time you do this, remember that I died to save you from the wolves. Someday, I'll come again, to take you to Myself.”

This becomes not only a table of remembrance, but a table of fellowship. It says, "This is what Christ did in the past, and this is our living communion in the present until He comes again." He said, "Someday, I'll come back and we'll do it together in My Kingdom," but until then, He communes with us here.

This is as close as we ever come as a family, as close as we ever come to each other, as close as we ever come to Christ, as intimate as we ever get with our Shepherd. We come to His Table, because there, we partake of His body and His blood in memory, in remembrance, and in living communion as He meets us here.

So, as we stand in our world, sheep among many wolves, we need this reminder of His presence, and we need to come back for the cleansing, the reaffirmation of our faith, the reuniting of our fellowship at this Lord’s Supper.

What is our response? Are we just like those disciples, are we fearful, do we always think about all the things that can go wrong, do we worry about what our family thinks, what do we worry what our friends will think?

Remember that none of them has any power, only God does and He will be with you wherever you go and He will bless you more than you can ever imagine, Amen? Let's bow in prayer, preparing our hearts for Him this coming week.

]]> Sun, 02 Dec 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121202 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000FC imblog

Matthew 10:5-15

After having called the twelve apostles, Matthew writes, "5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.”

11 “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 12 And when you go into a household, greet it. 13 If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city!”

Our Lord has trained the twelve disciples, and He is now about to send them out for the first time. That is, they are going not only to be trained, but they are going to preach the Gospel as well, to a harvest of lost souls. Don't misunderstand that the Lord has only in mind their education in their being sent; He has in mind the salvation of many people. Our Lord was in the process of disciplining them.

Our Lord was committed to giving Himself for an extended time to a few men so that they could be brought to maturity and equipped to reach their generation. And Jesus poured His power into them, and made them able to change the world. In Matthew 10:1, it says, "He called them and gave them power." It was power that could enable them to go way beyond anything their humanness ever dreamed possible, in the advance of the Kingdom.

As Jesus sends them, He gives them principles for their mission. The first principle for an effective mission is a divine commission and the sense of responsibility to our Lord. Secondly, he has to go out representing Christ with a central objective. We talked about how important it is to have a focus in your ministry and not to become so diversified that you wind up doing nothing very well.

One who represents Jesus on a mission for Christ must also have a clear message, “Tell them that the Kingdom is at hand." Their ministry, from alpha to omega, was all that they knew about the Kingdom of Heaven. Now let's come to the next point and pick up where we left off last time.

Those who represent Christ must also have confirming credentials they were send by God. If you were to go out and preach Jesus Christ, what reason would people have to believe anything you said was really from God? How would you know he was telling the truth? In fact, the disciples were opposite of the existing religious establishment. They hadn't been educated and they weren’t Pharisees.

Matthew 10:8 says, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Those were the credentials of the apostles, and they were convincing enough to identify them as representatives of God. That was the way it was with Jesus. A blind man Jesus healed said to the Pharisees who had questioned him in John 9, “30 You do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

So the ability to do these miracles points them out as being from God. But why specifically these kinds like healing miracles and raising the dead miracles? Look at the first credential: heal the sick, cleanse the lepers. What do these miracles mean to you? They were revealing the heart of God, because God cares for people who hurt, who suffer and who are poor.

The miracles showed the mercy of God, and explained to them that the Kingdom of Heaven when it was at hand, sick people got well and lepers lost their leprosy. In other words an element of the coming Kingdom was that God would remove all disease. So they got a little foretaste of what the Kingdom was all about.

One who truly represents Jesus Christ gives himself to the poor, the hurting, the needy, and the downtrodden. I wonder about people who claim to represent Jesus Christ and yet are devoted primarily to the rich and famous. They are under the illusion that the Kingdom of God is advanced by money and the rich, but they are very wrong.

People who represent a wicked world, who teach false doctrine do not manifest the compassion of God. The Old Testament says that wicked men oppress the poor (Ezekiel 18:12), sell the poor (Amos 2:6), crush the poor (Amos 5:11), persecute the poor (Psalm 10:2) and defraud the poor (Amos 8:5-6).

On the contrary God cares for them. He doesn't forget them (Psalm 9:18). He hears their cry (Psalm 69:33), maintains their right (Psalm 140:12), delivers, protects, exalts, and provides for them (Psalm 35:10; 12:5; 107:41; 68:10). Psalm 14:6 says, "The Lord is their refuge." They are even called 'my poor' in one text in the Old Testament.

What are our credentials? We cannot heal the sick or cleanse the lepers, but we can show the divine compassion those miracles were intended to demonstrate. Secondly it says: "raise the dead, cast out demons." That demonstrates real power. I mean the power to raise the dead and the power to invade the unseen world of the demons and overcome that kingdom, that is real incredible power!

Matthew 7 says how you can tell a false prophet, "By their fruits you will know them.” If you don't see any power, any changed lives, no dramatic transformations, or someone who was dead spiritually and come to life in Christ, then that person is not a true preacher, or a true representative of Christ. A true representative of Christ will be marked by God's power everywhere he goes.

The third credential is most interesting. At the end of verse 8, it says, "Freely you have received, freely give," which means unselfishness. Someone who truly represents Jesus Christ will not be in it for personal gain. Someone who says he represents Jesus Christ and then puts a price on his service has just forfeited the blessing from God.

On the other hand, the next principle is a confident faith. I believe God will meet my needs. Look at verse 9. He says to them, "Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts.” Then Jesus says in verse 10, "nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.”

Who made up that principle? God says, "I did, and I will manage the resources." So you don't take anything; this is like survival training - you go out there without anything. You are trying to teach these people confident faith, confident trust in the Lord. But on the other hand the people of God must see it as their duty to support those who serve them, for the worker is worthy of his food.

In 1 Corinthians 9:14, Paul says, "the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” He means live by your preaching; be supported in it. We are not allowed to put a price, or make a demand, but to be unselfish. It's all up to God, right?

That brings me to the next principle, which is called contentment, whatever he receives, he is to be content. Contentment is so elusive, isn't it? Paul said in 1Timothy 6:6, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." He said it again in Philippians 4:11-12, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need”

And now we come to the two final principles. When the disciples found the worthy house, they were to stay and minister to those gracious, hospitable people. Once they had established their lodging, they could begin their ministry in that town, which was to preach the Gospel from house to house. Whenever they visited another home, they were to greet the people in it.

Concentrate on feeding the people who are willing to receive God's Word because they are the catalyst to change the world. On the mission field we call that finding “a man of peace.” Don't just say things to please them, but feed them the Gospel. Concentrate on the people who want to grow and who want to be nurtured. "When you find a house that receives you, pour out your peace on that house.”

Give them the Word of God if they want it. Find those places where God has prepared the hearts of those people so there is openness, and pour your heart into those places. Don't try to evangelize someone who is totally opposed to Christianity. That leads to the last principle, which is reject the contemptuous.

At the end of verse 13, Jesus says, “If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.” That was an Jewish expression; they would give their peace, but if the house wasn't worthy, they would take it back. In other words, they would un-bless an unworthy house.

It's the same thing in 2 John 1:10-11, where he said, “10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” In other words, "Don't pronounce benedictions on people who are godless." Don't say, "God bless you," to someone who isn't a believer. God's blessing is not to be given indiscriminately. Nor should people live under the illusion that they are truly blessed or redeemed when they are not.

Matthew 10:14, “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.” That was a physical thing the Jews did. When people traveled in the time of Christ, they would get covered with dust. When Jewish people returned to Israel, they did not want to bring Gentile soil into Israel because they believed it would defile the land. So before they entered Israel, they shook the dust off their shoes so they wouldn't bring any Gentile dirt back in.

So Jesus says, “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and if they don't want to hear your message, treat them the way you treat a Gentile.” That's what Paul did at the synagogue in Pisidia Antioch in Acts 13:51. He went in, and when they didn't receive his message, it says he shook the dust from off his feet and went next door to the Gentiles. He treated the Jews like Gentiles and the Gentiles like Jews.

You might say, "Wait a minute! Does this mean we are to reject the contemptuous? If I meet someone and tell them about Christ and they aren't interested, we should just say, “forget you and walk away?" Not quite. A lot of us wouldn't be redeemed if we had been treated in that manner, right? The point is this: when people have seen the miracles and have fully heard the Gospel and have been given ample opportunity to respond, yet they still reject Christ, then you are to leave and treat them as the pagans that they are.

In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul says, "We beg you in Christ's name, be reconciled to God." There is a begging, a pleading, a compelling! But when the pleading is done, and the credentials are manifest, and all the signs are given and they still refuse, treat them like pagans. Don't give them the benediction of God; just walk away.

Verse 15 is the key, “Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city!” It wasn't very good for Sodom and Gomorrah, was it? Fire and brimstone rained down on both those cities and destroyed them so that they can't even be found today. In fact, they think they must be under the south end of the Dead Sea because they can't find any trace of them at all.

The destruction on those two cities was absolute, total and eternal, and the result will be the same for any house or city in Galilee that rejected the Gospel. This assumes that the towns or the houses in Galilee knew and heard more than Sodom and Gomorrah did. The point is that based on what Jesus had done they must have had a lot of information.

When a city has heard a lot of the truth of God (namely through the representatives of Christ Himself), and received the good news and the authentication from their ability to perform miracles, and still turns it’s back on that, it is impossible for them to be renewed to repentance (Hebrews 6:4-6). When they are unreceptive and contemptuous, don't waste your time. Divine judgment will come to that city or that house; and it will be severe.

What have we learned? The Lord sent out His twelve disciples two by two and gave them principles for an effective mission, namely: called by God with a central objective and a clear message, accompanied by an ability to do miracles as proof, a confident faith, being content in every situation. Concentrate on those who are receptive and reject those who are contemptuous. Those are standards for our service to Christ we all should follow.

Many of us can learn from this message, especially people who are pastors and missionaries. Perhaps you are thinking about going to the mission field or other Christian service. But really this applies to all of us, because all believers represent Christ. As we go through these principles, we see how they affect all of us and apply to all of our ministries.

Let me just ask this in conclusion: if God were to compare those principles He just gave to your life right now, would you really be considered a faithful missionary? Do you run your life and your representation of Christ by these standards? The world has all the wrong criteria; the world would never have picked any one of these twelve disciples to be missionaries. Only God has all the right requirements.

Patience, humility, punctuality (which demonstrates that you care for someone else by not making them waste their time waiting for you), and sacrifice (that you'd go out in the middle of the night), those are the things that God can use to make a man or woman into what He wants them to be. He picked these twelve, and taught them these principles for succesfull mission. May we be as effective as they were! Let us begin the Lord’s Supper.

]]> Sun, 25 Nov 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121125 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000FD imblog

Matthew 10:5-7

Let us continue to examine Matthew 10 to learn what the Spirit of God has for us here when our Lord sends out His disciples for the first time. We now, 20 centuries later, have also been sent to reach our world and we can learn much from what He said to them.

Matthew 10:5-7, “These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew's message is clearly that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. In the first nine chapters of his gospel, Matthew verifies that Jesus is God. He has shown this by Christ's genealogy, His birth, the devotion He received from eastern kings, His preaching, His teaching, His miracles, His power and His words.

One of the things that happened from all of these testimonies of Christ was that His fame began to spread everywhere. So while His fame spread abroad among the people, the religious leaders were convinced He was Satanic. Yet Matthew 9:35 says, "Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people."

One day, as Jesus stood on the edge of a hill and surveyed the crowd beneath Him, he was moved with compassion. Matthew 9:36, "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they were faint." Literally, they were beaten and bruised by their own leaders, who had imposed on them a false, legalistic system of religion that denied the truth of God.

And Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 9:38, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few." What He means by the 'harvest' is the judgment of God. He had to enlist others to assist Him, so He asked the disciples to pray for more workers. And now Jesus calls His twelve disciples to Himself and gave them power to minister. Matthew 10:5 says, "These twelve Jesus sent out."

Now it is time to send them out in a training mission format, for only few short weeks. He sent them out to get a taste of what it would be like, and what they will inevitably experience as a way of life. So this is their first short-term missionary assignment - they were the first ones Jesus sent forth.

What motivated Jesus as well as Paul is the inevitability of judgment. Paul said in II Corinthians 5:11, "Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." Jesus saw the harvest and called for laborers to go and warn men of that inevitable harvest.

The instruction that Jesus gives the disciples is for a short-term mission. But as we go through the chapter, He releases to them more information that will help them for the life of their ministry. Some of it is defined and some of it is very broad. So here are principles meant for them on their first short-term mission, and yet they can apply to all of us now who go in the name of Jesus Christ to reach people.

Matthew 10 is divided into three parts. The first section is in verse 5 - 15 and ends with, "Assuredly, I say to you." That section talks about the task of the one sent. The second section is from verse 16 - 23 and ends, "Assuredly, I say to you," and it talks about the reaction to the one sent. The third section goes to verse 42 and ends, "Assuredly, I say to you," and it talks about the cost to the one who is sent.

We will look at the task this evening and for next Lord's Day. In verses 5-15, you have effective principles for mission work. If you are send out to do the Lord's work and you represent Him, it is essential that you understand these principles. Unfortunately one of the tragedies of contemporary Christianity is that the people who say they represent Jesus Christ really don't represent Him at all.

So what are the principles for an effective mission? Number one, a commission from God. Matthew 10:5 says, "These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them." The apostles didn't volunteer to go (although they were willing to go - Christ did not act against their wills), they were commissioned, much like Jeremiah, of whom the Lord said in chapter 1:5, "Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Mark 6:7 is a comparative passage that tells us Jesus sent them two by two. They would strengthen each other in times of temptation; and they would encourage each other in times of persecution. And they could relieve each other in the matter of preaching and healing. And it was well known that the testimony of anyone was to be confirmed by two or three witnesses.

It probably only lasted a few weeks, but the apostles were still the ambassadors of Christ, officially sent. They were in the same category as Paul, who said in II Corinthians 3:4, “And we have such trust through Christ toward God.” That was such a serious matter that Paul said in I Corinthians 9:16, "Woe to me if I preach not the gospel," in other words, "Curse me if I don't preach."

In their case, their commissioning was direct. They didn't pray for the Lord to show them signs. With us, our calling is a little more indirect. People, going into ministry will often ask, "How do I know if I am called to the ministry?" Basically, there are three criteria. Number one is a strong desire. If you delight in the Lord, He will give you the desire of your heart; God has planted in my heart that desire.

Secondly is the confirmation of the church. That is what Paul was saying when he said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:14, "Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders," confirmation of those around you in the church.

Finally, the ministry is made possible by circumstances. In I Corinthians 16:9, Paul says he is in Corinth because, "A great door, and effectual, is opened to me." So you have to have desire, confirmation and an opportunity. And we are learning now through Experiencing God that we personally need to change in order to work for Him. And if you go through all of those things and your heart is set, then that is a call of God.

So you are commissioned by the Lord Jesus Himself, and that you have no choice but to respond because you are a soldier and He is the commander; because you are the one who is to live the life and He is the one who sets the moral standards; because you can only carry out the task and He is the one who determines how it is to function.

What God wants in a ministry is not your creativity and innovation; what He wants is your obedience. The preacher or the evangelist is not a chef; he's a waiter. God doesn't want you to make the meal; He just wants you to deliver it to the table without messing it up, without adding or taking away something. That's all. We are servants under divine commission. We all are bound to obey Christ's call to go and represent Him in this world.

To be effective you have to have a clear objective. Look at verse 5 again. Jesus commanded them saying, "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.” Why, is the kingdom limited?" In verse 6 He says, "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." This is not a permanent command. This is a narrow statement, limited to this time and place and this for that time was the plan of God.

Unfortunately self-styled messiahs often want to conquer the world and win it now without God’s input. Consequently their perception of ministry is so vast that it winds up being like a big birdbath - a mile long and only an inch deep. The focus that our Lord gives the disciples here is a narrow ministry.

Does God not care for Gentiles? Of course He does! Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 8:11-12. He says, "And I say to you that many will come from east and west (of Palestine), and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom (the Jewish people) will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

We're going to see in chapter 13 how Jesus begins to turn away from Israel and begins to talk about the church, which Paul calls, "The fullness of the Gentiles." The Lord always had the Gentiles in His plan. "Does He have hate the Samaritans?" No, the Samaritans were OK, but the Jews hated them. Jesus loves all people..

The first person recorded in Scripture to whom Jesus announced He was the Messiah was a Samaritan woman living in the city of Sychar. She had many husbands, and at the time was living with a man who wasn't her husband; she was not a nice lady. Yet it was to her that Jesus revealed that He was the Messiah. When Jesus taught how we should love our neighbor, He used a Samaritan as an illustration.

You might say, "If God loves Gentiles and Samaritans, then why does He tell them not to go to them?” There are three reasons He told them not to go there. Number one, the Jews were God's chosen people and they were the ones to whom were given the promises and the law. So in the line of God's plan, they were to be offered the Kingdom first. That's all.

John 4:22 says, "Salvation is of the Jews." That doesn't mean salvation was only for them, it means it comes through them; they were to be the emissaries, the witnesses; Jerusalem was to be the launching point for evangelism, the place where the nations came to see the Messiah. They were to be His witness people, so He said, "Go there first," much like Paul on His missionary journeys.

The second one, the disciples hardly were equipped to reach their own people, to say nothing of trying to reach the Gentiles and Samaritans, whose culture they did not understand that well, whose biases and prejudices they could not have overcome easily. They were not ready for that.

Thirdly, the reason they were sent only to the Jews was because of that special point of concentration. You can't be going madly in all directions. You have to be specific. The possibilities were varied, so Jesus gave the disciples a specific target. “Just do this: go to Galilee and the Jews, who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Do you realize that the Lord Himself never went to the Gentiles? His ministry was almost exclusively to the Jews. In Matthew 15:24, He says, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” They were His focus. The Gentile world would come after that. Jesus had a tremendous clarity of objective.

One of the things that frustrate people in ministry is that they don't have a clear objective. Many of them are doing a little of everything. Know your gifts, what God has equipped you to do; find where God is working, see the opportunities and join His ministry and run in it.

You say, "What about this? What about that?" and you can get all concerned. The Lord will take care of it; He has got many other people. I don't have to do it all. If I just do one thing right, just one thing He gave me to do, I trust that He will take care of all the rest that needs to be done.

The third principle is as far as we'll go this evening. Effective mission work involves not only a central objective, but a clear message. Unfortunately the message of Christianity today is not clear. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 10:7, “As you go, as you preach, say, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'" So if you want to say something, make sure you talk about God's projects, not man's projects.

Preach the Kingdom, the rule and reign of God, that heaven has come to earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is seen three ways: in conversion, when men enter the Kingdom; in sanctification, when we live out the Kingdom (Romans 14:17 tells us that the Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit); and in glorification when the Kingdom comes to earth in its millennial form. Until that time, we preach the Kingdom.

It can get very confusing for people when they listen to preachers preach all kinds of stuff! The normal unbeliever who turns on the television finds such a disparity that it's virtually impossible for him to know what the real message is.

Satan is very clever. The best way to obstruct the Gospel is to make sure no one knows what it really is. The message that we have to bring is that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; that it is available to every person and that it is the rule and reign of God in their lives here, now and forever.

I will not get pulled into politics, although I have some strong feelings about things. I just do not like to be distracted; I say 'no' to that stuff all the time because my focus cannot change from the Kingdom. I wish that every time a Christians opens his mouth, something about the Kingdom comes out. Wouldn't that be good?

Let's talk about God's rule and His Kingdom. I just love that Jesus says to them, "Just say that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Now what were they going to do? Just go around saying that over and over again? Of course not, He was implying to fill it up with all the content that term deserves, and we've been through that term many times in the previous ten chapters, so you know what's there.

There is a sense of urgency in that statement. We know that it wasn't long after this that the Lord turned away from Israel because they didn't accept the message offered to them. There is an urgency in this world as well; we don't know how long we have before the Lord comes back, so we need to be proclaiming the Kingdom with urgency. Effective missionaries have a divine commission, central objective and a clear message.

Do you know what is interesting? The next point that we will discuss is actually the best point of all, but we will cover that next week. I would like to ask you how spiritual you really are, but I am going to wait till next week. I'm just going to pray that you will come back next week because it really is the best point of all. Let's pray together.

]]> Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121118 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000FE imblog

Matthew 10:4

Let me invite you to turn to Matthew 10 as we progress through this gospel that tells us how Jesus trained His twelve disciples. And we have been noting their names and we have stopped to get to know them as much as possible. We're looking this evening at the last name in the list, the name Judas Iscariot.

The one thing that we have concluded in general about the eleven disciples is that they were all unqualified. But these first eleven men were really the key to the rest of human history. For had they failed there never would have been another generation and we would not be here today. Under the energy of the Spirit of God they brought about that which Christ had asked them to do, they built His church.

But one of them stands out against the others. He is isolated and his name is Judas Iscariot. Although there is much we know, there is also much mystery and darkness surrounding Judas that we'll never know. There are 40 verses in the New Testament in which there is a reference to the betrayal of our Lord and in each of them there is the implication of the incredible sin of this man Judas.

So let's examine what the Bible says about him. First of all, his name, Judas, is a common name. Lebbaeus, Thaddaeus in verse 3 is also called Judas. It is simply a form of Judah, the land of God's people. Some say the root of it means Jehovah leads but there never was one who was more obviously led by Satan than was Judas.

His name is not only Judas but also Iscariot. Basically it comes from two terms ish meaning man and Kerioth meaning town. He was a man of the town of Kerioth. Judas is identified geographically because he is the only non-Galilean. He is the only Jew from the southern section. He is the only Judean Jew and they felt themselves superior to the rural Jews of the north.

The call of Judas is not recorded in the Bible. We meet him the first time right here in this list and we don't know how he got in the group. We know he wanted to be involved but we don't know any of the circumstances. Apparently he was attracted to Jesus, and he followed Him. And he stayed with Him longer than many other false disciples who bailed out much earlier.

So Judas was definitely attracted to Jesus. But he was attracted on a selfish level; it was what Jesus could do for him that drew him. He saw the power of Jesus and he believed that this man would bring the Kingdom. And he was interested in the Kingdom for what he might gain from because he was on the inner circle.

But in another sense, from Christ's perspective, he was chosen to follow. So there you have the same paradox of human choice and divine sovereignty that you have in salvation. We come to Christ, we choose to believe in Christ and yet we are chosen before the foundation of the world by Him. That's a paradox, a theological problem ultimately solved only in the mind of God.

Jesus knew Judas would betray Him, and that is why He chose him. Jesus knew the plan because He was omniscient, He knew everything. Jesus said in John 6:70, "One of you is a devil." So, from the beginning He knew God’s plan and what the Old Testament also predicted that one of His own would betray Him.

For example, in Psalm 41:9, we read this and it has a Messianic significance, it says, " Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” The Psalmist by the Holy Spirit saw in the future, the Messiah being betrayed by His own familiar friend.

Look into the prophecy of Zechariah 11:12-13, “Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter.” We will find out in a moment what that means.

Now look at John 17:12, Jesus is praying to the Father and He is praying about His twelve disciples. And He says, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

In other words, Jesus says to the Father - Judas is lost because it is the fulfilling of the Scripture. Jesus therefore chose him because He knew the plan written in Scripture, He chose him to be the fulfillment of that Scripture. That was the plan of God.

Here again is a paradox. If it is God’s plan then why is Judas responsible? How can God predetermine this, make all the prophecies and then make it happen and fit Judas in it and then hold Judas responsible? But that's exactly what God does. How He can do that I don't understand because the mind of God is far beyond me.

But I do understand clearly what the Bible says and for your own interest to resolve the problem listen to Luke 22:21-22, Jesus speaking in the Last Supper; "But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. 22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”

In other words Jesus says: I am going into betrayal, I am going to get arrested; I am going to die as it was determined. The betrayal and the man was determined. But, and here it comes, "Woe to that man by whom He is betrayed.” You see? On the one hand it is determined, and on the other hand Judas is still responsible.

So it is in salvation. If you're saved it's because it was determined before the foundation of the world and if you are lost you are still responsible. And if you cannot resolve the paradox of those two don't feel bad, no one else whoever lived can either.

Now outwardly Judas didn't appear to have a defective character. In fact, he must have had good qualities and capacities. Three years he was with the disciples and when Jesus said in the upper room in John 13:21, "One of you will betray Me," all the disciples responded. Did they say - Is it Judas? No. Every one of them said - Is it I?

Why? They had no more reason to suspect Judas then they had reason to suspect themselves. Each one of them knew that they were sinful and Judas was just a great hypocrite. He was so good at it they elected him treasurer of the group. They put him in charge of the money, that's how much they trusted him.

Well, Judas must have had a rotten background if he was such a vile man that he would betray Christ. Yeah, but was it any worse than any other disciple? Was he worse than Matthew who extorted and stole and took bribes? Was he worse than Simon the Zealot who was an assassin? It's interesting that he never has a word to say until he complains about the waste of money in Bethany.

He had the same potential as any of the others. Christ could have transformed him if his heart had been willing. The same sun that melts wax also hardens clay and while the other men’s hearts melted and were molded, Judas heart was being hardened. He was probably young and patriotic, who hated the rule of the Romans. He believed this man was the Messiah and that He would set up a Kingdom and He would overthrow Rome.

Jesus chose Judas because of the plan yet Christ offered Judas every opportunity to not do it. Jesus gave the lesson of a man wasting his opportunity to Judas. He gave the lesson of the wedding garment to Judas. He gave the lessons of money and greed to Judas. He gave lessons of pride to Judas, “One of you is a devil”, to warn Judas, but he never listened and never applied anything. And he kept up his deceit.

Now they all believed that the Messiah had come and would bring an earthly Kingdom and would overthrow Rome. But the Lord began to tell them that before He was the lion of the tribe of Judah, He had to be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And He talked about dying and about giving His life and about being lifted up on the cross. And you could just hear Judas saying - What is this?

And what just destroyed Judas was the triumphal entry into the city and people saying, "Hosanna to the son of David," and everybody acknowledging Him as the Messiah. Judas was thinking - this is it, it's going to happen today. But then Jesus gets off the donkey and says in John 12:24, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” I'll have to die. That was the last straw that Judas could handle. It wasn't going to happen.

Let's follow the sequence in John 12. We're moving to the cross, Judas is totally disillusioned. Then Mary, in verse 3, “took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” She used it on Jesus only and once it was used it would be gone forever and so in a sense she used it unwisely.

John 12:4-5, “But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” What started as attraction and love and fascination for Jesus had turned to hate. Because Jesus didn't do what he expected he became frustrated until finally it was all hate, wasting that oil on Jesus.

John 12:6, "6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.” He didn't become a thief, he always was one, all three years. He was a thief and he had the money bag and he pilfered what was put in it.

Some people said that his motive of giving to the poor was good, but that is not true for two reasons. One, Jesus said – “One of you is a devil”; two, before he betrayed Him Jesus said, "And Satan entered into him." There was nothing good about him. Immediately that night Judas left Bethany and had an interview with the chief priests.

And he began to negotiate with them for Jesus’ life, as said in Zechariah 11, for thirty pieces of silver. There is no middle ground, you either enthrone Him or you betray Him. You are either Mary who worships or you are Judas who hates. You either pour out your love to Him or you sell Him for whatever price you think is right.

In John 13 after having initiated the betrayal, our Lord is meeting in the upper room with His disciples. Judas now has comes back to the group and plays the role of the hypocrite even further. Jesus washed all their feet in the first part of the chapter. And then Jesus says in John 13:10-11, "you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”

John 13:18: “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘I know the eleven who are saved, and He quotes Psalm 41:9: “He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.”

I am always drawn to John 13:21, “When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” Jesus was burdened because of the rejection of His love, the hypocrisy of Judas, knowing that hell was waiting Judas and the anticipation of the cross.

John 13:23-27 says, “23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. 25 Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 27 Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

Nobody knew why He sent him away. They maybe thought He sent him to get some more food - Out, He said. It was over now. Satan entered Judas. It is one thing to be demon possessed, but it's something else to have the Devil himself get in there.

And so he would point Jesus out to them in a secret place in the dark of the night, so he said the sign will be the One I kiss. And that brings us to John 18:2 where a few nights later Jesus is in the garden, “Judas also, who betrayed Him, knew the place for Jesus often resorted there with His disciples.”

Judas not only profaned the Passover with blood money, he profaned the private place of devotion for our Lord. John 18:3-4, “Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?”

Jesus knew that Judas was going to come in and kiss Him. So Jesus asked them first. John 18:5, “They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” That act of Jesus eliminated the need for a kiss. But just to show you the evil in the heart of Judas, he kissed Him anyway. Even though it was no longer a kiss to point Him out, it was now a kiss to fake his own innocence.

Is this act of Judas unique? Not really. It may not be for silver or gold but thousands have betrayed Jesus for a godless friendship or a selfish aim, or in the name of science or for the seat of power or at the shrine of fortunes or for a few hours of pleasure. Judas sold Jesus to satisfy his greed.

You know what followed? Matthew 27:3 says, "Judas who had betrayed Him when he saw that he was condemned." How? By his conscience, "He repented," it says. But that's not the Greek word for repentance, that's the word for wanting to change your feelings, for regretting your actions.

So instead of going to God on a spiritual level, he went back to the chief priests on a physical level and he threw the money back thinking by that physical act he could relieve the spiritual conviction. But he couldn't and the Mattthew 27:5 says, "Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.”

In Acts 1:18 it says Judas died when he “burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.” And what did they do with the money that he threw in the house of the Lord? They said in Matthew 27:6-7, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” 7 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.”

That is exactly what was said in Zechariah 11:12 that the thirty silver pieces would be given to the potter in the house of the Lord. And that plan was fulfilled. God is overruling the stupidity and the evil of men to fulfill His own word, Amen. Praise the Lord, let us pray.

]]> Sun, 11 Nov 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121111 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/0000000FF imblog

Matthew 10:3-4

We continue to study Matthew 10:2-4, “2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

Now we've been looking at these individuals whom our Lord chose and sent to preach the good news, to heal, to cast out demons. We've found that they were very common men, very much like we are. Very opposite the saintliness that we may assume belonged to them beforehand.

Now in Matthew 10 we're examining men who were willing to go to the ultimate sacrifice, they were willing to leave their profession, their lifestyle, their homes to follow Jesus Christ. They left their nets, their tax tables, their enterprises totally committed to following Jesus Christ wherever He went.

Now all of these people could be classified as disciples, learning about Him. But it doesn't really say anything about their commitment. That's why Matthew 10 starts out with twelve disciples and then a verse later it says apostles. But not all were sent because not all were willing to learn all the lessons.

For illustration let us look at John 6:26. It is the morning after Jesus had fed the five thousand men plus women plus children. And He sees the same crowd back again, I mean why not? They got a free dinner, why not go for a free breakfast?

And Jesus says to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” In other words He says to them, your interest in Me is not because you saw the divine hand of God. It's because you ate and got filled up.

Jesus says in verse 27, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” In other words you better get off the physical onto the spiritual. Be more concerned with eternity than you are with time now, more with heaven than you are with this temporary earth.

And so Jesus will not accept them at a pure physical level. Listen to John 6:53, same day, same crowd, same setting. And again He says to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” In other words when you're thinking about life don't think about it on the physical level think about it on the spiritual level and recognize that unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood you have no life on the spiritual plane.

John 6:54-56 says, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

What does Jesus mean? He's making an analogy, and He is saying, you cannot come to Me simply to satisfy physical desires, you must take in all of Me on a spiritual basis. He is saying that you have to take Me all in as if you were consuming Me, everything I am, everything I say and everything I do.

They wanted free food and miracles but they weren't interested in really taking Jesus Christ for all that He was. Look at John 6:60, "Many, therefore, of his disciples when they heard him say this," in the synagogue there at Capernaum, "they said, "This is an hard saying. Who can hear this?"

What they are saying is we cannot accept that. False disciples reject Christ's words; they take only what fits their lifestyle. That's why there are so many people today who want to tell people that they believe in Jesus and they claim to be born again and wear a cross around their neck or a fish sign on their car, but when you point them to explicit commands in the Bible they're not interested in obeying that.

And look to John 6: 66, "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” Why? They weren't interested in total commitment. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Turn back to Matthew 10, you need to understand that these disciples that we're dealing with now are men who have made the total commitment. Do you remember the disciple who went away because he wanted to bury his father or because he wanted to say good- bye to his relatives? That's not these men.

Why? Because we are going to look at three disciples we know nothing about. All we know is that they made a commitment, right? Let us look tonight at James, the son of Alphaeus, Lebbaeus surnamed Thaddeaus, and Simon, the Zealot. And because we know nothing about them we might look at them as second class, when in fact they made the same commitment as Peter and everybody else, they were totally obedient to Christ.

Jesus Christ can take a worthless, sinful life, wash it in the blood, put His Spirit in it and make it a blessing. And that's called sanctification, and that's what the Lord is in the business of doing, taking rough, raw material and using it.

James, the son of Alphaeus, Lebbaeus, and Simon the Zealot, whoever heard of them? The Bible doesn't say anything about them, but there is something to say about them. Now remember they always appear in the same groups, four, four and four whenever the list of twelve is given, and they move away in intimacy from Christ.

James, the son of Alphaeus never wrote anything, never said anything, never asked anything, never did anything recorded in the Bible. In fact in Mark 15:40 he is called James the mikros, the little James, guess who big James was? Big James was the son of thunder.

The word micros basically means small in stature, it could indicate that he was little. So it may well be that he was just a small, young fellow who did not have a particularly powerful personality. You know the Lord doesn't depend on superstars, right? People say, oh you know if only so and so would become a Christian, just think what would happen.

But the kingdom of God will not advance any faster with a famous person leading the parade than anybody else, because God does not depend on that. James, the son of Alphaeus will sit on a throne reigning over one of the tribes of Israel in the millennium, and what do we know about him? Nothing. Well, the point is that God is the power, right? Not James.

Oh, there is one faint tradition about him. The early church fathers say he preached in Persia. Persia is ancient Iran, and that he took the Gospel of Jesus Christ to that land, and they refused to hear him preach and they crucified him.

What would the world look like today if Iran had accepted the Gospel, preached by James, the son of Alphaeus. Maybe the legacy of the Moslem religion would not be so powerful. The Lord always uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. They are all silent unknown soldiers. How about you? Are you one of those silent soldiers?

It is interesting that Alphaeus and James are common names. But there's one other disciple who had a father named Alphaeus, and that is Matthew. According to Mark 2:14 Matthew's called Levi, and it says there, "Levi, the son of Alphaeus." There is a remote possibility that James was Matthew's brother.

There's another more fascinating possibility. When our Lord was dying on the cross in John 19:25 it says, "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas.” So there's Mary, Jesus' mother and next to her is Mary her sister-in-law whose husband's name is Clopas, which is another form of Alphaeus.

And it is possible that Alphaeus was the brother of Joseph, the husband of Mary, which would make Jesus and James cousins. And it also tells us that Mary in Mark 15:40 was "the mother of little James." So there is the possibility that he was the brother of Matthew and it is possible that he was the cousin of Jesus. Now if that was true he might have acted important, but you don't see him doing that.

This should teach all of us that it is never really the worker who is the issue in the kingdom work. This is what Paul meant when he said in 1 Corinthians 3, “So what is Apollos and what is Paul? It is God that gives the increase." The worker is nothing, God is everything.

The only time the apostles are ever mentioned in the Scripture is when they intersect with Christ for a specific purpose. He is the focus. The human instrument is immaterial to God. He can use Balaam's donkey if need be. He can make the rocks cry out if He has to. You don't have to be gifted. The focus is always on Jesus Christ.

What about the second person? Matthew 10:3 says, "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus." And if you look in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13, there he had a third name, “Judas, son of James.” And he is in one place called Judas, not Iscariot. Judas also was a common name, it means Jehovah leads, and many people in that time named their son, Jehovah or God leads.

This is Judas, that's his given name, and then he received the nicknames Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus. Thaddaeus comes from a Hebrew root shad which means a female breast. And Thaddaeus means that he was the baby of the family. And then he was called also Lebbaeus, which comes from the Hebrew root leb which means heart, and it means someone with a great heart related to courage.

He too is wrapped in obscurity. But he did ask one very important question, and it's the only time we meet him in the Scripture. John 14:21, Jesus speaking, the night before His trial says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

That is an incredible statement. If you keep My commandments, you show you love Me. Jesus says. I can tell who loves Me, they obey Me. God can only be manifest to a heart that loves Him. That's the reason people in the world don't know God, that's the reason they can't perceive the truth because they don't really love God.

Now, the word manifest triggers this thought in Judas Thaddaeus and so he responds in verse 22, "Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” What does he mean? Well he's thinking of the manifestation as an outward one.

And he's saying to Jesus, how could You possibly demonstrate who You are, and the world not see it? Why would You manifest Yourself only to us? I mean it is the world that the Messiah is to rule. It's a good question. Why won't everybody see You?

But he didn't understand, and so the Lord says again in John 14:23, "“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” And He repeats the same principle to Judas, Thaddaeus, the only people who will perceive Me are the ones who love Me, that's all.

And Jesus continues in verse 24, "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” It's like a radio or TV station, they can send the signal out but until you turn on your set you can't receive it, you cannot hear or see the message. Only those who love God will hear and see.

John 1:10 says about Jesus, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” The God of this world, Satan, had blinded their minds, light has come into the world but men love darkness. You see the receivers aren't on, and Jesus is saying, I can only manifest Myself to people who love Me.

Only those whose hearts are purified by love and walk in obedience will know the manifestation of God. That is who Thaddaeus was. Early church tradition tells us that he was gifted to heal the sick. And king Abgar in Syria heard about it, and he called for Thaddaeus to come and heal him. On the way he healed hundreds of people and when he reached the king he healed him too and presented the Gospel and he became a Christian.

This threw the country into such chaos that a nephew of the king seized Thaddaeus, imprisoned and martyred him in Syria. In old church history books on Thaddaeus you will find that each of the disciples have a symbol and the symbol for Thaddaeus is a big club, because the legend says they beat him to death with a club.

Finally, the last name for this evening, "Simon, the Zealot," the man full of zeal. And it may mean that he was identified with a party in Judaism known as the Zealots. And that when he became a disciple they didn't change that name, he must have continued to manifest the same kind of passionate zeal he had when he was a Zealot.

There were four basically dominant groups within Judaism. The Pharisees were the fundamentalists and legalists. Then there was the Sadducees the liberals. Then there were the Essenes, the mystics, the ascetics out in the caves. And then there were the Zealots, they were the political guerrillas, they went around looting, burning and murdering.

Now a man like Simon to attach himself to Jesus must have been a man with a tremendous passion. He is listed right before Judas Iscariot. It's interesting to me but they probably went together. But Simon believed and was transformed, but Judas did not, and no one now names their child Judas. Simon became Christ's man.

There was a concert violinist who wanted to demonstrate a very important point. He performed in a great hall in the city and announced that he would play with a twenty thousand dollar violin. All violin lovers came and he played exquisitely and they applauded gloriously. He bowed and then threw the violin to the ground and stomped it to bits. The people were horrified. And then he walked off the stage.

The stage manager came out and said Ladies and Gentlemen, to put you at ease that was just a twenty dollar violin, he will now return to play with the twenty thousand dollar violin. They couldn't tell the difference, and he made his point. It isn't the instrument that is important; it's the artist, right? It isn’t the person; it is God who does everything is the only important thing, right?

]]> Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121104 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000100 imblog

Matthew 10:3

We have the privilege to focus in Matthew 10 on the Jesus' disciples, those very special individuals who were chosen by our Lord. Later they became His Apostles sent to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. And we are also learning how God is using all kinds of people to do high level spiritual tasks.

It struck me how few there were. Usually when we think about a church having a great impact we think about a church having a lot of people. And yet as you study the disciples you find that these twelve, really eleven, were pitted against not only the human system but the demon system as well. Just eleven faithful men who were not particularly gifted either.

As we saw last week, all of them were basically unqualified for the task. And yet these men literally turned the world upside down. It is amazing what God can do with just a few people. Humanly speaking the world hails the few who attack the many, you know? When one person goes up against many, the world esteems them heroes even if they lose.

We remember their courage and their devotion of duty, but they lost. I believe there are more amazing things than this. Man may be courageous and devoted to fulfill his duty, but he is still limited as a man. And because he is weak he cannot overcome certain odds. But quite the contrary is it when God gets into the act. For God can take a very few to overrun the biggest enemy of all.

Gideon was ready to do battle with the Midianites and their allies the Amalekites and he gathered his army of 32,000 men. God said, That's too many and He cut it down to 300 men. And in Judges 7:12 it describes the enemy: "and they were like grasshoppers for multitude, and their camels were without number like the sand by the seaside for multitude." You know who won? Gideon, and all he did was make a bunch of noise and the Midianites and the Amalekites all killed each other in the confusion.

Now listen, here's the point. God is not restrained by many or by few people, that doesn't matter. God can make them heroes not only because of their courage and their devotion but mostly because of their trust in Him.

Now let's go back to Matthew 10 and with that as a background, remind ourselves of the uniqueness of these twelve men. Not only were they heroes because of their courage, because of their devotion, their obedience but because they accomplished their goal. They literally established the church.

And you and I are the product of their work. They touched a whole world. They extended the Kingdom, just these eleven faithful, humble, simple people just like us. Listen, what kind of people does God use? He uses the common kind like we are. He uses the unqualified. God is in the business of accepting unqualified people because nobody's qualified.

Now, we're going to meet two others that He uses this evening; Matthew and Thomas in Mattthew 10:3. The second group of four is Philip, Bartholomew or Nathanael, Thomas and Matthew. Let's take Matthew first because we have already examined something of Matthew's life in looking at chapter 9.

Matthew is mentioned in every list, always in the same group, but nothing is ever said about Matthew and nothing is ever said by Matthew except one tiny little thing. And look in Matthew 9:9, "And as Jesus passed forth from there He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and He said to him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him."

And when Matthew puts his name in the list in chapter 10:3 he says: "Matthew the tax collector." Why does Matthew say that? I mean, that's not something you should be proud of. No. A tax collector was the most hated and despised human being in the society of Israel. And Matthew is showing us his genuine humility and sense of sinful unworthiness.

Why does Matthew even comment about himself in verse 9? "As Jesus passed forth from there He saw a man named Matthew and He said, Follow Me." The point is in verses 1 to 8 Matthew is giving a demonstration that Jesus came to forgive sin. Matthew 9:5: "Your sins are forgiven." Matthew 9:6, "The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins." And Matthew slips himself in there to show that indeed Jesus forgives sin even to the vilest sinner, namely himself.

That may be the reason why Matthew never speaks, asks questions or makes comments. He just is faceless and voiceless through the entire narrative of the gospels. And it may be that his humility was born out of his overwhelming sense of sinfulness. And so he is silent, until the Spirit of God asks him to write. And then he is given the privilege of writing the opening of the New Testament, 28 chapters on the King of Kings Himself.

Matthew was a traitor and an extortioner. Matthew was greedy and a social outcast. And he knew it. You see, to be a tax collector you as a Jew were used by the Roman government to collect taxes from the Jews to give to Rome. You then worked for the oppressor. And you were free to collect anything more you could from the people and that you kept for yourself. And so there were bribes and abuses.

They hated a tax collector so much so that the Talmud said, "It is righteous to lie and deceive a tax collector." No tax collector was permitted to testify in a court of law because everyone knew they were liars and took bribes. No tax collector could ever enter a synagogue to worship God because they were cut off from God by the rabbi’s.

There were two kinds, there were Gabbais, the general tax collectors, collecting property tax, income tax, all standardized. Then there were the Mokhes, who collected the duties on everything. They collected on all import, all export, all items bought, all items sold. They set tolls on roads, bridges and harbors. They set tolls on packages, letters and everything else and Matthew was one of them.

What is fascinating is that he also had a name Levi which indicates that he really was in the flow of Jewish tradition. And in the gospel of Matthew there are more quotes of the Old Testament than in Mark, Luke and John combined. Matthew in fact quotes out of the three sections of the Old Testament that a Jew knew: the law, the prophets and the Holy Writings.

And when Jesus comes along in Matthew 9: 9, He says to him -- Follow Me and he arose and followed Him, instantly. Do you know what that meant? First, he just walked away from his career. This wasn't like being fishermen. If they didn't like what went on with Jesus they could go back. But when Matthew walked away from that table, the Roman government would have a replacement there the next day.

Also, he was followed somebody who was equally rejected by the establishment, for the Pharisees and the scribes hated Jesus as much or more than they hated a publican. So he was really going from the frying pan into the fire. He paid a high price.

Well, why did he do that? There is only one reason and that is forgiveness of sin. In Matthew 9:10 he calls a feast after Jesus calls him. And Jesus is the guest of honor at the feast for tax collectors and sinners. You remember when we studied that? And the Pharisees say - why does He hang around with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus says, "Those who are well do not need a physician but those who are sick do."

The point of the banquet was for Jesus to call sinners to repentance. So the whole thread here is confession of sin, repentance and forgiveness. And Matthew knew how sinful he was. He knew his extortion and his greed. He knew that he had betrayed his Jewish people.

And I believe he wanted to get away from it and he had heard Jesus preach because he was in that little town of Capernaum. And when Jesus came to him and said -- Follow Me -- he knew that inherent in that was the forgiveness of sin and he ran to get that. And he was willing to say goodbye to his career because he wanted forgiveness.

You see, God is in the restoration business. He takes the unqualified and transforms them. Matthew quietly forsook all. And the genuineness of his repentance is found in that you see his humility. He has nothing to say about himself. He has nothing to say about his talent and what he has to offer the Lord.

That brings us to the last man in group two, Thomas is his name. And immediately when you hear Thomas what is the first word you think of? Doubting Thomas, right? Thomas is a better man than you think. In fact most people really don't understand Thomas. Listen, Matthew, Mark and Luke give us nothing about Thomas.

But John again, always digging into the heart of people, opens up Thomas’ heart to us. John 11:14, the Lord is up by the Jordan river and out of the city of Jerusalem. The plot to take His life has been hatched. In fact, they had to get out of Jerusalem because His time had not yet come and He had to do this to preserve His life. The report comes to them that Lazarus is really sick.

Verse 14, Jesus has tarried to give sufficient time for Lazarus to die and then says this: "Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. In other words, I'm going to do a miracle to increase your faith. They were a weak bunch, as we have learned. And they always needed some kind of demonstration of His power that will make them believe.

Then John 11:15, "Nevertheless let us go to him.” Now where was Lazarus? In Bethany which is two miles the other side of Jerusalem. Now that is a scary announcement because all the disciples can think about is -- Oh, this is absolute suicide. And they are sort of beginning to have doubts. And then verse 16, "Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

I see several things in that. First a certain amount of initiative and I also see pessimism, don't you? Now he was convinced Jesus was going to be killed. The greatest courage in the world is not the courage of an optimist but the courage of a pessimist because he knows the worse is going to happen and is willing to go anyway.

Thomas had already figured out his epitaph and everything. He could only see disaster but he was grimly determined to die with Christ. Now, why was he willing to go die with Jesus? Not because he doubted Him, but because he so totally believed in Him.

Thomas perhaps was only equaled by John with such a deep and intense love for Jesus that he could not endure to live without Him. He was a man of courage and a man of love. He did not want to be separated from Christ. That's how deep his love was.

Go to John 14 and we see him again. And the same attitude comes out again. In John 14 Jesus says, “2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

John 14:5, “Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” This is like saying - Lord, don't You go somewhere where we can't come. The thought of separation was the issue with Thomas. You are going to go and we're not going to know where You are or how to get there. He is pessimistic and he says -- We'll never find the place.

But then Jesus tells him, “ 6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” What He's saying is -- I'll take you, Thomas. I'll take you there. I'm the way, don't fear. I'm not going to go someplace and leave you. You see the same pessimism and the same love again.

Let's go to a third and last look at Thomas in John 20. Jesus died. You know what happened to Thomas when Jesus died? He said, I knew it, He died and I didn't die and He went somewhere and I don't know where He is. And all of his fears came true. He felt betrayed and rejected.

He was like a wounded animal. And he didn't want to be around people so he just split. And when all the rest of the disciples came together he just wasn't there, he was out and he was depressed because he loved Jesus so deeply. He would have died with Jesus but Jesus died without him. He wanted to go with Jesus but Jesus went without him.

And in John 20:24 it says: "Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.” Well who found Thomas? John 20:25, "The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” Thomas, you weren't there. But Thomas is depressed.

Have you ever tried to talk to somebody who is depressed? Really difficult isn't it? Thomas continues in verse 25, "So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Now he's a pessimist, but before you judge him, would you kindly remember this? None of the disciples believed until they saw Jesus. It is not easy to believe that somebody rose from the dead. Remember on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, two are walking along and the Lord is with them and they're moaning about His death. And they didn't believe either.

Do you know that the Lord doesn't mind people wanting to be sure? John 20:26 says, "And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” I am amazed at that. Jesus just penetrated the wall in His body. Wow. There is a whole lot of the universe that we still don’t know anything about.

And then He focuses on Thomas who loves Him enough to die with Him and is utterly depressed. Verse 27, “Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Did Thomas do that? It doesn't say he did it. It just says in verse 28, "And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” He affirmed the deity of Jesus Christ and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He affirmed that He was God.

And Jesus said in verse 29, "Thomas, because you have seen Me you believe." And you're not alone, the rest of them did the same. "Blessed are those that have not seen and yet believed." You know who that is? Everybody who came after that, that's you and me. We've never seen but we believe. And Jesus says, "Blessed are they."

Thomas gave the greatest testimony ever given. In that one little statement Thomas gave the speech that destroys every lie that has been told about Jesus not being God in the history of man. All the people who deny the deity of Christ are put to silence by Thomas.

Thomas preached and tradition tells us he went as far as India. And one tradition says that he died in a very special way. They took a spear and rammed it through him. This would be kind of fitting climax for one who was told to feel the spear mark in his own Lord. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 28 Oct 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121028 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000101 imblog

Matthew 10:3

When we think of the twelve Apostles we are prone to think of people without faults. People who don’t have any of the failures of humanness that we have. But we are wrong. Because they are people just like us with many faults, but after they are called, they are transformed, trained and sent by Christ.

Let us just go back to the Bible to see the people He used there. I mean, there was Noah who got drunk and conducted himself in a lewd way. There was Abraham who doubted God, lied about his wife and then committed adultery. And then there was Isaac who lied like his father; did the same thing with Rebecca and lied to Abimelech.

And then there was Moses who was a murderer. Moses acted in pride and struck the rock instead of obediently speaking to the rock as God said and he never entered the Promised Land he had led the people to. And there was David the all time ladies man. Every time he saw a lady he liked he married her. An adulterer, a murderer, a lousy father and a man with such bloody hands God wouldn't even let him build a temple. And then there was Solomon the world's leading polygamist.

And God used Elijah who could overcome 850 false priests but ran fearfully from one woman named Jezebel. They're all unqualified. And when you look at the twelve, you know what? They are just as unqualified like all the rest. Therefore God only has one alternative; He uses unqualified people to do the impossible. God Himself transforms them into usefulness. And that can happen to you too!

Now remember the twelve apostles are divided into three groups of four. The first four were the most intimate. The next four were somewhat intimate. And finally the last group is the least intimate with Christ. But they were all trained and sent and they all had an effective ministry, with the exception of Judas Iscariot who was replaced.

Not all of them had the same level of intimacy with Christ. Not all of them had the same gifts and talents and ministries. Yet they all preached and they all proclaimed and they all advanced the Kingdom. They all spread the good news, but they were very special unique individual people.

Now we have just looked at group one and how great a diversity. Now let's look at group two and we're going to cover two of them this time and two of them next time. Matthew 10: 3, "Philip and Bartholomew.´ So let's look at Philip first. His name is a Greek name. Now all twelve were Jews so he must have had a Jewish name but we don't know his Jewish name. And by the way, his Greek name means “lover of horses”.

He is always in the second list and he is always at the head of the second list which means that he was the leader of the second group. Now for a while he also lived in Bethsaida, the town where Peter and Andrew came from. Since they were all God-fearing Jews, Peter, Andrew, Philip and Nathanael or Bartholomew, they probably all knew each other. And it is obvious that there is a lot of friendship interwoven there.

The three gospels say nothing about him, just his name, nothing else, but John's gospel mentions him four times. Look at John 1:43, "The day following," meaning the day following Peter and Andrew having an encounter with Christ, the day following the time when John the Baptist pointed to Christ and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God," and Peter and Andrew followed Him. "The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip again and said to him, “Follow Me.”

Now that is the first direct call of a disciple. Peter and Andrew had already met Christ but they had found Him, they had sort of come along. But Philip is the first individual to whom the Lord expressly said - Follow Me. He walked up and found him and said Follow Me.

But Philip also had a seeking heart. God doesn't find people against their will. If you look at John 1: 45, it says Philip then went to find Nathanael, or Bartholomew same person, and said to him, "We have found Him." From the Lord's viewpoint He found Philip, from Philip's viewpoint he found the Lord and in order for that to happen both of them had to be seeking.

Luke 19:10, "The Son of man has come into the world to seek and save that which is lost;” Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” God seeks that true heart that seeks Him. In verse 45 he continues, "We found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write." In other words, he must have been seeking Him.

And when Phillip heard the divine voice say - Follow Me, he ran to tell Nathanael that he had found Him, that the Messiah was here. Phillip was excited and wanted to bring Nathaniel to Him, at the end of verse 46, he says - Come and see...

So who was Philip? First thing is that he was seeking the Messiah. We also learn that his response when being found was to find somebody else to learn this too. Do you know that the greatest source for evangelism is friendship? Friendship provides the most fertile soil for evangelism.

Invariably, when somebody becomes a Christian their first reaction in the warmth and the joy of that new found life is to find a friend and tell that person what has happened. And if you have lost that, then there are only two possibilities, either you don't have any friends that are not Christian or you don't care anymore about them. Both are sad.

You know, people who are just saved and told they should be baptized respond instantly. And most frequently joyously they want to give their testimony. People who have been saved way in the past, and failed to be baptized when years later they know that they should be obedient and do that, very often won't do it because they hesitate to stand up publicly and give their testimony.

But now we're going to find out the rest of Philip’s story. Let us look what happens before the feeding of the five thousand. In John 6:5, “Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Why did Jesus ask Philip? See the next verse, “6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.” And also because Phillip was in charge of the food as they travelled around.

7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” Phillip answered Him immediately, which proves that he indeed was in charge and had already analyzed it. He had it figured out. And in his mind it could not be done.

So what do we learn about Philip? He forgot that the Lord was supernatural, that Christ could do creative miracles. He is too analytical and pragmatic such that he missed faith all together. He didn't know that God said: "That with Him nothing is impossible." He should have said, “Lord, You made wine out of water at Cana, You fed Your children in the wilderness with manna, You are healing all day long and Philip had watched His supernatural power himself, Jesus, You can surely feed them!”

Go to John 12:20, "Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.” "21And they came to Philip," because he was the Greek connection, "and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” But Philip didn't take them directly to Jesus. He said, in affect, now you guys wait here, let me check first. So he goes and tells Andrew and together they go to Jesus.

So Philip was not decisive and not forceful. And he was still living in Matthew 10, way at the beginning when the Lord said, "I have come but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel." So he's saying - these are Gentiles, should they see Him? He didn't get the message of grace.

We finally see him in John 14:8, three years later, Philip says to Jesus the night before His crucifixion, at the Passover, at the communion, where Jesus is unfolding His heart to His disciples. He's going to be arrested and crucified and so forth right after this. It's all coming to an end and Philip says to Him, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be sufficient.”

“9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Tradition tells us that Phillip became a faithful servant and he died as a martyr for Christ he wouldn't deny. They stripped him naked, according to tradition, they hung him by his feet upside down and they pierced great holes in his ankles and his thighs so that the blood would pour out and he would die slowly. And his only request was that they not wrap his body in linen like his Lord because he wasn't worthy of that.

One more fellow for this evening, and he is only introduced to us in one passage and then we just lose him the rest of the time. His name is Bartholomew in Matthew 10, but that was his last name. His first name was Nathanael, and it means gift of God, son of Tolmai.

And he was very different from his friend Philip. He was full of faith and he was so in awe of the supernatural. And he perceived everything as clear as crystal from the very beginning. John 1:45 says: "Philip finds Nathanael, or Bartholomew, and said to him, We have found Him, of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, and His name is Jesus of Nazareth and He is the son of Joseph."

This implies that Nathanael was a searcher of Scripture and a seeker after divine truth. It tells us that Nathanael studied it because the way that Philip approaches him is - Here's the One the Scripture told us about. But verse 46 tells us he had a weakness too.

"Nathanael said to Philip, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Nazareth was a rowdy and a wild place. It was the last stop before the Gentile world; it was out on the fringe. Nothing ever came out of Nazareth but trouble.

Nathanael's heart had the ugly sin of prejudice. You know what prejudice is? It is an uncalled for generalization based on feelings of superiority. He just blanketed the whole town of Nazareth and said nothing good is ever going to come out of there.

Prejudice is ugly. Liberals say that about us Christians today. Prejudice is a device used by Satan to blind people to the truth. It caused the Jewish nation to remain deaf to the appeals of their own Messiah.

Well, Philip offered him a solution at the end of verse 46, he says - Come and see. Now we're going to find out how deep his prejudice is. Verse 47, he went and: "Jesus saw Nathanael coming and He said to him, "Behold, an Israelite for real, in whom there is no hypocrisy." Boy, what an introduction. Talking about me?

What is the Lord saying? What is an Israelite indeed? Not all Israel is Israel, Romans 9:6 says. There are Jews in the flesh who are not Jews in the covenant because they do not believe, right? Here was a true Jew, a God-seeking Messiah oriented Jew. And Jesus said, "In him there is no deceit." He is an honest, sincere Jew who seeks God.

But even a man that good was still stained by the sin of prejudice. So you see, the Lord is always working with the unqualified at some point or another, even with the best of them. And to show you his sincerity he said to Him, verse 48: "How do You know me?"

Jesus answered, "Oh, before Philip ever went to get you I saw you under the fig tree." Wow, that's where he was. A fig tree would grow to a height of 15 feet and spread its branches out as far as 25 feet from the middle. It would be a great shade area but beyond that, a fig tree was a place of retreat. It became a place of prayer, a place of communing with God, a place of searching the Scripture and a place of quietness.

And Jesus is saying to him - I saw you meditating, I saw you seeking, I saw your open heart. I saw you in the secret private place. I saw what was there and what you wanted to know and I am here now. Here was Nathanael praying under the fig tree - Lord, show me Your Messiah. And here comes Philip from under the branches saying - Nathanael, I found Him, your prayers are answered. He's from Nazareth.

And then Nathanael says - Ah, you've got to be kidding. Even he knew that it said in the prophet Micah, "Bethlehem, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel.” And nothing good ever comes out of Nazareth. But Phillip said: come and see. Okay. His desire to understand overwhelmed his prejudice and off he went.

Well, that was enough proof for him. Nathanael right away in verse 49: "Answered and said to Him, Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel." Three years later Philip still wasn't sure whether He was God. But Nathanael knew it immediately. He saw deity in His presence.

John 1:50 says, 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” The reason you believe is because of My omniscience. You were convinced that only God can know everything. Jesus says - listen, you're going to see greater things than that. You have only just begun to see.

So look at verse 51, “And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Jesus is saying Nathanael, you think you saw heaven, you think you saw divine power in that omniscience, from here on you're going to see other stuff going on all the time between heaven and earth. You're going to see heaven open and angels going up and down and the Son of man working in response to heavenly power. You're going to be exposed to heaven coming down.

And it may well be that Nathanael understood the glory of Christ better than anybody else. He never asked another question. He never even appears the rest of the time in the whole account. He was in, solid like a rock, from the start. And Jesus promised to him the most wonderful revelations and everything he saw from then on he knew was heaven open.

God uses slow, plodding, mechanical, analytical, weak faith skeptics like Philip. And God uses great faith, clear understanding souls like Nathanael. You know what He does? He takes the raw material in all of us and He transforms it into what He can use, Amen?

]]> Sun, 21 Oct 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121021 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000102 imblog

Matthew 10:2

We have begun to look in Matthew 10 at the training, the methods and principles of Jesus as He teaches and develops His Apostles. This is a preliminary sending which basically is an internship for them. They go out but not very far and not alone but rather two by two and they learn in the process by field experience.

Later they will go individually after Jesus has already gone up to heaven. We first are introduced to the individuals involved. And if you look at verses 2 - 4 you find the names of the twelve Apostles: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Lebbaeus who was also known as Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot.

Now as we noted some weeks ago their leader was Peter. That is why it says in verse 2 - "The first, Simon who is called Peter." Peter was the leader. He was the out-front, up-front man. And so last time we studied Peter and his leadership ability and how the Lord refined and developed Peter into a leader that was useful.

Now for this evening we want to look at the remaining three in the first group. Remember there are always three groups in every list of the Apostles. And so we're looking at group one. And it is the most intimate group, they all came from the same town, all have the same profession, and all were in the first group called to Christ.

What kind of people can God use in His ministry? What kind of people can change the world? What kind of people can preach the gospel of the Kingdom so that souls are saved? What kind of people does God ordain for His purposes?

They are common men just like you and me but with a very uncommon calling. And they demonstrate to us the kind of people God uses. See if you find yourself among them. Now let's meet the second on the list, Andrew, Peter's brother. By the way, his name means manly. And he like his brother was also a fisherman.

In fact, in Matthew 4 he was down at the sea when Jesus came along, he had already met Jesus, he had already believed in Jesus, he had already affirmed Him as the Messiah, but after going back to his fishing. Now the Lord appears again to him at the shore, and calls him permanently to follow and He will make him a fisher of men.

Prior to following Jesus Christ he had been a pious God-fearing Jew. He had also been a disciple of John the Baptist. In fact, it was during the message of John the Baptist that his life was changed. For John the Baptist saw Jesus in John 1 and said: "Behold, the Lamb of God." And Andrew was there that day, along with John who was also a fisherman.

And so they followed Jesus immediately and Jesus turned and said to them in John 1, "What do you seek?" And they replied, "Where are You staying? 39 And they spent the entire day with Him” and those hours were critical in their spiritual growth. And when they came out of that day immediately Andrew said to his brother Peter, "We have found the Messiah."

Peter and Andrew lived together, it says in Mark 1:29 and they shared everything. So Andrew wanted to share the Messiah with Peter. And so from this very beginning he becomes a part of that intimate four, the inner circle and nobody is let into that inner circle except Andrew.

Philip who was in group two at one time had some Greeks come to him in John 12 and say, “We want to see Jesus.” Philip took them to Andrew. Why? Because Philip thought that if you wanted to meet Jesus you've got to see Andrew first. And all of a sudden in the gospel of John, Andrew begins to emerge and we see Andrew three times. And all three times Andrew is doing the same thing.

Now to characterize the life of Andrew it's very simple, he was always bringing people to Jesus. We see him in John 6:8-9. A large multitude of people are gathered, Jesus is teaching, it's late in the day and the crowd is hungry. There's not enough food and Andrew brings to Jesus this time a little boy with five loaves and two fish.

We can see several things in Andrew. First of all we see that Andrew was very open. He didn't have any problem at all with bringing some Gentiles to Jesus. So we sense that there just wasn't anybody on the outside. He thought that Jesus would want to see anybody. And we also see his great faith when he brought those five crackers and two fish to such a huge crowd. After all he had seen Jesus make wine, surely He could make food too, right?

And we also see his humility. His whole life he is known as just Simon Peter's brother. And now when he had found the Messiah, he runs to get Peter knowing full well that as soon as Peter enters the group he will run the group, because that's Peter. He thought more of the eternal virtue of the Kingdom then he did of his personal position.

He is one of those people who is willing to take second place. One of those rare people who does not mind being in support, being hidden as long as the work is done. He is the kind of man that all leaders like because they are dependable. He is the backbone of every ministry that everyone knows. And only God knows their value because sometimes it takes an Andrew to reach a Peter. God needs Andrews, people who quietly bring others to Jesus.

There's a third name in the first group, James the son of Zebedee. In two lists out of the four lists of the twelve he is next to Peter. Yet we do not know much about him. In fact he never appears in the gospels apart from John his brother. Now note that he's always mentioned before John. And this indicates that he was older and that he was also the leader of this dynamic duo. He is the strength, the zeal and the passion.

Now these brothers, James and John, were also fishermen and their father was Zebedee. And Zebedee was a fairly rich because he has servants in his business. So they had a pretty good fishing business going up there on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. And James fits into this first group because he was in the early calling. John and Andrew were the first two, and certainly James would be so close to John that he worked his way into that intimacy.

The best way to look at James is to consider what the Lord named him and his brother John. In Mark 3:17 Jesus gave them a name, He called them “sons of thunder.” James is the leader, and that is indicated by the fact that he appears first, then he was a son of thunder. Now he must have been a passionate, zealous, fervent and ambitious guy.

In Acts 12 king Herod attacked the church and the first person he killed was James and they took Peter and put him in jail. When you capture James and Peter and kill James and let Peter live, that says something about the kind of man James must have been. He was the first disciple to be martyred. He was a real strong individual.

Several incidents stand out and we can see where James is mentioned and the way he acts. Luke 9: 51-53, " 51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.”

And then verse 54 we meet the sons of thunder: "And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” Lord, let's just burn them up, burn them up.

55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.” James had so much zeal but so little sensitivity. I'm glad that he got mad when the Lord was dishonored. He was zealous.

Look at another incident in Matthew 20:20-21. Very often zealous people are also ambitious people, “20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”

“22 And Jesus said, you don't even know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup that I'm going to drink?" Oh, sure we can. All right, you will. And verse 24, the fever pitch was reached and they all started arguing over who was going to get what in the Kingdom. And Jesus went into a little lecture on what real leadership is.

And the Lord reminded James that he would get a reward, but it won't be what you think. Before you get your throne you're going to get a cup of suffering because the way to the throne is always the way of the cross. He wanted power, Jesus gave him the job of a servant. He wanted to rule, Jesus gave him a martyr's grave.

Finally, the last individual, and we will see him as he intersects the New Testament because of the fact that he wrote the gospel of John, First, Second and Third John and Revelation. Now some think that John is some meek, mild, guy lying with his head on Jesus' shoulder. But don’t forget he was one of the sons of thunder. He was ambitious and he was zealous and explosive.

But John does seem to have a quieter side to him. He lived till nearly 100. Now it's interesting to note that the only time he appears alone by name, is when he's mad at somebody. Some guy who was casting out demons in Mark 9:38, “John said, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”

Jesus taught him differently because the greatest source of truth in the New Testament, as far as a human author is concerned, about love would have to be a man who was also strong and uncompromising in his love. And if he was to speak the truth in love, he had to be as much committed to the truth as he was to love.

Eighty times he uses the word love. Seventy times the word witness in one form or another. He was always the witness to the truth and always the teacher of love. And so, he is the personification of speaking the truth in love. It's so good that his love was controlled by his witness, by his truth.

He wanted to know the truth, he was a visionary. He it was who first recognized the Lord at the lakeside of Galilee. It was he to whom God revealed the future in the apocalypse. The reason he was hanging around Christ's chest was not some kind of sentimentalism, it was his heart literally hungering for the truth as well as the deep affection for Christ.

So, his love was controlled by the truth. And that control was born out of that tremendous zeal he had in his personality and fiery character. Try reading First, Second and Third John and see how he denounces those who are antichrist, and those who will stand up in church to twist and pervert. When you read the gospel of John you will see how he talks about the judgment of the righteous and the unrighteous.

But he is characterized by love. And he appears in his own gospel several times, always the same way. How? Listen, John 13:23: "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved." He never uses His name. He calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.

In the John 19: 26 he appears again. "Jesus saw His mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved." John 20:2, "Then runs and comes to Simon Peter," Mary Magdalene does, "and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved." John 21:7, "Therefore the disciple, whom Jesus loved, said to Peter." Verse 20: "Peter turning about sees the disciple, whom Jesus loved." Verse 24: "This is the disciple who testifies these things.”

He literally was in awe that Jesus loved him. And it wasn't sentimentalism, it wasn't that he said. No. It was the very opposite - I, the one who wanted to burn up all the Samaritans... I the one who wanted Jesus to give me the place I didn't even deserve..I am one whom He loves. It's a celebration of grace.

Jesus never had to ask John if he loved Him, but He did have to ask Peter that. Jesus never had to ask John to follow Him, but He did have to ask Peter that. And when it came down to passing out the work, He said to Peter - Feed My sheep. He said to John -Take care of My mother. There was something special about John. Tradition tells us that John never left the city of Jerusalem until Mary the mother of Jesus died, because he kept his vow to the Lord.

We can summarize the theology of John about love into ten statements. He taught that God is a God of love. He taught that God loved His Son, that God loved the disciples, that God loves all men, that God is loved by Christ, that Christ loved the disciples in general, that Christ loved individuals, that Christ expected all men to love Him, that Christ taught that we should love one another and that Christ emphasized that love is the fulfilling of the whole law.

And those themes run through all his writings. We hear the word witness again and again, the witness of the truth. He speaks of the witness of John the Baptist, the witness of the Scripture, the witness of the Father, the witness of Christ, the witness of the miracles, the witness of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the Apostles.

And so, the Lord can use that kind of man. Those are the people who can exhibit the truth in love. And they will attract people to Christ. So what do you have to be to get really close to Jesus? Think of this now, when God came into the world, the God of the universe picked out four people to be close to Him.

One was dynamic, strong, bold, a leader like Peter, who took charge, who initiated, who planned, who strategized, who confronted, who commanded people to Christ, and very often blew it. Andrew who didn't see the crowds but saw the individuals in the crowds. And while he never attracted a mob he kept bringing people to Jesus.

And then He picked James, a man who was zealous, uncompromising, ambitious, who could see a goal and go for it with all his might and die in the process. And then there was sensitive, loving, believing, intimate John, every bit a truth seeker who spoke the truth in love so that he attracted people.

And He made them into fishers of men in spite of what they were. Tradition tells us that Andrew had preached in a province and the governor's wife received Jesus Christ as her Savior and the governor was so upset that he demanded that his wife reject Christ and when she wouldn't he crucified Andrew.

Tradition tells us that James, when he was being beheaded by the Roman sword, had along the guard who was so impressed with his courage and zeal that he repented and asked James if he would forgive him for the rough treatment he received. At which point James lifted the man up, embraced him and said - Peace, my son, peace to you and your faults. And immediately the officer publicly confessed his surrender to Christ and was therefore beheaded along side James.

John, banished to the isle of Patmos after a long life, died around 98 A.D. during the reign of Trajan. And those who knew him best said John’s constant phrase "My little children, love one another" was what they remember most. And in the power of Christ they were transformed.

Listen, it is not what you are, it is what you are willing to become that is the issue. The fishermen of Galilee did become fishers of men and with the help of God they gathered many souls into the church. In a sense, they are still casting their nets into the sea of the world. And by the testimony of Jesus they gave in the gospel and the epistles, they are still bringing multitudes to become disciples of Him. How about you?

]]> Sun, 14 Oct 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20121014 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000103 imblog

Matthew 10:2

Let us study further Matthew 10. We have the privilege tonight of looking at the sending of the twelve Apostles. We already have looked at some thoughts in verse 1, and now we will look at the names of these twelve individuals themselves.

Although the Bible doesn't give us that much information about them, the first name is sufficient to preach many messages, for the first on the list is Simon who is called Peter. And let us focus on that particular individual in reference to the twelve. But first some general introductory thoughts that help us understand the passage in its context.

And this is the way God designed His plan to work: Jesus would spend His time with twelve. The twelve would carry the message. The ones who heard it from them would tell others, and here we are two thousand years later telling it again. And some of this generation shall tell the next generation. But it all began with these twelve men.

These twelve introduced in Matthew 10 are the foundation of the church. In Ephesians 2:20 it says that the foundation of the church were the prophets and the Apostles with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. And it says in verse 1 that Jesus called to Him twelve disciples. It says in verse 2 that they are Apostles, the sent ones.

They received divine revelation. They were the ones responsible for writing most of the New Testament. They were the ones who were given the mysteries of the new covenant. They were the ones to whom it was promised that God would bring through His Spirit all things to their remembrance whatever Jesus had said.

It is very important for us to see how the Lord works with them and how He taught them and trained them, how He send them as the pattern for evangelism in the twenty first century that we are called to do, by teaching others and sending them to reach the world. That's the goal that God has for all of us.

And in that time Jesus gave them the ability to do two things. They could cast out demons and they could heal all kinds of diseases. Paul calls this the gift of miracles, it's the gift of confirmation power and if you look at the gospels it is the power against the demons. Their primary task was to preach. But the impact came when they showed their power over the kingdom of darkness and over disease.

Now for this evening let’s look at their identity. Matthew 10: 2-4, “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.”

Now they are just ordinary men. The only one who may have had some wealth was Matthew by being an extortionist and working for Rome. None of them had any academic background. None of them had any social status. Some of the disciples are still unknown to us and all we know is their names.

There has never been a task as difficult as the task these twelve were given. The most incredible thing that they were ever asked to do was to finish the work that Jesus began. Now as we look at the disciples there are some fascinating things to learn from the list itself.

There are four lists of these disciples in the New Testament. One is here in Matthew 10, one in Mark 3, one in Luke 6 and one in Acts 1. In all four lists Peter is always first. And when Judas is mentioned he is always last. Why was Peter always first? It says “first Simon who is called Peter.” We have to understand the word, “protos.” In this context it means the foremost in rank.

In all four lists there are three groups. Group one was Peter, Andrew, James and John. Group two begins in verse 3; Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew. And then there is group three: James the son of Alphaeus, Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot. Each group always has the same four guys in it.

Their names may be in different order, but they are always in the same group. We know a lot about group one; Peter, James, John and Andrew. We know a little about group two; Philip, Nathanael, Thomas and Matthew. But we know nothing about group three, except for Judas. And what we know about him we better forget about it..

The Lord was very close to group one. He was somewhat close to group two. We don't know that He was close at all to group three. And that is an important factor in leadership. You can't be intimate with everybody. Our Lord, even out of the first four, drew to Himself only three disciples. And He spent most of His time with Peter only.

When Jesus sent them out for the first time in their internship, He send them two by two. So they went out in their groups of four only two together. Peter, James, John and Andrew were interrelated, they were brothers and we know they were the fishermen in the group.

The next group, we only know one of them was a tax collector. We don't know what Philip did. We don't know what Nathanael did. We don't know what Thomas did. And the last group, we don't have any clue at all.

Now their temperaments were also different. Peter was a man of action. He was impulsive and eager. Peter always spoke up, and in his group was another fellow by the name of John. All John wanted to do was to be quiet and meditate and to act loving. They were quite opposites.

And then you have in group two a couple of other interesting guys. There was Nathanael, or Bartholomew. Nathanael believed everything. He accepted the facts about Jesus, John 1, just very trusting. And in his group was Thomas who didn't believe anything unless he could see it or touch it. Again they were opposites.

And then you had Matthew who worked for the Roman government extorting taxes. And you had Simon the Zealot who was a radical revolutionary always trying to overthrow Rome. And if Simon had gotten this close to Matthew anywhere but among the disciples, he would have stuck a knife in him.

So you had the political differences and spiritual differences and the emotional differences. And of all this conglomerate of people thrown together the Lord was going to make something to change the world. The wonderful story is that they still succeeded, and we can see the power of God in all this.

So how does God build leaders? Because Peter is the key person; the first twelve chapters of Acts revolve around him. He preaches the sermon at Pentecost. He does the first miracle at the temple. He faced the Sanhedrin. And we can see how God is going to make a leader out of this man.

And God has not stopped, because the Lord today is still building leaders in His church. And Peter is the key to understanding that lesson. The four gospels are filled with Peter. After the name of Jesus, no other name is used as much in the gospels as the name of Peter.

Let me just give you three ways. First, a leader always ask questions. People who don't ask questions seldom become leaders because they're not concerned about problems and solutions. In the gospel record, Peter asked more questions than everyone else combined.

It was Peter who asked how often he had to forgive. The Lord was talking about forgiveness and he says, “How many times am I supposed to forgive? Seven times?” The Lord says, No, seven times seventy times. By the way, in all of Peter’s questioning, he rarely got the answer he expected.

It was Peter who asked about the reward of those who have left all to follow Jesus. It was Peter who asked about the meaning of the fig tree when it withered away in Mark 11. It was Peter who asked the meaning of the things that Jesus said about the approaching end in Mark 13. And after Peter was told he was going to die as a martyr, he said, “Well, what about John?” See, leaders always seek solutions and ask questions.

Leaders always take the initiative. When the Lord asks a question, who answers it? Always Peter. Who touched Me? Peter answers, “what do you mean asking a question like that, there's a whole bunch of people pushing You all over here.” In John 6:67-68 Jesus says, “Will you go away too? And Simon Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Leaders are always right in the middle of the action. They make it happen, of all the disciples, who jumped out of the boat and walked on water? Peter. People say Peter denied the Lord. Right! But he was in the place where he was confronted with that because he had enough courage to follow Jesus to the house of the high priest. The other guys had split.

And when the resurrection came, who were the first ones there? Peter and John. Peter just passed John who stopped outside and went right in the place. We see him in the book of Acts, for twelve chapters; everywhere he goes, amazing things happen all over the place.

Now sometimes he is called Simon, his secular name. The name Simon is also used when he is being reprimanded for sin. For example in Luke 5, he was out there in his boat doubting the Lord when He says, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And when he pulled in so many fish that the net almost broke he immediately said, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man."

But the Lord also gave to Peter the greatest revelation. In Matthew 16, Jesus had just warned the disciples about the teaching of the Pharisees. And then in Matthew 16:15 He asked the disciples a specific question, “But who do you say that I am? 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

“17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” In other words, He said that's a revelation. He was transforming this man by letting him know that God could speak through him.

And then he received a great reward in the next verse. After this confession Jesus said in Matthew 16:18: "I say to you, you are Peter, you are stone but upon the rock of your confession, I will build My church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

Who preached the first great apostolic sermon? Peter on the day of Pentecost. Who led the first Gentile to Christ? Peter in Acts 10, Cornelius. He unlocked the Kingdom to the Jews and Gentiles. And the Lord also gave that same promise to the rest of His Apostles and extended it all through the ages to all those who, by the proclamation of the gospel, open the door to the Kingdom.

But you've got to see his great mistake also. Matthew 16:21-22, “And so from that time forth began Jesus to show His disciples that He had to go Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raise a third day. 22 Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him."

He was doing exactly what Satan had done in the temptation of Christ; he was trying to derail Christ from the cross. And that is a great lesson to learn for a leader. The more you get yourself into a position where God can use you, the greater the potential to be used by Satan. That's an important lesson.

Then we come to his great miscalculation. Matthew 26:33-35, "Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” 35 Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

And we know that Peter denied Jesus three times. What a lesson and experience for Peter. And then he had an experience of great forgiveness in John 21. And at the end of verse 19 Jesus says, "Follow Me." And Peter did finally follow Him. In other words, he learned submission. It's important for leaders to learn that. There are limits.

Another lesson that Peter needed to learn was restraint. In John 18 the Bible says there was a fellow there named Malchus and Peter cut off his ear. And the Lord reached over and gave him a new ear and said, “Put that sword away. You live by the sword, you die by the sword.” Let God take care of these matters.

Another thing a leader needs to learn is humility. And he learned his lesson well because he taught in 1 Peter about submission to government, submission to masters and submission to each other in marriage and submission to God because in 1 Peter 5:5 it says, "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Also, leaders need to learn to sacrifice themselves. In John 21:19 Jesus says, someday Peter somebody is going to come and bind you and take you where you don't want to go and I'm speaking about the death you're going to die for Me, you're going to be a martyr.”

He also needed to learn love. You see, leaders tend to be task oriented rather than people oriented and they can just overwhelm people. Jesus said to him in John 21, "Do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me?" That's probably why Jesus hooked up John with him to teach him about that.

He also needed to learn courage. In John 21 Jesus said, if you're going to follow Me, it's going to cause your death. Are you willing? By then he learned. In Acts 4, he goes in front of the Sanhedrin and he says, I don't care what you say, I'll preach because I will obey God not men.

And tradition tells us that he was crucified, but before he was crucified he was forced to watch the crucifixion of his wife. He stood at the foot of his wife's cross and kept repeating to her, 'Remember the Lord.' And after she had died, he himself was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die like his Lord Jesus.

Peter's life can be summed up in the last words he ever said, they are recorded in the last verse of the last epistle that he wrote, 2 Peter 3:18. Here is his word to you: "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen." He could tell you to grow because that's what he had to do.

]]> Sun, 23 Sep 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120923 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000104 imblog

Matthew 10:1

This evening we come to the 10th chapter of Matthew. In our ongoing study of this marvelous account of our Lord's life and ministry, we find ourselves beginning a new section here. The first verse is the calling and the commissioning of the disciples. And then in the second verse they are sent out as apostles.

It is a change in the pattern of ministry for our Lord; it is a critical part of the training of the twelve. We are going to learn much about discipleship, about what our Lord did, and what He taught as He trained the men who would carry on the ministry. I believe that as we together go through this chapter, our lives are going to be dramatically affected in regard to our service.

Now remember from our last study together that our Jesus saw Israel and the whole world as a large field to be harvested. That's why in Matthew 9:37 He said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” So everybody should be involved. He looked at that multitude as it stretched out across the world and He saw all men as a field to be harvested.

We have to realize that the harvest means judgment. They were the sheep, either to be gathered in or to be cast out. And they had been betrayed by their shepherds, who were false shepherds, who had mutilated them and left them for dead. And when Jesus saw people that way He was moved with compassion, it says in Matthew 9:36.

Literally He felt their pain. And out of that He calls on His disciples, in verse 38 and asks them to pray, and He asks them to pray that God will send forth laborers. Because it is clear that He Himself can't do it all. And so we enter a new dimension in Matthew as the Lord begins to add to His own ministry these twelve men who are to reach the field that is to be harvested.

That is where we are in Matthew 10. That one solitary person, Jesus Christ has moved through the field alone, until now. And now He is going to call twelve others as ministers. He's going to commission them as His personal ambassadors and send them out. And chapter 10 is the record of their initial sending to warn men of the inevitable judgment.

But before we get to verse 5 we have to look at the first four verses, they're very simple in terms of what they say, and yet hidden behind them is some tremendous richness that I want you to see. Now for this evening I just want to mention three features of the first four verses. First let us look at their initiation, then their impact, and then their identity. We see their initiation in verse 1, their impact in verse 1, and then their identity is given in verses 2 through 4 as He names all twelve of them.

Now some of the things behind His preparation and calling of these men are very important because they apply in your own life. We are going to look at the way Jesus prepared and called these twelve, and this is also helps our own understanding of discipleship. We need to learn how we should disciple someone else and how God is going to disciple us.

First let's look at the initiation of the apostles, and we only have one statement, Matthew 10:1, “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power.” And as I was reading that I thought, now how did He do that? How did He get them to the place where He called them and then sent them?

Disciple means learner, apostle means ‘to be sent’. First they were learners then they were sent. And so this is their transition from being learners in verse 1 to being sent in verse 2, they've been trained and now they're sent. It's time to evangelize, it's time to tell others the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

There were basically four phases in Christ's training of the twelve. Number one was their salvation or their conversion. And if you look at John 1:35-51, you find there an illustration of the initial calling to faith or calling to salvation that our Lord used in the lives of these twelve disciples.

He called many, but there it pinpoints several of them in John 1, who are well known to us. And that is the initial calling; they were called to Christ to believe Him. But then after that they went back to their secular employment, back to their homes. And after that came a second phase, and that is recorded for us in Matthew 4:18-22.

"He saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. He said unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Now, they had already been saved in the sense that we believe in conversion, they had already believed and affirmed that He was the Messiah as in John 1.

But now He is calling them to leave their secular employment, and to leave their homes, and to follow Him totally. This is their calling into ministry. And He's going to make them into fishers of men. This was their education, they were to follow Jesus around for three years to be trained.

And their training was not simple, for wherever Jesus went there was a large number of disciples. Some stuck around and according to John 6 some left and followed Him no more. But in the midst of this group were these special twelve and they were being trained along with everybody else, but even more specifically because the Lord knew that these twelve were special.

Now we see a third phase of their training. First to conversion, then to ministry, thirdly, they are to be sent out, and that's were we come to Matthew 10:1. This is not the final phase this is the third phase, and this is a sending out, and Mark tells us they were sent out two by two, they weren't ready to go alone yet; they had to have one another along for support.

And the Lord stayed with them very closely in this phase three. He was like a mother eagle watching His eaglets as they begin to fly, He was always there and they're always checking back in all the time, and letting Him know how it was going. This was their internship, this was the time to go out on their first short term missions assignment, and get a feel for how it was out there.

Then we know there was also a fourth phase of the twelve, and that was after the resurrection and after the ascension. When Christ went back into heaven He sent the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came into them and they then scattered and went into all the world disciplining the nations, and that was the final phase of the twelve.

So as we come to chapter 10 we are in phase three. This is their first experience alone in the mission field, and He doesn't let them out very far, but just far enough to learn where the trouble is going to come from. They were hand-picked by Jesus from all the other disciples who followed Him, He even hand-picked Judas because that was in the prophetic plan as well.

Now, in the process of training them, in phase two and phase three, Jesus was overcoming five problems that they had. These five problems are common in the process of discipling. In a small sense I am also sent, and so are you. Sometimes you wonder whether He could ever teach them, and it's a marvelous insight into the honesty of God, as we see Christ dealing with common weak men.

First of all they were chosen sovereignly, and God had it all laid out that way. It says in Matthew 10:1, "And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him.” In fact in Mark 3:13-14 it says, “13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach.” It was His sovereign choice. There was no executive search.

Jesus says in John 15:16, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit." And He chooses those who serve Him within His church, so that we who are representing Him are the called according to His purpose. But secondly they were chosen after a night of prayer.

And as we select those that we will teach, it should be only after great prayer, so that God can show us who it is that we are to give ourselves to. Look at Luke 6:12-13, "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles.”

They were chosen as the submissive Son in His humility sought only the will of the Father. And in John 17:12 He affirms that indeed they were the ones the Father wanted, given by the Father to the Son, He says, " Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” In John 17:6 it says, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”

And thirdly, and this is our focus, they were chosen to be trained. Training is an essential part, and for them it was a training of three years, they left their nets, they left their boats, they left their tax collecting stands, and they walked with Jesus. There are a lot of people who are called to Christ and maybe called to the ministry and they just want to go even if they don't know where to or to do what.

But Jesus knew they needed to be taught to become disciples, before they could be sent. Moses spent forty years being trained, Paul only three years, and these men also three. Some of us have spent three year, four or five years in seminary, others have spent years and years not in a formal education but learning the Word of God, maybe being taught by another Christian.

But there has to be a training time before one can be sent. And I can't imagine any greater thrill than to have been trained by the Lord Jesus Himself, can you? And in Matthew 11:29 He said to the group which included them, "Learn of me." Learning doesn't just happen because you sit in a class and hear a lecture, learning really happens when you watch a holy person walk through life. Well it's good to see their shortcomings because it gives us hope that God can use us too with all our faults.

Now let me come to the five things Jesus had to work with, to overcome, and you're going to see them in your own life. Number one, they lacked spiritual understanding. That's a tough way to begin but that's exactly what He had, they were blind and they didn't understand the parables. Every time the Lord says to them, do you understand this? You know what they always say? Yes Lord. Did they understand? No, they didn't understand.

It was so hard to get through all of their prejudices and their preconceived attitudes. Jesus spoke of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:14-16, "They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?”

Now they had a second problem, lack of humility. They were a proud and envious group. Well let us hear the Lord talk about them in Mark 9:33-34, "Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.”

Now, how did Jesus deal with it? He gave them a demonstration of His own humility. He likened Himself here to a servant. In John 13 He washed their feet and then He said you should do the same in your love to one another as they were loved by Jesus. A new commandment, love one another as I have loved you. He overcame their lack of understanding by instruction; and He overcame their lack of humility by example.

They had a third problem, lack of faith. In fact the most common phrase Jesus ever said to them was this, "0 you of little faith." He would do so many things and still they didn't see. In fact in Mark 4:40 He says to them, "How is it that you have no faith?" How can it be that after all of this you still don't believe?

How can it be? At the end of Mark 16:14 it says, “And He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.” They didn't even believe reports of the resurrection. How did He deal with their unbelief? By miracles, by showing them His power over and over. In fact He did the miracles primarily for the disciples, not for the crowds.

The disciples needed to be sure and confident, they needed to know the resurrection really happened, so He appeared to them again and again and He let them touch Him and feel Him and see Him, they had to know for sure. Acts 1:3, "by many infallible proofs." So He overcame their lack of understanding with teaching, He overcame their lack of humility by example, and He overcame their lack of faith by miracles. All of this was part of the teaching process.

They had a fourth problem, lack of commitment. They would say, we will never forsake You, but when there came a crisis they were gone. And Peter was denying and Judas was betraying and the other ten just split. In Mark 14:50 it says, " Then they all forsook Him and fled.”

How did Jesus deal with that? Luke 22:31-32, “And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” How did Jesus deal with their lack of commitment? He dealt with it through prayer.

Fifth problem they had was a lack of power. They were weak and helpless. For an illustration of that let us look at Matthew 17:15, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”

Who do you think He was talking to? Matthew 17: 18-21, “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith...nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

How did He deal with that? In John 20:22, "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” And in Acts 1:8 it says, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus believed in the men He had chosen and what was more, He had absolute confidence in His own power to make them what He wanted them to be. There's hope for us. How did they know that they'd been with Jesus? They did the same things Jesus did. They said the same thing Jesus said, they loved the same way Jesus loved. Finally, the job was done, and they went out as living mirrors to reflect Christ. This is the example for us too. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Sep 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120909 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000105 imblog

Matthew 9:33-34

We're continuing our study this evening in Matthew 9. We come, really, to a very brief portion for our lesson, 2 verses only, and let us discuss what the Spirit of God would have us to learn from it. Matthew 9:33-34, “And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” 34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

Matthew gives us the 2 responses to the miracles that Jesus had done. There was the marveling multitude and there were the rejecting Pharisees. But before we get into that specifically, let me see if I can't get you to think in line with what the text is saying to us.

When our Lord was just about 40 days old, He was taken by His mother and Joseph to the temple; because it was required that they gave an offering of purification after giving birth to a child; and while in the temple, they met a man by the name of Simeon. Simeon was an old man who had been waiting for the arrival of the Messiah; and now he had the privilege of seeing the Messiah.

In Luke 2:30 he says, "30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel.” Simeon said: this Child will become the dividing line to determine the ultimate destiny for every individual. Most will reject Him and fall. Some will receive Him and rise again.

That always has been the way God works. There are those who are planted like trees by the river of waters that bring forth fruit; and there are those who are the weed that will burn. There are the godly and the ungodly. There are the righteous and the unrighteous, and there are only those two categories.

This was not new information for Mary. In Luke 1, as she praised God she said, "50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.”

Mary knew that it was characteristic of God to receive some and refuse others, to bless some and curse others, to give strength to some by gathering them, and to scatter others, to pull down the proud, and to lift up the humble, to fill the hungry and to send away the full. In other words, there would always be this dividing line.

There are those, said our Lord in Matthew 7, who enter the narrow gate and are blessed; and those who enter the broad gate and are damned. There are those who build their house upon the rock, and it stands in judgment. There are those who build their house on the sand, and it collapses. There are those who try to hold onto their life and lose it. There are those who lose their life and, in so losing it, they find everlasting life.

Matthew 10:32 begins with, "32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. 34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”

Again, Jesus is the dividing line: “35 to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, 36 and a man's greatest enemies shall be those of his own household.” It goes like that continuously through Matthew and the other Gospels as well.

Matthew 21:28-32 says, "28 A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.”

In other words, the first son was irreligious; but he repented and went. The second son was religious, he had the facade of religion, he pretended to obey; but he didn't go. Son No. 1, who said no and repented, was the tax collector and the sinner. Son No. 2, who said I will, but didn't, was the Pharisee and the hypocrite, and Jesus said the tax collectors and the harlots would enter the Kingdom before the pretenders would.

Christ is the demarcation line. The Apostle Paul picks up this same concept that the entire human race is divided into believers and unbelievers, into heaven-bound souls and hell- bound souls, into the blessed and the cursed, and that the dividing line is their faith or lack of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What Matthew wants to do is to help us understand that Christ is who He claims and that a decision must be made. He calls us to make a right choice, to choose life, to choose righteousness, godliness and to believe. So he presents in chapter 8 and 9 irrefutable evidence that Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah and the Savior.

Matthew 8 and 9 record nine wondrous miracles. Miracles beyond the capacity of any human being not only to do, but even to fathom; and they are only samples of the full scope of His miracles. John 20:30 says, "And many other signs Jesus did in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book." In John 21:25 he says, "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

How did people respond to these different miracles? In the first three miracles He showed His power over disease. He healed a leper, He healed a centurion's servant of paralysis, and then He healed Peter's mother-in-law of fever. Then the second three miracles, He restored physical disorder, He calmed the waves and the sea. Then He dealt with spiritual disorder, by casting out a legion of demons. Then with moral disorder, by healing the paralytic and forgiving his sins.

And then He dealt with death, healing a dead tongue giving back speech, dead eyes, and then raising Jairus' daughter from the dead. Each miracle demonstrated Christ's power in another dimension and they are representative of the myriads of miracles that He performed in all of those categories. And following each set of miracles was a response section that we want to discuss.

Let us start in Matthew 9:35 first and then we will look at the responses in verse 34 and 33. Note verse 35 says, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” He was constantly working; and you can see why as it says, "He went about all the cities and villages."

Josephus, the historian, tells us that at the time of Jesus, there were 204 towns and villages. The difference between a city and a village was a wall. If you had a wall, you were a city. If you didn't have a wall, you were a village. Little villages didn't fortify themselves, but cities did. Jesus was in all of them; and that would be about a 70 by 40 mile area.

And He was moving through all of these rapidly. Josephus writes, "The cities are numerous, and the multitude of villages everywhere crowded with men because of the fertility of the soil, so that even the smallest town contained about 15,000 inhabitants." So there were 3 million people that Jesus could have reached in just that area of Galilee.

Now, let us look at the three things that He did that were mentioned in verse 35, “teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

First, teaching in their synagogues. What does this involve? Wherever there were Jewish people, there was a synagogue, a gathering together place. That was the center of Jewish community life. It was like a church, a town hall and the local court. It was where the Jewish people met together in the community.

Now, the synagogue was an addition to Judaism that didn't come around until the Babylonian captivity. All of their worship had been focused on the temple; but when they were taken captive and the temple was destroyed for those 70 years in Babylon, wherever there was an opportunity to meet together they formed these little synagogues.

And in the time of our Lord in Galilee, there were synagogues in all the little towns and villages. They were usually built on a hill or, if there wasn't a hill, they were built at least on the highest spot, or they would build them by a river. Now, the Jews always used the synagogue as a place of teaching. As they were in occupied countries from time to time in their history, they would exercise whatever authority they had in their synagogues.

Philo, the historian said, "Synagogues were mainly for the detailed reading and exposition of Scripture." Now, when the sermon was given on any given day, it could be given by any leading member of the congregation who was knowledgeable in the Scripture. But if there happened to be a visiting rabbi, it was customary to let that rabbi preach and give the sermon.

Jesus taught many times, one example for instance starts in Luke 4:15, “And Jesus taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” Let’s look at the people’s response in verses 16 – 22, “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Every Jew in that synagogue knew that that passage referred to the Messiah. And Jesus gave a very short sermon. “20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” He said, "I am the living fulfillment of that passage."

Well, that's real shocking news for them. He went on to say some other things; and by the time He got done, verse 28-30 says, “So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.”

Their response was a response of unbelief and anger and they meant to kill Jesus right then and there. The miracle here is that all those people did not have the power to kill Jesus. Only when it was His time did Jesus voluntarily gave Him self to be crucified. Times have not changed much; anything that is biblical based is disregarded and considered extreme and old fashioned.

Jesus explained the Old Testament in the synagogue but He also was preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom everywhere else. And His message was always the same, good news, that's what Gospel means. This was the unfolding of the mysteries which had been hidden from people in times past. This was the new covenant, the new revelation, the proclamation; and always the Kingdom.

And both of these preaching ministries were verified by the miracles; healing every sickness among the people, as a way to affirm the validity of the first two and there was no way to refute them. Do you know that the Pharisees never denied His miracles? They only denied the source of them, because they were undeniable.

We have already seen some responses. The first three miracles in Matthew 8 had this response. Three men said, "We want to follow You, Lord." But because they loved personal comfort and personal riches more, they turned back and walked away. They illustrate a superficial interest that never becomes real, a momentary response and a fascination that has no root.

And then there are people like the Pharisees who just got irritated at what Jesus says, because He confronts their religious status quo. And then there are people like the followers of John the Baptist, who, all their life, have been in one religious system; and they're very confused about this new thing that they're hearing. Then there are people like Matthew, who really believe, and who go out and bring all their tax collector and prostitute friends to believe also.

And now we come to the third set of miracles and the their responses and there are two. Matthew 9:33, "The multitude marveled." Verse 34, "The Pharisees rejected," and they said He did it by the power of Satan. They couldn't deny that He did it. They just denied that the source was God. Later on in chapter 12, Jesus says to them, "That just shows you where you are that you think Satan goes around casting out Satan."

The word marvel, thoumodzo, is a very full, comprehensive kind of word. It can mean they were amazed. They were, in fact, super-astonished. Luke 9:43 sums it up, "And they were all astonished at the mighty power of God...and they marveled every one at all things which Jesus did."

Many people have been in awe of Jesus who didn't know Him. Pilate said He was a Man without fault. Pilate's in hell. Some other people who are in hell said some good things about Jesus. Napoleon said He was the Emperor of Love. Lekke said He was the highest pattern of virtue. Bakant said He's the Holy One before God. Francis Cobb said He was the regenerator of humanity. And somebody said He was a superstar...

For many Jesus is acceptable as long as we don't really have to confront sin; we can always deal with a holy person as long as He is not too close. The Pharisees of Jesus' time were always honoring the prophets; but the people who lived when the prophets were alive killed them; and the only prophet that was alive in Jesus' time was John the Baptist; and they killed him; and then there was Jesus; and they killed Him too.

Now, listen please. Both kinds of responses are wrong. Both end up in hell forever. You mean these hating, rejecting people that blasphemed and said He was of Satan, and then the multitude that marveled and were fascinated and were amazed too? Yes, because that's not the proper response. The only response is to believe and to receive Christ, not just to be fascinated by Him. How about you? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 26 Aug 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120826 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000106 imblog

Matthew 9:27-33

We are studying now Matthew 9:27-33 and we are learning about God’s power over sight and sound. When God created man, He gave him dominion over the earth. A kingdom of wonder and beauty; but man sinned; and he lost his crown. Man's dominion was taken over by Satan; and because of this there came to be a kingdom of darkness with tears, pain, sorrow, illness, suffering, murder and war.

But almost as instantly as man fell did God promise that He would someday restore the kingdom. Someday, the kingdom of darkness would end; and the kingdom of light of glory would return. And so the Old Testament was filled with promises that God would bring a deliverer, a King that would restore the Kingdom, would wipe out disease and pain and illness, sorrow, war and death itself.

Matthew's purpose in writing is to tell us that Jesus is that Messiah. He is the One; and in order to convince us that Christ has the power to do that, in chapters 8 and 9, Matthew shows us His miracle power; and relates it all to Old Testament prophecy. And Matthew gave us three sets of miracles.

We are now in the third set of miracles that deal primarily with His power over death; in verses 18 to 26. We went over it last week. And this is precisely what Isaiah 65 says. The Messiah will have power to lengthen life; and Daniel 12:2 says He will have power to raise the dead; and if Jesus is the Messiah, then He must demonstrate that power; and that is precisely what He did in raising Jairus' daughter from the grave.

He not only has power over dead people, but even over the dead parts of a living human being, such as their eyes and their ears and their tongues. And that is demonstrated in our passage tonight and let me read you two Old Testament prophecies that prophesied this.

First listen to Isaiah 29:18, as it's speaking of the coming day of the Messiah, "In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.” And Isaiah 35:5-6, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing.”

The more we study the New Testament, the more apparent it becomes that Jesus gave us a dazzling display of previews of what was to come in His Kingdom. He went up the Mount and transfigured, He pulled His clothes back and showed them His glory. And now He shows us all these other miracles that culminate with His power over death.

And now we come to the miracles of sight and sound. Look at Matthew 9: 27, "And when Jesus departed from there." Stop for a second, departed from where? From the house of Jairus, it's evening by now and there is still a mass of humanity around Him. But now He has two crowds, the one that has been following Him all day and now the other crowd of mourners and paid musicians, who were holding the funeral service for that little girl.

So let us talk about the healing of these two blind men in verse 27, "When Jesus left the house of Jairus and his neighborhood, two blind men followed Him." Blindness was a common disorder in Egypt and in Israel. In fact the Gospel records include more healings of blind people than any other type of healing.

Then we notice the cry of these men as they followed Him. They're in the crowd shoving their way along, trying to stay with the group, and they are crying out, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" Now they are very bold. No doubt they had heard of Jesus.

It is always the bereft, the hurting, the unfit, the outcasts, the discouraged, the lonely, the sinful and the guilty who follow Jesus. You never find the self-sufficient people. You never find the people who think they have all the resources. These blind people were crying out in desperation and deep need, pleading and begging. That is the desperation that will result in salvation.

Why did they call Jesus of Nazareth the Son of David? Did they know His lineage from Joseph, who was of the line of David? Did they know His lineage from Mary, who according to Luke 3, also was of the lineage of David? Well, I'm not sure they knew that but the term ‘Son of David’ was the Jewish designation for the Messiah.

He is the Promised One; and in that title, Son of David, is the entire concept of dominion and Kingship that the prophets spoke of. In Luke 1: 32 the angel said, "He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give to Him the throne of His Father David."

Luke 2:4 says, "Joseph went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David; because he was of the house and lineage of David." And in Acts 2 identifies Christ as the fulfillment of the promise to David; and Paul does it in his epistles; and John does it in Revelation. Again and again, Christ is called the Son of David.

So when these two blind men came in verse 27 and said, "Son of David," they are affirming that they believe this is the long-awaited Messiah. When Jesus came along and performed all these miracles, even to the point of raising the dead, it became apparent to some, including these two, that this was One who did fulfill their expectation; and so they give Him the Messianic title.

But they also cried something else that helps us know a little about their genuineness. They said, "Son of David have mercy on us!" They had a right attitude. They felt a spiritual need as deep as they felt a physical one. They knew that they were undeserving; and that is why they asked for mercy; and that is something you will never hear a Pharisee ask for, because they felt self-sufficient.

Jesus was the most merciful human being who ever lived. He reached out to the sick and healed them. He reached out to the crippled and gave them legs to walk. He healed the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and the mouths of the dumb.

He found prostitutes and tax collectors and those who were debauched and drunken, and drew them into the circle of His love and redeemed them and set them on their feet. He took the lonely and made them feel loved. He took little children and gathered them into His arms and loved them. Never was there a person on the face of the earth with the mercy of this One.

Once a funeral procession came by in Luke 7, and Jesus saw a mother weeping, because her only son was dead. She was already a widow, and now she had no child to care for her when she was old. Who would care? Jesus stopped the funeral procession, put His hand on the boy, and raised the child from the dead, because He really cared.

Now let’s go back to these blind men. What is interesting is that Jesus seems to pay no attention to them. He lets them just keep pouring out their heart, persistently manifesting their genuineness as a way of pulling them out from the superficial. If their faith is real, they will persist. And they keep following Him, and so He tests their faith.

In verse 28, finally He responds to them; it says, "And when He entered the house.” Whose house? We are not sure, but it might have been Peter's house in Capernaum. And look what it says, "And the two blind men came to Him." He went in the house, and they went right in the house after Him. None of us can begin to fathom what it must have been like for Jesus to have these tragic people just clinging to Him all through His ministry.

Every one of the healings we've seen in this chapter involves persistence, and that is how Jesus drew out true faith. That's why all the healings we see so far are not only physical healings, but spiritual conversions, as well. The paralytic, his friends, in order to get him healed, had to literally tear the roof apart. That's real persistence.

And the ruler persisted even though his daughter is dead. And then there was the woman of the issue of blood who grabbed His tassel, and Jesus didn't let it go at that. And here He makes these blind men follow Him all the way to the house and in the house before He turns to them.

And in verse 28 Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Why does He ask that?" Well, the purpose of the question was not to deny their faith, or to question whether they believed that He had the power to do it. Jesus knew they believed. The reason He asked them was to hear the affirmation of their faith in their own confession.

The apostle Paul said in Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God had raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Jesus is drawing out a verbal confession, an affirmation of that faith that it might stand as a testimony to what is necessary for genuine conversion. He said, "Do you believe I'm able to do this?" And they said, "Yes, Lord."

Now, the Gospels are full of times that Jesus healed where people didn't have any faith. Jesus wanted to separate these blind men from all those people who were looking for a political deliverer; for a man with charisma or just for a miracle worker. So He said do you believe that I represent the power of God to heal your blindness?

Real faith is necessary for conversion; and He wanted to bring these men all the way their faith would take them; and when a man says, "I need mercy," and says, "You are the promised Messiah," and says, "I believe You have the divine power of God," and says, "Yes, Lord", that is a saving faith; and Jesus was drawing them to that.

So we move from that to, fourthly, the conversion of the men. Verse 29 says, "Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And not only were their physical eyes opened, but, at that moment, their spiritual eyes also opened and their faith blossomed and they became children of God.

Jesus often touched people showing His divine tenderness. He touched their eyes and in that instant their sight burst returned. Notice the phrase the end of verse 29, "According to your faith, be it done to you." Well, how much faith did they have? Did they have enough faith to be saved? Yes.

Faith is the bucket that dips into the well of salvation. Faith is the purse which, in itself, is not the riches, but contains the riches. Faith is that by which we receive what God gives, and He says: your purse is big enough to receive all that I have to give. Your bucket is big enough to gather the waters that I provide of the well of salvation.

Now listen to the command that He gives them in verse 30, "And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” How we going to do that? Shall we just pretend that we are still blind? The people who know us are going to know. What is He saying here?"

First of all, the proclamation that the blind men had made was ‘Son of David’, and that was a Messianic title; Heir to the throne, which could really create some problems. The Jews wouldn't understand it, because He didn't come through the Jewish establishment; and the Romans wouldn't understand it either, because Caesar was the only king.

And, in the end it was this very affirmation that Jesus was the King that brought Him to the cross; and what He's saying now is, "It's not time yet for that thing." God is on His own divine timetable. And people had a tendency to see Him only as a miracle worker, which gave everyone the wrong impression.

You remember back in John 6:26 when Jesus fed the 5,000, they immediately wanted to make Him the king? And Jesus said to them after they followed Him all over, "you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled."

Jesus wanted people to come and see for themselves and make their own conclusions rather than make judgments based on what people would say and think. We might doubt whether those blind men were genuinely children of God if all they did was run out and disobey immediately His command, but let us see what else they did.

Verse 32, "As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed.” It is translated in Matthew 11:5 as deaf, probably meaning deaf and dumb. This would have been one of their friends. This is the commitment of these blind men, they brought one of their fellow beggars. His deafness is specifically identified in verse 32, he was possessed with a demon.

And so we find in verse 33, "And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” It says nothing about the man's faith. There's nothing about his salvation; but what we do find is that the two blind men immediately become useful to Christ because they are involved in bringing others to Him.

Simple story; but it's one of the most beautiful analogies of salvation. Their blindness becomes an analogy of spiritual blindness. First of all, they had a need. They were blind, and they knew that. That's where salvation begins. Nobody comes to God unless he senses a need. He has no resources, no hope. He cannot discern the truth, there's a sense of desperation.

They found out who Jesus was; and they knew that He was the Messiah, the Son of David. They sought to know and they found the truth. Proverbs 8:17 says, "And those who seek Me diligently will find Me.” And that is followed by a sense of sinfulness. They said, "Have mercy,” we need something that we don't deserve.

And then comes their confession, "Do you believe?" "Yes, Lord," the affirmation of the Lordship. And then comes their conversion, "According to your faith be it done to you.” And you know what often follows conversion, weakness and disobedience.

Why? Because when they are born again, they are a newborn babe in Christ, right? And babes don't know how to discern, they can be tossed to and fro. They don't know yet the deep things of God, and there's a certain susceptibility to disobedience.

But, intermingled with their disobedience was their desire to bring somebody else to Jesus Christ. That is so often true of a new Christian. They don't know all that's involved. Jesus healed the man to show those two blind men that they were useful to Him in advancing the Kingdom.

How about you? Are you useful in advancing the Kingdom? Are you willing to bring your friends to Christ? Are you still a newborn babe or are you a mature Christian willing to put Christ above everything else? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120819 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000107 imblog

Matthew 9:22-26

We're continuing tonight in our study of Matthew 9:18–26 where we see Jesus’ power over death. The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 2:14-15 that, "Jesus came through death so that He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

The writer says that men live their entire lives subject to the bondage of fear of death; but Christ has come to deliver them from that fear. Death is the thought that haunts every person's life. The longer you live, the more inevitably it comes closer. To know that Christ has conquered that is the ultimate joy. For most of the world, people have no such knowledge and they fear death.

People do silly things when they think about dying because of their fear. In Brazil, an architect designed a 39-story skyscraper cemetery which holds 147,000 corpses. It has a heliport, two churches and 21 chapels and comfortable beds for grieving friends just because he doesn’t want to be alone at his death.

Everyone will die eventually. How great is it to realize that Jesus has conquered death. Look at John 5 to get a focus on this. Verse 21, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” Verse 24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

In John 11:25-26, "Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” He said, "The Father has power over death, and He's given Me power over death." He also said, "Because I live, you will also.”

Let us get back to our story in Matthew 9:18, "There came a certain ruler," and the other Gospels tell us he was the ruler of the synagogue. First time as he came, the daughter was only dying; but, by the time Matthew picks up the story, the daughter is already dead; and the man is desperate. And he comes out of deep need; but he also expresses great faith.

And notice the middle of verse 18, “he worshiped Jesus.” Worship can be phony or self- seeking, but it can also be real and genuine; and I believe when this man came, he came in a genuineness of heart. He had a great faith and Jesus responds to great faith. Verse 19, "He rose and followed him, and so did the disciples,” and the other Gospels add, so did the whole crowd.

So there's a big mass of people going through these little streets as they wind their way down to this man's house. Jesus was accessible and He was always available. He moves away from the mass to follow this one man who had a deep need.

But Jesus still responds to this desperate woman. Verse 20, "And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment." She had had a uniquely female bleeding problem where according to the law everything she touches becomes unclean. She was put out of the synagogue, out of her family, out of a marriage relationship and had been isolated for twelve years as an unclean person.

But she kept saying to herself, in verse 21, over and over, "If I can just touch His garment, I'll be well.” The Man has so much power, that if I can just touch Him. Verse 22, "Jesus turned around, and He saw her, and He said, 'Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.”

God never looks for the superstars and the famous people. He always uses simple people like you and me. The prophet Isaiah predicted that when the Messiah would come, He would preach the Gospel to the poor. And Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:26, "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”

Just look at Jesus’ disciples. The two disciples who did the most to spread the Word after His departure, John and Peter, were the two He had rebuked most often. And the Apostle Paul, who wrote more books than any other Bible writer, was selected while pursuing Christians to torture. And yet Jesus trusted the ideals of love and unity and fellowship to this group.

So Jesus Christ stops everything to deal with this outcast woman; and what does He call her? "Daughter," that's very intimate, personal and tender. Then He says this, "'Your faith has made you well.' Now, we have seen that she was already healed physically. The spiritual salvation from Jesus is in addition to that.

Look at another example like that beginning with Luke 7:44, “Then turning toward the woman Jesus said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Listen, this woman demonstrated so much love, worship and respect for Christ and He saw in her heart the faith to bring her redemption, and He forgave her sin. Let us read on, "49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” There was no healing here, but there was forgiveness of sin and her salvation.

You see, Jesus loves people. Only the rich and the famous get the press in this world. Not so with Christ. If you learn anything from this, will you not only learn how powerful He is, but will you learn how available and impartial He is. That's how it is with God. That's how it should be with those who represent Him, you and me!

Now I want to show you the power of Jesus. This is what sets Him apart. This interlude with the bleeding woman has taken so long that the girl is now dead. Matthew 9:23-24, "And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.”

What's all this noise? Have you ever gone to a funeral home here? Everybody walks around whispering, black suits, very quiet. Our culture is that you get real quiet. In the Jewish culture, you get really noisy. There are three basic things that went on in a Jewish funeral.

First you have professional mourners, who scream and wail and all this. They would have been paid, and they would have learned the history of the whole family, so they would be bringing up the names of everybody who had ever died in that family, and they would bring back old sorrows long ago buried.

In addition you were supposed to rip your clothes. That was symbolic of your grief, and they had 39 different rules and regulations on how to rip your clothes. According to the Talmud, you had to do it while you were standing up. And you had to rip it big enough to stick your fist through and on and on.

The third thing you'll notice in verse 23, were the musicians. They had all different kinds of flutes. The Talmud says, "The husband has to bury his dead wife and to make lamentations in mourning for her according to the custom; and also the very poorest among the Israelites will not allow her less than two flutes and one wailing woman."

Jesus saw and heard the musicians and the people making all this noise and He said to them, 'Go away, the girl is not dead. She's sleeping." What is Jesus saying? Of course He knows she's dead; but what He's saying is, "You must treat it as sleep, because it is temporary." And the implication is, "Because I'm going to raise her from the dead.”

You can tell that they were paid mourners, right? How? When their weeping turned to laughing right away. They could cry for this child, or they could laugh at Jesus in an instant; and so they mocked Him in the face. In fact, the Greek verb means they laughed as the scornful laughter of a superior who laughs at someone who is stupid.

Even though they had seen other miracles, this crowd in Capernaum they still didn't believe. Just like what Jesus said, "If they don't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe the One raised from the dead." But, anyway verse 24, "He said, 'Stop, go away.' And they laughed in His face."

Verse 25, "But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.” Luke 8:54-56 says, “But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.”

Notice what it says in the beginning of Luke 8:55, "And her spirit returned." That means that she was truly dead, and became alive again, and she got up right away. You know, Jesus didn't have to touch the little girl. He could have just said the word, but this is the way of God is. It is the way of God to be gentle and loving. And this is the way God's people should also be, loving and tender as an extension of His character.

You know what the Gospel says about Him? "He has power over disease. He has power over demons. He has power over death. He can redeem our sin." And so Matthew reaches a pinnacle in his presentation of the power of Jesus Christ. John says in Revelation 1:18, "Jesus holds the keys of death and Hades.”

Jesus says in John 5:24: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." Believers in Jesus have passed already from death to life. They have now already an eternal life. Eternal life cannot by definition end. Believers do not see death and do not taste death.

Our bodies die and they look asleep. Jesus calls her death falling asleep, for all people will leave their earthly bodies until the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15:52 says, "For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” So when our bodies die, we do not die. Believers have passed from death to an eternal life in heaven and unbelievers will be in hell forever.

When we were born again, we received the gift of spiritual life (John 3:6–8). When we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive (Ephesians 2:4–5). This new life is eternal life. In this new spiritual life, we are able to fellowship with God, know God, experience God, speak with God and hear from God through his word. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

This fellowship that we enjoy with God will not end. It is eternal. When our bodies die, we do not experience any break in our fellowship with God through Christ. Our fellowship, in fact, in that instant is perfected (Hebrews 12:23). The life we have with Christ in God today, because of the new birth, will never end.

The adversaries of Jesus mock him because of this promise of eternal life then and now. Let us see what Jesus says about Himself in John 8:52–59. They said, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, "If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death." 53Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

54Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.' 55But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad."

Abraham saw my day? He saw the time when I was alive and reigning, at the day of my glory. He rejoiced. Many commentators are trying to find out what promise or event this refers to in Abraham's life. We don't know. And Jesus didn't pause to explain, because these adversaries didn't care either. They understood the implication and pressed further. Who do you make yourself out to be?

57So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." 59So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple."

There it is, the clearest, most forthright claim in this Gospel that Jesus is Yahweh, the God of Israel, the great "I am" of Exodus 3:14 and the prophets. If He only wanted to claim pre-existence, He could have said, "Before Abraham was, I was." But He means to say more than mere pre-existence. He says, "Before Abraham was, I am." "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'"

Hebrews 2:14–15 describes the effect of Jesus' death in our place. Listen how he puts it, “Since therefore the children [that's us] share in flesh and blood [since we are human], he himself likewise partook of the same things [he became human], so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Without our even knowing it, fear of death is a slave master binding us with invisible ropes, confining us to small, safe, self-centered ways of life. Jesus has the solution for this bondage in John 8:32, "You will know the truth [about death], and the truth will set you free." The world desperately needs the courage and the Christ of fearless Christians who know they will never taste death. Be one. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 12 Aug 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120812 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000108 imblog

Matthew 9:18-22

Turn with me to Matthew 9:18-22, "While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” 19 So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. 20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 21 For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” 22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

This passage describes Jesus' power over death, raising one from the dead; and on the way to that place, we see the healing of a woman with an issue of blood. If you read the other Gospels, you know that the reason for the healing interlude is to delay Jesus until the little girl is dead, and the funeral has already begun.

Because the other Gospel writers tell us that when first approached, the man said to Jesus in Mark 5, "My little daughter is at the point of death," and by the time He got there, she was already dead; and the funeral was proceeding. So the Lord places this lovely interlude of the woman with an issue of blood as part of the delay to bring about the resurrection.

This is an essential message dealing with a critical theme. We are living in a world where all of us face the inevitability of death. We are deteriorating humans in a deteriorating world. Our world is marked by tragedy, sadness, dying and death. Since the fall of man recorded in Genesis 3, there has been a curse on the earth, which causes tears, disasters, pain, sickness and death.

Just this past week, 12 people died in the theater shootings right here in Denver. I have heard the weeping and the sorrow of the injured. A pregnant survivor was paralyzed from the waist down and lost not only her unborn child but also her 6 year old daughter. And there is a lot of sickness everywhere and wars in Syria and Afghanistan. That's what sin has done to this world. That's the curse in action.

And as we come to Revelation 21:4 we read this, "Behold, God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." John gives us this incredible vision of the day when the curse is over.

Who can do that? Who can reverse the curse? Who can destroy disease and pain and sorrow, tears of death? The prophets said there would come a Messiah, there would come a Prince, there would come a King, and he would do it. He would have the power to bring back wholeness to life.

Thus when Jesus came into the world He demonstrated that power. Though the fulfillment of those prophecies is yet in the future, the One who will fulfill them has demonstrated His ability to do so, so that when Jesus came into the world He raised the dead and He forgave sin. All of those things that will be true of the glorious coming Kingdom, and Jesus demonstrated that there in His first coming.

The miracles of Jesus were the verification of His power to reverse the curse; the verification of His power to establish the Kingdom, for He had said in John 5, that He would someday raise from the dead all that were in the graves; and if He's going to do that, He must first demonstrate that He has the power to do that. So He did miracle upon miracle to verify His power.

Now, in Matthew 9:18-34, you have three miracles. The first one is raising the dead which we are in the process of discussing now and next week; the second is giving sight to the blind and the third is giving speech to the dumb. First, He raises the whole person from the dead; and then He shows how He can also give life to the dead parts like eyes and tongues that do not function anymore.

G. B. Hardy, a Canadian scientist said, "When I look at religion, I have two questions. Question No. 1, has anybody ever conquered death? Question No. 2, if anyone did, did he make a way for me to conquer it too?" He said, "I checked the tomb of Buddha, and it was occupied; I checked the tomb of Confucius, and it was occupied; and I checked the tomb of Mohammed, and it was occupied.

But then I came to the tomb of Jesus, and it was empty; and I said, 'Here is One who conquered death.' And I asked the second question, “Did He make a way for me to live as well?' And I opened up the Bible, and Jesus said in John 14:!9, “Because I live you shall live also.”

Now, the text has a miracle within a miracle, but the miracle dealing with the issue of blood, is really part of the resurrection miracle, because it provides the delay that is necessary for the death to occur and to make the resurrection dramatic. I want you to see, not only the story of what happened, but I want you to see how Jesus dealt with people, because nowhere is it more wonderfully seen than here.

All of His tenderness, all of His sensitivity, all His loving kindness is here, and all of His power is here, and all the wonder of His majesty is here; and you really get a marvelous glimpse of how he dealt with people; and this should becomes a pattern for us in dealing with people too. So remember that.

When Jesus came back to Capernaum, that little village on the very northernmost point of the Sea of Galilee where Peter lived, after that incident with the demons in Gadara, the disciples of John the Baptist came and said, "Why are all of you disciples and the Lord eating like this? Why aren't you fasting? Why don't you fulfill the traditions?"

So now we come to verse 18, "While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him." Now think about this a little bit, this speaks about the accessibility of Jesus. People could talk directly to Him. He was not a religious guru who was floating 10 feet up in the air with flowers all around Him. He moved among the people; and, you see, that is the essence of the incarnation. He was accessible to all.

Later in Matthew 9: 35-36 it says, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” Can you imagine? This shows that God is accessible and compassionate, isn't that great?

And on this occasion two people are in the crowd. One is a ruler and the other, a sick lady. One was wealthy and one was poor. Can you imagine the variety of people who would have been in a crowd like that? The Pharisees were trying to trip and trick Him, condemn Him; and all of the hurting people were there, as well, trying to have all their needs met.

Well, let's see what happens. What's so remarkable? Well, this man was a ruler. Mark adds, "He was one of the rulers of the synagogue." And Luke 8:41 says, "And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue.” You know what this man was? He was the spiritual leader in the synagogue in Capernaum.

He was to coordinate and make sure everything was conducted properly at the public worship, he appointed the preacher and the one who prayed and the one who read out of the law; and he was responsible to administrate the whole synagogue. And if you know the Gospels, you know that the religious establishment was very much against Christ.

And this guy may even have been a Pharisee. We don't know, but he had a lot of peer pressure to be a faithful Jewish traditional religionist. And yet here he comes to Jesus. Now, you might expect him to come and say, "Sir, I am the chief elder of the synagogue. I'd like to speak to You. Could we please have a private conversation?" But that's not what he did.

Look at verse 18, "He came and worshiped Him." Now that word in the Greek, to worship, means to prostrate oneself before Jesus and either kiss his feet, kiss the hem of his garment or kiss the ground in front of Him. Even though the Pharisees and the religious establishment want to bring Him down; yet this guy does what you only did in that culture to a deity, to someone who was holy.

It's great that Matthew loves to use the word worship. He uses it thirteen times, because it fits a King, doesn't it? The man worshiped. How could you ever get somebody to do that? You know what he said to Him? "My daughter is dead." Now, Matthew's account is very brief. Luke's is longer, and Mark's is even longer; and these Gospel writers tell us tha t the first time the man spoke to Jesus, he said, "My daughter lies at the point of death." And later on, after he was informed that she was dead, he told Jesus she was dead.

Matthew just says, "Now she's dead.” The other writers tell us that the little girl was twelve years old; and twelve years and one day in the Jewish culture meant that you were a woman. For a man it was thirteen years and one day, and that's why you have a bar mitzvah. You know why he came? He didn't care about prestige; he didn't care about the religious establishment.

His daughter was dead, and there were no resources within his mind to deal with that; and God had already been working on his heart; because his faith was incredible. He says in verse 18, "Come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live." He had no doubts at all.

Now this man had a deep need and that's why people come to Christ. I am praying that you too would be in a deep need, that you would know pain. That you would know desperation, that you would know the loss of all your resources that would drive you to Christ. This man in his mind already believed in the power of Christ.

His motive wasn't totally pure. He didn't come just because he had some great love for Christ. He came because he was hurting deeply, and he knew a pain that he had never experienced before in his life. That's why the Gospel is preached and received by the poor and the sick and the weak and the prisoners.

The second thing that made him come was that he believed in Jesus’ power to do this; and that is faith. Do you remember the centurion who said his servant was home paralyzed? And he had enough faith to believe that Jesus could heal his servant by just saying a word. How great is this faith to believe that Jesus could touch a dead person and raise him from the dead when that had never been done?

And then the Lord throws in another miracle that's really wonderful too. Jesus is in the big crowd, and Jesus isn't even involved in the miracle. Somebody just touches Him. He says, "I felt power go out of Me." And then He looks around and says in Luke 8:45, "Who touched me?" God did that to delay the whole move down to the house to wait until the girl was dead.

Well how did Jesus response to Jairus’ need? Look at verse 19, “So Jesus arose and followed him.” The Lord is always sensitive to our needs, and at times He meets our individual need. Look at verse 20, “And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.”

You say, "Is that bad?" Well, women basically did not go around touching men; and the word touch doesn't mean to just touch, it means to grab and hold on. You say, "Well, was that wrong?" Well, the problem she was very severe, you see. She had been "diseased with an issue of blood for twelve years."

Basically for twelve years this woman did not stop bleeding. Maybe this was due to a fibroid tumor or maybe something else. But she was perpetually unclean and doctor Luke says, "She could not be cured." Mark 5:26 says, "she had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse."

The Talmud, the Jewish law, says: This is an unclean woman with an issue of blood. Every bed she touches is unclean. Everything she wears is unclean, and every person who touches her becomes unclean. Therefore, she was excommunicated from the synagogue. She was divorced by her husband. She had no one she could have a relationship with. So for twelve years this woman lived alone.

Here she was with a deep need, and this woman was so desperate it says she touched the hem of His garment. The hem is basically a fringe, and it really means a tassel woven in a certain configuration with certain kinds of thread, seven or eight times around. And the threads were put together to represent the Word of God, like a religious ornament.

Verse 21, “For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” You know what happened when she grabbed it? Instantly, she was healed; and it says in Mark 5:30, "And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

She also had faith, didn't she? She said, "If I can just touch His clothes." You say, "Well, it's not exactly a perfected mature faith." But Jesus will take an inadequate faith like the lady's that is somewhat superstitious; and He'll move it from there to saving faith. He had to pull her into the fullness of a relationship.

This woman was not healed by her faith; she was healed by the sovereignty of God. God chose to heal her. Jesus did miracles everywhere, healed everybody of everything, but saved only those who had faith. Jesus wouldn't leave her with a little faith. He drew her out, and He saved her and increased her faith.

How is your faith? How desperate are you for a relationaship with God? Think about it, can you deal with all your sins yourself, think about your life and all your shortcomings, and look at the faith of these two people. I pray that you come to God full of that same faith and humility and ask His forgiveness and mercy.

Let us continue next Sunday to study more about the miracle of Christ’s power over everything, and specifically over the greatest enemy of man, death itself. No one ever has and ever will conquer death except for God Himself, as shown by Jesus, Amen? Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 05 Aug 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120805 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000109 imblog

Matthew 9:14-17

There are several little vignettes, different conversations and, yet, they all come together to give the same message. The key to the whole passage is Matthew 9:13, "For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." In other words, the effectual call of the Gospel to salvation is extended only to sinners, to those who know they're not righteous.

And Luke 5:31 adds, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” This is the glorious message of the Gospel. It is a call to sinners to repent and be forgiven. Matthew makes this clear even beginning with the genealogy in Matthew 1, and you find that the heart of the genealogy is that God saves sinners.

In fact, everybody mentioned up until Christ is a sinner. There's Tamar, who was an incestuous woman. There's Rahab, who was a professional prostitute. There was Ruth, who was a member of a cursed nation. And then there was the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba, who was an adulteress.

Whenever you hear a preacher who says, "I don't preach on sin. It's negative," you will also hear a preacher who has no Gospel in his message, who does not bring men to salvation. When you come to Matthew 4:17 you read, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, 'Repent.'"

Coming to Matthew 6:12 the Lord says, "When you pray, you better pray like this: Forgive us our debts." In other words, Matthew is saying to us is that men are sinful. They must repent, and that is first and foremost the message of the Gospel...The incarnation is so that God may call sinners to repentance.

In Acts 26:20-21, Paul says to Agrippa, "I declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. 21 For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.”

Why? Because the Jews always rejected the message of repentance. Why? Because they thought they were righteous already. And the word repent means a total turnaround; which indicates more than just sorrow. It indicates a sorrow that leads to a change of purpose, a change of direction, a change of life and a change of opinion.

When the Apostle Paul was instructing Timothy in the manner of his ministry in 2 Timothy 2:24-26, he said, "And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

In other words, he says, "You must preach with meekness and gentleness and patience; and your message is repentance, for it is repentance alone that is able to draw men out of the snare of the devil."

Matthew 3:7 again, as John the Baptist was there preaching, and people came and confessed their sins, the Pharisees and Sadducees came and he says, "“Brood of vipers! 8 bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

What he meant was, "Let me see some of the true repentance out of you, and don't think you're save just because you are Jewish, just because you've kept the rabbinic tradition, don't bank on that." But that is what they thought and that's why in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord says, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter the Kingdom."

Theirs was a self-righteousness. You see, Jesus came to drive men to a recognition of their sin and then to repentance; and in the midst of that repentance, the forgiveness, which He gives. The Pharisees were great at diagnosis but they were indifferent to the cure.

Matthew 9 focuses on this reality that Jesus receives all of the worst of sinners; and He rejects those who think they are righteous. And in order to show the extent of His forgiveness, Matthew introduces himself as the worst sinner. He was the little mokhes of Capernaum, the worst of all kinds of tax collectors, a traitor to his own people, yet, it was to Matthew the Lord said, "Follow Me," and he rose and followed.

The second argument is one from Scripture. Matthew 9:13 says, "Go and learn what the Scripture says," when it says in Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” That you could be uncaring and uncompassionate to these people in sin betrays the fact that your religion is false."

And, thirdly, He says, "From My own authority, this is the direction of My ministry, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Now, beloved, this is the heart of the Gospel; and just to show you how much it covers and how repeated its emphasis is made, I want you to look at Luke 15 for a couple of moments.

Luke 15:1, "Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.” We can be sure of one thing. They wouldn't go near a Pharisee, because they would be rebuked and criticized unmercifully. But they drew near to Jesus. He had something to give them, and they knew it.

Verse 2, "And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” Now, here you have Jesus, the compassionate, the merciful, the loving, the forgiving, drawing to Himself the sinners; and there you have standing far away and criticizing, the self-righteous Pharisees. They don't confess any need. They sit in judgment; 3 So Jesus spoke this parable to them, saying:

Verse 4, " “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”

That last line is the key to interpretation. That is sarcasm. That is saying, "You confess that you are righteous, I'll accept that confession." Jesus accepts their self-confessed righteousness and says, "Heaven is indifferent to you. Heaven rejoices over the one who knows he's lost, and is found." That's the real issue...

Go to Luke 19:1, “Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

Now, people just didn't go to the house of a tax collector. 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” But that's the whole point of Jesus, He couldn't help the rest, and the conversion of Zacchaeus takes place between verse 7 and 8.

We don't know the story in detail, but it happened there, because the fruit of his conversion is in verse 8, "Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” He fulfilled the law of Exodus 22. He was going to give back full restitution.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

And then He made one of the greatest statements in the Bible, Luke 19:10, "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” That is the heart and soul of the Gospel message. Jesus came to save sinners. The worst who recognize it, who repent of it, who seek to be forgiven. That's what we have been seeing in Matthew 9.

Now, I want to draw us through the final four verses for tonight in Matthew 9, and you'll see how it all unfolds. The message of Jesus was so different that it just didn't connect. It created confusion, and so we find posed a question in Matthew 9:14, "Then came to him the disciples of John."

John, as you know from chapter 4, is in prison now; and so his disciples say to the Lord in verse 14, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” They were still stuck with their system; because the Pharisees believed you should fast twice a week; whereas, the Old Testament listed only one fast, the Day of Atonement.

In other words, "How come your religion is so different than ours?" The three major expressions of the traditions of that time were fasting, almsgiving, and prayers; and they had their little routines during the day when they said prayers at so many intervals; and they had their little almsgiving routines and they also had their routine fasts.

That's really a very important question because they don't see religion as a matter of humility, sinfulness, repentance. They see religion as a matter of ceremony, as a matter of ritual; and there are many like that today. They don't know what it means to be convicted of sin, to have a deep repentance in the heart.

Verse 15, “And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” In those days a wedding would last seven days, and his best friends who were responsible to keep the party going. So Jesus says, "Look, this is a celebration. In other words, don’t fast now, your ritual is out of sync with reality, you should be celebrating if you understood what God is doing right here.

Well, don't you know that fasting is connected with mourning? "Oh?" Don't you know that fasting should be connected with praying? "It is?” This is like what we do now too, “We go to church every Sunday." Oh, you do? "Oh, yes, we have gone to church every Sunday for years." Do you go to really worship God or is it just a habit to make you feel good?

Back to verse 15, "But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them,” Jesus is talking of His crucifixion, "And then they will fast." The Lord says, "If you go through religious exercises apart from an honest attitude in the heart, it is ritual and nothing more. If you fast just to fast, pray just to pray, go to church just to go to church, sing a song without understanding, you've missed God’s purpose for you."

And right now He says: the bridegroom is here, and the wedding feast is going on. You don't cry at a feast. You cry at a funeral. You are happy at a wedding. I'm here with them. This is not a time for mourning."

Their bigger question is this, "How does our present religion relate to what You are teaching?" And the Lord says, "It doesn't relate at all. I just have to tell you that it is not possible to adjust your religion, you have to change radically. And Jesus gives them two illustrations in verse 16 and 17 that are very powerful.

Jesus is not teaching reformed phariseism. Maybe some people think it means that He's setting aside the law and bringing in grace. That is not what He's saying. Law and grace have always coexisted anyway. He is teaching about a personal relationship with Him that comes from your heart.

Now, watch verse 16, "No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse." Now in those days, all garments would shrink. If you take a piece of new cloth and stitch it on an old garment, as soon as you wash it that new cloth will shrink and will rip it all.

Jesus says, "There is no way that what I teach can fit into your system. There is no way that the teachings that I give about internal holiness, real repentance, a pure heart attitude can ever fit in the ritualistic system that you hold. Not only won't it connect; but, secondly, your system cannot contain it."

Verse 17, “Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” So the Lord is saying, "Look, you just have to get rid of your system.” The traditional, legalistic, formal, self-righteous externalism was in no way able to contain the ministry of Christ.

You know what the result was? The system had to eliminate Christ. That was the only option they had, and they did. Our Lord did not come to make a few additions to Judaism. Their religion was not the religion of the Old Testament. It was a rabbinic tradition that denied the very truth of the Old Testament.

Now, as we close remember this, because you need to understand the essence of what God is communicating to us. There are three marks of a true believer. No. 1, he follows the Lord. Look back at verse 9, "Jesus said to Matthew, 'Follow Me.' and he arose and followed Him." It is characteristic of a true believer that he lives a life of unquestioning obedience.

Secondly, a true Christian feeds the lost. Matthew right away called all the sinners together and gave them Jesus. Look at your life. If the Holy Spirit dwells in you, the same compassion for the lost that exists in the heart of Christ will exist in you. Oh, it may get covered up by your selfishness from time to time; but it has to be there.

And, thirdly, a true believer does not use legalism, which means only following a set of rules. He does not try to sew a new patch on an old robe, or to try to fill up an old wineskin with new wine. He knows you are not perfected by the law or by some ritual, only by a new personal relationship with Christ.

Do you follow the Lord with a life of unquestioning obedience? Is it your highest privilege, greatest joy and deepest desire to obey Him? Do you have compassion and care? Are you doing away with legalism? Do you know the difference between true worship and going to church? Let us worship God by doing the Lord’s Supper together.

]]> Sun, 29 Jul 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120729 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000010A imblog

Matthew 9:9-13

Jesus has given us a dramatic and comprehensive statement in Matthew 9:13 that has been much misunderstood. This statement gives us a full perspective on His ministry and the reason for his incarnation and is one of the most important statements ever recorded in the bible.

In Matthew 9:13 Jesus says, "I have not come to call on the righteous but the sinners." The message of Christianity is that Jesus has come for bad people and not for good people. And what Jesus means is that He has come for those people who know that they are sinners, who are desperate and hurting and who are broken and willing to admit that they are sinners.

People do not come to Christ unless they understand that they have a major problem, they don't come for life unless they know that they are spiritually dead. Jesus came to expose us as sinners and that is why His message is so penetrating and so forceful. And we will never win anybody for Christ unless they know and admit that they need Him.

Jesus came to call not the righteous but sinners. Peter said in Luke 5:9, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord." Paul said it in 1 Timothy 15, he summed it all up for all of us and said, " This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” And he surely had in mind, among other things, the word of our Lord in Matthew said that Jesus had come to call sinners.

If you have heard me in Matthew 8 and 9, you know that Matthew is verifying the reality that Christ is the Messiah and here he does that through specific miracles that Jesus performed. These are not random miracles but they are to prove the Messiah's credentials and to fulfill Old Testament expectations.

The first three miracles deal with Christ' power over disease, the second three showed His power over nature, demons and sin. And then we see the response that is divided, a positive response from a person who knows he is a sinner and a negative response from one who thinks he is righteous.

But first let us look at Matthew 9:9-13 where we see the call of Matthew who penned this gospel of Matthew. We just saw the power of Jesus to forgive sin in Matthew 9:1-8. And then as He was walking along the shore He saw a man named Matthew.

Verse 9 is the call of Matthew. That's the first part of the response, the positive. He sees a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. He said unto him, "Follow me, and he rose and followed,” this is a positive response. Then He enters into a dialogue with the Pharisees, getting a negative response, their conclusions are poles apart and yet reacting to the same exact miracles.

By the way other gospels call him Levi but the Lord called him Matthew which means "gift of Jehovah." It was not uncommon for Jesus to give his disciples new names. Now let us learn more about Matthew 9:9, "As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, "Follow me." So he arose and followed Him."

Think with me now to see the transition. Jesus has just forgiven sins. Matthew makes that point in verses 1 through 8. He has the ability and the power to forgive sin. The question that a lot of people struggle with is the how much sin is Jesus willing to forgive? And with the example Jesus gives us we learn the answer to that question.

By all standards of that time Matthew was the most hated person in Capernaum. Matthew was a tax collector and because of that was considered a traitor to Israel. In that job he was required to collect a certain amount of taxes and anything over that he could keep and he had the support of the Roman government behind him. And there was a lot of abuse and excess tax collected.

Most of the Jews believed it was wrong to pay taxes because only God should receive their money. And on top of that they considered that job anti religion so that tax collectors were not allowed to enter the synagogue. They also were forbidden to be a witness in court because they could not be believed.

And there were two categories of tax collectors, the general tax collectors that dealt with land, property and a poll tax that required you to pay a tax because you were alive. They were called gabbai. Then there was another kind of tax collector whose job it was to to collect taxes on everything else.

For instance these are taxes on what you buy, on your boat, on going over a bridge, on each wheel of your cart, on market taxes, on your business, on entering a town and they could invent new taxes on anything, and they were called mokhes and their abuse was unlimited and they were more despised than the gabbai.

Now Matthew was probably collecting taxes on the side of the road on all people who passed by. But wait, there were two kind of mokhes, the great mokhes who hired somebody to sit at a table to collect taxes because they wanted to keep their hands clean on the outside. And then you also have the little mokhes who did everything themselves, unconcerned about their reputation, so that they could make the most money possible.

Matthew was the little mokhes from Capernaum, the worst man in the city. And the rabbi taught that repentance for a litlle mokhes is impossible. So when Jesus said "follow Me," and Matthew did instantly, leaving everything behind, that must have astonished everyone.

But Matthew did not mention anything about himself or about how he felt being forgiven or how honored he was to be an apostle. Matthew was a man who wanted to be forgiven with all his heart but the religious system told him he could never have it. He recognized his sin and that is the reason he followed instantly.

And Luke says in Luke 5:28, "So he left all." Matthew himself was too humble to mention that leaving a tax collector job would be a forever thing because the minute you leave, the Romans would find a willing replacement for your job right away.

Matthew knew the Lord’s work because Capernaum is little and the miracles were huge. He must have longed for what Jesus was offering him. True conversions are like that. Jesus looked lovingly at him and searched his innermost heart and soul and instantly turned him into a child of God.

He must have been so surprised by that unexpected grace that he did not say a word but just followed and he was redeemed at that spot. Matthew lost a career, security and riches but gained a destiny and a spiritual fortune. He was proof that Jesus can and is willing to save the worst man in town.

And so Matthew decides to have a huge banquet attended by rotten people like himself but says litlle about the details because of his humility. So as we read Mark 2 and Luke 5, we read that the feast was at his own house with Jesus as the honored guest.

Now some would say, Jesus should not go to those evil people, and that was precisely what the Pharisees thought. They could not understand why Jesus if He was really God would be having dinner with the worst of sinners instead of with them.

And the answer is in Matthew 9:10, “Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.” Jesus came to save sinners who were willing to admit their sins and not sinners who are self righteous who are not willing to admit their sinfulness and who think that they do not need anything and are good enough to go to heaven based on their own merits.

And in Matthew 9:11 they say, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" They are expressing their bitterness, they are saying, "True pious people like us, we do not want to associate with such vile sinners."

Jesus knows all their thoughts and so He answers in Matthew 9:12-13, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice." for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Here Jesus has a three-fold defense in answering these Pharisees. The first argument is from logic, the second is from Scripture and the third is based on His divine authority.

Jesus begins by saying that people who think they are well do not seek a physician, and Jesus says that these Pharisees consider all those tax collectors and people that are their friends as being the sickest people and so by their own reasoning they are the ones who need help the most.

Jesus is saying to these Pharisees, if your perception is so accurate, why are you not concerned about them? Are you a doctor who only diagnoses but does not want to cure patients? They are self righteous and totally indifferent towards others.

In Matthew 23:23 Jesus says to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” You make sure you tithe the smallest little tithing requirements but you have omitted the more important parts of the law like justice and mercy. Where is your love and compassion?

Many of us do the same, we condemn people all the time and yet we do nothing to really help them. Where is our love and compassion that is shown by our deeds? Jesus on the other hand came as close to them as you can get and ate together with them. He is the divine physician who not only is able but also willing to make them pure and white as snow.

Secondly Jesus uses an argument from Scripture and says to them, "Go and learn what this means." This is a phrase from the rabbis who rebuke those people who should have known better. And then Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice."

The Lord is saying, I'm more interested in your heart attitude than all the outward rituals that you perform without thinking. God says to the people, you are committing adultery and you have forsaken Me in your heart, and yet you still perform those little rituals as if they will wash away your sins.

Jesus is saying to these Pharisees, you will not receive any mercy from God because you yourself show no mercy, which indicates that your hearts are not right. God only accepts those sacrifices if they were an expression of a broken and contrite heart.

Some people think that going to church and helping at the bazaar will please God. But if your effort is not accompanied with an inward attitude of obedience to His laws that produces personal holiness, it becomes a dead ritual that deceives you and is not pleasing to God.

When Jesus says “go and learn,” He is not only talking to those Pharisees long time ago, no, He is talking to all Christians now as well. Our life is not just making a decision at the time of salvation but it is a life long road of continual learning and continuous repenting and continuous growing through trials and tribulations, because that is the way God changes our character to become more like Jesus.

That is why Paul is glad that there are trials because he sees them as God’s caring works to teach him faith and perseverance (Romans 5:3). How do look at trials in your own life? Are you mad at God when He makes your life difficult or do you thank God for those trials because they make you come closer to Him and depend on Him more and give you more insight about your own weaknesses?

Thirdly Jesus explains His own authority in Matthew 9:13, "For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." The Pharisees in Luke 18:9 believed that they were righteous, so Jesus looks at their heart and sees their self righteousness and knows that they will not accept the reality that they are just as sinful as the rest of humanity.

In Matthew 22:1-10, the Lord gives us a picture that fits very well. The Lord pictures His kingdom like a banquet and He sends out invitations, but the people invited refuse to come. That is the picture of Israel.

So then He says, "You go out in the highways and byways and the poor, lame and blind and bring them in." You see the kingdom is for the hungry and thirsty, for the people that are hurting, for the mourning and the meek and sinful. He says you self-righteous people refuse me, so I invite those who know they really need Me.

Here Matthew became the saint of God who wrote this great gospel and entered into a spiritual inheritance that will last forever. I'm a sinner like that and every one who believes in Jesus is the same. I hope that you are one too.

I'm so grateful that He loved us anyway even though our sins are so great. And I pray for all that are here who have never invited Christ in their life, who have never considered themselves as vile sinners, may they hear the call to follow the Lord and may they react instantly, like Matthew did and leave the past for a certain future together with Christ. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120722 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000010B imblog

Matthew 9:1-8

We come this evening to Matthew 9:1-8: You'll notice there's a phrase at the end of verse 2, that I would just draw to your attention as a beginning point. The Lord speaks and says, "Your sins are forgiven you." The theme of this particular record is Jesus' power over sin.

The most distinctive thing that Christianity has to proclaim is the reality that sin can be forgiven. That is the heart and the very lifeblood of the Christian message and that is exactly the message of this miracle tonight.

Now Matthew has been focusing on various miracles of our Lord not just to prove that He is God, it is that He gives us specific miracles designed to attach to very specific Messianic kingdom prophecies so that Israel will know that He is the one to fulfill the role of Messiah and introduce into the world the kingdom of God.

Now there is climatic kind of arrangement on Matthew's part also. We've already gone through the five of the nine miracles that are in these two chapters. And now He goes even beyond that in ascending of the drama of the miracles and He shows that He has power over the root of all man's misery, which is sin. He deals with human guilt and the evil that separates man from his maker.

He can bring to the human soul the thing that it needs the most, the forgiveness of sin. This is another mark of the authority of Jesus Christ. I would call it His redemptive authority; He has the authority to forgive sin. And so there's an ascending reality to the power of Christ and we see even in the future of Chapter 9 when we see His authority over death itself.

Now that is essential because the Old Testament prophesies that when Messiah comes He will set up a kingdom and He will overpower the curse in the physical world. For example, in Isaiah 30, it talks about how there will be an abundance of rain and crops will flourish in ways never known since before the Fall. In Isaiah 35, it talks about the desert blossoming like a rose.

Those animals, which have been natural enemies will no longer be natural enemies. The earth will flourish. Life will lengthen in a physical sense. And then the Old Testament tells us also that the kingdom will be marked by forgiveness. And here we find that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to forgive sin, thus is fit not only to be God, but to be the Messiah to establish the kingdom of God on earth forever.

Well with that in mind let's look at the third miracle in Matthew 9. It begins in verse 1, “So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.” Now you might think that Nazareth was His city, and it was at one time, but in Matthew 4:13 it says, "And leaving Nazareth He came and dwelt in Capernaum. He was a prophet without honor in His own country. It is also very likely that He had taken up residence in the house of Peter and so He has a temporary place in Capernaum. And as he comes back to Peter's house another monstrous crowd is following him.

Now we fill in some of the details as we put Mark 2 and Luke 5:17-26 together with this so we can see the whole picture. He went into the house and probably went upstairs. It was common to build a two story house and on the second floor was typically a large room where social gatherings occurred.

And every home had an outside staircase going up the side to the roof. Well, on this occasion the Lord is in the house and people are literally jammed in that house. And then all of a sudden a marvelous thing takes place and that's what we see beginning in verse 2.

Now I want to give you six key words that unlock the meaning of this passage. Word number one is faith. Verse 2, “Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer.”

First of all notice they brought to Him a man. Who is they? In Mark and Luke and we find out that “they” refers to four friends or four relatives who cared about this man. They have all heard that Jesus is in town and they desire their friend who was paralyzed to come to Jesus. It may well have been that he was quadriplegic.

At least we know that he was flat on his back unable to move himself or even to assist those who moved him so that it took four men to carry him. It's possible that he was lying on a padded quilt on a slight wood frame that had ropes to suspend that little pallet.

Now in those times it was doubly difficult to be paralyzed. There was no one to assist; there was no medical knowledge and no one to care for his basic necessities of life. But there must have been something else in this man's heart and that is the sense that he was sick because he was sinful.

That was the common feeling of the time, that his disease and his illness was the result of his sin. You remember there was a blind man and his disciples asked Jesus, "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Now the disciples were right in the sense that all sickness is linked to sin, because if there was no sin there would be no sickness.

But they were wrong and they were reflecting the feeling of the day that you're sick because you're sinful. You go all the way back to the book of Job, and that is exactly what Job's friends told him, “you've got problems because you're sinful, and there is a direct connection here.”

And so the man not only suffered from the disease, but in his situation he was also a walking illustration of his own personal sin in the eyes of everybody else. But this man wanted to come to Jesus, and the real reason he wanted to come was because of his sin, not his sickness. And that's why Jesus said to him, "Son don’t be afraid, your sins are forgiven," because Jesus knew that the despair of his life was not that he was physically ill, but that he was sinful.

Now sickness may not always be related to sin. In other words, you may be ill because God has other purposes, not necessarily because you've sinned, maybe you don’t pay attention to Him at all. Not all sickness is a chastening, but all sickness is a graphic demonstration of the destructive power that's at work in the world because of sin, right?

It says, "And Jesus seeing their faith," well what do you mean? How do you know they had faith? Well, the men must have believed that Jesus could do something even though He perhaps had brought them to help Him prove His power over sin, and they must have believed that Jesus could heal him physically because Jesus saw that in their hearts.

Now let us see what they did. They came to the house, according to the Mark and Luke account, they couldn't get in. And it would have been tough to crawl around and try to work your way through the crowd when you are four guys carrying a bed, and so they decided there was only one way to get in and so they climbed that external staircase, went up on the rooftop and tile by tile they began to tear the roof apart.

Now they must have the right place on the roof to do that because when they got done they dropped him straight down at Jesus' feet. Can you imagine everybody inside having a discussion and all of a sudden tiles start disappearing from the ceiling. This is truly persistent faith.

And right at the feet of Jesus he's lying there and he probably couldn’t talk either because he never says a word. Nothing is said, he just puts himself at the feet of Jesus and I'm sure he was filled with fear. He knew Jesus was a healer of diseased bodies and he must have hoped He was also a healer of hearts full of sin.

He exposed his sinfulness; he exposed his infirmity to the whole crowd for the sake of being at the feet of Jesus. That's true humility. That's a seeking heart and it says Jesus seeing their faith, all five of them, that was not an ordinary faith. It was a strong faith and a persistent faith and Jesus saw it.

Now there were times when Jesus healed people with no faith and there were times when He healed people with little faith, but He was especially disposed to healing people with great faith. In fact, in Matthew 9:18 it says, "And he spoke these things, a ruler worshipped him and said, 'My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay your hand on her and she'll live.'" That is great faith and Jesus did it.

No one even speaks until the Lord speaks and He said this to the one who was paralyzed, "So, take courage." Here is a man who is overwrought with his sin, but he believes that this Man has the power of God, and he is taking a chance but he is afraid. That is why the Lord says to him, "Don't be afraid. Take courage." It simply means there's nothing to fear.

Now think for a moment about the statement Jesus makes, "Be of good cheer, or take courage." A Greek verb is tarseo, which refers to a courage that is subjective. Compare this with tolmao, which is another verb that is translated take courage but this kind of courage is objective. Tolmao is saying “hang in there.” Tarseo says there's nothing to fear and that's the word the Lord uses.

There was nothing to fear when this man came because he had a broken and a contrite heart. The Lord doesn't forgive the sins of people who don't. His heart was right. It is the one who feels guilty over his sin who has nothing to fear. He was overcome with fear and the Lord says to him, "Don’t worry."

He responded to his true faith, and that led to a second word, forgiveness. At the end of the verse 2 it says, “your sins are forgiven you.” That is a divine miracle that ranks with any other miracle, instantaneous forgiveness of sins. Remember now the man had never said a word. How did the Lord know that's what he wanted?

Because the Lord knows the heart of everyone! All through this whole incident He read the heart of the man who was sick, He read the hearts of those scribes. He knows the requests before it's ever asked; the giver of all good things gives before we even articulate it. And so He says, "Your sins are forgiven," before the man can even speak, if he could even speak.

Brothers, this is the remission of sins that the Bible talks about, this is salvation. This is forgiveness, full and complete, and sins are sent away. When the Lord sends our sins away He sends them as far as the east is from the west and the Bible says He remembers them no more.

You see that's our deepest need. When Jesus said, "You're sins are removed," he met that man's need in the deepest and most profound way. And that's the message of Christianity. People say, "Oh you shouldn't bring up sin, it's negative thinking." But this is the essence of Christianity.

The best news you could ever give anyone is that God can forgive sin and does forgive. And this man is living proof. And when Jesus said, "Your sins are forgiven you," Jesus knew that the only way He could forgive the man's sin was to bear the man's sin. And so He tasted the bitterness and the agony of the cross all through His life. Every time He forgave sin He knew full well He would bear the punishment that He had removed from that soul.

The third word is fury. Verse 3, “And at once some of the scribes said within them selves, “This Man blasphemes!” Luke tells us that the Pharisees from Jerusalem were there also, "thinking to themselves," and Mark says they said afterwards, “who can forgive sins but God only. This man blasphemes."

The first man, the paralyzed man wanted forgiveness. But all these other men only concluded that He was a blasphemer. What's the difference? Didn't they want forgiveness? No. Because they never really admitted they had a need and they wouldn't acknowledge it.

They're not willing to accept forgiveness. And instead of saying, "Wow, He can forgive sin, oh the pressure of the guilt of my own heart, oh to know that forgiveness,” no not them. They say, "Only God can forgive sin. You see, to them the ultimate blasphemy would be to say you're God.

You know they're right about the first half; only God can forgive sin. They were right about that. But they were wrong about Christ because He was God. Notice verse 3: "They said within themselves," Mark says, "They thought it in their hearts." They didn't even speak but Jesus read their thoughts.

This is another mark of the omniscience of Christ. He knew what was in the heart of the sick man and in the mind and thinking of these others as well. When they said this man blasphemes this just started the hatred that ultimately led them to crucify Christ. And it culminated in verse 34, "The Pharisee said, 'He casts out demons through the prince of demons.'" He's satanic. Now their fury really begins to mount.

What a contrast. On the one hand the faith and the forgiveness; on the other hand the fury and Christ in the middle. And that's always the way. Christ comes with a message of love and grace and forgiveness and there are those who know it and receive it and rejoice in it and there are those who hate it and despise it and become infuriated by it.

Fourth word, argument. Jesus defends His action because it's an important truth. Matthew 9: 4 says, “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” Jesus knowing their thoughts, did you get that? People say, "Well Jesus isn't God." Well then I don't know how He knew their thoughts.

1 Samuel 16:7, says, “The Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Kings 8:39, says, "For You know the hearts of all men.” 1 Chronicles 28: 9, "for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts.” And Ezekiel 11:5 says, "for I know the things that come into your mind.”

Jesus knew what they were thinking and He says, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts." "Why do you want me dead?" And here He really reveals their intent. Watch verse 5. "For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? Well they're stuck. Notice they don't give any answer because neither is easier. Both are impossible to men, both are only possible to God.

Jesus can do either one with the same divine ease. For God nothing is impossible. Only God can heal and God can also forgive. So the Lord is saying, "Look, I can do them both, I'm not a blasphemer, I'm God." If Jesus puts away sickness, disease, and demons, disasters and death, He can certainly deal with sin.

So now look at Matthew 9: 6, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth." Why do they need to know that? Because earth is where the kingdom is going to eventually be.

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Why? Because if all he said was your sins are forgiven they wouldn’t know that He did it. But when He says rise up and walk and the guy has the power to do that, the only thing they can conclude then is that He must have forgiven his sins because the two in their mind are linked together.

It's the same as when he cast the demons out of the maniacs at Gadara He sent them into the pigs. Why? Because if He just said, "Demons leave," nobody would have known whether they left or where they went. But when they saw two thousand pigs take a dive off a cliff and drown in the sea they knew exactly that the demons had entered those pigs, which proved the point that He had cleansed those two men.

And so here is the same thing. Any pretender can come along and say, "Your sin is forgiven," in fact through the centuries many have tried to say that. Jesus wants to make sure that they're not just thinking He's saying it, so He proves it. By doing the visible He manifests the power to do the invisible. The man was only healed incidentally as a proof of Jesus' ability to forgive his sin.

That leads us to the fifth word, power. And verse 7 says, "And he arose and departed to his house.” Wow, can you imagine that? Here his four friends are watching and the people are listening. The Pharisees haven't said a word. Nobody has talked except Jesus.

This is a dramatic scene; the guy gets up without first any physical therapy, rolls up his little bed under his arm, picks up the little wood frame, and believe me an aisle was instantly created as that guy walked out of that place. And can you imagine the joy when his four buddies came running down the stairs on the outside? I mean, they must have had some kind of trip home.

What power! Jesus has the power to forgive your sin. That's far better than healing your disease, right? That leads to the last word fear. And this is the most important application. Verse 8 says, "Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.”

When the multitude saw it they were afraid. They knew God was there. They knew Jesus was a man, but they knew that God was in that man and they were afraid. Isn't that the same reaction we've seen all along? The meaning used most in the New Testament is the word for awe or reverence. It's the kind of fear that someone feels in the presence of one who is infinitely superior.

This reverential awe of God is the substance out of which all Christian behavior is to come. They glorify God and so should we, because they feared God, they were in awe of His presence. How do we respond to God every day? Are we in awe too?

I hope you have such awe of Christ. All I can say to you is I hope you've had that forgiveness. When the crowd was split there were those who were forgiven and those who were furious. Christ offers forgiveness, which washes away all sins, from the past, present and future. The greatest news you'll ever have and it is available to you. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Jul 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120708 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000010C imblog

Matthew 8:28-34

Let us look at Matthew 8:28-34, " When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”

“32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water. 33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.”

When Jesus Christ came for the first time He came to redeem man, the second time He will come to redeem the earth and the whole universe. So Matthew wants us to understand that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the king of the earth, the Son of God in human flesh. In other words, it is deity that we must see in the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 John 3:8, "For this purpose the Son of man was manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil.” He will incarcerate Satan and all his demon hosts for a thousand year millennium at the end of which He will gather them up to be eternally tormented. And in casting out demons throughout His ministry He was giving samples of that great power.

Now let me add some thoughts before we look specifically at the text. In Matthew 17:19, even though the Lord had commissioned the disciples to cast out demons, they came back and said, "We can't cast out these demons." So they knew this is not an easy thing to do, and we shouldn't assume that we also can do it because the Lord did it with such ease.

Further, the Jews themselves were involved in efforts to cast out demons. According to the Luke 11, Jesus even said to them, "By whom do your sons cast out demons?" We meet some in the book of Acts who went around trying to cast out demons. Now they did it with fear and they always failed, and so when Jesus came along they literally marveled that He could cast out demons in such a fashion.

For example, in Mark 1:27, "Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” You see it wasn't just that He cast them out, it was the ease with which He did it.

In fact they concluded in Luke 11 that He really cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons. So it was that He did it instantaneously with absolute and total authority that was far beyond anything they had ever seen in their own human experience, and it amazed them and astonished them.

Now let's look at this passage in particular. Three key things: possession by the demons, power by Christ, and the perspective of the people. These are the three things we need to understand. Now as Jesus has crossed the Lake of Galilee in a little boat with some disciples and had calmed the storm it is the dawning of the new day. So they come to shore and immediately are confronted by an incredible situation.

Let's look again at Matthew 8:28, they were received by demons, “When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass by that way.”

What does it mean to be demon possessed? To be demonized means to be under the control of demons, whether they are inside you or outside your or moving through you back and forth, the point is they control you.

Now demons can do a lot of things to people. They can tempt you mentally, and they've got to get into our minds to lure our thoughts. They can bring about disease. Paul called the disorder he had in 2 Corinthians 12, a thorn in the flesh; a messenger of Satan sent to buffet me. So demons can attack the physical, and they can attack the spiritual, because the Bible tells us that doctrines of demons are sent out as perversions of the truth.

Further they can attack you spiritually. They corrupt the truth which brings about false religions, occult practices and all kinds of immoral behaviors. They always produce evil consequences. And if you try to understand this completely you're wasting your time, because this is super-natural and we're not able to go further than what is in the Bible.

Demon possession is a condition in which one or more demons inhabit the body of a human being, and they can at will control that being. Now there may be different degrees and different manifestations. And by the way the word demonized is used 12 times in the New Testament and our Lord acknowledges it as a reality.

Missionaries will come back and tell about these common cases of demon-possession in many parts of the world, where here in the USA it is rather uncommon. Surely the founding fathers’ Christian belief of our country had something to do with this. For example where there is pagan religion there is fear, because all the gods of the unbelievers are demons who have an evil nature and therefore have to be appeased.

Now look further at these two demon possessed men. Let me just add this one thought. In demon-possession the personality of the demon eclipses the personality of the one possessed. In the Mark account when Jesus says to this person, "What's your name?" The demon answers, "My name is legion." In other words, there are many of us. The person himself can't even speak.

Look where they were living, in verse 28, these men were, “coming out of the tombs." Can you imagine living in tombs? To the Jew the greatest defilement is to touch a dead body. In that area where the cliffs are high on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, there were manmade chambers hewn out of the rocks for use as tombs and there they were living. And it says, "They were exceedingly fierce." That means uncontrollable.

In Luke 8:27 it says, "And he ( Luke focused only on the one who speaks) wore no clothes," stark naked. In the Bible the only people who went around naked were maniacs. They had no sense of social balance and modesty. In Mark 5:4 it says, "They tried to bind them with chains and no matter how strong the chains were they broke the chains." They had tremendous strength.

In Mark 5:5, it says, "And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.” Now you get kind of a picture, don't you? Stark naked, hacking themselves with stones, shrieking, racing down the hillside with incredible strength and as a result, it says, that no one could pass by that way.

Well then they saw these little boats and they were ready to do their number. Out of the caves they came, screaming down the hill, and all of a sudden something happened and we find not only the reception by the demons, but the recognition of Jesus by the demons, Matthew 8:29, “And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?”

Why are you here? You know in Mark 5:6 it says, "When they saw Jesus from afar, they ran and worshiped Him.” They fell down and they worshipped Him. Wow, isn’t that incredible that they should worship Jesus? It describes profound awe, reverence and worship. You might say, "What are they doing that for?"

Because they know exactly who He is, listen demons are fallen angels. Once they were holy angels before they went into Satan's rebellion, and they were involved with God, and they know the second person of the Trinity. Nobody needs to help them with their Christology. They know that He is their judge and He is their destroyer.

And then they said, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?” They even had the right eschatology (the end-time theology). They said, "You are here too soon." This is not the time. Think of it, these beings are damned for all eternity and they know it, and they despise Jesus, they hate Him.

And yet they worship Him because they are forced to by His power. They can't resist it. You see, they know Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Look at verse 29 again, how they address Jesus, “You Son of God.” Wow, what an important statement, because when they said, "You are the Son of God,” they were saying, “You are the Messiah, you're the anointed one, you are the Christ.” James 2:19 says, "Even the demons believe, and they tremble,” because they know the result. They know what is going to happen.

Following this in the next verses these demons make a request and it's a bizarre one. Verse 30, "Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”

Now wasn’t that a strange request? I mean what good does that to be a demon-possessed pig? Well you say maybe demons need to be in something. Well that's probably true. But then again we don't really know why they requested that.

Now let’s focus on Christ, verse 32, "And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.” Two thousand pigs drowned.

Now how did He cast out all these demons? He said, "Go," that's all. Now that is what shocked everybody. It wasn't that He did it, it was how He did it. And you have to understand that these demons are powerful beings. Men cannot deal with them. It's so silly for people to run around thinking they can cast out demons by their cleverness. No way.

In 2 Peter 2:11 it says, "Angels are greater in power and might than men." In Psalm 103, it says, "The angels excel in strength." You might ask, "Well are demons as powerful as holy angels?" Well we know from Daniel 10, that a holy angel came with a message from God to Daniel, but a demon held him up for three weeks and God had to send Michael to let him go.

In 2 Kings 19:35, it says, "And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand,” so they far surpass men. They have superior intelligence, that's obvious from Ezekiel 28; they have superior strength, you can see that right with this maniac in Mark 5, who kept breaking the chains, you can see it in Acts 19 and Matthew 17.

They can do signs and wonders according to 2 Thessalonians 2, they have a superior range across the heavens, according to Daniel 10. They have superior experience, because they have lived before the creation of man. They have been around a long time and they know how men function and think. They are spirit beings, who are not bound by any form, and so they are incredible creatures.

"Why did Christ do that?" The lesson here is that Jesus can cast out demons. How are you going to prove that they left? Look at a normally peaceful herd of pigs. Pigs don't usually swim and they don't all go somewhere together. Now watch two thousand of them race toward a cliff, go off the edge, and all dive in the water and drown, and the conclusion has to be something supernatural just happened.

And at the same time you turn around and the two demonized individuals are sitting and as Mark says, "Clothed and in their right minds having a wonderful conversation with Jesus," the connection is readily made. What Jesus did was give a living demonstration of the deliverance of those two men that no one would ever forget.

At the same time it did demonstrate the destructive nature of demons, for when demons hit those pigs instantly they were all destroyed. And it gave to the demons a preview of their own coming destruction. And if you're concerned about the pigs you have missed the point. We can sacrifice a few thousand pigs for Jesus to show this demonstration of incredible power.

That leads us to the final point, the perspective of the people. How did they react? Verse 33, "And those that kept them fled." Now they weren't the owners. They're just the people who cared for the pigs out on the hills. Verse 33, “And they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.”

Verse 34, "And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.” Isn't that great? The whole city came. Well when they saw Him did they worshipped him? No. "And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.” Get out! Why did they say that?

Every commentary says, "Because they were more concerned about their pigs than about Jesus, because they were very materialistic. We want our pigs back, how dare you do this," rather than being happy for the souls of these two demonized men.

But that is not the right answer. It doesn't say word about the owners of the pigs. None of the three gospels says anything about them. These are not the owners of the pigs, this is the whole city and when they saw Him they pleaded with Him to leave. Why? Mark 5:15 says, "They were afraid." They were not angry, they were just scared to death.

In Luke 8:37 says, "They were overcome with panic." Now if you've been with us the last few weeks, you know what this is saying. When unholy men face a holy God they are in terror. We're right back to Isaiah 6. "Woe is me." Isaiah, the best man in the land pronounced cursed himself when he saw God because his un-holiness was exposed.

By the way, this is the first recorded instance of open opposition to the Messiah and it all just mounts from here on. He exposed their sins. They despised Him. He was better than they, greater than they, purer than they, more powerful than they, more holy than they, and they resented that. He was so far beyond them that He unmasked them, that He showed the stupidity of their own lives. That's why they had to kill Him.

People say, Oh if you could just see the miracles you'd believe. Listen, the people who saw the miracles didn't believe. They nailed Him to a cross and they had seen miracle after miracle after miracle. That just made them hate Him more and more. No, because some people when exposed to the awesomeness of God will run because they love their darkness.

The story ends in Mark 5:18, the parallel account. It says this: "And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.

You know what Jesus did? Those hating people who wanted Jesus out of their country never did experience Jesus' compassion or mercy for them, so He left them this one lone missionary and his friend, as living proof, in their midst, of His mighty power. How wonderful that the grace of Christ is extended to those who don't even want it. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Jul 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120701 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000010D imblog

Matthew 8:23-27

This evening we are studying Matthew 8:23-27. Let me give you some background to our thinking. When God created man God ordained that man was to be the king of the earth. Genesis says that God gave man dominion, or sovereignty, or kingship over the earth.

And then when man fell into sin he lost his right to rule, he lost the kingdom that God had given him. The earth was cursed by God. And as a result of that curse the control of the earth fell into the hands of Satan, who is called the prince of this world, the god of this age. And so man lost his dominion and the earth lost its glory.

What was the result of this? Let me just give you some examples: sickness, pain, death, difficulty in human relationships, war, sorrow, injustice, falsehood, famine, natural disaster and demonic activities. These are the things that result from sin, and the earth endures all of these things constantly.

But the Bible tells us about a great and glorious redemptive plan in which God is not only redeeming man, but also redeeming man's environment, the earth and universe, and reversing the curse. Now according to God's plan, in order to do this God would come to earth twice. The first time He would come to redeem man. The second time He would come to redeem the earth and the universe.

So we see in the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ where He was crucified and rose again for the redemption of man. The second time He comes in blazing glory, establishes a thousand year kingdom and then a new heaven and a new earth throughout eternity, and so redeeming the whole of His creation.

Now Christ came because He was the only one able to carry out that plan. The ultimate design then is a universe with no sorrow, no tears, no pain, no sickness, no death, no difficulties, no disasters, no demons, where it is all righteous, all holy, all beautiful, all glorious forever. That is the coming kingdom of God.

Its first phase is the thousand-year when the Lord reverses the curse in the earth itself. The second phase is in the eternal state when He creates a new heaven and a new earth unlike the one we have now.

Everything is going to change in the future. Everything that we know of as a curse, everything that spoils man's existence, everything that breaks man's heart, everything that steals man's joy, everything that takes away from him the dominion and dominance that God intended him to have, the sovereignty that God designed will be reversed.

And the Bible says that we will reign forever and ever with Christ in His throne. That's the redemption of the universe. Things aren't always going to be the way they are now.

Now it is clear to us that man can't do anything to effect that change. We can try to deal with some of the problems, but we can't eliminate them. We don't have the power. We can shoot off rockets into space, but all we do is pollute space. We can build all kinds of machinery and equipment, but all we do is pollute the environment around where we're building.

Now if the earth is going to be changed, and the environment is going to be altered, and if there is to be a new heaven and a new earth, it is going to have to be done by somebody far superior to any man. In fact, it is not only a power beyond man, it is a power that is inconceivable to man. We can't even imagine the kind of power that it takes for God to create in the beginning and to then sustain creation.

What kind of power does God have? It's visible to us. "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,” says Romans 1:20. What kind of power is it? The more we look at the universe the more shocking it becomes to see the power that is exhibited there. What kind of power does it take to move the universe beyond our imagination?

Our little telescopes can take us out 4 billion light years or if you do not understand that try 2.3 times 10 13 miles. We know we haven't even come close to the edge of our galaxy which is 100,000 light years across and there are billions of galaxies in space. And everywhere we look we find power, movement of heavenly bodies energized with incredible power.

We live on a ball 25,000 miles in circumference, 8,000 miles in diameter and the earth weighs six thousand trillion tons and it hangs on nothing. We say well gravity holds it up. What power is gravity that holds this thing in space? Not only that, what makes it spin? Where does that power come from that make us spin a thousand miles an hour?

And we're moving in an orbit around the sun that covers 580 million miles at a speed of a thousand miles a minute. And not only that, our whole solar system is moving through endless space in an orbit that takes billions of years to complete at a faster speed than that. We're going in three speeds. Where's the fuel? Where's the energy? What makes us go?

When the Bible says Jesus sustains the world with His power, it means He energizes every atom in the universe. What kind of power? Do you think God has the power to recreate the earth? He does. He has the power to reverse the curse. He has the power to bring back Eden, the power to create a new heaven and a new earth, and that's why Jesus came, to show us that power.

Look at Matthew 9:6, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth.” You see, that is the whole issue in the miracles, so that men might know He has power. The miracles were previews of kingdom power. When He healed the sick He was giving a preview of a glorious kingdom where there would be no sickness. When He raised the dead He was giving a preview of a glorious kingdom where there would be no dying.

When He calmed the waves on the sea He was previewing a glorious kingdom where natural elements would never be out of control. When He cast out demons He was previewing a kingdom where there would be no demonic activity at all. You see everything He did was to say to man, "I am the one who can reverse the curse. I am the one who can bring back sovereignty to man in a glorified eternal kingdom."

Matthew 10:1, "And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.” He gave them power in two areas: over demons and over disease.

But only Jesus did those miracles that dealt with nature. In Matthew 28:18, He said, "All power is given to Me on heaven and on earth." In Mark 9:1, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”

He was referring to His transfiguration. He immediately went into a mountain and there were those that were dead, Moses and Elijah, appearing there because Jesus had brought them back, that's power. He transfigured Himself and let His glory be seen, that's power. They saw the power that would be fully manifest in the kingdom.

Now we've already discussed the first three miracles these past weeks. There are nine miracles in Chapters 8 and 9. The first three dealt with disease, didn't they? We've already seen these. The next three show His power over nature, the supernatural world, and then over sin. Let us look at the first one tonight.

Now remember the last group they were fascinated, they were curious, they were thrilled with His power, but when He gave offered them to believe in Him and said, "If you're going to follow Me you're going to have to leave everything. You're going to pay a deep price, and you have to come right now with a full commitment," they went away. That was the first response.

Now we move into the second three miracles and we see at the end of these three a different response. Notice Matthew 8:23. "Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.” They were on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, just a little lake, 13 miles long and 8 miles wide and He said we're going to the other side.

He was weary, the Sabbath Day was over, it's late in the night, the crowd has pressured Him more than He can bear in His humanness, and He made the decision to leave. And so as the little boat left the shore by Capernaum to sail maybe six miles to the other side, and several other little boats went along.

In fact, Mark 4:36 says, "And other little boats were also with Him.” Notice at the end of verse 23, His disciples followed Him. Now by this time it is recorded in Mark and Luke that He has already selected the twelve, but the word here, "His disciples followed Him," is much bigger than the twelve.

There is some confusion in the New Testament when it says, "His disciples," to whom does it refer? The word disciple here simply means people who want to know more. You have the multitude that are indifferent and then you have the people who are saying, "Hey, I want to hear what He says, I'm interested." The level of their commitment is undetermined at this point. And so Jesus speaks to them on the matter of salvation because that is the key issue.

In Matthew 10:22, Jesus said, "But he who endures to the end will be saved.” Judas didn't endure to the end and showed he wasn't a true disciple. There were learners around Jesus but just because they are called disciples doesn't mean that they are believers. The word in itself is not an indication of anything except that they were attracted to Jesus' teaching and they were listening.

And Jesus was about to show them something that was absolutely unbelievable. And He had to create the conditions for it, so it says in verse 24, "And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.” Now those boats are just basically little open boats without any protection and there came this storm.

And so there they are. It is night, it's dark and it says suddenly a great tempest. And things began to blow and the Greek word used in the Mark and Luke accounts is a different word that means a whirlwind or a storm. In other words this was a shocking, unexpected and severe thing.

These sailors had seen lots of storms; but never was there anything like this. And look again at verse 24, "But He was asleep." Anybody who could sleep through this must have been very tired. And that speaks of Jesus' humanness. The sea is raging, the storm is howling, the wind is careening around and the little boat is tossed like a cork on the ocean, it's filling up with water the other gospels tell us, and the creator of the world is sound asleep.

He sleeps so peaceful because He doesn't have fear. Absolutely trusted the Father's care, oh it would be wonderful if we could live like that. We get tossed around by circumstances in our world and we begin to mistrust God and we panic. Jesus is omniscient and knows everything in the universe yet He was sleeping peaceful in the care of God.

In verse 25, His disciples came to Him and awoke Him saying, "Master, Master, save us, don't you care we're perishing," The fact that they turned to Jesus is interesting. How could He help these sailors, but they had nowhere else to turn. They're not so much convinced that He is God at this point, as they are hoping that He is God.

But they were right where God wanted them. Sometimes God has to bring us to desperation to get our attention, doesn't He? They had run out of human solutions; they wanted a divine answer. Their hope was that the miracle worker who could handle sickness maybe could handle the sea, and they had fear mixed with faith. You see if they had total faith they would have been asleep, confident in the Father's care.

But often our first cry is like theirs, as is recorded in Mark 4:38, "Do You not care that we are perishing?” Have you ever done that? You know you get into a difficult circumstance and you say to God, "Don't you care, God?" That's the lack of faith. But that's nothing new. Look at Psalm 10:1, "Why do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide in times of trouble?”

Find the same thing in Isaiah 51:9, the same kind of approach, which shows such a lack of faith. The prophet is saying, “Awake, awake, put on strength, oh arm of the LORD! Awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart, and wounded the serpent?” How can you let this happen God? How can you let me go thorough this?

And the reply is a classic: verse 26, "But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” What kind of question is that? Look around you. It's the middle of the night. There's a storm here like we've never seen. The boat is full of water.

In fact in Mark 4:40 it says, "Why do you have no faith?" Don't you believe in Me and My love and My power? Those are the two key things. If you believe in God's love and God's power you can weather any storm. Number one you know God cares about you and number two you know He can handle the situation, right? That's all you need to know.

Isn't it amazing how we can see the reality of God but then when the circumstance becomes bad for us we forget His love and power altogether. The disciples first learned that they didn't have enough faith so in Luke 17:5 they said, "Lord, increase our faith." And you know what He did? Right after that He healed ten lepers. Faith needs constant strengthening.

The concept of little faith basically means distrust in God's ability. You don't believe God can provide. So you worry, you panic, you fear, you're cowardly, you don't believe that God can take care of you.

Have you forgotten Psalm 46:1-3, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.”

And so they had nothing to fear. Verse 26, "Then He arose," middle of the verse, "And rebuked the winds and the sea." And there was a great calm. Mark 4:39 says, "He stood up and said, 'Silence,' and instantly not just calm but a great total calm. Or as one commentator translates it hush and the sea became as glass. The waves stopped, the wind stopped and it was all still.

It's impossible to measure the power of the wind that was existing in that kind of a storm, but just in a normal storm there are billions of horsepower generated in a storm. No one could even measure the power of wind and the waves, and Jesus stopped it immediately with a word.

Matthew's message to us is, this is the one who can conquer disease, this is the one who can handle nature and later He'll tell us He is the one who controls the demons. He is the one who forgives sin. He is the one who raises the dead. Think about it, He is the one who lives in your heart.

And what was their reaction, verse 27, “So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” In Mark 4:41 it says, "They were exceedingly afraid." You know what's more fearful than being in a storm? Realizing you're standing in the presence of the living God.

The same Jesus Christ that stilled the sea is the one that keeps all those atoms moving in your body, the one that keeps this earth whirling in space, the one that keeps this universe in balance. That same Jesus Christ will one day come and set up His eternal kingdom. Will you be a part of that kingdom by faith?

]]> Sun, 24 Jun 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120624 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000010E imblog

Matthew 8:16-22

Let’s look at Matthew 8:16-22 together. In some ways it is absolutely inexplicable that people continually reject and refuse to acknowledge the lordship of Christ. Jesus as the Savior, the incomparable, lovely, gracious Son of God, the Savior of the world who died for men is still despised by men today as He was when He first came.

As we study the gospel of Matthew it becomes clear that the unbelief and rejection of people flies in the face of all that Christ has done, for His credentials are obvious. The proof of His personhood as God in human flesh is beyond any contradiction. His words, His works, His death and resurrection all speak loudly that He is the Christ of God, the Savior of the world.

The world is like a judge in a court who has heard an open and shut airtight case and then proceed to arrive at the exact opposite verdict from the facts. For example, the authority of Jesus was apparent. In Matthew 7 it says, "The people were astonished at His teaching for He taught them as one having authority."

In John 7:46 they said, "No one ever spoke like this man.” The works of Jesus were undeniably divine. The blind man said to the Jews in John 9, "30 Why this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” The wisdom of Jesus was super human.

His healing removed their sicknesses; Matthew 9:8 says, "When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” His love literally awed them. In John 11:36 they stood at the grave of Lazarus and they saw Jesus as He began to weep and they said, "See how He loved him."

His dominance over demons shocked them. In Matthew 9:33 it says, "And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” His judgment was awesome. In Matthew 21:20 it says, “When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”

You see everything about Him was astounding. Everything about Him was astonishing. Everything about Him was humanly inexplicable. Everything about Him was marvelous, superhuman, supernatural and divine. And they saw it all. Is it any wonder then that in Mark 6:6 it says, "Jesus marveled because of their unbelief."

How can anyone be exposed to such an infinite number of convincing credentials and still walk away? How can it be? Well for a lot of them there is a willful love of sin. And in John 3:19 it says, "men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

But then there are others that see the power of Jesus and the charisma, and they're attracted to that. And they may say, "We follow Jesus," because of the wonder of His person, but they are just as lost as the ones who turn and run from the light. And we're going to meet three of them in this passage tonight.

But let's begin at the beginning, verse 16. Matthew has just recorded three miracles that may well have happened on the same day. Jesus had already performed thousands of healings and so the crowd was massive by now following Him around Galilee. "When the evening was come, they began to bring them, those who were possessed with demons and He cast out the spirits with His word and healed all that was sick."

He healed all. It was always that way. He healed thousands of them. If their disease was spiritual, related to the possession of demons He healed that. If it was physical sickness He healed that. It wasn't a question of their faith or their circumstances. He was giving evidence that He was the Messiah and His deity that is beyond question.

Now why did He heal them all? First it was because of His compassion. He despised disease because He knew disease was a result of sin. Because there is sin in the world, there is death in the world. So He despised sin, disease and death. And so in compassion toward people He healed them.

But there is more than that. He healed them because He was giving them a preview of His kingdom. Do you know what will happen when Christ sets up His eternal kingdom? There will be no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain and no more sickness and here Jesus gives us a preview by banishing disease and raising the dead.

But there's yet a third reason why He healed and it is given in Matthew 8:17, and this is that to which the Spirit speaks. He did this for the purpose of fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah. Now the Old Testament had predicted that the Messiah would come and the prophets had said many things about the Messiah. Jesus came to fulfill all of those things. And Isaiah 53:4 says, "That He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."(as Matthew 8:17)

Christ died for our sins not our sicknesses. The gospel is good news about forgiveness, not health. Christ was made sin, not disease. He died on the cross for our sin. And we would never interpret Isaiah 53 any differently. We'd just say Isaiah 53 means He has healed us from sin.

How did He bear our sicknesses? The Bible says He knew what was in the heart of man, therefore, He can understand every pain you ever feel. He's a sympathetic high priest. He didn't get our diseases, but He fully felt our pain. He knew what caused all this pain and all this heartache, and all this sorrow and mourning was the evil of sin.

Now there were many Pharisees who loved their sin. They loved darkness rather than light. But then there were others who were attracted to Him because of the magnetism of His personality and the thrills He produced. And they came, but in each case something kept them from genuine conversion. Let's see what it was.

Matthew 8:18, "And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side." They were on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The crowd was becoming so massive; the Lord was weary in His physical body. Mark tells us that when He went on His little boat a bunch of other little boats went behind Him. So some people had to make a decision, do I get in the boat or do I stay. And we meet these three people in our lesson this evening.

The first man never came to true salvation because he wanted personal comfort more than he wanted Christ. Verse 19, "Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Wow that sounds good, doesn't it? The scribes were highly educated. The scribes were loyal to the system. They were the teachers but the scribes were generally hostile to Christ.

We probably would eagerly accept him, but Jesus didn't. Listen to what He said to him in verse 20, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” It simply means that the basic comforts of life that even wild animals have, Jesus does not have. In John 7:53, 8:1, it says, "Every man went to his own house and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." He didn't have a house and He spent the night lying on the ground in prayer with the Father.

In Luke 8, it lists the dear ladies who were hospitable to Him. How often it tells us that He stayed in the little house in Bethany. See He didn't have any personal comforts and He didn't have any worldly possessions. "Why did He bring that up?" Because He could read his mind! The guy thought, "My lifestyle satisfies me and I just want to add you to my lifestyle and follow you." Jesus refuses to be an addition to someone’s lifestyle, He has to come first.

Do you remember in John 2, when it says, "23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.”

It means that He had no faith in their faith. He knew it was shallow and superficial. In fact, He classified these people in the parable of the seed in Matthew 13. He said, " 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.”

You know what the next verse says? It doesn't say anything about him. You know why? He isn't around anymore. He left in between verses 20 and 21. The Lord saw into his heart right where he was. We sugar coat the Gospel message. We want to make it so everybody can get in as easy as possible. Jesus makes it hard to come in, unless they have a genuine commitment.

I like that title: "The Son of Man." In Daniel 7:13 Daniel first prophesied that the Messiah would be the Son of Man, and Jesus came and called Himself the Son of Man. Do you know how many times that is used in the gospels? 80 times! What does it mean? It's a term of humiliation. Son of God speaks of deity. The Son of Man speaks of His humiliation.

He's saying, "In my humiliation I don't even have what foxes have, and the foxes were very common and they would burrow their holes in the ground. And birds were everywhere and they had their nests, and He said, "I don't even have that." I don't have the basic comforts of life and if you're going to follow me you're going to have to be willing to give that up.

There's a price to pay to be a Christian. This guy just wanted to add excitement to his life. The person who wants to be a great athlete must have a teacher who says to him, "Yes, you have to make sacrifices to be great!" You see we do Jesus a disservice if we lead people to believe that the Christian way is an easy way. I agree there no glory like the end of that way, but Jesus never said it would be easy. He always said that you had to take up your cross.

There's a second person in this chapter. This one wanted personal riches: verse 21, now watch this: "And another of His disciples." Now the word disciple here simply means follower, and at this particular point He's got a lot of people following Him who were all at different levels. And one of these followers said to Him, "Lord, permit me to go first and bury my father."

That sounds like a reasonable request, right? On one hand the Jews taught you to mourn for your father and mother thirty days when they died. Now this man knows the Lord is continually moving from place to place. Jesus is going to get in a boat and leave and so he says, "I just can't come yet, but I'll try to catch you later after I bury my father."

But there's a lot more here than meets the eye, because this phrase is a colloquial phrase that appears in the Middle East even now in contemporary times. The real meaning is, “I just have to stick around and fulfill my responsibility till my father passes on. And then, of course, I will receive my inheritance and only then I can go." The guy had money on his mind. He took the courage and commitment out of his discipleship. His father wasn't even dead yet.

Jesus said to him in verse 22, "Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead." At first it seems not to make sense. How can dead people bury dead people? It's a proverb. This one means let spiritually dead people bury their dead. Let the secular world take care of its own issues. You have been called to the kingdom of God. What He is saying is you are functioning on the wrong level.

You are called to a living kingdom, go and preach the kingdom. Secular matters belong to the people who are secular. And this man what does it say he did? He is not there either. He left somewhere between verse 22 and 23. Why? Personal possessions were the big thing to him. He had waited a long time for his inheritance and he wasn't bailing out now.

There was a third guy who came that day only Matthew doesn't tell us about him, Luke gives us basically the same story but he adds this third one. In Luke 9:61 it says, "And another also said, "Lord I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." Well you say, "Why go on and say goodbye. Kiss your mother and shake hands with your dad, sure.

"But Jesus said to him," and He gives him a proverb that went clear back to 800 B.C., "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Basically Jesus says is it's very difficult to plow a straight line when you're looking backwards.

Oh Jesus knew a lot more than is on the surface. He was under the power, domination of his parents and Jesus knew that if he went back there the intimidation of the family, the emotional pleas to stay and he would not follow Him. There are a lot of people who say that they would like to come to Christ but they're afraid of what their family might say or what their family might do.

Listen, what Matthew 10:34 says, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

If that holds you back from full commitment, you are not fit to enter the kingdom of God. This is not talking about Christian service, this is talking about salvation. And it says from that time many of His disciples walked no more with Him. They weren't willing to make the full commitment, and He turned them down.

You see the Lord may not want to take away your personal comforts, He may not want to take away your personal possessions, He may not want to take away your personal relationships, but you have to be willing to let him if He wanted to.

These three walked away and William MacDonald puts it so aptly, "They left Christ to make a comfortable place for themselves in the world and to spend their rest of their lives hugging the subordinate." Are you a true disciple? Have you looked at the evidence?

People through the centuries have marveled at Jesus' authority, His words, His works, His wisdom, His purity, His truthfulness, His power, His provision, His healing, His love, His dominance, His judgment, His composure, His teaching and His independence. They've marveled, they've been overwhelmed, they've been astounded, but they've walked away lost because they never came on His terms. Are you coming on His terms? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 17 Jun 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120617 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000010F imblog

Matthew 8:5-15

It's so refreshing and so exciting to see Jesus walking through the world, touching human need and human life. It's not like the theological treatises of the Apostle Paul. It's not like the historical approach of the writer of Hebrews. There's just something fresh, practical and touching about seeing Jesus walk through the world, and that's what we have the privilege of doing, beginning in this 8th chapter.

Now, particularly in the 8th chapter, we noted to you last time that our Lord expresses His authority. He faced the question, "What gives You the right to speak like that? What is Your authority?" In effect, chapter 8 and 9 are the answer, "I'm God, I came from heaven, and I was given all authority." Jesus demonstrates His deity.

You have to understand how really dramatic the whole scene was. In the day of Jesus Christ, the world was filled with disease and, medical science was almost nonexistent. So there was a tremendous fear of disease. There was the pain and suffering and the anguish and there were no drugs to alleviate that. People died quickly.

And along came Jesus and He touched human life at the point of its greatest pain and disease. Jesus literally wiped out disease in Palestine; and the monumental nature of such an expression is beyond description. Jesus swept through with His healing power and healed thousands upon thousands of people. He repeatedly said, "Believe Me for the very works' sake." How can anyone deny this?

First of all, He healed with a word or a touch. Secondly, He healed instantaneously. That very hour, the woman with the bleeding problem in Mark was healed immediately; and the ten lepers were healed instantaneously. And in Luke 5, immediately, the leprosy departed from him. And the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5:9 immediately became well. And the blind man, when he washed his eyes saw instantly.

Thirdly, He healed totally. There was never a recuperation period. Can you imagine being 35 years and never have taken a step, and Jesus made your legs whole and told you to get up and walk? Why, even if your legs were whole, you couldn't walk. There would be some rehabilitation time needed. There is never rehabilitation in any miracle Jesus ever performed. It was total and immediate.

Fourthly, Jesus healed everybody. He didn't have to screen out the tough cases. He didn't send away long lines of disappointed people like the so-called healers of today. Luke 4:40 says, "And while the sun was setting, all who had any sick with various diseases brought them to Him and laying His hands on every one of them, He was healing them.”

Fifthly, Jesus healed organic diseases: disformed legs, withered hands, blind eyes and paralysis. The kind of healings that would show a miracle beyond doubt. And sixthly, and this is where Jesus really departs from everybody else, Jesus raised the dead. This has never happened in the history of the world; and what the Jewish people are seeing with this miraculous work of Christ is something for which there is only possible a divine explanation.

And that's what makes the Pharisees' unbelief so incredible; and it shows the depth of the sin in their hearts. They would not believe in the face of incredible evidence. Nonetheless, Matthew accuses them again in this section by pointing up the credentials of Jesus; and out of the thousands of miracles, he picks three for this chapter.

Now, last week, we saw the first one healing a leper in verses 1 to 4. Now, this would have been an incredible statement for the Pharisees, an amazing miracle for them to see, because they couldn't imagine why anybody would bother with a leper. There must have been a lot of Pharisees who themselves were sick and could have used healing.

We move from that leper to our story for today. Here we find a man who also would be by the Jews considered an outcast, because he is a Gentile. Worse than that, he is a Roman soldier, a member of the occupation army that had conquered and now ruled their land. What the Lord is saying is this that the Kingdom is for the down and out, for the outcast and the Gentile.

Let's look at verse 5, "A centurion came forward to him, appealing to him.” Now, Matthew goes right for the facts of the interaction between the centurion and Jesus, because of Matthew's purpose. But the facts are explained further in Luke, because Luke has a comparative passage in the 7th chapter. I'll just kind of fill in some details from Luke.

Luke tells us that the centurion didn't actually go to Jesus, but he sent some elders of the Jews with this message. So Jesus does interact with the centurion, but through these Jewish people who have come to Him. The centurion did not come himself because he felt unworthy to be in the presence of Christ and to have Christ in his home; so he asked these Jews to speak to Jesus for him.

So here you have a Gentile. And he's the worst kind of Gentile, a Samaritan. And he's the worst kind of Samaritan because he is a member of the occupation forces of the Roman army who are oppressing Israel. But he comes in the presence of Jesus through these mediating Jews that Luke tells us about.

Verse 6, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” Now, there's something beautiful about this. First of all, he cared about his servant, and that sets him apart from everybody else in the Roman world. In fact, in the Roman Empire, slaves didn't matter. If they suffered, it didn't matter. They had no rights.

Now listen what these Jews say in Luke 7:4, "And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him.” Their message was, “You should do this. He's worthy." How can a Gentile soldier be worthy?

The reason is in Luke 7:5, "He loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue." He's a God-fearing Gentile. He realizes that he's dealing with a people who are the covenant people of the living God, and he makes an investment in them. And so the elders came and said, "Please, You ought to do this for him."

What interests me is that they knew Jesus could do it. Everybody knew He could heal; but the hardness of their heart didn't allow them to take one step further and accept Him as their Savior. So here is a good Gentile who loved Israel, and we too should love Israel. They are God's chosen people. I study them more than I do Gentiles in the study of God’s Word.

He loved his slave and he was humble. Do you know, he didn't want Jesus in his house, because he knew enough about Jewish teachings that a Jew was never to go in the house of a Gentile? The Jews believed that Gentile utensils were unclean. They believed all kinds of strange things that the rabbis had invented to keep them apart from the Gentiles.

He is loving and he is sincere. And when he says, "Lord," in verse 6, it's the Lord in the fullness of what it means. Look at Matthew 8:10, Jesus said in the middle of the verse, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” Faith is believing who Christ was, he believed Jesus was God.

And it isn't on behalf of his own need. He says in verse 6, “my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly." And you know what is so beautiful? There's no request in it, he just gives information through these elders. His prayer is a prayer of information. "Lord, here is the need. I accept Your sovereignty and Your choice."

Then comes our Lord's response in verse 7, "And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” In fact, Luke says they all start heading for the house, and the centurion sees them coming, and he panics, because he doesn't feel worthy to be in the presence of Christ.

And so he sends a messenger real fast in Matthew 8:8, “But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.” You didn't become a centurion easily. You became a centurion by working your way up through the ranks. This was a guy who was tough. He was leading a hundred men. He was a combat-oriented soldier; but with a gentle, humble, sensitive and loving spirit; and all this for a sick slave.

And now his faith becomes evident at the end of verse 8 saying, "You don't need to come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Wow, "Where did he get that information?" Listen, he knew what Jesus had been doing. He said, "I know Your authority. Just speak the word." He knew that Jesus was God.

And then in verse 9, he gives this little explanation, “For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

He's saying is, "Hey, I understand Your authority. Some of you might wonder, 'Where did He get this authority? Who does He think he is?’ But I know a man with authority when I see one. I've seen the power of His Words. I understand authority."

Now watch the reasoning from the lesser to the greater of verse 9. He says, "I am a man who is under authority, and I exercise authority. How much more authority must You have since You are the supreme authority of the universe." Then he says, "I can command things to happen. But You are above all authorities. How much more can You by speaking the Word make things happen?" Wow, this is great faith, isn't it?

Now the next verse, verse 10 is really interesting. "When Jesus heard this, He marveled." Now you have to have a pretty unique kind of faith to amaze Jesus. Think about it, He knows everything. Jesus, in a glimpse of His humanness, was amazed at the faith of this Gentile.

Look what he says next, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith." And the implication here is, "I should have found it here in Israel. You are the people of the covenant Promise. You are the people of the inheritance.

Oh, He found faith among the Jews. We saw that in Matthew 4. But never in this kind of combination, never with this much virtue. I mean love is here, affection is here, thoughtfulness is here, humility is here and absolute confidence in the power of Christ. You know, what Jesus said about his own disciples in Matthew 6:30, "Oh, you of little faith."

It is a foretaste of the Kingdom Jesus gives. Do you know that Gentiles will have greater faith than Israel? The church predominantly is a Gentile church. Israel still rejects the Messiah. And Jesus makes this clear in verse 11, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”

There is coming a millennial Kingdom and an eternal Kingdom in the future. And in that Kingdom, God's wonderful promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will come to pass. The Gospel and salvation came through Abraham's seed and we are sons of Abraham by faith.

But the thing Jesus is saying in verse 11 is this. "Many shall come from east and west and sit down with them." Who are the many? The point at which this begins is Israel; but as you go east and west from there you encompass the whole Gentile world. So what He's saying is, "The Kingdom will be filled with Gentiles."

The Jews didn't believe that. This was contrary to all their teaching. Now listen to verse 12, "while the sons of the kingdom ( i.e. the Jews) will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” They're called sons of the kingdom because, by right, they are the inheritors, but when the Kingdom comes, they're going to get thrown out. You cannot be sons if you reject Jesus.

In John 8:37, they argue with Jesus about that; and they say that they are the sons of Abraham and, as such, they will be saved. And Jesus says, “I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me.” And then He says, “44You are of your father the devil.”

Many quotes about hell come from Jesus Himself. I know people think Jesus just talked about love and forgiveness but, listen, I have never preached a sermon as strong as any one the Lord Jesus preached, never. I have never said anything as devastating as what He said.

And so He gives a sermon that was not forgotten, in the midst of this miracle; and then verse 13, "Jesus said to the centurion, “13Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.” Can you imagine if the centurion believed what he believed before, what he must have believed afterwards?

Can we all claim that little phrase, 'Let it be done as you have believed?” Not necessarily. Jesus said that to the centurion. Paul believed that God could heal him, but God didn't, right? That's a sovereign choice. Sometimes He would heal people who had no faith. In fact, the Bible doesn't say anything about the faith of the servant. He healed him for the benefit of the centurion and everybody else in history who would read this story.

Now Matthew adds one more healing in verse 14, “And when Jesus was come into Peter's house..." And the other Gospels tell us it was on the Sabbath, and they had been to the synagogue and then they go home and have dinner; but they were having a problem there. Mark 1:29 tells us that Andrew was there, and James and John also were there; so you have six people, and the tragedy was that Peter’s mother-in-law is sick.

"When Jesus was coming into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying and sick with a fever." Peter was married. We know that, because 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says later on his ministry, that it is not wrong for Peter in his ministry to travel with a wife. How do the Pharisees look at women?

Pharisees get up and say the same prayers every morning like this, "I thank You that I am not slave, a Gentile or a woman." They had a very low view of women; and for Jesus to throw in a healing of a woman is just another indictment of their traditions. And a mother-in-law, I mean, you know, that's even going beyond.

Verse 15, "He touched her hand, and the fever left her." The indication of the other account is that it was so severe, she could have died from it; and Jesus reached out His hand and touched her, and immediately, "The fever left her and she arose and got about making dinner." She ministered.

She was immediately healed. The power of Jesus Christ made manifest. If you can still deny that He's God in the face of all these things, it is not because there is no evidence. It is because there is no faith in your heart, and the reason is because your heart is bound by sin. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120610 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000110 imblog

Matthew 8:1-4

Prepare to study together Matthew 8. We have covered the first seven chapters, and now we proceed further in this exciting Gospel. The 8th chapter through the 12th chapter are really critical to the understanding of the life of Christ and the message of Matthew. For in this section, Matthew records a series of miracles performed by Jesus Christ.

There are thousands of miracles that were done, but only nine are singled out by Matthew as examples of the power of Jesus Christ. They are really His credentials as the Messiah. They are those signs which point convincingly to His deity, for only God can do those things.

The sad part is that, after the miracles in chapters 8 and 9, and after the preaching that occurs following that, the Jews conclude in chapter 12 that Jesus is of the devil. That was their conclusion. So in many ways, Christ does everything possible to manifest His deity, but they conclude exactly the opposite.

Now notice that it begins with three miracles. The miracle of healing the leper in the first four verses; the healing of the man with paralysis, in verses 5 to 13; and then the woman with fever in verses 14 and 15. These are the opening three miracles. There are nine miracles in these two chapters and they come in three sections of three. All are designed to manifest the deity of Jesus Christ.

Miracles were God's way of proving the deity of His Son. These are creative miracles. They manifest a power that is only defined by the essence of God. These miracles are things that man could never do. They are supernatural.

Jesus has just delivered the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. He has literally turned their religious world upside down. He has told them that their teaching was wrong, and their living was wrong. Their attitude was wrong, everything they stand for, believe in, and hope for was wrong; and He never quoted any rabbis or any of their well-known sources.

He just repeatedly says, "This is the truth." In fact, repeatedly, He said, "You have heard it said, but I say…." And over and over He kept saying that, and when He was all finished, in chapter 7:28, “that when He ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His teaching.” Why? Verse 29, “for He taught them as one having authority, not like the scribes."

How did the scribes do it? They quoted other rabbis. They were fallible, so they needed a whole bunch of other fallible sources to support their material. Jesus just said it and He overturned their entire religious system. A first century Jew is going to say this. "By what authority does He speak? What gives Him the right to say all these things and to affirm that they are true?"...

Matthew 8 and 9 provides the answer to that question. We are learning what gives Him that right. He is God. That's what does it, and in chapter 8 and 9 Matthew is proving beyond a shadow of doubt that Jesus is God. And how do we know He's God? Because only God can create, and for two chapters using nine examples, Jesus creates situations, creates things that did not exist, even new physical limbs, and we see God at work. It gives us the answer to the question, "By what authority does He say and do this?"

Now, let's look first at the beginning three miracles. Here are some general thoughts about them. There is the healing of one with leprosy; then the healing of one it says was paralyzed and then one of a woman with a fever. And there are several key things to note about these first three miracles.

First, they begin at the lowest level of human need -- the physical. Life is more than physical, yes; but Jesus is also sympathetic about the physical. It's wonderful that the miracles of Jesus were not only spiritual miracles, or that dealt with comfort or riches or circumstances or providence; but that they also touched man at the physical level of need. He touches the depths of human disease.

Later on, in the second set of miracles, He deals more with the spiritual; and in the third set of miracles, He even touches on the ultimate enemy of man, death itself, as He raises the dead. But at this point He's dealing with those physical human needs, which shows us not only the power of Christ but His willingness to help us at our most basic needs.

Secondly He responds in all three cases to appeals. This shows us His compassion. First the leper says to Him, "If You will, You can make me clean." Secondly, the centurion says, "My servant is in the house, sick of paralysis," and He says, "I'll come." Thirdly according to Luke in a parallel passage, the friends of the family of Peter say to Jesus, "His mother-in-law is sick, and could the Lord please go over there and take care of her?"

The third thing to note is that in every case Jesus acts on His own will. Though He is sympathetic and though He is at the same time deeply compassionate, He is also sovereign; and that is important. Every time He acts because He wants to. "I will that you are clean. I will come down and heal him. He reached His hand and touched her, and the fever left."

And, fourthly, He touches someone who, in the eyes of the Pharisees and the Jews was at the lowest level of human existence. First a leper, considered the scum of the earth; second, a Gentile; and thirdly, a woman. You see where Jesus really puts His emphasis is on the humble and the meek and the outcast.

In this section, His power is truly awesome. He cleanses a leper, heals a servant, raises up a woman, controls the sea, casts out demons, makes the blind able to see, makes crippled people walk, makes dumb people speak, heals every single sickness that is brought to Him. And if you look and go back and start at the beginning of Matthew, you can see that this is just one more affirmation that Christ is God.

First chapter, His genealogy attested to the legal qualifications of the Messiah. Second chapter, His birth fulfilled all the prophecies of the qualifications of the Messiah. And then His baptism attested to the divine approval of God, the Father. The temptation of Satan attested to His spiritual qualifications as the Messiah. His sermon proved His theological qualifications as the Messiah; and now the miracles again prove that He is God.

Do you know that chapter 8 begins where chapter 4 left off? The Sermon on the Mount is just put in the middle. Remember Matthew 4:23-24, "And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.”

Thousands uncounted numbers of healings were performed and Jesus healed all who came to Him. And now notice the first three we've introduced to you. For this evening, we're just going to study the first one. This is a beautiful story. Let me read it to you...

Matthew 8:1-4, “When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

That's it, a wonderful little story. Let me see if I can explain to you what it is really saying. Verse 1 says, "When He came down from the mountain.” Well, He came from the mountain where He had just been teaching the Sermon on the Mount near the village of Capernaum, "great crowds followed Him." Why?

It wasn't because they loved Him, it wasn't because they believed in Him. It was because they were curious, because they had never heard anybody speak with such authority, and they had never seen anybody who could heal people totally instantly. Verse 2, "And behold, a leper came to Him." Now what's interesting is, lepers never approach, but this one did.

Do you know anything about leprosy in the Bible? It's from the Greek word lepros, which means scale or scaly. In the Old Testament, you have another Hebrew word that is also translated leprosy that comes from the Hebrew word that means scale or scaly also. So in both cases, it referred to some kind of visible scaly skin disease.

Now, because of the horror of the disease itself it was a big problem; and so God gave them laws to deal with leprosy, so they would not contract this disease. There is a statement made in Luke 4:27 that there were many lepers in Israel and none of them were healed except for Naaman, the Syrian.

You can read about it from Leviticus 13. There are various tests and all patients had to be examined very carefully. Now, if someone got the severe kind, the 13th chapter deals with him with several prescribed treatments. Now read verse 45, "As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mouth and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!'"

And then he spends the rest of his life going around making an announcement everywhere he goes. So nobody will get near him. The Talmud said you can't get any closer than six foot to a leper, and if there's a wind blowing, 150 feet is the limit. There were 61 types of defilements in Judaism. No. 1 defilement, on top of the list was a dead body; and No. 2 was a leper. You didn't go near him and you didn't touch him.

The first thing that leprosy does, apart from its physical symptoms, the patchiness and so forth, it attacks the nervous system and immediately anesthetizes the limbs. It attacks the eyes and brings blindness, the teeth and they then fall out. It attacks the internal organs so that sterility occurs. This disease was horrifying and much feared and did not have a cure.

Leprosy was the most graphic illustration of sin. Sin defiles the whole body. Sin is ugly and sin is incurable. Sin is contaminating, sin separates and alienates and makes outcasts of men. So every leper not only lived with his own disease, but he became a walking illustration of sin.

Isn't it shocking that Jesus showed that the Messiah cared for such a man while ignoring all the sick Pharisees in town? “So a leper came." He did what was forbidden.

Four things stand out about this leper...No. 1, he came with confidence. "Behold, a leper came to Him." I can imagine that the crowd split fast. Here I see a man who is so desperate that he really could care less what anybody thought, right? Josephus tells us that lepers were treated like dead men. But that wasn't going to stop him. He may have been dead in everybody's eyes, but he came.

Second thing, he came with reverence, "A leper came and knelt before Him, saying, 'Lord.'" Here was a leper from the outside diseased and filthy, but on the inside: reverent and worshiping. He believed he was in the presence of God, and he knew it; and his soul was turned toward God. That's because he understood that the soul is more important than the body.

Third, he came with humility. He says, "Lord, if You will.” He didn't demand anything, He didn't complain because he got this disease, he didn't talk about his rights, He didn't even talk about his desires. He only said, "If You want, You can.”

Finally, he also came with faith. "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." Dunamis, power, that's the word in Greek. "You have the power. You are able. I know that, I am convinced of that." And Luke who always gives us the clinical analysis of everything, because he was the doctor, says, "He was full of leprosy."

Verse 3, "And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.” And you could add, "And the whole crowd gasped.” Nobody touched lepers, Leviticus 5:3 says you are never permitted to touch the uncleanness of a man. Jesus didn't have to touch him. "He said, 'I will. Be clean!" And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

All of Jesus' miracles were immediate. You know, when humans touch defilement, we get defiled. When He touches defilement, the defilement goes away. When we touch a disease, we get contaminated. When He touches a disease, the person gets healed. That's real power.

Those shriveled up hands instantly becoming beautiful hands. The forehead that was eaten away, the eyes with their absent brows and lashes, the scaly, bloody skin that rubbed off, the nose and throat and eyes that were destroyed, the fingers and toes that look like claws and were worn off and instantly, he is totally whole, beautiful and clean again.

You can call all the healers in the world, and they can pick out any leper they want, and they're not able to do this. Only God can do this. They are not able to recreate parts of the body, fingers, feet and skin. Jesus did it immediately.

What is the first test when Christ has invaded your life? One little word – it starts with O, Obedience. Verse 4 says, "All right, you've been healed. Now do these two things. First, do what Moses said to do. Keep the law of God and Moses.

Now you might say, "Well, why did Jesus tell him not to tell anybody?" Because the priests will confirm through all their examination that he's clean, and then they'll discover it was Jesus; and by their own testimony, and their own examination, they will confirm the power of Christ.

Well, you know what happened? The guy didn't do that. He just got so excited that he failed to obey. I want you to think about this. Jesus said, "Which is more difficult, to heal disease or forgive sin?" He said that a couple of times in different words. You know why? Because He was not only revealing His power over disease, but every miracle was also an illustration of His power over sin.

Follow this thought in conclusion. Leprosy, being unclean, it's just like sin. Sin is widespread, sin is ugly, sin is communicable and sin is incurable. But the leper came with confidence. Why? Because he got desperate enough over his leprosy, right? He felt that way and conversion happened.

People get saved when they get desperate over their disease of sin. And, brothers and sisters, that is often missing among the people of our time. This man came. He did not care about all the social stigma, He lost his fear of being ostracized. It didn't matter to him anymore, He simply was overwhelmed with his disease.

Coming to Christ is not getting on the bandwagon. It's being wretched and knowing it. It's better to say nothing and let the world see that Jesus changed your life by their own examination, than for you to tell everyone and not be able to support it with the way you live.

Be obedient; and, in the midst of your obedience, God will manifest the transforming power of Christ. It's your life that speaks loudest, not your words. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120603 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000111 imblog

Matthew 7:24-29

Let's look together for the last time at Matthew 7. We began a look at the closing portion of the Sermon on the Mount and we want to finish that study tonight. I have to admit that there are so many thoughts in my mind about this section of Scripture as I meditate over this message. I want us to focus on verses 24 to 27 again and then a comment or two about the closing verses.

Beginning at verse 24 our Lord climaxes the sermon by saying, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

Here in the United States we are constantly made aware of the need for a good foundation on a house. Earthquakes have a way of cracking foundations and floods have a way of washing them away altogether. Careful soil tests are done, examination of the ground, taking out expansive soils and replacing it with new soil in order to make sure that the foundation is going to stand.

And it was the same in Palestine. It's dry and arid for the most part but when it rains the land really can only absorb so much, and when the rain comes it turns into a flood. Houses are washed away in the same manner that we've seen it here. And so you would need to have the same kind of planning and the same kind of preparation that you have here.

Now Jesus wanted to explain this in verses 24 to 27. One man thinks little about what might come and he works hard on building the house but has absolutely no thought for the foundation, and he is called a foolish man, in verse 26. The other man, also building a house wants to be sure that the foundation is built upon bedrock, and he is called a wise man in verse 24. And so you have a simple story, two men each building their own house, one is wise and one is foolish.

What seems like a simple story is in fact a shocking commentary on people who have head knowledge but an empty heart. Notice that He says in verse 24 and 26, "Everyone who hears." These are the people who hear the message and they understand it, but only the wise ones do something about it, the fools do not. Understanding that Jesus is the final judge of all people makes this parable of the builders on rock and sand an astonishing reality.

Now remember we said to you this evening that Jesus is closing the sermon with an invitation, in verses 13 and 14. And the invitation says in effect, enter into the narrow gate that leads to life. But it won't be easy to do that for two main reasons, one is false prophets and two is false profession. You will be deceived by others and you will be deceived by yourself.

So we all live under some illusions and it is part of human nature to cover up its faults and defects. So it won't be easy because you will tend to be self-deceived. First of all, He says there are those who say but don't do in verses 21 to 23, they say they know Christ but they don't do what Christ said. And this dichotomy indicates that they're not legitimate.

And then in verses 24 to 27 there are those who hear but don't do, they have head knowledge without heart knowledge. The first group has empty words the second group has empty hearts. There are some people who are deceived into thinking they're Christians because they know so much about Christianity. Just like there are people who think they're Christians because they say so much about it.

Now in verses 24 to 27 the Lord again reminds us what standard of righteousness is required for entering the Kingdom of God, and unless your life is built on that standard no matter what it looks like and no matter what you know in your head and no matter how feverishly you conduct your spiritual activity when the flood comes you're going to be washed away if all you have is a head knowledge.

You see the Jews had developed a system of works, righteousness, a humanly devised system of fleshly effort that fell far short, and God came along and offered them a true righteousness. But before they could receive that true righteousness they had to admit the bankruptcy of their own system, and that's why they had to come with a Beatitude mentality.

Now these words again are addressed to those who profess to know God, who think they're Christians. Now brothers and sisters let me add that lots of people hear Christ's teaching but only the ones that do them are in the Kingdom. That's the bottom line. There are many people who hear, but if you examine their life and it's all hearing and not doing. In fact the Lord says, only the storm is going to manifest the truth, and then we'll find out who's wise and who's foolish.

You see Jesus is trying to get the Pharisees to come off of their proud high tower and look at their own lives and see how really bankrupt they are. Because that's the only place you can tell the tale. One builds on rock at the end of verse 24, petra, that means in the Greek a rock bed. And the other builds on sand, verse 26, the word is in the Greek ammon, it means sand.

Now a man is wise to build on rock bed, only a fool will build on the shifting sands of the sea or the desert. The false prophets will try to sell you plots of sand. A man is a fool to build on sand, because storms will undermine the sand, verse 27, and the house will fall and be destroyed. But when it is built on rock and the foundation is solid so storms can come and it isn't going to fall.

Again we see a rebuke of the religion of the Pharisees. They had no regard for spirituality of the soul, they had no regard for purity of heart, they had no regard for integrity of behavior, they had no regard for obedience to God, and they were building their spiritual structures on sand. They prayed, sure, and they fasted, of course, and they gave their alms for sure but only as a public show to parade their spirituality and try to enhance their reputations. They had a religion of externals and that is sand.

Multitudes of professing Christians abstain from external acts of violence yet do not hesitate to rob their neighbors of their good name by slandering them. They tithe regularly but do not shrink from misrepresenting their goods and cheating their customers persuading themselves that business is business. They regard the laws of man more than the laws of God for they do not fear Him. This is building on a foundation of sand; they didn't come through the narrow way.

The broad way that leads to destruction is all sand. But others build on the rock at the end of verse 24. When you say you build your life on the rock, what are you saying? Well, the rock is God and you are literally building your life on God. In Psalm 18:2 it says, "The LORD is my rock." Or we could say the rock is Christ. Peter says that Christ is the chief cornerstone. But there are plenty of people who say they've built their life on Christ.

But this passage explains further specifically what the rock is. Is it "everyone who hears these sayings of mine," builds his house on a rock? No! "Everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does them builds his house upon a rock." So what is the rock? It is obedience to the Word of God. That's the rock. Our Lord is saying here is that practicing these sayings of mine becomes the bed rock foundation of the true redeemed church.

Look at Matthew 16:13-18, "13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

“18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” And what was this rock (=petra)? This bed rock foundation is the Word of God, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Upon that affirmation of truth I'll build My church. The petra of Matthew 16 is the Word of God and similarly the petra of Matthew 7 is also the Word of God.

So what is our Lord saying? He is saying that the person who lives a life where he only hears and never does has only sand. And what does the sand represent? It represents the ever-changing human will, human opinions, human attitudes and the shifting sands of human philosophy. On the other hand the wise man who hears the Word of God and builds his life on God's Word has a rock foundation. And that means a life of obedience to the Word of God that does not change.

In John 8:30 it says, “As He spoke these words many believed on him." Now that's a good thing, "many believed on him." They heard, they took it in and they accepted it. Verse 31, "But Jesus said to them, if you continue in my word, then are you my real disciple." It isn't just the hearing and the believing it is the continuing in obedience to the Word of God, that's the rock. In James 1: 22-24 it says, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

That's what our Lord is saying in The Sermon on the Mount, if you hear it and don't do it you're self-deceived. "23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” In other words if you're not doing it, it's not having any effect on your life or your destiny.”

In Colossians 1:21, 23 we read this, "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.” Now this is great. He's reconciled you, but read further in verse 23, "if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard.” In other words, the truly saved are the ones who continue in a life of obedience.

In 1 John 2:3, "And by this we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." Now I'm not the one saying this, beloved, the Lord God is saying this, the apostles are saying this. Don't be deceived. Titus 1:16, “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” If there is no obedience, there is no legitimate salvation.

So building on the rock is obeying, look at your life, examine yourself, do you long to obey the Word of God? Or are you disobeying and constantly justifying that disobedience? The only possible proof that you have your salvation is a life of obedience; it is proof that you really recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That is the heart of the message.

So what kind of life is that? It's a life that has a Biblical view towards self, the Beatitudes, that has a Biblical attitude toward the world, it sees itself as something to preserve the light the world and be in the world but not be apart of it. It is the attitude toward the Word of God, not changing it, not altering it but accepting every word.

Jesus is presenting us the kind of life that has a Biblical attitude toward morality, not trying to get away with everything you can, not external but internal. A Biblical attitude toward what you say, toward what you do and toward the reason you do what you do. A Biblical attitude toward money, toward things, toward people, toward everything He's touched in The Sermon on the Mount.

What are pastors going to do with the new wave among Christians of people who aren't married and yet living together? Salvation is recognizing the divine standard, a subsequent overwhelming sense of sinfulness, a pleading for God's mercy to receive His righteousness because you desire to fulfill His Word.

People don't say, well I'm coming to Christ, and I want to be saved but I don't want to get into all that obedience stuff. Then you're not a Christian. People say to me, well you know so and so I know they were saved because of such and such but they never come to church and they are not interested and they're upset with the church. More likely they don't know Christ and they're self-deceived.

The Pharisees weren't teachable; they didn't even want to hear it. There are so many people who profess Christ but they don't want to hear what that requires, they don't want to count the cost and they don't want to learn the right way to build their life. They want to go on their own ideas and their own goals and their own self-will and their own designs, and when you go to them and try to teach them what is right to do they don't want to hear that.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 says that, "Jesus, has delivered us from the wrath to come." Why? Because our faith is genuine! There is going to come a judgment time, Revelation 20 specifically tells us how that's going to happen. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." That's the final great white throne judgment, and that is a day when you will hear “Lord, Lord”, and His reply, "depart from me, I never knew you."

Listen, Satan is a liar, true? Satan’s ultimate deception is to make someone believe they're a Christian when they're not. Because if you don't know you've got the problem you're not looking for the answer anymore. The Day of Judgment is coming, so you should look to see what the foundation of your life is.

Proverbs 30:12 says, "There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, but is not washed from their filthiness." Now there are times when all of us may stumble into a sin, but if these are the patterns of your life, you're not yet in His Kingdom.

What was the result of Jesus Sermon on the Mount? What was the response that day? Was there a great revival, tremendous conversions? No, verse 28, "It came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were “converted, no”? No they weren't converted, they were "astonished; for he taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes."

They were astonished, they were amazed, they were bewildered, but in the Greek text it literally means they were struck out of their senses, in the vernacular it blew their minds. They had never heard such wisdom, they had never seen such depth, and every dimension of human life was touched in an economy of words that was breathtaking.

They had never heard such deep insight into the law of God or the sin of man. They had never heard such fearful warnings about hell and judgment, they had never heard anybody who so confronted the religious leaders of the time. They were shocked that He didn't use anybody else as an authority but stood on His own authority.

And that's where it ends. They were shocked, but they didn't respond the right way. They couldn't believe that a Man would claim to be God Jehovah, that a Man would claim to be judge of all, they couldn't believe that a Man like that was the King, and so all they showed was astonishment.

What's your response? Your eternal destiny depends on it. Your life is either built on rock or sand, on disobedience or obedience, and that is the only available verifier of the legitimacy of your faith. I pray to God that your faith is in Christ. Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 27 May 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120527 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000112 imblog

Matthew 7:24-27

Open your Bible to Matthew 7:21-27, 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

There is nothing more serious for religious people to hear than these words. Especially for people who profess Christianity because our Lord says that there will be a many who are mistaken about their future destiny. Jesus points out in this passage the seriousness of empty words coming from empty hearts.

I can understand that there are people who reject Christianity, who want nothing to do with Jesus Christ and nothing to do with the Bible. But it’s far more shocking to realize that there are many who are saying, “Lord, Lord,” to Jesus Christ, confessing openly some attachment to Him so that they have actually functioned in His name, only to hear that they will not enter heaven.

One’s final destiny then is not determined by what you say. It is determined by what you do. It is not about professing Christ; it is about obedience to Christ. This does not mean that verbal profession of Christ is bad, no, it is good and necessary. We must confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.

Romans 10:9 -10, “For with the mouth confession is made unto salvation and with the heart man believes.” It is also the work of the Holy Spirit because in 1 Corinthians 12:3 we read that no one can make this profession apart from the Holy Spirit. But it cannot stand alone.

Backing up that confession there has to be a life given over to ministry associated with Jesus Christ. And even the activities themselves have to show that. Prophesy in the New Testament doesn’t mean predicting the future, it means to speak forth. It is speaking in the name of Christ. They claimed to have actually exercised power over demons in that name. And even to have done some miracles.

Here is a life that could be defined as the life of a minister or the life of a missionary, the life of a teacher of the gospel or even the life of an Apostle who was able to perform wonders and have power over Satan. This is not then some marginal person making the claim, Lord, Lord.

Professing Christ and living a sinful life will expose you one day as a hypocrite. Profession alone has no value but there is a far greater profanity than from time to time misusing the name of God. The greater profanity is to all the time use the name of God and yet have no real commitment to Him. Now that is a life of total profanity.

If you just look at that statement, “I never knew you,” in the original language, it would probably better read this way, “Not for a single moment have I acknowledged you as My own.” That doesn’t mean He doesn’t know who you are. The Lord knows who everybody is. It means He has no intimate personal relationship with you. That’s the meaning of “knowing” in the biblical sense.

It’s frightening to think that there are going to be people cast into hell who have spent a great portion of their life giving testimony to their faith in Jesus Christ. But God knows that they’re only empty words. Now notice Matthew 7:24 -27, this illustration demonstrates the real condition of the heart beneath the empty words and the heart beneath the true profession of faith.

So listen again, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Now here we see another contrast that God gives us so we remember it. We have been looking at: Two types of trees producing good fruit and bad fruit. We saw: Two gates, two ways, two crowds and two destinies. And now we compare the construction of two houses both subjected to the same storms and judgment.

The contrast here is between people who hear the Word of God and obey it, and people who hear the Word of God and ignore it. This is about obedience against disobedience. And the contrast between the obedient and the disobedient is painted for us in a picture of two builders of houses.

The words here then are addressed to those who profess to know God. But this group is divided into two subgroups, those who really obey and those who do not. You see then in verse 24 those who hear these words of Mine and act upon them, and in verse 26, those who hear these words of Mine and do not act upon them.

And the stunning thing about this illustration is that you really can’t tell the difference on the surface. Both appear the same. The only difference is the part you can’t see, right? It’s not the roof, it’s not the side walls, not the windows and the doors, the difference is the foundation.

Jesus is talking about people who belong to the visible church, who have been exposed to Scripture. They have heard the sayings of Jesus. They attend meetings, they attend preaching, they go to Bible study and they may attend a Christian college. They may end up in a seminary and they may read Christian books.

Now what Jesus says here is that there is no way to tell the true from the false until the storm comes. The storm will manifest the truth. Then we’ll find out who built like a wise man and who built like a fool.

Let’s look at these similarities. They both built a house which constitutes a life of religious activity; they both built it in the same place because the same storm affected both houses! True believers and false believers are side by side. Much like our Lord said in Matthew 13, that the wheat and the tares would grow together.

And the time of separation would be at the judgment. Often times during a Sunday baptism we hear, “I lived like a Christian on the outside, but I was not a Christian on the inside, I was raised in the church, I acted the way I needed to act but I didn’t really know the Lord.” That is not an unusual experience. That is a very common one.

They built a house in the same vicinity which puts them within the framework of the true believers. They actually look the same. You could say that they built a house consistent with Christian development. It looks like all the other Christian houses on the outside. The only difference here is the foundation.

That’s why the Lord says, “Don’t separate in your mind the wheat from the tares, you can’t know that, only the Lord can know that until the judgment day reveals it. One builds on petra or bedrock, the other builds on sand.

A man is a fool to build on sand because when a storm comes, it will wash the house away. On the other hand, “A wise man,” end of verse 24, “built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and burst against that house yet it did not fall for it had been founded upon the rock.”

What does it mean to build on sand? Well the one who builds on sand has no regard for the Word of God in terms of obedience, not committed to a life of devout obedience, no willing obedience and there is no loving obedience. No regard for true spirituality of the soul. No regard for true purity of the heart. No integrity in behavior. No love for the law of God. No longing to please God.

The one who builds on sand prays, gives money, works within the framework of Christian life, but does it only to feel good about himself or herself. It’s the religion of externals. The outside looks good, but there is no foundation. They bring their bodies to prayer but not their souls. They worship with their mouths but not their hearts.

What is the rock? Clearly, the rock means these words of Jesus, verse 24, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine...” Verse 26, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine...” The Word of Christ, the Word of God, this is the word that saves, is it not? Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ.” This is the gospel. This is the truth of Scripture.

So in both cases these people have heard these sayings of Jesus. But where they act upon them, where they obey them, there is a foundation that will stand the test of many trials and divine judgment. A life of obedience manifests true salvation. If it isn’t there, it’s deception. John 8:31, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.”

Do you remember James 1:22, “Prove yourself doers of the Word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” If you do not follow the Word you are self-deceived by thinking that your life will stand the test of the flood of divine judgment. In Titus 1:16, it speaks of people who profess to know God, “But by their deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient.”

One thing that marks the difference between the two is a pattern of loving, eager, submissive, obedience to the Word of God. Obedience is the key. Hearing the Word and doing it is the only genuine authentic validator of true salvation. If you say, “Lord, Lord,” then immediately you should say, “I am Your slave and I’ll be obedient in everything.”

And for a new believer that first step is baptism and by being obedient the blessings from the Holy Spirit in terms of understanding and following the Word will begin to flow. All great men of God beginning with Abraham were asked to do something that they did not understand and yet they were totally obedient even under the most difficult of circumstances. And only then God began to bless them!

We’re not talking about perfection here, we’re talking about direction. I’m not perfectly obedient, but I long to be perfectly obedient. That’s my passion, that’s my heart longing. I have recognized that I fall short and that I am a sinner. I have repented of that sin and embraced Christ as the only hope of salvation and my life has been transformed and my heart longs to obey.

In the case of building on sand you build the easy way, and in the other case where you build on bedrock you build the hard way. When you build on sand you just start without preparing the site. You don’t have to set the footings. This speaks of the fool in a hurry, looking for an easy way using shortcuts hoping for quick results.

In addition he’s also very shallow. There is a shallow approach to almost everything in our culture. There’s so much superficiality in the name of Jesus that is accepted. No foundation exercises, no brokenness of heart, no grief over sin and no mourning over waywardness. The fool lacks sincerity.

On the other hand, about the wise man, Luke 6:47-48 says, “The wise man dug deep. He went down into the rock.” What does it mean? He is not in a hurry, not looking for the quick conversion, for a light confession. He wants to make sure that what he is doing is the real thing.

And secondly, he gives maximum effort. He counts the cost. Jesus said, “Look, you don’t go to war or you don’t build a tower without counting the cost.” You understand that the Lord is asking for your whole life. Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Me. If you say this is going to cost me my family, then let it cost you your family and your friends. If it means you have to be persecuted even to a cross, let it be.

There are so many people in Christianity today who want the byproducts of a relationship with God without the relationship. They want forgiveness without repentance. They want salvation without submission. They chase the signs and wonders without having a real relationship with God.

The truth will not be revealed until the storm comes. What is the storm? It starts with trials and ends at the Day of Judgment. The rain descended, verse 25, and the floods came, the winds blew, and burst against the house, the same thing is described exactly in verse 27. The first house did not fall that was founded on the rock. The second house fell, great was its fall.

How do you know if you don’t have a foundation? Here are a few things to consider. Do you find in your life an unwillingness to yield to Christ? Are you irritated by the commands of Scripture? Does it bother you that Christ and the Bible are restrictive? Do you not like the fact that there are sins that you would like to do and you restrain from doing them only because pressure is put upon you?

Do you come to church because you’re trying to make a good impression on someone? Are you trying to earn your way in? That’s a wrong motive. Only if you do what you do for the cause of Christ because you are compelled by your love for Christ and a desire for His glory, do you have a foundation.

1 John 2:15 says, “if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.” If you can’t let go of the evil world around you, if you do it all for self-glory, if you love pleasure more than you love forsaking pleasure for the glory of God, any of these marks would indicate that perhaps under your religious house is just sand, lots of sand.

But if you begin by trusting God and obeying Him even if you do not understand why, you will understand it after you are obedient, because only then God will show you, and by being obedient God can reveal to you His wisdom and His love for you. All throughout Scripture beginning with Abraham God begins with a command and only after obedience with a humble heart God then blesses those who trust in Him and gives them more than they ever expected. Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 13 May 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120513 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000113 imblog

Matthew 7:21-23

The purpose of The Sermon on The Mount then is identical to the purpose of the law of God in the Old Testament. When God gave the law on Sinai, the law was not given in order to show man how good he must be, the law was given to show man how bad he was.

And Paul summed it up in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Paul says in Galatians 3:24 that "The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ." And that is essentially what is going on in The Sermon on The Mount; Jesus is upholding the law of God.

Now that only two options, you either invent your own religion or you come God's way. You either come on your terms or His terms and that is precisely where the sermon climaxes in Matthew 7:13 -14. There our Lord says, "Enter in at the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be who go in that way; Because narrow is the gate, and hard is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it."

Now after Christ invites us to enter at the narrow gate, the Lord then shows us how difficult that really is. If God paid such a high price that includes sacrificing His own Son then the cost for you is also high and that includes sacrificing yourself. First of all, it is difficult because you must recognize you are not able to save yourself and that means taking away your pride and that's indeed difficult.

It's as the Old Testament says in Deuteronomy 4:29, "you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Nobody just stumbles along and falls into the Kingdom of God inadvertently. It's a searching, because it isn't easily made visible. It's difficult because it's the opposite way that everybody else is going. It's difficult also because you have to come stripped of all your self, your sin, your baggage and self-righteousness. You come absolutely alone, and there must be penitence, confession, repentance and brokenness.

And we just learned that there is another reason why it's difficult to enter the narrow way, and that is because of false prophets verse 15. They stand in the way and they chase people onto the broad road. They're the ones trying to divert everybody for Satan's purposes. And there's one other reason why there is only a few that are saved.

Not only are they deceived by the false prophets, but people deceive themselves which prevents them from entering the narrow gate. And the Lord warns us about two categories of self-deception. Number one is by mere verbal profession, and number two is a mere intellectual knowledge.

Let us read Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Verses 21-23 give us a verbal profession, verse 21, "Not everyone who says to me." verse 22, "Many will say to me." Now these are the people who say that they are Christians. And then in the next paragraph we see the ones who have only an intellectual knowledge, they hear.

Now notice at the end of verse 21 you have a key phrase there, "but he that does the will of my Father, who is in heaven." It is not the ones who only say it and it is not the ones who only hear, Jesus says it is the ones who do the will of the Father come in. In other words the Lord is saying, if you do not live a righteous life it does not matter what you say or what you hear, you are still deceived.

And this is a message that needs to be spoken today because I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is full of people who aren't Christians and don't know it. Jesus is saying that many of those who think they're in aren't in and only a few are. This is the ultimate delusion. And so Jesus says you better check yourself very carefully.

We have many deceived people who are in church, who are on the Jesus bandwagon, who think everything is well and for them judgment is going to be one big surprise. Frankly there's no better way to wake them up than by this particular sermon of our Lord.

Go back to Matthew 7. There's going to come a day when people are going to expect the door to heaven to be open but it's going to slam shut forever in their faces. "I don't know you." What a fearful thing. So many people think they're saved, think they're safe and judgment for them is going to be a shock.

What makes people believe that deception to really think that they're saved? Well let me give you several suggestions. First of all many times it's because they have a false doctrine of assurance. In other words let's assume that when you were led to Christ somebody said to you, now all you have to do to be a Christian is pray this prayer and say this little formula and you are saved. And so you have a false sense of assurance.

When Jesus told in Matthew 13 about the seed of the word falling on four soils, only one out of the four produced grain and was true. Don't think you can certify people's salvation, you only give them a false assurance. Let God give them assurance when they add to their faith virtue, patience, godliness and love, then their election will be sure, then shall they know they've been forgiven of their sin.

Another thing that lulls people into this deception is a failure of self-examination. They get into such a grace concept, that everything is grace and everything is forgiveness that they never really bother to face their sin. They hear somebody say, well you don't have to confess your sin because your sin is already forgiven.

Why does the Lord bring us to the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 over and over again? In order that men may examine himself again and again! 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "You better examine yourself, whether you be in the faith." You need to look at your sin, you need to look at your motives, why do you do what you do.

Thirdly, another thing that causes people to be under the delusion that they're saved is a fixation on religious activity. In other words they go to church, they hear sermons, they sing songs, they read the Bible, they go to a Bible study, they take a class, and because they're all wrapped up in religious activity they think they are saved. But that maybe a great illusion. There are many people in the church that are not, they are tares among the wheat.

And then fourthly what lulls people into deception is what is called the fair exchange approach. And this is where whenever you see something wrong in your life instead of really dealing with it and examining whether you're really a true Christian, instead of dealing with what's wrong in your life you find something right with your life and you make a fair exchange.

Oh, my sin can't be that bad, I mean look what good deed I did over here, see? And you're always trading off the negatives and the positives and instead of really evaluating your life honestly with integrity and saying, am I a believer and if I am can I be doing this. You say, well I know I do that but oh look what good I did over here, and you make a fair exchange and you whitewash the deal.

But the bottom line is this, with all of your false assurance, with all your failure to self-examine, with all this fixation on religious activity and with the fair exchange principle in operation, the bottom line that you'd better examine is this, do you live in obedience to the Word of God?

And when you disobey it, is there a sense of conviction and remorse that draws you to confess it to God? And if that isn't there there's a fair question about whether you're even a Christian. Because the one who comes into the Kingdom, verse 21 says, is the one not who says, but the one who does.

And when these people that live blatantly against all that the bible teaches and say, we're Christians, my answer to that is, if you were you wouldn't do what you do and defend it. They say they're Christians, they say they believe, and yet if you get down to it they are unwilling to submit to the Lordship of Christ as revealed in His Word and it is a lack of obedience that reveals the illusion.

But apart from hypocrites there are two categories of the deceived in the church, the superficial and the involved. The superficial are the ones who call themselves Christians because when they were little they went to church or Sunday School or they made a decision for Christ, and you hear very often people when they get baptized say, well I received Christ when I was 12 but my life was a mess after that.

Then there's the involved who are deceived and they're a much more serious group, they're in the church up to their neck involved and they know the Gospel, they know the theology but they don't obey the Word of God. They live in a constant state of sinfulness.

If you want to spot someone who's deceived look first of all for someone who's always seeking feelings, blessings, experiences, healings, angels, miracles, why? Chances are they're more interested in the by-products of the faith than they are the faith itself. They're more interested in what they can get than the glory God can get, they're more interested in themselves than in the exaltation of Christ.

Secondly, if you're looking to see who might be deceived look for people who are more committed to the denomination, the church, the organization than to the Word of God. Their kind of Christianity is purely focused on the social side. I'm a Presbyterian, I've been a Baptist all my life, I'm a Lutheran, I belong to the Adventist Church. More committed to the organization than they are to the Lord and His Word.

Thirdly, look for deceived people who are involved in theology as an academic interest. And you'll find them all over the colleges and seminaries of our land. People who study theology, write books on theology, absolutely void of the righteousness of Christ. Theology for them is intellectual activity.

And one other thought. When you look for somebody who might be deceived look for someone who is overindulgent in the name of grace, who lacks penitence, who does not have a true contrite heart, so forth.

The Lord says in this passage that these people are the deceived. These people think they are on the right road but they are not. And first in verses 21 to 23 is the folly of empty words. Notice again in verse 21, "Not every one that says," in verse 22, "Many will say." The claims are amazing, the claims are beautiful. But they don't do what they claim.

Now look with me very briefly at their confession in verse 21, they say, "Lord, Lord," This is an interesting phrase, the first time they say Lord it could be their respect, the word means Master, Teacher, Sir, it's a term of dignity. When they say it the second time, "Lord, Lord," it means we know You're God, we know You're Jehovah.

And if they're saying this at the great white throne judgment, if this is the day of which He speaks when He says in that day, then it's very possible that those who come there have already spent centuries in a place of judgment and punishment, and that even adds to their fervency, "Lord, Lord," what have we been doing being where we've been. And so there is a fervency and a respectfulness.

And then in verse 22, they say three times, "in thy name, in thy name, in thy name." They said that “we did not do it for ourselves, we've been doing it for You, we've been preaching for You, and we've been casting out demons for You, and we've been doing miracles for You.” Now it's an amazing claim, it is respectful and it is zealous.

But in verse 21, "Not every one that says that is going to enter." Because not everybody who says that has been doing the will of the Father who is in heaven. And so the Lord will confess in verse 23, "I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." You see the word ‘know’ means an intimate relationship. Jesus says, I never had any intimate relationship with you. Oh, you were around the fringes but we were never close.

And then He says, "depart from me," get out of My presence forever, why? Because the end of the verse 23, you do always continue to work lawlessness. Because instead of doing the will of My Father, instead of living by these righteous principles, you always continue to do lawlessness.

You know what it means to profess Christ? Absolutely nothing, if your life doesn't back it up. That's why Peter said what he said, if you can't add to your faith, virtue, then you're not going to know you're really redeemed. That's what James meant when he said, faith minus works equals zero. It's dead.

That's why 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And we give evidence of being the ones that are forgiven. In other words the ones being forgiven are the ones confessing. God does not say, here's the standard, if you ever fail you're out. No, He's saying here's the perfect standard, and part of the perfect standard is that when you fail you deal with it.

The only thing acceptable to God is a righteousness that is the product of repentant faith in Jesus Christ, and that produces good works. And if that's not there no matter what you say it doesn't matter. And so the Lord says in verse 23, not for one single moment have I known you intimately, you are expelled because you continue to work lawlessness.

On my recent trip to Indonesia the Lord clarified to me what good works really mean. Most churches teach their members to invite new people to come to church as the only evangelism strategy hoping that they will come back and eventually become believers. There is nothing wrong in doing that but actually that is more of what happened in the Old Testament.

The New Testament way of evangelism is actually the opposite. Instead of inviting people in Jesus is sending people out. The Great Commission tells us to go, to go outside the church to your neighbors, to people in your state and to the whole world. The church remains the place of worship, but the growth is happening because of the good works that happen outside.

The gospel has power and saves people, only through hearing the gospel and believing the gospel are you saved. What we have taught in bible study so far is to be obedient, but obedience does not stop at understanding only. Matthew 28:20 says, “Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” We need to witness to others about the death of Christ for our sins and then teach new believers to put into practise to tell others what they have just learned.

Jesus does not only look to you to teach what you know but also to teach new believers how to continue to teach others what they just learned. And that process occurs best out in the field on a daily basis rather than just at church. I just understood what growth multiplication really means by seeing others as examples in life and not being afraid to share the gospel and then teaching others to spread the gospel. And that is what I saw being practiced in Indonesia. Let’s pray that we too can put this in practise, Amen?

]]> Sun, 06 May 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120506 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000114 imblog

Matthew 7:15-20

Last week we discussed verse 15 and now let us focus on Matthew 7:16-20, “16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

Some of you may remember this incredible tragedy approx. 30 years ago, that has become known simply as the Jonestown massacre. And if anyone ever needed an illustration of a false prophet Jim Jones certainly provides that illustration for we can see in him the character, the teaching, the lifestyle and the approach of a false prophet.

The tragedy of Jonestown is not that nearly a thousand people died, that's not the tragedy, because everybody dies anyway. The tragedy is that they died thinking they were serving God and on their way to heaven, but instead are in hell. The tragedy of Jim Jones is that he duped people into thinking that he represented God and Christ.

Now according to the New Testament these false prophets fall into three categories. First are the heretics, these are the ones who openly defy the truth. Then there is a second category, an apostate is one who knows the truth, but turned his back on it and rejected it, he too is flagrant, he too is open and against the truth.

But then thirdly there's the false prophet called the deceiver, and this is the one who is the wolf in the garment of the shepherd, one who comes in unawares as Jude says it. They come in all levels of sophistication, they come in all kinds of education, in all kinds of garb and dress with all kinds of ecclesiastical trappings but they are all the same, false.

So Jesus is saying then, in your effort to enter into the narrow gate, Matthew 7:13 -14, to enter into the way to life, beware of the emissaries of Satan who will mislead you and deceive you. And they aren't saying, hey everybody, let's go to hell. They are not saying that. They will tell you this is the way to heaven.

Now there are two words in order to understand this passage that we need to focus on one we did last week and another for this week. The first one is warning. Men and women all over the world are standing at the crossroads of that decision, the false prophets are selling their particular perspective and we have to preach the truth, and we have to call people to beware of false prophets, beware of them.

Let me give you an illustration of this, 2 John 1:7, "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.” And by that he means the deity of Christ and the work of Christ, both. In other words they do not hold a Biblical view of who Christ is and what He does.

Well first of all recognize he's a deceiver, verse 7 continues, “7Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” Take stock, examination him. "8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” Listen, you could get sucked into that deceit and forfeit the reward that you've already earned by your service to Christ.

“9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Therefore, 10 "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house. 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” John is saying that the guy is so vile and so wretched and so antichrist and so deceitful, don't you even open your door and let him in.

Someone once asked me, "Do you think false prophets know they're false prophets?" Some do, some don't. Because deceivers are often also deceived. And so they continue in this Satanic delusion, and they draw others into it.

So how do you protect yourself? By holding your mind back from them, don't be exposed to them. 2 Timothy 3:14 says, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” Remember what you learned and the good and godly people you learned it from.

1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober-minded; be watchful.” False teachers are coming to you in sheep's clothing, that's a wool garment what a shepherd wore. He is not coming disguised as a sheep but as a shepherd. He comes in to be a shepherd and yet he is a wolf who will tear and shred in a ferocious and malicious manner. "Beware."

Now the second word for this evening is watching. And I feel it is an essential message for us in this day of compromise, a day when so many people are parading as Christian leaders and so many true Christians are linked up with false Christians and false prophets.

And how are we going to know them? Verse 20 says, "Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans and everybody else views trees and fruit in this same way. A tree is judged by its fruit. If you want to know what the prophet is like look at what he produces.

And be very careful, you might look at a false prophet and you say, but I know so and so go there and they're strong Christians, I know they're Christians. Do you know that some Christians get sucked in by false prophets and unwittingly they'll get stuck on some false teacher who appears to be a Christian.

That's why the Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7, "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." So sometimes when you go up there you might see a false prophet and there seems to be grapes and figs, but when you look closely at the stuff that he produces it's bad stuff no matter what.

Number one, fruit is character. What kind of character, what is his attitude and his motive and his perspective toward life? What kind of actions and what kind of lifestyle? That's the first element that manifests fruit. For example Luke 3: 8 where John the Baptist says, "Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance," to the Pharisees. In other words, all right you, you say you've repented, you say you've committed yourselves to God, let's see the fruit.

Now what is the fruit, what does he want? Luke 3: 10, "The people asked him, what shall we do, then?" I mean what kind of fruit are you looking for? Verse 11, He answered, and said to them, If you have two coats, give it to one who doesn't have any; if ye have some food, give it to one who doesn't have any. 12 And then a tax collector came to be baptized, and said, Teacher, what do you want us to do? 13 And he said, don't take any more than you're supposed to”, it's an action.

For example in John 15:8, "In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit." And what is that? "If you keep My commandments." So fruit is obedience, it is action in response to God. But fruit is not only the action you do, it's also the attitude behind it, right? "The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control." Fruit is both work and attitude.

False teachers don't always look that way on the outside, but can they can cover that. They use religious robes, they can cover it by having a Christian organization that they belong to, they can cover it by hanging around other Christian leaders, they can cover it by talking about the Bible and Jesus Christ and salvation, and many other ways. And they can try to make sure nobody finds out the truth about their real moral life.

But maybe you can't find out from their looks that they are false teachers, where do you go to find out? We go to attitude and we start looking for how they think and what do they do? Because very often they can suppress the outward visibility of their vile and evil insides. Their lifestyle may not manifest their heart right away.

Let us look at an illustration from 2 Peter 1:4, I just want you to notice down about in the middle of the verse, "that we are partakers of the divine nature." True Christians have received the very nature of God. "We are partakers of the divine nature," watch this, “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

Now go to 2 Peter 2:19 and here are the false prophets, now listen to this, "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption." They have not escaped corruption. Peter is differentiating between internal corruption and external pollution. He is saying they've never been changed on the inside but they've had the ashes of the world washed off the outside.

And do you know what to look for in a false prophet? Look for a Beatitude attitude, that's the evidence of an internal transformation. Do they cover poor in spirit, deep humility, mourning over sin, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, longing for mercy, peacemakers, willing to be persecuted and reviled and despised and hated for the sake of Christ. Not on your life.

False prophets are guided by pride, power, prestige, personality, promotion, they want to be famous, loved, they're not interested in anybody persecuting them, they want to be popular. They're in it, Second Peter 2:3, "for money.” And for that says Peter, "They make merchandise of you."

They do it for prestige, they are presumptuous, self-willed, not even afraid to speak evil of angels, they speak words of vanity, they are self-centered, fashion centered and promotion centered. They are jealous of others, they are impure, self-indulgent and without a shred of humility.

False prophets attract the unbelievers just as much as the believers, they appeal to carnality and the natural man, they look good, but if you look long enough and if you can’t see anything wrong from the outside, look for humility. John Calvin said, "Nothing is more difficult to counterfeit than virtue." You'll find the truth if you look.

Secondly, the area of the fruit of the false prophet is their teaching. And this refers to all their teaching, look at it closely, not only will their teaching go wrong at some points, but they also leave out important things, because it's what they don't say that's really the issue.

In Matthew 12:33-34, 37 it says, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.... 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Do they give the whole counsel of God from the beginning to the end? Paul said in Acts 20:26-27, "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” Isaiah 8:20 says, here's the test, "Look to the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Now what sound doctrine does our Lord particularly have in mind? You can always tell a false prophet because they have a twisted view of Christ, that is His person and His work. And what is His work? Salvation. So when you get into dealing with a false prophet you want to look at their doctrine of salvation. This is where it all gets mixed up.

Now the Lord has just said this, to be saved is not easy, right? You go through a narrow gate to a narrow way and few find it. And you must strive, agonize, to enter in. The doctrine of salvation of a false prophet is quite different. It's going to be a great big wide broad doctrine that includes everybody, and they may say, all you have to do is believe in Jesus. And they may give you what sounds like the Gospel but when it comes to who gets in it's everybody.

Their message is a message of easy salvation, come down the aisle, get baptized, whatever. Their message is the message of health, happiness, positive thinking and easy salvation. They are the compromisers.

Thirdly, you can tell them by who is following. You want to know about a leader, look at his followers lives. Their fruit is their converts. Do you see humility in their lives, do you see a striving after holiness, do you see a hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Do you see real virtue, real godliness?

Fourthly, you can tell them by how they're going to end too, verse 19, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Ultimately you can tell a false prophet by his condemnation, his consummation.

Let us close with the truth I want you to get. Listen, God has ordained that false prophets exist among us. Have you ever thought about why? 1 Corinthians 11:19 says, "for there must be factions among you.” Why? “in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.”

You see God says if you have a heresy then that heresy becomes a magnet that pulls away the false disciples and leaves manifest the genuine ones. It's like the wind that blows the chaff away, you see? In other words He is saying they will have converts who will identify with them. Error separates the chaff and the wheat. By means of true and false prophets God reveals who's genuine.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 it says, "Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false." God actually allows the delusion to happen, why? "12 In order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth." God uses that delusion because it separates them from the wheat. And so they're ordained for judgment.

Paul warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20: 29-31, "29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.” Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Apr 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120422 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000115 imblog

Matthew 7:15-20

Matthew 7:15-20 says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

Before Easter we specifically saw how our Lord asks us to make a choice. Look at verses 13 -14 when Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Jesus invites and pleads with us by saying first “enter the narrow gate.” And after that He gives us only two alternatives. You either choose the wide gate of human achievement where you believe you're good enough to go to heaven which leads to destruction or the narrow gate of divine accomplishment, where you recognize your own sinfulness and accept what Christ has done, which leads to life.

"Enter in at the narrow gate," is the great call that comes from the heart of our Lord, come God's way, strip yourself of your self-righteousness, your pride, your self- sufficiency, your sin, your self-will, your own goals and come God's way.

The gate is narrow because you go alone, narrow because you can't carry anything with you, narrow because you come with great difficulty, and narrow because you have to count the cost of what it's going to mean to put yourself under the control of Jesus Christ. People say, Christians are narrow-minded, that's right, that's exactly what the Bible says.

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus recognized the burdens that men bind on themselves by their sinfulness and all the religious duties that they try to carry all alone and He said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

A yoke is a wooden harness which is put on an ox to pull a load or for men to carry a responsibility. For the Jew it was a figure of speech where to take the yoke of the teacher means submitting to the load the teacher gives you. Here Jesus is telling them to learn from Him and the same way an ox works hard, we too have to work hard to learn from Jesus.

The difference is that instead of following the legalistic laws in your own strength, now Jesus has put the Holy Spirit in your heart and the love that comes from Christ pushes you to obey His commands. But this involves showing fruit of the Spirit and denying your flesh and reject temptations in your life and that is always hard work.

And so you find invitations in the Old Testament, and you find them in the New Testament as for instance in the Book of Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires let him take the water of life freely.”

There's another reason why it's difficult, and that is because standing in front of those two gates, as you stand at that crossroads are false prophets doing everything they can to push you the wrong way. They're there, obscuring the narrow gate and waving people on to the broad road that leads to damnation.

And so Jesus says, having given you the invitation I'm going to have to warn you too, and that's where we come to verse 15. He warns us to choose the right road, and it says then, "Beware of false prophets." They stand at the midst of the crossroads trying their best to trick you and to push people on the broad way, and they are very successful.

In case you don't think so go to the end of the broad way, when it all finally comes to an end in Matthew 7:22, the same many as in verse 13, "and those who enter by it are many." The many who think they've arrived in heaven and say, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?”

"23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Many people go in that way because there are false prophets pushing them that way. Jesus then in effect is saying this: as you strive to enter that narrow gate beware of those who would mislead you.

This evening we're going to look at ‘warning’ related to false prophets, and next Sunday we will discuss “watching”. Verse 15, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." Now the Lord is very clear here that He is talking about false prophets.

And the Lord has been warning us both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. For example Moses has for us in Deuteronomy 13 God's instruction about false prophets, “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’

3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God.”

And you come to the New Testament, and in Matthew 24:11 it says, "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." There's that word many again. Matthew 24:24, "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

They try to present themselves as if they were Christ, phonies and liars they are. And John says, "You'd better test the spirits," 1 John 4:1. And so the Bible warns us over and over about false prophets, they always have been around, and they’re going to be here as long as we live on this earth, till Jesus comes back.

Now let us think this through together, I want to give you four words that will explain this warning in verse 15. Number one is definition and by this I want to define for you what a false prophet is.

And you find in the Old and the New Testament that a true prophet was known by two things, he had a divine commission and he had a divine message. He was called by God and he was given his content by God, he gave God's message and he was God's man. A true prophet was God's voice.

Go back to Exodus 4 and you'll find that the Lord says to Moses, don't worry about what you're going to say. Moses, I will put my words in your mouth. Prior to that God had actually called Moses out of a burning bush into His prophetic office. And so there was the commission of God and there he was God's man who spoke God's message.

No sooner did God send His true prophets to speak the true message, to be the true shepherds drawing the wayward sheep back to God than Satan began to counterfeit. And as you study the Old Testament you find over and over the trouble of false prophets, they are in every place in the Old Testament. Just like they are in every place today!

Jeremiah 14:14 says, "The prophets are prophesying lies in My name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.”

In Jeremiah 5:31 it says, "They prophesy falsely, and my people love to have it so." Just like now when men heap to themselves teachers to tickle their ears. So in the Old Testament the same thing, they say what people want to hear, little lies that everybody likes, they make you feel good, and yet they are all lies.

In Jeremiah 23:14, the prophet says, "But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

They make you proud, they appeal to your ego, they are evil, they are fleshly, they are adulterous, they strengthen the hands of evildoers, they lie but they say what you want to hear. And so the Old Testament has to constantly warn us that there's going to be prophets who are false.

The New Testament often calls them pseudo (meaning false) prophets and pseudo brothers, 2 Corinthians 11:26; pseudo apostles, 2 Corinthians 11:13; pseudo teachers, 2 Peter 2:1; pseudo speakers, 1 Timothy 4:2; and pseudo Christs in Matthew 24:24.

In Colossians 2:8, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy (the wisdom of men) and vain deceit." So the warning begins with a definition, a false prophet is one who does not have a commission from God and he does not have a message from God.

Number two, false prophets are dangerous, and they are clever. You'd be better off to embrace a cobra, you'd be better off to crawl in bed with a hungry lion, you'd be better off to drink a bottle of poison than to come near a false prophet. Because those dangers only affect the body; but false prophets violate and pervert your mind and soul.

Now why are they so dangerous? The end of verse 15, because "inwardly" that is in reality, truthfully, on the inside not what appears but what is, "they are ravenous wolves." In Ezekiel 22:27-28 he uses that same term, and so we see it not only in the New Testament but also in the Old Testament.

The number one enemy of the sheep in Palestine was the wolf, a natural enemy, roaming the hills, seeing a flock and at the precise right moment as it trailed the flock coming out of its hidden place and snatching that sheep and a sheep is utterly, totally defenseless against a wolf.

Now a good shepherd according to John 10 as Jesus delineates for us the pattern and principle of operating as a good shepherd, is always on the alert for the wolf, a good shepherd cares for his sheep so he watches, he's awake, and he's ready to protect.

There are three kinds of false prophets in the Bible, and this is a clarification that might help you in understanding it. Number one is the heretic, this is somebody who says, that's not true, that's a lie, I don't believe the Bible and teaches heresy.

Secondly is an apostate who denies the faith, who denies Christianity, who departs from it. Just take your Bible and check it, it's easy to spot apostasy because they're denying it. Matthew 7:6 says, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”

It is the third kind, the false prophet, called the deceiver that is the one Jesus is referring to here. This is the one you don't see, this is the one who comes with the cloak of the shepherd. This is not the cultist, this is not the Mormon or the Jehovah's Witness, or somebody who belongs to Christian Science, who openly and flagrantly teaches false doctrine, those are apostates or heretics.

This is the one who talks about Jesus and about the cross and about God and about the Bible and he talks about the church and the Holy Spirit and he hangs around with people that are true Christians. And he mingles within the framework of evangelicalism, and he's on the radio and he's on television and he's in the pulpit and he writes books and he always looks like a Christian.

Now, we shouldn't be surprised by this because in 2 Corinthians 11:14 it says, "Satan comes masquerading as an angel of light." And don't be surprised, he says in verse 15, if his ministers are angels of light. We're talking about the subtle deceiver who is in our midst. Jude 4 says, "They creep in unaware.”

And you know them not by what they say, but by what they do not ever say. They talk about Jesus and the cross and heaven and Christianity, but not about sin and hell and mourning and meekness and humility and brokenness. They talk about how to be happy and how to be healed and how to be this and how to be that. They're pleasant, they seem thoroughly Christian, they say the right things and their lives even appear clean.

They are the happy Holy Spirit healers and they are the positive thinkers and they are the Christ merchants. Many people in the world today and even in our own country are using Jesus Christ as a product to pad their pockets. And they are in every area from books to music to preaching in churches and television and radio.

Well a false prophet is always in it for himself, pad his own pocket, fill his own greed, prestige, power, importance and money, the whole thing. Be aware, because they're out there. And listen brothers, I'll say it again they're not the apostates and the heretics they're the ones that most people think are Christians.

In 2 Peter 2 it says, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them." And if you look in the end of Revelation 19 you'll see that the primary false prophet, the Antichrist in the end time is taken with the false prophet and thrown into the lake of fire which burns forever and ever.

Now how do you recognize these false prophets, how do you know who they are? That's in verses 16-20, and that's for next Sunday. And if ever there was anything we need today in the church of Jesus Christ it's the ability to separate the true from the false. I have never seen a time in my life when Christian people have been so vague doctrinally, so gullible to everybody that comes down talking about Jesus. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 15 Apr 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120415 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000116 imblog

Romans 8:31-39

Many people do not know what will happen after they die. Many believe that living forever and heaven are just dreams and not real. But Jesus Himself proved to us through many witnesses that He is alive right now and that He has prepared a place for us believers in heaven so that we will be with Him always.

We've been talking about eternal security in an insecure world, and can we believe our true spiritual security? We've studied Paul’s answer in Romans 8: 28 to 30. We have learned that God is causing all things in the life of those who love him and are called according to his purpose to work for good. And we have seen God prove that, because Jesus Christ has risen, Amen?

Let us see what we learned from God through Paul, “29whomever he foreknew he predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the chief one among many brethren. 30Whom he predestined these he also called, whom he called these he also justified, and whom he justified these he also glorified.”

God has a wonderful plan. His plan was to create a family of children that are all like Jesus, so that we can live forever with God in heaven. Once God has determined who they are He will bring them to their glorious end, so that nothing that happens in their lives can work for evil. We will have victory over suffering just like Christ.

Romans 8:31-39 explains this tonight. And it begins with where we have already been and that is in verse 31, “What then shall we say to these things?” What are all these matters of security, the purposes of God with regard to foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification? What do we say to this plan of God to conform us ultimately to the image of his Son?

We say this: If that is God's plan then nobody can stop it. Now the Apostle Paul anticipates that some people may have problems with this and they may bring up objections, that there may be some person, or there may be some circumstance that can cause the purpose of God to be diverted.

There are people who have always believed that this salvation, which is granted in Christ can be lost. So Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, wants to address this objection that some person or some circumstance could cause the forfeiture of this plan.

And first of all he wants to talk about persons and that is the subject of verses 31 to 34. Is there some human person who can cause us to loose our salvation by being against us? If God who resurrected Jesus is for us who can succeed against us?

They're always going to be people who want to assault God’s doctrine of salvation by grace alone, by faith alone in Christ alone and say that this is not enough. There are people who do not believe the bible and feel that they have to do more to be saved. The Roman Catholic Church adds good works as a requirement to salvation and thinks they have power over salvation by ex-communication. They think they can take people out of a state of grace and put them into a state of damnation.

Do I have the power to forfeit my salvation by rejecting Christ, by denying what I once believed and stepping away? In other words, is there any person, a part of a religious organization, or even myself who can interrupt and end the plan of God?

Some professors at certain universities would like nothing better than to sever you from Christ, to destroy your faith in the word of God. The amoral culture would love nothing more than through the influence of their literature and their music and their media and emphasis on their life style to divest you of your Christian convictions. Legalists would like you to reject grace alone as a way of salvation.

Satan also would very much like to strip you of your salvation. He tried it with Job. Satan tried it with Peter in Luke 22, and the messenger from Satan assaulted Paul as indicated in II Corinthians 12. There are those powers who would like to do that. And we have been pointing out that that is answered, no one is capable.

So, if we say, no created being can do it, somebody might say well God can do it. God can change his mind. God Himself can withhold us from salvation in its final sense. God can see us sinning. God can see us in an ungrateful condition, in a disobedient condition and God can take back the gift that He gave us. Is that possible?

Well look at Romans 8: 32 because here Paul anticipates this objection, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” This is a typical Hebrew argument: Arguing from the greater to the lesser. If God did the greater thing, that is, giving up his own Son, will he not do the lesser, that is giving us what we need to be sustained in our salvation?

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. That was the big gift. He gave the best. He made the greatest sacrifice. We can only in a small way comprehend the strangeness of the Father saying to the eternal Son, go down into the world, be surrounded by sinners and actually go to the cross under the hatred of those sinners and be punished for their sins. That is strange beyond strange, right?

Look back at verse 32 just some elements of it, "He who did not spare his own Son," didn't hold Him back. In fact in Isaiah 53:10 it says, "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him." How amazing. It pleased the Lord to subject his Son to a sin-bearing sacrificial painful horrifying death. Yes, because God could look past the suffering and the pain to the glory that would come to the Son through that redeemed humanity.

In Luke 22:53, Jesus put it this way, "When I was daily with you in the Temple, you stretched forth no hands against me. I was here every day. But this is your hour and the power of darkness." And at that time God gave him over to Satan and Satan used his weapon of death on Him. Satan thought he was ending the life of the Messiah. But instead the Messiah was offering himself for sin.

So the Father delivered the Son to judgment that His justice required. This was God. When you ask the question who delivered Jesus to die? It wasn't Judas for money, it wasn't Pilate for fear, it wasn't the Jews for envy, it wasn’t the Gentiles for sin, it wasn't any of those, it was the Father for love.

Is there any human who could stop this glorious salvation process? No. Would God himself stop it? No. If he already gave the gift of his Son, the greatest, at an immense and incalculable sacrifice, He'll certainly do less than that to keep those for whom He gave his Son.

Somebody might say, "Well Satan can take your salvation away." Cannot Satan sort of pull us out of this process; cause us to forfeit our right to its continuation? Well Romans 8:33 is designed to answer that question. "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.” Verse 34 says, "Who is to condemn?"

Who is the accuser of the brothers? According to the book of Revelation it is Satan. Satan loves to go and accuse the people of God, as he did in the book of Job. That's what he does, Revelation 12:10, “who accused them before our God day and night.”

But, he cannot read our minds. Satan is not omniscient. He can only get reports observed by the forces of evil, who can observe our conduct. The primary accuser is Satan, and can Satan go before God and bring a successful indictment? Well Paul answers the question. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.”

It's actually a very simple principle here theologically. God alone condemns and God alone justifies. And if God has covered us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, if God has granted to us his own righteousness, then no accusation can stand against us.

There's a four-fold protection here. Look at it in verse 34. First, he asks, "Shall Christ Jesus who died, shall he? The point is that when Christ died he received the just condemnation that was due for all our sins. That's why He died. He paid the penalty for our sin. God was satisfied; therefore He can't condemn us because his death proves that He took our condemnation for all our sin.

Secondly, in verse 34, he says, "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died— more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” Christ death blotted out our sins and God put his stamp of approval on that sacrifice by the resurrection. The resurrection proves His sacrifice was complete.

Jesus Christ was so highly exalted that Paul says in Ephesians 1:20-23, “that God worked in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things under his feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

The plan of God literally has us dying with Christ as He bears our sins, rising with Christ in inheriting His righteousness, and actually being exalted to the right hand with Christ as we take our place spiritually in heaven and become the recipients of all spiritual blessing.

So, Paul says, no human, not some false teacher, not some person from a cult, not some legalist, not some family member, nobody has the power to break your relationship to Christ, not even you as a human. And God's not going to do it and Satan can't do it, and Christ wouldn't do it.

Well, what about the Holy Spirit? Maybe He would get upset if we quenched Him or grieved Him. Well no. Back in verse 26, "The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." The Holy Spirit living in us goes before the Father all the time interceding for us and He who searches the hearts, that's the Father, knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Somebody might say what about a circumstance? Aren't there some theoretical circumstances that could cause us to loose our salvation? So in verses 35 to 39 Paul addresses that. “What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Isn't there some kind of an assault coming against us that could possible separate us from the love of Christ? The reason He keeps us is because He loves us. The reason God saved us is because He loved us. It is the love that God has for us that binds us to Him. It is the love that Christ has for us that binds us to Him.

Do you see that your continuing sanctification and glorification is founded on God's election? It's not founded on your wisdom; it's founded on God's call. It's not founded on your personal submission; it's founded on God's justification on an otherwise obstinate sinner. It's not founded on your perseverance though that is what the Spirit of God produces; it is founded upon the power of God to keep you and what holds that altogether is love.

Now what Paul is writing here is not theory. Often times Paul experienced tremendous rejection, sometimes actual bodily harm, he was stoned, shipwrecked, he was hit repeatedly by the Jews who did it with whips and by the Romans who did it with rods.

He knew the inward stress of being squeezed in and pressed in with apparently no escape. He knew persecution for the testimony of Jesus, the suffering at the hands of those who hated the gospel. He knew what it was to feel hunger. He knew what it was to not have enough clothing in a cold and damp place, to say nothing of that being his experience in a prison. He knew what it was to be in danger.

So in verse 37 he starts out, "No, these things can't separate us because in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Here's the principle from 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "in all these things we become super conquerors.” The trials, as we learned in verse 28, work for our greater good. They have the effect of making us super conquerors because in those times of weakness we are infused with divine strength.

You say well haven't there been some people who were involved Christians and they confessed Christ and they went away, they couldn't take the pressure? Of course! Jesus in the parable of the soils in Matthew 13 said some seed went into rocky ground or thorny ground, sprung up for a little while, choked out and died. But you have to understand those people were never real Christians.

I John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us they would have remained with us, but they went out in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us. 20But you, you have the Holy Spirit, the anointed." There's always going to be people who hang around, look like Christians, and then disappear under pressure, but they are not of us and the proof is that they left.

So in a final crescendo in verses 38 and 39, Paul gives us a capstone. It is a doxology, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." What a statement.

Paul says, I am persuaded, Holy Spirit inspired, a settled conclusion, and absolute fact, I am convinced that not only death but not even life whatever it might bring with all of its dangers and all of its difficulties can separate you from God. If there's nothing in death that can separate you and there will be nothing in life that can separate you, right?

Nor things present, nor things to come, nothing here and now in the age of time and nothing in the future in eternity, no spiritual being, and no age, no dimension of time and no dimension of eternity can ever separate us from God. Today is a great day as we celebrate that Christ is risen and alive right now and because nothing will ever separate us from Him, we too will live forever with Him, Amen?

]]> Sun, 08 Apr 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120408 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000117 imblog

Romans 8:26-30

Last week we discussed the reasons for suffering and we went all the way back to cause of it, namely the sin of Adam and Eve. And we discussed the work of the Holy Spirit in securing and sanctifying us in suffering. And we believe that our suffering is not comparable to the glories in the future where we will forever be with God.

When we worship God, we worship the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And somehow the Holy Spirit has not been emphasized much in general, when in reality the Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity most personally intimately involved in the life of a believer. So let us focus on that in tonight’s text from Romans 8: 26-30,

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

We are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, and that means we go from being predestined to being called to being justified, to being glorified and nobody falls through the cracks. No doctrine of Scripture is more comforting and more strengthening and encouraging than that. And that is why we live with hope. Not a wish, but a hope that is a fixed certainty based on the promises of God.

We have the promise of future glory; we are protected by the power of God through faith to that glory. That means we have been given by God a faith that will not fail, a faith that will not die, and that faith is secured by the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. Oh how great is God’s love!

In John 6:37 Jesus essentially says the same thing when He said, “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, I will not turn away.” All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me and I will lose none of them, but raise them at the last day. He said, “This is the will of the Father.”

We groan for the reality of our glorification, right? We live in a cursed world. We ourselves though regenerate on the inside are still incarcerated in unredeemed flesh and we groan in our humanity. The things we want to do, we don’t do. The things we do, we don’t want to do. We have a body of death attached to us, as Paul says in Romans.

We understand the decay and the inevitability of death that stalks us all. We groan, creation groans. As I said last week, the whole creation is groaning, waiting for the glorious manifestation of the sons of God, that’s us believers. Everything in this universe created by God will go out of existence, the elements will melt with fire and in its place will come a new heaven and a new earth and no curse.

Creation is personified as feeling the birthing pains, waiting, and we genuinely long for that day. As I look at heaven, it’s not about golden streets, although I’m happy to live there. It’s about the absence of sin; it’s about the absence of temptation, and the absence of ignorance that is appealing about heaven. We all groan for glory.

But there’s a third groaning in this passage that is quite remarkable. And it is the groaning of the Holy Spirit Himself. The Holy Spirit with whom we enjoy fellowship is also groaning, waiting for our glorification. Creation is pained by the curse. We are pained by the curse. And even the Holy Spirit suffers the unfulfillment of the believer in whom He dwells until the curse is removed.

We have learned that the Holy Spirit is responsible for three marvelous ministries in our lives. First, the ministry of regeneration, He gave us spiritual life. We are born of the Spirit. He gave us life when we were dead. Second, the ministry of sanctification, it is He who increasingly conforms us to the image of Christ. The Spirit changes us increasingly into His image from one level of glory to the next.

And thirdly, the ministry of eternal security, He secures us until that final ministry of glorification when as the Spirit raised Christ from the dead, He will also raise us to be in His very likeness. So let’s focus on verse 26. “In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness for we don’t know to pray as we should. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

This text has to be one of the great biblical treasures. It describes the means by which the Holy Spirit supports and secures us in our grace journey to final glory. In the same way that creation groans, waiting for the glorious manifestation of the sons of God, in the same way that we ourselves groan waiting for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our everlasting body, so the Holy Spirit groans.

The Holy Spirit is intimately involved in the reality of the burden and the weight of sin in the lives of those in whom He lives. He unites with our desire to be free from the flesh, our unredeemed humanity and to receive full salvation, full sons of God, full righteous perfection. Our eternal glory is secured then by this groaning intercession of the Holy Spirit.

This is necessary. Verse 26 says that the Spirit helps our weakness. We have already identified our weakness. We groan within ourselves under the weakness of our remaining sin. The whole scope of our sinfulness is a weight to us and it is such an overwhelming burden that we don’t even know how to pray as we should.

If you could lose your salvation, you would. In fact, if I had to do anything to keep it, I couldn’t keep it at all. I don’t have the power. I’m way too weak. I’m not kept by my own power or my own prayers. Yes, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation, but on my own, unaided by the power of God, I will surely fail.

The reason that we are going to make it to glory, the reason that we stay saved, that we are secure is because we have a High Priest in heaven continuing to intercede for us. And you also have a second intercessory priest living in you, namely the Holy Spirit. Just how much power does it take to get a believer from grace to glory?

It involves the continual, unending intercession of the Son and the Spirit. Do you think that you can hang on by yourself? We could never attain to the resurrection of glory by the strength of our own flesh. We could never overcome our own sinfulness. We could never protect ourselves from failure unless we had been given by God a faith that would not fail and it is sustained by Christ and sustained by the Holy Spirit.

In this case, verse 26, how does the Holy Spirit help our weakness in the fact that we don’t know how to defend ourselves even through prayer, even tapping into the divine power? The Spirit Himself intercedes.

We need somebody beyond us and above us with far-greater insight, far-greater power than we have. And it is the Spirit Himself. It’s His work. This is His work. It was He who gave us spiritual life. It is He who conforms us increasingly to the image of Christ. It is He who secures us.

How does He do it? “With groanings too deep for words.” This is not speaking in tongues; this isn’t anybody saying anything that can be heard. This is the Holy Spirit saying things that can’t be heard that are too deep for words. Groanings, not of men, but groanings of the Spirit.

The beauty of this is that the Holy Spirit aches for the glorification of every believer. And that longing for the glorious manifestation of the children of God causes the Holy Spirit to speak silently to the Father in inter-Trinitarian conversation about the well-being of believers.

The Holy Spirit understands our flesh, understands our weakness, understands temptation, and would never, ever lead us into some situation we couldn’t handle, right? 1 Corinthian 10:13, “No temptation is taken you but such is as common to man. God will always make a way of escape.” It is a securing that is a constant work by the intercession of the Son and the Spirit.

These groanings have content and they have purpose. They are individually expressed, inter-Trinitarian, wordless communications that transcend language that secure your place in heaven. And who is the Holy Spirit speaking to? Go back to verse 27, “He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is.”

Who is He that searches the hearts? Well 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” First Kings 8:39 says, “You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men.” Psalm 139, “Lord, You have searched me and known Me. You know when I sit down, You know when I rise up.” So the answer: “I, the Lord search the mind.”

Acts 1:24, “Lord, You know every man’s heart.” There’s no creature, says the writer of Hebrews, hidden from God’s sight. All things are open to Him. So the Holy Spirit is interceding for us in this wordless communication from His own eternal, holy mind to the Father and His mind.

The Father planned it. The Son provided for it. And the Holy Spirit preserves it, protects it. So the Spirit is praying for our glory in consistency with the Father’s will. This is just an astonishing verse.

As you go through your life, you think about a lot of things around you and outside of you. Do you ever think about anything inside of you? Do you ever think about the on- going intercessory work of the Holy Spirit who never sleeps because God never slumbers or sleeps?

And that you even have an advocate against every accusation brought against you, namely Jesus Christ who stands at the Father’s right hand in your defense as the one who paid in full the price for all your sins? That’s why you get to glory. That’s why no one can condemn you.

Now, all of that produces the truth of verse 28. It is because of the Spirit’s intercessory work and because of God’s divine purpose that God Himself in answer to the Spirit’s pleas causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

The good being referred to here is eternal glory, because it is eternal glory that is the goal of everything, as verse 30 indicates, glorified; verse 19, the revealing of the sons of God; verse 21, the glory of the children of God. That’s the theme, verses 24 and 25, our hope. The good being spoken of here is our eternal glory.

The good that dominates this passage is that ultimate, final good that is the glorification of true believers. We are secured to that final good, that which is the best. God causes all things in response to the intercessory work of the Holy Spirit to work together for good. There it is, the extent of security…all things.

What does that mean? Nothing can change the ultimate good. That’s the positive way of saying we’re in a no-condemnation status. All things, whatever the nature, whatever the number, whatever may come in a fallen, corrupt world to people who still have the curse in their humanness, all of it. Everything that comes is woven together by God for our final good.

Works together is from which we get synergy. We could say that’s what God’s providence is. All things are not necessarily good in themselves, all things don’t necessarily combine to produce good in this life. Some of you are living with that. Life is full of illness, loss of jobs, loss of houses in natural disasters, loss of friends, etc.

But in the end, there is the ultimate good, eternal glory that will come to pass. How could we ever lose our salvation if everything that happens to us works together for our eternal good? There’s no other option.

Who are the recipients of this security, this promise? Verse 27 tells us that the Spirit is interceding for the saints who have been covered with the righteousness of Christ and thus before God are holy. But then in verse 28 it further defines them this way, “To those who love God.” They’re the recipients of all this.

Have you ever kind of ask yourself the question, how do you know if somebody is a Christian? Here’s the answer. They love God. That’s an effectual call. That is an absolute call, verse 30, “Whom He called He justified.” This is the call to life from spiritual death. All those who have been called in that way, called into salvation by the power of the Holy Spirit are then described as those who love God.

All through Scripture true believers are described as those who love God. We love not the world, neither the things in that are in the world, if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you. We love God and Jesus Christ.

It is a love that meditates on His majestic glory. It is a love that longs to worship, to sing His praises. It is a love that seeks the fellowship of others who love Him. It is a love that loves those who love Him and are loved by Him. It is a love that seeks communion with God, intimate communion.

It is a love that seeks the knowledge of God in the Word of God, to know Him more. It is a love that is sensitive to God’s honor and God’s dishonor. It is a love that hates what God hates and loves what God loves. It is a love that grieves over sin and rejoices over righteousness. It is a love that longs for the coming of Jesus Christ. But mostly, it is a love that obeys Scripture.

For all who love the Lord, the promise is that the Holy Spirit is interceding in perfect harmony with the will of God so that He is causing everything that happens in the life of those who love Him to come together in the end for their eternal good and eternal glory because that was His purpose from the very beginning.

]]> Sun, 01 Apr 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120401 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000118 imblog

Romans 8:18-25

Everyone has suffered in this life, and as we deal with suffering we also see suffering all over this world. Wars and murders and tornadoes and floods and avalanches and the list goes on and on. So how do we as Christians deal with all this?

As we begin to think about Easter let us look to Romans 8, as the book of Romans is about the good news. It starts with presenting the gospel of God in verses 1 to 17. Then we see the sinfulness of man. But then we read the solution to this all in the wonderful sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which we celebrate at Easter.

So in order to understand this let’s start with the context, by the time you come to the end of Romans 5, we have gone through the fact that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone, and not by works. And when you get to Romans 6, you’re now talking about the benefits of the gospel and that runs all the way through Romans 8:39.

We could simply say this. Romans 6 and 7 deal with the negative benefits of the gospel and Romans 8 deals with the positive benefit. Six and seven deal with the fact that you’re no longer under the Law, you are no longer dead, you’ve come to life. But in chapter 8, you get into the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

This is that which the Holy Spirit does in us, for us and with us. So we’re looking now at the benefit section of what salvation brings us. And this is where the work of the Holy Spirit begins to really become clear to us. The Father designed the plan, the Son made the plan possible and the Holy Spirit makes the plan work, okay?

John McArthur says it beautifully, “The Father is the one who chose us. The Son is the one who redeemed us. The Spirit is the one who sanctifies us. Election is the work of the Father, justification is the work of the Son, and sanctification is the work of the Spirit.”

Now let us study the powerful on-going ministry of the Holy Spirit as He moves us from grace to glory. And this is critical for us to understand because this is where we live everyday. A right understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is necessary to worship the Spirit of God for the very things that He is at this time doing in our lives even if that means suffering.

And that leads us now to Romans 8:17 where the ministry of the Holy Spirit is guarantying or securing our future eternal glory. And that, of course, is the ultimate gift of God. We have a guarantee of eternal glory. This is the best of all the elements of salvation, for what would a salvation be that we could lose?

And if it depended on us in any way, we would lose it because none of us could do whatever it would take to secure by our own merit a salvation from God. So the only hope we have for eternal glory is to be secured by the same God who chose us, called us, justified us, and one day will glorify us.

So we could say that the two works of the Holy Spirit are sanctification and security. He is progressively conforming us to a righteous standard which is modeled perfectly by Jesus. That’s what Ephesians 1:13 means when it says we’re sealed by the Spirit, that seal can’t be broken.

Anybody who tells you that you can lose your salvation doesn’t understand the process of salvation. Salvation is a gift given by God before the foundation of the world and everyone in this category of being chosen by God will be glorified for “whom He predestined, He called and whom He called, He justified, and whom He justified, He glorified” (Romans 8:30).

Jesus says in John 6:39, “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me, and I will lose none of them, but raise them up on the last day.” We will be raised to our eternal condition by the power of the same Holy Spirit that regenerated us at our conversion. It’s a work that the Father designed and the Son validated, and the Spirit effects.

Now look at Romans 8:17 and following, “If children heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” And with that last line, Paul introduces the concept of eternal glory.

Romans 8:18-25, “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

“22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Even though we suffer, there is no comparison to the glory that will come to us later. The Holy Spirit uses everything we experience, even suffering, to sanctify us, to grow us, to teach us more of Christ’ attributes such as patience and forgiving those who have and maybe are continuing to hurt us.

One word jumps out at you when we read this passage, and it’s the word groan. Creation is groaning in this passage in verse 22. And then we find in verse 23 that we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we too groan. This indicates that the creation and us are going through certain groanings, certain agonies until the final realization of glory.

And all of those groanings are some indication of an unfulfilled reality. All of creation feels this unfulfillment. Believers feel the unfulfillment, even the Holy Spirit experiences that unfulfillment. Nature here is personified. Verse 19, “For the groaning, or the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”

What does this mean? And why is the creation groaning? This is a kind of suffering condition waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. The present age is the age of sin and suffering and decay and corruption. And the age to come is the age of the new heaven and the new earth and righteousness and purity and holiness and virtue and glory and the absence of death and decay and disease.

Now what does creation mean here? Angels? They’re created beings. No. They’re not groaning. Holy angels are not groaning because they’re around the throne of God now, they’re in eternal perfection and eternal holiness. They don’t have hope for anything better because nothing could get any better than it is.

What about demons? Is he talking about the created angels who fell and are the demons? No. They’re not groaning in hope for their liberation because there is no liberation, there is no salvation, there’s no deliverance, there’s no forgiveness, there’s no better future for demons, only the Lake of Fire.

Well maybe he’s talking about believers. No, he’s not talking about believers because there’s a distinction made between the creation and believers. Please notice, verse 19, the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God, therefore the creation is distinct from the sons of God.

Is it unbelievers? No, because unbelievers are not hoping in Christ, they’re not hoping for glory, they’re not hoping or expecting something better from heaven. They don’t have any information about that; they have no desire for that. And furthermore, if you look at verse 20, they are willing sinners, willing to feed their own corruption.

The bottom line, the creation that groans is non-rational creation, animate and inanimate. So what you have here is a personification of creation, the material heavens, the material earth and everything that’s in them. Creation is given an identity here. It’s personified in a sort of poetic fashion.

So this is a kind of expectancy. It’s as if creation longs to see the revealing of the sons of God. That’s the time when we are all glorified. That would be at the end of all human history, the end of the millennial Kingdom, the establishment of the new heavens and the new earth, creation is waiting for that.

In verse 21 it’s put this way, “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” When all the children of God are glorified, creation is going to get the benefit of it, right. Because there will be a new heaven and a new earth, right? This is an amazing cosmological statement of massive proportions. The whole creation is eagerly anticipating it.

Why is creation doing that? Go back to verse 20, because the creation was subjected to futility. It can’t be what it wants to be. All creation when God created in Genesis 1 was originally good, right? And then at the end in chapter 1:31 He says, “It was all very good.” But it was subjected to futility. It can’t fulfill its purpose. It is no longer what it should be, and what it could be.

God subjected creation to its futility, according to Genesis 3:17, 18, and 19 pronounced a curse on the creation, because of the sin of Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve sinned, a plague came on them, a deadly plague, a plague that was so infectious no human being who ever walks on this planet will escape it.

So it was when Adam sinned the plague was everywhere on the planet and it continues to this day. Decay, disaster, pollution, disruption, degeneration, those are not the result of some evolutionary fluke, or some bad mutation. The things are the way they are in the world because God cursed this entire creation. He cursed it so that man is left to face every waking moment of his life, the deadly destructive corrupting realities of sin.

Environmentalists aren’t going to reverse that, they’re not going to mitigate that. Solar energy won’t do it. Eliminating carbon footprints is not going to do it. Getting rid of fossil fuel isn’t going to do it. Education isn’t going to do it. This is a divine curse.

The world is not on an upward trend, we’re on the way down from perfection to total destruction and there’s no stopping point. That is the biblical world view because when man sinned he was punished by not being allowed to enjoy purity, and he is now a king who lost his crown and is ruling over an corrupt decaying and deadly creation.

So the principle of corruption is everywhere. That’s why the creation is groaning because it has been subjected to futility, not of its own will but as a necessary accommodation to the curse of God on Adam and Eve and on all humanity and it cannot do anything to reverse its slavery to corruption. This is an act of God.

Look at verse 21, “In hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption.” The whole creation is longing to be what it was originally created by God to be and knowing it will not happen until the glorious manifestation of the children of God at the final eternal state. All creation is waiting for a better future.

And God is protecting us now through the work of the Holy Spirit. God is doing that, not by walking with us, but by living in us and it’s the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us in the midst of this corrupt world. That’s the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

How is this all going to happen? This is described in detail in 2 Peter 3:10, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

And it tells us even further in verse 12, “The heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat.” And the earth and heavens, as we know it, will go out of existence. John McArthur calls it the reverse of creation, namely the uncreation. And verse 13, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

Verse 22 sums it up, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” A verb that means pains of childbirth is a positive pain, right? Childbirth pain basically is the kind of pain that anticipates something wonderful, like great events, something blessed, and that’s the kind of pain that the creation feels.

You don’t need to protect the creation. It’s here for you. You don’t need to be evil about it, but you have to understand, this is a cursed creation. It still is allowed to yield riches and blessing for us. God’s going to take care of His creation until the time when He destroys the entire thing. Okay?

Secondly, believers groan for glory, verse 23, “Not only this but we also ourselves, we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, namely the redemption of our body.” Yes, we have been adopted but we don’t have our inheritance yet. True? End of verse 23, the redemption of our eternal body.

Do you remember 1 Peter 1:3-4? We groan for the day when this mortal shall put on immortality, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, when death shall be swallowed up with life, right? Verse 23 says, “Because we have already the first fruits of the Spirit.”

The Spirit in us is the first fruits of the Holy Spirit. He is the first installment. First fruits was the little bit of the crop that the farmer pulled first, the first part that came in while the rest was still reaching its full bloom. He would pull in the first so he would know what the future crop would be like by the first that came.

We then groan until that is fulfilled. And the older you get, the more you groan, right? Really, you groan more because you have more to groan about. Not only personally in your own body, but things are going on around you that make you groan.

What keeps our perseverance strong when we suffer? It’s the ministry of the Spirit of God in us, the first fruit deposited. The Holy Spirit, He is the one leading us, He is the one confirming our adoption, He is the one testifying with our spirit that we’re the children of God, Amen?

]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120325 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000119 imblog

Matthew 7:13-14

Open your Bible and let’s look at Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

Jesus describes two gates which bring the individual to two roads which lead to two destinations which are populated by two different crowds. From the time of our life when we are old enough to make an independent decision, life becomes a matter of constant decision making. And Jesus after comparing the Pharisee’s ways and the Kingdom ways says to us, now you make a choice!

God is asking everyone to make a choice. For example, through Moses, God confronted the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 30:15 and said this; "I have set before you today life and good, death and evil… Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live." God gave to the people of Israel the ultimate choice, life or death, good or evil and called for a decision.

Joshua who followed Moses as the leader of the people of Israel as they entered the promise land was asked by God in Joshua 24:15 to have the Israelites make a choice, "Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

There are two things you cannot do with the Sermon on the Mount. One of them is you cannot stand back and just admire it. Jesus is not interested in applause for His ethics. Jesus is not interested in people who want to just admire the virtues of the ethical statements of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus wants a decision about your destiny.

The second thing you can't do is to delay it into some prophetic tomorrow. He is demanding a decision now, in this time. I believe there are many people who take the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and its demands and push them off to the future kingdom.

Jesus demands a response. You know now the qualifications of the kingdom; you now know the standards of the King, what is your response? What is your reaction? That's the issue. Jesus calls for action. He has been moving throughout this entire sermon, to bring people, to bring us to the point where we respond.

And brothers and sisters, the choice is very clear cut, there are only two choices, the narrow gate and the narrow way compared to the wide gate and the wide way, that's it. There are no other choices, none.

Some people might say, "Well how in the world could Jesus make only two choices about religion when there are so many religions facing man?" Well, there aren't that many either, there's just the true and the false, right? In fact, all the way through the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is contrasting divine righteousness and what it demands and human righteousness and what it demands.

It is a contrast in two kinds of religions, both roads marked as the way to heaven. It is a contrast between divine righteousness and human righteousness, between divine religion and human religion, between true religion and false religion. The Pharisees problem is indicated to us in Luke 18:9, "The Pharisees trusted in themselves that they were righteous."

Every man makes a choice. And the choice is this, either you're good enough on your own or through your system to make it to heaven or you're not and you cast yourself on the mercy of God through Christ. Those are the only two systems of religion in the world. Now you may see hundreds of different religious names and terms but in essence there are only two religions in the world.

There is the religion of grace, and there is the religion of works. There is the religion of faith, and there is the religion of the flesh. There is the religion of the heart and there is the religion of external conformance.

Man-made systems of religion that are based upon the thinking that we don't really need a Savior, we have the capability and the capacity to develop our own righteousness just give us a little religious environment, give us a few rules, a few routines, some rituals and we'll crank it up on our own.

That's the religion of human achievement and it comes under myriads of different titles but it's all the same system because it comes from the same source, Satan himself. And he packages it in different boxes but it's the exact same product. On the other hand, the religion of divine accomplishment is Christianity and it stands alone.

You see, the Jews taught that they could make it on their own. That's why it was so shocking when the apostle Paul said in Romans 3:20 that by “works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight.” And Paul said the law came in order to stop us from any claim to righteousness and to render the whole world guilty before God.

The Lord's thrust in the Sermon on the Mount is to show them that their view of everything is wrong and to bring them to where He began the sermon; blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

In other words, Jesus starts out where He wants to end up with people who are broken in spirit, mourning over their total sinfulness, meek in the face of God and the law, and hungering and thirsting for what they know they don't have but desperately need, the righteousness of God.

But the Pharisees never understood that message. You hear the Pharisee in Luke 18:11 as he prays; " God, I thank you that I am not like other men," and he says, I do this and I do this and all through that prayer he never expressed one need to God, never one need because he never thought he had a need, because he was so good as he was.

And in the corner is the tax collector pounding on his breast saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." Jesus said, "That man went home justified, not the other one." Jesus wants to bring mankind to a point where he realizes his total incapacity to please God, in his own flesh. And in desperation with a broken spirit, meek and mourning he cries out for righteousness from God.

It's the same choice that every one of us has to make as well. After we just studied the Kingdom in verses 1-12, and as we come to verses 13 -14 the choice is clear. There are two gates and two ways; the wide and easy and the narrow and hard. There are two destinations; life and destruction. There are two kinds of travelers; the few and the many.

Now let's look at the narrow gate. First of all, in verse 13 is you must enter. Did you get that? You must enter. It demands a point of action right now. This is the moment; this is what God is calling for. It is not an option, it is a command. And Jesus says; enter in at the narrow gate.

He says there is a wide gate too but He doesn't tell you to enter that one because it leads to destruction. People say, "You know, Christianity doesn't give room for anyone else." That's right. We don't do that because we're proud or we're egotistical, we do that because that's what God said.

Jesus says in Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." In John 10 it says, "I am the bread of life ... I am the way the truth and the life ... I am the door ... anyone who comes in any other way is a thief and a robber."

1 Timothy 2 says, "There is one Mediator between God and man ... the man Christ Jesus." Only one, no other name, Christ and Christ alone, it is that narrow. There are no alternatives. You must enter by the act of the will based on faith. You have to enter on God's terms through God's prescribed gate. And Christ is that gate.

And you must enter alone. In fact, many commentators would say that the best expression of this in a contemporary way would be a turnstile. One of those things which you have to go through all alone, the metal is very close and there's a little arm there that you push and you go through.

Salvation is individual. Everyone's salvation is exclusive and intensely personal. And that's hard, because all our life is spent rushing around with a crowd. All of our life is spent doing whatever everybody else does, being a part of the group, being accepted and now Christ says you're going to have to come through this deal all by yourself.

And Jesus says that you enter with great difficulty. Now that might shock some people. Because we hear all the time that getting saved is easy. All you have to do is just believe, walk the aisle in church, raise your hand and pray, and that’s it. The only thing is, when we get done the people aren't on the right road because they didn't come through the narrow gate. Let me show you why.

It says at the end of verse 14, regarding the narrow gate and regarding the narrow way, "Those who find it are few." The Old Testament states, "You'll find Me when you search for me with all your heart." I don't believe anybody ever slipped and fell into the Kingdom of God. That's the revivalist's approach, raise your hand, walk the aisle, and you're in.

Let me take it a step further. It's difficult to get saved, Jesus says. Number one because you've got to be seeking. And there are many who are seeking but when they find out what it costs to enter they're not willing to do that. Listen, you don't become a Christian in some cheap and easy fashion.

Now this is not what you hear but this is what Jesus said. The Kingdom is to those who seek it with all their hearts. The Kingdom is to those who strive, who agonize to enter it, whose hearts are shattered over their sinfulness. Who mourn in meekness, who hunger and thirst and who long for God to change their life.

One of Satan's pervasive lies in the world today is that it's easy to become a Christian. It's not easy. It's a very narrow gate. You go through all alone and you go through agonizing all the way over your sinfulness. You have to be broken in your spirit.

The rich young ruler in Matthew 19 came to that gate, he really searched. And he found Jesus and he asked, “what do I need to do to enter the Kingdom?” The Lord went right to the heart of the problem and said go take everything you have, sell it and give it to the poor. He came with self-righteousness in one hand and all his money in the other and he couldn't get through the gate and the Bible says he went away sorrowful.

You cannot pass through the gate unless your heart is repentant over sin. When John the Baptist was preparing people to receive the Messiah they were coming and they were being baptized because they wanted to have their sins cleansed. Anyone with a Jewish background knows that preparation for the Messiah involves purging sinfulness.

Finally, you must enter the narrow gate in total surrender to Christ. No person can be regenerated as Christ indicates it here by simply adding Jesus Christ to all their other carnal activities. Salvation is not an addition, salvation is a transformation.

The message of 1 John is that if you are truly redeemed it will manifest itself in a transformed life where sin is confessed, where obedience is part of your new character, and where love is made manifest. Salvation is marked by a changed life. Jesus even said: I can tell My true disciples for they obey My word.

The requirements are great and strict and refined and clear cut. It must be the desire of our heart to fulfill those knowing full well that when we fail God will chasten and then God will wonderfully and lovingly forgive, and set us on our feet again.

In contrast there is the wide gate. We don't need to say much about it it's obvious by contrast. Well, everybody can get in together. Hey, you can bring all your baggage, your sin, all your immorality, your lack of commitment to Christ, you can just come along and go through the gate of self-indulgence.

There are a lot of people who claim to be Christians and they are totally self-indulgent. Pride, self-righteousness, self-indulgence, sins of all sorts are welcome on the broad road. A West Indian who had chosen Islam over Christianity said this; "My reason is that Islam is a noble, broad path there is room for a man and his sins on it and the way of Christ is far too narrow."

You say, "Well, it's a hard and strict and a narrow way, sounds to me like something I wouldn't want." One wonderful thing about it is that all the hardness and all the narrowness and all the restrictions are born by Christ Himself so that “His yoke is easy for us and His burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).

But that does not mean there is no hardship at all. Jesus says, if you're going to follow Me you ought to know that many won’t agree. You can't be my disciple, if you don’t love me more than the rest, even your father, your mother, your wife, your children and your own life. You might have to leave everybody you love and then you're going to have to pick up your cross and live a life for Jesus.

You better consider persecution. In this world you'll have tribulation. A day will come, Jesus said to His disciples, when they think they'll do God a service by executing you. John 16 says, you're going to spend your life running from those who want to kill you. This narrow way may be a very hard road.

And you're constantly trying to deal with your own sinfulness: your pride, your own desires, your own selfish will. Jesus said to Peter follow Me and by the way, Peter, it will cost you your life. Are you still coming on those terms?

Now look at the bright side, oh Lord, by the work and wonder of Your Holy Spirit, may You move on hearts to drive them in the direction of the narrow gate, knowing that at the end that narrowness explodes into the new heavens and the new earth with all its infinite breadth, height, depth and length of unending joys and blessing.

Listen, the way is narrow but I'm happy to know that it's wide enough to take in the chief of sinners. There is no sin that is too big for God to save you. But you have to make that choice, Jesus is calling you tonight. Come, Jesus is knocking at your heart.....

]]> Sun, 18 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120318 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000011A imblog

Matthew 7:7-12

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Just consider for a moment some of the attributes of God such as that God is infinitely strong and can do all that He pleases, and that He is infinitely righteous so that he only does what is right, and that He is infinitely good so that everything He does is perfectly good, and that He is infinitely wise so that he always knows perfectly what is right and good.

And then that on top of all that He is also infinitely loving so that in all his strength and righteousness and goodness and wisdom He also cares deeply for His loved ones—when you pause to consider this, then the invitation of this God to ask Him for good things, with the promise that He will give them, is incredibly wonderful.

And this means that one of the great tragedies of the church now is how little we actually do pray. God gives us the greatest invitation in the world, and incomprehensibly we regularly turn away to do other unimportant things.

It’s as though God sent us an invitation to the greatest banquet that ever was and we sent a reply back that says, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it,” or, “I have bought five oxen, and I must go to examine them,” or, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come” (Luke 14:18-20).

Well, that was then. My prayer now is that God would use this message and this word from Jesus in Matthew 7, and other influences in your life, to bring back to life a new compelling inclination to pray in 2012. I hope that each of you will ask God to do that as we look at this text.

We will do it in two steps. First, we will look at eight encouragements to pray in Matthew 7:7-11. Second, we will try to answer the question of how we are to better understand these promises that we will receive when we ask, and find when we seek, and have the door opened when we knock.

Six of these encouragements are explicit in this text and two are implicit. It seems clear to me that one of the purposes of Jesus in these verses is to encourage us and motivate us to pray. He wants us to pray. How does he encourage us?

1. He Invites Us to Pray. Three times he commands us to pray—to ask him for what we need. It’s the number of times that he invites us in different ways that gets our attention. Verses 7-8: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

The repetition means, “I want you to do this. Ask your Father for what you need. Seek your Father for the help you need. Knock on the door of your Father’s house so he will open and give you what you need. Ask, seek and knock. I invite you three times because I really want you to receive your Father’s help.”

2. He Makes Promises to Us if We Pray. Even better and more amazing than the three invitations are the seven promises. Verses 7-8: “Ask, and [#1] it will be given to you; seek, and [#2] you will find; knock, and [#3] it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks [#4] receives, and the one who seeks [#5] finds, and to the one who knocks [#6] it will be opened.” Then at the end of verse 11b (#7): “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Seven promises. It will be given you. You will find. It will be opened to you. The asker receives. The seeker finds. The knocker gets an open door. Your Father will give you good things. The point of this array of promises is: Be encouraged to come. Pray to him. It is not in vain that you pray. He answers. He gives good things when you pray. Pray often, pray regularly, pray confidently in 2012.

3. God Makes Himself Available at Different Levels. Jesus encourages us not only by the number of invitations and promises, but by the threefold variety of invitations. In other words, God stands ready to respond positively when you find him at different levels of accessibility. Ask. Seek. Knock.

If the father is close, the child directly asks Him for what he needs. If the father is far away, the child seeks his father for what he needs. If the child finds the father behind a closed door, he knocks to get what he needs. It doesn’t matter whether you find God close at hand or far away and even with barriers between, He still will hear and He will give good things to you because you looked to Him and not to someone or something else.

4. Everyone Who Asks Receives. Jesus encourages us to pray by telling us that everyone who asks receives, not just some. Verse 8, “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” The word everyone in verse 8, says that we should not be timid and hesitant, that somehow it will work for others but not for us.

Of course, He is talking about the children of God here, not all human beings everywhere. If you do not have Jesus as our Savior and God as our Father, then these promises don’t apply to you. And many who call themselves Christians have not received Him yet.

John 1:12 says, “To all who did receive Him [Jesus], who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of God.” To become the child of God, we must receive the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who gives us the authority of adoption. That is who these promises are for.

For those who receive Jesus, every one of them who asks receives good things from his Father. The point is that none of his children is excluded. All are welcome and urged to come. Martin Luther saw the way Jesus is motivating here like this:

“He knows that we are timid and shy, that we feel unworthy and unfit to present our needs to God. . . . We think that God is so great and we are so tiny that we do not dare to pray. . . . That is why Christ wants to change such timid thoughts, to remove our doubts, and to have us go ahead confidently and boldly.” Vol. 21 of Luther’s Works (Concordia, 1956, p.234.)

5. We Are Coming to Our Father. Verse 11, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” It is one of the greatest of all truths. God is our Father. The implication is that He will never, ever give us what is bad for us. Never, because He is our Father.

6. Our Heavenly Father Is Better than Our Earthly Father. Jesus encourages us to pray by showing us that our heavenly Father is better than our earthly father and will far more certainly give good things to us than they did. There is no evil in our heavenly Father like there is in our earthly father.

Verse 11 again, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Jesus was aware, that our earthly fathers are sinful. This is why the Bible repeatedly draws attention not only to the similarity between earthly fathers and the heavenly Father, but also to the differences (e.g. Hebrews 12:9-11; Matthew 5:48).

So Jesus goes beyond merely saying that God is your Father; He says that God is always better than your earthly father, because all earthly fathers are evil and God is not. This is a clear example of Jesus teaching us the universal sinfulness of human beings. He states that his disciples also are evil—he doesn’t choose a softer word like sinful, or weak. He simply says that his disciples are evil.

The problem is that when you are unregenerate you do not consider yourself evil. This is what someone wrote after hearing Billy Graham, “I have never felt that I was lost, nor do I feel that I daily wallow in the mire of sin although repetitive preaching insists that I do. Give me a practical religion that teaches gentleness and tolerance, that acknowledges no barriers of color or creed. That remembers the aged and teaches children of goodness and not sin. If in order to save my soul I must accept such a philosophy as I have recently heard preached I prefer to remain forever damned." He made his choice, what’s yours?

Let’s go back to God, our Father. Don’t ever limit your understanding of the Fatherhood of God to your experience of your own father. Rather, take heart in that God has none of the sins or limitations or weaknesses or hang-ups of your earthly father. In Him there is no evil.

And the point Jesus makes is: Even fallen, sinful fathers have enough common grace to give good things to their children. There are terribly abusive fathers. But in most places in the world, fathers are doing good for their children, even when they are unclear about what is good for them. But God is always better. Therefore, if your earthly father gave you good things, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things if you ask?

And there is something implicit here that underlines encouragement #4 above—the word everyone—“Everyone who asks receives.” If Jesus says to his disciples, “You are children of God. And you are evil. In other words, even after you are adopted by God into his family, sin remains in you. But Jesus says, everyone will receive, every one of God’s evil children! We will see why in a moment.

7. We Can Trust God’s Goodness Because He Has Already Made Us His Children. This is from St. Augustine: “For what would He not now give to sons when they ask, when He has already granted this very thing, namely, that they might be sons?” We know that being a son of God is a gift we receive when we come to Jesus (John 1:12).

Jesus said to the Pharisees in John 8:42, “If God were your Father, you would love me.” But God is not their Father. They reject Jesus. So, not all people are the sons of God. But if God has freely made us sons, how much more will he give us what we need, right?

8. The Cross Is the Foundation of Prayer. Because He calls us evil and yet He says we are children of God. How can it be that evil people are adopted by an all holy God? How can we presume to be His children, let alone ask and expect to receive, and seek and expect to find, and knock and expect to have the door opened?

Jesus gave the answer several times. In Matthew 20:28, he said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He gave his life to ransom us from the wrath of God and put us in the position of children who only receive good things.

And in Matthew 26:28, He said at the Last Supper, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Because of Christ’s blood, our sins are forgiven when we trust in Him. This is why even though Jesus calls us evil, we can be the children of God and count on Him to give us good things when we ask him.

The death of Jesus is the foundation for all the promises of God and all the answers to prayer that we ever get. This is why we say “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers. Everything depends on Him.

The summary is that Jesus really encourages us to pray. Why else talk like this about prayer if his goal for us in 2012 is not that we pray. So he gives us encouragement upon encouragement, at least eight of them.

One final question: How shall we understand these six promises in verses 7 and 8: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”? Does this mean that everything a child of God asks for he gets?

No, we do not get everything we ask for and we should not and we would not want to. Because we would in effect become God if God did everything we asked. We would not want to get everything we asked is because we would then have to bear the burden of infinite wisdom which we do not have.

But the reason we do not get all we ask is because the text teaches this. Jesus says in verses 9-10 that a good father will not give his child a stone if he asks for bread, and will not give him a serpent if he asks for a fish. What if the child asks for a serpent? What if we ask for something that we should not have and is not good for us?

In verse 11, Jesus gives us this truth from the illustrations: Our Father Gives Only Good Things. He does not give serpents to children. Therefore, the text itself does not say that “Ask and you will receive” means “Ask and you will receive the very thing you ask for when you ask for it in the way you ask for it.” It doesn’t say that and it doesn’t mean that.

It says that when we ask and seek and knock—He will hear and He will give us good things. And only He knows what really is best for us, right? Sometimes it is just what we asked. Sometimes it is just when we ask it. Sometimes just the way we desire. And other times He gives us something better, or at a time He knows is better, or in a way He knows is better.

And of course, this tests our faith. Because if we thought that something different were better, we would have asked for it in the first place. But we are not God. We are not infinitely strong, or infinitely righteous, or infinitely good, or infinitely wise, or infinitely loving. And therefore, it is a great mercy to us and to the world that we do not get all we ask.

But if we take Jesus at his word, O how much blessing we forfeit because we do not ask and seek and knock—blessings for ourselves, our families, our church, our nation, our world. So would you join me in a fresh new commitment to set aside time for prayer alone and in families and in church in 2012, Amen?

]]> Sun, 11 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120311 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000011B imblog

Matthew 7:7-12

Matthew 7:7-12, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Verse 12 is the key verse, and the first part of verse 12 is the key word to us. "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.” The rest of the passage comments and relates to that great truth. Some have called this the Mount Everest of ethics. Unquestionably, it is the supreme standard for all human relationships. We know it expressed in terms of the Golden Rule, "Do to others whatever you wish them do to you."

Edersheim, the great Hebrew Christian scholar, said of this statement, "It is the nearest to absolute love of which human nature is capable of." And Bishop Ryle wrote, "This truth settles a hundred different points. It prevents the necessity of laying down endless little rules for our conduct in specific cases."

I believe there are a lot of ethical things the world can do, and every once in a while and now and then they might even hit on this one. But the fullness of all that this ethic really means is only possible to a believer, not to an unbeliever.

We have been learning that the Christian perspective is that we are a kingdom and God is our king. God is a reigning, ruling, sovereign king, and we are His subjects. But that is not the only metaphor. Our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount also says that we are a family. The kingdom concept deals with rule, and the family concept deals with relationship.

In fact, in Ephesians, it tells us that we are the household of God. Repeatedly John says, "We are children of God." Matthew has already informed us very clearly by the words of Jesus that God is our Father, who is in heaven. And there is a relationship of a father to his children, and that has some very important ramifications.

Now, Jesus said in Matthew 22, "The first and great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second is, to love your "neighbor as yourself." Jesus said you can sum up all Biblical revelation, you can sum up all divine data, and you can reduce it to the reality of two things: relationship with the Father and relationship with brothers and sisters. And you can't have the second unless you have the first. Unless rightly related to God, it is impossible to fulfill this love standard in verse 12.

Now, this is consistent with the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 6, you have the first part, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength." In Leviticus 19:18, you have the second part, "Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." So God's law is for a right relationship to Him as a Father and a right relationship to others as brothers in the faith.

This particular section, verses 1 to 12, is the climax of the main theme of the whole sermon which is to present the standard for living in the kingdom of God. He started out with the standards related to self, the standard related to the world, related to the Word, related to morality, related to religion and related to money and possessions. And now we come to the standard related to human relationships.

The Pharisees were wrong about self, about the world, about the law of God. They were wrong about morality, about religion and about money and possession. And they were definitely wrong about human relationships. They were self-righteous, egotistical, proud, bigots, who set themselves up in an elevated position and looked down their noses at everybody else. They had violated the basic standard of human relationships.

And the whole point is that Jesus is making an effort to drive them to the desperation of saying, "We are unqualified to be in God's kingdom." And when they see that, only then they begin to respond in a right way. In other words, they have to hear the bad news before they are pushed in the direction of the good news.

And it is after this passage, in verse 13, that He gives them His invitation. He says, "Now, I've shown you where you are. You can keep going down the broad way that leads to destruction, if you want. Or, you can enter in at the narrow gate." And that is the invitation that follows the main theme of the message.

Now, the whole concept of verses 1-12 can be reduced to one statement: "Love your neighbor as yourself. That is the law and the prophets." Now, loving somebody has two sides, a negative and a positive. Loving somebody means you don't do some things to them and you do do other things to them, right? That's why verses 1 to 6 is the negative and verses 7 to 12 is the positive.

If you are to love your neighbor as yourself, if you are to love the way God wants you to love, if love is to rule our lives and love is to guide all of our human interaction, then we must realize that love does not criticize, judge, condemn and damn people who don't quite come up to our standard.

But love is just more than not doing something. Love is not only not doing some things, it is doing some other things and that's why we have the balance in verses 7 through 12. And we're going to study that this evening.

Let's look at the principle, first, in verse 12, "So whatever," not just some, not just a few, not almost, "you wish others would do to you, do also to them." And the key is that we are to act as we would have them act. This doesn't necessarily mean they did, or they will. In fact, we may know they won't. But that doesn't change what we should do.

Love doesn't judge, and love doesn't criticize. And love also reaches out and does to others what it would wish to be done to itself, even though it may know that it never will be done. This rule was established by Jesus. I mean, human religions and human philosophies and human attitudes have come up with a negative concept along this line, but they never were able to turn the corner to the positive.

A negative kind of Golden Rule appears in almost all systems of ethics. For example, the famous Hebrew rabbi Hillel had this negative principle. He said, "What is hateful to yourself, do not to someone else." In other words, don't do something to somebody that you wouldn't want done to you. It's a "don't" principle.

Now, you can go to Confucius teachings, "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." Every one so far is a "don't do" thing. Among the Greeks Epictetus said, "What you avoid suffering yourself, don't inflict on others." The Stoics said, "What you do not want to be done to you, do not do to anyone else."

Now, the whole world knows what not to do, they just don't know how to do it. And left alone as a negative, it's really a weak principle. Why? Because it is basically only a revelation of how selfish man is. Man is utterly, totally dominated by self. And because of that, he only can come up with a principle like this, “Don't do this to somebody, because if you do, they might do it to you.”

But the positive aspect is impossible. To want in your own heart the very most and do that for somebody else is beyond the ability of an unregenerate man. It just isn't going to happen. Why? Because, apart from God, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:2, "For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy."

Now, humanity, under those definitions, has a real problem. They love themselves and they hate people who do good. That kind of a person is not going to go around doing good to others. It may happen inadvertently, but it'll never be a pattern of life. It will never be a conscious, purely motivated, free giving pattern of life. Like Titus 3:3 says, "Men are hateful, hating one another."

And the world in its ethics can restrain itself from doing certain things because of fear, but will not find the power to do other things of a goodness nature because it doesn't have the love of God in its heart. That demands the knowledge of Christ.

So if you look carefully at the principle, then, it is a principle that is monumental in its meaning and reality. And men are unable to follow it, because men are lovers of their own selves. But we as Christians certainly should not be characterized by that. We should be able to go beyond that with the power of the Holy Spirit, and start sacrificing ourselves for others.

It has to come when the indwelling Spirit is planted within us, and what is the first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22? Love. If the life of God pulses in the soul of a man or a woman, if the love of God abides in us, it is planted in our hearts. John 13:34 says, if the fruit of the Spirit is love, if it's there, “A new commandment I give to you, to love one another as I have loved you."

Mankind untouched by God doesn't know the meaning of self-sacrifice in that manner. That just doesn't happen, because man is self-seeking. It may appear on the surface to be self-sacrificing, but ultimately, down deep, there's a self-seeking goal, even in martyrdom for a cause. The goal may be to gain the respect of your peers, to gain a reputation, to make a name for yourself in society, to have a martyr's complex, to go down in history or whatever.

Now, having established the principle, Jesus gives us three reasons to obey it. Number one, the purpose of God demands it. Look at the end of verse 12, "For this is the law and the prophets." I mean, this is the whole point of all the Scripture.

The Ten Commandments is an expansion of these two principles. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. Therefore, you will not have any other gods before Him, you will not take His name in vain. And you will not desecrate the Sabbath Day. Second is love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, you will not kill, you will not covet, you will not lie, you will not steal or commit adultery and provide false witness.

But it all goes back to those some basics. When I know you have a need, I will do for you what I would want done to myself. And, in fact, if it comes to that and I have to choose, I'll choose to do it for you and sacrifice my own self. If I know I need a new suit and I know you need a new suit, then I'll get you a new suit, because I know that's what I would do for me. And I'll go without. That's the essence of the principle.

Look with me for a moment at Romans 13: 8, "Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” You see, when you love your neighbor as yourself, you have fulfilled all the law, because you're not going to kill him, you're not going to steal from him, you're not going to cheat him, and so forth. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans 13:10.

You see, it's the purpose of God that demands it. This whole thing is useless unless we are obedient to that. So the purpose of God would lead us to the word "obedient." Why should we live like this? Out of obedience because it says, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”

Second reason, the promise of God demands it. And you'll notice the "So" in verse 12, so let's back up to verses 7 to 11, which lead us into the principle. The illustration comes first in this case, in order that it might be a bridge from the first six verses.

It says in verses 7 and 8 that whatever we ask and seek and knock for, we're going to receive. Now, listen. Here's the heart of the matter -- we can feel free to give to others and to sacrifice for others and to love others because we can be confident that, in giving up all we have to someone else, we have an ultimate and eternal resource to replenish our own needs, right?

The promise of God to me that what I ask for and seek for and knock for will be given to me frees me up to give anything and everything I have to the one that has the need. Do you see? I can do unto others what I would do for myself without fear of having nothing left, because all I have to do is turn to my loving Father, who gives me bread for every day and takes care of me in every way, and I shall never do without that which I need. Now, is that a far cry from the way we live? You'd better believe it. We still are so selfish and possessive.

And in dealing with spiritual issues, we are thrown to the Word of God to learn the principle, and we sort of go along for a while with that principle, and we run out of gas, and we have to throw ourselves on His wisdom, don't we? And that's what keeps the relationship hot, see? And so He gives us enough truth so that we're responsible, and enough mystery so that we're dependent.

Now, some people think verse 7 is a blank check that just needs to be filled. I hear people say, "Well, the Bible says, 'Ask,' verse 8, 'for everyone that asks receives and everyone that seeks finds and to him that knocks it shall be opened.'" And they just block that little verse out, "All you've got to do is ask." Now, wait a minute, there are some other conditions.

Number one, this is only good if you're a child of God. Otherwise, you have no relationship to Him, right? He's not bound. Secondly, you must be living in obedience, or, as Peter says, "Your prayers will be hindered." 1 John 3:22 says, "Whatever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and are doing the things that are pleasing in His sight."

Number three, you cannot have a totally selfish motive in asking. If you ask to receive for only yourself, forget it. What do you mean? James 4:3, "You ask and you receive not, because you ask amiss, to consume it upon your own lusts." All you want is only to fulfill your own desire.

There's one more thing I would like to point out in verses 7 and 8, and that is that there are three obligations, “Keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking.” They talk about perseverance and constancy. So that even though we know everything comes from the Lord, that does not mean that we are not actively and aggressively involved in its fulfillment.

Why does God want us to persevere? Because the more we're involved in the process, the greater the relationship becomes. You see? The deeper, the richer, the more meaningful my communion becomes with Him. God wants me to have a vital relationship with Him. And He does things that throw me into that relationship in a wholesale fashion. And so I not only do it out of obedience, but secondly, I do it out of gratitude.

And, finally, there's a third reason. And Jesus gives us a marvelous illustration, verses 9-10, "Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?” A father will not purposely deceive his son. He will not purposely destroy his son, either.

Well, verse 11 says, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” And the idea here is that God is the Father, who gives to all what they need, knowing full well that they could never give back to Him anything, in kind or measure.

So the problem is this. Basically, we are evil. And even when we become Christians, we still have sin in us, don't we? And the fight for selfishness stil dominates our lives. So we need to be broken in our hearts, that we might be unselfish toward others. So let us turn to the source of everything good, God our Father, Amen?

]]> Sun, 04 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120304 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000011C imblog

Matthew 7:1-6

This evening turn in your Bible to Matthew 7:1-6, “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. 6 Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

Let me give you a little background as we approach this topic of judging others. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has touched on all of the areas in a wonderful summation of truths related to Godly living.

He began with our perspective on self in the Beatitudes, with our perspective on the world in the statements on salt and light, with our perspectives on the Word of God as He talked about the law and the fact that it was immutable and unchanging, and our perspective on holiness as He discussed the fact that we are to have an inward commitment as well as an external one.

He discussed our religious activity, giving, praying and fasting. He looked at our perspective, on money and possessions, material goods. And now he is teaches us about our relationship with other people. Now, as in all the other elements of the Sermon on the Mount, the perspective here is given in contrast to the view of the scribes and the Pharisees.

They were the existing religious influence of the time, and, against the background of their perspective, the Lord presents the truth. Their view of life was to be proud, and the Beatitudes were to be humble. They were a part of the system at that time. Christ taught us that we are to be salt and light to the system. And they were teaching the wrong human relationships, and the Lord sets it right here.

Now, the area of human relations goes all the way through verse 12, but we're only going to be considering the first six this evening, and we'll get to the second section, the second six verses, next Sunday. The Pharisees were so proud and so self-righteous and so convinced of their own superiority that the results were that they became totally condemning and judgmental of everybody else who didn't come up to their standards.

Jesus said to them in John 7: 24, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” It was their habit to judge in a very superficial manner. Also in Luke 16:14-15, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

In other words, you think you've got the answers. You think you're the judges. But you're wrong. Their judgment was inevitably the reverse of God's judgment. For example in Luke 18: 9 it says, "Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”

Now, there are books on behavioral psychology ad infinitum, trying to figure out how to coordinate human relations. Jesus says more in 12 verses in Matthew 7 than all of them put together. First you have what we are not to do, that's verses 1 to 6, and then what we are to do, verses 7 to 12. And the sum of the two is enough to govern all existing human relationships.

Now this evening, we're going to look first at the negative, what not to do, and the principle appears in verse 1, "Judge not." Now, you can stop there. That's the principle. And you hear people throw that around, "Who are you to judge?" There are many people who've misunderstood this.

They say, "We should never criticize. We should never evaluate anything at all. We don't want to judge, lest we should be judged." And that phrase fits our time. Because we live in an age when the wrong use of "judge not" would find a ready audience. Our time hates theology. Our time resists doctrine. Our time doesn't like convictions. People speak about love, and they speak about compromise. And somebody who talks about doctrine or convictions is generally very unpopular in many circles.

However there have been times in the history of the church, when men were praised for being men of conviction. They were praised for being men of principle, men of standards. Frankly, there wouldn't have even been a reformation if there hadn't been men like that.

But the Lord is not condemning judgments from law courts. In fact the Bible instituted that. The principle of an ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ is based upon a law court, and Romans 13 affirms the right for a nation to rule its people. The Bible is not condemning all kind of judging. The Bible tells us, as believers, that we must discern the truth from falsehood.

And the Sermon on the Mount is predicated on a clear understanding of the distinction between true religion and false, between hypocrisy and reality. We're not to be undiscriminating and blind. For example, Matthew 7:15 says, "Beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." Now, if you only perceive things superficially, you'll see the sheep's clothing and never know the wolf that's under there.

Now, having said that, let’s look at "Judge not." What is Jesus talking about? What He's talking about is the critical, judgmental, condemning, self-righteous egotism of the Pharisees. They weren't criticizing people because of sin. They were criticizing them because of their character, and perhaps the way they didn't do the things the way they did.

In the first place, don’t do any official kind of judging. That's for the law courts, and you have no right to carry those things out. You are not allowed to be the judge and the executioner. There's no place in the Bible for personal vengeance.

Secondly, the Bible forbids hasty judgments. Don’t make judgments before you know all the facts. We don't always have full information. We're not to set up some human standards, and then if people don't live up to our non-Biblical standards, put them in another category spiritually.

That's even more judgment than God does, for God is rich in mercy! James 2:13 says, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

That kind of a judgment manifests a wrong view of God, verse 1. "Judge not, that you be not judged." Jesus simply reminds us all that they are not the final court. You do this, and you will be judged then. Have you forgotten that you are not God?

John 5:27 tells us that judgment belongs to God, and He's committed that judgment to the Son. We are not, at this time, to sit in judgment. There will be a time in the future when we will be a joining together with the Lord as He reigns, and we will carry out some of His rule and judgment, the Bible says.

Every time you sit in judgment on someone, every time you criticize their motives, or every time you think you have a right to make an evaluation, you're playing God. Every time you carry out vengeance or you get even on your own, you are playing God. Every time you pass sentence on someone arbitrarily, you're playing God.

Secondly, don't judge, because it's a wrong view of others. You see, most Pharisees thought they were exempt. But Jesus says in verse 2, "For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” In other words, God is going to evaluate you on the basis of your knowledge.

That's why the Bible says in Luke 12:48, "To whom much is given, much is required." Because the more you reject, the greater evidence you give of guilt. And that's really what He's saying: The more you know, the more you're responsible for. And the more you know, the greater the judgment.

Finally, when you critically judge other people, you manifest a wrong view of yourself. Some of us should take the time we spend criticizing other people and use it in prayer and confession of our own sin. Because until we get our own life straightened out, we have little usefulness in assisting someone else.

That is essentially what the Lord says in verses 3 and 4. Listen to it. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?”

Now, people have argued back and forth about what the speck is and what a log is. And some have said the speck is sort of a little sin. Well, I think it's pretty severe sin, more like a twig in your eye. And then they say, "But the log is a vulgar, evil and horrible sin." I don't see that, either. People with a vile, evil, horrible sin aren't going around trying to straighten out other people. They're usually trying only to justify themselves.

Usually the people who see everything wrong in somebody else's life see nothing wrong in their own life. And the only gross, vile, wretched sin that never sees anything wrong in its own life is self-righteousness. And that's what the log is.

Do you realize that every situation in the New Testament, Jesus condemns sin, not the sinner, except self-righteousness? And there He blasted the sinner with the sin, because it is the worst sin of all. It plays God. It denies the gospel. It denies any need for redemption. It says, "I'm holy."

You see, that's the key in the Beatitudes. Until you have humbly and meekly hungered and thirsted for righteousness out of recognition that you're sinful, you can't follow up on any of these things. The truly holy person is lost in his own sinfulness.

However this does not mean that you should not judge. If you say, “I'm going to go in a corner and confess my sin and take care of me. I'm not going to deal with others.” That immediately causes two dangers. Danger number one is we will not be willing to confront a sinning brother. And danger number two, we will not discern or discriminate false teaching at all.

And those are two real dangers, because if we don't confront sin, then the church is going to get corrupted. And if we don't discriminate the true from the false, we're all going to go waltzing down the line into heresy. And so the Lord closes, then, with an injunction to cover both of those.

First of all, even though we have to be careful, we must maintain the tension and the balance, so that we still have the courage to reprove and rebuke a sinning brother. Verse 5, "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”

How do you do that? I believe it's a matter of confession of sin. I think first you have to look and see that it's there. Don't you see you've got an ungodly self-righteousness that makes you judgmental and critical of other people? Consider that." Having considered it, you go to verse 5, "Cast it out."

Listen to how David put it. Psalm 51, "Create in me, O Lord, a clean heart." Did you hear that? Now listen, "Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” But there's no way to teach a transgressor the right way, and there's no way to convert a sinner to God, until I have in my own life a clean heart.

The second danger is that people who say, "Well, judge not, judge not," like today, they say, "Well, we don't want to discriminate. No doctrine. We don't want to get anybody upset. We just want to love everybody." And then verse 6 comes like a thunderbolt to them. Listen to it. "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

The Jews believed dogs to be filthy. The Old Testament talks about them as being unclean. In other words, the Lord is saying, "Look, you'd better be discriminating in your ministry. There are some people who will hear your criticisms and who will respond to your work and respond to your word and respond to your efforts, but don't waste the precious truths on those who would shred it and tear it without any thought of its significance."

And then He says, "You don't throw pearls to swine, either, because they'll trample them under their feet, and they'll get so angry they'll turn and tear you up." Who's going to throw a pearl to a hog? True? Don't waste things on those who don't appreciate them. Therefore, you're going to have to discern, discriminate that.

Now, who are the hogs and the dogs? Look at 2 Peter 2, it says, that there were false prophets among the people. And verse 2 says, "And many will follow their destructive ways."

You could take one of those street dogs and bring him in and try to change his diet, but he'll go right back to his vomit if you let him. You can take a hog in the house, clean it up, leave the door open, it'll be right back in the slop. Hogs and dogs are those who, having known the truth, still follow the way of false teachers, false prophets, liars and deceivers.

What is so holy in verse 6? It's the truth of the Word of God, encompassing the gospel and all of the contents of the Scripture. I speak sometimes in places where I'm very careful how I use the Bible, because there are many things unbelievers will reject and mock and despise. And I sometimes choose not to give them that opportunity, for God's Word are precious treasures to me not to be trampled on.

Are you criticizing or are you evaluating, are you discerning or are you discriminating in order to show the truth and honor God? Or are you doing it to exalt yourself and hurt somebody else. Ultimately, it’s that decision that counts, Amen?

]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120226 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000011D imblog

Matthew 6:31-34

What is the Christian view of material things? What is the Christian view of money and possessions? Where do we stand and what does the Bible teach? What should be our perspective on both the luxuries and the necessities of life? Well the answer to the questions is given here by our own Lord Jesus Christ. For what you have in Matthew 6: 19-34 is the greatest statement Jesus ever made on the view that we must have toward material things.

We have studied verses 19-30 before and now we are coming to the climax of what Jesus is teaching us. We believe God's going to take us to heaven when we die, but we sometimes don't believe God's going to provide us with our daily necessities or take care of the length of our life. Jesus here teaches us where our commitment as Christians has to be and what He will do for us if we follow His mission.

Matthew 6:31-34, “therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Three times in Matthew 6, first of all in verse 25, it says, "Do not be anxious." Secondly, in verse 31, "do not be anxious." And finally in Verse 34, "do not be anxious." The key to the whole passage then is, "don't be anxious." That command is illustrated, and reasoned with the incredible skill of the master teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ. It defines the proper attitude with which disciples of Jesus should live their lives in a material world. And yes, that includes you.

Verse 31, "do not be anxious," kind of emphasizes, "don't start worrying." If you don't already have that bad habit, don't start it. You say, "Well, we have to eat, and we have to drink, and we have to be clothed. Aren't those great concerns?" They are great concerns. Those are the necessities of life. And the Lord sort of sums up the necessities of life: food, water, and clothing.

You know, that's less of an issue to us than it would be to somebody living in Palestine, because there weren't any stores where you could just go and get whatever you wanted. Food...you had to raise it, farm it, or go to the marketplace. Water is a great concern in that semi-arid part of the world. And clothing in most cases, you had to make it.

In fact, those people, for the most part, lived just to survive...eating and drinking. In the burning summer, the streams dried up. The water supply was, every summer, minimal. To the poorer people, an annual change of clothing was by no means guaranteed. And when winter came, it could be cold, and it could snow in Jerusalem.

Jesus gave us an example regarding food in verse 26. He says, "Look at the birds of the air." Now it may well have been that as He was standing on the mountain north of the Sea of Galilee on that sloping hillside, He might have just pointed up as a flock of birds flew by. And by the way, Palestine is full of birds.

There is a book called All the Birds of the Bible. And the author calls Galilee the crossroads of bird migration. When birds across Europe, all the way from Western Europe clear through Eastern Europe, migrate south as they do every year for the winter, they all fly through Israel. That's true even today.

More Israeli pilots have been killed by birds coming through the cockpit of their jets than by the enemies of Israel. It's a serious issue. So the Israelis know their migrating patterns. They know what time of year they come. And they also know the altitude at which they fly. And it's always the same every year, and so they have charted all the birds that migrate to the north of Africa.

So perhaps Jesus looks up and sees a flock of birds. He says, "Look, they don't sow, they don't reap, in fact, they just fly around and pick up the seed you sow. They just come down and eat the crop that you're growing. They don't gather yet Your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" They're not worried about some unforeseen future or some unforeseeable event.

This is not an excuse for idleness. Birds, though fed by God, don't sit on some branch waiting for the food to be dropped in their beak unless they're baby birds being served by their parents. They search for it, and they find it. They gather the insects, the worms, and the seeds. They migrate to where the food is. They do all this by instinct because they're endowed by their Creator with that instinct as His way of carrying for them.

This argument really is profound and powerful. Life is a gift from God. As long as He has designed to give it to His children who do what God wants them to do, which is to seek first the kingdom of God, He will sustain it. If He gave you the gift of physical life and called you to serve Him in this world, He'll give you the necessary food to sustain that calling.

Look at verse 27. It's quite an interesting statement. "And which of you, by being anxious, by worry, can add a single cubit to his lifespan." People really do worry about their health. We're a generation of people literally almost cultic about exercise, almost out of control about vitamins and supplements and health.

The anxiety of death, the fear of illness, forces us to struggle to stay alive at the highest level of health that we can. We preoccupy ourselves with the body and pride ourselves with being in shape, whatever the society says that shape should be.

People make investments in exercise equipment, health club memberships, medical assistance vitamins, special diets, and you know it goes on and on. And sometimes behind it is worry. And Jesus says, "You cannot add one fraction to your lifespan by worry."

One doctor said, "Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands and the entire nervous system. I have never known a man to die of overwork, but many who died of worry." A person may literally worry himself to death, worry himself into bad health. But never will you worry yourself into a longer life.

Jesus is talking about fearing that you're not going to be cared for, fearing that you're not going to have what you need, fearing that you're not going to be protected, you're going to be forgotten just like that. And He says, "Well, look at the lilies of the field."...Verse 28. "They don't toil, and they don't spin." Look at their beauty. "Even Solomon in all his glory didn't clothe himself like one of these."

And Christ is not really engaging in hyperbole here. He's stating fact...no garment loomed with the finest thread is anything but sackcloth when placed beside the petal of a flower. So Jesus said, "Why do you worry? Why do you spend so much effort in the matter of your clothes? Look at the wildflowers. Kings haven't been so magnificently robed. Flowers put all their robes to shame."

You remember the famous incident of the Lord's earthly life and ministry when he's sleeping in the stern of the boat on the Sea of Galilee, and the storm was going, and the water started to come into the boat. The sea became very boisterous, and the disciples, who are fishermen, became worried, and they said, "Master, we are going to perish." And what did he say to them in Luke's Gospel? He said, "Where is your faith?"

Listen, we have a Father who cares for us. We have nothing to fear, no matter what happens, no matter if the whole economy crashes, no matter if all the banks lose our money, we have a Father who cares for us...that's enough for me. I don't have any fear. I don't have any anxiety as long as I know my Father cares.

There's no promise that God is going to make you rich. There's no promise that God is going to give you more than you need. There's no promise that God is going to lavish you like he did Job or Abraham. But God will take care of your necessities if you first seek the kingdom of God.

Look at verse 32, "For all these things, the Pagans eagerly seek." You see, worry belongs to people who don't have God as their Father. It's for the faithless to worry. Naturally, the Pagans, the Gentiles who do not acknowledge God, who are not the children of a loving father, who have no claim on God's provision, who are utterly ignorant of His supply...we expect them to worry.

See, the unbelievers are in complete spiritual darkness. Thus, they have the wrong idea of the God of the universe. They don't understand how God is involved in the lives of His people.

So they're like the rich man who just kept stacking it up in the barns and stacking it up in the barns so that he could eat, drink, and be merry before he died. Unregenerate people are literally totally consumed in material gratification. They don't have any other resource; it's all up to them.

So how should Christians behave? Jesus gives us in these verses the main reason why not to worry about the necessities of life, because here Jesus is saying that God will provide all the things necessary to survive like food, drink and clothing so that you can focus yourselves on His mission.

Just look at the biography of William Carey who went to India with his wife and his children. And he found himself in a very remote part of India outside of Calcutta with no food, no shelter, no nothing, and really no money to buy anything. But never wavering in his faith, he just watched God supply and supply.

And first it was a little lean-to shack to live in. It was very uncomfortable and very difficult for his wife and their children, one a relatively young one just born before they left. And it was about a five-month journey on a ship to get there from England.

But then things began to turn, and they began to cultivate the ground. They found a new place. And they began to grow food, and it flourished. In fact, he was so good, being a botanist that villages began to arise all around his little farm on both sides of the river where he was. And then, in God's wonderful mercy, he was offered a position of significance with a salary that was quite large, and he accepted that as the providence of God.

He had lived through the testing of the lean times, and now God provided enough for his family, and enough for his ministry, and enough for translating the Word of God, which he eventually did into 11 languages. There's something wonderful about being in that position of utter dependence so you can see the faithful hand of God.

Sometimes it's good for us to divest what we have, just to back up and get ourselves into position where we're more dependent and can rejoice in the freedom of being unencumbered, and knowing we've done what God wanted us to do with what He gave us, investing it in eternal things, our work is our ministry.

Pay attention to God’s promise in verse 33, "But seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." What's Jesus been talking about? Three things: food, drink, and clothing, all the basics of life. That's the theme of the text. Jesus is saying, "God will add all these things to you if you stop worrying and start seeking His Kingdom and His Righteousness."

Why do people worry? Well, because they're concerned about the future. So in Verse 34, again here's the same phrase: "Do not be anxious, for tomorrow." God is the God of tomorrow, just like He's the God of today. And His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. Look at Lamentations 3.

Worry is a tremendous force. It can warp your personality, it can steal your joy, it can rob your peace, it can foul up your relationships, it can cripple your faith, it can harm your usefulness, and it can wreck your Christian testimony. It creates havoc in your heart and the hearts of those who are watching your life. Jesus then says, "For tomorrow will take care for itself." For tomorrow will bring its own anxieties. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Fear, you know is a liar. Fear tells you tomorrow is something to be afraid of. Fear tells you you're not going to have what you need tomorrow. Fear tells you you're not going to be up to it. Fear is a liar for the Christian because in everything that you're ever going to go through, in every trial, in every temptation, God will provide sufficient grace to sustain you.

And worrying is really a sin. You see worry disbelieves Scripture. And you can go around your whole life and say, I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, I believe in the authority of the Scripture, I believe in inspiration of every Word, and then just live your life worrying. And so you are saying one thing out of one side of your mouth and something else out of the other. Because why would you say how much you believe the Bible and then worry whether God's going to fulfill what He promises in it?

So what does this all mean? It simply means to set the focus of your life on the spiritual matters every day, right? Isn't this exactly what the Apostle Paul said in Colossians 3:2-3, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Get your priorities right. Pour yourself into the Kingdom of God. Pursue righteousness, and then you will surely enjoy the results.

When the church corporately seeks the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, one of the things they must do is to help those in the congregation who are needy and who worry. This is a huge challenge in this economy and it will challenge us as Christians to carefully look at what we spend on ourselves verses what we need to do to help others, especially those in our own church.

Now we need to be aware that there are consequences if you don't seek first the Kingdom, if the priority of your life is not the advancement of the Kingdom of God, if the goal of your life is not the pursuit of the righteousness of Christ. If that's not your priority, then God does not necessarily have to provide for your daily necessities.

It may be that He withholds some things as a chastening. But you have a loving Father who knows your needs and who has pledged to meet them all, and asks of you that if you'll seek the spiritual, He'll provide the physical...that's it.

And He provides in different ways. For some, it's just the necessities. And for some, for a time only, it's just the necessities. For others, He gives with great generosity according to His own purposes. It's God who gives you the power to get wealth, and God does it differently in different people's lives.

But all of us have this one mandate in common: seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, and then He'll take care of the physical. You remember in the Old Testament, the prayer, "Don't give me so much that I forget You, and so little that I'm angry with You. Just give me what I need." And if He gives more, pour it into the Kingdom, and He will make sure all your needs are met.

Do you really believe what is in the bible? Are you committed to seeking first the kingdom of God? What does that mean to you practically? Well pray and ask God, and He will give you the answer, Amen?

]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120219 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000011E imblog

Matthew 6:19-24

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Do you know that 15% of all that Jesus said relate to this topic of money, this is more than what He said about heaven and hell combined. And yes this is some of the most radical teaching from our Lord and yet some of the most neglected teaching as well. And the theme is about how to find security for the future.

Verse 19 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.” So Jesus is teaching us that there is no security in material things. Any type of material treasure here on earth can either be destroyed by elements of nature (moth, rust, or tornadoes) or stolen by thieves and reduced by the stock market.

And Jesus says that the only investments that are not subject to loss are “treasures in heaven.” And this radical financial strategy is based on the principle that Jesus is teaching us that says in verse 21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If your money is in the stock market then your heart and desire are also there.

If your treasures are in heaven, your interests and your thoughts are centered on heavenly things as well. Jesus is forcing al of us to think where our heart really is. Is it with al our earthly stuff and if so how are we going to treat our bible? Or is it related to heaven and then what are we going to do with all our earthly treasures?

Jesus knew that it would be difficult to make His followers understand how this teaching on security for the future would work. And so He used an analogy of the human eye to teach a lesson on our spiritual sight.

He said in verses 22 and 23, “22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

It is through the eye that we can see and if you have good eyes, “your whole body will be full of light,” meaning that our whole life benefits from having proper vision and will be blessed by having good eyes. On the other hand if we have bad eyes then we can see things blurry only and sometimes we cannot see at all and instead of light we only see darkness and our whole way of life is impacted negatively.

Jesus wants us to understand that good eyes belong to a person whose motives are pure, who has a desire to know God better and who is willing to accept God’s teachings even if he does not understand them totally. His whole life is flooded with light. This is a person who believes Jesus’ words and who does what they say, who does not live for earthly riches but who lays up treasures in heaven. He or she is convinced that this is the only true security that there is.

But if your eyes are bad you are a person who tries to live in two different worlds. You don’t want to lessen your attention to your earthly treasures, your big bank account and your expensive habits and yet you want treasures in heaven as well. These teachings of Jesus seem impractical and impossible to him. He lacks clear conviction and guidance and as such is full of darkness.

And Jesus adds this statement at the end of verse 23, “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” In other words, if you know that Christ warns against trusting earthly treasures, and yet you ignore that and do it anyway, then the teaching that you have failed to obey becomes darkness, or spiritual blindness. You are unable to see the true riches that God has in store for you.

If laying up treasures in heaven is the opposite of laying up treasures on earth how do we understand what we should do here and now? The opposite of laying up treasures on earth would be to give your treasures away such that we magnify Christ. Luke 12: 33 says, “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.”

In other words, we should not accumulate wealth on earth, you will accumulate wealth in heaven if you distribute it is ways that Christ is honored. Rick Warren, the pastor who wrote ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ and ‘the Purpose Driven Church’ who is quite wealthy once was asked if it was OK for a Christian to be rich. He answered, “Yes, it is OK to live rich, but it is not OK to die rich.”

Do you know that all that attention on your earthly stuff doesn’t really make you happy? Do you know that the opposite is true, that giving to others instead will make you happy? Look at Proverb 14:21, “Blessed is he who is generous to the poor.” And Proverbs 22:9 says, “Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” Acts 20:35 says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

There is no correlation between having lots of stuff and happiness despite what people claim. Living a simple life with a passion for advancing the kingdom through giving will be a far happier life than living in luxury. And this is hard to accept. Statistics say that young people are far less likely to give than older people and that the single person gives far less than the married person. Christians, please prove them wrong!

And then to teach us how serious this is in verse 24 God says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

It is impossible to live for God and to live for money and to drive that point home it is expressed in terms of masters and slaves. “No one can serve two masters.” One of them will inevitably take precedence in terms of loyalty and obedience. And so it is with God and mammon, they present rival claims and we all have to make a choice. Either we put God first and reject the principle of materialism or we chose to live for things that look attractive but are temporal and refuse God’s claim on our lives.

And what is the lure of earthly riches? Sometimes it is a believe system that there simply is no other way, that we have to work hard to eat and live and buy our necessities and if we don’t do that we will starve, we will lose our house and car and be homeless on the street. We worry about doing what God says and we worry about what will happen if we only focus on Godly things.

We don’t really trust God in the sense that He will provide for us. If we do not tithe it sometimes can be related to a fear that without a job we cannot survive this recession. And God knows all our thoughts and all our worries. And that’s why He provided the verses right after these in Matthew 6:25-34 with the heading of “Do not worry.”

Matthew 6:25-30, “25 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

“27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

We all tend to worry about our future. The problem is not so much what we eat or wear today, but what we will eat and wear twenty or thirty years from now. And when we worry about that it means that we have no faith in God’s love, wisdom and power. We deny the love of God by implying that He doesn’t know what He is doing. And it denies His power by implying that He is not able to provide for our needs.

And so we devote most of our energy on making sure that we have enough to live on. And then before we realize it we are old and grey and our lives have passed us by and we have missed the central purpose for which we were created.

God did not create us in His image with no higher destiny than to consume food. Now some of us live like that is our only purpose but that is not God’s design. We are here to love, to worship and serve Him and to represent His interests all over the world. Our bodies are intended to be our servants, not our masters.

“The birds of the air” in verse 26 illustrates God’s care for His creatures. They preach to us how we are not to worry. They neither sow nor reap and yet God feeds them. And since in God’s hierarchy in creation, we are of more value than the birds, then we can surely expect God to take care of our needs. If God sustains, without their conscious participation, creatures of a lower order, He will all the more sustain, with their active participation, those for whom the world was created.

This does not say that we do not need to work for our current needs. Paul reminds us in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” Nor should we conclude that it is wrong for a farmer to sow, reap and harvest. These activities are a necessary part of providing for his needs. What Jesus forbids here is multiplying your storage barns and filling it with excess stuff and thinking that your future security is just based solely on your own effort.

Just see what Luke 12:16-21 says, “16 And Jesus told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Worrying about the future not only dishonors God, it is also totally futile. God says in verse 27, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Yes, you can shorten your life by worrying, but you cannot lengthen your life. Being anxious and fearful shows that you have totally forgotten the promises of God or you remember them but simply do not believe those promises.

And next in Matthew 6: 28-30, the Lord teaches us that it is silly to worry so much about clothing and food. “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

If God provides such elegant apparel for wildflowers, which do have a very brief existence and then are used as fuel in an oven, He will certainly care for His people who worship and serve Him. This is an issue of trust, do we trust that God will provide for those who seek first the Kingdom?

You can see the same thing in Luke 14:13-14, “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” In other words when you give freely and generously because you trust Jesus to take care of you, you are laying up treasures in heaven. You will be rewarded in heaven.

If your goal is to provide for all you future financial needs then your time and energy would have to be devoted to accumulating future reserves. But you would never be sure that you will have enough given that there is always the possibility that the stock market will collapse again, or that there is an unforeseen catastrophe or a prolonged illness or a paralyzing accident.

Living for God by storing up treasures in heaven by doing good and by representing Him all over the world is trusting God with unshakable confidence that He will provide for us. We just need to provide for our current needs and everything else should be invested in the work of the Lord. We are to live “one day at a time for Him,” right?

So give with the right attitude, give out of a heart of love. And give to the right people, your church, the poor, other Christian ministries and view all your giving as if you give to the Lord. And give the right amount, that is begin with 10% of your income as a foundation for your giving to the church and give additional sacrificial offerings in proportion to what you receive.

Do you know that giving with the right attitude will result in spiritual blessings here on earth and will draw you closer to Christ and giving will develop a Godly character in you? Do you know that giving also can produce a material increase to the giver so you can continue to give and allow you to store up more treasures in heaven? Are you willing to start this now? Are you serious?

]]> Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120212 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000011F imblog

Matthew 6:19-24

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Now the question that comes out of this text is a very simple one, where is your heart? Verse 21, “It's wherever your treasure is.” What preoccupies your life? What do you spend most of your time thinking about? Chances are if you think about it the answer is, some thing, a house, a car, a wardrobe, a bank account, a stock, an investment and furniture. We really are creatures committed to things.

Well, I have some bad news for you, I just want you to know that your things can't last. Oh, maybe an error in judgment, maybe a loss of concentration or maybe you'll just lose it in the stock market. Or maybe they'll wind up a mass of mangled metal being towed off to the junk yard. And what about all those things in your house? Well, lock the door and hope someone doesn't steal them.

And so as we come to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:19-24 Jesus directs some teachings about things to the Pharisees who were abusing this whole matter of possessions. Sadly, they were totally consumed with things. Among all of the other problems of the Pharisees they were greedy, they were covetous, they were manipulative, and they constantly moved toward accumulating more things.

Now remember, the thrust of the whole Sermon on The Mount, in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, is basically to sweep aside the inadequate, insufficient standard of the Pharisees and reaffirm God's divine standard for life in His kingdom. They had invented a whole system of religion that was man made and inefficient. Jesus teaches that to be in His kingdom, you must live up to a Godly standard, and He teaches it in contrast to the Pharisees.

So in essence our text then, from verses 19 to 24, deals first with how we view our material possessions compared to our spiritual possessions in verses 19 and 20. And then in verses 21-23 Jesus teaches us that it all relates to where your heart is, whether your heart is open to God or not and verse 24 says that no matter how hard you try, you cannot do both.

Now, to the Pharisees to be rich was to be holy, to be rich was to say, look how much God is blessing me. That's why when the Lord said in Matthew 19:24, "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into the kingdom," that was utterly shocking. Because to them riches were the stamp of divine approval on your life, you had it because God gave it to you because you were so righteous. And they equated money with the blessing of God, which was their whole system.

Now where did they get this concept? Well, just look back at Deuteronomy 28. When the Lord had delivered Israel from Egypt and brought them to the edge of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Lord laid down some conditions for them to enter the land, and on the basis of those conditions were some great promises.

In Deuteronomy 28 :1-2, the Lord says as they are preparing to go into the land, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God.”

And the opposite in Deuteronomy 28:15-18, “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.”

So these were material blessings and material curses, they were earthly, visible and tangible blessings. In other words it seemed to say that material blessing is a sign of your obedience, material poverty is a sign of your disobedience. But they misinterpreted the beginning and did not read further where in Deuteronomy 30:6 God explains what He really wants and that is obedience to love God with all your heart and soul and that blessings are not all material in scope only.

Now the Old Testament warned us against this, Solomon said he was rich and yet it was vanity, and all vanity. In the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:17 God said, "You shall not covet.” The Old Testament is full of warnings against riches, Proverbs 23:4 says, "Do not toil to acquire wealth." In Proverbs 28:20 it says, "A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”

In other words the Bible warns against greed and covetousness and hastiness and being rich. But in spite of all of those warnings that say you cannot both serve God and money people still do it and ignore God’s warnings. Luke 16:14 says, "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.”

And so it's against the backdrop of the greed of the Pharisees that our Lord speaks, and what He is saying here is that we must have the proper view of money and wealth and possessions. Now listen, we're living in America in this time of recession, aren't we?

Now I can tell you there's one simple reason for all these money problems and it is greed, pure and simple. And you can play around with all the periphery reasons but until you deal with the heart of man you will never be able to deal with the problem of recession in a free society because greed dominates how freedom functions.

The problem in the heart of man is not the periphery, the essence of the problem of man is greed, and you have to divert his heart from covetousness and that's what our Lord wants to do in this text, is divert us away from covetousness.

You see we must handle our possessions and our money and our wealth and our excess like we do anything else, First Corinthians 10: 31, "Whatever you do, whether, you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." Unfortunately we do so much of it to the indulgence of self, that's the problem.

John Stott has said, "Worldly ambition has a strong fascination for us, and the spell of materialism is very hard to break." Even if we give our tithes faithfully, have we solved this problem? Not necessarily. God doesn't want to get something that's given because you're afraid of Him, He wants to get something that's given because you love Him that comes from your heart, see?

And so the Lord doesn't give us some kind of an absolute, legalistic standard here, He merely gives us a principle, and when you hear the principle which says, lay up treasure in heaven, or serve God not money, you might at first say, “Well that's kind of vague, but it won't be by the time we're done.” But it's vague enough to deal with your attitude, and not just with some external formula, so be ready to let God change your attitude.

The Bible contains more than 2,350 verses dealing with money and possessions. Jesus taught more about money than about heaven, hell and almost any other subject. Jesus states a foundational principle in this text: The way you perceive and manage material things is a reflection of your heart! According to surveys, tension in the home over money is one of the most common causes of divorce.

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:10, "The love of money is the root of all evil." It isn't money that's the root of all evil it's the love of it. You can be very poor and have none of it and still love it like mad. You just can't get a hold of it. You can be very rich through inheritance and do not really care for it that much. It's the love of money that corrupts.

You remember the story of Solomon who kept amassing fortunes until he became the wealthiest man in the world, and when it was all said and done he said, "Vanity, vanity; all is vanity." It did not fulfill him; instead it gave him emptiness, uselessness and meaninglessness. The Bible gives us many other illustrations of those people who because of the love of money were devastated and destroyed in some degree or another.

So let us look carefully at what Jesus teaches us. Let's go to verse 19, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth." What does that mean? It's a play on words, it means, do not treasure up treasures, don't stockpile it or place something someplace, or stash it someplace.

What the Lord is talking about here is not that which we use to live everyday but that which we just pile up. It's not our necessities, it's not that which we use to meet the needs of our own life, of our family, of the poor, of the Lord, for setting aside money for the future or for making wise investments that we may be better stewards of God's money in days to come.

Jesus is not talking about that which is active; He is talking about that which is stockpiled just to amass for our own selves. That's what He's talking about, He's talking about excess, He is talking about that which is beyond what we can use. The implication is that there is an abundance too numerous for use and so you just store it up.

Now, what is He forbidding? Does He forbid a bank account, savings account, life insurance policy or a wise investment? No. Does He say we shouldn't possess anything? Does He say that you should sell it all and walk the street with a brown bag and be a hobo? No.

Well what about the rich young ruler, Jesus said to him, "Sell all you have and give to the poor." Have you ever noticed that that's the only person He ever said that to? Did you notice that He didn't say that to Mary and Martha? Because He liked to go to their house, and when He got there I guess He liked their cooking too.

And He also said in Matthew 19:29, " And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”

The Lord does not condemn possessions, the reason He told the rich young ruler to sell all he had was because that ruler was more interested in all his possessions then in God. All he owned stood between him and God, and until he got rid of that there was no connecting up with God.

In fact in Exodus 20:15 it says, "You shall not steal." This statement of God in the Ten Commandments assumes that something can be mine that you can't have. We have a right to possessions. You not only have no right to steal what is mine, you don't even have a right to want what is mine because Exodus 20:17 says, "You shall not covet." So the Lord recognizes the right of personal property.

For example in Deuteronomy 8:18 it says, "For it is God that gives you the power to get wealth." God has given us the resources, the abilities. In First Corinthians 4:7 it says, "And what do you have that you did not receive?" God wants us to know those things and to have those things that came from God. In fact in First Timothy 6:17 it says, "God gives us richly all things to enjoy."

And when you study the Book of Proverbs again and again the Bible encourages us to be careful how we handle our funds so that we make wise investments. So what does laying up treasures in heaven mean? It means to distribute and to share the riches God has given to us both physical and spiritual, it means teaching others about God, it means using our excess money for mission efforts in your neighborhood, in your state or in some far away place across the ocean, it means sharing the love of God everywhere.

Did you know that Abraham was very rich and was also called a friend of God? And that God made Job wealthier than held been before and so much so he couldn't count it. And did you know that Zacchaeus was rich and yet was counted to be a son of Abraham?

What is the key that makes them friends of God? The key is their heart attitude, that first of all they love God above anything else. That’s why it says, “22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Jesus is teaching that the same way your eyes enable a person to see physically, the heart of a person enables to see God spiritually, to understand what God teaches us. If your spiritual eye, your heart, is good then the rest follows in serving God, but if your heart is bad, all your actions and thoughts will draw you only farther and farther away from God where there is no light but only darkness.

We all pride ourselves on multi-tasking, right? We like to be involved in many things at the same time. We think that serving God is just one of the many things we should do, serving God is reserved for Sundays or maybe only a part of Sunday. But that is not what God is teaching, Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Seeking first the kingdom of God means that serving God comes first and foremost in our lives. It means that God is where our heart is, it means that serving Him is more important to us than our family and our work. Does that show up in your daily life?

So listening to what God says this evening. How good is your eye, how good is your heart, where do you invest your excess in? Where is your focus? What do you think is most important? Verse 24 says, “24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

God tells us that we cannot have the same priority for God’s work and for anything else. There are so many things in our life that take our focus away from what is the most important in our life, and that is God. Listen to God, let us store up treasures in heaven by serving God with all our heart and mind and strength, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120205 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000120 imblog

John 2:6-11

John’s focus in the beginning of chapter 2 is on the works of Christ because the deeds and the works of Christ also tell us that He is God. It's not just the testimony of other people that is important, but it's the testimony of Christ's life, His words, His personality, His divine knowledge, His actions and the miracles He performed that is the real proof. All of these things prove to us that Christ indeed was God in a human body.

We also looked at the type of miracles that Jesus performed and we saw that in all miracles He always was meeting a basic human need, whether it was thirst, hunger, being blind or being lame. He met humanity at the level of basic needs. Why? The answer is in John 2:11, “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

And He also sanctified the marriage ceremony by being there and performing this miracle. Marriage is a sacred union and it is, two becoming one in the sight of God. That's why God hates divorce. How fitting was it that the first miracle was at a marriage, because God likens His relationship to the church as that of a bridegroom and a bride.

Just last week we saw how Jesus was told that they ran out of wine at the wedding. And we also saw the response from Jesus towards His mother. Remember that He called her ‘woman’ instead of ‘mother’ so that we can see now that He no longer emphasized his human relationship with her but now as part of His public ministry He emphasized that He was the Son of God, the Messiah.

So let us read what happens next. John 2:6 -11, “Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.

“9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” 11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

Now before we look at verse 6, let’s briefly read again what Jesus said in verse 4, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” What would you have done if Jesus said that to you? Did not Jesus refuse to help? Well, Mary got that no-message from Jesus in verse 4 and yet in verse 5 she said to the servants, `Whatever He says to you, do it.'"

She knew He was going to act even though she got a no-message. You know what she did? Listen to this, she read a yes in His no, do you see? He said I'll do it when I'm ready, no, I’ll do it when My time comes. But Mary went ahead anyway and said “when He tells you what to do, do it.” She read a yes in His no.

Martin Luther commented on this as follows, "In our prayers whenever God says no, it could mean ‘not yet’ and so there might be a latent ‘yes’ there." And for every no that God gives there might be a yes somewhere else. Remember David? David said, "God, I'm living in a house of cedar, while You are living in a tent. Let me build You a temple, God, please."

God says, no, I don't want you to, David, you're a man of blood. And David's heart was shattered. That's right. But then God said would you like a yes to go with that no? How would you like an eternal Davidic kingdom? You can't build Me a house but how would You like an everlasting throne? Then God gave David the Davidic Covenant.

You see, whenever God gives a no, do not give up. If you pray to God for one thing and God shuts the door and says no, look around there's a yes somewhere other place. God Himself teaches us in James 5:16 that “the effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” And 1 John 5:14 says, “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” And Mary read a latent yes in the no.

Now let us look at the supply, we've seen the scene, the situation, now look at the supply and this is very obvious as we look at verses 6 to 10 as we look at the narrative of what happened. "And there were set there six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews."

Now you remember the Jews went through ceremonial cleansing. Before you ate you washed your hands and it wasn't the fact of dirt so much as it was part of a ceremonial cleansing and washing their feet too. Now in order to accommodate all the guests at this big wedding, there had to be a whole lot of water pots. So there were six of them in which the people could purify their hands before they started to eat.

Mark 7:3 says, "For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands observing the traditions of the elders," see. So they were there for that purpose. Now these pots were quite large. It says in the original that they contained two or three ferkins apiece.

Now that strange word "ferkin" is approximately eight and a half gallons which means that each one of those water pots held somewhere between 17 and 25 gallons of water. And if there were six of them, that means there were approximately a hundred to a hundred and fifty gallons of water available when those pots were filled to the brim.

Now in verse 7 Jesus says to them, "Fill the water pots with water, and they filled them to the brim, so there could be nothing added to the water." Now think about that. That's not an easy job, they didn't just take it under the faucet, there was no faucet. There must have been a spring or a well somewhere and a lot of servants had to go traipsing around with whatever they used to carry it and fill up all those water pots.

And they got them all full to the brim, and I don't know what those servants were thinking but I can imagine. In verse 8 Christ said to the servants, "Draw some out now and give it to the master of the feast and they brought it to him." Now the master of the feast is the word architriklinos in Greek and it means head waiter or master waiter.

And he was responsible for all the guests and the seating and all the food and drinks and making sure that everybody was well supplied with everything. And so they took it to him to let him know that they had wine. And so in verse 9, he tastes it and he thinks that's the greatest wine, down in verse 10, that he's ever tasted. Where has it been? You've been serving us the worst first. You can imagine when Christ made that wine, it was good, I mean, it was really really good.

The miracle was the water became wine. Look at verse 9 and 10, "When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine," it just says it was, it doesn't tell how it was, it just says it was. "And he did not know where it was from, the servants knew. He calls the bridegroom in and says...Boy, this is terrific, most people give the good wine first and the bad wine at the end, you've reversed it and this is great."

The miracle was that Christ eliminated all of the natural necessary processes and just changed water into wine. Let's think about this miracle a bit like a modern scientist would. Where does wine come from? Grapes. Where do grapes come from? Vines. Well where do vines come from? Seeds and little vines. Well how do they grow? In the earth. Well what makes them grow? Water and sunlight.

But not this wine, this wine didn't come from any grapes. There never were any grapes. You say, "Wine has to come from grapes." Nope, no grapes here. I'm sure somebody thought, "I wonder where such tasteful grapes were grown." There never were any grapes. No grapes, no vines, no seeds, no dirt, no sun, no water, just wine.

That brothers and sisters, is a true miracle. Christ created wine out of nothing. He eliminated water and created wine. There never were any grapes. There never were any vines. There was no field. Nobody planted them. Nobody cultivated and nobody pressed them down. No. You see, that's a creative miracle, isn't it? Absolutely.

Parallel to this, remember the feeding of the five thousand? Who caught the fish? Nobody. What ocean did they come from? They never swam. Did they have mother and father fish? Nope. What did they eat when they were growing? They never ate. Well who cooked them? Nobody, they were already prepared.

Well what about the loaves of bread, who had the field where the grain grew? Nobody had a field. There was no field. Well who planted the grain? There was no grain. Well who harvests it? Nobody harvests it, there wasn't any grain, there wasn't any field. Well who cooked the loaves? Nobody did, nobody ever rolled the dough or cooked the loaves. That's a creative miracle. Jesus created the fish and created the loaves of bread out of nothing.

Do you know that when you're dealing with Jesus Christ you are dealing with the Creator of the universe? And then some person with a pea brain comes along and says, "Wow, it happened like this, there never was a God, once there was a puddle and lots of electricity and there suddenly was a one-cell thing..."

Don't come to me with any of that nonsense. Evolution cannot explain Christ the Creator. Evolution cannot explain something that comes out of nothing. Christ made wine out of nothing. It's no problem for Him to start with nothing and make a whole world full of everything. The Bible begins with the miracle of God creating the universe before there was anything!

You have just a little creation right there in Cana. No grapes, no vines, no nothing. And you yourself are probably a living illustration that He can make something out of nothing, too. And I mean that in terms of 2 Corinthians 5:17 where it says, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation." And so am I and so are you if you believe. Jesus Christ is the master creator, He needs nothing.

Well the master waiter was really impressed in verse 9 and he didn't really know where it came from but he was glad that they had kept it till the last. The thing that interests me is what about these servants. You see that little parenthesis? "But the servants who drew the water knew." I wonder why that's included there because when you go down to verse 12 and Jesus leaves this wedding; none of these servants followed Him, just His family and His six disciples.

Now if these servants knew and witnessed this miracle, how come they didn't pick up and follow Jesus Christ? I mean, they saw something unexplainable, they witnessed a creative miracle, right? I’m curious to know what that did to their hearts. But nobody followed Him from that wedding.

How could they miss the Messiah? How could they see a miracle like that and not see who He was? Well, I ask myself that same question every time I preach the gospel. How can people hear who Jesus Christ is and still walk away from Him? This is just the old story of Satan, the god of this world has blinded the minds that do not believe, lest the glorious light of the gospel of Christ should shine on them.

We know the servants did not go with Jesus when He left, they saw the miracle but it didn't matter. Remember a prophet is without honor in His own place. They probably thought to themselves, "Oh, there must be some explanation, this is only Jesus, His mother is Mary and He's been living here for 30 years."

Do you know that his own brothers did not believe that Jesus was the Christ until after the resurrection of Jesus? Even the miracles where He showed total control of all forces in the universe, even bringing back to life Lazarus, and all the teachings did not convince them that Jesus was God.

But look lastly at the significance in verse 11 just briefly. What was the significance of this miracle? Verse 11, "This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory," that's the significance of it. What was the result of such significance? “His disciples believed Him.” No miracle goes without result.

Oh, yes those servants didn't go along with it but those disciples really got their faith confirmed, didn't they? They got rooted. They had heard that He was the Messiah, now they saw proof of that. And Jesus showed them His glory. He let them see a dazzling glimpse of who He really was. That's why He did it, for them. You see, even miracles don't bring people to Jesus Christ unless they're drawn already by God the Father.

In fact, miracles might convince unbelievers to believe in Satan. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 says, “the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish.” Satan can even do supernatural signs in Revelation 13:13-14, “It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth.”

Are you a disciple already? Do you already love Christ? Then if you already His disciple does this miracle make Him mean more to you than He has before? It did to these disciples. It did to me. I hope that when you've seen the creating Christ here, He means more to you than He did before you heard this.

He supplies every need, doesn't He? You say, "Well I'm not a disciple." Well did you see Him for who He is then? Did you see Him as the Son of God? That's who He is. You just saw His deeds right in those 11 verses. Did you see His glory? Did you catch the dazzle of His brilliance? He's the miracle worker.

He's the one who creates without the aid of anything. And He who turned water into wine can also turn your death into life. He can turn your sorrow into joy; He can turn your pain into peace. He can turn your sin into righteousness. He can turn your judgment into glorification. He can create in you a clean heart. He can make you new.

And if He hasn't brought that miracle of creation in your life, I hope that this evening that you'll meet Him as Savior and let Him recreate you. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120129 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000121 imblog

John 2:1-5

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Now after giving us some testimonies, John turns in the beginning of chapter 2 to the works of Christ because the deeds and the works of Christ also tell us that He is God. It's not just the testimony of other people that is important, but it's the testimony of Christ's life, His words, His personality, His divine knowledge, His actions and the miracles He performed that is the real proof. All of these things prove to us that Christ indeed was God in a human body.

Now in order to confirm this, John in the book of John gives us eight different sign miracles that Christ performs. All these eight miracles are different. Christ healed many blind people, John only records one. Christ fed the multitudes at least twice that we know of, John records only one. He merely takes illustrations from the variety of miracles that Christ performed to show us that indeed Christ is God.

The first miracle is turning water into wine in John 2. The second one is healing the nobleman's son in chapter 4. The third one is curing the paralytic in chapter 5. Then in chapter 6 there are two, the feeding of the 5,000 and walking on the Sea of Galilee. In chapter 9 the sixth one, giving sight to the blind and in chapter 11 the seventh one, raising Lazarus. And the eighth one is in chapter 21 where Christ provided fish for the nets of the disciples.

There is no duplication in these. Why did Christ do these miracles? The answer is in right in this story in chapter 2:11, “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” He wanted to show us His deity by His miracles. Glory means Deity.

Glory means all that God is, in all of His character, in all of His person and in all of His attributes. And Jesus wanted to reveal by His miracles that He was God in control of nature, in control of all of the forces of the universe. And so John here presents eight miracles, guided by the Holy Spirit, to verify to us that Christ is God.

From chapter 2 to chapter 12 we find the public ministry of Jesus to the Jews. From chapter 13 to 17 there is no public ministry, it is all a private ministry with the disciples. He takes them aside in these chapters to get them ready because He's going to go away. Then in chapter 18 to 20 He leaves. So the book of John is divided in to three categories: 1st, public ministry, 2nd, His private ministry with His own, and then last from 18 to 20, His final departure.

So tonight we are beginning His public ministry and we see the first miracle that He performed on earth. His first public act to reveal His true glory. Now please notice four things in this text: the scene, the situation, the supply and the significance. We’ll discuss the first two tonight and the last two next Sunday.

First the scene in verse 1, "And the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee." Now what does the third day refer to? It basically says that there were three days between the time that Christ had called Philip and Nathanael until this wedding.

Now Cana of Galilee was approximately 22 miles away, so it took them a couple of days to get there. Jesus and His six new disciples had journeyed from the banks of the Jordan. Cana was a little village about nine miles from Nazareth. In fact, some writers say that you could see Cana on a clear day. Nazareth was the town where Christ had lived His 30 years so far and all His family was there, His sisters and brothers and relatives.

So they arrived in Cana of Galilee and there was a wedding there. Now the second part of verse 1 says, "And the mother of Jesus was there." In fact, some Bible scholars feel there's a family relationship because you see Mary as kind of an assistant to the host. It is very interesting that Christ would choose to do His first miracle right here.

Christ at this point is moving away from that isolated family life into the public limelight. And He does His first miracle right at that initial point where He's still got the family and yet He's opening up that public ministry. So this miracle is almost a royal farewell to His family. He does the miracle right there where they are in view of them and from there He moves out.

Where was Joseph? Well after the time of Christ in Jerusalem at the age of 12, we don't ever hear about Joseph again. Once Christ said in Luke 2:49, "I must be about My Father's business," Joseph was not discussed anymore. Some believe that Joseph had died by the time you get to the marriage at Cana. We know that Joseph was dead by the time Jesus was crucified because Christ would not have committed his mother Mary to John.

Now a wedding in Israel was a big thing. In fact, the biggest thing going in those days were weddings. When a man and his wife came together, that union entertained practically the whole community. A wedding normally would begin on a Wednesday with a very luxurious feast and following that there would always be the ceremony of the wedding itself.

And it would last anywhere from two to seven days, depending upon how wealthy they were. You just said goodbye to your job, you dropped all the worry about the crops, you went over to the house and you had a great time for a week. In fact, the bride and the bridegroom would have been betrothed to each other long before this but they didn't really live together until the wedding ceremony.

And each night was a festive occasion and very often night by night they would dress the bride and the bridegroom in their bridal robes and with a lot of people carrying a lot of torches they would parade them through town singing songs. They were treated like a king and a queen. And in a life where there was much poverty and much hard work, this was truly a refreshing festival of joy in those days.

Jesus and His disciples got an invitation to the marriage. You say, "Well how could the disciples get an invitation to the marriage when they just got called three days before and they didn't have a post office or a letter carrier, I mean, they just have been walking from Jordan over there, how could they get an invitation?"

Christ, of course, knew that He was going to Cana to perform this miracle. Obviously because He is all-knowing. And sometime when they got to Nazareth, His home, someone extended an invitation to go on down to Cana because there was a marriage there and His mother was there. So Jesus having been invited, along with the disciples, went down to the marriage at Cana.

Now Christ's presence at this marriage is very important. By Christ doing a miracle to ensure the success of the marriage ceremony, He is sanctifying marriage and the ceremony itself. Marriage is a sacred union and it is, two becoming one in the sight of God. That's why God hates divorce. In fact, in Genesis 5 when Adam and Eve were brought together to become one, God referred to them together as Adam, not the Adams...they were one. Marriage was designed by God.

I sometimes hear today in the marriage counseling that the ceremony is immaterial, that if you just love somebody, what's marriage, it's just a piece of paper. Perhaps the most significant reason why the ceremony is important is that in the Bible a ceremony was always a part of marriage, both in the Old Testament and New Testament.

Jesus Christ Himself sanctified the ceremony. It was a clear honest testimony before God and the world of the intent of one man and one woman to live together with the promise of fidelity and godliness. And it was a statement to the world of that promise. A marriage ceremony is a sacred promise before God.

To go into a union without a marriage ceremony would be foolish because it would eliminate a tremendous motive and restraint to make things work out if there's trouble. The vows to each other with God as a witness give a strong motive to make things work when there are differences. And people who get married without the ceremony aren't really married before God, and so they're committing adultery.

So Christ sanctified many events of life. And He entered in to the trials and tribulations of life to show how to purify the daily life of man. How fitting was it that the first miracle was at a marriage, because of His own likening of His relationship to the church as that of a bridegroom and a bride. Some day when Christ comes to take us to be with Him in heaven, we're going to have a ceremony too called “the marriage supper of the Lamb”.

Now look at the situation in verses 3 to 5, where this problem came up. "And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Now wine was a staple drink in those days. I've heard people say, "Well, you have to remember, the wine wasn't fermented." Oh yes it was. You try to make grape juice without refrigerators or preservatives, it fermented fast. It was a hot area. In fact, back as far as Genesis 14:18, you remember Melchizedek showed up and brought bread and wine.

They didn't have a purification process, so water was worse to drink than wine. And wine was even used with milk, and, of course, milk was used much with children as it is today. But wine was the staple drink then and it could be the wine from many different kinds of fruit, but primarily from grapes because they lend themselves so well to the production of wine.

Now because there were no preservatives the wine did ferment and developed into a drink with high alcohol content. In fact in the time of Christ, wine was often a mixture of three parts water for every two parts of wine in order to eliminate this problem of drunkenness.

Especially on a hot day, when a man would be working hard and wanted to quench his thirst, it would be easy for him to become intoxicated with wine and out of control. So the Bible has stringent rules on drinking wine and drunkenness, both in the Old Testament and New Testament.

So Mary told Jesus that they were running out of wine. Now she didn't say, "Please go down and do this, Jesus, and do that and the other," no, she just told Him because she knew that Jesus would do what He wanted and she knew that He had the power to do anything.

You might say, "But this after all is just such a trivial miracle. Jesus is going to provide a lot of wine for a party, that's all?" Is that really a trivial miracle? Number one, hospitality in the east is very important and this was an important occasion and these were thirsty people and this was a real need. Secondly, it was a miracle of love, wasn't it? The host was embarrassed and people were thirsty. Christ was providing for a simple need.

Have you ever noticed that the miracles of Christ were always simple miracles? I used to think about the miracles that Jesus could have done. He could have walked into Jerusalem and just motioned and everybody in the city would have gone 40 feet up in the air and just been suspended there for a day and said, "Now I'll let you down when you believe that I'm Messiah."

Jesus Christ could have pulled off some miracle that absolutely would shatter all the concepts you have in your brain. But He never did. He never did anything for the sake of sensation. Every miracle He ever did had an inherent need, didn't it? There was a blind man who needed to see. There was a paralytic who couldn't walk. There were some hungry people who needed to be fed.

You see, He never wasted His power, He always did a miracle and it was always a beautiful simple miracle to give somebody something they needed. It was the beauty of the Savior meeting man on the simplest level of his life and supplying his simplest need. Does that teach you something about Christ in your life as a Christian? He literally moves creation to supply the simplest need. Does Christ really supply our food and our needs, do we believe that?

Now look at verse 4, Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” Now I want to break this up so you can see it. The first thing He says to her is "Woman," Now you say that sounds a little bit cold, I mean, after all, this is His dear mother. No she isn't, not really.

What is He saying? This word “woman” is a very interesting word, it's the same word that Jesus used on the cross when He said, "Woman, behold your son," and committed her to John. Do you know what it means? If we could put it into an English word it would be the word in its most grandiose concept, the word "lady." It's an exalted word, lady.

"Well why does Jesus not call her mother?" Had Jesus called her mother, He would have been emphasizing His human relationship to her. But when He called her “lady”, in effect He was saying, I'm God. You see, Mary was not only the mother of Jesus Christ humanly, but Mary was also a lady who needed Jesus Christ to be her Redeemer, and her Savior.

And Jesus is pointing that out at this time. In effect, He is saying, "Mary, the human relationship is over. I'm leaving this private life; you're now talking to the Son of God. It's no longer ‘mother’, from now on I’ll always call you ‘woman’.

And then He says this, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?" What does that mean? In Greek it literally means, "What is there for you and Me?" In other words, "What do we have in common? What are you, a woman, telling Me the Son of God that I have to do? Are we working together, you a woman and Me God? Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

You think Mary got the message? Sure she got the message. The next verse she said, “Whatever He says to you, do it." She knew Jesus was going to do something. Do you understand that His relationship with Mary as a mother and son was now different? Do you remember in Mark 3:31-35 when Jesus was teaching? His mother showed up and they said, "Go in and tell Jesus that His Mother is calling you."

And Jesus said, "Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?" And the people looked around at each other in amazement. And then He said this, "He that does the will of My Father is My brother and My sister and mother." In other words, the supernatural divine relationship had totally superseded any human relationship.

He says, "My hour is not yet come." You know, that's an interesting statement because that statement is repeated seven times in the gospel of John. Christ had a total awareness of the fact that He was on a divine schedule decreed by God before the foundation of the world. And nothing will happen that is not in the fullness of time, nothing. And He said when that moment comes, I'll act. Do you believe in Him? He is truly God, Amen? Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120122 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000122 imblog

John 1:38-42

Salvation is both an historic fact that happens in time and at the same time an eternal choice that happened before time began. In Scripture we sometimes read about the human side of salvation, the idea that whoever wants to come to Christ may, and that is true. For Jesus said in John 6:37, "and the one that comes to Me I will by no means cast out."

But more often in Scripture we read of the divine side, election before the world began. "All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me," is the other side of the verse I just quoted. And so, salvation is a balance between the will of God and the will of man. Salvation is the will of God in action, bringing about a response from the will of man.

Salvation always demands a divine initiative. Man could not design to die himself for his own sin, God has to do that. The grace, mercy, forgiveness and love that initiated salvation had to come from God, yet it demands a human response. Salvation is the work of God and at the same time it is the activity of man as he responds to the work of God in his heart.

We are saved by the sovereign act of God, and we are also saved by an act of our will. We don't attempt to justify the two; we accept them both because they are biblical. From my own standpoint, when I came to Jesus Christ I came to Him because I wanted Him as an act of my will. But what I didn't know at that time is that prior to the time that I decided that, God had long before chosen me in Him.

And that is exactly what salvation is. It is my will responding to the will of God. And those are the two sides of salvation. That's the balance. I do not of my own will seek God, says Paul, until God has sought me. Augustine said, "We will never seek Christ unless God had already found us."

And so, Scripture presents two sides to salvation, the balance between the seeking soul and the seeking Savior. And we shall see it tonight as we examine our text for in verses 38 to 42 we have the emphasis on the seeking soul and next Sunday in verses 43 to 51, we have the emphasis on the seeking Savior.

Now we see Jesus Christ calling out two groups of disciples. These are the first two groups of disciples that He ever called and there are six in all. Remember that the Apostle John is writing this gospel to present Christ as the Son of God. So from this first group of disciples before John the Apostle leaves, he collects their testimonies as to who Christ is.

Now we have already met one witness, John the Baptist, right? He said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." When he met Christ he witnessed as to who He was. Now we are about to meet the next two disciples of Christ introduced in verses 35-37, “Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.”

So at the end of verse 37 they move toward Christ and the whole picture changes. John the Baptist fades from the scene and we begin the narrative of Christ at verse 38. Now we're going to see the two sides of salvation and the balance of salvation, the seeking soul and the seeking Savior.

Notice first the seeking soul in verses 38 to 42. In verse 38 we read this, "Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them," stop right there. Here we are introduced to the seeking soul. We have heard nothing about the Father drawing them, yet Jesus says in John 6:44, “no man can come to Me unless the Father draws him.”

Nobody comes to Jesus Christ unless he's been convicted by the Holy Spirit he is a sinner. We don't even hear about that. Did it happen? It certainly did, the Father drew them. They were convicted of their sin and they knew they needed a Messiah. Now John wants us to see the human side of salvation, the seeking soul.

Now they were probably shy, I mean they wouldn't just walk up to Him and start a conversation. Maybe they just couldn't believe who He was. I don't know what the reason was but they just kind of followed along. And then Jesus did something, He turned around to face them and He said something to them.

Jesus was opening the door to their salvation, in effect. And here again you have the divine initiative. A man could try to follow Jesus Christ for a long time, but if Jesus never turned to talk to him he'd never know salvation. So even here is an indication of the seeking Savior which is developed further in verses 43 to 51.

This is a beautiful realization that where there is an honest soul, Christ will meet that soul. Please don’t ever forget this principle; we're going to see it in Scripture right here and in a couple of other passages that are really critical. If you don't come to Jesus Christ honestly, He won't meet you. And I'll show you what I mean by that.

When the soul of man is really honest, Jesus knows that, that's why He said to Nathanael in John 1:47, "There is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." Sure Nathaniel said in verse 46, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" That wasn't sarcastic, he was honest.

So when a man really comes searching for Jesus Christ, God will reveal it to him because he wouldn't be searching unless God had already drawn him. He wouldn't be coming because natural man is bent toward sin and does not seek God, Romans 3, unless God spins him around and turns him toward Himself.

And when a person says I want to know myself, I want forgiveness, I want freedom from guilt, I want to repent of my old life, I want peace, love, joy and meaning in life, Christ will turn and meet him. So when somebody comes to me and says, "Well I'm trying, I'd like to give my life to Christ but I can't seem to find it," I'll say, "Well okay, what are you holding back? Level with me because you're not being totally honest.”

If you really want to know Jesus Christ and you really want to be what He wants you to be, He'll meet you in that moment with all your doubts, with all your misunderstandings. When a heart longs sincerely to meet the Christ in a real experience of salvation, He will not disappoint. And so Jesus didn't leave these two fumbling, He turned.

And just the opposite was true in John 2:23-25 and I want you to see what Jesus does with the insincere hearts. “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.” There's a difference between believing easily and receiving sincerely. They weren't ready to repent; they just followed Him like those the two disciples.

You might say, surely He turned to them also. No He did not, look at verse 24, “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man.” He knew everything that was in their hearts and that they weren't really honest. Verse 25 continued, “for He knew what was in a man.”

You see, Jesus does not commit Himself to an insincere heart. And if you're searching hypocritically for Jesus Christ and you can't seem to find Him, it's not because He doesn't want you to find Him, it's because if you're not sincere He can't meet you. And so the honest heart is a prepared heart.

Remember the time that Jesus fed the multitude and then He went across the sea and they all followed Him. I heard a preacher say, "Isn't that wonderful? He had given them food, He had met their need and they all followed Him." No they didn't follow Jesus; they followed Him because they just wanted more food. Oh yes, there were a lot of hypocrites.

Jesus said to the Jews in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call Me Lord, Lord and not do the things which I say?" A lot of hypocrites followed Him who just wanted to see what He did. They never wanted to commit their lives to Him and that same crowd also ended up killing Him after that Palm Sunday.

And there are also people in church like that. They like to think of church as a facility where they can meet friends and have parties and just think, it doesn't even cost as much as the YMCA, and that way they can sprinkle “a little divine salt” on their human activity. And then they wonder why nothing ever happens to change their lives.

If all you want out of the church is entertainment and friends and parties, then you've got the wrong idea of what the church is all about. Jesus Christ knows who the honest seekers are. He knows the real searching soul because that soul has already been prompted by God the Father and convicted by the Holy Spirit and Jesus knows all that.

So Jesus says to them in verse 38, "What do you seek?" Well if He knows everybody heart what's He asking them that for? You see, He's not asking them for His benefit, He's asking them for their own benefit. What are you coming after Me for?

It does not say if Jesus asked that question of Judas or not, but Judas was in it for the money. And we know he didn't end too well. You’ll never be very successful when you go into the ministry to become rich. What were their motives?

I think they were a couple of simple guys trying to figure out if this was really the Messiah, and if He was, they wanted to give Him everything they were. You see, they had doubts. Isn't that a beautiful thing? You'll never know all about Jesus Christ till you actually meet Him.

Some people say, "Well once I get rid of all my complications and I really understand it, then I'll meet Christ." You'll never meet Him that way. They were puzzled but they knew that if this was Messiah they were ready to give their lives to Him right then.

What are you seeking? What do you want out of Jesus Christ? What do you want in life? Do you want self-glory, self-will, prestige, power, popularity, money and health? Sorry, Christ doesn't guarantee you any of those commodities.

What does Christ guarantee? Oh, a few things like love, peace, joy, meaning, purpose and hope. It all depends on what you want. What do you want? If you want what Christ can offer, He's there if you're honest.

They said to Christ in verse 38, "Where are You staying?" They could have said, "Could we go with You?" But they didn't say that. Maybe they were just going to find out His address and come and see Him at a later time. But look what He says in verse 39. He says to them, make an appointment next Tuesday at three. No, what does He say? "Come and see,” in other words today is the day of your salvation.

Christ is never was too busy. You never have to worry about Christ having time for you. He stood over Jerusalem and cried because they wouldn't come to Him. Jesus Christ has to worry about the whole universe and yet He's got every second of every day for me and you. Fantastic, isn't it? “Come and see.”

Listen, you can stand around and wonder who the Messiah is, you can have a lot of theological discourse about it but finally you just better go and see who He is. How do you do that? You sit down with Him and you have to spend time with Him.

Revelation 3:20 says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear My voice and open the door, I'll come in and have supper with Him and he with Me." You want to get to know Him, meet Him. You can stand on the outside looking in but you miss the whole point. Come with your doubts and invite Christ to be real to you and He will be.

John 1:39, “They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).” They saw a lot more than the house that He happened to be using for that day because the next day He left for another place. It's a good thing that they saw Him not only physically but also spiritually.

At the end of verse 39 it said, "Now it was about the tenth hour," Why does it say that? Who cares what time it was? Who wrote this letter? John. So you know who cares what time it was? John does. Why? Because ten o'clock one January morning on a Galilean day his life got transformed. John is writing about this 60 years later. What happened at ten o'clock, John? Everything happened. At ten o'clock that day, John said, my life changed drastically.

For me it happened at seven o'clock at night on a summer day in 1994 in Denver, that I met the Lord Jesus. I had just been through a divorce and a break-up of my firm and family, and when God got ready to talk to me He made sure I listened. And it was that day at seven o'clock that I met Jesus Christ, the dividing line in my life. I'll never forget that, neither could John.

Salvation is no religious process, it is a historical event. It may take time for the Holy Spirit to bring you to that point but when it happens it happens. I believe John always uses Roman time (same as our time). You'll find it again in the times around the cross. John will differ with the other writers and that’s why some translations are wrong. If you take it as Roman time it's ten o'clock in the morning. The reason that makes sense is that they stayed with Him the rest of that day.

Verse 40 tells us who one of them was. "One of the two who heard John (the Baptist) speak and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." So we automatically know the other disciple was John the Apostle because he never mentions his name. He never even mentions his family’s name. But we know it is John.

Now Andrew was Simon Peter's brother. If we didn't call him as Peter's brother, nobody would known him because he is not mentioned much but everyone knows Peter. Andrew just was always in the background but there's something great about Andrew. The three times we read about him in the Bible, he's always doing the same thing.

He is bringing somebody to Jesus. Here he goes and gets Peter. In John 6 he goes and gets the little boy with the fishes and he brings him to Jesus. And later on in John 12:22 he gets some Gentiles and brings them also to Jesus.

Watch this now in verse 41, He says, "Simon, we have found the Messiah." He doesn't beat around the bush. And we read it in Psalm 2:2, God's anointed Son, the King of Israel, we've found Him. The search is over. Centuries of waiting for David's greater Son are over, He's here now.

Well, what happens when the seeking soul finds the object of his search? Well Andrew did not stop searching. He found Christ and then he took his brother to Him. And that is exactly what we should do also. How about you? Are you also bringing others to Jesus? Let us continue next Sunday to learn more of the divine side of salvation. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 08 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120108 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000123 imblog

John 1:19-37

We are beginning a different type of study tonight. We have studied the book of Romans in the past which is doctrine. We have studied 1 and 2 Peter recently which are doctrine in many ways as well as practical areas. And we have also been teaching doctrine in the first part of John's gospel just a few weeks ago. And now for really the first time we shall approach a narrative passage. And for the rest of the gospel of John we will be dealing with narrative.

We'll be reading the account of the life of Christ presented by John as the Son of God. John does not concern himself with Christ as man so much. He does not concern himself with Christ's relation to Israel as Matthew does. But he concerns himself with proving by the use of many witnesses that Christ is indeed the very Son of God, God in a body.

That's John's message. And now as we look at verse 19 we see the historical narrative of Christ's ministry. John did not discuss the first 30 years of the life of Christ because it had no relationship to His ministry and He did not present Himself as the Son of God until He began His ministry.

Now his purpose is stated in John 20:31 where John says he's presenting Christ as the Son of God in order that men might believe. That's John's message all through this book as we shall see. He is presenting Christ the Son of God, the salvation that He offers and men who believed and then some who rejected it.

He calls on God to witness that Christ is His Son and God does. He calls on the very words of Christ and Christ admits that He's God. He says the works of Christ prove that He's God. The disciples’ lives and testimonies prove that He's God. All believers of all times by the very life they live prove that He's God, He's God in a body.

But the first witness that John the Apostle calls is John the Baptist. And anytime you see the name "John" in the gospel of John, it does not refer to John the writer who was the Apostle, the name always refers to John the Baptist because John never names himself. He always calls himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved," or "that disciple."

And so we come this evening to the witness of John the Baptist as to who Jesus Christ is. But before we begin that let's find out first who he is. John the Baptist was 29 years of age when he began. Now he was the first prophet in Israel in 400 years and they had been looking for him for a long time. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from the time he was born and it came across when he communicated.

He had this tremendous power but he did not focus on society but he identified himself with the poor. And the poor people in those days wore camel's hair and leather belts and that's what he also wore. And they ate grasshoppers and wild honey, and so that's also what he ate. And John the Baptist did what was pretty much standard stuff for poor people living in the wilderness.

And Matthew tells us in chapter 3:5-6 that everybody in Jerusalem, Judea and all the country around went out there to see John. All of a sudden this guy comes out of the wilderness and everybody's first thought is, "Wow, this just might be the Messiah...this just might be the one we've been waiting for."

And so, John was out there close to the Jordan river at a place called Bethabara or Bethany. And he was carrying on his ministry, and preached in Matthew 3:2, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” And when the Bible says "at hand" that means the next thing on God's agenda. It doesn't mean it's coming tomorrow, it doesn't mean it's coming in 4,000 years, it just means in terms of what God is doing in the world the next big event is the Kingdom of God.

And always in the Old Testament whenever the Jews talked about Messiah coming, they always had the Kingdom coming with Him. They never saw the rejection of the Messiah in the Old Testament, that's why they didn't know what to do with Isaiah 53. They couldn't figure that out, that's why the Jews when they read the Old Testament they skip Isaiah 53.

So the problem in their interpretation is that the Jew never wanted to see a Messiah who suffered. The Jew thought they needed a king, God knew they needed a Lamb. And that's why Christ came and John says, "Behold the Lamb of God." God says you can't reign with Me until you come into fellowship with Me. And that's where it all had to start.

So John was preaching, "Now get ready, the Messiah is coming quickly." And people heard this dynamic guy preaching and they were really getting penitent and repentant and they were saying, "Oh Lord, I want to be ready for the Messiah," and they were going through some spiritual cleansing in their lives.

And John was baptizing them as a symbol of that spiritual cleansing. It was not the same as a baptism after the cross, which is union with Christ in His burial and resurrection. It was John's baptism. And in case you don't believe it's different, twelve of John's disciples were re-baptized by the Apostles. It was different. John was baptizing as a symbol of the purification of the people of Israel preparing for Christ's arrival.

Now in his message here, in these verses 19 through verse 37, there are three different testimonies. And we're going to get three very important angles on who Christ is and what you are to do with Him and how you are related to Him by what John says.

Now let’s look at this first passage here, John is already at Bethany and Jesus is on his way up the Jordan Valley. He's finished His trial with Satan, been victorious, He's ready to begin His ministry and He begins it right there at Bethany with John. He also picks up His first two disciples right there.

First day, first group, first emphasis. Verse 19 says, “Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, `Who are you?'” Here representatives of the Jews show their opposition. They are opposing anybody who might change the spiritual religious status quo. They were so busy protecting Israel from false Messiahs; they also protected Israel from the true one.

Now look at John's reply to their question. And in verse 20 he confessed and said, "I am not the Christ," which is Messiah in Greek. Then they said in verse 21, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

Well why did they ask him that? In Malachi 4:5 it says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” And so they figured if Christ is coming maybe he's Elijah the forerunner to Messiah. He says no. And then they throw in this "the Prophet," and I'm not sure what they meant. But he said, "I'm not any of those people.”

In Luke 1:17 Jesus says, "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ “and so on. God sent one like Elijah who came in the same type of ministry, the same power and Christ Himself said of John the Baptist, "He is in that sense Elijah." And so he did fulfill the prophecy, but the Jews assumed that it had to mean that Elijah himself would be resurrected and come back.

And so in verse 22, they said if you're not all these things, who are you? Do you know what he says in verse 23? "I am the voice." Do you see the greatness of his humility? He says, "Who am I? I'm nobody, I'm nothing, and I’m just a voice. He's the Word; I'm the voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.”

So the first message is that He is here now. And John says prepare your heart, I'm only the voice, the Word is coming. And so in verse 24, John the Apostle says, “Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.” And in verse 25, “And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

Why did they ask him that? Listen, in the Old Testament associated with the coming of Christ was always some sort of cleansing. For example, in Ezekiel 36:25, "Christ is going to come," and he says, "I'll sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean." Also in Ezekiel 37:23 when the Messiah comes there's going to be some kind of cleansing.

And also in Zechariah 13:1 it indicates the same thing that when Messiah comes there's going to be some kind of purification, some kind of cleansing. And so the Jew in his mind associated the coming of the Messiah with some kind of cleansing and purification. And baptism was just such a symbol.

But John really minimizes his baptism, he says in verse 26, "Oh I baptize with water," you know, no big thing, just water. And then over in verse 33 he says, "You wait till the One gets here who is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Every believer at the moment that he/she receives Jesus Christ is baptized with the Holy Spirit once for all. First Corinthians 12:13 says, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." The moment you put faith in Christ you are baptized by the Spirit of God who purifies and cleanses you and makes you acceptable to God. It's not a constant happening over and over again; it's a once-for-all thing. Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at when you are saved.

John was doing a symbol, but Christ was going to do the real thing and cleanse us in deed and in truth by the Holy Spirit. So John's baptism and Christ's coming were two different things. Salvation begins with recognizing who Christ is and that He is alive.

Then in verse 27 he says, “It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” And that was the job of the lowest of the slaves in the household of untying the master's shoes. He's so great. And then in verse 28 it just says, "These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan."

Now watch his second message on the second day to the second group with the second emphasis, in verse 29. We know it's the second day because it says the next day. John sees Jesus coming unto him and says, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Notice it says sin, not sins. He doesn't take away only the symptoms of sin, He takes away the disease. You might say, "Why does he call Him the Lamb of God?" Well those Jews would have understood that, wouldn't they? They all knew that for centuries Israel had gone through sacrificing lambs.

They knew all about Abraham and Isaac and when God told Abraham that He would provide a lamb for sacrifice, they knew the Passover where a lamb's blood was shed and sprinkled on the door, the never ending slaying of the lamb for the burnt offering for sin.

And they also knew that Isaiah had prophesied that there would come a lamb who would be slaughtered, and here He is, John says. Here is the Lamb of God, the one final sacrifice. And the writer of Hebrews says that He ended sacrifice once for all by the death of Himself, the lamb.

And so God had to send a sacrifice to get rid of sin before there could be a relationship with men. Until you realize the sacrifice of Christ for your sin, there's no place for fellowship between you and God. And so God came to die on a cross as a lamb because He had to be a lamb before He could ever be a King because He'd have nobody to reign with if He didn't die for their sins.

John's first message is simple, the savior is here. His second message is: Behold Him. Do you see the difference? Here He is, now look at Him and see Him for who He really is. Do you see that this is the second step in salvation? And who is He really? And so John says behold Him, the living Word, as well as the dying lamb. And when you can see Christ as the Lamb of God, you recognize your own sin too, don't you?

And then in verse 30, "This is He of whom I said after me comes a man who is preferred before me, for He was before me." Now watch this in verse 31, "And I did not know Him." Isn't that amazing? Do you realize that John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus? Do you realize that he must have known Him for 30 years and all this time not know who He was?

You see, Christ never expressed that He is the Messiah till after His baptism. John himself didn't know. He said, watch it in verse 31, “but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

Now pay attention to what it says in verse 32, "And John bore witness saying, `I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and He remained on Him.'" One day I baptized Jesus Christ, and at the time I baptized Him I didn't know who He was. And as I was baptizing Jesus then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit descended like a dove right on Him.

You might think, "Oh sure, he knows by then." No, look at verse 33, what does it say? "And I knew Him not." He still didn't know. Ah, until, watch this, “but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”

Verse 34, “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." Do you know how John knew that He was the Son of God? One way, and one way only. God told him. Do you want to know how you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? One way, God tells you.

Remember Peter? Jesus said in Matthew 16:13-17, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

No man knows Christ unless God brings him to know Christ because depraved humanity cannot understand the things of God, they are beyond his grasp. They're foolishness to him. The natural man does not receive nor understands the things of God. The only way a man will ever know who Christ is, is by God's divine revelation. And so it was even with John.

Now the third testimony, verse 35, third day, third group, third emphasis, "Again the next day John stood and two of his disciples." Remember, John had built a following of all these people who had repented. And Jesus probably was seen walking somewhere at the other side and verse 36, "And looking upon Jesus as He walked, John said, `Behold, the Lamb of God.'"

“What does he mean?" Well look at verse 37 and you can tell what He meant by that. "And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus." You know what John says? Listen, John says first, He's here. And then, behold Him, make sure you really understand who He is. And testimony number three says follow Him.

John implies this, "Hey, guys, what are you doing standing around here? There is the Messiah. There He is. I'm nobody. You want to be hooked up with the Lamb of God, get over there." And they did. How about you? Let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20120101 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000124 imblog

Luke 2:1–20

Luke 2:1-5, “1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.”

Have you ever thought how amazing it is that God ordained beforehand that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 5 shows); and that He so ordained things that when the time came, the Messiah's mother and father were living in Nazareth?

And that in order to fulfill His word and bring two little people to Bethlehem that first Christmas, God put it in the heart of Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be enrolled each in his own town?

Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a world of seven billion people, where all the news is of big political movements and economic and social problems and of people with lots of power and prestige? If you have, don't let that make you discouraged or unhappy.

For we know from Scripture that all the grand political forces and all the giant economic powerhouses, without them even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake but for the sake of God's little people—the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

God controls the whole world to bless His children, and this is called providence. Do not think, because you experience adversity, that the hand of the Lord is shortened. It is not our prosperity but our holiness that He seeks with all his heart. And to that end, He rules the whole world.

As Proverbs 21:1 says: "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will." He is a big God for us little people, and we have to rejoice that, unbeknownst to them, all the kings and presidents and rulers of the world follow the sovereign decrees of our Father in heaven, so that we, the children, might be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Calvary Road Luke 2:6–7, “6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Now you would think that if God so rules the world as to use an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, He surely could have ordained that a room was available in the inn. Yes, He could have.

And Jesus also could have been born into a wealthy family. He could have turned stone into bread in the wilderness. He could have called 10,000 angels to His aid in garden of Gethsemane. He could have come down from the cross and saved himself.

The question is not what God could do, but what He wants to do. God's will was that though Christ was rich, yet for your sake He became poor. The "No Vacancy" signs over all the motels in Bethlehem were for your sake and mine. 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For your sake He became poor."

God rules all things—even motel capacities—for the sake of His children. The Calvary road begins with a "No Vacancy" sign in Bethlehem and ends with the spitting and insults and the cross in Jerusalem.

And we must not forget that Jesus said in Matthew 16:24: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." We join him on the Calvary road and hear Him say in John 15:20: "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

To the one who calls out enthusiastically: "I will follow you wherever you go!" Jesus responds in Matthew 8:20, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Yes, God could have seen to it that Jesus have a plush room at his birth. But that would have been a detour off the Calvary road.

Fear Not Luke 2:8–11, “8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

The angel said to Zechariah: "Fear not!" He said it to Mary: "Fear not!" And now he says it to the shepherds: "Fear not!" It's a natural thing for a sinner to fear. The more guilt we have, the more things we fear: fear of being found out for some deceit, fear that some ache and pain we have is God's judgment, fear of dying and meeting the holy God face to face.

But even though it's natural, God sends Jesus with the word: Fear not! Hebrews 2:14 says: Jesus became man "that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death have been held in lifelong bondage."

Doesn't this phrase liberate you in your daily life? If the worst fear—fear of death—has been taken away through the death of Christ, then surely God does not want us to fear the lesser things in life: job insecurity, having your savings dwindle, failing a test in school, being rejected by your friends, etc.

The message of Christmas is fear not! God is ruling the world for the greater good of his children. Believe his promises in Isaiah 41:10: "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall wear . . . Cast all your anxieties on God because he cares for you . . . Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?"

Rejoice! And in the place of fear Jesus puts joy. Faith in Jesus without joy is a contradiction in terms. Paul summed up the goal of his ministry like this: "for the advancement and joy of your faith." And he told the Philippians and Thessalonians, "Rejoice always, and again I will say rejoice."

Always? Yes. Not without tears of grief and pain. When my father died, I grieved. But I also had hope. And while it is very hard to describe, there was a kind of joy in God and his sovereign goodness that later on at his funeral I experienced. It is not wrong to be sad (weep with those who weep), but there is a special joy rooted in God's rule of love.

Peace for Whom? Luke 2:12–14, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

Who is this peace for? There is a somber note at the end of the angels' praise. Peace among men with whom He is pleased. Without faith it is impossible to please God. So Christmas does not bring peace to all, only for those who believe in Jesus.

"This is the judgment," Jesus said in John 3:19, "that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil." Or as Simeon said in Luke 2:34 when he saw the child Jesus: "Behold this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against . . . that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

O, how many there are who look out on a bleak and chilly Christmas day and see no more than that. Oh how many people are only concerned about their own welfare and darkness of their fleeting happiness and fleeting satisfaction and peace that does not exist.

John 1:11-12 says that Jesus came to his own and his own received him not, but to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, to as many as believed on his name. It was only to his disciples that Jesus said in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

So I pray together with Paul in Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing". Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men with whom he is pleased: men who would believe.

Spreading the Light Luke 2:17–20, “17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.”

John 1: 4-7, “In Him there is life, and the life is the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light that all might believe through him.”

If you are ever granted to see that light for what it really is, you will believe it. Everybody who knows the light is like John the Baptist who said: we have seen the light and testify to it. We have been lifted out of the darkness of our sin and guilt and fear into the bright light of his grace. What else can we do but tell others and spread that light?

To symbolize the coming of the light into our dark world and the spreading of the light through the world we will spread the flame of the Christ candle through the room. Are you spreading that light? You should every day because Christmas is actually all year round! Amen?

]]> Sun, 18 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111218 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000125 imblog

John 1:14–18

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") 16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

Let me go up five steps of this “stair” with you this evening from the invisibility of God to the great Christmas truth—that we may receive (even this evening) grace upon grace from Jesus Christ. The five steps are here in this text. And we will take them one at a time.

1. God Is Invisible. The first and lowest step in our stair of five steps is that God is invisible. Verse 18: "No one has ever seen God." Is it foolish to deny what we cannot see? It is common to hear in school, “I have to see it to believe it”, right?

There is a video called "Abortion for Survival." It is a powerful visual statement of why pro-abortionists think abortion is necessary as a means of birth control especially in poor countries. The many miseries caused by unwanted pregnancies among the poor are all graphically portrayed.

The reality of the unborn child was never referred to in the video. The tacit assumption was that it didn't exist. Why? Because you can't see the child. At some points in the film they took a large syringe and squirted a bloody mass into a dish and said something like, "This is the result of an eight week abortion; hardly a child."

Why? Because the invisibility of the unborn child is a great help in building up faith in the baby's non-existence or insignificance. It's the same approach that Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut, used in 1961 when he said in space, "I don't see any God out here."

So when John says in verse 18: "No one has ever seen God," he poses a problem. If we can't see Him, how can we know Him? That's step number one in the flight of five stairs in this text: God is invisible.

2. God Revealed Himself in the Law of Moses. The second step is this: God revealed himself in the Law of Moses before he revealed himself in the Lord Jesus. This is found in verse 17. Let's read verses 16 and 17, “16And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Does that mean that the Law of Moses is contrary to grace and truth—that the law is not gracious and not truthful? No, that’s not it. What verse 17 says is that before the reality—the embodiment— of grace and truth came through Jesus, a witness to that reality came through the Law of Moses.

The reason verse 17 does not make a contrast between the Law of Moses and Jesus is because of what John says about Moses and the law in other places. For example, in John 3:14-15 he says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." Here Moses does something gracious and truthful that points to the grace and truth of Jesus.

Another example is John 5:46-47 where Jesus says, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" Here Moses is in harmony with Jesus and writing truth about Jesus and his grace.

Finally in John 6:32 Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." This means that the manna in the wilderness was a gracious gift of God, but it was not the true bread. It was not the reality of grace itself. It was only a witness to the grace that is to come, a foretaste of Christ.

So John's point in verse 17 ("The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ") is that the law was not the reality—the embodiment—of grace and truth themselves, Jesus was. The law was only a witness to grace and truth. Jesus was the fulfillment of the law of Moses.

That's step number two in our stair of five steps. First, God is invisible. Second, God revealed himself in the law of Moses before he revealed himself in the Lord Jesus.

3. God became human. The third step of our stair is this: God became human. Verse 14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Now to understand the full force of that verse you have to go back to verse 1: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

The Word was God and the Word became flesh. If the Word was God and the Word became flesh, then God became flesh. God became human. Jesus Christ was God and Jesus Christ became human.

John MacArthur says it like this: “That says infinity became finite. That says eternity got squeezed into time. That says essentially God became man, the invisible became visible. The supernatural reduced itself to confinement in the natural.”

Now the Jews knew what the Word of the Lord was. The Word of the Lord was the transmission of God's mind and God's thought and God's reasoning and all that God was to men. And so all John is saying is that transmission in the Old Testament called the Word of God has now come into the form of a body, and that body is Christ.

Now he says the Word became flesh. The mind and will and dynamic and power of God became embodied in Jesus. And this concept for some people is too much to handle. It is really a difficult thing to fit into your mind, how something infinitely transcendent like God can reduce Himself to a man? How could and why would God become a person? And why would the creator become a part of His creation?

We as people have a time/space confinement. Now outside our little box is the supernatural world and that's where God is. Now the dilemma of man is, if he can't escape his little box, what is he going to do to find God? How am I going to get out there because I have this longing inside of me that He exists? How can I discover Him?

Listen, if man can't get out to find God, what has to happen? God has to come in the box. Did He ever do it? Yes, in the form of Jesus Christ. You know what that is? That's God the supernatural bringing the supernatural reality to man. And He came and Jesus was God in human flesh. And thus the Word became flesh.

When Christ became man He didn't stop being God, anymore than a woman when she becomes a mother stops being a wife. And so it is that when Jesus Christ became flesh, the word is used in that sense, He became flesh in the sense that He was still all that He was as God, but He just added to it the total dimension of humanity.

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The word for "dwelt" is the word for "set up a tent" in Greek. I used to think that implied mainly that he was here only temporarily. But when I looked up all the places this word occurs in the New Testament, I found that it doesn't imply temporary status.

For example, in Revelation 21:3 where the eternal new heavens and new earth are described, it says, "Behold the dwelling [tent!] of God is with men. He will dwell [pitch his tent!] with them, and they shall be his people."

What pitching a tent with us implies is that God wants to be on familiar terms with us. He wants to be close. He wants a lot of interaction. If you come into a community and build a huge palace with a high wall around it, it says that you really do not want to be with the people.

But if you pitch a tent in my backyard, you will probably use my bathroom and eat often at my table. This is why God became human. He came to pitch a tent in our human backyard so that we would have a lot of dealings with Him.

That's the third step in our stair. First, God is invisible. Second, God revealed himself in the law of Moses before he revealed himself in the Lord Jesus. Third, God became human and set up his tent among us.

4. In Jesus We See God. The fourth step is that in Jesus we see God. Verse 14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Notice: "we have seen his glory." Who does "his" refer to? It refers to the Word. "The Word became flesh, and we beheld HIS glory." "And the Word was with God and the Word was God." So in Jesus we behold God—the glory of God.

But you know there's something that's interesting is that He veiled Himself as a human but He still couldn't hide His glory, could He? The glory that Jesus Christ had as God shows through. What does John say, look at it, "He dwelt among us and we beheld His glory." He couldn't hide the glory of who He was. Christ was here on earth and they said we beheld or witnessed His glory.

Some of his disciples saw the brilliant glow of who He was physically on the Mount of Transfiguration. They went up there and Jesus just kind of opened up the veil and the light came out, remember that? And He was transparent and shone like the sun and they saw His glory. And John never forgot that, neither did Peter.

But beyond that even more significantly, they saw the glory of God in His spiritual qualities, didn't they? For you know that in reality the glory of God is manifest in grace, in goodness, in love, in wisdom, in knowledge and understanding, in mercy, in all of the attributes of God His glory is revealed, for glory is all that God is.

And so you don't need to be in the dark about God. He has gone beyond parchment and paper. He has gone beyond video CD’s and beyond live drama. He has actually come and pitched his tent in our backyard and beckoned us to watch Him and get to know Him in the person of his Son Jesus.

When you watch Jesus in action, you watch God in action. When you hear Jesus teach, you hear God teach. When you come to know what Jesus is like, you know what God is like.

So what is God like? What do we see when we see Jesus? John is very clear in what he wants to stress. We see the glory of God's grace and truth. Verse 14: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Then John repeats this in verse 17, "The law was through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." The point is this: the essence of what God reveals about himself in Jesus is, first, that he is true—that is, he is real, more real than all that you can see.

In a sense everything that looks so real to us now is in reality like a short dream. 2 Corinthians 4:18, "We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." God is truth. God is reality. And that is what we see in Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

Some people have a false security and they feel that if they believe in God that's enough. Do you realize that the people who crucified Jesus Christ thought they were doing it for God? To believe in God is just to believe half the truth. Because you don't get the full truth until you see Jesus Christ who is the expression of God and who lays before us what God requires.

And second, God is grace. Or as John says in his first letter: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). God is free and overflowing and lavish in his goodness to sinful creatures. This is grace. This is the essence of God's reality because nothing reveals the fullness of his deity more than the freedom of His grace.

He is full, happy, and able in himself so that He does not need us to meet his need but is surging with infinite energy and fullness to meet ours. That's His grace. And that's the capstone of his glory. "We saw his glory . . . full of grace and truth."

That's step four. First, God is invisible. Second, God revealed himself in the law of Moses before he revealed himself in the Lord Jesus. Third, God became human and set up his tent among us. Fourth, in Jesus we see God and know what he is like: true reality and fullness of grace.

5. God Came to Give Us Grace; We Must Receive It. Which brings us now to the top of our flight of stairs to the practical Christmas truth.

At the end of verse 16, he says, "grace upon grace." You know what that is? Grace in the place of grace. When grace goes new grace comes, it's just like the waves on the ocean, one wave rolls in and right away comes another one, more grace and more grace.

In Ephesians 2:7, Paul says that in the coming ages God might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Have you ever thought about grace? God's gracious love just keeps coming like the ocean waves, it just never stops.

And that's why Paul says in Romans 5: 2, "this grace in which we stand." You know, we live in a bubble of grace. And if there ever was a moment when grace didn't come, we would be done for because it only takes one sin to make a sinner. And so God just keeps the grace rolling in like the waves and grace in place of grace.

What is the connection between all this revelation and you? Verse 16 gives the answer: "And from his fullness have we all received grace upon grace." So step five is this: God came not just to show us grace but to give us grace; and we must receive this abounding grace.

God doesn't just want to stock your head with knowledge about his truth and grace, he wants you to receive it and experience it. This Christmas he wants to give you personally a foundation of truth and reality so you won't cave in under stress.

And so it is Christ in verse 18 who has declared the reality of God. We see in Jesus Christ the distant, the unknowable, the invisible, the almighty, the transcendent, the majestic, unreachable God reaching to man and becoming a man. And because God became a man God is no longer a stranger, is He?

That's what Christianity is all about. It's not a form of religion. It's not a system. Listen, it is a personal love relationship with Christ who is God in a human body who died and rose again and lives today. That is Christianity.

This Christmas He wants to treat you with grace—to forgive all your sins—all of them!—to take away all your guilt, to make your conscience clean, to help you with your problems, to give you strength for each day, and to fill you with hope and joy and peace.

]]> Sun, 11 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111211 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000127 imblog

John 1:6–13

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Why this gospel was written? John 20:31, "but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” So my aim this evening is that you would believe in Jesus as Son of God and that you would experience newness of life.

The reason I say newness of life is because in John 10:10 Jesus said that the reason he came into the world was that his sheep might have overflowing life: "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly."

This word “overflowing” speaks of excess, overflow and surplus. The idea is that Jesus gives life that is more than ordinary life. The life of a Christian is life upon life, spiritual life added to physical life.

And the way to have this life from Jesus is to believe in Him. John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

Notice: Not just will have eternal life some day beyond the grave; BUT you have passed now (by believing) from death to life. You can have new life this evening: life that is more than the life you have known before, life that is so wonderful it is like passing from death to life.

And even Christians who have weakened in faith and lost the full power of new life can find stronger faith and fuller life in these words this evening. That's our goal: these things are written (in John) and this message is preached that you might believe in Jesus (like you have never believed before) and believing have life (like you've never had before).

1. God Sent a Human Witness named John. John 1:6, "There was a man sent from God whose name was John." Why introduce John the Baptist here? It seems abrupt. Verse 5 is talking about the light shining in the darkness and the darkness not overcoming it, and verse 9 goes on to talk about the light coming into the world. So verses 6–8 seem like an interruption.

It didn't have to be this way. God could have caused the light of Christ to spread in some other way. He could have done it with angels. He could have written the gospel in the sky with big puffy white letters made out of clouds. He could have caused the wind to talk.

But instead as soon as the light was in the world—as soon as Jesus came—God prepared and sent a human being right alongside the light to bear witness to the light. Jesus did not need John the Baptist to make Himself known. He could have managed that by himself because He is the light of the world.

But God specifically used a person then and uses many people now. You too should be alert to the possible call of God in your life. All Christians as followers of Jesus, are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:16). All are called to witness to the light (Acts 1:8, 1 Peter 2:9). And God still calls some in a special way and for special tasks, such as:

"Pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:38). "How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" (Romans 10:14–15). "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers" (Acts 20:28).

The second reason in the text is that the way God uses people to promote the light is by their testimony. John was a witness. A witness is a person with personal experience and knowledge that can help establish the truth of some fact that is in dispute.

God had spoken to John in the wilderness about the coming Messiah, and his meeting with Jesus at the baptism gave him the experience he needed. John 1: 33–34: "I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

Consider some things of John that would make our testimony to Christ more credible too. John's humility. In a sense John's role was tragic—the last prophet before the Lord, and killed for it while the Christian movement he served was just getting started (like Moses dying without entering the promised land, only John had done no wrong like Moses).

But John took his role without resentment. He said in 1:27, "I am not worthy to untie Jesus sandals." And when his disciples complained that Jesus was stealing the show ("all are going to him," 3:26), John said in 3: 30, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

John's courage. John held to his message of righteousness to the end, and it cost him his life. How many reasons would we think of to ignore Herod's sin of taking his brother's wife! John is a great example of one who acted on principle not on prudence or fear.

And Jesus said there wasn't a greater man who ever lived (Luke 7:28). His testimony was all reality because he was a man of tremendous courage. The way God uses people to spread the light is by their testimony. John was a shining lamp to Jesus. He was burning with zeal and shining with the light of truth.

But not all who saw the witness and saw Jesus believed. John 1:10-11 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”"But," verse 12 says, "to all who received him, who believe in his name, he gave authority to become children of God."

This means that those who reject the light are not the children of God. God is not everybody's Father. He created everybody, and they are his. But Jesus says in John 8:42, "If God were your Father you would love me." God is not everyone's Father. And the test of who your Father is, is whether you love his Son.

Are we children of God? Verses 12 and 13 are so important because they teach us how we may become children of God. Jesus said in John 8:34–36, "Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."

Paul says in Romans 8:16–17, "The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

In other words, if you become a child of God, you become an heir of all that God owns. All that belongs to God is your inheritance. In the resurrection everything that exists will be yours. And God will care for you forever and make you infinitely happy in his presence.

But if you do not become a child of God, then there will be only judgment. There will be no slaves in the age to come, only children. The slaves do not remain in the house forever (8:35). They experience what Jesus calls "the resurrection of judgment" (5:29), and it will be too late for any adoption proceedings.

So how do you become a child of God? What would have to happen this evening to make you a child of God? And if you are a child of God, do you understand how you became one? Can you lead another person into the Father's family?

Verse 12 sets two conditions: receiving Jesus and believing Jesus: "But to all who received him, who believe in his name, he gave authority to become children of God." Receiving Jesus means taking Jesus into your life for what he is. It does not mean a kind of peaceful coexistence with a Christ who makes no claims—as though he can stay in your house as long as he doesn't play his music too loud.

When Jesus preached in Nazareth, the people received him gladly. It says in Luke 4:22, "All spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth." But a few verses later it says in Luke 4:28 they were "filled with wrath" and tried to throw him down from a cliff.

They were happy to receive Him while his words were pleasing. But when their pride was touched, they rejected him. Receiving Jesus means taking him into your life (your home, your school, your work, your marriage, your dreams) for who He really is.

That's the first condition in verse 12: receiving Jesus, the light of the world. The second condition is believing in his name: "But all who received him, who believe [present tense!] in his name, he gave authority to become children of God."

What does believing in the name of Jesus mean? John 3:18 says that believing in the name of Jesus is the same as believing in Jesus. "He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

John 5:43–44 says, "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?"

Verse 44 implies that you can't believe in Jesus if you love the praise of men. This means that believing is so contrary to pride and self-exaltation that it involves a deep humbling. It means abandoning the craving for human praise, and caring more about the praise of God.

John 6:35 says, "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." This verse teaches that believing in Jesus means being satisfied with Jesus. It means that Jesus is the food that feeds the hunger of your soul.

So I would paraphrase verse 12 like this: "But all who received Jesus into their lives for who he really is, and for whom He becomes the all-satisfying bread of life, to them he gave authority to become the children of God."

Now notice two very important differences between verses 12 and 13. Verse 13 says of the children of God, "they were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God." Notice in verse 12 Jesus is the person acting—"To all who received him, HE [Jesus] gave authority." But in verse 13 God is the person acting— "Who were born of God."

The other difference is that in verse 13 God brings into being children, and so they are his children by virtue of Him being the Father. But in verse 12 John speaks of people needing to get authority to become children of God. Why do they need this authority from Jesus?

Before God causes any of us to be born again, all of us are mere flesh. There is no spiritual life in us. John 3:6 says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In other words we are spiritually dead before new birth. And that means that we need two things if we are to inherit eternal life as the children of God.

We need to be born again to have spiritual life. That is what God does according to John 1:13 without any help from us—"not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God." We are born of God by a free act of sovereign grace. He chooses us before we choose him.

But when God does that, what we now have is a newborn sinner. The spiritual life is present, but so is sin, and a whole history of sin! In this condition we would have no right to take our place in the house of God, except for one thing. God also provides the authorization by which we can claim our inheritance as children, even though we are sinners.

And that is precisely where Jesus comes in. The moment you believe in Jesus, the moment you receive him fully as the sovereign God, in that moment he gives you not only new birth, but the right and authority, as a sinner, to lay claim to your inheritance as a child of God—to become legally what you are by virtue of new birth—because you were "born of God."

Between us and eternal life there are two great obstacles. One is that we are spiritually lifeless and dead. The other is that we are sinfully corrupt and guilty. We cannot inherit life as children of God if we are dead and if we are guilty. But God so loved us that he did two things.

He sent his Spirit to cause us to be born again, to make us pass from death to life. And so he overcomes the first obstacle. But in perfect harmony with the work of his Spirit God sent his Son to die for our sin (John 1:29) and remove the guilt of all who believe in him.

This is a great salvation for sinners like you and me. It is full and free and corresponds to our exact need and condition. I offer it to you this evening in the name of Jesus. Receive him as he really is. Believe in him as the all-satisfying end of your search for peace. Amen?

]]> Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111204 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000128 imblog

John 1:1-5

John 1:1–5, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

During these coming three Sundays I hope to bring three messages from John 1:1–18 before our own Christmas message. The Christian purpose of this season is to focus our attention on the great reality described in verses 1 and 14. At the end of verse 1 John says, "The Word was God."

And at the beginning of verse 14 he says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Everything we are and believe as Christians depends upon this: that Jesus Christ is God and Jesus Christ is man. Fully God and fully human! So even though Christmas may not be taught in the Bible, the Christian meaning given to Christmas is the very foundation of the Bible.

And the goal of the Bible and the goal of God in becoming human and the goal of this gospel of John are all the same. John 20:31 says, "These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."

So if these messages are going to be faithful to John's purpose in this gospel, my goal must be to help you believe in the Son of God and have eternal life. That is what you should pray for me. We begin tonight with verses 1–5 and I think I can make the point of these verses clearest by discussing them in reverse order.

Verse 5 says, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." Another place John uses this Greek word is in John 12:35 which says, "Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you." This is what I would call the "invincibility of light." It is not overcome. So you could label verse 5: "Light is triumphant over darkness."

But why is this so? Why does darkness not overcome the light? How can we be sure that this light will go on and overcome darkness? This is what verses 1–4 are written to answer. There are three reasons why the light will triumph over the darkness. So let's focus for a moment on the conflict of light and dark in verse 5 and then learn why there are three reasons in verses 1–4 why light will win.

Light Triumphs over Darkness. When John says in verse 5 that "the light shines in the darkness," he means that the Word has become flesh. Jesus has come into a dark world and is the light of the world.

Right here in John 1:9-11 it says, "The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. 11 He came to his own home, and his own people received him not."

So it's clear that Jesus is the one spoken of. He is the light in verse 5. He is the one who shines in the darkness. In John 8:12 Jesus says, "I am the light of the world."

The darkness is the world of evil and unbelief and death and judgment. John 3:19 says, "This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." So darkness is the power of evil and unbelief.

And that power of evil and unbelief you can find everywhere you go, at your work, when you have fun, when you study at the university, when you listen to the radio, when you see a movie and when you hear people talk. Darkness is not just crime, darkness is anything that does not believe in Christ.

This Makes a Tremendous Difference. So what verse 5 is saying is that Jesus Christ, the light of the world has entered into the darkness of evil and unbelief and death, and this darkness does not overcome Jesus. Now that makes a tremendous difference to those of us who believe in Jesus.

In John 12:46 Jesus says, "I have come as light into the world that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." So all believers have passed from darkness to light. Paul said in Ephesians 5:8, "Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light".

John 12:36 says, "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of the light." When you believe in Jesus, not only do you leave the darkness and enter the light; you actually join the family of the light—you become children of the light.

So it makes a tremendous difference to us which one triumphs, the light or the darkness. And that's what verse 5 makes clear: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." The light will triumph and that means Jesus will triumph and all those who believe in him, the children of the light, will also triumph.

We need to hear this now in America and Indonesia, because darkness seems to be gaining ground on numerous fronts. More and more often we read stories of conditions that 30 years ago would have been unthinkable.

We hear of a pair of lesbians, Ruth Frost and Phyllis Zillhart (who were trained at Luther Northwestern Seminary), who were called as co-assistant pastors of St. Francis Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Michael Hiller, another pastor at that church said, "This is not an issue of morals . . . it's an issue of justice."

Study what he says carefully. They embody the spirit of our age. When justice is divorced from morality, when rights of individuals are separated from right and wrong, the only definition you have left for justice is the right for every individual to do as he pleases. And the end of that road is anarchy and barbarism.

We are moving fast in that direction as a culture. But I will stake my life on the truth of John 1:5. The light shines in the darkness—Jesus shines, the gospel shines, the church shines—and the darkness will not overcome it. How can we be sure? John gives us three reasons.

1. The Light Is the Life of the Son of God. Consider verse 4: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." This means that the light that shines in the darkness is the light of life. John 8:12 says, “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

The life of the Son is the light of the world. The first reason the light will triumph over the darkness is that that light lives. It is living light. What does that mean? Well, if the life of the Son of God is the light that shines in the darkness (which is what verse 4 says), then there are at least four things we can say about this light.

First, the light of life has energy and power because the life of the Son has energy and power. Second, the light of life has purpose and motion. It is not static like a lamppost or a lighthouse on the shore. This light plans and moves, it shines now here, now there. It is alive with the life of the Son.

Third, the light of life grows and expands. That is the way the life of the Son of God is. Psalm 36:9 says, “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.” Once the light rays start coming out of this light, they extend farther and farther. Fourth, the light of life begets offspring. John 12:36 says, "Believe in the light, that you may become sons of the light."

So the first reason the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it is that this light is living—it has energy and purposefulness and growth and reproduction. It is not a static thing, like a stoplight that can be ignored. The light that shines in the world today is the very life of the Son of God.

To which someone might say, "So what? Isn’t it possible that the powers of darkness are just as strong as his life?" That leads us to the second reason we can be sure the darkness will not overcome the light.

2. The Life Is the Life of the Creator of All Things. It's given in verse 3: "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."

Now the "Him" in this verse is the same Him as in verse 4: "In Him was life and the life was the light of men." So the point is this: the energetic, purposeful, growing, reproductive life that shines in the darkness is the life of none other than the One through whom all things were made. The life that shines in the light is the life of the Creator.

So we know that the powers of darkness are not as strong as this life because this life created the powers of darkness. Verse 3, "Without him was not anything made that was made." And no created thing is more powerful than its creator.

Someone might say, "Isn't a nuclear bomb more powerful than the men who created it? Beloved, there is an infinite difference between, on the one hand, making a bomb out of materials that exist already and which are controlled by laws you did not write, and on the other hand, creating out of nothing the very materials of the universe and the laws that control them.

If you can make something out of nothing, you can always turn that something back into nothing. And therefore the Creator always has the upper hand in his world. He will always triumph because He has all the power.

And the powers of darkness know this, because when Jesus came to the Gergesenes to the demon possessed in Matthew 8:29, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"

Luke 22:53 says, “When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” God allowed them to do what they did otherwise they can do nothing. But they know that a specific time is set up for their destruction and for their everlasting consignment to hell. They know very well that the light will triumph.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it, first, because the light is the light of energetic, purposeful, growing, reproducing life, and, second, because that life is the life through whom everything was made—and that also includes the angelic powers that fell into darkness.

3. This Light and Life Is God. That leaves one last reason for why we can be sure that the light will not be overcome by the darkness. Not only is the light a living light, and not only is the life of this light the life of God's Word through whom he created all things, but this Word, this life, this light is GOD! And no one can overcome God Almighty.

John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." "The Word was with God" means that they are distinct Persons and can fellowship with one another. But "the Word was God" also means that they are one God, not two.

We hold fast to the biblical mystery: God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have such a unity that they are one God, and not three, and such a distinction that they are three Persons and not one.

In the beginning, in that beginning, the only beginning we can know about is the creation, because before creation there was no beginning, there was no time, there was no starting of anything for God existed in eternal existence. So in the beginning, the only beginning we know, is the beginning of God's creation which was the Word.

That is a marvelous statement that surpasses our ability to understand it. We just accept it. When the heavens and earth were created the Word already existed. From all eternity it was already there.

The practical point is this: the light cannot be overcome by the darkness because

1. the light is alive—it's the light of life; and

2. through this life—this living Word—all things were made; and

3. this living Word is God.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 16:33 says, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” So take heart, be encouraged. Christ has overcome the world of darkness.

John 12:36 says, "Believe in the light that you may become sons of the light." Take the offensive this season. Raid the darkness. It cannot overcome you as the children of light.

When you know and love Jesus Christ, there's always hope. This world holds no fear for me. People talk about the terrible disasters that are coming; I don't believe that I'll ever experience those things.

I believe Jesus Christ cares for His own people and I believe that long before all of that breaks loose, Jesus is going to take His people, his sons of light, out of this world. I have no fear because my hope is in Him, in His resurrection hope.

Do you believe in this living light? Are you children of light? Does His light shine brightly in your life right now from Monday till Saturday? Are you too overcoming any darkness in your family life with His Light? If not, study His Word and pray, Amen?

Let us remember this light as we are reminded again what Jesus did for us when he ate the Last Supper with His disciples as a symbol of His sacrifice for our sins on the cross.

]]> Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111127 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000129 imblog

2 Peter 3:14-18

So with what attitudes then do we wait for the day of God, the glorious eternity that God has prepared for us? We discussed at first anticipation, looking for it, anxious for it to come. Then with peace, that is in perfect peace because our account is settled up to the moment so that when He comes there would be no shame and no fear.

Then with an attitude of purification, living in purity of life both in character and reputation. And then evangelization, making sure that as the patience of God lingers, our zeal to lead other people to salvation is maintained. We are God’s plan A to do that, there is no other back-up plan.

So tonight we start with attitude number five, we need to have a discerning attitude while waiting for God. Let us be very careful as we go through this section because it is a very important text. It could lead us on a lot of different subjects, but I want to resist that, and stick with the flow of Peter's thought.

2 Peter 3:15-18, "just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”

He is saying as you live in anticipation of the coming of the day of God, you've got to realize that there are going to be a lot of people coming along who are going to try to confuse you about that. And you've got to use good judgment. Paul warned us about that in his past letters.

Now let's look at the parts of this separately. He calls Paul our beloved brother Paul. Really Paul was a fellow apostle, Peter uses gracious terminology to describe Paul. That's really wonderful. They were together at the Jerusalem Council. And in Acts 15, Peter and Paul were together there.

They also shared a common ministry partner. Both of them had the same assistant, a man by the name of Silas. Compare 1 Peter 5:12 with Acts 15:40. So they shared a ministry together in the Jerusalem Council and they loved the same Lord and believed the same truths.

But do you remember that early on in the ministry of Paul there was a conflict between Paul and Peter? Go back to Galatians 2 for just a moment when Paul was in Antioch. He had gone there to be the instrument of the Lord founding a church. And from Antioch, they began to launch the ministry into the world, as Paul and Barnabas were sent from there.

But when Paul was in Antioch, Peter also came. Peter had come to Antioch and had, in effect, pulled all of the believers back into legalism. It was really a sin on Peter's part. And in Galatians 2:11, Paul says, "I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned."

Petrus used to eat with the Gentiles but when new people came he began to withdraw fearing “the party of the circumcision”, and the rest of the Jews joined him in this hypocrisy with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by this.

When Paul saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, he said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you being a Jew live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" He was, in effect, saying why are you free to eat with Gentiles before these new Jews came, and now you're being hypocritical.

Now remember that Peter was the early leader of the church and their primary spokesman. And no doubt, the kind of man he was, didn't like being publicly disgraced. Isn't it wonderful though that when truth prevails and when both men recognize truth, they can deal with sin as sin and not take it personally?

Peter obviously didn't take it personally. Peter knew it was a sin. Peter saw it as a sin. I'm sure that Peter realized the true spirituality of Paul and loved him for it and so here he says, "Our beloved brother Paul." And there's much more in those words than just meets the eye.

So, he says just as also our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given him, that's a marvelous statement. The wisdom given him by God wrote to you. Here he is referring back to a letter from Paul. What's he talking about?

Was it a letter? Well he doesn't say it was one letter. He doesn't say if it was a special letter just to them. We don't even know that they were an easily identifiable group. He's simply saying...Paul according to the wisdom given him from God wrote to you.

Then he adds, "As also in all his epistles...in all his letters." What's he talking about here? Does he have a specific letter in mind? 2 Peter was written to the same group of Christians as 1 Peter. Then to whom was 1 Peter written?

Let's go back to 1 Peter 1:1 and find out. It was written to “those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia who are chosen.” It's Christians all over that area so we can't be very definitive about what group it went. It went to all scattered Christians everywhere.

All of those places mentioned there in 1 Peter 1:1, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, are in Asia Minor. The same region to which Paul wrote to the Galatians and the Ephesians, which are circular letters that went to all of them. We also know that there are letters written to the Colossians and that those letters were also shared with other churches.

Look at Colossians 4:16, "And when this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans and you for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea." They shared all these letters. And they began actually collections of those letters as they shared them with other churches.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:27, writing to the Thessalonians Paul says, "I charge you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren." So we can’t say that there is a specific letter, but what he is saying is you are familiar with the wisdom of God given to our beloved brother Paul, which he wrote to you as in all letters.

What's the point? Well Peter is saying Paul wrote you about His Second Coming. Paul wrote you about the glories of heaven and about the day of God. 1 and 2 Thessalonians, for example, are the earliest writings of Paul and they deal extensively with prophecy relating to the coming of the Lord Jesus.

The second series of letters from Paul are Romans, Galatians and 1 and 2 Corinthians, and all of them have passages anticipating the coming of Jesus Christ, passages outlining the future plan of God for Israel and the church.

The third wave of Paul’s letters are the prison epistles, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, again with statements about the future, and how all things are headed toward a glorious climax in Him, the final reconciliation of all things.

Then the last series, the fourth series of letters would be the Pastoral Epistles, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, and even those letters anticipate the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So Peter is saying as Paul has written in all his letters, including the one that you have, about the return of Christ, about the glories of heaven and the eternal state. In other words, I'm leaning on Paul here for support.

What I'm saying has been confirmed by him. He wrote about the day of the Lord. He wrote about eternity. He wrote about the fact that God will keep His promise, judge the wicked, change the universe, bring in ultimate glorious eternal righteousness.

Peter's not done. He's going to go deeper into this interesting verse 16, "In which are some things hard to understand." The verb actually means difficult to interpret. Please note but not impossible. Some people say, "Oh, we just can't know. I just don't think we can know."

Some of Paul's passages about the Rapture of the church, the time of the Tribulation, the coming of the man of sin, the return of Christ in judgment, the great age we call the Millennium, the final glorious eternal heaven, some of what Paul says about that is hard to understand, literally difficult to interpret.

Peter doesn't say that he didn't understand it, he simply said it's difficult to interpret so the untaught and the unstable distort it. He's saying it is indeed difficult and therefore people can be easily deceived.

There is an unending proliferation of stuff written about prophetic truth regarding the future. It just comes out all the time. And, of course, for the unstable, the untaught, it can deceive them, particularly when it's perpetrated by unscrupulous false teachers.

Now they don't do this just with prophecy, he says the untaught and the unstable twist as they do also the rest of the scriptures. They do it with the entire Bible. Untaught means they lack information, unstable means they are therefore vacillating in their spiritual character.

The untaught and the unstable are victimized by error. To distort literally means they twist and torture the truth. The lack of clarity on all prophetic issues gives place for the ignorant and the immoral to confuse the truth. And they don't do it just with prophecy, he says, they do it with all the rest of Scripture also.

Now remember in verse 3 that the reason false teachers deny the Second Coming isn't because they've come across some great prophetic truth, it's because they walk after their own lusts and they want a future that doesn't hold them accountable for their immorality.

So along with their perverting and distorting the future judgment, and the future glory of the saints and all that's involved in the coming of Christ, they twist teaching on judgment itself, teaching on the law of God, teaching on righteousness, teaching on repentance, teaching on salvation by grace through faith. And so they distort all kinds of things.

Did you notice that Peter says “as they do the rest of the scriptures?” That means that he is calling what Paul wrote Scripture. That is the most clear cut statement on the pages of Scripture to affirm that the writings of Paul are Scripture. And the false teachers distort it all.

The end of verse 16 it says, "to their own destruction." If you go back into chapter 2 for a moment, that's pretty clear. The end of verse 1 says the false prophets and false teachers bring upon themselves swift destruction. Verse 3 says their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.

Verse 3:7 says, there is a Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men. Four times the word "destruction," all four times referring to false teacher, false prophets and those who follow them. In Jude verse 10 it says they will be destroyed like unreasoning animals. Verse 13 it says for them the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.

Now, let's get the sum of this in verse 17, "You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand," "Knowing that there will be false teachers who will come along twisting and distorting the Scripture and who therefore will lead people to their own damnation, since you know this beforehand, since you have this information, be on your guard."

Be on your guard against false teachers, against their destructive heresies. That's why Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show yourself approved unto God." Be on your guard. Why? "Lest being carried away by the error of unprincipled men."

There's another title for the false teachers. These unprincipled men are men who live apart from God's law. You can't sit in a church where somebody is twisting and distorting the Scripture without running the risk of being led astray.

You can't sit in a college, be it called Christian or not, and listen to people distort the Scripture without running the risk of being led astray. You can't go to a seminary for the sake of its academic reputation, sit there and hear error all the time without running the risk of being led astray by unprincipled, lawless men. Only truth brings righteousness.

You must then be discerning right from wrong. End of verse 17 says, "Lest you fall from your own steadfastness." What's that word steadfastness? It's the opposite of being unstable. Peter has in mind a firm stance on truth. Remember when Paul wrote at the end of 1 Timothy 1 as he talked about Hymenaeus and Alexander who had led people into shipwreck in regard to their faith, falling out of steadfastness.

He's not saying that they lost their salvation, that's eternally decided. But you fall from your stability, you fall from your steadfastness in doctrine, in truth, conviction, confidence. So Peter says...Look, living in the light of our eternal destiny calls for discernment. Guard yourself. The only way to do that is to study the Scripture and show yourself approved.

There are two left. Maturation, verse 18, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." He's saying while you're waiting, while you're anticipating your eternal glory, be growing toward that. Paul said in Ephesians 4:14, "Be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about every wind of doctrine, through the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting."

And there's one final word as Peter closes and that's adoration. He says, "To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity, Amen." It just calls for worship. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Glory belongs to God and God alone. And here the Holy Spirit through Peter is saying give glory to Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18, is a great doxology (doxa is the word for glory) given to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore this confirms that God and Christ both are deity and worthy of our praise, Amen?

Do you remember to do all that and are you willing to do all that? Remember that we are in a spiritual warfare that will not end until Jesus comes back or until we are raptured. Be strong and you will reap the benefits in heaven.

]]> Sun, 13 Nov 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111113 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000012A imblog

2 Peter 3:14-18

Let's continue in our Bibles tonight in our study of God's truth in 2 Peter 3. We are almost at the end of this great epistle, 2 Peter 3; we're looking at the section from verse 11 through verse 18. We've been asking the question...what does it mean to us as Christians that Jesus is coming again?

Peter has been talking about the coming of the day of the Lord. We noted for you that following the day of the Lord is another great day, called the day of God in verse 18 also called the day of eternity.

We as believers are not anticipating the day of the Lord, because that's judgment day. We are anticipating the day of God, that's the eternal day, the day of the new heavens and the new earth. We are joyously anticipating entering into God's glorious eternal creation.

We do not long for the day of the Lord, the time of severe judgment, the time of damnation on sinners, but we do long for the eternal state of righteous glory in the day of God, that great day when God is all in all. That term, "day of God," as you note, appears in verse 12 of this text.

And we already anticipate it, though we have not yet entered into the day of God, and will not until after the millennial Kingdom. Furthermore, we are already citizens of that eternal state. Our citizenship is in heaven. We seek a city whose builder and maker is God. And that is the eternal new Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth being its final dwelling place. And so we live in anticipation of that eternal day of God.

Verse 11 then says, "Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be." What are the implications of the entire universe in a holocaust of fire followed by the new heavens and the new earth, the eternal day of God in which you will dwell? Granted that you are citizens for that glorious day, that eternal kingdom, that eternally new universe, what sort of people should you be!

And we learned that that is not a question but rather an exclamation, what sort of people ought we to be, in what kind of excellence should we behave and live. Since Jesus is coming to judge the ungodly and destroy the sin-cursed universe and replace it with a new one, made for us in which we will eternally dwell, it should impact our lives.

How should it impact us? Well he says it in verse 11, "In holy conduct and godliness." Holy conduct has to do with our action, godliness has to do with our attitude. So both in attitude and action we are to be separated from sin.

Now what does that mean? How does that break down? What are the components of such godly attitudes and godly conduct? Well I said to you last time Peter is going to give us a list of components that cause the kind of attitude, the kind of action that should characterize us.

First of all, it includes expectation. Verse 12 and 13, "Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat, 13 but according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." We went into that in detail last time.

Let's go to the second component in his instruction here. Not only should we be characterized by anticipation, but we should be characterized by pacification. We should be in a peaceful condition. Please notice verse 14, "Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace."

Therefore, Christians, since you look for the day of God, the new heavens and the new earth, the eternal state, the glorious Kingdom awaiting us in the presence of God forever and ever, you should be diligent..." Another way to say that is to make every effort to be found by Him in peace.

I need to make a brief note about that phrase "be found by Him." When the Lord Jesus comes, you will be found...personally by Him. There will be nothing hidden in that day, there will be nothing overlooked in that day. Everything about you will be brought to light in the day when the Lord Jesus comes.

It says in 1 Corinthians 4 that when He comes He will bring to light everything we've done in our lives, whether it be good or worthless. 2 Corinthians 5 says, we will be found by Him. That emphasizes that it is He who is coming and it is He who will confront us. So when He finds us He should find us living in peace.

What does he mean by that? Well it could mean peace with other Christians, that what he is saying that when Christ comes and sets up His glorious Kingdom, He wants to find you living peacefully with each other, the peace of Christ’ love, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, as we hear from the Apostle Paul.

But what he is really saying here is that you be found enjoying the peace of God, personal peace of mind, the peace that comes from a strong faith in the Lord. In Philippians 4:6-7, "In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and 7 the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

That kind of peace makes us free from anxiety and free from fear. That kind of peace is not being anxious for Christ to come for fear that He will discover our sinfulness and our shame. That kind of peace is free from all worry about the future.

That kind of peace knows no fear regarding the day of the Lord, the judgment of Christ, or whatever because we enjoy the peace of God. And this, says the Apostle Paul, is a peace that transcends human comprehension, it transcends human intellectual power and it transcends human explanation.

Another way to say it is the way Paul said it when he wrote to Timothy and spoke about those who love the appearing of Christ because they have no fear, they have no anxiety. It means you have the assurance of your salvation. It means you have the reality of your Christian faith and obedience so that you will not be ashamed at His coming.

It means that you have no fear that you might get swept away in the judgment of the day of the Lord because you know all is well between you and God. You are completely comfortable with the end of the world, and should you know it was coming in the next twenty-four hours, you could put your head on a pillow and sleep soundly without fear.

The real challenge of Christian living is not to see if you can eliminate any uncomfortable issue in your life. The real challenge of a Christian is to live in a fallen world as a sinful person, surrounded by fallen people, in the midst of all manifestation of the curse, enduring the pain and yet having perfect peace because all is well between you and God.

That is the peace of assurance. That is the peace of security. That is the tranquility of a man or a woman who knows that all is well with God and fears no shame at the appearing of Christ. This, says Paul in Philippians 4, will guard your heart; it will guard your mind.

If you think about the coming of Christ and the new heavens and the new earth that God has established for you, if you think about seeing Him face to face, then you should be rejoicing with anticipation, loving His appearing, crying out, "Come, Lord Jesus." You should have no fear in your heart because you know that all is well.

First John 4:17 says, "That we should have confidence in the day of judgment." We should be confident that it will pass us by. So says Peter, as you anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ, you should be living in anticipation and you should be living in a condition of perfect peace.

Thirdly, another component in living in the light of the return of Christ we'll call purification. Back to 2 Peter 3:14 again, "Beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent not only to be found by Him in peace, but to be found by Him spotless and blameless."

Now this is in contrast to the false teachers. You remember back in chapter 2 when he described the false teachers he said they were “stains and blemishes”. In contrast you should be spotless and blameless. These two terms speak of both character and reputation. They speak of both what we are in reality and what people think we are.

Spotless means my character. What I really am. There's no spot, there's no blotch on my life. Blameless is my reputation. What people think I am and I am to be spotless, that is pure in reality and blameless, that is pure by reputation. That is how the Lord wants to find us.

Now there are four possibilities in these words and we have to deal with them realistically. First, it is possible that you could be spotless, but at least in one sense not blameless. It is possible that you could be living a pure and a godly and a virtuous life, but in the eyes of the world you are not blameless.

That is maybe because somewhere in your past there has been something in your life that has stained your reputation that though you now are spotless and forgiven, people remember the stain. And so while at the time of the coming of Christ all might be well with you, it might be that you're not blameless, for somewhere along the line you brought reproach upon your testimony of Christ and you have been blamed for that.

Secondly, it is possible to be blameless but not spotless. It is possible that people don't know the real truth. It is possible that while people think you to be spotless, you are not, that while people think you to be blameless, your reputation is flawless, but the truth is, you're not spotless. So there are some who look blameless but not spotless.

There's a third possibility. When Jesus comes you are spotless by way of character as much is as possible by His grace, and you are blameless by way of reputation. Both your life and your reputation are untarnished and unblemished. And there is a fourth possibility that you are neither spotless nor blameless. And in that case, both your life and reputation are tarnished and blemished.

I just draw that out for you so you can see the implications of what is at first glance a rather simple statement. We are to take care of the sins in our lives, that is the point, to try to live holy lives. And when the Lord comes, He wants us to be pure.

How can you be that way? You have to know your sin, detest your sin, confess your sin and desire a holy life. You need to abstain from temptation situations, be faithful in the means of grace, like Bible study, prayer and worship, so that you maintain a pure life.

The Lord says that's how I want you to live until I come. And that's consistent with what you're anticipating in the eternal state. If I am destined for eternal purity, if I am destined for eternal glory, I ought to seek to live that way now.

So Peter says, as we anticipate the coming of Christ, we need to be people like this: characterized by anticipation, peace through faith and purification. Verse 15 takes us to a fourth thought, we are to be characterized by evangelization.

In the time in which we are waiting for this great, glorious, eternal state, he says, verse 15, "We're to regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation." In other words, we are to be using our time, energy, gifts, life that we have for the purpose of salvation. The Lord is waiting in order that through us He might save more people.

Some of the critics were saying in verse 9, well, the Lord doesn't come, He said He would come but He'll never come. Look how long it's been and He hasn't come. And so Peter says, "The Lord isn't slow about His promise as some count slowness, but the reason it appears as though He is slow is because He is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

He's waiting patiently. And in verse 8 he said, "Don't let it escape your notice that a day with the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day," so He doesn't keep time like you do anyway. He's very patient, very merciful.

God does not wish that any should perish; He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God our Savior, in 1 Timothy 2:4, will have all men to be saved. God is patient in waiting for those who have yet not repented to come to repentance. When God said to Israel, "Why will you die, O house of Israel," Ezekiel 18:31, He emphasized His compassion and He underscored His mercy.

You also see the image of this incredible merciful patience in the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The son living in the world in immorality, in wasting his privilege and opportunity and his father at home patient, gracious, compassionate, waiting and waiting until the son comes home. This is a picture of our God the Father.

And so Peter is saying in verse 15, that the patience of our Lord is for the purpose of salvation. And the fact that we're waiting for the coming of Christ doesn't give us license to sit around and do nothing. We're not to put our pajamas on and sit on the roof and wait till He gets here. We all should be involved in the ministry of reconciliation.

In 2 Corinthians 5:11, the Apostle Paul really articulated what should be the goal of every believer who is waiting for the coming of Christ. This is what he said. "Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men." In other words, when I think about the day of God which is a blessing for me, I also have to think about the day of the Lord, which is a curse for them.

There's a graphic illustration of this same attitude that comes from the Apostle John. As he was contemplating judgment in Revelation 10, the angel brought him a book and he gave the book to John and he said, "Take it and eat it." In the symbolism John ate it. He said, "It will make your stomach bitter but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey. 10 And I took it and I did that and I ate it and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter."

What does this mean? The little book represents the truth of God about final judgment which is bittersweet. It is, on the one hand, sweet because it ushers us into the day of God. It is, on the other hand, bitter because it means damnation of the unbelieving world. Let us continue this next Sunday. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111106 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000012B imblog

2 Peter 3:11-13

Now let's turn back to 2 Peter 3 which we did not finish a few months ago, and let us look at the last section of this epistle, starting with 11 through 13 first. Peter received divine revelation to safeguard the church from the onslaught of false teachers in this letter.

Remember that in chapter 1 he gave us very important instructions about how to make sure that we're in a right relationship with God. Then in chapter 2 he described the characteristics of false teachers. And in chapter 3 he has been refuting their attacks against the Second Coming of Christ.

We should be thankful to him for explaining that history has a goal, that history has a purpose. God will intervene through the coming of Christ and bring history to its proper end. When there is no goal in human history, when there is no end, when there is no future, hedonism prevails in some hearts and they live anyway they want to live and life has no meaning.

But beyond that, Peter is concerned that we as believers have a proper understanding and a proper response to the return of Jesus Christ. The final words begin in verse 11. “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?”

Now Peter uses the phrase in verse 12 "the day of God," which refers to the eternal state. Don’t confuse this with “the day of the Lord” which is the judgment day. He says if you're longing for that eternal state, a new heavens and new earth, it ought to have an impact on your life right now.

When Jesus is coming to reward you, when Jesus is coming to give you a new heaven and a new earth, when Jesus is coming to deliver you out of judgment and to usher you into the great eternal day of God, that should impact your life. In other words, if you have been created for that, redeemed for that, sanctified for that, then you ought to begin to live in the light of that.

In fact, in 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 Paul would add to this when he says, "We have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to Him, 10 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

We're going to all stand before that judgment throne when we're going to receive our eternal reward. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:5, at that point in time when the Lord judges the secrets of our hearts, every one of us will have differing praises from God and we will enter into our eternal reward.

So how should we live then anticipating His return? Peter lists a number of attributes which we'll talk about tonight and the next Sunday evenings. First of all, we read in verse 11, "What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.” Holy conduct refers to action and godliness refers to attitude.

Holy conduct refers to the way I live my life, godliness refers to the spirit of reverence within me by which I live my life. Holy conduct refers to that which rules my behavior, and godliness refers to that which rules my heart. And so he is saying what kind of person ought you to be in heart and in behavior, in motive and in action, in attitude and in duty.

The answer starts in verse 12 all the way through verse 18. What should it be that characterizes us? Let me give you Peter’s little list, then we'll cover it one by one: expectation, pacification, purification, evangelization, discrimination, maturation and adoration. I just want to give you a little feeling for the flow. Those are the things that should define us in holy conduct and godliness.

First, let's call it expectation. Notice verse 12-13, “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

That verb "looking for" has the idea of expectancy, alert to the Lord's arrival. That word "hastening" adds the idea of eager desire. That means that I'm going to be dealing with some issues in my life so that I won't be ashamed at His coming. 1 John 2:28 talks about not being ashamed when Jesus comes, "When He appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming."

That little phrase "the coming," again that wonderful word parousia, it literally means the personal bodily presence of Jesus Christ. It's not about the presence of a place, it's about the presence of a person. And if we have no unconfessed sin, then we can eagerly anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ. We aren't eager for the day of the Lord, but we are eager for the day of God.

So if you're hastening the day of God in order to bring it, something else has to happen first. God has to destroy the present universe. So we can say then that before we make way for the day of God (eternal state) there must be the day of the Lord (judgment day).

Just as we learned back in verses 5 and 6, that the Lord destroyed this earthly part of the universe once by water, drowning all of the people that were in it from waters underneath and waters above the earth, so in the future He will destroy it by fire.

The day of the Lord is not the result of any natural calamity. It is not the result of some nations using nuclear weapons. It is not the result of any man or any natural event or natural cataclysm. It is divine judgment by Almighty God through the power of Christ to whom He has committed the judgment work.

Now keep in mind that the day of the Lord comes in two parts. It comes when Jesus returns in the Second Coming at the end of the time of Tribulation. And then He sets up His thousand-year Kingdom. And then at the end of that thousand years, the second phase of the day of the Lord comes.

Look at Revelation 8:7, the trumpets are blown to pronounce the judgment at the end of the Tribulation time. "And as the first trumpet is sounded, there came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were thrown to the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, all the green grass was burned up.”

And then Revelation 16:8, where you have the final judgments at the end of the Tribulation, just before the Lord Jesus comes, "The fourth angel poured his bowl upon the sun and it was given to it to scorch men with fire 9 and men were scorched with fierce heat and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues and they did not repent so as to give Him glory."

This is some kind of figurative description of a great fiery force. Maybe God opens the earth a little and exposes its volcanic capacity, which goes to about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit and consumes a third of the world. That's just a preview, that's just a little taste of what's going to come at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom.

Look at Revelation 9:16-18, “Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.”

And that is the starting point of the final devastation of fire. And the Lord has given us ample warning, Old Testament, New Testament, very descriptive previews coming at the end of the seven-year period of Tribulation, just prior to Jesus' return to set up His thousand-year Kingdom.

Then lastly Revelation 20:7-10, “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog (people who have lived through those 1000 years and rejected Christ), to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

And then comes the time when all of the universe is consumed and the elements melt with intense heat. What do you mean that elements? It means the components that make up the building blocks of matter, it's all going to be consumed. First John 2:17, "And the world is passing away." The universe, the physical earth and the world means the system, social, economic, cultural, religious, it's all consumed.

When God's day arrives the final destruction has taken place. Man's day is over. That's why it's the day of God. It's not man's day anymore. His corruption of the universe and that of fallen angels is finally judged.

According to His promise, the Lord is going to bring new heavens and a new earth, paradise regained after the fire. That is God's promise. And according to His promise, He who cannot lie, who always speaks the truth, we're looking for a new world and a new universe.

That promise goes way back. The prophet Isaiah said it in Isaiah 65:17, "For behold, says the Lord, I create new heavens and the new earth and the former thing shall not be remembered or come to mind."

Listen, one of the great realities of eternity is you will have no memory of time. You will be consumed in the new heavens and the new earth and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. Be glad and rejoice forever, He says, in what I create.

And then in Isaiah 66: 22 he says it again, "Just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me, declares the Lord, so your offspring and your name will endure."

Yes, Peter says, according to His promise, there will be new heavens and a new earth. The word "new" is the word kainos, it means new in quality, not new in chronology, not just new in order, but new in quality, different, not like anything we've ever known.

And how does Peter sum up the character of its newness? In 2 Peter 3:13 it says, "In which righteousness dwells." And so he is saying that this is a new world in which righteousness is no longer strange, a world in which righteousness is no longer foreign, a world which is the home of righteousness, a permanent and perfect existence.

That's the world that has been promised to us in Jesus Christ. That's where our history is going. That's what's prepared for those who love Him. In Isaiah 60:19, it says, "No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light. You will have the Lord for an everlasting light and your God for your glory."

20 Your sun will set no more, neither will your moon wane, for you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be finished, then all Your people will be righteous."

Look at Revelation 21:1-7, "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”

Verse 4-7 says, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

“And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” 6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”

Go to Revelation 21:23-27 again similar to Isaiah, "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.”

All the peoples who have been redeemed of all nations will be there basking in this glory. But verse 27, "27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

And you see, if we know that we're headed for the new heaven and the new earth, if we know that we'll be delivered out of the day of the Lord, phase one and phase two, if we know that we're going to escape the judgment because we have been elected unto eternal life, eternal glory, and eternal righteousness, and that our dwelling place forever will be in the eternal day of God, where righteousness is all there is, if that is God's plan for us and that is the reason He redeemed us, what kind of people ought we to be?

First of all, we ought to be people characterized by expectation. The sequence of events is as follows: the Lord Jesus comes to Rapture His church out, then comes phase one of the day of the Lord, the judgment at Tribulation. And then we come back with Him to reign with Him in that thousand years in our glorified bodies.

At the end of that time He destroys the universe, preserving the already made righteous and redeemed through that destruction and ushers us finally at the end of the thousand years into the day of God. We should live in expectation. The best is yet to come. Let us dive into that next week. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 30 Oct 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111030 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000012C imblog

Matthew 6:16-18

Now let's look again at Matthew 6 because we did not have time to cover it all. Jesus here is correcting the way the Jews were fasting which is different from the way Christians fast. In our world today, we do not fast the way they did. It isn't a common thing.

Now let me review what we discussed last Sunday. Number one, we talked about the principle of fasting. And this is what we said in summary. Fasting is total abstinence from food and it is to humble oneself before God in the midst of a spiritual struggle. But it's not an end in itself. It is a corollary to spiritual struggle.

Secondly, we talked about the period of fasting. Since fasting is completely spontaneous, completely voluntary, there was only one fast commanded in the Bible, that was the Day of Atonement and at the cross the Day of Atonement was set aside, so no specific fasts times are commanded.

Thirdly, regarding the priority of fasting we talked a little about the fact that the Lord assumes we will fast. He says when you fast, assuming it'll happen. Also in Matthew 9:15, the Lord said, "When the bridegroom is taken from you then you will fast."

Fourthly, and this is where we stopped, the reasons for fasting. What is it that urges us to fast? What is that spiritual struggle that makes fasting a very natural response? Well, we named several. Number one, lamentation, sorrow causes fasting.

And we discussed that your physical body responds to the anxiety of your soul. When a person is deeply concerned, when their spirit is grieved, when there's a tremendous awareness of God in a spiritual struggle, the body will accommodate the heart. There will be no desire for food.

Secondly, protection was another reason, fear causes fasting. There are times when such fear grips the heart as to make food a remote thought. We're fearful over something that might happen. We're fearful over a person hanging in the balance between life and death. We're fearful over some impending calamity or danger that grips us and cannot eat.

Think of Joel 2 where Joel says that Assyria is going to come in judgment on the people of God. And he says they're going to come like a fire. And they're going to come like great horses leaping on the mountain tops. You should read Joel 2, because this is a tremendous, dramatic, overwhelming picture of the Assyrian invasion.

And then it says the people of God came together and wept and fasted. Why? They were in fear. And they were so consumed with fear that there was a total loss of any need for food. In fact, it was something they couldn't handle.

A third reason was humility. Guilt over sin produces such an anxiety and intensity that fasting occurs. And this comes in all kinds of forms. Guilt and sin brings a humility that very often means there's no appetite.

That was the great dramatic lesson of the Day of Atonement, not to eat when you're confessing your sin. When you're drawing into the presence of God over the evil of your life that's the time there ought to be such confession, such repentance, there's no thought for food.

Fourthly, another reason for fasting is revelation. At times when God's people were either going to receive God's word or proclaim God's word, we frequently see a fast. In other words, like Jesus said, "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."

And at the moment of receiving the word of God, that's when you best know that man does not live by bread. “In the first year of his reign,” Daniel 9:2 says, "I Daniel understood by books the number of the years concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolation of Jerusalem."

Now Daniel was reading Jeremiah and he got an idea that God was going to perform something over a period of 70 years, but he hungered to know the fullness of this. So he says in verse 3, "I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sack cloth and ashes. 4Then I prayed to the Lord my God and made my confession.”

Verse 21-23, "yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. 23 At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.”

Now listen, he fasts and he prays and the angel says all right Daniel God has heard you, God has seen you, and God is going to give you the word here it comes. And in verse 24, he gets the most incredible revelation of the ‘70 weeks of Daniel’ that we know lays out the theme of the prophetic history of the world. In anticipation of a revelation from God he fasted in order that he might better understand the words of Jeremiah.

In Daniel 10:1-3 is written, “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel. The message was true; and he had understanding of the vision. 2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 3I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled."

On another occasion when God was to give him a great revelation, he fasted again. Now fasting to receive the word of God is simply this. If you fast, it doesn't mean you're going to get a new word of God. It means that when you are so consumed with seeking to understand what God has revealed, you have no thought of food until you come to know and understand what it is that God's word says.

When was the last time you were so intense in Bible study that you did not let food interrupt it? In Acts 10, Peter was praying and fasting when he saw a vision to go to the Gentile Cornelius with the gospel. In Exodus 24, Moses had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights before God gave him His holy law. There are many occasions in the Bible where in the midst of a seeking heart, where food is no concern, God's word is revealed.

The reason people don't understand the Bible is because so often, they don't study the Bible with the intensity that it takes to really comprehend it. But it's there if you're willing to dig it out. Sometimes you might have to skip a meal and your heart will want you to do that.

Not only is there fasting in connection with revelation received, but also with revelation giving. There seems to be a fasting associated with a preaching or teaching of the Word. Paul said that he fasts often and maybe some of those fasts were before he preached. We see our Lord fasting 40 days and 40 nights before He begins His preaching ministry.

Fifthly, condemnation drives people to fasting. The fear of divine judgment, not only for themselves, but for others causes one to fast. There should be Christians in this world who are willing to fast and pray on behalf of all sinners in this world.

In Jonah we have an illustration of this. In Jonah 3, the message was given to the people of Nineveh that God was going to judge them. And what was their response? The people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast. They were afraid of the judgment of God.

We don't have enough messages like that today. If you preach the judgment of God, people get mad at you. And the people that get mad at you are not the unsaved, they're the saved ones. They say you don't have any love. If somebody's going to die and perish and go to hell, the loving thing to do is to warn them, don't you think?

But we don't really care at their demise as we should. When was the last time you skipped a meal because you were so concerned in your spirit over our nation which is condemned to hell without Christ? Over your neighbors, over somebody you know and love? Nineveh at least had the sense to fast and pray so fearful were they of the word of God.

Sixthly, in addition to lamentation, protection, humility, revelation and condemnation, is selection of leaders. When the time came in the early church to call special people for special tasks in spiritual leadership, fasting was a part of it. Nothing is more important than the leadership of the church. If the leadership is right, the church is right. If the leadership is wrong, the church will go wrong.

And so when the early church went about to select leadership and ordain people and set them aside for the gospel ministry and to use them for God's purposes it was not done frivolously. It was not done politically. They didn't select people because people liked them or had a power base in the congregation. They selected people with prayer and fasting!

Acts 13:1-3, " Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away.”

Is it any more important then than it is now to have the right people in leadership or to send the right missionaries? If it was a task then that demanded such intense prayer that they fasted, is it any less for us now that God would ordain the right people and send them out from us? Not just those who wish, but those who deserve by God's grace and His calling to be sent.

In Acts 14: 23, it continued to be that way. It says, "So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” When we select a deacon, it's as important as if they were ordained by Paul and Barnabas themselves. These things demand prayer and fasting.

A seventh reason for fasting is direction. There are times in the Scripture when people who sought direction, sought it with such deep anxiety that they fasted. In Genesis 24 it is when Abraham’s servant was to find a bride for Isaac, he was so concerned that God would show him the right lady that he fasted and prayed.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:27 that he was “in fastings often.” He was fasting while he was waiting for the unfolding of the will of God. Some of you face critical decisions, who to marry, where to work, how to handle your family, whether to stay here or move to another place, and where to use your spiritual gift. How are you handling it? Is there a yearning in your heart to know the will of God that you want to fast like others did before you?

It is for those times of deep struggle where the tug on the truly consecrated heart is so powerful that as you are pulled into the presence of God, all thought of the world passes. You should fast with such intensity not only in things regarding yourself, but those regarding others and even your enemies.

Lastly, fasting is always linked with prayer. Prayer is not always necessarily linked with fasting. You can pray without fasting but you cannot fast without praying. There are no times in the bible where fasting is without praying.

Fasting then is not an end in itself, but is a spiritual struggle that draws us into the presence of God. The man who prays with fasting, you see, is giving heaven notice that he's really in earnest. That he will not give up. That he won't let go until God blesses.

And true fasting always comes out of a pure heart. That's so important. You say well, what do you mean by that? Well, I mean, this that if your heart isn't right, your fasting is also not right. It's a sham. It all begins with your heart. If your heart is totally committed to God, then it will pray a true prayer, and you will be able to fast.

You see the Lord is after an inward thing and God, it says in Matthew 6:18, "who sees in secret," because He lives in that secret world that no man knows, He will see the reality of that fast. And He's the only one who needs to know because He's the only one who gives a real reward, right?

Let us close with the most specific fasting passage in the Bible, Isaiah 58. They had fasted and thought themselves to be so good because they did it and said in Isaiah 58:3, "Why have we fasted and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?”

Why don't you answer us? God says, "In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high.”

5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?” Just because you've got the ashes and the sack cloth and the bull rush and you're bowed down but your hearts are evil does not make it acceptable.

Isaiah 58:6-7, "Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?”

The promise for fasting, Isaiah 58:8-11, “Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness.”

10 If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

God says you really want to be blessed? Fast, but fast out of a true, pure, obedient heart. If your character is right and your life is right, some times in your prayers there will be such intensity for one thing or another that fasting will be a very natural addition to prayer.

And in those times, God will honor and bless not because you fasted but because your heart was so pure your fast was a chosen fast. God blesses that kind of heart. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111023 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000012D imblog

Matthew 6:16-18

Tonight I want to discuss a subject that is not often discussed which is fasting. Fasting is denying us food and food has been a temptation from the very beginning. Satan tempted Eve such that the whole human race fell with food. Noah became drunk when he drank too much wine from his vineyard, so too much eating and drinking have caused much harm.

When someone gives in to their passion for food and drink, it might have an influence on other elements of their spiritual life as well. In Jeremiah 5:7 it says, “When I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.”

In other words, when they got what they wanted and began to live to saturate their desire for food with fullness, they couldn't restrain themselves from other lusts which also took over. On the one hand you have the sins of gluttony. On the other hand, you have this concept of fasting.

So we have to be very aware that God has given us a wonderful gift in food, but we have pushed it way too far the wrong direction. Instead of overdoing it, we ought to be underdoing it and drawing ourselves into a proper biblical perspective on fasting.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus teaches us that God’s standards are much higher that the Pharisees. We have discussed not to be hypocritical in giving, and in praying and now we have come to the subject of fasting. Often times the best way for us to understand clearly what Jesus meant specifically is to know what not to do.

In Matthew6: 2, He says, "When you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites." In verse 5, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites." And in verse 16, "Moreover, when you fast do not be like the hypocrites." These are the three illustrations of hypocritical religion our Lord gives.

Let us now focus on Matthew 6:16-18, “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

Jesus teaches us here to fast based only on reasons that are from your heart, and not to fast to impress others as to how religious you are. God can see right into your heart and He knows your thoughts and your motives and He even knows what you will do next. So you cannot and should not try to fool Him.

The Pharisees and the scribes and the Jews were involved in many fasts, it was a very common part of their religious system. But it needed to be corrected; however, before we understand how, we must understand first what fasting is all about. Fasting in the church of Jesus Christ now is a little understood part of the religious or spiritual experience.

Now fasting in general is a very popular today, but do not confuse it with what the Bible is teaching about fasting. So let's approach our study of this text this evening by looking at the background to give you a frame of reference relative to fasting.

Worldly fasting focuses on the physical benefits. The ones that seem to be sought after most are fasting to lose weight. And then there are ones about feeling better physically and mentally, looking and feeling younger, saving money.

Benefits touted are: Resting your system, cleaning out the body, lowering your blood pressure, lowering your cholesterol level, relieving tension, sleeping better, sharpening your senses, gaining control of yourself, sharing with those who are hungry and even receiving spiritual revelations.

But be that as it may what is physical is not spiritual and the Bible never tells us in the entire Scripture that fasting is for physical reasons. All of the benefits of fasting in the Scripture are indirect, not direct.

There's only one fast commanded in the Bible. And it was a general public national fast. Leviticus 16, God said, on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, when sacrifices of the nation are given for the sins of the people for the year past. On that day from sunrise to sunset, you will fast. That is the only compulsory fast given by God in Scripture.

But notice it is a fast connected with a deep mournful spirit in confessing sin. Now that should give you a hint of what fasting is all about. It is connected to a great sense of spiritual anxiety. In that case it was a time of confession of sin and seeking forgiveness from God.

In fact on the Day of Atonement, it is forbidden says the Talmud, to eat, to drink, to bathe, to anoint oneself, to wear sandals or to engage in conjugal intercourse. And even the little children on the Day of Atonement couldn't eat. They had to learn that that was a prescribed fast and they had to learn it young so they would maintain it when they became older.

The definition of fasting is total abstinence from food, that's the idea. In fact, the Greek word is a very simple word, nestea, from nea which means “not” and estea, which means to eat. It means not to eat.

There is a sense in which a modified fast or a partial fast can be taken where you don't totally fast and totally abstain from food, but you abstain from going to a banquet. You abstain from rich foods; you eat rather common and simple food.

Daniel did that as he wouldn't touch the delicacies of the king's meat, but said he only wanted to eat what was called pulse and water. So it was not a total fast, but it was a restricted fast for spiritual priority reason. But basically speaking, those are the rare ones; it is usually abstinence from food for a specific period.

In Scripture this abstinence from food was connected with a very troubled spirit or a very anxious heart. Fasting is almost the equivalent to humble oneself before the Lord. As Leviticus 16 says, fasting is the same as inflicting one's soul. So fasting first is based on that principle of mournful anxiety.

Some times fasting was done by the nation, some times by a small group of people and sometimes by one individual, this was a part of their life. But in Jesus’ time, this thing had gone beyond its bounds. What started as a true, heartfelt fast became a hypocritical, self-righteous demonstration in front of men.

The Talmud tells us that they fasted on the second day and the fifth day of the week. And they will say that it was because of Moses who went up to Sinai to get the law on the fifth day of the week. And he came down on the second day of the week. But, as spiritual as that sounds, if you look at Jewish history, the market day was the second and fifth day. And those were the two days when everybody came to town and the best time to show everyone how pious you were.

Secondly, there is the period of fasting. People have discussed and debated much how long a fast should be. And some have said well, if you're really spiritual you fast for 40 days and 40 nights. If you're not so spiritual, you fast for one day only.

Listen, the Bible does not prescribe how long one should fast; never. The time depends on the person, depends on the circumstance, depends on the situation, and the need. For example in 2 Corinthians 6:5 and in 2 Corinthians 11:27, Paul mentions fasting twice there.

And by the way Paul in all of the directives that he gave never gave one regarding fasting. It is an individual and personal thing. The only compulsory public fast was the Day of Atonement, but after Christ died on the cross, there was no longer a need for a day of atonement. Jesus once and for all paid that price.

Fasting remains a personal, private, spontaneous and voluntary act that happens when you need it. And notice in our text in verse 16, Jesus says, "When you fast." Then again in verse 17, "When you fast..." Now this shows that Jesus knew this would happen again. Jesus says that this should be a part of the life of a person who represents the kingdom or who is a part of it.

And He explains the priority of it in Matthew 9: 14 and 15. The disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and they said "why do we," the disciples of John the Baptist, "who are righteous people, and the Pharisees, who were unrighteous people, fast often? But your disciples do not fast."

"And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Did you get that? Now listen to me, fasting is connected to mourning, some deep spiritual anxiety.

Now beloved, we are living in the period when the bridegroom is taken from us. The marriage supper of the lamb will occur when we are joined with Christ, but until that time says our Lord, there will be fasting. Why? Because He says there will be spiritual struggle and there will be anxiety and in my absence it will not be as it is in my presence.

So let us look at all the reasons we fast. Number one, fasting is a result of lamentation and sorrow.

When the plague hit, the people of God in Joel 1:14 it says that there was a fast. In Nehemiah 1: 4, when Nehemiah heard the word that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down his heart was broken. "And it came to pass when I heard these words," he says, "I sat down and I wept and I mourned for days and I fasted and I prayed before the God of heaven."

When David’s child by Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, was struck with a terrible and fatal disease, the Bible says in 2 Samuel 12:16, "David therefore pleaded with God for the child and David fasted and lay all night on the ground."

Anxieties in the mind often times affect the stomach, don't they? And you go to that parent who is weeping and praying over a child whose life is hanging in the balance and they are not even interested in food. Their heart is poured out to God in prayer.

God's people fasted at the death of Jonathan. So sometimes the lamentation was very personal. Sometimes they lamented over someone else, a friend. Sometimes there was lamentation for a whole group of people that were killed.

Fasting is a very natural response to the heart and the soul of anxiety that comes in the midst of a mourning time or a sorrowing time. We identify with it when death comes to our own life or our own family.

Jesus Christ, who knew everything there was to know, who understood every suffering there was to suffer, that same Jesus, can sit over the city of Jerusalem and have tears can run down His face. He also stood beside the grave of Lazarus and wept for one person who died. We would also fast more if we were sensitive to things that ought to be concerns of ours.

Secondly, need for protection is another reason for fasting in the Bible. There were times when people were in such severe danger that their fear forced them to fast. They would literally cry out to God under severe danger and severe trial knowing that their only deliverance would come from Him.

Remember Esther, the lovely Jewess who had reached the place of favor with the king Ahasuerus. And then found out that Haman had developed a plot to slaughter all the Jews. And so she said: “tell my people that I will go to him and I will put my life on the line and if I perish, I perish.” But I will go in behalf of my people and the people were afraid and the Bible says they fasted for three days.

Ezra is about to lead the people out of the Babylonian captivity. And as he approaches the journey, in Ezra 8:21, he says, "I proclaim a fast there at the river of Ahava," Why? “That we might humble ourselves." That's what a fast does. It is humbling ourselves "before God," why, "to seek of Him a right way for us." "And for our little ones," that our children could cross that desert. That our children would be safe. "And for all our substance,"

Why? Because there were many bad guys and robbers and thieves and wild nomads and enemies and those who hated Israel. And then Ezra says in verse 22, "I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way since we had told the King, “the hand of our God is for good on all who seek Him, and the power of His wrath is against all them who forsake Him.”

I will depend on God and in fear it says in 8:23, "so we fasted and implored our God for this, and He answered our prayer." You see? Protection, again a time of fear, anxiety, where fasting was very much a response that could be understood.

And thirdly, humiliation. In fact, on the Day of Atonement, according to Leviticus 23, the reason they were to fast was that they were to confess their sin. Confession and humiliation go together. Have you ever experienced a time where you have sinned against the Lord and you have been so deeply disturbed by what it has done in your hearts that you cannot eat? We can only pour out our hearts to God.

There were many times when God's people confessed sin and fasting was part of it, because they hungered for the joining together of a severed fellowship with God. David said I humbled my soul with fasting.

The people at Nineveh repented of sin at Jonah's preaching and they fasted while they confessed. Daniel prayed to God and he confessed the sins of his people and fasted. Listen, it's amazing. Daniel actually even became so absorbed with the sins of others that he fasted.

I want you to ask God to give you the kind of a compassionate heart that'll make you care so much about sorrowful things in your life and the lives of others, about sin in your life and the sins of others that the lamentation and the need for protection and the humiliation, will drive you to the point of compassion where it will cause you to fast.

When you're in a spiritual struggle and you're consumed with the things of God, then it's right to abstain from food to continue your focus on that which is spiritual and divine. Let us continue to look at some more reasons where God wants us to fast next Sunday. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Oct 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20111016 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000012E imblog

Matthew 6:14-15

Tonight I want to talk about us forgiving others. Because the end of verse 12 says "As we forgive our debtors" and verses 14 and 15 say - If we forgive we get forgiven, if we don't forgive we don't get forgiven.” We just finished discussing judicial forgiveness and parental forgiveness, which is between us and God. But now I want to go to the concept of us forgiving each other.

Now there are several reasons why we are to forgive one another. And this is a list: Number one: We are to forgive one another because such is the character of saints. Christians are characterized as those who forgive. The traditional Jewish rabbis taught - you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But the Lord said Matthew 5: 44, 45, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. 45 That you may manifest that you are the sons of your Father.” In other words, forgiving others, blessing those who curse is the same as forgiveness; it’s characteristic of a son of God.

We are the forgiven, are we not? Have we forgotten that God has forgiven us and would we not forgive someone else? You know when you fail to forgive someone else you set yourself up as a higher court than God? For God always forgives. You've usurped His place.

Secondly, we are to forgive one another because it follows the example of Christ. First John 2:6 says, "If we say we abide in Him we ought to walk as He walked." Right? How did He walk? He walked in forgiveness. And that's why in Ephesians 4:32 it says that we are to forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us.

Christ has established a model, a pattern that the death of Christ and the forgiveness of God through Christ given to us is not only for its own sake, but beyond to give to us a pattern for forgiveness.

On the cross to those who had driven the nails through His hands, to the very ones who spit on Him and mocked Him and crushed a crown of thorns into His head He said - Father, forgive them. Here is the model.

Thirdly, we are to forgive one another because it expresses the highest virtue of man. Men most manifest the majesty of his creation in the image of God when he expresses forgiveness. That's indicated in Proverbs 19:11, "The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression."

Fourthly, we are to forgive one another because it frees the conscience from guilt. When there is a need to be forgiven and to forgive there surely is guilt. I think of David who in the midst of an unforgiving situation has all kinds of problems. His life's strength evaporated, he became sick, his bones felt so old and this continued as long as there was unforgiveness.

You know people who carry grudges and bitterness and an angry attitude toward an individual that goes on and on unrelieved are literally wounding themselves. Dr McMillan has written a book in which he has one chapter titled - It's not what you eat, it's what eats you. That's the real issue.

Fifthly, we should forgive one another because it delivers us from chastening. Where there is an unforgiving spirit there is sin. And where there is sin there is chastening. And every son that the Lord loves He scourges and chastens, Hebrews 12:6 says.

But there's one more that's more important than those five: we are to forgive one another because if we don't we don't get forgiven either (verses 14 and 15). And many people do not understand those verses. Remember our discussion on the two kinds of forgiveness? The first was judicial forgiveness, the second was parental forgiveness.

Look at verse 12 and let me start right there. You could translate it, "Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven." Before we ever seek forgiveness for our own sin against God we already have forgiven those who have sinned against us. First we forgive then we are forgiven. That's the order it is right here.

We are not talking about an unbeliever because an unbeliever has no capacity, no spiritual virtue to do an act of forgiveness by which he would earn forgiveness. It's talking about a believer. Before we come to get our feet washed each day, before we bring our sins to the Lord and say - Lord, cleanse me again and use me - we've got to be sure that we've forgiven others. That's the prerequisite.

Just confessing your sins isn't enough because the Lord isn't giving you release from those sins because you've still got somebody else that you haven't forgiven. And you have ruined your own spiritual welfare. It isn't my word, this is the Lord Jesus Christ and we know that He knows.

Begin to examine your life and the people you know including family members and try to remember your relationships. Oswald Saunders says, "Jesus is here stating a principle and God's dealing with His children." He deals with us as we deal with others. He measures us by the yardstick we use on others. The prayer is not forgive us because we forgive others but forgive us even as we have already forgiven others. That's the idea.

I'll give you another illustration that's very clear. Jesus said this in Luke 6:38, “Give and it will be given to you. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” How about this verse in 2 Corinthians 9:6? “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” God deals with us the same way we deal with Him.

Whatever we invest in His kingdom we receive a return on. If we harbor sins and grudges and so forth we cut ourselves off from the blessedness that can accrue to us because of those things. We have taught you so many times that as you give you invest with God, you receive a return on it.

The same thing is true on your confession of sin and seeking forgiveness. God deals with you the way you deal with others. And maybe the short circuit in your spiritual life is just that you have some people that you're holding bitter resentment or a grudge against and you have not been able to forgive them.

Even the Jews knew this. The Talmud, the rabbinical commentary on the Old Testament says, - He who is indulgent toward others faults will be mercifully dealt with by the supreme judge Himself. What about your life? Are you forgiving? Because if you're not God's not going to forgive you and you're going to be going through the world with muddy feet.

Oh, judicially you are justified and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you but the joy is gone and the intimacy isn't there and the usefulness for God disappears. Now you say - Well, if I have a grudge like this with somebody how do I take care of it? There are three practical steps:

Number one: take it to God as a sin. That's where it starts. Lord, there is this person and this is the way I feel and it's a sin and I admit it and I'm sorry and I acknowledge it and I repent of it and I forsake it. That's where you start.

Step two, go to that person. That’s very tough, huh? Well, I'm only telling you this so you can know spiritual joy. You make the decision. You say - I want to seek your forgiveness. And see the freedom that comes. I may have already forgiven them. I may not even have known I did anything for which they were offended.

Third thing, give the person something you value very highly. It's a very practical approach. Let me tell you why. Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, "Where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be also." And I'll tell you this, you put something of value something that is precious to you in their hand and your heart will go with it and it will change the way you feel about them.

Now let's see this in several other passages. Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." In other words, if you want to receive mercy from God then you must be merciful. It's a principle of spiritual life.

People in Christ's kingdom are merciful. They will bear the insults of evil men and their hearts will reach out in compassion. Now in that context that has a much broader meaning and I don't want to get back into that again but just the principle is the same, it can be compared. You want mercy, you give mercy.

Let me show you another one, Matthew 5:21: "You have heard that it was said by them of old," that is a statement that gives reference to a rabbinic tradition that says: "You shall not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment." In other words, your teaching is that and it certainly had truth in it but it wasn't all the truth because that's as far as it went.

Matthew 5:22 says, “But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment. Whoever shall say to his brother ‘Raca’ shall be in danger of council,” and by the way Raca is an untranslatable epithet. That's not like saying anything it's more like a tone of voice than it is a word. To them it might be saying - You brainless, stupid idiot or whatever.

Verse 22 goes on, “But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” Why? Verse 23-24, "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

The point is the same. Again, the context is a little different as we saw in our study of it but the point is the same. You cannot come offering to the Lord some sacrifice to deal with your own spiritual life until you've gotten it right with somebody else. Go away and get that right first.

Now some of you came to worship the Lord this evening but you can't offer God worship because He won't accept it. You're going to go away just like you came because you've got relationships that are unresolved and you're unforgiving in some situations, therefore, you forfeit true worship, go back, get that straight first and then come back.

Psalm 23 says this, "Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Why? Because I have to have mercy all my life long because I sin. And if God is so merciful without His mercy ever being diminished, who am I to be unmerciful to anyone. No wonder so much of Christianity is short circuited in its power--so many unresolved conflicts with people.

So go away from the altar until you get your life right. If you regard iniquity in your heart, Psalm 66:18 says "The Lord will not hear you." James says it again in James 2:13, "For judgment is without mercy to the one that has shown no mercy." The Lord will really chasten you if you're not merciful to others. Everybody manifests a weakness in different ways; so let's be forgiving.

When somebody has sinned against you and you seek reconciliation and you take somebody with you as a witness and then tell the church this sin, this whole thing deals with forgiveness. And so Peter asks in Matthew 18:21, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Now the rabbis taught three times.

Jesus said to him in verse 22, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Jesus says we need to forgive infinitely, unendingly. Why? For we have to forgive others the same way as God has forgiven us. Is God’s limit of forgiveness four-hundred and ninety times? Better hope not. He forgives us indefinitely.

Then Jesus gave an illustration starting with verse 23-24, "Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents."

This guy was real scum, the worst. Ten thousand talents is so much money that it's hard to conceive. How could a servant ever owe that much? He probably stole from the king's treasury. To become indebted so much at that time in the history of the world is unbelievable. That’s more than 10 million dollars.

So, verse 25 says, he was not able to pay. So, the master ordered to liquidate the only assets he had and all he had was himself, his wife and kids. Look at verse 26, the servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, “Lord, have patience with me and I will pay you everything.” Oh that's really stupid. What do you mean? How could he do that from prison?

And look in verse 27, “the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt.” Now that is amazing. Guess who this king represents? God. Guess who the servant is? All of us. Did we owe a debt we couldn't pay? Huh? Better believe it. And He forgave us. Why? He was compassionate. How could anybody forgive anything as astronomical as that? I want to show you more about this guy.

“The same servant”, verse 28, “went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.” You know how much that was? Three months work, very little. The servant who had just been forgiven for the 10 million, went out and found a guy who owed him 3 months work.

“And he took him by the throat” saying, “Pay me what you owe. 29So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will pay you all.’ And he could have. “30And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.”

Now he couldn't pay the debt while he was in prison because he couldn't work while he was in prison. That shows you the evil of the man's heart. “31So when the fellow servants saw what was done they were sorry and they came and told their lord all that was done.” 32Then his master after he had called him said unto him, "O you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

33Should not you also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? 34And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he could pay all that was due unto him. 35So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

That's the picture, people, of somebody who wants to take all the forgiveness that God give but isn't willing to give it to somebody else. You see yourself there? You hold grudges? Oh, have you so soon forgotten the mercy that you have received?

Now listen to me, one of the reasons you need to acknowledge your sin by name on a constant basis is that you will be reminded what a sinner you are, how constant His forgiveness is and thereby it reminds you to forgive others.

But as you fail to acknowledge your own sin as you cover it up and not deal with it, you not only will lose your intimacy and your joy and your usefulness, but you will find yourself becoming unforgiving to others because you're not being honest about what God is forgiving in your own life.

Let us remember what out Lord did for us in paying our debt at the cross, thereby forgiving us all our sin forever and ever, Amen. Let us participate in the Lord’s Supper.

]]> Sun, 25 Sep 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110925 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000012F imblog

Matthew 6:5-8

Today is the day that we remember the events that unfolded in New York on September 11, 2001 ten years ago. Thousands of people lost their lives as the 2 fully loaded planes destroyed the Twin Towers in New York and changed the attitude of many people towards their safety and towards other religions.

This event highlights the fact that we are not in control over a lot of what happens to us. But we believe that God is in control and Jesus teaches us to pray to communicate with Him. And maybe you are wondering whether prayer helps at all. So let us study the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus himself and look what God says about praying.

So open up your bibles to Matthew 6:5-8, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

Now as we are about to study prayer I know that there are differing opinions even among Christians about how prayer functions since God is sovereign. Let me give you the two differing Christian opinions and then we can decide after hearing Jesus’ sermon whether our own opinion is correct or not.

First of all we need to accept that there are many things that God does that we as people cannot begin to understand fully. Even regarding salvation there are many Christians that cannot reconcile the fact that God predestines (Rom 8:29) and chooses before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) and that God also says that men chooses because everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom. 10:13).

Now related to prayer there is one opinion that says that because God is sovereign and in control of everything, He is going to do whatever He wills whether or not we pray. Prayer in that view is not really essential related to God’s actions but it is essential in helping us align ourselves with God’s purposes. Generally that is the Calvinistic viewpoint.

Now the Armenian view is that God only does things based on people’s prayers. So some people are really praying to God for Him to do things that He would otherwise not do. And it is difficult to deal with that because in the bible we have seen examples of how God seems to change His mind or His direction that apparently He wouldn’t have done otherwise.

However there are also other times when God says I’m going to do what I’m going to do since you have not listened to my many warnings. And yet at the same time we know that God also changes His mind about judging us when we truly repent and ask for forgiveness.

Even the greatest Christians that are used by God mightily in the past could not comprehend some of these mysteries that only God knows and among those mysteries is certainly the issue of how human prayer influences a sovereign God.

But we must pray as Jesus is teaching us and we must be committed to the principles of prayer as Jesus tells us. God is teaching us to be obedient in prayer whether we understand how this mystery works or not. Being obedient in our prayer life is a basic principle that all Christians need to learn.

Jesus is again showing us what is really important in our spiritual life and contrasts that with what the Pharisees and Scribes were teaching at that time. In Matthew 5 Jesus has told us that God’s standards are much higher than those of the Pharisees and here He gives us as an example our prayer life.

Now prayer was an important issue for the Jews, everyone was involved. In fact the rabbis taught the Jews that prayer was even more important than good works. They wrote that they regretted the fact that they could not pray all day long. So they really prioritized prayer. And they had to do it in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening.

But they prayed hypocritically. They prayed to be heard by men instead of praying to communicate with God. They prayed so that others might think of them as being very spiritual instead of pouring out their hearts to God. They prayed the Shimah, basically Deuteronomy 6, "Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord."

And they went from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 over to Deuteronomy 11:13-21 over to Numbers 15:37-41. They took all those verses together and they made this long prayer out of it and the Jew had to pray it again and again. And by the way, if the Shimah was a little long for you, they had adapted a summary that you could pray if you were in a hurry.

Now, wherever they were, they had to pray this at the right time. If you were walking along the road, if you were in the field, if you were in your house, if you were at the synagogue, when the time came, you needed to do this so people would be praying at different places all through these times during the day.

Now prayer can take many forms. It could be a true loving communion with God even though this was a prescribed prayer if you heart is right for God. You could really think it through when you prayed, but most Jews were not in that category. The Pharisees only wanted to show off how religious they were and then there are those who only go through the motions of prayer to get it over with.

The Jews also developed special prayers for different occasions. And they had prayers for everything, prayers for lightning, prayers for the new moon, prayers for rain, prayers for the sea, prayers for good news and prayers for bad news, prayers for new furniture and prayers going out of town. And the thing they did is to memorize these specific prayers and recite them for whatever occasion they were involved in.

This reminds me of how people from other religions pray ritually without any effect on their hearts, especially when they have to pray in Arabic without understanding what is being said or when the Buddhist monks need to twirl the prayer beads to keep track of how many times a mantra is recited while meditating or the prayer wheel with written prayers that they just twirl from the Tibetan Buddhist.

And now Jesus tells us to pray differently in Matthew 6:6, by “going into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Jesus is teaching us 4 things about prayer, first that we should not pray ritualistically but personally to our Father in heaven.

We nowadays also are used to pray the same prayers over and over again without thinking, as if we have nothing new to say. Even reciting the Lord’s Prayer without thinking or feeling is not beneficial. To pray personally means to acknowledge our personal shortcomings and to thank Him for all the blessings He has given you recently and ask Him what you specifically spiritually want Him to do more of.

The main point of prayer is not where you pray but what attitude you have when you pray. It is not that you have to go to a secret place to pray but that you are sincere when you pray. A true worshipper is not interested in a public display but in a place that is secluded and appropriate for his prayer. There is where he can pray alone with God.

Jesus also says something about the length of prayers in Matthew 6:7, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Jesus teaches us secondly to pray sincerely. It is not how long you pray but how honest and sincere you are in your prayer.

The Pharisees also loved to pray for a long time; the longer they prayed the more people could see them and praise them for their spirituality. The Lord said in Mark 12:40, "For pretense, they make long prayers." There is nothing wrong with a long prayer if it's a real prayer. But if you're trying to impress everybody with your verbosity and your theology than it is not a prayer to God but it is to get praise from men.

The rabbis used to say whenever a prayer is long, that prayer will surely be heard. And the implication is that you've got to spend the first few minutes just getting God's attention. Jesus is saying that “vain repetitions” is a pagan practice, “as the heathens do.” The pagan approach to prayer is you keep repeating yourself until their god gets so weary of hearing you that He does what you want.

Do you remember the encounter between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, where he really gave them a bad time? You know, he kept egging them on. Maybe He's on a vacation. Maybe he can't hear you, better yell a little louder, he might be asleep. You know, that they prayed all day long and they kept saying oh Baal hear us. Oh Baal hear us. Hour after hour after hour, they repeated that same phrase, trying to wake up their god.

And Jesus also says in Matthew 6:5 that these rabbis “loved to pray” meaning love to pray long. Why? Was it because they loved God so much? No, Jesus saw their heart and their intentions and He said, “For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.”

And the Jews liked long prayers and they have found some old Jewish prayers where they put 16 adjectives before the name of God, as many as they could think of. They were more concerned about what they were saying and how it sounded than they were about what they were saying to the God to whom they pretended to speak.

Jews in Israel today stand in one spot in their black suits and their black hats and they genuflect for hours repeating the same prayer over and over. They take that prayer, stick it in the cracks of the wailing wall and as long as it stays in the crack, it's being offered to God, as if God needed information, as if God had to pressured into responding.

Many of the prayers recorded in Scripture are brief and simple, such as that of: Moses (Exod. 32:31, 32) or Solomon (for an understanding heart, 1 Kings 3:6–9), Elijah (1 Kings 18:36, 37) and Jabez (1 Chron. 4:10). And in the New Testament we see the publican (Luke 18:13), the dying thief (Luke 23:42), Stephen (Acts 7:60) and Paul (for the Ephesians, Eph. 3:14–19).

Christ’s high priestly or intercessory prayer Himself, too, can hardly be called lengthy (John 17), and the Lord’s Prayer, which he taught his disciples to pray, is certainly marked by brevity (Matt. 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4).

Jesus thirdly teaches us to pray confidently. In Matthew 6:8 He says, ““Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Prayer is not a tool to get from the Lord the blessings that He has withheld from us. No, prayer is a means to receive what God already wants to give us.

Unlike an earthly father who guesses what his children need, God as our heavenly father knows exactly what we need. Some might say, “Then, why pray at all?” They, however, miss the point. Jesus was not condemning the outpouring of the heart to God, not even when all facts are already known to the Lord.

In fact, it is just because an earthly father or mother understands a child so thoroughly and knows its needs better than any stranger does, that the child will go with his needs to him and/or to her, which is exactly what loving parents want him to do. And that is what God wants us to do as well.

Jesus does not want us to be fearful and unbelieving, like pagans who repeat their requests over and over because their gods need to be informed and placated with gifts and sacrifices in order for them to act favorably.

And lastly Jesus teaches us to pray purposefully. Matthew 6:9–13 says, “9Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread, 12and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

It is ironic that this prayer is often used by many people to be repeated without thinking and understanding. Some Christians even believe that the more you repeat this prayer the more spiritual you will become. But Jesus is giving his disciples a model of how to pray, not as a model of what always to pray.

The comprehensive nature of this prayer appears from the fact that they bear reference not only to God’s glory (first three petitions), but also to our needs (last three); not only to our physical needs (fourth petition), but also to our spiritual (fifth and sixth); not only to our present need (fourth petition), but also to our need with reference to the past (fifth), and even to our future need (sixth).

Finally, in this Lord’s Prayer the worshiper carries to the throne of grace the burdens that are not only his own but also his brothers’ (“our,” “us”). All of this is included in the six brief requests. This is indeed the perfect pattern for our prayers! Prayer is coming to God knowing that He is almighty and loving and asking Him to show us His glory.

A good guide for prayer is putting it in your own words by beginning with acknowledging God’s position (vs. 9), and then align yourself with God’s plan (vs. 10), and then ask for God’s provisions (vs. 11-13), which include physical sustenance, forgiveness of sin and protection from the devil.

John MacArthur believes that praying is like breathing, we need this to live, and we need to do it all the time not just three times a day, otherwise we will also die spiritually. My hope is that we all will grow in our prayer life so that you will bless God and the many people you come in contact with as well, Amen?

]]> Sun, 11 Sep 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110911 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000130 imblog

Luke 9:46-56

Have you noticed how easy it is to be proud when you're right? And sometimes, because we're right, and because we know the truth, and because we love the truth, because we understand the truth, we can become intolerant and heavy-handed. And we all need to learn humility.

We have to speak the truth in love. We have to be patient and gentle and humble. And do you know that we live in a world that exalts self-love, self-satisfaction and self- promotion. And so here we are, as Christians living in a counterculture way opposed to the world. To be full of selfless humility in a world that sees that as a weakness.

But the Bible sees pride as a very ugly sin. It is the Devil's sin. It's what got him and all the other angels who joined his rebellion thrown out of heaven. It's basically what got Adam and Eve thrown out of the Garden. It is pride that seeks to dethrone God, and seeks to attack his perfect sovereignty and his majesty, and seeks to replace him with self.

And pride grips every human heart. That's why it's so hard to come to Christ. That's why the gate is narrow, and that's why the way is hard, and that's why you press into the Kingdom, because it's hard to deny yourself.

Nobody will ever overcome pride until we're out of this body. Pride remains in our fallen flesh. It will stay there until glorification. Pride has to be broken for people to be saved, and it has to be continually and repeatedly broken for people to be sanctified.

We have to have a broken and contrite heart. But humility comes hard, especially if you think you're right. And the more you know, and the more mature you become, the more impact you have on others, the more blessings you have in your life, the more this feeds your pride.

It is essential that we understand how important humility is. Paul said 2 Corinthians 12:7- 9, "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” It's when you come to the end of your self that you're powerful.

This was the problem with Jesus’ disciples. Open your Bibles to Luke 9. For almost three years the disciples have been with Jesus. This is a 24/7 deal, they're in the presence of Jesus, and everywhere is a classroom and everything is a lesson.

And everything Jesus ever taught them was absolutely right. Everything was a true interpretation of a divine mind. They were taught perfectly. In addition to being right about everything, they were given authority to represent Jesus Christ, and to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom from town to town and village to village.

And they were given so much authority that if they went into a place and somebody did not receive their message, they were to pronounce a judgment on those people, shake the dust off their feet, and go on.

They were given the power to cast out demons. They were given the power to heal diseases. They were common, ordinary guys who were given this immense amount of truth, authority, divine power, to wield in the name of Jesus Christ.

And for the most part, their flesh was having a very difficult time not being proud. And so, it was necessary for our Lord to teach them on many occasions what it was to be humble. One of those is in Luke 9.

And we're going to learn from Jesus in the school, not of theology, but of humility. Now you have to know one thing before we read verse 46. They have just received their power at the beginning of chapter nine, power and authority over demons, healing diseases, proclaiming the kingdom, pronouncing judgment on cities, shaking the dust off their feet.

There they went, in verse 6, "preaching the gospel, healing everywhere." To add to that, three of them, Peter, John and James, according to verse 28, had an incredible experience. They were taken up to a mountain with Jesus, and there he pulled aside his flesh, and he was transfigured, and they saw the shining glory of God.

And they also met Moses and Elijah on the mount. Now, you talk about an amazing, unique, unequaled experience. Here they are, with all this power, all this authority, the representatives of Messiah, having seen the greatest Old Testament figure, the law giver, Moses, and the greatest Old Testament prophet, Elijah, personally, on the mountain, and the transfigured Christ.

It’s really hard to be humble. So they come down from the mountain, and they're having this argument. Verse 46, "An argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest." You can understand it. One of them maybe says, well, you never know who is the greatest. It could be me.

And James says, well if it was going to be you, you'd been on the mountain with us. We were taken up on the mountain, you weren't. Or it might have gone like this. In the last village we were in, how many did you heal? Well, I had some minor healings. Huh, I had five major healings. You can almost hear the argument.

Now remember this, there are 12 apostles. There are four lists in the Bible of them, and in every list, there are three groups of four, and they're always in the same group. And the groups have descending intimacy with Christ. But they were forever going along arguing over who is the greatest and comparing all of their spiritual experiences, all their opportunities to display power and their intimate times with Jesus.

So here we are, faced with the issue of pride. Their message is right. They're authorities from God. They are his chosen representatives, and yet they are unable to deal with this lofty calling. It's hard to be humble when you're right. But it's necessary.

And in this text, we're going to see Jesus teach humility. They had just returned from traveling. They're back together again, and on the road, there was this debate. It got so heated, that James and John asked their mother to go to Jesus and plead their case to sit on his right and his left hand. Why? Because their mother was related to Jesus' mother and so they thought they had the inside family track (Matthew 20:20-26).

So let's look at what pride does to you. First, pride ruins unity. Luke 9:46, "An argument arose among them." That is not good. Arguing back and forth fractures their unity. They were a team. They were one. They weren't supposed to be competing with each other. Only humility encourages unity.

That's why in Philippians 1:27, Paul says, " Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”

Secondly, pride desires superiority over others. Pride seeks to elevate itself. Pride compares itself with everybody else, like Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:12 about the false teachers, "they compare themselves to themselves." Jesus says in Matthew 20:26-27, “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.”

Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Thirdly, pride reveals sin or depravity. Luke 9:47 says, "But Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart." How would you like to spend three years, 24/7 with Jesus who knows all your thoughts?

This may be the greatest evidence of God's grace in using us. He does know your thoughts and my thoughts. He knew what they were thinking. He knew the sin that was in their hearts. Pride is sinful and you're totally exposed. But God still wants to use you.

And so, knowing what they were thinking in their heart caused Him to give them the lesson on humility. In Luke 9:47 Jesus continues “took a little child and set him by Him.” "A small child," according to Mark 9:36, "and yet grown enough to be held by Jesus.

Jesus says that you cannot enter heaven unless you come as a child. What does Jesus want us to learn? A child has no achievement, no accomplishment. You come really void of anything on your own that can earn you a place with God.

The sin of pride is failing to recognize you are dependent on Him, and you lack achievement and accomplishment. What is Paul’s testimony in 1 Corinthians 15:10, "by the grace of God I am what I am,” It is all God’s doing! Being humble is recognizing that without God we are nothing.

Number four. Pride rejects deity. Look at Luke 9:48. Jesus said to them, with that little child right there as a living object lesson, "Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me. Whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me."

Matthew 18:5 says, "Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” We have to receive one another as children, because the way you receive one another is the way you receive Me. And every believer Christ is in, the father is in. Pride rejects the presence of God in other believers.

There's only one way to view any believer from anywhere, and that is as Christ views me. We cannot say: well, I don't have time for those kind of people. Get me out of here. Jesus says humble yourself so you too can love every sinner!

Fifth principle, pride reverses reality. Look to the last part of Luke 9:48, "He who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great." The world says the opposite, “Whoever is the most popular, the most widely known, the most influential, the most powerful is the greatest.”

The reality is that the lowliest, the most humble person in the Lord’s eyes is the greatest. Remember 1 Corinthians 1:26, where the apostle Paul says that when the Lord established his church, there were not many noble, not many mighty people?

But He took the lowly, the base, the weak, and he made His church of those people in order that there would be no other explanation for the church other than the purposes of God. We are the lowly and the least. James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Number six, pride reacts with exclusivity. Proud people think that only they are special, only they are the chosen people. Luke 9:49, "John answered and said, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to hinder him because he does not follow along with us.'"

We said to him, hey man, you're not in our group. You're not in our denomination. Well, he was casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It doesn't say he tried. It said he was. So he had power. Maybe he was one of the 70 who was out on his own. And he was doing it consistent with Jesus’ name, and His will.

Pride wants to say, I know more than you. I don't know if I can work with you. You need correction. You need help. You're not quite there. You get there, and I'll work with you. That's what pride says.

Humility says if you're in the name of Christ doing the best to serve Christ, I'll come alongside. There's a bigness of heart among the humble. Jesus said to him, "Stop that. Stop hindering him. Stop, for he who is not against you is on our side."

The true and faithful church is very diverse, isn't it? I've been in very different environments of Christian people who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, with very different kind of expression of worship in ministry.

Again, humble yourself and realize that we're all still in a growth process. For some, their process is a little bit behind you. So do your best to teach them what they need to know to come more in line with Scripture. Humility is equal to greatness.

Humility is in the hearts of those who pursue unity by seeking to exalt others. Humility is in the heart of those who refuse relative comparisons with others. Humility belongs to those who exalt God alone, and when they come to another believer, they will honor and love that believer, because that believer is like Christ to them.

What about unbelievers? Do we need to fight with them? Listen to Luke 9:55, "Jesus turned and rebuked them, you do not know what kind of spirit you're of." You can't even control yourself. Verse 56, "For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”

Those who hate Christ are not our enemies. We attack everyone who disagrees with us. Like homosexuals, feminists, the liberal left, calling them names and trying to vote them out of power. They're lost. How do you expect them to act?

You would act the same way if you were in the same condition. They're not the enemy. They're our mission field. We're out there on a mission of mercy. We cannot alienate the very people we are called to reach. And only through humility can we learn that. .

Seven, pride restrains mercy. What do you do when you face that? At the end of verse 56, "They went on to another village." Just keep moving to the next place. We do know the truth. We have the truth. But we must preach the truth with love and humility. Jesus said this, "Be merciful as your father in heaven is merciful. And be humble, as Christ who humbled himself." Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 04 Sep 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110904 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000131 imblog

Acts 3:1-26

Have you ever been in situations where you have lost your job and have financial difficulty in making ends meet? Or have you been sick to the point where you have to rely on other people to get you to the doctor for treatment? Well let us look at such a man who was living in hopelessness in the book of Acts 3 where he met the apostles Peter and John.

There is a well known story about Sir Thomas Aquinas who visited the Pope at the Vatican. And when he arrived he was given the red carpet treatment and shown all the priceless riches there that very few people have ever seen. Sir Thomas was very impressed by all that enormous wealth.

At the end of the visit still bedazzled by all that wealth a senior cardinal turned to him and said, “You see Thomas, we need no longer say with Peter, “Silver and gold I do not have.” At which point Sir Thomas Aquinas replied, “I understand Sir, but neither can you say with Peter, “In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.”

It comes as no surprise that the greatest hindrance for God’s work among His children is that silver and gold. What do I mean by this? Our human resources, the very blessings from God, often get in the way of experiencing the power of God first hand.

The trust in our possessions often hinders us from fully trusting God. Our preoccupation with what we have, our preoccupation with what we have accomplished, our preoccupation with what we want to have, often crowds out the power of God the way He wants it, the way only He gets the glory.

Our focus on our preference keeps the hand of God from doing what He wants to do among us as believers. Even those who pray for miracles, even those who want God’s supernatural intervention manifested in their lives, often ask for those things for selfish reasons and not for the glory of God. Yes, I know we often pay lip service by giving God the glory but how often do we ask only for what we want. We don’t wait before God and ask Him what He wants.

Open up your bibles and look at Acts chapter three. I believe that this chapter spells out the true biblical understanding of miracles, the true understanding of signs and wonders. This chapter clearly teaches us that God’s supernatural intervention is not for showbiz. God’s interventions in the lives of man are only there for one purpose only, and that is the salvation of the sinner.

This was the first miracle that was performed by the apostles since the day of Pentecost. But for Peter this was his second sermon since the first was preached during the Day of Pentecost. What is this first miracle all about?

Now remember Peter and John were in a way business partners and it was not unusual for them to be together. They were close friends as well and partners in the ministry, ministering to others and ministering the Word of God.

Acts 3:1 says, “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. This was about three o’clock in the afternoon.” You see the Jews prayed three times per day, they prayed in the morning, they prayed at noon and they prayed in the evening,

The evening time was the busiest near the temple and as they walked they were confronted with human hopelessness. Acts 3:2 says, “And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple.”

Not only that they were also confronted with human helplessness. The book of Acts was the second book written by Luke, the physician, and as such he describes clearly the condition of these sick people. He gives us more physical details, for example that this crippled man was born that way.

In Acts 4:22 Luke tells us that he had been in that condition for 40 years. This man was so crippled that he depended totally on others to carry him from one place to another. And all this man was begging for was enough to eat, that’s all, enough to live from one day to the next.

Please listen carefully, this is the condition of every person, everyone was born with a crippling disease that leads to death. We are all born with eternal hopelessness, written all over our foreheads. Whether you are born in a mansion or some shack, whether you are born rich or poor, no matter what color of skin you have, we are all born crippled with this thing called sin nature.

Throughout our lives we are carried by the current from one place to the next and we are living day to day just existing, just getting by, carried by the whims of others from one place of hopelessness to another. Throughout our lives we are racked by discontentment and emptiness, knowing that we are missing something.

We go from this counselor to that counselor and from this method to that method all the while not getting any relief, from alcohol to pills to drugs and still no relief, while hoping that something would take away that pain of emptiness.

And then we read in Acts 3:6, “Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Do you know what the phrase “in the name of Jesus Christ” means? This means that you are acting consistent with His will. You are doing something that Christ would have done if He was still on earth..

When you do something in the name of Jesus Christ you are doing something based on His authority. You are doing something with the power that Christ has delegated you with. And so Peter demands that the cripple man gets up!

Wow, did he get up. Look at Acts 3:7-9, “And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.”

His excitement knew no bounds, he wasn’t just walking, he was jumping and leaping and praising God. He was not crippled anymore, it was like he was instantly freed from all the shackles before. The chains that held him to the ground were all broken.

If you have never experienced victory over sin, if you have never experienced victory over addiction, if you have never experienced victory over your love of money and things, if you have never experienced victory over your guilt, you are under one of these two conditions.

You either have never experienced the liberating power of salvation of Jesus Christ in your life or you have experienced that liberating power of Jesus Christ but you are living in disobedience.

The good news is that today you can be set free. First there was the miracle and then there was the message. Do not misunderstand this. The miracle is always a servant to the message! The miracle is always subservient to the message. The miracle is always inferior to the message.

Why? Because the miracle is temporary but the message is permanent. Because the miracle is finite but the message is eternal. Because the miracle is for a season, but the message is forever. And because of that the miracle is always subservient to the message.

The crippled man that was miraculously healed and started to jump and leap, but he eventually died. But because of that miracle something happened as it says in Acts 4:4, “However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”

So Peter begins his message by identifying the effects of sin. You see, if only that miracle took place, people would have said, “Isn’t that nice, isn’t that great, boy this Peter must have some great power.” Some even would have asked him about the source of that power like that magician Simon who even wanted to buy that power in Acts 8:18.

But the message is always superior and that is why Peter uses that miracle only as an introduction to the message. And the people that were saved because of that message are now in heaven and we are going to be able to meet them in heaven when we get there.

All preaching and teaching wherever you hear it inside the church or outside the church, if it does not begin with sin and repentance, there will be no salvation. Somebody told me that all you have to do is believe in Jesus to be saved. This is like saying to a person that lies on the ground wounded mortally with a gun shot wound, just put a band aid on it, even though the bullet is still inside.

All the preaching of the apostles throughout the New Testament always begins with identifying sin and the effects of sin. It has to begin with confessing sin and repenting of sin, and only then salvation takes place.

Look how it begins in Acts 3:13-15, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” the God whom you claim to worship, the God that brought your forefathers out of slavery out of Egypt, the God that made a promise to Moses to raise up a prophet like himself referring to Jesus, this God who even before that made a promise to Abraham to bless the whole world through his seed, referring again to Jesus.

The God that made all these promises in the Old Testament, where Isaiah said that He was going to be a suffering servant, that was coming to die for your sin. That same God has sent His Messiah, He did send His Savior, but what have you done with Him. You crucified Him, you rejected Him, you disowned the only One who could save you.

Let us continue in verse 13, “the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.”

Oh I know this is not politically correct, we are not supposed to accuse and confront a person directly, we are supposed to be gentle and not correct someone publicly, and just hope that they will get the message. But like Peter we need to tell the truth. And if the truth causes repentance I would rejoice and if not I would cry over that.

If you read and listen to what Peter says it is somewhat ironic that this comes out of the mouth of Peter. This was not John who always followed the Lord quietly. This is the same Peter who denied Jesus three times, Is he a hypocrite? No he is not, beloved this is the core of the Christian faith.

This is the heart of the gospel. You might say how can he condemn people of the same sin that he himself committed not long ago? When we come to Christ we do not do this out of superiority, no, we come because we have experienced first hand the power of sin and we have experienced first hand the power of repentance.

Let us look at the benefits of repentance in Acts 3:17-19, “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

In verse 17 Peter made an Old Testament distinction between the sin of omission and the sin of commission. Whether you sins are committed through omission or commission, the consequences are the same. Ignorance is no excuse! Ignorance is no defense. But when there is true repentance, God is willing to wipe the past slate clean.

Not only that, Peter says that the fear of judgment also will be wiped away. Not only that but that sense of refreshment in you soul and that sense of peace and that sense of well being and being back in favor with God will also take place. These are all benefits of repentance and salvation.

You know the word blotted out, or wiped out in verse 19 is a picture of ink written on papyrus paper that is wiped out with a wet sponge. The ink in the old days did not have that acid that bites into paper and you could literally wipe that papyrus clean as if nothing was written on it before.

And that is what Peter said. When you repent from your sins, God does not merely cross out our name from His books, He wipes it completely clean. God does not relate it to you again; it has vanished without a trace.

Jesus when He was being crucified hanging on the cross, looking down at those Roman soldiers and the Jews, He prayed to God and said, Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.

Peter says that even the horrible sin of rejecting God and executing the Messiah will be wiped out when you repent. Oh How great our God is. All of us have faced the effects of sin. But many of us have also experienced the benefits of repentance and the blessings of surrender.

Peter closes his sermon in Acts 3:25-26 this way, “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

This is a word of hope. Remember he started with those that were physically hopeless. And now it closes with the hope of the blessings of God. Peter says that you now can experience the promise from God that in Abraham through Christ Jesus all the nations, all families, can be spiritually blessed.

Regardless of what you have done, regardless of your guilt, God will bless you when you repent. Repentance does not mean that you are only sorry for what you have done, that is a worldly repentance. Repentance is deciding to change course, repentance is crying to God asking for Him to change you. And God will refresh you because that is what He promised, Amen?

]]> Sun, 14 Aug 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110814 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000132 imblog

Matthew 6:1-18

Tonight we want to touch again on rewards, that is, rewards in heaven. ‘Rewards’ is not a subject that is often discussed by Christians and I believe that it is in fact neglected. So let us discuss this a little deeper. Maybe we can find out why this is.

One of the reasons Christians do not want to think about rewards is maybe because their sincere motive is to give God all the glory. The biggest issue is probably that there is still some confusion about the doctrine of grace. We really cherish the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, meaning that it is not by human works that we are saved. Only by the grace of God we are saved.

But if we do not make a distinction between how we are saved and then how God wants us to live from that point on, we will misunderstand what God’s will is. We should not get confused about how important God views our work for Him in the Christian life in general.

Because when that happens we do not know what to do with rewards. Sometimes we look at rewards and we say oh we do not do this for self glory; we don’t do this for rewards because we are still thinking about works related to salvation. We are so careful that we look at works only as something that will not save us.

Look for instance at all the wonderful hymns that were written a long time ago and they generally speak of salvation, the cross and grace and forgiveness of sin. And that is also true in contemporary Christian music. But where are the songs that talk about rewards? There are none.

So what people come up with related to rewards is only what they remember in Revelation 4:10 which says, “The twenty- four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne.” And most Christians relate rewards to these crowns only and they say, oh those rewards we just lay them back at Jesus’ feet.

That sounds really spiritual, but there is not much biblical foundation for that. So because of that many Christians do not pay much attention to all the passages where Jesus speaks of rewards because they feel that we should not make this issue that important.

But Jesus Himself speaks very directly about the topic of rewards. Actually there is an excitement to be able to discuss rewards with you, just because it so rarely discussed and taught. If Jesus teaches this and if Paul teaches it also then it must be important for us as Christians in our daily walk with Him.

How does this issue affect us in our daily life, how does it motivate us, what are we missing if we never think about heavenly rewards? Well let’s just get started with earthly rewards, does that work? Well, of course. Why do people get excited at work when there is a competition and there is a great reward? Because they can almost taste the reward, because it will give them pleasure to go on that trip to Hawaii or to spend that $ 10,000 prize money on buying something.

But think for a moment about these earthly rewards, how long do they satisfy you? How long does a child play excitedly with his Christmas presents before he gets bored? How long are you excited by the smell of a new car? How long are you excited when you move into a new house?

How long do new clothes satisfy you before you are ready to buy that newer dress or that new great blouse? Do you know the difference between when Becky says she has no clothes and when I say that I have no clothes? When Becky says that what she means is that she has no new clothes compared to what I say when I mean that I have no clean clothes.

Are the rewards in heaven even comparable to all the different rewards on earth? God says no! First of all the rewards on earth are all temporal, they do not last long, they get old and boring and they rust and fade away and their pleasure is short lived.

God’s rewards on the other hand are forever and are lasting and will satisfy forever. Our mind cannot even begin to comprehend the expanse of those rewards in heaven. Ephesians 3:20 says that God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Whatever great the reward that we can think of, it is far less than what God will actually provide!

We only think about rewards that we can experience in our earthly bodies, but think about the resurrected body of Christ where God is giving us a foretaste of what our heavenly body will be like. Jesus ate fish so we know that the pleasure of eating will be there in heaven but imagine we will never get fat!

The reward of being closer to God and seeing Him face to face must be a reward that is incomprehensible. We know that with our earthly eyes we will never able to see God, the Father, who is Spirit. But we also know that angels are able to be in close proximity with Him to be able to serve Him.

Maybe we with our new eternal eyes with our eternal new bodies are also able to be in closer proximity with God Almighty and maybe we are allowed to get a glimpse of His glory, oh how even that would be a great reward. For the Jewish people being able to see God face to face was their highest reward.

I really cannot even begin to think of all the rewards for an eternity that God has in store for all those who love Him. But I know this; God’s blessings will never run out, you will never be bored, you will have an eternity with billions of sinless people in a world where wonders will not cease.

So with that introduction I would like for all of us to again to study and to remember what Scripture is saying about rewards and to embrace everything that the Bible is teaching us on this very important subject so that we can apply it in our daily walk with Him. And I hope that this will give us as a church new excitement in our life.

Now rewards and punishment are two sides of the same coin, meaning that we cannot understand rewards unless we understand God’s wrath. If we do not understand the difference between punishment and rewards, we will not understand the difference between how you are saved and how you have to live after you are saved.

Now listen very carefully: the believer’s sin was punished and paid for on the cross and the believer’s work will be rewarded in eternity forever. And the opposite is also true. The unbeliever’s sin will be punished forever in hell and their work will only be rewarded on earth at that time.

Now I know that almost everyone understands that our sin was punished on the cross, I have preached this, we sing about it in songs, we remember this when we take communion at the Lord’s Supper and so on. We know that this is true and is a reality.

But the second part of that statement where our work as a believer will be rewarded forever and ever in heaven has been a bit confusing, right? Sometimes we as Christians have come up with a new theology of punishment. Have you ever heard Christians talking about other Christians that have committed a terrible sin and say, “what goes around comes around!”

And what they mean is that that Christian will receive a similar punishment for their deeds at some time in the future. We often hear people say about other Christians, “Well, he or she will have to answer for that!” And many Christians believe that God at some time is going to bring that terrible sin up in the future where you will have to answer to that in front of a lot of people.

Brothers and sisters, all that is true for non-Christians and they will have to pay forever for their sins in hell but that is not the case for us as Christians. When Jesus died on the cross, when He paid for our sins with His blood, our past sins, our present sins and our future sins were removed. How far? “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” says Psalm 103:12.

That’s why we celebrate what happened on the cross, that’s why we celebrate the forgiveness of sin, that’s why we are so blessed to have the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone.

But if we do not understand this there will be this confusion. And we forget what Jesus did on the cross, and we forget that His work is all sufficient in paying for our sins. If we are not careful we go back to believing that we all are responsible for our sins and at some point we need to give an account for that for everyone to see. And beloved, that is not in the bible!

And this is hard for unbelievers to believe, and this becomes a stumbling block and foolishness to them as it says in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.”

Now pay attention to what Jesus says about that work of a Christian that will be rewarded in heaven in eternity. We have discussed this before in Matthew 6:4 regarding giving and He says, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” and in Matthew 6:6 about praying He says and “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” and in Matthew 6:18 about fasting Jesus says, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Three times Jesus repeated the same phrase. One of the things that help us interpret the Word of God is to see where there are repetitions for emphasis and importance. And as we study Matthew 6:1-18 we see repetitions about who these hypocrites are that do things for the praise of men instead of for the glory of God. We have studied them.

But here three times we also see the repetitions regarding the rewards in heaven from God our Father Himself. And Jesus repeats that three times and brothers and sisters if Jesus does that to call our attention or for emphasis, we better really focus on that and not ignore what God is teaching us here.

Listen to this famous passage of John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Listen to verse 18 again, “He who believes in Him is not condemned,” that is now, that is present tense, that is for you if you believe in Christ right now, there is no condemnation! There is no more judgment for sin in the future for you as a believer! Not in the past, not now and not ever!

Now this does not mean that now we can sin at will from now on. Paul addressed this issue in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” And again in Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!”

We are not saved to do evil but that we are saved for good works. Let me show you that again in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

God’s plan all along is that we do good things to show His love to others, to become the hands and feet of Jesus so that others want to know how to become a child of God too. And if this understanding is not correct, it gives Christians an excuse not to help, not to participate, not to care for others who do not know Christ, and not to have a ministry.

And the doctrine of heavenly rewards is attached to doing good works, and being a servant! And that is hard work! Jesus and Paul use analogies of soldiers and farmers and runners and servants and all are examples of very hard work. And they all are aspects of the Christian life!

So as a believer al our sins are forgiven. And I know that this is often hard for us to believe, because I still remember my sins as a believer. And I’m sure you remember your sins as a believer, the things that we have done that are so contrary to the will of God. And personally the biggest struggle for me have been my sins after I have become a Christian.

At times I remember them and often times Satan brings them up again and it is easy to forget what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. And many Christians still think that they are going to be judged when they read about the judgment seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” And the moment we read judgment for things that are bad we think of punishment, right? But the correct interpretation here means that our works after we have become Christians will be judged for rewards only, without any punishment.

The best example is again the passage that we discussed last week that Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15. Paul was responding to factions within the church that had different leaders as their particular favorite. And this is dangerous and could be the beginning of a church split.

But Paul said not to have favorites, that all these preachers were people that complement each other. You might have several preachers that you like to listen to and so do I. But Paul said in the middle of his response in verse 8, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one.” This means that we all are on the same team working for Jesus.

“And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” And so Paul reiterates this concept of rewards for labor in verse 8. And then he talks in verses 9 till 15 about the work possibilities that we are His workers can perform. So he begins with 1 Corinthians 3:9, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

Did you notice that Paul addressed all the church members? He said we are “God’s fellow workers,” he is not talking about himself or just the preachers or the deacons, but he is talking about everyone in the church.

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

And that is exactly what we are doing now. We are building on that foundation that was laid by the Lord Jesus Himself in the Sermon on the Mount when we read Matthew 6:1-18 and what we are learning now regarding rewards is what is built on His Word. Now let us continue verse 12:

12Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

Paul is not talking about punishment for sins, what he is talking about is what every Christian will accomplish for God in our life and the rewards that each Christian will get once it is judged by fire. Even those whose works burn up and have nothing to show for are still saved, right? Let us thank dan praise God for his grace, Amen?

]]> Sun, 07 Aug 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110807 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000133 imblog

Matthew 6:1-18

Matthew Chapter 6, we're still in the midst of the first sermon of Jesus called the Sermon on the Mount and oh what a tremendous amount we're learning, I find myself with so much truth that can be expanded that you just don't know where to cut it off.

The story is told of an eastern mystic, a pious holy man who used to sit in a prominent place on a busy corner of the street of his city. And every day he would sit there covered with dust and ashes. A passing tourist asked him for permission to take his photograph, to which the holy man replied, "Just a moment please, let me rearrange my ashes."

Well, there's a lot of rearranging of ashes going on in religion. Fixing how we look religiously so other people think better of us. We all want to make a good impression. We want to appear holy and we want to appear pious. And so we play a game and the game is hypocrisy and we're all doing it.

If you read the Bible, you know the Lord seeks real, genuine, authentic devotion of the heart. He is not interested in how you look on the outside and whether you look humble and holy and pious. The Pharisees of Jesus' time emphasized putting on a show. And that's the issue to which Jesus speaks in Matthew 6:1-18.

But it opens up a wider concept for us because we have to understand what God thinks of this in general. Generally speaking, hypocrisy is dealt with in Scripture from the beginning. God taught Israel through Amos 5: 21- 24 where it says, "21I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

It was not only true in the northern kingdom, it was also true in the southern kingdom: Isaiah 1: 11-18, "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12"When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations — I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.”

“14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. 18"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

Why does God say all that? Because their worship did not come from a heart that was sincere, but from a heart that was phony. And until your hearts are made as white and pure as snow, God will have nothing to do with you. Jesus never rebuked any sinner like He rebuked the hypocrites in Matthew 23. He reserved the most blistering language for those who had masked their evil hearts with a facade of piousness.

You know how really hypocritical they were? In Isaiah 65: 5, we can see what they say to others, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." In other words, don't get near me, you might contaminate me. And God says further they are smoke in His nose. Did you ever get smoke in your nose? It is very irritating for non-smokers.

How angry is God because of hypocrisy? Job 15:34 says, "For the company of hypocrites will be barren." Job 8:13 says, "The hope of the hypocrite shall perish." Job 27:8 says, "For what is the hope of the hypocrite when God takes away his soul?" And Job 36:13 says, "But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath." Hypocrites will receive judgment.

Aesop had a fable about a wolf. And the wolf decided he wanted to have a nice fat sheep for his dinner and so the wolf figured out the best way to catch a sheep is to look like one and sneak in among the fold. And so at night when the sheep were taken to the fold, the wolf got on his sheep covering and he stole in among the sheep and he nestled in gently and quietly there at the edge of the sheep waiting until they were all asleep so he could pick the fattest one.

And while he was there so hidden and so secretive about his devices, the shepherd too became hungry and decided he'd make a meal of one of the sheep. And so he went and looked for the fattest one and the fattest of any sheep was the wolf. And so he selected that one and before checking as to what it was, he killed it.

And God will so take the life of the wolf in sheep's clothing. God judges hypocrisy. In Jesus' day the typical religion of the Jews at the time was full of hypocrisy. In Mark 7:6 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

And so you know our Lord sees the statement of Isaiah relative to hypocrisy as a prophecy as well as a historical fact. And what is the prophecy? Isaiah said, "They worship me in vain teaching the commandments of men." In other words, they are hypocrites. They have substituted the divine commandments with human traditions.

So there were many hypocrites in the time of Jesus. There were also hypocrites in the church. The church is born in Acts 2 and we meet the first hypocrites in Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira. They lied about giving all the proceeds of a sale to the Lord. They were holding back some of it and in their hypocrisy, and God strikes them dead in front of the whole church.

Did that cure hypocrisy? No, Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:1 that "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons." Hypocrisy is never presented pleasantly in the Bible. It is seen as leaven in Luke 12 that affects that whole loaf. It has a spreading infectious capacity.

It is seen in Matthew 23 as a filthy grave with death, but covered over with a whitewash. It is seen in Luke 11:44 as an overgrown grave so covered with grass that you no longer know it's a grave and so you're defiled by stepping on it. It is seen as a broken container covered over with silver so no one knows the crack that's really there.

It is seen in Matthew 13 as the tares that grow amidst the wheat. It is seen in 2 Peter 2:17 as a well without water. The promise of water is there, but when the bucket is lowered, it's dry and empty. It is seen by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:5 as a cloak to cover sin. It is seen in Matthew 9 like a mourner who mourns at a death only because he's paid to mourn with fake tears.

It is interesting to know that one of the customs among the Jews at a mourning when somebody died was to tear their clothes as a sign of sorrow. The historians say that the Jews became so good at this hypocrisy of sorrow that when they would tear their garments, but they were always sure to tear them on a seam, so they could be easily sewn together for the next mourning.

Hypocrisy is looking as if you are righteous on the outside when you're unrighteous on the inside. That is precisely the word of our Lord here in Matthew 6. Look at it again. "Beware," is the best translation to force us to see the seriousness of this. That your belief is real and the point is to be aware if it is not.

Why? Because there are consequences of hypocrisy. The Sermon on the Mount is designed to present to the Jewish people of that time and to every succeeding generation whoever reads the Bible, the true standard of righteousness.

Jesus is still talking about the same thing, the standards of righteousness here in Matthew 6. But there's a difference. In Matthew 5: 21-48, He was talking about the righteousness, taught by the scribes and Pharisees. Now in Chapter 6, He wants us to see what kind of righteousness is practiced by the scribes and Pharisees.

One is their theology and the other is their living. In Matthew 5, Jesus was saying this is what you teach, but this is what God teaches. Now in Matthew 6 He says, this is how you worship. This is how you live. This is your practice. But God's standard is higher than that.

And so here Jesus is saying when you're doing something whether in verse 2, giving alms, or in verse 5, praying, or in verse 16, fasting, when you practice what you believe, it is hypocritical because you heart is not in it. Your theology is inadequate and so is your practice of religion. As believers we have to have both.

There are always those people who think Christianity's only a matter of what you do. Just go to church, and give a little in the offering and do your religious ritual and do your daily Bible reading and you're all right. But God says that's not what is most important. We also have to have the right moral standard and attitude in our heart.

There are people today who just think the opposite; all you need is the moral standard. But Jesus is saying yes, there is a place for giving and praying and fasting within the community of those who believe and that is to be exercised properly. But more importantly is what you believe and how you act it out. And the two have to be together.

Jesus is setting a standard here that nobody else has ever set in any religion in the history of the world. It exceeds every human system that has ever existed at the invention of man. Go back to Matthew 5: 20 where Jesus says, "I say to you that except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven."

Now Jesus goes on then to teach a moral standard that is much higher than that of the scribes and the Pharisees who were the teachers in Israel. He says in Matthew 6: 2, "When you do your alms, don't do it with the trumpet like the hypocrites." And in verse 5, "And when you pray you shall not be as the hypocrites." And in verse 16, "When you fast, don't be like the hypocrites."

Hypocrites here are synonymous with the Pharisees and the scribes. And Jesus is saying when you live out your spiritual life, it's got to be superior to theirs. So all that was done in Israel was hypocritical. And from Matthew 6:19 on, He talks about mundane things, like what you eat and what you drink or what you wear also related to hypocrisy.

Jesus talks about money and how you treat it and how you think of it and how you regard it and so forth. So He goes all the way down the line. He goes from their theological moral values to your religious practices, to your every day living. And in the whole sequence He says your theology is inadequate, your religion is inadequate and your approach to life every day is inadequate. Your standards are too low.

And that's why He says there in Matthew 6: 19, "You can't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. You must not be anxious," verse 25, "for your life." Why? Because that was so characteristic of those Pharisees and scribes. They were focusing on laying up treasures on earth. They were anxious for their life here. So He says it's got to be a system beyond that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

Now why am I emphasizing this? Because look, both our theology, our religion and our worship, and our daily living must be superior to the finest system men could ever devise at their very best efforts. It's inadequate. Further, there are some people who say just be a pagan. Just get a philosophy and go with it.

Listen, the Lord says the same about human philosophy, that it is inadequate. Look in Matthew 5: 47-48, where Jesus says this, "And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” In other words, you're not only to have a commitment that is better than the scribes and the Pharisees, but it should also be better than the unbelievers, right?

He says the same thing in the next section in Matthew 6: 7. Here He's talking about our religious life. "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathens do." And then later in the same chapter He does the same thing. When He gets to the issue of worrying about food, drink and clothing in verse 32. "For the Gentiles seek after all these things."

In other words Christ is saying, I'm bringing you a standard that is superior in its content, in its worship and in its daily living to any religious or nonreligious system the world has ever seen. And only that standard is the right standard.

Now when somebody comes along and says, how come you Christians say you're the only ones that have the truth? You tell them. That's what Jesus said. Jesus, without question is the most narrow-minded human who ever lived. He said, "Everything I say to you is true and anything else is false." Only He backs up everything He says, Amen?

In Matthew Jesus is offering you a kingdom, but you're not going to get in it on the terms that you are now living. The only way in is to realize that you can't make it on your own. Jesus says you need somebody to wash away your sin, purify you, give you a new nature fit for my kingdom and I'm that somebody.

The heart of the issue is the issue of the heart. What's your motive? Two people can give. Two people can pray. Two people can fast. Two people can do religious deeds. You and I would never know the difference between one or the other and yet to God one is a source of joy, a sweet smelling savor and the other is smoke in his nose. And the difference is inside that person’s heart. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Jul 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110724 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000134 imblog

Matthew 6:2-4

Last Sunday we discussed eight principles that relate to our giving in the church. Let us quickly repeat them as an introduction. Number One, giving is investing with God. You will never be cheated; whatever you invest with Him will bring a great return. And the more you give the more blessings you will receive. Number Two, giving correlates with spiritual riches, when you grow spiritually your priority in giving changes also.

Thirdly, giving is to be sacrificial. Any giving has to cost you; you have to sacrifice to give to others. Look at Jesus who gave up everything for us. Fourthly, giving is not related to how much you have. God does not look at the amount, He looks if you are faithful with little, He looks at your heart and your commitment. Fifthly, you decide personally. This is based on what God lays on your heart to give when you pray to Him. What is your priority?

Sixth, we are to give in response to need. Are we sensitive to other peoples needs? Do we really care? We are to blessings to others. Seventh, giving demonstrates love not law. Love means thinking about the other person more than us. We give because we love, and giving is costly. And Number eight, giving is to be generous. Our God is a generous God; He gave us His only begotten Son on the cross, so that we might live. We too need to be generous.

All these principles above relate to giving at church. Tithing has been set up by God to remind us that it all is His money, and all His blessings and that He owns it all. And that we should not forget Him in everything that we do daily. It all relates to a changed heart and mind that God has given us when we believed in Him.

And how do we show that we have a renewed heart and mind? By doing what is right, by practicing our righteousness, by doing what God wants us to do based on the proper heart attitude. And what is a good example to test that condition of our heart? By for instance testing our heart in giving to people in need, to total strangers we have never knew, to people in accidents, to people that are victims of natural disasters.

And the text for tonight really focuses on giving to the needy. Jesus used how the Pharisees gave as a bad example. This is just the first example of how the Jews lowered the standard of God in their daily worship. Instead of doing everything in worship for the glory of God, they were hypocrites in doing it all for the praise of men.

Let us again listen to what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:2-4, “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

The Old Testament made it clear that the people of God were to give to the poor. In fact, in Leviticus 25:35 it tells people to give to the poor whether they're a sojourner (a stranger, an illegal) or whether they're somebody who belongs in the land (a citizen).

In Deuteronomy 15, it says if you come across a poor person; make sure you meet his needs. If he needs a place to stay, give him your house. Make sure his supply of food is adequate. Make sure all of the necessities of his life are cared for, because that is how people are to act when they follow God.

You can read it in Psalm 41:1. You can read it in Proverbs 19, Proverbs 21 and Proverbs 29, again and again. It says when you give to the poor, you give to the Lord. Why? All giving is investing with God. And part of our giving is to be directed to those who cross our path who are in deep need.

And so the Lord Jesus approaches this matter of giving, because obviously the scribes and the Pharisees and the people following them were not living according to these principles. They weren't giving selflessly. They were giving to impress others of how pious they were.

Once a person has become a Christian, one thing that Satan loves to do is to lure them into hypocrisy so that they really negate their witness and they lose their heavenly reward. The peril of religion, and we all face it, is that we would play the hypocrite.

Now the peril of hypocrisy is illustrated in giving alms. It has to do with being charitable. Whatever funds you receive, a portion is for the giving to those in need. The Greek verb is eleato. It means to have mercy upon the afflicted to give help to the wretched, or to rescue the miserable.

It’s important to notice that ‘eleato’ is not a verb that speaks of an attitude. It is a verb that speaks of an act. So this describes not the feeling of longing to help the poor or compassion or empathy or sympathy but the very deed itself. And this is not some silent passive pious feeling that never acts in a tangible way.

What he's talking about is an actual act of giving. 1 John 3:17, "But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” In other words, the claim that you are a Christian is questionable.

James 2:15-17 says, 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Believing something but not doing it or not practicing it is useless.

Ephesians 2:4 says, God is great in mercy. So we as followers of God should be merciful to others as well. And if God is living His life through me I should be merciful to one in need. The disciples of Jesus carried around with them a little bag. John 13:29 tells us that that little bag contained money. What for? It was to give money to the poor.

The Scribes the Jews had always done this from the time they were in the land. In fact, they had even twisted the significance of that to make it more important. The pharisees taught that they would purge away their sins by giving money to the needy. John MacArthur found several quotes out of the Talmud which state that alms giving will deliver one from the condemnation of hell and make one perfectly righteous.

That's why the Jews believed that the richer you were; the easier it was to get in the heavenly kingdom, because by giving alms you bought your way in. And so when Jesus said Matthew 19:24, “it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven,” it devastated that whole concept.

God says that your attitude is most important. Just examine your own heart. Often times we do something for somebody poor but inside we can't wait till somebody brings it up so we can brag about it, so this would ruin the whole thing. God says in Matthew 6:1 that if we do that we exchange the praise of men right now for the blessings of God in heaven later.

Now, can I give you a little caution? Make sure the one in need is really in need. Don't support healthy beggars. Read 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and make sure you understand that it says, "If a man can work and doesn't work he's worse than anything." Don't support somebody who can. If he doesn't work, he doesn't eat, right?

You can support the poor by giving them work. You can support the poor by giving them some self respect, by giving them a job to do. Now there are some who are so destitute and so sick that they can't work. That's different. Those need to be cared for. But be careful you make a distinction.

We go from the practice of righteousness to the peril of religion to now the promise from Jesus of a reward. How you do this area of giving is going to result in how you're rewarded. Some people get all hung up on rewards; they think that's kind of a crass motive. But this is something that God Himself instituted.

God has established this and God is an absolutely holy God and He must have a holy reason for it. There are some things that deserve a reward and that's in God's mind true and that's the way He set it and so that's fine. Allah telah menetapkan ini dan Allah adalah Allah yang benar-benar kudus dan Ia pasti memiliki alasan kudus untuk itu. Ada beberapa hal yang pantas dihargai dan itu benar di dalam pikiran Allah dan begitulah cara Dia telah mengatur hal ini, jadi kita setuju saja.

And I should seek a reward so that I might show Him my love and give Him all that I have. Would you notice the promise of reward in Matthew 6:1? It says, "If you do your righteousness before men to be seen, you have no reward of your Father who's in heaven."

Matthew 6:2, "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." The point is simple. You have a reward in verse 2, but it is not from your Father who is in heaven. Who's it from? Well, who were you doing your thing for, for men, right? They will praise you. That's it.

In other words, if you do it for men, you will get their applause and you are fully compensated right then and there. God owes you nothing. But there is a reward for those who give out of a right heart. Verse 3 says, "3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." That sounds funny doesn't it? People have wondered about that.

Some believe it was a proverb of the time. For doing things so spontaneously that you didn't really think about them. You're walking along the street and here's somebody with a need. And without a lot of thought and checking out your bank book or whatever, you just reach in and you give something and your left hand which is by your left hip doesn't even know what's happening. That's the idea.

It's based on the compassion and the mercy of the moment. The left hand isn't even aware of it. And that's the essence of what he's saying. The normally active right hand passes a needy person, stretches out, so quickly, so easily does the right hand meet the need, the left hand never even knows what's going on.

And you know what's nice about that? If the left hand doesn't know, the left hand can't get involved. The idea is the freedom and the spontaneity without calculating it. Just give it. You say, but what am I going to do to make sure? The Lord will bless. The greatest blessing to me is that right hand thing that the left hand never knows about, to just give and not even think about how much. You respond to the need.

It's kind of like give and forget. Don't even make it enough of an issue for half of you to be aware of it, just do it. Now some people give to the needy and then they wait to see if they are grateful. And if the needy aren't grateful, they'll never do that again.

Listen, if you give and somebody's ingratitude bothers you, you gave for the wrong reason. You gave for gratitude from men. If you didn't get that, you didn't even get that reward, and you'll for sure get nothing from God. And so giving is to be in secret.

Verse 4 says, "Your giving should be in secret." Not even your left hand knows. In other words, not only do not people know, but there's a part of you that doesn't even know. It shouldn't be a settled account in your subconscious. You ought not to even be able to remember the last time you did that for some one. You shouldn't even remember it. Give it and forget it. Wow, are we like that?

We remember our good deeds and we tend to forget our bad deeds. You need to forget your good deeds, and God will remember it and reward it. If you do good and always remember it, God will forget it and there will be no reward. Take your choice. You want praise here and now or you want it forever. Do you want the blessing of God or the applause of men?

Don't remember your giving. We don’t need to tell anyone, we just need to meet the needs that are there. And when you've done your best and when you've stretched yourself sacrificially, remember this in Luke 17:10, "So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" That's the spirit of the humble heart.

And what happens at the end of verse 4? "When you do your giving in secret, your Father who sees in secret shall reward you." The word openly isn't in the manuscripts there because the contrast isn't between secretly and openly, but it's between the reward from men and the reward from God.

God sees your heart. He'll reward you. God sees everything. Hebrews 4:13 tells us, “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” He knows your heart.

He knows if your religion is real or false. The Psalmist said in Psalm 139:7-10, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” He sees deep in your heart.

And so as you live your Christian life, brother and sister, make sure you're real. As you give, give God's way. Give to those in need and give without a thought or a remembrance and don't be a hypocrite. And for some of you who don't even know the Lord Jesus Christ, but are faking it, that's the severest hypocrisy of all, because that is unforgivable.

Because unless you truly know Jesus Christ, the sin of hypocrisy is on you forever. And that those of us who are Christians would live as David did. David had a right heart in Psalm 57:7 for he said this, "My heart is steadfast, O God. My heart is steadfast!"

A steadfast heart. Is your heart that way? Do you give out of a pure heart? Do you pray out of a pure heart? Do you fast out of a pure heart? If you don't, then you should repeat the prayer of David in Psalm 51. "Create in me a clean heart O God." Let's pray together.

]]> Sun, 17 Jul 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110717 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000135 imblog

Matthew 6:2-4

Take your Bible and look with me again at Matthew 6. It's setting a standard that is so high that none of us can attain it, and yet all of us must and are able to in the confident assurance of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. What the flesh cannot do, God's spirit in us can do.

Jesus came into the world and set a standard that was unheard of to the people of His day. They had a religion, they thought it was biblical, but it was substandard. Their attitude toward mundane things is an inadequate. And their attitude toward their religious activity was inadequate.

Jesus comes to the Pharisees and the scribes and says in effect, "you have lowered the divine standard. And so I have come to reaffirm them. I have come to re-establish that which has always been established in God's mind."

Jesus says the problem of your worship is that it is phony. It's hypocritical. Look at verse 1, "Take heed," or beware, "that you do not your righteousness," your deeds of righteousness, your righteous acts "before men to be seen by them." You're nothing but an actor on a stage doing what you do for the applause of the people who watch.

And He picks out three elements of their religion as examples. One is their giving, two is their praying, and three is their fasting. Their giving deals with others. Their praying deals with God. And their fasting deals with themselves and the mortification of their flesh.

So Jesus really sums up the whole area of religious responsibility. Whatever it is that comes out in their worship, it should be coming from the depths of a pure heart not hypocrisy. Your giving is phony, your praying is phony, and your fasting is phony. And so He really unmasks their hypocrisy.

Through the Sermon on the Mount Jesus drives them to the realization that they're inadequate, they desperately need a Savior, and of course, He will then offer Himself to them. That's the same message He has for you. The world is full of religious people who are lost, religious people whose religion is a masquerade and a facade.

In dealing with this, the first element that He talks about is giving. Matthew 6:2-4, "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Now when we discuss giving, in our day we open up a real can of worms. I'm sure there has not been a time in the history of the church when there's been a greater bombardment for our money from "Christian causes" than there is today.

We know in the Bible there are two kinds of Christian giving. One is systematic and structured, regular giving to the church and the other one is giving to those in need that you meet at different times in your life. Let us first talk about giving in the church.

We know the Bible teaches tithing. 1 Corinthians 16 tells us that we are the first day of the week to save and store our gift as God has prospered us. And that the believing people are to give every week, not just when you think about it, but we are every week to face the reality of the stewardship of money.

I hope you don't have a negative view about giving. I think that this has been an unpopular subject because it's been abused, number one, and number two, because people have the wrong understanding of what giving is all about.

We have to begin with this; God doesn't need your money. God got along throughout all eternity without your money before He ever made you. That's right. You know, God can do anything He wants. He doesn't need a penny from you.

But the thing you must realize is that you need to give. That's all. Paul essentially said that to the Philippians when He said, I thank you for your offering. I didn't need it, but you needed to give it because when you gave it you put yourself within the framework of God's blessing.

You see, giving is all about being blessed. God says release it that I may multiply it to your account. It's the blessing that is the issue. There's a cycle of blessedness. Look at Proverbs 11: 25. "Whoever brings blessing will be enriched and one who waters will himself be watered.”

Next Proverbs 11:26, is applied to withholding grain. If a farmer withholds the grain and never sows the grain in the ground or never sells the grain to get the money to buy the seed to plant again, he'll starve to death. There is a cycle, right? The whole thing depends upon your faithfulness to sow the seed.

I give, God blesses. Out of the blessing, I give again. And the cycle of blessing goes like that. And what you give God blesses, and when He returns the blessing, out of the blessing He returns you give again. God says to give, because you put yourself in the flow of God's blessing.

Can I give you just eight simple principles to remember in your church giving? Eight simple principles that'll help you to give in a non-hypocritical way and I’ll discuss the second part of giving, which is giving to the needy, next Sunday.

Number one, giving is investing with God. Sometimes you buy things but you get disappointed once you are home and open it. But that isn't how God is. Luke 6:38 tells us, "Give and it shall be given unto you." Good measure, press down and shaken together and running over.

When God gives you can shake His gift box and it still runs over. You don't ever get cheated when you give to God. You see returns the blessing multiplied and whatever measure you measure it shall be measured to you again. So whatever you invest with God that's what you get a return on. Giving is investing with God.

2 Corinthians 9:6 says "If you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully." We often use this statement only in a negative way. But it is also true in a positive way. For we not only reap what we sow, we will reap more that what we sow.

Often we see only our seemingly small efforts and feel we aren’t very important. But when the great Kingdom of God "lifts off," we’ll be thrilled to find out that our efforts were essential. Often times only God knows how much is reaped by others from what you sowed. You want a rich life? That's the way to do it.

This principle has been taken to extremes – we hear of all kinds of crazy promises from radio and TV preachers – “Send me 500 dollars and God will give you 1000 dollars back!” This principle is wrongly used so as to make people think it is a way for God to make them rich.

Secondly, giving correlates with spiritual riches. In other words, if you're not faithful in what you do with money, God's not about to give you the true riches. It says in Luke 16:11-12, “If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”

We don’t give to get richer materially. We give so to be richer spiritually. God chooses the way to bless. It’s all up to Him. But let us recognize how blessed we already are. Giving is nothing more than a natural response to the blessing of God.

What are true riches? Souls, people, ministry, and God is not about to give a strategic ministry to somebody who can't handle money. So your spiritual effectiveness, the dimensions of your spiritual influence will have a lot to do with how you handle your blessings.

Thirdly, giving is to be sacrificial. If there isn't a sacrifice involved it's questioned whether you're even giving at all, giving means there is some sacrifice. David said, "I will not give God that which costs me nothing." That would say nothing to Him. You don't say God here is my gift, I don't need this. It's when you give God that something which you need that you've made a sacrifice.

Jesus lived the life of sacrifice. He sacrificed the glory of heaven. He left that perfect fellowship of the Trinity to come and be a sacrifice for us. And in so doing, He set us an example. He lived simply in order to reach others so that they might be a member of the kingdom of God. He gave liberally and generously. All that He had and was, He gave for our benefit.

Proverbs 3:9 tells us to honor the Lord with our "substance." We normally give to God from our surplus, but He desires our substance. Note how Paul describes our giving partnership in 1 Cor. 16:2, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”

Fourth principle, giving is not related to how much you have. People say if I had more, I'd give more. I'm waiting till my ship comes in, then the Lord will hear from me. Your ship won't make any difference in your giving. In fact, you'll probably get on your ship and sail away and indulge yourself like you've always done.

Luke 16:10 says, "He that is faithful in little will be faithful in much. And He that is unjust and little will be unjust in much." It isn't going to change your character to have more. When we give to God’s work, it is an expression of gratitude to a faithful God for all His goodness to us. Solomon tells us in Proverbs that we are to give the first-fruits. This means that we give our best, not our leftovers.

The trend is that the lower incomes give away a higher percentage of their income than those with higher incomes. It ought to be the other way around. But it does reveal the hold that money and possessions have on us, Christians! The more we have, the less we let go.

Giving is not a matter of how much have; it's a matter of where your heart is and what your commitment is. And so we know that the New Testament teaches that giving is investing with God. Giving is to be sacrificial; it's not related to what we have.

Fifth, giving is to be personally determined. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, "As every man purposes in his heart, so let him give." Whatever you purpose in your heart to give, that's between you and God. You are to give prayerfully and you are to give what the Lord lays on your heart.

The Macedonians gave abundantly out of their deep poverty. The Philippians gave because they chose to give out of their heart of love. It is to be a spontaneous act of the heart. It's all personally determined.

Our priorities are going to change for when we give ourselves completely to the Lord, the view of our finances is going to change. We are going to see ourselves as stewards of our possessions more than owners and we are going to want to use them in a way that will please God because He owns it all.

Sixth, we are to give in response to need. We are to be sensitive and listen to needs. In Acts 4 and Acts 5, the early church shared its resources because there were people who had a need. Paul went all through Asia Minor collecting money from the Gentile churches to give to the saints of Jerusalem because their need was great.

In our church we give sacrificially when we know that someone has a real need. God is more concerned with the attitude in your giving than he is in the amount you give. You can also give in a lot of ways that are not always financially.

Have you ever heard the quote from Billy Graham? “God has given us two hands, one to receive with, and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.” We are to be a conduit of God’s blessings.

Seventh, giving demonstrates love not law. Unbelievers are guided by a life philosophy that promotes selfishness (the attitude that says, “You’ve got to look out for ‘Number One’), a philosophy that models greed (“Take what you can get!”), and a philosophy that assigns importance in dollar figures (“What do you think he’s worth?”).

Some people will never be convinced that giving could be something good other than an act to gain other people’s confidence in order to manipulate, exploit, and victimize them. But it should be an act of love when Christians give. That's why giving has to be cheerful, not grudging and not of necessity only.

Love is not just action. Love is sacrificial action. Love always has a price. Love always costs something. Love is expensive. When you love, benefits accrue to another’s account. Love is for you, not for me. Love always gives; it doesn’t just take.

Number eight, giving is to be generous. The first thing we need to understand is that it is God’s resources, not ours, which enable us to give. Our God is a generous God, after all, our giving, abundant God, gave His Son. That basically changed us all.

By God’s giving from His abundance, we have been transformed by Him. And by that transformation, we are able to lead others to God’s abundance. Remember our new heart and new mind and a new willingness to give to follow His will, and the understanding to give of yourself, so that we will store up treasures in heaven.

There is one thing for sure and that is that you can never out-give God. What you give back to God can never come close to the blessings that He has and continues to pour out on you and your family for the rest of your life. Let us change to become more like Christ who gave everything to us, so we might live, Amen?

]]> Sun, 10 Jul 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110710 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000136 imblog

Matthew 6:1

Let us learn more from the Word of God about hypocrisy. How many of you know a hypocrite in the church and are seated next to one? Be careful now…Now I said last week that there are many professing Christians that use that as an excuse for not coming to church because they say there are too many hypocrites in the church.

They use that as an excuse not to become involved in the physical, local, established church organization. And last week I said we need to admit that there are many hypocrites in the church, but we cannot use that as an excuse not to come and be what God has called us to be.

This is a very hard text to really follow, so let me elaborate on what we started last week. Anytime we are compared to a first century audience, it is uncomfortable. But Jesus was also talking to an audience that was learning about the truth of their sin nature. Often we like to think that what Jesus asks us to do is really for somebody else.

We should learn to accept the bible as a personal letter from God for each one of us who believes. And this is true with the book of Matthew. We started last week in defining what a hypocrite is and we read in Matthew 6:1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

And last week we found out that this is the key verse that sets up the following 17 verses. And then Jesus uses three examples to explain what our daily behavior should be. Do not be like the hypocrites in for instance giving, praying and fasting where they are looking for the praise of men.

And so the definition of a hypocrite is a person without God who acts as a person with God. A hypocrite will have the reward of men right there and then, but that will be all, because he will not receive any reward from God ever.

Now some of us usually think a hypocrite is a person with God who does not act as a person with God. A person who goes to church and confesses Christ but in the world that person’s behavior is not any different from other people. But the biblical definition of a hypocrite makes this far more dangerous and this now can becomes a personal issue.

Why? Where do you find the hypocrites as defined by Jesus? Where do you find most of the people who act like they believe in God? In the church, right? So where is the most danger for a person to do all these things and then at the end of their life find out that they are still without God because they never actually knew Him? Right here in the church, right?

What if a person does all the religious things in his life, like going to church and participating in bible class, and praying for sick people and giving money but he never had a changed heart? That is the condition that Jesus wants us to consider! Are we an unsaved hypocrite?

The word hypocrite really means being an actor who plays a part. We have all seen actors on stage, in plays, on TV programs and we know that they are not really the same in character as the part they played. Their stage name is not their real name and their behavior is not their DNA. And this is what hypocrisy is.

I want to add one more item to further define and clarify what a hypocrite is. A hypocrite is a person who does the right things for the wrong reasons! This is often the one thing that is most misunderstood in the church about hypocrisy.

Let us look at Matthew 6:1 again and focus on the first part of verse 1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” Some people have misinterpreted this portion of the verse and it has caused at times some confusion in service or worship.

Some people at times only remember portions of a verse and it is easy only to remember the first part of Matthew 6:1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness.” So some people say that Christianity should not be something you do but something that you should be and they quote this portion only of what Jesus says.

Actually the words “practicing your righteousness” are not used very often, but let me give you some. Let us look at 1 John 2:29, “If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.” John says that being righteous means that we need to practice righteousness.

Look at 1 John 3:7, “Little children, let no one deceive you (another way of saying beware!). Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He (Jesus) is righteous.” Here John says it again, we are righteous when we live and do righteous things!

Do you see how easily we are deceived? Some people say, my actions in my daily life do not matter, Jesus has saved me and He is in my heart now and I know I’m going to heaven. What I do daily does not matter!”

But read what God says to us in 1 John 3:10, “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

Now some other people remember a little more of Matthew 6:1 and what they remember is “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people.” That is all they can recall. And this often leads to another perversion. They want to do good but they do not want anybody to see it or to know about it.

Let’s look at what Jesus says about that in Matthew 5: 14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

God says that Christians are people that are supposed to be viewed by others for who we are. And in case we still do not understand the meaning of verses 14 and 15, Jesus explains this clearly in verse 16; we do good works so other can see it and give glory to God.

And we will go deeper when we talk about the three examples that the Jewish people did about piety. Jesus used these specific things as examples to tell us what not to do and what we should do as children of God.

So they say for instance, don’t give your money where anyone can see it. Some people prefer the collection pouches instead of open plates, because they do not want anybody to know how much they gave and maybe they think of this verse. Some people do not want to pray in public places or speak too loud when you pray for this very reason.

But that is not what Jesus is teaching! In fact Jesus did specific things so that people could hear and see Him. Take Mark 12: 41 - 44 for instance, “And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.” Just imagine here is Jesus and He intentionally is sitting close by the offering basket while watching people put their money in it.

Let‘s continue, “Many rich people put in large sums. 42And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." Here Jesus not only watches people give but He teaches his disciples and us now a valuable lesson about sacrificial giving.

Do you remember the story of Lazarus who died for 4 days? Listen to John 11:39-42, “Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." 40Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me."

Jesus prayed with people watching and He did this for the benefit of others. And as we look at the New Testament, the church also practiced their righteousness in front of people by praying and preaching to them. In fact our worship service with preaching, singing and giving all are part of practicing righteousness.

Actually what a person really means by not wanting to practice their righteousness before other people is that his relationship with God is private. This is what lost people say when you are witness to them; their religion is a private issue.

Inside the church what people mean by saying that their relationship to God is a private and personal matter, is that they want to observe what is happening in the church, they want to receive but they do not want to participate, nor serve nor pray nor give. This is a form of hypocrisy.

We are saved for community, we are saved for good works, we are saved for service, we are saved for comforting others, we are saved for practicing righteousness so others can see what God has done for us and they will glorify Him. There is no such thing as a private Christian.

So what did Jesus say? Matthew 6:1 says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

What Jesus said was to not practice your righteousness before other people with the intent of impressing them or showing off so that they admire you and want to follow you instead of telling them that this is all God’s grace and God’s work and only He should get all the glory!

Do you know what this means? This is a heart condition. Jesus spends the first part of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 talking about the intention of your heart. Look, all the things that were done by these Pharisees were things that were prescribed by God. They were practicing righteousness, but the problem was that their heart condition did not match up.

We as people cannot know the motives of someone’s heart, only God can. The evidence that people can see is the fruit from your life. Part of that fruit is calling people’s attention by your works that glorify God.

Hypocrites do the same things that saved Christians do, they go to church, they give money, they sing and they are pray, they preach and they volunteer in the ministry and they do all the same things but it is all just playing a part, it is a mask on the outside, wanting people to believe they are Christian which they are not.

And that is the reason Jesus says beware! He is not talking to people outside the church, He is talking to people in the church, He says make sure that you are worshipping not because you want others to have a good opinion of you, not because you want to feel good about yourself, so you can please your parents, so you can appear a good person.

Amos 5:21–24 says, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

All these burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, songs and sound of harps were all exactly what God prescribed for them to do! And then God turns around and says: I hate it, I despise your feasts, I do not like your solemn assemblies, I cannot hear it. Because there is a heart condition that does not go along with all that!

Mark 7:6–7 says, “6And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Have you ever thought that the Bible talks a lot more about hypocrisy than abortion or homosexuality or stealing? Sometimes we as evangelical Christians are really good at diverting attention from what is really important.

Sometimes we just go through the motions of worship, we seldom understand the true meaning of songs that we sing, we pray but our minds wander, we do not realize that we are in front of the throne of the Almighty God Himself who knows our thoughts and the intention of our hearts! Let’s repent of that!

Let us all examine our hearts to determine something. Could it be possible that through all these years we have practiced righteousness and done all these things but when we put our head on our pillow at night we know in our heart that we have never been born again? We have never been converted; it is all just a show!

The Holy Spirit says to you now, throw all your pride away, throw your reputation away, throw all your resistance away, throw people’s impressions away, the stakes are very high, it is the difference between eternal life and eternal death! Give your life to Jesus! Let Him clean you from the inside out, so that you not just give the impression that you are clean.

It does not matter how long you have been going to church, it does not matter what you are hiding from others, it does not matter how long you have struggled with this, if you are an actor, let Jesus change you to become the real you that God intended you to be. Repent from your sins and trust Christ alone to make you whole, Amen?

]]> Sun, 03 Jul 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110703 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000137 imblog

Matthew 6:1-18

Let us come back to the book of Matthew again as we are starting a new series this evening together with RBC that will last through the summer. We are looking now at chapter 6 where Jesus is still preaching the Sermon on the Mount and He is teaching us now the importance of doing good while no one but God is watching.

What we need to remember is to seek the approval of God over the applause of men. Let us start to read beginning in Matthew 6:1, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Jesus continues in giving us examples of that which were part of the Jewish life and they are three closely related examples dealing with giving, praying and fasting. And Jesus teaches us that the Pharisees were only interested in the applause of men rather than in worshipping God and He called them hypocrites.

Why do want the applause of men? Well because we want to look good, but actually we want to look better than what we are, especially if there are some truly holy people around us. We want to make a good first impression right? So we get good at being phonies playing the game of hypocrisy.

Let us study tonight how that hypocrisy relates to the hypocrisy in the church today. How many of you think there are hypocrites in the church? Raise your hand. Well I see that is most of us, I hope that this is no surprise to us.

What might be surprising is who those hypocrites are that are mentioned in the bible. If you have in the past invited people to come to church, the excuse that has often been given is, “No I won’t come because church people are just a bunch of hypocrites.” Or “There are too many hypocrites in the church.”

This is understandable hearing it from unbelievers, but I have heard this excuse also from believers who use this as a reason for not going to church. They say, “Well, there are too many hypocrites in the church and I do not want to be a part of that.” They're anti-church, they're anti-organization, they just want to be pious by themselves. They want to be moral in a social way.

Well Jesus addresses this in His sermon and I think Jesus also would agree with the statement that there are hypocrites in the church. We need to acknowledge that and need to deal with that in our life and to reduce that in our spiritual life and that is the reason Jesus taught it.

So first let us talk and define what a hypocrite really is and then we can learn how to reduce that in our life. There are some of us who just confirmed that there are hypocrites in the church, and they might be surprised to find out that we all are among them also.

Let us really pay attention again to what Jesus says in Matthew 6:1, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

This is the thesis statement that is the underlying thought for all the 18 verses for our study. Everything comes back to this statement. Beware of doing good deeds before people because you want applause from them and not because you want approval from God. God looks at your heart’s desire and pure motives first.

What you have in the next 17 verses are three examples of how you should practice righteousness in the world. These were considered the three most important things that a Jew usually does and that is: giving (verses 1-4), praying (verses 5-15) and fasting (verses 16-18).

This is obviously not a complete list of all good deeds but in every example Jesus stresses the same things. Here we learn that God looks first at the motives of your heart in doing good deeds and not just at the deed itself. How many times do we give, pray and fast for the wrong motives?

How often do we pray and fast only when we want something badly? I know many people that do not spend a lot time with God’s Word and rarely even think about God, but when they have to come to court for their asylum, or lose their job, they suddenly start praying and fasting to persuade God to help them.

When do we give and pray to God because we are thankful for what He has done for us? Do we pray because we have a relationship with Him and He is truly our Father? Do we fast because we want something for ourselves or do we fast to come closer to Him, to be more like Jesus and to learn to be more loving?

So according to the bible what is a hypocrite? It is a person without God that is trying to act as a person with God. Think about this carefully, do you realize that this is just the opposite of what most people think a hypocrite is?

What people mean when they say there are so many hypocrites is that there are so many Christians in the church who act like they do not know God. They are Christians who are not living consistent with what the Bible teaches, they lie, they focus on themselves and they do not love people, etc.

But let’s be honest, we all are hypocrites, are we not? There is none of us who is able to live consistently 24/7 without sin, doing good all the time and never breaking the law of God, true? And that is what people say a hypocrite is; a person with God who is living as if he is a person without God.

The truth is that there are hypocrites all through the bible. There are hypocrites in Genesis. There are hypocrites in Revelation. There are hypocrites when the world begins and there are hypocrites when it ends. There are hypocrites in every form of religion and even in Christianity, its true form. There were hypocrites among the 12 disciples. There are hypocrites in the leadership of the church. They're always around. It's just part of the sinfulness of man to play the game of religion.

But when the bible is talking about hypocrisy what is meant is just the opposite. The bible is talking about a person who is not a child of God, but claims he is a child of God and tries to act as a child of God to make people believe he is. The Bible here is referring to false teachers!

This kind of hypocrisy has far more serious consequences in our churches today. And Jesus warns us that we need to be on guard against this! Did you notice the first words in Matthew 6:1, “Take heed” or better said, “Beware” or better not do good before other people in order to be praised by them, for then you will have no reward from your heavenly Father.

He says, watch out, be careful! This is a word of warning to pay close attention, in fact it means to be on guard, be prepared for war! Jesus says this one of the most deceptive tools of our enemy, Satan!

Yes, Satan wants to undermine and weaken your witness for Christ to where we disappoint people as hypocrites, but what he wants even more is that people appear to be religious, to have people give their whole life to appearing to be a godly person leading a church, but in fact being a false teacher. The stakes of these two conditions are totally different.

For a person who is a child of God but who does not always live up to that godly standard, he can influence and discourage others. But compare that to the influence of a person who looks like he is chosen by God and becomes a false teacher in the church.

Because when they lead others astray, it can make the difference of going to heaven or going to hell, this affects their eternal condition, right? That’s why Satan is much more interested in false teachers. This all affects our flesh as human beings; the applause of men is very appealing indeed.

We like to be noticed and we like to be thought of as godly and we like things immediately. Everything in these three warnings is about getting attention for what you do now versus what God approves of in God’s own time that you cannot see or feel immediately.

So a hypocrite is a person who does not believe that acts as if he is a believer. And Jesus is warning us about that each time He gives us an example. 2“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets...5“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites….16“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.”

The word “hypocrite” means being an actor that assumes another character, you play the role of another person and you act as if you are that other person. If you have seen a play or watch TV or a movie you see many actors. They play a role and they are not like that in reality.

So a hypocrite acts as if he has something that he really does not have, he acts as if he has spiritual power from God but in reality he has demonic power from Satan. And he is there to influence you. So let us look at what a hypocrite is according to Scripture.

You might be a hypocrite if you do things for the applause of men instead of for the approval and love of God. Jesus in every example shows us people who are willing to trade in the love from God for the praise of men.

So you might be a hypocrite if:

 You are blind to your own faults.

Matthew 7:5 — You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Do you know people that always know what is wrong with other people, the pastor, the loudness of the music and the food but somehow never can see their own shortcomings?

 You put tradition over the Bible.

Matthew 15:6–9 — 6he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8These people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

There are people who put more emphasis on their traditions than on what the Word of God says. Many churches have very strong traditions, and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as everyone knows what the word of God teaches and that that takes precedence over any human tradition.

People often pay more attention to their particular customs: to their type of church music, how to dress, how much to give and what their church in Indonesia allows but pay less attention to the core of God’s teachings like love, justice and mercy.

 You influence others for religion instead of for Christ.

Matthew 23:15 — “15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.”

You are more interested in religion rather than a relationship with Jesus. You are more interested in changing a person to become more like you rather than to genuinely become a person that believes and is becoming more like Jesus Christ.

 You put on a religious front to cover up an evil heart.

Matthew 23:25–28 — 25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

You are a hypocrite if you are more interested in what other people think rather than what God thinks of the inside of your heart. Some very mean people have come from inside a church. Think about the sharp words that have come from Christians when churches have split or fights have occurred.

 You refuse to acknowledge the similarity between you and your predecessors.

Matthew 23:29–32 — 29“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.”

Look at the history of the church, we do not want to be like those who have made the Word of God secondary, we do not want to become lukewarm for God, we do not want to loose our first love. And yet Christianity is being attacked from all sides.

Look around Denver, Colorado. On any Sunday, the percentage of people that go to church is only at 12 % of the total population. We know that with every generation each new one is farther from God than the previous one. We are not living in a Christian country anymore; we are living in a country where most young people have never opened a bible.

Hypocrisy is never treated lightly in Scripture. All of the religious acts mentioned by the prophet Amos had been prescribed by God; but because they were performed insincerely and were not accompanied by righteous living, they were not acceptable to God. The sacrifices, offerings, and songs were not given to God’s glory but to the people’s own glory and self-satisfaction.

Let us look at ourselves and let us examine our own hearts. Why do we do what we do? Is it truly to please God or is it just a habit or a place to meet your friends? Are you in church to honor God and do you treat God like He deserves? Are you faithful even when nobody is around to see it? Let us pray!

]]> Sun, 26 Jun 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110626 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000138 imblog

2 Peter 3:1-9

So far we have seen an emotional argument, a moral argument, and an intellectual argument from these false teachers. They deny what Jesus, Paul and Peter and what everybody else in the Scripture said about His return. In fact, they tell us that those verses are not inspired by God.

Now let's look at the argument of the saints for the Second Coming. We've seen the scoffer’s argument against it, now let's see the argument of the saints. These are just absolutely marvelous as Peter responds to the argument of the scoffers.

Now Peter's going to give us several arguments. Argument number one is the argument from Scripture. For this we look at the opening of 2 Peter 3 :1- 2. As he starts to get into the subject, he says, "This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder."

Look, he says, I want to stimulate that new mind and I want to stimulate the truth that you already know so that your sanctified reason and your spiritual discernment will be able to understand false doctrine and give a proper rebuttal to it.

Verse 2, "You should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets." That is a reference, to the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit inspired Old Testament had much to say about final judgment when scoffers come along.

In 2 Peter 1:20, 21 he talks about the Old Testament. He says no prophecy of Scripture, that is the Old Testament, is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

But that's not all. Go back to 2 Peter 3:2 and see what else Peter says. Remember not only the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets, but “remember also the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.” What's that? That's the New Testament.

There are 27 books in the New Testament, 23 of the 27 refer to the Lord's return explicitly. One which doesn't explicitly speak of the Second Coming is Galatians but it implies the Second Coming. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us out of this present evil age. That implies the Rapture and our deliverance.

There are 260 chapters in the New Testament and there are 300 references to the Second Coming. The New Testament is replete with warnings about judgment, information about the Lord coming to gather His own, teaching about the fact that He will judge the wicked, establish His Kingdom and bring in eternal righteousness.

God says the purpose of His coming is to complete the salvation of the saints, to be glorified in the saints, to be admired by the saints, to bring delight to hidden things of darkness, to judge, to reign and to destroy. That's only the first argument, there are three more.

Peter says the second argument for the Second Coming is from history. 2 Peter 3:5-6 says, “5For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.” Did you know that the earth was formed out of water and by water?

So when the heavens existed long ago, spoken into existence by the Word of God, at the same time the earth was formed from some kind of watery mass. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Peter said God spoke the heavens into existence and the earth was formed out of some watery mass.

If you study carefully the six days of creation, for the better part of the first three days He gives the form, and then He starts to create the creatures starting at the end of day three and moving to day six to fill up the void. So it starts out as formless.

So God gives it form, look again at Genesis1: 2, "And darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters." Now we find out that this water now has a surface. If it has a surface it must have a shape. God pulled it into a sphere.

Then in verse 3, God said, "Let there be light, and there was light," and all of a sudden there existed light. There weren't any bodies, there weren't any stars, there wasn't any sun, there wasn't any moon, there was just light. And all of the spectrum, all of the rays that go across the whole spectrum of light were created.

So in Gen.1:6, "And God said let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." So there was a watery mass and then there was an expanse of space, and then there was water like a canopy surrounding it. God just spoke the heavens into existence in a couple of days.

But He wasn't done. Verse 9, "Then God said, 'Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear." And dry land is injected into the watery mass and all of a sudden it starts to rise up everywhere and the water gets collected into rivers and lakes and seas. And the earth begins to take shape.

And you know what God said about it in verse 10, "It's good." It was better than good. It was a perfect place for man to live. He had a canopy shelter all around the earth which completely blocked the sun's ultra-violet rays totally, a perfect environment. And man lived in that world of long ago.

How perfect was the world? Read Genesis 5 and just look at how long everybody lived. The average length of a person's life on that list is 900 years plus. Why? Because there was no direct sunlight, but there was a mist that watered the ground, it says that also about the Garden of Eden. It filtered all the ultra-violet damaging rays of the sun and beautifully watered the earth with dew, a perfect environment.

And in the next three days God filled up the emptiness with plants and animals, fish and man. But even in that perfect environment man fell into sin and God looks at the world in Genesis 6:5 and saw that the wickedness of man was great and every intent of his heart was only evil continually, and God was sorry He created the whole thing.

And God said I'm going to use the same thing that I created it from to destroy it. What is it? Water. And so it says in 2 Peter 3:5-6, “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.”

Peter says, "Through which the world that then existed perished." He's not talking about the physical world; he's talking about the order of the earth, that is a canopy above, the water separated below, the heavens in the middle, long life, all of the dew that waters the ground, the tremendous ability of the earth like in a greenhouse to grow everything and to grow it very large.

And by the way, that's where the dinosaurs came from. They came from the pre-flood era and they flourished and grew so large. That old order, that old canopy order, that old system of life was totally flooded by water.

How did God do it? Well there's so much water everywhere, Genesis 7:11 says, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life in the second month on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the flood gates of the sky were opened."

The canopy broke up and the earth, the springs and the fountains and the sources of water burst and water came roaring out of the center of the earth. And water came torrentially falling from the sky. Genesis 7:22 tells us of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life died.

It was a worldwide flood because there was a canopy that surrounded the whole world. Genesis 8:2, "The fountains of the deep, the flood gates of the sky at the end were closed when it ended." God used the water below, to burst forth, and God sent the water from above crashing down upon the earth. Water came from everywhere. And this was judgment. The whole world was destroyed.

Don't say all things continue as they have from the very beginning. No they haven't. We're not into uniformitarian evolution. God created all this in six days, and then God in a moment in time destroyed the whole heavens and earth that was.

We now live, my brothers and sisters, in the second heaven and earth. It's a different system. Nobody lives to be 900 plus or anywhere near that. The Bible says that we are in that second heaven and earth, and we're waiting for the new heaven and earth number three.

By the way, it should be a curiosity to you to know that as archaeologists study the world and as those who study ancient culture study the world, they find the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Egyptians all have creation stories that have a primeval ocean as the element out of which the universe originated.

If you throw a leaf in your backyard, for illustration's sake, how long does it take for it to become a fossil? What? It never becomes a fossil. If you throw a leaf in your backyard and some day a massive earthquake comes, your backyard splits and slams back together with great pressure, you might have a fossil.

Catastrophe, not uniformity explains fossil records, strata. So these false teachers refuse to face true history. They make up their own history without divine intervention so they can live like they want to live. Things have not continued as they were. There was devastating total judgment on the whole world in the past and there will be also total judgment in the future.

Look at 2 Peter 3:7, "The present heaven and earth are by His Word reserved for fire," not water. Remember the rainbow. What did the rainbow signify? God will never destroy the world again by water. So this time it's being reserved to be destroyed by fire, see the rest of verse 7, "Kept for the judgment, the day of judgment, and the destruction of ungodly men."

This world is waiting the destruction of fire. And when you read about the future judgment of the world, we very often read about fire. In Isaiah 13 it says, "When the final Babylon is destroyed it will be destroyed as were Sodom and Gomorrah." How were they destroyed? By fire and brimstone.

The prophet Isaiah, who had so much to say about judgment and so much to instruct us, says in 66:15, "For behold the Lord will come in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire,"

Again in Malachi 4:1 fire; Micah 1:4 fire; Daniel 7:9, 10 fire; Matthew 3:11, 12 fire, John the Baptist said He's coming back with fire. 2 Thessalonians 1: 7, 8 is so graphic, "When Jesus comes He'll be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire."

When God flooded the world He spared the godly, how many were there? Eight...Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives. God has a book, Malachi says, and He writes the names of those who belong to Him in it. And when He comes in judgment by fire, it's going to be for the ungodly, not for us.

So when this whole world goes up in smoke, this whole universe is burned to a crisp, we're not going to be around. We will be delivered out before the day of the Lord judgment ever hits. That judgment, by the way, will destroy this universe and out of it will be born the new heavens and the new earth.

Look at 2 Peter 3:12-13 for a moment, "The heavens are going to be destroyed by burning, the elements are going to melt with intense heat, 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

There's the third argument I need to give you briefly, that's the argument from eternity. We've seen the argument from Scripture, the argument from history, and now the argument from eternity. Verse 8, "But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as if a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day."

He's quoting Psalm 90: 4. Peter says, "Why don't you look at it from God's side? From your viewpoint it looks like a long time, from His viewpoint, no." You can't confine God to your schedule. What he is indicating there is some of these Christians have been sucked in to the false teacher’s unbelief.

They say that God never does anything because He's impotent or indifferent and the delay is so long that maybe He can't act and maybe He won't act. God is looking at it in a totally different way. For you it's been two thousand years and that is a long time, for God it's like a couple of days, that's all.

One last argument based on the character of God. Peter says the certainty of the coming of Christ can be argued from Scripture, from history, from eternity's view, and fourthly, from the character of God. 2 Peter 3:9. "The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

Do you know why there's the delay? It's not because the Lord is slow about His promise. It's not because He's unfaithful to His Word. But the reason He's delaying is not impotence and indifference, the reason He's delaying is patience for people to repent.

God is long suffering, which means He is very patient. You remember 1 Peter 3:20 wrote about the patience of God in the days of Noah, how long did it take Noah to build the boat? One hundred and twenty years and the whole time he preached the righteousness of God.

In 2 Peter 3:15, see what he says? "The patience of our Lord leads to salvation." It's because He doesn't want anyone to perish, but He wants all to come to repentance that He waits. Acts 1:8 says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

He is waiting for you, Christians, to go to your neighbors in Colorado and even to the Unreached People Groups all over the world to proclaim the gospel of Christ.

]]> Sun, 19 Jun 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110619 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000139 imblog

2 Peter 3:1-4

We're about to start an interesting discussion. As we begin to study 2 Peter chapter 3 we come to a section of Scripture that we could well name, "The certainty of the Second Coming." The church has always lived in anticipation of His return to gather His redeemed people and to establish His glorious Kingdom.

It is true that the Second Coming has a tremendous potential for spiritual motivation in the life of the church, but it is also true then that Satan works very hard to deny the Second Coming. We always have had skeptics who felt it was their role to deny the coming of Christ. They say that it will never be any different, we'll just keep on living and we'll die and we'll go to heaven in an unending cycle.

If you were a seminary student particularly over the last twenty-five years and in some seminaries even today, you would recognize some false theologies that have influenced Christianity today. Some say, "The Kingdom of God comes by coming to the individual, by entering into his soul and staying in his heart. There is no Second Coming, there is no future Kingdom. It is only a spiritual reality in the present.

Others deny any literal Second Coming of Jesus Christ. They say, "Since the Lord did not literally return on the clouds during the thirties of the first century, to expect Him thus to return in the twenty-first century is contrary to primitive Christianity which is true Christianity."

Others call themselves Neo-Orthodox, and believe in a timeless eschatology in which the coming of Christ is no longer understood as a future literal return of Christ. They say, quote: "It is a timeless symbol for the endless earnestness of eternity in every existential situation," end quote.

This small group of men has had a lot of influence on modern contemporary theology in the church. And the bottom line is they deny the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The false teachers who were plaguing the believers to whom Peter writes are also plaguing the church today.

So as he writes this last chapter, that is what is on his heart. The first nine verses focuses on the debate regarding the coming of Christ in future judgment. Verse 10 affirms that judgment. Verses 11 to 18 talk about the implications of it on our conduct.

So Peter takes direct aim here at this debate, and it is an incredible passage. Now the debate has two sides. Side one argues on the side of the scoffers against the Second Coming; side two argues on the side of the saints for the Second Coming.

2 Peter 3: 1-4, “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.”

“3knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."

“5For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”

“8But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

In those nine verses we find this interesting debate. And while at first glance, such as we just experienced, there may be more questions in your mind than answers. As it unfolds it will become clear what is happening.

The scoffers start the question in verse 4, and the question is, where is the promise of His coming? Or, what has become of His promise to return? Or, to put it in a more arrogant tone: where is Jesus, all of you who said He would be back?

They doubt the truthfulness of the Word of God which they have read, because these false teachers are from within the church. They know the Scripture, but they are denying what has been written and what has been said by the apostles.

They knew what Jesus said in John 14:2-3, "I'm going away to the Father's house to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am there you may be also."

They knew the testimony of the angel given in Acts 1:11 who said, "This same Jesus who is taken from you shall so come in like manner as you've seen Him go." You saw Him go physically and that's how He'll also come back.

But so do the modern mockers and skeptics. They know what's in the Bible. And yet they call it a myth and take it out of the Scripture. They explain it away. This is an outright denial of the teaching of Christ and the teaching of the apostles.

Now their argument takes three forms, and we're going to deal first with their argument tonight and then we'll deal with Peter's rebuttal next Sunday. The first one is an argument by ridicule, beginning with verse 3. "knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming?”

This is intimidation by sarcasm and ridicule. This basically works on people who are emotionally unstable. In the early church they believed that Jesus was coming back very soon. Do you remember the questions of the disciples? "Will You at this time bring Your Kingdom?" "What is the sign of Your return?" They believed it was immediate.

You hear the Apostle Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, while he includes himself, "Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed."

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep."

Then he goes on to say in verse 17, "Then we when Jesus comes who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air." And then in 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-2, "As to the time and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you for you yourselves know full well the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." Their hope was that Jesus is going to return.

So Peter says to them, you've got to understand how the scoffers are going to attack, how they are going to try to steal your hope, because if they can steal your hope they can feed your flesh and they can take away your motivation and your joy.

So Christians need to know that Satan is going to make every effort to mock the Second Coming. Here we are two thousand years later and when the mockers say, "Hey, man where is Jesus? Where is He?” it is pretty intimidating stuff.

So Peter puts it in perspective. He says, back in 2 Peter 3:3, "In the last days," I need to comment on that phrase, it refers to the New Testament age. It just means the time after Christ, the entire time from the first coming to the Second Coming.

You remember in Matthew 24:4-5 that the Lord said this would happen also. The first thing the Lord says is, "See to it that no one misleads you about My return, for many are going to come in My name saying I'm Christ and mislead many."

Down in verse 11 He says, "Many false prophets will arise and mislead many." Over in verse 23-24, "There are going to be some coming saying, 'Here is Christ and there is Christ," and false Christs and false prophets arise and show signs and try to mislead if possible even the elect."

In fact, starting in the Old Testament you can find those who mocked God. You can go back into Isaiah 5:19, the prophets said God's going to judge them, and the mockers said, “Well then let Him have at it, let Him do it, hurry up, God, if You're really there and You're going to judge us, let's see You do it.”

Now notice the second argument, they go really beyond this and this is an argument they don't want to make but it's an argument from morality that Peter makes for them. 2 Peter 3:3, "These mockers will come in with their mocking and they are following after their own sinful desires."

False teachers who do not know God do not have the Holy Spirit that restrains their flesh. And so they are driven by passion because they want to pursue sensual pleasure without accountability and consequence. So they develop a theology to permit their perversion.

All of us have to give an account for our lives, and we're going to be rewarded on the basis of what we've done good or bad. So whoever has this hope will purify himself, right? But if someone doesn't want to be pure, they have got to get rid of any future accountability. So they think about grace, but never about judgment.

Let me give you something you might not agree with at first, but think it through. Liberal theology is not the product of intellect; it is the product of immorality. It is the direct child of passion. It is an effort to deny spiritual accountability.

They want to ignore the law of Romans 1:18, which says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness. This shows up nowhere more clearly than in evolution. A notable evolutionists and denier of divine creation, divine intervention and divine judgment was Aldous Huxley, the grandson of Thomas Huxley. He wrote “Confessions of a Professed Atheist”.

Huxley writes, “For me, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation I desired was simultaneously a liberation from certain political and economic systems and a liberation from a certain system of morality. I objected to the morality because it interfered with my sexual freedom."

2 Peter 3:4 is the argument that everything remains the same. "Where is the promise of His coming?" Ah, here comes their argument, "For ever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." Everything is and will just go along the same way as it always has for billions of years.

They're really saying, "Cataclysmic events just don't happen. So since the first people died, since the patriarchs died, verse 4, "All continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." This is the argument of uniformitarianism.

Evolution says that there's no God, there's no change, there's no judgment, there's nothing. And you know what they say? It is the philosophy of constancy. Satan invented it from the beginning.

They would deny creation in six days, even though the Bible says that. They deny that the sun stood still which means the earth stopped revolving in Joshua 10:13 and nobody fell off. They would deny 2 Kings 20 that the shadow on the sun dial went backwards. They would deny that the Red Sea parted. They would deny that God ever stepped in to judge.

Evolution is the devil's tool to accommodate the immorality of sinners who will not come to God. If Satan can get people to believe in evolution, he has cut them off from effective evangelism. Evangelism is always based upon the Scripture.

And dear friends, we live in a pagan nation. Look at the world around you, doesn't it make sense that there's a God and I want to tell you who that God is. But if pagans are all convinced that all of this came out of nothing, that the formula for everything in the universe is nobody multiplied by nothing equals everything, then there's no bridge. Let's bow together in prayer.

]]> Sun, 12 Jun 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110612 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000013A imblog

2 Peter 2:15-18

We have been talking about false teachers and we have been discussing how bold and reckless they are, they don’t even tremble when they revile angelic majesties (v. 10). Peter says that they act like animals without reason who are born creatures of instinct to serve man best when dead (v. 12).

Wow, very strong language! And then in the middle of verse 13 we examine their practices. Now we move from their attitude to their actions. Peter says they count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. That is they engage in public wickedness in daylight.

Now that brings us to the third point and where we left off last time two weeks ago. We learned that it was that their sensuality drives them in verse 2, and it was their greed in verse 3 the reason they want to exploit you. Their focus is on personal gain.

Now Peter makes this picture very vivid in verses 15 and 16, "Forsaking the right way they have gone astray having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But he received a rebuke for his own transgression for a dumb donkey, speaking with the voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet."

Now this is a remarkable account of the Old Testament. "They have forsaken the right way." The "right way," that little phrase, is an Old Testament metaphor which refers to obedience to God's Word.

You find it also in Acts 13:10 where it says, "And you who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord, or the right ways of the Lord?"

And please note here that forsaking the right way is an act of deliberate intent. It describes a direct act of rebellion against the Word of God. They have the Bible but they reject it. They have access to what is right, but they will not listen.

Now in going astray they have followed the pattern of the prototype false prophet, a man by the name of Balaam. Jude makes reference to him as well. He says in verse 11 of his epistle, "They have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam." False teachers can be characterized by what it is they are after, what payment they want.

There is no time to go all the way through Numbers 22, 23, and 24, but let me just tell you the story and look at some passages toward the end. Balaam was a prophet and he had been given by God the ability to speak for God.

The Moabites wanted victory over Israel. And so they came to Balaam who must have had a reputation as being a prophet who could be bought. That's not unusual; we also have many such prophets today who will speak whatever the highest bidder wants to hear.

And so King Balak of Moab sent a messenger to Balaam and said, "We will pay you a great sum of money if you will pronounce a curse on Israel." And by the way, Balak kept increasing the stakes because Balaam said, "I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, to do less or more."

So far reading Numbers 22 he sounds like a loyal man. But behind the scenes the reason he keeps saying that is so that Balak will come back with more money. Even though he kept refusing what was offered and said, "I can only speak what God tells me to speak," and even though in the end he blessed Israel, it is evident that he wanted money and God had to stop him from cursing Israel.

Peter says about Balaam, looking into the past and right into Balaam's heart through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he says in 2 Peter 2:15, "Balaam, the son of Beor, loved the wages of unrighteousness." He loved to get paid for doing evil. He preferred money to obeying God. He preferred pay to faithfulness.

In Deuteronomy 23: 4-5 it says, "Because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you, nevertheless the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you."

So what did God do? 2 Peter 2:16 says, "but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet." Now there was no outward transgression yet because he hadn't prophesied anything, but God saw the wretchedness of his greedy heart. And what did God use to rebuke him? A dumb donkey, speaking with a voice of a man who restrained the madness of this prophet.

So as he was riding on his donkey, the Lord had to stop him. The word "restrain" means to hinder him. And "madness" simply means literally to be out and beside your own mind. We would say, "He was beside himself." He was so money mad and greedy that the Greek word ‘paraphroneo’ was used, which means to be out of your head.

Let's see the end of the story beginning in Numbers 22:21, "So Balaam arose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab. 22And God was angry because he was going." Why? Because the Lord knew his heart, and by the way He knows your heart too just as much.

"22bAnd the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him.” All of a sudden the angel of the Lord stands in the road. “22bNow he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him." Now look at this, "23When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field.”

“But Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way. 24Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyard with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. 25When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall so he struck her again.”

“26And the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. 27When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she laid down under Balaam. So Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick." This donkey is doing what is reasonably instinctive in reacting to a flaming angel with a sword in hand.

Finally the donkey just collapses, and Balaam who is oblivious to all spiritual sense because of his madness was so angry he now begins to hammer the donkey with his stick. "28And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam, `What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?'"

Now that's a shocking moment in the life of Balaam. This is not a new donkey, this is an old donkey, we assume, whose carried him many him many times and never had a comment on anything. Balaam is so caught up in it that he responds, "29Then Balaam said to the donkey, `Because you made a mockery of me. If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.'”

“30And the donkey said to Balaam, `Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?' And he said no." You've been a good donkey. You've never done this before. The donkey is saying, don't you think there might be a reason why I veered into the field and the wall and why I finally collapsed?

How is it possible for a donkey to speak? Well, you remember in John 12:28-30 that there was the noise of thunder that the people heard but Jesus heard the voice of God? And you remember in Acts 9:3-7 that Paul heard the Lord Jesus speak to him in a way that others didn't hear. What the people with Balaam heard was probably some noise of donkey braying, but God made the normal braying of a donkey sound like a clear human voice to this mad prophet.

So what happened? Balaam finally prophesied a blessing on Israel. Guess what? He didn't get any money from Balak. He wanted money. God had restrained him and made him prophesy a blessing. But he needed some way to make money.

So when he couldn't curse Israel, he tried to make Israel fall. And what he did was use his powers and his influence to get the men of Israel to be seduced by the women of Moab so that those seductions could pull them into idolatry and intermarriage, advocating orgies of prostitution that would lead to the destruction of the Jewish race as it would be blended and lost in paganism.

Let us look back to Numbers 31: 9-16, "And the sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered. 10And they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire and 11they took all the spoil and all the prey, both of man and of beast, and 12they brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel to the camp at the plains of Moab which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.”

13And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp and 14Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15And Moses said to them, `Have you spared all the women? 16Behold, these cause the sons of Israel through the counsel of Balaam to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord."

So what did they do? They had gone out to destroy all of these sons of Israel and Moabite women that had entered into this pagan worship and then they bring back more Moabite women to repeat the same thing.

And Numbers 31:17-19 say, "17Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, kill every woman who has known man intimately, 18but all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves. 19And you camp outside the camp seven days whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh."

Don't you bring back any women who are going to seduce you again, only take those women who have not done that, the rest you need to kill. Here was a holy war against apostasy that had been generated by Balaam. It was a threat to the holiness of God, to those that are sanctified for His purposes and to the existence of His people.

So how do false teachers follow the path of Balaam? First, there is the way they identify themselves, they say: “We're prophets of God, we're Christians, we're pastors, we're preachers and we're teachers”, they are very subtle in their deception.

Secondly, they acknowledge error rather than the right doctrine. They practice evil dressed up in religious robes and teach others contrary to the Christian faith. Thirdly, they are in it for the money and they are in it for the sexual gratification they can get. That's their pattern. And fourthly, they encourage others to follow in the same way.

And then Peter continues to describe the character of their teaching. And here we find the deceptive nature of it made very clear. In 2 Peter 2:17, he characterizes their teaching in this way, "These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm for whom the black darkness has been reserved."

Those of you who have traveled in the land east of Israel where the focus of the world is now, know that it is a very arid and very hot place. In fact, throughout the history of war in Israel, the conquerors and enemies of Israel have usually come from the north because even enemies to the east can't cross the desert of the Middle East.

There are two very precious things in any desert, one: springs and two: rain. Without water people cannot survive. And when in the midst of thirst a man pursues the place where a spring is supposed to be, but it's a spring without water, it is a major disappointment. And that is the intent of Peter's words. They promise water but their teaching doesn't have any water to give.

And then are mists driven by a storm. And when people see mist it promises hope, maybe rain will follow. And in that part of the world there were no pipelines to deliver water from other places. But the mist was there only a little while but the storm blew it away, leaving the land still dry and hot.

Peter gives us a picture of false teachers who come and make promises of bringing water to this parched land; that is they're going to bring refreshment for the thirsty soul. But these promises are false, because they have nothing to offer. They have no water themselves.

And there are many churches, where many people have souls that are thirsty looking for truth but what they find is not water but dirt and sand because the spring has no water and the fog of emotion provides no refreshing truth.

And it says that they are judged, "For whom the black darkness has been reserved." Peter here continues to inject statements of eternal damnation because he is so angry at these false teachers. And in verse 18, he continues, "For speaking out arrogant words of vanity."

False teachers are usually good orators. They deceive with high-sounding words that masquerade as being scholarly, which make you think they have deep spiritual insight or profound revelation from God. They are false preachers who make up their theology as they speak.

Here is their fallen philosophy: Let your main motive be to seek your own popularity and success. Preach where you're not going to offend anyone and because of that your church will always be full. Aim at pleasing the people for money and sexual favors, rather than correcting behavior for holiness. Avoid preaching doctrines that are offensive to the carnal mind.

Preach salvation by grace but ignore the lost condition of the sinner. Give them the impression that they have no reason to fear. Do not rebuke their worldly tendencies. Avoid all disagreeable allusions to judgment and final retribution. Treat old and uncomfortable doctrines as obsolete and out of place.

Preach the love of God and ignore the holiness of His love. And so exhibit religion as to encourage the selfish pursuit of it. Make the impression upon sinners that their own safety and happiness is the supreme motive of being religious. And say nothing to any of your hearers to demean him or her, but only what is flattering.

Well, do you know some big churches that do just that? God condemns the way they preach. We have to listen carefully to be able to discern it. Empty words that do not convict and contain nothing that converts have no truth that changes lives. Let us pray that God will open their hearts one at a time to know the truth, Amen?

]]> Sun, 05 Jun 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110605 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000013B imblog

Colossians 2:6-10

We have been talking about the warning that Peter gives us about false teachers and how to recognize them as false teachers. And how to defend yourself from false teaching and tonight I want to talk about how deceivers look at life and how God wants us to look at life differently.

We all are continually moving into different directions, we have new circumstances that we have to deal with in life, some of that deal with different work environments or being moved to a different location or being surrounded by different people and we all are challenged in our faith in different ways.

And so it seems that we should focus also on the message that these false teachers are teaching and compare that to what God is teaching us through what Paul says in Colossians. 2:6-10,

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

There is an all out assault on what we believe on a daily basis. And at every new point in our lives there will be new challenges and new things to confront as parents, as brothers and sisters in Christ and there is always a new set of voices that try to lure us away from the truth.

And often times we are faced with a choice of telling our friends or our children what we believe and creating a rift between us or not telling the truth to maintain a relationship with those that we love. So the question remains, what is more important, the future of our relationship with our family or the integrity of the gospel?

God says in Colossians 2 that what ever we do in life we need to walk in Christ, our interactions with everyone must be based on what Christ teaches, and Paul gets specific here identifying four steps.

The first step that he mentions is in the beginning of verse 7 which is embracing Christ as Lord in our life. Rooted is in a tense in the language of the Old Testament that means that the action is completed but the effects continue in the present time.

Do you know what Paul is talking about? The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word “rooted” is spiritual growth. But that is not what Paul is talking about. He is talking about the moment when you accepted Christ.

He is talking about the point you believed in Christ, because at that point that was a completed action, God chose you before the beginning of the world and you responded, but the effects continue from that point on, you are being changed from that moment on.

Verse 7 continues by saying that you are “built up in Him,” which means that you are being changed to become more like Him. Everything that happens to you is created by God to change you to become more loving, more caring and more like Christ. And this verse says that this is an ongoing process that continues till you die.

And because this is work started and done and will be completed by God and not by men, this means you cannot lose your salvation. Philippians 1:6 says, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” So the phrase “Once saved, always saved,” is true if you are truly saved.

But this does not mean that that’s all there is to it, that now you do not have to do anything anymore, that now you do not have to grow to maturity, that now you do not have to be an example of a Christian, that now you do not have to tell others about the gospel.

And brothers and sisters, this is a life long process. If you think that you are mature enough, if you think that you are good enough, if you think that you love others enough and if you think that you now can stop growing, brothers and sisters, you are wrong.

Step three is that “established you in the faith” as it says in verse 7. This is an ongoing action too but here it is an action that someone else does to you. God is causing all this to happen to you and in you. God is taking those roots and making them grow deeper and deeper so that you can withstand more and more trials through faith that is growing stronger and stronger.

All through this life there will be coming different people with different voices that will try to change your mind and change what you believe and shake your faith. Our adversary the devil will use whatever means to undermine your spiritual foundations. Sometimes it is trough false teachers but sometimes it is through your own family.

Whatever we are professionally: a businessperson, an engineer or a home care worker, whatever we do needs to rooted in Christ, whatever decision we make has to be rooted in Christ, whatever we say has to be rooted in Christ.

And Paul has one more step in verse 7 which is that we need to respond with a life style of worship. He says, “as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” Receive Christ Jesus in such a way where you are thankful for whatever happens. Even “bad” things have a divine purpose of growing your faith.

Often times we cannot see God’s purpose while we are going trough trials and hardship; only afterwards can we see God’s loving hands guiding us through those times of stress and pain and understand the benefits that these trials have brought us.

Thanksgiving is the result of a life style that is rooted in Christ where we look at everything that happens as a blessing from God even if at first it looks like a punishment or suffering that comes from the devil.

What Paul teaches us next is: let the doctrine of salvation shape your worldview. What Paul teaches here is what the foundation of how you look at life is. He in verse 8 says, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Here Paul is teaching us what we as Christians need to do; this is part of our responsibility. God is the divine initiator but we have to work hard to do our part of the deal. Paul says “Beware,” or watch out for false teachers that will cheat you. Listen brothers, this is all spiritual warfare.

And guess what, they are not playing fair, they are using every sneaky method in the book to make you fall. And the devil knows every weak point in your fleshly desires. Empty deceit means lies and falsehoods, every false religion claims to have the truth, every sect claims to have all the answers.

But the word that is really dangerous is what comes before this which is the word philosophy, which really means wisdom. The love of wisdom means theories about God, about the world, theories about life and you know what that is called nowadays? It is called your worldview!

And Paul says make sure that your worldview is a biblical worldview and not the worldview of people around you. And a worldview is not just what you believe but also how you interact in this world. You are going to do what your mind believes in.

Your worldview is not just what one sees but what one sees with. Most people wear either glasses or contact lenses and they are called corrective lenses, which correct what it is that you see clearly.

A worldview is similar to that, it also corrects and changes what you see with your spiritual eyes. And a non biblical worldview distorts the truth and interprets what you see in the wrong way. It tries to explain everything from the viewpoint that there is no God.

There is a worldview that says that basically all religions are the same and they all end up in the same place. And this is what false teachers are teaching. And that cannot be further from the truth! There is a radical difference between what the bible says and how they view God, Christ, sin, life and salvation.

The challenge is not just navigating all those different worldviews; it is also to be able to respond with knowledge and confidence to all those basic questions in life that are thrown at you from all different directions.

Maybe those questions are questions like this: Where do I come from? How should I live? Why am I here? What happens after death? Is there real truth? And you have to be convinced in your mind that you have the right answer to all these questions.

Now there are several main worldviews and then there are many that are derivatives of them. I just want to call your attention to these major ones so that you are prepared for them. The first major one is Theism, which believes that there is a single divine entity that created the universe and everything in it.

Pantheism says that God and the universe are one and the same. Agnosticism says that you cannot know the truth and that God is not knowable. Atheism says that no God exists at all and that everything can be explained by physics. And all the other worldviews grow out of one of these major ones.

And out of these grow philosophies that people believe in, and let me show you which are prevalent right now. The first one is relativism which simply says that you have your truth and I have mine, they might contradict each other, but all truth is relative to where you came from and what you believe in.

Universalism says that everyone is going to go to heaven. All paths lead up to the mountain top to God, no matter how you do it and what you believe in; just make sure you have one. Humanism believes that humanity does not need any outside source for happiness and fulfillment. And Individualism says that everything is all about me, the world exists for me and revolves around me and life is there just for me.

So how do false teachers want us to look at our life? Verse 8 answers that question, “they want us to look at it “according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Tradition of men are human traditions, elemental principles of this world all deny Christ, but here God says that everything has to be measured by Christ. Do you know that under Theism there are three religions that believe in one God: Islam, Judaism and Christianity, but only Christianity believes in Christ!

And because of that all other religions are false religions. You can be a theist and not believe that Christ is the measuring-stick by which God measures everything. This is what separates Christianity from every other worldview and every other world religion. All of them are an affront on the deity and work of Jesus Christ.

What false teachers and deceivers want you to do is to take Christ out of the picture. And when you do that they are pretty much OK with theism as long as you take the doctrine of Christ and the doctrine of salvation away.

Look at what is happening right now in the USA. What even smells of Christianity is forbidden in schools and public platforms while other religious customs are encouraged and played up. Public prayer is outlawed and the national Day of Prayer has been attacked openly. But if you believe in any other religion that is OK.

There are so many groups in this society that want you to hang together, to unite with other beliefs and other worldviews and the proper phrase nowadays is “to be tolerant toward every other worldview and world religion.”

But here God through Paul says that unless Christ is acknowledged this cannot be. Unless Christ is at the center it is all false. And the devil also knows this and so he is working overtime to get people away from Christ as much as possible.

So how does God want us to behave? God wants you to look at life through the lens that is shaped by who you are in Christ. I want you to notice how many times in these key verses tonight the phrase “in Him” is used. Paul says that is how I want you to look at life, “in Him”.

Do not ever forget in all that you do in your daily life what and who you are in Christ, and what His person has done for you and in you. And so you might say what does that life form look like for you and me.

That life will be a victory over the reign of evil! If you look at every other worldview or world religion you will find in it something satanic, something evil and overall falsehood. There is always some mysticism that is related to evil.

That is the opposite of what Christianity teaches and what Christ is the example of. There is real and objective truth and that truth only comes from God in the person of Christ and the Bible. Christ knows the end from the beginning and there is victory only in Him.

Paul says in verse 9, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” The very essence of all His attributes and qualities are all in Him. Verse 10 says, “And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

Everything that you will ever need in your life is complete in Him, there is nothing else that you will ever need. He is the source for everything and He has been placed in your life and my life for complete fulfillment!

No matter what other worldviews may belittle you, it can never replicate the peace that is in your heart when you go to bed at night or when you know that you are going to die and are called home. This peace only comes from knowing that you are a child of God and that all your sins are forgiven forever. There is no condemnation! Amen?

How about you? Are you convinced that you are a child of God and that Jesus Christ is your Savior? Are you able to stand firm against all the accusations and trials that the devil throws at you? Will you still be strong even though you go through hardship and tribulation? If you are not sure please come and talk to me.

]]> Sun, 29 May 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110529 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000013C imblog

2 Peter 2:10-14

Please turn to 2 Peter 2:10b-14 where we continue what we discussed last Sunday. We're going to be looking again at the matter of false prophets and false teachers who secretly introduce destructive heresies as it says in verse 1 of this chapter.

Now I want to warn you as we continue that this section is a stream of violence vented on false teachers that in some ways leave us, the reader almost breathless. These seducers of men's minds and hearts who work for Satan against God are consumed in this text in a blast of divine fury put into words by the Holy Spirit through the pen of Peter.

Peter speaking on behalf of God calls the false prophets in verse 12 “irrational animals, creatures of instinct,” who have no rational capability. They operate on unthinking passion compelled only by instinct. Animals do not think. They cannot reason.

The only benefit that animals provide is that of physical food. So he is saying that false teachers are equally mindless, equally self-indulgent, equally driven by the instincts of their own passion and they serve men best when they are dead. Wow, very strong language.

Why has Peter exploded in such a fury on these false prophets and false teachers?" In John 21, three times Jesus said, "Feed My sheep, feed My lambs, feed My sheep." From the very outset, Peter was called to be a shepherd who fed the sheep. And he is very irate at false shepherds who are feeding poison to the sheep.

This chapter is set aside from the other two chapters to very clearly describe false teachers. The first three verses gave us a general sketch or outline, then in verse 4 through 10a he described the inevitability of their damnation.

Now he goes back to that sketch he gave in verses 1 to 3 and fills it in full color so that it becomes a complete portrait of false teachers. Remember now, the whole epistle is to warn the church that these false teachers are very dangerous and how to defend ourselves against them.

If you know your salvation is sure, if you know what Scripture teaches, you have a defense against them. And so this epistle really is to arm us for defense against false teachers. Part of it is recognizing them and recognizing how God views them.

And so, as Peter gives this blistering diatribe against the false teachers, we're going to notice several points. And tonight I want to give you the first two. Number one, their exaggerated self-opinion.

Notice verse 10b-13a, "Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord, 12 but these like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong."

Now here is a text that describes their attitude. The first word says it all in the middle of verse 10, daring. They dare to defy God and His truth. They give no thought to the consequence of what they're doing against God and to the ramifications that are going to come.

And then he adds, self-willed. This means they are stubborn. They're arrogant and they are determined in their own way. And nothing will stop them, not the truth, not the lordship of Jesus Christ, nothing. And you get the feeling here that Peter is almost aghast at their unbelievable presumption.

And how presumptuous are they? He wants to give us an illustration. In verse 10, he says, this is how presumptuous they are, this is how stubbornly obstinate, brash and brazen they are, "They do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties."

Historically people have interpreted it in a number of different ways. What does it mean? Well the word "revile" means to blaspheme, to speak evil of, to mock, to ridicule, to denigrate and to degrade. They do that to angelic doxa, it means glories, dignities, dignitaries. And in the context they are angelic dignitaries.

Now, what angelic dignitaries is he talking about? It is a reference to demons. They fearlessly, they daringly ridicule and speak disparagingly of demons, of fallen angels. They ridicule, they mock them.

So how can demons be called glories? Are they glorious beings? The answer is yes, they can be called glories in the sense that they have a persona and a level of existence in the supernatural world that has a dignity and a transcendent quality about it that is beyond us.

Paul said in Ephesians 2:2 that he is the prince of the power of the air. Jesus said in John 12:31 that he is the ruler of this world. There is a glorious persona that is possessed by even fallen angels, for they still retain the imprint of majesty, even like fallen, sinful, unregenerate man retains the imprint of the image of God.

In fact, in Ephesians 6:12 they are called by Paul principalities and powers and rulers. They are called spiritual beings in high places. And if we were to look carefully into 1 Corinthians 15:40-41 we see that “there are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies, there is the glory of the heavenly that is one, and the glory of the earthly that is another.”

Verse 41, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. And what is Paul saying but that there are different kinds of levels of glory.”

There is a certain dignity that belongs even to the sun, and the stars, though they too are in a fallen universe, there is a certain imprint of dignity in the image of God that belongs to man. And there is a certain majesty that belongs to angels even though they're fallen.

How can already cursed demons be blasphemed? Even fallen angels have an angelic majesty of sorts and they are not to be taken lightly. We are to avoid irreverence toward them. Listen, they are very serious beings. And God is very serious about them. And so are holy angels serious about them.

So what's the practicality of that? It can be applied to the foolishness of the Charismatic demon chasers. Arrogant false teachers underestimate the power of Satan and they underestimate the dignity of the host of angelic majesties and they think they are stronger than demons. They assume that there will be no retaliation because there feel a certain kind of invincibility.

And then there are the liberals who come along and just flatly deny they even exist. Anytime you despise or degrade or minimize the power of Satan and his fallen angels, that's a foolish act. Speaking against those glorious beings is elevating yourself to a level you really don't belong on. It's a form of terrible presumption.

And in contrast, look what he says in verse 11, "Whereas angels," and anytime you see the word "angels," it refers to the good and holy angels of God. "Whereas angels who are greater in might and power." Greater than who? Well certainly greater than us and greater than those false teachers, right? "Do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord."

Holy angels don't judge or demean demons that are inferior to them. The angels so revere their Lord as they live all their lives in His presence that no insulting language is allowed to pass their lips, even though it would be richly deserved.

Turn over to Jude 1:8 and 9, we have a very helpful parallel text, "In the same manner, these men also by dreaming defile the flesh and reject authority and revile angelic majesties." They reject authority and lordship. It's the same thing Peter said.

But then Jude says here these false teachers are not blaspheming angelic majesties, but Michael, the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses."

What is that all about? I don't know, apparently there was a conflict between Satan and Michael over the body of Moses. Satan wanted the body of Moses. And you remember, Moses never was allowed to go into the Promised Land.

I suppose we'll find out and we get to heaven and ask Michael. Certainly Satan would have been up to no good. We don't know what he would have done but it would have been to create some kind of satanic false worship that would cause many to go astray..

They argued about the body of Moses. "But even Michael, the super angel, the archangel, did not dare pronounce against the devil a railing judgment," but he left it in God's hands and he simply said, at the end of verse 9, "The Lord rebuke you."

But, back in 2 Peter, false teachers are not afraid to do what holy angels are afraid to do. They are so brash. The brash self-willed presumption of false teachers makes a direct assault on beings that even holy angels would not assault.

He goes to describing them now. "12 But these, referring to these false teachers, they're like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge." They don't even know against whom they're talking about.

Jude 1:10 says the same thing, "But these men revile the things which they do not understand and the things which they know by instinct like unreasoning animals."

"Unreasoning animals," he says, just have instinct, not reason. They can only respond to preprogrammed, prepared stimuli that are built into their physical being, through the act of God's creation. They only make a physical contribution as food for some other animal or for man. It's all a part of the food chain.

Scripture says that these false teachers are in the same category as these instinctive animals, who don't understand what they're doing but who like brute beasts operate only on the passion of their own instinct and serve man best when dead.

The end of verse 12 says, "In the destruction of those creatures they'll also be destroyed." They're going to be fodder for the fire of the glory of God. When God consumes the world and all the creatures that are on it, He's going to consume them, too. The Greek text actually reads this way, "In their destroying they shall be destroyed."

And down in verses 19 to 22 we will see the details of that destruction. So in destroying others they bring destruction upon themselves. They behave like dumb beasts, leading others to death who themselves will perish in the same slaughter house.

And so, he sums it up in verse 13, their presumption, saying, “Suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong." Or suffering harm as the wages of doing harm. That's a self-evident truth. They're going to get what they deserve.

Galatians 6:7 calls that the law of sowing and reaping. If a man dedicates himself to lies, false teaching, to a daring, brazen, brash presumptuous lustful passionate approach to the things of God, it will destroy him.

So these false teachers first have such an exaggerated self opinion. The second point is that they practice an unholy life style. We go from attitude to action in verse 13, "They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime." Now normally sinners do their debauchery at night (1 Thessalonians 5:7). But these sinners are so wretched that they do it in the daytime.

Further describing their action, Peter with obvious disgust says further in verse 13, "They are stains and blemishes." It is the idea of dirt spots, defects, filth spots and scabs. They're diseased.

And he says they're reveling in their deceptions. What does that mean? Living in luxury...living in sinful pleasure, living it up by the passions of their animalistic instincts, deceiving those under their influence into the same dissipations. They deceive others.

They do it, verse 13 says, as they feast together, or to eat together. When they show up for your church celebrations, they pollute it. 2 John 9 -11 says, "If anyone comes to you and does not bring the right doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

And then in verse 14 Peter moves from their public action to their more private setting. "They're having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children."

These people have lost moral control that they cannot look on a woman any time without seeing her as a potential adulteress. Living by lust brings sinful thoughts, animal instincts which dominate so that lust can never be satisfied and never be turned off. And so every woman becomes an object of adultery.

Go back to verse 14. "They entice unstable souls," which means they get other people to behave like this. They draw in the unwitting, the weak to their sexual deviation, to their error, to their lies, to their passions and instincts. They prey on those who are young in the faith or who are barely escaping from error and haven't even come to Christ.

And then he closes this little section by saying, "They have a heart trained in greed." Sexual lust, passion and the eyes of the false teacher that are consumed with adultery, have as a partner a heart trained in greed. Sex and greed always go together with false teachers.

Then Peter says simply at the end of verse 14 "Accursed children!" which means they're marked by a curse. When you see the word "child" here, it's the familiar idea that whatever is the dominant influence in one's life, one is a child of that, that's a Hebraism.

We have only touched the beginning of this description. Beloved, this is so important and essential because it is the pastor's duty to prepare his people for such dangers, Amen?

]]> Sun, 15 May 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110515 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000013D imblog

2 Peter 2:5-10

Peter, speaking for God, promises fiery judgment on the false teachers who misrepresent His truth. The whole chapter of Matthew 23 is also devoted to that, particularly from verse 13 through verse 33. They are strong, penetrating, scathing rebukes of those who say they speak for God but in fact do not.

Throughout Scripture the Lord has always had strong words for people who teach lies and teach perversions and live ungodly lives. But the strongest words of all are reserved for those who teach and live like that and say they represent God.

As we come to the second chapter in this wonderful little epistle, we really come to the heart of his message here and that is to warn us of the danger of these false teachers. And as we look at this section on the judgment of false teachers, we're looking at several important points that arise.

We first of all noted the promise of their judgment. In verse 1 at the end it says that they bring swift destruction upon themselves. At the end of verse 3 it says their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. In both of those verses they are promised condemnation and judgment.

And then the last time we studied 2 Peter in January we began to discuss the reason for them being judged. And as verse 4 unfolds and all the way down through verse 8, Peter gives us three historical precedents that have been laid down in the past to guarantee the reality of the future judgment on false teachers.

Since God didn't spare angels, who were His special creation, when they sinned, but cast them to hell, to pits of darkness reserved for judgment, do these false teachers think somehow they will escape? (v. 5) And now we come to the second illustration which is also at the time of Noah, the ancient world. From fallen angels Peter gives us examples of the ancient world.

And he says if God condemned, the whole world and drowned them all, sending them all into eternity forever to be punished, except for eight people, Noah and seven others, then why would He spare those false teachers? Millions of people that occupied the globe were caught in the devastation of that flood and plunged into eternal doom.

Let's look more closely at verse 5. "If God did not spare the ancient world," that means the whole unrighteous system that had developed since the Fall of Adam. It had become a totally wicked world. At that very time when these fallen angels did what they did, it says in Genesis 6:5-7, "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth."

Genesis 6:6-7, “The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved and said, I will block out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them."

So Peter says, if God is so committed to righteousness that He would drown the entire world, why should we believe that He would spare the lesser group, a smaller group of false prophets who have lived the same way, corrupting His truth and living in unrighteousness?

Jude 1:14-15, "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

At that flood God brought a cosmic catastrophe that changed the whole world and its environs and changed the sky. Prior to the Flood there was no rain, a canopy covered the earth that watered the earth with a mist. God dumped all those waters and even the waters came out of the deep, so the whole globe was drowned.

But in the middle of 2 Peter 2:5 it says, "But preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others." Here's a principle to keep in mind, and you're going to see it again in a moment, that in the midst of this cataclysm of universal judgment, God preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others.

God told him to build an ark. The ark was about the size of the Queen Mary, a rectangle. And God told him to take his wife and his three sons and their three wives and go in and take two of each living thing and take care of them in the ark so that the world could be repopulated.

The word here is preserve, phulasso, which means to be put in a guarded place, to be put in a protected place. And, of course, in their case it was an ark. And the ark could ride out the judgment because it was build by God to float on the water.

The Lord is going to make sure there is protection for His own. Rapture comes first, then the Day of the Lord, He's going to put all believers in a safe place during the Tribulation period to be brought back afterward to a new world of righteous people.

When the ark finally settled on Mount Ararat, the water subsided, it was a new world, a world of righteous people. So it is after the judgment of God in the future. After God comes in fury and judgment and judges all the false teachers and all the people who follow the false teachers, having guarded His own who were left in the world in a protected place, He will bring them back to a new world of righteous people.

And Peter now follows through to the next judgment, the third one, Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 6, "And since He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter."

Peter names the two major cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 13:12 calls them cities of the valley. Actually there were more than just those two. There were Sodom and Gomorrah, and according to Deuteronomy 29:23 there was also Admah and Zeboiim.

The word "condemn" has the idea of a sentence executed on the wicked. The judgment was like the Flood, totally devastating so that it killed every single human person and everything else that was living, not by water this time but by divine incineration. And all that was left now was only ashes.

In fact, the devastation of Sodom and Gomorrah was so wholesale, that they can't find those cities now. For many years it was believed that the reason they couldn't find them was because the Dead Sea had grown larger and as the Dead Sea went further south covering more and more land, it had covered the place where Sodom and Gomorrah once was.

Archaeologists around the land of Palestine have found almost every ancient city. They can uncover the rubble of almost all of them. But they have never been able to find these cities, or any remote indication of where they were. Up till now they have no idea where these cities were.

Why did God totally obliterate and incinerate that whole civilization? Answer: they rejected His truth and followed liars, false teachers. So verse 6 says, "He made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter." He wanted to send an message to all future generations that false teachers and those who follow their lies will feel the fury of God's vengeance.

Now what did they do to deserve this? Let's look at Genesis 19:1, "Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening," these were two holy angels who had paid a visit to Abraham with God Himself, who had appeared to them in human form and spent time in fellowship with them.

"When Lot saw them he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, `Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house and spend the night, wash your feet, then you may rise early and go on your way.'" He knew they were angels, and, of course, angels are spirits but they can take on physical form and they always appear in the form of men when they do that.

And they said in Gen. 19:2, "However no, but we will spend the night in the square." Lot knew that that was dangerous. Verse 3, “So he pleaded with them, those two holy angels, not to stay in the square. And he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread and they ate.” You know what it says in Hebrews 13:1, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Verse 4-5, "Before the time for sleep and rest and the family was to lie down, and perhaps the angels were to rest, the men of the city of Sodom surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. And they called to Lot and said to him, `Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.'"

They were homosexuals and they want to have a homosexual relationship with these magnificent creatures. Remember last time that the sin of the fallen angels was the reverse of the sin of Sodom. Here homosexuals went after angels, back in Genesis 6 fallen angels went after women, another perverted act was on their minds.

Genesis 19:6-7, "Lot went out at the doorway, shut the door behind him, said, `Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Don't do this.” But they tried to crush Lot against the door and break the door down. Verse 10 says, "But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door." The angels protected him.

And verse 11says, "They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great." What did they do, repent? No, look at this, "So they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway." They've just gone blind and all they can think about is getting those angels. That's how wretched they were.

The angels said to Lot, in Genesis 19:15, "Up, take your wife, your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. 16 But he hesitated so the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his daughters."

You know how earthbound we get and how in to our possessions? So the angels just grab them and drag them out. "For the compassion of the Lord was upon him," they brought him out and put him outside the city. There was Lot, there was his wife (who looked back and became a pillar of salt), and two daughters, only three who survived.

And if you read the New Testament, repeatedly Sodom and Gomorrah is held up as an illustration of what happens to people who fail to understand and believe the truth. Matthew 10:15, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city."

So God judged that society. But notice now 2 Peter 2:7-8, and I want you to see this because this is a potent truth. Verse 7, "And if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, 8 for by what he saw and heard, that righteous man, while living among them felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds."

You know how you know he was righteous? Because he hated sin! Sure he might have been a weak father, and yes, he might have been on the worldly side and enamored with possessions and somewhat selfish, and yes, he had a bit of hesitance in moving out, and yeah, he did drink a little too much in the trauma of all of that moment. But he wouldn't have any part with the filth of the sin of the culture he lived in.

That should be able to be said of every Christian. He was oppressed by sin. In his heart he loved righteousness. And verse 8 makes the point even stronger, "That he had a righteous heart for by what he saw and heard..." Like Noah and his family, Lot stood against sin in his day. The whole society had followed lies, rejected God's truth, followed the false teachers of Satan but not Lot and God was gracious to him.

And that leads us to the pattern of their judgment. It comes in verses 9 and 10a, then we can conclude this, "The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the Day of Judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh and its corrupt desires and despise authority."

Do you remember Malachi where the prophet is talking about how God is going to come in devastating judgment? Malachi 3:16, "Those who feared the Lord spoke to one another." Oh, what's going to happen to us? "And the Lord gave attention and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and esteem His name” (Malachi 3:16-18).

And a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. 17"They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

God knows His own and God will rescue His own. It's hard, but the Lord knows how. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation. In Mark 8:11 these words are used, "And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, that is Jesus, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him," to attack Him.

In Luke 4:12-13, "And Jesus answered and said to them, `It is said you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.' And when the devil had finished every test..." What was the devil trying to do? Destroy Him, devastate Him.

And then the most important Scripture; Revelation 3:10 says this, "Because you have kept the Word of My perseverance, I also will keep you out of the hour of testing." I will keep you out of the hour of testing in the sense that it is destruction and devastation.

God is going to judge and God is going to rescue the godly out from that time of trial and judgment and then He is going to judge those who are kept under punishment now and brought finally to the ultimate judgment.

What did we say at the very outset several months ago about the false teachers? They were characterized by those same two things. First of all, they are those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires. They are sensual and lustful. They indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires. They want defilement, like the homosexuals in Sodom.

And the second characteristic, they despise authority. They want Christ as Savior, but they don't want anything to do with Him as Lord and Master. It's a cheap, shallow thing. They identify with Christ, they name His name, but they do not live under His authority. They name His name, but they don't want to live by His commands.

So God is a God of truth and all who teach lies about Him and all who deny His lordship will be judged, especially those false teachers who come in His name but live sensual lives of disobedience to His sovereignty. And God is going to destroy them all and with them those who believe their lies.

]]> Sun, 08 May 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110508 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000013E imblog

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

What is the reason that Christ had to die on the cross? How does that relate to our situation right now as people? Let me give you three reasons: First, it is to pay for our sins. Secondly, it is to give us the life of God and thirdly it is to make us right with God.

What does it mean to have the life of God? It means what it says in Ephesians 4:23-24, “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Please open your bible to 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, to see what God wants to teach us tonight about that.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We understand what it means to be alienated in a relationship and to find a way back so the relationship is restored. But the idea of God being reconciled to sinners is much more difficult. When sinners are being reconciled to one another, this seems possible and reasonable since both parties are guilty of sin.

But with God all the sin is ours, He is totally flawless and perfectly holy and our sinning means that He has been violated. It's our entire fault, we are totally responsible and yet God has determined a way in which sinners can be reconciled to Him. From a human viewpoint this would seem impossible.

But with God nothing is impossible. Christ provided a way where there was no way. And all of us in all churches all over the world are given the same task as ambassadors of proclaiming that reconciliation now is possible. The term ‘ambassador’ that you see in verse 20 really refers to someone who represented his government.

An ambassador speaks for his king, or his government. He is the mouthpiece of his sovereign leader. He dos not utter his own thoughts; he never makes private personal offers or give personal promises. He doesn't make personal demands. He represents his sovereign president and country.

We have been given an ambassadorship not to fix the culture but to speak for God by proclaiming the message of reconciliation. Changed people who are changed by the gospel will change the society. This is your ministry, not just mine. This is our ministry.

What is involved in this ministry of reconciliation? What are the component parts of it? What are we talking about? So let us break it down in smaller parts. What are the elements? I'm going to give you four things.

Number one, reconciliation is the will of God. Look at verse 17 for a moment. In this very familiar verse Paul says, "If any man is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." He's talking about salvation, new birth and all that comes with it.

Verse 18, "All this is from God," that is all the things that are new, all the elements of salvation, all the components of conversion, all these things are from God. What is this telling us? That God is the reconciler. That reconciliation is by the will of God.

Verse 19 puts it this way, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself.” The “world” is used in the sense of humanity. It doesn't mean every single person who has ever lived, but it means from the human race God is doing His reconciling work.

Then verse 20, we see that God is the initiator, God is the reconciler. Obviously the offended party has to set the terms for the reconciliation. You are a violator of God's Law and therefore a violator of His holiness and therefore the enemy of God and so only God can set the terms of the reconciliation.

I've studied many false religions, ancient ones and modern ones, and they invent these various kinds of deities. Some gods appear to be totally indifferent and not knowable and some really have no personal interaction with anyone. I’m so thankful that the true and living God is not like the false gods of this world but is by nature a reconciler.

The pagan people, the unfaithful and apostate Israelites began worshipping another god called Moloch, and this god was so angry, so vicious that to appease him, you had to incinerate your body in a fire. So on the one hand you've got the indifferent god, on the other one you've got the hostile god, this is typical of all the false gods, somewhere in between these extremes they all find a place.

And here comes the true and living God and there is nothing like Him at all because men and demons cannot invent the true and living God. And here comes a God who is not apathetic, and who is not cruel, here is a God who is by nature a Savior. Here is a God who is by nature a reconciler.

In Roman Catholicism that you don't want to go to God for your salvation, you don't want to go directly to God for your needs because God is a judge and God is wrathful. You might think you should go to Jesus, but Jesus can also be stern, and righteous. If you really want to be saved for sure, go to Mary, she's sympathetic and she's compassionate.

And Roman Catholic theology says Mary never refuses anybody who comes to her and Jesus can't refuse her, and so she sells Jesus on your case and then Jesus sells God on your case, and that's how you get God to be willing to accept you.

That really is an attack on the nature of God. God is no reluctant Savior. Paul, the Apostle, over and over again writes about “God, our Savior” in the letters 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and in Titus. The phrase ‘God, our Savior’ is in every chapter. God is by nature a Savior.

Reconciliation is the divine way by which God's holy displeasure can be made right again. It is the divine provision by which hostility can be removed. It is the divine provision by which sinners can be restored to Him. Man is unable to make reconciliation with God. We can only embrace what God has provided; it is not something that we do.

Reconciliation is through the will of God. So we are doing the will of God in this world when we, as ambassadors, are proclaiming the message of hope and reconciliation to anybody who wants to hear anywhere in the world.

Secondly, reconciliation is by forgiveness. Verse 19, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” That's the only way this can work. God erased the record of our sin through Christ. He has to treat us as if we never sinned. Only Christ made such an incredible thing possible.

He's willing to forgive all your sin, that is, all the sins you have committed in the past, all the sins you are now committing and all the sins you will ever commit in your life. He will forgive them all forever. He will bury them in the depths of the deepest sea, remove them as far as east is from west and forget them."

If God has forgiven your sins, you also need to forgive yourself for those sins. Do not beat yourself up for all the wrongs that you have committed. You are now a new creation, so acknowledge your sins and ask Him for strength to deny yourself and go on striving to become more like Jesus.

Thirdly, the ministry of reconciliation is by obedience of faith. Christ was obedient until death. Now the sinner is going to have to follow that example by doing what is in verse 20, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.”

This text defines for us the mandate that every Christian has from God, namely to proclaim the message of reconciliation; thereby functioning as an ambassador for Christ through whom God is conveying His message.

And then he continues in verse 20, "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” We beg you. So here we are counseling, urging, asking, pleading, admonishing, exhorting to get people to be willing to reconcile to the God who is willing to reconcile with them. Why in the world is this something you have to beg people to do?

Because Jesus said in John 3, "Men love their sin. They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. They run from the light." We talk about them having to repent of their sin, we talk to them about having to be willing to give up their sin, and we hear the words of Jesus, in Luke 9:23, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

The sinner's life is defined by sinful thoughts, sinful attitudes, the cultivation of sinful activities and sinful relationships. Jesus said, you're talking about giving up everything, selling all to buy the pearl of great price, selling all to buy that treasure hidden in the field, Matthew 13. But how do most people respond?

Jesus goes in Luke 4 to His hometown of Nazareth, He preaches in the synagogue to the people He grew up with, He spent 30 years in that synagogue, everybody knew Him, it's His own synagogue where He was every Sabbath, where He went to Sabbath school as a kid and He goes, He preaches one sermon in Luke 4. Do you know what happens?

At the end of the sermon they try to throw Him off a cliff and kill Him, the same people who knew Him best. Why? Because they would not accept His diagnosis of their wretched sinful condition. They were proud religious hypocrites who wouldn't let go of their hypocrisy. The sinner clings desperately to his sin.

It is necessary for the sinner to repent and turn to Christ. And that's what we beg sinners to do. We beg them to start living this life of reconciliation, to practice it daily, to go to people who have been hurt by you and to patch things up. Even if you want to be reconciled to God, it takes time and continual effort to be reconciled with your neighbor.

One final point remains and this is the key to everything. God is a reconciler, willing to forgive the sinner who repents and believes in Christ, but this raises a huge question. How can God, to put it in the language of Romans 3:26, how can God be just and be at the same time the justifier of sinners?

How can God be just and holy and uphold His Law and still justify the sinner for believing in Jesus? That's Romans 3:26. Or to put it in language of Romans 4:5, how can God justify the ungodly?

God justifies the ungodly by punishing a substitute. When God's Law is being violated, every sin ever committed in the history of the world will be punished by God. Every sin you or I or any human beings who have ever lived or will ever live, every single sin will be punished because our God is a just God.

God maintains His justice and justifies those who believe in Jesus, justifies the ungodly, in verse 21, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin.” The sinless Son of God, holy, separate from sinners, Hebrews says, the one of whom God Himself said, I am well pleased with Him, He made Him sin on our behalf.

Does that mean Jesus became a sinner? There's a teaching floating around in the Faith Movement that on the cross Jesus became a sinner. It's been told often that on the cross Jesus became a sinner and had to go to hell for three days to pay for His sin and then was raised from the dead. Blasphemy!

On the cross He is the Lamb without blemish. On the cross He says, "My God, My God, why?" There's no sin, that's why the question why. On the cross God treated Jesus as if He were a sinner. God brought Him, the sinless one, to be the substitute for sinners, depicted in all the sacrifices in the Old Testament, a substitute giving His life for the sinner.

God killed Jesus with His wrath over your sin instead of killing you. To put it another way, on the cross God treated Jesus as if He lived your life. God treated Jesus as if He had personally committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever live through all of human history, though He committed none.

How is it that if it's going to take an eternity of punishment for one sinner and still the punishment is not enough, how could Jesus bear the punishment of all the sinners who belong to God and bear it all from Friday to Sunday?

The answer is this, that He could take an infinite amount of punishment summed up in a brief amount of time because He is an infinite person, He is God. So God treated Jesus as if He lived your life and unleashed the full fury of His wrath on Him.

Look at the rest of verse 21, "so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." I'm not righteous. You're not righteous. We know that, don't we? We all live in Romans 7:15, we don't do what we ought to do and do what we ought not to do. And we all say with Paul in Romans 7:24, "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death."

We all long to go to heaven so we can get rid of this terrible flesh that keeps subjecting us to sinful things. I'm not righteous. But then again, Christ was not a sinner, but God treated Him as a sinner and though I'm not righteous, God treats me as if I am righteous. On the cross God treated Jesus as if He lived my life, and now He treats me as if I lived Jesus life.

People say, "Why did Jesus have to live thirty-three years?" If I were God I might have said to Jesus, I need you to go down to earth and redeem sinners, so go down on a Friday, you can die and be raised on Sunday and be back Sunday night. Just get it done. Why 33 years?

Jesus had to live a perfect life. He had to be in all points tempted like as we are (Hebrews 4:15). He had to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). He had to fulfill everything that was predicted previously. Why? So that a perfect life would exist that could be credited to the account of those who belong to God. Jesus dies a perfect death, the death that we should have died, so that we could be live a perfect life in heaven.

This is why Jesus rose on Easter, so that we are reminded that this is all God’s plan, all of it is grand and glorious, incomprehensible grace that God would treat His Son as if He were a sinner so that God could treat us as if we were righteous. This is the culmination of the work of our triune God for us his children.

Let us remember this as we remember those same promises from the Lord Jesus lips at the last Supper. Amen! Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 24 Apr 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110424 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000013F imblog

2 Corinthians 5:11-19

It is one week before Easter and realizing how great His sacrifice is on the cross it behooves us to remember our gratitude to the Savior. 2 Corinthians 5:14 says, "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that One died for all therefore all died."

The essence of it in the flow of thought for Paul is that he is constrained, compelled, pressured, driven, motivated by the love of Christ. He will defend his ministry in order that its fullness and its richness may be offered as an act of gratitude back to the One who loved him so much.

When it says "For the love of Christ," he's not talking about his love for Christ. He's talking about Christ's love for him, as the context will clearly demonstrate because he follows up by saying, "Having concluded this that One died for all."

In other words, it is the love of Christ manifested in the death of Christ that overwhelms Paul. He writes about the love of Christ a number of occasions. In Galatians 2:20, "it is not longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me."

Paul says that Christ voluntarily gave Himself for us. You remember that Jesus said in John 10:18, "No man takes my life from me, I lay it down by myself." He is saying that the Lord Jesus delivered Himself up for me. It overwhelmed Paul that the Lord would love him with an eternal love that could never be severed and never be changed.

And then in Ephesians 3:19, just to give you a few samples, there are many others, he says something else about the love of Christ. He says, "To know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." It is an incomprehensible love, it is an unbreakable love, and it is a voluntary love.

That is real love, Paul says. Now back to our text verse tonight. Now what about that word “constrains” or "control"? He is simply saying, “I am pressured by this love that Christ has for me and out of gratitude for that love I want to give Him back everything I have to offer.” And I want to give Him back my life and my ministry as an act of worship.

And then he explains why. "Having concluded this" in other words, because “I have come to a conviction”, or “I have gone through a process that has yielded a confidence”, and the confidence is, "that One died for all, therefore all died."

What is Paul saying? He's saying; let me explain to you why this love is so powerful. Let me explain to you why this love puts such tremendous pressure on me to be grateful. It is because I have come to the conviction that Christ died for all, therefore all died.

Now this is a profound statement and at first it seems somewhat confusing. And you can look at it and pass it by and think you understand it, you can dwell on it for years and think you understand it. It is deep. But let me see if I can't simplify it in a few moments for all of you.

Let's take the phrase "that One died for all." Let's break it down. In the Old Testament Jewish history many died, right? Thousands and thousands, and hundreds of thousands of animals were slaughtered. And they were basically offered as animal sacrifices for an individual so that what you had was many dying for one, right?

But now in Christ you have One dying for all, so you have a completely different concept. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, the writer of Hebrews says, but Jesus Christ by one offering has forever perfected them that are sanctified.

So the single sacrifice of Christ is very important. Jesus Christ in one sacrifice accomplished death for all. In contrast to many animals dying for one, One dies for all. No more need to repeat daily sacrifices for the nation, the family or even the individual.

Now when it says "Christ being the One, died for all," what does this mean here? The Greek phrase means “in the place of”, that's the best explanation. To borrow the words of Galatians 3:13, "He was made a curse for us."

What we have here is the great truth that theologians have long called the doctrine of substitution. And the theological term "substitution" has immense significance. That One, namely Christ, demonstrated His love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, in our place.

That is substitution. Jesus Christ did not die as a martyr to show us how noble it is to die for a cause. He did not die to demonstrate to us some high level of ethics that He would give His life for that. No, He died as a substitute. That is to say, He bore a punishment that should have been ours, right?

Now this is what Scripture teaches. Back to Isaiah 53, the classical Old Testament passage that presents the coming work of Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection, Isaiah 53 predicting that the Messiah will come and die. And I want you to notice how substitution is the theme of Isaiah 53.

We read about Jesus, that in verse 3 He was despised and forsaken of men. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He was despised and we didn't esteem Him. It describes there Christ in the horrors of His death and rejection.

But then in verse 4 we immediately are thrust into this idea of substitution. "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried, yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted."

Now follow verse 5, "But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed." At the end of verse 6, "The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."

At the end of verse 11, "He will bear their iniquities." At the end of verse 12, "He Himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors." The whole theme of Isaiah 53 is built around the concept that the Messiah would come and die for us, in our place, as our substitute. That is to say we should die and yet He dies for us.

God's wrath required death, Jesus took that wrath and died in our place and thus satisfied the justice of God, that's why we can say He made propitiation, that is to say He made satisfaction because He satisfied the wrath of God with a perfect sacrifice in our place.

In John 6 Jesus Himself even speaks of the substitution aspect of His death. Verse 51, "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven, if anyone eats of this bread he shall live forever and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh." In other words, I'm going to die to bring life to the world. I'm giving My life for the world.

Let's look at some of the epistles. Go to Romans 5:6, "While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." End of verse 8, "Christ died for us." Verse 10 says, "While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son."

The only way that the death of Christ could benefit the sinner was by substitution. If He didn't die in our place, then we have to die for our sins and that spells eternal death. He dies in our place, that's what we believe and that's what we preach.

The question is who are the all? And maybe someone would immediately say, "He died for the world." The all means the world, all the people who have ever lived. But when he says One died for all here, if the sentence ended there we might conclude that he was referring to that general sense in which the death of Christ can be applied or has benefit to all, but he qualifies it by that second phrase, "Therefore all died."

Let’s look at this sentence again, “The One died for all, therefore the all died.” Now follow the logic. We can conclude then that the all that He died for are the all who died, true? That's not too tough. The all that He died for, says Paul, are the all who died.

What it says is One died for all therefore all died. It's not talking about a condition, it's not talking about a state, He is talking about an event. He's saying that He died for the all who died when He died.

What Paul means by that is He died for the all who died in Him. That's the only way you can interpret it. It can't be the whole human race because the whole human race didn't die in Christ, did they?

Paul's saying, I'm astonished that Christ loved me so much that the Christ, the One, died for all and I was part of the all who died in Him. What shocked Paul is that while he was still a sinner, Christ was bearing his sins on the cross. He died and when He died He was dying for my sins.

The believer is joined to Christ in His death and resurrection. When you come to Jesus Christ, God accepts you because you repent and you believe. That's what's required. But there's something required before that and that is a sufficient atonement had been made for your sins.

Let me say this, Christ is the Savior of the whole world. His work is abundantly sufficient to secure the salvation of all who put their faith in Him. But Christ not only in His atonement expressed an unlimited feature, but a limited one in that in a special sense He procured on the cross for only those who were in Him a real salvation.

So when we talk about substitution, we now are talking about the limited aspect of it. It is limited to those who died in Christ. Now who are those who died in Christ? To answer that, look at Romans 3:25, “in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness.” God displayed Christ for that.

So God is talking about Christ's redeeming work, His justifying work, His work of salvation. And then in verse 26 it says, "to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” There is the qualifier.

Who are those who died in Christ? Answer: those who have faith in Jesus. It is in that sense that we can say Christ died for His own. He died for the church. In the substitutionary sense He died only for those who died in Him. So He is the substitute only for those who believe.

Look at Ephesians 5:25 for a moment. "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church," and here you have this limited scope again, "and gave Himself up for her."

Christ substituted Himself for the church, to set her apart from sin, to cleanse her, to present her to Himself so that she should be holy and blameless. So here you have Christ clearly dying to bring the church to Himself.

In Acts 20:28 it says, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood." Here Jesus purchased the church. He laid His life down for the sheep. There is the limited sense in which the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ actually procured salvation for those who belong to Him.

It is not easy to harmonize all these things. It leaves us with apparent paradoxes and mysteries. I can only tell you what the Scripture tells us and leave the sorting out to your own heart and mind and some day to the clarity with which we will all understand when we are in the presence of the Lord.

And so it is true that Jesus Christ did die for the whole world. He commands men to repent and believe but only a remnant does. And somehow, mystery of mysteries, God understands in the substitutionary sense that Jesus bore only the sins of those who ultimately would put their faith in Him because they were His.

He made an actual atonement for those who were placed into His death so they can be truly reconciled to God. The death of Christ then opens a way for an offer of salvation by God to all who will come and believe.

So what should we do now to make others know about this offer of salvation? Let’s look what it says in 2 Corinthians 5:9- 11, “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.”

We need to introduce others to Christ because He has trusted us as Christians with the gospel. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Many times we think that we maybe do not need to tell this particular person about God because God will use other means to do that. Maybe you felt intimidated or uncomfortable or it wasn’t the right time or there might be many other reasons why you do not share the gospel. However when God gave us the Great Commission He ordained you as Christians to share the gospel as the only plan that He designed, there is no back-up plan.

Please do not get distracted by all the worldly needs that do not matter in eternity. There are hundreds of things that you might want to do for yourself, but do they matter to God’s Kingdom? Because of what Christ has done on the cross we need to focus on what is most important and that is to know Christ.

So think about who you can approach intentionally in your specific sphere in life. Pray about that person and ask God to give you an opportunity to share your faith with him or her. You will be blessed!

]]> Sun, 17 Apr 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110417 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000142 imblog

Matthew 5:43-48

We come this evening to a passage of Scripture in Matthew 5:43-48 that deserves our greatest attention for perhaps no other passage in all of the New Testament sums up the heart and attitude of a Christian as well as this one. Jesus sums up what Christianity ought to be like, "Love your enemies."

But we have to begin tonight with a little background information because it's absolutely essential that you understand this. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explains God’s standards and requirements for persons who want to enter the kingdom of heaven, and they include not only external standards but also internal heart motivations.

Jesus’ standard is a higher standard. In fact, He's indicting the whole pharisaical religious system as being substandard. What sets you apart? If you are a part of God’s kingdom, you would not be doing like them. God requires for His kingdom a different standard, unique, separate and holy.

And that's hard for these Pharisees, it's hard in Jesus' time and it's tough on us today to try to live according to a high standard different from the worldly standard that engulfs us and traps us. That is very difficult, but that's what God requires.

Sadly throughout the centuries that followed the giving of the Law, Israel kept forgetting their uniqueness. They kept forgetting that theirs was another standard and they kept falling into sin. So that Scripture tells us this sad statement in Psalm 106:35, "they mingled with the nations and learned to do as they did."

From the very beginning God has always called His people to uniqueness. He has always called His people to another standard, to a higher level. And yet it came to be that in Israel they desired to have a king and their statement in 1 Samuel 8:20 says this, "that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."

It's no different in Jesus' time and today. God wants His people to be unique. And the standard that Jesus presents here regarding loving your enemies is not an earthly standard. It is a far higher ethic than either you or I could ever keep on our own. It's way beyond our ability to love our enemies.

This sermon draws a contrast between the best of men and God's standards. And even the very best, the most legalistic, ritualistic, religious people on the earth, the Pharisees, couldn't qualify. So you can't live that way unless you are infused with divine power. And so Jesus is saying to the Pharisees you're system is substandard. And until you come to Me for power you will never be able to live by My standards.

And now as we come to Chapter 5: 43-48, Jesus contrasts their love with the kind of love that should characterize the people of His kingdom. God is calling us out of the world system to be separated people with convictions and commitments and standards that we live by that are not the world's standards.

Matthew 5:43-48 says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

This is the supreme statement here on love and loving your enemies is the greatest thing that love can do. And that kind of love only comes from God. 1 John 4:8 states it correctly, “God is love.”

Romans 13:8-10 says, "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

And in so saying, Jesus indicts the Pharisees because they don't love their enemies. Now in each of these contrasts and there are six of them in Matthew 5, we have compared three major points, the teaching of the Old Testament, the tradition of the Jews, and the truth from Christ. And those are the same three points in all six illustrations.

So let's begin with the teaching of the Old Testament. Where did the Pharisees get these ideas? One would be the Old Testament promises to exterminate the Canaanites. When God brought Israel into the Promised Land, the land was filled at that time with the Canaanites who were wretched people. John MacArthur says that archaeology has shown us that there has not been a race of people found that were worse than these Canaanites.

They were the kind of people who practiced human sacrifice, blood letting, massacres of babies, you name it they did it. They are not to be treated with kindness. Deuteronomy 23: 3 - 8, that whole section there says that all of these people, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites are to be done away with.

Many people have been confused by this. They say how could God be the same God who said love your enemies and the God who wanted to wipe out all these nations? Then you have these Psalms in which David prays for judgment on his enemies. How can the Bible say love your enemies while David is praying for God to punish his enemies?

But if this became a justification for the hatred of the Pharisees, they missed the point of both God’s order to destroy the Canaanites and these Psalms. Just like our last study on an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, there are certain things that are judicial laws that do not apply to personal relationships. The Pharisees had taken the judicial act of a holy God in preserving a righteous seed, and they had dragged it down to become a justification for their own personal hatreds.

When someone goes to the doctor with cancer and the doctor cuts the cancer out, we don't say the doctor is cruel, unloving or uncaring. We thank him for cutting the cancer out and similarly when God said to get rid of the Canaanites, that was not an act of evil. That was an act of goodness to take out of human society a terrible filthy vile people that would do nothing but sin. And that is a judicial act on God's part.

Just as I love my child, when I punish my child, the punishment comes because of the evil. It does not deny the love. So there is a judicial element. If Israel had followed those Canaanite customs, Leviticus 18 says, she would have shared their fate but God wanted to preserve a righteous seed.

Why? Because God wants to bring out of Israel a righteous Messiah to redeem the world. And so the preservation of Israel was a great concern within God's heart so that you would have a sinless witness in the world and He was cutting a cancer out of human society.

We have enough sense even today, at least in a few places in the world, to set apart individuals in our society who do nothing but bring cancer on our society, who kill, maim and steal. We set them aside and God was doing the same in a collective way and setting aside those evil people for the good of society. We love the lost, and yet we pray that God would be vindicated and their sin would be stopped, correct?

Now let us look at the rabbinical religious teaching which is really what self- righteousness says. And what is it? Verse 43, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Now that's what the Israelites were taught. That's pretty open- ended wouldn't you say? The first thing you do is figure out who your neighbor is and then you can hate everybody else and be okay.

So it all depends on your definition of neighbor and that's exactly what Christ gets into. So God’s Word in Leviticus 19:18 says, " You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Did you notice something? They left something out. You have heard it said "You shall love thy neighbor," but they left out, "as yourself." That's a convenient omission isn't it? They were so puffed up that those words at the end of that sentence would only confuse their desires. And so rather than to have to treat others equal to themselves, they just dropped it.

Have you ever thought about what that means to love someone as you love yourself? If you were just to love someone and it didn't say as yourself, you could just sort of love them at a distance. Whatever you do for yourself, you do half for them or a third or a tenth. I mean if you just could drop that little phrase it would be so convenient.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself. How do we love ourselves? Whose teeth did you brush this morning? Whose hair did you comb? Whose wardrobe hangs in your closet? Whose savings account is in your bank? To love means to serve your own needs, let's face it, you have a total love for yourself.

You love yourself all the time. Whenever you have a want, you want to supply it. Whenever you have a desire, you want to fulfill it. Whenever you have a hope, you want to realize it. Whenever you have an ambition, you want to see it come to fruition.

And now Jesus says that you are to have that same totally consuming love for your neighbors which brings into your heart their needs, their desires, their hopes, and prompts you to do everything you can to make sure that all their welfare, safety, comfort, and interest is met and that whatever they need and whatever they want, you are anxious to fulfill on their behalf.

How do love your neighbor? The last time you had a choice between doing what you want or sacrificing yourself, which way did you go? Who do you really care about? Love your neighbor as yourself is very, very difficult. Humanly speaking, it is impossible, because humanly speaking we are totally absorbed in ourselves.

But the Pharisees weren't interested in that and so they omitted something, but beyond that, they also added something. What did they add? "Hate your enemy." Now where did that come from? Did that come out of the Bible? No, nowhere does the Bible command us to hate our enemies. Where did they get that? It was the logical extension of their perverted thinking.

They said all right, we are to love our neighbor. Now we've got to figure out who is our neighbor, right? So they said our neighbors are the Jews not the Gentiles. That's what the Pharisees believed. Only the Jews qualified and among the Jews only certain Jews, right? Certain Jews didn't qualify as neighbors.

For example look at Matthew 9:10, "Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples." Here you have those trader, rebel, extortionist Jews that were despised by the people because they had sold out to Rome for money. And then there were the public sinners, the prostitutes, and the criminals.

In John 7:49 we read, "But this crowd who do not know the law is accursed." There is this mob of uneducated people with no commitment to Pharisee or tradition who are cursed. So they have eliminated the tax collectors, the sinners and they eliminated the people that weren't committed to the law as they were. So in fact their neighbors were only those people within their own group.

Let us look for a moment at Luke 10 and how in the story of the Good Samaritan, he came along and saw this man who was a Jew (and Samaritans and Jews didn't have any dealings - there was tremendous hatred between the two of them) and yet he went over and he saw that man.

And he said, "That man is my neighbor," and he bound up his wounds, and cared for him, and wrapped him, and he put him on his animal, and took him to the inn, and paid his bill, and he made sacrifices in doing that. A sacrifice of time, a sacrifice of energy, a sacrifice of money, a sacrifice of prejudice, a sacrifice of all of the factors of his life to stop and do all of that because there was a man that needed his help.

And Jesus says that's the way it should be. Your neighbor is anybody in your path with a need. But in Luke 10 and the Good Samaritan, Jesus really is making an opposite point as well. Because the lawyer asked, "Who is my neighbor?" So when Jesus came to the end of the story, He said, "Who was that man's neighbor?” Or which one of the three that came down the road proved to be his neighbor?

In other words, Jesus turned the tables. Instead of going through life trying to pick out who your neighbor is, He says, "If you're a neighbor and your heart is filled with love, any object that gets in your path is going to receive that love.” He's saying, "Be a neighbor to everybody, and then you won't have a problem." This means we need to love everybody exactly the same, be it a friend or a foe.

By the way, the Pharisees didn't read far enough in Leviticus. Leviticus 19:34 says, "The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you and you shall love him as yourself." If they'd really read God’s word, they would have known that even a non-Jew, a stranger, was to be loved as they love themselves.

Jesus is teaching us to love our enemy and to pray so God would save him, and if God doesn't save him that God would judge him so that Christ will be the king of this world and set righteousness in its proper place again.

God punished Adam, but He loved him. God loved Cain, but He punished him. God loved the nation of Israel, but He set them aside for a time. God loved His only begotten Son, but He let Him bear the sins of the world and die. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 10 Apr 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110410 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000143 imblog

Matthew 5:31-32

Human nature is used to lowering the standard of God as to fit our lifestyle. This happened with the Jews in Jesus’ time and this also happens now with us as Christians living here on earth.

And as we study in depth the Sermon on the Mount, we learn what happens when we do that in Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

This is truly a shocking statement, if they who were the most religious people in Israel did not make the cut, who could? And Jesus is telling us the same truth as we live here 2000 years later.

God’s standard relates to not only our deeds from the outside, but God wants a pure heart on the inside. The Jews interpreted the Mosaic Law to be a law of externals, but God in the form of Jesus came down to earth to tell us about the attitude of the heart which is foremost.

Jesus gives us six examples in daily life of the different ways we lower God’s standard. His first example is dealing with anger and murder, his second example deals with lust and adultery and now we are dealing with divorce and remarriage for the second time this Sunday.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:31-32, “It was also said, 'whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

This is a controversial topic. Pain of divorce is witnessed everywhere inside and outside the church. To some degree all of us are affected. Statistics tell us that 50% of the church is personally affected through family, dear friends and acquaintances.

And yet the Bible is very clear on this subject. The reality is that the divorce rate is the same in the church as it is in the world. This is such a sensitive subject because many believers have lowered God’s standard. Self righteousness lowers it in order to justify our actions.

And there are 3 issues related to this that are important to remember. 1. This text is not an exhaustive treatment on this subject. There will be many question left unanswered, because Jesus purpose of the six illustration are just examples of how we as people tend to lower God’s standard.

2. The bible always assumes that there is a person who is at fault, there is a primary initiator. This is important in this no- fault culture of divorce of today. You can get an easy divorce for any reason. But don’t forget, God looks at the heart and sometimes one and sometimes both are responsible for the breakup, and they will be judged.

3. The parties involved every time are believers. In the OT it was to Israel, and in Matthew 5, this was addressed to Jesus’ disciples. And now this passage is also addressed to us as Christians. The world on the other hand does not have a standard at all, it goes everywhere with winds of the time and with whatever their flesh desires.

We should be different in the church. With the over 50% divorce rate, we’re doing a terrible job. We need to get back to the truth of Scripture and what is in God’s heart. And we need to fight all these temptations to lower His standard for righteousness in our daily life.

So what does Scripture say? Well the bottom line is: God ordained marriage to be a picture of the permanent union between Christ and the church. God never condones or approves divorce. Gen 2:24 is practically quoted at every wedding.

“A man shall leave his father and mother and to hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.” There is nothing more binding than that. “And the two shall become one.” Again, permanence is emphasized.

This in the beginning was not used for Adam and Eve, because they did not have a father and mother. This is God’s plan for what marriage was to be in the future. All these are descriptive of permanence.

We need to know that marriage is part of the nature of God. And so is permanence also part of God’s nature. James 1:17 says, “In God there is no shadow of turning.” God does not change His mind about marriage in the same way He does not change His mind about saving you and me. 2 Tim 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

We do not look at marriage the same way. We always look at ourselves and think about our struggles and our disappointments and our pain. We always think about what we are feeling, but instead Jesus takes this back to the glory and the nature of God Himself.

He says this is not about violating your wants and desires, but this is about violating the character of the God that you worship. Jesus says from the beginning this was not so and He quotes Gen 2:24 again.

But in addition He adds, ”So they are no longer two, but one flesh! What God therefore has joined together, no man shall separate.” Two more terms of permanence, in fact this whole passage speaks of permanence.

Let me show you what God does now with that permanence in describing the purpose of marriage. Permanence is tied to purpose! God declared marriage to be permanent because of the purpose that the apostle Paul described.

He is writing in Ephesians 5:22-32 where he is comparing marriage to the relationship of Christ and the church. And he is not using this merely as an illustration but Paul is saying that in fact that’s why marriage was created from the very beginning.

Many times this is not mentioned as a reason why people are getting married, yet this is what God designed this for, to be a picture of the relationship of Christ and his bride, the church.

Five times in this passage Paul makes a comparison between Christ and his church. He starts of by saying: wife submit yourself to your own husband as to the Lord. And then he says husbands, love your wife as Christ loves the church and three more times Paul makes that same connection.

And so that nobody will misunderstand this he says again in Ephesians 5:31-32, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

Did you know that the highest purpose of your marriage is not sex though that is a wonderful part of marriage, it is not companionship although I thank God for giving me a life companion that makes my marriage complete. The highest purpose of marriage is to become a picture of the commitment of Christ to His bride, the church.

This is the reality that God has designed. Let’s go back to Genesis 2:24 for a moment. Although Adam and Eve did not have a father and mother to leave to come together, Jesus Christ the Son of God did have a Father to leave and He came to earth to look for His bride, the church, so that He could join and become one with her.

This was in the mind of God at creation! When God performed the first ceremony and gave the first bride away, He established the first purpose of marriage. And if you are not married for that purpose, you are lowering the standard of God and you are compromising God’s desire for your marriage.

This is a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the most pure picture of the gospel that exists, the most tangible visible representation if we understand that marriage was created for that purpose. And so there is a new motivation for it to be permanent.

The purpose of sex and companionship in marriage by itself will not last, because Satan will always put someone else in the picture where Satan says, “Companionship will be better with this other person and sex will be better with that other person.”

This understanding of marriage being a picture of Christ and the Church gives a different meaning to a wife to align herself under the husband leadership and a different motivation for staying together in marriage.

Let me show it you in Malachi in the Old Testament where the people of God had weakened their worship of Him. Malachi 2:13-16, “And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.”

Do you understand what is happening? They are going through the rituals of worship and in their tithes and offerings and they are singing their songs and they are playing their instruments and they are making offer all that, but it is obvious that God is not receiving this.

Let’s continue in verse 14 But you say, "Why does He not? Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.”

Do you see what God says, do you see the present tense in the language? Although you have divorced her and although you are now married to someone else, she still is your companion and your wife by covenant! Don’t take God’s Word lightly on permanence!

Verse15, “Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?” says the LORD. Here is God’s creative power at work and how did He do this. Pay attention to what it says, “with a portion of the Spirit in their union.”

Please notice this; there is something supernatural that takes place when a man and a woman come together in a covenant relationship. Among the people of God this is not merely a legal contract! God with His Holy Spirit brings them together in a supernatural way that is intended to be permanent.

Verse 15 continues, “And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.” So children are a part of God’s plan! Sometimes all that we think of is the effect of divorce on the children and yes that should grieve us. And yes the statistics are devastating.

But do you understand that the effect on kids is not the greatest concern on the mind of God? His desire from the beginning was that marriage would result in Godly offspring. We talk a lot about evangelization and that is correct. But one of the ways we can start is right here by eliminating divorce and having a Godly marriage so we can have Godly offspring.

Verse 15 continues, “So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 "For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” says the LORD of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously.”

So what does self righteousness say? Jesus explains this every time in all these examples, our sinful nature always lowers the standard of what righteousness says. Hear again verse 31, “It was also said, 'whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.”

Notice: there we see a different attitude in what the Jews of that day were thinking of. They did not think about God’s nature nor His will, or the love between a husband and a wife which cannot change. No, all they thought of was the legal paperwork necessary for them to accomplish the divorce they wanted.

This is the situation today; no fault divorce makes it all possible as long as you agree on parenting rights and financial asset division. That was the situation also back then as described in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Basically a divorce was allowed based on pre-marital sex (in one rabbi’s school) or anything (in the other rabbi’s school).

This issue was much debated then, but we know for sure that it wasn’t adultery. How do we know that? Well the punishment for adultery was stoning, right? There was nothing after adultery because there was no life anymore, right?

But we have to know something really important, God did not condone divorce. Instead it is warning about something that will happen if you divorce her, and the law says that the first husband cannot marry her again. This is about remarriage not about divorce. This is about protection for the woman.

Look at Matthew 19:3-8, here the Pharisees wanted to trap Him. So they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife without any cause.” He answered in Matthew 19:4-6, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?

Jesus went straight to what God said, “6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let not man separate." He said in verse 8, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” God did not design marriage that way.

Self righteousness always makes a command out of a concession. People always take an obscure passage in the Bible and uses that to take a little incident, a little story and they use that and say, see God allows me to divorce my wife.

Self righteousness always blames God for what He does. The Pharisees wanted to pit Jesus against Moses since they said that Moses was speaking for God. And in essence they said that God said that it was OK to divorce your wife as long as you used the proper paperwork.

Self righteousness always leans towards the most liberal interpretation of Scripture. Self justification always does that. The Pharisees selected the most liberal opinion of the two schools of thought about that subject.

We instead must preserve God’s character and His reputation and His goal to spread the gospel by being that picture of faithfulness in marriage that portrays Christ‘s love for His bride the church, Amen?

]]> Sun, 20 Mar 2011 07:44:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110320 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000144 imblog

Matthew 5:31-32

Tonight we're going to be continuing in Matthew's Gospel, and so I invite you to look with me at chapter 5:31-32, "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Tonight we are looking at the third example that Jesus uses where He is comparing the Jewish tradition to what God’s Law really says. And here He is giving us again an example of how the Pharisees and the Scribes reduced God’s standards by either adding to it or subtracting from it or changing the meaning of it.

Salvation is depending on living righteously and understanding the Law of God. Remember what Matthew 5:20 says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” So let us begin by going to the Word of God in these studies to see what God really said. And tonight we are focusing on divorce and remarriage.

God had a very clear command regarding this, but the Pharisees and scribes couldn't live by that standard, so they invented a new standard and called it God's standard and said, we can keep this one and so we’re alright. They invented their own code of ethics, and then they misinterpreted the Bible to fit their own view and way of life.

Now what God is ordaining here, and you have to know this, from the very beginning is monogamy, which is a relationship between one female and one male, that is, a life long marriage between a man and a woman. Notice Genesis 2:24, "A man shall leave his father and his mother, cleave to his wife; they shall be one flesh."

When two people are glued together they become one single individual, and so it says, "they shall be one flesh." And surely that refers to the sexual union but there is much more. He unites a man and a woman in a unique and profound biological and spiritual bond that reaches deep into their soul.

There is more in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 which in short says that if a man marries a woman and finds some indecency in her, he can divorce her with a certificate of divorce and if she marries someone else and he divorces her too, she cannot come back to her first husband because she has been defiled and that is an abomination to God.

How did she get defiled? God says she committed adultery by marrying another person while there was no reason to get a divorce. Moses says there is only one legitimate reason for divorce and that is sexual immorality and any other reason is not acceptable to God.

In Matthew chapter 5 Jesus is confronting the hypocritical religion of the Pharisees and the scribes, and the people who followed their teaching. And in Matthew 5:31 He says, hey make sure when you divorce your wife that you get the legal paperwork done, but I say, you shouldn't even divorce your wife.

That's why in Matthew 19:7 when they said to Jesus, "Well, why did Moses give us a bill of divorcement?" we read in verse 8, "He said unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce, but from the beginning it was not so." In other words, it was not a command, it was simply a permission based on their sinfulness.

God hates divorce. However, God knew, in a cursed world where sin existed and relationships were strained because of the curse itself, that divorce would be a reality. And so God permitted divorce but certain things had to be followed to insure what would come about as a result.

What was its purpose? It was a testimonial to the woman of her freedom from the marital obligation to the husband who divorced her. In the bill of divorcement was a statement that the woman was set free by the man so that she wouldn't be accused of being a harlot, she wouldn't be accused of having forsaken her home, or run off from her husband.

Secondly, the writing of divorcement was evidence for a new husband of her legal freedom to remarry. And by the way, remarriage in every bible passage that talks about divorce is always assumed. It's assumed in Deuteronomy, it's assumed in Matthew 5 and it's assumed in Matthew 19. And so the bill of divorce gave the woman the legal freedom to remarry.

Thirdly, it is a protection for a woman's reputation from slander. Now that's really what it was for, to show that she hadn't forsaken her husband, to show that she was free to remarry as far as her husband was concerned, and to show that she was not to be slandered as some harlot.

Now, as far as God was concerned such a writing of divorcement was only legitimate in one case, and that was a case of adultery, right? But listen, that is not to say that this was the only way. When Hosea had an adulterous wife, did he divorce her? No. When God had an adulterous nation, did He divorce them? No. When Christ has an adulterous believer in His Church, does He divorce them? No.

What does the Pharisee say and what does the self-righteous person say? They lowered God’s standard and said, “We can tolerate divorce and remarriage for any and all reasons.” This is what was said then in Jesus’ time and this is what people still are saying now.

Adultery was to be punished by death originally, but as time moved on it was not always followed. Sometimes lives were spared, sometimes apparently divorce would take place instead of a stoning, you know if a person committed adultery they were to be stoned but sometimes divorce would be the result, they were gracious.

Matthew 1 is a perfect illustration, where you find that Joseph has an option. He finds his wife Mary is pregnant, in verse 19, but being a just man, not wanting to make her a public example, he made up his mind to divorce her privately. He couldn't take her life because the Romans had taken away the right of the Jews to execute.

There were two different schools of rabbis who had differing views, and the one that was dominant in Jesus' time was that you could divorce your wife for anything, didn't matter what it was, burn the bagels, too much salt on the dinner, didn't like her mother-in-law or she went around without a veil or you found a prettier girl or anything you want, just divorce her, and their view was when you do it be sure you give her the paperwork, that's all.

And you know that’s the way it is right now with no fault divorce. People say this all the time, well the Lord really has given me peace about divorcing my wife. I heard a lady say that her husband tried to convince her that God allowed divorce because the feeling of love was gone and thereby we were no longer compatible. Their ex-Pastor told him that if he wasn't in love with me and saw no hope for our marriage and that he ought to get a divorce and the Christian marriage counselor told him the very same thing.

This is where the Church must provide leadership. What does the pastor say about divorce? Why are so many churches silent on this matter? Divorce even in the church has become so common that there are generations of Christians that have come to believe that divorce is simply a lifestyle option.

The story behind America’s love affair with no-fault divorce is a sad tale. Stephen Baskerville writes in the March 2005 edition of Crisis magazine that America’s embrace of easy divorce is the most significant reason that marriage now is threatened and, by some measures, hanging by a thread.

Where you have self-centered, where you have sinful carnal people who cannot sustain right relationships, and where you have a society with toleration for divorce you're going to have divorce on a rampant pandemic level, and that's exiting in our society right now.

This reality now means that any spouse can demand a divorce for any reason and be assured that the courts will award the divorce and will often grant disproportionate favor to the party seeking the divorce.

Barbara Whitehead, author of the book ‘The Divorce Culture’ points to the influence of therapy as a contributing factor. She explains, “the fault for marital breakup must be shared, even when only one spouse seeks a divorce. The assumption is that if any individual is unhappy, the other person must also be at fault.

And sadly often times the parent who demands a divorce is also the one most likely to retain custody of the children. Baskerville suggests that no-fault divorce “amounts to a public seizure of the innocent spouse’s children and invasion of his or her parental rights. And this is perpetrated by our government using our tax dollars.”

The number one cause of emotional problems in the lives of the next generation is divorce. The trend toward quick and easy divorce and the ever increasing divorce rate subjects more and more children to physically and emotionally absent parents and the result is devastating.

The divorce rate has risen 700% in this century, and it continues to rise. There is now 1 divorce for every 1.8 marriages. Over 1 million children a year are involved in divorce cases, and 13 million children under 18 now have one or both parents missing."

What does Jesus say? He says: I hate divorce and I do not tolerate it for any reason except for sexual immorality.

So Jesus confronts them with a proper interpretation to show them that they were really adulterous sinners, they had misinterpreted completely Deuteronomy 24. And the point of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is not to advocate divorce for uncleanness but to show that if a man divorced his wife for less than adultery all he did was defile everybody when she remarried.

The reason you could never take her back again is because she is defiled as an adulteress, even though you've made her one, because you divorced her. So what is the Old Testament saying? His Word is telling you to stop divorce by showing that divorce leads to adultery.

Jesus is saying the same thing. You divorce for anything less than fornication or adultery and you create adulterers. And so He's saying to the Pharisees, don't come along and say, we're righteous and we never commit adultery. You divorce all over the place and leave a trail of adultery behind you.

Jesus says that they have to follow God’s standard, because they have decided based on their understanding of the law to design their own legal tradition, so they can claim that they're OK following it. So Jesus just sets this tradition aside and says, listen to the ideal and match yourself against that and see how you come out. So Jesus took marriage back to Gods ideal which is that marriage is always binding.

Paul adds in 1 Corinthians 7:12-15 one more legitimate reason for divorce and subsequent remarriage. He simply says in addition to what our Lord says, I who am inspired by the Spirit of God add this dimension. If you have an unbelieving spouse, do not separate, stay together, but if that unbeliever leaves, abandons you and divorces you, you the believer is not bound by that and is free to remarry.

What should we do? Since divorce exists in this fallen world because of sin, we must take biblical steps to avoid divorce at all cost.

We need to talk about divorce and remarriage with courage and candor. Stephen Baskerville is right; divorce is the greatest threat to the family and our society in our times. And we cannot expect to be taken seriously as defenders of marriage if we are not enemies of divorce.

God never intended for divorce. Yet people enter into a marriage today with the idea that if it doesn't work out we'll end it. And they wonder why people invest so much time and effort into making a right relationship because they figure it would be so much easier to just call it quits and find somebody else, and that's the way it is in our world today.

But if we see marriage the way God sees it we know that it is a monogamous life long oneness that God has desired. Divorce is like amputating your leg when you have a splinter; instead of dealing with the splinter you dump your partner. Why not deal first with the issue that's causing the problem?

That's why Hebrews 13:4 says, "Marriage is honorable in all." Why? Because the union between Christ and His own Church is symbolically proclaimed to the world in Christian marriage, and that is honorable. Christ's relationship to His Church is permanent, full of love, absolutely binding and wonderfully unique, and so this should be the same for your marriage and mine.

Marriage is not an end in itself, marriage was not designed primarily for our happiness, marriage was designed primarily to be an illustration on a human level of a divine relationship. Now is the relationship between Christ and His Church permanent? Yes. Then it is significant that marriage also be permanent, if in fact it is to reveal the truth about Christ and His Church.

Divorce is an affront to the glory of God and a sin that is expressly described in the Bible as an evil that God hates. Divorce is never God's way to resolve a conflict, never. That's why God never really condones divorce in the Bible. God knows it will happen, and God regulates its consequences, but it's never the solution.

Marriage is not the key to human happiness; God is the key to human happiness. If you're right with God then you can make a relationship work, both partners obviously have to cooperate.

Now listen beloved in closing, we live in the age of grace. If you're a Christian I want to tell you some good news. Everything you've ever done in the past is forgiven. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "And if any man be in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away and all things have become new!” Let's pray together.

]]> Sun, 13 Mar 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110313 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000146 imblog

Matthew 5:27-30

Matthew 5:27-30 says, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

Our Lord is talking here about sin. And this is really the topic of His message from verse 21 through verse 48 of chapter 5. It is a message on daily examples of sin. In Numbers 32:23 it says, "But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.”

In Matthew 5 the sin of the Jewish leaders and the sin of the people listening to Christ finds them out. Jesus unmasks their hypocrisy and precisely what our Lord is doing in this passage is giving them a true picture of their sinfulness.

They try to invent systems that justify themselves, and that is precisely what the Judaism of Jesus' time had done. They had substituted their own system for the truth of God's revelation, and their own system was a system of external rules, a system of behavior with no thought for attitude or motive or the heart.

And so Jesus in, in verses 21 - 48 of the Sermon on the Mount gives us 6 examples of how men reduces God’s standards. No matter how religious it looked on the outside, the fact is it was sinful on the inside. Jesus presents a standard they can't keep, and thus faces them with a sin problem for which they have no remedy.

At the end of Matthew 5 in verse 48 He says, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." That is the righteousness My kingdom demands. And obviously they couldn't keep it. They must recognize that in the Law there is no resource to solve the sin problem; they are desperately in need of someone who can and Jesus is just that someone.

God is concerned about a heart relationship, the issue is loving the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself, and that the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic law was only a means for regulating that love relationship. God has always been concerned about the heart.

Jesus in His sermon began with a message about blessedness. But in order for one to know that blessedness you must know the proper definition of sin, because sin stands in the way of blessing, and sin has to be dealt with and removed. And if we do not properly understand sin, we will not understand anything else that God does.

The deeper the disease the greater the remedy needed, that's the point. And as long as people think of sin superficially, as long as they think of sin minimally, as long as they make light of sin then salvation is also a minor thing.

But when you understand that sin is something heinous, sin is something deep, sin is something so penetrating that it reaches down into a mans being so deeply that it's absolutely unchangeable except by the miracle of God, then you'll understand that only God can bring salvation.

You will never understand the meaning of the cross, you will never understand why Jesus had to die, you will never understand why when He had legions of angels who could have come to His aid, yet He never used them, you will never understand why He said, "I must fulfill all righteousness," and you will never understand what His death means until you understand how evil sin is that He would have to go to that extreme to accomplish salvation.

And that's why biblically speaking, evangelism always begins by presenting the law before grace. You must preach judgment and you must preach condemnation first. Our evangelism must confront people with the holiness of God; it must reveal His demands for an inner heart of righteousness.

Evangelism must focus on man’s inability to meet God's standard, and we must make men desperate like Jesus wanted to make the Pharisees, the scribes and the multitude desperate so that they stand in fear of judgment to be cast into hell and they cry out for a Savior who can deliver them from a problem too deep for them to handle.

Because God is always concerned not so much with what we do and what we say and where we go, though He is concerned with that, but He's more concerned with what we think in our minds and hearts. There are the pious and the self-satisfied who think that because they don't do certain things and they do other things that they are justified, and that's because they never really examine the evil of their hearts.

Listen, before you ever commit adultery you think it in your heart and before you ever steal you think it in your heart. It is the heart that spews out the garbage that defiles man because "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; and who can know it?" it says in Jeremiah 17:9.

Let's see how Jesus explains it with the illustration of adultery in verse 27. You'll notice three points, the law, the desire, and the deliverance. First of all, the deed, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ Deuteronomy repeats it in 5:18, "Neither shall you commit adultery."

Now you'll notice that in our passage in Matthew it was the leaders, the rabbinic tradition that said, "You shall not commit adultery." They were right, they just never went far enough. God did say, don't do it, it was a serious crime and still is.

Now let me talk for a moment about the word itself; the word adultery, it's a very simple word. The root means this: unlawful intercourse with the spouse of someone else.

But most Bible scholars see it not only as a command not to engage in sexual activity with somebody else's spouse but see it in a general sense not to have sex because the word is also used that in a general way. For example in some places the word means to seduce or violate a woman, married or unmarried.

In other places it is translated as committing harlotry. So generally the word has been used to describe any kind of illicit intercourse at all; and anything is illicit outside the bond of marriage. And so primarily it refers to a sexual relationship that violates a marriage. But the spirit of it extends farther to include any kind of illicit sexual behavior.

This is indicated in what our Lord says in verse 28 where He says that anybody who looks on any woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. And the woman He speaks of here He doesn't say whether she's married or not, it's so broad that anybody who lusts after any woman has committed adultery in his heart.

The Bible speaks pointedly to the devastation caused by the sin of sexual adultery or fornication. Look at king David and the results. Look at Shechem who defiled Dinah and was later slaughtered. Witness Absalom who defiled others in sexual sins and wound up being hanged in a tree. Fornicators and adulterers God will judge (Hebrews 13:4).

The New Testament reiterates with finality and firmness this prohibition. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 condemns it. Second Peter chapter 2 condemns it. Revelation chapter 2 condemns it. The end of the Book of Revelation says that fornicators and adulterers won't even enter into God's kingdom.

Listen to what Jesus says, "Whoever looks on a woman to lust after her." Now listen to this, He doesn't say, commits adultery, no He doesn't say that. He says, "Whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery in his heart." Why? Because it is the adulterous heart that results in the wanton look, do you see?

The sin has already happened in the heart, the adultery is conceived and thus the look is prompted. That's why you may find in this life that someone passes into your gaze involuntary and appears as a temptation from Satan, or maybe even trying to attract attention. But an involuntary glance means you just resist and turn away.

But when you latch on and you cultivate and you pursue the desire, it's because your lustful, adulterous heart has been seeking an object, and you fulfill the fantasy that's already there in your heart.

It's when you're looking for the woman to lust after, when you go to the movie theater because you know when you get there you will see what you desire in your heart to see, that which will meet your lust. It's when you go seek the different channels on the television to find the thing that panders your lust.

So it would read this way, emphatically I say to you that whoever continues looking on a woman for the purpose of lusting gives evidence of already committing adultery in his heart. The continued look is the manifestation of the vile heart. The Greek verb tense here is an accomplished lusting, you've already done it.

Let me just add this, temptation to illicit sexual desire or fantasy is not sin. Satan may tempt you; Satan may draw something in to tempt you. The sin comes in what you do with it. If you entertain the temptation, if you maintain the temptation, if you indulge in those evil thoughts, then it becomes sin.

The Bible says, to the pure all things are pure, but to the one whose heart is defiled, he'll defile everything. He'll look at something beautiful and make it something ugly. That's because his heart is defiled. That's why there's pornography.

Our Lord here is talking about a man lusting after a woman in His illustration but this also applies the other way when women lust after men. Both are wrong, and it is wrong to create lust by the way you dress. Job said in Job 31:1, "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?" You know what his covenant was? Not to look.

Then Jesus goes a step further, how you do get out of this situation? Jesus says. "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perishes, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perishes, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

Now when you first read that you might say, well that does not make any sense. If He's saying the issue is the heart, what's He saying pluck out the eye for? The point is, Jesus is not saying that there is a physical remedy for a spiritual problem; that would undermine the whole point.

This is what He is saying, to a Jew the right eye, the right arm and the right leg were symbols of the best that a man had, and the right was always symbolic of the better of the two. So He is saying, there is nothing too precious to eliminate from your life if it's going to cause your heart to be pandered. If it means getting rid of your most precious possession then get rid of it.

What our Lord is saying is that nothing is too precious if it affects you going to heaven or not. Sin must be dealt with radically. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "I disciple my body to bring it into subjection." And so Jesus calls for immediate action. He diagnoses the problem and says, pluck it out, cut it off, and eliminate whatever it is in your life.

If you go to a theater and you watch something that tempts you, get out. If you have the same problem with your television, get rid of the TV. If you've got magazine lying around with pictures like that, throw them in the trash.

Jesus is not really talking about the physical. He knows that cutting off your right hand and plucking out your right eye isn't going to change an adulterous heart. But what He is saying is take the most precious thing you have, your right arm, your right eye if need be and get rid of it if it brings you to sin and stands in the way of holiness.

Some people misunderstood this. There were men who wished to free themselves from the problem of lust and so they did strange things to their bodies. Some of them used to go into the Egyptian desert and they'd decide they'd live all alone and they'd think about nothing but God.

The most famous man to do that was a man named Saint Anthony. He decided he'd go out to get rid of this feeling of lust that he had in his heart. He lived like a hermit, he fasted, he would go days and days keeping himself awake to punish himself, as a righteous act. He would torture his body.

For 35 years he said he had a non stop battle with temptation. And this is what he wrote in his biography: first of all the devil tried to lead him away from discipline whispering to him to the remembrance of wealth, cares for his sister, claims of kindred, love of money, love of glory, and other relaxations of life, and last of all Satan tempted him in the area of virtue.

And the point of the story is this: you can be all alone in the Egyptian desert and still not have anything going on in your heart to change the problem. If Anthony had really taken the resources available from God to have a changed repentant heart he wouldn't have needed to leave town.

Let me ask you this, could these scribes and Pharisees get rid of these problems? The fact of the matter is they couldn't by themselves. Jesus again is giving them an impossible standard-- a frustration that's going to make them say, we tried and we can't.

Our repeated sins as Christians may lead us to conclude that we are basically unholy, as opposed to righteous in Christ. This makes us think that we must simply work harder. But that breeds discouragement and lowering of God’s standards.

God’s message to Christians is not “you are not yet holy, work on it until you get there,” but “you are holy, be what you already are in Christ.” This truth gives us confidence, passion and true understanding of sin. Knowing that our Father sees us as holy in His Son, we are encouraged to make real spiritual progress.

Sanctification means that we recognize that we are a new creation and then we need to cleanse ourselves from that sin that makes us dirty every day (1 John 1:8-10). Yet God does not seperate us from the world we live in because He has a purpose in calling us, and our new vocation is to live in this world as if the future kingdom is already here.

Beloved, if Jesus Christ has come into your heart you have that new nature, you have that new heart. And you don't need to follow the pandering of your own lust; you can know victory over that. Thank God for that. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110306 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000147 imblog

Matthew 5:21-26

Jesus begins by giving us the standard of righteousness in Matthew 5:17-20; He says that He came to fulfill the Law of Moses and that not one iota or tittle will change until all is fulfilled. In other words Jesus gives us the example of righteousness that is required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And He is the only one capable of doing that.

The Pharisees and Scribes, the most religious people in Israel, used rabbinical traditions to lower the standard of righteousness of the Law so that it became humanly feasible. And they did that by only focusing on the externals, on what you did, without considering your heart, your motivation.

This is precisely where Jesus attacked them. Back up to verse 20, He says that God’s requirements should not be relaxed one bit, "For I say unto you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven."

Not murdering is not enough. He then proceeded from verse 21 to verse 48 to give six illustrations of how our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. And we begin tonight with just the first illustration. They had convinced themselves because they didn't kill anybody they were holy, they were righteous. Jesus said they were totally wrong. Let’s listen to what He says.

Matthew 5:21-23, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you.”

Matthew 5:24-26, “leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

The Jewish people at the time of Jesus were totally dependent upon this tradition. Because the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and they did not any longer speak Hebrew. Since the Babylonian captivity they spoke Aramaic. And when they came back from captivity, the scribes did not translate Scripture in their own language, they kept people in ignorance.

And so the rabbis, would tell them what they thought it meant, and this gave them a tremendous power because the people couldn't verify whether it was true or not. Jesus said to them that they taught falsehood because the people only received partial knowledge. Your teaching says you must not murder, because you will be punished by the civil court of Israel.

But what about God's holy character and what about His standards? Oh that didn't even enter into the discussion. They had made this so mundane they didn't even mention God, they didn't even mention divine judgment, they said nothing about inner attitudes and they said nothing about the heart. All they said was don't murder or you'll get in a lot of trouble.

They forgot the Old Testament which says that God desires truth in the inward parts in Psalm 51:6. The Old Testament also says that "You shall love the Lord your God, with all their heart, soul, mind and strength." God who knows the hearts of men will judge them.

In other words the part of God's law they left out was the internal part. It wasn't enough for you not to kill; God is concerned about what is going on the inside. They had restricted God's commandments to an earthly judicial court; they had restricted God's commandment only to the act of murder.

Here Jesus teaches them that murder is the end result of a heart attitude that starts long before the act of murder. Jesus teaches them even anger at your brother or insulting your fellow men will cause you God’s judgment.

And that's why Jesus goes on in verse 22, and says this, "But I say unto you." Here Jesus gives us the correct interpretation. Jesus simply says it isn't the issue of murder alone; it's the issue of anger and hatred in your heart. You cannot justify yourself because you don't kill, because if there's hatred in your heart you are the same as a murderer.

And yet sometimes we Christians get so angry on the inside with someone, we mock people, we may curse people, we may feel bitterness toward people, we may nurse grudges toward people, we have bitter feelings toward people and Lord Jesus is saying, that is all the same as murder.

Jesus swept aside all the rabbinical traditions, and He put the emphasis of the Law back where God had it from the beginning and where the emphasis belonged. The Pharisees and scribes did what all men like to do; they lowered God’s standards so that in their mind they could achieve that.

Anger is the root of murder; and the Lord Jesus says anger and murder deserve equal punishment. In verse 22 He is saying you're in danger of the judgment, you're in danger of the council; you're in danger of hell fire. Even anger with a brother to any degree is the same in God's eyes as murder, and so who is a murderer? The answer is all of us.

Listen to 1 John 3:15, "Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer." And brother here is used in a broad and generic sense, in terms of social relationships, people in your life. Not your spiritual brother because nobody listening to Jesus at that point would have understood the term. And so in God's eyes it's no different than killing someone.

Do you know that hate brings you nearer to murder than any other emotion? And hate is merely the extension of anger. And by the way hatred and anger can also kill you, because it can cause cancer and eat you alive on the inside. Jesus uses three illustrations to reveal this sin in verse 22. Let's look at them.

“Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” Jesus is not talking about righteous anger here. There are times when a believer has a right to be angry, in fact the more mature we get the angrier we get about some things. Some of the trends in our society we ought to be angry about, like things that poison our kids on the internet, our own sin, etc.

But here Jesus is talking about selfish anger, you're angry with a brother. When you hold a grudge against somebody, when you hold bitterness against somebody you are as guilty as the person who kills and you deserve the same judgment. He is saying in effect that the one who is angry is as guilty as the one who kills.

Now let’s look at the second example that Jesus uses in verse 22, “whoever insults his brother will be liable to the court.” Insulting is also condemned as murder; this is another person who ought to get the same death penalty. He's saying to the Jews, God's standard penalty for anger is the same as for insulting somebody.

In some English translations it says Raca, which is an unusual term. It's hard to translate; it was sort of a term of derision. It is an expression of slander against a person. What Jesus is saying is what you feel inside is enough to send you to hell as much as what you do on the outside, do you understand that?

There is a third illustration in verse 22, “and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.” In the Hebrew Bible a fool was one who rebelled against God. And so to call someone a rebel against God, if you're doing it as an epithet of hatred, then it is a sin. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God," it says in the Psalms 14:1.

This is worse than the word Raca and it is the same as damning someone to hell. If you have ever said to someone, go to hell or God damn you because of your anger, you are a murderer. When Jesus referred to hell, what He was saying is it is an eternal, never ending fire in an accursed place where the rubbish of humanity will burn forever.

Jesus’ words have a second effect in verses 23 and 24. They affect not only their self-righteousness but they affect their worship of God. The scribes and Pharisees were in the temple all the time making sacrifices and carrying out the law tradition. Their life was a life of worship, but our Lord Jesus here condemns that very worship.

In Matthew 5:23-24 He says, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

If a Jew committed a sin, a barrier came between him and God, the relation was disturbed. It was to be re- medied by a contrite and broken heart, and a man was to confess his sin, and a man was to manifest repentance and brokenness. And then in order to manifest outwardly that inward feeling he was to bring an animal as a sacrifice.

The animal sacrifice wasn't the issue, the attitude of our heart was. God says that obedience in the heart is better than sacrifice; the sacrifice was merely an outward symbol of a repentant obedient heart. And so when the barrier came and the man repented and in sorrow asked forgiveness and set things right with God, only then he brought a sacrifice.

And the man gets there and he's got the sacrifice in the hands of the priest and he puts his hands on it and all of a sudden Jesus is saying to him, stop right there. You remember you have your brother who has something against you? Don’t make that sacrifice until you make things right with your brother. Remove the barrier between man and man before you remove the barrier between man and God.

Beginning in Isaiah 1:11 God said to Israel, "For what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?" says the LORD; I am full of your burnt offerings, the fat of rams, the fat of beasts, I delight not in the blood of bulls and lambs and he-goats. Your incense is an abomination unto me; your new moons and your feasts my soul hate; they are trouble unto me; I am weary of the whole thing."

Why? "Your hands are full of blood. Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:16-17) He's saying, don't you dare come to Me with your religion until you've made your life right with the poor and the oppressed and the orphans and the widows. In other words deal with your brother first and then deal with Me.

Since God is concerned with internal things, since God is concerned with attitudes toward others, how you feel about your brother or sister and how you speak to your brother or sister and whether or not you curse your brother or sister is more important than worship. But there is more.

You may know that somebody's upset at you, even though you may not feel anger toward them, or you don't un- derstand why they feel like they do, and you don't feel any anger. But if they do you better go and settle that. God doesn't want anybody angry with you, because that makes you guilty of murder.

So Jesus says, "When you bring your gift to the altar," when you come for worship, "and there remember your brother has anything against you, leave there your gift before the altar, go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift." In other words reconciliation comes before worship.

There are times when we come to church and there is a bad feeling against somebody else in our fellowship or a neighbor, and yet we do absolutely nothing about it. There's a fellow Christian that we don't particularly care for and something has happened, and we let that thing settle to become bitterness and the Bible says, you offer nothing to God, He is not interested in your worship.

Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." First Samuel 15:22 says, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen is better than the fat of rams.”

There might be people angry with me without me knowing it. But when I know somebody's angry with me and I try to reconcile with them and I do my best and I ask their forgiveness and I try to make it right, and they still don't forgive me, then there's nothing more I can do and then I am free to worship God.

And then Jesus gives us specific examples in verses 25 and 26. The idea is here that you're worshiping and you've got a debt. And it's come to the place where you're actually being dragged into court over this debt. The key on it is in verse 25, "Come to terms with your accuser quickly."

And Jesus is saying settle your case out of court if you can. Don't let this thing continue and continue till you're on your way to court, and then somebody will lose and get thrown into prison and never be able to pay it back.

Don't let it go too far, is the idea. Don't let it go to the place where God in judgment moves in, act before then. In the final analysis He's saying that God is the real judge, and hell is the real punishment. And if you don't want to make things right, you may find yourself in an eternal hell, with debt that never could be paid.

The truth is that we've all worshiped in hypocrisy, we've all been angry, we've all said malicious things, we've all thought a curse, or said a curse, we all have not reconciled to a brother, we've all done that. So what are we going to do?

And that is exactly what Jesus is after. He wants to drive us to the fact that none of us can be righteous on their own. This fact will drive us all to our knees at the foot of the cross to accept the imputed righteousness that only Jesus Christ can give.

God had every reason to be angry with us. God had every reason to hate us. God had every reason to curse us, righteously. God had every reason to send us to hell, because we are murderers. But you know something?

Even though we're murderers, He loves us, He forgives us, He pays our debt and He seeks to reconcile us to Himself in His eternal kingdom because He wants to have fellowship with us. Now if a holy God desires to be reconciled to murderers like us, can we find it in our hearts to be reconciled to our own brothers? He gives us a great example. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 27 Feb 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110227 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000148 imblog

Matthew 5:17-20

Matthew 5:17-20 is our text again for tonight. As we come to this really rich and magnificent text there is just too much to learn. In Matthew 5, we are studying this great and magnificent, first sermon that the Lord Jesus gives us in the New Testament.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not a jot, not a tittle, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Liberal theology has for years argued that the Bible is not inspired by God, but that it is just a religious man commenting on his experience with God as he sees it, but that we cannot really trust that it is God Himself.

Another attack on the Bible today comes from those who say that what really defines truth is experience, so they interpret the Bible by their experience. Still another attack comes along and says, "The Bible is just not enough by itself; we need to add philosophy, psychology and human wisdom," so the Bible is constantly attacked from all sides.

But we as Christians have the number one reason why we can trust it absolutely, and it is because Jesus said that it is absolute truth and that overrides everything. Jesus said that the Old Testament didn't lie, and that not one jot or tittle would ever pass from it until all was fulfilled, and that should be good enough proof for all of us.

So here, at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry, early in His Sermon on the Mount, He gives His view of the Old Testament, the law of God, the Scripture. And we’ll see that it even carries on to His view of the New Testament.

Jesus was different than the other teachers in Israel. He didn't preach and teach like the scribes and Pharisees did; He was meek and humble and they were proud. He did not follow rabbinic traditions, whereas they meticulously observed the rabbinic traditions. He preached grace and mercy, and all they preached was law and judgment.

Jesus spoke with absolute authority and didn't have to always be quoting some rabbinical source. He befriended outcasts and sinners, while the other religious leaders turned their back on them. He was never concerned with outward regulations; He was always concerned with the heart.

Jesus is preaching about His Kingdom here, He is announcing that He is the King, and that is also Matthew's purpose in the whole gospel of Matthew. He has told us about the birth of the King, the prophecies fulfilled by the King, and about the victory of the King over Satan in His temptation.

Jesus begins by establishing the character of those allowed in His Kingdom. First of all, it's internal (verses 3-12). Then it becomes external as the testimony of Christians goes out (verses 13-16) and He says that we are salt and light so that this internal character will be manifested externally in the world.

Then Jesus says that living in His Kingdom is a matter of obedience to God's law (verses 17-20). And this is true until this day. We cannot manifest the true virtue of Kingdom children unless we are committed to the absolute authority of the Word of God.

The problem in the world today is that the church itself doesn't live separated from the world very well. We don't have a believable testimony because we don't abide by the righteous standards that God has given us. If we were people with character, like the Beatitudes talked about, then people would recognize us as the salt and the light of the world.

We learned last week that Jesus fulfilled the entire Law and that includes the judiciary, the ceremonial and the moral law. He was the perfect example of the Law in every part of His life. But as Jesus said in verse 20, we have to be more righteous then the best of Israel if we want to go to heaven.

So let us study the Law more in depth. Do you realize that the moral law is behind everything? Behind the judicial law and ceremonial law is the moral law of God. Those are standards of right and wrong in terms of behavior and attitude. The moral law is an expression of God's character.

To help people to understand the moral law, God developed in Israel, the ceremonial law, to help them focus on the correct ways to worship Him. And He developed the judicial law to help them focus on the judicial part of His character.

The judicial Law has passed away since Christ was rejected by Israel, so this has been set aside for the time being. The ceremonial Law also has passed away since Christ became the final sacrifice that we see pictured throughout the Old Testament. But there are still elements in all those categories – judicial, ceremonial, and moral – that we still practice now.

For example, God's judicial standard for marriage hasn't changed. God still desires honesty and purity among those that are married. God still desires monogamy and not polygamy. God still has the same feeling toward marriage, remarriage, divorce, and those things. In other words, when some factor of Israel's judicial law touched a timeless, divine principle, it still goes on, even today.

Take the ceremonial law: we don't kill oxen, goats, lambs and turtledoves, but did you know that we still do some of the ceremonies that Israel did? Israel used to praise God, and we do that too. Israel used to pray to God, and we did that tonight. Israel used to sing songs, and we do that. Israel had a choir and musical instruments, and we have all of that right now.

Now, just as there are elements of the judicial law and elements of the ceremonial worship of Israel that are still around, we should not be shocked if the opposite also occurs. There is an element which was part of the moral law which is not around anymore. If God can leave a part of some, He can also cancel parts of others.

I believe the Sabbath has passed away. Why? It is the one of the Ten Commandments never repeated in the New Testament; every other one is repeated in the New Testament. We also know that the early church met on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. This happened because the Sabbath had been fulfilled by Jesus.

Remember, the commandment said, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." But the Jews interpreted that wrong. The idea was not to refrain from work; the idea was to be holy. Do you see that? In the Sabbath law, God was not saying, "Please don't work," or else everyone who takes Saturday off is fulfilling God's law. No, the idea was being holy.

Do you know that when Jesus died on the cross and the moment you put your faith in Him, instantly, you were made holy? The Spirit of God took up residence in you and something happens in the New Testament that never happened in the Old Testament. At that moment the righteousness of Christ is instantly imputed to you.

Now do you see the point? The Sabbath was a picture; and finally when Jesus came it became a relationship. When you believe, you enter into Jesus Christ, you enter into Sabbath. From then on, 24 hours a day, all your life, you are fulfilling the law of the Sabbath; you are made holy.

So why do we worship on Sunday? Because we celebrate the Resurrection; the Lord rose from the dead on the first day, and that's how the early church did it, so that's how we're doing it. But frankly, it wouldn't make a bit of difference if we met on any other day.

So some factors in the judicial, ceremonial and moral law have changed because of the coming of Christ; He fulfilled many things, but some are yet to be fulfilled. Some of the prophecies haven't been fulfilled yet, have they? Some are still future.

But He says in verse 18, "Not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until every single bit of it is fulfilled." He says this, "Till heaven and earth pass." Someday the universe will pass out of its present existence; the Bible is clear about that. At that time, we'll enter the new Heaven and new Earth, and won't need a Bible anymore, because we'll be living righteousness, won't we?

In Hebrew, there is a letter called 'yodh' and it is similar to an apostrophe. A yodh is the smallest letter. In the Greek language, it's the little tiny iota. So what He's saying is, "Not the tiniest Hebrew letter or Greek letter will pass from this law until it is all fulfilled."

Is the bible still God's authoritative Word for us? Of course! Jesus fulfilled part of it, but God's moral law has never been set aside, and it will all be there until it's fulfilled and Heaven and Earth pass away. Conversely, Heaven and Earth won't pass away until every single element in this Book is fulfilled.

As you study the Bible, you see how Jesus supported the authenticity of Scripture. Sixty-four times, He referred to the Old Testament always as authoritative. He said in John 10:35, "Scripture cannot be broken." Jesus equated His words with the Word of God as being absolutely authoritative and divine.

Some scholars say the Old Testament is full of myths; but do you know that Jesus confirmed the Old Testament truths again and again? He confirmed the identities of Adam and Eve. Jesus confirmed the Creation account and the standard of marriage as God designed it in the Garden in Matthew 19. He authenticated the murder of Abel in Luke 11:51.

Jesus corroborated and confirmed Noah and the flood in Matthew 24:37-39. He confirmed Abraham and his faith in John 8. He confirmed Sodom and Lot in Luke 17:28-30. He confirmed the call and the Law of Moses in Mark 12:26-27. He confirmed the manna from heaven in John 6:31-32. He confirmed the raised serpent in John 3:14, etc. etc.

So we believe in the Old Testament because, in His very words, Jesus depended on it. He placed His own words as divine words, an equivalent of Scripture, thereby guaranteeing their divinity as well. He confirmed the events of the Old Testament.

Jesus also believed that Scripture would free men from error. In Mark 12:24 He said, "Do you not err because you don't know the Scriptures?" In other words, our Lord depended on the present tense in the Hebrew language for an interpretation of an I AM statement. Jesus said that everything in the Old Testament was true as it was recorded.

By the way, in Matthew 4, He even used Scripture in His own defense. When Satan came to Him three times and tempted Him in three different areas, each time Jesus answered by saying, "It is written." He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16, and 6:3. He didn't have to quote the Old Testament; He could have made up new verses. But He was teaching us a pattern of how to deal with temptation: by using Scripture.

You know what Jesus did the first time He ever gave a sermon in His own town? He didn't do anything but read Isaiah 61:1-2 and sat down, and they were totally amazed. The Word of God was so powerful. Some time later in His ministry, John the Baptist's disciples came to Him in Matthew 11 and asked Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" So He quoted Isaiah all over again to them. He depended on the Scriptures.

When He went in to cleanse the temple in Mark 11, He did it in the authority of the Old Testament Scripture by saying, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” When He went to die on the cross, He did it because the Old Testament Scripture said He had to die.

The point is this: if you're going to accept Jesus Christ and believe that He's God, you'd better listen to what He says about the Bible. What He says about it is that it's binding on you and you'd better live according to its principles. If you want to be a Kingdom citizen and have Kingdom character and give a Kingdom testimony, you'll have to obey the declaration of the King.

One day, the disciples were there with Jesus and the crowd had left. In John 6:67-68 we read that He asked them if they, too, would go away. Peter said to Him, "To whom shall we go? Only You have the words of eternal life." Do you also believe that?

You are bombarded in this world with all different kinds of human and devilish theories. What are you going to do? More importantly what is God calling us to do after hearing these verses? Here are five things that we need to do right here and now in Denver, CO.

First, believe the Word. We have to believe it because of the infinite majesty of the author, because of Christ's authoritative statements about it, and because of the price God paid to get it to you. We should believe because it's the only standard of truth, joy, salvation, and blessing, and we'd better receive it because not to receive it will bring judgment.

Secondly, honor it. God says in Psalm 138:2, "I have exalted above all things My Word and My Name." Psalm 119:103 says, "How sweet are Thy words." Do you have an attitude of love and honor toward this Book, or do you always resist it? Is it always threatening you, or do you lovingly submit to its words?

Thirdly, study it. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Be diligent to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth." Jeremiah 15:16 says, "Your words were found, and I ate them." Take it in and make it your own, allowing it, as Colossians 3:16 says, "to dwell in you richly."

Fourthly, defend it. Jude 3 says, "Earnestly contend for the faith, once for all delivered to the saints." We should defend the faith and fight for the integrity of the Word of God and its authority against the onslaughts of those in the world who seek to undermine it.

Lastly, proclaim it. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, "Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” Wherever you are, let this be your great command and motivate you to preach the Gospel to whomever you meet, because the Lord has spoken it.

]]> Sun, 20 Feb 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110220 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000149 imblog

Matthew 5:17-20

We are studying Matthew 5:17-20 again tonight, but our focus will be on verse 20. But before we do that I want us to look at Luke 18. This passage will serve as a fitting beginning for our study of Matthew 5:20.

Notice the parable that our Lord gives in Luke 18: 9-14, “And He spoke this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and despised others." Here are some people who thought that they were righteous; in fact they were self-righteousness, the religion of human achievement. So to those people, Jesus told this story.

"10 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'"

As a Pharisee, he was considered to be the most religious person in his society. In his own mind, he was convinced that that was true. He was thanking God that he wasn't like other people and that he went beyond the behavior of other people and fasted twice in the week. The Old Testament required one fast a year, so to fast twice a week would be about 103 times more than you needed to.

On the other hand, the tax collector stands far off (verse 13), "And would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but beat upon his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.'" There is the contrast. The least esteemed man in Jewish society was a tax collector because he was a Jew who worked for Rome. He had opted out for money; he had forsaken his loyalty and nationalism, even his religion, if you will, for money.

This one is far away, beating on his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." In verse 14, Jesus gave the point of the story. "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For whoever exalts himself shall be abased, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted."

That's the story about a bad man that went to heaven and a good man that went to hell. It serves as a fitting beginning to what we are going to look at in Matthew 5, because in this passage, we have a very similar situation.

The average person who reads the account of Luke 18 wouldn't quite understand it, because most people think that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. The man crouching in the corner, beating on his breast, and saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," is admitting that he really is going to hell.

On the other hand, someone who doesn't extort, or commit adultery, and who fasts twice a week, and gives tithes of all that he possesses, and is a super-religious person is certainly a person on his way to heaven. Most people in society believe that if you're good enough, you'll get there, and if you're bad, you won't. But Jesus told a story in Luke 18 that said the very opposite.

Then He went further in Matthew 5: 20, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." What Jesus is saying here is that if you want to go to Heaven, you have to be better than the scribes and Pharisees.

I have asked many people this question, "How do you get to heaven?" and they usually say, "By being good." I asked one person one time, "How good do you have to be?" He said, "Very good." I said, "How good is very good?" He said, "It's very, very good."

But Jesus just told us that the best people in Israel will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven based on their goodness. And the worst in Israel's society, a tax collector, a traitor, went home justified. This raises the question, "How good do you have to be to get to Heaven? What are God’s criteria?"

That is precisely what Jesus is teaching here. And His teaching was radical, and very different from that of the teachers of that day. Those teachers were always concerned with the external; what people can see, while Jesus was always talking about the internal, which only God can see.

He was so very different that the people felt that He must be just another revolutionary - just another reformer that comes down through history and brings some new revelation, just another wandering preacher, a would-be Messiah like so many others. His message sounded rather like a deviation of the Old Testament.

Jesus begins to articulate His Kingdom. Having established that He is King in the first four chapters, He now launches into this sermon. He wants them to know that His message is not something new; He is not rejecting the Old Testament or giving them something that nullifies, or abrogates the Old Testament.

Jesus says in Matthew 5: 20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What He means is, "The scribes and Pharisees have not lived up to the Old Testament standard. It isn't a new standard; however they have interpreted it wrong." So, in these marvelous verses, Jesus assures us that He is still totally committed to the Old Testament.

Why did God give the Scripture? Why does He give us all of these standards? What is the purpose? The purpose of God's law was to show you that you had to have more righteousness than you could come up with on your own; that's the point.

The law was to show us that even the very best in Israel - the scribes and the Pharisees, with all of their religious trappings, with ceremony and ritual - could not gain the righteousness required to enter the Kingdom. The law wasn't to tell us how good we are, but to show us how rotten and inadequate we are.

Galatians 3:24 articulates it with this statement: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The law was the schoolmaster, or the disciplinarian, to show us that we cannot achieve this by ourselves and then to bring us to Christ.

That's why the man in the corner in Luke 18, beating on his breast and saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," went home justified, because he responded to what God's law intended to show him: that he was a sinner. Whereas, the Pharisee, who was so self-righteous, did not understand the meaning of God's law at all, for he never responded to it in the way that God had intended.

So this is really the theme of His whole sermon in Matthew 5-7, it's true righteousness. The Old Testament gives the absolute standard in the Law. So this great sermon, from the Beatitudes to the final illustration in chapter 7 of the houses built on sand and rock, is a wonderful sermon on the truths that govern a man's relationship with God.

Sometimes people after being baptized give testimony that for years and years they were a part of a system. They had gone to church, and some of them were sharing how faithfully they had done that. They had been involved in all the ritual, ceremony and trappings, but never knowing the reality. And that can happen to anybody in any church, where you substitute form for substance.

So the law came with the purpose of showing us that even the very best men couldn't make it into God's Kingdom. The kindest and the best, the noblest, the most religious, if they were depending upon their own goodness, would be excluded from the Kingdom.

Let us look for a minute to Matthew 5:3 and let's remind ourselves of what Jesus said in the beginning, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The religious system of the time was not poor in spirit but proud, boastful, arrogant, feeling that they had arrived spiritually, and this is the very opposite of that.

Jesus comes and says, "No! It is only when you recognize your own wretchedness and come to Me. The law is not established for you to show how good you are; it is established to prove to you how bad you are because you are unable to keep the law." And that is true for all of us.

The Pharisees and scribes figured they were so good, there must be something wrong with the law, so they changed the law. They came up with a lot of rabbinical traditions that they could live by. So based on the theological concept that, "We are good," they had lowered the standard for themselves. On the other hand the sinner in the corner, beating on his breast, accepted the divine standard and understood that he could not attain this.

Who were the scribes and Pharisees? If we have to have a righteousness that exceeds them, we ought to know who they were. Scribes were simply those who dealt with the letter of the law, the interpretation of the law and the recording of the law. They were those who struggled with the finer points of the law.

In addition, there were other scribes, the ceremonial, or ecclesiastical scribes, and they were always involved in studying the Old Testament and determining what it said. They originally came from the tribe of Levi. They literally gave their entire lives to studying the Old Testament and amazingly enough they still came up with the wrong conclusions.

People might say, "All these people who are in all these other systems of religion that claim to be Christians - liberals, cults, all these others - they study the Bible." Well, so did the scribes, and they came up with the wrong answers. So did the Sadducees, so did the Pharisees. They all came up with the wrong answers, so don't be shocked if that also happens today.

What about the Pharisees? Within Judaism, there were several sects. 'Pharisee' comes from a root word which means 'to separate.' They were the separatists, the super fundamental legalists of their day. They separated themselves from everybody.

They separated themselves from all Gentiles - they wouldn't get near one because they didn't want to be defiled. They also separated themselves from any Jew who lived with less concern than they had for the law. So the Pharisees kind of lifted themselves out of Jewish society as a super-elite group who according to them alone knew what it was to really walk with God.

The Pharisees differed from the scribes because they didn't particularly study the law; they simply developed a system of ritual, they developed a sect. So the scribes could be either Sadducees or Pharisees. The Pharisees took the Word of God and developed a rigid, ceremonial, ritualistic system, based more on tradition then the law of God. They knew they really couldn't keep the law of Moses.

The Pharisees developed many many rules that they themselves attempted to keep. They even convinced themselves that God didn't have anyone better in the world; so if anyone would go to heaven, it would be them. In fact, the Jews used to have a saying, "If only two people go to Heaven, one will be a scribe, and the other will be a Pharisee."

What were they depending on for their salvation? A scribe or Pharisee was depending upon the external system of human achievement, "Look what I've done! I don't do that, I do this, I fast twice a week, give tithes of all I possess," and so forth. "We look holy on the outside because we've developed this system."

They didn't get involved in adultery, theft, murder, idolatry, but they had a lot of impure and rotten thoughts, and they coveted like mad, and they hated with a fury, and they were cold in their hearts toward God. Their heart inside was all fouled up, but on the outside they were able to maintain their appearance of being good.

Beloved brothers and sisters, examine your own heart, because it is very easy to get wrapped up in a superficial kind of religion. It is very easy to go through the motions of prayer, reading the Bible, attending church, going to a Bible study, but there's nothing happening on the inside of your heart. Life can be superficial and this is very dangerous.

That's why when they asked Him, "What is the greatest commandment?" He didn't give them some external thing to follow; He said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength. This is the first and greatest commandment."

Their righteousness was not only external but also partial. Matthew 23:23 says, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin," that's herbs and seeds, little tiny things. "You tithe your little tiny things, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone."

In other words, "You strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." In those days, when they wanted to drink something, they had a little strainer to get gnats or bugs out. They were picking the little gnats out of things but swallowing a whole camel.

The point that He's making here is that it was partial; they only accommodated themselves to what they could handle without thinking of the rest. It was a ritual religion, made to fit their capability. By keeping the traditions that they invented, they thought they were serving God. But they were not loving God with their heart, soul, mind and strength. They only cared for themselves.

Their righteousness was also redefined. They made up their own rules, and what they wound up doing was redefining everything. "Yes, that's what God said, but we think that He meant this," and so instead of following God exactly as written, they gave it all a wrong meaning.

How and where do you get true righteousness? Let's go back to Galatians 2:16, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."

We then are made righteous by faith in Christ. It says in Romans 8:4, "Through Christ, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us." Wow, if this does not affect you, then you don’t care about the greatest truth in the entire Bible. God has set a standard we can never attain, but then given us the fulfillment of that standard as a gift by believing in Jesus Christ.

How good does a man have to be to get to Heaven? He has to be as good as God, and how do you get to be as good as God? Only by one way: God giving you His goodness. How does God give you His goodness? When you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Bible says the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you. Isn’t that amazing?

Examine your life. Are you really righteous, or is it just a ritual? Do you really know Jesus Christ or are you counting on your own goodness? The standard is faith in Jesus Christ; it's God's Heaven, He determines the requirements, and all you can do is respond. You enter on His terms only or you stay out. Please receive Him, let’s pray.

]]> Sun, 13 Feb 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110213 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000014A imblog

Matthew 5:17-20

Turn in your Bible to Matthew 5:17-20, and tonight I want us to share an opening message on one of the most marvelous passages of Scripture that we could ever study. We taking a short break from our study of 2 Peter because this passage teaches us even in more detail how we can resist these false teachers by living a righteous life.

Our Lord says, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men to do so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Before we start to look at this passage, let me first put this in context. This comes right after the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and each new teaching from Jesus flows beautifully from the previous teachings.

And this is the same with Matthew 5:17-20. Jesus starts in Matthew 5:3-12 to describe the character of believers as children of God. And verses 13-16 teach how the believers should function as God’s salt and light in a corrupt and dark world.

And now in verses 17-20 we find God teaching us the inner qualities of character that we need to have in order for us to function as God’s salt and light. And Jesus tells us that the foundation is God’s Word, the only standard of truth and righteousness. God has determined His absolute law and gave that to us.

People have always questioned this in terms of Christianity. Many people say, "It seems that you don't realize times have changed. The Bible doesn't fit the situation today anymore." The answer is, "That isn't true; the way of today has been described a lot in the Bible. People today live the same wrong way people lived in the past, and the only cure is in the Bible."

Most young people say, "That's your interpretation. Everyone has their own interpretation, and that's the way you understand it." The truth is that when the Bible confronts you where you don't want to be confronted, you say, "The Bible is out-of-date," or, "The Bible needs to be reinterpreted."

People today want to reinterpret the Bible because they want to deny its authority. Chapters they once believed to be written by God are now said to be written by some rabbi who added it in. Portions of the Scripture that they don't agree with they reinterpret to say what they want it to say. They say, "That's cultural and doesn't relate to today."

Jesus is saying that not one jot or tittle will pass from it, every bit of it will be fulfilled. He did not abolish or annul one bit of it, and anyone who teaches anyone else to disobey the smallest command in the Bible will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Nothing ever changes in the Bible, nothing!

This Scripture is so important because here, our Lord tells us that we have an absolute, inviolable authority. That was Jesus’ view, and so it has to be also our view. In this passage, Jesus presents His perspective on the Old Testament. Jesus said that He did not come to destroy the Law but that He had come to fulfill it.

You see, the issue is that Jesus didn't sound like the Pharisees, and He didn't sound like the scribes. He didn't sound like anyone they were hearing in their day, and their natural reaction was to wonder whether He was really and Old Testament prophet or not. He refused to identify Himself with any of the sects of His time.

He did not follow all the rabbinic traditions; and He disregarded all the extraneous, legalistic rules. So the people were wondering, "Is He eliminating all the rules of the Mosaic Law? Is He removing the foundations for some new thing?" After all, it is the way of most revolutionary leaders to sever all ties with the past and do everything they can to completely repudiate the traditions that have gone before.

Right here, Jesus puts it all into perspective. What He says, in effect, is this, "This is nothing new at all. I am going to reiterate that to you and I'm going to fulfill the whole Old Testament law. I will not set aside one jot or one tittle of that law until all of it is fulfilled."

So what Jesus says is in direct confrontation to their thinking. On the surface it seems that traditions make the law harder, but in reality the rabbis and scribes made it much easier, because what they emphasized was external observance only. Jesus wouldn't lower the standard; He maintained it where it belonged with heart obedience and faith in God.

In fact, Jesus had a greater commitment to the law of God than the most conscientious scribe or Pharisee. The Word of God gives us the guidelines, the principles and the requirements. How can we really live out a righteous life, how can we live out the Beatitudes, how can we be salt and light? Certainly not by lowering the standard of the law of God and saying that it isn't binding anymore.

So how can we be all we have to be? The answer is by keeping God's principles of absolute obedience to an absolutely authoritative Word of God. That is in contrast to the theology of rabbis and the scribes of that day, where they only obeyed what they wanted to obey.

It is a powerful thought that the key to a righteous life is keeping the Word of God. That's why Jesus says in verse 20 that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because theirs was external and based on the traditions of men, while "Mine," He says, "is internal, based on the eternal law of God."

When Jesus came, He didn't put an end to the Old Testament, He just restated its absolute, binding character. People say, "When Jesus says, 'You have heard it said, but I say,' isn't He adding to the Old Testament? No. Jesus is simply restating God's original intention because the rabbis had so perverted the Old Testament that He has to raise the standard back up to where it belongs in the first place.

Jesus told them to disregard the Sabbath; He rather ruthlessly swept away their traditions and tithings of minuscule things; He mocked their constant washings. He disregarded their oral and scribal law; He interpreted the written law in a totally different way than they did. He spoke with great authority, but in no way was He changing the Old Testament.

If you're a Christian today, God has not set aside His principles. There are still the same. In fact, Jesus lifted up the law and the Old Testament so high that He wound up exposing all the Pharisees and the scribes as hypocrites, didn't He?

In verse 20, He says, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into My Kingdom." In other words, "Whatever your righteousness is, it should be righteousness in your heart on the inside, and not just external show on the outside.” Finally, in Matthew 23, He goes through the entire chapter, calling them hypocrites in verses 13, 14, 15, 25, 27, and 29.

So Jesus opens up His sermon by saying, "Here's my standard of righteousness, and here's how you live in the world, and the base of it all is to be obedient to God's unchanging law." Anyone who doesn't live by God's standards, who substitutes a man-made system, is just a spiritual phony.

Let's be specific about the law. What does Jesus refer to? Lots of people have discussed this. Well, Jesus uses the term 'law' in a rather comprehensive way. When the Jews used it in Jesus' time, they had four things in mind, four possibilities.

First of all, sometimes they used the term to speak of the Ten Commandments. Secondly, sometimes they used the word to speak of the Pentateuch, or the five books of Moses. Thirdly, sometimes they used the word to mean the whole Old Testament, but most of the time when they used the word 'law,' they were talking about the oral, scribal traditions that they had been receiving from these various rabbis.

In other words, Jesus put it right in Matthew 15:3, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition." The most common use of law among the Jews of Jesus' time was that it referred to these thousands of minuscule principles, external stuff that had replaced the internal law of God.

Here's the reason. Let's say you believe you're only going to go to heaven because you keep the law. But the law is inward, and the law demands righteousness, and the law demands a certain kind of character, and you're a despicable person and really don't want to change.

So you have to replace that with external compliance. For example, the Old Testament law had said that you couldn't work on the Sabbath. And so they said, "Alright, if we can't work on the Sabbath, we have to determine what work is, which they decided was to carry a burden. And then they had to define what a burden was.

The scribal law said, "A burden is food equal to the weight of a dried fig, enough wine for mixing in a goblet, milk enough for one swallow, honey enough to put on a wound, oil enough to anoint a small member, water enough to moisten an eye salve, paper enough to write a customs-house notice, ink enough to write two letters of the alphabet, reed enough to make the pen," and so on and so on.

They spent endless hours arguing whether or not a man could lift a lamp from one place to another on the Sabbath. They spent time arguing whether a tailor committed a sin if he went out with a needle stuck in his robe. They had a big discussion of whether or not a woman could wear a brooch; if it was too heavy, it was a burden. Or whether she could put false hair on; if it was too heavy, it was a burden, if it weighed more than a fig.

The scribes, you see, were the people who wrote out all this stuff; and the Pharisees were the ones who tried to keep it. To the strict Orthodox Jew of Jesus' time, the law was a matter of thousands of legalistic rules and regulations. So when Jesus came along and said, "I haven't come to destroy the law," that's not the law He was talking about.

The law of God is not some kind of changing mode of human opinion, designed to fit the whims of every society. The law of God is not something you just adjust and adapt to whatever sin is going on in your day. The law of God never changes.

We can divide the law of God into three parts: the moral law, the judicial law, and the ceremonial law. The moral law was for all men, the judicial law was just for Israel, and the ceremonial law was for Israel's worship of God.

Which law was Jesus speaking of? He was speaking of all three. Some say He was just talking about the moral law, but He wasn't. He came to fulfill the whole thing, whether it was the moral law, the outgrowth of the moral law in Israel, the judicial law, or the ceremonial law or the law of worship. He came to fulfill every bit of it.

Every single thing in the Old Testament points to Christ. So Jesus is saying, "You're thinking that I'm going to put it all away, and you can just be free and easy and it will all be wonderful. I'm telling you that God's standard hasn't changed. No part of the sacred Scripture will ever be destroyed or annulled - it will be fulfilled and I Myself will fulfill it."

First of all, the law of God is binding because it is authored by God. Secondly, it is affirmed by the prophets, and thirdly, it is accomplished by Christ. This is the heart of the matter. Either in His first coming, His return in the Spirit, or in His Second Coming, Jesus will fulfill the whole Old Testament ceremonially, judicially and morally.

In what sense does Jesus fulfill the law? Some say that He fulfilled it with His teaching, that there was an incomplete code in the Old Testament and it needed new dimensions, so He added to it. In a sense, He did expand and clarify the law of God. When He sent the Holy Spirit through the writers of the epistles, He clarified even more of the law of God. But that can't be the real reason or the meaning of 'fulfill.'

Some Bible teachers say, "In His life, He kept every part of God's law, the moral, judicial, and ceremonial law. He worshiped in the right way, He was fair and equitable, He never violated a rules God made, He was perfectly righteous and He was the absolutely holy One, the perfect righteousness." And that's true.

But that still isn't the heart of what it's saying here. There is truth in all of that. He did add new perception to the Old Testament law. In fact, He took the whole law and reduced it to one thing, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." But there is still another reason.

Let me give explain it to you. He fulfilled the whole Old Testament law by being its fulfillment. Not by what He said or did, so much, but by what He was. "What does that mean?" He didn't come just to rescue the law from rabbinical perversion or just to be a model of righteousness. He came to bring in everlasting righteousness by being the Messiah the law predicted.

God had peculiar laws for Israel; this is His judicial law which set them apart. They had certain dietary laws, certain laws of dress, of agriculture, laws within their relationships with certain things they had to do. These set them apart.

"How did Jesus fulfill that?" When Jesus died on the cross that was the final, full rejection by Israel of her Messiah, right? That was it. And that was the end of God dealing with that nation as a nation. The judicial law that He gave to Israel passed away when God no longer dealt with them as a nation anymore and Jesus built His church.

One day God will go back and redeem that nation again and deal with them again as a nation. But for this time, when Jesus died on the cross, the judicial law came to a halt. The national people of God were no more. A new people was created, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, which would be called the church.

What about the ceremonial law? How did He fulfill that? He did it by dying on a cross. And when He died, the whole ceremonial system came to an end. In fact, when He died, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom, and the Holy of Holies was revealed.

Jesus ended the ceremonial system and we no longer worship God with the blood of bulls and goats. We no longer go through all the offerings and all that stuff. It was only a few years after He died that He allowed the Romans to come in and absolutely destroy the temple. The whole sacrificial system came crumbling down when He died; it was over.

That only leaves one element of God's law abiding still, that is the moral law, which is what undergirds everything. That will be with us until we see Him face to face. In other words, what the law couldn't do, Christ did. He brought an end to the picture because He was the reality.

Look at the tabernacle; what was that picturing? The tabernacle had a door. Christ said, "I am the door. The tabernacle had lamps; Christ said He was the light of the world. The tabernacle had bread; Jesus said He was the bread. It had a mercy seat, He said, "I am the mercy seat." Everything pictured Him.

The point is that Jesus fulfills every part of the law. Because He fulfilled the whole law, so can you and so can I. Because He was perfectly righteous, because He fulfilled all righteousness, you and I can too. Romans 8: 4 says, "the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit."

Have you found the Lord Jesus Christ and given your life to Him? He alone can give you the absolute standard for your life and cause you to live a righteousness that, of yourself, is impossible. He alone can enable you to fulfill God's law and empower you to have the kind of character that He demands.

If you haven't, then where you are sitting, open your heart and let Jesus come into your life. Receive Him as your Savior and Lord, that He might fulfill the law of God through you by His power. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Feb 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110206 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000014B imblog

2 Peter 2:3-5

Tonight's text is taken from 2 Peter 2:3-5, "...Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep; 4 for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment, 5 and did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly."

Scripture is totally the truth of God. That means as a consequence He wants this Word communicated truly. He wants to communicate it entirely and exactly as He gave it, with no omission and no deviation. And because He has given a true Word, He expects it to be truly proclaimed.

On the other hand, the adversary of God and Christ is the devil. And in John 8:44 Jesus said the devil is a liar and the father of it. And so, wherever you have the enterprise of Satan you have an attack on truth. It says in Proverbs 19:5 that a liar will not escape the wrath of God. It says in Proverbs 19:9 that a liar will perish.

And at the end of the book of Revelation, as God puts the final seal on this truth, He says in Revelation 21: 8, "For the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death."

God is very much against liars. We've seen that. But there's something even beyond that. It is one thing to tell a lie, it is a far greater thing to teach lies as if they were truth. In Isaiah 9:15 it says that God will cut off the prophet who teaches falsely and "cut off" always means to destroy.

God is a God of truth. That's one of His attributes. And it sets Him against all liars, particularly those who misrepresent Him and misrepresent His Word with their lies. To tell a lie is a serious sin, to teach lies is a more serious sin. To teach lies as if they were the truth of God is the most serious rejection of truth.

Now we've already been introduced to these false teachers and do you remember that we had sort of a basic outline of their portrait in verses 1 to 3? When we get to the middle of verse 10 and go from there to the end of the chapter, that sketch is going to be filled in full color and we're going to know many more details about false teachers.

I read a speech by Ted Turner who said, "The problem in our world today is Christianity with the book of Revelation predicting the world is going to be destroyed by fire and Armageddon. No wonder we're so pessimistic about things, we're carrying this terrible burden that we're all born evil, we're just rotten and no good and Christ had to come down and die on the cross for us so that with the spilling of His blood our sins could be washed away.

Christ was a great guy but I don't want Him to die for me. I used to be real religious until I really started thinking about it. Come on, ease up, lighten up a little. I don't really want to go to heaven anyway. I don't want to walk on streets of gold and gold prices are only going down, the streets would have to be platinum to make me happy. Maybe they should put toxic waste in heaven, because if we get it off the earth and ship it up there it isn't going to hurt the people in heaven."

There are a lot of people who want to mock the reality of future judgment. But Peter was very serious when he wrote what he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Any man is a fool who doesn't understand that God will not only judge false teachers, but He will judge along with them all who lived and followed their deception.

Let's look at the first point, the promise of their judgment. Verse 1 at the end, "They (the false prophets mentioned at the beginning of verse 1) are bringing swift destruction upon themselves." And then at the end of verse 3 as we also saw in our last study, he says, "Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep." There's the promise, twice given.

What does Peter mean by that? Well though false teachers are not yet judged, that is the ones that are alive at the time Peter writes and the ones that are alive at any time someone reads this, including now, though they have not yet been judged, their judgment was planned long ago. That's what he's saying.

Very simply understood it is this, the judgment of liars and deceivers and false prophets and false teachers is all based on the nature of God as a God of truth. You understand that? Because God by nature is a God of truth, He will judge all liars and deceivers.

But I want us to focus tonight, as Peter does, on what happened previous to their judgment at the end. Somebody might say, "Well are you sure God's really going to punish them in a swift and devastating destruction against people who lie and teach falsehood?

The answer is yes, and Peter tells you why. Verse 4, "If God didn't spare the angels when they sinned," verse 5, "And He didn't spare the ancient world, but drowned them all," verse 6, "And if He didn't spare Sodom and Gomorrah when they sinned," then do you think He's going to spare false teachers?

That's his point, that's what happened previously. He takes classic illustrations out of the book of Genesis and they are the precedent for final judgment on the liars and the deceivers and the false prophets and the false teachers and everybody who follows them. Let us begin with the first of those powerful illustrations.

Let's begin in verse 4, "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment." I would prefer the word "Since," because this is already written in history, this has already been done. It is an historical fact. The point is, since God judged in the past, then He will surely judge in the future.

Since God judged angels, more elevated beings than we are, when they sinned, why do men think they will escape? Those who deviate from the truth of God, who teach falsehood, who lead people astray and the people led astray by them will be judged in the future just as the angels have been judged in the past.

Back to verse 4, “If God didn't spare angels when they sinned.” This is one of the great realities of Scripture that is really inexplicable in many ways, the fact that angels sinned. We don't know how exactly that happened but we know that God created these angels and they were all before Him in holiness, worshiping and surrounding His throne and adoring Him.

And the highest of them all was an angel named Lucifer who decided that he wanted to be like God. He wasn't content to be lower than God, he wanted to be equal with God and so he led a rebellion. And according to Revelation 12, one third of all these holy angels followed his sin of pride and rebellion.

And so thousands of thousands, myriads and myriads of these beings fell and were doomed to damnation. Today we know them as fallen angels, or demons and evil spirits. Is that what he's talking about here? Let's read on and see. "If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness..."

Wait a minute; this can't be all those fallen angels. Are all the demons now in hell and committed into pits of darkness? No. Where are they? They're all over the place, they're running around loose. So whatever sin he's talking about here can't be the original fall of angels, because when they fell they were not all imprisoned in hell and committed permanently to pits of darkness waiting their final judgment.

In fact, in Ephesians 6: 12 it says right now you and I as believers are wrestling against demons, doesn't it? “We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies?” Those are all titles for demons.

So, whoever these beings are, they're different from the demons running around loose all over the world. Notice that phrase "but cast them into hell," which is one word in Greek. The word is tartarosos. What does it mean? He sent them to Tartaros. Here the translators have elected to translate it with the English word "hell" because that's what it was used to refer to.

You remember that Jesus when He talked about hell liked to use the word “Gehenna” because that word gave a picture of what hell was like. Gehenna was the name for the valley in which the dump of Jerusalem was located and it had an unending, burning fire.

He further describes it in verse 4 as having them committed to pits of darkness. The word "committed" here is used, by the way, in the book of Acts twice, 8:3 and 12:4, of turning over a prisoner for imprisonment. This is reminiscent again of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 8:12 when He says that hell is a place of blackness and darkness.

And they are held there, the end of verse 4 says, reserved for judgment. They're like prisoners who are awaiting final sentencing. There's no bail for them. The place is only temporary in the sense that in the Day of Judgment they will go to another place. Revelation 20:10 says the devil and all his angels will be cast into the lake of fire. That's the final form of hell.

So who are these angels and what in the world did they do to deserve this? What kind of atrocity did they commit that forced God to imprison them? By the way, the rest of the loose demons know about this group. And they don't want to go to that place.

Listen to Matthew 8:28-31, "And when Jesus came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs, they were so exceedingly violent that no one could pass by that road, they were demon-possessed men. And behold, they cried out when they saw Jesus, `What do we have to do with You, Son of God?'"

Listen next, "Have you come here to torment us before the time?" What did they mean by that? They mean, "Are you going to send us now to the pit where our fellow fallen angels are before we're supposed to go?" "Do they know when they're supposed to go?" Oh yeah, they know about the final lake of fire that follows the Great White Throne judgment, and so they don't want to go there and they say, "You haven't come to send us before our time, have You?"

As vile and wretched and wicked and filthy as fallen angels or demons are, they are somewhat restrained in their conduct because they are in constant fear that they might if they overstep their limits be sent to the pit of blackness. And they don't want to go there. And you ask what restrains them to some extent? That does.

"But who are they?" Let's go to Jude 6 and see what they did, because Jude talks about the same thing. "Angels," he says, "did not keep their own domain," they didn't stay where they belonged. "They abandoned their proper dwelling place." They moved out of their place of being, their sphere of life and their nature. They moved beyond the demon sphere.

Well, notice that verse 6 also says, "Those are the ones He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day." So now this is another clue, isn't it? They're some angels who were already fallen, they were already demons, but they moved into some behavior that took them out of the sphere of their normal being.

What did they do? Verse 7 of Jude, "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way..." Whatever they did was very much like what Sodom and Gomorrah did. What was the gross immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah? And it says in Jude, "They went after strange flesh."

Like the men of Sodom who in Genesis 19: 4-5 lusted (do you remember two angels rescuing Lot?) after angels who appeared in a male form. And the filthy homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah lusted after these angels. And that's why God destroyed that place. Listen carefully, as the men of Sodom lusted and went after angels. Similarly also some fallen angels lusted and went after women.

That's the comparison. "Well when did that happen?" 1 Peter 3:20, "They were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah." So whoever these fallen angels are who left their proper sphere and lusted after mankind, particularly women, and were then put in prison until the final lake of fire, it happened in the days of Noah. Now we really have a clue. These spirits, by the way, are angels.

Peter calls people souls in verse 20. The New Testament always uses spirits to refer to angels, not men. Let's go back to the time of Noah, Genesis 6. I don't think today is as bad as that time. "Why do you say that?" Because there were only eight believers at that time on the whole world, right before the flood.

Genesis 6:1-2, "It came about when men began to multiply on the face of the land and the daughters were born to them, that the sons of God..." This refers to angels who are called in the Old Testament "sons of God." "They saw the daughters of men and saw that they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves whomever they chose."

So here you have demons taking on a male form and cohabitating with women. "Why did they do that?" John MacArthur teaches that they did it to breed an unredeemable race of demon-men. As long as men were men, Jesus Christ, the God/Man, could redeem them. But if they became a race of demon/men, they were unredeemable, for demons will know no redemption.

And in Genesis 6:3 it says, "The Lord said My Spirit will not always strive with men forever." The lord says He’s not going to take this. It mentions in verse 4 the Nephilim, which could be a reference to the monsters produced out of these unions when the sons of God came to the daughters of men.

And God had to drown them along with the whole world. Those are the demons we talked about. And they were put in permanent imprisonment because of that unbelievable attempt to destroy the capability of Christ to redeem the human race.

Here's Peter's point. If God didn't spare the greater angelic beings who were His special creation, once gathered around His throne, more glorious, more intelligent than mankind, when they deviated from His truth and when they spread corruption, then He surely will not spare false teachers who are lesser beings who teach people to believe lies about Him and His Word and thus try to destroy His redemptive purpose.

That's only example number one of what God is going to do to those, whether they are angel or man, who attempt to deviate from redemptive truth and purpose. Let us next time deal with some other examples from God so that we will live righteously even when false teachers are all around us, Amen?

]]> Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110130 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000014C imblog

2 Peter 2:1-3

I have great anticipation in my heart as we come to this text of Scripture that God has set before us tonight. Please open your Bible to 2 Peter 2:1-3 as we're going to return to our study of, "the portrait of false teachers."

2 Peter 2 :1-3, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 And many will follow their sensuality and because of them the way of truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep."

There has always been in the history of the church a major danger to God's people, by those who would lead the church to its destruction as agents of the enemy. And consequently the Scripture has much to say about how God views those who are false, those who pretend to be friends but really are the enemy.

And such false leaders are Peter's concern as he writes to the Christians scattered around the Gentile world in this epistle. This letter serves not only as a warning to them, but a warning to us. Remember, Satan's most subtle operation is to falsify God's truth from inside the church, to pose as one of us, a friend, a sheep like us, only to deceive and thus to destroy.

As Peter pens this second chapter, he unmasks the traitors. But as Peter pens the words of this chapter, he carefully paints the portrait of the false teacher so you can recognize him. He doesn't want any false teachers to be able to carry out their work within the church and us not recognizing them.

Let's just look again at the sketch of these false teachers. Verse 1, "But false prophets also arose among the people," I told you that that refers to the Jewish people, "just as there will also be false teachers among you," that's the church. Satan sent his false emissaries to deceive and confuse and destroy and he will continue his ploy among you until he is defeated.

In fact, in 2 Peter 1:16 he contrasts himself with false teachers already at work in the church when he says, "We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The implication is there are some now who are telling you cleverly devised fables.

Paul said it in Galatians 1:6-8, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. 7 There are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 Even though we were an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached you, let him be accursed."

Now let me remind you of what we noted last week as we looked at the operation of these false teachers. First we saw where they worked and we noted that they worked among God’s people and they now will work among us. So these false teachers that Peter is talking about work inside our church.

There are also many false teachers outside the church, of course, in all the false religions of the world. But the most potent, the most destructive do the work of the church on the inside. They are honored, they are trusted and they work among the believers.

They are accepted because they say the right thing and they make the right claims and they identify with the right people. They belong to the right associations. They may have even gone to the right schools and institutions. And their sphere of operation is inside the church.

Secondly, the subtlety of their operation. It says in verse 1 that they secretly introduce destructive heresies. Their operation is deceitful, it is subtle, it is under cover, they smuggle in their demon doctrine, they smuggle in their spiritual ideas that are not from God. What they teach is obviously opposite the truth of God.

Satan is trying to collect people for hell and he wants to work inside the church, not that he can steal the salvation of true believers, but because he can confuse and deceive those who are coming into the church pursuing the truth. And because, also, he can derail and confuse true believers and make them useless.

Now Peter says their heresies are of destruction. Now remember, they cannot damn the regenerate soul but they can damn those who come to the church in pursuit of the truth. By the way, it assumes there are also unsaved people in the church.

And if you have problems with that assumption, go back to Matthew 13 and remember that there are some temporary converts, soil that is rocky, soil that is full of weeds. There are also some tares sown among the wheat. And there are some who become part of the Kingdom when the final judgment comes only at the end can they be sorted out like the true believers and the unbelievers.

So let us tonight look at thirdly, the sacrilege of their operation. It is unthinkable, and I suppose that's why Peter throws in the word "even" in the middle of verse 1. “Their heresies are destructive even denying the Master who bought them.”

Now follow me carefully because denying means to say no to. It means to refuse. Hebrews 11:24 says, “By faith Moses when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.” He said no to that. That's what the word means. These false teachers, can be recognized because they always say no to the Master who bought them.

What does that mean? The word "Master" here is the word in the Greek that means sovereign Lord, it means ruler, it means Master. The word “despotes”, appears ten times in the New Testament and it always refers to one who has supreme authority.

Peter is saying the supreme sacrilege of false teachers is that they deny the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ. Now there are heresies that could include denying Christ's perfection that could include denying the virgin birth, denying the deity of Christ, denying His bodily resurrection, denying His ascension, denying His Second Coming or denying His future Kingdom.

They claim Him as the one who bought them and they claim Him as their redeemer, testifying that He indeed has bought them and their word then is taken at face value. No matter what they say, though they say they are Christ's, they refuse to say yes to His sovereign lordship and thus they are false teachers.

That means they will not submit their lives to His rule. The issue here is primarily not theologically, it is an ethical issue. It is not their theology that unmasks them; it is their morality that unmasks them. And he says they even deny the Master who bought them.

True Christians gladly affirm they are bought. We gladly affirm that we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We also gladly affirm that having been purchased means we are under His sovereign lordship, we are His slaves, we are His servants and we obey His Word.

Listen to me, when we deny the lordship of Jesus Christ, this does not mean we are a second class Christian, no, it means we are damned. Why do you say that? Because this is what it says in verse 1, "denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift damnation upon themselves." It is self-inflicted by a process of persistent rebellion.

They're not interested in following Jesus Christ. They're not interested in submitting their life to Him. They're not interested in virtue and holiness and righteousness and obedience and godliness. Their sacrilege is that they name Him with their lips but refuse His lordship in their lives.

Fourth point, the success of their operation. We've seen the sphere of it, the subtlety of it, the sacrilege of it, now let’s look at the success of it. Would you please notice verse 2, "And many will follow," stop right there.

Discouraging, isn't it? Many will follow. You know, there are not many who go on the narrow way, are there? Many follow the deceivers. Back in Matthew 24:10-11 Jesus predicts that “in the time of the end, many will fall away, deliver up one another, hate one another; 11 many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.”

Why will so many follow them? Because they think they can have Christ and they can have sin too. This is the fifth point, it's how they operate. Where they operate, their subtlety, sacrilege, success and now how they operate.

Look again to verse 2, "Many will follow their sensuality." That is a very strong term, aselgeia, it means sexually, immoral, depraved, debauched conduct without restraint and sexual immorality. They preach a Savior but they don't want a lord. Why? Because they want to continue to feed their own lust.

By the way, sensuality here is plural. It is talking about their sensualities, their debaucheries and their sexual immoralities. They are what theology calls the antinomians, against any rules or standards. They don't want to accept any restraint in their fleshly desires and their sexual indulgences.

Jude 1:7 says, "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh." This is talking about homosexuality, as well as gross immorality.

Peter also describes them in 2 Peter 2:6, “and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly.” Now remember, he's talking about teachers in the church.

In 2 Peter 2:13, "They are stains and blemishes reveling in their deceptions, carousing...verse 14, “their eyes are filled with adultery, they never cease from sin, they entice unstable souls." 2 Peter 2:18, "They are using the enticing of fleshly desires by sensuality to draw people to themselves."

People who are trying to get out of the error and perhaps moving toward the truth are enticed away into sensuality and told you can have Christ and still live anyway you like. Verse 19, they promise freedom. Just take Jesus and don't worry about how you live. And they're slaves of corruption. Verse 22 says they're dogs that go back to their vomit and sows that return to the mire.

Whenever you see a person who appears to say all the right things and all of a sudden his life is exposed and you see that he's a sensual, corrupt, lustful and immoral person, you know you've just seen the unveiling of a false teacher who on the surface says yes to the truth, but underneath says always no to the lordship of Christ in his life.

Let’s look at the rest of verse 2, "Because of them the way of truth will be maligned." Do you know why the world mocks Christianity today? Because it has been maligned by these people who claim to represent Christ but who have been unmasked as lecherous, lewd, lascivious, licentious and immoral people.

Because of them there is a stigma, a blot, a reproach on the way of truth. The way of truth is simply an expression of the true teaching, the true gospel and the real Christian message. It is maligned. Maligned means to ruin the reputation of and to defame.

People scoff at the integrity of the church, it is maligned because of the terrible immorality of these false teachers. And it's not just the ones we know on a national scandal level, it's all over the place in smaller churches as well.

We have to live a certain kind of life to make our gospel believable, don't we? "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven," Matthew 5:16. And if you don't live life that way, they're going to mock God.

In Philippians 2:15 Paul says, "You are to prove yourselves blameless and innocent children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast to the Word of life."

We have got to live a pure life. The church has to be pure. We all are examples to people on the outside. I remember reading an article in a magazine recently and it was written by a critic of Christianity. He said, "Having read about Jesus Christ, I believe that He has much more class than His followers."

God has called for a pure people to bring honor to His name. We are to walk worthy of the One who redeemed us. We are to manifest good works. We're to love one another. We're to live pure, godly, virtuous lives so that Christianity is not maligned. We're to walk as children of light. We're to be like Jesus Christ.

I love what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:12, "Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own Kingdom and glory." We're to be consistent. We're to live the life that God has called us to live so that our faith is not maligned.

Peter has two more elements for us to consider. Number seven in my little list is the motive of their operation. Verse 3, "And in greed they will exploit you with false words." Here's another motive that you need to know about.

They're not driven by immorality. You can do that by yourself. But there's another reason, which is greed. What they want is money. 2 Peter 2:14 says, "Their eyes are full of adultery, they never cease from sin, they never submit to lordship, they entice unstable souls because their hearts are trained in greed." They want to get rich off you. They're driven by money and greed.

And so, what do they do? Verse 3, "And in their greed they will exploit you with false words." Phony arguments, they pervert the Scripture, they twist it to get your money. It isn't really God's truth. It isn't really what the Bible says. It's molded to deceive you.

Peter's got one more point, their punishment. Verse 3, "Their judgment from long ago is not idle." You say, "What do you mean established long ago?" Remember, the principle that God is going to damn false teachers was set in place since the beginning.

That is a permanent principle by which God has always dealt with false teachers. It's always been so in the Old Testament, New Testament, today and in the future. And this punishment hasn't been weakened by time. It is still valid, it is still potent. And their destruction, he says, their eternal damnation is not asleep.

How alert are you to them? It is sad that so many people are deceived. Satan's goal is to deceive as many as possible. And God's goal is to destroy all those false teachers. They've been around us from the beginning. We need to be discerning. And before we're done, in this chapter, you'll have all the tools of discernment. Praise God.

]]> Sun, 23 Jan 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110123 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000014D imblog

2 Peter 2:1-3

Let us go to the Word of God and look tonight at 2 Peter 2:1-3 as the text for the next revelation that God will give to us through His Word, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words, their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep."

Is there anything more infuriating to God than misrepresentation of His Word? Is there a worse hypocrisy than saying you speak for God to the salvation of souls when in reality you speak for Satan to the damnation of souls? Can there be a more heinous deception than being a false teacher in the church?

The answer is a strong "no" to all those questions. But such a deception is given to the church by Satan himself. In fact, such deception is one of his primary tactics to damn the souls of people to eternal hell. Satan has always tried to infiltrate God's people with those who say they speak for God but instead speak for him. Satan always tries to influence us with those who claim to speak the truth but who in fact speak error.

And God has warned us a lot how serious this is. If you read Deuteronomy 13: 1 -18 you would find that any prophet who comes along and suggests false worship or misrepresentation of God, or any misrepresentation of God's truth was to be killed instantly. Such a death penalty was even to be applied within a family.

In 2 Corinthians 11 :13-15, Paul is referring to some who have come into the Corinthian church, he calls them “false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, verse 14 says, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds.”

Satan is very busy outside the community of God's people, creating all kinds of false religious systems, everything from the Muslim faith to Buddhism to cults, eastern religions and many forms of ritualistic religions. And Satan is in charge of all from the most primitive like animism to poly-demonism, from polytheism to very well known world religions.

And here we have the same concept that is that God's people will be infiltrated by satanic agents who come in the name of God, say the name of Christ but represent Satan. Now Satan operates in many ways as described above, but here we're talking about a very specific tactic within the church of God's people.

And as we learn from this particular passage in 2 Corinthians 11, sin never approaches us as sin, Satan never comes to us as Satan, sin always comes to us as pleasure and Satan always comes to us in the name of Christ, in the name of God. Error never comes to us as error, error always comes to us as truth, but it isn't.

The servants of Satan who promote sin and propagate error never come as the servants of Satan, they always come as the servants of God. They're always disguised as righteous and truthful servants of God. They are religious teachers who name the name of God and name the name of Christ but who pervert the truth, who are satanic emissaries teaching demon doctrine.

And in the Scripture they are never tolerated. They're never tolerated as sort of partially right and needing to be helped along to the fullness of the truth, no, they are totally denounced and condemned to eternal damnation. There is a power in a person behind these false teachers and that is Satan. He was, he is and he always will be working to destroy the plan of God until his final end.

I'm afraid the church today is quite lost on these matters. It has become very tolerant of error, and it literally absorbs the very deception that Paul and Peter warn about. The cry today is for everyone to agree with everyone, to tolerate everyone who names the name of Christ no matter what he teaches. This sort of tolerance has produced indifference to truth. Many churches are now witless, careless, foolish and blind.

Paul's approach was quite different, so is Peter's. Their approach was to identify the opponent, call him what he was, and fight him on the basis of a passion for the truth. D.A. Carson writes, "The Germans have a wise saying, the saying is this, "Tell me with whom you are fighting and I will tell you who you are." 90 years ago, Jay Gresham Machen used to tell his students that the most important issues are not those on which men agreed, but those over which they fight.

Why? Because Satan will always attack the most important issues and so they always become a battleground. Satan's tactic is to falsify God's truth from inside the church, through people who name the name of Christ, and thus to deceive and distort and ultimately to damn people to hell who think they have the truth when they don't.

That is exactly what is on the heart of Peter. This letter is a warning about false teachers and their teaching and here in this middle chapter of these three brief chapters he describes the false teachers. He wants us to know what they look like and what they act like. He wants us to know what they talk like and how they function and operate.

Now you will notice that as verse 1 begins, the language appears to be prophetic. "False prophets also arose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you." It sounds future tense and it is. It indicates that false teachers will always come.

In verse 2, "Many will follow...the way of truth will be maligned...in their greed they will exploit you." There's no question that he is seeing this in the future. But it isn't long in this chapter before he begins to function in the present tense. Starting in verse 10 and flowing through the rest of the chapter he's talking in the present tense. And so the future is now.

Now he has a lot to say, it takes him twenty-two verses to get it all out. But he starts off with a simple sketch in verses 1 to 3. It's as if he takes some time with this portrait and first he sketches it and then he fills in all the color. The color starts to come in verse 4, but 1 to 3 gives us the sketch of the portrait of false teachers.

Notice how he introduces the subject, verse 1. "But," we have to stop there for a moment. It's an important transition. This should be verse 11 because it follows immediately on the prior verse. He says no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

He says God's word was written by eyewitnesses inspired by the Holy Spirit who penned the very Word of God so that Scripture is not the invention of men but the sure word of God. God has had His prophets and they wrote His Word with men from God.

But Satan has always had his men too, his false prophets and his false teachers. That word "but" is a very, very important transition. We need to be alert. Yes, God has given us a sure true word that came through true prophets, but Satan also has his own prophets just as God has His. The word also there in verse 1 is important because it too speaks of this contrast.

And so Peter says false prophets also arose. In addition to the men moved by the Spirit of God, holy men who spoke for God, there were also false prophets among the people. The phrase "among the people" is important. The phrase "The people" is used in the New Testament of Israel.

In Luke 2:32, for example, it talks about Thy people, Israel. In Acts 26: 17, it talks about delivering you from the people, meaning the Jewish people, and from the Gentiles. Then in verse 23, that He was to be the Messiah was a light to the people and to the Gentiles.

So, Peter says, "False prophets also arose among Israelites, among the Jews." There's a certain danger on false prophets outside, but the greater danger is when they get inside and they claim to belong to God, the true God. The Old Testament makes it clear that all through the history of Israel they were busy and they were effective.

That's the way it always was. And he sees not only into that Old Testament history, but he was thinking there as well of the time of our Lord Jesus, even the time in which Peter was living when false prophet dominated Judaism.

They're not only wrong, they are deadly. They are ravenous wolves, ferocious. They'll not only deceive you, they'll destroy you. The shepherd wore wool garments, it was the garment of the shepherd and the garment of the prophet. And those who come in sheep's clothing are coming in wool garments as if they are true shepherds and true prophets, but underneath the garment is a wolf.

They disguise themselves as shepherds. They disguise themselves as prophets. They appear orthodox. They speak favorably about God. They associate with the people of God. But they are children of the devil. Jesus said of those Pharisees and scribes, false leaders, they are on the outside whitewashed, but on the inside they stink with the stench of dead men's bones.

And our Lord said it would be so, so we need not be surprised. Just need go back to Matthew 24: 4-5, "See to it that no one misleads you, many will come in my name saying I am Christ and mislead many." It's pretty typical. False teachers, false prophets will arise. He's looking ahead to the end times, which is right now.

In Romans 16: 17-18 Paul says, "Brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, turn away from them. 18 They are slaves not of our Lord Jesus but of their own appetites and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting."

Now let me give you a few points that you find in this little portrait tonight. Number one; where this happens. This is happening in the church that names the name of Christ, in your fellowship, in your denominations, in your seminaries, in your pulpits, in your Sunday school classes and in your church leadership.

These are prominent people in Christianity that Peter is talking about, not outsiders. Turn to 2 Timothy 4:3 - 4 to get real insight into Satan's strategy. In verse 2 Paul tells Timothy, "Preach the Word all the time, in season, out of season, when it seems fitting, when it doesn't seem fitting, all the time preach the Word...reprove, rebuke, exhort.”

It doesn't say coddle, cajole or make them feel good. It says hammer them, reprove, rebuke, exhort, be patient but preach the Word. Why? 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, “Because the time is coming when they will not endure sound doctrine. But wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and 4 they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Many church people do not want strong preaching. They do not want reproof, rebuke and exhortation. The word "endure" means "hold to, or receive" The time comes when they don't hold to sound doctrine. Sound doctrine means healthy doctrine, healthy teaching, the teaching that brings health, wholeness and vitality, life, strength and maturity to the church.

What do they want? Well, verse 3 says they want teachers who tickle their ears. They don't want any negatives. They want to hear things that make them feel good about themselves, that give a pleasing feeling to their ears. Well, that really means that they want to hear only teachers that agree with their own lusts, their own desires and their sins.

Don't tell us the truth, feed our self-centered needs, feed our desires and tell us pleasant things even if they are not true. They want teachers that will say what they want to hear, who will please them, who will give them what they want. And that's the new cry today.

People are often saying: you want to know how to preach? Find out what your people want to hear, find out what your community wants to hear, you say what they want to hear and that's how you win them. False teachers follow the people’s desire, their self-centered desire and their selfishness.

They aren't concerned about God. They aren't concerned about worship. They aren't concerned about doctrine. They aren't concerned about being confronted regarding sin. They aren't even concerned about truth. They're only concerned about personal satisfaction and having their needs met.

The result, verse 4, "They will turn away their ears from the truth." We have a lot of popular preachers like that today, entertaining people, giving them messages of self-esteem and ego building that make them feel good about themselves.

And they can go to church and never be confronted in a negative way, and this is true in some of the largest churches in America. The sad reality of it is they're playing right into the hands of Satan because what will happen is those people that will not hear about their sin nature and the dangers of their sins will accumulate teachers who will turn their ears away from the truth.

That word "turn" there means to turn away from. And once they have turned away from the truth, they're wide open to Satan's influence. They want good feelings. And that is what Satan does in the church. That's right where he wants to operate. The truth doesn't tickle your ears, it pounds them and it burns their conscience. But that is what they need to hear.

Secondly, the subtlety of his operation. 2 Peter 2:1 says, “These false teacher who will secretly introduce destructive heresies." Secretly, it isn't going to be open, it's going to be subtle. Jude 4 says, "They creep in unawares, they sneak in under cover."

That's why it's so tragic when a church makes a virtue out of tolerance to the point where it's so tolerant that it has forgotten real truth. And in come the sneaky deceivers with their destructive heresies, or heresies of destruction, or heresies that damn. And even the critics in Acts who wanted to discount Christianity called it a sect.

And these self-invented opinions lead to factions in the church, they lead to dissent and then they lead to division. They come into a church with their own humanly devised stuff and they fracture and divide and split the church. How many churches do you know that have split up?

Peter calls these destructive heresies, which basically means damnation. It's used five times in this letter and it always means final, eternal damnation. Well, next Sunday we’ll study more to prepare us for these dangerous false teacher. Let's pray.

]]> Sun, 16 Jan 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110116 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000014E imblog

2 Peter 1:19-21

The Bible makes some startling claims for itself that set it apart from every other book in the world. Scripture says, for example, "The law of the Lord is perfect." It says, "All Your commandments are truth." "Scripture cannot be broken." "Every word of God is pure." "Not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled." In Isaiah 65:16 the Lord calls Himself, "The God of truth."

And the New Testament agrees with the Old Testament in calling God a God of truth. In John 3:33 it says, "God is truthful." John 17:3 says, "The only true God." First John 5:20 says, "He is the true God." And then there are several passages in the Old and New Testaments that tell us God cannot lie.

The writers of Scripture make over 2,000 direct claims to the fact that the Scripture is God speaking of Himself. Again and again they write phrases like, "The Spirit of the Lord has spoken to me," or, "The Word of God came to me," or "The Word of God said." And so, over and over again the Scripture reminds us that everything comes from God and is true.

That is precisely the message of our text. Let's go back to it, 2 Peter 1:19-21, “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Now the readers to whom Peter writes were being besieged by false teachers just as we are besieged by false teachers right now. And one of those things those false teachers were doing was denying the truth of Scripture. Peter writes this epistle to expose these false teachers and to give us proof that the bible is true.

Peter gives us two lines of verification of that truth of Scripture. First, supernatural experience in verses 16 to 18 which we discussed and looked at last Sunday. Secondly, supernatural revelation in verses 19 to 21. Both supernatural experience and supernatural revelation attest to the validity of Scripture as the Word of God. Together they affirm that the Bible is true.

In the first proof, Peter is simply saying that you're not getting secondhand information, you're getting firsthand information from firsthand eyewitnesses. When we wrote to you and when the other Apostles wrote to you and spoke about the Second Coming, they were eyewitnesses of Second Coming glory on the mount of transfiguration.

The second proof follows in verses 19 to 21 and it is the theme for our study tonight and it is about supernatural revelation. Not only did they have these personal experiences which makes them eyewitnesses, but they were also given supernatural revelation. God did not just depend on their eyewitness account.

God, by means of the Holy Spirit, superintended the recording of all of their experiences and all of their writings so that they, in effect, were the revelation of God Himself. So now you have also firsthand eyewitnesses writing under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, which is supernatural revelation.

Someone might say, "Well, Peter but your experience can't be the standard for truth. Lots of people have lots of experiences, real and unreal. So, Peter, as wonderful as it must have been to have talked with Jesus, seen Him on the cross, seen Him after His resurrection, as great as it was to have seen His Second Coming glory glimpsed on the mount of transfiguration, there must be something better than just your experience.

And the answer is, yes, there is the Scripture. And so in verse 19 Peter writes, "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed." Literally the Greek order is this, "And we have the more sure prophetic word." More sure than what? More sure than experience, even the valid, genuine experience of the Apostles.

Some commentators have felt that this statement could be understood a different way. They indicated that Peter and the Apostles' experience made the Word more sure. The idea there would be that the prophetic word might be true but our experience has validated it.

But the literal interpretation of the text again reads, "And we have the prophetic word confirmed." And so the order confirms our interpretation which I gave you first of all. As good as our experience is, the prophetic word is more sure. It would be strange to say the opposite because it would be saying: as strong as the Word is, there's something even stronger and that is our experience. And we know that that is wrong.

God Himself has repeatedly emphasized that the Word is a sufficient source of truth, the Word is inerrant, the Word is infallible, truth never to be questioned, and never to be helped along or validated by experience.

The glory of Christ in His transfigured magnificence on the mountain was perhaps able to make His Second-Coming glory more understandable to them, but the Word was already as sure as it would ever be, the Word is always a sure word.

The purposes of verses 16 to 18 was not to show the greater source of truth is experience, but simply to show that the writers who spoke of Christ's coming were not writing fables that they had invented like the false teachers, but they were firsthand eyewitnesses.

Peter is saying that verse 19 is line of evidence number one, "We have the more sure word, the confirmed prophetic word." It is ascribing to the Word the surest place. The Word is a more reliable source than the experience of anybody, even the Apostles. It is more specific, it is more detailed, it is more exact and it is fuller than anyone's experience could ever be.

Peter is saying that the many prophecies that were fulfilled in Christ's first coming and recorded in the New Testament are the confirmation of the Old Testament prophecies. The New Testament writers confirmed the Old Testament prophecies so that the New Testament is the written sure Word, to reaffirm that the Second Coming will come.

And so whether it was the Word of Christ, or the word of the prophets, the Old Testament was confirmed not by experience but by the New Testament, the words of Christ and the words of the Apostles. And this fits the Jewish thinking about the supremacy of written revelation.

Peter is saying if you don't believe me, go to the Scripture. So look at it there in verse 19, "the prophetic word" refers to inspired Scripture. It was an expression used in Peter's time to embrace the Old Testament as a whole. The whole Old Testament was in one way or another anticipating the coming of the Messiah.

To illustrate that simply and directly, one need only turn, for example, to John 5: 39. Jesus said this, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is these that bear witness of Me." Jesus says go through the Scriptures, they're all about Me. And He's referring to the Old Testament.

In Luke 24: 27, the road to Emmaus scene, “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets He expounded to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” And in verse 44 He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things which are written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled."

“45 And then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Genesis all the way to Malachi, the whole Old Testament speaks about Christ one way or another, He is the seen or the unseen subject. Jesus makes us confident as He marks out the Old Testament as a composite book of revelation pointing to the coming of the Messiah.

So Peter says this revealed body of truth is a more sure word even than our experience. And what Peter says here is not limited to the Old Testament. Any prophetic word from God is a more sure word than human experience. For the New Testament is an inspired record of the Old Testament being fulfilled in Christ in His first coming.

Back to verse 19. We have the more sure word, the prophetic word, "To which," that is to the word, which modifying word, "To which you do well to pay attention." Great statement. The word "well" is kalos, right, excellently. You do right, you do excellently, you better pay attention to this word.

Peter calls for a careful examination of Scripture. To make his point even more direct he offers a metaphor in verse 19, a very simple one. He says, "As to a lamp shining in a dark place." If you were wandering in a very dark place, you would desire a lamp to light your path. And so it is with the Word.

Psalm 119:105 says that Your Word is like a lamp to give light of truth and virtue to an ignorant and wicked world...a dark place. The Scripture is kind of a night light. And it shines only temporarily. Peter says we should pay attention to it as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the Morning Star arises in your hearts.

His word picture here is beautiful and Peter is referring to the coming of Christ. When he says, "Until the day dawns," he means the return of Christ in all its splendor. Christ's coming will totally dissipate the darkness as the glory of His Kingdom arrives and banishes the night.

You know what the word "Morning Star" means? The Morning Star is Christ Himself. Numbers 24:17 says, "There shall come a star out of Jacob," that star is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Revelation 22:16 it says, "I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright Morning Star."

At the end of verse 19 Peter says, "The Morning Star will rise in your hearts." It will have not only an externally transforming impact on the world and the universe, it will have an internal transforming impact on those believers who are alive when Jesus comes. An outer transformation and an inner transformation both will occur at the same time then.

Then Peter says we must have complete confidence in Scripture because we know it is inspired by God Himself. So he says this in verses 20 and 21, "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

In the Old Testament the evidence of a false teacher was that he spoke for himself. In Jeremiah 23:16 is written, "Thus says the Lord of host, do not listen to the words of the prophet who are prophesying to you, they're leading you into futility, they speak a vision of their own imagination." They made it up.

In Ezekiel 13:3 God says, "Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing." They don't know anything. So Peter says, "No prophecy of Scripture comes into being, or originates, or comes into existence from one's own interpretation."

In some ways that's an unfortunate translation because it tends to make people think that it's talking about how you interpret Scripture when it's really talking about the very source of it. The genitive case in the Greek indicates source.

Peter is not talking about how you interpret Scripture, he's talking about where it came from, how it originated, what its source was. It isn't like the teaching of the false prophets. No prophecy of Scripture has originated in the prophet's own understanding.

The same God who spoke at the transfiguration about the deity and humanity of Christ, the same God who spoke of the perfection of His Son is the same God who authored Scripture. No prophecy was ever at any time made by an act of human will. The Bible is not the product of men.

1 Peter 1:10-11, "As to this salvation the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow."

Ask yourself what in the world that could possibly mean if they were inventing their own prophecies. They knew it was the Spirit of Christ within them predicting these things. And so they were looking at the very things they were writing and saying, "What does it mean? How can I understand it?"

From Moses to Malachi and even in the New Testament writers who wrote about the Second Coming of Christ there must have been some mystery. Even though God had revealed to them a future great redemptive deliverance to be brought by the Messiah, and they knew it was future and they knew it was coming, but they couldn't fully understand it.

It's important to note that all the authors of the sixty-six books from Scripture are men. And all those men were moved by the Holy Spirit, which means they were continually carried along. The same verb is used in Acts 27 twice, verses 15 and 17, of a sail ship that's blown along by the wind, just moved along.

The Holy Spirit then is the divine author, the producer of the prophetic word, not human thought, not human will, this is not a book written by men. This is a book recorded by men, but authored by God the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament alone, 3,808 times the writers refer to their words as the very words of God. The Holy Spirit inspired the writers and moved them along. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God for whom among men know the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him, even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God."

So, Peter says...Look, I'm not a false prophet, I have never written a book before. First of all, I was an eyewitness of the majesty of Jesus Christ so I know what I speak of. But even more sure than that, I write as one moved along by the Holy Spirit like every other biblical writer and this comes directly from God. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 Jan 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110109 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000014F imblog

2 Peter 1:16-21

The Bible has always had its detractors, and it always will. And some of them have been quite significant people by the world's standard. Here are some examples. Voltaire, the French philosopher said, "Nothing can be more contrary to religion than logic and common sense." Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche who died in 1900, the German philosopher said, "People to whom their daily life appears too empty and monotonous easily grow religious.

Then there is a woman by the name of Elizabeth Katie Stanton who said, "The Bible and the church have been the greatest stumbling block in the way of women's emancipation." "The idea," said Luther Burbank, "that a good God would send people to burning hell is utterly damnable to me." Thomas Edison said, "What does God mean to me? Not a damn thing. Religion is all bunk."

Is Christianity bunk? Is the Bible a book of lies? It is a book for fools? Is our faith a cursed and damaging thing? Does the church retard humanity from otherwise reaching its intellectual achievements? Or is this book the truth? Is it a sure word?

Peter answers all this in 2 Peter 1:16-18, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”

Next 2 Peter 1:19-21 says, “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Peter is echoing what the psalmist said in Psalm 19:7 when he said, "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." The testimony of the Lord the psalmist intended to say is trustworthy, it is reliable, you can bet your life upon it. Isaiah 55: 3 puts it this way, "Incline your ear and come to Me, listen that you may live."

In this letter Peter is writing to Christians, who are being tested by the teachings of false teachers. And what are these false teachers trying to do? They want to debunk the Christian faith. The same thing that people are trying to do today and have always tried to do, trying to discredit the Scripture.

It is not enough to know who they are, you have to defend yourself against what they say. And so Peter is building in this epistle three lines of defense and they're all built around knowledge. Number one is the knowledge of your salvation. Number two is the knowledge of Scripture. And number three is the knowledge of sanctification.

And now we are dealing with item number two, knowing Scripture. And Peter is dealing with this in 2 Peter 1:16-21. You have to believe the Bible is a true word because if you're hit by error, where are you going to go to discover that it's error?

What is the criteria? What is the basis for such a defense? If I'm not convinced that the Bible is unerringly the Word of God, then where do I go to defend myself? On the other hand, if I know that this is a sure word, then whatever comes my way I can measure it against the truth.

How are we to know that what other apostles write is true? How are we to know what the prophets in the Old Testament wrote was true? How are we to know we have a true word, there are a lot of voices, there are a lot of opinions, there are a lot of religions and there are a lot of teachers. Who do we believe and why?

Peter says I'm no false teacher. Because number one, I'm an eyewitness. This is not second-hand material. Secondly, the Scripture does not give you human wisdom; it gives you divinely inspired truth as the Spirit of God moved men to write it. So you have a sure word based on two accounts.

Supernatural experience is in verses 16 to 18 and supernatural revelation we find in verses 19 to 21. And together those two ideas tie an unbreakable knot around the sure word. Now for tonight, let's look at this matter of the supernatural experience first. In verses 16 to 18 Peter accredits himself by virtue of his experience.

In verse 16 he says, "Look, this is not something that came down the philosophical pike, this is not something I picked up in some mythology, this is an eyewitness account. What I say to you and what I teach you I am an eyewitness of firsthand." And so as he begins to lay the bedrock of trust in what he taught, he refers to his supernatural experience.

Peter starts in verse 16, "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables." Now the "we" here embraces the other Apostles too. He's speaking in a collective sense of himself and the other writers of the New Testament. Collectively, he says, all of us have experienced supernatural reality. We have all had personal verification from God Himself of the truth we teach.

Well cleverly devised simply means subtly concocted. It's a clandestine thing and a deceptive thing. It is cleverly devised to get your money, to have you follow someone, to gain from you whatever it is that they want. And, beloved, that is the ploy of false teachers. They are after your mind.

In the attempt to destroy people's trust in the Christian faith, they label God’s Word as a book of myths and a book of fables. This is so successful that there are even Protestant theologians in years past who felt it was their task to take the miracles out of the Bible.

Peter says when we gave you God's Word, when we gave you new revelation, when we opened up divine mystery which means something hidden now revealed, this was not some cleverly concocted myth.

And one of the truths those false teachers are trying to eliminate is what we read at the end of verse 16, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” These false teachers particularly were after this issue of Christ's Second Coming.

These false teachers wanted to refute the second coming of Jesus Christ, which of course is the culmination of everything. If Christ doesn't come back, then all the rest is meaningless, right? If He isn't the end of history and the beginning of eternity, then the rest is a moot point and useless.

Peter says he is not surprised by this as he writes in 2 Peter 3:3-4, “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

In other words they teach that things will continue as they have been since creation, nothing will ever change. They were acting just like all the people that perished at the worldwide flood in Noah’s time. And that is also what is going to happen to all who reject Jesus now.

Peter says when we tell you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus, we're not giving you a fable or a myth; we're giving you the truth. Do you notice the word “power”? In His first coming He didn't come with power, He came with humility, right? He came born as a helpless little baby, humiliated until He was finally executed. But the day is coming when He will come in great power.

That word "coming," by the way, is the word parousia. When we say Jesus is coming, He's coming to stay. It's like 1 Thessalonians when He comes to gather His people, it says, so shall we ever be with the Lord. This word, parousia, when used of Jesus Christ in the New Testament always refers to His Second Coming.

Peter had been teaching the early Christians that Jesus was coming back. In 1 Peter 1:7 he mentions “the revelation of Jesus Christ” which means His second coming. And he mentions this again in verse 13. And in 1 Peter 4:13 he talks about the revelation of Christ’ glory.

Now it is true that all of the Apostles had been eyewitnesses of His majesty in some degree. They saw the majesty of His resurrection for He met them in His glorified resurrected body. They had seen the majesty of His ascension when He was caught up in the clouds and taken into glory.

Jesus predicted this would happen. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 16:28, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom." What a statement, many liberals misinterpret this verse to say that some apostles would continue to live until Jesus would come back again.

But Peter further explains what it means to see “the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.” In 2 Peter 1:17 he tells us, "For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance of this was made to him by the Majestic Glory, `This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased,' and we ourselves heard this utterance."

Whatever event Peter's talking about, whatever he's remembering, God was there. And God gave glory and honor to Jesus. Honor means exalted status, glory means radiant splendor. When did Jesus receive glory and honor from God the Father? Well it was at a time when such an utterance as this was made to Jesus by “the majestic glory.”

Do you know that the Jews refuse to say the name of God? They did not want to say the name of God for fear of it being inadequate and so they had many substitutes for the name of God and one of the most beautiful was they called Him "The Majestic Glory."

That narrows it down to three potential events. God said that at the baptism of Christ, in Matthew 3:16 -17, and God said it during the Passion Week in John 12:28, "This is My beloved Son." Those are two of the times, but those aren't the times Peter had in mind because he tells us in 2 Peter 1:18. "And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him not at the Jordan River and not during Passion Week in the city but on the holy mountain.”

Peter says we were there. We ourselves, plural--he wasn't alone, heard this utterance made from heaven. Remember what happened during the transfiguration in Matthew 17? Jesus said beforehand that some of you are going to live to see Me in My glory. Jesus took Peter and James and John, his brother, and brought them to just a high mountain that would soon become a holy mountain.

They were the most intimate with Jesus, they knew Him the best, they were with Him the most, they understood Him and they were the spokesmen. Six days after Matthew 16:28, beginning in Matthew 17 it says they all went up to the mountain till the action started.

Jesus was transfigured before them. This means He was changed into another form. Here is a description, "His face shone like the sun." He was the brightness of the Father, the express image of His person, the transcendent glory, the Shekinah glory blazed out of His face. “And His garments became bright as light."

One thing is for sure: they knew this was no ordinary man. They knew they were seeing a supernatural being, splendorous revealed. Because He was radiant on the inside and that radiance began to show through His garments.

And then Moses and Elijah showed up. Wow, and they were talking to Jesus about His coming death. They represented the law and the prophets, Moses the great lawgiver, Elijah the great proclaimer of the truth of the law. And they're having a conversation with Him like they know Him and they do know Him because they've been with Him for a long time.

Then we read in Matthew 17:5, “While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And then God added what was not recorded, “Hear Him!”

If you're wondering what it meant when the Father said, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased," you can look up the passages where He said it and read the fullness of it. But the statement basically means, "This is One in essence with Me," and the Father is affirming the deity of the Son.

God in one statement established the unity of the human and divine natures in Christ, established the perfect love bond in the trinity, because Jesus is sinless and therefore a holy God and a sinless Christ can be one in essence. God also established His complete satisfaction with everything Jesus said and did and thought because in Him He was well pleased.

You have the testimony of Moses; you have the testimony of Elijah, now would you like the testimony of God? Matthew 17:12 says, "My Son will tell you He will suffer and die, believe Him.” He will tell you He will rise again, believe Him. If He tells you He will come again in glory, believe Him."

And Matthew 17:6-8 says, "And when the disciples heard it they fell on their faces and they were much afraid." They were traumatized and frightened out of their minds. “7 Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Arise and do not be afraid. And lifting up their eyes they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone." It was over.

You think they ever forgot it? No, that’s why Peter mentions this in his writings. And Jesus says in Matthew 17: 9, "When you go down the hill don't tell anybody until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." What you saw today isn't for now, it's not for His first coming, it's for His Second Coming.

So Peter says, "Look, when I tell you about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, I am not giving you some concocted, deceptive myth, I am telling you what I personally experienced." Beloved, when you open the pages of Scripture, you are hearing eyewitness accounts.

God wants you to be sure that everything in the bible is true. I’ll continue next Sunday on what else Peter says in this regard. Do you believe every word in the bible? Do you do what the bible says? Do you know that God is talking to you through the bible? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 02 Jan 2011 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20110102 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000150 imblog

Colossians 1:15-16

For many, Christmas is the time to think of Jesus Christ as a baby in a manger. While the birth of Christ is a special and miraculous event, that isn't the primary focus. The central truth of the Christmas story is this: the Child of Christmas is God.

Christmas is not about the Savior's infancy; it is about His deity. The humble birth of Jesus Christ was never intended to conceal the reality that God was being born into the world. But the modern world's version of Christmas does just that. And consequently for most people, Christmas has no legitimate meaning at all.

No one can ever fathom what it means for God to be born in a manger. How does one explain the Almighty stooping down to become a tiny infant? Our minds cannot begin to understand what was involved in God becoming a man.

Nor can anyone explain how God could become a baby. Yet He did. Without forsaking His divine nature or diminishing His deity, He was born into our world as a tiny infant. He was fully human, with all the needs and emotions that are common to us all. And yet He was also fully God, all wise and all powerful.

For over 2,000 years, debate has been raging about who Jesus really is. Cults and skeptics have offered various explanations. They'll say He is one of many gods, a created being, a high angel, a good teacher, a prophet and so on.

The common thread of all such theories is that they make Jesus less than God. But the evidence is overwhelming that this child in the manger is the God that became a man. One passage in particular, written by the apostle Paul, describes the essence of Jesus' divine nature and supports the truths that make Christmas truly wonderful.

Colossians 1:15-16 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Paul was writing to the Christians at Colossae. The city was under the influence of what came to be known as gnosticism. Its followers were of the opinion that they were the only ones who had access to the truth, which they believed was so complex that common people couldn't know it.

In addition they taught philosophical dualism, which is the idea that matter is evil and spirit is good. They believed that because God is spirit, He is good, but He could never be involved in matter, which is evil.

Therefore they also concluded that God couldn't be the creator of the physical universe, because if God made matter, He would be responsible for evil. And they taught that God could never become a man, because as a man He would have to dwell in a body made of evil matter.

Those people explained away the incarnation by saying that Jesus was a good angel whose body was only an illusion. That teaching and others like it filled the early church; but many of the New Testament epistles specifically contradict these ideas.

In fact, the apostle John invalidates the foundation of gnostic teaching when he wrote "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God" (1 John 4:2-3).

The apostle Paul refuted that same heresy when he wrote in our key verse tonight, Colossians 1:16, "By Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by Him and for Him". He specifically affirmed that Jesus is God in the flesh, the Creator of everything.

Ironically, some of the cults that deny Jesus' deity try to use Colossians 1:15-16 to support their view. They suggest, for example, that the phrase "the image of the invisible God" (v. 15) hints that Jesus was merely a created being who bore the image of God in the same sense as all humanity.

But the truth is though we were created in God's likeness, we only resemble Him. Jesus, on the other hand, is God's exact image. The Greek word translated "image" means a perfect replica, a precise copy, a duplicate. Paul was saying that God Himself is fully manifest in the Person of His Son, who is none other than Jesus Christ.

He is the exact image of God. Jesus Himself said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). He brings God from a cosmic location to the very hearts of men and women. He gives us light and life. He reveals God's very essence. They cannot be divided, and neither has ever existed without the other, they are one (John 10:30).

Scripture repeatedly says that God is invisible (John 1:18; 5:37; 1 Timothy 1:17; and Colossians 1:15). But through Christ the invisible God has been made visible. God's full likeness is revealed in Him.

Colossians 1:19 says, "It was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him." He is not just an outline of God; He is fully God.  Colossians 2:9 is even more explicit: "In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form." No attribute is absent. He is God in the fullest possible sense, the perfect image.

In Colossians 1:15 Paul says Jesus is "the first born of all creation." Those who reject the deity of Christ have made much of that phrase, assuming it means Jesus was a created being. But the word translated "first born" describes Jesus' rank, not His origin.

The first-born in a Hebrew family was the heir, the ranking one, the one who had the right of inheritance. And in a royal family, he had the right to rule. So Christ is the One who inherits all creation and the right to rule over it. It doesn't mean He was born first in order, for He wasn't.

In Psalm 89:27 God says of David, "I also shall make him My first born, the highest of the kings of the earth." There the meaning of "first born" is given in plain language: "the highest of the kings of the earth." That's what first-born means, Christ is "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 17:14).

Creator and King. Christ is not part of creation; He is the Creator, active from the beginning in calling the universe and all creatures into existence. John 1:3 says, "All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

That could not be true if He were Himself a created being. Christ was the Person of the Trinity through whom the world was made and for whom it was fashioned. The size of the universe is incomprehensible.

Who made all that? Some scientists say there was this big explosion that eventually formed a primordial swamp, and ... Science cannot explain it. God created it all. Who? The babe born in Bethlehem, He made everything. Amen?

]]> Sun, 19 Dec 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?20101219 http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000151 imblog

Isaiah 9:1-7

Isaiah chapter 9 really describes for us perhaps the most classic prophecy regarding the coming of Jesus Christ. And when you stop to consider a Christmas message there are all different ways that you can go at it, but perhaps it would be worth our while to examine an Old Testament prophet’s view of the birth of the Messiah, Christ the Savior of the world.

The light that came out of the darkness of Isaiah's day is the same light that we announce to a dark world today. In fact Isaiah could well have been a 21st century preacher from what is the indication of these verses that we shall look at.

We celebrate Christmas and the birth of Christ in a context of kind of a happy occasion. But when you really look around the world, it isn't anything to be real happy about. The money mad self-indulgence that goes on and often in the name of Jesus Christ does not bring any glory to Him.

The demon controlled world is mocking Jesus. When we talk of true honor the mockery seems all the greater, the hypocrisy seems even more blatant and the sin of rejection more blasphemous. The darkness of man's heart hasn't changed one bit. In these end times it has become even more and more depraved.

And yet it's a strange thing because all throughout the history of man in his darkness and his unwillingness to respond to Jesus Christ he has always wanted a Savior, he has always wanted a deliverer. Everybody has always looked for a peacemaker, somebody who could right the wrongs and make the injustices just.

The Bible tells us that God sent that kind of a Savior at precisely the right time. Exactly at the right moment in history Jesus Christ was born, at the right conflux of events, at the right strategic point in the history of man Jesus Christ arrived. Isaiah predicted this.

Isaiah 49:8, “Thus says the LORD: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.”

Ever since that Savior came it has always been the right time to receive Him and acknowledge Him. Christ the Savior of the world has been available to men every moment of every day since He arrived, two thousand years ago. And yet men continue to reject Him and continue to refuse Him.

It's in this kind of a dark, sick world that the announcement of Jesus Christ must continually and faithfully be given even though the world will not receive it. We know that it says in John 1:10 that Jesus Christ was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. Yet for those few that receive it God's promises are true.

Why was it so dark? Because there was so much idol-worship then just like today. When a person commits himself to worship a false god, a demon will take over that false god and in reality he will be worshiping that demon.

That's why they're hooked because those fallen angels can really function in their lives, and they can see strange and supernatural things happen as a result of worshiping an idol. We need to understand that and protect ourselves.

Paul said the same thing in 1 Corinthians 10:14, “Therefore my beloved, flee from idolatry.” Paul said, flee idolatry because idolatry is sacrificing and worshiping demons. And throughout the Old Testament every time a nation or Israel itself was involved in idolatry, it was nothing more than demon worship.

That's exactly what's going on in our world today. Many people are fooling around with all that goes with demonism, astrology, horoscopes, seeking the supernatural in a fleshly manner, familiar spirits, mediums, magic, witchcraft and the whole bit. And even false teachers who teach false doctrine and worship health and wealth can be used by fallen angels to deceive you.

It is against this backdrop that Isaiah speaks of the glorious coming of the Child who is God, the Savior born into the world. And friends, this is the message that we now have to tell others too. We're not announcing this to a wonderful world that's hanging in neutral, we're in the same kind of a black world preoccupied with demons and devil worship that Isaiah was in and our message comes to them just as Isaiah's did.

So here comes the promise from Isaiah 9:1-7, “Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”

There's coming a time when the distress is going to end, there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish, and Israel's gloom and the world’s gloom is coming to a close. What a wonderful prophecy, the picture of misery is going to dissolve and the light is going to break. Even though the world may remain dark the light of life and salvation can be lit in your life and someday the world itself will be lit when Jesus comes back.

Why Zebulun and Naphtali? God is going to intervene there and salvation is going to come and where as God had formerly treated this little area with contempt because of their sin He is going to bring glory into that area. Galilee had just been through destruction, and Galilee stood as a great example of God's wrath and so by contrast would also stand as a great example of God's mercy.

Nobody would have ever predicted that the Messiah would arrive in Galilee. Galilee was the crummiest place of all. And Galilee had a bad taste for the Jews because it was right next to Gentile country and was actually called a nation of Gentiles. In fact when Jesus arrived He spent 30 years plus of His life in Galilee as Isaiah's prophecy predicted He would.

Doesn't the prophet say He's supposed to come from Bethlehem? Well don’t you know that He had been born in Bethlehem and moved to Galilee fulfilling the prophecy of Micah that He was born in Bethlehem, and fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah that He comes from Galilee?

He designed it to come to Galilee of the Gentiles. He was to be the world Savior, He was for all men, not just the religious leaders in Israel, not just the Jews but for all men, and thus did He go to Galilee. This is kind of an open rejection really of the Jewish religion as such which was hypocrisy without reality.

Isaiah 9:3-5, “3 You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice before You according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For You have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. 5 For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle, and garments rolled in blood, will be used for burning and fuel of fire.”

These 3 verses relate all to the hope of the coming Kingdom. The Kingdom is coming, be joyful, rejoice, victory and the end of all wars; and peace forever, the Messiah's Kingdom will come when He returns again. Let's rejoice in that hope and look at this Savior who came, and whom we need to announce to this dark world today.

Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

First of all notice it says, “a Child is born”, that speaks of His humanity, doesn't it? Jesus was a real human being, He was human and He was a man. The writer of Hebrews says He was as human as any man. He took upon Himself flesh.

Because He was human and because He felt what we feel and because He hurt where we hurt He is able to be sympathetic with us, and so He is a faithful High priest. He was a man and He had to be a man because He had to die in man's place, He had to bear man's sin and He had to feel man's pain.

But more than just a man, notice the second phrase in verse 6, "unto us a Son is" what's the next word. Not born, what? "given," given by whom? By God. This is His deity. He was not only a man, He was God. He was divine in human form. He had to be man to bear man's sin but He had to be God to defeat sin and defeat death.

This was no ordinary child, this is the virgin born Holy Spirit conceived Son of God. It is He who is the light in darkness, He is the hope shattering despair, this born Child, this given Son, He is the perfect one of God. He's the only hope for our dark world.

Men today search for wisdom, they search for answers, they search for the meaning of life, they search for solutions to their fears and problems. They go to psychologists, psychiatrists, analysts and counselors. They read books, they try everything, they even seek demons, yet they never get any real help, they in fact become more and more lost and without hope.

The Word of God says, first the Child is named Wonderful Counselor. I offer you Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only perfect Counselor that there is. You see as God He knows everything, wouldn't you like to have a counselor who knew everything? You see as God He created you and He knows exactly what you need.

He knows all about you, He knows all the needs of your heart and He knows how to answer those needs. He knows what's best for you, He knows how to solve your problems and He gives you wise counsel. He's not like Satan, He never lies and He never plays games, He always gives you straight stuff and He knows what you truly need.

But more than just a Counselor you need some energy, and that you see in the second name, He's also the Mighty God, He can not only teach you what to do but He the power to do it, isn't that great? And He can do what seems impossible for man.

You know one of the most amazing things in counseling is that people come to you and they say, here's my problem, and they go on and on about their problem. But when they are given the solution related to God, they leave and never even try it.

Usually people want you to tell them to do what they want to do; they want to get confirmation in what they're doing now. But that's not how it is with Christ; He not only shows you what to do but He gives you the power to do it. You see what a tremendous Savior He is?

Not only that, He is capable of redeeming men, of subduing the earth and all of its kingdoms and reigning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He is power beyond power. And all that power is moved in behalf of you and me if we love Him and know Him and trust Him.

The third thing it says about Jesus is that He is the Everlasting Father. Not only is He a Son but He is also a Father, He is a child in time but in eternity He is the Father. John MacArthur says, “He is a Child of time and the Father of timelessness.” Wow!

Jesus Christ fathered eternity, isn’t that a heavy thought? He fathers eternal life for all who believe, and that's the main impact of what Isaiah is saying. He is to you and to me who love Him and receive Him the source of everlasting life, do you see that? And it is everlasting life together with Him!

And He is our Father forever, as it says in Isaiah 25:8, “He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.”

Fourthly, He is called the Prince of Peace, and His Kingdom is peace. He came to bring peace in three ways. Number one, He gives peace between a man and God, when you come to Jesus Christ the war is over, the rebellion has ended, you're at peace with God. In Romans 5:1 it says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Secondly He puts peace in your heart, an inner rest, Philippians 4:7 says, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” No amount of counseling, no amount of money, no amount prestige and position will give you this kind of peace.

The third thing He comes again someday to bring a Kingdom of peace where He will reign as prince and King. He is, Paul says in Ephesians 2:14, "He is our peace." He came as it says in Luke 1:79, “To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

And then lastly, He is the peaceful Sovereign Leader of the World and that's in verse 7, where it says, “the government shall be upon his shoulder," that means the government of the earth not the government of your life, that's the final Kingdom of Messiah.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end," an eternal Kingdom of peace, "upon the throne of David" He has the right to rule, He is David's heir, "and upon his kingdom, to order it, to establish it with justice and righteousness from henceforth even forever.

A King is coming; and He will rule. He came once and offered His Kingdom and men refused and nailed Him to a cross, but He'll be back to bring His Kingdom. This time it won't be offered, it will be established here on earth and in heaven just for those who believe.

Let me close with just picking out two words out of verse 6 that are repeated twice. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Who is the us? To whom is this child given? Is it to everybody? No. Only unto us who believe. Isaiah was speaking to the godly remnant in Israel and the godly remnant everywhere.

May there be some here and there chosen by You God who shall come to know Jesus Christ in the fullest sense, to step out of the darkness of this world into light, to Your Kingdom of light.

Father we do realize that Jesus fulfills all the prophecies of the Old Testament, that He fulfills the hunger of the despair of every man's heart. Father we look at our world and we just are sickened at the lostness of men, who have eliminated God and are looking fulfillment and find it empty and despairing. Father help us to present the glorious shining light of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet. Amen!

]]> Sun, 12 Dec 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?the-savior-is-born http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000170 imblog

2 Peter 1:12-15

We're going to study 2 Peter 1:12-15 tonight. This is one of those passages that really gives us insight into the author's heart. It's kind of going behind the scenes, a little bit, in the life of Peter to find out what makes him tick, as it were.

So let us examine now God’s word in 2 Peter 1:12-15, “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. 13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, 14 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. 15 Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.”

Let us briefly look again at the context of this passage. Peter wants to give us all the weapons we need to fight false teachers and their lies. If we are to defend ourselves against false doctrine, heresy, we are going to have to have knowledge.

We need to know our salvation and we've already discussed that in the first eleven verses of chapter 1. We need to know the Scripture, and Peter is going to get into that starting in verse 16 in our next lesson. And finally, in chapter 3, we must know our sanctification.

But before Peter goes into that second area of knowledge, he digresses a little bit in these few verses to let us look into his heart. He shows us the most caring part of him in this whole letter and really reveals his pastoral passion. Here is why he wrote the letter. Here we get an insight in to what was motivating him.

And as he speaks about his ministry, four things flow out of this text. He reveals the urgency of ministry, the spirit of ministry, the duty of ministry and the brevity of ministry. That's what's underlying this letter. This is the passion that moves him and that should move us also.

This letter is a final statement from the beloved Apostle Peter, a legacy, a statement of divine truth which set in pen and ink under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and is included in Scripture which will go on bearing eternal fruit as long as time exists. And it will lead people to holiness, virtue, obedience which will result in eternal reward.

But why does Peter start talking about reminding us? Because God knows that we are easily distracted and any good teacher also realizes that people easily forget what they hear. Way back in Deuteronomy 6:6-9 God said, "I am the Lord and I am one and I am your God."

And He then said, "Don't forget. Talk about Me when you rise up and when you sit down and when you lie down and when you walk in the way, teach about Me to your children. Bind My law on your forehead between your eyes, on your arm, put it on the doorpost of your house, do not forget." Don’t forget me in your daily life!

In Deuteronomy 8:19-20 we read, "And it shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish, like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish because you wouldn't listen to the voice of the Lord your God."

When God gave them the Passover, it was to be an annual reminder, the symbol of remembrance to remember not Egypt but to remember the God of redemption, the God of deliverance, the God of salvation, the God of grace and mercy and the God of judgment and justice. Even now when Passover is observed, the Jews remember Egypt and they remember escape but many do not know the God of salvation.

Jesus said to the Twelve in John 15:20, "Remember the word which I said to you." Paul said, "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus," in Acts  20:35. And he said in 2 Timothy 2:8, "Remember Jesus Christ born of the seed of David, risen from the dead according to my gospel."

And he wrote in 2 Peter 3:1, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance." James put it another way but meaning the same thing, said, "Do not be a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work."

We don't have the time to go through all of those Old Testament texts in which God said "do not forget Me, do not forget Me, remember Me, remember Me." Nor do we even have time to go through all of them in the New Testament in which we as believers are reminded to remember. We as Christians all forget so easily.

Michael Griffiths says in his book “God’s forgetful Pilgrims”, and I quote: "Christians have a strange amnesia. A high proportion of people who go to church have forgotten what going to church is all for. Week by week they attend services in a special building and go through specific routines but give little thought to the purpose of what they're doing.

The Bible talks about the church as the bride of Christ, who is pure and chaste, but the church seems more like a ragged Cinderella, hideous among the ashes who have forgotten she's supposed to be a beautiful lady."

How about you here in our church? Are you really learning something that is changing the way you live? I’m glad that some of you save the sermons and from time to time read them again and do this so they can remember God’s word for them and then try to put this in practice in their daily life.

There's another reality that all good teachers also know and that is the issue of familiarity. While you must remind them over and over and over of the same thing, if you do it in the same way using the same words they will think they heard it before and they'll tune you out. So the challenge of teaching is to repeat Scripture in a different way using the same great truth so people hear it freshly.

Now the first thing that we note as we sense the heart of Peter for his people is the sense of the urgency of ministry. Notice the beginning of verse 12, “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things.” And I don't want you to ever forget how marvelous it is to have the assurance of salvation and so I am going to be always ready to remind you about these things.

He is anticipating that everyone who reads his letter knows that he again ready is to remind us of these things. So every time 2 Peter is picked up and the first chapter is read, Peter is reminding us of these things. And so both preaching and writing are both reminding.

He wanted to leave a legacy; he wanted to leave a final will and testament to remind people of the greatness of salvation and the blessedness of assurance and to prevent false teachers and false doctrine to steal any of that away. And Peter is not the only one to do that.

It is frankly discouraging if you think about it how fast we forget. There have been surveys done in the past that say that within an hour after a given sermon, people have forgotten ninety percent of it. That is a frightening statistic.

"How do we overcome that?" By repeating the same things over and over again in different ways, just as the Word of God does. And any faithful minister feels the urgency of doing just that.

Secondly, Peter not only understood the urgency of ministry which is to remind people against the hazards of error and sin, but he also understood the spirit of ministry. While you are reminding people you have to recognize that they already know a lot of things.

Peter shows that you have to have a proper spirit, a spirit of graciousness, a spirit of gentleness, a spirit of meekness and a spirit of tenderness. And so he speaks in that way, look verse 12, "I shall always be ready to remind you of these things," that's the urgency of it, but look at the spirit of it, "even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you."

There's a sweetness in that as he says to his people...I know you know these things, I know you've heard these things, I know these things have been built into your life and I know that they are present with you, but please let me still remind you of them.

There isn't any condescension here. Remember he is the one who said you're not to lord over the flock. I'm not here to tell you something you don't know, I have great confidence and great trust in what you already have learned, what you have already come to believe, what you have already affirmed. But I just want to remind you.

And Paul does the same thing. In Colossians 1:6 Paul says, "Which has come to you just as in all the world, also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing even as it has been doing in you, also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth."

Here he writes this letter to the Colossians full of exhortation, full of calling them to a higher kind of life and yet he says, "I know you've heard the truth, I know you've believed the truth, I affirm all of that, I'm just reminding you, I'm trying to increase your devotion."

1 John 2:27 says, “the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things.” And he is speaking there about the Holy Spirit. In 2 John 1:2 he says that the truth abides in us and will be with us forever.

When you come to know Christ, John recognizes it, Paul recognizes it and Peter recognized it. When you come to know Christ the truth is in you, the truth abides in you. And Peter is saying I know that. I'm not questioning your salvation. I'm not questioning your faith. I'm just reminding you because of the urgency since you stand in the path of oncoming false doctrine.

Do you know this is true now more than ever? Satan knows that we are living in the end times and he is working his utmost to attack us. Have you seen the billboards from the atheist now just before Christmas? They say, hey wake up, there is no Christ, there never has been a God and there never will be. They say don’t be deceived.

One of the reasons that would have compelled Peter to remind us would have been his own failure, right? In the history of the world Peter had a greater opportunity to know truth than anybody else. Not only was he included among the twelve disciples, all of whom had that great opportunity, but he was included among the inner three, Peter, James and John, who were most intimate with Christ.

And he was without question the most outspoken of the Twelve and thus in many ways the most immediate confidant. He must have felt the closeness to Jesus because he was so brash, he made such major assumptions about what he could say in His presence which indicates that he felt very comfortable there.

No man had been in greater proximity to the truth, having walked with Jesus for those years, having heard everything that He had taught, having seen all of the miracles that He did, having experienced everything in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ that isn't even recorded in the Bible. He experienced all that truth and was reminded of it again and again.

If you read the gospels you will find that our Lord Jesus taught the same truths over and over again, sometimes in the same words, sometimes in different words. That's why you may read an expression by our Lord in one context, in one gospel and see it appear in a completely different context in another gospel. That is not proof of editing of the gospels; that is proof that Jesus was an excellent teacher who knew to repeat the same things over and over in different ways.

That is why Jesus was distressed when toward the end of His ministry they still hadn't got His message. He says John 14:9, "How long have I been with you," to them in the Upper Room, "and you still don't know who I am?"

And there is Peter after all of that firsthand exposure to truth defecting at the time of crisis, denying Jesus Christ. In Luke 22:31-32 Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and you when once you have been turned again strengthen your brethren."

And Peter said to Him in verse 33-34, "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death." And He said, "I say to you, Peter, the cock will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me." And we know that Peter denied Jesus three times.

See, Peter knew firsthand that even though you have a lot of truth and it is present with you, you need constant reminders lest you defect. The teacher never holds back truth because it is known that truth bears repetition. That's how you build the blocks of the wall of strength.

And so he says in verse 13, "I consider it right, I consider it proper, I consider it my duty as long as I am in this tent." Your body is only a tent, a temporary, transitory place for your soul to live and some day it will be folded up and your soul will move to another place abandoning that tent. But Peter says as long as I am this temporary, transitory passing place to live, I consider it right to stir you up by way of reminder.

He was saying there's no retirement. I do this till I leave my tent. I want to keep doing what I do until I die or lose my mind. If I lose my mind, you can shuffle me off to the home. But Peter had a lifelong perspective here. What was he going to be doing as long as he lived? He was going to stir you up to grow more like Jesus Christ.

Believers can become lazy and sleepy and drowsy, failing to be a alert, clear minded. There's a sense in which every preacher and teacher knows that his responsibility is to stimulate you, to awaken you from your lethargy and your laziness and apathy and spiritual drowsiness.

Lastly, he understood the brevity of ministry. And this becomes compelling...notice verse 14, he says, "Knowing," that is--I have no doubt--"that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling, my tent, is imminent." Look at the end of verse 14, "As also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me."

What? You mean the Lord Jesus made it clear to him that his death was going to be sudden? Jesus told him that in John 21:18, and in verse 19 John says, "He said this signifying what kind of death he would glorify God."

The tradition of the early church says he was crucified as Christ predicted he would be. Before he was crucified, though, he was forced to watch the crucifixion of his wife. It is said that he stood at the foot of her cross, continually encouraging her with the words, "Remember the Lord, remember the Lord, remember the Lord." And after she died, he willingly died only he insisted that he not be allowed to be crucified like his Lord because he was not worthy, and he insisted that they crucify him upside down, which they did.

Peter is not concerned that you remember him. He's concerned that you remember what he taught. So Peter said I'm going to do it in such a way that I leave a legacy so that after I'm gone you, as Christians, you may be able to call these things to mind and you keep adding virtues to your life.

So is this driving you guys to remember that? Are you making changes in the way you live? Are you growing closer to God as Peter is reminding you? Do not ignore the Word of God!

]]> Sun, 05 Dec 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?a-reminder-from-god http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000172 imblog

2 Peter 1:8-11

Peter writes this great section in 2 Peter in order that believers may experience the assurance that God desires for them, given the fact that the enemy, the devil, is the accuser of the brethren and always wants to hit us with blows of doubt to make us doubt our salvation.

To fight off the deluding deceptions the believer must know the truth; knowledge is the key to defeating false teachers. They cannot deceive you if you know the truth, the truth about doctrine and about your spiritual condition.

He says in verses 5-7, “you must add moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge, and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness, and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness love.” Where you pursue those virtues you will experience assurance.

Then down in verses 8 and 9 which we come to tonight, there are two options presented. In order to enjoy assurance I must consider the options presented in verses 8 and 9. Here you have two options and you can go either way, accepting or rejecting the pursuit of these virtues and the effort that is prescribed. Peter makes the results of these two options very clear.

2 Peter 1:8-11, “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

In order to experience assurance in my life I have to take the positive option in verse 8. If you see these virtues in your life, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love, if you see those virtues and you see them on the increase, Peter says in verse 8, they make you neither useless nor unfruitful.

So in other words, Peter says in verse 8, when your life does not manifest these things, these virtues, you are useless and unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now look at the phrase at the end of verse 8 because it's important. He says that if you have these virtues you neither are useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That phrase "in the true knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," shows us that he is referring here to true Christians.

On the other hand if he looks at his life and he doesn't see moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love, if he doesn't see it increasing in his life, if he's not pursuing those things it says that he is blind and short-sighted (verse 9).

Now follow me further in verse 9, "For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins." He's forgotten that God saved him from his former sins, from his old sinful life.

The knowledge of Jesus Christ recorded at conversion came as illumination to those who were blind in their pagan ignorance. But Christians who do not carry through the moral implications of this knowledge have effectively become blind to it again.

Peter develops the benefits in verses 10 and 11. This is really where the whole argument comes to its great climax. Notice verse 10, "Therefore, brother," now here the word "therefore" ties everything up. On the basis of everything I have said, "Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make your call and election sure."

How do you do that? Follow along, verse 10, "For if you do these things." In other words, as long as you pursue these moral virtues, as long as you diligently pursue these increasing virtues, as long as you pursue a holy life, as long as you pursue spiritual growth, you will demonstrate that you were called and you were chosen.

Look at the end of verse 10..."You will never stumble." You will never fall in to doubt, despair, depression, grief and fear about your spiritual condition. You'll always have confidence, you'll always have assurance. Why? Because you're pursuing these virtues, you see them on the increase, you know that God is producing them in your life and because you can see it, you know you've been elected before the foundation of the world.

God is saying to you through Peter that assurance is directly tied to how you live your life now. Everybody would like to be sure about their salvation, nobody wants to live their life in doubt. And yet I would guess that there are still many Christians who live in doubt.

Some people say, "Well, all you have to do to be assured is to go way back to some point in time when you walked the isle and said you give your life to Jesus and signed on the dotted line, that's all the assurance you ever need."

But that's not what Scripture says here. If you want to make your calling and election sure, you're going to make it sure by virtues that are visible in your life, produced by the Spirit of God as you pursue those virtues.

In verse 11 he says it as directly as it could be said, "for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” What's he saying here? He's saying in the future when you enter in to the eternal Kingdom; you will receive an abundant reward.

The entrance into the eternal Kingdom looks at our hope in the future. Now we have already entered the Kingdom at salvation, we passed from death unto life from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son, we are now living in the present form of the Kingdom, we are under the rule of Christ. And we are in the Kingdom in that sense.

But we are still looking for the future fulfillment of the eternal Kingdom and the eternal Kingdom is associated with rewards. This part of the Kingdom in which we live now is associated with salvation. The eternal feature of the Kingdom, that which comes in to full fruition in the future, is the blessing of eternal reward. It is beyond time. It is beyond space. It is in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that, by the way, beloved, is the goal of our pilgrimage. Some people say that you can come to Jesus Christ and believe in Him at a moment of time and then live any way you want without any consequences.

Some say it's nice to pursue moral virtue, but if you don't you'll still get to heaven. That's true if you're truly a Christian but if you choose option number two you will live in doubt and depression, in fear and in despair and you will worry about your spiritual condition and continually wonder if you're really saved because you're not seeing the increase of those moral virtues.

And beyond that, when you enter into the Kingdom, you will find that you are not going to receive an abundant supply of reward in that day. You will receive praise from God but it will not be to the degree that it might have been if you had pursued virtuous things.

We need to live our Christian lives in the light of our eternal reward; we are called to lay up treasures in heaven, we are called to pursue the virtuous things of gold, silver and precious stones and not the lesser things of wood, hay and stubble (1 Cor. 3:12-13). For those who have diligently, faithfully pursued holiness, their reward will be abundantly supplied in proportion to their effort.

Now I agree that every one of God's children when they go to heaven will receive an abundant supply. But Peter here is saying that there is a generous special sense of reward for those who have pursued virtue diligently.

I believe that all Christians bear some fruit, but apparently there is an option that some Christians choose and that is to make a minor effort at spiritual virtue while some make a major effort at it.

Scripture does say that God gives richly to all the saved (Rev. 21:24). Scripture does say that He gives them all things richly to enjoy (1 Tim 6:17). Scripture does say that all believers are forgiven according to the riches of His grace which has been lavished on us (Ephesians 1:7).

Scripture does say that God intends in the future ages to come to show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward all the saved (Ephesians 2:7). Scripture does say that according to His mercy He poured out His Spirit richly on us in the new birth (Titus 3:5). Scripture does say there are riches of the glory of His inheritance in all the saints (Ephesians 1:18).

Scripture does say that all the saved have the riches of the glory of His mystery which is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Scripture does say that He is abundant in riches to all believers, Jew and Gentile, who call upon Him for salvation (Romans 9:23-24). Scripture does say that He has supplied all the saved with the Holy Spirit and all manner of manifold grace (Luke 11:13).

So since He has lavished upon all believers such enormous generosity and rich grace and blessing, since all believers will have some faithfulness and some fruitfulness, they will all experience some blessing and some abundance in glory.

Though all of that is true, this verse in this context is saying that as you diligently supply the virtues of Christian character in your life, God will reciprocate by continuing to increase the abundance of the supply which you receive when you enter into His eternal Kingdom.

There are then degrees of reward which God will give to His beloved children based upon their faithful diligent pursuit of righteousness. Abundant sowing will mean abundant reaping. Rewards of grace in eternity will correspond to the work of grace in time. And there will be degrees of reward in heaven, proportionate to your faithfulness in this life.

At the moment of salvation the fact of our entrance into the eternal Kingdom was settled, but the manner of that entrance was not settled. How grandiose our eternal reward in heaven is relates to how diligently we pursue virtue here on earth.

The promise of God is that if I pursue virtue in this life, I will enjoy the best of life which is to be assured of my eternal home and I will enjoy forever and ever and ever the greater reward because of my diligence by the Spirit of God's power now.

Benjamin Warfield years ago wrote this, "Peter exhorts us to make our calling and election sure, precisely by diligence in good works. He does not mean that by good works we may secure from God a degree of election. No. He means that by expanding the seed of spiritual life which we have received from God in to its full potential by working out our salvation, of course not without Christ but in Christ, we can make ourselves sure that we have really received the election to which we make claim.

Good works become thus the mark and test of election. And when taken in the comprehensive sense in which Peter is here thinking of them, they are the only marks and test of election. We can never know that we are elected of God to eternal life except by manifesting in our lives the fruits of election...faith and virtue, knowledge and temperance, patience and godliness, love of the brethren. It is idle to seek assurance of election outside holiness of life. Precisely what God chose His people to before the foundation of the world was that they should be holy. Holiness because it is the necessary product is therefore the sure sign of election," end quote.

A person who is at all conversant with the spiritual life knows as certainly whether he indeed enjoys the light of God's blessings or whether he walks in darkness, as a traveler knows whether he travels in sunshine or in rain.

Look at your life. You don't see moral virtue, you don't have any evidence to verify your salvation. Look at your life. If you see these beginning virtues in your life, not obviously in perfection, but they are there and increasing, you know you walk in the light.

What are the practical impacts on my life? The doctrine of assurance and the experience of assurance is important, first of all, because it makes us love and praise God for saving grace and for His eternal promise. If I know I'm secure forever, I'm going to be praising God for that and loving God for that.

Secondly, it not only makes us love and praise God but it drops joy into all our earthly duties and trials. If I know I'm saved no matter what happens in this life it maintains joy in the midst of it. Why? Because no matter what comes temporally, I know my eternal destiny, right? So assurance allows me to rejoice in any difficulty.

Thirdly, assurance makes us zealous in obedience and service. If I know I'm truly saved and if I know I'm truly headed for heaven, then I know my responsibility is to obey my king. Assurance doesn't breed apathy, doubt does, it breeds care and interest. Doubting discourages service, assurance encourages it.

Fourthly, assurance gives us victory over temptation. Because in the midst of the strongest temptation I know I belong to God and therefore I know that there's no temptation taken me but such is as common to man but God is faithful who will not allow me to be tempted above what I am able but has with the temptation made a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).

On the other hand, if I have no assurance of my salvation, then temptation discourages and depresses me and I wonder if I'm able to even deal with it, and I wonder if it is not going to damn me when I fall victim to it.

Fifthly, if I have assurance it makes me content though I have little in this world. If I have assurance of salvation I am confident that I have riches in the world to come. And I have confidence that my God will supply all my needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

But if I'm not sure I'm saved, then I'm grasping for everything this world has to offer. And if I'm not sure there is an eternal reward for me, then I want to fill up this life with all I can get. And when things don't go right I feel cheated all the more.

Number six, if I have assurance it pacifies a troubled conscience. Even when I feel guilty, even when I feel unworthy, even when I feel sinful and wicked and dirty and wretched, my conscience is comforted in the assurance of my eternal salvation.

Number seven and finally, if I have assurance it removes my fear of death. If I know I'm a Christian then I can face death in full confidence that I'll go from this life into the world to come where Jesus Christ will greet me. God says you can make your calling and election absolutely sure and you never need to stumble in to doubt and despair, all you have to do is pursue these virtues. Amen?

]]> Sun, 28 Nov 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?virtue-and-assurance http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000173 imblog

2 Peter 1:5-7

It's sad to think that there are some Christians who do not enjoy the assurance of their salvation. It's particularly sad because God wants us to have full assurance, so it says in Hebrews 6:11 and 10:22. He wants us, according to 1 John 3:19, to have our hearts assured.

Not to have that assurance is to live in doubt, to live in fear, to live in some form of spiritual depression and a certain kind of misery. You're unable to enjoy the anticipation of all of His promises and you're unable to enjoy the reality of faith and of hope.

You see the promise of eternal life and the promise of abundant life presupposes assurance. If I'm going to enjoy all that is mine in Christ, I have to know I'm in Christ. Otherwise I'll continue to live in fear, misery and doubt.

Peter is very concerned that his readers enjoy assurance. So it is a main theme in this very brief epistle. This is a very short book, just three chapters. The dominant theme of this book is chapter 2. And chapter 2 is about false teachers, false prophets. And they are described in very clear graphic terms in the second chapter.

Now chapter 2 is surrounded by other teaching directed at successfully countering their attacks. In other words, chapter 1 and chapter 3 are related to that theme in telling the believer how to be equipped to deal with these false teachers.

To fight off the encroaching deception of false teachers, the believer must know some things. The believer must have some accurate true knowledge. And the question comes, what must we know? What must we really know?

Well, 2 Peter 1:12-21 explains to us Scripture; we must know what our Scripture is saying. In chapter 3 we must know our sanctification. We must know our process in becoming more like the Lord Jesus. And in chapter 1:3-11, we must know our salvation.

If you know Scripture and if you know you're set apart unto God from sin and if you know your salvation is real, then the attacks of false teachers are thwarted. But if you don't know the Scripture, and if you do not know and are not experiencing continued sanctification and if you are not sure of your salvation, then you become an easy victim.

Now we're looking tonight at that section on knowing your salvation. That is an essential defense against false teachers. If you have on the helmet of salvation, then the blows of Satan that come against you to make you doubt your salvation and doubt the work of God are thwarted. You are protected from false teachers, demon spirits, and Satan himself.

And this, beloved, is crucial if we are going to withstand the onslaughts of false teachers, because they will always try to tell you of another way of salvation. But if I know where I stand in terms of salvation and there is no question about it, then false teaching offers no attraction.

2 Peter 1:3-4 indicates that we have everything we need in Christ. And yet in verses 5 to 11 Peter says we have to do everything that we possibly can to add to what Christ has done so that we might experience certainty. That's seems like a paradox.

Let us study further what verses 5-7 explain to us about that path to assurance, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”

Verse 5 begins with, "But also for this very reason," now let us stop right here. What reason? Because we have everything in Christ because of His divine power, as it says in verse 3?

Let me summarize. Because you have divine power, granting to you everything necessary for life and godliness, because this comes to you through the true knowledge of Jesus Christ, you have become partakers of the divine nature, you have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust, now because of all that is yours in Christ, Scripture says “do this”.

And here again is the mystery of spiritual life. We are given everything in Christ and yet it takes everything we have to follow up on that. Because we have all in Christ, all the gracious resources for spiritual sufficiency, we are called to give our maximum effort.

Verse 5 calls for a diligent effort. And what I'd like to do is take this concept of assurance and break it down into four sections for you. And we'll just kind of work through these sections one at a time. First is the effort prescribed, second the virtue pursued, third the options presented and last the benefits promised.

Let's start with the effort prescribed, we've just read it. Verse 5 again, "Now for this very reason, giving all diligence in your faith." Because of God's saving work in us is completely sufficient, it's like Philippians 2:12 and 13, work out your salvation.

God put it in, work it out, giving all diligence in your faith and then the next word, add. Now that's interesting. That's an interesting statement. Let me take you into it a little deeper.

“Giving all diligence.” Well this means making maximum effort. It's the idea of bringing in every effort alongside of what God has done. God has done all of this, you bring alongside your effort. And so Peter is saying alongside of what God has done bring in every zealous, eager and hurried effort from our part.

And then the word “add”. What does that really mean? It means to give lavishly, to give generously. It's a word that means being a choir master, because a choir master had the responsibility to supply everything that was needed for his choir. And so the word came to mean a supplier.

It never means to equip in a sparing way or a miserly way, it means lavishly and willingly to pour out everything that is necessary for a noble performance. And so it is that word that the Spirit of God chooses.

Back again in verse 5, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge.” Faith is the ground in which the flowers of sanctification grow. So, add to your faith, your initial believing in Christ, add zeal to come alongside what Christ has done and do everything you can possibly do.

"Well, isn't there assurance in faith?" Yes, there is assurance in faith and the one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, has every reason to be assured. If you know you believe then the God of hope can fill you with all joy and peace in believing, says Romans 15:13.

Hebrews chapter 6 also notes the same truth and 1 John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life." Having faith can impart assurance. I can know I believe and you can have a measure of assurance.

But I don't believe that faith, that initial saving faith, will continue to yield the fruit of assurance unless the effort is made to be obedient to what this text says. You may enjoy that assurance initially, but if no zealous effort to lavishly supply what is required alongside what Christ has done is made, then I believe there will be a lack of the joy of assurance.

And so, there is a prescription given here and that prescription is to diligently pursue the full supply of all these things. The fullness of assurance, listen carefully, is the product of zealous effort to tap the full supply of spiritual virtue and lay it alongside the full supply of God's gracious provision.

Verses 5-7 say, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." We need to pursue six virtues.

First one is moral excellence, it's the word virtue, “arête”. In classical times the word meant the God-given ability to perform heroic deeds. And it came to mean the quality of someone's life which makes them stand out as excellent.

For example, a knife was said to be arete if it cut well. A horse was arete if it ran strong and fast. A singer was arete if he or she sang well. Sometimes the word came to mean courage. So now Peter says with all your heart and all your mind apply with great effort, eagerness, zeal the supply of moral excellence to your life.

Where do you find the model of that excellence? Christ. That is why in Philippians 3:14 you have that monumental statement by Paul that lays down the pattern for all believers' behavior. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

What he was saying was I pursue Christ's likeness. He admitted, I haven't attained, but I pursue it. The goal to be like Christ, the reward to be like Christ, the goal is the reward. Pursue Christ's likeness. Pursue excellence.

Now, that leads us to the second of these virtues. Verse 5 says, “in your moral excellence knowledge”. Moral excellence couldn't happen unless at its heart was knowledge, right? The word "knowledge" means correct insight, understanding, truth properly comprehended, properly understood and properly applied.

We must know before we can live. We must understand how we are to conduct ourselves before we can conduct ourselves in that way. Moral excellence is dependent on “gnosis”, knowledge of a high character and a high quality. Having your mind illuminated or enlightened about truth involves a diligent study and pursuit of the truth in the Word of God.

Now inherent in your knowledge is another virtue, look at verse 6. In your knowledge, number three, self-control. All bound up with a true knowledge and true discernment is self-control. The word literally means the Greek, holding oneself in. And in Peter's day it was used in athletics. Athletes were self-controlled, self-restrained, self-disciplined.

1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” We need to control the flesh, the passions, the bodily desires rather than allowing yourself to be controlled by them.

So Peter says pursue moral excellence realizing that at the heart of moral excellence is spiritual discernment, realizing that at the heart of spiritual discernment is self-control. What does it matter if I discern if I don't control? How can I be morally excellent?

False teachers typically claim that their true and secret knowledge had freed them from the need for self-control. They preached that they were allowed to indulge. They were greedy, they were exploiters. They followed their own lusts. Peter will explain more of that in chapters 2 and 3.

But Peter reverses that. And he says any theology that divorces faith from conduct is heresy. Verse 5 says, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control.” This is essential to Christian living, controlling fleshly desires for the sake of producing moral excellence. Self-control may be one of the greatest of all Christian virtues.

And there's more virtue, a fourth. Verse 6, "And to self- control perseverance..." The best translation would be, patience or endurance in doing what is right, never giving up to temptation, never giving up to trial, never giving up to difficulty, never giving in to sin.

The Greek word “hupomone” really cannot be explained in one single word and there is no English equivalent. Chrysostom calls hupomone a root of all the goods, mother of piety, fruit that never withers, a fortress that can never be taken, a harbor that knows no storms. He calls it the queen of virtues, the foundation of right actions, peace in war, calm and tempest, security in plots and neither the violence of men nor the powers of the evil one can injure it.

Perseverance is the quality which keeps a man on his feet with his face to the wind. It is the virtue which can transmute the hardest trial into glory because beyond the pain it always sees the goal," end quote. Courageous, steadfast, joyful, self-control, under pressure, resisting temptation, built on spiritual wisdom to pursue moral excellence.

And at the heart of this persevering endurance is number five, and your perseverance produces godliness. What a magnificent word that is. Used back in verse 3 also. Eusebeia, it really means reverence.

It means a practical awareness of God in every area of life. It can be translated as true religion. It could be translated true worship. It has the idea of worshiping God in everything we do. It's a word to describe someone who worships, who has reverence and who adores God always.

True Christians pursue practical awareness of God in every detail of life. They are characterized by deep reverence for God which leads to courageous self-control under temptation, built on spiritual discernment in the pursuit of moral excellence. It's like an intricate marvelous woven fabric here.

And then a sixth virtue, "And in your godliness," verse 7 says, "brotherly kindness." Brotherly affection, friendship, mutual sacrifice for each other. At the heart of godliness, the heart of reverencing God is loving each other.

Agape love is a sacrificial and selfless love. This is love of the will. This is the love of choice not the love of emotion. This is the highest virtue. This is what Paul called the greatest thing, love. At the heart of my worship toward God is that kindness toward my brother.

It's like a big circle. Faith is the foundation for the whole thing and love is the culmination. We have everything in Christ, and yet we are to add to what we have with maximum effort moral virtue, practical wisdom, internal self-control, endurance in all temptations, God-conscious reverence, brotherly kindness and pure love to God and everyone else.

Are you ready to put this in pactise? Let us all ask God for His power so this is possible, Amen?

]]> Sun, 21 Nov 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?our-part-in-eternal-security http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000174 imblog

1 John

We are trying to introduce the theme of 2 Peter 1:5 through 11. The theme here is the matter of the certainty of salvation. The larger subject that Peter is dealing with here is our precious faith which he began to teach about in verse 1. But starting in verse 5 he is concerning himself with this matter of the certainty of salvation.

Peter is concerned that people not forget that they have been forgiven. He is concerned that they be sure about God's calling and choosing them. Peter wants them to experience the abundant inheritance that is theirs through entrance into the Kingdom by way of Christ. It is a matter then of assurance that is on his mind.

So we simply ask the question: how can we as believers enjoy the assurance of salvation? How can I be sure my faith is saving faith? How can I be sure my life is new life in Christ? Obviously this is a vital matter for our joy and for our peace as Christians.

A number of the New Testament writers are very concerned about this matter of true salvation, as was our Lord Jesus Himself. And John dedicates actually the entire first epistle to this subject. In 1 John 1:4 it says, "These things we write so that our joy may be made complete." The purpose of the writing of this epistle is that we might rejoice in the confidence of true salvation.

At the end of 1 John 5:13, he sums it up with this, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life." There is the theme of this epistle. He is saying that full joy is a part of confidence when you know you have eternal life. So John gives us instruction that we might know that our salvation is genuine.

1 John is a simple place for a Christian to start examining this issue. But it is also a very deep profound and difficult epistle to interpret clearly. One thing, however, that is apparent throughout the epistle is that there are clearly given tests for a person to take to verify a valid salvation. If someone was questioning their spiritual condition and wasn't sure whether he really possessed eternal life, this would be the place to start.

Let us just look briefly at all these questions. First: Are you enjoying fellowship with Christ and God? That test appears in 1 John 5:1‐5, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

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Now here John gives us a second test: Are you sensitive to sin in your life? We find this in 1 John 1:5 through 1 John 2:1, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Here comes John’s third test: Are you obedient to God? Is it a pattern of your life to obey? All Christians stray at one time or another, but in general would you say that you are obedient?

This we find in 1 John 2:3–5, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”

Then the fourth query and test that we noted: Do you reject the world? To put it another way to use the very terminology John uses, do you love the world? Do you love the system of this world? Or do you understand that you will never find true satisfaction in it?

That we find in 1 John 2:15‐17, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

The fifth test that John gives us is: Do you love Christ and eagerly wait for His return? That we find in 1 John 3:1‐3, every one who has this hope purifies himself. “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

And then we find number six in our little list: Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? Let us look at 1 John 3:5‐ 10, “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

Number seven on your list: Do you love other Christians? And this will move us back to the section that we passed over on purpose, one of the key sections that we should spend some time on.

And that's back in 1 John 2:9‐11, “The one who says he is in the light," that is the one who says he is a believer, who says he possesses eternal life, who says he knows God, who says he's saved, who says he's converted, "and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now."

The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. That means that if you're claiming to be in Christ, your life is going to show some of the patterns of Christ. And certainly loving your brother would be one very basic pattern. To be saved, to be in fellowship with Christ is to experience and express love. So it is not the people who claim to be Christians but it is the people who love the brothers.

Verse 10‐11 says, "The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and doesn't know where he's going because the darkness has blinded his eyes." In other words, if you claim to be a Christian but do not love your brothers and sisters in Christ, your claim is a sham.

John says in 1 John 5:1: If you love God you'll love His children. That's just basic. Jesus went so far as to say this in John 13:34, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another," Loving one another means serving one another in humility. It is not primarily an emotion, it is not primarily a feeling, it is primarily a responsibility of sacrificial service and humble sensitive caring.

Love in your life means you have crossed over, you have crossed over in to divine life. People who are characterized by continual hatred which could be translated not so much as an angry hostility but in a selfish approach to life, do not know God. People who continually focus on themselves and could care less what happens to anybody else are the children of the devil, characterized by hatred and murder.

Love is defined as sacrificing for others. Do you get joy when you come across a person in need and you're able to give them money, a commodity, time, prayer, care to meet that need? Do you have a desire to take the supply and the resources God has given you and apply them to someone else in the family of God? That's evidence of love.

It doesn't mean that all of us are able to say, "Well if someone was going to kill me if I didn't make a loving sacrifice, I don't know whether I'd be able to pass the test." If you're a true Christian when the hour came, believe me, God would give you the grace to do it. The question is, in the circumstance I'm in now with the opportunity I have now, do I express love sacrificially?

In 1 John 3:17, he gets very particular, "Whoever has the world's goods," and here's how he defines love. You have the world's goods, that is commodities, clothing, housing, food and sustenance, and behold your brother in need and you close your heart against him, John asks a simple question, how does the love of God abide in you? How could you possibly be a Christian?

1 John 3:20, "In whatever our heart condemns us for God is greater than our heart and knows all things." What does that mean? Listen to this, your heart may put you on a guilt trip, your heart may do its greatest effort to make you doubt. You see, the fallen flesh can do that. Satan may work in you to condemn you before God but in whatever your heart condemns you, if there is love in your life your heart can be assured and at peace. God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

That's good news, isn't it? You may doubt your salvation but God doesn't. If it's real He knows. And even though your heart condemns you, God doesn't. God knows you're a true believer. You may be struggling with your eternal security and you are not alone.

And the word of John in this text is to examine your love for other Christians and see if it doesn't show itself as deeds of kindness and sacrifice. And if that's characteristic of your life, be soothed and be pacified, for no matter what your heart may do to condemn you, if you have those expressions of love in your life, you can be sure of your salvation.

You remember Peter? He kind of dealt with this when he faced Jesus after he denied Him three times in John 21. And what did Jesus ask him three times? "Peter, do you love Me? If you love Me then show it by feeding My lambs, then love My lambs, love My people." Finally in some desperation Peter says, "Lord, You know I love You."

Number eight in John's list of tests: Do you experience answered prayer? 1 John 3:22‐23 says, "And whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He commanded us."

You can know you're a believer when you begin to receive what you ask. If you abide in Him and He abides in you, you keep His commandments. If you keep His commandments, He'll answer your prayers. If He answers your prayers, guess what? You belong to Him.

The end of verse 21‐22, "Even though our heart condemns us we can have confidence before God and whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight and that is evidence that He abides in us and we in Him."

Go over to 1 John 5:14‐15 and John says, "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us, and if we know that He hears us and whatever we ask we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him." If you belong to Him, He'll answer your prayers. Answered prayer is a sign you are His child.

Have you prayed for someone and seen them come to Christ? Have you prayed for someone who had a great trouble and a great need in their life and God used some means to turn that in to blessing and joy? Have you sought God about a lack in your life and have Him fill it? Have you asked God for enabling grace to present the truth on some occasion to an individual or a group and He gave you the grace to do it?

Number nine, can you discern between spiritual truth and error? It seems fairly obvious but let's go to 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out in to the world. By this you can know...here's the way to test them...every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God."

In other words the test for every spirit is to acknowledge the reality of Christ that He is the Savior, and also that God the second person has literally come in incarnate human flesh. That proves that that spirit comes from God.

Every false religious system that I know of violates that test. They will always undermine the truth about who Jesus Christ is. 1 John 4:3‐6, "Every spirit that doesn't confess Jesus isn't from God, it is the spirit of the Antichrist of which you have heard that it is coming and now it is already in the world, 4 you are from God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world.” 5 They're from the world therefore they speak as from the world, the world listens to them. 6 We're from God. He who knows God, listens to us."

If some guy came in this pulpit and taught error about Jesus Christ, it is our response that would separate the believers from the unbelievers. True believers would say, "That's not true." You know that because God has given you the truth. You have an anointing from God to discern. That's the indwelling ministry teaching of the Holy Spirit.

Last point, Have you been rejected for your faith? Look at 1 John 3:13, "Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you." Have you experienced animosity, hostility, rejection, bitterness, alienation even persecution? If so, that's a sign of your Christianity. Listen to Philippians 1:28, Paul says, "In no way be alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them but of salvation for you."

Be assured, dear friend, there's no reason for you to go through your spiritual experience in the dumps and yet very rarely does anybody ever teach about this most important theme. Let's bow together in prayer.

]]> Sun, 24 Oct 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?how-do-we-know-that-we-are-saved- http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000175 imblog

2 Peter 1:3‐4

Let us look together tonight at two verses in the Bible that are very very important. 2 Peter 1:3‐4. "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence, 4 for by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

Life in general, even for those of us who are true Christians, is not easy. None of us escapes the troubles of life in these sinful bodies, living on this fallen planet. Temptation, sin, failure, disappointment, rejection frustration, weakness, pain, sorrow, loneliness, fear, anxiety, alienation, all of that comes to all of us in varying forms.

Where do we find resources to deal with that effectively and in fact, to deal with it triumphantly? Where do we go to solve the issues of life? Can we turn to God? Does He care? Does He love us enough to dispense some supernatural help?

Some people just think that God is some Being who made everything but after that really doesn't care that much. Is that true? Or does God care and does God love us and has God given us resources to deal with the issues of life?

Even if we know God, has God just given us a small dose of supernatural grace barely enough to squeak by? Maybe enough to save us but not enough to sanctify us or maybe enough to save us and sanctify us but not enough to glorify us. I mean, if we come to God through Christ, are we really sufficient enough to cope with everything or is there more?

Well let's look at the Scripture, for a minute, just listen to these and see what you conclude. In Exodus 34:6 God gives a first person assessment of His character, this is what He says, "I am compassionate, I am gracious, and I am abounding in loving kindness."

In Lamentations 3:22‐23 it says, "The Lord's loving kindness indeed never ceases, His compassions never fail, they are new every morning, small is Thy faithfulness." Is that what it says? Not in my Bible, it says what? "Great is Thy faithfulness."

Psalm 42:8 says, "The Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me." And then the psalmist says, "O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness." He provides what we need in the day, He provides what we need in the night and we ought to praise Him for it.

Scripture says that God is very generous. In fact, in all the issues of life it says He is great, plentiful, tender, abundant above the heavens and from everlasting to everlasting, His grace is as far as the heaven is above the earth, that's how great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.

In John 1:16 it says, "For of His fullness have all we received." When we received Christ we didn't get part, we got fullness. Jesus said in John 10:10, "I am come that you might have life and have a little bit of it." Is that what He said? No. He said, "I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly."

Listen to this statement in the middle of 1 Corinthians 3:21, "For all things belong to you." Who did Paul talk to? To believers. You say, "Yeah, but that's certain kind of believers." No, that was written to the Corinthians who probably were on the lowest rung of the ladder, very sinful people in many ways. They had come to Christ but they hadn't really been obedient in many areas. And nevertheless he says, "All things belong to you."

And then here's the most important part in verse 23, "And you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God." Wow! We're all wrapped up in whatever God and Christ possess, we possess. We possess the world, God made it for us. We possess life, spiritual, eternal life in Christ. We possess death, to die is gain for us (Philippians 1:21).

We possess things present, that encompasses every element in life, everything we experience, the good, the bad, the pleasant, the painful, the joys, the disappointments, health, sickness, God gave it all to us to work together for our good.

No wonder back in 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul wrote, "That eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and it hasn't even entered the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him."

2 Corinthians 9: 8 brings this to focus. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have abundance for every good deed."

Do you have all you need? Yes you do, you have more than you need. You have all grace, super‐abounding overflowing so that you are always completely sufficient for everything and you have an abundance for every good deed.

Listen to the words of Solomon who was wiser than a lot of people in this world. In Ecclesiastes 3:14 he said this, "Here's something I know, I know this, that everything God does will remain forever and there's nothing to add to it and there's nothing to take from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him."

"Well why do so many people doubt that?" Well one reason people doubt it is because they're not really saved, they don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ so they are insufficient, they just think they're saved. Another reason people doubt it is because they're ignorant. They don't know what they have.

Another reason some people don't experience it is even though they're truly saved and they are sufficient and even though they may be well taught and know they're sufficient, they're not walking uprightly. And so the resources are there but not available. But for the true Christian and the obedient Christian, there is complete sufficiency.

If God gave us the most, the sacrifice of His own Son, how could we imagine that He would hold back the least of the good things which the death of His Son purchased? Does that make sense? If God gave us the most, He wouldn't hold back the least.

Salvation isn't a stingy gift. In Matthew 22:4 Jesus likens salvation to a wedding feast. And the reason He used a wedding feast was because it was a wedding feast when everything was done abundantly. When you were saved it was like God treating you abundantly similar to what a person would do at a wedding feast.

All of that leads us to verse 3, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness." As Peter introduces this marvelous letter he is talking about our salvation. Being sure of our salvation is the first place to take your stand against false teachers and false teachers are his main theme.

But he starts out talking about our salvation which is where we take our stand against false teaching. He's already talked about the source of our salvation in verse 1. He's talked about the substance of our salvation in verse 2.

And now he's talking about the sufficiency of our salvation in verses 3 and 4, and it is, frankly, one of the greatest statements in all the pages of Scripture. So let's talk about the sufficiency of our salvation.

The first word I want you to think about is the word "power" at the beginning of verse 3. "Seeing that His divine power..." Now power is the source of our sufficiency. Whatever sufficiency has been given to us is because of supernatural energy, not because of our power, not because of anything we did, not natural power, not human power but divine power.

Paul said it this way in Ephesians 3:20, "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all you can ask or think according to the power that works in us." What power? The power that raised Jesus from the dead, resurrection power operates in us and we can do what we can't even think, we can't even speak.

Beloved, the Christian can never experience a power failure. Did you hear that? You can get unplugged, and you can turn the switch off, but the power never fails. It's always there. The moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ, divine power is granted to us, to all Christians.

The second word I want you to focus on is "provision." What has His power granted? He has granted to us, here it is, everything pertaining to life and godliness. Absolutely unbelievable statement...apart from the fact that it's in the Word of God.

None of us if we looked at or practical lives would assume that we have everything necessary to life and godliness because we stumble and fumble around so much. But here it is. The word "everything" is emphatic because what Peter is emphasizing is full sufficiency.

We have new life in Christ and everything related to sustaining that life we have. That's why we have to believe that a Christian is eternally secure. Why? Because you have everything that pertains to that life. That's why we believe that a Christian will permanently persevere.

And then he adds, "and godliness." Everything you need to be godly you have. That beautiful word eusebeia means true reverence, reverence in worship and active obedience. Everything you need to be a reverent pious and holy person, you have.

How do you get this? What he is saying here is that you have to know Christ. Not a superficial knowledge, not some kind of surface awareness of the facts that Jesus lived and died and rose again. Not some shallow understanding of Jesus as a good teacher. No, you have to know Him intimately.

Like in the Old Testament when it says in Genesis 4:17, "Cain knew his wife and she bore a child." That's a deep knowing. Joseph was surprised when Mary was pregnant because he hadn't known her. That means intimate sexual contact. It's talking about intimacy. And when it says that we receive it through the knowledge of Him, it means we need an intimate relationship with Christ by faith, by truly knowing Christ intimately.

When I understand that Jesus lived and died as God in human flesh, that He died for my sin, that He rose again, that He is Lord of all and I come to Him and say, "I believe in You, I turn from my sin and I give You my life to follow You in obedience as my Lord," that brings one into a true knowledge of Jesus Christ. And in that true knowledge the power comes and the provision is granted.

But there's more here. John 16 says the Holy Spirit begins to convict you of sin, you see your sin. And then I believe the power of Satan is broken and you begin to see the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's God drawing you.

What about my part that I have to do? Look at verse 3 again. The true knowledge starts when we are called, but notice that call becomes effective toward us by His own glory and excellence. God calls but that calling is revealed when we are drawn by the glory of Christ.

When I look at Jesus Christ I see not only God but I see a perfect humanity. I see perfect excellence. I see a display of divine acts and divine words coming through that God/Man. The divine nature of Jesus, the moral excellence of His life is what draws men. That's the only thing that will draw men to God.

Men are drawn by God not because of promises of happiness, not promising them good times, not promising them heaven, all of those things come later. What draws men truly is when the vision of Christ becomes clear. They see that He is God and that He is perfect.

Understanding His glory as God and His excellence as perfect enables us to believe His precious and magnificent promises. Because of who He is He has granted to us...again a perfect tense verb which means continuous, He gave it and it has continuing effect.

What are those promises? Jesus said in John 11:25, "Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live," the promise of life. He said in John 10:10, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly." He said in John 11:26, "Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die," and promised us resurrection life.

The purpose for God’s promises through Christ was so that you could become a partaker of the divine nature. When you come to Jesus Christ you receive everything you need for life and godliness, you receive all the promises of God in time and eternity and you become a partaker of God's nature.

You become children of God. Romans 8:9 says the Spirit of God dwells in you. If the Spirit dwells within you, you possess the divine nature. Galatians 2:19‐20 says, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me." God lives in me. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”

The word "partaker" is koinonos. We often translate that word as fellowship. It means sharer or partner. We partake of God's life in us; we're partners in the same life. There is a sense in which our new life in Christ is a new nature, the divine nature, and we have escaped the corruption that marked us prior to our conversion.

So, at the time of salvation we escaped. The word depicts a successful flight from danger. We escaped from the rottenness of our decomposing, stinking, fallen, sinful nature. And now I'm a new creation, I have a new nature in Christ, the life of God in my soul.

There's a sense in which we already partake of the divine nature because we have a new heart. And there is a sense in which we will yet partake of the divine nature when we have a new body to go with the new heart, Amen?

Is there sufficiency in our salvation? Listen to this, anything less than a completely sufficient salvation mocks God and dishonors Christ. Of course it is sufficient. Our God gives more grace than you could possibly ever understand. Let's bow in prayer.

]]> Sun, 17 Oct 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?faith-that-changes-us http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000176 imblog

2 Peter 1:2

Tonight we're coming to the Word of God again and looking at 2 Peter chapter 1. We're just getting started really still dealing with his introduction. And as we come to 2 Peter 1:2, I would like closely at this sentence, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

Now the key word in that verse is "knowledge." Grace and peace are multiplied to those who have the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Our precious faith is built on knowing the truth and knowing the source of truth. Now you might think that's fairly obvious. And it is. But amazingly it does not appear to be so obvious to many today.

There was an article called, "Paganism American Style," written by John Wok. This is what he said. "The New Age Movement is not about discovering reality but about making their own. It is about power rather than truth," end quote.

The culture in which we live is not interested in discovering what is. It is interested in creating what it wants to be. They talk about mind power and the power of positive thinking. Because if you believe it strongly enough to be so, it will be so. Because you say it is so, it will become so.

Now in that system you have to create your own reality and your own values. And they say that if you choose it you can make it so. Spiritual power in your mind is the key to controlling the perception to the degree where you can perceive something so clearly that you create the reality you want.

Now in the pursuit of this inner power there is a combination of four things that sort of interplay a little bit, or four ideologies. Let me just share them with you. The first one is evolution. There is an evolutionary principle behind this that says you can wish something to be.

Evolution also indicates that everything that exists is equal. We're all in a long chain. Man is no more significant than anything else; he's just the latest result of monkeys' wishing. He is sort of the final accident, but he has no more value than a rock and no more value than a bird.

There's a second ideology bound up in this New Age thinking and that's pantheism. Since there is no creator, there is no God, the creation itself is God and since the belief is that it created itself, it's the God of its own creation. Pantheism sees the only God then as the energy that exists in everything.

So everything has a right to its own identity and a right to its own free course so there has to be human rights but there also has to be animal rights, there has to be tree rights and so on. In fact, as I analyze it, the only living creature that I can think of that doesn't have any rights is an unborn baby. Everything else has rights.

Now we just had Earth Day. And I have asked myself often, "What is Earth Day?" For some people it was elevating an environmental consciousness which is certainly good. But to the orchestrators and the fanatics, Earth Day is based upon a Pantheistic view which was "let's stop what we are doing and let’s worship the earth."

There's another component, another ideology in this besides evolution and pantheism, that's what we'll call amoralism. If everything is equal to everything else and everything is God, then all behavior is acceptable because it's just the energy of this religion. The only moral value is whatever you decide is moral. You're your own God and if it feels good and there's energy in it, then do it.

Now all this is built on the fourth ideology and the fourth component I want to describe to you and that's mysticism. Mysticism is the foundation for all of this kind of thinking we have today in the New Age movement.

"What is mysticism?" John MacArthur says, “Mysticism is beliefs and ideas which are the product of personal intuition only.” To put it simply, it is sheer speculation believed to be reality. Mystical belief systems are collections of ideas that have arisen out of emotion, out of self‐authenticated ideas unrelated to objective fact or evidence.

Arthur Johnson in his very interesting book “Faith Misguided” writes, "There are two aspects of mysticism that we must recognize to avoid confusion. First, there is a psychological aspect often called the mystical experience which is an event completely within the person," Then he says, "There are the beliefs that arise from that personal experience. These philosophical religious beliefs constitute a set of ideas collectively called mysticism."

Listen to me very carefully. Christianity is not mystical. Christianity is totally and completely contrary to anything that is mystical. Contrary to believing in imaginary feelings, Christianity believes in objective historical revealed actual truth from God.

The mystic rejects reason for experience and so the line between truth and lies is erased. The basic lie of mysticism is that my inner feelings tell me the truth about what is. That is not true. My inner feelings do not tell me the truth about reality.

The contemporary Charismatic Movement is full of this kind of stuff. People say, "Well the Lord showed me in my heart that this will not happen." Oh? That has nothing to do with whether it will happen or not. But that is how they start.

Another form of it that's surfaces is called visualization. The man who is a proponent is also known as the pastor of one of the largest churches in the world, located in Seoul in Korea, and his name is Paul Yunge Cho. Visualization, according to him is the idea that you can create reality with your mind if you visualize it.

Dave Hunt who writes about him in his book “The seduction of Christianity” and he says, “Anyone who imagines that because he thinks certain thoughts or speaks certain words God must respond in a certain way has slipped into sorcery.” Pastor Cho declares, “By the spoken word we create our universe of circumstances. You create the presence of Jesus with your mouth. He is bound by your lips and by our words,” end quote.

Cho declares that it was through the power of imagination that God created the world. This is in his book called “The Fourth Dimension” which says that God created the world through imagination and that because man is a fourth dimension spirit being like God, he too whether occultist or Christian can create his own world through the power of imagination.

When you look at those people over there in Korea and we are so amazed at their long involved prayer times, realize dear friends, they do not pray in the manner that you and I pray to God pursuing His will. They pray in a process that is very much occultic, they are attempting by visualization to create their own reality, and in the end to make themselves like God.

The Roman Catholic Church during the Dark Ages became very mystical. The Reformation gave people back their minds. The Reformation swept away superstition. The Reformation abolished mysticism and reestablished rational thinking. And the Charismatic Movement is bringing back the confusion and the bondage and the non‐rationalism of mysticism.

Mysticism then says people are saved by power encounters with miracles. But what does the Scripture say? Just the opposite. All you have to do is go back and look at the life of Christ. He went through Palestine, did miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle. At the end of it, what did they do to Him? They killed Him.

John 2:23, "When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name." Why? "Beholding His signs which He was doing." Sure, they were attracted by the signs. They believed that He was from God.

"24 But Jesus on His part was not entrusting Himself to them for He knew all men and 25 because He didn't need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man."

Sure they believed but they didn't believe unto salvation. Sure they said, "Oh wow! That's supernatural. He's from God." That didn't save them. They had no other explanation. It was a superficial belief, it wasn't salvation.

Look at John 4:48, Jesus condemns them. He says, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe." But it didn't change their hearts because only the Holy Spirit can change the heart.

Look at John 6:2, "A great multitude was following Him because they were seeing the signs He was performing on those who were sick." Sure, it attracted a crowd. After seeing these signs and wonders and the miraculous way in which Jesus fed them all, they said to Him in John 6:28, “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?"

This is strange. He said in verse 29‐30, "This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He has sent. 30 They said therefore to Him, What then do You do for a sign that we may see and believe You?" That is really strange. This is the same crowd that saw Him healing people all day long. This is the same crowd that just ate the food He created.

Signs produce a very superficial curiosity and they may convince that He is a supernatural being. But the sign itself cannot save. In fact to show you the character of these people, go all the way to the end of the chapter in verse 66, some of them started to follow Him. When it became apparent what His message was, it says, "Many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore."

Verse 63 sums it up. "It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken unto you are Spirit and are life." That my friend is the revealed rational truth from God.

John 10:41 says, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true." And John the Baptist was the greatest prophet who had ever lived up until his day. Miracle power is not saving power. That we must understand.

Now how is a person converted then? Look at Romans 10:17, "So faith, saving faith, comes from miracles." Is that what it says? "Comes from signs and wonders." No, it comes from what? "Hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ."

Go back to verse 13‐14, "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they going to call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?" They need a preacher, not a miracle worker.

Now listen to me very carefully to what I say. The miracle working power of Jesus and the miracle working power of the Apostles was not for the purpose of saving people but of authenticating the preacher. You believe the one with miracle power but it is the truth he preaches that saves.

Miracles were intended to authenticate messengers. And messengers are now authenticated by whether they square up with the Word of God. We as preachers don't need repeated authentication, all we need is to preach the authentic Word.

The Charismatic Movement on one hand affirms the truth of Scripture and there are many Scriptures they understand and believe, but on the other hand they interpret the Word by their perceptions of life flowing out of their own experience.

How does that compare with what God says? Well all of that to take you back to 2 Peter 1:2. And if you don't understand this verse now, you haven't been listening. "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."

Let us return to our first thought. Grace and peace come in unending abundant streams to those who know God and who know Jesus our Lord. Peter remember is teaching us how to face false teachers.

In 2 Peter 2 he presents those false teachers. But in 2 Peter 1 and 3 he talks about our defenses against them. The first defense is to know our salvation, and that's what he's into here in chapter 1. Last time we talked about the fact we need to know the source of our salvation, it's God. Now in verse 2 we need to know the substance of our salvation.

The word "knowledge," listen carefully, is epignosis, it is a strengthened form of gnosis. It implies a personal complete knowledge. Paul loves to use it in the pastoral epistles and he uses it with relation to the truth. In 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus he talks about the knowledge of the truth. John 8:32, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

The Bible says your heart will lie, your heart will deceive you, your emotions will deceive you and the truth is not in us. The truth is outside us. A man is a fool and he doesn't understand depravity if he thinks that man can create divine truth out of his own fallen heart.

Salvation substance is not based on intuition, it's not based on emotion, and it certainly is not based on experience. It is based on the revealed truth, the knowledge of the truth. And Peter goes further. Truth does not come from non‐rational urges. He says it's not only the knowledge of the truth as Paul called it, but here he says it's the knowledge of a person, in fact two persons, "God and Jesus our Lord."

Now we know the truth and we also know the person who revealed the truth. Man's relation to God is not only described as knowing the truth about God but it's knowing God through His truth. The substance of our salvation is knowing the God of truth, the Christ of truth and the truth they revealed, Amen?

Do you really know God and Jesus Christ? Does your life show others the truth of God? In other words do you live your life according to the truth that Jesus taught you? Do you love God with all your heart and your abilities? Do you love other people the same way you love yourself? Pray so you can.

]]> Sun, 26 Sep 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?our-faith-is-based-on-knowledge http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000177 imblog

2 Peter 1:1‐2

“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have obtained a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

You know, any good teacher knows one thing about his pupils. They forget what you teach them. You know why a teacher knows that? Because he himself forgets things. Once in a while I have to look at old sermons to see the interpretation on a certain passage. And so any teacher knows that you have to teach by repetition.

But a teacher also knows not only do his pupils forget, but he knows that they can become so familiar with spiritual things that their hearts don't hear them. And the things that you hear don’t sink in and don’t cause you to change.

In other words, if we teach the same truth in the same words, they think they know it and they don't really hear it. So we have to teach the same truth in other terms. And that's the way the reminders come. So, we have to keep saying to you the things that are in the Word of God in a fresh and exciting and vital way.

Now, as we examine this first chapter of 2 Peter, I want you to get the focus, because you need to remember. Now let me expand that for a minute just in concept. We function on the basis of our brains. God has given us a body and we function based on that.

In some of us our brain is less amazing than in others, but nonetheless, all of us possess it. The brain is a gift from God. It grants to us a very important spiritual capacity. Everything you hear, see, or experience in your lifetime is stored in the cells of your brain.

Now God therefore has given you the capacity to live out spiritual truth because you can't say, "Hey, I tried to learn that stuff, but all my brain cells are filled up...I don't have any empty cells left." You have the capacity to receive it all and it is all stored there.

I learned that though everything in the brain is stored, when you recall it and when you relearn it and when you apply it, you expand that information storage capacity. And so the more you use something and the more you hear it and the more you apply it, the greater part of your thinking process it occupies.

And so as you hear and you respond to the Word of God, it begins to take over a larger and larger portion of your brain and of your thinking process. And all of us have that capacity. In fact, some say that we only use one tenth of one percent of our brain.

I've often pray to the Lord, "Lord, please teach to help me use more of my brain." Because sometimes I feel that I have used up all that there is. But I know that there's a sense in which we don't even use all that God has given us up there.

And so, God has designed our physical capacity to accommodate the spiritual need. We must be told to remember and God has given us the capacity to deal with that. We all have a marvelous memory capacity. However, over and over in the Scriptures God's prophets were called to teach His people to remember.

We as people need to be prodded, to sort of jog you, to make you remember. And if I can serve no other purpose than to make you remember, I feel I’m serving the highest purpose that God has intended for me.

First, God wants me to confirm the present truth, and to let you know these things and then to constantly jog your memory so that you never forget them. And the more you do that, the more they come to the front of your mind and you find as you grow toward spiritual maturity that the right spiritual responses are almost involuntary.

What are we to remember, Peter? First of all, let's just look at number one, the reality of our salvation, which we find in verses 1 and 2. "Simon Peter a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness in God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."

Now those two verses teach us regarding our salvation. You notice terms like "faith, righteousness, Savior, grace, peace, knowledge of God," all of those are salvation terms. Peter is referring to our redemption. And he calls upon us, among other things, to remember the reality of our salvation.

It's so easy to forget that when we are preoccupied with daily stuff. You say, "Oh, I'd never forget that I was saved." Well, I'm not talking about the technical idea of remembering you're saved, I'm talking about remembering all that such a salvation should mean to you.

Christians can become so picky, so minuscule, so critical sometimes so they can just find all the little things they don't like about other people that they forget the greatness of their redemption and they get all bent out of shape on little things.

And thinking about our little church, I couldn't really see the problems...the little things, the picky things, the disagreements, or whatever. I mean, I didn't want to even see those or think of those.

I could only sense the glory and the joy of the fullness of the fellowship here. I think sometimes we lose our perspective in salvation. I think sometimes we lose sight of the forest and just the tree. And so Peter says I want to remind you that you have obtained a precious faith.

Now what does he mean by that? Let's take a look at the terms. The word "obtain," really the concept of that verb is to receive by allotment. It's not so much that you took it as that it was given to you. He says I'm writing to you who have obtained faith as a divine gift. Now that's a tremendous concept.

You know, you have a basic human faith. I mean, you have the faith it takes to turn your ignition on and know that in your car runs but it is not going to blow you up. You have the faith to eat in a restaurant while you do not know the cook and you've never been in the kitchen. You have the faith to do a lot of things in life. You have faith to put your money in a bank. And all this is human natural faith.

But that kind of faith isn't going to redeem anybody. The faith that saves is a gift from God by divine allotment. The faith of which he speaks in verse 1 is redeeming faith, saving faith. And we have received that kind of saving faith from God.

I hope you haven't forgotten that God didn't have to give that to you but that in His marvelous mysterious sovereignty, He did it. I look here and I say, "God, how can I ever find words enough to say thank You for your gift of saving faith given to me and these people?"

You see, it says in Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace are you saved through faith but that not of yourselves." What's not of ourselves? Faith, God had to give you this saving faith and according to Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing a speech about Jesus Christ." Faith is a gift of God that is given in responding to the gospel of Christ.

In Christ we all stand equal, don't we? No matter who you are, no matter how intelligent or how unintelligent, no matter how physically gifted or physically seemingly non gifted, no matter how educated or ignorant, it doesn't matter how rich or poor, all of us have received a saving faith that is equal in its value and gives us equal standing before God.

Why and how so? Remember verse 1, "Through the righteousness in God and our Savior Jesus Christ." And so much of its interpretation is dependent upon the context. Paul uses it in a more forensic way to speak of total righteousness, the nature of God. Peter uses it to speak specifically of God's fairness in justice. And that's exactly what it means here.

Remember this, the reason we've all received a faith of equal value and the reason we've all received a standing of equal honor is because we have a God who is fair and does not make distinctions. With God, says the Bible, there is no respect of persons. People say, "Well, I wish I was a Christian like the Apostle Paul." I've got news for you, you are. "Me?" That's right, we all are.

Look back at verse 1, "Those who have obtained a faith as precious as ours." Who is the "ours?" Peter and the Apostles. You are just as honored in your saving faith, just as exalted in your standing, just as much a recipient of the justice of God as an Apostle. You have a faith as precious as ours

We're all sinners any way. So God doesn't distinguish between us a whole lot. He gives us equally His mercy and His grace. Every time I see a believer moping around, "Oh, I'm just don't know if I've got the resources," I just want to remind them you've got everything the Apostle Paul had, enjoy it. You are as much value to God as anybody who ever entered His kingdom.

Then verse 2, "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." Now listen, salvation, this equal standing before God, given to us by divine allotment, is to multiply unto us grace upon grace and peace upon peace. But, that only happens through the knowledge of God.

In other words, if verse 1 is God's verse, verse 2 is our side. God does His part and we have to respond with our part, we have to have knowledge. We have to really know Christ. Not knowing just His name, the word knowledge here means a deep, full, rich, genuine knowledge.

You know what that does? That eliminates just superficial knowledge, doesn't it? That gets rid of the Jesus as just being a good teacher, the cheap grace, the easy believism. Do you remember last Sunday in Matthew 7:23 how many will say, "Lord, Lord," and He'll say, "Depart from Me, I never knew you."

There's a lot of superficiality. But he is saying when the deep knowledge is there, then the real faith is there. And that's just our part of it. What is the deep full rich knowledge of God? Well, verse 1 says, "Our Savior Jesus Christ," and in verse 2 it says "Jesus, our Lord."

Peter was writing to people who claimed to know Christ, claimed to have a knowledge of Christ, but were continuing in immoral behavior. And he is, in effect, probably using the word knowledge because they used it. And he is putting authentic Christian content into it and saying you better have a genuine knowledge.

So what a person believes affects the way they behave. The moral implications of error are as frightening as the error itself. Do you understand what I'm driving at? The error is one thing, but the moral implications of that error just compounds the problem. Some of the most widely heard false teachers are guilty of the most scandalous conduct...including immorality and unabashed materialism.

The Christian must realize that some of the Charismatic media preachers and teachers have an erroneous belief system that cannot restrain sin and the flesh and rather tends to feed pride, materialism and spiritual shallowness that all begins with their basic standard.

I heard a song the other night on television and the song had a lot of different lyrics but the one line that summed it up is, "When there are no answers there is Jesus." In other words, when you've gone the rational route and you can't get any rational answers, then leap into Jesus. Which is some kind of subjective mystical emotional experience.

And the people who take this subjective approach to Scripture where they interpret it on the basis of their feelings and their emotions and their self‐authenticating experiences think they're spiritual. They think they have ascended to the comprehension of the truth of God. But they are not because they do not understand the Word of God.

In place of study, careful precise interpretation of Scripture based on the historical grammatical method, they approach Scripture with an inward subjective non‐rational intuitional sort of impressionistic approach. In fact, very often they will deny any intellectual approach as being stiff and unspiritual.

Now many of these media preachers with millions of followers also skew the doctrine of salvation. For example, Kenneth Copeland writing in the Word of Truth magazine says, quote: "Every man who has been born again is an incarnation. The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth," end quote. Where in the world did that ever come from? You mean there is no difference between the incarnate God in Christ and us?

They have gotten so carried away with this mystical union that when the believer comes into union with Christ, he becomes God in their system. The Bible, however, never blurs the line between the nature of man and the nature of God. But to these teachers and their followers, the separation is abolished through mystical experience: your spirit touches God's Spirit, you get sucked into the Spirit, your spirit‐man touches His Spirit, and now you are made in His image of His Spirit body. None of this is in the Bible.

They are guilty in some cases of reducing Jesus to a born again man and elevating man to an incarnate God. Their view of sin is also metaphysical. It is dualistic. The sin belongs to the bad god, Satan. And righteousness belongs to the good god, God. And our flesh sin nature is totally ignored.

Well the sum of all of this is to let you see that there is a new wave of error and it's being pumped out in the name of Christianity. It is foreign to the Bible and it is mystical. It comes from subjective intuition and fantasy and imagination. And it touches every area of their theology.

2 Peter chapter 1 says, "Examine your own spiritual condition." Chapter 3 says, "Make sure your spiritual progress is moving in the right direction in the light of the coming of the day of the Lord."

If you understand the beginning, your salvation, and you understand the end, the coming of Christ, you can deal with what's going on now. We all need to learn more how to act according to what God want, that is forgiving and loving.

We must trust God, despite our often lackluster faithfulness, that He is moving us to the full realization of all the good that He has promised even when it seems He is taking the long way around, Amen?

]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?are-we-really-saved- http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000178 imblog

1 Peter 5:8-14

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. 13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

What is the general attack of the demons? Well first of all, Satan and his demons attack us as individuals. You ask, "Can you tell when a demon is attacking you?" Not necessarily, I certainly can't tell, I can't see them and I can't feel them.

And the Bible doesn't say anything about that except that we wrestle against them. In some way they are closely involved in some combat with us, although they are indistinguishable to us for the most part, there are occasions when they manifest themselves.

But they will attack us primarily through the alluring world system. They can't read our minds. Nor is there any indication in Scripture that they can plant thoughts in our mind. But they can attack us through the world’s system of enticement of our flesh.

But we don't know all of the ways in which they can do that. But I know that they have some means by which they can affect that person's thinking process. Because Peter said in Acts 5:3, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" when he spoke this to Ananias and Sapphira.

The second thing that they do is they attack families. In 1 Corinthians 7:3-4 Paul tells us, "Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife doesn't have authority over her own body but the husband does, likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body but his wife does."

In other words, you need to give your body to your partner. Why? Verse 5, "Stop depriving one another unless it's by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control."

Nothing would make Satan happier than to come against a Christian couple and because one is holding back the physical relationship against the other, raise the level of temptation to that one struggling with self-control and destroy that family.

Third thing he wants to do is attack leaders in the church. That is why the Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 3, that you have to have men that are qualified for ministry, because at the end of verse 7 he says, "so that they may not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."

History is full of church leaders that have been attacked by the Devil and have fallen. And there is no one that can resist the devil based only on his own strength; we always need Jesus who is all powerful to give us the strength we need.

And then fourthly, he attacks the church. And he likes to destroy its unity, its power, to confuse its purpose. You read the churches of Revelation 2 and 3 and see how Satan moved in, how Satan invaded and destroyed and devastated a church's testimony.

2 Corinthians 11 reminds us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. And what does that mean? He disguises himself as a Christian. He disguises his demons as those who say they provide Christian truth, but really are hypocritical liars who only appear to be teachers of the truth.

How are we going to prevent this? There are people who say, "I know, we have to bind him." How you going to do that? "Well you say these words, `Satan, I bind you.'" And are we to believe that as soon as somebody says that he goes, "Oop...that did it. Boy, now I'm stuck?"

And how long does a binding lasts? Is he only bound in regard to me or does that bind him in regard to everybody? And if it could bind him in regard to everybody, then why doesn't one of us just once and for all say, "Satan, you're bound for everybody for good?" That would just end it all.

Listen, sin came into the human race because Satan deceived whom? Eve. Would you say that we are more susceptible to deception than Eve? Yes. That's why in 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul says, "I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity in Christ."

Do you realize there are people in Matthew 7:22-23 who say, "Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons in Your name? And He says to them I never knew you, away from me, you evildoers!' There's only one person who can do that.

In Revelation 20:1-3 it says, "I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the keys to the abyss and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him that he should not deceive the nations any longer, till the thousand years were completed after these things he must be released for a short time."

Before that binding and after that binding he is loose. Only Jesus Christ can dispatch a holy angel to bind him. He moves about on this earth, says Peter, as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. And I'll promise you, if Peter could have bound Satan in spiritual warfare then, he would have done so. But he didn't because he couldn't.

So how do we deal with him? First point, verse 8, be alert. Keep your eyes open. Be watchful. Satan can be defeated. He has already been vanquished by Christ. He can be in Christ defeated in the believer's life as well. Take stock of the potential temptation.

Second thing he says, in verse 9, resist him. James 4:7 says it this way, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." How do you do that? God says verse 9, "be firm in the faith."

He is a deceiver, he is a liar and what you have to deal with him is truth and obedience to that truth. Trusting God and living in accord with His truth. Isn't that so simple? How do you stand against him? By following what the revealed Word of God has told you.

Look at 2 Corinthians 10:3. Paul says, "For though we walk in the flesh (we're human, physical) we don't war according to the flesh." There's no physical strategy against Satan. There's no verbal strategy against Satan. You can't say words and make him run.

Verse 4, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses." We don't battle Satan with human plans, human ingenuity or human words but with a divinely powerful expression of God.

Verse 5, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." There's the key. As I know the truth, as I obey the truth, Satan is resisted.

First Timothy 1:18, "This command I entrust to you, Timothy my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you may fight the good fight."

It never says go after and chase him down on the cosmic level. It says stand firm, resist. How do you do it? Do what Ephesians 6:10 says; take on the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day.

And then in Ephesians 6:18 it says, "With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit. And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all saints." Here it is, beloved. Truth around your waist with righteousness, the commitment to obey believing God is your shield, having eternal hope as your helmet and wielding the sword of truth.

Peter adds this so beautifully. In verse 9, "Knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." Hey Peter says in the middle of this you're not alone. The whole Christian community is going through this too, suffering is a way of life as God is accomplishing His perfecting work in you.

Number Third, an attitude of hope. 1 Peter 5:10, "And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you."

We're to live with the understanding that God's purpose realized in the future requires some pain in the present. So says Peter, "And after you have suffered for a little while." If you could only understand what the spiritual warfare is doing for you, you would appreciate it instead of resenting it.

After all, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing can change that. So all the suffering that comes here is just to strengthen you, to establish you, to confirm you, to perfect you, to make you more the man and woman of God that you should be.

God who called you to His eternal glory in Christ will Himself be there by your side while you are attacked by the enemy, you are being personally perfected by God. It's personal, He Himself is doing it. He is intimately involved in the suffering of our lives.

So what about those words we receive from these verses? Like: submission, humility, trust, self-control, defense and hope. "Why hope?" Because in the midst of my suffering I have hope in what I am becoming. And because of what I will be in eternal glory, that's hope.

Number Four, an attitude of worship. Suddenly in verse 11, Peter just bursts forth in a doxology, "To Him be dominion forever and ever, amen." He said it in chapter 4:11 that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and the dominion forever and ever amen.

Throughout this whole series of verses we've been getting the deep things of God put into place, that we are to humble ourselves before God and He'll exalt us, that we're to cast our care upon God for He cares for us, He's powerful and He's compassionate.

We are to fight in His strength for He alone can defeat the enemy and in the process perfect us. And so he says that the heart of the Christian must always be filled with praise and glory given to God. He has the power, He has the authority, He has the sovereignty, He is worthy of all of our praise. That's the worshiping heart.

Dear brothers, and when you have a worshiping heart, it keeps you from questioning the difficulties of life. When you have a worshiping heart you show Him and others that nothing is beyond His control: not our suffering and not Satan and his demons and not the whole world system.

Then Peter comes to a conclusion. And in this little conclusion as he draws this epistle to an end, he mentions two other attitudes. He picks up the pen here, because so far all writing has been recorded through a secretary and now he mentions an attitude of faithfulness indirectly.

Verse 12, "Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, for so I regard him, I've written to you briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God, stand firm in it." It is very likely that this is the same Silas who traveled with Paul and is often mentioned in his epistles.

And he says, "I've written to you briefly," just five short chapters, but O how rich. It is really short and condensed. And he says in it I've been exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Number Five be faithful to it. Silas was faithful, will you be faithful?

And then fnally he adds virtue number Six that we can call the attitude of affection. Verses 13-14, "She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love, peace be to all who are in Christ."

A final word that speaks of love, she who is in Babylon refers to a church. Female terms for the church are common, you can check 2 John 1 and 13. And Babylon most likely refers to Rome.

For instance, when John was banished to Patmos during the persecution instigated by the Emperor Domician, he called Rome Babylon. Peter who mentions persecution in nearly every chapter of his epistle died a martyrs death near Rome, according to tradition he was crucified upside down.

He was saying the saints of Rome, the church, together with you also elect, sends you greetings. This is Christian affection. So does my son Mark, Peter's spiritual son not his physical son. Mark called John Mark is mentioned in Acts 12:12, he accompanied Paul, stayed with Paul during the Apostles time in prison in Rome.

Tradition indicates that Peter helped him write the gospel of Mark. But here you have a little collection of affection. The church, to your church, me to you, Mark to you and in 14 he says, "Just kiss everybody, will you?" An outward sign of affection often mentioned in the New Testament. By the way, it was men to men, and women to women in ancient times, a customary part of early church affection.

And he closes, "Peace be to you all who are in Christ." It's back to the basics of spiritual maturity: Submission, humility, trust, self-denial, vigilant defense, hope, worship, faithfulness and affection. There's no way to produce those in your life through any mystical experience. They come from the truth. And as the truth is poured into your life day in, day out, it begins to change your character and create these kinds of attitudes.

]]> Sun, 12 Sep 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?spiritual-maturity http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000179 imblog

Philippians 4:5-6, 11-13

Surely one of the greatest causes of believers not having joy in their lives is a lack of contentment. Contentment is an illusive commodity today! Never, it seems, have so many wanted so much and found so little contentment once they got it.

This is hardly surprising when we consider that we are bombarded on a daily basis with advertisements whose sole purpose is to breed discontent so that we will buy their product. Do you have enough for retirement? You deserve your new car right now! Invest in gold because its value will increase, guaranteed!

Often the reason we are not content is that what we have is not enough. I call it the “envy” trap where we always compare ourselves to others. Look at Paul who was in prison at that time and listen to what he says in this regard.

In contrast with the widespread discontent of our world, the Apostle Paul spoke on the subject of contentment in his letter to the church at Philippi. Contentment is a biblical word that God wants for us.

Philippians 4:11-13, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

In fact, the Bible has quite a bit more to say about this matter of being content. 1 Timothy 6:6 says, "Godliness with contentment is great gain," and then in verse 8 Paul said, "And having food and clothing, let us be content." Hebrews 13:5 says, "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with whatever you have, for He said I will never leave you or forsake you."

I read a while back about South West Airlines. After the tragedy of September 11th, South West has been the only big carrier to still be making money. All the other airlines are swimming in red ink and have either declared bankruptcy or are thinking about it – in order to try to avoid their creditors.

So, in an atmosphere where most airlines are struggling to survive, SW’s employees have relative job security. And yet, some of the workers in one of its unions are threatening to strike for higher wages. Why? Because they envy comparable employees in one of those other airlines (that’s failing) who make more per hour than they do.

Envy is a driving force in the lives of many people. It pushes them to be competitive, hard working and successful. So, you would expect that such a motivation would be a “good thing.” But it’s not.

What lies at the heart of envy? The heart of envy is the belief that we deserve better than we’ve got. On the other hand, what Paul says is be humble, gracious, don't demand anything, give charity to those who are committing crimes against you, give mercy toward the failures of others, you'll be a stable person. Contentment comes when I have no demands for myself. Then if I get something, fine. If I don't, fine. I'm not concerned about me.

I recently saw a seminar on Estate Planning where they talked about “Revocable Living Trusts.” They’re kind of like a will but with some advantages. The lawyer who presented the seminar told of an instance where a couple of sisters had come to his office to challenge the fact that their brother had received the family farm in their parents’ trust.

The lawyer had seen this type of thing before, and he was still troubled by their greed. “Do you know why your parents left the farm to your brother?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied. “He had taken care of them in their old age, and had worked the farm for them.” “Had you ever helped with the farm?” he asked. “No.”

“Had you ever helped your brother to take care of your parents?” “No.” “So, why do you think that you want a part of the farm that your parents left to him?” “Because it’s the family farm, and we believe we deserve it.”

The lawyer smiled and then said: “You have every right to contest this trust, but you have to realize that this trust has a clause in it. That clause warns that should this trust ever be contested and that challenge be lost, those who contest the trust will lose whatever inheritance they might have had.

In other words, if you contest this trust and lose – your share of the inheritance will be given to your brother. Those ladies left his office and he never from them again. We often think that we deserve better, and therefore, whatever we have to do to get what we deserve is somehow justified - whether it is ends up destroying our friendships, our jobs, or our families.

Proverbs 14:30 tells us: “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” In other words: if you’re not content – it’s a sign of envy. You might not be envious of what a neighbor or friend has. It may be something that’s on the store shelves.

Remember, envy arises from comparing what we have with what others have. And the end result of that type of comparing is always going to be dissatisfaction. Christians only should compare how their lives would be with God compared to without God’s blessings.

Paul was content, because of satisfaction with little. Look at verse 11, "Not that I speak from want," in other words, Oh I rejoiced when your gift came but not because I needed it. “For I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am."

Materialism is a sin. Searching for contentment in your life through material goods is idolatry no less than if you were to actively worship an idol. In fact, I think materialism is the main idol worship of Americans.

Instead of relying upon God’s strength and living our life with the strength he provides, we buy into the lie that if I had a nicer home, car, bike, toy, you name it – we will be happy. We then pursue those things no mater the cost, amassing large debt along the way. If you can’t say “I can be content in all circumstances – and you know materialism is the cause – repentance is called for.

Want to be free from the love of money and the grip of materialism? Then commit to giving to God first – and then pray a simple prayer whenever you are about to purchase something. “Lord, should I make this purchase?”

We live in a culture that is not content, ever, with little or with much. It appears that the more people have the more discontent they are. Usually the richest people in the world are also the most miserably and unhappy. They feel they never have enough and then worry about all their investments and being overtaken by others.

Contentment is independent from circumstances. That's the key idea. Verse 12, "I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."

Contentment is based on our relationship with our Creator, because He is the only one that can give us peace and contentment in whatever condition you are in. He can give you peace while you’re laying on your deathbed, because death is not the end but just the beginning of a life forever full of contentment with God.

Contentment requires reacting to problems with thankful prayer. In verse 6, you remember, Paul said instead of worrying about things, pray. But he said, pray with a thankful heart.

You show me a person who has peace, the peace that the Spirit of God produces, joy, a person who is humble, you show me a person who believes truly in God and you show me a person who is thankful in everything and I'll show you a person who is spiritually content.

No matter what persecution, no matter what temptation comes your way, first of all, you can be thankful that in it there is the purpose of God. Right? God is accomplishing some purpose. All things are working together for good according to His purpose. In it also there is the perfecting work of God.

What was the secret? It comes in verse 13 where Paul says “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Whether you are experiencing plenty or want in your life right now – it is HIS strength that will provide the contentment you need. It is HIS power that will help you find hope even when you lost your job.

When you are spending time on a regular basis praying to Jesus, studying God’s word, and surrendering your life to the power of the Holy Spirit, you’re going to find that no matter what else is going on in your life – you will feel more content.

Why? Because when you’re living your life connected to Jesus Christ, you’ll begin to understand that nothing happens to your life without His knowledge. Nothing that happens, either good or bad, can take you away from God’s love.

Contentment comes from living a life where you understand your priorities – and everything in your life pales in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus. When this becomes true in your life – all of a sudden having the best material things; and needing to receive everything you desire in life become so much less important.

If you will live your life relying upon the power that God provides – you will find that your daily circumstances will have less and less control over your state of mind – and contentment will begin to be the norm of your life.

The point is this; the Apostle Paul had confidence in God's sovereign providence. You see that all through is life. He could do without and waiting on the Lord be content. He knew it was all in God's hands and if God gave a proper season and a proper time and a proper opportunity then those things would come.

Providence is a term to indicate that God provides, is connected to the term provide. That God provides but it really means more than that, it means that He orchestrates everything to accomplish His purpose.

Let's put Philippians 4:5-6 together, "The Lord is near! 6 be anxious for nothing," Your view of God is what stabilizes you. The Lord is near in terms of His immediate presence. That's what is meant in Psalm 119:151, "Thou art near, O Lord."

When you whisper a prayer, He's near enough to hear it. When you need His strength and His power, He's near enough to provide it. Now what is the result of knowing the Lord is near? Be anxious for nothing. What am I going to be worrying about? Is there something God can't handle?

Your problem is you're anxious because you don't believe God. That's the bottom line. Matthew 6:31-32, “So don't be anxious then, don't say, "What do we eat? What do we drink? But your heavenly Father knows you need all these things."

Matthew 6:33-34, "Just seek His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. And do not be anxious for tomorrow. Tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

]]> Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?seeking-contentment-in-life http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000017A imblog

1 Peter 5:8

Previously in 1 Peter 4 we considered an attitude of submission, and in chapter 5 we learned about an attitude of humility. The other attitude that we noted last Sunday was an attitude of trust. In 1 Peter 5:7 he says, "Casting all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you."

So Peter is teaching us then that the necessary spiritual attitudes include submission, humility and trust. Now let's move on tonight to the things that are ahead of us. 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Verse 8 begins with, "Be sober-minded." We find the fourth necessary attitude for spiritual maturity, starting with an attitude of self-control. Peter has made reference to this before. In chapter 4:7, he says, "The end of all things is imminent, therefore be of sound judgment and sober for the purpose of prayer."

Now what does this word "sober" really mean? Well it means self-control. It means to be in control of the issues of life, having the priorities of life in the proper order and the proper balance. It requires a discipline of mind and a discipline of body that avoids the very intoxicating allurements of the world.

In other words, you want to have the right understanding of life so you understand your spiritual priorities. It is as Colossians 3:1 would put it, "Setting your affections on things above," which is another way of saying having that divine perspective.

Through the years we have talked about self-control and about self-discipline and the disciplined life. But for tonight I want us to look at the fifth attitude in Peter's list and I want us to dwell on this a bit.

The fifth spiritual attitude that is essential for growth we'll call an attitude of defense. Look at verse 8. The reason we have to have our priorities right, to trust God, to humble ourselves under His almighty hand and to submit to God Himself is because our adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Now trusting in God's mighty hand, trusting in God's care, and casting all of our anxiety on Him does not mean we have become carelessness. It doesn't mean that because we trust God and because we throw all our care on Him that we become lazy and let down our guard.

The enemy is very subtle and therefore very dangerous. According to 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 he disguises himself as an angel of light and his servants as servants of righteousness. He never shows himself for who he is. He almost always appears to be a religious personality, almost always trying to approach you subtly so that you can't recognize who he is.

But let's find out about him. Your adversary is the devil, which introduces us to the enemy in this spiritual warfare. He's not only the adversary of God, he's not only the adversary of holy angels, but he is your adversary as well.

This enemy here is called the devil and is a slanderer meaning a malicious enemy who slanders and also attacks. He is also called Abaddon and Apollyon and both of those terms mean destroyer.

And he's always active and he's always looking for an opportunity to overwhelm us. His aim is to create disagreements, to break up fellowship, to accuse God to men, to accuse men to God, to accuse men to each other, to undermine confidence, to silence confession and to get us to stop serving God.

He is called in John 12:31, “the prince of this world”. He commands the human system and controls the whole world's system. And so from his seat he orchestrates the environment which in and of itself can devour us.

He is also called the prince of the power of the air by Paul in Ephesians 2:2. The power of the air means the supernatural demonic power that exists in the universe. He commands the human system, the cosmos, the world and he commands the air, the supernatural sphere in which demons move.

Remember in Job 1 that Satan came into the presence of the Lord and the Lord said to Satan, verse 7, "From where do you come? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “from roaming about on the earth and walking around on it."

Really, why is he roaming around the earth and walking on it? Peter answers it. He is prowling about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He is wandering through the earth looking for victims. It's real spiritual warfare.

Satan's ploy is to move through the world to find somebody he can consume. I would just commend to you Psalm 22:13, that Messianic Psalm talking about how the bulls of Bashan have encircled me, referring to Christ being encircled by those who hated Him at His cross, “They opened wide their mouth at Me like a ravening and a roaring lion.”

That's a picture of evil and hate. That same expression is used in Psalm 104:21, "The young lions roar after their prey." So, Satan is going after his prey. He's going out to devour someone. He's going out to destroy someone, that's his goal.

In Ezekiel 22:25 it says, "There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey, they have devoured lives, they have taken treasure and precious things, they have made many widows in the midst of her."

And here the judgment of God is coming upon the sins of the leaders of Jerusalem but he says they're like a roaring lion tearing her prey. So, whenever you see that phrase Peter is borrowing it from the Old Testament, every time it's used it's seen as a malicious kind of thing.

The devil wanted somebody like Job who named the name of God. And he goes after people who name the name of God wanting to destroy, tear up and devastate. Even though obviously he cannot take away their salvation, he can destroy their life, he can destroy their testimony and he can torture them.

We find in Revelation 12:3, "And another sign appeared in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and on his heads were seven diadems." Suffice it to say that that great red dragon is Satan.

Look at Revelation 12:4, "And his tail swept a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth." What is this? This is what it means when Satan who once was Lucifer, the morning star, perhaps the highest of all angelic beings, when he opposed God and said I will be like the Most High as recorded in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

Satan was the covering cherub, who was filled up with pride and wanted to be equal with God. So God threw him out of heaven. But when God threw him out of heaven he didn't go alone. He dragged a third of the stars of heaven, meaning a third of the angels.

We don't know how many there are. In Revelation 5:11 it says there are ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. The problem is in the Greek language there was no word for any number higher than ten thousand, “murian”. It was really an expression of infinity.

All of the one third fallen angels can be put in two categories. Some are temporarily bound. According to Revelation 9:2, during the time of the Tribulation, hell is going to be opened up and belch forth some vicious wicked demons. Some are bound permanently. The temporarily bound ones won't be released until the time of the Tribulation so they're not running around now, so the one third is depleted even more.

So as far as the number of angels compared to the demons, they're certainly in our favor. Two-thirds of the holy angels remained holy while one third fell. So, who are the participants in spiritual warfare? The answer is Satan, the dragon, and his fallen demons.

But they're not alone because they do their work through human beings. It says in the middle of Revelation 12:4, look at this, "The dragon stood before the woman who was going to give birth." Who is the woman? Israel. "So that when she gave birth he might devour her child."

Who is the child? Christ. The Messiah was about to come out of Israel and Satan is poised to devour the child. Why? He goes throughout the whole earth like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He wanted to chew up Job too. And there he was poised to destroy the Child.

And how did he try to do that? Through demons? No. He worked through a human being. What was his name? King Herod, who went and slaughtered all of the infant children under two years old. And so we see a third participant in the spiritual battle: Satan, demons and men who are pawns of Satan.

In John 8:44, one of the very important passages in the New Testament which gives us insight into this. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father."

Now what is Satan's strategy? Remember now, he works his strategy through the demons and through people in the system. Through the demons he controls the supernatural. Through the people he controls the cosmos, the world system. Those are the participants.

There is a warfare going on in the air and it comes all the way down to us as we battle with the agents of Satan who are the human beings in this world who serve his kingdom. Now we've seen the participants, what's the strategy?

The first strategy in Satan's warfare is to oppose Christ (Revelation 12:1-5). The second target of Satan is Israel as we can see in Revelation 12:6. And the third target of Satan is the angels, Revelation 12:7says, “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.”

But the fourth target in the spiritual warfare is us, believers. And so in Revelation 12:17 it says, "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, Israel, and so he went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus," which are the believers.

How does he do it? He deceives them through ignorance, unbelief, false religion, love of sin and fleshly gratification. He deceives them by developing a cosmos and a system that looks alluring, inviting, pleasurable and fulfilling. And he comes at them through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

And the things that we see in our culture today: insanity, mass murder, occult involvement and suicide are very often related to demonic involvement. When a man becomes wicked, and does not have of the Spirit of God to restrain him and who is filled with demonic power, there's no telling how bad that man can become.

One of the most frightening statements in all of the New Testament we find in John 13:27, after Jesus had given a piece of bread to Judas at the last supper. It says, "After the bread, Satan then entered into him." Dear friends that is the most tragic occurrence ever to take place in that man's life. Satan entered into him.

Sometimes God allows Satan to attack a believer although he can never enter a believer. Job was the best man on earth and Satan was allowed to have at him. So Satan departed and took everything he had. He killed his family, took away everything. And still Job said Job 1:21, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord's taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

What was God's purpose? John MacArthur says it was two-fold. Number one, to show Satan how strong salvation is. Job lived in the patriarchal time, back in the time of Genesis. So very early on in the redemptive plan God wanted to show Satan how strong faith was. And it was a lesson to Satan. You see, sometimes God is doing things against Satan that involve us.

There was a second reason here also. He was strengthening Job. When it was all said and done, Job was a greater man than ever he would have been. So sometimes God allows Satan to come after a believer just to put him through various testing that afterwards make him all that much stronger.

What about Peter? In Luke 22:31 Jesus looks at Peter and says, "Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat." Satan can't do anything unless he has permission. And just like Job, God knew the strength of Peter's faith, He said have at Peter.

Now Peter didn't do as well as Job, right? On three occasions Peter denied Christ. But Satan was not victorious and in Luke 22:32 Jesus continues, "but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and when you have been converted, strengthen your brothers.”

When you've come back from your denial, you'll be strength to your brothers." Why? Because you will have been through a struggle with Satan and you'll be able to show them how to win the victory. See, God has His purposes for releasing Satan sometimes in our lives.

So, God has some purposes in mind and His ways are higher than our ways. Sometimes He turns Christians over to Satan to punish them and to chasten them. So by God's holy, sovereign design, Satan and his demons do get involved in our life. Sometimes to prove us true, sometimes to punish us.

Don't forget that we're in combat with these spiritual beings, because we always are. Just remember Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Our proof is in what we are celebrating tonight, the Lord’s Supper where we know that our Lord Jesus has paid the price for our salvation. And where we are reminded that God has defeated Satan and he can never take our salvation away, Amen?

]]> Sun, 29 Aug 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?how-do-we-defend-ourselves-against-satan- http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000017B imblog

1 Peter 5:1-11

“Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.”

Peter asks elders in verse 3 to be examples to the congregation. And we find in Hebrews 13:7, how we need to do that, "Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you, remember them. And considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith." So the first thing he says is the people who led you and taught you who lived out the spiritual life, you imitate them.

There's a second necessary attitude that goes right along with the first one that Peter gives us and that is an attitude of humility. The matter of maturity is a matter of humility. And notice how it applies to everyone. He says, "You younger men, (I'm particularly concerned about you because you have the potential to be disobedient) be subject to your elders, but all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another."

Now to support his exhortation in verse 5, Peter uses the Old Testament. He quotes Proverbs 3:34 which says, "God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble." Why? God hates pride.

Proverbs 6:16, "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes seven which are an abomination to Him." He starts off, "Haughty eyes," it's another word for pride, that is haughty eyes, He hates pride. In Proverbs 8:13, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth I hate."

So, Peter says, "Look, you just need to humble yourself. Whether the mighty hand of God is there to deliver you, whether the mighty hand of God is there to protect you through testing that seems so difficult, or whether the mighty hand of God is there to strike you in chastening, submit yourself and humble yourself.

Don't question God, don't argue with God, don't debate with God. Humble yourself under His will, under His Word and under His power. And Peter follows this up in verse 6b, “that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.”

The opposite of boldness is fear or anxiety. So it's not surprising that God not only calls us to be bold for Christ and his kingdom, but He also gives us a way to get rid of our fear and anxiety.

Giving us courage and taking our fear away are two ways of doing the same thing. Tonight’s text is not a direct call to boldness. It's a call not to be anxious. And so it's an indirect call to boldness and courage.

But there is something very unusual about this text. The threat in this text that tempts us to be anxious is not explicitly prison or injury or slander or plundering of property or loss of money. The threat here is humility.

Or to put it another way, the reason Peter deals with the problem of anxiety is because he is dealing with the problem of humility. Somehow the command for humility makes the command to cast our anxiety on God more urgent, more needed.

Notice this in the flow of thought from verses 5–7. The chapter starts with a word to the elders of the church to shepherd the flock willingly and eagerly and without being motivated by money. Then the focus turns to the others in the church.

Verse 5-6, “You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; [then to all the church] and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”

Now right here we can see the connection between this call for humility and the command to cast all your anxiety on God. The command for humility seems to cause anxiety to rise and so Peter deals with it. Verse 6-7, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

The point is that casting your anxiety on God is somehow part humbling yourself. Casting your anxiety on God is crucial if you are going to humble yourself under God's hand and clothe yourself with humility toward each other.

Casting your anxiety on God is not something separate that you do after you humble yourself. It's something you do in order to humble yourself, or in the process of humbling yourself. There is something about casting your anxiety on God that makes humbling yourself under God and before others possible.

That's the connection between verse 7 and what goes before. "Clothe yourselves with humility toward each other (v.5) and humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God ( v.6) by casting your anxiety on God ( v.7)."

But why does humility create anxiety? Why does humility take courage? Why do we need someone to take our anxiety away in order for us to be humble? You can understand the answer if you just start thinking of some examples of humility.

What does it mean to be humble? It means, when you've made a mistake, admitting it and saying you're sorry. It means, when you are weak or sick or inadequate for a task, not being too proud to ask for help. It means doing some ordinary jobs and spending time with ordinary people and being indifferent to praises or criticisms of men.

In other words, in all its forms humility is the risk of losing face. Humility is the risk of not being noticed, not being appreciated, not being praised, and not being rewarded. Lowliness runs the obvious risk of being looked down on.

And being looked down on is painful. Being unnoticed and unappreciated is painful. Losing face is painful. Being made little of is painful. And therefore humility causes anxiety. And the command to be humble under God and to be clothed with humility toward each other makes us anxious.

So if we are really going to be humble, we have to solve this anxiety problem. If we want to have the courage of humility and the boldness of lowliness, someone is going to have to take our anxiety away.

That's the point of verse 7: "Be humble by casting all your anxiety on God, because He cares for you." God is the focus in both verses 6 and 7, and the connection is this: before you can put yourself humbly under God's mighty hand, you have to put your anxiety in God's mighty hand.

There is a fearful cowering under the mighty hand of God for the rebellious and the proud. But that is not what Peter is calling for in verse 6. The humility God commands by Peter is the peaceful humility that comes because we have cast our anxiety on God with the confidence that He cares for us.

These two images side by side are very important to us as Christians: humbled and lowly under the mighty hand of an infinitely holy and powerful God, and confident and peaceful because that very God cares for us and carries our anxiety.

So how do you cast your anxiety on God? This word "casting" in verse 7 occurs one other time in the New Testament—in Luke 19:35, in exactly the same form. It's Palm Sunday and the disciples have been sent to get the donkey for Jesus to ride on. Then verse 35 says, "They brought it to Jesus, and casting their garments on the colt, they set Jesus on it."

So the meaning is simple and straightforward: if you have a garment on and you want a donkey to carry it for you, you "cast" the garment on the donkey. In this way you don't carry it anymore. It's on the animal not on you. The donkey works for you and lifts your load.

Well, God is willing to carry your anxieties the same way a donkey carries your baggage. One of the greatest things about the God of the Bible is that He commands us to let Him work for us before we work for Him. "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Psalm 55:22 says, "Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you, He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." "Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you." (Isaiah 46:4). "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for Him. (Isaiah 64:4).

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "If He feeds the birds of the air, do you think He'll not feed you? If He takes care of the lilies of the field, do you think He'll not clothe you? (Matthew 6:26-28)." Paul says in Philippians 4:19, "My God shall supply every need of yours according to His riches and glory in Jesus Christ.”

God wants to be a burden bearer because it demonstrates His power and puts Him in a class by himself among the so-called gods of the universe. "No one has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for Him." So throw your anxiety onto Him, He wants to carry it.

Here is where the rubber meets the road. How do you practically make the anxiety transfer from your back to God's back? The answer is: trust that He cares. Believe this promise. Trust Him. It's a matter of practical trust.

That promise does not hang in thin air. It is connected to a command and the promise is meant to show you how to obey the command. The command is, “Cast your anxiety on God.” God cares for you which means that He cares about the thing that has you worrying. He knows exactly what is worrying you.

So often we trust God in the abstract. Yes, he is a trustworthy God. Yes, he can save sinners in general. Yes, He will work it all out for my good and His glory. But the text says, lay specific anxieties on God.

Trust Him specifically that He cares about that. Believe that He is God, His purposes cannot be thwarted. "I know that you can do all things, says Job, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2).

When it says that He cares, it means He will not stand by and let things develop without His influence. It means He will act. He will work. Not always the way we would. He's God. He sees a thousand connections we don't see.

The lost credit card might result in an evening of searching and take you away from a TV program that unbeknownst to you would have put a lustful desire in your mind and made prayer unappealing so that you failed to seek God's power and missed a golden opportunity to speak of Christ to a ready colleague the next day, which because of that lost credit card you did not miss.

God sees a thousand connections we do not see. Casting your anxiety on God means that you trust Him for handling these specific situations. If you believe that He cares (which is what His promise says), and believe that He is God, and then your fears will be lifted.

There is one other thing we should remember about casting anxiety on God, namely, the connection with prayer. Philippians 4:6 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

So 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast your anxiety on the Lord by trusting that he cares for you." And Philippians 4:6 says, "Cast your anxiety on God by praying and letting your requests be made known to him." The connection is simple. Trusting that God cares about your anxiety is expressed in prayer. Prayer is the spoken trust turned toward God.

Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Praise God and thank Him because He is sovereign over our anxieties and is wise enough and caring enough that we can entrust ourselves to Him.

Pray for humility and for more of the Spirit of the lowly, servant, risk-taking Christ. Philippians 2:3–8, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

Pray for more faith in God's promises and trust that every obstacle to joy would be overcome. Pray for people of all outreach ministries will cast their anxieties on God and hear his call.

Pray for courage and humility on the front lines of world missions and that this year would be a period of powerful advance for Christ and his kingdom in Africa and Asia, as well as in America.

]]> Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?how-to-deal-with-your-anxieties http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000017C imblog

1 Peter 4:12-19

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? 19 Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”

It might seem to you that 1 Peter is one of the most difficult biblical books, since it's mostly about suffering and how to live in a hostile culture, while most Christians don’t have the slightest idea of what suffering means.

But this book is not difficult or strange for people who have lived long enough to realize what Paul Brand, the missionary surgeon to India wrote in his book: “Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants.” God uses pain in people to bring them beyond what they think they are capable of.

John Piper says that pain and pleasure come to us not as opposites but as Siamese twins, strangely joined and intertwined. “Nearly all my memories of acute happiness, in fact, involve some element of pain or struggle.” (Christianity Today, Jan. 10, 1994, p. 21)

I have never heard anyone say, "The deepest and rarest and most satisfying joys of my life have come in times of plenty and ease and earthly comfort." Nobody says that, because that isn't true.

What's true is what Samuel Rutherford said when he was put in the cellars of affliction: "The Great King keeps his wine there"—not in the courtyard where the sun shines. What's true is what Charles Spurgeon said: "They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls."

True Christians will do anything to have the King's wine and the rare pearls, even if that means to go to the cellars of suffering and dive in the sea of affliction. And so you can see that it is not strange that many people love the epistle of 1 Peter, which is a handbook for Christian persecution and martyrdom.

Let me give you an example. When Bernie May was the head of Wycliffe Bible Translators he visited a young family in a Muslim nation. They had been there three years working with a people group of 100,000 people and no knowledge of Christ. This couple had three children under five years old!

The baby was covered with pox marks, some of which looked infected. He asked if the child had chicken pox. "No, those are ant bites," the mother said. "We can't keep the ants off him. Eventually he will become immune to them."

In a moment of honesty she confessed she felt guilty because she was suffering from stress. Stress! She and her young husband came there from mid-USA. Now they live in a place where the temperature is above 100 degrees all year.

The children are covered with ant bites; a war is going on close by; their helpers are in danger for being their friends; many in the villages are suffering from hunger and disease; they can't even let their supporters know what they are doing so that they can pray for them since they are in a "critical" area—and now she feels guilty because she is under stress.

I told her she had every right to feel stressful. I had only been their three days and I was already beginning to come unglued. Yet this dedicated young couple is laughing and joking and filled with the joy of the Lord. (Letter from Bernie May, Jan. 1990).

1 Peter is a letter mainly about how to be like that. Tonight’s text, in fact, commands us to be like that and gives at least six reasons why we should be and can be.

The command is found in verse 13: "To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing." Keep on rejoicing. When you are thrown in the cellars of suffering, keep on rejoicing. When you dive in the sea of affliction, keep on rejoicing.

In fact, keep on rejoicing not in spite of the affliction but even because of it. This is not a little piece of advice about the power of positive thinking. This is an utterly radical, supernatural way to respond to suffering. It is not in our power. It is not for the sake of our honor. It is the way spiritual aliens and exiles live on the earth for the glory of the great King.

James 1:2, "Count it all joy when you meet various trials," is foolish advice, except for one thing, God. Peter gives six reasons why we can "keep on rejoicing" when the suffering comes. They all relate to God.

1. Not a Surprise but a Plan. Keep on rejoicing because the suffering is not a surprise but a plan. Verse 12: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you." It isn't strange. It isn't absurd. It isn't meaningless. It is purposeful. It is for your testing.

Look at verse 19: "Let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator." This is according to God's will. Suffering is not outside the will of God, it is in God's will. This is true even when Satan may be the immediate cause. God is sovereign over all things, including our suffering, and including Satan.

But why? For what purpose? Compare verses 12 and 17. Verse 12 says that your fiery ordeal comes "for your testing." Verse 17 says, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?"

The point is that God's judgment is moving through the earth. The church does not escape. When the fire of judgment burns the church, it is a testing and purifying fire. When it burns the world, it either awakens or destroys.

Verse 18: "And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?" Believers pass through the testing fire of God's judgment— not because He hates us, but because He loves us and wills our purity. God hates sin so much and loves his children so much that he will spare us no pain to rid us of what He hates.

So reason number one is that suffering is not surprising; it is planned. It is a testing. It is purifying fire. It proves and strengthens real faith, and it destroys "performance faith," meaning faith that is just a show on the outside and not part of your heart.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn had long been impressed with the patience and longsuffering of Russian believers. One night in prison in Siberia Boris Kornfeld, a Jewish doctor, sat up with Solzhenitsyn and told him the story of his conversion to Christ. The same night Kornfeld was clubbed to death. Solzhenitsyn said that Kornfeld's last words were, "It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good . . . Bless you, prison, for having been my life."

Therefore we have strong hope that the sufferings of our own day will bring purity and life to many. Suffering is not surprising; it is purposeful because at times that is God’s only chosen way for others to repent.

2. Evidence of Union with Christ. Keep on rejoicing because your suffering as a Christian is an evidence of your union with Christ.

Verse 13a: "But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing." In other words your sufferings are not merely your own. They are also Christ's. This is cause for rejoicing because it means you are united to Christ.

Joseph Tson, a Romanian pastor who stood up to Ceausescu's repressions of Christianity, wrote, “This union with Christ is the most beautiful subject in the Christian life. It means that I am not a lone fighter here: I am an extension of Jesus Christ. When I was beaten in Romania, He suffered in my body. It is not my suffering: I only had the honor to share His sufferings.” (undated paper: "A Theology of Martyrdom")

3. A Means to Attaining Greater Joy in Glory. Keep on rejoicing because this joy will strengthen your assurance that when Christ comes in glory, you will rejoice forever with Him.

Verse 13b: "As you share the sufferings of Christ keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation." Notice: keep on rejoicing now, so that you may rejoice then. Our joy now through suffering is the means of attaining our joy then, a thousand-fold in glory.

1 Peter 1:11, "The Spirit predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow" (cf. 5:1). Paul said in Romans 8:17, "If we suffer with Him we will be glorified with Him." First the suffering, and then the glory both for Jesus and for those who are united to him.

If we become embittered at life and the pain it deals us, we are not preparing to rejoice at the revelation of Christ's glory. Keep on rejoicing now in suffering in order that you might rejoice with exultation at the revelation of His glory.

4. The Spirit of Glory and of God Resting on You. Verse 14: "If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you."

This means that in the hour of greatest trial there is a great consolation. In great suffering on earth there is great support from heaven. You may think now that you will not be able to bear it. But if you are Christ's, you will be able to bear it, because He will come to you and rest upon you.

As Rutherford said, the Great King keeps his finest wine in the cellar of affliction. He does not bring it out to serve with chips and on sunny afternoons. He keeps it for extremities.

If you say, “What is this? The Spirit of glory and of God resting on me in suffering.” The answer is simply this: you will understand this when you need it. The Spirit will reveal enough of glory and enough of God to satisfy your soul, and carry you through the test.

Seek to be holy; seek to bring truth; seek to bear witness; and do not turn aside from risk. And sooner or later you will experience the Spirit of glory and of God resting upon you in suffering.

5. Glorifying God. Keep on rejoicing in suffering because this glorifies God. Verse 16: "If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God."

Glorifying God means showing by your actions and attitudes that God is glorious to you, that he is valuable, precious, desirable, satisfying. And the greatest way to show that God satisfies your heart is to keep on rejoicing in Him when all other supports for your satisfaction are falling away.

When you keep rejoicing in God in the midst of suffering, it shows that God, and not other things, is the great source of your joy.

Listen to Paul Brand, a missionary surgeon to India. He tells the story of his mother who was a missionary in India and who did something that symbolizes a life devoted through suffering to the glory of God and not self.

Dr. Brand writes, “for mother, pain was a frequent companion, as was sacrifice. I say it kindly and in love, but in old age, Mother had little of physical beauty left in her. The rugged conditions, combined with the crippling falls and her battles with typhoid, dysentery, and malaria, had made her a thin, hunched-over old woman.”

“Years of exposure to wind and sun had toughened her facial skin into leather and furrowed it with wrinkles as deep and extensive as seldom seen on a human face . . .” My mother knew that as well as anyone—for the last 20 years of her life she refused to keep a mirror in her house.” (Christianity Today, Jan. 10, 1994, p. 23)

6. God's Faithfulness to Care for Your Soul. Finally, keep on rejoicing because your Creator is faithful to care for your soul. Verse 19: "Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right."

The degrees of suffering and the forms of affliction will differ for every one of us. But one thing we will all have in common till Jesus comes: we will all die. We will come to that awesome moment of reckoning.

If you have time, you will see your whole life played before you as you ponder if it has been well-spent. You will tremble at the unspeakable reality that in just moments you will face God. And the destiny of your soul will be irrevocable forever.

Will you rejoice at that time? You will if you trust your soul to the faithful Creator. He created your soul for His glory. He is faithful to that glory and to all who love it and live for it. Now is the time to show where your treasure is—in heaven or on earth. Now is the time to shine with the glory of God. Trust him. And keep on rejoicing.

]]> Sun, 15 Aug 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?can-we-rejoice-in-suffering- http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000017D imblog

1 Peter 4:7-11

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Two things seem timely for us this Sunday. One was the phrase, "The end of all things is at hand," in verse 7. The other was a special word the Lord has for us as a church at this specific time together where we are experiencing a few disagreements amongst us.

I want to explain this evening what I think Peter means by "The end of all things is at hand" (in verse 7), and then draw out a word for us that I believe the Lord impressed on me fairly strongly recently.

What did Peter mean when he said that the end of all things is at hand? Was he claiming to know and teach that Jesus would come back in a few months or years and end this age and establish His kingdom? Did he make a mistake in his prediction?

Or was he teaching that Jesus could come back at any moment because everything that needs to happen before He comes had happened and so his coming is near in the sense of being imminent? Or is there another possibility?

Interpreters with less confidence in the Scriptures have sometimes concluded that the apostles simply made a mistake when they said things like this, "the end of all things at hand." Because the end was well over 2,000 years away. So they made a mistake—the argument goes.

But for those of us who have come to trust in Scripture as God's word and believe that God did not allow his apostles to teach mistakes to the church, this is not so easy. And there are other reasons it's not so easy. One is that Peter was there in Acts 1:6 when the apostles ask Jesus, "Lord, is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

Peter heard Jesus say, "It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority" (Acts 1:7). Peter had been told that it was not his business to know when Jesus would come and establish His kingdom. His business was to do the Master's bidding till he comes, to spread the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

So what was Peter teaching about the end of all things in verse 7? Let us look at the clue that followed in the next verse which was advice on prayer, "Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." Peter connects the nearness of the end with the need for prayer.

This also relates back to the teaching of Jesus who did the same thing in Luke 21:36, "But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

The point of praying for "escape" there is not that Christians will be taken out of the world and not pass through the trouble Jesus is predicting. You don't need "strength" for that. He prays for "strength" so that they would be strong so as not to be spiritually and morally ruined by the end-time stresses.

Two verses before in Luke 21:34, He calls the coming end a "trap" for those who are weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life. That's what we need to have strength to escape from, the trap of worldliness as the end draws near.

So both Jesus and Peter connect the urgency of prayer with the drawing near of the end of the age, which is now. Peter was there when Jesus taught this and learned it from Him. So let's stay with the context in Luke 21 for a few minutes and see how Jesus taught Peter and the others to think about the end of the age.

In Luke 21:6 Jesus predicts the demolishing of the Jerusalem temple: "not one stone will be left upon another." This prompts the disciples to ask (in v. 7) about the signs when these kinds of things would happen.

So Jesus mentions some things that are going to happen that will lead from there to the end. Verse 9: "And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately."

Notice: Jesus is careful to say that these signs, wars and disturbances, are not immediately followed by the end. There is an undefined space of time. He is avoiding telling us about a specific time frame.

In verses 10 and 11 He mentions wars again, as well as earthquakes and famines and terrors and some kind of cataclysmic signs in the sky or in space. Then in verse 12 He says something important about timing. Looking back on the wars and upheavals and famines and earthquakes, he says, "But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you . . . etc."

Notice the word, "before." So now you have another indefinite space of time implied: First there is the persecution that Peter and other disciples will experience (v. 12). Then there is "before all these things" (v. 12) namely, the wars and famines and earthquakes, etc. Then there is the end. And between these there is no set amount of time.

Then Jesus adds some more signs that will happen on the way to the end, still without getting specific about when they happen or how they are connected. For example, verse 20: "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand."

Then verse 24b: "Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." So the destruction of Jerusalem is part of what is coming before the end, and after that there will be this period of time, again of unspecified length, that has to be fulfilled—which Jesus calls "the times of the Gentiles."

Peter wasn't saying Jesus could return at any moment. When Peter wrote 1 Peter, Jerusalem had not been destroyed yet. He died around AD 65 and Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in about AD 70.

So it's difficult to agree with the interpretation that says what Peter meant in 1 Peter 4:7 ("The end of all things is at hand") was that Jesus could come back at any moment. Jesus had said that Jerusalem would be destroyed first and then an undefined time of the Gentiles would elapse before the end of the age would come and He would return.

Besides the destruction of Jerusalem Jesus also said that world evangelization would take place before the end would come. For example, Matthew 24:14, "This gospel of the kingdom must first be preached in all the world as a testimony to all the nations; then the end will come" (cf. Acts 1:8).

And not only that, Jesus had told Peter what would happen in his old age, and so The Lord knew that Peter would get old. In John 21:18 Jesus said, "When you grow old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go."

So Peter could not have believed that Jesus would return at any minute during his middle aged years of ministry. The Lord himself had told him how he would die when he was old.

And Paul warns against this view that Jesus might have returned in those days at any moment. Paul says, to the Thessalonians, "[The day of the Lord] will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed" (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

So what does Peter mean when he says, "The end of all things is at hand"? All around us there is intensifying persecution, as the Lord said there would be. There are rumors of wars. The horizon is dark for Israel, and the judgment on Jerusalem is near.

Not only that, the gospel is spreading like wildfire as the Spirit is poured out. Paul was able to plant churches in all the major cites of Galatia in a matter of months. Now he has completed the frontier mission work from Jerusalem all the way around to northern Italy (Romans 15:19), and he plans to go to Spain.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other bands of missionaries are forming and going to the unreached. I don't know how big the world is. But if Pentecost is any indication, and if the success of Paul is any evidence, the world could be evangelized in a relatively short time by God's great power.

Brothers, the end is near. I'm not predicting when it will happen. I mean, the things that the Lord said must happen before He comes are taking place around us, and could be accomplished quickly, even in your lifetime.

So pray a lot, because the great danger facing us is that we fall in love with this world and become spiritually dull and the Lord’s Day will come upon us like a thief in the night and many would be destroyed. O pray, brothers, pray that you have strength to endure and escape the trap of spiritual apathy. Pray that you may be able to stand firm before the Son of Man.

And that's exactly the way I would say about the coming of the Lord today. It is just around the corner, the end is near indeed. If anyone continually sins and loves this world, thinking, "I have lots of time," he is a real fool. The Judge is at the door. And the time remaining should be spent in prayer so that we not become distracted by the pleasures of this world.

This really affected me talking to a lot of people. I‘ve met hundreds of people who don't believe that the end is near. Or who don’t believe there exists even a Lord of history that is guiding it all to an appointed end of judgment and salvation. May the Lord stir us up to warn as many people as we can earnestly, lovingly and boldly.

That's the word from the Lord for us this evening. But there is one more. Maybe you will hear something from verses 8 and 9 about how to live together in the end time stresses. "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint [without grumbling]."

I saw a connection between verses 8 and 9 that I hadn't seen before. And it made me think of where we are as a church. Verse 8 says that our love needs to be the kind that covers each other's sins. In other words the focus is on the effect of love that enables fellowship in spite of sins. Isn't that remarkable?

Then in verse 9 Peter says that we should be hospitable "without complaint" or without grumbling. Grumbling about what? Maybe about the time and effort it takes to take care of their child or to fix a meal or to loan her a car.

But don't you think Peter means also grumbling about how people behave? Love covers over sins. Let hospitality be without grumbling. Love says, "I'm just going to cover the things about which I could complain and grumble."

The Lord is ministering to us here. He's choosing the text as we move through 1 Peter. If we want to, we all have a lot of reasons to complain and murmur, don't we? Some feel that there are past sins that effect us in the way we handle things now. Others feel there are past sins in the way some people were treated. Others feel neither or both.

But God's amazing word to us this evening is: love covers sins, so that hospitality, real heart-felt fellowship can happen, not because we agree on what the sins are, that's the amazing thing in this text, not because we finally decide what our shortcomings are, but because love covers them.

Peter is saying that authentic love and fellowship is based, in part, on the covering of many sins. This is not sweeping sins under the rug. It's not endorsing keeping skeletons in the closet.

God says there are no sins that can remain hidden, you might do it in secret but at some point in time God is going to show this from the rooftops (remember King David?). The first thing before healing can start is to confess it to God first who then graciously and instantly will forgive you (1 John 1:9).

It's saying at least this and probably more: When we've done all the confrontation, when we've done all the argumentation and exhortation, we cover it. Whatever side we are on, we cover it; we give it up; we bury it as a cause of murmuring.

And God has given each believer something unique for the benefit of all. Listen to verse 10: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.” We are all stewards of God’s varied grace! Every Christian is a steward, which means a custodian, a manager, a warden, a distributor, a servant of God’s varied grace.

God knows that when each one of us has a different gift we need to work together to help one another in solving problems and overcoming it with grace. Every Christian needs grace. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work”.

If you are afraid of giving of yourself or that you don’t have much personal strength or personal wealth, then good. Then you won’t intimidate anybody. You will depend even more on God’s grace. You will look all the more to the work of Christ and not your own work.

Hospitality does not depend on what we have, it does not depend on how wealthy you are, it all depends on the condition of your heart and your willingness to do good to another person. Even little acts of kindness do not go unnoticed by God.

And as we turn together to God's future grace and take our cue for our Lord from verse 11, we will so live "that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

]]> Sun, 08 Aug 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?the-end-of-all-things-is-at-hand http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000017E imblog

1 Peter 3:18-22

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”

To catch on to what this paragraph is all about we need to see how it relates to what goes before and what comes after. Just before in verse 17 Peter calls Christians to suffer if that is God's will for them: "It is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong."

So in verse 18 Peter begins this paragraph by saying, "For Christ also died [suffered] for sins once for all . . . " The word "for" shows us that Peter is beginning to explain or give us a reason why it is sometimes God's will for us to suffer for doing what is right.

Between these two calls to suffer comes our text, verses 18–22. So the main point of these verses is to help us get ready to suffer with Jesus for doing what is right, not for doing what is wrong. Peter's intention is to help us arm ourselves with faith to suffer for the sake of Christ and His kingdom.

The Norm throughout Most of History. If that sounds irrelevant to you, it may be because you, like most Americans, are insulated from the bigger world outside our own country (about 5% of total) and outside our own little American era (about 5% of the last 6,000 years).

For most of the world and for most of history being a Christian has not been safe. Stephen Neil says in his History of Christian Missions (p. 43) that in the first three centuries, when the Church was spreading like wildfire, "Every Christian knew that sooner or later he might have to testify to his faith at the cost of his life."

And we have invented names for places where it's dangerous to be a Christian. We call them "closed" countries, which is odd indeed. We have taken the false assumption that safety is normal, and used that false assumption to define where the mission of the church can advance. Peter and Paul would have found this whole idea incomprehensible.

The Norm throughout Most of the World. Today it is normal in most places to suffer for being Christians. To be safe and respected is the exception, not the rule. Let me give you just one example. Evangelical missionaries entered Cambodia in the 1920s. By the time they were expelled in 1965 there were about 600 believers.

Between 1965 and 1975 during the civil war the Christian population soared to an estimated 90,000. It was an amazing work of God. But when the Khmer Rouge took control and Pol Pot unleashed his fury on the nation, most of these Christians died or fled the country.

This story can be retold hundreds of times over and over around the world and along the centuries. It is normal for Christians to be hated. Jesus said this in Matthew 24:9, "You will be hated by all nations on account of my name."

There is a warning here for us in America. As John Piper puts it, “I get the impression that we are in a bitter, reactionary mood as Christians in America. The atmosphere seems to be one of acrimony and rancor and mean-spiritedness in the public square—as if the liberal, secular, relativistic cultural elites have taken our Christian world from us.”

Now the time is right for a heavy dose of the teaching of 1 Peter 4:12, "Do not be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes upon you as though something strange were happening to you." And we read in Matthew 10:25, "It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more the members of his house."

So in this text tonight, and in the whole letter, Peter is helping us to be ready to suffer, if God should will it. That is why verses 18-22 were written. Let's look at the five ways that Peter uses to strengthen us for that possibility.

1. Remember That Christ Suffered. First, our great King and our Savior suffered. 1 Peter 3:17–18: "It is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong, FOR Christ also suffered."

Throughout the New Testament the mindset of Christianity is: our Lord suffered and we will follow him in suffering. Jesus Himself said in Mark 8:34, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." I bear the cross; so you will bear the cross.

The first great encouragement to prepare ourselves for suffering for doing what is right is that this is what happened to Jesus, the greatest, most loving, caring, truthful, holy man that ever lived.

2. Peter strengthens us to suffer by telling us that Christ has triumphed over our greatest enemy and brought us safe to God. Why would anyone become a Christian if what you could offer them was that things in this world would probably become worse for them and that their lives would be at risk?

The answer is that the greatest human needs are not to live long on the earth and be comfortable. The biggest human needs are to have our sins forgiven and to overcome our separation from God and to live forever with happiness in his presence instead of living forever in misery in hell.

That's so much more important than living long on this earth and being comfortable for a minute percentage of your existence. This is what the death of Jesus accomplishes. Verse 18: "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God."

Christ died "for sins." This is what separates me from God. This is my biggest need. These are my biggest enemy, not Satan. Isaiah 59:2, "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."

Compared to suffering for righteousness' sake, suffering the wrath of God because my sins have not been forgiven is much more terrifying. Jesus died "for sins." This is the greatest thing in the world. I do not have to die for my sins. There is forgiveness. This is why people should believe on Jesus even if it might cost them their lives.

Christ died "the just for the unjust." His death was a substitutionary death. He took my place. He stood under the wrath and penalty that I deserved and bore it for me. His death was an innocent death. It was all for other people’s sins, and not his own.

Christ died "once for all," which means, his death was final and all-sufficient to accomplish the forgiveness of all who believe on Him. He does not have to ever offer another sacrifice. It was finished. It was all that was necessary to take away the guilt of my sins, the debt is paid in full.

All of the things that Christ did bring me and you and all of us who believe to God. Verse 18, "Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that he might bring us to God."

This is the great comfort of martyrs and suffering Christians. Our worst enemy, sin has been defeated. And Jesus has made sure that we will be safe with God. He has brought us to God. The separation has been removed. God is near us, and He loves us. Our lives are hidden in him.

3. Remember the Days of Noah. The third way that Peter strengthens us for suffering is reminding us what happened in Noah's day. After referring to Jesus being made alive in the spirit (v. 18), verses 19–20 say, “In which [i.e., in the spirit] also He [Jesus] went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20) who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”

There is a lot of controversy over the interpretation of these verses. Let me tell you what I understand and how this relates to Peter’s main point. This is related to the time when people in Noah's day were disobedient, ridiculing him as a crazy man, and that Jesus, in the spirit, was sent by God in those days to preach to those people through Noah.

The Spirit of Jesus was in the Old Testament prophets preaching and predicting his coming just like it says in 1 Peter 1:11, “searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”

So the same Spirit of Jesus was in Noah preaching to the disobedient people of Noah's day. They are NOW in prison that is in a place of torment awaiting the final judgment. Just like the rich man in Luke 16:24, “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

This verse does not refer to Jesus' going to the place of the dead and preaching to the spirits there, though many wise and good people interpret it that way. One main reason is: if Peter's point is that Jesus went to preach to all the dead, why would he say that they were once disobedient on the days of Noah? There were millions of spirits there who had not lived in the days of Noah.

So this means that Jesus went to preach in the days of Noah to people who, because they rejected that preaching, are NOW in prison awaiting final judgment. This assures us of the greatness of Christ. He is not bound by space and time.

He was there preaching thousands of years before and He is here preaching today. He will be with you, as he said, to the end of the age, in China and Indonesia and Uganda and Canada and Uzbekistan and Iraq and Afghanistan and in Denver, wherever you may suffer, both now and forever.

It is better to obey him and suffer than to disobey and be cast into the prison of verse 19. That is what happened to the spirits (the people) in Noah's day. They thought it was foolish to obey the call of God like Noah did. So they stayed comfortable and self-righteous until the rain started.

And it is no disadvantage to you to be a small rejected minority. That's the point in verse 20 where it says that in the ark "a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water." If you are a minority but with God, you will be in the majority and be saved while everyone else will not. So when suffering comes, be confident in the Lord because that has a great reward.

The fourth way that Peter strengthens us for suffering is by describing the meaning of baptism. The flood waters that brought judgment on the world in Noah's day reminded Peter of Christian baptism.

Verse 21: "And corresponding to that [the flood], baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

And Peter knows that this will be misunderstood if he does not explain it. So when he says, "Baptism now saves you," he adds, "Not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience." This is virtually a definition of baptism.

Baptism is an outward expression of a spiritual, inward appeal to God for cleansing. In other words, baptism is a way of saying to God: "I believe that the death of Jesus paid for my sins and that through His resurrection it brings me into new and everlasting life."

Baptism may cleanse the body because it was by immersion. But that is not why Peter says it saves. It saves for one reason: it is an expression of faith. Paul said in Romans 10:13 that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Baptism is such a calling. It is an appeal to the Lord.

The suffering we are experiencing is not the condemnation of God. That has already been experienced for us by Christ. We have received that by faith and we have expressed our faith by baptism. It stands as a constant reminder that the worst suffering has been averted.

Christ suffered for us. We will never have to come into judgment. There is now no condemnation. We have already died that death in Christ and been raised in Him. Therefore our present suffering is not the wrath of God but the loving discipline of our Father and the preparation for glory.

The fifth way Peter strengthens us for suffering is in that he shows us that Christ is at the right hand of God ruling over all angels, authorities and powers. Verse 22: "He is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him."

Take this one thought with you in preparation for your suffering. No harassing, oppressing, deceiving, accusing demon is free to do as he pleases. All angels, authorities, powers, devils, evil spirits, demons, and Satan himself are subject to Jesus Christ.

Jesus reigns at God's right hand and the devil is under Him. We can say to him: you can do nothing without his permission. You are on a chain. You cannot touch me unless He lets you. And He will only let you to the degree that your touch will turn for my good and for his glory.

So stand firm believers. Stand firm in this great faith, and arm yourselves with the purpose of Christ. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Let's also follow Him.

]]> Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?once-and-for-all http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000017F imblog

1 Peter 3:13-16

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

Remember now that the Apostle Peter has been giving some clear and essential instruction to the believers about living in a hostile world. They, in fact, were undergoing persecution, great difficulty and they were being rejected by the society they were in. They were experiencing real hostilities.

So in chapter 2, Peter begins to describe all the right human relationships that are essential for us as we attempt to reach this world for Christ. He explains how our relationship to government should be. He talks about our relationship to authority. And He teaches us about the correct relationship to our employer.

In chapter 3 he talks about our relationship to our marital partner, husband to wife, wife to husband. How we are to live as citizens under the government with an evangelistic goal in mind, how we are to live as employees under an employer with evangelistic purpose in mind, and how we are to live as a Christian married to an unbeliever with an evangelistic purpose in mind.

Then coming down to verses 8 to 12 he talks about the general attitude with which we live in the world which touches everyone that we meet that we discussed last week. Up until now he has really been laying a foundation, this is who you are and here is how you are to act in the midst of a hostile society.

Now given that you live this way in a hostile society, here are securities from God when society comes against you. How we are to trust in the power of righteousness, to triumph over hostility and to triumph over suffering? Our Father in heaven wants us to have a confident joy rather than being alarmed or having anxiety.

Now in Peter's time the situation was not much different from our time. There was direct hostility and some direct persecution against the people of God, which is also happening in many parts of the world. Although in the United States it is not as overt and aggressive, at least not officially, I believe there is mounting hostility toward Christianity here as well.

You can see it in a number of ways. I saw this little catalog; it's one of those kind of catalogs that you get in the mail. It's called "Casual Living USA," It's a catalog of various gifts and it has bird feeders, little computers, puzzles and little barometers and coffee cups etc.

And then in the middle of it is a most interesting new game that is introduced. The name of the game is "Fleece The Flock, The TV Evangelist Game." It is called a "signs of the times board game." Everybody in the game is a TV evangelist who prefers new limos to the Old Testament, it says.

The game is about getting as money as you can while you're gripped by intrigue, strategy pressures and subterfuge that keep everyone in suspense. Two to eight players, the game box includes $400 million, devil cards, angel cards and God's will cards, 30 TV stations, 90 tokens for power assets, corporate jets, etc. This is the new TV evangelist game.

Tongue in cheek, yes, but also betraying an underlying hostility to the faults of Christianity, obviously. We are in a society that has a flourishing secularism, a flourishing materialism, a flourishing humanism, a society that is bent on fornication.

We are in a society that has made homosexuality nothing but an alternate life style, a society that is drowning in pornography, a society that is deep into man solving his own problems in whatever way he chooses to feel comfortable about himself.

And in this society you have an emerging hostility toward anything related to Christianity. And I know that as we live in days ahead, we may sense more and more of this hostility if not on an official governmental level, on an unofficial personal level, to be sure.

So God is providing these verses for us right now. These verses are for every person who lives a godly life in an ungodly culture, and these verses teach us how to defend ourselves against these hostile threats. And we will hold up well under slander if they cannot find some direct evil in our behavior.

Well God is giving us through Peter principles that will provide us with the security that we need. As we discussed before the first thing God teaches us is to have a passion for doing good.

The first verse tonight says, “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?”(1 Peter 3:13). It is rare anywhere that you are mistreated because you do good. Even in a hostile country the people that are benefitting society, those who help others and care are seldom hurt.

Do you know what being zealous means in the bible? The zealots in Israel were fanatical patriots that pledged to liberate Israel from foreign rule even if it would cost them their lives. They would do anything for this purpose and this included violence and assassinations.

Peter is saying that we should be just as fanatical in doing good, willing to sacrifice your comforts and your worldly possessions for the purpose of loving all the people that you come into contact with.

And anything good that you are willing to do for God requires sacrifice. This concept of sacrificial giving is taught early in the Old Testament where there is a substantial cost related to each lamb or calf sacrifice.

Similarly in the New Testament loving God and your neighbor also requires much sacrifice. Ephesians 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Christ gives us the example by paying the ultimate sacrifice of giving His life for us to save us.

This does not mean that every Christian that suffers is blessed. Many times Christians suffer because they are not doing good, or they refuse to get involved, or they refuse to give up their time, energy and money to help other people.

Many Christians often forget that all the money, and all their possessions that they have are just on loan to them from God. God wants to know what they will do with all those blessings, God wants to test them to see if they are doers of the Word where they become blessings to others and if they really put God first by tithing faithfully to the church.

Sometimes in doing good and showing love we sacrifice our time, effort, health or maybe our freedom and we suffer. So God is teaching us through Peter in verse 14, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.”

So even if by chance you should suffer for righteousness, you will have God’s blessing. Our God who knows everything and sees that you are suffering, here gives us comfort and security by saying that He blesses us when we suffer for His sake.

Let us jump ahead for a moment and look at 1 Peter 4:12, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” Don’t be surprised if you suffer because you are loving others and preaching the gospel.

Here again Peter says the same thing, you will suffer even for doing good, accept that. The Spirit of glory from God will rest on you. God will have a purpose in it all should it happen, because God wants to prepare you, for it may happen. In fact, if you go back into chapter 2 and verse 21, you might even consider it a privilege. Christ also suffered, it says, leaving you an example.

The time will come where our society will not tolerate even a good life. They will not tolerate a righteous man or a righteous woman. The very presence of holy virtue will irritate them to the point that they will have to act aggressively against you. But, says Peter, as long as we suffer for what is right, we are blessed.

Now what does "blessed" mean? It's not so much the idea of happy, not so much the idea of joyful as it is the idea of privileged, or honored. Do you remember where the bible says of Mary, "Blessed are you among women?" This does not mean "happy." In fact, her heart was pierced with many sorrows (Luke 2:35). But it meant privileged and it can mean honored.

It meant that she was the object of divine favor and divine grace and divine goodness and special dispensation from God was granted to her to do a special task and to enjoy special goodness at the hand of God. And that's exactly what it means here.

Even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you're privileged, you are honored. Why? Because you can join, as it were, in the sufferings of Christ, you can fellowship in His sufferings. Philippians 3:10 says, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

What else does Peter say in the beginning of verse 15? It says. “Have no fear of them (suffering), nor be troubled, 15but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” It means that no matter what comes against you, no matter what attacks you, you affirm in your heart that Christ is Lord.

The only one I really have to fear, the only one I really have to dread is the Lord. It does not bother me what men may do to me. It does bother me what God may do to me. It means that you recognize the sovereign majesty of Christ.

Christianity means that in whatever happens in our life, good or bad, we exalt Christ above everything else. Christ is more important than everything that has to do with me, my dreams, my satisfaction and my goals.

Only He is the object of my love, my loyalty and commitment. Only He is the object of my awe, my reverence and my worship. I recognize His perfection. I magnify His glory. I exalt His greatness. I honor the living Christ as my Lord and therefore I submit myself to Him and His plan for me.

Then says Peter there is yet another reason we can feel secure. Verse 15, "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." God gives us "a preparedness to answer." It's a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.

What is that? Very simply that's the Christian faith. In other words, you are to be able to give a rational explanation and defense of why you are a Christian. Christian hope and Christian faith really mean the same thing.

So, he's simply saying be able to defend your Christianity, be able to tell people why you believe what you believe. Understand why you believe what you believe and then be able to articulate it. And then he adds in verse 15, "Yet with gentleness and reverence."

The word "gentleness" is actually the word for meekness or humility, power under control is one way that we think about that word. And then the word reverence is actually the word for fear. It's the word phobou from which we get phobias. In other words, have reverence, a healthy fear for God, a healthy reverence for truth and even a healthy reverence for the person to whom you speak.

Now understand that God is willing to help you in being able to defend your Christianity. And God will give you the right things to say when the time comes. After all if you depend on Him to do good for Him, He will also help you in your confrontation with unbelievers.

Now what does Peter say next in verse 16? While you give your defense with gentleness and respect, also have a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

Maintain a good conscience. That means that your conscience is not accusing you. Your conscience is a mechanism which either accuses you or excuses you. Your conscience is a device that God has planted within you to act as a source of conviction or affirmation. And the closer you are to God the more useful it becomes.

If you have a good conscience, it will be telling you that all is well. But if you have an evil conscience, it will be reminding you that all is not well because there is sin in your life. And what Peter is saying is live with a clear conscience so that when you face criticism, hostility or persecution you don't feel any guilt.

What should you do when you are criticized? First, you should look into your heart to see if the criticism is valid. Many people right away feel offended when criticized, but we all make mistakes and we all should be willing to look at ourselves to see how we can improve ourselves. Maybe God is using that person to change something within you that needs changing.

1 Peter 3:16 says, “having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” This world loves to see a Christian fall and automatically they will feel self-righteous and condemn that person. And then they try to put all Christians in that same category and justify their criticism and unbelief.

Slander is the world’s way to trouble you, to make you fear them. Many of us want to have a good reputation, and that is what the devil uses to keep you from doing good, from loving others. And sometimes our fear “to save face” will prevent us from doing what God wants us to do. But God says to us, do not fear, I will bless you instead! Amen?

]]> Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?security-in-a-hostile-world http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000180 imblog

1 Peter 3:7-9

“You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”

In Peter's first letter, he mentions prayer three times. What is remarkable about these instances is that there is something common to each of them. Let me read them to you and see if you can detect the common thread running through each.

First, Peter has a word for husbands about prayer and their relationship with their wives (3:7): You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Second, in the very next paragraph he speaks to all believers (in v. 8) about being brotherly and kindhearted and humble and (in v. 9) not returning evil for evil but instead giving a blessing.

Then to support these admonitions he quotes Psalm 34:10–12: For, "Let him who means to love life and see good days refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. And let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Third, in 1 Peter 4:7 he says, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.” Now what is the common thread running through those three references to prayer? All three teach us not that praying helps us live right, but that living right helps us pray also.

Now it's true that praying is one of the ways God has appointed to help us live the way we should (cf. Colossians 1:9–10). But Peter's point in every one of these texts is that it's true the other way around: God has appointed a way for us to live which will help us pray.

There are ways to live that hinder prayers and there is a way to live that helps prayer. Let's look at these similarities again and you ask this time: what is Peter telling us about how living helps praying.

The first one in 3:7 tells us that if you want your prayers to be helped and not hindered you have to live with your wife in a certain way. There has to be an effort to understand her so as to know her needs. There has to be a special concern from you of her weaknesses and a process of finding out what she especially needs from you.

He has to recognize that she as his wife is a fellow heir of God’s grace and that she should be honored rather than be belittled or demeaned. When we as husbands live like this with loving understanding, with tender care, and by giving honor, our prayers will not be hindered. If we do not live like this, God will not hear all our prayers.

So concerned is God that Christian husbands live in an understanding and loving way with their wives, that He "interrupts" his prayer relationship with them when they are not living rightly.

No Christian husband should presume to think that any spiritual good will be accomplished by his life without a ministry of prayer. And no husband may expect an effective prayer life unless he lives with his wife "in an understanding way, bestowing honor" on her.

To take the time to develop and maintain a good marriage is God's will; it is serving God; it is a spiritual activity pleasing in his sight. And this is how God has been teaching us to live by being a good example of God’s love towards one another. And God blesses us when we live with our wives that way, which frees our prayers and helps empower our spiritual impact.

Peter goes on in verses 8 and 9 to call all of us, not just husbands, to be sympathetic, and brotherly and kindhearted and humble, and not to return evil for evil but to bless those who are unkind to us.

Then he gives a reason for why we should live like this. It's a quote from Psalm 34 and in verse 12 the reason uses the same kind of argument as in 3:7, namely, prayers are hindered if we don't live this way.

God has a special blessings for the prayers of those who pursue peace and whose lips are pure and who don't use guile (deceit). Verse 12: "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

God listens to the prayers of those who live like this: keep the tongue from evil, refrain from guile, seek peace, do righteousness. So here again Peter is teaching us how to keep our prayers from being hindered. Does every Christian pray as they should?

There’s a story of a woman who lived in a remote valley in Wales, England. She went to a great deal of trouble and expense to have electrical power installed in her home. However, after a couple of months, the electric company noticed she didn’t seem to use very much electricity at all.

Thinking there might be a problem with the hookup, they sent a meter reader out to check on the matter. The man came to the door and said, "We’ve just checked your meter and it doesn’t seem that you’re using much electricity. Is there a problem?” “Oh no" she said. "We’re quite satisfied. We turn on the electric lights every night to see how to light our other lamps and then we switch them off again."

Now, why didn’t this woman make more use of her electricity? She believed in electricity. She believed the promises of the electric company when they told her about it. She went to a great deal of trouble and expense to have her house wired for it. BUT - she didn’t understand the potential of electricity in her home. And so she used its power sparingly.

I suspect there are many people in our church who use prayer very much the same way. They believe in prayer. They know of the promises God has made. They’ve even read and heard stories about answered prayers. But still they use prayer’s power sparingly.

In other words a free, open, real, satisfying life of prayer is not automatic. It doesn't just happen to you while you are passive. If it did, this text would be pointless. Your prayer life in 2010 depends in large part on how you choose to live at home and at work and in your private life.

I believe that the reason that happens (at least for some Christians) is that many don’t understand how prayer works and many people believe it doesn’t really matter whether they pray or not.

They either believe: God is going to do what God is going to do anyway, so why bother!? OR – they regard prayer as a last resort after all of their other efforts have failed. Sort of like a “Hail Mary” pass in football. They throw it up in the air and hope it reaches the desired destination.

They’ll pray a little bit. They’ll throw up occasional appeals…But in their heart of hearts, they don’t view prayer as making that big an impact on the decisions they make every day.

But Daniel didn’t pray that way in the Old Testament, Daniel prayed 3 times every day. He prayed in his room. He prayed in the lions’ den. He prayed for wisdom. He prayed for guidance. He prayed that God would forgive the sins of His people Israel and return them to their home.

And now in Daniel 10, we find Daniel struggling in prayer for 21 days because he’s troubled by a dream he’s had. Many Christians would have trouble praying for 21 days for anything. When was the last time you continually prayed for one thing? Why should we always pray and not give up?

I mean does God not hear our prayer? Is it hard to get His attention? Do we have to keep bothering Him until He throws up His hands in disgust and says "If I don’t grant their request I’ll never get any rest?" No, I don’t think that’s the issue at all.

Listen to Daniel 10:10-12 this evening, because this says something else entirely. Notice it says in verse 12, “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.”

This isn’t the 1st time an angel has told Daniel this, look at Daniel 9:23, “as soon as you began to pray an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. (because you live a godly life, so you prayer life is not hindered) Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision.”

In other words, when you live godly, every time you pray according to His will, not only does God gladly hear your prayers, in some cases an angel is immediately sent from the throne of God to answer your prayers.

But that still doesn’t answer question: why should we always pray and not give up? The story of Daniel’s prayer (here in chap. 10) gives us at least one reason why we should not give up praying.

Listen again to Daniel 10:12-13, “Then he said to me, "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia.”

This is one of those rare times God pulls back the curtain and lets us see what’s happening behind the scenes. When Daniel prayed demonic forces responded (the prince of Persia) and angelic warfare broke out.

Listen to what Satan said when he tempted Jesus in Luke 4:5-6, “And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.”

Satan is still in control of this world, in fact Paul calls the devil in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “the god of this world.” He is called the “ruler of this world” in John 14:30 by Jesus Himself. And Satan can do miracles and the whole world is “under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19).

That is what Satan still does today in using the temptations of this world trying to get you to give more of your time, energy and money for yourself and not for God. And Satan is still tempting you to pursue earthly position, power, prestige and possessions rather than the things of God.

And one of the weapons of war that God gives us in response is living right and prayer! As Hebrews 1:14 tells us, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” When you pray angels are working on your behalf. So Jesus taught that we should “always pray and not give up”

Now, here’s an interesting question…Daniel prayed 21 days. The angel was sent the 1st day he prayed, but didn’t arrive until the 21st day. What might have happened had Daniel given up in his prayers and he quit on the 14th day, or the 15th? Would the angel have arrived with his answer? The Bible doesn’t say, but the implication is – Maybe not!

No… Jesus taught us to always pray and not give up because, when we pray, our prayers are important to God. Listen to Luke 18:1, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Every time you and I pray we are heard by God and He might release more and more power from His throne.

Are you praying for someone in your family to become a Christian? Every prayer you pray puts more and more pressure on that person to listen to God…Do you pray for your friends in their daily struggles? Every prayer you pray imparts to them more and more power from God. Do you have difficulties with someone at work? Every prayer you lift up to God’s throne brings God’s power to bear on difficult people and situations.

Prayer is not a passive act on our part. Prayer is an aggressive, active ministry. You are putting your shoulder to the wheel and you are asking the forces of heaven to work on your behalf. There is power released through prayer.

Now you ask me “why?” Well, to be honest, I don’t understand it all. But then there’s a lot about prayer that is divine mystery. Why does God move in answer to prayer? Why does He require us to pray? I don’t know it all!

But I know the truth of it. Prayer is the simplest form of speech that even infant lips can try; prayer is the most magnificent strains that reach the majesty on high. E.M. Bounds wrote: “God’s objective is committed to men; God commits Himself to praying men who are the vice regents of God; they do His work and carry out His plans”.

George Mueller was known for his powerful prayers. In the course of his ministry to the orphans of England, he never asked for financial assistance from men - only God and he constantly received what was needed to the penny.

Once while on his way to speak in Quebec for an engagement, on the deck of the ship that was carrying him to his destination, he informed the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon.

As the captain related the story, he said ‘It is impossible. Do you know how dense this fog is?’ ‘No,’ George replied, ’my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of life. I have never broken an engagement in 57 years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.’

He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ’As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need for you whatsoever to pray about it.’

"I looked at him and George Mueller said, ’Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 yrs. and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door and you will find that the fog has gone. I got up and the fog indeed was gone, and on that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement."

Let us live a righteous life and let us pray continually, God will hear you! And He does respond in His way at His time, but He is never late, Amen?

]]> Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?may-your-prayers-not-be-hindered http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000181 imblog

Joshua 24:15

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

I’d like to preach one of those uplifting "Mother’s Day" sermons for our Fathers. Why? Because I believe that being a Christian father is one of the highest callings any man can ever achieve in his life.

But before I preach, I would like to give you brief history about Father’s Day. The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909.

Having been raised by her father, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man.

Her father was born in June, so naturally she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th day of June 1910. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.

I would like to say this evening that a Christian father is one of the most un-praised, unnoticed, and unappreciated heroes of all times. Well, being that today is Father’s Day, I would like to talk to you this evening about “Choosy Father” Why? Because choosy fathers chose Jesus.

Brother and sisters, we could search the scriptures in many different places for an example of a Godly father. And I think that you would all agree that one such father is without a doubt, Joshua.

Beloved brothers and sisters, I could have chosen many different men to discuss this evening, but the example of Joshua suits our case. We see here in Chapter 24, Joshua at the ripe old age of 110, calling a meeting of the leaders of Israel to Shechem for a farewell address.

Joshua charged the children of Israel to obey the Lord who had fought for them and given them an inheritance. We see here, Joshua warning them of the danger of apostasy, by saying, “Choose you this day whom you will serve...”

Thank God today for Christian fathers who follow the example of Joshua. Who in spite of their riches, in spite of all their prosperity, have enough guts to say: I don’t care what the psychologists are saying, I don’t care what trends may be going on in the world, I want to care for my children and my wife.

I thank God today for Christian fathers who follow the example of Joshua and aren’t afraid to side against what other worldly role models are saying about marriage or teenage promiscuity. I thank God today for men who aren’t afraid say that homosexuality is wrong.

Look at verse 15 again, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Here we have a father who decided that in spite of what everybody else was doing, that he was going to chose, serve and fear the Lord. Joshua’s farewell address is an excellent example of a father/child relationship. I thank God for Christian fathers like Joshua, who not only gave us life, but also teach us how to live.

God uses the "Father/child" examples as a model to explain our relationships with Him. It is this relationship that is our highest calling. When we pray to Him, we pray as Jesus taught us, "Our Father, which art in heaven..." Why Father? Because God teaches us the importance of that father-child relationship.

There are lots of things that we could say about Joshua, but for the sake of time I want to mention just two qualities that he possessed that all fathers would do well to emulate.

1. He was the Priest of the His Home. We see on our text, Joshua acknowledging his responsibility for the spiritual life of his family. Notice that it is Joshua who is doing the speaking for the family -- he declared their intent.

But before you can consider yourself priest of the home you must first possess certain qualities. Yes, in order to be a priest you must first be in close contact with God. And then you must practice this first in your own family. And according to the Bible, it is the family that was designed to be the basic educational unit.

This scripture says that Joshua was not out of order in speaking for his family. He was simply doing his fatherly duty to make sure that his children know who to believe in and how to walk in the ways of the Lord. I read somewhere that “A boy loves his mother, but he will follow his father.” So the question to you men is, where are you leading your children to?

Awhile back I heard the story of a humble pastor whose young son had become very ill. After the boy had undergone an extensive series of tests, the father was told of the news that his only son had a terminal illness. The youngster had accepted Christ as his Savior, so the minister knew that death would usher him into glory.

But he wondered how to inform one in the bloom of their youth that he soon would die. After earnestly seeking the direction of the Holy Sprit, he went with a heavy heart through the hospital to the boy’s bedside.

When he got there he read his son a passage of scripture, then he said a prayer with his child. Then he gently told him that the doctors could promise him only a few more days to live. And he went on to ask his son “Are you afraid to meet Jesus, my boy?” Blinking away the tears, the little boy said bravely, “No, not if He is anything like you, Dad!”

2. The Second quality that Joshua possessed is that he had a Plan for the Family. Being priest of the family is not enough. The Christian Father must also have a plan for the spiritual life of his loved ones. Joshua’s plan was, “we will serve the Lord.”

You see, when Joshua spoke his voice rang with the sound of unity, “me and my house.” We must have togetherness. The reason that unity was there was due to Joshua’s godly character. His faith was genuine and authentic and as a result his family said, “Whatever you say, Dad, we will agree.”

Through Joshua’s example we can see that when the family is united, it will endure the trials that come its way. Joshua was determined to persevere with his family. He was prepared to stand-alone with his family if necessary.

Let’s talk about the family for a minute. You know, nowadays we have a whole lot of women saying things like, I can or I do that all by myself, and proclaiming that they don’t need a husband.

My question to you is this, “Can the family get along without fathers in the home? Are dads disposable, like dirty pampers? Are they needed for a healthy family?”

Men, I have a feeling that every “single” mother in this room probably has a similar story to tell us if time allowed them to speak this evening. Oh, there might be a few variations here and there, but I think that their stories would sound very similar.

This single mother, you know the one who works two jobs, regularly shops at the thrift store for her needs, drives an older car that’s in the shop frequently, you know the one that is behind on her bills and often has to borrow money from friends to make ends meet.

Well, I know your pain; it is nearly impossible for one person to fulfill the role of two. God’s plan is that it takes two parents to raise a child, yes, a mother and a father. What a woman needs is a father to together raise their children. That’s why Christian fathers are such a valuable entity.

We need more men who are willing take up the cross of Jesus Christ, not just for our own salvation, but also for the salvation of our children. Fathers first are responsible for the physical welfare of their children.

Like Jairus was in Mark 5:23 when he came to Jesus and said, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, that she may get well and live." And like the royal official did in John 4:49 "Sir, come down before my child dies."

Spiritual Christian fathers need to follow the example of Joshua and be willing to teach them new spiritual truths. Job 1:5 says, "And it came about, when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, that Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually."

Unfortunately, not every child has a father like Job. Eli the priest disgraced his calling because he did not rebuke his evil sons and take responsibility for their spiritual welfare.

Scripture says, "For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever." (1 Samuel 3:13-14)

All fathers, I want to tell you this evening that you are responsible for the spiritual condition of your children. Your wife will certainly work with you, but you are ultimately responsible. We must never shirk that responsibility like Eli did; instead, we must be active like Job in the spiritual development of our children.

And we see this point many times in Deuteronomy 6:6-9, where it says, “6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Hey fathers, how much time do you personally spend with your children? Are you investing in your children more that investing in your job, or your business ventures? Remember what God says about where you invest your time in Galatians 6:7, “God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

The way your children become as adults has a great deal to do with the time you spend with them now. Fathers and mothers, now is the time to teach them what you really think of God by showing them where your real priorities are.

Christian fathers are also responsible for the emotional well being of their children. They need to love them like David did. We all know that David was not a perfect father. He certainly made his mistakes, but I am impressed with the love he showed toward Absalom.

In 2 Samuel 18:5 where we find recorded "And the king charged Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, "Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom." And all the people heard when the king charged all the commanders concerning Absalom."

Well what you mean? For those of you not familiar with this Bible passage, to put it simple, Absalom was in rebellion against his father King David, and was trying to take over the kingdom. He was an enemy of the throne, yet David loved him because he was his son.

Men, your children will disappoint you from time to time, but that should not stop you as a Christian Father, from loving them. Fathers, have you blessed your children? Do they know by your actions that they are special in your eyes? Have you told them you are proud of them?

Other people will be their friends, their mentors, and their coaches. But no one else will ever be their father. Only you can fulfill that role. They need the physical, spiritual and emotional provisions that God has instructed you to impart to them.

But if you are a Christian father, it is not just your duty, it is your joy! Once you become a Christian Father you will find joy in getting up in the middle of the night for your children’s sake. There is joy in claiming the toughest of victories for your children’s sake.

No matter how difficult the challenges, a Christian father knows that the darkest nights are always followed by the brightest days. No matter how difficult the challenges, a Christian father knows that the heaviest burdens are always followed by the greatest blessings. The strongest temptations are always followed by the decisive moment of triumph! Christian Father knows that the worst battles are always followed by the sweetest victories!

So let me ask you this evening, are you living your life with a commitment that is pleasing to God? Are you really committed to your family by giving it time and energy? Are you sharing your faith, studying the Word together, praying together, being faithful to your children and the church?

This evening, God’s calling you to be fully committed to Him. He will not do what He desires in your life until you give yourself fully to Him. He never asks you to give up something that He doesn’t replace with something greater.

Men, God is challenging you this evening to take the next step. There’s no excuse you can make that will cover up your lack of commitment and service to Him. Men it is time to stand up like Joshua -- and show your family and your children how they should be serving God, Amen?

]]> Sun, 20 Jun 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?choosy-fathers-chose-jesus http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000182 imblog

1 Peter 3:1-5

“Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,”

Let us start by giving you again the context of this message. Peter is writing to persecuted Christians to encourage them. He tells them how to live in a hostile world by not letting circumstances affect you negatively and by focusing on Christ, His glorious future, His power and His resources.

Peter begins by focusing our living hope on Christ by first remembering our great salvation, as described in 1 Peter 1:1 till 1 Peter 2:11. Secondly he moves from the past to the present and from 1 Peter 2:12 on he says, “focus on our Christian example before men” all the way till 1 Peter 4:6.

So now we are in the middle of setting Christian examples for others. Essentially if we are to give an outstanding testimony of our life, then it has to start with us in our family. Our lives have to show a certain character that points others to Christ.

What Peter says is this, you're going to live in a hostile world and this will manifest itself in all social relationships. There are three primary social relationships: the government, the work place and the family. We have discussed the first two and now Peter teaches us about the family relationship.

What word comes up again and again after 1 Peter 2:12? It is the word “submit”, first it teaches us to submit to human institutions, then to masters and now the first portion of chapter 3 talks first of wives that have to submit to their husbands.

The bottom line in our testimony in the society in which we live is submission. That's the key word. You will notice also in verse 7 it says, "You husbands likewise," and the likewise picks up the same thought of submission. Now this is a very basic and essential concept.

God wants us to submit to the social order and social patterns that God Himself has established. He does not want us to rebel and to demand our rights. And we are not to feel superior to this social order.

As Christians we are children of God and because of that have a higher authority to answer to. And because of that it is easy to feel superior to the worldly systems and say that those requirements do not apply to us anymore. It is easy to decide that you do not want to listen to your unbelieving spouse.

But remember what our main task as a Christian is! The only reason we live is for evangelistic reasons. We are here to make Christ known to everyone, in society and in our workplace and in the family. And to be effective God teaches us to submit.

And the question is: what does a wife do when she is married to an unbelieving husband? What does a husband do when he is married to an unsaved wife? Does he feel superior? Does he treat her with indifference because she is not a citizen of the Kingdom?

And what should she do? Does she reject his authority who is a non-Christian husband because she has another authority, Christ? Does she demand her rights both physical and spiritual because she is now regarded valuable by God? What is the proper responsibility of each partner when married to an unbeliever?

Now the context here is not related to teachings in a Christian marriage. We started with how a Christian should live in a non-Christian society and then discussed how a Christian should live in a non-Christian workplace and now how a Christian should live with a non Christian partner.

Now remember the purpose of our testimony. It is so that people will observe our lives and glorify God in the day of visitation. In other words, there is a possibility that they'll be saved. We are also to be submissive to our employers for this will find favor with God. How? By making gospel truth real as people can see it in our lives. And the same is true in the family.

Now we begin with wives. And Peter here is not biased but he gives six verses to wives and only one verse to husbands. That is because when a wife became a Christian in those days the potential for difficulty in the marriage was much greater than when a husband became a Christian because a husband was already in charge any way.

But when a wife, who was viewed as lower class, becomes a Christian independently of her husband, the potential for conflict and embarrassment and difficulty was much greater.

The Christians to whom Peter wrote were scattered in the Greek world, and in that culture for a woman to change her religion without her husband doing was unthinkable. Why? Because in Peter's day they were second class citizens and their opinion was irrelevant and unwanted.

But when a woman becomes a Christian and she understands the principle of Galatians 3:28 which says, "In Christ there is neither male or female, we're all one in Christ," she realizes that in Christ she has reached a level of living that her unsaved husband knows nothing about.

She is free in Christ. She has a new Lord and a new master. And it would be easy for her to treat her husband with disdain, with indifference, or even with rejection. If she's not careful their relationship can fall apart.

For a wife to become a Christian would be very embarrassing to the husband because no woman ever did that independently. He would not understand this mystical relationship she had with this Jesus Christ. For her to be brave enough to do that could put her in a position where she would suffer abuse.

So that's the issue. How then does a Christian wife relate to her unsaved husband in such a way as to fulfill her mission? And what's her mission? Our mission is to win people to Christ. How should she behave to win her unbelieving husband to Jesus Christ?

Let's first see what Peter doesn't tell her to do, right? First he doesn't tell the Christian wife to leave her husband. He doesn't say, "Well now that you're a Christian, get out of that marriage and find somebody who thinks like you do who loves Christ like you do.” No. He doesn't say that because that would be wrong.

1 Corinthians 7:13 says, “If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.” Paul says that's forbidden by God. In fact, 1 Corinthians 7:14 says, “For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband.”

The blessings of God will spill over on that husband just because God is blessing the wife. That non-Christian man doesn't know how fortunate he is because she's a child of God and she is so enriched that he benefits. It doesn't mean he gets salvation through that means, it simply means outwardly in this life he is blessed.

"What if he wants to leave?" Same text, 1 Corinthians 7:15, it says, “But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.”

For verse 16 continues, "For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband, or husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?" In other words, the point is this, if he wants to stay, let him stay. But if he wants out because he can't tolerate your Christian testimony, let him go.

Second thing Peter doesn't tell her to preach at him. He doesn't tell her to argue with him. He doesn't tell her to put Bible verses on the bottom of his beer cans. He doesn't tell her to stick evangelistic tracts under the pillow in his bed. He doesn't tell her to call her pastor to the house some night when she knows he's home alone.

Thirdly, he doesn't tell her she is now equal to the man so she should demand her rights. He doesn't say that either. She is equal, of course, to any other believer spiritually but she still has a marital role to fulfill. In Christ there is neither male nor female, they are one. But in marriage there is headship and there is submission.

Well let's find out what the text says. Verse 1, "In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the Word (that is they're unsaved/unbelievers) they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives."

Notice how this verse starts out. It says, “In the same way”, what does this mean? If you want to make a maximum impact on the society in which you live, then be a model submissive citizen. If you want to make the maximum impact in your job, then be a model submissive employee. “In the same way” if you want to make a maximum impact on your unsaved husband, then be a model submissive wife. It's the same principle.

Realize that you have to take your place as subordinate to the spiritual leadership of your husband. This is God's design for marriage. Women are not inferior in character, intelligence, virtue, spirituality or giftedness. They are not inferior in any way. They have been simply given a role of submission to the headship of their husband.

Please note this, "Be submissive to your own husbands." Every time in the Bible such a statement is made, always it says your own husband. There is always the possessive pronoun there. Be submissive to your own husband speaks of the intimacy and the bonding of marriage. This is God's design.

Now the reason for this is so that they are submissive, verse 1, "Even if any of them (the husbands) are disobedient to the Word..." They are basically unregenerate, disobedient to the gospel. The first issue is to submit to them anyway, just as you submit to government, just as you submit on the job, for the sake of their salvation.

From the wife’s standpoint it is more important to show the love of God than to criticize him for not believing. Peter is not saying they will be saved without the Word (the Gospel), he is simply saying that no debate will win someone for Christ.

The lovely gracious gentle submission of a Christian woman to her unsaved husband is the strongest evangelistic tool she has. It's not what she says, it is what she is. The woman is to submit to her husband's leadership, so that the Holy Spirit can use that to influence him.

It is interesting to know that this attitude also contributes to a happy marriage as part of God’s design. The first duty of the wife then is submission, which can be described as voluntary selflessness and dependence. There's a second responsibility in verse 2, let's call this faithfulness. Verse 2 says, "As they observe your chaste and respectful behavior."

What does chaste and respectful behavior mean? Well it basically means irreproachable conduct, faithful to her God, faithful to her husband. Pure means you're not fooling around with anybody else. Respectful, it means you have respect for your husband.

The third principle comes in verses 3 through 6 and it is modesty. In verse 3 it says, "Let not your adornment be merely external, braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses." He says, "Look normal, because usually women focus on the outside."

He says, "Let not your adornment be merely external." "Is he against wearing gold jewelry?" I think he's not against that, after all the beautiful women; such as the bride in Song of Solomon was bejeweled and wonderfully so.

Peter says to not be preoccupied with your outside. You can see how much people spend on cosmetic surgery and diets. When people begin to go out they emphasize first impressions and what image you portray and many other externals.

People still spend fortunes on their clothing these days. And since in those days they were pretty well fully covered, most of it showed up on their face and their head where it could be seen and where their wealth and their pride could manifest itself.

But that's not true beauty. Ladies, that external beauty does not capture the heart of your husband if he is not convinced that you love him. Peter doesn't condemn all outward adornment. But what does he say? Verse 4, "Let your adornment be the hidden person of the heart." That's where the true beauty is.

By the way, the most beautiful women on the inside tend to be very beautiful on the outside, right? Have you ever noticed how makeup can't change an ugly disposition? And have you noticed how makeup can't enhance a beautiful disposition?

Look again at the rest of verse 4, “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.” Gentle means meek, quiet means just that, peaceful, calm, in control. The word spirit means disposition. The most beautiful kind of woman is the woman with a meek, gentle, peaceful, calm, quiet disposition.

That is the inner virtue that a woman should pursue and that is what wins the heart of her man. Not only that, would you please notice it is precious in the sight of whom? It is highly valued by God.

Lord, thank You for such straight forward advice and truth. Father, bless those wives who have unsaved husbands, make them all that You want them to be. Bless those husbands that have unsaved wives, make them all that a husband should be in order that they might win that partner, in order that their prayers for the salvation of their mate might not be hindered for Jesus' sake. Amen.

]]> Sun, 13 Jun 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?winning-over-your-unbelieving-spouse http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000183 imblog

1 Peter 2:21-25

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”

So here we are at the end of chapter 2 as just another testimony to how Christ works in our daily life. But that's not the main thing we see here at the end of 1 Peter 2. The main thing in God's word to us is about his purpose for our church and what He did to accomplish and assure that purpose.

So what I hope you hear this evening from this text is an unshakable, compelling commitment from God to bring about His good purpose for us. And I hope you see that this purpose has to do with how we as Christians treat other people.

Three times in this text Peter tells us that Christ died and that the purpose of his death was to enable us to live differently. Or another way to put it is that he tells us that God's purpose for us as a church is that we live like Christ, that we live righteously.

And he tells us three times that his unshakable compelling commitment to fulfill that purpose in us is the death of his Son to make it happen. His commitment to make it happen is seen in the sacrifice of his Son to make it happen. Let us look at these following statements.

1. "Follow in His Steps" First, verse 21: "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps." Literally: "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might do exactly what He did."

In other words Christ suffered for us; He suffered even unto death, and all of that was for this purpose: that we might follow in his steps. And we can see God’s power behind that purpose in that Christ "suffered for us."

The purpose is that we live like Christ. The power is the substitutionary death of Jesus. He died for us to make us like Him. And living like Him includes all the “one another” commands of the New Testament. That's why all of this is foundational for understanding the rest of the letter.

2. "Die to sin and live to righteousness." Second, verse 24a: "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness."

God's purpose for us is stated like this: "that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." God's commitment to make it happen is stated like this: "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross."

So the teaching in verse 24 seems to be identical to the teaching in verse 21, only things are made more explicit. Peter says very clearly what he meant in verse 21 by "Christ suffered for you." He meant, "Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross."

Christ's suffering was the agony of being physically nailed to the cross and suffering spiritually "for us" bearing our sins and dying there. It was a substitution. He bore our sin in death instead of our having to bear them in death.

It's the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." That is, "Christ bore our sins in his body."

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3, "I remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel . . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures." That's what Peter is spelling out here: Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross according to Isaiah 53:6.

This is the best news possible for sinners! And while the ongoing consequences of our sins are very painful, the hope of our lives and our church and our families is, "Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross."

Do You Believe This? We need to linger here. Do you really believe this about your own sins and about the sins of your brothers and sisters? The implications of this for each of us individually and as a church are huge.

It means that we can leave the past with God. We can say, "I trust you, Jesus, that all my sins; all the ones that are public and all the ones that are private, all of them, have been lifted, borne, suffered for, and therefore removed from me. I bear them no more. I do not carry their guilt into the future with me."

Let this sink in. You do not have to carry your sins or be burdened by them. You do not have to wake up with guilt or go to bed with guilt. You can bank your hope on the commitment of God in Jesus: "Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross." Let's do that together as a church. Do it this evening even if you are not part of this IBF church.

The devil is persistently accusing you of not being a worthy Christian because of some past sin in your life. But now God has given you the power to believe and confess your sin and repent of your sins, and that is the same power of Christ who bore our sins on the cross that provides you grace.

So notice again what God's aim is in this guilt-lifting death of Jesus on the cross in verse 24: ". . . that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." This corresponds with the purpose mentioned in verse 21: "that you might follow in his steps." Following in Jesus' steps is the same as living to righteousness.

Now this is so important in this text that we need to pause here a moment. Does this feel to you like good news of the cross is being given with one hand and taken away with the other? Does it feel like good news that the message of the cross on the one hand is a lifting of the guilt of sin but on the other hand is giving you a burden to live like Christ?

On the one hand the suffering and death of Jesus are "for us" and "bear our sins away"—that feels liberating and joyful and hopeful. On the other hand the suffering and death of Jesus are designed by God to create people who follow in Jesus' footsteps as to live righteously, and that involves your commitment.

Now there are all kinds of reasons for this being difficult, ranging from rebellion in the heart to painful memories from the past to theological misunderstandings. There is no time to analyze all those reasons. I want to simply stress that the purpose of the cross to liberate from the enslaving power of sin as well as the guilt of sin does not diminish the good news; it enlarges it.

Would it really be good news if the Bible taught that the death of Christ took away the guilt of sin and left us enslaved to its power? That would simply mean that you could go on living in sin the way the world does, only without punishment. But then it also shows that you only love sin and do not love God.

But if you long to be set free not only from the guilt of sin, but also from the enslaving power of sin by the cross, then these verses don't diminish the good news, they in fact make this good news even better news.

What verse 24a is saying is that when Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross, he secured not only the removal of our guilt, but also release from our bondage. Christ bore our sins in his body so that we might die to sin and live righteously.

That is the design and purpose and commitment of God in the cross. You might think: maybe it's just an offer instead of a goal reached. Maybe you think that the cross really doesn't secure and guarantee anything for us, but only offers something to us. Well think again.

3. "By His Wounds You Were Healed" The third and final statement of the purpose of the cross in this text clarifies this immediately. Verse 24b says, again quoting Isaiah 53 (v. 5): "By His wounds you were healed."

It does not say: By his wounds healing is offered. Or: By his wounds healing is a possibility. It says, "By his wounds you were healed." In other words the cross is effective. It achieves what God designs for it to achieve. The cross creates new persons.

Now Peter is not thinking here mainly of physical healing for cancer and arthritis and so on. As a matter of fact the cross will one day accomplish that in our lives whether here or in the age to come. But that is not Peter's thinking at all here.

He explains in verse 25 what he has in mind by the healing that the suffering and wounds of Christ accomplish is, a spiritual healing, not just physical healing. And that sheds a tremendously important light on what we have learned so far.

Verse 25: "For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." This is the spiritual healing Peter has in mind: the return of straying, perishing sheep to their Guide and Provider. So here is the third statement of the design and purpose of the cross.

The first in verse 21 was that Christ died so that we would follow in his footsteps. The second in verse 24a was that Christ died so that we would live to righteousness. The third in verses 24b–25 is that Christ died so that He might bring straying sheep home to the green pastures of the Good Shepherd.

Isn’t this good news? I hope you see that Peter wants you to feel it as good news by the way he describes it in verse 25: the word of the cross brings us to a shepherd not a slave master.

Yes, the Shepherd guides. He does not let sheep stray very far or very long. He uses a rod and staff when he must. He provides and He protects. And he continually pursues us with goodness and mercy all our days. His commitment to do this is signed with the blood of Jesus. It is the New Covenant, sealed with the blood of the Covenant.

Let us discuss one other issue before we end this text. What does it mean to die to sin as described in verse 24, “Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin."? Why do we have to die to sin?

It didn't say Christ did it that we might go to heaven. It didn't say He did it in order that we might have peace. It didn't say He did it in order that we might experience love. He didn't sacrifice Himself for those reasons primarily.

He did it to transform us from sinners into saints. He did it to change us. He did it to regenerate us. He bore the punishment in order that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

When the word of the cross breaks into our heart by the power of God's Spirit, and we awaken to the fact that God loves us so much that he takes the life of his own Son in order to bring us under His care, protection and guidance, at that moment we die to sin.

We were alive to sin, and believed in sin, and followed sin, until the cross impacted on us the conquering love of God and constrains us so when we are straying; when we are erring; when we are self-destructing in the path of sin.

What he is saying is that the purpose of this substitutionary work of Christ is that we might depart from sin. That's what he's saying...that we might escape from sin and that we might live to righteousness, so that we might enter into a new life pattern.

We die to the power of sin's deceit which tries to persuade us that a better future can be had through sin than through righteousness. What causes our death to sin is the work of the cross convincing us that God is committed to us like a mighty Shepherd.

And when the cross releases that power in us, we die to sin. We do not depend and follow sin anymore like before, we just want to absorb all the love of God that He has given us. And we awaken to the beauty of righteousness in the pasture of our Shepherd.

There's so much compromise today everywhere, even in our churches. The Christian believers at Peter’s time wouldn't compromise. How did they overcome their sin character? They overcame because they had the power of Christ and because they would not compromise their testimony and finally because they really didn't care about their lives here on earth.

What it means is that the values of this world are no longer your values, you do not care anymore about all the things you own, you don’t care anymore about making more money, you don’t care anymore about people’s opinions and you don’t strive anymore for the praise of men.

Dying to sin means that those desires that we just mentioned are replaced by desires to follow God by living righteously, where it is no longer ourselves that we seek to please but it is all God that we seek to satisfy.

Living righteously means to become more like Jesus in living more holy, in loving God more, in loving our neighbors more and forgiving others more and in telling others more about Jesus any chance we get.

It certainly would be our prayer that this might be said of us. The early Christians lived in a hostile world, Satan threw everything at them he could but they overcame him. They never lost their testimony; they never cared about their life here on earth.

Consider the purpose of the cross for your life this evening. Embrace it and return to the Shepherd of your soul. And what we will find is the will and joy of all commands of the New Testament, and the power to move forward as a church. Amen?

]]> Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?christ-died-so-that-we-can-die-to-sin http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000184 imblog

1 Peter 2:18-21

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

When we look at our society it seems that the only thing that people focus on is their equal rights. People do not care much about their sexual morality or spiritual morality. They care little about family values and relationships and few really understand the meaning of love.

But everyone talks about equal rights and nobody talks about sacrifice. We have women’s rights, children’s rights, homosexual rights, student rights and even criminal rights. And we have employee rights, abortion rights and on and on.

And the underlying thought is that everybody is equal and we all have a right to everything and if we do not get this we will sue and fight for our rights and we’ll do whatever it takes. This is the world’s way to fight back and so in the workplace we should have the potential to protest and to sue to get what we want.

And so as a Christian what are we to do? Peter gives God’s very practical answer in the verses for this evening so that we can learn how God wants us to behave. And this is summed up in verse 18 where it says, “servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect.”

Now God’s command runs directly opposite the world’s opinion. We as Christians are set apart from this world and God is teaching us that this is true particularly in the workplace. And the key issue goes back to verse 15, “For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.”

God says that we need to live our life without rebelling against our employers and there is no place for asserting our rights. And yes many ignorant foolish men will ridicule and make fun of us in this society. But we need to focus on being obedient and submissive in this world, because we will please God when we trust in His commands and His providence at all times.

And this is God’s position throughout Scripture. When we read in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel about King David we see that at an early age he was already anointed to become King, chosen by God Himself. He had a God given right to become king.

And as we look at David’s life we see him growing to become a powerful warrior. But look at his attitude related to King Saul. David has all the looks and all the power, he has defeated Goliath and the Philistines, and all the women are singing songs to him, what more can he have than the Kingdom?

But did David assert his rights? Did he try to overthrow the reign of King Saul by force? Did he use politics to use his prowess on the battlefield to convince the people to let him be king right away? No, he was a man after God’s heart because he relied totally on God for all the timing of this.

King Saul was very jealous and three times he tried to kill David with his spear to the point that David had to become a fugitive. Do you know how long he was a running from Saul? The bible indicates it might have been for a year and a half that he was in hiding in the desert with Saul in hot pursuit.

And during that time David had several chances to kill Saul as we read in chapter 24. David’s men are saying, here is the man that is trying to kill you and now you have him, why not kill him? But David said in 1 Samuel 24:6 “far be from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him since he is the Lord’s anointed.”

And David did have other chances like in 1 Samuel 26:12 where he together with Abishai found Saul sleeping in his camp. Instead of killing him David took the spear and the water jug beside Saul’s head and went away without anyone seeing or hearing them, because “they were all asleep because a sound sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.”

Here was David whose life was continually threatened by a wicked man who occupies a throne that he does not deserve, while he has the right to become king. But David did not take things into his own hands, he waited patiently for the Lord to work things out, who acted in the belief that the Lord will avenge me, the Lord also will take care of Saul.

What a great model for us! Be submissive with a humble heart and never take your own revenge no matter how unfairly you are treated because the Lord will do that in His own time. You as a Christian are God’s child, and no one will get away with any abuse of you, but God knows that we all need to fight our pride and self sufficiency.

Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 6:32-35, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”

Doing what everyone else does is always easy, doing what God asks of you is always hard because God’s ways are not man’s ways. His ways are higher and His goal is to grow us to become more like Christ so that we can glorify Him.

Now let us briefly look at the situation during Peter’s time when he wrote 1 Peter. Slavery was dominant during that time as the Romans conquered the world and many prisoners of war became slaves. And slaves had no legal rights and whatever the master did was allowed.

Even many Christians were slaves. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

And if you tried to run away your master has the right to take your life. Do you remember Onesimus who ran away from Philemon to the city of Rome right in the hands of Paul? Paul led him to Christ and sent him back right away. And he wrote a wonderful letter to Philemon to accept Onesimus back since he had become a Christian.

Here Paul did not change that master–slave relationship; he maintained that the slave was to submit to his owner, even though they now were both brothers in Christ. Ephesians 6:5 says, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ.”

What does that mean? It means that you are a loyal and conscientious employee. This does not mean that you only work hard whenever the boss is there and at other times you ignore your job. No, God wants you to have the right motive, working hard all the time knowing that God sees you.

Your place of work is really a mission field. You have a spiritual calling to reach people wherever God has placed you. And therefore do not exhibit anger, dissatisfaction, pride and ego, and selfishness. We need to offer in our daily work spiritual sacrifices to God and we are called to show others who is in control in our lives.

You might think, “What should I do when my boss is not fair and treats me bad?” We have to realize that God is dealing with us and our character and God will deal with your boss as well in a different way. God wants us to submit, God is teaching us to have a humble heart. God does not want us to submit with a grudging rebellious spirit, no, He wants us to submit “with fear and trembling” as you would Christ.

And if we are submissive we find favor with God. Verse 19 says, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” This pleases God, see verse 20, “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”

What is our motive for enduring and suffering? If we are punished for something that we did that as wrong, we deserved it and we ought to endure it with patience. But if you did what was right and you patiently suffer because of it, then God is particularly pleased.

Now listen carefully, it is more important to God that you maintain a faithful Christian testimony in the way you submit than for you to fight for your rights. It is more important for you to show your love for God than to get a raise. What pleases God? It is when you endure the sorrows that come when you suffer unjustly. That will please God.

When we accept earthly difficulties and unjust treatment with complete faith in Him, that becomes a testimony beyond the ordinary and that pleases God. And what does God do? He blesses us and He does not forget.

Listen to what Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

And listen to what Peter says a little later on in 1 Peter 3:14, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.” So even if they beat you up because what you are doing is right and noble and excellent, you are blessed by God.

It is more important to submit to God in everything and to have Him control your life than to protest your employer because he is not fair by going on strike or participating in a lawsuit. It is not important that you get a raise if it means that by protesting you lose your testimony for God.

Yes you can cut of your blessings by retaliating and threaten and suing and you may get your earthly reward. Oh yes, you may get what you want in this world at this time, but you will forfeit what God will give you in heaven later.

When you retaliate and demand your rights your behavior is saying to the world, God’s promises don’t mean much. I want to get everything right now by myself. And your testimony says that you are not set apart for God but you are the same as every other lost person.

2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” All unbelievers are influenced by Satan to attack you constantly with lies and counterfeits. And for whatever God has created for good, Satan will have something similar but counterfeit that deceives and destroys.

Compare Christ with Satan’s antichrist, and compare the godly pastor/teacher of the church to the false teachers everywhere, and compare sacred marriage instituted by God to same sex unions instituted by men, and compare saving an unborn child to taking away the inconvenience or equal rights of a woman and compare all the lies of this world that promise happiness to the promises of God for joy eternal.

Your Christian behavior and your conduct at work is what really matters to God so that God might use your testimony to bring someone else to Christ. It is not important that you get what you think is due to you in human terms, it is more important to be a useful part in building the kingdom of God.

What the world needs to see is that you are immovable, that your faith is strong and your courage is great and no matter what happens in that environment, you stand in the peace of God totally trusting Him in a quiet spirit with a patient heart to be the best employee you can be.

And then something amazing comes in verse 21, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” So this states that when you were saved you were saved for this purpose.

What purpose? You were saved “to patiently endure suffering you did not deserve.” How come? Because the minute you became a Christian you became the enemy of the world which is controlled by Satan. And you will go through life being unjustly and unfairly attacked.

And you should be better than the others; you should be the model employee. And you should not be surprised if your attitude is attacked because a God loving attitude is in stark contrast to a self loving world.

Our model is really Christ Himself. 1 Peter 2:21-23, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Christ was slandered, He was reviled, He was persecuted. And He never retaliated, He answered not a word at His trial, He in meekness and humility committed Himself to God. And He set the model for us all to follow; He gave us the way to live.

He left a set of footprints for us to walk in; He set the pattern for us to learn. Do you think He had rights? Oh He has more rights than anybody and yet He did not use one of them. He did this all as an example for us, so we can live as servants in this world so we can be testimonies to others so they too can believe and be with Him for eternity also.

]]> Sun, 30 May 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?submit-to-your-master http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000185 imblog

1 Peter 2:13-17

What does an unbeliever look at when he hears about Christianity? What is it that will make a person pay attention when someone gives a testimony? What is it that will touch someone’s heart to find out more about Christ?

What a person remembers is maybe vaguely the essence of your testimony, but what draws him near to Jesus is the way you are everyday, the way you care about others, the way your keep your word, the way you treat your wife and kids, the way and the way you show that God is the most important part in your life.

Peter is teaching us how to live a life like that, he is teaching us how to do good in the eyes of the Lord, he is teaching us how to live according to the rules of the land whether we agree or not and in spite of being disliked and even persecuted by the surrounding people and those in charge.

Let us listen to 1 Peter 2:13-17, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

The key verse of this part of Scripture is really in verse 15, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.” God calls us to live a life that is above reproach, above criticism and above any shame.

How you live as a Christian is the greatest proof of the transforming power of the gospel. This is the source of strength of our witness. So when a person gives another the gospel, there is already a foundation shown in the life of that person.

And Peter teaches us this in three ways. He first said in verses 11-12 that we should recognize that we are aliens and strangers in this society. And now in verses 13-17 he says that even though we are aliens and strangers we are still citizens and therefore should conduct ourselves as such. And thirdly later on in verses 18-20 he tells us that we are servants of God.

So the way that we live will determine whether we will lead someone to Christ or whether we become fuel for criticism. There are many leaders in Christianity today that live in such a way that their function as a citizen is causing people to doubt the name of Christ.

We have discussed the idea that we are aliens who live in this world but know that they are just passing through and that the focus is not on the things of this world that are temporary but we look towards being with God for eternity. That’s why our real affection is on things above and not things on earth.

But now we need to understand that we for now are still citizens in this world. There is a danger that we become indifferent to this world where we still have to live. So Peter says in verse 13, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution.”

Just a few weeks ago we read about the Hutaree Christian militant group in Adrian, Michigan who call themselves Christian warriors that were planning to kill policemen. This is an extreme example of people who call themselves Christians but defy civil laws and violate the standards of citizenship.

And they have done so in the name of Christianity and in the name of God. We know that the Quran allows Moslems to wage a holy war against infidels in certain instances and they do so in the name of their god. So we need to look at this carefully and see what the word of God says about this.

It is hard enough knowing that as a Christian we are at war with our own flesh. In addition we also know that we cannot love the things of this world because we are focused on God’s promises for us. On top of that we have to be a good citizen even in a society that is hostile towards you.

Let me give you a little background on the Christians Peter was writing to in that time. In the early church days there was already hatred against Jews and Christians were simply viewed as a sect of the Jews. They were falsely slandered for rebelling against Rome.

And they even accused Christians of cannibalism based on a misinterpretation of John 6:53, “So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” And the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:27 saying that if you drink the cup and eat the bread you are communing with the body and blood of Christ added to that misunderstanding.

The church in the early days experienced not only opposition from the world in general but also opposition from those that hated Christianity. So here Peter teaches us that the only way to deny those charges was to live a godly life to prove that these accusations were wrong.

The world today is still hostile against Christianity. Men still hate God and reject Christ. And the challenge to us as Christians is still to live a life that is above the standards of this world so that we can still influence people for Christ by the way we live and love. This is evangelism at its core.

So let us look again at the words of verse 13, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution.” Be subject means to submit yourselves, to be obedient to …to what? To every human institution. This is a command from God.

Why is that? Should we not defend ourselves if we are attacked by irresponsible, ignorant and evil accusers in the government? Why can we not retaliate? God here says no, because we do not answer to human government but only to God Himself.

God wants us to be humble, He wants us to demonstrate virtue, He wants us to show love to the community and He wants us to seek peace. We should obey all the laws and respect all authorities even if we think that they are wrong.

This attitude of submission and humility in the days of the early Christians was an attitude that was looked down upon, it characterized cowards and weaklings, and no man of strength would ever think of being submissive or humble.

And yet we can find this teaching frequently in the Old Testament. Look at Proverbs 24:21-22, “My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise, for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?”

Listen to Jeremiah 29:4-7, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Here the Jews are living in captivity, in a pagan society, and God says to live your life by working and marrying etc. But seek the welfare of the city and on top of that pray to God for them!

Do you disagree with what the government is doing here or in Indonesia? What does God tell us to do? We need to live and plant gardens and marry your children and seek the welfare of our governments and pray to God for the welfare of these 2 governments and God says you will find peace.

The principle is this, if you are in a foreign land, try as hard as you can to seek the welfare of that country by following all their rules and praying for them so that you will be blessed while realizing that God has a plan for you that extends far beyond that land you presently live in.

There are many protests by Christians and acts of civil disobedience and many violations of the law to the point where some Christians refuse to pay taxes and even try to overthrow the government. God teaches us here that we are not to do that, and instead we are to submit ourselves.

We were taught in Romans 13:1, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Every person means every person including you. Every person who resists authority opposes ultimately God Himself and there will be condemnation.

You might say, well they never experienced living in a world like ours in Indonesia where Christians are a minority that is abused. Well the situation at that time was similar or at times much worse. Do you know that during the time of Jesus there were many female children that were drowned if the parents did not want them, where sexual sin was rampant and where homosexuality was even practiced by the Caesars themselves?

Let’s look again at verse 13, ““Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution.” All submission is done for the sake of the Lord who created and instituted authority. And the basic issue is obedience. And learning obedience starts with being obedient to simple understandable laws of the land. After that we can learn to be obedient in those things from God that are hard to understand.

How can we be useful to God if we have not learned to be obedient to the local police or the local tax laws? As Indonesians at times we are so used to taking shortcuts in circumventing existing laws so that we are proud if we find a loophole in the law where we don’t have to obey it. But God is saying here that we should do obey all laws no matter if we know of a loophole or no matter how unfair it might seem to us.

You see this attitude of not obeying spills over into our daily life. The same way people like to obtain false passports with false identities, that same attitude of dishonesty is then applied to obeying God’s laws and commands. God’s commands are treated as if they don’t mean much and can be disobeyed at will with no fear of the consequences.

And the devil loves it when we take God’s laws and commands lightly. How many of us really follow everything that God is saying to us on Sunday? Before I became a Christian these messages came in one ear but left the other ear almost immediately. How many of you totally forget about God during this week?

God is kind and loving but He reminds us that there are always consequences for everything that we do. How does a person become estranged from God? This does not happen instantly, no this is a process that starts with taking the Word of God lightly, pretty soon you don’t read as much anymore and then you start praying less and less until the time comes that you find that you are far from the Lord.

Some say that they do not feel far away from God even if they do things against God’s will. The Holy Spirit will be you conscience and warn you of spiritual dangers, as it says in Romans 8:16, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

But when you continually resist the Holy Spirit, your conscience will be dulled, like it says in Acts 7:51, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” And you can see that not many Jews are believers.

Civil government is an instrument instituted by God to be a representative of God and to test our obedience to God. The government does not own its citizens, or their properties, or their minds and bodies; no all this belongs to God their creator.

So we need to be humble and be subject to every human institution. We see the greatest example of this in Jesus Christ Himself. A little beyond today’s verses we read in 1 Peter 2:21, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

Jesus who is God was willing to be treated like the lowest slave under the most trying circumstances as we read in 1 Peter 2:23, “When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to Him who judges justly.”

Jesus was crucified under two authorities, the Jews and the Romans. He lived under their unjust rules all His life and yet He never attacked the government. He never attacked those who were in authority, He never led a protest, He never demonstrated, He never protested even when they violated their own laws at His trial.

We want to obey the authority because that’s what Jesus did and He is honored when He is recognized as the reason we become honest, loving and peace loving people. The reason we obey is that the Holy Spirit within us is teaching that and that by living righteously we set an example to unbelievers.

Only when the government asks you to do something that is opposed to what God asks you to do can you violate the government laws. If the law forbids me to preach, I would do it anyway. If they came to arrest me I would not resist, I would go with them.

This war is not a physical war but a spiritual war. Listen to 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”

Our weapons are living the Word of God. I wish that thousands would go out in the downtown areas and in all other areas in the world and live godly setting the example. I wish that millions would get on their knees and pray to a holy God so that He would give the power to overcome sin.

Help us to be faithful proclaimers of the truth that we may see this society change, not because the laws are changed through political means but because people are transformed through the power of the gospel. Help us Lord to become what You want us to be. Amen.

]]> Sun, 16 May 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?silence-the-foolish-people http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000186 imblog

Matthew 10:28-31

A mother who was killed, with her baby, while sitting with her husband in a single-engine Cessna 185 over the jungles of Peru about nine years ago. The Peruvian Air Force mistook the missionary plane for a drug plane and opened fire.

Missionary Veronica Bowers, age 35, was holding her seven-month-old daughter Charity in her lap behind MAF pilot Kevin Donaldson. With them were Veronica's husband Jim and six-year-old son Cory. The pilot's legs were shot and he put the plane into an emergency dive and amazingly landed it on a river where it sank just after they all got out.

One bullet had passed by Jim's head and made a hole in the windshield. Another bullet passed through Veronica's back and stopped inside her baby, killing them both. How do you handle the setbacks, the disappointments, the abuses, the heartaches, the calamities, the bitter providences of your life? And I ask it specifically to mothers, because to be a mother is a call to suffer.

When Jesus chose an analogy of suffering followed by joy, He said in John 16:21, "Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world."

To be a mother is a call to suffer. Not just at the beginning of life, but also at the end. Simeon said to Mary, Jesus' mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed – and a sword will pierce even your own soul" (Luke 2:34-35).

Mothers suffer when their children are born. Mothers suffer when children leave them and marry or go far away to the mission field. Mothers suffer when their children die. Mothers suffer when their children are foolish. "A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother" (Proverbs 10:1).

To be a mother is a call to suffer. Oh yes, it's more, but it's not less. So what do we do? Do we go the way of ‘openness theology’ to handle the disappointments and heartaches and calamities of life?

And follow the teachings of one popular writer, "When an individual inflicts pain on another individual, one should not go looking for 'the purpose of God' in the event . . . Christians frequently speak of 'the purpose of God' in the midst of tragedy caused by someone else. But this I regard to simply be a piously confused way of thinking."

In other words, according to them God had no particular purpose for taking Roni and Charity Bowers and leaving Jim and Cory. Were all the words of Elisabeth Elliot and Steve Saint and Jim Bowers at Roni's memorial service a "piously confused way of thinking," and no true ground for comfort and strength?

I'll tell you what they said in a moment. But first let me lay a Biblical foundation, because in the end it is not the testimony of man that settles us, but the testimony of God in his Word, through Jesus Christ.

Consider two passages of Scripture, one from the Psalms, and one from the Gospel according to Matthew. In Psalm 105 we have an inspired interpretation of an inspired Old Testament story, the story of Israel going down to Egypt preceded by Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers.

We learn two crucial things from verses 16-17, "And [God] called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave." Notice two things: the governance of God over natural calamities, and the governance of God over the sinful actions of men.

It says "God called for a famine" – that is a natural calamity that came on the world. And it says, God "sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave." That was sinful of his brothers to do, but in that sinful act God had a purpose – so much so that the psalmist called their sinning God's sending.

Just like it says in Genesis 50:20 when Joseph spoke to his brothers, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." When it says, "God meant it," it says more than, "God used it."

This is the exact opposite of what openness theology teaches. God does have good purposes, good intentions and good meanings in the hurts that others inflict on us. And we may and should take great comfort in this sovereign goodness in the setbacks and disappointments, heartaches, calamities and the bitter providences of our lives.

Then consider the words of Jesus on why missionary candidates should not fear to go to the hard and dangerous places, and why mothers should not fear to let their sons and daughters go or even take them. In Matthew 10:28- 31 Jesus prepares his disciples to get them ready for suffering:

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

Notice three things. First, Jesus knows that people will kill the bodies of his missionaries. This is going to happen. But, He says in verse 28, don't fear those who can only kill the body, and can't kill the soul.

Second, He says that we don't need to fear this hostility because no sparrow falls to the ground apart from God. And you, his disciples, are more valuable than many sparrows. So how much less will you be shot out of the sky apart from God! God governs the flight of a sparrow, and God governs the flight of arrows and bullets.

This is the basis of every Bible story about the victory of God. "The horse is made ready for battle but victory belongs to the Lord" (Proverbs 21:31). Because everything that happens including bird flight and arrow flight and bullet flight belong to the Lord. This is the solid ground of our comfort in calamity: God's sovereign goodness to all who trust Him.

Now listen to the testimony of Roni Bowers' husband at his wife's memorial service – and words of Steve Saint and Elisabeth Elliot. These testimonies don't increase the authority of the Bible. But they do show the power of the Bible to sustain in a way radically different from the way openness theology tries to comfort.

Afterwards Jim Bowers stood in front of twelve hundred people in Calvary Church of Fruitport, Michigan and said, "Most of all I want to thank my God. He's a sovereign God. I'm finding that out more now. . . . Could this really be God's plan for Roni and Charity; God's plan for Cory and me and our family? I'd like to tell you why I believe so, why I'm coming to believe so."

And then he gives a long list of unlikely events in and after the shooting, and alludes to God's sending his Son to the cross. Here are some of the key sentences that only those who trust in God's sovereign care for his own will truly understand.

He said, "Roni and Charity were instantly killed by the same bullet. Would you say that's a stray bullet? And it didn't reach Kevin the pilot who was right in front of Charity; it stayed in Charity. That was a sovereign bullet. . . ."

He speaks of his forgiveness to those who shot at the plane. "How could I not," he says, “when God has forgiven me so?" Then he adds, "Those people who did that, simply were used by God. Whether you want to believe it or not, I believe it. They were used by Him, by God, to accomplish His purpose in this, maybe similar to the Roman soldiers whom God used to put Christ on the cross."

Steve Saint was at the memorial service. In 1956, when Steve was a boy, his father was speared to death by the Auca Indians of Ecuador. Steve came to the microphone and looked down at Cory, the six-year-old boy whose mother and sister had been killed.

Cory, my name is Steve. You know what? A long time ago when I was just about your size, I was in a meeting just like this. I was sitting down there and I really didn't know completely what was going on. . . . But you know, now I understand it better.

A lot of adults used a word then that I didn't understand. They used a word that's called tragedy. . . But you know, now I'm kind of an old guy, and now when people come to me and they say, "Oh I remember when that tragedy happened so long ago." I know, Cory, that they were wrong.

You see, my dad, who was a pilot like the man you probably call Uncle Kevin, and four of his really good friends had just been buried out in the jungles, and my mom told me that my dad was never coming home again.

My mom wasn't really sad. So, I asked her, "Where did my dad go?" And she said, "He went to live with Jesus." And you know, that's where my mom and dad had told me many times that we all wanted to go and live. Well, I thought, isn't that great that Daddy got to go sooner than the rest of us? And you know what? Now when people say, "That was a tragedy," I know they were wrong.

Then Steve Saint looked up at these twelve hundred people and told them the difference between the unbelieving world and the followers of Jesus. He said, "For them, the pain is fundamental and the joy is superficial because it won't last. For us, the pain is superficial and the joy is fundamental."

Why do things happen? Martyrs are used by God to bring glory to Him. The five missionaries had guns with them in their camp, but they did not use them to fight the Indians. When the Auca Indians came toward them with their spears, they did not shoot back with their guns.

They knew that if they would shoot the Indians, they could probably save their own lives. But then they would never be able to teach the Aucas about Jesus! So they chose to let themselves be killed, and let the Aucas have another chance to become Christians.

The Aucas always remembered those five strange white men who had been so kind to them and had not tried to kill them. And so a year later when more missionaries tried again to speak to the Aucas about Jesus, they were ready to listen.

Several of the men who had helped to kill Jim and his friends with their spears now became Christians. One of them gave his testimony at a meeting. He counted on his fingers and said, “I have killed twelve people with my spear! But I did that when my heart was black. Now Jesus’ blood has washed my heart clean, so I don’t live like that anymore.” God’s love had changed his life!

Finally, I want to mention what Elisabeth Elliot said to the family. You wonder what God is doing, and of course, we know that God never makes mistakes. He knows exactly what He is doing, and suffering is never for nothing.

Paul said it well in 2 Timothy 1:8-9, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

He has given to you, Jim, the cup of suffering, and you can share that with the Lord Jesus who said in John 18:11, "Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup the Father has given to me?"

She ended with a poem by Martha Snell Nicholson, “I stood a beggar of God before His royal throne and begged Him for one priceless gift, which I could call my own. I took the gift from out His hand, but as I would depart I cried, "But Lord this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart. This is a strange, a hurtful gift, which Thou hast given me."

He said, "My child, I give good gifts and gave My best to thee." I took it home and though at first the cruel thorn hurt sore, as long years passed I learned at last to love it more and more. I learned He never gives a thorn without this added grace, He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil which hides His face.

And if it takes a thorn to pin aside the veil – if it takes disappointment and loss and heartache and calamity and bitter providences – then, for Christ's sake, and for the sake of our joy seeing and being with Him, let it come.

How many mothers do you know that are suffering? How many mothers do you know who agonize over their children when they reject God or when they marry non- Christians? How many mothers suffer when they are forgotten by their children?

What she did is part of God’s plan in bringing you up so that you are a believer now. It does not matter what detours you took to get here or how long you forgot where God was and what sins you have committed.

You are here because in God’s plan for you before the foundation of the world where He chose you and that goes for your mother too. Forgive her if she did not raise you up to your expectations and that is also part of God’s providence, since God knows that you still have a lot to learn about forgiveness.

And thank her for all the prayers that she prayed during all these years, all the hours she worried about you and all the sacrifices she made for you that you did not appreciate. Thank her for her believe that someday you would be respond to that call of God in your life.

But above all thank God Himself for providentially providing for your mother, for arranging all the things that happened to you for your good and for His glory. At the time it happened you were disappointed and angry and now only long after the fact do you realize the hand of God protecting your mother and you all the way. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 09 May 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?a-suffering-mother http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000187 imblog

Exodus 20:3-6, Matthew 22:37

Brothers and sisters who are loved by our Lord, Jesus Christ, in Exodus 20:3-5a, we read that after God took out and freed the Israelites from Egypt, on the Mount of Sinai, Our Lord God spoke to Moses and expressed His feelings as follows:

3 "You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God!”

Brothers and Sisters, the essence of God’s Word above is, “You shall have no other gods before me and you shall not serve them!” or in other words, “No idol worship!” Brothers and sisters, the word idol or other god often is given meaning and explained in different ways.

At times, idols or other gods are explained as statues that are worshipped. In the Old Testament we see many examples of idol worship; you have a sculpture of a calf, you have sculpture of a god, you even have a statue of a king that becomes an idol that is worshipped.

Usually these statues are made of some kind of precious metal, or at least they are coated with a thin layer of precious metal, like gold or something like that. Besides these statues there are also other forms of idol worship. For instance in Indonesia there are large trees that are considered holy and are worshipped. They lay gifts of five different kinds of flowers at the base and burn incense in addition.

Besides trees there are also other forms of idol worship. There are weapons that are considered sacred and ritualized, or in the Javanese language are called “tosan aji”, for instance a kris, a spear and a sword. These weapons have to be given gifts, washed and worshipped and asked for protection. Without realizing these weapons have become the idol that they worship.

There is another way of idol worship that is practiced by primitive tribes in the Amazon jungles. Every person of that primitive tribe always brings with him a small cloth bag that hangs from his waist and inside of it is a small statue made of copper that he considers as a god and that is his good luck charm.

But, although that little bag with the good luck charm never leaves their waist and is taken along wherever they go, this charm that they worship, often times for days, weeks and even months are left at their waists and not touched at all. And as long as all problems and issues of life can still be solved well using their own ability the bag is never disturbed or touched.

Later on, when life forces you to face many problems and disasters that you cannot overcome, or when there is a special request you cannot obtain using your own abilities, only then that little bag is touched and finally opened.

And that little statue is taken out, cleaned by rubbing it until it shines, and then with much respect is laid at some high place. Subsequently, that person moves back a few steps, and worships accompanied by praying and chanting a mantra that he has memorized in his head. Only after that it is connected with appeal for all the needs, and requests and all the things that he wants.

After he is finished praying that little statue is taken down and put inside that cloth bag again, and then hung again on his waist. My brother, the fate of the charm that was worshipped just a while ago, will be hanging at the waist of that person for who knows how long.

Totally forgotten, not touched for maybe days, weeks or months, until there is again something special that happened, or some major disaster needs the help of that charm again. And to quickly solve and overcome a problem or a difficulty, that little statue is taken out again and rubbed clean to be worshipped.

My brothers, in these modern times maybe there are not many people who practice idol worship like that. The practice of idol worship like that is prohibited in religion, especially by Christians.

Isn’t God’s commandment in our reading spelled out clearly so that we remember, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image and You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God!” The command is firm and clear is it not?

My brothers and sisters, maybe there are some of you that are protesting in your heart, “Ah Pak Pudjo, that commandment certainly is not for me! As long as I live, I have never worshipped idols.”

Maybe we as Christians have never really practiced idol worship like what these primitive tribes did in the jungles of the Amazon. Many Christians even have an opinion that is in the other extreme. There are those who will burn all ornaments that resemble statues even though they are never worshipped and are not at fault. Bottom line, no statues in the house!

When I’m at home there is not one ornamental statue anywhere because they all have been burned, so is it true that we now are totally freed from any possibility of the practice of idol worship?

May it not be that we are freed from the practice of statue idol worship, but then we instead fall into idolatry in other forms, which may be far more dangerous because it is not readily seen.

There is a kind of idol worship that is covered neatly, not like an idol that is stored in a little cloth bag by those Amazons, but that is covered neatly behind the purity and the obedience of us who are religious.

If the primitive Amazons treat their god as a thing that you own that you can take out or put in at will at any time according to their need, are we not also tempted to do the same with our God?

We treat God as something that we own that can be treated and controlled however we want, precisely like what those primitive people did towards their gods in the jungles of the Amazon.

Brothers and sisters, to be honest, we will quickly realize and confess that not only once in a while, but often we treat our Loving God, the God that takes care of us and the ever loving God who loves us very much, the same way as those primitive people treated their gods.

When we have experienced so much success, do we not afterwards often become drunk over that victory? And then we think that all that success is the result of our own abilities?

And we forget that the Lord actually has provided all that through His grace. We just treated God like an idol that we keep in our pocket, so that the Lord our God does not interfere when we enjoy that result of that success we just achieved.

Especially when we're making this success the main purpose of this life, and making this the idol that we love and worship.

For example when we are successful in business and we are enjoying the sweetness of our our riches, this causes us to forget the Lord, and we come to love this wealth and begin to worship the money related to this wealth. And from that moment on for weeks or several months or even several years we ignore God without acknowledging Him in our quiet time and prayers.

Another example is when we fall in love. Wow, especially if it the first love that is burning bright. Usually the feelings and sweetness of that love controls us and then allows that person that we love to become the center of everything, even to the point of it being more important than the Lord.

Another example might be your hobby. Doesn’t your hobby of watching sports like a basketball game or a football game often become more important than going to church? Especially when it is the final game!

These examples show that often times we do not have time for the Lord when our hobby beckons, or when we are in love, or have success and are drunk with our personal victories, even though we say that we love HIM!

And only when we have a lot of problems that come to make our life difficult, when we have to face many obstacles that make us helpless, only then do we realize that we need God who is able to help us and to solve all our problems and concerns.

Only then do we begin to reach out to that pocket and begin to seek our God again. We even begin to cry out in our prayers, “O Lord, where are You? Why have You left me , Lord? I need you Lord! Please help me, help me, Lord!

So when we are between a rock and a hard place, usually Christians begin to seek the Lord. They are seeking the Lord, not because they realize their mistakes and want to repent, but the aree looking for the Lord their God so He again has the task to help them out.

Our Lord God is made into an idol and is relegated to be a servant. Whereas my brothers and sisters, the Lord loves us very much and He longs for us to really love Him and not do this halfway.

The Lord wants us to become more like Jesus everyday who totally depended on God the Father at all times. Similarly, God wants us to depend on Him totally as well.

That is the reason that God allows trials and difficulties to strike us, so that the Lord can be beside us and strengthen us so that our faith becomes stronger in the midst of our life that is full of disasters and darkness surrounding us.

Brothers and sisters loved by our Lord Jesus Christ, in this life, without realizing we often as followers of Christ still have our veiled idols that we continue to worship.

As in our examples, often when we accumulate riches; when we are able to achieve a good position, and we have become real successful, we are still not satisfied and we do not thank God who has blessed us with that.

Sometimes we love our hobbies and people more than we love God. We often times make our wealth, our position, our cleverness, our hobbies, and our love for this world become our main goal in this life and we pusue it as if that is the most important thing in our life.

Without realizing we have shifted our faithfulness to God and His throne, which should be the most prominent thing in our life, to riches and position and success. And so our life is secretly controlled by our idols.

Maybe we do not realize this, maybe is not on purpose, and maybe we do not even feel it. But when we shift God’s position, the place that God has in our life and we give that position to something else, actually we are already practicing idol worship.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the gospel of Matthew 22:37 our Lord Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

Brothers and sisters, in order to love our God, our Lord Jesus stressed the word all and this means that the Lord Jesus wants our total commitment wherever we are and whenever it is! Only HIM!

My brothers and sisters, I know that you never worshipped idols like the people in the outskirts of Indonesia and like the primitive people in the Amazon jungles. Maybe we never have worshipped statues or trees, or weapons or all those things that are considered sacred. But brothers and sisters, without realizing maybe you are lost in idol worship that is hidden in our spiritual life.

This evening our Lord Jesus is calling each one of us, you and I alike, to return to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul and our mind, so that we are totally committed. Wherever, whenever, we should prioritize Him and love Him. Because only He is our God and there is no one like Him. What is our answer? Amen.

]]> Sun, 18 Apr 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?love-the-lord,-your-god,-with-all-your-heart,-all-your-soul-and-all-your-mind http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000198 imblog

1 Peter 2:9-10

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; 10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Last week when I was praying, I found myself thanking God for the wonder of being a human, but not just any human but a people for God. We have the astonishing capacity to see and hear and feel, and then to think about all this amazing reality around us, and then to form judgments about it all.

And to know right and wrong, and good and bad, and beautiful and ugly, and then to feel profound emotions of love and hate and joy and discouragement as well as wonder and hope and gratitude, and then to reason and plan our lives in ways that achieves things.

But best of all is to use all these wonderful human capacities while knowing and loving and serving the greatest Being in the universe, our Maker and our Savior and our God. It was one of those rare moments, like a brush with eternity.

To be alive as a human being with indescribable mysteries at every turn, and to have in front of us an eternal destiny of spectacular glory or the inexpressible horror of not knowing is a weight that can either lift you up with great joy and full of glory or press you down with fear and trembling.

Whether you experience glory or horror depends in large measure on whether you know God or not and what the answers to the basic human questions are or not. Who are you? How did you get that identity? What are you here for?

Only humans ask these type of questions. Only humans kill themselves or kill others when they don't get true and satisfying answers. Not often do we find such clear answers to all three questions in such a small text this evening. Who am I? How did I get this identity? What's it for, and why am I here?

So let's go back to the beginning and listen to the Word of God and wonder and stand in awe of what He has to say about these three things. Who Are You? Keep in mind that Peter is identifying Christians.

1. Verse 9: "You are a chosen race." I know that this is a corporate identity; he's talking about the church, the true Israel. But the implication is individual, because this race is not racial. The chosen race is not black or white, yellow or brown. The chosen race is a new people from all the peoples, all the colors and cultures, who are now aliens and strangers among in the world.

See 1 Peter 2:11, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers . . ." What gives us our identity is not color or culture, but our being chosen. Christians are not the white race; they are the chosen race. Christians are not the black race; they are the chosen race. We are the black chosen and the white chosen and the yellow chosen and the brown chosen.

Out from all the races we have been chosen, one at a time, not on the basis of belonging to any group. That's why this amazing phrase is individually crucial for you; you are part of the "chosen race" because the race is made up of individuals who were chosen from all the races. So your first identity is that you are chosen. God chose you.

I do not know why. It was nothing in me of value above other humans. I did not earn it or merit it, or meet any conditions to get it. It happened before I was born. I stand in awe of it. I bow and accept it. I am chosen.

2. You Are Pitied. Verse 10b: ". . . you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." I choose the word "pitied" because the word for mercy in Greek here is a verb and the closest word we have in English like "mercied" is "pitied."

It's not a bad translation. When God chose us, He then saw us in our sin and guilt and condemnation and He pitied us. We are not just chosen. We are also pitied. We are the not just the objects of his choice, but the objects of his mercy.

I am chosen and I am pitied or you could say I am "graced." I am "loved." God did not just choose me and stand aloof. He chose me and then drew near in mercy to help me and saved me. My identity is fundamentally this: I get my identity not first from my actions, but from being acted upon by God with pity. I am a pitied one.

3. You Are God's Possession. This is expressed twice. Verse 9: "You are . . . a people for God's own possession." Verse 10a: "You once were not a people, but now you are the people of God."

You are chosen by God; you are pitied by God; and the effect of that mercy is that God takes you to be his own possession. Now God already owns everything. So in that sense everyone is God's possession. So this must means something special, something different.

And, of course, it does. You are God's inheritance. You are the ones He wants to spend eternity with. When God says in 2 Corinthians 6:16, "I will be their God and they will be my people [my possession]," what He means is that "I will dwell in them and walk among them."

You are God's possession because He purchased you with a high price. The price is described in Acts 20:28, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

4. You Are Holy. Verse 9 says, "You are a . . . holy nation." You have been chosen and pitied and possessed by God; and therefore you are not merely part of the world anymore. You are set apart for God. You exist for God. And since God is holy, you are holy. You share his character, because he chose you, pitied you and possessed you.

You are holy. If you do not act in a holy way, you act out of character. You contradict your essence as a Christian. Sin is contrary to our union with Christ. For your identity is holiness to the Lord: you are holy.

5. You Are a Royal Priest. Verse 9: "You are a . . . royal priesthood." You are chosen by God and pitied by God and possessed by God and holy like God and royal priests to God. The point here is first that you have immediate access to God—you don't need another human priest as a mediator.

God himself provided the one Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. You have direct access to God, through the Lord Jesus. And, second, you have an exalted, active role in God's presence. You are not chosen, pitied, possessed, and holy just to waste away your time doing nothing.

You are called now to minister in the presence of God. All your life is priestly service. You are never out of God's presence. You are never in a neutral zone. You are always in the court of the temple. And your life is either a spiritual service of worship (Romans 12:1–2), or it is out of character.

So you can see that your identity, the question, "Who are you?" leads directly to the question, "What are you here for?" Your identity leads to your destiny. You are chosen, pitied, possessed, and holy, all for a purpose, to minister as priests.

And the heart of that ministry Peter describes for us very clearly. But before we answer the question what we are here for, let's pause just a moment and answer the middle question: How did I get this identity?

Peter refers to God like this in verse 9, "Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." The light we live in is the light of our being chosen and pitied and possessed and holy and priestly. And the way we got there is that God called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

God gave us our identity by virtue of his irresistible call. I know that we were chosen by God before we were called by God. So it might look like I'm not saying it quite right. But what I mean is that the experience of walking in the light is the effect of God's sovereign call, God’s saving initiative.

And being in the light means that we have intellectual understanding and we have moral character. We not only know what is right, we can do what is right. There is truth and righteousness, knowledge and obedience.

Sometimes, especially after you have been saved for a long time, it is easy to forget what you life was like before you were saved. Before you walked in darkness and you loved darkness and your deeds were evil and you did not even know that there is light.

And God in His grace simply calls you out of darkness because of His own desire to do so. And only now do we realize how rich we are and how nothing in ourselves caused God to chose us. I hope we never forget this.

What Are You Here For? What we saw was that our identity led directly to our destiny: we are chosen, pitied, possessed, and holy all for the sake of being a royal priesthood. But Peter is more specific when he tells us the reason for our existence.

He says in verse 9b that we exist for this reason: "that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." This is the full-time occupation of a royal priest, to make the glories of our King known.

There is a lot of discussion in our day of self-concept or self-identity. How do we view ourselves? It is an important question. And what I want you to hear this evening is that a Christian is not defined just in terms of who we are in and of ourselves.

It's defined in terms of the relationship God creates with us and the destiny He appoints for us. In other words as a Christian you cannot talk about your identity without talking about the relationship of God with you, and the purpose of God for you.

The biblical understanding of human self-identity is God-centered. Who am I? Who are you? You are a God- chosen one, a God-pitied one, a God-possessed one and a God-sanctified one. The very language of our identity in this text necessitates that God be included as the one who acts.

God made us who we are so that we might proclaim the excellency of his freedom in choosing us. The excellency of his grace in pitying us. The excellencies of his authority and power in possessing us. The excellencies of his worth and purity in making us holy.

In other words He has given us our identity in order that His identity might be proclaimed through us. God made us who we are so we could proclaim who He is. Our identity is for the sake of making known His identity. The meaning of our identity is that the excellency of God be seen in us.

It is an honor to be chosen to be an ambassador of the President of the United States and similarly it is a privilege to be chosen to be an ambassador of the living God. Instead of being afraid or hesitant if you have an opportunity to speak about God, hold you head high when you tell others about the excellencies of God.

Being a Christian should mean that we make the greatness of God known to everyone we meet. We can do it in church services with preaching and singing and praying and reading. We can do it in our small groups as we tell each other what God has been and done for us.

We can do it at work as we tell people what we love about God and why we think He is great. And we can do it in a thousand different ways of love that suit our situation and personality. And we can apply it to everyone we come in contact with.

For example, listen to this wonderful story of how Doug Nichols, the International Director of Action International Ministries, made the excellencies of God known in a tuberculosis sanitarium in India, he was a missionary with Operation Mobilization and got TB.

He was in the sanitarium for several months. He tried to give tracts and copies of the gospel of John away, but no one would take them. They didn't like him and assumed he was just a rich American.

At one point for several nights he would wake up coughing at 2 AM. He noticed a little old emaciated man trying to get out of bed. The man couldn't stand up, and began to whimper. He lay back into bed.

In the morning the stench in the ward was terrible and everyone was angry at the old man for not containing himself. The nurse who cleaned up even smacked the old man for making such a mess.

The next night the very same thing happened. Doug woke up coughing with his own terrible sickness and weakness. He saw the old man try again to get out of bed. Again he couldn't stand, and began to cry softly.

Doug got out of bed went over to the old man. The man cowered with fear. But Doug picked him up with both arms and carried him to the bathroom which was just a hole in the floor, and then brought him back. The man kissed him on the cheek as he put him down in bed.

At 4 AM another patient woke Doug with a steaming cup of tea and made motions that said he wanted a copy of the booklet, the gospel of John. Through that whole day people kept coming to him and asking for his booklets even though he could not speak their language.

This story explains that we need to declare the excellencies of God by acting them out. By showing love we can be a small example of the love of God. When we act out the excellencies of God, people will experience that love and that will give them eagerness to find out who God is.

Which is just another way of saying that our identity, who we are is for the sake of God. God made us who we are to show the world who He is. Are you showing your world, your work environment, your friends and your enemies the love of God? Only by being loving and doing good and comforting those in need can we show what God is like, Amen?

]]> Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?christian-identity http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000188 imblog

John 20:11-22

Today is Easter and this evening I want to study together what Jesus did right after His resurrection meeting with specifically those people who love Him. Jesus gives us evidence that is irrefutable that He is alive by literal face- to-face contact with those human beings that loved Him.

John 20:11-18, “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.13 Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.”

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.”

As we begin this passage Peter and John have seen the empty tomb. Jesus has done what He said He was going to do, He overcame and conquered death. Before the rising of the sun on the third day, Jesus had already risen.

And there is much proof that Jesus Christ rose, the stone that was sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers was rolled away and the tomb was empty. The grave clothes were lying on the ground except they did not contain a body. And there were angels that corroborated the fact that He had risen.

And now to announce and provide further proof that He had risen, Jesus appeared eleven times to the people who loved him totaling 500 people. So there at least you have 500 personal testimonies that the Lord Jesus rose again.

It is interesting to note that He only appeared to believers. He never appeared to the unbelieving Jews and scribes. Critics have said that if Jesus really did rise He should have appeared to the skeptics to prove them wrong. In reality the believers themselves were the skeptics.

Peter and John themselves acknowledged in John 20:9, “For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” And because they did not know they could not have fabricated a resurrection. They were totally shocked every time Jesus appeared and they even thought they saw a ghost.

And another reason He did not appear to unbelievers is that He does not use miracles as a way to reveal who He really is. His plan for the church is that you and I and every believer would be His witnesses and that we with the power of the Holy Spirit would go take the gospel to everyone who does not believe.

Remember Luke 16:19-31? There was a rich man who died and went to hell and Lazarus, the beggar at his gate who died and went to heaven? The rich man was tormented and he asked Abraham to send someone who was resurrected to warn his five brothers to repent lest they also would go to hell.

And listen to what Abraham said to him in Luke 16:31, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” Even if Jesus Himself would have appeared from the death to unbelievers, they would not have believed it. Their minds are blinded by the god of this world.

Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene and He did that to not only show that He was alive but that He was faithful to her. He appears to show her personally that He had not forgotten her and that He loved her no matter how insignificant a person might think she is or society thinks she is.

Mary was saved when Christ cast out seven demons (Mark 16:9), she was nothing special, she was not an apostle and she did not have a special place in ministry. Jesus is a loving God and so He picks out the one person that may be loved Him the most. Jesus shows us here what kind of God we have.

So the first thing that Jesus did was to show those people who loved Him that He also loved them, that He knows what they are feeling and that He is there in time to comfort them. Beyond all the things that He had to do before He ascended, He wanted to take care of those that loved Him.

How do people know that you care? First you remember their needs and remember their hurts and their concerns. Loving somebody means that you think a lot about them and that you are there for them when they hurt. And Jesus did that for Mary, so you and me would understand that Jesus will do that for us too even from heaven.

Look again at verse 11, “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping.” She was really sobbing. She could not figure out where Jesus was since the tomb was empty. She was very much like us, crying for fear of the things of life that we do not understand.

Then in verse 11 and 12 it says, “And as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.”

The angels then spoke and in verse 13 they said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Now she did not recognize that they were angels. Luke 24:4 says that there were two men. And here were two angels in the form of young men sitting where Jesus had lain.

And based on what she said, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him,” she did not have any idea who they were. Do you notice what she said? She said “my Lord”, Jesus is her Lord. How do you look at the Lord, is He your Lord too who controls your life?

What we can see here is her love for Jesus. I hope that everyone will have that kind of love for Christ where if we are separated from Him just a little it will cause us to break out in tears. It is so easy nowadays to become indifferent and to live without this personal connection to Jesus that is so important.

When was the last time you have talked to Jesus in a personal intimate way? Maybe some of you have never experienced the fullness of Him and because of that you don’t even seem to mind. And may be you don’t even comprehend what Mary was going through at that time.

Now notice what happens in verse 14, “Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.” Now isn’t that a little strange? Why if she was so close to Him does she not recognize Him?

Some say that because her eyes were blurry from all that crying she could not recognize Him. Others have said that because she never expected that Jesus would be alive, she just never imagined Jesus could be there. And very often we meet people that we not really look at closely.

But there is also another explanation. The reason that Mary did not recognize Jesus is that He was no longer in his earthly body but now in His glorified body. His body is now supernatural, He could still eat fish and honey but He could also go through walls and disappear and reappear at will.

Do you remember on the road to Emmaus where Jesus walked for a long time together with two disciples who had known Him well before. And they also did not know who He was during their long walk together. Only after Jesus prayed and broke the bread the Bible says in Luke 24:31, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.”

In John 21 Jesus showed Himself also to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee. They had been fishing all night and caught nothing. And John 21:4 says, “Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus. Jesus even talked to them and said in verse 5, “Children have you any food? And they answered, “No.”

Only after Jesus said to cast it on the right side of the boat and they were unable to draw it because of the multitude of fish, only then because of this miracle Peter recognized Jesus and jumped into the sea to get to Jesus as fast as he could.

So only when Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the disciple’s minds and hearts did they know who He was. This is consistent with what the bible teaches that no one is capable of knowing God apart from divine revelation.

Now let us go back to Mary and see what happens in verse 15 when Jesus said, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

Mary had been crying and she is looking for the Lord without mentioning His name. She just assumes that this individual knows. And she thought that He was the gardener, thinking that the only person that would come so early would be a gardener. Her love for the Lord at this point was not rational anymore, where would she take His body?

But listen to verse 16, “Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni! which means Master.” Jesus spoke to her in her own language, the name that intimate friends knew, the name that Jesus had always used for her. And Mary turned around and said ‘Rabboni’, which in Aramaic is the word for God.

When you love someone you will recognize his voice right? Listen to what it says in John 10:3, “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

Do you know that Jesus knows your name? Do you know that Jesus knows everything about you beyond your name? Do you know that Jesus loves you in a personal way? This what God is teaching us here, we do not have a cold calculating Christ, no we have a warm and personal and caring Christ who loves us.

And then Jesus says in verse 17, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”

Mary loves Jesus so much that she does not want to let go of Him. And Jesus explains that He has to go back to His Father. What He means is that the relationship of followers to Jesus can no longer be a physical relationship, but it has to be a spiritual relationship.

He says that our relationship to God will be totally new where the Holy Spirit, God Himself, will be inside of you and living in you. It is no longer a limited physical relationship to the followers of Jesus at that time; this relationship is now spiritual for all believers all over the world.

There is a phrase in verse 17 that we need to pay attention to. Jesus says “go to My brethren.” This is a new phrase for the disciples, they have been called servants, they have been called friends, but they have never been called brothers until now.

Christ is giving a new relationship to those who believe in Him. How can we be brothers with Christ? Because Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected, we are now in Christ. We are accepted as perfect and holy by God because of our union with Christ, His righteousness now becomes ours.

So in the eyes of God we become equal to Jesus as in Romans 8:29 it says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Here we are called brothers.

And what happens to Mary? Verse 18 says, “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.” Mary becomes a changed woman, she has seen the Lord.

Do you know that this is also our testimony? We do not say, “Well, I have read the Bible and I agree that it is accurate.” We say, I have seen the Lord in my life and I have seen Him work many wonders! Our witness should not be theology; our witness should be first hand experience of how God works in our life!

He also appears to the rest of His disciples. Look at John 20:19-22, “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Now here Jesus Himself shows up on the first day of the week, Sunday, to his disciples. They were very scared of the Jews, the temple police that would put them in jail. When everything was locked, Jesus comes in right through the wall. Wow, just imagine their faces!

There is nothing impossible for God! Luke 24:37 says that they were scared to death. “It’s a ghost,” they said. And Jesus said in John 20:19, “Peace be with you.” This is not just a greeting; this is the true peace from God. You are given peace in that in your relationship to God you now are forgiven and holy.

Christ came to His followers after the resurrection because He had a commission for them. John 20:21-22, “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

All of you who believe are going to be the sent ones, yes you and me. My beloved brothers and sisters, that is our task on this Easter Sunday, we need to carry the gospel to the entire world as our continuing ministry, Amen?

]]> Sun, 04 Apr 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?the-resurrected-jesus http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000189 imblog

1 Peter 2:4-8

As I asked God about what we as a people would need from God's Word this Palm Sunday, it seemed to me that the very next passage scheduled in 1 Peter 2:4-8 is precisely what we need.

“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.”

In contrast to what happened 2000 years ago we need this part of the Word and we need it badly. It is God’s word about how we are to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God. Let us study verses 4–5.

Notice, in these verses, God tells us there are six steps in the way of spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Him.

First, in verse 4, we begin with Jesus Christ as the living Stone. Peter calls Him a stone because of prophecies in the Old Testament: "Behold I am laying in Zion a chief cornerstone" (Isaiah 28:16). "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." (Psalm 118:22). We'll come back to this.

Second, in verse 4 those who have tasted the kindness or the grace of the Lord (recall a few weeks ago?), and now long for him the way a baby longs for milk, they now come to him: "And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen and precious in the sight of God."

Third, the result of this coming to him is that we are shaped into living stones for use in a spiritual building. Verse 5: "You also as living stones are being built." Contact with the Living Stone makes us alive spiritually and fits us for our place in his architectural plan.

Fourth, when we come to the living stone and are shaped into living stones ourselves, we are built into a “spiritual house.” Christ is the builder here. He builds individual Christians into a spiritual temple.

It's a spiritual house because collectively we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). Here it becomes a reference to the local church, not to individuals in this context.

What we see so far is that God lays this stone, Jesus Christ, in Zion, that is, in Jerusalem, and men reject it— crucify Him—but God has chosen this stone and regards Him as extremely precious, and raises Him from the dead and makes Him an ever-living stone, and gives Him the place of highest honor.

All of this to the end that Christ might gather a people who would themselves be alive like Him and all together would make a temple, a church—an eternal dwelling place for the Spirit of God.

Fifth, the greatness of the reality forces the imagery to break down. Because not only are we living stones being built into a spiritual house for God's habitation, we are also a "holy priesthood."

In other words, we are not merely the passive building where God dwells; we are also the active participants in worship. And not just participants, but a special kind of participant, the priests, and God means all of you.

This is the great teaching about the "priesthood of all believers." We all, lay believers and deacons and elders, are the priests of this new spiritual house, and now as priests we need to draw near to God with spiritual sacrifices.

The priests brought the sacrifices into the tabernacle in the Old Testament. But now that tabernacle is replaced by the Christian church. The atoning altar is replaced by Jesus Christ and his shed blood. And the priests then are now replaced by you, those who believe in Christ.

Sixth, the goal of all this is that all spiritual sacrifices would be offered which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Make sure Jesus gets his due right here. God's aim is that we offer Him all our spiritual sacrifices (we'll talk about what that is in a minute).

And we can only do that "through Jesus Christ." Jesus is the Living Stone. Everything hangs on our coming to the Living Stone. If we don't come to Jesus, the Living Stone, then we don't have life and we are not built into a spiritual house, and we do not become a holy priesthood, and we will not offer spiritual sacrifices.

It all hangs on Jesus and connecting with Jesus and coming to Jesus. That's why Peter ends verse 5 with the words "to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

This is why verse 7 says that He is precious, costly to us who believe. Yes, infinitely precious. There is no greater value in the universe than Jesus. He means more to us than anything or anybody.

Just think of all the people around the world who know there is a God. Nature declares his glory and their own consciences tell them it must be so. But they don't know how to do anything fully acceptable to this God, because they don't know Jesus.

They try rituals and disciplines and sacrifices and vows and relics and virtues—but all in vain. Because God says (at the end of verse 5) that sacrifices are acceptable to Him only "through Jesus Christ." Not through human effort or human merit or human achievement, but only "through Jesus Christ."

That's why Paul said in Romans 15:18, "I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me." The preciousness of Christ to our hearts is this: through him we know God and come to God and experience the presence of God and offer acceptable sacrifices to God.

Now let's walk backward through some of these six steps and take another look at them. What are these spiritual sacrifices that we offer to God through Jesus Christ (v. 5b). If that's the goal of everything else, it must be very important. What is it?

In Romans 12:1 Paul says that we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. That means that everything you do with your body is to be done as an act of worship to God.

Whether you eat or drink or drive a car or make a meal or use a computer or read a book or shoot a basketball or mend a shirt, whatever you do with your body, do to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Then it is your spiritual service of worship.

Your worship might include acts of love like giving and sharing. For example, in Philippians 4:18 Paul receives gifts of support from the Philippian church and says, "I received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God." And in Hebrews 13:16 it says, "Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."

What then are spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ? They are the deeds you do, the words you speak, the songs you sing—when you do them spiritually. That is, when you do them in reliance on the power of the Spirit, according to the will of the Spirit, and for a manifestation of the Spirit—which is a manifestation of Christ.

This is clearly a word to us about our worship here at the Indonesian Baptist Fellowship. Is it spiritual? Are the sacrifices we offer spiritual sacrifices? Are we leaders in worship spiritual people? Do we sing in the power of the Spirit, and according to the will of the Spirit, and as a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ?

Do our instrumentalists play their instruments in the power of the Spirit, according to the will of the Spirit, and as a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ? Do I preach in reliance on the power of the Spirit, according to the will of the Spirit, and as a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ?

Spiritual sacrifices are sacrifices from Christ and through Christ and for Christ. They get their power from the Spirit of Christ, they get their content from the Word of Christ, and they have their goal in the glory of Christ. And they flow only from a heart devoted to his power and his Word and his glory. And that is the only kind of worship God accepts.

The second step in moving backward through the six steps is that these spiritual sacrifices are offered by a holy priesthood. That's not the pastor, that's not the elders, that's not the deacons; but it's you the people.

Look at verse 9: "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood." This means that you all have access to God through Jesus Christ. You do not take your sacrifice to the priest and watch while he takes it to the altar or to the tent of meeting with God. You all are called by God to approach the altar and the throne, and to make your own personal sacrifice in personal life and in corporate worship.

Third, this holy priesthood is also a "spiritual house." You are all living stones built by God into a spiritual house, that is, a temple made for the presence of a holy God. Listen to the way Paul said this in Ephesians 2:19–22,

“You are . . . of God's household, . . . Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

The main thing here is that we as a church are meant by Christ to be a corporate dwelling of God in the Spirit. It's true that each of us is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) but there is more of God to be known and enjoyed than anyone can know in isolation.

We are being fitted together, Paul says, for a temple and for a dwelling of God by his Spirit. There is a presence and power and manifestation of the Spirit of God meant to be known in this gathering at worship that we will not experience at any time by ourselves in isolation.

We are not just isolated living stones. We are, verse 5 says, being built (by Christ I Matthew 16:18, "I will build my church") as a spiritual house. The stones are meant to so fit together in this house called Indonesian Baptist Fellowship so that something whole, something more than a collection of individuals comes into being, a temple, a dwelling of God by his Spirit.

How are we being built into a spiritual house? Answer: By coming to Christ. Let me just return to the strategy Peter focuses on for this to happen. He says in verse 4, "And coming to Him [Christ] as to a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built."

Now be careful here. This is not a reference to conversion, that initial coming to Christ, though that it awesomely important and I pray some may come this evening for the first time. This is a reference to daily, hour-by-hour drawing near to Christ as strong, living persons working and living together.

There were two women were planting a vegetable garden. On the same day, they prepared the earth and planted their seeds. One then neglected her garden and waited for her vegetables to grow. The other woman worked in her garden regularly. She drove in sticks beside those vegetable plants that were going to grow up high, and she put netting around plants that were particularly attractive to rabbits and other animals.

Several months later the two women went out for the harvest. One found tomatoes rotting on the ground, beans whose vines had spread among the other plants, weeds that were choking most of the carrots, all of which had been raided by birds and squirrels. She figured that planting a garden wasn’t worth it, the harvest was small, and, well grocery stores were so much more convenient.

Her neighbor, however, harvested basketful of good vegetables every other day, which had a better taste than those in the grocery store. She figured that, when everything was added up, she probably saved a good fifteen to twenty percent on her grocery bill during the summer months. Both women planted, but only one tended.

I’ve known Christians who have committed their lives to following Christ at about the same time; but the influence this commitment had on their lives soon became markedly different. One lived a life of self-absorption. Christianity made sense, but it became almost a convenience, no need to take it too seriously or feel it necessary to regroup one’s life around it to make it the most important.

The other person, however, took a different life approach. She found ways to make Bible study a regular part of her life. She kept her prayer life fresh and varied. New attributes came to the forefront, and before she knew it, people were asking her for advice and counseling. She soon had a real ministry. Both planted a spiritual garden, but only one took really care of it.

If we tend our garden, we’ll have plenty of food with which to feed others. If we give our garden just cursory attention, we may have enough food just to feed ourselves. If we completely neglect our garden, we’re going to be so hungry we’ll become “consumer” Christians, feeding off others.

If we are going to be a spiritual temple for God's presence, and if we are going to be a holy priesthood, and if we are going to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, then we must day-by-day, hour-by-hour come to Christ.

This is Palm Sunday today. It is appropriate that we must taste His grace by feeding on his Word, his promises, his commands, his teachings, his warnings, until we are so filled with Him that his Word will dwell among us richly so that not only we are filled but we teach others with thankfulness in our hearts to God, Amen?

]]> Sun, 28 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?a-spiritual-house-for-a-holy-priesthood http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000018A imblog

John 15:1-8

Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, I think all of us surely know what is called a grape, correct? Yes, maybe some of you have seen the vine and maybe you yourself have planted that vine in your yard at home.

This grape vine is a type of plant that clings to something. In America the way you plant this is by using a Kniffin system, which means that you plant the vine such that they can cling to wires that are stretched out like a long fence.

But in Indonesia generally the way to plant this is to let it grow clinging to a rack (or in Javanese this is called ‘anjang-anjang’), up to heights of 9 -12 feet.

Now alongside this wire fence or along this rack you then have branches that come out of the main vine of the grape plant. These branches grow from the main plant to become secondary branches and so on. And from these secondary branches come tertiary branches which often are called the tops of these branches where eventually the grapes will appear and grow.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the reading of the gospel of John 15:1-8, the Lord Jesus uses this grape vine as His parable, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

“2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

Brothers and sisters, in verse 5 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

My brothers and sisters, every branch of the vine receives everything that it needs to live from the vine itself. Branches only can live well; and even bear much fruit, if that branch receives its sustenance from the vine.

Because of that all the branches at all times require and always have to be connected to the vine itself. Without being connected to the vine to stay alive and to grow is impossible, let alone to bear fruit.

There is a story that really happened. In a town that is far away, lived a young child whose desire was to play the piano well. The child had started to take lessons to play the piano not long ago.

And then one day there was a famous pianist, a maestro, that was coming to town who was a very famous piano player at that time named Ignace Paderewski. He was invited to that town to play in a piano concert. And that little boy was invited by his father to come to that piano concert.

Even though the recital had not started and the stage curtain was still closed and the spotlights were not even turned on, the audience had arrived and they filled up the auditorium. They sat in their respective seats even though there were still a lot of children running around and looking in and around the stage.

A few moments before the show was about to start, suddenly from the stage you could hear the piano and the melody of the song “twinkle twinkle little star”. Quickly the stage hands opened the curtain and turned on the floodlights. They thought that the show had already started. All eyes of the audience were focused on the stage.

In the middle of the stage that was open and well lighted, you could see a large and stately piano and a little child sitting and playing ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ in a very simple way.

And also at that moment the maestro Ignace Paderewski appeared on stage. He quickly placed himself right behind that little boy while whispering to him, “don’t stop playing, Son, keep on doing what you are doing.”

And so Paderewski placed his left hand on the piano keys and started playing the bass notes. And at the same time he put his right hand around that little boy’s body while playing the high notes. Now the song ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ that was played so simply by that little boy was made perfect by the maestro.

The result was that the song ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ became a symphonic masterpiece which mesmerized the whole audience. When the song ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ was finished, the whole audience clapped wildly. And everyone thought that this was a very special opening piece that was specifically planned for that piano concert.

Brothers and sisters who are loved by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus is our grape vine and we are His branches! Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus really wants that each branch stays connected, and stays in place and stays dependant on Him, our grape vine.

So that we the branches can grow well and produce much fruit, Just like that little child that is willing to give Paderewski the opportunity to play together with him to make that song ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ perfect, so should we depend on Him.

When we are serving others, when we are building up the fellowship of the congregation, if we truly want to depend and hope on HIM, and are willing to let the power of Christ work in the midst of us, the Lord Jesus Christ will perfect each service making it extraordinary in every way.

Just as in the story of the 5 loaves of bread and the 2 fishes, as written in the gospel of John 6:1-14. When a little boy in that story was willing to give his 5 loaves and 2 fishes to the Lord Jesus, then miraculously the 5 loaves of bread and the 2 fishes were perfected by the Lord Jesus to feed 5000 men and their families.

So my brothers and sisters, what is the situation now with the followers of the Lord Jesus who live in this age? Last week, Pastor Stanley Pouw reminded us all to not remain spiritually stagnant, or to stop growing spiritually, instead we need continue to grow by laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking.

Pastor Stanley also asked each one of us to be introspective, to check to see if we are still growing. My brothers and sisters, let us be real honest, maybe we can quickly see that in this age there are many Christians, as branches of the grape vine, who are spiritually stagnant and are not growing.

Why is that brother and sister? It is because as a branch, we often do not remain, we are not even connected to the grape vine that is the Lord Jesus.

Brothers and sisters loved by the Lord Jesus Christ, from all the many branches or all those followers of Christ that are experiencing spiritual stagnation and are not growing as I said, there are two groups that stand out and are often found in congregation fellowships everywhere at this time.

The first is a group of branches that feel that their talents are not enough and too small, they even feel that their talents don’t mean anything. And because of that, this group always feels that they do not have the ability to serve the congregational fellowship they are in.

In fact many followers of Christ if they are asked to help in different service tasks they quickly find an excuse. “Oh, I can’t do much. I just have small and simple talents. And if I have to, I can at most be just greeting at our service.”

My brothers and sisters, why do you call that task of greeting visitors for the church service as ‘just greeting’? As if the task of greeting visitors for the service at the front door of the church does not mean anything and is such a worthless job! No!

If we welcome every visitor at the front door of the church while we continually depend and hope for Christ, then when we greet every person that comes to church while smiling and saying, “Good evening Sir, good evening Mam, please come in!” the Lord Jesus will perfect that greeting and smile to become a greeting that will deeply touch hearts.

Visitors to the church that maybe in the beginning felt strange will be changed by the Lord Jesus to feel comfortable and called to worship and to have fellowship with us in this place. And brothers and sisters, these empty seats also will be filled by the Lord Jesus until they are full! The lord is the One who will bring in a lot of people through every greeting and every smile of the greeter when it is perfected by the Lord Jesus Himself.

My brothers and sisters, if many branches or followers of Christ feel they are not able to serve and subsequently avoid doing it as we described, what actually is happening is that they do not really believe in the Lord Jesus.

They do not believe that the Lord Jesus is able to perfect whatever task in serving others that they are performing. And that is the reason that these followers of Christ experience spiritual stagnation and do not grow. Because as branches they maybe really not connected anymore to their grapevine.

The second group is just the opposite. This is the group of branches which are followers of Christ who realize that they have been graced with many talents. Usually these followers of Christ or this group of branches always starts out serving others very well. And often they accomplish a lot and are praised a lot.

But when these results accompanied with much praise come out, be very careful brothers and sisters. Because the door that very moment is opened wide by the devil to let pride and arrogance in.

The devil will praise you with smooth words that will test you, “Oh wonderful, you are so great! There is no one like you! Go on and be number one!” And when these results and the praises flatter you, many followers of Christ become trapped in pride and arrogance.

There is another story: On a certain train trip, an older pastor happened to sit next to a young associate pastor. And this young pastor in training was a very smart and clever man.

He preached very well and he was liked very much by many people. He served tirelessly and he was very creative. He had good leadership abilities and he shepherded his congregation well. In short, this young associate minister was well respected and received a lot of praise from his congregation.

In the beginning, the old pastor began to tell about the story of his calling. After that, he asked that young associate pastor, “Now describe to me how you were called to the ministry.” The associate minister looked for a moment at the old pastor’s face and replied, “My story is very simple, Pastor. The Lord needs me.”

Very surprised the pastor answered, “Oh ya? Wow that is incredible! As much as I remember from the Gospel there is only one time where the Lord Jesus said that He needed something, and that is when the Lord Jesus wanted to enter Jerusalem for the last time. The Lord Jesus said that He needed a donkey!”

My brothers and sisters, when there are a lot of results or successes that the Lord has graced you with in building up the congregation and in many church service projects, which result in much praise and flattery, many Christians will become like that associate pastor that we just described.

When building up the church has great results, the question quickly becomes, “Is it not because of me that the congregation has grown this fast? If it wasn’t for me, surely this church would not have grown this well. If it wasn’t for me would these programs have worked with as much success?

There are many more statements that sound similar, which would show pride and arrogance. But brothers, if this success and these results have made you feel as if you are able to do things based on your own strength, actually that shows that we have forgotten the Lord who is able to make things perfect.

And, God forbid, as branches we are not connected anymore to the Grape Vine. So it is justified that we then are spiritually stagnant and are unable to grow.

Brothers and sisters, this evening the Lord Jesus wants to remind every one of you, all of His followers that are here tonight: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Amen.

]]> Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?we-are-only-branches-and-the-lord-will-make-us-perfect http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000199 imblog

1 Peter 2:1-3

“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

I hear many prophetic words and advice for us as a church in this text that I’m excited to begin this second chapter. Let's go straight to the second verse and then back up and look at the whole passage.

A great threat to salvation and to our growth toward salvation (v. 2) is what I would call spiritual stagnation, which is the belief or feeling that you are stuck with the way you are. May be some of you are thinking: this is all I will ever experience of God; the level of spiritual intensity that I now have is all I can ever have.

Maybe you are wondering, “Others may have strong desires to seek after God and may have deep experiences of personal pleasure in God, but I will never have those because well, just because I am not like that. That's not me."

This spiritual stagnation is a feeling that genetic influences and family influences and the influences of my past experiences and present circumstances are just too strong to allow me to ever change and become more zealous for God.

Spiritual stagnation is tragic in the church. It leaves people stuck. It takes away hopes and dreams of change and growth. It squashes the excitement of living, which is growth.

It's like saying to a gawky little teenage girl who feels like her body is all out of proportion: well that's the way you are, and you will always be that way, when in fact she is meant to grow and change a lot. It would be tragic to convince her of a kind of physical stagnation—that her growth is stopped right there at 13.

Think what would happen if that same thing happens with our spiritual growth. Only spiritual stagnation is much worse. Because more important things are at stake, and because we never do get to a point where we've arrived at the final stature like we do in our physical bodies.

So thousands of people live year after year without much passion for God or zeal for His name or joy in His presence or hope in His promises or constancy in His fellowship and feel—well, that's just the way I am. And they just settle in—like an adolescent who stops growing and lives with pimples till he's 80.

In this text God commands us not to stay spiritual babies. Peter says in verse 2: "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby." This is a command from God to desire to grow.

What this means is that if you feel stuck because you don't have the kind of spiritual desires to grow as you should, this text says, you do not need to be stuck! It says, "Get the desires you don't have." If you don't desire the milk of the Word, starting desiring it!

Now, isn't that amazing! A command to desire! A command to feel longings we do not feel. A command to feel desires we do not have. Is anything more contrary to spiritual stagnation than that?

Stagnation says: I can't just create desires. If they're not there, they're not there. If I don't feel things the way the psalmists seem to feel things when they say, "As a deer pants for the flowing streams so my soul pants for you, O God" (Psalm 42:1)—if I don't feel that way toward God, then that's that. I just don't. I'm not like the psalmists.

But God says in verse 2, "Desire the pure milk of the word!" What can I do to obey a command like that? How do I just produce a desire? My whole problem is that I don't have the strength of desire I want. And You just tell me to desire. You may as well tell a lame man to walk.

Hmmm? Can you imagine such a thing—commanding a lame man to walk? Who could do such a thing? Or how about commanding a lame man to fly? Do you think God might command that?

But listen to what God’s Word says in Titus 2:14, “(Jesus) who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

Can I too do good works by being more fervent like in Romans 12:12, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer”, or more delighted in God like in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart?”

Can I ever live more spiritually like what it says in Romans 8:5, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit?”

Can I ever be satisfied just to be with Christ like what it says in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

Can I too live more boldly like what it says in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Can I too live more hopeful like it says in 1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ?”

I was listening to a talk by Corrie Ten Boom and heard her recite a little poem by John Bunyan. It's one of the best statements I have ever heard about the difference between the law and the gospel. You'll see how it relates.

“Run, John, run, the law commands. But gives us neither feet nor hands (O.T.), far better news the gospel brings: It bids us fly and gives us wings.” In other words in the old covenant God gave commandments, but by and large did not give the divine enablement that overcomes the deadness and depravity and rebellion of the heart.

But in the new covenant, which God set up at the cross of Christ, God gives even harder commands, but He also gives us the power we need to fulfill them. Verse Romans 8:4 says, “so the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Christ gives us power through faith. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:3, “remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.”

And look at 2 Thessalonians 1:11, “Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power.”

We are duty-bound to run, even though our feet are frozen in the ice of sin. We can't run in ourselves, and so the commands of the law condemn. And the gospel is the same in giving us commands. Flying is harder than running. But once we have it, we can fly.

The stagnant person says, "I can't fly. I can't even run. My feet are frozen in my genetic makeup and my dysfunctional family of origin. And besides that I don't have any wings. I cannot fly. That's the way I am." But against that stagnation, the gospel says, "Fly! You don't have desires for the milk of the word? Well, have them."

What this says is that just as essential as having the desires for the Word that we are supposed to have is having the trust in God that He gives what He commands. If God says to desire, when we don't desire, then we trust Him that He must know something we don't know.

He must have that power we don't have. There must be a way. That's the opposite of spiritual stagnation. God commands it. So there must be a way. I will not settle for less than what God commands, even if it is a command to fly.

One of the ultimate growth statements was made by St. Augustine. And it is deeply biblical. In his ‘Confessions’ (X, 40) he said, “O love that always burns and is never quenched! O Charity, my God, light me on fire! You command us to grow. Grant us whatever You command us and command what You will.”

That is the way you are supposed to pray and believe when you read 1 Peter 2:2, "Desire the pure milk of the word." Desire it! Do you not have the desire? Get the desire! Start desiring it. Do not say, "I'm just this way." Do not settle for spiritual stagnation. This is not God's will for you.

Notice that verse 1 begins with the word "therefore." So what he is about to say is based on what just was said before. What was that? What just went before was the tremendous statement (v. 23) that we are born again through the Word of God.

The point was that this Word is imperishable (v. 23) and that it is living and active (v. 23) and that it is not like grass and flowers that die but that it endures forever. So if you have been born again through this Word, then you too will last forever. You are secure forever in the family of God.

Therefore since you have new life by God's working and since you have confidence about the future therefore (2:1), "laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking, 2 like newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word."

It may be that your bible version does not say "milk of the word" in verse 2. It may just have, "desire the spiritual milk." Is "the spiritual milk" merely the Word of God? Or is it something more specific in the Word?

I believe it is something more specific. Verses 2–3 say, “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if (that is since) indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

Do you see the connection between the intense desire for the "spiritual milk" in verse 2 and the “tasting that the Lord is gracious” in verse 3? Put them together: "Desire the spiritual milk, since you've tasted that the Lord is gracious."

Where did the readers taste that the Lord is gracious? The answer is: in the gospel, the Word of God (v. 25). They were born again by that kindness through the Word of God. So spiritual milk is the grace of the Lord experienced through the Word of God.

Or you could say, the spiritual milk is the Word of God revealing or transmitting the grace of the Lord. You were born again by that Word—namely, by the powerful grace of God in that Word, and now go on desiring that Word and for the day-by-day experience—tasting—of the grace of the Lord.

The Word of God is powerful enough to create new Christians (through new birth), so then the Word of God is also powerful enough to create desire in weak Christian souls. Don't be a spiritually stagnant person. The power at work within you, just to bring you to life spiritually, is like the power that raises the dead.

Listen to Ephesians 1:19–20, “And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.”

So God can create desire just like He created you. Trust it. To paraphrase Bunyan's poem: Run, John, run, the law commands but gives us neither feet nor hands. On the other hand the gospel states far better news: It demands desire but then also creates desire.

But the Word can also destroy. 1 Peter 2:1-2 describes what we need to destroy to gain this desire. "Therefore, laying aside [get rid of, destroy] all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking, 2 like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word." God creates desire for the milk of God's grace if we destroy the desire for other things.

Malice: a desire to hurt someone with words or deeds. Deceit: a desire to gain advantage or preserve position by deceiving others. Hypocrisy: a desire not to be known for what you really are. Envy: a desire for privilege or benefit that belongs to another with resentment that you don't have it.

Slander: malicious, false, and defamatory statements about a person coupled with the desire for revenge and self-enhancement. This is often driven by the deeper desire to deflect attention from our own failings. The worse light we can put another in by slander, the less our own darkness shows.

Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander, all these we must put away and destroy. All these are contrary to being loving and they prevent us from being obedient to the truth of the gospel.

Peter's point is: don't think that they can flourish in the same heart. Desire to taste and enjoy God's grace cannot flourish together with deceit and hypocrisy. So fight against spiritual stagnation from both sides: fight to destroy the desires of deceit and hypocrisy; and fight to taste the kindness of the Lord in his Word.

The result will be (v. 2b) "you will grow in respect to salvation." Literally: "you will grow into salvation." Salvation is reached by growth. To be sure, God Himself gives the growth.

1 Peter 1:5 says, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Corinthians 3:6 says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” So growth is necessary!

Do not fall into the spiritual stagnation that says, "I can't grow; I can't change; and I don't need to." Throw that idea away and seek God with all your heart for help in desiring his Word, and let us grow up together to salvation.

]]> Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?desire-the-pure-milk-of-the-word http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000018B imblog

1 Peter 1:20-25

“He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.”

Actually verses 20 and 21 are really a continuation of the sentence in verses 17-19 that we discussed last week. Remember the point in verse 17b, namely, the command that we should live in fear during the time of our stay on earth?

Then verses 18 and 19 gave the reason as to why we should fear, namely, that we have been ransomed from our futile way of life by the precious blood of Christ (v. 19) and that now not only are our sins forgiven but we should live transformed lives.

The way we explained it last week was to say that the more precious the price paid to rescue you from a life of sin, the more horrible and fearful it is to take that price and act if it did not mean anything by still living a life full of sin.

Peter is warning us against the danger of trying to do that with the ransom of God. He knows that there are people who try to take the ransom of God from sin, the blood of Jesus, and turn it into a reason for sinning. They say that we are saved by grace and therefore it does not matter if we continue in blatant repeated sinful behavior.

The reason I say "try" to use it that way, is that God will not allow it. That's why verse 17 says, "Conduct yourselves in fear" of such a thing. We should be fearful if we tried to use the ransom of God to subsidize sinning.

Now here is where verses 20 and 21 come in. Verse 19 ends with the word "Christ", and verse 20 picks up without any break and tells us things about Christ that will give us even more hope than the ransom did in verses 18-19.

Peter tells us six more things in verses 20 and 21 that increase how precious Christ really is. He simultaneously does two things: he gives us more reasons to hope in God, and he makes living in the way of sin even more appalling and fearful.

1. First, he says in verse 20 that Christ "was foreknown before the foundation of the world." God the Father knew and loved God the Son, the Christ, forever before the universe was created.

In other words the plan for Christ to shed his blood to pay the ransom for our rescue from futile living was no afterthought to creation. God and Christ knew their plan and Christ's role in it from eternity.

2. Peter says in verse 20 that Christ "has appeared in these last times." In other words he existed before creation in relationship with his Father and has been invisible to human beings; but now in these last times, meaning the times of the Messiah and all the time since then, he has appeared.

The eternal Christ took on flesh and blood so that God could be seen: "If you have seen me," he said, "you have seen the Father" (John 14:9). There could have been no precious blood ransom if Christ had not appeared in human flesh and blood. He was born to die. And he died to ransom us from a futile life of sin.

3. Peter says at the end of verse 20 that the reason Christ appeared was "for the sake of you." This should blow us away. We are talking here about the infinitely powerful and wise and holy God of the universe and his one and only divine Son.

And we are talking about their purpose from the distance of infinity to plan a penetration into creation. Why? For our sake, that we might be ransomed from a futile manner of life. Does that not prove that God takes your behavior and your future very seriously?

4. In verse 21 Peter says, that God "raised him from the dead." He doesn't mention the death of Jesus because that was the focus already in verse 19 (blood). Here Peter says that the one who gave his life blood did not stay dead.

God raised him from the dead. God accepted the worth of the ransom by giving the Son back his life. What this says to us is not only that the ransom is all-satisfying to God, but also that death is defeated.

Often sin comes to us saying, "Indulge yourself, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die." To that you can reply, "Yes, but what about after I’m dead? If I put my hope in Jesus and not in you I will live again and be blessed forever!"

5. Peter says next in verse 21 that God "gave Him glory." In other words He brought Him into heaven and set Him at his right hand as Lord of the universe with all the glory that He had from eternity with the Father.

What this teaches is that Christ lives with glorious power to make sure that our following him will lead us to glory too. Therefore, we have every reason to hope in what God promises and not in what sin promises.

6. We go back to the beginning of verse 21 where Peter says that "through Him [Christ] you are believers in God." In other words Christ has done the necessary work to connect us with God in faith. He shed his precious blood, God raised him from the dead, God gave him glory and through all of this we come to hope in God.

So Peter makes very clear at the end of verse 21, that all of these reasons are there, "so that your faith and hope are in God." This paragraph ends in verse 21 but it began in verse 13, by commanding, "Fix your hope completely on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

In other words, "Hope fully in the grace of God!" Verse 21 ends the paragraph by saying that God has done everything through Christ so that his people might put their faith and hope in God. So that you would trust what God can do for you rather than what you can do for yourself.

The wages of sin is death; the free gift of God is eternal life. If you put your hope for happiness in the sinful pleasures of this world, you die. If you put your hope for happiness in God, you live. The call of God to you this Sunday is: stop trying to satisfy your heart's desires with this world and all its anti-God ways.

Turn to Christ and focus your entire mind's attention and your heart's affection on Him. He came from eternity, was manifested in time, was crucified for sinners, and raised from the dead, and glorified at the right hand of God, so that you might be totally satisfied in God and not in sin.

Now we come to the fourth command in tonight's text, verse 22b: "Fervently love one another from the heart." The most important thing we will see in this text is that the power to love comes through hoping in God.

What we have seen is that virtually everything in 1 Peter 1 relates to hope. Peter is exulting in all that God has done and is doing to make the future of his people forever and ever satisfying. And he is describing how people live who are captured by this truth.

So its not surprising then that this fourth command, to love each other, is sandwiched between two reasons to love that are both descriptions of the birth of hope. Love is encased and supported in hope. It gets its life from hope. If we are not a hope-filled people, we will not be a loving people.

So notice the reason to love given in front of the command to love (v. 22a) and notice the reason to love given behind the command to love (v. 23). Let's make sure we understand these two reasons clearly.

The command to love stands between two reasons to love. Think of it as a lamp in the window of the church. The lamp is the love of Christians for each other. (Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine that men may see your good deeds.")

Peter gives us here two reasons to love. The first reason is obedience to truth which purifies the soul in verse 22a. The other reason to love is verse 23, which is our new birth by the Word of God.

Let's look at the second reason first to see what it means to be born again by the living and abiding Word of God. Look at what Peter really emphasizes in verses 23–25. He doesn't just emphasize new birth by the Word. He emphasizes something specific about that Word. And he really draws it out, even with a supporting Old Testament quote (Isaiah 40:6–8).

What is it about the Word that he emphasizes? Look at verse 23: "For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable." Peter says: our inheritance is not perishable (v. 4); our faith is not perishable (v. 7); our ransom is not perishable (vv. 18, 19); God's Word is not perishable (v. 23).

The point is: God’s Word lasts. It will never be wrong. It will stand as long as God stands. And those who stand on it will not fall—ever. The point is this gives us hope! Peter defines the imperishable seed as "the living and abiding word of God"

He is saying it again with (Isaiah 40:6-8), 1 Peter 1:24: "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, 25 but the word of the Lord abides forever." And this is the word which was preached to you.

And the point now in verse 25 is that the Word is not like grass and flowers: it doesn't wither and fall. If this Word is your life, you live forever. The point is that knowing that gives us real hope.

But what's the point of making such a big deal out of the Word's permanence? The point is that when you are born by someone's seed, you take on the character of that seed. It becomes your new nature.

And what Peter wants us to understand is that the seed that created us, that caused us to be born again, is the Word of God that is imperishable, living, abiding, and lasting forever. And therefore that is who we are. We too are forever. And that again gives us hope.

One thing that keeps us from loving is the fear that if we pay the price of love, we will lose out on the bright things that life in this world is supposed to offer us. "All its glory like the flower of grass" (v. 24).

If we "love each other earnestly from the heart," it will be costly and the price will be that we lose some of the glory of the grass and flowers that people in this world live for. The power to overcome this fear is the knowledge that this worldly glory is passing away and we who are born again through the Word of God will live forever.

Let us take a brief look at the other reason for love. Verse 22: "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren" (that's the other support, soul-purifying obedience to the truth), therefore, fervently love one another from the heart.

The truth here is the Word of God, the gospel of verse 23, which is all the truth that produces hope that we have been looking at in this letter. Obedience to this truth is having faith. What the gospel demands is faith. Therefore faith is obedience to the gospel.

Peter confirms this in Acts 15:9 where he says that God "cleansed [the Gentiles'] hearts by faith" (cf. 1 Peter 3:1; 4:17). Here it's obedience to the truth that cleanses; there it's faith that cleanses. Therefore, obedience to the truth is faith.

And faith is inseparable from hope. If you have faith that the Word of God will abide forever, you are hoping in the Word as well as believing in the Word. Therefore the reason that produces love is the hope in the Word of God.

And when this new hope takes away these old, futile hopes, and depends on the living and abiding promise of God, then and only then can we love one another earnestly from the heart. Because true love from your heart only comes from God giving you a new spiritual life.

How would the people who know you best, the ones who see you living your life not just on Sundays but on Mondays and Tuesdays and Saturday nights, how would they describe the expression of your faith? Is your love obvious to other people? Does your love impact other people?

Love is made possible and supported by two reasons. One reason is God's sovereign act, His causing us to be born again through the living and abiding Word of God. The other reason is our response to that divine act: as newborn children of God we hear the Word of our Father and obey it by putting our hope in him through faith and love.

God’s acts and our responses to that divine act together form the bond necessary to overcome all of life’s traps and setbacks. Whenever we feel the pressures of life closing in on us, we need to fall back on faith in the Word of God and obeying and trusting in Him and then acting out His love to others.

How does your faith express itself? 1 Peter 1:22 says, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.”

Does your faith express itself through love? Do you put the needs of others ahead of your own, like Jesus did and does? Have you stopped making your life all about you and started living for Jesus? What is it that shows others that you love Jesus?

]]> Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?faith-and-hope-in-god http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000018D imblog

1 Peter 1:17-19

“And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

We come now this evening to the third command of the Christian life in 1 Peter. Verses 1–12 were celebration of what God has done to make us his own forever and ever. Then in verse 13 came the first command: "Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." So the first command is hope fully in the grace of God.

The second command came last week in verse 15: "Be holy in all your behavior." God says, "Be holy for I am holy" (v. 16). So the first command is be hopeful in the grace of God, and the second command is be holy in the holiness of God.

Today we reach the third command: "Conduct yourselves in fear." Verse 17: "And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth." Live in hope! Live in holiness! Live in fear!

When we discussed the first commandment, "Live in hope," I doubt that anyone was thinking, "No way is he going to convince me that hope is a biblical way to live." Hope in God is something that all Christians should have.

For the second commandment, "Live in holiness," the receptivity was still pretty high because we believe that God is holy, but we're still learning what it means to live a holy life or what is really expected of us. So there may some questions related to the sermon to live and be holy last week.

For the third commandment, "Live in fear," I assume there is some suspicion for what I am about to say. Not that you don't trust me. Fear of God just isn't in the way we live today. It's just not part of the culturally acceptable view of a healthy, satisfying religious life.

And not only that, but fear simply seems to be incompatible with hope and incompatible with faith and peace and joy. After all, doesn't 1 John 4:18 say, "There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear"?

Yes, but the verse goes on, "Fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love." So until we are perfected in love, we may not use that verse to say there is no place for fearing punishment.

So I understand why not many preachers preach about the fear of God. But I want to plead with you this evening that growing deeper and stronger as a Christian comes not by choosing to embrace only those biblical teachings you are already comfortable with and already easily understand, you don't grow that way.

But rather you grow deep and strong by also embracing the teachings you are not comfortable with and that are hard to understand with the confidence that God does not teach us anything false or harmful in the Scriptures.

The second thing I want you to do is that you take verses 17–19 seriously and strive to be counter-cultural enough and biblical enough to make fear part of how you live your daily life.

Let me explain how Peter sees fearing God in relation to judgment and redemption. The command to fear is the second half of verse 17: "Conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth."

There's no special word for "reverence" or "reverent fear" in Greek. Adding that word is an editor's interpretation of what flavor he thinks the word should have. It may be right, or it may be too limiting.

On either side of that command to conduct ourselves in fear is a reason for this fear. On the front side in the first half of verse 17 is this reason: "If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work . . ."

So the first reason for conducting ourselves in fear is that the One we call heavenly Father judges everybody on the same kind of evidence. Namely, what do our lives (our deeds) say to others about our heart?

There won't be different rules for different people. There is only one thing that saves: our faith. And there is one standard of judgment: our life and our deeds.

Peter says, there is a very appropriate fear as we live in this world, namely, a fear of living as though we do not have faith (do not hope and do not do things) in God. Here's the link between verse 17 and verse 13, between living in hope and living in fear. What we are to fear, Peter means, is not living a Godly life.

When we are tempted to conduct our lives in a way that would show that our hope is in money rather than God, we should fear. When we are tempted to act in a way that would show that our hope is in the pleasure of pornography instead of God, we should fear.

When Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:18, "Flee fornication," he meant, "Fear greatly if your hope is in committing fornication." Jesus said in Matthew 5:29, "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better to enter life with one eye than with two to be cast into hell." Fear living in ways that show that your satisfaction is not in God.

This is one of the most important parts that often is missing in modern Christianity, and one of the main reasons why the church is many times just a carbon-copy of the world. We think that grace means there's nothing to fear in our behavior. And so the thought of judgment has been forgotten in our lives.

And verse 1 Peter 1:17 is simply blanked out in our superficial adaptation to the present culture. But God is loving and gracious and calls us back tonight to fear such behavior that leads to destruction.

And now notice that on the other side of verse 17 Peter gives another reason for conducting ourselves in fear. He says, “Conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

Listen to Philippians 1:27, "Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”

That's the same reasoning we have in these verses: "Conduct yourselves in fear", because you know you were ransomed not with small temporary values like gold and silver, but with precious blood, the blood of Jesus. Simplified: "Fear, because you've been ransomed at infinite cost."

Does this make sense to you? It didn't to me at first. But here's where you can grow. You can send your spiritual roots deeper and grow your branches higher. Don't just blank it out. It sounds just like Psalm 130:4, "There is forgiveness with you [O God], that you may be feared."

Forgiveness leads to fear! In the same way Peter says, "There's an infinite ransom paid, the blood of Jesus, to rescue you from your old ways of life; so conduct yourselves in fear so you do not go back to your old life."

What Peter specifically stresses in verses 18 and 19 is the great value and eternal durability of the ransom paid for God's people. He says that gold and silver are "perishable"—they are not durable, they don't last. But the blood of Jesus is "precious"—it's infinitely valuable.

And the point in connection with verse 17 is: in proportion to the preciousness and the permanence of the ransom we should all the more conduct ourselves with fear. You'd think it would be just the other way around: The more precious and permanent the ransom paid on our behalf, the less we need to fear.

Yes! Yes! And that is gloriously true in one sense: "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies! Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died [who paid the infinitely precious and permanent ransom!]" (Romans 8:33–34).

But Peter really says, "Fear God if you conduct yourself as though the ransom were not precious". That's exactly what he means. Because he says in verse 18 that the design of the ransom—the redemption—is to rescue you from your futile way of life.

Do you see that? Verse 18: "You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life . . . but by the precious blood of Christ." The purpose and design of the ransom in this verse is not forgiveness but transformation.

The overall purpose in this verse is victory over the power of sin in your everyday life, not forgiveness from the guilt of sin (as true as that is). The reason Jesus shed his infinitely precious blood was to change our conduct.

Titus 2:14 says, “who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

So when Peter says, "Conduct yourselves in fear, knowing that you were ransomed from bad conduct by the blood of Jesus," he means, fear conducting yourself in way that shows that the blood of Jesus is not precious to you.

Illustration: There is a book by Michael Lewis entitled The Blind Side. It is a true story based in Memphis. The central character is a black athlete named Michael Oher. Oher now plays left tackle for the University of Mississippi and is a pre-season All American and predicted to be a great professional football player.

Michael Oher grew up in the 3rd poorest zip code in America, a ghetto area in Memphis. His father was killed in a crime related situation. His mother was a drug addict and non-factor in his life. Oher basically grew up carrying a garbage bag of his stuff from one friend’s house to another for years. He was parentless and homeless and he was also huge. By the time he was 15 he was 6’5” and weighed 350 pounds.

To make a long story short, Oher was discovered by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, a wealthy white family in Memphis, who took him into their home and practically adopted him. He attended the same exclusive private school that the Tuohy’s daughter and son attended.

Oher was a giant of a man but afraid of everything. He never raised his head and looked anyone in the eye. He never answered a question or spoke to anyone. It was as if he tried to live an invisible life so that he wouldn’t be any trouble to anyone and he’d therefore have a place to sleep overnight.

But the Tuohy’s reached out to him, provided him a home, clothes, food, tutoring and involvement in sports. They then witnessed a transformation. This almost non-person began to receive the love of a family. He began to get an education for the first time. After playing one year of football he was identified by college scouts as the best high school lineman in the nation.

He went from invisible non-person who would neither raise his head nor speak to claiming to be a son of a wealthy white family. The same thing happens in you and me when we come to Christ. But Michael always remembered how he grew up and he always lived with a certain amount of fear, because he remembered how valuable the love of his adoptive parents was and that without that he would be back on the street.

Do you think he would dare to live in such away that would make his adopted parents ashamed of him? No, of course not! And that is also the message that Peter has for us tonight. How you live becomes a testimony of how you think about the gift of salvation that God has given you.

We have no business even thinking about approaching God. We are sinful, broken, ugly people. But in His generosity, Jesus reached out to us and He has so saved us that He has made us sons and daughters of the God of the universe. Therefore, we confidently and yet with fear come into the presence of God as family remembering its value.

If your heart is filled with assurance as you meditate on the preciousness of the ransom Jesus paid with his blood, great! God wants you to filled with assurance. But always remember the value of that assurance by being a living example that proves you think the blood of Jesus is very precious.

Let me put it finally in a systematic way: God's purpose in shedding the blood of Jesus is our justification and our sanctification. He provided our pardon and our purity. They cannot be separated (Peter stresses the purity in verse 18).

Therefore, if we do not fight sin with all the strength in us, it seems as though the preciousness and the permanence of the blood of Jesus are not able to hold us back from sin. If we do not remember that the purpose of God’s gift is so that we are transformed, then we should fear.

Because if our lives stay full of sin and therefore show the world the powerlessness of the blood of Jesus, then Jesus is not really our hope and joy. And we do not belong to him. And that is a fearful prospect.

The sum of the matter is this; hope in the grace of God! And when you are not hoping in the grace of God you have reason to fear! Fear a behavior that would show the world that you have forgotten the preciousness of the love of Jesus. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?living-in-fear http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000018E imblog

1 Peter 1:13-16

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

For twelve verses Peter gave no commands and no admonitions and no exhortations. He just celebrated and blessed the God who elects and regenerates and refines and preserves. Then in verse 13 we see the first commandment of the Christian life: "Hope fully in the grace of God." Keep yourself mentally fit and morally sober to fight the fight of hope. So hope is the first thing we need to do.

Let me give you a literal rendering of this verse so you can see more clearly the relationship between the words. Peter says, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind"—it's an image of a person wearing flowing garments tucking the garments into his belt so that he can run and move about freely and quickly without tripping over his clothes.

And the part of you that is to be freed by this girding up is your mind—"the loins of your mind." Do not think about worldly things, do not think about making money or buying a new house or a new car.

Then he goes on: "And being sober"—it's image of not being drunk when it comes to spiritual things. It implies alertness, and evaluating things correctly, because you see clearly, and your mind isn't numb with intoxicating worldly influences.

Then comes the main verb, and for the first time in this letter it's an imperative. It's a command: "Hope fully." Or: "Fix your hope completely." So the first command in this letter is an action you do with your mind and your heart. It's a command to hope. Hope is not an action of the body. It is an experience of the soul. Peter is commanding us to experience hope.

And then we see the second command: be holy (vv. 15, 16). Now we have two commands: Be hopeful in the grace of God; and be holy like the holiness of God. You can see that both of these commands call for a thorough orientation of life on God. Be a hope-filled person, and let the hope that you are filled with be hope in God. Be a holy person, and let the holiness that you have be like the holiness of God.

So when you are hoping, you are God-centered, and when you are holy, you are God-centered. The grace of God is the source of your hope and the holiness of God is the standard of your holiness.

Sometimes when we wrestle with biblical realities like holiness and hope, we miss the forest for the trees. The forest is this: Christian living is living permeated by God, at all times everyday, God as motive, God as guide, God as moral standard, God as comfort, God as strength, God as truth and God as joy.

What emerges from 1 Peter and the whole New Testament is that the Christian life is a life lived in God, ever aware of God, ever submitted to God, ever trusting God, ever guided by God and ever hoping in God.

What amazes me again and again today and what defines my life and ministry is that when I look into contemporary American cultural life, the most stunning and frightening reality is that people look to God as insignificant.

And when I look into the New Testament, the most stunning and frightening thing is that that is exactly the opposite, where God is everything. 1 Corinthians 3:7 says, “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”

Sometimes in a season of weakness I am so numbed by the insignificance of God in contemporary life that I don't feel the magnitude of the evil and the danger I am a part of. Then God speaks me in some pointed way as He did so recently. I was reading in bed about the prophet Hosea and came to these words (8:14): "Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built palaces."

Sometimes I might just read right over that, but not on that day. God spoke powerfully to me. And I laid down the Bible and closed my eyes and felt again the call on my life: Tell Christians to remember their Maker; and warn them about their palaces. Preach it on Sunday; teach it on Friday; and live it before your family and church elders and deacons.

The main thing to think about and feel about and act about in the world is God. Being caught up with anything more than God is idolatry. And that's where my heart was when I read these verses. Verse 16: "You shall be holy for I am holy." Verse 15: "Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct."

God is the standard of holiness. Now what does that mean? Holiness has the root idea in the Old Testament (quoted here) of being separated from what is defective and evil and separated for God. So the Sabbath is holy to the Lord: separated from the pursuits of other days and dedicated to the Lord (Exodus 31:15).

Priests are holy to the Lord, set apart from ordinary pursuits and dedicated in a special way to the Lord, 2 Chronicles 23:6 says, “But let no one come into the house of the LORD except the priests and those of the Levites who serve. They may go in, for they are holy.”

When you apply that definition of holiness to God himself, something interesting happens. God is holy in that He is set apart from all that is evil and defective and impure. That's the first half of the definition. He has no taint of evil or deficiency.

But the other half of the definition is that God's holiness is his set-apartness for God. Now we have to be careful here lest we wipe out all the biblical distinctions between the holiness of God and the glory of God and the righteousness of God.

Let me try to give a simplified picture of the relationship between these three for you to test as you read the Scriptures. The holiness of God is the most fundamental reality of all. It refers to the reality that God is utterly unique and in a class by himself—that's his set-apartness—none compares with him.

There is no other Creator, no other sustainer, no other final measure of good and evil. "There is no one holy like the Lord, indeed, there is no one besides thee, nor is there any rock like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2).

He is set apart in a class by himself, unequaled, unrivaled, totally underived, absolute in his being and perfection, without beginning or ending or improvement. In a word his holiness is the supremacy of his infinite worth among all that is.

The glory of God is the radiance or the outward expression of that perfection and value. For example using the sun, that light is its glory and fire is its holiness. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3).

And the righteousness of God is his faithfulness or commitment to act always in accord with the beauty of his glory and the value of his holiness. His righteousness is his allegiance to uphold and magnify the glory and the holiness of himself (cf. Psalm 143:11). If God were ever to act as if his glory were not important in the universe, he would be unrighteous. His action would be untrue.

So how should God's holiness impact our lives? The New Testament tells us as believers in Jesus to build our lives on the righteousness of God and the glory of God. But in this context Peter focuses on the holiness of God. How do we live like that?

Peter quotes God in verse 16, "Be holy, for I am holy." Does that mean to be totally unique in the universe the way God is? Of course not! What then? The key is found in comparing verse 14 and verse 15. Verse 14 tells us what the opposite of being holy is in contrast to the command to be holy in verse 15.

Verse 14,15: "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior." So how does God brings his holiness to expression in the lives of believers?

1. We see things with a new understanding.

After we are called and made children of God we no longer see things in ignorance the way we once did. We see things differently. Verse 14: "not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance."

Now that we are called, born of God and children of God, we are not blinded by what Paul calls "deceitful desires." They don't deceive any more. We see through them. We are not foolish anymore like a little child that takes a nickel instead of a dime because it's bigger.

How often do we desire more of these worldly treasures because for that time they looked more valuable? Only when we understand that God’s treasure is not only a few times more valuable, but a million times more valuable, do we lose that desire that leads us astray.

Now we know better. What do we know better? Mainly God. We know the holiness of God. We know that human reality is vastly inferior to God in value. We learn more and more about our lust and God’s holiness.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, “It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.”

Once we were blind to the value of God. We turned away from the fountain of life and tried to construct cisterns for ourselves that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2:13). Now, by God's Spirit, that foolishness and ignorance is gone, and we are beginning to assess things for what they really are. Now we see that the holiness of God is the supreme value in the universe.

2. We Put Away Old Desires and Experience New Ones

Replacing our former ignorance with the truth about God leads to putting away old desires and experiencing new ones. Verse 14: "not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance."

When we did not know God, we had deceitful desires. But now Peter calls them "former" desires. They are fading into the past. As much as we might have to fight them back with truth, they are not the defining power in our lives anymore. They are "former." They are not us now.

And this is where we live our daily lives continually, fighting back those old desires that used to control our lives. This is where we need the power of hope where we hope fully on God’s grace in our struggle to overcome our former lusts.

And this is where being sober is really needed, it's image of not being drunk when it comes to spiritual things. It implies alertness, and evaluating things correctly in your life, because you see clearly now these intoxicating influences and with God’s help you can overcome these.

Let me give you a few pitfalls that you will encounter and the protection that God provides for you in your journey.

PITFALL: Falling in love with the present world.

PROTECTION: Remember the deadly influence of world-love and ponder the never-ending delights of the fountain spring of God’s approval, fellowship and beauty.

PITFALL: Ignoring sin and not caring that this offends God’s holiness.

PROTECTION: Meditate on the Biblical truth that all that we do are acts toward God and not just toward man, and that God hates sin and that the holiness of God is the most important part of His character.

PITFALL: A sense of immunity from accountability and authority.

PROTECTION: Submit yourself to a few Biblically minded, spiritually wise advisers that are given the right to hold you accountable.

PITFALL: Succumbing to itching ears as love of truth evaporates.

PROTECTION: Develop a love for truth, even in its smallest details, and turn a deaf ear to the desires of men to have their ears scratched with the morality of this world.

PITFALL: A vanishing attention to Scripture.

PROTECTION: Give yourself untiringly to the study, meditation and memorization of Holy Scripture and then act accordingly to all that.

PITFALL: A growing disregard for the spiritual good of other Christians.

PROTECTION: Labor in praying and stir up your heart to love all people.

PITFALL: Disregard for the Biblical mystery of marriage.

PROTECTION: Remind yourself repeatedly that your marriage is a living ongoing video of Christ’s relationship to His church.

PITFALL: Compartmentalizing of the Christian’s life.

PROTECTION: View everything, and absolutely everything, as a woven together tapestry related to the value of the glory of God.

PITFALL: Feeling above the necessity of suffering and self-denial.

PROTECTION: Never forget the promise of Acts 14:22, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God". And never forget what it says in Luke 9:58, that the Son of Man had no place to lay his head. And develop a Biblical theology of futility and suffering, especially from Romans 8:17-30.

PITFALL: Giving in to self-pity under the pressures and loneliness of being a Christian in a godless world.

PROTECTION: Embrace the essence of the doctrine from Mark 10:29-30, “I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.

So I exhort you together with the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:14-15, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior."

]]> Sun, 14 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?lust-versus-holiness http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000018F imblog

1 Peter 1:10-12

Often times we live and take many things for granted. Just living in a house and being able to buy food seemed to be something that everyone should have until an earthquake suddenly strikes and takes all that away. Isn’t it true that we don’t know what we have until it is gone.

Especially living here in the US where we have so much makes us callous about many things. And among church goers too we live as if salvation is just something that is there and not that terribly important. Most of us live our daily lives not thinking very much about salvation.

But the apostle Peter here wants to remind us again of how great and wonderful our salvation really is. How valuable the Word of God is in explaining the promises of God regarding our salvation and having the Holy Spirit reside in us. Let us read what he tells us in 1 Peter 1:10-12.

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”

Jesus said to his disciples once in Matthew 13:16-17, "Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Not even the most faithful and most righteous saints of the Old Testament were given the insights that the apostles and every believer since have been given the privilege of having. Yes that means you and me know much more than the prophets of old.

1 Corinthians 2:9-16, “However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.”

So every Christian who searches God’s Word and relies on the Holy Spirit within him is promised divine illumination. As Christians we not only have God’s completed revelation in Scripture but the very author of that Scripture living inside of our hearts, to explain and interpret and apply these truths.

In other words, to experience something that great and wise and holy that people in those days longed to experience but couldn't, should make us feel blessed and thankful. That's the same logic we have in our text this evening, 1 Peter 1:10-12.

Peter wants us to feel more gratitude and wonder for our salvation because the prophets of God and even the angels of heaven longed to see what we have now experienced through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Verses 10-11, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” In other words, the prophets themselves were searching and longing and desiring to see what they were being moved to predict the grace of salvation.

It was revealed to them in verse 10 that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.

Angels are different beings from us and God also is treating them different from us. Once they were given a choice before we were created and those who are angels now did not sin and are forever with God and us in heaven. So salvation and the process by which we are saved is a foreign process for them. And not just prophets, but angels themselves longed to see this salvation.

So the main point of this paragraph is that we should be amazed at the greatness of our salvation and that this greatness is shown by the fact that prophets of God and angels of heaven long to look into it.

So let me say a word about the idea of salvation and then look very briefly at five reasons that show the greatness [or value] of our salvation and the gratitude we should have for it. A question we should ask first is, "Do I need to be saved?" The question is not, "Do we think we need to be saved?"

You can need to be saved and not know it. For example, if a jet taking off from the airport were losing altitude and heading straight for this sanctuary right now, you would need to be saved; but you wouldn't know it unless someone came running in here and shouted what was happening.

So you can see that feeling safe is no proof that you are safe. You may desperately need salvation and not feel in any danger at all. So we ask again, "Do we need to be saved?" Is there a future life and joy that we are about to throw away if we are not saved?

Let's let Peter have his say from this letter and you judge about your own need. And may the Spirit of God help you to be honest. What Do We Need to Be Saved from?

In 1 Peter 2:24 he says, "[Christ] Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." We need to be saved from our sins because they are like a terminal disease that will kill us for ever. Christ's wounds can heal that disease.

In 1 Peter 3:18 he says, "Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God." Our sins separate us from God. So Christ died for our sins to bring us back to God.

In 1 Peter 4:17 he says, "It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?" Sin is also terminal guilt that deserves judgment. The gospel is the good news that Christ bears the judgment of all who trust him.

In 1 Peter 5:8 Peter says, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." In other words, you need to be saved from the devil who is a liar and a murderer and is trying to destroy as many human beings as he can so that he is not alone in hell.

He is a lion, which means he is far more powerful than you or I. So we need salvation from him. The Bible says that the Son of God came into the world to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). And Peter says resist him in our faith.

So Peter's answer is, we need to be saved from disease and guilt of sin, from the judgment of God, and from the destruction of the devil. The question you need to answer now is: Are you in danger? Is Peter telling the truth? Do you need to be saved?

In 1 Peter 2:25 Peter says, "You were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." Salvation means being brought home to a loving Shepherd who will lead us in green pastures and by still waters.

Then in 1 Peter 5:4 he says, "When [this] Chief Shepherd appears [at his second coming], you will receive the unfading crown of glory." This is the "unfading" inheritance of verse 1:4. So we are saved for an inheritance of glory. No more shame, but honor. No more humiliation but the revelation of the glory of the children of God.

1 Peter 5:10 says that: "The God of all grace, has called you to His eternal glory in Christ." We are saved to share in the glory of Christ. And the result of this will, of course, be everlasting joy. "To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation (1 Peter 4:13).”

The word of God this evening—not the word of the newspaper editorialists, not the word of the television, not the word of public schools, not the word of state universities—but the word of the apostle Peter, speaking on behalf of Jesus Christ the Son of God, who expresses the very mind of God is: We do need to be saved.

We need to be saved from our sin and Satan and judgment. And we are saved for: a personal relationship with Christ the Shepherd of our soul, a participation in the eternal glory of God, and a joy and exultation as eternal as His glory.

So in verse 10 when Peter says, "Concerning this salvation . . ." we now have some idea of what he's talking about. His aim in verses 10-12 is to intensify our gratitude and fill us with joy and worship for the infinite value of this great salvation.

He does this by telling us five amazing things about our salvation—things that we may have never thought of before. I will briefly mention them and pray they will stick in your heart and bear the fruit of faith and thanksgiving.

1. Peter points out the amazing fact that Christ himself—the Spirit of Christ—hundreds of years before his own death and resurrection, was predicting his own death and resurrection. Look at the middle of verse 11: "The Spirit of Christ within [the prophets] . . . predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." Christ predicted the sufferings of Christ.

Which means that Christ, the Son of God in heaven, has been contemplating his suffering and his death for us for centuries. Indeed as far back as the plan of salvation reaches in the mind of God, so far back has Christ been willing and ready to give himself for our sins. You were not loved for just a bloody moment of sacrifice in history. You have been loved for endless ages in the eternal plan of the Father and the Son to save sinners who trust in him.

2. Peter highlights the worth of our salvation by telling us how the prophets longed to be a part of it. Verse 11: "The prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time [Christ was indicating]."

Christ came to Isaiah seven hundred years before the incarnation and said in Isaiah 53:5-6, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

When the Spirit of Christ told Isaiah to write He said in Isaiah 6:11, “Then Isaiah said, “Lord, how long?” That searching and inquiring and longing is an echo of the indescribable worth of our salvation in the hearts of the holy men of old.

3. The Lord's answer is given in verse 12: "It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you." The Spirit of Christ said to Isaiah, "Be patient, you're not serving yourself or even merely your own generation. You are serving saints hundreds of years from now. They will see in your prophecy of me the proof that I am who I say I am. And its truth will make its infinite value unshakable in their lives. You will not have lived in vain."

4. The next thing Peter says to highlight the value of our salvation is that angels love to look into it. Verse 12 at the end says, "Things into which angels long to look." It means they want to because in a sense they are outsiders to the drama of sin and redemption since they never sinned and they love to watch the great work of God's salvation unfold in history and in the lives of the saints.

Peter's point is this: if angels get excited about our salvation, how much more should we who are the very beneficiaries of that salvation (not just onlookers) love to look into it and be thankful for it and say with Peter, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . ."

5. Finally, Peter highlights the value of our salvation by telling us in verse 12 that the Holy Spirit himself sent from heaven has brought us the news of our salvation through the gospel. "These things . . . now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven."

This is what is happening right now. I am preaching to you the gospel—the good news that Christ came into the world to save sinners, with a salvation of tremendous value—far more valuable than anything else you own or know.

But it is not just me that is calling your attention to the worth of Christ and of salvation; it is the Holy Spirit sent from heaven speaking through me. And my prayer is that you will open yourself to believe and to experience an ever-growing gratitude for such a great salvation. Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?what-prophets-searched-for-and-angels-desired http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000190 imblog

1 Peter 1:8-9

“8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

The question I want to start with is this: why does Peter tell the Christians what they are experiencing? He tells them: "You are loving Christ; you are believing in Christ; you are rejoicing in Christ with inexpressible and glorified joy; all of that even though you do not now see him." Why? Why tell them what their own experience is?

The reason is that he wants to describe for them what true Christianity really is. And to do it in such a way that, if they ever drift away from it, they will have a fixed standard to show them what's happening, so they can wake up and return to what they've lost.

I picture it like this (it's not a perfect picture, but it helped me get a handle on why Peter would tell them about their own experience): true Christianity is like swimming upstream in a river of godlessness and for us, secular American and Indonesian godlessness.

We swim with movements of love to Christ, and movements of faith in Christ, and the movements of joy in Christ. And while we swim, we do not get swept away with the godless toward the terrible waterfalls of judgment down river.

God keeps us, as verse 5 said, through faith. He enables us to keep on swimming against the stream with the strokes of faith, love, and joy, so that we don't get carried away in the heavy current of Christlessness in our society.

Our swimming coach, the apostle Peter, is on the shore watching us and following us. When we are swimming well, he calls out to us, "Look here, you're doing well, I'm planting a flag here in the same position with where you are in the river. Now mark this. This is where you are." That's what he's doing with us in verses 8 and 9.

The reason is so that if we stop using the swimming strokes of love for Jesus, and faith in Jesus, and joy in Jesus, and begin to just float downstream in the river of godlessness, we will be able to wake up and notice and realize that the flag is upstream. We will have a fixed point of reference to call us back to what real Christianity is.

So that's what I want to do this evening. Peter did it for the Christians then, and I am going to try to do it with his words for you now—to plant a flag on the side of the river of American godlessness and call you to look at it to see where you are in your Christian swimming.

Peter says five things (in verses 8–9) about these Christians: 1) they love Christ; 2) they believe in Christ; 3) they rejoice in Christ; 4) through all this they are receiving the salvation of their souls; and 5) they are experiencing this even though, like us, without ever seeing Christ in person.

This is true Christianity: God is saving our souls by working in our hearts a love and confidence and a joy that is against the stream of godlessness and worldliness in our society. In other words, Christianity is first and foremost a matter of the heart (love, trust, and joy), not a matter of external performances.

Let's see if we can understand these three experiences and see how they relate and whether we are in fact experiencing them or not. What do we really mean when we speak of loving Christ and trusting Christ and enjoying Christ? Let us start with three definitions:

1. Loving Christ. Loving Christ means regarding Christ as extremely valuable based on His character and virtue (cf. 2:7). 2. Trusting Christ. Trusting Christ means believing that Christ is reliable in all his promises and all his counsel. In other words: Love is being attracted to Christ for who He is. Faith is trusting Christ for what He will do.

3. Enjoying Christ. Now what about joy? Peter says (v. 8), "We are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” The more I consider biblical texts (like Philippians 1:25 and Romans 15:13 and 2 Corinthians 1:24), the more we should conceive of joy as being united to love and faith.

Joy in Christ represents the good feelings of loving him and believing him. It's the echo in our hearts of experiencing Christ as precious and reliable. It's the deep feelings of being attracted to Him for who He is and of being confident in Him for what He will do.

So joy is part of love and part of faith. Because it would be a contradiction to say, "I am attracted to the fact that Christ is preciousness, but I have no good feelings in this attraction." What is attraction without good feelings for something?

There may be also some fear in the attraction (as if going to a scary movie) but if there were no deep good feelings in it, it would not be experienced as an attraction, but only as a rejection.

It is the same with faith: it would be a contradiction to say, "I am confidently trusting in what Christ will do for me, but I have no good feelings in this confidence." What is confidence without good feelings of hope and assurance in the One you trust?

There may be some expectation of pain and suffering on the way, but if there were no deep good feeling that it's going to turn out well, it would not be called trust or confidence.

So this holy joy that Peter refers to in verse 8 is a component part of love and faith, and together they make up true Christianity. This goes a long way to explaining why Peter calls this joy "inexpressible and full of glory [or glorified]."

Do you know that joy has a quality? I don't mean merely its intensity, but a moral character. Is it possible to have joy that is ugly or beautiful, depraved or noble, dirty or clean? The answer is yes: what we enjoy gives joy its character.

If you enjoy dirty jokes and foul language and lewd pictures, then your heart is dirty and your joy is also dirty. If you enjoy cruelty and arrogance and revenge, then your heart and your joy also have that character. Or the more you get your joy simply from material things, the more your heart and your joy shrivel up like a mere material thing.

Peter says (in v. 8) that Christian joy is inexpressible and glorified. So how does it become that like that? It becomes like that because Christian joy is the joy of craving the preciousness of Jesus and the reliability of Jesus. And what we enjoy gives joy its character.

Christians desire to be with Christ and they are learning to become like Christ. And Christ has in him all the glory of the universe and of God, and so our joy in Him is a glorified joy. That is a joy that continues to grow the more we are attracted by His preciousness and as we are confident in His faithfulness.

We develop a joy for what we crave and what Christians should crave for above all else is the glory of Christ. So our joy will become "inexpressible and glorified" because it is a joy in loving Christ and trusting Christ.

But how do you love Him and believe in Him, if you can't see him? The answer to that question is that even though we don't see him face to face with our physical eyes, we do see him in another way that is even more valuable.

For example, in Romans 15:20–21, Paul described his mission to unreached peoples (who could never see Christ physically) like this: "I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named . . . but as it is written, 'They who had no news of him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand.'"

In the preaching of the gospel Christ can be seen in a way that is more important than seeing him physically. Hundreds of people in Jesus' lifetime saw him physically and never really saw him.

"Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand," Jesus said in Matthew 13:13. There is a seeing that is infinitely more important than seeing with the eyes.

In 2 Corinthians 4:6 Paul describes it like this: "The God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

There is a spiritual seeing in the heart of the glory of God in the face of Christ, and without it no one is saved. Michael Card expressed the paradox of seeing yet not seeing in one of his songs like this: “To hear with my heart, to see with my soul, to be guided by a hand I cannot hold, to trust in a way that I cannot see, that's what faith must be.”

How does it happen? How is this kind of seeing happen? It happens through the Word of God. When the gospel of Christ is preached, we can see Christ more clearly for who he really is than many could see in Christ’ own lifetime.

If you read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, with openness to Christ, you can see the true glory of Christ far more clearly than most of the people who knew him on earth could see him, like Nicodemus, the Syrophoenician woman, the Centurion, the widow of Nain, Zacchaeus, the thief on the cross and the thronging crowds.

They saw a brief glimpse here and a portion of a speech there. But in the gospels you get four complementary portraits of Christ inspired by God and covering the whole range of his teaching and his ministry. The gospels are better than being there.

You are taken into the inner circle of the apostles where you never could have gone. You go with Him through Gethsemane and the trial and the crucifixion and the resurrection and the meetings after His resurrection.

You hear whole sermons and long discourses—not in isolated snatches on hillsides but in rich God- inspired contexts that take you deeper than you ever could have gone as a perplexed peasant in Galilee at that time.

You see the whole range of his character and power which nobody saw as fully then as you can now see in the gospels. You see his freedom from anxiety with no place to lay his head, his courage in the face of opposition, his unanswerable wisdom, his honoring women and his tenderness with children.

You see his compassion toward lepers, his meekness in suffering, his patience with Peter, his tears over Jerusalem, his blessing those who cursed him, his heart for the nations, his love for the glory of God, his simplicity and devotion, his power to still storms and heal the sick and multiply bread and cast out demons.

Though you do not now see him, yet in another sense you do see him far better than thousands who saw him face to face. You see the glory of God shining in Jesus' face at every turn in the gospels. And because you see him now with the eyes of the heart, you can love him and trust him and rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. This is true Christianity.

Recently I saw on my computer pastor Dieter Zander speak at a conference about reaching people in the age of relativism. He cited a Barna study that asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, "wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious and humble."

Then he asked them to use single words to describe Christians, they said, "critical, exclusive, self righteous, narrow and repressive." There is a difference between knowing the good news and being the good news, Zander said, "We are the evidence! How we live our lives are the evidence we are Christ followers. Everything counts--all the time."

The famous preacher D.L. Moody told about a Christian woman who was always bright, cheerful, and optimistic, even though she was confined to her room because of illness. She lived in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of an old, rundown building. A friend decided to visit her one day and brought along another woman -- a person of great wealth.

Since there was no elevator, the two ladies began the long climb upward. When they reached the second floor, the well-to-do woman commented, "What a dark and filthy place" Her friend replied, "It’s better higher up." When they arrived at the third landing, the remark was made, "Things look even worse here." Again the reply, "It’s better higher up." The two women finally reached the attic level, where they found the bedridden saint.

A smile on her face radiated the joy that filled her heart. Although the room was clean and flowers were on the window sill, the wealthy visitor could not get over the stark surroundings in which this woman lived. She blurted out, "It must be very difficult for you to be here like this" Without a moment’s hesitation the shut-in responded, "It’s better higher up." She was not looking at temporal things. With the eye of faith fixed on the eternal, she had found the secret of true contentment.

That is the flag waving on the side of the river of godlessness. I pray that if you are looking at it this evening to prevent you from floating comfortably downstream toward destruction. I pray that God will wake you up and open the eyes of your heart and set you to stroking—not with legal works to earn anything from God, but with the stroke of love and faith and joy. That is true Christianity.

God is speaking to you right now and asking you to examine your heart. Do you really have that love for God and your fellow man? Do you really have that faith that takes away fear and gives you courage to become a doer of God’s Word? And do you really have that joy under all circumstances because you know that you are a child of God?

Let us tonight remember again how we arrived here and now at this point. Let us worship Him who sacrificed Himself for our sins so it is possible for God to cause us to be born again and make us His children. Let us celebrate the Lord’s Supper tonight.

]]> Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?joy-in-the-invisible-christ http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000191 imblog

1 Peter 1:6-7

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Christianity is a life of painful joy. The Old Testament commands us to delight ourselves in the Lord (Psalm 37:4) and to serve the Lord with gladness (Psalm 100:2) and to rejoice before the Lord our God in all our undertakings (Deuteronomy 12:18).

Jesus commands us, "Rejoice and leap for joy for your reward is great in heaven" (Luke 6:23), and he tells us, "These things I have spoken to you that my joy might be in you and your joy might be full" (John 15:11).

The apostle Paul commands us, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). He says that he is a worker with us for our joy (2 Corinthians 1:24) and that he lives for the advancement and joy of our faith (Philippians 1:25), and in 2 Corinthians 9:7 it says that God loves a cheerful giver.

He tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is joy (Galatians 5:22). And so it is with the other writers of Scripture. The message is: Christianity is a life of tremendous and abiding joy. Now Peter picks up this great theme in verse 6 and shows us two great reasons for joy, and in the process, why it is painful joy.

1. The Promise of a Great Future. Let me just remind you of the first reason since that's what Peter does at the beginning of verse 6. He says, "In this you greatly rejoice." The word "this" refers to the first reason for great joy. It refers back to what we've seen in verses 3–5.

Verse 3: God caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection from the dead. Verse 4: God is keeping an inheritance for us in heaven that can't perish or soil or fade. Verse 5: God is keeping us for that inheritance.

There's an inheritance and believers are the inheritors. And the first basis of our joy is that God is keeping both: He is keeping the inheritance perfect for us; and He is keeping us in faith so that we will in fact not make shipwreck of our faith and lose the inheritance.

So in verse 6 Peter says, "In this you rejoice." The first reason for our joy is the great future God promises us and his unswerving commitment to keep it for us and us for it. In other words, our joy is based on the happiness of our future with God and the certainty that we will make it there.

Christian joy is almost synonymous with Christian hope. That's why Peter says in verse 3 that we were born again into a living hope; then verses 4 and 5 describe the content of that hope; and then verse 6 begins, "in this you rejoice." In this you have living, vital, life-changing hope; and in this you rejoice. Our hope is our joy.

2. A Design for Our Troubles. The second reason is that God has a design for our distresses in this life. This is what verses 6 and 7 are about—God's design for our distress.

These troubles themselves have a part in getting us ready to enjoy the inheritance to the fullest possible measure. We don't just look beyond these difficult times to the sure hope; we look at God's design in these struggles and see how God is working these misfortunes together for our good.

Let's look at this design in verses 6 and 7. First, where do I get the idea that our disasters are designed by God for our good? I get it from the phrase "if necessary" in verse 6 and the word "so that" in the beginning of verse 7.

Verse 6 says, "In this you rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials." What kind of necessity is this? Who or what is making the distress of these trials "necessary"?

The answer is God. Peter makes it plain that Christian distress only happens if God wills it. For example, in 1 Peter 3:17 he says, "For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil."

You might suffer for doing what is right; you might not. The ultimate choice is God's. "If that should be God’s will," means maybe we will or maybe we won't. Or again in 1 Peter 4:19 he says, "Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."

In other words, Peter is teaching that the sovereign will of God governs all the distresses that happen to us and, therefore the design in them is not ultimately the design of evil men or the design of Satan (which are real enough!), but is a design of God.

So when Peter says in verse 6, "If necessary, you have been distressed by various trials," he means, "If God deems it necessary." But why would God do that? This leads us to the word "that" or "so that" in the beginning of verse 7.

This gives the reason why God would deem it necessary that we be distressed by various trials: "that [or so that] the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

What this verse does is spell out the design of our troubles. His design is that our problems would refine our faith the way fire refines gold so that when Christ comes back, the quality of our faith would win praise and glory and honor.

Then does God will our suffering and distress? Now I know that this raises a painful and troubling question. We are not playing games here. We are talking about the realty of your life and my life this very day.

Does God will the break up of your marriage? Does God will your cancer, your homosexual orientation, the rebellion of your child, the loss of your job, the threatening chaos in Haiti and Afganistan and Somalia?

I will give you my answer, which I believe to be the biblical one, based on texts like 1 Peter 3:17 and 4:19. The answer is No, God does not will it, and Yes, he does. No, in the sense that he does not delight in pain for its own sake; He does not command sin or approve of sinning.

But Yes, He does will that these things be, in the sense that He could prevent any of those things but sometimes does not, but rather guides them, because of His designs are higher than the destructiveness of sin or the deceitfulness of Satan or the painfulness of suffering.

When Christians suffer for doing right, sin is happening to them. But 1 Peter 3:17 says that sometimes God wills that this happen. He does not endorse or approve sinning, but He can and does will that sinful acts come about for His own holy designs.

When Christ was murdered on the cross, it was also sin, but God willed that it happen: "It was the will of the Lord to bruise him" (Isaiah 53:10). And by that will we are saved.

There are five elements of God's design in our troubles. Now in this divine design in our difficulties, we must learn what these elements are. Because knowing this is the means we can have joy even in and through our problems.

1. Various Trials. In God's design, our distresses are made up of various trials. Verse 6b: "if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials." The point is that the variety of ways that we experience distress is great and is related to our condition.

So in God's design it is "necessary," He says, to use a wide range of trials. There is not just one kind of trial in view here. God paints with many colors, there are many dark and many bright. And in the end the canvas of your life will be glorious, if you entrust your soul to your faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19).

2. Brief troubles. In God's viewpoint, all my distresses are brief. Verse 6 again, "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials."

Brief is very relative, isn't it? If you say, "He can hold his breath a long time," you mean two or three minutes. That's long for breath-holding. But if you say, "He's been working at this company for a long time," you mean perhaps 15 or 20 years.

So it is with the phrase "little while" in this verse. Compared to others and compared to a lifetime on earth, your distresses may last a long time not a little. But compared to eternity, compared to the inheritance imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you, they are only for a little time.

Peter shares James' perspective on this life: "You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14). Compared to the length and greatness of the future God has planned for you, all the distresses of this life are very little in deed (cf. 5:10).

3. Grievous Trials. In God's design, our trials are grievous. They are distresses. The word in verse 6 ("you have been distressed by various trials") means grieved, sorrowed. It's not double-talk when Peter says, "In this you are rejoicing, though now for a little while in this life you are grieved."

You are rejoicing though you are grieved. We know this is not a mistake, because Paul said he experienced this very thing. In 2 Corinthians 6:10 he says he lives "as sorrowful [same word] yet always rejoicing."

In God's design for our trials there is a place for real, authentic grieving and distress. But this experience is fundamentally altered from the way the world experiences these things. We know there is a Godly design in it all. Unbelievers always blame ‘mother nature.’

And so our root stays planted even though the branches thrash in the wind. And the leaves remain green and the fruit keeps growing because our roots go down by the stream of God's sovereign grace, and we trust him for a good design.

4. Like Refining Fire. In God's design, our distresses are like the fire that refines gold from its impurities. Verse 7: "that the proof [or genuineness] of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Near Cripple Creek, Colorado, gold and tellurium occur mixed as tellurite ore. The refining methods of the early mining camps could not separate the two elements, so the ore was thrown into a scrap heap.

One day a miner mistook a lump of ore for coal and tossed it into his stove. Later, while removing ashes from the stove, he found the bottom littered with beads of pure gold. The heat had burned away the tellurium, leaving the gold in a purified state.

When gold is melted in the fire the impurities can be removed. When the refining fire is over, the gold is even more valuable. So it is with your faith in God. You’ll have stronger faith and you will trust His promises.

We all still have many impurities. There are elements of murmuring and pessimism (I speak from painful experience). And there are tendencies to trust money and position and popularity alongside God, dirt mingled with the gold of faith.

These impurities in our faith hinder our fullest experience of the goodness and greatness of God. So God designs to refine our faith with the fires of trial and distress. His aim is that our faith be more pure and more genuine. That is, that it be more utterly dependent on Him and not on things and other persons for our joy.

One of the best illustrations of how this works comes from the experience the apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 1:8–9 Paul described this very refining design of God in his distress.

"We do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life [that's the fire]; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead [that's the gold]."

God took away from Paul an ordinary prop of safety and let him feel an almost overwhelming sense of human abandonment. This was the fire of 1 Peter 1:7. Not because God didn't love Paul, but because God saw Paul's faith as gold worthy of refining.

5. Our Faith Receiving Praise, Glory, and Honor. Finally, in God's design, the result of this refining is that our faith will receive praise and honor and glory. Verse 7: "that the proof of your faith . . . may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

When Jesus appears in glory, two things are going to happen. His glory will be magnificently reflected in the mirror of our faith. He will be the trusted one and the hoped-for one and the rejoiced-in one. And the more refined the gold of our faith, the more clearly his worth will be reflected.

But since God exalts those who exalt Him, He will give praise and honor and glory to our faith. He will say in Matthew 25:21, "Well done, good and faithful servant." He will give us (as Peter says in 5:4) "the unfading crown of glory."

And we will finally realize that the design of God in our distresses has a wonderful spiritual goal. All of that has been the providential working out of His love for our own good and the extraordinary sharing of the very glory of God himself.

Do not be distressed in your trials and do not lose heart, God Himself is working in you and around you to accomplish His goal of making you more like Him, Amen?

]]> Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?painful-joy-through-testing-of-faith http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000192 imblog

1 Peter 1:5

“3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

There are no commandments in the first 12 verses of this letter. No demands or requirements or directions. What Peter is doing here is not telling us what to do but telling us what to enjoy. He is not exhorting, he is exulting.

We saw last week in verse 3 where Peter begins this paragraph not with commands or even instruction, but with worship. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!" His purpose is to move us to praise God. To show us that God is the greatest value in the world.

He starts by praising and honoring God. And God is the center of what he says in verses 3 and 4: God is great in mercy. God causes us to be born again. God gives us a living hope. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. God promises an indestructible inheritance. God is keeping that inheritance so that it will never perish or soil or fade.

But we stopped at verse 4 last week. The reason we stopped there is because verse 5 deserves a sermon of its own. You might believe all the great truth about God in verses 3 and 4 but still worry about one crucial danger not covered there; at least not explicitly.

You may know that God has caused you to be born again. You may know that God raised Jesus from the dead. You may know that God promised to keep your inheritance imperishable in heaven. In other words, you know what God has done in the past to give you life, and you know what God is going to do in the future to give you your inheritance.

But what about right now? What about the time between new birth and final salvation? What about the temptations, pressures, stresses, weariness, persecution, frustrations, suffering, confusion, perplexity, fears, and different traps that we face now? Does God do anything about that?

Does He send his Son to die for our sins, raise him from the dead to open eternal life, cause us to be born again, and then stand back to see if we will make it to heaven? Peter does not leave that question unanswered. He makes the answer explicitly clear in verse 5.

Those who are born again "are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." There's Peter's answer: NO. God does not just stand back after he has caused us to be born again. He uses his divine power to protect us all through life for the salvation ready to be revealed.

Peter teaches us that God wants his people to be profoundly secure in Him. He wants us to feel that God himself is doing everything that must be done to guarantee our final, eternal salvation.

Picture it like this. Your salvation is like a chain that extends back into eternity and forward into eternity. It is an unbreakable chain. Wherever you look on this chain, you find links of iron constructed by God himself.

If you look back into eternity as far as you can look, you find election, 1 Peter 1:1–2: "To the elect aliens." "God chose you from the beginning," Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:13, "for salvation."

If you look forward into eternity as far as you can on this chain of salvation, you see an inheritance that (according to verse 4) is reserved by God for you, and is therefore imperishable and undefiled and unfading. God took charge of your salvation at the beginning before you existed, and God is securing its great goal before you ever get there in the future.

If you look back on this chain a couple thousand years, you find God sending his Son Jesus to shed his blood for your sin (the sprinkling in verse 2). And then you find him raising Jesus from the dead to conquer death and give you hope (v. 3).

If you look back one or two or twenty or seventy years as a believer, you see that great link in the chain called new birth, and you see from verse 3 that it is not a link forged by you but by God: "Praise be to God who caused us to be born again unto a living hope."

And if you look now at the chain of salvation being constructed this very day in your life, what do you see? If you look at the chain that connects new birth in the past with your inheritance in the future, what do you see?

I hope you don't see this image. A Christian walking along the edge of a great ravine which he needs to cross to get to heaven, holding on to one end of the chain from the past. And then day by day he is creating connections of faithfulness as best he can so that eventually he can try to connect with the chain of heaven that hangs down from a high cliff on the other side.

But he is never sure that he will construct the links well enough or have the strength to finish the chain. In other words, I hope the image you have of the chain of salvation is not one that leaves the believer insecure and ready to fall out of faith and into destruction.

The other image, which I hope you don't have, errs in the opposite direction. Here the Christian with the chain of salvation leading from the past is also walking along the chasm attempting to forge the links of faithfulness and eventually link up with the chain of heaven on the other side.

But in this image the Christian has a safety belt around his waist tied to the chain of heaven on the other side so that even if he lets go of the chain leading to the past or stops forging any links of faithfulness, he will not fall to his death but be drawn into heaven another way than by the chain.

In the first image, the believer has no security or confidence that he will make it to heaven. In the second image the believer has security in the wrong place; a kind of automatic eternal security that can get you to heaven another way than by the chain of God's salvation revealed in Scripture.

Verse 5 says, "We are now being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Now what image do you see of the chain of salvation in that verse?

Standing in the middle of this chasm which is so deep no one can see the bottom is God Almighty. In his right arm He is holding the chain of my salvation that leads into the past and connects with God’s election, the death of Jesus, His resurrection and my new birth.

And in his left arm He is holding the chain of heaven for the eventual attachment to my life. And He is providentially creating the necessary links of faithfulness in us now that will make the chain long enough to connect properly with the chain of heaven.

The difference is that God himself is holding the chain and constructing the links with infallible power. It is we who have to do the acts of faithfulness, the chain of salvation is now being constructed in our lives, but it is God who "works in us to will and to do his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Now let's check this out with verse 5: "[We] are [now being] protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." There is a salvation ready to be revealed. We are saved now, but our salvation is not complete.

There is an inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading yet to be received. There is much more grace and glory to be experienced (1:13; 4:13; 5:10). We are not yet across the chasm. There is danger on the way to salvation in heaven.

We need ongoing protection after our conversion. Our security does not mean we are home free. There is a battle that we need to fight. And in this battle we need protection and help far beyond what we can supply for ourselves.

Our protection comes from the power of God. "[We] are [now being] protected by the power of God." In verse 3 we saw that God causes the new birth, and in verse 5 we see that God protects his children all the way to heaven.

So our security doesn't mean that there is no battle, or that we don't have to win it, but that God will fight for us with infallible skill and omnipotent power. The means God uses to protect us is faith. "[We] are [now being] protected by the power of God through faith."

Now think with me about this for a moment. What is God protecting us from? That is, what, in the end, is the only thing that can keep us from salvation ready to be revealed in the last time?

Death won't keep us from salvation. It takes us straight to heaven. So we don't need protection from that. Suffering won't keep us from heaven. Verses 6–7 say suffering will refine our faith. So that's not what we need protection from.

It's true we need protection from Satan "who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). And we need protection from overwhelming temptations and "lusts that wage war against the soul" (2:11). So we should pray, "Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13).

But why? What's the most damage that these enemies can do? What is the one thing that cuts us off from heaven? The answer is unbelief, not trusting God. Not living "by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us" (Galatians 2:20).

So what does verse 5 mean, then, when it says we are "protected [from losing our final salvation] by the power of God through faith"? It means that God's power protects us for salvation by sustaining our faith. The only thing that can keep us from heaven is forsaking our faith in Christ, and turning to other hopes.

So to protect us God prevents that. He inspires and nourishes and strengthens and builds our faith. And in doing this he secures us against the only thing that could destroy us; unbelief, lack of trust in God.

This is very different from the security of the safety belt. Some people think that, because of some past experience, they have a safety belt and can leave the forging of faith behind, drop off into the chasm of sin and unbelief, and just swing low over to the promised land.

Well, there is no safety belt. There is only one way to heaven: the way of persevering faith. And this is why verse 5 is so important. Our security is not in making heaven for sure unconditional. Our security is in God's infallible commitment to fulfill the conditions of heaven in us.

Let us look at the experience that Peter had which taught him this lesson very powerfully. On the night when Peter betrayed Jesus, the Lord said to him, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat [in other words to press Peter through a sieve of temptation to try to strain out his faith]; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31–32).

Jesus prayed that Peter's faith not fail totally. That is why Peter wept bitterly (Luke 22:62) and returned from his sin. But to whom did Jesus pray? To God, his Father. And what did he ask God to do? To not let Peter's faith come to an end.

So who constructed the link of faithfulness in Peter that awful night? God did. And who brought him back from the edge of unbelief and gave him tears of remorse? God did. Peter knows first hand what he is talking about.

The chain of salvation is a God-forged chain. And therefore it is gloriously and invincibly secure. We have a great God and a great salvation! For more on the preserving power of God in the life of the believer see the following verses:

1 Peter 5:10, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

1 Corinthians 1:8–9, “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

2 Timothy 1:12, “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

John 10:27–30, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."

Those who are born of God "are protected by the power of God through faith"—through God's sustaining their faith—for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. He caused us to be born again by creating our faith; and he protects us on the way to heaven by preserving our faith. Amen!

]]> Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?the-elect-are-protected-by-the-power-of-god http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000193 imblog

1 Peter 1:3-4

“3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”

The goal of this sermon is set for me and for you in the first phrase of verse 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Peter is worshipping God. Peter's response to God's causing his people to be born again, and raising his Son Jesus from the dead, and giving us a living hope, and providing us an imperishable inheritance in heaven is to bless God.

And if that is his response, it should be our response. What he is going to talk about makes him exult and bless God. But he did not have to begin by letting his admiration and love for God show. He could have said: "My lecture topic today is regeneration. I have several related doctrines upon which I wish to talk about.”

“Let me list them: 1) God; 2) regeneration; 3) hope; 4) the resurrection of Jesus; 5) inheritance; 6) heaven. Let us give close attention to these things." He could have begun that way. But that was not the way Peter started his letter.”

Peter begins with exultation and blessing and wonder because that's what these realities have produced in his heart. He says, "Blessed be God!" He does it here. He does it in 4:11, "To him belong glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." He does it again in 5:11, "To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

Peter breaks out again and again in praise and blessing. He writes about the greatest realities in the universe with a worshipful spirit. He writes with exultation and wonder and awe and marvel and heartfelt gratitude.

Preaching is worshipful exposition of glorious biblical reality. If you have the notion that what we do in this Sunday evening service is half worship and half preaching, you're wrong. We can sing without worshiping. And I can preach without worshiping. That's professionalism and formalism. Our goal is to worship God with everything we have from beginning to end.

Worship is when the mind apprehends the truth about God, and the heart kicks in with feelings of brokenness and gladness and admiration and gratitude, and the mouth says something like, "O blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Let us look at each of these five realities that should lead us to worship.

1. God's Great Mercy. There is great mercy with God; otherwise we would not exist as children of God. Peter is moved by that truth and we should be too. He says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy . . .”

2. God's Work of New Birth. This is the second reality about God that moves Peter to worship: God is the one who caused us to be born again. New birth is God's work, “. . . who according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope . . .” His mercy produces a new being called a child of God and an alien in the world.

3. God's Work of Raising Jesus from the Dead. This is the third reality about God that gripped Peter: God raised Jesus from the dead. “ . . . He caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead . . .” The resurrection is about God. God did it so we can trust God. And this makes Peter start worshipping.

4. God's Promise of an Inheritance. There's the fourth reality about God that gripped Peter: God promises an inheritance to his newborns. Verse 4: . . . to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away.” God is the source of the inheritance. God is the one overflowing. We are receivers at every point: mercy, new birth, resurrection, inheritance.

5. God's Work of Keeping Our Inheritance [The inheritance] is reserved [literally: "kept"] in heaven for you. Who is keeping it? Answer: God is. God is keeping that inheritance so that it will never, ever perish or soil or fade.

Now out of these five truths, what is the main thing that God is doing here for us? The main thing is that God is doing for mankind is causing new birth. His raising Jesus from the dead is the historical triumph over death that makes this possible. Our living hope in a great inheritance flows from it. But the main work of God focused on here is the new birth of sinful man.

One of the reasons we don't get as excited about this like Peter is that we either don't understand it, or we don't believe it. "God caused us to be born again." God fathered us into second beings as children of God. We did not exist as his children before.

"That which is born of the flesh is [just] flesh," Jesus said in John 3:6. But "that which is born [again] of the Spirit is spirit." We had no living spiritual existence. We were what a human father and mother and common grace could make of us. But then God came on us and caused us to be born again. He awakened a new life of faith and hope in God. That is the life of the Spirit in us.

But there are many believers who have been taught that God did not do the decisive work here, we did. And it is no wonder, then, that we do not respond like Peter: "Blessed be God, O blessed be God who by his great mercy did it!"

Let me get at this with a provocative question: If I asked you, "How do you know that you were born from your mother's womb?" What would you answer? You would answer, "I'm alive! I exist outside my mother's womb. I'm here." And that's right. And that is all the answer needed.

You would not say, "I know I was born because I've got a birth certificate at home." Or, "I know I was born because I did some historical research in Indonesia and found a document with my name." You would say, "I know I was born because I am alive."

Now suppose I asked a faithful churchgoer today, "How do you know you were born again?" I would expect a similar answer. But instead I would often hear, "I know I was born again because I did what you must do to be born again: I asked Jesus into my heart; I prayed to receive Christ; I walked down an aisle and accepted Jesus; I have a card here in my wallet that I signed on June 6, 1998, where I pledged that Jesus is my Lord."

How many would answer correctly by saying, "I’m born again because now I am alive to God. I have a living hope. I have a living faith. I once had no spiritual life but now I am alive with spiritual appetites and spiritual enjoyments. I know him, I love him, I trust him, I hope in him and I follow him. The proof that I was born again is my life today!"

There should be no difference in answering how we know if we were physically born and how we know if we are spiritually born. One reason is that we know that we had nothing to do with our physical birth and the same is true regarding our spiritual birth. It was done to us.

However when it comes to our spiritual birth, or second birth, millions of Christians are not sure. They don't believe that our second birth was done to us and that we did not choose it or cause it. They were taught in many different ways that we ourselves choose and cause our new birth.

It is not surprising, then, that some Christians grow up around that self-understanding, that self-made Christian existence, which does not explode with praise over our new birth. And they do not understand the awe that Peter has and the things that he says to worship God.

Let me give you again the New Testament picture of our new birth. God did it. And God will get the glory for it. Ephesians 2:5 says, “I was dead in trespasses and sins and God, in the great love with which he loved me, made me alive together with Christ.”

I did not raise myself from the dead. God raised me. I was spiritually non-existent. Not even created. But then God created a new person, and I became a new creation in Christ (Ephesians 4:24; Galatians 6:15; 2 Corinthians 5:17). I did not create myself, God created me.

I was blind to spiritual things. Flesh and blood could not help me. But the Father in heaven mercifully and sovereignly opened my eyes to see that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:17; cf. 11:27; Acts 16:14). God caused me to see and acknowledge his truth.

My mother and my father planted the Word of God in me and pastor Rick Ferguson watered it, but it was God and God alone who did the miracle of giving me life and making it grow (1 Corinthians 3:6).

I was self-willed, rebellious, proud, going my own way and would never have come to Jesus on my own, but God drew me: "No one can come to me [Jesus said] unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44).

I had no repentance in my heart, no sorrow for my sin or passion to change, but God lead me to a knowledge of the truth through specific trials and graciously granted me repentance. (2 Timothy 2:25).

I had no faith, no desire to look like a weakling that depends on another. But God, in his great mercy, granted me to believe (Philippians 1:29) and saved me by faith. But this was not my own doing it was the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8f.). I believed.

It was my choice to believe. But my choice was the gift of God; the effect and not the cause of new birth. I was born, as John 1:13 says, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

A couple of years ago I heard a story of a boy named Jeremy. He was born with a twisted body, a slow mind and a chronic, terminal illness that had been slowly killing him all his young life. One Sunday morning in early spring Jeremy’s Sunday school teacher told the children the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of the children a large plastic egg.

"Now," she said to them "I want you to take this home and bring it back next Sunday with something inside that shows new life. Do you understand?" The next Sunday morning, 19 children came to Sunday school, laughing and talking and gathered around Ms. Miller as she opened each one to see what was inside.

In the first egg, there was a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life. When plants peek through the ground we know that spring is here. A small girl in the first row waved her arms.. “That’s my egg, Miss Miller," she called out.

The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Ms. Miller held it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and turns into a beautiful butterfly. Yes, that is new life too." Little Judy smiled proudly and said, "Miss Miller, that one is mine."

Another egg had a rock with moss on it.; the moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of the classroom. "My daddy helped me" He beamed. Then Ms. Miller opened the fourth egg. She gasped. The egg was empty. Surely it must be Jeremy’s, she thought, and, of course, he did not understand her instructions. She thought to herself, “Perhaps I should’ve phoned his parents.”

Because she did not want to embarrass him, she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another. Suddenly Jeremy spoke up. "Miss Miller, aren’t you going to talk about my egg?" Flustered, she replied, "but Jeremy – your egg is empty"

He looked into her eyes and said softly, "yes, but Jesus’ tomb was also empty and I have new life because of it." Three months later Jeremy died. Those who paid their respects at the mortuary were surprised to see that 19 children had placed plastic eggs on top of his casket, all of them empty.

Because Jesus lives after having paid the price for our sins on the cross for those who believe and because Jeremy accepted the gift from God of the new birth, he believed and now is in heaven with his Father forever.

It does not matter in what condition we start this life, whether we are rich or poor, healthy or handicapped, physically or mentally, or whether we led a life of crime and have to pay the consequences for all that we committed, what is important is how we end our life. After all that we have experienced do we repent and believe and accept Jesus into our hearts? That decision is more important than anything else.

Peter says, "God, in his great mercy, caused us to be born again." God did it, lest we should ever boast and fail to bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and proclaim the superiority of the One who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 2 Timothy 1:9).

So let us bless God this evening with all our hearts because he has caused us to be born into his family and given us living hope. Some of you are being drawn and wakened by the Spirit of God this evening. Do not resist.

Verse 23 says that we are "born again through the living and abiding word of God." May God make my words live with life-awakening power in your lives. Come, believe, and bless the Lord with us for this great saving work of new birth. Amen?

]]> Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?god-s-mercy-and-our-new-birth http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000194 imblog

1 Peter 1:1-2

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

The very first word Peter uses for these Christians is "elect" or "chosen." The word order that Peter used when he wrote the Greek was: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect", the elect aliens of the dispersion.

Verse two defines ‘election’ with three phrases: first Christians are elect "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Second, Christians are elect "by (or in) the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit." Third, Christians are elect "that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood."

Three things are said about our election: First we are told something about its origin and the basis in God's foreknowledge. Secondly we are told something about the way it becomes real and actual in our lives by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. And thirdly we are told something about the purpose of election: that we might obey Jesus and go on benefiting from his cleansing blood.

It is important that we see the connection between these three things in verse 2 that most English versions move the word "elect" or "chosen" closer to verse 2 to make the connection plain.

Peter says about the Christians is not just that they are aliens (or exiles), but that they are elect aliens. This is very important because the first thing you say about a person when you write to them is always important. There is a reason for putting it first.

When you put something first, you are not trying to hide it. That is meaningful, because today some people think the doctrine of election should be hidden. This is not the case in the New Testament. Jesus didn't hide it. Paul didn't hide it. Peter didn't hide it.

It is spoken of in a natural, forthright way by Jesus and his apostles. That's the way we should speak of it too. But the real meaning of election means alienation. Another way to say that is that Peter mentions election in direct connection with our alien status in the world.

This probably tells us the main reason Peter begins with election. He wants to emphasize that we are aliens not mainly because men have rejected us, but because God has chosen us. Being an alien has its pain.

In fact this whole book is about the pain of being an alien in the world. Verse 6: "You are distressed by various trials." In 2:11: foreign "lusts wage war against your soul." In 2:21: you have been called to suffer. In 3:16: they revile your good behavior. In 4:4: they malign you for not running with them anymore. In 4:14: you are reviled for the name of Christ.

And being an exile usually means that you have been rejected by a group of people and forced to live in another place that's not your home. It means being a refugee. Alienation and exile and refugee status is essentially the same as being rejected.

Peter knows this. So he begins by saying: that is not the main meaning of your exile. That is not the main meaning of your alien condition in the world. The main meaning of your exile is that God chose you out of the world. Not man's rejection, but God's election is the main meaning of your life.

That's why Peter starts with election. He wants to give a God-centered explanation of their exile in the world. Your lives are rooted in God's eternal election. Your problems exist because of God's eternal election. Your rejection by men is also rooted in God's eternal election.

Don't think that all these things, all the troubles of being Christian foreigners, is because God is rejecting you. No, all this happens because God has elected you. In other words Peter wants us to hear a clear, forthright explanation that our lives get their distinctive Christian meaning from our being chosen by God.

America is a practical, make-it-happen country. And the evangelical church has that same atmosphere. Give us how-to's not doctrine. So there are major conferences on how to grow successful churches that boldly say, "We don't get into doctrine and theology." And the vast majority of the church seems to hear that as a virtue. But is it?

The more I understand the Bible the less I sympathize with this view. The apostles saw doctrine as tremendously practical. When Peter begins his letter with the phrase "elect aliens," he means to give practical help to aliens. And he believes it is practically helpful to know that you are among the elect.

So I urge you not to belittle doctrines like election. Rather, be like the apostles who value the doctrine of election and put it at the very front of their concerns, because it is so very practical for living like free and joyful aliens in this foreign world.

Could it be that one of the reasons the church is weak today is because we are constantly trying to take practical short cuts to spiritual strength and growth. Maybe we are meant to be strong in faith and love and hope and joy and practical service not in spite of doctrine, but because of doctrine.

There are three phrases in verse 2 that tell us about our election. 1) We are elect "according to the foreknowledge of God." 2) We are elect "by (or in) the sanctifying work of the Spirit. 3) We are elect "that [we] may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled by his blood."

There are a couple clues here that Peter really wants you to understand your life in the world in relation to God. He wants you to see all your life connected to God in a certain way.

The first clue is that he surrounds you with God's electing initiative. Behind you is the basis of God's election in the foreknowledge of God. In you is the experience of election in the sanctifying work of the Spirit. In front of you is the destiny of election to obey Jesus Christ and take refuge in his sprinkled blood.

The second clue is that these three dimensions of election are each related to a different Person of the Trinity. Our election is rooted in the foreknowledge of God the Father. Our election is experienced by the sanctifying work of the Spirit. And the aim of our election is that we obey Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Everything is chosen to surround us in God. And the best way to engulf us in God is to show us the importance of the doctrine of election with its past origin and its present experience and its future purpose, and to show that the whole Trinity is involved in your life from beginning to end.

Doesn't it strike you as strange that the apostle of the Lord Jesus, writing to struggling churches in trial and distress, should begin with such profound teaching on divine election, even before his greeting is out? And yet today many people in church growth and health begin their conferences with, "We don't get into theology." I must say that I do not understand this.

But I do know what God calls me to do here, and that is to teach and inspire and try to strengthen this your hearts the way the apostles did: with clear, forthright, up-front truth about God and his wonderful ways towards His children, including election.

Take the first phrase of verse 2. We are elect "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." What will be your bottom-line answer to God when he asks, how is it that you came to believe on me and be saved while others did not? Peter's answer is, "God foreknew me." Elect according to God's foreknowledge.

But what does that mean? Does it mean that I really did the choosing and by doing so elected myself and then God knew that I would do that, so he chose me on the basis of my self-election. Is that what "God's foreknowledge" is?

No. Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16). Our choosing God is based on God's choosing us and giving us the willingness to chose, not vice versa. God's foreknowledge of his people is not merely his awareness of what they will do. His foreknowledge of his people is his acknowledgement of them as His, and His acting accordingly.

Let me give you an example of this kind of knowing. In Psalm 1:6 it says, "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." This does not mean he is just aware of the way of the righteous but unaware of the way of the wicked. It means he acknowledges the way of the righteous. God's knowing of his people is his approving and providentially arranging of their ways.

This is the background for Peter's words in 1 Peter 2:9 when he says to the churches, "You are a chosen race." He doesn't mean that God looked for a people who already believed on him and then chose them for his own. No.

It means that He sovereignly chose Abraham (Nehemiah 9:7), while he was still serving other gods (Joshua 24:2-3), to be the father of Israel. And that choosing is called "knowing" in Genesis 18: 18-19: "In him all the nations will be blessed, for I have known him."

That's the background of 1 Peter 1:2: "elect according to the foreknowledge of God." Before the foundation of the world God knew who were his: He acknowledged us and bestowed on us the recognition of his own.

That's the foundation of election. It is not owing to our birth or our achievements or our religion or our works or our virtue or our faith. It is owing to God's free acknowledgement of whom he will in the counsel of his wisdom.

The second phrase in verse 2 shows how the sovereign work of God in election comes to expression in us. Elect "by (or in) the sanctifying work of the Spirit." This is the same way Paul spoke of election in 2 Thessalonians 2:13, "God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through by the sanctifying work of the Spirit."

God the Spirit cooperates with God the Father in taking the eternal decree of the Father that you are chosen, and turning that decree into practical holiness by his powerful work in your life.

I speak to you brothers as believers this evening to establish your hearts in the truth. God wants you to know that none of the hardships you undergo as elected aliens in this world is a surprise to God. He has chosen you for this.

We have experienced in this latter part of 2009 some of our loved ones in the Indonesian Baptist Fellowship taken by God unexpectedly and we all hurt because of suddenly missing a loved one, and having to deal with the loss and sadness of being left behind.

And how we deal with personal loss makes us either grow spiritually or makes us bitter. And at some point in time the best way to deal with all that is to fall back on the doctrines of God. Often in our grief we are not prepared immediately for verses like Romans 8:28, which tells us that “all things work together for good to those who love God who are called according to His purpose.”

And God’s providence may bring us pain and often there are afflictions that will test us to the limits of our faith and endurance. We feel the grief and we need time to deal with it personally. Only after some time can we begin to experience the truth that He brings glory out of suffering and He brings joy out of affliction.

Consider that your entire exile life is rooted in God. You are engulfed in the electing love of God the Father, God the Spirit and God the Son. Your life is from Him and through Him and for Him. Dwell on this truth and let it sustain you and give you encouragement.

Let it sink in and touch the deepest part of your identity. God the Father has chosen you. The Holy Spirit is sanctifying you. Accept that He is in control from beginning from the end and that He determines what is going to happen. And that Jesus Himself covers you with His blood so that all your sins are forgiven so that you will become more obedient.

Obedience is a process where similar to gold you are being refined by fire. Only through this process of fire can gold be purified, and similarly we as people also are purified through the trials of life that God has put in each of our paths.

Many times we are blind to God’s hand that is leading us and only when those trials hit home hard are we jolted back to reality. The allure of the world and the strength of our own flesh are often so strong that God’s calling is ignored and put on the back burner.

But when tragedy strikes and when loved ones are taken suddenly, we are reminded again of our fragile nature and we have to question ourselves if we are following God to our utmost. God’s word in Psalm 144:4 says, “Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.”

Do we live according to what we believe or do we just give it lip service? Is our mind filled with the things of God or is it filled with things of this world? What is taking up most of your time, be honest.

God knows exactly where your heart is and we need to repent if God is not the most important part of your life. Being obedient is accepting that God is in charge and that we want to honor Him in all that we do and think.

That is part of His purifying discipline that grows us. Your troubles as an exile here are not absurd, meaningless results of your own shortsighted, fallible choices. They are the loving plan and wisdom of God's all-seeing, infallible choice.

]]> Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?divine-election http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000195 imblog

Luke 16:19-31

We continue with our advent question: What must happen for our hearts to be prepared to receive Christ for who he really is? In order to receive Christ, God the Father must reveal to us the truth and beauty of the Son and something must happen to our wills.

From John 7:17 we saw that in order to receive Him, something has to happen to our wills so that we will the will of God: "If anyone's will is to do God's will he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from myself."

Specifically, our will has to be freed from its passion to seek the praise and approval of men. Instead we have to have a will that delights in the glory of God. This is implied in John 5:44, "How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?"

To recognize and receive the real Jesus, we have to will to do the will of God, namely, pursue the glory of God above all other pleasures in our life. Now tonight's text of Luke 16:19-31 teaches us another part of the answer to the question, “How is the heart prepared to receive Christ for who he really is?”

In Luke 16 Jesus is talking to Pharisees who were lovers of money. Notice verse 14: "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him." He had just told them the parable of the unrighteous steward in verses 1–13. The point of that parable is that the way you use your money (he calls it "unrighteous mammon") can make or break your eternal destiny.

Possessing money in this world is a test run. Verse 9 says, "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” In other words, use your money to support other Christians who are your true friends because money is going to fail. And when it is gone at least you will have many friends in heaven waiting for you.

And whether you will go to heaven will depend, at least in part, on whether you used your money to advance the cause of Christ in the lives of others, or whether you used it to advance your comforts and your status symbols. That is the point of verse 11: "If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches?"

In other words, the possession of money in this world is a test run for eternity. Can you pass the test of faithfulness with your money? Do you use it as a means of proving the worth of God and the joy you have in supporting his cause? Or does the way you use it prove that what you really enjoy is things, not God?

The scoffing of the Pharisees. Verse 14 says the Pharisees hear all this and scoff at Jesus because they are lovers of money. Christ has touched a raw nerve of their lives. Beneath all their religious veneer, they love money. Jesus saw it and nailed it. So what is the real meaning of their scoffing?

Verse 15 gives us the real meaning: they are trying to justify themselves. Instead of repentance, which would have opened the way to receive Jesus for who he really is—the radical teacher of righteousness—the Pharisees try to justify themselves by making Jesus look foolish with their scoffing.

So now we are learning something in this chapter of Luke's gospel. Let us test it further. So far it looks like the love of money is a great obstacle to receiving Christ for who he really is. And so the preparation we need in order to receive Christ for who he really is, is something that frees us from the love of money.

Let us study Luke 16:19-31 about the Rich man and Lazarus, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' 25 "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' 27 "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' 29 "Abraham replied, 'they have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' 30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' 31 "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

Verse 19 presents us with a rich man who used his money to put the finest clothes on his back and the finest foods on his table every day—"clothed in purple and fine linen and feasting sumptuously every day."

In verses 20–21 we meet a poor man with a disease of sores. He lay at the gate of the rich man where he would be seen each day as the rich man went in and out. All he wanted was to eat what was left over from the rich man's table. He was so destitute that dogs licked his sores.

Then (in v. 22) the inexorable end comes to both, as it will to every one of us: they die. The poor man goes to paradise where Abraham is and the rich man goes to Hades where there is fire and torment.

Then the rich man calls out in verse 24, "Father Abraham!" In other words, this man is a Jew. And being a Jew has not saved him. Do you remember what John the Baptist preached in Luke 3:8–11?

“Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father," for I tell you, God is able from these stone to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire . . . He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none.”

So the rich man in the parable is one of those who presumed to say, "I am secure as a child of Abraham." But he bore no fruit that befits repentance, he shared no food, no clothes, and the axe fell and now he's in hell.

And this is no doubt the very mockery that that the Pharisees threw back at Jesus in verse 14: "We are the children of Abraham! Don't threaten us that the use of our money might change our eternal destiny."

The application in the church today. What would be a similar attitude in the church today? It would be professing Christians who read these parables and say, "I am an eternally secure child of God. I am justified by faith alone. Don't tell me that the way I use my money could jeopardize my eternal destiny."

The answer to this contemporary form of cheap grace is this: the faith which justifies PURIFIES—it purifies us from the love of money. The point of this parable is that the rich man is in hell because he delighted more in luxuries for himself than in love for Lazarus. It didn't make any difference that he thought he had a secure standing as a son of Abraham.

And so in hell he looks up and pleads for some mercy from Abraham. Abraham responds in verse 25 by telling him why he is in hell and in verse 26 by telling him that there is absolutely no way out.

In verse 25 Abraham says, "Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish."

In other words if during our time on earth we pursue after "things" instead of God—after luxury for ourselves instead of love for others—then earth will be the extent of our heaven and eternity will be our hell.

But if during our time on the earth God is our treasure no matter how many bad things happen, then earth will be the extent of our hell and eternity will be our heaven. Then verse 26 adds, "Besides all this [i.e., besides the fact that your own love for money and lovelessness toward Lazarus consigns you to hell], between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us."

In other words any thought of a temporary purgatory is out of the question. Death is utterly final. The bed we make in this life we sleep in forever.

This does not mean that, by using your money for the good of others in the cause of Christ, you buy a spot in heaven or earn your way to paradise. Not at all! What it means is that the way you use your money shows whether your heart has been changed so that love for others and not luxury for yourselves is what you long for and delight in.

Having Moses and the Prophets. Then the rich man asks if Abraham will send Lazarus to warn his five brothers about the danger of hell. Evidently the rich man knew that they were pursuing the same kind of life he was and were doomed.

Abraham answers in verse 29, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." In other words, God has already provided ample information and evidence about the necessity of love and the danger of judgment. He is not obliged to give any more than what he has given in the scriptures of the Old Testament.

But the rich man knows that his brothers do not listen to the Scriptures. They may have devotions in the morning for a few minutes and they attend church once a week, but he knows that their whole mindset about money is shaped by the world not God. And so the rich man knows it is not going to do any good for Abraham just to say to them: read your Bible—read Moses, read the prophets!

So in verse 30 he advises Abraham (from hell!) about how to get his brothers to repent: "No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent." If there could just be a resurrection from the dead—something really startling, some miracle—then they would wake up and repent. They would forsake their selfish luxury and start to live for others to the glory of God.

Abraham's Response. Then comes Abraham's final stunning statement (v. 31): "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead." Isn't that incredible! If a person is so in love with money that he is deaf to the commands and warnings and promises of Moses and the prophets, then even a resurrection from the dead will not bring about repentance.

So here we have the same point that we saw earlier in verse 14, only here it's intensified because of the resurrection. Suppose Jesus should rise from the dead—this is what Luke wants his readers to think about—and suppose he should reveal himself to five brothers like these. Will they receive Him as the Savior?

O, they might be totally surprised by the miracle of the proven resurrection. But the question is, will they repent? Abraham says no. They will not repent. Why not? What will keep them from receiving Jesus for the financial radical that he really is? Answer: the love of money and the love of things.

As long as Jesus Christ embodies a radical freedom from the love of things and a deep delight in the service of others, then those who get their joy from luxury rather than love will not be able to receive Jesus for who he really is. "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" (18:24).

What then shall we do to prepare our hearts to receive Christ for who he really is? Perhaps we should take our clue from Abraham in verse 29 of our text: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." That is what we should do, go back to the Scripture and read again:

The Words of Moses . . . You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might . . . And your neighbor as yourself. (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18)

And the Words of the Prophets . . . Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23–24)

And the Words of the Apostles . . . We brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:7–10)

Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

Turn back from the broken cisterns of materialism and drink freely this evening at the fountain of living water. May God use the words of Moses and the prophets and the apostles to free us from the love of money so that we might receive Christ for who he really is.

]]> Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?hearing-moses-and-the-prophets http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/000000196 imblog

Luke 1:67-79

We have been talking about ways to make room for Jesus in our heart these weeks before Christmas and last week we talked about how to follow Jesus in picking up your cross daily and denying your self. Tonight I would like to touch on other ways that God uses to make room in our hearts which is to take away fear and guilt.

Tonight let us listen and study as to what happened around the time of the birth of Jesus and we specifically want to look at what happened to Zechariah, the priest. Let us remember what God did to him and how that difficult time for him became a time of blessing.

“When Herod was king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. 7 But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.” (Luke 1:5–7)

But God, desiring to show that he regards the broken-hearted and that nothing human can stop his resolves on their behalf, sends the mighty angel Gabriel with a word for old Zechariah, verse 13, “Your prayer has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

“14 And you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth; 15 for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. 16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the Spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:13–17)

Luke 1:18-20, “Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." 19 The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

How many times do we, like Zechariah, also not believe what God tells us through His word when it pertains directly to us? Often we believe generally what God says but at times it is hard for us to apply that truth to ourselves in our daily lives.

Nine months later Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist. At the child's circumcision the neighbors started to call the child Zechariah after his father, but, in obedience to God, Zechariah wrote on a tablet: "His name is John."

And immediately his tongue was loosed and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people, 69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us. In the house of David his servant—70 As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old—That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us

“72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, And to remember his holy covenant, 73 The oath which he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.”

76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; 77 for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people. 78 in the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender mercies of our God, by which the day shall dawn upon us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Zechariah had had nine months of silence to brood and ponder and pray and meditate on his Bible, the Old Testament. His silence was a divine rebuke for his unbelief, but God always turns his rebukes into rewards for those who keep faith.

Remember that, you who right now suffer from the scars of past sins. If you keep faith now God will turn the marks of sin into memorials of grace. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans 5:20).

I’m thinking of Zechariah in those months, groaning under God's rebuke, yet gradually he began to understand and to discover the reward. At first lacerating himself, "Why didn't I believe the word of God? Why did I have to be so skeptical? What a fool I was!"

But then, gradually, in the silence of those months (the angel had struck Zechariah deaf as well as dumb because in verse 62 it says they communicated to him with signs instead of speech)—gradually in the silence of those months, when he could not converse with his wife or friends, Zechariah began to see what was happening. It began to sink into his head and heart that these were stupendous, unrepeatable, incredibly significant days.

We cannot pass over this experience of Zechariah without making an application for our day. If we don't seek out moments of silence, we will probably not feel the stupendous significance of God's work in history on our lives. It would be a rare thing to be gripped and moved deeply in a noisy room with all the distractions all around us.

There is a close correlation between stillness and a sense of the stupendous. The most astonishing things about reality will not be perceived or understood by those who always use their cell phones for texting, their IPod’s, MP3’s, laptops and TV’s for constant background busyness.

What would it mean for your life if for nine months you could not hear or say anything! I have tried to imagine what it would mean for me. No preaching, no counseling, no communication. I would look a lot more into the eyes of my wife and children and do a lot more prayer and meditation on the Word of God all in absolute silence.

If God should ever give me such a period, I hope that I would turn it to as much good as Zechariah did. Because when Zechariah came out, he came out filled with the Holy Spirit and singing what has come to be known as the Benedictus, a song filled with insight and with a sense of the incredible significance of what was about to happen with the birth of Jesus.

So while we ponder now how we will seek some silence for ourselves, let us learn from what the Holy Spirit taught Zechariah. Most of Zechariah's song is taken up not with his own son but with the salvation the Messiah would bring. Only two verses (76 and 77) refer to John the Baptist specifically: He will go before the Lord to prepare his ways by calling the people to repentance. The rest of the Benedictus is about what the coming of Jesus is going to mean.

Zechariah begins in verse 68: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed his people." Notice four remarkable things. First, nine months earlier Zechariah could not believe his wife would have a child. Now, filled with the Holy Spirit, he is so confident of God's redeeming work in the coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense.

For the mind of faith, a promised act of God is as good as done. Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has a remarkable assurance: "God has visited and redeemed!"

For centuries the Jewish people had languished under the conviction that God had withdrawn, the spirit of prophecy had ceased, Israel had fallen into the hands of Rome. And all the godly in Israel were eagerly awaiting the visitation of God.

Luke tell us in 2:25 that the devout Simeon was "looking for the consolation of Israel," and in Luke 2:38 the prayerful Anna was "looking for the redemption of Jerusalem." These were days of great expectation. Now the long awaited visitation of God was about to happen—indeed, He was about to come in a way no one expected.

And He is coming to redeem. It took Jesus years to get the fact into his disciple's heads that "the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected . . . and be killed and on the third day be raised." There had been hints of this in the Old Testament (like Isaiah 53), but none of the Jews in Jesus' day understood this.

What Zechariah had in mind when he said God had visited and redeemed his people was probably similar to God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. It has not been revealed to Zechariah that this real deliverance will not happen at the first coming of the Messiah, but only at his second coming.

Notice about verse 68 is that God "has visited and redeemed his people." It is the "consolation of Israel" for which Zechariah hopes. It is the "Lord God of Israel" who is coming to redeem his people. The people Zechariah meant were the people of Israel.

God had the world in view, but He came to Israel first. Jesus said in Matthew 15:24, "I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But just like there is a clue in Zechariah's song that God's redemption is more than national, so there is a clue that the beneficiaries of that redemption are more than Israelites.

That is the way Zechariah begins his song in verse 68, "The Lord God of Israel has visited and redeemed his people." Now in verse 69 he tells us how this visitation and redemption will happen, "God has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, David."

Jesus is described as the horn of salvation. The kind of horn meant here is not a musical instrument but the deadly weapon of the wild ox. This is the only place in the New Testament where Jesus is called a horn, so we must go back to the Old Testament, no doubt where Zechariah got the image, to see what it means.

Psalm 92:9 and 10 gives us a picture of what the horn stood for, “For lo, thy enemies, O Lord, for lo, thy enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. But thou hast exalted my horn like that of the wild ox.”

The horn is a sign of strength and a means of victory. In Micah 4:13 God says to Jerusalem, "Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron and your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples."

Verse 70 says that the coming of this horn of salvation was prophesied of old. One of the clearest examples of such a prophecy is Psalm 132:17, where God says concerning Jerusalem, "There I will make a horn to sprout for David. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame."

But in the Old Testament one always finds that God is the one who fights for Israel. He is the one who is strong and who gets victory over the enemies of his people. Therefore, it is not surprising that the only two instances of the phrase "horn of salvation" in the Old Testament are references to God, not man.

One is in 2 Samuel 22:3, and the other in Psalm 18:2. Both record the same psalm of David after God saved him from his enemy Saul. He says, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation." God is his defense (his shield) and his offense (his deadly and powerful horn).

He is a horn of salvation because He uses his power to secure and protect his people. And that brings us back now to Luke 1:69. Jesus is the horn of salvation because he is a deadly weapon and tremendous power which, according to verse 71, God uses to save his people from their enemies and all who hate them.

Zechariah means primarily; that the Messiah will one day literally destroy his enemies and gather his people into his kingdom and rule them in peace. And indeed, He will when He comes a second time. But Zechariah's words necessarily imply more than that.

Verses 74 and 75 show that the goal of God's redemption in raising up a horn of salvation is to "grant that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life."

God's aim in raising a horn of salvation is not merely to liberate an oppressed people, but to create a holy and righteous people who live in no fear because they trust Him. This means that the redemption spoken of in verse 68 must include redemption from fear of enemies and from all unrighteousness for all people.

We do not value or love an offer for help unless we know we are sick or endangered by some enemy. Vast numbers of people look upon Jesus and the Christmas story of his coming as a useless mousetrap, a crazy trip to the emergency room, a bothersome pickup by the police, because they don't know that they have a terminal illness called unforgiven sin, and they don't believe in the fearful enemy, Satan.

For them, the "horn of salvation" is a useless toy. For me, it is my only hope of recovery from this deadly disease of sin that infects my soul and my only protection from Satan, the most dangerous external enemy. And every one of us will die from this disease and be devoured by that enemy if there is no horn of salvation for us.

Consider 1 John 3:8, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." And notice Hebrews 9:26, "Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

How many of you have fear and guilt? How many of us fear the unknown, fear the future with the mounting debt of our nation and our own debt, fear the direction that our society is heading, fear the growing destruction of all what we as Christians stand for, fear our ability to survive this economic downturn and fear of death itself ?

How many of us feel guilty at our inability to stop our sinful behavior, our continued lack of focus on God, our lack of love for our fellow man, our own anger and frustration dealing with everyday life? Do you feel guilty that you have not been as good a husband or wife or father or mother as you know you can be?

The good news of Zechariah's song—the good news of Christmas—is that God has raised up a horn of salvation. Jesus is the great ox-horn of salvation for all those who call upon him and trust him. Fear and guilt, the two great spoilers of life, have been taken away because Satan has been disarmed and sin has been forgiven.

Hebrews 2:14–15 says, "Christ took on a human nature that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."

Let us remember that and be joyful as we look forward to Christmas, Amen? Let us pray.

]]> Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?jesus-the-horn-of-salvation http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000019B imblog

Matthew 16:13-23

We have three Sundays left before we celebrate Christmas. We can already see that many people are real busy shopping and thinking about what to buy for whom. But God is not interested in all that outside stuff; He only looks at the condition of our hearts. And in these following Sundays I would like to have our hearts more focused on Jesus.

How do you make room in your heart for Christ? How is the heart prepared to receive Christ and follow Him? This is a very basic and important question. It is especially important for those of us who do have Christ dwelling in our heart but do not yet have a clear understanding of what that means.

When you read the letters of Paul it is amazing how he never tires of telling us how we became Christians. In Romans 6:6 he says, "We know that our old self was crucified with him so that . . . we might no longer be enslaved to sin.” In 1 Corinthians 1:27, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

In 2 Corinthians 3:3 he says, "You are a letter . . . written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." In Ephesians 2:5 he says, "He made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.” Paul reminds us again and again how we came to have Christ dwelling in our hearts.

I can say personally that there are at least four effects of how Christ came to dwell in my heart. It makes me love Christ more, it makes me need the Holy Spirit more, it deepens my security in the love of God, and it humbles me and makes me want to follow Him every day.

So how is the heart prepared to receive Christ and what does that mean? Tonight’s answer to that question comes from Matthew 16:13–20 which explains how to recognizing Jesus for who He really is and then how that changes your every day life.

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

“16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”

“18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20 Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.”

In this text Jesus asks the disciples personally, "Who do you say that I am?" The first step in preparing our hearts to receive Christ is by recognizing who He really is. First He asks what people say, but then He wants to know what we personally think of Jesus.

In this text Peter answers for the group in verse 16: "You are the Christ [the long-awaited Messiah] the Son of the living God." Jesus says Peter is blessed for giving that answer. So now the question becomes, how did Peter come to have this true insight into the identity of Jesus Christ, how did he know who He really was?

Verse 17 gives the answer of Jesus, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” To recognize Jesus for who he really is, you need something more than flesh and blood.

Every person who has ever been converted to Christ became a Christian on the basis of a limited understanding of what was really happening. So don't be surprised that there may be biblical descriptions of what happened to you that you may not yet understand. It takes a lifetime to grasp the depth and wonder of the miracle of conversion to Christ.

Let's ask some questions to unfold the meaning of Matthew 16:17. What does Jesus mean when He says, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you"? And what is being affirmed when Jesus says, "My Father in heaven has revealed this to you"?

1 Corinthians 15:50 says, "I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable."

The meaning is that ordinary human nature cannot enter the Kingdom of God. But there will have to be a change. There will be a spiritual body, similar yet different. Flesh and blood is man in his present limited, ordinary state.

So when Jesus denies that "flesh and blood" has revealed his true identity to Peter, He is saying that mere human powers by themselves cannot recognize the true glory of Christ. Neither your humanity nor anyone else's has opened the eyes of your heart to recognize the truth and beauty of Christ.

The natural man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Why not? Because (as Paul says) apart from the Spirit of God we inevitably assess heavenly things as "foolish."

Apart from the work of God in our hearts we don't like the humiliating implications of Christmas: that we are under a curse and need a Savior, that we are dirty and need a Purifier, that we are lost sheep and need a Shepherd, that we are terminally ill and need a Physician, that we are rebels and need a Mediator and Reconciler.

What does Jesus mean in Matthew 16:17 when He says, "My Father in heaven has revealed this to you"? How does God reveal the true identity of his Son to an individual person?

Let us look at one illustration of how Jesus expected people to recognize him for who he really was. In Matthew 11:2–6 John the Baptist is struggling with doubt about Jesus in the prison. He sends his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you He who is to come, or shall we look for another?"

He says in Matthew 11:4-6, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me."

The work of God in revealing His Son both then to John and Peter (and now to you and me) is NOT the adding of what they saw and heard in Jesus himself, but the opening of their eyes of their hearts to taste the divine glory of Jesus.

But making room in your heart means more than just understanding who Jesus really is. Let’s go back to what follows verse 17 where God revealed this knowledge of Jesus being the Messiah to Peter. Verse 18, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” What does this mean to you and me?

For more than 1500 years the Catholic Church has maintained that this means that the church was built on the apostle Peter. But it was not on Peter himself that the church is built, but on all the apostles as His appointed and inspired teachers of the gospel. Paul himself says in Ephesians 2:20 that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”

The Lord is building His church on the truth of Himself, and because the apostles were endowed with His truth in a unique way, by the preaching of that truth they were the foundation of His church in a special way. And we too are partakers of this truth and we too have to continue to build the church by following Him.

Jesus continues in Matthew 16:18 and says that “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” What people fear the most is death itself and here Jesus says that even death has no power to hold God’s redeemed people. Death will be defeated by the cross! Be strong and courageous in following Him, do not fear death.

And then Jesus says in verse 19, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Here Jesus speaks about the authority of the church to declare what is divinely forbidden or permitted on earth! John 20:23 says, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." Here Jesus tells us that the church has power to discipline unrepentant members.

In other words the church as a body of true believers has the right to tell an unrepentant brother that continues in repeated blatant sin that he or she is out of line with God’s Word and that he therefore has no right to fellowship with God’s people in church.

And then we come to Matthew 16:20 where we read, “Then Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.” For many this is a perplexing verse. Why did Jesus say that? Why wouldn’t He want everyone to know that He is the Messiah?

We find the answer in the next verses where Jesus explains to his disciples that He has to die on the cross for the sins of the world, that He had to suffer and be humiliated to pay the price for our sin and that the disciples. That thought was very strange for Peter and the apostles at that moment.

Let us read the following verses, “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, "Never, Lord!" he said, "This shall never happen to you!" 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

A few moments before Peter was praised by Jesus for giving the correct answer as to the identity of Jesus and now a little bit later he was rebuked because Satan had influenced his mind. The disciples of Jesus were not ready to tell it to the world because they themselves did not understand what Jesus was teaching them. And we too are not effective Christians if we do not understand this.

Peter and the apostles did not understand that Christ Jesus was not a physical conqueror who came to set the Jews free from Roman oppression as they had hoped, but instead was a suffering Servant who came to set the whole world free from the oppression of sin and the devil for those who believe.

And because the apostles at that time had not suffered yet they were not allowed to tell others that Jesus was the Messiah. They did not understand that recognizing who Jesus is was not enough, they needed to take the next step to take up their cross, which means to deny themselves, deny their fleshly wishes, and do the wishes of God in their life.

This second step we could clearly see after the resurrection of Jesus in all the remaining apostles. They all became fearless in proclaiming the gospel and setting an example of what this second step means. And except for the apostle John all others picked up their cross and were martyred.

Taking up your cross and following Him daily does not mean that we have to live with a particular difficult life circumstance or endure a handicap of sorts or deal with a debilitating injury or suffering with sickness or with poverty and hunger. No. Many think that their particular life circumstance is their cross but that is wrong.

But the real meaning of picking up your cross is not that, it is to deny our own fleshly desires, to deny that we are the most important in our life, to deny that life is all about satisfying our desires. Picking up our cross means that we live every day to do the things of God; we live to focus on loving Him and loving others and witnessing to others.

Still many Christians do not understand that precisely through denying ourselves God will make us more like Jesus. Shortcuts to instant wealth and health are there to lead us astray and deceive us on how to follow Jesus. Love and humility and serving only come through putting in practice denying our wishes and doing the will of God daily.

"Deny" (Greek aparneomai) means to disown, disregard, forsake, renounce, or reject. The application is to subdue the flesh and bring it under submission to the highest authority. This is not negative, such as denying oneself something, but rather it is positive action.

It is saying "No" to self-will in order to say "Yes" to what Jesus Christ wills you to do. This enables you to let Jesus be truly Lord of your life allowing you to enjoy the benefits of being a child of God.

To take up your cross daily was also well understood by men such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him to come and die." This means death to self and to become obedient to God's calling.

This is the symbolic meaning of taking up the cross. The cross is a symbol of death. When someone carried a cross down the road to the place of his execution, he forgets all worldly issues, because death is near. In picking up our cross our focus is no longer on our worldly needs and dreams anymore, it is all only for Jesus now.

Henry Blackaby says that when he is seeking the Lord’s direction and the Lord’s will, he has to reach the place where he can honestly go before the Lord with no will of his own in the matter. Then he is able to pray and find the Lord’s direction.

How shall you prepare your heart this Christmas to receive Christ? Fix your gaze on him in his Word. Look to Christ! Consider Jesus. And pray that God would give you eyes to see and ears to know Him. And then with that understanding pick up your cross daily for your good and His glory.

Are you making room in your heart for Christ this season of advent? What is it that fills up your life? Is it work or is it a desire for more stuff or is it focused on Jesus? Let us remember again what Yesus did for us on that cross and celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

]]> Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?make-room-in-your-heart-for-christ http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000019C imblog

One of the most beautiful Psalms of thanksgiving is the 100th Psalm. Please turn to it and follow along as I read: "Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

With all my heart I believe we as His people have truly been blessed by God. And of all those who "give thanks to Him and praise His name" our name should be at the top of the list! But there is another list we often overlook a Thanksgiving Day list of all blessings for which we are thankful for.

Let me read part of a list that several housewives compiled. They wrote that they were especially thankful: For husbands who attack small repair jobs around the house because they usually make them big enough to call in the professionals. For teenagers because they give parents an opportunity to learn a second language. For smoke alarms because they let you know when the turkey’s done.

Now our list is not be the same as theirs, but I’m convinced that if we began to make a list, we would find that God has given us much more for which to be thankful for than just our material possessions.

My list would include the major things like life, health, family, friends, and the nation we live in, despite all its flaws. But even more than that, I’m especially thankful for my salvation, our church family, and the mercy that God showers upon us each day. With Jesus we have so much for which to celebrate on Thanksgiving!

But has it ever occurred to you that no Americans were more underprivileged than that small handful from the Mayflower who started the custom of setting aside a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God?

They had no homes and no government agency to help them build homes. They had no means of transportation but their legs. Their only food came from the sea and the forest, and they had to get it for themselves. They had no money and no place to spend it if they’d had any.

But they did have four of the greatest human assets: initiative, courage, willingness to work, and a boundless faith in God. That might sound strange today in a time when powerful forces are at work in our nation to strip us of every reminder that the very foundation of our nation was built upon the conviction that we are "one nation, under God."

America’s "Declaration of Independence" proclaims, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights . . ." And it ends with these words, ". . .with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Thanksgiving Day is a distinctive holiday. It doesn’t commemorate a battle or anyone’s birthday or anniversary. It is simply a day set aside to express our thanks to our God. In 1789, George Washington made this public proclamation. Here are a few excerpts.

"By the President of the United States of America. A proclamation: Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and

"Whereas, Both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me `to recommend to the people of the United States a day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God. . .’

"Now, Therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. . ." So read the very first Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation.

This week our nation will pause once again to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. And one would assume that because of the example of our forefathers, and because today we have so much, that we would be an extremely thankful people.

But it is often just the opposite, isn’t it? The more we get, the less thankful we become, the less mindful of God we are, and the more we want. The 100th Psalm was written to deal with that attitude, to remind us of our need to be thankful, and to maintain an attitude of gratitude.

B. There is also a real danger this season of determining our thanksgiving on the basis of how much we have. "Do I have enough stuff to make sure I can live in the manner I’m used to? Is my money in the bank secure? Am I healthy?" And we let these things determine whether we are or aren’t thankful.

The Psalmist says that all of these things may change at any time. They may drift away, or burn up or someone may steal them. The only thing we have for sure is our relationship with the Lord.

And that is what the 100th Psalm emphasizes. Just scan the Psalm. In vs. 1 you’ll find the name of the Lord. In vs. 2 you’ll find the name of the Lord. In vs. 3 you’ll find the name of the Lord. In vs. 4 it says, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving." And in vs. 5 you’ll find the name of the Lord. The basis of our thanksgiving is the Lord.

The basis of thankfulness is to remember that we got here with the help of God, and that He is the provider of every blessing we have. Now, as we look more carefully at this Psalm, we find that there is a series of commands given.

The first command is in vs. 1, "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth." It means to "shout with the force of a trumpet blast," a shout of joy to the Lord that comes from the very depths of your being.

Maybe He solved your problem. Maybe He has given you the direction to go. Maybe He has provided a blessing, and you realize that it has come from God. So from the depths of your heart you proclaim your praise.

There is a story of a medical missionary who served for many years in India. And he served in a region where there was progressive blindness. People were born with healthy vision, but there was something in that area that caused people to lose their sight as they grew older.

But this missionary had developed a treatment which would stop progressive blindness. So people came to him and he performed his treatment, and they would leave realizing that they would have become completely blind, but because of him their sight had been saved.

He said that they never said, "Thank you," because that phrase was not in their dialect. Instead, they spoke a word that meant, "I will tell your name." Wherever they went, they would tell the name of the missionary who had cured their blindness. They had received something so wonderful that they eagerly proclaimed it.

And that is what the Psalmist is saying. "Suddenly you realize that God has been so good to you that you can’t keep it inside any more. From the depths of your heart you begin to tell everyone of your joy from the Lord."

But you might say what about all the people that are suffering because of sickness, because they lost a loved one, because of an earthquake or a tsunami they lost everything, how can they be thankful? How can God asks us to be thankful in a time like that?

Do you remember how close Jesus was to Mary, Martha and Lazarus? Do you remember what happened when Lazarus died? Listen to the Word of God from John 11:32-35, “Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

Here you can see how much God cares for our loss, “33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept.”

Jesus did not come up with all kinds of reasons at that time to lift up her spirits. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” And that is what Jesus did. But Jesus also taught in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Listen to God’s word in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” God does not say that we are to be thankful for the earthquake or tsunami, but He says that we need to be thankful in all circumstances. Even though what we experience is dreadful, God will there with us to see us through it and comfort us.

It is not that God does not understand how much we hurt or how much we miss a loved one, but God knows what is good for His children even though we do not and He wants us to thank Him anyway.

There is so little we know about how God works. Only God can use terrible experiences that are meant for evil and turn them into blessings. Genesis 50:20 says, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

How much faith do we really have in God? Do we trust him only when we have it good? Or do we say what Job said in Job 2:10, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

Chuck Colson was a non believer entering prison after Watergate where president Nixon resigned, and while he was in prison I’m sure he suffered. But God used his suffering to open up his heart for the gospel, and turned the prison curse into a blessing for Chuck and for all the others that are being helped because of his prison ministry all over the world.

B. The second command is, "Worship and serve the Lord with gladness." It doesn’t say "serve the church." It doesn’t say "serve the preacher, or serve the leaders, or serve the organization." It says, "Serve the Lord."

The Bible teaches that if we witness on behalf of the Lord, if we feed the hungry, if we clothe the naked, if we do the work of the Lord, whatever it might be, we are serving the Lord. In Matthew 25:40 Jesus said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me."

I’m not sure that we grasp that. Maybe we serve at times out of a feeling of obligation or a fear of guilt if we don’t serve, or maybe even because we want to draw attention to ourselves. It’s natural for us to desire appreciation when we do something that is worthwhile. But the Psalmist says, "In whatever you do, serve the Lord with gladness."

C. The third command is, "Come before Him with joyful songs." Psalm 98:4 says, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord." Now just take a moment and look at the people around you. Do they look happy? Or are they just sitting there with scowls on their faces? The Psalmist says, "Come before Him and serve Him and sing His praise with joy in your heart."

D. Command #4 is, "Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture." God took every bone, every joint, and He welded them together with sinews and muscles and covered them with skin and gave us eyes that see, brains that think, and fingers that can hold things. God made us, inside and out. He made you the way He wanted you to be. And He made me the way He wanted me to be.

That is a mystery, isn’t it? I don’t understand why, but somehow in God’s providence He decided that He wanted a medium sized man, not too good looking, not outstanding in anything, but just a faithful father and husband who would keep plodding along. So He made me. Someplace along the way He had you in mind, and He made you.

And He is still making us. That is important to realize, too. He’s not satisfied with the unfinished product. He’s not satisfied with your temper. He’s not satisfied with the weak areas of your life where you are giving in to temptation. So He’s still making us. He’s still working on our lives. God is your maker, and you are created in His image. Therefore give Him thanks for who you are.

E. Command #5 is this, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations."

In the O.T. the temple symbolized the presence of God. So whenever the people came to the temple and entered the courtyards they knew that they had come into the presence of God. Now that temple no longer exists.

But God is everywhere. You know that. He is with you as you drive on the highway. He is with you when you work. He is with you as you care for your children. He is with you every moment of your life.

That is the source of our thanksgiving, isn’t it? But I’m still worried. What if God began to treat us like we so often treat Him? What if God met our needs to the same extent that we give Him our lives? O Lord, help us to be thankful that you do "not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities" [Psalm 103:10].

This evening if you have a decision on your heart, we pray that you will make it, that you’ll come forward, confessing your faith and repent, being faithful to the Lord in Christian baptism, whatever your need might be. He is inviting you right now.

]]> Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/?enter-with-thanksgiving http://riversideindonesianfellowship.com/blog/rss/00000019F imblog

Titus 3:7

“So that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.” And our particular focus this evening will be on that last phrase "heirs in hope of eternal life."

I want us to think deeply about that phrase in an effort to understand the content of biblical hope. This evening is our fourth week of understanding "What should we as Christians be hoping for?" So that it will there for us to battle the tough life experiences.

Last week we've seen that the content of our hope includes "the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). And now this evening from Titus 3:7 we read that our Christian hope also centers on ‘eternal life’.

To help direct our thoughts about our privilege of being "heirs in hope of eternal life", I want to ask and then answer three questions. What is eternal life? Why does Paul speak of the "hope of eternal life"? And what does it mean to be "heir in hope of eternal life?"

First of all, then, what is eternal life? The phrase is a regular part of the speech and prayers of most Christians. But precisely because this expression is used so common it is important to know what it means.

Most people who use that phrase often have a difficult time explaining exactly what it means. So for the sake of the clarity of all our thinking and for the joy of all of our hope, I'm going to try to give a biblical definition of eternal life.

When we use the adjective "eternal" to describe someone or something, we mean that that person or thing is free from all the limitations of time. When we say that God is eternal, we mean that He has no beginning and that He has no end. God always was and He always will be.

Now in that sense only God is eternal, because only God has no beginning. Everything else created by God has a beginning; everything else has a starting point in time, including the eternal life promised to his children in Christ.

But we call our new life in Christ eternal life because it is not bound by time with regard to the future. There are no limits to its duration. That means our eternal life in Christ will last forever and ever and ever. It will never be cut short and will never come to an end.

Now if you're like me, it's very difficult to imagine anything that goes on forever. And it's even more difficult to try to put that concept of eternity into word. The last verse of that great hymn "Amazing Grace" perhaps does it as well as anyone can.

”When we've been there [in heaven enjoying eternal life with the Lord] 10,000 years; Bright shining as the sun; We've no less days to sing God's praise; than when we'd first begun.”

Imagine that! Ten thousand years doesn't mean anything in eternity! Ten thousand years in comparison to eternity are like one tick of the clock. No wonder that in light of eternity the apostle James says that our lives "are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes" (James 4:14).

My friends, this life is very short and eternity is very long. Don't fall into the trap of living your life as though the next 10, 20, or 50 years were all the mattered. Think hard about 100 years from now; think hard about 10,000 years from now.

But there's more. Not only are there no quantitative limits to eternal life, there are also no qualitative limits or restrictions to it. The joy and satisfaction of our eternal life in Christ will know no limit.

To put it simply, it keeps on getting better and better and better, forever. None of the things that diminish the quality of our life here on earth will trouble us then. Sin will be gone completely. Disease will be no more. Interpersonal conflicts will all be healed. Every wrong will be righted. Injustice will be done away with. All will be joy.

Listen to the apostle John describe eternal life in the new heavens and new earth in Revelation 21:3-4, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."

Think back over that past year of your life and focus in on the greatest and most joyful event you experienced in that year. Perhaps it occurred on a Sunday or during a private time you had alone with the Lord.

Perhaps it happened in a context of ministry. Perhaps it involved an experience with your wife or husband, your children or parents, roommate or going out with friends. Perhaps it was a time of intense satisfaction on your job.

But whatever it was, focus in on the joy you experienced at that moment, and then multiply that joy a thousand-fold, and then another thousand-fold, and then you can start to get a glimpse of the joy of eternal life.

But we're not done yet. The really mind-boggling part is that this unbelievably heightened joy that you're imagining is only the beginning. The joy of your eternal life in Christ will start from that point and keep on getting better, and better, and better, forever.

But to convince ourselves that this is true, we need to look at exactly what eternal life is like. I say this because many of us still have a conception of eternal life that is not right and seems anything but joyful.

One writer described this all-too-common view as "spending eternity in space as disembodied spirits floating from cloud to cloud plucking golden harps in an endless day off". Well that is not true!

While it is true for a time we will be, to use Paul's words, "away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8), that will only be a temporary existence, one in which we eagerly await the resurrection of our bodies on the last day. Eternal life will be lived in new bodies, glorified bodies (Romans 8:23, 1 Corinthians 15:35-57).

Eternal life calls for a new earth on which to live and work and play to the glory of God. Scripture reveals that God intends for the eternal state of his universe not only a new heaven, but also a new earth (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-2) on which his redeemed saints will reign (Revelation 5:9-10).

And eternal life is not meant by God to do nothing. No, the Bible contains glimpses of the activity that will fill the life of God's people for all eternity. In Revelation 22:3 we read, "The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city and his servants will serve him," and in v. 5 of that same chapter we read, "And they will reign for ever and ever."

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the master's reward to the faithful servants is this: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much" (Matthew 25:21). In other words you are responsible for much.

And in the parable of the pounds in Luke 19, the master rewards the servant who made ten pounds by giving him authority over ten cities (verse 17) and he gives to the servant who made five pounds authority over five cities (verse19).

In both parables, the reward for faithfulness to God in this life is not idle rest, but active, challenging service. Can you imagine yourself spending eternity fully engaged in activity that is as busy and challenging and fulfilling as that of being the mayor of a big city?

Paul speaks in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 of the future of those Christian brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep (that is, who have died in the Lord). He says that when the Lord Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first and then those believers who are still alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.

And then Paul concludes, "And so we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). That is Paul's view of eternal life. Eternal life is a life of being with the Lord forever. And that preposition "with" is a very rich one, for it denotes not just proximity but intimacy, fellowship, warmth and joy.

Listen to how Paul describes this eternal state of affairs in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.”

When we are experiencing eternal life in all its fullness, then we shall see him face to face. Then we shall know and understand fully. Then our fellowship with our Maker and Redeemer will be perfect, undivided, uninhibited, uninterrupted, unhindered by any moral defects within ourselves, forever and ever.

And in conceiving of eternal life this way, Paul is in line with the promise of Jesus in John 14:2-3, “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

And listen to how Jesus prayed to his Father for you in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which You have given me in your love for me before the foundation of the earth.”

Paul writes concerning eternity in 1 Corinthians 15:22-26, 28, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death . . . When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all."

Every enemy to the glory of God and to the fullness of our eternal joy will be put under the feet of the risen Christ and destroyed. We will be in perfect fellowship forever with the Lord Jesus who then in turn will submit himself to God so that God might be all in all.

And God is infinite! He is an inexhaustible well-spring of joy for everyone who puts their trust in him. Now can you see why Paul wrote that "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9)?

Well, that's an attempt, to try to give you a glimpse of eternal life. Now we need to move on to our second question and ask, "Why does Paul speak of the "hope of eternal life"? In what sense is this eternal life something we hope for?

Eternal life is a proper object of biblical hope because it is truly a good and desirable thing, indeed it is infinitely good and desirable for all those who love God. And eternal life is a proper object of biblical hope because our full enjoyment of it as Christians is in the future.

We do experience the first fruits of eternal life now. We have in a worship service like this, in our own personal walks with the Lord, in loving and being loved by family and friends foretastes of eternal life and glimpses into its glory and joy.

For example John says in 1 John 5:11-12, "And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life." But as real and as glorious as these experiences are, they are only glimpses into future when we will experience eternal life to the full.

And at this point Paul's letter to Titus helps us greatly for it points us very clearly to the ultimate reason why a Christian's hope of eternal life can be confident and assured. And that ultimate reason is God himself.

So Paul speaks of the "hope of eternal life" in Titus 1:2 and immediately ties it into God's promise. God's elect have the hope of eternal life because God promised it would be so. And God's promise will most certainly be fulfilled, because the God who promised is a God who never lies.

So what is our present status with regard to eternal life? And the word Paul uses to describe our present status in Titus 3:7 is the word "heir." We as Christians don't yet possess eternal life, but we are "heirs in hope of eternal life."

And in Titus 3:7 becoming an "heir in hope of eternal life" is an intended result of the mighty working of God's saving mercy. Verse 5: "He saved us." All the rest of these verses describe when, why, how, or to what end He did it, but the focus of this whole passage is on those words in v. 5: "He saved us."

Those who by God's grace have believed in God and thus are heirs in hope of eternal life are to be careful to apply themselves to doing good. For Paul, the hope of eternal life is no "pie in the sky" that makes no difference at all in this life. It is real, it is practical, it leads to great joy and earnest efforts toward righteousness.

Being an heir in hope of eternal life will change everything in your heart and in your life if you really love the God. There is a condition involved in God's promise of eternal life. He only will give it to those who want to fight for it.

Dependence on God never means passivity; reliance on God never means inactivity. The Christian life is difficult and Paul likens it to the labors of a soldier, an athlete, a farmer and a worker. Each of these vocations requires vigorous exertions.

We all need to pray to God for help, wisdom and strength, but who does the fighting? We do, this is God’s will. And yes, we are only strong “in the Lord” and we only fight “in the strength of His might” (Eph.6:10).

Eternal life is assured, but only as we enter the battle with the energy of the soldier, the competitive spirit of an athlete and the hard working ethics of a farmer and a laborer. Are you ready to get going when the going gets tough? We can because we have a heavenly hope, Amen?

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